Lila Fae Jones

Died 29 Aug 1932 in Crawfordsville, Montgomery, Indiana, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Susannah Rolfes [send private message]

Biography

Lila Jones was was born about 1899 or 1900. She was the daughter of William I. Jones, who lived on a farm near Ladoga, Indiana. She was a schoolteacher in Richmond and New Winchester, Indiana.

She was murdered by four blows to the head with the blunt end of a hatchet in 1932.

Please note that the articles from Newspapers.com were read by OCR (Optical Character Reader), and decoded by a human, however, due to the nature of OCR, it is possible that some words have been left out or misunderstood, and that the OCR sometimes misses entire passages. A Newspapers.com subscription or a visit to a library with the relevant microfische would be necessary in order to determine exactly what these articles say, and whether they are complete.

FARM LABORER IS HELD AFTER AFTER FRIENDLY SCUFFLE ENDS IN TRAGEDY

Morris Green, 22, Used Hatchet in Slaying School Teacher on Farm Near Crawfordsville.

Crawfordsville, Ind., Aug. 30 (AP)—Morris Green, 22-year old farm laborer, admitted wielder of the hatchet that hacked the life from a pretty 33-year old school teacher, was held in Montgomery county jail today while officials prepared to formally charge him with murder. In a confession Sheriff Verner Bowers said the young man dictated last night, Green related how he scuffled with and then fatally injured Miss Lila Jones at her farm home 15 miles from here yesterday morning. Sheriff Bowers said young Green denied he attempted to attack the woman, maintaining she fell from a porch onto a concrete walk during an apparently friendly scuffle. Miss Jones, who was employed as a school teacher at Richmond, was at home alone at the time of the slaying, her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Jones having gone to the southern part of the state for a visit. When Miss Jones fell onto the walk, the young man’s confession said, the fall dazed her. He said he was seized with an impulse and hacked her four times with a hatchet. Sheriff Bowers said he believed the youth became frightened when he real- [ized] (Cont. on Page 6) FARM LABORER IS HELD AFTER MAKING MURDER CONFESSION [real]-ized the woman had been rendered unconscious from the fall. Soon after Green had struck the woman he sought medical aid for her but she died several hours later in Culver hospital here. He was held for investigation until last night and after only 15 minutes grilling admitted the slaying. Green was employed at the Jones farm and had gone to work as usual when the fatal scuffle began. He is the son of Mrs. Dora Green, his father, a Montgomery county farmer having died recently in an Indianapolis hospital of complications that developed from an ax wound inflicted accidentally by his son.

The Indianapolis News from Indianapolis, Indiana · Tuesday, August 30, 1932 · Page 1

SHOCKED RELATIVES UNABLE TO TRACE TEACHER SLAYING MOTIVE

Shocked by the tragedy, relatives of Miss Lila Jones, Richmond school teacher and hatchet murder victim, were at a loss Tuesday to trace any, 'motive for the crime.'

Harry C. Jones, 1102 North Rural street brother of Miss Jones, who spent last weekend with his sister at the farm home of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Irvin Jones, southeast of Crawfordsville, said Morris Green, farm laborer and confessed murderer, appeared to be perfectly sane and normal Sunday. The brutal attack took place at the Jones farm homestead Monday. "Green helped me with the chores Saturday night," said Jones, "and appeared to be a normal, friendly young fellow. We did the work together and he said he was going to play baseball Sunday, but that he would get over to do the chores Sunday evening. He asked me if I wanted him to help Sunday morning and I said I could do them myself . The last thing he said to me was, 'Well I may get here before you leave Sunday,' but he didn't. He showed no signs of being violent of temper or out of the ordinary in any way. He seemed just like a kid, young for his age." Jones said he was surprised when he read Green's confession as he had not heard it, although he was at his parents' home Monday going back after getting word of the tragedy. "I did not know that Green's father had died from an injury caused by an 'accidentally inflicted ax wound by his son," said Jones, "and it seems to me that may help to explain the mystery. He may have had terrific fits of "Continued on Page i, Part X - " i ' - f N" 'v - x I v r v 1 1 J I"! ' I - MISS LILAA JONES. tem - "

but if so we had heard nothing about it. Jones said Green did not notify any of the neighbors of Miss Jones's condition after the attack as he said, but went to Roachdale for a doctor. He said a neighbor happened to be passing and heard her groans before the doctor arrived, and summoned another neighbor who administered first aid and called a physician. He also said other incidents in connection with the crime conflicted with some of the facts. Green, he said, asserted that the scuffle started when he offered to fill some tubs for Miss Jones, but that when the girl was found the washing was half done the tubs were filled and she apparently had been rubbing some clothes in the tub. Jones said his sister had planned to return to Richmond Thursday to attend the teachers' institute prior to the opening of school next week.

