USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. I > Part 24
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A motion was made for a new trial, but denied by the court, who ordered that "the defendant be hung by the neck till he is dead, and that the execution of said defendant take place at some public and convenient place within one mile of the town of Indianola, within the County of Warren, on the Fifteenth day of December, A. D. 1854, at one o'clock of that day."
Fouts was remanded to the custody of McHenry, and the case taken to the Supreme Court, for error in the indictment. The claim was sustained, the offense changed to that of "murder in the second degree," and the penalty fixed at imprisonment for life in Fort Madison Penitentiary. McHenry took him by stage coach to Iowa City, and thence, upon the decision of the Supreme Court, to the Penitentiary, where he remained twenty-three years, and died. After his death, his two daughters employed McHenry to settle his estate, and the proceeds were delivered to them.
While he was Sheriff, he was often entrusted with large sums in gold, for the purchase of land, because of his extensive knowledge of the country. He would make the selection, survey it, fix the boundaries, executing the trust with scrupulous exactitude.
In 1856, he was elected County Drainage Commissioner, whose duty it was, in case a person desired to drain his land, and cross the land of another, and they disagreed as to terms, to examine the premises, give the parties a hearing, and fix the damage that might accrue.
It was during this year occurred the memorable contest between the East and West sides over the location of the State House. The Commissioners appointed by the Legislature to make the location employed McHenry to make a survey of the grounds they selected.
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PIONEERS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA
On the Twenty-second of April, the West Siders raised a sub- scription of one hundred and twenty-five thousand and eight hun- dred dollars, as a bonus to be given, together with ten acres of land, to the state, provided the Capitol was located on the West Side, and the Commissioners were notified thereof. The subscription com- mittee was informed that they would be given a hearing the next morning, and the subscription be considered, but when the hour for the hearing arrived, the West Siders were informed that the loca- tion had been fixed. McHenry was called as a witness before a committee of the Legislature to show that the Commissioners had completed their real estate deals, divided the swag, as the West Siders claimed, and located the Capitol several days before hearing from the West Side. His testimony was as follows :
"Question .- Did you reside in Des Moines at the time of the location of the Capitol, in 1856, and were you called upon to sur- vey the ground upon which the Capitol is located, and other public grounds ? If so, state what time you were called upon, what time you made the survey, and what time you first heard the location was made.
"Answer .- I did live here. I was called upon to survey the Capitol grounds, I think, on Monday, April Twenty-first. I can't say when I first heard of the location, but it was before I made the survey.
"Question .- What grounds did you survey, and how long did you continue in the employ of the Commissioners ?
"Answer .- The first survey was on Capitol Square, the next was one designated on Bausman's map as 'State Grounds,' the next was on the south side of the Raceoon River. I was employed three or four days.
"Question .- Do you recolleet making an appointment with Judge Crookham to make a survey on the south side of the Raccoon River ?
"Answer .- I do.
"Question .- Did you do any surveying for Judge Crookham (one of the Commissioners) on his private account, or in any way, except as on public grounds ?
"Answer .- I never did."
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JUDGE WILLIAM H. MCHENRY, SR.
In November, 1856, McHenry was elected a member of the Town Council of Fort Des Moines, and served until April follow- ing, when the town became incorporated as a city and he was elected Mayor.
In 1857, McHenry turned his attention to law practice. His wide acquaintance with people throughout the country, his genial, social temperament, integrity, and veracity won him an immense clientele.
He was not brilliant, but solid, sensible, deliberate, methodical, and reliable. His sympathies were always for the common people, the unfortunate, "the under dog in the fight." His practice was largely in the Criminal Court, and he became the proverbial defender in criminal cases. If a person got within the meshes of law, "Old Bill McHenry," a soubriquet often applied to him, not reproachfully, but as a mark of distinction, of trust, and abiding faith, for there was another "Bill McHenry," his son, a rising young lawyer, now a popular, estimable Judge of the District Court-was secured to get him out. To a client, he was true as steel. The question of fee seldom entered his head. As a rule, his clients were the unfortunate, the poorer class, seldom capitalists or corporations. He was extremely liberal. If his client had no money, it was all the same, hence he never became rich.
