USA > Illinois > Massac County > History of Massac County, Illinois with life sketches and portraits > Part 6
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Only a few settlers lived here. Wesley Stubbs and fam ily lived near Unionville. John Stubbs killed a deer on Sun- day and John Bennett and George McCormick remarked in Wesley Stubbs' presence that they saw the deer killed, where. upon Wesley, being a justice of the peace, issued a warrant for his kinsman Stubbs for breaking the Sabbath laws. Ben nett and McCormick appeared as witnesses, but were forced to confess that they were also hunting, which accounted for their being in the woods. Each was fined $3.00.
Benjamin Tittsworth and family lived neighbors to Stubbs. Ebenezer Simpson, the leading citizen of the day, lived where New Liberty stood. John H. Smith and Reuben Smith lived near the mouth of "Big Bay."
Ebenezer Simpson was a shoemaker and married a "Weav- er." Daniel McCawley put up the first horse mill in the coun- ty in the Black Bottom. James Kincaid, a good man, was also a resident of the Black Bottom. Abijah ("Bige") Dyer, was the famous pioneer hunter and trapper. Solomon Lytton came soon after my father. His sons, Barnett aud Solomon, are res- idents of Massac county. Reuben King was a pioneer black- smith and lived on the same farm where he died abont five miles northeast of Metropolis. John Dye's father, William, was King's neighbor, also Chester Hankins, and a family named Fox, a relative of Lytton's.
Wesley Stubbs, the justice, was a preacher, I think a Meth- odist. No churches were in the county, and when any one was called to preach a meeting was held at a honse selected for the occasion. John Lamar was an old pioneer reared by a family named Sisk.
My sister, Jemina, married Elijah Smith in 1836, near
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where Brooklyn now is. I obtained the license in Golconda. They were the parents of Judge R. N. Smith.
We had no school houses. My first teacher was a Mr. Has- kins, who taught near the site of New Liberty, 1825. Eli Fletcher, an Indian teacher, also taught in an early day. Num- bers enlisted for the Black Hawk war, but saw no service.
I remember Belgrade had two or three families of bad rep- utation for counterfeiting. Henry Toulsou bought them out. The Turners lived on what is now my farm, and they were counterfeiters.
I was married to Elizabeth Hagar in 1836. Esquire Solo- mon Lytton, Sr., performed the ceremony at my home on the Brooklyn road. I had bought so many marriage licenses of John Raum, the clerk of Pope county, that I told him when I got my own he ought to make a reduction and sure enough he did. By saving my pennies I have managed to do fairly well. Soon after my marriage a free-negro minister, Meth- odist, came to the county. He was a better preacher than the Rev. Stubbs.
HON. T B. HICKS' REMINISCENCES.
My father moved to Metropolis, December, 1842, when there were probably a dozen houses, the most of them log. John H. Wilcox, who owned and operated the ferry; Joseph Becker, Maurice Van, John W. Carmichael, a man named Booth, and a German named Benchi, lived here then. Benchi had three grown sons, James, Thomas and Andrew, and two grown daughters, Rachel and Jane. Benchi kept a small general store. Mr. Wilcox also kept a store in the old brick hotel, built in 1839, and destroyed by the water and storm, 1884. A Mr. Hudson and Mr. Tony also lived here.
Metropolis was laid out as a city April 18, 1839. Paducah was then a small village. Two families lived at Belgrade, three miles above Metropolis on the Ohio river. The heads of both families were widows-Mesdames Rich and Gifford. The latter had two of the prettiest "gals" that ever fished in the Ohio river.
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There was not a two-horse wagon in the county. Ox teams did the hauling and the ox wagons could be heard to squeak two miles. Whatever was bought, no cash was considered in the transaction, but was to be paid in trade at trade rates. An ordinary cow could be bought for $5.00 in trade and the best cow for $8.00 The best horse brought $40, while pork sold at 1 1-2 cents a pound. No wheat was raised. Corn was worth from 10 to 12 cents a bushel. Coffee could be had at 10 cents and sugar was cheap. Eggs brought 3 cents a dozen and but- ter 10 cents a pound. Domestics sold for 25 cents a yard, cal- ico, 15 to 20 cents. Every house had its loom and every house- wife manufactured what the family wore. The largest piece of open farm land contained less than thirty acres. Only one frame house was in the county and stood where Elliott's furni- ture store now stands.
Dr. Padgett was the first physician I remember. Drs. A. M. L. McBane and John Hanna came soon after.
