USA > Iowa > Monroe County > An illustrated history of Monroe County, Iowa > Part 15
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
competency, and probably never took the pains to make a close scrutiny into the affairs of the bank ..
In December, 1882, Edward A. Temple was appointed receiver of the bank, the concern in the meantime having made an assignment in favor of J. A. Edwards. In April, 1883, Mr. Temple made to the District Court the following:
RECEIVER'S REPORT.
Liabilities.
Claims filed with receiver to April 1, 1893. .$190,044 89
Assets.
Cash collected by assignee $2,591 02
Cash collected by receiver 2,307 44
$4,898 46
Bills receivable. $53,555 88
Less probable loss on same. 45,097 00
$8,458 88
Less collections. .
4,898 46
Leaving available bills receivable ... 3,560 42 Ft. Scott and Gulf Ry. stock estimated at 80 cents. 800 00 Amounts available for dividends and expenses. . 9,258 88 Bills receivable held as collateral (a large portion of which is held to be forged paper) . 24,889 00
Overdrafts (mostly against certificates of deposit held by creditors).
9,307 30
Bank buildings and fixtures at cost. $12,500
Less incumbrance, say. 8,500
4,000 00
Other real estate. $10,000
Less say . .
7,000
3,000 00
160 shares mining stock, Co. stock-no value. 80 shares A., K. & D. R. R. stock-no value. Bills receivable, but which, according to the books, have never been paid, but missing from the assets of the bank. 33,421 84
Deficit. . Total assets $50,455 18
$139,589 71
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
In the four years and nine months of the bank's existence it appears that it lost over $16,000; notwithstanding this loss, the concern declared dividends and created a surplus fund. There was actually a shortage in the cashier's accounts, after allowing for all credits, still unaccountable for, to the amount of $163,925.29. While the books of the bank showed the assets in bills receivable to be about $74,000, and the liabilities on certificates of deposit to be only about $30,000, the real facts were that the assests were only about $14,000, and the liabilities on certificates of deposit to be about $142,000. As additional liabilities, there were bills payable, sold, and cash received to the amount of $27,500, of which there was no entry on the books of the bank. The books of the bank showed that the cashier had paid out, up to October 11, 1882, the sum of $4,129.52 more cash than he had received up to that date. He evidently failed in many instances to give credit where cash was received.
The condition of the bank was found to be in such a tangled condition that it is impossible to give a detailed statement of the wreck, within this limited space. The story is one of mismanagement and gross corruption. It is a story of forgery and embezzlement committed by the cashier without the knowledge of the other officers of the bank.
Mr. Miller, the cashier, was arrested, convicted of em- bezzlement, forgery, and fraud, and sentenced to seven years at hard labor in the penitentiary at Fort Madison, Iowa. He served out his term, less the usual time commuted for good behavior. At one time he was one of the most popular men in Monroe County, and save his complicity in the bank affair, led a strictly moral and upright life, so far as gener- ally known. Since his release from the penitentiary he has resided in Kansas.
The First National Bank ofAlbia is the oldest bank now doing business in Monroe County, and for many years has transacted probably three-fourths of the banking business of the county. It was started January 7, 1871, by J. H. Drake as president, and B. F. Elbert as cashier. The board of directors consisted of John A. Drake, JJohn H. Drake. An- drew Trussell. John B. Lockman, B. F. Elbert, T. S. Tharp, Job P. Jay. It began with a capital stock of $50,000, and has always weathered through periods of financial unrest with- out any embarrassment.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
In 1885 B. F. Elbert retired from the bank as cashier, and was succeeded by Thos. D. Lockman, who for ten years previous had been with the bank, as assistant cashier. Mr. Lockman still discharges the duties of cashier, and is assisted by Mr. Roy Alford.
The institution at present has a surplus fund of $30,000, and its non-interest-bearing deposits exceed $150,000. A large majority of the stock remains in the Drake family, where it has existed since the creation of the bank.
A short time after the failure of the Monroe County Bank, the Albia National Bank was established in Albia on the northwest corner of the Square, where the First National Bank is located at present. Wm. Bradley, of Centerville, Iowa, was president of the concern, Captain W. F. Vermil- lion vice-president, and J. R. Hays cashier. It was a sound and well-conducted institution, but it never prospered. The local patronage was not sufficient to maintain two banks, and in three or four years the enterprise was abandoned.
