USA > Iowa > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I > Part 34
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We had a conversation some time ago with a man who lived between Delmar and Dewitt in 1865, and while he did not tell us that he was a member of the vigilantes, he described every move made by them, from the taking of Hiner from the jail to the hanging upon the barrens, after which a stone was attached to his neck and he was thrown into Silver Creek. On the other hand, an old resident of Dewitt once told us that the body found in Silver Creek was not the body of Hiner at all; that Hiner had been rescued by members of a secret society, and that a body had been procured from a graveyard and dressed in Hiner's clothing and thrown into the creek to mislead the public.
KILLING OF MICHAEL REATING IN 1859.
On the morning of the IIth day of September, 1859, the steamer "Pembino" pulled up at the Golding wood yard, between Sabula and Bellevue, to take on a supply of wood. While the deck hands were carrying wood on the boat, the second mate, Calvin C. Edgar, objected to the way one of the hands, Michael Reating, carried the wood. Reating, as it appeared afterward, had a weak chest and could not carry wood in his arms, but instead carried it on his shoulder. The mate ordered him to grab the wood in his arms and go. Reating insisted that he could carry as much wood as the rest and carry it in his own way.
While Reating was picking up a load, the mate kicked him and told him he would have it carried as he wanted it done. Reating said, "I want no man to kick me," and after throwing down his load on the boat, repeated, "I want no man to kick me." While he was stooping over to pick up another load, the mate, according to several witnesses, picked up a stick of wood in both hands and struck Reating across the chest. Reating dropped the wood and clinched the mate, but the blow seemed to have weakened him. The mate knocked him down and kicked him, and Reating lay there on his face until turned over by another deck hand, who said that he was frothing at the mouth, and had the death rattle in his throat. The captain ordered four men to carry Reating onto the boat, where he ceased to breathe in three or four minutes.
The boat landed at Sabula and an inquest was held over the body on board the boat by Justice Morris S. Allen, acting as coroner, there being no coroner. The jurors were C. F. Fairbanks, J. Johnson, and O. H. Risley. The verdict of the jury was that deceased came to his death from blows from a stick of wood in the hands of Calvin C. Edgar, second mate of the steamboat "Pembino." The postmortem showed that the left lung of Reating was ruptured, and that the whole cavity of the chest on that side was full of blood. The mate was indicted at the December term of court by the grand jury of Jackson county, of which Shepherd Cavin was foreman, and Henry O'Connor was district attorney. The case came up for trial at the April term of court, and a jury was empaneled, composed of men with whom the writer in most part was very intimately ac- quainted, and in whom he would have implicit confidence, but who after hearing the evidence and argument of the ablest counsel the country could produce at that time, found the defendant not guilty.
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THE M'ARDLE MURDER.
One of the most brutal and revolting murders which it has been our lot to write of, was committed in Prairie Greek township, Dubuque county, on the evening of the 12th day of February, 1864.
Patrick McArdle, wife and three grown up sons lived in Prairie Creek town- ship, some eighteen or twenty miles southwest of Dubuque, and, according to evidence of neighbors, had lived there since 1848. The old man, reasonably well off, had two hundred acres of land, but the home life was unpleasant. The old man told some of the neighbors that he believed the old woman and boys would kill him. They frequently beat him. On one occasion it came out in evidence that Patrick, Jr., beat his father terribly, and would have killed him if one of the other boys had not interfered.
On the evening of February 12th, Mrs. McArdle claimed that the three boys had gone to a debate at a schoolhouse in the neighborhood, and that shortly after the boys left two drunken men came and called for whiskey, which the old man refused them. This she heard from the outside and went into the house and found the old man down, and went to him to protect him at the same time telling the men they could have all the whiskey they wanted. She said the men threw her out of the house and she went to Collins, the nearest neighbors, and told Collins the story and asked Collins to go to the school- house for the boys, which, he, Collins did, going on horseback, and calling the boys out told them what their mother had told him. The boys went home and got some of the neighbors to go. When the neighbors came, they found the house dark. A candle was produced and lighted, and on going upstairs found the old man McArdle lying on the floor dead, with many wounds about his head and face, and brains oozing from his skull, and pools of blood on the floor, and blood on the stove wood in the lower story where it leaked through.
