Jacob Van Hoesen- Murdered For His Money

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Lying face downward in a pool of his own blood, the cold body of Jacob Van Hoesen, a Penfield farmer, was discovered at 10 o'clock on February 14, 1899, in the morning at his home on the edge of the swamp, on the Pound schoolhouse road in the village of Penfield. A bullet wound in the back of the skull, bruises on the body, and a deep abrasion on the left side of the face told the story of another mysterious death, which demanded the attention of the coroner, sheriff, and district attorney of the county. The officials have no definite clues as to the murderer, but it is hinted that an arrest may be made within twenty hours.

Half Brother John Bush Finds Body

∼At 10 o'clock yesterday morning John Bush, a half-brother of the murdered man, went to the home of Van Hoesen, which stands on the edge of a dense swamp, several hundred yards from the nearest dwelling. Van Hoesen has lived alone in this house for many years and was reputed to have considerable amounts of money. Bush stabled his team of horses in the barn twenty feet from the dwelling, and seeing no tracks about the place at that late hour in the morning, he began an investigation that led to the discovery of the ghastly corpse of the murdered man.

The front door of the story-and-a-half house was slightly ajar when John Bush entered. On the floor, in front of the kitchen stove, where a fire still burned briskly, lay the body of his brother, his face was downward in a pool of blood that welled from a gunshot wound in the back of the head. The feet and hands were crossed underneath the body. the room was undisturbed. A hasty examination found that Van Hoesen was dead. John Bush then notified Alber Bement, another farmer, and Hiram Van Hoesen, a brother of the dead man. The three men again entered the dwelling at a loss to account for the death, and after summoning an undertaker, Hiram Van Hoesen went to Webster and notified Coroner Henry Kleindienst by telephone.

Coroner Investigates

∼ The coroner received the message that a man had been found dead and, being overwhelmed with work, told the man at the Webster end of the 'phone that he would drive out this morning and look into the case. This was at 2:30 p.m. An hour later, Hiram Van Hoesen again notified the coroner that suspicions and circumstances had been discovered, that the death of his brother was a possible murder, and that the coroner would do well to come at once. Coroner Kleindienst accordingly immediately notified the sheriff's office, and Sheriff Schroth and Deputy Sheriff Salyerds, accompanied by the coroner and a Democrat and Chronicle reporter, left for the scene of the murder.

When the officials entered the room, the body of the man had been removed to a stretcher but had not been otherwise disturbed. It was dressed in a shirt, underwear, and trousers. The boots had been removed and lay where the deceased had left them, near the stove. Coroner Kleindienst and Sheriff Schroth made a careful examination of the corpse, discovering a large bullet hole at the base of the brain and the hair in the vicinity of the wound being singed badly, showing that the shot was fired at close range. There was also a severe abrasion on the left cheek, presumably caused by striking the stove in a fall. The body was cold. The premises were carefully searched, and no revolver, gun, or other firearm was found. The location of the wound also precludes the presumption of suicide. Two dollars in silver, known to have been in the possession of the man when last seen at 9 o'clock on Monday night, as well as an old-fashioned silver watch, were missing. The room was otherwise undisturbed. The immediate and correct theory was, accordingly, murder.

Van Hoesea was last seen at 9 PM on Monday night, when he visited the house of a neighbor, two hundred yards away. Burr Hermance, the neighbor, is a well-known young married farmer in the town of Penfield. Van Hoesen had come to his house for a friendly chat, and during the conversation, Hermance paid Van Hoesen two dollars for some cornstalks that he had purchased from him the day before. Van Hoesen was in the best of spirits, and left for his hermit home at 9 o'clock.

When the man reached his dwelling, it was thought that it was about 9:10 o'clock. Van Hoesen replenished his coal fire, stabled his horse in the barn fifty feet away from the house, filled two buckets of water for the stock, which were found near the fire when the body was discovered yesterday morning, removed his coat, and vest, and boots, drew a chair near the stove, and began to make some entries in a small cash book. The chair was still in position when the coroner and sheriff arrived at the house yesterday afternoon. A second chair was also nearby. On the table were the account books and a lit lamp

All indications seem to point to the fact that the murdered man had seated himself at the stove, possibly about 9:45 AM, when a knock at the door summoned him to admit someone. Yesterday morning, the man's keys were found in the door when Bush entered and found the body. While seated at the table, the murdered man and his unknown visitor talked for some moments until the fatal shot was fired, probably while Van Hoesen was in the act of rising from his seat. It is thought that the murderer immediately searched the body, taking what money there was on Van Hoesen's person and his silver watch, then went to a buttery opening in the room, gathered up five solid silver knives and forks, and left the property. The abrasions and bruises on the body are thought to have been caused by it striking the edge of the stove hearth as it fell to the floor.

The storm on Monday night effectively concealed all tracks, that may have been made by the murderer, although a careful search was made for such evidence. The horses in the barn were not molested. The murdered man's bedroom opened from the main room near the stove, where he had taken his seat before the shot was fired. The bedding was disturbed, but a careful inspection shows that it had not been used since the preceding night. No attempt had been made to rip up the bedding by the murderer, whose evident object was robbery. Other objects of slight value in the remaining rooms of the house were also undisturbed.

As soon as the coroner discovered the bullet wound, he took charge of the body, and, with Sheriff Schroth began an investigation. Two people were closely questioned. One of these was Hiram Van Hoesen, brother of the deceased, who was married and lived about a mile from the scene of the murder. This witness stated that he was on good terms with his brother and did not know that he had an enemy in the world.

