In the 1800s riverboats were at the height of their glory, and riverfront towns prospered only when they catered to the needs of the crews and passengers. Because decent citizens and riffraff alike traveled the Missouri River boat circuit, towns had to be versatile in what they offered. Sioux City, Iowa, was such a town.

In 1880, Sioux City had 7,500 residents, compared to 25,000 in Des Moines, the state capital. By 1890, the Des Moines population had doubled while the Sioux City population had increased more than fivefold to 38,700. Strategically located on the river where Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota intersect, Sioux City was known as upper Missouri's riverboat headquarters. The riverfront town harbored 75 saloons, two breweries and several gambling and prostitution houses, but it also featured 18 churches and 11 schools.

As the rougher elements in the town increased, so did lawlessness. A police department was established in 1885 to work in conjunction with the city marshal's office to fight crime. Shortly before Independence Day 1882, the voters of the state had adopted an amendment to the constitution that made it illegal to sell liquor or intoxicants as a beverage. A statutory law championed by Senator Talton E. Clark, and thus known as 'Clark's Law,' had closed saloons all over Iowa except in Sioux City, where saloons, gambling and prostitution were allowed to illegally operate for a $25 to $100 per month fee. The fee was considered a contribution to the municipal treasury. Sioux City saloonkeepers and their clientele thumbed their noses at the state law, and local businessmen looked the other way because saloons were good for business.

In October 1885, the Rev. George Channing Haddock arrived in Sioux City to become the pastor of the First Methodist Church. Born on January 23, 1832, in Watertown, N.Y., Haddock had married his wife, Cornelia, in 1852. They had spent most of their lives in Wisconsin before relocating to Iowa. It did not take long for the Rev. Haddock to notice just how serious the liquor law violations were in the riverfront town. A staunch prohibitionist, the dark-eyed, full-bearded Haddock had clashed with the saloon crowd as far back as 1874. After delivering a temperance sermon in Sheboygan Falls, Wis., he had been shot at and roughed up by three men within a block of the church. Such experiences had not caused Haddock to turn the other cheek. At 5 foot 7, he carried 200 pounds on a muscular build and was intimidating in appearance, with a reputation as a fighting preacher. In Sioux City, he decided to do battle once again with those misguided souls who offered temptations of sin and self-destruction. Preaching powerfully from the pulpit, he encouraged enforcement of the state liquor laws to clean up Sioux City. Naturally, his words were not appreciated by those who profited from Sioux City's'sins.' The reverend was insulted, spat upon and even threatened.

In one instance, Haddock was walking down the street when an antagonist called, 'Come over here and I'll cut your head off.' Haddock defiantly crossed over to the sidewalk and walked past his tormenter without incident. 'I always noticed that towards his friends he was the most generous and kindly,' the Rev. Orlin A. Curtis, a friend of Haddock's, wrote. 'There were in fact, two very different elements in his large nature as was once said of a famous Scotchman, tears lie in him, and consuming fire. Thus George Haddock appeared differently to those who met him. To some men he was an everlasting fist, but to others a friendly, open palm.'

Another Sioux City prohibition advocate, the Rev. D.R. Watson of the First Baptist Church, became so fed up with the threats, indignities and local sentiments that he resigned and left town. Haddock, though, did not waver in his attack on the consumption of alcohol for pleasure. He began witnessing and signing papers against saloons in court. Haddock knew the risks. He told friends and his congregation that he expected to meet violence or death at the hands of saloon elements.

In July 1886, two murders in Sioux City caused tensions to approach the breaking point. The first occurred on Saturday night, July 3, at Prescott's Gambling House, located over Uhlmer's Saloon at 513 Fourth St., and involved William Prescott's two partners, George Throut and Ed Hatch. The hard-drinking Throut got mad because Hatch was playing faro and winning against the house (and thus costing Throut money). Throut drew a revolver, fired point-blank into Hatch's chest, and escaped. (Although later captured, convicted of murder and given a life sentence, Throut was soon pardoned by the governor.) The second incident involved a vagrant who was simply banging on a door when cut down by a citizen named Tom Mace.

Two other men, Stub Wilson and Billy Young, were charged in other shooting scrapes in the Soudan alley district, where gambling dens flourished along with prostitution houses such as Madame Shaw's Maple Grove, Minnie Kern's place and Ida Allen's place. Another of the red-light districts, known as 'Hell's Half Acre,' was located right next to the Missouri River to conveniently serve riverboat travelers.

