USA > Iowa > Boone County > The history of Boone County, Iowa, containing biographical sketches war records of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of the Northwest, history of Iowa, map of Boone county etc. > Part 50
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Although the examination resulted as favorably as Hamilton could have desired and many people sympathized with him and endeavored to exten- uate his faults, he by no means felt satisfied with the surroundings. Doubtless, frequently before the expiration of his official career and while yet none but himself knew the condition of affairs, Hamilton had pondered over the matter; doubtless many sleepless nights had passed while he was endeavoring to plan some way to repair the deficit or cover up the wrong. How shall I shield myself from the scorn and indignation of the public, and how shall I meet those who, at five consecutive elections, have cham- pioned my cause and especially those whose names are on my bonds? Such questions he had doubtless asked himself again and again, and it is probable that he had partially determined on suicide as the quickest and most effectual solution of the questions.
391
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
After he had been arraigned before the magistrate and he saw that not. withstanding the overwhelming evidence against him there were still those who trusted him and rallied around him. Under these circumstances Ham- ilton no longer hesitated as to his way out of the trouble; he was now con- vinced that he was not fit to live, and therefore he improved the first op- portunity after the close of the trial, in making a desperate attempt to take his own life. He procured a pistol and having carefully loaded it, placed it with the muzzle pointing directly toward his heart. The fatal trigger was drawn, and Hamilton fell on the floor while blood flowed from what he supposed to be a mortal wound. Persons attracted by the sound of the pistol rushed to where Hamilton was and upon examination it was found that the ball had struck a bone and passed around the body, and although the wound was a serious one it was not necessarily fatal, as none of the vital organs were injured. After suffering from the effects of the wound for several weeks Hamilton finally recovered sufficiently to walk around, and in a few days he mysteriously disappeared, since which time nothing definite is known as to his whereabouts. A rumor to the effect that he proceeded to California, where he now resides, has been current at times; but whether or not the rumor be true is known to but few, if any, in the county.
Shortly after Hamilton's disappearance, suit was brought by the county against his bondsmen to recover the sum of $6,600, the amount of defal- cation. A number of the bondsmen were in favor of paying the amount, but one of their number contested the matter in the courts. Judgment was rendered in favor of the county and the bondsmen were compelled to pay it in full. Thus ended the Hamilton defalcation to be followed in a few years by another in the same office.
George E. Jones was elected treasurer a few years after the Hamilton defalcation, and served a term of two years. When his successor took po- session of the office every thing was found to be regularly accounted for and the cash balance was found to be in the county safe. There seemed to be general satisfaction over Mr. Jones' official career and there were few men in the county who enjoyed in a higher degree the confidence and respect of everyone. Whether Mr. Jones was not a candidate for re-election or whether he was defeated, is unknown to the writer, neither is it important in this narrative.
In the fall of 1873 Mr. Jones was again a candidate for the office of county treasurer, was nominated by the democratic party and elected. In January, 1876, he qualified as treasurer and discharged the duties of the office for the full term of two years.
At the general election in the fall of 1875, his successor was to be voted for according to law. At this election he was again a candidate, and his opponent, one J. W. Snell, received a majority of the votes cast for that office, and upon the canvass of the vote said Snell was declared duly elected. Afterward, and before the first Monday in Jannary, 1876, when Snell would have qualified and entered upon the duties of the office, he died. When the first Monday of January, 1876, came around there was no one to take the office and George E. Jones, as incumbent, qualified anew as hold- ing over officer, and executed his bond as such holding over officer, which was accepted and approved.
Afterward, at the general election of 1876, questions having arisen as to whether Jones could hold his office longer than this general election, under
392
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
such qualification as a holding over officer, candidates were again placed in the field by the respective political parties for that office. Jones again be- came a candidate for the office and was elected. There were 3,461 votes cast, of which he received a majority of 89. Jones was declared to be elected, and entered upon the duties of the office for the unexpired term, closing January 1st, 1878.
Pursuant to the last election and the canvass of that vote, Jones again took the oath of office and executed a new bond, which bond was approved and a certificate of election and qualification was then issued to him as treasurer of Boone county.
It will be seen from the foregoing that Jones took the oath of office three times and gave three separate bonds for the faithful discharge of his duty. The following are the names of the individuals whose names appear on the several bonds:
Bond filed January 3d, 1874.
J. A. McFarland, William Pilcher, Edward Latham, J. F. Alexander, Louis Davis, James Kimberly, C. J. A. Erickson, S. G. Moffatt, Henry Getzman, John Bass, John A. Hull.
