Murder in First Degree
Michael Meide Indicted by the Grand Jury
Two Indictments Found - History in Progress of the Case

     The readers of The Argus will remember the killing of Steinhuber and Colway, by John and Michael Meide last October - the arrest of the parties - the finding of the bodies of the murdered men - the Coroner's inquest - the lynching of "Black John" - the arrest of Michael Meide and his commitment to the Stearns County jail since then. The minute particulars of the horrible crime, and the subsequent lynching have already been published in The Argus and need  not be repeated here. The grand jury returned two indictments, one each for the killing of Steinhuber and Colway.
     The following is the first indictment, viz:
     The District Court for the county of Todd and State of Minnesota. The State of Minnesota against Michael Meide. Indictment. Michael Meide is accused by the Grand Jury of the County of Todd and State of Minnesota, by this indictment, of the crime of murder in the first degree, committed as follows: The said Michael Meide did on the 27th day of October, A.D. 1879, at the Town of Ward in said County of Todd and State of Minnesota without the authority of law, and with malice aforethought with a premeditated design to effect the death of one Frank Steinhuber, feloniously kill and murder him, the said, Frank Steinhuber, a human being, by then and there shooting him, the said Frank Steinhuber, with a gun then and there loaded with gun powder and buck shot, contrary to the form of the Statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Minnesota.
     Dated this 24th day of Feb. A.D. 1880, Todd Co. at Long Prairie, Minn.
     H.C. Hewes,
     Foreman of the Grand Jury

     A.M. Crowell was appointed by the court to defend the accused at the expense of the county. Theodore Bruener, of St. Cloud, having declined to defend him on the account of ill health.
     At an interview with the prisoner he made the following statement:
    
     "I am innocent and consequently cannot plead guilty. If they kill me tonight it will be a blessed death."
     "I have four witnesses to show that I was at home all day on the day the murder was committed. Two of these witnesses are my brother and sister."
     "God in Heaven knows that I am innocent; and he knows my death will be a blessed one."
     "If anyone testifies against me he will swear falsely."
     "I will not plead guilty."

     The accused is a short, thick set German with jet black hair and mustache and piercing black eyes, low forehead and a thick, short neck, and is dressed in rough clothing and wears a lumberman's red shirt and altogether presents an appearance of low cunning and a malicious disposition.
     Owing to an error, noted elsewhere in the figures "1879" instead of "1880" in the indictment, all the proceedings were set aside and the Grand Jury brought in a new indictment in the place of the one set aside, and the accused allowed until Thursday morning to plead.
     On Thursday morning Meide plead "not guilty."
     Mr. Crowell then gave notice of a motion to change the place of the trial to some other county. This question was discussed by the court and counsel, and four days allowed within which to prepare for trial.
     It is understood that if the place of the trial is changed, the case will go to the next regular term of the County to which it may be removed.
     In the event of its not being removed to some other County it is understood that an adjourned term of the present court will be held March 23rd.
     The following shows where the woman Colway is:

     Wauwatosia, Wis., Feb. 18, 1880.  F.C. Chase, Long Prairie

     Dear Sir - Your letter of inquiry dated the 13th, is at hand.
     In reply I would state that Mrs. Sophia Colway and her infant were dismissed from the hospital Jan. 27th; she is going to "the home for the friendless", and her infant to Burlington, Wisconsin.
                    F. A. Marden,
                    Superintendant
    

     Thus rests the case as we go to press. The question as to a change of the place of trial, will be determined during the present term.
 

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The St. Cloud Times - Official Paper of the County
City Items
Wednesday, March 3, 1880

     Michael Miede, the Todd county murderer, plead not guilty, at the recent term of court in that county. A.M. Crowell, who was appointed by the court to defend the prisoner, made a motion for a change of venue to some other county. The motion was denied, and the trial will be held at an adjourned term to be holden March 23d.

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St. Cloud Journal - Press
March 4, 1880

     -- The trial of M. Muede for murder will take place at an adjourned term of the District Court to be held at Long Prairie March 23, the application for a change of venue having been denied by Judge McKelvy. The court appointed A.M. Crowell, of Long Prairie, counsel for the prisoner, Mr. Bruener, of this city, declining to act on account of sickness.

