History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 61

Author: John W. Mason
Publication date: 1916
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 765

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The story of the mail robbery is told in detail by J. W. Mason else- where in the history, but since Mr. Jorgens was very much interested in the capture of the robber and the recovery of the mail. it seems appropriate to note what he has to say about it. Says Mr. Jorgens: "I presume you have the history of the mail robbery. I had ordered all the plats of the sur- veyed townships in the county from the surveyor-general of the state, and it happened that they were en route to Otter Tail City in the mail bag which was being carried the day of the robbery. All the plats were torn out of the mail pouches and scattered about the bushes, but we found everyone of them."

One of the most graphic word pictures handed the editor of this volume is the picture which Mr. Jorgens draws of Otter Tail City in 1870. "I will tell you a story, a true one, that I will never forget. At the time the North- ern Pacific railroad was being built on the north side of Rush lake, the com- pany had brought its stores and tents into Otter Tail City. [This was in 1870.] With this legitimate railroad business there followed an army of gamblers and sporting women. I went home to Wall Lake Saturday and came back to Otter Tail City the following Monday. On my return on Monday my eyes beheld a sight. when I first saw the county seat, which will remain with me as long as I live. Forty-eight hours had changed the appear- ance of the little village on the lake until I could hardly trust my eyes. When I left Saturday evening there were probably not over eight or ten houses. But when the village loomed up before me on Monday there were not less than forty buildings scattered up and down the beach. When I reached the village I saw men and women in fashionable clothing promen- ading the beach of the lake and along the streets. The town looked like a fairy city : many of the roofs were in tin covered, others displayed roofs of painted oil cloth. Everything seemed as if the touch of Aladdin had trans- formed an erstwhile prosaic hamlet of a dozen houses into a flourishing little city several times as large. Things began to happen in the county seat

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within the next few days. The commissioners granted ten or fifteen saloon licenses within the next few days. The gambling tents were filled night and day with men trying to get rid of their money. And there were other places of business which carried on a thriving trade and separated the hard working laboring men from their weekly wages. And this triple industry, triple because the three were controlled by one group of men, flourished like the bay tree for three or four months. Bands were hired to assist in the operation of relieving the unsophisticated of their worldly possessions, on the theory probably that music hath charms to soothe the aching breast. Such was Otter Tail City for a few months in the summer of 1870."

1870 LETTER OF 0. JORGENS.

The letter written by Mr. Jorgens in 1870 and found after a lapse of forty-six years among the commissioners' records of Otter Tail county is given here as it was written:

My old visitor, the Mower County Transcript, came to my cot. on the bank of Red river, a few days ago. It was certainly charming to see such an old, dear friend out here. I regarded it almost miraculous that it could find its way to me out here. Old friends down home, you better believe I inspected the little giant. I could hardly believe my own eyes. I had often been tempted to believe the little warrior was torn to pieces in the last fall campaign, but I am now indeed convinced of the contrary; it has not received a single wound. but has gained in vigor and experience. I discover. also, it has changed editors. My friends. Collwell Brothers, have. as I infer from the paper. begun farming and Mr. Ottise has taken the rudder. I am not acquainted with Mr. Ottise, but, judging from the paper and the information I have. I congratulate you all. A friend, with a true member and able editor. I see also Mower county has complimented my countrymen by the election of J. Irgens. Good luck-I believe you will never regret it. I had not heard much of Mower county politics before the Tran- script came, except a few words in Nordesk Folkeblad, where I saw such names as friend Larsworky. Page Pelfer and a few others in connection with the county conven- tion at Ada. The greatest portion of a year has now elapsed since I left Frankfort. I started from the last-named place the first day of June last and my destination was Otter Tail county. I arrived after three weeks' travel and made a claim in township 133. range 42. abont one hundred rods from Red river. [This would be some place in Aurdal township.] This river is a pleasant stream and affords many excellent places for mills, etc. I prosper very well here and I call it a beautiful country. Timber, meadow and plow land are nearly equally divided and I believe this county beats other counties in the state on fishing chances. The Northern Pacific Railroad will not be laid far from here. Tools and provisions are coming to Otter Tail City now as fast as they can haul it. for the road. Our county is now organized. Our county seat is established at Tordenskjold. It is not much of a place yet. but we are sanguine for its future.

