USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 14
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No search was made for the missing man until the neighbors insisted upon it. On Friday morning, however, an examination of the ashes of the straw pile revealed portions of the skull and other bones. At the coroner's inquest in the afternoon, the two sons and one son's wife were the only witnesses, and the verdict was that the deceased came to his death from causes unknown to the jury. This was not satisfactory to the community, now thoroughly aroused. Complaint was made, both Ernest and John were arrested on Saturday, taken before Justice Bates, but on requesting that the preliminary examination be postponed till Nov. 18, in default of bail, they were lodged in jail at Morrison.
At the preliminary examination which occupied two sittings, thirty witnesses were examined for the state, and as all the evidence tended to con- firm the horrible suspicion that the father was murdered by the sons, they were remanded without bail to the county jail. At the February term of court, they were indicted by the grand jury for murder. At a glance, the boys seemed incapable of such an unnatural crime. They were young. slender, and intelligent. John was 25, Ernest 22. John was inclined to consumption, and confinement aggravating the disease, he gradually declined, dying in the jail at Morrison July 19, 1893.
During the long interval popular excitement had gradually increased, and the opening of court was awaited with intense interest. The case of The People against Ernest Swarthout for the murder of Albert Swarthout, father of the defendant, was called for trial at two on Monday afternoon, Nov. 6, 1893, in the circuit court at Morrison. Hon. James Shaw, of Mt. Carroll, presided. Walter Stager, state's attorney, was assisted by H. C. Ward, of Sterling. O. F. Woodruff and F. D. Ramsay, of Morrison, appeared for the defendant. By the side of Ernest Swarthout sat his young wife. a mere girl, married just sixty days before the murder.
A special venire of one hundred men were summoned from which to select jurors, and by noon of the next day the following twelve were selected: Frank Plumley of Fulton, W. A. Startzman and M. F. Fell of Fulton, E. L. Booth of Albany, G. Crandall of Erie, Frank Wilson of Newton, John Hunter of Prophetstown, M. J. Ryerson of Hopkins, W. Runk of Jordan, L. Dawson of Hahnaman, H. Cain of Tampico, and C. Minor of Hume. The court room was packed, nearly half of the audience being ladies. In the close of his opening address to the jury, Walter Stager, state's attorney, said in substance :
"The theory of our case is that Albert Swarthout when he came home
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went to the new barn to put away his horse, was murdered there, that he was put on the cart and wheeled down to the sheep shed and left there until he was taken to the straw stack, that the stack was fired, that late that night or carly next morning the unburned portions were pulled from the stack, hacked to pieces and buried in the slough, that the cart was broken to pieces and the bloody portion burned, that if Ernest did not do the killing himself, he must have known of it as he was in the same barn and but a short distance from the spot where the blood indicates their father was killed according to his own statement."
No other trial in the county, civil or criminal, was so hotly contested. · The advocates of both sides made long, exhaustive and eloquent pleas. On Wednesday morning, Nov. 14, the judge gave the jury their instructions, and on Thursday morning at the opening of court a large audience with the attorneys, the prisoner and his wife, listened in breathless silence as Circuit Clerk Tuttle read the following verdict: "We, the jury, find the defendant, Ernest Swarthout, guilty of murder, in manner and form as charged in the second count of the indictment, and find his age to be over 21 years, and fix his punishment at fourteen years in the penitentiary."
Albert M. Swarthout, the victim, was born in Fenton township, 1841, and married in 1865 to Miss Frances A. Cuppernell, of Dixon. An indus- trious man and member of the Methodist church at Lyndon. Tall, muscular, and of fine physique. He was contemplating a second marriage, which the sons bitterly opposed on the ground that it was too soon after the mother's death the previous year. Various rumors for the inhuman act were afloat, but there was never a shadow of doubt that one of the sons fired the shot that ended the father's life. Ernest was in due time taken to Joliet to serve his sentence, but the gloomy walls did not long hold the unhappy prisoner, dying in 1896. Father and boys sleep side by side in the Lyndon cemetery.
A REMARKABLE MECHANICAL GENIUS.
