USA > Missouri > Livingston County > History of Caldwell and Livingston counties, Missouri, written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Caldwell and Livingston counties--their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens; general and local statistics of great value; incidents and reminiscences > Part 23
USA > Missouri > Caldwell County > History of Caldwell and Livingston counties, Missouri, written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Caldwell and Livingston counties--their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens; general and local statistics of great value; incidents and reminiscences > Part 23
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Accordingly after a stay of one week with his family, Mr. Harpold boarded the cars at Kidder one night and set out for the West. But a man who knew him saw him at Kidder, and learning in some way that he would be on the night train for the West, galloped on a swift horse to Cameron and informed the militia. When the train arrived it was searched and Mr. Harpold discovered and taken off. Without any investigation of his case, he was taken to an old build- ing in the town and hung to one of the beams. Word of his death was sent to the family and they sent for and buried his body. Mr. Harpold was 43 years of age, and left a wife and several children.
JAMES CROWLEY.
July 1st, 1864, James Crowley, a young man, and a nephew of Mrs. Mary Stephenson, of Rockford township, was killed by a party of militia from Mirabile. It is alleged that four of the party were James Sickles, Harvey Grove, Van Grove and James Mylar. No particulars of this tragedy can be given save that the militiamen first went to Mr. Stephenson's house and inquired for James Stephenson, and succeeded in taking young Crowley unawares.
HENRY D. WHITENECK.
On the night of August 15, 1864, Henry D. Whiteneck, who lived in Rockford township, two miles south of Mirabile, was murdered at his home by a squad of militia. Mr. Whiteneck was 60 years of age ; he was born in Kentucky, but had resided in this county for some time. Although a " Southern sympathizer," he had never taken up arms or given any substantial aid to the Confederate cause. His son, John, had enlisted in the Confederate army, in the Caldwell county company, and had been killed at Vicksburg. It was at Whiteneck's house where John C. Myers was killed, two years before.
On the night of the murder Mr. Whiteneck and his family, consist- ing of his wife and daughter, were awakened about midnight by a young man who came to the door, and said that a party of Iowa troops were up in the road, a quarter of a mile distant, and wanted Mr. Whiteneck to guide them to Kingston. After some parleying Mr. Whiteneck started off with the young man and two other men in uniform who had suddenly come into view. A hundred yards from the house these men shot him dead and left him weltering in his blood. Soon after the noise of a dozen horsemen cantering away was heard.
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Mrs. Whiteneck had for some time been partially deranged. Her daughter, Miss Susan, who now resides in Kingston, heard the pistol shots that killed her father, knew their fearful meaning and feared their effect on her mother. The latter, however, was for more com- posed than will be deemed possible. Miss Susan visited the place where the dead body of her father lay, composed it as well as she could and then with her own hands piled some rails about it to pro- tect it from some hogs known to be running at large. The two women then made their way in the darkness to the house of a neigh- bor, half a mile distant, fearing to remain at home. Friends cared for the body when daylight came, and it was buried that day. It is not known - save possibly to the merest few - who did the killing, or why it was done.
HENRY GIST.
Henry Gist was killed on Monday evening, October 2, 1864, on Long creek, two miles south of Kingston. Court was in session at the time, and he had come in from Breckinridge, where he lived, to attend to some legal business. Kingston was full of Federal militia, and Gist fearing injury at their hands if he remained in town, started to the country to stay all night with a Mr. Mumpower. Some of the militia followed him and killed him before he reached his destination. It is said he was both shot and hung. The body was hauled to Kings- ton and thrown into the grand jury room of the court-house, where it lay without attention until the family sent for it and removed it to Breckinridge, where it was buried.
Mr. Gist was born in East Tennessee in 1797, and was therefore 67 years of age when he was murdered. He came to Kentucky in 1809, to Clay county, Mo., in 1821, and to Caldwell county, in Dec- ember, 1841, locating near Breckinridge, of which town, as noted elsewhere, he was one of the founders. His enemies did not hesitate to charge him with certain offenses, but he was never convicted of any . When the first Confederate troops went south he accompanied them, but was only absent about two months. When he returned he had a horse which he claimed was captured from Gen. Sigel at the battle of Wilson's Creek ; but he was certainly joking, for Gen. Sigel had no horse captured, and some ex-Confederate soldiers who claim to know say that Mr. Gist took no part in the battle of Wilson's Creek.
