USA > Indiana > Madison County > Historical sketches and reminiscences of Madison county, Indiana : a detailed history of the early events of the pioneer settlement of the county, and many of the happenings of recent years, as well as a complete history of each township, to which is added numerous incidents of a pleasant nature, in the way of reminiscences, and laughable occurrences > Part 2
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When the writer came to Anderson in the fall of 1850, no stranger could stop over night in our embryo city without being thoroughly interviewed by some inquisitive Andersonian, and in a few hours we were informed where he was from and. where he was going, and how long he was going to remain among us. These interviews were not, as now, published in some daily newspaper, and read by ravenous sensation seek- ers, but passed from mouth to mouth.
In the summer of 1853, among others, and the number was not great, came from Virginia, two large, tall, well-built men, each, I should think, six feet two inches in height, half- brothers, by name David H. Watson and - Richards ;
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the latter remained but a short time and then returned to his native State, Virginia. Watson, like Joseph of Bible history, was a carpenter by trade, and having procured work, concluded to adopt Anderson as his home, and " grow up with the country." David, as we were all wont to call him, was a very kind-hearted, good-natured, jovial fellow, and soon be- came very popular ; a little fond of his cups, but not at that time to excess. He helped to erect the first mill or warehouse built where Wellington's mill now stands. After a few years residence here he wooed and married Miss Lydia Kindle, daughter of James A. Kindle, who was at that time a promi- nent politician, of the Democratic persuasion, having held the office of County Treasurer and other places of trust. The fruits of his marriage were three children, two boys and one daughter, James, John and Mary Watson. After the decease of both parents, Mr. Bradley Makepeace took John and gave him a home, where he still lives with Mrs. Makepeace, whom he treats as a mother. Mr. Addison Holston, a worthy farmer of Madison county, took James and adopted him, having no children of his own. James Watson Holston came to his death in 1894, by an accidental pistol shot. Mary was raised and cared for by her aunt, Mis. Samantha May Harriman, mitil her marriage to the Ilon. John L. Forkner, of Anderson, where she and her husband now reside. In 1858, Mr. Watson was elected Sheriff of Madison county, and served as such until 1860. Mr. Watson, though a Virginian by birth, with friends and relatives in the Confederate army from his native State, offered his services to the Union army, and became a member of a regiment of Indiana volunteers, and while at home making disposition of his personal affairs for the purpose of going into active service, unfortunately on the 2d of Febu- rary, 1862, got into an altercation with Michael Ilowe, of Lo- gansport, Indiana, in a house at the corner of Main and Eleventh streets, making some threatening demonstration and Howe, being a stranger and not knowing the kindly disposition of Watson, took his jokes for earnest. Howe was inside of the house when Watson was trying to gain en- trance and being a powerful man physically, he opened or per- mitted Watson to open the door, and as Watson attempted to enter, Howe, with an ugly, dangerous knife, struck at him with a downward stroke above the left collar bone from which wound he died next morning at his home, situated where the Grand Opera House now stands. The Ilon. John A. Har-
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rison was Prosecuting Attorney at the time and proceeded at once in the prosecution of Howe for murder. Howe employed Calvin D. Thompson and Thaddeus Cooper, of Anderson, and the Hon. Daniel D. Pratt, of Logansport, Indiana, to de- fend him.
Mr. Pratt was an able advocate with few equals and no superiors, and was equally great physically, weighing near three hundred pounds. The defendant's counsel instituted habeas corpus proceedings and Howe was let to bail and a
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THE HON. JAMES W. SANSBERRY.
change of venue from Madison to Henry county was granted the defendant, where the case was tried before Judge Jehu T. . Elliott, in the summer following. The case was on trial about six days and was closely contested throughout. The prosecu- tion was conducted by the Hon. John A. Harrison, as prose- cuting attorney assisted by J. W. Sansberry, who engaged in the case by request of Mr. Harrison and through his great re- gard for the deceased. Mr. Pratt made the closing argument for the defense, a powerful appeal of six hours duration. Harrison and Sausberry spoke four hours each. The jury
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spent eight hours in deliberation and acquitted the defendant on the ground that he had cause to fear personal injury to him- self sufficient to justify the homicide. During the trial a wit- ness testified that Watson was trying to break in a door in the house where Howe was inside, and with cast knucks, or some other weapon, had pounded on the door until he made indenta- tions an inch deep in the wood.
