History of Clay and Platte 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 Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens., Part 16

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1156

USA > Missouri > Platte County > History of Clay and Platte 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 Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens. > Part 16
USA > Missouri > Clay County > History of Clay and Platte 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 Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens. > Part 16

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After the conclusion of Benton's speech in the grove, the anti-Ben- ton men reassembled in the court-house and Col. Birch addressed them in reply to " Old Bullion." At the close of Birch's speech, resolutions condemning Col. Benton for his refusal to obey the in- structions of the Legislature, and denunciatory of his course generally, were adopted. But Col. H. L. Routt, Dr. W. A. Morton, F. C. Hughes, Wm. D. Hubble, J. M. Litchworth, J. M. Keller, and other friends of the old Senator published a card in the Tribune, alleging that these resolutions were adopted by a " packed " audience, late in the evening, after nearly everybody had gone home.

A few days after the Benton meeting Gen. David R. Atchison, then Col. Benton's colleague in the Senate, spoke in Liberty in opposition to Benton and Bentonism, declaring that he (Atchison ) was ready at all times to either obey the instructions of the Legislature of Missouri or resign and come home and allow some one else to be sent to the Senate who would obey.

1 According to the Tribune's report.

CHAPTER V. FROM 1850 TO THE TROUBLES IN KANSAS.

The California Gold Fever - The Political Canvass of 1850 -The Attempted Murder of Mrs. Dinah Allen - Lynching of Her Would-be Assassins -The Cholera - Elec- tions of 1852, 1854, 1856 and 1858-The Know Nothings - Tragedies - The Great Smithville Melee and Mob in 1854 - Murder of Wm. O. Russell, Esq., by "Pete " Lightburne -Lynching of "Pete."

THE CALIFORNIA GOLD FEVER.

The California gold fever, which broke out early in the year 1849, greatly excited the people of the West, and Clay county was one of the first communities to take the infection. In the early spring of this year many of our people prepared to set out for the new Eldorado, of whose abundant and easily acquired riches such marvelous tales were told-where, it was said, even the wave of the river and the spray of the fountain were bright with the glitter of drops of virgin gold.

On the Ist of May three wagons and eight men set out from Clay county, undeterred by the long distance to the Pactolian land, and not afraid of the terrible contagion, the cholera, which had broken out at different points in Missouri, and raged among the gold seekers from Independence to Fort Kearney, claiming each day its victims and dotting the route with their graves. These eight Clay county Argonauts were Maj. Lane, Jasper M. Hixson, Dr. Henry B. Hix- son, J. H. Hixson, Daniel Mosley, Paley Carpenter, Thos. Conington and James York.

Among the other Clay county "'49ers," who went at different periods during the spring and summer, were W. W. Estes, " Big Tom " Estes, Albert Davis, Taylor Dougherty, John Minter, John W. Collins, Wm. Pixler, John Waller, Jas. Withers, Anderson Chanslor, Wm. Davenport, Perry Keith, Henry Ammons, Edward Crabster, and two or three of the Longs.

In 1850 there was a larger emigration. The stories of bad luck that came back were unheeded; the stories of fortunate finds and lucky strikes were greedily listened to, and the desire for sudden wealth tempted many to the perilous journeys and sore hardships undergone in that period by those who crossed the plains. Of those

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

who set out in the spring of 1850 was a large party among whose members was Rev. Robert James, the father then of two little prat- tling boys, who afterwards became the noted bandits, Frank and Jesse. En route Mr. James wrote one letter to the Liberty Tribune, which is still preserved in the files of that paper. Not long after his arrival in California, Rev. James died.

Mr. Jasper Hixson was a regular correspondent of the Tribune, and, while the burden of his letters was the advice to friends and neighbors to let well enough alone and stay at home, yet the " one chance in a thousand " was quite sufficient to induce many to try their luck. Some of these made great sacrifices in order to obtain the necessary " outfit," and afterward had good cause to regret that they did so. Others fared much worse. For after divers hardships and privations, perils among Indians and false brethren, sufferings from hunger and thirst, and from heat and cold, the exhaustion of long and arduous travel, and the ravages of diseases, many of the Clay county gold seekers died in a strange land and never saw their homes again.1 Only comparatively a few bettered their condition. Yet the emigra- tion continued until about 1855.

THE POLITICAL CANVASS OF 1850.