The Albia State Bank was established at Albia, March 26, 1891, by Judge H. H. Trimble, of Davis County, Iowa, and Senator T. B. Perry, with an authorized capital stock of $50,000. S. W. Pennington, a son-in-law of Mr. Perry, has, from its beginning. acted as cashier. The institution, while enjoying a fair degree of prosperity, does not transact a large volume of every-day routine business. The concern is never without an abundance of funds, and its management is safe and reliable.
Thos. Brandon for many years has conducted a local banking business at Melrose, Iowa, on a limited scale. His banking operations are chiefly restricted to exchange, loans, and discounts. The concern is on a sound financial footing, and is of great advantage to the town.
Trussell & Eslinger, at Foster, Iowa, act as an auxiliary of the First National Bank of Albia in the exchange busi- ness; and Chamberlin & Carson, of the same place, are correspondents of a large Chicago banking house.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
CHAPTER XI.
Judge Lynch and Criminal Matters.
Notwithstanding the oft-repeated assertions of senti- mentalists that there was less crime committed in the good old pioneer days, it remains a hard, unrefuted fact that there was actually more lawlessness in pioneer days, in proportion to the population, than now.
Education, which goes a long way towards subduing the ranker, unrestrained human passions, had not so wide a spread as now, and while there were really not many flagrant criminals in the community, guilty of the higher crimes, the dockets of justices of the peace were crowded with records of neighborhood broils, assault and battery, hog-stealing, burglary, and now and then an attempt to commit murder.
The first murder in the county was committed by James Gordon, on the 29th of September, 1854. On the morning of that date Gordon used some offensive language to his sister. Gordon's step-father, Thos. Arnold, ordered the former to leave the house. Gordon delayed, and Arnold seized his gun and attempted to drive him out, when Gordon stabbed him twice, once in the side and once in the abdomen. Arnold died in a few hours, and Gordon fled. He was over- taken and captured by Sheriff Porter and posse, and brought back to Monroe County for trial. He stood his trial for com- mitment, under Squire Teas, on the charge of attempting to commit murder. He was released on $800 bail for his ap- pearance in court, and later was acquitted on sustaining a plea of self-defense. The crime was committed about five iniles southeast of Albia, on a farm now owned by John Haller.
The following is a sample of the criminal dockets of those days, and was the docket of State cases in the May term of the District Court of 1866.
State of Iowa rs. A. M. Myers. charged with murder in the second degree; change of venne from Mahaska County.
State of Iowa rs. Thos. Barker, attempt to commit rape; continued, the defendant not having been arrested.
State of Iowa rs. D. P. Clay and Jacob Hull, larceny; continued.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
State of Iowa vs. Moses Cousins, Jr., and W. B. Cousins, keeping intoxicating liquors with intent to sell in violation of law.
State of Iowa rs. Chas. Ross, assault with intent to com- mit murder.
State of Iowa rs. Darcus Billings, abandoning a human child; continued as above.
State of Iowa rs. Samuel Rinehart, perjury; acquitted.
State of Iowa rs. Jas. A. B. Sims and Geo. Edwards, larceny; continued.
State of Iowa rs. Jas. W. Atkinson, assault with intent to commit murder; acquitted.
State of Iowa rs. Jas. Austin, nuisance, keeping intoxi- cating liquors; indictment.
State of Iowa rs. Martin Cone, petit juror, fined $10 for contempt of court. for disrespectful language; fine remitted.
Not long afterwards, Clay, who is mentioned in the fore- going docket, stole a horse from Thomas Forster, residing a few miles west of Blakesburg. Mr. Forster and Mr. Thayer, now of Avery, and a member of the Monroe County Vigilance Committee, tracked the thief into Missouri and captured him at Gallatin. Thayer started home with him and Forster re- mained at Gallatin in search of his horse. Thayer placed his prisoner on the horse which Forster had ridden to Galla- tin, and had his feet tied together underneath his horse. When approaching Albia near the Coal Creek bridge, three miles southwest of town, two men sprang out of the bushes and handed Clay a revolver. Clay struck Thayer a murder- ous blow on the side of the face, which knocked him from · his horse. Thayer still wears the scar. Clay then made his escape. Clay was a chum of Jake Hull, the Gibsons, Garrett Thompson, and others.
