USA > Missouri > DeKalb County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 29
USA > Missouri > Andrew County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 29
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N. B. Giddings, one of the oldest resident attorneys of An- drew County, is a native of Ohio, and an early resident of Mis- souri, moving to this State in 1828, and settling in Howard County. In 1836 he went to Texas, and participated in the struggle of that State for independence, rising to the office of sergeant-major in the patriot army. He afterward filled the position of chief clerk in the auditor's office, and was acting auditor under Samuel Houston. Returning to Missouri he began the study of law with James W. Morgan, in Howard County, and in 1841 was licensed to practice his profession. He served as captain in the war with Mexico, and in the late war of the rebellion was lieutenant-colonel of the Fifty-first Regiment Missouri Volunteers. He began the practice of his profession at Savannah, in 1851, and
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in 1852-53 served as county attorney. He assisted in the early organization of the territory of Nebraska, and represented it in the XXXIII Congress. He resumed the practice at Savannah in 1855, since which date, with exception of time spent in the army, he has devoted himself to his profession in Andrew County. Col. Giddings has been successful in the profession, and occupies a conspicuous place among his legal brethren of the Andrew bar.
Julius A. Sanders, present prosecuting attorney, is a native of Vermont, in which State he received his literary education. He came West in 1855, and read law at Jacksonville, Ill., under the able instruction of J. W. String, now of St. Joseph, Mo. He served as captain in the late war, and in 1864 came to Mis- souri, locating in Andrew County. In 1870 he moved to Savannah, and one year later was admitted to the bar of Andrew County, where his fine abilities soon won for him the reputation of an able and successful practitioner. Mr. Sanders' law practice has been very extensive, and he possesses a legal mind of high order. He has the faculty of grasping the pivoted points of a legal question with great ease, is discriminating and profound, with a retentive memory, and can enforce his views by cogent arguments, being & fluent and able speaker. He is one of the leading lawyers of Andrew County.
Charles F. Booher, ex-county attorney, is a native of New York, was educated in Geneseo Academy, and read law two years in the office of Wood & Scott, of Geneseo. He came to Missouri in 1870, and one year later was admitted to the Andrew County bar, since which time he has been actively engaged in the prac- tice of his profession. He has been called to fill several impor- tant official positions, but it is as a brilliant and successful law- yer that he is so widely and favorably known throughout the counties of Northwest Missouri. As a lawyer Mr. Booher is ex- act, thorough and forcible, possessed of a complete knowledge of constitutional principles, and well versed in the rules of practice. He is an earnest and effective speaker, and impresses his argu- ments with unusual power before a jury. In connection with his law practice he is now largely engaged in real estate transactions doing an extensive and lucrative business.
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Pembroke Mercer is a native of Ohio, where he resided until 1860, at which time he moved to Illinois; came to Missouri in 1868; elected sheriff of Andrew County from 1873, and in 1875 was formally admitted to the bar at Savannah. Mr. Mercer is & man of more than the average common sense, is a hard student and close reasoner. He is well learned in the law, possesses excellent judgment, and as a counselor is safe, accurate and reliable. Any and all legal papers drawn up by Mr. Mercer are certain to pass unquestioned.
Hon. Joseph Rea, judge of Andrew County Probate Court, is a native of Indiana, and younger brother of Hon. David Rea. He came to Andrew County in 1842, began the study of law in early life, and was licensed to practice in 1866. He adhered to farming and stock raising until about 1875, when he moved to Savannah, and entered upon the practice of his profession, which he has since successfully continued. Mr. Rea was for some years largely engaged in buying and selling real estate, and in 1886 was elected judge of the probate court. Judge Rea is a cool- headed safe counselor, and is justly regarded as one of the most honorable and reliable members of the Andrew bar. He stands high professionally, and in his official capacity is known as & painstaking and impartial judge.
