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Iowa News from across the
Country
- 1870 -
New York Herald
New York, New York
July 12, 1870
Quadruple Murder Trial in Iowa.
Andrew Thompson is on trial at West Union, Fayette county, Iowa,
for murder. The trial is exciting great interest in Northwestern
Iowa. He is charged with the murder of a Mrs. Hagerty and her
three children, a year ago last winter, in Clayton county. The
trial takes place at West Union on a change of venue. Thompson is
a man of liberal means, and his defence is under the management
of some of the ablest lawyers in the Northwest*.
[*transcribers note: Fayette co. and Clayton co. are Iowa counties in Northeast Iowa - not Northwest, as the news article states; transcribed by S.F., June 2004]
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New York Herald
New York, New York
October 4, 1870
Terrible Record of Crime - Confession of Andrew Thompson,
a Wealthy Farmer, Convicted of the Murder of the Hagerty Family -
An Almost Incredible Narrative of Diabolism.
[From the Burlington (Iowa) Gazette, Sept. 30] - The
confession of Andrew Thompson, charged and convicted in the
northwestern* part of the State of the murder of the Hagerty
family, has appeared. The murder was committed in December, 1868,
was discovered in May, 1869, by the finding of the trunk and the
bodies of the murdered family by fishermen, the former near
Prairie du Chien, the latter between Cassville and Dubuque.
Andrew Thompson, a wealthy farmer of Clayton county, first became
acquainted with Maria Hagerty at the saloon of her husband, at
Bull's Head, in 1858. In 1861 he employed her to work for him. In
1864 he became criminally intimate with her, continuing his
intimacy until 1866. In the latter year she gave birth to a
child, the offspring of this intimacy, having some time before
separated from her husband. This child was murdered by the
mother, with the knowledge of Thompson and by him concealed.
Thompson claims that he then sought to get rid of the woman, but
she persisted in remaining near him, and by threats obtained
complete control of him. His wife became alarmed and was also
threatened with violence. Having in vain endeavored to purchase
release from the woman, and in vain sought to induce her to leave
him, Thompson, in December, 1868, consented, or appeared to
consent, to her plan of deserting his family and removing with
her to some distant place, where they should live together. On
the evening of December 8, 1868, he took Maria Hagerty, her two
boys and daughter, into his sleigh, at McGregor, crossed to
Wisconsin, and began the journey which ended in the murder of the
mother and her children and his return to his home. He drove to
Bridgeport, Patch Grove, Taiton, North Andover, Cassville,
Beetown and Lancaster. The girl was sick when they started, and
appeared to become worse as they proceeded. At Lancaster Thompson
wished to remain all night and save the girl from further
exposure by camping out, as they had done from the time they had
left McGregor. The mother objected and charged Thompson with
being desirous of delay that his family might overtake him and
give him an excuse for deserting her and returning home. They
drove on, but had not gone far when one of the boys called out
that his sister had fainted.
Thompson's Statement.
Thompson tells the story of the murder as follows: -- It was
beginning to get a little dark when we left Lancaster. When we
had gone along the Plattville road about a mile, I should judge,
we had to cross quite a deep ravine. Just as we got to the top of
the hill, on the south side of the ravine, one of the boys said
Anna had fainted. We stopped, and Mrs. Hagerty dashed some snow
into her face and chafed her hands, and in a short time she felt
as well as ever. Mrs. Hagerty then wanted her to drink some wine,
but she wouldn't taste it. Mrs. Hagerty then drank about
one-third of a pint of wine herself. I urged her strongly to go
back to Lancaster and remain over night, and see if we could get
something done for Anna, but she wouldn't hear to it. We then
started on again and travelled two or three miles, when the boy
said he thought Anna had fainted again. It was quite dark then,
and there was timber on both sides of the road. I turned off to
the left of the road into the edge of the timber, intending to
stop there for the night. I stopped abuot five or six rods from
the road. As soon as I stopped I handed Mrs. Hagerty a match and
told her to light the lantern and see to Anna. I unhitched the
horses from the sled, and, just as I was in the act of fastening
them to a tree, Mrs. Hagerty called out, "Boss, Anna is
dead." Mrs. Hagerty generally called me boss when she spoke
to me. I said, "Surely not." She said, "Yes, I am
sure she is dead." I lifted the two trunks out of the front
of the sled, and then got in and looked at the girl. I felt her
pulse and put my ear to her mouth and listened. I chafed her
hands for some time without effect. She was dead. When fully
satisfied that the girl was dead, I said to Mrs. Hagerty,
"What are we to do now?" She said, "We must dig a
grave and bury her." I said that wouldn't do; if we were to
dig a grave and bury her there in the woods, without a coffin,
and hte grave be found and the body dug up, it would be thought
that we had murdered her and we would be followed and arrested
for murder. She said the girl had died a natural death, and it
was nobody's business how she was buried. I said that was all
very true, but people would make it their business if they found
it out, and that the only way for us to do now was to go back to
Lancaster and tell how the girl had died, have an inquest, if it
should be thought necessary, and bury her decently. I would here
remark that Mrs. Hagerty had treated Anna very harsh and
unfeelingly all through the trip, and I am sure some of the
people where we stopped must have noticed it. When I told Mrs.
