THE CONVERSATION

Compiled and Annotated by Michelle Railey

MURDER.

Special dispatch to the Enquirer [1]. Fort Wayne, Ind., Jan. 10, 1869

There is considerable excitement in Kosciusko County, Indiana, on account of the murder of George Barbour [2] by George Hanes, near Warsaw last Thursday night [3]. Hanes and Barbour had a difficulty to settle, which resulted in the former stabbing Barbour in the heart [4], causing instant death. Hanes has escaped. A brother of his has been arrested on suspicion of being an accomplice; [5] both of the parties were armed at the time.

The Cincinnati Enquirer, Monday January 11, 1869. Page 4.

A FATAL DUEL.

Two young men, named George Barbour and Geo. Hanes, got into a fight at a spelling match [6] at Silver Lake, twelve miles south of Warsaw, last night; resulting in the death of Barbour. It seems that Hanes had misused a small brother of Barbour’s [7] a few evenings previous, and the two elder brothers had agreed to meet last night and fight it out. Hanes knocked Barbour down and stabbed him in the heart, killing him almost instantly. It is understood that they both had armed themselves with deadly weapons, and it is thought Hanes killed Barbour under the impression that he should probably meet the same fate if he did not. Hanes has escaped.

The Fort Wayne Daily Gazette, Friday January 8, 1869 [8].

Notes

1. The Cincinnati Enquirer is the last remaining daily newspaper in the Cincinnati area and was first published in 1841. It is now owned and published by Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher by volume. Gannett is depressingly large (yeah, that’s opinion but shouldn’t there be more diversification in ownership of newspapers/first-level media?).

2. George Barbour [1848-1869] is listed on his headstone as “George Barber.” (His headstone also reads “KILLED.”) He was the son of Milo and Myranda (Butler) Barber. Married Salena Holmes/Miller on 17 October 1868 in Kosciusko County. (License issued on the 16th.) (It was a very short marriage.) See record. George’s middle initial was M, which may be for “Milo,” his father’s and brother’s name. He served with the 128th Indiana Infantry in the Civil War. (U.S.) (See also Kennesaw Mountain)

The Salena Holmes/Miller Barber Hosman Memorial Sidebar:

Salena (or Salina or Lena) lived from 1852 to 1913. Two years after George’s death, she married James Hall Hosman. Together, they had five children. Tragically, at the age of 61, she drowned in the Great Flood of 1913. Salena is a mystery regarding her last name: was it Miller; was it Holmes; was it both at different times? The past hasn’t disclosed it just yet.

End Sidebar.

3. Thursday, January 7, 1869, was a waning crescent moon with 24% illumination.

4. Stabbed in the heart: Patients with multiple chamber injuries have a mortality rate of 95.6%, while those with a single chamber injury have a survival rate of 46.6%. (AI and JAMA)

4a. The stabbing and weapons here lead one to think “maybe they’re Union-issued knives from the War Between the States.” Turns out that while the Bowie knife was a kind-of common issue to Confederate soldiers, the Union troops were rarely issued knives. While knives/eating utensils were not uncommon among Union soldiers, bayonets were the common pointy killing thing these soldiers had. So, whatever weapons Barber and Hanes carried in this “duel,” they probably weren’t affiliated with the four-years-past Civil War. (Unless both these man-boys were toting Union-issue bayonets to the spelling match.) See also: “List of weapons in the American Civil War.”

5. Hanes and his brother, or as I like to call them, “The Mysterious Criminal Hanes Brothers of Kosciusko County,” are proving difficult to pin down, identity-wise. The most promising conjecture is that George Hanes is the son of John Anderson Hanes (1820-1900), and/or the “J.A. Hanes” who is mentioned in the Kosciusko County Business Directory of 18-something. This J.A. Hanes lived in Seward Township, was a farmer, and his address was in Silver Lake. (There are other Haines, Haynes, and Hanes all around, though.) His children (with wife, Mary Moore) are thought to include the sons William, George, Leander, John David, and Silas. If this is the correct family, it seems most likely that the brother arrested on suspicion was William (born about 1849). Again, though, this is all conjecture and damn, if I’m not completely frustrated and stymied by the search for the Hanes boys and their northern Indiana criminal record.

6. “The earliest known evidence of the phrase spelling bee in print dates back to 1850, although an earlier name, spelling match, has been traced back to 1808.” See Spelling Bee on Wikipedia. Super interesting entry. Plus, it shows the Norman Rockwell painting Cousin Reginald Spells Peloponnesus.

Art History Interlude: Because you, dear reader, may not actually check out the Wikipedia link, here’s the 1918 Rockwell painting…

End Interlude.

7. Who was the “small brother”? George had two younger brothers: Edwin (abt. 1851) and Theron (1858-1916). I think the younger brother was Theron, as he would have been about ten or eleven at the time.

8. There was even more criminal manslaughter/murder/deadly crime in the news in 1869 Kosciusko County. To wit:

Dr. [Daniel] Shaffer and wife [Ann] were arrested, near Warsaw, a year ago, on a charge of poisoning Isaac Jackson. They were released on bail. Shortly after, the Doctor died and his wife’s trial being postponed from term to term, has finally come to a close. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and sentenced her to State Prison for life. [*] It seems [that] Jackson and his two daughters were working for Shaffer, digging potatoes.

In the afternoon, Mrs. Shaffer gave him and his daughters some pie, and about a half an hour afterward, he [Isaac] died. A post-mortem examination was held, and strychnine found in the stomach. No one can account for Mrs. Shaffer’s action, and she pleaded innocent to the last.

The Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Monday, 7 June 1869, p. 1.

[*] The headline from The Northern Indianan on 3 June 1869 was “Ann Shaffer! She is Sentenced to the Penitentiary for Life”

Coming soon-ish to an Amos-Cola near you? “Poisoning Isaac Jackson.”