USA > Iowa > Lucas County > Past and present of Lucas and Wayne counties, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 22
USA > Iowa > Wayne County > Past and present of Lucas and Wayne counties, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 22
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WAYNE COUNTY
Some time in the seventies, a fellow named Bill Lyons, who resided in the south part of Wayne county, was supposed and believed to be a member of a band of criminals organized in Wayne county. He was considered a dangerous character. The story was announced that several men had pursued a certain party with intent to rob or murder him. Bill Lyons was charged with being one of this band of robbers or mur- derers, although the evidence was not sufficient to identify him therewith, or in fact, to show that he was guilty of other crimes which were generally charged against him. However, he was arrested soon after the occurrence above stated, and charged with being one of the party who had pursued some man with intent to rob or murder him. Lyons was placed in jail, but soon thereafter a mob collected one night and took him out of jail and hanged him. There was no evidence show- ing the names of the parties constituting this mob, and no one was prosecuted for the crime. The fact is apparent, how- ever, from a brief statement of the circumstances that a num- ber of people feared this man Lyons. A man may for a num- ber of years commit crimes and escape punishment, but when his conduct is such as to cause quite a number of people to fear him, he had better seek some other climate.
THE CRIMINAL RECORD OF THE COUNTY
Wayne county has been remarkably free from crime. It has not had the experience of several other counties in the state in dealing with a population of miners, most of whom are foreigners. However, it had one case of robbery of a bank, which attracted the attention of the people of the state, and especially the bankers in the smaller towns. The fact that a band of robbers could come into a town in the day time and rob a bank, and then escape, was sufficient to alarm bank- er's generally.
The following are the facts connected with this robbery : On the 3d day of June, 1871, about one o'clock in the after- noon, four men entered the town of Corydon on horses. They dismounted near a bank located near the northwest corner of the public square. One of the party took charge of their horses and one of them was stationed as a watch or guard in front of the bank, while the other two robbers entered the bank, and presenting revolvers at the cashier, compelled him
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to deliver to them all the money in the bank, amounting to $6,000. A railroad meeting was in session at a church a few blocks west of the bank at the time, and when the robbers got possession of the money of the bank, they mounted their horses and left the town at a gollop. As they passed the church, there being a large number of men on the outside, the church not being sufficiently large to hold the crowd, the robbers flour- ished their revolvers, crying out, "We have robbed your bank."
The railroad meeting was called to induce the people to vote a tax in aid of the building of a railroad to Corydon, and it was largely attended by the people of Corydon. It was being addressed by Henry Clay Dean, a famous preacher and orator of southern Iowa, and hence it is clear that the rob- bers had wisely selected this very time to perform their work. They had been and were seen in town a day or two before the robbery.
It took the people a few minutes to recover from their astonishment and comprehend the situation, and then a posse was hastily organized, and under the direction of Captain Little, they proceeded to follow the robbers. However, the robbers having good horses, and being thoroughly armed, the posse failed to overtake them. In a few hours the robbers crossed the Missouri state line, and as darkness set in it became impossible for the posse to trace them and they escaped. However, as a part of the posse reached a certain point be- tween Pattonsburg and Cameron in Missouri, they discovered that a party of men had stopped at a farm house for their dinner and that they were still at this place. The posse pro- ceeded to make inquiry concerning them. However, one of the posse, without orders, flushed the game by firing a gun before they had completed their arrangements to surround the house, and the robbers again escaped.
The posse came upon a place where they discovered evi- dences that the robbers had stopped to divide the money taken from the bank between themselves. They found strips of paper which had likely been used in wrapping the different packages of the money, the amounts appearing on each wrap- per. The posse also became satisfied that the robbers were the notorious Jesse James Brothers gang, and this theory was afterwards verified by the fact that at least one of these parties
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was shot and killed while engaged in a similar bank robbery at Northfield, Minnesota.
On the 12th of June another posse was organized and placed in charge of a Pinkerton detective, and they proceeded to make another effort to follow and catch these robbers. They went to Princeton, Trenton, Cameron, Kearney and Kansas City, Missouri, but failed to get trace of the robbers.
