New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-05-16
A HUMBLE CONFESSION.
Mrs. Eckert's Blood curdIing Con-
fession of the Murder of John
Dann

O9nn.
A Helena, Montana, telegram says:
Mrs. Sarah Holmes, the nurse to whom
Mrs. Eckert made confession concerning
the murder OF ] ohm Dem, has made pub
lie the confession. OF all the crimes per-
petrated in Montana, this was the most
brutal and mysterious. Three men have
already been called upon by the vigilantes
to suffer for it, each of whom escaped the
moose by mere accident, Prominent men
have been suspected, and one OF them,
John Shober, mentioned in the confession,
has suffered much from, the insinuations
cast upon him. A reward OF $12,O 900 was
offered for the criminal, and now after
nine years comes the sensational end. Mrs
Holmes said:
At about 2 o'clock in the morning OF the
twenty-fourth day before Mrs. Eckert died
she called me to her bedside and told me
she had terrible confession to make.
Partly rising as by some supernatural
power she threw her sunken eyes
upon me and said promise me that
you will never, SO long as I am alive give
away what | am about to tell you. Will
you?"
Please don't tell me any thing, Mrs Eek.
ert, I replied.
IF you love me you will listen to me, /"
she Kissed as loud as her enfeebled voice
would permit.
Il have suffered the fortunes OF hell too
long. I cannot sleep. l cannot die with
out telling it. Listen. Mrs. Holmes, do
you know who killed John Denn?'
mo" replied, then said: II always
thought that a man (now dead) named
Williams did it,
''You are away off" said Mrs. Eckert.
Listen again. Shober has been blamed; [
have tried to blame him, and / have told
the officers as much, but there is nothing
in it, It was not Shober. Now close all
the doors and come to me quick. / will
tell you-see if Maggie is asleep; cover her
up. Is Lou asleep? Close the doors-sh,
sh, sh; Oh, Mrs. Holmes, this is a
fearful night. Horrible phantoms
fit before mel must tell you; it is weigh
ing me devastating me. Oh, insufferable
torment! They tell me to leave here. Ha,
ha leave here; don't / leave here and
don't | come back. I cannot leave here.
What hideOus power draws ME and holds
me to this damned spot? DEM was muir.
dered here, and I am glad my boy Harry
was not here at the time. "Come!" she
shrieked. you must hear! I cannot sleep.
Put your arms around me.
KILLED JOHN DENIM
My God, I don't believe it; it cannot be,
Mrs. Eckert. You are dreaming-del
GUS.
Eyes, yes; Madam Eckert killed John
Dem with a hatchet-with a hatchet. Is
Lou chopping wood with q hatchet? If she
only knew what that hatchet has done
she would never touch it. Horrible muir
der! ] went in the night to DEM, called
him up, took a bottle, wanted liquor
| went in the cellar with him and
hit him lick'' There she
stopped. She asked me for some
wine. She drank little, then said: q,
swear to this: Twenty years hard labor
worked twenty years for this. There arr
! no papers to condemn any one. What pa
| pers there were / have destroyed. feel re
lieyed.' Her mind was perfectly clear al
she again warned me mot to give i
away" She subsequently said she though
| she had been shade owed through this coun
try and Europe, but that no one had beer
| smart enough to catch her.
| The Lou and Maggie referred to by tn
woman are her daughters.