USA > Iowa > Hardin County > History of Hardin county, Iowa, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 110
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A rope was procured to hang him, but before carrying out the sentence of the Court, an attempt was made to extort a confession from him. But no confession would he make. He denied being a horse thief himself, or that he was one of a gang, or knew anything of such a gang being in existence. A few of the committee be- lieved him innocent, or were fearful that he might be, and, therefore, did not care to put him to death. While giving him time to write a letter to his mother, before being hanged, it began quietly to be whispered around that it probably would be best not to hang, but to banish him from the county. By the time the letter was written this, apparently, was the opinion of the majority, and a motion was accordingly made that the sentence of the committee be changed from hanging, to banishment from the State. The motion was carried, the man agreeing that he would leave within a specified time-glad enough to get off with his life. He went to New York, where he remained some six or eight years, then returned to Clay township, where he settled down and lived a respectable life.
The committee officially notified a fam- ily named Bunker, residing in the east part of Eldora township, that their room was better than their company, and that they would be allowed a certain number of days in which to emigrate to other parts. They emigrated.
MORSE DEFALCATION.
D. B. Morse was Auditor of Hardin county from January 1, 1876, to January 1, 1878, a period of two years. At the time of his election, no man in the county was more universally esteemed. He was a man
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about five feet six inches in height, slight build, weighing about 135 pounds. In manners and speech, he was easy and quick. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and supposed to be an earnest and devout Christian man. The community was thoroughly surprised to hear, about two months after the expiration of his term of office, that he was a defaulter to a large amount, and, from the evidence pre- sented by Mr. Whited, his successor in office, it was found that he had pursued an irregular and illegal method of collecting school funds. Parties indebted to the school fund made payment to him instead of the Treasurer, as required by law. In this manner he had collected during his term of office about $10,000, principal and interest, of which amount $3,598.09 had never found its way into the treasury. The deficiency was discovered by Mr. Whited, in this manner: About the 1st of Febru- ary, 1878, he noticed an entry in the school fund ledger (a book in which is kept an individual account with each borrower of the school fund), where a payment of in- terest was credited to a person which was not charged to the County Treasurer in the proper book. He then determined to in- vestigate the matter a little, and, in doing 80, found other entries not charged. He called the attention of the Treasurer to this fact, and the two compared the books and vouchers of the Auditor's account and the Treasurer's account, and found them to correspond in every particular.
The conclusion was then established that Mr. Morse had failed to pay over such sums to the Treasurer where payments were audited and not charged to the Treas- urer's account. Job Stout, County Re-
corder, was soon after informed of the dis- crepancy, and invited to assist in examin- ing the books, which he did.
J. Q. Patterson, member of the Board of Supervisors, was next informed of the con- dition of affairs, and assisted in the exami- nation. Mr. Davis and Mr. Wright, the other members of the Board, were called in and the matter explained to them.
A meeting of the Board of Supervisors was then called, and held on the 12th and 13th of March, 1878, and the whole mat- ter thoroughly reviewed and investigated, and the guilt of Mr. Morse established. To allow him to make an explanation, he was called before the Board and confessed to having appropriated the money and ex- plained the matter to the members. His only explanation was that he had accom- modated a friend, whom he refused to name, and that friend failed to pay in time, and he was obliged to use the money to meet his own maturing papers. Heim- plicated no county officer or other party as being privy to the transaction.
As soon as his guilt was fully established the Board of Supervisors took steps to secure his arrest. The required informa- tion was filed and the papers drawn as speedily as possible. Within two minutes after the warrant was issued it was placed in the hands of the Deputy Sheriff to serve. He went at once to the house of Mr. Morse, but too late. As soon as dismissed by the Board he went home, wrote a letter to one of his bondsmen, telling him that he was not liable for the defalcation, and then fled the country.
A reward of $200 was at once offered by the Board for his arrest. Cards were issued, on the back of which was a photo-
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graph of the criminal, and distributed far and wide. Information was filed before the Grand Jury at the following term of the District Court, and indictments found against him for issuing false certificates, and also suits entered for the recovery of the amount which he had pocketed of the people's money. When the latter cases were called, judgment was rendered for the amount due, with interest and cost. But no property was ever found to satisfy the claim.
After an absence of some weeks Mr. Morse returned and surrendered to the Sheriff, but was immediately released on bail. At the March term, 1879, he was arrainged for trial and sentenced to six months in the county jail. He appealed to the Supreme Court where the decision of the District Court was sustained, and on the 5th day of January, 1880, he was con- fined in the jail where lie remained until June 4, 1880, when he was released.
SAFE ROBBERY.
