USA > Iowa > Keokuk County > The history of Keokuk County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. : a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 46
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366
HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
the time specified by law, to-wit: thirty days; (see Sec. 3791, Code 1873) ;; therefore, be it
" Resolved. 1st-That a committee be appointed to investigate the pro- priety of enjoining the board from making further appropriations for ser- vices, and the auditor and treasurer from drawing and paying the same.
" 2d .- That the issuing by the board of supervisors of the county bonds, known as the jail bonds, without the proposition for a tax having been adopted by the people, and the sale of said bonds absolutely void in law, under the representation that they were valid, meets our unqualified cen- sure.
" 3d .- That the present board be requested to resign, and allow the peo- ple to fill their places by members who can transact the business of the- county within the time specified by law."
The supervisors, however, did not resign, but went on with the plans for- the erection of the building.
The jail was completed in the latter part of the year 1875, and, as be- fore remarked, is one of the most substantial buildings of the kind in the State. The following description of the building, published in the "News," of the issue January 5, 1876, will give a good idea of the building:
" For a proper understanding of the buildings described, it is necessary to state that although described as two buildings, they are connected and separated only by a partition wall.
" Ground plan of dwelling, 38 feet 8 inches by 28 feet 8 inches, divided into four rooms, viz: pantry, vegetable, furnace and fuel rooms. These divisions are made by brick walls. The outer walls, forming the founda- tion of the structure, are of stone, four feet thick at the base, and by off- sets reduced to one foot eight inches at a height of eight feet, receiving a water-table as a base for the brick work.
"The main walls are of brick, fifteen inches thick, with air chambers of two inches, stone sills and caps for the openings. First story, nine feet eight inches, second story, nine feet two inches, in height, divided as fol- lows: First floor, hall, parlor, dining-room, office, kitchen and pantry, all of which are provided with the necessary cupboards, drawers, shelving, chests and outfit pertaining to first-class rooms. The second story is di- vided into four rooms, two of which are provided with wardrobes, neatly fitted and furnished with shelving, hooks, etc. In the attic are two nice, large, well-ventilated chamber rooms.
"The building is neatly plastered, hard finished and painted throughout with three coats of paint, and blinds to all the windows. The roofing is of black slate, with water gutters and spouting leading to the cistern, to be described hereafter.
" The ground plan of the jail building proper is thirty-one feet two inches- by twenty-one feet four inches; footings, five feet thick, of heavy limestone,. laid in cement. The foundation walls are ten feet in height, extending six feet into the ground and four feet above, being three feet thick where they receive the water-table and floor. The main or outside walls are of sand- stone, three of which are twenty-two inches, and the other twenty-six inches, thick, each stone reaching through the wall, laid in cement, weighing from one to four thousand pounds each, and doweled with a two-inch round cast-iron ball to prevent them being slipped out. The style of the work is, rock face, cut beads and drave margins.
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
" These walls are eighteen feet high, mounted with neat cornice and cap- pings, with four windows two by six feet. Each window is guarded with two sets of mixed steel bars, one and one-half inches in diameter, set six inches into the rock, with five stays crosswise with the bars passing through them, and with ordinary sash and ground glass.
"Inside of the walls described, commencing at the same depth, are three- other walls, the main wall making the fourth, surrounding a space ten. by seventeen feet which forms the privy vaults On these walls sit the cells, which are nine in number, and located so as to leave a corridor. on three sides seven feet wide, which is flagged with stone eight inches thick, and long enough to reach and be built into the main walls on one side, and under and form a part of the foundation for the cells on the other .. Under the corridor, and surrounding the foundation wall of the vault, is a cistern of four hundred to five hundred barrels capacity, for general use of the building. The cells are five by seven feet, floor surface, and seven feet. high, formed from six stones eight inches thick, and of proper size for one- cach to form bottom, top, sides and end, and weighing from one to three- tons. Each cell is provided with two iron cots, solidly fastened to the wall,. and a sail-stool bolted to the floor. Four of these nine cells are located so as to form a square. On top of these cells are situated four other cells, which are reached by an iron stairway which lands on an iron platform in. front of the doors. On top of the eight cells under the roof is the ninth cell, or female department, thirteen by eighteen feet, formed by rubble- walls planked inside with two-inch plank, and lined with iron. .
