Fredericktown, Missouri · 1931
The Emma Cole Cold Case
Emma Cole never set foot inside the Womack Hotel. Her accused killer did. Around midnight on the night she vanished, this front desk is the last place he was ever seen in Madison County before he ran. Ninety-five years later, her murder is still formally unsolved.
The whole case, told in 24 original newspaper clippings from 1931 and 1932. Tap any clipping to read the full scan.
- The victim
- Emma Angeline Cole, 54, of Pevely
- What she carried
- Her life savings, $900 to $1,500
- Hidden for
- 71 days, per her death certificate
- Status
- Formally unsolved since 1931
I
February to April 1931
The Vanishing
On February 24, 1931, Mrs. Emma Angeline Cole, 54, left her home in Pevely carrying her life savings, somewhere between $900 and $1,500. Escorting her was her cousin's 19-year-old son, Amos Monroe Lewis.
Around midnight that night, Lewis appeared alone at the front desk of the Womack Hotel. He left the rented car and its hire money with proprietor Womack, bought a bus ticket to Memphis, and walked out the door. It is the last time he was ever seen in Madison County as a free man. Emma Cole was never seen alive again.
For six weeks, nothing. Then the papers began to ask where she was.
II
April to May 1931
The Evidence
In mid-April, searchers found Mrs. Cole's clothing and bedding scattered near the Catherine mine shaft. Three weeks later her body was found in a junk heap on the Copper Mines road, trussed in an army blanket. Her death certificate records it plainly: murdered and hidden for 71 days. Contributory cause: robbery.
At the inquest, the coroner's jury heard the whole story, and the headline that followed named a name.
The Democrat-News · April 16, 1931
Her clothing and bedding, found near the Catherine mine shaft.
The Democrat-News · April 23, 1931
The follow-up on the mine shaft evidence.
The Democrat-News · May 7, 1931
Her body, found 71 days after she vanished.
The Democrat-News · May 14, 1931
“Amos Lewis Named In Woman's Death.” The inquest, in full.
The Democrat-News · May 14, 1931
The inquest testimony, continued inside the paper.
III
May to December 1931
The Manhunt
The governor of Missouri authorized a reward. Officers chased the trail through Memphis, Houston and Galveston, and nearly closed the net at Henderson, Texas. Then nothing. By June the Democrat-News had only four words for the front page: no report on Amos Lewis.
The trail stayed cold for seven months.
IV
December 1931 to January 1932
The Capture
On December 8, 1931, police in Los Angeles arrested a hotel kitchen boy who called himself Theodore Dunn. He was carrying four more names in his pocket, and detectives were already asking him about the murder of Eugenia Vance, a Los Angeles shop owner found dead the day before his arrest.
Theodore Dunn was Amos Lewis. He signed a confession, and the Democrat-News ran his photograph on the front page and printed the confession word for word, as a question and answer transcript. Officers brought him home and walked him over the ground his confession described. Then he was formally charged with the murder of Emma Cole.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch · December 9, 1931
The capture: arrested in Los Angeles under the alias Theodore Dunn.
The Democrat-News · December 10, 1931
The hometown front page, with his photograph and his flight path: Memphis, Houston, Galveston, Los Angeles.
The Democrat-News · December 17, 1931
Bringing him back: the extradition, part one.
The Democrat-News · December 17, 1931
The extradition story, part two.
The Democrat-News · December 17, 1931
The confession, printed verbatim: “Q. What is your true name? A. Amos Monroe Lewis.”
The Democrat-News · January 7, 1932
Officers take Lewis over the territory his confession described.
The Democrat-News · January 7, 1932
Formally charged with the murder of Emma Cole.
The Democrat-News · January 7, 1932
“Amos Lewis Refuses To Discuss.”
V
January to April 1932
The Verdict Nobody Expected
In January, Lewis recanted the confession and went back to his original story. A state senator joined the prosecution. The county court squabbled over the sheriff's California expenses. Two murder trials landed on one court docket, a local rarity the paper found worth a headline.
The trial ran four days. The state asked for the death penalty. The jury deliberated for two hours and set Amos Lewis free, laying the guilt on an unnamed stranger said to have joined the pair on the road. The Democrat-News reported the community was astounded, and bitter.
No one else was ever charged. The murder of Emma Cole is, formally, unsolved to this day.
The Democrat-News · January 14, 1932
Lewis repudiates his confession.
The Democrat-News · January 21, 1932
“Senator Terry To Help Prosecute Amos Lewis.”
The Democrat-News · February 4, 1932
The county refuses the sheriff's expenses for the California trip.
The Democrat-News · March 10, 1932
Two murder cases on one docket, a rarity for Madison County.
The Democrat-News · March 31, 1932
“Fate Of Amos Lewis To Jury By Night.”
The Democrat-News · March 31, 1932
The trial coverage, continued.
The Democrat-News · April 7, 1932
The verdict: acquitted in two hours. The community, the paper wrote, was astounded.
Where the trail ends
No one else was ever charged. And the last place Emma Cole's accused killer was ever seen in this county is the lobby you walk into.
Newspaper images from the collection of Newspapers.com. The Democrat-News (Fredericktown, Mo.) and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1931 to 1932.