USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. I > Part 15
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He served several terms as Justice of the Peace, and was quite popular as an arbiter among litigants. A story was told that once, when he was a candidate for office, the Whigs, who had gained enough strength to take some active part in politics, started a report that "Ben" was not the man for the place; that he was completely under control of Crocker (subsequently the General), and so was his court. "Ben" denied it most emphatically. "Give me an oppor- tunity," said he, "and I will show you." It was not long before a case was brought before him in which Crocker was one of the lawyers. During the hearing, Crocker made several objections to his opponent's method of procedure, and "Ben" in every one decided against Crocker-with an eye to the Whigs and that office -until finally, after a knockout, Crocker retorted: "I cannot understand the action of the court in this case. I believe the court has been tampered with."
"I fine you ten dollars for contempt of court," replied "Ben."
"All right," said Crocker, as he drew a paper from his pocket, "I'll indorse it on the back of this promissory note of yours."
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There was a couple of well-known fellows in town I will call B and C, who by some means were very frequently summoned as jurymen in "Ben's" court. They didn't like to be hauled into court every few days from their business, and they put their heads together to get rid of it. The next time they were called, B, who is still in business at the old stand, went to the defendant's attorney in the case and very confidentially said to him that he did not think he was a proper person for the jury, as he had some knowledge of it, and beside, was strongly prejudiced against some of the parties to the suit. He suggested that C would be a good juryman.
C, who has since passed beyond the reach of mundane courts, went to the plaintiff's lawyer and told the same tale, and suggested the selection of B.
When the case came up for hearing, both were peremptorily challenged for cause, and dismissed. They played the trick until they got rid of jury serving in "Ben's" court.
After the close of his several terms as Justice of the Peace, he was appointed Deputy Sheriff, and held that place, I think, until his decease, in 1866.
He amassed considerable wealth, and began the erection of a fine brick residence at the corner of Fifth and Vine streets, now a part of the Rock Island Station. The spot was low, wet, little else than a slough ; in fact, in early Spring the boys used to shoot wild ducks a block east of it. His project was accepted as one of his eccentrici- ties. A cellar being impossible, he built a basement story above ground, and got the first story up, when the panic of 1857 came, which strewed this country with wrecks of fortunes, and he was obliged to stop. He put on a nondescript roof, and made it his home, where for many years it was, with its high skeleton basement of open doors and windows, a conspicuous reminder to the whole town of hard times, of one who deserved a better fate, and who was a prominent personage in the earliest days of the town.
December Eleventh, 1904.
CONRAD YOUNGERMAN
CONRAD YOUNGERMAN
F OR forty years there was no better known man in the town and city than Conrad Youngerman. Coming here in 1856, a young man, of German birth, steady, industrious habits, of sterling integrity, he at once began to make a place for himself. He was poor in purse, but rich in earnest endeavor. A mason by trade, the prevailing hard times prevented building operations almost entirely, and he did whatever he could get to do. His first work was laying brick and stone of the first building for exclusive use as a store in town, and crected by G. M. Hippee, at the corner of Second Street and Court Avenue. He also laid stone in the old dam for the Williams mill, at Center Street. He didn't watch the clock. There were no Trades Unions, no eight and ten hour sys- tems in those days. It was from seven in the morning to six at night, or later, according to circumstances, and he was mighty glad to get a dollar and a half a day.
Among his earliest work was the laying of the stone steps at the east front of the Court House, in company with Francis Geneser. They went up to Dell Rapids one day, quarried the stone, hauled it down, and the next day cut and put it in place. It was a procrasti- nating job, and so was the whole structure. They also laid the bases in the portico, on which stood George Baldwin's pet basswood goddesses, so long admired as specimens of high art in early days.
As financial conditions improved, he took jobs by contract, and whether verbal or in writing, it was all the same, his spoken word was as good as the bond of the best fidelity security company. His energy and integrity soon brought him to the front as the leading builder in the city, and on nearly every street can be seen business blocks, churches, halls, hotels, schoolhouses, public buildings and residences of his erection.
Among those I recall are, on Second Street, the first Casady Bank, now the Staats Anzeiger office; the old Given plow works,
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now a part of Green's foundry; the Harbach undertaking depart- ment building; the German Catholic Church, corner of Crocker ; the Central Fire Station, corner of Grand Avenue.
