Adams County, Nebraska - Chapter 11: Notable Adams County Trials, 1916

Chapter 11: Notable Adams County Trials

In point of intense dramatic interest no case brought to trial in Adams County rivals that of I. P. Olive who with eight others was arraigned before Judge William Gaslin in the District Court at Hastings, in the sj^ring of 1879. These men were charged with the murder of Luther JNIitchell and Ami W. Kitchem in Custer County, December 10, 1878. The interest was not alone in the outcome of the trial itself but it was surrounded with an atmosphere that was tense and charged with suspense.

All Western Nebraska was rife %\'ith tales depicting the desperate character of the men on trial. The brutality with which it was understood that the murder had been committed caused the central characters to be regarded with a sense of disconcerting awe. ]\Ioreover, tliere were rumors that in the wilds of the unorganized West the friends of the men charged, lawless desperadoes like themselves, wei-e organizing an armed band to rusli the jail, overpower the office]"s of the law, and rescue the prisoners. This feature alone lent an excitement to the times which it is difficult at this period to realize. At any moment of the day or night the peaceful citizens more than half expected to hear the thunder of the hoofs of the horses of the invaders, their ringing shouts of challenge and the sharp cracks of t!ie Winchesters heralding the fray.

To guard against this eventuality soldiei's were liin-riedly summoned from Fort Omaha to ward off the gang. Three companies arrived, coming in a special train over the Burlington that made the trijD from Omaha in three hours. The soldiers brought with them to the citizens a sense of greater secvn'ity but the excitement was not abated one whit; indeed, the presence of the military added zest to the pros])ect. A patrol guarded the jail, a small wooden affair standing on the southwest corner of the present Court House Square, and M'lien the prisoners were taken to and from the court room they were escorted by a military guard.

The case was tried in Liberal Hall, which still stands on the corner of St. Joseph Avenue and Third Street. When marching to or from the court the prisoners were marched handcuffed, tv,-o and two. Spectators lined the way, many of them women, and remarked upon the appearance and character of the men being tried. At intervals the bugle of the military might be heard all over the town as the giiard was changed, and its clear tones was a constant reminder of the unusual event that was transpiring.

The trial lasted nearly four weeks and the court room was crowded, very many of them being women. One interested spectator was a small boy, who sold peanuts to the hungrj^ visitors to the coin-t. He was stationed near the entrance in a little room on the north side of the building, and while he plied his business with energy and much satisfaction with the generous patronage, he enjoyed the dime novel features of the case to the utmost and kept his eyes upon the ])risoners and the lawyers whenever the stress of business permitted. Then and there he resolved to become a lawyer when he should become a man. He never changed liis mind and in due time came to preside as judge over the very same court in which his ambition was first awakened. The boy is now Judge Harrj' S. Dungan, judge of the Tenth Judicial District.

JNIrs. Olive, wife of the chief prisoner, was in constant attendance at the trial. She wore throughout a look of anxiety but admitted no appearance of lack of confidence that her husband would be cleared. With JNIrs. Olive was their son, a lad of about ten, who was envied by the small boys of the town because of the inexhaustible supply of marbles which he seemed to have at all times.

Olive and those brought with him here for trial as well as the miu-dered men, INIitchell and Kitchem, were cattle men operating their business in the western jjart of Nebraska, chiefly in Custer County. Custer County at that time was not organized for judicial purposes, nor had it been joined to any organized territory for that purpose and that is the reason that the case was tried in Adams County, which at that time was a part of the Fifth Judicial District.

Late in the autumn of 1878 a warrant had been issued for the arrest of jNIitchell and Kitchem on the charge of cattle stealing and on November -27th of that year a party of men set out to arrest them. They proceeded to the house of JNIitchell who i-esided on Clear Creek and here they found the two men. JNIitchell and Kitchem resisted with a brisk gunfire which is said to have been in return of volleys fired at them by the deputies. The two men declared that thev were

After the exchange of a number of shots, Kitcheni was wounded in the arm. Immediately following his wounding he shot and killed a deputy by the name of Stephens. In the confusion that followed the killing of Stephens, INIitchell and Kitchem escaped.

The deputy Stephens, it transj^ired, was a brother of I. P. Olive, the rich cattleman of the South Loup country. The name, "Stei^hens," was an alias. Stephens is described as a rough character with proclivities of a desperado. It is also reasonably certain that there was a woman in the case, for it is known that both Kitchem and Stephens had been paying court to a handsome widow and residents of that country declared that Stephens as well as Olive had been active in securing the warrant for the arrest of JNIitchell and Kitchem in order to dispose of the latter as a rival for the affection of the widow.

At all events Olive offered a reward of $1,000 for the capture, dead or alive, of both INIitchell and Kitchem. They were soon caj)- tured and arrested and several sheriffs and dejjuties of the adjoining counties received their proportions of the reward offered by Olive.

While the two men were being taken from Kearney County to Custer County for their preliminary examination, in the custody of Sheriff Gillan of Keith County, Phil Dufrand of Custer County and others, the party was set upon by a band of armed men and the prisoners were taken away.

The following afternoon the bodies of INIitchell and Kitchem were found in a canyon near the south line of Custer County, north of the present Town of Lexington, but in Custer County. The body of Kitchem was still hanging to the limb of a tree by a rope which had been fastened about his neck. The rope with which Mitchell had been hung to the same limb had broken and the man's body lay in ashes still smouldering at the foot of the tree. The body, however, was slightly supported by the left arm the wrist of which was handcuffed to the right wrist of Kitchem as he hung from the limb.

In the indictments brought against Olive and his party it was charged that the two men had been shot as well as hung, several shots having been fii-ed into each body, and that their clothes had been saturated with oil and set on fire. The testimony of the prosecution sought to establish that the men had been burned alive after being tortured with knives.

deetls of violence which were terrorizing the homesteaders of western Nebraska and in a short time was able to inform the authorities at Kearney tliat everything was ready for the making of arrests. A number of deputies were sworn in at Kearney and the party proceeded to Plum Creek, now Lexington, where the arrests were made. The capture was arranged so that the men were taken unawares and singly. 1. 1'. Olive, who had declared that there were not enough inhabitants in the state to capture him, was taken without trouble in the postoffice. A brother of the murdered Kitchem was one of the deputies that arrested Olive, and it was he that placed the handcuffs upon his ^vrist. When Olive was introduced to him, the former merely smiled and remarked, "That's all right, boys."

