DIXON, Ill. (AP) - When John Thiel came to Dixon on April 11, he brought along with him a piece of history dating back more than 130 years.
Hanging from his waistcoat as he addressed a crowd of about 150 people at the Loveland Community House and Museum was a gold chain, one that bears great historical significance to his family.
The pocket watch chain once belonged to his great-uncle, Frank Charles Thiel, whose murder in 1885 inspired the naming of Bloody Gulch Road.
“This is probably the most damning piece of evidence from the entire trial,” he said while holding out the chain. “This is the actual watch chain the Dixon marshal confiscated from Joseph Mosse when he arrested him.”
The Bloody Gulch murder served as the focus of the seventh annual Founder’s Day program, which was presented by the Lee County Historical and Genealogical Society in partnership with Dixon Main Street.
On Sept. 18, 1885, the body of 17-year-old Bible salesman Frank Thiel of Elgin was found near a stream at the bottom of a gulch. His throat had been slit, his head had sustained several gashes, and his arms had defensive wounds.
“He did not meet a good end at all, and even 130 years later, it’s hard to think about something like that,” said John Thompson, president of the Dixon Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Before introducing John Thiel, Thompson made a presentation about the murder and the trial that followed.
Joseph Mosse, a French-Canadian who was working as a farmhand not far from where the body was found, was arrested for the murder and sentenced to life in prison. During the trial, he was defended by Solomon Hicks Bethea.
Mosse was released from Joliet Penitentiary in 1911 after saving a guard’s life when an inmate attacked him with a shoe knife.
Thompson said that over the years, people have questioned whether Mosse was guilty of the crime because he didn’t speak much English, much of the evidence was circumstantial, and another Bible salesman was murdered 2 weeks later.
However, Thiel said he does not doubt Mosse’s guilt, especially because his grandfather could clearly identify Frank Thiel’s watch chain, as he bought it at Elgin National Watch Co., where they both had worked.
He said he thought the other murder was a coincidence because of the risk of the profession.
“Traveling salesmen were the No. 1 target for highwaymen; they were easy targets,” he said.
When Frank Thiel was buried in Elgin 2 days after his body was found, 1,200 mourners turned out. It was the largest funeral in the city in 150 years, John Thiel said.
“Frank was described by his friends and the people that knew him as a quiet, ambitious boy of good habits and a communicant of St. Mary’s Church in Elgin,” Thiel said.
During the program, Thiel was accompanied by his wife, Betty, his brother Terry and his niece Anna.
Anna Thiel said the Bloody Gulch murder would often be a family story told at Christmas.
“The Bloody Gulch murder has been a part of my life for my entire life,” she said. “It’s enigmatic, but it’s still tragic.”
The Founder’s Day program also featured three award presentations. Donna and Marlin Misner won the Langan Award for excellence in preserving the history and heritage of Dixon, Matt and Savana Porter won the McAlpine Award for excellence in preservation and revitalization of the historic downtown district, and Lucy Burke won the James G. Burke Award for a lifetime of achievement to the city of Dixon.
The Burke award was created this year to honor former Mayor James Burke, who died in February. His wife Lucy won the
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Source: The (Sterling) Daily Gazette, https://bit.ly/1VWZtvZ
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Information from: Dixon Telegraph, https://www.saukvalley.com
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