USA > Indiana > Posey County > History and directory of Posey County [Indiana] : containing an account of the early settlement and organization of the county : also a complete list of the tax-payers, their post-office addresses and places of residence, together with a business directory of Mt. Vernon and New Harmony also biographical sketches of prominent citizens of the county > Part 11
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
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Bryant Byrd, Aaron Bacon, Mary Ann McFaddin, Catherine Richard- son, Sargent Moss, Sophia Webb, Benijah Moss, Elizabeth Webb, John Bradley, (who afterwards had his neck broken by falling from a wagon,) John Aldredge, Andrew McFaddin and Hyman Richardson, securities. At the same time Rachel Givens, the instigator of the crime, was indicted and held as an accessory , in the sum of $2,500, with Thomas Givens, Seth Hargraves, Nathan Smarth and David A. Mills, securities. Richard Daniel was the prosecutor, who, on June 7, 1819, entered a nolle prosequi in both cases, and Gibbons and Mrs. Givens were discharged.
It is said that, soon after their liberation, Gibbons and his wife were placed in a little boat, with provisions and poisoned whisky, and set afloat on the Ohio river. Gibbons partook freely of the whisky and he died from the effects of it in a short time afterward. Before the boat was beached on the rocks on the Ohio river, on the Indiana side, above Uniontown, the wife gave birth to a child. Gibbons was buried on Hovey's Lake, in an old graveyard, near the roadside. Several years after this event, when an old woman, Mrs. Givens started for California, but while enroute over the plains she was attacked by cholera and died, and was buried in two barrels in a valley in Wyoming Terri- tory. Mrs. Gibbons was afterward married to Joshua Kel Curtis, by whom she had five children, all of whom are highly respectable people.
Olaves Gram, a Frenchman, in Robb township, murdered his wife, Cynthia, by forcing her to take three ounces of laudanum, September 29, 1829; indicted by the grand jury at the February term of the Cir- cuit Court,' 1830 ; case stricken from the docket at the September term of the same Court, 1834.
Joseph Lynn, a colored desperado, in 1838, was cut and killed at New Harmony by some unknown person. It is generally supposed that the event was the result of a feud which existed between a band of blacks and whites, headed by Lynn, who were employed at the flouring mills and distillery of William and Richard Dale Owen, on one side, and the mechanics of the village, on the other. A general fight occurred on the night of the murder of Lynn, who, during the melee, was struck by John Webster, a noted fighter, after which the blacks left to arm themselves, ît is presumed. They soon returned to the immediate vicinity to renew the affray, all of whom were armed with knives, guns and pistols. Not long after they appeared, as Dr. J. S. Mann, now of Mt. Vernon, and Webster were approaching the office of the former, Lynn warned them that he would shoot if they came any nearer, from which fact it is believed that Lynn and his men anticipated an attack. The warning was unheeded, however, and true to his promise, Lynn fired at the two men, the contents of the gun-nails, slugs of lead and shot-entering the bodies of the doctor
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and his companion, lacerating them fearfully, but fortunately without fatal effect. Lynn was soon afterward found dead, with ghastly cuts in his body, and Webster was arrested for the crime on the following day, but as no evidence was introduced at the preliminary examina- tion, held before Justice Thomas Brown, that tended to implicate him he was discharged. An attempt was afterwards made to fasten the crime upon Dr. Mann, but without success. It will probably never be known who committed the deed, as Webster has since died without leaving any evidence as to the guilt of the perpetrator. Joseph Lynn, the victim, by his remarkable feats of strength, justly acquired the reputation of a Hercules. He bore a bad character several years previous to his death, and it was well known that he very seriously cut his master, James Lynn, at Springfield. It is said that this negro was sold by his master three different times, and who, soon after his purchase, would return to his original master, and by this means he would become a source of profit, as well as of swindling.
William McFaddin, on February 16, 1842, in Mt. Vernon, cut and killed James M. Albright; he was indicted by the Grand Jury at the March term of the Circuit Court; was tried, convicted and sentenced, by Judge Elisha Embree, at the September term of that court, 1842, to the penitentiary for ten years.
James Lyon was indicted by the grand jury at the September term of the Circuit Court, 1851, for murdering, on March 1, 1849, Wm. Clayton ; was defended by Judge Alvin P. Hovey, March 1, 1852, and acquitted. It is very generally understood at New Harmony, where the event occured, that the killing was accidental. Lyon threw a brick at some one with whom he had quarreled, which, missing that party, struck Clayton, fracturing his skull, from the effects of which he died soon afterward.
