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 45
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When you reached the crowd, you proclaimed aloud, in the hearing of all, the presence of these men and the object of their visit, and declared that you would be one of three men to take or kill them. Very shortly after this, you and two men of desperate character [Joseph and John Fleenor] left the crowd in the same direction and about the same time. You were next seen lying beside one of your victims, with your gun broken over his head, your pistol on the ground, freshly discharged, and your other victim dead a few rods off.
You were one of the three who killed those men, as you had said you would be; and you killed them without any cause of offense against them personally. Your only motive was hostil- ity to the law which they were charged to enforce.
You are not a native of this country, but, as your counsel have stated, you had taken an oath that you would be favorable to its Government. You came from a country in which men in your station of life complain-perhaps justly-that they are oppressed by laws which they have no voice in making. You have come to a country where your vote at the ballot-box is as poten- tial in making or modifying the laws as that of the Judge who now addresses you.
Not content with this peaceable mode of changing a law which you did not like, you permit- ted your hostility to it to incite you to murder the persons charged with its enforcement. Your present condition is a striking admonition that this cannot be permitted in a free country any inore than in a despotism.
The judgment which the law pronounces against you is one which my private judgment does ยท not approve, for I do not believe that capital punishment is the best means to enforce the observ- ance of the laws, or that, in the present state of society, it is necessary for its protection. But I have no more right, for that reason, to refuse to obey the law than you had to resist it.
I, therefore, do pronounce upon you its sentence, which is, that you be committed to the custody of the Marshal of this district, by whom you shall be held in close imprisonment until the 27th day of December next [1867], and that on that day you be hanged by the neck until you are dead ; and may God, the wise Governor of the Universe, who is equally the Father of the Judge who pronounces this sentence and the criminal to whom it is addressed, have mercy on you.
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Gleason had made a statement regarding the affair, which was offered in evidence, to the purport that he had started homeward from a muster of the disloyal men in the neighborhood, preceded by the Fleenors. He came up, as he said, with the Fleenors, who were talking with Bashore and Woodruff. The Fleenors went on and Gleason stopped to talk with the Marshals. All three then started in the direction taken by the Fleenors, and in a few minutes three shots were fired from the brush, wounding one of the officers and Gleason. The Fleenors then appeared. One of them struck the other officer over the head with Gleason's gun and fired at him with a revolver, when the murderers fled through the brush and disappeared. The officers and Gleason were soon after found by some neighbors. Gleason also stated that Bashore told him where he lived, while lying in the road, and asked him to notify his wife.
But this statement was impaired by the evidence of Mr. White, who was in the party who found them. This witness swore that Bashore informed him that Gleason had struck him with his gun, and that Gleason replied by calling him a liar. Woodruff was dead when found, and Bashore died soon after : but his dying statement clearly implicated Gleason in the brutal transaction.
Gleason escaped his penalty, however, through the clemency of President Johnson.
SERIOUS ACCIDENT.
In the fall of 1865, a man named Forsyth and a woman named Morrow, while crossing the Chariton bridge in Sharon Township, were both badly hurt. It was a Howe truss bridge, and one of the upper diagonal timbers being loose, was shaken out of place by the tremor caused by the wagon. It fell, striking them both. Forsyth was permanently disabled and Mrs. Morrow badly hurt. Action was brought against the county, but the matter was compromised by the Board of Supervisors, in the following January, Forsyth receiving $3,000. indemnity, and the woman $800.
BIG SNAKE, ETC.
It is related with all seriousness that, about May 1, 1866, a lad named Wyckoff, a resident of Franklin Township, was chased some distance by a mon- strous snake. Getting out of patience, finally, he stopped, stood his ground and succeeded in killing the reptile, which, when measured, proved to be sixteen feet two inches in length and over a foot in circumference. The species of the animal is not given.
In March, 1867, Samuel Bessey and Charles Perkins, who lived in the vicinity of Cincinnati, succeeded in killing a panther on the State line. This was a fine specimen, seven feet long and a little over two and a half feet high.
About the same time, Orlando Pulliam, a boy living near Orleans, while hunting other game, came upon a lynx, which he secured by a lucky shot, and took home in triumph.
