USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. II > Part 14
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In fact, there were no children there but the two sons of Mrs. Lott by her first marriage.
Ex-Governor Gue's "History of Iowa" says:
"In 1848, Lott's marauders stole a number of ponies from the Sioux Indians. Si-dom-in-a-do-tah tracked the ponies to Lott's settlement, found them concealed in the woods, recovered them, and the chief ordered his men to burn the cabin and kill his cattle. Lott, alarmed, fled down the river with a stepson, abandoning his wife and small children."
Mr. Smalley, a pioneer, who knew Lott well, says the raid on Lott's cabin was made in December, 1846, thus disagreeing with Gue.
No authentic statement has been made as to how the attack was commenced, but it was doubtless in Indian style, with a whoop and dash, at which Lott fled. He once told Mr. Eslick that he went across the river, hid in the brush, and watched the destruction, as he could do nothing.
So soon as it was over, he went down to Pea's Point, and told Mr. Pea that the Indians had murdered his family, burned his cabin, and he wanted help. Che-me-use, a Pottawattamie chief, with several hundred of his tribe, were camped at Elk Rapids, near the north line of Polk County. He was very friendly with the set- tlers, who called him Johnny Greene. He was appealed to, and, with twenty-six of his men, joined with John and Jacob Pea, James and William Hull, John and William Crookes, and Doctor Spears, settlers in that vicinity, went to Lott's place, arriving three days after the raid. They found Mrs. Lott had not been murdered, assaulted, nor the cabin burned.
C. L. Lucas, the well-known old-timer of Boone County, in an effort to harmonize the many stories told of the affair, after con- sulting old settlers and others who were of the rescue party, says
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Mrs. Lott was not assaulted by the Indians, but was completely overcome by the shock to her nervous system, and exposure. She told Doctor Spear that the Indians told her boy, Milton, twelve years old, to get all the horses on the place for them or they would shoot him, but instead, he went away, without coat or hat, prob- ably to follow his father, and she did not know what had become of him. The Indians tried to kill the cattle by shooting them with arrows, and some did die. They took three horses, but one broke through the ice when crossing the river, and, unable to get it to shore, they shot it and left it. They also took all the household goods of value, a set of silver knives and forks and spoons which had been given her by her first husband, and went away.
The rescue party having done what they could, with the excep- tion of John Pea, returned to Elk Rapids. Pea remained to assist in caring for Mrs. Lott and finding the missing boy. In the snow, on the ice, Lott and Pea tracked the boy down the river about twenty miles and found his body frozen stiff, with his two dogs watching it. The date was December Eighteenth, 1846. Having no means for carrying it back, or for digging a grave, it was placed in a hollow log. On January Fourteenth, following, a number of settlers at Pea's Point went with Lott and gave the lad a Christian burial near the spot where the body was found.
In September, 1893, Mr. Lucas inaugurated a movement to further commemorate the sad event, but to find the spot where the interment was made was the problem. Though it had been blazed on surrounding trees, a lapse of fifty-seven years had changed the whole valley of Des Moines River. Old landmarks had been swept away, but, with the aid of John Pea, the grave was located, and in November, 1905, a fitting tablet was erected on the spot under the auspices of the Madrid Historical Society, the dedication address being given by Mr. Lucas.
Mrs. Lott did not long survive the terrible scenes she had passed through. She was buried on the high bluff of the river, not far from her cabin. Lott then gathered together his cattle and what property the Indians had left, and moved down to Mr. Smalley's cabin, now in Des Moines Township, Dallas County, I think it is, and built a cabin, where he and his stepson lived during the Spring
VOL. II-(12).
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and Summer of 1847. In the Fall, he sold his cattle for beef, and in the carcasses of some were found Indian arrow-heads. He then came to Fort Des Moines, where he remained until the Spring of 1849. What he was doing during that time, I have been unable to learn, but he secured another wife, a daughter of a man named McGuire, living on a land claim on the south side of 'Coon River, opposite the Murrow Farm, in Valley Township.
With his new wife, he went back to his former place and the old, deserted cabin at the mouth of Boone River, where he specu- lated in land claims and traded with the Indians. Three children were born to them there, two daughters and a son. Immediately after parturition of the son, the mother died, and Lott was again without a home.