Mr. Editor of the Transcript. I pray you will print my letter. so my English-reading friends down home. as you like to call it. may know where I am. I should like to write a letter to every one of them. It is certainly my duty toward many American friends who assisted me continually.

Thus ends this letter and it is apparent from the context that the writer was enamoured with Otter Tail county and was desirous of acquainting his friends with the fact.

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CHAPTER XXXL.

REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF OTTER TAIL COUNTY. By E. E. Corliss.

Some of my friends and the publishers of this volume have urged me to contribute to it an article on the early history of the county. It gives me great pleasure to comply with their request, although with misgivings as to the general value of the story I shall tell. I may fail to instruct or even interest my readers, but one feature of the article may redeem it-I shall take pains to make every statement true. As to much of the history nar- rated, I may well say in the words of Caesar: "All of this I saw, and a great part of which I was:" at least, I shall strive to present only the facts as I saw them and can now recall them. Further than this the deponent saveth not.

Having been admitted to the bar of the district court of Fillmore county, Minnesota, in the spring term of 1870, I was anxious to try my chances in some new county. I wanted to grow up with the county and be a part and parcel of it,-but the question was, where should I locate? I had heard flattering reports of what nature had done for Otter Tail county and I finally decided that I would cast my lot with that county. Accordingly, I packed my few belongings into my "prairie schooner," hitched my two faith- ful horses to it, and, with my wife, three small children and a young girl, Rosa Wallace, who was then living with us, climbed into the wagon and started for our new home. I had not the slightest idea where I would locate, once I reached the county, although I had dimly planned to hang out my shingle in Otter Tail City. Our wagon was to be our day coach as well as our sleeper, our diner as well as our observation car-and such it was for the two weeks which it took to make the trip from Chatfield, Fillmore county, to St. Olaf in Otter Tail county.

I cannot digress to tell of the journey. Each day found us nearer to the promised land and, as the weather was very delightful, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip. On the evening of July 3, 1870, we finally arrived at the home of my brother-in-law, William H. Beardsley, who had located in the county the previous year. I might say in passing that a great majority of the early settlers of Otter Tail county came here in similar conveyances, although a majority of them drove oxen.

The following day, the Fourth of July, we drove over the Leaf moun- tains, through Eagle Lake township to the place of my brother, William M. Corliss, who had located on the west of the Clitherall settlement. We

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arrived just in time to participate in the festivities of the day. My brother had a log house, standing in a clump of beautiful white oak trees. We stayed here for several weeks, sleeping in our covered wagon box the mean- time, while I was out prospecting, getting located and building a house.

On the 5th of July my brother and I drove to Otter Tail City, a dis- tance of sixteen miles, for it was in that "city" I intended to erect a tablet or sign "E. E. Corliss, Attorney and Counsellor at Law." I had dreamed that I should add fame to that romantic city, which Gen. John Pope had visited in September, 1849, and left such a beautiful tribute to the fertility and grandeur of this section of the state among the records of the war department at Washington, D. C. [Note .- This report of which Mr. Cor- liss speaks is given in full elsewhere in this volume.] General Pope got his view of the territory surrounding Otter Tail lake from his canoe, but had he seen it as I did, from my wagon on the top of Leaf mountain, his description would have been even more flattering to the country. As I am writing this forty-six years after my first view of the lake my mind pictures still the impression it then made on me. Truly, Otter Tail lake is the center of the park region of Minnesota; its placid waters, its tree-girt shores, its banks, level here and precipitous there, render it one of the most beautiful bodies of water to be found anywhere. This region of the state, with its innumer- able clear lakes, fringed with the noble oak and other trees; its prairies, cov- ered with the beautiful little prairie rose; its hills, in some instances approach- ing the dignity of mountains, rising here and there against the blue sky; all this comes back to me as I recall that 5th of July, 1870, when I first beheld Otter Tail City nestling on the shores of Otter Tail lake. Amidst all this fascinating scenery I almost forgot about my law office in Otter Tail City.

