George
Garrison Pickett, descendent of Hiram Wright Pickett.... Transcribed & submitted by Sue & Verlin Wichman
This is a news story from the Effingham
New Leaf, published in Effingham, KS, dated June 17, 1932. (Effingham is located in Atchison County, KS.)
Grim Tragedy in Effingham
Geo G. Pickett Murders His Wife,
Then Commits Suicide
Effingham people are shocked by the
terrible tragedy that occurred Wednesday, when Geo Pickett murdered his wife about 5 a. m., and nearly noon committed
suicide.
Mr. Pickett used a hatchet to hit
his wife two blows in the forehead, one of which cut a gash and broke her nose, but the blows did not kill her,
as H.S. Youngberg, undertaker, says evidence showed she had fought him. With a knife he had severed the jugular
veins and arteries in her throat. In fact he had made slashes almost around to her spine. She had been stabbed
in the chest and her hands cut, which leads Mr. Youngberg to believe there had been a struggle.
The bloody finger prints of his
hands were left on the foot of the bed, so the murderer had evidently stood there and watched his victim die.
Mr. Pickett was 67 years old, his
wife 53.
After murdering his wife Pickett
wrote a letter to his daughter Mrs. Lena Ablett, of Des Moines, Iowa, the Pickett’s former home, where they had
been married in April. He also wrote a note to his sister.
This was Mr. Pickett’s seventh
marriage, and it is believed Mrs. Pickett had been married twice before. Pickett had obtained four divorces, one
wife committed suicide, and one died a natural death.
Pickett and his wife had had troubles,
according to remarks each had made to outsiders. Two suitcases, a trunk, and suitbox were neatly packed with her
clothing, and a number of pieces of linen and bedding were laid out ready to be packed, which leads people to believe
she was preparing to leave him. One suitcase was locked. The lock was broken by Mr. Youngberg, upon orders of Wm
Stanton, Sr. who was acting coroner for his son Wm. Jr.
The final link leading to the tragedy
seems to have been a $50 bill that Pickett gave his wife several days ago but which she would not return when he
asked for it.
Wednesday morning after the tragedy
Pickett had evidently made a thorough search of the rooms to find the money, but failed in the search. Around $8
in small change was found in purses and small banks. A bag containing old coins property of Mrs. Pickett was also
found.
About 8 a.m. Pickett went to the
depot and telegraphed two tickets to the daughter mentioned above and her husband saying “Come at once you are
badly needed.
He gave Mr. Panzeram a $20 gold
piece. Mr. Panzeram didn’t have the change, so Pickett went up town and got change, then returned and paid for
the tickets.
Geo Regan, a nearby neighbor, had
been told to come over that afternoon and get some steel and iron, that Pickett had been collecting. Mr. Regan
went but found the screens hooked and the doors locked from the inside.
That evening, Mr. Regan met Mr.
Panzeram on the street, told him there had been no signs of life around the Pickett home all day and asked if they
had bought tickets out of town. Mr. Panzeram recalling the telegram decided some investigating should be done at
once, so he, Mr. Regan, Rob’t Flemming, undersheriff; John Trompeter, Henry Potts, Ralph Snyder, Lee Beard and
LeRoy Bishop broke in a door and entered the house.
Mrs. Pickett was covered in the
bed. The sheet was smeared with blood. Mr. Pickett had gone into an adjoining small room, laid down on the floor
pushed the trigger of the shot gun with a cane. The body could have been seen from an outside window.
The day before the tragedy, Pickett
took the gun to Mr. Regan and told him to fix it, saying he wanted to kill some sparrows. A rifle was found in
the house.
Mr. Pickett had washed the blood
from the knife and hatchet, but had left some on the latter. The knife had been replaced in a table drawer. It
was a long handled knife with a short blade.
Prior to his last marriage the
deceased man had purchased a home from the late John Wardlow, for $500, from a newspaper advertisement without
seeing the property. According to one of his daughters Mr. Pickett at this time had $800.
Pickett had no employment since
coming to Effingham. He did some gardening and had been looking for a real estate trade to secure a larger garden
plot. That he might have had some experience in wood carving is evidenced by the fact that a large number of clubs
of the police type had been cut by him in recent months and a wooden chain with moveable links, about 103 feet
in length, had been carved from pieces of lumber and draped around the room.
