ZORNES Murder Case & Trials, 1910-1912

ZORNES, PHILLIPS, YOUNG, TEALE, SHARP, AUSMAN, KELLER, ANDREW, BAKER, GREENLAND, LITTLE, PRAY, BRAMMER, BROWN, KOOP, LAYTON, SMITH, EIKER, PRYOR, TALLMAN, HOFFMAN, WOODARD, HENDRICKSON, BAKER, ANDREW, KIRKPATRICK, SIPLE, MAXWELL, DINGMAN, VANBEEK, LEACHMAN, GIBBENS, BLACK

Posted By: Sharon R. Becker (email)
Date: 3/18/2015 at 13:46:55

The Leon Reporter
Leon, Decatur County, Iowa
December 15, 1910, Page 1

A LONG CREEK TOWNSHIP MURDER.
Mrs. Levi Zornes Clubbed to Death Last Wednesday Night by Clarence Teale, who with his Brother Hugh Teale, and Tom and Ed Young, are in Jail,
Charged with Murder in the First Degree by Coroner's Jury.

________________________

Once more there has been a blot put on the name of Decatur county and another murder added to the long list of crimes committed.

Mrs. Levi Zornes, wife of a farmer living in Long Creek township, a mile and a half northwest of DeKalb, was brutally murdered last Wednesday night, and Clarence and Hugh Teale and Tom and Ed Young are confined in the Leon jail, charged with murder in the first degree.

News of the terrible crime did not reach Leon until Thursday morning, and within a short time sheriff Andrew, county attorney, G. W. Baker, county attorney-elect E. H. Sharp and The Reporter man were on their way to the scene of the crime, making the trip in fast time in C. M. Keller's auto with Jim Ausman at the wheel, and Mr. Keller in charge of the car, and it took but a few minutes to cover the fifteen or sixteen miles, as the roads were in perfect condition.

The crime was committed at the home of Levi Zornes, who lives on what is known as the old Steve Little farm, which is owned by Frank Greenland. Arriving at the house we lost no time in viewing the terrible scene and in talking with the several witnesses who were present at the time Mrs. Zornes was killed. We will tell the story just as it was told to us, and it represents the version of one side of the row which cost Mrs. Zornes her life, the parties who are accused of the crime, not having made any statement at all, acting on the advice of their attorneys.

On Wednesday evening there (sic) were at the Zornes home, Mr. and Mrs. Zornes, their three sons, Henry, aged 18 years, William, aged 14, and Elva (sic, should be Elza), aged 12 years, which constituted the family with the exception of a sixteen year old daughter who was staying at the home of a cousin several miles away, helping them shuck corn. Two nephews of Mrs. Zornes, Tom and Henry Phillips, were also there, having been staying there for several days. Levi Zornes told us the story of the trouble as follows:

"Roy Young came to my house on Wednesday evening just about dusk, and remained for supper. After supper we were all sitting around in the sitting room, talking and visiting. About 9:30 o'clock some one came outside the house and called me. When they did so Roy Young got up and grinned. My son Henry went to the door and Hugh Teale asked him why he did not invite him in. Henry told him to come in and he did so, and when he came in I asked him to take a chair, but he would not sit down. Then Clarence Teale came to the kitchen door and was cursing and wanted to know if his brother was there. Some one told him to go around to the east door, and he did so, and came in the house, followed by Tom young, and then Ed Young came in.

"Clarence Teale went over to where Hugh was standing and grabbed him by the arm, and said he had a notion to whip him for running away from him, and Hugh told him he had better not try it. Then Clarence Teale wanted to bet 50 cents about something in regard that he could drink more beer than anyone, but I don't remember just what it was. Then Clarence Teale said to my wife that she had been telling that Jane Young was down there cooking for them, and applied a vile epithet to her. I opened the door and said, "Now boys, take the door."

"Just then Tom Young struck me over the head with an iron bicycle pump, and broke it over my head, knocking me down. Then Henry Zornes jumped in and Tom Young struck him and knocked him down, and then knocked me down again with the same instrument. He struck Henry the second time, knocking him through the door into the kitchen and Ed Young ran from the other side of the room and picked up the shot gun which was standing in the corner of the room and drew it on Henry and swore he would shoot him.

