History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 21

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 21

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George A. Wood, lawyer, office corner Wash- ington and Sixth streets, is the youngest of a family of six children, three of each sex, of Adolphus Wood and Catharine Carpenter, and was born in January, 1858, in Springfield, San- gamon county, Illinois. Adolphus Wood was a native of York State, came to Sangamon county in an early day, married Miss Carpenter, who was born in Sangamon county iu 1820-her parents, William and Margaret Carpenter having settled here that year. Mr. Wood died January 12, 1861. His widow still survives and resides in Springfield. The subject of this article hav- ing completed a course in the city schools, at- tended the law department of Michigan State University, from which he graduated in 1877, and was admitted to practice in that State the same year. Spent a year in Chicago, was ad- mitted to the Bar of Illinois in 1878, and at once opened a law office in Springfield where he

has since been actively engaged in his pro- fession.

Thomas Sterling, City Attorney, and member of the law firm of Sterling & Grout, was born in Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, February 21, 1851; is the son of Charles and Anna (Kes- lar) Sterling, natives of Ohio. They moved to McLean county, Illinois, in 1855, which is still their home. Thomas was graduated from Wes- leyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, in June, 1875. While teaching as Principal of the schools of Bement, Illinois, in 1875-6, he read law in the office of Judge W. G. Cloyd; came to Springfield, June 1, 1877, and entered the law office of Ilay, Greene & Littler; was admitted June 11, 1878, and commenced practice of his profession in company with his present partner, J. M. Grout. In April, 1881, Mr. Sterling was elected City Attorney on the Republican and Citizens' tickets. He married Miss Anna Dunn, of Bement, Illinois, in October, 1877. He is a Master Mason in St. Paul's Lodge No. 500.

Joseph M. Grout, Attorney and Counselor at Law, corner Washington and Sixth streets, is one of two sons of Joseph M. Grout, a native of Massachusetts, and Priscilla Thompson of Ken- tucky, and was born near Mechanicsburg, San- gamon county, Illinois, in 1855. Joseph M. Grout, Sr., was one of the pioneer Presbyterian clergymen in Sangamon county, and died of the cholera in 1855, before the subject of this sketch was born, and his mother died when he was but ten weeks old. He was taken by an uncle to Massachusetts, where the first eight years of his life were passed. Returning to Illinois, he was graduated from Illinois College, in Jacksonville, in the class of 1876; came immediately to Springfield and commenced the study of law in the office of Ilay, Green & Littler; was admitted to the Bar in 1878, and in the fall of that year entered into co-partnership with Thomas Ster- ling, his present partner, with whom he read law, and was admitted in the same class. Mr. Grout is Republican in politics, but has never been a candidate for any office. He was united in matrimony with Miss Flora Grubb, of Spring- field, in 1879.

William Henry Colby, Lawyer, of the firm of Herndon & Colby, was born in Orange county, New York, September 14, 1849. James Colby, his father, moved his family to Illinois and settled near Chicago the same year of William's birth. His father died there in 1858, and his mother in 1863. William came to Springfield in March, 1863, with a single suit of clothes and twenty-five cents in his pocket, which he paid

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for his night's lodging, retiring supperless. He sought and obtained employment with George Bergen, a farmer near the city, for whom he worked nine years, the first eight months at $6 per month, which was increased in after years to $25 per month. Prior to beginning the practice of law, he leased and carried on a part of Mr. Bergen's farm. At the age of twenty-five years, he married Henrietta Cantrall, of Sangamon county. Hle commenced reading law in the office of Pat- ton & Lanphier in January, 1876, and was admitted in January, 1878, in the class with his present partner, William F. Herndon. They were schoolmates and law students together. Mr. and Mrs. Colby have two children, Charles P., five years of age, and Henrietta, three years old.

William F. Herndon was born in DeWitt county, Illinois, in 1848; is the eldest of three sons and five daughters of Archer G. Herndon; was educated chiefly in Springfield; taught school about ten years; read law in the office of Cullom. Scholes & Mather in 1875 and 1876; was admitted to the Bar in January, 1878, and has since been in practice in Springfield.

In September, 1871, he married Mary H. Bryant, of Sangamon county, who has borne him one son, Edgar B. Mr. Herndon's parents have resided in Rochester township, Sangamon county, many years.

