The crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1877-1878, 1877-11-15


Early on last week Wednesday morn.
ing the little town of Columbia, ILL.,, was
thrown wild with excitement at the sudden
announcement that Il fourth and most bru.
tai murder had been added to the three re-
cent homicidcs of Monroe county. The
decd was pcrpcratcd at Il small farm occu-
pied by
THE GoETZ FAMILY,
five miles southwest Of Columbia, in re.
zion known as the American Bottom
which is somewhat sparScly settled. The
crime was not discovered until Wednesday
morning, and then by two young men by
the name Of MOSChbach, who till Il field
adjoining the scene of the murder, but re.
side several miles distant. Wednesday
morning the two brothers went over to
work in their field, and after Il while the
younger of the two went TO the house of
their ncighbOr to get drink Of water. He
found The place deserted The doors stood
ajar and the wind whistcd drcarily through
the empty rooms. Inside confusion met
the eye on every side Thinking that some.
thing was wrong, he ran back and called
his brother, who came over, and the two
made
An EXPLOITATION
of the premises, and were not long in find
ing the body Of Mrs Goclz, which had
been hid under Il pile of plumber in the
cellar. Old clothes had been spread over
it and on top Of them was piled acontuscd
heap of wash tubs, tin pans, and brick
bats. The head had been
HORRIBLY CRUSHED
with an axe. No other mark of violence
was upon the body, and it would appear
that the blow had been struck uncXpcct.
cdly from behind. The condition of iiic
body indicated that the deed had been
committed several days previous and from
circumstances which were afterwards
learned, it appeared that ii had been done
ON SUNDAY NIGHT,
A search was made for the husband, who
was supposed to have shared the same fate,
but no trace was found.
At a short distance from the woman,
however the young men found a large
heavy woodmNn's axe bcsmcarcd with
blood and brains which was readily guess
ed TO have been the instrument Of death. 1t
had been thrown carclcssly aside without
any pains 10 conceal it. Information of
the outrage was Immediately lodged with
the coroner, and every means exhausted TO
ret at the facts of the case
II was found that the inhabitants of a
farm one and half miles distant ON the
road leading to the river had heard the
noise of wagon driving past at very
rapid rate about 1 O'Clock Monday morn
ing, and after daylight one of the family
found
A LANTERN
that had evidently been dropped out of the
wagon, which was aiterward identified as
the property of Goc,z, This led to the
suppositon that the murderer had come to
ST. Louis, and information of the deed
reached the authorities here on Wcdnes-
day night about the same time that sus
piciOus character calling himself John
Engelcr, had been arrested while attempt
ing to sell two mules and a wagon to n
horse-tradCr named Meyer. COnstabes
Conrad Wolff and Peter Meyer, of Colum.
ba, identified the mules and wagan as the
property of Il brother-in.law of Goetz who
lived several miles away and had loaned
the outfit TO Goetz, who was very poor, for
n few days. A hcilcr belonging TO the
Goctz family was found in the possession
of butcher in Carondelct named Kloch,
who had
BOUGHT IT FROM sTRAHT.,
or Engeler, as he called himself, Monday
morning. Strahl had ii tied by the horns
to the back of his wagon and was repre-
senting himself to be u farmer living west
of st. Louis,
Yesterday rifle, powder.horn, militia
ry ovcrcoat and shirt found upon the
wagon, were identified by the constable as
the property of Goetz. A trunk contain
ing a number of small articles, consisting
in part of a brcastpin, parasol, and a
shawl were identified as the property of
the murdered woman. e. .4 .
sTRAHL Is SILENT .r
When charged with the MURDER Strahl
refused to make any statement whatever,
but consented to return to Illinois without
warrant He is well known in and about
Columbia, He was once in the employ Of
Philip Stumpf afarmer, residing but few
miles from the Goetz farm.
One morning Mr.. Stulnpf walked
up and missed his boots, silver watch, a
small amount in cash, and also his hired
man StrahI Siroh1 fnnk tin hic roaidanop