CHAPTER XVI

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NOTED MURDER TRIALS OF THE COUNTY.

    If all of the murders known to have been committed in Montgomery County since its early days had been ferreted out and the murderers brought to justice, the list would not be an appalling one. The community has always been law-abiding, and even before an organized government was established, the high character and law-observing instincts of the pioneers left little ground for murderous quarrels. As it is, only one person has been indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced for murder in the county since its formation. There have been other cases which have been tried here or which have been of such interest to the residents of the county as to be worthy of brief mention in this history.

   A recent reliable authority states that of all the causes which lead to the taking of human life, quarels rank first and drunkenness next; and it may be added that the latter generally causes the former. It was a mixture of the two that lead to the death of Robert Lambert in Red Oak, Iowa, at the hands of Isaac E. Striker, June 6, 1876. The trouble arose over a bet on a horse race. Lambert was undoubtedly under the influence of liquor and quarrelsome. He openly accused Striker of appropriating $10.00 of his money and called him names which read better in a court record than they would in this book. Striker denied having the money, and, realizing the man's condition, was disposed to laugh the matter off. Lambert then forced matters by clutching Striker by the throat. Striker retaliated by kicking Lambert until he had forced him off the sidewalk. Lambert picked up his hat, which had fallen off during the fight, and remarked that he had had

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"enough," at the same time calling Striker an opprobrious name. Striker said, "I allow no man to call me that name," and struck Lambert a couple of times on the head as he was turning around. Lambert staggered to the door of Palmer & Whitaker's barn, and, gradually sinking down, he breathed his last in a few minutes. If Robert Lambert had not been drunk; if his tongue had not been used to obscene language; if Ike Striker had not been a man of violence; if, when Harve Milner attempted to separate them, Warren Dealing, a bystander, had not interfered, saying, "Hold on; let them fight it out;" if Striker had stopped when Lambert cried "Enough;" the criminal record of the county might have read differently.

    As it was an indictment was filed, drawn by Attorney John W. Welpton, and signed and sworn to by C. H. Stennett, charging Striker with murder in the first degree. In the indictment, it is stated with more precision as to the law than to the spelling, "That the said defendant, Isaac Striker, did, at the town of Red Oak, and in the County of Montgomery and State of Iowa, on the 6th day of June, A. D., 1876, wilfully and malicously and with malice aforethought, kill and murder one Robert Lambert, by beating and striking him, the said Robert Lambert, on the head and on and about the body, with his fists and kickinghim, the said Robert Lambert, in the stomach and other parts of the body with the towe and heal of his boots. All of which," etc.

    Striker fled the town the night of the murder and many men were soon scouring the country in search of him. Just below the old Weidman farm, a man on horseback was fired upon by one of the searching parties, who mistook him for Striker. None of the shots took effect, except that a stray bullet knocked out the horse's eye. It was supposed that htis man had been sent by friends to advise Striker to return to the town and face the charge. Striker plead not guilty and a preliminary trial was held before H. C. French, Justice of the Peace. The

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Justice bound the defendant over to await the action of the Grand Jury, and fixed his bond at $800.00. The Grand Jury returned an indictment Nov. 17, 1876, charging Stiker with manslaughter. On Jan. 5, 1877, a jury composed of the following persons was impanelled to try the case: E. Loomis, P. Haymaker, I. W. Graves, R. J. Edmonds, Henry Mohler, J. W. Linton, John Overman, D. L. Brockway, D. S. Has, Frank Gleason, George M. Shull and Pearl Crawford. This jury returned as its verdict: "We, the jury, find Isaac E. Striker guilty of simple assault." The District Judge, Sam Forey, sentenced Striker to pay a fine of $75.00 and the costs of the case, assessed at something over $500.00. C. E. Richards represented the defendant and Smith McPherson, as District Attorney, the State. Isaac Striker at this writing is a resident of Oklahoma and is employed in some capacity by the United States government.

