USA > Missouri > Howard County > History of Howard and Chariton Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most official authentic and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 24
USA > Missouri > Chariton County > History of Howard and Chariton Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most official authentic and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 24
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JUDGE JAMES W. MORROW.
Like a vast majority of the early settlers of Howard county, Judge Morrow came from Kentucky ( Bath county), where he was born in 1810. He settled in Fayette in 1836, and was soon after appointed judge of the Cole circuit, which position he held till his death. He made a good judge, and gave general satisfaction
HON. ROBERT T. PREWITT.
The subject of this sketch was a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was born in August, 1818. His father emigrated to Howard county in 1824, and Robert, after getting his license, entered upon the practice of the law about 1845, at Fayette. In 1852, he was appointed eireuit attorney of the second judicial dis- triet. He became a member of the constitutional convention in
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1863. He was a man of noble impulses and of the highest integ- rity. He died in 1873.
GOV. THOMAS REYNOLDS
was also a Kentuckian, and was born in Bracken county in 1796. He came to Illinois in early life, and filled the several offices of clerk of the house of representatives, speaker of the house, attorney- general, and judge of the supreme court. In 1829, he moved to Fayette, Missouri, and was soon elected a member of the legislature and then appointed a circuit judge. In '1840, he was elected gov- ernor of Missouri. In 1844, he died the death of a suicide from a gun-shot wound, inflicted by his own hands. His mind was as clear as a bell, and his power of analysis very great.
GEN. ROBERT WILSON.
In November, 1796, near Staunton, Augusta county, Virginia. General Robert Wilson was born, In the spring of 1820 he located at Old Franklin. After the removal of the county seat of Howard county to Fayette he located there. He was appointed probate judge in 1823, of Howard county. About 1828, he was appointed clerk of the circuit and county courts of Randolph county. Was appointed brigadier-general of militia in 1838. He was a member of the legis- lature in 1844-45, and soon after of the state senate. Was a mem- ber of the constitutional convention in 1861, and a member of the United States senate in 1862. He died in 1877, in California.
GENERAL JOHN B. CLARK, SR.
Among the many distinguished professional men who came to Howard county at an early day was General John B. Clark, Sr., who still survives at his home in Fayette, at the advanced age of eighty years. He was born in Madison county, Kentucky, in 1802, and came with his father's family to Howard in 1818. He was appointed clerk of the county court in 1823 : elected captain of militia in 1823, colo- nel in 1825 : participated in the Indian war in 1829; in the Black- hawk war in 1832; twice wounded ; elected brigadier-general of militia in 1830, major-general in 1836. In 1849, he was elected to the legislature, and in 1854 elected to congress, whither he went for three successive terms. Became brigadier-general in the Confederate army in the war of 1861; was a member of the Confederate states
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congress and senate. The general, even now ( 1883), possesses a strong mind and a vigorous memory, and were it not for the fact that he is almost blind from disease of the eyes, he would be a remarkably active man, notwithstanding his great age. During many years of his eventful life he was one of the most prominent whig politicians of Missouri, and made, in behalf of his party, some of the ablest and most aggressive campaigns that were ever made in the state. He has affiliated with the Democratic party since 1854. As a lawyer General Clark was very successful and was always strong before a jury.
JUDGE WM. B. NAPTON.
Among the prominent men of Fayette was Judge Wm. B. Napton. He was a native of New Jersey, where he was born about the year 1810. Came to Fayette in 1833, and began the publication of the Boone's Lick Democrat. He was soon afterwards appointed attorney-general of the state, and about the year 1840, was appointed a judge of the supreme court. Judge Napton was a modest, unob- trusive man, but made one of the best judges of the supreme court the state has had. He died in 1882.
PRESENT MEMBERS OF THE BAR.
J. H. Robertson, A. J. Herndon.
John B. Clark, Jr., John C. Herndon,
Samuel C. Major,
W. C. Arline.
Leland Wright, Robert C. Clark.
John J. Hawkins, resides at Glasgow.
John V. Turner, resides at Glasgow.
Thomas Shackelford, resides at Glasgow.
R. B. Caples, resides at Glasgow.
CRIMINAL RECORD.
Considering the fact that Howard county has been organized for the period of sixty-seven years, one would naturally suppose that the number of crimes committed within its borders would be large, especially during the first thirty years of its existence ; but sueh is not the case. Upon the contrary crimes have been fewer in number than in almost any other county in the state, in proportion to the popula- tion and the age of the county.
