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Olmsted County Early Murders
On October 10, 1865, a cruel and atrocious murder was committed in the town of Quincy, about eighteen miles northeast of the city of Rochester, Patrick Callahan being the murderer and Warren Youmans the victim.The two men were neighbors, and, as was understood at the time, the crime grew out of some difficulty between them in reference to annoyance from cattle. On the day in question Callahan was mowing in a ravine not far away, when Youmans, who had been driving Callahan's cattle out of his field, came to him and commenced complaining about being annoyed by Callahan's cattle. The two men were now alone, but it is supposed that high words ensued, when Callahan started toward his antagonist with the uplifted scythe. Seeing his danger, Youmans attempted to escape by flight; but Callahan was too quick for him, and hooking the scythe around Youmans' legs, between the knees and hips, cut both legs to the bone, inflicting horrible gashes from ten to twelve inches in length. The poor man fell to the ground on the spot, and from all appearance died almost instantly.
Mr. Youmans not coming home at the time expected, search was made for him, and his dead body was found in a few hours in the ravine where he had met his cruel death.
An inquest was held by S. B. Clark, of Rochester, as coroner, upon the dead body of Youmans, and the verdict of the jury was substantially in accordance with the facts as above narrated.
In the meantime Callahan had fled the country, and soon afterward the governor offered a reward of $500 for his apprehension and delivery to the sheriff of Olmsted county. Nothing, however, was heard of Callahan by the Olmsted county authorities until May, 1872, nearly seven years after the murder was committed. Callahan was described in the governor's offer of a reward as a "laborer, thirty-five years old, five feet four or five inches high; eyes light blue or gray; sandy beard and complexion; brown hair, slightly mixed with gray ; weight one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and thirty pounds; slightly pock marked; naturally round featured, but cheeks a little sunken ; speaks quick, with Irish brogue."
It seems that Callahan made his way to Chicago, and there, under an assumed name, hired out as a laborer. Forming an acquaintance with a fellow-laborer, the two became on quite intimate terms. In the course of their friendly intimacy, Callahan confided the story of his great crime to his new-found friend, and confessing himself a refugee from justice. Subsequently, however, it transpired that the two men fell out and became enemies, whereupon Callahan's confidant gave him away, by informing a Chicago detective by the name of Simonds, of his (Callahan's) criminality. Simonds, not aware that a reward had been offered for Callahan's arrest, came to Winona to see a brother of the murdered man, thinking that the brother would be sufficiently interested in the matter to pay a reasonable consideration for the capture and punishment of the alleged murderer. Mr. Youmans, brother of the murdered man, declining to come to the detective's terms, he applied to the sheriff of Winona county. From the sheriff Simonds learned that the murder was committed in Olmsted county instead of Winona. The sheriff and Simonds then concluded to confer with the sheriff of Olmsted county by telegraph, and the following dispatches passed between them:
SHERIFF, ROCHESTER: WINONA, May 18,1872.
Do you want Callahan, the murderer of Warren Youmans some time ago? Reply at once. See county attorney. J. F. MARTIN, Sheriff.J. F. MARTIN, WINONA: ROCHESTER, May 18,1872.
You will keep the said Callahan, murderer of Youmans, and I will be after him Monday, the 20th. J. A. ELLISON, Sheriff.No reply to this being received, sheriff Ellison sends another dispatch, as follows:
J. F. MARTIN, SHERIFF, WINONA: ROCHESTER, May 20,1872.
Have you got the man ? If so, can you bring him ? Answer. J. A. ELLISON.J. A. ELLISON, SHERIFF, ROCHESTER: WINONA. May 20, 1872.
He is in Chicago. I will bring him by your paying expenses, or you may send for him. Answer.It appears that this last dispatch was signed, "T. F. Simonds, detective".
The next dispatch was as follows:
J. F. MARTIN, SHERIFF, WINONA: ROCHESTER, May 20, 1872.
What will be the expense to bring the man here? Answer. J. A. ELLISON, Sheriff.Sheriff Martin replied as follows, under the same date:
Will deliver him to you at Rochester for $125, if no requisition be required ; or you may send for him yourself to Chicago. Answer at once.
