Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1887 — A YEAR'S CTIMES. [ARTICLE]

A YEAR'S CTIMES.

A Catalogue of tko Most Noteworttif Deeds of Blot! of tko Year 1886. larlers wits Mite AMloilit, Eilli la tie Heat of Passion, and Excusable Homicides. The Legal Executions or the Tear—The Hangman's Noose Claims a Loaag List or Victims. , The Lynching* of a Twelvemonth—Mob Violence Claim? a Large Number of Victims. THE MURDER RECORD. A Ghostly Array of Crimes Against Law Mini Society. JAN CARY. "Png* O'Leary. of Chicago, i loaded guilty to the murder ot his sister oud miatras*. aud was sentenced to Joliet prison for forty years. John G. Stevens, President of the Pennsylvania Railway system iu New Jersey, shot himself, owing %0 financial difficulties. At Rattle Creek, Mich., the dead bodies of Hr. Martin White, his wife, and two children were discovered by neighbors, who forced the doors ; it was believed that White killed the' others ami committed Suicide. Jacob Reel, a wealthy farmer of Bellbrook, Ohio, hanged himself in hit ]iarlor because of the arrest of his eldest son for homicide. Six convicts, who e seal>o.l from the Coal Hill i.Ark.t mine, were brought back bv James Johnson, an old fanner, who captured the desperadoes while asleep in a haystack ; Johnson was armed with a double-barreled shotgun, one of the barrels being useless. John Magee was sentenced by a London court to seven years' penal servitude for an attempt to black in ail the l’rinee of Wales. James Ratt. a saloon-keeper at Akron, Ohio, purchased for 5 cents the handsome wife of Newell Stratton, and lived happily with her until the law interfered. For the murder of his mother, sister, and brother, William Sheehan was lrauged at Cork, Ireland ; y.e crime was committed in 1877 to obtain possession of some property, and Sheehan was arrested in New Zealand. A party of oow boys from the Red River section, bent on having "a good time." invaded Burlington, Texas; they enjoyed themselves hugely, tiring promiscuously, until a posse, of citizens under Sheriff Cooke drove them away, killing four of the desperadoes. A quadrangular duel at Manche ter, Ky., resulted in the death of all the participants—young fanners who quarreled about a woman of ill-repute; liquor inspired the tragedy- Harvey Hadlock, a Portland IMO.I lad, kilted himself with a revolver, in his father’s presence, rather than l>e sent away to school. Four members of a Polish revolutionary organixation were executed at Warsaw. Jack Hanlon aud Jack Crow ley fought a duel at Houston, Texas- in a fit of jealousy, aud both were killed. FEBRUARY. Fines of fl each were imposed upon thirtythree Cincinnati .actors who performed on Sunday. In a Waco (Tex.) hotel J, K. Graham, a St. Louis drummer, “got the drop" on a rival from Chicago, and the latter was killed ; the deceased (Wm. Lamb) Ua.l declared that "a man, who traveled for a St. Ix.uis house was no good." Cbosley Chambers, a noted criminal who, armed With a club, assaulted a baggage-master and an express messenger apd robbed the safe mi a passenger train near Bloomington, Ihd., was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. At Newcastle, Del.. with the mercury in the neighborhood of zero, five thieves were lashed on their bore backs, and, a forger was placed in the pfllorv for an hour. Mrs. Mary Rranchu suicided in a sensational manner by jumping from High Bridge, New York, to the ice below, 1:40 feet; every bone in her body was broken. "Unemployed ” men in London besieged the authorities for relief, and this not being granted, a mob of IU,OOO rioters pillaged, shops, broke windows, and hustled well-to-do citizens about, destroying property to the value of $400,000 .. A French merchant and his wife Buicided at Monte Carlo, after heavylosses at gambling ; the lady drowned herself and her husband then blew out bis brains. Theodore P. Rich, of Cobleskill, N. Y., tracked his wife to St. Paul, whither she bad eloped, •ad on coining up with her he killed her aud then suicided. MARCH. Eli Bearden, of Harriston, Ark., who was twice sentenced to be hanged for tbe murder of • neighbor, was acquitted on the third trial; his case cost the State $30,(00. Edward Johnson. alias Allen Wright, had a quarrel with his employer. Henry C. Steadman, on a farm near Lyons' Neb.; Steadman was killed, and Johnson was pursued and took refuge in a bam which he defended against 300 men who joined iu the chase; tbe desperado killed (’has. P. Johnßon and fatally wounded Edgar Everett; then tbe barn was set afire, and when it subsided Johnson was found partly cremated and his body riddled with bullets. In a quarrel over alleged cattle-stealing in the vicinity of Fort Elliott, Tex., four men belonging to tbe Lone - -Star Rauch w ere killed and two wounded. At the funeral of Frank Mulkowski, a Chicago murderer, from a Polish church, a married sister rode on the hearse to the cemetery beside the driver. Three desperadoes confined in the Newcastle (Pa.) jail filed the looks off their cells and escaped through a hole BxlG inches cut in a window. APRIL Louis P. Schmidt, of Freeport. 