USA > Indiana > Madison County > Historical Sketches and Reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana: A Detailed History of the. > Part 79
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In the election above referred to Mr. Little was the cen- tral figure in the fight and it was made principally against him, but had a most wholesome effect upon the politics of the county as it caused the Democratic party, which was then in the ascendency, to be cautious as to the men who received the nominations and it was also a means of stopping the nefarious business of buying votes in the nominating conventions and at the polls in the following elections. At the following elec- tions in 1872 the Democrats redeemed themselves and elected their entire ticket.
John Little in this election was defeated by David K. Carver, Esq., who was the first Republican sheriff that ever held the office in this county, and it is a real pleasure for the authors of this book to state that Mr. Carver was a conscien- tious official and filled his place to the satisfaction of the pub- lic, and had it not been for the overwhelming majority of the county he would have been re-elected.
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
A SAD SUICIDE.
William Townsend was a young business man of Frank- ton, who was engaged in merchandizing with his father, under the firm name of J. & W. Townsend. They carried on an extensive business and enjoyed the respect of the community and had a large circle of friends in the county.
On the 5th of October, 1881, the citizens of Frankton were shocked at receiving the news by telegraph that William Townsend had shot himself at the Crawford House, in Cin- cinnati. No seeming cause could be assigned for the rash act, as he was pleasantly situated in business, belonged to a very good family, and was highly esteemed. He was happily married, and was the father of a three-year-old daughter whom he dearly loved. He was at times, it is said, given to fits of melancholy, but no stress was laid on that fact, as he had made no demonstration of doing injury to himself or to others. On the day prior to his death he went to Cincinnati on the evening train and registered at the Crawford House, paying his bill in advance for the time he expected to remain. He was apparently in the very best of spirits, and after supper left the hotel to spend the evening with a friend by the name of James Duncan, who represented one of the wholesale houses of which he purchased goods. During the evening he was more than usually cheerful, and never once raised a sus- picion of the terrible deed he was about to commit. On leav- ing his friend he charged him particularly to call for him at seven o'clock the next morning. He entered the hotel where he had an order placed upon the register to call him at half- past six o'clock the next morning, and after a brief conversa- tion with the clerk, he retired for the night. The next morn- ing the clerk, at the designated hour, went to his room, but getting no response, he forced the door open and was horrified' to find young Townsend dead. He was lying with his pants and shirt on, with a bullet hole in his head, and a 32-calibre Colt's revolver clinched in his hands.
The alarm was at once given and the Coroner notified. He empaneled a jury, held an inquest, and after investigation a verdict returned that the deceased had come to his death from a pistol shot by his own hand.
He had on his person $800 in money, and a handsome pair of bracelets which he had purchased for his daughter. His father went to Cincinnati and took the remains home on the following Friday night, and on Saturday he was buried 58
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in the village cemetery. His funeral was one of the largest ever witnessed in that section of the county.
It was a sad blow not only to his father, mother and other near relations, but also to his young wife, who yet survives him, and who is at this time a resident of Anderson.
KILLED BY DAMPS IN A WELI ..
On the 24th of July, 1890, Louis Peppin and David Welker, his son-in-law, both of Frankton, were digging a well near that place, when they were overcome by gas, or " damps," and were suffocated. They had dug the well to a depth of twenty feet, when Peppin, who was in the bottom, struck a vein of gas, and coming up, sat down, remarking that he believed he had struck a gas-well. After resting a few moments he again descended. He had nearly reached the bottom when his farther progress was arrested by the gas, which was pouring out to such an extent as to prevent him from going down farther, and was overcome. David Welker looked down and saw his father-in-law lying limp and help- less. It dawned upon him that there were " damps " in the well, and he started down to rescue Peppin from his perilous position. When he reached the bottom he attempted to lift the body into the bucket, and in doing so, he himself was also overcome, and both bodies lay at the bottom of the well in a lifeless condition. The accident produced a momentary panic among the men who had assembled on the brink of the well, and it was fully twenty minutes before the bodies were recov- ered. No one dared to enter the deadly well, and therefore a rope was let down and looped around the legs of the unfortu- nate men, and thus they were drawn to the surface. Peppin was a man about sixty-eight years of age, and his son-in-law, Welker, was much younger. They both left families in needy circumstances. The well in question was upon the farm of John D. Gooding, ex-Deputy Sheriff of Madison county, and was southwest of the town of Frankton. The remains of the unfortunate men were interred in the cemetery near the place of their death. Welker was a nephew of Mr. George Welker, ex-Chief of Police of Anderson.
