Baby Doe 1881
Newborn Girl
Centerville, IA
Appanoose County
March 30, 1881
On Wednesday March 30, 1881, 56-year-old Appanoose County Treasurer John Addison Pierson stopped by the Centerville train station to see if there was mail for himself or the county.
The rail agent handed over a pasteboard box about 10 by 14 inches and 6 inches deep addressed to Pierson.
There was postage due, so Pierson paid the amount and took the box back to his office.
When he unfolded the piece of paper bearing his name and address, he was shocked to read instructions telling him to bury the box’s contents on the north side of the cemetery.
Pierson quickly opened the box and was horrified to find a dead newborn girl wrapped in an old skirt.
He immediately notified authorities of the gruesome contents.
A coroner’s jury was quickly convened to examine the baby. The jury reported the horrible verdict that the girl was born alive and then killed by acid or lye being forced into her mouth and then splattered on one side of her face and body.
Authorities investigating the origin of the package learned that earlier in the day a couple came to the railway Post Office in Camden — which is now an Appanoose County ghost town — and gave the box to the agent, saying that shipping directions were on the attached paper and the charges would be paid in Centerville.
Investigators were baffled by the actions of the couple, who had done nothing to conceal the murder but instead made it very obvious.
Neither John A. Pierson nor anyone else could imagine why the box was addressed to him.
Within days of the box’s arrival, the Appanoose Times wrote:
“Suspicion rests upon a family in the west part of the county and it is very probable that the mother of the child has been found, but in the absence of proof we withhold names, not wishing to give publicity to the family in such a case only on positive knowledge.
Nothing can be done to develop the case unless someone will push the matter and file any information, a thing that no one has yet consented to do.
Our laws are weak and at fault in cases of this kind, it seems, and no one feels like taking the responsibility of paying the costs that must necessarily accrue in prosecuting the investigation.
The sheriff is unwilling to be at any further personal expense in the matter, but expresses a willingness to serve any and all papers in the case.”
The case remains cold.
Questions and information about the unsolved murder of Baby Doe 1881 should be directed to the Appanoose County Sheriff at 641-437-7100 or Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
Copyright 2012 Iowa Cold Cases, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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