And how did Otter Tail City look to me on that day in July, 1870? As we drove down the streets of the "city," my efforts were directed toward making a survey of the general prosperity of the place, its inhabitants, and the advisability of hanging out the insignia of my profession. Briefly stated, this is what I saw: C. H. Pcake, who was running an Indian trad- ing post, was the only merchant. There were two old Scotchmen. Donald McDonald and James McDougall, both of whom had Indian wives and numerous children. Both of these Scotchmen had settled here very early, and as far as I know, were the only settlers in the county in 1870 who had lived here prior to 1862. If there was another to return after 1862, it was John Bishop, who probably lived in Otter Tail City in 1860. It is certain that he was living on a farm between Balmoral and Otter Tail City in 1870 and even several years after that. In addition to the three men with their families above mentioned, there was R. L. Frazee, who had just put up a steam saw-mill. His head sawyer was Byron Lent. and there were also two

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other men working in the mill. With the exception of the saw-mill and a number of Indian wigwams, Otter Tail City looked just as it did in 1858 when Marble sketched it. [NOTE-This sketch of Marble's of which Mr. Corliss speaks is printed elsewhere in the volume.] With these people whom I have just enumerated for my clients, my dreams of retainers faded. Here was a county seat town and not a sign of a court house, not a county official lived here, and this was the place about which I had dreamed. Some wise man has said that dreams are made of strange things, and I am sure that on that never-to-be-forgotten day of July, 1870, I could most heartily have given utterance to this aphorism.

Beautiful scenery is all right to look at and it is what has drawn thou- sands of people to this county, but my family demanded something more sub- stantial-it satisfied the eye but not the stomach. It was not sufficiently sustaining to make it a daily article of diet. It was evident to me that the legal profession was not going to be very lucrative for sometime to come. Fortunately, I had taken a lot of lessons before the Civil War in farming in Winona county, Minnesota. Naturally, with circumstances such as I found them, my mind turned from the legal to the agricultural profession, and the next day I proceeded to file a preemption claim on a quarter section of land, (northeast quarter ten, one hundred and thirty-two, forty) two miles west of the Clitherall settlement and went to farming. I broke twenty acres of ground, but did not put out my first crop until 1871. I built the first frame house in the county from lumber sawed in Frazee's mill in Otter Tail City, albeit I had to sell my horses and wagon to indulge in this extravagance. I built a log stable, dug a well, filled my cellar with ruta- bagas which I pulled on the shares and bought half of my brother's potatoes in the field.

One day in October I took the oxen, went to the field and dug and picked up twenty bushels of potatoes. I loaded my potatoes, hitched up my oxen and started for the house, tired and thirsty. I stopped at the house of my brother on the way home to get a drink of water. When I came out all I could see of my potatoes was the hind wheels of the wagon going over a steep bank of thirty feet. The next instant found me traveling at a rapid pace down the road in the general direction of the potatoes; I might live throughout the winter without the oxen and the wagon, but the potatoes I must have. When I reached the bank of the lake and looked down into its cooling depths, there was my wagon upside down, my potatoes in the water, and my oxen peacefully drinking in the lake. There was only one thing to do. I righted the wagon, patiently picked every potato out of the water, hitched up my oxen and went on my way rejoicing. I think my wife

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was rather pleased with the near catastrophe-the potatoes were all well washed.

Clitherall was the first settlement in the county after the Indian trouble of 1862. It was settled in 1865 by about twenty families of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, as they are usually called. These people were all mem- bers of the original Joseph Smith church. After the murder of Smith by a mob at Nauvoo, Illinois, some of the original Mormons refused Brigham Young's leadership and his advocacy of polygamy. Those who rejected the polygamous doctrine of Young separated from him and chose as their leader one Cutler, and after his death, Chauncey Whiting. These leaders, in the eyes of their followers at least, had all the singular powers of St. Peter himself. These people were very zealous in their belief. and thought they were the only church in the world with divine authority in all ecclesiastical matters. Most of them were Americans, and all of them were honest, law- abiding people, good neighbors and patriotic citizens, firmly believing that the Mormon Bible and the Christian Bible were both inspired.