GENERAL IGNATIUS P. OWEN.
The first important criminal case that was tried at Fayette, Wal- 18
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entitled the "State of Missouri against Joseph Davis," who killed General Ignatius P. Owen in the fall of 1835.
Davis was a lawyer of some eminence, and afterwards tilled several important official positions in Howard county. General Owen had commanded the militia in the early history of the county, and had been honored with the title of brigadier general. At the time he was killed, he was the proprietor of a hotel which stood upon the corner now occupied by the business house, of Boughner, Tolson & Smith. Davis had a law office on the same side of the street, south- east of the hotel, which was located where the millinery store of Mr -. Jasper is now situated. Owen and Davis had quarreled, and cach entertained for the other very bitter feelings; the former had been especially violent and denunciatory. Davis (known as Colonel Joe Davis ) was sitting in his office, as already stated, in the fall of 1835. It was nearly noon. General Owen came to the door of the office and spoke in threatening language to the colonel, intimating that he would take his life when he attempted to leave his office. Colonel Davis told the general. in a quiet way, that if he did not leave, he would kill him. Owen, how- ever, remained, continuing to abuse Davis, until the latter was ready to go to his dinner. Davis having, in the meantime, had hi- gun (a rifle ) brought to him, raised it, and took deliberate aim at Owen, killing him almost instantly. Owen, physically, was a much larger man than Davis. The latter was acquitted. Davis was said to have been one of the finest shots in the country, and so skilled was he, in the use of his rifle, that he could as often drive the centre at sixty paces as the most sturdy and experienced hunter.
WASHINGTON HILL AND DAVID GATES.
The above named persons, were slaves, the former being the property of Judge C. C. P. Hill, and the latter, the property of Daniel Gates.
In the spring of 1837, there lived a family of three blind brothers. within a few miles of Fayette. They earned their living by making chairs, which were prized more on account of their durability, than for their neatness of style and construction. These men were the owners of real estate, and sold a piece of land, from which they had realized a small sum of money. The day after the sale, the negroes went to their house, for the purpose of getting the money, and in their efforts to accomplish their hellish design, they killed one of the brothers.
ยท
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
For this they were arrested and tried at the June term of the court in 1837, found guilty and condemned to be hung, and were ac- vordingly excented, being the first persons ever hung in pursuance of a sentence of law in Howard county. The place of the execution, was a pasture north of Fayette, which was then the property of Gray Bynum. Here stood a large oak tree, from one of the limbs of which, they were suspended, thus paying the penalty for their crime.
PRICE KILLED ALLEN BURTON.
John R. Price was the brother of General Sterling Price ; he resided in Fayette and had been keeping hotel for several years at the period we mention ( 1838), and was.at that time operating a hotel at the east corner of the public square. Price was generally respected as a quiet, law-abiding citizen, and being a lame man, he never engaged in personal encounters. Allen Burton was an offensive braggart, and when drinking, an overbearing, violent and abusive man.
Burton went to Price's house one evening, about supper time, and began to curse and upbraid him in an outrageous manner. Price told him not to attempt to enter his house. Burton, however, disregarded any and all warnings, started in, when Price shot and killed him. The sympathy of the people was all on the side of Price. He was arrested, tried and acquitted, and when the verdict of " not guilty," was an- nounced in the court-room, there was the wildest excitement among the large number of interested spectators, who had been present dur- ing the progress of the trial. The demonstrations of rejoicing were so great and continued, that the judge threatened to send the parties making the disturbance to jail.
LUCKY KILLED SAFFARANS.
In the spring of 1858, Enoch Lucky killed Rufus Saffarans. Lucky was a man well advanced in years, but strong and active for one of his age. Saffarans was young and stalwart, and physi- cally was said to be the equal of any man in the county. Both men frequented saloons when in Fayette, and had had one or two altercations when discussing their strength of limb and achieve- ments as " fighters." On the day of the tragedy they had been drinking, and met in a saloon, when Saffarans took a walking cane from Lucky and beat him over the head and body, bruising him badly. On the night succeeding that day, Lucky prepared himself with a -hot-gun, and took his position on the west side of the public square. secreting himself in a narrow alley between two houses, about midway
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the block, where he remained until near midnight waiting and watch- ing for Saffarans, who passed that way in going to and returning from the saloon, which was at that time located in the rear of Bell's present (1883) grocery store.
