USA > Missouri > Ray County > History of Ray county, Mo. > Part 54
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9. Lime and sandstone.
11. Slate
2
·
465
HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
lying bituminous shale is about four inches thick, and the under clay one foot, making quite a limited space between the roof and floor.
An analysis of the coal, by Mr. Chauvenet, gives:
Water 72.11
Volatile . 30.30
Fixed carbon
37.30
Ash. .
9.90
Color of ash. gray
The North Missouri mines * * are at the lower end of Camden. The shaft is sixty feet deep and the platform sixteen feet above the railroad track. From the bottom entries are extended in various directions: 280 yards north, 500 northwest, 190 west, and 100 east. * The coal, nineteen to twenty-one inches thick, is black, brilliant, with a little clay three inches from the top, and a few knife edges of iron pyrites in the upper part. The lower one inch is shaly, with three inches black under clay resting on fire-clay. The coal is jointed, with calcite plates in the joints. In the bed of the ditch below the railroad, opposite the shaft, are thin beds of limestone, equivalent to No. 23 (three feet shales and thin beds of limestone abounding in Ch. Smithii(?) and containing Spr. camer- atus, Pr. costatus, Hemipronites crassus and Athyris subtilita) of Lexington section, some of them forming very pretty slabs, covered with fossils, viz: Hemipronites crassus, chonetes, producti, etc. A few feet above it is lime- stone corresponding to No. 21 of Lexington section; the top of the latter being twenty-one feet below the mouth of the shaft, indicating the position of the coal to be quite low.
SECOND RAY COUNTY MINES.
These mines, about one-quarter of a mile above the north Missouri mines, and also on the railroad, are owned by Thomas Collins. The shaft is fifty feet deep. From the top of the shaft to the railroad track is twenty feet. The driftings extend far into the hill. Intersecting them is a passage for ventilation, which terminates at an air shaft near the main shaft, and seems to give thorough ventilation. Coal measured at various places in these mines was eighteen, twenty-two, twenty-three and twenty- four inches; average, about twenty-three. From one to one and one-half feet of bituminous shales on top, and one to two feet of fire-clay beneath; an average of about four and a half feet between bed-rock and cap-rock. The height of main entry is four feet near its mouth, and farther in, three feet. Cap-rock, seven to eight feet thick. A very fair coke was made from Collins' coal, of which the following is the analysis by Mr. Chau- venet:
Water. 3.25
Volatile. .
4.85
Fixed Carbon 83.37
Ash
8.50
466
HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
The shafts at Camden are sunk from a terrace on the hillside. A quarter of a mile above Collins' mines, the Lexington coal is seen, near the grade of the railroad, having risen thirty feet from Collins' shaft. This may explain the fact of more water being in the north Missouri mines than in the second Ray county mines, the water passing between the eastward dipping strata, from the second Ray county to the north Missouri mines.
A little farther west, I observed cropping out in a gully, nine feet nine inches below the railroad, three feet of ash blue limestone, referable to No. 32 (fifteen inches limestone; pyritiferous; color blue; hard; one bed; shelly on top; contains small univalves on the surface,) of Lexington section, and resting on four feet of slate and shale, with six inches of coal below. One hundred and fifty feet west, the coal is five feet above the railroad, and for the next three hundred feet the rise is four feet. A quarter of a mile west of Camden the rocks dip about one in twelve.
Eight hundred and twenty feet farther, a shaft sunk forty feet struck limestone, No. 21 of Lexington section, indicating a dip of fifty-eight feet in eight hundred and twenty feet, or one to fourteen.
SWANWICK SHAFT.
The shaft of Thomas Huyson is eighty-six feet deep to top of coal, of which he furnishes me the following:
No. 1-Surface.
46 feet. { No. 2-Shaly sandstone, red, blue and gray. No. 3-16 feet of red shales.
No. 4-6 feet being layers of sandstone separated by soft blue clay. No. 5-22 feet blue slate. No. 6-4₺ feet rock (reported flint).
40 feet.
No. 7-3 feet blue clay. No. 8-4 to 5 feet impure limestone.
No. 9-20 inches to 2 feet coal.
No. 10-6 to 18 inches under clay. No. 11-6 to 8 feet hard limstone.
The slate over the coal is almost entirely wanting here; the limestone generally resting directly on the coal, but the under-clay correspondingly thickens- a fortunate provision of nature -- as,o therwise there would not be room enough to mine. The section from hill top here is the following:
No. 1-5 feet slope.
