3 Boys Steal Police Pistol and Kill a Man
– Case Description
On a Saturday afternoon in June, three young boys took their shoe shine business to the local police station. It was a cop’s duty to have shiny shoes, and the hungry boys were looking to make money. What they found instead was an opportunity for trouble.
Two brothers, 11 and 13, along with their 13 year-old friend had weaseled their way in the Jamaica station when they stole a loaded police revolver from an officer’s coat. They used the gun in a failed holdup, and later that night, a murder.
The Crime
The boys used the pistol 3 times after they stole it from the police station. They brandished it once in a failed holdup, fired it once on a dare, and ultimately used it to shoot a man point blank when he refused to wake up from his drunken slumber. Twelve-year-old Frank shot William Walsh in the head and the boys left him for dead. Walsh was found by a city worker the next morning, alive, but only hours from death.
The Punishment
While the victim’s widow wanted the boys to “go to the chair,” charges of murder against Frank Damato, 13 years old; Julius, 11, his brother and Lisbon Lawrence, 13, were dismissed after the grand jury refused to indict them. The case was referred to the Queens Children’s Court.
Frank and his brother Julius were ordered to the New York Catholic Protectory in Westchester County,
Libson was sent to the New York State Training School at Warick.
Newspaper Accounts
New York Times
June 17, 1935
BOYS STEAL PISTOL IN POLICE STATION, ROB AND KILL MAN
June 18, 1935
THREE BOYS HELD ON MURDER CHARGE
June 19, 1935
THREE BOY SLAYERS ARE FINGERPRINTED
June 29, 1935
THREE BOY SLAYERS FREED OF MURDER CHARGE
June 30, 1935
BOY SLAYER FACES LOSS OF 2 FINGERS
July 19, 1935
BOY SLAYERS SENT TO REFORMATORIES
June 23, 1935
CHILDREN NURTURED IN WAYS OF CRIME
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
June 17, 1935
THREE BOYS, 11 TO 13, GRIN AS BAIL IS DENIED THEM IN COLD-BLOODED SLAYING
June 17, 1935
THREE BOY KILLERS GRIN IN COURT; BAIL IS DENIED
June 19, 1935
H’YAH PAL, SLAYER , 11, GREETS COPS AS TRIO FACES COURT UNCONCERNED
June 26, 1935
JURORS PONDER ON BOY KILLERS
July 10, 1935
BOY KILLERS’ CASE IS PUT OVER FOR JULY 18 HEARING
July 11, 1935
VICTIM’S WIDOW URGES CHAIR FOR BOY KILLERS
Let’s Work Together
Boy Shot Seeking to See Movie Free
We stopped a boy before he suffered the same fate as Dillinger.
editor
Murch Murder Trial
Read All About It!
Brooklyn Eagle
Feb. 16, 1933
Chum Slays Boy for “Snitching”
Feb. 17, 1933
Another Held in Bender Boy Slaying Probe
Feb. 18, 1933
Asks First Degree Murder Charge in Boy Killing
Feb. 20, 1933
Boy Murder Suspect Seen “Misunderstood”
Feb. 21, 1933
Slayer Wanted to Be Artist
Feb. 25, 1933
Murch Held for Grand Jury
Feb. 26, 1933
Educators Should Study Contrast
March 03, 1933
Murch Boy’s Trial for Murder, April 3
March 25, 1933
Youthful Killer’s Age Creates Legal Puzzle
May 8, 1933
Boy, 16, on Trial for Life
May 9, 1933
Harry Murch is Unmoved by Crime Recital
May 10, 1933
Court Hears Details of Murch “Confession”
May 11, 1933
Murch Charges Torture By Police
May 11, 1933
Boy Murder Unique for its Horror and Significance
May 12, 1933
Mother of Boy Murder Victim Grieves for Mother of Slayer
May 13, 1933
The Murch Conviction
May 14, 1933
Law Barbarous That Tries Child Slayer in Adult Court
May 15, 1933
Circle Plans Civic Unit to Offset Murch Case
May 16, 1933
Decry Law Binding Judge in Murch Case
May 16, 1933
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt Asked to Address Jobless and Homeless Problems
