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 28
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FIRST GENERAL ELECTION.
The first general election after the war occurred in November, 1866, to choose a member of Congress, and legislative and county officers. Under the Drake constitution, then in operation, the most stringent regulations relating to all who had taken part in the rebellion, prohibiting them from voting or holding office, and even from teaching or preaching, prevailed. But the offensive provision was declared unconstitutional in 1867. At the election
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two tickets were in the field, the ultra Republican and the Con- servative, made up of Democrats and conservative Republicans. In most of the counties throughout the state the former, were, for the most part in the ascendancy. But in Vernon county they were outnumbered, probably four to one, by the Conservatives. A factor which had considerable influence in this election, was the trouble between President Andrew Johnson and Congress then brewing, and in which the radical Republicans sided against the President. During the campaign the Conservative congres- sional candidate, General Thomas L. Price, of Jefferson City, made a telling speech at Nevada, in the hall in Mr. Dodson's, then, new building, on the south side of the square. Some two hundred and fifty votes were cast in the county with the results following, the Conservative being first named :
Congress-Thos. L. Price, 181; J. W. McClurg, 42.
State Senator-J. B. Clark, 21.
Representative-J. H. Requa, 171; V. W. Kimball, 28; Dr. Melick, 10.
County Clerk-Salmon C. Hall, 201; Thos. A. Snodgrass, 48.
Circuit Clerk and Recorder-S. C. Hall, 201; T. A. Snod- grass, 48.
Sheriff-Gen. Joseph Bailey, 244; Frederic Brown, 57.
Public Administrator-R. W. McNeil, 196; Isaac W. West- fall, 26.
Assessor-Branch T. Rea, 193; D. W. Snyder, 26.
Surveyor-R. M. McNeil, 211; S. E. Haynes, 27.
Coroner-Sylvester Fuller, 82; T. H. Austin, 13.
Treasurer-F. P. Anderson, 121; J. H. Moore, 82.
School Commissioner-Leander J. Shaw, 203; N. M. Tracy, 27. Superintendent of Registration-Edward I. Fishpool, 175; W. F. Haynes, 18; S. Fitch, 7.
County Judges-E. S. Weyand, 201; Hazel P. Mobley, 179; Sylvester Fuller, 142; J. G. Dryden, 58; David Redfield, 51; O. L. Davis, 40.
The vote for county officers in each township has not been preserved, but the following was that cast for township officers :-
Bacon-Justice of the peace, I. N. Westfall, 3.
Clear Creek-Justices, W. D. Mitchell, 4; D. H. Mitchell. 5. Harrison-Justices, B. E. Hummell, 11; Geo. Dollard, 11.
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Henry-Justices, Andrew Hogan, 20; A. Smoot, 12. Constable, Jeff. Jent, 18.
Little Osage-Justices, John G. Dryden, 25; Wm. Modrel, 19, -both chosen. Constable, F. K. Summers, 16.
Montevallo-Justices, J. H. Mitchell, 17; R. T. Parks, 15,- both chosen. Constable, W. T. Mitchell, 15.
Center-E. I. Fishpool, 60; Benj. F. Long, 60,-both chosen. Constable, Alex. Carloff, 58.
Mr. M. W. Lambert was appointed justice of the peace for Deerfield township, in 1867.
ESTABLISHMENT "NEVADA CITY TIMES."
An interesting and important event of this year, 1866, was the establishment of the "Nevada City Times," the first newspaper in the county, whose first issue appeared on June 16th. The editor and proprietor, Mr. R. C. Brown, was later succeeded by Robert Alexander, who sold to Samuel Thompson, and he in turn to Mr. William Crockett.
A matter of general interest and that caused much excitement at this time, was the importation of vast herds of Texas cattle into southwestern Missouri where fine grazing was abundant. Bringing with them a contagious disease, known as Texas fever, it was contracted by native cattle, and in some cases whole herds were carried away by the malady. The seriousness of the situa- tion led to the enactment of stringent laws on the subject, by the legislature, and in May cattle commissioners were appointed for the several townships by the Vernon county court. It became necessary to station armed men on the borders who, with the greatest difficulty at times, turned back the proscribed cattle, only the commissioners' wise mastery of the situation preventing actual bloodshed.
