USA > Iowa > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I > Part 14
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Hon. E. B. Washburn, of Galena, in one of his lectures, told the story that soon after the Bellevue War he attended a term of court in Bellevue, and as the hotel accommodations were limited he was assigned to a room with a young lawyer from Davenport, named Grant, and while they were getting ready to retire he was astounded to see Grant put his hand under the collar of his coat and pull out a bowie knife three feet long, and place it under his pillow. To a man just from the puritan precincts of New England this seemed a formidable proceeding, and he was not greatly reassured when Grant told him that was the only safe way for a lawyer to travel in Iowa. In his next lecture Washburn
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said he had received a letter from Judge Grant saying he had seen this state- ment attributed to Washburn, and that some doubted its correctness, and he was happy to be able to corroborate the statement in all respects but one. The bowie knife was not three feet long, it was only two feet six inches. Evidently Judge Grant was not without the sense of humor.
The late Captain Warren, of Bellevue, used to tell of Judge Grant's last appearance as judge in Jackson county. On the afternoon of the second day he took his carpet bag to the courtroom with him, and about half past two o'clock took up a writ of error in which Judge Spurr appeared on one side and Bangs on the other. They had barely stated the case when the judge, hearing the whistle of a steamboat going down the river, sustained the writ, reversed the case, adjourned the court sine die, grabbed his carpet bag, and started on a run for the river bank. While the boat was rounding to, he espied Captain Warren, and recalling that he had left the grand jury pursuing their investiga- tions, told him to go over to the courthouse and tell the grand jury to go home. Judge Grant afterward returned to his practice and before his death accumulated a larger fortune out of the practice of law than any other lawyer in Iowa.
A good many stories of happenings in the courts held by Judges Lefflingwell and Booth used to be current fifty years ago, but they did not happen in Jack- son county. When Judge Murdock held term for Judge Tuthill the cases of Young vs. Gammell and Gammell vs. Young, which during the greater part of the "fifties" burdened the dockets of Jackson county, were very much in evi- dence. To a bill in equity, filed on behalf of Gammell by Smith, Mckinley and Poor, Judge Booth had filed a demurrer on the ground that the bill was ambigu- ous and multifarious, and while a vigorous discussion over it was going on be- tween Judge Booth and Judge Poor, one of the former judges came into court with a load, not exactly too heavy for him to carry, but one that he might bet- ter have gone after twice. After listening for a time to the arguments he made his way with some difficulty to the door of the courtroom, and pausing, shouted back, "Go it, Booth, you've got him on the ambiguity. Go it, Poor, you've got him on the multifariousness." And that was just the way the Su- preme Court finally decided it.
Judge Tuthill was a man of considerable literary ability, and like Silas Wegg, occasionally "dropped into poetry." The story is told that during one term of court, he called up a case in which it appeared that both plaintiff and defendant had died after the case had been appealed from the justice of the peace. Judge Tuthill passed the case, and after empaneling a jury in another case, was ob- served to be writing something, and after court adjourned for dinner the fol- lowing effusion was found lying on the docket, a travesty on "Jordan am a Hard Road to Trabble," which was then the most popular "coon song" of those days :
"This here case was brought to the Cedar District Court, And was passed over by the Judges awardin', That as death had claimed his right, it was fittin' that the fight Should be fit on the other side of Jordan.
If the lawyers who were feed in the case to proceed, Have received enough to pay for their boardin', To finish up their task they should a change of venue ask, And take it to the other side of Jordan.
When the beater and the beat, and their counsel all meet, They can then try their action accordin' To the 'higher Law' in force, for better or for worse, In the courts on the other side of Jordan."
