USA > Iowa > Appanoose County > The history of Appanoose County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 42
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BLOOMFIELD, April 30, 1850.
CYRUS OLNEY.
AN INFARE.
The date of the marriage of Robert Coffman and Sarah Summers will be found on a preceding page. This was considered, by all odds, to be the grandest wedding in the early history of the county. According to the Vir- ginia custom, the groom remained at the house of the bride's parents the first night. The next day, the bride accompanied her husband to the house of his parents, escorted by a dozen or fifteen young men, accompanied by their sweet- hearts, and all on horseback. When the party arrived within a couple of miles of Coffman's, they were met by another party of young men and women, who wheeled around, as if to capture the bride. A jug of whisky was produced,
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out of which each man took a drink, when both parties formed into double file, and went to Coffman's in company. There a great supper was spread, after which dancing began, and was continued till a late hour. This custom of the "infare " appears to have gone into disuse, but it was a very common one for many years in all the States settled by Virginia people and their descendants.
THE RAGING CHARITON.
The flood of June 7, 1851, is remembered as having been the greatest ever known in Southern Iowa. It is stated that the water covered Chariton bottom to an average depth of four feet. Hon. Joshua Miller states that he crossed the river east of Centerville, when the water was about at its highest point, with five yoke of oxen and a wagon. In three places, two yoke would swim at one time. His goods were pretty well soaked up, and some of his books, preserved in his law library, show plainly the wetting they got.
James Hughes, Esq., says that the water did not abate till about the 1st of July. The people of Centerville got out of flour during the prevalence of this flood. Some one had gone into Davis County for a supply, but was stopped on the left bank of Chariton by the high water. The people succeeded in getting one barrel across, which was divided among the families and the bread famine thereby stopped.
This long protracted wet season almost entirely ruined the crops-corn, wheat and vegetables-and many settlers lived on very plain fare in the succeed- ing winter. But having expected to endure privations when they chose homes west of the Mississippi, they held on bravely, and as a rule, the few survivors of the early settlement here have been abundantly blessed " in basket and in store."
Before passing from this mention of the wet season, an incident that occurred on Chariton, east of Centerville, in January, 1849, should not be omitted. The river had been frozen over, but a thaw occurred, followed by a flood, which was succeeded in turn by a cold snap. Some men engaged at work on the east bank of the river-wanted Mr. Hughes to get them a jug of whisky, that prime necessity on the frontier. He returned to town, procured the article, and came back to the river; but how to get it across was the question. The overflow had frozen over enough to bear his weight, and the channel was covered with ice between him and the thirsty squad, but above and below the current was free. He procured a couple of flat rails, took them to the edge of the stream, tied a cord to the jug-handle, which he took in his teeth, and then getting down on all fours, by pushing the rails along, made the perilous passage in safety, dragging the cordial behind him. He says when he reached the other bank, his weight had so depressed the ice that a thin sheet of water was flowing over. . It was a hazardous trip, especially as he could not swim at all, and he says money would not tempt him to undertake it again.
LET THE EAGLE SCREAM.
The first celebration of the Fourth of July in this county was at Centerville, in 1851. The people were not feeling very buoyant, owing to the rainy weather in June, but they thought they would try to celebrate in a modest way. A procession was formed, headed by martial music, the drum being beaten by B. F. Packard, but the fifer's name is forgotten. The assemblage marched to a grove near town, where a quarter of beef had been roasted, barbecue fashion, and a bountiful dinner was served. The addresses were made by Amos Harris. James Wright and others, and it is believed that Mr. Harris read the Declara-
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tion of Independence. Eight years, two months and three days had elapsed from the day on which the Indians had surrendered this part of Iowa to their- white neighbors, and no doubt the red man was suitably apostrophized on this auspicious occasion.
THE FLUSH TIMES.
