USA > Iowa > Louisa County > History of Louisa County, Iowa, from its earliest settlement to 1912, Volume I > Part 49
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411
HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
About midnight the thieves were sighted and the sheriff and his men, waiting until they were close by, arose from both sides of the road and demanded their immediate surrender. The thieves replied by opening fire and a number of shots were exchanged, two of the horses belonging to the thieves were killed, and they, fearing deatlı stared them in the face, gave themselves up, after J. G., one of their number, had received a severe wound in his right thigh."
The foregoing article was written at the time Mr. Saunders was about eighty years old, and for some reason, due either to the failure of his memory, or the failure of the reporter to correctly understand him, no mention is made of the connection of A. D. Hurley with this case. The fact is, however, as we under- stand it, that Mr. Hurley went to Fort Madison to interview the man Rhodes and afterward went to the governor in person and secured the necessary pardon. It is doubtless true that Sheriff Taylor went to Fort Madison to interview Rhodes, and perhaps also to take the pardon down to him. Great credit is of course due Sheriff Taylor and his deputy, Mr. Saunders, and doubtless to others whose names have not been mentioned, but it is proper that due credit should be given Mr. Hurley for the active interest he took in this affair from its begin- ning to its close.
We take the account of the capture of the men from the Wapello Intelli- gencer of October Ist, 1859:
"It has been no less a notorious fact, than a continued source of annoyance and loss to the citizens of Louisa county for some time past, that we have had among us a gang of men who have been drawing upon us at sundry times, and in divers ways for different kinds of goods and chattels, in that unwarrantable way familiarly known as stealing : and to such an extent had their different depre- dations been practiced upon our citizens that it became necessary for the preserva- tion of horses, cattle, etc., that a vigilance committee be formed, which was or- ganized some time last spring, and of which until lately, there has been but little known. It would seem, however, that they have been at work, and to what effect will be seen to some extent in the result of their labor of last Tuesday evening.
"It seems that by some means unknown to the 'uninitiated' that a part of the committee received information that cattle were being driven from the differ- ent neighborhoods throughout the county, at different times, and herded in a clandestine manner until proper opportunities offered for driving them entirely out of the reach of their owners, on which information the committee put them- selves upon the alert to detect them in the act, in which they succeeded last Tuesday evening in arresting the following persons, citizens of this place: Mr. E., Mr. C., and Mr. G .; not, however, without some little skirmishing, in which two horses belonging to Mr. E. (one ridden by himself, the other by G.) were shot down, one of which has since died. Mr. G. was also wounded in the fleshy part of the thigh, but not considered dangerous. The parties were then brought to town, placed under guard, and the cattle (eight head) were driven to a lot and secured and were afterward recognized as belonging to Josiah Nicol, living some seven miles southwest of town. The parties were placed on trial yesterday before Justice Jacob Mintun, from before whom a change was taken to Justice Fisher, which, with other preliminaries, has occupied the time up to the present.
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
"The examinations have just closed by which E. is held in bonds of $1,500 ; C. and G. in $1,000 each ; and all are still in custody for want of compliance with the requirements of the court. Further developments are being made by legal search about their respective habitations, the particulars of which will be given next week as our hurry to go to press prevents anything further in this issue."
Neither the account given by Mr. Saunders nor the account in the Intelli- gencer gives the date of the capture of these men, but this can be determined quite accurately from a little bill filed by Mrs. G. against the county. The bill was filed March 27, 1860, and is as follows: "To boarding bailiff twenty-three days, from the 27th of September, 1859, to October term of district court, in guarding G., a prisoner, keeping up fires, lights, etc., during that time, $23."
This would make the date September 27, or within a day or two of that, and would indicate that G. was kept there until court was held. The district court records show that J. G. plead guilty on October 27, 1859, to an indictment for larceny and was sentenced to the penitentiary for three years. The cases against E. and C. were transferred to Henry county and tried there. Joshua Tracy, the district attorney, represented the state, and Henry O'Connor, D. N. Sprague and B. F. Wright represented the defendants. The witnesses in these cases so far as we have found their names were: Josiah Nicol. A. D. Hurley, A. C. Scull, Bentley Cleaver, James Semple, John Saunders, James Humphrey, Edward Pile, Milley Gregory, William R. Williams, D. W. Herrick, Vinton Massie, H. T. Cleaver, E. B. Ogg. Isaac Mickey, E. L. Crain, G. A. Craiger, Thomas Stod- dard, Gust Jones, William Teets, J. C. Case, William Russell and W. W. Stutts. The trials at Mount Pleasant resulted in the conviction of both.
