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 61
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" Acquainted with the prisoner; known him since last Friday, so as to be intimate with him ; saw him first in Taylor's yard ; had conversation with Burke in relation to the burning of warehouses June 7th ; talked with Burke about grain being burnt on Friday ; asked him how much was lost, and he answered didn't know, but thought about 100,000 bushels; he said that some boys were suspected of setting it on fire-got drunk and played cards in warehouses, and set it on fire ; my answer was that it was a great loss, and it had better been shipped South, and B. said that was the reason it was burned ; he said the public wasn't aware who burned it ; he was glad of it ; B. asked who I was, and I told him I was one of the 'Let-me-alones ;' I started away, and he said he had something to say, and called me back ; shook hands, and said he understood it ; and said he wanted to see me again ; and Saturday evening I saw him again in Taylor's barn ; B. told me of his former acts and history, and said that something was going on that he wanted to be better posted on ; and that him and me were all right ; said there was considerable talk here, and folks suspected him of setting it on fire, and thought I could be of aid to him; wanted an interview with me on first opportunity ; agreed to meet him next day in grove back of barn; went there according to agreement, and had a long conversation with him in relation to Jeff. Davis, Beauregard and the South generally. He then began to talk about this fire of June 7th ; said he was strongly suspected of setting it; said he had satisfaction partly of some parties here in town, and calculated to have more. He told me that he must go to the house, but at the next interview he would tell me something that might interest me; told me to stay in the bushes a little while, as he wanted to go to the barn. He went away, was gone a little while, and came back with a bottle containing about two ' nips' of whisky ; said he drank whisky once in awhile, but never when he had any business on hand ; wanted to keep his head clear when he had ' work ' on hand ; parted, finally, with an agreement to meet next day ; met him again Monday morning in the grove; B. said he had not rested well the night before ; felt somewhat in trouble ; was afraid I might be suspected, and hadn't nothing to cover me from sus- picion, and that we had better make a business by dealing in patent rights, whenever any one was around ; supposed 1 was all right, and felt as though I was his brother, and could talk with nie ; told him he needn't tell me anything, except what he thought was all right ; had a cigar partly smoked in my hand that had went out, and and asked him for a match ; B. took a couple out of his pocket, and told me they were ' mates ; ' asked him, ' mates of what ?' He said, 'mates of the matches that set the warehouses on fire !" Told him I hardly believed it, and he said he . be d-d if it wasn't so ; that he had got to tell somebody, and he didn't know anybody better than me.' He went on then, and told me what he had done; said he went from Taylor's meat market across the lot with some shavings under his coat, and an Abolition paper in his pocket ; went to the corner of Spalding's warehouse, where a piece of board was broken off; said some might think it was broken off by a wagon, or cattle; put the shavings inside the warehouse through the place where the board was broken off, and also put in the Abolition paper; took a match from his pocket and struck it, and it went out; took another and struck it, and touched fire to the paper ; then started and went to Taylor's barn, where he (Burke) sleeps ; said when he was going down, he thought if he met any one, not having his knife or pistols, he would do what he could with his fists, as he was a good fighter ; when he got to the barn door, it was light enough so that he could see the latch ; asked him if it was the light of the moon, and he said ' no, it was the light from his work ; ' stayed in the barn until the bells began to ring, and then took off his coat and went across to Taylor's house to wake them up, and make them believe he had just woke up from the ringing of the bells ; then hie ran up the street to where the fire was, and asked some man what he should do and where he should go to work, and so on to another
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY.