Gue says Lott left one of his children at T. S. White's, six miles below Fort Dodge, and the two girls with Doctor Hull, in Boone County. Lucas says the infant son was adopted by Mr. White, and the two daughters were raised by a family named Dickerson. They lived to adult age, were married, and, I think, are still living in Boone or its vicinity.
Lott having disposed of his three children, determined to avenge himself against Si-dom-in-a-do-tah, "the old he-devil," as he called him. The stories of his further movement and his manner of doing it are conflicting. Andreas' Historical Atlas (1875) says:
"In 1852, Lott and his stepson went up from Webster County and squatted on the west side of what is now Lott's Creek, and cleared up an acre or two of ground in the timber. A short dis- tance below the mouth of the creek, on the west bank of the east fork of Des Moines River, Si-dom-in-a-do-tah and his family of nine ( ?) persons had their lodge. Lott conceived and carried into execution the horrible project of murdering the chief and his entire family. The chief was shot a short distance from his lodge, and two squaws and four children [seven] were murdered at the lodge. A boy and a girl made their escape to tell of the perpetrators."
Gue's "History of Iowa" says :
"In the Fall of 1853, Lott and a son passed though Fort Dodge with an ox team, loaded with provisions and three barrels of whis- key, went into Humboldt County and built a cabin on a creek,
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since named Lott's Creek, where he opened a trade with the Indians in goods and whiskey. In January, 1854, he learned that Si-dom- in-a-do-tah was camped on another creek, since named Bloody Run. With his son, he went to the camp and made profession of warm friendship for the Indians. He told the chief there was a large herd of elk on the river bottom, and induced him to set off to find them. So soon as the chief was out of sight, they skulked in the grass, and as the chief returned shot him dead as he rode on his pony. They then waited until night, when, returning to the tepees, they gave the war whoop, and as the women and children came out, butchered them one by one, the aged mother, wife and two children of the chief, and two orphans living with them [seven]. One little girl hid in the grass and escaped. One little boy, terribly wounded and left for dead, recovered. They plundered the camp of every article of value, burned their own cabin, loaded a wagon with plunder, fled down the river, struck westward, crossed the Missouri north of Council Bluffs, and disappeared on the plains."
A writer of the "History of Humboldt County" (1880) says:
"In the Winter of 1853-1854, Si-dom-in-a-do-tah was camped on the east bank of Des Moines River, with his wife, two children, a young squaw, and her two children [seven]. Lott, loading up his valuables on his wagon, told his stepson to go to the settlements south. He then struck off across the river, and on arriving at the tepee of the Indian, informed him that buffalo were grazing on high ground beyond, and proposed to go and shoot them. They started off, and soon after Lott stepped behind the old chief and shot him dead. He then returned to the camp and slew all the women and children [eight] except one little boy about twelve years of age, who hid from him and escaped. Lott then followed the track of his stepson, soon joined him, stopping that night with Simon Hinton."
Another report says Lott came south, stopped at the places of Joseph Smalley, Dickerson and others, showed them the silverware stolen from his cabin, and said: "That old Sioux devil will never rob any more women of silverware."
Another report is that Lott, after the killing, took some furs and the pony Si-dom-in-a-do-tah rode, fled south, and was traced as
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far as Tom Saylor's. Tom recently told me that Lott and his step- son came to his house for breakfast, and said they had ridden all night. They immediately left, saying they were going to Red Rock. They advised the settlers to look out, as there was going to be trouble with the Indians.
A recent report says :
"The Indians caught and bound Lott; then they took three tar- get shots at Mrs. Lott, none striking her. One of the boys escaped down the river and was frozen to death. Worry over the boy's fate and scare caused the death of Mrs. Lott. The husband bided his time, plied the Indians with whiskey, and while they were in drunken stupor, waded in upon them with a sharp axe, making the old chief his first victim. He spared neither buck, squaw nor papoose."
Ink-pa-du-a-tah, who figured in the Spirit Lake Massacre, was a brother of Si-dom-in-a-do-tah, and was camped not far away from him. The slaughter was soon discovered. The Indians were enraged, and the settlers greatly alarmed for their safety.
