Written & Compiled
By Kay Scholtz
INTRODUCTION
As an amateur historian, I take great pleasure sifting through dusty papers in dark corners of musty storerooms and attics trying to unfold the past and study the lives of those who came here before me.
One day several years ago a true tale of murder literally fell at my feet. I was gathering information on lumbering history in my rural community by sorting through old lien documents in a storage area at the local courthouse. When I slid open a small black file drawer, several yellow pages of notebook paper dropped to the floor in front of me. I carefully picked them up, wondering about the bright yellow color of the paper and I quickly skimmed the handwritten letters with great curiosity. The author had penned his messages to a lady friend and it was clear that the notes had been kept as evidence in a court trial that took place more than one hundred years ago.
It was not just any trial but involved one of the most notorious crimes in early Clark County, Wisconsin, history. I didn’t believe anyone had handled those letters since the 1890’s, and I was sure the murder and the lives of those involved had long been forgotten. The time had come to uncover the story and let it be retold and it seemed as though I had been elected.
After some procrastination, and second thoughts, I began to assemble all the data I could gather from local newspapers on microfilm, court notes, and more to piece together a full account of the case. I wanted to learn how the justice system operated in the late 1800’s. And I also wanted to know what became of the victims and the accused and what could be learned from the entire affair. What took place not only personally affected the lives of Daniel Allen, the author of the notes, and Maggie Wright, his lover, but undoubtedly forever changed the lives of their children, immediate family, and community indefinitely.
Here is the true story, as I have pieced it together, intertwined with excerpts (in italics) from Dan’s dusty old letters written secretly to Maggie while they were both occupants in the Clark County Jail at Neillsville, Wisconsin, in 1886 and 1887. A good share of the content of the five surviving letters included repeated begging on Dan’s part as he tried to convince Maggie not to implicate him. The letters give a unique and small personal glimpse into their lives. Dan neglected to use any form of punctuation and his grammar and spelling were quite poor. I’ve transcribed his words just as he penned them in order to preserve their context and his simple manner of expression. None of the letters were dated so the excerpts are not necessarily in chronological order. Together with information that I have gathered on the case, the community, and the family, I hope that I can retell the story in an interesting, understandable, and inoffensive way.
“You say you will be true to me / oh I hope you will / you say you mean it / I hope you do There is no use of being scard / I dont think either of us will have to go to states prison for life if at all / I don’t think either of us will go there if it is managed right Maggy”
DANIEL ALLEN’S STORY – RETOLD
THE MURDER
Henry Wright, 33 years of age, was a struggling farmer who lived with his wife, Margaretta (Maggie) nee Zurn/Zirn, about 30 years of age. Henry was born near Milwaukee and Maggie was born in Hartford, Wisconsin. Their parents were of German descent. The Wright’s farm home in 1886 was located in a rural setting between the small city of Greenwood and the village of Loyal in Clark County, Wisconsin. Rosa, aged 12, was their oldest child and the couple had three sons; Antone, 8; Henry, 6; and a younger son whose name is unknown. Henry Wright was ill and may have had trouble with his vision. Prior to farming in Clark County, Henry lived and worked at a saw mill near Marshfield, Wood County, Wisconsin. His brother, Mathias Wright, resided in Marshfield for many years and was well known there.
Not far down the road from the Wright farm lived a Civil War veteran named Daniel Allen, aged 48. Daniel was a prosperous farmer who lived with his wife, Susan (nee Patterson), aged 49, on their farm in Section 18, Town of Loyal. Dan had brown hair, charming blue eyes, and stood nearly six feet tall. He and Susan had one son, Frank, aged 26. Daniel became a helper to the struggling Wright family, often stopping over to aid with chores and visit in what began as mere friendship. However, through time Dan stole the love of Henry’s wife, Maggie, and the life of Henry himself.
