USA > Indiana > Hancock County > History of Hancock County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement by the "pale face," in 1818, down to 1882 > Part 12
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and beat her nearly to death, vainly attempting to compel her to hand over the $1,000 (which it was impossible for her to do). When the doctor arrived the next morning, the first thing that greeted him was the pigs licking up his parents' blood. The neighbors soon came in, and organ- ized two searching parties of eleven each, and went to the houses of the guilty parties, but failed to find them at home. The companies then separated, one starting for Pendleton and one for Huntsville. One man was sent forward who should recognize, speak to, and pass the suspected parties, and give the rest the signal ; and when near where George Mingle now lives they met Wise on horseback. They captured him, and soon took Bodkins also. On taking them in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart they imme- diately recognized them, although they were blackened the evening before, and they were taken to Indianapolis and committed to jail, there being at that time no jail in Hancock county. Their trial came off in February, 1847, and on the 12th of February they were sentenced to the penitentiary, Wise for twelve years and Bodkins for six. The latter died in about eighteen months, and Wise was pardoned by Governor Joseph Wright, on a petition on which the names of the Stuart family were forged. Mr. Stuart never fully recovered from the injuries, never being able afterwards to attend to business, and after being paralyzed eighteen months, during which time he was as helpless as an infant, he died August 6, 1859. As a last request he ordered that as he had never owed anything in life, all his funeral expenses should be paid before he was buried, which was done. Mrs. Sarah Stuart, whose injuries were less severe, is still living with relatives, at the age of seventy-eight, loved and respected by all who know her.
William S. Wood committed suicide by taking sulphate of morphia and chloroform, at the Union depot, Indianap- olis, September 30, 1875. aged thirty-seven years. The cause of this sad occurrence was financial difficulties and large forgeries, a full account of which were given by him in his dying statement and confession, published at the
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time in many of the city and county papers of the state. On the 28th, two days before his death, he took two poli- cies in the Masonic Mutual Benefit, for his children, to the amount of $5,000, and $7,000 in the Franklin for his wife and children, and he had previously taken $2,500 in the Union Mutual, or Northwestern, of Milwaukee. Among his forgeries last made were his father's and father-in-law's names to a note for $4,000, payable in the First National Bank of Cambridge City, Indiana ; and the names of Pratt & Baldwin, Marion Forgy, J. W. Ryon, and Thomas Wood to a note for $1,000, which he discounted at the Citizens' National Bank of Indianapolis. Of his forgeries he said, which was doubtless true, that he " never intended that any one should know it or have a cent to pay for him." But the financial crisis was too severe. The shrinkage of values, the high rates of interest, and the difficulties expe- rienced in borrowing money at any rate drove him to desperation, and for the time dethroned reason and judg- ment. Mr. Wood was one of the most enterprising citi- zens of the county. Starting in the grocery business in a limited way in Greenfield, in 1862, with but little capital. he had greatly extended his business ; then in the hard- ware and implement trade, speculating in land and lots : was the prime mover in erecting the Citizens' Bank (of which P. H. Boyd, John B. Simmons, Abiram Boyd, W. S. Wood, and I. P. Poulson were the stockholders) ; he built the two-story brick in the east part of town, since known as the flax factory, then owned by the Greenfield Manufacturing Association, of which he was president at the time of his death. At heart Mr. W. was a good man ; a little vain, but exceedingly charitable ; and was one of the most liberal members of the Christian church. He was at the time of his death Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias for the state; president of the school board in Greenfield : superintendent of the Christian Sunday-school : and an active, energetic man, who was greatly missed by the community. In person he was square-built, heavy-set : weight, 160 pounds ; dark features and dark hair, a keen
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eye, healthy and temperate ; of nervous, sanguine temper- ament ; five feet eight inches in height, quick-motioned and dignified bearing. He left a wife, the oldest daughter of William L. Garriott, and three children to mourn his loss, and fight life's battles all alone, unaided by paternal guidance and a father's strong arm. Mr. Wood's educa- tion was limited, never having had the opportunity of attending school but for a short time ; but by observation, quick perception, and a retentive memory, he had partially made up the loss : and being of an imaginary turn of mind. a fluent talker, and possessed of a strong voice, he was considered a good extemporaneous speaker on all ordinary occasions and subjects. The last public speech he made was on Monday morning, September 27, 1875, in the col- lection room in the public school building, in Greenfield. Those who heard it will remember it as at least good for an extemporaneous effort. The writer knew him well. and on that Monday morning, the beginning of the school year. had met him a few minutes before the time for opening. and invited him, as the president of the board, to be pres- ent and make a few appropriate remarks to the children on entering on their year's work, which he accepted, as he usually did such invitations, on condition that he found the 'time. Little did we think while following him in his speech through the Elysian fields, and drinking deep of the crystal fountains, that he was then contemplating so rash an act. to be returned to us in three short days a lifeless form.