THE ECLIPSE OF 1869.
Every inhabitant of Appanoose County, save those deprived by misfortune of sight, had ample opportunity to observe the startling phenomena attending the total eclipse of the sun on the afternoon of August 7, 1869, the whole of the county being within the line of the totality, or within the belt of 156 miles in breadth in which the body of the moon completely hid the sun from view. In the absence of any local description of the sublime spectacle, recourse is had to an account written by the well-known astronomer and graphic writer, E. Colbert, who was one of the observers from the station at Des Moines. Noth- ing was specially noticeable during the encroaching motion of the moon, until
Waller & Johnson
CENTERVILLE
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only a slender crescent of sunlight remained, except a diminution of light, giving a pallid cast to objects in the far horizon. When the disk of the sun was almost covered and the light began to diminish sensibly, a chilliness crept into the air, not like the coolness of a summer evening, but like the biting fingers of a winter storm. This reduction in temperature was almost awful in . its swift approach. Birds and domestic fowls sought their roosts, dogs and horses manifested much uneasiness, and, in some instances, positive terror, and even cattle huddled together in fear at the swiftly approaching dark- ness.
The corona. as viewed through an excellent glass, was remarkably different from all preconceived notions on the subject, and from all previous descriptions, both in size and shape. It has always been represented as nearly annular (ring- formed), of about equal breadth all the way round the edge of the moon, and not more than one-tenth of her apparent diameter. The corona of the 7th was exceedingly irregular in its outline, and in some places projected to a distance fully half the apparent diameter of the moon, or nearly 500,000 miles. The greatest length was almost identical with the direction of the moon's path across the face of the sun, which very nearly coincided with the plane of the ecliptic. From the east side a mass of light shot out to a distance of five or six digits ; it was about thirty degrees wide at the base, and shaped nearly like the remote half of a silver-poplar leaf. Near the moon it shone with an almost uniform white light, but within a short space it broke up into brilliant rays, almost parallel with each other, and all pointing nearly toward the center. Still further out, these rays assumed more of a streaky character, seeming to lie against a darker background, and toward the summit they faded away into a more diffused and milder light, though still distinct and bright. Near the ex- tremity it appeared more like a cumulus cloud, but the central direction of the rays was plainly visible. It melted away into the azure background almost imperceptibly, but the outline was perfect, except at the very extremity of the leaf-shaped mass. On the other side of the disk was a corresponding tongue, but less regular, and extending only about two-thirds as far into the void. This position was more brilliant near the base than its counterpart, and was sharply defined at the very extremity, the rays blending so thickly that it required a steady gaze to separate them. The extent of this portion was about 285,000 miles. One observer saw the light reflected from the moon's edge at a distance of 54,000 miles from the sun's body, while the light was reflected from the other edge at a distance of 74,000 miles. The total width of the corona was about 1,600,000 miles.
The broadest mass of covered light was visible on the left (in the southwest quarter). This sprung from an arc of about fifty degrees on the moon's circum- ference to a height of three digits, or 234,000 miles. This mass was more dif- fuse than either of the others, and separated near the extremity into narrow leaflets of light, something like the flame from a thinly-spread bed of coals, only there was no red, the light being pure white, with a faint coruscation. Opposite to this, on the right, was another leaf-spread mass of four digits in height, on a basis of twenty to twenty-five degrees, and like a parabola in general outline, which was, however, broken up on the outer side into jets. Another broad sheet sprung up on the northeast, toward the zenith, nearly rectangular in shape, and three to four digits high, the upper third part being divided irregularly into tongues of light, formed by assemblages of rays. Between these large masses the circumference of the lunar orb was filled up by radiate lines of brilliant light, extending on an average a digit and a half in
E
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height, or 125,000 miles from the sun's surface. It was noticeable that this continuous band was the narrowest on the lower left-hand side (southwest by south), averaging about two-thirds of the width elsewhere, and was badly broken on its entire outline, as if the regularity were interfered with by the action of the string of beadlike protuberances jutting up through the interior portion of its volume.
