Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1869-12-03
Wholesale Murder in Hunting
don COunty.-Three Persons
Slaughtered i'll Cold Blood.

w AO1CSGllO ANAuAuO1 LII
don County.-Three Persons
Slaughtered in Cold Blood.
One of the most horrible whole
sale human butcheries ever perpe
trated in this State was committed
ON the evening of the 18th inst, at
small village called Pleasant
Grove, about six and half miles
from the Borough of Huntingdon,
on the line of the Broad Top Rail-
road.
The victims of the bloody butch
cry were an old man named John
Peightal, his wife, and an orphan
boy named Gardiner, aged about II
years the names of the murderers
Gotleib Bonner alias Charley Moore
and Alfred Bordenburg: the object
of the murder-money. .s.4
Having perpetrated the butchery
and obtained the coveted plunder,
the murderers proceeded to Hunt
ingdon, where they ''eat, drank and
made merry until the arrival of the
express train west, on which they
took passage. The news Of the
murder having in the meantime
reached Huntingdon, and their
movements being regarded as sus
picious, a telegram was sent to
Altoona and on the arrival of the
train at that place Bonner and Bor-
denberg were arrested by officer
Clark and confined in the lock up
until the arrival Of the Southern
Express east, when they were taken
to Huntingdon by officers Clark and
Whitmer and lodged in Jail.
| Since their incarceration in the
Huntingdon Jail Bordenburg has
confessed to the commission of the
horrible crime. The facts of the
butehery, as stated by him, are
} briefly these: Having learned that
Peightal was possessed Of a consid-
; cradle sum of money, they resolved
: upon securing it, and for this pur-
: pose proceeded TO Pleasant Grove,
: where they arrived about 4 o'clock
| in the afternoon. They hung about
the premises of Peightal until about
six o'clock in the evening, but no
: opportunity offering to secure the
: coveted booty, they held consul
tation and resolved to murder the
| family in order to obtain it. Bor-
, denburg alleges that he objected to
!, the shedding of blood, but finally
t consented to watch outside the
: house whilst Bonner did the killing.
They were each armed with a sin
) gle barreled pistol, both of which
: Bonner took and proceeded to the
' house. AS he entered the door the
family had just sat down to the
e table to supper. He first shot the
, boy Gardiner and then Mr.. Peigh-
tai, killing them both Instantly.
4 Mrs. Peightal attempted to escape
a out of the door, but was caught by
n Bonner and knocked senseless into
n a corner and then shot dead. The
), work of murder completed and the
:. money secured, the murderers threw
: the bodies of their victims on a bed
8 and covering them with bed clothes,
. set fire thereto-thus intending, no
+ doubt, to obliterate all trace of their
). hellish work. The murderers then
). proceeded to Huntingdon and from
s thence to Altoona, where they were
J. arrested as above stated. Fortu-
r nately, shortly after THEFT departure
some persons passed the house, and
, seeing smoke issuing therefrom, en-
y tered, extinguished the flames, and
) on removing the Ted clothes beheld
). the lifelesS remains Of the old man
v his wife and the boy. The bodies
of Peightal and wife were but slight
5 ly seorched, but the feet of the boy
0 were burned entirely off. The news
f of the murder spread with lightning
e rapidity, and reaching Huntingdon
h almost as soon as the mnrderers
0 themselves, providentially led to
their suspicion and subsequent ar
rest.
The murderers are both Germans.
:, Bonner was born in Wirtemberg, is
y about 40 years of age, and has
served three years in the peniten
;, tiaary for committing larceny in
:. Huntingdon county. Bordenbura
% is a native of Hanover, and is 3:
= years old Both Of them worked il
- in Altoona during the past summer
- and fall-the former in the 2. r. r
= lumber yard, and the latter in the
, new round house.
= It is not positively known how
: much money the murderers secured
as the fruit of their crime, but it is
supposed to have been betwee.
$4,000 and So, ,500-some $500 O.
= which was found upon their persons
y the balance, according to Borden
\ burg's statement, having been tied
= up in a handkerchief and hid under
= a tie ON the Broad Top Railroad.
:, Taken all in all, for cold blooded
8 atrocity, this murder equals, if il
> does not surpass, any similar crime
y ever committed in this State. The
i indignation among the citizens O
h Huntingdon and vicinity against the
= murderers was naturally very great
:, and the officers having them il
charge experienced considerable
= difficulty in lodging their prisoners
;, safely in Jail. Cooler counsel, how
ever, fortunately prevailed-the law
was left to assert it's majesty, an6
sure and swift justice will no doub
e be dealt out to the red handed mur
derers.-HoNidaysburg Pa. Stan
n dord, Nov. 24tk.