In this township, about four miles north-east of Green- field, lived William Frost, well known throughout the county as a local politician, thoroughly posted in the cur- rent history of the county, a successful farmer, an unwavering democrat and once a trustee of Center town- ship, who came to an untimely death by falling from the top of a willow tree, near a cranberry patch north of town. where he had stationed himself to watch for a fox which he supposed would pass that way for its place of resort. On Friday morning, January 19, 1877, Mr. Frost, in company with William Martin and William Creviston.
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started out on a fox hunt. Frost being a good marksman. it was decided that he should take a station near the said cranberry patch, the fox rendezvous, while his companions should drive them up. In order to be unobserved by the fox. Frost took a stand in the fork of an inclining willow tree. some twelve or fifteen feet from the ground. Noon coming on, and Martin and Creviston being tired, finding no fox. and supposing that Frost had left the woods, went home. But as Frost failed to return home that evening. his family became uneasy, and early next morning insti- tuted a search. About nine o'clock he was found dead in the snow under the tree where he had stood. From the scars on and about his head, and broken teeth lying in his mouth and driven into his split jaw, it was supposed that he had relied too much on a small limb, which would strike him about the shoulders as he stood in the tree, and which had broken and let him fall to the frozen ground head fore- most, dislocating his neck and producing instant death.
On the evening of August 30. 1876, there occurred, in the northern part of Center township, just east of the Junc- tion, one of the most shocking, horrible and diabolical tragedies ever enacted in the county, which resulted in the murder of James Reedy, a cripple, by his father, Jerry Reedy, in a drunken quarrel between the two after return- ing from Greenfield, where they had taken a load of melons. sold them, and partook freely of fire-water, or better called devil's water, which drowned reason, smothered judgment. obliterated natural affection, and drove the actors to des- peration and deathly combat. In a quarrel about "bossing" the household, each of them claiming that high prerogative. the butt end of a buggy whip was broken across the head of young Reedy, breaking down the bridge of his nose, and two or three flesh cuts inflicted on the father, terminating with a horrible death gash in the skull of young Reedy. from the edge of an axe in the hands of a crazed, enraged and excited father. According to the statement of Mrs. James Reedy, the only witness of the terrible tragedy, the parties had returned from town about four o'clock, and both
WILLIAM TREES, M. D.
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declined to partake of the supper prepared for them ; that James was lying on the floor asleep, when Jerry struck him a few licks with the whip and told him to get up, which orig- inated the quarrel terminating as above. Young Reedy died in a few hours, leaving a young wife and an unborn child. Jerry Reedy said that while in Greenfield they drank together, each four glasses of whisky; that he remembered nothing about using the ax on his son, and after becoming sober and rational, wept over the act and mourned the loss bitterly. But past acts he could not recall ; the life taken he could not return ; and notwithstanding his sense of shame, grief and remorse of conscience. he must suffer the penalty of an infracted law, and is now serving out a ten year's sentence in the penitentiary south. This is the result of giving way to the first glass. Had poor Jerry Reedy never begun the use of intoxicants, he might have escaped the disgrace of being a worthless sot and murderer, and have gone down to his grave with a clear conscience and the approval of Heaven. What a grave commentary on the common habit of dram drinking. Let the uncon- firmed and uninitiated take warning, and "touch not, taste not the unclean thing," remembering that reliable statistics show that nine-tenths of the crimes of the civilized world are the result thereof ; that the accursed habit fills our jails, penitentiaries and alms-houses of various kinds, and is the mother of pauperism, illiteracy, illegitimacy, crime and high taxes, and produces untold toil, suffering, and despair by unnatural widows and helpless orphans, left unaided to fight life's battles. "Oh ! that men would con- sider, and heed wisdom's ways ere it is too late."