111., who'had been expelled frotn the Xmghts of Labor for disclosing secrets of the order, hanged himself at Davenport. lowa. The Earl of Bhafte-bury committed suicide in L n.lon by shooting himself: he was the eighth Earl of Shaftesbury, succeeding on Oct 1, IN>>, to the -j title on the death of his father, the noted philan- j tfaropist Five murderers in Indian Territory escaped the gallows by a commutation of their ! sentence to life imprisonment iu the Petr. it House of Correction : threeof the party killed a peddler for wbltig of tobacco. Burmese rebels captured the British station at Meegandet, bound the garrison with cords, and massacred twenty-three persons. In Seward County, Kansas. Fritz Rupin. a half-witted farm hand, assault. d tbe wife of bis employer. Mrs. Jacob Freimuth, and killed both her and her unborn babe ; tbe husband was absent at the time, and when he. beheld the mutilated bodies he became a raving maniac, and suicided with a she tzun: J a posse of neighbors pursued and captured Rn- , pin. who was tied l.y the neck to a fractious : horse and dragged fo’r miles over the prairie; j tbe body of tbe wretch was left uncovered . where the exhausted horse felL MAY. Except the Haymorket riots at Chicago .mention of which is made elsewhere - nothing specially noteworthy transpired during the month that deserves to be. classified under the head of crimq,.. —, 3 JUNE. In a quarrel over politics between two physi- j cians. at Stephensport. lud , one killed the ; other by cutting his throat: the d ad man. j Dr. Agee, was a br- ther of an cx-Lieutenant : Governor of Nebraska. Mrs. Wm. Sloane, of Stamford, VC, in a fit of jealousy, drowned her ] 4-year-old son. to spit ■ her husband ; tue shock | made Mr. Sloane insane. Forty lives were lost i in an election riot in Santiago! tbe capital of i Chili, besides many wounded. In an affray i between prison guards and soldiers at Bogota, j United States Of Colombia, one general, several ) officers, and thirty soldiers were killed. The ! New England Institute Fair Buildings, at Bos- 1 ton, worth SSHO.ak). were set on fire by a discharged employe, and destroyed : nine' persons perished in the flames Fifty-one persons were killed in election riots in Chili. ' -J JULY. Will Kchnell. of Peru, Ind., aged 9, was sentenced to the reformatory for one hear for horse■tesJtng. A roving band of Turks became so enraged at the failure of one of their number at begging supplies near Youngstown, Ohio, that ttaev threw her (nfafit to S hear, and held her to see tbe animal devour it. Howard Hines, aged 14, said while picking blackberries seu Louisville. Ky.. that he intended to kill some one; then turning suddenly on Samuel Dean, an 11-year-old companion, he shot him deadT Mie am llll innliti i i r wantto the city and gave himself up, saying that the shooting was accidental. A- terrible story was reported from Tattnall County, Georgia, where a negress named Mary Hollenbeck provided for a picnic party by serving up a stew of human flesh. she | having killed and cooked a child that was left to her charge; she confessed her crime and her Infuriated auditors burned her at the stake. ___ Wllile BeUs. aged 14, of Erie, Kan., was found guilty of the murder of his parents, his brother and his sister, and sentenced to be I hanged, which under the laws of that State meant inf

prisonment for life. In a qaarral at Washington, D. C., about an umbrella. Thomas Carter, a negro aged 70, stabbed and killed James Holmes .colored), who insisted on borrowing the article against the wishes ot the owner. AUGUST.”’ ’ 1 Fred Ihije killed his sweetheart • and her father. John Ruthke, at Marysville, Neb., because he waa refused Miss Uutbhv's hand in marriage; he then committed suicide. Alfred Packer, a miner of Colorado, having been convicted et. murdering and eating the bodies of five companions during the winter of 1H73, waa senBarney Martin, with his wife and two children, of Weaver, A. T., started from that Since for Erie, Pa., for a visit; not eing heard from, a search waa instituted, which resulted in the finding of the charred remains of the entire family between Vulture Mine and Phanix, Arizona; Martin was known to have had $4,010 with biin, realised from tbe/sale of his ranch; he was waylaid by robbers, the cnttre family murdered, and the remains burned to coyer the crime. Mrii. Harsh Jane Robinson, a widow, and Thomas R. Smith, a Sundayschool superintendent, were arrested at Boston, charged with poisoning eleven persons to gain insurance inouey. After a trial which lasted fifty-two days, and eight days of sjwech-making by counsel, the jury in the anarchist trial at Chicago on the 20th pronounced the death sentence against acveu of the conspirators concerned iu the slaughter of the lxilxie officers at the Haymarket; one, Oscar W. Neebe, waa given fifteen years' imprisonment. Up to date seventy-six’ suicides wore reported at Monte Carlo, owing to ruin at the gaming tables. SKPTEM HER. T Edward Myers, of Rt. Louis, who stole *2,500 from his employer and fled to Hamilton, Out.. was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for bringing stolen money into Canada. The Bishop of Tonquin telegraph! d that 700 Christians had been massacred and forty villages burned in the province of Manh. a, and that 9,000 Christians were perishing of builder The public executioner of Greece was convicted of murder and condemned to death. At Kingston, N. J„ James Keevan, aged 05. was murdered while eating upper, the i remains lieing found seated at a table with a knife aud fork in tho lifeless hands. George M. Bartholomew, president of the jCharter Onk Life Insurance 'Company, dlaamieared from Hartford owing various banks and corporations $2,300,000. At Canton, China, a woman charged with poisoning her husband and three relatives, wns cut upexactly into 1.000 piec s ; later itwas shown that sho was innocent of the offense, but the people dammed for her death, which the Viceroy finally ordered. OCTOBER. Two 10-year-old youths ill France, whoso bends had been turned by sensational novels, w. ro sentenced to fifteen years' hard labor for the murder of Marie C. Pout, a girl acquaintance 15 years old. The father of Wallace, lynched at Hteelvillo, Mo., for tho murder of the Lomu family, refused to care for the body, which was buried on a hill by the roadsido, where tho remains of a colored murderess, who. hail l>eou executed according to law, were interred yours ago. NOVEMBER. In a boarding house at Newark, New Jersey, the Bight of a single roast chicken for seven hungry men caused a fight with knives, in which two men were stubbed, the table was wrecked, and the supper strewn over the flror. Chas; Williams, of White River, Canada, found Richard O'Brien in company with his wife, end proceeded to homewhip the interloper, but the latter shot Williams dead, then killed Williams’ aged father and mother and two little children, after which he stabbed Mrs. Wili ams and set the house on fire ; tho woman lived long enough tp tell the authorities of O Brien'wfirime. and ho Was arrested. Benj. Wheller, of Cleveland, 0., aged 81, was held for murdering his wife, aged 87 ; tho couple possessed *400,0X1, and it is believed that in atjttsmd touching his wife’s will the old man Strangled her; he Insisted that the deed was done by robbers. Rhodes Clements, of Havensville, Kan., suddenly became a ravI ifig maniac, killed Samuel Gordon, cut off bis head, and devoured Ilia heart, lungs, and liver: Clements was jailed. Justice Scott, of the Illinois Supreme Court, granted a supersedeas in the case of the Chicapo anarchists ; as the fonrt will not sit until March, the execution set for December 3 can not take place until the spring of 1887. Nine youths were sentenced to death at Sydney, N. S. W„ for committing a criminal assault uj>ou a 15-year-old servant girl. DECEMBER. Chas. Snodgrass, employed in a clothing house at Cynthiana, Ky., committed suicide by taklug morphine because he was accused of stealing S 3 phis-aged father dropped dead when he heard the sod news. J. S. Cornell son, & Louisville (Kv.)-attorney, was given three years in jail for cowhiding Judge Reid at Mt. Sterling, who afterward took his own life from mortification. William Reed was s. ot and killed at English, lud., bv Ben Smithain a dispute aver tbe proper spelling of a word. Emily Brown, a white woman of Baltimore, was murdered by two negroes, whose sole object was to sell the corpse to a medical college. Tho legislators of the Seminole Indiana passed a law punishing stealing by fifty lashes for tho first offense and hanging for the iourth. James Howell fatally shot James Graham at Utica, N. Y. t because ihe said) Graham cheated him out of four dollars.