Biographical and historical memoirs of Story County, Iowa, Part 21

Author:
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 484

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On the Porter farm, the title to which had been previously placed in Elizabeth, the wife of Samuel Porter, and situated in Section 12, of Indian Creek Township, occupied by Porter and his family, Samuel Porter's body was found in the fields, about noon, October 29, 1882. There were gunshot wounds in the back and in the face. The discovery was made by a lad eleven years old, named George Pointer. He was employed on the farm, and, with George Porter, a son of the murdered man, was herd- ing the farm cattle on some grass that was en- closed in a field of corn. It was Sunday. The cattle had not been grazed on this ground pre- viously, and the circumstances indicated that young Porter directed the lad's movements to bring about his discovery of the body. It was found near a willow fence-row. An old gun was fixed among the willows in a very bungling way, with a cord and wire attached, with the evident thought that this would indicate suicide. But the circumstances very plainly showed that the death did not occur at this spot; that the body had been dragged to the place; and blood- stains and other evidences pointed to a murder at or near the house.

The post-mortem examination showed that the wounds in the back were not fatal, and that death was caused by the wounds in the face. It was also clear that death occurred from

seven to ten days before the body was found. It was also shown that Porter had not been seen alive by others than members of the family after Friday, October 20. In the ten days in- tervening the work of the farm had been done much as usual. A nephew of the murdered man had paid a visit of some days, and his un- cle's absence was accounted for without excit- ing suspicion of foul play. The members of the family on the farm during this time, and also on the Black Friday, were Elizabeth (the wife) and the two sons, George and John Ed- ward. The latter stated his age at fourteen years.

The ghastly find caused much excitement. It was known that Samuel Porter, a man of about fifty-five years of age, without any not- able traits to cause unkind remarks among his neighbors, was accustomed to take his occa- sional glass of intoxicants. He was industrious, thought to be peaceful, and not improvident. The family assumed that his death was by his own hand. One fact after another was gradu- ally brought to light that showed a guilty knowledge and concealment of the death on the part of the wife and both sons. It was de- veloped that parts of the clothing found near the body had been seen in the dwelling after his death. It was clear that much falsehood was indulged in to maintain the false theory of self-destruction. In short, there was no room for doubt that Porter's life had been taken by his own family, and that each member was im- plicated in the crime. When arraigned and tried in the district court, the chain of evi- dence was such that the accused thought best to make confession. They stated that the kill- ing was done by the boy aged fourteen years; that his father was assaulting his mother, who cried out for help; that the boy fired the shot which entered his back; that Porter then turned upon the boy, who was in a corner

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from which he could not escape, and the fatal shot in the face was fired at short range. It was claimed by this boy that he dragged the body of his father to the granary, and covered it with an old quilt and a door; that he after- ward drew it behind a riding-plow into a field, where he buried it in ground lately plowed; that he plowed up and obliterated the trail thus made; that this was done alone and at night; that he afterward took up and removed the body to the place where it was found, and placed the gun to indicate self-destruction; that he carried the gun as he moved the body, and had no assistance.

These statements were in contradiction of those previously made by the accused, but in some respects corresponded with facts as proven by circumstances already known. Some of them could not be reconciled with facts clearly proven, and some seemed too horrible for be- lief. But on the evidence adduced, the jury found Elizabeth and John Edward Porter guilty as charged. They were each sentenced to the State prison for twenty-one years.

George Porter had a separate and subse- quent trial in Boone county, and was acquitted.

one who seemed to have before her an ordinary life of hope and love was a most piteous corpse, and the other was under the ban of Cain. Sus- picion pointed to a man who had for a time been staying about Eldora, which was some eight miles distant. He was known as Will- iam P. Glyndon, but this was found to be an assumed name. He had been a soldier; was at one time a member of the personal retinue of Gen. Sherman; deserted, and became a pro- fessional bounty-jumper. He was under the ban of suspicion for a similar deed in Min- nesoťa.