Cancelled papers in the home showed
that at some time Mrs. Pickett had been drawing a pension of $14 per month. Both carried insurance and recent payments
had been made. Mrs. Pickett had also recently deposited $900 in a local bank.
Henry Potts, a neighbor, and E.
C. Donahoo, who happened to be at the Potts home, heard a shot around 10 a.m. and they believe it was at that time
he concluded his terrible deed.
The furnishings of Pickett home
are meager, but everything is neat and clean.
Both evidently had been collectors
of trinkets. Among the effects were four ladies watches, two of them were small gold watches, the other were wrist
watches; and there were several rings.
Among Mr. Pickett’s collections
were also found a large packet of newspaper clippings of nefarious and atrocious crimes, which he had collected
and evidently studied.
Mr. Pickett mentioned “another
man” in one of his notes. A letter written by someone signed “Charles” was found and read by Effingham people.
In the letter she had been addressed in endearing terms and the letter closed in an affectionate manner.
A half-brother of Mrs. Pickett’s
came from Kansas City, Friday. He gave Mr. Youngberg the addresses of two of her sisters in Des Moines, Iowa, who
were telegraphed and they asked that her body be sent there by Stutz & Shifflett for burial, and their local
undertaker came for the body.
Mr. Pickett requested that he be
buried in Effingham and that Mrs. Pickett people decide as to her burial place.
Mr. Pickett had laid a suit, in
which he was to be buried, on the bed.
Effingham people who had visited
the scene of the tragedy say both of the deceased people had an abundant supply of good clothing, more than is
usually found in most homes.
Four daughters of Mr. Pickett and
the husband of one arrived in Effingham, Friday morning. For eighteen years he had not spoken to any of the daughters,
except the one to whom he sent the telegram.
W. H. Sells was appointed administrator
of the estate by Judge DeDual, Friday, so that arrangements could be made for the burial, and the disposition of
the personal property.
The four daughters who came to
Effingham had never seen their step-mother and knew nothing whatever about her or her family. Letters found in
the home, mentioned something about her daughter.
Mr. Pickett’s daughters who came
to Effingham, knew very little of his activities after he and their own mother, his first wife, separated. They
lived together eighteen years, and upon their separation in 1912, she was given the custody of the minor children.
In looking over the old family
album, many happy memories were recalled when the mother, father and eight children lived on a ranch in Iowa, and
they asked for the pictures. Accompanying the Pickett children to Effingham, were some of their friends. All, with
the exception of Mr. and Mrs. Ablett, returned home Friday evening. The two mentioned remained until the remains
were interred in the Evergreen cemetery, Saturday morning.
According to records found in the
home, the deceased was of the Seventh Day Adventist faith.
He was a man of the non committal
type, who talked very little. His son-in-law who had been in the family eighteen years, declared he didn’t know
him any better at the end of that time than the day he entered the family.
At the grave, Rev. Bartlett Hess
held a short service.
Pallbearers were W. H. Sells, Lee
Beard, Fred Stutz, Geo. Regan, Henry Potts and Rob’t Flemming.
Note: I attempted to type this
story as it was printed in the Effingham New Leaf with no corrections in sentence structure, spelling, or punctuation.
Sue Wichman, November 2007
This is part of the news story
that was published in the Effingham New Leaf June 17, 1932.
A half-brother of Mrs. Pickett’s
came from Kansas City, Friday. He gave Youngberg the addresses of two of her sisters in Des Moines, Iowa, who were
telegraphed and they asked that her body be sent there by Stutz & Shifflett for burial, and their local undertaker
came for the body.
Mr. Pickett requested that he be
buried in Effingham and that Mrs. Pickett’s people decide as to her burial place.
Mr. Pickett had laid a suit, in which he was to be buried, on the bed.