One of the first preachers of this county was D. Lopez, and he was one of the ablest pioneer preachers who ever occupied a pulpit. Thos. L. Garrett of Kentucky, an early Baptist min- ister, father of the Garrett brothers of Paducah, preached one sermon in particular, I distinctly remember. Services were conducted in a frame building where the calaboose now stands. His text was, "Fear not little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." The elder did full justice to the text. The first Methodist preacher I remember was a Rev. Covington.
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CHAPTER IX.
MASSAC COUNTY BAR.
A
MONG those who have practiced law at the bar of Massac county and were non-residents, appear several noted characters.
Willis Allen lived at Benton and Marion. He was the first district attorney. Member of the lower house in the eleventh and of the senate in the fourteenth and fifteenth General Assemblies, and was in the thirty-second and thirty-third Con- gresses. During Buchanan's administration he was United States district attorney and was also circuit judge. He was the father of the Hon. W. J. Allen.
W. J. Allen, son of Willis Allen, enrolling and engrossing clerk seventeenth General Assembly, and a member of the house in the nineteenth. He served in the thirty-seventh and thirty eighth Congresses, was circuit judge, was John A. Lo- gan's law partner, and became noted as a strong attorney in defense. He is a Federal Judge, located at Springfield, Illi- nois.
SKETCH OF THOMAS G. C. DAVIS.
The most distinguished looking man who has ever resided in Metropolis was Thomas G. C. Davis. He was about 5 feet 10 inches in height, with a long body and finely developed neck and chest. He had a head and face like some of the handsom- est of the Roman coins representing a Roman senator. He car- ried with him a dignity well adapted to his personal appear- ance.
His name was Thomas Gustavus Caesar, but he had none of the vanity that sometimes attaches to the name, and never wrote his name in full. He emigrated in the year 1844, when
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he was about 30 years of age, from Mississippi to Illinois. He came into the state with his wife and a small amount of bag- gage in a buggy without a top. He crossed the river and set- tled in Golconda. He was a man of remarkable powers of oratory. Only a few men in Illinois have been as highly en- dowed in that respect as he was. He was a lawyer of ability and also a man of large literary attainments. His talents were soon appreciated. In 1846 he was elected to the state senate, defeating Andrew J. Kuykendall of Vienna. In March, 1847, he was elected a member of the constitutional convention. which met in Springfield on the first Monday in June, 1847, and framed the constitution which was long known as the constitution of 1848, and which remained the constitution of Illinois for twenty-three years. In the meantime he had moved from Golconda to Metropolis and came to be known as the most distinguished advocate in Southern Illinois. In 1850 he became a candidate for Congress. He was a Democrat and claimed that the political management of the district had drift- ed into the influence of a clique and he refused to submit his claims to a convention. The Congressional district then ex- tended from the mouth of Cache river on the Ohio to and in- cluding Marion county on the north. He made a complete canvas of all the district. Great crowds went to hear him and followed him around. The writer heard one man say in speak- ing of Davis: "No man can speak like he does without being endowed from on high." But he found the party machinery too strong for him and the regular nominee of the party was elected. Being a bolter from the regularly organized Demo- cratic party he expected to receive the votes of all disaffected Democrats, and of all persons who could be lured or enticed by his oratory and by the entire vote of the Whig party, which was only a small party in Southern Illinois. But some of the Whigs refused to vote for him because he was an expansionist. The question of the propriety of our acquisition of territory from Mexico was discussed in all political meetings in those days. The Democrats were then all for expansion-both the members of the regularly organized Democratic party and also the bolters from that party. Davis was defeated for Congress
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and then removed to Paducah. He afterwards removed to St. Louis and practiced law and died a few years ago in Texas .- Hon. W. H. Green.
"WILL THE SHERIFF CALL MR. PFRIMMER?"
It is related of him (Davis) that he was never at a loss to supply a missing link in the chain of testimony wherein his client had a personal interest. There resided in the place (Me- tropolis) a gentleman whose name was S. H. Pfrimmer, well known in that section as a good citizen, but a man who man- aged to know a great deal about other people's business, and by the way, a personal friend of Mr. Davis. On occasions when the missing link was needed, Mr. Davis would rise to his feet and cast a searching glance around the court room for his wit- ness, and not seeing him, would vociferate, "Will the sheriff call Mr. Pfrimmer?" The habit was so frequent that "Will the Sheriff call Mr. Pfrimmer," became a by-word about the court room and Mr. Pfrimmer was made the subject of many a pleas- ant jest .- Lusk's Politics and Politicians of Illinois.
William A. Denning was state's attorney for the district and became an associate justice of the supreme court. Benton was his home.