John Bush, the half-brother of the murdered man, makes this statement: "I came to the house of Jacob Van Hoesen at 10 a.m. Tuesday expecting to secure his assistance in doing some farm work. He rents twenty acres of land and the dwelling in which he lives. Sometimes he lives at my home, and sometimes he sleeps at his own house. He sometimes leaves money in a bureau drawer in my house; there is some there now, but I do not know how much. He was quite a fellow to display his money and brag of having it, but I think that he did not have any Monday, as he asked me to buy him a pair of mittens in Penfield vil- lage. I saw him last about 4 p.m. Monday. He was in good spirits, joking and talking.

"When I found the body on Tuesday morning, I pushed open the door, which was slightly ajar, and the keys on the inside dropped to the floor. The body lay on the floor near the stove, and there was some blood. I then supposed that it came from the abrasions on the side of the face. notified Hiram Van Hoesen and William Kahnmunch, both near neighbors, and one of them a relative of the deceased. Hiram telephoned the coroner, and I remained at the house until the undertaker arrived."

Burr Hermance, the young man at whose home Van Hoesen spent Monday evening, states that Van Hoesen came to his place about 7 o'clock on Monday evening. While there, Hermance paid him $2 in cash. The payment was witnessed by Ed. Kuhnmunch. Clark White and Michael Kelly. Kelly is a hired man employed by Hermance, while White and Kuhnmunch are two young farmers living in the neighborhood. These men were playing pedro and invited Van Hoesen to join them, but he declined, saying that he did not know the game. Van Hoesen conversed pleasantly with the party until nearly 9 o'clock, When he left for home, Kuhnmunch was accompanied by a young woman, a sister of Mrs. Hermance, whom he escorted to her home near Penfield village, leaving the Hermance house about 9:30. Clark White, the other visitor, left at the same time, going to his home, which is about a mile away from the Van Hoesen house.

The coroner and sheriff ascertained that Van Hoesen was a man much given to the display of his money. On one occasion, not long after, he went into the store of a man named Porter at Penfield Center and is said to have displayed a considerable sum of money while purchasing some handkerchiefs. He was reputed to have money concealed in the house. The officials also learned, in searching for a clue to the murderer, that a strange man had been seen about the village on Monday and Tuesday.

This man was well dressed, in a substantial suit of clothing and a heavy frieze ulster. He was not seen in the village of Penfield Center on Monday night, but on Tuesday morning he was met on the road at 11 o'clock by several people. He then carried two small parcels under his arm. Between the hours of 12 and 1 o'clock, he applied for dinner at the home of William Osburn in the village of Penfield Center. He told Mr. Osburn that he was out of money. He further said that his home was in Ogdensburg. and that he had spent his last money in Rochester in efforts to secure work. He asked for employment of several farmers in Penfield. While sitting at the dinner table, Mr. Osburn and the stranger were alarmed by the entrance of a neighbor who conveyed the news of Van Hoesen's death. The neighbor stated that the man had been found dead at his home. Mr. Osburn volunteered the remark that he had always thought that Van Hoesen had heart disease, and the stranger remarked, "Yes, heart disease is very. prevalent nowadays."

As soon as the announcement of the man's death was known in Penfield Center and at Mr. Osburn's house, the stranger left the village and was last seen going towards Webster. He was walking, and he impatiently declined the offer of a ride from an undertaker's employee who was on his way to the scene of the murder. It was an hour later when the bullet wound was found in the murdered man's head and the theory of murder advanced. Even Van Hoesen's immediate relatives had assumed up to this time that the cause of death had been heart disease.

The sheriff will instruct his deputies to keep a careful watch for this suspicious stranger, and the cooperation of police officials along the lines of the Central-Hudson and Rome, Watertown, & Ogdensburg railroads was also invoked by telegraph at a late hour last night.

The authorities are inclined to believe that the murder was committed for the purposes of robbery and believe that the victim had a much larger sum of money on his person than was supposed by his relatives. That he was a man of careful business habits is evidenced by the entry in a small account book, stained with his own blood, of the money paid to him a few moments before his death.

Coroner Kleindienst ordered the body sent to the undertaking rooms in Webster. where an autopsy will be performed this morning by Coroner's Physician Brown. of Brighton, assisted by Dr. Wolff of Rochester. At 1 o'clock, several witnesses have been summoned to appear before the coroner at an examination that will be held in the village of Webster. The district attorney and the sheriff's deputies will also be present to hear the testimony. The murdered man was 48 years of age. About fifteen years ago, he was married to a woman some years older than himself. It is said that their relations were not pleasant, and by mutual agreement the couple separated. This was about eight The man's wife is now said to be living in the village of Fairport and goes by the name of Mrs. Brown. Van Hoesen had no children. Van Hoesen's only other relatives are his brother, and half-brother and their families. The dead man had lived in the village of Penfield for nearly thirty years but was a Hollander by birth.

years ago.

The entire village of Penfield is thoroughly aroused over the tragedy. Many men visited the scene of the murder yesterday. They seem to be unanimous in saying that Van Hoesen had no known enemies and that he had frequently shown large sums of money and was disposed to brag about his wealth. He was said to be of a cherry disposition. He had intimate business relations with his half-brother, John Bush, and seems to have made him his confidant as far as money matters were concerned.

Several arrests have been made in regard to this murder investigation, but none would lead to an actual murderer, and all were released. To this day, the killing of Jacob has gone unsolved.

The above information was contributed by George Quinn Stone on April 28, 2024