USA > Illinois > Greene County > History of Greene county, Illinois: its past and present > Part 28
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
had already lain on the ground for over two months, and as the winter was excessively cold, the task of wading two or three miles frequently at night, and sitting up all night with the sick, could not have been a pleas- ant one. About the time of the lady's death, a rain fell which filled the ravines and rendered the snow soft and yielding. It was then that Mr. Wright set out very early to obtain lumber with which to build a coffin for the deceased. But to travel a few miles required a great deal of time, and after a laborious day's tramp he returned home without having accomplished his errand. He and Mr. Norris then cut two boards from a log with a whip saw, when night compelled them to retire. Hearing that Dr. Throcmorton had commenced building a house at a place called Mt. Airy, two or three miles distant, Mr. Wright set out early the next morning with the hope of getting some lumber from him. Although the soft snow was deep and heavy, and the low grounds covered with water in many places to the depth of three feet, he made the best of present troubles and pushed boldly on. He succeeded in obtaining only a portion of the lumber necessary, and completed the coffin with a board ripped from the bottom of a wagon bed. The next day Mr. Wright conveyed the corpse to the burying ground in a wagon drawn by oxen wading " up to their bellies in snow," and, though the distance was not great, the day was consumed in going and coming. He and his friend Norris continued to wait on the sick man until "plow time," when he had so far convalesced as to dispense with their services.
Similar tales are told in every neighborhood, and the memory of the " deep snow " is very faithfully preserved. Until the latter part of February, when the snow went off with a great freshet, the ground was not seen.
The Summer which followed was a very wet one and at its close, on the 12th of September, came a hard frost biting the corn in the field, and rendering it valueless for bread or seed. The succeeding Winter was a very severe one, and in the Spring following seed corn was a scarce article. It was at this time that southern Illinois received the name of "Egypt," because the people of the northern counties had to go into the south part of the State for corn.
Greene County had been in existence ten years before a murder oc- curred within her borders. In September, 1831, the first human life was violently taken since the organization of the county. There was in those days, on the Macoupin, a distillery, where those who loved the fruit of the still were in the habit of gathering and indulging their appetites. Among these frequenters of the place was John Lofton, who was the father of a very bright little boy, named Samuel. One Saturday the dis- tiller sent this boy on horseback to Mill's store on the Mississippi River, to collect about fifteen dollars due him. The boy started off with per- mission to stay over night with some friends at Gillham's Mound if he wished. He was successful in prosecuting his business, and started home with the money. As he was passing Carroll's tanyard he was accosted by an old acquaintance, an Irishman, known as James Sullivan, though Patrick Cavanaugh was afterwards learned to be his true name. Cava- naugh was a man about forty years of age, who had been working for various persons in the southern part of the county. He asked the boy to allow him to ride with him on the horse. To this the lad consented, and
288
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
lifting himself out of the saddle, took the place behind in order that he might give Cavanaugh the easier seat. As they rode along, Samuel re-' lated the day's experiences and displayed the money which he had col- lected. After a time Cavanaugh turned the horse off the road into a wood. The boy objected to this, and became somewhat frightened, but Cavanaugh proceeded until he reached a secluded spot, whereupon, dis- mounting and picking up a club, he knocked the little fellow senseless. After Cavanaugh had possessed himself of the money the boy showed signs of returning consciousness, upon which his brutal assailant com- pleted his work and murdered him. He then turned the horse loose, and fled the country. Young Lofton's parents were not uneasy about his failure to return until Wednesday or Thursday of the next week. Search was then instituted, and on the latter day the vultures guided them to the spot where his body lay. On Friday a coroner's inquest was held by Coronor P. N. Rampey. The horrible brutality of the outrage cast a gloom over the whole county, and a large reward was offered for the ap- prehension of the murderer. The next Spring a citizen of the county took some produce to New Orleans in a flat boat. In that city he saw Cavanaugh, and recognized him. He enticed him into a saloon, and when they were about to drink, proposed as a health, "Here's hoping we shall meet in Greene County, Illinois." These words almost paralyzed the murderer, and he dropped the glass from his