J. F. MARTIN, Sheriff.The same day sheriff Ellison answered as follows:
SHERIFF MARTIN, WINONA:
If yon will bring the said Callahan forthwith your money is ready.
J. A. ELLISON, Sheriff.
In due time Patrick Callahan was brought to Rochester and delivered into the custody of sheriff Ellison. On the 25th of April, 1866, the grand jury of Olmsted county had indicted Callahan for murder in the first degree, and May 28, 1872, Judge Waterman .issued a bench warrant for his arrest. The prisoner was arraigned in the district court at a special term June 26, 1872. County attorney Start conducted the prosecution, and John Van Arman, Esq., of Chicago, and Hon. Thomas Wilson, of Winona, appeared for the defendant. On being required to plead, defendant plead not guilty to the indictment, but plead guilty to murder in the second degree. In view of the fact that one of the most important witnesses on the part of the state had died and another had left the country, the county attorney advised to accept the plea, and the court convicted the defendant accordingly and sentenced him to the state prison for four years.
THE MURDER OF FREDERICK ABLEITNER.
Among all civilized peoples the willful, malicious, wrongful taking of human life is regarded as the highest crime known to the law. The act never fails to excite the horror and execration of the community in which it is committed, and invokes the just and speedy trial, condemnation and punishment of the murderer. But in murder, as well as in other offenses against society and the law, there are degrees of guilt and criminality. In some cases there are extenuating circumstances, as great provocation, sudden impulse of anger, or other conditions which tend to modify, to a greater or lesser extent, the real guilt of the criminal, and are—and justly, too—plead and allowed in mitigation of punishment. The case, however, which we are about to relate may well be classed among the most brutal, cold-blooded and fiendish in the annals of crime. Three strong, healthy and vigorous young men get together and coolly, deliberately, and with a sang-froid strikingly shocking, plan, plot and proceed to murder a harmless and unsuspecting old man in his humble prairie home. The old man had never done his murderers any wrong; they had no motive to call him from his bed in the darkness of the night to assault and murder him, save that of robbing him of property justly and solely his own.
At the time our narrative commences, there were residing at or about the little city of St. Charles, in Winona county, three men, named John Whitman, Charles Edwards and George W. Staley. Whitman was a married man, about thirty-five years of age, and with his family, resided at St. Charles. Edwards and Staley were young men and unmarried. They were transient characters and had come into that neighborhood some time in the latter part of the summer of 1867, and engaged to work as harvest hands.
About two miles west of St. Charles, in the town of Dover, Olmsted county, was the farm residence of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Ableitner, an old German couple. The country was then new and the old couple's home, though comfortable, was humble and unpretending, but, unfortunately for them, it was thought that they had a considerable sum of money in the house, recently sent to them from their native country. Jobn Whitman, it seems, had been at Mr. Ableitner's house, and while there he claims to have seen the old gentleman exhibit quite a sum of money as he was paying off some harvest hands. He informed Edwards that tjh old man had $2,000 in gold put away in a chest. The two men were not very long in making up their minds to rob the old German, and, taking Staley into the conspiracy, the three agreed upon the night of October 29, 1867, to put their wicked plan into execution. On the night of the murder the three men drank heavily at a saloon in St. Charles, and then, with brain crazed with whisky, and with robbery and murder in their hearts, they started for the scene of their horrible crime. It would appear that they had not fully determined upon killing their unsuspecting victim when they left St. Charles, but in talking the matter over, Edwards suggested that "dead men tell no tales," an adage which was readily agreed to by the other two men. Accordingly on the way they cut each man a club, Staley having with him also a loaded revolver. It was agreed that Edwards should call the old man to the door and knock him down, while Staley should watch him and Whitman assist Edwards in robbing the house. Arriving at the house Edwards knocked at the door, and Ableitner inquired: "Who was there and what was wanted." Edwards replied that a couple of men had lost their way and wanted to inquire the road to Chatfield. Upon this the old man came to the door, when Edwards knocked him down with his club. The victim got on to his hands and knees trying to rise, when Staley shot him with his pistol. Two or three more shots were fired at the old man. Edwards afterward lighted a paper, by which they looked in and saw the wounded man walking about the house, holding his hand to his side and groaning piteously. The above is, in substance, the narration of the circumstances connected with the cold-blooded and brutal transaction as minutely detailed by Staley in his confession, and is probably true in the main.