On Third Street, the Harbach Building, now the Court House; a large residence block, corner of Chestnut, and the Whalen Block.
On Fourth Street, the block in the rear of The Register and Leader Building, the Iowa Hotel, the Brinsmaid store, and the block adjoining the Valley National Bank.
On Fifth Street, the four-story block corner of Mulberry, which in 1893, he tore down and substituted the present eight-story block with its one hundred and forty-two business offices and suites, and the Manhattan Block.
On Walnut Street, the Vorse Block, now occupied by the Hey- wood Candy Company; the four-story block corner of Seventh, where is now Younker's Block ; the Rothwell Block, corner of Sixth Avenue; the Masonic Temple, and the old Exposition Building, now the Iliad.
On Locust Street, the block occupied by the Kenyon and the Miller printing houses ; the block northeast corner of Fifth; the four-story Asbestine Stone Block, corner of Fifth, which he tore away and substituted the present fine Crocker Building; the Har- bach-Harris store, and the block at northeast corner of Sixth, now occupied by Bromley and the kodak store.
On Eighth Street, the first Turnverein Hall, and the Sheuerman woolen mills.
On Ninth Street, the Wells livery and hack headquarters.
On Market Street, the old Syrup and Refining Company build- ing, which was summarily closed because of the pestilential stinks which filled the air from it. As an infant industry, it received poor encouragement.
He also built the Jewish Synagogue, Irving and Webster schoolhouses, and on the East Side the old Shepherd & Perrior woolen mill, now the casket factory; the original block now occu- pied by the Capital City Bank, and Goldstone Hotel.
Of the fine residences to his credit are those of J. S. Polk, on Grand Avenue, and Hoyt Sherman, on Woodland Avenue.
In 1875, owing to the scarcity of stone for building purposes, he began the manufacture of artificial, or asbestine stone, from
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sand and cement, moulded from prepared patterns. It proved an excellent, durable substitute, for window lintels and caps, and with it he faced the outside structure of several buildings, since torn away and replaced with a more attractive and substantial vitrified brick made from the excellent clay later found so abundant within the city limits.
He was public-spirited, and aided in many ways in promoting the prosperity of the city. He was no politician nor place-seeker, but, recognizing his business qualifications and large property inter- ests, public sentiment pressed him into service in the City Council at a period when extensive sewering, paving and lighting systems were being established, and for four years he was an important fac- tor in perfecting plans for public improvements.
He stood like a rock against jobbery, speculative schemes and grabs, and demanded that all municipal affairs be conducted on strictly business principles. There was no vacillation about him. He was a man of few words, independent in thought and action, plain in speech, called a spade a spade, regardless of time or place. He was genial, social, and popular.
While he builded well pecuniarily for himself, he helped the city materially.
After the completion of his Crocker Building, he practically retired from business other than to look after his property holdings.
December Seventeenth, 1904.
THOMAS H. NAPIER
A PIONEER of considerable distinction and influence dur- ing a critical period of the county and town, was Thomas H. Napier, a Virginian, who came here in April, 1846, and made a claim near Four Mile Creek, in what is now Grant Town- ship. He experienced the vicissitudes and vexations common to all settlers in those days, the most important of which was the want of lumber for house building and facilities for procuring food supplies. Mills were fifty to seventy-five miles away, and wheat made into flour at but few. Corn meal was the staple. Often the family meal box was empty. Swollen rivers and impossible wagon- ing necessitated pounding corn at the home, or sometimes the small boy would be given a carpenter's plane, and, inverting it, by pass- ing the ear over it he could "jint" enough to serve the family needs. It was a little "scratchy," they used to say, but was relished better than the "angel" cake of to-day.
Napier, with some experience in building, having helped to quarry and furnish the stone for the first Capitol of the state, at Iowa City, concluded to utilize Four Mile Creek, a small stream with swift current and considerable fall. He therefore constructed a dam and built a small mill of rude construction for sawing lum- ber and grinding grain, which was of immense value to the settlers. Wheat was sometimes ground, but there was no bolting machine, and the flour was coarse. The farmers' wives, however, were equal to the emergency. Fastening a coarse cloth over the open side of a box, and sifting the flour, they secured what greatly improved the quality of their bread.
