Waterloo Republican of Nov ,14, 1923:

While workmen were digging a foundation for the piers at the Lieser bridge on the 
new concrete highway they came upon the skeleton of a man, The bones were in a fair 
state of preservation and the wrists were held by strong iron handcuffs!

When the incident was mentioned in town the older citizens recalled the lynching 
of one John Lane in the years after the Civil War. John Lane was one of a gang of 
loafers who made their headquarters at Fort Monroe tavern north of Columbia, at Palmer 
Hill, which was than a hamlet of a half dozen houses. The place was a rendezvous for 
toughs, and John Lane was a leader.

One day a party of hunters came to the tavern. The story goes that Lane asked one of 
the hunters to "set 'em up." This he refused, whereupon Lane took the gun from the 
shoulder of the hunter and struck him over the head killing him almost instantly.

Fred Henckler was sheriff of the county at that time. He arrested Lane, brought him 
to Columbia where he was given a preliminary hearing in the office of the justice of 
the peace, in the present Ritter building on Main St. Just when the hearing was over, 
men entered the room with a rope, threw it over Lane's head, dragged him down the steps, 
tied it to a wagon and drove down Main St. toward Waterloo.

When the party reached Lieser's creek, the rope was swung Over a low outstretching limb 
and Lane was soon dead. His body was dropped from the limb immediately into a grave 
which had been dug right under it. The earth was closed over him, and the murder of the 
hunter, a St.Louis man, had ben paid for.