The close of 1856 was the acme of prosperous times in the West. During 1854 and the two succeeding years, immigrants by tens of thousands had crossed the Mississippi in quest of homes on the fertile prairies of Iowa. Times were brisk in the Eastern States, and many small farmers who were discontented with their prospects were enabled to sell their little farms to some more pros- perous neighbor. Their personal effects, and such other articles as were most valuable, were loaded into the big wagon, and, with the cash realized from the auction and the " third down " on the little farm in his pocket, the adventurous spirit lifted his wife and babies into the covered wagon. The great current flowed along the National turnpike almost daily from 1850 to the middle of 1857, and by parallel roads through every country town. Country towns in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois reaped a silver harvest from those who did not care to camp out ; but these were only one-third of the vast procession that extended from the Alleghanies to Iowa and other Western States. Arrived at their chosen homes, provisions, cattle and swine were to be bought from the pioneer farmers ; breaking-plows, clothing and other articles from the dealers ; lumber from the nearest saw-mills, and all paid for in hard cash. Many immigrants bought the improvements from older settlers, who were thereby enabled to pay their debts and begin anew. During 1855 and 1856, thousands of dollars in deferred payments for their Eastern homes followed the settlers of 1854 and 1855. In consequence, everybody was prosperous. Money was abundant and. speculation was rampant. It was the hey-day of the financial millenium. Towns were laid out, colleges founded, and vast enterprises of every name and nature were set on foot. So eager was the ambition of all to join the dance around the golden-hued bubble that the rate of interest was stimulated abnor- mally, and it could only be borrowed at 25 per cent. Even the citizen whose only capital was his muscle shared in the smiles of the fickle goddess. There was work for him at good prices. Thrice fortunate was he who had a stout team, for he could break prairie at $3 an acre, haul goods for the merchants at the same rate per day, or buy a threshing-machine and pay for it with the . season's profits.
No wonder the West became delirious with the rosy picture which, in many details, was a reality. The fertile soil was here, and the people were still thronging to occupy it. Often within a single week, 50 to 100 per cent could be made by the purchase and sale of a town lot or a quarter-section of land. Adam Smith was clearly a fool when he announced that capital was the result of labor, for thousands of men in Iowa could demonstrate by actual practice that Speculation was the mother of Wealth.
AND THE GREAT SMASH.
A sudden change came over the people's dream in 1857, for in August, the collapse of the Ohio Life and Trust Company, a corporation doing both a life insurance and financial-agency business, produced a panic in Wall street within a very few days. A score of banks suspended payments, followed in the next ten days by bank-failures from Maine to the prairie-dog villages of Nebraska. So inflated had been the balloon that in two or three States and Territories speculators had been allowed to issue bills on the basis of wild lands a hundred.
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miles west of the Missouri. The result, when the collapse came, was that the gold and silver were the first to disappear, followed rapidly by the choice bank bills of Massachusetts, New York and Ohio, leaving nothing but " wild-cat " bills, various kinds of scrip and miscellaneous evidences of indebtedness, all of uncertain value, as the only circulating medium. Prices of farm produce, cattle and horses, lands and town lots, fell on the avarage from 50 to 100 per cent, and could not be sold for cash at any price for nearly a year. Dry goods and groceries declined also, but not to the same extent.
Speculation was as dead as Goliath ; the Sheriff was the only real estate agent, except the fortunate crew who had either foreseen the approaching storm, or had their means in cash by accident. These turned their attention to the lands offered for sale by foreclosure, and when the tax sale came in 1858, invested their piles in certificates against the homes of hundreds of farmers that became jeopardized for want of cash to pay the very moderate taxes assessed against them.
The granaries in Appanoose County were full to bursting with wheat, oats and corn ; good horses stood in the stables, fat steers and swine in the sheds, but there was no cash to buy them. The merchants would handle them in exchange for goods or in settlement of balances ; but this was as far as their ability could go. The people, in their transactions, were compelled to rely on barter entirely for months. Notes were given for so many bushels of wheat or corn, or so many pounds of pork. If a farmer wanted a sled made, it required a laborious consultation with the mechanic as to what the farmer could spare or the mechanic could take.
The man was indeed fortunate who had a little cash by him when the crisis came. With this he could pay his taxes and escape the heavy penalties incurred by his less prudent or lucky neighbor. But, as a necessary measure of relief, the Legislature stepped in with a law which extended the time of redemption for lands sold by the Treasurer ; otherwise, three-fourths of the lands in Iowa must have lapsed into other hands.
The Appanoose people were not quite so badly off as their neighbors in some other counties, for they had, somewhat singularly, escaped the blighting effects of the railway fever that spread over the West in its most acute form. Having received no benefit of that kind, there was nothing to pay, and there was a grim comfort in that fact.
