Johnson Faces Arraignment For Murder

JOHNSON TO BE ARRAIGNED: Municipal court arraign-
ment on first degree murder charges for Harold A. Johnson,
38 was scheduled for today. Johnson is shown here in the
Detective Bureau's interrosrntior- """m •" •'ere he was taken
yesterday afternoon to che< al statement after
being released from the l»>i; H.rpiSal. John son is ac-
cused of fatally shooting his wife, Margery, 35, and their two
daughters, Barbara, 3, and Margaret, 1. He spent last night m
jail after being taken to his home, 1435 Westfield Ave., to re-
enact the shooting.

Johnson Faces ^
Arraignment
For Murder

Prisoner And Police
Revisit Home Where
Three Were Killed «

Harold A. Johnson, 38, who po-
lice say has given no apparent
reason for shooting to death his
wife and tv •'• rhters Monday
night at thi at 1435 West-
field Ave., was scheduled to go to
municipal court today for ar-
raignment on murder charges.

Johnson's appearance in mu-
nicipal court will give him a
chance to say whether or not he
wants a lower court examination.
If he waives examination, he will
be bound over to circuit court to
make a plea there.

Johnson was released from
University Hospital yesterday
afternoon where he was taken
to recover from an overdose of
sleeping pills he swallowed fol-
lowing the shootings.

Police broke into the home to
find Johnson's wife, Margery, 35,
and one daughter, ' a, 3,
dead in the living ,....111. The
youngest daughter, Margaret, 1,
was found shot to death in a crib
in a bedroom.
Post-Mortem Reported

A post-mortem showed Mrs.
Johnson had been shot six to
seven times in the head and once
in the chest. The older daughter
had been shot twice in the head
and .the younger, once in the
head.

Johnson was found slumped
over a partial partition between
the kitchen and living room.

Police took Johnson to head-
quarters following his release
from the hospital to begin going
over a not-yet-completed state-
ment they took from him in the
hospital.

Authorities say Johnson admits
the shootings.

Johnson walked slowly from
the front entrance of the hos-
pital yesterday with three de-
tectives and a uniformed officer.
He wore a light blue hospital
robe over a T-shirt and b^pwn
slacks.
Scene Revisited

After being taken to headquar-
ters, Johnson was transported to
his home to go over the scene, of
the shootings. When he left the
house he had changed his
clothes and was wearing a hat,
white shirt, tie and topcoat.

After being taken back to the
Detective Bureau in City Hall,
Johnson was placed in the Coun-
ty Jail where, sheriff's deputies
said this morning he spent much
of the night reading a book. They
did not know the name of the
book, but thought it was a novel.

Detectives said today that their
latest talks with Johnson had
failed to bring out a motive for
the shootings. They also said that
so far he has shown little visible
evidence of remorse for the
shootings.