USA > Missouri > Cooper County > History of Cooper County, Missouri > Part 19
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Anderson, in the meantime, joined the other man, and together they sought to find Brownfield, but Anderson, being apprised by his compan- ion that Brownfield was nervy, and was well-armed, they desisted from further search, and returned to their men.
This band had evidently been operating in the county several days, despite the presence of militia or Union soldiers. A day or so before the killing of Mayo, this same band appeared at Nathaniel Leonard's, the father of the late Capt. Charles E. Leonard, near Bell Air, and had it not been. for the timely intercession of Miss Minnie Corum, who was known to be of southern sympathies, would have doubtless have done much wanton damage, if not committed worse crimes. Capt. C. E. Leonard belonged to the State militia. Mr. Harris thinks that this band came direct from Leonard's to Pilot Grove with purposes of robbing those whom they knew were accustomed to gather at the postiffice at Samuel Cole's.
The facts of the following incident were given by Dave Brownfield, the nephew of Thomas Brownfield. This is the same Thomas Brownfield that escaped Bill Anderson's ire, on the occasion just above related.
At the close of the war, Thomas Brownfield was living where one of the Wittmans now lives, in a three room log cabin with a loft. His half-brother, Abraham Brownfield, was with him on this occasion. and was sleeping in the front room, whereas the family was sleeping in the room to the rear.
It was in the winter time, and after all had retired, Thomas Brown- field thought he heard some men in front of his cabin. After listening a while, he concluded that they were there for no good, and he judged that they were marauders bent on mischief. Stepping into the front room, he climbed a ladder into the loft, and with his gun, from the open- ing of the loft, commanded the door leading into the room from the outside.
Presently admission was demanded, but no one answered. Then
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the door was forced, and as a man entered, who proved afterwards to be a Mr. Brownlee, Mr. Brownfield from the opening of the loft, shot him, and he fell to the floor. He struggled to get out of the door, but Abraham Brownfield seized him, and pulled him back, and slammed the door.
Thinking their leader was dead, the others upon the outside set fire to the house. Brownlee, however, was not dead. Realizing his condition, and that he would be burned, rather than to save the house and lives of others, he shouted to his men to put out the fire-not to burn him up. This they did after some difficulty.
Then Thomas Brownfield entered into a parley with the men upon the outside, and promised them if they would leave, that he would send for a doctor, and have Brownlee properly attended to, would not turn him over to the authorities, and when he had recovered would release him. This agreement was entered into. Brownfield was not only cool and courageous, and a man of great discretion, but of rectitude as well.
As soon as possible, he sent for Doctor Pendleton, who came and dressed the wounds of Brownlee, and in every respect, Thomas Brownfield faithfully carried out his agreement.
A few days after the tragic event of the death of Peter Mitzel and Otho Zellar at the hands of rebel bushwhackers, who took them from the old Pilot Grove Methodist Church during a "protracted" revival meeting . in the summer of 1864, and killed them at camp near Old Palestine the zame night, Thomas Cooper and Robert Magruder, citizens of Pilto Grove neighborhood, were in Boonville together. Cooper and Magruder were at the church the day Mitzel and Zellar were taken from the congregation, but it happened that they were not in the house but were lying together under the shade of a tree in sight of the open windows, when the squad of bushwhackers rode up. They were surrounded by the squad, who engaged them in conversation, which fact was observed by some persons in the congregation.
It seems that this incident led to a report which had come to the ears of the Home Guard militia of Boonville, that Cooper and Magruder informed the bushwhackers that Mitzel and Zellar were in the church, thereby implicating them in the apprehension and killing of the latter.
Cooper was shot and killed in a drug store on Main street in Boon- ville by members of the Home Guard, and diligent search was made for Magruder, who would have met the same fate, if they had found him. Magruder's life was saved by the effort and presence of mind of Colonel
VINE CLAD BRIDGE. BOONVILLE. MO.
VINE CLAD BRIDGE, BOONVILLE, MO.
ST. JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL, BOONVILLE, MO.
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Pierce, who kept the Pierce Hotel (now Powell's Rooming House), on High street.
