USA > Indiana > Madison County > Historical Sketches and Reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana: A Detailed History of the. > Part 21
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
brought him before the directors on the charge of ""beating his way in." The Board assembled in solemn session to try the offender. Kline was selected as judge advocate to try the case and determine what penalty should be imposed. Either the grand success of the fair, or some other cause, had braced Kline up to the full importance of the occasion. He ap- pointed . Jim " Snell to interrogate the defendant, who did his work well. The evidence was all heard, and the judge asked the defendant if he had anything to say upon the subject.
" Vell, Al., you know as I has knowed you a long vile, and you know I did not mean any ting wrong. I vash not know dat I vash ' preakin' ' through your rules, and I dink as you vash besser let this matter drop, and I pay my fare and I not do so no more."
" Well," said Kline, " it is true, as you say, that you have known me for a long time, and I must confess that, after our long acquaintance, I am greatly pained to be called upon to sit in judgment on this case against you. It is a serious charge, and while my personal feelings are in your favor, and it pains me deeply to think you guilty of such an offense, yet my official position will not allow me to swerve an inch to- ward my personal feelings in this matter. After hearing all of the evidence, the judgment of this court is that you are guilty, and your sentence is that you be publicly shot by a committee of the stockholders to be selected by the marshal."
The woe-begone look of the man would have been a fine subject for the pen of an artist. He thought his doom was sealed. After a piteous appeal to his friends on the Board, they interceded for him, and persuaded the court to suspend the sentence. He was released on his good behavior, and always paid his way into the fair thereafter.
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CHAPTER XXXI.
Two AWFUL CRIMES.
THE ABBOTT MURDER.
The following account of an early crime in Madison county has almost passed out of the memory of the oldest liv- ing inhabitants of the community. The details are furnished us by F. T. Luse, who obtained the facts from some old settlers many years ago, when he was publishing the Anderson .Standard, and we quote them as given to us :
3.
THE SCENE OF THE ABBOTT MURDER IN 1830.
* " In the early settlement of almost every county in this State, as well as in others, there was more or less lawlessness, disrespect for the rights of others, and a general contempt for goo <1 order. Even to-day we see this evidence in many locali ties of the west, where robbery, murder, counterfeiting, etc . , abound, and a general reign of terror predominates. Where there is no law there is little or no society, and the revol ver figures more prominently before the public eye than do the scales of justice. Until courts are organized and the proper machinery of the law is adjusted to the surroundings,
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
such will continue to be the state of affairs in almost all new settlements.
Madison county was not exempt from lawless characters in its early settlement, and between the years of 1825 and 1835 there were many strange characters residing within its boundaries-men who had ventured from eastern and southern localities to find an abiding place temporarily, it might be, to evade the strong arm of the law which was about to clasp them within its grasp. Fall Creek township in an early day was the home of a band of counterfeiters, who plied their vo- cation for some years until the law was put in operation for their benefit, when the business was broken up, and the band scattered. Pipe Creek township, in the first settling of the county, and for a few years afterward, was the abiding place of a nest of horse thieves, who followed their unlawful work in this and neighboring counties until matters became entirely too warm for them, and they abandoned the business. The descendants of some of these people reside there now. In other portions of the county at that early period resided people who knew no law, and did about as they chose, until public sentiment and an advanced civilization compelled them to leave.
