jacob

Introduction | Testimony of Jacob Kimmel

Testimony of Jacob Kimmel

Below is the testimony of Jacob Kimmel at the July 5 hearing, taken from Day's Lynched!.

On Friday, at 9 o'clock A.M., the examining court again convened for the purpose of examining into the case of Jacob Kimmel, jointly charged with McLeod and Absalom Kimmel, as being concerned in the murder. After a long, patient and searching investigation, the accused was released from custody on the charge of murder, there being no evidence implicating him in the diabolical transaction; but he was required to enter into a recognizance in the sum of fifteen hundred dollars for his appearance, at the November term of the Court of Common Pleas, as a witness in the cases of the State against Alexander McLeod and Absalom Kimmel. This was done in consequence of the statement of the prisoner, made on his own motion, after the evidence for the State was all in and the prosecution had rest the case. The statement was as follows:

STATEMENT OF JACOB KIMMEL.

"This feller, (Alexander McLeod,) told me at noon today, (July 5th,) that he murdered the girl; that Absalom did not want to go with him but he compelled him to go. He said Absalom did not lay hands on the girl. He also told me that he himself caught the girl and drug or carried her into the woods."

Beyond this statement of the prisoner, the examination elicited no further facts or circumstances having a bearing on the case, or tending to criminate or involve any one else as having been concerned in the commission of the crime, except McLeod and Absalom Kimmel.