The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1906-11-15
DISTRICT COURT DOINGS

George OyerhOItzer Pleads Guilty to
Numbering His Wife at Grand
River last June.
The November term of the district
court convened Monday afternoon with
Judge H. M. Towner presiding. The
grand jury was empanelled Monday
afternoon at o'clock, all of tho men,
bers of the entire panel being present.
Two of them were excused by Judge
Towner, w. II. Campbell, of Grand
River township, being excused on ac-
count of the injury to his eye which he.
sustained few weeks ago, and w. Ii.
Hazlet, of Eden township, was excused
on account of a big pressure of work.
The members of the grand jury for this
term were then drawn as follows: Il.
Asbach, of Burrell, Fl. X. Perkins, of
Morgan, W. 7. Waters, of Garden Grove,
G. FL. Holiday, of Woodland, John Bur-
nett, of Fayette, and W. A. Kendall, of
High Point. Mrs. Eta Spence was
appointed as clerk of the grand jury,
and Leroy Shelton, of Decatur, baililf.
There being no persons under bonds
or in Jail, Judge Towner had no special
instructions to give the grand jury,
merely calling attention to the general
instructions given at previous terms
during the year.
The officers Of the court at this term
are Judge H. M. Towner presiding, W.
NJ. Hyland court reporter, r. e. Wal
lace sheriff, Ira Wallace deputy sheriff,
A. S. Tharp clerk, John Burns deputy
clerk, G. G. Biddison court bailiff.
1t had been expected that most of
this week would be consumed in the
trial of George Overholtzer for the
murder of his wife at Grand River last
June, an Indictment having been re-
turned against him charging murder
in the first degree, and the case was
set for Wednesday morning, the wit
nesses having been subpoenaed on both
sides and the attorneys for the state
and defense announcing they were
ready for trial, but the case was sud-
denly disposed of Tuesday morning
when Overholtzer withdrew his plea Of
not guilty and plead guilty to murder
in the second degree, which the state
accepted, and Judge Towner will pass
sentence some time during the term,
Overholtzer's attorneys having asked
for time in which to make showing
to the court for leniency for their
client. The penalty for murder in the
second degree may be Imprisonment
for life or a term of years not less than
ten. It seems to be the general opinion
of the public that Overholtzer will re-
ceive at least twenty-five years.
The crime for which yoang Overholt-
zer has plead guilty was the murder of
his young wife on the streets of Grand
River on Sunday evening, dune. 10th.
Overholtzer is a young man % years old
and lived with his wife about three
miles from Grand River, just across the
line in Ringgold county. They had
been married three years, the wife be-
ing 16 years old when they were mar
ried, and they had had considerable
trouble caused by the husbands hard
drinking. On the day of the tragedy
they came to Grand River together, and
George drove to Van Vert to attend
ball game while his wife visited with
from Van Vert in the evening Overholt-
side until his wife came out and started
down the street, when he Joined her.
There were no witnesses to the shoot
ing, but minute or two after he joined
his wife at the Boeger corner a shot
was heard. Overholtzer ran across the
street to Gales restaurant and ask that
doctor be sent for as someone had
shot Edna, his wife. In the meantime
parties who had heard the shot ran to
where Mrs. Overholtzer was lying, but
she was unconscious and breathed but
once or twice after they reached her.
The pistol was found in vacant lot
across which Overholtzer had ran after
the shooting and the belt and empty
holster were found short distance
away, while an empty shell was
lying near Mrs. Overholtzer's body.
Overholtzer told several conflicting
stories, at first insisting that some one
across the street had fired the shot, but
when confronted with the pistol adj
mitted that it was his. The weapon
was a 30 caibre automatic revolver of
the latest pattern. At the coroner's
inquest held the next day the jury re-
turned verdict that Mrs. Overholt-
Zer's death was caused from a pistol
wound inflicted by the hand of her
husband and young Overholtzer was
placed under arrest and brought to the
county Jail at Leon the same day, where
he has been confined ever since. He
was indicted by the August grand jury
for murder in vhe first degree and of
course could not give bonds.
George Overholtzer is the son of W..
G. Overholtzer, one of the prominent
citizens of Richland township, and has
been in considerable trouble resulting
from his drinking. When sober he was
quiet and peaceable, but when under
the influence of liquor he was very
quarrelsome. After his arrest it is
said that Overholtzer confessed that he
shot his wife, but claimed that the
shooting was an accident, but it is also
reported that he had threatened to kill
his wife on several occasions.
The sudden termination of the
Overholtzer case will save Decatur
county another big bill of criminal
court costs to pay. 1t is the second
murder case in this county within the
past few years where citizen of an
adjoining county has come over into
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