Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1881 — MURDER OF JUDGE HAYDEN. [ARTICLE]

MURDER OF JUDGE HAYDEN.

■wtjly .a BanM.P!reai(|>nt gWho— Ha Had Betrayed. Rapids, Wi-oon?ia, on a charge of murdering Judge Hayden jrf Wood oounty, has brim begun in JTeiftrvißa, The feet that both slayer* fttuf the victim were men of pphUelmportaataik' pos see sing great wealth and atandldg well tfirohgHofit »he NiwthWeri, aoei•liy, financially, will make the jtrial one of not enljr Joca ‘hat oT.national interest The story of the ctidls With which Cochran is dfertidjcooe of romantic interest. It vu committed In October, lfl?d., ’-ledge Hayden waa> a handsome, dashing man, about # year* old, and : had a wife and* two intere«tip« cMidre n. At the time he was killed he waa Jufßre of Wood county, and made his home iff OSntralfeia little village across the river from Grand Bspidaf where SS h n^Sk3!E!fSU". uayaen wu ■ ctnainAce tor Attofneyjßeaiuklr of Wiaooaain the year ne'waa kifled, &hQ had he hi various offices of honor and trust. He served as aaoldkf throagh the rebellion with fflatjactlon. and before the war ha£4)fcen a leading lawyer of Caldwell oounty, Missouri. Se waa a Free Mason, high in the ranks of the order, And'o'at 6r the Murder grew one of the most complicated cases that was ever

before any secret society. ff, fi. Coctawt la a llatiVe of eastern Nijw York.,-He, tom sefved two cf three years list tne army during tt p relelliou, and haa previouifly h eld various clerkships id the >Jfar Department hi ’Washington!' FfMva .half dozen years previous to I8?0 Cochran b*d been, one of the stockholders in ■and cash leimf the Frst National Bank of Grapd Rapids,’ and he owned the mpst beautiful residence in towq-. His wifei a native of Glen.Falla, N Y-,,was a young vomu of, exceptional, beauty, and the Coebran home was considered the greatest place of entertainment in the whole surrounding country. Her husband fairly worshipped ‘ her, aud gratified her every wish. Judge Hayden aud Cochran were intimate friends. Hayden,unfortunately had * frivolous habit of saying thlDgs that made him unpopular with a class of people about his home, but Cochran always stuck to him, and their friendship was considered something unusual. In tbe early part’ ol 1879 it began to be goeeipped about the two villages that Judge Hayden, who was very frequently at the Cochrane mansion, was too intimate with the pro= pritfor’s young wife. This talk reached Cochran, but he at flret refused to listen to any such thing. In June Mrs. CjcUcsux went to New York on a visit. And a few weeks after her departure her husbdnd Intercepted a letter she haidvriitteh, and was horrified at Jtt

disclosures. It was couched In the rnoa£.affectljenai£> terms, and from its oon tentsiberq not a shadow of a Tbs, man igas facrly beside hiuisel/.wituLrage and grief, and qa, searching his. wife’s boudoir unearthed a large number .of guahing epistles that Had passed between his faithless spouse and his most Intimate friend. Mrs. Cochran waS sent for, aud was at once confronted with the prooiofher guilt. She made a complete confession, and said that Hayden’s delicate flattery had turned her Ilead. With her nine-year odd daughter the woman left her home, and has sfhoe lived in the village with relatives... The scandal was at once taken up by tbe peoEle at large, and out of it many ft uis ave grown and yet eiist. . Cochran decided to bear manfully bis grief aud not molest Hayden. Charges were preferred against Hi yden and ne expelled from the home lodge by tbe Masons. Vhk romter wgs taken to the State Grand, Lodge, and after two years of wraDglingtbe Grand Lo gs, at its last sitting, annulled the expulsion. (The was Also uragfieff hoUttea, pud ,tbe,.ekcf‘eseemed to IuGMMe ovel li daily. A’ong toward Sept., duriug Use heat of the Campaign, Hayden purchased a small newspaper, the Centralla Enterprise, and this only tended to intensify tbw feeling. Hayden, emboldmed by Cochfan’s Ydleu6e, began attaeklng him iu bis piper; anp it was kept,tip until rUb ober. NeUriy everybody.Bldpd. whE Cochran, but Hayden had porters who backed him (n ajjl £>. fill movements. Flu ally a reference waa made to thg scradal by Hayden iu his paper, and that seemed foftP? the that broke the camel’s back ln tne Cochran cas9. He immediately purchased a shotgun, aud loaling it heavily,started out to kill ' ing him ln one of the prioaipal streets of Centralis, he shot him dead iu his tracks, without a word us warning. He then gave himself up to the authorities. The excitement over the murder was so great that a mob formed, and had not Cochrau’s friends turned out and re-enforced the officials) be Wourd bate been lynched the first night of bis incarceration. The dfckt day he was released on slo,ooobail} and owing to tire i.lability to get Judges, counsel, and jury, the trial has been postponed from tine td .time until now. - Kmi nent coutisei bate b£en retained oh ooth sides, and the trial will be hdtly contested. Since the rmfrder several newspeptr offices and other property in Centralis have been destroyed by the different (actions, in retaliation for things that grew out of the crime.