"The cells are located on one side of the building, so as to connect with one of the outside walls, and between the cell stone and the wall is two. inches of solid iron to prevent cutting through the wall. The cell rock floor, and sitting of the entire jail is of limestone from the Joliet quarries. The window-frames and sash are all the wood there is inside the jail. Each cell is provided with two iron doors, one grated, and the other a solid slab. covering the grates, each of which has a strong separate fastening.
"The entrance to the jail is from the sheriff's office in the dwelling through. five iron doors, all of which have separate fastenings. Inside the jail, sur- rounding the entrance, is a cage of iron lattice-work, into which the sheriff will pass, locking two doors behind him, and passing the key to an attend -. ant in the office before opening the door of the cage admitting him to the prisoners.
"The prison is ventilated by an air duct leading from the vault under the- corridor floor into a ventilating flue built between the two main chimneys,. and arranged so that if there is fire either in the furnace or cook-stove it will rarefy the air in the ventilating flues, causing draft and a flow of air down through the sail-pipes into the air duct and out the top of the chim- ney. From experiments that have been made it is believed that the jail will be free from the offensive and unhealthy smell that is present in most: places where prisoners are confined. Both jail and dwelling are warmed throughout from a furnace located in the basement of the dwelling. It re- quired about five hundred perch of rock to construct the building."
Hon. B. A. Haycock, of Richland, and J. H. Terrel were the contractors. The contract was originally let for $9,600. This, together with the cost of the real estate, supervision and architect's fee, amounted to the sum of $14,222.31. -
The board of supervisors at the time consisted of Messrs. Merryfield, Bower and Morgan.
.368
HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
COUNTY-SEAT CONTESTS.
The most bitter and unfortunate controversies which ever occur are those growing out of county-seat controversies. They engender animosities which are transmitted from father to son, and the strife in which people thereby become embroiled lasts from generation to generation. By reason of the ill-feeling thus engendered, the material progress of a community is retarded, and the evil effects produced on the manners and morals of a peo- ple are truly deplorable.
Keokuk county has been peculiarly unfortunate in this respect, and although more than twenty years have elapsed since the last county-seat contest, the vicious effects of the early struggles over this question are still discernable. .
The county-seat question was one of the first to be agitated. The con- troversy began with the organization of the county in 1844 and continued till 1857, a period of thirteen years. During this period there never was a time when this was not a question of dispute. There were times when the rival factions ceased from actual hostilities and became comparatively quiet. But these seasons of short peace with but this brief quiet, was but the still- ness which preceeds a storm, an armistice entered into by the tacit consent of the belligerents during which time they were laying their plans and burn- ishing their weapons for a fiercer conflict.
The south-eastern part of the county being the first to be settled, there was at first an effort to get the county-seat in that locality. It was argued that the seat of justice should be located with reference to the center of population rather than a geographical center.
The attempt to fix the county-seat within the bounds of Richland town- ship has already been alluded to; also the appointment, by the territorial legislature, of a locating commission, has been mentioned in connection with the organization of the county.
As a result of this first contest the report of these commissioners appears on the county records; it is as follows:
" Record of the returns of the locating commissioners, appointed to locate the seat of justice of Keokuk county:
" To the Honorable Board of Commissioners of the County of Keokuk:
" The undersigned having been appointed commissioners to locate the seat of justice for said county, met according to the provisions of said act, and having been duly sworn, proceeded to examine said county, and after an extensive examination have selected the north-east quarter of section No. two in township seventy-five (75) north, range twelve (12) west, and have consequently designated the same as the seat of justice for Keokuk county, .and have called the same Sigourney.