KILLED BY A TRAIN.
.On the 16th of May, 1882, a sad accident occurred at the town of Frankton, whereby Mrs. Mary Timmons, of that place, lost her life by being run over by a train of cars on the Pan
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Handle Railroad. She had been in the dry goods store of Quick & Co. making some purchases and on leaving went towards the railroad. This she intended to cross and walked in a northernly direction, but had her attention drawn the opposite way by looking at some object along the roadside. She was unconscious of the approaching train, and being very deaf could not hear its noise. The train was running at con- siderable speed and struck her on her left side so that she was thrown a distance of forty or fifty feet, falling under a flat-car on the side of the track. Her body was considerably bruised and mutilated and she lived only an hour after the accident. Several persons saw her going to the railroad and beheld the danger that she was in, but were too far away to render her any assistance. Dr. Edwins was immediately called and took charge of the woman, being assisted by Dr. Brown. But noth- ing could be done. Her injuries were fatal.
On examination it was found that her left arm was broken and badly crushed and a dangerous wound was also discovered in her left side. Michael Ryan, Coroner of Madison county, was notified and proceeded to Frankton to hold an inquest. He returned a verdict of death in accordance with the facts as stated. The Coroner also exonerated the railroad company from any blame in the matter. Lafayette Freeman was the engineer and W. H. Green, fireman, in charge of the engine. They testified that they saw the woman, but not in time to stop the train, and supposed that she heard them, and every moment looked for her to step off the track. Mrs. Timmons left a husband, but no children.
INCENDIARY FIRE.
In the month of August, 1890, a man of the name of MacDonald erected a building in Frankton for the purpose of occupying the same with a retail liquor saloon, but while in course of erection in some manner it was set on fire and com- pletely destroyed. It was almost certain that the fire was the act of an incendiary, as no fire was about the premises and there was no other way in which it could have been ignited. No clue was ever obtained as to who the guilty parties were. It was strongly suspected that some parties who were opposed to having the building occupied by a dram shop took this method of getting it out of the way.
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
A BURGLARY.
The usually quiet town of Frankton was visited on the night of the 20th of October, 1887, by a band of burglars who rifled the dry goods store of D. Canaday & Company, Sigler Brothers' drug store, and Quick's hardware store. The bur- glars, however, secured but little valuable booty, as they were frustrated in their designs by someone walking on the street, which compelled them to abandon their object. A little money had been left in the cash drawer at Sigler's store, which was taken, and from the other establishments a few pocket- knives and revolvers were carried away. Strong suspicion pointed to some parties in the immediate vicinity, but sufficient evidence was not obtained to cause their arrest, and none was ever made in connection with the matter.
WILLIAM MASSEE DISEMBOWELED.
In the year 1888 William Massee came near losing his life by having his bowels cut by a knife in the hands of a cousin, Charles Massee, at the town of Frankton. The occurrence was the result of a family feud that had for some time existed. The Massees were Kentucky mountaineers, who had not been long residents of this community, and little is known of them by the writers. Soon after this affair they removed from the county, and their whereabouts is now unknown. Dr. S. W. Edwins was soon upon the scene, and in a very skillful man- ner replaced the intestines and sewed up the wound, and the unfortunate man recovered.
CAPTURE OF BURGLARS AT FRANKTON.