Ink-pa-du-a-tah, who had always been friendly with the settlers, went to Major Williams, who had been an officer at Fort Dodge, but remained after the military was removed to Fort Ridgley, and was appointed by Governor Grimes to protect the settlers on the frontier, to investigate and ascertain who did the killing. He ordered the holding of an inquest. The bones of the old chief were brought before the jury, and his skull was later taken to Homer, then the county seat of Webster County, and nailed up on a house. "Charley" Aldrich has a vivid recollection of it, and says it was fractured in several places, as though done with some blunt instrument, and portions of flesh were still adhering. The Coroner's Jury disagreed, some of them contending that the kill- ing was done by Indians who disliked old "Si," and nothing came of it. Suspicion pointed to Lott. Major Williams made further investigation and reported that he and several Indians had traced Lott down the river on the ice to the mouth of Boone River, where he sold the pony, gun, furs, and stuff taken from Si-dom-in-a-do- tah's camp, but, having so much the start, he could not be found.
The settlers, however, demanded that something be done to pro- tect them from the vengeance of the Indians. \ presentment was
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made to the Grand Jury at Des Moines, the Polk County District Court then having jurisdiction of all that section, and an indict- ment for murder was returned against Lott, who must have been known to be in the vicinity, for the evening of the day the indict- ment was returned, the horse of one of the jurors, who resided in Boone County, was in a stable a short distance southwest of the Court House, and the next morning was in a stable in Boone County. When Sheriff D. B. Spalding went up the next day to arrest Lott, he could not be found. Several months later, his step- son sent word to Fort Dodge that his father had been killed in some kind of an affray in California.
I have searched the records of the District Court, but can find no record of the proceedings in the case, and the Clerk says there are no records of the doings of that court prior to 1857, a fact of some importance and singularity.
The Indians were greatly angered because Lott was not cap- tured, and made raids on settlers along the river. Ink-pa-du-a-tah, who had always been friendly with the whites, incensed by the mur- der of his mother and brother, joined in the spirit of vengeance, which, it is claimed, resulted in the massacre at Spirit Lake.
It is evident Lott was a "mean man," as Guy Ayers told his father, for children and fools are said to instinctively tell the truth. Though there was some palliation for avenging the assault against his family at Pea's Point, which was within the neutral strip, open to settlement, and on which old "Si," an ngly Indian, under a treaty made with the Government, had no right to go, yet there was no justification for killing the chief's innocent family.
August Eleventh, 1907.
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CAPTAIN ISAAC W. GRIFFITH
CAPTAIN ISAAC W. GRIFFITH
IN the early days, very few persons were better known in Polk County and Des Moines than "Old Churubusco," as Captain Isaac W. Griffith was reverently and most respectfully called, to distinguish him from Captain Harry Griffith and Colonel J. M. Griffith, veterans of the Civil War.
Born in Trumbull County, Ohio, April First, 1820, he passed his boyhood days with his father, assisting him in his trade as a carpenter. During that time, he acquired all the education possi- ble at the district schools, and one term at the academy at Farm- ington, a branch of the Western Reserve College.
In 1838, when eighteen years old, he decided to come West and grow up with the country, and came to Fort Madison, in October. With no capital but a vigorous constitution, energy, and faith in himself; among entire strangers, he took the first job that pre- sented, driving team and working on a farm, under a contract for one year, at the expiration of which he carried on the farm one year on his own account, and, after gathering the crops, in 1840, went to West Point, where he resumed his trade as a carpenter.
In 1839, there was great excitement throughout the southern part of the territory respecting the southern boundary line. The Constitution of Missouri, in defining the boundaries of that state, had declared her northern boundary to be the parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the Des Moines River. In the Mississippi River, a little above the mouth of Des Moines River, are the rapids of the Des Moines. In making their survey, the Missouri officers found in the Des Moines, just below the town of Keosanqua, in Van Buren County, some slight ripples in the cur- rent of the river, which were claimed by Missouri as those referred to in the definition of her boundary line, and she insisted on exer- cising jurisdiction over a strip eight miles wide to the Mississippi, which Iowa claimed as belonging to her. Clarke County was
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enrolled in Missouri, and its citizens listed for taxation, but the set- tlers refused to pay the taxes. The collector levied on their prop- erty. He was arrested on a warrant issued by a Justice of the Peace in Van Buren County, and subsequently indicted. The Governor of Missouri called out the State Militia, and sent one thousand men to enforce the collection of the taxes. Governor Lucas promptly responded by calling out the Iowa Militia, and twelve hundred men were enlisted and armed.