However, in some manner information was received that one Clell Miller of Kearney, Missouri, was one of the party of robbers. They caused his arrest and he was brought back to Corydon, where he was indicted and tried for said crime, but while the state was able to produce some evidence tending to identify him as one of the robbers, he brought a number of his friends from southern Missouri by whom he established a complete alibi, which secured his acquittal. Notwithstanding the jury thought that on the evidence they could not con- vict Miller, yet quite a large number of people who heard the evidence thought he was guilty, and this belief was con- firmed when it was afterwards discovered that said Miller was one of the parties who was shot and killed at the bank robbery at Northfield, Minnesota. When the photographs of the robbers at Northfield were taken and sent over the county, Miller was readily identified as the same man who had been indicted and tried at Corydon.
THE LOUX CASE
About three years ago a young man named Loux, pro- fessing to be engaged in the business of a traveling salesman for some Omaha firm or business, represented that he kept an account in and with a certain bank at Creston, Iowa, and he evidently did at one time have some money deposited in such bank. He gave a small check to a party in Corydon on said bank, but upon presentation of said check, said bank refused to pay said check for the reason that the drawer had no funds in the bank. He was duly indicted for the crime of obtaining money by false pretence, and was placed in jail to await his trial.
He represented to the parties that if he was released he would and could make the necessary money and pay them. Said parties were led to believe that if released he would fulfill his promise, and they were making arrangements to
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effect such release, and it was expected that such arrange- ments could and would be consummated the next Saturday. But on Friday night preceding this Saturday on which he was to be released, he escaped from jail and has never been seen since. Just how, or in what manner he escaped has been and still remains a mystery. The jail door and the door to his cell were found properly locked the next morning, and his coat and shoes were found in his cell near his bunk, where he usually placed them when he went to sleep.
The sheriff declares that Loux was in his bed fast asleep as he passed by his cell just before the door of the jail was locked, but it is claimed by others that the sheriff was mis- taken, and they declare that the only explanation that can be given of the transaction is this:
They say that some outside friend furnished Loux with a key that would unlock his cell door. That with the aid of this key Loux got out of the cell before the sheriff came in to see that everything was right before he retired for the night. That Loux concealed himself from the sheriff, leaving his coat and shoes where the sheriff could see them as he passed along the aisle and he would conclude that Loux was in bed asleep. Then as the sheriff would leave the jail door unlocked, Loux would pass around to such door and quietly pass out without the knowledge of the sheriff.
The sheriff denies this theory. He declares that Loux was sleeping in his cell, the door of which was locked, when he locked the jail door, the very night when Loux escaped, and when he returned the next morning Loux was gone, but the cell door and jail door were both locked as he left them the preceding night. But how can this be ? Some person is mis- taken. No one doubts the honesty and integrity of the sheriff. but mistakes will occur.
THE ROLFE CASE
In the spring of 1901, Corydon was visited by a destructive fire. It occurred in a barn belonging to E. A. Rea, located near the northwest corner of the public square, about 9 o'clock P. M. It spread to a livery barn, a restaurant, and some other buildings, which were destroyed. It was supposed at the time that it was an accidental fire, caused by some Vol. 1-16
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person dropping a match. No one at the time thought that it was incendiary.
Soon afterwards a store was broken open at night and numerous articles therein were stolen. This aroused the peo- ple and caused them to suspect that they had in their midst a criminal or criminals who were engaged in these crimes, and very likely they had started the late fire. In looking around for the supposed criminal or criminals, suspicion pointed to a young man named Nathan Rolfe, and two boys who were usually found loafing with him, named Elijah Thomas, about fifteen years old, and another boy named John Jones. Thomas was a mere boy, and Jones, who, though older, was weak minded. It became evident that if these parties were guilty, Rolfe must have been the leader of the band and was the principal criminal.
While this suspicion was at its height, Jones was attend- ing a religious revival in Corydon, and having professed religion, he concluded that it was his duty to confess his crimes, and he proceeded to look up the sheriff and confess that he, with Rolfe and Thomas, had not only broken into said store and taken numerous articles therefrom, but he admitted that they had started the fire above mentioned, and in fact, that they had planned many other fires and were preparing to set fire to numerous buildings.
