Murder-Suicide in 1902: Sarah Brooks

 Illustration of murder scene,
from SL Herald Republican June 26 1902.

Today in History, June 25 1902, Edward Brown Hemsley murdered his ex-wife, Sarah Brooks, and then killed himself at his parents home in Sugar House, Salt Lake City.

Edward B. was a son of prominent Sugar House businessman and Mormon leader, Edward Potter Hemsley, who co-owned the brickmaking facility at what we now know as Brickyard.

Edward B. Hemsley married Sarah Brooks in Nov 1900 when Edward was 24 years old and Sarah was 21 years old. They lived in in Edward’s parents house, the old Hemsley estate located at what is now 1923 S 1200 East. The couple lived in a second story room that was only partially finished and had bare rafters overhead.

By April 1902, Edward B. and Sarah had divorced and Sarah moved back with her father in the Avenues neighborhood of SLC. She attempted many times to call on Edward B. to retrieve her furniture and personal belongings from the Hemsley house but she was never allowed. 

Ultimately, she secured a court order for her property and requested the presence of Salt Lake County Sheriff, George H. Naylor, to keep the peace while she removed her belongings from the house.

She finished packing her belongings about noon on a Wednesday, June 25 1902, when Edward B. and two of his brothers returned to the house on a load of hay. Edward B. made a remark that he wished Sarah “to have everything that is hers” and then went upstairs in the house. Sarah was saying goodbye to Edward’s mother outside the house and next to the wagon full of her belongings. Sarah said that she “wished Edward well in whatever he does.”

Suddenly, Edward B. shot Sarah in the head from an upstairs window, killing her instantly. Sherriff Naylor was only 3 feet from Sarah and looked up at the window to see a smoking shotgun. He ran upstairs and was halfway there when he heard another shot. Sherriff Naylor found Edward B. dead on his back beside the window in a dark pool of his own blood.

Separate funerals were held for the deceased and they were buried in different sections of the Salt Lake City Cemetery, Sarah under her maiden name of Brooks. 

Edward B.’s father would not allow his son to be buried in the family plot so he was buried in one of the potters fields of the SLC Cemetery “where lie the indigent dead.”

The house where the murder-suicide took place was demolished about 1968. An apartment complex now occupies the area at 1923 S 1200 East.

Sources: SL Tribune June 26 1902; SL Herald Republican June 26 1902; SL Herald June 28 1902.

Image of the Edward B. Hemsley and Sarah Brooks about 1901
from SL Herald Republican June 26 1902.

Image of the house ca 1907 at 1923 S 1200 East where the murder-suicide happened 
with Edward B.’s parents and sister, from ancestry user keyray69.

Body of Murderer Adorned in Tattoos Becomes Public Spectacle

A photograph of Mrs. Alma Crandall and
her daughter Grace that was found in the
personal trunk of Mr. Harrison. From Salt
Lake Herald Republican Aug 24 1909.

Today in history: “Crazed by repeated repulses from the woman he loved, Mr. Ashley Harrison, alias Larry Kavanaugh, slashed Mrs. Alma Crandall in the neck with a razor in her home at 143 Social Hall Ave, followed the screaming woman into the backyard where he again slashed and cut her with the razor until she fell to the ground from the loss of blood, and then cut his own throat from ear to ear, almost severing the head from the body.” Such was the heinous crime as reported a day later in the Salt Lake Tribune August 22, 1909.

Beyond the brutality of the attempted murder and the suicide was the spectacle that Mr. Harrison provided to the residents of SLC after his death. The body of Mr. Harrison was taken to the undertaking parlor of Joseph William Taylor to see if any relatives or friends would claim his body. Word soon spread through town that the man’s body was covered in colorful tattoos.

“Upon his chest was a spider’s web filled with flies, tattooed in colors. Around his neck was a wreath of roses with a humming bird’s bill in each flower. Upon each shoulder was a large colored butterfly. Upon one forearm was a large beautifully colored dragon, and upon the other a Chinese joss house. Above the dragon was the clasped hands, the emblem of the I.O.O.F. Above the emblem was a caterpillar and below it was another butterfly. Upon his back, the head in the center of his body and the two wings extending the full width of his back was another butterfly done in colors. All of the tattoo work was excellently done.” Salt Lake Herald Republican August 23 1909. Mr. Harrison was found to be a sailor on the steamship the Empress of India running out of Vancouver to Hong Kong and Tokyo, where it is likely that he got his tattoos.

The body of Mr. Harrison remained unclaimed and he was buried in Paupers Field of the Salt Lake City Cemetery. The body was placed in a plain pine box and lowered into the grave without ceremony.

Mrs. Crandall eventually recovered and resided in SLC for the rest of her life; she passed away on January 9, 1954, at the age of 74 and is also interred in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

A photograph of Mr. Ashley Harrison.
From Salt Lake Herald Republican Aug 24 1909.

Example of the style of tattoos found on the body of
Mr. Harrison, these were done by Japanese tattooist Kakegawa in 1908.
From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle June 28 1908.