On the Saturday
following, Kussack, with Justice Hayes and a constable, accompanied by Mr.
Woods, John Healy and others, arrested Kelley, "dragged him out of his place
and cut off all communication between him and his wife". Woods and two or three
others are said to have then stripped the woman entirely naked. The watch was found on Kelley's premises, by
one of his own little children, "in what she calls her play house." Woods, who is a railroad "boss", is said to
have next tied a handkerchief about Kelley's mouth, and hanged him by the heels
over a bridge near his house, "then drew him up and otherwise abused him" until
the unfortunate victim perished under the blows.
The writer proceeds: "I was
personally speaking to Squire Hayes and asked him to secure the murderer" - "he
could not issue a warrant to apprehend this Woods and many others concerned in
this direful outrage, until it would go through the head Sheriff's hands." No inquest was held but the Justice pressed
men to bury the corpse, which was done with indecent haste, without religious
rites. - St. Louis Leader
Keowee Courier, November 27, 1858
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Larry Flesher, Washington County, MO
A Venerable Matron
Madame Roussin, of Washington County, Missouri, is 97 years of age, and in good health. She has seen her
fourth generation,
amounting to three hundred and thirty. She was married in 1775, and, as may readily be supposed, there were
but few
Americans resident in that State within the remotest period of her recollection. She has been a widow for
thirty-nine years.
By her marriage, she was the mother of five sons and five daughters
Submitted by Thomas Fea
Glasgow Weekly Times, August 26, 1852.
Cholera at Potosi, Mo. - The cholera has been prevailing very fatally at
Potosi, Washington county. Thirty deaths had taken place in the town and immediate vicinity, up to the 16th inst.
The disease was then abating, and hopes were entertained that the worst was over. Submitted by Christine Lembeck Sacramento Daily Union, November 2, 1852
MARRIED - In Santa Clara Valley, Oct. 14th, Elias F. Springer to Miss Kate E. Shore, both formerly of Washington County, Missouri Submitted by Christine Lembeck Sacramento Daily Union, May 30, 1853
In Auburn, May 19th, Alice Cornelia Roussin, daughter of S.C. and Catherine Roussin, formerly of Washington County, Missouri, after lingering illness of five months, aged 8 years.
Rockford Herald, January 2,
1857
Atrocious Murder in
Washington County, Mo.
A correspondent, apparently
engaged in the construction of the Iron Mountain Railroad, writes us from
Washington county, the particulars of an outrage, amounting, according to the
statement, to a cold blooded and ferocious murder. We are informed that a night or two previous
to Saturday, the 20th of November, a railroad foreman, described as
a "north of Ireland Orangeman," and named Kussack, came to the house of John
Kelley, an Irishman, and producing a bottle of whiskey, engaged Kelley in a
drinking bout, with the design, as charged, of proceeding to impropriety
towards Kelley's wife, who is represented as a somewhat loose character. Kussack, however succumbed to the influence
of liquor, and on recovering his senses, found that his watch and twenty
dollars were missing.
Submitted by Christine Lembeck
SENTENCED
William L. Hall, who, in 1857, killed a man
named Bullock, in Washington County, Mo., has just been convicted and sentenced
to the penitentiary for 15 years.