The State of Nebraska appropriated $10,000 for the pi-osecution of tlie case and retained John ]M. Thurston of Omaha and others to assist General Dilvvorth.

At a special term of the court for the Fifth Judicial District held at Hastings in February, 1879, Judge Gaslin designated Adams County as the county where the crime should be investigated by the gi-and jury and tried if an indictment should be found. On February 27th District Attorney T. D. Scofield filed three indictments charging I. P. Olive, William H. Green, John Baldwin, Fredrick Fisher, Bion Brown, Barney J. Gillan, Pedro Dominicus, Dennis Gartrell and an unnamed man with murder in the first degree in the killing of ^Mitchell and Kitchem.

The defendants retained as their attorneys James Laird of Hastings, Beach I. Hinman of North Platte and General Connor of Kearney; associated with these in the defense were Attorneys Neville, Hamen and Warrington.

The case was set for trial April 1, 1879, and the defense began a stubborn resistance which was kept up unceasingly throughout the month that the trial lasted. Motions to quash the indictment and asking for change of venue were overruled by the court in rapid succession. In sujjport of the motion asking for change of venue hundreds of affidavits were signed by citizens of Adams and other counties declaring that on account of the stories that had been printed by the newsjiapers throughout western Nebraska concerning the defendants and the rumors that were constantly repeated it would be imi)ossible to find an open minded jury in Adams County, and the same was declared of Buffalo, Furnas, Custer and other counties.

The motion to quash was on the ground the grand jury had not l)een called in the manner required by law and that the grand jury had been called from one county while the alleged crime had been coiiiinitted in another. It was also urged that the grand jury had been called at a special term of the court and it was claimed that that procedure was illegal; also that Custer County was properly organized but did not belong to the Fifth Judicial District and that therefore Judge Gaslin did not have jurisdiction to try the case.

All the objections of the defense having been overruled on April 7th all the defendants except Fredrick Fisher and I. P. Olive demanded separate trials. This the court granted and the case proceeded to trial. The brilliance of James Laird was never more in evidence than at this trial, though his especial duty seemed to be to arouse the anger and disturb the judicial serenity of the court, evidently for the purpose of endeavoring to lead Judge Gaslin to commit judicial errors. Laird's address to the jury was talked about for years and no doubt the reputation won at this trial was a factor in securing for him later the nomination and election to Congress.

John M. Thurston, too, had his reputation to make at this time and from the time of the trial on he was known throughout the ^Vest as the silver tongued orator. In later years he became a senator of the United States and attained a high place in the national council of the republican party.

It is probable that the attorneys decided to try Olive and Fisher together that the former might benefit from whatever sympathy the youth of the latter might win from the jurors. Fisher was scarcely twenty years old and very youthful in appearance. Olive and Fisher wei'e found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to the penitentiary.

The case Avas appealed and the Supreme Court held that the indictment and trial in Adams County was an error and that the proceedings should have been brought in Custer County. Although a new trial was ordered the grand jury of Custer County took no action, and the prisoners, released on their own recognizance, did not face the charge a second time. Several years later Olive was fatally shot in a quarrel over a poker game in a town in Kansas.

Sheriff Gillan and three other men implicated in allowing iSIitcliell and Kitchem to be taken from them by the band that killed the two, were arrested and lodged in the Buffalo County jail.

Because of fear of vengeance from the friends of Olive, it was difficult to find men willing to take the risk of sitting on the jury in this trial. The selecting of the twelve men was completed on April 10th. The following comprised the jury: James Slote. W. ]M. West. A. J. INIillett, Thomas Carroll, Connor Knopf, C. O. Henry, A. R.

It was the influence of Thomas Carroll that saved Olive from being- found guilty of murder in the first degree. The strong resistance of Carroll to his fellow jurors resulted in the verdict of manslaughter.

The trial of Baldwin and Green was begam April 24, 1879, In this case Pedro Dominicus, as well as Bion Brown, testified for the state. The jury disagreed, however, and the men were taken to the Kearney Covnitj^ jail to await a second trial. There they succeeded in breaking jail and making their escape.

Xext to Olive and Fisher of the men tried here the ]Mexican, Pedro Dominicius and the negro are best remembered. The JNIexican was a one-eyed man and peculiarly vicious in appearance. The negro insisted on singing in a loud voice whenever there was an opportunity, and it Avas his habit to clamber up to the high windows of the jail from where his strong voice in song could be heard for many blocks.

The first murder proven to have been committed in Adams County was in February, 1879, when ^Villiam John ^NIcElvoy, alias John Brown, was convicted of the murder of Hem-y Stutzman at his home about foin- miles southwest of Hastings. McElvoy was a young man who usually made his home with a relative in Red Cloud. During the year or two preceding the nmrder of Stutzman jMcElvoy had worked for a number of farmers in Adams County, and at the time of the murder was employed as a printer in the office of the Hastings Journal.

On the evening of February 7th ]McElvoy left Hastings afoot, starting south. He was armed with a rifle and a revolver and said he was going to Red Cloud.

The next morning Cameron Belliel, a neighbor, while passing the house of Stutzman noticed that the latter's nudes were gone and the atmosphere siu-rounding the jilace suggested to him that something was wrong. Belliel went up to the house and called Stutzman by name several times. He got no reply and now about convinced that there had been foul play he went to the home of Joseph Wolf and informed him of his suspicions. The two returned to the home of Stutzman and broke through the door.

with the head bent over the table. Under the head of the dead man a tin pan had been placed to receive the blood which had flown from two wounds, one from a rifle bullet and the other from a revolver.

