The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-06-12
BRUTAL MURDER
TO Be AVENGED
John Junkln, Slayer Of Clara Rosen,
ottumwa Girl, will Hang at
Fort Madison Peniten-
tiary on July 20.
VERDICT IS AFFIRMED
Supreme Court Of state Passes on
Appeal and Judge In Opinion
Declares II Most Brutal
Of Iowa Crimes.
VERDICT IS AFFIRMED

John Junkin must hang on the scat
fold at the TT. Madison penitentiary
On July 49, This was made positive
by the action of the supreme
court OF Iowa In handing down an
opinion affirming the sentence pro-
nounced upon the negro at Center
vile ON June !, last year, after the
jury had returned verdict Of murder
In the first degree and fixed the pen
atty at death by hanging. The brutal
murder OF Miss Clara Rosen on the
night OF February 5, 1909. win thus be
avenged.
The finding OF the high tribunal re-
suited from the action Of Judge j. G. 4
Mitchell who appealed the case on the
grounds that Junkin was moral per-
vert and would suffer less from death
by hanging than from life imprison-
ment because there were alleged err
rors by the court in instructions to the
jury and because he was conscien-
tiously opposed to capital punishment.
The court upheld Judge NJ. A. Roberts
and the decision OF the Appanoose
county court in which the murderer
was tried.
Sheriff John G. Clark of Appanoose
county will on Friday. July 30, 1910,
drop the trap at Fl Madison peniten-
tiary which will send John Junkin to
his doom.
Judge Weaver wrote the opinion in
the Junkin case. He said the crime
was the most brutal and atrocious in
the history of the state and if the jury
had not given Junkin the severest
penalty possible under the Iowa law it
would have been surprising. In re-
gard to the claim that Junkin was a
degenerate the court says that this is
a matter for the jury to decide and it
Is supposed that 1t was given due con-
sideratfon
! Was Atrocious Crime.
The crime for which John Junkin
must answer with his life was the
most brutal murder ever perpetrated
| in Ottumwa. Miss Clara Rosen, his
victim, left the home of her parents,
Mr.. and Mrs. Fred Rosen, 1O11 Locust
! street, to go to that Of her sister, Mrs.
+ G. o. Nelson, on Dare street. When
just beyond the corner Of Cara and
Dare streets, the young woman was
attacked by the negro, who after strik-
/ ing her with a large stone, carried
her struggling form to an abandoned
cellar some few feet away and there
i continued the heinous brutality. When
4 life was extinct, he robbed the body
| OF numerous small trinkets and a dia-
mond ring, the latter article leading
directly to his arrest and final con-
4 viction. Two days after the commits.
sion OF the murder, February Z, 1909,
Junkin was arrested by Officer Joe
& Beeman as suspect. On February 9
he was released, the police being I'M
able to connect him with the crime.
diamond stone, the same size as
that stolen from the Rosen girl, was
sold By Junkin to Pawnbroker j. Red
mon on February 49, The following
day the negro was re-arrested by Of
ficer Beeman. He underwent severe
sweating by the Ottumwa police de
; partment for four days, and on the
fifth, the excitement attendant upor
the reported assaulting of Mrs
J. Charles M. Johnston, prompted the DO
|. lice to remove the negro to Abba
g This was done, and five days later, OF
February 81. through the combined
work OF the Ottumwa police depart
h ment, Sheriff Griffin, Detective Wa,
+, end others, confession was secured
8 flom Junkin which established hi
e guilt.