USA > Iowa > Scott County > Davenport > History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa, Volume I > Part 16
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The river closed the 27th of December and opened the 2d of March. The season was good, crops abundant and well gathered. Good winter wheat was sold at 37 to 40 cents, and spring at 30 cents. The best quality of flour was $4.50 a barrel. Flour sold the same autumn in Chicago at $3.00, and in St. Louis at $2.75 a barrel. Building continued and settlers were daily arriving. Produce of all kinds was low. There was no money in circulation. Everything was barter in trade.
On the 8th of October of this year the Iowa Sun issued its last number.
A. C. Fulton, Esq., arrived here in July of this year, and opened a store on Front street, between Main and Harrison. On the 4th of August by census taken, the town contained 817 inhabitants. The April term of the circuit court continued in session only eight days, and adjourned for want of business, David Hoge, clerk. In the election of this year Robert Christie was elected to the council and J. M. Robertson to the house. Pork sold this autumn as low as $1.25 to $1.50 a hundred pounds. The same prices ruled in Chicago and Alton. Messrs. J. Seaman, J. M. D. Burrows, A. C. Fulton and others purchased pork in exchange for goods; some cash was paid. The balance in the treasury at the close of the year was $484.48. John Work, Otho G. McLain and John C. Quinn were commissioners.
1843 .- The river opened the 10th of April. The winter of 1842-43 will long be remembered as the "cold winter." There were two months' good sleigh- ing. The ice in the river was two feet thick. A Dubuque paper stated that with the exception of a very few days the mercury stood at twenty degrees below zero for nearly four months, and that for several weeks of that time it stood at thirty-five to thirty-nine degrees below zero. Although the crops were abun- dant, yet on account of the intense cold and want of sufficient hay and shelter, a great many cattle died.
Emigration continued to pour in and a general progress of the town was perceptible, notwithstanding the scarcity of money and the cheapness of pro- duce. There were seventeen brick houses erected this year and many frame ones. Seven churches now adorned the town. G. C. R. Mitchell was elected rep- resentative this year, and James Thorington judge of probate. The expendi- tures of the county this year exceeded the receipts, $905.82.
J. M. D. Burrows commenced shipping produce this autumn to St. Louis in keel boats. On the 21st of October he loaded one with thirty-eight tons of vegetables and the following week started another one for St. Louis with thirty- five tons.
But little of interest took place during the year 1844. The river opened on the 24th of February and navigation commenced. It had been a very open win- ter, much of it like spring.
In May there was a corporation election for officers. Gilbert Mckown, Jr., was elected marshal; Nathaniel Squires, supervisor ; John Evans, treasurer; N. Squires, assessor ; John Pope, clerk ; L. B. Collamer, weighmaster ; and D. C. Eld-
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ridge, fire warden. The June rise in the Mississippi flooded the whole country along the river bottoms. The river was higher than ever before known.
By a census taken of the county in June it was found to contain 1,750 souls. The 4th of July was celebrated in due form. The citizens convened at the court- house, when the exercises were opened with prayer by the Rev. A. B. Hitchcock ; reading of the Declaration of Independence by Jas. Grant, Esq., and oration by Dr. Gatchell of Cincinnati, then a resident of this place. A sumptuous repast was served under the large spreading oaks that then adorned the brow of our beautiful bluffs.
A convention assembled at Iowa City, October 7th for the formation of a constitution preparatory to our entrance into the Union as a state. Ebenezer Cook. James Grant and Andrew W. Campbell were the candidates elected to attend.
The wheat crop of 1844 was large and of good quality. Flour from $3.00 to $4.00 a barrel. Wheat from 40 to 50 cents a bushel. Corn and oats, 25 cents.
The financial condition of the country at the close of the year was flatter- ing. Expenditures, $1.757.78, and the receipts into the treasury were $2,503.80. J. C. Quinn, Ashael Hubbard and C. G. McLain, commissioners ; John Pope, clerk. County orders were at par and cash in the treasury. The crop of wheat raised this year in the county was estimated at 100,000 bushels, and there were no mills for flouring in the city, yet. The population at the close of the year in the town was estimated at 800 or 1,000. The river closed on the 4th of Feb- ruary, but was in no condition for crossing and on the 20th of the same month broke loose and the steamer Lynx made her appearance at our wharf. The New Haven that had been moored in the Rock Island slough came over the next day and both boats started for Galena, the river being clear of ice, the weather as balmy as spring. Wild geese and ducks were flying north and the winter gently merged into spring.
