USA > Illinois > Ogle County > The history of Ogle County, Illinois, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics history of the Northwest, history of Illinois etc > Part 38
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Three of the pirates-John Long, Aaron Long and Granville Young- who engaged in the murder of Colonel Davenport, at Rock Island, July 4, 1845, were hunted down, arrested, brought back, tried, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. The execution of the sentence was carried out at Rock Island on the 19th day of October, 1845, which completed the work of extermination commenced by the Ogle County Regulators on Tuesday, the 29th day of June, A. D. 1841.
Martin Campbell, the heroic boy, only thirteen years of age when he attempted to fire upon his father's murderers, grew to be a good and useful man, and still remains in White Rock Township, within sight of the place of his father's murder, a successful farmer and a happy husband and father.
INDICTMENT, TRIAL AND ACQUITTAL OF THE REGULATORS FOR THE MURDER OF THE DRISCOLLS.
At the September term of the circuit court, 1841, an indictment was found against Jonathan W. Jenkins and one hundred and eleven others, charging them with the murder of John Driscoll and William Driscoll, on the 29th day of June, 1841. The case was entitled "The People v. Jona- than W. Jenkins, Seth H. King, George D. Johnson, Commodore P. Bridge, Moses Nettleton, James Clark, Lyman Morgan, William Keys, Wilson Daily, John H. Stevenson, Zebulon Burroughs, Andrew H. Hart, John V. Gale, George W. Phelps, Benjamin 'I'. Phelps, John Phelps, James C. Phelps, William Wooley, William Knight, Moses T. Crowell, Jacob B. Crist, Edwin S. Leland, John S. Lord, Caleb Williamson, Caleb S. Marshall, Philip Spraker, Richard Chaney, Simeon S. Crowell, James W. Johnson, Alanson Morgan, Augustus Austin, John Austin, Thomas Stinson, Charles Fletcher, Aaron Payne, Spowk Wellington, Jeremiah Payne, James Scott, Mason Taylor, Harvey Jewett, John Oyster, Phineas Chaney, Richard Haves, Obed Lindsay. Amos Rice, Erastus Rice, Sumner Brown, Jr., James D. Sandford, Jacob Wickizer, George Young, Thomas O. Young, Osburn Chaney, Rolf Chaney, Annas Lucas, Peter Smith, Henry Hill, David D. Edington, Andrew Keith, John B. Long, Orrin B. Smith, David Shumway, Horace Miller, John F. Smith, Charles Latimer, Jason Marsh, Perley S. Shumway, Alfred M. Jarboe, Francis Emerson, Thomas Emerson, Abel Smith, Eliphalet Allen, James Baker, Jarvis C. Baker, Joseph Jewell, Jefferson Jewell, Charles Abbott, Sidney M. Layton. M. Perry Kerr, James Harpham, John Coffman, Anthony Pitzer, Jonas Shoffstalt, Jacob M. Myers, Samuel Mitchell, John Harmon, John Cooley, William Dewey, William Wallace, Robert Davis, James Stewart, David Wagner, Aaron Billig, Joseph M. Reynolds, John Kerr, James Hatch, Alhanon W. Rinker,
F. L Penie OREGON
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David Potter, Martin Rhodeamon, Ralsamon Thomas, Benjamin Worden, John McAlister, John Beedle, Ephraham Vaughn, Justns Merrifield, Elias Vaughn, John Adams, Israel Robertson and George W. Kinney. Indict- ment for murder.
The case was called for trial at the same term of court, Judge Ford presiding, at which the indictment was found. Seth B. Farwell appeared for the people, and Messrs. Peters, Dodge, Champlin and Caton for the defendants. The jury before whom they were tried was composed of S. S. Beatty. S. M. Hitt, James C. Hagan, Elias Baker, William Carpenter, John Shoffstalt, James B. McCoy, George Swingley, Richard McLean, William Renner, Justin Hitchcock and Hiram Weldon-S. M. Hitt, foreman. When arraigned for trial the defendants pleaded not guilty, and the trial proceeded. The most of the time occupied in the disposition of the case was consumed in calling the names of the defendants. Several witnesses were called on the part of the prosecution, but no direct evidence was adduced, and after a brief address by Prosecutor Farwell, for the people, and John D. Caton, on behalf of the defendants, the case went to the jury, and without leaving their seats the jury returned a verdict of " not guilty."
