USA > Iowa > Tama County > History of Tama County, Iowa, together with sketches of their towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 123
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occurrences of the night had so thoroughly wrought him up, that it seemed impossible to sleep. Suddenly he heard the cry of a child's voice, and raising up in bed, lis- tened carefully, but heard nothing more. His wife soon came down stairs and told him the condition of the girl, and he at once decided that a child had been born. Be and his wife then went up stairs and told the girl what they believed had hap- pened; but she said it was not so. They came down stairs. and taking a lantern, Mr. Averill went out and around the house, but could find nothing. Ile then went to the coal shed, and looking behind a large box saw a large tin pail, in which was a newly born babe. The child was dead, and he carried bucket and all, into the house. Hle immediately went for Doctor Morison, who gave some medicine to the girl,and took the body of the infant. Dr. Morison testified that the child weighed six and a half pounds, was a sound healthy child and in his opinion, was alive when born. The jury found that de- ceased came to its death by involuntary exposure to the severe weather, the expos- ure being intentional on the part of the mother.
In July, 1877, another murder was com- mitted in Tama county. On the ninth day of the month named, C. S. Whitely, a Constable and highly respected citizen of Carroll township, attempted to arrest Martin Meshek upon a warrant for assault and battery. Meshek resisted, and in the struggle that ensued Whitely was shot and killed. Meshek was arrested and in September, 1877, the Grand Jury found an indictment against him for murder in the first degree. Ile was tried, found guilty
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and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of ten years. After the sentence was pronounced, the attorneys for the defend- ant asked for a new trial, which was over- ruled, and the case was carried to the Su- preme Court of the State, where a new trial was granted at the June term, in 1879. The case was then remanded to the Court of Tama county, where a change of venue was taken to Benton county. There he was tried for murder in the second degree and sentenced to ten years in the peniten- tiary. He was then taken to the peniten- tiary and his case was again carried to the Supreme Court, where, in 1883, it was pending.
In 1877, D. M. O'Connor was arrested for a crime and was placed in jail at Tole- do to await trial. There were four others in the jail at that time. In the latter part of June, of the year named, the prisoners succeeded in obtaining possession of the key for a few moments while the Sheriff was in the room. A bar of soap, a small piece of hard wood and a case knife en- abled them to make a hardwood duplicate of the key. The case knife was then made into a saw, which severed the bars, the wooden key opened the iron door, the weight of five men forced the wooden door and the prisoners were free. Four of them were captured within a short time, but Murphy gained a hiding place in the brush, where he laid low the next day. The second night he secured passage in a stock var, and was punched out before morning; but finally succeeded in beating his way to Chicago; boarded a vessel and landed safely in Canada, where he remained about two years. Ile then went to Penn- sylvania, thence to Vicksburg, where he
remained about one year. Then he made Minneapolis and St. Paul his home for a time, and finally went to Milwaukee. In February, he was married to a lady of that city, who in a short time became convinced that he was a hard case. She gave him away and he was arrested by the police. In April, 1881, Sheriff J. C. Fitzgerald went for him and brought him back to his old resting place in the Tama county jail.
On the morning of the 29th of Au- gust, 1878, Michael Straka, a Bohemian, was murdered in the woods near the vil- lage of Chelsea. The perpetrator of this foul and dastardly act has never been brought to justice. Mr. Straka came to Chelsea from Quarry Station, Marshall county, on the day before his murder, for the purpose of purchasing a team of horses. He entered a saloon and got recklessly drunk, showing money to the amount of several hundred dollars, which he was then carrying on his person. That evening he went out to a friend's house, near the village, and remained there all night. The next morning he started after his horses and when in the woods was shot by some unknown per- son. He succeeded in crawling to a house near by, and lived long enough to partially describe the murderer ; but his description was not sufficient to criminate any one. He had about $250 on his person, which was stolen by the man who killed him.
