The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
MURDER AND MAYHEM:
In February 1899, the village of Gladstone were horrified by the discovery that Isaac Niece had murdered his wife, Anetta, by striking her on the head with an ax.
The neighbor, Willard Signor, discovered the body with the ax sticking in her head the next morning where it lay on the kitchen floor.
Only a two or three year old child was a possible witnesses to the horror. Coroner Emerson empaneled a jury which found that Isaac Niece had murdered his wife and committed him to jail to await action of the Grand Jury.
He was indicted in March and tried in October. The defense pleaded insanity; the jury, however, found Mr. Niece guilty as charge and fixed his punishment at life imprisonment in the penitentiary. He was sent to Joliet to serve his sentence.
1911 History of Henderson County