Iowa
Old Press
Waterloo Evening Courier
Waterloo, Black Hawk co. Iowa
September 14, 1914
Geo. DeLair Sentenced to Life Term in Prison
Another Chapter Written in Details of Brutal Murder of
Young Bride in Delaware County—Mrs. John Allen, 17 Years of
Age, the Victim—Murderer Had Been Jilted by Girl Whom He
Shot From Ambush.
Manchester, Sept. 14—George DeLair, self-confessed murderer
of Mrs. John Allen of Hopkinton, appeared before Judge George W.
Dunham of this city late Saturday afternoon and pleaded guilty to
the murder of the 17-year-old girl, and was sentenced to life
imprisonment at hard labor in the Fort Madison penitentiary. The
murderer has been incarcerated in the county jail since the
commission of the murder on the evening of July 15, 1914.
The indictment of murder was prepared by the State’s
attorney, E. B. Stiles, and after a long council with his
attorney the defendant decided to face the consequences without
the formalities of a jury trial. The fact that he pleaded guilty
doubtless influenced the court, at least, to the extent that the
prisoner was not give the extreme penalty—death.
During his incarceration in the county jail, DeLair has been a
model prisoner. He was never heard to complain: neither did he
ever manifest any remorse for his crime.
At the time the prisoner was arrested in Ryan two days after the
killing, the citizens of the neighborhood in which the crime was
committed were violently incensed over the slaying of the
beautiful young life, and the officers have kept the prisoner
under the closest confinement. Only twice has he been outside of
the four walls of the county jail, and those occasions were when
he was taken to the offices of his lawyer—E. M. Carr. In the
court room Saturday afternoon, his attorney entered a plea of
guilty for his client to the indictment and Judge Dunham
pronounced sentence. DeLair showed no signs of fear for the
future, but took his sentence calmly. Sheriff Henessey took the
man to the Fort Madison penitentiary today.
HISTORY OF CRIME.
During the month of August, 1913, George DeLair, a cousin of F.
E. Millis, came to the Millis home and was given employment.
Later in the month he left the place and was gone for some little
time. During October of the same year, DeLair again returned to
the Millis farm and husked corn for several weeks. After corn
husking was completed, he left for parts unknown, and was not
heard from for some little time. The parents and other members of
the murdered girl’s family stated that the alleged
courtship, which the prisoner claims existed between the two, was
altogether imaginary on his part, for the reason that the young
girl paid no attention to him. During the time that he worked for
the Millis family the daughter, whom he so cruelly murdered, was
employed by one of the neighbor families. That he became
infatuated with the girl was evidenced by the fact that he forced
his attentions upon her, although she at no time encouraged him.
During the winter and early spring little was heard from him,
until a few weeks before the tragedy, when he came to the county
with a covered wagon and a number of horses, evidently having
been engaged in the horse trading business. Shortly before the
Fourth of July last, DeLair came to the Millis home, on the
pretext that he wished to get a suitcase which he left there last
fall. Mrs. Millis, being unable to find the same, advised him to
wait until her daughter returned home in the evening, saying that
she would be able to find it for him. He did not wait for the
girl to return home, but went to the home of Jas. Johnson, where
she worked and inquired of her where his suitcase and belongings
were and then returned to the Millis home.
On the sixth day of July he left the Millis home and wandered
about the neighborhood up to the time of the commission of the
crime, which stirred all of Delaware county.
THREATENS the GIRL.
On day that he left his cousin’s he met the girl on the
public highway between the Jas. Johnson and Millis farms, and
told her that if she married Mr. Allen, the two would not live
long together. From the time that he made that treat she
refrained from going alone on the public highway.
On July 8, at Dubuque, Miss Millis and John Allen were married
and returned to the Johnson farm in the evening. From the very
day of their marriage the couple was closely watched by DeLair,
who was seen at different times along the highway on which they
had to pass in going to Hopkinton or to the home of the
girl’s parents. On several occasion Mr. and Mrs. Allen saw
DeLair standing or walking along the roadside as they were
driving to or from Hopkinton. At each of these times, however,
they passed him before dark. On the night of the tragedy Mr. and
Mrs. Allen went to Hopkinton early in the evening, and when they
returned home they stopped to make a brief call at her
parents’ home. After spending an hour or so with the Millis
family, the couple started to the Johnson home, where both were
employed. Mr. and Mrs. Millis remained in their door-yard for a
short time after their daughter and husband had gone.