In September, 1866, James Austin, who ran a grocery and saloon in Albia, on the south side of the Square, shot and killed Thos. Davis in the former's saloon in a quarrel over two glasses of beer. Austin was finally acquitted on estab- lishing a plea of self-defense. Ilis case was tried at Center- ville on an indictment for murder in the second degree.
In November, 1866, two young men by the name of Wiley, who lived on Cedar Creek, and who had been indicted by the District Court for stealing cattle, made their escape from the custody of J. L. Duncan, who was guarding them at his residence. They were handcuffed and chained together,
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
when they escaped, and, making their way to Cedar Creek during the night, in some way succeeded in breaking their shackles. They secreted themselves in a coal-bank near their father's premises. The latter, discovering them, brought them to Albia and delivered them over to the authorities. They were sentenced to the penitentiary for six months.
On the night of September 21, 1868, Chas. Brandon, of Mahaska County, was taken to the woods and hanged by a crowd of Vigilantes from Monroe County. Brandon was accused of horse-stealing. An action was instituted in court for $10,000 against the lynchers, and $800 damages awarded. The defendants were Reuben Way, Daniel C. Gladson, Mat- thew Maddox, B. F. Deats, Lewis Maddox, Wm. Martin, Jas. Hoagland, Geo. Neal, and Wesley May.
On August 5, 1869, Thos. S. Hulligen, proprietor of the Gilmore mill at the hamlet of Urbana, in Urbana Township. was fatally stabbed by Geo. W. Wallace. Wallace and Jeff Hawk, the latter the engineer attending the mill machinery, got into an altercation, and in the quarrel the former kicked Hawk in the face. Hawk armed himself with a carpenter's mallet, when Hulligen interposed and ordered Wallace to leave the mill. Wallace refused, and Hulligen seized him and attempted to eject him, and while in the act of thrusting him through the door, Wallace stabbed Hulligen in the breast. Hulligen then released his hold, and, seizing a club, struck Wallace a blow on the head. Wallace again stabbed his victim, and was again struck by the club in the hands of the wounded man. Hulligen died in a few hours, and the murderer escaped, but was soon captured. He was tried on a charge of murder in the first degree, and was sentenced to seven years in the penitentiary, where he served out his term.
In 1866 Ross and Mann, two notorious horse-thieves, were sentenced to the penitentiary at Ft. Madison. Ross was sent up for five years and Mann for two years.
The most noted chapter, however, of this reign of terror. when Monroe County and adjoining counties were overrun by a gang of horse-thieves, was the lynching of Garrett Thompson by Monroe County Vigilantes in June. 1866. During that year, and for three or four years previous, the settlers lived in a constant dread of an organized band of outlaws, whose operations extended over Illinois, southern Iowa, and Missouri. The most notorious of these criminals
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
was Garrett Thompson. He and several others of the gang had drifted into Iowa at the close of the war, and had been active in the guerrilla movement on the Missouri border, where they had full opportunity to ply their lawless calling while under the disguise of auxiliaries of the Confederate army of Missouri. So thoroughly organized was this gang that the civil authorities were unable to capture them, or to bring them to justice whenever the Vigilantes succeeded in making an arrest. The committee finally concluded to mete out summary justice to the next thief that fell into their hands.
On the night of June 13, 1866, James McFadden had a fine span of horses stolen; and on the night of the 16th Mr. Woodruff was robbed of $90 in money; and on the next night E. M. Bill had a horse stolen, together with one belonging to. Benjamin Ashbury. Not long previous, Henry Wilson had a horse stolen and never recovered; also a horse was stolen from Mrs. Taylor, a neighbor of Wilson and the widow of Jas. Taylor, of the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry, who was captured at Mark's Mills and who died in prison at Tyler, Texas. On the same night that Ashbury's horse was stolen, saddles and bridles were stolen from Robert Buchanan. A short time previous, a wagon was stolen from Mr. Joseph Bone.
At this juncture the Vigilance Committee began a systematic hunt for the outlaws. They started out in every direction of the compass, determined to ride for two days, and if in that length of time any trace of the thieves could be found, they resolved to follow in pursuit until a capture was made. One squad of the pursuers struck the trail between Albia and Blakesburg, and followed the fugitives into Van Buren County, where they lost the trail.