Never since the admission of Missouri into the Union has there been a more exciting political canvass than that of 1850. It was an exciting period in the history of the United States that year. The question of the admission of California into the Union with a constitu- tion prohibiting slavery ; the compromise or " omnibus bill " under discussion in the U. S. Senate ; the passage of a fugitive slave bill by Congress, and of " personal liberty " bills by certain Northern States, calculated to interfere with the operation of the fugitive slave

1 The following are the names of those of the Clay county emigrants who died in California during the year 1850: -

Abel King, at Weber, in January ; Randolph King, at Hangtown, in February ; Daniel Moseby, at Sacramento, in June; Ben. Keyser, at Hangtown, in July; Benj. Clark, at Sacramento, in August; Rev. Robert James, Thos. Pence, - Albright, and - Maxwell, at Rough and Ready, in August; John Brock, killed at Hangtown, in August; McCrory, at Weber, in November; Jas. A. Walker, at Weber, in October; Jas. Ellet, at Weber, in November; Benj. Carpenter, at Hangtown, in October; Wm. Mor- ton, at Greenwood, in November; Geo. W. Wallis and Samuel M. Grant, at Nevada, in November; John H. Moseby, near Sacramento, of cholera; John McCrory, at Weber," in August; Henry Gill, at Johnston's Ranch, in September; Anderson Estes, at Ne- vada, in August; Geo. Estes, at Hangtown, in August; Wm. Homer, Samuel McKneiss, Sanford Bell, Geo. W. Huffaker, Washington Huffaker, two Ellises, and three Graggs, at various times and places,

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

law - these and other questions caused great agitation throughout the country.

In the early part of the year 1849, South Carolina - always a State " touchy " in the extreme, proposing nothing and never satisfied with anything - wanted to secede from the Union, and invited the other Southern States to go with her. A convention of the Southern States was called to meet at Nashville, Tenn., in June, 1850, to consider the situation and to take action " to preserve the rights and protect the interests of the South "- whatever that may have meant. The passage of the " Jackson resolutions " by the Missouri Legislature, in 1849, in some sense committed the State to sympathy and co-ope- ration with the Nashville convention, but no delegates were authorita- tively sent.

The Democratic party of the State was divided into two factions - the Benton Democrats, or the " hards," who indorsed Col. Benton's course and views, and favored his re-election to the U. S. Senate for the sixth term of six years, and the anti-Benton Democrats, or " softs," who opposed him, and were bent on defeating him in his contest for re-election. The Whigs -" the wily Whigs "- consti- tuted the third party, and, taking advantage of the bitter and uncom- promising warfare between the Democratic factions, made shrewd and careful preparations to capture the senatorial, certain legis- lative, and other prizes for themselves - and in the end they were successful.

It is a mistake to suppose that political canvasses were conducted thirty years ago with more of courtesy, more of gentleness, more of mild words, than they are to-day. The crimination and recrimination were as common with party papers as they have ever been or are likely to be. The Benton men charged the anti-Bentons with being " disun- ionists," " nullifiers," " aiders and abettors of treason and traitorous schemes," and bestowed upon them a choice lot of epithets calculated to bring them into the contempt of all classes of patriotic people. They extolled their leader, Mr. Benton, " to the skies," and denounced all his opposers, from his colleague in the Senate, David R. Atchison, to the humblest voter in the ranks.

The anti-Benton men were as severe on their opponents. They denounced Col. Benton as a " boss "- at least that would have been the term employed in these days - of whose imperious, domineering conduct and bullying spirit they had become thoroughly tired, and with whose record on the subject of slavery they had become thor- oughly disgusted. The Benton men were called "lick-spittles,"

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

" Benton's slaves," " free-soilers," and even " abolitionists," and to call a man an abolitionist at that day in Missouri was to bestow upon him the sum of opprobious epithets. The Benton men, for the most part, denied that they were disunionists under all the existing circum- stances, and professed unreserved loyalty to " the government estab- lished by Washington and Jefferson."

The Whigs kept aloof from the Democratic quarrel, occasionally patting each side on the back when they could do so without being observed by the other side, and all the time remaining in an attitude as if they stood with their arms folded and saying very meekly of their own party : " Behold how great an institution is Whiggery ! See those unfortunate Democrats ; how angry they are ! We Whigs never quarrel, for Whigism means peace on earth and good will to men."

THE UNION MEETING OF 1850.

Early in the spring the following call for a public meeting was pub- lished in the Liberty Tribune :-

The friends of the Union of these States, without regard to party, will hold a public meeting on the first Monday in May, 1850, to con- gratulate Messrs. Clay, Webster, Cass, and other friends of the Union in Congress, for the noble stand they have taken against the spirit of secession and disunion. Let there be a full turn-out.

