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Chapter Ten
Her Majesty The Queen, Elizabeth II
Versus Jerry Simmons and Glen Lotharp
(The case of the Murderer who returned to the scene of the crime)
It was the practice that when there was to be an execution at the Simcoe Jail, a black flag would fly from the Town Hall mast. That practice was carried out in the case of McAuliffe, as it had been with Emerson Shelley. The black flag would fly for the last time on March 2, 1955, when jerry Simmons, and American citizen, became the last man executed in Norfolk. His colleague Glen Lotharp, barely escaped the noose himself. Bruce and Ira Beatty, aged 68 and 64 respectively, were murdered. Of that there was no doubt. The drama and intrigue of murder as seen on television and in films is dispelled with an examination of the case. Retired farmers, by February of 1954 they had put their savings and labours into their combination restaurant/service station and cabins on the Southeast corner of Highway 24 and Regional Road 5 in Renton, East of Simcoe. On Tuesday, February 1, 1954, the Beattys called the Simcoe Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police concerning a man who had identified himself as Homer Ames of Syracuse, New York, who had given them a bad cheque for gas and accommodation. Ames, a black man, was traveling with a white woman, who he identified as his wife but whose name was not known. Her identity would be a mystery for the authorities. A license plate number was given to the Police who proceeded to look for the vehicle. Simcoe O.P.P Constable Sam Way, stopped off at the Beatty that same night and spoke to them. They asked the Officer to leave the matter and not proceed further as they didn't expect to get their money back and didn't want to antagonize the man. The officer left. No one, except their killer, saw them alive (or fully alive) again. On the morning of February 3, Raymond Charles, a trucker, went to the Beattys to get gas. He found the power to the pump was off, so he went to the restaurant. What he saw was horrifying. Mr. Beatty lay beaten on the floor in a pool of blood. He heard moans but he couldn't tell from where. Charles ran across the road to another service station and police were called. Constable Way was the first Officer to arrive on the scene, which was dramatically different from the way he had left it. Mrs. Beatty was in the bedroom, apparently still alive and near the empty tin can in which it was known the couple routinely kept cash and coins. Robbery was the obvious motive. The home appeared to have been thoroughly searched. Both victims were transported to Simcoe Hospital where Coroner, Dr. J.R. Harker, pronounced Mr. Beatty dead at 6:40 that night. Mrs. Beatty was taken unconscious to the Hospital. She would never again regain consciousness to tell her tale. She died almost three weeks later. A team of O.P.P. Criminal Investigation Bureau detectives was assigned. The investigation showed that an American, one Jerry Simmons of Syracuse New York, had in fact recently had his car repaired at Aitken's Garage in Simcoe. Homer Ames had told Mr. Beatty, according to Constable Way, that he had car problems. Homer Ames was in fact, Jerry Simmons. A Province-wide alert was issued by the morning of February 4th. The next day, Friday, February 5, at 10:00 a.m., Constable Donald Pursley of Simcoe, noted a car bearing Michigan plates, two miles east of Simcoe. Upon stopping the car, he found the seated in the middle to be Simmons accompanied by Glen Lotharp and one Henry Little. They were brought back to Simcoe Detachment, separated and questioned. Little said he was the Uncle of Lotharp and that he had only known Simmons for one week. He said he had never spent a night in Canada. Lotharp of Detroit said he had never been in Canada before. The middle passenger, Jerry Simmons of Syracuse New York was questioned and he told Police that the last time he had been through the Simcoe area was on New Year's Eve and he had not stopped. The men were held in custody over night. The next morning, the Police interrogation continued and Simmons this time, declared that he had been to Simcoe with Lotharp and had in fact visited the Beatty the preceding Monday night but not on the Tuesday or Wednesday when the crime had been committed. This was the first link to the Beattys. Lotharp was reinterviewed and gave a statement that he and Simmons had been down on Sunday and stayed the night, returning to Detroit on Monday after having some car repairs done in Simcoe. He further said they had gone to the Beattys on Tuesday night having purchased two toy pistols and were coming to rob them of money. The evidence was closing in on both men. Lotharp told the story of a robbery gone bad. He told Police they had approached the Beatty with toy pistols and demanded money and that when the Beattys had resisted, Simmons had struck them. Lotharp said that he had gone outside on Simmons instructions and that it was Simmons who had decided to knock them out. They drove off to Detroit. Lotharp received fifty-six dollars as his share of the crime. With this, the Police arrested Simmons for the murder of Bruce Beatty. Mrs. Beatty hovered near death in Simcoe Hospital. Simmons then gave a statement, essentially confirming what Lotharp had told the Police. As for the third man, Henry little, it was learned that he had pawned a radio in Detroit. A search was done of Lotharp's apartment in Detroit in which were found, two toy pistols. Mr. William F. Abbey, the owner of a radio store in Simcoe, advised the Police that he had sold Bruce Beatty a radio on December 4, 1953, and that this was the only radio of that type he had in his store. The radio recovered in the pawn shop in Detroit was exactly the same type and model number as the one he had sold Mr. Beatty. Murder had been committed for fifty-six dollars, a tank of gas and a radio! Murder committed by dangerous men who fled the scene, fled the country, only to return to Canada within two days and within two miles of the scene of the horrendous crime. Simmons was tried and convicted. His lawyer, Harold Stafford of St. Thomas, argued before Mr. Justice Barlow at the Court House in Simcoe, that his client was not guilty of murder but only of manslaughter or robbery. Lotharp, sharing the prisoner's box with Simmons, was also found guilty of murder but received from the Jury a recommendation for mercy. No such recommendation was forthcoming for Simmons. Eventually the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned Lotharp's conviction and he was re-tried in Simcoe for his part on the robbery charge along. On this charge he was sentenced to fifteen years in the Federal Penitentiary. At the time and indeed until only recently, a murder charge could only be tried with another count of murder and not with any other offense. All of the available evidence was consistent with Lotharp's statement that in fact, he was there for a robbery and was outside when the killings occurred. Curiously, Simmons would hang only for the murder of Mr. Beatty. He was never tried for killing Mrs. Beatty. It was felt that it would be unnecessary to try him again for her killing since the evidence with respect to Mrs. Beatty was the same as it was for Mr. Beatty. The same was true for Henry Sovereene on hundred thirty years before who was tried, sentenced and hanged for the death of his wife only and not that of his murdered children. On March 2nd, 1955, the fatal and final telegram arrived on the desk of the Crown Attorney, Teak Tisdale. "Clemency denied by Federal Cabinet." Before being hanged, Simmons, a divorced sharecropper from Syracuse, had a revelation to make. American Police Officers from Syracuse attended and questioned him about a murder of a sixty year old tailor, one Jacob Goldstein of Syracuse New York on April 14, 1948. Simmons confessed. He said he and a woman had killed the old tailor in a robbery gone bad not unlike the Beatty robbery. Shortly after his confession, he called the American Officers back in and said that everything he had told them about the murder of Goldstein was true except the part about the woman. American Police continued their investigation. Witnesses said Simmons was pensive before his death but calm. He asked for a couple of puffs on a cigarette before he was hanged. Dr. MacIntosh, the Coroner who had attended at McAuliffe's execution, stood below and beside the trapdoor in the Norfolk County Jail. This time, the executioner had calculated the drop correctly. The rope was adjusted and the lever was pulled. Jerry Simmons, triple murdered, died instantly. Like McAuliffe, he was buried in an unmarked grave in St. Mary's Cemetery. The identity of the mystery woman he traveled with was never determined. |
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©
2005 Norfolk Law Association. All Rights Reserved. Last Updated: December
30th, 2006
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