About the year 1830 a family by the name of .Abbott, con- sisting of a father, mother and two grown sons, from Ken- tucky, moved into the new and sparsely settled country. They settled or rather " squatted " on what was long after- ward known as the Isaac Moss farm, some two miles west of the then village of Anderson. Their cabin was situated near the river bank, at the foot of the hill, on the north side of what is now known as the Perkinsville road. From the first it would seem they were more or less viewed with suspicion, although never appearing before a court of justice on any charge, and living in the locality for two years, subsequent discoveries indicated that the suspicions against them were well founded, and their hasty exit was not made any too soon. They cultivated a small patch of ground, and an occasional trader through the lonely locality would stop with them for the night. The Abbotts seemed to shun work, and yet ap- peared to possess a considerable amount of personal property, in the way of horses, hogs, sheep and such like, although at their first arrival few of these things were known to belong to them. The men would make quiet trips away from home. and be absent from two to three weeks at a time. Whither
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
they went on their business was unknown. In that early day every man was expected to know his neighbors for three or four miles around, how many plows, wagons or horses he possessed, how many acres he had in wheat or corn, how many members of his family, where and when the next " meet - ing " would be held, and all the gossip afloat. But the .b. botts were reserved in that respect, and did not let the neigh- bors know any more of their business than possible, and al- though maintaining some show of sociability, were careful to keep their affairs to a great extent to themselves. The truth seemed to be, and was the verdict generally of the neighbors, that the family was a household of thieves, but were commit - ting their depredations in distant localities. This seemed to account for the occasional new horse, a few sheep or hogs, which they had not purchased directly in the neighborhood. The suspicion continued to go from neighbor to neighbor that the Abbotts were " crooked " people, and dangerous to the community, although no overt acts could be charged to their account.
Further along, however, as we shall see, an event occurred which seemed to confirm fully the evil impressions created against them and which caused their sudden flight to unknown parts very soon thereafter.
A prominent highway of early days extending through several counties adjoining this was known as the " Strawtown road." It was probably the first wagon road in the county. Its terminus was at Greenville, Ohio, and extended west from there through Muncie, Anderson and Perkinsville to Indianapolis, while a branch of it was constructed northwest toward the Wabash.
The " Strawtown road" was the emigrant route to the West for many years, and thousands of people seeking homes in the West 'in the early days of the State passed over it. What is now known as Eighth street in Anderson and the continua- tion of the gravel road to Perkinsville, was a portion of the ** Strawtown road " of early times.
During the summer of 1832, a gentleman from some Point in Ohio started West on horseback over the route spoken Of, determined on seeking a new home in the West. He moved by slow stages, stopping a day or two at different points a long the journey to inspect and prospect. He reached this County in ten or twelve days, and, passing through the village Of Anderson, stopped in the evening at the Abbott home for 16
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
the night, intending, as it was supposed, to continue on in a westerly course the next day. He was never seen or heard of again. His intentions being when starting away to not be absent over six weeks, his relatives at the end of that time began to fear that trouble of some kind had overtaken him. So strongly were they confirmed that at the end of two months they determined upon a trip to find him if possible, or if not seeing him to ascertain what had become of him. Going over the same route it was a matter of very little trouble to find many places at which he had tarried over night and where they accurately described the man and horse, and different matters pertaining to him were uniformly correct. The searchers moved along their journey quite rapidly, encouraged by the hope of soon finding him. l'assing on the route they went on through Anderson and stopped at the Abbott home to make further inquiries. " Yes, he had stopped there," the inmates said and described him. " He left early next morn- ing," they said, " expecting to go at least twenty-five miles that day." The'two men continued on their way west making their usual inquiries, but at no place after leaving the Abbott cabin could they hear anything concerning their friend. They continued in search for several days in the country around Noblesville and Indianapolis, but finally abandoned it and passed back east having accomplished nothing.
Neighbors who may have had certain fixed views regard- ing the disappearance of the stranger remained quiet. It should be remembered that those were the days when such things as detectives and telegraphs were unknown, and the opportunities and the class of persons necessary for ferreting out evil deeds and bringing criminals to justice were not nearly so favorable as in this day or age. An event, however, soon occurred that brought matters to a crisis and determined the suspected family upon an immediate flight. One morning the body of a man was found floating in White river only about a quarter of a mile below where the Abbotts lived. No one recognized the features in the neighborhood, and the Abbotts were as seemingly mystified as to who the man was as any other persons. After a few days the sensation over the discovery subsided to a great extent, many thinking that it was some stranger who had accidently fallen into the river and drowned. A few there were, however, who did not think just that way, and intimations of a murder were quietly spoken of. The Abbotts seemed to have felt probably that it
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
would soon be laid at their door, and one night the family with all their goods and chattels quietly disappeared. Their absence was not discovered until two or three days, and no effort was made to pursue them, the neighborhood being grati- fied that they had left.
