The Carlisle Courtroom Killer

 

When one thinks of murder scenes, the mind naturally gravitates towards secluded wilderness spots, dark basements, bedrooms, bar rooms and back alleys. The actors in these grisly crimes, if justice is lucky, are arrested and locked up until such time as they are called upon by the criminal justice system to face the consequences of their sinister deeds in a courtroom. We tend to view courtrooms as impregnable places where killers go to face the music for their crimes-- not places where a murder is likely to occur. Yet, the Cumberland County Courthouse in Carlisle was the scene of a shootout in 1955 which resulted in the death of an attorney, and the wounding of several others, including a judge.

Percy Haines was a 60-year-old farmer from the Bridgewater district of Mifflin Township, between Newburg and Newville, who had moved onto the old 100-acre Heberlig farm in the spring of 1954. Haines, who had been born and raised in Carroll County, Maryland, spent much of his working life in Chicago, where he lived with his wife, Lulu, until they became estranged. Upon his retirement, Percy decided to move to Cumberland County and take up farming. Under his employ were two capable farmhands, Pete and Sam Showaker, and the nearest neighbor was several hundred yards up the lonesome road.  The few who knew him remarked that Haines was a sullen, silent sort of fellow. His nearest neighbor, Irvin Russel, said that Haines had never once paid a neighborly visit, while the owner of the local hardware store, Ken Bowman, said that Haines was a regular customer, but seldom spoke. "He had a habit of staring," Bowman later recalled.

Perhaps it was Percy Haines' unemotional behavior that led to his separation with his wife, Lulu, a native of Waynesboro, Franklin County, who had left him 20 years earlier. He had arrived in Pennsylvania alone, and it seemed that he had forgotten all about his estranged wife until May of 1955, when Lulu hired an attorney and sued Percy for non-support. In early May, Chambersburg attorney George H. Black, who was representing Lulu Haines, petitioned Judge Edmund C. Wingerd of Franklin County to set a date for a non-support hearing. Judge Wingerd discussed the case with the district attorney, Rudolph Wertime, who was told that under the Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act of 1953, the hearing must take place in the county in which the defendant resides.

On July 11, Judge Wingerd filed an opinion, declaring that the date and location of the hearing had been improperly set, and the case was transferred to Cumberland County. Unfortunately, Percy Haines "didn't get the memo" and traveled to Waynesboro for the cancelled hearing. Upon his arrival, Lulu swore out a warrant for his arrest, charging him with non-support. Percy was held under bond, as the police had charged him under the criminal provisions of the law; the previous action had been taken under the civil code. Quite understandably, this unnecessary arrest put Percy Haines in a rather sour mood. The date for the non-support hearing had already been set in Cumberland County, and Lulu had nothing to gain by putting Percy in jail, other than a smug satisfaction. It was a vindictive act, pure and simple.

 

 

The History of Haines & Faller

This change of venue presented a problem for Lulu's attorney, George Black, who was not licensed to practice law in Cumberland County. As a result, he had to have a local attorney assist him in presenting the case before the judge, Mark E. Garber. Black chose a lawyer named John Faller, Jr. Meanwhile, Carlisle attorney Boyd Landis would be representing Percy Haines.

John Faller was an up-and-coming 41-year-old lawyer. His father had been the first general counsel for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and Junior quickly made a name for himself as he followed in his father's footsteps. Suave and snappily dressed, the youthful attorney didn't appear to have much in common with a retired farmer from sparsely-populated Mifflin Township, but Haines and Faller's paths had crossed only a year earlier. Judge Garber was presiding over a case argued by John Faller, who was representing the Newville Taxpayer Association, which was an assembly of local farmers who often approached Fuller with their concerns. As a member of the NTA, Haines was very familiar with Percy, and vice versa. That day, before Judge Garber, Faller was squaring off against Boyd Landis, who was representing the Big Spring School District. Ironically, Landis would be representing Percy Haines at the non-support hearing just one year later. In the case of Haines v. Haines, the principals would remain the same, and the hearing would be held inside the very same courtroom.

On the morning of Tuesday, August 2, the proceedings in the non-support case against Haines got underway. The testimony and evidence presented were standard courtroom fare-- hardly anything that would make for an episode of Perry Mason-- but it was the ending of the hearing that earned Percy Haines his spot in Pennsylvania infamy.

A Tragedy Unfolds

At 12:40, seconds after Judge Mark E. Garber ordered Percy Haines to pay his estranged wife $50 a month in support, the defendant produced a .22 calibre pistol and opened fire. Lulu Haines had been shot in her left side. In the blink of an eye, attorney John Faller collapsed to the floor with a bullet through his chest. He not only managed to crawl of ouf the room, but was standing upright when the ambulance finally arrived. Lulu's other attorney, George H. Black of Chambersburg, was wounded in the right shoulder and yet another bullet struck Judge Garber, entering his left arm. Haines' attorney, Boyd Landis, later said that he was surprised that his client hadn't shot him as well. "After all, I had just lost the case," he told reporters.

