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Reason First: Henry Colin Campbell and the Case of the Alleged Forgetful Murderer

Campbell said that he murdered and burned the body of Mildred Mowry. But he forgot about doing this...okay.

By Skyler SaundersPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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Amnesia became a point of contention in the trial of Henry Colin Campbell. Actually, judge Clarence E. Case shot down this defense. All of this stemmed from the murder of Mildred Mowry on Saturday February 23, 1929. Police discovered her burnt body with a bullet in her skull along a roadway in Cranford, New Jersey. It took multiple weeks before investigators identified the remains as Mowry’s.

Campbell posed as a doctor to throw a metaphorical sheet over her face to disguise his identity. “Dr. Richard Campbell” (not too much imagination on that last name) did not abscond with her $1,000 in life savings to California because Campbell remained in nearby Elizabeth, New Jersey.

It took the police just under two months to track down Campbell for Mowry’s murder. During the trial, psychologists determined that Campbell could stand trial based on his mental fitness. Evidence included letters written by Campbell to Mowry. The jury delivered a guilty verdict and judge Case delivered the sentence of death by electrocution, dismissing the amnesia claim as “the defendant was conscious of the nature of his act.” On April 17, 1930 Campbell rode the lightning until he died.

In this case, Campbell deserved to get his punishment. For him to agree to a plea of amnesia was irrational and ugly. He held every bit of consciousness in what he did. Just imagine if that had been a woman or a person of color. They wouldn’t have been able to even have the court-appointed psychologists place this plea before the court.

Campbell stood as a vicious killer. His ways were like the jackal stalking its prey and dispatching it with significant malice. To bring about a sense that he did not commit his crime would only injure the notion of how monstrous Campbell was.

The letters admitted to evidence displayed how he “manipulated her” and twisted her mind into thinking that he actually loved her. Campbell represented one of those bloodthirsty want-to-be lovers who couldn’t handle the facts of reality. His unselfishness led him to murder Mowry. Had he been a man of purpose and self-esteem, he would have been able to see that murder would be the ultimate evasion. His inability to recognize truth prevented him from seeing clearly the proof of his own crime.

So, it is justice that Campbell saw death in the electric chair. It is because of his unwillingness to view his actions as of course criminal but more important, immoral that brands him as a beast in the streets. Had he possessed a moral sensibility, maybe Mildred Mowry would have survived into old age. Instead, she was shot down like a dog in the streets and then set ablaze.

This horrific crime must be weighed with the balance of reason and justice. Campbell’s cowardice played itself out in his pernicious acts. His wickedness is what brought him to the lower levels of rectitude. He made a complete left turn in his life by initiating the act of physical force.

Campbell was a figure that should be studied along with his case. He should be scrutinized in the criminal history classes. Cadets should study his motives and the evidence presented before the court. Law enforcement professors should be more than willing to bring the truth of this case to the light.

It’s been almost a hundred years since the crime reached newspaper pages. The so-called, “Torch Murderer,” Campbell did not have a purpose in life. He threw away any chances of being an upstanding individual. He should forever be known as just another worthless person not worth the title of human being. His ways will forever be known as vicious no matter what plea had been entered.

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Skyler Saunders

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