Hoffman,
David W. July 22, 1887 Nebraska
At 9:10 p.m. on Tuesday, January 11, 1887 the southbound Missouri
Pacific Express train left Omaha, Nebraska on the Burlington &
Missouri road carrying sixteen thousand dollars in the safe and
eighteen silver bars, each worth one thousand dollars. Moments after
11:30 p.m., when the train was one mile north of Dunbar traveling at
forty miles per hour, and only a few feet from a forty foot
embankment, it was derailed. The engine was thrown from the tracks
and the drop-lever was driven entirely through the body of engineer
James B. DeWitt of Wyandotte, Kansas. DeWitt was killed instantly
and Fireman Frank Denter was slightly injured. The baggage car was
thrown from the tracks and lay two hundred feet distant, at the
bottom of an embankment in a frozen creek, where express messenger
Frank Chenowith was so severely injured that it was thought he would
die. Chenowith survived but was severely crippled for life. All of
the passenger cars were derailed and fell on their sides but had not
been tossed about so that none of the fifty-five passengers were
seriously injured, though they were badly shaken.
Just as
the train reached the point where it derailed two men were seen
running from the tracks into a ravine, presumably to avoid being
killed in the impending disaster. Men were soon on the scene to help
the injured and investigate the derailment and they found a claw bar
and wrench. These tools had been used to remove spikes and
fishplates from two rails, and the rails had been moved only a few
inches inward so that the engineer could not see the danger ahead.
At daybreak the following morning two sets of boot tracks were also
found in the snow, first going southward to the baggage car where it
appeared that the two men had not been able to loot to the car
because of a break in the creek’s ice. From there the boot tracks
led up the creek bank into a cornfield and directly to the farm of
John Hoffman, lying three hundred yards north of the wreck. The foot
tracks were documented and later were matched exactly to those of
David Hoffman and James Bell.
A coroner’s jury was summoned and the first questioned were the
Hoffmans – John and his wife, and John’s brother David. Testimony
revealed that John had gone to his well just before 11:30 p.m. and
saw two men on the tracks, one he recognized as his brother David.
Mrs. Hoffman testified that minutes after the wreck David Hoffman
and James Bell walked up to the Hoffman farmhouse and Mrs. Hoffman
suggested they hurry after John to lend aid to the injured. The two
men went to the wreck and offered to help, but then immediately
returned to the farmhouse without rendering any aid. David Hoffman
and James Bell gave conflicting testimony, especially about their
route to the farmhouse, and as soon as they left the witness stand
they were arrested by Sheriff McCallum.
On Thursday night Missouri Pacific rail detectives George Fairchild
and Frank K. Tutt checked into Dunbar’s Grand Pacific Hotel and just
before midnight the prisoners were separately brought to their room
for questioning. Each man quickly confessed and blamed the other,
but otherwise the stories they told were consistent. Each said they
had been friendly for over a week, since Bell had come to town on
the train from Unadilla, fourteen miles north of Dunbar. Both men
had worked on railroads, Bell as a “reater” and Hoffman as a
brakeman, but they were now unemployed, short of cash, and
interested in leaving Nebraska to search for opportunities
elsewhere. On the morning of January 11 an Unadilla farmer named
Rogers, who held a chattel mortgage on Bell’s team, came to Dunbar
to prevent him from selling the team. During the early evening of
January 11 Bell and Hoffman were in Moffat’s Saloon, drinking
heavily as they had for the past week, and had a row which resulted
in their arrest. They posted security for their appearance in court
and were released. They returned to the saloon but by 10:00 p.m.
they had become so boisterous that Sheriff McCallum ordered the
saloon closed. The two men started for the Hoffman farm, following
the railroad tracks, but when a half mile from town they broke into
a section tool house and stole a wrench and claw bar. They went
another half mile and removed the spikes and fishplates. As they
worked on the rails Bell had second thoughts and suggested that they
go home without tampering further, but Hoffman replied, “ It don’t
make a damn bit of difference how many get killed. We want the
money.” They had no idea what treasure might be aboard the train but
were certain it would carry enough money for their departure. The
headlight of a locomotive suddenly appeared in the distance so, as
soon as the rails were loosened and moved a few inches, the two men
ran to a ravine to await the wreck.
After the prisoners confessed they were taken to the jail at
Beatrice to avoid a lynching. The sheriff had heard talk of
vigilante action and had encouraged a rumor that the men would be
taken out of Dunbar by train, but instead they were spirited away
from town by sleigh, and ten minutes after they departed the jail
was assaulted by a mob. The mob was stalled briefly but once the
vigilantes determined that the prisoners were not in a cell they
dispersed.
The prisoners had their preliminary examination in Beatrice on
January 21 and were held over for action by the grand jury. During
the week of April 11 Hoffman was tried for the murder of DeWitt. One
of the most trying moments occurred when James Bell, who had turned
state’s evidence, took the stand and related all the details of the
crime. Hoffman was found guilty of first degree murder after only a
half hour of jury deliberations and on Monday, April 11, 1887 Judge
Chapman sentenced the prisoner to hang at Beatrice on Friday, July
22. The trial of Bell was to commence the following day but he pled
guilty to being an accomplice, and received a sentence of ten years
in prison. Neither appeal nor application for clemency would delay
the fatal date for Hoffman.
The condemned man had been attended by Reverends R. Pierson and J.
B. Stuart during his final days and had been frequently visited by
many members of his family. On Sunday one of the clergymen suggested
he write a letter “giving the cause of his downfall.” The letter was
published verbatim, to show his lack of education, but added nothing
to the record. On his final night the condemned man retired at 1:30
a.m. He had asked that his brother Timothy spend the night with him,
but later relented saying he would sleep better alone. He arose at
6:30 a.m. and ordered his usual breakfast, supplemented with bananas
and oranges. At 8:00 a.m. Company B of the Nebraska National Guard
was deployed around the courthouse and forty minutes later the death
warrant was read to the prisoner in his cell. After 10:00 the
sheriff went to the cell and told Hoffman his time had come, and the
procession formed. The prisoner was escorted from the jail by
Reverends Pierson and Stuart with deputies in front and in back, and
he reached the stairs to the scaffold at 10:20 a.m. Once on the
platform he declined to make a speech and took his place on the
trapdoor. While a prayer was offered for his soul he was quickly
prepared – his wrists and arms, knees and ankles bound. The noose
was adjusted and the black cap pulled on and at 10:24 a.m. the trap
was sprung. Hoffman’s body dropped straight downward and rebounded,
then the muscles of the body contracted, the knees were drawn up,
and the flesh quivered. His hands clenched and unclenched for a few
seconds then hung motionless. In eight and one half minutes he was
pronounced dead, and it was later determined that his neck was
broken in the fall. The body was cut down, deposited in the coffin
provided, and turned over to an undertaker for delivery to Unadilla
on Saturday afternoon, July 23, for burial by his family.
The Beatrice Republican [NE]: January 22, 1887; April 23,
1887; July 30, 1887.
