Edward D. Hennessey was born around 1873 about fifteen miles west of New York City, in New Jersey. His father, born in Ireland, was originally a blacksmith but had switched to carpentry by 1900. At that time, the family lived in lower Manhattan, near the entrance/exit to the Holland Tunnel. Around two years later, Spike was in Aberdeen, Washington. Records suggest that his oldest brother had a job in the area with the Northern Pacific Railway.
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| Aberdeen Shipyard, 1901. Wikipedia. |
Aberdeen, platted in 1884, had enjoyed steady success with an economy based on salmon fisheries and timber. Schooners – many of them locally built – hauled lumber and canned fish up and down the coast. Then, in 1895, a railroad spur was completed into town, igniting a boom. Soon, Aberdeen had a half dozen sawmills, three canneries, and two shipyards. Also, besides the usual array of saloons, the town had two theaters. Spike found work as a longshoreman.
In the summer of 1903, Hennessey married Cora Lee Ray. Born in Virginia, Cora gave her occupation as “singer,” but did not list her employer. Some time in the following two years, the couple moved to Tacoma, where Spike continued to work as a longshoreman. Starting around 1915, he served two years as a deputy sheriff assigned to the local Water Department. After that, he went back to work on the Tacoma docks.
Around 1929 or 1930, Spike and Cora began operating a tourist camp about twelve miles south of Tacoma on what was called the “Mountain Highway.” The road was a primary route between the cities on Puget Sound and Mount Rainier National Park. After decades of physically demanding labor, Spike had entered the small business class, a fine instance of upward mobility for a first-generation American.
The Roaring Twenties had seen explosive growth in “auto tourism,” as more and more families acquired cars and took to the road. Cities and towns soon began offering public spaces to attract travelers to local businesses. Features ranged from bare-bones camping spots to elaborate facilities with showers, cooking grills, recreational equipment, and more. Some even offered cabins for those who didn’t want to bother with a tent. (Motorhomes as we know them were then almost all custom built and far too expensive for the average family.)
The Hennesseys’ venture benefitted from another trend that developed around the middle of the decade: A drastic switch from public to private ownership. (The reasons were complex, and beyond the scope of this blog.) Thus, Spike and Cora were able to rent and operate what they called “Fir Haven.” It’s unclear if they had cabins on the property, or only offered camping spots. They did have a gas station, and Cora prepared food at an attached diner.
Prospects seemed bright because Rainier Park was, even then, a very popular tourist destination. And no one really knew that the country was entering the Great Depression. In 1930, most people thought they were in just another recession … which would soon pass. In fact, with money tight, even more tourists might choose an inexpensive auto vacation over a train and hotel getaway. But sadly, selfish and violent greed robbed Spike and Cora of their dream.
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| Mount Rainier, 1930. National Park Service. |
One of the two thieves was Caulie Avera. Born March 21, 1903 in southwestern Georgia, the young man was working on his father’s farm near Moultrie, Georgia at the time of the 1920 census. Some records suggest that he joined the Army around 1925. However, perhaps because of his later status as a deserter, we know very little about his military career. We do know that at some point he began serving in the U.S. Army Tank Corps.
Avera’s partner in crime was George A. Weyrauch. George was born December 25, 1898 in eastern New Jersey. At the time of the 1900 census, the family lived in Hoboken, along the Hudson River. George was a mere infant, of course. But in a sad irony, Spike Hennessy – his future victim – was then living and working about three miles away, across the river in lower Manhattan. Surely neither knew the other existed, but they would meet, tragically, thirty years later on the other side of the continent.
When Weyrauch signed up for the draft in 1918, he was working as a cook at a psychiatric hospital in eastern Long Island, New York. Like Avera, we know very little about Weyrauch’s military service. Still, transport records indicate that he was in the U.S. Army in 1926. Also, at some point, he too began serving in the Tank Corp. He and Avera were both stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington in the summer of 1930.
News reports never said why the two men decided to desert. Part of Fort Lewis extends all the way to the Mountain Highway, so the two probably already knew about the Hennessey place. They drove up late on the evening of June 30, 1930, entered the diner, and ordered sandwiches. After the two finished, they walked to the cash register. As soon as Cora opened the register, the men drew weapons and waved her away so one could scoop up all the money. When she protested, the other bandit hit her with his gun, severely cutting the side of her head. Cora staggered and screamed.