There was, of course, no home market for farm products, for the inflow of settlers had ceased, and the only way to raise money was to haul grain or drive hogs to Keokuk or Alexandria, a distance of nearly a hundred miles, the expense of which would eat up half the sales. Wheat was worth about 50 cents a bushel along the Mississippi, and slow sale at that. Happy was the man who could bring back a load of goods for a home merchant, and thus earn the expenses of the trip, payable in coffee, tobacco, molasses, Canton-flannel and Alabama woolens. This condition of affairs lasted without much mitigation till the fall of 1861, when the necessities of the Government quickened the flow of money, and a new era of development was ushered in.
A LIQUOR CASE.
During the operation of the prohibitory liquor law, which was passed in 1855, the people of Iowa were considerably hampered in obtaining liquors for " mechan- ical, medicinal, culinary and sacramental purposes," as well as for snake-bites. To supply the demand that the county agents felt a delicacy about meeting, it was no uncommon thing for men to peddle whisky in a half surreptitious man-
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ner from town to town, and the knowing ones were thus enabled to keep them- selves supplied with so necessary a commodity.
An old settler, named Zimmer, had been for a year or two engaged in ped- dling liquor in the county, and, some time in the summer of 1857, drove into Centerville. That evening, some of the young bloods of the town procured an auger, went to Zimmer's wagon, while he was dreaming of profits to be obtained next day, and bored a hole through the bottom of the wagon-box, and so into the barrel, which was thereby emptied of its contents, by virtue of the law discovered by Newton under the apple tree while his houskeeper was " clean- ing house." What became of the liquor is shrouded in mystery-whether it was absorbed by the thirsty soil, or whether it was conveyed in jugs to surrounding hay-mows, cannot now be ascertained.
When Zimmer discovered his loss, he proceeded forthwith to a magistrate, to to whom he unbosomed himself, and warrants were issued for the arrest of those naughty young men. The papers were served, and the young fellows were taken before the Justice. The prosecution decided to dismiss the complaint as to R. S. Morris, in the hope that his evidence would hold the rest. Sheriff Ferren then served the subpoena, the witness promising to attend in a few minutes, returned into court and tossed the document upon the table. Judge Tannehill picked it up, and in a moment of abstraction, chewed the subpoena into pulp. Meantime, Morris had got half a mile out of town, and was improving in his gait at every step. The attorney for the prosecution at last became impatient, and asked the Justice for a bench-warrant. The Justice appeared willing to comply, but, as a preliminary, required Sheriff Ferren to certify his return on the neglected subpoena. The Sheriff made a vigorous search for some time without success, and finally exclaimed, " Dog on my cats ! I had service on him, anyway !" His remark was true enough, but as the law required a written return, his verbal one, though forcible, was regarded as insufficient, and the pros- ecution was reluctantly abandoned.
It is needless to add that the sympathy of the court and the community was with the young men, and so Justice raised one edge of her hoodwink and winked at the transaction, holding one hand over her mouth in order to keep Zimmer from knowing what she thought about the case.
THE ONLY CASE OF HANGING.
Some time in 1856, William Hinkle, of Davis County, was arrested for the murder of his wife, by poison. The woman had died suddenly, and Hinkle, before a year had elapsed, made preparation to marry a girl who had been working in the family at the time of his wife's death. This led to an investiga- tion, and Hinkle was arrested and indicted. He took a change of venue to Appanoose.
The case was called April 12, 1858, John S. Townsend being Judge, and the trial began on the following day. Those composing the jury were Henry Robley, Alexander Jones, Gilbert McCoy, James P. Anderson, Jonathan Rinker, Henry Stephenson, Isaac A. Brannon, John Gordon, Will- iam B. McDonald, John Barnett, George W. King and Henry Ellidge. The trial was concluded on the 16th, and the jury, after a short absence, returned with a verdict of murder in the first degree.
The next day, Judge Townsend ordered the prisoner to be hanged within one mile of Centerville ; but, a motion having been made for an appeal to the Supreme Court, the case was continued, and the prisoner was remanded to jail in Bloomfield pending the hearing of the appeal.
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A special term of the District Court having been called July 6, 1858, and notice having arrived that the verdict and judgment had been affirmed, Judge Townsend ordered the prisoner brought into court, and he was produced on the 8th, when he was sentenced to be publicly executed on the 13th day of August following, between the hours of 1 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon, within one-half mile of the town of Orleans, a little village in the eastern part of Washington Township. This was the nearest convenient point mid- way between Bloomfield and Centerville, and the Judge no doubt thought that the people of the two counties had a common interest in seeing Hinkle. die.
