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THE OTHER RIDE. The following communication from Mr. S. A. Birch, foreman of the coroner's jury which inquired into the causes of the deaths of Sam Steele and Jessie Kay, ex plains itself: Hannipal, Mo., July 27th. To tax Easter or Tak Wate:— have noticed in recent issues of Tak Wate that you censure Coroner Niedermeyer in the Steele-Kay matter. If you care to inves tigate the matter you will find that the rumors are only ide vaporations of parties who were not witnesses to the drowning. In the first place the jury examined the body of Sam Steele as thoroughly as was possible. The body was thoroughly rot ten and the flesh was sloughing off. I myself was foreman of the jury and will, if necessary, testify under oath that there was no wound in the temple, only a scar which did not penetrate through the skin. The features were totally unrecog nizable, as the eyeballs protruded from the sockets and lay on the cheeks. Mr. Louis Kay who saw Jessie Kay’s body which was not in nearly as bad a condi tion as that of Steele said ‘that he would not have recognized the body as that of his niece if he had not have been able to identify her by her clothing. The reason that Mr. Niedermeyer did not hold an in quest on the body of Miss Kay was that there was no material new evidence in the case. The circumstances were the same in both cases, and Marion County would not do more than way for viewing the body in the second case unless the coroner had further reason to believe that there had been foul play. At Mr. Kay’s suggestion I thoroughly examined Kate Welch and “Plunk,” the boot black, on the second visit, and their statements did not vary materially from that of Henry Ruffner, Chas, and Vincent Rhodes, eye witnesses, whose testimony was reduced to writing at the inquest. ‘Plunk,’ as well as the two men on the bridge, heard shots. ‘Plunk’ said the drowning occur ed about 2:30 a.m. He is corroborated by a number of other witnesses, but he and the bridge men are the only ones who heard the shooting which occurred about 12 o'clock. Now what possible connect ion could a firing of shots at 12 o’clock have with the occurrence at 2:30? The evidence shows that Sam Steele and the “Missouri Negro” had an altercation in the earlier part of the evening and the latter ran into the brush. The wound on Sam Steele’s body was back of the right ear and was according to its appearance and the testimony of Jesse Moody and Irwin Braydon, who found the body, made by the rocks or grappling irons. A pecultarity about the case is that certain parties think that Sam Steele was murder ed by shooting, while Mr. Kay thinks that Jessie Kay was drowned by a Quincy negro, because “‘Plunk,” the boat black, states that there was a copper colored negro in the boat whom he did not know. This description which, at best, is a vague one, coupled with the fact that Katie Welch says that Jessie Kay and the Quincy negro were conversing during the evening and that Mr. Kay had at one time had the negro arrested, formed the basis of Mr. Kay’s suspicion of foul play; but notwithstanding all this, Katie Welch will swear positively that the negro in question was neither in the boat or near it when the accident occurred. If you will take the trouble to see Mr. Jesse Moody, who keeps the restaurant on the levee in Quincy, the two men on the bridge who heard the shooting, Mr. Johnson the railroad agent at West Quincy hotel, William Fryer who runs the West Quincy hotel, or any per son, viz. James Hughes, Katie Welch, Charles Rhodes, Vincent Rhodes, Henry Ruffner, ‘Pluck,” William Stewart, or the Industry girl, you will conclude with the undersigned that there is no mystery in this case; that the deceased came to their death from the accidental overturn ing of an overloaded boat, and that the occupants were all more or less intoxi cated; and that Sam Steele was too drunk to save himself, although he was said to be an excellent swimmer. Your article will also be found to be an injustice to Coroner Niedermeyer and the jury, as the investi gation was as thorough as possible, bar ring the possible post mortem examination which was not deemed necessary. If you do not care to investigate the matter and do those most interested merited justice, a further examination by Coroner Seehorn will prove that the verdict of the jury was correct. Yours very truly, . A. Bruce, Foreman of jury. ‘Weeme’ Joundry. office removes to 518 Maine street Monday. =.
Newspaper Details
Quincy Daily Whig
Quincy, Illinois, US
Sun, Jul 29, 1888
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Chloe P.
USA 08 Jun 2026
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