The news of the murder spread rapidly and the people of the community gatliered in numbers to search for the slayer. A new snow lay ujjon the ground and the tracking of the mules was easy. The tracks led south and thither went the posse. Clark, a Burlington engineer, while on the way from Red Cloud had noticed a man traveling south with some mules. Upon reaching Hastings and hearing of the murder he concluded that the man he had seen was the murderer. Following the receipt of this new^s another group, Clark among them, left Hastings to join the jjosse. INIcElvoy was by this time generally suspected.

About a mile south of the Blue River INIcElvoy Avas caught with tlie nmles in his possession. He made no resistance nor did he attempt to escape but maintained that he had killed Stutzman in self defense and unintentionally at that. He explained that seeing he had killed the man it occurred to him that he might just as well take the mules. The party with their prisoner reached Ayr a few minutes before the arrival of the northbound train upon which ]\IcElvoy was brought to Hastings.

Meanwhile the news of the captin-e of JNIcElvoy had been brought to town by those who had tin-ned back when he was first captured, and the recital of his story greatly incensed the populace. A great crowd gathered near the jail on the jn-esent Court House Square and lynching Avas freely talked of. Lynching, indeed, seemed imminent.

That JMcElvoy was not hanged immediately upon his arrival in Hastings is probably due to the effort of the Rev. D. Schley Schaff Avho was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. From a buggy the minister addressed the angry crowd and besought them to allow the law to take its course and save the credit of Adams County. He succeeded in allaying the feeling for the time. Schaff, by tlie way was the son of Doctor SchafF, the Bible scholar of international reputation; he was also a relative of Admiral Schley.

Later tliat evening, however, the populace assembled a second time and lynching was again imminent. By a ruse Sheriff ]Martin led the mob to believe that INIcElvoy was on the south side of the jail and wliile tliey sought to reacli him from that side the officer and his deputies got the prisoner out through a window on the north side. He was hurried to a waiting wagon and driven rapidly to the Burlington track and put aboard a west bound train at a point near the present roundhouse. He was taken to Kearny and lodged in jail.

The grand jury soon indicted ]McEIvoy on two counts; first, murder in the first degree by shooting Stutzman with a rifle. The second count charged the same ofl^ense witli a pistol.

Judge Gaslin immediately convened the court and McElvoy was airaigned. The case for the state was conducted by the district attorney, T. D. Scofield, who was assisted by A. H. Bowen, .John M. ]{agan and A. T. Ash were retained by the defense. JNIcElvoy entered a plea of "Not Guilty."

The defense maintained that INIcElvoy and Stutzman had quarreled and that the latter had seized the former's rifle and that ]McE]\oy then seized the gun and that a struggle ensued during which the fatal shots were fired. The prosecution sought to show that the prisoner shot Stutzman when the latter returned to the house from outside and upbraided the young man whom he found ransacking his pockets. Stutzman was a bachelor and there was nobody in the house but the two.

The trial lasted only one day and about 10 o'clock the following day tlie jury brought in a verdict of "Guilty" and Judge Gaslin sentenced the prisoner to hang INIay 29, 1879. Sentence was pronounced in a little less than eight days after the commission of the muider.

McElvoy. however, was not hanged. On appeal the Supei'ior Court remanded the case back for new trial. At the second trial he was allowed to plead guilty to murder in the second degree, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Ten years later he was iiardoned by Governor Thayer.

I. P. Olive and his friends were in the Hastings jail at the time that JNIcElvoy was confined there awaiting removal to the penitentiary. When Olive received his ten-j^ear sentence he fumed and raged angrily, declaring that he would rather be hanged than put in ten years in the penitentiary. This view did not appeal to INIcElvoy who stoutly maintained that after experiencing a death sentence and a life term sentence he was prepared to testify that the latter looked a good deal the better to a fellow.

Yocum Murdek Trial

Countj', having served on the board of county commissioners and as mayor of Hastings from April, 1876. to April, 1877, shot and killed Myron Van Fleet, also a resident of Hastings. The shooting took place in front of the cigar store located at 512 West Second Street. A revolver was the weapon used. The shooting resulted from the bad feeling aroused because of reports circulated by "Sir. Yan Fleet concerning INIr. Yocum's daughter, and which he declared were slanderous. JefF Teenier was arrested with Captain Yocum as an accomplice in the killing. The trial of Yocum was held in the District Coiu't in iNTarch. 1892. The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter on the 24th of iNIarch. The case against Teenier was dismissed on the motion of the county attorney. The release of Yocum was procured and he did not serve any of his sentence.

In the prosecution of Captain Yocum, County Attorney Chris Hoeppner. a brother of Ernest Hoeppner, was assisted by Batty, Casto & Dungan, C. H. Tanner and W. P. ^IcCreary. The defense was conducted by A. H. Bowen, JNI. A. Hartigan, C. J. Dilworth, Jesse B. Strode and J. G. Tate. In the dispatches of General Vodges, commander of the federal forces before Charlestown, S. C. while complimenting his staff officers. Corporal A. D. Yocum is mentioned as having disjilayed conspicuous bravery and efficiency in furnishing information of the enemy, for Avhicli he was promoted to adjutant of his regiment, the Sixty-second Ohio. From Hastings, Captain Yocum went West and took up land in a colony south of Yuma, on the Arizona side of the Colorado River. At 9 o'clock on a June morning, 1902, he committed suicide on the grave of his wife in Mountainview Cemetery at Pasadena, Cal. In a letter he left explaining his suicide he said: "Sixty years of relentless conflict with adversity have rendered me incapable of further usefulness in the world, mentally and physically."

On the night of August 1, 1892, Delavan S. Cole was shot and killed in a little vacant building in the extreme southeastern portion of Hastings. IMr. Cole had come to Hastings in an early day. and the park that he laid out in the southeast part of the town was for many years the principal recreation grounds of the city. January 19, 1893, ]Mrs. Anna B. IMason, who lived near IMr. Cole, was arraigned in the District Court, charged with the murder of Mr. Cole. The accused woman pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to four years in the penitentiary. She was pardoned by Governor

Crounse on December 15, 1893. Her husband, Edward W. JNIason, \\as arrested and charged as an accomplice of his wife in the crime. On April 1.5, 1893, he was acquitted by the jury. County Attorney W. P. ]McCreary was the prosecutor in these cases. Tibbets, ]SIorey & Ferris conducted the defense.