Hagerty that we must go back to Lancaster she got into a terrible
passion and said if we went back and had an inquest we would have
to tell who we were and all about ourselves, and then my folks
would know where I was and would come after me; that it would
keep us two or three days at Lancaster, and by that time my folks
would be there. She said she knew all I wanted to go back for was
to leave her there and go back to my "d ----d lazy b------h
of a wife." She then called my wife and myself and all my
folks very bad and insulting names, everything she could lay her
tongue to, and swore she would have all sorts of revenge. I was
very angry at her and saide to her, "There is no use of your
storming and threatening; I am going back to Lancaster." I
turned to leave the sled; and just as I had got one foot out and
had my hands on the endboard Mrs. Haggerty said, "I'll have
your [illegible - could be "life first"] She picked up
a hammer that was hanging on the sleigh and jumped toward me and
struck me on the neck. I think she intended to strike me on the
head, but missed her aim, as I was raising my head at the moment.
The hammer belonged to Mrs. Hagerty, and was used by me. In the
mornings, to knock the balls of snow from the horses' feet that
had formed during the night. The next blow that Mrs. Hagerty
dealt me was on the point of the shoulder, right on the bone, and
was very painful. She was striking me with all her might. She
struck me several other blows on the arm, as I was in the act of
raising up and bringing my foot back in the sleigh. As soon as I
had got my foot in the sled and stood up I snatched the hammer
out of her hand and struck her two or three times on the head
with it. I was mad with passion at the time and scarcely knew
what I was doing. All these scenes didn't occupy one minute. As
soon as I realized what I was doing I dropped the hammer out of
my hand. Mrs. Hagerty stood a few seconds and then threw herself
down on the bed, across the feet of the girl and between the girl
and the boys -- the boys were lying a little lower down on the
bed than the girl. Soon after Mrs. Hagerty threw herself down on
the bed she commenced screaming at the top of her voice, and the
boys screamed with her. I asked the boys to stop crying, but they
paid no attention to me. They screamed a few minutes and then
stopped. As soon as they were all quiet I tried to apologize to
Mrs. Hagerty for what I had done. I told her that I was sorry I
had struck her; that the insulting language she had used and the
blows she had dealt me made me lose control of my temper for the
moment or I wouldn't have struck her. I asked her to let me see
if I had hurt her much, and see if I could do anything for her.
She didn't speak, and when I stooped over to look at her head she
waived me off with her hand. As I stood looking at her in silence
for a few minutes and wondering what I could do, I heard sleigh
bells approaching from the direction of Plattsville, and almost
at the same time I heard the voices of the people in the sleighs
laughing and talking. I thought when I first heard them they were
quite near, as it was a very still, frosty night, and they were
farther off than I supposed they were. I think Mrs. Hagerty must
have heard them at nearly the same time I did, for she commenced
screaming again as loud as she could and the boys cried with her.
I begged of them to stop, but they took no notice of me. I was in
a terrible dilemma; alone in the woods at night in a strange
country, with the girl lying dead, the woman wounded and
screaming, and the two boys crying out as if in mortal terror. I
picked up the feather bed that was lying at my feet and threw it
over Mrs. Haggerty and the boys to keep their cries from being
heard till the approaching party were passed. Mrs. Haggerty threw
the bed off with her hand, and seemed to scream louder than ever.
I am sure the approaching party would have heard her if they had
not been making so much noise themselves. After she had thrown
the bed off I put the light out, and put the bed over her again
and held it so she couldn't throw it off. She struggled terribly
to get the bed off and to cry out; the first of the sleighing
party were almost by us, when she ceased her cries and struggles.
The boys had also stopped crying. I was afraid to remove the bed
until the sleighs had passed, but did not hold it down after Mrs.
