USA > Iowa > Fremont County > History of Fremont County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., a biographical directory of many of its leading citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistic, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of Iowa and the Northwest, map of Fremont County, constitution of the state of Iowa, reminiscences, miscellaneous matters, etc > Part 58
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THE FIRST "COURT."
It is stated on other pages of this history when and where the first court was held in this county. But the statement is probably incorrect, in part, for the very first court held in the county was that presided over by "Judge Lynch," before the organization of the county. "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his
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own eyes,"-and, we may add, took the consequences. A man named Dover and his sons came into the county at quite an early day, probably about 1845, and began a systematic course of petty larceny. The settlers bore the depredations of the Dover family for a time, but at last "Judge Lynch" convened his court, the offenders were haled before it, tried, convicted and sentenced, without any of the circumlocutory proceedings characteristic of modern courts of justice. The culprits were sentenced to receive "forty stripes save one," well laid on, with good hickory withes, in the hands of strong men who loved justice and hated thieves, after which they were to undergo banishment from the territorry and forbidden to return under penalty of forfeiting their lives. The sentence was promptly and thoroughly carried out, and the Dover family left for parts unknown. The place where they then resided was known as "Dover's point," and was situated in what is now the northeastern portion of Franklin township.
THE ASSAULT ON SHERIFF MARVIN.
On the 20th of April, 1858, sheriff R. W. Marvin, pursuant to an order of Chas. Linderman, justice of the peace, destroyed fifty gallons of whisky, brandy, etc., in the public square at Sidney. About eleven o'clock on the night of the 15th of May following, the sheriff was alarmed by a knock at his door, and upon answering the alarm was confronted by a stranger who gave his name as S. S. Brown and stated that he had been robbed of $50 at Hill's grocery. Brown requested the sheriff to go with him and he would point out the robber. The sheriff thereupon accompanied Brown, and being completely deceived in regard to his real character, turned from him a moment to examine the neighborhood, when the miscreant struck him a heavy blow, which felled him to his knees. Having turned partially toward his adversary in falling, Mr. Marvin was enabled to ward off sub- sequent blows, and springing up seized the scoundrel by the throat with his left hand and fairly choked him down. His call for help was answered by Messrs. Sipple and Hickman, who found Mr. Marvin holding his assail- ant down, and assisted him in taking the prisoner to jail. The fellow soon after made a confession implicating several of the citizens as the instiga- tors of the crime.
THE LAST OF HIS SPECIES.
As late as 1858 a three-year-old buffalo was killed near Fisher's grove. The animal came into the settlement with some cattle with which it had been grazing on the prairie, and was killed without much difficulty. This was the last buffalo ever known to be in southwestern Iowa.
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AN INCIDENT OF SLAVERY DAYS.
In 1858 S. F. Nuckolls lived in Nebraska City and had with him cer- tain negro slaves, claiming the right to hold them as Nebraska was then a territory and not a "free state." Two of them escaped into this county. The particulars and what followed are given as follows by the Fremont Herald of December 4, 1858 :
"December 4, 1858, two negro girls belonging to S. F. Nuckolls of Ne- braska City, ran off on Thursday night of last week. They are supposed to have been controlled by outside influences, as the home and treatment they had with Mr. Nuckolls could be no incentive to change their situa- tion; and we have no doubt but before now they have found that they left a home, the comforts of which they will never find away from the premises of Mr. N. We learn that Mr. Nuckolls had promised them their freedom in a year and a half with property amounting to several thousand dollars.
" Since the above was in type we learn that Mr. Nuckolls tracked his negroes to Civil Bend in this county, or at least he thinks he has tracked them there, and accordingly took measures to rescue them. The Civil Bend people resisted Mr. Nuckolls' men when they were making search, and a skirmish ensued in which one of the Civil Bend men was severely but not mortally wounded. A runner was sent to Nebraska for re-enforce- ments, but they had not arrived at last accounts."
The " one of the Civil Bend men " referred to was a Mr. Williams, who was struck by " Jack " Nuckolls a heavy blow with a club, while protest- ing against the unlawful search of his house by the slave-catchers. Mr. Williams afterward recovered a judgment of $8,000 against Nuckolls for the outrage. The judgment was obtained in the Page county district court. We are indebted to Judge Sears for the particulars last given.
"UNCLE " JACOB M'KISSICK IN CLOSE QUARTERS.