Mr. Sansberry came to Anderson, and examined the door, and, finding no such scars on it, went to Constable E. M. Roach and told him if he would produce said door before the jury at New Castle next day he would pay him five dol- lars, which Roach agreed to do. Next morning Roach went to the house, unhinged the door, took it to the train, thence to New Castle, and to the court house, where it was intro- duced to the jury and then returned to its former abiding place, having served as a truthful and silent witness.
Watson was a splendid shot with a pistol, and often in- dulged in the sport of shooting. The old court house was full of bullet holes that he had shot there when he was Sheriff of the county. It was no uncommon thing for him, while con- versing with a friend, to take out his revolver and shoot through the door or ceiling, just to see his comrade badly scared.
Ile was a great friend of Joseph Fulton, and made his office, when the latter was postmaster, one of his places of re- sort. He would often go to the delivery window and ask for his mail, and after being waited on shoot the candle light out, just for fun. This was as much enjoyed by Mr. Fulton as by Watson.
One 4th of July he organized a company of "Rag Tags," composed of the young and lively gentry of Anderson, and gave a grand parade through the principal streets, winding up at the court house where they were addressed by Dr. Town- send Ryan and others.
This company and its wonderful parade served for many years for the people to talk about.
The jail register that he kept when he was Sheriff was a curiosity, and contained many unique entries. He always stated what condition a prisoner was in when received, and in what condition when discharged. For instance :
" Michael O'Rourke put in for intoxication, very boister- ous during the night; his cries were continually, water!
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water ! Discharged next morning calm and peaceful but with an awful head."
" John Jones came in awfully religious -- fully under the influence of 'spirits' and prayed incessantly all night ; but in the morning he was discharged a wiser and better man, his spirits having died out."
In making returns on writs of execution, he was very brief and to the point. After he had held a writ until it expired by law and had to be returned to the Clerk's office for reissue he would say, " This execution found dead in my office."
David H. Watson was the best penman that ever held the office of Sheriff of Madison county, and before the court house was destroyed, the attorneys and court officials often perused his dockets and returns on the records with admiration for his skill as a scribe.
The many good qualities of heart and hand of Mr. Wat- son will long be treasured up by the old-timers who knew him. He had his faults like all .frail humanity, but no truer friend, or more generous neighbor, ever lived than he.
His abrupt ending stopped what might have been a brill- iant army career, as he was buoyed with the hope of disting- wishing himself in the service of his country. His command- ing appearance, and native ability would certainly have given him a place in the front line of promotion.
MURDER OF ALBERT MAWSON.
About three miles south-east of the City of Anderson there lived for many years Charles Mawson and family, on the farm once known as the Stevenson land. The family were thrifty, hard-working people and had accumulated considera- ble personal property and real estate, and while they did not circulate in the very best society, they were not at all regarded as bad or vicious people. The only thing that was ever said against Mr. Charles Mawson was that which was whispered around in the neighborhood after the hanging of Milton White, that Charles Mawson had confessed upon his death- bed that he was the guilty party, and that White was innocent of the crime.
But little importance was ever attached to this story be- cause the circumstantial evidence against White was so closely woven together and united that White's guilt was proven be- yond the shadow of a doubt to the minds of the jury.
After the death of Charles Mawson his widow, Nancy,
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lived on the farm and kept house with her son, Albert. Her elder son, Thomas, had married and gone to Henry county.
On the 21st of October, 1874, news was brought to An- derson that the dead body of Albert Mawson had been found in a well on the Mawson farm. It was ascertained upon in- quiry from Jesse Knull, a tenant on the farm, and from Daniel Iloppes, a son-in-law of Mrs. Mawson, that the dis- covery had been made early that morning ; that the well had been filled with stones, and that in bailing the water out of it there had been uncovered a pair of human feet. Knull and Hoppes then hastened to the city and telegraphed to Thomas Mawson at Luray, in this State, and also notified the Coroner of their discovery.