The full amount of this irregularity was not perceptible with the naked eye, but the general distribution of long and short rays was the same. To the unaided vision the narrow portions of the corona were visible and bright; but the tongue-like extensions faded out into nothingness, whereas the telescope gave a definite outline all around, except at the summit of the first-named pro- trusion. The apparent color of the protuberances was a pinkish red. The instant that the last film of light had vanished, leaving the sun in utter darkness, and simultaneously with the outflash of the corona, the line of pro- tuberances on the south limb burst into view. Soon after the western edge of the moon had advanced sufficiently to uncover the protuberances on that side, and the four largest remained distinctly visible till the last glimmer of light was visible, when they vanished with the corona, leaving the world in the deep darkness of total eclipse. A moment passed, and those occupying elevated positions could see the shadow of approaching darkness moving toward them swiftly as the ripples are raised on a placid lake by a summer breeze, but awful, intense and terrible-fearful as a procession of spirits in the lower circle of the " Inferno." A few seconds of expectancy and the light was gone. It was an interval of absolute silence and of total darkness; for the eyes of thie observer had been contracted by the rays of the sun, and needed two or three seconds to dilate sufficiently to distinguish any object whatever. Nothing ter- restrial could be seen, the darkness was too great; but by looking upward the stars could be noticed to creep out, one by one, until a dozen could be dis- cerned with the naked eye.
A FEW RECENT EVENTS.
The death of William Hampton, a miner employed in the Watson coal- shaft, occurred June 19, 1874, from injuries received by the hoisting apparatus while attaching a car to be hauled up.
On the 23d, W. N. Shaffer, who resided near Centerville, lost his life from the pressure of carbonic-acid gas in his well.
Charles Thompson, while investigating the condition of Adam Keller's coal- bank, near Numa, August 9, 1874, fell twenty-five feet down the shaft, and was suffocated by "damps" before he could be reached.
September 28, 1874, William Stevens, of Washington Township, while attempting to ford the Chariton, at Perdue's Ford, was drowned in sight of two young men, who were unable to give him aid in time.
February 8th, 1875, Joseph Holland, of Independence Township, lost his house by fire, during the absence of himself and wife. On leaving, they had left their four children at home. A neighbor saw the fire, and reached the house in time to rescue three of the children, but the other perished in the flames.
December 28, 1875, Charles Herbst, of Taylor Township, was killed in a rencontre with his own son, James, by name. Two of James' brothers were having a fight about a hound pup, which James undertook to end. The father, seeing the affray, rushed out with a piece of scantling, which James snatched away from him. The father then picked up a hame, and rushed on the young
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man. Both struck at the same moment, and both fell. The father rose, went back to the house, took to his bed and died next day.
DEATH OF A PIONEER.
The death of S. F. Wadlington, Esq., occurred on Monday, November 4, 1878, and a brief personal mention will not be out of place in closing this sketch of the county's history. The deceased was born and reared in Kentucky, and married in that State; but the union was an unhappy one, and, after procur- ing a divorce from his wife, he removed to Appanoose County in 1847, being then about thirty-five years old. His experience in married life soured his dis- position, and he avoided the society of women as much as possible. The deceased was a good business man, punctual to his engagements, and expected a prompt fulfillment of promises from those he trusted, but did not seem to be anxious to amass a great fortune. He was in many respects a type of the true Kentuckian-truthful and often generous. One case is mentioned in which he voluntarily abated $500 of interest from a claim he held, where, by wait- ing, he could have got it. He would do much to oblige a friend, and would sometimes, as in the Murphy case, brave public opinion for the sake of obtain- ing a fair trial for a man he believed to be guilty. Mr. Wadlington was a mnem- ber of the Masonic Order, having taken the degrees before leaving Kentucky. He was a member of Jackson Lodge, No. 42, for many years, and was buried by the members of that Lodge, in a spot prepared by himself several years ago, near his house in Independence Township. His death was caused by taking cold while going home from Centerville, October 19, during a snowstorm. H had been offered the use of an overcoat, but refused it. Mr. Wadlington will long be remembered as the most eccentric person who has lived in Appanoose County, but yet a trusted, enterprising citizen. His last visit to Centerville was partly to ascertain what was being done toward extending the M., I. & N. Railroad, and to urge the advisability of locating the route so as to make avail- able the coal-beds in the northwest part of the county.
