Joseph Dillingham
December 17, 1877 - June 10, 1908

June 11, 1908 Manning Monitor

Fight Proves Fatal
FRANK DILLINGHAM KILLS HIS BROTHER JOSEPH.
After a Brutal and Drunken Encounter the Younger Brother is Found Dead in the Milwaukee R.R. Stock Yards.

It was quite a shock to the people of Manning when coming down town Wednesday after dinner they learned that Joe Dillingham had died and that somebody had killed him. John Reinhold, who is working for the Jacob Ohde Grain company, had business at the stock yards about 1:30 p.m. and found Joe lying on some hay, apparently asleep, but on speaking to him and he did not move, he made a closer examination and found he was dead. He at once gave the alarm. The coroner was called and his remains were moved to the undertaker's rooms of Henry Mueller.

It seems that between the hours of nine and ten in the morning the two brothers, Frank and Joe, had a fight in the basement of the Park Hotel and Frank seems to have got the better of him, as the wounds on Joe's head are frightful and anyone who had a chance to see him at the undertaker would wonder how he could walk from the hotel to the stock yards, and it is thought by many that he did not realize that he was so badly hurt. He had three or four cuts down to the skull from two to four inches long and a fracture on the back part of the head.

His brother, Frank, was immediately arrested and lodged in jail. County Attorney Wissler was also called from Carroll and had a long talk with Frank, but he was not a willing witness to explain much about the transaction. The coroner's inquest is called for nine o'clock this morning and it's thought by most people that sufficient evidence will be found against Frank to bind him over to await the action of the grand jury.

(LATER.)
The jury composed of Peter Kuhl, Theodore Hansen and Grover Herman Grau, after hearing the evidence, find that Joe Dillingham came to his death by blood clots on the brain, caused by fractures of the skull by being beaten over the head by a gas pipe, and hold Frank Dillingham for murder. His preliminary is set for four o'clock this afternoon, Louis H. Salinger being employed by Frank to defend himself.

December 24, 1908
Dillingham Gets Five Years.
Frank Dillingham, who has been on trial for several days past for the taking of the life of his brother, Joe, was sentenced Monday to five years in Ft. Madison penitentiary at hard labor. It is generally thought that this was a fair sentence considering the circumstances connected with this case.

Joseph Dillingham is buried in the Manning City Cemetery.
Section C Row #14 south - north.