(daily column in Warsaw Times Union)
A Classic Crime
The January issue of Master Detective
magazine tells again the story of Our County's famed Decker murder
case--a story that is becoming a classic in the annals of American
crime. The tale has appeared at some time or other in almost every
detective magazine being published. The latest version appears
under the title, "Torture cottage," and is written by
John Darnell. This cottage, by the way, still stands along the
Tippecanoe river, and is now owned by Joe Rovenstine, of Atwood,
a former deputy sheriff of Our County.
Death In the Night
On the night of March 12, 1921 --almost
30 years ago--the engineer of a fast Pennsylvania freight train
stiffened as he approached Robinson's crossing, a short distance
west of Atwood. The glare of his headlight revealed a buggy, with
no horse harnessed to it, standing directly in the path of the
locomotive. He applied his brakes, but it was too late to avoid
striking the buggy, which was reduced to kindling wood. The crew
jumped from the train, and soon found the body of a youth lying
between the two tracks. He was alive, but unconscious. The injured
young man was placed aboard a westbound passenger train and taken
to Bourbon. There he died a few hours later without having spoken
a word.
No Accident
Several factors in the case immediately pointed to murder. First,
examination of the body revealed that the youth had been tortured.
His lower jaw was broken. Marks on his throat showed that an attempt
had been made to strangle him. Escelsior had been stuffed into
his mouth, apparently to stifle his outcries. The clothing was
wet--and, oddly enough covered with sand. A letter in the coach
pocket identified the victim as Virgil Decker, who lived on a
farm with his brother, Fred, near Atwood. Meanwhile, Sheriff Charles
Moon, of Warsaw, had been called to the accident scene, and he
at once launched a careful investigation.
The Vanishing Horse
Sheriff Moon first questioned the train
crew. The engineer was certain that no horse was attached to the
buggy before his locomotive struck the vehicle. The problem was
complicated when an abandoned Ford touring car was found not far
away. However, the sheriff returned to the crossing and noticed
a horse's peculiarly shaped shoeprints, almost round, leading
away from the crossing to the south where the road winds down
toward the old Decker farm and the Tippecanoe river. Following
the prints, he found that they led to the Decker farm. In a barn
on the farm was the horse, standing in a stall with his harness
on and unhurt. Moreover, examination of the ends of the harness
indicated that they had been cut with a knife.
A Question of Identity
On the following morning the two brothers
of Virgil Decker, Fred and Cal, and the mother, Mrs. Lydia Decker,
identified the victim as their brother and son. But on the following
day a new and startling element entered into the case when two
grief-stricken parents arrived in Bourbon from Elkhart. They were
the father and mother of 19-year old Leroy Lovett, a friend of
Virgil Decker; and, strangely enough, Leroy had closely resembled
Virgil. Mr. and Mrs. Lovett were taken to view the body and immediately
identified it as their son. The parents told officers that Leroy
had left his home in Elkhart with Virgil Decker two nights previous
in a car. Leroy had said that Virgil was going to drive him to
Albion to visit Leroy's sister. However, Leroy had never reached
his sister's home. Up to the hour of the inquest, both families
continued to claim the body.
Torture Cottage
Meanwhile, Sheriff Moon was searching
for either another dead body or the living Leroy, or the living
Virgil. His search took him to the Tippecanoe river, about a mile
south of the crossing, where a summer cottage stood unoccupied
since the previous fall, and almost surrounded by overflow water.
This was the murder scene. Sheriff Moon found windows broken,
cupboards smashed, tables and chairs overturned. Blood was spattered
all over the interior--on floors, walls, windows and furniture.
Bloody handprints were found upon the door, both inside and out.
It was obvious that the struggle had shifted from the large room
to the two adjourning bedrooms, for the walls and floors of all
three rooms bore bloodstains, as well as the windows and doors.
Sheriff Moon found marks which indicated that the victim had crawled
on his hands and knees from the door down to the river bank and
back to the cottage.
The Victim Identified
At Bourbon on the following day, the body was positively identified
as Leroy Lovett, and the Decker family withdrew their claim. The
Deckers said they had no knowledge of where 18-year-old Virgil
had gone. Immediately after the coroner's inquest at Bourbon,
a warrant was issued for the arrest of Virgil Decker, charging
him with the murder of his friend to whom he bore such a striking
resemblance. On the following day word came that Virgil had been
arrested and was being held in jail at Marion, Indiana. Sheriff
Moon brought Virgil to Warsaw on March 16--four days after the
accident--and he was lodged in the county jail. When questioned,
Virgil stoutly maintained his innocence, insisted that he had
spent the day of March 12 at his brother Fred's farm doing the
chores while Fred and his wife were visiting relatives in Larwill
and that he had left for Marion to see his uncle in the evening.
