USA > Iowa > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Iowa, including a condensed history of the state, the early settlement of the county together with sketches of its pioneers > Part 19
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The Prohibitionists have on different occasions attempted to organize a separate and distinct party in the county, but this force is much more conspicuous at a temperance meeting than in a political convention, and perhaps acting quite wisely in the matter, for should this party, last spoken of, be cast on its own strength, they could not accomplish anything, only a vacillation from party to party, taking up the propositions of those who offered the best terms for support, or remain in inocuous desue- tude.
The question of prohibition is in fact not one of party, and never has been really a pure party measure, except that through this door an entry might be had to office and power.
The Democrat as a citizen is as truly interested in the sobriety and good morals of the country as the Republican, and as far as my observation has reached, is as temperate in his habits.
There are in the county, to-day, very many Democrats who detest a drunken man as well as hold in holy horror the man who
231
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
vends the intoxicating drinks; beside there a great number of Republicans who support the measure of temperance because the same is part and parcel of the measures of the party and because the supremacy of the party must be maintained; vote for the measure because of the strength it brings the party, and not because of the moral principles involved.
Illustrative of the fact that prohibition has not been a purely partisau question, the vote of the county, had on the 27th day June, 1882, on the amendment to the Constitution incorpor- ating therein prohibition, is herein copied, so that each person can form his own conclusions. The vote is given in townships in order that the good can have credit, leaving each person to determine for himself which is good.
Amendment
Township.
Rep.
Dem. Greenbk.
For.
Against.
Allen.
21
14
12
17
Boyer
161
88
3
163
63
Cass
60
40
2
20
72
Calhoun
36
34
3
39
18
Cincinnati
47
70
3
27
40
Clay.
39
57
5
22
52
Douglas.
53
47
5
42
39
Harrison
240
148
22
249
119
Jackson
39
22
35
56
14
Jefferson
267
134
7
261
133
La Grange Lincoln.
43
71
3
44
40
Little Sioux
91
35
84
110
106
Magnolia
110
78
7
125
67
Morgan
47
35
16
62
59
Raglan
18
60
5
14
44
St. John
218
269
27
242
217
Taylor
91
67
8
66
82
Union .
44
71
3
64
61
Washington
74
96
1
63
66
Total.
1724 1458
243
1701
1330
Total vote on Constitutional Amendment.
3031
Majority for Amendment ..
371
Total vote cast at the following October
.3425
25
22
20
21
So that while the vote of the following October was 414 votes greater than that polled on the 27th day of June of the same year, it can not be claimed that the 371 majority on the Consti- tutional Amendment was that of the Republican party, and
232
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
further, this vote of October in the same year only gives the Republicans twelve and one half votes of a majority over the vote cast at that time.
Some peculiar circumstances happened which are not easily accounted for, and to illustrate: An editor of a very excellent newspaper in the county, for a long time prior to the vote on the submission of this Constitutional Amendment, was very enthusiastic in his advocacy of the prohibition doctrine, and per- haps at and during the time of the submission did as much in carrying the county by this 371 majority for the measure as any two men in the county, but when the case testing the constitu- tionality of the passage of the act granting the submission thereof to the people had been heard in the Supreme Court of this State, and the finding of this court was adverse to the con- stitutionality, and all the labor and prayers bestowed on the meas- ure were lost, he became despondent and gave to his readers the thought that Prohibition in Iowa was a failure; however, this opinion was reconsidered and D. M. Harris, the editor of the only Democratic organ in the county at the fall election of 1887, boldly told his readers that prohibition in Iowa had come to stay.
Prohibition in Iowa has come to stay and the sooner this fact is conceded the better it will be for all concerned. The princi- ple is right, and all great reforms never go backward; the prog- ress of the measure may suffer delay, but never meets a defeat. The reader, by looking into the past, will readily discover that while the opinion of the Supreme Court on this question was founded on former precedents, and opinions of the old time Republicans may have been glanced at by the courts, neverthe- less, it is a fact that the opinion cost Judge Day his official head, from the fact that at the first opportunity the party retired him and took up another man, true to the core on this principle, in the person of Judge Reed, and elected him in the place of the man who thought he was doing, and at the same time had the fortitude to do, his duty.