Henry B. Kane was born in Springfield, Illi- nois, January 17, 1855. His father, Elder A. J. Kane, is one of the oldest ministers of the Christian Church, in this county. His mother is the daughter of Philo and Martha (Stillman) Beers, supposed to be the first couple married in the county. Mr. Kane graduated in the Spring- field High School, in 1872. In 1873, he was ap- pointed one of the mail carriers in the city, and served three and a half years, and on account of ill-health resigned. He read law during that time, utilizing his spare hours for that purpose, and in January, 1878, was admitted to the Bar. He then entered the office of N. W. Branson, Register in Bankruptcy, as his deputy, and re- mained with him until the law was repealed about a year after. . Subsequently he formed a partnership with HI. H. Rogers, in the practice of law, which continued until he was elected Justice of the Peace, in 1881.

Frank H. Jones was born in Pike county, Illi- nois, in 1854, and is the son of George M. Jones, Clerk of the Appellate Court, in Springfield. He entered Yale College in 1871 and graduated in the class of 1875. Returning to Pike county, he read law one year in Pittsfield, then spent a

year in the Law Department of Columbia Col- lege, and a year in the Chicago Law School. He was admitted to the Bar in the spring of 1878, and immediately opened an office in Pittsfield, where he remained one year, and then came to Springfield.

John A. Chestnut, attorney and Justice of the Peace, was born in Kentucky, in January, 1816. James Chestnut, his father, was a native of South Carolina, of Irish descent, and married Elizabeth Stevenson, a North Carolina lady. They settled near Waverly, Morgan county, Illinois, in 1826, where Mr. Chestnut died in 1849, and his widow in 1833. John was princi- pally educated in the common schools of Ken- tucky; read law in the office of P. H. Winchester, Carlinville, Illinois, and was admitted in Decem- ber, 1837, to practice in the Illinois Supreme Court, and in 1841, to the United States Courts. He practiced in Carlinville from 1837 till 1855, Governor John M. Palmer being his chief com- petitor. He then abandoned the law, and en- gaged in the real estate and banking business in that place, which proved so successful that he retired in a few years with a comfortable com- petence, and came to Springfield. Here Mr. Chestnut made some investments in real estate that proved unprofitable, and he lost consider- able. In 1867, he was made cashier of the Springfield Savings Bank, holding the position till May, 1872. After spending a year in the office of Stuart, Edwards & Brown, he opened a law office and resumed practice in 1879. In the spring of 1851, he was elected Justice on the Republican and Reform tickets. From 1838 to 1850, he filled the office of County Clerk in Ma- coupin county; was three times nominated on the old Whig ticket for the legislature, but the party being in the minority, failed to elect their candidate. lIe declined the nomination for Con- gress in 1860. Mr. Chestnut has been twice married, first to Sarah A. Blair, of Greene county, Illinois, in 1844, who died; and in 1854 he mar- ried Kate N. Corbett, of Jersey county. He has one daughter, Leonora, by the first marriage, now Mrs. Tingley S. Wood, of Leadville, Colo- rado. Mr. C. is a member of the M. E. Church.

Thomas J. Thompson, Justice of the Peace and Attorney-at-law, is the son of John and Margaret Thompson, nee Coleman, of Irish nativity, and was born in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, in 1853. During his childhood they moved to Dayton, Ohio, where Thomas at- tended the publie school, after which he took a course in Williams College, Massachusetts, grad- uating in the class of 1874. He taught as Prin-

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

cipal of the Williamstown Academy one year; then returning to Ohio, read law in the office of Samuel A. Brown, of Springfield. He came to Springfield, Illinois, in December 1878, and was admitted to the Bar in the spring of 1879, since which time he has divided his attention between professional practice and stenographic reporting of court proceedings, until elected Justice in the spring of 1881, on the combined vote of the Citi- zen's and Democratic tickets. Mr. Thompson served as Secretary of the Democratie State Central Committee during the political cam- paign of 1880. When a lad in school, young Thompson received an injury through the rough conduct of a fellow pupil, which rendered him a permanent cripple, resulting in the shortening of the right leg some three inches. He posseses adaptation both by nature and culture for the legal profession, and gives promise of a success- ful career at the Bar.

