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From: "Cathy Joynt Labath" <>
Subject: [IASCOTT] !! Davenport Times; Scott Co, IA; Dec 17, 1900 "Crime"
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 17:15:15 -0600


Davenport Times
Davenport, Scott, Iowa
Monday December 17, 1900

LIFE'S DARK PAGE
Davenport Has Less Than a Dozen Murders in History
NEVER A BANK ROBBERY NOTED
Record from 1839 to the New Century-The Citizenship and the Police Credited.

Davenport has been a rather unimportant city so far as criminal cases
are concerned. Never in its history have there been any bank robberies. The
criminology is rather slight as compared with that of other cities.
Davenport is much better than Dubuque in this respect, and Dubuque was the
capital of a county before Davenport was dreamed of, or at least before it
was incorporated. Sioux City was then a muddy bank on the Missouri, and
"Flint Hills," now Burlington, was just growing into the semblance of a
village.
There have been less than a score of murders in the history of our
city. No banks have been robbed here, and burglaries of importance have been
scarce and far between.

The Credit Accorded.
The credit for this state of affairs must be accorded first to good
citizenship and second, to the police force, which is vigilant and
efficient.
It may be said that the local department has always shown itself to be
capable of handling the largest crowds and of taking care of the property of
residents during down periods of congestion down town.
Concerning the criminology of this city and other matters pertinent,
thereto the following may be noticed, having been compiled as a continuation
of the police department feature in Saturday's paper:

Murders in Local History.
Since 1839 the following records of murders have been filled out and
these form the dark deeds in the criminology of the city of Davenport:
On Monday, May 15, 1854, the body of a German, which was not
identified, was found lying in the middle of Fourth street, stabbed through
the heart. The murderer was never captured.
On Sunday, Oct. 8, 1854, Thomas Pritchard was murdered by a negro named
Charles Beever, who stabbed him twice in the breast. This happened in the
lower end of the city. Beever and two accomplices were arrested. It was a
dance house quarrel.
On Sunday night, Oct. 23, 1859, Henry Stoddard created a "rough house"
in M. Weidemann's saloon. The proprietor put him out. Stoddard drew a knife
and stabbed a party named William Heirig, who died of his injuries six days
later. Stoddard escaped.
On Aug. 21, 1870, a German woman named Koenig, living near second and
Warren streets, murdered her two children, a boy and a girl, and then
drowned herself in an adjacent well.
On Oct. 14, 1871, Dr. George W. Lyon was stabbed in the abdomen by a
poor demented creature, who was later sent to the asylum. The doctor's
abdomen was ripped open and he died shortly afterwards. The quarrel was over
a dog, which the demented assailant alleged the doctor had poisoned. Both
were neighbors residing on East Seventh street.
On Aug. 12, 1873, Joseph Wilson, a colored man, was shot on West Fourth
street near Harrison street by James Messenger. Officers Niles and Feld
arrested Messenger on the charge of murder and the grand jury indicted him.
On Friday night, Sept. 5, 1873, a party from Alpha, Ill. identified as
Robert McQuestian knocked at the door of a Mr. Fox, who lived on Eighteenth
and Brady streets, and begged to be let in. He said he had been attending
the Scott county fair, which in those years was annually held at the grounds
where Central park now is. He complained of having been in a fight, of
having been kicked in the stomach, and been robbed. He died that same night.
Officers Feld and Maguire worked on the case, but could discover no clue as
to the assailant of the dead man.
On April 27, 1874, Fritz Dinkel murdered his wife by stabbing her in
the breast with a butcher knife.
On May 10, 1880, a saloonkeeper named Fred Bahl shot Frank McLaughlin
to death on West Fifth street. Bahl was arrested and acquitted at the trial.
The murder of Claus Behrens by his wife, Christine Behrens, who fed him
Paris green and for which crime she was sentenced to the Anamosa
penitentiary for life, and the murder of Bill Miller, a negro, by Charles
Stegel near the old Pennsylvania house on Third and Iowa streets, are recent
history. Stegall was also found guilty and is now serving a life sentence.
The Schulz murder and suicide on Brady street several years ago must also be
included in the tragedies of note.
Two other mysterious deaths are also among the records.

.....to be continued...

Cathy Joynt Labath
Scott Co, IA USGenWeb Project
http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/index.htm





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