On the 14th day of September, 1878, the residents of Carroll township were horrified by the murder of Perry Wheaton. The circumstances were as follows : Perry Wheaton was mowing grass on his father's farm near the house of one Mr. Taylor. The latter's cattle came upon the hay field,
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doing considerable damage by tossing and trampling the hay shocks. Mr. Wheaton set his dog on the cattle and drove them away. At this, William Taylor, a young man about eighteen years old, went to his father's house, and was seen coming back with a shot-gun in his hands. He ap- proached the hayfield where young Whea- ton was at work, and angrily asked why he had dogged those cattle. Perry re- plied, that he did not dog the cattle but that his father did. "Well," said Taylor, "I'm going to shoot the - dog anyway." Wheaton told him he had better not, and advanced a few steps. Taylor retreated sev- eral paces and Perry again advanced, when young Taylor raised his gun and fired. Perry turned toward the mower, took a few steps, then fell over on the grass and in fifteen minutes was a corpse. Taylor then started on a run toward his home, and was there met by his father who started with him for Toledo. In the meantime the county Sheriff had been no- titied of the crime, and he at once started out to arrest the murderer. A few miles out of town he met Taylor, came into town with him and lodged him in jail. The grand jury found an indictment against Taylor for murder in the first degree. The case was brought before the District Court of Tama county, and a change of venue was taken to Benton county court, where he was tried and convicted of mur- der in the second degree, being sentenced to ten years in the State penitentiary, at hard labor. He is now serving out his sentence.
On the same day of the murder of Perry Wheaton, another tragedy was being enacted in Buckingham township. W. II.
Houd and J. L. Smith, with others, were helping Mr. Dale with his threshing. Af- ter dinner, Mr. Houd was telling William Greene of a difficulty about a pitchfork which he had had with Smith in the morn- ing, when Smith came up calling lloud a liar. The latter paid no attention and went on with his conversation. Smith then called him a - - liar and made for Houd. Houd picked up a piece of a wagon tongue and threw it at Smith, strik- ing him on the breast. The latter snatched up the club and again came toward Houd, who secured another stick and stood ready for battle. They faced each other with raised clubs, Houd getting in the first blow, knocking Smith down. It was a terrible blow, and Smith sustained a bad fracture of the skull, which caused his death. He died on the 16th day of Au- gust, two days after receiving the injury. The murderer was indieted by the grand jury of Tama county, for murder in the first degree. He was tried and convicted for manslaughter, at the February term of the District Court, being sentenced to two years in the penitentiary at hard la- bor.
In May, 1882, the store of L. Sime was broken into and about $500 worth of goods were stolen. The perpetrators of this deed were William Henry, Ralph Mo- croff and Mike and John Hironimus. They went down into the cellar, beneath the store room, and sawing off several boards in the floor, came up into the store. They bundled a lot of goods together, furnish- ing goods and jewelry, took them to W. E. Appelgate's livery stable, divided the property and each took care of his own share. Fifty dollars reward was offered
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by Mr. Sime, for the detection of the theives and recovery of the stolen prop- erty. William Henry, one of the partici- pants in the theft, was at this time clerk- ing in the Stickney Hotel, and on the night of the robbery, did not return to the house until about four o'clock in the morn- ing, and as the doors were securely locked he raised a window and clambered in. This awakened Mr. Stickney, and on hear- ing of the burglary the next day, his sus- pieions were aroused, and he determined to retain his clerk to watch him, and if he was one of the guilty party, to fasten the guilt where it belonged. A few days after the robbery, Mr. Stiekney noticed that Henry was wearing a brand new shirt; so when it was put among the clothes, gathered together for the weekly washing, he examined it and took a copy of the trade mark of the manufactory, and the cost mark of the firm. lle then went to Mr. Sime's, priced a number of his shirts, and without informing Mr. Sime, found that the marks were precisely the same as those he found on the shirt which young Henry had put into the washing. This fact strengthened his suspicions, making ing him almost certain that Henry was one of the thieves. About this time, or a few days later, Mr. Stickney came into the office suddenly and caught Henry in the act of removing the hinges from off a door of a small closet, where there was a quantity of cigars. Henry, the next day told the boys of this, and wondered why Mr. Stickney did not dis- charge him at once, but Mr. Stickney was not yet through with him; he had an ob- ject in retaining him in his employ. Some- where about two weeks after the robbery,
one rainy morning, Henry was missing from the house. Just before noon he re- turned, attended to his chores and came in to dinner. Mr. Stickney waited for some time in the office for him, but he did not return. The proprietor then went into the dining room and asked where Ilenry had gone. He was told that he had gone into the barn. Mr. Stickney sus- pected then that the stolen goods had been brought to the barn, and, going in, he caught a glimpse of Henry in the act of wringing water out of some garment. In- stead of halting, Mr. Stickney went rapid- ly by, saying that he had to take a man to Tama City and that he wanted his team gotten out at once. Ilenry hitched up the team, drove around to the front of the ho- tel and then Mr. Stickney told him he might drive the man to Tama City, as he (Stiekney) had another engagement up street. As soon as Henry was out of sight Mr. Stickney went for Mr. Sime, and, re- turning with him to the barn, they found a large package of the stolen property, which apparently had been kept in some very damp place and was quite wet. They at once telephoned to the marshal at Tama City to arrest and detain Mr. Ilen- ry until he should be sent for. The proper papers were then made out and the Sher- iff started to make his arrest, returning after a short absence with the guilty man, who then knew why Mr. Stickney had not discharged him. The culprit was taken to the law office of Ebersole & Willett, where he was searched and a quantity of the stolen jewelry found on his person. When he saw that he was completely canght, he divulged the manner of his as- sociates in the theft and before night
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they were all arrested. A preliminary ex- amination was held before John McClas- key, Justice of the Peace, who bound them over to the District Court. Link West was also brought before Mr. McClaskey, but as there was not sufficient evidence in his case he was discharged. When their trial came off, the boys plead guilty and were all sentenced to one year in the county jail, with the exception of Ralph Mocroff, who, on account of being but a boy, was given only nine months. Near- ly all of the stolen property was recov- ered and Mr. Stickney was paid $50 as a reward for his services as private detec- tive.
