One hundred twelve years ago, on Sunday, June 9, in the thriving railroad town of Villisca, Iowa, Josiah and Sara Moore spent their last day with their children Herman, Katherine, Boyd and Paul.
Katherine's friends Lena and Ina Stillinger walked into town to prepare for the Presbyterian Church's Children's Day evening service. Their sister Blanche permitted them to stay the night with the Moore family.
The following is a timeline leading up to the discovery of the Monday, June 10, 1912, Villisca, Iowa, axe murders.
6:30 am - Sunday, June 9, 1912
Henry Enarson calls the Reverend Ewing home to ask if the visiting minister, Reverend Lyn George Jacklin Kelly, can stay with Reverend and Mrs. Ewing this evening. Ewing agrees to host Kelly.
8:00 am-8:30 am
From his field, Joseph Stillinger sees Lena & Ina Stillinger walking toward Villisca for Sunday School.
Photo byThe Villisca Review
9:30 am
The Methodist Church bells are ringing on a bright, sunny day. Alice Willard is sitting on her front porch.
Mrs. Glackmeyer prepares for the morning program at the Methodist Church. She and Miss Letha Jones are in charge of it.
Unlike the Presbyterian and Methodist churches, the Peckham family is walking to their Christian Church, which does not hold evening services.
10:00 am
Sunday School begins at the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches.
Bruce Stillings opens his father's drugstore for business. He cleans the store, opens the mail, and then goes for lunch.
Photo byFile
11:00 am
Morning worship and sermon begin at the Presbyterian Church, and morning preaching service starts at the Methodist Church.
Sara Moore's friend, Mrs. Meyers, attends the Methodist Church in the morning, while the Moore family attends the Presbyterian Church.
1:00 pm
Lee VanGilder is walking in front of the Stillian's place when he sees one of the Stillian's boys go over to talk to Joe Moore.
Bruce Stillings heads to K.P. Club Room after eating supper. He stays until 7 pm.
Ed Selley goes to work at the Joe Moore Implement Store.
Mrs Meyers went out on her lawn and noticed no strangers around. She notes the air is damp. Mrs. Sara Moore stops to visit before walking over to the Presbyterian Church to drill the children for Children's Day exercises. Mrs. Meyers is good friends with the Moores.
2:00 pm
Mrs. Ewing, Sara Moore, and Miss Hugis work with the children on a service for the Presbyterian Church. Lena and Ina Stillinger are rehearsing with Herman, Katherine, Boyd, and Paul Moore. They drill until 4:00 pm.
Photo byDes Moines Register
3:00 pm
Reverend Kelly preaches at a schoolhouse in District 10 in nearby Arlington.
H. A. Glackmeyer, an insurance/real estate loan agent, lies on a couch reading at home after a satisfying dinner. It is a pleasant day. His wife clears away the dishes and notices a man going past their house. She calls her husband, "Get up and see what the matter is with that man." He was looking over all of the houses along the street. Glackmeyer gets up but misses seeing the man. His wife said, "You are too late. He has just gone out of sight to the north." The Glackmeyers live next door to Albert Jones. Albert lives in the first house north of the alley behind Joe Moore's home.
He sees neighbour Albert Jones painting his home's windows yellow.
3:30 pm
Ed Selley sees Joe Moore on the south side of the square on the street near the Villisca Post Office.
4:00 pm
Harry Himiller and his wife go to C. A. Moore's to visit.
Ed, Ethel Landers, and their boys are in Villisca from Shenandoah, visiting Ed's mother at her home. Ed is a Real Estate man. Mother Landers lives across from Joe Moore's home. There is a vacant lot west of her house where rye grows.
Photo byFile
4:30 pm
Sara, Joe Moore, and their four children visit his parents, as they do every Sunday.
Evening
Ed Selley has dinner at his brother-in-law's home.
Ethel Landers helps Mrs. Posten, her sister-in-law, serve the evening meal at the restaurant. Ed Landers joins in.
5:00 pm
The supper hour begins at Mrs. Poston's Café.