Griffith was appointed a Lieutenant of one of the companies. There was no difficulty in getting men, for the whole southern part of the territory was in fighting rage. But before hostilities were commenced, the conservative element thought it best to send a com- mission to consult the Governor of Missouri. General A. C. Dodge, of Burlington; General Churchman, of Dubuque, and Doctor Clark, of Fort Madison, were selected. When they arrived, the order for the collection of the taxes had been rescinded by Mis- sonri, and the Governor had sent a proposition to Governor Lucas to submit an agreed case to the United States Supreme Court, which was declined; but subsequently both territories petitioned Congress to settle the matter. It was submitted to the Supreme Court, and there decided in favor of Iowa, and a commission dele- gated to fix the boundary on the Sullivan Line, and set iron pillars ten miles apart to permanently mark the boundary. This gave Iowa all she claimed, and thus was avoided what for a time looked like bloody war.
In 1842, Griffith was elected Justice of the Peace and Coroner of Lee County, and served three terms.
In 1843, March Thirtieth, he was commissioned by Governor Chambers, by "the advice and consent of the Territorial Council, Captain of Company Three, First Regiment, First Brigade, First Division, of the Territorial Militia."
In 1846, when the first call was made for troops for the Mexican War, Griffith, on June Twenty-sixth, volunteered. Twelve com- panies reported for duty, but they were never organized into regi- ments, for so many regiments had been accepted from Eastern states, Governor Lucas was notified in November that Iowa volun- teers would not be wanted. But, in 1847, Griffith enlisted in a company which became Company K of the Fifteenth Regiment,
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United States Infantry, and he was appointed a Corporal. In July, he was promoted to Sergeant. The regiment was ordered to report to General Scott at Vera Cruz, where it arrived on May Twenty-fourth, and from thence went to Pueblo, the headquarters of General Scott, arriving July Second, later fighting its way through guerrillas, his company losing its Captain and several men. The regiment was engaged in the battles of Contreras, Chu- rubusco, and Chepultepec.
At Churubusco, Griffith was struck by a bullet which shattered the bones of his right arm, just above the elbow, necessitating amputation near the shoulder, but he remained with the company until it entered the City of Mexico, September Fifteenth, and on the First of November was discharged. For a time, he remained at Baton Rouge, on account of his wound. He arrived at his home in February following, and was soon after appointed Captain of State Militia by Governor Chambers.
In August, 1848, he was elected Representative for Lee County in the second Legislature under the state organization, as a Demo- erat, in one of the most important sessions ever held in the state. It elected the first United States Senator and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and was especially notable as the only one which elected three United States Senators, General A. C. Dodge, General George W. Jones, and James Harlan.
It was during that session that plans were made for improving the navigation of Des Moines River by building, at an estimated cost of one hundred and seventy-seven thousand, three hundred and fifty-seven dollars, thirteen locks and dams, which, when com- pleted, would enable freight to be transported from Saint Louis to Raccoon Forks, at a saving of ninety-two per cent. The land grant of one million acres, which Congress was to grant, would pay for the improvement. The people of Central Iowa were intensely interested in the project and vigorously appealed to Congress to carry it out. In fact, so intense was the feeling that no man could get nominated or elected to public office who was not a booster for it. There were no railroads west of Chicago, and transportation to and from Eastern markets was the all-absorbing question. The Leg- islature did its duty in the premises, but the project fell into the
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hands of a lot of unscrupulous speculators and grafters, and, after a score of years of failures, broken promises, law suits, and litiga- tion, what was left of the immense land grant was turned over to a railroad corporation, the navigation project was condemned, uni- versally damned, and the state retired from the business with three old scows, a half-completed dam, and a pile of rock left to it as a reminder of the River Land and Navigation Company, and the propriety of state ownership of public utilities.
During that session was also passed the first Homestead Exemp- tion Law. Griffith introduced the bill and was largely instrumental in securing its passage. The people throughout the West were poor. The money in circulation was only one dollar and eleven cents per capita. Men were struggling to secure homes. Loan sharks demanded forty per cent interest. Thousand had to give mortgages, at such exorbitant interest they could not pay, and lost their homes. The law then passed embraced all the principles of the law as we have it now.
In 1849, Griffith was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Lee County, and served until November, 1850, when he resigned and was appointed Assistant Doorkeeper of the United States Senate at Washington, where he served three years, when he was appointed on the police force of that city, and served until April, 1858, when he was appointed by President Buchanan Registrar of the United States Land Office, and came to Des Moines. He served until 1861, when he was removed by President Lincoln.
