USA > Missouri > Vernon County > History of Vernon County, Missouri : past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county Vol. I > Part 18
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The scene of the murder was in the timber, near Mulberry creek, in the southeastern part of Virgil township, about a mile and a half west or northwest of Virgil City. Seeing that his wife was dead, Nottingham dragged and carried the body to a shelving bank or projecting cliff, forming a sort of cave, where he con- cealed it for the time, darkness having come on, and then returned to his house. He informed his children that their step-mother had gone to her father's, but that he would go after her the next morning. And the next morning he did ride over to Mr. Jarrell's,
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taking a neighbor with him, and made inquiry for his wife as if he expected to find her there. On the way his companion found a black silk handkerchief which the woman had dropped. That night, or the following, Nottingham dug a grave and going to the cave where his wife's body lay, he attempted to carry it away and bury it. But Mrs. Nottingham in life was a stout, well- formed woman and somewhat over-sized, and though her husband handled her body with ease on the night of the murder, yet when he tried to take it from the cave he could not move it. Accord- ingly, with a large pocket knife, he cut the body in two, and carried each part to the grave separately and buried it, covering it, however, with but a few inches of earth; the grave or pit was but a shallow, incomplete affair, resembling a ditch or trench.
For some days the mysterious disappearance of Mrs. Notting- ham was the sensation of the neighborhood. There was not a general opinion that she had been murdered; only a few sus- picioned such a thing. The prevailing theories were that she was hiding in the timber in order to worry and punish her hus- band, or else that she had left the county for good; a few thought she had committed suicide. Searching parties were organized and scoured the country and there was the greatest excitement. But Nathan Jarrell believed that his daughter had been murdered, and one day while he was riding with his neighbor, Daniel Pryor, on the search, his attention was attracted to a brace of buzzards wheeling about in the air, while two or three of their com- panions were perched upon the limbs of some trees beneath. Surmising what had attracted these scavengers of the air to the locality, Mr. Jarrell dismounted and soon discovered the remains of the poor woman.
The alarm was given, the body identified beyond dispute, and Nottingham at once taken into custody. A preliminary examina- tion before Esq. Saml. Dunnagin, at Dunnagin's Grove, resulted in his being committed to jail to await the action of the grand jury. There was some talk of lynch law but it was not put into execution. The prisoner was confined in jail at Clinton, there being at that time no suitable jail in Bates county, of which this county then formed a part. Nottingham was indicted soon after and tried at Papinville, the then county seat, before Judge Wm. Wood. He was ably defended by Waldo P. Johnson, but as ably
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prosecuted by John M. Bryant, the circuit attorney. The evi- dence was overwhelming and he was speedily convicted.
As the verdict was "guilty of murder in the first degree," the prisoner was sentenced to be hung. No attempt seems to have been made to procure a reversal of the conviction or a modifica- tion of the sentence. The records of Bates county containing the proceedings in this case are lost, but old settlers do not re- member that there was an appeal, although a long time inter- vened between the murder and the execution. The prisoner was taken back to Clinton jail, and here he wrote out a lengthy and complete confession of his crime and the attendant circumstances. This confession was given to Dr. Albert Badger and was sent to a printing office at Lexington and copies printed and sold through- out the country.
Nottingham was hung at Papinville in the fall of 1852, as best remembered; Sheriff Gabriel M. Stratton was the executioner, and a large crowd was present at the execution, people coming from as far south as Carthage, and from Osceola and all the region around about.
It was during the early part of this decade, too, that Vernon was organized as a separate county, and the present boundaries fixed.
CHAPTER XVIII.
COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
The rights of the Osage Indians, existing at the time Missouri was admitted into the Union, in 1821, in the west twenty-four miles of what afterward became Vernon county territory, was relinquished by their treaty with the Government in 1825. Jack- son county, which was organized in February of that year. out of Lillard county, temporarily included all of Vernon county terri- tory, except the lowest tier of congressional townships, which belonged to Wayne county, but came under the jurisdiction of Crawford county in 1829, and in 1833 was attached to Greene county.