hands. He was promptly arrested, secured and taken to Greene County. The case against him was so clear, and he was so completely without money and friends, that he was promptly convicted and sentenced to be hung. He subsequently made a full and circumstantial confession. The gallows for his execution consisted merely of a frame supporting the beam from which the noose was suspended. It was erected about a mile northwest of Carrollton, on an elevation of land now belonging to David Wright, Esq. On the day appointed for the execution, an immense concourse of people gathered at the county seat. Every one within a range of twenty or thirty miles who could possibly leave home was present, and the roads were thronged. Cavanaugh was placed in a wagon seated upon his coffin, and surrounded by a guard appointed for the occasion, of whom Judge Alfred Hinton, still living, was one. Before they had proceeded far the prisoner signified a desire to walk, which was granted. At the gallows the ceremonies were brief. Jacob Fry, Sheriff, had charge of the execution, and a Catholic priest offered the condemned man the consolations of religion. He was placed in a wagon immediately under the beam, the noose ad- justed, and the wagon driven from under him. The body was afterwards cut down and buried under an oak tree in the corner of the field, where the bones lie to-day. Just about the time the execution was consum- mated a remarkably heavy rain storm set in, and there were, doubtless, in Carrollton that day more wet people than at any one time before or since. The ladies of the aristocracy of those days wore immense paper bonnets of various hues and plentifully adorned with ribbons. The effect of the rain upon these was magical and they were soon ruined. The worthy dames were obliged to cast them aside, and the roads leading to Carroll- ton were thickly strewn with the wrecks of paper bonnets, which did not disappear for many days. The call for troops for the Black Hawk War had been issued but a short time previously, and the regiment of which
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
Sheriff (now General) Fry was Colonel, had marched toward the seat of war several days before the execution. As soon as that ceremony was over the colonel hurried to Carrollton, buckled on his sword, and mount- ing his steed hastened forward to overtake his command. It is related that some years after these events a traveling expounder of the science of phrenology stopped at Carrollton to give lectures and delineations of character. George Wright, Esq., anxious to test the professor's skill, dug into the grave of Cavanaugh, and taking up his skull, presented it to the phrenologist. He examined it carefully, and proceeded to describe the man of whose frame it once formed a part, as a person of intellectual habits, gentle temper, very kind hearted, very just, etc., etc. When told that the skull was taken from the grave of a confessed murderer the de- lineator collapsed, and lectured no more at Carrollton.
Concerning Greene County's part in the Black Hawk War, I can not do better than to take the following from the Centennial Address of the late Hon. D. M. Woodson, as published in the Carrollton Patriot :
" Whenever the government has demanded of its citizens military service, the people of Greene have always responded with alacrity. In 1831, when volunteers were called for to repel the invasion of Black Hawk and to protect the northwest portion of the State, Greene was amongst the first to answer. Three companies were raised, commanded by Capt. Jacob Fry, Capt. Thomas Carlin, and Capt. Samuel C. Pearce. They marched and rendezvoused at Beardstown, and Captain Fry having been promoted to the office of Major, John Lorton was elected to fill his place. The forces were marched to Rock Island, but the Indians having escaped across the Mississippi, and their services being no longer needed, they were discharged. The following year the services of the people were again required to repel a second invasion of Black Hawk, and a company was raised commanded by Capt. Samuel Smith, Enoch Baccus, First Lieutenant, and Samuel Bowman, Second Lieutenant. Col. Jacob Fry commanded a regiment of which the company formed a part. Col. Fry bore a conspicuous part in that enterprise, and is honorably mentioned in the written history of the Black Hawk War, as it is called. At the battle of 'Bad Axe,' when Black Hawk was captured, Lieutenant Bow- man lost his life, having been shot by an Indian, who in turn was shot by John Link, another Greene County volunteer."
A census taken in 1830 showed that the county contained 7,674 inhabitants, and during the ten succeeding years, although Jersey County was in the meantime cut off. the population of Greene County increased to 11.951, and Jersey County contained 4,515 people.
The Macoupin Creek bridge was built in 1831-2, the Apple Creek bridge having been constructed some time previously. During the same year a new jail was built by William Meldrum, who took the con- tract for $3,560. Among the orders of this year we find one directing that the school fund be loaned for "25 per cent. annual interest and no more."