No. 2-4 feet limestone, weathering brown, and ringing under the ham- mer; mntains Athyris, Spr. cameratus, chatetes milleporaceus and Crinoid stems.
No. 3-8 feet slope.
No. 4-2 feet of rough, nodular limestone; weathers with a ferrugin- ous crust, and contains many remains of fossils.
467
HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
No. 5 .- 124 feet sloping gently to top of shaft.
Around the hill and associated with limestone (probably the same as No. 4), I found amber-colored crystals of heavy spar; also a little iron ore. In the limestone I observed Spr. Kentuckensis and Spr. lineatus.
Section 178 is seen one mile northwest of Richmond.
No. 1-3 feet bluish-drab, rough looking limestone, weathering drab.
No. 2-8 feet slope.
No. 3-Tumbled masses of fine-grained, dove-colored limestone.
No. 4-100 feet. Less than 40 feet below the top abounds soft brown sandstone. At 50 feet are tumbled masses of gray limestone.
No. 5-Red shales.
No. 6-About 45 feet to the Lexington coal. .
The upper members of the section can be compared with the Swan- wick section.
An analysis of the Swanwick coal by Mr. Chauvenet, gives:
TOP.
MIDDLE.
BOTTOM.
Water
10.00
12.55
11.20
Volatile .
37.85
37.05
38.50
Fixed carbon
48.30
46.65
46.70
Ash .
3.85
5.75
3.60
Color of ash-light brown, white, nearly white.
It
The Swanwick coal is remarkable for a large percentage of water. does not coke well.
Ash-blue limestone, which may be hydraulic, abounds two miles north- east of Richmond, and similar rocks are found at most of the coal banks near Richmond and Camden.
PAINT STUFFS .- About fifty feet above the Lexington coal in Lafayette and Ray counties is found about five or six feet of light-red shales streaked with green; and also at Lexington, at several places near Rich- mond, and on the Missouri bluff's near the east county line of Ray county. The above are pure red ochre clays and will make a good dark-red paint.
At Hughes' mines, near Richmond, sulphuret of zinc occurs in limestone overlying the coal.
The south and east boundary of the upper coal measures is as follows: Entering the state near the southwest part of Cass county, passing east- wardly, near Harrisonville, thence, northeast across the mounds between Big Creek and Camp branch, thence northeast to the middle of township forty-six, range twenty-nine, thence north to Chapel Hill in Lafayette county, thence via Oak Grove and Pink Hill, Jackson county, to Blue Mills or Owens landing on the Missouri river. Crossing the river the line passes down to the vicinity of Albany, Ray county, thence it trends off to the north part of Ray county and the line of Caldwell and Living- stone counties, thence northwardly along the ridge on the west side of
.
468
HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
the east fork of Grand river to the line of Grundy and Mercer counties, and thence northwardly to the Iowa state line.
There are several other coal mines in the county, of which we have been unable to obtain an account. Among them, we mention a new mine of J. S. Hughes & Co. on St. Joseph branch of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific; and the shaft of J. W. Shotwell & Co., on same railroad, in the suburbs of Richmond, sunk in the fall of 1880.
INCIDENTS.
In one (November) day Holland Vanderpool killed five deer. It was near Crooked river; he dragged them one by one to that stream; made a bark canoe, and floated them home.
In addition to the mortar and pestle, mentioned in another place, corn was reduced to meal by means of a handmill, made by the settlers, as fol- lows: A circular stone was placed on anothee similar stone, except that the latter, called the "bed rock," was smooth. Through a small hole in the center of the upper stone, the corn was dropped, one grain at a time. A lever, four to six feet in length, was inserted into a cavity in the edge of the rock. By means of this lever the stone was turned and the corn ground. The nether mill-stone was stationary.
In the course of time horse power was used for operating the mill; and this was considered a wonderful advance in the matter of making bread- stuff.
The mill just described antedates any other in the settlement, and for a long time was the only " mall " in use.
Winnat Vanderpool had a pet bear and a pet panther which played in the yard and were fondled by the children.
On the present site of Richmond, one day, in the year 1818, Winant Vanderpool and John Stone killed five bears.
Isaac Martin built the first horse mill; and the first brick house erected in Ray county was built by Jonathan Keeney, at Albany.
Store bills were paid off with wild honey, beeswax, coon, deer, otter and other skins of wild animals. Taxes were paid with fox and wolf scalps.