6:00 pm
Blanche Stillinger receives a call from Joe Moore asking if Lena and Ina can stay the night at their home. The girls are afraid to walk to their grandmother's in the dark.
Katherine and the Stillinger girls bring milk to Mrs. Ewing. They are in a hurry due to other deliveries. The girls are excited and tell her about their plan to stay overnight at the Moores' home.
Mary Peckham says she sees the Stillinger girls at the Moore house and learns the girls are going to stay the night.
Lawrence Gridley, 17, drives his horse and buggy into the alley and begins to unhitch it with the help of Fred Fryer and Vern Robinson. They put the horse in the barn and the buggy in the back of Churchhill's property. Joe Moore has pigs in a fenced-in area in a vacant lot in the back that he rents and is doing chores.
Photo byFile
Gridley had just purchased the buggy six weeks prior from the Joneses. Albert Jones and Joe Moore look over the horse as Lawrence unhitches it. They take the horse to the barn to feed him. Albert Jones tells Gridley, "A pretty good-looking rig you are driving." Joe and Albert chat back and forth while looking over the horse.
Gridley had seen Albert and Joe out doing their chores at the same time many times. Joe and Albert talked a bit about the buggy business. Joe said, "I came pretty near selling that fellow a buggy." Albert said, "Did you?" Joe says, "Yes, sir."
6:30 pm
Mr. Enarson arrives at the Ewing house in his automobile with Reverend Kelly. Kelly wants to take the early morning train home to Macedonia.
William Lear escapes from the Clarinda asylum heading toward Creston.
A mile east of Villisca, dairyman Mr. Talbet saw a man come out of the timber and went toward Villisca. His wife and their servant girl also saw him. The family were on their way into town for church and passed the man on the road a short distance east of the Moore home.
The first bell rings for the young people's services at the Presbyterian church.
Dan Stillings and his friend Goldie Mitchell sit in his parent's front room and look at a postcard album.
Photo byBryon Houlgrave The Register
6:52 pm
Joe Moore's brother Fenrik Moore arrives at the Villisca Depot on the No. 2 and visits his parents. Rev. Ewing and Reverend Kelly head to the church for the "Young People's Meeting" service.
7:00 pm
The "Young People's Meeting" begins in the rear room of the church.
The "Young People's Meeting" begins at the Methodist Church.
The Advent Church gets ready for the Holy Roller Preacher in town to come and preach at their church. The church is lit up and waiting. He never shows.
Villisca Town Marshall Hank Horton. Henry (Mike) Overman, night watchman, comes on duty.
He meets Hank Horton on the street, and they proceed to the jail, where they talk for a while. They walk back down through the park. Horton is to meet his wife on the corner after church. Overman continues on his rounds, checking doors and alleys. He goes from the Bank to the Depot and then to the square to the stores, ensuring the doors are locked.
Photo bymomontheside.com
Bruce Stillings leaves the K. P. Club Room and walks to his girlfriend's house, where he stays until around midnight.
7:30 pm
Mary Peckham sees the Moore's walking to church. Smallpox quarantined the Moore house for a second time.
Mrs. Ewing sees the Moores & the Stillinger girls head up the street to church.
Evening
Joe's brother Ross Moore and his wife Jessie stay home for the evening with guests. Mrs. F. F. Jones and her daughter, Letha, call on Mrs. Glackmeyer to ask if she would like to go to the Presbyterian service with them.
A holy roller minister was to appear at the Methodist Church, so they opted to see the Children's Day program in the Presbyterian Church. Letha went to ask if her sister-in-law Dona would join them, but she and Albert had just returned from Clarinda on the train and decided not to go. The three women head on to the church.
8:00 pm
The church bells ring, signalling the beginning of the services.
Reverend Ewing seated Reverend Kelly on the south side of the church in the south section of seats, either the first or second seat from the rear door. The rear seats were short, enough for one or two people to sit in them.
Photo byFile
Children's Day Service at the Presbyterian Church begins a bit late.
