USA > Iowa > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I > Part 43
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After the inquest was over, the articles taken from the pockets of the dead man, consisting of two pocket knives, a pocketbook with twenty-five cents, some keys, a silver watch and a little diary book, were given to the father of deceased. George Morehead was arrested, charged with the murder of his neighbor and the grand jury brought in the following indictment :
THE STATE OF IOWA, JACKSON COUNTY, SS.
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF JACKSON COUNTY. APRIL TERM, 1897.
INDICTMENT.
The State of Iowa vs. George Morehead.
The grand jury of the County of Jackson, in the name and by the authority of the State of Iowa, accuse George Morehead of the crime of murder com- mitted as follows: The said George Morehead on or about the 8th day of April,
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1897, in the County of Jackson aforesaid, in and upon the body of one A. D. Rowland, then and there being willfully, feloniously, deliberately, premeditatedly, by lying in wait, and of his malice aforethought, did commit and assault with a deadly weapon, being a club of wood in shape and form of a wagon rack stake, there and then held in the hands of the said George Morehead did by lying in wait with the specific intent to kill and murder the said A. D. Rowland, willfully, feloniously, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of his malice aforethought, did strike, thrust and beat in and upon the head of him the said A. D. Rowland, thereby willfully, feloniously, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of his malice afore- thought, inflicting in and upon the head and body of the said A. D. Rowland mor- tal wounds, of which mortal wounds the said A. D. Rowland there and then did die. And the grand jury aforesaid do further present that the said George Morehead on or about the 8th day of April, 1897, in the county of Jackson aforesaid, in and upon the said A. D. Rowland, feloniously, willfully, and of his malice aforethought, did make an assault and he, the said George Morehead, in some way and manner unknown to the grand jury and by some means, instruments and weapons, did there and then feloniously, willfully, premeditatedly, and of his malice afore- thought, deprive of life so that the said A. D. Rowland then and there died con- trary to and in violation of the law.
R. W. HENRY, County Attorney of Jackson County, Iowa.
The case was tried before Judge W. F. Brannon ; R. W. Henry, county attor- ney, prosecuted; Hon. D. A. Wynkoop appeared for the defendant. The trial was a hard fought legal battle and at its conclusion 'the jury failed to agree and was dismissed and a new trial had, presided over by Judge A. J. House. De- fendant was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to twelve years hard labor in the penitentiary at Anamosa. He was an exemplary prisoner and saved all the good time possible and was released after a little more than seven years' incarceration. He had learned the cobbler's trade while in prison and opened a shop in Elwood, where he worked for several months, but his health failed and he gave up work and went to live with his father's family, where he grew gradually worse and passed away about two years after his release from the penitentiary. He protested his innocence of the crime of which he was made to suffer and often declared after he had served out his sentence that he knew nothing whatever about the murder of Deb Rowland. Judge House, who pre- sided over the last trial, stated to the writer that he had no doubt as to the fact of Morehead having killed Rowland, and said had he, Morehead, told the truth, he would have got a lighter sentence. His theory from the evidence being that Morehead, when starting to go to Slaughter's well with his horses, saw Row- land waiting for him in the road, and from the trouble they had recently had, believed Rowland would attack him, and as he passed his woodrack in his yard pulled out a stake and carried with him, that probably some words were used and Morehead flew at Rowland and beat him over the head with the stake until life was extinct.
KILLING OF HENRY SCHAPER, TOLD BY HIS DAUGHTER.
On or about September 28, 1900, my father left home a little after dinner to go to Bellevue to get my sister, who was attending school there. About 5 o'clock in the evening he returned with her. He was intoxicated. Soon after he went to the water tank to water the horses and tried to wash them off. He then turned around to the barn to unhitch them. That is all of that part that I knew until he came to the house, and then he came to the house and tried to find my mother. After he had first changed his clothes, and then when he could not find her he tried to force us to tell where she was. He said if he could find her he would kill her. I was scared at this, and he then said to Ida, my little sister, that if she kept watching him he would kill her. He was then outside of the house and Ida was looking out of the window. I didn't know where my mother was at this time.
