USA > Iowa > Shelby County > Past and present of Shelby County, Iowa, Vol. 2 > Part 18
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"A horse was stolen from Mrs. McConnell, of Bowman's Grove, and taken to Council Bluffs. The person who stole the horse is said to have been Charles Cuppy, son of Adam Cuppy. When he took the horse to Council Bluffs, he left him at a livery stable and was there told that he could not take him from the stable until he proved his property. He then left the stable and started toward the hotel, but instead of going into the house he left the city, and on Monday he stole another horse of one McKinzie, of Big Grove, and sold him to a man living in Lewis, Cass county. He then came home to Cuppy's Grove, when he was arrested and bound over for trial in Shelby county, although the horse was stolen in Pottawattamie county. On the day he was to be tried he did not appear for trial and after the case was dis- missed Adam Cuppy mounted a horse to go home. but was ordered to dis- mount, was tied, and taken into the court house.
"Adam Cuppy was bail for his son's appearance, and we are informed that the citizens told him that if he would give up his son for trial they would see that he received justice ; but he refused to give him up. I do not give these statements as facts, but they have been given to me by several of our most respectable citizens. Adam Cuppy was kept tied in and about the court house during the day ; and some time after dark a crowd came and took him out and started northward. 'A short distance north of the court house he was shot. Five wounds were found on his person, only one of which was thought to be mortal.
"The grand jury of Shelby county found a bill against five citizens of the county for assault with intent to kill Adam Cuppy and William B. Cuppy ; but on the 15th day of May the district attorney filed his motion to dismiss
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the case; and it appeared, to the satisfaction of the court, that said indictment was found and presented by a jury consisting of only fourteen jurors, and that it charged two distinct offenses; the motion was therefore sustained, the defendants discharged and their bail released. The grand jury then found a bill against the same five persons for assault with intent to commit murder ; and also another bill for murder. The trial was postponed and the court adjourned till the following September. The cause then came up and was postponed until the first Monday of December, when it again came up and was postponed till in 1868. One of the defendants had a change of venue to Harrison county, where he was tried and acquitted. The other four were tried in Shelby county and were also acquitted. The trial on the indictment for assault with intent to commit murder has been postponed from time to time and has not yet been tried. These suits have made a great deal of cost and confusion, and have involved some of the citizens in almost endless diffi- culty ; but as the persons indicted for the murder of Adam Cuppy have estab- lished their innocence. it is likely that they will prove themselves innocent of the charge of assault with intent to kill William B. Cuppy. The horse that was stolen was not the property of either of the men who were indicted for the murder of Adam Cuppy, and therefore they were not the injured parties ; and as the injured parties were present when he was killed and one of them has not since been heard of, it is hardly reasonable to suppose that he was killed by the citizens of the county.
"Fortunately the citizens have seldom been horrified by murder com- mitted in the county. There was one other murder. the murder of John Johnston, committed at Cuppy's Grove, for which crime William B. Cuppy was tried and acquitted."
TERRIBLE TRAGEDY OF ELK HORN GROVE IN CLAY TOWNSHIP.
