USA > Iowa > An illustrated history of the state of Iowa, being a complete civil, political, and military history of the state, from its first exploration down to 1875; > Part 12
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Peck was arrested for the murder, and lodged in the jail of Washington county, which then had judicial jurisdiction over all the territory west of it. He subsequently had his trial, and was acquitted, though there was little doubt in the mind of the public that he was the murderer of this bold and daring man.
These transactions made Johnson so notorious a character in Iowa, that means were taken to ascertain if the history he had given of himself was correct, and it was satisfactorily found that he was an impostor ; a man of low repute, and not the distin- guished " Bill Johnson," the Canadian patriot; and on an investi-
CROSSCUP X WEST-SC.PHIL A.
Hon. J. C. Knapp.
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gation of the circumstances attending his troubles in Clayton county, it was very evident that he and Miss Kate had perjured themselves on the trial of those charged with abusing them, so Inuch so, that the governor thought proper to pardon these con- victs; and these individuals upon being pardoned, immediate- ly took measures to arrest Miss Kate for perjury ; but the friends of Peck, at his request, interposed, and sent her off out of the territory, and she thus escaped a legal investigation. Thus ended the career of this man and his daughter, much to the chagrin of those who were instrumental in helping to convict those who, as they supposed, had inflicted a flagrant wrong upon " Bill Johnson," the Canadian patriot, the celebrated hero of the " thousand islands."
About this time the Winnebago Indians who lived in the northern part of Iowa, on the neutral grounds, were very trouble- some. Some unprincipled whites were in the habit of selling them whisky, and prompting them to commit depredations by stealing and robbing. While under the influence of whisky, some of the tribe murdered Messrs. Tegardner and Atwood, traders in the Indian country, and severely wounded the son of the former. These murders were committed at their trading house, which the Indians set on fire, and the house and the dead bodies were burned to ashes.
Some of the Indians, supposed to have been engaged in these murders, were taken prisoners, brought to Dubuque and lodged in jail. They remained in prison a long while before they were brought to trial, and, while confined, one of them named Wah- con-chaw-kaw (big Indian) killed one of his companions, and when interrogated why he did it, the only answer was, that "so great a liar ought not to live." The others had their trial and were all acquitted ; but Wah-con-chaw-kaw was convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for life.
While waiting for a trial, some of the Indians escaped, and after being absent some time, very unexpectedly to everybody, came back. The reason of their return was, probably, because their comrades would not receive them as belonging to their na- tion till they had answered to the penalties of their crime, or had been honorably discharged ; supposing, if they protected them that their nation would be held responsible for their crimes.
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On the 25th of April, 1845, John Miller, with his son-in-law, by the name of Liecy, with their families, emigrated from Ohio, and stopped in Lee county, where they offered to pay cash for a good farm ; and, from this circumstance, it was soon reported through the neighborhood, that he had a large amount of money in his possession. Miller, Liecy, and another man, were the only male inmates of the house. On the night of the 10th of May, the family as usual retired to bed for the night. About twelve o'clock at night, they were aroused from their slumbers by three men entering the house with a dark lantern, and demanding their money. The old man and his son-in-law, not being disposed to quietly give up the money, did not readily comply with their de- mands, but undertook to drive the robbers from the house, while the third man, being frightened, hid himself under the bed- clothes. There was a desperate struggle between the robbers and the old man and his son-in-law. Miller was stabbed in the heart and immediately breathed his last. Liecy being first shot with a pistol, and then receiving several deep gashes upon the head and back from a bowie-knife, fell, helpless, on the floor. The assas- sins, being disheartened at the bold resistance with which they had been received, and probably fearing that the disturbance which they had made might raise the neighbors, made a hasty re- treat, without securing their booty.