On Monday night, October 23, 1882, Gladbrook was the scene of a fearful riot. About fifteen railroad laborers, at work on the Diagonal, became drunk and disorder- ly, creating a great disturbance on the streets. The Marshal warned them to de- sist and drove them off into another part of the town. About 10 o'clock in the evening they returned and after breaking some windows in his house, returned to the east part of town. The Marshal gath- ered a small posse of men, in which were Mr. C. R. Appelgate, of Toledo, tempo- rarily there on business; Mr. M. L. Hess, Mr. Blodgett and one or two more. They found four or five of the disturbers in the east part of town near some cars, and when they proceeded to arrest them, suddenly the remainder of the gang appeared from their ambuscade and made a charge on the Marshal and his posse. The Marshal was struck several times and severely hurt, be- ing knocked insensible early in the en- gagement. His wounds were mostly on his head, but one severe blow from a stone
or bullet struck his watch in his vest pocket. If it was a pistol shot, the watch saved his life. Mr. Appelgate and Mr. Hess were both prostrated and were then pounded and disfigured in a horrible man- ner. Mr. Hess was terribly cut and bruised about the head and face, and while Mr. Appelgate appeared less bruised, he was in reality very severely hurt, the blows he received being heavier. Mr. Ap- pelgate fainted on his return to his board- ing place, where he was taken and re- mained until Tuesday evening, when he was placed on a cot and taken to his home in Toledo, on the cars. His injuries were so severe as to cause the blood to flow from his ears and nose. Dr. Thompson and Mr. Appelgate's father went up to see him by train long before daylight Tues- day morning, having learned of the affair from Mr. C. Emerling, who came to Tole- do to give the information. Deputy Sher- iff Ross also went to Gladbrook at the same time. Mr. Blodgett was also con- siderably cut about the head and face. It did not take long, however, for other citi- zens of Gladbrook to learn of the state of affairs, and arming themselves with re- volvers, shot guns, axes and pitchforks, they soon surrounded several of the roughs in the basement of an elevator and then arrested them. A few others were captured at their camp before daylight, and Deputy Sheriff Ross, after his arrival with a posse went out and succeeded in securing three more, making eleven in all. Attorney J. W. Willett, went up to Glad- brook and filled information before Mayor Soleman; then a change of venue was taken before 'Squire Blakely and the par- ties held for further examination, when
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the witnesses should have sufficiently re- covered to appear and to testify against them. The Deputy Sheriff, with aids, brought the entire eleven to Toledo on the train on Tuesday evening and safely placed them in jail. One of the rioters was shot through the wrist. Late in November, Mason Hless died from his wounds. Coroner Kendrick held a post mortem examination, and after a careful investigation the jury found that he died of abscess of the brain caused by a blow from some blunt instrument, on the base of the skull, inflicted by some person or persons unknown to the jury. In Febru- ary, 1883, the rioters were indicted by the grand jury, for assault with intent to kill. The trial on the first charge was held dur- ing the last week of the February term of District Court, 1883, at Toledo. William Cooley was sentenced to one year in the penitentiary at hard labor; Matt Gleason was found guilty of an assault with intent to commit great bodily injury, and was sentenced to a year in the county jail; and lohn Gleason and Charles Johnson were found guilty of an assault and were given sixty days in the county jail; James MeCarty was released on bail, and fled from the country ; the remainder were dis- charged on preliminary examination. In September, 1883, they are to be tried on the charge of murder. One of the worst of the rioters, and about the hardest char- acter in the gang, was shot through the shoulder, but escaped during the night after the fracas.