In the winter of 1886, Daniel Allen cooked up an idea of how he and Maggie could be together. They would kill Henry by poisoning him and then do away with Dan’s wife, Susan, in the same manner. They would grieve for the proper time, then marry one another, and live happily ever after. Dan traveled to nearby Neillsville one winter day and purchased some strychnine. Dan and Maggie tried to get Henry to drink water with the strychnine slipped into it, but it tasted so badly Henry threw the water out.
In April of 1886, Dan Allen went to Milwaukee on a pleasure trip to attend a Civil War veterans’ reunion. Allen had enlisted in August of 1862 with Company K of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He served for three years and was mustered out July 19, 1865 as a Sergeant with Company K. While in Milwaukee, Allen purchased arsenic, a second weapon of murder, in powder form. When he returned home he instructed Maggie to bake a batch of cookies, putting some arsenic in just two of them. The laced cookies were nicely browned and the untainted cookies were left in the oven to burn a bit at Dan’s request. When the task was finished Maggie placed all the cookies on the kitchen table for Henry to eat. Allen was at the Wrights’ house that day, supposedly to assist with chores, but wanted to witness firsthand the effects of the dose. Henry ate both of the unburned, arsenic ridden cookies and within five minutes he became so violently ill that he ran outside and vomited. He asked his wife to make a cup of lobelia tea to settle his stomach. Allen later scolded Maggie, telling her she had given her husband too much poison at once.
Henry remained very ill and a doctor was called to attend to him, perhaps because of Maggie’s feelings of guilt and remorse. Medicine was left at the home for him to take. Henry may have also visited his family doctor a time or two on his own, seeking relief from the recurrent stomach pains and ill health he suffered even prior to the poisoning. Dan Allen stayed on at the Wright home to aid in Henry’s “recuperation” giving Henry medicine along with drinking water he continued to taint with additional arsenic. Dan was even said to have sat at Henry’s bedside occasionally reading Bible verses to him while he kept a vigil posing as an untiring, concerned caretaker and friend. Henry died at his home in Loyal Township on May 9th, 1886, after about two weeks of daily poisoning. Although Maggie only gave Henry that first dose of arsenic in the cookies, she did not stop Dan Allen from slowly finishing the deed while she and her young children looked on, and her love affair with Dan continued.
The suspicions of the physician who treated Henry Wright were aroused by the symptoms, which indicated that he may have been poisoned. A post mortem examination was called for and conducted by three doctors from Loyal and Greenwood. With fear of flight and not enough evidence yet to make an arrest on murder, a complaint was filed on May 12, 1886, by neighbor, Harry Philpott, and a warrant was issued to Clark County Sheriff J. W. Tolford. Although not for murder just yet, there was enough evidence to arrest Daniel Allen and Maggie Wright, both married, for committing adultery on May 7th (just two days before the death of Henry). On May 10th, 1886, the day after Henry Wright’s death, a post mortem examination was conducted by Dr. H. J. Thomas and Dr. Buland of Greenwood, Dr. Mulvey of Loyal, and a neighbor, Ernest Derby. The doctors noted that there were discolored spots on Wright’s stomach and intestines but his heart was found to be healthy. The stomach was removed and sent to Chicago for analysis. Upon the report of the physicians an inquest was held, a jury summoned, and after much deliberation the conclusion was made that Henry Wright came to his death through taking poison. Maggie Wright was arrested for adultery and murder on May 14th, and committed to the Clark County Jail in Neillsville. She confessed to the deed and Dan Allen was also quickly arrested for murder. They were both held for trial at the next term of circuit court in jail cells one above the other (Maggie on the second floor, Dan on the lower floor).
Susan Allen, wife of Daniel Allen, realized the seriousness of her husband’s offense and seemingly tried to take control of her affairs to protect herself. On May 27, 1886, Susan filed a lis pen dens on the real estate owned by she and Dan, described as the SW quarter of Section 18, located in the Town of Loyal, Clark County, Wisc. (A lis pen dens tells the public there may be a pending lawsuit in progress that could affect the sale of the property; in essence it puts a sort of cloud over the title.) Susan wanted to prevent Dan from selling the property without her or their son Frank’s knowledge.