MURDER IS COMMITTED.
Hiding in a turn in the road, behind a clump of bushes and weeds,
DeLair sprang to his feet as he saw the spotted pony coming up
the hill. In order to be sure of his victim, he inquired if it
was Eva Allen. As soon as an affirmative answer was given, he
fired two shots, one ball entering the girl’s right side and
lodging in the region of the heart and the second missed the
husband by an inch or two. After the horse had leaped forward,
the murderer fired the second shot at the husband, the missile
striking the back of the buggy seat on the lower edge and passed
out thru the buggy box.
The couple had only been gone a few minutes when Mr. and Mrs.
Millis heard three shots fired in rapid succession. The first of
which took the life of the girl. Mr. Millis lost no time in
getting to the scene of the tragedy, and when he reached the
first farm house to the west, where the frightened horse was
stopped, the father saw the daughter take her last breath, death
following the shooting within fifteen or twenty minutes. That
DeLair intended to take the lives of the couple is evident by the
fact that he picked a spot along the roadside where he would not
be detected by the young people until it would be too late.
Knowing that members of the Johnson family were in the habit of
driving Mr. Allen’s spotted pony and fearing he might slay
someone other that Mr. and Mrs. Allen, he made sure of his acts
by first inquiring as to who occupied the buggy.
CAPTURED AT RYAN.
For two nights and a day DeLair successfully evaded the officers
and a posse of citizens. Following the shooting, he made his
escape into the woods and hills in the vicinity of Hopkinton.
Bloodhounds from Waterloo were pressed into service, but were of
little use to the officers in running down the fugitive. A search
was instituted early the following morning and kept up
continually for 36 hours, when word was sent to Hopkinton that
the murderer had been captured in the town of Ryan. Sheriff
Hennessey and a number of Hopkinton men hurried to Ryan while
Sheriff Pentony went to Ryan from Manchester upon receiving word
that the man had been arrested.
LANDLADY DETECTS FUGITIVE.
Hungry and tired, the fugitive landed at the town of Ryan at
about 4 o’clock on Friday morning, having walked west across
Hazel Green and Union townships during the night. He left his
suitcase and bundle of clothes at the Illinois Central station
while he went to the hotel to get something to eat and drink.
Upon entering the hotel, Mrs. L. C. Wilson, the landlady,
recognized the man by the description, which had been sent from
Hopkinton, and notified the town marshal, Mr. Johnson, who placed
him under arrest while he was eating his breakfast. He gave the
Ryan officer no trouble in making the arrest, while he maintained
that he was not the guilty party and that he had just come to
Ryan on the night freight. As soon as the officers from
Manchester and Hopkinton arrived they were certain that he was
the man they had been searching for during two nights and the day
previous.
Sheriff Hennessey, Frank Tesar and O. W. Smith brought the
prisoner to Manchester, arriving here at shortly after 9
o’clock. Arriving at the jail, the prisoner appeared fearful
of what might take place before he could be placed behind the
closed doors. A large crowd of curious spectators had gathered at
the jail, when the officer and the prisoner arrived.
CONFESSES TO MURDER.
After Sheriff Hennessey had placed DeLair in his cell, he made an
oral statement of confession of the crime which he committed,
telling Mr. Tesar the facts leading up to the commission of the
awful deed and where he had spent the two nights and one day
intervening. He told Mr. Tesar that he fired the shots but did
not know that he had killed the girl until the officers told him
on the morning of his arrest at Ryan. Following his confession to
Mr. Tesar, the prisoner made a statement which he signed and gave
to the county attorney. In this statement he made the same
statement of confession which he made to F. R. Tesar of
Hopkinton. In his confessing he attempted to justify his acts
because of drunkenness. He declared that he was attempting to
drown his grief over having been jilted by the girl. When the
officers arrested him, he had no weapons on his person, but left
his suit case at the Illinois Central depot, when he went to the
hotel. His 38 caliber revolver was found in the suit case, and
was fully loaded. He stated that on a number of occasions the
posse and officers were within close range of him and that he had
the gun ready if any of them came too close. The hounds and their
keeper were very close to the fugitive at one time, but did not
trail him.
[Photo of George DeLair accompanies this news article -
transcribed by L.Z., August 2015]