233
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
I might give another illustration of the dealings of the party with their men in office: at the State convention, held by the Republican party in the year of 1887, the public had crystalized the thought that the railroads in the State had the affection of the Supreme Court, and as a result, at this convention retired Mr. Justice Adams, because of his either real or fancied affec- tion for these gigantic monopolies. Judge Adams was a man of ripe learning in the law, and there can scarcely be any other interpretation for the act of the party in throwing him over- board and taking up a new man, than that above stated.
The principles on which prohibition is based are right, which thought is crystalized in the mind of the author, both by obser- vation and practical experience; and the only vestige of the traffic now lingers on the ragged edges of "B" "B" which in fact is only a fancied name for a very poor quality of very infe- rior beer.
Bates Hosbrook, Esq., Lafayette Brown, attorney at law, of Missouri Valley, L. D. Butler, of Woodbine, Nephi Yocum, of La Grange, and I might mention far beyond a score of the Old Hickory Democracy, who took off their coats and went into this prohibition fight to win, while nearly the same number of Repub- licans were passive, and " sulked in their tents," until the fight was over and the smoke of battle had cleared away.
In 1870 the question of prohibiting the sale of beer, ale and wine was submitted to the voters of the county, at which elec- tion, viz .: in October, the total vote cast was 1371, and resulted as follows:
For prohibition of ale, beer and wine. .735
Against. 636 which yielded for prohibition a majority of 99.
In 1868 at the fall election another sort or article of prohibi- tion, or I might say, question of personal liberty, was sub- mitted to the people for an opinion, and was this: " Shall hogs and sheep be permitted to : run at large?" "Shall hogs and sheep be prohibited from running at large?"
-
-
234
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
The total vote on this proposition was 1460, and the hog retained his liberty by a majority of 306, the vote being
For running at large. 886
Against. 580
HIGH SCHOOL.
At the October election in 1871, a proposition was submitted to the people of creating a county high school and having the same located at Magnolia, which resulted in the following vote, viz .: Whole number of votes cast, 2048; For, 949; against, 1099; the proposition suffering defeat by a majority of 150.
COUNTY SEAT CONTESTS AND COUNTY SEAT WARS.
Since the location of the county seat at Magnolia, by A. D. Jones of Pottawattamie county, Abraham Fletcher of Fremont county and Charles Wolcott of Mills county, Commissioners appointed for this purpose by the Fourth General Assembly of the State of Iowa, by act of January 12, 1853, on the Tuesday following the first Monday, of March, 1853, the permanency of this worthless but much coveted embellishment has been ques- tioned and very vigorously coveted.
Calhoun and the vicinity of Logan both being competitors with Magnolia at the time the latter place was selected by the Commissioners, never cultivated much friendship with the suc- cessful point, and as a matter of policy the people east of the Boyer would stand in with the Magnoliaites when Calhoun would make an effort for a re-location at the latter place.
This question was ever uppermost in the mind of the people of Calhoun, and not only would this quarrel enter into the warp and woof of politics, but would thrust itself into all conceivable questions of public interest. The people along and east of the Boyer would prefer the seat of justice to remain at Magnolia rather than have the same taken to Calhoun, and as a result, whenever Calhoun would move on the works at Magnolia the east side would rally to the rescue of Magnolia.
235
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
In the summer of 1864 the people of Calhoun came to the front with a petition praying the Board of Supervisors to submit this question to a vote of the people, or in other words, they cir- culated petitions for signatures of voters asking the submission, to which petition the people of Magnolia very vigorously remon- strated by circulating remonstrances asking the Board to deny the prayer of petitioners.
During the interim of this " see-saw " there was much crimi- nation and recrimination and when the washing was all cleaned up and settlement made, the people of Calhoun were short of names, and from the fact that the place requesting the vote did not have a majority of the names of the voters as shown by the last census, the submission was refused and the county seat question remained in statu quo until a new town was born and had grown to sufficient proportions to make known. its wants.
