History of White County Illinois, Part 17

Author: Inter-State Publishing Company
Publication date: 1883
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 831

USA > Illinois > White County > History of White County Illinois > Part 17

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Judge Martin has always been a Jacksonian Democrat, steady in his principles and prompt to his word. He has been a public benefactor in more ways than one, sacrificing much of his time and money. He has been the leading man in White County to pro- cure the building of the first railroad through the same. Besides, he has been a man of singular misfortune, having lost three sons by drowning. Thomas J., his eldest son, and Samuel H., his third, were drowned in the Big Wabash River, opposite Grayville, June 20, 1865, at the ages of sixteen and ton respectively. Thomas J. was drowned in the act of rescuing the younger brother. Again, June 14, 1873, the second son, Franklin Pierce, a young man twenty

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years of age, was drowned in the Little Wabash River, at the mill- dam in Carmi. The two elder sons were young men of great promise, and their death was a great loss to the community. At the time of the accidents, Thomas was at home on a vacation, from a school he was attending in Philadelphia, and Franklin was a writer in the county clerk's office.

Judge Martin was married June 25, 1846, to Mary Jane Hughes, of Grayville, and a native of Philadelphia; and of their seven children the following four are living-Margaret Catharine, the wife of Leroy L. Staley, Sheriff of White County; Charles Henry, a cadet at West Point; Cordelia and Willie, at home.

Leroy L. Staley was born in this county near Carmi, Jan. 6, 1851, and is a son of G. S. Staley. one of White County's most prominent citizens, of whom a sketch will be found in another de- partment of this book. He made his home with his father till he was twenty-one years of age, and with him learned the miller's trade. After leaving home he went to Phillipstown and there ran the steam grist-mills about six months. He then returned to Carini and operated his father's mill some five years, and then engaged in the grocery and provision business about three years. His first political fight for himself was when he was only a little past twenty; he was elected Mayor of Carmi. His opponents were John D. Martin and Dr. Cook; but he had a combined vote of fifty-six over the two. Mr. Staley served as Mayor two years, then ran for Sheriff. but was beaten forty-four votes in the nominating conven- tion. The next election he was nominated over the same men by a vote of fifty-six; this resulted in his election, with a majority of 372 in the county. The last nomination he was again chosen by a majority of 381, and was re-elected Nov. 7, 1852. to the same office. Dec. 11. 1873. he married Miss Maggie C. Martin, daughter of Judge Martin. of this city. Mr. S is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

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CHAPTER VII. CRIMINAL.

It is not with any pleasure that we record dark deeds; but every one will consider a local history incomplete did it not give some account of the principal crimes committed in the community. Probably the principal value of such a record as this is to fix dates and correct wrong impressions. We arrange the cases here chro- nologically.

THE FIRST MURDER CASE.

Aug. 31, 1824, Frederick Cotner, Hugh Shipley, Robert Shipley, Sr., and Robert Shipley, Jr., were indicted for the murder of William McKee. Cotner was found guilty and sentenced to be hung. The following is a record of the case:

"A record of the trial and conviction of Frederick Cotner for the murder of William McKee.

" Be it remembered that at a special term of the White County Circuit Court, held in Carmi on Monday, the thirtieth day of August. in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, in pursuance of an act of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, entitled 'An act regulating and defining the duties of the justices of the Supreme Court,' approved March the twenty-first, in the year of our Lord 1819, before the Honorable William Wilson, one of the justices of the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, and Presiding Judge of the Second Judicial Cir- cuit; Ezra Bastick, Foreman; John M. Stokes, John Chism, Robert Davis, William Hurst, Christopher Nations, Joel Herrold, Thomas R. Ezell, Thomas Brocket, Richard Harris, William Willis, Isaac Mason, Eli Stewart, John Hesty, James Jagers Josiah McKnight, William Rearden, John Barbre, and Richard Tower, good and law- ful men of the county aforesaid, then and there impaneled, sworn and charged to inquire for the body of the county of White, retired to consult of presentinents, etc.