    The most brutal murder committed in the county was the act of Fred Mewhirter, who, without apparent excuse or justification, and without giving the victim the slightest chance for his life, killed young Dr. Joseph W. Hatton near the Mewhirter home, in the northern part of the county. Dr. Hatton was a younger brother of Dr. J. B. Hatton, long a resident of Montgomery County and now practicing in Des Moines. Fred Mewhirter was a farmer about fifty-two years of age. He was married and has a family—some of his children being grown-up. About a year previous to the murder, Mewhirter had called Dr. Hatton to visit his wife. She did not recover as quickly as he expected and Mewhirter brought suit in Cass county to recover for injuries to the health of his wife, alleging unprofessional conduct and malpractice on the aprt of the doctor.

    A sudy of the trial records reveals the main facts of the shooting as follows: Dr. Hatton on the 18th of July, 1875,

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went to visit a patient living about a mile from Mewhirter's place. He was accompanied by his father, a man about seventy-two years old. Mewhirter, who was at a near neighbor's at the time, learned that the doctor was in the vicinity, and at once left for his home, cursing Hatton and making threats against him. In returning from the visit, Dr. Hatton and his father passed near Mewhirter's home. The following from the trial records is an exact quotation of the incident of the murder as told on the witness stand by the elder Hatton: "After we got round the willows, we saw the defendant going through the fence, with his gun in his hand, just east of us. He might have been eighty or a hundred yards away. He came through the fence across the first track of road to second road andcame in front of us. We were driving at a trot and Mewhirter came down the road with his gun, and, as he raised it, the doctor said, "Stop." This was all the doctor said when gun went off. I don't think it was a second after Mewhirter raised the gun until he shot. We had a two stepped buggy an my left foot was on the upper step. When the gun went off, the doctor fell out over my right thigh and it scared teh team, which went on. I got out near Mewhirter's gate and looked back and saw defendant behind, standing in the path, with gun presented like he was going to shoot again. He did not, but looked back again and said, "O, ______ _____, I have killed you."

    The shot took effect in the abdomen and the doctor lived about two weeks. After the killing, Mewhirter immediately saddled two horses and started for Council Bluffs, arriving there the next day. During the interval, when Dr. Hatton was hovering between life and death, Mewhirter stayed in Omaha, usually coming over to Council Bluffs in the evening. On the day that Hatton died, Mewhirter was arrested on one of these nocturnal visits. Judge Ree, of the District Court, presided at the preliminary examination, and at its conclusion

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announced that he would give his decision at three o'clock that afternoon. It was later ascertained that the warrant of commitment had been issued at the end of the trial and that the statement of the judge had been made to prevent lynching, of which there had been threats. Great influence was brought to bear upon the Grand Jury and for two or three weeks, they refused to bring in an indictment for murder in the first degree. Finally they were persuaded to vote upon the crime, leaving out for the moment, the question of degree. Upon this they all voted "murder," but it has never been disputed that they differed upon the degree, and that the indictment returned did not represent the views of the Grand Jury as a whole. Some of the Grand Jurors made affidavits to this effect, but the trial judge held that they were not admissible in support of a motion to set the indictment aside. In this decision, he was later upheld by a decision of the Supreme Court of the State. J. F. McJunkin, Attorney General, John H. Keatley and C. E. Richards, of Red Oak, represented the state, and Montgomery and Scott of Council Bluffs, the defendant. The defense was emotional insanity.

    During the progress of a trial, a carload of people came up from Red Oak for the purpose of taking Mewhirter from jail, but when assured by Attorney C. E. Richards that there would in all probability be a conviction and that any interference at that time would be prejudicial to the interests of the prosecution, they returned home. Mewhirter was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the State Penitentiary at Fort Madison, where he died a few years ago. In justice to the memory of Mewhirter, it may be stated that the instructions of the trial judge on the question of insanity have been twice overruled by the Supreme Court of the state—the last time in the case of the State vs. Thiele, and had Mewhirter been tried under the law as it now stands in this state today, the result may have been different.