Fred Mayfield, who not long ago returned after spending four years in the U. S. navy, has just completed a model of a battleship in miniature. The dimensions and armament of this model are as follows: Length two feet, ten inches; breadth eight inches; mean draught six inches. The battery consists of one thirteen ineh revolving rifle, two twelve inch revolving turrets, four one-pounders, ten six inch guns, four rapid firing guns in firing tops. These guns, with two or three exceptions, were whittled out by Mr. Mayfield ín a correct and precise manner, and are mounted strictly according to regu- lations. There are also two search lights, two whale boats, two' gigs, one stcam launch and one 'sailing launch, also constructed in like manner. Even to the minutest detail the steam launch, not over three and one-half inches long, is equipped with a miniature engine, propeller, a rudder and stcering device, as well as a plush lined seating capacity. This launch in itself is a wonder to all who have seen it when one realizes that it has all been whittled out with a pocket knife, and we will say now that a knife, a small saw, wire pliers, a 'chisel, a paint brush, comprised his entire mechanical outfit. The ship itself is equipped with everything, in a miniature way,
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to be found on a first-class battleship, consisting of a chart house, conning tower, shooting gallery, executive offices, anchor davit and chains, ventilator and smoke stack, signal halyards and arms, machinery of all kinds, ropes, tackles. Mr. Mayfield has been working at the model more or less for the past two months and the work involved in such an undertaking is enormous.
ITEMS.
Hamilton school on the bluff was the first school in the county, 1838, and the Congregational church organized in 1837 was the first of that denomination west of Chicago.
Liberty Walker, bachelor, was the first man who died in the settlement, 1835, and he was buried on the hill.
Pardon A. Brooks boarded for a time with Healy, the artist, in Boston, and a copy of Brooks' portrait painted by Healy hangs in the home of Charles Sturtevant.
Bluff school was first of logs, and the Deacon's daughter taught before it was built in the homestead.
As Kentucky once bore the uncanny synonym of the "dark and bloody ground," so the road leading from Lyndon toward Erie has sometimes been styled "Dead Man's Lane," because of the ghastly occurrences of suicides, untimely deaths, and other dreadful events associated with several of the dwellings. Denrock has been the scene of some distressing accidents.
The prominent physician of Lyndon is Dr. S. S. Harriman, graduate of Jefferson Medical School, Philadelphia, who came here in 1890.
A Browning Club was patronized for several years, Miss Elsie Gould, now of Sterling, the leader. In 1891 Aurora Leigh was read.
Various societies are in operation. W. R. C. of 17 members, with Mrs. S. E. Chiverton to look after the widows and orphans for the present year. The Masons number about fifty, with adjunct, Eastern Star, Master, Walter Austin. Thirty Woodmen. One hundred Mystic Workers, prefect, Mr. Shultz.
The town shows a healthful growth. New residences, concrete walks, and general evidences of thrift. The center of a rich farming district.
TWO HONORED CITIZENS.
In January, 1908, Mrs. Martha A. Whallon passed to her reward. She was born in Ohio, 1832, and removed with her parents to Lyndon in 1838. Mrs. Whallon resided with her parents at the old homestead just north of town until her marriage to Capt. John Whallon Sept. 10, 1831, and since that time has lived continuously in the town of Lyndon.
Before her marriage she was one of the favorite pioncer teachers, she having taught in Sterling, Fulton, Prophetstown, Como, Portland and Lyn- don, in all places esteemed by a wide circle of friends among patrons and pupils.
She passed through the schools of our town-then the best in the county-and took further training at Knox college, Galesburg, for some time. In her youth she cultivated many graces of mind and heart.
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To Mr. and Mrs. Whallon was born one child, a son, Hal, who sur- vives them. The father, Capt. Whallon, lived until Oct. 21, 1903. Sinee then Mrs. Whallon and her son have lived together in the old home.
Mrs. Whallon united with the Congregational church of this place ill her childhood and has since remained an active and useful member thereof, always faithful in attendance upon the regular Sabbath serviees and the mid- week serviee, and especially active in the Sunday school. Her brothers, Fred W. Millikan and Rev. S. Frank Millikan, are the only surviving members of Deacon Millikan's family.
General William Clendenin, whose sudden death in Moline created a sensation, and who was so prominent in Illinois army cireles, was a Lyndon boy, born' in 1845, and spending his childhood there until his father's removal to Moline in 1859. He enlisted in Co. B, 140th Illinois infantry, April 30, 1864, and on June 18 of the same year was advaneed to first ser- geant, and on Sept. 17 became sergeant major of the regiment. He was mustered out of the service Oct. 29, 1864. He served with the United States regulars, being mustered out of that serviee March 23, 1866, having held the following offices: Sergeant major, 108th Regiment, U. S. Col. troops, Feb. 7, 1865; seeond lieutenant, Co. A, 108th U. S. Col. troops, Aug. 8, 1865; first lieutenant, Co. A, 108th U. S. Col. troops, Jan. 1, 1866.
