Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1885 — Only One Murder Trial in Benton County. [ARTICLE]

Only One Murder Trial in Benton County.

Benton county has hud only one murder trial, which occurred in the, year 1872. In 1862 a young math by the name of Morgan, iivin in Grant couutv. start 'd for the pineries of Wisconsin. After making considerable money lie started lor home in 1865- One John McCulloch offered to do the hunting and cooking for lhe privil..g ( i of return jng with him, and did so until they rt ached the northwestern limits of Ben - ton countv- Here Morgan was killed ai d his remains »nd a few ejects were thrown into a swamp- McCulloch came to'Oxford and had his horses shod by \VWilkinson- He then passed into Illinois' where the father ofMorgan follownd him and hud him sent to the peniteniary for stealing the horses.- Morgan was supposed to be dead, but there was nc nroof of if. In tbe winterof 1867 htmianbonus were found by John Fleinminsr Sr-'and

also two horse collars and the l>-> -.-s of a wagon. A bullet had pierced the back of the bead and was still within thskull. An axe which was found exactly fitted a cleft- in the skull. a tooth had been drawn and a rib had been broken in the living Morgan. The prcs'cution ‘md to prove that those bones wen. ; be b ines of Morgan, and that McCulloch, the thief, wil ' the man who came with Mo'iri . from Wisconsin and was th. oicls' s-- n with hioi. The i l -ntitv nt tie lose- was completely estiblisl.etf, tie father reiognizing them and al-o

t ie horse collars and bows <-f the wagon, which be had made bims-.-lf. The axe and camp kettle lie also ;’■<»-itively itien t’f'el »s having belonged to Ins s : • I i 1872, when th > case emm up for lri.il, Simon P. Tn-m‘Son. tlu n pro-eeutina' attorney, vv-.’til to Wisconsin, followe-'. t ie journey of Morgan.from beginning Io end- and b-ought witnesses to testifyM: Oulloch wa ‘‘aced from York township t ‘ the Pit is penitentiary, when m | a -‘onvie’ tas b ouglf” e.'mrt, wlrt t.es'i | fied that McCulloch h-td tol-1 him that tie had killed Morgan, After a three days trial ho was convicted- and sentenced t-‘- th pen tentiary for life- Iff s now working i,i the varnish r-’om in the Northern prison, has joiin.d tne church and confessed his gull , Neve>‘U for • was a murderer with so tint a elu; been so successfully traced down, and the honor of it is due to the i ”'ef<ilft>abl t industry of Simon P- Ttiomp on—Oxford Tribune.

Alex- McCl -re, the great .etiilar of that great newspaper, the Phila-lelpliiaTitnes, htis some appreciation <;f the labir of bis less I avert'd brethren of rhe following: ■•The country newspaper is the iuud list' tul and least conbpensa? j <-1 all tio' agencies which stump Hi - itnpr ’S f i progress upon villages am. inland cities. Without the aid of Inc;,)- newspapers, I local towns are, as a rule thriidiss ami dead- It-is common f<»r small great men I Io speak with coot mpt cf the local newspapers, put the village newspaper m tes more great men out of less mate.i 1— more bricks without -straw—.-lit-n' i any othei f ctor ii politics ami it 13 the one ladder on which men climb to local 1 dislincti:>ii at the beginning of wider fame | T eadvent of the local newspaper has I always dated the nice: i.l thr f' ol tin; cw'inunity- TheLic.il t-i-wsp iper is V e \ life of tiie locality, and t ie measure oi iis support, ns a rule, me isuies t he advance- ; ment ot ths people-” - . i The Ken Lind Gazette refers to a "big” report wrote up fur the Republican. about the antics of a ! drunken woman in this place. Yes, and i- cost a power of raou.y didn’t t, “kid.” I uc iiilteah'Use famiy, of Pinlaueh I phi* bad a paper-mill near the WitsaI hick >n creek two hundred years ago, ; ai.d tie Rittenhouses ot to day are still m .king paper and manufacturing woolens at the same place.