Magruder was lying on a lounge in the office of the hotel when sev- eral militiamen entered and inquired of Pierce whether a man named Magruder had been there. Having heard of the shooting of Cooper a little while before, Pierce, with rare presence of mind, assured the soldiers that Magruder had been there, but had gone away. Not knowing Ma- gruder personally, the soldiers were deceived, and left to continue their search. After they were gone, Pierce searched Magruder and later smug- gled him on board of a river steamboat bound down the Missouri River, and he left Cooper County to return only after the end of the war.
Our fellow county man, Walter Barron, gives us the following inci- dent in the killing of a soldier whose name he does not now recall, and Frank McDearman: In the winter of 1861, the 37th Illinois Infantry was then stationed near Boonville. The regiment to which the infantry belonged, and to which our friend, Mr. Barron, was a member, was located on the Lamine River near Otterville, during the winter of 1861.
Mr. Barron knew the soldier well, although at this time he does not recall his name. He was reputed to be reckless, and of a desperate char- acter. He was also well acquainted with and was a friend of Frank McDearmon, who then lived in Boonville.
In the winter of 1861, a dance was given, in a two story frame build- ing, in east Boonville, known as the Ainsle house, although Ainsle was not occupying the house at the time, lie having been drowned in the Missouri River many years before.
The elite of the city and surrounding country were not invited nor expected to attend this dance. The attendance was rather made up of those who desired a jolly, reckless and rip-roaring time, rather than the refinement of a gathering of the best society. The character of those who attended was not closely scrutinized. There were whisky and liquor in profusion, and many participated in the flowing bowl until they be- came not only loquacious, but argumentative, jealous and pugnacious.
Frank McDearmon and the soldier had some controversy, and heated argument. After the same, when Frank McDearmon entered the room where the dance was being conducted, he met the soldier, and at once with a pistol, shot him, inflicting a wound that proved fatal. However, before expiring, the soldier, with a knife, cut McDearmon nine times,
(14)
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from which wounds McDearmon also expired. Both parties died on the scene of action.
In the fall of 1864, numerous small bodies of men, supposed to be guerillas from the north side of the river, made incursions into Cooper County, committing many depredations, and in some cases, murders. During this year a small body of men attempted to capture Tom Mercer, and followed him to the Widow Careys' home. Mercer and some five or six men were in the house at the time, and seeing the approach of these marauders, Mercer called upon the men to defend the house. They were well armed. As the marauders approached the house, Mercer picked out one, and told one of the other men to pick out another. Aiming their guns they fired. Mercer succeeded in killing his man, but the other, so far as known, was not as successful. Mercer and the men in the house then made their escape through a cornfield.
On Aug. 31, 1864, a tragedy occurred seven or eight miles south of Boonville on the farm known as the Major Moore place, in which then lived Christian Krohn. Krohn was assisting his wife and little ten months old son to dismount from a horse when a party of horsemen, supposed to be guerillas, rode up. Mr. Krohn was commanded to go into the house. He turned the child over to its mother and started to do as he was bid when a volley was fired into him and he fell dead at his own threshold. In innate brutality the men proceeded to set fire to the house and the widow was commanded to get what articles she wanted to save. Torn with grief and desperate, she replied, "You have killed my husband so you might as well burn my house too." At this some pity must have touched the heart of one of the men for he returned to the house and extinguished the fire, whereupon they rode away. The ten months old infant mentioned in this incident has grown to manhood and is now our popular county man, John F. Krohn. 1
Radford Bass, a Southern sympathizer, was killed in the fall of 1864, near the Lutheran Church, two and one-half miles southeast of Gooch Mill. He was captured by a band of men and held in captivity a short time according to one version, and was turned loose. After he had left and traveled but a short distance he was followed by a boy, who belonged to the capturing band, of about 17 years of age who came upon him and shot him in cold blood. Another version is that a rope was put around his neck and he was dragged by a man on horseback until he was exhausted and was practically choked to death and shot.
Another man by the name of Hill was killed in the fall of 1864, on the day of Bass's murder, northeast of Prairie Home. He was captured
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by a squad of men who left him in charge of one of their number. A short time afterwards this man joined the squad and upon being asked what had become of his prisoner, said that he objected to being held in captivity and that he had disposed of him. Different versions have been given of this affair, one is that the man who had charge of this prisoner, desiring to join the squad, had killed the prisoner, as the easiest method of ridding himself of an unwelcome charge.