In the first settlement of McKissick's grove, in Madison township, the McKissick brothers, three in number, claimed a large part of the grove- a much larger portion, it was held, than they could hold by pre-emption, after the land came into market. The land had not yet been surveyed and it was uncertain when it would be put in market. John W. Allen set- tled on a part of the land claimed by the McKissicks, and built him a cabin thereon. The first night the cabin was occupied a rifle ball was shot through the cabin window, and into the bed where Allen lay asleep. The ball missed Allen, but wounded in the thigh a young man lying by Allen's side. Allen concluded that the ball was intended for him and "to his quietus make." He imagined that Jacob McKissick was the would- be assassin, and so loading his rifle he started in search of him, deter-
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mined to shoot him down on sight. Allen, at last, met his intended victim, who, wholly unexpecting such a visit, was unarmed and helpless. Allen called out to McKissick to prepare for death, at the same time covering him with his rifle, and telling him why he was about to kill him. McKis- sick realized his position, and pale and trembling approached Allen saying: " Mr. Allen, you may shoot me, but I won't die with a lie in my mouth. I am not the man who fired into your cabin last night. I am not that kind 'of a man." Something in McKissick's manner and conduct convinced Allen, that he (McKissick) was speaking the truth, and the two men were soon clasping hands in firm friendship and talking it over. John W. Allen is described by one who knew him well, as a man of courage and gener- osity to a fault. He had no knowledge of the emotion of fear, and was therefore sometimes rash. He was a member of the Fourth Iowa cavalry during the civil war, and was killed at the battle of Helena, Arkansas, July 4, 1863. It is said he was shot down by the confederates after he was a prisoner, but this is hardly probable, for a man of his character would more likely prefer to be killed than to surrender. His remains were brought back to the county and buried in the McKissick's grove graveyard, near where his widow and children still reside.
" THE RIVER WAS THERE WHEN YOU CAME."
At one time in the history of the county two members of the board of supervisors were discussing matters pertaining to their official duties. One of them wanted the funds of the county appropriated toward pay- ing the expenses of building a dike along the margin of the Missouri river to prevent its overflow. The other said there should be no such ap- propriation, if he could prevent it. "The river was there when the set- tlers came to the bottom," said he, " and they took the chances of its ever troubling them." But in the course of the session the gentleman wanted an appropriation for building a bridge across the Nishnabotany, and ap- proached his friend from the Missouri bottom to ask his assistance in se- curing it. "Not much," replied the member from the bottom, "the river was there when you came, and you took your chances." The matter was compromised; the issues " pooled," and both appropriations made.
A NEW USE FOR MOLASSES.
In the journal of the board of supervisors is to be found this remarka- ble entry :
The claim of for two gallons of molasses used in building the - - bridge across the Nishnabotany river was, on motion, allowed.
They called it "molasses," but every old settler knows what they meant. Col. Dewey and his party of surveyors were allowed $25 worth
- -
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of this same kind of " molasses " by Judge Frost when they were at work surveying the swamp lands on the Missouri bottom, although the judge insisted that $15 worth was quite enough.
HITCHCOCK, THE INDIAN TRADER.
Rufus Hitchcock, the Indian trader of early days, was quite a charac- ter. He was a man of much general information, was well educated, and possessed many accomplishments; but he was wholly unprincipled and considered an outlaw and a social pariah. He and his partner, Burris, were the first white men in the county after Cooper. They lived on the Jeff Wade farm in March, 1839. Their principal stock in trade was whisky. When Cornelius McKissick came to the county, in 1840, Mrs. Burris and her daughters were the only white women in the county, as well as he remembers. Domestic discord reigned in Burris' household, and Burris left his wife in the autumn of 1840, never to return. She ob- tained a divorce a year or two later and married Hitchcock. The latter was already numerously married. Criminal charges of various kinds had been preferred against Hitchcock, and in order to avoid arrest and pun- ishment he built a cabin containing two rooms, one on each side of the Iowa and Missouri state line. A portion of the county was then known as Holt county, Missouri, and when the sheriff of that ,county, on one occasion, came to arrest Hitchcock for some offense the wily trader stepped into his Iowa room and cooly sat and chatted with the officer an hour or more. The sheriff went home without his prisoner.
KILLING OF ZADOK MARTIN BY CORNELIUS M'KISSICK.
