USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > History of DeKalb County, Illinois > Part 7
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the road fence, had seen them pass in the growing darkness, and quietly followed them.
They made some considerable delay in the village, which delay Mr. Josyln employed in rousing some of his neighbors from their slumbers, and in watching and arranging them. Mr. Herman Furners, a constable, was made leader of the party, to which was added Lorenzo Whittmore, John A. Waterman, E. P. Young, and one or two others.
When the wagon had turned down Soonmank street and stopped near the grave-yard, this party of detectives, divided into three squads and so posted as to enable them to cut off all chance of escape, were lying down in the grass and await- ing developments. Four men got out of the wagon and clambered into the burying ground. One, after a moment's delay there, was seen making his way back to the village. The watchers thought that they recognized in this person the figure of a resident physician of the village, and imagined that he came to point out the location of the grave, but the obscure light may have deceived them-they may have been mistaken.
Unfortunately, at this critical juncture, one of the hidden watchers was seized with an uncontrollable fit of coughing. The noise startled the guilty party, who ran for their wagon, and were jumping into it, when Constable Furness seized the horses and demanded a surrender. They were thoroughly alarmed, and their fright was not lessened by Waterman answering their question as to what would be done with them, by the promise to shoot them in the morning.
Thoroughly cowed, they were taken back to the village tavern, and were there recognized as students from Dr. Richards' Medical School. One was a son of the Doctor, another a charity student by the name of Rude, who it was reported paid for his medical education by furnishing bodies for dissection. The name of the third was unknown.
The captors sent at once for Mr. E. L. Mayo, the principal lawyer of the town, but after consultation he concluded that 13
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there was not sufficient evidence of their guilt to warrant their detention. They were released, and joyfully fled away in the darkness.
Meantime the Churchills and Kinyons had spent the night in watching the grave of the lost daughter and wife, but all was quiet there. Morning came, and they examined it closely. There was no visible evidence of its having been disturbed. Two of her girlish friends, uneasy at the stories about grave robbers which had been circulated through the country, had, with tender thoughtfulness, laid a twine over it which they fastened on each side as a means of detection. This was still in its position. But something made the friends still .un- certain and uneasy. They determined to dig down and assure themselves, if possible, that the sanctity of her last resting place had, indeed, not been invaded. The excavation had proceeded but a couple of feet, when their fears were con- firmed by finding in the soil the comb with which her hair had been confined. The father and husband were excited almost to frenzy by the discovery, and, dropping their spades, ran round like madmen, with heartrending groans and bitter tears. Reaching the coffin at last, it was found emptied of its precious contents, the grave-clothes alone remaining with- in it.
The news of this discovery quickly spread over the country around. Mr. David Churchill was a noble old man, honored and loved by the whole community, and the grief and indig- nation which tortured him and the relatives were shared by the entire community. It was certain that this grave had been desecrated. No one knew how many more in this region had also been violated. A party of twelve of the rela- tives and neighbors was speedily made up, to go to the Medi- cal College and demand the return of the body. They went without delay, and on arriving there a search warrant was procured, and they proceeded to examine the premises. But they were an hour too late. When they entered the town they saw there a horse belonging to a physician of their own
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neighborhood. It was splashed with mud and foaming with perspiration. It was evident that its owner, who had formerly been a student of Richards' Institute, had heard of their in- tention, and ridden post-haste, to warn his medical associates of the danger of their detection. They had spirited away the body, and it could nowhere be found. In the large stone building, formerly a barn, which served as a lecture and dis- secting room, they found fragments of human bodies, and in the loft above a half decayed skeleton was hung up to dry ; but none of them were recognized as parts of that dear form which these distressed relatives sought.
The fruitless search was nearly completed, when the quick eye of the bereaved husband discerned upon the stone flag- ging of the floor, a lock of golden hair. It was the precise, peculiar shade of his lost wife's hair, and he knew it in an instant. It was not evidence enough to convince a jury, per- haps, but it satisfied him. If he had any doubts before, they were all gone now. He begged piteously for the return of what might be left of the remains of his wife. But Richards, who seems to have been a coarse and brutal fellow, treated the party with anger and contempt.