THE MARMATON LEAGUE.
The prevalence of robberies by lawless characters who had acquired the habit of plundering and stealing during the war and who still found it a profitable occupation, led to the forma- tion by citizens in the western section of the county, of an asso- ciation for the suppression of crime and the punishment of evil doers, known as the Marmaton League, which became the terror of criminals. And there was ample cause for such an organiza-
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tion, as the following atrocious crimes evince. A man and his wife, in the summer of 1866, were moving in a farm wagon, from Dade to Bates county, the man having in his possession the pro- ceeds of the sale of considerable property. Near Lady's branch, some two miles from Belvoir, they were accosted by four robbers, one of them an ex-school teacher named Abbott, and after en- gaging the man in conversation on a proposition to trade horses, without warning shot him dead and robbed his body of nineteen hundred dollars, and got away, so completely eluding those who pursued them, that they were never apprehended.
The dastardly murder of Gen. Joseph Bailey, sheriff of the county, on March 26, 1867, by Perry and Lewis Pixley, brothers, created great consternation. The Pixleys were ex-bushwhackers, and lived some three miles northwest from Nevada, on the Mar- maton. A warrant had been sworn out by Mr. Lewis Williams before Justice Fishpool of Center township, charging them with the theft of a hog, and there being no acting constable there, the writ was directed to the sheriff, and given to General Bailey to serve. The arrest was made at the Pixley home about the middle of the afternoon of the 26th, the prisoners consenting to go with the sheriff after first refusing, but declining to give up their arms, and one of them saying he would go part of the way, but not all the way. The sheriff helped in getting the prisoners' horses, and having no saddles, the party stopped after going a short distance, at a Mr. Brown's, to procure them, and there one of the prisoners requested General Bailey to see that the saddles were returned to Mr. Brown if they should not return them, and on his promising to do so, they started. A little way ahead of them were Mrs. and Miss Bryan, who had just left Mr. Brown's for their home, a mile from town. When last seen by these ladies, General Bailey and. the Pixleys, the former in the lead, were near the forks of the main road, the branch on which the ladies were traveling leading to Nevada, and the other bearing off to the left. Soon one of the ladies heard the report of a pistol, but she suspected nothing, being unacquainted with the party, and knowing nothing of the arrest, and proceeded home. It was not generally known that General Bailey had gone to make the arrest. But when inquiry was made for him the next morning, and it was learned he had not returned, a search was at once instituted, and the facts con- cerning the party's leaving Brown's becoming known, word was
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sent to town and soon a party of twenty or thirty persons were engaged in the search. The trail of the horse tracks and a foot- man's tracks, was traced down the left hand road to Scott's branch, a half mile distant, and in the road near the stream was found blood and indications of the body's having been dragged through the brush some 10 rods to the bank of the creek. The body of General Bailey was found in 8 inches of water, and 50 yards distant his cap, with the warrant in it, was discovered. hidden in a hollow tree. A coroner's jury was impaneled and a verdict rendered in accordance with the above facts, after which the body was taken into town, where it received every attention.
The body of the murdered man was accompanied to his home in the southwestern part of the county by a party of ladies and gentlemen, and on Friday morning following the Masonic Lodge of Fort Scott received the body of its late member and interred it in the military graveyard in that city, with the honors of the order ; it was afterwards removed to Evergreen Cemetery.
