CCT # 01, Mount Pleasant Murder Mystery!
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Size: 
(small)
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Cherokee County Tour is series of caches to showcase historical and/or unique POI in Cherokee County Iowa. The caches are in no particular order. As I remember or discover a POI that I feel would make a good cache site I will add it to the series. I hope you enjoy the tour.
On Aug. 16,1893 Martin & Helena Schultz were murdered for their money! The story of their demise has been told a thousand fold, since their deaths more than 100 yrs. ago. It's a story, similar to our modern "Urban Legends", except it took place on a farmstead in the middle of nowhere. The Schultzs were a strange pair, having been rumored to belong to a sect of a religion that believed that all work must be done at night. All the housework, and all the farm work were carried on in the darkness of night. People reported, that when they rode in their buggies past the Shultz’s' farm at night, they would see Martin working in the fields, illuminated only by his lantern light, as he tended his crops. It was commonly known by his neighbors that Martin didn't trust the banks, and that he hid his money on the farm, in places that only he and Helena knew about. The years passed, and their farm prospered, but Martin & Helena had not been blessed with any children. In 1893 Martin was 60 yrs. old, and felt that he needed to hire a farmhand to help with the chores. A young man, a transient in the area, was hired by Martin, and came to live on the farmstead with them. Likely the farmhand lived in the Schultz’s original farm home, which was a small one room log cabin. While the Schultzs lived in a well constructed 2-story home. The farmhand had worked for the Schultzs for a few months and he had come to learn of Martin's distrust of the banks. Having heard from the neighbors that Martin hid all their money on the farmstead the hired man decided he was going to look for it but he never was able to find any of the money. Growing ill-tempered at the lack of his ability to find the money the hired man decided to murder the Schultzs. The only place he hadn't looked for the money was in their home and he was not alllowed there. As per their religious beliefs, Helena would arise in the dark of the night to start her chores such as churning the butter, which she was doing that fatal night. The hired man quietly walked up behind Helena and with a quick blow to her head with a sledge hammer, he killed her instantly. She didn't even have time to gasp!
He then strode quietly to where Martin still laid asleep in bed,having not yet risen for the night's work. The farmhand took a few quick swings with the sledge hammer, and crushed Martin's skull, leaving him dead where he lay. Then the farmhand feverishly plundered the farm home in his attempts to find their money. The hours passed quickly, and as day approached he fled the farmstead, and leaving behind him the majority of their fortune, and the grizzly murders of the Schultzs! Neighbors discovered the murders the next day, and as the farmhand was no where to be found he became the main suspect in the murder case. He was shortly there after arrested in a neighboring town, and brought back and held in jail while the investigation continued. After a couple of weeks, the Sheriff still had no hard evidence to tie the farmhand to the murders, so he had to release the man. The farmhand quickly fled the area, never to be seen again. The Sheriff noted in his investigation, that they too were unsuccessful in finding all of what had to be the Schultz’s amassed fortune. But had the murderer looked inside their bible he would have found 800 one dollar bills, each tucked between the separate pages of the bible! A year had passed since the Schultz’s' murder. Neighbors noticed that on the north side of the Schultz’s' tombstone the image of a face could be seen in the grain of the stone. It was the face of the farmhand that was suspected in their murders. And the face looked north to the site of the Schultz’s farmstead as it bordered the cemetery on the north. Neighbors and townsfolk alike felt this was a reminder from the Schultzs as to who had killed them. The Sheriff attempted to track down the farmhand, but his trail was cold, and he never was found again. To this day the face can still be seen on the north side of the tombstone, but it has begun to fade! The farmstead, just north of the cemetery has been leveled and is now just a farm field.
The cache is located outside of the cemetery where the Schultzs are buried.
The coordinates of the tombstone are: N42 40.013 W95 45.705
Should you decide to search for the tombstone please remember that this is a cemetery and show respect for the remains of those interred here. I also have many relatives interred here. If you stand back 10 to 20 feet from the north side of the tombstone you should be able to make out the “face”.
The cache is a small cammoed container. Please replace the container as you found it.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)