The news of this bloody tragedy spread rapidly through the settlement, and the whole neighborhood became alarmed for their own safety. Every imaginable effort was made to discover the perpetrators, but for a long time nothing could be ascertained which threw any light on the dark transaction. A cup was found near the house, which was supposed to belong to one of the murderers, which he had probably dropped in the hurry to get away from the scene of carnage. A man, by the name of Edward Bonney, who resided at Montrose, and was well calculated for finding out dark deeds, having heard of the cup, undertook to ascertain the owner, and by stratagem and a system of ma- nouvering, found that two young men by the name of William and Stephen Hodges, and a Thomas Brown, who resided at Nauvoo, must be the men who had committed the murder. Brown made his escape; but the two Hodges were arrested and taken before
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Liecy, who was still living, though he died soon after from his wounds, and they were identified by him as being two of the men who entered the house.
The district court of Lee county, at this time, was then in ses- sion, and the Hodges were indicted and arraigned for a trial, but they succeeded in delaying their sentence for a few weeks, by taking a change of venue from that county to Des Moines county. They were tried at Burlington, found guilty, and on the 15th day of July, publicly executed ; they being the first persons who ever suffered capital punishment in the southern part of the state.
On the fourth of July, 1845, on Rock Island opposite Daven- port, there was a most daring murder committed on the person of Col. Geo. Davenport. This gentleman was an Englishman by birth and was born in 1783. In his younger days he followed the sea, and as a sailor came to New York in 1804. While his vessel lay at New York, in attempting to save a fellow-sailor from a watery grave, he broke his leg, which rendered him unfit for duty, and he was left at that city in the hospital. Soon after recovering from this accident, he entered into the United States service as a soldier, and was appointed a sergeant. In the spring of 1806, his regiment was ordered to the west, and put under the command of Gen. Wilkinson. He served as a soldier in the army of the United States for ten years. After he was discharged, he went into the employment of Col. Wm. Morrison of Kentucky, as gov- ernment contractor, as his agent for furnishing the troops with provisions. In the spring of 1816, he came up the Mississippi river with a body of United States troops under the command of Col. Lawrence. They came up to the mouth of Rock river, where they stopped and made an examination for a suitable place to build a fort, and selected the lower end of Rock Island as the most suitable point. The troops landed upon the island the 10th day of May, 1816, and as soon as their encampment was completed, Davenport " employed the soldiers to cut logs and build a store for the provisions." This was the first building ever erected on the island. The soldiers; immediately went to work to build a fortification, which was called Fort Armstrong. Soon after arriv- ing at Rock Island, Davenport commenced trading with the Indians. In the fall of 1826, he became a member of the American Fur
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Company and stopped trading with the Indians in a private ca- pacity. In the Black Hawk war he took an active part, and received from the governor the appointment of acting quarter- master general, with the rank of colonel. Of his further life it is only necessary to state, that he assisted Gov. Chambers in making a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes for the purchase of their lands in Iowa, retired from the fur company, and gave up the Indian trade in which he had been engaged over twenty years. As an Indian trader he had acquired wealth, and became extensively known, and highly respected in the west.
On the 4th of July, 1845, there was a celebration on the Illi- nois side of the river, to which all the family had gone, and left the colonel at home to take care of the house. It was generally supposed that he kept a considerable amount of money about him, which attracted the attention of the desparadoes of the west, and a party of them laid their plans to get his money in their possession. After the family had gone, the old gentleman sat down in his parlor, and was engaged in reading a newspaper. Hearing some noise at the well, he arose to see what occasioned it. As he advanced toward the door which led the way to the well, it was suddenly opened and three men stood before him. Before a word was spoken the foremost one discharged a pistol at him, and the ball passed through the left thigh. As he turned to get his cane to defend himself, the three men rushed upon him, threw him upon the floor, blindfolded him, and tied his arms and legs with hickory bark, so that he was helpless. In this condition they dragged him through the hall and up stairs to a closet, where was kept an iron safe. The robbers, not know- ing how to open it themselves, compelled him to unlock it, and appropriated to their own use all the money it contained. But not getting as much money as they expected, and thinking there was more about the premises, they then put him on a bed and demanded of him to show them where his other money was kept. He pointed to a drawer in a dressing bureau. The rob- bers in their haste opened the wrong drawer, and not finding any money, renewed their assaults upon his person, and carried them to such an extent that he fainted and became senseless. They revived him by dashing cold water in his face, and as soon as he
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became sensible, they again demanded of him to tell them where his money was kept. He again pointed to the drawer; but the robbers again opened the wrong drawer and finding no money, they renewed their assaults and choked him till he again fainted. They again attempted to revive him, and threatened if he did not tell them where his money was kept, they would set fire to the house and leave him in his helpless condition to perish in the flames. The robbers discovering that their victim was unable to answer their inquiries, now took their leave, taking with them between seven and eight hundred dollars in money, a gold watch and chain, a double barreled gun and a pistol, leaving the vener- able old pioneer tied so that he could not help himself, and near- ly exhausted from their abuse.
