John Dorrell (1932)

DORRELL, PURCELL, PURSCELL

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 11/8/2023 at 18:02:58

Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, January 12, 1933
Page 1, Columns 1 & 2

BODY OF JOHN DORRELL FOUND ON FLOOR OF HOME

Mystery Surrounds Tragedy; Had Been Dead For Three Weeks

John Dorrell, 78 year old Winterset resident, who lived alone in a house on East South street, was found dead in the kitchen of his home Tuesday night under circumstances that have led to a rigid investigation on the part of local officials.

The death of Dorrell was discovered by his sister, Mrs. Matt Purcell, who had become worried by not hearing from him since Christmas, and who called to investigate.

The man had been dead about three weeks, according to County Coroner A. A. Richards. Death was apparently caused by a blow on the back of the head with an axe. The skull was not fractured.

The axe which made the wound was leaning up against a door in the kitchen. Under it was a pool of blood. The body of Dorrell was found on the floor, across the room from the axe.

Dorrell was last seen by neighbors on Christmas morning. As he was in the habit of long absences from his home without informing his neighbors, little was thought of his disappearance until his sister became curious.

After finding the body, Mrs. Purcell called neighbors, who notified the sheriff’s office. Inquest by a coroners’ jury was to be held late Wednesday afternoon.

County Attorney Charles H. Van Werden said yesterday that pending the outcome of the investigation he was undecided about calling the case a murder or an accident. Neighbors had not noticed any callers at Dorrell’s home at the time of his disappearance. Nothing in the house revealed signs of a scuffle. He was not thought to have had any money about the house.

Following the theory of accidental death, it was suggested that Dorrell had fallen and struck his head on the axe blade, and had managed to get up and stagger across the room where he crumpled up to die.

Fingerprints found on the axe and about the room are expected to go a long way toward solving the mystery.

Developments made public late Wednesday afternoon concerning the death apparently exploded the theory of an accident. It was disclosed that when Mrs. Purcell attempted to enter the house, she found all doors locked, with the key in the outside of one door. Blood stained footprints were found on the porch.

It was further pointed out that there was little blood under the body when found, but a large pool was near the axe. This seemed to indicate that the body had been moved after resting near the axe for a period of time.
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Winterset News
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, January 12, 1933
Page 1

FIND JOHN DORRELL DEAD IN HIS KITCHEN

Officers Suspect Murder. Coroner and Sheriff Investigate Death. Not Seen For Over a Week.

John Dorrell, 77, well known figure on Winterset’s streets, was found dead in the corner of his kitchen Tuesday evening at 5:30. There was a cut on the back of his head and a pool of blood near the kitchen door across the room from where the frozen body lay.

An ax with a red handle smeared with blood and a mop that had blood on it were found by the door.

Dorrell lived alone in the old Wilson Dorrell house near the City park. He often was gone for days and weeks at a time and neighbors thought nothing of not seeing him. Tuesday evening, his sister, Mrs. Matt Purscell, went to the house and finding the doors locked, raised a window and climbed in, finding the frozen body, the clothes smeared with blood, the arms over the rungs of a chair that was partly over the face.

Dorrell had taken off his shoes that were smeared with blood and lying near the pool of blood.

Sheriff Sawyer and Coroner Richards after looking over the room and the house, took fingerprints found on the lamp. The ax and mop were taken to Des Moines Wednesday noon by Sheriff Sawyer to have experts look over the fingerprints on them. Coroner Richards will call a jury after he and the sheriff have finished their investigation.

Joe Kale, who lives next to Dorrell said that he had not seen Dorrell since Christmas, but others are positive that they saw him after January 1. Newt Sankey who lives about a block from the old Dorrell home said that he walked home from town with him either Tuesday or Wednesday night of last week about ten o’clock. After he got home he and the persons in the room with him heard a distant cry as if some one was calling for help.

Sheriff Sawyer said that not until the fingerprints and any evidence of violence had been more fully investigated could it be determined whether Dorrell had been killed or not. The inquest to be held Thursday morning may determine the matter.

That the slight wound found on Dorrells head could cause his death is difficult to believe. Dorrell was a quiet, inoffensive, good natured man, not inclined to quarrel and never had more than a few dollars at a time. He lived by doing odd jobs and mowing lawns in summer time.

He was the son of Will Dorrell, a pioneer who lived in Winterset many years. He had two brothers, Harvey and Cando who moved to Des Moines years ago.
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Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, January 19, 1933
Page 1

ADJOURN INQUEST OF JOHN DORRELL

Officers Say Fingerprints Are Dorrell’s. No Motive For Murder.

Whether John Dorrell, who was found dead in his home, was murdered, or in some way injured himself in a fall and then died alone in the house, was not determined by the coroner’s jury which met Friday afternoon.

The jury, composed of Robert Campbell, William Eldridge and J. H. Hockenberry, after considering the fingerprints left on articles found near the dead man, the blood on the floor that somebody had mopped up, and all other evidence, adjourned to January 28 to allow the officials time to check up several matters that were considered important.

Dorrell was found lying in the southwest corner of his kitchen by his sister who had not seen him for a week or two. A pool of blood was by the kitchen door near where he lay, and an ax with a bloody handle was in the opposite corner behind the stove. There was a wound at the base of Dorrell’s skull that had caused the blood on the floor and had evidently been made by a blunt instrument of some kind. A bloody rag and mop were found and the floor showed that someone had tried to clean the blood off the floor. The last time Dorrell had been seen was a day or two after Christmas. The body was frozen when found.

Dorrell had no money and was not known to have had an enemy. State agents who investigated the fingerprints on the mop and the ax and a lamp that had bloody marks on it, stated that all were identical with those taken of the dead man’s fingers.
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Coordinator's notes: These are the only articles relating to John Dorrell's death that have been found. Apparently, no formal obituary was published. Per his Iowa death certificate, he died on 25 Dec 1932, the death was classified as a homicide, and burial was in the Winterset Cemetery.