History of Wright County Minnesota, CHAPTER XVIII BENCH AND BAR WRIGHT COUNTY MURDER TRIALS Pages 600, 601, 607 ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Rebecca B Frank ========================================================================= Clearwater, Silver Creek and Corinna Excerpts from : Curtiss-Wedge, Franklin. History of Wright County Minnesota. Volume II. Chicago: H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co. 1915. Call Number:977.6C94h CHAPTER XVIII BENCH AND BAR WRIGHT COUNTY MURDER TRIALS Page 600 A fatal quarrel between brothers brought direful results to the Laughton family of Clearwater township in 1875. The actual events of the fatal night will never be known. Nathan L. Laughton was a bachelor living with his parents. Nathan's story of the affair was that he had taken the gun to frighten his brother Orrin away from the home, that there was a struggle, and in the struggle the gun was discharged. The brother was killed instantly. The trial was held in March 1876, and so intense was the feeling engendered over the matter that two special venires were called before a jury was finally chosen. On March 24, 1876, Nathan was found guilty of murder in the second degree and was sentenced to the state's prison where he ended his life. Page 601 In an insane effort to protect her reputation and maintain her home, Jane Townsend, of Corrinna, on July 22, 1878, killed William Dunham who it was claimed had slandered her. She was tried in the October term of 1878 and on October 19, 1879, was found not guilty on the ground of insanity and sent to the state hospital for the insane. Jane Hallett Townsend came form an old New York family tainted with insanity in both branches. June, 1877, she married John Townsend, of Corrinna. Into the home of Corrinna came William Dunam as an assistant on the farm. After a while, Mrs. Townsend began to object to his presence in the home and urged her husband to discharge him. On the morning of July 22, 1878, Mrs. Townsend asked her husband to walk with her to the lake in order that they might be alone. While walking she told him that Dunham had threatened to blacken her reputation if she persisted in her efforts to oust him from the home. Townsend informed her that Dunham had already told him that she was an unfaithful wife. The woman groveled in the sand and swore that she had been faithful, that Dunham was trying to ruin her to avenge himself on her for having threatened to tell of improper relations between him and another member of the household. The husband would not believe her, repeatedly upbraided her for her conduct, and ordered her to leave his home forever. After a mad scene in which she begged her husband not to cast her aside and threatened to kill herself, Mrs. Townsend ran back toward the house. On the way she met Dunham. In an insane rage she picked up an axe and killed him. Then after rowing on the lake for a while, she gave herself up. It was proven at the trial that she was a raving maniac at the time the killing took place. Page 607 John Zorb, murdered his wife, and her two daughters at his home in Silver Creek, in October 1914. After an argument with his wife at the barn, he followed her to the house, where she braced herself against the dining room door to keep him out. He held the muzzle of a shot gun close to the door and shot her in the back through the panel, then shot her two daughters by a former marriage. His little daughter six years old persuaded him to spare her life, and said she get him a nice breakfast. After eating Zorb drove with his daughter to St. Bonifacious, arriving there late a night, and the girl told what had happened. Later in the Hennepin county jail awaiting trial, Zorb was believed to have been concerned both in an effort to escape and in an attempt to secure the means to commit suicide. In regard to his trial before the January, 1915, term of the district court, the Buffalo, "Journal" said: "J. Zorb, charged with murder in the first degree, pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree, which pleas was accepted by the court. The county attorney had made a thorough investigation of the whole case and due to the fact that the punishment for murder in the first degree and second degree is the same, and a long and tedious trial would mean a large expense tot he county, he recommended to the court the acceptance of the plea and Zorb was sent tot the state's prison for the rest of his natural life."