Mr. Ableitner survived his terrible injuries a few hours, but before he died he stated that there was only about fifteen dollars in money in the house at the time he was attacked.
Of course the entire community was deeply stirred over the brutal deed, and measures were speedily taken to ferret out the guilty ones and bring them to justice. Edwards, soon after the murder, disappeared and was never seen afterward by any one having knowledge of the murder. Whitman and Staley, however, remained in the neighborhood, and suspicion resting upon Staley as having been concerned in the murder, he was arrested upon a warrant issued by Justice Stevenson, of Dover. In the meantime Whitman pretended to be very active and officious in searching out the murderers, and it is a singular fact that while Staley was in custody during his examination, he was placed in charge of Whitman, the people little thinking that the latter was one of the murderous confederates. Justice Stevenson, deeming the evidence insufficient to warrant him in holding Staley for trial, discharged him.
Whitman and Staley remained in and about St. Charles for a number of days, when the citizens held an indignation meeting and resolved to put the case into the hands of Chicago detectives. Soon after this, Whitman, with his family, and also Staley, left the country. Mr. D. J. Page, a Chicago detective, appeared at St. Charles about this time and set himself to work to hunt up and arrest the murderers of Ableitner. Gathering what information he could, Page started east, as he believed, on the trail of the guilty and absconding Whitman. He traced the fugitive through Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania to Runnelsville, New York, where he found Whitman's family, but no Whitman. He had been there but his then whereabouts was not known. Page was at a loss to know just which way to take, but finally concluded to start in a westerly direction. Upon arriving at Rochester, New York, he was fortunate enough to find a clue that finally led to the capture of his man. He there teamed that Whitman was somewhere in the Michigan pineries, working as a teamster. With this slight clue, the wily and persistent Page pushed on to Michigan, and at a little town called Cedar Springs, in the pine forests of that state, he found and arrested Whitman, December 18, 1867. The detective brought his prisoner to Rochester and lodged him in jail. We will here finish our narrative concerning John Whitman and then take up again the case of Staley.
At the June term of the district court, 186S, Charles Edwards, John Whitman and George W. Staley were indicted by the grand jury for the willful murder of Frederick Ableitner. On October 6, following, the court being then in session, John Whitman plead guilty of manslaughter in the third degree, and on the 16th he was sentenced by Judge Barber to confinement in the state prison for the term of eight years. In the meantime Whitman had manifested a good degree of remorse and penitence over his awful crime. He had confessed soon after his arrest that he was one of the men who was present at the murder, but charged the killing upon Edwards and Staley. Prison life, with a guilty conscience, however, did not seem to agree with him. His health began utterly
to fail him, and on March 24, 1871, Gov. Austin granted him a full pardon.
About two weeks after landing Whitman at Rochester detective Page, with another Chicago detective, named James Webb, started to look up Staley. Mr. Page had obtained a slight clue to Staley's whereabouts by a letter which he saw at St. Charles, written by a Mr. Poole, of Portage City, Wisconsin. With what information they could gather, meager though it was, the officers pursued their way to Sparta, Wisconsin, from whence they proceeded to Black River Falls, thirty or forty miles further on. From that place the officers, with two or three other men in company, proceeded to Neilsville, some twenty to thirty-five miles distant, from whence they went to a lumbering camp, called "Allen's Camp." an obscure place in the Wisconsin pineries, in the northeast corner of Clark county. The party arranged to arrive at the camp in the night, as they thought that the arrest of Staley could be effected more easily and safely when all the lumbermen would be in bed. Accordingly, they reached the camp at two or three o'clock on the morning of December 26. The sleeping bunks or berths in the camp were arranged similiar to those on a steamboat, and Page, with Staley's picture about him, passed through between the berths, and told the men to look up and show their faces. Most of them uncovered their heads and the question was asked,"What is wanted ?" One man, however, held the blankets down over his head, but the officer pulled the covering off and immediately recognized Staley. Mr. Page said to him: "George, get up, I want you." The guilty murderer and trembling fugitive immediately got up, dressed himself, and under the escort of the officers arrived at Rochester about December 30, when he joined his fellow murderer, Whitman, in the common jail of Olmsted county.
