Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1887 — A Dreadful Deed. [ARTICLE]

A Dreadful Deed.

Foul Murder Stains Our Peaceful Town. Mrs. Rutherford puts a bullet in John Steel’s brain. For the first in its whole history a murder has been committed in Rensselaer. Wednesday night,a little after 8 o’clock the’startlmg news was spread through the town that a man had been shot and killed, at a house on the other side of the river. The rumor proved only too true. The dead man was John Steel, the tinner in Warner & Sons’ hardware store. The method of his death as was developed at the coroner’s inquest is briefly told: A little while before 8 o’clock Steel, who seems to have been drinking, to some extent, walked in company with M. D. Rhoades to the well known coal-oil well. Arriving there, Steel proposed they should cross the river to the house of Mrs. Hannah Rutherford, who lives in the old wooden house, on the river bank, just opposite the oil well, and in front of and across the street from Delos Thompson’s residence. The two approached the house from the back door, towards the river bank. Steel walked up to the door, and listened to voices inside the house. Rhoades stayed a little back. Inside the house was C. F. Harding, a well known young citizen, the Rutherford woman and the latter’s little girl. Steel soon attracted the attention of the woman and she went to the door and asked what he wanted. It was admission to the house. This she refused declaring that she did not know him. Steel then became angry and in profane obscene language declared that he had visited the woman and had relations with with her, while she lived in a house on Rutson street not far from Dr. Kelley’s residence, and from which she removed not long ago.

The woman denied this statement and called upon the two men in hearing, Harding in the house and Rhoades outside, to say if they had known anything wrong in her conduct, which they said they had not During the past incident Steel appears to have attempted to enter the door, at which he and the woman were talking, and Harding testified that she pushed him, Steel, back, and told him to go away. She then went out side and Steel apoeared to run away. She threaten d to shoot him, and procured her revolver before going outside. On coming back she accused Harding of having caused the other men to come to the house, and ordered hi mto leave. This he was about to do, when Steel again came to the door, and the woman mt t him there, revolver in hand. At this juncture the woman stood in the doorway, Steel on the ground before h er and three steps lower o was *n the room near the !

woman and Rhoades standing by the rear of the woodshed which juts out about ten feet from the rear of the main building. Steel again said he had dealt with the woman, and tried to come in. She pushed him back and he turned around and apparently started to go away, when the woman raised her weapon and fired. Steel fell forward on his face, and did not move; the other men thought at first that he was only pretending to b •-> shot, but Harding went to him and found him bleeding and said. “My God, you’re shot.” The woman then said that s e only meant to scare him.

The testimony of Harding and the position of Steel where he fell, show that his head could not have been more than three feet from the muzzle of the pistol, when it was fired. Steel did not even struggle after the shot, but breathed for a little while, and the two men thought to carry him over to the town. They carried him around the house to the front gate and down the street about half a block, when they found that he was already dead. He died within ten minutes after the shooting and never spoke nor moved. The alarm had spread by this time and people began to gather at the seen . Some one went after a physician and found Dr. Bitters, who could do nothing but pronounce Steel dead. After a little delay the body was carried over to Hopkins’ undertaking rooms, and the testimony of Harding and Rhoades taken by Coroner Blue who then adjourned further proceedings until 9 o’clock yesterday morning. After the adjournment of the inquest, Dr. Hartsell made a post mortem to find the ball and discover its course. It entered the back of the head, about an inch.and a half from the center, on the left side, passed diagonally clear through the brain and fractured the skull on the right side of the forehead, I ulging it outward for a space about the size of a silver half-dollar. The skull was removed and the bullet found in the brain, considerably cut an 1 crushed by its contact with the skull.

The weapon that did the shooting was found not long after on the bureau. It is a 32-calibre and a cheap looking gun. It is a fiveshooter, and when found all the chambers had empty shells in them. The chamber under the hammer had evidently just been fired; the others looked as though the shells in them had been fired long ago. Immediately after the shooting Mrs. Rutherford took her little girl and went to the house of her nearest neighbor, Mr. Shead, and there, a little later, sluYjvas arrested by the sheriff and taken to the jail. She made no attempt to escape. The writer called upon her at the jail about 9:30 o’clock Wednesday sight in company with constable Wood. She would not say much about the shooting, having been advised not to do so by her attorney. She professed not to know the name of the man she had shot, nor how badly he 'was hurt. Upon being told his name and that he was dead'she expressed great sorrow and regretted that she had done it. She is an attractive looking woman, about 29 years old. Her maiden name was Hess. Her husband, with whom she does not live, is in Ohio. Steel was about 28 years old, has worked for Warners years. Was a good workman, and industrious, sometimes drank but not, so far as we have heard, to get drunk. He was married last : y ring to Miss Rhetta Boyd, aji estimable and handsome girl. His f kbci' cr.d tvo brothers are in bus-

iness in Otterbein and Oxford. The story of the lamentable affair, as above related, is essentially as given by Harding and Rhoades, at the inquest. Mrs. Rutherford says that Steel not only used the language we have referred to, but flourished an open knife, in a threatning manner. Mr. Harding says that just before the shooting the woman accused Steel of drawing the knife upon her, and that he denied this and said he had the knife out whittling. Mr. Rhoades found the open knife near Steel, after he fell.