The meeting was quite numerously attended, and both Democrats and Whigs participated in the deliberations. Addresses were made by Col. Doniphan and others. A committee on resolutions was ap- pointed, consisting of Col. J. T. V. Thompson, Howard Everett, Dr. W. A. Morton, Winfrey E. Price, Benj. Ricketts, Wm. Thomasson, Sr., Dr. F. Garlichs and E. M. Samuel. Whigs, Bentons and anti- Bentons were represented on this committee. However widely the members of the meeting may have differed at the time on minor polit- ical questions, they were each and all unconditionally for the Union - there was but one party on that issue. The Secessionists of South Carolina and other States had no sympathizers here then ; neither had the fanatical abolitionists of the North.

The committee reported the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted by the meeting : -

WHEREAS, A crisis has arrived in the history of these United States of North America, and clouds of fearful omen are rolling along the political skies, threatening not only the peace and harmony of the people, but even the destruction of the glorious Union under which

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

we have so long been sheltered from the storms which have wrecked other Republics ;

WHEREAS, We believe that this state of things has been chiefly produced by the ultraism of party spirit, and that want of charity amongst political parties which fails to regard men to be as honest in political as they are in social, moral, pecuniary and religious duties, we are further of opinion that this unhappy state of things has been greatly accelerated by the courting propensities of both the Whig and Democratic parties towards a dirty, wicked, unprincipled party called Abolitionists, who, instead of being courted by either party, should have been, from the first, denounced as dishonest by both.

We believe that, in this country, there never will be but two honest parties, and they are the Whig and Democratic ; and we regard it as the solemn duty of both to treat all who leave their connection, (in order to the formation of new parties, whether called Abolition- ists, Native Americans, Anti-Masons, Free Soilers, Secessionists, Dis- unionists, or what not) as too contemptible to woo or win. There is no other way to break up the new parties that we can conceive of, and we are decidedly of opinion that, in order to be courted, many of the factious parties with which our country has been afflicted have been organized.

We hope the day is at hand when the Whig and Democratic par- ties, each for itself, will repudiate all other aid except that of reason and honesty. We are rejoiced, however, to find that now, as hereto- fore in our history, when we have fallen upon times that " try men's souls," we have the men, in both the Whig and Democratic parties, who can be trusted.

We, therefore, the people of Clay county, in the State of Missouri, now assembled together, as Whigs and Democrats, do

Resolve, That our thanks are especially due, and are hereby ten- dered to Henry Clay, of Kentucky ; Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts ; Lewis Cass, of Michigan ; Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, and John Bell, of Tennessee, for the noble and patriotic stand they have taken in defense of the Union, and the noble spirit of compromise which they have evinced in the settlement of the agitating question of slavery.

Resolved, That we regard non-interference in reference to slavery in the Territories and elsewhere as the safe course for both North and South, believing as we do that an All-wise Controlling Providence can, and will, regulate the whole matter so as to promote His own glory and the best interests of both whites and blacks.

Resolved, That we are in favor of the Union under any and all circumstances, yet we regard the Wilmot proviso and all kindred measures with the most perfect abhorrence.

Resolved, That we are in favor of the early admission of California as a free and sovereign State of the Union.

Resolved, That we regard the calling of the Nashville convention as premature, believing that so long as Congress discharges its duty there is no danger to the Slave States. We will send no delegates to it.

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the Liberty Tribune, and that the papers in Washington City and St. Louis be requested to copy them, and that the secretary enclose copies to Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, Mr. Cass, Mr. Dickinson, and Mr. Bell.

The result of the August election in this county in 1850 was as follows : -

Congress - Charles E. Bowman, Whig, 584; Willard P. Hall, anti- Benton Democrat, 445 ; J. B. Gardenhire, Benton Democrat, 54.

Legislature - Thos. T. Swetnam, Whig, 615 ; Ryland Shackelford, Whig, 639.

Sheriff-O. P. Moss, Whig, 438 ; Samuel Hadley, Democrat, 656.

There was no opposition to Messrs. Swetnam and Shackelford, both Whigs. The Democrats concentrated all their efforts on the election of Samuel Hadley as sheriff, and it was feared that should they nomi- nate candidates for the Legislature, it would draw party lines, and as the county was strongly Whig, would endanger his chances. At that time Clay county was entitled to two representatives in the Leg- islature.