Prosecutor Believes Young Man Slew Teacher Through Fear of Exposure DISCARDS OTHER MOTIVES Farm Laborer, However, Says He Killed Young Woman in Fit of Anger

CRAWFORDSVILLE. Ind, August 30. Fear of exposure of his attempted criminal attack led Morris Green, age twenty - two, farm laborer, to murder Miss Lila Jones, age thirty - three, Richmond school teacher, at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William I. Jones, three miles southeast of Ladoga, near the Putnam county line, according to the theory of George L. Brubaker, Montgomery county prosecutor. In his confession, made Monday night in Montgomery County Jail, Green said Miss Jones fell from the porch and struck her head on the concrete walk about four feet below the level of the porch floor following a scuffle, but denied any attempt to attack [rape] her. Brubaker believes all motives for the murder except this one are eliminated and if Green is tried the prosecution will proceed along this line. Green will be questioned further by authorities. Mr. and Mrs. Jones, who arrived home from a visit with another daughter at Birdseye late Monday, felt that Green, who was then in jail, was innocent of the murder for he bore a good reputation in the community. He had been employed as a farm laborer by Mr. Jones for the last few weeks.

To Be Held Without Bail

Miss Jones was widely known and highly respected in the community in which she had lived for the last year or more. The Jones family moved to the Ladoga neighborhood from Birdseye. Green will be held in jail without bond until the grand jury meets in September. The next term of court opens September 19. Brubaker expects a first degree murder indictment to be returned by the grand jury. Green, it developed, was arrested more than a year ago on a charge of stealing two automobile tires from the man for whom he worked on a farm in Illinois, and served a "thMyayJ" sentence. Green's confession was made to Brubaker, Vernon L. Bowers, sheriff, and Harrison Young, chief of police. Green said in his confession that he came to the Jones home about 6 a. m. Monday from his home nearby, as was his custom, to do the milking and other morning chores. Miss Jones was alone as her parents had gone to their old home in Birdseye to visit another daughter. Green said she asked him to pump some water for her to do the Monday morning washing. He said a scuffle ensued and both he and Miss Jones fell on the concrete walk at the rear of the porch. He said he became angered and struck her over the head with a hatchet which he had in his pocket. Although four hatchet wounds were found on the body of Miss Jones, Green said he remembered striking her only once.

Home On Isolated Road

He said he then dragged her body to the porch and started to Roachdale to summon a physician. Dr. C. W. Stroube, Roachdale, and Dr. W. E. Gross, Ladoga, both of whom were soon called to the Jones home, had Miss Jones removed promptly to Culver Union Hospital here. She died without regaining consciousness. The Jones' home is southeast of Ladoga on a road not generally used for travel and is fifteen miles from Crawfordsvllle. Authorities suspected Green from the first and placed him in jail pending a more thorough investigation. Green at first said Miss Jones must have been murdered by some unknown assailant passing by, but he admitted he heard no scuffle and saw no one. Green lived with his mother, Mrs. Dora Green, a short distance from the Jones home. He had been employed several weeks by Mr. Jones. Green's father died several months ago in an Indianapolis hospital of ax wounds in his leg accidentally inflicted by the son, who was chopping wood. Following his confession last night, which resulted from several hours of questioning, Green indicated he would plead guilty to murder. The hatchet with which authorities said Green confessed striking Miss Jones was found in a barn at the farm. Bowers said it had been washed, apparently to remove blood stains, and was still damp when he arrived to investigate the killing.