The finding of the girl's body caused wide- spread indignation and horror in the peaceful community. It was soon learned that an un- known man, apparently in a state of excite- ment, and showing signs of recent violent physical exertion, called at a house not far distant, in the afternoon of the same day, and asked for a drink of water. The same man had been seen on the highway where the murder was committed. Comparison of the time showed that his apparent course and movement would bring him to the fatal spot near the moment when it would be reached by Wipka Martin, on her errand. Tracks in the soft ground, when carrying the body of his victim, and indicating his course in the direc- tion in which Glyndon was soon seen, supplied the circumstances on which he was tried for the crime, and convicted. A change of venue was first taken to Hardin County, where he was convicted. The case was taken to the supreme court on error, and reversed. Because of alleged excitement, and taking advantage of a law the intent of which is manifestly good, another change was granted, and the case sent to Story County for trial. It occupied the court for eight days, called for the attendance scene of the crime, and resulted in a life sen-

One of the most interesting trials that has taken place in Story County was for a murder committed in Grundy County in 1874. A bean- tiful German girl about sixteen years old, named Wipka Martin, was sent to carry a plow- lay to the smith-shop. The distance was about two miles along a highway not much traveled, between prairie farms. Not returning home, search was made, and her lifeless body was found in a field of growing corn, a few rods from the highway. There could be but one canse for the brutal deed. There had been a severe struggle in the grass-grown highway, and it was evident that by giving her life the child saved her honor. In a few minutes from . of more than one hundred witnesses from the the meeting of two on the lone highway, the

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tence to the penitentiary of one of the most brutal murderers that ever escaped the merited gallows.

This trial afforded a fine field for the display of the arts of attorneys. The circumstances were at once pathetic and fiendish. There was no one who could have absolute knowledge of the crime, except the brute who had no mercy, and the child who died in terror of his violence and lust. The tongue of the former was mute; that of the latter was in the quiet of the grave. But in spite of the care with which the crim- inal is hedged in by the rules of courts, the granting of new trials upon technicalities and matters of form, and the glamour that makes a hero in the court-room of every cowardly mur- derer, the web of circumstances was so woven about Glyndon that he could not escape.

Among the court trials in the history of the county, few have been watched with greater in- terest than was that of John J. Bell, a default- ing school fund commissioner. Suit was brought upon his official bond, and the cause was tried at the October term of the district court for 1859. Judgment was obtained against Bell and certain of his sureties, in the sum of $4,553, and for costs of suit.

Bell was elected to that office in 1856. Those were flush times. The lands of the county had rapidly advanced in the market. As long as there were Government lands to be had at $1.25 per acre, other lands, except those most de- sirably located, were affected in price by that circumstance. During the winter of 1855-56, however, capitalists absorbed all government lands, and there was a rapid appreciation in estimated values. The market soon jumped to $2.50, then to $3, and soon thereafter thou- sands of acres were held at from $5 to $10 per acre, and some were sold beyond these figures. The spirit of speculation was abroad, and a man who had not gold coins in his pocket had

small consideration. There were many selec- tions of the 500,000-acre grant of school lands in Story County, some of which were valuable timber lands, and the sale of these came under the authority of the commissioner. The hand- ling of so much money, with the contagion of speculation all about him, probably turned Bell's head. He invested for his own use what did not belong to him, hoping to square his ac- counts from returns to be had at greatly ad- vanced values when he should be willing to sell. But the tide turned. The ebb set in. The undertow took him so suddenly that he could scarce take breath before he was drawn under. Some of his sureties were swamped by the same current, but most of them were steady- going men, and were able to pay the debt. Bell's property became liable. The principal hotel in Nevada, with barn and other improve- ments connected, which then stood on the southeast corner of Block 32, and was after- ward removed and enlarged into the present Hutchings House, had probably absorbed most of the missing funds. A dry goods store and bad credits had more than taken the remainder.

The General Assembly, by an act which be- came a law on the 2d of April, 1860, extended relief to the sureties, E. Armstrong, John Hempstead, Isaac Hague, Amariah Mullen, T. J. Westlake, S. S. Webb, William Lockridge, E. G. Day, D. J. Norris, James Hawthorn, Abner Bell, Charles D. Berry and Jonathan Statler, by authorizing the county judge to make them a loan of the amount for five years, with annual interest. At or before the expira- tion of this period the property was sold, and the deficit made good by the sureties.

