A Timeline Detailing the Day the Villisca Axe Murders were Discovered - Part One
By Tammy Rundle
Sometime during the night, it sprinkled.
1:00-2:00 am:
Maude Jones hears a peculiar noise in the vicinity of her house. She wakes her husband, Frank F. and he goes downstairs to investigate. He doesn't see anything and figures she must have heard a window rattle.
Night watchman Mike Overman is sitting in a dark place on a bench among the trees. "If there was a man on the street he wouldn't have seen me before I could get the lights on him," Overman testified. After two hours he rises and returns to the jail to check on two men he allowed to spend the night in the jail. They were still asleep.
Glen Fisher says a neighbor's dog made an awful fuss after midnight.
Albert Jones said his dog seemed worried over something. The dog normally slept in a clothes basket at the foot of the bed and he said that the dog ran up and down the stairs and barked during the early morning hours.
2:10 am:
Operator Xenia Delaney lies awake on a cot in the telephone office in Villisca across from The Villisca Review office. She hears someone slip up the stairs to her door quietly. They try the door, and then slip back down the stairs. She gets up, walks to the west side of the room, looks at the clock sitting on a writing table, and notes the time on an illuminated dial. Then she goes back to bed. She says she always has her light out at night and the door locked.
2:30 am:
Dr. Hough arrives home after attending to a confinement case 12 miles southwest of Villisca.
3:00 am:
Mike Overman continues his rounds and checks the alleys. There are no unusual noises or activity. The city is quiet.
Frank Archer, Jr., 24, a farmer near Grant, arrives in Villisca on the train after having been in Creston since Saturday evening attending a horse sale. He goes to a restaurant for a meal. He sees no one else on the streets.
4:00 am:
Mike Overman returns to the square to continue his watch.
A man named Andy Sawyer arrives at a pile driver gang employed by the Burlington just outside of Villisca. He applies for a position stating that he is an expert on bridge and pile driving work. He states he is especially efficient in handling the pile driver engine. After eating breakfast (he hadn't eaten in 2 days) he is put to work. It is apparent he has no experience at running the machine. He then is given an axe and told to point some pilings. He begins to beat the pile, muttering he would beat their damned heads off. The men on the work team are afraid of him and he is dismissed. They note that his shoes and trousers are muddy to his knees.
5:00 am:
Mike Overman leaves the depot area before the No. 5 leaves town.
Patterson's Restaurant opens for business.
Orville Peckham, 65, rises to get ready to go to work at the cemetery in Villisca. His wife Mary begins doing her wash between 5:00 and 6:00 am
Bert McCaull comes into Mrs. Poston's Café for breakfast. Mr. Poston gets McCaull's breakfast.
5:19 am:
Reverend Kelly says he sees a suspicious individual who is acting very nervous get on the No. 5 train leaving Villisca at 5:19 am.
5:20 am:
George W. Baker, 51, a farmer living 4 miles north and 1 mile west of Villisca, steps out of his house 6-8 steps to head to the barn to feed his animals, when he sees Albert Jones and Bert McCaull driving about 25 miles per hour up the road past his house. He stands and watches it until it runs about 60 rods south of his house to the bridge. Baker is preparing to plow corn. Bert McCaull has a contract with Albert Jones to do all of his driving.
5:30 am:
Frank Archer, Jr. while on horseback meets an automobile driven by Bert McCaull and an occupant he does not recognize at Mayhew corner, 8 miles north of Villisca. They are traveing south. It is daylight by this time, and Archer gets off of his horse to hold his horse while the car goes by. The car is black, a two-seater, and going about 25 miles an hour. As the car passes by, Archer says, "Hello, Mr. McCaull." Bert answers, "Good morning."
Mike Overman goes off duty after a full night of work. He goes to his room on the south side of the square over the post office. He lays down to sleep for a few hours alongside his wife. He is due at the mayor's office early this morning.
Mrs. F. P. Tyler takes her cousin Holy Roller preacher Dean to the train station. The preacher spoke at the Methodist Church the previous night.
6:15 am:
Ed Selley arrives at J. B. Moore Implement Store for work.
6:30 am:
The Ewings rise for breakfast between 6:30 and 7:00 am. WJ Ewing notes that Reverend Kelly is gone, the door was unlocked and the key in the door.
7:00 am:
Mary Peckham notices that the Josiah Moore house next door is oddly quiet.
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