A citizen of the county, ex-member of the militia, who knows who killed Mr. Gist, says he was put to death " because he was a d-d old rebel rascal who ought to have been killed long before."
CHAPTER VIII.
SOME LEADING EVENTS SINCE 1865.
The New County Seat Scheme -- Railroad Subscriptions to the Chicago and Southwest- ern and to the Northwestern Branch of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad - Opinion of Hon. Willard P. Hall as to the Validity of the Latter-The Grangers - Notable Tragedies in the County since 1865 - Killing of Robert Bradley, Lou Marley, James R. Rogers, Pete Lewis, Sam Rogers, George Bohannan, Nathan B. Middaugh, Peter L. Boulton, John Q. Gray and Isaac N. Henry.
THE NEW COUNTY SEAT SCHEME.
In the summer and fall of 1867 a scheme was organized by certain shrewd individuals interested in the welfare of Hamilton to make that town the county seat. Being the metropolis of the county, and having railroad communication, its advantages are numerous and important, and nothing but the fact of its location so near the northern boundary has prevented its becoming, years ago, the county capital. But now the authors of the project referred to determined to remove this weighty objection by the removal of the town farther from the north- ern boundary of the county ; and this was to be accomplished without the displacement of a single stone or the disturbing of a single article of personal property in the town.
Not to be enigmatic, it may be plainly stated that it was proposed to take six miles of territory, or a row of Congressional townships, from the southern portion of Harrison county and attach the same to Daviess ; then six miles was to be taken from the southern part of Daviess and added to Caldwell, thus removing our county's northern boundary line six miles north of its present location and placing Hamilton in an excellent location to secure the county seat.
The scheme was well received in many quarters, but met with much spirited opposition in the southern portion of this county and else- where. Meetings for and against it were held in this and other coun- ties. One against the project at Kingston, October 12th, was presided over by John Nosler and addressed by Hon. S. A. Richardson, of Gallatin, Col. James McFerran, of Chillicothe, and others. The fol- lowing preamble and resolution were unanimously adopted: -
WHEREAS, The citizens of Hamilton have given notice throughthe pub- lic press that they will present to the General Assembly at its next session
(222)
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HISTORY OF . CALDWELL COUNTY.
a petition, the avowed purpose of which is simply to change the county lines of Caldwell, Daviess and Harrison, but the real object is, after such change is made, to remove the county seat of Caldwell county to Hamilton, and build up that town at the sacrifice and to the detriment of Kingston, and the growth, prosperity and improvement of our county generally ; therefore, Resolved, That we regard the said move on the part of our neighbors of Hamilton as very unkind, ungrateful and unjust ; and that, if they persist in their course, we shall feel forced to pledge ourselves to the use of all honorable means to turn from Hamilton trade, commerce and travel.
A county committee, consisting of three members from each town- ship, was appointed to circulate remonstrances, obtain funds, etc., for the purpose of opposing the scheme to change the county lines. The representative of the county, Hon. J. M. Hoskinson, declined to com- mit himself upon the question until the wishes of a majority of his constituents could be learned, when he would act accordingly. But the scheme utterly failed in the Legislature, and its projectors abandoned it.
THE $200,000 SUBSCRIPTION TO THE CHICAGO AND SOUTHWESTERN RAIL- ROAD - ALSO, THE " PRETENDED " SUBSCRIPTION TO THE " NORTH- WESTERN BRANCH " OF THE TEBO AND NEOSHO RAILROAD.
In the spring and summer of 1869 the people of the county became greatly interested in the proposed building of the Chicago and South- western Railroad through the county. This railroad, virtually a branch of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, and now a part of the main line of that road, was contemplated to run from Wilson, Iowa, to Kansas City. A proposition was made to build a portion of the line through Caldwell county in a general direction from northeast to southwest, coming into the county from Trenton through Livingston and Daviess.
