Pepin Murder! Part I

 

A true tale of murder, denial, blame, arrest, conviction and escape less than 40 miles south of Menomonie, Wisconsin in 1866 Pepin. This story is short in the span of time but long and deep in interesting details spreading to Missouri and beyond. A history I have longed to relate, researched in depth, found answers, questions, and will bring to you as best I am able. This is such an expansive story that I find it difficult to narrow my scope to the details but I will try my utmost to keep it on track. Those interested in more details of the case are welcome to share that interest with me. There are few complete answers and the absolute truth never will be secured.

Our journey begins in the early days of Pepin, Wisconsin on the incredible stretch of the Mississippi River known as Lake Pepin. Ira 'Brad' Wheeler moved there with his mother and siblings, settling a large plot of land on the Chippewa River just upstream from the lake. Margaret 'Mag' Emeline Fuller also moved there with her family but was yet a young girl in the mid-1850's. A small town was growing at Pepin expecting to become a landing spot for the steamboats making their way upstream to St. Paul, Minnesota but the shoreline proved to be too difficult for large dockage.

Almost directly across the lake was a small town that proved to be a more ideal dockage site and Reeds Landing, Minnesota became the hub of local activity and adventure. Freight and passenger trade up the river required rest and refueling stops, each stop becoming an entertainment venue while the wood was restocked for the steamboat boilers. Each of these dockages became a layover point and the locals did their best to entertain and profit from the travelers and crew.

There at Reeds Landing is where our tale begins with a young girl starved for excitement and distraction from the boring days of an isolated town in the wilds of Wisconsin. It is nothing more than a wild guess, but a most likely scenario that Mag traveled across Lake Pepin when there was music, visitors, fun, church socials, fancy dressed wealthy men and women wearing the latest fashions, coming from the large cities south. The steamboats also brought strong young men working the ships, young men with tales of wild waters, marauding Indians and ferocious beasts encountered along the rivers edge.

It was at one of these such landing venues where I believe Mag met her first true love. A young ships apprentice learning the trade of Steamboat Engineer had landed. A handsome fellow, bright and full of stories also smitten with the comely and bright young Mag Fuller. His name was Richard Doyle and he hailed from the bustling city of St. Louis, Missouri. Mag and Richard chanced to meet on several occasions as his boat traversed the river. The winters caused a long and aching separation for the young lovers but the mutual adoration braved the treacherous ice and cold until spring allowed.

Hard times and large families caused for children to grow up fast and to leave the nest early in those days. Most young women of the times were either forced out to work as housemaids or servants to wealthy families or to seek marriage to older men who had established themselves and could also support a wife or provide her the work to earn her keep on the farm. Mag was no different, her mother had come to Pepin as a widowed mother and married a man with several children of his own. Mag was one of the older children and although she would be young in these modern times, she was old enough to move on.

Marriage seemed her only saving in that small farming wilderness of Pepin and so Mag would wed. On March 1st, 1860 eighteen year old Mag was married to Brad Wheeler, a successful farmer nearly twice her age. Mag had to give up on her dreams with Richard Doyle and the romantic river life as she settled into the rough life on a farm. Mag had two children with Brad, Emma Bell in 1861 and John Edward in 1863. Brad was a hard working and ambitious entrepreneurial man seeking new opportunities at all times. He provided well but was a stern and harsh husband not prone to providing the intimate affection and social engagement that Mag surely desired.

Brad Wheeler had expanded his farm property and the wooded land surrounding his fields provided him income from firewood for the steamboat trade. Between the demands of his crop farm, livestock, firewood venture and a wife with two young children Brad needed to hire some help. A local fellow by the name of Jim Carter, near Mag's age, was a hard working nephew of Brad's neighbor and agreed to join up with Brad in the firewood business. The arrangement worked well all around and Jim would often stay with the Wheelers since his father's farm was a ways distant and work could start earlier if he stayed. He was also able to help out around the farm as needed when they weren't cutting wood.

In March of 1864, Brad Wheeler was called to war and he asked Jim to stay on, plant the spring crops and help Mag through the planting season. Jim stayed on and planted the crops before heading out to work on the river crews for parts of the summer returning to help out occasionally and then to harvest. Jim and Mag were known to have socialized together at public and family functions during Brad's time away. Jim Carter was drafted into service in November of 1864 and until the wars end, Mag was alone with the children and the farm.

Brad was mustered out on July 31, 1865 and returned home shortly after to resume his farming and family life. Jim mustered out in August, 1865 but had contracted 'camp fever' (typhoid fever as we know it) and returned home to his own family to recuperate for several weeks. That Fall, Brad once again asked Jim to go into business together cutting wood. Jim provided a horse, Brad provided the saw and they worked through until winter. Jim moved in with the Wheeler’s and stayed the winter save for a few weekends away at his Uncle Isaac Ingalls next door.

The winter of 1865-66 was a harsh, long, cold and snowy one keeping outdoor activity to a minimum. There is little doubt would be placed that the winter conditions, the wars effects on the men and the close quarters added to the stresses of everyone. The afternoon of Friday, March 23 brought visitors and neighbors to the Wheeler household and provided a backdrop to the last day and moments of Brad Wheeler’s life. While the varying accounts differ, there was one or more arguments that escalated to heated exchanges and within the hour, Brad Wheeler lay dead in the snow.