He was first discovered in this condition by a Mr. Cole who, with two others, had been out on a fishing excursion, and return- ing home in a skiff, passed down near the island, and when oppo- site the house, they heard the cry of murder. They immediately landed and went to the house. On entering the door they found the floor besmeared with blood, and heard a cry for help coming from up stairs. Cole immediately ascended the stairs and made his way to the room from which the cry came, and here he found the old gentleman in a most perilous condition. He released him from the hickory bands, leaving him in charge of his two companions, gave an alarm, and as quickly as possible procured medical aid. The physician and his friends rendered all the assistance they could to restore his strength and alleviate his suf- ferings, and so far succeeded in restoring him that he was enabled to give a minute account of the whole transaction; but he had received so much injury that his physical strength gave way, and he expired between nine and ten o'clock that evening.
The murdering of so prominent a man as Col. Davenport caused a great deal of feeling through the whole west, and great anxiety was felt to find out the perpetrators of this bloody deed. A reward of fifteen hundred dollars was offered by the family for the arrest of the murderers, and the whole community became in- terested, and were on the look out, and trying to ferret out the assassins that they might be brought to justice ; but days and weeks passed off and not the slightest information could be ob-
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M. Donative
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tained of those concerned in the robbery. The success of Edward Bonney, in detecting the murderers of Miller and Liecy in Lee county, and bringing Hodges to punishment, had given him quite a distinguished reputation for such undertakings, and the friends of Col. Davenport applied to him for aid. Bonney undertook the task, and by representing himself as a man of dark deeds, got into the confidence of the desperadoes, and after several months exer- tions in laying plans, etc., ascertained that the persons who enter- ed the house were generally known by the names of William Fox, Robert Birch and John Long, and that another man by the name of Aaron Long was on the outside standing sentinel, while the others did the work inside the house. He also ascertained that a man by the name of John Baxter, who had been living in the family of Col. Davenport, gave the other parties the information of the money, and how to obtain it. He also learned that a man by the name of Granville Young and several others were accessory to the robbery. These parties were arrested and lodged in prison ; Baxter repenting of his acts informed on the others. The two Longs and Young were executed ; Fox and Birch broke prison and got away ; Baxter was sentenced to be hung, but his sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life ; while some others were sent to the penitentiary for a shorter time.
The arrest and conviction of some of the prominent ones of the desperadoes deterred others, so that the community were some- what relieved from the fear of further depredations.
CHAPTER XX.
ADMINISTRATION OF GOV. CLARK.
Events of 1845 - Boundary Difficulties- A. C. Dodge and the Boundary - The Miners' Bank of Dubuque - How it was Closed Up-The Mor- mons.