Note: (From Verlin Wichman) - The news story that was published in the Effingham New Leaf June 17, 1932. Effingham
is in Atchison County Kansas. Effingham is located about 15 miles east of Holton where Sue and I live. We went
to Atchison Thursday Nov. 1, 07. We visited some of the historical places there. While at the old railroad station
I visited with a volunteer there. I told him of my search for family history and also my search for the burial
place of George G. Pickett. He said that the local library there in Atchison had a nice Genealogy Section. Sue
my willing wife said O.K. As we knew about the time of George’s death that helped. The first thing Sue came up
with was some books that had been compiled by the Atchison County Historical Society. Sue found one for the Evergreen
Cemetery in Effingham. George G. Pickett is listed in that book as “George C. Pickett” ,( C.),Death as 6-8-1932
68yrs. (6-8-1932--June 8, 1932 ) Sue and I have walked that cemetery in Effingham but found no stone. That doesn’t
mean there is one. We didn’t try to locate the Cemetery Sexton . The Evergreen Cemetery is one of two in Effingham.
I’ll at some point try to get the whole story typed up. We found the news story on microfilm. The library had several
rolls of film, some were for the Effingham New Leaf for the weekly newspaper stories Jan , 1931 thru 1935. My wife
also found these.
( As to George's age.. the cemetery
transcription has him 68 yrs. old. The newspaper 67 yrs. old. )
The Evergreen Cemetery is located in Effingham , Atchison County, Kansas. Benton TWP
Transcribed &
Submittted by Verilin and Sue Wichman
George G. Pickett as it appeared
in the Atchison Daily Globe June 12, 1932. ATCHISON DAILY GLOBE
June 12(?), 1932
EFFINGHAM MAN KILLS WIFE WITH
HATCHET; SHOOTS SELF
George G. Pickett Sends Telegram
and Ticket to Daughter at Des Moines After Slaying Wife
NEIGHBORS BREAK INTO HOUSE TO INVESTIGATE
Shot Heard About 11:00 O’Clock
Yesterday
Mrs. Pickett's Throat Cut to the Bone With Picket Knife
Pickett Shoots Self in Neck With Shotgun Pushing Trigger With Cane
For the second time in as many days,
Atchison County figured in a double tragedy. It was revealed last night when alarmed neighbors broke down the door
of the George G. Pickett residence in Effingham to find the bodies of Pickett and his wife—Mrs. Pickett the victim
of an attack with a hatchet and pocket knife and her husband a suicide. They had both died before noon. The discovery
was made after 8 o-clock.
Petty bickering had prompted Pickett, about 70 years of age, to kill his wife as she lay asleep, and to commit
suicide, according to a letter that he left for daughter, Mrs. Lena Ablett of Des Moines, the Pickett’s former
home. Mrs. Pickett was several years her husband’s junior.
Pickett started the letter at 5:30 o’clock yesterday morning, in which he told of trouble that he and his wife
had had and of his desire to make a settlement with her and to mortgage their property in Effingham and give her
half of the money realized. Bags were packed in the house at the time of the tragedy, indicating that either one
or both of the Picketts were preparing to leave.
The final link leading up to the tragedy seems to have been a $50 bill that Pickett gave his wife several days
ago but which she would not return, according to the contents of the letter. Pickett stated in the letter that
he asked for it again “this morning” (yesterday). Effingham people who discovered the tragedy, however, are of
the opinion that Mrs. Pickett was attached without being awakened from her night’s sleep.
“This morning I asked it again,” Pickett wrote, “and she refused so I went in on her with the hatchet then cut
her throat.”
Pickett then wrote that he would go to the depot to telegraph Mrs. Ablett and to send her railroad transportation
to Effingham. Here is an apparent break in the letter.
Pickett filed the following telegram to Mrs. Ablett at 7:30 o’clock yesterday morning with H. C. Panzeram, Missouri
Pacific agent at Effingham. “You are needed. Come at once.”
He presented a $20 gold piece in payment for tickets for Mr. and Mrs. Ablett from Des Moines to Effingham, and
when the station agent couldn’t make change Pickett went to the D. Richter store, where he had a $10 bill changed.
In the transaction, Mr. Richter asked Pickett if he had made an intended real estate trade by which he expected
to get more garden space. Pickett, who appeared unusually white and shaken, replied that he was “done with everything.”
The letter is again taken up apparently after Pickett returned from the depot and the dispute over the $50 bill
is mentioned as well as another minor disagreement.
“It is nearly 9:00 o’clock,” Pickett concluded. “Must go and use the shot gun.” An erasure occurs on the last word
in the letter and what appears to be the word “noon” is written in a heavier hand.