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    On the 24th of September, 1883, at about 6:00 o'clock in the evening, Dr. E. B. Cross, taking a loaded revolver with him, left his home in Council Bluffs and proceeded rather slowly along the street where Dr. A. B. McKune usually walked at that hour. He had been compelled to testify before a Grand Jury in a criminal case which implicated Dr. McKune, and had been told that Dr. McKune was much incensed thereby; that he was a powerful, quick-tempered man and that Dr. Cross had better prepare himself against an attack from him. Whether, as a matter of fact, Dr. Cross had murder in his heart as he left his home that evening, will never be known. ONe jury has decided that he did; one that he did not. Upon many grounds, the trial of the first case at Glenwood, Iowa,—Judge Loofbourow presiding—was held by the Supreme Court to have been irregular and the case was remanded for a new trial. Cross had been sentenced to death, and, pending the decision of the Supreme Court, was incarcerated in the penitentiary at Fort Madison. The prosecution on the first trial was conducted by Hon. A. B. Thornell, then District Attorney and now one of the judges of the 15th Judicial District. He was assisted by such able attorneys as D. B. Dailey, W. F. Sapp and N. M. Pusey of Council Bluffs, and Judge Williams of Glenwood. An equally brilliant array of legal talent took care o fthe interests of the defendant, whose lawyers were George F. Wright and John Baldwin of Council Bluffs, C. B. Hubbard and N. M. Hubbard of Cedar Rapids, and John Y. Stone of Glenwood.

    The second trial of Dr. Cross took place at Red Oak, Iowa; the jury being impanelled June 24th, 1887, and the trial lasting fourteen days. The attorneys in the case were those who took part in the Glenwood trial, with the added exception of local talent; consisting of C. E. Richards and R. W. Beeson for the prosecution; Smith McPherson and DJ. M. Junkin for the defense. The facts brought out in the second trial were about

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the same as those presented during the trial at Glenwood, although some new evidence was let in by the Supreme Court decision. As has been stated, Dr. Cross and Dr. McKune were not friends and it is likely that both were of a quick, nervous temperament. Cross had undoubtedly made preparations for an attack and there was testimony to the effect that he intended to provoke a quarrel in which he would shoot McKune. At all events, on the evening referred to, he met McKune,—or, as some witnesses testified, McKune overtook him—at the corner of First Ave. and Pearl St. in the city of Council Bluffs, near where now stands the Grand Hotel. Whether McKune struck him first, does not appear, although one witness, whose testimony should not be taken seriously, states that he did. Others who saw the affair state that from four to eight blows were struck by both parties, and this statement was borne out by the condition of their faces after the fight. During the trouble, Cross drew a revolver, a 38 caliber, and shot McKune in the breast, death ensuing almost immediately. Cross was also shot in the hand, and a bruise back of the ear was evidence that McKune came at him from behind. To offset this is the fact that Cross had previously armed himself, McKune was unarmed. To a witness who came running up, Cross exclaimed, "The scuondrel attacked me and I shot him to protect myself."

    Judge Horace E. Deemer released Cross upon the filing of a $20,000.00 bond. The bondsmen were all of Red Oak and vicinity, and all of them had been secured against loss in the sum of $50,000.00 by the father of Dr. Cross. The names of the jurymen who tried the case and who returned the verdict of "not guilty," are: Henry Marsden, Thomas Means, Eli Roth, G. W. Anderson, Robert Cook, Wm. McCue, Wm. Tindall, Joseph Robinson, Charles Quist, Wm. Buss, D. W. Seaman, George Mitchell. There is a well authenticated story to the effect that days before the trial Cross employed men who

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might be termed "attorneys of the curb," and whose duty it was to talk about the case wherever crowds were discussing it, in order to create a sentiment in his favor. Whether this had anything to do with the outcome of the case, is not known, but something must have had influence, as there was, without doubt, a feeling in favor of acquittal. Cross made few friends during his sojourn in Red Oak. He was irritable and insulting and upon one or two occasions, came near having personal encounters with Red Oak citizens. His wife never for a moment wavered in her allegiance to him or in her belief in his innocence. She was constantly by his side and many people of Red Oak remember her kind, cheerful face and were impelled, sometimes against their better reason, to say a good word for Dr. Cross, purely on account of his wife. She did much to turn the tide of sentiment in his favor.

