Finchtown Milkman Kempfer
Cincinnati Enquirer, 2 April 1876, page 7
A Finchtown Sensation-Attempted Murder of a Milkman
The thriving little village of Finchtown, situated up Licking a little back of Newport, enjoyed (or suffered as the case may be) a first class excitement yesterday, no less an event that a dastardly effort at assassination. It was about four in the morning when a milkman named Kempfer, lying asleep in his bedroom, was awakened by a noice which he soon discovered was caused by the raising of one of his windows.
He lifted up his head and asked who that was getting sight, as he spoke, of a human figure leaning in through the open window. The only answer was a shot which took effect in the fleshy part of his left arm, inflicting a troublesome wound. This shot was immediately followed by a second. The ball this time cutting its way through the flesh across the stunned dairyman's breast, in the line of the nipples.
It was about time Kempler was getting out of there and he got out in a hurry. He rushed for the window, seized his murderous assailant, overpowered him, wounded as he was and disarmed him. As soon as he had time to take a look, he discovered that it was a former employee named John Gerke, said to be a relative of the late deceased Cincinnati brewer of the same name.
He had been discharged by Kempler & Bunning, who were partners but not for any discredited reason, but only because he was not proficient in the art of milking. He was quite drunk and was put under private guard until Constable Jackson, who was at once sent for, arrived and clapped the bracelets on him, when he was escorted to the Newport Jail.
The only reason assignable for the shooting is the discharge mentioned above. After that discharge Gerke spent a few nights in Kempfer's room and shared his bed with him, sleeping subsequently in the stable but had been told lately he had better find another home.
The weapon turned out to be a navy revolver borrowed by Gerke a few days before of Kempler's partner, Bunning, to use as a protection on a trip to the country. Gerke, however, says he got it at a pawnbroker's in Cincinnati. He also denied the shooting and says it was done by another man whom he followed and who afterward ran away. This story, however, does not comport with the fact that Gerke was caught in the act with the pistol in his hand.
He had evidently been drinking freely and has the appearance of a subject of epilepsy. He was interviewed in jail but knew very little and said less. His examination is set for this afternoon.
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Cincinnati Enquirer, 10 May 1876, page 8
NEWPORT
JOHN H GERKE was sentenced to the Penitentiary for four years for shooting the Finchtown milkman, Kempfer. The evidence in this trial pointed so strongly to the complicity of Kempfer's partner, J G Bunning, for the attempt to murder him, that a warrant was sworn out against him. He gave bail in the sum f $800 with John Cloherty and George Schneider as sureties.