Etc. -- Helmer vs. Learn: Part 3
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A lightly edited transcription of a pages 1 and 9 article from the 28 Oct 1920 issue of the
Simcoe Reformer newspaper. Also see:
Helmer vs. Learn: Part 4

GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER

Jury brings in Above Verdict With 
a Strong Recommendation to Mercy 
Sentence Not Yet  Pronounced

Verdict: Guilty of Manslaughter, with 
a strong recommendation to mercy.

Such was the finding of the jury after two hours' deliberation in the case of Rex vs. Helmer, the 21 year-
old North Walsingham man, who has spent the past 
three months in Simcoe jail, charged with murdering 
James A. Learn, on the morning of 13 Jul 1920.

Interest ran high in the case, especially among the people of the immediate neighborhood of the tragedy, who for the fourth time in a dozen years have had one of their residents charged with the most serious of crimes.

Learn had been missing from the above date and as time went on and suspicion was aroused, it centred on young Helmer, who lived in the same house with Learn, and who was known not to have been on good terms with him. Learn had a lease of the Helmer farm, given him by Mrs. Helmer, mother of the accused, and his failure to comply with the agreement caused trouble.

Search resulted in the finding of the body of the dead man on the Helmer farm, Concession 20, North Walsingham, buried in a shallow trench, with the head four feet below the surface and the pedal extremities two feet. Helmer was arrested and the climax of the tragedy was reached last evening when the jury returned their verdict.

The evidence showed nothing startling with the exception of the reading of two statements made by the accused on the day he was arrested, and was largely a repetition of that given at the inquest in Silver Hill on 6 Aug 1920.

Charles Helmer, the 15-year-old brother of Lorne Helmer, was the chief witness for the crown.

It was not until late Tuesday afternoon that the Helmer case was opened, the civil case of Steinhoff vs. the L.E. and N. Railway occupying te intervening period.

It took the greater part of an hour to empanel the jury, which was composed of Messrs. 
Howard Crane of Windham
Ernest Cantelon of Woodhouse
Geo. Townsend of Townsend
Hugh McQueen of Port Dover
Amos Elliott of Windham
Lorne Emmett of Port Rowan
Cecil Pursley of Townsend
Bruce Booth of Woodhouse
E. Buckberrough of Windham
Wm. Roney of Charlotteville
Wilton Honey of Townsend
Col. W. L. Renton of Townsend.

The taking of evidence began at 8 o'clock in the evening. Helmer was defended by W. E. Kelly, K.C., and son 
David Kelly.

The testimony of Charles Helmer, brother of the accused, is briefly that on Saturday 10 Jul 1920, he came down from Sparta for a visit with his brother Lorne. On Monday a dispute arose  between Learn and his brother about the farm, which the latter claimed Learn was damaging. This dispute culimated in the two brothers setting off to consult Squire Abel. Learn also went to see Mr. Abel, but when on foot. They passed him going and coming back, but said nothing to him. That night Charles, as a prank, stuffed Learn's chimney with straw, Lorne handing up the straw. At 7 o'clock the next morning, Tuesday, 13 Jul 1920, Roy Marshall, a constable, served Lorne Helmer with a notice to leave the place.

It had transpired through the evidence of another witness that Lorne Helmer had a verbal agreement with Learn that he was to farm the place on shares and occupy the house rent free, so long as the old man wished. The time limit for vacating was seven days. A short time after Marshall's visit, Learn accused Lorne of the trick, which the latter made him take back, at the same time seizing the old man. 

About 8;30 Lorne, Charles and Learn were going back the lane to the bars. Here Learn insisted that the gap be left open. Lorne objected, saying he did not want the crops spoiled. Learn disputed this, and the young witness said, struck Lorne, who retaliated, striking him twice. The victim fell to the ground "quivering and with a little blood coming from his nose."

The two then turned back and made ready to go to Port Rowan to consult C. S. Buck, the lawyer, about getting Learn off the place. Charles never saw Learn again, he stated.

The next morning, about 11 o'clock, he saw his brother, after a three hour absence, come out of the lane with a shovel in his hand.