RAILROADS.
Although Appanoose County lies within a hundred miles of two of the large Iowa cities, and although it was among the first of the interior counties to be settled by white men, its railroad system was inaugurated at a comparatively late period. In fact, four great lines had spanned the State from east to west, and another had progressed far up the river Des Moines from Keokuk, before Appanoose and a county or two lying west had been thought of as a field for railway investment, except by the inhabitants themselves. But the roads alluded to above were the "land grant " lines, backed by subsidies of land from the General Government, and amply worth the cost of constructing the roads.
ST. LOUIS, KANSAS CITY & NORTHERN.
This is the successor to the bankrupt North Missouri Company, which, in 1867, and the following year, was engaged in extending the railway system of Missouri. Tempting overtures having been made by the people of Ottumwa and other communities in Iowa to extend the stem from Macon northward, the work of construction began. It was at first supposed by the people of Center- ville that they would obtain this line, but they were outbid by the people of Davis County. The North Missouri people, however, ran their line into
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Appanoose County two miles, in 1869, establishing the town of Moulton. The line then took a long curve eastward to Bloomfield in Davis County, and thence to Ottumwa, hoping to reach Cedar Rapids without much delay; but in this they were disappointed, for the Company became bankrupt, and Ottumwa is still its terminus. The tendency of railway consolidation would indicate that not many years will elapse before this route and the Central of Iowa, will fall into one ownership and management.
CHICAGO & SOUTHWESTERN.
This route, as surveyed, was to pass through Moulton and thence through the southern townships of the county. But the people of Centerville and the central portion of the county, by a vigorous effort, which included a contribu- tion of $125,000 and a donation of the right of way, secured a diversion of the route by way of Unionville, Centerville and Numa. Pending the effort to secure this change, there was some bad feeling between the people represent- ing the rival routes, which passed away, however, very soon after the change was effected. Backed, as this Company was, by the great Rock Island corpo- ration, it is not strange that the construction was very rapid. Its initial point is at Washington, and its terminus is at Leavenworth. The road was completed to Centerville February 16, 1871, and, noting its rapid construction westward, the people felt that, although they had paid a large price, yet they had secured a line that must, in the very nature of things, prove to be an important one.
The effect of this road on the growth of Centerville has been very marked. The business of the town has trebled, and its population has already nearly doubled. Besides affording the needed connection with Chicago for the trans- portation of grain and stock, the road is a heavy consumer of Appanoose County coal and stone, and, in addition, carries large quantities of coal to other towos along the line, thus bringing additional profits to the county.
It is only the sober truth to add, for the encouragement of the people of Appanoose County, that the business of this line is not half what it will be within ten years. With greater diversity of pursuits, with increased develop- ment and with a compact instead of a sparse population, all of which are close at hand, many young citizens of this vicinity will see, before their hair turns gray, the passenger business of this line trebled and its freight traffic quad- rupled.
MISSOURI, IOWA & NORTHERN.
This road was mainly secured by the efforts of people living along its line in Missouri and in Appanoose County, the contributions and local aid amount- ing to about $700,000. The Company was organized March 26, 1870, and the present length of road built in the following year. This Company was really the outgrowth of the " Iowa Southern Company," which was organized August 3, 1866, with the following as incorporators : F. M. Drake, James Jordan, S. W. McAtee, Andrew Colliver, William McK. Findley, H. H. Trimble, J. B. Glenn, William Bradley, T. J. Rogers, Jacob Shaw, N. Udell, J. D. Baker, B. Bowen, H. Tannehill, R. N. Glenn.
The object, as stated in the article, was to build a road with two branches to Bloomfield, thence west via Centerville to the Missouri River. One of said branches to commence at a point on the Des Moines Valley Railroad, running thence to Bloomfield, Iowa; the other branch to commence at a point on the State line of Missouri and Iowa where the Alexandria & Bloomfield Railroad terminates, running thence to Bloomfield, Iowa, there forming a junction with the branch first above named, running thence west (with a single track) via
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Centerville, through the southern tier of counties in Iowa, to a point on the Missouri River.
