The Red Cloud chief., 1879-05-29
INSURED AND MURDERED.

WHY Joseph Raber's Friends Drowned
Him-Nins Thousand Dollars Of insmr-
nuce ON a Worthless Mans Life-Ihe
Four Holders of the Policies Hire Two
Men 10 Commit the Murder-Ihe six
Men Found Guilty.
Correspondence New York SUM-
LEBANON, Pa, April 25.-Tbe trial Of
six men for the murder Of another, an
aged beggsr on whose life they bad OBJ
tair ed insurance amounting to $4,000
has /, It be en- concluded here, and the
accused, all but one OF them woodchop'
pers and grossly ignorant men, have
been convicted Of murder in the first d e
gree.
The scene Of the murder was Indian
town Gap, lying Is miles from here in
the backwoOds country at the foot Of
the Blue Hills. 1t is a wild and barren
forest country, inhabitsd by wocdchop-
pers, backwoodsmen and ignorant Ia
bOrers, who burn cha for a living.
Indiantown Creek, a shallow stream,
meanders lazily through a swamp. Back
Of it stands a high range of hills. Be-
tween the creek and the mountains runs
a public road, and by this stands q log
cabin, over whose door are the words,
"St. Joseph's Hotel" Israel Brandt
ives the proprietor. He is a one armed
man, with a shrewd face and
sharp eyes, tall and portly. Back
of tie hotel is a famous well OF
water, surrounded by four lofty cedar
trees. This well is known as "St.
Joseph's Well" and has furnished cool
and refreshing drink for Ove a hum
dred years. The surroundings resem-
BILE q scene in the Holy Land. There
are tall cedars all about, and the cabins
have low matched roofs. Three hun.
dred yards further on in the forest
stands the cabin that, up TO December
8th of last year, was the rude home OF
Joseph Raber, the man who was nur-
dered. 1t is roughly built OF logs, and
the roof is Of hickory poles, covered
with grass and mud. 1t has no floor;
and . simple board-bunk, containing .
few filthy quilts, is the bed. Every
thing here Indicate, the most squalid
and wretched poverty; yet. strange to
say, this cabin was the home OF a man
upon whose life insurance-policies were
held amounting at one time to $4,000.
Joseph Raber was about 60 years of
age. He was penniless and without
friends. He did what work he could at
co l-burning and wood-chopping; but
most of his time was spent tramping
from place TO place, begging and in
idleness. The ins,igaiion to the muir
der of such q man was this: All abJut
here prevailed a reckless mania for life
insurance speculation. Every body
seemed 10 be going wild on the subject.
Young men invested their surplus earn
ings in insuring the lives of old people.
And it happened that one a number of
men came together and selected old
Joseph Raber as a desirable man to in
sure for their benefit.
In the rude inn known as St.Joseph's
Hotel, four persons living in the neigh
borhood decided to insure the old mans
life. These men were Israel Brandt,
the landlord of the inn II nry F. Weise,
Josiah Hummel, and George Techman.
A number of mutual companies were
found to take the various risks, and at
one time policies were held by the four
amounting to $780, These men had
the policies assigned to them, they pay
ing the premiums, and promising old
Raber that when he died they would
provide him a decent burial.
On the afternoon of Dec. 8 of last
year, the dead body of the old man was
found lying in the I%ndiantown Greek,
near a small foot-bridge, about 125
yards from St. Joseph's Well. 1t was
given out that, while the old man was
crossing the bridge, he was seized with
a fit of vertigo, fell into the shallow
water of the creek, and was drowned.
This was on Saturday afternoon. The
neighbors saw the body, but no m re-
moved it from the water. 1t was left
there all night, and all of the next day
until late in the afternoon, when the
Coroner came. The Coroner held an
inquest hurriedly, and rendered a yer.
dict in accordance with the statements
made, that the old man had fallen into
the stream while suffering from an at
tack of vertigo. The body was buried,
and the holders of the life-insurance
policies had proofs of death made out
and applied for their insurance money.
About 80 yards from St. Joseph's
Hotel stands the humble cabin of an old
man named Charles Drews. He was a
veteran soldier in Sedgwick's Sixth
Corps, and was rewarded for great
bravery on the Peninsula. He is known
as Charley Drews, and has u wide &C.
quaintance. His wife and six children
lived in that little cabin on the day
when Raber was found drowned. Drews
has a daughter named Lena. She is
married to q young man named Joseph
+. Peters. Peters visited Drews's house
about the first of last December. He
came there on q 10 days. furlough, be.
ing q private in the United States Army,
and stationed at Fort Adams, Newport.
On the day that Raber was found drown
ed, Peters and his wife were up stairs
in Drews's cabin. From the front win
dow al be seen the ~neighboring inn,
the we'll, and the foot-bridge across the
Indiantown Greek; and from q real
window a be seen the old cabin OF
Raber. Several weeks after the funeral,
the young soldier, Peters, went before
q country Justice, and swore positively
that old man Raber had been murdered.
The people were still more astounded
when they learned that Peters had
sworn that his father-in-law, Charles
Drews, was one of the murderers; and
that the daughter of Drews herself,
(Peters's wife) was willing to corrobor.
ate her husbands testimony. The
home Constables took the case in hand,
and from additional evidence were led
to arrest Charles Drews, Frank Stech-
Ter, Weise, Brandt, Hummel, and Tech
man, all of whom were lodged in the
Lebanon Jail. Drews and Stechler
were charged with having committed
the murder direct, and the other four
(who held the life insurance policies)
were arrested as conspirators and Access
series before and after the fact.