"And afterward, to-wit. on Thursday, the thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and

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a little above the right eye of him, the said William McKee, then and there, feloniously, willfully, and of his malice aforethought, dids trike, penetrate and wound, giving to the said William Mc- Kee, then and there, with the leaden bullet aforesaid, so as aforesaid shot, discharged and sent forth out of the rifle gun aforesaid, by the said Frederick Cotner, in and upon the said right side of the forehead of him, the said William McKee, a little above the right eye of him, the said William McKee, one mortal wound of the depth of four inches, and of the breadth of one inch, of which said mortal wound, he, the said William Mc- Kee, from the said fifth day of August, in the year aforesaid, until the seventh day of the same month of August, in the same year, in the township aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, did languish, and languishing did live, on which seventh day of August, in the year aforesaid, the said William McKee, in the township aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, of the mortal wound aforesaid, died; and that the aforesaid Hugh Shipley, Robert Shipley, Sr., and Robert Shipley, Jr., then and there feloniously, willfully, and of their malice aforethought, were present, aiding, helping, and abetting and comforting, assisting and maintaining the said Frederick Cot- ter, the felony and murder aforesaid, in manner and form afore- said, to do and commit; and so the jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do say that the said Frederick Cotner, Hugh Ship- ley, Robert Shipley, Sr., and Robert Shipley Jr., then and there in manner and form aforesaid, feloniously, willfully, and of their malice aforethought, did kill and murder, contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the people of the State of Illinois.

"JOHN M. ROBINSON, Circuit Attorney."

"And afterward, to-wit, on Thursday, the second day of Septem- ber, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, before the Honorable William Wilson, Judge aforesaid, here cometh Frederick Cotner, under the custody of the sheriff of the county aforesaid, in whose custody in the jail of the county aforesaid, for the cause aforesaid, he had been before committed, being brought to the bar here in his proper person by the said sheriff, to whom he is also here committed. And forthwith being demanded concerning the premises in the said indictment above specified and charged upon him, how he will acquit himself thereof, he saith that he is not guilty thereof, and thereof for good and evil he puts himself upon the country, and John M. Robinson, Esq.,

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Circuit Attorney, who prosecutes for the people of the State of Illinois, doth the like; therefore let a jury thereupon here imme- diately come, of free and lawful men of the neighborhood, by whom the truth of the matter may be the better known. And the jurors of the said jury, by the sheriff for this purpose impaneled and returned, to-wit: Phillip Patton, Henry McMurtery, Jehiel H. Reo- ner, Abner Flanders, Elisha Smith, Seth Hargrave, James Mays, John Stum, Hugh Wasson, William Knight, Isaac Veach and John Rankin, who, being elected, tried and sworn to speak the truth of and concerning the premises, upon their oaths, say that the said Frederick Cotner is guilty, James Mays, Foreman, and thereupon the prisoner was remanded to jail.

' And afterward, to-wit, on Thursday, the third day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty- four, before the Honorable William Wilson, Judge, aforesaid, it is ordered that the sheriff forthwith have the prisoner, Frederick Cotner, here before the court, whereupon the aforesaid Frederick Cotner was brought here into court. And it was demanded of him, the said Frederick Cotner, if he hath or knoweth anything to say wherefore the court here ought not, upon the premises and verdict aforesaid, proceed to judgment and execution against him, who nothing further saith, unless as he before hath said, whereupon all and singular the premises being seen, and by the court here fully understood, it is considered by the court here that the said Frederick Cotner be taken from hence to the jail of the county, and from thence to some convenient place, within one mile of the town of Carmi, in this county, and there, on the twenty-first day of the present month (September), and between the hours of eleven o'clock in the forenoon and three o'clock in the afternoon, that he suffer death by being hanged by the neck until he be dead, and that the sheriff execute this sentence."

Cotner was tried and sentenced in the north room of the old log portion of the residence now occupied by Robert Stewart. He was taken to the chosen place of public execution on the hill northwest of the court-house about forty or fifty rods, escorted upon the scaf- fold, and the rope placed about his neck, when, lo! there came hither a messenger from the Governor, bearing a reprieve! On this slender contingency of the messenger's safe arrival before the fatal trap was sprung did the life of the poor prisoner hang. The Governor was satisfied that some of the witnesses bore false testi- mony, which should have been rejected by the court. Cotner

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remained in this region for a few years, and then left for other parts.

MERIDITH AND MARTIN, 1831.