Mr. Cornelius McKissick, the first bona fide settler in Fremont county, and whose portrait is given elsewhere in this volume, was at one time put on trial for manslaughter. About three years after he had settled on his claim in Madison township, a great bullying fellow, named Zadok Martin, "jumped" the claim and told the neighbors he expected to drive McKis- sock off or make him pay well for the privilege of staying. The two men met one day and Martin said to McKissick: "I am making a claim here, and I have seen you hauling rails off it; I want you to stop that." McKissick replied: "This is my claim; I have been here three years; but I will not quarrel with you." Martin followed up McKissick for three or four days, and at last came upon him where he, his brother, and his brother-in-law were making rails. A companion was with him. Martin was armed with a heavy dog-wood bludgeon and his companion with a rifle. The pair cornered McKissick and Martin drew his club; but McKissick drew his rifle and shot his assailant, who turned, walked a few feet, fell, and never breathed again. McKissick was arrested and
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tried at Oregon, the county seat of Holt county, Missouri." The jury found a verdict of manslaughter in the second degree. This verdi was set aside and a fine of $500 inflicted in its stead. Mr. McKissick's neigh- bors, who knew the circumstances, thought this unjust, and petitioned the legislature of Missouri to remit the fine, and their prayer was granted.
INCIDENT AT A BARN RAISING-AN ATTORNEY'S DYING DECLARATION DISCREDITED.
In June, 1848, the first frame barn in Fremont county was raised, on section 30, Madison township, on what was known as the Watts farm. The citizens were in attendance from far and near, and all classes and professions were represented. Judge Bradford, of Linden, Missouri, the second district judge of the county, was in attendance. No lawyer was too high-toned in those days to assist his neighbors in any undertaking. In raising the frame one of the " bents " fell, striking four or five men in its fall. A lawyer named Brown was one of the injured parties: He hallooed lustily, " O! I'm a dead man." Judge Bradford mounted his mule and started for Linden after a surgeon. On the way he met a neigh- bor, who inquired what was the matter. The Judge hurriedly narrated the incident of the falling "bent." "But was anybody badly hurt?" in- quired the neighbor. " Well," replied Bradford, " Brown says he's a dead man, but then he's such a d-d liar you can never believe what he tells you !"
" THERE WERE GIANTS IN THOSE DAYS."
In 1875 a huge human skeleton was unearthed at a brick-yard about one mile east of Hamburg, at a depth of fourteen feet from the surface of the earth. The bones were for the most part in advanced state of decay, but the teeth were well preserved. The remains are believed to be those of a giant at least eight feet in height. The teeth were worn down almost to the jaw-bone, which fact indicated that the "mighty man of renown" must have lived in the days mentioned by the old Indians who formerly lived in the vicinity of Hamburg. "Long ago," said they, " our fathers used to ride across the Missouri river here on their ponies, for the water was very shallow. The eastern margin of the river then was at the foot of the high bluff (at Hamburg) and the river itself was very wide. But there were so many bad men among our fathers in those days, and they engaged in so many wars that the Great Spirit cursed the waters of the river (the Missouri) and caused it to run in a narrower and deeper chan- nel, so that the tribes, could not cross and fight and kill one another. After that our fathers lived till their feet were worn off with walking, and their teeth worn down with eating." Many other bones of extinct giant
*It must be borne in mind that Madison township was then a part of Holt county.
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animals and men have been found in the same locality where the skeleton before described was discovered.
A PROPHECY FULFILLED.
In 1853, L. Carman and others of his neighbors were looking over the county for a location. They lodged one night with a settler named Mil- er. There were no neighbors within six miles. After supper Miller and Carman were talking of the probable future of the couuty. Miller claimed that in a few years the county would be thickly settled; railroads would run through the county, and that the fences would be built of pine umber and cedar posts. Moreover he avowed himself in favor of the change, alleging that he believed in railroads and all the other elements of progress. Taking down Miller's flint-lock rifle, Carman rejoined: " The 1-1 and Footy Jones! you talk about railroads and progress with a flint- 'ock on your gun!" Time passed; the railroads came; the flint-lock departed, and Miller and Carman both live to contemplate the change.
BILL LEWIS'S QUAKER GUN.
During the war Bill Lewis and his men played quite a prank on a Mis- ouri river steamer. Lewis procured the drum of a stove-pipe, "mounted" t as if it were a piece of artillery behind a breastwork of cordwood, and io concealed and at the same time exposed the sheet-iron cylinder that at little distance it actually resembled a twelve-pound howitzer. The boat :ame sailing up the stream, and when opposite the famous Hamburg anding it was hailed by Lewis and ordered to come ashore under penalty of being blown out of the water. The captain obeyed the summons, ounded to, and did not discover the joke until he had thrown out the tage-plank. On the next trip up the river, the boat (said to have been he West Wind), got even with "Old Bill." It landed at the " Narrows" vithout being signaled, and a great big fighting Irishman came ashore und thrashed Lewis soundly. Bill afterward said that the boat was car- 'ying a rebel flag when he compelled her to come ashore, but this has een denied by those acquainted with the facts.
