Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-11-04
THE END OF AN EXTRAORDINARY
CASE.
The Confession and Sentence of JOSEPH
EggIer ia Germany for the Murder of
Etta COnkiing III Cayuga County.
From the New York World Oct l3

Eta COnlxiing III Cayuga County.
From the New York World, Oct. Is.
The Frankfort Journal brings a very
full report of the conclusion of an i'm
portant trial in Germany, in which the
people of Central and Western New
York will feel lively degree Of inter
est, as it is the sequel to horrible
tragedy which occurred in Cayuga
county last year. Condensing the story
Of the preliminary events in this re-
markable case, and it's strange-and, as
many will believe, inadequate-result,
the following facts are presented
In 1871 Mr.. Westcott, a farmer living
near the town of Locke, Cayuga coun-
ty, n. Y, took from the House of Ref
uge at Buffalo, for the purpose Of rear
ing her, young Irish girl named Eta
Conkling. She was a servant in his
family when he hired young German
farm laborer named Joseph Eggler, in
April, 1873. On the morning of NAV
3, 1873, Mr.. Westcott and his wife left
home, going several miles distant to
spend the day and leaving at home the
young Irish girl and the German labor
er. That afternoon Jane Wescott, a
relative OF the family, visited the house
and found Eta Conking dead, lying
in pool of gore, in the hall
way before the kitchen, with the blade
of a huge butcher knife buried in her
breast. She called in neighbors, and
suspicion at once fell upon Joseph Egg
gler as the murderer. He was not TO
be found at the time, but was captured
the next day in the town of Dryden,
twenty miles distant from the scene of
the commission of his horrible crime.
December 4, 1873, he was brought ito
trial at Auburn. Public opinion was
very strong against him, the murder
seeming to have been a wanton and ex
t,aordinary brutal one On the 9th of
December he was found guilty and SEN
fenced to be hanged. Thirteen days
later the counsel for the prisoner OBJ
tanned a stay of proceedings, and before
the Supreme Court, at Syracuse, moved
for a new trial, which was denied. The
case was next brought before the Court
of Appeals, at Albany, and that tribunal,
on. March %, 1874, re-affirmed the de-
ciAon of the lower court, and fixed the
date for Eggler's execution on July 5,
1874
Meanwhile, the news of these pro
ceedings reached Eggler's family in
Germany, and through the Influence
which they were enabled to bring to
bear upon the Baden Minister of Justice
and Foreign Affairs, the Imperial Am
bassador at Washington and the Impe-
rial Consul General in New York, were
instructed to intercede for the con-
demned man. A petition for his par
don was, by them, addressed to Gov.
Dix, who SO far exercised his executive
clemency as to place Eggler at the dis
posi- of the Imperial German Ambassa-
dor, on condition that he should be sent
for trial aRd punishment to the courts
of Baden. On May 10Th Eggler was
sent, under safe escort, to Baden, and
his trial there at the General Assizes
has just been concluded.
Upon his trial he asked the privilege,
which was accorded him, Of making a
statement, and then detailed the
circumstance of the commission of his
crime, confession which his counsel,
when hewas tried in this country, would
not permit him to make. His story was,
On the fatal Sd of May at about 10
o'clock in the forenoon, he went in from
the field, where he had been spreading
manure, to the house to obtain lunch,
which Mrs. Westcott had been in the
habit Of giving him after his four hours
of hard morning work. In the pantry
he encountered Eta Conkling, and
asked her tor something to eat She
refused to give him anything, saying
she had nothing for him, and without
taking any further notice of his hungry
condition, went about her work, going
out to the well after pail Of water, and
returning with it to the kitchen. He
reiterated his request for something tc
eat, and received q second refusal,
whereupon he vowed he would not &C
to the field again without his lunch.
Eta seized a poker lying upon the
hearth, saying she would put him out il
he did not go of his own accord, as she
wanted him to take his dirty boots out
of her kitchen. He persisted in his re-
fusal to go, and warned her not strike
him with the poker. She rejoined that
she was not afraid of him, and dealt
him violent blow upon the shoulder.
He snatched the poker from her and
threw it down upon the hearth, where
upon she seized him by his hair, and tried
to drag him from the kitchen. A des-
perate struggle ensued between them,
each tearing at the others hair and
both exchanging savage blows with
their fists. During this conflict they
got near to the door of the tool cham
ber-close to which, upon bench, lay
three large knives. Eta, perceiving the
knives, endeavored to seize one of them.
He, in striving to prevent her doing SO,
pushed her back, and in so doing upset
the bench, throwing the knives upon
the floor. A violent contest now en-
sued for the possession of one of the
deadly weapons. Eggler finally sue
ceeded in clutching a knife. At this
moment he received blow from Etta's
clenched hand upon his nose, which sci
that organ bleeding and Infatuated him.
In his rage he struck the girl with the
knife. She stopped, as he supposed, tC
ol~ 7vr.fo -, Tho