Spike must have been suspicious of these late-evening customers, because he had already armed himself with a revolver. He now burst in through the back door and fired two shots at the robbers. The crooks answered with a hail of bullets. Hit twice, Spike died almost instantly. A third slug struck Cora, shattering her hip. The bandits leaped into their car and sped away, taking about $25 in loose change with them. Cora couldn’t get up, so it’s not clear who called the sheriff’s office. She gave officers a detailed description of the attackers while they waited for an ambulance. That information was quickly transmitted to area law enforcement.
The next morning, George Weyrauch and Caulie Avera failed to report for roll call at Fort Lewis. A search of their footlockers highlighted the ominous fact that their service weapons, .45-caliber automatic pistols, were also missing. At this point, someone put the pieces together and showed Mrs. Hennessey photos of the two soldiers. She immediately and vehemently identified Weyrauch as the man who had shot her and Spike. She was less certain about Avera … but even that showed “a close resemblance.”
An intense manhunt began for the two men, who were now wanted as murder suspects as well as deserters. Oddly enough, the killers seem to have borrowed and then returned the car they drove. Nothing like it was reported stolen or found abandoned around the area. The active search extended as far as Boise, Idaho, but then went dormant for eight months.
Later testimony revealed that George Weyrauch made his way to Florida, then backtracked to Texas. There, he and another man stole a car. Texas authorities lost their trail when they fled west. Finally, in March 1931, an alert traffic cop in San Jose, California spotted the license plate and arrested the two. Weyrauch gave authorities a fake name at first, but soon pled guilty to auto theft and was sentenced to a year and a day at McNeil Island federal prison.
At some point, officials also discovered that he was a prime suspect in the Hennessey murder. Thus, in early April, Weyrauch was transferred from the penitentiary to stand trial in Tacoma. As soon as she saw him face-to-face, Cora exclaimed, “That’s the man!” She then declared that she had “seen his face every day for more than a year.”
Criminologist Luke S. May logged his “State vs Weyrauch” firearms case about this time. We may thus infer that authorities had recovered the suspect’s weapon, but available newspaper reports do not explicitly say so. At the very least, he would have been able to testify that the death bullets came from an Army standard-issue Colt .45-caliber automatic.
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| Colt .45-Caliber Automatic. U.S. Army Photo. |
In any case, the testimony of Spike’s widow, delivered from a stretcher brought into court, would have surely sealed the State’s case. Weyrauch tried to throw all the blame on his accomplice, and even claimed that he himself had not fired a shot. Unimpressed, the jury found him guilty of first degree murder. They apparently had a long discussion about the punishment. Finally, on May 17, 1931, they recommended a life sentence.
Another fifteen months passed. Later, authorities learned that Caulie Avera had spent about half that time in Buhl, Idaho. It’s not clear where he went after that. However, in August 1932, he was captured in Moultrie, Georgia, where he had gone to visit his parents.
Brought back to Tacoma for trial, he was able to arrange a plea deal for a reduced charge of second degree murder. Prosecutors wanted to avoid the expense of another trial. Moreover, Cora Hennessey’s condition had apparently deteriorated to the point that she might not be fit to appear in court. Without her testimony, authorities feared they would not be able to get a conviction.
Despite the lesser charge, Avera also received a life sentence. He and Weyrauch were in the Washington State Penitentiary at the time of the 1940 census. In 1947, Avera benefitted from a change in Washington law that allowed the parole board to reconsider his sentence. He was released, and back in Georgia by 1951. About four years after that, he married a widow with three grown children. The couple had no children of their own. Caulie Avera died in 1978. Weyrauch did not immediately benefit from the new law in 1947. He was, however, released in 1950 or shortly thereafter. In 1953, he married a widow with two children. They too had no children of their own. George Weyrauch died in 1987.
As indicated above, the widow’s health had steadily declined. Cora Lee (Ray) Hennessey died March 6, 1935. With her gone, and no children to carry on, no one was there to protest the cancellation of the killers’ supposed “life” sentences.
References: “[Hennessey Murder Related News],” Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Bellingham Herald, Seattle Times,
Washington; The Oregonian, Portland, Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon;
San Francisco Chronicle, California (July 1, 1930 – July 9, 1947).
Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, Encyclopædia Britannica, Chicago, Illinois (2012).
Luke S. May, Luke S. May Papers, Special Collections, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (1969.
Jennifer Ott, “Aberdeen – Thumbnail History,” Encyclopedia of
Washington State History, HistoryLink.org, Seattle, Washington (November
2, 2009).
Terence Young, Heading Out: A History of American Camping, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York (2017).