Van Buren (now Cass) county was organized in 1835 with boundaries practically as now, except that the south line ran some two miles south of the site of the present city of Butler : and it was proposed to form of the territory south of the Barton county line, a new county to be called Bates, that territory being temporarily attached to Van Buren.
The organization of Bates county. which was approved by an act of the legislature January 29, 1841, comprised all of the ter- ritory now included in both Bates and Vernon counties, with boundaries "beginning on the western boundary line of this State. at the southwest corner of Van Buren (Cass) county; thence east. to the southeast corner of said county; thence south on the range line dividing ranges 28 and 29 to the township line dividing townships 33 and 34; thence west to the western line of the State : thence north on said line, to the place of beginning."
Harmony, Missouri, was the county seat till 1848, when it was moved to Papinville, which was regularly laid out in 1847, and named in honor of Melicourt Papin, an Indian trader. The first courts were held at James Allen's, and Freeman Barrows served as county and circuit clerk till 1853, when he was succeeded by Mr. R. A. Boughan. The first sheriff of Bates, was Charles Eng- lish. Bates county as thus organized, was divided into three
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townships, viz: Henry, on the west, Little Osage, in the center, and Clear Creek, on the east. A further division was made later, when Harrison, Hudson and Drywood townships were formed.
In 1851 measures were adopted to form two counties out of the territory then included in Bates and Cass counties, one of which was to be named Vernon. The legislative act in further- ance of this proposition, had the following provision relating to the boundaries of Vernon county : "All the territory included in the following limits, to wit: Beginning on the western bound- ary line of the State of Missouri, at the section corner dividing sections 7 and 18 in township 38, of range 33; thence cast with the line dividing said sections, to the line of St. Clair county ; thence north, with the line separating the counties of Bates and St. Clair, to the southwest corner of Henry county; thence con- tinuing north with the line separating Cass and Henry counties, to the middle of the main channel of Grand river; thence up the main channel of Grand river to the line dividing townships 42 and 43; thence west, with the line separating said townships 42 and 43 to said western boundary line; thence south with said boundary line to the beginning-is hereby created a separate and distinct county, for all civil and military purposes, to be called the county of Vernon, in honor of Miles Vernon of Laclede county." Under this proposed division, substantially what is now Bates, was to be Vernon county, and Vernon was to be what is now Bates county. A commission comprising Burton L. McFerrin, Hugh G. Glenn and William Hudson was appointed to select a county seat, in the meantime courts to be held at the house of Charles Adams, and justices of the peace of both Bates and Cass were to continue to act within their respective jurisdic- tions till their successors were elected in August, 1852. Pro- visions were made for a poll to be taken on the first Monday of August, 1851, the proposed act to become operative if a majority of the voters of the two counties of Bates and Cass favored it, unless a majority of the voters of the proposed new county were opposed to it, in which case it was to be void; and the act, in no part was to be in force till after said election. On the ratification of the act, the Governor was to appoint officers of the new county, in the meantime the then officers of Bates and Cass, to continue the discharge of the duties of their respective offices within the limits of the new county. Papinville, the county seat of the old
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Bates county was to continue as county seat of the new Bates. and until the population of the new county entitled it to separate representation, the voters of that portion of Vernon taken from Bates were to vote as in Bates county, and those of that portion taken from Cass, were to vote as in Cass county.
The act thus establishing the two counties was so imperfect and contained so many incongruities, that although it was passed by both houses of the Legislature and approved by the Governor, it never went into operation. And under quo warranto proceed- ings against Samuel Scott, who had been appointed sheriff of the new Vernon county, the court at Clinton, Judge Russell Hicks presiding, decided that the county of Vernon had no legal exist- ence, and a nominal fine of one cent was imposed against the sheriff.
At this time the population of both Bates and Vernon counties, including some 350 slaves, numbered only 3,669, and for several years showed little increase. Under these circumstances, matters pertaining to the division of the territory remained in statu quo till 1854, when conditions improved and a new impetus was given to the country by the coming of new settlers and the locating of claims, and a general movement on the part of those holding claims to make government entry of their lands.
