Victim: Louis Rudolph
Perpetrator: James Cope and Albert Johnson
Date of Incident: 1872-06-06
Location of Incident: Center Township (Dearborn County)
On the morning of June 6, 1872, Louis Rudolph was walking home from Hauck’s barber shop on Second Street in downtown Aurora. He headed toward Main Street, crossed diagonally in the intersection, and continued along Second Street. His pleasant stroll was interrupted as he reached Epstein’s store, where James Cope and Albert Johnson, slightly inebriated, were waiting with dray pins, a common murder weapon of the time due to the prevalence of horse-pulled dray wagons.
James and Albert struck Louis on the head with their dray pins. He fell to the sidewalk and never regained consciousness before dying at noon the next day.
Louis Rudolph’s daughter married Louis Hilbert, who was killed in the Hilbert | Watkins case.
Sources
The Dearborn Independent (1872, June 13). The Rudolph tragedy. The Aurora Journal, 3.
The Lawrenceburg Press (1872, June 13). The removal of the Rudolph murderers. The Lawrenceburg Press, 2.
The Lawrenceburg Press (1872, June 13). Aurora items. The Lawrenceburg Press, 2.
The Dearborn Independent (1872, June 27). Administrator’s notice. The Aurora Journal, 3.
The Dearborn Independent (1873, January 30). The Rudolph murder. The Aurora Independent, 3.
The Dearborn Independent (1873, February 6). Home news. The Dearborn Independent, 3.
Schwartz, J. (1874, August 6). The Bradley murder. The Dearborn Independent, 2.
The Lawrenceburg Press (1876, February 24). [Untitled]. The Lawrenceburg Press, 3.
The Lawrenceburg Press (1877, July 19). [Untitled]. The Lawrenceburg Press, 3.
The Dearborn Independent (1879, May 29). Court report. The Dearborn Independent, 3.
The Lawrenceburg Register (1886, August 26). Swift retribution. The Lawrenceburg Register, 3.