In this township, on the fair grounds, at the south end of floral-hall, on the morning of June 26, 1875, William Keemer died of what Mark Twain denominates . throat trouble." The facts in the case are too fresh in the minds of the people to need much rehearsing. Keemer was a tall, strong mulatto man, about twenty-six years of age, who had committed a rape on Mrs. Jerusha E. Vaughn. wife of Mr. William Vaughn, then of Blue-river township,
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for which he was caught and placed in the county jail at Rushville, where he remained one night, when fears were entertained of violence, and he was removed to Greenfield after night, and placed in the new jail. On the following morning, at half-past twelve o'clock, about 150 masked men, realizing the enormity of the crime, and fearing the technicalities and uncertainties of law, determined to take the law in their hands for the time, and see that justice was speedily meted out. They entered the jail, broke into Sheriff Thomas's room, forced the keys from him, unlocked the cell doors, and took their prisoner by force, placed him in a spring-wagon drawn by a gray horse, and marched to the place of execution, as aforesaid. The testimony is that the wagon was backed up to the fatal spot and a cotton rope placed around his neck. when he was asked if he had anything to say ; in reply to which he said: " Men. you are doing a great wrong." which he repeated, and the wagon was driven out, and the frail frame was left writhing and dangling between the certainties of earth and the uncertainties of the future, with the dark waters of death near by. After life was extinct a placard was pinned on his bosom, to be read by hundreds the next morning, of which the following is a copy : "It is the verdict of 160 men from Hancock, Shelby and Rush that his life is inad- equate to the demands of justice.". After life was pro- nounced extinct by one of the city physicians, who was present as a spectator, one of the masked men arose and announced in slow, measured tones something like the following : "Comrades and spectators: The scene just enacted was done in no spirit of bravado or revenge, but to vindicate in some degree an outrage upon an innocent. unprotected woman, and to give protection and security in the future to your wives, as well as mine. Now, if any one, be he officer or citizen, divulge the secrets of this night, he shall surely suffer (pointing to the hanging man) in the same way." The crowd then dispersed. The next day an inquest was held, and a verdict rendered in accord- ance with the above facts. The corpse was then cut down,
12
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placed on Frank Barnett's old dray. and taken to an under- taking establishment, and after being gazed on by hundreds from the county and town, was taken that night, about eleven o'clock, and deposited in its last resting-place on the county farm, " unwept, unhonored and unsung." Not being a citizen of Greenfield, he could not be buried in the new cemetery without the payment of the required fee of two dollars, and no one was found to advance the money : hence, with the box in a wagon and " Buffalo Bill" to dig the grave, his last remains were deposited as aforesaid. Thus ended the earthly career of William Keemer. We are no apologist for mob law ; but if it is ever justifiable. this was one of those cases.
It was in this township, about five miles north-east of Greenfield, that Samuel Derry " came to his death by stabs and wounds inflicted in and upon his body, by a knife or knives, by Harrison Kingen and Lucinda Kingen," on the 26th day of July, 1873, from which he died on the 30th. It will be remembered that the immediate cause of the fatal affray was a tiny gosling, the ownership of which was in dispute. On the day before the culmination of the trouble Lucinda Kingen, wife of Harrison Kingen, and sister of Samuel Derry, had gone to the house of her brother and driven away the said gosling. This act revived an old feeling existing between the families, and on the Saturday following the three parties met in the public highway, near the residence of said Derry, which resulted in a fatal fight, in which it seems a club, brick and knife were freely used. While there were several cuts on the body of Derry, in the opinion of the physicians the wound in the back, extending into the cavity of the chest, was the immediate cause of the death of Derry. A post mortem examination also disclosed the fact that the stomach and part of the intestines had passed upward through the cut in the diaphragm into the chest, and lay in front of the heart and lungs, rather on the left side, where the lung was collapsed. The coroner's jury returned a verdict in accord- ance with the above facts. This was considered one of the
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most shocking murders that ever occurred in the township. Considering the relationship of the families and the insig- nificant differences between them, it was wholly unnatural and unaccountable, and is certainly a sad commentary on family feuds and petty strifes. Hereby two families were ruined, and their happiness forever destroved.