His eonneetion with the Illinois National Guard began Aug. 24, 1877, rising from one rank to another until at his resignation in 1903 he was brigadier-general. Interment was made in the cemetery at Galesburg.
SOME OF OUR EARLY LAWYERS.
No man e'er felt the halter draw, With good opinion of the law .- John Trumbull.
A lawyer's dealings should be just and fair; Honesty shines with great advantage there .- Cowper.
HUGH WALLACE.
Doubtless the first of our early lawyers. He came from Cumberland county, Pa., in 1837, soon after graduating at Washington College and read- ing law with General Porter in Laneaster. At first a farmer, for there was little business in his profession. Most of western Sterling is built on the land he eultivated. He was a member of the legislature in 1846, a senator in 1852 in the same body, and for four years register of the land offiee at Dixon under President Pierce. His dwelling for many years was a low, one-story sort of cabin, ealled from its eurious aspect the "old fort." It was not far from the present square mansion on West Third street, now oeeupied by Mrs. Randolph. This he built in 1855 of bloeks taken from the river. His wife was Mary Galt, sister of the late John Galt, a thorough housekeeper.
Wallace was a genial man, fond of society, and liked nothing better than to have the young folks come to his house, and play the fiddle for them to dance. He had great faith in the future of his town, and the writer on a visit in 1851 remembers his taking a map of Illinois and showing us that
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Sterling was directly west of Chicago, and that an air line to the Missis- sippi must pass through this point. He was right, and wisely gave the com- pany land for the station and yard, which at once moved business from upper Sterling, and made Wallacetown the center of operations, which it has since retained. In later years he retired from practice, and spent his after- noons on his broad piazza overlooking what was then a grassy river bottom, now covered with railroad tracks, shops, and tenements.
B. C. COBLENTZ.
The writer's first view of B. C. was at Lancaster, Pa., in 1853. He was a inember of the class graduated that year from Franklin and Marshall College. Captain Wilberforce Nevin, afterward in the civil war, and a while editor of the Philadelphia Press, was also a member. Coblentz came west soon after finishing his law studies, and had his office with Hugh Wallace in that small annex which once stood east of the Wallace House. He was quite popular, and in 1867 was elected mayor.
His wife was Miss Murphy, from Mercersburg, Pa., an entertaining talker. Coblentz liked ease, was a good liver, somewhat pompous, and in summer was the only man in town who sported a white vest. For a time he had an office in the quarters of the Rock Island Railroad on the second floor of Wallace Hall. Misfortune followed the family after the removal from Sterling to Arkansas. Both he and his wife died, and some of the children.
All are scattered now and fled, Some are married, some are dead.
EDWIN N. KIRK.
In the summer of 1861 Mr. Kirk gave a large party at the pretty villa which he had erected in the grove in eastern Sterling, now the property of Wash Dillon. As we stood on the south piazza, he said he was not satisfied to be at ease while soldiers were needed to uphold the flag at the front. That fall the 34th Illinois infantry was organized with Kirk as its colonel. and the writer visited the boys while at Camp Butler, near Springfield. At Stone River, Tennessee, Dec. 31, 1862, Kirk had two horses shot under hini, was severely wounded in the thigh, and some time after that terrific battle, underwent an operation from which he never recovered.
Gen. Kirk was ambitious, and like many others, felt that military dis- tinction would be a passport to success in politics after the war.
'Twas ever thus from childhood's hour, I've seen my fondest hopes decay.
He was a tall, fine-looking man, and as Mrs. Kirk, who was short, walked by his side up the aisle to a front pew in the old Presbyterian church in Rev. E. Erskine's day, they created a sensation, especially as they came late when the services were in progress. :
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JAMES DINSMOOR.
One of our few college men fifty years ago, a graduate of Dartmouth, the alma mater of Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate. His son, Jarvis, now practicing law in Sterling, enjoyed the same privilege. He was the only lawyer .who had an office in town and residence in the country. For forty years, rain or shine, summer and winter, he drove in his buggy from Hazel Hill farm, five miles north of Emerson, to his business in Sterling. For some time he was associated with Graves, another eastern man, and then with Walter Stager. Mrs. Dinsmoor, in early life a teacher, loved to speak of Emerson, Holmes, and the literary traditions of her New England home. Lowell was their residence before removal to Illinois.