The disappearance of the man who had stopped at the house, and the search for him afterwards with no intelligence regarding him seemed now to have been explained by the finding of the corpse floating in the river. The opinion rap- idly chrystalized that this mysterious family had murdered the stranger for his money and the property in his possession, and sank the body in the river, and their hasty flight seemed to confirmn it.
They were gone, none knew where, and no effort was put forth to arrest them, and the affair in a few months passed from the minds of most of the people then residing in that locality. This was an event, it must be borne in mind, of over sixty years ago. In this day of rapid transit and shrewd detec- tives, the suspected people could not have escaped. Every- thing relating to the affair would have been unraveled in a short time. For some years afterwards many persons in pass- ing the road fronting the place would call attention to the cabin, which remained unoccupied, and with feelings of awe, avow that it was haunted, and that the spirit of somebody could be heard within its portals after night, and through this superstitious fear many avoided passing by there after dark. The cabin has long since gone to decay, and the people living in the vicinity were called hence long ago, yet the recollection of this mysterious family and the dark deeds attributed to its z members were themes for discussion in the humble homes of the pioneers in the vicinity for many years thereafter."
AN ATROCIOUS CRIME.
Susan Nelson was the widow of William Nelson, who Was for many years a resident of Anderson township, and who <1 ied in Anderson many years ago. On the 7th of September, 1 888, Mrs. Nelson left the city, going west on the Bee Line road on the evening train. During the day she called at the Postoffice and left an order for her mail to be forwarded to Kansas City, Missouri. She also employed a drayman of the In sime of Swearingen who took her trunk to the depot, and Saa id to him that she was going to visit her son, Jasper Nelson, Who had written to her and informed her that he was very
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
sick. She informed Edward Downey that she was leaving Anderson never to return. She also talked to other people in the same strain about leaving Anderson. She was afterwards missed by her friends and no one knew of her whereabouts.
In the following month of October after she had taken her departure, a man of the name of James Porter, while hunt. ing in the woods about three miles southwest of the city of Terre Haute, and while in a lonely portion of the forest, noticed his dog running to the side of a ravine with something in his mouth. He called the animal to him and saw that he
PERRY MANIS. THE MURDERER OF SUSAN NELSON.
had a human skull. The afternoon was then drawing to a close, but he concluded to institute a thorough search into the matter, and see what the discovery would lead to.
Soon he found another bone, and then another, until at last it appeared to him that probably some foul murder had been committed. Overcome with fright and horror, he con- cluded to go to his home. On the following morning. assisted by some neighbors, he continued the search. This time a complete set of artificial teeth, and some female clothing, were discovered. It was not long before the dead body of a woman
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
was found hidden among the shrubbery and leaves of the wood.
The coroner of Vigo county was immediately notified of the affair. He promptly arrived upon the scene, began an ex- amination, and held an inquest. Eighty-three cents in change was found in the dress pocket of the murdered woman. No clue. however, was obtained as to her identity. It was evi- dent that she had been murdered as her skull was crushed in as if by a heavy blow, and there were signs of a struggle in the underbrush. The physicians who were examined as ex- pert> gave it as their opinion that she must have been dead for five or six weeks. Considerable excitement was created by a rumor that a girl at Saint Mary's College of the Woods, had been missing, and it was for a time thought that this might be her body, but an investigation soon put that theory at rest.
