USA > Illinois > Shelby County > Historic sketch and biographical album of Shelby County, Illinois > Part 8
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higher than the present street level. The road was bad, even for those days, and tradition tells of many an exciting accident that took place in the rugged roadbed. Through the river bottom ran a pile slough bridge, raised above the mud. and at times covered with water. Generally it was in bad repair, and more than one driver risked his life and maimed his horses in passing over it.
The first bridge worthy of the name was a covered wooden structure. It stood for years. being still in use during the Civil war. Shelby county, in that exciting time, was honeycombed with organizations in sympathy with the south. and lodges of the Knights of the Golden Circle abounded. A favorite meeting place of some of the hot-heads was this old covered bridge, and there, on many a night, guarded by sentinels. who prevented intrusion by outsiders, wild plans were discussed. From these meetings came the "raid" on Shelbyville, made one day in war times, when some of the more enthusiastic mem- bers of the Circle thought they wouldl "clean out the black abolitionists." Judge Thornton, whose influence was unbounded, quenched the fire by meeting the would-be rioters at the top of Brew- ster's hill, telling them. in language at once forceful and convincing, that they were a "set of unmitigated fools." and sent them home in dis- grace.
Then the south side of Main street ran into the hollow, and was much lower than the north side. Along where the Bolinger stores are now. the sidewalk was much higher than the opposite walk, and lifted from the ground. On the south side the Union, started in 1863. had its office where the Chafee block now is, and more than once the rowdies gathered under the north walk. swearing vengeance upon the editor and the paper, and threatening divers fearful things if
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certain editorials were continued. But the news- paper men came and went, with no interruption from the crowd overlooking their entrance. The unevenness of the road continued until a nun- ber of years into the 60 s. Indeed. Brewster's hill was not put into its present shape until in the go's, though by '83 it was well graded. Some of the sharpest law suits in the county's history took place between the township and county au- thorities before the road was improved. The old ravine has been closed for twenty years now ; but many a citizen of Shelbyville can yet point out the way, rough and roundabout, by which he first entered the town.
Shelbyville's first mayor, under its special charter, was W. A. Trower, who defeated D. W. Marks in a spirited contest. Prior to that time the town had been organized as a village, with a president and board of trustees. A special charter. drawn by the local bar and lobbied through the legislature, organized the city with a mayor and four aklermen, one from each ward. The mayor served for four years, and had the powers of a justice of the peace. Each spring the street commissioner was elected, and the li- cense question submitted to a vote. When saloons were voted out the "jug law" governed.
When Mr. Trower took office, the city's financial condition would have puzzled an expert. Whom the city owed, and how much to each, and still more important, how it was to be paid, were questions hopelessly mixed. The council made the new mayor financial agent. He collected moneys and paid bills as best he could. One of the first problems struck was the town clock, now on the school house. The city had pur- chased it of "Pat" Mitchell. for $650, on credit, giving a note drawing 10 per cent. interest. Along in his first year as mayor, four saloon
keepers were arrested and brought before Mr. Trower charged with illegal liquor selling. Trial took place in the Haydon block. His honor fined three of them $250 apiece, and the fourth man $150-a total of $goo in one day. Strange to say the defendants did not appeal, but paid in the money immediately. With this unexpected lift the town clock note was paid, having stood less than a year.
Incidentally it should be added that Mitchell had bought the clock on a year's time from Canadian parties, and he received his money from the city before the year was up. When the bill became due "Pat" disputed it, alleging that the clock did not come up to contract. . \ lively lawsuit followed, in which the wholesalers worsted "Pat." and he paid for the clock.
The Democratic conventions held in Shel- byville have been famous, not only by reason of the bitter and heated contests for the nomina- tion, but also from the fierce campaigns follow- ing them. Incidentally it may be mentioned that the nominee has always been defeated.
The famous one of them all was held in the opera hall, away back in 1878. The county was then in the 15th district, composed of Edgar, Clark, Cumberland. Shelby, Moultrie, Effingham. Lawrence, Jasper, and Crawford. Greenback- ism was then at its flood tide, and Shelby coun- ty and the 15th district were badly tinctured with it. John R. Eden, retiring member and after- wards candidate for governor, and a politician named Bishop, each sought the nomination. Shelby county had a contesting delegation, and in the organization of the committee on creden- tials one member, counted on as sure for Eden. voted with the Bishop forces. Consequently the committee tied, and the matter ended in the seating of one half of each delegation. . \ dead-
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lock ensued in the convention. All day long, Shelby county, when factional feeling had reach- ed the fever point, voted obstinately "Nine for Bishop and nine for Eden." So often was that phrase repeated that to this day one sometimes hears its sing-song sound.
