Jeremiah R. Zollinger
65 YOA
Newton, IA
Jasper County
February 23, 1895
About 9:30 on Saturday night, February 23, 1895, 65-year-old former Jasper County Sheriff Jeremiah “Jerry” Zollinger closed his grocery store and began walking home with a business ledger under his arm.
At about 10:00, he neared his house. The electric carbon arc light nearby was turned off, so the area around the home was dark.
As he approached his fenced-in yard and was only 4 rods from the gate, someone hit Zollinger violently on the head with a club, creating a large gash.
Bloodstains showed that he touched his head and then steadied himself against the fence.
He managed to get into his house and sat down in a chair, looking stunned. Seeing blood flowing down over his face, his wife Elizabeth asked what was wrong and he replied, “I got struck in the yard.”
Those were his last words.
Although a doctor was summoned to help him, there was little to be done; and after losing consciousness, he died about 12:20 a.m. on Sunday morning, February 24.
There was early speculation that Zollinger had a stroke and fell, hitting his head against an electric wire pole.
However, authorities concluded that Zollinger was attacked because his wound was too high on the head to have been from a fall and his clothes were unsoiled, suggesting he was never on the ground.
Two club-like sticks found in the yard were similar to those in a nearby wood pile, but they could not be linked to the attack.
Jerry Zollinger was universally admired and liked in Newton.
Robbery was ruled out because there was $26 in his pockets.
The only motive that could be imagined was that someone bore Zollinger a grudge from the time he served as Deputy and then Sheriff of Jasper County. He was known to be a staunch upholder of the law.
Jeremiah Rummell Zollinger was born December 7, 1829 in Hagerstown, Maryland, to Pennsylvania natives Elizabeth Rummell and Andrew Zollinger.
He had five brothers — Josiah, John, Jacob, Samuel, and Andrew Zollinger — and three sisters, Margaret Zollinger Hanstine, Barbara Zollinger Middlekauf, and Bessie Zollinger.
On May 10, 1853 in Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, he married Elizabeth Marion Randall. Their first child, John Rummel Zollinger, died as an infant.
With his parents and other siblings, Zollinger moved west to Ogle County, Illinois, where most of the family lived out their lives.
However, Jerry and Elizabeth moved even farther west and by 1859 were living in Newton, Iowa. They had two other children: Edward Wayne Zollinger and Gulielma Zollinger.
Zollinger knew long and challenging service during the Civil War. He was commissioned on April 14, 1863 as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 28th IA Infantry of the Union Army. He served under General Phillip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign and was made a Captain.
After the war, he worked as a carpenter and then became a Deputy Sheriff. He was twice elected Sheriff of Jasper County.
In the years before his death, Zollinger operated a Newton grocery store.
Courtesy photo findagrave.comZollinger’s funeral — conducted by the Newton Masonic Lodge and G.A.R — was held at 2:30 on Monday, March 4. Newspapers reported that 3,000 citizens came to pay their respects. He was buried in the Newton Union Cemetery with military honors.
Zollinger’s daughter Gulielma became a well-known author of books for young people, including The Widow O’Callaghan’s Boys, A Boy’s Ride, The Rout of the Foreigner, and Maggie Mclanehan.
Questions and information about the unsolved 1895 murder of Jeremiah Zollinger should be directed to the Newton Police Department at 641-791-0850, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, or Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
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