Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-09-07
The SCHULTZ MURDER !. R
Further Particulars of the All.
legged Confession Made BY
George Mantafne.
Mental Condition OF the Young
Man Has Been Called
Into Question.
duplicates His Father. Uncle
and Himself in the All.
legged Crime.

/ SheIohee, sept. o.-UpOn the QueS-
ton of the sanity or insanity of George
Montague possibly depends the unrav-
cling of the famous murder, which &C.
CURED in Cherokee county eight years
ago. George Montague is "a years old
and has made confession which impli-
Gates his uncle, John Montague; his
father. George Montague, as we'll as
himself. In the murder of the Schultzs.
Young Montagne's confession is SUI
ficiently explicit, but there seems to be
some question as to his mental con-
dition, and this fact, in connection
with others, is at present being in
vestigated by the grand jury. now in
session at Cherokee.
4 The murder of which young Mon
tagne profeses to know occurred eight
years ago in Tilden towship. sixteen
miles southwest from Cherokee. It at
tracted national attention and has re-
NAMED one of the deepest mysteries on
the pages of Iowa criminal history.
The victims We're an old couple named
Schultz. both of whom had passed the
age of so years. They had come from
the east upon the invitation of Mrs.
Schultz's brothers, George and John
Montague, and had taken up their resi-
dence on farm owned by John
Montague. The old couple had been
buffeted about by the storms of life,
but had hoped to find in the west an
opportunity to recoupe their fortunes
and to save enough money to make
their last years comfortable. With
this idea in view they had brought
their boarded savings with them, and
every cent they could save after their
arrival here was carefully put away,
with the intention of buying the farm
upon which they were living. They
| We're supposed to have about $500 in
their possession, part of which was
concealed in an old family bible. One
morning neighbor calling upon them
received no answer to knock on the
| front door. Passing around to the
back door he was Mortified to find Mrs.
Schultz lying upon the floor of the
summer kitchen. her face bathed in
blood. An investigation developed
that she had been murdered, her head
crushed In with blunt instrument
The husband had been murdered in the
/ bed in the same manner He had made
no struggle, but the wife had evidently
fought hard for her life. About 5000
of the alleged $500 was stolen.
Detectives Immediately commenced to
work upon the case, but the mystery
| batfied every effort to unravel it. With
1 in a year after the murder one Jack
Skinner was arrested on suspicion of be-
| ing implicated in the crime. but was dis
missed Within eighteen months Oscar
| Nellis. at that time living on South
Dakota ranch, was given hearing, but
| was also dismissed.
During this long period of investga-
| ton excitement over the case has been
rife in the community in which it oc-
Cured. AT one time John Williams
claimed that the tombstone which had
| been erected over the bodies of Mr.. and
Mrs. Schultz was undergoing peculiar
transformation. He insisted that the
| outline of a face was making itself APP
parent. The people of the community
I believed that the face would prove to
| be that of the murderer. but it never
reached further stage than that of a
4 slight discoloration induced by the
weather. In the meantime whitecap let
tiers OF threatening nature have been
sent to variousprominent members of the
| community The authority of these let
| tiers has heretofore remained mystery.
4 Among those who have received such
| letters is John Williams. who professed
to have seen the face of the murderer
1! On the tombstone. MIR. Williams has
been badly frightened and has placed
the letters before the county attorney.
The letters We're written on variously
shaped papers. They contained a skull
and cross bones in the upper left hand
corner and date in the right.
One such letter received by Mr.. Will
Jams and submitted to the grand jury
for investigation read as follows:
To John Williams: You have been
found out and we now know who did the
i deed. You must now come forward and
tell the facts, II not your days will be
I numbered. We mean business and our
company is 500 strong. Unless you com
I ply you must take the consequences.
1 COMMITTEE"
I The letters are we'll written and to
their authorship young Montague now
I confesses.
4 Up to within few days ago the Off
GERS of the county had concluded that
the last word had been said in the case,
when young Montague came forward
with his startling confession. This he
told to several people. including Sheriff
John Hill, w. H. O'Neill, George Good
rich and his uncle, John Montague. He
also reduced it to writing. According to
/ his story, he assisted in the crime by
driving the team in which the other
rarticipators rode to within a compare
lively short distance of the Schultz
house. Here he held the horses under
the shade of some trees. while the Older
men left him. He claims that the BROTH
ers obtained some money and that they
gave him $50 as his share. which he
buried beneath an old tree in tin can
He has also turned over to Sheriff Hill
the instruments with which the deed is
alleged to have been done. They consis,
Of an old harrow tooth and lever from
a reaper.
This story he told with sufficient de.
tail to County Attorney J. A. Miller
never fiinching in the recital. How.
ever. under severe cross-examination
he explained that he had told the whole
matter as joke; that there was nc
truth in it. Taken before the grand
jury, he again told the story as abso.
lutte truth, but again Withdrew hil
4 statement, saying that the whole mat.
ter was.sa Joke. The contradictor,
character Of the statements has aroused
doubts as to his sanity. and yesterday
n he was examined by the insanity com.