Missouri Valley, in 1870, then being six years old, desired to have this coveted ornament re-located in her center, and during the summer of the year last named overran the county with a multitude of petitions praying the submission at the next gen- eral election. At this juncture the people of Magnolia thought themselves so strong that they would let the people take a vote, thinking that the county had so materially changed in the past seventeen years, had become so wholly different from its condition at the time of the location by the Commissioners, that the rail- road had woven a new material into the interest and in a great measure changed the natural conditions, that it would be demo- cratic for the people to express their preferences at the polls. The question was submitted, " Shall the county seat be re-located at Missouri Valley? Shall the county seat remain at Magnolia?"
The vote being taken the whole number of votes cast at the election on this question was 2,048.
For removal to Missouri Valley 949
Against removal to Missouri Valley 1,099
Majority for Magnolia 50
236
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
This county seat war then had a rest until the April session 1873, at which time the Missouri Valleyites again presente the Board of Supervisors a petition praying the submission change to Missouri Valley, and the Magnoliaites being on watch, had their guns shotted to the nozzle with remonstra) and fired them into the face of the Board.
The names on the petition numbered 1224
The names on the remonstrance. 1538
Majority against submission. 314
Again, at the June session of the Board, in the same y Missouri Valley is at the front with the same or new petiti for submission, but the range of her influence was exhausted the last April session and at this time only had on her petit names to the number of 931; names on Magnolia rem strance, 1573, but at this same time there was a new champion county seat warfare entering the lists, viz .: Logan, with ash ing of names on her petition to the number of 1,202. For first time in nine years Magnolia and Missouri Valley w friends, for at this time both of these localities last named joi forces as remonstrators and presented to the Board their rem strance with the names numbering 1405, and defeated the subr sion.
This county seat war then lapsed back into the old condit and so remained until in the early summer of 1875, when little town of Logan wanted to be heard, and presented suc conditions of interests that both Magnolia and Missouri Va were afraid to enter the ring as remonstrators. Logan had balance of power and her men of brains well knew this, : sprung the question at a time so as to be in advance of Miss( Valley.
Had Magnolia defeated the petitions of Logan interests this question, this would have driven nearly all of the stren of this factor into the Missouri Valley camp, and in the foll ing year would have given Missouri Valley the desired stren
237
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
to carry away the prize. As a result of this three-cornered fight, neither Magnolia nor Missouri Valley attempted remon- strance, and the Loganites having secured the requisite quantum of signers, presented their petition to the Board and the vote was ordered at the coming election.
Up to the day of the election, the stillness that pervaded these local atmospheres could only be likened to that which precedes the advent of the destructive, crushing, devastating tornado.
The vote was cast and the destiny of the county seat, for a short time, presumably, settled.
The total number of votes cast at this election, on this ques- tion of relocation and against relocation was, 2536.
For relocation at Logan, 1,269
Against relocation at Logan, 1,267
Majority for relocation,. 2
Within the past twelve years, a third of a dozen of drunken men, and double that number of fools, have had the cheek to say in the presence of Joe. H. Smith, that he stole the county seat from Magnolia and delivered it to Logan.
The Lord only knows how much time and vital energies have been wasted on this subject by humanity who have not the cour- age to say, to an individual's face, what they will gloatingly enlarge upon during his absence, nor does the author hereof think of committing suicide because he has been the target for these dark lantern guns. Even one whom the author has saved from disbarment from his profession as an attorney on account of professional crookednes, through envy and malice, have ped- dled this same stale thunder.
Heretofore, either in public or private, I have refrained from talking on, or giving any explanation of this subject; but now, well knowing that many persons will say, " Joe, why don't you tell us how the county seat was taken from Magnolia to Logan?" and the subject, now being under discussion and a record made
=
238
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
as to this event, which took place thirteen years since, I give a statement, both as to the outside and inside of the su which has laid so long, apparently dormant.
