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Articles & Local History > Annawan Shoemaker Alleged to Have Confessed to Murdering Tampico Man (Fred Glassburn)

Submitted by Les Niemi -

March 22, 1907

SAYS HE KILLED GLASSBURN

Annawan Shoemaker Alleged to Have Confessed to Murdering Tampico Man

Reports have reached Tampico that a shoemaker who recently died at Annawan confessed before death to the shooting of Fred GLASSBURN some six years ago in a hospital in Indiana. It will be remembered that Mr. GLASSBURN went there for his health and was found dead in his room with five bullets in his body, three of which went through his heart. Medical authorities all agreed that it would have been physically impossible for any man to pull a trigger to send the second bullet into his heart as the first would be death, hence there was no question but that he was murdered. Absolutely no clew could be found and the matter has always remained a deep mystery.

The alleged confession of the shoemaker was that he followed Mr. GLASSBURN to Indiana, shot him down and made good his escape through an open window. The reports that the confession was made come from trustworthy sources but however the relatives here know nothing of it. The matter will be fully investigated by the Tornado and published next week.

March 29, 1907

The rumor that a shoemaker who recently died in Annawan had confessed before he died that he had killed Fred GLASSBURN, can not be verified. At Annawan they say no person has died there during the past six weeks and the only shoemaker in town is a most lively corpse, having resided there for twenty years. There have been many different rumors about an alleged confession but thus far none can be traced down to the person who is said to have made it.

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