Another letter addressed to Mrs. A. S. Gish, Chehalis, Wash. Contained the following message, “Sister Amanda, I
have started something I will soon finish. I wrote you a card just after I came here and got no answer. Hoping
all well. G. G. P.”
Harry Potts and other neighbors said that they heard a shot from within the Pickett house around 11 o’clock yesterday
morning. When no evidences of life were seen all day around the house and none last evening, a group of Effingham
men including Bob Flemming, deputy sheriff, John Trompeter, H Panzeram, Henry Potts, Ralph Snyder, Lee Beard, George
Regan and LeRoy Bishop, broke down the back door of the fully-locked five room house.
Mrs. Pickett was in her night clothing in a bed in the northwest room. She had apparently been struck over the
left temple near the eye with the blunt edge of the hatchet, and again down the middle of the forehead with the
sharp edge. Her throat had been cut clear to the spinal column with a pocket knife, and in the opinion of Harry
Youngberg, Effingham undertaker, this resulted in death from loss of blood rather than the blows on the head. Indications
were that Mrs. Pickett did not die immediately.
The body of Pickett was found in an adjoining southeast room where he had made a pallet for himself on the floor.
He had tripped the trigger of a .12 gauge shot gun with a cane, the charge entering his neck at the left side,
severing the jugular vein.
Pickett carefully washed the blood stains from both the hatchet and the knife.
LITTLE KNOWN OF COUPLE
The only information that can be gathered concerning the Pickett’s personal history comes from documents now in
the hands of William Stanton, Sr. action coroner of Atchison County. Many Effingham persons did not know that a
family of that name lived in the town: others had seen Pickett on the street making occasional staple purchases
or going to the post office: while Mrs. Pickett seems to have been known only by a few neighbors.
According to the papers found in the house, Mrs. Ira May McDonough and George G. Pickett were married at Des Moines
April 5, 1932. It was Pickett’s sixth matrimonial venture and at least his wife’s second.
She had been granted a divorce from George James in November 1929 by the Polk county district court at Des Moines.
A memorial card bearing the name and date of “Arthur McDonough, October 28, 1926” might be that of either a brother
or a previous husband.
BOUGHT HOUSE FROM
AD
Prior to his final marriage, Pickett had purchased for $400 the house in Effingham, located on the north side of
the railroad tracks, from Joseph Wardlow, and the deed was in the hands of Atchison county authorities for registration
February 18, 1932. Mr. and Mrs. Pickett apparently moved to Effingham shortly after their marriage. He had bought
the property from a newspaper advertisement without having seen it.
A divorce petition filed in Polk County, July 16, 1912, gives the record of Pickett’s first marriage at Pleasantville,
IA, February 22, 1894. There were eight children born to this union, and Mrs. Eliza Pickett was given custody of
the minor children in a decree granted in December, 1912 at Des Moines.
Another marriage license was made out for George Pickett and Mrs. Isabella C. Smith, on February 16, 1914 at Des
Moines. Then on May 23, 1916, George G. Pickett and Ann L. Lassere, the groom of Des Moines and the bride of Leeds,
IA, were married at Dakota City, Neb.
A DIVORCE IN 1917
There is no record of any divorce proceeding on these marriages in the papers found, but Pickett hit a matrimonial
snag in 1917. On January 27 of that year he married Harriet S. Hutchins at Des Moines after they had signed a pre-nuptial
agreement in which she transferred some Des Moines city property to him in exchange for a promise that he was to
keep her in “comfort” for the rest of his life.
The divorce petition stated that Pickett had left her March 26, 1917.
Picket was next married on March 12, 1925, this time to Lydia M. Miller, and the ceremony was performed at Des
Moines. There is no further evidence of the termination of this relationship.
Among Pickett’s effects was found a letter written him on May 14, 1932 by John J. Halloran, judge of the Ninth
judicial district of Iowa, in which the matter of a divorce is discussed. It could not be learned from the contents
of the letter, however, whether it referred to a contemplated divorce action or another in which some items of
settlement had not been cleared up.
RELATIVES EXPECTED
Pickett had had no employment since coming to Effingham. He did some gardening, and had been looking for a real
estate trade to secure a larger garden plot. That he might have had some experience in wood carving is evidenced
by the fact that a number of clubs of the police type had been cut out by him in recent months, and that a solid
wooden chain with moveable links had been carved from a piece of lumber about 14 feet in length.
