Cottonville Tragedy

CRONK, WATKINS

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 11/11/2007 at 21:59:34

History of Jackson County, J.W. Ellis

The Cottonville Tragedy.

One of the most cold blooded and brutal crimes ever committed in Jackson county, was the murder of Samuel S. Cronk, on the night of the 23rd of January, 1867, near Cottonville. The crime was evidently committed by persons who ought to have been his friends, for the money that he was supposed to have about him. Cronk was a young man who had been raised on a farm in Farmers Creek township, by W. B. Whitley, had served three years in the army, and at the time of his death was but twenty years of age.

In 1866-7, Mr. Whitley and his family, including young Cronk, was living in Andrew, and was conducting a store. On the 22d of June, 1867, Cronk was sent by Sheriff W. S. Belden to serve some subpoenas in Lamotte and vicinity. On the way he stopped at Cottonville, where he met some of his old army comrades, among them Reuben Jamison and Samuel P. Watkins, who persuaded him to stay over and attend a dance in Cottonville that night. After the dance he went to Lamotte and served the papers, and on his return next day stopped at Cottonville, where he met Watkins again, who proposed to him that they go to a Mr. George Nelson’s, a couple miles east of Cottonville, where there were two girls, with whom both were acquainted.

They spent the evening at Nelson’s until about 8 o’clock, when Cronk spoke about going, and asked young George Nelson to accompany him back to the Cottonville road; but Watkins remarked that he was going over to Mr. Hunter’s to spend the night, consequently they would be going the same road. They left Nelson’s together, both walking, Cronk leading the horse, and no one ever clamed to have seen Samuel S. Cronk in life again. Watkins claimed that he accompanied Cronk to the Mort Phillips place, put him on the road leading to the Dubuque road, and then parted with him, he, Watkins, taking a cross road to Cottonville.

The next morning the lifeless body of young Cronk was found by Daniel Gleason and other school children, about twenty rods east of the Hunter Schoolhouse. The tracks and blood and position of the body indicated that the young man had been murdered in the road by persons lying in wait, who had crushed in his head with some blunt instrument.

The body had been carried to the fence on the south side of the road and tumbled over into the field. The cape of his soldier overcoat was drawn over the head, and the hat and pants were gone, as well as the horse, saddle and bridle. The boys on finding the body informed their teacher, Miss Mary Hurd, that there was a dead man lying in the field. She said that she doubted the statement of the children at first, but finally went to where she could see the body; that she noticed the tracks of a number six or seven boot going north; noticed where the horse had been tied to a small hickory tree just off the road; only saw two tracks, one small and one large; the blood and snow was frozen and crusty. The teacher went to Mr. Hunter’s, and sent Daniel Gleason to Sawtell’s. The news spread fast, and there was soon quite a crowd gathered. Reuben Jamison was the first to recognize the body as that of his old comrade, Samuel S. Cronk. The body was loaded into a sled and taken up to Cottonville, to Squire Abbey’s office, where an inquest was held.

Samuel P. Watkins was known to have been with Cronk the night he was killed, and he was questioned as to where he left Cronk. He said they parted at Mort Phillips’ place between 7 and 8 o’clock; but several members of the Baker family had seen him near Cottonville after 11 o’clock. When the body was found, there were balls of snow and ice on the boot heels, indicating that the young man had been walking for some time, and his mittens were found sticking in his overcoat pocket, where he always carried them when walking.

Watkins was arrested on the evening of the 24th of January, and his examination commenced on the 29th; he was released on bail.

On the night of the 25th of January there was a heavy fall of snow, which laid on the ground until about the first of April. On the 6th of April, Joseph McCombs, who lived on the Cotton place, found the dead body of the horse which Cronk had with him on the night of the murder. The horse had been tied to a small oak tree in a piece of woods near Cottonville and allowed to starve to death. The saddle was on the horse, and Cronk’s hat was found lying on the ground near the body of the horse. On the 8th of April, W. B. Whitley and Mr. Dean made a search of the ground in the vicinity of where the murder was committed. Mr. Whitley found, on the north side of the road, in a brushy place, a small piece of stove wood. On picking up the stick he discovered some hair caught in a splinter that resembled Cronk’s hair. This was about eight or ten rods north of where the murder was committed. About the same time that Whitley found this club, Dean found a piece of plow clevis with a blue denims string on it, in Sawtell’s field about ten feet south of where the body was found. The piece of clevis was recognized by some of the neighbors as one that they had seen at John Bucklin’s place, which Bucklin’s little boy had for a plaything. Bucklin also had a peculiarly shaped boot, which exactly fitted into the tracks made by one of the men at the scene of the murder, and the mate to the piece of clevis was found in his granary. It made a bad looking case against him.

Previous to the 23rd of January, Watkins had been known to be hard up – had stood a shoemaker off for a pair of boots, and at the dance which he attended with Cronk the night before the murder, had no money to pay for his number. After he was released on bail he had several ten dollar bills changed, a fact which kept him under suspicion.

On the day the horse was found, Watkins had gone to Andrew to swear out an information against some of the Conklin’s who lived near Iron Hills. One of the Conklins and one of the Bronsons had been known to have passed along the Bellevue road the night of the murder. When Watkins was told of the horse being found, he said, “I am sorry, I am sorry.” He was again arrested and confined in jail.

After the finding of the clevis and club, the body of Cronk was taken up and the scalp removed, and it was found that the piece of clevis fitted neatly exactly in the wounds in the front part of the head, which had crushed in the skull. Dr. Ewing said these wounds must have been made by the piece of clevis or something similar to it. Sheriff Belden said there was not one chance in a million that these wounds could have been made by any other instrument.

The grand jury of the March term of court had failed to find a bill against Watkins, as the theory generally prevailed that Cronk had been murdered by highwaymen, from the fact that the horse was missing, but with the finding of the skeleton of the hose and the piece of clevis and club, suspicion reverted back to Watkins, and it was very evident that he had accomplices. The clevis blows making the wounds on Cronk’s forehead had been given by a left-handed man. Calvin Nelson was a left-handed man, was a brother-in-law of Bucklin’s, and his boots corresponded with the tracks made by one of the parties in the snow where the body was found. Watkins made his home with Bucklin. Circumstances pointed to the three men as the perpetrators of the awful crime, and they were indicted on a charge of conspiracy and murder.