As an advocate before a jury, he had few equals. All he wanted was a body of good, sensible men-farmers, if possible-in the box. He never indulged in hifalutin language, was never spectacular, never emotional, never "played to the gallery." He planted himself in a law of Justice, Equity, and Humanity, and, in his plain, orig- inal, unique way, with a vocabulary all his own, abjuring techni- calities, despising shystering, he was a powerful pleader.
In 1870, he was elected City Solicitor, with J. P. Foster, a Republican, Mayor, and a Republican majority in the Council.
In 1875, he was elected Alderman for the Second Ward, and reëlected in 1876.
In 1878, he was nominated for Judge of the District Court, by the Democrats. There had not been a Democrat elected to that office in the county for twenty years, and his election was deemed impossible, but he had so ingratiated himself into the confidence
VOL. I-(21).
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and good-will of the people, he was elected by a large majority, and so admirably did he administer justice, he was reelected.
In criminal cases, his humanity, sympathy, kindness of heart, and desire to temper justice with mercy, often carried him to the verge of liberality in his decisions. Criticism by the more astute members of the Bar and outsiders availed nothing. He went on, in his rugged, uncommon way, dispensing the Gospel of Justice, Equity and Humanity to the end. In the more abstruse questions of law, he made as good a guess at the solution as the more finished graduates of law schools, and he left the bench with high commenda- tion for his probity and integrity.
He was an enthusiastic member of the Old Settlers' Association, never missed its gatherings, and often entertained the crowd with his large fund of incidents and stories pertaining to early days. He used to tell one on Martin (X) Tucker, who kept the first tavern in the town. Tucker was a pompous, illiterate character, and was known all over the country as "Martin X." His often boasted shrewdness was in detecting schemes of sharpers who floated into town. One day, a down-East Yankee came to the tavern-the town had not got to the "hotel" stage. A few days after his arrival, Mar- tin began quizzing him about Yankee tricks, and asked him to relate some of them. He evaded, but said he would do so later. Soon after, he was missing, and his bill unpaid. Several weeks after, Martin received a letter from him, asking his opinion of Yankee tricks.
Politically, McHenry was a Democrat, of the unterrified vari- ety. He took an active part in all political campaigns. On the stump, his quaint, original speeches were always in demand, and drew the crowds, for they knew what would be coming. He never toyed with "isms," or went off in tangents, but kept within the landmarks of the old party.
He was patriotic, and popular as a Fourth of July speaker, but he kept the "Bird of Freedom" close to the earth, never flying it beyond the vision of the common people, never exploiting rhetorical pyrotechnics.
He was public-spirited. His wide experience in various depart- ments of civic life, his judicial training and conservatism, were helpful to the community in many ways.
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JUDGE WILLIAM H. McHENRY, SR.
He died in 1893, leaving no heritage but the record of a useful, helpful life, and sons and daughters who have won public esteem and preferment.
June Twenty-fifth, 1905.
JAMES S. CLARKSON
JAMES S. CLARKSON
O LD-TIMERS of Polk County most assuredly have not for- gotten James S. Clarkson, or "Ret," as everybody called him, who was so prominently identified with all the various activities of the county in the early days.
Born in Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana, May Seven- teenth, 1842, he was literally raised in the printing office of his father, Coker F., who published the Brookville American. He began setting type in the office when he was so small, boxes had to be piled up for him to stand on and reach the type boxes, and there he acquired an education in one of the best practical schools in this or any other country.
When he was twelve years old, in 1854, his father disposed of his newspaper and engaged in railroad building until 1855, when he purchased a large tract of wild prairie land in Grundy County, Iowa, and with the assistance of "Ret" and his brother, Richard P., more familiarly known as "Dick," began making what became the famous "Melrose Farm." During the winter months, he added variety to his vocation by working in a saw mill.
In 1861, when the cannon's roar at Fort Sumter reverberated over the country, he tendered his services to Uncle Sam, but the army doctors rejected him for physical disability, caused by over- work in a saw mill the previous Winter. He enlisted again in 1862, in a cavalry company, and was again rejected because of a weak heart. He went back to the farm with the enthusiasm in which Cartoonist "Ding" would picture:
"The whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail,
Unwillingly, to school."