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At this time there were in the house besides myself and my sisters, and also my married sister, two little children. He then came into the house again and searched the whole house over down stairs, looking for my mother. He was talking mean and nasty. Then he took off his shoe and pounded on the table so the castors broke in under it. This was the first time he ever did anything of this kind. This was in the dining room and we were all in the kitchen, that is my four sisters and myself, and my sister's two babies already referred to. He then came to the kitchen and said if any of you sons of bitches want anything just come out here, and then he said to me, I'll give you, you son of a bitch, a half of an hour to get supper ready. I obeyed his orders and got the supper and after we had it on the table he wouldn't eat, and then he said we should carry it off again. I took the supper away as he told me. This was probably near 7 o'clock in the even- ing, by this time. After that we asked him to lie down and rest and he said he wanted to find mother first and that he was going to kill her if he found her, and then he went out taking paper and oil and matches with him and saying that he was going to set the barn afire. Then he came back to threaten to set the house afire. He didn't set the barn afire or the house, and at about 8 o'clock he went down to our neighbor's, Mr. Gibbs, and after about half an hour he came back. He went to Gibbs' place to search for my mother. When he came back he acted like a mad person, during this time described. After my father returned from Bellevue and previous to the time he went over to Gibbs' place as described, he drank three quarters of a pint of whiskey and then he threw the empty bottle out of the window, and at the same time he drank about an inch by mistake of the contents of an alcohol bottle that we kept in the house. After he returned from Gibbs' place as described, he came out into the kitchen and began to show fight. He went out and got an ax and a gun and looked for a knife. The reason I think he went for a knife was because he went right to the place where we keep the butcher knife in the pantry, and looked for something, but I had taken this knife away from there before this. At this time we all ran out into the porch, that is my mother, myself and my sister Sarah, the others had all gone up stairs. My mother had returned to the house while my father was at Mr. Gibbs' place, as already described. When we went out to the porch my father ran after us with the gun. He had thrown the ax aside. He tried to shoot the gun at us, but it would not go off. Then he struck the gun over the railing of the porch and broke it. He had at this time a club of firewood, round and knotty. It was from wood that we use for the kitchen stove. He struck at my mother with this stick of wood but missed her. Then he dropped the wood, and grabbed her and tried to choke her. I then struck him with the same stick of wood already described. I hit him on the head. I struck him once and then he let go of my mother and turned onto me, and grabbed me, and then my mother struck him twice on the head with this same club, and then he let go of me and turned onto my mother again, and then she handed me this club and I struck him again on the head, and then he reeled over the porch railing and fell to the ground. He was standing near the railing at the time I struck him this last blow. It was about five feet from the top of the railing to the ground. He still kept cursing and swearing after he fell to the ground as described, and from that place he crawled slowly from where he fell to the gate, which was a short distance away. It took him about fifteen minutes to do this. This was at about 9 o'clock. I didn't think at first that he would die. The time that my mother was in hiding from the house as described was a period of about two hours. During a portion of the time that elapsed after he got to the gate and before he died he was cursing and swearing and seemed to think he was trying to drive horses, and then about half of an hour before he died he went into a kind of a peaceful sleep, and at about II o'clock he died. It was a dark and stormy night and we went out to where he lay at the gate every little while before he died, to see him. We didn't notify any of the neighbors in regard to this matter until morning after he died as described. We put the canvas over him and set up all night and kept watch so that nothing would touch the
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remains, and the next morning at 6 o'clock I went and notified our neighbor Weigert, and he took my mother to Bellevue to notify the coroner. The coroner came to our place about supper time and took supper with us and afterwards held an inquest over the remains. This was on the evening of the same day that my mother and Mr. Weigert went to Bellevue to notify the coroner as described. In the month of June, this year, a surgical operation was performed upon my father by Drs. Biglow and Guthrie of Dubuque. This operation was for the pur- pose of relieving a gathering of some kind in the head which involved the ear drum. These doctors, at the time of the operation advised him to let liquor alone, tell- ing him that the use of liquor was liable to so affect his brain that he would go insane. After receiving the advice he did let liquor alone until September fol- lowing. The reason that we didn't notify the neighbors in regard to my father's death, as described until morning, was that we had no one to send that was not afraid to go. My father had a quarrelsome disposition, that led to frequent quar- rels in the family, and in one of these he once choked my sister and would have killed her if one of the boys had not prevented him from doing so .- Marie Schaper.
COUNTERFEITER REDEEMED BY PATRIOTISM.