In or about 1828 one Mr. Courtney and his son, Robinson Courtney, settled places just north of where Fayette now stands, and one Ezekiel Good improved a place one or two miles to the west, about the borders of Taylor's Creek timber. It is the place since occupied by Willian Ed- monson. And in different parts of the neighborhood the following
290
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
named persons located and commenced improving their farms during the same year : John Lewis, Obadiah Lee, Joseph Van Meter and his father, Richard J. Keel and Richard R. Keel. Amasa Van Meter was once well known about Carrollton ; he owned a mill on the Macoupin south of Carrollton for several years, and struggled severely with adverse circum- stances. He was a poor man and unable to put and keep his mill in good repair, so that it became a burden rather than a benefit to him. He was highly esteemed for his uprightness and unflinching honesty. After struggling through a few years of hardship at the mill, he accidentally slipped off a wagon load of hay or grain; his pitchfork had fallen down before him, and stood with the handle on the ground, and the tines point- ing upward as it leaned against the hay. As Mr. Van Meter was sliding down, a tine of the fork entered his leg, and, passing along up the bone, made a wound that rendered him a cripple for life. He kept his bed for several months, and upon recovering sufficiently to attend to business, he disposed of the mill, and in the year 1828 settled in Taylor's Prairie. A little farther down the prairie, toward the Taylor Settlement, Henry Etter and Peter Etter, Reuben Odle, Samuel Judy, and William Swinney located their farms, and settled in the neighborhood the year above named. William Swinney was a blacksmith, and erected a shop just at the edge of Taylor's Creek timber. He came from the State of Tennessee, and was a reckless, unprincipled fellow. He and Peter Etter had exchanged horses, and soon after they met at the Macoupin, where Rock- bridge is now situated, and while engaged in a conversation about their horses, Etter said to him that the horse he (Etter) had got of him was older than Swinney had represented him to be; whereupon Swinney flew into a passion, and when Etter was riding past his blacksmith shop soon afterward Swinney shot him and made his escape. Etter was killed and the other was never apprehended.
About the year 1834 Mr. James Rives moved into the neighborhood where Rivesdale was soon after located, and Manoah Bostick, William Blair, James Metcalf, and others settled in about where Fayette is sit- uated. They all purchased large tracts of land and immediately took steps for improvement. Mr. Bostick enclosed an immense field and em- ployed William Handlin to break two hundred acres, at the rate of one dollar per acre. Handlin went to work with two plows that opened each a furrow of eighteen inches in width, and to which were attached four yoke of oxen, and during the season he broke one hundred and forty acres, for which Mr. Bostick paid him one hundred and forty dollars, with which Mr. Handlin purchased a tract of land in the neighborhood, and became a settler for a short time. He improved as many places probably, in Greene and Macoupin Counties, as any other man. He settled at an early day near Carrollton, and moved nearly every year from place to place, still working eastward, until he got over into the county of Ma- coupin, and died on a farm he had improved a short distance from Sum- merville.
About 1833 a man named Leonard settled on what is now known as the Jerseyville Prairie. He was regarded as very daring to under- take to make a home so far away from the timber, and almost every one predicted that that portion of the county would never be occupied, except as grazing ground for cattle. The most valuable land in Jersey County is now situated on that prairie.
291
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
In 1833 the county suffered from Asiatic cholera so severely that in the space of a few weeks there were about fifty deaths from this disease. Of these thirty-two died in Carrollton, two or three along the Illinois River, a few at White Hall, and others in other parts of the county. Business was almost entirely suspended in various towns, and grass grew in the busiest streets in the county. Many of the inhabitants of the county were panic-stricken, and would not leave their houses for fear of suffering from the infection. Fifty deaths may seem a small number to produce so much commotion, but it should be remembered that there were, at that time, less than eight thousand people in the whole county, from Alton to Roodhouse.
