Interred In An Irrigation Ditch

True Crime Historian

Richard O Jones

True Crime, Documentary, Arts, Society & Culture, Performing Arts

4.4 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Josie Kensler’s Delicate Condition

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Episode 400 employs a trope we’ve seen before: the cranky old farmer whose wife takes up with the farm hand and well, it just doesn’t end well for anybody. But this one, taking place near the turn to the twentieth century in rural Idaho, has its own particular set of twists, turns, and complications, and conflicting testimony between the two accused.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Popular.com
0:03.5	October 30th, 1896.
0:13.0	John Kensler, an old rancher, accompanied by a farmhand named Alfred Freel, came to
0:20.4	Glen's Ferry, Idaho on Saturday.
0:23.6	They remained in town all day, and Kinsler was under the influence of liquor when they left for home.
0:30.6	What happened on the return remains a mystery, but Kinsler has not been seen since.
0:36.6	Friel came to Glen's F ferry the following Monday and reported the case to the authorities.
0:42.3	He stated that after reaching home, Kensler arose around midnight and started back to town,
0:50.3	that the next morning, Friel and Josie Kinsler, the missing man's wife, found the wagon half a mile from the house broken,
0:59.0	the horse is missing, and the old man's hat and coat lying upon the ground, indicating he had been thrown out of the wagon.
1:08.0	They tracked him for three miles to Snake River, where all trace of them was lost.
1:13.6	Diligent search has been made for Kinsler, but without avail. And yesterday, Friel and Josie Kinsler
1:21.6	were placed under arrest and brought to Glenn's ferry, charged with murder. Friel could not explain his failure to report on the day following Kinsler's disappearance,
1:33.3	and the supposition now is that the old man was murdered by Friel,
1:37.3	either on their return trip or after reaching the house, and his body was hidden.
1:43.3	The motive for the crime is unknown.
1:47.0	The True Crime Historian presents yesterday's news, tales of classic scandals, scoundrels, and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism.
2:22.3	Episode 400 employs a trope we've seen before, the cranky old farmer whose wife takes up with the farm hand, and, well, it just doesn't end well for anybody. But this one, taking place near the
2:37.0	turn to the 20th century in rural Idaho, has its own particular set of twists, turns, and complications
2:43.8	and conflicting testimony between the two accused. I'm true crime historian, Richard O. Jones, and for your horror and indignation, I give you
2:54.9	interred in an irrigation ditch, Josie Kinsler's delicate condition.
3:02.5	Music Mountain Home, Idaho, April 29, 1897.
	...

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