Nevertheless, he stuck to the farm, and while his father was absent as State Senator from that county, served as sole manager of it, but it is safe to say his heart was not in it. He was not built
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for a promoter of graniverous quadrupeds. His natural bent was toward journalism, and he became impressed with the idea that the Eldora Ledger would be a good thing to have. One day, he broached the subject to his father, who suddenly squelched his ambitious dream with the tart retort that if he had no higher aspiration than that, he had better stick to the farm until something better pre- sented itself.
He stuck to the farm until the Spring of 1866, when the jour- nalistic cravings of his nature brought him to Des Moines, May Eleventh, and he at once took a "case" as compositor in the Register office, in the Exchange Block, at Third and Walnut streets. Six weeks after, he was made assistant foreman of the composing- room, and three months later, promoted to foreman. Frank W. Palmer was the editor, assisted by the never-to-be-forgotten J. M. Dixon, a very peculiar man, and writer of oddities and pungent paragraphs.
While employed in the office as compositor, Clarkson indulged in sending news letters to several newspapers over the signature of "Ret." The office boys took it up, and it became universal. He always responded to it with geniality, in recognition of the good- fellowship which prompted it, and thousands of people did not know he had any other "front" name.
Dixon was a special correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, for which he was paid twenty dollars per month. His eyes became seriously affected, resulting in total blindness. "Ret" assumed the correspondence, and for nearly three years did the work, received the pay, and gave it to Dixon.
In the early Spring of 1866, began a contest for an election of Congressman from the then Fifth District. John A. Kasson was a candidate for renomination for a third term. The friends of General G. M. Dodge and a large contingent of the soldier element decided to put the General in the field, in recognition of his bril- liant war record. The Register, Thomas F. Withrow, General Nat. Baker, and other leading Republicans, supported Dodge. It was one of the fiercest and most bitter struggles ever known in the party in the district or state. The General received the nomination, and was elected.
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JAMES S. CLARKSON
December First, 1866, Frank M. Mills and his brother, Jacob W., purchased the Register establishment, and on the Sixth took possession, signalizing the event with a banquet to the editors and printers. Mr. Palmer was retained as editor-in-chief.
Several months later, a reorganization of the newspaper force became necessary. J. A. Carey, who had been assisting Palmer, was sent into the field for outside work, which made a vacancy at the city editor's desk. Frank, who was the active principle and moving spirit of Mills & Company, began casting about for some- one to fill the vacancy. He had for some time been attracted by "Ret," who held a "case" in the composing-room. One day, J. C. Benedict, the chief bookkeeper, casually said to Frank that "Ret" was going away-that he had, or was about to book at the stage office for an overland ride to San Francisco. Frank sent for him to come to the business office. He promptly responded, and was offered Carey's place. He took it, and, said Frank to me, a few days ago: "I think I am entitled to credit for saving to the state of Iowa one of its greatest editors."
In 1869, Palmer retired from the Register, to run for Congress. Dodge, satisfied with the glory and emoluments of one term in an office he did not like, and did not want, declined a renomination, and "Ret" was given the editorial chair on probation. Fearing he might be too young for so heavy work, and with vivid remembrance of the events of 1867, Frank made arrangements for articles from General Nat. Baker, an old editorial wheelhorse; Louis Ruttkay, a fine scholar and polished writer; Tom Withrow, the nestor of the Iowa Bar, and General Solicitor of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, and John S. Runnells, one of the most polished political persuaders that ever mounted a stump, but it was soon discovered that the young man who would push a pencil from Monday morn- ing to Saturday night without stopping was equal to the occasion. Al. Swalm, a second Dixon, was called down from the composing- room and installed in the city editor's chair, and the general verdict was that the two made a team that was hard to get ahead of. Later, Al. was sent to Grand Junction and Jefferson to run newspapers for Mills & Company, and "Lafe" Young, who had been an appren- tice in the job department, and was running a job press, was given
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Al.'s place at the city editor's desk, which he held until he went to Atlantic and started the Telegraph.
