Schultz, Charles died 1879

SCHULTZ

Posted By: Reid R. Johnson (email)
Date: 8/5/2021 at 20:31:25

Elkader Register, Thur., 10 July 1879.

On the morning of July 4th, a premeditated murder was committed at the Clayton county poor house in Read township, John Simons deliberately shooting Charles Schultz, dead. This tragic affair is but the culmination of a quarrel commenced last January, when Schultz, the deceased, struck Simon on the head with a stick of wood, for smoking in the room, when he, (Schultz,) had ordered him not to, an account of which appeared in the Register at the time. Since then Simon has borne a grudge against Schultz, and according to some of the inmates of the house, has frequently threatened to "have revenge," and on the 4th, carried his designs into execution.

Simon has a shot gun, with which he sometimes went hunting. On the morning of the 4th, he got up early and went out doors firing two or three shots from his gun. He then went into the house, passed through the south room, to the east door which opens out on the porch (where the paupers wash,) and finding Schultz there he raised his gun and fired with deadly effect, the bullet striking Schultz in the right temple, penetrating the brain and killing him instantly. After firing the shot Simon walked into the house, with his gun still smoking, and said, "I kill him this time for sure." He then went to the shop, reloaded the gun and went to the farm of John Wilmus, where he left the gun. As soon as word could be brought to town, Sheriff Benton, accompanied by constable Oglesbee and Mr. McDermott, started in pursuit of the murderer, overtaking him near Peter Miller's coming to town to give himself up. The gun with which he did the shooting is a single barreled smooth bore, shot gun, but for the deed he had loaded it with a bullet. The bullets were weighted, and found to be a little over half an ounce in weight.

The murdered man, Schultz, is a German, a native of Luxemburg, and is about 30 years of age. So far as is known he has no relatives in this country.

Simon, the murderer, has been an inmate of the poor house for 13 years, is also a German, Luxemburger by birth, and about 48 years of age. He has a number of friends and acquaintances in the county, but no relatives.

CORONERS INQUEST.

Soon after the shooting _. _. Young, acting coroner, summoned a jury consisting of Milo E. Munger, E. B. Munger and Jacob Schouf, and held an inquest.

The witnesses examined, stated the facts of the shooting as detailed above. The testimony of the doctors who made the postmortem examination of the deceased was as follows:

"On an examination of the body of Charles Schultz, we found a wound, of an inch in diameter, in the right temple, and on further examination, found that the lead bullet, weighing about an ounce, had penetrated the right temple, fracturing the temporal, malersas and parietal bones of the right side of the skull, taking a downward course, through the brain, and lodging just below the occipital bone. We believe that said Charles Schultz came to his death by reason of the above stated injury, caused by a gun shot. The face of the deceased was blackened as though by burned powder."

After hearing the evidence the jury returned the following verdict:

" After hearing the evidence, we the jury find the deceased came to his death by a bullet, fired from a gun, in the hands of John Simon and that said shooting was feloniously and willfully done, with intent to injure and kill the said Charles Schultz."

THE MURDERER'S STORY.

A REGISTER reporter visited Simon at the jail, and from him learned the following story of the crime, its cause and the prisoner's anticedents:

My name is John Simon, and I was born in Luxemburgh, in Germany, and emigrated to America in 1853. In 1866 I was hit on the head with a block, while boating on the Mississippi, and was taken to McGregor, where I was "dead" for two or three weeks. When I got well they took me to the poor house where I remained until July 4th.

Question - Why did you shoot Chas. Schultz ?
Answer - Because he hit me on the head with a stick of wood last winter, and I could not sleep good, nights, my head hurt me so. He was no account anyway, he bothered me.

Q. - Where was you when you shot him ?
A. - I was on the porch, I got up early in the morning and fired my gun two or three times, and then I got wild and put a bullet in it, and went and shot him.

Q. - Where was he when you shot ?
A. - He was on the porch washing, and when I came out, he looked up, and I shot, killed him dead.

Q. - Are you sorry you did it ?
A. - No. He was no account, was sick and is better off.

Q. - Suppose they hang you for it ?
A. - Well I don't care, I can't help it, but would rather have them shoot me, because it don't take so long, it goes 1,2,3, and you are dead, just like Schultz.

Q.- Did Schultz ever threaten to kill you ?
A. - No. He hit me and then he always bothered me, so I killed him.

Here the interview ended. The prisoner showed no emotion, and seemed to care for nothing. He has no relatives living that he knows of, and thinks he would be better out of the world than in it. During his long stay at the poor house, Simon has had the reputation of being a very peaceable man, and is the last man who would have been suspected of committing such a deed.

Simon was brought before Justice P. C. Young, Monday, but waived examination and was committed to jail to await the next term of District Court.

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See also, crime files, this website. Link below.

Trouble at the Poor House
 

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