Some time in August, 1831, one Saturday night about 12 o'clock, the cry of murder rang out upon the midnight air. It was clearly the voice of a woman. As the night was very dark no investiga- tion was made till morning. It was ascertained that in a drunken family quarrel the night before, William Eubanks had been slain by the hands of Charles Kershaw, and William Meridith and Jack Martin were accessories to the homicide. It was the murdered man's wife that aroused the neighborhood. Meridith and Martin were captured that night, but Kershaw made his escape and fi- nally died in Texas. Meridith and Martin were tried in their pre- liminary examination before David Thompson, then a Justice of the Peace in Edwards County, and committed to jail at Albion by that'good citizen, Major James Stephenson acting as Constable by special appointment. At a final trial William Meridith was sent to the penitentiary for five years, and Jack Martin for two years; but they were pardoned out by the Governor in less than twelve months. Meridith went to Texas and Martin to Arkansas, and each have long since crossed beyond the river.

WILLIAM B. LEDBETTER, 1834.

In April, 1834, William B. Ledbetter was indicted for murder, on change of venue from Gallatin County. As it is the only case of hanging in this county a full account is here given.

After the adjournment of court, the condemned man was guarded int he court-house by armed men, the county having no jail. Col- onel Hosea Pearce, the Sheriff of the county, selected the place of execution at a point some 400 yards northeast from the present fair grounds, and had a scaffold erected in the woods, some sixty yards from the present State roads, leading southwest in a line with the main street of the city of Carmi. On the 30th of April, 1834, an immense crowd of people assembled in Carmi to witness the exe- cution. At the appointed time, the armed militia formed at the court-house, when the condemned man was brought out and seated in a wagon, the militia formed a hollow square around the wagon. The cortege moved in solemn step to the music, to wit: the muf- fled drum and the shrill note of the fife playing the dead march.

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On arriving at the place of execution the militia held their position- a hollo wsquare around the scaffold. The condemned man walked up to the platform with unfaltering step and took his seat. The Rev. Charles Slocumb delivered an appropriate prayer, and pro- ceeded to preach a powerful sermon to the vast concourse present. While he was preaching, a gun in the hands of Wm. Dosher, one of the guard, was accidentally discharged, but without injury to any one, the ball taking effect in one of the posts of the scaffold. At the conclusion of the address, the hour had arrived when the immortal soul of Wm. B. Ledbetter should depart from earth and appear before that tribunal from whose judgment there is no appeal. His arms were pinioned, the black cap drawn over his face, and his position taken on the fatal trap.

The sheriff failed to sever the cord that held the trap until he made the the third blow, when down shot the body through the drop. He died without much struggling, and in about twenty-four minutes the body was lowered and placed in a plain coffin, and by Colonel Pearce delivered to the wife of the deceased. She, with her little son, was there with a wagon drawn by a yoke of small oxen, awaiting the sad result that would make her a widow and her children orphans. After the coffin was put into the wagon, she and her little son started for their home in Gallatin County, some six miles from Elizabethtown, now Hardin County, and near the Cave in Rock. That night they camped out by the roadside, near New Haven, as no person would let them stay in their house all night.

The charge against William B. Ledbetter was for killinghis brother on Christmas day at his father's house. He and his father had some dispute, and William was ordered from the premises. When in the act of leaving his brother took up the quarrel of his father, and the result was that he stabbed his brother with a knife, with fatal effect.

JAMES STANLEY, 1845.

Some time in the fall of 1845, while Daniel Charles and wife were absent from home, his house was burnt with all its contents; not only were the house and contents lost, but quite a sum of money was added to the loss. It was a crushing misfortune to the family; they lost all the savings of thirty years' hard toil upon the farm. All they had left, except a spotless reputation, was the land with a crop growing thereon. The sequel of the conflagration

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proved to be a case of the most damnable arson. A young nephew of old man Charles, by the name of James Stanley, whose father lived on and owned an adjoining farm, left home and became a stage driver on the line from Grayville to Mt. Carmel. A few weeks after the fire, in making up his outfit for the approaching winter, he made some purchases at the store of S. H. Martin, in Grayville, giving in payment for the goods a Peruvian dollar, which Martin kept as a pocket-piece of rare coin. One day, while exhibiting this dollar in the presence of his friends, Daniel Charles among the number, Charles sought Martin privately to learn from whom he secured that piece of money. The answer was, "James Stanley. " From this circumstance, Charles followed Stanley to Mt. Carmel, where he was boarding, and in his trunk found all the money that he supposed lost in his burned house, less some $30. Stanley was arrested on the arrival of the stage from Gray- ville, was tried for arson, committed to the jail at Carmi, and, on change of venue to Wabash County, was convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of three years. Owing to family influence he was pardoned out, and after his discharge, became a hardened wretch and desperado. He went South during the war, and became a guerrilla of the most desperate character.

