Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1911 — BENTON COUNTY’S FIRST MURDER MYSTERY. [ARTICLE]

BENTON COUNTY’S FIRST MURDER MYSTERY.

The interest which was aroused over the Poole murder story a couple of weeks ago was so general that a bit of history in regard to the first murder mystery of which there is any record in Benton county will probably make interesting reading for many of our subscribers and recall to the minds of a'few of the older residents the exciting incidents connected wth the affair. On December 23, 1867, John Flemng, Sr., found the bones of a man in a pond which had gone dry in York township. An inquest was conducted by Coroner Dr. Jonathan Kolb who drew the following deductions from the appearance of the bones and certain other facts. The murdered person had been a man about six feet high; that he was about thirtyfive years of age at the time of his death; that he chewed and smoked tobacco; that he had had a rib broken about six months before his death ; that he had had a tooth extracted and was a mechanic. The investigation conducted by officers of the law resulted in the arrest of James Leonard McCullough, who claimed his home near Muncie. The victim of the crime was one Morgan whose given name is unknown, and the crime was committed about the year

1862, five years previous to the finding of the bones by Mr. ingAbout the year 1860 Morgan went from Warren county to the pineries of Wisconsin and remained there two years during which time he acquired a team of » good horses and about SBOO in gold. He started to drive home and on the way fell in with McCullough. It was supposed that partly to relieve the tedium of the journey and partly through a desire to accommodate McCullough, Morgan took him in to ride in his wagon as far as would go together. They reached Benton county and encamped for the night in York township near the state line. Morgan never left that camping place alive. Either during the night while Morgan slept, or the next morning while they were preparing to break camp, McCullough shot Morgan in the head with Morgan’s own gun and afterward chopped him in the head with an ax. After concealing the body in a pond of water McCullough resumed his journey and stopped at Oxford the next morning where he had the team shod.

During the trial it developed that Coroner Kolb’s deductions in regard to the dead man were all correct. Tfi’e State made as strong a case against McCullough as is possible under circumstantial evidence and he was sentenced to a life term in the penitentiary where he died in 1881. Pending his trial McCullough broke jail at Oxford and was at liberty about three weeks when he was recaptured near Muncie and confined in jail at Lafayette. He made an unsuccessful attempt at jail breaking at Lafayette and with a little more time at his command success would have crowned his efforts. The trial cost the county about SI,BOO. The State was represented by Simon Thompson of Rensselaer, then prosecuting attorney, assisted by John L. Miller of Lafayette. The attorneys for the defense were Col. DeHart and R. C. Gregory. —Benton Review.