and another, so that all might know that he was at the fire; asked him if he worked any, and he said he did a little, but against his will ; he loved the taste of the smoke, and wished I had been there to taste it, too. I asked him if he had any partners or watch that night, and he said he never had any partner or watch, but always done his work alone; said it was the second fire he had set in this town, and he he d-d if he shouldn't set another the first opportunity; the fire did not spread as far as he expected ; thought it would have taken in the rear of the stores on Cherry street, and spread through and across the street; said he had his plan laid to set another fire; asked him if he had any particular place picked out, and he said he had ; asked him where, and he went on and said that there was a little wooden building adjoining the brick block (Turkington's), where there was a window out and inside a lot of corn husks; intended to come along, light his matches and throw them among the husks, and wanted a good strong south wind ; asked him if I should set the fire, aud he said no, there was so much feeling and suspicion against him, he would be hung for it ; asked him if there was any other place where he intended to set ; said there was a red barn near Taylor's (John Fulton's), which he thought some of burning, but there was no chance of its spreading, and would only burn three horses and the contents of the barn; asked him if he had any particular spite against this man, and he answered nothing, only he was a strong Union man, and the horses couldn't be used against the South ; then he began to talk about De Kalb; said he would go down there and destroy a great deal of grain and property ; said there was a good chance to destroy property in Beloit ; there were parties there against whom he had a grudge, and he wanted satisfaction ; asked him why he did not go South, and he said he should as soon as he paid one more deht; had paid two; had made them smoke twice, and he he d - d if he wouldn't again ; asked me if I had ever heard about some stores that were burned here six or eight months ago; told him no; he said he had a d-d nice fire here; asked him how it was supposed to have taken, and he said from some chemicals in an ambrotype room ; asked him if paper and shavings had anything to do with that fire ; said no, that he had often worked with a fuse, and that a fuse was a nice thing ; said he could take a brace and bit and bore into a clapboard, light a fuse, put it into the hole, stop it up with a cork, and take a twenty minutes' walk before it was discovered, and then it would run up the studding and break out of the roof; said his last fire operated in much the same way ; ran up the studding and broke out of the roof as soon as any other place. Next time saw him was on Tuesday, at the hotel, when he came in and handed me some papers in relation to patent rights, as a cover, and told me after I had looked them over to come down and see him at the barn. (Witness here presented the papers, deed of patent wire fence, advertisements, etc., and also presented the ' mate ' match.) Went down to the barn, and there he said to me that he hadn't told me all, but was afraid he had told me too much ; hadn't slept well the night before ; had been thinking about traitors, and didn't know but I was one; told him he needn't tell me any more; said he hadn't told me the worst ; that there was somebody that had got to die ! asked him who, and he said it was a G-d d-d w-e's bastard who was living at Taylor's ; asked him what the boy had been doing, and he said that the boy had told him that morning that he would like to see him and all the other secessionists dangling in the nir; that the boy had got to be put out of the way soon; am afraid he will swear against me; asked him how he was going to dispose of him, and he said he had a good double-barreled gun which he should get into shooting order; asked him when and where he would do it, and he said he would get the boy to go out hunting with him some day ; asked me if I had ever heard of any accident resulting from a gun going off half-cocked; told him 1 had, and he said his gun would go off that way, if he wanted it to; asked him if he wasn't afraid he would get caught at it, and he said no; there was a grent many d-n rascals and scoundrels in town, and they were afraid of him, and daren't do anything with him; went into the barn and showed me his gun, and just then the boy came along the road, and he (Burke) said there is the d-n scoundrel, and he won't drive that wagon along many more times ; talked over some murder and robber affairs ; said he had killed three men in Rio Janeiro, and showed some scars of the affray ; said he had been in irons and had seen the rope, and if it had been me I couldn't have got out of the scrapes ; said some people thought him crazy, and he tried to have them think he was insane; talked 'slang' with him, which he understood ; said he was well posted in these things ; said he had commanded steamboats, and had been up the Straits on business which, if known then, would have hung him; said again he had no partner, but that there was a man in this town who would help him with money on the pinch ; talked with him about a partner I had in the business, and he said, though he was shy of strangers, if any man came recommended by me and gave the right signs, he would recognize him as a brother; thought it wouldn't do to talk secession at all ; he could do it, because they were afraid of him ; strangers wouldn't be permitted to talk it at all ; object in setting fire was to destroy the grain and keep it from the South ; had a grudge against a man who had shaved him out of $10,000; that man was Pagett ; another warehouse near the water tank, full of grain, which would help some ; could set it if there was a watch in the building ; prayed to God for a good south wind ; no set time for setting the hardware store, only should do it when the wind was right; had much general conversation with him, but the above is all bearing upon his case. Burke and I had a trial of nerve by holding weights out at arm's length, and he could beat me a little."
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY.