Meetings in favor of the road were held at different points in the county, and in response to a largely signed petition, the county court, at a special term held June 26, 1869, agreed to subscribe in the name of the county $200,000 to the stock of the said Chicago and South- western, provided the assent of the majority of the voters of the county could be obtained at a special election to be held July 27 fol- lowing. This order of subscription was amended July 17, ten days prior to the election.
There were various conditions to the subscription, among which were that depots were to be established at Breckinridge, Kingston, Mirabile, and at some point in Davis township; that the road should
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
be completed through the county before January 1, 1871, and that only $5,000 of the bonds of the county per mile should be issued while the road was being completed through the county, the remaider of the bonds to be delivered when the western or southwestern bound- ary of the county should be passed. (See Record " A," p. 524. )
The election resulted in favor of the subscription, as follows : For the subscription, 636 ; against, 461. There was talk of contesting the election, and of enjoining the county court from making the sub- scription, but Presiding Justice John H. Nosler hastened to Weston, where the subscription books of the company were, and made the subscription. (See Record " A," p. 549. ) There was great indig- nation in certain parts of the county over Judge Nosler's action, which was denounced as unjust, illegal and underhanded. The sub- scription remained, however, and, had the road been built through the county in accordance with its terms, doubtless would have become valid and binding.
But the road was not built through the county. The adroit mana- gers who were working up the subscriptions through this part of the State paltered with our people in a double sense, and while they kept the word of promise to their ears that the road should be theirs, they broke it to their hopes. Notwithstanding the county, township and individual aid guaranteed them - all, in fact, that they demanded - the road was in time located and finally built, in the spring of 1871, where it now is. It then became apparent that after all it was never in- tended that the road should run through Caldwell, and that all of the subscriptions made by this county had been used to secure larger ones from Daviess and Clinton and induce the people of those counties to give every cent possible in order to secure the road for themselves.
THE "PRETENDED " SUBSCRIPTION TO THE " NORTHWESTERN BRANCH " OF THE TEBO AND NEOSHO RAILROAD.
In the fall of 1870 an effort was made to secure a branch of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad through this county. The Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company is of decidedly unsavory memory among the peo- ple of certain counties south of the Missouri, and has long been ex- tinct, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas and the Missouri Pacific acquiring its assets, with the exception of its bad fame. It was contemplated to build a branch of the Tebo and Neosho from Sedalia to or towards Nebraska City, Neb., through (among the other counties ) Carroll and Caldwell. This was called the " Northwestern Branch " of said road,
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and the part thereof in which our people were interested was the division from the north bank of the Missouri to Cameron.
In September, 1870, Dr. N. M. Smith and others petitioned the county court to transfer the $200,000 subscription made to the stock of the Chicago and Southwestern Railroad Company in July, 1869, to the aforesaid "Northwestern Branch." Before this petition was acted upon it was withdrawn, and October 4, Presiding Justice Isaac Mer- chant made an alleged - or what was afterward called " a pretended "- subscription of the county court of $200,000 " to the capital stock of the Northwestern Branch of the Teho and Neosho Railroad," upon certain conditions, viz. : That the road should be built through the county by January 1, 1872, that there should be depots established in Davis township, at Kingston, Far West and elsewhere, etc. The order was made by Judge Merchant alone, his associate, Judge Austin, dissenting, alleging that the proposition ought to be submitted to a vote of the people. The other justice, Judge Dodge, was not present. This order recited that the proposed road was to run from Carrollton to Cameron, and the subscription was an original, independent one, having no connection with or reference to the Chicago and Southwest- ern subscription, or any other. (Record " B," p. 51. )
November 7, less than a month after Judge Merchant's subscrip- tion, the county court convened, all the judges being present, and the order of subscription was annulled, revoked, and declared to have been made without any warrant or authority of law, Justices Dodge and Austin voting for the revocation, and Justice Merchant opposing. (Record " B," p. 55.) Whether this revocation was proper and legal, under the circumstances, is questionable, but was never authori- tatively passed upon.