An inquest was held and the verdict of the coroner's jury was that deceased came to his death by parties to them unknown. But a day or two later Mrs. McArdle confessed to having killed the old man, although it was believed the sons were also guilty. Mrs. Catherine McArdle and three sons were held for murder, but, on examination before Judge Stephen S. Hemstead, on the 23d, 24th and 25th of the same month, James and John McArdle were released from custody and Catherine and Patrick, Jr., were held. Mrs. McArdle took a change of venue to Jackson county, but Patrick took his chances with his neighbors and was tried in Dubuque county, his mother, Catherine McArdle, appearing as a witness for him and testifying that she killed the old man and that Patrick did not know of it till after the murder, and Patrick was acquitted. Catherine was tried at the October term of the district court of Jackson county, con- victed and sentenced to be hanged on the 9th of December, 1864, but before that date Governor Stone commuted the sentence to imprisonment for life, and a few years later, Governor Samuel Merrill pardoned her. Of course, this was not a Jackson county crime, but I mention it because it was tried in Jack- son county.
THE COTTONVILLE TRAGEDY.
One of the most cold blooded and brutal crimes ever committed in Jackson county, was the murder of Samuel S. Cronk, on the night of the 23d of Jan- uary, 1867, near Cottonville. The crime was evidently committed by persons who ought to have been his friends, for the money that he was supposed to have about him. Cronk was a young man who had been raised on a farm in Farmers Creek township, by W. B. Whitley, had served three years in the army, and at the time of his death was but twenty years of age.
In 1866-7, Mr. Whitley and his family, including young Cronk, was living in Andrew, and was conducting a store. On the 22d of June, 1867, Cronk was sent by Sheriff W. S. Belden to serve some subponas in Lamotte and vicinity.
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On the way he stopped at Cottonville, where he met some of his old army com- rades, among them Reuben Jamison and Samuel P. Watkins, who persuaded him to stay over and attend a dance in Cottonville that night. After the dance he went to Lamotte and served the papers, and on his return next day stopped at Cottonville, where he met Watkins again, who proposed to him that they go to a Mr. George Nelson's, a couple of miles east of Cottonville, where there were two girls, with whom both were acquainted.
They spent the evening at Nelson's until about 8 o'clock, when Cronk spoke about going, and asked young George Nelson to accompany him back to the Cottonville road; but Watkins remarked that he was going over to Mr. Hunter's to spend the night, consequently they would be going the same road. They left Nelson's together, both walking, Cronk leading the horse, and no one ever claimed to have seen Samuel S. Cronk in life again. Watkins claimed that he accompanied Cronk to the Mort Phillips place, put him on the road leading to the Dubuque road, and then parted with him, he, Watkins, taking a cross road to Cottonville.
The next morning the lifeless body of young Cronk was found by Daniel Gleason and other school children, about twenty rods east of the Hunter School- house. The tracks and blood and position of the body indicated that the young man had been murdered in the road by persons lying in wait, who had crushed in his head with some blunt instrument.
The body had been carried to the fence on the south side of the road and tumbled over into the field. The cape of his soldier overcoat was drawn over the head, and the hat and pants were gone, as well as the horse, saddle and bridle. The boys on finding the body informed their teacher, Miss Mary Hurd, that there was a dead man lying in the field. She said that she doubted the statement of the children at first, but finally went to where she could see the body ; that she noticed tracks of a number six or seven boot going north ; no- ticed where the horse had been tied to a small hickory tree just off the road ; only saw two tracks, one small and one large; the blood and snow was frozen and crusty. The teacher went to Mr. Hunter's, and sent Daniel Gleason to Sawtell's. The news spread fast, and there was soon quite a crowd gathered. Reuben Jamison was the first to recognize the body as that of his old comrade, Samuel S. Cronk. The body was loaded into a sled and taken up to Cotton- ville, to Squire Abbey's office, where an inquest was held.
Samuel P. Watkins was known to have been with Cronk the night he was killed, and he was questioned as to where he left Cronk. He said they parted at Mort Phillips' place between 7 and 8 o'clock, and that he arrived at home, meaning John Bucklin's, about 9 o'clock; but several members of the Baker family had seen him near Cottonville after II o'clock. When the body was found, there were balls of snow and ice on the bootheels, indicating that the young man had been walking for some time, and his mittens. were found sticking in his overcoat pocket, where he always carried them when walking.
Watkins was arrested on the evening of the 24th of January, and his exam- ination commenced on the 29th ; he was released on bail.