Horlockek Trial

September 2.5, 1899. an information was filed in the District Court charging" JNIiss Viola Horlocker with administering arsenic to iNIrs. Anna R. ^lorey \\ith the intent to kill. JNliss Horlocker was released on $.5,000 bail and the case came for trial in the JMarch term, 1900. For many days the District Covu't room was crowded. The prosecution charged that jNIiss Horlocker had concealed the poison in candy and then left the package at the home of Mrs. Morey, the package bearing the label, "Sweets for ]\Irs. Morey." This package was left at the home of INIrs. Morey April 10, 1899, and severe illness, almost resulting in the death of the recipient, had followed the eating of the candy. ]Miss Horlocker bore a high local reputation as a singer. She was employed as a stenographer in the law firm of which INIrs. Morey's husband was a member. She was acquitted of the charge by the jury March 30, 1900. She left Hastings and subsequently was married in New York, where she resides. County Attorney W. P. INIcCreary conducted the prosecution; John INI. Ragan, R. A. Batty and John C. Stevens were the attorneys for the defense. Temporary insanity was the basis of the defense.

Pearson Case

On May 10, 1907. Bonde R. Pearson of Hastings was arraigned in the District Court, charged with the killing of Walter R. ]\IcCulla of Kenesaw. As narrated by the prosecution, JNIcCulla Avas shot while standing at the telephone talking, in the Pearson home at 109 East Fifth Street. The accused stood outside the house and shot through the window. The Aveapon used Avas a shotgim. The shot struck McCulla on the left side of the back. He died from the Avounds early July 30. 1906. The shooting Avas done about midnight, and AA'as caused by the objection of Pearson to McCulla as a visitor to his home and an associate of his Avife. The prosecutor AA^as County Attorney John Snider, assisted by R. A. Batty. John C. Stevens and William F. Button defended. The defense contended that Pearson had been subjected to great and unusual provocation that had ren-

Trial Of Anderson

Arthur Anderson, a colored boy about twenty years old, killed Arthur Newell, a white young man of about the same age, on February 16, 1910, by striking him on the head with a billiard cue. The killing was done in a pool room on Hastings Avenue, near the First Street corner and on the east side of the avenue. Anderson resented being bandied about his bad luck at pool and a remark made about his color. After striking Newell, who died instantly, Anderson fled. He was not captin-ed for several days, but A\hen found not far from (Jlenville, his feet were so badly frozen that it was necessary to amputate them at the Nebraska Sanitarium. He was arraigned in District Court JNIarch 24, 1910, and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was sentenced to live years in the jjcnitentiary by Judge H. S. Dungan, and committed the following day. Newell, the young man killed, was also a resident of Hastings.

Sunday afternoon, April 2, 1911, Harry Palmer, aged twentysix, shot and killed his wife, Odessa Palmer, aged twenty-two, at the home of her mother in the west side of Hastings. JNIrs. Palmer died at the Nebraska Sanitarium about four hours later. After shooting his wife in the right breast with a revolver, the young man attempted to kill himself and inflicted severe wounds in the attempt. JNIrs. Palmer had left her husband and gone to live with her mother. On the fatal Sunday the young man came with a buggy and asked her to return to their home in another part of the city. Upon her refusing, he drew the revolver and immediately shot her. On May 9, 1911, lie ])leaded guilty to miu'der in the second degree and was sentenced l)v Judge Dungan to serve twenty-two years in the penitentiary at Lincoln. He was later removed to the hospital for the insane at Ingleside.

Nelson Tried For Killing

The police at Hastings were notified August 5, 1885. that a negro boy by the name of Lish Nelson had stolen a lady's watch and chain at Holdrege and was believed to have boarded a train bound east- ward. J. jNI. Tennant was a member of the police force at that time, and on that particular night was in charge of the force. Officer Tennant ordered the poHce at the Burhngton Station, C. J. Balcom, to he on the lookout. The latter officer about midnight observed a young negro clamber off a freight train coming from the west. When lie ordered him to halt, the negro opened fire with a revolver, one of the liullets striking the policeman in the abdomen. Two days later the officer died from the woimd.

After firing, the negro fled, followed by a posse headed by Officer 'JVnnant. The negro made for the southeastern part of the city and at length came to a clump of tall grass and weeds in the vicinity of Polenske Schellac & Co.'s east brick yard. Here he secreted himself and Avhen the jjosse, which meanwhile had been reinforced by Sheriff Dave Barlass and others, came up, opened fire. There was a lively exchange of shots, and the negro was badly wounded in the cheek. He would not surrender, however, and Officer Tennant decided that he could not be taken with i-evolvers \\ithout unnecessarily exposing the i)ursuers to danger. Accordingly, deputies were sent back to the city to secure shotguns. ]Members of the jjosse had ridden horses, \vhich were tethered close by. The j^oung negro was so near to liis ])ursuers that he heard their plan to get shotguns, and while they were waiting for the return of the deputies he stealthily stole from the grass and succeeded in reaching the horses. Rapid hoofbeats making southward apprised the pursuers that their quariy had fled.

