USA > Iowa > Kossuth County > History of Kossuth County, Iowa > Part 32
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At the April, 1872, session bids were received to do the basement grading. John Hutchison bid 14 cents per cubic yard; Rungren, 13 and C. F. Kyes, 121/2. The latter's bid being the lowest, the contract was awarded to him.
After the work had begun, the board was confronted with a legal problem to be solved. The public square did not belong to the county, but had really been dedicated by the government, under the existing laws, to the public for an open square or park. The land did not belong to the proprietors of the town, but to the county judge in trust for the use of the public. It is doubtful if the attempt to remedy the defect was of any real value. However, to satisfy all parties, on the 29th day of April, 1872, Asa C. Call and Ambrose A. Call and their wives quit claimed all their "right, title and interest in and to block 19, on the townsite of Algona, Kossuth county, Iowa, as originally platted and recorded, said block being marked on said recorded plat as 'public square.'"
The laying of the corner stone occurred on July 4, 1872, attended with appropriate dedicatory ceremonies, conducted by the Masonic lodge. The new cornet band was much in evidence, the occasion being about the first to call forth the band to play for any public gathering. Marshal John G. Smith led the procession to the southeast corner where the mason work had been finished ready to receive the corner stone. After Past Master Lewis H. Smith had called the gathering to order, there was singing and then prayer by Rev. Dr. Brush of Charles City. The treasurer then placed in the cavity of the stone the articles to be preserved, after which Secretary F. M. Taylor read the list as follows : the Bible, a copy of the Upper Des Moines, the Algona Republican, Iowa Land Journal, New York Tribune, Iowa State Register containing a history of Kossuth county, a history of Prudence lodge, the constitution of the United States, list of county officers and a list of the officers of the incorporated town of Algona.
Following the depositing of articles, Architect F. Booth presented the tools to the Past master who handed Worshipful Master D. S. Ford the square, Senior Warden Ambrose A. Call the level, and Junior Warden G. R. Wood- worth the plumb. These three in turn explained the moral use of the imple- ments received by applying them to the stone, declaring it thus to be square, level and plumb. The day was so cold that ladies stood shivering with shawls over their shoulders and men remained with overcoats on and were uncomfort- able. No one can remember when there was a colder fourth of July except one which was just before the war.
By the first of June, 1873, the building appeared majestic and substantial, vol. 1-16
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with symmetrical proportion. It was 80 by 53 feet, 42 to the cornice. 72 to the top of the tower and 92 to the top of the flag staff. M. Mix was the architect and F. Booth the directing foreman. The entire mason work of the basement including the rangework was done by James Cowan and Sam Plumley. The plastering was first let on contract to Captain Califf at fifteen cents per square yard, but was later let to Alceos Drummond on a bid of which his was the lowest. Among those using the saw and hammer were Alf Bongey, E. N. Weaver, James Taylor, M. Becker, H. Wolfe, S. Carlisle and Peter Purvis. The almost-forgotten firm of Grover and Butterfield did the tin roof work and the guttering, while that other old timer, Vanderhoof, did most of the paint- ing. When the courthouse was finished H. F. Watson was appointed a com- mittee to superintend the digging of a well in the yard, and also the building of a fence around the square of the post and four-rail order. The early pictures of the building show that once familiar object surrounding the courthouse.
When the structure was completed and furnished the total cost must have been over $40,000. Since that time changes from time to time have been made amounting to several thousand dollars. During the year 1900 the Hackman brothers' bid for repairing and making changes was $1,490. Three years later O. W. and W. E. McMurray did $743 worth of work in performing similar service. Besides these changes others have been made probably bringing the total cost of the courthouse near the $50,000 mark.
The board during the year 1873 was composed of D. H. Hutchins, chair- man, Daniel Rice and R. I. Brayton. These county fathers did not find their path decked with roses during the closing weeks of the period when the court- house was nearing completion. There had been a strong, antagonistic feeling existing between some of the citizens and certain members of the board for some time. The letting of certain portions of the work, to be done by the days' work and not by contract to the lowest bidder, gave a chance for the friction to grow warmer. The rough lumber had been obtained through J. J. Wilson and not through W. W. Johnson his competitor. The latter interested J. H. Warren, the editor of the Upper Des Moines in his behalf to such an extent that an article appeared in the paper insinuating great dishonesty and incompetency of the board in its management in erecting the building. D. H. Hutchins, the agent for the board in purchasing material and supplies, was censured in the paper for his official acts. The attack upon the board, practi- cally charging the members with graft and fraud, caused the matter to be dis- cussed with great earnestness in every home and place of business. The excite- ment that prevailed will be remembered long by those who were living here at that time.
