History of Logan County, Illinois, Part 20

Author: Inter-State Publishing Co.
Publication date: 1886
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 989

USA > Illinois > Logan County > History of Logan County, Illinois > Part 20

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Strong as this jail was made, it could not always be depended on, as the following incident will show: Not many years after it was built, a man named Bartlett was arrested and confined in the jail,

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for shooting at the stage driver. He was an exceptional villain, shrewd, cunning and brave, and was noted for his adroitness in escaping. In order to be doubly sure of his keeping, a strong guard was stationed about the prison day and night. One day on taking him his food, he was discovered to have made an attempt at liberty by tearing loose one of the inside planks, his only instru- ment being a case-knife and his boot heel. Manacles were then brought and placed on his wrists; but these being large and his hands small, he quickly slipped the irons off and handed them to the astonished jailer, with the quiet remark, "I do not wear iron jewelry." Manacles were then brought and fastened to his feet. No sooner was he left to himself than he commenced a constant rubbing together of these irons until the friction would wear away some weak spot between his feet, and he would remove these to hand them to the jailer, with the same dry remark. Sometimes he would keep up his incessant rubbing for days in order to accom- plish his purpose. One day during his confinement, he managed to attract the attention of J. P. Evans, then a lad some fourteen years of age, to whom he offered a " fortune " if he would bring him a watch, no matter what kind, or whether it was of any value. The boy, though tempted by the "fortune " offered, consulted his father, one of the guards, before acquiescing in the wish of the prisoner. Mr. Evans told him that Bartlett only wanted it, in all probability, to make some kind of tool out of the mainspring with which to effect his release. The watch was accordingly not ob- tained. Baffled on all hands, Bartlett now determined on his es- cape, let the difficulties be what they would. The distance between the lower and upper floors was fully twelve feet in height, more than twice the height of the prisoner. By a little practice, and being naturally very athletic, he became able to spring up and catch in the bars of the trap door above. Clinging to one of these bars with one hand, he drove a part of the window sash under the door, which would not quite close, until he wrenched the staple, through which the padlock was inserted, from its place. His strength was prodigious; he would often spring up to the door, swing by one arm and talk to any one who desired to converse with him. Raising the door, he went to the outer door, by some means opened it, and observed the guards were not on the watch, having left their guns in their part of the jail, and retired to the court-house square to the shade, and for conversation.

Bartlett quickly and quietly descended, and leisurely made his

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way southward toward a drove of horses in the prairie, observing them slowly, as though designing to purchase. While there one of the guards noticed him and remarked to his comrades, "That looks like Bartlett." " It can't be," said another; " he could not get out of jail." One of them ran to the jail and immediately calling to them, confirmed their suspicions. Not seeing the guns at first, it was thought the escaped convict had them and would defend himself. He had secreted them under the bed used by the guards. Just at this moment, however, he was seen to leave the horses, having worked his way toward the timber, and to run for it with all the fleetness he possessed. A pursuit was at once started, which traced him to Salt Creek and there lost him. After diligent search, he was, however, found secreted in the water, under- neath a tree which had fallen nearly across the stream. This the pursuers had unintentionally surrounded, to deliberate on what was the best method to adopt to effect his capture. While stand- ing there, one of them happened to look closely at this tree, and saw in the water, the form of the fugitive with his face just out of the water. He was at once taken into custody and remanded to jail, where he was securely ironed and hardly ever after left un- seen. His trial occurred soon, when he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in the penitentiary, where it is believed he died. While there he narrated his manner of escape from the Logan County jail, and also told his listeners that at one time his pursuers were so close to him that he could have seized one of them,.Evans, and pulled him into the water. He said that when captured he was "nearly froze," and would have been compelled to leave the water soon.