Suspicion finally rested on Garrett Thompson, who lived about four miles west of Blakesburg, where the Christian church now stands, close by the Center school- house in Urbana Township. Thompson was absent when the horses were stolen, and returned with a new wagon a week later. He told several conflicting stories concerning how he came in possession of the wagon. It was also discovered that Thompson's daughter, Mrs. Ellen Ellis, stole the Bone wagon, assisted by Harrison Gibson. The wagon was tracked to the residence of Mr. McWilliams, in Missouri.
As the Vigilance Committee had come into possession
175
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
of sufficient evidence to hold Thompson in custody, they arrested him, together with Thomas Smith, Harrison Gibson, John Hull, Hiram Hull, and the two Hill brothers, of /Wapello County. Thompson was arrested near Blakes- burg while attempting to make his way to Missouri. Smith was arrested the same night, in Albia.
Thompson was brought to Albia and guarded by Sheriff McDonald in a building where the Union office now stands. His arrest attracted a large crowd. The Sheriff had his prisoner in the front room, and while Colonel Anderson was cross-questioning him, the room began to fill with spectators. Finally, the Sheriff, seeming to realize that there was some- thing significant in the movement of the crowd, placed his man farther in the rear, and seeing Mart Giltner and a few others making a stealthy forward movement, McDonald sprang to his feet, and, drawing a large revolver, ordered the crowd to stand back. At the same time Thompson began shouting to the crowd that if they hanged him, they would be hanging an innocent man.
The crowd then seized Thompson and started out of town with him. When near the fair-grounds, where Dr. Gutch's residence now stands, they had wagons in waiting to carry all to the timber. While the mob was en route on foot to the wagons, the Sheriff stepped into the street and commanded the bystanders to "fall in." Some obeyed the order, and a small posse was organized to pursue and rescue the prisoner from the mob.
Geo. Cromer, a harness dealer and a pugnacious spirit, who was with the mob, seeing the Sheriff rallying his posse in the rear, ran back and charged upon the posse. Captain John Porter, who had been conscripted into the posse, squared off for a fight with Cromer. The warlike motions of the two belligerents attracted the attention of the rescu- ing party, and the prisoner was forgotten. In the meantime the mob had loaded the prisoner into a wagon and were on their way to Avery Creek.
They pitched tent at a point about six miles southeast of Albia, in the woods, close to where Samuel Miller lived for many years. Messengers were sent out in every direction to summon the populace. The other prisoners were brought on the grounds and closely guarded.
About 500 people had assembled by noon of the next day. A sort of court was improvised on the grounds, under
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
an elm-tree. A chairman was appointed, and the sense of the meeting was taken, which was that a jury of twelve good men be impaneled to try the prisoners. A marshal was chosen, who excluded all boys from the grounds, and persons of a suspicious character. He was also instructed to preserve order and prohibit profane or boisterous lan- guage.
The jury was then called, and the witnesses and the prisoner brought forward. After a thorough examination, the jury retired, and, after careful deliberation, returned a verdict of "Horse-stealing and other outrages-viz., house- burning and murder."
Then the foreman arose and in a loud voice, which reëchoed throughout the still forest, announced to the vast throng the verdict. A motion was then made that "Garrett Thompson be hanged by the neck until he is dead." Some one then made a motion to amend, so that the prisoner be simply tarred and feathered. This latter motion was finally withdrawn, and the original motion carried with but one dissenting voice.
A committee of ten was then appointed to notify the prisoner of his sentence. He was given twenty minutes to confess or to make any statements. He refused to divulge anything, and the time was extended to forty minutes; he still refused to confess, seeming to be under the impression that the people were trying simply to frighten him.
Then they began to attach a rope to a branch of the tree, and a wagon was wheeled under it. The prisoner was ordered to get into the wagon; he did not comply, and was lifted in by the crowd. He still believed their movements were but a ruse to frighten him into a confession. A goods- box was placed upon the wagon, and he was told to mount it, after the wagon had been wheeled directly under the tree. He refused to mount, and Andy Stamm stepped brusquely forward, and, addressing him, exclaimed: "G-d d-n you! get up and die like a man." He was placed upon the box, and a member of the Vigilantes adjusted the noose. Even then the prisoner exhibited no anxiety, still hoping to be released at the last moment. D. H. Scott then offered a fervent prayer for the salvation of the soul about to be launched into eternity.