On the reception of the news at Balltown the citizens of Little Osage township assembled and went in search of the Pixleys and their confederates. In the forks of the Osage and Marmaton rivers lived three or four of their intimate friends, and John Eslinger and J. H. Williams were arrested on the night of March 28th. After their arrest they were interrogated as to their knowl- edge of the whereabouts of the Pixleys, but each protested his ignorance of the commission of any crime and claimed he had heard or seen nothing of the Pixleys for over a week. Eslinger was finally prevailed upon to tell what he knew concerning the murder. He stated that on the night of the 26th Lewis and Perry Pixley came to Mrs. Doke's, where he was staying, and said they had killed General Bailey that evening, and that they had swam the river a short time before and were very wet. Breakfast was prepared for them and two hours before day they started to the Marmaton, and entering into a canoe which had previously been stolen by Tom Ingram and himself (Eslinger) started down the river. Arrangements were made for Pixley's family to cross the river, and the following Monday all were to start for North Missouri. Williams afterwards confessed and corroborated this statement.
Tom Ingram was arrested Friday evening, but refused to make a confession, though he did remark that the Pixleys "made a
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raise of $250," the amount secured from General Bailey. Will- iams confessed that on Wednesday Tom Ingram came up to his house with one of Pixley's horses (one used when Bailey was killed) and wanted him ( Williams) to take care of it; that after- wards he (Ingram) wanted him to take care of a gray horse (belonging to Bailey) and told him that the Pixleys had killed the sheriff and had gotten that horse of him. He (Williams) re- fused to do so, when Tom Ingram turned the horse loose and it remained on the prairie until Williams' arrest. At the time Ingram was arrested he was at the house where Pixley's family also were, endeavoring to execute the programme adopted by him and the Pixleys when they parted at the canoe, which was to have the family cross the Marmaton, then very high, preparatory to starting to North Missouri. Eslinger and Williams after their arrest claimed that Ingram, who had secured the information direct from the Pixleys, knew more of the particulars of General Bailey's murder than they did, they having been told of the af- fair by Ingram. They did not know what amount of money was taken from the sheriff, only Ingram told Williams they "made a raise of $250." The party that arrested these men brought Mrs. Doke and Ingram's wife to town at the same time. After reach- ing Nevada Ingram remarked to one who demanded him to sur- render that he had come nearer losing his life that night than he ever had; and that he had "the drop on him" or there were not enough men on that hill to arrest him. The same day he had been at a house in the neighborhood and made the remark that the work (meaning General Bailey's murder) had just com- menced, and that a certain man, giving his name, would be the next one to go. Ingram was the husband of the woman formerly the wife of the notorious "Pony" Hill, the well known outlaw and bushwhacker during the war.
After Ingram's incarceration he refused to state anything fur- ther; at his own request he was permitted to see his wife. The same night he was taken out of the hands of the guards by a posse of men, supposed to be the vigilance committee. The next morning his body was found hanging to a tree in the edge of the timber skirting the town on the south ; a coffin was provided by the citizens, a large number of men went to town from the coun- try, and after the body had been placed in the coffin it was carried off and buried.
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A reward of $1,500 was immediately offered by the people for the arrest of the Pixleys, and this was supplemented by an offer of a similar amount on the part of the authorities, making $3,000 in all. Following is a copy of the hand-bill and advertisement circulated by County-Attorney Birdseye :-
Murder-$3,000 Reward.
Whereas, The citizens of Vernon county have offered a reward of $1,500 for the apprehension of Lewis Pixley .and Perry Pixley, the murderers of Gen. Joseph Bailey, sheriff of Vernon county, on the evening of March 26, I, John T. Birdseye, county attorney, on behalf of said county, offer an additional reward of $1,500 making the sum of $3,000, for the apprehension and delivery to the authorities of Vernon county the bodies of the said Pixleys, or one-half for either of them, or sufficient proof of their having been killed in attempting to arrest them. Perry Pixley is 5 feet 8 inches high, weighs about 165 pounds, small, clear blue eyes, full face, lips compressed, light hair, very light thin whiskers, twenty- two or twenty-three years of age, and talks out of one side of his mouth, which draws that side of his mouth down somewhat while talking. Lewis Pixley bears a strong resemblance to Perry. but is larger and more rough; nose is rather large, bones of the face are large, about 5 feet 9 inches high, weighs about 180 pounds, smooth face, light hair, twenty-five or twenty-six years old, and has a defect in one eye which gives it a slightly inflamed and watery appearance; was once shot in the left arm, from which cause he carries his left shoulder an inch or so lower than the right; was also wounded in the thigh, which causes a slight lameness.