Officer Tennajit now hurried back to the city, and a large number of the i)osse boarded a train that was just ready to start south. They got off" at Ayr and were joined by a large number from that village and they began scouring the country toward Hastings. Not far from .\yr they encountered young Lish. He was still full of fight and kept up a lively fire. Several of the posse were hit by the bullets, but none were seriously wounded. The negro finally surrendered. Fearing that he would be lynched in Hastings, the officers took I^isli to Fairfield and later transferred him to the jail in Kearney. He was brought for trial in the District Court at Hastings in the December term, 188.5. County Attorney C. H. Tanner prosecuted, and the court appointed Capps & jNIcCreary of Hastings and Hon. W. E. Green of Kearney to conduct the defense. On December 11th, he was found guilty of murder in the second degree and sentenced to the penitentiary. The sentence was commuted by Governor Crounse JNIay 2.5, 1894, and on June 1 he was discharged. According to his confession to his attorneys, Lish planned to become a desperado, and had ]n-acticed with a revolver until he became very expert with

Bubxed Station And Killed Yocum

About midnight, November 24, 1879, fire was discovered shooting from the windows of the Burlington passenger station. The station and a considerable portion of the freight depot were burned to the ground. No definite information has been gained about just what took i^lace on that night. In the morning the dead body of a youngman, Allen J. Yocum, was discovered in the ruins. It was ascertained that a number of men had been playing cards in the station that night, and that Yocum was a party in the game. The theory developed was that the jjlayers had quarreled and that one of them shot and killed Yocum and set fire to the station to conceal the crime. Yocimi had been shot through the heart. Warrants were issued for the arrest of William ]M. Baldwin and Ralph jM. Taylor, whom evidence showed to have been among the j^arty and who were not seen after the night of the murder. Considerable difficulty was encountered in capturing them, for they had fled the county. On INIay 6, 1880, Baldwin was arraigned in the District Court, charged witli the murder of Yocum and burning the railroad property, and on jNIay 18th he was found guilty of manslaughter by the jury and sentenced to ten years in the jjenitentiary. T. D. Scofield was the prosecuting attorney and John ^I. Ragan and R. A. Batty were appointed by the court to defend. An appeal to the Supreme Court resulted in granting a new trial to Baldwin and he was released upon the motion of the county attorney. The jury that convicted Baldwin were A. D. Briggs, W. Grabill, J. C. Ball, J. D. Evans, John Exelby, Hiram Gardner, W. C. Robinson, A. F. Powers, John Van Houten, Simon Sanger, Benjamin Van Sickle and H. 31. Sage. Yocum was an employee at the Burlington station.

Lynch Slayers 01' Millett

One of the most sensational incidents in the history of Adams County took place in the latter part of ]\Iarch, 1883, but only a fragment of it is narrated in the records of the court. This was the murder of Cassius INI. INIillett and the lynching of two men for the crime. Mr. ^Nlillett was the proprietor of a grocery store on the north side of Second Street, between Hastings and Denver avenues. During tlie afternoon jireceding the evening when he was shot, INIr. jNIillett liad observed three men pass and repass his store several times. When he closed the store they were not in sight, but he soon became aware that they were following him. When he was only a short distance east of his liome, which was located on the north side of First Street, a short way west of that street's intersection with Bellevue Avenue, he was held up by three masked men, whose purpose, as they afterward confessed, was to lead him to a cave west of the city and there compel him to deliver his money.

The three men started off westward witli their victim, threatening to kill him if he made an outcry. When in front of the gate opening upon the lawn surrounding the residence of Aaron INIay, a merchant, ]Mr. JNIillett broke away from his captors, and just as he entered the gate one of them shot, the bullet striking Mv. Millett. The wounded man was able to reach the back door of his residence. There he was met by JMrs. INIillett and fell unconscious into her arms. He died a short time later, ]March 27, but before death came was able to make a statement of the affair to Isaac Le Dioyt, notary public. The funeral services for Mr. Millett were conducted April 1 under the auspices of the Grand Army of the Repulilic. of whicli organization he was a member.

When fleeing from the scene of the murder, one of the highwaymen dropped his mask, which was found a day or so later by Miss Hall, a daughter of W. A. Hall. The mask was turned over to Chief of Police J. C. Williams, who found that it was of the same material as a table cover that had disappeared from the St. Louis Boarding House on South Street, between Hastings and Lincoln avenues. This caused suspicion to fall upon one of the boarders, James Green, and two men who were known to associate with him, Fred Ingraham and John Babcoek. The three were arrested while digging a well upon the farm of Charles Kohl, a few miles south of Hastings. When the news of the arrest spread around, indignation was worked up to a high pitcli, and there was general talk of lynching them.

A few nights after their arrest there was a dance in Liberal Hall and almost at the outset of the program Charles H. Dietrich, afterwards LTnited States Senator Dietrich, who heard the talk about lynching but who was not yet fully convinced of the guilt of the men, left the hall and undertook an investigation on his own account. Babcoek was confined in a room in the Commercial Hotel, now the Lindell. and tlie other two were under guard in another portion of the city. 'Mr. Dietrich secured a permit from [Mayor W. H. Lan- ning to interview Babcock, and from him he secured a complete confession. ]Mr. Dietrich was convinced by the straightforward story told by the prisoner, who was about eighteen years old. Ingraham and Green Avere much older, and it appeared to INIr. Dietrich that the young man had been drawn into the jjlot by the older men. He determined to save him from the lynchers if possible. The next day Babcock made a written confession, but when this was noised about, it only heightened the determination of some of the citizens to take the law into their own hands and avenge the crime.

That evening a meeting was held in a lumber yard south of the Burlington track, at which thirty-three men were present. They are now referred to as the "Thirty-threes." Before starting on their expedition they were numbered and each responded in order as the roll was called. All were masked, and taking from the lumber yard a heavy timber to use as a battering ram, they started toward the Stone Block where the prisoners were confined.

