August Meyer of Bennet knew Charles Starkweather and his family. He'd let them hunt on his land. So he likely wasn't surprised when the redhead's Ford pulled into his yard.
BENNET - August Meyer kept his farmstead as neat as a pin.
The 70-year-old semi-retired farmer had spent his entire life on
the property east of Bennet. He never married, but he stayed so his
mother could remain living on the farm throughout her life.
"I always remembered him as a hard-working farmer," said his
nephew Mervin Meyer, 71, of Walton.
Bob Gloe, 78, of Lincoln remembers boyhood visits to the Meyer
farm. The property had a creek running through it where Gloe and
his brother caught bullheads. He remembers playing softball after
sunset, thanks to a yard light near the farm house.
And he remembers his soft-spoken great-uncle, who never got in
the center of the gatherings, preferring to listen instead.
August Meyer learned to work the land before the introduction of
tractors and combines. He continued to use horse-drawn equipment
until he turned the farming over to a renter.
The old farmer always kept livestock on the land and continued
tending cattle and his team of horses after he rented out the crop
land. He cut firewood and saved corn cobs and hauled them to
customers in Bennet.
He was a man of faith who attended Trinity Lutheran Church near
Walton.
And he took pride in keeping up the home place.
"He always kept things in repair," Mervin Meyer said. "You could
say he was neat and orderly."
And he would share his land with others, granting permission to
hunt there to Guy Starkweather and his sons.
It bothers Mervin Meyer that a gesture of kindness by his uncle
apparently lured in a killer on Jan. 27, 1958.
"The thing I always think about is I'm sure he trusted
Starkweather."