One of the most tragical and bloody affrays that have ever been recorded in the history of crime occurred on the 6th of August, 1849, in the city of Mt. Vernon. It was an election day and party strife was warm and bitter, the office of Sheriff being the bone of contention. As was usual on such occasions, a large crowd of people had congre- gated in the town, and long before
"Night, sable goddess, from her ebon throne, Had stretched forth in rayless majesty
Her ebon scepter o'er a slumbering world"
the echoes were kept constantly awake by the unearthly yells of drunken, half-wild men, and the streets witnessed several "rough and tumble" fights. Later in the afternoon, just before the departing sun had hidden, his face behind the Western horizon, two men, in the full- ness of physical manhood, received their death blows. Wm. James and John Patterson were the candidates of their respective parties for
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the office of Sheriff, and they were zealously supported by their con- stituents. Daniel Lane, from Illinois, was living with Wm. James, and, naturally enough, favored that gentlemen's election. John Coon, a butcher by occupation, and a peaceable, inoffensive man, when not under the influence of liquor, was an advocate of Patterson's election. These two men became engaged in a discussion of the merits of their respective candidates, which finally terminated by Coon saying that he would "bet Lane a half-dollar that he (Lane) dare not strike him." The words had hardly passed the lips of Coon when Lane struck at his adversary, who stabbed his antagonist in the breast under the right nipple. Lane reeled and fell to the pavement, the blood flowing freely from the ghastly wound. John Duckworth, seeing that the infuriated man was endeavoring to "cut his way" from the crowd, struck him several times with his fist, but without effect. Coon continued striking out with his knife until Green Duckworth hit the crazed man on the head with a heavy board, felling him to his knees, when John Pierson picked up a stick of cord wood and with that instrument succeeded in mashing the unfortunate man's skull, and then departed for parts un- known. Lane lingered in great agony until midnight, when he died. Coon was taken to jail, where he expired a few minutes after his victim. They were buried in the same grave on the following day. Green Duckworth, a few years afterward, committed suicide in Louisiana and John Duckworth met with a frightfu! death by being thrown from a buggy one mile north of Mt. Vernon. The above affair occurred near the corner of Main and Second streets.
James McFaddin stabbed and murdered Wm. Stephens on a flat boat, on the Ohio river, 4 miles below Mt. Vernon; was tried, con- victed and sentenced by Elisha Embree, presiding judge, to the peni- tentiary for a term of 20 years. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of the State, but the decision of the court below was sustained. He was sent to prison March 14, 1846.
Noah Nesler, during the construction of the New Harmony and Mt. Vernon plank road, was stabbed and murdered, June 4, 1850, by Jonathan Combs, who escaped and has never been brought to trial.
Wm. Chancellor, on the 30th of March, 1852, in Harmony Town- ship, was shot and killed by Wm. Gibbs, who was apprehended on the day following, but was discharged for want of sufficient testimony to establish his guilt. It was afterwards developed that Gibbs was the guilty party, but he had, in the meantime, effected his escape, and he was never brought to trial. The murder was the result of a family difficulty, and it was committed while Chancellor was playing a violin, he having been fired at through the window of his house.
Charles Stewart was murdered, in Point Township, by David Hines and Andrew Mackey, June 7, 1858, by being clubbed with a rifle.
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The parties effected their escape, and the case was stricken from the docket at the September term of the Circuit Court, 1867.
Elisha Lewis, for shooting and killing Jeddy Pitts on the 18th of August, 1860, was indicted by the grand jury for murder in the second degree September 27, 1860. Lewis made his escape and was not captured until he had swum the Wabash and Ohio rivers several times; was arraigned before Judge Wm. F. Parrett at the September term of the Circuit Court, 1860, tried, convicted and sentenced to the peniten- tentiary for life.
Mary Shepard, December 3, 1861, murdered her infant by strangu- lation; was tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for thirteen years, by Judge Parrett, at the March term of the Circuit Court, 1862.
On July 16, 1864, Asbury Ferguson, at New Harmony, accidentally killed Leroy Vandiver by hitting him with a brick; indicted by the grand jury at the September term of the Circuit Court, 1864; case nollied March 27, 1866.
Baldwin Erwin, August 6, 1864, at Farmersville, shot and killed Manalcus P. Powell, for seduction of his wife; indicted by the grand jury for murder in the first degree ; nolle prosequi entered at the March term of the Circuit Court, 1875.