They were all promptly arrested and indicted. Thomas was sent to the reform school, Jones was sentenced to the penitentiary for a few years, and Rolfe was imprisoned in the county jail awaiting his trial.
Knowing that he was guilty and that he would surely be sent to the penitentiary for a long term, Rolfe commenced devising some plan of escape. His cot in the jail was con- structed of gas pipe, and he in some manner broke a piece off of such pipe several feet long, and with the aid of this piece of pipe broke a hole in the ceiling of his cell, another hole in the roof of the prison through which he could and did escape to the roof of the jail. He then jumped from such roof to the ground, some time in the night, and notwithstand- ing notice of such escape with a description of Rolfe was promptly sent over the country, he was never seen after that night.
Rolfe was unmarried and was living with his mother in Wayne county, but well knowing that if caught he would be
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severely punished, he has succeeded in hiding so effectually that his whereabouts has never been discovered. His mother died a few weeks ago and there is nothing now that would cause him to want to return to Wayne county, and the proba- bility is that he will never return to this county.
The only cause or reason for the commission of such crimes is founded in the inherent criminal disposition of per- sons, but the student of criminology would likely cite the fact that perhaps other members of the same family have been regarded as good citizens.
WOMEN'S CLUBS
We have had the pleasure and benefit of examining the "Year Books," and the printed "Programs" of several of the leading women's clubs of Corydon, and we do not hesitate to say that Corydon may well feel proud of these organiza- tions.
These year books and programs are not only artistic in manner and form, but the contents thereof very clearly indi- cate the high degree of culture to which the members thereof have attained. They show a profound study of the life and characteristics of the men and women of the past whose names brighten and adorn the pages of history, and the work they accomplished. In thus turning back the pages of history they commune with the great minds that made it, mark the epochs therein, listen to the councils of generations, gather food for thought and example in every page, and obtain a broader view of life in the lessons of the past.
In brief, the modern woman's club is a veritable woman's university, wherein all students are teachers, and all teachers are students. It is an institution wherein social enjoyment is so happily blended with mental culture and the pursuit of practical knowledge, that no one can fix the point where one begins or the other ends. It educates the student, broadens her view of life, enlarges her influence and activity, and neces- sarily leaves its impress for right living in every community in which it exists.
The members of such clubs may not be permitted to vote, but their silent, potent influence' for good government will
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be seen and felt in every town or city wherein they are located.
The combined influence and power of educated intelligent women will leave its impress upon the laws, measures and policies involving the welfare of society, and especially upon all moral questions that arise.
As these year books and programs indicate the nature and extent of the work being accomplished by these clubs, we will here insert a few specimen pages thereof.
YEAR BOOK-P. E. O.
1912-1913
Colors-Yellow and White. Flower-Marguerite
October Fourteenth-
"Again we meet to count our gains, To share our pleasures and our pains, Its now we pledge to reap and sow, All to the good of the P. E. O."
Hostess, Mrs. Sadie Sollenbarger.
Roll Call, Friendship.
President's Address, Miss Edith Rea.
Music, Mrs. Susie Walker.
Song-"Auld Lang Syne," Chapter.
Committee-Grace Moore, Carrie Garrett, Emma Kimpel.
June Ninth-An Evening in France.
"Town, meadows, gliding ships and villas mixed. A rich, a wondrous landscape rises round."
Hostess, Mrs. Carrie Garrett.
Roll Call, Anecdotes of the Revolution.
Talk-Causes and Leading Events of the Revolution, Harriett Draper.
Paper-Great Shops of Paris, Mrs. Emma Kimpel.
Review-"The Scarlet Pimpernel," Baroness Orczy, Miss Grace Moore.
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FRIDAY CLUB-CORYDON, IOWA 1912-1913
Masters and Masterpieces of British Literature
Program
November 8th-Hostess, Mrs. Evans; leader, Mrs. Bower. Current Events-A Review of King Richard the Third, Mrs. Carter.
Volunteer Discussion.
November 29th-Hostess, Mrs. Bracewell; leader, Mrs. Tedford.
Current Events-John Bunyan, with a review of Pilgrims Progress, Mrs. Rea.
Volunteer Discussion.
January 3d-Hostess, Mrs. Miles; leader, Mrs. Miles.