As far back as the territorial days that part of the county bordering on Bran- don and Monmouth townships was believed to be infested with an organized band of counterfeiters. In the fall of 1858, one E. S. Washburn was arrested, and not only counterfeit money was found on his person, but dies were also found for making money. On the 17th of March, 1858, the grand jury brought in an indict- ment charging Washburn with having counterfeited money in his possession, with the intent to pass the same, and on the 18th brought in another indictment charg- ing him with having dies in his possession for making counterfeit money. On the 25th of March, 1859, Washburn was brought into court and arraigned and pleaded not guilty. A jury was empaneled which heard the case, but could not agree, and was discharged. We believe but one of these jurors is alive today, and he is Thomas Frazer, of Woodbury county. On the 23d of December, 1859, the case came up for trial again, with the following jurors: Chas. Harrington, Dan Wagoner, R. L. Brit, Thomas Dugan, T. H. Davis, A. G. Fisher, J. T. Hutchins, R. B. Fenton, A. Hurd, John Keeff and A. J. Able, who, after hearing the evi- dence and arguments of council, brought in the verdict of guilty as charged, and recommended the defendant to the mercy of the court. The sentence of court was that defendant be confined in the penitentiary at hard labor for one year, from which he appealed to the Supreme Court and was admitted to bail pend- ing time for the trial. The sequel of the case we give in the version of our old friend Myron Collins, in his own language, dictated in 1897.
E. Washburn was indicted for manufacturing and passing counterfeit gold dollars near Canton, this county, indicted by the grand jury and put on trial, con- victed and sentenced to penitentiary for one year. A number of his neighbors thought him innocent. At the time of the trial I was bailiff under James Watkins, sheriff, had charge of Washburn and two Farringtons, when the county seat was in Bellevue. The prisoners were brought from Andrew and had to be guarded while in Bellevue, and I became very well acquainted with Washburn, and after his conviction he wanted to take an appeal to the Supreme Court. He had to furnish a bond in the sum of five hundred dollars in order to take the appeal. Myself with seven others went on the bond. The Supreme Court was to meet in Davenport in the spring ; in the meantime Washburn had moved to Bellevue with his family and lived there. He took a boat in the spring as he said to go to Daven- port to attend the Supreme Court. He did not appear at the Supreme Court but left the country.
Coming to investigate the bond, there were only two responsible parties on the bond and they were Mathew T. Diamond of Monmouth township and myself. The county did not enforce the collection of the bond against Diamond and my-
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self ; they wished to give us ample time to catch the defendant. We heard nothing of him until after the battle of Pea Ridge. A few days after that battle I received a letter from one of the Farringtons whom I had guarded at the same time I did Washburn at the jail, who was then in the Ninth Iowa Infantry which participated in the battle of Pea Ridge, stating that Washburn was major of the Twenty-fourth Missouri Cavalry. In a few days afterward I got another letter from William Seward stating the same thing. I then went and saw Mathew T. Diamond and made arrangements to get a requisition, and for me to go and get Washburn. Governor Kirkwood, of Iowa, issued the requisition upon the provincial governor of Arkansas. I took my requisition and started. When I got to Carroll I could not have got down the river without a pass, but having my requisition I was passed down the lines. Governor Phelps was provincial governor of Arkansas. I went to him and gave my requisition ; he looked over the papers and pronounced them correct. At that time Washburn was going under the assumed name of E. S. Weston, as I was informed by the parties who had informed me as to his whereabouts. After Governor Phelps had perused the papers and found them correct, he said that he would prefer, before issuing the warrant, to confer with General Curtis, who was in command and who had been in command at the battle of Pea Ridge. He called in a negro servant and ordered him to get his carriage. He and I went to General Curtis' headquarters-he was quartered in a very fine mansion in Helena, Arkansas, and Governor Phelps introduced me to General Curtis, as Mr. Curlins from Iowa, who had requisition from Governor Kirkwood, of Iowa, duly authenticated, for the arrest and return of E. S. Weston, alias E. S. Washburn. General Curtis appeared very much surprised. After reading the requisition over, General Curtis said to me that he would rather spare any other officer in his command, that he questioned very much whether they could have won the day at the battle of Pea Ridge had it not been for the gallant services of Major Washburn, that Washburn had been through the Mexican war and he was well disciplined and a daring and noble officer, and he would much prefer that some arrangements could be made whereby Major Washburn, alias Weston, could remain in the service. He sent an orderly after the major. He