" I have no subjects now," said he, " but if you will come again in a few days I will have a lot of 'em, and from out your way, too."
Discouraged and disheartened, the party went back to their homes. They knew that the body was there; they thought with horror of the dear form of their loved and lost one carved and gashed, and made the sport of a mob of heartless medical butchers. But, alas, they saw no hope of sccuring it-no prospect of redress.
To their neighbors they told the story of their reception ; they showed the lock of hair. Their indignation was uni- versal. Some of them taunted the young widower with a lack of courage, because he had not, upon the spot, taken the life of the villain, who, to the injury he had done him by the robbery, had added the insult of such coarse, brutal, taunting
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language. With one accord, the people pledged themselves to go back next day with them, in a body too strong to be re- sisted, and to force the rascals to yield up their prey.
About nine o'clock next morning forty stalwart men, the best citizens of the country around, armed with guns, pistols and clubs, gathered together in the village of Sycamore, and startel again on the journey of twenty miles, to rescue the remains of the lost child of their neighbor and friend. As their wagons passed in procession along the road, the neigh. boring farmers in both counties, learning the purpose of the expedition, joined it with determined good will, and before they reached St. Charles, its numbers had quadrupled. As they neared the town they halted and gathered together, selected a committee of five of their party to go forward and demand the return of the body, and give the inmates of the Institute fair warning that the consequence of a further refusal would be the destruction of their buildings, if not of the lives of the inmates.
The Committee consisted of Esquire Currier of St. Charles, John C. Wateriman, Willam Fordham, Lorenzo Whittemore and Kimball Dow, of Sycamore.
Backed up by most of the party, the Committee proceeded to the house. Richards met them at the door, and within were his family and some dozen or more of his students. Pistols were seen in his side pocket, and behind the door were a number of guns. He was still heartless, impudent and defiant. He denied any knowledge about the body they sought for, but said perhaps his students could account for it.
A good deal of angry conversation passed between the parties. Rude, the student, who had been detected in the crime at Sycamore, was particularly active, and Kinyon, al- though he had never before seen him and did not know him to be that one, yet took an instinctive aversion to him, and could hardly be restrained from shooting him upon the spot.
The Committee went back and consulted with their party. It was evident that nothing was to be gained by parley.
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Kinyon was determined to recover the corpse of his wife, or make a corpse of him who robbed her grave. They resolved to capture the place by storm, seize Richards and take him into Fox River, then hold him under water until he would reveal the place where the body was concealed. In the mean- time some Germans had been found who said that on the Sunday previous, a German friend who had worked for Rich- ards had shown them, in the dissecting room, the corpse of a golden-haired young woman, whose appearance perfectly cor- responded with the description of Mrs. Kinyon. This added to their confidence that the brutal Richards was still in pos- session of her remains, and they were sure that nothing but violence would induce him to restore them. Headed by David Churchill, the noble old father of the deceased, and Kinyon, the youthful widower, a party of thirty marched up to the building and made a rush upon the door, and as the pressure forced it partly open, the muzzle of a gun was thrust out and fired. It would have proved fatal to some of the party had not Churchill forced down the barrel so that the bullet struck the stone pavement and bounded over their heads. This first act of war was followed by a shot from Kinyon, who raised his gun and fired blindly through the door. Fate directed his bullet to the death of the man who had really been the robber of the grave. Rude was pierced through the hips, and was borne away fatally wounded. A number of shots followed on both sides, and those of the crowd outside, who had no guns, hurled stones from the street till every glass and sash in the house was shivered to atoms. Old Gilman Smith, of Sycamore, who had been a soldier of the war of 1812, was conspicuous for his coolness. He loaded and fired, whenever he saw any part of a person ex- posed, with as much coolness and deliberation as if he was shooting at squirrels. It is said that he put two bullets through Richards, one through his lungs and another in his leg. During a pause in the battle, Richards, now thoroughly cowed and bloody with his terrible wounds, came out to ap- peal for mercy.