This old jail stood some distance northeast of the court-house square and was used until 1847, when the county seat was removed to Mt. Pulaski. The court-house and square were sold to Mr. Solomon Kahn for $300; the same gentleman purchased five ad ditional lots belonging to the county, in Postville. The jail was also sold, and the logs comprising its strong floor and sides were used for ties on the railroad. For several years after the settle- ment, a large pond of water near by afforded water for stock, and during the winter a skating place for the youth of the village. It was in this pond that a man named Willis lost his life, and whose death remained so long a time a mystery. About the year 1838 or '39, Willis was employed to look after and feed the stock of a Mr. Wheeler, who desired to make a visit to his old home in Ken-

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tucky. One night Willis went to town carrying with him his ax, a very peculiarly shaped one, the blade being so made that it would with ordinary blows sink deep into the hardest wood. While in town Willis imbibed too much whisky and late in the evening started for home. He was never afterward seen alive. In the course of a day or two, his absence being noticed, search was made for him, but to no avail; persons on horses would ride into this pond, the water coming up on the side of the saddle, but could find no trace of Willis. At last he was given up for lost, various opinions being hazarded as to the probability of his where- abouts. After seven years had passed away, the pond one dry summer dried up, leaving a bare piece of ground near its center. One evening, as a woman from the village was seeking her cows, she chanced to cross this bare spot, when to her great astonish- ment she discovered the skeleton of a man. Hastening to town, she narrated her discovery to several, who at once went to the spot. The skeleton was there, and in removing it the ax was found. From its construction it was at once recognized by the older ones as Willis's ax. The mystery of his mysterious disappearance was now solved. He had wandered into the pond and perished. For further proof it was recollected that one of Willis's legs had been broken, and an examination of the right thigh corroborated the fact that the remains were those of the unfortunate man. They were at once removed and given a respectful burial.

There were several of these ponds about the old town of Post- ville, which have long since been filled, and are now cultivated or enclosed as yards. Where the city of Lincoln now stands was a large marshy piece of ground, and at one time when Colby Knapp was passing over the site on some journey, he aroused a herd of nearly forty deer. At that time these were plenty, and one could travel from this latter place to Springfield without encountering a fence, or having to follow the wandering of any road. The road, like the line, was direct. On the removal of the seat of justice to Mt. Pulaski, property in Postville declined considerably in value, and trade and population alike felt the result. The old court-house lost its prestige and became a dwelling, and the town no longer was enlivened at stated intervals by the presence of lawyers and clients on court days. It was in this old court-room that the illus- trious martyred president conducted several cases, and by his known honesty won the hearts of the people. As an illustration of this latter, the following incident is given: Mr. Lincoln had

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been employed by a Mr. Brown to conduct a case for him, and which was to be heard in the Logan County Court. Thinking he could better advance his own interests, and supposing he could escape detection, Brown gave Mr. Lincoln a very false version of his case. This was developed in the trial, when Mr. Lincoln, vexed at the falsity of the man, and caring nothing only for the truth, turned to him in open court, exclaiming, with considerable earnest- ness, " Brown, what made you lie to me so ? If I had known the truth in your case, I would have advised yon not to bring suit." This unflinching regard for principle gave " Honest Abe " a stand- ing among Logan County people which in after years was never lost.

The old court-house was also used by the religious element of the people for a house of worship, the noted pioneer preacher, Rev. Peter Cartwright, occasionally conducting divine services therein. No house of worship was ever erected in the town, the school-house and court-house being used in its stead. The first schools of this settlement were, like those in all parts of the county, subscription schools. It was not till after 1840 that a house was erected for no other purpose, rented rooms prior to this time supplying the deficiency.

The town of Postville never recovered from the effects of the removal of the seat of justice, and when it was united to Lincoln, in 1865, the town contained scarcely 200 inhabitants.

The removal of the county seat to Mt. Pulaski arose from that speculative fever passing over the State when so many counties were organized, and county seats created on a speculative basis. The inhabitants of the north and eastern portions of Logan County, together with many residents in McLean and DeWitt counties adjoining, desired to create a new county of the portions of these counties mentioned, and to locate a county seat at Waynesville, a small village in Waynesville Township, in De Witt County. Those about Mt. Pulaski were in favor of the seat of justice being located there, and at an election to decide the matter, owing to these two chief influences, the removal was decided by a strong majority. Those residing about Mt. Pulaski hoped to see a new county cre- ated from Logan, Sangamon and Macon counties. These plans were, however, all frustrated by the passage of the new State Con- stitution, which prohibited the organization of new counties until a certain number of inhabitants were within the prescribed limits, and also defined the area a county must have before being created.