Fieldon N. Chamberlain, a Federal soldier, at Mt. Vernon, on the 8th of August, 1864, shot and killed Wm. Balou and Joseph Gamble; was tried, on a change of venue, in the Vanderburgh Circuit Court, and was there acquitted on a plea of self-defense.
John Garris, on December 6, 1864, murdered Michael Herman, an old stage driver, in Center township, with a club; indicted by the grand jury, at the March term of the Circuit Court, for murder in the first degree; was tried, convicted and sentenced, by Judge W. F. Par- rett, to be hanged on the first Friday in November, 1865; sentence commuted by Governor Conrad Baker to imprisonment for life. Garris was a soldier in a regiment organized by the Governor during the late civil war.
Leonidas Sweeten, on September 7, 1865, cut and killed John Hendrix, at West Franklin ; was indicted by the grand jury, at the September term of the Circuit Court which convened the same year ; was tried and convicted before Judge W. F. Parrett, by whom he was sentenced to the penitentiary for a period of five years, from September 27, 1867. He was reprieved by Governor Baker soon af- terwards.
George Bacon, at Mt. Vernon, on September 17, 1865, shot and killed John H. Weare, who lost his life while endeavoring to protect Aaron Greathouse. Bacon fled immediately after the shooting, and has never been apprehended. He was indicted by the grand jury for
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the crime of murder, but no active measures for his arrest have ever been instituted. There was " a woman in the case."
Abraham Quarrels, on August 18, 1866, cut and killed Wm. Whal- ley with a knife ; indicted for murder in the second degree by the grand jury at the October term of the Circuit Court, 1866; was tried, con- victed and sentenced, by Judge W. F. Parrett, to the penitentiary for a period of time covering his natural life.
John Redman, at the March term of the Circuit Court, 1869, was indicted by the grand jury for the murder of Ezra Wooding, by shoot- ing and cutting him, on February 15, 1868 ; nollied September 20, 1870. Redman was one of a posse of the Sheriff who went to the house of Wooding to arrest him for tarring and feathering a negro.
Levi Coffin, on February 25, 1868, shot ank killed Patrick Gilles- pie, at West Franklin. By a verdict of the Coroner's jury, it is known that the event was the result of a quarrel, and as there is no further re- cord of the matter on the books of the Circuit Court, we presume the murderer was acquitted at the preliminary examination before the jus- tice.
Robert F. Dunn, a riverman, November 3, 1868, at Mt. Vernon, shot and killed Samuel Miller, a laborer; indicted by the grand jury for murder in the first degree; nollied nunc pro tunc
Reese Gentry was shot and murdered by being waylaid on the public highway, on the night of November 5, 1868. No action was ever taken that led to the identity of the murderer. It is said that a man who subsequently resided at Phillipstown, Illinois, while on his death-bed, confessed to being the murderer, giving as his reason that he was cognizant of the existence of a criminal intimacy between his wife and his victim, immediately prior to the commission of the deed.
Richard Russel was shot and killed on the 24th of December, 1868, by Gabriel Hathaway, three miles Northeast of Mt. Vernon, at a house on what is known as the "old Finnel farm," where a ball was in progress when the event occurred. Hathaway escaped and has eluded the authorities of the law to this time.
Charles Leunig and John W. Jenkins were jointly indicted by the grand jury for murdering James C. Beard, at Mt. Vernon, February 16, 1869. They were arraigned and while the trial was in progress in the Circuit Court, Judge James G. Jones saw fit to discharge the jury, his suspicions as to their fidelity being the motive, and immediately thereafter ordered a new trial; whereupon a change of venue was taken to the Vanderburgh Circuit Court, where it was held that the life of the prisoners could not be placed in jeopardy twice for the same offence. An appeal to the Supreme Court of the State was taken by the prose- cution, where the decision of the court below was sustained, and they were discharged.
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Peter Baker, a colored man, in February. 1869, shot and killed, at Mt. Vernon, Washington Balou, also colored : no indictment in the case has ever been recorded, that can be found. Baker escaped and is still a fugitive from justice.
Eugene Vandiver, at New Harmony, on September 15, 1870, shot Warren Pitts, who died on the 29th of the same month, same year; an indictment for murder was returned by the grand jury at the April term of the Circuit Court, 1872; case nollied March 26, 1877.