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" You have killed two of us," said he, "now, for God's sake, stop and go away."
Just then a large stone struck his head and prostrated him. He crawled back into his house and was laid upon a couch.
Soon after, the students were seen escaping from the rear of the building, and Henry Thrall rather cruelly poured a charge of small shot into the rear of one of them as he clamb- ered over a wall. The assaulting party now crowded into the house. They found it fearfully riddled, and occupied only by the two wounded men. Small mercy they gave to their misfortunes.
"Now," said one to Richards, "now your students can have a subject without sending to DeKalb County for it."
But Richards still refused to give up the body, and as it seemed impossible to get any satisfaction, and as warrants were out to arrest the party as rioters, they retreated in an orderly manner across the river. As they passed through the town the ladies cheered them from their windows, with waving handkerchiefs and encouraging words. The popular indignation at the outrages of the men of the Institute was nowhere greater than in their own town.
Night now came on and another-a night attack-was ex- pected by the occupants of the establishment. The bridge across the river had been carried away, and only a temporary foot-bridge accommodated passengers, while teams crossed at the fords. The town's people and the friends of Richards established guards at three points and halted every person who attempted to cross. They did also what was more ef- fectual. They sent to Naperville for William D. Barry (a St. Charles lawyer then temporarily absent), who knew Church- ill, the leader of the invaders, and upon whom he would place confidence. Barry arrived late at night, and as soon as he learned the situation crossed over to the little hotel on the west side, which was the headquarters of the invading party. After a long pacific conversation he urged them all to go home in the morning, promising upon his honor, that the
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body should be speedily returned to them if it was in ex- istence "You can cross the river again and kill some more of them," said he, "and some of you will as certainly be killed also, but what good will all that do ? You can never get the body in that way. Take my word for it, the body shall be given up to you."
They took his word for it and next morning they went, but left word that if the promise was not fulfilled, they would come-again and destroy the entire establishment.
Barry had promised more than he was quite authorized to promise, but he now took measures to redeem his word. He summoned John F. Farnsworth, a lawyer of the town, Dr. Hard, who was a brother-in-law of Farnsworth, and had some acquaintance with the affairs of the College, to a secret con- sultation at his office. Contrary to his expectations, Dr. Hard could tell nothing about the body, but after a long talk the Doctor sallied out to see if he could not find some one who could. He brought back a young medical student named Harvey, who, it seemed, alone knew the exact spot where the corpse was concealed, and after a multitude of pledges of secrecy, he promised to reveal to Barry, alone, the place of its concealment on the following night.
In the gloom of that night the two started out on the search and, after some miles of travel through the woods, they came to a spot upon the banks of the Fox River, within a few rods of the village of Geneva, which Harvey pointed out as the grave of Mrs. Kinyon. Harvey, who had now revealed enough knowledge of the affair to make him liable to arrest, and at least to subject him to the vengeance of the relatives, if they ever discovered his connection with it, now told Barry that he would leave the country forever. Ile bid him good- bye, started out in the darkness, and was never more seen in this section of country.
Barry then went to Geneva, roused from his slumbers Mr. Danforth, who then kept a kind of cabinet shop there, and ordered a coffin to be ready next night at midnight, specify-
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ing no purpose for which it was to be used, but enjoined the closest secrecy. Determined that no person should be known as having been connected with the affair, he now contrived a plan for returning it to the relatives, without their knowing whence or through whom it came.
Old Mr. Prescott, of St. Charles, who was a distant rela- tive of the Churchills, and had been active in an effort to aid the recovery of the remains, found next day upon his door step an anonymous note, very cautiously worded, but giving him to understand, that if he would go alone with a wagon, at a certain hour on the following morning, to a designated spot in the woods, on the west of the river, he would find the body.
