The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
MURDER AND MAYHEM: In April 1874 Emma J. Watson, a young lady living with the family of Judge R.W.Richey in Oquawka, disappeared mysteriously in the night.
No clues were found as to her fate until some two weeks later when her body was found floating in the river in front of town. A coroner's inquest decided that she had been murdered and Dennis Welch, a drayman in town and another man were arrested on that charge.
During a hearing on that charge, the latter was dismissed and Welch committed for trial without bail. He remained in jail for one year when he was tried in Henderson County Circuit Court and acquitted.
The case was shrouded in mystery and no one was assigned the guilt.
1911 History of Henderson County