Bloomington (Monroe County, Indiana) World, November 12, 1899, p. 1.
Spencer, Ind., Oct. 11-One of the most remarkable trials ever tried in this
county was terminated at eight o'clock when the jury returned into open
court a verdict of guilty against William H. Wagoner, charged with murdering
his wife on the 10th day of October 1891.
It was eight years before an indictment was found by a Greene County grand
jury; and during all these years the defendant resided within a radius of 25
or 30 miles of Newark, the scene of the tragedy.
A great mystery surrounded the facts in the case. One hundred and fifty
witnesses were subpoenaed, and four days were occupied in the investigation.
Hon. Charles Hunt of Sullivan, Hon. John A. Riddle of Bloomfield and Hon.
Homer L. McGinnis of Spencer represented the State while East & East of
Bloomington and Ed. S. Davis of Gosport represented the defendant.
It would seem from the evidence that the defendant at the age of 16 years,
and while in a state of intoxication, without any prior courtship or
engagement, married Clara Anderson who had all her life been a much
deformed, ill-shaped and partial paralytic with little intelligence but a
violent temper and unable to support herself, much less perform the duties
of a wife.
It was a tacitly admitted fact that the unfortunate woman was a burdensome
charge upon her mother who was a widow, and the marriage was brought about;
and the young man thought it a mere joke at the time, but one Watson, a
son-in-law, had in fact procured a regular license, paid for them, had a
justice of the peace to perform the ceremony, and after this mock marriage,
solemnly legalized, however, the defendant lived with the girl five days
then abandoned her, but she became much devoted to him and followed him
about the neighborhood like a child until in May following this same Watson
took her to the home of the defendant's father, but they refused to keep
her, and Watson refused to take her home, when she became desperate and
declared she would drown herself and plunged head foremost into Indian Creek
but was rescued by the defendant when nearly dead. The defendant then took
her back to her mother's, some six or eight miles, and left her, and during
the summer following, she kept up her visits until he, to get rid of her,
went to Springfield, Missouri, remained there something over a year, then
returned to the neighborhood of Newark, and the unfortunate woman again
renewed her efforts to get her husband to live with her, but without avail.
This condition remained until 1888 or 1889 when Wagoner's father sold out
and removed to Gosport some 20 miles away; the defendant going with him and
making his home there, and on account of the distance, husband and wife did
not meet again until about May 1890 when Mary Ann Anderson, the mother of
deceased, induced the defendant to return to Newark and enter into the
blacksmithing business, she furnishing money to purchase the tools, and he
was to live with and care for his wife. This arrangement lasted until
August 1890 when the defendant again left. The defendant, in August
following, went back to Gosport where he remained until one week after the
death of his wife. He again returned to the little town of Payne, and on
the 9th day of November 1891, married Mary A. Clark by whom he had one
child, a little girl now about six years old. It was from these
circumstances, principally, that the state sought to fix a motive for the
murder. It was proved that the defendant had, on several occasions, said
that he was going to have a divorce or have his marriage with Miss Anderson
declared void and had placed his case in the hands of an attorney for that
purpose.
The defense was an alibi. The defendant was on the witness stand for seven
hours. Until the first two days of the trial, it was not known that the
state had any other evidence, but on the second evening two prisoners who
were in jail testified to continuous confessions which occurred preceding
the trial in which it was stated that the defendant had admitted to these
men that he was present at the death of his wife, that he had paid the said
Watson $50,00 to do the deed, and that he had gone there from Gosport on
that night and had met Watson a mile and a half from the house, and that he,
Watson, had choked the defendant to death, and at midnight had put her in
the cistern. The defendant proved an alibi by his sister and
brother-in-law, but the jury did not believe it. Since the trial the
defendant has admitted that he was present at the time of his wife's death
and that his wife had taken "Rough on Rats," but that she did not expire
under its effects, and thereupon George Watson with his thumb and finger
choked her till the breath was gone and then threw her in the cistern feet
foremost after removing the top.
He also says that the mother of the dead woman took the lantern from her
home, as well as the rope and kettle, and that it was she who dropped them
in after the body had been put in, and she placed the platform of the
cistern in its place.
If these statements are true, then it was a most foul murder, and the mother
and brother-in-law are also guilty.