It was the midnight following, that Mr. Barry, accompan- ied by a young man named Nelson, stopped at Danforth's, took the rude coffin which had been prepared for him, and drove back again to the spot where the body was buried. Nelson, who was sworn to secrecy, as to all that might trans- pire that night, was still uninformed about what his com- panion's strange actions meant and was in a tremor of terror as, digging down a couple of feet, they came to the body of the fair young woman. It was wrapped in an old horse blanket, and still undecayed. The two drew it down to the river, washed off the earth that had adhered to it, and then Nelson, unwilling that it should be coffined entirely nude, drew off his own underclothing and placed it on the corpse, then drove back up the river.
Prescott next morning repaired to the place to which he had been directed. He found there the coffin, and opening its lid recognized the corpse of his nicce. Without commu- nicating with any person, he placed it in his own wagon and starting back to Sycamore restored it to the husband. He received it with hysterical delight-laughed and wept, and raved by turns. Never was there gathered at any one funeral before, so large a concourse of people as met on that next Sabbath day, to consign a second time to the grave the body which had caused such an excitement in all the country
BREVET BRIG.GEN! THOMAS W. HUMPHREY OF FRANKLIN.
Chicago Litturgraphing Co, Chicago.
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round. A new grave was dug close under the husband's window, and there the long lost body was at last consigned to await the resurrection only of the last great day.
Undoubtedly many other graves had been robbed before this time in this same section of country, but it is believed that there were none since.
The medical school was broken up. Rude, the student, died a few days after. Richards, the principal, partially re- covered, moved away to Missouri, but never fully recovered his health, and died about three years after.
Indictments were found against Kinyon and Churchill in the Courts of Kane County and they were arrested, but re- leased on bail. Indictments were also found in one Court of DeKalb County, against the body-snatchers. Neither were ever brought to trial. Public opinion seemed satisfied that the crime had been duly expiated and that nothing was to be gained by further prosecution of the matter, on either side.
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PART SECOND.
: .: 13
DE KALB COUNTY IN THE WAR OF THE GREAT REBELLION.
DeKalb County in the War of the Great Rebellion,
Decidedly the most interesting, most honorable and most eventful portion of the history of the County of DeKalb, is that which relates the gallant deeds of her brave sons, their sacrifices and sufferings in that tremendous struggle for the life of the nation-the war of the Great Rebellion.
How do the excitements of its earlier settlement, its claim wars, its county-seat wrangles, its contests with the banditti, its war upon the grave-robbers, its political and social excite- ments, all pale and lose their interest when compared with the story of the grand heroism displayed by her sons upon an hundred battle-fields ; and of the no less devoted patriotism which led two thousand of her brave boys to cheerfully endure the toils, the sufferings, the labors of the grand marches, the terrors of rebel prisons, privation, destitution, death itself, that they might help to save their country from destruction, and give to the world a re-united nation. In the four years of the great civil war is comprised more of its real history, more of true heroism, more adventure, more romance, more of gallantry, valor, everything that dignifies and ennobles the character of its people, than in all the remaining portion of its career. If, then, a larger portion of this work be devoted to this portion of the history than to any other, it will not be more than its importance demands.