Double Indemnity
The authorities continued their inquiries. They found that Virgil,
who earned $40 a month and his board on his brother's farm had
taken out, within three months preceding the crime, three insurance
policies totaling $24,000 two of which paid double indemnity in
case of accidental death. The three policies required the payment
of $500 a year in premiums. The brother, Fred, was named as beneficiary
in each policy. Fred's statement that he had been in Larwill and
had not returned to Atwood until 10 o'clock on the fatal night
was found to be true. The Ford touring car found abandoned near
the crossing was claimed by Russel Gill, a garage owner at Elkhart,
who testified later that Virgil had rented it from him on the
night preceding the crossing incident under an assumed name. Meanwhile,
Virgil began making a series of alleged confessions. In the first
two accounts he claimed a third youth from Elkhart, identified
only as Guy, was the slayer. He admitted renting the car, and
said that Leroy had given up his plan to go to Albion when it
was suggested that they go to the Tippecanoe cottage and cook
some chickens.
Indictments Returned
Howard, Virgil's third confession named
himself as the murderer. But he refused to connect the slaying
with the insurance. He gave no motive for his alleged crime other
than: "The Devil made me do it." Several days later
a fourth confession was made in which Virgil named a friend of
the Decker family as the killer. This man was proved innocent.
Each confession conflicted with the others, and the truth of all
of them was seriously questioned by investigators. Meanwhile,
the grand jury was called into session and the case considered
for five days. Indictments for first degree murder were returned
against Virgil Decker, his brothers, Fred and Cal, and their mother,
Mrs. Lydia Decker, of Elkhart. At this time eight prisoners were
being held in jail in Warsaw on first degree murder charges. Besides
the Deckers, there was a quartet of Chicago bandits, held for
the murder of a Culver merchant during a bank robbery. These men
were later defended in Warsaw by the famed criminal attorney,
the late Clarence Darrow. Floodlights were installed around the
jail, and armed guards patrolled the place night and day.
The Trial Begins
The four Deckers were arraigned in the Kosciusko circuit court
with Judge L. W. Royse on the bench. All pleaded not guilty. Virgil
requested a separate trial which was granted by the court. The
trial began on June 1, 1921, with Prosecutor H. W. Graham, assisted
by L. R. Stookey, representing the state. Newspaper men were present
from Chicago, Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. In the courtroom were
the exhibits: blood-soaked pillows, excelsior, a straw tick, an
auto robe and a couch with a blood spot a foot square. There was
the alleged death weapon --an iron bar two and a half foot in
length. A large pine door stood near the witness stand bearing
the bloody fingerprints of the victim. All bore mute testimony
to the desperate death struggle that occurred that March night
30 years ago in the lonely cottage on the river. Prosecuting attorney
Graham opened for the state and demanded the death penalty. The
state charged that the motive for the crime had been the insurance,
and that the only true confession that Virgil had made was the
one in which he said that he alone had killed Leroy Lovett.
A Brilliant Defense
The defense attorneys presented a strong case. They contended
that there was no conspiracy to defraud the insurance companies.
Fred Decker's father-in-law, a man of wealth, testified that he
had assisted Fred in meeting payments on his farm, and that Fred
had no desperate need for money. It was claimed that Virgil, in
taking out the insurance, had the idea that he could make himself
rich in 20 years for less than $500 a year. The defense proved
that all the insurance agents had first solicited Virgil --that
he did not first seek them. It was pointed out that if Virgil
had wanted to disappear, he would not have gone to Marion where
he was well known. Virgil's reputation in the community had been
good. His confession that Guy had been the slayer was accepted
by the defense. Two witnesses testified to having seen a stranger
near the cottage and the farm home on the night of the crime.
Virgil was in Atwood several times during the day, and it was
claimed that he would not have left Leroy in the cottage alone
--to wander out, be seen, and spread an alarm.
A Verdict of Guilty
After deliberating three hours on June 10, the jury returned a
verdict of guilty of murder, in the first degree, but imposing
a sentence of life imprisonment. The brilliant defense, raising
questions still unanswered, had saved Virgil from the electric
chair.
He was sent to the state prison at Michigan City to serve his sentence. Four days later, Fred and Cal were released on bonds signed by their friends and neighbors. During the time Fred Decker was in jail, his neighbors did his farm work for him and offered him financial assistance. Mrs. Decker was held not responsible, and released. Fred later received a change of venue to Columbia City, was tried and found not guilty. Cal Decker never was brought to trial. So ends this classic case that seemed destined to go down in the history of American crime, endlessly retold. And it happened right here in our county.
Warsaw Times Union February 24th & 25th, 1951