1845 .- The most stirring incident of this year was the murder of Col. George Davenport upon Rock island.
The April election passed off very quietly. L. Summers (Loco) was elected to the council and J. M. Robertson (whig) to the house. John Forrest, Esq., received the appointment as postmaster in place of D. C. Eldridge, resigned. At the August election J. C. Quinn was again elected commissioner : A. H. Miller, treasurer ; W. Barrows, surveyor, and Stephen Hawley, assessor.
The country upon both sides of the river had for several years been infested with a lawless gang of freebooters with their main headquarters probably at Nauvoo, having places of rendezvous upon Rock river, Ill., and upon Sugar creek, in Cedar county, and in Linn county, Iowa. The fugitives from justice in other states had fled to the western wilds for protection and organized them- selves into regular bands for horse stealing, counterfeiting, burglary, robbery and murder. They had advanced so far in their grand schemes for crime and escape that in some places justices of the peace and other officers of the county were elected to office by their intrigue and corruption and many men of good standing in the community became associated with them. Bellevue in Jackson county had been the scene of bloodshed and murder in an attempt to arrest some of the banditti. Ogle county in Illinois had become so infested with this gang that
HOME OF COL. GEORGE DAVENPORT
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at the elections they came boldly forward and proclaimed their strength and determination to rule the county. The courthouse and jail were burned, the sheriff of the county waylaid and shot, and individuals who dared to say aught against the gang were marked as victims of this marauding band of robbers.
At this stage of things, a meeting of the whole county was called by some of the principal law-abiding citizens, when it was resolved to clear the land of the desperadoes. One of the ringleaders, a Mr. -- , and his three sons, were taken, . tried by a self-constituted jury, condemned and shot the same day. One other of the gang was executed, when the balance fled the country. But Nauvoo was the great depot and the Mississippi river the great thoroughfare.
The murder and robbery of Col. Davenport, one of the oldest citizens of the community, in broad daylight and in full view of our town, sent a thrill of terror to every heart and made citizens tremble for the safety of themselves and prop- erty. So foul a crime, attended by such appalling circumstances, aroused the energies of every one to assist in discovering the murderers. Public meetings were called in Davenport and Rock Island to devise means to arrest the fugi- tives. Companies of horsemen were sent in every direction; the islands and bluffs were searched ; parties went up and down the river, but no trace could be found, nor were any signs left by which the murderers could be followed. A reward of $1,500 was offered by George L. Davenport, followed directly after by one of $1,000 by the governor of Illinois; but for weeks no trace could be obtained of them. Subsequently it was ascertained that the robbers had been secreted for some ten days in the bluffs previous to the attack, awaiting an oppor- tunity, which they had on the 4th of July while the whole household of Col. Davenport was at Stephenson attending the celebration. Mr. Davenport lived long enough to relate the circumstances attending the robbery. He had been fearful of robbers and noticed some suspicious looking persons around the towns of Davenport and Stephenson and had taken the precaution to fasten his doors and keep arms in readiness. He had but a few moments before the attack been to the well for water and fastened the door on his return. He was seated in his armchair in his sitting room when he heard a noise in the back part of the house, and opening the door that led there, he was met by three men, one of whom exclaimed, "Seize him Chunky" and at the same moment he received a ball from a pistol through the fleshy part of the thigh. Mr. D. made an effort to reach his pistols that lay upon the mantel but was laid hold of and bound with strips of bark and blindfolded. The key of his safe was obtained and for a few moments he was left alone, when the robbers, unable to unlock the safe, re- turned and took Mr. D. up stairs where the safe was and compelled him to unlock it. In this effort Mr. D. seems to have had much difficulty, as from loss of blood he was not able to walk and he was carried or pulled up the stairs leaving prints of blood upon the passageway and staircase all the way up, where he had put his hands for support. He was laid upon the bed up stairs after un- locking the safe and showing the robbers where some other money was, in a drawer in the library. Here he fainted and was revived by water being poured upon him. He was choked and otherwise tortured in mind and body to induce him to reveal where more treasure could be found. Upon this point, John Long, who afterward paid the penalty of this murder upon the gallows at Rock Island,
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stated, upon the stand, that no such abuse was offered to Mr. D .; that he himself went to the well for water and poured it upon him to revive him; that it was not intended to commit murder, but that the pistol of Fox, who shot him, went off accidentally, but Mr. Davenport said before his death that they held a con- troversy about the disposition of him before they left, some being for killing him and burning the house and others for leaving him as he was. The latter being the determination of the majority of them, they hastily fled.
