John D. Cochran Case Chronology
Compiled by Rob Warden
Copyright © 2006, Center on Wrongful Convictions
Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law
October 11, 1888 — John Buchenberger, an Evansville, Indiana, businessman and Civil War veteran, arrives in Mount Carmel, Illinois, on business.
October 15, 1888 — Buchenberger buys a revolver.
October 16, 1888 — Buchenberger is found unconscious in a shed, shot once in the head. His revolver, with one empty shell chamber, is by his side.
October 19, 1888 — Buchenberger dies without regaining consciousness.
October 20, 1888 — Buchenberger’s widow in Evansville receives a letter written by her husband he “was about to part from the world of mortals to dwell with his heavenly father.”
November 1888 — John D. Cochran, a Mount Carmel man with whom Buchenberger had met, is tried before a Wabash County Circuit Court jury for the crime. The suicide letter is unknown to the defense. Charles Reese, a horse thief, testifies that Cochran admitted the murder. The jury finds Cochran guilty and he is sentenced to life in prison.
August 6, 1890 — Illinois Governor Joseph W. Fifer pardons after Buchenberger’s wife discloses the suicide letter.