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Nordstern German Paper
March 4, 1880

Murder in the First Degree
Michael Moede is Indicted by the Grand Jury

     Our readers will certainly recall the terrible tragedy that occurred last fall in Todd county in which two Germans, Steinhuber and Kolway were slain by murderous hands. The circumstances of this horrible deed were reported in our pages at the time, together with the arrest of Michael Moede, accused of taking part in the murder, which brought the matter to a temporary close. Last week, the above-mentioned M. Moede was brought to Long Prairie before the bar of Justice where he was indicted by the grand jury on two counts.
     In the first county - the jury charged that M. Moede, on the 27th October of 1879 in the town of Ward, Todd county did with malice aforethought shoot Frank Steinhuber with a firearm loaded with gunpowder and buckshot.
     The court appointed A.M. Crowell as defense attorney because Mr. Th. Bruener from here had turned down the defense due to the4 onset of illness. The attorney then had an interview with the accused, and made the following statement to the jurors seated opposite: The defendant considers himself innocent, and therefore can plead not guilty, and if one should kill him, his death would be a blessed one. He has four witnesses who can testify that, at the time of the murders, he was present at home, that two of these witnesses are his sister and brother. God in heaven knows he is innocent, and this God knows; that his death will be a blessed one.
     If anyone testifies against him, he will be swearing falsely.
     Further proceedings were adjourned until Thursday. On the morning of that day Moede appeared before the jury and declared himself not guilty. Then attorney Crowell requested a change of venue to another county, which motion was taken under consideration by the court, and the defense was granted a 4-day delay to prepare its case. In case the trial is moved to another county, it will be heard by the court sitting in that county. If the trial is held in Todd county, it is reported, it will take place at the March 23 appointed session.

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The Todd County Argus - Friday, March 26, 1880

High Crimes

     In adjudication of capital offenses there are seldom if ever like circumstances attending separate or remote cases. All are to a greater or less extent different in their nature and the surroundings attending them. Guilty murderers escape the penalty of their crimes oftener than the innocent are tried and executed upon a verdict of guilty, when the unfortunate circumstances in inextricably surround the victim with the meshes of the law. The known cases where innocence and virtue have suffered from the operation of circumstantial surroundings upon seeming and apparent indications of guilt have seldom happened and are few and far between, while the escape of guilty murderers upon verdicts of acquittal for want of sufficient evidence to establish their guilt is increasing in a ratio commensurate with the cunning of arch traitors to human society who make up the long and increasing list of thugs, pirates, robbers and murderers.
     The well being and prosperity of any community demand that those who willfully break the mandates of that common law of protection which insures life, liberty and the purest of happiness, shall suffer the consequences according to the enormity of their crimes. The horrible crime for which Michael Meide is now on trial at the court house of this county, sent shudders of dark unsafety through the meandering veins of an ordinarily decent community, free from indications of moral rottenness or loop-holes of criminality, except as they might occasionally appear upon the surface of an otherwise placid and undisturbed condition of fancied security and indemnity from danger, similar to those which will always infest any community from time to time.
     We are safe just in accordance with the certainty of punishment which is lawfully meted out to those who may criminally infest and disgrace the neighborhood. The cases of escape from punishment for want of proof increases the probability of a like offense as often repeated as the criminal classes of society feel safe in plying a vocation which causes the necessity of a criminal code to condemn and punish.
     Every organized community is infested with power to arrest, try, find, sentence and punish through the investments nominated by the law, which in our own case is the court and its officers and the citizens of the county represented by their chosen juries to indict and to try.
     We shall wait with interest the termination of a case in which we all have a deep interest and only hope that equal and exact justice may be done to the accused and the county.
     Since the above was written the trial of Michael Meide has been brought to a successful and legal close. The verdict of the jury which commits the defendant to the State Prison for life at hard labor is a just recognition of the law of the land which will stand as a solemn warning to the criminal classes of society, and will be approved by this community and the state at large. We are satisfied. The penalty is a severe one, but it scarcely meets such an occasion as the present.
    

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