Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-08-18
KILLED In COLD BLOOD.
EX-SENATOR WALL, OF STAUN-
TON, ILL, SHOT TO DEATH
BY A DAY LABORER.
Was Known to Many Peo-
pie in Mexico and Audrain County
"A Sister Lives at Laddo-
nia-A Prominent Man.

banker and lawyer Of Stanton, ILL.,,
known to many persons in this
city and county, and one of the rich
est and most prominent men in that
part of the state, was murdered Tues
day afternoon by Otto Matties, a coal
miner, who speaks no English and
poor German. The Infatuated for
eigner used a shotgun, and empt1ed
the contents of the weapon into the
head of Mi. Wall.
The murder was a sensational one,
and was caused indirectly by a woman.
MIR. Wall was struggling with this
woman for the possession of a gun she
held in her hands. He was an old
man, IS years of age, and, in strength,
the woman was his equal. While the
struggle was In progress Matties ran
out, wrenched the gun from the
struggling man and woman, turned
the weapon on the man, and blew of
the left side of his head.
Mr.. Wall had occasion Tuesday to
visit one of his farms about q mile
from town. He left after dinner, and
drove out to the farm, reaching there
about 1:15 O'Clock in the afternoon.
He saw a strange horse feeding in his
clover field, and caught the animal
and led it out of the clover. Mr..
Wallis hired man and another farm
hand also employed by Mr.. Wall,
stood by and looked on. Mr.. Wall
started to lead the horse down the
road when he was accosted by Mrs.
Scheideck, the wife of August Schei-
deck, a farmer, living across the road
from Mr.. Wall. The woman said the
horse was theirs, and demanded the
animal of Mr.. Wall, but he, it is said,
refused to comply with her request
until he was assured that the animal
would not be allowed to again get in
to his clover field. This angered the
woman and she ran into the house,
leaving Mr.. Wall standing in the road
with the horse. When the woman
emerged from the house she had a
single barreled magazine shotgun in
her hands, and she ran at Mr.. Wall,
brandishing the weapon, and trying
to get it into position to shoot him.
He ran at the roman and seized the
gun. The two struggled desperately
for the weapon.
1t was while this struggle was in
progress that Otto Matties, who
boarded with the Seheidecks, ran
from the house toward the struggling
man and woman, evidently having
heard something of the angry contro-
versy between Mr.. Wall and Mrs
Sheideck. He is a big man, strong
and powerful, and he had no trouble
in wrenching the gun free. The farm
hands by this time reached the scene
of the quarrel. They saw Matties, as
soon as he had gained possession Of
the weapon, point it at MI. Wall and
fire. The charge of shot entered the
left eye and temple. The range was
so close that the shot could not scat
ter, and they tore off the left side OF
the face and head. Mr.. Wall fell
dead in his tracks. Even then the
two farm hands did not interfere. The
murderer, with the smoking gun In
his hand, walked back into the house.
The farm hands made no effort to
capture or detain him.
Not one of them remained to watch
Matties or to see in which direction
he disappeared. The murderer es-
capped and at last accounts had not
been captured.
Mrs. Scheideck, the cause of the
killing, was arrested by the authori-
ties. She is locked up in the station
house and no one is allowed to see
her.
Mr.. Wall was worth $35O,O00, being
the richest man in that part of the
state. He was a member of the law
firm of Wall & Panhorst, and was the
foremost lawyer of that section.
Senator Wall was well and favor
ably known in Mexico and Audrain
county. He was a brother-in-law of
Fred Panhorst, and his sister is Mrs.
Geo. E. Fairies, of Laddonia, Mo. Mr..
Wall had something like $4,000 or
100000 loaned in Audrain county.
His many friends here are very much
shocked at his death, which seems at
this distance to be a cold blooded
murder.
Persons troubled with diarrhoea will