USA > Illinois > Williamson County > Historical souvenir of Williamson County, Illinois : being a brief review of the county from date of founding to the present > Part 26
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JOE A. MEAD, Laundryman.
This promising young business
man, student and athlete, was born
at Marion January 17, 1887, and is therefore but 18 years old. He owns and runs the laundry on Bundy Place, and is probably the youngest man doing business in his own name in the County. He is a most dili- gent student, and will graduate from the High School in 1906. He is an expert sprinter and all-round ath- lete, doing a 50 yard dash in 5 2-5 seconds. He is right half-back in the High School Champion Football Team of 1904, which he joined when he entered High School. He has also belonged to the base ball and track teams the same period. He has never used alcohol in any form or tobacco, and his muscles are as hard as iron.
THE MURDER OF MRS. NELLIE REICHELDERFER, March 16, 1903.
This foul crime was committed by two hoys, only about 21 years of age, for the sole purpose of robbery. They lived in the vicinity of Herrin in Franklin County, and were idlers but apparently not vicious nor drunken. Their parents were respectable people but poor and il- literate, and the boys seem not to have had any moral or religious training. They broke into a neigh- bor's house and stole the gun with which the deed was committed. They went to the house of the victim, who was a widow living with her daugh- ter, in broad daylight, and Price fired the fatal shot. They then ran- sacked the house and took a few rings and other trifles and then re- turned to the hog-lot, where the body of their victim lay, and ex-
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SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
amined it for money, but they were disappointed, as Mrs. Reichelderfer had not sold the farm as reported, and had no money. At their trial they seemed utterly indifferent and stoical, and even joked, sang comic songs and danced, and were jolly while the gallows was being erected within sound of their cells. They paid the penalty for their crime on Friday, June 12th, 1903.
Judge O. A. Harker tried the case, L. D. Hartwell, States Attorney; Joseph W. Hartwell, Assistant; H. S. Harris, Sheriff: Frank Throg- morton. Deputy; E. N. Rice, coro- ner; W. S. Miller, jailor; D. T. Hart- well, City Attorney, who assistel in securing evidence and the confes- sions of the murderers.
Except to experts in phrenology and physiognomy, the half-tone por- traits herein shown do not indicate unusual depravity in these two boys, and they were probably not such. There are hundreds like them in every community, untrained, undis- ciplined. natural sons of evil, who escape the gallows only by a miracle.
JOHN M. LINES
Groceryman's Clerk, N. Market St., near Goodall Avenue.
This promising young merchant was born near Marion March 13th, 1885. He still attends High School, from which he will graduate next term. He is a good student and an industrious and faithful worker, and for the last four years has had charge of his father's store during vacation. He is a member of the Marion Base Ball Track Team and is besides a great sprinter. He is par- ticularly strong on the 100 yards and the 220 yards race, running the latter in 22 2-5 seconds. It is need- less to add that he is of good moral character, good habits and has a promising future before him.
SKETCH OF MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN
I was born in Petersburg, Boone County, Missouri, on the 15th day of August, 1838. The town in which I was born is no more, but in its stead there has arisen the present flourishing town of Sturgeon. 1 am of Irish-French descent, my mother's maiden name being La Fontaine, my father's that of Cunningham. My father was Captain J. M. Cunning- ham. My mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Hicks La Fontaine.
They returned to the State of Il- linois when it was a territory, my father and mother liberating the slaves they had held in the State of Missouri. We resided at Marion, Williamson County, Illinois, during my childhood, but subsequently, my father being made Registrar of the Land Office at Shawneetown, Illi-
nois, under Pierce's administration, we removed to that place. I attend- ed school at the Convent of Saint Vincent, near Uniontown, Kentucky, which is a branch of the far-famed Nazareth School, graduating from that school in 1855. I came home and soon after met my husband, General John A. Logan, who served during the War with Mexico with my father, and to whom I am said to have been given by my father when I was a child. We were mar- ried on the 27th day of November, 1855.