The jirisoners were guarded l)y Edward Burton, Hi Farr. J. E. Hutchinson, W. C. Cutler and Charles Dietrich. ISIr. Dietrich had asked to be apjjointed because he anticipated that there would be an attempt to lynch. The lynchers put in an appearance about 10 o'clock. Their approach was heralded by a great noise on the stairs. A few moments later the door of the room in which the prisoners were confined was dealt a terrific blow with the battering ram. It required a second blow to smash the door, and then the thirty-three entered the room with revolvers drawn. The determination manifested by the masked men in the outset had convinced the guards that resistance would be useless. The lynchers took immediate possession of the prisoners and marched them to a bridge on the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad, where they were placed side by side on the bridge. A rope was immediately tied about each man's neck and fastened to a tie. ]Mr. Dietrich had not yet given up the hope of saving Babcock, although as yet no opportunity to do so had pi'esented itself. Ingraham and Green were pushed off. Babcock \\as next in order. Just as he was slipping off the bank, ]Mr. Dietrich seized the rope and cut it with his knife. Babcock fell to the ground unhurt. The lynchers gathered angrily about INIr. Dietrich and demanded an explanation. It was the psychological moment for him to make an impression favorable to the man he would save. At no other moment could he so well have obtained the concentrated attention of the croAvd. With a voice carrying authority, he recited the storv of Babcock's confession. He told the listening lynchers that

After a short consultation, the lynchers decided to let the youngman go. A few M-eeks later he was sentenced by the court to ten years' imprisonment in the penitentiary, where he was taught the trade of stone-cutting. He was released in seven years, and nothing has been heard of him in recent years.

In the ]May term of the District Court, 1889, ]Mrs. Lizzie Aldrieh was arraigned, charged with the killing of her husband, Jolm Aldrieh, a farmer who lived in the southern part of the county. He had died suddenly and neighbors caused the body to be exhumed and the contents of the stomach were sent to Rush INIedical College, Chicago, for analysis. Arsenic was discovered in the stomach and soon after ]Mrs. Aldrieh was arrested. She was acquitted, hoAvever, many believing that the farmer had administered the poison to himself.

Sproetz Escaped

The body of James Quinn, a bachelor and a farmer, was found in a field near his house, jNIarch 26, 1886. The body had been buried in a shallow grave, from which it had been dug out by the hogs and jiartly eaten. Wilhelm Sproetz Mas arrested and charged with this crime. His attorney, Charles H. Tanner, obtained the discharge of the defendant at the preliminary trial. Following this an inquest was held and Sproetz gave evidence before the coroner. Immediately afterwards he fled, and has not been seen in the comity since, although the coroner's jury on December 7th found him guilty of wilful murder.

Shooting Of Doctor Raxdaij

In the spring of 1886 Dr. G. W. Randall was bound over in the County Court to await trial in the District Court on the charge of criminal assault upon Lora May Hart, the eleven-year-old daughter of jNIr. and Mrs. INIarion Hart of Edgar. The little girl had been brought to Hastings and left there to be treated by Doctor Randall for eye trouble. While the papers fixing his $.5,000 bail were being signed in County Judge Fleming's office in the Stone Block, a shot reverberated through the courtroom and Randall fell to the floor. He expired almost immediately. The shot had been fired by a brother of the little girl. No attempt was made to capture the avenger of his small sister's wrong. Doctor Randall was buried in the jjotter's field. Mrs. Randall was brought to trial as an accomplice of her husband, but the case was dismissed.

Case Of Tkeasukek Thorne

Adams County has had two defaulting county treasurers, William B. Thorne and Charles H. Paul. The Thorne defalcation afl'airs were first in the court in 1881, and the case against Treasurer Paul was brought in 1892.

AVilliam B. Thorne was a homesteader and was first elected treasurer in the fall of 1873. He was exceedingly active in the early political afl'airs of Adams County and took a leading part in the county seat removal contest. It is probable that the expenditures made by the county treasurer in these years of political storm were largely accoimtable for the subsequent shortage in his accounts. Rumors that affairs were not as they should be in his office were current long before disclosures were made. ]Mr. Thorne was a strong Juniata partisan in the covmty government removal contest and in consequence had incurred i)olitical enmities which did not allow the rumors to rest. According to the reports of early settlers, it was noised about at one time that the treasurer's shortage was $105,000, and that only the friendly offices of a banker friend in Lincoln saved the treasurer from exposm-e at that time. Arriving from Lincoln, the story goes, the treasurer brought with him a valise full of money and opened it before the investigators. "You say I am short $105,- 000," he said. "Well, there's the money. Count it." They counted the money and found the foregoing sum. But when they would take over tlie money, the treasurer halted them. "I am the county treasurer." he said; "I'll take charge of the money." Next day the valise and its contents were returned to the Lincoln banker.

Several investigations by the county commissioners had failed to discover a shortage until February 1, 1881. The county treasurer had been in office continuously since 1873. On February 1st the commissioners began an investigation, which ended IMarch 12th. They reported that Thorne was a defaulter in a sum exceeding $50,000, and on that day the county treasurer resigned. It was discovered that before resigning he had conveyed his proiJerty to Abraham Yeazel, one of his sureties as treasurer. These properties were located in AVebster and Adams counties and were estimated by attornevs opposing Thorne to have a value of $62,886.93. On the same date, jNIarch 12, 1881, the county commissioners entered into an agreement with Thorne and Yeazel that the Thorne jiroperties should he conveyed by them to A. L. Clarke of Hastings and C. R. Jones of Juniata, to be held in trust for Adams County. In consideration for this conveyance, the sureties upon the treasurer's bond, which was for $2.5,000, were released. The conuuissioners at that time were A. C. ]Moore, A. D. Yocum and C. G. Wilson. On March 18, 1881, Messrs. Clarke and Jones entered into agreement with the county to administer the trust, and the properties were deeded to them by Thorne and Yeazel. The trustees gave bond in the sum of $30,000.