Nor was he disappointed ; for on the appointed day, it is said, ten thousand people assembled to witness the execution. An eye-witness states that Hinkle went up to the platform with a firm step and resolute bearing. The trap fell, and, as the rope received Hinkle's full weight, he being a heavily built man, it snapped and he fell heavily to the ground. He was picked up and with diffi- culty replaced on the scaffold, fear having seized him at last. He was asked before the rope was adjusted the second time if he had anything to say, to which he answered that he was innocent, a statement that he had never varied from. It was generally believed at the time that he had placed the poison in the young woman's hands for the purpose of compassing his wife's death, and that his denial was therefore technically true.
THE UNDERGROUND ROUTE.
For several years prior to the war, it was no unusual circumstance for negroes to pass through Appanoose County, while fleeing from slavery in Mis- souri to freedom in Canada. Just what was done to help them on their way, and who were the people helping them, is not clearly understood, even in the vicinity of Cincinnati, which was a prominent station on the subterranean road, except by the persons who have furnished the facts upon which the following summary of incidents is based.
Thus, it is a commonly-received tradition that Luther R. Holbrook and family, who reside at Cincinnati, used frequently to hide and care for fugitive slaves, sometimes disposing them under their own bed for greater safety. This is denied point-blank by the family, who add the proviso that they never had a chance to do so.
Another story is told with considerable glee, and is applied both to Solomon Holbrook and J. H. B. Armstrong. As related of Mr. Holbrook, the story runs that, during a very dry season, probably in 1860, a negro came to his mill at Cincinnati to have some grinding done. The negro lived in Missouri, and was a slave. There were several other grists ahead of the negro's load, but Mr. Holbrook proposed to the darky that if he would run away to Canada, he would not only grind his wheat at once, but would furnish him some money for the trip. The negro was advised that he could convert the team and wagon, as well as the flour, into cash on his journey northward, and thus reach Canada with a little capital. The negro consented, started northward with his flour, made a circuit around Centerville and got home sooner than his master expected, having Mr. Holbrook's donation for his own pocket-money. Others apply the same story to Mr. Armstrong ; but it is pure fiction in both cases-a good story, but too romantic for history.
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
The following circumstances, however, are strictly authentic, having been communicated by the old officers of the Cincinnati Station :
The first case happened in the winter of 1852-53. A negro lad, about sixteen years old, came to the house of J. H. B. Armstrong, in Pleasant Township, in the night, and applied for shelter. He was fed and lodged till the next night, when Mr. Armstrong took him to the house of his brother-in-law, Mr. Calvert. near Centerville. On the way, after a silence of half an hour, the boy broke into a guffaw loud enough to startle the prairie chickens for a mile around. Mr. Armstrong asked him rather sharply what he was making so much noise for. The boy continued his laugh, and exclaimed : " How mas'r will be disappointed when he goes to look for dis chile." The boy's statement was that his mother had reared fourteen or fifteen other children, who had all been sold as they grew up. He and another lad had pledged each other to run away at the first opportunity. Their master lived in Clark County, Mo., and his son lived sixty or seventy miles further south. The young man had come up to visit his father, and had ridden a valuable horse, which got out of the stable early the next morning and started homeward. As soon as the loss was discovered, the lad was ordered to eat a "snack " at once, after dispatching which he was mounted on a fleet and valuable animal, and was ordered to ride hot foot in pursuit of the stray. He instantly resolved to make an attempt for his liberty while devour- ing his breakfast, and informed his mother of his design, who heartily encour- aged the plan. He had no time to notify his chum of his intention, and con- cluded it best to take the chance when he had it. He rode south a few miles, turned into a by-road, and then made northwest as fast as he could push the horse. When he reached Armstrong's, he said he had ridden 200 miles with- out stopping to sleep, and the appearance of the horse justified his statement. for the poor brute had been badly punished. The lad was anxious to take the horse with him, but Messrs. Armstrong and Calvert would not allow him to do that, and the animal was turned loose near the Missouri line. The horse was soon after taken up as an estray, appraised before Mr. Armstrong, who was Justice of the Peace at the time, and who, in his notice, stated that the animal had either been stolen or had stolen somebody. The horse was kept a year, and sold for charges.