On Saturday morning, July 14, 1883, a determined band of men, esti- mated at one thousand five hundred in number, surrounded two bandits and murderers in a grove lying in section 10, Clay township. In its early history this grove was known as Hamlin's Grove, but later became known as Elk Horn Grove, by which nanie it is known today, although at this time but little of the timber. remains. It is located a little more than two miles southwest of the present town of Elk Horn. The following well-written narrative of the stirring events involved, the author is privileged to take from the Shelby County Republican of July 19, 1883 :
"One of the most remarkable series of murders, and the pursuit and
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capture of the murderers, together with the shooting and lynching of one of them, that the state of Iowa has ever known, has come to pass with the past week, and to make the matter doubly exciting to the readers of the Repub- lican, the finale of the affair was in this county, in Clay township. Nothing equal to it in excitement and tragedy has occurred anywhere, with the excep- tion of the career of the noted James brothers. The daily press of the entire civilized world has been teeming with reports of the affair and thousands of people were engaged in the pursuit of the murderers and intensely inter- ested in all the details of the crimes and their retribution. The history of the affair. as we have gained it from the most authentic sources, including numerous persons engaged in the pursuit and capture, is as follows:
"On Wednesday night, July 11. postmaster C. L. Clingan, of Polk City. Iowa, who was also a merchant there, in company with his clerk, Mr. Hanger, were about to leave the store for the night. it being quite late, when two masked men suddenly presented themselves and demanded their money. It seems that Mr. Clingan drew a revolver and was about to defend himself when one of the robbers fired, killing Clingan instantly, and they then fled. The alarm was given in a moment and soon the whole town. and little later the whole country, aroused in pursuit. For a day or two the affair was shrouded in mystery. No right clue could be obtained of the direction they had taken, and it was supposed that the parties who did the dastardly deed were the same ones who had murdered Stubbs, the mayor of the town, over a year ago. The murderers, immediately after the crime, had taken two horses out of a barn a short distance west of the store, to carry them away, and they made all haste to get out of the neighborhood. For a couple of days several trails were followed up and various parties were arrested on suspicion, in Dallas. Boone, Polk and Guthrie counties, but finally a lead was struck which eventuated in the capture. The general direction taken by the bandits was west. and they were evidently heading for Nebraska or northwestern Missouri. In the haste they made to get away they showed great daring, but very little discretion, for several times in their flight they changed horses by forcing farmers to give up their fresh animals and leaving them the jaded beasts instead, enforcing their trades at the muzzle of the revolver. Such a course only hastened their pursuers and enabled them to keep the trail, which was first discovered near Perry. Iowa ; but the murderers were not sighted by the first pursuing party until after. they had passed into Audubon county. The Audubon Times of Friday, July 13, relates the circumstances of the chase in that vicinity as follows :
"Early this morning word came in over the Stuart & Musson telephone
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from about eight miles east of here. that two suspicious men had ridden up to Hugh MeGill as he was feeding his horses and. presenting revolvers, de- manded that he trade horses with them. Hle hesitated but they took his horses, two blacks, and left as fast as the horses could go, in a westerly direc- tion. It was at once surmised by parties here that they were the murderers of the Polk City postmaster, and four parties on fast horses started in pursuit. Soon after word came that they had passed through Luccock's grove, east of here. About ten o'clock A. M .. Cramer, who lives nine miles southwest of here in Sharon township, came in town and said when he had come about half a mile he met two men on black horses, one having a light mustache, the other a black one. and he surmised they were horse thieves, but came along about two miles when he met the pursuers from Audubon, and says that they were about eight miles behind the thieves and on the right trail. When they took McGill's horses they told him they must have them as they were after some murderers. There is no doubt but that they were the murderers them- selves as they exactly answer the description given in the Register and the last report given in that paper says they had stolen some horses in Dallas county, and were headed for Coon Rapids. When last seen in Sharon town- ship, they were headed toward Bowman's grove in Shelby county.
"From this time on the trail was an easy one, as the telegraph and messengers had sent hundreds of men from the numerous stations on the sup- posed route to intercept them. Men flocked to the scene from Audubon, Exira, Atlantic. Walnut, Avoca, Marne, Shelby, Harlan and other towns, and the farmers turned out en masse. The last exchange of horses made by the flying robbers was near the edge of Shelby county, where they encountered a Daneman plowing with an old team, which they made him exchange.
"The pursuers were then not far in the rear. The robbers had not gone far until they were compelled to abandon one of the horses, which was badly wind-broken, and they then rode quite a distance on one horse, until they neared Elkhorn Grove, in Clay township. this county, when they jumped off and sought shelter in the thickness of the underbrush, and to wait for ap- proaching night to still further conceal them. This was about five o'clock in the afternoon of last Friday. Among the band of determined murder- hunters who saw them enter the grove was young Willis Hallock, of Exira, brother of George Hallock, who shot and killed two of the "Crooked Creek" gang of roughs recently : he had just raised his arm to fire when he was shot and badly wounded by the robbers. Special trains and other conveyances from all directions were rapidly bringing hundreds of men toward the scene of action, but no one ventured to follow the trail into the grove that night.
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The assembling crowds, armed with every conceivable weapon. were organ- ized into a regular picket line and the grove entirely surrounded. Passwords were established and everything got in readiness for the final closing in upon the quarry, which was to be done at nine o'clock on Saturday morning."
