Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1885 — LOADED WITH LEAD. [ARTICLE]

LOADED WITH LEAD.

An lowa Jail Stormed by a Mob and Two Prisoners Riddled with Bullets. Frantic Cries of the Doomed Mon for Help—Their Careers of Lawlessness. “Help! help! Murder! murder! For Heaven's sake, savo us!” were the cries that startled the quiet people of E'.dora lowa, at 1:30 o’clock in the morning. “People living near the disturbance,” says an eye-witness of the scenes that fol owed, “hastened from their beds and followed the direction of the sound. As soon as they reached the public square, all doubts as to the cause of the unusual commotion were removed.

“A masked mob had gathered around the jail, and were battering down the doors for the purpose of securing Fin and Manse Kainsburger, the outlaws who were confined for the attempted murder of Drs. Underwood and Biedenour, on the evening of June 2. The wild shrieks of the doomed prisoners were heart-rending. They knew too well the meaning of the gathering of earnest and determined men without, and the first blow on the door sounded their death-knell. As the prospect of death loomed up before them, and they realized that their miserable, crime-stained lives were to pay the penalty for years of lawlessness, they gave expression to their terror in despairing cries for help. The mob were not long in gaining admittance to the jail, but it took them fifteen minutes to get into the cell where the prisoners were confined, n sledge being used to open the cell door. AVbeu the mob commenced on this door, the prisoners backed themselves ngiinst it and made a desperate effort to hold out against the avengers. Not until Manse was shot in the cell from outside were the furious assailants able to get inside. “When the hammering was going on, the prisoners, in their frenzy, called upon the Sheriff, the Marshal, and the people of Eldora for protection. Their cries of murder and for help could be heard a long distance. Then they called upon George Barber, of Steamboat Rock, who was confined in another cell for liquor-selling, to tell their families that they died like dogs and no one to help them. “Fin, after the door was broken in, made a dash for liberty, but was captured outside of the jail and held up and shot. The work was so quickly accomplished that not many of the citizens realized what was being done until it was all over. The mob had guards stationed at all the avenues,, leading to the jail, and allowed no one t(/approach. “As soon as the work was completed, the party, numbering perhaps seventy-five men, departed quietly. Night-Watch Aldrich and the editor of the Herald were the first to arrive at the scene of the tragedy, and the sight that met their gaze was horrible. Lying face downward in the street about fifteen feet from the jail was the lifeless body of Manse Rainsbarger, any lying partly on the sidewalk and partly on the ground upon his back lay the body of his brother Fin. Both bodies were literally riddled with bullets. The bodies were dressed just as they had retired for the night, their pants and shirts being their only clothing, except that Manse had his stockings on. Their life blood flowed from the wounds and covered them.

“Lying near the bodies was the trunk of a hickory tree about nine inches in diameter and fifteen feet in length. The limbs had been trimmed up to within a few inches of the trunk, leaving them long enough to be firmly grasped by the hands. This was the battering ram used to gain admission to the jail, and in the hands of strong and determined men required only a few moments to break down the harriers that stood between them and the objects of their vengeance. “The mob appeared in town about 1 o’clock, and their conveyances consisted of nine wagons, and several of the party came on horseback. A number of people heard them come in, and wondered what it meant, but as they made little noise in their preparations they attracted scarcely any attention. The officers having the prisoners in charge apprehended no danger for their safety. Some threats bad been made, but no violent spirit had been openly manifested.

“The Eainsbarger gang had so long carried on their lawless operations that the people had settled down into an apparent lethargy, hoping that ihe law would eventually punish them for their many crimes. They doubtless would never have been molested, and the law would have been allowed to take its course in regard to their past offenses, had they not aroused the people to fury by the last outrage of which they were guilty. On the evening of the 3d of June, as Dr. Underwood, Dr. Caldwell, and Dr. G. H. Biedenonr were passing; through a heavy strip of timber eight miles north of Eldora, three masked men appeared at the roadside and commenced shooting at them with navy revolvers at short range. The top buggy in which they were riding was riddled with bullets, and the escape of its occupants is wonderful, but they were uninjured save a few scratches. Dr. Bieaenour, with remarkable coolness, jumped out and epened fire on the attacking party with good effect, wounding one of them and driving them to the brush. Dr. Underwood held the inquest over the body of Enoch Johnson, who was found dead near Gifford last November, and declared Johnson had been murdered, and has done all he can to bring the murderers to justice. Both Underwood and Biedenour testified against the Rainsbargers, who were tried some time ago for the murder of Johnson. Since then they have been threatened and warned to leave the State by members of the Bainsbarger gang. ”