    Gustave Thiele killed his wife in Villisca, Iowa, June 16th, 1901. He had gone there purposely to do the act and this fact alone did much to counteract the claim of insanity. Thiele had had trouble with his wife. She had not lived a blameless life and this fact preyed upon his mind until his intellect became disordered. He claimed that the Bible justified him in taking her life, and there can be little doubt that the unfortunate man considered it his duty to do so. This is shown by his remarks at the time of the killing, when he repeated over and over again in the German language that "she must die." Thiele stabbed his wife three times, on blow reaching her heart. Death therefore almost instantaneous. Further than screaming, "I am killed," the poor woman said nothing. The murderer told the marshall of Villisca that he had intended to kill himself after killing his wife, but hte crowd, running in, prevented him—or rather changed the course of his thoughts. He was quickly taken to Stanton overland and thence, on the nest train, to Red Oak, where he was placed in jail. In a short time, he was

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sleeping soundly in his cell. Attorneys coming to interview him, awoke him. Wehn asked by Mr. C. E. Richards why he killed his wife, he said with much earnestness in broken German, "The book tell me—the book tell me." When asked if he love his wife, he replied with borken sobs and a muttered "Yes." He had been hurt by a piece of iron striking his head some years before and there was much testimony that this injury affected his mind. There was also evidence that his actions, previous to the stabbing, were not those of a normal man. He had often been heard crying and talking to himself at night, and would walk the floor continually.

    Thiele was represented by the law firm of Richards & Richards of Red Oak and the prosecution was conducted by F. P. Greenlee and R. W. Beeson of the same city. His trial was held Dec. 16, 1901, and continued for nine days when the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree, and fixed his sentence at life imprisonment. The jury was composed of the following persons: Edward Good, Alex Peterson, William Perkins, Frank Wolfe, Robert Hensle, William King, S. Anderson, William Blackburn, E. C. Milner, J. F. Ault, H. E. Jameson and Thomas Smith.

    During his confinement in jail, an incident occurred which must have had some effect on the minds of the jury. Thiele's son, with the help of outside parties, attempted a jail delivery and was only prevented by a United States prisoner's advising the sheriff of their operations. For the offense, the son, a lad of sixteen years was given a short jail sentence.

    Thiele's case was carried to the Supreme Court and there was reversed on Judge O. D. Wheeler's insturction as to the degree of proof where insanity is urged as a defense. The instructions of the trial judge were exactly the same as those given in the Mewhirter case, and serve to show the uncertainty of court decisions. Fred Mewhirter served a life sentence under an instruction for insanity that gave Gustave Thiele another trial.

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The case was sent back for trial, but the witnesses being scattered and the residence of some them unknown, a plea of guilty of murder in the second degree was accepted, and Thiele is now in Fort Madison awaiting death or pardon to release him. That Thiele was more or less insane, there can be no doubt. When informed that his case was reversed and a new trial ordered, he immediately wrote his attorney, P. W. Richards, that he need not subpoena witnesses, as the District Court had no jurisdiction. His was a case, he reasoned, that involved an international question, and could only be tried before the Hague Tribunal.

    So ends the record of murder cases in which teh people of Montgomery County are most interested, and which resulted in jury trials—with the exception of the Millslagle case, tried in Clarinda in 1860. Andrew J. Millslagle killed John Stipe, one of the leaders of a mob, who attempted to drive Millslagle and a woman named Wilson from the country. Both were residents of the north-eastern portion of the county, in what is now known as Douglas Township. The affair occurred in 1856, and is especially to be regretted for two reasons: it was the first mob that ever assembled within the county and the first murder ever committed within the county. A man named Abram Clark was wounded in the hand at the time, and Millslagle was shot through the ear. Millslagle was indicted for murder in the first degree and found guilty of murder in the second degree. He served a sentence of twelve years in the penitentiary at Fort Madison and his case cost hte county over a thousand dollars.