Correspondence Regarding Brutal Western Murder by Hatchet of Henry Toggenburger, Sedalia, Missouri, 1885 

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Jun 10, 2016 - Jun 11, 2016

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• Lot Description
  Correspondence Regarding Brutal Western Murder by Hatchet of Henry Toggenburger, Sedalia, Missouri, 1885 
  
  Lot comprised of 7 ALsS in English, totaling approximately 1800 words, 2 illegible German script ALsS, 2 – 32mo leather booklets, and additional brief notes and ephemera. Contents toned, folds from mailing. Overall well preserved, good or better.
  
  A small group of correspondence, documents, and ephemera relating to the life of Henry Toggenburger (ca 1863-1885), and his brutal death, an apparent axe murder in Sedalia, MO on August 15, 1885. Notable to the lot are a letter written by the victim the day before his murder, a small leather notebook with Henry’s Book inscribed to the interior, and a proposal from a Sedalia private detective concerning the murder investigation. The crime received significant media attention, with the local, SEDALIA WEEKLY BAZOO devoting at least three, lengthy investigative articles, published between August 18th and 26th (articles archived by newspapers.com). The news reports make multiple references to letters found upon his body, including a quote from the local Coroner:
  
  […] I also found upon his person a number of letters addressed to him by friends and relatives one of them was from his stepmother and written in German […] (August 18, 1885).
  
  The inclusion in this lot of Toggenburger’s personal notebook, with notes and dates placing it with him in Sedalia, and two German letters dated 1885 make it likely much of this group was on his person at the time of his death. Additional reports appeared in contemporary papers as far away as Pittsburgh and Athens, GA. The crime appears unsolved and an official coroner’s inquest returned a cause of death as suicide, though published details strongly contradict the decision. From the first BAZOO article on Toggenburger’s death:
  
  […] an examination revealed six cuts with the blade of the hatchet upon the top of the head, all penetrating to the brain, and a blow upon the right side of the head above the ear, made with such force that the pole of the hatchet had been driven entirely through the bone of the skull, and three deep gashes upon the back of the head near the base of the skull, all of which penetrated to the brain. In addition to these wounds, the unfortunate victim had been stabbed in the throat with a knife, the blade of which was about three-quarters or half an inch wide, in the throat once on each side of the windpipe and the left wrist had been so deeply gashed by the same instrument as to sever all the veins of the arms. A number of gashes about the throat of slight importance also showed the use of a knife in an attempt to cut the throat. A silk handkerchief had also been forced into the victim's mouth, and well down the throat, which, in his last dying agony he had tried to remove for when discovered the fingers of his right hand were still in his mouth. All these things conclusively banished any idea of death by suicide as it would have been impossible for any human to have inflicted such numerous fatal wounds upon himself […] (August 18, 1885).
  
  The correspondence includes 4 ALsS, written, by the victim, to his brother Samuel and a friend identified as Calvin, between April 22nd and August 14th, 1885 (2 of the letters were written from Sedalia and 2 from his previous location in Eureka, KS). The final letter, in an uncharacteristically shaky hand, raises concerns about Henry’s health in the days leading up to the crime.
  
  […] Last Friday I took sick. That darn catarah has troubled me once in a while this summer if you have not yet sent the money to me please end it right away for I can't stand it and now I had such an awful pain in my head and throat. you can tell by my scirbbling how I feel now don't forget. Make haste for me. If I would stayed away from this place maybe I would have more and maybe not. (August 14, 1885).
  
  His most revealing and intimate letter was penned on August 2, 1885 and addressed to a friend named Calvin. In the postscript, he writes: I am going down town to see my girl now and expect to have a time […]
  
  Initial news reports of the crime linked Henry romantically to a woman who worked in the boarding house in which he was found dead, a Miss Nellie Jackson. Jackson seems to have fled Sedalia shortly after the crime and the BAZOO published transcripts of the coroner’s inquest place his body in an entirely different room. Thus, the mention to Calvin of a girl is intriguing.
  
  The remaining 3 letters are addressed to Samuel and written by:
  
  H.W. Barrier of Eureka, KS, a former employer of Henry’s. His letter of August 23, 1885 describes the crime and disputes the suicide finding:
  
  […] Sir. / Your brother Henry was murdered in Sedalia Mo. about 5 O'clock on the evening of the 15 of August in the Atlantic House. He was gagged with a handkerchief and hacked in the head with a hatchet also had two stabs through the throat and one on the breast with a knife. I believe had had eight wounds in the head. There is no question in my mind or doubt that he was decoyed in the room and killed for his money […] I am the man that Henry worked for this summer. […] Henry was a good trustworthy young man and any one doing such a dastardly crime should be punished. I would like to here from you. Henry left here on the 18 of July and had $135.00 dollars in money that I saw perhaps you know more about the amount that he had than I do […]
  
  W.G. Overstreet, Coroner of Sedalia, MO; this letter of August 19th serves primarily as an invoice for services relating to the handling of Henry’s body.
  
  A man named Lovell, a self-proclaimed private detective located in Sedalia writes too of certainty against suicide and of a plan to bring those responsible for his death to justice:
  
  […] This communication being strictly confidential, I need not request that in case you either do or do not accept my offers and suggestions you will nevertheless maintain entire secrecy ensuing its receipt. My profession is that of private detective, and I maintain the belief, which is indeed almost universal here, that your brother Henry was foully murdered, for some purpose now unknown. […] interest in the case is strong, also indignation of the manor in which the verdict was secured. If you will place to care in my hands, and act on my suggestions, which I will state presently, I will require only my fines paid unless the guilty parties are brought to justice in which event - I should require a suitable reward. I do not think you can get better terms if you accept the terms stated. I should first require that you write a letter to the "Sedalia Bazzo" a local paper here and say in substance that - " upon thoroughly investigating the condition of the corpse on arrival at home, a verdict of suicide had been rendered there also. and that you deemed it only justice to the people of Sedalia to make the fact known here. and further investigation was therefore rendered unnecessary." This for the purpose of quieting the fears of the guilty and making detection easier. If you were to return here all implicated would be suspicious and make work doubly difficult. […] I have been successful when others have failed. The woman whore who was connected with the affair has left here. But I am informed of her whereabouts, and will keep her […] in view until I hear from you. I would also request that you write me a full and complete account of all your brothers affairs at home and abroad as far as you know both, socially and financially […] (August 19, 1885).
  
  Henry was originally from Bluffton, OH and had been traveling out west, working in Eureka, KS, an unnamed locale in Texas, and finally in Sedalia. This lot composes a compelling group of primary correspondence regarding a brutal, and apparently little known, unsolved murder in 1880s Old West, where historical data suggests murder was uncommon, despite popular depictions of the time to the contrary. The circumstances of death also bear resemblance to a series of well-known axe murders in Austin, TX, attributed to a believed serial killer known as "The Servant Girl Annihilator," which took place between December 1884 and December 1885. The longest break in those crimes occurred between May 22 and August 30 1885, further adding an element of speculative mystery to Toggenburger’s demise and story told within these letters. 
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