The Morning herald., 1877-01-24
An Iowa Horror.

line In Iowa. Ihe paper says:
+ About one year ago man by the name
Of Phil. Ames moved in that neighborhood,
bringing with him a~wife, little child
and Ills sister-in-law. He secured small
piece Of land and erected upon it neat
two story dwelling, For . time all things
appeared to 20 on nicely inside the family
but it soon became evident. to
those who grew intimate with Ameses that
there was skeleton in the house, and that
all was not a. lovely as it should be, Or in
other words, the love Of the household was
scattered around among too many women.
There was coldness growing up between
husband and wife, only equaled BY an ap-
parent warmth existing between the hus-
band and the sister-in.law. The neighbor-
inp women noticed that the wife
appeared often in tears, was neglected
and left unproyided for, while her
sister received the smiles and carresses OF
the husband. Whole days the. wife passed
alone, having no company savethe child,
bright, golden haired girl Of five summers,
who clung to her, and in whose exlstence
she appeared to live and have her being. |
At length, on the 10th Of November. thel
little child sickened and suddenly died. 1t
was buried the next day-a rude country
burial, bitter cold north wipd,. leahess
trees and q cheerless grave crushed the
mothers spirit and broke her heart, Then
it was that the spirit Of the first born Cain
appeared to take possession Of the husband.
He frequently beat his wife, drove her
from his bed and forced her to occupy
miserable straw and husk pallet on the
kitchen floor while the sister occupied the
place which belonged to her,. At length.
the wife, driven to despair, told the story OF
her wrongs to Mrs. Rosa Mcclure, and she
laid the situation in the Ames household
before her hui, and, and he soon had the
men Of the neighborhood worked up to a
point Of linching the unnatural husband.
rhev visited the house, and would have
hung the monster but for the pleadings OF
his vile. who went down On her knees be-
fore the angry crowd and begged the life
Of the man who had so wronged her, while
her sister. at the first sound Of danger, had
sought safety in fight. The neghbors lis
/ tened to the poor woman's appeal, remov-
ed the rope from the mans neck and get
him free. To any but man possessed by
4 devil this would have proved warning
That would have turned him into better
vays. But not 80 with Ames. Scarcely
had the crowd dispersed when no went to
! the barn, aaddled his horse and returned to
| the house with heavy curb bride. UF
stairs. kneeling and at prayer, with Pho'
} tooraph OF her dead child in her hand, he
found his wife. In an instant he had struck
her to his feet with the curb bit, dragged
. her to the head Of the stairs. and throwI
} her to the door below, where he continued
tn heat her with the bride until life hat
!. departed. In the meantime the sister nae
! returned fro$her hiding place. Ano,he
! horse was ,saddled, the body OF, the dea,
p woman was thrown across the saddle, and
|, the sister riding one horse and leading tht
# oIher Ames walked alongside and held tn
e body in position until they arrived at to-
4 river. where hole was cut in the ice ant
The body thrust out Of sight. A younl
e man returning home saw the partie
g ;mrneying to the river, and when n
q reached the settlement told what nc na'
6 seen. A number of armed men starte,
8 in pursuit, and arrived at the river oanl
n nat a. the murderer and his paramou
j, were We're mounting their horses. They wer
10 called upon to halt when Ames drew
revolver and fred into the crowd. IN
e fire was returned by volley,, and Tn
!, on;ltv woman fell dead from her horse, she
r throuph the neck. The man put spurs
g his horse and attempted to escape IN N
10 dark. but fortunate shot brought III
animal down and the murderer was cal =
f. tured. A rope was provided ana an " ~
70 necessary arrangements made Tor q 'rontle
le funeral. when the wretched man made
t confession. the chief points Of which al
y ;ncornorated in the above statement, an
(. he fi,rther stated that the sister OF MS WI
had administered poison to her little niec
Or IN m order to get her out Of the that the
lie m.so n,anninp the murder OF the VIII
IN No. % thew might live unmolested together
X E " .h;s ;hev we're prevented by the MOP
d. fsw hours before, and that he then k'lle
Of the wife as above stated. 1he iop, pp,,.d
H. thrown over limb, strong men P... Pu..t
D. The end Of it, and the next lnstan' s;s
ne ouivering body was suspendea ~ .sna.ho
ed number Of logs we're then rollea ~. 'ogs'a. ga;,
he hrush was piled upon them and the ooul'
1t, AZ the two ilhuman beings placed ID tns
he u,;dst. A match was applied to the pii III
nd ail that now remains 10 marx ", :,
N. snot @ and the tragedy is a bed OF ashes. :.
ch hpdy of the murdered woman was
id oovered u on Saturday and buried by u
ph s;de Of her dead child.
'n There is one thing New Jersey wo%' %aa
lat cont do and that is to get out OF oel
Jus M m;dnieht to see whether her husoanu u
ne ,ooi drunk to fasten the hall door all
CT him. ..;, +,
an sn There is probably mo truth IN .,.