George Ferguson, a farmer, was indicted for murder in the second degree for stabbing and killing Alfred Bell, a farmer, October 17, 1870, at Mt. Vernon; was tried, convicted and sentenced at the May term of the Circuit Court, 1871, by David T. Laird, Judge, to the penitentiary for a period of and during his natural life; served seven years and was reprieved on account of consumption, with which he was afflicted, it was said.
Henry Roeder, on the Ioth of December, 1870, clubbed William Downey to death at Wadesville; was indicted by the grand jury at the April term of the Circuit Court, 1871; was tried, convicted and sentenced, by Judge David T. Laird, on May 11, 1871, to the peni. tentiary for five years.
Scott Davis, August 21, 1871, shot and killed George Graham, near Poseyville. Search of the records failed to disclose any action taken by the authorities in this case, though the murder was chronicled in the New Harmony Register at the time the crime was committed.
Stephen Harris, February 14, 1874, in Harmony township, cut and killed Henry Cox; indicted by the grand jury in March, follow- ing ; case nollied June 11, 1878.
George Horton, a farmer, at Mt. Vernon, stabbed and killed a shoemaker by the name of Wm. Slack, December 21, 1874; he was indicted by the grand jury for murder in the first degree at the January term of the Circuit Court, 1875; case nollied at the March term of the same Court, 1877. Immediately after the commission of the crime Horton made his escape and succeeded in eluding the authorities of the law.
George Johnson, February 18, 1877, was shot and killed by John or George Mott, two clerks, at New Harmony, while attempting to burglariously enter the store of Messrs. Ford and Owen, of that place ; the evidence at the preliminary examination was considered sufficient to warrant the discharge of the Motts, who established the proof that the deed was committed while defending the property of their em- ployers.
Charles Martel, a cooper, was stabbed in the back, at Fuhrer's grove, one mile West of Mt. Vernon, and killed by John W. Sullivan, a clerk, son of Hon. E. T. Sullivan, of Evansville, on May 21, 1877. At a preliminary examination held before Justice Joshua Cox, Sullivan
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
was placed under bond, which he forfeited, and is now a fugitive from justice.
David Weaver, alias Patrick Mullen, was murdered near the L. & N. Railway bridge, on the Wabash river, October 28, 1877; Wm. Chambers, Hamilton Brown and Alfred Buckner, colored men, were indicted by the grand jury at the October term of the Circuit Court, same year, but a trial of the parties was never inaugurated because of a want of sufficient evidence.
Frederick Vierling, a dyer by occupation, was shot and killed, in the Spring of 1878, at Mt. Vernon, by some unknown persons. No action has ever been taken that established the guilt of the suspected murderers.
Dennis Leslie, a boy, shot and killed Commodore Curtis, his step- father, for abusing his mother and threatening his life, in the Summer of 1878, of which he was acquitted at the preliminary examination be- fore a justice in Point township.
Annie McCool, a white prostitute, was murdered at Mt. Vernon, by some unknown person, in September, 1878. Her murderer was supposed to have been a negro paramour.
Daniel Harris, a negro, on October 11, 1878, shot and killed Cyrus Oscar Thomas, a son of Geo. W. Thomas, Esq., of Mt. Vernon, while the latter was in the discharge of his duty as Deputy Sheriff. Harris was indicted by the grand jury at the October term of the Circuit Court in 1878, and at the August term of that court in 1881, the prosecutor, Wm. H. Gudgel, entered a nolle prosequi. It is supposed by some and denied by others that Harris was murdered by the friends of his victim who disposed of his body by means which will forever leave its whereabouts a mystery.
James Good, Jeff Hopkins, Wm. Chambers and Edward Warner, all colored, were hanged October 12, 1878, by a body of unknown men, from trees in the Public Square, at Mt. Vernon, for murders and other heinous acts committed by them during that year.
J. Willard Reed stabbed and killed James Baker, at Mt. Vernon, in the Winter of 1880; indicted for manslaughter; placed under bail of $1,000; forfeited; trial pending.
James Pigg (colored), laborer. was shot and killed in Black Town- ship, February 5, 1880. Prince Jones (colored), laborer, was indicted for the crime, and was charged by the Grand Jury with murder in the first degree. Jones was tried, on a change of venue, in the Vander- burgh Circuit Court, at the January term, 1882, and sentenced to the penitentiary for 99 years. He had been tried in the Posey Circuit Court a year previous and was sentenced at that court for the same period of time. Immediately after his incarceration in the peniten- tiary, the case was appealed to the Supreme Court for a new hearing,
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which was granted. The cost to Posey County for the trial of Jones was about $3, 000.