On the same day that Radford Bass was murdered the same squad, consisting of nine men, killed Squire Handshaw. Squire Handshaw was a man of about 80 years of age. This gang of men went to his home about two and one-half miles southeast of Gooch Mill and called him out of his house, made him get upon a fence and then shot him. He imme- diately expired.
It will be noted that most of these crimes and depredations were committed during the end of the Civil War and the excuse as given in many instances was that of reprisal. On the north side of the river were Anderson's men under various captains. In the early fall of 1864 it was reported, whether true or not, that numerous crimes had been com- mitted by the Home Guards upon Southern sympathizers in Saline town- ship. At this time the sentiment of the people on both sides of this cause were as seething cauldrons and men seemed to have lost their reason. Rumors were not thoroughly investigated and irresponsible talk was plen- tiful. In any event, Captain Todd, with a squad of Bill Anderson's men swam the Missouri River on horse-back and entered Cooper County in Saline township in quest of the Home Guards. About noon on Oct. 7, 1864, they saw coming up the hill by Granville Smiths, about one and one-quarter miles south of Gooch Mill, a squad of men of the militia under command of Capt. Bernhardt Deidrich, consisting of the following: Frank Hafferburg, Henry Weaver, Erhardt Blank, John Blank, Jacob Blank, Mr. Deil (grandfather of Theodore Deil, of Wooldridge), Mr. Hute (grandfather of Peter Hute of Prairie Home), Mr. Ader, Ernest Speiler and Otto Speiler. Todd's men were upon the brow of the hill and as these men approached coming up the hill got in close proximity, they at once attacked them and succeeded in killing Capt. Bernhardt Deid- rich, Frank Hafferburg, Henry Weaver, who was said to have been scalped and brained. He was an old man. Erhardt Blank, Deil, Hute, Ader, were also killed. Ernest Speiler, who was shot through the arm. Otto Speiler, John Blank and Jacob Blank escaped.
John Henry Boller, the father of our fellow townsman, Fred J. Boller, was murdered on June 15, 1864, near Boonville. We get the details of
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this incident from Mr. Fred J. Boller. On the day above mentioned, John Henry Boller was coming to Boonville, on the public road riding in a buggy when he passed what was then known as the Miller place. Three men, to-wit: Bill Stewart, Carter and Sloan, were resting under the shade of a tree. When Mr. Boller had passed, one of the men asked Sloan who he was. Sloan told him. The three men then followed Boller to near what was known as the Ripley place, and stopped him and demanded his money. Mr. Boller complied with their demand by showing them his watch, but evidently not anticipating trouble, drove on. When he did so, they immediately began to fire upon him, shooting him four or five times. After they had robbed him, old man Kiele came along and they robbed him.
Mr. Boller came to Boonville and as he neared the Missouri Pacific station, Mr. Back, noticing his bloody and weakened condition, took him into his house to administer to him. Mr. Boller died immediately.
The militia was then stationed at Boonville. It was notified of the killing of Boller, and started at once in pursuit of the murderers. In the Labbo neighborhood, they came upon Sloan, whom one of the militia succeeded in shooting in the side of the head. Although Sloan recovered from this wound thereafter he was blind. Carter and Stewart were not found at the time, and it is not known what became of Carter. Bill Stewart, however, was killed in 1865 at Franklin, north of the river. A cattleman had stopped at a hotel at Franklin and the landlady in charge of the same, seeing Bill Stewart approaching, told the cattleman that the notorious desperado, Bill Stewart, was coming to the hotel, and for him to be on his guard. The cattleman closed the door, Stewart came and being unable to open the door, demanded admittance. Not receiving the same. he broke open the door, and as he entered, the cattleman, who was årmed with a revolver, shot him dead in his tracks.
As illustrative of the conditions that existed in the county during and at the close of the Civil War, the following incident is given: Ross Montgomery, a bad negro lived in Saline township during the war. and was formerly a slave belonging to the late H. B. Hopkins. He was right- fully accused of burning several barns and residences of Southern sym- pathizers and threatening the lives of several prominent Southern men.
