Mabel Horton ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

IS IT MABEL HORTON?
THE BODY OF A LITTLE GIRL FOUND IN THE RIVER BELOW ST. PAUL

St. Paul, April 11 -- Coroner Cadzow of Dakota County sent word up from Rosemount to McCarthy & Donnelly during the evening that he had secured the remains of a little girl, which were found in the river at Pine Bend, twenty-two miles below St. Paul, Thursday afternoon; that they were apparently those of a child of eight or ten years and had been in the water all winter. Speculation is rife as to whether or not the body is that of little Mabel Horton.

Mabel Horton was 7 years old. The circumstances surrounding the drowning of Mabel and her mother last fall at that point in the river a little above South Park, and the trial of Horton on the charge of murdering his wife are still fresh in the minds of the public.

(Source: Winona Daily Republican, Winona, Minnesota, 11 Apr 1891, page 1)


IT WAS MABEL HORTON
St. Paul, April 13 - - The remains of the little girl found in the river south of this city Friday have been identified by W. F. Horton as those of his little daughter, drowned last summer
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Source: Winona Daily Republican, Winona, Minnesota, 13 Apr 1891, page 1 , Front Page


NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS -- OVER THE RIVER
The body of the little girl found about 8 miles below St. Paul proved t o be that of little Mabel Horton, who was drowned with her mother at St . Paul last August and for whose murder Walter F. Horton was tried and acquitted. The remains of little Mabel Horton were brought to Trempealeau where funeral services were held and the remains laid to rest beside her mother in the cemetery. Walter F. Horton, the father of the girl, came with the remains and attended the funeral. Her grandmother identified the body by the dress of the little girl, and it was further testified by the clergyman and several other persons who knew the deceased.

Source: Winona Republican-Herald, Winona, Minnesota, 16 Apr 1891


HORTON'S HOME LIFE
His Mother-in-Law Tells a Tale of Domestic Infelicity. Mrs. S. Hanson, of Trempealeau, Wis., mother of the unfortunate wife of Walter F. Horton , writes the following to the GLOBE touching her son-in-law's married life:

To the Editor of the Globe. I have read W. F. Horton's statement, and found there were a few mistakes. He has not given a very good memorandum of his married life, which I will give as near as I can remember. In the year '79 Miss Nellie Hanson was employed as domestic for Mrs. Dr. Ballard in La Crosse, Wis., and W. F. Horton was working for his board and going to school. They were acquainted two months or more, when they came here to Trempealeau, Wis., and were married by Rev. James Squier, Baptist minister, July 31, 1879, and started the same evening to his parents' home in Hancock, Minn. They remained with them until the spring of '80. He took a claim near Waubay, Day county, Dak., and moved with his wife into a log house with a ground floor. In June a son was born to them, who is now living with his uncle, H. S. Hanson, Galesville, Wis., and has been for over a year. They lived there three years. In the fall of 1882 he made some kind of a bad trade, and to get out of that he deserted, and also deserted his wife and child and left them penniless and in poor health. She managed to get along through the winter by the kindness of the few neighbors that were scattered along the neighborhood two and three miles apart, and her sister, Mrs. B. H. Egeland, of Strand, Dak., was also a great help to her. In April, 1883, Mrs. Horton's brother, L. S. Hanson, went out to see what could be done. He saw no prospect of her living there, so she sold her right, and got enough money to bring her to her mother in Trempealeau, Wis. May 15 she gave birth to a girl baby, ' Little Mabel she had with her now.' In the fall her husband made his appearance, and he felt grieved and sorry for his bad conduct, but promised his wife he would be faithful. He went to Minneapolis and obtained work and soon after sent for his wife and children and started housekeeping anew. They lived there from fall until spring, '84, when he moved his family to Brainerd, two miles in the country, where they lived until July 6, '86, when he again sent his family to Trempealeau where her aged mother (a widow) lives, and afterwards he thought best to leave them here and send them money for support, which he did up to within one and a half years ago. Then all was ceased up to within the last three weeks, when he sent messages and wrote for her to meet him in Winona, Minn., and to bring her mother or brother (L. S. Hanson) with her. She went up, but he failed to appear. Afterwards he continued to write and send messages, and finally he came down one Sunday, but stopped a very short time without seeing his wife. He went back again, and then he changed his ways, wanting them to come up to St. Paul to live a new life again, which ended in this horrible crime. Mrs. Nellie Horton was a member of the M. E. church of this place and was highly esteemed by all who knew her, and her daughter Mabel was loved by everybody. Trempealeau, Wis., Aug. 16."

Source: St. Paul, Minnesota Daily Globe, St. Paul, MN, 19 Aug 1890 , Page 2
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  Death Notes:

Death Notices in Galesville Independent, Galesville, Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, April 17, 1891, page 1, column 3
HORTON, Mable
Died: August 14, 1890 (Drowned)
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  Noted events in her life were:

• She has alternate birth date of 1884 and a birth location of Wisconsin.

This birth year was referenced by her age of 1 on the 1885 Minnesota State Census.
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• She appeared on the 1885 Minnesota State Census in Crow Wing Township, Crow Wing, MN in 9 May 1885. ¹

1885 Minnesota State Census
Page 4, Family 34
Crow Wing Township, Crow Wing County, Minnesota
Mabel Horton..1..WI
(Living with parents.)
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• She was buried after 14 August 1890 in the Trempealeau Cemetery in Trempealeau, WI.

In the Trempealeau Cemetery in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, there is one tall monument gravestone with the name of Nellie on one side and the name of Mabel on the other:

MABEL HORTON
Daughter of W. F. Horton and Nellie M. Horton
Died: August 14, 1890
Age: 7 years, 2 months, 28 days

NELLIE M. HORTON
Wife of W. F. Horton
Died: August 14, 1890
Age: 41 years

Find A Grave Memorial #109676268
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