The only booty they obtained was about $600 in money, a gold watch, chain and seals, a double barreled gun and a few other articles of minor importance.
Col. Davenport was a native of England, and removed to the United States in 1804. He was attached to the army from 1805 to 1815, was with Gen. Wilkin- son on the Sabine during the trouble with Aaron Burr, and in the war of 1812 was in the defense of Fort Erie and at the battle of Lundy's Lane. He was with the first expedition which ascended the Mississippi to quiet the hostile Indians, and assisted in selecting and planting Fort Armstrong upon Rock island, upon which he settled in 1816 and resided there until his death. He was a partner in the American Fur company until its withdrawal from the Mississippi, and then carried on the trade with the Indians alone until he retired from business. He was of a free, generous, open-hearted disposition, full of anecdote connected with his wild and adventurous life, pleasing in his conversation and full of wit and humor. Long had he lived upon the frontier amid wars and fightings ; often had his life been in imminent danger from the scalping knife or the tomahawk, and yet in the broad light of day, in a civilized land and amid the life and bustle of the celebration of our natal day he was doomed to die by the hand of despera- does !
For many weeks no trace could be found of the murderers. Edward Bonney. of Lee county, in the territory of Iowa, undertook to ferret out their place of concealment. He left here about the middle of August and proceeded to Nauvoo. where he first got trace of them by representing himself as one of the gang, which might have been true, and on the 8th of September arrested Fox at Cen- terville, Iowa, and committed him to jail there. On the 19th he arrested Birch and John Long at Sandusky, Ohio, and brought them to Rock Island, by way of the lakes and Chicago. These three men were well known in the west as leaders of a gang of desperadoes, although they went by different names. Richard Bax- ter and Aaron Long, a brother of John, were soon after arrested near Galena, Ill., and Granville Young at Nauvoo. These three last were taken as accessories.
In the 6th of October following. bills of indictment were found by the grand jury of Rock Island county, against the whole, except Fox, who had escaped from jail on the 17th of September in Indiana. On the 14th of October, the two Longs and Young were put upon trial, a change of venue being denied, found guilty and sentenced to be hung on the 29th of the same month. Birch, the greatest villain of the whole, turned state's evidence. Baxter was tried sepa- rately, convicted and sentenced to be hung on the 18th of November. A writ of error was sued out of the supreme court, a new trial was granted, when he was found guilty and sentenced to the penitentiary for life, where he died in about two years. Birch took a change of venue to Knox county and while awaiting
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trial escaped from jail. Upon the gallows, John Long confessed all, but died a hardened wretch without the least signs of repentance or fear of death.
The shock given to the western banditti by the prompt and energetic meas- ures taken to bring these murderers to justice so effectually broke up the gang that for a long time the country was free, in a measure, from such men.
The river closed this year the 30th of November.
The first of January of the year 1846 there was but one retail liquor shop in the city. The corporation election came off in April and resulted in the election of James Thorington for mayor, Seth F. Whiting, George W. Alvord, A. H. Miller, John Morton, William S. Collins and A. W. McLoskey for aldermen.
At the April term of the district court this spring there was but one case on the common law docket, and none on the criminal for trial, showing the peace- able and harmonious manner in which the people of Scott county lived at that day.
The 4th of July was celebrated this year in due form, Rev. E. Adams deliv- ering the oration, prayer by Rev. Mr. Brabrook, A. C. Fulton being marshal of the day. It was about the first of this month that A. C. Fulton commenced the build- ing of the first steam mill in the city of Davenport.
