Blog post by Randi Richardson After shooting and killing Elzie Easton and gunning down his companion, James Douglass, on Christmas Eve, 1889, George Buskirk, the saloon keeper, escaped through a rear door and headed east to the home of his mother. He reportedly gave some thought, initially, to turning himself in to the sheriff, or […]
Blog post by Randi Richardson The story below was taken from an article titled “Double Murder, Terrible Shooting Affair,” published in the Bloomington Telephone on December 27, 1889, and found in the clipping file at the research library, Monroe County History Center, Bloomington, Indiana. It was abbreviated from the lengthy original as shown by the […]
Blog post by Randi Richardson The story below is from upon an article titled “Aunt Jennie’s ‘New’ Hotel Has a Place in History,” published in the Bloomington (IN) Saturday Courier, on May 13, 1955, p. 1B. It is abbreviated from the original as shown by the ellipsis. The Monon railroad, by coming to Stinesville instead […]
Blog post by Randi Richardson Sometimes the line between “vigilante justice” and just downright meanness is quite thin and poorly defined. Such is the 1854 case in which Harrison Spear, variously spelled Speer, was a victim and Hugh Butler, one of several perpetrators, died. The assault was allegedly triggered by Spear’s immoral behavior. Newspapers in […]
Blog Post by Randi Richardson George McQueen “Shorty” Owen (variously spelled Owens) was a tubby individual with a cold eye who feared nothing that walked on two legs. He had several siblings including a sister, Lizzie, who had that same cold eye. She was a teacher in the local schools for a number of years […]
The clipping noted below, written by Mrs. Wesley Hayse, was published in an undated, unsourced Bloomington newspaper under a column called “Looking Back.” It was found in a scrapbook compiled by a man named Fred Lockwood. The scrapbook is held by the Monroe County History Center, Bloomington, Indiana. The item below was abbreviated from the […]