On the night of the 25th of January there was a heavy fall of snow, which laid on the ground until about the first of April. On the 6th of April, Joseph McCombs, who lived on the Cotton place, found the dead body of the horse which Cronk had with him on the night of the murder. The horse had been tied to a small oak tree in a piece of woods near Cottonville and allowed to starve to death. The saddle was on the horse, and Cronk's hat was found lying on the ground near the body of the horse. On the 8th of April, W. B. Whitley and a Mr. Dean made a search of the ground in the vicinity of where the murder was committed. Mr. Whitley found, on the north side of the road, in a brushy place, a small piece of stovewood. On picking up the stick he dis- covered some hair caught in a splinter that resembled Cronk's hair. This was about eight or ten rods north of where the murder was committed. About
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the same time that Whitley found this club, Dean found a piece of plow clevis with a blue denims string on it, in Sawtell's field about ten feet south of where the body was found. The piece of clevis had several hairs sticking to it of the same color as the hair on the club. The piece of clevis was recognized by some of the neighbors as one that they had seen at John Bucklin's place, which Bucklin's little boy had for a plaything. Bucklin also had a peculiarly shaped boot, which exactly fitted into the tracks made by one of the men at the scene of the murder, and the mate to the piece of clevis was found in his granary. It made a bad looking case against him.
Previous to the 23d of January, Watkins had been known to be hard up- had stood a shoemaker off for a pair of boots, and at the dance which he at- tended with Cronk the night before the murder, had no money to pay for his number. After he was released on bail he had several ten dollar bills changed, a fact which kept him under suspicion.
On the day the horse was found, Watkins had gone to Andrew to swear out an information against some of the Conklins who lived near Iron Hills. One of the Conklins and one of the Bronsons had been known to have passed along the Bellevue road the night of the murder. When Watkins was told of the horse being found, he said, "I am sorry, I am sorry." He was again arrested and confined in jail.
After the finding of the clevis and club, the body of Cronk was taken up and the scalp removed, and it was found that the piece of clevis fitted nearly exactly in the wounds in the front part of the head, which had crushed in the skull. Dr. Ewing said these wounds must have been made by the piece of clevis or something similar to it. Sheriff Belden said there was not one chance in a million that these wounds could have been made by any other instrument.
The grand jury of the March term of court had failed to find a bill against Watkins, as the theory generally prevailed that Cronk had been murdered by highwaymen, from the fact that the horse was missing, but with the finding of the skeleton of the horse and the piece of clevis and club, suspicion reverted back to Watkins, and it was very evident that he had accomplices. The clevis and his boots fastened suspicion on John Bucklin, and it appeared that the blows making the wounds on Cronk's forehead had been given by a left-handed man. Calvin Nelson was a left-handed man, was a brother-in-law of Buck- lin's, and his boots corresponded with the tracks made by one of the parties in the snow where the body was found. Watkins made his home with Bucklin. Circumstances pointed to the three men as the perpetrators of the awful crime, and they were indicted on a charge of conspiracy and murder. As the indict- ment is short, we insert it :
THE STATE OF IOWA VS. SAMUEL P. WATKINS, CALVIN NELSON AND JOHN B. BUCKLIN.
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF JACKSON COUNTY, STATE OF IOWA.
The grand jury of the county of Jackson, aforesaid, in the name and by the authority of the State of Iowa, accuse Samuel P. Watkins, Calvin Nelson and John B. Bucklin, of the crime of murder, perpetrated and committed as fol- lows :
Ist. The said Samuel P. Watkins, John B. Bucklin and Calvin Nelson, on the 23d day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the county aforesaid, in and upon one Samuel S. Cronk, in the peace then and there being, feloniously, willfully, premeditatedly, and of their malice aforethought, did make an assault; and the said Samuel P. Wat- kins, Calvin Nelson and John B. Bucklin, with a certain piece of iron called a part of a clevis, of about the length of twelve inches, and the width of one inch, and with one oak stick of wood of the length of eighteen inches and of the
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thickness of two inches, which they then and there in their hands had, and him, the said Samuel S. Cronk, then and there feloniously, willfully, deliber- ately, premeditatedly, and of their malice aforethought, divers times did strike and beat, giving to him, the said Samuel S. Cronk, by striking and beating him, as last aforesaid, with said piece of iron and said stick of wood, several mortal strokes, wounds and bruises, in and upon the head of him, the said Sam- uel S. Cronk, towit :
One mortal wound on the forehead of him, the said S. S. Cronk ; one mortal wound on the back and side of the head of him, the said Cronk ; and one mortal wound extending from the side of the head to the back of the head of him, the said Cronk; of which said mortal strokes, wounds and bruises he, the said Cronk, afterward, towit, on the day and year aforesaid, at and in the county of Jackson, died.