At the August election S. C. Hastings was elected to congress; Loring Wheeler, of Clinton county, to the state senate; James McManus to the house ; James Thorington, clerk of the district court; A. H. Davenport, sheriff ; V. M. Firor, prosecuting attorney; Asa Foster, county commissioner ; H. H. Pease, assessor and A. H. Miller, treasurer.
John Bechtel opened his plow factory this year, and carried it on with suc- cess for some years, when it passed into other hands and is at present carried on by Mr. Krum, whose plows are known throughout the state of Iowa as the best manufactured in the west.
The "Iowa College Association" was formed in April, 1844, but no decided steps were taken or location made until 1846, when Davenport was selected as the place of location, "provided the citizens would raise $1,500 for buildings and furnish grounds for a site." Trustees were elected the following spring and a building erected on the bluff near Western avenue, between Sixth and Seventh streets. The institution was incorporated in June, 1847. In March, 1854, the college grounds (being liable to have streets cut through them) were sold and a new location of ten acres purchased between Brady and Harrison above Tenth street. Here the present college edifice was erected with boarding houses in 1855, and in August of this year (1859) the present location was sold to the Episcopal diocese of Iowa for school and educational purposes and the Iowa college is removed to Grinnell, a village in the interior of this state, in Poweshiek county.
At the April election of this year, James Grant was elected district judge over his opponent, Platt Smith, by 448 majority. James Thorington was elected dis- trict clerk, and Hiram Price school fund commissioner.
A new paper was started about this time called the Democratic Banner, by Alexander Montgomery. Esq., who sold out to R. Smetham. T. D. Eagal after- ward became its editor and proprietor, and after passing through several other hands it was purchased, in 1855, by Messrs. Hildreth, Richardson and West. Mr. Hildreth, the senior editor, died in September, 1857, since which time Messrs. Rich-
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ardson & West have continued to publish the same under the name of the Iowa State Democrat. Recently a couple of new partners have entered the office, the Daily News has been purchased, and is now combined and published under the name of the Daily Democrat and News. A more extensive notice may hereafter be given of this democratic paper.
1847 .- At the August election, H. Leonard was elected sheriff against Robert Christie : A. H. Miller, recorder ; A. W. McGregor, prosecuting attorney ; Asa Foster, commissioner : John Pope, clerk; J. Thorington, judge of probate ; Wm. L. Cook, coroner.
The immigration of Germans was large this year. On the 23d of June 100 were landed from the Anthony Wayne steamer, most if not all of whom settled in this county.
Pork was worth this year but $1.75 to $2.00 per hundred pounds in trade. The first railroad meetings were held this year in relation to building a road from Chicago to Davenport.
The returns of the assessor for the year 1847 were on valuations.
73.264 Acres of land, valued at $238,375
Value of town lots. 71,970
Money at interest in the county 1,675
Merchandise 10,885
918 Head of horses, valued at. 29,244
Machinery 5,840
25,286
2,883 Head of cattle.
4,013
3.960 Head of hogs
4,224
5 Head of mules
210
Miscellaneous property
800
Furniture
1,960
48 Wagons
1,825
Amount of assessment. $396,307
There were 3,652 white inhabitants in the county and two negroes.
The first land agency was opened this year by Cook & Sargent in a small one-story wooden building on the corner of Main and Second streets, where the present banking house now stands.
On the 4th of October of this year, David Hoge, one of our prominent citi- zens, died of the bilious fever. Mr. Hoge was from Ohio and had emigrated to this country in 1840, was first engaged in merchandising and afterward clerk of the district court to near the time of his death. He was a man of talent and abil- ity, kind and gentlemanly in his intercourse with mankind, of unswerving integrity and of a high tone of moral character. He was cut off in the prime of life, and by his death Scott county lost one of her most valued citizens.
The river closed January 8th and opened March 21st.
1848 .- This year opened with much brighter prospects than had been known for years. Emigration had been on the increase. A home market had been
2.748 Head of sheep
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created for surplus produce ; agriculture had become an object. and the hearts of many that had been desponding began to look for better times.
