USA > Missouri > Henry County > History of Henry County, Missouri > Part 12
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There were very many weddings during the year, among them that of C. S. Morrow and Miss Bessie Bronough and E. J. Boyer and Miss Lillie Bronough at one ceremony in Calhoun. On May 25, Auther Cock and Miss Lilia Lewis; H. G. Avery and Miss Margaret Lee Smithson in the Auditorium of Washington-Lee University of Virginia; George Holland and Miss Kate Adamson, H. J. Arnold and Miss Clara B. Avery, and others, making the number two hundred and fifty, that many licenses being issued during the year.
Urich claimed to have shipped live stock, $288,740; corn, $171,050; wheat and flour, $27,840; flax, $47,000; oats, $27,840 ; products not classi- fied, $284,942. Rather satisfactory for a year that threatened a total failure. Other shipping points did proportionately well.
The cornerstone laying of the court house, June 24, 1894, was a big Masonic affair, attended by thousands.
Eighteen hundred ninety-three was ushered in with a charity con-
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cert at the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Clinton. The proceeds of the evening amounted to $115.
Rev. Frank Williams conducted a revival at Mt. Gilead, reporting thirty conversions.
The Keeley graduates numbering nearly three hundred formed an organization in Clinton.
There was an epidemic of an "imported disease" called lagrippe.
Two hundred and forty acres of smooth land one-quarter mile south of Maurine sold "high" at $5,600.
Dickey bought the Deepwater Clay Works for $6,200.
A. A. Kellogg of Clinton built an airship but just before the initial flight the machine was destroyed by fire. Capital was not in sight for another one and aeronautics for Henry County adjourned for Wright Brothers of Ohio.
A meeting was held in Doyle's Hall to urge a rigid enforcement of the law governing the licensing of saloons, and the sale of intoxicants.
M. V. Thralls assumed editorial ownership of the Urich Herald. A few days afterward a third of Urich burned.
A five-year franchise was granted the Missouri-Kansas Telephone Company by the Clinton City Council.
On February 1, 1893, W. F. Covington, a prominent farmer and stock man of Henry County, was killed at Plato, Missouri. Mr. Covington was in that section of the State to buy cattle. A controversy arose among some men in the country store at that place. A shot was fired with fatal results. The deceased was widely known and universally respected. His sons are among the country's prosperous citizens.
At the school election in April, Prof. R. D. Moore was named as county school commissioner. Early in his incumbency he died, much lamented. The governor appointed Mr. E. M. Hall as his successor. Mr. Hall was elected to succeed himself, served with honor and distinction. He taught some of the best schools of the county.
He was tendered a very desirable position in the schools of Jackson County, Missouri, which he accepted and a few years later died in active service.
A signal honor came to Mrs. H. T. Baird, of Baird College. She was appointed a member of the advisory council of the Women's World Congress Auxiliary Council on Education. The impress of this vigorous, good woman was indelibly left on the lives of hundreds of young women
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who came to her as pupils. Only the final records will reveal the extent of her influence for good. She died at the home of her son in Colorado about 1910.
One of the big commercial transactions of the year was the sale of the Keith & Perry Coal Company to the Central Coal & Coke Com- pany, its holdings in Henry County, the consideration being $1,780,000.
Twenty-eight cars of cattle and four cars of hogs, constituted one shipment from Blairstown to Chicago.
On June 20, the County Court held a special session to examine the court house, which Contractor Hayde wished to turn over as completed according to the contract.
The building was found up to the specifications and was formally accepted. Thus ended a long struggle for a suitable temple of justice in Henry County. The offices were ordered to be moved in July 1st, which was done.
Miss Anna Barcafer, who had already won high distinction at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, was awarded a diamond medal in the post-graduate course. The previous year she had won a diamond medal.
Among the distinguished foreigners who visited Henry County this summer were Hans Moss and Albert Scherer, of Luzon, Switzerland. They were sent by their government to examine the farming methods and agricultural resources of America. They made a close inspection in Henry County and were gratified at what they saw.
The Winkler elevator at La Due burned. The principal topic of dis- cussion at the teacher's institute during the summer was the use of tobacco. The pedagogues put themselves on record as opposing the use of the weed.
Much interest was shown in the "Strip" in Oklahoma. Very many people from the county made trips of investigation. Most of them re- turned with a final decision that Henry County was the peer of any section of country.
