Hanging of the murderer of Edson Benjamin. 07 Dec 1901 news article in the Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, MT. Ancestry.com newspaper collection.
➡ Benjamin Family, McMurray Family
A previous series of articles told the story of the murder of Edson Benjamin at Underwood’s Landing in Skamania County, Washington on 24 March 1901. At the time, we were unable to determine the fate of the murderer, James G. Green. The story was left with Green begging to be hanged right away as he could not bear the sight of Benjamin’s widow, Martha “Jennie” Munger Benjamin, in the courtroom. The jury found him guilty of first degree murder, and thus, with hanging imminent, he changed his tune and asked for the verdict to be fought. For some reason, no online searches showed the final fate of the murderer when that series was written.
Today, however, further research hit the jackpot with a link to a free Skamania County Washington history site. They posted transcripts of pertinent newspaper articles, and from there we could search out the newspapers and learn the final disposition of Green, who was hanged for his crime.
Green did fare better than the criminal whose story was reported on the same page:
Awful Scene at Execution. 07 Dec 1901, Anaconda Standard, Anaconda Montana, v13, n87, p2, c4. Ancestry.com.
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The Hood River Glacier, March 29, 1901, Vol. 12, No. 45, Page 2, Column 1, tells a bit more of the story of the murder of Edson V. Benjamin:
“Tragedy at Underwood landing,” The Hood River Glacier, March 29, 1901, Vol. 12, No. 45, Page 2, Column 1. Public domain.(Click to enlarge.)
“TRAGEDY AT UNDERWOOD LANDING”
“A cowardly murder occurred at Underwood Landing, Wash., opposite Hood River, Saturday night, March 23rd. Edson Benjamin of Hood River was shot and instantly killed by someone who fired through the window. The tragedy took place at Wm. Wendorf’s house, 1½ miles from Underwood. Benjamin was in the employ of Nicolai & Cameron as foreman of their logging camp. The camp was preparing to move to a new location above the falls of the White Salmon, and a dance was given as a farewell party to the loggers by their friends in the neighborhood. The dance was held in Wendorf’s barn and the supper was given in the residence. At the third table was seated Edson Benjamin, L.W. Jones, Wm. Wendorf, Mrs. Harry Olsen and Mrs. Nellie Brown. Mrs. Brown had been waiting upon the tables and had just sat down alongside Benjamin and was serving coffee when a shot was fired through the window, striking Benjamin in the head and passing through, a part of the ball struck Mrs. Brown on the shoulder. Benjamin fell to the floor and expired without a word. Mrs. Brown’s injury was slight. L. W. Jones immediately went to the barn, were dancing had been resumed, and informed the dancers of the shooting. The men all turned out and hunted for the assassin but he could not be found. Suspicion immediately rested upon a logger named Jim Green, who had had some trouble with Benjamin and threatened his life. Green was in love with a woman who recently rejected his advances and it is supposed to this caused him to become intensely jealous. Edson Benjamin moved from The Dalles to Hood River about two years ago, and about one year ago bought the Dan Smith place on the East Side. He was a man well spoken of by all who knew him. He leaves a widow. His age was about 38, and he was a native of Illinois. The A.O.U.W. lodge of The Dalles, of which he was a member, took charge of the funeral and he was buried at The Dalles Tuesday.
The coroner came up from Stevenson Sunday, and we understand the jury found a verdict in accordance with the above facts and charged Green as being the murderer.
Sheriff Totten came up from Stevenson Sunday and with deputies commenced a search for Green. Green was hid in the woods. Tuesday, as the officers passed his near his hiding place, he came out and gave himself up and confessed to the murder. He was brought to Hood River Tuesday evening and taken to The Dalles, and Wednesday morning was taken to Vancouver, where a special term of court will convene for his trial.”
Three additional paragraphs were in the paper that day concerning the murder:
“Hood River gets the …undue prominence…” The Hood River Glacier, March 29, 1901, Vol. 12, No. 45, Page 2, Column 1. Public domain.(Click to enlarge.)
” Hood River gets the credit abroad for the cowardly murder at Underwood, Wash., because the dispatches concerning the tragedy were sent from here, the nearest telegraph or telephone station. Hood River isn’t a bit proud of its undue prominence in connection with the affair.”
“The citizens of Underwood, Wash., are to be congratulated…” The Hood River Glacier, March 29, 1901, Vol. 12, No. 45, Page 2, Column 1. Public domain.(Click to enlarge.)
” The citizens of Underwood, Wash., are to be congratulated upon the law-abiding spirit shown when the confessed murderer, Jim Green, was captured. Consdiering the fact that Green was cordially hated and feared by his neighbors, and his victim correspondingly loved and respected, lynching might have resulted.”
