Bulow, Post-mortem

Remember all the westerns we saw when we were kids, where the bad guy was shot dead by Marshall Dillon, blown off his horse by the Lone Ranger, or otherwise stopped in his tracks by, say, Clint Eastwood or the Cartwrights?  As we got older and movies became more graphic, there'd be an occasional hanging, too...but they rarely dealt with the body afterwards, except for the last few shovelfuls of dirt, and maybe an improvised cross on Boot Hill.  Okay, so westerns weren't the best resource....
Last night, Larry and I got to talking about the Albert Bulow trial and hanging, in Little Falls in 1889.  We explored the saga in 2009-2010, and found cool side stories, too, but none that mentioned what happened to the body after the hanging.  I typed comments by myself for a few minutes, and suddenly, Larry showed me this clipping:                   (...DAMN, the man's GOOD! ☺)
                                             

THE CURIOUS HUNDREDS.
______________
Taking a Last Look at the Face of Albert Bulow.


Little Falls, July 19--[Special.]--In a little room just across the street from Court House square, the body of Albert Bulow was placed on exhibition and free admittance given to everybody this morning.  The undertaker had been industrious during the early morning hours, and although it was 3 o'clock when the body of the dead murderer was given into his charge, by sunrise the undertaker had embalmed the body, put it in a stained pine coffin and arranged it in a cool place in the room, near the window, where the cool breeze blew through, and was ready for everybody to come and take a look at the remains.  A bunch of roses was laid on the dead man's breast and a band of spotless linen covered up the blue marks which the rope had left upon his neck.  His face was in perfect repose and there was not the slightest indication that it had ever worn other than a peaceful look.
The little room was visited by many hundred people during the forenoon.  Businessmen on their way home to lunch walked around that way and looked at it.  Nearly or quite a hundred women went to see it and the children who were playing about went in and with staring eyes gazed on the coffin.  Everybody was welcome.  Shortly after 2 o'clock a short funeral service was held, and then the body was buried in the cemetery, which lies some distance to the south of the business part of the city.  A crowd followed the coffin to the grave and loitered around until the grave digger piled the dirt back into the hole and forever hid the body of Albert Bulow, the murderer.

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Granted, the circumstances in the article were unusual because Bulow was a cause celebre in Little Falls in the three months he was held before his hanging.  Still, I suspect it's basically what happened to strangers or drifters who ended up dead in frontier towns, I suppose, just maybe without the embalming, roses, funeral service and viewing stuff.

John Day Smith, Albert Bulow and the St Cloud Journal Press

In 1888, a farmer from Buckman* was murdered on his way home from Royalton.  The murderer, one Albert Bulow, was found, tried and hanged in Little Falls in July 1889.  It was the only hanging in Little Falls history, and created a circus atmosphere there.  More about that HERE.

"Public, daytime hangings were the rule for capital offenders in the territorial and early statehood days of Minnesota. However, community leaders came to realize that crowds attended executions primarily for their entertainment value, with the consumption of alcohol and ensuing violent acts a common occurrence. In 1889 the Minnesota legislature passed the John Day Smith law, frequently called the “midnight assassination law,” that required the private, nighttime execution of prisoners facing a death sentence. Although Minnesota today no longer has capital punishment, the John Day Smith law opened a new frontier in the public policy debate over capital punishment. It also led to the passage of similar laws in other states that are still in effect today".

From THIS  PAGE.


Anyway, this morning, Larry showed me an online site with a new assortment of digitized newspapers, and one that came up from Minnesota was an article concerning the  The John Day Smith law and how newspapers perceived their rights regarding hangings, especially the Bulow case.
I got that much, and that one paper was being snarky about what another paper published, but it STILL didn't compute, so I tried diagramming it.

I don't think it helps, but I did get to use Mason's cute little face. ("A little cheeky" !) lol

So, its a St Paul paper running an article found in the St Cloud paper about a complaint by the Little Falls paper that "nobody complained" about the over-publicity by "the Twin Cities Dailies" of the Bulow trial and hanging.  Here's one page of what they meant: its the Library of Congress site / St Paul Daily Globe front page from July 19, 1889.  Whew!

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More about Bulow / John Day Smith's law: 

Papers from around the nation were quick to report their Minnesota colleagues' transgressions, but they might have seen it as a trend--how do you sell papers without describing horrors?

(Ft. Worth, Pittsburg and Sacramento).

Added much later: Plat maps from right around 1900 show the *Franklin Eich farm was across the road and south of Joe Janson's farm (mom's homeplace).  Yup, what we know as the Roman and Emily Dehler farm.

The Jailer's Wife

Little Falls, Minn, 1890...

Looking online for the name SAND, Larry found this interesting episode in Morrison County history: the deputy Sherriff in Little Falls then was one John P. Sand. (No, we don't know if he was one of OUR Sands.  Oh, yes, he was! Site search for 'J P Sand' ).

Still, the story is interesting! In October of 1888, a man named Albert Bulow murdered a "well-to-do bachelor farmer" from Buckman, Franklin Eich, for which he was hanged in Little Falls in July of 1889. According to the St Paul Daily Globe newspaper, Mrs. Sand was attentive to the prisoner while he languished in jail.

"His death watch, composed of H. B. and John Schenck, were socially disposed and musically inclined. Bulow had the German love for music, and a quartette was organized, the soprano being furnished by the wife of the jailer, Mrs. Sand. Almost any hour of the day, and particularly in the evening, the music of the quartette could be heard...."

.....

In jail at the same time was a man convicted of highway robbery by the name of John Mitchell, who evidently was 'comforted' too...

Yes, their lives could be interesting!