The grand jury that found the indictment under which " Jonathan W. Jenkins and one hundred and eleven others " were tried for the murder of John and William Driscoll, was made up of the following named citizens:
Anthony Petzer, John Price, Moses T. Crowell, Jacob Meyers, John Fridley, John Carpenter, Samuel Patrick, Phelan Parker, Andrew H. Holt, C. S. Marshall, George Taylor, Samuel C. Cotton, Leonard Andrews, Rodolphus Brown, Robert Wilson, Philip Spracker, James V. Gale and C. Burr Artz. James V. Gale was the foreman.
As will be seen by a comparison of the nanies of these jurymen with the names of the defendants, some of their own number were indicted for complicity in that tragedy. The jury met in a small building then belonging to an attorney named John Cheney, and was afterwards occu- pied by him as a dwelling. The building still stands on the old site, but has fallen into dilapidation and decay. When Cheney removed west he sold the property, and it now belongs to the H. A. Mix estate.
When the case was presented for consideration, together with a list of the names of those charged with being engaged in the affair, the name at the top of the list was first called. If it happened to be the name of a juryman, the juryman was excused, for the time being, and asked to retire. When he had gone from the room, the allegement was duly examined and disposed of, and the juryman recalled. The next name was then called, and the same mode of procedure observed, until the entire list was completedq and which resulted in the indictment of one hundred and twelve men for the murder of the Driscolls-the largest number of men ever indicted under one charge at one session of a grand jury known to judicial history.
BURNING OF THE COURT HOUSE.
Sunday night, March 21, 1841, the first court house commenced in Ogle County, which was nearing completion-in fact, was so far completed as to be in a condition to be used for the sitting of that term of the court, which was to commence on Monday, March 22-was burned to the ground. Several indictments were pending for trial, and six of the indicted parties were in jail awaiting the sitting of the court. All day Sunday the town was full of men known to belong to the Prairie Pirates, evidently watching
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY.
the movements of the court officers-the clerk, the sheriff, etc. Mr. B. T. Phelps, at that time Clerk of the Circuit Court, kept the books and papers of the office at his residence. On Sunday evening he loaded the records on a wheelbarrow, and started to remove them to the court house to have them in readiness when court was called the next morning. When part of the way from his house, he was met by Mr. E. R. Dodge, a lawyer of Ottawa, who could not find accommodations at the hotel because of its crowded condition, and who was on his way to Phelps' residence to claim his hospitality for the night. Luckily, Mr. Phelps did not come on to the court house with the records, but turned back with Mr. Dodge, taking the papers back with him and storing them away in his house.
About midnight the alarm of fire was raised, and the citizens found their new court house in flames that were so far under headway that it was impossible to stay their progress, and it was burned to the ground.
Hugh Ray, who lives two miles distant from Oregon City, had been employed on the court house when it was in course of erection, and com- menced to sleep in the building as soon as it was far enough advanced to afford sufficient protection from the elements withont. He was not awakened until the flames were well started, and barely escaped with his life, his clothing, tools, etc., being left as sacrifices to the devouring element and the vengeance of the Prairie Pirates.
When the citizens reached the burning building they found the pris- oners already up, dressed and apparently watching and waiting for their " hour of delivery." But it came not. The flames did not reach the jail, although it stood but a few rods from the burning court house. It was the belief of the citizens at the time, and the belief was afterwards verified by the confessions or admissions of some members of the gang, tliat the build- ing was fired by the buccaneers under the opinion that the court records had been deposited there by Phelps on Sunday evening, as he had started to do, and that it was their purpose to destroy the indictments against their con- federates, and, in the excitement and confusion consequent upon the fire, also secure the release of their imprisoned co-workers in iniquity, but their purpose was abandoned.
The sitting of the court was not deferred, but was held in a building belonging to William Sanderson that then stood on the site now occupied by the Catholic Church. The building was subsequently removed and was afterwards used by Christian Layman, and was known as the "red wagon shop " until it was made to give way before the march of improvements.
THE BRIDGE.
There is but one bridge, aside from railroad bridges, across Rock River in the County of Ogle. That is at Oregon, where now stands the third that has been erected at that point, and not many years will elapse before the fourth one will be necessary.