 

 

It was Judge Garber's thirty-year-old secretary, George Geiger, who managed to overpower the shooter and wrestle the gun from his hand. Geiger, who wasn't in the mood to play games, reported shouted at Haines, "If there are any more bullets left in this gun, you are going to get them. So stand still or I'll let you have it!" As a result, Geiger was able to restrain the 60-year-old farmer until the State Police arrived, joined by District Attorney Clinton R. Weidner. Corporal Frank Bender and Private Charles Sheaman of the Carlisle barracks were the first to respond, and they transported the shooter the short distance to the Cumberland County prison.

Ambulances raced to the scene. Faller was the first to be rushed to the hospital, but died at 1:25 shortly after his arrival. After a funeral service at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, he was laid to rest in the church cemetery. Lulu Haines was given eleven pints of blood at the Carlisle Hospital but remained in critical condition through Wednesday, when she began to show signs of improvement. She was discharged two weeks later.

 

Witness Reactions

"The whole thing happened in a matter of seconds," recounted Mrs. Jessie Holtzman, of the county probation office. "Before you realized it, it was all over. He just seemed to shoot them down in the order he had picked." While only a handful had seen the shootings take place, dozens saw the aftermath of the carnage. One office girl had just turned down a hallway to see a man crawling on his hands and knees through the doorway; this would prove to be John Faller. Another office worker saw Faller crawling along the corridor, leaving a trail of blood. "Get the police," he groaned, as he dragged his wounded body into the clerk of court's office, which was empty at the time. Faller managed to pick up clerk C.H. Humrich's telephone and place a call to the police. It was desk clerk Whitey Liebrum who answered the call, who recounted Faller's final words: "My God, get an ambulance and the police to the courthouse. There has been a shooting." Liebrum said he then heard the telephone drop. Although Faller was conscious when the ambulance arrived at the hospital, he soon lapsed into a coma.

 

 

Geiger, who was celebrated as a hero, and rightly so, told reporters his account of the tragedy. "Haines was standing in front of me with the gun pointed at my head," he said. "I just jumped at him and we had a brief tussle and I took the gun from him." The secretary with the nerves of steel said that Haines "went berzerk" after Judge Garber handed down his decision, shouting that he didn't have that kind of money. Some reports erroneously claimed that one of Haines' daughters, Velma Moats, had been the real hero-- knocking the gun from her father's hand by hitting him over the head with a chair. In all of Geiger's statements to the press, he never mentioned this event taking place, and the artist's sketch of the courtroom failed to show Mrs. Moats anywhere near the principals in the room, thereby disproving her claims.

After the shooting, Judge Garber calmly walked into the law library, then rapped on the door of the jury room where he encountered President Judge Dale F. Shughart and his court reporter, Gladys Cramer. "I've been shot," said Judge Garber. Shughart and Cramer helped Garber take off his robe before escorting him down Court Street to a waiting ambulance.

 

 

The Sentencing of Percy Haines

As Percy Haines sat in prison awaiting trial on the charge of first-degree murder, he expressed very little emotion. However, he exploded in a fit of rage in the early morning hours of August 12 when he was hit with six different lawsuits totaling more than $600,000. These included damage suits brought by Faller's family, by Chambersburg attorney George Black, and by his estranged wife, who demanded $50,000 for her medical expenses. Upon learning of Lulu's lawsuit, Percy knocked himself unconscious by pounding his head against the door and walls of his cell.

On September 29, 1955, Haines went on trial for his life before a Cumberland County jury and Judge W.C. Sheely. Although he was found guilty, the jury recommended a life sentence for the retired farmer. "You are very fortunate in that the jury found extenuating circumstances in deciding that your sentence should be life imprisonment," Sheely declared at sentencing. "The evidence of the Commonwealth fully justified returning a verdict sending you to the electric chair."

Haines died at the State Correctional Institution in Dallas, Luzerne County, in 1968, despite numerous petitions and appeals. His 1961 petition for a pardon was "irrevocably opposed" by Cumberland County District Attorney Harold S. Irwin, who wrote: "In open court this defendant murdered an attorney, shot another attorney, his wife and the presiding judge. His crime is without parallel-- it is shocking beyond description." On January 29, 1968, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed his petition for a new sentence. He died the following day, at the age of 73, and was buried at Antietam Church Cemetery in Waynesboro, Franklin County.

Sources:

Carlisle Sentinel, Aug. 3, 1955.
Newville Times-Star, Aug. 3, 1955.
Lebanon Daily News, Aug. 3, 1955.
Carlisle Sentinel, Aug. 12, 1955.
Carlisle Sentinel, July 7, 1961.
Carlisle Sentinel, Jan. 30, 1968.