The unfortunate victim, not knowing the terrible fate that was awaiting him, finally passed in front of the concealed man, who hailed him and told him that he was going to kill him, and at the same moment discharged his weapon, killing Saffarans upon the spot.
The trial of this case elicited great interest. Lucky was confined in jail, where he remained for about a year before his trial took place, which was conducted in the Christian church edifice ( the present court- honse being then in process of erection ). The prisoner was finally acquitted. John F. Williams, prosecuting attorney, conducted the case in behalf of the state. Colonel Joe Davis, Robert T. Prewitt, John B. Clark, Jr., and A. J. Herndon appeared for defendant.
HAYS KILLED BROWN.
Ethelred J. Hays lived near the Chariton county line ( Missouri ). and was a farmer. John W. Brown was a book-peddler and mer- chant, residing in Glasgow, Howard county. In the year 1854, Hays had business relations with Brown, and asked him to change for him a fifty dollar bill. Hays was drinking at the time (he was in the habit of taking an occasional spree ), but was considered a very honest man. He charged Brown with having stolen his fifty dollars. Brown sned him for slander, and with the consent of the defendant and his attorneys, Brown was permitted to get a judgment for costs. Hays was a malicious, revengful man, and being in front of Brown's store afterwards, he took out his knife, remarking at the time, " that he had sharpened it to kill Brown with." He went into the store immediately from the pavement, and struck Brown on the head with a spade, which he got in the store, cleaving his skull, which caused instant death.
Hays was taken to Randolph county on a change of venue, where he was tried and sentenced to be hung. General Sterling Price was governor of the state at the time, and commuted his sentence to imprisonment for life. After he had served a few years in the peni- tentiary, Governor Robert M. Stewart pardoned him.
OLIVER PERRY M'GEE KILLED THOS. J. WHITE.
This was a case brought from Macon county on a change of venne, and was tried in 1852, at Fayette. Charles H. Hardin pros-
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ecuted, and Clark & Gilstrap defended. After an interesting trial the prisoner-was cleared.
JOIIN CHAPMAN.
This was also a case transferred from Boone county, in 1858. Chapman was indieted for killing - -- -, while he was plow- ing in his field. John F. Williams prosecuted, and James S. Rollins, Odon Guitar and A. J. Herndon defended. Chapman was hung.
L. A. WILLOUGHBY SHOOTS AND KILLS R. L. COMSTOCK.
On Saturday, the 15th day of August, 1878, at a barbecue twelve miles east of Fayette, L. A. Willoughby shot and killed R. L. Comstock, a prominent and worthy citizen of the county.
Comstock, and his friend, a Mr. Davis, were conversing, when Willoughby walked up to where they were. Davis put his hand in a friendly way on Willoughby's shoulder. Just as he did so Wil- longhby drew back and asked Davis if he meant to collar him. Davis told him that he only put his hand on his shoulder supposing he was his friend. While this conversation was going on between Davis and Willoughby, Comstock very innocently put his hand in his pocket ; as soon as Willoughby, who, it is said, was under the influ- ence of liquor, saw Comstock's hand in his pocket, said " What do you mean by fingering your pocket?" Comstock answered coolly, that he did not think it was any of his business. Willoughby drew his pistol and said : " I will show you whether it is or not," at the same time firing on him. The ball took effect in the abdomen of Comstock, who lived long enough to say, " I'm shot." Willoughby was afterwards captured and taken to Fayette, but the murdered man's friends became so indignant that it was not thought prudent to confine Willoughby in Howard county ; he was, therefore, taken to Cooper county and incarcerated. After being tried three times ( hav- ing been sentenced to the penitentiary at one time ten years), he was finally cleared.
CHAPTER XII.
THE PRESS.
Introductory Remarks of a Historical Character- Missouri Intelligencer - Western Monitor - Missourian - Boone's Lick Times - Boone's Lick Democrat - Demo- cratic Banner -Iloward County Banner - Howard County Advertiser -- Plough- man - Independent - The Pilot-The Banner- Glasgow Times - Glasgow News - The Glasgow Journal - Central Missourian - Armstrong Autograph.
The press, the great luminary of liberty, is the handmaid of progress. It heralds its doings and makes known its discoveries. It is its advanee courier, whose coming is eagerly looked for and whose arrival is hailed with joy, as it brings tidings of its latest achieve- ments. The press prepares the way and ealls mankind to witness the approaching procession of the triumphal car of progress as it passes on down through the vale of the future. When the car of progress stops, the press will cease, and the intellectual and mental world will go down in darkness. The press is progress, and progress the press. So intimately are they related and their interests interwoven, that one eannot exist without the other. Progress made no advancement against the strong tides of ignorance and vice in the barbarie past until it called to its aid the press. In it is found its greatest discovery, its most valuable aid, and the true philosopher's stone.