S. S. Marshall was district attorney, lived at McLeansboro and served in the thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth, thirty ninth, for- tieth, forty-first, forty-second and forty-third Congresses. He is by many considered the greatest lawyer of his day in South- ern Illinois.
W. K. Parrish, who was district attorney, succeeded Judge Denning on the bench. His home was Benton, but later at Du Quoin, where he died.
John A. Logan, who lived at Murphysboro, Benton, Marion and Carbondale, was an early district attorney, practicing at the Massac county bar. His life's record is known to all.
R. S. Nelson was one of the first resident attorneys, com- ing from Mount Vernon, who later moved to Centralia, and died of apoplexy while attending the Mount Vernon court.
Benjamin J. Delavan was the first attorney admitted in Massac county. He was an early teacher, and became county
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judge. He is the father of Mrs. R. G. B. McKee and Fannie Delavan, a teacher.
John B. Hicks, first circuit clerk and master-in-chancery of Massac county, was a licensed attorney.
Theodore B. Hicks, his son, was early trained for the legal profession and was a promising attorney.
W. H. Green was a teacher, read law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced for a number of years as a resident attor- ney of Massac county. Later he removed to Cairo, Ill., where he yet resides, an active practitioner. Mr. Green was elected to the thirty-first and thirty-second General Assemblies as a member of the lower house, and to the senate in the thirty- third and thirty-fourth. He was also circuit judge, and has been district attorney for the Illinois Central railroad for years. Today he has no peer at the bar of Southern Illinois.
John C. Mulkey, born April 24, 1824, and yet living at Me- tropolis, taught school at Benton, Ill., studied law and was ad- mitted to practice in Williamson county. He was a sergeant, and then lieutenant in the Mexican war. Later he was twice elected judge of the "Court of Common Pleas," of Cairo, then circuit judge, and resigned because it interfered with an ex- tensive practice. His crowning honor was an election to the Supreme Court of Illinois, where his learned and wise decis- ions prove his exceptional legal talent and attainments.
Isaac Armstrong came to Metropolis from Ohio as a "cir- cuit rider," and later practiced law. He was in many respects a brilliant fellow. Before his death he re-entered the ministry and died at Newton, Illinois. Hal. Armstrong, his son, who died here was also considered a brilliant young man.
Jedediah Jack, who came from Vienna, was an able lawyer. He defended Decatur Campbell. He was killed where the power house now stands, and lies in the Kidd graveyard.
Richard Brown came from the South and in the civil war attempted to recruit for the Confederacy, but failed. He crossed the river and is said to have entered the rebel army.
Thomas H. Smith came from Golconda and was a partner of W. H. Green. He was lieutenant colonel of the Forty-eighth Illinois Regiment. At the capture of Fort Donaldson he was
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killed. His memory is perpetuated in the ''Tom Smith" post Grand Army of the Republic. He was noted for his bravery.
G. W. Neeley also practiced here. In the civil war he be- came Colonel Neeley of the 131st Regiment Illinois Volunteers. After the war he became district attorney and shortly died.
Manning Mayfield was licensed, but never practiced. A. M. L. McBane was also licensed, and is now a resident of Shaw- neetown.
Edward M. McMahan also entered the practice and be- came county judge, dying here.
W. J. Yost came from Alexander county and died here after years of practice.
R. W. McCartney studied law in Metropolis, was admit- ted to the bar, became county judge, state's attorney, member of the legislature, and circuit julge. His sketch is given else- where.
John W. Peter, son of Colonel R. A. Peter, was a practic- ing attorney, and state's attorney. He is now in Washington State.
Capt. John R. Thomas began the practice of law here, was state's attorney, Congressman for ten years, and is now a Unit- ed States Federal Judge in the Indian Territory.
Capt. J. F. McCartney came to Metropolis as principal teacher, when the city schools had three teachers. He was admitted to the bar here, founded the first Republican news- paper, the "Promulgator," was district attorney, president of the First National Bank, and founder of the National State bank, of which he is president and which receives most of his attention. He has been a very active practitioner.
Robert A. Davisson graduated from the Colombian Law school in Washington City, and practiced law in Metropolis from 1894 to 1897, when he died. He was also master-in- chancery.
"Brim." Pillow, as he was called, was an early practitioner, captain of the "Regulators," a soldier in the Mexican war, and captain in the 120th Illinois. He later moved to Shawnee- town, becoming a useful and leading citizen.