By an act of the General Assembly approved February 17, 1851, "James H. Hanchete and his associates, their heirs and assigns were author- ized to build a bridge across Rock River at any point on the plat of Oregon that he may select." Section two, however, authorized the said Hanchete and his associates to construct said bridge below or on the dam "now con- structed across said river at said Town of Oregon; provided, if they should construct the same on said dam, they shall procure the right so to do from
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the proprietors thereof." They were authorized to place a toll-gate at either end of the bridge and demand the same rates of toll as were then allowed for passing the ferry, and permitted to double these rates for all persons passing over said bridge after nine o'clock in the evening and before four o'clock in the morning. It was provided that the navigation of Rock River should not "be in any wise obstructed or delayed by the said bridge," and the County Court was vested with power to determine whether the erection of said bridge will have the effect of impeding the free navigation of Rock River, and with power "to prescribe such regulations as they may deem proper to prevent snch obstruction."
At a session of the board of supervisors held on Wednesday, January 28, 1852, the following preamble and resolution was introduced, viz .:
WHEREAS, It is proposed by James II. Hanchett (spelled IIanchete in the law above quoted) to erect a bridge across Rock River in the Town of Oregon, in the County of Ogle; and, whereas, the people of said county are greatly interested in the success of said under- taking by the said Hanchett; therefore, be it
Resolved, That on the completion of said bridge by the said James H. Hanchett at the Town of Oregon in said County of Ogle, an order shall be drawn on the treasurer of said county for the sum of fifteen hundred dollars in favor of the said Hanchett; provided, however, and it is hereby expressly declared that the order aforesaid for the sum aforesaid shall not be issued to the said James H. Hanchett until he shall have executed to said county a good and sufficient right of way across said bridge for all the officers of said county while employed on the business of the county, to continue for and during the term of twenty years from the date hereof, which said grant shall include a right of way across said bridge for all grand aud petit jurors and all witnesses attending criminal trials.
The resolution was amended by striking out the words " fifteen hundred " and inserting the words " one thousand," so that it appropriated the sum of one thousand dollars, and as amended the resolution was adopted, C. R. Hoadly, Annas Lucas, Sterling Blackman, Hiram Sanford, Hiram D, Wood, Josepli Williams, Jeriel Robinson, N. W. Wadsworth, A. O. Campbell, Elias Thomas, B. T. Hedrick-11-voting in the affirmative; and S. C. Cotton, Spooner Ruggles, John Garman, A. G. Spalding, Austin Lines and J. A. Ettinger-6-voting in the negative.
There was strong opposition to this measure. It was urged that the board of supervisors had no legal authority to appropriate public money to aid in building a toll-bridge, and to test the question, a bill in chancery, Salmon C. Cotton, et al., vs. James H. Hanchett, et als., was filed in the Circuit Court of Ogle County, Wilkinson, J., at the March term, 1852, and upon agreement of parties a pro forma decree was entered. The case went to the supreme court, where the decision of the circuit court was reversed and the cause remanded. Judge Trumbull held:
The act to provide for township organizations does not give the board of supervisors authority to appropriate the county funds in aid of the construction of toll-bridges or to aid a private individual in the construction of a free bridge; nor does the securing to the county a right of way for county officers, grand and petit jurors and witnesses in criminal cases, alter the powers of the supervisors.
The law fixes the compensation and defines the privileges and immunities of county officers, and they have no right, by the use of county funds, to secure to themselves or to any other particular class of individuals, immunities not granted by the statutes. A bill to enjoin the board of supervisors from misapplying the money of the county is the proper remedy .- 13 Ill. Rep., pp. 615.
The bridge was built in 1852, on piles instead of piers, but was swept out by ice in February, 1857.
On Tuesday, April 6, 1858, at the annual town meeting, the commis- sioners of highways reported that the building of a bridge across Rock
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River at Oregon was an "improvement" very necessary to be made, and estimated the expense of building it, beyond the sums that would be raised from other sources, at ten thousand dollars. Whereupon the town ordered the levy of a tax of six thousand dollars that year for that purpose.
At a special session of the County Board of Supervisors, May 20, 1858, Supervisor James V. Gale offered the following :
Resolved, That we appropriate the sum of eight thousand, three hundred and thirty- three dollars to aid in the construction of a free bridge across Rock River, at Oregon, in this county ; provided, said bridge shall be of a substantial and durable character, and to be built with stone piers, and to cost at least the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, the residue of the cost of the same to be raised by said Town of Oregon, by subscription and otherwise. Said sum not to be paid by the county until said bridge shall be completed and accepted by the commissioners of highways of said town, and by a committee to be appointed by the board.
This was tabled, but was taken up and passed by yeas and nays, on the 21st, as follows :
Yeas-James V. Gale, Philo B. Wood, Hiram J. Motter, Isaac Trask, William Artz, James Wells, Solon Cumins, A. S. Shottenkirk, J. Rood, J. Cook, Washington Paddock and Joshua White-12.
