A Page Co. Father Deliberately Disembowels His Daughter-1874

KLEGY

Posted By: cheryl Locher moonen (email)
Date: 8/12/2019 at 20:13:19

Dubuque Daily Times, Sunday, Dec 27, 1874, Dubuque, IA, Page:5

ANOTHER IOWA MURDER
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A Page County Father
Deliberately Disembowels His Daughter
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Another Iowa murder must be put upon the record. On Monday last, Dec. 22nd, a farmer, named John Klegy, residing about five miles north of Clarinda, the county seat of Page County, set his little daughter, ten years of age, a lesson to learn which was above her capacity. About nine o’clock in the evening he began to beat her, and continued beating and pounding her until twelve o’clock. Though help could have been obtained within a quarter of a mile, his wife, the child’s mother, dared not go for it, as the man declared he would kill her if she started from the house. Finally he kicked the child until the walls of the abdomen broke and her entrails came out; shortly after which the child died. The brute was arrested the next day, and taken to Glenwood jail – fortunate in being so far removed from the community where the deed was committed. When arrested he made one request – that he might be allowed to take his Bible with him. The request was granted, and he perused the precious volume on the way to jail with an earnestness that showed that he found therein a source of consolation and spiritual strength and joy which his vile world can neither take nor give away.