It was but a short time before many people from the sur- rounding neighborhood and from Anderson hurried to the place of the murder. The well in which the body was found was located about fifteen rods south east of the house under an old shed that had been abandoned for some time. It was walled with stones and was quite narrow. It had been cov- ered with loose boards, which had been thrown to one side. A pile of brick and stones lay near by which had been thrown out of the well, and at about eight feet from the top the feet of a corpse could be plainly seen. On the boulders and planks near the mouth of the well the stains of human blood could be noticed, and for a distance of several rods southward across the field frequent indications were found by which it was evi- dent that a dead body had been dragged towards the well. Marks of blood were also visible on stones and bits of wood that lay in the foot-path.
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When G. W. Maynard, the Coroner, arrived at the farm, he had the body removed. The decaying remains were gath- ered up in a sheet, and brought to the surface. It was a sickening, horrible spectacle, and cannot be properly described. The body was in a nude condition, and the flesh was falling from the bones. The front teeth were knocked in, the jaw broken, and the side of the head crushed in. A rope was around the neck. It was developed at the Coroner's inquest, almost to a certainty, that Nancy Mawson, the mother, had gone to Albert's sleeping apartments in the dead hour of night when he was in a sound slumber, and with an axe, had knocked him on the head, killing him instantly. Blood stains were visible on the walls of the room in which he had slept. Mrs. Mawson was in a very depressed condition, and
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in her statements before the Coroner, which were interrupted by violent outbursts of weeping, and loud lamentations over the death of her son, whom she called her baby boy, she spoke of the many good qualities of her lost son, and how he had helped her in her lonely widowhood. She said she loved him dearly and truly, and that he was one of the best of boys ; that he was always kind and good to her, and had assisted her in the household work, and in turn she had helped him in feeding the stock. She stated that he had never been away from home but a few nights previous to this occurrence, and that he had left home to avoid arrest in consequence of some transactions he had had with a young lady in the neighbor- hood. Previous to his departure, he had told her that the girl's parents were threatening him with prosecution. She said she had offered him all the money he would need to de- fend himself in the courts, and told him he could have a thousand dollars for that purpose, if necessary, but he would not stay, and she fitted him up to go away. On the 17th of July, she had provided him with $148. She sewed the money in a muslin belt which she fastened around his body, and he had left home about sundown, saying that he would go to his brother Thomas, in Henry county, and requested her that she should tell the neighbors that he had gone to Cleveland or Natchez, and possibly to his father's folks in England. Mrs. Mawson said that was the last she had seen of her son, and she had begun to think that he was dead, and had been killed · near home, and that she suspected a family in the immediate neighborhood of being the murderers. She did not remem- ber whether her son Thomas was at home on the night of Albert's disappearance, or not.
This story of Mrs. Mawson was disconnected in a good many respects and but little faith was attached to it. The real facts as they afterwards were developed were to the effect that she had had some trouble with her son Thomas, and Mrs. Hoppes, her daughter ; that Albert was her youngest child,. and that she had doted upon him, and had placed great confi- dence in him becoming a good and useful man, while her elder son was somewhat reckless, and disposed to be something of a spendthrift. The mother at that time deeded her lands or a portion of them to Albert, intending at her death that he should come into possession of the property that she might leave. In the meantime Albert himself had to some extent grown reck- less, and had desired to stray away from home occasionally, and
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
at one time had entered the service of a railroad company as brakeman on a freight train. This displeased the mother and it is thought the supreme motive which compelled her to com- mit this horrible crime was to get possession again of the real estate which she had deeded to him. There could hardly have been any other motive for the commission of the act, as he possessed no money or other valuables and she did not want any one else to come into possession of the real estate, and it is said that after deeding away the land that she brooded over what she had done, at times, and that her son Thomas and her son-in-law and daughter harrassed her about it so as to cause her much trouble. Several instances connected with the affair pointed very strongly to Mrs. Mawson as being the guilty party. She told William Fosset, a teamster, who resided in Anderson, and who was hauling wood from her farm to the city the following story :
Fossett testified that about ten days prior to the finding of the body, while he was driving along the Columbus Pike, he · met Mrs. Mawson near the residence of one David Pittsford. She halted him in the road and gave him the first information that he had received that Albert was absent. She told how good she had been to him and what she would have done had he remained with her, and then she said that someone had killed him or buried his body in the woods or in a well, and that he would be found some time just as certain as she was looking in Fossett's face. During the conversation she re- iterated three or four times her story about the burial of the body, and that it would be found. She was terribly affected and once or twice broke down crying. She also spoke with much levity about other matters and even told Mr. Fossett a joke during the conversation. Suspicion pointed to Thomas Mawson, the brother, as being an accomplice. The Coroner ordered his arrest and Marshal Cornelius Daugherty, of Ander- son, accompanied by Mr. Newton Burke, left immediately for Luray, a small town in Henry county, situated between Muncie and New Castle, in which place Thomas Mawson was living.
