Double Tragedy Years Ago

SIMS

Posted By: JCGS Volunteer
Date: 11/20/2016 at 17:09:02

Double Tragedy Years Ago
Dear Record: In 1859 (I think) I rode down to the square in Newton on horseback, as was my custom then, and as I came upon the square a man came riding into town from the west on the Des Moines road. He reported a terrible murder on the Sims farm, which I see is now offered for sale. I rode out to the farm at once, and arriving there found only a few neighbors gathered at the place. One of them piloted me into a hay covered stable. As we entered I saw a man hanging by a strap from the roof. He had hung himself and he had to hold up his feet to do the terrible deed, his knees almost touching the dirt floor. We passed in further and found the body of his wife in a large manger. Her head had been cut off and wrapped in a piece of clothing. Some of her limbs had been cut off. A little child about two and a half years old was crying and some of the neighbors were caring for it. The wife had been a very pretty woman and there had been jealousy and quarreling about the attentions of other men coming to the home, so the neighbors said. – Angus K. Campbell, Des Moines, in the Newton Record.
Source: The Colfax Clipper; September 28, 1916