USA > Illinois > White County > History of White County Illinois > Part 18
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While the men were in the house Stewart called to his family to come and put out the fire in his clothing, which was burning his flesh. Some of the children pleaded for permission to go to their dying father, but the blackened demons sternly refused, threatening to shoot the first one who should attempt to leave the room. At length the children asked if the traveler (whom at this time they did not suspect) might not go to their father. Consent being ob- tained, he went out and extinguished the burning clothes of Stewart.
Edward Pratt immediately ran to the neighbors and gave the alarm. In a few moments Viol Saulsberry and Jonathan B. Dag- ley came to the house, and Stewart, who had been brought by his family into the south room and laid upon the floor where he was shot, died in about five minutes after they came. As Saulsberry was approaching the house he heard the noise of horses rapidly running about one-half mile to the west of the county road, and
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also found Stewart's horses and mules loose in the barn-yard in great commotion.
The next morning (Sunday, March 20), as soon as it was light. the neighbors, who had gathered at Stewart's during the night, be- gan to examine the premises to see what traces of the ruffians could be found. They found where the lock on the barn door had been. broken, and a saddle of Stewart's of a peculiar make had been taken out of the barn and carried away, while the one that had been brought to Stewart's house the night before on the black pony re- mained. This pony had been led out of the stable, across the barn-yard, and out of the gate, making distinct tracks which, from his size and appearance, were plainly distinguishable from any of Stewart's animals. These were carefully measured by Saulsberry and Dagley. The pony was traced across the road into a piece of open wood lying west of Stewart's house. Some sixty yards west of the gate they found signs of two other horses having been hitched, one to an old wagon and the other to a sappling; these three tracks then led off together in a southwesterly direction through the wood about a fourth of a mile, when they entered the county road and turned eastward. They were easily tracked to El Dorado, in Saline Connty, some twenty-five miles west of Stewart's, when those in pursuit lost all trace of them at the time.
On the afternoon of the murder, about an hour before sun-down, Viol Spaulding met these men on the county road, about one and a half miles west of Stewart's. There were one large man and two small men walking eastward and leading their horses. One of them had on a soldier's blue overcoat; one of the horses was a small black pony; the other two were sorrel or bay mares. Just as he passed them he heard one of the men say, " I know that man." A little farther west and a few moments before, Elbert M. Smith met three men and horses answering the description given by Saulsberry.
With this clue, those in pursuit of the murderers followed west- ward, and found that the same three men had taken dinner and fed their horses at the house of Mrs. Minerva Randolph, who lived six miles west of Stewart's, about 1 o'clock on Saturday; that the same party had called for dinner about noon of the same day at Moses Kinsall's, who lived about a mile south of Mrs. Randolph's, and been refused. The pursuing party then went to the house of Bur- rell Bramlett, who lived southwest of El Dorado, in Saline County, and learned that this same party had staid there on Friday night, March 18, and obtained a better and fuller description of the
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men and horses. Shortly after this they proceeded to Blairsville, Williamson County, the home at that time of the defendant and the two Glides (suspicion had fallen upon these three). At Blairsville they found in the lot of George W. Aikin, father of the defendant, a small black pony, whose feet were measured and found to corre- spond exactly with the tracks found at Stewart's. The pony was also positively identified by Bramlett as the one which had been at his house on the night preceding the murder. Bramlett also found in the stable of Mr. Aikin the sorrel mare with the peculiar white feet, and identified her as being the one at his house on Fri- day night. The two Glides were tracked to their father's house in Blairsville; but while the pursuers were gone to a magistrate for a writ, they escaped and were never heard of afterward.
A week or two after this, George W. Aikin and the father and mother of the Glides were arrested for assisting in the escape ot the murderers, and brought o White County; the black pony was also brought along by its owner, Willis Mulkey, a young man who was at that time living with Mr. Aikin. The pony's feet were again measured by those who had measured the tracks, and posi- tively identified by those that had seen it at Stewart's; and young Mulkey at this time picked out of some forty or fifty others the saddle that was upon his pony when it left Blairsville the Thurs- day before the murder.