After viewing the bodies last night and taking under advisement the matter of an inquest, Mr. Stanton turned them
over to Stutz and Shifflett. Relative of both Pickett and his wife are expected to start arriving in Effingham
last this afternoon and early tomorrow. They are both survived by children.
MARRIED SEVEN TIMES
Pickett had been married seven times, according to information received late this afternoon by The Globe from the
Des Moines Register News Bureau. A marriage contracted with Emma Kimball of Lovilla, IA when Pickett was 20 years
old, was not recorded in his personal papers.
Pickett had obtained three divorces and one wife committed suicide. His sixth divorce was granted in 1926 at which
time he said: “I have trusted six women six times and every time I have been fooled”
He is quoted as saying upon the occasion of his seventh marriage in April of this year: “No cloud will darken this
marriage. We’re moving out to Kansas. We’ve got a home out there and we’re going to make a new start.”
Pickett, according to information from Iowa was 67 and his wife was 53. (Transcribed & Submitted by Sue & Verlin Wichman)
4th of July Celebration
The Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison,
KS, Friday June 16, 1899 page 4
A funny situation exists at Whiting
that may be found in almost every country town. The people of Whiting will hold a Fourth of July celebration, when
all the people will assemble in the park and talk of Griggsville, Ill. Every one in Whiting came from Griggsville
and they think that no one is of any consequence who is not formerly of Griggsville. Muscotah makes fun of it,
but how came about the Muscotah people? They came originally from Wisconsin, and look with contempt upon those
hailing from any other state. (Submitted by Christine Walters)
INTO A
CISTERN WITH HER CHILD
A Kansas Clergyman's Wife Committed
Suicide Last Night
Atchison, Kas., Oct. 10---The wife
of the Rev. Charles Meeder of the Emmanuel Evangelical Church near Farmington this county, jumped into a cistern
with her 8-year-old child about midnight last night and both were drowned. Mrs. Meeder had shown signs of insanity.
(Kansas City Star ~ October 10, 1900)
POTPOURRI
OF SENSATIONS
ATCHISON HAS A DAY REPLETE WITH
SCANDALS AND UNUSUAL OCCURRENCES
Tom Davis, a Politician Under Sentence
for Forgery, Jumps a $5,000 Bail Bond, A Burglar Escapes, a Prominent Citizen Disappears and at an Inquest a Sensational
Suicide Is Developed
Atchison, Kan., Nov. 10---Atchison
is "enjoying" a potpourri of sensations today. Tom Davis, a farmer-politician of considerable local reputation,
whom woman and wine led to forgery, and to conviction and sentenced to the penitentiary at a recent term of the
District court, but who is at liberty on a $5,000 bond, pending a motion for a new trial, has fled to parts unknown,
much to the chagrin of the sheriff and to the great sorrow of his bondsmen.
The neighborhood of Cummings, near
here has been infested for somet time with burglars and numerous thefts of money, jewelry, fire alarms, etc., have
been reported. Suspicion rested upon a tramp, who gave his name as George Cole. He was arrested yesterday by a
deputy officer after resistance, and an attempt to shoot his captor. Upon his person was found three loaded revolvers,
two knives, three razors, a bunch of keys and a job lot of watches, jewelry, silverware, handkerchiefs, pocket
coins and about $20 in money. While bringing the desperado to this city he jumped through the car window and while
the train was going at full speed, and was unharmed and made his escape.
Louis Lofte, a young man of this
city, son of ex-Chief of Police Lofte, who has been in jail several months on the charge of highway robbery, but
who is now out because of the unexplained disappearance of the prosecuting sitness, files sensational and serious
charges against the sheriff and county physician, alleging cruelty and incompetency. He says prisoners are allowed
but two meals a day and that the food is scanty in quantity and unwholesome in quality, and that the sanitary condition
of the jail is indescribably horrible. Lofte says, regarding the incompetency of the jail physician, that one day
while he was slightly ailing the physician insisted upon performing upon him an operation for appendicitis.
George Ada, a prominent citizen
and proprietor of the Ada coal mines, where a large force is at work, has been missing for three weeks. There are
two theories of his disappearane and protracted absence. One is that he has been robbed and murdered and his body
concealed. The other is that he had become financially embarrassed and has fled the country. He was the treasurer
of the Order of Foresters and had about $100 of that order's money in his possession. Mr. Ada has had the reputation
of an honest and energetic citizen.