In April, 1847, the Township of Four Mile was set off from Des Moines Township, and at the first election therein, Napier was elected Justice of the Peace.
The township derived its name from the small, tortuous stream which flowed through it. The township has since then been so
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decimated by carving other townships from it that it has practically lost the creek entirely. The Fort having been established some time before the county was settled, travel from the East to The Fort, and the trail crossed this creek, very near where the Rock Island railroad now crosses it, about four miles east, and travelers and teamsters reaching it knew they were within four miles of The Fort. There, the first bridge in the county was built. The creek is very serpentine, the railroad crossing it four times between Des Moines and Altoona.
At the second session of the District Court, Napier was chosen on the Grand Jury. There was a large docket of criminal cases, but no indictments were found, and all of the defendants were discharged.
At the August election, in 1849, he was elected Sheriff, and served two years.
In 1854, having become a resident of The Fort, he was elected County Judge, the most important office in the gift of the people, for, as the law then was, the County Judge was the executive officer of the county, had full control of all county affairs, levied taxes, built roads and bridges, organized and laid out townships. He was a law unto himself, and from his decisions there was no appeal. Napier was a man of good executive capacity and busi- ness qualifications, and had the confidence of the people.
In 1855, Doctor Cole having resigned as County Agent for the sale of intoxicating liquors, under the Prohibitory Law then in force, the Judge had considerable difficulty in finding a suitable place to keep the "critter," as the county must furnish the supply, which could be sold only by the County Agent, for "medical, mechanical, and sacramental purposes only." "Hod" Bush con- vinced the Judge that he had a safe, convenient place to keep it, and thereupon the Judge ordered that "Hod" be paid three hun- dred and twenty-five dollars for his building. There were no side or back doors in it, nor annexes. The spiritus frumenti was put into it, and "Hod" was appointed agent to dispose of it, "according to the law made and provided." An inspection of his record indi- cates a remarkable amount of sickness and the frequent recurrence of the names of purchasers, and that the disorders were of the
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intermittent form; also an increasing demand for stimulants for mechanical industries. One day, a fellow came in from the coun- try, who wanted a gallon of whiskey. On being told the require- ments of the law, and that some lawful reason must be given for the sale, he hesitated and studied for several minutes, when he said : "Well, I guess you may put it down for mechanical purposes; I'm going to raise a barn to-morrow." He got the whiskey.
In 1857, the Judge began to agitate the question of a new Court House, the first house, a nondescript affair 24x36, having become too small for the increasing business of the court. He had enlarged ideas and wanted a building commensurate with the Capital of the State of Iowa. It was to be 66x102 feet, fifty feet high, with a tower twenty-seven and one-half feet, the walls and floors of brick, and have eight cisterns. The cost was to be about sixty thousand dollars. The people were astonished, and, while admiring his public-spiritedness, denounced the project as extravagant and chi- merical. The bitter feud between the East and West sides engen- dered in the fight over the location of the State House, was still hot, and the East Side vigorously and vehemently opposed the scheme, the West Siders saying it was because the East Siders wanted the building on their side.
A mass meeting was called one day on the West Side, at which the East Siders, turned out, prepared for a fight, among whom was Judge M. D. McHenry, who was to champion the East Siders against General Crocker, who spoke for the West Side. Napier went to McHenry and said to him: "Judge, you are from Ken- tucky; I am from Virginia; you know what that means." The Judge took the hint.
But Napier, who was strong in his determination, went on, and in 1858 made a contract with Isaac Cooper to build the house for sixty-three thousand three hundred dollars, and work was at once begun. During the first year, the first story was reared, when the funds ran out, the taxes received being insufficient. The Judge ordered an election to vote on the proposition to issue bonds to the amount of thirty thousand dollars to complete the building. Then there was another outbreak of opposition, but the election carried by a vote of one thousand and seventeen to seven hundred and
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ninety. The bonds were issued and quickly sold, and work pro- ceeded, very slowly, being obstructed by delay in getting material. Not many months elapsed, and the proceeds of the bond sale were exhausted. To issue more bonds was preposterous-the Judge knew that.