HENRY VOLTZ, 1852.

In the fall of 1852, an Irishman, name unknown, was killed one half mile south of Roland by a German named Henry Voltz. The circumstances, as related by ex-Sheriff Daniel P. Eubanks, of Indian Creek Township, and who resides about one and a half miles west of the scene of the murder, are as follows:

The German, Henry Voltz, was a chicken-buyer by trade. He would make five or six trips a year, buying chickens through the country, north of Shawneetown, and taking them to New Orleans, where he would sell them to produce merchants. It is said that he often brought some one along with him on his trips, but he al- ways returned alone to New Orleans. The Irishman above refer- red to was a teamster in New Orleans, who had sold his team, had about $200 in money, and desired to buy other horses. The Ger- man urged him to go with him to Southern Illinois and Indiana, promising to show him where he could buy tine horses at a low price.

The Irishman was soon persuaded to make the trip, and together

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they embarked. They landed at Shawneetown, and proceeded northward into the southern part of White County, this being be- fore the days of railroads, and there being no stages, and but few horses, or other modes of conveyance. They were last seen in Gallatin County, near Alex. Swan's place, near what is now Oak Grove Church. In this county they were noticed together at the Mitchell school-house, adjacent to the residence of Asa Mitchell, who is still living in Indian Creek Township. It was raining at this time. Half an hour later the German was observed running back alone, very much frightened, and inquiring the way to Dr. James Pearce's. It seems he had lost his way in the rain. It was no- ticed at this time that he had on the Irishman's coat, a fact which attracted considerable attention from the fact that Voltz was a large, thick-set man, while the coat was made to fit the Irishman, a very small, thin man. Voltz was also carrying a hatchet and a carpet-sack.

He made his way to the store of Moses Pearce, about three quarters of a mile from the scene of the murder, and deposited $30. which was to be used in buying chickens. At Pearce's, however, he had no coat on, and it was afterward found, hid in a hollow tree, where he had secreted it. Voltz bought up the number of chickens he wanted and returned to Shawneetown. Here he in- quired for the Irishman, and seemed angry he had not returned. He was seen to throw a portion of the contents of his valise into the river. He then returned to New Orleans, changing boats at Cairo.

Several days afterward, Rev. John Porter, while hunting for a hog in the timber owned by Daniel McCarthy, smelt something offensive, and upon investigation discovered the body of the Irish- man, half covered in the mud, and much decomposed. A coroner's jury was impaneled the next morning, the neighbors having in the meanwhile made all inquiries which could throw any light on the case. As a result William S. Eubanks, F. G. Harvey and Alex- ander Trousdale proceeded in search of the German. At Cairo they telegraphed to New Orleans that Voltz would be on a certain boat; but they had been misinformed as to the boat, and as a result Voltz escaped the vigilance of the police, and landed in safety. He was finally decoyed into the outskirts of New Orleans, and captured by a policeman named Roach. He was brought to Carmi, examined, and committed to jail.

He remained in jail about five months, and was then taken to 24

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Wayne County for trial. He was promptly tried before Judge Samuel Marshall, and though ably defended, was convicted and hung in that county. The whole case was an exciting one, and the citizens of the southern part of the county took an active inter- est in having justice meted out to the German, who had a most villainous character, according to the testimony developed at the trial. A reward of $350 was paid to the captors of Voltz. The affair is well remembered by scores of old settlers.

WILLIS KERSHAW, 1863.

About eight o'clock on the morning of Dec. 4, 1863, as Miss Hattie Hallam, a school-teacher and daughter of the late William Hallam, was on her way from her father's house to her school about four miles west of Grayville, this county, she was assailed and brutally murdered. Her body was found late in the afternoon, in a thick undergrowth. Her head was found to have been crushed in by some blunt instrument or bludgeon, but other- wise her person was not violated. Her watch was missing, but her apparel was unmolested. Malice of the deepest kind must have prompted the awful deed. A coroner's inquest was impaneled, which lasted several days; and during the investigation Joseph Spencer and Willis Kershaw were arrested on suspicion, and brought to trial before the late George Graham, # Justice of the Peace. The State was represented by Colonel John E. Whiting and O. S. Canby, and the defense -- Kershaw, by Hon. Chauncey S. Conger, and Spencer, by Hon. S. H. Martin. The preliminary examination lasted ten days, resulting in the discharge of Spencer, and the committal of Kershaw to jail to await trial in the Circuit Court. The latter, however, was admitted to bail of $10,000, under a writ of habeas corpus issued by Judge S. S. Marshall. Bail was obtained, and Kershaw's father, a wealthy farmer, was one of the sureties. But on the very day the accused was to make his appearance to answer to an indictment for murder, he died, probably from poison, at his farm, near the scene of the horrible tragedy in which 'he doubtless was engaged, and thus ended the earthly career of this most miserable wretch.