The State Register, in speaking of the flight and pursuit up to this time, says :
"The flight of the Polk City murderers was less swift than that of the Youngers, for the reason that the latter were assisted by their own thorough- bred horses, accustomed to long and rapid stretches of travel, but their pur- sners were not more determined than were the brave and faithful men of Polk, Audubon, Cass and Shelby counties who participated in the remarkable man-hunt which ended in such a pool of blood at Elkhorn Grove on Saturday last. A more determined set of men could not well be found anywhere or for any purpose. They stood sentinel around that grove through the storm and darkness of Friday night, running the fearful danger of death from the bullets of the murderers, who could have crawled upon the guard like snakes in the grass and shot them down in the night. There was no time from the moment the fugitive murderers took refuge in the grove that death did not confront their pursuers. Every man of that determined crowd took his life in his hands when he volunteered to go forward. The intense thickness of the shrubbery which underlies the small scrub oak and hickory trees com- prising Elkhorn Grove needs to be encountered to be fully comprehended. It was one tangled mass of bush and brambles and creeping and clinging vines. To march through it was impossible. The thick branches had to be slowly parted by the hand, or long weapons, such as shot guns or rifles, with which many of the crowd were armed, and progress through it was tedious as well as dangerous. It was an easy matter for the hidden desperadoes to seek a spot under cover, from which retreat could be easily made, and fire their deadly missiles with alarming accuracy at . the first pursuer who ap- proached. A person who stood within twenty feet of young Hallock when he was shot said that the smoke from the murderer's pistol was but dimly seen through the cover. The form of the murderer was not discernible at all.
"At daybreak Saturday morning the picket line. in squads of ten men, each under command of a captain, the whole force being under orders of a marshal, began to close in on the murderers. The bandits were discovered in the northeast part of the grove early Saturday morning. and one of them suddenly raised up and shot J. W. Maddy, of Marne, a justice of the peace and prominent merchant there. He lived for several hours, but could not
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speak. Maddy's death was almost immediately avenged, for a number of shots were fired at the bandit, several of which took effect and gave mortal wounds. He lived long enough to make a confession, in which he said he was the one who had done all the killing, and claimed that his accomplice had not fired a shot. This is generally not believed, as it is supposed to be a story they had arranged beforehand. He gave his name as Gates. When asked if he knew anything about the murder of Mayor Stubbs, he said he did not. The remaining man was soon found and surrendered under cover of a large number of guns and revolvers. He was put in irons by the sheriff's of Polk and Cass counties, and also tied with ropes. He was soon surrounded by an excited and infuriated throng, a rope was put around his neck and he was led and dragged upwards of a mile to a bridge over Indian creek. north of the grove. Just as they were about to swing him off, the wretch plead for a chance to write to his mother, which was granted and he wrote with a firm hand the following :
"Mrs. Ellen Crist.
Butler, Bates Co., Mo.
"Dear Mother :
"'As I am now on the gallows speaking for the last time to you. I will speak to you in sorrowful, although firm, tones. I am sorry I have come to stich an end. I know it will nearly kill you, but it is my fault, not yours. Mr. Griggs will see that I am decently buried and give you the details in the case. Your loving and dying son, I will send you what money I have and a lock of hair that will. I hope, have some future bearing on the life of the boys.
"WILLIAM HARDY.'
"He then turned over about fifteen dollars, which was all the money he had, and said : 'Gentlemen, I am ready.' Just at this juncture Sheriff Chat- burn, of this county, leaped upon the bridge and demanded the prisoner in the name of the state of Iowa, and called upon the crowd to let the law take its course. This was a very daring act, for hundreds of men demanded the life of the murderer, and many of the friends and relatives of the murdered men were also clamoring for vengeance. But to the credit of Iowa and especially Shelby county, be it said, wisdom and coolness prevailed, and Sheriff Chatburn was allowed to bring him to Harlan, where he now lies in jail."
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SHELBY COUNTY, IOWA.