I was very young when we were married and little suited for the duties and responsibilities of the wife of a promising young attorney. We removed to Franklin, Benton County, Illinois, as my husband was then Prosecuting Attorney for the third Judicial District of the State of Illinois, which embraced sixteen counties. In those days we were not furnished with the blanks for every- thing as we are today, and I began to assist my husband in writing in- dictments for minor offenses, and in that way gradually drifted into tak- ing part in everything which he did.
We had the same struggle that all young people without money had in those early days, but the fact that in 1858 my husband was elected to Congress shows that we were not al- together unsuccessful. At the break- ing out of the Rebellion, General Logan was still a member of Con- gress from the old District. His
history is well known. I can only claim to have made the best fight possible at home surrounded by very bitter political opponents, who sympathized very strongly with the Rebellion, and who, from regarding General Logan as little less than an idol, became his bitter enemies and persecuted him and his adherents in the vilest manner they could. ] am glad, however, that in the end they repented of their rash acts and became his devoted friends.
During these five years 1 went through everything that a human being could endure, but had the
satisfaction of aiding him in his own magnificent efforts to succeed and in the conversion of his old friends to the support of the Government and his political aspirations.
After the War he was elected to Congress again from the State at large, and we came back to Wash- ington and for more than twenty years we worked day and night to- gether. We had very much pleasure in this work and our meed of suc- cess. Through it all I have the con- scientious gratification of knowing that I did the best that I could and have no regrets, except that I am sorry I had not the ability and power to do more to aid in his career.
He devoted his whole life to the public service and advancement of
the welfare of his country and his friends, and if I had any share in It I have been well repaid by his gen- erous recognition of all I tried to do. Since his death I have devoted myself absolutely to the perpetua- tion of his memory and in trying to prove that I was worthy of the great confidence which he had in me and his partial estimation of my ability.
There were three children born to us. The first born died when he was one year old; the second, now Mrs. Mary Logan Tucker, wife of Lt. Col. W. F. Tucker, U. S. Army, has two sons, one twenty-five and one thir- teen years of age.
Our beloved son, Major John A. Logan, Jr., served during the Cuban War as an Adjutant General on the staff of General John C. Bates, re- turning at the close of the cam- paign more dead than alive from malarial fever. I met him at Mon- tauk Point and brought him home and nursed him back to health. Hos- tilities being renewed in the Phil- ippines, he insisted upon again en- tering the army, and was appointed Major of the 33rd U. S. Infantry, reaching Manilla October 29th, 1899. He succeeded in getting their regiment assigned to the command of General Lloyd Wheaton and went
immediately to northern Luzon: making the first reconnoitre of the command he secured the advance of the attack upon the entrenched Fil- ipinos at San Jacinto and was killed by a Filipino who was secreted in the top of a tree which towered above his battalion as he was lead- ing them in a charge, falling as he would have fallen on the very point of his advancing battalion. They subsequently routed the enemy. In his death l lost my all, and can never again have the same interest in life, as he was, in the sense that he bore his father's name ant lineage, my idol. He left a widow and three lovely children, two girls and a boy. John A. Logan, III. But for the tenderness and sympathy ac- corded me by the nation I could not have survived this second over- whelming blow.
I have written for a number of periodicals, edited The Home Maga- zine for six years, and am sorry to say through the mismanagement of one of its proprietors it was discon- tinued. but not without having scored the phenominal success of reaching three-hundred thousand
It has been revived
subscribers.
and I am again associate editor with P. V. Collins, of Minneapolis. Minnesota, its present proprietor and publisher, and hope to win back my old friends and many new ones to its support.
I am now and have been for more than two years on the editorial staff of the Hearst Syndicate. of New York.
SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
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ORIGINAL SURVEY OF MARION, ILL ..
I have never been identified with any organization, except being a member of the Woman's Relief Corps, auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, and a member of the Spanish War Veteran's Auxili- ary, because I have always felt that I could do better if I helped all or- ganizations the best that I could without being a member, or in any way identified with them in the mat- ter of election of officers, etc. I
have always tried to do all the char- ity in my power, and have done my best to help deserving women in their efforts to be self-sustaining. I cannot but feel that we must count it very little that we can do in this world We are always under obliga- tions in having received more than we have been able to give.
