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Old Recluse Found Slain At Selkirk
Believe Burglars Guilty of Crime
Found sprawled at the foot of his bed with a bullet through his left chest yesterday, Melvin Sherk, 72 year old recluse, was believed shot by burglars interrupted in the act of ransacking his small farm house in search of a huge sum of money he reputedly kept hidden in his home. Provincial Police who are conducting the investigation under Inspector T. R. Wright have not officially admitted this theory, although they say that evidence points to the elderly man having been slain "by one or more robbers who broke into his house overnight."
Mr. Sherk, who lived in Rainham Township, 15 miles southwest of Cayuga, was found by Albert and Roy Cook, neighbors, and Ruby Sherk, after a metal cash box was discovered not far from the farm house. Noticing that papers were scattered about the roadside, Victor Otterman, R. R. 2, Selkirk, informed Ruby Sherk at a near-by gas works. When the documents were found out to be his, the neighbors went to the elderly man's home where they discovered the brutal slaying.
A post mortem, performed by Dr. W. T. Deadman, of this city disclosed that a bullet from a revolver or a rifle had been fired into the man's body from close range. Dr. Deadman said that the bullet entered the left chest, striking the spine, and lodging in the flesh of the back.
Mr. Sherk, who is believed to have lived in the Selkirk district for the greater part of his life, is survived by a half-brother, Josiah Sherk, of Selkirk.
See Sledge Hammer As Clue To Murder
Selkirk, Ont., Mar 13 [C.P.] - Ownership of a 16-pound bevelled edge sledge hammer was sought by provincial police to-day in an effort to solve the murder and robbery of Joseph Melvin Sherk, 70-year-old Haldimand County farmer who was shot and killed at his home near here March 3.
Police said the hammer, found on the property, had the words "tool room" stamped on the head. They said it apparently was brought to the house to be used to break open a safe but Sherk had been forced to open it at gunpoint.
Sherk was robbed of a large sum of money and was shot though the chest.
Letters May Be Clue to Murder
Police have found a number of business letters in a ditch on Highway No. 3 about six miles from the home of Joseph Melvin Sherk, elderly Selkirk recluse who was found murdered early Monday. Inspector T. R. Wright of the Criminal Investigation Branch, Provincial Police, Toronto, reported to-day.
Little progress to date has been made on the case, Inspector Wright said, although police are following some clues. The murder victim was rather eccentric in later years, the Inspector commented, and he had few friends. There seems to be no one who knew his business or his life.
POSSIBLE MURDER WEAPON -
This heavy hammer, believed by Inspector T. R. Wright, C. I. B., to be a link in the murder of Joseph Melvin Sherk in his Rainham Township farm home two weeks ago, was found in the doorway of the house by investigating officers. On the possibility that the weapon was brought there "by the person or persons responsible for the murder," Inspector Wright is seeking to identify the hammer through publication of pictures in Ontario newspapers. With one bevelled cutting edge, the 16-pound hammer may have been used for wrecking machinery. It was coated with grease and dirt and stamped "tool room." Anyone having information concerning the hammer is requested to get in touch with the City Editor, Spectator, at once. (Accompanied by a picture)
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Rainham Builders
1874 - 1947 (72 years)
, d. 15 Jul 1911 (Age 78 years)