" All of which is respectfully submitted.
" Sigourney, May 10, 1844.
"GEO. H. STONE. "JOHN A. STEWART. "SAM'L SHUFFLETON.
" S. Shuffleton dissents from the above selection."
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
" Board of commissioners of Keokuk county to George H. Stone for six days services locating county seat, Dr. $12.00
"John A. Stewart, seven days. 14.00
" S. Shuffleton,
14.00
" I do hereby certify that the foregoing is a correct record of the return of the locating commissioners appointed by the legislative assembly to lo- cate the seat of justice for Keokuk county.
" Attest:
EDOM SHUGART, Clerk of Board."
At another place the fact has been referred to that the commissioners did not favor this selection, and on the petition of eighty citizens of the county they took official action whereby the seat of justice was directed to remain at Richland. Notwithstanding the action of the board, Judge Williams- and his appointee to the office of clerk, Mr. James, proceeded in conformity with the decision of the locating commissioners, and at the first term of the. District Court held at the new county-seat, the judge made an extra judicial decision which induced the board to reconsider their former action and re- move their headquarters to Sigourney.
Thus for a time it seemed that the question of a county-seat had been finally disposed of, and that the location was permanently fixed; but not so, for while the friends of Sigourney were triumphant in having gained their point, and laboring under the delusion that the matter was permanently fixed, were investing their means and employing their energies to build up. the town, there was not by any means a general concurrence in the selection of the location, and those opposed to it were quietly but industriously en- gaged in working up a sentiment hostile to Sigourney and laying their plans to bring about a removal. Presently the fact became known that a petition was in circulation asking for authority from the legislature to re- locate the county-seat. The friends of Sigourney, upon hearing of this, cir- culated a remonstrance.
The legislature before which this petition would be presented convened in May, and the one chief business of the leaders of one faction was to cir- culate a petition, of the other, to circulate a remonstrance; the all-absorbing topic of conversation, discussion and dispute, was the county-seat; in the language of one "who was there to see," " from the rivers to the ends of the county the news was agitation, and the talk county-seat."
On the eve of the great battle which was to decide the matter there was a review of the forces, and it was found that the number of names on the pe- tition considerably outnumbered the names on the remonstrance, and, con- sequently, the friends of Sigourney saw that if the legislature were to be influenced by the number of names, they would be compelled to enter the lists under a great disadvantage.
The petition was carried to the legislature by J. B. Whisler, and S. A. James was deputed to present the remonstrance. The latter shrank from the responsibility; he was wholly inexperienced in legislative diplomacy, had barely an acquaintance or two in either body whose "appreciation of good dress," he says, " he could not hope to gratify in his homespun at- tire." But go he must, and go he did. On his way through Washington he contrived to borrow some clothes, among other articles a blue cloth coat with pretentious buttons. Equipped with these borrowed "store clothes,"
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
which fitted "like the bark on a tree," and letters of introduction from the same party who was sole proprietor of the clothes, he arrived at the capital, Iowa City, a few hours in advance of the enemy.
It is a fact here worthy of note that Washington as a town had always been favorable to the interests of Sigourney, while Fairfield had always opposed those interests. These preferences had probably originated in the topography of the country which regulated to some extent the travel and traffic of the county. Another reason might be adduced in the fact that Sigourney and vicinity had been settled by Washingtonians, while people from Fairfield had settled in the south part of the county. The cause of these preferences have long ceased to exist.
On the 26th day of May Mr. James and Mr. Whisler conferred together and erased from both the petition and the remonstrance what they regarded as improper names. A majority of over fifty was found to be in favor of the petition. The papers were all placed in the hands of Col. Shelledy, mem- ber from Keokuk and Mahaska counties. On the 27th a bill was introduced to relocate the county-seat by commissioners. On the 28th this bill was read a second time, and a third time, and passed by a majority of one vote. On the 23d the bill was read the first time in the senate, and on the 30th it was referred to a select committee, which reported, the next day, against the bill. The house refused to concur in the report and the senate laid the bill on the table by a vote of eight to five.