The trial in the contest to declare the county bonds invalid, which were issued for the build- ing of the court-house. in 1874, was one of no little interest. This may be classed as a part of the county-seat fight. Nevada having been

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selected as the site for the county archives in 1853, over the ambitious village of Blooming- ton, and being near the center of the county, long felt secure in the stability of that honor. When the question of locating the great Indus- trial College came up, her citizens subscribed personally to expenses and bounties, and voted taxes on themselves to secure the institution for the county. They little dreamed then that around this foster child would flourish in- fluences that would soon endanger the welfare of their own homes. But so it was.

The town of Ames, under the influences so generously furnished by the citizens of the county, led by Nevada in purse and spirit, soon became an ambitious and spirited rival not only for business, but also for public favor. Out of this grew an active contest for the county seat. A vote was ordered on the ques- tion of county bonds to the amount of $40,000 for building a suitable court-house. Ames not only opposed this before the people, but also brought the matter into the courts.

On the trial it is said to have been shown that students from the college were illegally voted against the bonds. This, with the active opposition of the numerous excellent and able professors, tended to cause the people at Nevada to feel that their unselfish efforts to do a good thing for the county in the early days had returned to plague rather than to bless them. But there is no thought now that these matters will ever again be unsettled. Har- mony prevails within the borders of the county, and all are ready to extend best wishes to every interest. The trial resulted in a judicial dec- laration in favor of the issuing and validity of the bonds, and the court-house was erected in accordance with the vote of the people.

Although not resulting in a trial, nor even the certain discovery of any crime, another in- cident that occurred in the McDaniel neighbor- hood may as well be recorded here. This was the disappearance of a peddler, of whom the last that was known to the ordinary citizen was his visit to this locality. It was a nine days' wonder and gossip among the neighbors. Ru- mors of violence were rife; doubtless some search was made; but neither the man, his re- mains, nor any of his belongings were ever discovered. A man known as Doc. Spring, who for many years lived about Iowa Center, and died there, was known to hint when "in his cups " that he would disclose something when he should come face to face with death. It was supposed that his secret referred to the disappearance of the peddler. It seemed to those about him when that time came that he was anxious to do as he had long intended, but he delayed until his power to tell had gone, and for two or three days he was conscious but unable to make his story known. His knowl- edge, whatever it was, died with him.

When the workmen were excavating for the construction of the railway, not far from Dye's Branch, an old building was removed, and un- der its walls was found a rough box which contained the skeleton of a man. The place had been in an early day occupied by the Wilkinson family, and afterward by the family of a suspicious character familiarly known as "Old Meeks." The latter left the cabin and the country in the night, and without notice of his intention. It is not known where he went. Some think there is but a missing link between the unknown skeleton and the peddler who dis- appeared so mysteriously. At least no other explanation can be offered.

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CHAPTER XV.

MILITARY AFFAIRS-STORY COUNTY IN EARLIER DAYS OF WARLIKE ACTION-MEXICAN WAR VOLUNTEERS- EVENTS PRECEDING THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860-WAR ISSUES DEFINED-THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY-AN AGITATED SUBJECT-FALL OF SUMTER-COM- PANIES ORGANIZED-CHARACTER OF TROOPS-RECRUITING- DRAFTS-HISTORY OF AFFAIRS HEREABOUTS FROM 1861 TO 1865-CLOSING YEAR OF THE WAR.

War is honourable In those who do their native rights maintain. - Baillie.

TORY COUNTY was the happy hunting-ground of the Iowas and Foxes when the French were compelled to let go their hold on the great Mississippi Valley by Gen. Wolf, at Quebec, in 1759. The Indians were still the only denizens of the Skunk and Indian Creek forests and prairies when Gen. Washington forced the British to give up all claim to the new country east of the Missis- sippi, called the United States. Not only that, but the Story County Indians were subjects of their "Spanish father," and were indignant when they were turned over to their new "Amer- ican father " in 1803. Indeed they stopped fighting among themselves, in order to join the old British enemies of the "Great Father at Washington," in the War of 1812, under their Sac leader, Black Hawk. Still more,

scarcely a score of years later, as this keen-eyed Indian leader saw this rising young empire steadily absorbing the lands of his people-the Sacs and Foxes, and purposely or accidentally precipitated the famous Black Hawk War --- even then the " pale-face " was a stranger to Chicaugua bottoms and the prairie grass. This was 1832. A decade later and the Indians left all silent in the present boundaries of Story County, and it was not until after our conflict with Mexico, in 1846, that white men inhab- ited it.