Another bold robbery occurred in the fall of 1882. The safe of Gore & Benesh, merchants of Vining, was blown open and burglaried of money to the amount of
$2,000. The robbers left no clue by which they might be traced.
The postoffice at Dysart was broken into early in the spring of 1883, and sev- eral hundred dollars worth of stamps stolen. There was no clue to the robbers. On the 11th of March 1883, Wallace Pattison broke into the store of Porter- field Bros., merchants of Dysart, and stole goods to the amount of about $60. He was arrested and part of the goods found on his person. He was brought to Toledo and lodged in the county jail. He will be tried September 17, 1883, at the next term of the District Court. He has made confession of the crime.
GOLD IN TAMA COUNTY.
In 1858 a furore of gold excitement swept over Iowa, in consequence of some having been found in small quantities in various parts of the State. Tama county had a slight attack of it, but it soon passed off. A very little gold was found in the northern part of the county, but hardly enough to pay for the search of it. The Toledo Tribune, which was published at that time by E. B. Bolens, ridiculed the idea, saying : "The gold fever which has been raging with such contagious ra- pidity in many portions of the State for some time past, has at length taken hold of Tama county and produced its results. Several of our citizens having caught the disease, showed the furious symptoms thereof, and the result is-gold has been found. We have seen several specimens of both the dust and lump kind. The largest lump found was about the size of a partridge egg ; the dust we saw was in a vial. Quite an exeitement is now rag- ing. We will receive Tama county
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gold in payment for subscriptions for the Toledo Tribune, at the usual rates, and to the person paying in the gold in the largest lumps, the paper for two years upon payment of one year's subscription."
A BLIZZARD.
One Sabbath afternoon in December, 1856, Mr. and Mrs. Crampton were visit- ing at a neighbor's, in the northern part of the county, when a storm came up and in a short time became a terrible blizzard. Mr. and Mrs. Crampton started for home, a distance of half a mile, became lost and perished in the storm. The next day par- ties went out in search of them. The body of Mrs. Crampton was found near by and that of her husband was discovered twelve miles distant.
ACCIDENTS.
On the second day of September, 1868, Tama county was startled by the an- nouncement that a little son of John and Nancy Miley (or Healy) of Spring Creek, had either been kidnapped or lost. The story was circulated to the effect that he had been kidnapped, and on the ninth of September, the Board of Supervisors offered a reward of $500 for the arrest of the kidnapper and return of the child. This reward was published for a number of weeks in the county papers. The citi- zens of Spring Creek township and vicin- ity turned out en masse to join the search, and the child was tracked by keen scented hounds to the banks of a small stream, where the trail was lost and the search finally abandoned as fruitless. The child was given up by the parents, and all hopes of ever hearing of the little one gone. Early in the following spring,
however, the remains were found near the creek by Mrs. Mary Blakely.
Another sad case of drowning came to light on the 5th of April, 1869. The body of a girl between eighteen and twenty-five years of age was found in Deer creek, about a half mile from Toledo. On investigation, the body was identi- fied as one Catherine Carstensen who had been missing from home for about five months. Different views were held as to how she came to her death ; but it was finally decided that while in a fit of insanity she had committed suicide by throwing herself into the creek. There were no marks on the body indi- cating violence or foul play. The night she left home she showed unmistakable signs of insanity ; but as she was some- times taken with these spells, as they were called, her folks thought but little of it. Some time after her disappear- ance from the house a letter was found, written by the missing girl, and con- taining these words : "The cats are squall- ing-the dogs are howling-the rain is pouring, and now's my time for eternity. Farewell." It is evident from this that she contemplated destroying herself.
William Guilford, of Toledo, was drowned in the Iowa river, on May 7, 1873. lle, in company with William Free, had gone to the mill dam, about eight miles southeast of Toledo, for the purpose of fishing. While there, he got into a boat, that was above the breast of the dam, and, in endeavoring to cross, the boat got into the daw, and becoming un- manageable, went over the dam. Below, was a boiling cauldron, from which it was difficult to make an escape. As the
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boat passed over the dam it struck a snag, staving a hole in the side, and William, having more confidence in his ability to swim than in the boat, aban- doned it, and endeavored to swim to a bunch of willows. The backward cur- rent rendered it difficult to make headway, and after some effort, he gave up the at- tempt, and after bidding those on the shore "good bye," sank back into the whirlpool which swallowed him np imme- diately. The body was found on the eve- ning of the following day, about thirty feet from where he was last seen. The unfor- tunate young man was reading law with Appelgate & Kinne, and had a bright prospect for the future. He was eighteen years and eight months of age, and was held in high esteem by all who knew him.
