The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-04-25
THF MARSHALL TRAGEDY.
Young Eaton's FuneraI-Text of the
Letter That Made the Trouble.

| Letter That Made the Trouble
MARSHALL, ILL.,. April 23-The funer-
al of VIII Eaton. killed Friday night by
a too-ready officer. was held yesterday
| and was one of the largest ever wit
messed in Marshall. A shudder ran over
the vast assemblage at the grave when
the frenzied mother called down curses
on the ''murderers Of her boy She and
her husband are among the most re-
spected citizens of the place and both
are members Of the Christian church.
The killing of Eaton is believed to
have been wholly unwarranted, as he
could have been captured easily without
resorting to violence
1t is even doubted IL he is the man
who tried to eXtOrt money from Mrs.
Brown. In spite of his utterances when
he was shot. The letter Mrs. Brown re-
ceived was as follows:
You are herein requested by parties
unknown to you TO deliver to said par
ties on The night of the goth of April
1894, the sum OF 5000 in paper money
We are desperate and determined men.
and we make this demand for money be-
cause we must and positively will have
it at any cost. You are one Of the
wealthy persons of this town and are
able to stand It, Should you refuse TO
give us this money il will cost you your
property; on the other hand, If you
grant this request, you need have no
cause to be afraid of us ever troubling
you again. This is no idle threat, for
we mean just what we say and are pre-
pared to do what we say. This amount
you viii never miss. but 1t means
great deal TO us and we are desperate
enough to do anything for money; it
will be useless for you to get out Of IL
without suffering the consequences, for
we have been there before II will also
be usless to attempt TO trip us up for
we are prepared for any emergency. This
is a warning and the last we will give
the money must be ready tomorrow
night. Place it in an envelope and lay
il on the fence by the side of the west
gate-post at the top of the post of the
barn-yard gate; place it there promptly
at O'Clock and it will be taken without
mOlesting or meeting you. which we sup
pose would be very unpleasant to YOU
Don't allow yourself to think we do not
mean this. for we do. and will most
certainly carry out our threat. We must
have money!
The note was turned over to the off,
GERS who expected an attack from sew
eral men and prepared 10 prevent il. At
the appointed time Sheriff Herst, City
Marshal Hedwick two sons of Mrs
Brown, and John Hanks We're located
at convenient places ABOUT the house
An envelope containing blank paper was
at the place designated in the letter.
about the hour named and stop before
he reached the location of the envelope
pause an instant and pass on. few
minutes later another man was seen ap-
preaching. This man reached the gate
secured the letter and turned to go
The officer cried Halt" but the man
did not halt He started to run and had
gone only few feet when five shots
rang out simultaneously as of one gun
The officers found their victim was Will
Eaton.
1t is hard for the people 10 believe that
a young man of EatOns reputation
would have been in such a scheme and
many friends believe firmly that he was
either led into it by accomplices or hired
to do the work. The statement of the
officers make it appear that the attempt
was by at least two people. Marshal
Hedwick stated that the first man was
evidently an accomphce on account of
his behavior.
When the shots were fired" said
Hedwick Il started toward him. or
rather he started toward me. I sup
posed it was a tramp and caught him
by the arm. The wounded man said.
| My God. Willard, is that you? I did
not intend To murder the poor widow
/ must have been crazy He said some
thing about some other person which 7
did not hear, and when he began to
stagger 1 did not know who it was at the
time If l had had 1000 guesses Eaton
would have been the last l would have
mentioned
The dead boy had left a young lady
to whom he was engaged only a few
moments before the shooting. He could
have had only time enough to walk to
| trying to find the other parties in the
affair