The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-08-11

Killing Of CAMPBELL AND [Iq'OA


manacled men. and all present, except
possibly half dozen persons, partici-
pated in the cowardly and brutal muir
der.
John Merrill the man who brought
Campbell and Liscom to New Tim with
his team. attempted to interfere and
appealed to the moe to spare the life
of Campbell, who had done nothing to
merit such fate, but he was told that
unless he would leave and keep still
tnev would serve him in the same way
Being alone and comparatively power
less, Merrill was forced to desist and
quietly witness the murder of his com
rades.
When the news of the affair reached
AIankato. horror and indignation We're
universal. Many even counselled march
inc upon New Ulm and wiping the town
off the face of the earth. A committee
of citizens was sent up to look after
the bodies of Campbell and Liscom, but
returned, saying that while they had
not found them, they mad discovered
hole in the ice of the river. with blood
stains about it, and believed that the
bodies had been thrust through the. ice.
The committee reported that the sheriff
stated that the two Mankato men were
not drunk at the time of row in the
saloon, and as both were known to be
of good character, the committee did
not believe that they began the dis
turbance, or that, it was owing to any
fault of theirs.
The result of the first visit. not prov
ing satisfactory, on Dec. %, a second
party was formed under the command
of Captain Holmes, to visit New Ulm
in search of the bodies, and was con
stituted as follows Scion T. Stevens,
Philip Patten, O. Mason, Kinsey Max
field, Jesse Hawley, Milton Hanna, R.
Mason, H. B. Stannard and Jehiel Chen
ey. As they arrived at New Ulm on
Sunday morning, Dee. %, the first thing
that attracted tneir attention was a
heavy guard stationed ON Main street,
and two pieces of artillery planted at
the entrance of the city. The commit
tee drove through unmolested and put
mp their teams at the Union house.
They then called for the authorities and
were directed to Colonel Pfaender. They
stated that they had come to find the
bodies and the colonel granted permits
sion and offered to supply the commit
tee with all necessaries in the way of
tools and the like The place where
the bodies had been thrust through the
ice was discovered parity by the chips
of ice which had been scattered about
when the men who sought to hide all
traces of the murders -vere chopping the
hole through the ice. Foolishly enough,
the ice around the hole had been flooded
with water, in the hope of destroying
all marks of the place wnere the bodies
were thrust into the river. The water
served to freeze the chips fast, so that
the spot was the more readily discov
been. The bodies were pulled out of
the river, Both presented horribly
mutilated appearance One was naked
and the other partly clothed.
the committee learned that the New
Ulmites had heard of the threats made
by irresponsible parties in Mankato of
marching upon New Tim, burning the
town, and driving away the inhabitants.
That explained the guard and the ar
tillery, which had been stationed to de
fend the town from any hostile invasion
from Manlato
The bodies were taken to the Nicol
let county side of the river in order
that the coroner's inquest might be held
by disinterested parties. Coroner Ere
scholtz of Blue Earth county summoned
a jury consisting of Henry Shaubut,
Rev. Thomas Marshall, Clark Keysor,
Edwin Bradley, Francis Tompkins and
P. S. DeGroot. The inquest was held
at Mankato and witnesses were exam
med concerning the affair over a period
of eleven days. Among those examined
was the Brown county sheriff. who de
clared that he was powerless to inter
fere, and his own life was threatened if
he should persist in attempting to do
so. Yet, he was not kept from doing
so by threats, but by actual force. The
report gave a detailed account of the
whole affair as far as facts could be
CLEANED. The verdict of the jury laid
the blame for the outrage on long list
Of parties. Seventeen were arrested at
New Ulm, but as the authorities there
did not seem at all disposed to mete
out justice to the guilty ones, the state
officers stepped in. Attorney General
w. Colvil made an exhaustive investiga-
ton i'll the matter and reported to the
governor that in his opinion a fair and