Soon after Richmond was founded, Billy Bales, a new-comer, went to Richmond and told Charles Morehead, a merchant, that he wanted to buy some honey; and in reply to the question, " What is it worth?" was answered, "Twenty-five cents a gallon." "I'll take all you got," rejoined
469
HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
Bales. He was invited into the cellar, where, on finding 2,000 gallons, he said, "I only want a keg!"
The day after Holland Vanderpool was married, he and his wife rode horseback to Richmond to get their household goods. From a merchant named Slothard they purchased the necessary supply, and started home. Mr. V. carried the table-ware in a bucket, placed on the horse in front of him. When just out of town, the toe of Mr. V.'s horse striking a root, the animal fell; the rider and the dishes went over his head; the former was bruised; the latter broken to pieces.
Mr. V. lived in a log hut with one room; the latch-string hung on the outside, and at his hovel
"The richest were poor, and the poorest dwelt in abundance."
People were very neighborly in those days, and visited each other fre- quently. Visitors and all slept on the floor.
One night Mr. Vanderpool and his wife were alone in their cabin. The former was asleep on the loom bench; the latter busy at her wheel. Mr. V. was suddenly awakened by his wife, who, greatly frightened, said a bear was trying to get into the house; that she had seen its paw through the latch-hole in the door. Mr. V., taking his gun and a butcher-knife in hand, opened the door-to be greeted by a negro woman, who, fleeing from her master, Jere Crowley, sought shelter from the snow storm. The weather was very cold and the snow deep. The woman's clothes were frozen stiff. Mr. Crowley was not the least unkind to the negress; she had a mania for running away.
The pioneer was a hard worker. He had to fell huge trees; clear his land, maul rails, built fences. Wives made their husbands pads of feathers to wear on the shoulders while carrying green rails and heavy timbers.
Sometimes crops were raised without having been fenced; corn, cotton, pumpkins, oats and watermelons were cultivated on the open prairie.
In the year 1822, a man from New England, who was engaged in buy- ing furs, pelts, etc., from citizens of Ray county, for which he exchanged pins and needles, became enamored of a fair, bucolic damsel, living in the vicinity of the present town of Hardin. The Yankee sought and won the maiden's hand and heart. At the appointed time, the nuptial knot was tied by an old man, who was a justice of the peace. After the ceremony, the "coon skin man"-as the peddler was called-paid the justice for his trouble in pins and needles, and the twain, made one, went on their way rejoicing.
Ever afterward, the justice was known as the "pin and needle 'squire."
470
HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
MURDER OF DORCAS CLEAVENGER.
It were more welcome reading if a complete series of historical events, pertaining to our county, contained no reminiscences melancholy in their nature. But, it is the province of history to relate every true story; and it becomes the annalist's duty, anon, to fill the interstices between agreea- ble recitals with naratives of more solemn interest.
On Sunday night, May 28, 1837, was perpetrated a nameless crime and the most atrocious murder ever committed in Ray county.
The victim was a Mrs. Dorcas Cleavenger, an amiable, inoffensive lady, the wife of William Cleavenger, who, it will be remembered, was one of the first settlers in Fishing river bottoms; the perpetrators were two fiends incarnate, named Ish and Henry, slaves respectively of Richard Cleavenger and Abraham Froman.
On the afternoon of the day mentioned-Sabbath as it was-Mr. Cleavenger went fishing, leaving his wife and two little children, aged three and five, alone at the house.
Mr. C. did not return home until late at night. The stillness of the mid- night hour breathed not a whisper of the horrible disclosure awaiting him. He approached the door, pulled the latch-string, and passed the threshold, little knowing that he was entering the chamber of death! Silence pre- vailed. The little innocents, nestled closely at their mother's side-three cheeks pressing the same pillow-were wrapped in the happy uncon- sciousness of sleep; and so was the mother-but not to wake again on earth. The room was dark. The husband called to his wife, speaking her name, but receiving no response, stepped to the bed-side, and, doubt- less rebuking himself for having stayed away so long, tenderly placed his hand on her brow; it was pulseless, and cold as marble! He again vainly called, and then, thoroughly alarmed, kindled a light in the fire-place. The blazing fagots threw a ghastly glamour on the pale face of a mur- dered woman-the mother of his children-she who had been the life of his life and the soul of his soul. There in the dismal glare of a waning light, the poor man stood-wifeless; and motionless with unspeakable woe.