"I asked him where he had been. He said 'Back burying, Jimmy!' And he asked me not to tell anybody, and I said 'No." I stayed  there six days, and did not go back home because it rained off and on, and I thought it would be hard going for a bicycle."

Charles says that the two of them did not talk about the occurrence, and that Lorne did not tell him where he had buried the body, and that he did not ask. He did not tell anybody, until Roy Marshall went to Sparta and told him the body had been found. "Then I said I thought it might have been buried along the fence."

Mrs. Mary Ann Helmer of Sparta, mother of the two boys, produced the agreement she had made to sell her farm to Learn after he had worked it for two years. He had not carried out his part of the bargain, and Lorne had told her about the way the old man was carrying out his contract, and she had told him he might try to get the old man off the farm by buying him off. As an example of the way Learn lived up to his agreement, she said he had sold wood reserved for her and had fed up seed rye. She had given him a span of horses and he had allowed them to die.

George Alexander, for whom Learn frequently worked, told of his suspicious that all was not right when he did not keep an engagement to work. Deceased always kept such appointments. Witness visited the Helmer farm more than once and was told by the accused that the last he had seen of Learn was on Wednesday morning, 14 Jul 1920, when the old man went up the lane leading to the highway.

Inspector John Miller identified two statements made by Lorne Helmer on the day he was arrested, 3 Jul 1920, the first  in the morning at the Crown Attorney's office, when in the presence of the Inspector, of Roy Marshall, and of the stenographer, Helmer, after being duly warned that what he said might be used against him, made certain admissions.

."We had had some words off and on. About 7 in the morning we had a row at the house. I grabbed him. He said he would show me who was running the farm. He said he would have me pulled. We did not struggle. I only grabbed him. I wanted to go to Port Rowan. I had an appointment at 9:30. I did not want any hard feelings, so I offered him $10 to call it square. Then we went back to the gap, and he said he was going to let it down. I told him he wasn't. He hit me on the back of the [unreadable] I struck him with my fists -- struck him twice. I do not think I touched his throat. I did not realize he was dead  during that day. I saw him the next morning about 8.30. I noticed he was cold and stiff and knew he was dead. I buried him that day. Charles did not know where it was. I buried him in the woods.

Statement No. 2, which like the first was signed by Helmer, was given in the presence of T. R. Slaght, K.C., Crown Attorney, as well as Inspector Miller and the constable. He was again warned by Mr. Slaght, but made it voluntarily. Mr. Slaght said, among other things: "Your brother Charles has made a statement that you choked Learn and that he assisted you to bury him." Helmer replied: "It is right in some things, but wrong in others. He struck me, and I hit him twice, but I do not think I touched his throat. Charles did not assist me in burying him, and I do not think he knew where I buried him. He was still at the gap. I told Charles the next day. I went         to the barn and got an axe and a spade, it was not very far from the gap to the place where I buried him. I carried him on my shoulders."

Dr. Meek, who performed the post-mortem, said that although the body was naturally somewhat decomposed he could see that the organs were all normal. In his opinion death was due to shock following some exterior violence. Death had come quickly.

At 11 o'clock the Crown rested its case. Accused's counsel, Mr. Kelly, confined his defense chiefly to the calling of witnesses as to the general character of Helmer.

At 11.35 Mr. Kelly began his address. He asked the jurors to eliminate all prejudice from their minds. In his opinion the secret burial of the body was the most damaging factor in Helmer's case. There was no criminal intent upon his part. He called attention to the fact that Helmer had served his country overseas, enlisting at the age of 16. The stories of both boys agreed in the main. Mr. Kelly made an exhaustive and clever address, omitting no point that could possibly be of aid to his client.

Mr. Slaght began his address at 2 o'clock, with a strong tribute to the efforts of Mr. Kelly. He too made a masterly effort, and was most fair in his handling of the evidence. He agreed with Mr. Kelly that he had made a proper plea for Helmer in asking that his service to his country be considered.

Mr. Justice Kelly began his summing up at 2.45, and before he gave the case to the jury at 4 o'clock, was most thorough in pointing out the difference between murder and manslaughter. He paid a compliment to both counsel in their conduct of their cases.
 

 

Copyright 2018 John Cardiff