Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-11-02
An Illinois Clergyman Indicted for
the Murder of his Wife.

The grand jury of Kane county,
ILL.,, on Friday last found an indict-
ment for murder against Rev. Isaac B.
Smith, of Turner Junction, a little
town thirty miles west of Chicago, for
the drowning of his wife, last June.
The facts in this most extraordinary
case, as near as they can be learned
from the conflicting accounts of his
friends, and those believing him guilty,
are as follows: Sometime in the early
part of June last, Mr.. Smith, with his
wife, drove in his buggy to attend a
ministers meeting at the house of a
brother clergyman. Having spent the
afternoon and part of the evening he
started for the house of brother-in
law, a Mr.. Benton, residing upon the |
Hammond farm, about two miles from
Elgin. About $50 in the evening
Mr.. Smith came to Mr.. Benton's house
in considerable excitement, asking if |
his wife was there, and saying that
his buggy had been overturned in
crossing small stream about quar-
ter of a mile from Mr. Benton's. and |
he and his wife thrown out, and as he
had not been able to find his wife, after
getting out, he thought she might have
gone on to the house and left him. |
He accounted for the overturning of
his buggy by saying that his horse
was very headstrong animal, and
when it saw water would 90 into it,
no matter how hard you might try to
turn him. The horse having stopped
in the stream to drink, he stepped over
upon one of the thills to uncheck him,
that he might drink, when his wife
called to him to hurry, when the horse
started, and turning sharply, threw
them both out, dragged him under the
water and across the stream twice,
the wheel passing over him, and horse
stamping him under foot. When he
got up he looked around for his wife
and seeing the buggy robe floating in
the stream, supposed it to be his wife
and caught it--took care to save it
and then went on to Mr.. Benton's to
look for help. To one person he said
he didn't know why he had driven in
to the stream, for he had just left a
stable where there was plenty of wa
ter, and was going to another where
there was pump inside. "But the
water looked so good he drove in. F"
To still another he said that he drove
across the bridge, but that the horse,
in spite of his efforts to drive on, turn
ed after crossing and went into the
stream to drink. These discrepancies,
together with the fact that the horse
was found standing still in the water,
with the buggy resting on the side on
two wheels, just where the accident
or murder took place, the body of the
woman only ten or twelve feet from
the buggy led to investigation. 1t
leaked out, after Mrs. Smith was buri-
ed, that there was an insurance to the
amount of $4,000 on her life, which
fact Mr.. Smith concealed from his
friends until they learned it otherwise
He also denied that there was any
more insurance on her life, whereas
closer investigation showed a further
accident insurance of $4,000, which,
when discovered, he said he had con-
cealed by advice Of his father, lest it
should make talk. After considerable
time. the whisperings assumed such a
form that the matter was thoroughly
canvassed, and the reverend gentle
man began to be suspected of having
some agency in bringing about the
accident. One person discovered that
Mr.. Smith had but S400 salary at AL
gonquin, and yet he kept horse and
buggy, and paid insurance on $4,000
for himself and wife, and had COM
menced to build a house here shortly
after his arrival, which would cost him
little short of $4,000, while here he
had a salary of SOCIAL of which
would have to be borrowed at 10 per
cent. this would leave him 5000 a
year to live on, pay insurance and
taxes, and save to pay the principal
of bis borrowed capital. When asked
about the accident policy, he said that
he had taken it at her request, togeth-
er with $4,000 on his own life, some
time last fall, when he had contemplat-
ed visit to Prescott, Wis, which had
been given up when he came to Tur-
ner Junction. Mrs. Smith was about
26 years old, the daughter of farmer
who lives near Algonquin, ILL.,, where
Mr.. Smith preached a year ago; she
was very fairlooking woman, of an
amiable retiring disposition, much be-
loved by the people generally. Mr..
Smith has been in the ministry about
ten years, five of which were in New
England, where the first Mr.. Smith
died, and is said to be an eloquent
and earnest preacher. He came to
Turner last November. Some who
had previously believed in his inno-
cence are now rather doubtful, and
speak with strange emphasis of his
leaving his wife in the stream while
he went a quarter of mile and back
for help, saying he had called out to
her and got no answer, while Mr.. Ben
ton found her without effort where she
had apparently foated under fence
that crossed the stream. Her clothes
caught on the fence. and her head was
submerged in the water not twenty
feet from where Mr.. Smith says the
accident occurred, and within a very
few feet of where he must have picked
up the robe. Persons sent by the
grand jury measured the water in the
stream, and found the deepest water
to be seventeen inches, while Mr..
Benton says it was about two feet
where Mrs. Smith was found. Mr..
Smith was the protege of Owen Love-
joy, and enjoyed the friendship OF
Abraham Lincoln.