Harrison County, Indiana
Muskegon (MICH) Chronicle, August 8, 1893, p.1.
FILLED WITH LEAD
How a Mob of Would-be Lynchers Was Greeted
Two Hunted Brothers Near Corydon Fire Upon Them, Killing Four
Corydon, Indiana, August 8-Boone Township, not far from here, was the scene
of a terrible tragedy early Sunday morning, four men being killed and one
fatally wounded. The dead are all farmers, as follows: Edward Houston,
Isaac Howe, John Timberlake and William Wiseman. William May, also a
farmer, was fatally injured.
Four months ago Samuel and William Conrad, farmers aged 27 and 21, living in
Boone Township with their mother and sister, were suspected of killing their
father who was found in a field with his head crushed and a bloody club
lying nearby. After a short time the boys were arrested and charged with
the crime, the supposition being that they put their father out of the way
in order to get his property, the old man being pretty well off. There was
a good deal of excitement at the trial, the courtroom being crowded at every
sitting, but the state could get no proof, and the prisoners were
discharged. This angered the farmers in the community where the Conrads
lived, and it was determined to raise a body of men and try the young
fellows in the court of Judge Lynch.
But the neighbors had misjudged the metal of the suspected brothers. The
latter said nothing when they heard that a mob was proposed, but quietly
loaded up their shotguns and waited. About midnight Saturday, 100 men or
more assembled at a small school house not far from the home of the Conrads
and marched to the house, reaching there about one o'clock in the morning.
Some of the members of the mob were masked and others made no attempt at
concealment.
After the Conrads had received warning of the visit, they hid themselves
under a porch on the front part of the house. They had made several auger
holes in the flooring of the porch through which the muzzles of the guns
could be thrust and fired at close range with deadly execution. When the
gang approached the house and stepped on the porch, they demanded
admittance. At that moment the Conrads fired. The contents found lodgment
in the bodies of the mob and two men fell dead on the porch. Two others
were found several hours later a few hundred yards from the house stone
dead. It is also reported that Mrs. Conrad was injured in the fight.
Finding it impossible to dislodge the brothers, the mob withdrew to the
woods and held a consultation. The lynchers hadn't expected such a
determined resistance and didn't know exactly what to do. It was finally
decided to wait till daylight and then make another attack. When the dawn
came and it was clear daylight, another advance was made upon the house, but
everything was still, and the house appeared deserted. The mob approached
the place unmolested and, meeting with no resistance, broke open the front
door. No one was in the lower part of the house, and a search was made of
the upper story. Some blood was found upon the floor, and it was evident
that one or both of the brothers had been wounded. A search of the stable
showed that the two horses were gone. The brothers had fled. As the Ohio
River is not far away, it is thought they have escaped into Kentucky.
World has been sent to New Albany, Jeffersonville, Louisville and other
towns on the river to be on the lookout for the Conrad brothers. Should
they be caught and brought back here, their fate would soon be sealed as the
farmers of Boone Township are determined to hang them. The sheriff and a
posse are now searching the country between Boone Township and the Ohio
River.
At the preliminary trial of the Conrad boys for murdering their father, it
was said that while out in the woods chopping a dispute arose among them in
which the old man was killed by his sons. The brothers testified at the
trial that the old man fell against the stove in their house and sustained
injuries that cause his death. Mrs. Conrad's testimony was in favor of the
boys' story, and while it was generally believed they were guilty, the
justice could do nothing under the circumstances but discharge them. The
Conrad boys always had borne a good reputation prior to the murder of their
father, and by many of the best people in their neighborhood the suspicion
of guilt for that deed was not entertained. Both men are unmarried.