Winfield S. Collins, lawyer, is the son of Horace W. Collins, a native of Champaign county, Ohio, and Julia E. Sattley, born in San- gamon county, Illinois. Her father, Robert H. Sattley, settled in the county in a very early day. The subject of this sketch was born in Cham- paign county, Ohio, March 30, 1848. In 1855 his parents moved to Johnson county, Iowa, where he labored on the farm till twenty-one years of age, then set about earning means with which to obtain a more complete education. He taught school twelve terms; took a course in Iowa Agricultural College, from which he was graduated in civil engineering in the class of 1876, with distinguished honors as a dranghtsman, having won the prize for the finest piece of me- chanical drawing at a State exhibition. In the spring of 1877, Mr. Collins came to Springfield, Illinois, read law with Robert L. McGuire and was admitted to practice in the courts, in May, 1879. He immediately opened an office in the city, and began the business of his profession. June 1. 1881, he formed a partnership with Martin Sprague, which still continues.

William A. Vincent is a native of West Vir- ginia, and came to Sangamon county with his parents in 1868. He received a literary educa- tion in the Ohio Wesleyan University, and grad- uated from the Law Department of Columbia College, New Jersey, in May, 1879. Returning to Springfield the same month, he passed an ex- amination before the Supreme Court of this State, and at once commenced the practice of his profession in Springfield.

Jersey, in 1877; read law in Chicago, and was admitted to the Bar in the fall of 1879, and has since been in active practice in Springfield.

Alexander HI. Robertson is a native of Ken- tucky and a graduate in both the Literary and Law Departments of Transylvania University, in that State. His father was George Robert- son, for many years Chief Justice of the Su- preme Court of Kentucky, and Professor in the Law Department of Transylvania University, and acknowledged as one of the ablest lawyers of his time in that State. In 1853 Alexander came to Illinois and located in Jacksonville, in the practice of his profession. Subsequently he returned to Kentucky, where he remained until 1862, during that time serving as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, of Lexington, to which office he was elected shortly after his return. Coming back to Illinois, he remained for a time and again returned to Kentucky to look after his interests in that State. In 1879 he came to Springfield, and at once became an active mem- ber of the Sangamon County Bar. Judge Rob- ertson, during the civil war, was a decided Union man, and incurred many of the perils and disadvantages without any of its benefits. His father was also outspoken, with tongue and pen, in defense of the Union against secession. On coming to Springfield, Judge Robertson formed a partnership with R. W. Maxwell, which still continues.

William T. Houston was born in Sangamon county, his parents moving here in 1828. He read law with John B. Jones, Taylorville, Chris- tian county, and was admitted to the Bar in 1878. In the fall of 1880, he came to Springfield and opened an office. He served in the army as a member of the 114th Illinois Infantry.

Albert Salzenstein, of the firm of McGuire, Hamilton & Salzenstein, is a native of Sanga- mon county. After graduating in the Spring- field High School in 1876, he was Assistant Clerk of the Supreme Court about eighteen months, at the same time pursuing the reading of law. He then entered the office of L. F. Hamilton, and continued his studies. He passed examina- tion before the Supreme Court in July, 1880, but being a minor, he could not be admitted. In September following, he attained his majority, and opened an office in Springfield. In April, 1881, he was admitted a member of the present firm.

Frank R. Williams, of the firm of Sanders & Williams, is a native of New York, and was educated in Cazinovia Seminary, in that State.

Larue Vredenburgh was born in Springfield in 1855, graduated from Rutger's College, New | He afterwards entered the law department of

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Michigan University, and graduated in 1880. He was admitted to the Bar the previous Janu- ary, and came to Springfield and commenced practice. The firm was formed January 1, 1881.

Noah H. Turner comes of good old Irish an- cestry and a long-lived race, and was born in Sangamon county. He read law with L. F. Hamilton, and was admitted to the Bar in 1880. He formed his present partnership with George W. Murray in April, 1881.