Night came on and still the battle raged with no change. Eventually, by some sudden impulse always unexplained. an unknown man. named Disches, was nominated. Though late at night, the convention appointed a committee to notify the nomince and invite him to address the delegates. Just what happened will never be known. The story which raged all through the district, and which yet lingers in the memories of old time campaigners, is that Disches, who was not a teetotaler by any means, was found by the committee, asleep in a wheel barrow in the public road near where the New Neal now stands, and in a condition that would follow liberal potations. Waking him up. the commit- tee informed him of their mission, and requested him to go with them to the hall. Blinking at the spokesman for a moment. the nominee re- plied. "This beats h-1."
That remark rang through the district con- tinuously during the campaign. In Shelby coun- ty the factional fight still raged, and Albert P. Forsythe, the Greenback candidiate. (the Repub- licans had no nominee.) carried much of the local Eden strength. Every where Disches was greeted with the cry, "This beats h-1;" and while it probably did nothing of the kind. it did beat Disches.
The next convention here met October 1. 1895. in the circuit court room. In the land- slide of '94 a republican had been elected from the present (18th) congressional district. defeat- ing Ed. Lane, who had held office for a number of terms: but before taking his seat. the con-
gressman-elect died, and Gov. Altgeld called a special election. Ed. Lane. John W. Yantis, and Col. Albert, were the contestants for the nomi- nation. The first ballot showed a deadlock, and all day long, till late at night. the roll calls went on. At one time each man came successively within one vote of the nomination. On the 324th ballot. the Albert men went over to Lane, decid- ing the contest. The campaign never exhibited any warmth, and in November the republicans carried every county in the district. Even Shel- by went republican, the first time in its history : and if the signs round the corners are to be re- lied on, that will be the last time it deserts the Democratic column.
William Middlesworth, just prior to the war. dealt heavily in fine horses and. for awhile. had among his hands one Columbus Nutterfield. For some time before 1857. Middlesworth, every once in awhile, lost a horse or two without being able to discover the thief or regain his property. Finally he put a high fence round his barn and turned two bull-dogs into the lot. Apparently this put a stop to the thieving.
One snowy night, March 27. 1857. Middles- worth heard a noise at the barn and. in com- pany with his hands, went out to investigate the matter. Two men were discovered leading away a couple of horses. It was bright moonlight and as soon as the marauders saw the new comers. they ran. One escaped. mounting over the fence by means of a pile of lumber laid near it. but the other. Nutterfield, was fired at as he bounded over, and wounded in the neck. He ran to the railroad and followed it to Robinson creek, where his wound was dressed ; from thence he disappeared.
In the winter of '59- 60. some one visiting in Springfield saw Nutterfield's picture exposed
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in a photographer's sign case, and by means of this clew he was apprehended and brought back to Shelbyville. Here. after a time. in order to extort a confession, a group of men took him outside of town one evening, and made all prep- arations to hang him ; dug a grave in his pres- ence and ordered him to make ready for death. His fears overcame him, and he confessed, im- plicating one Frederick Bacon, of the western part of Illinois, as his accomplice, and locating most of the stolen horses at Peoria. from whence. in due time, they were recovered.
Bacon was arrested, and in April, 1860, both he and Nutterfiekl were indicted. Bacon suc- ceeded in getting a change of venue to Macon county, and Nutterfield's case was continued. Between terms the trial in Macon county took place. Nutterfield, when taken up from here as a witness, absolutely refused to testify against his confederate, and Bacon went free.
After Nutterfield had been brought back to this county, the indignation over the escape of Bacon grew until one evening, in the fall of '60, a mob formed and, proceeding to the jail, in the absence of the turnkey secured the keys and took Nutterfield from his cell-but only after a fearful struggle -- and going to the bluff east of the C. & E. 1. round house, hung him, without cere- mony, to an oak tree there standing.
The tree remained for years, and has been cut down recently. Its location is yet pointed out to the younger generation, as the site of Shelly county's only lynching.
Cholera struck Shelbyville in 1855. the year before the railroad came, and it nearly depopu- lated the town. Those who could. left ; and the ones remaining were not enough to nurse the sick or bury the dead. One of the martyrs was Rev. J. M. Grout, the pastor of_the Presbyterian church. He stayed with his congregation and per-
formed the funeral rites over the dead. until. while en route to the cemetery at the funeral of Mrs. Nancy Smith, the mother of Mesdames .A. Thornton and Geo. D. Chafee, the malady seized him and he died in a nearby house. His burial place is unknown, for no one remained to record the location of the graves.
