Two days after her disappearance, search parties formed to
look for any trace of Emma between Hill’s Grove and Pontiac. They focused on
the river and ponds in the area, fearing that she may have fallen in and
drowned. On November 14, when the search was all but abandoned, a group of searchers
discovered Emma’s body in the bushes on a knoll, near the road.
The coroner and the medical examiner went to the scene and
determined that Emma had been the victim of foul play. Her neck was bruised
with distinct marks of fingers and thumbs, and her face was purple and swollen,
indicating that she had been strangled. Her clothes had been drawn up to her
waist. They later determined that she had probably been raped. There were no
clues at the scene to identify the assailant.
Emma Pearson, age 30, was a Swedish immigrant who spoke
little English. She was pleasant and industrious but tended to keep to herself.
She was said to have an antipathy for the whole male population and shunned the
company of men.
In Sweden, Emma had an illegitimate child. The papers called
it “the one error of her life.” Alexander Berg, the man involved, was ready to
marry her, but his family forbade it. So, Emma came to America with her 3-year-old
son. The boy, John Berg, now 5, was living with Emma’s sister in East
Greenwich, Rhode Island.
Agnes Loomis, who had planned to go with Emma to Pontiac,
decided to leave an hour earlier that day. She reported that a man wearing a
light overcoat, driving a horse and wagon, overtook her and asked if she wanted
a ride. She declined, but he insisted until she turned to go to the main road.
Another witness saw a man in a light overcoat walking with a young woman near
the murder scene. Her description of the girl’s clothing did not match Emma’s.
A suspect began to emerge, though the evidence against him
was weak and circumstantial. John Anderson, known as the “Big Swede,” lived in
a cabin about five hundred yards from the knoll where Emma’s body was found. He
was a 45-year-old grim-looking man who was acquainted with Emma. On the day of
the murder, his wife was out of town. Earlier that week, Anderson appeared to
have a seizure of some kind while shopping in a store. The villagers thought it
had been caused by hydrophobia or insanity, but an examining doctor found
nothing wrong with him.
Anderson was questioned through an interpreter because he
appeared to speak only Swedish. However, during the interview, he became excited
and answered in English.
The investigation was hampered from the beginning by errors
and other difficulties. The undertaker burned all of Emma’s clothes along with any
evidence they contained. Multiple reward offers amounting to $2,200 led to
overzealous detective work. Postmaster Tilley arrested John Anderson, but the
District Attorney denied issuing an arrest warrant.
Authorities had hoped that the large Swedish community in
the area would be helpful in solving the mystery of Emma Pearson’s murder, but
they found the opposite. Coroner Green said that the Swedes “hang to each other
like glue.” Regarding John Anderson, they all asserted, “He could not have done
it; our people do not do such things.”
When John Anderson was arraigned on December 7, the attorney
general, the coroner, and the medical examiner
refused to participate in the trial. Postmaster Tilley attempted the prosecution
on his own. Due to lack of evidence and Tilley’s inexperience, John Anderson
was not indicted.
As Anderson’s trial proceeded, another Swede, Gustaf
Lindstrom, was ending a three-week drinking binge. After Anderson’s release,
Lindstrom, in the throes of delirium tremens, said to his wife, “They have cleared
the old man Anderson, and they will be after me next.”
On the morning of December 9, he told her, “I killed Emma
Pearson; they are after me, and I am not going to await arrest.”
He then tried to shoot himself, but she took the pistol away
from him. He went into an outhouse and cut his own throat. The more prominent
newspapers like the Boston Globe and the New York Tribune reported that Mrs.
Lindstrom believed her husband was the murderer. However, in the Rhode Island
papers, Mrs. Lindstrom called the assertion a “malicious falsehood.”
While some took the suicide of Gustaf Lindstrom as an admission
of guilt, the case remained open. Gradually, the murder faded from memory. It was
briefly revived on the death of John Anderson. After his release, the “Big
Swede” became a tramp, wandering aimlessly around Rhode Island, and was, for a
time, an inmate of the State Asylum for the Insane. When he died in February
1889, any secrets he kept about the murder were buried with him. The case, once
again, was forgotten.
Sources:
“An Unsolved Mystery,” Providence Sunday Journal, February 24, 1889.
“Big Swede Anderson Under Arrest,” Morning Journal and Courier., November 30, 1886.
“The Big Swede Goes Free,” Morning Journal and Courier., December 8, 1886.
“Did the Swede Kill Emma? ,” New York Herald, December 7, 1886.
“Emma Pearson's Murder,” Sun., December 7, 1886.
“Emma Pearson's Murderer,” Evening Bulletin, November 29, 1886.
“A False Scent,” Providence Daily Journal, November 20, 1886.
“The Hill's Grove Mystery,” Evening Bulletin, November 15, 1886.
“The Hill's Grove Mystery,” Providence Daily Journal, November 16, 1886.
“The Hill's Grove Tragedy,” Providence Daily Journal, November 18, 1886.
“The Hill's Grove Tragedy,” Providence Daily Journal, November 19, 1886.
“The Linstrom Suicide,” Evening Bulletin, December 9, 1886.
“A Murderer Confesses And Commits Suicide,” New-York Tribune., December 9, 1886.
“One More.,” National Police Gazette, December 4, 1886.
“The Pearson Murder,” Evening Bulletin, December 1, 1886.
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