At the close of the war, the boys returned home. This negro was engaged in cutting cordwood near Overton on a certain day. When quit- ting work on the evening of that day, he started home by way of an aban- doned well in the woods. He disappeared, no one knew where. Several
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years afterwards, John Wainwright, having built a cabin in the woods, went to this well to clean it out to supply water for his family, and after getting a lot of stumps out of the well, he found the skeleton of a man, and by the shoes and clothing, which were identified by Ross' wife as belonging to the negro, they solved the mystery of his disappearance.
In Clarks Fork township on the farm where Henry Schubert now lives, in the fall of 1864, Chris Frieke, uncle of Henry F. Fricke and Henry Schultz were killed by a small band of four or five men supposed to be guerillas.
In the winter of 1861 and 1862, two members of the Home Guards, seeking to impress wagons to haul soldiers to Tipton, rode up to William George's house in Clarks Fork township on their mission. Mr. George .was not at home at the time. John Oakman, however, was there, and doubtless mistaking their purpose, shot and killed one of the Home Guards. The other, the late Albert Muntzel, was not injured.
A man by the name of Charles Wagner was killed near Pisgah in the early part of the war. We are unable to give any further details of this incident.
At the time of Price's raid, Captain Shoemaker was the head of a Provisional Militia company. When Price's. army left Boonville and vi- cinity, Shoemaker could not be found and was never heard of again. His disappearance has never been accounted for. The supposition, however, is that he was killed, although the body was never found.
Jeremiah Good and father were killed between Big Liek and Prairie Home shortly after the Civil War. A small party of four or five men were approaching the house. When the Goods started from the barn to the house they were immediately shot down. It is stated that a small boy of about fifteen, a Good, was in the house at the time, and shot one of the men. It seems that John Good, a brother of Jeremiah Good, during the war had shot a man at a blacksmith's shop at Big Lick and it was supposed that these men were seeking John Good when they approached the Good house. John Good, however, was not here at the time when his father and brother were killed.
CHAPTER XIV.
PERIOD OF READJUSTMENT
PREJUDICE-CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION-RADICALS-"DRACONIAN CODE"- "IRON CLAD OATH"-CONSTITUTION ADOPTED-LATER AMENDED AND RADI- CALISM DEFEATED-BROWN ELECTED GOVERNOR-UNPOPULARITY OF DRAKE-PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH DURING AND AFTER THE WAR.
The time intervening between the close of the Civil War in 1865 and the early seventies, was properly called in the South the "period of recon- struction," but in Missouri, the "period of readjustment." Prejudice was inflamed to a high pitch, and in Cooper, the inevitable result of the many oturages committed during the war was calculated to leave scars on the very souls of many that the soothing unction of time alone could eradicate.
In times of intense excitement, when passions are aroused, whether in state or more local matters, the reason seems dethroned, and the evil in man comes uppermost. At such times, those of light mentality, who "tear the tatters" most, and feed with vehemence upon passions, preju- dice and malice, too often rise to prominence for a brief time, yet long enough to stab and wound.
Robespierrwas such a one, who wept at the death of a pet bird, yet with his guillotin drenched the streets of Paris with blood. When a stagnant pool is stirred, and its waters violently agitated, the sediment rises to the top, only to sink again to its proper place at the bottom when the calm succeeds the agitation.
A Constitutional Convention assembled in St. Louis on Jan. 6, 1865, and continued in session until April 10th of that year. The Radicals of the state were in the saddle, and like a beggar astride, rode violently. This convention was composed of 66 members, three-fourths of whom were of the radical element. These men were known but little throughout
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the State, and at the close of the convention, when their work had been completed, most of them went back into immediate obscurity, and were heard of no more.
The great dominating figure of this convention was Charles Drake. He was the radical of radicals. His career had been kaleidoscopic, and in politics, he was a regular turncoat. He was first a Whig, a Know Nothing, a Democrat, and then the radical of radicals. At this time, he became easily the leader of the extremists. The constitution adopted became known as the Drake constitution, and because of Drake's leading part in framing this constitution, and because of the severities of many of its sections, it called to the minds of many people, the laws of Draco of ancient Greece, which were noted for the heavy penalties that were levied for their violation. For these reasons the constitution of 1865, was fre- quently called the "Draconian Code."