Present bar -- The firms of Courtney & Helm, composed of
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Messrs. J. C. Courtney and D. W. Helm; Sawyer & Evans, con- sisting of George Sawyer, county judge, and H. A. Evans; those not in any firms are Messrs. B. O. Jones, C. L. V. Mulkey, L. P. Oakes, F. R. Young, S. Bartlett Kerr and C. M. Fouts. Robert L. Nuckolls was until lately a member, but joined the Methodist conference and entered McKendree college with the ministry in view. This bar ranks with the best in Southern Illinois and comprises a genteel, dignified group of men.
DECATUR CAMPBELL CASE.
Strange as it may seem, the ordinance of 1787 and subse quent efforts did not prevent slavery in Illinois. In 1840, the census showed 331 slaves. In 1850 slavery had become extinct except by indenture.
Living in Massac county during the '50's was a negro named Decatur Campbell. One night several white men, among them Goodwin Parker, called at Campbell's cabin door, as they claimed, to inflict a good sound beating. Their reason for this was a difficulty between Campbell and Parker at a house raising a few days before in which Campbell struck Par- ker with a spike. When addressed from without Campbell rushed out of the door and passed Parker, who later caught the negro. Others came up and it seems that in an effort to kill the negro some member of the party fatally stabbed Parker.
Campbell was tried at the April term of the Massac county circuit court before Judge Parrish. John A. Logan was state's attorney. Jedediah Jack defended Campbell by appointment. The jury rendered a verdict of "guilty of manslaughter," and the judge fixed the sentence at eight years in the penitentiary.
On a writ of error, the case was taken to the Supreme court and Judge Caton delivered the decision found in the six- teenth volume of Illinois Reports, page 16. The importance of the case lies in the following principles of law being deter- mined thereby :
1. The right of self-defense against actual or apparently imminent danger.
2. Proof that one of several men are guilty-acquits all.
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3. The law makes no distinction as to color in a trial for murder.
In each of these cases the court had erred and also in the exclusion of positive evidence that Parker had made positive threats of violence upon the body of Campbell, because they had not been delivered. The case was reversed.
Campbell was released from the penitentiary and a change of venue taken on the rehearing to Pulaski county. The de- fendant afterwards had the case returned to the Massac county circuit court. His counsel, Jack, died, the case never again came to trial and later Campbell became a preacher.
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CHAPTER X.
REGULATORS AND FLATHEADS.
J UDGE Wesley Sloan tells us in his reminiscences of Pope county, that about 1797 Cave-in-Rock was the rendezvous of the Mason band of outlaws, who plundered flatboats and murdered their crews. In 1831 the Sturdevant gang of horse thieves, bur- glars, robbers and counterfeiters, who had built a fort in the upper end of the county, were attacked by the Regulators armed with small arms and one cannon. One Regulator and three outlaws were killed there. Most of the outlaws were cap- tured, but never punished. In 1843, Henry Sides, who was appointed administrator of the estate of a Mr. Dabbs, was killed by the "Hite Green" gang and robbed of $2,500 in silver. Money held in trust for free negroes, to whom Dabbs had not only given their freedom, but his property also. They served eight years in the penitentiary for this crime.
When Massac county was organized in 1843, lawlessness existed more or less and even to a great degree handicapped the courts. Every newcomer was quietly informed to keep "hands off." Of the thirty-two cases on the first criminal docket most of them are indictments for counterfeiting in one way or another, and one conviction only was made.
Irrespective of political affiliation the people divided into what were known as the Flatheads and Regulators, whose en- mity grew more and more bitter until in 1844 or 1845, a battle was fought on what was known as Cheatem Lynn's farm, re- sulting in the death of three men, Messrs. Davisson, Kennedy
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and Taylor. In 1846 another fight occurred, at the old brick hotel in Metropolis, Ill., which had been built by Wilcox, and one man was wounded.
Excitement ran high and 200 militia were sent. The legis- lature created a special court to convene at Benton, with juris- diction over the cases arising out of the trouble, which was finally brought to a close.
This is the saddest page of Massac county history and be- cause of its intricate social bearing upon our county's other- wise "good name" we hope to be pardoned for these general statements in which we do not seek to revive an almost for- gotten event, that it is better to cover with the cloak of charity and consign to oblivion's tomb.
MOBS.
During the civil war several horses were stolen and sold to government officers. James Dallam, who owned what is now the Mulkey farm, lost a horse, and J. T. Taylor recovered the ani- mal of a government agent in Saline county, to whom the thief had sold it. William Hancock, the thief, was caught and hung to the limb of a hickory tree at the crossing of the Upper Golconda and Brooklyn roads about two miles from Brooklyn.