CORONER'S INQUESTS.
It is related of a certain coroner that he was not at all particular how he obtained "subjects" and the consequent fees so that he did obtain hem. There was an old grave-yard on the Nebraska side of the Mis- souri river which the ever-changing current of the big muddy was grad- ually wearing away. The corpses there deposited were all in stout boxes and were frequently seen floating in the current. The enterprising official referred to kept a vigilant look-out for these "subjects," and caught every
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one he saw, conveyed it to the Iowa shore and " inquested " it, not forget ting to present a good fat fee-bill to the county court for his trouble. O1 one occasion some parties were catching portions of the wreck of a steam boat that had been wrecked up the river, and caught one of the stou boxes aforesaid. Upon conveying it to the shore and opening it, the bo: was found to contain the body of a dead Indian. The coroner claimer the corpse-merely a cadaver-as his legitimate prey, and accordingly " sat " upon it, not forgetting to report his fees, to be sure.
A POISONING CASE.
Some years since an old man named Atkinson, living in the eastern par of the county, came near being poisoned to death. Mr. Atkinson liver alone. When he was away from home one day a fellow named Charle Chadwick, alias Charles Jackson, went to Atkinson's cabin and put poison in some cooked food which he found in the cupboard. On his return th old man was very hungry and ate heartily of the poisoned food. H. soon realized his danger and started for the house of Cornelius Hanks and upon his arrival fell into the doorway from exhaustion and pain. Mi Hanks administered a simple antidote and the old man recovered. Chad wick was arrested, tried, and sentenced to pay a fine of $500, and to serv ten years at hard labor in the Fort Madison penitentiary.
HOMICIDES OF FREMONT COUNTY.
"THOU SHALT NOT KILL."
The criminal history of this county, if written in full, would not be : pleasant subject of contemplation to one who held the good name and fame of the county in near and dear esteem. Crime, of every species and of every degree known to the calendar, has been perpetrated in the county since its organization-and (pity that it is true) has not always been ade quately punished. In many instances no punishment at all has followed the perpetration of the most atrocious crimes.
The county, from its position-being within easy distance of three other, states or territories-has long been a favorite resort for criminals of othe: states and communities. The fleeing felon might, if pursued by an offi. cer into this county, in a few minutes cross either into Missouri, Kansas or Nebraska, and thus baffle his pursuer for a time and perhaps for al time. Hence, and for other reasons, there have always been a number o: lawless persons in the county, and doubtless always will be. It is no exactly agreeable to say so, but it is the truth, that the records and the
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statistics show that the acts of homicide perpetrated in this county during ts past existence largely outnumber those perpetrated in any other county n southwestern Iowa, with the possible exception of Pottawattamie. Through the negligence of officers in some instances, the insecurity of the ail, and "the law's delay," there has never been but a single conviction or murder in the first degree, and not one judicial execution, while there tre at least twenty clear cases of homicide on record in the county. To give the details of every one of these cases would make a chapter remark- ble solely for the horrible character of the incidents narrated. A few only of the most remarkable cases of homicide will be mentioned. and detailed.
MURDER OF RICHARD FLANAGAN.
The first murder-and at the same time the first death-of a white man n Fremont county was that of Richard Flanagan. He was an Irishman and a bachelor, about thirty-five years of age. He resided in what is now Franklin township, being the first white man to make a settlement north of Mound City, Missouri, coming to the county in 1838. February 10, 1842, he was going from the house of neighbor pioneer whose wife had been making for him (Flanagan) a coat, when he was shot through the head with a rifle ball by an ambushed assassin. At first it was thought that the Indians had killed Flanagan, but subsequent developments pretty clearly showed that he was murdered for his money by a fellow named Charles Lewis, who afterward proved to be a notorious horsethief and criminal, and was forced to leave the country. The murdered man had only about $25 or $30, yet this sum was sufficient to tempt the cupid ity of the fellow Lewis and cause the first death in Fremont county to occur by murder.
KILLING OF PAUL PORKET.
In 1857 Peter Livermore, of Madison township, killed a man named Paul Porket or Parquette, Both men were Frenchmen. About a year previous to the killing Livermore had Porket arrested on a charge of stealing wheat. Upon examination before Esquire John Kelsay, Porket was discharged. The feud grew and resulted as has been stated. Liver- more was arrested, but escaped in some way and was never brought to trial.