Certain parties, however, contended that Merchant's subscription was still binding upon the county, and in the summer of 1871, the county court asked for and obtained the opinion of Ex-Gov. Willard P. Hall, of St. Joseph, as to the legality of the said subscription.1 The learned jurist answered that in his opinion the subscription was " entirely null and void," because it was made to an association or corporation which had no legal existence, viz .: the " Northwestern Branch " of the Tebo and Neosho. The inference is that had the sub- scription been made to the Tebo and Neosho proper, it would have been
1 The county court issued a warrant for $300 to Gov. Hall, in payment for his opinion, but afterward upon petition of H. J. Chapman and others, withdrew it and ordered it cancelled. It is understood that Judge Dodge himself paid the Governor's fee.
1
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
valid, as that corporation was regularly chartered and possessed cor- porate powers, features which did not characterize the "Northwest- ern Branch."
Singularly enough this opinion of Gov. Hall's is incorrectly under- stood by very many of the people of the county to-day. A recent newspaper publication was made that the opinion not only maintained the validity of the subscription, but held that it was yet in force and could be collected by any other railroad company which should at any time build a road over substantially the same line proposed by the old " Northwestern Branch !" The editor was doubtless misled by current opinion, but how this opinion came to be current in the face of the facts is inexplicable. While Gov. Hall did not pass upon the question of the power of Judge Merchant, by himself, to make the subscription, or of the full court to revoke it, he did decide that the subscription itself was " utterly null and void " for the reason before stated. Following is the opinion in full, the original manu- script of which, in the distinguished counselor's peculiarly bad hand- writing, is still on file in the office of the county clerk : -
To the Honorable Justices of the County Court of Caldwell County, Mo. :
GENTLEMEN - In accordance with your request I have examined into the legality of the pretended subscription of Caldwell county to the capital stock of the Northwestern Branch of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company, and I have no hesitation in saying that in my opinion said subscription is utterly null and void.
The charter of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company authorizes the construction of a railroad from any point on the Pacific Railroad between the west bank of the Lamine river and Muddy creek, in Pettis county, in a southerly or southwesterly direction, and the con- struction of branch railroads into or through any counties the direc- tors may deem advisable. Under this clause of the charter the company has made the city of Sedalia the terminus of its railroad in Pettis county, and it has also authorized the construction of a branch road from Sedalia in a northwesterly direction to Nebraska City, in the State of Nebraska. I find no power in the charter of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company to build any such branch. A railroad from Sedalia to Nebraska City is not a branch, but it is an extension of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad. The extension of a railroad, as has been decided by the courts, does not authorize a departure from the main line at the middle or any other part except from its terminus. And so a branch road can not start from the terminus of the main line, but it must take its departure from some point between the termini. It is no answer to this to say that the Northwest Branch Road is not made to start from Sedalia absolutely, but it is to leave the main line
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
at or near Sedalia. I apprehend that a road which takes its depart- ure from the main line at or near its terminus, does, within the meaning of the law, depart from the terminus. The terminus in such cases is substantially the place of departure, and the law considers the substance and not the shadow, and neither corporations nor individuals can avoid the law by a resort to pretexts.
The subscription of your county is for $200,000 of the capital stock of the Northwestern Branch of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company. What is the capital stock of that branch ? What is its amount? Of how many shares does it exist, and what is the price of each share? The fact is the Northwestern Branch of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company is not a corporation at all. It has no capital stock ; it has no shares of stock. The corporation is the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company. Its capital is fixed by its charter. But the branch- rail- road has no capital, and a subscription to its capital stock seems to me an absurdity. It may be said that the act of March 21, 1868, en- titled " An act to aid the building of branch railroads in the State of Missouri " authorizes subscriptions to the capital stock of branch railroads. This, in my opinion, is simply a mistake. There is noth- ing in that act which gives branch railroads a separate corporate existence, which authorizes them to sue or be sued, to contract or to be contracted with, to receive subscriptions of stock, or which gives them any capital stock, or which authorizes them to have a board of directors. On the contrary, it is the corporation which first de- cides whether the branch railroad shall be built or not, and after it is determined to build the branch, it is the railroad company, and not the branch, which is to receive the subscriptions; it is the railroad company, and not the branch, which is to issue certifi- cates of stock ; it is the railroad company, and not the branch, which is to borrow money and execute mortgages ; it is the directors of the railroad company which control, manage and operate the branch, subject only to the control of " the holders of stock in the rail- road company, which was subscribed in aid of the branch railroad." The fourth section of the act of 1868 moreover expressly provides that, " The holder of stocks in any railroad company, which was sub- scribed in aid of the construction of branch roads, according to the provisions of this act, shall have the same right as other stockholders in the company in the choice of officers."