When Mr. Scott began the prayer, Thompson then realized for the first time the seriousness of the situation.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
He said that if they would grant him a little time, he would try to divulge something. Time was given, but at the expiration of forty minutes he divulged nothing. The other prisoners were then brought forward, and placed in a row in front of the gallows. To them it was a moment of terrible suspense. They did not know but what they, too, would be executed next. The wagon was then pushed from under the tree, and while it was in motion, and the doomed man was clinging on it with but the tips of his toes touching it, he muttered that he had killed one man. The next instant the wagon passed from under him, and the huge body of the Missourian dropped with a thud. At the same time a swarm of caterpillars, or "measuring-worms," dropped from the overhanging branches, suspended by their webs, as if in mimiery of the horrible tragedy.
The other prisoners were withdrawn, and the crowd dispersed, save a few who remained to assist the son and wife of the executed outlaw to lift the body into their wagon. When this was done, the wife and son drove off with the body, vowing vengeance on the citizens. They went towards Eddyville, and told the settlers along the way that their relative had fallen out of the wagon and that a wheel of the wagon had run over his neck and broken it. All the other prisoners were released, except Tom Smith, who turned State's evidence and thus saved his neck. Smith was a Monroe County soldier. and had some friends among the soldiers, who had known him as an inoffensive man. It was probably largely due to their influence that he escaped the doom of Thompson.
He afterwards admitted his complicity in horse-stealing. but stated that for two years he did not know he was handling stolen horses. He spent the remainder of his life in Albia, and regained the respect and confidence of the community.
At a later meeting of the Vigilance Committee, in June. 1866, a note was presented and read incriminating David Marvey and John Foster, two suspicions characters living near Orleans, a small village in Appanoose County, near the State line. A committee of three was detailed to go and arrest these two men, and in obedience to their instructions they went to the vicinity of Orleans, and learned that two men had been seen near Drakeville riding suspicious-look- ing horses. The parties were arrested, and twenty or more 12-
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
of the citizens of Davis County volunteered to escort the men with their captives to Monroe County. The prisoners were placed on horseback, and the same evening the troop arrived at the residence of Wm. Stoops. As it threatened rain, the prisoners were taken to private residences and guarded until the next morning. In the morning, the populace were noti- fied of the arrests, and hundreds gathered on the grounds.
A motion was made that a committee of three be ap- pointed to wait on the prisoners separately, and to receive any confessions which they might be induced to make. They were to assure the men that if they made a clear, plausible confession of all their thefts which would implicate others engaged with them, and also lead to the recovery of stolen property, they would be turned over to the civil authorities to stand trial by due course of law, instead of being lynched on the spot. The prisoners confessed to the stealing of twenty or thirty horses and several hundred sheep. The prisoners were then delivered to the sheriff of Davis County, together with a copy of their confession.
At this meeting of the committee R. B. Arnold sug- gested that John Hull, who had been arrested with Thomp- son. but who had been acquitted through a lack of sufficient evidence against him, be brought before the committee to explain for what purpose he and Harrison Gibson had pur- chased a quantity of nitric acid. It was confessed that they had given the acid to Garrett Thompson, who had used it in burning the foreheads of a couple of horses which had been taken up by Mr. Selby, of Urbana Township, and which were supposed to have been stolen and turned loose by Thompson. By applying the acid, white spots could be pro- duced in the face of a dark-colored animal, thus concealing its identity. The horses were produced on the grounds as evidence. Hull was then released from custody.
When Tom Smith was arrested and confined in the Ot- tumwa jail, Isaac Watson, E. M. Bill. and A. M. Giltner vis- ited him and obtained a full confession. He stated that the Hulls were the most active and desperate horse-thieves of the band. He also stated that Thomas Forster's stolen team was down in Missouri, near where D. P. Clay and Jake Hull were living. Forster then went to Missouri and recovered his team, which he had not seen for nearly two years. Smith also made other important disclosures which satisfied the Vigilantes that his statements were true.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
The two Hulls were arrested and placed under $1,600 bonds to appear in court. Their case was continued to the November term, 1867, and their trial was conducted at Ot- tumwa on a change of venue. Hiram was acquitted through some intricacy of the law, but John was convicted and sen- teneed to the penitentiary for five years. He took an appeal to the Supreme Court, and, pending its decision, was re- leased on $1.000 bonds. He fed the country, and left his bondsmen to forfeit the amount. Clay was also arrested, as already stated herein.
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