In 1869, the printing business of Mills & Company had in- creased to such magnitude the newspaper became an incubus, and they were inclined to dispose of it. That was "Ret's" opportunity, and he suggested the purchase of it to his father, as "worthy of higher aspirations." The suggestion was accepted, the purchase made for thirty thousand dollars, cash, and December Fourth, 1870, the property was transferred to the father and sons, "Ret" and Dick, under the firm name of the Clarkson Company. "Ret" became the editor, Dick the business manager.
"Ret" was an editor by birth, "a chip off the old block." He possesses a virile, versatile, matured mind, well stored with gems gathered from the choicest and best authors.
Old-timers recall with pleasure the force, directness and diction of his political editorials; the elegance, descriptive beauties and masterful word-building of his more sentimental productions, sparkling with all the charms of the purling, babbling brook adown the mountain side. The impress of his individuality, as clear as the shadow from a photographer's camera, was stamped in every line. He had a peculiar genius for constructing obituary notices. It used to be said there were those who were willing to die if "Ret" would write their obituary. He is the author of two works of fic- tion, but not under his own name, which had a large sale.
There was one style of his writing-his chirography-the pub- lic never saw. It was simply execrable, and it was vouchsafed only to the compositors who put it in type to enjoy the beauty of it. The swear-words declaimed in their efforts to decipher it were terrific. It was unique-nothing like it, except, perhaps, that of John H. Gear, Governor Larrabee, Judge George G. Wright, and Horace Greeley, none of whom could decipher their own after it got "cold." There was fun with the "regulars" when a tramp hove into the office for a chance to "sub." He would be given a "case," Jones, the foreman, with a twinkle of his eye, would slip a "take" of "Ret's" copy on the hook; the fellow would grab it, go to his place, study over it, turn it around several times, and break out: "See here, boss, what the h-1 is this yer givin' me. Looks like an
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JAMES S. CLARKSON
inscription on an Egyptian obelisk," and hand it back to the fore- man. Harry Porter was the only compositor who could read it readily, and the boys were willing he should have all the "phat" there was in it.
He wrote very rapidly with a pencil, on soft paper, and several years before he left the Register, his wrist muscles collapsed under the strain of his strenuous pushing, and he had to employ a stenog- rapher, and later a typewriting machine, when those came into use.
I recall an instance, when "Ret" and Dick took a trip to the Pacific Coast, and the only time, I think, Dick went outside the city limits while he was connected with the Register. Just before leaving the office, "Ret" sent upstairs a full column editorial for the next morning's issue. Harry Porter was off duty, and after a serious consultation among the boys, O. H. P. Grove volunteered to tackle it. He awaited the return of the proof with dismal expecta- tions, and great was his surprise to find a crisp, new One Dollar bill pinned to it, complimentary to his expertness as a guesser. As a reminder of the event, a page of the manuscript of the editorial was pasted up in the composing-room, where it remained several years.
In 1871, when the Des Moines National Bank was organizad, he was a stockholder, was elected one of the Board of Directors, and subsequently Vice-President.
He had abiding faith in the city of his adoption, every foot of which was underlaid with coal, surrounded by an immense wealth of raw product, in the center of the finest body of land the sun shines upon-it only needed greater facilities for communication with the outside world to secure growth and prosperity. He decided that what was necessary was railroads. The town had but one, the Rock Island. The Chicago and Northwestern had built its road forty miles north of it to the Missouri River, the Chicago, Burling- ton and Quincy fifty miles south of it to the same point, and the town was fenced in. The so-called Granger Law was in force, the four big trunk lines were vigorously fighting it, and declared that not another mile of railroad should be built in Iowa. Des Moines was at a standstill, and lethargic. The big, old Savery House was closed and empty ; small boys could be seen casting stones through
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PIONEERS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA
its windows. "Ret" decided that something must be done, and one night, in 1878, I think it was, he sent the office boy in haste to his residence for his valise, and went to Chicago, where he spent several days in strenuous effort to induce the railroad magnates to release their embargo, at least against Des Moines. That he was successful was evidenced by the fact that immediately on his return, he organ- ized the Des Moines and Knoxville Railway Company, went per- sonally into the field, secured the right-of-way from Knoxville to Des Moines, raised the funds to build the road, and when the road- bed was completed, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy laid the iron on it, and January Tenth, 1880, the first passenger train came into the city over it. "Ret" was President of the company from start to finish.