MILES S. HENRY.
He was born in Geneva, N. Y., in 1815, the year of Waterloo and New Orleans, was a schoolmate of Stephen A. Douglas, and began the practice of law in Sterling in 1844. An active citizen, and he filled several responsible positions. He was in the banking business with Lorenzo Hapgood, a delegate to the Philadelphia convention that nominated Fremont in 1856, president of the Sterling and Rock Island Railroad Company, and in 1862 was ap- pointed paymaster in the army. His second wife was Mrs. Bushnell, widow of Major Bushnell, of the 13th Illinois.
Henry was a gentleman of fine taste, an easy talker, and very agree- able.
A merrier man, Within the limit of becoming mirth, I never spent an hour's talk withal.
An excellent reader. At a social given by Mrs. McCune in the parlors of the . Wallace House, being called upon for a reading, Major Henry recited:
Oh, the snow, the beautiful snow, Filling the sky and the earth bclow.
Watson's poem was not then so familiar. He was a regular attendant at Grace Episcopal church during the pastorate of Rev. J. E. Goodhue. He, Lorenzo Hapgood, and Gabriel Davis, as senior members, occupied front seats.
FREDERICK SACKETT.
The most jovial of our lawyers, always ready for a joke, never without a cigar. A self-made man, making no pretension to culture, with an inti- mate knowledge of common law. He laid the foundation for what is now a part of the residence of W. W. Davis, Bellevue Place. Four friends planned a sort of select quarter. Dr. Hudson on the Ed Bowman place, Kirk where Dillon is, Ed Allen across the street. These with Sackett would have made a social ring. But fate determined otherwise. Death and misfortune crushed these fond projects, and Sackett died homeless and desolate.
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JACOB HASKELL.
A slender, delicate person. He used to take walks for his health. The writer met him one morning strolling along the Morrison road. For a time, partner of Dinsmoor, the firm being Dinsmoor and Haskell. Fond of writ- ing for the press. He and W. W. Davis were proposed as editors of a pro- jected paper during the Farnsworth and Arnold contest for the Con- gressional nomination. His sons still live in Sterling. William W. was for years assistant postmaster with Thomas Diller. Walter N. is a lawyer, making patents a specialty, and is secretary of the Central school board.
DAVID M'CARTNEY.
A lawyer of the old school, plain, earnest, rugged, positive, always ready to give a reason for the faith that was in him. Fulton was his home for a long time, and the old handbills announcing speakers, regularly had "D. McCartney of Fulton." An explosive style of speaking, firing his sentences in what musicians would call staccato. When McCartney took the platform, the crowd prepared for something rich and stirring. He came to Sterling in 1865 and died in 1888. At his death, he was state's attorney, the predecessor of Walter Stager. Before the present law was enacted, he was prosecutor for four counties. Mrs. Fannie Worthington, the well known speaker and writer, is a daughter, and also the present wife of C. L. Sheldon, Esq.
JOHN G. MANAHAN.
He was in a law office when the rebels fired upon Fort Sumter, and being young and enthusiastic, he enlisted with numerous personal friends in the Thirteenth Illinois, and followed the flag to the close of the rebellion. On his return he resumed practice. For a time the firm was Kilgour and Manahan, then Manahan and Ward. John failed gradually, yielding to a cruel, hereditary malady, consumption, which carried off his mother at an early age, and also a sister. With only a common school education and law study in an office, John secured an excellent standing in the circuit and higher courts. A ready writer and speaker, industrious, and the soul of honor. For years an elder in the Presbyterian church.
JAMES E. M'PHERRAN.
Fresh from college and law school, in the prime of his young manhood, James came directly to Sterling, and remained here in the practice of his profession to his death a few years ago. He was like Goldsmith's village preacher :
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,
Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change, his place.
Like Emery A. Storrs of Chicago, Mr. McPherran was not satisfied with the dry details of statute books, but had a natural fondness for literature. He read at night and kept in touch with new publications. He was rightly considered the best historian of the Whiteside bar. For over twenty years he was president of the Sterling library board, and his portrait, presented by
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the family, now adorns the walls of the directors' room in the new public library.
CHARLES J. JOHNSON.