We presume to say there was not a person in the hall but was convinced of the guilt of the prisoner after the witness had concluded his testimony. There was an air of truth and sincerity about his manner which, coupled with facts and localities unknown lo him, but familiar to our citizens, carried conviction to the hearts of all. Other testimony was taken, however, merely as corroborative of the testimony of Mr. V.
After the case was closed, a call for the reading of the testimony was made, as many had come in who had not heard it. It was accordingly read over to those present, amid exclama- tions of surprise and horror, and it took but a glance at the pale and determined faces among the crowd to be satisfied that the prisoner would not be permitted to leave the hall alive. And he was not. Even while the Court were conferring in relation to making out the commitment, and in spite of the orders and exertion of a Deputy who had temporary charge of the prisoner, at fifteen minutes before 1 o'clock his hands were tied behind him, a rope placed about his neck, and he summarily ejected, feet foremost, from a side window in the hall. His fall was easy, and he struggled but once or twice, and ceased to exist. After hanging between one and two hours, he was cut down. Thus ended the life of Thomas D. Burke, who, if we are to believe his own confession, ought to have been in the same position years ago. His crimes stand recorded as among the worst in the calendar. He had murdered, he had robbed, he had pre- meditated the murder of a young and inoffensive lad ; worse than all, he had twice been guilty of arson (the first time a young man narrowly escaping with his life), destroying property to the amount of thousands of dollars and inciting suspicion and distrust among the entire community. His punishment, though deserved and just, was awful in the extreme.
Burke was 64 years of age, and was well known as the inventor of the wire fence used so generally throughout the Northwest. He was a native of Kentucky, held an important office under President Jackson, in Florida, and has hoated considerable on the Mississippi. For the last four or five years, he has been a resident of our village, and two years previous, a resident of De Kalb.
Such was the evidence on which Burke was so summarily sent to his long account, but subsequent developments have raised the question in the minds of many right-minded citizens whether the people were not too hasty in taking the law into their own hands. Strong evidence has since been adduced which goes far to show that the elevator fire at least was not the work of Burke.
The Justices before whom the trial began were Samuel Hamaker and Enoch Hoadley. From an interview with Mr. Hoadley we learn that Mr. Burke denied everything, and that he had no counsel until the latter part of the trial. Mr. Hoadley says that when a rope was presented he thought it was for the purpose of frightening him; many of the people had gone home to dinner, including the County Sheriff, John A. Hughes, leaving the prisoner in charge of a Deputy, Mr. Haight. When the mob began to make violent demonstrations, Mr. Haight went out for help, leaving the prisoner with the mob. The rope was quickly placed around his neck, and Mr. Hoadley attempted to get it off, but was struck back and led away. Mr. Burke was thrown out of the northern window on the west side of the room, now used as a Masonic Hall, in the third story of the brick block on the corner of Cherry and Washington streets, and was left hanging there some hours, during which time it rained. Some of the participants were indicted by the Grand Jury, and prosecuted by Judge Eustace, of Dixon, but were cleared by the jury.
In this account we have expressed no opinion, but have endeavored to give the facts as they were stated to the writer.
The third great fire occurred on the 10th of December, 1870, and made a clean sweep of everything from Turkington & Hilb's block north to Ellinwood & Scranton's corner, including the building on the latter place at the time. The total loss was estimated at $55,000. It was all rebuilt the following Sum- mer and Autumn, the whole ground being covered with a continuous row of brick stores, which, for elegance and durability, are rarely equaled in a city of the same size.
The building of the three railroads which pass through Rochelle will be referred to in a chapter on that subject.
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY.
The business houses, residences and schools of Rochelle are of a superior character, unexcelled in the county, and every apparent indication of its future points to a continued prosperity and rapid growth.
MOUNT MORRIS.
The Rock River Register, No. 1, Vol. 1, published January 1, 1842, by Jonathan Knodle, contains the following :
Mt. Morris was well founded in the Spring of 1841 [1839], and it is now already found, when not yet ten months old, to hold 282 souls, inclusive of the students and teachers at Rock River Seminary, which dignifies the center of the village. This day, January 1, 1842, the citi- zens number 137, and the town consists of twenty-one houses. Mt. Morris is five miles west of Oregon City, in the same county, and eighty miles west of Chicago. It is handsomely situated on one of the most beautiful and extraordinarily fertile prairies which distinguish Illinois, and especially the Rock River region, for abundance and excellence of agricultural productions. It is named in honor of Bishop Morris, of the M. E. Church.
