St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-07-21

Sheriff McCune when the latter told
him mob was waiting for them, and
asked him if they shonld risk it and try
to slip through. BOmberger replied:
THAT is your business. l am supposed
to be dead.'
When matters quieted down the MUIR
derer was taken back to Grand Forks
jail to await trial, having travelled over
700 miles in the six days succeeding his
crime, in his effort to escape and the
efforts Of the sheriff to protect him. Per-
sonally he cared so little about his fate
that he signed petition asking Judge
Morgan to call a special term of court
within three weeks for his trial. His
confession is as follows:
81 was twenty-five years old on the
goth day Of last May. My father and
mother are both hiving. There were
SIX children i'll the family, and five Of
them are living now. | have three sis
tiers living at home.
My fathers name is John II. Bonn
barger, and he lives at No. HOB West
Lehman street, Lebanon City, Lebanon
lived in Lancaster, Pa. But he lived in
Lebanon county. L was small boy
then, and don't remember much about
them, but he was raised in the same
town | was. | helped Kreider build a
pasture and put in the wheat. We used
to play cards and quarreled some; and
had few WOrGS but did not amount to
anything. l never threatened him. We
were on good terms until after July 4.
1t all happened over the girl.
I'm the winter after had been there
we got pretty Intimate, and | was like
a good many others. | thought the girl
would do what l wanted her to do, but
she wouldn't. l tried to carry out my
purpose twice, the second time along
toward the spring, but failed. So we
didn't speak together for a long time.
We fell out, but she didn't seem to care
mach, SO we got to talking again and
would talk about anything. OF course,
when | said anything | wouldn't say it
plainly, but she would laugh and crack
JOKES as we'll as l. Then | tried the
third time, but she said that she was not
that kind of girl. That made me mad
do anything wrong. So one Sunday /
was staying at home to take care of the
house while the old folks were away.
They left the children WITH me.
"All the day me and her (Annie) and
Mary, the nine-year-old girl, were To-
gether; we were feeling good and hav-
ing lots of fun, and we tried to see who
could kick the highest. She kicked on
my shoulder. l went up stairs and she
came in. l was sitting on my bed. She
said, L just feel like kicking you in the
face L said Go aud try it, Then some
of the rest came in and we went down
and played around until supper time,
and 1 did my chores as usual. We did
not Want 10 go to bed until the old folks
came home, so We played cards, and
when the folks came we went TO bed,
and everything after that went along
all right until the other night, until
July f." He then details bis various
attempts to assault the girl afterwards.
He says:
well, didn't sleep any that night,
for had an idea she would tell and
have me arrested for attempted assault.
"When l got up in the morning about
5 O'Clock 1 went out and tried to catch
the mares. One of them | could not
catch. When had them up l went in
TIE house and did the deed. 1t took me
all of a sudden while l was in the barn.
The first thing that | done was to get
the gun and kill the man. The gun was
III the closet on the north end Of the
room. The door turns west in the bed
room. After l got the gun | shot
kreider. l think he was asleep. but am
not sure. ThenI shot the ola lady. She
was facing me when L shot, but l didn't
know but what she turned sidewise
She fell on her side, and when l left
she was lying OH her side facing south.
After that L walked around the room
and felt very bad and realized what |
had done. L was very sorry.
Probably five minutes afterwards l
went up stairs. The children after the
second shot were coming down, and |
went and Told them to go back up there
and they asked me why. said Get back
| up there and they went up and l fol-
lowed them up. didn't have any knife
with me then; l just had a gun with
two charges in ii and two extra ones in
my pocket. The oldest girl was in the
hallway, and | told her to go in my
room, and she went in without a word,
but didn't shut the door after her.
The first thing done then was to shoot
the third to the oldest, Merby, aged
eleven. Then l shot Mary, aged nine;
she was the second. Then shot David:
he is seven. l hit him in the arm, and
his sleeve was burning and put it ont.
Yes, Mary is the one that | knitted. Did
one OF them jump out of the window?
Yes, l was looking for Bernice.
She is thirteen. l happened to
look out of the window and |
see her and made down to the stable
! and brought her back. | allowed her
to see her parents and sisters first and
then shot her. Yes, she put up her
arms to save herself. After that put
the little ones in my room. They were
in the hallway. Annie was IN my room
all of the time. changed my clothes
then. He then details the successful
assault upon the girl. She gave me all
the money in the house, and then l
went down and got the watch, She
| gave it to me, but never threatened.
| She gave me Sl.50 of her ewn money.
Then we went down TO the barn and |
saddled up and fooled around and felt
sick. She kept begging all the time
| and said she would do anything if l
| would save her life, and | told her that
| would not harm her because ! could
not. She said that she would
help me escape and that she
! knew that | would escape, but l told
her that didn't think so; that would
be back in day or two. l was sure OF