Edwin C. Haynie, son of the late Adjutant- General Haynie and Elizabeth (Cooper) Haynie, was born in Salem, Marion county, Illinois, June 27, 1856. He is a graduate of the Springfield High School, of the class of 1873; Phillips' Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, with the class of 1875; Yale College, New Haven, Con- necticut, in the class of 1879; Yale Law School, in 1881. On graduating, he secured a license to practice, and is now a member of the Bar of Sangamon county. Mr. Haynie was married in New Haven, Connecticut, September 14, 1881, to Minnie Pierpont Hall, daughter of Lucius W. Hall, a prominent merchant of that city, and Elizabeth (Shepherd) Hall, both natives of Con- necticut. Mrs. Haynie is a graduate of a class- ical institute of Philadelphia, in the class of 1877.

Walter B. Wines was born in Boston, Massa- chusetts, October 10, 1848. He is the son of Enoch C. and Emma S. Wines, natives of New Jersey and New York respectively. He entered Williston Seminary, East Hampton, Massachu- setts, at an early age, preparatory to a course in Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, in which institution he graduated in the classical course. After graduating at Middlebury Col- lege, he entered the Law Department of Colum- bia College, in New York, and graduated in the class of 1871. In March, 1871, he was admitted to the Bar, and commenced practice in New York city, where he continued until March, 1879, when he moved to Springfield and became iden- titied with the Bar of Sangamon county. At present he is the Special Agent of the United States Census Office.

Walter B. Wines and Annie E. Thornton, of New York, were married March 16, 1869. Mrs. Wines is the daughter of Isaac and Bridget (Harrington) Thornton, the former a native of England and the latter of Ireland. Three children have been born unto them-Annie Ger- trude, Walter Enoch and Edith Mary. Mrs. Wines was educated in the convent in Burling- ton, Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Wines are mem- bers of the Catholic Church.

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

CHAPTER VII.

THE FISHIER MURDER CASE.

It has become a proverb that "truth is stran- ger than fiction." This was never more fully verified than in the events here related, concern- ing three brothers, who became victims to one of the most remarkable cases of circumstantial evidence on record. William, Henry and Archi- bald Trayler, were each born in Greene county, Kentucky, and who came to Illinois about the year 1829. William settled near Greenbush, Warren county, about one hundred miles north- west of Springfield. Henry settled at Clary's Grove, Menard county, but which was then a part of Sangamon county. Archibald settled in Springfield, and engaged in business as a car- penter and builder. He owned a lot on the cor- ner of Adams and Third streets, and built thereon a dwelling house. Being a bachelor, he rented the house to his partner, Mr. Myers, and boarded with him. The three brothers were each sober, industrious and retiring men, there being noth- ing in their actions that would give rise to any remarks, or a suspicion that they would be guilty of any wrong-doing.

Archibald Fisher, a man about fifty years of age; taught school in Monmouth, Warren county, and vicinity. When not regularly employed in teaching, he worked at odd jobs, living in the families of those who employed him. Ile was unmarried, economical, and had saved up a few hundred dollars, and, at the beginning of the events here related, he was boarding at the house of William Trayler.

Desiring to enter some land, Mr. Fisher, in company with Mr. Trayler, started together for Springfield, arriving at the house of Henry Trayler on Sunday evening. The next morning, all three came to Springfield, arriving there about noon, Monday, June 1, 1841, and stopped at the house where Archibald Trayler boarded. After dinner the three brothers and Fisher left the boarding house, in company, for the purpose of looking about the town. At supper time the

three brothers returned, but Fisher, having step- ped aside as they were passing along a foot-path among the trees in the northwestern part of the city, did not appear. After supper, all the oth- ers went in search of him. One by one they returned as night approached, but with no tidings of Fisher. The next morning the search was continued, but up to noon was still unsuc- cessful.

William and Henry, having expected to leave early that morning, expressed their intention of abandoning the search and returning home. This was objected to by Archibald and those boarding with him at Mrs. Myers', as it would leave Fisher without any means of conveyance. They, therefore, continued the search the re- mainder of the day; but at night, William, who evidently was greatly disappointed at being de- tained so long, unknown to Archibald, hitched up his buggy and started home. Missing him, and learning what had been done, Archibald followed him on foot, and overtook him just as he was entering the water at Hickox's mill, on Spring creek, near where the Ohio & Mississippi railroad now crosses. Remonstrating with him against going home before the mystery was cleared up, William turned 'round in the water, and they both returned to Springfield. Notwith- standing all this, William and llenry started home the next day.

