The Villers Saga, Part V

You knew it was bound to happen!  Another installment of the trial of Martin Joseph Villers.  I really want to get through these articles and move on to some of the documents and articles from the other trial.  I would still love to find out why all this happened! 

The next article in the series is very short so I'll be doing two in this post.

The Bismarck Daily Tribune, November 29, 1897

"Staff News

The son and daughter of the prisoner Villers were at the Stutsman county jail Thanksgiving day to meet their father, who is waiting his trial for murder"

Just a side note...Martin Joseph and Octavia Villers nee Waguener had 5 children (that I am currently aware of):  Florence, Mary Ann Mina Octavia,  Louis, Alta  Ellen Ella, and Agnes.  So apparently only two of them visited (Louis being one as his only son).

The Bismarck Daily Tribune, December 29, 1897

"The Villers Trial

The Jamestown Alert says of the coming trial of the man Villers, who was taken from the state penitentiary here to be tried for murder:  The trial of M.J. Villers for the alleged murder of August Tromer, It is believed, will be the first murder trial ever to have been held in Stutsman county and for this reason, outside of the local interest in the case, will attract a great deal of attention.  Attorney S. E. Ellsworth has been designated by the prisoner and appointed by the court as counsel for the defendant and, it is understood, Judge Glaspell has called in Judge Fisk of Grand Forks to try the case because of his ineligibility, having assisted in the prosecution of Villers at his trial and conviction of assault with intent to kill upon Mrs. Tromer.  The state will be ably represented in the prosecution by County Attorney F. Baldwin.  The case will be the first on the calendar and it is expected will be taken up and the trial begun Thursday, January 6.  Both the prosecution and defense are expected to make a strong fight and the case will probably occupy the greater part of the term."

Well, I don't know how long a "term" was, but the trial didn't take too terribly long...I'm running out of articles!  One subtle thing I noticed in the 2nd article was how the prosecution is referred to as the "state will be ably represented"...as if the state's attorney is more important.  The law is (theoretically) the law and the defendant deserves to be ably represented as well.  I'm biased, I know, but still.  Gives an overall feeling of, "don't worry, we'll be winning this thing".  Just sayin'...

The Villers Saga, Part II

The Bismarck Daily Tribune, November 11, 1897

"Finding of Tromer's Body"

(The first paragraph is pretty much impossible for me to read.  I can make out very little, but you can have a go if you like!  If you click on the image it will take you to a larger version!) 

The body lay in (a partial ??) grave three feet deep five feet seven inches long and just wide enough to contain the body.  The head was slightly bent to the south as though after placing it in the excavation it was discovered the grave was a little too short.  The lower limbs were extended, the right foot yet wearing a shoe.  The other shoe was thrown in upside down beside the body, evidently having been removed from the body in the death struggle or in carrying the body to the place of deposit.  On the lower part of the body was a few small field boulders that may have been laid upon it when it was interred or may have been thrown down the badger hols to get them out of the way of the plow. It has been suggested that they were placed in the grave to deflect and throw upward the plow share to prevent discovery of the body in the future.  Distant a hundred feet or more was a stone pile where the stones may have been obtained.

The place of the grave is in a depression on a rise in the ground out of sight of Viller's house, but distant not more than a quarter of a mile.  No other house is in sight than Mr John Ford's three or four miles away.  Work could be carried on indefinitely without discovery.  In the fall of '94 a straw stack stood there and after the attempted murder of Mrs Tromer the ashes of the pile which had been burned were forked over thoroughly with the expectation of discovering some of the bones had the body been thrown in the straw pile with the intention of cremation.  Two crops of grain have been grown over the grave, twice has the land been plowed and it may possibly have been worked indefinitely without discovery of the body had not the wild badgers dug into the grave and thrown up pieces of the skull, some of the clothing and a pocket knife.  The hiding place was well planned and executed and the murder had confidently counted on everything except the excavations of the wild animals.  His devices had but the one defect, but that proved fatal to the preservation of the secret.  The work of interring the body may have occupied the greater part of a single might or it may have been the work of several nights, the body the meanwhile being hidden in the straw.

If the body is (??) as that of Tromer as now seems probable, Villers, the (person) in the pen may be taken thence and (??) to stand trial for murder.  Villers was sentenced to nine and one half years (it gets bad again here, but they are undoubtedly talking about his attempted murder conviction that he was serving in the state penitentiary and that he would have gotten out in 1902).

Sorry for the lack of posts recently everyone!  I've been trying to kick a nasty cold for the past 1-1/2 weeks and it's getting there.  Slowly but surely.  I'm going to be concentrating on transcribing some of my Martin Villers posts before ramping up to the Advent Calendar posts!  Sharing a part of my family's history that I find very interesting.  Always hoping for that bit that could possibly point to Martin being innocent!  I can always hope!

100th COG - There's One in Every Family - Martin Joseph Villers

The Bismarck Daily Tribune 20NOV1897

I'd love to get my husband more interested in genealogy and family history.  He is interested to an extent...how could he not be married to a genealogy nut, but there are certain aspects of it that he doesn't like.  He's not so big on the paperwork...I'm the meticulous one of the pair.  He's an analyst (seriously, that's what he does) so he could be great at busting through brick walls!  Unfortunately, there are some walls that he would like to rebuild and that's just not how this works.  You can't rebuild a wall and pretend that someone didn't exist.  You can't brush history aside...even the unsavory bits.  That's where Martin Joseph Villers comes into play.

I was farting around on Ancestry a couple years ago (yes, that's the technical term).  Just typing surnames into their search engine.  Trying to see if anything would come up in newspapers.  When I typed in Villers I got a bit of a surprise...I found several newspaper articles on one Martin Joseph Villers.  The father to Florence, Mary Ann, Louis, Alta Ellen, and Agnes.  Husband of Octavia Villers nee Waguener.  And murderer of August Tromer and attempted murderer of his wife, Pauline Tromer.

So who was Martin Joseph Villers to my husband?  He's my husband's great great grandfather.  I can understand how we don't want to find bad people in our family tree (particularly our direct line), but the truth is there's going to be bad people in there.  It doesn't reflect on who we are.

I've been fascinated by this discovery and sometimes I think that my husband would prefer it if I would stop digging.  I've received penitentiary records from North Dakota, copied all the newspaper articles I could find, etc.  I don't want to glorify what he did, but I want to know why he did it.  He had been a policeman in a previous census!  Part of me hoped to find something that would lead me to believe he was innocent.  The evidence was so circumstantial in the papers.  I had dreams of being able to request a pardon or reversal for MJ Villers.  Yeah...not going to happen unless something new comes to light.

The articles are fascinating.  The terminology involved and what they seem to consider "proof" is amazing.  If you read all the articles it's evident that he was considered guilty from the get go.  From a historical point of view the case was a first for the state of North Dakota.  They were unsure of how to try him for the murder of August Tromer when he was already serving time for the attempted murder of Pauline Tromer (not a problem today, but back then they weren't sure what to do!).  He was also the first person from Stutsman County sent to the state prison for a life term.  Now granted, these aren't goals we aspire to, but it's all very interesting.

I don't know if I'll ever know why he did what he did.  Was he desperate for land?  Money?  Did he have a falling out with the Tromers?  Why did the Villers family move from Wisconsin to North Dakota to begin with?  How did the Tromer family fare as time passed?  One thing I do know is that there will be more Martin Josephs as I continue researching.  It's a statistical...and genealogical fact.