A reward having been offered for the murderer of Stewart, the prisoner, John Aikin, after remaining concealed a week or two near his home in Blairsville, was arrested near De Soto, and per- sons from White County went there and received him. They arrived at the house of the Stewarts on Wednesday evening, April 13, 1864, nearly a month after the crime was perpetrated. At this time the prisoner was seen by Mr. Bramlett, Moses Kinsall, Mrs. Randolph, Saulsbury and Smith, and recognized as one of the men that staid all night on Friday at Bramlett's; that called for dinner at Moses Kinsall's, six miles west of Stewart's, on the day of the murder; that took dinner at Mrs. Randolph's; that was met by E. M. Smith, and soon after by Viol Saulsberry; and in general appearance, size and build, corresponded with the large man of the three, in the opinion of the persons in the house when the murder was committed.
Aikin, in conversation with various parties while at Stewart's, detailed with great particularity the events that happened in the house the night of the murder, giving the conversation of Mrs.
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Stewart and himself about looking for the money, and other things, all of which was known to those present on the night in question to be true, even to minute circumstances and incidental remarks.
On Friday, after Aikin was brought back on Wednesday, while standing out in the road with his guards, he was asked by one of the by-standers, "You were blacked when here before, were you not ?" Aikin replied, "Yes," and said he could show them the place, and pointing down into the woods said, " It was right down there by that big log." One of the men who heard him went to the place indicated, and just beyond the log, in the edge of a paw- paw thicket, found the remains of a fire, of which no one had heard up to this time.
Willis Mulkey, the owner of the black pony, was at this time boarding at the house of George W. Aikin, attending school. On Wednesday, March 16, the latter told Mulkey that the boys were going to Franklin County to buy cattle, and asked if they could have his pony to ride. Mulkey replied that if Hal Glide (the smaller of the three) would ride it, they could. The next morn- ing Mulkey saw the horses saddled, and the three men around the premises of Mr. Aikin preparing to leave, and went himself and examined the saddle upon his pony to see if it would hurt him; then left for school. On Sunday evening, March 20, about an hour before sundown, Mulkey, who was out in the barn-yard, saw Charlie Glide come riding around through the field to the barn lot, making his horse jump the bars into the lot. He had a double- barreled shot gun in his hands, and his horse seemed nearly ex- hausted with hard riding. Mulkey asked where the other boys were, and Glide replied that the pony had given out; they were back some distance, but would be in shortly. Detween sundown and dark Mulkey saw the prisoner and Hal Glide coming into town from the east. The horses seemned fagged out, and Mulkey went to his own pony, took off the saddle and threw it over into the yard of Geo. W. Aikin, after which he never saw it again.
Timothy Clark, aged about sixteen, was living with Geo. W. Aikin, taking care of his stock. His story in regard to the two Glides and John Aikin going away with the horses, ostensibly to buy cattle, corroborated the statement of Mulkey. On the Mon- day following Clark saw John Aikin with a roll of money in his hand, and said to him, "John, how is it that you always have money and work so little? there must have been a fire somewhere." John laughed and said he had been to a fire. Some others in Blairs- ville saw the same men during their expedition.
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The next day after John Aikin was brought to the house of the Stewarts, he held a conversation with Viol Spaulding, in which he confessed to being a participant in the deadly affray, but stoutly denied being the one that fired the shot at Stewart; told Spaulding about meeting him the night of the murder, and admitted that he was the man that remarked to his companion, "I know that man."
The witnesses having arrived about noon, the prisoner was taken to the barn before two magistrates for trial. The charge was stated to him, and he was asked by the justice if he was ready for trial. He answered that he was, but he would like to talk some if he could have the privilege. The court granted his request, and he made a public confession of the whole matter, but did not admit that he did the shooting; after which, that same evening, he was taken to New Haven, where Thomas S. Hick took down his confession at length, including not only the murder of Stewart, but many other robberies and crimes that no one in that vicinity had ever heard of
At the August term, 1864, of the White County Circuit Court, the prisoner, together with the two Glides, was indicted, but the same fall the prisoner broke out of jail and made his escape, and from that time until the summer of 1877 he could not be found.