Nays-Gould G. Norton, Anson Barnum, Elias Thomas, M. Blair, Edwin Rice, J. A. Ettinger, W. Donaldson, Daniel Sprecker and L. N. Barber-9.
May 22, the board appointed Supervisors Barber, Sprecker, Cook, Rood and Trask a committee to examine and accept, when completed, the bridge to be built over Rock River (very near the site of the present bridge).
A contract was made with Mr. D. C. Pierce, H. A. Mix surety, for the erection of the bridge for the sum of $24,915. In addition to the tax assessed by the Town of Oregon, and the appropriation of $8,333 by the county board, the people of the county subscribed in various sums, to be paid in cash, $10,666.83; to be paid in cash when the bridge should be completed, $1.175.50 ; payable in labor, materials, etc., $1,639; payable in cash at different dates, $195; other subscriptions, making the total amount subscribed in the form of notes, $14,176.33. Of the first class there were 524 subscribers; second class, 120; third class, 38. The names of those who subscribed $50 and upwards were : Theodore Austin, Alanson Bishop, William W. Bennett, R. C. Burchell, Perry Barker, Clark & Dana, John Carpenter, Phineas Chaney, E. F. Dutcher, William S. Davis, John Eyster, John Etnyre, Daniel Etnyre, Elias Etnyre ($200), C. F. Emerson, Horace Grant, James V. Gale, John V. Gale, G. W. Hill ($200), S. M. Hitt ($300), L. Hemenway, P. Jacobs, Margaret Johnston, R. B. Light, C. S. Marshall, William Moore, Charles P. Potter, E. S. Potter $400), F. G. Petrie, Sylvester Potter, John H. Rutledge, Andrew Schechter, Stewart & Wheeler ($200), E. J. Sexton, J. M. Snowden, Thomas Stinson, Adam Schryver ($150), W. C. Stoddard, M. W. Smith, Joseph Sears, Isaac Trask, Joshua Thomas, I. S. Woolley ($125), John Acker, S. S. Crowell, C. W. Murtfeldt, E. M. Light, H. A. Mix ($1,000).
Soon after executing the contract, Mr. Pierce, the contractor, died, and the work was commenced and completed by H. A. Mix, who was the real principal in the contract. The work was commenced in 1858, but was not completed nntil 1859. September 10, 1858, the subscription notes, amount- ing to $14,176.33, were paid over to Mr. Mix, and June 3, 1859, he was paid the amount received on tax of 1858, $4,820.44 ; from the county treasurer, $563.58.
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY.
December 1, 1859, Mr. Barber having died, and other members of the examining committee appointed in May, 1858, having gone ont of office, the board of supervisors resolved itself into a committee of the whole to inspect the new bridge. The committee made report on the same day, and the board, by vote, accepted the structure, and ordered the issue of orders on the county treasurer for the sum appropriated, viz .: $8,333.
This bridge remained until 1867, about eight years, when it fell.
At a special session of the county board of supervisors, January 15, 1867, the report of the committee appointed at the session in September, 1866, to consult with the commissioners of highways of the Town of Oregon and co-operate with them in efforts to ascertain the best and most economi- cal plan for building a bridge across Rock River, at Oregon, reported as follows :
To the Honorable Board of Supervisors of Ogle County :
The undersigned, your committee appointed to co-operate with the highway commis- sioners of Oregon, to ascertain the best and most economical plan for building a super- structure to the Bridge across Rock River at said town, report that in company with said commissioners they have thoroughly investigated the subject-that they went to Elgin, in Kane County, and examined the iron bridge across Fox River, built by Messrs. Truesdail. That your committee were much pleased with the construction of said bridge, and they are firmly of the opinion that, in consideration of the durability, of an iron superstructure, it will be economy to build a superstructure of iron on the piers across Rock River, at Oregon, and they hereby recommend that six additional piers be erected in the river at that place, and that an iron superstructure be constructed upon the old and said new piers in Rock River, at said Town of Oregon.
Signed,
JOHN CARPENTER, L. ANDRUS, County Com.
JAMES V. GALE, Town Com.
I did not visit said bridge, but having examined the model and heard the report of Messrs Andrus, May and Gale, do approve of the same.
JOHN CARPENTER.