On entering the village the officers soon ascertained the whereabouts of Mawson, who dwelt in a frame building, a part of which was used as a store. When the Marshal knocked at the door Mawson arose from his bed and asked what he wanted. The Marshal requested him to come down to the door, but he refused and told them to go away. The officers then called him by name, when he swore if they did
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
not go away he would get a gun and shoot them. At this they withdrew. They then aroused several of the citizens and surrounded the house. When Mawson opened the door to speak to one of his neighbors who called him, he was seized by Mr. Burke, who made a prisoner of him without further resistance. Marshal Daugherty asked him for the trunk of clothes that had been sent him by his mother. He pointed to an old trunk which was found to contain nothing but some old rags. Further search revealed another trunk which contained two pairs of pants and two vests, which Albert's mother said he had worn away with him. Thomas told them that these were Albert's clothes, and that there was also an overcoat hanging on the wall which belonged to his brother. Thomas Mawson was brought to Anderson, placed in jail, and held for further investigation. He was eventually indicted by the Grand Jury of Madison county, and was placed upon trial, being defended by the Hon. Wm. R. Myers and Calvin D. Thompson, Esq., and after a full and complete hearing of the case was acquitted on the plea of an alibi, having proven to the satisfaction of the jury that he was at the home of his father-in-law, John Geddis, in Henry county, on the night of the murder. Suspicion also pointed to Daniel Hoppes, the son-in-law, and Jane Hoppes, the wife, the daughter of Mrs. Mawson, as being accessories to the crime. The Coroner also ordered the arrest of Mr. and Mrs. Hoppes. They were promptly taken into custody and arraigned before Mayor Wm. . L. Brown for examination. They were also defended by the HIon. Wm. R. Myers and Calvin D. Thompson, Esq., and after a full and impartial hearing, were also acquitted of the crime.
The verdict of the Coroner's jury as to the manner of Albert Mawson's death was substantially as follows : " That on the 21st day of October, 1874, Albert Mawson came to his death by a blow inflicted with an axe or some other hard sub- stance, in the hands of Nancy Mawson, which the jury finds. to be the cause of the death of the victim."
The verdict of the jury was signed by the following named gentlemen : Geo. W. Hughel, J. I. Seward, P. J. Carr, John Allen, Caleb Brown, John R. Stephenson, Thomas E. Smith, Geo. W. McGraw, John HI. Stanley, and Philip H. Kellar.
This murder created the greatest excitement not only throughout the county but throughout the country. The Cin-
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cinnati and Chicago papers had representatives here during the Coroner's investigation and also at the preliminary hear- ing of the case. Miss Laura Ream represented the Cincin- nati Commercial in which journal she gave a very full and detailed account of the murder, and the family history of the people supposed to be connected therewith.
During the progress of holding the Coroner's inquest, at the residence of Mrs. Mawson, she very kindly prepared din- ner for the Coroner and the jury. Mr. Maynard, the Coro- ner, from some cause became suspicious that some motive might have prompted the hostess to be so elever, so they ex. cused themselves and did not partake of her hospitality. It was afterward told in the neighborhood that the dinner was given to the dogs and that they died from eating it. Some are of the firm belief that she intended to poison the whole crowd. We do not vouch for the truth of this, but give it as a matter of common rumor at the time.