The Clinton telephone system was opened for service October 19th with thirty-nine subscribers.
On the same day C. H. Whitaker and son took charge of the Henry County Democrat and the Clinton Democrat.
Dr. John H. Britts, whose side line was geology, was reappointed as a member of the State Bureau of Mines and Geology. He made many collections of fossil specimens, and furnished samples to many of the
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most prominent cabinets in the United States. He supplied a fine exhibit for the Columbian Exposition.
Among the deaths chronicled during the year were: Dr. P. S. Jen- nings, Mrs. P. H. Trone, Mrs. Capt. John Curtis, Mrs. C. W. Drake, John Hart, Henry S. Marvin.
At the beginning of the Christmas holidays Clinton and Henry County were pained by the announcement that Prof. E. P. Lamkin was prostrate with a stroke of apoplexy. Life left his body with the closing of the year, and on New Year's day, 1894, his remains were laid to rest in Englewood.
He had been active and prominent among Missouri's educators for many years. He came to Clinton to the position of superintendent of the public schools, which position he held for a number of years.
Retiring from the public schools he established Clinton Academy. This institution he conducted with much success for more than ten years. Many of the leading citizens of the county, and some of national fame were his pupils. He served as school commissioner of the county two terms.
A few of the weddings chronicled during 1893 were: S. P. Francisco and Miss Addie Doyle, W. B. Kane and Miss Mary Ruddy of Joplin, C. A. Noll and Miss Louisa M. Smith, a double wedding at the home of George M. Casey; Ferd D. Kingsbury of Ft. Benton, Montana, and Miss Lula Casey ; and Edgar B. Hughes of Warrensburg to Miss Minnie Leah Casey ; Walter E. Owen and Miss Eugenia Britts.
Hundreds of people from Henry County visited the Columbian Expo- sition during the year.
In all, it was a good year, and brought its manifold blessings to the people, who, appreciative of the blessings of the Creator, renewed their allegiance to Him in many ways and set themselves to newer and nobler efforts along the paths of duty.
The year 1898 will always be known in American history as one of the war periods, but at the beginning of the year, as far as Henry County was concerned, there was no indication of anything of an unusual charac- ter and no one believed that the peace that had so long existed would be broken and that the United States would soon be engaged in a foreign war. There had been some agitation in regard to the Cuban question, but it was never seriously considered that any serious results would follow. The nearest approach to anything of a martial nature in the
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county at this time was a lecture delivered by Confederate General John B. Gordon, who visited Clinton early in that year and was enthusiasti- cally received by the old veterans who had worn the gray and by the sons and daughters of the Southern sympathizers.
The people were more interested in men from Clinton, Windsor, Blairstown and other parts of the county, who had gone with the gold seekers to the Klondike country and were writing back to their relatives in the county, telling them of their wonderful exploits and of opportuni- ties that existed in that region for the collecting of wealth. One or two of them returned from Alaska early in the year and by their glowing accounts succeeded in taking other gold seekers back with thm. How- ever, by midsummer the enthusiasm for the Klondike region seems to have abated and most of the argonauts from this county had returned poorer in purse, but richer in experience.
Materially the business interests were considering the advantages that would come to the county from the extension of the Blair line from Osceola to Bolivar, which would give Clinton two direct and competing lines to Springfield and the great southwest. It was believed that all that was needed to insure prosperity of Clinton and Henry County was to have the two lines so that the people would be insured of competition in the matter of rates and also be better provided with train service, and when, in January of this year, a contract was let to build the last link of the Blair line, there was general rejoicing. The road had been built from Kansas City to Osceola and then from Springfield to Bolivar and a stretch of some twenty-five or thirty miles between Bolivar and Osceola would complete the line, and contract for this work was let early in January.