After awhile the heart-broken husband left the dead, and the uncon- scious living, alone, till he could go to the house of his father, happily liv- ing not far away, and make known his sad discovery.
The father and other members of the family, on receiving the informa- tion, repaired to the house in which the dead woman lay.
The neighbors assembled early next morning to ascertain the cause of Mrs. Cleavenger's death. The coroner was notified. He empanneled a jury, and such proceedings were had as are common in cases of mysterious death.
The jury, after having made some inquiry, but without, it appears, a
471
HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
thorough examination, adopted a verdict that " Mrs. Cleavenger came to her death by an attack of apoplexy."
The same (Monday) evening Mrs. C. was buried, but the people were not satisfied with the result of the coroner's inquest. Dr. Mallet, a physi- cian of the neighborhood, felt assured, upon post mortem examination, that death was not caused by apoplexy. Suspicion was rife that the unfortunate lady had been murdered, and the whole community set about to find the murderer or murderers.
Ish, a man of color, owned by Richard Cleavenger, father of the bereaved husband, was suspected. A party of men, armed with guns, went to the house of the slave's master, and demanded to see the former.
Ish was brought forth, and in reply to questions, answered, with con- siderable trepidation: That Froman's Henry had come to him, and asked him to go with the former to William Hill's, a neighbor; that he assented, and on the way to Mr Hill's, Henry told him (Ish) that he (Henry) had killed Dorcas Cleavenger, and wanted Ish to go and help him (Henry) to put her on the bed. Blood was found on Ish's coat sleeve; and in reply to the question how it came there, he said it was the blood of Dorcas Cleavenger; that he had no other chance to get it. Ish claimed that he had no hand in killing his " Miss Dorky," but confessed that he helped Froman's Henry to put her to bed, and stated further, Froman's Henry had killed her.
Ish, however, implicated himself before the interview ended, and he and Henry were arrested.
Their preliminary trial was held June 1st, before justices of the peace, James Dickie and John Dozier. As a result, the negroes were incarce- rated at Richmond, to await the July term of the circuit court.
The indictment found against the culprits at that term, will complete the story, and it is subjoined, as well on account of the quaintness of the document, as of its bearing in this case:
STATE OF MISSOURI, RAY COUNTY.
In the Circuit Court, Fuly term, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven; Ray county, to-wit :
The grand jurors, for the state of Missouri, for the body of the county of Ray, aforesaid, upon their oaths, do present:
That Ish and Henry, late of said county of Ray, men of color, and slaves, the said Ish the property of Richard Cleavenger, of said county, and the said Henry, the property of Abraham Froman, of said county, not having the fear of God before their eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, on the twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, with force and arms, at the county of Ray, aforesaid, in and upon one Dorcas Cleavenger, in the peace of God, and of the state of Missouri, then and there being, feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice aforethought, did make an assault; and that they, said Ish and Henry, with both the hands of each of them,
472
HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
said Ish and Henry, about the neck and throat of her, the said Dorcas Cleavenger, then and there, feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice afore- thought, did fix and fasten, and that they, said Ish and Henry, with both the hands of each of them, said Ish and Henry, so, as aforesaid, fixed and fastened about the neck and throat of her, the said Dorcas Cleavenger, then and there did violently squeeze and press; and that the said Ish and Henry, also, then and there feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice afore- thought, with both the hands of each of them, said Ish and Henry, threw the said Dorcas Cleavenger down to and upon the ground, and then and there they, the said Ish and Henry, feloniously, wilfully, and of their mal- ice aforethought, jumped and pitched their knees in and upon the belly of the said Dorcas Cleavenger, giving to her, the said Dorcas Clavenger, then and there, by jumping and pitching their knees in and upon the belly of the said Dorcas Cleavenger, as aforesaid, one mortal bruise; as well of which said squeezing and pressing of the neck and throat of her, the said Dorcas Cleavenger, with both the handsof each of them, said Ish and Henry, as aforoesaid, as all of the jumping and pitching of the said Ish and Henry, in and upon the belly of the said Dorcas Cleavenger, as aforesaid, she, the said Dorcas Cleavenger, then and there instantly died.
And so the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do say that the. said Ish and Henry, her, the said Dorcas Cleavenger, in manner and by the means aforesaid, feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice aforethought, did then and there kill and murder. Against the form of the statute, in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state.
