Miede Found Guilty and Life Sentence Imposed

     The trial of Michael Miede, charged with the murder of Henry Kolway, in October last, in Todd county, took place at Long Prairie last week, commencing on Tuesday, at 1 o'clock p.m. and ending on Thursday evening. Thirty-four persons were examined as to their qualifications to sit as jurors, before the necessary twelve were secured. The most important witness was Mrs. Kolway, who lived with Michael Miede as his wife. The case was given to the jury at five o'clock Thursday evening, and at seven p.m. a verdict of guilty was brought in. As the jury did not recommend the death penalty, the limit of the law, imprisonment in the State prison for life, with twelve days during each year in solitary confinement upon bread and water, was imposed by Judge McKelvy. The Argus states that the jury first stood ten for conviction and two for acquittal. One was for the death penalty. The result of the trial is a source of gratification; it would have been more so, if the penalty of death had been imposed by the jury.

** Note: The following is a separate article on the same page as above in The St. Cloud Times: Meide was sentenced to twelve days solitary confinement in each year. But St. Paul lawyers claim that such sentences are prohibited by Section 1, chapter 79, laws of 1876, which says that in case of life prisoners "solitary confinement is hereby abolished except for prison discipline. - Dispatch
    

St. Cloud Dispatch - April 1, 1880

     - The jury in the case of Michael Miede, the Todd county murderer, did not require much time in which to agree upon a verdict. After being out two hours it returned with the verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. The law throws upon the jury, in such cases, the responsibility of fixing the death penalty, otherwise punishment is imprisonment for life. The history of all such trials is that a jury shrinks from this - a responsibility which should not be thrown upon it - and so Michael Miede goes to the State prison for the remainder of his natural life time - unless he escapes or is pardoned - with twelve days during each year in solitary confinement upon bread and water. He passed through here on Friday, in custody of the Sheriff of Todd county, on his way to Stillwater. The evidence against him was very strong. Mrs. Kolway, the wife of one of the murdered men and whom Miede had lured away from her husband to become his mistress, had been brought back from Milwaukee, to which place she had gone, to give her testimony, which was very unfavorable to the prisoner.
    

Nordstern German Paper - April 1, 1880

- Michael Moede -
- Found Guilty of Murder in the First Degree -
- Sentenced to Life -
- 12 Days of Each Year to be on Bread and Water -

     On Tuesday of last week, the murder trial of the accused Mich. Moede began. He was not able to establish his oftspoken innocence, and the suspicions that were harbored in our city about the presumed murderer, who was not able to avoid punishment for the deed by his summoned witnesses, were not to be disappointed. As has now been determined by the court, Moede will be punished by life in prison, we would like to inform our interested readers' how we followed the course of the trial, without leaving any of it out.    
     After the panel of jurors was filled, County Attorney Jones opened the trial by reading out the text of the complaint. This says, in short, that Michael Moede murdered H. Kolway with an ax in October of 1879. Kolway's wife had left him, and lived with Moede; the neighbors were outraged, burned down Moede's house, and soon thereafter Steinhuber and Kolway were murdered. Mr. Jones dwelt on the grisly circumstances of the murder and stressed the importance of imposing the death penalty. As the first witness, Dr. Kenegg was summoned, he described the wounds that Steinhuber and Kolway had received. Steinhuber was shot through the head and the right hand. Kolway's skull was completely shattered; he also had a wound near the mouth. Kolway's wounds were caused by a blunt instrument, and were apparently inflicted by the back-side of an ax.
     Michael Nessline was the Coroner in 1879 and conducted the inquest. He, in the company of several men, looked for the bodies, and found them about 40 rods (220 yards) from the house in a pit, wrapped in sheets, and covered by earth. The witness had the bodies brought to Long Prairie, and held the inquest there. Henry Spieker helped in the search for the bodies. He testified that he had known Kolway for 15 years, that he was 28 years old, and had lived with his wife on his farm in Todd county for two months after his wedding; then the wife fled and went to live with John and Mich. Moede in their house. This house was burned down on November first.
     On the second day, the first witness to be interrogated was Mr. Lawrence Schauer. The witness stated that he was with Steinhuber on Monday, the 27th of October. In the afternoon, around 4:00, he heard shots ring out in Steinhuber's woods. On the following Sunday, the witness was going past Steinhuber's house, noticed the door standing open, and peered inside. The walls were spattered with blood, and full of bullet holes.
     Sophie Kolway is the widow of the murdered man, whom she married on the 4th of February 1879 in Burlington, and she is 17 years old. In March of 1879 she came to the town of Ward in Todd county and lived at first in the house of the two Moedes at which time their sister, Mrs. Riemer, also lived. Until the 4th of July, the witness lived with her husband, and then she went to the accused, who claimed he wanted to marry her, and wrote to his wife living in Bohemia that he would have another marriage. The witness testified that Mich. Moede had had great anxiety; he threatened to kill her if she returned to her husband, and further, he forced her to promise to shoot her husband in the event he tried to force her to return. Also "Black John" had worries over his brother. In cross-examination she testified that she had gone hunting with the Moedes when their house was burnt down on Monday the 27the of October. Both brothers, armed with shotguns left in the morning, and returned home at noon. In the afternoon they went out again, returning in the evening. Michael Moede wanted to buy the witness from Kolway.