June 15, 1868, Staley was arraigned in the district court— Hon. L. Barber presiding—on a charge of murder in the first degree. County-attorney Start and F. R. E. Cornell, attorney-general, conducted the prosecution. Hon. R. A. Jones, of Rochester, and Hon. Benjamin Franklin, of Winona, appeared for the defense. Two full days were spent in getting a jury to try the case. Over one hundred men had been summoned before the requisite number (twelve) were selected. The jurors' names were as follows : W. P. Clough, John Morrison, A. D. Robinson, Aaron Richardson, R. R. Hotchkiss, J. Briggs, Barney Hacket, A. T. Hyde, D. A. Sullivan, James Ireland, Robert McClosky and James Moody. Aaron Richardson was chosen foreman.
About a dozen witnesses were sworn on the part of the state, and about half that number for the defense. The trial, which lasted nine days, was very interesting and impressive, and the proceedings were witnessed with deep and unabated interest by a large number of spectators each day. The state, as well as the defendant, was represented by skilled, able and energetic attorneys; the struggle of legal acumen and adroitness in the examination of witnesses was frequent, sharp and incisive, while the arguments before the jury were marked for their ability, candor and soundness.
The case was given to the jury on the 26th, between five and six o'clock in the evening. The jury retired to their room to consult together touching their verdict, and after being out about six hours they returned to the courtroom, and, through their foreman, announced to the court that they had agreed upon a verdict, which was, "Guilty, as charged in the indictment."
With all the circumstances and associations the scene was deeply sad and impressive, and was graphically described in the "Rochester Post," in its account of the trial, as follows:
"During the trial the appearance of Staley underwent no great change. He is twenty-two years old, of medium height, well built, and in expression candid, sincere, and rather prepossessing. From long confinement in the cell his hands and face have faded to a delicate white. His dress is scrupulously neat, his hair neatly combed, and hangs in graceful curls, giving him more the appearance of a drygoods clerk than of a prisoner on trial for his life. As the dread ordeal drew to a close, as the terrible recollection of that dreadful night of last October was renewed, as the fearful and ominous words, at the lumber camp, at the dead hour of night, "Get up, George, I want you," were reiterated, and as the web of condemning evidence continued to be woven around him, his earnestness of expression indicated a deepening interest in the results of the proceedings. But at no time did his self-control or steadiness of nerve forsake him. Confronted, face to face, at the lonely hour of midnight, with the twelve men, who, under God, held his fate in their hands; all nature hushed in repose, and the pale lamp casting a weird and ghostly glare over all objects in the now almost deserted courtroom, young Staley listened to the awful word "guilty" coolly, composedly, and without any apparent excitement or emotion. All present, including the court, attorneys and officers, were deeply moved with the sadly interesting and solemn scenes of that midnight hour."
The condemned man was remanded to the jail, and the next day his counsel moved the court for a new trial and suspension of sentence. The motion was heard by the court on the first Monday of September, 1868, and denied. County-attorney Start then moved for judgment of sentence. The prisoner arose to his feet, and the court asked him if he had anything to say why the sentence of the law should not be pronounced against him. Staley replied that he had ''nothing to say." The court then passed sentence as follows: " It is adjudged by the court, now here, that you, George W. Staley, as a punishment for the offense of which you have been convicted, be conveyed hence to the common jail, in the county of Olmsted and State of Minnesota; that you be kept in said jail in solitary confinement until the fifth day of March, 1869, and that on said fifth day of March you be hung by the neck until you are dead."
On the 12th day of September an appeal was taken to the supreme court. The appeal was argued before that court at its session in January following. The judgment of the court below was affirmed. A few days before the time fixed for Staley's execution, a petition to Go v. Marshal, asking for a commutation of the prisoner's sentence to confinement in the state prison for life, was drawn up and circulated for signatures by E. A. Jones, Esq. The petition was very generally signed by the jurors and leading citizens of Rochester and other near localities, and four days before the fatal "fifth day of March " the petition was presented to the governor by Mr. Jones. The governor granted the prayer of the petitioners, and Staley, instead of going to the gallows, was conveyed to the state prison.