I. R. Williams, attorney at law and dealer in real estate, is a native of Missouri, born in DeKalb County. His early life was spent as a teacher, reading law in the meantime. He was admit- ted to the bar in 1874, and subsequently effected a copartnership in the practice with Judge Joseph Rea, which was continued until a recent date. Mr. Williams has earned an enviable reputation in his profession, but is chiefly known as a dealer in real estate, in which he does as large a business as any one similarly engaged in Northwest Missouri. He is at this time associated in the practice of law and real estate business with Charles F. Booher.
Frank Knickerbocker, one of the successful lawyers of An- drew County, is a native of New York, and, as the name indicates, a descendant of one of the oldest historic families of that common- wealth. He went to Michigan in early manhood, and began his le- gal studies in the city of Detroit, and in 1859 came west locating in Andrew County, Mo. He resumed his studies after settling
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here, and in 1868 was admitted to the bar in Savannah, where he has since resided in the practice of his profession; was elected prosecuting attorney in 1878, aside from which he has held no official position connected with the courts. Mr. Knickerbocker possesses a sound mind and excellent judgment, and is well versed in all departments of the legal profession.
John B. Majors is a native of Ohio, and came to Andrew County in 1859. Shortly after locating here he began the study of law, but abandoned it in 1860 to enter the army, in which he earned an enviable reputation for gallant and meritorious service. At the close of the war he returned to Savannah and, resum- ing his legal studies, was admitted to the bar of Andrew County in 1871. Since that time he has devoted himself to the practice of his profession, making a specialty of claims and pensions, in which department he has worked up a large and lucrative busi- ness. He is a careful and painstaking attorney, as those who have entrusted business to his hands will testify.
Thomas H. Ensor, the youngest practicing attorney at the Savannah bar, and member of the law and real estate firm of Allen & Ensor, began the study of his profession with I. V. McMillen, of Maryville. He is mostly self taught, however, having diligently applied himself to study for several years prior to his admission to the bar, studying during his hours of leisure. He was admitted to practice in the courts of Andrew County, in April, 1881, and since that time has achieved well merited suc- cess in the line of his calling. He is at this time extensively engaged in real estate transactions, the firm of which he is a member doing a large business in Andrew and adjoining counties.
CRIMES AND LAWLESSNESS.
All organized counties and communities, it matters not' what may be their geographical location or the general moral and religious status of the people, have their criminal records. Some of these records are comparatively free from crime, while others are replete with deeds of violence, bloodshed and murder. Andrew County is no exception to this general rule, yet from the date of its organization to the present time, the amount of such lawlessness, committed in proportion to the population, as
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shown by the records, has been much less than in many other counties of Northwest Missouri. The crimes committed during the exciting scenes occasioned by the war of the Rebellion are not included in the above estimate.
THE HEDRICK MURDER.
One of the first murders in Andrew County of which there is any definite knowledge was the assassination, in 1841, of a young man by the name of Hedrick, who came to the country a short time prior to that date, and made a settlement near the eastern boundary of what is now Lincoln Township. Young Hedrick was a Virginian, and came west with the snug little sum of $500, which he purposed investing in land, as soon as the lands of the county were opened for settlement subject to entry. After the usual amount of prospecting, he finally selected a claim, and immediately thereafter went to work upon the same, and within a short time had a neat cabin erected, in which he was content to live entirely alone. He appears to have been a young man of most exemplary habits, was a constant attendant at all church services held in the neighborhood, and spent nearly every Sun- day with the family of Mr. Clemmens, who came to look upon him with almost as much affection as if he were one of his own children. During the progress of a camp meeting at the Green- wick place, a few miles from the present site of Amazonia, it was noted that Hedrick was not in attendance, and after several days his absence began to be commented upon by those who had manifested some interest in the young man. Inquiries led to the fact that he had not been seen about his house for some time, and as he had not been known to leave the neighborhood Mr. Clemmens and others determined to institute a search in order to learn of his whereabouts. Collecting a party of neighbors Mr. Clemmens led them to the young man's cabin, where, after a thorough search within and without, several large blood stains were discovered on the floor. This led to the belief that Hed- rick had been murdered, but after a diligent search throughout the neighborhood, in which all the people for miles around assisted, all efforts to discover the body proved in vain, and had to be abandoned. The circumstance naturally created consider-
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able excitement, and it was thought that the party or parties who committed the bloody deed would be speedily hanged with- out the process of law, if found. In the meantime a stranger claiming to be a "fortune teller " made his appearance in the neighborhood, and, for a consideration, pretended to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Hedrick. He de- cribed minutely and graphically the murder, telling how and by whom it was done, and named as the guilty parties eight of the most prominent citizens of the community, who he declared were led to the commission of the crime for the sake of obtaining the young man's money. The murder he described as having been committed the easiest way, viz .: overpowering the victim, cutting his throat and catching the blood in a skillet so as to keep it from staining the floor. By the more credulous this pretended revelation was eagerly believed, and quite a number signified their intention of waiting upon the eight parties designated by the fortune teller, and meting out to them summary punishment. The more cool headed, however, cautioned moderation, and after much counseling succeeded in allaying the excited feelings of the community, until a circumstance occurred which proved not only the innocence of the men supposed to have been implicated in the murder, but also the fact of the fortune teller knowing all about the commission of the crime.
