Madison County, Illinois Crime News Stories
Madison County, Illinois Crime News Stories
Edwardsville Intelligencer, Illinois
16 June 1870
A BRUTAL AFFAIR - On Thursday last news reached this place that Wm. Hilgedick, who rents a farm 2 ½ miles north from town, had beaten his wife to death with a board. An officer and a physician were immediately dispatched to the spot. Upon arriving there they found Mrs. Hilgedick in a very dangerous condition, she having received 12 cuts over the head. She is a young woman and was married in March 1869. As soon as the officers arrived, she made a statement to the following effect: I was feeding the pigs this morning before breakfast; my husband called me into the barn and pointing to two eggs on the floor he asked me if I had put them there; I told him I did not; he said: I guess you did; and while I was stooping down to pick up the eggs he struck me on the head with a board. I called for mother, then he struck me again. I recollect that he put his knee on me and held my nose with one hand and struck me many times with a board which he held in the other. He then picked me up and threw me under one of the horses' feet; that is all I remember till now. Mrs. Hilgedick made other statements to the effect that her husband was going with other women and that he had not performed the duties of a husband since the first two weeks of their marriage. Hilgedick tells quite a different story. He says that his wife went up into the loft over the stable to hunt eggs; that she stepped on a loose plank which tipped up and threw her below under the horse's feet, and that the cuts on his wife's head were done by the horse. Hilgedick was committed to jail to await the result of his wife's injuries. It is very doubtful whether she will recover.
Edwardsville Intelligence, Illinois 30 June 1870
CONFESSION OF HILGEDICK - Our last issue contained the particulars of a most brutal and murderous attack made by William Hilgedick upon his wife, on the --th 15 last, and it will be recollected that Hilgedick was committed to jail to await the recovery of his victim. Since his lodgment in the county jail he has freely given vent to his feelings, and has confessed to the jailor and other parties, the full particulars of his crime. His object was to get rid of his wife, so that he could marry another woman, whose name in this connection has not so far appeared. He contemplated the deed two weeks previous to the morning of the 15th, and it was by the merest chance that he did not succeed in his murderous attempt. Mrs. Hilgedick is slowly recovering, but her scalp was so lascerated(sic) and bruised from the number of blows she received, that her physicians fear that the flesh will eventually fall away and leave her disfigured for life. As soon as she is sufficiently recovered to make her appearance in court, the case will have a hearing.
Story about Arrest, Trial and Clemency
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