Thirteen long years had passed away, the wife of the murdered man had gone to her grave, the children scattered, and the awful crime had almost faded from the memory of the public mind amid the ever-changing scenes and usy strife of the world. There were those, however, among the neighbors and friends of Augustus Stewart, who saw this weltering corpse as it lay upon his own hearthstone, who could neither forget nor forgive the murder of their friend, but believed that in God's own good time justice would be done. It is due to the exertions of these men, and the vigilance and courage of Thomas I. Porter, Sheriff of this county, that John Aikin was recaptured.
In June, 1877, Sheriff Porter, having satisfied himself that the defendant was in the southern part of Colorado, procured a requisi- tion upon the Governor of that State, and, entirely alone, started upon his desperate mission of meeting and bringing out of the wilds of the Rocky Mountains a man known to be a desperado, and supposed to be surrounded by men of the same character. He reached Den- ver June 28, and procuring the necessary papers from the authorities of Colorado, started for Cannon City, the county seat of Fremont County, where he arrived the next day. At this place he learned
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from the sheriff of the county that Aiken lived about twenty-five miles southeast, in a place called Babcock's Hole, up.among the Rocky Mountains; and to effect his capture the greatest caution and vigilance would be required, as he was considered a dangerous man, and should he have warning of his attempted capture he could not be taken without a desperate struggle. Porter thought it better, therefore, to make the attempt at night. Taking with him two men furnished by the sheriff, he left Cannon City about three o'clock in the afternoon in a spring wagon, and reached Greenwood (a country store and postoffice three miles from Aikin's residence) about dark, when they put up their team and ate sup- per. Here they learned that Aikin was at home, but that it would be exceedingly difficult for persons unacquainted with the trail up the mountains to reach his ranch. Taking Morgan, the keeper of the store, as a guide, they started on foot up the Cannon about ten o'clock at night. When within a mile of Aikin's house, the guide refused to go farther, and the party were compelled to rely upon themselves. Learning that Aikin had a large family, Porter de- c ded that it would be better, if possible, to get him away from his house before making the arrest, thereby avoiding the risk of hurt- ing other members of the family.
It was therefore agreed that they should represent them elves as a party from Chicago who, in looking around the country, had become lost, and desired to be piloted out to Greenwood. Going up close to the house, which was a low double-log cabin, Porter called until Aikin came to the door and inquired what was wanting. Por- ter told the story that had been agreed upon, and proposed paying him $5 if he would go with them to Greenwood. To this he agreed. He dressed himself, came to the door, and looking at the men outside for a moment, went back into the house (to arm himself the party supposed), came out, and walking beside Porter with the two men in the rear, started down the mountain path, guided by the uncer- tain light of the moon, which was just breaking over the huge mountains and down into the dark valley. The defendant strode bravely on, little thinking that the iron grasp of the law was quietly but surely closing around him from which he should never more escape. Long had he evaded the punishment due to his crime. Many times since his escape from prison had he doubled on his track, until amid the solitudes of these great mountains be un- doubtedly felt secure. But a moment more and the delusion of safety which he had so long hugged to his bosom would vanish.
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When the party had gone about a mile from the house and reached an open glade where the moonlight shone full upon them, according to prearranged programme, one of the assistants walking behind suddenly, in a deep, stern voice, cried "Halt!" The pris- oner turned to see what it meant, and at the same instant Porter, presenting his gun to his head, ordered him to throw up his hands, which he did, and the shackles were put upon him and he was in- formed that he was arrested for murder. As he stood there so near his mountain home, yet so powerless, chained, and guarded by a power irresistible, with the sudden announcement that his crime had at last overtaken him, no wonder that he trembled. As his troubled conscience brought before his eyes the form of his murdered victim, and from whose accusing spirit he had been flee- ing so many years, he could exclaim with Eliphaz the Semanite:
"Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
"Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my head stood up:
"It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof; an image was before mine eyes; there was silence."