The city council reacted to the two July murders by closing the gambling houses on Sundays. Apparently alcohol had been a factor in both murders, fueling the prohibitionists' fire. Also, there had been several alcohol-related suicides in town. On Tuesday, July 27, the Rev. Haddock was in fine form. 'I have been accused of meddling in other people's business and persecuting the saloons, and [it has been said] that the temperance people were wrong and the saloon people were the most abused class,' he said. 'I was a better friend to the saloon men than those who were aiding and abetting them in violation of the law.' Haddock then issued a challenge to the saloon sympathizers: 'I will meet with any reputable gentleman in a friendly interchange of thought for four to six nights on the following proposition: resolved that the traffic of intoxicating beverages is hostile to the best interest of Sioux City and ought to be suppressed in accordance with the laws of the State of Iowa.'

A public meeting was held on Friday, July 30, at the courthouse. The meeting was considered a bust, since the attendees were unwilling to go on the record against alcoholic consumption without support from the local business owners. The saloonkeepers meanwhile organized an association and planned how to stop the prosecutions. The organization's intention was to whip 'Walker, Wood, and Haddock.' Thomas R. Walker was a local citizen who had signed papers against saloon owners and had been a witness in court with the Rev. Haddock. D.W. Wood was the legal representative for the prohibitionists, who called themselves the Law and Order League.

A saloon association meeting was held on August 2 at Holdenrieds' hall to prepare for the court proceedings scheduled for the following day. One of the attendees, Belgium-born John Arensdorf, suggested making Haddock pay for his persistent spying on the saloons. Arensdorf, a chubby, medium-height man with a reddish mustache, was foreman for the Franz Brewing Company. German saloonkeeper George Trieber hired two men–Albert 'Bismark' Koschnitski and Sylvester Granda–for $500 from the association's treasury to give Haddock a whipping.

Haddock spent the next day, August 3, in the Woodbury County District Court testifying against the saloons. Arensdorf and Trieber were present in court, as were saloonkeeper Fred Munchrath, Jr., hotel owner Paul Leader and other members of the saloon association.

A rainy evening followed the long day in court. At about 9 p.m. Haddock and another minister, C.C. Turner, rented a horse and buggy from Jerry Merrill's livery stable, located at Third and Water streets. The two prohibitionists were seeking additional information on liquor violations in Greenville, only a couple of miles east of Sioux City. Some of the Sioux City saloonkeepers decided it was time for Bismark Koschnitski and Granda to earn their money, and they sent the two thugs to Merrill's to await Haddock's return.

Haddock and Turner found the saloons closed in Greenville. The two reverends then drove back to Sioux City's west side, where Haddock let Turner off at his residence. By this time, several members of the saloon crowd had gathered in front of Columbia House, a hotel that adjoined Merrill's stable, to witness the whipping. More than a few had done some drinking. At about 10:15 p.m., Haddock drove up in the buggy. He noticed a large group of men loitering close to the stable. Tom Jarvis, the hostler, said that someone had come around asking about Haddock. 'Well, I can take care of myself and them too,' said Haddock as he stepped out into the dimly lit, muddy street.

With his cane in one hand and an iron wheel attached to a length of rope in the other, the pastor proceeded toward the group. When Haddock reached the middle of the 80-foot-wide street, two men broke out of the crowd and approached him. The first individual put his hands in Haddock's face as the second individual, said to be Arensdorf, walked just to the left of Haddock. After passing Haddock, the second man turned and fired a revolver, the bullet penetrating the left side of Haddock's neck. The conspirators then scattered. Arensdorf and a beer wagon driver, Henry Peters, ran a couple of blocks west of the crime scene and entered the Franz Brewing Co.

After taking the bullet in the neck, Haddock stumbled in the muddy street, dropping his cane. He fell but got back up, only to stumble again. He made it across the street from the stable before collapsing. John 'Jack' Ryan, superintendent of the city market, had been standing in the doorway of Dan O' Connell's saloon at 214 Fourth St., when he heard the shot. Ryan was the first person to reach Haddock, who lay face down in the gutter. Ryan turned Haddock over, placing the minister's head on the sidewalk. Haddock moaned and tried to speak, but his mouth filled with blood. Fireman William Ingledue, who had witnessed the shooting from the fire station across the street, ran off to get Police Chief James Nelon (sometimes spelled Nelson). Meanwhile, Deputy Marshal A.J. Lagger and Deputy Sheriff William ('Billy') C. Davenport, known as 'the Kid Deputy,' had arrived on the scene. By then, there was nothing to be done to help Haddock. He had died of the gunshot wound to his neck, fulfilling his own prophecy. Hundreds of people took to the street to get a closer look. Haddock's lifeless form lay in the muddy street for an hour–the roped iron wheel still wrapped securely around his wrist, his rain slicker covered with his blood–before his body was taken to the parsonage at 514 Seventh St. by undertaker C.T. Wescott.

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