Rev. Wesley Ewing sits behind Sara Moore on the north side of the church, about the second seat from the front. He recalls Joe sitting on the north side of the church along the north aisle, two or three seats from the rear. Ewing notes that the church is entire.
A son is born to Mr. & Mrs. Fred Fishor, seven miles southwest of Villisca.
After 8:00 pm
Mary Peckham retires for the evening a little after 8. Her bedroom is upstairs in the south room (facing the street), and her son Ernest is in the east room. Ernest kept late hours, so no one knew when he went to bed.
Mrs. Poston calls supper off at her restaurant. After cleaning up, the Postons and the Landers visit about the Lander's California vacation news as they had just returned from days before. The Postons lock up the restaurant and walk with Ethel and Ed Landers. They walk together as far as the Poston's home, then pass the show on the square's east side, past the school house, and then turn down the street to his mother's home where they are staying. Ethel Landers does not see anybody on the street or the porch of Moore's house.
Next-door neighbour H.A. Glackmeyer sees Albert Jones in the yard with his chickens and then sees him go into his house. Glackmeyer plays with the children in the yard and can see the Jones parlour. He can see Dona and Albert Jones working at the dining room table.
Mrs. M. A. Landers said she and her son's family retired for the evening at 9 pm. She had no electric lights in her home, only lamp light. When alone, it was her custom to leave her lamp burning down slightly. The clock struck nine after Ed and his wife went upstairs.
The Children's Day program at the Presbyterian Church ends. Rev. Ewing noted that the Stillinger girls walked into church Sunday mornings from their country home 2 1/2 miles away.
An unidentified man passes by Horton and nightwatchman Overman on the park's west side. It was a small fellow wearing a bell-top cap. Horton says it was very dark, with no street lights on, the moon shining, and the sky cloudy. Hank Horton tries to speak to the fellow. Horton suggests that Overman throw his light on the fellow. Overman replies, "I don't think it is necessary." Horton says, "I always make them speak to me."
The Moores stay after the service while flower bouquets for the sick are prepared. Sara plans to take one to give to a family across the street from their home.
14-year-old Ervalene Curtis and her family walked the Moore family and Lena and Ina Stillinger out of the church and bid them good night. Ervalene said, "I think we were the last to see them alive."
Rev. Kelly waits around the church for the Ewings to finish up. Kelly speaks to no one, and Ewing introduces him to no one. Ewing felt guilty that I had not asked Kelly to participate in the services.
Albert Himiller, 14, and his girl Hazel Winters leave the service and go buggy-riding.
Mrs. F. F. Jones, Letha Jones, and Mrs. Glackmeyer leave the service and walk home. They walk Mrs Glackmeyer to her door. It was a very dark night, and I said at the corner that I would be on one side and they on the other and that I wouldn't be afraid, but they said they wouldn't, and they took me to my door going home. The street lights fail to come on at dusk.
Ed Selley leaves his brother-in-law's house for home. Once he arrives home, he turns in for the evening.
After 10:00 pm
Mr. and Mrs. John Montgomery and their two sons (one 16, the other 10) retire after an entire evening at home. Mr. Montgomery is a miller. They reside on the S.W. corner of Fourth and Fifth Streets.
Ed Landers said he did not see anybody around the Moore house that evening.
Young Floyd and Orville Watt walk the Moores and Stillinger girls home to the Moores' house. The house was dark. The boys saw Joe take a key from his pocket as the door locked. One of the little girls said she saw a man behind a tree.
Dan Stillians, 18, goes to VanCamp's restaurant for a meal. He talks with several other boys there, as he usually does. About half an hour later, they leave the restaurant together and start wasting time and playfully arguing. Then they run a foot race from the southwest to the N.W. corner of the square.
Mr and Mrs Glackmeyer are up with their two-year-old son much of the night as he has whooping cough. They hear no strange noises.
Andy Sawyer buys a nickel's worth of meat at a market in Osceola and cooks his supper, where two other hobos join him. A marshal tells them to leave town. They get on a train heading to Creston.