Staley's uniform good behavior and cheerful compliance with prison rules and regulations, together with his youthfulness and agreeable manners, won for him sympathy, kindly feeling and respect, and after serving a prison life of six and one-half years, he was granted a full pardon by Gov. Davis, and has since, it is believed, led an innocent and honorable life.
In January, 1868, the legislature passed a bill appropriating $500 to be expended in the capture of Edwards. Detective Page stated that he had heard from Edwards; that he was in Texas, and he believed he could find him. The money, or a portion of it, was given to Page and he made the trip to Texas in pursuit of the fugitive, but without avail. Edwards was said to have been a Texas ranger; that he fought in the rebel army during the rebellion, and that the old German, Ableitner, was not the first man which he had murdered. That he was, and still is, if not dead or reformed, a desperate character, a full-Hedged villain and cut-throat, there seems to have been abundant evidence.
In the summer of 1878 a couple of Germans, named Fred Hitman and John Schroeder, came into Olmsted county, from Davenport, Iowa, and hired out to work in harvest on Greenwood prairie, in the town of Farmington. They were strong, robust men, and at the time of their coming to Minnesota they could have had no thought of the tragic and terrible ending of their summer trip to the broad and golden wheatfields on Greenwood prairie. What that end was we will now proceed briefly to narrate.
On the 4th of September, 1878, Mr. Amos Parks, an old resident of the town of Farmington, came to Rochester and notified coroner Mosse that the dead body of a man had been found, and was then lying in a grove about fifty rods north of Mr. Parks' residence. Accordingly, coroner Mosse, together with county-attorney Eckholdt, sheriff White and constable Sherman went out to Farmington, a distance of about fourteen miles, the same evening, when the coroner proceeded to hold an inquest over the dead body in the place where it was found.
The facts brought out at the inquest, and which were substantially corroborated at the subsequent examination of the alleged murderer, were mainly as follows:
The body was fully identified as that of John Schroeder, who bad recently come into the town of Farmington, and whose home was supposed to be at Davenport, Iowa. He had accumulated twenty-one dollars in money, which, a few days previous, he had banded to a Mr. Schultz for safe keeping, and at the same time hired out to Schultz to work in threshing. On the last Saturday previous to the inquest it was shown that Schultz paid Schroeder seven dollars which he had earned in threshing, and at the same time handed to Schroeder the twenty-one dollars deposited with him. The same morning Fred Hitman went to the residence of Mr. Schultz, from whence Hitman and Schroeder went together to Potsdam, a small village near by, and where they remained over Sunday. The two men were seen in company by several of the neighbors that day, and the deceased told one of the witnesses that he and Hitman were going to sleep out in the brush that night. The same evening deceased went to the residence of Mr. Parks and asked for work. Mr. Parks told him that he did not wish to hire any help. Schroeder called for something to eat, offering to pay for it. He said he had a partner up the road. Mr. Parks looked up the road and saw a man standing there in the road. Mr. Parks told Schroeder that he could have some supper, and asked him if his partner did not want something to eat. Schroeder said he thought he did, but he did not believe he would come to the house to get it. Schroeder then left, but did not come back for his supper. Several persons passing that way in the evening noticed the camp-fire in the grove. Men's voices were heard in the brush about the fire, and one man, Mr. Schultz, recognized the voices as those of Hitman and Schroeder. The dead body was first discovered by a young man named Herbert Barnhart, white hunting rabbits in the grove. The skull of the dead man, on the right side, was fractured, and the verdict of the jury was to the effect that deceased came to his death by a blow upon the head "from a blunt instrument in the hands of a person whose name is, to the jurors, unknown."
