USA > Indiana > The History of the regulators in Indiana > Part 6
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Mr. Cummings, the Sheriff of Lagrange county, and Mr. Flemming, the Sheriff of Allen county, for their untiring zeal in aiding to ferret out and arrest all who belonged to the infernal gang, are deserving of the entire confidence and patronage of all good and honest citizens throughout this and adjoining states. And we have no hesitancy in commending them to any and all who may have business to entrust to their cares.
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Charles Seeley, of Goshen, United States Deputy Marshall, also deserves the credit of all good citizens, for the very efficient manner in which he discharged his duties as an officer.
These men will long be remembered with grateful acknowledgements by the people of Noble and adjacent counties, for their activity in the cause of rescuing the land from a banditti of thieves.
Daniel W. Vorhees, Prosecuting Attorney of the United States District Court for the District of Indiana, for the prompt and ener- getic manner in which he conducted the prosecutions in that court, has proved himself a man of fine legal abilities, and very honorably vindicated the rights of the people of the North, as also the respons bilities of the high position he occupies in one of the Federal Court of the United States.
We have now ended the history of the Regulators in Northern Indiana. Many of the confessions, which are vague and indefinite, and which contain matters of little or no interest to the public, have been left out. In giving a history of sketch of the blacklegs of this country and their depredations, from its early settlement, we have endeavored to confine ourselves strictly to matters of fact, knowing that a large majority of such as will peruse the pages of this work are those whose minds are only satisfied by the presentatio: of truth without coloring. We have delineated only such crimes as have either come under our own observation or been commited to us from testimony of unquestionable veracity, and, after all the start- ling revelations contained in the foregoing confessions, it is a truth beyond all doubt that the half has never been told. Unquestion- ably, there are crimes of the deepest dye, and of the most aggravated character, that still lie concealed in the hearts of many of these miscreants, and will so remain until portrayed before them in vivid -69-
characters of everlasting condemnation in that day that shall reveal the secrets of all hearts. But the influence of these men in commun- ity, and the subtlety with which they have decoyed so many of the young, whom we now find either dragging out a life of misery and wretchedness in the Penitentiary or standing upon the verge of ruin, is a subject that should not be slightly passed over. There are responsibilities connected with the training of sons and daughters to enter upon the drama of life which infinitely transcend all others. Here is implanted in the juvenile mind by the parental government the germ of all government and all society. It has been quaintly said that "society is in every case precisely what we have made it" And hence, if we would have good society, good governments and loyal subjects, we should look to the influences that are surrounding the young. And when the arm of the law signally fails to rescue them from the power of these vampires, by tacitly indulging them to roam unmolested, devastating every principle of morality inculacated by the parental teaching, there is a law prominently inscribed upon the title page of every man's declaration of rights, an inherent law, a law of his nature, which under such circumstances it becomes his imperitive duty to obey for the safety and welfare of himself and family. To this as a last resort, as the only remedy-as the life-
boat to save society from the dashing waves of the whirlpool of infamy and shame-Northern Indiana has been compelled to have recourse for the past year. That time to many will long be remembered. For
while the honest and industrious citizens of the country have been carnestly struggling, many times under the most perilous circum- stances, to rid the community of a banditti of robbers, many com- panions, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, have drank deep - 70-
from the cup of sorrow. One scene, which transpired in the jail at ---- , is but a fair example of such as have been of common occur- rence during the past year.
