Gut-shot and Crawling: The 1932 Murder of a Tuscarawas County Farmer

A group of young men embarked on a crime spree that tragically culminated in the murder of local farmer, shot during a robbery at his rural Tuscarawas County home for a mere $15.

During the summer and fall of 1932 a gang of young men, who had met one another in Canton, Ohio, went on a crime spree that included robbing gas stations and groceries throughout Tuscarawas County and surrounding area. The gang, encouraged by one of their members who had often visited a Tuscarawas County farmer known to keep large amounts of cash in his home, decided to rob a that farmer. That farmer’s name was Lester Milhorn (1881-1932) and he lived alone on a farm a few miles south of Gilmore, Ohio on the Peoli Road in Tuscarawas County.

Lester Milhorn, born in 1881, was the son of Tuscarawas County farmer Samuel Milhorn (1831-1904) and his second wife Sarah Young (1840-1930). The Milhorn family lived in Perry and Washington Townships over the years, eventually settling on the farm later occupied by Lester Milhorn south of Gilmore. Lester never married and, after the death of his father in 1904, his mother lived with him until her death in 1930. The evening of December 14, 1932, at around 8:00 pm, Lester was home alone when he heard a knock on his farmhouse door.

When Lester opened the door he was greeted with three young men; Albert Fowler (1901-1978), Frederick Leichtamer (1901-?), and John J. Chuckery (1902-1957). Another young man, and the one who recommended robbing Milhorn, Herbert “Archie” White (1911-1984) remained in the getaway car. Albert Fowler, armed with a .22 caliber revolver, pressed it to Lester’s chest and told him “We came for your money”. Lester responded that there was no money to give him and, with that, Fowler fired the gun into Lester’s abdomen. The three men ransacked the house, found $15, and then drove off with “Archie” at the wheel.

Lester, wounded and bleeding, stumbled and crawled over half-a-mile to his nearest neighbor’s house, that of septuagenarian farmer Samuel Dunlap (1856-1936). Dunlap applied basic first aid and, as Lester recounted what had happened to him, called the authorities. Lester was driven to Coshocton City Hospital in Coshocton, Ohio where doctors attempted to save his life. Their efforts failed however and, at 12:30 am on December 15, 1932, Lester Milhorn was declared dead. His death attributed to a gun shot wound to the abdomen and ruled a homicide. Lester’s murder went unsolved for 8 months.

All four of the perpetrators in the death of Lester Milhorn were arrested in the months after the killing, but only for their series of robberies. They were in custody when Tuscarawas County Sheriff Abe Laird interrogated them in August 1933 about their potential involvement in Lester’s murder. Albert Fowler, a disabled son of a prominent Noble County minister, admitted to shooting Milhorn and implicated the other three in the crime as well. All four were charged with robbery and first degree murder. Just before three of the men were scheduled to go to trial, they plead guilty to the lesser charge of second degree murder. The fourth did the same three months later. All were sentenced to life in prison.

Despite their life sentences only one of the four was still in jail by 1946, and he was serving time in the Stark County jail for a crime he committed after being paroled for his role in the murder of Lester Milhorn. Four young men robbed and murdered Lester Mihorn on a cold December night in 1932 and left him to crawl for his life, only to be free ten years later. Two of the killers died before 1960 while the other two carried the guilt of their crime into the 1970s and 1980s. Lester Milhorn was killed for $15 and left an estate, valued in 2024 dollars, of nearly $50,000 to a surviving sister. He was buried at Hartwood Cemetery in Newcomerstown, Ohio.

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© Noel B. Poirier, 2024.