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During Judge Dillon's second term Lyman A. Ellis was district attorney, and when court was in session outside of Davenport the judge and district attorney roomed together. On one occasion the latter spent the evening in trying to draw up an indictment against some fellow in jail that the grand jury had determined to present, but found great difficulty in making it satis- factory to himself. After he had written and destroyed three or four drafts Judge Dillon said to him, "Lyman, just give me that pen, and I will show you how to draw an indictment that will hold water. I have been a prosecuting at- torney myself." Ellis gladly surrendered the pen, and after a little while Judge Dillon handed him an indictment, which next day was duly signed and pre- sented by the grand jury. After the arraignment of the prisoner his counsel filed a demurrer, and a motion to quash the indictment. Ellis made the best defense of the document that he could, but "fancy his feelings" when the judge in his blandest manner said, "The indictment is unquestionably bad, and both the demurrer and the motion to quash will be sustained. You must be more careful, Mr. Ellis, in drawing your papers. A great many criminals escape because the district attorneys are careless in drawing up their indictments." It did not detract anything from the occasion that the indictment in ques- tion had passed around among the members of the bar, and that they had recognized the judge's handwriting.
The March term of the District Court in 1866 was held by the late Judge N. M. Hubbard, of Linn county. He had just been appointed to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge C. H. Conklin, and having a number of cases in which he had been employed as counsel, arranged with Judge Rich- man that they exchange; Richman going to Marion to hold court there, and Hubbard holding court in Andrew. It is doubtful if any circus which ever ex- hibited in Iowa afforded more amusement than the time when, to use an ex- pression of Colonel Clark of Cedar Rapids, who was admitted to the bar on examination at that term, "Hubbard was holding court, or court martial, down in Jackson."
He had driven from his home in Marion, and as the roads were muddy, it was 4:55 P. M. when he reached the old stone courthouse, and the only persons present were Ed. Holmes, the clerk, and Scott Belden, the sheriff, who had come in to adjourn court as the law required at the stroke of five o'clock, and the writer; and it so happened that the latter was the only person at court who had any previous acquaintance with the new judge. He suggested that all the other members of the bar had gone to their homes or boarding houses, expecting that nothing would be done until the next day. But these suggestions did not meet with favor, and the judge ordered court opened, and called the docket through from beginning to end with these three persons only present, and then adjourned to eight o'clock next morning. At the moment the judge took his seat, and commenced calling for business. The other lawyers, who did not know of his arrival had taken it for granted that court could not open be- fore nine o'clock, came straggling in to find, to their surprise, the court already in session, and out of humor at not being able to get a jury case taken up, and after an hour or so spent fruitlessly, were treated to a lecture from the bench such as they had never heard before, and since the close of that term has never been heard again, but they heard it repeated several times within the next forty-eight hours.
Lyman A. Ellis was then district attorney, and it had been the custom during the administration of Judges Dillon and Richman, for the district at- torney to take the grand jury the first two days of court, and then take up the criminal cases for trial. But Judge Hubbard would have none of that. In Cattaraugus county, where he came from, the state cases had precedence, and the district attorney came in for more than his full share of censure. "Mr. District Attorney, the court is unable to make any progress in the administra- tion of justice, and it is all your fault. There are, at least, thirty criminal
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cases on the docket that ought to have been tried at once on the opening of the court, and you are not ready in any of them. We have a grand jury and petit jury, and at least a hundred witnesses are in waiting. Gentlemen who have litigation pending are detained away from their business, and we are unable to make any progress, and it is costing Jackson county at least three hundred dol- lars a day, every day when court is in session. It is all your fault, and the people ought to hold you responsible for it when election comes." The poor district attorney tried to urge the custom of the resident judges, but the court wouldn't listen to it. "That was the way they did business where he came from," and all Lyman could do was to take his medicine, and hear the court "jack him up" every session both morning and afternoon.
The district attorney's chance to get even came sooner than he expected. The first case in which a jury was empaneled was an action by a woman against her landlord for an assault and battery, in which the writer, assisted by Judge W. E. Leffingwell, appeared for the plaintiff, and Judge Darling for the defen- dant. The testimony was closed just as the court adjourned for supper, and the case was to be argued in the evening. It got noised around town that Darling and Leffingwell were to make speeches in the evening, and the court- room was packed. The writer opened the case for the plaintiff in a half hour's talk- to the jury, when Darling surprised the court by saying, "We submit the case without argument." thus shutting out Leffingwell, who he knew was "loaded for bear." The court had not written a word of his charge, having intended to do that while these gladiators were having their innings. He dropped into his seat, and seizing a pen and a sheet of paper, began writing furiously. A dead silence fell on the courtroom in which the scratching of the judge's pen could be plainly heard. After about ten minutes Ellis arose, his hands making futile efforts to pull his cuffs further down over them, and occasionally caressing the little tuft of whiskers under his chin, which a Dubuque newspaper man said "made him look like a twin brother to Uncle Sam," commenced in his falsetto voice, "Your honor, I would like to inquire what is the reason of this delay in the administration of justice? We lost a day in the opening of the court. There is a grand jury waiting and a petit jury also. Gentlemen interested in litigation pending in this court are detained away from their business. I have some thirty criminal cases that I am anxious to try, and there are not less than a hundred witnesses in attendance, and we are unable to make any progress, and it is cost- ing Jackson county not less than three hundred dollars every day we hold court. I would like to know the reason so that it may go before the people before elec- tion time."