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This put an end to further agitation on the subject, and ere long the inconvenience of the seat of justice began to be felt. Mt. Pul- aski is within six miles of Sangamon County and eight miles of Macon, while it is over twenty miles to the north line of the county, and over fifteen to the western limits. The people living in these parts complained of the long distance to attend to all county business, and a more central location was agitated. The survey of the Chicago & Alton Railroad being completed, it was urged that instead of re-locating it in the village of Postville, a move most earnestly desired by its citizens, it would be better to locate it on this railroad. Colby Knapp was then in the Legislature, and was mainly instrumental in getting the bill changing the seat of justice passed. Colonel R. B. Latham, John D. Gillett and Virgil Hickox, the original proprietors of Lincoln, gave to the county four squares of land, two of which have been made into parks, one is used for the court- house, and on the other the jail and jailer's residence are lo- cated.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

The public buildings of the county are: 1. A court-house situ- ated on block 16, original plat of Lincoln, between Kickapoo and McLean, and Broadway and Pulaski streets. It was built in 1858 at a cost of $13,000. The size is 45 x 75 feet. The second story contains a court room and two jury rooms, and the ground floor is divided into offices used by the county treasurer, sheriff, surveyor and superintendent of schools. There are two fire-proof offices, one for the use of the clerk of the Circuit Court and the county records, and the other for the county clerk, in which are kept the books and papers pertaining to the Probate Court and finances of the county.

2. The county jail, which Iwas erected in 1868 at a cost of $36,- 000, is located on a block originally designed for a public park, bounded by Hamilton, Sherman, Broadway and Pekin streets. The front, intended as a residence for the sheriff, is of brick, and the rear of Joliet stone, and contains twenty cells, which af- ford a secure receptacle for those who violate the laws of the county.

3. The poor house and farm are about three miles from the court- house. The farm contains 160 acres under a good state of cultiva- tion, and was purchased of C. H. Conch, Esq., at $62.50 per acre.

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In 1869 good buildings were erected on the same, which make it a comfortable asylum for the poor and destitute of the country. The whole cost of the farm, buildings and furniture was about $20,000, and tax-payers flatter themselves that no county in the State, of the size and population of Logan, can furnish more comfortable accommodations for those for whom the laws require them to provide.

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CHAPTER V.

OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.

ORGANIZATION .- SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS, AND ABSTRACTS OF SPEECHES MADE BY THE PIONEERS AT THE ANNUAL REUNIONS.

In nearly all the counties of Central and Northern Illinois socie- ties have been formed for perpetuating the memory of pioneer days. Not many of these have done much to preserve in system- atic form the early history of the country. This will yet be done. So far, however, these associations have served merely a social purpose, the annual meetings being in the nature of picnics, where informality is the order of the day. Such is the case in Logan County.

FIRST REUNION.

The first reunion of old settlers was held October 1, 1873, at Mt. Pulaski, and was a most enjoyable occasion. The stand was occupied by such old settlers as Rev. John England, Judge En- gland, Judge Ewing, Christopher Ewing, John Buckles, J. T. Hackney, C. W. Clark, Colonel Allen, Jesse Lucas, Strother Jones (of Sangamon County), John E. Hoblit (of Atlanta), Mrs. Robert Buckles, Mrs. Robert Burns, Mrs. Carter Scroggins, Mrs. Mc- Graw, Mrs. Julia Keys and others.

Short speeches were made by Colonel William Allen, Judge Ewing, James Randolph, Rev. John England and Fred Joynt, of Logan County; Strother Jones, of Sangamon County, and J. Mc- Graw, of De Witt County. Judge Ewing compared the present with the past, and alluded to the difference between the social life of the early days with our modern social life, and said that when he was a young man there existed more of brotherly feeling and less of selfishness, more of charity and less of personal hates. Said he: " We had more enjoyment in the days of puncheon floors and clapboard doors than we witness among the peo- ple of to-day, who tread upon velvet and recline upon cushioned seats, clothed in purple and fine linen. Life then seemed to be (230)

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more real, more pure. Human kind possessed more goodness; virtue had a higher value, and manhood was set to a higher key." The judge then proceeded to give some good and fatherly advice to the young men. He warned them of extravagance and reckless living; told them they were living too fast, and if not mindful they would bring ruin upon themselves and the country ; and then, addressing the old men, said, "I am convinced of one thing, and that is this, that disaster will come to the State and country if we yield to the prodigality of the present day."