The cases of homicide occurring during the war are mentioned elsewhere.
SHOOTING OF TWO HORSE THIEVES.
In the spring of 1866 (?) two horse thieves stole some horses from Mr. Jas. McMillen, of Madison township. They were followed by the citi-
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zens and captured near Lamar station, Nodaway county, Missouri, a locality known as " Passumwoc." They were brought back to McKis- sick's grove, tried by an improvised court composed of citizens of the township, and sentenced to death. They were allowed to choose their mode of execution and elected to be shot. Their desires were grati- ยท fied. The first, a fellow named Crosby, stepped bravely out, and, baring his breast, requested the firing committee to take good aim. He was killed almost instantly. His companion was next called on, and, with remarkable composure, he stepped out without flinching, to take the place of his dead comrade, on whose corpse he gazed apparently unaffected by the ghastly spectable. Both men died with the nerve of Marshal Ney. and stoutly protesting their innocence. Their bodies were buried in the grove near where they were put to death. Horse thieving was never looked upon with much favor by the citizens of Madison township.
HANGING OF A DESPERADO AT EASTPORT.
In 1869 a desperado from Missouri, a member of the famous and infa- mous Mc Waters gang, shot an employe of the ferryboat plying between Nebraska City and Eastport. The shooting was done on the boat on the Iowa side and was wholly without provocation. The wound was at first thought to be a mortal one, but the wounded man eventually recovered. The desperado was immediately taken into custody and arraigned before Esq. Ewbanks. That night an armed mob took possession of the prisoner, carried him away, beat and abused him in a shocking manner, and ended by hanging him to a tree, where he was found the next morning " dead, dead, dead." Several of the parties supposed to be engaged in the lynch- ing were afterwards indicted, and one of them, Delos Torbert, was tried and acquitted. None of the rest were ever brought to trial.
MURDER OF W. M. HOLLOWAY AND LYNCHING OF THE MURDERERS.
January 14, 1869, W. M. or " Miniature " Holloway lived on his farm, about two miles from Plum hollow. He had given a dancing party at his house and many guests were in attendance. William Jackson and James Orton, both young men, and then residing in the neighborhood, came to the house. They were regarded as rough characters and were not invited in. Turning about they returned to Plum hollow, procured some whisky, which they drank, and then again went to Holloway's. This time they entered the house. A quadrille was formed and in place on the floor. The two fellows swore they had come there to dance. There was great confusion. Orton began firing his pistol. Holloway picked up a chair and tried to drive the ruffians from the house. One of them caught Hol- loway about the neck and with a knife began cutting his (Holloway's)
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throat. The other struck him over the head repeatedly with the butt end of a heavy pistol. John Holloway, a nephew of " Miniature's," seeing how matters stood, tried to help his uncle. Running out into the door- yard he discovered a gun barrel frozen in the ground, and kicking it loose he returned with it into the house and felling Jackson to the floor with one blow, turned his attention to Orton and soon had the latter lying senseless upon the floor. Young Holloway was of the opinion that Jackson was settled for the time, but the rascal soon recovered sufficiently to make his escape from the house and over into Nebraska, whither he was followed and arrested the next morning.
After striking down the two miscreants, John Holloway turned his attention to his uncle, and was engaged in watching him when Jackson made his escape from the house. The guests and other inmates of the house fled from the room, or were too badly excited to render any assist- ance. Holloway died the next day. Orton and Jackson were both taken before Esquire Ewell and charged with the crime of assault with intent to murder. They plead not guilty, but waived examination and were taken to the Sidney jail. They were placed in confinement on Friday. The following night about two hundred men, supposed to be from Scott township, came into Sidney and quietly but effectually took possession of the town. A large number of the party visited the jail and demanded of the jailer-then sheriff Martin-the possession of the murderers of Holloway. Being refused, they began battering down the doors of the jail, but before they had proceeded very far the keys were obtained in some way and the two homicides taken from their cells and placed in a wagon which was speedily driven into the timber a short distance west of town. The wagon was driven under a large tree (still standing), ropes were put about the necks of the prisoners and made fast to a stout limb, the wagon was driven away and the spirits of the two murderers were soon in internity. Their bodies were left hanging. Next morning they were taken down and conveyed to the court-house, where an inquest was held. The bodies were taken in charge by relatives and buried. Jackson's mother resided on the Missouri bottom. Orton hada brother, a very excellent man, living near Bartlett.
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