The board, upon the appearance of the published article, took bold measures to inform the public of the real situation and to clear the members from the charges which had been made against them. D. H. Hutchins, the chairman and purchasing agent of the board, feeling that the charges were intended as a personal thrust at his character, offered a resolution which demanded that the charges be investigated by "a committee of five disinterested persons to be appointed to examine all books, papers and accounts relating to any purchase of material or letting of contracts, payments for labor, or any and all things or matters relating to said courthouse, or anything relating to the building thereof."
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This resolution passed at the June, 1873 session further demanded that the investigating committee secure the attendance of all persons as witnesses who felt they had reasons for believing that the board had transacted any business illegally or perpetrated any fraud upon the people. It also asked the citizens to suggest the names of such persons as they desired to have appointed by the board as such examining committee. That proposition seemed fair and resulted for the time being in silencing the opposition.
The committee chosen to conduct the investigation trial consisted of Dr. J. R. Armstrong, chairman, Albert Bush, John Wallace, E. L. Stevens and W. W. Johnson. The chairman refusing to serve, Samuel Reed was chosen in his stead. This referee court held its sessions in the then unfinished court chamber. The taking of the testimony occupied several weeks, and it was heard by many anxious spectators. At the conclusion of the series of sessions held to investigate the charges, the referees returned their verdict exonerating the board, as a whole and individually, from the charges which had been urged against them. This report of the finding was presented to the board at the July, 1873, session :
"To the Honorable Board of Supervisors: The committee appointed by you to investigate certain frauds alleged to have been perpetrated by certain individuals in connection with the building of the court house, and certain bridges, beg leave to submit the following report :
"It is the opinion of your committee that the charges or rather insinua- tions were based seemingly upon a partial and superficial examination of the books and papers on file, and that the committee, after a careful examination of the same, can find no evidence of moneys misapplied or unaccounted for, and the tenor of the evidence taken has shown no disposition on the part of the board of supervisors, or their agent D. H. Hutchins, to divert the funds of the county. The cost of the building up to the present time is about $34,000. The items let by contract to the lowest bidder were: The largest portion of the rough stone; the dressed stone was let to the lowest bidder at twenty-five per cent less than had formerly been paid in the same town; the red brick ; the mason work ; painting, with the exception of some outside work, was let to the lowest bidder, and at about one-half the common rates; tin roofing to the lowest bidder. The remaining items were not contracted for, some from their very nature, and others on account of other circumstances involving a sup- posed loss to the county. After taking all the testimony produced before the committee, which is quite voluminous, and has occupied your committee for many days, we have carefully examined the same and find nothing therein tending to the implication of the board of supervisors as a body, or D. H. Hutchins, their agent, in any frauds or misapplication of the county funds. SAMUEL. REED, Chairman. JOHN WALLACE, ALBERT BUSH."
Following the filing of this report Editor J. H. Warren charged the com- mittee with unfairness in the conduct of its investigations, especially the chair- man in his rulings. This brought on a newspaper controversy between the latter and the editor.
In later years, after the prejudice of those who had been foremost in
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causing the board so much trouble and annoyance had subsided, it seemed like a dream that such proceedings had ever occurred. There was Dan Rice who was as honorable a citizen as the county ever possessed and whose character was beyond reproach; there was R. I. Brayton standing high in the estimation of his fellow citizens for his integrity and moral attitude; there was Charles C. Chubb whose voice was always lifted against graft and dishonesty and whose moral worth in the community was highly estimated; and there was D. H. Hutchins who ranked among the most conscientious and substantial citizens, and whose pride in endeavoring to have county work done at the least possible expense was known to all. If such men as these four, who were supervisors, could not be trusted in handling county funds then there is but little hope of ever electing a board that will not graft and perpetrate fraud upon the people. Furthermore the composition of the members of the investi- gation committee was such that, if evidence had been established that the board had been grafting to enrich themselves or had been letting contracts to favor- ites to the detriment of the finance of the county, their report would have cold- bloodedly denounced the acts of the board in unmistakable language. The members of that committee, however, who signed the majority report would not allow the board's technical infraction of the law in transferring $500 of the soldiers' fund to the courthouse fund to so influence their decision as to cause them to denounce the board, when it appeared that the use of the money had been an advantage to the county and that the money had been already returned to its proper fund.
The verdict of the investigating committee did not prove to be final. In the spring of 1874 some one succeeded in having the grand jury indict all four of the above named members of the board. This was probably on the ground that the board had used other than courthouse funds in building, and that portions of the work had not been let on contract to the lowest bidder. As the papers in the case do not appear on file the direct charges upon which the indictment was procured are not now fully remembered. Upon the arrest of Rice, Brayton and Chubb they promptly furnished bail for their appearance in court. But when Hutchins was arrested he refused to give bail and told the officer to do as he liked with him. The prisoner was taken to the sheriff's office where he sat up one night and where he was liberated the next morning. In after years he laughingly used to say that he was the first man to be a pris- oner in the courthouse jail. The matter came on for hearing before Judge Henry Ford at the April, 1874 term of the district court, the defendants plead- ing not guilty. District Attorney Charles H. Lewis was for the prosecution and Marcus Robbins, Jr., for the defendants. The latter's demurrer to the indictment being sustained by the court, the case ended and is now only remembered as a part of ancient history.
