As a notorious trial was dragging on in 1907 Oklahoma City, a small kernel of news was mentioned in passing. The death currently in the news, so the papers stated, was the most dastardly and mysterious since 1899 when a man living about fifteen miles outside the city was murdered.
The lifeless body of German immigrant John Nulk, was found in about two miles in the country on Reno where that thoroughfare was more road than street. Nulk had been a pioneer of the county and had come from Richardson County, Nebraska. The federal census lists several people of that name in several northern locations.
Just six months before the Nulk case, along the Canadian river, a headless body had been found by men fishing. The murder site was located to have been southwest of the city near the Wheeler Bridge along the banks of the river. After a further search, a head with a bullet hole was found in a pillow case and identified as a local man who repaired shoes in the City, an A.J. Eick.
Just six months before the Nulk case, along the Canadian river, a headless body had been found by men fishing. The murder site was located to have been southwest of the city near the Wheeler Bridge along the banks of the river. After a further search, a head with a bullet hole was found in a pillow case and identified as a local man who repaired shoes in the City, an A.J. Eick.
These locations were the site of many apparent body dumps from just before and after statehood. Convenient to transportation hubs and numerous individuals able to move about without notice. The wild and bad old west was not too distant a memory despite the dawning of a new century.
Detective work had identified several individuals as the guilty party and they were all reported to be in a Kansas penitentiary, although one man was accused of being the actual killer he was never charged.
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