10/30/2026
🛑 WARNING 🛑
The following account of an historical true event contains references to murder and su***de. Reader discretion is advised, as some details may be disturbing or unsettling.
A FARM, A FAMILY, AND A FATAL CRIME
On a September evening in 1908, a quiet family farm in McHenry became the scene of a devastating crime.
A young woman was dead, three young children were left without their mother, and a local pioneer family was forever marked by an unfathomable tragedy — along with the lingering mystery that surrounded it.
The story unfolded on Newell Colby’s farm on Elm Street west of the mill pond and McHenry’s small village center. The 144-acre property was just one part of the Colby extended family’s expansive farm acreage throughout McHenry, whose roots in the area stretch back to the community's earliest settlement days. Fields, livestock, and the daily demands of farm life defined the Colby family's world.
Newell Frank Colby was born in 1877, to Newell Stocker Colby (direct relative of Page Colby, founder of the Colby-Petersen Farm on McCullom Lake Road) and Laura Etta Parker. Newell was one of seven children who grew up on the family’s farm.
Agnes Louise Thomas was born in 1883, to Julius and Lucy Thomas. She and Newell were married on January 4, 1901 (although some sources list their marriage on September 4, 1900). They resided in the home at the Newell Colby Farm.
Agnes was a young wife and mother with three young children — Florence Mae, Ora Newell, and Aleta Belle.
Behind the familiar names and the rural landscape lies a dark chapter in the farm’s history.
Unbeknownst to many in the community, trouble was brewing behind the privacy of the Colby’s farmhouse doors that would culminate in a staggering event.
In 1908, 31-year-old Newell was serving a nine-month jail sentence for assaulting Dr. Beebe, a McHenry physician. According to newspaper accounts, Newell had accused the doctor of insulting his wife, Agnes. A confrontation followed and Newell shot the physician, inflicting a minor wound.
With her husband in jail, Agnes was left to manage the household and maintain operations of the farm.
Newell had entrusted additional farm responsibilities to his cousin, Nye E. Colby, who was employed as a farmhand.
It was an arrangement that would end in unimaginable tragedy.
As the days passed, tensions at the farm escalated.
On Thursday, September 10, 1908, Nye had been drinking heavily and arguing with members of the household. Disputes reportedly involved both his aunt, Laura Colby (Newell’s mother), who also lived on the property, and Agnes herself.
The exact cause of each disagreement remains uncertain. One account suggests a dispute over Nye’s request to use the farm team for personal use, while other reports describe a day filled with erratic arguments and hostility.
Nye had reportedly refused to help with the evening chores, and he left the farm. Agnes, determined to get the work done, requested the assistance of a neighbor, Mr. Pfannenstill, to help with milking the cows. While Mr. Pfannenstill and Agnes were working, Nye returned to the farm and another argument erupted.
Mr. Pfannenstill and Nye became involved in a dispute of an unknown nature. Eventually, Pfannenstill left the property and returned home, leaving Agnes and Nye in the farmyard alone together as the argument continued between the two of them.
The conflict would reach a deadly conclusion that no one could have predicted.
According to accounts published in local newspapers, Nye entered the house and obtained a loaded r***e. He then returned to the farmyard where Agnes was still nearby.
Without warning, he raised the r***e and fired a shot.
The bullet struck Agnes in the left side of her chest. She died instantly.
In a matter of seconds, the life of the young woman ended on the farm where she had lived and worked. Three young children had suddenly lost their mother, and the family farm had become the scene of a tragic murder.
But the horror was not over.
After shooting Agnes, Nye turned the r***e on himself. He fired twice, inflicting severe injuries to his jaw and throat. Shockingly, he survived the su***de attempt.
Despite his bloody injuries, Nye managed to move from the farmyard to the barn, climb a ladder, and crawl into the hayloft. There, he covered himself with hay and hid while suffering from his self-inflicted wounds.
Meanwhile, the news of the shooting began to spread throughout McHenry’s small community. A group of local citizens searched the property for hours before discovering him hidden under the hay.
Nye was still alive, but he was in grave condition.
The aftermath was a scene of devastation that newspaper accounts described as one of the most heartbreaking events McHenry County had seen.
The children — Florence, Ora, and Aleta — were reported to have hidden under a bed in the house during the horrifying ordeal, a detail that deepens the fear and helplessness surrounding the crime.
An investigation was held at the Newell Colby farm the following day, September 11, under the direction of Dr. J.S. Maxon, the McHenry County Coroner and public official. Investigators heard statements about the earlier incidents and arguments of that day which preceded the shooting.
