Bio: Bibel, Jacob (murdered)

Contact: Stan
Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Stevens, Bibel, Konrad, Mead, Palmer, Limprecht, Honeywell, Schwarze, Chandler, Leonard, Minhold, Meinholdt, Blanchard, Ryan

----Source: Spencer Advance, 27 Jan & 3 Feb, 1881, pg. 1, Federal Census Records, Local History Books and Clark County Records.

20 Jan 1881--Married, at the residence of Jacob Behl (Bibel)`, town of Warner Jan 20, 1881, by Rev. C.C. Swartz, Mr. Otto Geisler of town of Warner, to Miss Anna Conrad, of Sheboygan. [The Bibel and Geisler farms adjoined each other in Warner sec 4]

Section 4, Warner Township, Clark Co., Wisconsin

27 Jan 1881

An arrest was made here last Saturday by the Sheriff of Clark County on suspicion of murder.  As near as we can ascertain the facts are about as follows:  Two men, whose names we have not been able to learn, living near Hemlock Dam, on Black river, went out in company on the 5th of this month, and that is the last that has been seen of one of them.  The other, when interrogated as to the whereabouts of his companion, asserted that he did not know and soon after disappeared.  The officers have been on his track and last Saturday the sheriff found him here as stated above.  When the sheriff said to him, "you are my prisoner," his first words were, "I haven't murdered anybody."  This looks as though the thought of murder was uppermost in his mind, for he had not bee told what  he was arrested for.  It is supposed that he put his victim under the ice as there were holes in the ice where they went in company.

3 Feb 1881

The murdered man who was mentioned last week has been found near his home.  The man who was arrested here on suspicion of being the murderer proved an alibi and was released.  It now appears that the man's wife was the murderess.  As near as we can ascertain. she shot him with a revolver through the heat, and then fired three more balls into his body; after which two men from a lumber camp took the body and carried it some distance from the house and threw it under a log.  Parties who were searching for the missing man followed their trail when one of them, in getting over a log, stepped on the dead body, covered with snow.  The trio connected with the murder are now in custody.  What motive could have let to the perpetration of such a crime is not known to us, but for a woman to murder her husband, and then employ two men to conceal the body, looks as though there might be guilt, other than the murder, though of this we are not the judge.

Except from "Greenwood, Hub of Clark Co., Wisconsin", Chapter IV.

In 1881 a man named Jacob Bibel lived about a mile northwest of Hemlock, on what is now the Al Armstrong farm. Bibel who had come from the old country a few years previous, was a tall, homely, man with large protruding eyes and black whiskers that made him look like a monkey. He had found a wife near Milwaukee, who was seventeen years old when he married her and bore a poor reputation. She was a good worker and always helped with the outside work. One day in January 1881, while the two were hauling logs to Black River at Hemlock and while unloading, they became involved in a dispute. Mrs. Bibel drew a revolver, which she always carried, and shot him dead. She dragged the body back into the woods and left it. She returned home with the ox-team and went about her work as usual. Later she went to Harry Meads, telling them Jacob had gone away with a man and had not returned. About a week after, Joe Palmer, the miller at Hemlock, and Fred Limprecht noticed crows or ravens circling and cawing around and knew something was wrong, so went to investigate and found the body of Bibel doubled up behind a log, frozen stiff. The body was brought to town and put in Honeywell's warehouse, the building now occupied by Ed Schwarze. As some men were putting the body into a barrel of water to thaw it out. Woodie Chandler, who happened to be "about three sheets in the wind", said "Take another dive, Jacob, take another dive". For a long time after this building was a place to fear, and even adults hurried past after nightfall.

Mrs. Bibel was arrested and taken to Neillsville and while there in jail a baby boy was born to her.

She denied having murdered her husband. When court sat in March, her lawyer, Bob McBride, cleared her. She confessed, but claimed self-defense, as Jacob had come toward her threateningly with a cant hook.

Name: Jacob Bible (Bibel)
Residence: Warner, Clark, Wisconsin
Birthdate: 1846
Birthplace: Czechoslovakia
Relationship to Head: Self
Spouse's Name: Terissa Bible
Spouse's Birthplace: Wisconsin, United States
Father's Birthplace: Czechoslovakia
Mother's Birthplace: Czechoslovakia
Race or Color (Expanded): White
Ethnicity (Standardized): American
Gender: Male
Martial Status: Married
Age (Expanded): 34 years
Occupation: Farmer
Household Gender Age
Jacob Bible M 34
Spouse: Terissa Bible F 19 (1861), b. Wis., parents b. Germany
Sister-in-law: Anna Konrad F 22 (1859), b. Wis., parents b. Germany
John Leonard M 20
Peter Minhold (Meinholdt?) M 19
Geo. H. Blanchard M 25
Dennis Ryan M 30