Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-06-27
From Tuesdays daily
MURDER,
Cold Blooded and Brutal, In Decatur
County.

In our paper yesterday we briefly
alluded to the murder of a colored
man, near Leon, by the name Of Bur
ton. This morning we learn the full
particulars of the murder from w. T.
Robinson of the Leon Journal.
1t seems that Jos. Burton of the
firm of Burton & West, of Abba, mar
BILE dealers, was in Decatur county
delivering work and among other
tomb stones was one for John w.
Wallace, an Irishman, and q catholic.
This stone Mr.. Wallace refused to re-
ceive because @ cross did not appear
on it, and Mr.. Burton, the murdered
man, on Thursday worked all day on
the stone at Leon, cutting the cross
In accordance with the request of
Wallace, at whose place the murder
was committed.
John M. Saal, the murderer is a
step-son of Wallace and as we UNDER
stand the matter has been employed
by the firm of Burton & West, as a
solicitor and collecting agent. Saal
was with Burton all day Thursday
and left with him for the country.
The place of the murder is about
half way between Leon and Lineville,
close by the roadside. 1t was late in
the night when Burton and Saal
reached the residence of Wallace, and
the two men concluded to sleep in
the hay loft and that was where the
murder was committed. The imple-
inert used was an axe, the blade of
which entered the skull on top of the
head, penetrating as deep as the eye
splitting the head, and scattering the
blood and brains all over the loft
He then pitched the body out of the
loft through a NOW hole, and then
dragged it along the road hundred
yards to where washont occurred
in a rayine, into which the
body of the dead man was pitched
head first but the hole being too
small to receive the body and make
burial easy, the brute took The ak
and broke both legs close to the body,
doubled them back into the hole, and
then went to work deliberately to fill
up the grave, piling manure and
brush over 1t. He worked all day
Friday there, close by the road, and
informed people passing that the
ditch was washing too much and he
had concluded to fill it up.
The logs on the side of the stable
were covered with blood and he hcw-
cd them from top to bottom, but as
he could not erase the blood between
the logs he boarded up the side Of
the stable. In the mean time the
family became alarmed and asked
him what had become Of Burton. He
replied that they had got into diff
entity and he had killed him in self
defense. To protect themselves from
the probable consequences they per-
suaded him to 60 and deliver himself
to tho proper officer which he did and
to whom he told the story of the MUIR
der, claiming that he did it in self de-
Tense in certain fence corner, and
told where the body could be found.
A coroner's jury was impanneled
and it was found that the murder
was not committed by the fence,
but in the stable loft. A brother-in-
law of Saal testified before the jury,
and made several conflicting state
ments, and he and also a brother,
were arrested and now the whole
party are lodged in Jail. The verdict
Of the jury was murder in the first
degree.
There is nothing known as to the
cause Of the murder. but the general
accepted theory is that 1t was for rob-
berry, as no money or pocket book
could be found about the body Of
Burton and he was known to have
had large pocket book and consid-
cradle money the day Of the murder.
There is considerable excitement in
the country up there and violence is
not improbable.