Up to this time no flouring or saw mill had been erected in this city of any kind. On the 17th of January the first steam mill in Davenport was put in oper- ation by A. C. Fulton. It had been but five months and twenty-two days in build- ing. The main building was fifty-seven feet by sixty feet, four stories high with an engine room twenty-seven feet by fifty feet. Mr. A. Nugent was the first miller. Upon the completion of this mill, there was a general burst of rejoicing among the citizens of Scott county. Mr. Fulton gave a grand opening, by in- viting the farmers and citizens of the town to a sumptuous repast served up in the new mill on the 17th of January, 1848. Bread was made from flour ground in the mill on the same day of the celebration. The tables groaned with luxuries. Pigs, turkeys and chickens, pies and cakes, were piled upon the festive board and coffee served bountifully, and when Mr. Fulton appeared with all his men who had been employed upon the mill, three tremendous cheers were given him, to which he responded in a most happy and becoming manner, recounting his many difficulties and trials in pressing forward the work upon this mill. About 300 par- took of the dinner. The Hon. Jas. Grant spoke on the occasion. He had been in attendance at the legislature at Iowa City, and in his speech announced that he had procured a charter from the legislature for a railroad from the Mississippi river to the Missouri. This information excited applause, and three hearty cheers were given. He was followed by Hiram Price, Esq., who descanted upon the progress of the age, the happy results of the energy and ambition of Mr. Fulton amid all discouragements, and closed with an anecdote connected with the build- ing of the mill. He said that when Mr. Fulton began that mill, an old man, a resident of the city, told him "that he had always believed Mr. Fulton to be crazy. but now he knew it." Mr. Fulton had commenced a steam mill near the site of the old one and after completing the building sold it to Burrows & Prettyman, who put in the machinery and completed it in the same month with that of Ful- ton's, which he commenced soon after he sold to B. & P.
The opening and celebration of Burrows & Prettyman's mill followed on the 29th of January. It was more magnificent than that of Fulton's, if possible. Their mill was forty-two feet by sixty feet, three stories high, and built of brick, and since enlarged. (That of Fulton was of wood.) There were four pairs of four and a half French burrs, two bolts, and they would turn out about 200 bar- rels of flour per day. Hiram Johnson was the first miller in this mill, one of the best millers west of the Alleghany mountains. A further notice of this mill, its present capacity for flouring, will be given, together with some remarks upon the character of those who thus early did so much to build up and maintain the inter- ests of our county.
The 4th of July was celebrated in due form. The oration was by John F. Dillon, Esq. The official returns of the August election announced Shepherd Leffler for congress, John D. Evans representative, James Thorington clerk of the district court and E. S. Wing for county commissioner.
There were thirty-five houses erected this year, nearly all brick.
The winter of 1848-49 was long and severe.
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It is not our intention to write the biography of individuals or to fill up this history with personal achievements, but so closely are some of our early settlers identified with our history that it becomes necessary to bring them out in order to trace our progress and prosperity as a city and a county to its true and proper source. There are individuals in the midst of us, prominent citizens, who have passed the ordeal of a pioneer life in the west, and whose early struggles well deserve a passing notice. One among the many is Mr. J. M. D. Burrows of the house of Burrows & Prettyman, merchants and manufacturers in our city for more than twenty years.
Mr. Burrows, well known to the old as well as the new settlers, first came to Iowa (then Wisconsin) in the spring of 1837. He was a native of New York city, but spent his early life with his uncle at Elizabethtown, N. J. .
At the age of fourteen he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where in the course of ten years he accumulated by his own industry a little property and married. Being in the furniture business he had sold to western merchants along the Mississippi river and consigned on commission to others. In the spring of 1837 he took a trip to St. Louis and the upper Mississippi to look after his business. His ardent and energetic mind was soon awakened on beholding the beauty and magnitude of the Mississippi valley, and he seemed to comprehend at once the prospects for the future of this promising land. He returned to Cincinnati, however, without making any investments or even deciding upon any future operations here. During the following year his mind seemed to dwell continu- ally upon the beauties and prospects of the west, and of Davenport as a center of attraction. So strongly was he impressed with the prospects here that he decided on his second visit. A trip to the west was no small undertaking.
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