The Mormons claimed to have been directed to Clitherall by a dream which one of their elders had of a land between two lakes, with an abund- ance of prairie and timber, and convenient bands of Indians whom they were to convert to the Mormon faith, and thus civilize and save them from their paganism .. Accordingly, a small band of these good people made the long overland trip through Illinois and Minnesota to Otter Tail county/ They . brought with them their cattle, sheep, horses and all kinds of tools. The men were nearly all farmers, although there were a number of skilled artisians among them. Edward Fletcher was a good blacksmith; Marcus Shaw was a stone mason and plasterer; Chauncey Whiting, their priest and prophet, was a fine mechanic and could make all kinds of furniture, but gave most of his attention to wagon making; "Uncle Al" Whiting was a chair maker; "Uncle Vet" Whiting was the storekeeper, postmaster and a famous hunter.

By 1870, when I first came to the county, there were about fifteen men with their families in this settlement. Their names as I recall them were as follow :. Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey Whiting. Lewis Whiting and Sylvester Whiting-a year or two later another brother, Almon Whiting, his wife and children joined them : Hiram and Lyman Murdock ; John, Albert and Edward Fletcher, three brothers and their families, all large families with children grown to manhood and womanhood and some of them married; Isaac, the oldest son of Chauncey Whiting. Warren Whiting, Rueben Oaks. Sr., and James Oaks, his son ; Marcus Shaw, Jeremiah Anderson, Jesse Burdock, and a full-blooded New York Indian by the name of Dana, with his white wife;

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Thomas Mason and a Mrs. Mason, widow, and her daughter; Charles Tay- lor and the two McIntire brothers, Joseph and Sylvester.

I always understood that there were twenty-five families, but I cannot make out but about sixteen married couples and four bachelors, making twenty households besides the children. Then there were a few families belonging to the church, who, as I recall it, came up to Clitherall with those just enumerated and later settled at Detroit. The settlers in Otter Tail county took up as homesteads about all the land between Clitherall and Battle lake. Much of this land taken by them lay in a strip about one mile in width; that is, they took a strip four forties wide from the north shore of Clitherall lake to the south shore of Battle lake. They opened up a road along the north shore of Clitherall lake and built their houses, barns, etc., along this road, so that the whole settlement was in a compact group. They erected a log church with a secret chamber in which they worshipped for more than fifty years. In recent years they have erected a fine little church and razed the old building which had served them so many years. In the early seventies the community a sort of commune, or, as they called it, "The Oneness." All property was to be turned into the church. All grain and provisions were to be placed in the church granary and issued to members by the storekeeper. When they adopted this rule the members of the com- munity, although not wealthy, were very prosperous; but under the new system all or nearly all they had laid up was soon exhausted and little or no property was left in the store or in the hands of the members. So they broke up the "Oneness" and returned to their original mode of life and were soon again prosperous.

The community, as a Mormon church, has scattered. Many have joined the Joseph Smith, Jr., branch; others have left the church or moved away. Now there remains only a small number of the faithful who are struggling to maintain the Cutlerite branch of the church, and keep the divine authority at Old Clitherall. These faithful old settlers had built beautiful homes on this tract of land. Old Clitherall, like Otter Tail City, once the commercial, political and religious center of the coutny, is today beautiful only in death.

I cannot dismiss this historical settlement without mentioning one ludicrous incident. John W. Mason and I tried a criminal case before Jesse Burdock, a local justice of the peace in the Clitherall community. The case was the State of Minnesota vs. John Campbell. Campbell was arrested on complaint of his wife, charged with assault with intent to kill. I remember Mr. Mason, as usual, put up a strong fight for the defendant. He would raise one strong point after another, and after setting forth the arguments in favor of each point, his honor. the Justice, went out behind the barn and

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engaged in prayer. Each time on resuming his judicial chair he decided the point in favor of the state. Campbell was bound over, and the court allowed him to go north to get bond. He went to Canada and was never again seen in the county.