The Democratic primary was ordered to be held in June and under the call most liberal rules were laid down as to the qualifications of voters, practically permitting a man to vote at any polling place in the county, no matter where his residence. The figures show that when the primary was actually held, on June 4th of that year, probably fifteen per cent of all the votes cast were in a different precinct than that in which the voter resided. This was a new departure and was a forerunner of the absentee ballot provision of the State-wide primary law which later on was made a part of the organic law of the State. The call for the pri- mary was signed by Thomas M. Casey, chairman of the Democratic county committee at that time. About the same time the Peoples party issued
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its call. The result of the Democratic primary showed selection of the following candidates as the nominees of that party, all of whom were sub- sequently elected at the regular election in November except Charles W. Gaines, who resigned before the primary, the Democrats naming Theodore J. Bolton in his stead: Representative, Charles W. Gaines ; probate judge, James D. Lindsay; prosecuting attorney, H. F. Poague; collector, J. E. Finks ; circuit clerk, J. J. Chastain ; county clerk, Joshua C. Davis ; recorder, William M. Duncan; sheriff, Jerry G. Galloway; treasurer, William Lee Pinkston; coroner, Dr. W. H. Gibbins; presiding judge, Joseph F. Boyd.
The peaceful days which marked the opening of the year 1898 were rudely ended when the news was flashed over the country in March of the sinking of the United States battleship Maine, in the Havana harbor. Instantly all the people began to demand war with Spain to avenge the insult to our national honor, and the papers were unanimous in de- manding war. A former resident of Henry County, Harry Williams, of Clinton, son of Dr. C. C. Williams, and a member of one of the best- known and most prominent families in the county, had for a number of years been in the United States Navy and at this time was serving on board the Cruiser Montgomery. Of course his letters linked the people of the county very closely with the actions of the navy and the subse- quent enrollment of the members of the local company of State guard brought to every household some personal feeling and intimate touch with the army.
The need for relief to be extended to the starving Cuban refugees and sufferers which had hitherto been of a more or less academic nature now became very strong and a committee for Cuban relief was organized in Clinton, of which H. P. Faris was chairman; Ben Adler, secretary, and William F. Carter, W. H. Cock, L. C. Lepscom, W. F. Crome, F. A. Elsner, Robert E. Harman and one member from each of the Clinton churches, served as members of the committee. Donations of money from residents of the towns and of provisions from farmers of the country were solicited and forwarded through proper channels to the sufferers.
The papers were full of complaints as to the administration of the War Department. There was said to be a shortage of powder; that there. were no guns and no cannon; that equipment of every sort was lacking and the people and press loudly denounced the Government for what was thought to be almost criminal negligence in not having made proper pro- vision for war and leaving the country defenseless in the time of need.
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Evidences of patriotism on the part of citizens of the county were everywhere displayed. One of the most unique of these was that of Monte Bozarth, the locally prominent balloonist, who, under date of March 28, 1898, wired Washington as follows: "His Excellency, William McKin- ley, President of the United States: I hereby tender my services as a professional aeronaut and expert in the manufacture and management of balloons in the event of war with Spain. I am ready to serve my country in any work to which you may see fit to assign me." To this the chief signal officer of the army immediately wired a reply, gratefully accept- ing the offer of this patriotic citizen. Bozarth was one of the first men in the country and certainly the first one noted in Missouri to offer his services to the government for flying in the air, a branch of the service then hardly considered more than a freak, but most important in these latter days.
About the time that Bozarth was wiring his offer to serve in the air a brother of Captain Sigsby, commissioner of the lost battleship Maine, was in Clinton and was interviewed by many of the leading citizens of the town and county. Mr. Sigsby gave as his opinion that the fortification: of Havana were very poor and would easily fall before the attack of the American ships. On April 14th events had proceeded so rapidly that Capt. A. C. Landon of Clinton, commanding Company F of the 2nd Mis- souri Regiment, asked for recruits to bring his company up to war stand- ard. At that time the roster included commissioned officers and sixty- seven enlisted men. The campaign for recruits proceeded and was greatly accelerated by the declaration of war with Spain so that on May 5th the company had been recruited to war strength and consisted of the fol- lowing: A. C. Landon, captain; Dr. C. H. Stearns, first lieutenant and assistant surgeon; James W. Avery, second lieutenant; Wilbur C. Dixon, first sergeant; Frank S. Douglas, sergeant; Winnie C. Arnold, corporal; Harvey J. Stone, corporal; J. C. Dean, corporal; W. A. Cock, corporal; E. E. Seifried, musician.