Hitman was seen in Rochester a day or two after the murder, and then disappeared. By this time suspicion began to be generally fixed on Hitman as the murderer of Schroeder, and sheriff White and his deputies immediately took active measures for his capture, for which purpose the telegraphic wires were industriously employed. In the course of four or five days sheriff White received a telegram from the chief of police at Davenport, Iowa, stating that Hitman had been arrested at that place and asking if he should hold him. Upon receiving this information the sheriff immediately left for Davenport. Arriving at Davenport, sheriff White obtained an interview with the chief of police, and the two officers went together to the jail, where Hitman was confined. The prisoner being brought out, the sheriff asked him a few questions about Schroeder and other matters connected with the prisoner's, movements about Potsdam and Farmington. From Hitman's replies, and also from a well-executed photograph of him which sheriff White had with him, he was sure that he had found the man which he was in pursuit of, and brought him to Rochester and locked him up in jail.
On Monday, the 23d, Hitman had an examination before Justice L. L. Eaton, of Rochester. County-attorney Eckholdt, assisted by C. M. Start, Esq., conducted the prosecution; Messrs. Jones and Gove appearing for the defense. The examination resulted in the accused being held to await the action of the grand jury at the next general term of the district court, commencing on the first Monday of December following.
The court convened pursuant to statute, Hon. William Mitchell presiding. The grand jury found an indictment against Fred Hitman for murder in the first degree. Upon being arraigned the accused plead guilty. He then arose to his feet and the judge asked him if he had anything to say why the sentence of the court should not be passed upon him. Hitman replied that he had not. Judge Mitchell then said he had "no disposition to intensify the effect of the sentence which he was about to pass upon him. You have plead guilty of the commission of the highest crime known to the law and against society, by taking the life of a fellow-being. The safety of society, as well as persons and property, depends upon the sacredness of human life. The sentence of the court is that you be taken to the state prison at Stillwater and there confined at hard labor for the remainder of your natural life, and that on the first day of each month you be kept in solitary confinement."
It might be well to state here that capital punishment was practically abolished in Minnesota by an act of the legislature in the winter of 1869.
At the time of the murder Hitman was about thirty years of age. He is of medium height, of well-rounded, compact form; weight about 175 pounds. His facial conformation would not denote either a fool or a villain, and yet he has a wicked-looking eye in his head. At the time of his arrest, and during his confinement, he maintained a wonderful firmness and self-control, and even in the last fearful ordeal in the courtroom his self-possession did not entirely forsake him. "While receiving the dreadful sentence which assigned him to a prisoner's cell until released by death, the blood rushed to his face and the nervous throbbings evinced a considerable degree of mental pain and disturbance.
THE MURDER OF TERRANCE DESMOND.
On the 24th of June, 1880, coroner Nichols received a telegram from A. A. Cady, sent from Chatfield, stating that the dead body of Terrance Desmond, a farmer and former resident of the town of Elmira, had been found in a grove on his farm, in a condition showing that the man had been murdered. Deputy-coroner Benjamin left immediately for the place designated, and took prompt measures toward holding an inquest over the remains of the deceased. A coroner's jury was duly summoned and several witnesses were examined, when the following-named facts were elicited: Mr. Desmond was seen alive lor the last time on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 23, about four o'clock. There were various conjectures respecting his sudden and mysterious disappearance, and a search for him was instituted. His scythe, which he had been using to cut weeds, was found hanging in a tree. Search was made in the immediate vicinity, but not linding the missing man, some of the party went to a field of sugar-cane where the deceased had also been at work on the afternoon of his disappearance. The body was found about twenty rods west of the canefield, and close by the remains there was a spot in the grass and weeds where it was evident that some person had been recently sitting down. Deceased was lying on the face, with his right hand under him and his hat directly in front of him at a spot just where he had evidently come out of the thick brush into the path. The blood from his wounds had run down the hill and his clothing was saturated with blood from head to feet. His throat had been cut from ear to ear. The gash was fully seven inches in length and severed the jugular vein and the windpipe. There was another cut just below the one first mentioned, and there were also two stabs over the left ear and one behind the ear. The skull was mashed in directly above the ear. About two rods from the body a heavy seasoned oak club, some five or six feet in length, upon which were bloody spots and hair, was found.
Mrs. Ellen Desmond, wife of the murdered man, testified that her late husband was last seen at four o'clock Wednesday afternoon, when he came down to the house from the field to look after some colts. She stated that her husband was in a hurry, saying that he must return to the field at once to finish some work before it was time to attend to the chores. Mrs. Desmond also said that there had been hard feelings between her husband and Edwin Reynolds, a brother-in-law and neighbor of the deceased, but she did not think the enmity so great as to provoke murder.