About this time there was a daring robbery committed in the trading house of Joseph Robideaux, at St. Joseph, four boxes of money, paid over by the Indian paymaster, having been stolen. In their haste to depart with the treasure, one of the robbers left a shoe behind, which was recognized by Robideaux as belonging to one of a party of several men who had fed their horses near his store the day previous.
Warrants were at once issued for the arrest of these men, who were followed by the sheriff's posse, and two of them capt- ured. They at first indignantly denied all knowledge of the rob- bery, but, after being separated and hanged by the neck until life was nearly extinct, one of them divulged the whole matter, and told where the stolen boxes could be found. This statement proved correct in every particular, the money being found secreted just as described. After divulging the whereabouts of the money,
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the captured robber, laboring under the impression that escape from death was impossible, made another confession in which the details of young Hedrick's murder were clearly and fully set forth, he having been one of the parties to the crime. His account of the bloody deed corroborated the statement of the for- tune teller, who, it appears, was led to make his pretended revela- tion in order to ward off suspicion which otherwise might have been directed to himself and associates. To the great regret of the people, the captured outlaws succeeded in escaping from cus- tody, and it may be reasonably inferred that the fortune teller left the community for more congenial quarters at the first con- venient opportunity.
ATTEMPTED BANK ROBBERY.
One of the most daring attempts at open robbery ever known in Northwest Missouri was made in the year 1867 by the notori- ous Melvin Bond, a well-known outlaw and desperado, who, with six comrades as reckless and desperate as himself, made a raid on the savings bank in Savannah. The robbery was admirably planned, the time chosen being about 2 o'clock P. M., when the people of the city would be least expecting such an occurrence. The outlaws rode boldly through the streets to the front of the bank, where, hastily dismounting, Bond, with several of his com - rades, entered the building, and presenting a revolver, demanded of the cashier, Judge J. McLain, his money or his life. Mr. McLain at the time was standing behind the counter engaged in preparing an express package, but taking in the situation at a glance, seized a revolver and replied to the outlaw's demand with a shot which took effect in Bond's arm, shattering the bone. Almost simultaneously the latter fired hitting the Judge in the left shoulder, severing the main artery, and making a terrible and dangerous wound. At this juncture one of the robbers rushed around the counter for the purpose of securing the money, but was met by the Judge, who, with his revolver cocked, advanced upon him, causing him to beat a retreat toward the door. By this time the commotion at the bank aroused the citizens, who immediately began to gather around the building. whereupon the outlaws, thinking discretion the better part of valor, hastily
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mounted their horses, and rode out of town no richer than when they had entered it. They were pursued by the citizens for some distance, but being well mounted succeeded in outriding their pursuers and making good their escape. Judge McLain's wound proved a very serious one, and resulted in the amputation of his left arm near the shoulder.
The same fall in which this robbery was attempted, Bond killed the deputy sheriff of Nemaha County, Kas., for which he was arrested, tried, convicted and executed. Before his exe- cution he confessed to having made the attempt to rob the Savan- nah Bank, and Judge McLain, being notified of the fact, went to Kansas for the purpose of identifying him. The two recognized each other as soon as they met, and Mr. McLain was the last one to bid the doomed man good bye on the scaffold.
