The Enigmatic Sweitzers, Chapter 7

In the cemetery at Raisin City, California, a few miles southwest of downtown Fresno, are found four nearly identical, crudely wrought square markers, each bearing a name and the year 1933. One marks the burial of Everett John Sweitzer, eldest son of John W. and Leora (Savoree) Sweitzer, and grandson of George A. and Elizabeth (Tapscott) Sweitzer. The tragic story of the four markers bearing a single year is not for tender ears.

Everett, who spelled and signed his name his name “Evertt” in his younger days, was born in Clark County, Illinois, on 3 Aug 1890. Possibly as a result of having served at stateside military hospital duty during WWI, Everett ended up in California. In 1918 he was working in Fresno County for A. Mattel, a wine maker, and in 1920 he was a farmhand at a Fresno County “grain ranch.”

In 1921, in Fresno, Everett married Elmira Juda (also “Judy”) Sherfey. Born around 1867 in Nebraska to Christopher C. and Mary Catherine Sherfey, Elmira had been married twice before. In 1885 she wedded George E. Goodwater, and the couple farmed in North Dakota. Then in 1903 she married William Dennis York, and the two homesteaded in Colorado. The first marriage, which ended in divorce, produced three children—Eva, Florence, and Walter Edward. The second marriage, which ended with Williamk's death in 1918, was childless.

Around 1920 Elmira moved to Fresno County, California, where her father, Christopher, and brothers Robert and Levi were living. There she met and married Everett.

Despite a large difference in age (Elmira was about 23 years older than Everett!), the marriage appeared to be successful. The couple, which operated a small dairy and poultry ranch, was eventually joined by Elmira's son Walter, whose marriage to Pearl E. Christian had disintegrated, and then by Walter’s two girls, Ella Mae and Mary Eunice, who had been living with relatives after their parents’ breakup. And Everett could not have been happier. He loved the girls.

But things were not all that rosy. Everett had financial problems. The ranch was heavily encumbered. And Everett became fanatically religious, filling the small farmhouse with religious calendars and books.

Friday, 22 September 1933 appeared perfectly normal on the Sweitzer ranch. Everett had been working all day and had been joined by Elmira’s brother Robert who helped fix a pump. When Robert met Everett at the ranch house door that evening, he heard Everett say “'I am the only one left alive. You go home and call the coroner.” Instead, the sheriff was summoned.

When deputies arrived at the ranch and confronted Everett, he dashed into the house put a pistol to his head, said “God be with me,” and fired a single shot. Inside the house the deputies found Elmira and her two granddaughters, dead. Notes scattered throughout the home told the story. Elmira, seated in a chair, had been poisoned the preceding day. A note read “My wife dead 2:30 noon September 21st. I poisoned her. I hope and pray she has gone to a better world. I know she was a good woman and is better off.” The two granddaughters, wrapped in a sheet, had been clubbed to death that morning, apparently with a claw hammer. A note declared “Girl's dead 6 A.M. I know they are better off and go to a better place.” Ella was thirteen; Mary was ten.

At a funeral the following Tuesday morning, four coffins, containing the bodies of Elmira, Ella, Mary, and Everett, were placed in the Church of the Brethren in Raisin City. A grief-stricken Walter was present, but the girls' mother, Pearl, said it was impossible for her to attend. Following the service with the sermon “Suffer the Little Children,” the four victims were buried in a single large grave. One of Everett’s notes at the murder scene requested a gravestone for each and this was done though the markers were crude and some names misspelled. The “U.” in Mary’s name apparently stands for “Eunice.” “Switzer” should have been “Sweitzer” and “Everette,” “Everett.”

Everett’s Clark County relatives seemed more concerned with Everett’s property than with his fate. Within days of the multiple killings, Charles Sweitzer wrote the Fresno sheriff asking what was to become of his brother's estate. Notes left by Everett at the scene of the tragedy indicated that Elmira's son Walter Goodwater, father of the murdered girls, was to get the farm. But it was not to be so. Everett left a will giving everything to his wife if she survived him. She, of course, did not, preceding him by a day. Everett’s father, John, and brother, Charles, ended up with the $4,000 estate. Why Everett's sister, Ethel Mae, was not included is unknown.

The Enigmatic Sweitzers, Chapter 6

Following her divorce to John Sweitzer, Malinda Robinson, lived in Casey with her brother-in-law Harry Shipley. One newspaper article concerning her move to Casey referred to Malinda as "Jennie Shipley Switzer Shipley," though there is no evidence that she and Harry were ever married. Malinda, however, was married three more times. In Effingham, on 30 Oct 1905, she married Thomas McKeever a marriage that ended in Mar 1910 with a divorce due to “drunkenness, cruelty and desertion.” Then, again in Effingham, Malinda married Dixon S. Carter on 10 Apr 1911. This time the marriage lasted just 2½ years. A divorce was granted in Nov 1913 on grounds of desertion. Finally, in 1914, Malinda married George W. Shull. This time the marriage lasted until death did them part, with Malinda passing away 17 Feb 1924. Malinda Jane’s last four marriages were to younger men, with a near 30-year age difference in the case of Thomas McKeever. Perhaps the suitors were fortune seekers rather than Romeos.

Walnut Prairie Cemetery marker.

York Twp.contained the Schweitzer homelands.

