Dead In Bed: Murder of Thomas Tolbert 1877

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By Nancy Bowers
Written September 2014

In the first week of April 1877, 28-year-old farmer Thomas Tolbert was found bludgeoned to death in his bed on a farm on the Southwestern Road two miles west of Eldon, Iowa.

His tenants had recently moved, so he lived on the property alone.

Tolbert died from a skull fracture. The apparent motive for the murder — likely committed on April 3 — was robbery, although it was believed that Tolbert had little money on hand.

The Postville Review termed the death “a mysterious murder.”

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Please note: Use of information from this article should credit Nancy Bowers as the author and Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases as the source.

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Reference

• “Iowa State News,” Postville Review, April 7, 1877, p. 3.