Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2016 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== EAST SHORE NEWS PENTWATER, OCEANA Co., MICH. FRIDAY, May 31, 1872 Vol. II, Number 72 THE EAST SAGINAW TRAGEDY Details of one of the Most Sickening Crimes on Record. From the East Saginaw Courier, May 22. Between 3 and 4 o'clock yesterday morning, one of the bloodiest tragedies that ever blotted the history of this city, occurred out on Janes street (Deerfield road), near the corner of eighth street. In view of the fact that the man was perfectly sane at the time of the commission of the deed, and the fact that he is reported to have been a temperate man, therefore not having the customary liquor delirium to plead in extenuation for him, it becomes one of those cold blooded transactions, for brutal ferocity rarely equaled, never surpassed. The name of the would be murderer, and successful suicide, is CHARLES BOESE, and his history and that of his family is as follows, as far as could be learned from the facts before the Coroner's jury, and could be gleaned from those living nearest the scene of blood. BOESE came to East Saginaw about three weeks ago from Tonawanda, New York, where he had lived a term of years, and worked as a common laborer, until a short time previous to his leaving that place, when he broke one of his legs, from which he had but recently re- covered - in fact he has done no work since his ar- rival here, his wife having supported the family by going out to do washing and odd chores. His family consists of his wife, two children (boys) here, and a son living in the old country. GUSTAV, the eldest of the boys here, (a bright lad of fourteen) tells of the frequent abuse of his mother by his father, heretofore, but to the extent only of using his fists on her. And he tells also of a wordy quarrel between them the night before. Yesterday, however, MRS. BOESE arose as usual between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning, saying in answer to her husband's inquiry as to where she was going, that she was going out to do some washing, mentioning the house whither she had engaged to go. At this the husband leaped from the bed, and without answering, seized a hatchet lying near, and made a murderous assault upon the woman, striking her with the weapon upon and over the left eye, forcing that organ out upon her cheek, and following up his attack with blows upon other portions of the head and person until the woman fell senseless upon the floor. Thinking he had despatched her, BOESE then seized a butcher knife, with a blade fully 10 inches in length, and plunged it into his stomach just below the breast bone, and pressing down on the knife, by apparent- ly four separate cuts, each one from an inch to an inch and a half in length, made a horrible incision in his abdomen, through which his bowels protruded to a great extent. The two boys in the meantime, had commenced screaming, "You have killed mother." "Yes," said the demon, "and I will kill you, too," at which the boys fled the house. BOESE, notwith- standing the terrible wounds he had inflicted on himself, next rushed from the house, with the hatchet in one hand and knife in the other. He had made but a few steps, when he tripped against a rail and fell, but recovering, he made for a hole in the ground about ten steps from, and in front of the house, in which there was probably four inches of water. Into this the wretched man threw himself, evidently with the intention of ending his suffer- ings and miserable life, by drowning. There not being sufficient water in the hole to accomplish this, BOESE dragged himself out, and again entered the house, where he sunk to his knees, still keep- ing possession of the knife and hatchet. By this time, some of the neighbors, among them Mr. EARNEST WEICHMAN, had arrived on the spot. Mr. WEICHMAN says that when he got there he heard loud grunting (as he expressed it) inside the house, accompanied by a noise, as of some one chopping something. Leav- ing one of the men who had come with him at the front door, Mr. W. passed to the rear of the house when he affected an entrance, to find BOESE still on his knees, covered with blood from head to foot, his bowels dragging the floor, still holding the knife in his left hand, while he dealt blows on his head with the hatchet in his right. At the approach of WEICHMAN, BOESE made an effort as if to hurl either knife or hatchet at him (WEICHMAN), but the latter seized hold of the man, and wrested the knife from his grasp, BOESE meantime striking himself with the hatchet on different parts of the head. WEICHMAN addressed a question to BOESE, as to what he was trying to do, and BOESE replied in the low Dutch language, with apparent composure, "I have killed her, and I am now killing myself." Soon after BOESE fell over dead, not, however, un- til a large number had congregated, to some of whom he spoke intelligibly. Word was immediately sent to Coroner FORREST, Dr. HESSE and Dr. ROSS, the former of whom summoned a jury, while the lat- ter attended to the prostrate woman, who was, and is still alive, whom they caused to be removed to the house of a neighbor near by, and her wants administered to. The woman is badly injured, but it is thought by the attending physicians not fatally. But little was elicted at the examina- tion other than has been related. There were over thirty distinct wounds on the person of BOESE, and the woman's head was fearfully cut, and the skull fractured, and one of her fingers entirely cut off. She is being properly cared for. There is much to indicate that this most sanguinary affair was premeditated by BOESE, as instance the fact that he had on Monday ground the hatchet, (a common shingling one) and the knife to an exceeding fine edge, and had taken the precaution to lay them in position to be easily reached by him. Thus closes act one of this blood-thirsty affair, which is said to have grown entirely out of a jealousy long harbored by the monster, BOESE. ===========================================================================