At the time of the casting of this ballot I was a " gran battling with grasshoppers, hog cholera and local elements, ; which combined were determined to make me surrender. I had all the little wealth I possessed invested in an around the lage of Magnolia. I felt a deep interest in retaining the " se justice " at the place selected by the Commissioners appo by the Legislature of the State, and as a consequence en into the local battle with all the energies of my nature. : fighting for my home and for the continuation of values to ] erty for which I had paid county seat prices, for if the co seat should be taken from Magnolia and re-located at Log knew that my property must decrease in value by such rem and to that end I spent my money quite freely in advoc: this side of the measure. I had every reason to believe the who resided in, and held property in Magnolia, at that time equally as much interested in retaining the county seat as m but, oh! the mistakes of human judgment! Meetings were and this and that policy discussed, when, to my utter ar ment, some of the apparent leaders of Magnolia advocated a policy measure should be adopted, by which Logan sł receive a pro rata of the Magnolia vote, and this propos meeting with a deserved and hearty reprimand, the same apparently dropped.
I entered into this fight with all the ardor of my nature giving to the same the knowledge I had crystalized fron eighteen year's warfare, I spent three weeks in advocating retention of the county seat at Magnolia and $125 in furthe the cause, when the day of election had arrived, what was consternation in seeing four of the foremost men of the i advocating the " policy " measure, and as a result of their w and influence, 43 votes from Magnolia township were cast
239
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
the removal of the county seat to Logan. Then I could readily interpret the hand writing of the " policy " dodge, and on the same day I learned that Mr. A. L. Harvey, Geo. S. Bacon, J. W. Stocker, John W. Wood, B. C. Adams, Joe Wilson, W. F. Clark, et al., had secretly, at a time long prior to this vote, purchased an interest in a corporation known as the "Logan Town Com- pany" and within a short time thereafter formulated the idea that a newspaper should be located at Logan, to advocate the interest of this last named place, and as a result of this thought, the Logan Town Company gave as a bonus $500 for the location of a paper as last stated, and the paper budded as per the under- standing. Now, at this time, viz .: this election, I could see that these four shepherds of the Magnolia flock had laid down in their tents with their boots on, and instead of doing service for the old " seat " had done absolutely nothing therefor, but vice versa.
These guns were spiked because of reasons last stated, and the policy dodge was now to me quite transparent, for some one watching the beatings of the public pulse and knowing the rel- ative strength of the different sides soon learned that it would take 43 Magnolia votes for Logan to clear the course. This policy measure of standing in with Logan and giving that locus a complimentary vote, was to me, after the vote was made known, ravishingly thin, for no sooner was this status learned than I, in common with many others who were left out in the cold and had neither part nor lot in the Logan Town Company, wasted a profusion of select profanity respecting the perfidy of fine- haired humanity, and I adjourned to my home on the farm.
During the night I formulated the injunction plan and was determined to defeat the vote at all hazards, and as soon as the morning had come, went direct to Magnolia, and in company Mr. S. L. Burkley started for and reached Council Bluffs by two o'clock, P. M., where I submitted the case to Montgomery and Scott, who at once set about drawing up the petition for a writ of injunction restraining the Board and County Auditor and
240
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
other officials of the county from removing the records to Logan, which was done in the short space of two days. Here the case rested until the friends of Logan served a notice on me to appear before his Honor Judge Zuver at the county seat of O'Brien county within ten days from the date of service of the notice. Immediately on the happening of this I went to Missouri Valley and asked the men there to assist in the defraying of the expenses in traveling to this place, and in the obtainment of the necessary evidence to show that there were numerous illegal votes cast for Logan at the past election. To this proposition they laughed in my face, and said, " It was not their fight and if I wanted to have the county seat remain at Magnolia to go on and fight it and pay the fiddler myself."
I replied, " Gentlemen, you can not afford to do this, for Mag- nolia can not hold the county seat beyond three years, and if you can get a whack at it the prize is yours." " We wont give you a penny; we don't care a d-n where the county seat goes," said they.