During the early part of the year 1890 the vicinity of Frankton had been the scene of several small burglaries and petty thieving operations. The store of Jefferson Ring was entered during that time and a considerable quantity of goods taken therefrom. Mr. Ring and others, who had suffered by these depredations, did their best to trap them but without avail, and finally the detective agency of Charles Page, of Richmond, was brought to bear upon them. Park Page was placed immediately at work upon the case, and a " stool pigeon" was sent to Frankton to overlook the field. One of the first clews obtained was that Charles Rains and Preston Shell, two young men living near Frankton, had some time previously come into possession of a key to the rear door of Ring's store, having stolen it of a carpenter of the name of Hiser who had
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
worked on the building. The young man who had been sent to Frankton as a " decoy " and the detectives soon gained the confidence of the boys and a plan was entered into to rob the store on a certain night during the month of May in that year. Mr. Ring and the detectives secreted themselves in the store. About 12 o'clock Rains, Shell and " the decoy" put in their appearance and opened the rear door with the stolen key. As they entered the store the acute ear of Rains heard the ticking of Detective Page's watch and having some misgivings that he and his partner were " bagged " endeavored to make his escape. The detective stepped to the door and drawing his revolver captured the two boys and placed them in irons. After the capture they admitted that they robbed the store on two different occasions and had obtained entrance by the key which they had stolen. They were handcuffed together and taken to Anderson and lodged in jail to await their trial. They were both young men, one twenty-one and the other nineteen years of age. They had both been born and reared on farms in the vicinity of Frankton.
At the May term of the Madison Circuit Court they were placed on trial for the crime of burglary, Shell being defended by Hon. C. L. Henry and Hon. George M. Ballard. Judge M. A. Chipman having heard the evidence, young Shell was sentenced to two years in the State's prison, and on account of the youth of Rains and by his being badly influenced by his companion he was left off with a light punishment.
KILLED BY AN OFFICER.
A serious shooting affair occurred at the town of Frank- ton on the night of August 29, 1872, the facts of which are about as follows : The firm of C. Quick & Co. had been suspecting for some time that there were parties who contem- plated robbing their store and safe. They were large dealers in clothing, merchandise and groceries, and had a large Hall's safe in their office, as they also conducted a banking business for the accommodation of the Frankton public. They were formally notified of the intended raid by information which was communicated to them by a detective by the name of Will- iam Shoemaker, who resided at Centerville, Wayne county, Indiana.
Shoemaker had fallen in with one William Beeson at Indianapolis, one of the parties upon whom suspicion rested. Shoemaker caused Beeson to believe he was also a burglar.
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The detective told Beeson that he was not a good hand at opening safes, but that he had a friend who was very success- ful in that line, and would send him to assist Beeson. This assistant came, and it seems that he and Beeson made the nec- essary arrangements and fixed upon a certain night to commit the burglary. Quick & Co., in the meantime, had been made acquainted with the scheme, and deemed it proper to provide such means as would tend to the capture and arrest of the parties who were about to engage in this criminal act. Thurs- day night of that week was fixed upon as the time for the burglary. Quick & Co. sent a messenger to the city of Anderson to inform the Sheriff of Madison county, and to . request him to have some proper officer detailed to visit Frank- ton on the night in question in order to arrest the parties while they were engaged in the act of burglarizing the store. David K. Carver, then Sheriff of Madison county, willingly com- plied with this request and selected Mr. Stephen Metcalf, his deputy, and called to his assistance Cornelius Daugherty, Constable of Anderson township, and Mr. Oran Walker, a deputy Sheriff.
These officers immediately proceeded to Frankton. At about 12 o'clock at night, two men entered the store, and, at a signal of the detective, who had met and become acquainted with Metcalf and his assistants, and who had communicated to them how the details should be arranged as to the capture, rushed to the store front, which was thrown open by the detective, who was on the inside of the building, in company with Beeson, in the act of committing the burglary. At that very moment, one of the men in the store, who had a dark- lantern, shut off its light, and in doing so, threw up his arm. The light reflected on the lantern and caused it to glisten. Mr. Metcalf mistook this for a revolver, and, from the man's motions, supposed he was in the act of shooting. Mr. Met- calf, acting upon the spur of the moment, and in the full con- fidence that he was acting in defense of his own life, and in the discharge of an official duty, instantly fired his revolver, the shot taking effect in the left arm of Shoemaker, who had been mistaken for Beeson, the burglar, passing thence into his side, causing instant death.