JOHN T. BIRDSEYE, County-Attorney.
Nevada City, Mo., March 27, 1867.
Gen. Joseph Bailey was born in the village of Pennsylvania, Ashtabula county, Ohio, May 6, 1825. He was educated chiefly at Quincy, Ill., was married to Miss Mary Spaulding in 1846, and removed to Wisconsin the following year. When the civil war broke out he resided at Kilbourn City, Wisconsin, engaged in lumbering and building railroad and other bridges, although he was by profession a civil engineer. He raised a company of lum- bermen and entered the Federal service as captain of Co. D, 4th
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Wisconsin infantry. He was promoted to major in March, 1863, to lieutenant-colonel in June following, and June 10, 1864, for his service on the Red river campaign, he was made a brigadier- general and received a resolution of thanks from congress. It was he who, as every history of the war relates, constructed the wing dams at Alexandria, La., thus raising the water in Red river so that the large and valuable Federal fleet of gunboats and transports could pass over the rapids at that point. But for General Bailey, perhaps, every boat would either have been de- stroyed or fallen into the hands of the enemy.
General Bailey's services during the war were chiefly in the line of engineering, although he took part in the battles at Port Hudson, Baton Rouge, Grand Gulf, and in numerous skirmishes in Maryland and Louisiana. He built Ft. Dix, in Maryland, a large fortification at New Orleans, and had charge of the Vicks- burg cut-off. He received the surrender of Ft. Morgan and its garrison at Mobile, and his last services were rendered in leading an expedition through Western Florida and from Mobile to Baton Rouge. He resigned from the army July 7, 1865, and in October following settled in this county, on the farm in Harrison township. He had visited the locality in 1860, and then resolved to make it his future home.
In politics General Bailey was a firm Democrat, but personally popular with all parties. He was of great service in the county during the brief period he lived here, and his death was univer- sally deplored.
ELECTION OF 1868.
In the year 1868 occurred the presidential election and po- litical excitement in the county was intense. Among the large influx of new settlers were many Republicans. To vote one had to be registered, and to register one had to undergo a rigid and searching examination, before a board of three registrars, espe- cially touching one's loyalty to the government during the war. The prepared list of qualified voters was revised by the registrars, who, for one reason or another, added or struck off names, as their judgments dictated. In Vernon county the registrars were radical Republicans, and their exactness in enforcing the strin- gent regulations led the Democrats to feel they were unjustly discriminated against, when registration was refused to certain
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voters for no other apparent reason than that they would vote the Democratic ticket. The registrars themselves asserted that they, in good faith, sought to enforce the provisions of the con- stitution of 1865.
The facts were, that the restrictions of the law were so strin- gent and sweeping that the right to vote could be exercised only by those who had been radically loyal to the government during the war, and there were few in the county who could stand the test. And it is only just to the registrars to state that they could hardly have done otherwise than they did, and carry out the requirements of the Drake constitution which they were sworn to enforce. The enforcement, however, revealed the injustice of the measure, and in the end, led to its overthrow.
The custom of the registrars in the county, was to visit the several townships, in performing their duties. At these meetings, the Democrats were represented by Honorable S. A. Wight, who had been a Union soldier in the army of the Potomac, and whose ardent espousal of the disfranchised voters' cause, and denuncia- tion of what he regarded the arbitrary rulings of the registrars, at Montevallo, caused him to be arrested, on a charge of trying to intimidate the officers, and to be placed under bonds. This but made bad matters worse; and when threats against the regis- trars were freely made the governor was appealed to on their behalf. Counter reports also, were sent to the governor, to the effect that the registrars had misrepresented the situation. The matter resulted in a largely attended public meeting in the court- house at Nevada City, where intense excitement prevailed, threat- ening dire consequences, but nothing serious occurred and the trouble finally blew over. At the election the Democrats in the county polled a fair majority.