It is now nearly forty years since that court of inquiry held its interesting sessions, which were run under a full head of steam, accompanied at times by ludicrous explosions. Since that time death has claimed as its victims the chairman, Bush, Johnson, and the editor, as well as several others who figured conspicuously at the investigation proceedings. By the first of January, 1874 the officers were occupying their offices in the new building. Since then the recorder and treasurer have exchanged rooms. The officials for that year
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were: M. W. Stough, treasurer; H. S. Vaughn, auditor; J. M. Pinkerton, sheriff ; A. E. Wheelock, clerk; A. M. Horton, recorder; A. A. Brunson, super- intendent ; A. D. Clarke, surveyor; and L. A. Sheetz, coroner. The board of supervisors consisted of Marcellus Taylor, Leonard Ayers, H. F. Watson, R. I. Brayton and D. Rice. Eight of these thirteen officials have also passed on to join the silent majority.
Those beautiful elm and hard maple trees which surround the courthouse and adorn the court yard were planted in April 1876. Up to that time the square was treeless. At a session of the board that month D. H. Hutchins, W. H. Ingham, and M. W. Stough were appointed to superintend the work of planting the trees. The plan adopted by the committee, to insure system in the planting as well as speed in having the work done, was unique and effective. After planning the design, a small stake with its own special number was driven in the ground wherever a tree was desired to be placed. Then a card for each tree, bearing its number, was put in a sack and citizens invited to draw them one at a time, each having but one draw. The number thus ap- pearing indicated the stake or peg where the tree was to be set. This plan interested quite a number of persons in the work who otherwise would not have been. The names of the trees were called after those who planted them. For a decade there were those about town who could tell the most of them, but now no one can be found who knows more than two or three of the whole lot. The plot showing the location of the trees, which was made at that time, seems to have disappeared with the lapse of time. M. P. Weaver says that when he was in the auditor's office he ran across it once but was never able to find it again. No other official, it appears, has ever seen it at any time since the day when the planting was done. The arrangement is so orderely and the trees are so uniformly symmetrical that favorable comment is elicited from strangers when they get a glimpse of the delightful foliage during the sum- mer months. Nor are they any the less beautiful in autumn when the leaves begin to turn to golden and other brilliant colors.
COUNTY JAILS AND SHERIFF'S RESIDENCE
For fifteen years after the county first began to settle there was no building which had been erected to serve as a jail. It was seldom necessary in those days to have an especial room for the confining of those charged with some criminal offense. Those placed under arrest were simply guarded by the offi- cers in some temporary quarters, their own homes being used sometimes for the purpose. The first action leading to the erection of a building to be used exclusively as a jail was at the July, 1870, session of the board, when J. E. Blackford was authorized to contract for the erection of a jail not to exceed the cost of $308. The board of that period certainly cannot be censured for having been extravagant in voting away the county funds. The structure known for years as the "cooler" was probably 10X12 feet square made of 2x6 elm joist, laid flat, one upon the other, and well spiked together. The window had small cage bars covering it, and the door was as strong as could have been built of wood. Several helped to raise that county building with its one- sided roof, among them being Ed Blackford who occasionally managed to hit
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the nail and about as often his thumb. This old cooler stood for some time on the public square near the northwest corner. After the present courthouse was built and there being no further use for that wooden jail, the building was sold and then removed to another location. William Cleary used it in the rear of his store for several years as a storage room. The elm joists finally began rotting and then the whole structure gradually went down with decay.
The next jail was made by having rooms in the basement of the new court- house fitted for that purpose while the building was in course of construction. The northeast room, now known as "Matt's den," was the sheriff's residence. Jack Pinkerton lived in it nearly all the time he was sheriff, during his four- teen years' administration. His father was a member of the family and was a familiar figure about the courthouse in those days.