Ife was immediately interviewed by a Republican reporter, with the fol- lowing result :
"He is a young man, about twenty-four years of age; is of slim build and weighs about one hundred and sixty pounds. He gave his name as William Hardy, alias Smith. His home is in Bates county, Missouri. Ile gives the name of his pal as Simpson Taylor Crawford, alias Bates. He confesses to stealing horses, but denies having killed Clingan. He admits being present at the killing of Clingan by Crawford, but says that neither of them had anything to do with the murder of Stubbs. He says Crawford shot Clingan, Hallock and Maddy. and that the man Craig was wounded accidentally. He is a desperate character and takes the matter coolly and willingly converses with any who call to him from the jail window. He has a sister living at Atlantic, so we are informed by Sheriff Crane, of Cass. and his relatives are said to be quite respectable people.
"On Monday he was arraigned before Esquire J. E. Weaver. charged with being an accomplice in the killing of Clingan and Maddy, and the shoot- ing of young Hallock. He waived examination and was taken back to jail to await the action of the grand jury.
"A great deal of excitement has prevailed and a lynching party from Marne or Polk City has nightly been anticipated, but it is now thought that the law will take its course. This is the better plan, for there is yet much mystery surrounding the murder of Stubbs that may be cleared up, besides it may be the means of bringing more guilty men to justice.
"The body of the murderer. S. T. Crawford, who was killed at Elkhorn Grove, was buried by the coroner of Shelby county, J. W. Chatburn, on Sunday, after impanelling a jury and holding an inquest. The verdict of the jury was as follows :
"'State of Iowa. ss. Shelby County.
"'An inquisition holden at the house of Martin Peterson, Clay town- ship. Shelby county. Iowa, on the 15th day of July, 1883, before J. W. Chatburn, coroner of said county, upon the hody of an unknown man then lying dead, by the jurors whose names are hereunto subscribed. The said jurors, upon their oaths. do say that the deceased came to his death by gun- shot wounds caused by some person or persons unknown to them. In testi- mony whereof the said jurors have hereunto set their hands the day and year aforesaid.
"'J. C. COLE, " 'OLE C. LARSON,
" 'MARTIN PETERSON.
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SHELBY COUNTY, IOWA.
"'Witness my hand the day and year above written.
" 'J. W. CHATBURN. "'Coroner.' "
William Hardy, however, owing to the fact that the feeling in Marne. Iowa, and vicinity, including the southeastern part of Shelby county, was running high against him, on account of the death of Mr. J. W. Maddy, of Marne, and the severe injuries inflicted upon young Hallock, was not to have his guilt or innocence determined by regular trial.
Within a few days following his being placed in the Harlan jail, a band of determined men, probably between fifty and one hundred in number, more or less disguised. overpowered the Harlan jailer and took Hardy from the jail late at night, led him to the old bridge across the Botna, near Chat- burn's mill and near the present city pumping station, and hanged him from the railing of the bridge. afterwards firing several volleys into his body. It is supposed that the lynching party was composed of men from Marne and vicinity, and that it probably included a few men from the southeastern part of Shelby county. One of the party afterwards wrote a short article for one of the county papers, giving some details of the tragedy. So far as is known the lynching of Hardy was the only instance of mob law in the history of the county.
STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF FRANCIS RICHARDSON AND OTHERS.
One of the startling events in Shelby county was the mysterious dis- appearance in August, 1896, of Francis Richardson, a wealthy bachelor. somewhat eccentric, who for a number of years went from place to place in , the eastern part of Shelby county, loaning money to the farmers. At the time of his disappearance. Mr. Richardson was the owner of about one thou- sand nine hundred acres of land in Shelby and Audubon counties, and was in possession of probably forty thousand dollars in notes and securities, given mostly by the farmers of Shelby and Audubon counties. Mr. Richardson undoubtedly was murdered, but no satisfactory clue ever presented itself leading to the arrest and conviction of his murderer or murderers. There were many suspicions. but no proof that was satisfactory, although much investigation was conducted by the officers of Shelby county. The title to the property of Mr. Richardson was divested by a presumption of law that a person who disappears and is unheard of for seven years or more, is, legally considered, dead and his property subject to inheritance. The title, there-
SIIELBY COUNTY, IOWA. 581
fore, to large tracts of land in the two counties contains a link in its chain based solely upon this legal presumption.