According to the agreement, INIessrs. Clarke and Jones were to dispose of all the properties thus turned over to them, converting them into cash, and file a statement with the commissioners. The trustees were unable to dispose of all the properties within the required time, and on August 13, 1883, Thorne brought suit in the District Court against Clarke and Jones, claiming that the defalcation had lieen paid out of the sales already made, and asking the court to order the return of the remaining property. October 29, 1883, Thome's case was dismissed. Thorne then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Awaiting the decision of the higher court, the trustees, Clarke and Jones, ceased making fiu'ther payment to Adams County, but Avere ordered by the District Court to pay to Harrison Bostwick, on a claim against the properties, $ll,3o.>.72. Bostwick giving bond to turn the siuii over to the county should the court later so decide. Time went on and the trustees, not knowing what the court would order, upon the advice of counsel made no further payment to the county. On April 29, 1886, County Attorney L. J. Capps brought suit in the District Court to compel a settlement between Adams County and the trustees, A. L. Clarke and C. R. Jones. This suit, liowever, was acquiesced in by the trustees, who were desirous to obtain their discharge, but because of the appeal of Thorne to the higher court they did not feel justified in making the final settlement. On July 22, 1886, the trustees filed their report, in which it was shown that they had paid into the treasury of Adams County $21,411.04. "Other disbursements" were given at $239.3.5. These sums, together with $11,3.'5.>.72 paid to Harrison Bostwick, brought the total realized from the Thorne properties to $39,2.54.16. In December, 1886, the court oi'dered Bostwick to pay the amount that had been paid to him by the trustees, $11,3.5.5.72, into the treasury of Adams County, and five days later Mr. Bostwick complied with the order. Adams County received from the Thorne property $32,766.76, and lost through the defalcation something in excess of $20,000. In discharging the trustees, Judge ]\Iorris, who occujiied the bench, complimented INIr. Clarke and jVIr. Jones for the faithful administering of their tnisteeship.

Thorne was sentenced to one year in the jjcnitentiarj', but served no time. He ajjpealed to the Supreme Court, and within two years that body had taken no action, nor had it been urged to do so by Adams County. At about the expiration of that time Thorne was accidentally killed by falling from a load of hay while working upon his farm in the southwest part of the county. !Many good words are heard of Mr. Thorne, for he was always sympathetic of the needy among the settlers, and many of them were spared from want through his generosity. The Thorne bondsmen diu-ing his last term were Abraham Yeazel, William Graybill, W. E. Thorne, Ira Dillon, C. R. Jones k Co., James Sewell, J. S. Chandler and William West.

Case Of Charles H. Paul

Charles H. Paul, the second Adams County treasurer who was found short in his accounts, was one of the earliest business men of Hastings, having established a shoe business in the town in 1873. He was of a retiring disposition and well thought of among his townsmen. He served as postmaster of the Hastings postoffice for one term.

I\Ir. Paul was first elected county treasurer in the November election, 1887, and he was reelected two years later. As in the case of Treasurer Thorne, rumors Avere current that there were irregularities in the office for some time before disclosures were made. On January 7. 1892, the settlement committee of the board of supervisors reported to the board that there was a balance due from the treasurer to the county of $9.5,947.68 and that Mr. Paul had on hand and had paid in $7-5, .574.08. The report, made in the forenoon, indicated a shortage of $21,770.25, which sum was immediately paid in by the following sureties, G. J. Evans, O. G. Smith, William Kerr, A. L. Clarke, Sewell Slueman, J. R. Pentield. Abraham Loeb, H. E. Norton. P. E. Hatch, Alex Pickens, John ]M. Ragan, George E. Douglas, John N. Lyman, Mark Levy, George J. Volland, George ^V. JMowery and Leopald Hahn. By an unanimous vote the board of supervisors the next day, January 8, 1892, agreed to settle with Paul in full for the sum already paid in by the sureties, $21,770.2.). In the meantime, however, the deputy treasurer, Emanuel Fist, a man of unusual alertness, made a statement to the bondsmen that the shortage was considerable more than the investigation of the supervisors had yet revealed, and as a result the bondsmen proposed to the board to make up a deficiency totaling $30,749. They oif ered to give their individual notes for that amount, payable in five annual payments, or to pay $10,000 in cash in addition to the smn already paid. In consideration, the bondsmen asked to be released from further obligation in the deficiency. It was a strenuous moment for the board of supervisors tile tenseness of which had been increased by the discovery of the additional shortage, which it now became known was in excess of $.50,000. Considerable debate followed the two proposals of the bondsmen, and at length Sujjervisor E. S. Fowler moved the acceptance of the fiveyear payment plan. This motion was tabled and F. J. Benedict moved the acceptance of $10,000 in cash offered by the sureties in addition to the sum previously paid by them. R. A. Batty made a memorable sj^eech, j^rotesting in behalf of several taxpayers that no settlement be made except upon payment by the sureties of the full amount of the shortage. When the roll was called, Mr. Benedict's motion carried by a vote of 14 to 12. Those who voted for the motion were L. C. Lukins, H. F. Einspahr, John Gordon, F. J. Benedict, D. H. Ballard, Ed Burton, R. V. Shockey, D. M. INIcElhinney, P. A. Stewart, A. C. ]Moore, William Huxtable, Ed S. Fowler and Fred Wagner. Those voting against the motion were Bart F. Kernan. W. J. Willars. J. H. Walker, Jesse Doty, J. W. Thornton, J. C. Woodworth, H. C. INIinnix, T. T. Jones, Lester Wornmth, Frank P. Harman, C. B. Kemple and Jacob Barnhardt.

There was much discussion among the siu"eties about taking legal action against JNIr. Paul. This resulted in the issuing by County Judge Burton, upon the complaint of the county attorney, Chris Hoejjpner. a warrant for the arrest of Charles H. Paul upon the charge of embezzling $.54,909.88. The defendant waived the right to ])reliminary examination and was released on $10,000 bail.

The case came up for trial in the June term of the District Court, 1892. June 20th, on the application of the county attorney, A. H. Bowen and R. A. Batty were appointed by the court to assist in the prosecution, and the case was set for trial on June 27th. On the a]j]3lication of the defendant. W. P. McCreary and B. F. Smith were a])])ointed counsel for the defense, and on June 29 the jury was ini])anelled and sworn. The following were the jurors. J. H. Pope, S. A. Nash, Joseph Stormer, Richard Spicknall, Jacob Stein, W. .1. Clark, J. B. Johnson, J. C. Daugherty, J. R. Steele, B. F. Evans, and W. F. Wilson. The jury retired on July 6th, and on July 8th returned a verdict of "Guilty as charged," and that Charles H. Paul had. converted $7-50 of the county's money to his own use. The defendant Avas sentenced to three years in the penitentiary. ^Ir. Paul, however, was not removed to the penitentiary, but remained confined in the county jail at Hastings until September 19, 1892, when he was pardoned by Governor James E. Boyd. Mr. Paul continued to live in Hastings imtil 1915, when he removed to Lincoln. He made no attemj)t to mingle hi the affairs of the city, but quietlj^ followed the occupation of a traveling salesman.