During the summer of 1871 James McNaughton and a boy held up and robbed the stage running between Alexandria and Otter Tail City, at that time driven by one Pattin. The holdup occurred about two miles west of Craigie's mill between Otter Tail lake and the Everts prairie. This stage line was owned by the Minnesota Stage Company and carried the United States mail, passengers and express. The robbers ordered the driver to throw off the express box, an iron box, which he promptly did. There was only one passenger on the stage and during the excitement incident to the throwing off of the express he escaped and started in the direction of Clither- all as fast as he could go. The robbers took the express box, forced it open and took all of the money-about thirty dollars. The stage driver, on being allowed to resume his journey, lost no time in getting to Otter Tail City to tell the news of his robbery. It was not long before all the settlers far and near had heard of the holdup. A posse was formed near Battle Lake and when they saw the passenger trying to escape they seized him as the robber, and, so I was told, they actually had a rope around his neck before he, in his double fright, could explain himself. I at once sent word in every direction and notified the authorities at Alexandria of the robbery. I sent out a sheriff with a warrant to Alexandria as we were pretty certain they went that way. Before he reached there the sheriff of Douglas county had arrested both of the robbers, but Mr. Randolph, their county attorney, refused to give them up to our sheriff. The Douglas county attorney arraigned and committed them to jail pending the October term of court, claiming that Otter Tail county was still attached to Douglas or something of that kind. As Otter Tail county had no jail, and there was none nearer than St. Cloud, I made no further efforts to obtain custody of the robbers. The boy later escaped, but McNaughton was too badly shot at the time of his arrest to make an escape. Douglas county finally sent McNaughton to St. Cloud, in Stearns county, for safe keeping and later that county turned in a bill of two hundred dollars to Douglas county for boarding the said McNaughton. Knute Nelson, Douglas county's next attorney, by direction of the county board, sued Otter Tail county for this board bill. Judge McKelvey sustained my demurrer to their complaint.

I must tell a little incident connected with this robbery case. I saw our district judge and he assured me that he would order McNaughton turned over to the sheriff of Otter Tail county whenever I sent for him.

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I sent for McNaughton just before our November term of court. It hap- pened that I was getting ready for winter by plastering my house. I had Marcus Shaw, the county treasurer, doing the plastering, and I was his office boy. In other words, it was my duty to mix the "mort" and carry it up to Shaw. I had on my second best clothes and they, including my hat and shoes, were as well covered, plastered I should say, with lime as a novice could get them. While I was thus attired the general manager of the Minnesota Stage Company drove up to my place in a top buggy and inquired for Mr. Corliss. I informed him that I was the man in question. "But," said he, "I want to see the county attorney." I, while admitting I was not dressed with dignity becoming to that office, was nevertheless and notwith- standing the county attorney of Otter Tail county. He vouchsafed me one more glance and, with his nose and heels in the air, turned and left me with- out further inquiry.

The first and only general term. of the district court for Otter Tail county was held in Otter Tail City in November, 1871, with Hon. James M. McKelvey, district judge presiding. The members of the bar present, besides myself as the county attorney, included Hon. John W. Mason and Newton H. Chittenden, of Fergus Falls; Judge R. Reynolds and W. F. Ball, of Otter Tail City, and J. W. Mower, of Alexandria; William M. Corliss was clerk of the court and W. H. Beardsley was sheriff. I shall never forget the ministerial appearance of Mr. Chittenden as he appeared in his Prince Albert coat, his dignified poise, with a large navy revolver strapped about his waist and a set of long Mexican spurs on his boots. He surely attracted the attention of the whole court. At this time there were only a few small civil cases, most of them being appeals from justice of the peace courts. There were two or three minor criminal cases. James McNaughton was indicted for robbery, tried and convicted. Judge Rey- nolds defended him. I have forgotten how long he was in prison, but he died there before his term was up. The indictment of McNaughton was the first returned in Otter Tail county. At the time of this court Otter Tail City was by far the largest settlement in the county.

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History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 61

Author: John W. Mason Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Number of Pages: 765

Author: John W. Mason
Publication date: 1916
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 765