Bond filed January 3, 1876.
J. A. McFarland, John A. Hull, C. C. Hinshaw, William McIntosh, W. L. Defore, L. S. Kutsleib, C. E. Phipps, W. L. Pilcher, S. G. Moffatt, J. E. Black, J. Weston, L. L. Sawyer, Joseph Kinsley, O. Logan, M. Newton, J. H. Gibbons, Enos Barrett.
Bond filed November 18, 1876.
J. A. McFarland, J. A. Hull, George Held, Joseph Kinsley, C. C. Hin - shaw, William McIntosh, William Pilcher, S. G. Moffatt, O. Logan, W. W. L. Defore.
In Jannary, 1878, Jones' successor entered upon the duties of the office of the treasurer of the county, and it was found that there were not enough funds on hand to meet the balance called for by the books of the office. A committee, consisting of A. Joice, Peter V. Farley and D. F. Goodykoonts, made a thorough examination of the accounts and found that there was a deficit amounting to the sum of $13,726.78. The following is the report made at the time :
" In the office of county treasurer we compared the stubs of his tax re- ceipt registers and found them all registered. The treasurer reports as fees collected for the year 1877, $82,05. The amounts due to each fund as per the treasurer's monthly collection sheets were checked with the ledger accounts of said funds, and found to be correctly transferred thereto. The amounts disbursed were checked with vouchers for the same, and also found correctly entered. The total amount of funds on hand as shown by ledger balances is $18,494.69. We proceeded to count the cash in the hands of the treasurer, which amounted to $4,726.91, leaving a deficit of $13,726.78.
" PETER V. FARLEY, " D. F. GOODYKOONTS,
" Committee.
" Boonesboro, Iowa, January 5th, 1878."
Jones privately admitted the defalcation, and stated that six thousand dollars of the money he had invested in the Ogden Flouring Mill, and that he was unable to tell what had become of the remainder of the money. The matter was brought to the attention of the grand jury at the next session of the district court, but no indictment was found. The matter
393
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
again came up at the next session of the district court, and the grand jury having come into court without finding an indict- ment, Judge Mitchell, who was then on the bench, severely repri- manded the jury and ordered them to return to their room and again consider the question. The jury, however, failed to agree on an indictment; they were discharged and court adjourned without an indict- ment having been found. During the next year a new grand jury was im- paneled, which returned a true bill of indictment, and Jones was arraigned for trial. The indictment was found to be defective, and the defendant was discharged. In the meantime the county, through the board of super- visors, instituted a civil suit against Jones and his bondsmen for the pur- pose of collecting the amount of the defalcation. The case came up for hearing, and on motion of defense, a change of venue was granted to Green county. The case was tried at the following term of the Green county district court and a verdict was rendered against Jones and his bondsinen for the full amount of the deficit. The judgment was rendered on the last bond filed November 18, 1876. An appeal was taken to the supreme court and the judgment of the lower court was sustained; the attorneys for the prosecution were Webb & Dyer, and Phillips, Goode & Phillips; for the defense. Kridder & Crooks and Maxwell & Witter. The attor- neys for the defense made an application for a rehearing, which was granted, and the case will probably again come up at the next term of court.
The grounds upon which the counsel for the appellants made application for a rehearing, and upon which they chiefly rested the case of the defense at the trial in the lower court, was that the defalcation had occurred during Jones' first term of office, and that the bondsmen for the last term could not be held liable therefor. The attorneys for the appellants state their case at length in the application for a rehearing, from which we make the follow- ing extract:
"We believe that if the decision of the court in this case is to stand, and become generally known to be the settled judicial exposition of the law; and men who sign officers' bonds are made to understand that they are bound by every verbal admission the officers may make, extra-officially and otherwise; and their sureties on a re-elected officer's bond are liable for all the embezzlements of the officer long before the bond was executed; and that they are estopped from showing the real state of the officer's accounts, and when the embezzlement occurred; if men get to understand that they occupy such a perilous condition the moment they become bondsmen, it will surely make it impossible for re-elected officers to give a second or sub- sequent bond."
Jones still resides in the county where he has lived for many years. As before remarked no fault was found with the manner in which he discharged his duties during his first term, and up to the time he retired from office and his defalcation became public he enjoyed to a high degree the confi- dence and respect of the people. The affair is a most unfortunate one, both for the tax-payers of the county, for the bondsmen, and especially to Mr. Jones, who thereby lost the good name which it required alinost a lifetime to win, and the loss of which he cannot hope to regain during the few years he may hope to live.
