The Beaver County Axe Murders of 1939

 

It was a Wednesday morning in May of 1939 when neighbors of the Cook family made a startling discovery-- a bloody axe lying upon the ground. Being a farming community not far from the Ohio state line, blades and bloody implements weren't terribly uncommon in South Beaver Township; the necessities of daily life often required the butchering of a chicken or the slaughtering of a pig. But there was indeed something about the bloody axe that was very uncommon, and grounds for some concern-- there was hair stuck to the blade, and the hair appeared to be human. That the axe was found on the property of Forrest Cook, a township tax collector, seemed to indicate the possibility of foul play. After all, few folks are as unpopular as the local tax collector. The neighbors-- Walter Gratz, Edward Younginger, John Knowlson, Robert Davis and Ted Young-- got in their car and drove back to Blackhawk to call the police. Sheriff Kennedy and Deputy Sheriff Dindinger left for the Cook homestead at once.

Four miles to the south of the Cook place, Walter Gratz, the operator of the service station on the Old Blackhawk Road had suspected that something might've been amiss earlier that morning when a black 1939 Buick sedan stopped for gas at around seven o'clock. It was Forrest Cook's car, and Gratz knew Mr. Cook quite well-- but the driver was Forrest's teenage son, Paul. When Gratz noticed that Paul was acting strangely, the teenager said that $800 was missing from the Cook home, and that his parents and sister had disappeared. The boy believed that they might've gone to the World's Fair in New York; for they had left their son fifty dollars and note saying that they'd be back in a few days. Gratz, who found the story rather fishy, promptly gathered up some neighbors and drove to the Cook place to investigate, but were prevented from entering by the family's dogs, who were barking ferociously in the yard. Within the hour, troopers from the Butler barracks of the State Police would be inside the home, counting the dead.

Just like the concerned neighbors and Sheriff Kennedy and his deputy, Sergeant Frank Milligan and Private Jacob Hanicheck had also been prevented from entering the property by the growling of the two hunting dogs in the back yard. These were Paul's fox hounds, Towser and Old Sam, which had been given to him by his father when the boy was just three years of age. As the lawmen drew closer, they realized that Old Sam wasn't much of a threat; for he was toothless and nearly blind. The troopers entered the home, and it didn't take them long to find the bodies of Forrest, his wife, Cora, and their daughter, Eleanor. They were upstairs, still in their beds in the single room they shared. The killer had slaughtered them while they were sleeping. Their bodies were also riddled with holes, blasted at close range with a shotgun.

The room was a shambles; blood was splattered everywhere. Even the hardened troopers found it difficult to look at the terribly mangled bodies on the beds, as did Coroner H.C. McCarter, who soon arrived on the scene. Neighbors were questioned, and it was learned that Paul had been butting heads with his father for some time. Forrest had recently refused to allow Paul to get his driver's license, and the teenager had been brooding ever since. But even more damning was the fact that Paul's empty bed was right next to that of his 25-year-old sister, Eleanor. Their beds were tucked behind the chimney which divided their side of the bedroom from that of their parents. How had Paul alone managed to avoid the killer? Sergeant Milligan of the State Police had no choice but to believe that Paul had been the one who had wielded the axe. He immediately requested the Butler barracks to send out a teletype message, reading:

Wanted for suspicion of murder. Paul J. Cook, 17; looks older, five feet eight inches, 160 pounds, stocky build, dark hair, brown eyes, dark complexion. Driving Buick sedan, color black. 1939 model. No operator's license. Believed owned by the victim, his father.

Towser and Old Sam

Chained in the barn on the adjoining farm of Robert Groetzinger were Old Sam and Towser, the fox hounds that had belonged to the suspected killer. For days after the murders, Old Sam howled mournfully in the neighbor's barn. Forrest had given him to Paul when Sam was just a puppy, but age had robbed the hound of its teeth and half of its eyesight. Towser, who was just a few years younger than Old Sam, was totally blind.

"I was there, that morning eleven years ago, when Forrest gave Sam to the kid," recalled Groetzinger, when he spoke to a reporter from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "How happy the kid was." He stopped to look over toward the Cook farm, now crawling with newspapermen and curiosity seekers. "I was over there this morning, too. Well, they're all gone now. All but Paul, and I guess he won't be coming back. I guess it's up to me to put Old Sam and Towser out of the way."

 

Groetzinger with Towser and Old Sam

 

Nabbed At Beaver Falls High

Just six hours after the police issued the bulletin, Paul Cook was apprehended in front of Beaver Falls High School by Private Hanicheck. The teenager was in his father's car with his friends, talking about their "hot dates" for the evening. He was taken back to the scene of the crime and made to look upon the gruesome carnage he had wrought. "There was just a trace of tears as he stood and looked down at his mother, but that was all," stated Sergeant Milligan. Paul expressed no emotion when he looked at the mutilated body of his father.