Mrs. Mawson, after the hearing before the Coroner, was placed under arrest and incarcerated in the old Madison county jail that stood at the corner of Ninth and Jackson streets, to await the action of the Grand Jury. On the 25th of October, however, she put an end to this celebrated case so far as she was personally concerned, and paved the way of escape for others in the crime, by taking her own life with a dose of arsenic. It is almost a certainty that she had contem- plated this long before she was placed in jail ; perhaps from . the time she committed the deed. In consequence of the ru- mors which had overtaken her as to being one of the guilty parties, she had concluded that this was the best plan of pat- ting an end to it. She had evidently intended to kill herself before arrest, but she did not carry out her purpose until she was placed in confinement. As she had no way of obtaining the poison after being placed in jail, she undoubtedly bad it about her when she was put behind the bars. Sheriff Albert J. Ross testified before the Coroner who held the inquest over her remains that on the evening prior to her death he had noticed that she was sick. On going to her cell she told him that she had had a chill and asked for some water to drink. It being supplied to her she drank a copious quantity of it and seemed thereafter to be in great pain, accompanied with severe cramps. She told Mr. Ross that her stomach felt like it was burning up. She ate a hearty breakfast but de- clined any dinner. As she grew worse the Sheriff called in 34
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Dr. C. S. Burr, but Mrs. Mawson refused positively to take any medicine. Dr. Burr testified that he was called to see Mrs. Mawson and found her very feeble and cold and in a state of great perspiration. Iler symptoms indicated poison- ing. His opinion was that she had taken arsenic or anti- mony. Two or three witnesses were examined, among whom were Dr. L. Harriman and Dr. Horace E. Jones, who corrob- orated the statements made by Dr. C. S. Burr as to her symp- toms. After her death a considerable quantity of arsenic was found sewed up in a little bag in one of her dresses, which confirmed the belief of many, as already stated, that she had had under contemplation for some time her own death by suicide.
Mrs. Mawson's body on being removed from the jail was placed in a neat coffin and conveyed to her residence, from which her funeral took place. Her remains were interred in the Bucco cemetery, south of town, and thus ended one of the most fearful and inhuman crimes that was ever commit- ted within the borders of Madison county.
Thomas Mawson, the brother, who was accused of being a party to this crime, is now living, as is also his sister, Mrs. Iloppes, with her husband in Henry county, this State. The real facts of the murder will, perhaps, never be known, Mrs. Mawson having put herself out of the way and her evidence never having been given before any court in defense of herself or against other persons. It has always been thought that had Mrs. Mawson lived until such time as she could have been placed on the witness stand before a court and jury, that she would have finally broken down and told the plain, simple truth, and that if there had been any others implicated with her, she would have revealed that fact. It seems impossible that Mrs. Mawson, as frail as she was, could have killed her son and conveyed his body to its hiding place without help.
The locality in which this crime occurred seems to have been a fated spot, as within sight of the house where Albert Mawson was so brutally murdered is the place, in a small ra- vine in a little strip of woods, where Milton White, with a large sassafras club, killed Daniel Hoppes, in the year 1867, a full account of which is given in another part of this volume.
Thomas Mawson, and Daniel Hoppes and wife, being the only heirs to the real estate left by Mrs. Mawson and her son, came into possession of the same and all of Mrs. Mawson's
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personal effects; they derived but little benefit from it, as it was nearly all absorbed in attorney's fees and court costs in de- fending themselves from the charges made against them.
Another theory for the commission of the crime, upon which there was considerable testimony adduced at the time, was that Mrs. Mawson seriously objected and feared that her son Albert would marry a Miss Lane, who lived in that neigh- borhood, and who had instituted criminal proceedings against him, so it was said. One of the witnesses testified that he had heard Mrs. Mawson repeatedly say that Albert was dead, and that she would never see him again, and that she would rather a thousand times that he were dead than to see him marry the Lane girl.
A SUICIDE BY HANGING.
On the 2nd of August, 1891, Allen Stanley, an old bach- elor living with William Stanley, his brother, in Anderson, killed himself by hanging. He was found in an out-shed with a rope around his neck, hanging to a beam, stone dead. Ile was a very peculiar old gentleman, scarcely ever speaking to any one unless being first spoken to, and then simply respond- ing to the question asked. He was a brother of William Stan- ley, the engineer who had charge of the boilers in the Walton mill when the explosion took place, an account of which is elsewhere given, and was in the mill when the explosion took place. No reason could be given for his desire to take his ' . life, other than a wish to be out of the way of his friends. Having no family, he for many years made his home with his brother, and it is supposed he felt that he was in the way and ended his troubles by ending his life.
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