One question remained —
What had driven Nye Colby to turn a family quarrel into an irreversible act of violence against his own cousin’s wife?
Even as he lay gravely wounded, Nye gave no clear answer.
Nye was taken into custody. His injuries were so severe that he could not speak — part of his jaw being grotesquely mangled from the shots. Newspaper reports indicated that he was conscious at times, only communicating through gestures and writing.
He managed to write a letter. Its contents, however, did not explain why he had killed Agnes or why he had attempted to take his own life.
Nye Colby remained alive for two days following the shooting.
On the evening of September 12, 1908, Nye died from his injuries.
With his death, the central figure in the tragedy was gone. Whatever his reasons, the full explanation for his actions died with him.
The newspapers recorded the facts, witnesses recounted the arguments, and the community was left with the shocking aftermath.
Agnes was laid to rest at Woodland Cemetery in McHenry. She was only 26 years old.
More than a century later, what still remains is the heartbreaking loss of Agnes Louise Thomas Colby. Her story is more than a grave marker in a cemetery, a grim article in an old newspaper, or a crime from the early twentieth century. It is the story of a young mother whose life ended suddenly and violently, three young children whose childhoods were forever changed, a family whose private troubles became a public tragedy — and the memory of a September evening in 1908 when an ordinary farm became the setting for one of McHenry's most grievous events.
The Colby family name carries an important legacy in McHenry’s history. The family's land extended across areas of McHenry that would later become residential neighborhoods. The Newell Colby Farm (established in the mid-1850s) includes the Lakeland Park subdivision and property stretching along Route 120 from the Village Squire restaurant and westward. The historic Colby-Petersen Farm (established in 1840 by Page Colby) and Petersen Park on McCullom Lake Road is another surviving reminder of the family's everlasting connection to the area.
EPILOGUE:
The following account of the events appeared in the Harvard Herald on September 17, 1908 —
"Nye Colby, a farm hand in the employ of his cousin, Newell Colby, shot and instantly killed the latter's wife Thursday evening. The shooting took place on the Colby farm, a half mile west of McHenry, and marked a day of quarreling on the part of Nye, who was under the influence of liquor when he committed the awful deed.
Newell Colby hired his cousin, Nye, to carry on the farm during the time he is serving a sentence of seven months for assaulting Dr. Beebe, a McHenry physician, whom he maintained insulted his wife, and when the physician appeared on the Colby farm thereafter a quarrel ensued, wherein revolvers were used and Colby shot the physician, the wound being only as slight one. The circumstances leading up to the sad affair of last Thursday evening as brought out at a coroner's inquest held by Dr. Maxon at the Colby farm last Friday, showed that Nye Colby had quarreled with his aunt, Mrs. Laura Colby, Newell's mother, who lived on the farm with the junior Colby family. He had also had a dispute with Newell's wife. He visited McHenry twice during the day and returned in the evening as the milking was being done. Mrs. Colby, who was later killed, doing the milking with a neighbor from whom she had asked assistance when Nye had said during the day that he would not help with the evening's chores. Nye Colby first entered into a dispute with the neighbor, Mr. Pfannenstill, who left the place and returned home, leaving Nye and Mrs. Colby in the yard in a dispute. Nye then entered the house, and procuring a loaded r***e, returned to the barnyard and shot Mrs. Colby, the bullet entering her left breast, and death followed instantly. After firing the shot that took her life he aimed the r***e at his own head, two bullets taking effect, one in the jaw and the other on the side of his throat. That he did not instantly kill himself seems marvelous, but he was able to get up and walk fifteen feet to the barn floor and from there ascend a ladder and crouch into the hay mow, where he covered himself with hay, his discovery resulting after a posse of citizens had searched about the premises several hours after the commission of the deed. Still alive, he was taken to the jail at McHenry, and his life was despaired of.
Mrs. Colby was but 25 years old, and was the mother of three children, the oldest of whom is less than 7 years and the youngest less than 3 years old. The Colby home Friday presented a sight seldom witnessed in this county. With the mother dead by a bullet fired by her husband's cousin, three small children about the place and the husband and father out of jail and in the custody of the sheriff's deputy, it was a scene that cannot be accurately described. Hovering between life and death from the time he committed the awful deed until Saturday night, Nye Colby passed away. The fact that his jaw was literally torn with the r***e bullets, his mouth shot badly, making it impossible for him to speak, yet he was conscious and indicated with his hands what he wanted he was able to make himself understood. He was also able to write, and wrote a letter, though its contents did not disclose his reason for killing Mrs. Colby, nor did it tell why he took his own life."