Work was suspended until another source of revenue could be found. The Judge was hauled before the County Commissioners to explain matters, public meetings were held at which the Judge was excoriated in the highest style of vituperative art. Cooper got disgruntled and threw up the job. Napier also lost his job. Judge J. H. McClelland, Napier's successor, got out of the dilemma by getting an Act passed by the Legislature authorizing the sale of the swamp lands of the county, the proceeds thereof to be used in com- pleting the Court House.
The Board of Supervisors, who succeeded the County Judge, under a change in the law, in 1860, took up the work, and by them and their successors it was carried to completion in 1864. The bonds, principal and interest, were not paid until 1872, when the cost had reached eighty-five thousand dollars.
During the first decade of the settlement of the county, the peo- ple were clamorous for better transportation facilities. The hauling of merchandise from Keokuk and the sending of live-stock on foot to market, was onerous, tedious, and expensive. The passage of steamboats up and down the river was limited to favorable and uncertain conditions. Public attention was turned to railroads as the only means of relief. Mass meetings were held, the newspaper columns were filed with the subject to the exclusion of all else, and public sentiment was kept at fever heat. Congress was petitioned for relief, but with sluggardly effect. In response thereto, the state was gridironed with proposed railroads.
In 1847, the Chicago and Galena Road had reached Freeport, in Illinois, but the great West being deemed of more importance than Galena, the route was diverted to the Mississippi River, the objective point being Lyons. A road was then projected from that place, via Maquoketa, to Des Moines, and called the Central Air Line. Of all the various projects, this seemed the most promising, and Polk County voted, three hundred and sixty-six to one hundred
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and sixty-two, to issue bonds in the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to aid in building the road. Other counties also voted and issued bonds, but hard times came on and the project never got beyond the stage of expectation.
Soon after, the Mississippi and Missouri Road was projected from Davenport to some point on the Missouri River, the route to be determined by the aid given. Several counties along a supposed probable route voted for and issued bonds to the company. Mahaska County put up two hundred thousand dollars. Polk County was vigorously importuned to transfer the bonds issued to the Air Line Road to the Mississippi and Missouri, and finally yielded, with a majority vote of two hundred and twenty-nine. The bonds were prepared and great preparations were made for the road. A right- of-way through the town was reserved where Locust Street now is, much to the disgust of the young folks, as from Twelfth to Fif- teenth Street was an open common, and a favorite place for ball games-and for cows. Manifest Destiny stuck out at every point. Judge Napier, however, refused to sign the bonds. He was too shrewd to give something for nothing. He would wait until the road reached the county, for which he was lambasted on all sides. At the next election, this contumacy cost him his job, but time vin- dicated his judgment. The road reached Marengo, when the com- pany became bankrupt, the road was sold to the Chicago and Rock Island, and completed to Des Moines in 1868. The city and the county thus escaped the long and vexatious litigation that followed against counties which issued bonds to the defunct Mississippi and Missouri Company, and nearly bankrupted them. The Federal Courts held the bonds were negotiable, and having passed to third persons, innocent purchasers, however unjust and unconscionable it might be, they must be paid, and for many years the Supervisors of such counties would be hauled before the court here and ordered to go home and levy the tax to pay for a road that was never built, or go to jail.
Most of the members of the Bar who practiced here in the Fed- eral Court at that time have passed away, and of them the man who, with all the ability of a skilled lawyer, prosecuted the cases to final judgment. Both he and his partner gained great wealth out
VOL. I-(14).
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of the transaction, and the latter, because thereof, was entrusted with the funds of estates, which he embezzled, and for which he is now in the penitentiary at Anamosa, a most righteous judgment, many people will say.
In 1857, the East Siders had become so embittered against the West Siders, growing out of the State House location fight, that the township had become like a house divided against itself, and could not be endured. To placate the East Siders, Judge Napier set off all that part of Des Moines Township east of Des Moines River for election, revenue and judicial purposes, "to be known and hailed as Lee Township." Whether or not, in the selection of the name, he expressed his Democratie proclivities and pride of birth, he never made known.
At the close of his service as County Judge, in 1859, he was elected Justice of the Peace, an office he filled for some time, with great satisfaction to the public.