then informed me that he would have to excuse me as he had business of great importance on hand. I went out and sat in the governor's carriage, which was standing at the entrance to General Curtis' headquarters. While I was sitting in the carriage, Major Washburn came along with the orderly who had notified him that he was summoned before General Curtis. When Washburn turned into the gate to go into Curtis' headquarters I said to him, "Hello Washburn." He turned around and looked at me several moments before he spoke ; he then remarked, "Great God, is that you Collins ? I suppose the jig is all up with me." I remarked to him I thought it was; then he says, "I suppose you are after me;" I remarked that I thought he guessed correctly. We talked a few minutes. He then said I would have to excuse him, that he had been summoned before General Curtis. Probably a half hour after Washburn had gone in to report to General Curtis, an orderly came out to me and said I had summons to appear before General Curtis. Gov- ernor Phelps and General Curtis had been in consultation during my absence. I went in and reported to General Curtis. He said to me that he was very anxious that some arrangement could be made whereby the major could be retained in the service. He made a proposition of this kind, that he would appoint two of his staff officers and these officers and the major and me should get together and see if we couldn't arrive at some conclusion whereby the major could remain in the army. We went into a room upstairs over the general's headquarters. After a long consultation among ourselves we made this arrangement: That the major should pay all my traveling expenses, both going and coming, and a reasonable compensation for my time to me, and deposit five hundred dollars with Governor Phelps, that being the amount of the bond, and that we would get up a petition to Governor Kirkwood, of Iowa, setting forth the gallant services of the major at the battle of Pea Ridge and elsewhere, asking the governor to pardon him, and
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this petition was to be signed by General Curtis and Governor Phelps, and all the Curtis staff officers, and that I should take the petition and come to the governor of Iowa; and in the event that the pardon was not granted by Governor Kirkwood, Governor Phelps was to send the money to me, and if the pardon was granted, he was to pay it to the major. The major was at that time acting provost marshal. I informed the major that I would like to go out to the Ninth Iowa and stay as long as I had a mind to. I went out to the Ninth and I met a large number of acquaintances, as there was a company which went from Bellevue and Andrew which were in the regiment. Met the parties there, Farrington and Seward, who had informed me of the whereabouts of Washburn; stayed two days with the Ninth ; was treated like a king ; came back to Helena, turned my horse over to the major ; bade him good-by and took a steamboat to Cairo; came hoem and went to Des Moines and saw the governor ; gave him my petition ; he granted a pardon without any hesitancy ; said that we needed every man in the army who could do any good ; there was no doubt that Washburn was worth more there than he would be in the penitentiary.
Washburn informed me that while at Helena and after leaving Bellevue, that he went to a town in southern Missouri and went into practicing medicine and met with the best of success, and when the war broke out he got up a company and the company was attached to the Twenty-fourth Missouri Cavalry and they elected him major ; that he drilled the regiment and had most of the command during the campaign. Washburn's family knew nothing of his whereabouts, until I informed them after my return from Helena. They went as quickly as possible down to Helena, and I have never heard anything of Washburn since. At the next session of the legislature, a bill was passed relieving all liability on the bond of five hun- dred dollars.
EARLY DAY INQUESTS.
In taking up this subject we fully realize that we are inflicting a gruesome chapter, but in our introduction in the prospectus we claimed that the world was growing better and we are going to try to prove by writing up the crimes, homi- cides, and suicides, of the earlier days that the people of our county, at least, are growing better and doing better. Inquest held on the body of Dominick Keis, held December 20, 1872. Verdict, froze to death while intoxicated, near La- motte. W. L. Baker, John Chamberlin and Giles R. Winner, jurors ; R. F. Morse, justice of the peace.
W. F. Majors, Maquoketa, November 4, 1875. Verdict, excessive use of in- toxicating liquors. Dexter Field, A. Khan, N. Hatfield, jurors; S. S. German, acting coroner.
Albert Kountz, Monmouth township, killed by gunshot fired by his own hand, September 14, 1875. Jurors, D. A. Waterman, F. A. Packard, A. A. Tebo; W. J. Belcker, justice of the peace.
Jacob Putnam, shot in right temple by some person unknown to the jury, Sep- tember 2. 1880. Jurors, J. W. Keithly, Phil Weaver, and J. A. Keithly ; Joseph Schwirtz, justice of the peace, Bellevue, Iowa.
Unknown man drowned in Mississippi River, May 15, 1870, near Bellevue. Jurors, M. V. Smith, T. P. Hobart and Richard Harrison ; J. P. H. Cowden, justice of the peace.