“My son was here yesterday to see me / he says Sue [his son’s mother - Dan’s wife, Susan Allen] don’t get mutch better / you say you get better grub than you did before / we do to and more of it / you always got better grub than we did down here”
As one can imagine, the entire community was in uproar and shocked at the crime that took place that spring of 1886. It was on the minds and in the hearts of most and in the press quite frequently. Initially a local newspaper editor joked that it was another case of a man and woman loving not wisely, but too well. Neighbors were filled with wrath and talked of organizing a lynch mob to storm the jail house at Neillsville and string up Daniel Allen. The threat became so prevalent that in July of 1886, Allen was taken by the sheriff for his own safety to a jail in neighboring Jackson County, Wisconsin, at Black River Falls. The press, at this time siding with Allen, advised anyone with the desire to come to Neillsville to lynch him to let the law take its course first, “else the pale air may be streaked with blood and other hearts made to ache because a husband or father has been sent to judgment without a trial by jury.”
It was a still Sunday night in July that a second post mortem examination of Henry Wright took place at his gravesite. Attending were Dr. Mulvey from Greenwood, one of the doctors from the first post mortem exam, the district attorney, and Mr. Derby (the Wrights’ neighbor) who dug open the grave. Upon distinctly recognizing the body as that of Henry Wright, one third of his right liver was removed. The specimen was brought in a jar by L. M. Sturdevant to Dr. Walter Stanley Haines, a Professor of Chemistry in Rush Medical College. Dr. Haines later testified in court that he found arsenic in the liver and in the stomach that was previously removed, some of it still undissolved. He felt that the amount discovered would prove fatal in most cases and that it probably was administered over a period of time rather than all at once. Dr. Haines said that after one takes a fatal dose of arsenic death usually occurs from 12 to 36 hours afterward, but it could take as much as several days. He also said that pain grows in intensity until a person’s whole insides feel as if they are on fire. The victim at last becomes delirious and there may be paralysis of the nerves. Imagine the agony and suffering that Henry Wright endured those last days of his life.
While Dan Allen remained at his new location in Black River Falls awaiting trial, Maggie Wright was held in custody at Neillsville in the county jail. Circuit court convened biannually in Clark County. In September of 1886 the murder charges brought against both Maggie and Dan were listed as “continued” which meant the trial was postponed until a later date. Allen was returned to the Clark County Jail in the fall of 1886 and much of the letter writing took place at this time in the jail at Neillsville. Court did not come into session again until March of 1887.
On February 27th, 1887, a deed was granted to Frank Allen by his parents, Daniel Allen and his wife, Susan for the Allen home farm in Loyal Township in Section 18. The deed stated the price of the property was $2,000. This note was written on the back of the instrument register, “Personally came before me on the 8th day of March A.D. 1887 at 11 o’clock a.m. the within named Daniel Allen to me known to be the person who executed the within deed and acknowledged the same to be his free act and deed for the uses and purposes therein mentioned. Geo. L. Jacques, Justice of the Peace, Clark County.”
CABIN FEVER
Wisconsin winters, firewood splinters,
Starry nights, Christmas lights.
Smokey stoves, birchwood groves.
Wood pile shrinking, outhouse stinking,
Drippy nose, itchy toes,
Chapped lips, frozen fingertips.
Mittens and caps, afternoon naps,
Frizzy hair, thermal underwear.
Fogged up glasses, cold as molasses.
Animal tracks, snowmen when it packs.
Fishing on ice, shacks are nice,
Skis on snow, go Pack go.
Shorter days, lazier ways,
Winter’s long, like a boring song.
Nobody’s friend, when will it end
Cabin fever, love it or leave her.
thanks for sharing all of this Tom these stories are so great, this is a real Blessing that you share these with us
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