Iowa
Old Press
Jackson Sentinel
Maquoketa, Jackson County, Iowa
February 1, 1894
Indictment for murder
With the adjournment of the grand jury, an indictment was
returned, charging Marshall Henry Weston, of Bellevue, with the
murder of Hiram Hoover, at the Harmony Park dance near Bellevue,
Sunday morning, December 31, when the latter was fatally shot in
a fracas between himself and Weston, the trouble having risen
over Hoover’s divorced wife who was present. Attorney Miller
of LaCrosse, and Hiram Hoover, of Genoa, Wisconsin, the father of
the young man, brought the evidence before the grand jury to
secure the indictment. Weston, who is a bachelor, about 45 years
of age and a resident of Bellevue all these years, is an
inoffensive looking individual, whose river stories have given
him the name of “Mirac” for the reason that some of his
“oldest settlers” tales are said to be miraculous. When
arrested under the indictment, his attorney, Eli Cole, secured
the signatures of 52 Bellevue citizens to his bail bond, said
citizens being able to qualify in the sum of $850,000, if needed,
says attorney Cole.
--
The ferry boat Midget, sank last Saturday night and now
lays on the bottom of the slough in about eight feet of water on
one side and six on the other. The cause for the sinking is a
mystery and can only be accounted for by the theory that the ice
had started a string of caulking from a seam in the hull as it
melted away a number of days previous and it finally came out
Saturday evening. The boat never leaked with an ordinary load,
while in commission and there was no water in her Thursday
afternoon previous to her sinking. A crew of men worked Sunday
and Monday to raise her, but little could be accomplished before
the severe weather shut off operations.
[transcribed by K.W., May 2009]