That the vast territory of Bates county must be divided was a fixed public conviction and the opportune time for the division seemed to have arrived. The people south of the Osage, espe- cially, tiring of the inconvenience of having to go to Papinville to transact their business, desired a change. Accordingly the project of forming a new county was again broached in the fall of 1854, and found pretty general favor. Messrs. Boughan, Mc- Neil, Gatewood, and others, who had been active in the former attempt, were joined by newcomers, Dr. Dodson, Dewitt C. Hun- ter, and others, and to Dr. Dodson, who had entered a large tract of land in Walker township with a view of making permanent settlement, and who was member-elect from Camden county, of the Legislature which was to meet at Jefferson City in January, 1855, was entrusted the work of presenting and having passed the organization act. Colonel Miles Vernon, senator from Laclede county, who had been largely instrumental in securing the passage of the former bill, took charge of the new project in the Senate. Opposition, particularly that of Representative John
T
Blair School Navada Mo. 1897
BLAIR SCHOOL.
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E. Morgan, of Bates, was overcome, by Dr. Dodson, while the popularity of Colonel Vernon in the Senate won numerous votes, so that when put on passage, the measure was almost unanimously adopted, and on February 27, 1855, the following act, by the ap- proval of Governor Price, became a law :
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Mis- souri, as follows :
Section 1. All that part of Bates county lying south of a line beginning on the western boundary line of Missouri and of Bates county, at the southwest corner of section 19 in township 38, of range 33 and running thence due east to the middle of the main channel of the Marais des Cygnes river, thence down the middle of the main channel thereof to the line of St. Clair county, is hereby created, constituted and formed into a new and distinct county, with all the rights and privileges of right pertaining to separate and distinct counties-save only the county hereby formed shall not be entitled to a separate representation in the General Assembly until the population of the said county shall constitutionally entitle them to a Representative, until which time the said county shall be attached, for representative purposes, to the county of Bates; and the said new county is hereby named Vernon, in honor of Miles Vernon, of Laclede county.
Sec. 2. Hiram Stevens, of Cass county, James Ramey, of Bates county, and James F. Walker, of Jasper county, are hereby appointed commissioners to locate the county seat of said new county, and they are hereby directed that (first being duly sworn) they proceed on or before the first day of May, 1855. to locate the seat of justice as nearly central as a good situation can be found, and make a report of the location as soon as may be to the county court of said county of Vernon, hereinafter provided for, or file the report with the clerk of said court.
Sec. 3. The Governor shall appoint three county justices and a sheriff for said county of Vernon, who shall hold their respective offices until the next general election and until their successors are elected and qualified, and the county court shall appoint a county court clerk, who shall keep his office at such place as may be ordered, by said county court until a county seat is located and an office provided thereat.
Sec. 4. The county and circuit court shall be held at the dwelling house of Noah Caton, until a seat of justice shall be
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selected and a house provided there. The circuit court judge shall appoint his own clerk, who shall keep his office at such place as the court may direct until the county seat is located and a house there provided, and the term of said court shall be held
day of . in each year and days are hereby assigned to each term of said court; and the said new county shall be added to the seventh judicial circuit.
Sec. 5. An assessor shall be appointed for said county, by the county court thereof and said assessor, as well as all other officers, whose appointment is provided for by this act, shall qualify in like manner as if they are elected at a general election, and they shall hold their respective offices until their successors respectively are elected and qualified.
Sec. 6. The commissioners aforesaid shall be allowed $2.50 a day for time spent touching said location of the seat of justice, and a majority of said commissioners shall be sufficient to make such location. And they shall meet within time provided in sec- tion 2 of this act at the dwelling house of Noah Caton ; but should one or more of said commisisoners fail to act for any reason whatever, it shall be lawful for the county court of the county in which such delinquent commissioners reside to supply the place by appointment.
Sec. 7. This act shall be in force from its passage.
Approved February 27, 1855.
On the 23rd of November, following, was passed and approved, a supplemental act, authorizing the voters of Vernon county to elect a representative to the General Assembly, at the next general election, provided, a census of said county should be taken under direction of its county court ; and if it appeared the county had the ratio of three-fourths of a ratio of representation, it should be entitled to one Representative.
