Iowa
Old Press
Burlington Hawk Eye
Burlington, Des Moines co., Iowa
July 13, 1878
KILLED ON THE FOURTH.
A Citizen of Rome Murdered at Lockridge
Special Dispatch to the Hawkeye.
Rome, Iowa, July 5- The Fourth passed off here quiet, but this
morning we were startled to hear of F.C. Swaile's death. He lived
here and went to Lockridge to spend the Fourth and was on a
spree, and a saloon keeper at Lockridge struck him on the head
with something, fracturing his skull and causing his death. The
saloon keeper is waiting in jail for the result of the post
mortem examination. He leaves a wife and seven children.
Another Account.
Special Dispatch to the Hawkeye.
Rome, Iowa, July 5- A serious row occurred at Lockridge, which
proved fatal to Frank Swailes, from Rome, Iowa. The particulars
are about as follows: Mr. Frank Swailes started for Lockridge
early in the day, to take in the Fourth and to get on a general
spree. He drank beer quite freely, and became intoxicated. Being
noted for his quarrelsome disposition and noisiness when under
the influence of liquor, he soon got into some misunderstanding
with the saloon-keeper, who struck him on the head over the eye
with a board. He was then
put out and was thrown over the fence. He put his hands to his
head and said he was killed.Some of his friends, thinking he
might be hurt, put him into a wagon and brought him home, where
he died at an early hour. The coroner was notified and came here
in company with three doctors from Mt. Pleasant. A post mortem
examination was held, and the skull examined, and five ounces of
clotted blood found on the brain. His murderer, Jacob Dudwilder,
was promptly arrested this morning, by the marshal from Rome, and
was taken to Mount Pleasant and lodged in jail there. He has a
fairly large family of eight small children, the eldest
only fourteen and in poor circumstances. He is noted for a hard
character and bears a hard name. Mr. Swailes has a very
respectable family who greatly mourns his loss. He has been a
good citizen and respected and peaceable only when he got on a
drunk. His funeral will take place to-morrow, which will be a
warning to his old comrades who have spreed with him, and have
taken many a drink with him but since the red ribbon movement
have put on the red ribbons and most of them have reformed, but
the Fourth of July seemed to be too much for some of them. One of
the reformers, whose name I will not give on account of his
folks, started to Burlington on the morning of the Fourth to
"take in the town," as he called it, and when last hear
from was on a glorious drunk and has not turned up yet and no
telling but what he has shared the same fate of his old chum
"Frank."
[submitted by C.J.L., Oct. 2003]