Starting a newspaper under such circumstances, in a wild and sparsely set- tled country, was a hazardous experiment at best. But Mr. Knodle doubtless trusted to the enterprise and energy of his Maryland friends and colonists for the rapid development of Mount Morris.
In the Summer of 1836, Samuel M. Hitt and Nathaniel Swingley came to the site of Mt. Morris and made several claims, including the present village site. They returned to Maryland in the Autumn of that year to make prepara- tions for removing to this country. Early in the Spring of the following year, they arrived at a vacant cabin in Fridley's Grove, which had been occupied by Judge Ford. They brought Eli Householder, Daniel Stover, William McDaniel and Mrs. Elizabeth Ankeny, with their families. also Frederick Finkbohnar, Adam and John Stover, Balka Niehoff, and a few others.
This did not constitute the main portion of the Maryland colony proper, which arrived one or two years later.
When they came, in the Spring of 1837, John Phelps, who was the original pioneer of this vicinity, lived on his old farm, about two and a half miles east ; Mr. Baker had a cabin and claim about four miles south by east, now owned by Daniel Price ; David Worden lived a mile and one-half southwest of the village site. and one or two other settlers skirted the edges of the woods, but leaving the broad prairie free from the encroachment of civilization.
The first Maryland colony remained in the "Ford " cabin for two weeks, cooking on a stove which had been brought by Mrs. Ankeny (who was a sister of Nathaniel Swingley), and sleeping on "wagoner beds," which consisted of plain mattresses, rolled up during the day and spread over the upper or garret floor at night.
As soon as possible, these pioneers began the erection of their cabins. The first one to be built was a double log cabin, about three-quarters of a mile south by west of the present village, on the claim of Mrs. Ankeny. In this lived the families of Mrs. Ankeny and Mr. Householder, in one part, and Messrs. Stover and McDaniel in the other.
The former half of this house is still standing on the land of William Watts, near its original location, while the other portion was afterward moved down in the grove near a spring, but has since been torn away.
After remaining here for two years, Mr. Householder moved about six miles south of Mt. Morris, to the farm, where he still resides. Messrs. Daniel Stover and William McDaniel lived in the cabin referred to until the Fall of that year, when they moved to their claims. Mr. Stover afterward died in this vicinity, and Mr. McDaniel still lives on his farm near Pine Creek.
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY.
Mr. Finkbohnar moved north, to Adeline. 'Squire Samuel M. Ilitt settled about three miles west of Mount Morris with his family, including Margaret, Andrew, Robert, George, John W. and Joseph.
'Squire Hitt died on his original farm in 1859. His sons Joseph and John W. now reside in Mount Morris.
Captain Nathaniel Swingley took up the claim of the farm now owned by Jacob Keedy, and resided there until, in 1850, he went to California, where he remained three years ; he then returned and located at Creston, Dement Town- ship, where he still resides.
Sołon Crowell was, at the time of their arrival, on the farm a mile north, now occupied by Franklin Stonebraker.
September 3, 1836, Jacob Rice, Sr., and family left Washington County, Maryland, to seek a home in the West. He wintered in Ohio with his brother- in-law, John Wagner, who in the following Spring accompanied him on horseback to look up a location. Claims were made within three miles of Mount Morris, and their families, consisting of twelve children each, brought on that Summer, July, 1837. Both of these pioneers died on the farms they had made, which are now owned respectively by Isaac Rice and Reuben Wagner, their sons. Many of their descendants are still residents in this vicinity.
In the Fall of 1837, Rev. T. S. Hitt and wife left Ohio in a carriage, to examine the new country of which Samuel M. Hitt, a brother, had written such a favorable description. Mr. Hitt was a Methodist minister, and had in view the continuance of that work. On arrival here, in September, Mr. Hitt went into the house which Martin Reynolds, a brother-in-law, was then completing, on the site of Professor Pinckney's present residence. Mr. Hitt soon pur- chased a claim of 1,000 acres, 100 of which were broken, for $2,500, of a Mr. Painter, two and a half miles south. He, however, soon moved to the claim which his brother, Samuel, had reserved for him, and where he lived until his death, September 23, 1872. Mrs. Emily Hitt now resides on the same farm, a portion of which is included in the village.