If I am right in the construction of the act of 1868, there is still another fatal objection to the subscription under consideration. The directors of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company having never authorized subscriptions to the Northwestern Branch according to the terms of that act. The only resolution I have been able to find on that subject was adopted on the 30th of August, 1870. That resolution expressly provides that " The stock subscribed in the name of and to aid in building said branch shall not be voted in the election of directors of the said Tebo and Neosho Railroad Com- pany, but the stockholders in said branch railroad shall control the
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same as a separate and distinct property through the appropriate committee." Where the power to pass such a resolution is to be found I am not [able] to say. Certain it is that no such power is given by law. So far from it the law expressly declares, as already stated, that the holders of the stock subscribed to aid in the con- struction of a branch shall [have] the same right as other stock- holders in the choice of officers, and that the directors of the railroad company shall manage the affairs of the branch subject to the in- structions of the stockholders in such branch. Now, before the subscription of a county to a railroad can be valid, its terms must be in accordance with the law, and it must be accepted by the com- pany. The Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company, as has been shown, has never authorized a subscription to the Northwestern Branch in accordance with law, but it has imposed upon such subscriptions conditions which are in the very teeth of the law. This difficulty it has been attempted to escape by the adoption of a resolution on the 28th of October, 1870, on the part of what is termned " the com- mittee " of the Northwestern Branch of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company, accepting the subscription of Caldwell county. But that committee had no power to accept or reject subscriptions. That is a duty belonging to the directors of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company, and can not be delegated to a committee, no matter how respectable that committee may be.
The subscription of Caldwell county is not at all strengthened, even if [it is] to be admitted that the act of 1868 formed branch railroads into separate and distinct corporations. That act having been passed since the adoption of the new constitution is of course subject to the provisions of that instrument. Hence any county subscription made to the capital stock of a branch railroad under that act will not be valid unless made by the assent of two-thirds of the qualified voters of the county, as ascertained by an election held for that purpose. So that, under no view that I have been able to take of the subject, do I believe your county subscription to the capital stock of the North- western Branch of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company to be valid.
It is proper here to call your attention to the fact that in October, 1876, the Teho and Neosho Railroad Company transferred all its fran- chises to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Company, and all its privileges, powers, real estate and other property, excepting only such as belong to the extension of the Tebo and Neosho line north from Sedalia via Boonville, Fayette and Moberly to the railroad bridge at West Quincy. I send with this a certified copy of the reso- lutions of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Company relating to said transfer. I also send you copies of sundry resolutions with regard to the Northwestern Branch.
In conclusion, permit me to say that Col. Hale, the attorney of said branch, has been ready to give me all the information in his possession relating to the subject of this communication.
If the subscription in question is valid the courts ought to decide it
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at once. If the subscription is invalid there is equal need of prompt action. I would therefore advise you to assent to any arrangement which can bring the subject before the courts for a speedy action. Yours truly,
WILLARD P. HALL.
THE GRANGERS.
In the year 1873, what came to be known as the Grange move- ment, was begun in this county. Granges were established in every township, and a majority of the farmers of the county became at one time or another members of the order of Patrons of Husbandry. This order, a secret one, promised at one time much benefit to the farmers of the country. It contemplated their union for purposes of co-operation and protection, and was designed to be perpetual. While it existed here - or rather while it flourished, for it still exists - it accomplished much good in cheapening prices of many articles which the farmers were compelled to purchase, in stimulating investigation into the causes of the non-prosperity among farmers generally, and in various other ways.
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