Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1903-11-10
REEVE AIS
OLD CRIME

was ielI VI MS SI0,uUU on The ground
in front Of him. stalking it all on his
hand. When he called he threw down
four kings; Bill had straight. Melal.
ley accused Bill of cheating With an
oath Bill made a drunken lunge at
Melalley with his hunting knife lay
ing open his arm. Mela1ley grabbed
up wagon stake and hit Bill terrific
clout just back of the left ear He
fell like an OK. sprang to stop them
but Bill didn't bulge. A hurried ex-
animation revealed his skull crushed.
He gasped several times and was
dead.
The horror of the crime sobered
us. Gunton now had all of Melalley's
| money and most of mine We knew
Gunton to be an assumed name He
never spoke of any relatives. To es-
| cape the consequences of our deed,
did it become known would be diff
cult. There was but one thing left to
do. To hide all traces of the crime,
divide the money AMI put all possible
distance between us and this spot.
Rehead the BODY.
"Hurriedly dragging the body back
from the freight, with a knife we rip
ped Off his clothing, rifling his pockets
OF everything that might afford a clue
to his identity. | threw his garments
into the campfire. Just as I finished
Melalley stepped up holding in his
hand grewsome object 1t was Gun
toms head, bloody and dripping, sever
| ed from the trunk. Holding it ND by
| the long, reddish hair, the bloated
countenance, the protruding eye balls,
the sneering lips, still seemingly ours.
| ing--a horrible sight-he tossed it into
| the fire. Writing ana twisting, the
and nair, destroying the surest means
of Identification.
"a dark woods bordered on the west,
and into it, across small ravine, we
carried the headless trunk. Hurried
ly digging four-foot hole, we damned
the body in, trampling the body down
and carefully removing all evidences
| of its disturbance.
Bury Head in Road.
Going back to the fire, the nauseat-
ing stencil of burning flesh, warned us
that the head would be too long in
burning. So, stepping out to the road
buried the head in the middle of the
wagon track, depending on the passing
| travel to obscure all traces of its hid
ing place.
Hiding the Traces.
'.We then scattered our campfire ov.
| er the place where the butchery had
taken place, to cover all traces OF
| blood, hitched up our team and hurried
ly left the scene By daybreak we
were twenty miles from the spot. and
though years have passed, the crime
was never discovered"
Hounded to the Grave.
4 Though the march of time has eras
| ed every trace of the awful crime
from the spot where it was committed
the two murderers were never able to
forget the awful occurrence and
though they sought forgetfulness in
travel and heavy drinking the memory
4 of the brutal killing of Gunton was al
ways fresh in their minds Melalley
found relief in death several years
4 ago, passing away in hospital where
he was taken by LIE Barge. The latter
says in his confession that Melalley
in his last hours was in an awful de
lirium. that he cried out continually
saying he could see the bloody bloat
4 ed head of Gunton, just as it looked
when he had cut it from the deat
mans trunk by the little camp fire il
4 Iowa.
LIE Barae's Awful Death.
i LIE Barge, left alone with the memory
of his awful sin, continued in his at
1 tempts to drive from his brain the
ever recurring thought of the murder
but that he was unsuccessful is showr
by his confession and the fact. as stat
ed in Mrs. Shows letter, that on hi,
i death bed he, like Melalley, livet
again in delirium the awful night O
i the murder.
Asks That Body Be Buried.
In the letter from lie Barge is a re
I quest that the body of the murdered
/ Gunton be disinterred and given ;
Christian burial, something he hat
\ been afraid to undertake during his life
for fear Of arrest on the charge of the
murder.
i Map is Enclosed.
! Enclosed with the confession was
map drawn by LIE Barge. showing tn,
location of the trees under which tn,
!! fatal game of poker was played and al
SO the site of the hastily made grave
:. Postmaster De Long has inspected tn,
premises and finds the map to be
true one but can find no body. Howev
err he has found several depressions ii
the ground near where the location O
the grave is shown on the map. These
appear to have been holes dug severa
years ago in an effort to locate Gun
tons grave. Mr.. De Long is of tn,
opinion that some one has found tn,
body and buried it long ago and tina
! LIE Barge now requests Christian
burial of the body of the murdere,
man in order to make sure that it will
Il be. done, having previously made tn,
same request of some friends or con
fidante, but never hearing whether tn,
latter carried out his instructions.
: Greatest Excitement.
4 The confession and the strange sto
], ry have created considerable excite
: rnent in Eddyville and scores of peopl.
have called On Mr.. DE Long to see tn,
> map The land is now known as tn,
!, Wylie farm and is located a short dis
) lance from Eddyville. The map /.
said to he yery accIffare tha nnIv die