At the time of the last treasury defalcation county warrants were worth
25
394
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
their face anywhere in this or adjoining counties. When the deficit be- came public, warrants fell below par, and have not been worth their face anywhere; at present they are worth from ninety-five to ninety-nine cents on the dollar. The county at present has no bonded debt, the last court- house bonds having been taken up and canceled in 1878. There is a float- ing debt, consisting of outstanding warrants, which amounted to $11,779.26 on the first of January, 1880. These warrants were as follows:
County fund
5,923 76
Bridge
5,855 50
Total outstanding $ 11,779 26
The following tables show the amount of money raised by taxation for the years of 1872, 1877 and 1879. For the sake of comparison there are also tables given showing the amounts levied in Washington, Warren, Keo- kuk and Boone counties. The population of said counites is somewhat larger than Boone, and it will be seen that the valuation is also somewhat higher, but for comparison these counties will answer as well or better than any others which could have been selected.
1872.
State
$ 9,890 97
County
17,111. 34
School
3,956 69
Bridge
1,978 30
Poor .
1,978 41
Court-house
5,935 04
District School
. 50,053 07.
Road ..
4,818 66
Corporation
4,751: 53,
Total
$ 100,474.01
1877.
State
$ 7,808 31
County
17,222 15
School.
3,904 15
Bridge
5,856 21
Insane
1,952 08
Poor.
3,904.15
Court-house.
11,712 48
District School
46,420 48
Road .
4,953 94
Corporation
5,924 87
Cemetery
73 48
Total
$ 109,732 30 Total valuation, $3,977,731.
395
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
1879.
State
$ 7,955 52
County
17,956 78
School
3,977 73
Poor.
3,977 73
Bridge
11,933 30
District school
39,528 70
Road
4,662 62
Corporation
4,586 40
Railroad
448 16
Total
$ 96,999 94
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
1879.
State
$ 10,611 82
County .
23,453 15
School
5,305 91
Bridge.
10,611 82
Poor-house
5,305 91
Insane.
2,652 96
District school
29,425 22
City
2,497 42
Railroad aid
29,780 62
Township.
16 10
Township cemetery
375 64
Special State R. R.
330 82
Road .
1,976 75
Washington city road.
968 18
Total
$ 123,312 32
KEOKUK COUNTY.
Total valuation, $4,999,537.
TAXES.
LEVY.
AMOUNT.
State
2 mills.
$ 9,997 07
County
3 mills.
14,995 61
School
1 mill.
4,998 54
Bridge
1 mill.
4,998 54
Insane
1 mill.
4,998 53
Poor-farm
1 mill.
4,998 54
County bond . Poll .
1 mill.
4,998 54
2,361 00
Road
1,473 15
Districts, loans of
31,155 34
Railroad
55,307 58
City
1,032 60
Total
$ 141,315 04
396
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
WARREN COUNTY.
Total valuation, $4,905,937.
TAXES.
LEVY.
AMOUNT.
County
4 mills.
19,607 03
State.
2 mills.
9,803 50
School.
1 mill.
4,901 75
Bridge
1} mills.
7,352 59
Poor farm
1} mills.
2,450 85
Bond
12 mills.
2,450 85
Insane
12 mills.
2,450 85
Poll.
2,158 00
Road
4,915 88
District
18,185 16
School-house
5,708 12
Contingent.
8,567 46
City
2,118 99
Total
$ 90,733 03
The county expenses are those which the people most generally interest themselves in, and in this direction do they usually attempt retrenchment. They insist upon the privilege of voting one another's property away for the purpose of building railroads, expensive public buildings, and schools, which, after all, are the most important and most economically managed; but the management of the county offices, which are sought after by so many aspirants, is closely scrutinized, and the charge of mismanagement and extravagance is often made and the cry of retrenchment raised for the purpose of making party capital and to further the schemes of certain men in the same party who are anxious to fill the places. The following is a statement of the county expenses during the past year.
County treasurer
$ 1,625 00
County anditor
1,950 00
Deputy treasurer
845 00
Deputy clerk.
1,341 67
Superintendent of schools
771 00
County clerk.
106 35
Deputy collector
110 78
Watchman
54 00
Mine inspector
54 00
Coroner.
53 30
Steward of poor farm
162 50
Sheriff and bailiff
1,751 44
Physicians
254 00
Jail expenses
576 76
Supervisors
907 88
397
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
Agricultural society
$ 150 00
Judgments
326 45
Attorneys
711 00
Township officers
3,819 84
Poor
1,779 93
Poor farm
1,159 96
Roads
82 50
Bridges
2,479 79
Bridge across Des Moines
14,855 50
County redemptions.