Colonel Miles Vernon, whose memory is perpetuated in the naming of the county, was a native of Charlotte county, Virginia, and was born March 26, 1786. Going to Meigs county, Tennessee, when a boy, he there grew to manhood, and served in Colonel Coffie's regiment from that state, in the War of 1812, and was under General Jackson at New Orleans. He twice represented his county in the State Legislature, and in 1838 raised a company and escorted a band of 1,000 Cherokee Indians from Georgia to the reservation in Indian Territory. In 1839 he settled in that
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part of Pulaski county, Missouri, which afterwards became Laclede county, and it was from here he was sent to the State Senate three times, his first election to that body being in 1850. A staunch democrat, he had a natural taste and fitness for politi- cal life, and though unlearned in the schools, he had rare good judgment and keen natural wit, and a command of plain, homely and forceful language that seldom failed to carry conviction to his hearers. He was popular with the plain people and in the Legislature had great influence, especially with those who repre- sented the backwoods districts.
Colonel Vernon was a man of strong physique, being six feet in height and weighing 200 pounds. He had a fair complexion, keen blue eyes and dark hair. In religious faith he was affiliated with the Misisonary Baptist Church.
In 1804 he was united in marriage with Ann Atchley, and they had eight sons and two daughters.
At the opening of the Civil War Colonel Vernon cast his lot with the South, and presided over the Senate branch of the Calib Jackson Legislature, which adopted the Neosho ordinance of secession. Later he accompanied General Price's army into the Confederacy and remained in the South till the close of the war. He passed away at Rolla, Missouri, in 1866, at the age of eighty years, and left to his family and friends the heritage of an up- right. honorable and useful life.
COUNTY COURTS.
Pursuant to the provisions of the organization act, the first ses- sion of the Vernon county court, convened on July 9, 1855, at Noah Caton's house, some four miles north of Nevada, south of the Marmaton and near the geographical center of the county. Justices James Grace and Conrad G. Carr were present. and on presentation of their commissions from the Governor, took the oath of office before Circuit Court Clerk Dewitt C. Hunter, who also was appointed county clerk and gave a bond with William Withers. W. D. Martindale and John K. Hale, as sureties. W. J. Wassum was sworn in and gave bonds both as sheriff and col- lector, and as sheriff opened the court. Little, except organizing the court, was done the first of the three days' session. On the second day, the commisisoners named to locate the county seat having failed to do so. a resolution was adopted requesting the
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
county courts of Cass, Bates and Jasper counties, in keeping with section 6 of the organization act, to appoint new commisisoners, to meet at the house of Noah Caton, October 1, 1855, to locate the county seat.
At this session also, the county was divided into eight town- ships, justices of the peace were appointed and judges selected for the election to be held in the following August. The town- ships then formed comprised Center, Drywood, Deerfield, Sum- mers, Harrison, Osage, Clear Creek and Montevallo. Mr. Conrad G. Carr was appointed presiding justice, James Dillard was made assessor ; for treasurer, Reuben H. Williams was named, James Bryan was appointed surveyor, and James H. Moore was made public administrator. After allowing the sheriff $4.50 and the judge $6.00 for their respective services during the three days, court was adjourned.
The next term of the county court convened August 7, 1855, and there were present Justices Carr, Grace and Andrew Still. Opposition to the new county organization on the part of many. especially Bates county men, was now renewed, and, claiming that it had no legal existence, measures to test its validity were set on foot, and threats of arrest were made against the officials. In- timidated by such threats, Sheriff Wassum resigned on the first day of the term, and Thomas H. Austin was appointed to tem- porarily fill the office.
The same day, C. L. Harris, who had recently been elected, qualified for the place. At this term changes were made in the boundaries of Center, Drywood, Deerfield and Summers town- ships, and Lady township was formed from territory which had been set off to Clear Creek township in the former division. Mil- ton Lady, for whom it was named, was appointed justice of the peace. But in June, 1856, the name of Lady was changed to Bacon. And the same year, in February, the name of Summers was changed to Henry, in honor of John McHenry, of Bates county. Other changes have occurred in the townships, whose separate histories appear in another part of this work.
