Killing of Owens.—William G. Owens was killed November 16, 1834, the circumstances leading up to the killing being as follows: He was clerk of the circuit court of Franklin County for some years previous to his death, and John J. Porter was his deputy. John Porter, father of John J. Porter, came to Missouri some time after his son became deputy clerk, and bought a small farm near the Bourbeuse, south of Union, at what is called Porter's Ford. When the deed was executed young Porter wanted it made out to himself, John J. Porter, but his father would not consent to this, and had it made to himself, John Porter. One day, after the old gentleman was buried, young Porter said to one Pritchett that it was lucky he had had the deed made to himself, which rather surprised Pritchett, as he knew the deed had been made to John Porter, the father; and, in conversation with Owens, this subject was mentioned, and upon an examination of the records it was found that the name in the deed was John J. Porter;
the " J," however, as could then, as now, be plainly seen, had been inserted, as it was in a different handwriting, and in darker colored ink. About this time there was a split between the McCoys and Owenses, and Mr. Owens circulated a paper for signatures, which was an agreement by those signing it not to associate with the McCoys. This paper Mr. Owens presented to John J. Porter for his signature, and Porter began looking at and carefully reading the names. This made Owens angry, and he jerked the paper out of Porter's hand, and said to him: " By God! young man, you can't sign it." Porter then went over to Washington and joined the McCoy party. There was a good deal of politics mixed up in it, and a division was made in the county on this personal issue, most of the Democrats going over to Owens' side. Soon after Porter was indicted for forgery, and, when brought to trial, succeeded in having his case continued until the next term of court, and, just before the beginning of the next term of the circuit court, Owens was killed. Owens would have been the most important witness against John J. Porter, the defendant. It was never definitely-ascertained who the murderer was. There was in the county, at the time, a man named Jones, who was supposed to be a deserter from the United States army, and it was thought by some that Jones actually did the shooting, but the animus was evidently with John J. Porter and the McCoy party. Porter, Veech, Wyatt and McCoy were indicted for the murder, but they all managed to make their escape from the country, and as they were never brought back, Owens' murder was not avenged.
William G. Owens, the murdered man, came to Franklin County from Kentucky in 1818, and he was, up to the time of his death, one of the most prominent citizens.
The names of his children were Mary, Amanda, Sarah, James W., Harriet and Eliza. James W. Owens was afterward circuit court judge, and a prominent soldier in the Union army.
Source: Goodspeed's Franklin County History, 1888, Goodspeed Publishing Co
Transcribed by: Barb Z. © 2009BACK
Franklin County, Missouri Genealogy Trails
There has been but one man hanged in Franklin County for murder, according to the forms of law. This was Edward D. Worrell. He and William H. Bruff. the former as principal and the latter as aider and abettor, were indicted in Warren County. May 5, 1S50, for the murder of Basil H. Gordon, January 25, 1856. On a change of venue, the case was brought to Franklin County, where the trial commenced on Monday, January 19, 1857, before the Hon. John H. Stone. The Hon. Daniel Q. Gale appeared for the State, and the Hon. John D. Coalter, Hon. W. V. N. Bay. and Maj. Uriel Wright appeared for the prisoner. A severance of the prisoners jointly indicted had been granted. A motion for continuance was over-ruled, and upon a plea of "not guilty” the trial was conducted before the following jury: Joseph P. Woodruff, Thomas E. Renick, David M. Tyree, Burrell Rowland, Reuben Bledsoe, Dorsey Waters, William A. Trouhitt, George Woodcock, Moses V. Keen, Jeremiah Pierce, William T. O. Dickinson and Jeremiah H. Williams; which, after a prolonged trial, on January 31, 1857, brought in the following verdict:
" We, the jury, find the prisoner guilty of murder in the first degree, in manner and form as charged in the indictment." Sentence was passed upon the prisoner February 2, 1857, and was to the effect that he be hanged by the neck until he was dead, on Tuesday, March 17, 1857. Maj. Wright, his counsel, took an appeal to the supreme court, and obtained a stay of execution until the decision of that court should be rendered. This appeal, however, did not result in a new trial, and Edward D. Worrell was hanged by Sheriff R. R. Jones, in June, 1857, on a scaffold erected in what is now the west part of the corporation of Union, near the present intersection of Locust and Washington Streets, and in the presence of about 500 people, including the father and mother of the condemned. There was no special excitement exhibited by those present. Although Worrell made no public confession, he did say privately to Deputy Sheriff A. W. Maupin. who had charge of him previous to his execution, that the sentence was just, and that Bruff was equally guilty with himself. Bruff, however, was acquitted, and afterward taken back to the United States army, from which he was a deserter at the time of the commission of the crime, and within three mouths afterward was shot dead in a second attempt to desert, at Fort Leavenworth, Kas.