By 1910, John W. Sweitzer was residing with his three children (Everett John, Ethel Mae, and Charles) in York Twp, where he lived out his life, dying 28 Mar 1937. In the 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses, John listed himself as widowed. But on their joint marker in Walnut Prairie Cemetery, Leora and John both have the same clearly inscribed death year “1937". This cannot be, can it? The answer is "no". From the 23 Jun 1897 Clark County Herald: “Mrs. John Sweitzer … passed away last Thursday morning … the remains were taken to the Brick Cemetery…”

John’s youngest son, Charles, whose life was almost ended by his father’s gunshot, spent most of his life in York Twp, as West Union’s long-time barber. His first marriage, to Goldia (or Goldie) Murine Cain, ended after less than two years when she died at age eighteen. Charles, who died in 1958 at age 63, and Goldia are buried in Walnut Prairie Cemetery. Ethel Mae, who lived to be 100, dying in 1994, spent much of her life with her husband Harold Smith in Champaign County, Illinois. They rest in Rupp Cemetery near Martinsville. John’s oldest child, Everett, traveled west, ending up in California. No evidence exists for biological offspring from any of John Sweitzer’s three children. And it might be just as well considering the next phase of our tale.

I had hoped to make this the end of the Sweitzer sage. No such luck. I ran across a newspaper article with the following headline. We’ll eventually see what all of this means, though it may take a while. I’ll be away for a few weeks.

The Enigmatic Sweitzers, Chapter 5

On 1 Jul 1873, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she had been living, Malinda Jane Robinson, daughter of L. D. Robinson, probably Clark County’s wealthiest farmer, married Frederick K. Shipley, a recent British immigrant. What Malinda was doing in Grand Rapids is anybody’s guess. Perhaps she was searching for her own fortune. Her father certainly had money to fund such adventures.

Portion of 1892 Plat Map, York Twp.

For a while, Malinda and Fred lived in Michigan, but then Malinda returned to Clark County with Fred in tow. There, by 1892, they acquired 80 acres (N ½ SE ¼ Sec 5) in York Twp northeast of Walnut Prairie. And there, on 11 Mar 1897, Fred died. But living in York Twp at the time was John W. Sweitzer, a widower with three children—Everett John, Ethel Mae, and the youngest, Charles L.  Malinda and John, who was fifteen years younger (though the marriage record knocked nine years off her age), were married 20 Oct 1898 and settled on the Shipley farm.

The marriage was very brief. Sometime during the winter of 1898/1899 Malinda is said to have “become tired of him [John] and drove him away,” keeping the youngest child, Charles. Then Harry Shipley, brother of Malinda’s first husband, arrived on the scene. Harry saw a treasure trove, for not only did Malinda have the farm, she was a beneficiary of her wealthy father, L. D., who died 13 Jul 1899. Malinda had received personal and real property valued at about $7500 ($215,000 in 2017 dollars). Harry ingratiated himself, effectively becoming Malinda’s business manager and generally running the household. All of this greatly upset John, who wanted his rightful place again as head of the family and, presumably, the economic opportunities the position entailed.

When all efforts to reverse things failed, John W. resorted to force. The night of 14 Nov 1899, near the Shipley farm, John stopped a buggy containing Harry, Malinda, and Charles and fired three shots at Harry. All three missed their intended target, but one struck 4-year-old Charles in the forehead. This mishap further incensed John, who pistol whipped Harry savagely.

York Twp was accustomed to violence. The first murder in Clark County is said to have been committed there around 1842 when a person by the name of Lacy was killed by Joseph Evans. In 1869 or 1870, William H. Ayers was shot by Jack Dixon in the town of York. Ayers, a scoundrel, survived. And in 1896 David McDonald and John Clements murdered Charles L. Bell as he tried to escape by leaping from a buggy in York Twp.

And John seemed to be intrigued with his revolver. In the 14 Jul 1889 edition of the Clark County Herald is the following story:

Last Thursday, John Sweitzer and Butler Miles started to go to a house near the Grand Turn to do some work. they stopped at Ernst Rohl's, where they drank a lot of sour wine, which made them drunk, and then proceeded to their destination. When they got there, Sweitzer said he was going back for more wine. On the way he came to the house of one Lloyd, which he entered and ransacked, \searching for whisky, he says. He fire several shots from his revolver in a random way, scaring the family considerably. As soon as he left, word was send to town and Farr and Harlan went down and arrested him. He was examined before Martin and was jailed in default of $200 bail.

Butler Miles was a rascally character who had served time in the penitentiary for stealing wheat.

The child, Charles Sweitzer, survived, as did Harry. John, who pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon and to assault with a deadly weapon, was fined $250 in March 1900, the same month Malinda was granted a divorce. Deemed "A Generous Wife," by the Clark County Democrat, Malinda paid the fines, court costs, and attorney's fees for her ex-husband. 

Fearful of John or of publicity, Malinda, Harry, and Charles appear to have hid out for a while. They are nowhere to be found in the 1900 census. It is, however, possible that they missed the census enumerator since following the divorce, Malinda sold her farm just north of Walnut Prairie and moved to Casey.

John, on the other hand, does appear in York Twp with his 9-year old son, Everett (for some reason listed as "Benj. E.," though the first name "Benjamin" is found no where else). John's 7-year old daughter, Ethel, is found boarding with Charles and Maude Phillips, a Clark County family with no known ties to any of the protagonists in this portion of our tale, which we will wrap up next time. (Oops! Spoke too soon.)