A GEORGETOWN SENSATION--MURDER OF HENRY THEDIE BY ROBERT SCHAMLE, A
FELLOW-BUTCHER--A COLD-BLOODED ASSAULT FOR MONEY--ESCAPE OF THE
MURDERER--THE DETECTIVES ON THE TRACK.
"Sedalia can not have Schamle. His goose is cooked. Found him hanging over
a pig-stye this morning. Saltpetre can't save him. Biggest show of the
season."
Such was a telegram received from Georgetown by Gen. Cook, on Saturday,
the 15th day of December, 1877. Robert Schamle was a brute of a tramp who
murdered an inoffensive man in Georgetown a few weeks previous to his
lynching, and who was charged with having committed a rape in Sedalia,
Mo., before coming to Colorado. He claimed to be the grandson of Schamyl,
the Circassian warrior, who made a big name in his guerrilla warfare upon
Russia in the early part of the present century. But the probabilities are
that he lied in this matter, and he is believed to have been a native of
Switzerland. Whatever his nationality or lineage, he disgraced it.
The murder was committed on the 13th day of October in the year mentioned,
the name of the murdered man being Henry Thedie. Thedie was a respectable
German butcher employed at G. E. Kettle's slaughter house, about two miles
below Georgetown, near which place he resided with his family, consisting
of a wife and three small children. The evidence obtained at the coroner's
inquest conclusively proved that Schamle was the murderer, and that the
crime was one of the most diabolical and cold-blooded outrages that ever
stained the annals of a civilized country. The murdered man was known to
have had about $80 on his person immediately prior to his death, and the
possession of the money appears to have been the only motive for the
perpetration of the hellish act.
Schamle was employed as a helper at the slaughter house at the time,
borrowed a pistol at Harvat & Aicher's slaughter house on the afternoon of
October 12, and although the shooting was heard, and Schamle seen to
flourish a pistol at 5 o'clock that evening, and immediately afterwards
leave the place, the result of his bloody work was not known until the
following morning, thus giving him a start of over half a day. There was
no evidence of a struggle having taken place, or of any ill feeling having
existed between the parties, and the position of Thedie's body showed
plainly that he had been deliberately shot and almost instantly killed.
The officers of the law started in pursuit of the wretch as soon as the
crime was made known, but nothing definite as to the direction he had
taken was discovered at that time. It was suggested in the Georgetown
_Miner_ that if The Rocky Mountain Detective Association should be
employed it would probably result in his capture, but no steps were taken
in that direction by the proper authorities. Two weeks later, Mr. G. E.
Kettle employed that association, giving a description of Schamle, and
promising a reward in case of his arrest. This step, as usual, had the
desired effect. The fellow was traced by Gen. Cook's force from Georgetown
to Denver, from this place to a point on the divide, from there to Pueblo,
and from Pueblo to West Las Animas, where he was arrested December 6, by
Pat Desmond, a deputy of Abe Ellis, at that time sheriff of Pueblo county,
and a member of the detective association.
The case was well worked up by Ellis, who was, during his life, one of the
most efficient of Gen. Cook's aids. In this case he had employed a colored
man to track the murderer down, and he proved quite a capable detective.
Gen. Cook had informed Mr. Ellis that Schamle was coming in that
direction, and by some means Ellis became aware of the fact that the negro
man had in days gone by been associated with the murderer and knew him.
His sub-detective was stationed about the cattle yards at Pueblo, as that
was considered the place at which Schamle would most probably turn up. The
inference proved to be a correct one, and the watch had no difficulty in
spotting the fellow, who came to the place and remained a day or two.
While there he was very non-committal, but did not seem to carry any great
weight upon his mind, as a murderer would be supposed to do. For this
reason the negro had his doubts about his being the guilty man; and while
he was hesitating about furnishing his information, Schamle swung into a
freight train and took his departure, stealing a ride to West Las Animas.
Finding his man gone, Mr. Ellis sent his deputy in hot pursuit. Being
overtaken, the fellow sullenly surrendered to Mr. Desmond and accompanied
him back to Pueblo. He said but little on his way to Pueblo, but when told
in Pueblo that a Georgetown man was coming down to identify him, he
remarked:
"I wonder if they'll hang me if they get me there," and immediately
relapsed into silence.
To Sheriff Ellis he denied ever having been in Northern Colorado.
Photographs were taken and sent to Georgetown for identification, and they
were recognized at once; but to make doubly sure, George Chapman, Mr.
Kettle's clerk, went to Pueblo to see him personally, and he at once
identified him.
When Chapman met Schamle he broke down and acknowledged the crime. He said
that he quarreled with Thedie about skinning a beef; that Thedie knocked
him down; that he got up and ran, and passing a pistol--which he said was
borrowed to shoot some chickens--he seized it, turned and fired, and
continued his flight, not knowing whether he had killed him or not. This
is his story, while the fact is he murdered Thedie for his money.