WHAT BECAME OF THE BODY OF MAN HANGED HERE--1845

BONNEY, TRIBLECOCK, FITCH, HUNTER

Posted By: Gloria Dodds (email)
Date: 10/29/2002 at 18:41:12

Thursday, August 15, 1935 The Keosauqua Republican Page Forty-Seven 80 year Anniversary edition 1855-1935

WHAT BECAME OF THE BODY OF MAN HANGED HERE--1845

Many of the citizens of Van Buren county know about the first and only hanging in the county, at Hangman's Hollow, but how many have heard what happened to the body of the convicted murderer?
Captain J.H.Bonney, father of Estella Bonney Walker and Orpha Bonney, of Keosauqua, was sheriff at the time of the hanging which took place on a raised mound in Hangman's Hollow. Great crowds of people were gathered on the different hills and raised places around the scene of execution.
Frank Triblecock led the singing at the religious service held just before the execution.
After the hanging the body was buried at Oak Lawn cemetery and most people think that is the end of the story.
The first or second night after the burial, however, several men silently went into the cemetery, dug into the grave and lifted the remains. The flesh was boiled off the bones, and the skeleton wired and kept in a doctor's office.
The doctor who wanted and obtained this skeleton, was Dr. Fitch of Pittsburg. One of the men who helped him lift the body out of the grave was David Hunter, uncle of Judge F.M. Hunter, of Ottumwa, to whom he told this story.