On This Day in Murder... March 20th, 1921

Louisa Warlow is Shot and Killed by Her Husband, Who Also Attempts Unsuccessfully to Take His Own Life

The tragedy unfolded on the night of March 19th, 1921, in the former town of Walkerville, now part of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. When Hiram Walker, the owner of Canadian Club Whiskey, founded the town in 1890 with the intent of making it a "model" town, one that would be the envy of others, he probably did not envision the story of family betrayal, and infidelity that would occur 30 years later, and result in a man on trial for the murder of his wife.

Walkerville, Ontario, the Hiram Walker Distillery, taken between 1895-1899 (Library of Congress)

John James Warlow was born in 1883 in Egham, Surrey, England to John Warlow & Mary Harrington. He moved around a bit when he was young, living in both London & Wales, where he worked as a bricklayer before he met and married Louisa Tree, daughter of Henry Tree in the town of her birth, Croyden, Surrey, in 1911. He & Louisa came to Canada sometime around 1913. They settled in the Walkerville/Windsor area, where John's sister Gertrude and brother George, who was a police officer before becoming a Windsor Police court clerk in 1917, also settled. His cousin Norman Warlow, who was also a Windsor Police court clerk, lived in the area as well.

On that night 91 years ago, 37 year old Louisa Warlow was just leaving Clegg Bakery located on Ottawa St., after a long day of work, and was walking to the house of a friend Mrs. John Tierney at 67 Ottawa St., whom she was staying with. Louisa had worked at the Clegg Bakery for a number of years, as had her husband John, whom she was separated from in January of that year. The bakery was owned by the family of his brother-in-law, James Clegg, who had married his sister Gertrude just 11 months before the shocking story unfolded.

When Louisa Warlow started her walk home from work that night, she had no clue it would be her last. She knew her estranged husband John was angry. She was planning to leave Walkerville and move to Windsor the next day, it was rumoured, to live with Norman Warlow, her husband's cousin. Unfortunately, the rumours reached John before she left, and she was at the corner of Ottawa St. and Kildare Rd., which was a very short distance from the bakery, when John approached her. Apparently, he approached her with the intent to make a plea with her to return to him. That is when she refused and turned to walk away, getting just as far as the outside of the Tierney house, which was just a short distance away on Ottawa St.

Photo of Kildare Rd. in Walkerville, looking north, taken between 1905-1915 (Library of Congress)

It was 10:30pm when he followed her to the Tierney house, and continued to quarrel with her.  Mrs. Tierney testified in the trial that she turned on the porch light, and went outside to see what was going on. Seeing the pair together, she tried to break up the argument, telling Warlow to "leave her alone tonight", and pulling Louisa by the arm to try and bring her inside the house. To which Warlow apparently replied "No you don't!", pulled out his gun, and fired at his wife. Mrs. Tierney described how Mrs. Warlow had slumped over her arm and fallen over, the bullet having pierced her abdomen. Then she heard another shot, and looked over to see John Warlow lying on the lawn, bleeding from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the chest. They were both rushed to the hospital, Louisa was unconscious at the time and feared dead, but she was revived briefly, and was able to tell the police what had occurred. Louisa Warlow died less than two hours later, at 12:20am on March 20th, 1921. John Warlow, though seriously wounded, had not caused any fatal damage, and recovered from the wound. He was then charged with the murder of his wife, on March 25th, he was moved from the Hotel Dieu hospital and taken to Sandwich jail to await his trial.

Death registration record of Louisa Warlow (Archives of Ontario)

Mrs. Tierney also told the court that there had been frequent visits between Louisa Warlow and Norman Warlow, her husband's cousin.  James Clegg, John's brother in law, testified against him in the trial as well. He told the court that he had seen frequent arguments between John and his wife Louisa. They had agreed to separate in January, which is when Louisa went to live with the Mr & Mrs. Tierney. He further testified that 10 days before the murder, John Warlow had shown him the revolver, and had explained that he was carrying it because his cousin Norman was "carrying on" with his wife.