The body of Mrs. Gilliland of Center
township, Marshall county, has been disinterred and an inquest held. Mrs. Gilliland was a beautiful young woman
of most respectable connections and had been married only a year. Her sudden death raised the suspicions of murder,
but the inquest developed the fact that she deliberately committed suicide. The following letter, dictated by the
woman to her sister, was produced:
I confess I have taken arsenic
to rid myself of the world. I loved another and to save a quarrel, I killed myself.
MRS. MARY GILLILAND
A 4-year-old girl baby, entirely
nude, was left yesterday morning upon the front door steps of Mr. M. W. Kiper. Mrs. Kiper, who has no children
of her own, will raise the child.
(Kansas City Times ~ November 13, 1895)
AFTER HER
FATHER'S FORTUNE
A Disinherited Girl, Once of Kansas,
Claims 1-1/4 Million Dollars
Atchison, Kas., July 3---By the
death of her father, W. T. Fleming in Philadelphia last Saturday, Miss Marie Fleming, formerly of Atchison, expected
to become heir to 1-1/4 million dollars. If she gets the money, it will be the second time Miss Fleming has inherited
a fortune, and she is now only 14 years old. Her mother was Kittie Everest, daughter of the late well-known Kansas
lawyer, A. S. Everest and was married to W. T. Fleming of Philadelphia in 1880. After a few months they quarreled
and at the end of three years were divorced. Marie, their only child, was adopted by her grandparents, Mr. and
Mrs. A. S. Everest.
Mr. Fleming returned to the East,
where he married again in six or seven years. From the time he left Atchison, when Marie was a baby, he never saw
her again. Mrs. Fleming was married to Edward Fairfield, a traveling man, but they were divorced and Mrs. Everest
took her daughter and granddaughter abroad for a few years. Mrs. Fairfield was married to H. L. Magee, general
superintendent of the Wabash railroad. She now lives in St. Louis. Three doors away live her child and mother.
A. S. Everest died in Atchison a few years ago and left $40,000 to his granddaughter, Marie Fleming.
W. T. Fleming died last December,
leaving an estate of 8 million dollars. He was greatly prejudiced against his daughter, Marie Fleming and in his
will tried to disinherit her. But lawyers now claim that by the death of her father, Marie becomes heir to one-fifth
of the estate. Miss Fleming will be in Atchison next week and leave shortly afterward for Philadelphia with her
lawyer, to straighten out her affairs.
(Kansas City Star ~ July 9, 1899)
KANSAS
TRAGEDY
A Drunken Farmer Kills a Woman
and Is Felled with an Axe
ATCHISON, Feb. 5---James Nutt,
a farmer, is dying from wounds received this morning at the hands of Mrs. Peyton after Nutt, in a drunked rage,
had fatally shot her. The relations between the Nutt and Peyton families were strained.
Peyton lived on a farm eight miles
from Nutt. Peyton was away from home and Nutt entered the house under the influence of liquor and ordered Mrs.
Peyton to perepare something to eat, which she did. When Nutt finished eating he drew a revolver and said, "I'm
going to kill you," at the same time firing three bullets into her body.
Coleman, the hired man, rushed
in with an axe, when Nutt fired two shots into him. He fell and by superhuman effort Mrs. Peyton seized the axe
and rained several blows on Nutt's head.
Mrs. Peyton and Nutt will both
die, but Coleman will recover. Nutt killed Lawyer W. W. Duke, in Uniontown, Pa., nearly 25 years ago, and was acquitted.
(Idaho Stateman ~ February 6, 1895)
A SICK KANSAN
KILLS HIMSELF
Arrington, Kas., Aug. 15---Frank
Case, an insurance agent and deal in agricultural implements here, committed suicide at his home this morning by
shooting himself. He had been sick for some months.