"Tom Young drove me and Henry through the door with a stick of stove wood, and when I got outside I went to pick up a rock or something to defend myself with and Hugh Teale pointed a revolver at me and said "If you pick up that rock I will shoot you." Henry and I started west down toward the woodpile to get a stick of wood, but could not get any.

"Tom Young got an armful of stove wood and threw it at us until we go to the wire fence. Just then I saw Clarence Teale strike my wife with a board or club, out north of the house. I was probably twenty-five feet away from her. Then Teale came after me and Henry and swore he would kill us both, and just as I went to get over the fence, he struck me in the back with something and knocked me through the fence.

"Then Henry and I went around the barn to the southwest corner of the yard and came in and went to the front of the house. I heard one of the men say "By God, we will go back and finish her." Henry and I went out where my wife was. She was kind of sitting up and said for us to help her to the house and put her to bed. We took hold of her and led her to the house and put her to bed. I asked her if I should send for a doctor and she said no, and I sent my boy to get a doctor. Dr. Tallman came about 11 o'clock and my wife died a short time after he came. The whole party, Roy Young, Ed Young, Tom Young, Hugh Teale and Clarence Teale remained out southwest of the barn until about fifteen minutes before the doctor came. I could hear them talking and swearing."

We interviewed the three sons of Mr. Zornes, and also Tom Phillips and Henry Phillips, and they all told practically the same story as related by Mr. Zornes, with the exception that they told of what happened in the room where Mrs. Zornes was, and which Mr. Zornes could not see as he was knocked out in the kitchen. From their stories it seems that Mrs. Zornes was lying on a bed in a room just north of the sitting room where the trouble started. She had taken off her shoes and was lying across the foot of the bed. When Clarence Teale accused her of spreading the report that Jane Young was cooking for them, she denied it and said that Dick Pray had told it at their house, and Clarence Teale had cursed her and called her a very vile name. After Tom Young had broken the bicycle pump over the heads of Levi and Henry Zornes he threw it at Mrs. Zornes or struck her in the face, the witnesses differing in regard to whether he threw it at her or struck her with it, but anyway she was knocked down, falling between the two beds, and Tom Young then grabbed the stove hearth from the stove and threw it at her, striking her across the ankles as she was lying on the floor, and when we viewed the body of Mrs. Zornes, the ankles and limb were bruised and colored badly from this blow. About this time the men were fighting out through the kitchen and Mrs. Zornes called to the two small boys to come on and started out the east door and then ran a little northwest along a path leading to an outhouse.

Clarence Teale had gone out the kitchen door and he ran north and overtook Mrs. Zornes about 80 feet from the door through which she ran out. She heard him coming and turned to face him when he struck her with a board or club, overhanded, using both hands, and she sank to the ground, the blow having cut a gash along the left side of her head about 3 3/4 inches long, and there were two great pools of blood on the frozen ground.

The two small boys said they were but a few steps from their mother when Clarence Teale struck her, and the two Phillips men who had also ran from the house say they saw him strike the blow which knocked her down out in the yard, and then they ran out in the road in front of the house.

Six persons say they saw Clarence Teale strike Mrs. Zornes over the head with a board or club, her husband and three boys and the Phillips men.

Sheriff Andrew arrested Ed Young a short time after he arrived at the scene of the crime, finding him working at a threshing machine on a nearby farm. He deputized a couple of men to bring Ed Young to Leon and then struck out after Hugh Teale and Tom Young, who had left and could not be found.

An information had been filed early that morning before Justice H. L. Brammer of Richland township and constable John Brown arrested Clarence Teale at the home of H. H. Young, the father of the Young boys, and took him before Justice Brammer, where he waived preliminary examination and was bound over to the grand jury without bonds, and constable Brown brought him to Leon and he was placed in jail.

The telephone had been put to good use and about this time it was learned that Hugh Teale and Tom Young had been arrested at Kellerton and they were brought to Leon and placed in jail the same evening. There has been no information filed against Roy Young, as there seems to be no evidence that he took any part in the trouble except to try and act as a peacemaker and keep the others from fighting.