Spent Sunday Night Alone

Miss Jones's parents had suggested that she spend Sunday night with an aunt, Mrs. Todd Jones, who lives near by. However, Miss Jones and her aunt attended church Sunday evening and Miss Jones returned home, spending the night there alone. She was not criminally attacked [raped], according to the physicians. Miss Jones was born at Birdseye and attended both Oakland City College and Indiana State Teachers College. She had been a teacher for twelve years and was to return to Richmond this week to resume her duties in the primary department of the city schools. Miss Jones is survived by her parents, her sister, Mrs. George Cook, and a brother, Cecil Jones, Indianapolis. Funeral services and burial for Miss Jones will be held Wednesday at Birdseye, where the Jones family formerly lived.

The Republic from Columbus, Indiana · Page 4 · Wednesday, August 31, 1932

Crawfordsville, Ind. Aug 31.

Morris Green, age 22, confessed murderer of Miss Lila Jones, age 33, Richmond school teacher and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William I. Jones, of near Ladoga, denied throughout a long grilling Tuesday night that he attempted a criminal attack [rape] on Miss Jones before he killed her. He struck her four times over the head with a hatchet. Green is held without bond in Montgomery county jail pending a grand jury investigation when court convenes Sept. 19.

While it [motive] could not be determined, "I don't know, I don't know," was all the answer Green gave to authorities, and, as he ran his fingers nervously through his hair, he would add, "I can not give a reason."

Green again related the details of the killing before his questioners and also in the presence of Dr. Au- . They were substantially the same as those of his confession Monday night.

The Republican (Danville, Indiana) – issue of Thursday, September 1, 1932 – page 1, column 6:

Former New Winchester Teacher Murdered

MURDERED TEACHER WELL KNOWN HERE
Lila Jones Taught Primary Department at New Winchester

Miss Lila Jones, who was ruthlessly murdered near Ladoga, Monday morning, was well known in this neighborhood, having taught the primary department of the New Winchester schools in the years 1923 to 1925 and for four years roomed at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Dickerson.

Miss Jones, 33 years of age, recently a teacher in the Richmond schools, was at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Jones, between Ladoga and Roachdale, when she was attacked by a farm hand, Morris Green, 22 years of age, Monday morning, with a hatchet. Miss Jones died soon after being taken to the Culver hospital at Crawfordsville. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were visiting at Birdseye at the time of the attack.

Green at first denied the attack but later made a confession to Montgomery [county] officials declaring that in a scuffle Miss Jones fell from the back porch to the concrete walk some four feet below and he became angered and struck her on the head with a hatchet he had in his pocket. Four wounds were on Miss Jones’ head.

Green’s home was near the Jones home and he stayed at home, going to the Jones home to do work. Green’s father died some years ago by ax wounds accidentally inflicted by the son. Green is being held in the Montgomery county jail without bond. [Note: Morris Green's father, John Riley Green, died of axe wounds five months prior to Lila Jones, having been treated by a surgeon for about a month prior to death due to septicemia; the reporter erroneously stated that it was years, rather than months.]

Hamilton Evening Journal · September 2, 1932 · Page 1

Special To The Journal Crawfordsville, Ind., Sept. "I don't know why I did," declares 23-year-old Morris Green, Crawfordsville, Ind., farm youth, who police declare, signed a confession to the hatchet murder of pretty Lila Fae Jones, a primary teacher of Birdseye, Ind. The sum of $20, which Miss Jones was carrying at the time of the attack, is missing. Death in the electric chair is mandatory in Indiana for murder in commission of robbery. Photos of Green and Miss Jones are shown above.

September 28, 1932
The Indianapolis News from Indianapolis, Indiana · Page 3
Special to The Indianapolis News! CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind, September 28 (A.P.) Morris Green, age twenty - two, who, according to officers, has confessed to the hatchet slaying of Miss Lila Jones, thirty - three - year - old Richmond school teacher, was indicted by the Montgomery county grand Jury yesterday on two counts of murder. One count charges Green with first degree murder while attempting rape and the other with first - degree murder. Date for Green's trial was not set.

The Daily Banner, Greencastle, Putnam County, 1 December 1932, Page 1

MORRIS GREEN TRIAL IS SET FOR JAN. 11TH
LADOGA FARM HAND TO GO ON TRIAL AT COVINGTON FOR TEACHER SLAYING

Defendant Is Resident of Montgomery County, Victim’s Head Crushed by Blows

Morris Green, 22 year old farm laborer, will go on trial for the murder of Miss Lila Fae Jones, 33, in the Fountain circuit court, at Covington, Wednesday, Jan. 11. The case was venued to Fountain county on motion of Green’s attorney several weeks ago.

