Raffle for original ax murder newspaper to benefit Villisca library

By Dave McFarland
Montgomery County
History Center

In the progression of time there are years that become known as watershed.

Whether it is a year marked with tragedies or triumphs those years become mile posts in our memories.

As we enter 2012, we are looking at the hundredth anniversary of one such year. The Montgomery County History Center has embarked on an effort to make 2012 a more positive inverse of 1912.

On April 15th, 1912, RMS Titanic and 1,514 people were lost in one of the most epic sea disasters in history. The History Center will be having a display commemorating Titanic’s loss and a local connection.

A couple from Stanton were married in 1910 and left for Sweden. In 1912, they and their new infant child along with other family members set sail for America and Stanton.

Tragically they booked passage on the Titanic. They all became part of that awful number of 1,514, of which only 337 bodies were recovered.

One of those was Ernst Danbom, who was returned home and buried in Stanton. Everyone is invited to come and view the display.

In June of that same year, horror would strike in Montgomery County.

Sometime between the evening of the ninth and the morning of the 10th, some cruel and demented individual(s) killed eight people in the town of Villisca.

What was to be an unsolved crime has turned into the unresolved. There seems to have been and still are many, who do not wish there to be a resolution to this dark day.

It has remained like a scar to detract from this beautiful little Iowa town.

The Villisca Library is working hard to provide services to the community. One of those endeavors is to save and preserve the history of Villisca by saving the Villisca Review Newspaper by converting it to digital media.

The Montgomery County History Center has pledged to help them and is sponsoring a set of fund raisers. The History Center is going to raffle an original 1912 edition of the Review reporting that horrible night in June.

The paper has been treated and beautifully framed and raffle tickets have gone on sale with the proceeds going to the Villisca Library to supplement a grant they have received.

We hope people will see it as a piece of history being preserved in a tasteful manner and for a noble cause in the spirit of cooperation in the community.

Watch for the coming exhibit at the History Center.