Case of “Lost” Conscience Seen in Boy Homicide
May 17, 1933
Claim Murch’s Age Definitely Set at 16
May 18, 1933
Appetite for Killing in Some Adolescent Boys
May 19, 1933
Murch Smiles at Sentence
May 20, 1933
Murch Anxious for Sing Sing
May 22, 1933
Murch is Taken to Sing Sing
June 6, 1933
Murch Appeal Expense Avoided
June 8, 1933
Teachers for Helpless to Rule Detrimental Boys
June 23, 1933
Appeal is Argued for Boy Slayer
August 3, 1933
Plea to State’s Highest Court
Sept. 22, 1933
Slain Boy’s Mother Facing Eviction
Sept. 24, 1933
Owner May Stay the Eviction of Family With Big Heart
New York Times
March 1, 1933
Indict Boy for Murder
Feb. 16, 1933
BOY GANG CHIEF, 15, ADMITS KILLING ‘FOE’
Feb. 18, 1933
BOY, 15, FACES TRIAL IN MURDER OF CHUM
March 25, 1933
Boy Slayer Now “Adult”
May 9, 1933
TALESMEN OPPOSE ‘CHAIR’ FOR BOY, 16
May 10, 1933
MURCH’S CHUM SAYS HE SAW SLAYING
May 11, 1933
MURCH IS UNDER 16, PARENTS TESTIFY
May 12, 1933
MURCH CONVICTED OF MURDER OF BOY
May 13, 1933
BOY SLAYER WEEPS AT MOTHER’S ILLNESS
BOY SLAYER WEEPS AT MOTHER’S ILLNESS
May 20, 1933
June 24, 1933
Murch Appeal Is Argued.
August 9, 1933
MURCH LEAVES SING SING.
MURCH LEAVES SING SING.
Teen Kills 12-Year Old Boy
Murder
15-Year Old Kills 12-Year Old “Friend”
February 1933
Case Description
The body of a 12-year old Willie Bender was discovered brutally murdered two weeks after he was reported missing by his parents. He had been tied with a rope and stabbed in the heart by his 15-year old “friend,” Harry Murch.
Murch’s crime was horrendous. The bully lured the younger boy to an abandoned house and killed him as a horrified friend looked on. The tough guy murderer claimed the young victim’s father had badmouthed him.
1. Harry Murch; 2. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Bender, parents of murder victim Willie Bender; 3. Judge Thomas Downs; 4. Defense Attorney Dana Wallace; 5. Jury
The Crime
The killing was a result, as the confession revealed, of petty revenge – because the father of the Bender youngster accused Harry of robbing a woman and hitting her over the head with a monkey wrench. This story came after a no monkey business 6 hour interview with the detectives.
In his plan to get back at the boy’s father, Murch coerced Bender and another young friend, John Miller (10) to participate in a “rehearsal” robbery. As the boys unwittingly entered this ruse, the play quickly turned into a tragedy. Murch made Miller tie Bender’s limbs with a rope as he gagged the victim until he couldn’t yell. After Murch stabbed Bender through the heart with a potato knife, he enlisted Miller and Miller’s 13-year old sister to cover up the crime.
William Bender was found two weeks later, stuffed into the closet of an empty dwelling.
Bullet Points
Police questioned the boys for hours
Anonymous benefactor pays for funeral
DA says any person over 7 years old could be tried on a capital charge
Jurors considered "the chair"
Young witnesses testified
Photos
Bullet Points
Sentenced 20 years to life
Released from Sing Sing on parole in October, 1953
Became a butcher's assistant
Suspected in 1955 sex-slaying of a crippled 39-year-old woman
Arrested and convicted of molesting a seven-year-old girl in 1956
Harry Murch died in 1986 at the age of 69
Hours to Confess
Days on Trial
Media
Your Penance
In the name of Annah the Allmaziful, the Everliving, the Bringer of Plurabilities, haloed be her eve, her singtime sung, her rill be run, unhemmed as it is uneven!
Pay in Dog Years