Two desperate characters named Bell and Purdy, stole some horses in Kentucky, killed a man aud were forced across the Ohio river at Metropolis, swimming the stream on horse- back. When in Metropolis they immediately set about paint- ing the town "red," as they claimed, fired promiscuously, drove the citizens off the streets, and fired through the window at Mr. Davis, the city marshal. Being informed of preparations to arrest them they fled into the country. About seven miles out they were caught and hanged to a post oak tree standing a few years ago on the Gowan farm.
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.CHAPTER XI.
NEWSPAPERS.
T
HE early newspaper adventures were neither profit. able or permanent. A Mr. Wood, son-in-law of John B. Hicks, founded a pioneer paper, which was later succeeded by another, published by a druggist named Duncan.
D. W. Lusk in the latter "50's" founded "The Sentinel," which from a regularly published sheet, dwindled into a semi-occasional newspaper under the editorial management of Edward Mc- Mahon who purchased it, and went to war. Lusk went to Shawneetown and established The Mercury, thence to Pekin and later published his book, "Polities and Politicians of Illinois." In 1864 Henry Laughlin purchased 'The Sentinel" outfit, revived the paper for a short while, sold out and the office material was moved away. These were democratic.
In August, 1865, Capt. J. F. McCartney came home from the war and found no newspaper. He paid $1,500 cash for an outfit at Mound City, brought it to Metropolis, founded the "Promulgator," a radical Republican organ, which succeeded from the first because of its outspoken sentiments. Becom- ing district attorney he sold the office to Benjamin O. Jones in 1870, after five years' service. In 1872, A. J. Alden bought a half interest with Mr. Jones, introduced new printing ma- terial, shipped other material to Mound City, and issued the "Pulaski Patriot." When Alden was admitted the name was changed to "Massac Journal" from "Promulgator."
Alden sold his interest in the Pulaski Patriot to Jones in
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MASSAC COUNTY.
1873 and also his interest in the Journal. Dr. Waggoner im- mediately bought the "Patriot" and Jones continued in charge of the Journal, until he later sold an half interest to R. W. Mc- Cartney, with whom Mr. Jones was reading law.
R. A. Davisson and Walter Moreland, then a practical printer, took charge. Moreland later dropped out and Ed Melone in 1884 associated with Davisson. W. H. Hines suc- ceeded them and in January, 1888, the firm became Hines & Starkes. In May, 1892, A. N. Starkes bought out Hines, and continued the publication of the Massac Journal as sole pro- prietor until August, 1892, when it was consolidated with the Republican, and called the "Massac Journal-Republican," pub- lished by A. N. Starkes & Co., composed of A. N. Starkes and P. H. Norris, the latter having purchased the Republican early in 1892 of D. R. Pryor, its founder, 1890.
Mr. Norris retired in August, 1896, and sold his half in- terest to Mr. Starkes, who sold the office later to the Journal Printing Company, April 17, 1897, O. J. Page, editor and man- ager. In the fall of 1897 O. J. Page became sole proprietor and continued so until May, 1899, when G. C. Harner purchased an half interest and Page & Harner conducted the business until August, 1900, when Page sold his half interest to W. H. Miller. The office is now conducted by the firm of Harner & Miller, Page having purchased the Leader, Marion, Williamson coun- ty, Ill.
In 1867 W. J. Ward began the publication of "The Times," and in 1869 sold it to W. A. MeBane, who increased its size from a four column to a six column folio, all home print. Cap- tain J. F. McCartney purchased "The Times" of MeBane and changed the politics from Democratic to "Independent," edit- ing the same seven years, when he sold it to A. K. Vickers, who removed the material to Vienna, Ill., after publishing the same in Metropolis for some time. "The Vienna Times" is the legal successor.
Hal. Armstrong, about 1877, began the publication of "The Democrat," but it failed to survive. J. D. Stewart & Co., with F. A. Trausdale, editor, began the publication of "The Metropo- lis Democrat," 1878, continuing until 1892, when Mr. Stewart
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HISTORY OF
retired, leaving Trausdale editor and publisher. In January, 1899, A. N. Starkes purchased "The Metropolis Democrat" of Mr. Trausdale and converted it into an independent paper. "The Herald."
The newspapers have gradually increased in size and typ- ographical neatness from small folios to six column quartos. Dailies have frequently been plunged upon the journalistic sea, but have been sunken by the winds of non-support. "The Evening Herald," a five-column folio, two sides patent, is be- ing issued by the Herald Printing Co., and is in its second year.
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