While searching around the premises at the scene of the murder, there were several articles found which will figure in the case when it is tried. Near the wire fence a short distance from where Mrs. Zornes was struck down a heavy piece of wood about three feet long was picked up, which it is claimed is the instrument used by Clarence Teale when he struck the woman. It had been used as a kind of home made implement for replanting corn and in the hands of a man would make a dangerous weapon. Down near the barn where the men congregated for some time after the fight there was a man's cap, a pair of mittens and a heavy loaded billy found.

On Friday Justice A. M. Pryor of Leon went out to hold an inquest, acting as coroner in the absence of coroner W. G. Jeffries who moved to Chicago some months ago. A coroner's jury consisting of P. F. Kopp, R. G. Layton and B. F. Smith were sworn and viewed the body of the dead woman, and then a post mortem examination was made by Drs. Layton and Eiker, of Leon, and Tallman, of Van Wert. They found that her death was caused by a blood clot, caused from a fracture of the skull. There were two fractures of the skull on the left frontal region extending several inches. No evidence was taken before the coroner's jury until Monday, the inquest being held at Judge Pryor's office in Leon, and the same evidence was used before the coroner's jury and at the preliminary examination of Hugh Teale. Ed and Tom Young both waving preliminary examination and were bound over to the grand jury by Justice Pryor without bond. The Young boys have as yet retained any attorneys, and the Teale boys have retained C. W. Hoffman and Marion Woodard to defend them. At the preliminary hearing only sufficient evidence was introduced by the state to show that the crime had been committed, and the defense put on no witnesses. The aim in holding a preliminary was to secure the release of Hugh Teale on bonds. After hearing the evidence and the arguments of the attorneys, Justice Pryor took the matter under advisement and will render his decision on Thursday.

The coroner's jury returned the following verdict:

State of Iowa, Decatur county, ss.

An inquisition held in Long Creek townhip, in Decatur county, at the residence of Levi Zornes, in said county and state, on the ninth day of December, 1910, and continued from day to day until the 13th day of December, 1910, before A. M. Pryor, a justice of the peace, in and for said county aforesaid, acting as coroner of the said county, upon the body of Mrs. Bertha Zornes, there being and lying dead, by the jurors whose names hereto subscribed:

The said jurors upon their oaths say, find and return, that she, the said Mrs. Bertha Zornes, came to her death in an untimely manner and through the use and effect of a blow upon the left side of her head, by some blunt instrument, in the hands of a person known as Clarence Teale, and that he, the said Clarence Teale, was assisted in said assault and killing by Thomas Young, Ed Young, and Hugh Teale, then and there being present at the time of said killing of the said Mrs. Bertha Zornes, and that said killing was feloniously done.

In testimony whereof the said jurors have hereunto signed their names this 13th day of December, 1910.

R. G. LAYTON,
PHILLIP F. KOPP,
B. F. SMITH.

Clarence Teale, who is charged with striking the blow which killed Mrs. Zornes, is about 35 or 36 years old. For many years he resided at Kellerton, and was postmaster at that place. He is the eldest son of A. H. Teale, one of the most highly respected citizens of Kellerton, and has been married, but we understand is divorced from his wife. Last spring he moved on the farm known as the old Shaw farm near DeKalb, which is owned by his father, and has been keeping batch in a small house on the farm. His brother, Hugh, who is about 23 or 24, had only gone to the farm a short time previous. Hugh was quite well known in Leon, having worked for some months at the Ballow lumber yard in this city the past summer. It is rumored that the Teale boys and the Young boys had been drinking prior to going to the home of Zornes, but this is only hearsay. Neither of the Teale boys have ever been in any serious difficulty before, but Clarence is said to have been quite quarrelsome when under the influence of liquor.

The two Young brothers under arrest are the sons of H. H. Young who lives a half mile south of the Zornes place. Ed Young was arrested some time ago for shooting a lad named Allen in a corn field at the home of Young's father. He made a confession showing that the killing was accidental and plead guilty to manslaughter and served a term in the penitentiary [Fort Madison], being released a couple of years ago, and has since lived on the farm. His brother Tom, who is younger, also resides at the home. Neither are married. There has been more or less trouble and ill feeling between the Youngs and the Zornes for several years, but there was never any trouble to speak of between the Zornes and the Teales.