On the night of August 14, 1865, the safe in the office of the Treasurer of Har- din county was broken into and robbed of $13,000,
The work was evidently that of profes- sional burglars; certainly no novice could have done the work so well. A hole had been drilled, powder inserted, and the hinges of the safe neatly blown off. When the loss was discovered, on the morning of the 15th, the Sheriff organized a posse and scoured the country to discover the burg- lars. No clew was obtained and all were compelled to return without the object of their search. Some days afterwards a few papers were found near Union which were
known to be in the safe. A detective from Chicago was employed who instituted a diligent search, but so thoroughly was all their tracks obliterated that no clew was ever obtained by the detective, save from the papers found, going to show the burg- lars went south. The search was soon abandoned. While many parties have been suspected, no evidence could ever be obtained warranting an arrest being made, and the question of the safe robbery will probably ever remain a mystery.
HORRIBLE ACCIDENT.
A frightful accident occurred at Union on Thursday, January, 24, 1878, by which James Harris met his death. He was a brakeman on a train due at that point at 1:30, P. M. He was coupling cars while the train was in motion, and it is supposed that his overshoe caught on a projecting spike, which tripped and held him until the wheels struck him. His right leg was crushed and torn off just below the knee, and was broken above in two places. His right hip was litterally smashed into a jelly. The right foot was split from toe to instep. Besides being run over and then terribly mutilated, he was dragged some twenty or thirty feet before the train was stopped and the mangled body extri- cated. He lingered in intense agony un- til half past seven o'clock of the evening of the accident, when he breathed his last.
FATAL ACCIDENT.
On Sunday evening, January 26, 1868, a terrible accident occurred in Union town- ship. The scene of the sad affair was near the residence of Mr. Ward. A revival had been in progress, in the Lockhard
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school house, for some weeks previous, and the unfortunate man whose death is here recorded drove his family to the services with unfailing regularity. On the even- ing which proved so terrible to him, he was returning from church. His sleigh had some six persons in it, and was driven by Mr. Spurlin. There were three teams in the string, all gaily prancing homeward and proud of the bells' chiming chorus. When within a short distance from Mr. Ward's house, where the Union postoffice was then located, the last sleigh lurched into a deep rut, capsizing, and spilled its occupants into the deep snow. Breaking from the driver's hands, the frightened horses flew past the middle sleigh, and, maddened with the cries of the women, blinded with uncontrollable fury, they leaped into the advance sleigh, in which were a number of men and women. This stampeded Mr. Spurlin's team. It ran fifty yards with furious speed, and dashed the sleigh with great force against the trunk of a large tree. The sled was demolished, and its occupants scattered, maimed and bruised, in every direction, and one of their number killed. Mr. Spurlin had been beaten on the head by the iron shod feet of the horses, which leaped in on his com- pany. A large stake was also driven in his head when thrown from the sleigh. James Kirkham was cut and crushed in a dreadful manner, and all the others severely injured.
Doctors Cusack and Underwood were immediately taken to the distressing scene, where all the sufferers were well cared for. In spite of science and surgical skill, Mr. Spurlin expired after six hours of intense suffering. The others in the party were
Mrs. Spurlin, Mr. and Mrs. Pitts, James Kirkham and John Joins. Mrs. Fannie Jewell, who was in the rear sleigh, had a narrow escape from death. Daniel Spur- lin, the deceased, was about sixty years of age, and was one of the first settlers in the county.
HARDIN COUNTY OF TO DAY.
Marvellous are the changes of time! But a half a century ago the grand State of Iowa, with its 2,000,000 of enterprising people, with its temple of art, its rail- roads, telephones, printing presses, and a thousand and one useful appliances de- signed for the happiness of all, was a vast wilderness. A third of a century ago the territory comprising the county of Hardin was the home of the red man, with not a sign of civilization. As already stated, in 1849 Greenberry Haggin erected his cabin upon the banks of the Iowa river, in the present township of Union. He was fol- lowed by others who equally desired to make for themselves a home in this beau- tiful land. What do we now behold?
We see those, who, a quarter of a century . ago, were strong and active, now showing the unmistakable impress of time. The dark locks are now of snowy whiteness; the quick, agile step has given way to the more moderate and even tread, or the tottering step that shows Life's journey is nearly over.
In place of the log cabins of the pio- neers, stately mansions now appear. No signs of poverty do we behold, but evi- dences of wealth and thrift upon every hand. Villages and towns have sprung up as if by magic. School houses are seen at almost every cross road, and beautiful
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churches with tall spires pointing heaven- ward are in proximity to them. In place of the prairie schooner carrying the ever moving people across our borders, quickly moving trains drawn by an iron horse hourly pass our doors. The telephone and telegraph wire in a moment's time carry our messages to loved ones far away.
The broad prairies of our grand county, lovely in summer but cold and cheerless in
winter, have been transformed into beauti- ful farms and settled by an enterprising people. The waters of the Iowa river have been made to do duty in grinding our grain, and the earth has been made to yield to us its mineral wealth. But the changes that have been made only illustrate in a small measure what the future of the county will be when every industry is fully developed.
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