Jack slept much of the time, when he had prisoners in charge, in the room now used for the public toilet, and while there used to get up to over-hear the conversation of criminals. In this way he not only learned about their plans. but became informed also as to their guilt or innocence. The rooms proved too damp and unsanitary for the good health of the family. Later sheriffs could not be induced to occupy them, and they found places of abode elsewhere. This basement jail, with its windows curtained with steel bars and its other like equipment serving its purpose, was soon found to be wholly inadequate for holding tough characters. The board, becoming convinced of this fact and after due deliberation, entered into a contract with the Aetna Iron Works Company, April 7, 1885, to thoroughly line two jail rooms with iron and to erect two steel cells or cages in one of the rooms. The bars to these cages were to be so hard that they could not be filed or sawed, and the whole work was to be such as to insure perfect satisfaction. The company was to receive $2,100 for complying with the terms of the contract, Geo. E. Boyle chairman of the board being authorized to sign the article of agreement on behalf of the county. A portion of the equipment erected under the contract was a steel barred gateway, separating the jail rooms from the outside door, by hav- ing it run across one of the basement corridors. Beneath this steel fence or gateway there was a cement floor intended to prevent the escape of criminals in case they broke out of the jail rooms. Prisoners in one way or another managed to free themselves from the jail and get away. The work had not given satisfaction and the board refused to pay the bill for having the equip- ment installed. The bars were not saw and file proof, for they could easily be cut with either. The company explained that the bars were hard on the inside, but that in making they had been rolled in molten iron to give a better finish and to prevent their being too easily broken. The concern demanded the payment of the contract price, but the board persistently refused to pay anything on the contract until the steel work had been made to correspond with the terms of agreement. In November, 1885. the board ordered the com- pany to remove the cells from the basement, but it failed to do so.
The southeast and southwest rooms were the ones lined with iron and the two cages were in the latter. A culprit lodged in one of these steel cages made his escape in a singular way one night when the officers were thinking he could not do so. He first managed to get hold of a wire nearby that was in the room, and then hooked it on to a little table outside of the cell and drew it
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so close that he could reach it. He next broke the table to pieces and used one leg for a lever with which to spring the bottom of the steel door, using other portions as wedges. Through this very small opening he managed to crawl through, and then made his escape from the building by digging through the stone wall. A couple of bad characters after getting through the jail door went under the steel gateway, one by digging out the cement with a broom- stick and the other, the curb-stone jokers said, by digging a trench with his dirty paper collar.
Many still remember how Alden Hawkes made his escape from the south- east room on the night of the 13th of September, 1886. He had previously been arrested on a criminal charge and while in the company of J. H. Hawkins, his attorney, left for parts unknown while the two were "out hunting." Haw- kins was censured for letting him purposely get away, but he declared that the prisoner had simply broken his pledge not to make any endeavor to make his escape. In due course of time Sheriff Stephens located the runaway and returned him to jail. On this September day in 1886 the sheriff on being called into the country left the prisoner in charge of Deputy T. L. Crose. The latter during the forenoon also was called away on official business. Before leaving he left the keys with J. J. Wilkinson so that he could take the prisoner's dinner and supper to him. That night Wilkinson went to stay with agent Sam Drake and when Crose came home he could find neither his jail key nor the one to whom it had been intrusted. Hawkes consequently was left alone in the south- east room. He managed to file off one of the bars to the window, pull out the upper half, bend the lower part down, and then by springing the next bar to it a little crawled through an eight inch opening and departed. The officers declared upon examination of the bars that there were evidences that he had greased his slim body before attempting to squeeze through.
One of the cases on the docket of the October, 1887, term of the district court was the one brought by the Aetna Iron Works against the county to enforce the collection of the contract price for installing the cells and erecting the other jail equipment. A change of venue being taken the case was sent to Emmet county. Before the trial came off an agreement between the parties resulted in a settlement of the controversy. The company agreed to replace the steel work strictly in accordance with the original contract and pay all unpaid court costs upon the condition that the county pay the contract price. Under the agreement the county paid all told $2.155.50. County Attorney R. J. Danson and Judge Cook represented the county and Clarke and Call the company.
The contract was let for erecting the present county jail about eleven years ago. The board had tried for several years previous to that time to have the electors at the polls vote to allow the county to erect such a building, the cost of which was not to exceed the sum of $7,000, but they refused to give their consent. The proposition was submitted to them for three consecutive years and was each time turned down. In 1893 the measure was defeated 1,253 to 525; in 1894, 1,373 to 422; and in 1895, 1,112 to 727. The board then gave up in despair and settled down to rest, leaving the subject for the present until a new sentiment could be created, new laws enacted or new tactics discovered which would enable the much needed jail to be erected. During the February,
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1901 session of the board the Pauly Jail Bridge and Manufacturing Co., sub- mitted plans and specifications for constructing a jail necessary to meet the demands of both the board and the people. These together with the price for the work to be erected were the best of all the bids before the board. The plans and specifications having been adopted the contract was let to that com- pany to install all the iron and steel work for the sum of $3,058.75. In March, 1901 this same company's bid for the erection of the brick jail was the best presented and consequently was awarded the contract for the sum of $1,921.25. The building and its equipment were completed 'that fall, the final payment of $3,871.67 being made by the board in November. The historic Aetna Iron Works' two cells which had been in the southwest room of the courthouse basement were removed to the upper floor of the new jail to serve for the con- finement of prisoners charged with minor public offenses. They are serving their purpose well and will for many years to come.
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