I then went to Magnolia and after a day's effort in the way of raising funds for the fight, succeeded in obtaining $2.75 to bear my expenses and that of my lawyer to O'Brien county, to defeat the Logan motion to quash the writ and furnish affidavits.
I was the relator and on me was the burden of the fight cast, and while the matter of obtaining the writ was under discussion the greater portion of Magnolia were heartily in favor of prompt legal action, but now, when I had already paid out to my attor- neys seventy-five dollars and still owed twenty-five dollars, and in addition another $100 was called for to try the validity for the foundation for the issuance of the writ, my own expenses as well as the cost of obtaining affidavits, I found myself as far from moneyed friends as if I had been dropped down in the center of the greatest desert. Then I could read the hand writing on the wall, written in the policy of the few who urged voting for Logan.
241
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
In the matter of election, I had expended $125, and had since that in the way of having the injunction issued and served, paid out seventy-five dollars-owed twenty-five dollars more as attorney's fees, besides my own time and expenses, and now had come to the conclusion that if I had to tread the wine press alone, it would be precious little tramping of grapes would I from that time perform; and as a result I made friends with persons in Logan and had them make good my expenses and out- lay, and from that time lapsed back into indifference, the same as the people of Magnolia were when I approached them for " chips " to carry on the fight.
I thought then and still think that the county seat being located at Logan better accommodates the entire people of the county, than at any other place in the county. It could not at the time of this vote permanently remain six miles distant from a railroad, more especially where the railroad town was quite as near to the center of the county, both geographically and center of population. I believe this course then was best and think so yet. I have never repented of this act for which I have been so severely censured, and unless some new and more forcible reve- lation comes, am positive I never shall.
I did what I did feeling that by so doing I was serving the best interests of the greater portion of the people of the county, and for my conduct I have neither tear to shed, apology to offer or forgiveness to ask. Under the same combinations and cir- cumstances I would unhesitatingly do the same act, and that being the present condition of my mind I have no thought of suiciding by reason of the sputterings of those whose entire lives have been given to fault findings and vituperation.
Again in 1886, at the September session of the Board, the friends of Missouri Valley were before this body with petitions praying for an order for submission of the question to the voters of the county but the Logan people wholly submerged them with such a large majority of citizens remonstrating, that the submis-
16
242
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. .
sion was again denied. From the number of names on the peti- tion and remonstrance the fact was divulged that there were voters in this county at that time to the number of 5,600, and some have playfully remarked that the Missouri Valleyites were possessed of the names of all the voters between that point and Chadron, Nebraska, and as a return to this compliment Logan is charged with visiting all the grave yards in the county and furnishing names for the remonstrances from the tomb- stones and monuments therein.
And as a present "finis " to these contests, wars and jars, Magnolia having presented to the Board at the June term, 1887, a petition, praying that the question of removal of the county seat from Logan to the first named place be submitted at the coming November election, the matter of passing without the remonstrance on the part of the possessors, the submission was ordered and vote was taken which resulted in the following vote, viz .:
Whole number of votes cast. 3920 For re-location at Magnolia 1480
Against re-location at Magnolia 2439
Majority against change 935
FARMERS' CLUBS.
These organizations had their origin through the instrumen- tality of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob T. Stern.
This old patriarch and his good wife were of Quaker origin and hailed from the good old State of Pennsylvania, and set- tling in this county in the early part of 1857, brought with them, in addition to strong arms and honest hearts, some of the cus- toms of the "Keystone State."
Mr. Stern, in the fall of 1864, called a meeting of a few of the citizens of La Grange township together for the purpose of send- ing to Washington and through the Representative of this district, procure some of the valuable seeds which, at that time, were
243
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
being distributed throughout the country, as a means of benefit- ing the farmers and procuring a variety of production.
At the time these were received Mr. Stern, William Elliott, P. T. Hill and David Rogers, who were of the first organization, called the farmers of the township last named together, and dis- tributed to each a pro rata of these, which it was anticipated all would give the same a good cultivation, and when the same had ripened, and was gathered and threshed, to again meet and com- pare notes as to what were the best producers, and in this way each benefit the other.
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