Murder in Clear Creek

COOL, KLINE, STUBBS

Posted By: JCGS Volunteer
Date: 8/12/2018 at 11:20:22

Another Murder in Clear Creek – Kline fatally wounded by John Cool. – A rumor reached here on Saturday last that Wm. A. Kline had been fatally shot by his brother-in-law, John Cool. The rumor proved to be too true as will be seen by the following from our correspondent at Clyde. Clyde, Iowa, Oct. 20, 1883.
Mr. A. Kline, of the Corning and Polk City fame, was shot this morning at the old Kline homestead by John Cook, an old resident of this township.
Cool claims that on the death of the old man Kline, which occurred some time ago, the heirs put him in possession of the place to take care of the property, and he accordingly moved into the house and has been there ever since. A few days ago Wm. Kline came from Corning and yesterday brought some of his furniture from Colfax and left them in the yard; this morning Cool asked him what it was there for, when Kline told him he intended to move into the house; this Cool forbid him to do. Cool says that Kline replied that he would move his things in if he had to spill blood, and then went into the house and sat down to breakfast. Cool went into another room, got his revolver, came back to the kitchen and shot Kline as he sat at the table, the ball entering the back between the shoulders, ranging downward through the lungs. Drs. Edgar and Burnett, of this place, and Dr. Gorrell, of Newton, were with Kline but agree that there is not much chance for him to recover. Cool was arrested by Constable Cox, taken before Justice Dodd for examination but would answer no questions. He will be taken to the Newton jail. Spring Poet
The prisoner reached here on Sunday afternoon, and is now in jail to await trial.
Ham. Robinson, of the Colfax Clipper, furnishes a report of the affair to the Register differing somewhat from the above, although the Constable, Mr. Cox, who brought Cool to jail, assured us the account of our correspondent is a true statement. The Register’s account is as follows:
Since Kline was released from custody in Des Moines, where he was held for the killing of Mayor Stubbs, he has been with his family living at his deceased father’s farm one mile east of Clyde in the same house with John Cool, his sister’s husband, who since the elder Kline’s death had had possession of the estate, and who seems to have regarded Kline’s appearance and residence there as an intrusion. Frequent quarrels occurred between the men, and latterly Cool had been taking legal measures to eject Kline from the premises. He went so far as to give Kline three days’ notice to leave, and in the fierce row that ensued Cool says Kline threatened to serve him as Stubbs had been served at Polk City if he interfered with him any further. Yesterday another quarrel occurred between the twin, almost resulting in a fight, and the presence of a visitor in the person of Mann Kline, a nephew of the men, served only to aggravate Cool the more. At the breakfast hour this morning W. A. Kline, Mann Kline and another man by the name of Downing, were seated at the table while Cool and a neighbor named Starkweather sat beside the stove. These visitors and the Klines kept up a conversation without reference to Cook, who appeared to be moody and sullen. No notice was taken of Cool, when he arose and went into a pantry in one corner of the room, nor when he came from it and walked around behind W. A. Kline. At this juncture he quickly drew a heavy revolver and shot Kline in the back.
The wounded man fell forward upon the table, and the other men started to fly from the room as Cool attempted to cock the revolver, at the same time swearing he would kill all of them.
As Downing, the last man to get out as the room was passing through the door, a ball from Cool’s revolver penetrated the casing. Cool followed those in retreat, and attempted to shoot Mann Kline, who had mounted a horse and was going for a doctor, but someone prevented him from doing so.
We spent about an hour with Cool in the jail on Monday night. He is a frail, feeble, gray-haired man of 69 years, and on being told we had come to see him, eyed us closely and suspiciously, as if expecting danger. From our first view of him until we came away, it was strongly impressed on us that either the old man does his part well, or that he is a fit subject for the insane asylum. He gave us after a little urging, the whole history of the case, - how Kline the elder had died, and he had been put into the homestead to hold and take care of the property for the heirs – how Kline came immediately after his release from Des Moines, broke into the house during his absence, and moved in his family and furniture – told of the crowd he gathered about him, and of the riotous conduct – of the constant annoyances and quarrels that ensured, and of the fear that both he and his wife had that it was the intention of Kline to put him out of the way – all going to show, that, with him at least, hades would have been a pleasant residence since his brother-in-law took up his abode with him. He tells us that in a quarrel a few days before the tragedy Kline told him that if he interfered “we will serve you as we did Stubbs.” On Friday evening before the shooting, so riotous and threatening did matters appear that at the advice of his wife, he went to the brush, did not return until late, and then went to bed without being seen by Kline and his companions.
This brings us to Saturday morning, Oct. 20. Two large boxes had been hauled and left in the yard the night before. Before breakfast he asked Kline what he was going to do with those boxes, and was told that he was going to put them in the house. Cool told him he must not do so, - that he did not want them there that he had been put in the house to protect the interests of the heirs, and he would do it. Kline told him that after breakfast he would get the boys to help him put the boxes in the house, and that if he, Cool, interfered, there would be blood spilt. Kline then went into the house and sat down to breakfast, his male companions being Mann Kline and Thos. Downey, Wash. Cunningham came in just before the shooting. Cool says that the men at the table were all armed, and he believed intended to kill him, and his subsequent acts showed he was sincere in this belief. Cool did not sit down to breakfast, but after listening to the men talking he concluded the time for action had come. So got up, went to another room, got his pistol, and coming in went behind Kline and shot him, the ball entering just below the right shoulder blade, passing downward toward the lungs, striking the spinal column on the way, and entering the left lung. Kline sank to the floor and the other men started to run, Cool tried to shoot them also, as Downey passed through the door a pistol ball entered the casing within a few inches of his head. Mann Kline ran for his horse, and Cool after him, and he says he would have killed him if it had not been for his wife.
During all this recital, Cool seemed cool and undisturbed – says that as yet he has had no preliminary examination and is satisfied that when he can have one that he can prove the act to have been done in self-defense, and he be released and he be released on bail.
The gentleman who was in jail with us, has known Cool for twenty years, and says he has always been accounted strange in his actions, and is no less so now, - but if we were on a commission to examine him, he would be on the way to Mt. Pleasant in short order.
Latest – W. A. Kline died early yesterday morning. He died without saying anything that would throw any additional light on the Stubb’s murder. Dr. Gorrell went up last evening to make a post mortem examination, and Coroner Newell to hold an inquest, but neither had returned, when we went to press.
Source: Newton Journal; October 24, 1883, page 3