Another well-remembered case was that of Davy Crockett, which occurred in 1861. Davy was a free man, but had become frightened by the persistency of his more remote neighbors in demanding to see his papers every month or so, and had decided to leave Missouri. Having got into Franklin Township, Davy was met by Moses Joiner, a citizen of that township, who was a thorough Pros lavery man. Joiner halted him, but Davy succeeded in getting off for the time being, and started in the direction of Bellair. On his way, he met a mem- ber of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, of whom he inquired the direction to Mr. Armstrong's. The Wesleyan advised him to go to his house for supper, and he would accompany him to Armstrong's after dark. Meantime, Joiner, fully convinced that Crockett was a runaway slave, assembled a crowd of about forty choice spirits, who proceeded to Armstrong's, fully bent on capturing Davy and returning him to his supposititious master. They reached the house about an hour before midnight, roused up the Armstrongs, and insisted on searching the barn. The mows had just been filled with hay, and Armstrong sturdily objected for some time, warning them that if they went near the barn they would do so at their peril. Having protracted the argument as long as he could, he told them he knew nothing about the fugitive, but that if any one had been hiding there he had doubtless made off during the long talk they had had.
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Satisfied, at last, that Armstrong was not harboring the fugitive, the crowd left for their respective homes. An hour had not elapsed till the Armstrongs were again disturbed by Mr. Calvert, who had brought Crockett over to stay all night. The mob had started too soon from Armstrong's. It was considered unsafe to keep the negro at Armstrong's, and he was accordingly transferred to the house of Daniel McDonald, where he remained two days, and was sent on in the direction of Drakeville, the next station on the line.
Not long afterward, another negro applied for relief at Armstrong's, get- ting in after nightfall. This man was quite well satisfied to remain there, and demurred to going further; but Mr. Armstrong hurried him off to Mr. Fulcher's, who lived a few miles northwest. The next morning, a posse ap- peared at Armstrong's and asked his wife if a negro had come to their house at 1 o'clock the night before. As the man had come and gone an hour or two before, Mrs. Armstrong promptly answered in the negative. Just then, Mr. Armstrong entered the house and relieved the woman, who by this time began to show some little trepidation, and might possibly have soon betrayed her knowledge of the negro's movements. The next night, Armstrong took the negro's horse to Fulcher's, and the runaway was guided by Mr. Calvert nearly to Drakeville, where Mr. Calvert made the negro abandon his horse and secrete himself in the woods, just before daylight. So close were the pursuers on the trail that the horse was found by them an hour or two afterward. This negro was a happy-go-lucky fellow, who believed himself out of danger as soon as he crossed the Missouri line, and would doubtless have been captured had it not been for Armstrong and Calvert.
The case of John and Archie was another notable one. These two slaves lived in Central Missouri, and had traveled 200 miles toward freedom. They had been hindered three weeks in Missouri, owing to John having been laid up with rheumatism. Archie nobly remained with him until he was able to travel again. Arrived in the woods near Armstrong's, the two negroes camped, and John's rheumatism returned as bad as before. Early on a rainy, disagreeable morning, a knock was heard at the kitchen-door by Mrs. Armstrong, who opened it and admitted a negro. There was a neighbor in the sitting-room who did not believe in harboring colored persons.
Just then, Mr. Armstrong entered, took in the situation at a glance, and hustled the negro into the kitchen ยท bedroom. The neighbor, having completed his call, left for home, much to the family's relief. Archie was then fed, and told the family how his companion was faring in the woods. Having ascertained where he could be found, Mr. Armstrong apprised a trusty neighbor, and some food was sent him during the day. That night, the negroes were taken to John Shepherd's, where a supper was provided for them. As Archie sat down and saw the tempting variety spread before them, he exclaimed : "My good God, John! who'd have ever thought we'd set down to a meal like this?" The fugitives were allowed to stay at Shepherd's all night, and were forwarded to Drakeville. Mr. Arm- strong subsequently received a letter or two from Archie, one of which, in sub- stance, announced that they had reached Canada in safety, and that they were getting $1 a day, instead of the usual flogging. The writer added : "I hope that the good Lord will bless you for your kindness toward us, and I hope the time will soon come when we will be a people."
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