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From: "Cathy Joynt Labath" <>
Subject: [IAHENRY] !! Free Press; Henry Co, IA; July 17, 1879 continued.
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 15:27:07 -0600


The Free Press
Mount Pleasant, Henry, Iowa
July 17, 1879

A HORRIBLE AFFAIR.
An Escaped Convict Attempts to Murder an Entire Family near Pleasant Plain.
(Fairfield Ledger)

Our adjoining county of Washington is the scene of many sensational affairs,
but of her murders and suicides none is more horrible than the attempt made
Monday night on the family of Clark Hoskins, who lives a mile and a half north
of Pleasant Plain, and three miles southwest of Brighton.
The perpetrator of the foul deed is one Harison McClain, who came
originally from Pennsylvania several years ago, taking up his residence, such as
it was, in Henry county. He is a desperate villain, and has already served two
terms in the state penitentiary.- He was sent up from Henry county for eight
years for stabbing a man in a drunken quarrel, and served another sentence as an
accomplice in a burglary. His last sentence of eight years was commuted to seven
years because of good behavior, and he was released about the 1st of March last.
By some one who was interested in his welfare and reform he was taken to
Pleasant Plain, and recommended to some of the society of Friends in that
vicinity. Mr. Andrews found him a place as a farm laborer with Clark Hoskins, on
whom and his family he made the desperate assault.
Not suiting Mr. Hoskins as a farm hand he was discharged a week or tow ago
and left the house. A few days ago a letter was received from him by Mr.
Hoskins' sister, dated at Perlee, in which he stated they would hear from him
again. This, taken in connection with other threats, worked upon the fears of
the family somewhat, but they were not seriously alarmed.
The family consists of Clark Hoskins, a bachelor, aged about forty; his
mother, a lady of eighty-six years; his sister, Ruth, about thirty-five, and a
little girl named Ackles. Retiring Monday night at the usual hour, not dreaming
of danger, the women of the family were awakened about midnight by a series of
blows, which they thought were pistol shots, coming from an upstairs room where
Mr. Hoskins slept. In a short time a man made his appearance at their bedroom
door and demanded admittance. This was refused, but he forced his way in,
flourishing a club and commanding silence. Mrs. Hoskins remonstrated with him,
when he assaulted her, felling her to the floor. The daughter, Ruth, and the
little girl interfered and he assaulted the latter, knocking her down and
inflicting some serious wounds. By this time Hoskins aroused himself, and
running down stairs, gave the alarm, but was so frightfully wounded as to be
scarcely conscious of what he was doing.
The neighbors coming in found him covered with blood from four ugly wounds
on his head, and insensible.- Mrs. Hoskins was lying on the floor in an
unconscious condition with her skull fractured, and the little girl was
suffering terribly from the wounds she had received, Mr. Hoskins being the only
one of the family uninjured.
The entire neighborhood was alarmed in a few minutes and by one o'clock
parties of armed men were securing the woods in every direction searching for
the assassin. Dispatches were sent up and down the railroad, and at present it
appears that the fiend cannot escape capture, and if captured death will
certainly be his punishment, for the people seem determined not to await the
slow process of law.- This view of the question seems all the more probable when
it is considered that McClain has already been sent to the penitentiary twice
for reform and it has failed, and of the alarming frequency of deeds of violence
in that section of the country.
The weapon used in the murderous assault was a stick of black oak about
eighteen inches long and as large as a man's arm. It is a dangerous looking
weapon and did hard service, as the bark was almost completely stripped from it
by hard usage. The bed on which Hoskins was asleep was saturated with blood, and
it had run through into pools on the floor. The latest accounts have it that
Mrs. Hoskins is in a more precarious position than her son, but it is difficult
now to tell whether either will survive their injuries.
Since the above was written Messrs. Henry Pickard and Pleasant Hoskins, to
whom and Isaac Crumley, we are indebted for our particulars- have given us a
description of the fiend, Harrison McClain. He is about 35 years of age; weighs
about 150 pounds; is of rather dark complexion with brown mustache, and hair a
little darker.- There is a large scar on the back of his head, extending
downward from his right ear; when last seen he wore a stiff, black felt hat.
>From his long confinement he cannot travel far, and it is hoped this may lead to
his capture. A reward of $50 will be paid by the citizens of Pleasant Plain for
him to return to that place.
--
A terrible storm passed over Plymouth county, Iowa on the 3d instant. Two young
men by the name of Kass were killed. At first the storm looked like an hour
glass, and then it changed to a straight column, and finally drifted away.

Last January Wm .McKinsey disappeared from the house of Thos. L. Hohne, of
Madison township, Iowa. During his absence Hohne has been several times tried
for his murder, and barely escaped lynching by his neighbors. MrKinsey, on the
1st inst., appeared in Polk County, and gave an account of himself.
--
Thomas A. Edison's electric light is not a failure, and it will undoubtedly in a
comparatively short time supercede the use of gas. He says to a Sun reporter: "I
recognize the impatience of the public over the delay in bringing the light
before them, but we must start with a perfect plant and we are going on to
perfection," even in the supply of metal for burners.
--
The Prohibitionists assembled in state convention at Cedar Rapids on
Wednesday July 16th. The convention proper, after a stormy session, by a vote of
41 to 32 decided not to nominate a state prohibitory ticket, and then adjourned.
After adjournment the minority met at the Grand Hotel and nominated the
following ticket: Prof. G.T. Carpenter, of Oskaloosa, for governor; Prof. J.C.
Nash, of Des Moines, for state superintendent; Frank S. Campbell, of Newton, for
lieutenant-governor, and J.M. Beck, for supreme judge.


Cathy Joynt Labath
Iowa Old Press
http://www.IowaOldPress.com/


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