     J. Hart, who operates a mill near the site of the murder, also saw the murdered men as well as the accused on Monday, the 27th.
     M. Ulrich stated that the accused told him, after the house was burned, that someone would shoot Kolway, and Mrs. Kolway would have to get another husband.
     Henry Becker said that the accused told him he had written his wife that he intended to marry again.    
     B. Borchert: Last summer the accused informed this witness that he would take Mrs. Kolway for himself. Her husband had to acceed and if he should not, then he had to be made to. The witness saw, on Monday, two men armed with shotguns, and believed them to be John and Michael Moede. On the Sunday before, John told him that his house had been burned down, and that two men would pay for it.
     Mrs. Disselbrett saw John and Michael Moede on the 27th of October, armed with shotguns, on their way to Steinhuber's house. Both threatened to shoot them, and pelted their house with rocks.
      The Defense then called the following witnesses:
     August Riemer, brother-in-law of the accused, saw him on Sunday afternoon working in the granary but he didn't know how long he stayed there.
     Augustina Riemer, sister of the defendent testified that Michael and John on the afternoon - went to the mill. They had their - with them. The (time?) often mentioned - but the defense could not establish an alibi.
     Thursday afternoon at (? o'clock) the case was given to the jury, and they delivered the following verdict after (two ?) hours deliberation.
     We, the jury, find the defendent guilty of the crime charged in the indictment.
     This verdict calls for a punishment of life imprisonment.
     Judge McKelvy then asked the defendent if he had a statement to make, whereupon he replied "not before I begin my sentence." The Judge sentenced him then to life in prison, during which time he must spend 12 days of each year on bread and water. Michael responded to this by saying he would seek a new trial, and his attorney pledged so to seek. Moede was brought to Stillwater on the following day.

Friday, April 2, 1880 - Todd County Argus

The Result

     The Argus somewhat later than a large number of our citizens extends to J. D. Jones, our County-Attorney, a warm, sincere and deserved congratulation upon his success in prosecuting Michael Miede, the murderer. Swift, accurate, positive and able; the plan and network of the trial were gradually but surely laid by Mr. Jones, whereby the strong meshes of the law were entwined about the darkest criminal that ever crossed the borders of our county; and this only upon a line of circumstances which at once made the issue doubtful and uncertain. The living witness to the awful tragedy perpetrated on the Monday afternoon, October 27th, 1879, which sent Kolway and Steinhuber to their long home, slept beneath the possibility of visible evidence when this fearful murderer was brought to the bar of justice for trial. Stoutly asserting his innocence, there was scarcely a connecting link in the chain of evidence required to prove the guilt of this damnable demon, and when he presented his plea of "not guilty" the rules of law presumed him to be innocent and the benefit of all doubt rested in his favor. For the first time in his life Mr. Jones stood at the bar as the public prosecutor and cautiously called the Attorney-General to his assistance. He entered into a work which we all felt he might not be able to perform. How well and how certain each move and each step was taken, was immeasurably and scattered links of the circumstantial chain of evidence were taken up one by one, and welded together in that unbroken mass which gave a life sentence to the darkest murderer of the age. Embarrassed by the timidity and fright of the woman in the case, the protection of the court was demanded thereby securing the most important as well as perhaps, the only weighty evidence adduced upon the trial, which, in the language of several of the jury stood as "the only convincing proof." Following along in the footprints of an able prosecution we wonder and doubt as we discover each item by item as they were selected and eliminated from the common mass until we find that Michael Miede is tracked and followed so that there is no question as to his guilt.
     The murdered men found in two holes under a brush pile - the place of the murder - the shot in the wall - the bloody ax - the marks of blood on the doorjams - the fatal Monday when the murdered men were last seen - the lust of the prisoner for Kolway's wife - his threats - her fear - maps of the country - the gun shot at four o'clock on the fatal day - Mike and "Black John" going toward Steinhuber's house with guns, just before the shot was heard - carrying the bodies tied up in sheets strung on a pole - two men necessary to do this - the general character of the prisoner - his where abouts unaccounted for on that fatal Monday, except at breakfast, dinner and at dark - his being in the company with "Black John" the whole of that day - the impeachment of the most important witness for the defense, and all the minute and connecting particulars which traced the prisoner almost to the very spot, and the very moment at which the horrible crime was perpetrated. The exceeding strong motives - all supplemented by a brilliant and touching address to the jury, which will be remembered by all who heard it, points out the positive guilt of the arch demon who has been leniently let off with a life sentence, and what must be to our community a satisfaction, to know that our County-Attorney is the right man in the right place. Law and order prevail and we rest in peace.

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