After sending one of the men back to inform Aikin's family of his arrest and procure a change of clothing for him, the party pro- ceeded to Greenwood, and leaving there the same night arrived at Cannon City about six o'clock Sunday morning, July 1, where Aikin was put in jail until Monday morning, when Sheriff Porter started with him for Illinois. Without any assistance, chained to his prisoner, sitting by his side during the day, and sleeping at night with the same shackles around his own arın that fastened the defendant to him, this brave officer safely brought his prisoner a distance of 1,500 miles and placed him in the Carmi jail, from which he had escaped so many years before. The prisoner at all times denied his identity, refusing to recognize men with whom he had been acquainted for years, and while admitting that his name was John Aikin, denied that he was the man that had for- merly been arrested for the murder of Stewart, until several weeks after he had been placed in jail his sister-in-law visited him, and seeing that it was impossible longer to deny it, admitted his iden- tity. At the November terin, 1877, of the White County Circuit Court, the prisoner obtained a change of venue to Gallatin County, was tried in the court of that county the December follo wing, found guilty and adjudged to suffer the penalty of death. The court,
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learning that the jury decided the case by lot, set aside their ver- dict and ordered a new trial. The case was accordingly thoroughly investigated at the next term of court, and the accused was sen- tenced to imprisonment for life, and he is now at Joliet, Ill., toil- ing his weary hours away.
LEWIS THOMAS LA NEAVE, 1870.
Thomas La Neave, a resident of Fox River (now Phillips) Town- ship, in August, 1870, at Stum's race track in that township, had a horse race in competition with another man, who came out ahead and afterward threatened that he could whip La Neave; whereupon the latter walked off a little way, got a revolver and shot the man, killing him. He was convicted in court of murder and sentenced to State's prison; but after about two years' confinement there he was pardoned, and is said to be now living in Kentucky on a farm.
JOHN HOOSER, 1871.
In February, 1871, as Pat Sullivan was on his way to his lodg- ings after night from Fackney's cooper shop, in the north western part of Carmi, he became engaged in an altercation with John Hooser and Boss Smith, which culminated in a fight between Sullivan and Hooser. The latter cut Sullivan: several times with a knife, piercing the heart and killing him. Hooser immediately disappeared. Hon. Samuel H. Martin, County Judge, and Hail Storms, Sheriff, offered a reward of $300 for his arrest. Some three or four days afterward John S. Smith surrendered the body of Hooser to the Judge and received the reward. The prisoner was held to answer to the charge of manslaughter in the penal sum of $3,000, which bail was secured and Hooser released from prison. At the approaching term of court a bill of indictment was found against him for manslaughter. The case remained in court for some time, but before the final trial was had the accused died.
JEFFERSON BROWN, 1879.
July 28, 1879, Howell Grant, a colored man, aged about sixty years, who lived on Clear Lake, in Emma Township, was shot and killed by Jefferson Brown, a white man who also lived in that neighborhood. Some time the previous year Brown and his wife went to live with Grant. As Grant was a single man, Mrs. Brown kept house for him. Trouble soon began on account of Brown
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bringing others to the house for Grant to support. The latter soon put a stop to it and Brown and his wife left. This created unfriendly feeling between the parties, and Brown repeatedly made threats. He claimed that his anger was caused by Grant circulat- ing false reports about his wife. Brown went into the field with a shot gun, when Grant was stacking wheat, and commenced quarrel- ing with the old man. They parleyed awhile and Grant told him to clear out, and went on with his work. Turning around soon after, he found the muzzle of the gun pointed at him, and in a moment the trigger was pulled and the whole load of eighteen squirrel shot lodged in his left side. He ran about fifty yards and dropped, expiring in about fifteen minutes afterward.
All reports agree that Grant was an honest, industrious, peace- able man-a preacher-raised by an uncle of General Grant, whose name he took. Brown was lodged in jail the same even- ing. He was tried, found guilty of murder, and sentenced to twenty-five years' imprisonment in the State penitentiary.
ROBERT BUTTERY, 1880.
