100 YEARS OLD
CENTENNIAL 1855-1955

he most recent scenario of the Rainsbarger story came in 1997 when a video, The Rainsbargers: A Lynching in Hardin County, was produced by the Iowa River Greenbelt Resource Trust. This documentary by Joe E. Heitland puts many of the myths of the whole sordid affair to rest once and for all. 

Mildred Janssen wrote of these recent events as an afterthought to her book on the Rainsbarger and Johns families: 

“When I began writing this Rainsbarger Story in 1989, my resources were several newspaper articles and various documents listed in the Bibliography of the book. Since then much more information has been found.” 

“Through the years, many, many people interested in history of the Hardin County area and curious to learn the truth have studied, explored, investigated and researched the entire Rainsbarger case. It is interesting to read some results of these pursuits.” 

“Most prominent is a chapter Herbert Quick wrote about the Rainsbargers in his book, The Hawkeye. In this book he called them the “Bushyagers” and portrayed them as a family of outlaws.” 

“In 1989, Glenn Paul of Eldora made the following observation on the Rainsbarger lynching: “The murder of the Rainsbargers, no matter in what light this foul murder is viewed, it should be regarded with a horror born of knowledge that it was a lawless act committed under the cloak of meting out justice. It was not justice, nothing can ever make it so, and the hands of the lynchers are stained with blood, the possibility of the guilt of their victims serving nothing to wash away the stain. The murder of the Rainsbargers was committed by the people of Hardin County. The active participants and all those who tacitly abetted the crime by their presence are not only lawbreakers but murderers. They should be regarded with horror and their conduct should meet with the severe punishment that it justly deserves.” 

“A noted Iowa Falls historian, Ira A. Nichols, wrote in his book PIONEER DAYS IN IOWA FALLS: “It is too tangled a web for us to untangle and it has never been quite safe to try to untangle it, as I long ago learned from personal experience … Where life, death and imprisonment are involved in so many lives, it is not safe to delve too deeply. The truth will never be known except by those who played the cards and their lips have been sealed by fear and death.” 

“What actually was “sealed” was the truth hidden in a mountain of documents and newspaper articles that Nate had collected before he died in 1940.” 

“In 1991 I became acquainted with Raymond Tinnian from Iowa City who participated in a State of Iowa Historical Archaeological Survey of our area. He became intrigued by the Rainsbarger story that unfolded during this survey. Following a lead from some documents I had collected Ray was able to locate Nate’s collection. Using this with the many other articles and materials that he uncovered, Ray put pieces together and discovered the truth about what really happened in the 1880’s in Hardin County. In the fall of 1992 his meticulously documented article was published in THE PALIPSEST*. Complicated myths that have persisted through these many years have been unraveled, and the real criminals exposed.” 

“Finally, after all this time, the treasure of a dedicated old gentleman has been sorted and documented by an innovative and resourceful young man. Truth has surfaced, questions have been answered and the Rainsbarger name once held in contempt has been exonerated.” 

*THE PALIPSEST, State Historical Society of Iowa, Volume 73, Number 3 Fall 1992