The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-04-23
MURDER.
A crime committed fifteen
years ago.
The Criminal arrested on a
death bed confession.
The wife of one of them
tells the story.


has been created in this city to-day by the
arrest of three well-known citizens, accused
of having committed a murder fifteen wears
ago, the circumstances of which have lust
been made public. The names of the ac-
cused persons are George GOttschall, Sam
uel Butterweck, and William Eyler They
were taken into custody at late hour last
night by Policemen Sheeler, Mannerback
and Gross of this city. Fifteen years ago
| Gottsehall was the proprietor of resort in
Cedar street, in this city, known as Buck
Hall, which during the war was frequented
| by soldiers passing through Reading 1t
was in this place that David Good, SOL
dier, is said to have met the defendants in
October, 1865, and to have got into an al
tercation with them and "a certain John
| Tomly, who is still at large, and whose
| present residence is unknown.
GOOD WAS BADLY BEATEN,
and the next morning his dead body was
found at a lime kiln in the southern section
of the city, about mile from the scene of
the previous nights affray. A Coroner's
jury made a verdict that death was caused
by suffocation by the poisonous fumes aris-
ing from the kiln. The public was satisfied
with the verdict, and thus the case rested
quietly for over fifteen years
This morning Gottshalrs wife, who is
sick and believed to be at the point of
death, made a confession, in which she
says that Good on the night in question
was kicked and beaten in her husbands sa-
loon until life was extinct, and that then
the body was put into bag and carried
fully mile to the place where it was
found. Another witness is said to have
seen four men carrying a suspicious looking
bundle at a late hour in the night and to
have seen them return soon afeerward with
out it.
THE CONFESSION
Of Mrs Gottschall has recalled the fact
that there were marks on Goods face and
on the heels of his shoes as though he had
been dragged on the ground. There were
also several holes in his head, which the
COrOners jury at the time decided were
caused by falling upon the limestone rocks
in the neighborhood of the kiln. On
the strength of the confession, Joseph
Good, a brother of the deceased soldier
lodged information against the defendants
before Alderman Muxon, who issued the
warrants and caused their arrest. Gott-
schal1 and Butterwick, who recently en-
braced religion, We're arrested in church,
causing great excitement. Butterwick is
also said to have made confession, and
it is said that this fact, coming to the ears
of Gottchall's wife, worried her to such an
extent that, with death staring her in the
face, she resolved to make a clean breast
of everything. The confession made by
Mrs. Gottschall is said to be in the hands
of the District Attorney.
THE THREE DEFENDANTS
are each about so years of age, and the
position they occupy in the community, all
of them being church officers, has intensi
fed the interest in the case, They sent for
counsel Immediately after their arrest, but
the District Attorney refused to have them
admitted to bail until habeas corpus pro
ceedings could be instituted, which, it is /
said, will be done to-day
Good was about 40 years old at the time |
of his death. He served faithfully through |
the war. He was addicted to drinking, |
but was not of a quarrelsome disposition
The defendants were his intimate asso
ciates and companion. The building in
which Good is said to have been killed is |
still standing. 1t is a two-story brick |
structure, and is now used as a dwelling |