The people in the vicinity of the murder. however, kept up the search, hoping that something might turn up by which the remains would be identified. Finally. one day in some tall grass, a regularly written, but blood-stained insurance policy issued by Bain & Harris, of Anderson, Indiana, was found. The policy was torn nearly apart in two places. The policy was made out in the name of Mrs. Susan Nelson, and was for an insurance upon her household goods. This discovery fur- nished an excellent clue, and the detectives proceeded at once to work upon the case. Every neighboring village was visited, and every livery stable keeper for miles around was spoken to. The detective came to Anderson, and assisted by Marshal Co- burn, whose energy was aroused by the knowledge of the per- petration of this crime, soon succeeded in establishing the fact beyond a doubt that the murdered woman was Mrs. Susan Nelson, of Anderson. The detective with his assistant then went to the old brick house in which she had for a long time resided, situated on North Main street directly op- posite the present residence of Martin Gruenewald.
A letter was found from her son. Jasper, postmarked at Brazil, Indiana, dated August 23, 1883. This was about two weeks prior to the time she had left Anderson. Brazil is only sixteen miles east of Terre Haute. This letter caused a great deal of comment, and suspicion was at once directed to her son as being the guilty party. He had for years been rather prodigal in his habits, and it was known that with all his faults that his mother loved him dearly, and that he had a great influence over her. It was supposed that he had lured
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
her to Brazil or Terre Haute, and for the purpose of obtaining money from her, had murdered her, and then made his escape.
Jasper Nelson was accordingly arrested at Cape Girar- deau, Missouri, on suspicion, and brought to Anderson for trial. Upon a full and complete investigation of all the facts stated by him as to his whereabouts at the time of the murder, the court was satisfied that he was innocent of the crime, al- though many persons have been convicted on less convincing evidence. Hon. W. R. Myers was his attorney and did valiant work in saving him from conviction.
Suspicion pointed to one Perry Manis, an ex-preacher of the gospel who resided near Frankton, in this county, and who was known to have been a frequent visitor to Mrs. Nelson's house. About this time Manis was arrested and placed in the Madison county jail, for associating with prosti- tutes, and, during his imprisonment, his actions in some way fastened suspicion upon him very strongly in relation to the murder of Mrs. Nelson. Among other circumstances it was shown that he had left Anderson about the time Mrs. Nelson did, and returned after an absence of four or five weeks. He left without taking a trunk, and with but little money, and returned with a trunk and plenty of funds in his possession. In a little while after his return he purchased a horse and buggy and a set of harness at a cost of $300. He gave as an explanation for his possession of the money that $225 of it was given him by his mother, and $25 by Maggie Moore, a lady friend. A boy was produced who stated that he had overheard him arranging a plan with Mrs. Nelson, in which it was agreed that they would go to Kansas City, and estab- lish a boarding house. This was another very suspicious cir- cumstance against him.
The officers secured possession of the trunk brought back by Manis, and when interrogated as to how he came in pos- session of it, he said that he bought it of a man in the Union depot at Indianapolis for $6.00; that the man was a stranger to him and had told him he was out of money. The detectives kept at their work, and day by day more evidence was forth. coming, and the web was woven so closely about Manis, that finally an affidavit was filed against him in Vigo county for the murder of Mrs. Nelson. The grand jury at Terre Haute took jurisdiction of the case, and an indictment was returned charging him with murder. He was placed under arrest. and taken to Terre Haute, and on a trial in the Circuit Court in
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
that county, he was convicted of the crime and sentenced to imprisonment for life in the penitentiary, and here he died within a period of two or three years after his imprisonment. It was known that when Mrs. Nelson left Anderson, she had in her possession over $600, which she had drawn out of the Exchange Bank a day or two prior to her departure. There was no doubt at all as to the identity of the murdered wo- man being Mrs. Nelson ; portions of her clothing were pro- duced in court which her friends and relatives recognized ; and the set of artificial teeth, which were found in the woods were shown to have been made for her by Dr. H. B. Reid, who appeared in court and identified them. It was also shown upon the trial that Manis and Mrs. Nelson were seen together in a lodging house at Terre Haute ; that he had hired a buggy and had driven away with her, but had returned without her ; while there was no direct evidence to connect him with the crime, all the circumstantial facts in the case were very strong.