2d. And the grand jury aforesaid, in the name and by the authority of the State of Iowa, do further find and present that the said Samuel P. Watkins, Calvin Nelson and John B. Bucklin, on the 23d day of January, A. D. 1867, in the county of Jackson, in the State of Iowa, in and upon one Samuel S. Cronk, in the peace then and there being, feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premedi- tatedly, and of their malice aforethought, did make an assault, and with a part of an iron clevis, and with a stick of wood, and with a knife, did then and there strike, beat, bruise, cut and wound him, the said Cronk, in and upon his head and other parts of his body, and by means aforesaid, the said Samuel P. Wat- kins, Calvin Nelson and John B. Bucklin, did then and there, him, the said Samuel S. Cronk, kill and murder. And so the grand jury aforesaid do say that the said Samuel P. Watkins, Calvin Nelson and John B. Bucklin, him, the said Samuel S. Cronk, in the manner and by the means aforesaid, feloniously, will- fully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and with their malice aforethought, did kill and murder, contrary to the laws of Iowa in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Iowa. (Signed) Lyman A. Ellis, District Attorney Seventh Judicial District.
The above bill of indictment was presented in open court in the presence of the grand jury, and filed on the 28th day of September, 1867; Watkins was held in custody, and John B. Bucklin admitted to bail in the sum of three thou- sand dollars, and Nelson in the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars.
Samuel P. Watkins was arraigned at the March term of court, 1867, plead "not guilty," and the case was continued to the December term of said court. By that time the case had become so noted, and had been discussed in the pa- pers and otherwise so much, that it was very difficult to get a jury. Fifty men were summoned by the sheriff, and two days were consumed in selecting a jury of twelve men. The jury as impaneled was composed of the following named persons: Hon. Geo. C. Heberling, foreman; John Orcutt, Milton Godard, F. G. Potter, F. M. Miles, M. L. Hitchcock, Peter German, Wm. Miller, Geo. Heustis, G. W. House, Wm. Potter and M. V. Smith. The court appointed as counsel for the defendant, Wm. Graham and D. A. Wynkoop, C. M. Dunbar volunteering to assist. The state was represented by Hon. L. A. Ellis, assisted by Judge J. S. Darling, employed by Cronk's sister.
The jury was called and District Attorney Ellis read the charges against defendant, according to the indictment found by the grand jury. Mr. Ellis then pointed out the law regarding a case of murder, and called the attention of the jury to the importance of the case then before them, defining in brief the distinction between murder in the first and second degrees. This was murder in the first degree. The deceased had been one of our young country- men and a citizen of the immediate vicinity ; a young man whose character was beyond reproach ; had been a soldier and braved the danger of battles and ex- posure and the common defense of all men and his country in particular ; was murdered in cold blood; the murder was doubtless unprovoked and made not so much from any spite as for actual gain. The instruments with which the
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deed had been committed were brought into court and shown to the jury. The nature of the wounds were described by the district attorney, stating that evi- dence would be brought to show conclusively that these were the weapons, and that the murderer was a resident of the neighborhood in which the body was found.
The circumstances leading to the arrest of Watkins were stated in a concise manner, showing that evidence would be brought to show the whereabouts of both parties from the time the deceased left Andrew to serve the subpoenas until his body was found ; that Watkins had been without money ; that he supposed Cronk to have a considerable sum; that he was the last person to be seen with him prior to the murder; that the weapons belonged to the place where Wat- kins lived or made his home; that he told falsehoods when first arrested on suspicion in regard to amounts of money he had and where he obtained the same; that he had plenty of money after the murder, and paid for a pair of boots with a certain ten dollar bill resembling a certain ten dollar bill Cronk was known to have had at the time of the murder; that when defendant was out on bail after the first arrest, and in the office of the sheriff getting out pa- pers for the arrest of Conklin and others, the word came that the horse of Cronk's had been found, he, the defendant, stated, "I am sorry, I am sorry," acting at the same time uneasy, and looking all kinds of colors; that he was immediately rearrested and has since been held in custody; that he is yet un- able to account for the discrepancy in time of going home, and the time of being seen after the hour that he states he arrived home.