From the time Ellis began the two men looked steadily into each other's eyes, and both comprehended the ludicrousness of the situation, but the coun- tenance of each was as impassive as that of a wooden Indian, but at the close Judge Hubbard, pointing his pen at the district attorney, merely said: "Very good, Mr. Ellis, very good, very good, indeed, sir," and fell to writing again, but there was no more howling for business for the rest of the term.
Among the indicted parties were several charged with illegal sales of in- toxicating liquors. Two of them were advised by Judge Kelso to plead guilty, and he interceded with the court for the imposition of a light fine. The judge read them such a lecture as neither they, or any one else ever heard. Every sentence cut like a whip lash. He told them that he had infinitely more respect for a horse thief than for them, and the poor Germans, as they stood overwhelmed and cowering under his denunciation, evidently thought that if they escaped with imprisonment for life they would be fortunate. They abjectly promised that they would never handle a beer mug again, and could scarcely believe their coun- sel when he told them that the extent of their punishment was a fine of twenty- five dollars. At hearing their sentence another of the indicted ones thought that he could stand the abuse if he could get off with a twenty-five dollar fine, and promptly walked up and pleaded guilty. The judge eyed him a moment, and
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remarked that he had taken Judge Kelso's conscience as the measure of the other fellow's punishment, but now he would follow his own, and socked the fellow with a fine of two hundred and fifty dollars, saying if he were in his own district it would be three times as much. There were no more pleas of guilty while "Hubbard was holding court, or court martial," down in Jackson.
Even the dignified Supreme Court occasionally witnessed scenes that gave their dignity a severe jolt. The following is related on the authority of Judge Wilson as having taken place during the last term of his occupancy of a seat on that tribunal: Judge Williams being chief justice, and Judge Wilson and Judge Kinney, who had been appointed after the resignation of Chief Justice Mason, had created a vacancy as his associates. One of the earliest members of the bar from the southeast corner of the state was resisting an appeal from a judgment below, in which he had defeated an attempt to redeem land sold under a deed of trust. The appellant's argument had been concluded before dinner, and the court adjourned until two o'clock to hear the argument of the appellee. Some one who knew the counsel's failing persuaded him to visit the barroom of the hotel with the consequence that while the counsel was in his seat in the old Senate Chamber where the session was held, he was unsteady as to his gait, and uncertain as to his speech. When the members of the court had taken their seats on the bench, the chief justice, not noticing his condition, signified to the counsel that he should proceed. Whereupon the counsel arose with some difficulty, and steadying himself by putting his left arm around one of the posts that upheld the gallery, began: Mun' please the court. Don't feel much like arguing this case; don't know as I want to argue the case. Don't make any difference how the court decides case. Affirm judgment we keep land. Reverse judgment, we get our money with twenty per cent. interest; all land is worth. Don't care how court decides case. Give court five dollars to decide case either way." Judges Williams and Wilson, comprehending the situation were rather amused than indignant, but Judge Kinney flushed up and rapping sharply on the desk said: "Mr. -, your conduct is intoler- able. Don't you know that your language is a contempt of this court?" This rebuke recalled the counsel to himself somewhat, and with a deprecatory ges- ture, he resumed, "Oh, beg court's pardon, didn't mean any contempt. Meant five dollars apiece. Didn't mean five dollars for the whole court." This was too much for Judge Kinney, and joining heartily in the laughter of his associates, the case was fully submitted without further argument.