At the ensuing session of the Legislature ( January, 1851, ) there was intense interest over the election of the United States Senator. Col. Benton was, of course, a candidate for re-election, but as the Dem- ocrats were divided on the question of his indorsement, the Whigs held the balance of power and by the adroit management of their leaders succeeded at last, by the help of the anti-Benton Democrats, in choosing the Senator themselves - Hon. Henry S. Geyer, of St. Louis, who was chosen on the fortieth ballot, the vote stand- ing, Geyer, 80; Benton, 55; B. F. Stringfellow, 18, and 4 scat- . tering.

THE ATTEMPT TO MURDER MRS. DINAH ALLEN - LYNCHING OF THE ASSASSINS.

In the early morning of April 1, 1850, an attempt was made to murder Mrs. Dinah A. Allen, widow of Col. Shubael Allen, at her residence, in Liberty. The family had retired for the night, and the doors were all secured. About three o'clock in the morning Mrs. Allen was aroused from her sleep by a painful stinging sensation on the cheek, and rising from her bed stepped into the room of her sons and awakened them, telling them she was bleeding to death. She had been struck across the face with some sharp instrument, apparently

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

either a knife or an axe, and the wound was at first believed to be mortal,1 but did not prove so.

Mrs. Allen was a lady without a known enemy and was held in uni- versal esteem. No conjecture could be ventured for the motive prompting the deed. The citizens generally made persistent efforts to discover the perpetrators, and at last they were found out.

A slave woman, named Anice, belonging to Mrs. Allen was sus- picioned and thrown into jail. In a few days she confessed her guilt and implicated as her partner in the crime a white man, a citizen of Liberty, named McClintock. The confession reduced to writing and published in the Tribune of May 17, 1850, was as follows : -

Four days before the commission of the act McClintock told me that there was a good deal of money in the house of my mistress, and that I ought to kill her ; that he would assist me ; that we would get the money, and with that we would go to California, and that I would be his wife and be free. On Sunday night, the night of the commis- sion of the crime, he came to the kitchen where I was sleeping, waked me up and we proceeded to the house. McClintock hoisted the win- dow and got in the house, and pulled me through the window after him. He approached the bed, found my mistress asleep, and said to me, " She lays right." I took the ax, which belonged to McClintock, and made the lick. McClintock had the ax in his hand when I took hold. My mistress made a noise and we both ran out of the house; he went to his own house, a few hundred yards off, and I went back to the kitchen and laid down on the bed.

Upon hearing this statement from Anice, the slave women, her partner, McClintock, was secured and placed in jail. There was in- tense excitement. A few weeks before, but subsequent to the attempt on Mrs. Allen's life, an attempt had been made by a negro servant woman to poison the family of Wade Moseby, of this county. Pre- vious attacks had been made by slaves on their masters. An example was called for to remedy if possible this condition of affairs.

Thursday, May 9, a considerable number of the citizens of the county met at the court-house to take action in the premises. The meeting had among its members some of the best men of the county, and the proceedings (though of course wholly illegal ) were quiet and or- derly. That morning Anice had sent for the Rev. Moses E. Lard to come to the jail, and to him she repeated her confession. She was brought before the meeting, as was McClintock, and in the presence of the entire assemblage she reiterated what she had twice previously

1 Liberty Tribune.

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

stated in reference to the crime, and told McClintock fairly to his face that he was the sole instigator and planner of the crime, and the cause of her participation therein. McClintock stoutly and indignantly denied any sort of participation or complicity in the outrage, and de- nounced the negress as a liar, unmitigated and shameless.

Under the law of Missouri at that time a slave was not allowed to testify in court against a white person, and as there was no other evi- dence of McClintock's guilt save what could be furnished by Anice, there was no prospect of his legal conviction and punishment. Even though his accomplice, the bondwoman, should offer to turn State's evidence, she would not be allowed to do so. The theory was that a slave was irresponsible, and could not be trusted to swear to the truth, where the life or liberty of a white person was involved.

But, curiously enough, while the oath of Anice would not have been received in court against McClintock, her unsworn statements were readily accepted, and there was but little expressed doubt of his guilt. The question as to what should be done in reference to Anice's case was argued by several able and respectable citizens. A motion was made that she should be hung, and this motion carried unanimously. There were persons in the house opposed to hanging her, but they did not vote. Then there were cries of " Hang them both." "Hang Mc Clintock, too!" It was agreed, therefore, to hang them both on the same tree, nem. con.

