The Denison Press
Monday, August 17, 1936
pg. 1

Woman Brutally Murdered In "Jungle" Home Sunday - Blunt Instrument Used By Man, Is Police Objective

Mrs. Ella Seawald
Murderer Steps on Foot of Another Man Nearby; Both Scared, Run in Opposite Directions, One to Police Sta.

An unidentified man is being sought today by police for the brutal murder of Mrs. Ella Seawald, 45, at her "home" northeast
of the K. O. & G. coal chutes Sunday morning.
Mrs. Seawald, unclothed, known to police as "dirty legs," was found by two city officers at 2:30 a.m. Sunday after W. F.
Goldberg, 55, Muskogee transient had escaped the alleged murderer and ran into the city to report the tragedy. Goldberg
is held as a material witness in the city jail pending the arrest of the murderer.
According to Goldberg, who said he had known Mrs. Seawald in Fort Worth several years ago, he had been asked by her to
come to her 'home," a camp near the hobo jungles, and assist her in cleaning up her place. He followed her and assisted,
later going to sleep on a pallet near her bed she had fixed for him.
Goldberg said he was awakened about 2 o'clock the next morning when someone stepped on his feet. Sitting up, he heard the woman gurgling and a man standing over him. He said he asked the man "What's happening here?" and was answered
"I just found her drunk and brought her home and put her to bed."

Strikes Match
Goldberg said he struck a match and the man fled, himself running in the opposite direction when he saw the blood gushing
from Mrs. Seawald's head. Tattered, frightened and bleeding from running into barbed wire fences and other obstacles in
his flight to escape the murderer, Goldberg reached the city police station and reported the tragedy.
Police investigated and found the almost nude body of Mrs. Seawald on her bed, her head battered in by repeated blows from a blunt instrument. Judge E. A. Wright was called with county officers to make an inquest shortly after city police
found the body, accompanied by Goldberg. Judge Wright said he would not make a verdict until he had questioned Goldberg
and others further.
Mrs. Seawald had been a "resident" of the jungle area for several years and was well known to police.



The Denison Press
Tuesday, August 18, 1936
pg. 1

ELLA SEAWALD FUNERAL ANNOUNCED FOR TUESDAY, SHORT-MURRAY CHAPEL
Funeral services for Mrs. Ella Seawald, found dead Sunday morning in her humble quarters east of the city, where she had been murdered, will be conducted Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 o'clock from Short-Murray chapel with Rev. S.L. Terry, pastor of First Presbyterian church officiating.  Interment will be at Oakwood, Short-Murray directing.



Corsicana Semi-Weekly Light
Corsicana, Texas
Tuesday, August 18, 1936
pg. 2

Seek Slayer of Woman at Denison
Denison, Aug. 17 - (AP) - A search continued today for the slayer of Mrs. Ella Seawald, 45, who was found beaten to death
with a hammer here early Sunday.
Her body was discovered on a crude bed in a hut in the transient quarters. A man sleeping at the place and who notified
police was held as a witness.



The Whitewright Sun
Whitewright, Texas
Thursday, August 20, 1936
pg. 3

Woman Beaten fatally in Denison Hobo Camp

Denison - Mrs. Ella Seawald, 45, was found slain early Sunday in the wooded district east of Denison, home of many transients.
She had dwelt there several years, her home consisting of a carpet, worn to shreds serving as a canopy stretched on four
poles. The bed where her body was found stood on several discarded tin cans.
Residents of the jungle knew little of their neighbor other than that she was believed to have come from Fort Worth to
Denison, and their story was that she was at one time prosperous.
W. F. Goldsberry [sic] said he with many other transients had halted at the jungle for a few days' rest and had assisted the
woman to place an additional piece of carpet over the place when rain threatened early Saturday evening. He then made
an improvised bed on the ground and was sleeping a few feet from the woman when he said he heard a peculiar sound coming from her throat, as though she were choking. He raised to see the form of a man.
The woman's head was beaten badly with a blunt instrument, according to Judge E. A. Wright, who viewed the body. An effort is being made to contact relatives of the dead woman, while officers are tracing a suspect.