Paul was taken to the Beaver Falls police station for questioning, and it wasn't long before his icy demeanor melted and he calmly and nonchalantly confessed to the ghastly crime in front of Assistant District Attorney Ralph E. Smith.

Puffing repeatedly on a cigarette, the teenager said that he left his home Tuesday with three other boys. First they drove into Ohio to purchase a bottle of gin, then proceeded to Rochester, where they bought another bottle of gin and a pint of whiskey. From Rochester they drove on to Beaver, stopping to fish in a stream before growing bored and deciding to go for a swim at Montgomery Island Dam. That evening the friends went to a carnival in Vanport, before returning to their homes around midnight. Paul awakened his father accidentally while getting into bed and Forrest, smelling liquor on the boy's breath, gave him a stern lecture. This was the offense that drove Paul Cook to murder.

Paul stated that he waited until his father had gone back to sleep before slipping outside to the spring house and grabbing an axe. He grabbed a shotgun from downstairs and then went back to bed, hiding the weapons beneath his blanket. It was around quarter after three in the morning when he crept out of his bed and struck his father with the blunt end of the axe. Then he struck his mother. This caused his 25-year-old sister, Eleanor, to awaken. Paul pointed the shotgun at her and fired into her face at point blank range.  He fired again at his mother, then picked up the axe and mutilated his three victims.

 

Eleanor Cook

 

Without the Slightest Remorse

Next, Paul went downstairs, washed up and put on a change of clothes. He returned the gun to its customary place, then went to the spring house and drank a bottle of soda. Armed with his father's keys and the money from his wallet, Paul drove to a diner for an early breakfast, then into Beaver Falls, where he purchased a pair of white shoes. After eating a second breakfast in East Palestine, he decided to stop at the home of Mrs. Lydia Wilson, pretending to upset over the disappearance of $800 in tax money from the family home. This was the same cover story he would later tell to Walter Gratz at the service station in Blackhawk.

After filling up the Buick with gas, Paul picked up three girls and drove to a garage in Beaver Falls, where he had a mechanic install a new radio, mirrors and other accessories. "Just charge it to my dad," Paul told the mechanic when he was presented with the bill.

The assistant D.A. was shocked by Paul's lack of remorse. "This boy is not insane, for he recited all of the cold-blooded facts without a tremor," said Smith. "There was no emotion is his face or voice. This is one of the most ruthless slayings in the history of Beaver County."

After questioning, Paul was taken to the courthouse, where he repeated his statement to the district attorney, and then to the county jail. In the meantime, the bodies were taken away to the funeral parlor of Orville Scott in Beaver Falls. When Paul was asked if he wished to attend the funeral services, he just shrugged and asked for a cigarette. The victims were laid to rest at Highland Cemetery, not far from the Cook home.

On May 26, Paul Cook waived his preliminary hearing and was formally arraigned before the magistrate, George Niver, on three charges of first-degree murder. In June, Judge Frank Reader appointed a lunacy commission to determine Paul's sanity at the request of his aunt, Jeanneau White. If found insane, Paul would be spared life imprisonment at Western Penitentiary.

 

 

A Killer Learns His Fate

Wearing the white shoes he had purchased on the morning he had slaughtered his parents and sister, with the money he had stolen from the taxpayers of South Beaver Township, 17-year-old Paul Cook stood before Judge Reader and learned his fate. On September 6, the lunacy commission determined that the teenager was legally insane. But Judge Reader issued a stark reminder to the youth, in case he had thought that he'd gotten off easy: Should Paul ever regain his sanity, he would be required to stand trial for murder.

That day finally came, in September of 1963. After being an inmate at Farview State Hospital for 24 years, Paul Cook, now 41 years of age, was pronounced sane and ordered to stand trial. At the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Joseph S. Walko told the jury that the only fair verdict would be not guilty by reason of insanity, while Dr. John Shovlin, superintendent at Farview, testified that Cook suffered from a persecution complex which had afflicted him since his early teens. According to Dr. Shovlin, Cook had no awareness of what he had done for seven years; he wasn't able to face reality until 1946, and didn't make a full recovery until 1957. Shovlin insisted that Cook no longer presented a danger to himself or others.

After deliberating for ninety-five minutes, the jury rendered a verdict of not guilty. Paul Cook was released from custody and moved to East Palestine, Ohio.

Sources:

New Castle News, May 24, 1939.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 25, 1939.
Pittsburgh Press, May 25, 1939.
New Castle News, May 26, 1939.
Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, June 15, 1939.
Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Sept. 6, 1939.
Pittsburgh Press, Sept. 20, 1963.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept. 28, 1963.