The State of Indiana was represented at the trial by the prosecuting attorney at Terre Haute, and Wm. . \. Kittinger, of Anderson. Mr. Manis was defended by Judge Mack, of Terre Haute. Mr. Kittinger won fresh laurels in the man- agement of this case.
Mrs. Susan Nelson will be remembered by the old citi- zens of Madison county as the sister of Frederick and Michael Bronnenberg, who have lived in this county nearly all their lives.
The connection of Perry Manis with this crime was a se- vere blow to his family, none of whom had ever been accused or convicted of any crime. Manis, himself. was not consid- ered as having vicious habits, and, in fact, was, at one time. an itinerant preacher, who held religious meetings in the school districts throughout the county. It was claimed that, by his efforts, he made many converts to the Christian faith. The only thing of which he was accused, prior to this affair, was that he was a man of lewd habits, indolent, and disposed to associate with bad characters. In this respect he was alto- gether different from every one of his relatives, who were all well-to-do and prosperous people.
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CHAPTER XXXII.
REMINISCENCES AND OTHER MISCELLANY.
AN OLD-TIME SHOOTING MATCH AND ITS RESULT.
In the early history of many of the counties of Indiana, and, in fact, for many years afterward, " shooting matches," as they were termed, were a leading sport, or amusement, among a large portion of the people, and they were generally attended by the male portion of the community for miles around. The best shots with the rifle were generally rewarded with turkeys, the " hind " or " fore " quarter of a beef, and, sometimes, money. They rarely failed to attract large crowds of men from the excitement and social enjoyment that attend- ed them, and, even yet, " shooting matches " are occasionally heard of, but rarely, any more.'
One of these matches occurred in this county in 1847, that was attended. from what followed before the people dis- persed to their homes, with unusual excitement. Only a short distance west of the Mounds, near the bank of White river, on what is known as the Samuel Hill farm, where there was a distillery, a match for shooting had been arranged and exten. sive notice called to it for some days before. It was in No- vember, on Thanksgiving Day of that year.
The air was somewhat cold and the sky overhead dark and forbidding, but it did not fail to draw out a large crowd of people to witness the shooting, and fully two hundred per- sons were on hand, among them some of the best "shots" of that time in the county. The crowd was feeling in the best of humor, and the sport proceeded along finely for two or three hours after midday.
Two young men, Cox and Tharp, were among those in attendance, but neither probably anticipated the dreadful tragedy soon to follow, or the hurried retreat and permanent exile of one of them from the county.
There had been some previous trouble between the two men, but not of such a nature as to suggest danger or death to either. Tharp was the larger of the two, and inclined to be
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
somewhat domineering in his actions to his smaller opponent, Cox. Tharp had had some trouble during the progress of the match, and Cox, it seems, had avoided his enemy by retreat. ing from him two or three times. Goaded at last, it would appear, when forbearance had ceased to be a virtue, Cox seized the rifle of a bystander, rushed up to where Tharp was standing with his right side fronting him, and raising it high over his shoulder brought the barrel of it with full force upon his head. Tharp dropped to the earth as if shot, and never arose again. Immense excitement followed, of course. Both men had friends on the ground, and threats from both sides were passed rapidly back and forth. Tharp was placed in a wagon, brought to his home in Anderson, but died during the night from the effect of the blow, having never spoken.
An examination after death showed a fractured skull, and that death did not come at once is marvelous. Cox soon after crossed over to his home about a mile to the northwest, and next morning was arrested and placed in jail. As is usual in cases of this kind some loud threats by a few friends of the dead man were indulged in, but the better sense of the com- munity prevailed, and the matter was given over to the grand jury to investigate and report upon. Cox had many warm friends who considered that he had been imposed upon, and was not really responsible for the untimely taking off of Tharp.
The grand jury soon convened, reported an indictment against him for murder, and preparations began for his trial. The jail, an old log affair, was situated in the northwest corner of the square, its main entrance fronting to the south. The Sheriff at that time was John H. Davis.
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