On the stand were two plows, one of the pioneer pattern, made by Rev. John England, and one of modern make. Mr. England, in his speech, compared the two plows and spoke of the progress made during fifty years. He then compared the morals of the pio- neer days with those of our day; then dishonesty and rascality were not so common as we find them to-day; then every movable thing was not placed under lock and key; men had more trust in their fellows than now.

SECOND REUNION.

The second meeting was held at Capps's Park, Mt. Pulaski, Oct. 1, 1874. Addresses in commemoration of old settlers were made by Ezra Boren, Strother Jones, Rev. John England, J. W. Ran- dolph, Colonel Allen, L. P. Matthews, A. W. Clark and Dr. A. Shields, of Sangamon County.

THIRD REUNION.

The third annual meeting of the old settlers of Logan County took place on Thursday, Sept. 23, 1875, at the Salt Creek bridge, on the Lincoln and Mt. Pulaski road. By 11 o'clock the grove was crowded with buggies and family carriages, and the meeting had assumed its intended character-that of a pleasant open-air sociable in which the staple topics of conversation were the deep snow and the events of the subsequent ante-railroad years. A basket dinner followed, and was discussed with old-fashioned sociability and freedom from restraint. Strangers were looked up and made to feel that hospitality was not yet an extinct virtue.

David W. Clark, President of the association, called the scattered groups together, and Rev. John Everly invoked the divine bless- ing. S. Linn Beidler was elected Secretary pro tem. Rev. John England said they were not present to hear fine speeches, but to talk of old times. He wanted one and all to speak. It was desir-

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able that the rising generation should know in what privations and poverty their fathers had laid the foundation of our present pros- perity. The president said it was a social rather than a religious love feast, in which it was desirable that all should take part.

Col. R. B. Latham was called for. The Colonel said he had never attended an old settlers' meeting before, but supposed that reminiscences would be in order. He was a child of one of the first settlers, and came to the county when he was a little over a year old. Fifty-seven years ago not a white person lived in what is now Logan County. Those who were present at this meeting were the children of the pioneers. His father settled at Elkhart Grove in 1819. In February of that year he built a cabin, and his family came on in September. He thought his father's family the first that came to the county, though there were several who came in 1820, and probably James Musick settled on Sugar Creek in the fall of 1819. Mr. Turley and others came soon after. His first recollection of a plow was of one made wholly of wood-a bar share. Next was the Cary plow, the share of which was partly of iron. The principal Indian tribes then in the county were the Pottawatomies and the Delawares, but they soon gave way to the settlers. When his father came they went a mile below Edwards- ville (a distance of over a hundred miles) to mill. In a few years a little mill was put up on the Sangamon. His father erected a horse mill about the year 1822, and it was looked upon as a very important enterprise. Men would come great distances and camp out for a day or two while their grinding was being done. All were neighbors and friends then, and much sociability existed. He thought this was always the case in the settlement of a country. People enjoyed themselves as well as they do now. The early settlers were vigorous, enterprising men. It did him good to meet the friends of his boyhood, especially upon such an occasion as this; hence he was in favor of these gatherings.