Up to this time, the mysterious disappearance had attracted but little attention. Three or four days later, Henry returned to Springfield for the purpose of continuing the search, and with his brother Archibald, and some of the boarders, another day was spent in the search, but with- out avail, when Henry concluded to cease fur- ther efforts.

On Friday, June 12, James W. Keyes, the Postmaster at Springfield, received a letter from Mr. Tice, postmaster at Greenbush, Warren county, stating that William Trayler had re-

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turned home, and was circulating the report that Fisher was dead, and boasting that he had willed his money to him, and that he had gained about fifteen hundred dollars by it-a much larger sum than Fisher was supposed to possess. Mr. Tice requested the Springfield postmaster to give him all the information on the subject that he could. The contents of that letter were made public, and the excitement became wide- spread and intense. Springfield had now a pop- ulation of about two thousand, and had the year previous adopted a city charter. William L. May was Mayor, and together with Josiah Lam- born, Attorney-General of the State, headed the movement to ferret out the mystery. A large company was raised and formed into squads and marched about in every direction, so as to leave no spot unsearched. Examinations were made of wells and every conceivable place where a body might be concealed.

In the search, a club was found with some hair attached to it. and it was confidently believed that the murder had been committed with that weapon, but it was afterwards demonstrated that the hair was from a cow. This search was continued until Saturday afternoon, when it was determined to arrest William and Henry Tray- ler, and officers started for them on Sunday morning. Henry, being nearest, was brought to Springfield on Monday. The Mayor and Attorney-General took him in hand, and used every device to elicit information of the sup- posed murder, but he protested his innocence of any knowledge on the subject. He was re- minded that the circumstantial evidence was so strong that he, with his two brothers, would certainly all be hung, and that the only chance to save his own life was for him to become a witness on the part of the State. He withstood all the pressure until Wednesday, the seven- teenth of the month, when, protesting his own innocence. he stated that his brothers, William and Archibald, without bis knowledge at the time, had murdered Fisher, by hanging him to a tree; that they had temporarily concealed the body; that immediately preceding the departure of himself and William from Springfield, on the second or third of June, William and Archie communicated the fact to him, and engaged his assistance in making a permanent concealment of the body; that at the time he and William left, ostensibly for home, they did not take the direct road, but, wending their way through the streets, entered the woods at the northwest of the city, and that on approaching, where the body was concealed, he was placed as a sentinel. |

He then entered into a minute description of the murder, going into the smallest details. He said that his brothers entered a thicket of underbrush, where the body was concealed, placed it in the buggy, moved off with it in the direction of Hickox mill-pond on Spring creek, and soon after returned, saying they had put it in a safe place; that Archibald went back to town, and that William and himself found their way to the road, and proceeded to their homes.

Until that disclosure was made, the character of Archibald was such as to repel all suspicion of his complicity in the matter, but he was at once arrested and hurried to jail, which was probably the best thing that could have been done for him, for he was in great personal danger from the infuriated populace. Search then commenced anew for the body. The thieket was found, and indications of a struggle under a small tree, bent over as though the hanging might have been done there. A trail was also visible, as though a body had been dragged to where the tracks of a buggy were to be seen, tending in the direction of the mill pond, pre- viously spoken of, but could not be traced all the way. At the pond, however, it was found that a buggy had been down into the water and came out again. Hundreds of men were en- gaged in dragging and fishing for the body. Becoming impatient, the dan was cut down on Thursday morning, the eighteenth of June, and the water drawn off, but no body found.

About noon that day the officers, who had gone to arrest William Trayler, returned with him in custody, accompanied by a gentleman who called himself Dr. Gilmore. Then it was ascertained that William Trayler had been ar- rested at his own house, on Thursday the six- teenth of the month, and started for Springfield, stopping at Lewiston, Fulton county, for the night. Late in the night Dr. Gilmore arrived there and told the officers that Fisher was alive and at his house; that he had followed them to give the information so that the prisoner might be released without further trouble. The deputy sheriff-James Maxcy-very properly refused to release him on the word of an entire stranger, and they continued their journey to Springfield.

Dr. Gilmore told the officers that when he heard of the arrest of William Trayler for the murder of Fisher, he was a few miles from home; that when he returned to his own house he found Fisher there; that he would have taken Fisher with him in pursuit of the officers with the prisoner, but that the state of Fisher's health would not admit of it. The doctor fur-

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History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 21

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084