*MURDER OF THE M'LAUGHLIN CHILDREN.
On a Sunday afternoon, in September, 1884, in the vicinity of Flag Springs, was enacted the most brutal and fiendish crime that ever took place within the boundaries of Andrew County; indeed a more diabolical and cold blooded outrage would be diffi- cult to imagine. Mr. John Mclaughlin, who lived a short distance west of the village of Flag Springs, went in the after- noon stated to visit the family of George Elrod, taking with him his wife and three small children, the two eldest daughters, aged, respectively, nine and seven, going to spend a part of the day with the family of Thomas Bateman, about a mile and a quarter away. After spending a part of the afternoon at Mr. Bateman's, the little girls, about half past 2 o'clock, started along the road toward their home. They passed the residence of Eli Knap- penberger about 3 o'clock, and were seen and spoken to by some of the Knappenberger family. They passed on down the road toward home, but were never afterward seen alive. When Mr. and Mrs. McLaughlin and the younger children returned home in the evening, they expected to find the two girls, but there was nothing to show that they had arrived. Supposing that they had gone down into the cornfield below, where they had on several occasions accompanied him, Mr. Mclaughlin went there in his
*Taken from accounts published in the Reporter and Democrat.
9A
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search; not finding them the neighbors were called upon to assist, and within a short time the whole community was enlisted in the search for the missing children. The country was scoured for miles around, the citizens volunteering eagerly to assist in ascer- taining the whereabouts of the little girls, and continued their vain efforts until long after midnight. Search was renewed in the morning, and about 9 o'clock the body of the elder child was found lying in a ghastly and horribly mutilated condition, between the forty-fifth and forty-sixth corn rows in the field of Dr. Lockett -dead. When found she was lying upon her back, arms and legs extended, a bullet hole in the left side of her head, the clothing torn and stripped from her body, mouth bruised as from a blow by a heavy fist, and three gashes cut from the breast bone down through which the intestines protruded. The young man who made the discovery at once gave the alarm, and the effect which the harrowing and ghastly spectacle made upon the crowd that soon gathered around, was of a nature to cause the blood to run cold. Further search was instituted for the body of the younger child, which was soon found by Robert Barbee, 175 yards farther east, whither she had been chased by the pursuing fiend. It appears that the child had made frantic and well-directed efforts to escape, she having reached the bars of the fence, and in going that distance had come to the ninth row of corn from the road But she was overtaken, and doubtless knocked down by a blow or blows on the back of the head by the butt of a pistol or some other blunt weapon, after which the inhuman murderer, bent upon destroying all evidences of his crime, had cut the little. one's throat from ear to ear, and carried her into some tall weeds near by to bleed to death. Some half an hour after the children had passed Mr. Knappenberger's house, two boys, Newton Bateman, son of Capt. Thomas Bateman, at whose residence the girls had been visiting, and Harry Knappenberger started along the same road. After going a short distance the boys separated, the former saying that he would go over to his uncle's, William Bateman. Young Knappenberger then passed over the same road the girls had gone, but saw nothing to create suspicion in his mind that the children had not reached home in safety. A coroner's jury was convened the following Monday, but, after a painstaking and
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thorough examination for several days, failed to fix the guilt upon anybody, and returned a verdict to the effect that the girls had been murdered by some persons unknown to the jury. During all this time the excitement in and around Flag Springs was at a fever heat, and in fact the whole country was aroused.
When the crime was first discovered, suspicion rested on Newton Bateman as the probable murderer, and had his sister adhered to the statement that she made before the coroner's jury, that her other brother Oliver was at home sick during the afternoon in question, the real murderer would doubtless have been more difficult to apprehend. When closely interrogated & few days later, Miss Bateman acknowledged that her brother Oliver H. had left the house about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and did not return until 5 o'clock. This was considered a good clew, and was worked upon both by the officers and those assisting them, and Oliver Bateman was shadowed from that time until he was placed in jail.
