The Oskaloosa herald., 1908-07-30
PANORA STIRRED
BY TWO ARRESTS
LITTLE GIRL ACCUSES FATHER
AND ANOTHER MAN.
RELATES TERRIBLE STORY.
M. E. coons is Charged With Being
Man Who Killed Farmers Stock
and Frank Dudley Is Ac-
cused of Assault.

Il
we'll known Guthrie county men are
under arrest here on serious charges
as the result of the confessions of a
I15-year-old girl, the daughter of one
of them, NJ E. Coons is in jail charg-
ed with having shot thirty-two head of
stock belonging to his neighbors, and
Frank Dudley is charged with criminal
assault ON Coons' 15-year-old daugh-
tier, Retta, whose story brought about
the arrests.
Coons is farmer living about two
miles south of Panora, and Dudley is
a neighbor, For three years the far
mers of the community have been in
a state of excitement over the mys-
lterious killing of their stock. In all
nineteen horses and fourteen head of
cattle and hogs have been found dead
in the pastures. In most of the car
casses there were no marks to indi.
cate what had caused their death.
But bullet holes were found in few
of the bodies. Suspicion pointed to
Coons, who led solitary life and was
continually quarreling with his neigh,
bors, He allowed no one on his place.
and nobody cared to go there.
Detectives Called In.
A month ago C. e. Heasley found
three of his best colts dead in their
pasture. There was no sign as to
what had caused their untimely end.
Being a determined man, Mr.. Heas.
ley decided to probe the mystery to
the bottom. He engaged Dick Hol-
lingshead, a private detective of Abba,
and H. w. Carey of Plattsmouth, Neb.
They arrived in Panora last Tues.
day. Disgusting himself as a sales
man of musical instruments, Carey
drove to the Coons home. Fortunate.
ly Coons was away and his little
daughter met the detective at the
door. At5frst sire refused TO let him
enter, telling him that her father
had threatened to kill her II she ever
allowed any one in the house. But
Carey is the father of nine children
and he soon won the little girls con-
fidence. Before he left she had told
him the whole revolving story.
Exhibits Scars and Bruises.
She exhibited deep scars and fresh
bruises on her arms, limbs and back
where she said her father had beaten
her. She told of seeing her father
take his 22-calibre rifle and shoot the
neighbors' horses and cattle. He al.
ways shot the horses just behind the
eye, she said, and after they were
dead he would wipe off the blood and
insert wooden plug in the bullet
hole. Then he would brush the hair
down carefully SO that the wound
could not be detected
She said her father would not allow
her to talk to anyone and told how her
older brother had run away from home
because of her fathers cruelty. The
mother is dead and the little girl said
she was compelled to do all the house
work as well as chop wood, feed the
stock and do other menial tasks. She
said she had not been off the farm for
two years and had talked to nobody
except the rural mail carrier.
BY adroit questioning the detective
finally succeeded in dragging from the
girl the story of the alleged assault.
She said one day while her father was
away Dudley came to the house and
attacked her. She is exceedingly
small for her age and was unable to
resist him. Before he left he told
her he would kill her if she ever
breathed word of what had taken
place, she said. So she suffered in
silence and unsealed her lips for the
first time to Carey.
Old Detective Shocked.
Shocked by the revolving story the
detective started to go, but the little
girl begged him not to leave her
She feared her father would learn
OF his visit and either beat or kill her.
Before he departed she wrote note
to neighbor named Kindred for the
detective to deliver. In 1t she told
Kindred to stay away from their farm
as her father had promised to kill him
Hollingshead and Carey learned that
Coons' son was working for farmer
near Redfield. They drove to that
place and located the boy. He bore
out his sisters story in every de-
tail. Satisfied that they had a good
case against both men the detectives
returned to Panora, where Hollings-
head swore out an information against
Coons, charging him with killing stock
He had his neighbors so completely
cowed that none of them would sign
the charges. Last Saturday Sheriff
Brown of Guthrie county went to the
Coons farm where he found Coons a
sleep, and placed him under arrest.
Monday the detectives took the lit
tie girl to Guthrie Center. where she
gave the county attorney an affidavit
of her story. She had no skirt ex-
Icept one she made from an old gunny
Continued on Page 81