Another person who mysteriously disappeared and who for more than twenty-eight years has not been seen or heard of, was Edgar R. Ottoway, of Kirkman, Iowa. He also owned certain property, the title to which has been divested by certain presumptions of law and by special statutes governing the title to property of absentees. Another man who left behind him no trail of his whereabouts and who has not been seen for more than ten years is W. B. Rowland. for one term county attorney of Shelby county.
These instances show how easy it is for a single human being to drop absolutely out of the active current of life in which he had been so well known. and be known no more.
THE MURDER OF JAMES ROBERTSON AND JASPER ROBERTSON.
About 1882 James Robertson and wife and their son. Jasper, came to Harlan from Montgomery county. They bought the forty acres of land just north of the Shelby county fair grounds and built a house there. They were industrious and inoffensive people and made a living by small farming · and dairying. In 1889 Mrs. Robertson was given a divorce from her hus- band and went away, leaving James and Jasper Robertson the sole occupants of the little house where the tragedy hereafter mentioned occurred.
In June, 1889, Miss Josie Davidson, of Calaway county, Missouri, came to Shelby county to visit an aunt, Mrs. Bent Perfect, then living on the east of John Burke's. She was soon followed by J. K. Cumberland, of Mexico, Missouri, who had become acquainted with her in that state. On July 4, 1889, they were married at Harlan. They then made an arrangement with the Robertsons whereby they moved into the home of the Robertson and kept house for them. On September 24, 1889, the Robertsons sold their little property to George Paup.
In the fall of 1889 James Robertson and Jasper Robertson, after dis- posing of their farm near Harlan and also their personal property, prepared to leave. After the sale they lived with J. Kaiser Cumberland and wife, who for some time had occupied the Robertson premises and had bought most of their household goods from the Robertsons. About the first day of October the Robertsons made arrangements to go to Montgomery county to visit relatives. after which they intended to return to Harlan, and then go west. The Robertsons mysteriously disappeared and the Cumberlands left Harlan on October 23, their destination at that time unknown. Sheriff George S.
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Rainbow and Deputy C. C. Redfield began work upon what clues were ob- tainable and on Tuesday, April 28, 1891, the Cumberlands were arrested at Springfield. Missouri, where they had resided since October, 1890.
Suspicion was not aroused until April, 1890, when R. P. Foss. attorney for James Robertson, began to think it strange that the Robertsons did not write concerning notes and money left at Harlan by them. In April Mr. Foss learned that they had never visited the relatives in Montgomery county, nor had they gone to Wyoming, which was their ultimate destination. Mr. Foss at once began efforts to clear up the mystery of the disappearance of the Robertsons. Sheriff Rainbow was called in, and, together with Mr. Foss. Attorney D. O. Stuart and County Attorney J. B. Whitney, they traced the Cumberlands from Harlan through various towns to Springfield. Missouri. The Cumberlands were arrested as they were about to leave for an unknown destination. They expressed great surprise that the Robertsons had not turned up. They were brought to Harlan and were lodged in jail, the wife being confined for some time in the Avoca jail.
During the investigation of the case by the grand jury, it is said that the wife stated she did not fear the results so far as she was concerned since her husband, she alleged, had made a statement in black and white that would exonerate her. The court then ordered that the officers search the trunks and effects of the Cumberlands, which was done, however, without result. They then searched Cumberland, himself, and after a terrible struggle suc- ceeded in finding in a pocket in his shirt a confession. After obtaining the paper the sheriff attempted to read the confession, but Cumberland sprang upon him, and tore the paper from his hands. He would have succeeded in destroying it had not those engaged in the search taken him by the throat, pushed him back against the cell and held the hand in which the confession was gripped so tightly also back against the cell, and choked him into sub- mission. The paper was torn into many fragments. The sheriff. however, pasted the fragments together. The confession was as follows :
"A True Confession. Harlan. Iowa, September 21. 1889.
"Hear, hear, as I confess to the people a crime that my dear wife is in- nocent of, knowing or having anything to do with at all, and in which I hope they won't punish her any longer, and let her go home to her people. She is innocent as her poor little babe is. I can't say she knows anything, as she has never heard me say anything so she could learn anything. But she is like all the rest, she has her suspicion. So the poor woman is innocent, God knows, and can not tell you how this was done, or where they was put at. The preacher that married us, and his family, was going to be at Bent Per-
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