Some doubts were entertained as to the real character in which Shoemaker was figuring in this matter, but the prevail- ing opinion seems to have been that he was acting in good
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faith as a detective in order to entrap the parties who medi- itated the robbery.
William Beeson, who was found in the store, was arrested by the officers, and, after a preliminary examination before 'Squire Roach, of Anderson, was required to give bond in the sum of $2,000 for his appearance at the subsequent term of the Madison Circuit Court. He was unable to give the required bail and was committed to jail, where he remained for a con- siderable length of time. At one time he made his escape and was recaptured by Albert J. Ross, who had in the mean- time become Sheriff of the county.
The Coroner, having empanelled a jury to hold an inquest over the dead body of Shoemaker, returned a verdict that he came to his death from a pistol shot inflicted by Stephen Met- calf, Deputy Sheriff of Madison county, in the discharge of his duty. A post-mortem examination was also made, after which the remains of Shoemaker were transmitted to his friends in Centerville, in charge of a man who had come from that place to receive them.
KILLING OF J. FRANK STANLEY.
On the 22d of June, 1895, J. Frank Stanley, a blind fid- dler, a grandson of Jacob Stanley, an influential farmer living between Florida and Frankton, was killed on the Pan Handle railroad near the town of Frankton. He was seen along the track at the time, but as he was not conscious of the appoach- ing train, was run down and instantly killed. His remains were taken to the house of his grandfather. A coroner's inquest was held and a verdict returned in accordance with the foregoing facts.
REMINISCENCES-ONE OF GOD'S NOBLEMEN.
Among the old-timers of Madison county, none is more worthy of mention than Noah Waymire, late of Pipe Creek township. Noah formerly lived in Wayne county, from whence he moved to this county, in an early day, settling in the wilds of Pipe Creek township, where he cut out a large farm and made for himself and family a handsome fortune. He belonged to one of the largest families in the United States.
Every year the Waymire family, at some point in this great union of States, holds a reunion ; at these meetings, nearly every State is represented. Uncle Noah always
.
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delighted in being on hand at these gatherings. He was a man of commanding appearance and a fluent talker. Had he been educated and trained in politics in his younger days, he would have been one of the political giants of the the times. He was large, portly and good-looking, and was a man whom one would turn around and look at if he passed him on the street.
No old settlers' meeting was complete without the pres- ence of Noah Waymire; he went far and near to all the gath- erings of old settlers. He was generally the orator of the occasion ; he could speak long and loud, never failing to inter- est his hearers. He was uneducated, but the good Lord endowed him with the gift of commanding an untold sup- ply of language, which seemed to roll out of him without effort. His greatest delight at an old settlers' picnic was to tell of the early trials of the pioneer settlers, and contrast the habits of the people then, with those of now, telling how the early settlers lived, worked, loved and courted. He said at one of these meetings at Perkinsville, a few years ago :
" Why, girls, you are here today, with your bustles and hoop-skirts on, you don't know the real enjoyments of young and blooming womanhood. When I was a young man, when I went out walking with a girl I didn't encounter any such obstacles as these contrivances you've got on ; when I walked with a girl I walked right up 'against' her all the way up; when you put them riggins on you disfigure the beautiful form that nature gave you; you deceive the one who adores you, by your false make-up."
He said that " when he went sparkin' in them good old days " they didn't have any parlor, nor any drawing-room. There was but one room in the house ; this room was used as a kitchen, parlor, bed-room and drawing-room; there was an old-fashioned fire-place in the house, where a big "back log" and a cord of wood made up the fire for warming the house. On Sunday nights, when he went to see his girl, he would have to sit and chat with the old folks until the girl got the supper dishes " done up." When bedtime came, he and the girl would shut their eyes until the old people got in bed. The smaller children were stored away in a trundle bed, and then business set in. He said he always took " shot pouch " holds on his girl, and never let go until daylight next morning.