Green will be tried on the two counts of an indictment returned against him by a Montgomery county grand jury —- first degree murder and murder in an attempt to perpetrate a criminal attack [rape].

The murder of Miss Jones, a teacher in the Richmond, Ind.. schools, occurred at the farm home of her parents, southeast of Ladoga, on Aug. 29. She was brutally beaten to death with the blunt end of a hatchet.

First news of the murder was given neighbors and county authorities by Green, who summoned Drs. Stroube of Roachdale and Gross of Ladoga. He told them that on his return from the barn, where he had been doing some farm chores, he found Miss Jones on the porch, blood streaming from several wounds on her head.

Sheriff Verner Bowers ordered Green held as a material witness.

Later in the day he made a voluntary statement that he killed the school teacher. According to Green, he and Miss Jones were scuffling on the back porch of the farm residence when the girl fell back, struck her head on a sidewalk and was knocked unconscious. After lifting her up to the porch, Green said, an undefinable feeling overcame him and he struck her over the head four times with the blunt end of the hatchet.

DOCTOR BELIEVES Mentality Normal at Time of Slaying, Opinion Given at Trial

COVINGTON, Ind., Jan. 16. (AP)

Dr. C. M. Straube, who was called to attend Lila Jones after a hatchet attack which proved fatal, testified today at the first degree murder trial of Morris Green that he believed the 22-year-old farmhand and confessed slayer was sane on the day of the attack. Dr. Straube was the second physician introduced whose testimony was intended to refute the insanity claim set up by defense attorneys. Both said they believed Green was sane at the time of the attack and is sane at the present time. This afternoon's session also brought the appearance of Mrs. George Cook of Birdseye, Ind., sister of the slain woman, who told of Miss Jones's engagement to a young man at Birdseye. Miss Jones formerly was a school teacher at Richmond. Reporter Testifies. Other witnesses today included Crawfordsville police, who went to the scene of the slaying at the home of Miss Jones's parents near Ladoga, and Tom K. Showalter, reporter for a Crawfordsville newspaper. They described a blood-stained hatchet which they said was produced by Green soon after officers arrived to investigate the slaying. They related also stories of a confession which Green gave while being held in Crawfordsville.

Another feature of the afternoon was the appearance on the stand of Prosecutor George Brubaker. Most of the exhibits to have been used by the state in the trial were destroyed by the recent fire at Crawfordsville and the prosecutor's testimony was intended to prove what had happened to several of the exhibits, including the hatchet. The prosecutor said he expected to close state testimony tomorrow.

MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 1933 GARRETT CLIPPER. GARRETT
INDIANA FARM HAND SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR KILLING TEACHER

Killer Morris Green, 22-Year-old Indiana Youth, had Feared Death Sentence

Morris Green, lanky, slick-haired Kentuckian, stood wordless in Fountain circuit court late Thursday afternoon while he heard himself sentenced to life imprisonment for the hatchet murder of Miss Lila Jones, Richmond school teacher. A jury had reported half an hour earlier that they considered him guilty and recommended life imprisonment, which Judge O. B. Ratcliff...

Led back to his cell, Green said he was happy that the death sentence had not been imposed. In the meantime his mother, Mrs. Dora Green, was praying before the court audience in a religious hysteria. The parents of the slain girl, Mr. and Mrs. W. I. Jones, were bitter at the verdict, feeling the jury had slacked its duty in imposing less than the death penalty.

They said, however, they considered the state's case ably presented. Green's defense of insanity failed, although an alienist [an archaic term for a psychologist or psychiatrist] had testified he considered the 22-year-old defendant insane from childhood, afflicted with alternate moods of depression and elation, a type known as manic depressive. The state, countering the insanity defense, presented the report of a sanity commission composed of local doctors, appointed by the court, who considered Green fully aware of his actions at the time of the slaying and at present. Hoping to save her son from conviction, Mrs. Green took the stand during the trial as a defense witness and testified she considered her son insane. She traced alleged mental disorders in the family, stating that Morris' paternal grandmother had died in an institution for mentally unbalanced, that she considered her other sons unbalanced, and that she considered herself irrational at times. The state was handicapped by the fact that a disastrous fire at Crawfordsville destroyed the office of the Montgomery county prosecuting attorney and with it many records and documents relating to the case a short time before the trial was called. Prosecutor George Brubaker elected, however, to try the case despite this fact.