We find on the files in the auditor's office the following bill presented against the county by J. Stone. It is evident from the spelling indulged in by Mr. Stone, which we give literally from his bill, that if he was not one of the originators of the plan of simplified spelling, he at least had original ideas on the subject :
"A Cont with Louisa County Dr. to worke Dr. one nite and part of day with houts $1.50
to one nites Loging for prisner. .65
and garding the Same one nitte 1.00
2 nits and days with E. 4.00
Dr. one nite a lone with E. 1.00
Comenced garding Carpenter Oct 21
a mount of nites and gard 9 nits and 8 days
3 days Balef for 17.00
Grand jourey 3.00
Dr. to i day with John Salys 1.00"
At the bottom of this bill is the following certificate in the handwriting of .1. M. Taylor :
"I hereby certify that the above services were performed to the best of my belief and knowledge.
"A. M. TAYLOR, Shff. L. C. Iowa."
The valuable service performed by the Wapello vigilance committee was recog- nized by the county court, by the payment on June 5. 1860, to John M. Herrick,
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
treasurer of the Wapello vigilance committee, of $200, to repay money expended by the committee in the detection of criminals.
SAFE ROBBERY
On the night of Monday, February 17, 1868, Louisa county treasury suffered a severe loss by burglary, but before giving an account of that, it is proper to say that an attempt was made to burglarize the safe in 1865. Under the head- ing "Attempted Robbery," the Wapello Republican of Thursday, April 4, 1865. says : "On Thursday night last, the office of the county treasurer was entered by unlocking the outer door and forcing the inner one." The article states that gunpowder and chisels and iron bars were used, but that the burglars were interrupted in their work by Janitor Grey at about half past 4 a. m., when they were nearly through their work. It seems they had taken the tools from the shop of Rose & Cody and a lamp from the Methodist church. The following is the account of the safe robbery as taken from the Wapello Republican, pub- lished at the time :
"The Louisa county treasurer's office was entered by burglars Monday night. February 17, 1868, the safe broken open and $17,000 in greenbacks taken there- from. There were $3,200 in the lower compartment of the burglar proof part of the safe which the thieves were unable to reach. Of this some four or five hundred dollars belongs to private parties. We believe the whole amount taken belonged to the county. A considerable portion of it was school money that would have been paid out in a short time to teachers, and the loss will seriously affect that class of laborers.
"W. S. Kremer, the treasurer, worked in his office until about eleven o'clock that night, and three-quarters of an hour later Mr. Hale, the clerk of the district court, passed through the courthouse yard on his way home from the Odd Fellows lodge, so that the burglarious work was probably not entered upon until after midnight. Mr. Kremer was the first to reach the office Tuesday morning, at about sunrise. He found the door locked and all the window blinds except one, closed as usual. These blinds seem well adapted to the use of burglars. They are made of boiler iron, and have not been, and perhaps could not be so fastened but that they could be easily pried off, or opened. Once inside. the burglars could close them when they would completely conceal the light. and they would also greatly deaden the sounds of their operations. No one sleeps in the courthouse and it is perhaps seventy-five yards to the nearest house. Some of the persons living in the vicinity say they heard noises, as of pounding, but supposed it was horses pawing in an adjoining stable.
"The burglars had prepared themselves with some half dozen steel wedges of from two to five inches in length and about one inch in width, and they broke into the blacksmith shop of Rose & Company and secured a cold chisel and a sledge, which they left near the broken and battered safe. In the attempt. to rob the safe in the same office, three or four years ago, the same shop was broken into and the same tools taken out, and it can hardly be doubted that the same parties were in both transactions.
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
"Effecting their entrance through the window, the burglars went to work with their wedges and sledge, and by prying and pounding and breaking, such as only experienced villains know how to do, they opened the outside doors. The inside, or burglar proof doors were not opened, but the lock was broken and deranged, and the iron shelf, or partition, running horizontally over it, and forming its roof, was pried up until an aperture was formed wide enough to admit of the insertion of small tongs or nippers, or something of that kind, with which the coveted packages were fished up and drawn out. The opening was large enough to admit even a small hand. The money once secured, of course there was not much time lost in making tracks.