In the following Spring, John Wallace, Sr., built a cabin on his claim, a mile north of Mr. Reynolds'. Messrs. Reynolds and Wallace married sisters of the Hitts, and came from Ohio, stopping for a time at Ottawa. Mr. Worden returned to New York, his former home, after a few years, and Mr. Reynolds also removed to La Salle County, Illinois. Mr. Wallace lived a half mile north of town until the time of his death.
In the Spring of 1838, at the solicitation of "'Squire" Samuel Hitt and "Captain " Nathaniel Swingley, who had returned for their families, a large number of families, known as the Maryland Colony, came to this vicinity. They soon separated, some going to Carroll County and other places. Among these families were the Ilers, Etnyres, Sprechers, Michael Bovey, John Smith.
May 24, 1838, A. Q. Allen, Philip Sprecher and John S. Miller arrived, overland in a carriage, from Maryland. Others came in 1838 and later, and many of their names cannot now be recalled. Among them came John Coff- man and family, Henry Artz, Michael Brantner, Solomon Nalley and family, Henry Sharer and others. Mr. and Mrs. Philip Sprecher are still living in Mount Morris, upward of eighty years of age; Mr. Coffman still resides within two miles southwest of the village, on his old farm; Mr. Artz resides three and a half miles southeast of the village; Mr. Brantner lives four miles west of town ; Mr. Nalley lives five miles north of town.
In September, 1837, John Fridley purchased Mr. Ford's cabin and claim
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY.
for $1,000, where he continued to live until the time of his death. The farm is now owned by his sons.
Among other early settlers were Caleb Marshall, who came in 1838, and died on the farm where Reuben Marshall now resides.
John McFarland, of the Maryland Colony, built one of the first houses in the village.
John Ankeny, who had settled at Elkhorn Grove soon after the Blackhawk war, moved here in order to educate his children, and built a house in town.
Dr. James J. Beatty, from Maryland, was the earliest physician. He died on the plains, while en route for California, in 1851.
Mr. Bond took up a claim near Oregon about 1837, but soon sold out to Eli Thomas, and moved to another location, north of Mount Morris.
Mr. Clement moved here, from Grand Detour, to educate his daughter.
As one old settler expressed it, "The Maryland people have never ceased coming." In 1842, A. Q. Allen returned with his newly-married wife, together with Henry A. Neff, Bartholomew and Benjamin McNutt and Jacob Heistand, with their families and the mother and sister of the latter. In 1845, came Frank Hamilton, Benjamin Swingley, Messrs. Sharer, Snively and others.
The first birth in the village was that of John R. Petrie, son of F. G. Petrie, about 1840.
The first burial in the cemetery was a little daughter of Nathaniel Swingley.
THE VILLAGE.
D. Fletcher Hitt, now of Ottawa, then a young man, came out with his brother Samuel in 1838, as surveyor, and laid off many claims and the semi- nary appropriation. He surveyed a portion of the village plat in 1839. It was afterward discovered that, in making the survey, he had used a chain which was eight-tenths of a foot too long, and the corporate authorities ordered a resurvey of the town, which was made by A. Q. Allen, February 22, 1875, to correspond with the one made by Fletcher Hitt.
The " Railroad Addition " to Mount Morris was made by Robert R. Hitt, M. Emory Hitt and Emily Hitt, April 17, 1872; of "Stroh's Addition," the date was not recorded on the plat. Three quarter-sections had been donated for the use of the Seminary, as shown in the history of that institution in another portion of this work, and the Board of Trustees of that institution on the 29th day of December, 1840, voted that lots be donated to all applicants applying until the 1st of June following, "who shall build a house of stone, brick or frame, not less than 16 by 24 fect, 1} stories high, to be fit for occu- pancy 1st of January, 1842, or sooner, J. Clark and T. S. Hitt to designate the lots donated and specify the terms." The time during which such dona- tions might be made was afterward extended. By this liberal action of the Trustees, any man who desired a village lot could have it " without money and without price," provided he would build a house on it and, presumably, occupy the premises. Messrs. Clark and Hitt ruled that every alternate lot might be thus donated.
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