The history of this great industry dates back to the fifteenth een- tury. Its discovery and subsequent utility resulted from the follow- ing causes and in the following manner : Laurentius Coster, a native of Haerlem, Holland, while rambling through the forest contiguous to his native city, carved some letters on the bark of a birch tree. Drowsy from the relaxation of a holiday, he wrapped his carvings in a piece of paper and lay down to sleep. While men sleep progress moves, and Coster awoke to discover a phenomenon, to him simple, strange and suggestive. Dampened by the atmospheric moisture, the paper wrapped about his handiwork had taken an impression from them, and the surprised burgher saw on the paper an inverted image of what he had engraved on the bark. The phenomenon was suggestive, because it led to experiments that resulted in establishing a printing office. the first of its kind in the old Dutch town. In this office John Guten-
(258)
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
burg served a faithful and appreciative apprenticeship, and from it, at the death of his master, absconded during a Christmas festival, taking with him a considerable portion of the type and apparatus. Guten- burg settled in Mentz, where he won the friendship and partnership of John Faust, a man of sufficient means to place the enterprise on a se- cure financial basis. Several years later the partnership was dissolved because of a misunderstanding. Gutenburg then formed a partner- ship with a younger brother, who had set up an office at Strasburg, but had not been successful, and becoming involved in law suits, had tled from that city to join his brother at Mentz. These brothers were the first to use metal types. Faust, after his dissolution with Guten- burg, took into partnership Peter Schoeffer, his servant, and a most ingenious printer. Schoeffer privately cut matrices for the whole al- phabet. Faust was so pleased that he gave Schoeffer his only daughter in marriage. These are the great names in the early history of print- ing, and each is worthy of special honor.
Coster's discovery of wood blocks or plates, on which the page to be printed were engraved, was made some time between 1440 and 1450, and Schoeffer's improvement - casting the type by means of matrices - was made about 1456. For a long time printing was de- pendent upon most clumsy apparatus. The earliest press had a con- trivance for running the forms under the point of pressure by means of a serew. When the pressure was applied the screw was loosened, the form withdrawn and the sheet removed. Improvements were made upon these ernde beginnings from time to time, until the hand press now in use is a model of simplicity, durability and execution. In 1814, steam was first supplied to cylinder presses by Frederick Konig, a Saxon genius, and the subsequent progress of steam print- ing has been so remarkable as to almost justify a belief in its absolute perfection. Indeed, to appreciate the improvement in presses alone, one ought to be privileged to stand a while by the pressman who op- erated the elumsy machine of Gutenberg, and then he should step into one of the well-appointed modern printing offices of our larger cities, where he could notice the roll of dampened paper entering the great power presses, a continuous sheet, and issuing therefrom as newspapers, ready for the carrier or express. The Romans, in the times of the emperors, had periodicals, notices of passing events, compiled and distributed. These daily events were the newspapers of that age. In 1536, the first newspaper of modern times was issued at Venice, but governmental bigotry compelled its circulation in manu- script form.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
In 1663, the Public Intelligencer was published in London, and is credited with being the first English paper to attempt the dissemi- nation of general information. The first American newspaper was the Boston News-Letter, whose first issue was made April 24, 1704. It was a half-sheet, twelve inches by eight, with two columns to the page. John Campbell, the postmaster, was the publisher. The Boston Gazette made its first appearance December 21, 1719, and the American Weekly, at Philadelphia, December 22, 1719. In 1776, the number of newspapers published in the colonies was thirty-seven ; in 1828, the number had increased to eight hundred and fifty-two, and at the present time not less than eight thousand newspapers are sup- ported by our people. Journalism, by which is meant the compiling of passing public events, for the purpose of making them more gen- erally known and instructive, has become a powerful educator. Ex- perience has been its only school for special training, its only text for study, its only test for theory. It is scarcely a profession, but is advancing rapidly toward that dignity. A distinct department of lit- erature has been assigned to it. Great editors are writing autobiogra- phies and formulating their methods and opinions ; historians are reseuing from oblivion the every-day life of deceased journalists ; re- prints of interviews with famous journalists, touching the different phases of their profession, are deemed worthy of publication in book form. Leading universities have contemplated the inauguration of courses of study specially designed to fit men and women for the du- ties of the newspaper sanctum. These innovations are not untimely, sinee no other class of men are so powerful for good or ill as editors. More than any other class they form publie opinion while expressing it, for most men but echo the sentiments of favorite journalists. Even statesmen, ministers and learned professors not unfrequently get their best thoughts and ideas from the papers they read.