Current Events-Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson, the place of each in British literature of the Eighteenth Century, Mrs. Tedford.
Volunteer Discussion.
December 13th-Hostess, Mrs. Carter ; leader, Mrs. Evans. Currents Events-Review of Julius Caesar, Mrs. Brown. Volunteer Discussion.
January 24th-Hostess, Mrs. Rice ; leader, Mrs. Lecompte.
Current Events-Oliver Goldsmith, with a review of the Vicar of Wakefield, Mrs. Bracewell.
Volunteer Discussion.
February 14th-Hostess, Mrs. Rea ; leader, Mrs. Hamilton. Current Events-A Review of Antony and Cleopatra, Mrs. Walker.
Volunteer Discussion.
March 7th-Hostess, Mrs. Tedford; leader, Mrs. Carter. Current Events-Samuel Wordsworth and Lord Byron, the place of each in British Literature, Mrs. Green.
Volunteer Discussion.
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March 28th-Hostess, Mrs. Slathower; leader, Mrs. Brace- well.
Current Events-A Review of the Winter's Tale, Mrs. Hamilton.
Volunteer Discussion.
May 9th-Hostess, Mrs. Hamilton ; leader, Mrs. Slathower. Current Events-A Review of the Tempest, Mrs. Rice. Volunteer Discussion.
THE MONDAY CLUB
The following is a copy of the annual program of the Monday Club, viz :
Program-1913
January 13-Eugene Field, Mrs. Prugh.
January 20-Sketches of the Different Religions, Mrs. Hughes.
January 27-Demonstrations of the Christian Religion.
February 3-Public Schools, Mrs. Sutton.
February 10-Industries of Iowa, Mrs. Miller.
February 17-Jane Addams and Settlement Work, Mrs. Alexander.
February 24-Will Carlton, Mrs. Gordon.
March 3-State Institutions, Mrs. W. L. Moore.
March 10-Child Labor, Mrs. Brock.
March 17-Is there a Catholic Menace ? Mrs. J. C. Moore.
March 24-Local Civic Improvement, Mrs. Sproatt.
March 31-James Whitcomb Riley, Mrs. Havner.
April 7-Sectional Characteristics of the United States, Mrs. Davis.
April 14-Latest in Science and Invention, Mrs. Brown.
April 21-Prison Reform, Mrs. Bower.
April 28-Whittier, Mrs. Lawson.
May 5-Temperance Laws of Different States, Mrs. Sni- der.
May 12-Iowa Authors, Mrs. Richards.
Mrs. Harriett Belvel Evans, who kindly furnished me with the foregoing data, adds the following pertinent remarks concerning the clubs of Corydon, viz:
"In addition will say that the Bay View Club is an organ- ization of five years' standing, composed of fifteen women.
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and they use one of the courses of study sent out by the Bay View Pub. Co.
"The Friday Club is unique in this, the husbands of the members come to each meeting at 6:30 P. M., following the afternoon session, at which the members follow the printed program after dinner, which is always served. The gentle- men have full sway and the evening is devoted to the discuss- ing of the subject which appears on the program for that day, with one principal speaker, who may be an invited guest or the husband of a member. The address is followed by a free-for-all (men) discussion, and it is almost needless to add that the Club is a most popular one with the sterner sex.
"The Monday Club is an outgrowth of the Chatauqua movement.
"The Suffrage Club is the largest in the state, except Des Moines, and has been a potent force in the recent victory in the present general assembly.
"The Suffrage and Friday Clubs are federated with the state, but we have no city federation.
"The P. E. O. Club about ten years ago started a public library and sustained it by their own efforts for some years. Since then the Suffrage Club, Bay View and Monday Chibs have united with the P. E. O's. in its upport. It now consists of 2,500 volumes. The women hope to have it taken over by the town, and be made a free institution."
INTOXICATING LIQUORS
Wayne county has come as near, if not nearer, than any other county in the state in enforcing our statute against the keeping for sale, or selling intoxicating liquors for use as a beverage.