It was this epidemic that produced Capt. Stamps. By some means, the Captain, who owed his title to the Mexican war, escaped the plague, and devoted himself to caring for the sick and burying the dead. Ile made his rounds of mercy day and night. kindly and cheerily. until he won the lasting affection of our people. From that time on Capt. Stamps had the free- dom of the town. He loved his cups and at times became very happy over them ; but never. save once, regardless of his jollifyings, was he arrested. The police many times cared for him that he might not suffer from exposure, and he never was anything but good natured. Once. however, he fell afoul of the law. A strange policeman. in the 60's, arrested him on the charge of drunkenness. The justice promptly dismissed the case and the policeman lost his job. But the Captain was not satisfied. Ile had been charged with drunkenness and wanted a trial. He must be vindicated to be pacified.
Finally, the constable solemnly impaneled a jury and witnesses were called and sworn. all of whom testified that on the day in question. they had not seen the Captain drunk. They did not, in fact. say whether they had seen him at all or not, that day, and strange to say the prose- cution did not press the question. After a few moments' deliberation the jury returned a ver- diet of not guilty. And it is said the Captain celebrated right royally.
To the day of his death the Captain was a familiar figure on our streets. The younger folk
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still remember him, with his convivial ways and the universal good will in which he was held. His death, but a comparatively recent event, was the occasion for a monster funeral, for which the stores and the court house all closed, and busi- ness was suspended. His monument, to be seen by the passer-by in the city cemetery, was erected by public subscription, and his memory is uni- versally revered.
The only legal hanging in Shelby county was the execution of Joseph Myers, July 29. 1870. for the murder of Passibo Calhoun.
Calhoun lived near Beck's creek, protecting the lands of the Illinois Central and Gen. Thorn- ton from timber thieves. His activity and vigil- ance brought upon him the hatred of some of his neighbors, and in March, 1868, he received letters warning him to leave the country at once. otherwise he would be shot. A few days later. meeting Phillip Grass, an old man aged 75, in the road, Calhoun accused him of sending the letters, and in the ensuing quarrel Calhoun shot Grass, inflicting a flesh wound in the arm.
W'm. Grass. a son of the old man, and Joseph Myers, a son-in-law, together with Sam- uel Moore. Hubbard Hokler. James Bunch, Wesley Bland. Warren Bland, John Brown, and others unknown, to the total number of a dozen. the night of April. 11. 1868, set out for Calhoun's house where they fired his barn, hoping to draw him outside and shoot him by the light of the burning building. But a rain extinguished the flames before they had made much headway, and the crowd left. The morning of April 12. they returned, and, after again setting fire to the barn. sent a son of John Bunch to the house to tell Calhoun of the fire. Calhoun, thus aroused. came out to save his property. The mob. hidden behind neighboring stumps and trees, fired upon
him as he came into the open and he fell, with the cry : "You have shot me dead," accompan- ied by a feartul curse upon his murderers. Two bullets lodged in the abdomen, killing him al- most instantly.
The murderers escaped, and for nearly two years no clew to the criminals was found. Grad- ually one circumstance after another came to light. until, in 1869. Joseph Myers and Phillip Grass were arrested, and the county offered a re- ward of $500 for the capture of Hubbard, Wil- liam Grass, and Samuel Moore. Grass and Hol- der were found in Missouri and Moore gave himself up, promising to turn state's evidence if he would be released. This agreement was made, and the trial took place before Judge Gal- lagher, at the spring term of court in 1870. The jurors who tried the case were Wm. H. Doyle. John H. Huffinan, James Salyers, Amos Shaw. Salem Lantz. Thomas Brimer, John B. Shade, John F. Shanks, Wade Manning. Nerr Middles- worth. David Yost. and Chas. L. Herron. Twenty-eight witnesses had been put under bond of Sioo each to appear and testify.
Moulton. Chafee, and a lawyer named Thompson, prosecuted : Thornton, Eden. A. T. Hall, and Geo. R. Wendling, defended.
The trial commenced June 22. 1870, and lasted until the following Monday. The jury were out all night. and about 10 o'clock Tues- day morning returned a verdict sentencing Myers and Holder to be hung. and sending Phillip Grass to the penitentiary for life. and William Grass for 20 years.
