Engineerk Kyle
Clues to a murder conspiracy in this photo...
“Baron” Molitor
The following is on file in the Rogers City, MI Library
as
received
from the University Library
Ann Arbor, Michigan on 20 Oct 1959:
A short time
before the
murder of Albert
Molitor a story was published to the effect that Molitor’s mother was a
Lady in
Waiting in the court of the old King William of Wurtemburg and that the
King
was his father. His mother was afterwards married to Capt.
Molitor and
Albert was given a good education. On reaching manhood, he was
installed
in the engineers corp of the war department at Ludwigsburg and
while
working as a draftsman was detected making plans of the great fortress
of
Uhlan.
He was
arrested, but
after a long trial
was allowed to go free if he would migrate to the United States, which
he
promptly did.
He joined the
U.S. Army,
served through
the rebellion (Civil War) with distinction of Gen Sigels staff and
after the war
obtained a
position in the department of Great Lakes survey in Detroit.
It was while on
the Lake
Survey that
Molitor located the stands of valuable pine timber in Presque isle part
of
Alpena County and quickly seeing the natural advantages of the region
about
Crawford’s Quarry, but having no money of his own, he interested W.E.
Rogers in
the enterprise, and with his aid proceeded to carry out his plans.
He tried to buy
some
land from the
Crawford’s of Detroit at Crawford’s Quarry which was 2 miles SE of the
present
site of Rogers City where there was a natural harbor and which was a
very good
site for a town, but the Crawford family would not sell.
Molitor, a man
rarely
frustrated,
succeeded in 1871, in buying the fractional 40 acres of land 2 miles
Northwest
of Crawford’s Quarry where Rogers City now stands and with Roger’s
assistance
he laid out a town, built a sawmill and dock, sent men into the virgin
pinewoods and was rapidly making Rogers City, a prosperous place.
He advertised
the region
in glowing
terms in letters to German papers, and thus brought a great number of
German
settlers. This accounts for the fact that the German language was
heard
here exclusively for several years in stores and church and even at
public school and other meetings.
Molitor was
instrumental
in the separation
of Presque Isle Township from Alpena County to form the new county:
Presque
Isle. He ran all the industries in the village and most of the
men
depended on him for their employment.
In winter, all
provisions had to be
brought from Alpena some 45 miles away by sled and this required
capital which
none but Molitor possessed. If a man resisted his control, he
could get
neither work nor food and simply had to leave.
Molitor
dominated the
elections, had
himself elected treasurer, county clerk or super-visor at will, his men
were
put into Justices chairs and he also selected the Village Council.
But with all of
Molitor’s energy Wm. E.
Rogers, his backer, lost money, and after about two years he withdrew
and this
left Molitor alone to carry out his plans.
Wm.
E. Rogers
Gravesite
Molitor caused
the
county to issue bonds
for $30,000 for roads, bridges and school houses. A reaction set
in among
the newcomers when the interest became due and taxes began to increase,
especially on the property of men who had come to the new county to
build homes
and engage in various forms of business.
Molitor either
kept no
books of the
county finances or destroyed them, so that no accurate accounts of his
dealings
with the county affairs could be found.
Indignation
meetings
were
secretly held
and one morning a committee was sent to demand of him the books of the
county. Molitor told the committee to go to “a warmer climate
[hell]
and
then walked into the mob gathered before his store, facing their guns
and revolvers with head erect and flashing eyes. One of the
committee spoke and said, “Molitor, give up those books or we’ll
hang
you,” at this time producing a rope “Go ahead with your hanging” he
laughingly
replied, but the men dared not carry out their purpose. Then
Molitor
had a table brought out and set
in the middle of the street with his dinner served to him, eating with
good
appetite, he invited others to join him. At nightfall Molitor
still
refusing to give up the books, the mob disappeared.
This was the
situation
until the night
of 23 August 1875 when the shooting occurred.
The shooting of
Molitor
occurred upon
the evening of 23 August 1875. Molitor was sitting in his office
which
was a shed-like building attached to his store at the foot of Michigan
Avenue. He was looking over his books, when a gun was fired
through the window and Molitor dropped to the floor with 7 buck
shots in his back and
side. A clerk, Edward Sullivan, who was in the office with
Molitor, sprang
to his assistance and received a load of shot in the neck.
Sullivan lived
for 3
days, but died as
he was being taken to the steamer on his way home. Molitor was
taken by
steamer to Harper Hospital in Detroit where he died two weeks after
being shot.
Apparently not
much was
done by the
authorities to investigate the shooting at this time, in fact, there is
no
record of any investigation.
Many of the
townspeople
rejoiced at the
demise of the tyrant who had ruled their lives, but some of Molitor’s
friends
sent a telegram to Gov. Bagley asking for the state militia to keep
order. The Adjutant General made a person visit to Rogers City to
investigate, but by the time he finally arrived tension had eased and
the
matter was dropped.