The jury returned a verdict that Mr. Desmond came to his death by a blow from a club upon the head and by his throat being cut by some person to them unknown.
Charles Van Allen, a boy eighteen years of age, and who was at work for Mr. Desmond at the time of the murder, was arrested on suspicion of having committed the bloody deed, brought to Rochester by sheriff White and lodged in jail.
On the 27th of July Van Allen had an examination, conducted by county-attorney Eckholdt, before Justice Laird, at Chatfield, on the charge of murder. The hearing commenced at one o'clock in the afternoon and lasted until three o'clock the following morning. Over thirty witnesses were examined, but the evidence not being deemed sufficient to warrant the court in holding the accused, he was discharged. Edwin Reynolds, before spoken of, and who was present at the examination of Van Allen, was immediately arrested by sheriff White on a warrant issued by Justice Laird and made returnable before Justice S. W. Eaton at Rochester. Reynolds was brought before Justice Eaton on Thursday, the 28th, when an adjournment was had till nine o'clock the next morning. C. Kingsley, Esq., of Chatfield, and R. A. Jones, Esq., of Rochester, appeared for the defense: the state was represented by county-attorney Eckholdt. The examination lasted two days, twenty-five witnesses having been examined. The testimony in the case on the part of the state was, that Reynolds and deceased had for some time past been at great enmity with one another; that a few weeks previously the two had had a fight; that Reynolds had bitten Desmond's face pretty badly in the fight, though the former got soundly whipped at last; that Reynolds subsequently prosecuted deceased for an assault, lost his case and had to pay the costs of suit, amounting to about $20. Several of the witnesses testified that Reynolds was of an ugly, quarrelsome nature, and that be had frequently been heard to say that he would "make away with Desmond before long". The examination resulted in the accused being held to await the action of the grand jury at the following December term of the district court.
The court convened on December 6, Hon. William Mitchell presiding. The grand jury found an indictment against Reynolds for the willful murder of Terrance Desmond. On being arraigned and required to plead to the indictment, Reynolds plead not guilty. On Wednesday, the second week of the session, the case of the State v. Reynolds was called, county-attorney Eckholdt being assisted by attorney-general Start, on the part of the state.
After some delay a jury was impaneled and the trial proceeded.
The case was given to the jury Thursday afternoon, and after being out about twenty hours, they returned into court and informed the judge that they were unable to agree upon a verdict. It was understood that the final vote stood eleven for acquittal and one for conviction.
Judge Mitchell required Reynolds to give bail in the sum of $2,000 for his appearance at the next term of court, but in default of bail he was kept in jail until March 18, 1881, when he was released on his own recognizance, and on August 6 following, Judge Start, successor of Judge Mitchell on the bench, ordered the action dismissed.
On September 18, 1880, John Nevins, aged about fifty years, and a well-to-do farmer, residing in the town of Viola, was fatally shot with a pistol in the hands of Frank Bulen, a young man, stepson of Mr. Robert Moody, of Haverhill. The circumstances of the shooting, together with the final disposal of Bulen, were substantially as follows:
About six o'clock in the afternoon of the day in question, Mr. John English, who resides in the town of Haverhill, came to Rochester and informed marshall Kalb and sheriff White that John Nevins had been murdered by a man in his (Nevins') employ, named Frank Bulen. Coroner Sedgwick, county-attorney Eckholdt, sheriff White and constable Cole immediately left for the scene of the murder, about ten miles northeast from the city of Rochester. As soon as the officers arrived a coroner's jury, consisting of Messrs. H. K. Blethen, Z. Ricker, Roger Mulvahill, Martin Brennan, Thomas Scanlan and John J. Lawlor were sworn and the examination commenced, conducted by county-attorney Eckholdt.
