This is a reprint of a “From the Local History Room” column that first appeared in August 2014, before the launch of this weblog.
The shooting death of Charles C. Ziegenbein
By Jared Olar
Library Assistant
As was described in Sept. 24’s “From the Local History Room” column, in earlier times Tazewell County’s court proceedings were thought to be almost as much a source of entertainment as they were the dispensing of justice.
When it came to drawing crowds of spectators to the county courthouse, of course, nothing worked like a murder trial.
The November 1875 court term in Tazewell County saw just such a trial: Samuel E. Willard was charged with the murder of his neighbor, Charles C. Ziegenbein. “At the trial which took place in November, intense interest was manifested, as both men were well known,” comments Ben C. Allensworth in his 1905 “History of Tazewell County,” page 805.
Charles Ziegenbein was born on Jan. 15, 1847, the son of German immigrants John Ernst and Luise Ziegenbein who had come from Westerlinde in Hanover (in Ostfriesland in modern Niedersachsen, Germany) and settled in the Manito area. He and Willard had farms that bordered each other in Section 10 of Spring Lake Township. Allensworth’s history mentions that “there had been difficulty between the two men for a period of two years or more.” We don’t know what had caused their falling out, although in their final quarrel Willard reportedly told the victim that he “had abused his family, trespassed upon his premises and interfered with his rights as a citizen.”
Whatever the incidents were that led up to the killing, it all came to a head on June 8, 1875. Here is Allensworth’s account of the fatal confrontation:
“The immediate trouble which led to the murder arose from the trespass of Ziegenbein’s stock on Willard’s premises the Sunday before the shooting took place. On Monday of this week the two men met and quarreled in Manito. The morning of the shooting Ziegenbein started his cows down the road and, as they passed Willard’s house, the hired men set the dogs on them. Ziegenbein followed down the road, went inside the barnyard and was engaged in a wrangle with the hired men for dogging his cows.
“Willard came on the scene and when he wanted to know what Ziegenbein wanted, was told that it was none of his damn business. Willard ordered Ziegenbein off his premises, went after his gun and came back to the front gate. He stopped Ziegenbein, who was then going towards his house, and told him he had abused his family, trespassed upon his premises and interfered with his rights as a citizen, and followed Ziegenbein on the inside of the fence for some little distance, when he finally climbed over into the road.
“Ziegenbein told him that he was a coward to bring out his gun. Willard laid down his gun and offered to fight Ziegenbein, which the latter would not do. Willard then picked up his gun, when Ziegenbein seized the barrel. Willard then fired twice, the first shot striking Ziegenbein just below the ribs, causing instant death; the second shot did not hit him. Ziegenbein was accustomed to carry a revolver, as he was a constable, and had one in his possession at that time.”
According to Allensworth, “Willard gave himself up to the authorities of Pekin and was imprisoned . . . .” At the trial that November, the jury found Willard guilty of murder. While a murder conviction in those days often resulted in a death sentence by hanging, in this case, given the circumstances and the testimony that the killing was not premeditated, Willard was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Allensworth concludes, “He was discharged some years before the expiration of the time for which he was sentenced, and has lived an honorable life ever since, at his old home at Spring Lake.”
Ziegenbein was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Manito. Willard died on April 11, 1912, and is interred with his wife Sibylla and sons George and Eugene in Meadow Lawn Cemetery.
