- Cutting Episode Recalled
Perry, who formerly lived in Cannelton when he was employed in the cotton mill, has been living recently on a farm near Tobinsport. While in Cannelton he was involved in a ‘cutting scrape’ with a stockbuyer, officers recalled last night. Officers said he has the reputation of being ‘mean’ when drinking.
Gude’s son Irvin, who was absolved of any connection with the Beresford murder, is understood to be living in Evansville.
Among officers working on the case yesterday were Sheriff William Marshall and his deputy RM Hobbs, Deputy coroner Earl Snyder, all of Perry County, State officer Norman Burnsworth and State Detectives Ed Mullins and Romine Wolf.
The Beresford murder last year stirred the entire countryside because of unusal circumstances surrounding the case. The recluse was found in his barn lot shot in the back and left side of the face with a 12-gauge shotgun.
Fred Polk, a neighbor who told officers he went to the Beresford home to buy whiskey, discovered the body which had lain several hours in the rain. Polk went to the nearby home of Arnold Conia and with Conia and Irvin Gude, who had spent the night at Conia’s, returned to the Beresford place after notifying officers.
Beresford’s tenant, Roberts, who was killed today, told officers he heard shots early in the evening and thought Beresford was probably shooting rats.
Time of the murder was established at between 5 and 7 o’clock on the night of July 18. Young Gude had arrived at the Conia home about 8 o’clock to spend the night, He consistently denied any knowledge of the crime.
Beresford was generally disliked by neighbors whom he avoided and had been accused of trying to poison hunting dogs and destroying boats of fisherman who refused to sell their catches to him. He was known to have many enemies. One of his favorite saying was : ‘Friends are not necessary. Money is all that counts.’ His estate after his death was valued at $7,000.
After some time officials located a son, Milton B. Beresford, then a warrant officer on the USS Chester and who had been in the navy 20 years. It was learned that the elder Beresford had been divorced in Cincinnati, Ohio. Old clipping found among his personal effects indicated that he came from a prominent English family. One was of an interview with Lord Charles Beresford, English Admiral.
The only other relative of the murdered man was a cousin, Ernest Hudson, of Paris Crossing, Jennings County.
Investing officers found numerous loaded guns in various corners of Bereford’s home and over an inside door were the words ‘Those who enter here leave all hope behind.’ His home was located on a high rocky ledge overlooking the Ohio river and accessible only by narrow footpaths through underbrush. His back door opened into a forest. The site is about five miles east of Tobinsport.
At first Beresford was believed to have been murdered by an associate in illegal liquor traffic across the Ohio in Kentucky. However, one of the factors that led to young Gude’s arrest was a charge that had been made by Beresford after an unidentified assailant had fired at him through a window one night.
Beresford said he found in the yard a liquor bottle with part of a letter addressed to ‘Ernest Goody’ attached to the cork. Authorities at the time said they learned, the young Gude had blamed Beresford for tipping off officers to a liquor raid on the Gude farm shortly before Beresford was found dead.
Relatives of the Gude family living in Evansville are said to spell their name ‘Goody.’
Source: COURIER PRESS: 11/ 26/1939