Following is a portion of the testimony introduced by the state :
Daniel Gleason: I reside two miles south of Cottonville; I heard the cir- cumstances of the murder and remember of the body being found near the Saw- tell Schoolhouse ; the body was found on the 24th of January, 1867; I was the first to find the body ; I came on the Dubuque road to the Sawtell Schoolhouse ; the body was found on the Bellevue road, about nineteen rods from the Du- buque road, as near as I could judge; there is brush and trees on both sides ; found tracks, some of which had blood in them ; the snow was stamped down; body was found on the south side of the road, over the fence, in Sawtell's field ; saw no tracks in the field ; one track was large from where body was found to the north side of the road ; the first thing I did was to tell the teacher ; the tracks on the north side of the road looked as though the body had been trailed to the fence; there was blood in the large track; I noticed every place it stopped ; cannot tell how many tracks on the other side; my brother, Malichi Gleason, Jennie Lias, Jonathan Lias and James Hurd, were with me when we went to the schoolhouse to tell the teacher; there were not any tracks of ani- mals, sleighs or wagons over the road since the murder had been committed the body was lying with the head toward the north and the feet to the south, full length, with head against the lower rail; two heavy rails were across the body, lying crossways ; had a soldier's blue overcoat, the cape pulled up over his head ; could not see the face; the pants were gone; had on white drawers and boots ; no other articles gone that I noticed, except his hat-that I did not see ; there is a little hill where the body was discovered; tracks were on the west side of the hill; the trail was straight to the fence; the blood in the road was about to the top of the hill, on the east side, toward defendant's, where the murder was committed ; I lived at Mr. Sawtell's and was there on the night of the murder ; Mr. Sawtell was at home-he was not very well; I went out doors and heard a noise in the barn ; I took a lantern and went out to the barn ; Mr. Sawtell has one dog; just as I went out he barked furiously and went in the direction of the murder ; made a fearful fuss and made more each time he went up; I was out in the barn but a short time; I went to bed twenty or twenty-five minutes after that ; heard one team going south early in the even- ing, but none in the other direction ; Mr. Sawtell was in bed when I went to
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the barn ; no one else there but him, the old lady and myself ; it was after nine o'clock p. m. when I went out to the barn.
Mary Hurd: I taught school at the Sawtell Schoolhouse at the time of the murder ; I saw the dead body on the morning of January 24th ; my attention was called to it by one of the children, Jonathan Lias, a boy about twelve years old ; did not go down myself at first; doubted the statement that there was a dead body there, but I sent some of the boys to go down and see; when they came back and corroborated the first story, I went down where the body was seen ; they were afraid to go to it and I went up so that I could see; I noticed but one track going north; this was that of a number six or seven boot. No blood in the track going to where the horse was tied; the small track went to the fence and back again. The horse had been tied to a small hickory bush just off the road ; I went in on the west side of where the tracks were found; only noticed two tracks, one small and one large. The snow and blood were somewhat frozen and crusted. Sent Daniel Gleason to Mr. Sawtell's; found Mr. Hunter at home. The body was lying close to the fence-head to the north, feet to the south. The face was covered with the cape of the coat, as though it had been dragged. Rails were thrown over the body.
Joseph Hunter: Remember the circumstances of a man being found near the Sawtell Schoolhouse last January; was first notified by Miss Mary Hurd, the schoolmistress ; went down immediately ; testified position of body as tes- tified by other. Witness corroborated the evidence of Daniel Gleason and Mary Hurd as to the tracks and to the horse having been tied to the tree. I was at home the previous night ; was out in the yard once about 9 o'clock p. m. to turn out the horse that got in ; heard no other noise at the time except two teams on the Bellevue road passing west; the body was found about eighty rods from my house; my dogs barked terribly in the direction of the school- house or the body, between the quarter and half hour after I went into the house ; I did not recognize the corpse when I first saw it; I sent word to Cot- tonville when some men came down and we moved the body up there; body was first recognized by Reuben Jamison ; all the articles of clothing on his per- son were a soldier's overcoat, vest, boots, socks and drawers ; his mittens were found in one of the inside coat pockets; there was a small daybook in his pocket with his name in it; after the body was taken to Cottonville, the de- fendants were down to the grounds ; Watkins was down there at the time, but did not know as he saw Nelson comparing the track with his; the small track was in a fine boot. The day the body was found I heard Watkins say he left Nelson's with Cronk about half past seven or eight; said he intended to go to my house to stay all night ; he was slightly acquainted with my boys, but had never stayed all night or had he ever been in the house; said the teams were but a short distance ahead of him when he left Cronk; said he led the horse until he got nearly to Phillips'; Cronk wanted him to get on and ride, but he said he would not, when Cronk replied, "Well, I will, then, for I have got corns on my feet." There were bushes on both sides of the road where the murder was committed ; there was an appearance of a struggle from where the horse was hitched to the road. Witness here restated conversation with Watkins. Wat- kins said that when he got to Phillips' he would take the field to Cottonville ; that the teams were fifteen or twenty rods ahead of him at the time; he said that Cronk started off on a gallop ; he said he came to Cottonville on a byroad, said to be nearer to Bucklin's than to my house; said that he (Watkins) was leading the horse when Cronk got on. One team passed my house a little after II o'clock-perhaps twelve or fifteen minutes after; this was the only team I heard pass on that road that night; supposed at the time it was Mr. Baker's team.
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