Those who came, however, had taken part in these wars from other parts of the United States. Among these may be mentioned Michael French, who was a soldier of 1812. Among those in the Mexican War, the follow- ing names are obtainable: Col. John Scott, Stephen P. O'Brien, Fred. Eckhart, Henry Cameron, L. Q. Hoggatt, J. J. Butler, A. J. Marshall, and, it is thought, a few others. A few, no doubt, were also in the Black Hawk War.

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During the "fifties" the various elements that came to Story County worked together to determine her attitude to the war. The census of 1859 gave a population of 3,826, of which 1,948 were males; of these there were 821 vot- ers, leaving 1,127 under age. The 130 for- eigners, probably, do not affect these figures. The militia is given as 682. In this connec- tion it may be observed that the vote for gov- ernor, in 1859, is very evenly divided, giving the Republicans 395, and the Democratic can- didate 358, a majority of 37 only for the Re- publicans. But in 1860, as the war issues grew more defined, and the population rose to 4,051, Lincoln received 418, with but 332 for his opponent, Douglass. But these were not all the votes; there were some who were known to favor Breckinridge and his cause, who did not cast a ballot. Here are but 740 votes out of probably 900 or 950, many of whom may have been foreigners or indifferent. This serves only to show the political pulse, not the actual fighting force, for, like the subject of prohibition, when Story County laid aside pol- itics and faced a call for volunteers, she was overwhelmingly for fighting for " Uncle Sam."

The subject was kept warm by news from " bleeding Kansas " for some time previous to the outbreak of 1861. The eastern newspapers had a considerable circulation in the county, and the people were well informed on outside move- ments. The New York Tribune, now scarcely seen within the county, had probably the larg- est circulation of any foreign paper. This, of course, reached the people a little late, because for a time only weekly mails were had from Iowa City, and at the best there were but semi-weekly mails, alternating by way of Cam- bridge and Iowa Center, and later on from Marshalltown. The only paper published in the county was the Advocate, by R. R. Thrall, at Nevada, and this became the voice of the

bulk of the county, and made Nevada the po- litical headquarters. This paper covered the years 1857-58-59-60-61, and part of 1862, years of the greatest historic interest. The files of 1857-58-59, and a part of 1860, are preserved by the Representative at Nevada, but it is a great misfortune that the most valuable volumes, namely, the latter part of 1860-61 and the first half of 1862, are not in the coun- ty, nor is their existence anywhere positively known. The paper voiced an unmistakable Union sentiment, and the issues were defi- nitely grasped, too. At an early date (June 21, 1860) an editorial says: "The American people, as a nation, are opposed to slavery; its existence in our country is merely tolerated, which, from the peculiarity of our Government, based in part upon the sovereignty of the States, renders it purely a municipal institu- tion, confined to the States where it exists, con- sequently beyond the power of the people, in a national capacity, to abolish it in the States in which it exists as an institution. Congress has no power to say to Virginia you shall manumit your slaves; neither does the State constitu- tion confer any power upon it by which it can say to Iowa you shall admit slaves into your State; neither does the constitution confer the power upon the Congress of the United States to pass any laws or regulations which will sus- pend for one moment the operation of the slave regulations of Virginia, or to enforce for one moment, under any circumstances, the right of property in man upon the citizens of Iowa." Then using the transfer of a slave by his mas- ter to a non-slave-holding State as an illustra- tion, he affirms the freedom of the slave; " His very act manumits the slave, for he is no longer a slave, there being nothing by which to hold him in that situation but mere brute force." A clearer statement of the point can not be found.