"Whoever the villains are, they understand their business thoroughly. There was no bungling about it. Of course the transaction was carefully planned, and has, no doubt, been in contemplation for months and perhaps years, a simi- lar attempt having been made three or four years ago. No doubt every circum- stance was carefully calculated, and it is believed by many that local assistance was rendered, though the principal actors, it is thought, came from a distance. Indeed, it is almost certain that a trace of them has been discovered, and every effort is being made to capture them.
"Two middle sized, dark complexioned men hired a span of horses and buggy at Unterkercher's stable in Burlington last Saturday, to come up to the neighborhood of Bethel church, as they said, but really they came right through to Wapello. They put up at the Burlington House and told the landlord that they would want their team at eleven o'clock that night. The stage driver from Burlington who puts up at Unterkercher's, came in the same evening and knew the team they were driving and that they had hired it to drive only a few miles. When he learned that they wanted to return that night, he objected, as it would be too hard a drive. Our gentlemen parleyed about the matter through the evening, and one of them went out and was gone an hour or two, and when he returned they at last decided, at about ten o'clock, to remain over night but to return early Sunday morning, which they did. The "job" was no doubt planned for Saturday night, but for obvious reasons it was postponed. Monday afternoon the same parties hired the same team for another little ride up the country but so far as we can learn, at the present writing, they stopped nowhere on the road. Tuesday morning, at about eight o'clock, they drove up to the stable in Burlington, their horses foaming with sweat, and hurriedly paying their bill, they were soon out of sight. The stage driver, who was there at the time, says they carefully avoided him. Add to this the fact that Olley T. Stewart, a boy some twelve years of age, found $900 of the money in the road between the residence of S. Jamison and the stone schoolhouse on the Burling- ton road as he was going to school Tuesday morning in company with little Katy Herrick, and it is almost certain what direction the money took and who got, at least, the bulk of it. Mr. Kremer issued posters Tuesday morning offering a reward of $2,000 for the arrest of the burglars and the recovery of any considerable portion of the money, and Tuesday evening, on learning the facts above given from the stage driver, he started for Burlington. Riders were also sent in other directions, and every effort is being made to bring the guilty parties to justice."
415
HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
It was not long before a number of persons were arrested as suspects, among them being Benjamin F. Langell, Allen Jackson and George A. Mckay. Langell, after being in jail about six months, not liking the confinement, broke out on January 20, 1869, by sawing off an iron bar of one of the window casings. The jail had been considered unsafe for some time and a guard had been em- ployed by Sheriff Lacey; but in the opinion of the supervisors, this guard was considered too expensive and had just been discharged prior to the time Langell made his escape. A Mrs. Lottie Anthony from Muscatine, had come down to visit Langell the day before he made his escape, and she was immediately arrested on a charge of having assisted him to escape, and was bound over to the district court; but nothing further seems to have been done against her. Alexander Jackson was arrested by Sheriff E. B. Lacey somewhere in Ohio, and Jackson's friends immediately got out a writ of habeus corpus but failed to secure his release. Jackson then had Lacey arrested on a charge of perjury, alleged to have been committed at the habeus corpus trial. Sheriff Lacey was released from this perjury charge and then another Ohio court issued a writ of habeus corpus for Jackson, but Sheriff Lacey also defeated this proceeding and brought his prisoner back with him. Jackson was tried but there was not enough evidence against him to warrant a conviction. George A. Mckay was tried at Burlington in May, 1871, and the jury disagreed, standing nine for conviction and three for acquittal. We believe he was tried a second time and acquitted. McKay was supposed to have some land in Warren county, this state, and on January 6, 1870, the matter of Louisa county bringing suit against him and attaching this land on behalf of the county, was considered by the board of supervisors but it was decided by a vote of sixty-five not to do so. At the same meeting, however, the board adopted the following preamble and resolution :
"Whereas, It has been reported to this board that one George A. McKay, who is charged as being one of the burglars who robbed the county safe some two years since,
"Whereas, It is reported that said Mckay is the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land in Warren county, this state (it being the same land on which E. B. Lacey has now an attachment), on which we might levy an attachment to escure a part of our loss incurred by said burglary, and,
"Whereas, ex-sheriff E. B. Lacey has lost considerable time in the pursuit of said burglars, therefore,
"Resolved that as compensation for such loss of time, the county hereby assigns to said E. B. Lacey all her rights and interests in such land and he is authorized at his own expense and for his own use to prosecute such suit to judgment."
