A Fatal Eviction: The 1954 Murder of Harvey Johnson

Kicked out of his apartment, a Dennison man took his rage out on the World War Two veteran who evicted him.

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The paths of an older chef and a volatile young veteran were set on a collision course that led to a final, violent confrontation in a Dennison apartment. Harvey Clyde Johnson (1901-hi 1954) was a World War II veteran who served honorably in the Army, worked for decades as a professional chef in Cleveland. Divorced by 1951, he returned to Dennison to live at 19 Center Street with his mother. Stewart Duane Merryman (1929-1966), was a troubled young veteran who already spent time in a reformatory following a 1949 restaurant burglary conviction.

The paths of these two men converged due to a tense, shared domestic arrangement at 19 Center Street. The property was owned by Johnson’s mother, who employed Merryman’s mother as her housekeeper. Merryman’s mother lived in the apartment, with both Harvey and Stewart as well. Tensions quickly peaked because Stewart refused to work or contribute financially to the household expenses. Fed up with this arrangement, Harvey evicted Stewart from the home and refused to let him return. Irate and homeless, Stewart harbored a grudge and openly threatened vengeance against Johnson.

Stewart’s anger was compounded by his escalating mental instability and alcohol abuse. A year earlier, on January 3, 1953, while in police custody for intoxication, Stewart broke away from the police officer and attempted suicide by slashing his throat in the middle of the street. After recovering at Twin City Hospital, he was committed to the Massillon State Hospital. Stewart was out on probation by early January 1954 from the state hospital but continued to struggle with heavy drinking, which consistently triggered violent outbursts.

The tension exploded into homicidal violence in the early morning of January 9, 1954. Fueled by alcohol and rage over his eviction, Stewart broke into the Center Street apartment at 1:00 a.m. by smashing the wooden panels out of a locked door. He forced his way into the bedroom, dragged a sleeping Harvey from his bed, and savagely beat and kicked him with heavy work shoes in the living room. Stewart’s brother discovered the assault and called the police. Harvey was rushed to Twin City Hospital with severe brain injuries and a fractured skull, and he passed away at 2:15 a.m. on Sunday, January 10.

Though initially charged with manslaughter, Tuscarawas County recalled a grand jury in February to consider the case. Despite the original charge, the grand jury ultimately decided to indict Stewart for second-degree murder. Facing a potential murder conviction, Stewart Merryman decided to accept a plea deal and pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to serve 1 to 20 years in the Ohio Penitentiary. Stewart arrived there to begin serving his sentence in May 1954.

Stewart was paroled in mid-1959 but was quickly arrested for public intoxication and a parole violation at a home in Uhrichsville. His history of brawling continued into 1966 when he was fined for a fight at the Hollywood Inn on Center Street. On July 2, 1966, at 12:18 a.m., an intoxicated Stewart walked directly into the path of a westbound Pennsylvania Railroad train at the 3rd Street crossing in Dennison, ending his turbulent life at the age of 37. In a final, quiet intersection of their fates, both the troubled killer and his victim were laid to rest in Uhrichsville’s Union Cemetery.

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© Noel B. Poirier, 2026.