The defense did not deny that Warlow had shot his wife, but they argued that Louisa had provoked the crime. The jury was out for more than three hours before returning with a verdict. John Warlow was found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to serve 15 years in prison.

On This Day in Murder... March 16th, 1938

Lillie Mae Curtis Murders 6 of her 9 Children

On the night of Wednesday, March 16th, 1938, in Center, Texas, 38 year old Lillie Mae Curtis kissed her children goodnight, and then sat in a chair nearby watching them, waiting with a .22 caliber pistol on her lap for them to fall asleep.

Lillie Mae Curtis

After she determined they were all sleeping, she went from the oldest to the youngest child, shooting each one in the heart. First was Thomas "T.O", who had turned 13 just 3 days prior, followed by Gloria Gene, 11; Billie Burk, 9; Robert, 8; Margie Dee, 7; and Marcia Jack, 5. The only child in the house that night that she spared was 15 year old Travis James. It was to him that she immediately confessed the crime, and he promptly called police. Her other two children were thankfully not in the house; her oldest child, Opal, 18, was married and living with her husband, and her son Vance, 17, was visiting his grandparents at the time of the crime. Gravesite photos courtesy of http://www.findagrave.com.

Graves of Thomas "T.O", Gloria

Billie Burk, Robert Jr,

Margie Ree & Marcie Jack.

Lillie Mae describes the killings in her own words; "I kissed them all good night and sent them to bed and then got my gun out of my dresser".  She continued, "I went back into the kitchen and sat down with the gun across my lap. I waited to be sure that all were asleep. Then I went to the bed of T.O and shot him first. Then I killed the others according to their ages, leaving the baby until the last".  She went on to describe that although none of the children woke up before being shot, several of them struggled after they were shot, while the others died immediately without ever realizing what had occurred.

She was found alone in the woods about 400 yards from where the bodies of her children lay, all 6 dead of gunshot wounds, and was arrested. She readily admitted to the murders, "I have no money and they are better off dead", Lillie is quoted as having said to Sheriff Sample. "Last night I decided to kill them because we had no money and I was unable to support them. They were too young to support themselves and were better off dead".

Another photo of murderer Lillie Mae Curtis.

Surprisingly, this was not Lillie Mae's first murder.  Three years prior, in an eerily similar fashion, she had murdered her husband, 41 year old Robert Curtis, in 1935 by shooting him in the head while he slept. She was tried for the murder, and given a 5 year suspended sentence by a jury. Perhaps the jurors felt that, with 9 children depending on her, she should be given a break. One can't help but realize that if they had given her a stiffer sentence, Lillie Mae Curtis would not have had the opportunity to murder six of her children just three years later.  Then again, perhaps if she had not killed her husband to begin with, she might have been able to better cope financially and emotionally with raising her nine children. The entire family can be seen (minus the 2 youngest children, who were not yet born) below on the 1930 United States census, family #8:

1930 US census record courtesy of The National Archives.

As for what happened to Lillie Mae Curtis; she was tried for the murder of his six children in April of 1938, and apparently showed no emotion when the verdict was read, and she was found guilty on all counts. Newspaper accounts vary, some saying she received one total sentence of 99 years, some saying she was sentenced to 99 years per murder (for a total of 594 years). Either way, she served only 42 years of her sentence, and was released in October of 1970. She was 70 years old.  She was reportedly released early for good behaviour. She moved in with her eldest surviving child, her daughter Opal, living with her in East Texas until her death 10 years later.

The Grave of Robert R. & Lillie Mae Curtis.  Photo courtesy of Findagrave.com.

Lillie May Curtis died February 3rd, 1980 at the age of 80, and was buried with the husband that she had shot and killed 45 years earlier, in the same Cemetery as the graves of the six children she brutally murdered only three years later while they slept.