Haggerty had ceased struggling. As near as I could judge there
were five or six teams of the sleighing party. I didn't see them,
as the hind end of my sled was towards the road and was closed
up. I think there were three or four (I couldn't say which)
sleighs pretty close together, driving leisurely along. I think
they must have been some sort of a pleasure party. A short
distance behind them was what appeared to be a loaded team,
judging from the crunching noise the sled made in the snow, and
about the same distance or a little further behind that again was
another loaded team. As soon as the last sleigh had passed a
short distance I removed the bed. There was no one spoke at this
time ormade any noise. I called one of the boys by name, but
received no answer. I then lighted the lantern and looked at
them. The two boys laid on their backs, with their eyes open, and
seemed to be looking straight at me. I spoke to them again, but
could get no answer. I then shook them, but they never moved. I
became alarmed then. I looked at the woman. She was lying partly
on her face. I turned her over and spoke to her and shook her,
but she showed no signs of life. She had on a hood with the
strings tied around her neck. I run my fingers in between the
strings and her neck and pulled them so as to loosen them about
the throat. I took the boys' comforters off; then I got snow and
dashed in their faces; I got the bottle of wine and poured some
in the mouths of the woman and one of the boys, but could not
open the other boy's mouth -- his jaws seemed to be locked and
his tongue protruded. I continued to chafe their hands and dash
snow in their faces. I heard some more teams coming and put out
my light. I worked with them a long time, probably an hour or
more -- I do not know how long. I chafed their hands; called them
all by name; raised them up and shook them by turns but all was
of no avail, they were dead; I had smothered them."
Having committed the murder, Thompson says he was stupefied, and
for three hours sat upon the trunks in semi-unconsciousness. It
then occurred to him that he must conceal what he had done, and
he started for Beetown, near which he had observed mineral holes,
in which he thought he might hide the bodies. through Lancaster
he drove, lost his way, stopped to procure directions, and having
wandered for hours with his freight of ghastly corpses, came to
the mineral holes only to find them too shallow for his pupose.
He then determined to go to Cassville and hide the evidence of
his crime in the river. Again he had difficulty in finding his
road, but at nearly daylight passed through Cassville, went to
the river and there cast away the bodies. In his confession
Thompson gives the particulars of this night's ride with a
particularity of detail which is appalling. The bodies have been
disposed of, he drove a short distance and burned his sleigh
cover to destroy the identity of his outfit. He then drove
rapidly towards Prairie du Chien, and near that place put the
baggage of the murdered family into the river, and then made his
way home.
[also in this issue of the paper]
Personal Notes.
The Hon. William Smyth, Representative in Congress from the
Second district of Iowa, died at his residence in Marion on the
30th. Mr. Smyth had long been ill of a disease which was, we
believe, but the return of a malady contracted by him during the
war of the Union, and which nearly proved fatal then. Mr. Smyth
was an old citizen of Iowa, though a native of Ireland.
[*transcribers note: Clayton co. is in Northeast Iowa - not Northwest, as the news article states; transcribed by S.F., June 2004]
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Freeborn County
Standard
Albert Lea, Minnesota
October 13, 1870
The Rochester Post says Andrew Thompson, tried and
convicted a few weeks since of the murder of Mrs. Hogarth and her
three children, near McGregor, Iowa, has made a full confession
of the crime. He
smothered them in a feather-bed, and took their bodies to the
river and threw them under the ice last winter, and the finding
of their bodies and the bed in the spring led to his arrest.
[transcribed by S.F., June 2004]
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Albany Evening
Journal
Albany, New York
October 31, 1870
Mr. Baldwin, of Cresco, Iowa, riding out in company with Mr. and
Mrs. James C. Smith, of Allamakee county, were thrown from a
buggy on Friday. Mr. Baldwin was instantly killed, Mrs. Smith so
severely injured that her recovery is doubtful, and Mr. Smith
hurt severely, but not dangerously.
[transcribed by S.F., August 2007]
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Brooklyn Eagle
Brooklyn, New York
November 8, 1870
A company of ladies hauled a hook and ladder truck to a fire at
Waukon, Iowa, the other night.
Mystery Lake, in Bremer county, Iowa, discharges its waters by a
subterranean passage 100 fee under the surface, and is supposed
to be the cause of a large spring which bubbles up in Waverly
Lake.
[transcribed by S.F., February 2005]
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name of paper not
given
Alta, California
November 20, 1870
Died.
RALSTON -- At Lon Moor, Iowa, November 17th, Robert RALSTON, aged
72 years, father of W. C. and A. J. RALSTON of this city.
[note: there is no town named Lon Moor in Iowa, perhaps Robert Ralston lived in Low Moor, Clinton co.; Le Mars, Plymouth co. or La Moille (Lamoille) in Marshall co. Iowa]