310 63
Jones trial at Jefferson
1,180 55
Jurors
2,969 40
Witnesses in State cases
1,275 50
Witnesses grand jury cases
310 75
Fuel, lights and repairs
234 18
Insane
200 25
Treasurer's certificates
470 93
Printing, blank books, etc
2,567 44
Bounty on scalps
62 00
Court reporter
541 00
Total
$46,051 28
For the purpose of comparison, we again introduce Warren and Keokuk, giving an exhibit of county expenses for the year 1878:
WARREN COUNTY.
Courts
$12,390 34
Grand jury.
876 25
Township officers.
1,419 55
Supervisors and county officers
7,508 68
Collection delinquent taxes .
50 90
Roads.
23 50
Certificate of balance
5,219 76
Assessors
991 00
Fuel for court-house and jail
315 29
Goods for court-house and jail
181 29
Jail expense
644 55
Books, stationery and printing
3,036 97
Janitor
520 00
Miscellaneous
2,541 34
Total county fund
14,044 76
Total bridge fund ..
5,580 10
Total poor-farm fund
1,784 03
Total insane fund
357 55
Total
$41,158 10
In the foregoing exhibit for Warren county the item of $12,390.34 charged up to court expenses, will seem to be unusually high. It is ac- counted for by the fact that in Warren county there has been for years a
398
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
very expensive murder trial, in which nearly the half of a township was implicated one way or another.
KEOKUK COUNTY.
Courts
$ 2,390 34
Supervisors
765 86
Superintendent of schools
980 27
Other county officials
2,999 15
Township officers
2,235 66
Roads and bridges
6,270 86
Fuel, light and repairs, county buildings.
873 44.
Books and stationery
1,197 20
Sheriff's deputies and bailiff's
797 29
Jail expenses .
754 45
Deaf, dumb and insane
1,705 24
Justices and constables
716 53
Witnesses in justices' courts
755 25
Elections
579 75
Poor-house
2,709 83
Insane building
2,864 20
Poor outside infirmary
1,800 11
Printing
1,463 58
Miscellaneous
204 15
Total
$32,063 16
In the early days of Boone county, political subjects did not trouble the people very much. They seemed to care more about the settlement of the country and the increase of worldly goods, than office. One reason of this doubtless was, that the pay was nothing extraordinary.
The trouble in those days was to get men to take the office. Now, how- ever, the trouble is to keep dishonest and incompetent men out of office. For several years after the organization of the county, persons were elected to office more on account of their qualifications and popularity, than for political reasons. In those days the office emphatically songht the man, and not the man the office. We find in several instances when the oppos- ing candidates belonged to the same party, and sometimes when the county was entitled to two representatives to the legislature, a division was made, and a Democrat and a Whig were elected. It was not till 1854 that party lines began to be closely drawn, and ever since then parties, rather than the public, have made the laws and chosen the men to execute them.
From the time that party lines first began to be closely drawn until the close of the war, and during the war, Boone county was Democratic. Thus we find at the election for Governor in 1865 Benton received 668 votes and Stone 566 votes, the Democratic majority being 102. In this respect the county has made a record which contrasts with the record of the most of Iowa counties. From the first Iowa was Democratic and so were nearly all the counties. In 1854 a change set in which in 1856 took the State over to the Republican party and with it an overwhelming majority of all the counties in the State. The fact that the representative counties of Iowa have since then been strongly Republican can be accounted for on the
399
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
same principle that a representative county in the State south of us has always been strongly Democratic. When Missouri and Iowa were first settled the subject of slavery was the all-absorbing question in politics. Those who believed in the peculiar institution usually went to the former State and those who did not settled in the latter. In those days it was the policy of the Democratic party to protect the institution and consequently Missourians became Democrats; the Republican party was founded on a platform hostile to slavery, and we can readily see why a large majority of those forming the population of a representative Iowa county should be Republicans. It may be said that the issue has long been changed and that the Democratic party of to-day stands on principles entirely foreign to those which constituted its platform during the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas. This is strictly true, but party organizations are very tenacious of life, and, as a rule, men will be found rallying around the party standard long after the emblems which it bears have lost their sig- nificance.
The unexpected movement in 1854 and 1856 which carried a large ma- jority from the Democratic party into the ranks of the opposition party did not materially effect the political status of Boone county, which, as before remarked, remained Democratic till 1868, since which time it has been reliably Republican on State and national questions, while in county and local affairs it has been uncertain with a tendency to be Republican.