When he took his girl to church, or an entertainment,
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she would always ride behind him on a horse, sometimes the distance being three or four miles. Uncle Noah was so enter- taining in his way of talking that his hearers always lost sight of many of his rude expressions and plain way of putting things, becoming so worked up in his stories that they were sorry when he stopped. The good old men of the Noah Waymire stripe are fast passing away, there being but few left who came with him to Madison county when it was a wilderness. David Waymire Wood is a near relative of Noah Waymire, and is, in fact, named for him and inherits much of his brilliant wit, humor and oratory.
A WOMAN IN POLITICS.
In the history of Madison county politics many women have cut a conspicuous figure, as well as the men. In many instances women who figure in politics become more active and shrewder than men, laying plans and making sugges- tions.
Among the women who have figured in the campaigns of Madison county, " Aunt Peggy Bowers," of Dundee, has cut quite a swath. Twenty years ago Dundee was known by the name of " Mudsock." There was no railroad there at that time, and Mudsock was away out in the woods, being the next thing to no place. The woods were so dense around its soli- tary precincts that the sun hardly ever peeped in. The place was rightfully named, from the fact that the mud was so deep the year round that it was almost impossible to get there with a wagon or carriage of any kind. Peggy Bowers kept a wet grocery, or liquor shop, in that isolated place for many years, Oliver Griffee officiating as her principal salesman.
Riley Etchison kept a place of the same character near at hand. Etchison's farm was a great place for shooting-matches, while Peggy's place was the general rendezvous for local poli- ticians to congregate and fix up the slate for the county nomi- nations for the north part of the county.
A candidate was not properly in the race until he had visited Peggy Bowers' ranch, and got the Mudsockers all in line. When solidly entrenched behind Peggy's works the candidate was pretty sure of victory. William Long was then a central figure in all campaigning. He was generally on hand at the gatherings at Peggy's place, taking a hand in the festivities and lending his advice to the candidates. Since
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the days of railroads Bill has lost his grip and is . considered a back number.
In 1870, the Republicans, through a split in the Demo- cratic ranks, made a clean sweep and elected every officer in Madison county, except the Clerk of the Court. David K. Carver was the successful candidate for Sheriff, defeating John Little, of Pipe Creek township.
This defeat had the effect to weld together the broken links in the Democratic ranks, and in the following election in 1872 every effort was made to bring about a Democratic victory. A. Ross, of Pipe Creek township, was placed in nomination for Sheriff against D. K. Carver, who was a can- didate for re-election. Every one conceded he had a hard race, as Carver was popular and had made a good Sheriff.
Ross was then a young man, full of vim and made a hust- ling race. Many were afraid, on account of his being young and mischievous, the older and quieter element would not sup- port him. But as the fight went on, he grew in the race. One Sunday a crowd of politicians congregated at Peggy Bowers' to compare notes and lay plans. During the day, some of them got inside the house and closed the doors, shut- ting Ross and his friends out. He demanded entrance and, upon being refused, got a rail and battered the door down. It was soon heralded over the county, and it was thought he had put his foot so deep into it that he could not get through, but he only worked the harder. When the election came around. he was the leader on the ticket. It was always said afterwards . that Ross beat his opponent and " carried a rail."
Peggy Bowers and Riley Etchison for years sold liquor in any quantity, without license, often figuring in the courts in prosecutions for violating the law, but it was cheaper to pay fines than to take out license.
Mudsock is now a beautiful place, with the timber cleared away, and is one of the finest farming communities in: the county. Peggy and her " pull " have given way to civil- ization and good society. Her days of usefulness as a local light in politics have gone glimmering, and the world moves on.
PLAYED THE INSANITY DODGE.
James Stilly, a rather worthless fellow, for many years lived in different parts of Madison county, and died in Ander- son, January, 1884. He at one time lived in Pipe Creek township, making his headquarters in the neighborhood of
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Frankton. Stilly was once placed under arrest on suspicion of being accessory to some horse stealing in that neighborhood and was placed upon trial for the crime. He had a bad case against him and in order to avoid the clutches of the law he was advised, by his attorney, to play the insanity dodge.
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