Mrs. Zornes, the woman who was murdered, was 38 years old, her maiden name being Bertha Hendrickson. She was the mother of four children, three boys and one girl, and had lived with her husband on the farm where she met her death for the past five years. Her funeral was held on Saturday, interment being in the Funktown [Oak Hill] cemetery, and a large concourse attended the services.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2015

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Decatur County Journal
Leon, Decatur County, Iowa
Thursday, December 15, 1910

TERRIBLE TRAGEDY ENACTED NEAR DEKALB

A terrible tragedy in which Mrs. LEVI ZORNES met a violent death, adding one more to the list of Decatur County murders, occurred at the LEVI ZORNES home within a short distance of DeKalb about 9 o'clock Wednesday night of last week. Clarence Teale, it is alleged, is responsible for the death of Mrs. ZORNES. Clarence and Hugh Teale, Tom Young and Ed Young are under arrest and are confined in the Decatur County jail in this city.

The tragedy was enacted at the home of the victim about one mile west and north of DeKalb and a quarter of a mile south of the West School house soon after a quarrel had been started. It seems that Roy Young, brother of Tom and Ed Young, had been a guest at the ZORNES home for the evening meal, having come to the house from a threshing machine, about a quarter of a mile away, where he had been at work. After they had finished supper, Mr. And Mrs. ZORNES, their sons, Henry, aged about eighteen years, Willie and Elzie, aged about twelve and fifteen years respectively, Tom and Henry Phillips, nephews of LEVI ZORNES, and Roy Young were seated about the room engaged in conversation when Hugh Teale , so it is said, called from the outside. Roy Young went out of the house and came back in a minute and said that those outside wanted LEVI ZORNES (commonly called LEE) and his son, Henry, to come out. They did not go and then a voice from the darkness called saying "it looks like you'd invite a fellow in." In a moment Hugh Teale came into the house, Clarence Teal, Tom and Ed Young followed him inside a moment or so later. From what the Phillips boys say the men had been in the room but a few minutes when Clarence Teale accused Mrs. ZORNES of making remarks concerning himself and brother and a woman of the neighborhood. Mrs. ZORNES it is claimed, said it was a lie. Tom Young at this point picked up an air pump used in inflating bicycle tires, and struck LEE and HENRY ZORNES with it knocking both down twice. The metal base of the pump was broken off by one of the blows. Young then threw the pump at Mrs. ZORNES, who had stepped into the door way leading from the bed room, where she stood facing him, the pump striking her in the face. LEVI and HENRY ZORNES made an effort to get a shot gun standing behind a door leading from the living room to the kitchen, but Ed Young got it first. LEVI and HENRY ZORNES got out of the house and were chased to the northwest corner of the barn where LEVI was struck by one of the men and knocked through the fence. Ed Young after coming from the house with the shot gun threw it into a cave at the southwest corner of the house. In the meantime Mrs. ZORNES with the two younger boys had hurried from the house.

Tom Phillips makes the statement that Clarence Teale followed Mrs. ZORNES, who had escaped from the house by a door at the east end of the living room, a distance of about sixty feet from the house, where he struck her with a club, afterwards found to be a piece of seasoned wood used presumably upon a cultivator or other farming tool. Mrs. ZORNES fell, Mr. Phillips says, and Clarence Teale left her and went down near the barn where his brother and the Young boys were. They made further threats, the witnesses say, but finally wandered farther away from the house. Mr. ZORNES and his son hurried to the assistance of Mrs. ZORNES.

Tom Phillips, who was in the northeast corner of the yard when Mrs. ZORNES was struck down, and the two younger boys who had joined him, followed them to the house and assisted in getting Mrs. ZORNES on the bed. Tom Phillips then ran to the Isaac West home, nearly a mile away, and telephoned to Van Wert for Dr. Tallman. Dr. Tallman started at once for the scene of the tragedy reaching there about 10:30 o'clock. Mrs. ZORNES was near death when the physician arrived and passed away in a short time. While Dr. Tallman was still at the ZORNES home the two Young boys, Tom and Ed, came back to the house and were ordered away by the physician. HENRY ZORNES and Henry Phillips had gone to the Jeff Blades home not far distant where they gave the alarm and soon afterwards a number of people arrived at the ZORNES place.

