The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1871-01-26
The 81. Z. Steele Kattsr,
he is Spirited apay BY his Crsdissrsl' \
RESULT NOT KNOWN!

We confess that, in attempting -
write up this msttsr, W feel grsatly
embarrassed O. 70 what We should
say, how mneA ~ should say, sf
how little We should ray, until the
final result b known. 81 'sf 2.
Itiswsll knows hat Mr.. 1essle's
trial on the charge of perjexY, aAd
tor obtaining money nadsr Alss
prstsnses, Wa sst for Friday, 18th
inst, but owing 70 NJ III hSaltA and
the sewers ooId wsoth ~ ttial
WAs postponsd uAGil Tuesday 17tA.
On Tu0sda1 m0r1ing quite : nems
ber ofhiG creditors Came 81. and, ws
arc informed, 4 aecfet mssting W.
held by them in the Oourt reom.
Their deliberations and intentions
wers, OF course, not divulged to out
sidsrs, and are only known BY The
programme carried out il the aftsr-
noon. Mr.. Steele not appearing q
tho hour set for his trial, DOCTORS
Lambert and Herbert were sent to
his residence to make IN examine
ton q to his physical oondition
about 3 o'clock r. II. In about half
an hour they returned and reported
that he was sufficiently able to
appear ct the Court House.
A sled, with . spirited team, which
was standing on the square, was i'm
mediately procured and taken down
TO Steele's house, and after some delay
Mr.. Steele was brought ont and laid
on. n..some:articles of bed clothing in
the bottom Of the sled. Several Of
his creditors, together with I. Il.
Mills who was guarding him, and
Mr.. Sargent, Steel's brother.in-law,
also got in.
They then started and when the
sled had arrived ct the crossing at the
Northwest corner of tho Square
whore . crowd was standing, some
one shouted call aboard" when sev-
oral other persons sprang into the
sled. The driver then whipped up
his team, ran down the west side Of
the Square, and turning west went
out Of town at fall speed ct theSouth-
west corner Of the Square. At the
crossing at the Southwest corner,
Mr.. Mills Was thrown out Of the sled
with tho information that his services
wero no longer wanted. He turned
several summersaults in the snow
before he could discover which was
the right end to stand upon. A little
further down the street Mr.. Sargent
was also thrown out, and tho team
pressed onward at the top Of it,
speed. The excitement ran high fur
q short time, and in about half IN
hour afterward, Sheriff Mcdonald
summoned q posse Of men and
started in pursuit. They followed
about fifteen miles to . point near
the county line at Iconium, when
their horses broke down, and not
being able to overtAke them, they
returned. 1t is said that the party
having charge Of Steele changed their
horses for fresh ones thus giving
them tho advantage.
We cannot, until the final result Of
this affair is fully developed, make
any extended comments. At the
present writing the report comes to
US that MIR. Steele il dead, but the
report cannot be traced to any reli-
able source.
We will say this much, that no
good can result from the parties en-
gagged in this transaction, taking the
law into their own hands. We are
not the apologists of Mr.. Steele by
any means, but we most emphati-
cally condemn the proceedings in
this case. Ono wrong can never
justify the commission of another.
LArER-Wendesday, s o'clock p.
m.-Wc stop the press to inform our
readers that Steele has been heard
from, and is well. It is thought no
violence will be- done him.-Albia
Union.