Under the laws of the State of Iowa the board of super- visors of each county is given the power to grant permits to druggists to sell intoxicating liquors for certain purposes. The party desiring to purchase such liquors must make, sign and file with the druggist, a written application, stating the kind and character of liquors he desires, and the purpose for which he desires them. Of course the druggist cannot be held liable for the uses made of the same after the applicant received them, but the druggist dares not sell such liquors to a minor, nor to a person who is in the habit of becoming in-
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toxicated, but he sells them at his peril. He is required to know absolutely that the applicant is not a minor, and that he is not in the habit of becoming intoxicated. The fact that he is led to believe that the applicant is not a minor, and that he is not in the habit of using intoxicating liquors as a beverage, will not protect him from a mistake in this re- spect. He takes the risk of making an illegal sale. The law is so strict that the great majority of druggists do not now apply for such permits.
Again, the law is indefinite as to the number of such permits that may be given in one town or one county. In some counties permits are only granted to one druggist for a county to sell such liquors, while in other counties there is no limit as to the number of permits that may be issued. In such counties every druggist in the county may obtain such a permit. The sentiment against the sale of intoxicating liquors was so strong in the beginning of the controversy that the friends of temperance in Wayne county secured a ruling of the courts to the effect that no more permits should be granted than were actually necessary to provide for the convenience of the people of the county in procuring such liquors, for legal purposes, and when this interpretation is given the law, it is almost certainly followed by another rul- ing to the effect that it is sufficient in the sale of liquors for certain purposes if they are authorized to be sold by one or two druggists in the county. This interpretation of the law operated to limit the number of places in the county where liquors can be purchased.
Again, there are only a few foreigners in Wayne county. It has only a small mining population. It is sometimes quite difficult to convince a foreigner that there can be anything morally wrong in the sale or use of intoxicating liquors. Perhaps he has never heard of such a law until he came to this country, and he is very apt to conclude that a prohib- itory liquor law is unjust and oppressive. The cases are quite numerous where such a man, after lying in jail for several months for violating this law, will again engage in this illegal business in a few days after he is released from jail. In an early day a citizen in the eastern part of Wayne county concluded that he could make money in the manufac- ture and sale of liquors. He was preparing to institute a still on his premises and had made all necessary arrangements
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to engage in the manufacture and sale of liquors. When this fact became known the question of the effect of such manufacture and sale of liquors in the neighborhood imme- diately arose and the neighbors of this man awakened to the fact that such an enterprise was not desirable. Men with several sons awakened to the fact that the manufacture of whiskey in their neighborhood might result in the ruin of the youth of the neighborhood, and the result was that a public meeting was called to devise some means of protection to the community. The matter was discussed at this meeting, and the result was, to appoint a committee to wait upon this gentleman and inform him that if he expected to engage in the manufacture and sale of liquor he must find some other locality for his business. There was no prohibitory law in force at the time, but this committee gave this individual to understand very distinctly that, law or no law, he must move on. The result was that he did move on, and Wayne county escaped the danger incident to the establishment of this institution in their midst.
Since that day it became well known that the temperance sentiment in Wayne county was so strong that liquor sellers have avoided it. While clandestine sales of liquors have been made in the county, vet as compared with many other counties in the state they were few and far between. It is true that in the early days of the county a few saloons were opened in Corydon, and they existed for a short time, but there has not been a saloon in the county for many years.
In many counties the drug store took the place of the saloon, but as above stated, the strong temperance sentiment in Wayne county rendered this business so dangerous to the druggists that, as we are informed, no drug store in the county now holds a permit to sell liquors.
The W. C. T. U. organization is entitled to great credit for the great influence it has exercised against saloons.
Again, as we are informed, the bar at Corydon, by its willingness to prosecute persons for violating the prohibitory law, has materially assisted the cause of temperance.
Several years ago a druggist circulated his petition for a permit to sell intoxicating liquors and the prospects were that he would succeed in obtaining a sufficient number of signers to secure such permit, but a counter petition or re- monstrance was promptly circulated by the leading business
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men of the town, containing about twice the number who signed the petition of the applicant, and the result was that no permit was issued. Since that time no attempt has been made to obtain a permit.
Quite recently one druggist was prosecuted and convicted for selling liquors without a permit, but the fine assessed against him was so severe that he became disgusted with his location and he concluded to, and did sell his store, and quit business.
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