John Burk, the only eye-witness present at the shooting, was the first witness examined. From his statements, under oath, it appears that Mr. Nevins returned from Rochester at about three o'clock in the afternoon of the day of the murder. After putting his horses in the stable, Nevins commenced cursing his wife, who was near the stable, threatening to kick her. Mr. Burk, thinking Nevins was about to violently assault his wife, stepped between them and told Nevins to stop. Nevins then struck Burk in the face. The two men soon caught each other by the throat, and, after struggling some time, Burk called to Bulen, who was in the yard near the house, to come over and help him. Bulen started for the spot where the two men were fighting, and when he had got within about one and one-half rods of them he pulled out a revolver and told Nevins he would shoot if he didn't stop. Bulen repeated the warning two or three times, but Nevins paid no heed to it, and Bulen discharged his revolver. Nevins cried out, "I am shot!" and spat out a mouthful of blood. Nevins still kept hold of his antagonist until Frank fired the second shot, when Nevins let go his hold of Burk's throat, staggered back a few steps and fell to the ground, and in ten minutes he was dead. The witness stated, however, that the first shot must have been the fatal one, as the second shot did not hit Nevins at all.
As soon as the murdered man began to stagger Bulen started off on a run, and was soon out of sight. Several other witnesses were examined, and their testimony elicited some additional minor facts, entirely consistent with and corroborative of Burk's statements, and the verdict of the jury was in accordance with the tacts as sworn to by the witnesses.
The guilty and terrified Frank ran about a mile, and hid himself in a straw-stack. Sheriff White made a vigilant search for him the same night, but failed to find him. The next morning, about six o'clock, Mr. John English, on whose farm the straw-stack was, saw Frank crawling out of the straw-pile. As he came up Mr. English said, "Is that you, Frank?"
"Yes, it is me," said Bulen, "and I have done a bad deed."
"Indeed you have, and you are my prisoner, Frank," said Mr. English.
Frank quietly surrendered himself, gave up his revolver, and went into Mr. English's house. The same morning Mr. English brought Bulen to Rochester, and turned him over to deputy-sheriff Bamber at the county jail.
From a lengthy and detailed account of the homicide, given by the "Rochester Post," of September 24, 1880, we extract the following:
"Bulen is a boy in stature, of what might be termed a stubby build. He is chunky in his make-up, about twenty-two years old, dark complexion, smooth face and short hair. He appears like a good-natured young man, and one whom no one would expect to find behind the bars of prison-doors, charged with the terrible crime of killing his fellow man.
"In answer to a question as to whether he wished to make a statement he replied in the affirmative: Bulen states that he has been work for Nevins for over two years. Nevins, he says, has been drunk frequently, and has abused him and the family very often. Mrs. Nevins' children, by a former husband, were also the objects of his abuse. It was only a little over a week ago that Nevins drove his stepson, Jerry Creed, away from home by his persecution.
"On Saturday afternoon Bulen came in from the field and went to the house to change his wet clothes for some dry ones. While he was there one of the Creed girls came to the house and told him that Nevins was trying to kill Burk. He ran down until within about thirty feet of them, saw that Burk's face was all bloody, and told Nevins twice to let go or he would shoot. He did not let up, but continued to strike Burk, and I fired to scare him, not intending to hit him. As the first shot did not scare him off, I shot again to scarce; then I saw him stagger. I turned and went away. I walked around until dark, when I went to Mr. English's stable, and went to sleep, and was arrested as described before. Bulen said he had threatened to shoot Nevins for his abuse and vile epithets, but he only intended to shoot to scare him."
On Monday morning, after the murder, Frank was brought before Justice S. W. Eaton for examination on the charge of murder, county-attorney Eckholdt appearing for the state. The accused had no attorney, and, waiving examination, he was committed to jail to await the action of the grand jury at the December term of court.
At the session of the court named the grand jury returned an indictment against Frank Bulen, for the murder of John Nevins. On being arraigned the accused took the statutory time to plead, C. C. Willson, Esq., appearing as his counsel. Bulen finally plead guilty to murder in the second degree, and Judge Mitchell sentenced him to state's prison for four years. The circumstances attending, or rather provoking and inciting, the murder, considered in connection with the youthfulness of the prisoner, and his evident lack of a proper conception of the nature and magnitude of his crime, were all taken into account by the court in fixing the penalty.
Source:
History of Winona and Olmsted Counties, 1883
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