Maggie married her husband James Dowd in 1897. They lived on his farm on the west half of Section 36 in Sweet Township, about five miles southwest of Pipestone. James was a successful farmer, building up considerable wealth through crops and a large number of bred work horses. Their daughter, Mary Jane, was born in 1898 and tragically James died of cancer the following year.
Maggie entered mourning for her husband and remained on to manage the farm and raise her very young daughter. One of the farm hands that Maggie relied heavily on, Mr. Peter Swanson, became infatuated with her. Disgruntled by her refusals to his advances, one day he quit work and left to work as a stone mason for Hadwick & McKnight.
Almost exactly one year after her husband’s death, in June 1900, Maggie’s problems with Peter Swanson came to a head. On the afternoon of June 30, Peter was seen purchasing a revolver at a local hardware store and then left town. He showed up at Maggie’s house in the late evening as she and her daughter were preparing for bed. At his calling, she hastily dressed and with Mary Jane on her hip, an rather than inviting him into the house, she let herself out the door and met him in the road in front of the house.
Peter Swanson then shot Maggie through the neck, grazing Mary Jane’s arm in the process. She had been shot in the mouth, the bullet exiting through the back of her neck and it is supposed that the child was in its mother’s arms with one arm around her neck, as the bullet passed through the arm below the elbow. Maggie managed to make her way back into the house, leaving a trail of blood along the way, before she collapsed just inside the front door and bled to death.
It was there her uncle found her the next day when he came to pick up Maggie and Mary Jane for a visit to town. He found the lifeless body of his niece, covered in blood, and her little toddler daughter seated on a chair beside her mother’s dead body with a wound in her own arm. The uncle took the little girl and raced back to town and summoned the sheriff and coroner back to the scene.
Mr. Peter Swanson was immediately named as a suspect and the county put up a $400 reward for his capture, Maggie’s extended family adding another $100 to the bounty. Peter was located at a home in Woodstock and placed under arrest. He had a bottle of strychnine with him when he was apprehended but gave a plausible reason for having it and seemed in reasonable spirits at the time. So, it was a shock four days later when his attorney arrived at his cell and found his lifeless body hanging from a pair of suspenders.
A large funeral was held for Maggie Dowd at the Pipestone Presbyterian Church. Her daughter Mary Jane went to live with Maggie’s cousin in Iowa, later moving to California. Mary Jane suffered life-long night terrors from having witnessed her mother’s murder at the age of two years. She
Maggie was buried in the family plot in Old Woodlawn Cemetery in Pipestone. Just one row over from her murderer.
This article furnished by the Pipestone County Historical Society
Maggie entered mourning for her husband and remained on to manage the farm and raise her very young daughter. One of the farm hands that Maggie relied heavily on, Mr. Peter Swanson, became infatuated with her. Disgruntled by her refusals to his advances, one day he quit work and left to work as a stone mason for Hadwick & McKnight.
Almost exactly one year after her husband’s death, in June 1900, Maggie’s problems with Peter Swanson came to a head. On the afternoon of June 30, Peter was seen purchasing a revolver at a local hardware store and then left town. He showed up at Maggie’s house in the late evening as she and her daughter were preparing for bed. At his calling, she hastily dressed and with Mary Jane on her hip, an rather than inviting him into the house, she let herself out the door and met him in the road in front of the house.
Peter Swanson then shot Maggie through the neck, grazing Mary Jane’s arm in the process. She had been shot in the mouth, the bullet exiting through the back of her neck and it is supposed that the child was in its mother’s arms with one arm around her neck, as the bullet passed through the arm below the elbow. Maggie managed to make her way back into the house, leaving a trail of blood along the way, before she collapsed just inside the front door and bled to death.
It was there her uncle found her the next day when he came to pick up Maggie and Mary Jane for a visit to town. He found the lifeless body of his niece, covered in blood, and her little toddler daughter seated on a chair beside her mother’s dead body with a wound in her own arm. The uncle took the little girl and raced back to town and summoned the sheriff and coroner back to the scene.
Mr. Peter Swanson was immediately named as a suspect and the county put up a $400 reward for his capture, Maggie’s extended family adding another $100 to the bounty. Peter was located at a home in Woodstock and placed under arrest. He had a bottle of strychnine with him when he was apprehended but gave a plausible reason for having it and seemed in reasonable spirits at the time. So, it was a shock four days later when his attorney arrived at his cell and found his lifeless body hanging from a pair of suspenders.
A large funeral was held for Maggie Dowd at the Pipestone Presbyterian Church. Her daughter Mary Jane went to live with Maggie’s cousin in Iowa, later moving to California. Mary Jane suffered life-long night terrors from having witnessed her mother’s murder at the age of two years. She
Maggie was buried in the family plot in Old Woodlawn Cemetery in Pipestone. Just one row over from her murderer.