At the October term Andrew Still was made presiding justice, 1 and also, the county seat commissioners made their report fixing the location at Nevada. The following term, action was taken by the court, requesting Mr. Dodson, the author of the organiza- tion bill, to have passed by the Legislature, an act empowering
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the court to borrow from the internal improvement, canal and road funds, money enough to build a temporary court house. The clerk's office at this time was at the house of Thomas H. Austin, not far from the proposed county seat.
A little later, in November, the threats to disrupt the county organization took definite shape when quo warranto proceedings were started against County Clerk Hunter, on information of County Attorney Willis Bledsoe, of Bates. Under direction of the court Charles P. Bullock, of Cedar, and R. L. Peyton, of Cass, able lawyers, were retained on the part of the county clerk, they to receive a fee of $100 each, and $50 more in case of appeal to the Supreme Court.
The case came on for hearing before Circuit Judge William N. Wood, at Papinville, Samuel L. Sawyer, of Independence, being circuit attorney. But the cause was never tried on its merits, it being dismissed for want of jurisdiction, Vernon county, the dis- puted territory, being assigned to the seventh judicial circuit, while Bates county, where the suit was brought, was in the sixth judicial circuit.
The holding of the court, that suit, if instituted at all, should have been in the seventh circuit was not appealed from, and the matter was allowed to rest there to the relief of all concerned.
The assessor's report of this year, 1855, shows there were in the county 488 men owning taxable property, and 427 (eighteen to forty-five years old) liable to poll tax. The total assessed value of personal and real property was $212,814, the personal property being $75,984 more than the real estate assessment, which was $68,415, the reason being that a large number of the citizens had not yet made entry of the lands they lived on, and paid no taxes on it. These lands were finally entered at prices ranging from $1.25 to $1.50 per acre.
In 1856, Vernon county had a population of about 3,000; 830 person were assessed, and those liable to poll tax numbered 757. The delinquent tax list in 1855 had been $41.95; this year it was $124.02, and the following year increased to $182.96. Mr. A. G. Anderson was appointed county treasurer in February, 1856, and C. L. Harris was made assessor. The next term, which was the first held at Nevada, the new county seat, convened March 3, 1856. In accordance with the plans that had been laid the work of providing a suitable court house was taken up. At the February
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term Mr. R. H. Williams had been appointed commissioner of public buildings, and he was instructed to contract for a build- ing, to cost $652. to be enclosed by April 25th following. On the commissioner's report in May, that he had contracted with James Bryan to erect a building for $900, the former orders were rescinded and the contract with Mr. Bryan, by which the build- ing was to be completed by October 27, 1856, was approved, and the house ordered built. The house was not finished till June 23. 1857. It was a two-story frame building, weather boarded, with good stone foundation, 18x28 feet in dimensions, and was built according to plans drawn by Mr. D. C. Hunter, who was appointed superintendent. The upper story had four windows and was used for offices; while the court-room, which occupied the first floor. had three windows, and was ordered to be let "to all religious denominations for preaching." The building was painted white and stood on lot 4 of block 2. Nevada. on the north of the southwest corner of the public square. The county busi- ness increasing. outgrew the accommodations afforded by the court-house, and in the summer of 1860, a brick building, 18x22 feet in dimensions, was erected at a cost of $550, at the south- west corner of the square, for the use of the clerk of the county and circuit courts. Mr. D. C. Hunter being clerk at that time. Both this building and the court-house were destroyed by fire when the Cedar county militia burned Nevada in May, 1863.
Provision for a county jail was made in September. 1857, when lot 4 in block 6 was set aside for a site. The building, which was ordered in March, 1860, was to have been two stories high. with solid stone foundations, the first story to be of logs, and both stories to be of wood with brick veneering and with one door in the upper story. John W. Stewart was building commissioner, and was authorized to expend $1.800 on the build- ing. But when the war came on the work stopped and the building was never completed as planned.
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