Among the records of the board of supervisors we find a claim filed against the county by Sheriff E. B. Lacey, May 31, 1871. as follows :
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
To reward for the capture and return of George A. Mckay as per agreement of board of supervisors of Louisa county. .$1,250.00 To 10 per cent interest on $1,000 from September 1, 1870, to June 6, 1871 83.34
Total $1,333-34
This claim is marked on the back "filed August 29, 1871," and below that is the word "disallowed."
We also find among the files a claim of E. B. Lacey for services and ex- penses in pursuit of burglars, filed December 29, 1871, amounting to $1,184.19, exclusive of interest. The claim is made of items of expense in traveling to and from various places in the months of August and September, 1870. In addi- tion to these items of expense for travel there are the following items :
To amount paid sheriff of Champaign county, prison expenses of Mc- $
Kay 35.00 Paid J. D. Brown, ex-sheriff, for assistance in extraditing McKay 25.00 Services of Sheriff Lacey for sixteen days at $6 per day. 96.00
Cash and note given for apprehension of Mckay, with ten per cent interest from date 1,000.00
There was a number of items of actual expense aggregating $1,442.40, on which there is a credit of $258.21, received of the auditor of state on expen- ditures and services in apprehending and extraditing Mckay. This claim is also marked "disallowed."
Soon after this burglary the board of supervisors took steps to have the amount of said funds in the treasurer's safe credited to the county, so that they would not have to be paid to the state. In March. 1868, the board addressed the following memorial to the legislature :
"To the Hon. the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Iowa : "The undersigned, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Louisa in the State of Iowa. would respectfully represent that on the morning of the 18th of February. A. D., 1868, the office of the treasurer of said county was entered by burglars, the safe, supposed to be a good, burglar proof safe, broken open, and funds to the amount of seventeen thousand, one hundred and five dol- lars and forty cents stolen, of which eight hundred dollars have been recovered. We would further respectfully represent that at that time there was on hand. and in said safe, moneys collected on state tax amounting to the sum of four thousand five hundred and ninety-three dollars and twenty-eight cents, and that there was due to the state at that date on Insane Hospital account the sum of fifteen hundred and seventeen dollars and fourteen cents, there being at that time collected and on hand Insane Hospital tax to more than that amount.
"The whole making the amounts in said treasury properly belonging or due to the state of Iowa, six thousand one hundred and ten dollars and forty-two cents."
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
Subsequently the legislature passed a joint resolution in regard to this and several other similar robberies of county safes that had occurred not long be- fore that, in which the state auditor was authorized to make proper credits to the various counties named in the resolution. Louisa county eventually got credit under this resolution for $4,592.28.
WOLF HUNT
The following is taken from the Wapello Times of January, 1851 :
"Pursuant to adjournment the citizens of Louisa county met on Friday, January 10, 1851, whereupon T. Brogan, Esq., was called to the chair, and T. S. Bell was appointed secretary.
"On motion, J. T. Cleaver, James Noffsinger and T. S. Bell were appointed a committee to select marshals and describe the boundaries for the Circle Wolf Hunt, to take place on Saturday. the 18th day of January, 1851, commencing at 8 o'clock, a. m. After an absence of a few minutes they reported as fol- lows, to wit:
"Boundaries-Commencing at Florence, thence to Scull's, thence to Esq. Wilson's, thence to Samuel McElhanie's, thence to James Jarvis', thence to Joshua Marshall's, thence to John Marshall's, thence to the ford on Long creek (on the Burlington and Columbus City road), thence down Long creek to its mouth, thence down the Iowa river to the town of Wapello, thence to Florence.