THE JACKSON COUNTY PRESS. (FROM SOUVENIR NUMBER JACKSON SENTINEL.)
In Maquoketa, for nearly two years the Sentinel was alone in the field, but in March, 1856, Peter Moriarty, who was then state printer, issued the first num- ber of the "Weekly Excelsior." It was republican in politics and with the ascendency of that party to power, its prosperity and success followed. The paper was established as a seven column folio, but was enlarged and changed in form from various times and is now issued as a seven column quarto.
Capt. A. W. Drips succeeded Mr. Moriarty in 1858 by lease, but in 1859 Wil- lard S. Eddy purchased the office and the firm was then Drips and Eddy, which continued as such until 1861, when the senior member retired.
In 1865, W. F. McCarron purchased the office from Mr. Eddy, and soon after Colonel J. J. Wood purchased a haif interest. Then upon the retirement of Colonel Wood, B. F. Reeve became the partner of Mr. McCarron. Then Mr. McCarron became sole proprietor until Colonel Wood again took hold of the paper and conducted it until its sale to Capt. W. S. Belden in 1869.
Capt. Belden had very good success with the paper for some years but was induced to sell in 1876 to A. F. Shaw, a recent graduate of Cornell University, New York, and E. L. Matthews, a practical printer and foreman of the Sentinel office. This firm of enterprising young men proved a strong team, and continued
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the publication of the Excelsior until 1880. Messrs. J. H. Bahne, Wm. Bahne and a brother-in-law, Mr. Bingham, of Sabula, purchased the Excelsior at this time from Shaw and Mathews, but Mr. Bingham did not find the business con- genial and soon sold his interest to Frank Sanderson, of Lost Nation. A year elapsed and Mr. Sanderson withdrew, as did Wm. Bahne. J. H. Bahne contin- ued, and while he was acknowledged a good writer, he proved unsuccessful as a business manager, and in 1887 sold out to Geo. Earl, Jr., and D. D. Priaulx. The latter prospered in the business, Mr. Earl having contracted the Pacific coast fever and sold out to him. Mr. Priaulx improved the plant more than any of his predecessors, and in 1897 sold out to C. E. Griffin, Chas. Van Doren and Harry Griffin. The latter firm felt that they had not the means to push the paper and in March, 1901, sold to the present publisher, J. P. Gruwell.
The Excelsior has always been the sponsor in this county for its party, and notwithstanding its many changes of proprietors, has always promulgated re- publican principles.
The Maquoketa Record, now a seven column weekly, was established in May, 1878, by Capt. W. S. Belden. There was a great temperance wave going over the country at that time, and it was made the organ of the "Blue Ribbon Club." It also became a Greenback paper, and was so conducted for some years. Wm. Current bought the paper in the early 'Sos and continued it for several years as a third party paper, having as his co-workers on the paper, A. G. Henderson and his son James, who had also been with Capt. Belden. Later, Daniel and Moses Hull did some editorial work on the paper.
Mr. Current, deciding to move to Louisiana, leased the plant first to Geo. Howes and Chas. Van Doren, then to H. P. Harvey and F. H. Wilson, H. P. Harvey, W. C. Morden and Wylie McNabb, Harvey and McNabb, Harvey and M. T. Flemming, each firm in the order named. In 1904, Mr. Current, who had returned from the South, took possession of the paper but afterwards sold to F. L. Sunderlin, by whom it is now being conducted.
March, 1892, R. G. Grant and C. E. Griffin concluded Maquoketa could sup- port a fourth English paper, that would be outspoken and independent in its policy, and at that time made the first issue of the "Maquoketa Independent." They discovered that independence was all right in theory but it didn't work out right, and the Independent soon became what is now the "Jackson Republi- can," a six column quarto weekly, advocating the policies of the republican party. After several years C. E. Griffin sold his half interest in the paper to F. H. Wilson, the firm then assuming the name of Grant and Wilson. After some time Mr. Wilson withdrew from the firm in favor of George Blunt, and until the fall of 1909 the publication was continued by Grant and Blunt. Mr. Blunt having also with- drawn, the paper is now being conducted by R. G. Grant, with his son Ray as junior editor. They are spicy paragraphers and although not ambitious to shine as publishers of the largest and most widely circulated paper, have the satisfac- tion of doing a snug and profitable business.