ABOUT THE same time that Iowa sought to become a state, Florida formed a constitution, and made application for admission to the union, and on the third of March, 1845, congress passed an act admitting Florida and Iowa into the union as sovereign states : but the act curtailed the boundaries of Iowa, and instead of adopt- ing the boundaries as defined in her constitution, enacted that they should "begin at the mouth of St. Peters river, thence up that river to the parallel of latitude, passing through the mouth of the Wakaton or Blue Earth river, thence west, along said parallel to a point where it is intersected by a meridian line seventeen and a half degrees west of Washington, thence due south to the state of Missouri, thence to the north line of that state till it strikes the Des Moines river, thence down that stream to the Mississippi, thence up the Mississippi to the place of beginning - making the western boundary of Iowa on a line with the western boundary of Missouri, and cutting off nearly all the western slope of the state, as the boundaries were subsequently established. The opponents of the constitution offered this curtailing of the state as a reason why the people should not adopt the constitution. This argu- ment seemed to have much force, especially with the whig party ; and to counteract this opposition, brought to bear against adopt- ing the constitution, Hon. Aug. C. Dodge, who was then the del- egate oi the territory in congress, prepared a circular and had it sent all over the territory, in which he gave it as his opinion, that Iowa could never get a better boundary than the one which had been given her by congress ; but the constitution, contrary to the
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expectation of most of the leading democrats, was voted down at the election, August 4, 1845 ; the vote was : for the constitution, 7.235 ; against the constitution, 7,656. The defeat of the consti- tution was attributed by those favorable to its adoption, to the act of congress curtailing the boundaries of the state.
Mr. Dodge was candidate for reelection as a delegate, but his circular in reference to the boundary of the state injured his pop- ularity, as the citizens were very much opposed to the boundaries which he had given his opinion as not being likely to be changed. There being a large democratic majority in the territory, he was again returned to congress.
At the April election of 1845, there was an election of members of the general assembly, which convened at Iowa City on the 5th of the following May. At this seventh session, S. C. Hastings was president of the senate, and Jas. M. Morgan, speaker of the house. One of the first things which claimed the attention of the legislature, was the defeated constitution. The leading politicians among the democrats being anxious for a state government, and claiming that the constitution had been defeated on account of the change of boundaries by congress, used every exertion in their power with the members of the legislature to have it again submitted to a vote of the people, with the boundaries as defined by the convention ; and the legislature passed a law providing that the constitution, with the boundaries as adopted by the con- vention, should, at the next August election be again submitted to the voters for their ratification or rejection. This law especially provided, if there was a majority in favor of the constitution so submitted, it was not to be considered as accepting the bounda- ries fixed by congress, and there was to be no election of state officers, and the admission was not to be deemed as complete, un- til whatever conditions might be imposed by congress should be ratified by the popular vote. This bill, from the whig portion of the legislature, met with a strenuous opposition, every whig using all his exertions to defeat the measure ; but it was carried by a strict party vote. The whig members of the house, not being sat- isfied with voting against the bill, after it had passed, probably to have effect before the people, drew up a lengthy protest, and had it entered upon the journals, which was published in all the whig
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newspapers throughout the territory. When the bill was sub- mitted to the governor he returned it with his veto; but the democrats having, in both branches of the legislature, a ma- jority of two-thirds, passed the bill by the requisite majority over the veto, and it became a law.
Though the whig members of the legislature and the governor were not able to defeat the passage of the law, yet when the con- stitution was again submitted to the people, it was voted down by a much larger majority than at the first time of voting, so that the labors of the convention proved to be of no avail, much to the chagrin of some of the leading politicians.
Owing to the probability that the territory might become a state, the election for members of the legislature was postponed from August to the first Monday of April ensuing.
At this session of the legislature, acts were passed for organiz- ing the counties of Iowa, Kiskekosh (now Monroe) and Marion. The two former counties were organized on the first day of July, 1845, and the latter on the first day of August of that year, and all the country west of the organized counties was attached to them for civil and judicial purposes.