Cliff Allen, Berry Anderson, H. J. Bumgardner, G. N. Brandenburg, Ed Couse, Joe W. Canada, C. C. Canan, Harry Daum, Joe T. Doyle, O. C. Davis, R. W. Edmonson, W. T. Earhart, William E. Greer, Louis Horst, George Huey, Will L. Haynie, T. L. Hamilton, George Herrmann, John H. Johnson, J. H. Knight, J. E. Lawson, J. B. Cowell, J. A. McAfee, J. W. Parks, C. F. Pomeroy, E. G. Redford, H. L. Selby, W. H. Senion, C. E. Shreeve, R. L. Sawrthout, Allen Sheldon, Lee Violette, C. D. Wallace, Roy
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Woods, George Wells, A. J. Turner, G. W. Parks, John Henry, John T. An- gelo, George Armstrong, Charles Blewett, H. A. Brollire, F. R. Carpenter, Frank B. Clark, G. H. Dempsey, Charles A. Duerr, John P. Evans, Charles Howe, G. Howe, W. H. Harrison, P. C. Keyes, Fred McFadden, J. H. Rag- land, L. W. Stickrod, A. C. Smith, R. Z. Taylor, J. W. Westerman, A. A. Wilson, Fred Simpson, J. W. Damron, George East, Henry Goodnow, G. W. Hamell, G. E. Herndon, D. W. Keyes, E. C. Morgan, Charles Parks, H. F. Rimer, S. A. Selecman, E. H. Seevers, Charles L. Wilson, Frank Wiley, D. G. Hoard.
All of the members of the company and the new recruits were care- fully examined by Doctor Stearns, who had been promoted to assistant surgeon of the regiment and so carefully and well did he perform this duty that when the company reached mobilization point at Jefferson Barracks only five were rejected and sent home. The company left Clinton in the midst of a rain, but in spite of the disagreeable weather probably 3,000 people were at the depot when the Henry County soldiers entrained. Clinton had been lavishly decorated with the American flags and here and there a Cuban banner was suspended, keeping before the eyes of the people the immediate cause of the war. There was a con- cert given the departing soldiers by what was left of the 2nd Regiment Band and volunteers kept firing anvils and shooting guns on the court house square during most of the day. A local paper described the going away of the men in the following words:
"At the depot was a scene indeed. Three thousand people at the least lined the platform and the tracks and there was a half hour of cheer- ing. The girls soon to be left behind were there in force. The small boys climbed to the tops of freight cars and adjacent buildings to look down upon the surging sea of humanity. Each soldier boy wore a handsome bouquet presented by florist Barnhart and was the center of attraction for several friends, usually female, who eyed his brass buttons covetously. When at last the train came slowly in, it swept slowly between solid walls of humanity. Marshal Welsh and Fire Chief Hart, going ahead to
part the crowd. Two day coaches were attached to rear for the use of the company and they quickly took possession of the cars. A few moments more of good-byes from the windows and the train steamed out. There were cheers and fluttering of handkerchiefs; the Union cheer and the Rebel yell were mingled, the musicians played 'America' and the mill whistles shrieked a shrill good-bye until the train was outside of the city limits."
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Referring further to incidents of the day of entertainment the local paper describes the procession and notes that among others accompany- ing the troops to the station were four well-known men: "In a carriage drawn by four spirited black horses and bearing a standard aloft from which floated American and Cuban flags rode Church Buck, Ben Foote, Earnie Campbell and Charlie Snyder, they singing patriotic songs while Charles Pearson guided the steeds that drew their gaily decorated chariot."
At the time of leaving, the people raised a ration fund of $65 for the boys in camp to provide for temporary necessities and a few luxuries. The company took with them Gus Barker, a well-known negro who had been cook for Company F at its annual encampments in the past years and expected to have his services during the war. Besides the bouquets and the ration fund a number of other gifts were made, in the way of cigars, cakes and other appreciated items. Lack of some organization like the American Red Cross was most apparent. The company left under the most exciting of circumstances, because the battle of Manila Bay had occurred only a few days before and the nation was in a fever heat of excitement.
W. M. Ballard, a very prominent citizen of the county then living in Clinton, was envied of all the people because of the fact that he had a son who was on the Baltimore of Dewey's squadron and had partici- pated in the great naval victory that gave to the United States the Philip- pine Islands and swept the Spaniards off the eastern seas. The threaten- ing attitude of the German admiral was causing some anxiety, but the determined stand of the English fleet, showing in convincing way their eternal friendship for the American people and the American navy, made it possible for us to avoid any further foreign complications. However, at this time there was no such assurances and it was feared that the squadron under Dewey's command would soon engage the German ships in Manila Bay.