(Kansas City Star ~ August 15, 1898)
A DESPERADO'S
DOINGS--END OF HIS CAREER
ATCHISON, KAN., Aug. 20---On Sunday
evening at 7 o'clock, Bill Scroggs, a worthless fellow living near Oak Hill, in this county, shot and instantly
killed J. Oliphant, an old and prominent citizen. Three years ago Scroggs eloped with and married a daughter of
Oliphant. He abused her shamefully, and she left him some time ago, returning to her father's house, where she
has since lived. On Sunday evening, Scroggs went to Oliphant's house and asked to see his wife. Oliphant refused
to admit him, when Scroggs drew a pistol and fired, the ball striking Oliphant in the right breast, inflicting
a wound which terminated his life in a short time. Scroggs at once started to Oak Hills, but was soon overtaken
by a party of four who wanted to arrest him. Scroggs refused to submit to arrest, and fired on the party, one ball
striking John Groff, a respectable farmer, in the left breast, killing him instantly. Scroggs then went to the
residence of Mr. Waddell, a justice of the peace, and surrendered himself. This morning at 8:30 o'clock a mob of
men went to Waddell's house, where Scroggs was confined, took him out among the hills, and hanged him.
(Inter Ocean ~ August 21, 1877)
Cottage for Cripple Children
George T. Schaefer & Co. of Atchison were awarded
the contract to erect a special cottage for cripple children at the State Soldiers' Orphans' home at Atchison.
Their bid was $15,808. Tholen Bros. of Leavenworth were given the contract for the heating, wiring and electric
apparatus for $2,182. (Alma, Wabaunsee County, Kansas October 23, 1908, page 3, submitted by Barbara Ziegenmeyer)
BROKEN HIP FATAL
Former Gov. Glick of Kansas Is Dead from Accident
Atchison, Kan., April 13---Former Gov. G. W. Glick
of Kansas died at his home here today. Mr. Glick had been ill for more than a year. On March 29, 1910, he broke
his hip while at Lakeland, Fla., and it is this wound that eventually caused his death. He was governor of Kansas
from 1883 to 1885.
(Grand Rapids Press ~ April 13, 1911)
CHARGED WITH A NEIGHBOR'S
MURDER
A Kansas Farmer and His Hired Man in Custody
ATCHISON, KAS., June 12---Edward Siler and James
Wiley have been arrested for the murder of W. W. Proctor on hi farm in the northwest part of this county a short
time ago.
Siler was Proctor's nearest neighbor, their farms
joining. The neighbors assert that Siler and Proctor were not on friendly terms, and that they had frequent wrangles
over a line of fence and over Proctor's cattle trespassing on Siler's lands. These quarrels--coupled with conflicting
stories and damaging statements made by Wiley, Siler's hired man, recently, while on a visit to Missouri, together
with certain other facts in possession of the county attorney--were deemed of sufficient weight to justify the
arrest of Siler and Wiley.
The theory of the murder now is that several weeks
ago Proctor and Siler engaged in a quarrel. Both men being quick-tempered, they came to blows and in the altercation,
Proctor was shot. His body was carried to his house, and his throat cut to create the impression that he had committed
suicide.
Siler, who is well-to-do, came to Atchison county
from Platte county, Mo., about eight years ago. He has always borne a good reputation. Wiley has also heretofore
borne a good name, although but little is known of his antecedents.
(Kansas City Star ~ June 12, 1889)
LOUISE REYNOLDS
TRIES TO BURN DOWN THE TOWN
Mrs. Louise Reynolds, a well-to-do widow at Atchison,
who belongs to church, wears diamonds and is good looking, was recently found to be the person who has been trying
to burn the town. She was dressed in man's clothes when caught. She pleaded to be permitted to put on a dress and
while the policemen were waiting she shot herself through the lungs. She will live. She is undoubtedly crazy. (Sedan
Lance, March 23, 1899, page 2)
SHOCKING TRAGEDY
OCCURS IN ATKINSON RESULTING IN DEATH OF TWO MEN
A shocking tragedy occurred in Atkinson, Kansas
on Monday, resulting in the death of two men. A negro named Monroe Amos entered a saloon and called for liquor.