The affairs of the Miners' Bank of Dubuque again came up for consideration, and the legislature, for the first time, undertook to make some arrangements for paying the debts which were due the bank from the territory; and, on the 10th of June, they passed an act requiring the territorial treasurer to sell enough of the unsold lands of Iowa City, belonging to the territory, to pay the bank debt, and apply the proceeds of the sale for that pur- pose. This was the first step taken by the legislature to pay a just debt which had been contracted more than four years previ- ous, and had been due over three years, and no part of the prin- cipal or interest had been paid ; and, during this time, the legis- lature had been carrying on a warfare against this institution for not redeeming its notes. But, before the legislature had done this act of justice, they had taken steps to give the institution its death blow, for, on the 14th of May, they passed a bill repealing its charter, and provided for winding up the business of the bank. The law made it the duty of the district court to appoint two trustees, who were authorized to settle the affairs of the bank, to
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sell its personal and real estate, collect money and pay debts, and manage the whole business as an administrator would the assets of an insolvent estate. The bill was presented to the governor, but he did not approve it, nor return it to the legislature, doubt- less thinking, if he should veto it, that it would be passed by a two-thirds majority, and, after it had remained with him three days, it became the law of the territory by the law of congress. The owners of the bank did not feel disposed to submit to this summary proceeding without being heard in their defense, and re- sisted the enforcement of the law. Judicial proceedings were commenced, and the right of the legislature to repeal the charter and close up the business of the bank was resisted until the ques- tion was decided by the supreme court.
The act creating the bank had a provision " that if such cor- poration should fail to go into operation, or should abuse or mis- use this charter, it should be in the power of the legislature of the territory, at any time, to annul, vacate and make void this charter." The bank contended that, in thus disposing of its charter, it had not had any chance to defend itself, and that, before the charter could be taken away or repealed, it should be decided by some judicial tribunal, after due investigation, that it had abused or misused its privileges guarantied to it by the charter. But the supreme court decided the act of the legislature repealing the charter to be a valid act, and the institution was closed up.
On the 5th of June, 1846, the Pottawattomie Indians who occu- pied the western slope of Iowa, sold their lands to the United States. Up to that time but little was known of the western part.
The Sacs and Foxes, by the provisions of the treaty of 1842, had the right to the possession of the lands, they had sold, which lay west of Red Rock, till the first of May, 1846. and the Potta- wattomies in their sale, reserved the right to occupy the country on the western slope for a period of two years ; but by a train of circumstances, not anticipated, these lands were taken possession of by the whites, and settlements made some time before the Indians left the ceded territory.
The Mormons, a religious sect who had built up a town at Nauvoo, in Illinois, numbering about twenty thousand persons, on account of some difficulties which they had had with the citi-
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zens of that state, were under the necessity of leaving that place and seeking a new location for building up the "Church of Latter Day Saints." After these troubles in Illinois, many of this religious denomination crossed over the Mississippi into Iowa, and started west. They had a party whose business it was to go in advance of the main company to explore the route and make fords and bridges by which the streams could be crossed. They came up the Des Moines valley till they reached the western part of Van Buren county ; they then took their course through the northern part of Davis and Appanoose counties. When they arrived at this point, their company divided, a party taking the high lands on each side of Chariton river, but their trains caine together again in Clark county. As soon as they got into the Indian country, selecting the most eligible spots, they commenced establishing colonies at such distances from each other as would be likely to afford comfort, and facilitate the travel of those who might follow in their trail after them. Several families stopped at Garden Grove in Decatur county, another party made a loca- tion in Lucas county, at a place now known as Chariton ; some four or five families stopped at a point called Lost Camp. In the spring of 1849, the Mormons receiving favorable reports from their pioneers, most of those who had the means to emigrate, started west for Salt Lake to establish a colony : yet a large num- ber remained ; they built up quite a village at Kanesville. This point was the great business mart of the Mormons (Council Bluffs). and became the principal crossing point of the Missouri for the emigration across the mountains. For several years this part of the state was occupied almost entirely by Mormons, who at that time held a prominent position in the affairs of Iowa, particularly in political matters.
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