THE DARK SIDE OF IOWA
Unsolved
Dr. William Orson Hamilton
Dr. William Orson Hamilton, 33, was shot to death in Marysville on November 26, 1900. According to a Knoxville Journal article, a Knoxville contractor building Marysville’s new school was the first to know the tragedy occurred. K.L. Bush saw Dr. Hamilton stagger and fall at the door of the Vanskiver home and was dead before Dr. Hughes could arrive.
Domestic trouble was said to have been brewing for some time in the Fred Ahn family and rumor had it that Dr. Hamilton was involved. The article read:
Mrs. Ahn had been living with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Yancey, and divorce proceedings and counter proceedings had been begun by both Mr. and Mrs. Ahn, although they had not yet culminated in a divorce. Ahn had made violent threats against Hamilton, according to trila records, and several people had seen danger and had advised Hamilton to leave. On the morning of the shooting, Hamilton had gone to the barn to care for his team. He was in the act of getting a sheaf of millet from a stack in the barnlot. When he was directly opposite the southeast corner of the barn, he was hit in the right cheek by a bullet, presumably from a revolver. He had either dodged or had stopped to see what it was because the bullet had entered his cheek.
The investigation showed where a “picket had been removed from the fence which enclosed the barn and hen house and where a man had walked to his place of hiding.”
Ahn was arrested for Hamilton’s murder and more than 50 witnesses were examined throughout the long trial. The jury deliberated and brought back a “not guilty” verdict.
If you have any information about Dr. Hamilton’s unsolved murder, please contact the Marion County Sheriff’s Office at 641.828.2220.
Domestic trouble was said to have been brewing for some time in the Fred Ahn family and rumor had it that Dr. Hamilton was involved. The article read:
Mrs. Ahn had been living with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Yancey, and divorce proceedings and counter proceedings had been begun by both Mr. and Mrs. Ahn, although they had not yet culminated in a divorce. Ahn had made violent threats against Hamilton, according to trila records, and several people had seen danger and had advised Hamilton to leave. On the morning of the shooting, Hamilton had gone to the barn to care for his team. He was in the act of getting a sheaf of millet from a stack in the barnlot. When he was directly opposite the southeast corner of the barn, he was hit in the right cheek by a bullet, presumably from a revolver. He had either dodged or had stopped to see what it was because the bullet had entered his cheek.
The investigation showed where a “picket had been removed from the fence which enclosed the barn and hen house and where a man had walked to his place of hiding.”
Ahn was arrested for Hamilton’s murder and more than 50 witnesses were examined throughout the long trial. The jury deliberated and brought back a “not guilty” verdict.
If you have any information about Dr. Hamilton’s unsolved murder, please contact the Marion County Sheriff’s Office at 641.828.2220.
Source: Iowa Cold Cases