His father was a pioneer, moving to the state in 1839. Charles studied law with Judge McCoy of Fulton, and in 1854, in company with David McCartney, was admitted to the bar at Sterling in the old courthouse on Broadway, now fallen like Babylon. After eighteen years of practice at Morrison, and a short stay in Rock Island and Chicago, he came to Sterling in 1879, where he remained to his death. Charlie, as he was commonly called, made no pretension to oratory, but was a fine office lawyer, with the principles and decisions of the courts at his tongue's end. His younger brother, Caleb, with whom he was associated, is still in practice in Sterling.
JAMES M'COY.
Coming here from his Virginia home, and beginning the practice of law at Fulton in 1840, Judge McCoy was the Nestor of the Whiteside bar. He was a public-spirited man, and was never so devoted to his profession, as to forget the claims of the community. He showed a lively interest in edu- cation as well as in politics. A presidential elector in 1868, a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1869, a trustee of the Illinois Soldiers' Col- legc. Fond of mingling among the people. Never forgot a face. The writer met him regularly at the fairs on the Sanborn grounds at Sterling, and he was always ready to give the hearty grasp of friendship.
FRANK E. ANDREWS.
After a gradual decline for months, Mr. Andrews passed away in the autumn of 1907. His office was always in .Sterling, where he had grown up, but his death occurred in Rock Falls, where he had resided for a few years preceding. A broad-shouldered man, his early decease was a surprisc. His general appearance seemed to indicate vigor and endurance. One of his most striking mental qualities was firmness, resolution. When he entered upon a course of action, he pushed the business to a conclusion, with all his energy, regardless of criticism or opposition. He was high authority on drainage from his long experience as a surveyor, and it was chiefly due to his recommendation that the feeder to the Hennepin canal was placed at Sterling.
At a memorial meeting of the Whiteside bar in Morrison, appreciative tributes to his character were paid by several of his associates. All spoke of the habitual purity of his life. Jarvis Dinsmoor said: "In an acquaintance of twenty-five years, meeting Mr. Andrews in court, in conference, in shop, street, in politics, I never heard fall from his lips, a profane, hasty or vulgar word. When I called to see him in his sickness, the sick man had reached the condition so beautifully portrayed by Whittier:
"'And so beside the silent sea I wait the muffled oar, No harm from him can come to me, On ocean or on shore.'"
.
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W. H. Allen, of Erie, the oldest member of the bar, dwelt on his loyalty to justice, his love of truth, his courage in doing what was morally right, undeterred by argument, ridicule, sarcasm or denunciation. His work was honestly and fairly done in a great profession, and it is well that his breth- ren should gladly award the praise due a career so fittingly closed.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Some of our first lawyers are a vanishing memory. They soon passed from the stage by death or removal. For example, Brooks Ward and Joe Ware. Some came into our court from other counties, flashed like an occa- sional meteor and then retired. There was Joc Knox of Rock Island, a strong speaker and there was Judge Leffingwell of Clinton, perhaps the most brilliant pleader who ever appeared in our court. He had all the endow- ments of the orator in aspect, voice, manner, heightened by careful study, and jury and audience were soon captivated by the magnetism of his address. A persuasive talker on the platform, and his services were always in demand in political campaigns.
ERIE.
To one who has been long in city pent, 'Tis very sweet to look into the fair And open face of heaven,-to breathe a prayer Full in the smile of the blue firmament .- Keats.
About twenty miles from Sterling, south on the Burlington towards Rock Island through Sands, Lyndon, Denrock, is the thriving town of Erie. Leaving the station, a short walk brings you to the heart of the place, an irregular plaza, in Spanish, around which the principal business houses are built. Various stores and two opera houses, Burchell's and Breed's, which are in frequent demand for lectures and plays. Along the railroad are three elevators, which deal in coal, grain and live stock. There is a custom mill, in operation for forty years, with a capacity of thirty barrels of flour a day, but which is really now a custom mill, grinding grists as brought by the surrounding patrons. The creamery, Gilbert Wilcox, twelve years in exist- ence, produces in the aggregate 100,000 pounds of butter a year. The receipts of cream are much heavier in summer than in winter. In summer ice cream is made and readily sold.
The longest industrial establishment in Erie is the poultry house, carried on by the Morrison Produce Company. It measures 150 by 42 feet, with numerous windows. The concern was started 18 or 19 years ago. All kinds · of fowls are bought, mostly chickens, five wagons run to scour the country for the bipeds, six to twelve pickers employed, and the shipments to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, are from five to six thousand pounds a day. But understand the fowls are not exported as received from the country. They are artificially fattened. Twice a day buttermilk or other rich liquid food is forced into their craws in order that the flesh may be white and tender for the palates of eastern epicures.
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