W.H. Fullhart

Hired man Accused of Murder

William Oxley, Who Disappeared After the Custer County Tragedy, Is Arrested at Louisville

Special Dispatch to the World-Herald
Louisville, Neb., Dec. 1 - William Oxley was arrested here today by the sheriff of Custer county just as he stepped from a Missouri Pacific train from the south. Oxley is charged with the murder of W.H. Fullhart. The sheriff had been here three days looking for him.

Lincoln, Neb. - Sheriff Armstrong of Broken Bow, Custer county, passed through Lincoln this evening enroute from Louisville, Neb., where he arrested William Oxley, wanted for murder. Oxley is the hired man who worked for W.H. Fullhart, the Custer county ranchman whose dead body was found Saturday, November 23, on his ranch under circumstances which indicated murder. Oxley disappeared at the time of Fullhart’s murder, since which time his whereabouts have been a mystery.

Sheriff Armstrong found sufficient evidence to warrant him in apprehending Oxley and immediately instituted a search for him. Today the sheriff located his man at Louisville. Oxley refuses to discuss the murder of Fullhart, expressing ignorance of the case beyond what he has seen in the press relative to it.

Mr. Fullhart was a wealthy bachelor living alone on his ranch about eighteen miles from Anselmo. He was believed to be possessed of considerable money. His body was discovered near a shed where he had evidently been engaged in building a wire fence. His skull was crushed apparently with some blunt instrument.

Tacked to Mr. Fullhart’s door was, found Thursday preceding the finding of his body, a note which read: "Half mile east of house building fence. Come out." The condition of the body indicated that Fullhart had been dead about three days.

Oxley has a sister living near Springfield, Sarpy county.

A reward of $200 was offered by the governor for the arrest and conviction of the murderer.

From the Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Douglas Co., Nebraska), dated December 2, 1900