Meanwhile the discussion was carried on in

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all the school-houses in the county, and in the villages of Nevada, Iowa Center, Cambridge, Old Fairview, New Philadelphia, Bloomington and Palestine, and these places were scarcely more than " corners," many of them. The churches took up the question, and it was con- fined mostly to the slavery phase of it, and they became known as pro-slavery or anti- slavery churches, meaning thereby that the anti-slavery churches would not tolerate a pro- slavery member, while the others considered it out of the realm of church discipline. An early paper says many pro-slavery members left the Methodist Church and went to the Evangelical, and that the United Brethren, Congregationalists, Free-Will Baptists and Lutherans boasted their intolerance of the pro- slavery member. Rev. X. A. Welton, of the Episcopal Church, at an early day undertook to prove in a public discussion, that negro slavery is a divine institution based upon the authority of the Bible. His opponent, as is recalled by Col. John Scott, was Rev. Joseph Cadwalader, who afterward became captain of a company and chaplain of a regiment. The subject was a common one in the pulpit, and had many vigorous champions in every denom- ination. Among others who attracted atten- tion were Revs. Richard Swearingen, Thomp- son Bird and Rev. J. W. Hankins. The en- thusiasm of Rev. Hankins, later on in the war, would lead him to ring the bells for hours in honor of any good army news.

It should be borne in mind here that the people of the county had a more personal ac- quaintance with all parts of the county than now. There were fewer people - scarcely more than are now in Nevada, Ames and Story City together-while at the same time life was less complex, and the outside world attracted less attention. It took the news of the fall of Fort Sumter, however, to thoroughly awaken

Story County, as it did the rest of the country. It is not known who first brought the news in- to the county, but it was several days after the eventful April 19, 1861, before news was received; but it spread over the county like a prairie fire when it did come. War-meetings were held at once in every precinct. Nevada led off with the first in the old Cumberland Pres- byterian Church on, it is thought, about April 26 or 27. Mr. E. B. Potter was made chair- man of the meeting, and at a very early point in the procedure J. L. Dana offered for adop- tion an oath of loyalty to be taken by the en- tire assembly. Mr. Potter was a notary and vested with the right to administer such an oath. His leadership in the opposition after- ward made his position here unique and not at all accidental. All who would take the oath were asked to rise, and every man arose and stood while with raised hand the oath was ad- ministered. This meeting gave a powerful impetus to public feeling, and the first call for three-months' men was responded to with such alacrity all over the country that Story alone could have filled the Iowa quota. Squads were enrolled all over the county. Men who had quibbled over the technicalties of the slavery question and taken up the de- fense of the Southern cause, dropped all quibbles and sprang to the breach when union was threatened. Little agitation was needed for this ; patriotic speeches were unnecessary ; it was a spontaneous uprising.

The first company was organized at Nevada under the three months' call, and Capt. John Scott, with Paul A. Queal and George Childs were made a committee to tender its services to Gov. Kirkwood, at Des Moines. This must have been soon atter May 1, but on their ar- rival the three months' regiment was already full. It will be remembered that these were the days when the North and the Sonth had

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very vague ideas of each other-the days when ladies and gentlemen in their carriages went out to see the South whipped in a half hour at Bull Run, and came back in unseemly haste, uncertain whether they could ever be whipped or not; while the South, with their chivalric pride, only wanted one stroke at the hated " Yank " to subdue him forever. The result was that when the committee returned with the news and the assurance that the gov- ernor would accept one company from Story County for " three years, or during the war," the second call, the Rebellion was seen in a new light-it was no holiday affair, but a bloody reality. The spontaneous uprising was very perceptibly cooled, and the ranks of volunteers thinned out. Those May days on the Story prairies were crowded with per- plexities and uncertainties. News traveled westward slowly and conflicting reports, with more or less vague ideas of the stupendous character of the war, the conflicts of personal interests, and other things, often, no doubt, made it a matter of intellectual judgment rather than patriotism, subject to change with better information.

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Biographical and historical memoirs of Story County, Iowa, Part 21

Author: Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago : Goodspeed Number of Pages: 484

Author:
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 484