NEWSPAPER AT (OLD ) FRANKLIN.
On the 23d of April, 1819, Nathaniel Patton, and Benjamin Holli- day, commeneed the publication of the Missouri Intelligencer in ( Old) Franklin. The size of the sheet was 18x24 inches, and was printed on what is known to the printers as the Ramage press, a wooden con- trivance, with cast-iron bed, joints and platten, and which at this day, is a great curiosity. About the year 1858, Col. Win. F Switzler, of Columbia. Mo., presented this press to the Mercantile Library Associ- ation of St. Louis. From April 23d, 1819, to June 10, 1820, Na-
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fhaniel Patton and Benjamin Holliday were the publishers. (Mrs. E. W. McClannaban, who now resides near Columbia, Missouri, is a daughter of Mr. Holliday. )
June 10, 1820, Mr. Patton retired as publisher, leaving Mr. Hol- liday in charge, who continued till July 23, 1821, when John Payne, a lawyer, became the editor. He was a native of Culpeper county, Virginia, and died in Franklin, September 15, 1821, aged twenty-four years.
September 4, 1821, Mr. Payne retired and Mr. Holliday again as- sumed control.
From August 5, 1822, to April 17, 1824, Nathaniel Patton and John T. Cleveland were the publishers. Mr. Cleveland died some years ago at Austin, Texas.
April 17, 1824, Mr. Cleveland retired, leaving Mr. Patton sole publisher, which position he continued to hold until the sale of the paper by him to Mr. Fred A. Hamilton, December 12, 1835.
The last issue of the Intelligencer at Franklin, June 16, 1826.
The paper was then moved to Fayette, the first paper appearing June 29, 1826.
July 5, 1827, John Wilson, then a young lawyer in Fayette, was announced as editor, which position he held till July 25, 1828. Mr. Wilson died in San Francisco, California, February 2, 1877, aged eighty-seven years.
April 9, 1830, last issue of the Intelligencer at Fayette.
May 4, 1830, first issue of the Intelligencer at Columbia, Mis- souri.
December 5, 1835, last issue of the Intelligencer at Columbia.
Near the close of the year 1835, it became Known that Mr. Pat- ton, owing to failing health, intended to dispose of the Intelligencer office, and as the presidential and state elections of the following year were approaching, the possession of the paper became an object of interest to the politicians and the people. Both parties wanted it, and the Democrats under the leadership of Austin A. King, then a lawyer resident of Columbia, Dr. William H. Duncan, Dr. Alexander M. Robinson and others of Columbia, made some efforts to secure the office. While negotiations to this end were pending. Robert S. Barr, Oliver Parker, William Cornelius, Warren Woodson, Moses U. Payne, A. W. Turner, Joseph B. Howard, John B. Gordon, Sinclair Kirtley, David and Roger N. Todd. Dr. William Jewell, James S. Rollins, Thomas Miller and possibly other whigs, raised the money and pur- chased the press and the materials, with the understanding that Fred-
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erick A. Hamilton, a practical printer, should take charge of the pub- lication, and Rollins and Miller, then two young lawyers of Columbia, the editorial conduct of the paper, the name of which was changed to Patriot, December 12, 1835.
The Intelligencer was the first newspaper published west of St. Louis.
The next paper published in Howard county was the Western Monitor. This was commenced in Fayette in August, 1827, by Weston F: Birch, who continued it until about 1837, when he retired, and was succeeded by his brother, Colonel James H. Birch, who changed the name of the paper to the Missourion. After running the Missouriun for about three years, he disposed of it to Clark H. Green, who changed the name to the Boone's Lick Times. The Monitor, the Missourian, and the Boone's Lick Times, were all whig papers, the Times being the last whig paper that was published in Fayette. Almost sin- ultaneously with the Tunes, was established the Boone's Lick Demo- crut, which was edited by Judge William Napton, and afterwards by Judge William A. Hall, who ran it until about 1844. The Times wa- finally taken to Glasgow, where it was published until about the year 1861.
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