T. C. BURCH, Circuit Attorney.
And the jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do further present: That Ish, late of said county of Ray, a person of color, and a slave, the property of Richard Cleavenger, of said county of Ray; and Henry, late of said county of Ray, a person of color, and a slave, the property of Abraham Froman, of said county, not having the fear of God before their eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, on the twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, with force and arms, at the county of Ray, aforesaid, in and upon one Dorcas Cleavenger, in the peace of God and the state of Mis- souri, then and there being, feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice afore- thought, did make and assault, and that the said Ish, his left hand about the neck and throat of said Dorcas Cleavenger, then and there, felon- iously, wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, did fix and fasten, and that he, said Ish, with his left hand, so as aforesaid, fixed and fastened about the neck and throat of her, said Dorcas Cleavenger, then and there did violently, feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, squeeze and press; and that the said Ish also then and there feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, jumped and plunged the right knee of him, said Ish, in and upon the belly of the said Dorcas Cleavenger, giving to her, said Dorcas Cleavenger, then and there, by jumping and plunging his, said Ish's, right knee in and upon the belly of the said Dorcas, as aforesaid, one mortal bruise, as well of which said squeezing and pressing of the neck and throat of said Dorcas Cleavenger, with the left hand of the said Ish, as last aforesaid, as also of the jumping and plunging of the right knee of said Ish in and upon the belly of said Dorcas Cleavenger,
473
HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
as last aforesaid, she, the said Dorcas Cleavenger, then and there instantly died; and that the said Henry, at the time of committing the felony and murder last aforesaid, in manner aforesaid, feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, was present, aiding, helping, abetting, comforting, assisting, and maintaining the said Ish in the felony and murder last afore- said, in manner and form last aforesaid, to do, commit and perpetrate.
And so the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do say that the said Ish and Henry, her, the said Dorcas Cleavenger, in the manner and by the means last aforesaid, feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice afore- thought, did then and there kill and murder. Against the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state.
T. C. BURCH, Circuit Attorney.
The above indictment was returned a "true bill," July 10, 1837. On that day Ish and Henry were led into court, and having no counsel, Alex. W. Doniphan, William T. Wood and Eldridge Benner were appointed to defend them. Amos Rees was appointed to assist in the prosecution.
July 11th, the prisoners appeared in court, and being ready for trial the same proceeded.
After hearing all the evidence in the case, the jury-Joseph Ewing, Samuel McCuistion, Abraham Linville, Harry Lile, William T. Tisdale, John H. Smith, Henry Clarke, Reuben Holman, Henry Hill, Albert Snowden, Allen Ball and Samuel Boon-retired, consulted, and returned with the following verdict, endorsed on the bill of indictment:
We, of the jury, find the defendants guilty in manner and form, as charged in the within indictment.
JOSEPH EWING, Foreman.
Thereupon, the court ordered and adjudged that the said defendants be remanded back to the jail of this county, there to remain in close confine- ment until Friday, the 11th day of August next, and on that day, between the hours of ten o'clock in the forenoon and three o'clock in the after- noon, they be taken from thence to a gallows, to be erected for the pur- pose at some convenient place, within one-half mile of the town of Rich- mond, there to be hung by the neck 'until each of them are dead; and that the sheriff of this county carry the foregoing into execution.
At the designated time and place, Ish and Henry were duly hanged by the neck until they were dead-Hardy Holman, sheriff, being the executioner.
Ish and Henry were the first to be convicted of murder, and theirs was the first public execution in the county.
The writer inadvertently omitted to state in the proper place, that the scene of the murder just narrated, was near what is now the site of Fred- ericksburg, or New Garden post office, in Fishing River township.
30
474
HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
UNLAWFUL HOMICIDE.
The first unlawful homicide was committed at or near Buffalo bridge, on Crooked river, in the year 1823, by one Love Snowden, a desperate character of untamed disposition, the brutal propensities of whose nature . overwhelmed the promptings of a decent manhood.
The citizens of the neighborhood had met for social pastime, near the bridge above mentioned. A quarrel began between Snowden and a neighbor, named Woods. Persons gathered around the parties in order to quell the disturbance. The difficulty was, apparently, amicably settled, and the two men shook hands in token of peace. Every body thought the affair at an end, and for a while all went as smoothly as if nothing had occurred to mar the enjoyment of the occasion. But the fiendish fire of Snowden's nature was not permitted to smolder; it continued to rankle, till, in a moment of violent rage, he plunged a knife to the hilt in the breast of the unwary, unfortunate Woods, inflicting a wound of which he expired in a few moments.
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