The Fall of 1836, is made memorable by the event known as the " sudden freeze." This was occasioned by a remarkable current of cold air passing from the northwest to the southeast, directly over Greene County. Its width extended over the entire central portion of the State. Its velocity was, as near as can now be determined, about thirty miles per hour. It was felt in Jacksonville about noon, and was in Lebanon, Ohio, just above Cincinnati, at nine o'clock that evening. Mr. Wash- ington Crowder, a resident of Sangamon County, was married on the 21st of December, 1836, and distinctly remembers going for his license the day before. This event fixes the date beyond a doubt. He was on his way to Springfield on the afternoon of the 20th, and when a few miles below the city had a fair view of the landscape for several miles in every direction. He saw in the northwest a heavy, black cloud rapidly approaching him, accompanied by a terrific, deep, bellowing sound. Closing the umbrella he was carrying over him to protect himself from the falling rain, he was in the act of drawing his reins taut, when the wave came over him. At that instant the snow and slush under his horse's feet turned to ice, while his coat, wet with the rain, became in- stantly as stiff as a board. He went on to Springfield, where he found his clothing frozen to the saddle, and being unable to dismount was com- pelled to call an assistant, who carried man and saddle to the fire to thaw them apart. He obtained his license, returned the same day, and was married the next. The wave passed over Greene County between one and two o'clock, and came so suddenly that chickens and small animals were frozen in their tracks. Several inches of snow had fallen a short time before and on that day it was quite warm, with light, spring-like showers, and the whole earth was covered with slush and water. The change was so sudden and the wind so strong that the water in the ponds in the road froze in waves, sharp-edged and pointed, as the gale had blown it.
One old settler remembers the day as warm and showery during the forenoon. Near two o'clock in the afternoon it grew dark, as if a rain storm was coming, and, in an instant, the strong wind, with the icy blast, came and all was frozen. Hurrying around to save some stock that he was fattening, he was able to get a part of it under shelter, but most of the animals suffered severely. The creek was about bank full of water, and, as his horses, wagons, etc., were on the north side, and his house on the south side, he was anxious to get all near the house, that he might take better care of them. The next morning early, with his brother and some other help, he went to the creek to get the animals across, but, the
292
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
horses not being shod, and the ice smooth, they cut the ice in pieces to get a track wide enough for the wagon, and with poles pushed it to one side and then drove through the water. The ice had frozen in the short time between two o'clock, p. m., and nine o'clock the next morning, fully. six inches thick. He also found raccoons, opossums, and other animals frozen to death. Walking across the logs they were suddenly chilled and, falling off, they were unable to move again.
Travel was almost entirely suspended, and the whole county bore the appearance of a vast field of ice. When it was absolutely essential to venture out, the unshod horses were unable to make any progress and very little use was made of them. This remarkable event fixes the date of many occurrences in the history of the county. It is yet vividly remem- bered by the residents of that date who relate many interesting reminis- cences concerning it.
The original townships, as given in the county records, are Otter Creek, Maquapin, Centre, Apple Creek, Diamond Grove, and Mauvais- terre. Of these two are now in Jersey County, two in Greene, and two in Morgan. In 1832 the precincts were quite differently named. Ma- quapin, Otter Creek, and Apple Creek remain, but we have in addition Eastern, Carrollton, Piasa, and Mount Airy. The following table of election returns, taken from the records, will show the vote of the county and its precincts in 1838. It seems that in the Fall of 1838, by a clerical error in the return of votes to the Secretary of State, the number of votes cast for Stephen A. Douglas, for representative in Congress, was incorrectly stated, whereupon the "Little Giant" appeared before the County Commissioners and asked that a correct return be made. The court therefore ordered the clerk to make return to the Secretary of State, as follows :
PRECINCTS.
Stephen A. Douglas.
John T. Stevens.
John Stevens.
Mt. Airy
85
36
Jerseyville
80
85
Richwoods
74
17
Camden
25
74
Wilmington
70
13
Piasa
36
59
Eastern.
84
45
Apple Creek
95
48
Lorton's Prairie
186
I35
Kane
40
46
Otter Creek.
4
42
Bluffdale
12
63
Carrollton
568
254
67
Total
I359
902
II2
It will be seen that at this time Carrollton contained more than one- third of the population of the county.