My greatest ambition after Gen- eral Logan's death was to live to see the completion and unveiling of
the great statues erected to his
memory in Chicago and Washing- ton, and it is a source of infinite gratification to me to have had my prayers answered. These statues are without question the very best in the United tSates and were un- veiled under the most gratifying aus- pices. The orations on the occa- sions of the unveilings by Hon. Geo. R. Peck in Chicago, and President Mckinley and Hon. Chauncey De- pew in Washington have been pro- nonneed classic tributes to General Logan, and I should be ungrateful and insatiable in my desire were 1 not satisfied.
I have traveled very much in Europe since General Logan's death for study and for occupation away from the channels which had so many sad memories for me. I have met nearly all the Crowned Heads of Europe. In 1896. I had the
pleasure of witnessing the Corna- tion of the Czar and Czarina of Rus- sia and also seeing the Queen Re- gent of Spain, and consider myself very fortunate in having visited country before the Spanish- American War. that
During the summer of 1904, be- tween June 10th and Angust 29th, I gave thirty lectures before Chautau- quas and assemblies in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota, traveling over twenty-five thousand miles to fill these engage- ments without having experienced any excessive fatigue or ill health from the labor required to perform the ardnous work necessary to ac- complish so much in so short a time.
My health is perfect, thanks to Him who holds us all in the hollow of His hand.
I have very much for which to be
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SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
thankful, having enjoyed the confi- dence and respect of all in authority and position in my own country and abroad, and feel that i owe it all to the houored name | bear, which has been made illustrious by husband and son, John A. Logan 3rd, Major Logan's son, being the sole repre- sentative in the male line left to perpetuate the name.
1 hope in the few brief years left to me to do something with my pen to aid in the advancement of that civilization for which husband and son offered up their precious lives. MARY I. LOGAN.
Copied from the British Weekly, August 5, 1897, from an interview with Rev. Hugh Johnston, Pastor Metropolitan Church, Dr. Milburn joining when they attended the Ecumenical Council:
Most Popular Woman in the States,
"At this point Dr. Milburn, who was dreamily reposing in his arm- chair, joined in the conversation to tell me about his old friend Mrs. Logan, whom he described as cer- tainly the most popular women in Washington, and perhaps in the United States. 'She is simply wor- shipped by the old soldiers, and she exercises the widest influence both as a writer and as a speaker. She is a diplomatist and a politician, and can give an excellent lecture. At Dr. Johnson's church last year she lectured on the Czar's Coronation at which I was present. Mrs. Logan is
a beautiful lady, striking, even queenly, in appearance, with perfect- ly white hair. Her manners are charming and she is equally kind to all sorts and conditions of people. I must tell you a little story, if Dr. Johnston will not mind, abont one of her receptions in the quaint, old- fashioned house in the western part of our city, which was presented to Mrs. Logan by the nation. These receptions are among the most in- teresting social functions in Wash- ington, and it is her custom to in- vite to them a number of ladies be- longing to what we in America call the "awkward squad," that is, per- sons of no recognized social footing. Mrs. Logan invites them ostensibly to help her to entertain, but really to give them a little social enjoy- ment. One day when a large party was assembled, and Mrs. Logan was standing at the door receiving her guests, a most valuable vase, a pres- ent from Japan or China, about five feet high, was knocked over by the train of one of these awkward ladies' dresses and smashed into a thous- and fragments. Everyone was in consternation, and the unfortunate culprit, standing near the fireplace, looked ready to sink into the floor. Mrs. Logan turned around and said with charming readiness, "Oh, my dear, I am so pleased you have got-
ten rid of that wretched old vase for me. I really was quite tired of the thing." There was a general laugh. A servant came to clear away the fragments, and the incident was
speedily forgotten. Mrs. Logan's house is a museum of treasures, many of them gifts presented in the lifetime of her husband.' "
Holly Hills Farm, Near Hyattsville, Maryland, October 12, 1904. Mr. J. F. Wilcox, Marion, Iil.