New trial being denied. the Grasses were taken to Joliet, and the date for execution fixed for July 29th. Meanwhile, strenuous efforts were put forth to persuade Gov. Palmer to com- mute both sentences to life imprisonment. All this time Rev. Steadman, pastor of the Baptist
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church. had regularly visited the condemned men in their cell, and succeeded in getting a con- fession from each. Myers told a straightforward tale, saying that he had a ritle and the others shotguns, save Holder, who had a revolver, and that he. Myers, should be hung, as he fired the fatal shot. Hokler's confession was decidedly evasive and unsatisfactory, and the effect of them both was to convince the public more strongly than ever that Holder was the ringleader of the mob, and the guiltiest wretch of them all. Ten days before the execution. Myers, under a strong guard, was taken to the river and baptized by Rev. Steadman. Later. on the Tuesday before the hanging of Myers, Holder likewise was bap- tized. an audience of 2.500 witnessing the cere- mony.
Strong efforts were still being put forth to save the men, and on the night before the hang- ing a telegram came from Gov. Palmer commut- ing Holder's sentence to life imprisonment. Late that night the men, who occupied the same cell, were roused. toll of their respective fates, and Holder taken away at once before the town knew of it. With the morning came a great storm of public wrath. The chief offender had escaped, and the crowd vowed that if Holder was not hung, Myers should not be. It was a critical moment. The town was packed and the crowd included many women and children. AA huge shed, erected in front of the jail, then as now on Washington street, for the execution. could easily be destroyed : nor was it at all probable that a rescue could be prevented. Myers was told of the rising storm, and going to the jail window with Dr. Buck, he addressed the crowd as follows :
"Brothers and Sisters :-- I hope by the grace of God to be able to talk to you a little. I have to leave you all, but I feel I am prepared to go
on the way to my new home. I go to a better world than this. As regards the trial, a great deal of false evidence was given, but some of it was the same as the confession I made, which was all true. I forgive all the jury. Christ dreaded death, and so do 1. I was raised in the back woods and never had a chance of learning much : never went to day-school or Sunday school. I had a Christian mother. 1 had some relations who died, and several of them joined the church of Christ as they were on their death beds. I hope I shall meet my relatives in a bet- ter world. I have been convinced for the last two years that my time was short, and I tried to receive religion, but did not get it until I came here. My religious experience I cannot exactly explain. I was taken with shaking as if I had the ague, and the heart and tongue wanted to praise God, even after I had gone to sleep. I believe I have received pardon from Cod, and 1 fully believe in Jesus Christ. 1 have been treated well by the sheriff, and he has done all he could for me. I have done all I could to re- strain the prisoners. 1 had never any wish to escape from here, except through the influence of the law. 1 have always lived a wild life, and 1 warn others from living such a lite. Your time may be short ; also prepare to meet your Maker. I am glad Holder was commuted, be- cause I am the only man who killed Calhoun. My chief regard has been for my wife and chil- dren, but they are well provided for."
This appeased the mob, but the sheriff. John R. Moore, kept the shed well guarded. Some show man, callous to the surroundings, plastered its walls with advertisements of his coming attraction, and brought down on him- self the displeasure of the crowd.
Myers had asked that the execution take place after noon and before one o'clock, and
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that the church bells toll after his death. This was granted. Later in the morning he sent James Boone to still the crowd, and to tell them that it was his wish that the law take its course. But the excitement continued to grow, until at 12 o'clock the sheriff quietly told the doomed man his hour had come, and the death march began. Revs. Steadman and Corley accompan- ied the prisoner to the scaffold. Just before the drop, Myers again publicly professed his faith in Christ. At 12:20 the trap was sprung, the body shot down several feet and swung round once or twice, and the law was satisfied. Drs. Vandyke and Kellar made the official examina- tion and pronounced him dead.
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A few moments later. the crowd, getting be- yond control. burst into the shed and the scene that followed, when they learned they were too
late. beggars description. Old residents say they hope they may never see the like again. The metropolitan papers, in describing it, say "it was one of the most revolting criminal scenes in America." Men, women and children comprised the crowd: relic hunters contended with the relatives of the deceased man ; and his friends and foes vied with each other in their revilings.
The other condemned men had a fate nearly as horrible. Phillip Grass died in the peniten- tiary. Holder went insane, and for years lay in the state prison a raving maniac. finally dying there. Wm. Grass served out his 20 years, and came back to Shelby county, where. later, he also went insane, and died a pauper at the county poor farm.
FORTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE AS A MISSIONARY IN SHELBY COUNTY.
INCLUDING REMINISCENCES OF THE DRINK EVIL FIFTY YEARS AGO, LOCAL TROUBLES IN THE CIVIL WAR, TEMPERANCE REFORM CRUSADE, AND THE STRUGGLE TO ESTABLISHI LITHIA SPRINGS CHAUTAUQUAA.
A PERSONAL HISTORY by JASPER L. DOUTHIT .
CHAPTER VIII.
The publishers of this History have kindly requested me to prepare for its pages a sketch of my labors as a missionary in this county. As I was born here over 66 years ago, and for the past 40 years have been mostly engaged as a Unitarian missionary in this region, the sketch muist necessarily be largely auto-biographical. my life and my mission work being inseparable. This will explain, and I hope somewhat excuse. so much reference to myself. It seems very little I have done-"By the grace of God I am what I am," and have been able to do any good thing. "I have learned from the Swedish sage that he who takes to himself the credit of good works which the Lord enables him to perform. is at heart a thief-he takes what does not belong to him." (1 quote the words of Charles Gordon Ames, of the Church of the Disciples, Boston. the church of which James Freeman Clarke was pastor most of his life, from his recent discourse on "Fifty Years a Minister. A Personal Retro- spect." Dr. Ames gave the charge at my ordi- nation, Detroit, Mich., June 22, 1862, and is one of the noble saints and true friends through whom the good God has greatly blessed my life.) I have fallen far short of what I hoped for and what I might have done if I had been a wiser and a better man. 1 consent to tell this story in the hope that it may help others to be better and do more for God, Home, Country and Mankind.
WHERE I HAVE BEEN FOR SIXTY-SIX YEARS.
My life has been spent in and near Shelby- ville, excepting : The 18 months I was with my parents in Texas, in 1843-44; part of a year at Wabash college, Crawfordsville, Indiana, in 1856 : six months in Hillsboro, this state, in 1858. as superintendent of Public Schools; a year in Massachusetts (1858-9), in the employ of Fow- ler & Wells, Phrenologists and Publishers, at their branch office in Boston, and lecturing on Phrenology and kindred subjects in towns round about : three years at Divinity school, Meadville. Pennsylvania, 1864-7; and three months im- mediately after graduation, (1867), as pastor of the Unitarian Society in Princeton, Illinois. I resigned that charge in the face of the unani- mous protest of the members, (three of whom were worthy brothers of the poet. Wm. Cullen Bryant), and also contrary to the wish of some dear friends like Robert Collyer. Indeed, it seemed a foolish move to most of my friends to give up a good salary and pleasant people, and come to this county, where I must serve without salary, and struggle in poverty with a wife and two children. But God and my wife and my sorely troubled mother knew why I felt this to be the loudest call on earth to me.
FAMILY AND FOREFATHERS.
I am the oldest of a family of five sons and two daughters-one son dying in infancy. My
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four brothers, Levi N., Francis M .. George W .. and Wm. F., and two sisters, Mrs. Margaret Elliott and Mrs. Nancy Thomas, live near me. and have been affectionate co-workers with me always. Brother George passed to heaven over twenty-five years ago, after a brief, but very brilliant and impressive career looking to the ministry, so that I cannot think of him as dead, but mightily alive and near me.
I was married to Miss Emily Lovell. at East Abington, (now Rockland), Mass., Nov. 2. 1857. To this woman, under God. I owe most of what I have been and what I have done of good for forty-three years; and our children, two sons, and two daughters, have been loving co-work- ers with us for the Better Day. Our youngest daughter came as a Christmas gift when the mother was busy preparing for the first Christ- mas tree ever I saw. It was for the Sunday school at Log Church, 4 miles cast of Shelby- ville, on Christmas Eve. A. D. 1871 ; and that child from the time she was okl enough to be carried to church and Sunday school, a babe in her mother's arms, has never to this day missed weekly attendance at church and Sunday school with one exception : and then she was so sick the doctor said we must not take her. though she cried as if heart-broken to go : and for many years she has been a devoted Sunday school teacher. Our youngest son, Robert Collyer, is pastor of the Unitarian church, Petersham, Mass., one of the okler congrega- tions in New England: George L .. our eldest son, supplies my pulpit occasionally. besides acting as business manager for Our Best Words, and for Post Office Mission and Lithia Springs interests. Our oldest daughter. Helen, (wife of Mr. Joseph W. Garis. a railroad em- ployec), has always been a most faithful and
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