Mr. Thompson introduced a resolution appropriating $38,000 for the construction of an iron bridge across Rock River at Oregon, on condition that the Town of Oregon should build the additional piers, defray all other expenses, and keep the bridge in repair. This resolution elicited consider- able discussion, various amendments were offered and rejected, and at last it was laid on the table for thirty minutes that the plan and specifications of Mr. Spafford, of Dixon, and a gentleman from Vermont, for building a wooden bridge, might be examined. On motion of Mr. Gale, Messrs. Gale, Field, Burns, Davis and Dresser were appointed a committee to examine Spafford's plan, and the tabled resolution was referred to the same committee.
This committee reported, recommending that a "good, substantial wood-covered bridge be erected on the present piers, and that the sum of $15,000 be appropriated to aid in the construction of the same, provided, that the Town of Oregon pay the sum of $5,000 for said purpose." The report was accepted, and it was so ordered. It was also ordered that the bridge should be built under the supervision of a joint committee appointed by the board and by the commissioners of highways of the Town of Oregon. Messrs. Joshua White, Leonard Andrus, John Carpenter and R. M. Pearson were appointed on the part of the county. The vote passing these orders was by yeas and nays. Those voting in the affirmative were : Messrs. Norton, Taylor, Mack, Dresser, Field, Hedrick, Carpenter, Gale, Baker, Eshback, Thompson, Davis, Martin and White-14. Those voting
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in the negative were : Messrs. Sanborn, Barber, Parker, Tice, Miller, Burns, Rice and Hoadley-8.
At the annual meeting of the Town of Oregon, April 2, 1867, the supervisor was authorized to borrow five thousand dollars "to defray the amount the town is to raise for the new bridge."
Previous to this, however, the committee of the board of supervisors and the commissioners of highways, of the Town of Oregon, held a meet- ing in the county clerk's office on the 26th day of February, 1867, for the purpose of adopting a plan for the bridge, receiving proposals and letting the contract for the construction thereof. The bridge was to be a new superstructure of the Howe truss pattern, erected on the piers of the old bridge. Proposals were received from S. M. Town, Elias Etnyre and Messrs. Canda & Hinckley. The contract was awarded to Canda & Hinck- ley, of Chicago, for $20,000 and the old bridge.
The old bridge, although considered unsafe, was still in use. But on the 8th of May the National Guard announced that " Our bridge, which for some time past has been in rather a precarious condition, underwent a thorough repairing last week, and is now considered entirely safe. It did not remain so long, however, for on the 5th of June, says the Guard, "the two western spans settled into the river ker souse. The Franklin stage had passed over only an hour previous, also horses, and cattle, and several footmen. Mr. William Waterman was wheeling a wheelbarrow across at the time of the fall, but was so far over that the falling spans did not reach him, though it somewhat accelerated his movements." He violated law in that he drove his wheelbarrow across "faster than a walk," but under the circumstances he was excusable.
Immediately upon the fall of the bridge a ferry was established, temporarily, by contributions of the citizens.
July 17, 1867, the Guard announced the arrival of the bridge builders and the commencement of the work of building the new bridge. On Saturday, September 7, it was crossed by teams for the first time, and the ferryboat was no longer needed. The bridge was formally accepted by the authorities of the county November 4, 1867, and at the present time (April, 1878,) it is in urgent need of extensive repairs, and must be rebuilt at no very distant day.
WAR HISTORY.
If there is any one thing more than another of which the people of the Northern States have reason to be proud, it is of the record they made during the dark and bloody days of the War of the Rebellion. When the war was forced upon the country, the people were quietly pursuing the even tenor of their ways, doing whatever their hands found to do- making farms or cultivating those already made, erecting homes, founding cities and towns, building shops and manufactories-in short, the country was alive with industry and hopes for the future. The country was just recovering from the depression and losses incident to the financial panic of 1857. The future looked bright and promising, and the industrious and patriotic sons and daughters of the Free States were buoyant with hope- looking forward to the perfecting of new plans for the ensurement of com- fort and competence in their declining years, they little heeded the mutter- ings and threatenings of treason's children in the Slave States of the South
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True sons and descendants of the heroes of the "times that tried men's souls " -- the struggle for American independence-they never dreamed that there was even one so base as to dare attempt the destruction of the Union of their fathers-a government baptized with the best blood the world ever knew. While immediately surrounded with peace and tranquility, they paid but little attention to the rumored plots and plans of those who lived and grew rich from the sweat and toil, blood and flesh of others-aye, even trafficked in the offspring of their own loins. Nevertheless, the war came with all its attendant horrors.
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