Warrants were sworn out before Justice Henry Brammer for the arrest of Clarence Teale and Tom Young. John Brown, constable for Richland Township, arrested Clarence Teale at the home of Harrison Young, father of Tom and Ed Young, about 5 o'clock Thursday morning.

The authorities at Leon had been notified as soon as possible and Sheriff Jesse Andrew started at once for the scene. County Attorney Geo. W. Baker, and Ed H. Sharp, who replaces Mr. Baker as County Attorney January 1st, also started for the ZORNES farm in the C.M. Keller automobile to make an investigation of the crime. Sheriff Andrew arrived there about 10:30 o clock and soon after arrested Ed Young at the threshing machine near the ZORNES place. Sheriff Andrew deputized Billy Kirkpatrick and sent the prisoner to Leon in his charge. The sheriff then began a search for Tom Young and Hugh Teale. By using the telephone he soon learned that they were at Kellerton. Charles Siple, the city marshal, of Kellerton, was ordered to place them under arrest. He at once placed them in custody and held them until the arrival of Sheriff Andrew, who took charge of the prisoners and brought them to Leon on the night train.

Friday Doctors H.R. Layton and B.L. Eiker, of Leon, and Tallman, of Van Wert conducted an autopsy upon the remains of the dead woman, finding that death had resulted from the breaking of an artery as a result of the blow upon the head. Justice A.M. Pryor acting as coroner, empanelled a coroner's jury composed of Phil Kopp, R.G. Layton and B.F. Smith with Mr. Kopp as foreman. The jury began its work at the ZORNES place on Friday and adjourned to Leon where after hearing the testimony before the court of Justice Pryor in the preliminary hearing of Hugh Teale, returned the following verdict:

State of Iowa,
Decatur County.

An inquisition held in Long Creek Township in Decatur County at the residence of LEVI ZORNES in said county and state on the ninth day of December, A.D. 1910, and continued from day to day until the 13th of December, 1910, before A.M. Pryor, a justice of the peace in and for said county acting as coroner of the said county upon the body of Mrs. BERTHA ZORNES there being and lying dead, by the jurors whose names are hereunto subscribed. The said jurors upon their oaths do say, find and return, that she, the said Mrs. BERTHA ZORNES, came to her death in an untimely manner and that the killing was feloniously done.

In testimony whereof the said jurors have hereunto signed their names this 13th day of December, A.D. 1910. -- R.G. Layton, Phillip F. Kopp, B.F. Smith.

Clarence Teale, who had been taken before Justice Brammer, waived the preliminary examination and was sent to jail without bond. Ed and Tom Young waived the preliminary hearing before Justice Pryor, while Hugh Teale went into the justice court for hearing. The preliminary hearing of Hugh Teale started Monday and continued until Tuesday. A number of witnesses were examined and much testimony brought out. At the conclusion of the preliminary hearing Justice Pryor announced that he would render his decision at 10 o'clock on the morning of Thursday, December 15th.

Ed Young, one of the men under arrest, has served a part of a penitentiary sentence given him for the killing of Harry Allen in the same neighborhood some years ago.

From the notes taken of the inquest it is found that the report of the Autopsy made by the physicians above named found the dead woman to be about 38 years of age, and measuring 5 feet and seven inches in height and weighing probably 140 pounds. The hair was dark brown, also the eyes.

It was found that a gash, the result of the blow measuring 3 3/4 inches was on the left side of the skull, also a reddened and bruised condition of both the upper and lower lids of the left eye. Ecchymosis was present beginning at the base of the skull and extending downward over the back to the middle of the left thigh and to the middle of the right leg. No recent marks of violence was discovered on the arms, hands, chest, abdomen, thighs, left leg or foot. The right leg showed a bruised condition between the knee and ankle. Upon removing the sutures from the gash on the head the wound gaped open and showed a clean cut through the scalp. The scalp was then reflected backward and forward exposing the entire top of the skull and revealing a bruised condition of the muscles and tissue in the region of the temple. Examination revealed a fracture beginning at the internal angle of the left eye, near the nose and extending upwards and backwards for six inches. Another fracture beginning near the outer angle of the left eye and extending upwards and backwards for a distance of 4 1/2 inches was also found. Also a fracture one inch long connecting the fractures.