This article furnished by the Pipestone County Historical Society
Maggie married her husband James Dowd in 1897. They lived on his farm on the west half of Section 36 in Sweet Township, about five miles southwest of Pipestone. James was a successful farmer, building up considerable wealth through crops and a large number of bred work horses. Their daughter, Mary Jane, was born in 1898 and tragically James died of cancer the following year.
Maggie entered mourning for her husband and remained on to manage the farm and raise her very young daughter. One of the farm hands that Maggie relied heavily on, Mr. Peter Swanson, became infatuated with her. Disgruntled by her refusals to his advances, one day he quit work and left to work as a stone mason for Hadwick & McKnight.
Almost exactly one year after her husband’s death, in June 1900, Maggie’s problems with Peter Swanson came to a head. On the afternoon of June 30, Peter was seen purchasing a revolver at a local hardware store and then left town. He showed up at Maggie’s house in the late evening as she and her daughter were preparing for bed. At his calling, she hastily dressed and with Mary Jane on her hip, an rather than inviting him into the house, she let herself out the door and met him in the road in front of the house.
Peter Swanson then shot Maggie through the neck, grazing Mary Jane’s arm in the process. She had been shot in the mouth, the bullet exiting through the back of her neck and it is supposed that the child was in its mother’s arms with one arm around her neck, as the bullet passed through the arm below the elbow. Maggie managed to make her way back into the house, leaving a trail of blood along the way, before she collapsed just inside the front door and bled to death.
It was there her uncle found her the next day when he came to pick up Maggie and Mary Jane for a visit to town. He found the lifeless body of his niece, covered in blood, and her little toddler daughter seated on a chair beside her mother’s dead body with a wound in her own arm. The uncle took the little girl and raced back to town and summoned the sheriff and coroner back to the scene.
Mr. Peter Swanson was immediately named as a suspect and the county put up a $400 reward for his capture, Maggie’s extended family adding another $100 to the bounty. Peter was located at a home in Woodstock and placed under arrest. He had a bottle of strychnine with him when he was apprehended but gave a plausible reason for having it and seemed in reasonable spirits at the time. So, it was a shock four days later when his attorney arrived at his cell and found his lifeless body hanging from a pair of suspenders.
A large funeral was held for Maggie Dowd at the Pipestone Presbyterian Church. Her daughter Mary Jane went to live with Maggie’s cousin in Iowa, later moving to California. Mary Jane suffered life-long night terrors from having witnessed her mother’s murder at the age of two years. She
Maggie was buried in the family plot in Old Woodlawn Cemetery in Pipestone. Just one row over from her murderer.
This article furnished by the Pipestone County Historical Society
Maggie entered mourning for her husband and remained on to manage the farm and raise her very young daughter. One of the farm hands that Maggie relied heavily on, Mr. Peter Swanson, became infatuated with her. Disgruntled by her refusals to his advances, one day he quit work and left to work as a stone mason for Hadwick & McKnight.
Almost exactly one year after her husband’s death, in June 1900, Maggie’s problems with Peter Swanson came to a head. On the afternoon of June 30, Peter was seen purchasing a revolver at a local hardware store and then left town. He showed up at Maggie’s house in the late evening as she and her daughter were preparing for bed. At his calling, she hastily dressed and with Mary Jane on her hip, an rather than inviting him into the house, she let herself out the door and met him in the road in front of the house.
Peter Swanson then shot Maggie through the neck, grazing Mary Jane’s arm in the process. She had been shot in the mouth, the bullet exiting through the back of her neck and it is supposed that the child was in its mother’s arms with one arm around her neck, as the bullet passed through the arm below the elbow. Maggie managed to make her way back into the house, leaving a trail of blood along the way, before she collapsed just inside the front door and bled to death.
It was there her uncle found her the next day when he came to pick up Maggie and Mary Jane for a visit to town. He found the lifeless body of his niece, covered in blood, and her little toddler daughter seated on a chair beside her mother’s dead body with a wound in her own arm. The uncle took the little girl and raced back to town and summoned the sheriff and coroner back to the scene.
Mr. Peter Swanson was immediately named as a suspect and the county put up a $400 reward for his capture, Maggie’s extended family adding another $100 to the bounty. Peter was located at a home in Woodstock and placed under arrest. He had a bottle of strychnine with him when he was apprehended but gave a plausible reason for having it and seemed in reasonable spirits at the time. So, it was a shock four days later when his attorney arrived at his cell and found his lifeless body hanging from a pair of suspenders.
A large funeral was held for Maggie Dowd at the Pipestone Presbyterian Church. Her daughter Mary Jane went to live with Maggie’s cousin in Iowa, later moving to California. Mary Jane suffered life-long night terrors from having witnessed her mother’s murder at the age of two years. She
Maggie was buried in the family plot in Old Woodlawn Cemetery in Pipestone. Just one row over from her murderer.
This article furnished by the Pipestone County Historical Society
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