Mills County in Iowa

Glenwood in Mills County

George G. Shackell

Homicide

George G. Shackell
69 YOA
Glenwood, IA
Mills County
July 3, 1929

By Nancy Bowers

On Wednesday, July 3, 1929, George G. Shackell, 69, was found semi-conscious on the floor in a small house on the edge of Glenwood where he lived alone.

He was severely bruised about the head and had been lying helpless for approximately 48 hours.

Before he died at a Council Bluffs hospital of pneumonia, Shackell — a truck farmer and florist — told authorities he was beaten with a baseball bat.

A coroner’s jury directed Shackell’s brain to be examined at the Medical College of the State University of Iowa in Iowa City. Doctors there concluded Shackell had a cerebral hemorrhage and the death was ruled “natural.”

Not everyone agreed with that verdict and rumors continued to circulate in the community, kept alive by those who believed an attack and a brain hemorrhage were not mutually exclusive.

Shackell’s death also seemed similar to recent attacks on other Iowa citizens.

Part of a Pattern?

During a two-week period in the summer of 1929, three other Iowa recluses were attacked:

• George Hardy, 68, a rural storekeeper near Parnell in Iowa County, who lived alone and distrusted banks, was robbed and slain on June 26. His murder is unsolved.
• On June 30, Samuel Holland was beaten and robbed in his home on the outskirts of Manly in Worth County, but he survived.
• Winfield Scott Rouse, 79, of Indian Village Township near Montour in Tama County was robbed and beaten; he died on July 2. Rouse’s murder is also unsolved.

The Life of George Shackell

George G. Shackell was born August 12, 1860 in Petersfield, Hampshire, England, to tailor George Shackell and his wife Sarah. He had seven siblings: Rosina, William, Fred, Julie, Jesse, Harry, and Florence.

When George was 10, the Shackell family moved to Marylebone, London, England. In 1881, George worked as a “head porter” and lived with his family in Marylebone.

In 1887, Shackell immigrated to the United States and made his way to western Iowa, where he grew and sold flowers.

In 1915, he was a florist in Council Bluffs, living at 20 S. 29th Street. By 1920, Shackell had relocated to Plattville Township in Mills County and was listed as a truck farmer in the census.

Shackell never married and news headlines around the state termed him a “recluse.” The Atlantic News Telegraph remembered him as a “florist and nature lover.”

Courtesy photo Iowa Gravestone Photo Project

George Shackell is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Mills County.

He is buried under a large and imposing stone in the Glenwood Cemetery.

Information Needed

Questions and information about the 1929 death of George G. Shackell should be directed to the Glenwood Police Department at 712-527-4844, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office at 712-527-4337, or Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.

Sources

• “Attacks on Four Ia. [sic] Recluses Are Still Unsolved,” Ames Daily Tribune and Evening Times, July 10, 1929.
• “Death Was Natural,” Atlantic News Telegraph, July 18, 1929.
• “Glenwood Recluse Fourth Victim of Unknown Assailant,” Muscatine Journal and News-Tribune, July 10, 1929.
• “Jury Probes Death of Glenwood Recluse,” Waterloo Evening Courier, July 10, 1929.
• “Neighborhood News,” Hamburg Reporter, July 25, 1929.
• “Probe Fourth Recluse Attack,” Mason City Globe-Gazette, July 10, 1929.