Der Jackson Journal was founded twenty-five years ago in this city (Maquo- keta) by W. C. Swigart and Sons, as Der Jackson Demokrat. It was sold to J. P. Kieffer, and moved from this city to Bellevue the second year after its found- ing. C. Otto Stoudt, a printer of Davenport, bought out Mr. Kieffer's interest, changed the name of the paper and after a couple of years' publication of the Journal in Bellevue, moved it back to Maquoketa.
He published it as an independent German paper and made money out of the enterprise. He sold to Fred Gaston, of Des Moines, and Mr. Gaston sold to Fred Fisher of this city, who wanted something easy to do after he left the auditor's office. But Fred found plenty of work and meager profits and sold to G. F. Buschmann, his foreman. Mr. Buschmann reduced the subscription price of Der Journal, hoping thereby to increase his list, but found the German read- ing population of the county decreasing so that it proved unprofitable, because
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there wasn't sufficient field to work up as large a list as a dollar rate required. He sold out to Rock Island, Illinois, gentlemen, the present owners, Adelbert Engel & Company, the first of 1902.
Maquoketa has also had local dailies, but the experiment was disastrous to the promoters. It was about 1890 that Daniel Hull worked like a slave to estab- lish the Daily Reporter, a five column, folio, and then gave it up.
About ten years later Fred Gaston, of Des Moines, an enterprising and bright young man, came to this city and started the Daily Telegram, a neat seven column folio. He put a force of men at work, received daily telegraph news dur- ing the Spanish-American war, and run up a claimed circulation of over one thousand, but the support would not sustain the immense cost of publication.
Pete Bailey and Dan McCoy, who conducted for a time in Maquoketa the sensational "Clipper." have not been forgotten by our people who read "all that was fit to print" in the '70s.
The history of the Sentinel from its founding in 1854, is one of interest and covers a half century of local historical matter that would be difficult to embrace in a single article, thus this will be confined to the paper and its publishers.
William C. Swigart, deceased, father and grandfather of the present pub- lishers, was the founder and conceived the idea of engaging in western journal- ism while a resident of Newark, Ohio, where he was employed as a field man on the "Advocate and Solicitor," doing both inside and outside work upon that paper until 1853.
In the spring of 1854, W. C. Swigart and his brother Stephen, bought a print- ing outfit, including a Washington hand press, and shipped the same down the Ohio River to Cairo, and then up the Mississippi River to Davenport, from which point it was transferred across the country by teams to Maquoketa. While in Davenport, the senior received strong encouragement from some of the leading citizens to set his press up and start there, but having an abiding faith in the future of Maquoketa, he declined their flattering offers. John E. Goodenow and other pioneer citizens assisted in removing the outfit to this city and it was started in what was then known as Goodenow's new brick block on the east side of Main street.
Here the printers went to work and their first task was to set up the "pi" that had been made in the long rough journey, for in those days railways were comparatively unknown in the West, and the only means of transportation was by boat and wagon. Fred DeGrush and John McGregor, who had done a little "devil" work at the printing business before they came West, loaned a helping hand and on May 25, 1854, the paper went to press on the first side, but it was June 1, 1854, before the issue was completed evidently, for the first side bore the former date while the inside bore the latter. The next issue, however, seemed to be regular in date on both sides and was issued June 8th, 1854. At that time printers were scarce in the West, the traveling journeymen printers preferring the more congenial surroundings of the East, to the unsettled, and in some local- ities the uncivilized conditions of the West, and as there were no typesetting machines, in this country at least, the labor therefore devolved largely upon the proprietors. This may account for the delay in the first issue.
History records the interesting information that this same press did service for ex-Senator Samuel J. Kirkwood both in Ohio and Iowa, but not under the management of the Sentinel publishers. The press was originally brought from Richland county, Ohio, where it supported Mr. Kirkwood for the office of county clerk on the democratic ticket, but after being used in the Sentinel office for a number of years it was disposed of to Ottumwa parties and again was used in
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