Vorhees - Royal - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

Vorhees - Royal

Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Monday, 12 October 1891

There was a drunken row at Champaign, Ill., Saturday night, by which Royal Voorhees, of LaPorte, lost his life on the spot, and Robert Creque, of this city, was probably fatally injured.

Creque is a son-in-law of Charley Warren and had been at Champaign for about three weeks working as a carpenter, previous to that time having been engaged with A. H. Richner in this city.

Yesterday Mrs. Creque received a telegram announcing that her husband had been fatally shot. She and Creque’s brother accordingly left last night for Champaign and have not yet returned. The man who did the shooting was Daniel Renner and it seems that all had been drinking and quarreled over some trivial matter. After the shooting, Renner fled to his home in Tuscola where he was arrested yesterday by the Champaign marshal. A dispatch from Tuscola to the Chicago Inter-Ocean gives the following verse of the affair: “Daniel Renner was arrested today and taken to Champaign, it having developed that he shot two ruffians in the former place late last night who were attempting to hold up a friend. One of the men was shot through the heart, killing him instantly, and the other was mortally wounded. Young Renner does not deny doing the shooting but claims that he did so to protect his own life from the men, who had turned upon him with weapons. He is but 20 years of age and the son of John C. Renner, a prominent citizen of this place.

Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Tuesday, 13 October 1891 Edition

Robert Creque, who was shot at Champaign, Ill., last Saturday night, died at 3:15 o’clock yesterday afternoon from the effects of the wound. His body was brought to this city this morning and taken to his late residence, 509 John Street. The funeral was held at 11 o’clock, conducted by Rev. G. W. Switzer, and the interment was made at Mt. Tabor Church, three miles south of this city.

The circumstances surrounding the killing of Robert Creque tend to show that the shooting was unwarranted, and was probably the result of a young fellow having the ever ready revolver to use on the least imaginable provocation. Creque had been working for David Wiseheart, a boss carpenter at that place, for several weeks, and was always considered a sober, industrious fellow. He boarded with L. Smith, 501 East White Street, who also says he was a man who conducted himself in a straight forward manner.

On Saturday night Creque went uptown where he remained until about 10 o’clock. It seems that a man named Burns, who also boarded at the Smith house, got on a glorious drunken spree that night and two parties were overseeing the task of getting Burns back to his boarding house, yet each set of men were ignorant of the fact that the drunken man had two sets of body guards, and this seems to have been the origin of the trouble. When the drunken man got with Creque, Royal Voorhees and Nate Frazier, the second set of men fell back, but followed in the rear. Daniel Renner, the man who did the shooting, was with the men who fell back, but he finally overtook the party with Burns. Frazier turned around as Renner came up and demanded to know if he was following them, to which Renner made some evasive reply, and as he was passing Voorhees he was kicked by him. This caused words to be passed between the several men, and when Renner was about ten feet ahead of the party, he pulled out a 32 caliber revolver, and turning around fired two shots in rapid succession. When Frazier noticed that Renner was taking a revolver out of his pocket, he ran down the street and disappeared around the corner, just as the shots were fired. The first shot hit Creque, and the other struck Voorhees, entering his heart and killing him instantly. Creque, after being shot, ran back toward the corner around which Frazier had disappeared and after going about seventy feet, he fell, just as Frazier came up to him. He said to Frazier that he had been shot, and a doctor was summoned and Creque removed to his boarding house where everything was done to relieve the sufferer, but without avail. Voorhees was found lying on the edge of the sidewalk with his feet in the gutter, and an open pocket knife in his hand. The drunken man in the meantime escaped and reached his boarding house in safety. Renner, who did the shooting is about 20 years old, and lives at Tuscola. The coroner held an examination yesterday and Renner said that the reason he used his revolver was because the men were crowding him, yet he claimed to be thirty feet in front when he shot, but from the other evidence introduced, he could not have been over ten feet in front when he pulled his revolver, turned and fired. There seemed to have been no just cause for the shooting and the death of the two men is looked up on as murder. Renner is now in jail at Urbana, having been bound over to the grand jury, without bail. A post mortem examination upon the body of Robert Creque was not held, because his wife objected.

The bullet passed through his vest pocket, on the right side, struck the lower rib, and penetrated the stomach. Creque lived only forty hours after being shot, and suffered indescribable agony. His wife was with him when he died, and returned home with the remains accompanied by T. L. Smith and wife. He leaves a wife and three daughters, the oldest being eleven years of age and the youngest about four.

Champaign, Ill., Oct 13—Robert Creque, of Crawfordsville, Ind., who was shot by Daniel Renner, of Tuscola, in a drunken row Saturday night, died Monday afternoon while the coroner was holding an inquest over the remains of Royal Voorhees, of Ladoga, Ind., who was also shot and killed by Renner. The jury recommended that Renner be held to the grand jury without bail.