Joshua Day responded to a call by saying that he was not a pioneer, though an old settler. He came forty years ago, lacking a month, and he thanked God for it. He landed at Commerce, near Nauvoo, forty-eight years ago, having left Massachusetts when not quite twenty-one years old. Near Nauvoo he saw Black Hawk and over 500 Indians. He took dinner with the chief several times. The year after he came he helped bury two or three of his neighbors. They had no physician. He had only six "bits" when he came, and he shook with the ague nine months. Would

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have gone back but couldn't. Like many others, the impossibility of returning gave him the pluck to endure. Afterward he came to Lake Fork, which they said was a healthier country. He came after the arrival of the Buckles, Lucas, Scroggins and Latham families. John Buckles and others in the assembly before him knew how times were then. When scouring plows came in, one old man stuck to his wooden plow for three years because he thought the new plow " would kill the ground " it turned over so sleek. Mr. Day then described an old-fashioned wedding with it fiddling, dancing and racing for the bottle; the old-fashioned cabin with its wide fire-place, etc.

L. K. Scroggin was called out. He said the previous speakers had left nothing for him to say. His father and mother came to Illinois in 1811, and he was born in the southern part of the State in 1819. He came to Logan County in 1827, and had remained ever since. He thought the young should go on improving the country as their fathers had done for those who, in turn, should follow them. We should not destroy, but build up. The country should go on in its career of development. Fifty years hence this would be one of the greatest countries in the world. He thought the young people of the present time, while they might not en- joy the racing for the bottle, and other rough sports of early days, were quite as happy in their different ways.

J. T. Hackney responded to calls by saying that he could not make a speech. He was not a pioncer, but came to the county forty-one years ago. In 1840 he knew almost all the men in Lo- gan County, when it polled less than 500 votes. In December, 1836, he and one or two others went up to Salt Creek and stopped at the farm where he now lives. The earth was wet from recent rains. Suddenly a cold wind came which almost seemed to whiten the earth in its progress. As they went the ice became thicker and thicker, and the cold more intense, and they were obliged to stop for the night at the house of Alfred Sams. All old settlers remember that sudden and wonderful change of temperature. His father began teaching in 1836 in a log cabin within a hundred yards of where he (the speaker) was now standing. The school- house was called " Brush College."

James Randolph was called out. He said he was not one of the first settlers, but came forty-five years ago, before the winter of the deep snow. He came a small boy in a colony of fifty persons who settled together. There was but one house then from Mrs."

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Cruser's to the county line. They came from a warm country, and the men spent the fall weather in hunting, instead of finishing up their cabins. Only two houses in the colony had chimneys. The snow came about Christmas. It was very hard to travel with borses, and there was no corn nearer than ten miles. They had plenty of meat. By spring forty-nine of the fifty were in the two cabins that had chimneys. Nearly all were sick, but there was only one death during the winter. They had no doctor. A good many of the colony became discouraged and went back. In 1832 his father built a hewed log house, the same one in which William Donnan now lives.

James F. Hyde, of Lincoln, read a poem entitled " The Pioneers." The president said he came to the county in 1841. In 1842 or 1843 he attended an " infare," at which were present Seth Post, Jerome Goren, Anson Packard and Dick Oglesby, all of Decatur. The family lived in a small house, and the guests expected to go to Yankeetown for lodgings, but a rain came up and they were forced to remain and sleep on the floor. He remembered that Oglesby made a pillow of a skillet, which he had turned upside down for the purpose.

At the stand were a few relics representative of early times. One was a piece of old-fashioned strap rail, such as was used on the first railroad. D. W. Clark had a silver spoon made by a brother of his wife's grandmother, and a primitive-looking but substantial two-tined hay fork, once the property of his great- great-grandfather. Mr. Fletcher had a rifle brought from Vir- ginia, and a pair of antlers taken from a buck slain by the gun thirty years before. Some preserved ground-cherries were shown as a sample of what pioneer housewives used to do in sweetmeats.

Mrs. George Turley, aged fifty-two years, was thought to be the oldest living person born in the county.

For the ensuing year D. W. Clark was re-elected President; R. B. Latham, Vice-President; L. K. Scroggin, Treasurer; and S. Linn Beidler, Secretary. It was voted to hold the next reunion at Latham's Park, Lincoln. The following were appointed a com- mittee on arrangements: Frank Fisk, James Coddington, Sylves- ter Strong, John D. Gillett and John Buckles.

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History of Logan County, Illinois, Part 20

Author: Inter-State Publishing Co. Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Number of Pages: 989

Author: Inter-State Publishing Co.
Publication date: 1886
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 989