<>
As time passed
Herman
Hoeft became the
power in the community but he never used the tactics of dictator and
ruler
Molitor. Many stories were told behind closed doors but the
murder was
never discussed openly and to all appearances the matter was dropped
until fifteen years later.
This
is as written in the RC Centennial book.
Andrew Banks
was a
German preacher,
lawyer, crank - well educated in the German Gymnasium. He was the
first
Probate Judge of Presue Isle County. He took advantage of
his
superior education over the uneducated fellow countrymen. He held
a great
influence in the operation of Presque Isle County. He had a
falling out
with Albert Molitor [the main person in the development of Rogers City
and
Presque Isle County]. He was a strong Herman Hoeft partisan in
the
lawsuit after Molitor was murdered on 23 Aug 1875 in Rogers City.
Early in 1875, a
lawsuit
between Albert
Molitor and Herman Hoeft was in progress, and it appeared from
testimony that
Herman Hoeft was getting the worst of it. Feeling ran high
in Rogers
City both between Molitor and Hoeft and their partisans.
Andrew Banks,
being a
strong supporter
of Herman Hoeft, gathered together a number of men having serious
complaints
against Molitor, some under subterfuge and some with threats.
These men
met at what is known as Reinke's Hill, five miles west of Rogers City,
where
Andrew Banks told them the purpose of the meeting and swore them to
secrecy on
pain of death. A few of the men present expressed they didn't
want to be
involved in the killing. These were silenced by threats that if
they did
not do what was decided there, they would be killed also. A
meeting three days
hence was arranged for, and the men departed.
On the second
meeting,
23 Aug
1875, the
men were given guns, one was sent ahead to reconnoiter the situation
and Andrew
Banks built his alibi as he said that he would be the first to be
suspected. He gave one of the men a pair of his boots to wear
with
some markings that were well known. The man was to wear them to
"mix up the officers". Banks then went visiting with some
neighbors. The remaining members of the group rode into town and
shot
Albert Molitor through the window of his office,killing a young clerk,
Edward Sullivan. Molitor lived to be taken to the Detroit
Harper Hospital on a Lake Steamer. He died on 18 September 1875.
On 30 June
1891, nearly
sixteen years
later, William Repke, an early settler, made a full confession.
His
confession implicated the following men who, with himself were, he said
present
at the murder: August Grossman, August Fuhrman, Henry Jacobs, Carl
Vogler,
Stephan Rieger, Friedrich Sorgenfrei, Gottlieb Mende, Carl Weisengart,
Ferdinand Bruder, John Bruder, August Barabas, and Frederick
Tulgetske.
These men were the principals and Andrew E. Banks and Herman Hoeft, by
inference, were the instigators. On the following morning, with
the
exception of the Bruders and Barabas and Tulgetske both of whom had
died by
this time, were under arrest and quickly remanded for trial.
Neither
Banks nor Hoeft were arrested. Both were absent at the time
of the
crime and no direct evidence was ever given to show that Hoeft even
knew that
any plot was being hatched. Banks was clearly charged in later
testimony
with having masterminded the entire affair. Because
an
impartial jury could not be impaneled in Rogers City, a change of venue
was
secured and the trials all took place in Alpena. All five men -
August
Grossman,August Fuhrman, Carl Vogler, Henry Jacobs, and William Repke
were
convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment at Jackson Prison.
Had not
William Repke appealed to the Supreme Court, making it necessary for a
transcript of the record in the lower court, nothing really authentic
would be
available today to base a history of the Molitor Murder Case.
<>Repke applied for pardon
in 1898, but
was not granted one until 1 Jan 1901 - the first day of Gov. A.
T.
Bliss's tenure.
August Fuhrmann was granted a pardon by Governor Hazen S. Pingree on 28
Jan 1897. It is not known when the remaining 3
were
pardoned.
susan "at"4grove.com
It appears now
that is
was
very
unfortunate that Andrew Banks was neither charged with a share in the
crime
nor, at least subpoenaed as a witness. It is almost certain that
some
very interesting testimony would have been obtained. He really
was the
villain of the case, if there was one. The matter of his exchange
of
boots, brought out in the trial, should have been sufficient
to arouse
interest and questions. Banks certainly, on the basis of evidence
given
at the trials, had a large part in the instigation ofthe trial and the
execution of Albert Molitor.
The men who
were
convicted did not have
the advantage of a quality education. Their language was German,
and were
at a disadvantage when the trial was held. Communication between
the
English jury, attorneys, lawyers, and judge was a definite disadvantage
to these
German speaking men on trial.
Andrew led the
funeral
service
for his
wife at the burial spot - the Moltke township Cemetery - Felax
Road.
Shortly afterward Andrew disappeared from Presque Isle County. He
by-passed $400 he had in the Cheboygan Bank - a large sum in those
days. He was last seen on a train in Chicago*.
(Original Site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~confido/molitor.html)
Modeling the South Pennsylvania Railroad ("The Hilltop Route") in the late 50's