This was the end of the matter for that session, and Mr. James says, " we joyfully wended our way homeward, being the first to break the news to the town whose inhabitants had awaited our return with much the same feeling that a party interested in a verdict awaits the coming of a jury."
Whether Mr. James' success may be attributed to the influence of the blue coat, the favorable impression produced by the letters of introduction, or the persuasive eloquence of the gentleman himself, cannot be determ- ined at this late day. It will be safe to assert, however, that his success resulted from all three causes, and especially the blue coat, since his influ- ence was most marked in the senate, which always has had the reputation of being an aristocratic body, and very susceptible to display of any kind. Whether or not Mr. James returned the coat is not a matter of speculation. There is the very best of evidence that he did.
For a short time after the action of the legislature had been made known, affairs were comparatively quiet, and the people of Sigourney were jubi- lant. The young town was the scene of great activity, new arrivals being reported each day, and new business enterprises being engaged in. This quiet, however, was destined not to be of long duration. Early in July the county-seat question again began to be agitated, and it was generally un- derstood that another fight was to be made before the legislature during the coming winter.
When the legislature met, the controversy was again taken before the legislature. This time the lobby was increased from two to six individ- uals. Col. Crocker, Richard Quinton, and another individual being sent in the interests of the petition, and Dr. Weeks, A. H. Haskell and G. M. Holliday representing the people of Sigourney.
In this contest before the legislature the petitioners were successful, as the following extract of a bill passed, and approved January 9, 1846, will show:
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
"An act to provide for the appointment of Commissioners to re-locate the County-seat of Keokuk county :
"SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Iowa, that Joseph Foster, of the county of Van Buren, Joshua Owens, of the county of Lee, and John Brophy, of the county of Clinton, be and hereby are appointed commissioners to re-locate the county- seat of Keoknk county.
"SEC. 3. Said commissioners when qualified shall proceed to select a suitable site for the county-seat of said county; taking into consideration the relative advantages and disadvantages of different points, the present and future interest and convenience of the population of said connty; and among the several points so examined including the town of Sigourney, they shall select such point as they may deem most suitable for the county- seat of said county.
"SEC. 5. That if the commissioners shall determine that Sigourney is a proper and suitable point for the county-seat of said county, said decision, properly certified, shall be reduced to writing and filed with the clerk of the board of county commissioners of said county and the same shall be and remain the county-seat of said county as provided by law; but if any other point should be selected as aforesaid then the clerk of the board of county commissioners shall give at least twenty days notice by posting up the same in at least four of the most public places in said county; that at the next August election, a poll will be opened, for the qualified electors of said county to determine by ballot which of the two points, the one so se- lected by the commissioners or the town of Sigourney shall be the county- seat of said county. Those voting for the town of Sigourney, shall write the word, "Sigourney," on their ballots. Those voting for the point selected by the commissioners as aforesaid shall write on their ballots the name agreed on by the commissioners for the new location, and whichever point shall receive the majority of votes cast at said election shall be and remain for- ever afterward the county-seat of Keokuk county.
"SEC. 7. That if the qualified electors shall decide at said election in favor of the new location made by the commissioners aforesaid then the commissioners of said county shall immediately proceed to make a survey of said new location, and as soon as the plat of the survey of the new loca- tion is filed and recorded in the office of the clerk of the board of county commissioners the said commissioners shall make such imdemnity to the lot holders of the town of Sigourney as they may have sustained to reim- burse them for any loss or losses sustained by the removal of the county- seat; Provided, that any person aggrieved by the decision of the board of county commissioners under and by virtue of this act may take an appeal to the District Court as in other cases.".