It was in this township, also, at the Judkins school- house, that Theodore Gant was struck over the head with a wooden poker by his teacher, on March 8, 1870, which resulted in his death on the same evening.
There have been a number of other strange sudden ยท deaths in this township, which we will notice briefly : Lewis B. Paris was found dead and badly mutilated on the railroad, west of the depot, in November, 1865 ; supposed to have been murdered and thrown on the track. Jesse Mckinney was killed by the cars, at the depot, in 1860. John Tacket was killed in 1863, a few rods east of the depot, by the cars striking him in the head. He was stand- ing beside the track, leaning too far over. John Crush was killed, it is thought intentionally, in a similar manner. -on July 29, 1875. Henry H. Baxter, a shoemaker, fell dead at the Dunbar corner, April 13, 1872. He left in 1852, and had returned on a visit. W. F. Barnard was killed in November, 1878, on the Washington Duncan farm, by a pole falling on his head at a barn raising. David T. Davis's daughter committed suicide by drowning in Brandywine, near her home, a few years since. A Mr. Johnson, in the early history of the county, drowned him- self in a pond north-east of the Junction. Henry Ford, an "elderly man, dropped dead in the woods, in the presence "of Sylvanus Campbell and David Deshong, December 26, 1876. In February, 1869, a man by the name of Cham- bers was killed at the Brandywine bridge, by his head striking against the top thereof. On the 15th of October, 1873, a man whose name was unknown was killed in the same manner and place. Shortly after, perhaps in 1874, a brakeman was killed at the depot in Greenfield by his head striking the projecting roof.
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Exports .- The exports of this township and town are mainly the products of the farm, forest and factory, and consists of corn, cattle, hogs, horses, flaxseed, flax-tow, staves, heading, school desks, lumber, potatoes, butter, eggs, hay, wool and furniture.
Remarks .- With this general view of the township we close the present chapter. Many of the points herein merely alluded to will receive more attention in the next chapter, entitled " Center Township-Continued." and also further on in the book.
CHAPTER XI.
CENTER TOWNSHIP-Continued.
GREENFIELD.
Greenfield, the county-seat. metropolis, and only city in the county, was laid out in June. 1828, by five commis- sioners, appointed for that purpose by the legislature of 1827 and 1828. The original plat consisted of sixty acres, owned and donated by Cornwell Meek, Benjamin Spill- man, and John Wingfield. The town was named by the first three commissioners of the county, viz. : Samuel Van- gilder. Elisha Chapman, and John Hunter.
The instructions by the legislature to the said commis- sioners were to locate the seat of justice of Hancock county on the National road, midway between the east and west lines of the county. It is said upon reasonably good authority that Cornwell Meek and Benjamin Spillman measured the county from east to west with a string, in order to ascertain the center thereof, and future location of the prospective county-seat.
In order to settle a disputed point relative to the method by which the county acquired title to said original plat of.
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sixty acres, we produce an abstract from the old original commissioners' record, embodying the report of said five state commissioners :
"At a special term of the board of county commissioners of the county of Hancock, met at the house of Samuel B. Jackson, in the said county, on the 7th of April, 1828, it is ordered by the board *[ that] a report returned to the board of county com- missioners of Hancock county by the honorable board-the James Smock, Thomas Martin, James Anderson, Levi Jessup, [and] Richard Blackledge, commissioners appointed by the state legislature of Indiana, to meet at the house of Samuel B. Jackson, in said county, for the purpose of locating the seat of justice in and for Hancock county, aforesaid, is [be] received by said board [of county commissioners] as is specified in the same, [report aforesaid ] and ordered to be filed by the clerk of said board, [of county commissioners] spread on record, as follows, to-wit :
' 'INDIANA, TO-WIT :
".HANCOCK COUNTY.