“…badly scared citizens…” The Hood River Glacier, March 29, 1901, Vol. 12, No. 45, Page 2, Column 2. Public domain.(Click to enlarge.)
“It is said there are some very badly scared citizens of Underwood after it was learned that Jim Green had killed Benjamin. One young man turned gray in a night. Another, a young man who had loaned Green a gun, fearing arrest as an accomplice, swallowed a big dose of carbolic acid in a quart of cider with suicidal intent. The cider acted as an antidote and as an emetic, and the youth will live to get scared another day. The only person heard of showing any presence of mind during the excitement of the affair was Mrs. Brown, who, after the fatal shot was fired, blew out the lamp so that the assassin could not see into the room to shoot again.”
Interestingly, another related paragraph appears on page 3 of this same issue, but does not even mention the murder:
Pictures of Jim Green and …Nellie Brown…” The Hood River Glacier, March 29, 1901, Vol. 12, No. 45, Page 3, Column 3. Public domain.
See Part 2 of this series for the pictures. Sadly, I have found no pictures of Edson or his wife Jennie (Munger) Benjamin, nor can I find a funeral notice.
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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
Benjamin-Slade Headstone in the Odd Fellows Cemetery, The Dalles, Oregon. Reprinted with kind permission of photographer.
A murder in the family? So heartbreaking, but true. (Thankfully not a murderER.) Distant, in relationship as well as time, it is still a sad tale that should be told, especially since Edson V. Benjamin had no descendants to pass on his story due to his untimely death.
It was 1863, on a cold day after two years of turmoil in our nation with two more years of civil war to follow, that Edson Benjamin was the first child born to Jonathan Felix Benjamin (1838-1913) and Hannah E. Marple Benjamin (1842-1900). Ohio on 29 Jan 1863 was a state with mixed sympathies over slavery and the war, and in July of that year the inhabitants would be terrorized by the Confederate bands of Morgan’s Raiders. The Benjamins probably lived in some of the areas where the raiders pillaged businesses, houses, and farms, “procuring” supplies like food and horses as well as other spoils of war, leaving the area inhabitants hungry and without supplies, and soldiers and citizens dead. This turmoil was nothing new for the Benjamins, however: Edson was the grandson of Jonathan N. Benjamin (1799-1876) and Hannah E. Ford (1798-1891), themselves frontiers people and descendants of Indian fighters, Indian captives, Revolutionary War veterans, as well as veterans of the War of 1812.
After the war, Edson’s family and his grandparents migrated to Jasper County, Iowa, in covered wagons, probably about 1867. By the 1870 US Federal Census, seven-year old Edson was found with his family living in the same household as his paternal grandparents, Jonathan N. and Hannah E. (Ford) Benjamin in Malaka Township Jasper County, Iowa.
At age 17 Edson was listed on the US Federal Census as a farmer, living with his parents and siblings on a farm in Twin Lakes, Calhoun, Iowa, about 150 miles northwest of Jasper County, on June 9th. In 1885, the Iowa State Census lists him as a single man living in Rockwell, Twin Lakes, Calhoun County, Iowa. He was entitled to vote but also subject to military duty.
Edson married Martha “Jennie” Munger, daughter of Irish immigrants, about 1888 per the 1900 US Federal Census when they had Jennie’s mother living with them; they had no children. They had moved to Hood River, Wasco, Oregon, and purchased a place there about 1899. Previously, they had lived in The Dalles, Oregon, to which they had migrated about 1897. (No information yet found on the time between 1885-1897.)
Edson was working as a logger and then the foreman of a logging camp in 1901. The camps traveled around Oregon and Washington state as they cleared the forest. Edson was well-liked and much respected by his coworkers and neighbors… except for one.
The newspapers tell the story best, but that will need to be in my next posts…
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) My Find A Grave Memorial # with help from research done by ColumbiaGypsy and shared with all.
3) 1880 US Federel Census- Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Twin Lakes, Calhoun, Iowa; Roll: 330; Family History Film: 1254330; Page: 285B; Enumeration District: 025; Image: 0313.
4) 1880 non-population schedule for Columbia, Washington: Source Citation: Census Year: 1880; Census Place: District 3, Columbia, Washington; Archive Collection Number: A1154; Roll: 6; Page: 4; Line: 01; Schedule Type: Agriculture. (Interestingly, an “E. Benjamin” was also listed on 7 June 1880 on the US Federal Non-Population Schedule – more research is needed to clarify these entries, which include a William Benjamin- Edson had a brother named William, but that is a common name- on the same page in Columbia, Washington, where Edson later lived.)
5) 1885 Iowa State census- Source Information: Quigg, Gary, comp.. Iowa, State Census 1885 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2003.
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Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