To get another outlet in another direction, in July, 1879, he organized the Des Moines, Marshalltown, Marion and Milwaukee Railway Company, secured the right-of-way, and survey of the route, negotiated with the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul to iron and operate it, but the project failed.
"Ret" then turned his attention to the Wabash, a connection with which would not only give Des Moines a third communication with Chicago, but with Saint Louis and the South. He and John S. Runnells went to New York and made an agreement with Jay Gould similar to that made with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, whereby the Wabash was to be extended to Des Moines. The Des Moines and Saint Louis Railroad Company was organized, and when the roadbed was ready for the iron, Mr. Gould was called to execute his part of the compact. In that compact was a provision that two narrow-gauge feeders should be built northward and west- ward from Des Moines. Accordingly, early in 1880, "Ret" organ- ized the Adel and Western Railroad Company, the name of which was, in September, changed to Des Moines and Northwestern Rail- road Company. This was followed with the organization of the Saint Louis, Des Moines and Northern. Polk & Hubbell became interested in the narrow-gauge roads, and one was built through Dallas and Guthrie counties to Fonda, and the other to Boone.
In January, 1886, "Ret" negotiated the incorporation of the Des Moines Union Railroad Company, composed of the Des Moines
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JAMES S. CLARKSON
and Saint Louis, Des Moines and Northwestern, Saint Louis, Des Moines and Northern, and Wabash, Saint Louis and Pacific Rail- road Companies, and he was elected President of the corporation.
To secure these four roads to Des Moines, "Ret" spent nearly half his time for two years, and much money from his own pocket. Nor was that all. It was not uncommon for him to turn the paper over to "the boys," and post off to New York and Philadelphia, to assist in starting some new industry in Des Moines.
He is a radical Republican, an active politician, and under- stands the game in all its phases. The influence of the Register attained national fame, and in 1868, I think, he was made Chair- man of the State Central Committee, and served several years. In 1867, when only twenty-five years old, he was offered, by President Grant, the mission to Switzerland, but declined it. In 1871, he was appointed Postmaster for Des Moines, served six years, and resigned on account of his inability to agree with the Southern policy inaugurated by President Hayes, and his unwillingness to oppose a President he was serving under officially. In 1881, Presi- dent Garfield offered him a foreign mission, but he declined it. In 1889, he was appointed, by President Harrison, First Assistant Postmaster General, and served one year, when he was offered a mission to China or Russia, but declined them.
He was a delegate to each Republican National Convention from 1876 to 1896; a member of the Republican National Committee from 1880 to 1896; Chairman of the Committee from 1890 to 1892, and President of the Republican League of the United States from 1891 to 1893.
During the entire war period, to him a Secessionist was a Rebel, and so long as he was editor of the Register, it was so printed in its columns. He recognized no such substitute as "Confederate."
He is of nervous, lymphatic temperament, genial and compan- ionable, but not loquacious ; is decidedly positive in character ; pos- sesses an indomitable will which even the most adverse circum- stances cannot break ; is a close, tenacious friend, and a hard hater. An enemy he can forgive, but forget, never. Is inclined to be aggressive, and woe to the person or thing that becomes the target of his trenchant pen when dipped in gall. He was an earnest pro-
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moter of the growth and prosperity of the town of his adoption, and from the viewpoint of the present-day "booster" dispensation, he was a booster when it was needed. He gave to the industrial, edu- cational, and church interests the powerful influence of his news- paper. For several years he was an active member of the West Side School Board.
In 1879, a beginning was made to estblish a school for the higher education of girls, and the preparation of boys for college, to which endeavor the columns of the Daily Register gave enthusiastic sup- port. It culminated the following year in the incorporation of Cal- lanan College, so named in honor of James Callanan, who donated the grounds and building, as a boarding school of the highest excel- lence for young women, and "Ret" was elected one of the Board of Trustees.
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