The funeral of Mrs. ZORNES was held Saturday, interment being made in the Funktown Cemetery.

Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
November 18, 2009

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The Leon Record
Leon, Decatur County, Iowa
Thursday, February 09, 1911, Page 1

ROY YOUNG INDICTED
Grand Jury Returns Fifth Indictment in Zornes Murder Case.
Three More Indictments Returned.

____________________

District court adjourned for the term last Friday at noon. The grand jury completed their work on Thursday, returning four additional indictments, making eight indictments at this term of court.

One of the indictments was against Roy Young, a brother of Tom and Ed Young, who had previously been indicted with Clarence and Hugh Teale for murder in the first degree, for the killing of Mrs. Lee Zornes, the indictment also charging Roy Young with murder in the first degree. He was placed under arrest at once and when brought into court asked that C. W. Hoffman be appointed to defend him, and the court so ordered. His attorney at once filed a motion to set aside the indictment on the ground that the jury at this term of court was not properly empanelled, but the motion was overruled by Judge Maxwell. Bail was refused in his case as the other defendants in this case. In passing on the motion to admit the defendants to bail the court stated that some of the defendants might be entitled to bail, but he was not absolutely certain in his own mind in regard to the matter and as it was only short time until the March term of court he would refuse the application at this time. The defendants in this case will all demand separate trials and the matter of admitting any of them to bail will come up at the March term of court.

Charles Dingman and Emma Vanbeek, of Davis City, were indicted on the charge of adultery. They were arrested and are in jail in default of $500 bonds. The prosecuting witness in this case is the wife of Mr. Dingman.

One other indictment was returned but as the party has not yet been placed under arrest, it is not made public.

In the indictments of Clarence and Hugh Teale, Tom and Ed Young, indicted for the murder of Mrs. Lee Zornes, counsel filed their motion that the defendants be admitted to bail, but the court overruled the motion. Judge Maxwell also overruled a motion to set aside the indictments and the defendants wavied arraignment and have until the first day of the next term of court to plead.

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NOTES: Levi Zornes, 23, and Bertha M. Hendrickson, 18, were married August 31, 1887, Decatur County, Iowa, ceremony officiated by E. L. Allen, Minister of the Gospel and at whose residence the ceremony took place. ~ Decatur County Marriage Book, Volume 4, p. 020.

Levi "Lee" Zornes as born January 1, 1862, and died July 19, 1934, interment made at Aurora, Nebraska. Levi and Bertha's children were Oria Ethel (Zornes) Smith (1890-1950), Henry P. Zornes (1893-1950), William Fenton Zornes (1896-1964), and Elza Elsworth Zornes (1899-1977). Some records indicate that they also had two daughters, Cindia and Edith, who died in infancy.

Clarence Emmett Teale, son of Albert H. and Mary Frances (Leachman) Teale, was born in Decatur County, November 19, 1875, and died in January of 1940, interment made at Glendale Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa. Hugh A. Teale, born in 1888, died in 1977, interment made at Maple Row Cemetery, Kellerton.

The Young brothers were sons of Henry "Harrison" Young (1854-1939) and Hannah (Gibbens) Young (1854-1923). Alray or Elroy "Roy" Young was born in 1881 and died in 1966 at Murray. Thomas J. "Tom" Young was born in 1885 and died in 1969, interment made at Murray Cemetery, Murray. Edmond "Ed" Young was born August 29, 1883 and died March 3, 1980, interment at Graceland Cemetery, Creston.

Sarah Jane "Jannie" Young was the daughter of Harrison & Hannah (Gibbens) Young, sister of the Young brothers. She was born March 23, 1892, and married William H. Black (1879-1935). She died at the age of 101 years on January 25, 1994, Des Moines, Iowa, and was interred at Sunset Memorial Gardens.

Transcription and notes by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2015.

NOTE: Due to the length of this case, visit webpage for its entirity and links to other relevant webpages. ~ SRB

ZORNES Murder Case & Trials
 

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