1949 "Walk Of Death Murderer Dies.........Finally

I've never heard of this guy, but from reading his obituary he was one sick puppy. Maybe it was his serving in WWII that cracked his nut. He was tank gunner in the Army during the war and tanks can make a man a bit squirrely I'm sure.

Howard Barton Unruh, an expert marksman from his army days, went on a shooting spree in 1949 that killed 13 people in Camden,N.J., the worst mass murder in U.S. history at the time. There were two things in this mass murder that make it so psychotic for its day. One is that Howard spent more than a year planning for this horrific day writing down names of intended targets in his journal for his day of glory and revenge. Two is that he targeted innocent children as well as women and men who'd done him no physical harm.

His killing spree, known as the "Walk of Death," claimed the lives of five men, five women and three children. Some were intended targets while others were simply strangers in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Howard was a bible loving recluse who's inner voice told him people were against him and making derogatory remarks about his character. When someone stole the gate to his fence it was the flame that ignited the kerosene and Howard was engulfed in the inferno.

Armed with a war souvenir Luger and 33 rounds of ammo, Howard left his apartment, of which he shared with his mother, and walked to his predetermined area of target. His mother had seen the dazed look in his eyes earlier before running for help after he threatened her with a wrench.

He then calmly began his "Walk of Death" entering various businesses and shooting dead his victims. The coldness of his calculated killing is evident in who he killed and how. It seems as if Howard's inner voice told him that all the business owner's he'd done business with were against him, so he must kill them. Here's the sad list in order of execution:

Shoe Repair Shop - Cobbler shot in the head
Barber Shop - 6-year-old boy shot dead on a hobbyhorse chair
Barber Shop - Barber shot dead
Tailor Shop - Bride of tailor (married six weeks) shot in head while begging (Tailor had left shop to run errand)
On Street - Man at wheel of his car shot dead
On Street - Two women in another car shot dead
Along Street - 3-year-old boy peeking out a window at home shot and died the next day

Tavern owner shoots Howard in hip with .38-caliber pistol but Howard continues "Walk of Death"

Neighbor's Apartment - Shot three (husband, wife, mother-in-law) while a boy hid in clothes closet. Neighbors had complained he played his music too loud.

Wounded two others before returning to his own apartment where he eventually surrendered to police after they'd pumped tear gas into the apartment.


If there was anyone who ever deserved going to hell in a gasoline suit, Howard was it. Eventually pronounced insane, he was committed to a unit for the criminally insane at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and I suppose lived a long crazy life in this institution.

For those who suffered at the hands of a sick man who's sicknesss may have been caused by war, may your souls rest in peace and you forgive man for his warring ways. For Howard, I pray he's found peace and his nightmare is over. But a warning to Lucifer, don't go saying negative things about Howard or telling him he can't play his music loud in the land of lost souls. If so there might be "Hell to Pay" for it.