The ball which was taken from the head of the older girl was a 32, and fit one of the barrels of the double barreled pistol that had been found buried near a tree in the Bateman yard. This and other suspicious circumstances strengthened the belief that one of the Bateman boys was the guilty party. Newton could prove an alibi, but the circumstances surrounding Oliver's case were rather suspicious, and he was brought to Savannah, and placed in jail on the 5th of September, and the word was circu- lated that he was placed in jail to protect him from the mob.
The excitement was still great after Bateman had been placed in jail, and Sheriff Lincoln on several nights took him from jail secretly, and kept him away during the night, fearing that a mob might get him. Oliver H. Bateman during all this time pro- tested his innocence.
Sheriff Lincoln and Prosecuting Attorney Booher, assisted by a number of active citizens of the county, were all the time dis- . covering new evidences that appeared to fasten the guilt on Oliver H. Bateman, and when the body of Austie, the older girl was ex- humed on the morning of the 8th of September what was thought to be an abrasion was found to be a bullet hole. A post mortem examination was at once held by Dr. E. B. Ensor, of Savannah,
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and Drs. Lockett and Kirk of Flag Springs, and a 22 ball was found in the body, which fitted the other barrel of Oliver Bate- man's pistol. The ball entered a little above and to the right of the umbilicus, passed downward and backward through the left intestine, and lodged near the spine.
The finding of this ball dispelled all doubt as to the guilt of Oliver Bateman, and when he was confronted by Sheriff John Lincoln and Deputy Circuit Clerk Thomas H. Ensor in the jail that evening, and told of the post mortem examination and the finding of the 22 ball, he at once acknowledged his guilt and made the following confession to these gentlemen:
BATEMAN'S CONFESSION, SEPTEMBER 8, 1884.
My name is Oliver H. Bateman. I was twenty-two years old August 4, last. Last Sunday a week ago I was at home when Mclaughlin's little girls came there. They left our house at 2 o'clock to go home. I saw the little girls at corner by Knappenberger's; did not start from home for fifteen minutes afterward. I went through the woods straight to Dr. Lockett's cornfield. The little girls were just inside the fence picking hazelnuts when I first saw them. I went to them, told them they need not be scared, talked with them half an hour; while talking pursuaded them to go farther into the corn. I saw Harry Knappenberger pass going to singing; was farther out in the corn than when I killed the big girl. We went back toward the road. She was walking in front of me. I shot her with a 22 ball, and she turned around. I shot her then through the head with a 32 ball and killed her dead. The other little girl then started to run. I followed and caught her. She begged me to let her go, and when I let her go she cried, " murder" and ran. I followed her knowing she would tell it, and caught her again. I did not hit her. I threw her down and cut her throat; staid with her till dead, picked her up and laid her on the ash pile. It was fifteen or twenty minutes after Knappenberger passed before I shot the oldest one. After I cut the little one's throat I went back to the biggest one. She was lying just where Ileft her. When I went back to the oldest one I enlarged her with my knife, and had connection with her. I went back to the least one, and moved her into the weeds. I held my hand over the least one's mouth, and the older one said nothing after I shot her. I never had sexual intercourse with a woman in my life. After I went back and moved the least girl into the weeds, I went out at the bars, crossed the road, went down through the woods to the creek and washed my hands; went farther down the creek, threw my knife into the creek and went back home; went into the room and laid down; told my sister to wake me if any body came. About sundown Ira Mclaughlin came after the little girls. I wanted to help hunt them; my folks would not let me, as they thought I was sick. They do not know I committed the crime. I never would have told it, but you described to me so nearly how I did it that I thought you must have seen me. I told the little girls there were better hazelnuts up there in the corn, and they went with me; I told them there were young rabbits out in the corn, and they went with me to see. The little girls had their hats off when I came to
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them. They said they laid them down to keep them from getting spoiled. I split the older girl open after I accomplished my work to make people believe some crazy man had killed them. I did not try to shoot the little girl. I put the balls in the pistol Monday morning.
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