JOHN AIKIN, 1864.

From a sketch prepared by Judge Conger for publication, w condense the following :

March 19, 1864, Augustus Stewart was a farmer in easy circum-

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stances, living near the southern line of White County, about three miles west of the town of New Haven, in Gallatin County. His family consisted of himself and wife, his daughters Barbary, aged seventeen, and Louisa, aged fifteen; Sarah, aged thirteen, and Phobe, aged eleven; a boy named Edward Pratt, aged about six- teen years, who was working for him at the time, and a boy named Albert Raglin, about eight years of age, who was sick. About an hour before sundown, on the day above mentioned (it was Satur- day), a man riding a small black pony came to the house of Stew- art, pretended to be a traveler, and desired to stay all night. Mr. Stewart, with his accustomed hospitality, put up the stranger's horse, and welcomed him to his house. The family ate supper abont seven o'clock, after which they gathered around the fire in the sitting-room, which was the south room of the house. While thus sitting, a little before eight o'clock, the stranger went out of the house, was absent ten or fifteen minutes, returned, and taking a book, sat down and appeared to be engaged in reading. In a few moments the family heard the sound of persons running from the front gate into the porch, and instantly the door of the room was thrown open, and two men (one larger than the other), with faces blackened, coats turned wrong side out, each presenting a revolver, rushed in. honting in a loud voice, "Surrender !" Stewart, who was sitting ... ront of the fire near the middle of the room, was startled at the strange appearance. He turned his face toward the intruders, raised himself to his feet, and stood facing the assassins The two disguised men rushed toward him, and the larger man, who was a little in advance of the other, placing his pistol against the breast of Stewart, fired. His clothes took fire, and the murdered man fell, with his feet toward the fire-place, and his head in the door leading from the south room into the hall, from which point, amid the agonizing screams of his wife and children, he crawled through the hall ont to the back porch, where he lay until carried in by the family after the murderers left. At this instant the smaller assassin turned upon the screaming family and the traveler who came to stay all night and who pretended to be greatly fright- ened, and with his pistol presented, hnddled them in one corner of the room, threatening to kill any of them who should make any ontery, or interfere with the robbery they came to accomplish.

The large man then demanded of Mrs. Stewart the money that was in the house, saying he knew there was money, and for that they had come, and if she did not at once give up the last cent

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there was in the house he would serve all the family as he had served him (pointing to Stewart), at the same time taking some fire from the fire-place, he attempted to throw it on the body, but was prevented by one of the danghters. Mrs. Stewart replied that they had no money. One of the daughters told their mother that there was some money in the house; the mother said she would speak to her husband about it, which she did, going out to the porch guarded by the larger man. Her husband was dying fromn the effects of the wound, and also suffering from his burning clothes. He told her to give up the money. She returned, and with the large man, whose pistol was constantly presented at her head, went into the north room and got the money, some $430, and gave it up. Mrs. Stewart said to the robbers, "You are not negroes, but white men blackened." The large man replied, " We know that, and I know you, too, d-n you." The large man then took a black coat of Stewart's, three or four pairs of socks and a bed-blanket. The traveler went into a small room in the end of the porch and got Stewart's double-barreled shot-gun, when they all three left the house. A few moments afterward the traveler came back to the door, and apparently in great aların exclaimed: "Are they gone? My God, we'll all be murdered before morning!" and then disappeared. In a moment or two the family heard a great commotion at the barn; their horses and mules were running around the barn-yard as though greatly frightened. All of the stock had been put up in the stable before dark.

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History of White County Illinois, Part 17

Author: Inter-State Publishing Company Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Number of Pages: 831

Author: Inter-State Publishing Company
Publication date: 1883
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 831