Wm. Poenix, in a fit of jealousy, shot and murdered Miss Izitha Bundy, a daughter of Kirk Bundy, Esq., a farmer living in Lynn township, on the 20th of June, 1880, and at the same time destroyed himself by shooting in the head. Poenix was a laborer whom Mr. Bundy had employed, and it was while he was engaged at the farm that he became very much enamored with the young lady, to whom he had made proposals of marriage, and which were rejected. Know- ing that he could never gain her consent to marriage, he resolved upon committing the awful crimes of murder and suicide. A favorable opportunity was offered him on the afternoon of that beautiful June day, when the young lady went to visit a neighbor's in the immediate vicinity of her home, and he took advantage of it. He took a rifle, belonging to his employer, telling the mother of the girl, on leaving the house, that he was going to shoot a quail which he heard near by. He went in the direction the young lady had taken, and seated himself behind a stump, standing near the roadside, to await the return of his victim. A short time elapsed before he saw the object of his terrible design, light-hearted and in the bloom of youth, coming towards him. When she was within twenty paces of him, the miscreant deliberately shot her dead, and then, after reloading the gun, walked to where the girl lay cold in death, placed the muzzle of the weapon to his head and discharged it with the ramrod, and thus he was made the instrument of two tragic deaths, to be added to the long list of murders commit- ted in the County.
Wm. Bare, a saloon keeper, on the steamer Samuel Born, while on a Sunday excursion, near West Franklin, on May 22, 1881, shot and killed John Hendrix ; indicted for murder in the first degree ; was tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of three years, at the November term of the Circuit Court, 1881.
Robert K. Vint, a blacksmith, in an affray at Cynthiana, on the 20th of August, 1881, shot and killed Joseph Alvey, a wagon maker ; was indicted by the grand jury at the term of the Circuit Court which was in session at the time, but he has not been brought to trial at this time (1882).
VARIOUS INCIDENTS.
In early times muster duty was imposed upon every able bodied man, a failure of its performance was punished by a fine. In 1820 the members of the Society of Rappites refused to obey the law, and the Sheriff, for that reason, was ordered by the Commissioners to collect forty cents from every member not exempt, of whom there were 85.
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Their reason for not taking part in the musters was their opposition to bearing arms. Regimental musters were held annually at the home of Lewis Wilson, while battalion musters were held in various parts of the County.
The early pioneers regarded physical force as an indication of the highest type of manhood, a virtue that few men possessed without finding it necessary very frequently to sustain their reputation for prowess in tests of strength. At log rollings, elections, courts, musters or wherever an event that attracted crowds occurred, athletic exercises were indulged in, and it was an invariable rule to enliven the occasion by numerous personal encounters. He who could jump farther, run swifter or throw his man in a wrestling bout was a hero, and he was looked upon with envious eyes. An election or a muster day never came off that did not witness more fighting than would occur in a year at this time; a fact that offers a contrast in the condition of morals of the two periods that is eulogistic of the progress and laws of to-day. It certainly is evident that the advantages of civilization have a refining tendency. There was at that age, as there are at this and will probably be at all eras in the future, conspicuous and peculiar characters. One of the "characters" of that day was a man by the name of Tom Miller, who was considered as being, and which he believed himself, very much of a man physically. Tom, in his sober moments, was inclined to be peaceable and would never engage in a brawl, if it were possible to avoid it without incurring the charge of cowardice. But when he quaffed bumpers of "the ardent," his latent strength appeared in giant form and he was never contented unless he could meet some one "worthy of his steel" upon "the green." Whenever Tom was seen pacing up and down some street, his coat off, sleeves rolled up, his shaggy breast exposed and his suspenders about his waist, the conclusion was soon reached that a storm was brewing and it must terminate with a squall. During this spectacle Tom's strong voice would be heard using the stereotyped but exasperating phrase: "I'm a mean man, a bad man and I orter to be whipped, I know, but whar's the man can do it ?" This invitation was frequently accepted and led to bloody com- bats, but Tom, in almost every instance, vanquished his foe. This bold and daring yet good-natured man many years ago joined the in- numberable army of the dead, though there are several of his relatives living at this time, among whom, by marriage, is a brilliant lawyer of Mt. Vernon.
It was understood among the early pioneers, that each one would assist the other in his work, if the exigency of his services became apparent. Corn huskings, quilt making, house raisings, log rollings, rounding up stock, and at all such tasks as required considerable labor, the neighbors, first being apprised, would assemble and assist the host,
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