On Thursday evening, June 5, 1873, two sons of Mr. Ilouston, in Toledo, aged about fourteen and sixteen years, respect- ively, went down to the confluence of Deer creek, and a small tributary, both of which were high, and went in swim- ming. They got beyond their depth, and a younger brother who had accom- panied them, soon gave the alarm that his brothers were drowned. The bodies were soon recovered, and immediate action was taken to resuscitate them, but all efforts failed. A large number of persons gath- ered on the creek bank, but nothing could save the lives of the unfortunates. They were both buried in the same grave.
A most shocking affair occurred at To- ledo on Sunday, July 27, 1873, the partic- ulars of which are described by the To- ledo Chronicle, as follows:
"Mr. and Mrs. Reusch went to attend service at the Catholic Church and left
two children at home, the older being about eleven years old. During the par- ents, absence, he built a fire in the kitchen stove. After starting the fire, he took a half-gallon can nearly full of kerosene and removing one of the stove lids com- menced pouring in the kerosene upon the wood. An explosion occurred, bursting the can and throwing a large portion of its contents upon the unfortunate boy. His clothes caught fire and immediately he started out of the house with his clothes, which were saturated with kero- sene, all ablaze. Dr. Thompson, who lived just across the street, heard the ex- plosion and the screams of the boy and rushed to his assistance. Before he reached the boy, he had fallen down and given up to the flames that enwrapped him. In tearing the clothes from him, the doctor burned his right hand severely. Others soon were on the ground and the boy was carried into the house and every- thing done that was possible. The heat had been so intense that the flesh was burned almost to a crisp, and the sight was simply heartrending. He suffered terribly until about two o'clock, when death relieved his suffering. The funeral took place on Monday afternoon."
On the 29th of July, 1873, while An- thony Corrigan, of Buckingham, was cut- ting grain his horses became frightened and ran, throwing him upon the sickle. He fell upon his hip, cutting out a large piece of flesh. The siekle entered the right side and cut forward, exposing the lungs, ribs and bowels, literally cutting him in twain. He was conscious after the accident and dictated a will. At the time the doctor left, he was still alive, but
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soon died. Mr. Corrigan was about forty years old, was a hard worker, an indus- trions man and was highly respected by all of his neighbors.
In August, 1873, a Bohemian woman living about eleven miles northeast of To- ledo, was burned to death. She had spilled kerosene on the floor and set fire to the oil to burn it, when an explosion ocenrred conveying the flames to the bed elothes and other combustible material in the room. She lived in great agony for about twelve hours after the fire.
A sad accident occurred early in No- vember, 1874, in which John Saddler, a son of Mark Saddler, who resided about three miles northwest of Toledo, lost his life. The following is a brief history of the aceident: It seems that John had taken the old army musket and left the house for a hunt. After going about eighty rods he saw a rabbit and prepared to shoot. Somehow, in stepping upon an old dead log that he mightget a better view of the game, he missed his footing and slipped, striking the loek of the gun on the oppo- site side of the log, which inelined the muzzle towards him, and discharged the load of shot into his body. It made an ugly wound, not unlike that which a min- nie ball would have made under like eir- eumstanees, except that the incision was much larger, and the eut not so elean.
The charge entered the body about the center of the abdomen and ranged upwards and a little to the left, lodging about the back of the stomach a little below the left lung, lacerating severely the intestines, stomach and panereas in its passage. After receiving the wounds, the boy walked to the house, put up his gun on the raek, pulled out a bed and laid down, after which he got up again, went out of the house and called his brother from near by, his parents being absent at the time. He then entered the house and went to bed again. When his brother eame in he told him of the accident, and requested him to go for a surgeon. The parents were also summoned and arrived about the time the physicians did. A brief examination dis- closed the fact that the ease was hopeless. At 10 o'clock that evening death ensued. THE FIRST SETTLEMENT IN TAMA COUNTY. The following affidavit explains itself:
"COON RAPIDS, JUNE 4, 1888.
This is to certify that we, William Riley Vandorin and wife, Rachel, settled in the territory which now comprises Tama county, Iowa, on the 21st day of May, 1849.
his [Signed. ] WILLIAM R. X VANDORIN, mark
RACHEL VANDORIN.
Subseribed and sworn to before me this 4th day of June, 1883.
S. PRESTON,
Notary Public in and for Carroll county, lowa."
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