The mysterious death of William Benz Jr. left investigators confused and conflicted

Photo: William Edward Benz’s final resting place was in the family plot in Forest Hill Cemetery, Ann Arbor. His epitaph is in German and from 1 Samuel 20:3, translated as “There is only one step between life and death.” 1 Sam. 20:3. Credit: FindAGrave.com

By Doug Marrin

Trigger Warning: This article discusses graphic violence and suicide, which some people might find disturbing. If you are experiencing a suicidal crisis or emotional distress, please call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which provides 24/7 free and confidential support.

On Friday, August 21, 1903, Lydia Benz returned home two miles south of Dexter in Lima Township in the evening around 7:30 p.m. after spending the day with her father, Mr. William Aprill, in Scio Township. As she drew near, she was surprised to see her husband William had left their 19 head of cattle out in the pasture. Lydia stopped her carriage, unlocked the pasture gate, and the cattle followed her to the house and barn.

Mrs. Benz entered the house through the dining room door and was further surprised to find it unlocked. She had locked it when she left and had hidden the key in a new spot out of concern regarding a fired hired farmhand who had “acted peculiar” towards her.

Upon lighting a lamp in the house, she was alarmed to find a pool of blood on the dining room floor and another on the table. Lydia called out for William but got no reply. The Detroit Free Press described “there crept over her a feeling of fear.” She fled the house for the nearest neighbors. On the way, she met a boy named Hugh Quinn. She and Quinn went to Louis Traub’s home for help. The three returned to the Benz house and searched for William.

The group followed a trail of blood leading from the dining room through the kitchen out the door to a woodshed seventy-five feet away. There, they found Lydia’s husband of nine months, 26-year-old William Benz Jr. He was in a sitting position, not entirely resting on the ground, with his left arm over an empty whiskey or cider barrel holding him up with his head hanging down to one side.

“The head was raised and the face was so covered with blood that it could hardly be recognized. The throat was cut from ear to ear and the young widow was almost prostrated by the horrible sight. A razor was found at the side of the dead man,” reported the Detroit Free Press.

Dr. R.B. Honey from Dexter and Washtenaw County Coroner Benjamin Watts were sent for. The two arrived about the same time and examined the scene in the woodshed. Lydia’s father, William Aprill, arrived after Coroner Watts and Dr. Honey. He cleaned up the big pool of blood in the dining room before the body was carried into the house so that blood would not be tracked into the house. There were no bloody footprints.

The body was carried to the house and washed. Benz’s throat had been cut twice. Dr. Honey would later testify that he believed it had been cut once in the dining room and again in the woodshed. Other wounds were discovered.

The Detroit Free Press described the condition of the body. “On the jaw, there had landed a terrible blow. The upper lip was bruised and cut. The cheek, over the cheek bone, was swollen as if struck hard and two places over the right temple showed where a sharp instrument like the claw of a hammer had been struck. Any one of the five blows would have been sufficient, it seems, to knock a man down, and it hardly looks possible that a man could have them rained upon him in quick succession and retained consciousness.” The blows were on the right side of the face except for a light blow to the forehead.

A search found a bloody hammer in the dining room, and the razor was missing from the kitchen cupboard; presumably the one found next to the dead man. The cupboard door was open with bloody fingerprints, and the shelves had small spatterings of blood, as did the ceiling.

Dr. Honey believed it was suicide. Coroner Watts thought it was murder. Sheriff Gauntlett and Detective Peterson were non-committal. “There are arguments to bear out both theories,” Peterson told the newspapers. Nothing about the incident suggested robbery, “and as far as it is known Benz had not an enemy in the world.”

Sheriff Gauntlett released a statement late Saturday night, August 22: “I think I have had time now to sit down and think the whole matter over, and it hardly seems probable that Benz was murdered. Mind you, I say ‘probable.’ I have learned that two of his near relatives had committed suicide, which at least gives a little weight to the theory that he took his own life. But I am not relaxing any efforts to solve the mystery and will continue the investigation to the satisfaction of all, I hope.”

The investigation continued with investigators believing suicide was the cause of death. Investigators believed the suicide theory was supported by no signs of a scuffle or fight. The blood trail to the woodshed looked as if Benz was stumbling along, trying to keep his balance, although there were no bloody footprints. Nothing indicated the body was dragged. The razor next to Benz was covered with a thick coating of dried blood, difficult to wash off.

“Dr. Honey seems to think that Benz was seized with an uncontrollable desire to take his own life and seized upon a hammer to do it. Failing in this, he went to the cupboard, secured his razor, and went to the woodshed, where he made certain of the success of his attempt by slashing his throat with the razor,” reported the Detroit Free Press. The newspaper also reported that Sheriff Gauntlett and Detective Peterson “inclined strongly to the belief that Benz committed suicide.”

The Ann Arbor Argus-Democrat reported, “Detective Peterson said to the Argus this morning that a careful study of all the surroundings seemed to point to the fact that Benz had used the hammer on himself, that while dazed from these severe blows and bleeding, he had wandered out to a hen house and from there returned to the kitchen where he secured the razor.” The Detective surmised Benz made the first slash at his throat in the house, and failing to complete the job, went back out to the tool shed where he made the second and final cut.

A week after Benz’s death, the Ann Arbor Argus-Democrat reported:

“It appears that Wim. Benz was troubled over the heavy debt he was carrying. He is said to have purchased the farm upon which he lived and gone heavily in debt against the wishes of his family, but had been given financial backing in the purchase by his father-in-law, William Aprill. Previous to the purchase of this farm the officers say, he had been worried over another farm that had been purchased by his father for him but that was occupied by another brother.

“One of his hired men is said to have spoken to Benz about the heavy debt he had assumed saying: ‘Ain’t you going pretty heavily in debt for your farm?’ His reply was ‘Yes, but if I fail to swing it the river is near at hand or I can do this,’ and he made the motion of drawing a knife across his throat.

“It is also claimed that Mrs. Benz told Dr. Chase of Dexter recently that she was afraid to leave her husband to himself lest he do something rash. According to the officials investigating there is evidence that Benz was much worried over his heavy indebtedness and differences with his relatives over the matter and they think in a fit of despondency he became temporarily unbalanced and while in that condition took his own life.”

Coroner Watts believed it was murder and ordered an inquest for August 28, 1903, a whole week after Benz’s death, to determine the matter. On the eve of the coroner jury, Gauntlett affirmed his belief that Benz committed suicide.

“If Dr. Klingman of Ann Arbor, and Dr. Honey of Dexter, clash on the question of a fracture of the skull I am going to order another post-mortem. I must have every point settled to the utmost satisfaction of everybody as far as it lies in my power. I don’t want anybody to say afterwards that I was negligent. But I still think it was suicide, and I think the testimony tomorrow will show it to be so. Theories of murder can be dispelled, but the theory of suicide cannot be answered by the surroundings as we found them.”

Keep watch for part 2, the conclusion.

Sources:

Detroit Free Press, editions August 23 – September 3, 1903

Ann Arbor Argus-Democrat, August 28, 1903

Mann, James Thomas. Wicked Washtenaw County: Strange Tales of the Grisly and Unexplained. Arcadia Publishing Inc. Kindle Edition.

FindAGrave.com