On the complaint of Levi L. Lukins, the deputy treasurer, Emanuel Fist, was arrested, charged with embezzlement in the same sum as his in-incij^al. The trial of Fist was had in the September, 1892, term of the district court. M. A. Hartigan and George Tibbets were the attorneys for the defense, while A. H. Bowen assisted Count}' Attorney Chris Hoeppner in the prosecution. The jury in the Fist case were H. B. Talbert, W. P. jNIay, Lee Willis, L. W. Parmenter, JNI. W. Burgess, Fred Faecknitz, William Kelsey, Samuel Lap^j, B. ]\Iorgan, Charles T. Garries, J. Gearhart, and J. F. Craig. On September 11, 1892, they returned a verdict of "Not Guilty." The record indicates that through the defalcation of Charles H. Paul, Adams County lost about $23,140. His jiroperties, which were rather extensive, were assigned to sureties on his treasurer's bond, and by them disposed of.

Next to tlie Olive case the John OConnor case aroused the most widespread interest of any case tried in the district court of Adams County. O'Connor died at the Nebraska Sanitarium, in Hastings, August 17, 191.3. Although he had lived in Hastings since the early seventies, and for a number of years had conducted a shoe store on First Street, it developed at the time of his death that nobody knew anything about his life before he came to Hastings. It was reported that he had walked into the town in the early days with 2.3 cents in his pocket, and had opened a cobbler's shop on First Street, which later grcAV into a shoe store.

At the time of his deatli lie was possessed of property and money valued at about $100,000. His property consisted of the southwest quarter of Section 27 and the northwest quarter of Section 34 in Blaine TownshijD, and lots 3, 4, and 5, in Block 26, in the original town of Hastings. Store buildings stood upon the town lots, and he left about $10,000 in cash. Nothing was left, at least nothing that became common knowledge, or was revealed in court, among his belongings to identify relatives nor to hidicate what disposition should be made of the propertv. The body of O'Connor was kept in tlie Livingston uijdertaking rooms until February 10, 1916, when burial was made in Parkview Cemetery. The Rev. A. A. Brooks condueted the funeral service at the Livingston chapel.

Shortly after the death of O'Connor, a will pin-porting to be that of John O'Connor, was received at the countj' court by registered mail, from an unknown man by the name of Smith. This instrument came from Grand Island, and bequeathed the entire estate to John T. Cuknin, of Omaha. The will was thrown out of court because it was unwitnessed. Some time afterwards, another will, making John T. Culavin the beneficiary, was received in the county coiu't from Dimcan ]M. A^insonhaler, an attorney of Omaha. Culavin had been found tln-ough advertisements inserted in newsj^apers by Nelson H. Tunnicliif, a New York attorney. This will was signed February 25, 1887, and the two witnesses, J. H. Culavin and T. K. Scott, were dead long before tlie will came for probate. John T. Culavin also claimed to be a ne])hew of John O'Coiinor. It was about the genuineness of this A^ill tliat a legal battle raged.

The will came for probate before Judge William F. Button in the county court, July 8, 1914. Several hearings were had, and many witnesses examined. On November 18, 1914, Judge Button held that the will was genuine. Meanwhile, many other claimants appeared, and an appeal was taken to tlie district court. The trial opened before Judge Harry S. Dungan ]M:ircli 1, 191.), and the taking of testimony continued until 11a. m., JNIarch 12. At 9.30 the following morning, the jury returned a verdict declaring the will to be fraudulent. Twenty-one witnesses had testified for the j^roponent, and fifty for the contestants. The contestants were in seven groups, representing 136, wlio claimed to be heirs. Seventeen attorneys represented the contestants, and Duncan JNI. Vinsonlialer represented Mr. Culavin. The following were the jurymen: Henry Bentert, R. J. Ashmore, Ira Graham, John Rowe, William Parsons, George CrafFord, Ed George, A. U. Kay, JNIark Campbell, R. B. Smith, E. D. Pratt and Chris Christensen. The Hastings attorneys participating were INIc- Creary & Danly, Ragan & Addie, F. P. Olmstead and C^ E. Bruckman; other attorneys were Daniel L. Johnston, Omaha; JNIinihan & INIinihan, Green Bay, Wis.; P. E. McGray, St. Paul, IMiim.: INIcDonnough & IMcDonnough, Denver; Atty. Gen. Willis E. Reed, Dexter T. Barrett. W. T. Thompson and Don C. Fonts for the state.

and the case was not concluded until March 12. This case was tried by Judge Corcoran, of York, who found in favor of the state of Nebraska, Avhich by the decision holds the estate in trust pending the apjjearance of a claimant who can prove heirship. John Slaker, of Hastings, was appointed administrator by Judge Snider, judge of the county court.

The attorneys in the last trial were the same for the contestants as in the will case, except that there were added M. A. Hartigan, Tibbets, ^Nforey, Fuller & Tibbets. James B. O'Connor, Roscoe F. Kirkman and Judge Sutton.

During the trial of the will case the witness, William F. Davis, for the contestants, charged on the stand that Culavin had offered him $2,000, and his wife a like sum, to witness the will falsely. This charge led to an investigation by the grand jury, which began May 11, 1915, and ended INIay 20th. No indictments were returned.

My. Culavin's narrative of the life of John O'Connor before he came to Hastings, as told on the stand, was to the effect that O'Connor had participated in Kiel's Rebellion, in Canada, and subsequently had killed two of the mounted police. He then fled to the United States. In Canada he was married to an Indian woman, and went by the name of Olaf Olsen. In 1887. he had commissioned his nephew, the proponent, to go to Canada, and spread the report that Olaf Olsen was dead. This was to lead the authorities to cease in their attempts to find the slayer of the moimted police. For successfully spreading this report, John T. Culavin was made the beneficiary of the will.