This act narrowly escaped defeat in the House of Representatives, and was only saved by the act of William Thompson, the chief clerk. The bill had passed the House by a bare majority, and on the same evening it was ascertained that upon a reconsideration of the vote the bill could be defeated. The rules of the House provided for a reconsideration of any vote on the following day. An extract of a letter from a Des Moines county member, to Dr. Weeks, will further explain this:
" IOWA CITY, January 11, 1846.
" DEAR SIR :- There was an effort made in the House to reconsider the vote in the passage of your bill, but the chief clerk had taken said bill to the
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
council, and they had concurred in the amendment made by the House. It was an oversight of the clerk, and caused great interest and excitement. ' Yours with esteem,
" JOHN D. WRIGHT."
It was generally regarded, however, by the friends of Sigourney, as an intentional act of the chief clerk, done for the accommodation of the op- ponents of Sigourney. Whatever may have been the facts, so confidently was this believed in all parts of the county, that, when the said chief clerk afterward became a candidate for nomination to congress, the two southern delegates from Keokuk county warmly sustained him for nomination,. while the two northern delegates as decidedly opposed him.
Mr. Brophy did not meet with the other commisssioners, so that Mr. Foster and Mr. Owen proceeded to make the selection.
It seems that the commissioners had imbibed the idea that the law con- templated indirectly that their business was to make a selection other than Sigourney. This was most attentively impressed upon their minds while traveling over the county. The great argument being that if a new point were selected, and on a vote Sigourney should win it, that then the war was at an end, but that if Sigourney were selected it was only to be only a prolonged and continued struggle.
Laboring under these impressions, and with a view to the earliest termi- nation of the strife which was telling, with disastrous effect, upon the whole county, more, doubtless, from these prudential reasons, than from the merits of the two places, the commissioners selected another point for the county-seat, and designated it by the name of Lancaster.
This location was owned by J. B. Whisler, who kept a dry goods store, and which had previously been known as Lafayette.
The ensuing August election was to determine " forever" this vital ques- tion, and, metaphorically speaking, the houses of York and Lancaster began to marshal their forces for a renewal of the " War of the Roses."
The strife was a fierce one, and full of personal animosity. Those who were on the defensive fought as only men will fight when their property is at stake.
During the canvass it became necessary to use great circumspection as to one's associates and friends. If a southerner were treated with marked civility and cordial welcome, there were those who branded the entertainer as a traitor, and an anti-Sigourneyite. The oldest resident of Sigourney, and one who, more than any other, had thus far distinguished himself as a friend of Sigourney, was charged with aiding and abetting the cause of Lancaster for the sole reason that he refused to break off' old personal friendships.
The feud existing between the clan of Grant and that of McPherson, as described by Sir Walter Scott, although older and deadlier, could not have been more real than the feud between the clan of Sigourney and that of Lancaster, and North Skunk was the Rubicon at whose banks a Cæsar might well pause before crossing.
'The time for the final struggle at last arrived, and Lancaster won by a majority of sixty-four. At the next meeting of the board of county com- missioners the result was declared, and the county-seat ordered to be re- moved. This seemed to virtually end the contest; but not so. Having been defeated in the legislature and at the polls, the cause was now carried into the courts. In accordance with the order of the board, all the county
& Dbook. M.A.
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
offices were moved to Lancaster, except that of the clerk of the District Court. Instead of moving his office, the clerk, Mr. James, set off in com- pany with Mr. Joseph Knox, for Muscatine, where they employed R. P. Lowe, Esq., to enjoin the removal of the district clerk's office from Sigour- ney, and to prevent the county commissioners from taking further steps to advance Lancaster as a county-seat.
A few days after the return of Mr. James the injunction was granted, and was based on the allegation of Mr. Knox, that the law authorizing the vote was unconstitutional; that he had purchased town lots of the county as county-seat property; that this peculiar quality in such prop- erty was a vested right which could not be taken under the constitution; and if it were constitutional the county-seat could not be removed until the indemnity was all paid, as provided for in the act.
The case came up for hearing in the fall term, 1846, when a change of venue from the judicial district was asked for by the board of county com- missioners.
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