Henry Robins, mail carrier, died on horse while carrying mail, 29th of Feb- ruary, 1884. Verdict, heart disease. Jurors, W. S. Kellogg, Henry Dunn, and A. Vonoven; D. N. Loose, coroner.
W. L. Redmond. Bellevue, May 7, 1881. Verdict came to his death by drown- ing, while temporarily insane. Jurors, W. A. Warren, W. K. Hinton and John Bauman ; A. S. Carnahan, coroner.
Jacob Hesse, Bellevue, May 29, 1881, came to his death by hanging. Jurors, M. M. Bean, N. O'Day, C. R. Kranz ; Carnahan, coroner.
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Catherine Bach, Monmouth township, March 30, 1877, hanged herself by neck in own residence. Jurors, Sampson Reel, Charles Cawkins and R. D. Water- man.
Thomas Keithly, shot to death by Charles E. Town in Bellevue, 23d of March, 1881. Jurors, N. B. Butterworth, Michael Maloney and W. A. Warren ; Carna- han, coroner.
William Sweeney, Sabula, October 28, 1882; congestive chills and exposure. Jurors, W. C. Simpson, W. R. McCarthy, Casper Schiltz; Loose, coroner.
Carl Borrat, Andrew, Iowa, July 13, 1875, killed self by hanging after attempt with a knife. Jurors, N. B. Butterworth, T. E. Blanchard and H. Reisling ; Car- nahan, coroner.
Harcer Knowles, Iowa township, hanged himself with a rope, June 7, 1878. Jurors, J. B. Gage, Nathan McArthur and Ed. Bryant; J. R. Graham, justice of the peace.
Amhurst S. Kimball, 25th of February, 1873, Andrew; jury said he came to his death by excessive intoxication produced by drinking bad whiskey. Jurors, W. B. Whitley, James Strain, W. B. Hunter ; W. C. Gregory, justice of the peace.
Unknown person, Sabula, August 15, 1882, came to death by drowning. Jurors, N. C. White, G. L. Mills, D. F. Brown ; J. G. Sulk, acting coroner.
John Lambert, September 16, 1877, Bellevue ; verdict, death by heart disease. Jurors, G. W. McNulty, W. O. Evans, N. Babwell; J. C. Campbell, justice of the peace.
Daniel McLean, Sabula, March 28, 1882. Jurors, H. J. Hall, G. L. Mills, S. Marsden; D. N. Loose, coroner.
Charles M. Bemis, Preston, April 17, 1884, killed April 16 while coupling cars. Emory DeGroat, P. E. Fuller, Samuel Foster, jurors.
Thomas Penny, Otter Creek, April 7, 1875, killed by falling from high bluff. Jurors, Thomas Bean, Daniel A. Hearn, Thomas T. Watters; John Black, jus- tice of the peace.
Joseph Wrother, run over by loaded sled, January 22, 1884. Jurors, J. L. Kimball, H. M. Cassin, John Downing; Loose, coroner.
John Carroll, Sabula, May 23, 1882, killed by jumping from train. Jurors, H. J. Haw, G. L. Mills, John Esmay ; Loose, coroner.
Inquest May 27, 1877, in Bellevue on body of unknown man found floating in the Mississippi River. Believed to have been shot and thrown into river. Jurors, M. M. Beam, Edward W. Bechon, Oscar Buchanan ; W. A. Warren, act- ing coroner.
Inquest held March 15, 1877, in Maquoketa township; Augustus Jepsen came to his death by his own hands by hanging himself with a rope on the 15th of March, 1877, while laboring under aberration of mind. Jurors, H. H. Mitchell, W. A. Rice, John McCaw; S. S. German, acting coroner.
Inquest on Peter Homann, Bellevue, June 10, 1877, burned to death while sleeping in a bed in his father's house, Theodor Homann. Origin of fire unknown to jurors, attest D. A. McLaughflin, John Shlern, H. E. Beardsley; T. W. Mil- ler, coroner.
Inquest held at Maquoketa, December 6, 1898, on body of I. O. Thompson, who came to his death on the night of December 5, 1898, by being thrown from . his wagon against a moving car at the crossing of C. M. & St. Paul between Hurstville and Maquoketa. Jurors, J. M. Swigert, Ed. McMurray, Charles Ellis ; O. M. Ide, coroner.
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