In 1866, he gave authority to build the first bridge over Des Moines River, at Walnut Street. It was of wood, and the Howe truss pattern. It was opened as a toll bridge October Twenty-third.
The Judge was of large physique, active, energetic, had a well- balanced mind, strong determination, and integrity never ques- tioned. It was a common expression, "He is a mighty smart man." He came into an office in which was vested control of affairs vitally important to the county and town during the formative period, when local interests and factional contentions often aroused public sentiment even to the vituperative stage, yet, though often severely criticised, he kept his determination to the end. The passage of time proved the wisdom of his judgment and the value of his serv- ice as a promoter of the growth and prosperity of the county and town. He died in 1894, aged eighty-five years.
January Seventh, 1905.
JAMES C. SAVERY
JAMES C. SAVERY
M R. SAVERY was born in Wareham, Massachusetts, Novem- ber Thirtieth, 1826. His forefathers were Puritans, of the Pilgrim Fathers, who emigrated to America in 1620. In early life, his family resided at Saratoga, New York. He came to Des Moines early in the Spring of 1853, and soon after pur- chased the Marvin House, on Third Street, south of the present Court House. He paid three thousand dollars for the lot, 132x132, and the buildings thereon, and changed the name to Everett House. It was the headquarters for the Stage Company, and the influx of land buyers and speculators kept it crowded. It was torn down in 1876.
One day, a young man who was seeking a job as school teacher came to the house. After searching the town several days, with little prospect of success, and hearing of an opening at Fort Dodge - his funds getting short - he shouldered his carpet-sack and started on foot to make the eighty-mile trip. In 1872, he came back as Governor of the State of Iowa; and his name was Cyrus C. Carpenter, a man honored and beloved by everybody to a degree seldom equaled.
In 1856, the Marvin House was leased to Absalom Morris, the name changed to City Hotel, and Savery engaged in real estate business.
In 1855, "Billy" Moore, R. W. Sypher, and a few others, hav- ing moved up from Second Street to Fourth Street, got together and inaugurated a movement to get a big hotel in that vicinity, to "draw trade uptown." They got subscriptions to a fund for a bonus. It was slow work, for money was scarce; but finally, in 1856, a company was formed and an agreement made with Savery to erect a hotel on the corner now occupied by the Kirkwood, to cost sixty-five thousand dollars, and to be named the Savery House.
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To illustrate the changes in value of property, the block on which the hotel stands, 132x132, was sold to Thomas Gilpin for thirty dollars. It was subsequently sold to Granville Holland, a well-known old-timer, land buyer, and speculator, for an old horse and wagon. He built a small house on it, enclosed the block with a board fence, made a garden of part of it, and occupied it for a home. In May, 1856, Savery purchased the property, the records showing the consideration was three thousand dollars for the land and fifteen hundred dollars for improvements. The property was assessed last year for taxation purposes at one hundred and eighty- five thousand dollars.
The hotel subscription reached about thirty thousand dollars, when it dragged, and, as one of them put it: "Money was scarce, we got discouraged, and dumped the whole thing over to 'Jim' [as Savery was familiarly called], and quit."
In June, 1856, Savery made a contract with S. A. Robertson to build the hotel, and the foundation was put in that year. The next year came the financial panic. Everybody was land poor. They could not sell lots enough to pay the taxes on their holdings. Work on the hotel was temporarily suspended, but after a time resumed and carried on with procrastination until 1862, when, partially completed, it was opened for business, and finally finished in 1865. In 1879, the name was changed to "Kirkwood," in honor of Gov- ernor Kirkwood.
In 1855, A. J. Stevens, a banker, who was floating a large amount of "wild-cat," "agricultural" money, grown in an obscure place in Tennessee, became ambitious to get into an office, and, not- withstanding Barlow Granger, Lamp. Sherman, and Pete Myers had laid away wrecks of newspapers, he induced Savery to join him and start a Republican paper, with the understanding that Stevens was to purchase the outfit and Savery pay the running expenses. In June, 1856, was issued the first number of the Iowa Citizen, the first Republican paper in the town. The next year Stevens' bank went overboard in the great financial crash.
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