The test oath provided by this constitution disfranchised at least one- third of the electors of the State. It soon became intensely unpopular, even with members of the Radical party. Not only were elaborate disquali- fications for voting provided, but in another section, the religious, chari- table, social and business relations were invaded, and a provision was made for an "expergatorial" oath, for ministers of the Gospel, attorneys, and teachers. Under that section, no person was permitted to practice law, or be competent as a preacher, priest, minister, deacon or clergyman, of any religious persuasion, sect or denomination to teach, or preach, or solemnize marriages, unless such persons should first take, and subscribe, and file the prescribed oath of loyalty.
So comprehensive in details was the test oath that was required to be taken by those who sought to vote, or practice any of the above pro- fessions, that it was known as the "Iron-Clad Oath." This constitution was submitted to the people for their adoption or rejection June 6, 1865, but only those who could take the oath of loyalty prescribed, by the con- stitution itself, were allowed to vote upon its adoption.
The fight was bitter from beginning to end, especially in the Missouri River counties, including Cooper, of course. The constitution was adopted by a majority of less than two thousand. The votes stood 43,670 for, and 41,808 against. The advice of loyal Union men, such as Hamilton R. Gam- bel, Frank P. Blair, B. Gratz Brown, and a short time afterwards Carl Schurtz, prominent and leaders in the cause of the Union, true men and patriots, went unheeded.
The election of 1868 marked the high tide of Radical success. Under
-
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the leadership of such men as Blair, and others, many patriotic Union men throughout the State, were arrayed in violent opposition, and protested against the indignities of the test-oath.
Under the leadership of Carl Schurtz, a Liberal Republican ticket was nominated with B. Gratz Brown, as candidate for Governor. The Radicals renominated McClurg. Brown was elected by a majority of nearly 42,000.
But more significant and important than the political success of the Liberal Republican ticket, was the adoption of the several constitutional amendments, the one abolishing the test-oath, being carried by a vote of 137,000 to 16,000.
With the election of the Liberal Republican ticket in 1870, or rather the defeat of the radicals, their most prominent leader, Drake, passed from the stage as an actor in the public affairs of the State. In all probability no other political leader ever left Missouri politics with greater unpopu- larity than Drake.
While this chapter may in a measure be discoursive, it shall bear the merit of being brief. Its purpose has been simply to state a general con- dition without making specific and local applications. We have mentioned no local incidents of this period, for fear that in doing so, or mentioning names, we might open some sores of which the editor himself is not in- formed. Those strenuous times are passed, passion and prejudice have vanished, and amity and friendship now prevail. No good could be accom- plished by going into specific incidents that might have a tendency to arouse in part a bitterness that has long disappeared.
The Presbyterian Church During and After the Civil War .- These matters, of difficult adjustment and mutual agreement, grew out of cer- tain declarations . made by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, during the war period, and bear- ing upon the questions which vitally concerned the people of both the North and South. They were deliverances of the General Assembly, made when intense feeling ran high, and brotherly love was at low ebb. The Presbyterians, living south of the Mason and Dixon line, promptly re- sented these deliverances of the General Assembly. Later on they with- drew and established what is now known as the Presbyterian Church of the United States.
During this volcanic eruption in the church, the Presbyterians of Mis- souri stood neutral. Harmony and usefulness of the church was the para- mount question. The Synod of Missouri met in the Boonville Presbyterian Church in the autumn of 1866. The all engrossing subject of the ecclesi-
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astic union was there ably and vigorously debated. Rev. Dr. Nicolls and Rev. Dr. James H. Brooks, both of St. Louis, led the party standing for union with the northern branch of the church. As no agreement could be reached by this Synod as then organized, Doctor Nicolls and his adherents withdrew from the church building, and held their meeting of Synod in the parlor of the Home of Mrs. Pauline E. Rush on Main street, and carried the churches they represented into the northern branch of the church.
The remaining members of the Synod of Missouri in the church build- ing concluded their meeting by adopting what was known and termed a "declaration and testimony" deliverance. This action, on the part of the declaration and testimony party held the Presbyterian Churches in Mis- souri of southern trend, neutral for several years, when they formed a union with the southern branch, known as the Presbyterian Church of the United States.
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