About this time a wave of financial excitement seemed to flow over the whole west. A desire for enlargement, improvement, rapid growth, sudden money making took possession of the people and showed itself in various ways, most of which resulted disastrously. The first indica- tion that this affliction had reached Greene County was the rage for lay- ing out towns, which manifested itself about the year 1836. Every-
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
where, along the river and highways, and even in remote, out-of-the-way places, towns were laid out and beautifully executed plats were drawn and printed, and adorned the walls of public buildings, while posters and handbills were freely circulated announcing frequent sales of corner lots, and setting forth the great inducements offered by the location for the in- vestment of money. Each of these paper towns aspired at no distant day to become a city or place of commercial importance. In each lot was hidden a wealth to the purchaser, which was sure to develop itself in time. There are to be found on the records of the county forty-two town plats. Among the projected towns which have not yet reached the height of their projectors' ambition may be mentioned Randolph, Hart- ford, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Teneriffe, Salisbury, Delaware, Concord, Norwalk, Columbiana, Rivesville, Centerville, Bloomfield, Homer, Ship- ping Point, Albany.
The State banks issued floods of paper, prices rose enormously and speculation was rife. Men of foresight kept out of debt, but soon, when the collapse came, those who had invested heavily in corner lots were ruined and in their fall carried down many a worthy man's earthly all.
In 1838 the county received a great accession to its treasury. The legislature of the State, in 1837, passed an act to inaugurate the most gigantic system of internal improvement that the most visionary enthu- siast could conceive of. By that act, entitled " An act to establish and maintain a general system of internal improvement," in force February 27, 1837, before the population of the State amounted to one million in- habitants, there was appropriated $10,300,000 to improve rivers and build railroads. $100,000 was to improve the Great Wabash River; $100,000 the Illinois River; $100,000 the Rock River; $50,000 the Kaskaskia River, and $50,000 the Little Wabash River. There was appropriated to improve the great mail route between St. Louis and Vincennes, $250,000. To build a railroad from Cairo to the terminus of the Michigan Canal, $3,800,000. For a railroad from Alton to Mt. Carmel and to Equality, in Gallatin County, $1,600,000. To the Northern Cross Railroad from Quincy to the Indiana State line, $1,800,000. For a railroad from Peoria to Warsaw, $700,000. For a branch of the Central Railroad, $600,000. For a railroad from Alton to the Central Railroad, $600,000. For a rail- road from Belleville to. Mt. Carmel, $150,000, and for a railroad from Bloomington, McLean County, to Mackinaw, $350,000. All that large amount was borrowed on the credit of the State. It was doubtless sup- posed that the representatives in the legislature from those sections of the State in which the vast amount of money was to be appropriated, would, of course, not oppose the measure ; but from those counties lying outside of the line of the contemplated railroads it was feared that there might be sufficient opposition to defeat the scheme. Hence it was proposed, no doubt with a view of quieting opposition, to donate a certain amount of money in cash to those counties. In other words, to bribe the members to support it. Accordingly the act in one of its sections made this pro- vision : "There shall be appropriated the sum of $200,000 of the first money that shall be obtained under the provisions of this act to be drawn by the several counties in a ratable proportion as to the last census made. through which there is no railroad or canal to be made at the expense or cost of the State of Illinois, which said money shall be expended in the
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
improvement of roads, constructing bridges and other works." The rep- resentatives from Greene County were Franklin Witt, Cyrus A. Davis and Revelle W. English. The bribe could not seduce them from the path of duty. They voted against the bill, as did the senators, Gen. James Turney and John Allen. The sum of $30,250 was Greene County's por- tion of the $200,000. The Commissioners' Court, through agents ap- pointed for that purpose, loaned the money out in violation of the law. With a portion of it, however, the bridges spanning Apple and Macoupin Creeks were built. Another portion was appropriated towards improv- ing the roads from Carrollton and White Hall to the mouth of Apple Creek, by throwing up embankments through the river bottom and bridg- ing lakes, scarcely a vestige of which work is now to be seen. A portion in less amounts was appropriated to build small bridges, another portion went in the shape of agents' commissions, and still another portion was never collected. The Macoupin and Apple Creek bridges, which are still in use, were about the only permanent benefit the county received from the fund.
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