An idea of the political history of the county can be gathered from a careful examination of the results of elections held at stated periods in the past.
The first election in the county in which the two parties were fairly joined in issue over national questions was that held in August, 1850, at which time there were state officers voted for. The following is an abstract of the election:
GOVERNOR.
James L. Thompson, Whig. 7 Stephen Hempstead, Democrat. 41
SECRETARY OF STATE.
Isaac Cook, Whig ..
6 George W. McCleary, Democrat. 42
AUDITOR OF STATE.
Win. H. Lewis, Whig 6
Wm. Pattee, Democrat
42
TREASURER OF STATE.
Evan Jay, Whig 6
Israel Kister, Democrat. 41
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS.
James Noster, Whig
11 George Gillaspy, Democrat ..
36
400
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
REPRESENTATIVE.
William W. Williamson 24 Taylor Sergeant. 1
Lysander W. Babbitt. 24
Edwin B. Guiberson 47
Blank.
2
At the same election there was a vote cast for representative to Congress. The following was the vote on congressman :
William H. Henderson, Whig 6
Lincoln Clark, Democrat. 42
From the foregoing it will be seen that on questions of State and Na- tional politics Boone county in 1850 was overwhelmingly Democratic, the latter party polling seven times as many votes as the Whig party.
Reference has already been incidentally made to the heated con- test in 1855 over the prohibitory liquor law. This was a political question in one sense and again in another it was not so. Some of the most influ- ential Democratic politicians in the county opposed it; all the Whigs, with a very few exceptions, favored it. John A. Hull, then a young law- yer and prominent Democratic politician, favored it, and stumped the county and judicial district in the interests of this law. The following shows the result in Boone county:
An abstract of the votes cast in the several precincts in Boone county, Iowa, on Monday, the 2d day of April, A. D. 1855, for and against the prohibitory liquor law, to-wit:
FOR.
AGAINST.
Dodge
24
18
Boone.
75
54
Pleasant.
24
34
Berry
35
19
Yell
20
17
Total
178
142
The undersigned having formed themselves into a board of canvassers to canvass the votes cast for and against the prohibitory liquor law, certify that there were one hundred and seventy-eight votes cast for said law and one hundred and forty-two votes cast against said law.
Witness our hands and the seal of said county of Boone, at Boones- boro, this 5th day of April, A. D. 1855.
JOHN B. MONTGOMERY, County Judge. EZEKIEL L. VINTON, Justice of the Peace. ELISHA SPICKELMIER, Justice of the Peace.
While the Democrats were largely in the majority in those early times, as before remarked, they did not always vote solidly on local questions. We have an illustration of this fact in the election of 1850. At that time one of the most responsible, and at the same time one of the most lucra- tive, offices was that of surveyor. S. C. Wood was the Democratic nomi- nee, and Thomas Sparks the Whig. The election resulted in a tie, each
401
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
candidate receiving thirty-seven votes. To decide the matter the two candidates cast lots-or, in other words, drew cuts-and Sparks won.
For the office of representative to Congress in 1852, Lincoln Clark, Dem- ocratic nominee, received 124 votes, and Jolin P. Cook received 33 votes. At that time the senatorial and representative district consisted of Polk, Jasper, Marshall, Boone, Dallas and Guthrie counties. A. Y. Hull was the Democratic candidate for State senator, and John Lewis was the Whig candidate. Hull received 118 votes in Boone county, and Lewis received 40; in the entire district Hull received 942 votes and Lewis 800. In the Presidential election of 1852, Pierce received 84 votes and Scott 40. In 1856, Buchanan received 359 votes, Fremont 203, and the other candi- date 66.
In the exciting campaign of 1854, when John W. Grimes swept the State, the vote of Boone county stood: Grimes 89, Bates 181. In that same year S. B. McCall was elected State representative; the vote in Boone county stood: McCall 201, Thompson 81. For representative to Con- gress in 1856, Shepherd Leffler received 365 votes, and Timothy Davis 222. In 1859 the vote for Governor was, Kirkwood 298, Dodge 413. It should be remembered, however, for a more thorough understanding of affairs, that until 1854 the governor was elected in even years; Grimes served three years, after which that official has been elected in odd years.
In the Presidential election of 1860, the vote stood as follows: Dong- las 447, Lincoln 365, Breckenridge 1. In 1864, Lincoln 460, McClellan 405.
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