The capture of "Worrell and Bruit was one of the finest pieces of detective work ever performed in this country. They themselves had given the clue at the Planters' House in St. Louis as to the identity of the murderers, which was so skillfully followed by Capt. J. D. Couzins that both "Worrell and Bruff were arrested within the same hour on one February day in 1856, the former in Dover, Del., and the latter in Macon, Ga., and immediately after the arrest each one was induced to confess by representations to him that the other had already confessed.History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford & Gasconade Counties, Missouri : from the earliest time to the present : together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and numerous family records : besides a valuable fundof [sic] notes, original observations, etc., etc. Cape Girardeau, Mo.: Ramfre Press, 1888, pages 219- 280 - submitted by Lisa - 2009
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Franklin County, Missouri Genealogy Trails
On January 4, 1858, Nelson Cross was indicted for the murder, in 1857, of Andrew McCreary, in Prairie Township. The jury before which he was tried was composed of Alonzo Williams. Squire Brammel, William T. Greenstreet. Alfred M. Chiles, Valentine Johnson, Jordan M. Glenn, William T. Jones, Holcome P. Watkins, Moses J. Robertson, Joseph E. Robertson, Richard Ferguson and John Conally. The verdict of this jury, rendered January 6, 1858, was: "We. the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, as charged in the indictment."
The sentence of the court was delivered on 16th, and was that Nelson Cross be hanged until he was dead, on the 26th of February, 1858. An appeal was taken to the supreme court, and a new trial granted, and, finally, on the 7th of April, 1859, the defendant pleaded guilty, and put himself upon the mercy of the court. The court therefore found the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree, and sentenced him to twenty-five years in the penitentiary.
History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford & Gasconade Counties, Missouri : from the earliest time to the present : together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and numerous family records : besides a valuable fundof [sic] notes, original observations, etc., etc. Cape Girardeau, Mo.: Ramfre Press, 1888, pages 219- 280 - submitted by Lisa - 2009
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Franklin County, Missouri Genealogy Trails
William L. Hall ran the most remarkable career as a murderer of any one ever in Franklin County. On January 18, 1858, he was twice before the following jury for the murder by stabbing of Andrew Bullock: William W. Johnson, William E. Bronk, Henry Anderson, James Park, John Evans. Thomas Woodcock, Joseph J. Brown,
William Reynolds, William P. Lemmon, James Waggoner, John D. Carter and George W. McCullough. This jury brought in a verdict of “ guilty of murder in the
first degree, as charged in the indictment," on the date named above. On January 19, a new trial was granted, and a change of venue to Washington County also granted.
The result of the trial in Washington County was that Hall was sentenced to fifteen years in the penitentiary. The defense in his case in both trials was insanity, and, after serving about two years in the penitentiary, he was transferred to the asylum for the insane at Fulton, Mo., where he remained about ten months, and was discharged as restored to reason. He returned to Franklin County, and soon afterward went to St. Louis County, and taught a term of school, after which he returned to Franklin County, and boarded for a time at the Washington House, Washington, Mo. Soon after coming to Washington he went out to his father's house, about ten miles west of Union, where his father was lying on his death bed, and, approaching the house, shot his sister, who was watching by her father's bedside, through the open window, killing her instantly, and the shock to his father was so great that he died within six hours. After the commission of this murder Hall went to his brother John's house, within about four miles of Washington, and called to him to come out of doors, but the brother, prevailed upon by his wife not to respond to the summons, thereby saved his own life, as it was Hall's intention, as he afterward said, to kill him also, and thus
become sole heir to his father's estate. Hall then went on to Washington, where he was arrested and brought back to Union. Here he was placed in jail to await his preliminary examination, and, while undergoing this examination before Squire Stover in the room in the court-house now occupied by William M. Terry, county collector, he was seized by about fifty, quiet, determined, silent, unmasked men, taken to a wagon standing at the north court-house door, and, despite his protestations and appeals for justice and a fair trial, to which no answer whatever was returned, was taken to the southeast part of town, where a rope was fastened about his neck, the other end thrown over the limb of a large elm tree and fastened, and the wagon driven out from under him, and he left to choke to death. The crowd of silent men all returned to- the court-house yard and dispersed. Hall's body was left to hang about three hours, when it was cut down and buried in the old graveyard about one-third of a mile northeast