My dear Mr. Wilcox :- I send you herewith four sketches instead of the two which I promised you, as I supposed that you wished to have something of the family. I am very sorry to have kept you waiting so long, and hope that it is not too late to incorporate them in the book you design publishing. I have not at- tempted to elaborate or make them as full as I might have because I was afraid they would be too long for your purpose.
It has given me a great deal of pleasure to prepare these sketches for you, and I hope they will prove satisfactory.
Very sincerely yours, MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN.
SKETCH OF GEN. JOHN A. LOGAN By Mrs. John A. Logan.
General Logan's youth was per- haps spent under more favorable auspices than that of many others of that epoch of our country. His superior abilities, energy, and high character made him a leader from boyhood. His father, of Scotch- Irish descent, was a strict disciplina- rian with his sons, who knew no dis- loyalty to his will or commands.
At the age of 18, he entered the volunteer service as a private in Company H. 1st Illinois Infantry Regiment, in the war with Mexico. He rose to the position of 1st Lien- tenant and Adjutant of the Regi- ment before his return, and here re- ceived all the military training he ever had. After returning home his father decided that he should adopt the profession of law. After study· ing with his uncle, Ex-Governor A. M. Jenkins, he went to Louisville to attend the law school of that city. y strict economy and judicious trad- ing in horses and other stock on the farm which had been assigned him as his share for his services, he had saved enough money to pay his own way.
From the day of his graduation to the day of his father's death, he never received a penny from his father, but contributed toward the consummation of many of his fath- er's business projects. His father made a will dividing his property be- tween the widow and his children except "John Alexander, whose
marked abilities are such that he can provide for himself and aid nis mother if necessary, -- this provision is made not from want of affection, but because of unbounded confidence in his future success."
Gen. Logan appreciated his fath- er's trust, and was always mindful of that faith in him.
Traveling as a circuit lawyer over sixteen counties composing his judi- cial district required untiring en- ergy. Practicing in criminal law and prosecuting criminals was no easy or safe task in the days of the Regulators in Southern Illinois. He was constantly exposed to the ven- geance of the friends of the many evil doers whose conviction and punishment he caused. His partici- pation in polities was not of his own seeking, but a surrender to the pressure of the better element of society. Serving as clerk of the
court, prosecuting attorney, Mem- ber of the State Legislature and of Congress by the time he was 32, he threw his whole soul into every- thing he undertook, never hesitating to assume responsibility or wa ting for some else to take the initiative to find out how the public would re- ceive the measure.
Douglas was his political mentor. He followed him with ahsolute loyalty through his eventful career, believing in Douglas's devotion to his country and its best interests. He had faith in the ultimate success of the "Crittenden Compromise." He could not believe that the threaten- ing storm would end in a tornado. He thought his constituency loyal to their country and to him. He had been elected by so overwhelming a majority that he could not realize that in a few brief months they would become so excited as to lose all reason or thought of the conse- quences of treason, The most try- ing hour of his whole early life was rapidly approaching; the memory of that hour will abide while life lasts. Idolized by kin'red and the people, he had left his home for Washing- ton: returning he was received with coldness and unfriendly reeungs. And when he crossed the threshold of his mother's home to embrace her whom he adored with the warmest filial affection and was repulsed and upbraided, his strong frame shook with emotion and the tears ran down like rain. With only one faithful tie he could trust, he faced the as- sembled multitude and announced his intention to stand by his coun- try though the heavens should fall- he was ready to do and die if need be that the Union might be pre- served. Standing between the tor- rents that were rapidly swelling, he had to bear all the bitterness of the Democratic party and all the sus- picions scoffings and unfavorable prognostications of the Republicans,
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SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
because of his extreme partisanship as a Democrat before the time ar- rived when a man had to be for or against his country. The agony of the battle's most sanguinary mo- ment paled before the anguish of those days and weeks until he had saved his people and his constituents for the Union.