The Civil War came on immediately after. The State of Iowa was totally unprepared to do anything respecting it, and during the excitement among the people, a committee, of whom Griffith was one, was selected to attend to the expenses and other preliminary preparations for the struggle which was to come, but he soon after resigned, and in October, 1861, was elected Sheriff of Polk County and was a candidate for a second term in 1863, but was defeated by "Hod" Bush, a shrewd politician, which "Old Churubusco" was not.
In the Fall of 1864, he was appointed Master Mechanic in the United States Quartermaster's Department at Memphis, Tennes- see, where he served until October, 1865, when he was appointed
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Deputy United States Marshal for the Western District of Ten- nessee, and served three years.
In 1868, he returned to Des Moines, and was appointed toll-gate keeper at Court Avenue bridge, and served until the bridges were made free from toll, in 1879.
In 1875, he was elected County Coroner, and was elected every two years consecutively for eighteen years, the longest servitude of any county officer, thus evidencing his popularity, fitness and trust- worthiness. During his incumbency, occurred the murders of Mrs. Henry Osborn and Andrew Snedden, in 1880; Frank McCreery, Doctor John Epps and Henry Scribner, in 1881; R. W. Stubbs, 1882; James Reynolds, 1883; S. H. Wishart, 1890; James F. Kemp, 1891; Mrs. Peter Sutler, 1892.
In 1886, he was appointed Bailiff of the Supreme Court, and served many years. In 1895, at the May term of the court, he was accorded the gratifying privilege of unveiling the splendid Yewell portrait of Charles Mason, the first Chief Justice of that court, and for whom he had voted as a member of the Legislature, in 1838.
In those days, the court met in whatever building could be found available. Its first meeting at Burlington was in a tavern. The judges, lawyers, and attendants upon the court found poor accom- modations. A bunk of hay full of fleas, spread on the floor of a tavern or cabin, was the bed of a majority of them, but they made the best of it. The taverns would be overcrowded, and attendants dined out of their wagons. The incidents and stories told of the court in those days by Judge Wilson, James Grant, of Davenport; Judge Murdock, of Elkader, and Judge Wilson, of Dubuque, would fill a large book. The members of the Supreme Court were also the District Judges, and held court at different places. At one place, a log court house had been built of one room. There was but one other cabin in the place, and it was occupied by a Scotch- man. When it came night, hay and bedding was brought in by some farmers and spread on the floor of the court room, after a careful sweeping. Lawyers, jurors and attendants planted them- selves on the floor, on which, during the Summer, a farmer's hog had made a dormitory. Scarcely had the bunkers begun to doze when,
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"At once there arose so wild a yell Within that dark and narrow dell, As if all the fiends from heaven that fell Had raised the banner-cry of hell."
Some rushed out on the prairie, but soon came back ; some took refuge in haystacks, but soon crawled out, declaring flight was use- less, for there was no escape from the fleas. At another time, the United States Marshal was behind time, and he stopped at the cabin of the Scotchman to get dinner. While he was eating, he opened a warm biscuit, and in the middle of it was a big bedbug, cooked so that its blood crimsoned half its surface. Turning to Judge Wilson, he inquired: "What in the world is that ?" "A Scotch sandwich, double price," was the reply from an interested sitter at the table. On another occasion, court was held in a log cabin which had been built for a residence, but was not occupied. It was in hot weather. There was barely room inside for the court and jury. Judge Grant was one of the attorneys in a case on trial. The bailiff, a short, pudgy fellow, with a big, long body, was loung- ing with the attendants in the shade of some trees, several rods dis- tant. Old-timers have not forgotten the leonine voice of Grant, that, when he was in full blast, could be heard a mile. On this occa- sion, when he was at the climax of his argument to the jury, the crowd outside thought a row had broken out, and started to see what was up. The bailiff tried to stop them, but without success. Standing close against the building, near the doorway, was a hogs- head of molasses. The bailiff pushed his way through the crowd, climbed to the head of the hogshead, wheeled about, and, with out- spread hands, raised to tiptoe, shouted "Silence!" when the head- ing of the hogshead fell in and he went to the bottom of the molas- ses. Court was suspended, he was fished out, taken to a nearby creek, washed and cleaned, when court was resumed as if nothing had happened.
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