The political character and predelictions of the great majority of the inhabitants of our County impelled them
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to espouse, with more than ordinary fervor, the cause of the government in its struggle with the slave-holders' rebellion. From the first settlement of the County, it had been the home of a strong, active, zealous party of anti-slavery men ; men who were avowed abolitionists, who gloried in that name when it was a term of reproach ; who not only voted for, but labored and expended their money for the freedom of the slave. Scattered here and there over the whole county, were numer- ous well-known stations on the "under-ground railroad ;" homes of thrifty, hard-working, God-fearing haters of oppres- sion, in which, it was well understood, the panting fugitive escaping from Southern Slavery, would be sure of finding rest, refreshment, a safe shelter, a warm welcome, and means to help him on to other stations on the route to what was then his only safe-guard, the flag of England on Canadian soil. The homes of the Beveridges and the Hubbards of Somonauk, of the Townsends of Mayfield, David West's of Sycamore, and E. S. Gregory at Genoa, were well known as homes and places of refuge for the fugitive negroes ; and many an interesting story of their experience in aiding and secreting these oppressed people, are now told with a freedom, that before the downfall of American Slavery would have been dangerous. Long before the formation of the Republican party, whose corner-stone was hostility to slavery extension, the majority of the voters of the County were of that class who made hatred of slavery the cardinal principle of their political creed. It was natural that when the devotees of the slave system sought to rend in twain the Union of the States, in order to protect their institution, and with fratricidal hand attacked the defenders of the flag of their country, these men should rally to its defense with earnest enthusiasm. But their zeal for the defence of the country was only more fervent than that of their political opponents. Inspired by the noble utterances of their great leader, Stephen A. Douglas, whose patriotic devotion to his imperiled country burst the bonds of party, and shed over the last months of his too short life a
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sublime eternal radiance, the great mass of the Democratic party in the country, with some noted exceptions, rallied at the first outbreak of the war to the defense of the country, gave their support to the government, enlisted for their coun- try's defense or encouraged the enlistments, and gave their services, with patriotic sincerity to the work of preserving the Union.
The echoes of the first guns that were fired upon Fort Sumter had scarcely died away, when in the principal towns of DeKalb county hundreds of her sons sprang to arms, began drilling and preparing for service, and earnestly demanded the privilege of being led to battle against the rebel foe. Their earnestness was constantly repressed by the government, which, embarrassed by the want of suitable laws to meet such an unlooked-for emergency, and apparently failing to appreciate the real magnitude of the contest, hesitated and drew back from the impending conflict, refused to call out a sufficient number of troops, and checked, instead of encouraging, the patriotic ardor of the people.
When, at last, two companies of volunteers from this county gained permission to serve in her armies against the rebellion, their privilege was at a premium. Some of those who had been accepted, but from various causes found it diffi- cult to disentangle themselves from the ties that bound them to their homes, sold out their places in the ranks, to others whose eagerness could not be repressed. But, as the conflict broadened and deepened, as our armies met the enemy and failed to conquer their legions, the government found use for all the men who were willing to serve her. The calls of the President for troops were as follows :
April 16th, 1861, 75,000 for three months. May 4th, 1861, 64,748 for five years. July, 1861, 500,000 for three years. July 18th, 1862, 300,000 for three years. August 4th, 1862, 300,000 for nine months. June, 1863, 300,000 for three years.
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October 17th, 1863, 300,000 for three years.
February 18th, 1864, 500,000 for three years. July 10th, 1864, 200,000 for three years.
July 16th, 1864, 500,000, one, two, and three years. December 21st, 1864, 300,000 for three years.
It must ever be a source of pride to the County of DeKalb that each successive demand made during the first three years of the war, was promptly filled by volunteers. The summer of 1862-how memorable and exciting! In the July previous, a half million of men were called out, and DeKalb County promptly met the call. In August, 1862, 600,000 more were asked for. It was in the midst of the busy harvest season. The County had already been drained of more than fifteen hundred of its able-bodied men, and was suffering for help to gather its bountiful harvest; yet without a murmur, six hundred of the very best men of the County sprang into the ranks of the 105th regiment, and perhaps half as many more into other organizations. It was not until July, 1864, that a draft was finally required in this County, to fill the repeated and exhausting demands of the service.
What gallant and honorable service these citizen soldiers performed for their country, let this too brief and contracted record of the campaigns of the various regiments partially relate. Not one of the great battles of that long and bloody war was fought in which the loyal sons of DeKalb did not bear a most honorable part. The history of their campaigns is a history of the war. DeKalb County boys opened the first battle in the seven days fight on the Virginian Peninsula, and were the first to attack Lee's rebel host at Gettysburgh. Some loaded their guns for the first time while under the fire of Fort Donelson. They swept with the great Sherman on the grand march to the sea. They were the heroes of the day on the first assault upon Vicksburg. They bore a most hon- orable part in its final capture. They saved by a gallant charge, the defeated army of Banks' on Red River. They were first at the capture of Mobile. In the campaigns in
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