He carried with him until peace was declared a feeling of personal responsibility for the welfare of every man who enlisted in the de- fense of his country at his solicita- tion and because of his appeal for the Union, and was really held so by their friends at home. His sym- pathies were so great that he had to school himself by the severest disci- pline before he could witness the suffering of the wounded or death of the men under him without betray- ing his emotion. The charge at Vicksburg on the 22nd of May, 1863, was to him so ill advised and unwise that it taxed all his discretion to obey the orders. To the day of his death, he felt that the charges of Kenesaw Mountain and the 22nd of July, 1864, were a needless sacrifice of life, and yet in each he led the charge and was the last to leave the field, fortunately turning disaster into victory after McPherson fell with the potential cry of "McPher- son and Revenge."
General Logan received from Con- gress a medal for personal heroism on the field at Vicksburg, and should have had another for his conspicnous gallantry on the 22nd of July, 1864, in avenging the death of McPherson. Thousands of men were inspired to dauntless deeds that day by General Logan's daring, and though almost surrounded by the enemy, he drove them back, recovered McPherson's body and won a glorious victory which had its sequel in the fall of Atlanta soon afterwards.
A few days thereafter he suffered the keenest blow of his whole life in being unjustly deprived of the com- mand of the army he had saved from annihilation and which would have followed him into the jaws of death. A less heroic and loyal spirit would have encouraged the resentment he i felt, and might have caused ulti- mate disaster to our army, but his noble nature recoiled at sneh action and he quietly returned to me gal- lant 15th Army Corps and again led it to victory on the 28th of July, which broke down the barriers to the very citidel of Atlanta, forcing acknowledgments of his superior military skill and intrepid courage from even his successor in the com- mand of the Army of the Tennessee.
Scarcely had the smoke of battle passed over and the surrender of Atlanta been telegraphed when Abraham Lincoln requested General Logan's presence in the sanguinary political contest then being waged
in Illinois, the home of the MeClel- lan War Democrats as well as his own. Hastening to obey an intima- tion from Mr. Lincoln in that criti- cal hour, he reached home in Sep- tember, entering upon the campaign the next day after his arrival, as ef- fectually turning civilians from their party idols to the support of Mr. Lincoln by his eloquence on the stump as he had the secession of sympathizers at the beginning of the rebellion.
As soon as the election was over he asked to be returned to his com- mand which had completed its holi- day march through Georgia and the Carolinas, and was then at Beaufort, S. C. Thomas had been General during that fall in Tennesse, while Grant was busy in the east and was at that time at City Point, from which place he telegraphed through Stanton ordering General Logan to come to Washington as he wished to have a conference with him. General Logan obeyed with all pos- sihle speed, thinking he was to be hurried to his command to co-oper- ate with some move toward Rich- mond, but was amazed to find that even at headquarters much impa- tience existed on account of ('eneral Thomas' supposed dilatoriness, and that he (General Logaa) had been chosen to supersede nim, as no one doubted General Logan's mpavent action at all times-action was his motto. But with the recent injus- tice done him, his sympathies were too keenly alive for a brother officer for him to desire to relieve General Thomas, besides, he believed Gen- eral Thomas was making all possible haste: and so, with the privilege of exercising his judgment in the mat- ter, should he find that General Thomas was doing all he could and would move as soon as possible, General Logan set out for Louisville with his orders in his pocket to ro- lieve General Thomas, The first thing General Logan did on his ar- rival at Louisville was to advise General Thomas of all the facts and urge him to strike immediately un- less he was sure it would be fatal. General Thomas moved at once and won a great victory, and General Logan was the first to advise Stan- ton and to ask to go back to the 15th Army Corps, which he dil, feeling happy over Thomas' triumph and retention as commander of the Army of the Cumberland. Joining the old 15th in South Carolina and march- ing thence to the capital, he had the satisfaction of being restored to the command of the Army of the Ten- nessee and riding at the head of that glorious army in the Grand Review. May 22nd, 1865, which was perhaps the proudest hour of his whole life. General Logan expected to return to the practice of law and enter into politics no more, but it was not to
be. He was simply forced into the political arena by a combination of circumstances that made it impos- sible to keep out without appearing to disregard the best interests of his country.
In 1866, nothing would do but he must accept the nomination for Con- gressman at large from Illinois, which was, of course, the beginning of a long and brilliant political ca- reer.
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