A young man of no mean birth, possessed of a bright and promising intellect, and who but about three years before had stood side by side with a fair and amiable young lady at the hymenial altar and pledged his fidelity to her in the most solemn manner, had suffered himself to be led into crime and was arrested and thrust into the prison on a charge of having passed counterfeit money. His wife, as lovely a women to all appearance as ever was wed to man, came tremblingly to the jail with a bebe of about eigh- teen months in her arms, and with eyes bedewed with the tears of sorrow, and with a countenance that betokened a sad and almost broken heart, she modestly asked the jailor if she could see her husband. "Certainly, " said the jailor. Whereupon the man was called to the inner door and allowed to pass out into the entry, where he was still separated from his wife and child by a large cross-barred iron door. Through the open squares between these iron bars for some time a conversation was carried on between the two companions until at last they admonished by the jailor that they could be allowed to talk no longer. What a scene then met the gaze! First that child, was an only child and the one in whom was centered all the fond hopes and affections of that once happy pair, was raised by request of the father and his little face kindly placed by the hands of the mother to the open squares of the iron gate, for his father to imprint upon his little cheek a loving kiss. But no fond embraces, such as are common to companions enjoying the blessedness of freedom. Could there be taken. Yet, as a last resort, just before parting, the
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husband placed his face gently at the opening of the iron grates, and that love which invariably burns most fervent in the hour of sternest trial in the heart of a loving wife was manifested, by impressing upon the lips of her husband through that cold iron grate a farewell kiss. Every one in the company involuntarily burst into tears. Such a kiss we had never heard or seen before. All affect- ation, all conquetry, and all the frivolities of youthful love, were lost to sight at once. Here was manifested pure affection and love that casteth out fear.
Such scenes, however heart-rending they may be, are but the natural results of a just excution of the law in any land, and are by no means peculiar alone to the operations of Regulators.
Wm. D. Hill, a man whose name is known almost throughout the United States and whose name stands prominent in almost every act of villainy commited in Northern Indiana, has doubtless been the cause of ruining more young men than any other man connected with the gang. Nearly every one whose confessions are here given have attributed their early training in villainy to that notorious scoun- drel, and if there is no earthly tribunal before which he can be arraigned where justice may be meted out to such a one, doubtless that Eye from whose presence no crime hath e'er been hid will yet pursue that wretch and send him, like Judas, to his own place. Thus, after having passed through a revolutionary contest and struggling for the space of one year in mortal combat to restore our county to an equal dignity with those around us; after having expended about fifteen thousand dollars in time and money, independent of any assist- ance rendered by the State, for the capture of the vampires who have by their corrupting influence laid waste the character and hopes of
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hundreds of the youth of our land, and trampled them like autumn withered leaves beneath their feet, then gazed with a contemptuous smile upon the wreck they had made, -we have the gratification of announcing to the world that although we are in no wise sanguine of having eradicated the last blackleg from the fair face of Northern Indiana-while an opposing power has been at work, deep shrouded
under the garb of honesty, with an indomitable perseverance to thwart every plan of the Regulators-and while we may have, in some instances rendered ourselves chargeable in the eyes of a few, -yet we must think that every honest citicen who has felt the curse of such a state of society, and who speaks the sentiments of a heart imbued with the spirit of fraternal dignity and parental authority, will acquiesce in saying, that the blackleg gang has received a shock, and society an impetus, that will reflect honor upon the rising hopes of Norther .. Indiana.
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LIST OF COMPANIES.
The following is a list of all the Companies of Regulators in Northern Indiana. The number of members in each we are not able to give. The whole number, however, amounted to about two thousand- all minute men and ready for service at a minute's warning. Other companies were formed in adjoining States and in some instances afforded us much assistance.
Names of Companies and Number of Members.
Angola Regulators 42 Albion Rangers
Allen Reconnoiterers 60
Bluffton Regulators
Cedar Creek Protectors
Dekalb County Horse Thief Detecting Society 40
Eden Police
Fremont Rangers. 20
Eel River Regulators
Independent Self-Protectors
24
Jackson Prairie Horse Thief Detecting Society 75
Jefferson Regulators .30 Kektioga Guards.
Lisbon Rangers 81
Lagrange Self-Protecting Association. 73
Lagrange Association of Clear Spring.
Leesburg Horse Company .51
Lagrange County Rangers 32 Marion Rangers
Mutual Protection Company. . 70
Newville Rangers.
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lloble County Invincibles. 40
Plymouth Regulators.
Port Mitchell Regulators .60
Police Guards
Perry Regulators 79
Richland Rangers 43
Self-Protectors At Flint. 21
Salem Horse Thief Detecting Company
31
Springfield Spies
80
Self-Protectors of South Milford. 65
Swan Regulators.
61
Self-Protectors of Springfield.
64
Sparta Guards
Union Regulators
Wolf Lake Sharpers
Warsaw Horse Thief Company.
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HECKMAN BINDERY INC.
JAN 96 Bound - To -Please N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
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