The Bloomfield programme was abandoned after a time, and a consolidation having been effected with a company at Alexandria, the road was built as above stated, by way of Memphis and Glenwood to Centerville, which town is yet the terminus of the line.
The achievement of this second route east for Centerville, making the third line to enter the county, was a proud one, for it was only through the hard labor of the gentlemen named above, as well as the constant personal applica- tion of Gen. Drake, that it was achieved at all.
A vigorous attempt is now being made to extend this route westward at an early day, Corydon being talked of as an objective point, with a view to its ultimate completion to the Missouri River, and an effort lias been made to vote a tax in Centerville in aid of the project ; but what the upshot will be cannot be stated now. It would seem that the people of Appanoose County will not be backward in extending assistance to so necessary an enterprise, giving, as it will, immediate employment to scores of men and teams, as well as making a permanent market for the great store of coal and stone, of which several west- ern counties are destitute. The line, if completed to the Missouri, as proposed, will be over two hundred and fifty miles in length, and Appanoose County will then be in close connection with the vast transcontinental routes-" a consum- mation devoutly to be wished."
BURLINGTON & SOUTHWESTERN.
This road was completed across Appanoose County in 1874. From Bloom- field to Moulton it uses the track of the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern, and runs from Moulton, by way of Cincinnati, to La Clede, Mo. Having been constructed so soon after the panic of 1873, this line has been operated under somewhat discouraging circumstances. At one time the company was in arrears for the use of the track between Bloomfield and Moulton, and the St. L., K. C. & N. took up its "frogs" to enforce collection. The business of the line is steadily improving, however, and it must, in time, become a paying route. Being a part of the immense " Burlington system," and with a certainty of a yet closer alliance, this road is destined to prove a large factor in the develop- ment of Appanoose County. The people of Cincinnati and vicinity contributed about $25,000 to assist in the construction of this route.
OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.
The preliminary meeting to organize this society was held September 10, 1875. A brief constitution was adopted, stating the object of the Association to be the perpetuation of the history of Appanoose County, and the cultivation of social and friendly relations among the members. All persons who had resided in the county twenty years were declared eligible to membership. J. F. Strat- ton was chosen President ; W. S. Manson, Vice President ; James S. Wake- field, Secretary ; W. S. Main, Dr. N. Udell, J. H. Gaugh, Daniel McDonald and L. Dean, Executive Committee.
An amusing address was made by Elder J. C. Sevey at this meeting, who related some of his experiences in 1850. He stated that he was a visitor at District Court in the fall of that year, and that the lawyers boarded with " Limekiln " Wright, whose good wife, being unable to keep up with her
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boarders' voracious appetites for pumpkin, ran out to the pile in the lot and set a raw one on the table.
The Elder described Judge Tannehill as a tall, lank, freckled, and green- appearing fellow, who would blush whenever spoken to, but added that he soon outgrew his bashfulness, and proceeded to pass a high eulogium upon his long official services and character.
An adjourned mecting of the society was held October 6, when J. C. Sevey was elected President; James Hughes, Vice President; J. S. Wake- field, Secretary. Several ancient documents were handed around for inspection, after which the society adjourned till the first Saturday in September, 1876.
The meeting does not appear to have been held, owing, probably, to the fierce political contest then raging. The organization should not be allowed to die out, but a meeting should be held, at least once a year, and each town in the county should be called upon, in its turn, to entertain the old settlers' meet- ings of Appanoose.
APPANOOSE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The first record of this society has undoubtedly lain several years in the vault of the County Recorder, entirely forgotten by the present officers of the society. The first minutes are in the back part of the book, and show that the preliminary meeting was held on the fourth Monday in April, 1855. A. S. Stone, President, and A. Harris was Secretary. It was resolved that the Town- ships Assessors present should inform the citizens of their respective townships of the formation of the society, and solicit their attendance at the adjourned meeting, to be held on the first Saturday in June. F. A. Stevens, W. W. Cot- tle, Reuben Riggs, James Galbraith and Amos Harris were chosen to prepare articles of incorporation, after which the meeting adjourned.
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