The Ewings, with Mr. Kelly, are the last to leave the church. They have two children: a girl, 2, and a boy, 9. Rev. Ewing lights the house, and he, Mrs. Ewing, and Rev. Kelly sit and converse about the evening's exercises, Kelly's ministerial work, and English customs.
Mr. and Mrs. Poston turn in for the night after a busy day at the Café.
11:00 pm
After chatting with Rev. Kelly, the Ewings held a devotional prayer and then retired for the evening. Ewing says Kelly did not show any signs of nervousness that night. They showed Kelly to his room with the balcony and got him an alarm clock, which they set for 4:30 am.
The Ewings go to their tent outside, where their children are already sleeping. The night is cloudy and chilly.
Albert Himiller, 14, drops his girlfriend, Hazel Winters, off at home after finishing their buggy riding. He heads into Villisca, passing the cemetery north of Villisca and then down the street along the east side of the city park. As he drives his rig south on Fourth Avenue, he sees two men standing on the sidewalk intersection on the corner Southwest of F. F. Jones home. His pony is acting shy about something. He throws his flashlight on the men's backs. They are about 40-45 feet from him. There were no street lights on. The street was unpaved. Himiller continues downtown to find a restaurant. They are all closed, so he goes home.
Sometime before midnight
Dan Stillians arrives home after dining at VanCamps Restaurant and wasting time with Frankie Robinson, who joined him earlier. An electric light is on in his sitting room. He turns it off and goes up to the north room of his parents' home, where he and his older brother Bruce, 22, share a room.
The Ewings have a restless night of sleep, as their little girl is somewhat sick during the night, which keeps them awake.
Midnight
Lee VanGilder leaves Villisca from Porter Marsh's restaurant at midnight. He and Joe Beason ride their horses out of town to the corner of the First National Bank, heading east to the first road north to Farmer Peter House, where he works.
Kelly stands on the Ewing porch balcony outside his room. He thinks he hears something, which he later describes as the thud of an axe.
Bruce Stillings leaves his girlfriend's house and walks to Billy VanCamp's to sleep in the tent--it was customary during the summer months--this would change after the murders.
After making his rounds, Mike Overman goes to Miller's restaurant down by the Depot. He sees two young fellows with nowhere to sleep for the night. Overman takes them to the jail on the square's north side to the beds. Each man had his cell. Overman leaves the jail, walks to the park, and sits on the corner where he can watch everyone. It was a very dark night. There were no street lights. He sits there until 2:00 am.
Eight members of the Josiah B. Moore family and two visiting Stillinger girls were murdered with an axe while they slept between midnight and 2:00 am. June 10, 1912.
Authorities investigated leads for years, including Rev. Lyn George Jacklin Kelly. Rev. Kelly, an English immigrant, had a history of sexual deviancy and mental problems. He admitted to being in town the night of the Villisca Axe Murders.
Kelly departed Villisca by train the morning after the murders. Allegedly, he told passengers about eight dead souls in Villisca. Saying someone butchered them in their beds. The bodies had not been discovered by that time.
Certain factors Police made Kelly the perfect suspect. His meek personality and small stature led some to doubt his involvement.
From blood spatters at the scene, Police determined that the killer was left-handed. Kelly was left-handed. A few days after the murders, in a nearby town, a dry cleaner received bloody clothing from Kelly.
He had a history with the Moore family. Townspeople observed him watching the family at church going around Villisca.
While posing as a Scotland Yard officer, he asked Police for access to the home after the crime.
After a lengthy interrogation, Kelly signed a confession detailing the crime. He maintained that God had whispered to him and said, "Suffer the children to come unto me." However, he immediately recanted, and a jury refused to indict him.
At his September trial, the jury was deadlocked 11 to one for acquittal. Kelly was acquitted at a second trial in November.
Douglas Pilarski is an award-winning writer & journalist based on the West Coast. He writes about luxury goods, exotic cars, horology, tech, food, lifestyle, equestrian & rodeo, and millionaire travel.
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