of Union. There is no doubt in the minds of many of the best citizens that the victim of this lynching was insane.History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford & Gasconade Counties, Missouri : from the earliest time to the present : together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and numerous family records : besides a valuable fundof [sic] notes, original observations, etc., etc. Cape Girardeau, Mo.: Ramfre Press, 1888, pages 219- 280 - submitted by Lisa - 2009
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Franklin County, Missouri Genealogy Trails
Perhaps the most atrocious murder ever committed in Franklin County was that of Mrs. Mathilda Haase, by her husband, Fritz W. Haase. and a young woman named Catharine Hoffert. This murder was perpetrated August 28, 1880, by cutting Mrs. Haase's throat, and beating her on the head with a thick stick. Haase and the young woman, Catharine Hoffert, were improperly intimate, and desired to put Mrs. Haase out of the way. They were both indicted in November. 1880, and tried for murder in the first degree, before the following jury: Horace Stewart, Pleasant Bay, C. E. Frost, George Nicholson, David Smith. A. M. Groff. W. H. H. Stanley, Livingston Gall, Frank Piontek, James Dickinson. John S. White and John YV. Dowdall. At the close of the trial the jury rendered the following remarkable verdict with reference to each of the accused: "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree, and assess his (or her) punishment at twenty years' imprisonment in the penitentiary." The judge, therefore, sentenced them both to serve twenty years in the penitentiary, the term to commence December 3, 1881. Fritz W. Hasse is still in the penitentiary, but both Catharine Hoffert and her child are dead. The explanation of the above remarkable verdict is that one of the jury expressed doubts as to their guilt, as against the other eleven, who were in favor of a verdict of murder in the first degree, of which Haase and Miss Hoffert were certainly guilty if they were not innocent, and held out until the eleven jurymen consented to a verdict of guilty in the second degree, in order that a verdict might be brought in.
History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford & Gasconade Counties, Missouri : from the earliest time to the present : together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and numerous family records : besides a valuable fundof [sic] notes, original observations, etc., etc. Cape Girardeau, Mo.: Ramfre Press, 1888, pages 219- 280 - submitted by Lisa - 2009
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Franklin County, Missouri Genealogy Trails
The last murder trial in the county was that of Webster Jackson, who was indicted November 20, 1876, for the killing of Alexander McVickers, October 22, 1886. Jackson's plea was "not guilty," made January 12. 1887. As he was in indigent circumstances, the Court appointed as his attorneys J. C. Kiskaddon, James W. Owens and James Booth. The jury before whom he was tried were M. S. Payne, F. C. Fisher, John Cunio, Thomas Evans, A. J. Gilerease, James W. Jeffries, Luther Lack, John Bruns, Hermann Wedepohl, Robert Buckner, George W. Faughuder and Louis Gehlert. On September 24, 1887, the jury brought in a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. Sentence was declared October 8.1887, that the condemned be hanged November 25, 1887. An appeal to the supreme court was granted October 8, 1887, and a stay of execution was ordered November 22, 1887.
History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford & Gasconade Counties, Missouri : from the earliest time to the present : together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and numerous family records : besides a valuable fundof [sic] notes, original observations, etc., etc. Cape Girardeau, Mo.: Ramfre Press, 1888, pages 219- 280 - submitted by Lisa - 2009
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Franklin County, Missouri Genealogy Trails
Besides the lynching of William L. Hall, above narrated, there was one other lynching, in April, 1847. This was that of Eli, a slave, who had made an attempt to commit an outrage upon the person of a Mrs. Teaman, and had afterward killed her, and had made an attempt to kill her young son, Henry. Eli was indicted March 30, 1847, for murder, but before the trial could be had he was taken from jail, in broad daylight, and hanged, a little to the northeast of the present post-office building. The above are all the hangings that have occurred Franklin County.
History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford & Gasconade Counties, Missouri : from the earliest time to the present : together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and numerous family records : besides a valuable fundof [sic] notes, original observations, etc., etc. Cape Girardeau, Mo.: Ramfre Press, 1888, pages 219- 280 - submitted by Lisa - 2009
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Franklin County, Missouri Genealogy Trails