He was evidently drunk, and the barkeeper ordered him out. He went out to the sidewalk, where he began talking
very loud and making threats. Policeman Lewis Chew came along and attempted to arrest him, when the negro took
deliberate aim at the officer with a pistol and fired, shooting him through the abdomen. Chew fell, drew his revolver
and shot the negro, the ball entering just above the heart. (San Francisco Bulletin, October 28, 1879, page 4)
KILLED BY ROBBERS
Kansas Desperadoes Kill Two Men and Wound Two Others
Atchison, Kan., Oct. 23 - Two robbers Saturday
night shot and killed one man and wounded another in a store at Doniphan, which they later robbed and yesterday
ambushed and killed a policeman and wounded another man, both members of a posse pursuing them. The robbers are
not surrounded six miles north of Atchison.
The robbers entered the store of Kucks at Doniphan
Saturday night and at the point of revolvers ordered a number of men present to hold up their hands. The order
was obeyed quickly, but Kucks and Brown son of the postmaster at Doniphan made a move to resist. Two pistols in
the hands of the robbers cracked instantly. Brown fell dead where he stood and Kucks got a wound in his arm. This
was the signal to flee and the store was cleared in a wink while the robbers hurriedly emptied the till and left.
A party made up of Atchison and Doniphan men all
heavily armed, started out in the morning in search of the robbers. Late yesterday six miles north of Atchison
they came upon the robbers unawares, the latter firing upon them from ambush. Robert Dickerson, an Atchison police
officer, was shot and killed at the first volley, and before a successful rally could be made by the pursuers James
Hays fell with a bullet in his arm. (Trenton Evening Times, October 23, 1899, page 3)
MINISTER ORDAINED
Kansas City, Kans., Special
On last Wednesday night Rev. Isaac Taylor was ordained
to the ministry of the Gospel, and also Fry Huffman, Horace Radford and R. Knight, as deacons of the First Baptist
Church, of this city. The ordination ceremonies were performed by the Rev. Dr. D. Jones, of the First Baptist Church,
assisted by the Rev. Dr. P. C. Parker, of Rose Hill Baptist Church, and the Rev. Dr. J. A. D. Jenkins, of Mt. Carmel
Baptist Church, of Kansas City, Mo. Dr. Jenkins preached the ordination sermon. The Rev. Issac Taylor will take
charge of Mt. Olive Baptist Church, at Atchison, Kan. (Freeman ~ November 5, 1892 ~ Submitted by Lori DeWinkler)
OWEN SEIP RECEIVES REPUBLICAN
NOMINATION
Personal: Owen E. Seip, brother of James M. Seip,
who moved from this city to Kansas about sixteen years ago, has receive the republican nomination by acclamation
for Sheriff of Atchison county. The Champion pays him a high compliment. We notice that George Seip was one of
the Republican delegates from the First Ward of Atchison.[Lehigh Register, Wednesday, November 8, 1871, transcribed
by VLHartman]
TO MARK INGALLS'S GRAVE
A GLACIAL PERIOD BOULDER WAS REQUESTED BY THE GREAT
KANSAN
Atchison, Kas., Nov. 8----The grave of the late John J. Ingalls at Mount Vernon cemetery will be marked by a native
boulder deposited in Kansas soil in the glacial period. This will be done in obedience to a letter written in
the Senate chamber at Washington, December 10, 1890, to Mrs. Ingalls in Atchison. The letter follows:
The cold wave has passed off and the morning is
like April. A few patches of snow lie on the grass and in the valley sof Northern roofs, but the pavements are
clear and the clouds are steamy and still. The world is so lovely at its best, and life is so delightful, that
I dread the thought of leaving it. I have seen and experienced so little of what may be seen and known that it
seems like closing a volume of which I have only glanced at the title page. But so many are taking their leave,
and I have already survived so large a number of my contemporaries, that I must contemplate my departure with the
rest. I thought, as I lay in bed this morning, having waked early, what an uncivil host life is, to invite us
to an entertainment which we are compelled to attend whether we like it or not, and then to unceremoniously take
us by the arm and bow us out into the night, stormy and dismal, to go stumbling about without so much as a lantern
to show us the way to another town. To continue in the same strain of reflection our ground in the cemetery should
have a "monument." I hate these obelisks, urns and stone cottages and should prefer a great natural
rock--one of the red boulders known as the "lost rocks" of the prairie--porphyry from the North---brought
down in glacial times---with a small surface smoothed down---just large enough to make a tablet in which should
be inserted the bronze letters of our name, "Ingalls," and nothing else.
A stone such as describred is now being sought.
(Kansas City Star ~ November 8, 1902)