". Pursuant to an act of the general assembly of the state of Indiana, approved December 24, A. D. 1827, James Smock, Thomas Martin and Levi Jessup, three of the commissioners appointed by the aforesaid, met at the house of Samuel B. Jack - son, in said county of Hancock, on Monday, the 7th day of April, A. D. IS28, and after being sworn as the law directed. proceeded on the discharge of the duties of our appointment. On Tuesday, the Sth day of April, John Anderson appeared, and was sworn as commissioner appointed by the act atoresaid : and on the same day Richard Blackledge appeared, and was sworn as a commissioner appointed as aforesaid ; and after examining the several sites shown to us, and duly considering all the donations offered, we have unanimously agreed to accept a donation of sixty acres of land donated by Cornwell Meek. John Wingfield and Benjamin Spillman, bounded as follows, to-wit : Beginning on the line dividing sections thirty-two and thirty-three. in township sixteen north, range seven east, where
*The words and phrases in brackets are supplied by the author, to complete the grammatical constraction an | make sense.
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the National road crosses said line; then a running north thirty rods from the north side of said road, and the same distance. south from the south side of said road; thence west on lines parallel with said road one hundred and sixty rods, to the open line of section five north and south, to contain sixty acres, which; we have selected as a permanent seat of justice for the county of Hancock. And it is further agreed and allowed by us, that the donors aforesaid be allowed every fourth block in that part of town respectively donated by them, in manner following, to-wit : John Wingfield and Benjamin Spillman to be entitled: to every fourth block, the county commissioners having first choice, and that Cornwell Meek be allowed every fourth block on that part of town donated by him, the said Cornwell Meek to have the first choice in the first four blocks, and afterwards. for the county commissioners to have the first choice. And it is further agreed by us, that the donors aforesaid be allowed to. remove buildings, rails, boards, and board-timber already sawed off' which may be included in their respective donations ; and we have further received donations by subscriptions amounting in cash and labor and lumber to $265 ; and furthermore, we- have taken bonds on the donors aforesaid for the conveyance- of the land above described, which, with the paper containing the subscriptions aforesaid, is submitted to the county commis- sioners.
"'JAMES SMOCK, ""'THOMAS MARTIN,
"' LEVI JESSUP, ".JOHN ANDERSON, ".RICHARD BLACKLEDGE.'
"It is ordered by the board [that] the seat of justice of Hancock county shall be known and designated [ by ] the name and title of 'Greenfield. the seat of justice of Hancock county.'
" It is ordered by the board that Jared Chapman, agent of Hancock county, be and is hereby invested. and is hereby authorized. to make and form a plat for the further instruction of the board of commissioners, to lay off the town of Greenfield into lots, and that he present the same to the next term for inspection.
" It is ordered by the board that the said agent shall adver- tise at least in sixty handbills, and shall distribute the same, the
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terms of sale to be as follows, to-wit : One-fourth of the pur- chase money down, and the balance in three equal annual pay- ments.
" It is ordered by the board that the said agent shall survey and lay out the aforesaid town into blocks against the first Sat- urday of June next ; and that the commissioners and donors do meet on the same day, and make choice agreeable to the report made by the board of state commissioners to the county com- missioners, May 5, 1828.
" SAMUEL VANGILDER, " ELISHA CHAPMAN, "JOHN HUNTER."
The original plat, it will be observed from the above report, was just sixty rods wide, extending thirty rods on either side of the National road, and a half mile in length. The original plat consisted of a public square and thirty- four blocks, divided into one hundred and sixty-one lots.
It may be of some interest to the young to know not only the size, but the boundaries of said original plat. The east line thereof runs just west of Martin Lineback's resi- dence and Morgan Chandler's property. Benjamin T. Rains resides on the north-east corner lot. The north line extends along the alley south of Dr. Martin's residence, and forms the north line of the Catholic church. Thomas Carr, Sr., resides on the north-west corner, and John Ryon on a central west lot. The south line of the old plat forms the north line of the old seminary lot, and runs just south of Nelson Bradley's residence.
Additions .- From time to time a number of additions have been made to Greenfield and the original plat, num- bering more than a score in all. The first addition was made by Edward K. Hart, a brother of A. T. Hart, on March 4, 1839, and consisted of twelve blocks, fifty-six in-lots and twelve out-lots, and lies south of the old plat and east of State street, except one tier of lots, which lies on the west.
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