Monroe County IL Archives News.....A hanging in Illinois. (Henry Alters) 1861
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com August 3, 2007, 10:37 pm

The Daily Dispatch, Jan 8, 1861 1861
--On Friday afternoon last a German named Henry Alters was hung in Waterloo, 
Ill., in the presence of several thousands of persons. An enclosure had been 
erected for the purpose of hanging him privately, in accordance with the law, 
but the crowd quickly tore it down and refused to allow it to be rebuilt. 
There were a number of side fights and knock downs, but no one was seriously 
injured. The execution was postponed until the last moment, under the belief 
that his sentence would be commuted. Alters was a farmer, as was also the man 
he killed. The hogs of the latter got into the enclosure of the other, and 
Alters "dogged" them. The owner remonstrated, whereupon the wife of Alters 
ordered her husband to shoot him, threatening that if he did not, she would 
leave him. Alters repaired to his house, got a gun and fired a load of 
buckshot in his back, killing him instantly. 


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