Miss Jones at the time she was slain was spending the summer vacation from teaching duties at the farm home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. I. Jones, where Green was employed as a hired man. She died of a hatchet cleft in her skull last Aug. 29. She and Green were alone on the farm at the time of the fatal attack. Green admitted, Montgomery county officers said he had quarreled with Miss Jones, but said he pushed her from a porch, knocking her unconscious. It was after that, because of fear, according to the information officers said he gave, that he struck her with the hatchet. Green left the farm to summon medical aid and returned with a physician. Miss Jones was taken to Culver Hospital at Crawfordsville, where she died. The prosecution presented witnesses with a view to proving that Green had slain the young woman for resisting his advances, but the defense sought to establish that there was no evidence Green had criminally assaulted [raped ]Miss Jones before her death. Around this point centered the endeavor to establish a motive for the slaying.

(This article may be incomplete.)

KOKOMO (Ind.) TRIBUNE
Thursday, March 19, 1953
Man Is Held As Hoosier Prison Escapee
NEWPORT. Ky.
Newport police are holding "a man identified as Morris Green, 43, a life-term prisoner who escaped from the Indiana State Prison July 22, 1952. Two Newport detectives who said they "acted on a tip" arrested Morris Wednesday. They said he also used the name "Joseph Patrick Colby." Green, a Roachdale man, had served about 20 years of a life sentence given him on his conviction in the death of Miss Lila Jones, 32, a Richmond school teacher. Miss Jones, her head crushed, was found dead Aug. 23, 1932 at the Montgomery County farm home of her parents.

Officers said Green, a farm hand, said Miss Jones fell from a porch and injured her head in a friendly tussle with him. He feared he would he blamed for her injury and hit her on the head with a hatchet, the statement said. Green later repudiated the statement. He was convicted In Fountain Circuit Court at Covington and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Logansport Pharos-Tribune from Logansport, Indiana and Anderson Herald from Anderson, Indiana.

"Four lifers denied clemency were: Morris Green, sentenced from Fountain County in 1933 for first degree murder in the hatchet slaying of school teacher Lila Jones."
(from the Anderson Herald from Anderson, Indiana) · Page 6 · November 16, 1960

Sources

• http://hendcogen.blogspot.com/2011/04/newspaper-tidbit-former-new-winchester.html

Rushville Republican from Rushville, Indiana · Tuesday, August 30, 1932 · Page 1 & Page 6 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/85549028/ & https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/85549049/

The Republic from Columbus, Indiana · Page 4 · Wednesday, August 31, 1932 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/129073179/

The Republican (Danville, Indiana) – issue of Thursday, September 1, 1932 – page 1, column 6
http://hendcogen.blogspot.com/2011/04/

The Indianapolis News from Indianapolis, Indiana · Page 3 · September 28, 1932
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/39596249/

"Murder laid to attack attempt, prosecutor believes young man slew teacher through fear of exposure, discards other motives, farm laborer, however, says he killed young woman in fit of anger. Indianapolis News, August 30, 1932 (link not yet found)

The Republic from Columbus, Indiana · Page 4 · Wednesday, August 31, 1932 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/129073179/

Hamilton Evening Journal · September 2, 1932 · Page 1 https://newspaperarchive.com/hamilton-evening-journal-sep-02-1932-p-1/

The Daily Banner, Greencastle, Putnam County, 1 December 1932
https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=TDB19321201-01.1.1 (PDF: https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/imageserver.pl?oid=TDB19321201-01.1.1&getpdf=true )

The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana · Tuesday, January 17, 1933 · Page 17
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/105164279/

Garrett Clipper from Garrett, Indiana · Page 7 · January 23, 1933
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/137894461/

The Kokomo Tribune from Kokomo, Indiana · Page 34 · March 19, 1953
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/2601422/

Anderson Herald from Anderson, Indiana · Page 6 · November 16, 1960
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/25309332/

Logansport Pharos-Tribune from Logansport, Indiana · Page 24 · November 16, 1960
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/28136038/