Harry Williams, previously named as being in the navy, at this time was in the fight at San Juan Bay and wrote back a very vivid account of his experiences at that time.
Events moved very swiftly and Company F after proceeding to Jeffer- son Barracks, St. Louis, and being incorporated with the other units of the 2nd Missouri Regiment, finally was sent to Camp George H. Thomas at Chickamauga Park, where the troops arrived the late afternoon on the 20th of May. The Regiment was furnished with a complete new equip-
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ment on the 24th consisting of underwear, uniforms, shoes and hats, and it is worth while to remark that in the supplies issued at that time was a fatigue uniform of brown denim for Cuban service. This is probably the first time that American soldiers were regularly issued a brown or khaki colored uniform. Prior to this time, of course, the United States troops were dressed in the army blue, but the Southern climate made the wearing of wool uniforms a practical impossibility, and these brown denim fatigue suits were the forerunners of the time when the whole army would be dressed in that inconspicuous color.
The local papers carried letters from the boys in the camps which announced that they had become so accustomed to sleeping on the ground that no longer was any straw issued to them for bedding, but they slept on the ground without any protection between them and the earth.
About this time Dr. C. H. Stearns, who had been acting as major and chief surgeon of the 2nd Regiment, became assistant surgeon again, owing to the fact that Dr. S. K. Crawford, former surgeon of the regi- ment, who had been dismissed from the service owing to the age limit, was reinstated.
The country was filled with anxiety lest the Spanish fleet under Cevera should escape our warships and attack the exposed unprotected cities on our coast, or, failing in that, that he should waylay and destroy our first-class battleship, Oregon, which was badly needed by the Atlantic Fleet and was racing from San Francisco harbor to the West Indies by the way of Cape Horn. The Oregon, however, safely reached its ren- dezvous the latter part of May and on the 25th of that month a Kansas City dispatch was printed in the Clinton Democrat glaringly announcing that Cevera was blocked at Santiago with Admiral Schley on the out- side. On the same day President Mckinley called for 75,000 additional troops, the men to serve for two years unless sooner discharged and to be apportioned among the States.
It is very interesting to know the influence of the press and people in these days, in regard to the attitude of other nations at the time of the war with Spain. Denunciations of France were most vigorous and persistent and demands were frequently made that all American girls must come home from French schools; that American women must cease to buy clothes in French shops. That American men must not attend the Paris Exposition, which was about to be held. At the same time a former popular candidate for governor of the State of Missouri, while
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making a speech at Columbia, attempted to tear down a British flag and his action was resented by the people. The blockade around Cuba became more stringent and the Henry County boys on the fleet situated off Ma- tanzas were waiting for Cevera to appear. The whole nation was anxiously expecting details of a naval battle the results of which were not at all certain as the Spanish ships were supposed to be nearly, if not quite, equal to our ships.
It is interesting to know some of the things said about the United States by the Spanish newspapers of this time. For instance, El Pro- gressio, a newspaper of Havana, under date of May 23rd, says: "The Americans have tried to starve us, but on the contrary, they are starving themselves, for bread and meat are higher in New York than they are in Havana. We have plenty to eat, while the Yankees have been com- pelled to open free soup houses in all the big cities to feed their hungry, and the people die from starvation. Already our gallant fleet has bom- barded their city of Boston and driven the inhabitants of that place into the interior, compelling them to flee for their lives. Next we will move on to New York and no Yankee ship dare attack us, knowing their inability to cope with the formidable Spanish navy. There is turmoil and insurrection among the Yankees because of the failure of their armies and the people are blaming President Mckinley. A military guard of 1,000 soldiers surrounds his palace to prevent an assassin from reaching him. He never goes out and it is expected daily that news will be sent of his death."
Early in June the 2nd Regiment sent a recruiting detail from Chicka- mauga Park to fill the regiment to war strength. The detail consisted of three officers, one from each battalion of the regiment, three sergeants and nine privates. Will L. Haynie of Clinton, because of his soldierly conduct, being asked to enlist twenty-eight men for Company F to bring it to full war strength. In two days fifteen men applied, but only six passed the examination. They were as follows: Clarence L. McBride, Clinton; John T. Lee, Clinton; Charles W. Harp, La Due; Charles W. White, La Due; Alfred M. Childs, Deepwater; Wiley D. Grant, Deep- water. These recruits were forwarded to the regiment.
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