"Marshals-Florence line, John Deihl; Scull's, John Wiser: Wilson's, T. Brogan ; McElhanie's, F. Lee ; Squire Brown's. H. C. Blake; Jarvis', Z. Jarvis; Virginia Grove, Joseph Marshall; Hope Farm, J. Tinstal and John Marshall ; the ford, Joseph B. Nichols ; Hill's Mills, Robert Benton : Robinson's, T. Stod- dard : mouth of creek. Wiley Gregory, James Blanchard and H. Gregory ; Harri- son, R. B. Packard; Wapello, J. Bell, Jr., and J. M. Herrick; Squash Bend, S. S. Blackburn and James Wilson ; mouth of Otter creek, Samuel Chaney.
"They also reported the following regulations to be observed by all persons engaging in said hunt :
"The west line on its arrival at the bluffs will call a halt and report by signals to the captain ; the north and south lines, on arriving at the open prairie, will halt and report by signals, also; the captain will then sound the advance, when the lines will commence moving steadily forward with as little noise as possible, carefully beating up every inch of the ground, and driving the game to the center. On arriving at the enclosure the captains on each line will select men to enter the circle and drive up the game: those forming the circle to stand in their places, killing all that may attempt to escape in the shape of wolf, deer, or other wild animal.
"No firearms to be carried, no dogs shall be permitted to run loose until the lines are closed, then let loose by order of the captain. All the wolf scalps taken are to be given to the Louisa County Times for publishing notices.
"Each marshal shall be provided with a horn and a flag.
"The captain to sound the time of starting at Wapello, sound to pass round the lines twice, from Wapello down the river, thence round to the place of starting. The center to be designated by a flag.
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
"Every person to be provided with a good hickory club, three feet long, and a knife.
"Closing ground one mile east and one-half mile south of Elm Grove.
"Resolved, That all persons engaging in said hunt be earnestly requested to observe the above regulations.
"Resolved. That no spirituous liquors be allowed on the ground.
"Resolved, That everybody be requested to attend.
"On motion, adjourned."
APPENDIX
CHARTERS, GRANTS, TREATIES AND LAWS AFFECTING LOUISA COUNTY
It may not be long until the land owner who wants to sell will find it neces- sary to furnish an abstract of title reaching back to "the beginning of things" on this continent. Desiring that the subscribers to this work shall be fully prepared for such an emergency, we have been at some pains to prepare a list of the various charters, grants, treaties, and organic acts, which have, from time to time, been granted or enacted relating to or affecting the territory com- . prising Louisa county, with a list and brief mention of laws wihch have special or local application.
April, 1492
Grant by Ferdinand and Elizabeth to Christopher Columbus, making him "Admiral Vice-Roy and Governor" of the Islands and Continents he should discover.
May, 1493
Pope Alexander Sixth issued a Bull conceding to Spain all the continents, inhabited by infidels, which had been discovered by Spain.
March, 1496
King Henry Seventh granted Letters Patent of discovery and trade to John Cabot and his sons, Lewis, Sebastian and Santius, they to pay to the king the fifth part "of the capitall gaine so gotten."
November, 1620
King James I granted to the "Councill established at Plymouth in the County of Devon for the planting, ruling, ordering and governing of New England in America" "all that Circuit, Continent, Precincts, and Limitts in America, lying and being in Breadth from Fourty Degrees of Northerly Latitude, from the Equinoctiall Line, to Fourty eight Degrees of said Northerly Latitude, and in length by all the Breadth aforesaid throughout the Maine Land, from Sea to Sea, &c."
1630 and 1631
. The "Councill" at Plymouth granted to the Earl of Warwick in 1630 a tract of country south of Massachusetts. On March 19, 1631, the Earl trans- ferred his grant to Lords Say and Seale. Burke and others. This grant included all of Louisa county.
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HISTORY OF LOUISA COUNTY
June, 1635
The Council established at Plymouth surrendered its charter to King Charles.
1662
Charles II granted a Charter to John Winthrop and associates, to the same territory included in the Warwick grant of 1630, Winthrop and his associates having purchased the rights of those holding under the Warwick grant.
June, 1673
Marquette and Joliet "discovered" this part of the country for France.
April, 1682
La Salle claimed for France a large part of the Mississippi valley, including all of the present State of Iowa.
October, 1691
William and Mary of England, promulgated an instrument by which they did "Will and Ordayne that the Territories and Collnyes called or Known by the names of Collony of the Massachusetts Bay and Collony of New Plymouth" and other colonies named "be erected Vnited and incorporated" into "one reall Province by the name of Our Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England."
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