The following account is one of the worst tragedies to happen in Lee County. Henry Leiza came to Lee County, Iowa and bought land in the Franklin area.  He cleared the land, built a log cabin and went back to Ohio to marry Elizabeth, the daughter of John and Mary Miller. They had only been married a couple of months when they returned to Iowa along with her parents, her sister Amelia and husband Jacob Risser and a couple of children. They were seen on the river boat at Keokuk and were noted to have nice possessions.  They also gave the impression that they had money.  It is believed that John Miller, a Mennonite preacher, did have money and he planned to invest it in land. The Lee County History of 1879, where one can find the story, has a few discrepancies when one reads the papers that were printed at the time of the murder.  They had been here a couple of weeks according to Mary Miller’s testimony at the trial but the Lee County history book states two or three days.  During that time they were approached by the Mennonites of the area, who asked Reverend Miller if he would be the pastor of the new church they were planning to build at Franklin, and he assured them he would.  Within a night or two of May 10, 1845, three armed men, their faces covered with mud, entered the Miller home around 10:30 at night and stabbed Miller, clubbing his head and body, and left him dying in a pool of blood just outside the back door.  Leiza was shot and stabbed with a big knife made from a file.  It took Leiza three weeks and two hours to die as was stated by Jacob Risser when he appeared as a witness at the trial; Lee County History says he lived only a short time.   Jacob Risser says he was the one who went for help; one source says there was a young lad in the house who went for help; another source says there were nine people in the house; in the 1850 Census,  there is a John Miller of the correct age that could have been a son of the pastor and his wife.   There was no money taken but as they fled, one of the murderers dropped his cap and this was used as evidence in the trial of William and James Hodges, who claimed to be members of the Mormon Church; both were seized and taken to the Fort Madison Prison.  It is believed that a Tom Brown also was one of the murderers but he was not captured.  The trial lasted about a week; the Hodges were found guilty and were taken to Burlington and hanged in a ravine on July 15, 1845.  There were thousands of people who attended the execution, coming by boats, trains and buggies.  The Hodges declared their innocence to the end. Information for this article was researched and written by Erma DeRosear and taken from the Lee County History of 1879; the Burlington Hawkeye dated June 26, 1845; and the Davenport Gazette, dated May 22, 1845.