The meeting was composed of all classes of citizens, farmers, me- chanics, merchants, lawyers, physicians and others. Its proceedings were generally indorsed by the best classes of citizens, though they were admitted to have been irregular and illegal, and no attempt was made to interfere with them.

The hanging came off half a mile north or northwest of the public square, on the then Plattsburg road. McClintock denied to the last that he was guilty, but the negro woman asserted that her confession was true.

THE CHOLERA.

The overflow of the Missouri river in the spring of 1851 did con- siderable damage to farms in the bottom lands, and the subsidence of the flood was followed by a few cases of cholera in the county. An- derson Edwards and another citizen and three slaves died in Liberty in July. The contagion was severe that year at Independence, Wes- ton and elsewhere.

In the latter part of May and the first part of June, 1854, cholera broke out in Richfield, and seven persons died in one day. It was

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

thought the disease was fostered by a rotting pile of potatoes near the village. At least eleven died during the period of the disease - Dent. Violett and his wife and two children, Wm. M. Barrett, Vin- cent S. Crawford, Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Canach, Mrs. Brown, a daughter of Thos. C. Reed, and a daughter of James Reed.

ELECTIONS OF 1852.

Col. A. W. Doniphan, of Clay county, was nominated for Governor by the Whigs of Missouri in 1852, but declined owing to ill health, and James Winston, of Benton county ( who had been nominated for Lieutenant-Governor), was selected in his stead, with Andrew King, of St. Charles, for second place. Sterling Price was the Democratic candidate. The vote in this county at the August election resulted : -

Governor - Winston, 732 ; Price, 491.

Congress - Mordecai Oliver, Whig, 840; Jas. H. Birch, Dem., 311; Austin A. King, Dem., 73.

Legislature-O. P. Moss and Nathaniel Vincent, both Whigs, elected without opposition.

Sheriff -Samuel Hadley, Democrat defeated J. D. Skaggs, by some 300 majority, but the latter contested, and the next fall Judge Dunn decided that Hadley had not received a constitutional majority .

As there were two Democratic candidates for Congress, Mordecai Oliver, the Whig, "running between " them, was elected, the vote in the district standing : . Oliver, 7,598 ; Birch, 4,399 ; King, 4,107. 1 At the November election the Whig electoral ticket carried the county by a reduced majority. Gen. Winfield Scott and Win. A. Graham were the Whig candidates for President and Vice-President, against Franklin Pierce and Win. R. King, Democrats. The vote in Clay county stood : Scott and Graham, 626; Pierce and King, 406.

1854.

Mordecai Oliver was re-elected to Congress this year over Leon- ard, Lowe and John E. Pitt.

1856. .

Governor-R. C. Ewing, Know Nothing, 775 ; Trusten Polk, Dem- ocrat, 831. Thos. H. Benton, Independent, none.

Congress -James H. Moss, K. N., 802; James Craig, D., 824 ; Joel Turnham, Dem., 808.

Representative - Robert G. Gilmer, K. N., 799.

Sheriff - Trigg T. Allen, K. N., 800; Samuel Hadley, Dem., 830.

James H. Moss, the Whig, or " American " candidate for Congress, was a resident of Liberty. He was defeated in the district by Gen. James Craig, of St. Joseph, by 2,500 votes.

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

At the Presidential election the Know Nothings carried the county for Fillmore and Donelson, the vote standing, Fillmore, 756 ; Bu- chanan, 675.

1857.

January 12, 1857, Gov. Trusten Polk was elected U. S. Senator, to succeed Senator Geyer. A new Governor was to be chosen. The anti-Bentons, or regular Democrats, nominated Hon. Robert M. Stewart, of Buchanan county. The " Americans " brought out Hon. James S. Rollins, of Boone county, who was indorsed and supported by a majority of the Benton Democrats. Col. Benton had written a letter from Washington to his friends in Missouri, urging them to vote for Rollins. The vote in the county was: For Rollins, 643 ; Stewart, 585. In the State as canvassed, it stood : Stewart, 47,975 ; Rollins, 47,641 ; Stewart's majority, 334. The Rollins men declared that their candidate was fairly elected, but was cheated in the count by "doctoring " the returns from certain counties in the southwest part of the State, but the truth of this declaration was never fully established.

1858.

Congress -James H. Adams, Whig and American, 993; James Craig, Dem., 826.

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Author: Publication date: 1885 Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1156

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1156