Jan. 25, 1880, the citizens of Herald's Prairie were startled by learning that David Buchanan had been killed by Robert Buttery. The difficulty occurred on the road, about seven miles southwest of Carmi. The parties were brothers-in-law; there had long been a grudge between them, and their friends had all along looked for trouble when they should meet. Buchanan was the larger party of the two, and had been very free with his threats about how he would kill Buttery on first sight, and that Battery was rather afraid of him. There were two eye-witnesses to the affair, but only one, a young boy, gave in his testimony, the other being a brother of Buttery's. The boy's testimony was to the effect that the parties were riding along the road at the time of the meeting, and that Buchanan undertook to override Buttery, while the latter had continually kept backing to keep out of trouble; that Buchanan was very abusive, and made several threats, at the same time fre- quently reaching into his pockets, as though to draw a weapon of some kind; that Buttery had only tired the first time to scare Bu- chanan and keep him from following him, and had only fired the fatal shot after Buchanan was closing in on him, and threatening his life. On the other hand, it was shown that Buchanan could not have been advancing on Buttery at the time the fatal shot was fired, as the shot took effect in the side toward the back, and came
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out on the other side. The Squire held that the evidence was not sufficient to hold for murder, nor of allowing him to go scot free.
He was tried, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to three years' hard labor in the penitentiary.
JAMES O'CONNOR, 1880.
Jan. 26, 1880, the citizens of Carmi were horrified by the report that the City Marshal, William F. Miller, had had his abdomen cut open by a drunken Irishman, and his life was fast ebbing away. The news spread like wildfire, and in a short space of time a great crowd congregated on Main street to try and learn the particulars, which were as follows : During the afternoon "Billy " had arrested an Irishman named James O'Connor, for drunkenness and disturbing the peace of a family, and locked him up in the cala- boose. About six o'clock " Billy " went down in company with John Boyer to let the man out, thinking he had sobered off and would be quiet. As he opened the door the man stepped out and with an oath told Billy he intended to kill him, at the same time stabbing him in the abdomen with a sharp knife. After the cutting there was considerable scuffling, the marshal endeavoring to put him back in the cell, but O'Connor succeeded in getting loose, and ran off, followed by Billy up Main street, when Billy knocked him down, and then turning to a party standing by, ordered him to take the man, at the same time saying, " I am cut. " The marshal then proceeded to Dr. Stewart's drug store, where an examination of the wound was made, and it was found that the cut was about an inch long, quite deep, and that the entrails were pro- truding. Dr. Stewart replaced the entrails, and, with the assist- ance of other physicians, sewed up the opening, and the wounded man was conveyed to his home. While the doctors were attending to the marshal, O'Connor was under guard outside, and as soon as the people realized that an attempt had been made at murder, talk of lynching was freely indulged in, and had not Sheriff Eu- banks appeared upon the scene just at the time he did, and taken O'Connor off to jail, their threats would undoubtedly have been carried into execution.
Marshal Miller died on the 4th day of February, at 3:20 A. M. His funeral occurred on Thursday at 2 P. M., and was more largely attended than any funeral ever held in Carmi. The procession reached almost from his house to the grave, and was headed by members of the Knights of Pythias' Lodge, dressed in beautiful
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uniform of their order, followed by the members of the Masonic lodge, City Council, and relatives and friends of the deceased. Arriving at the grave the Knights opened ranks and faced inward, with swords at a present, and allowed the coffin, relatives and Masons to pass through, after which the Knights reversed ranks and formed around the grave back of the Masons. The Masonic funeral service was then performed, after which the Knights step- ped to the front and went through their funeral services, then each Knight in turn helped to fill up the grave.
O'Connor was a shoemaker, aged about fifty-five, and was work- ing in the city. He was tried, found guilty of murder, and sen- tenced to imprisonment and hard labor for life.
NEWTON FAULKNER, 1880.
June 23, 1880, Newton Faulkner murdered William A. Stum. The trouble grew out of a report circulated by some malicious or mischievous person as to remarks said to have been made by Stum, at which Faulkner took offense, and went to have Stum take it back. Stum denied the reports. One word brought on another, and at last Faulkner drew a revolver and fired, the ball striking Stum in the breast. At this Stum cried out, " O, I'm shot," but Faulkner continued firing, the second shot missing his victim, and the third entering the back part of the head. Stum lived but a few moments. Squire Wesley McCallister arrested Faulkner, and after holding the inquest brought him to town and committed him to jail without bail. Stum was a very industrious, hard-working man, having cleared a large amount of land for Colonel Crebs, near the Little Chain. He had served seven years in the penitentiary, for killing an old man named Paschal, near this city; but since his return home, about two years ago, had established a good reputa- tion by industrious habits and attending strictly to his own business.
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