SCARCITY OF MONEY.
The scarcity of money at this time, and the impoverished con- dition of the county treasury, made the problem of providing for the public needs, during the reconstruction period, exceedingly difficult. The greenback currency, what there was in the county, was worth but seventy-five cents on the dollar in gold, and county warrants were worth but sixty cents on the dollar in greenbacks. Yet roads must be opened and bridges built in the county to accommodate the needs of the people, besides the
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demand upon the citizens for school houses and churches in the various communities, and the urgent call for railway connections. These matters of public improvements, that came within the juris- diction of the county court requiring appropriations, called for the exercise of rare good judgment, and with all the conflicting de- mands for relief from the various quarters, and not money enough to go around, great credit must be accorded the officials in authority for meeting the exigencies of the case as well as they did.
Among the urgent publis needs was that of a suitable county building, and in January, 1867, the first appropriation of $15,000 for a courthouse was made by the county court. This amount being found by careful estimates to be insufficient, it was in- creased in April to $21,973.90. The final cost, owing to alterations in plans and extras, footed up $25,000, of which $15,000 was paid out of the contingent fund and the balance of $10,000 provided for by issuing $1,000 bonds, running till 1874.
The building was ready for occupancy about October 1, 1868. Col. A. A. Pitcher was appointed commissioner to let the con- tract, according to approved plans and specifications, and the building was constructed by Mr. Charles W. Goodlander, a contractor from Fort Scott.
The need of railroad communications had long been felt, and the subject was a fruitful source of interest throughout the county. As early as 1860, there had been chartered, to run through the southern part of the county, the Laclede & Fort Scott Railroad and interest in it was revived after the close of the war. Dr. J. N. B. Dodson, who was president of the company, was an enthusiastic promoter of the project. During the year 1869 the county court authorized a subscription of $200,000 to the capital stock in twenty-year 7 per cent bonds, and in the latter part of the year bonds to the amount of $75,000 were ordered lithographed, to be issued as the construction through the county progressed. Col. D. C. Hunter, as agent, represented the in- terests of the county, and some $15,000, all told, was paid out for work done. The road, however, was never completed and the whole project was finally abandoned.
The road in which the county became more especially inter- ested was that first known as the Tebo and Neosho Railroad, to run in a southwestern direction from "any point on the Pacific
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Railroad between the west bank of the Lamine river and Muddy creek, in Pettis county." The survey through the county was made soon after the close of the war, but no action by the county was taken till 1869, when the county court authorized a subscrip- tion to the stock of $200,000. The judges at this time were Messrs. H. P. Mobley, Fuller and Weyand, and when this sub- scription was canceled on June 28, 1870, and a new subscrip- tion of $300,000 ordered, payable, one-third when the track should be laid to Nevada, one-third when the cars were running and the remainder on the completion of the road through the county, it was done over the protest of Judge Mobley, but the action met very general approval. Mr. John T. Birdseye acted as the county's agent in the matter. In the fall of 1870 the interests of the Tebo & Neosho were taken over by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas road, and nine years later, through Mr. Paul F. Thornton, its then agent, the county received in lien of the stock it held in the Tebo & Neosho road, Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad stock to the amount of $64,939.29. Considerable litigation re- sulted, but the county's liability was finally fixed. The road was completed to Fort Scott in the fall of 1870, the first locomo- tive reaching Nevada October 26, amidst general rejoicing, as marking an epoch in the material progress and development of the county.
At the general election in November, 1870, the Democrats and Liberal Republicans gained signal victories in securing the abol- ishment of the objectional features of the Drake Constitution, and in the election of B. Gratz Brown, a Liberal Republican, as governor, by a large majority, over J. W. McClurg, the radical Republican candidate. At this time different localities were com- peting for the location of the Southwest Missouri Normal School, and at the November election, the people, by a two-thirds ma- jority, voted to subscribe $50,000 in aid of the project, if the school were located at Nevada, the town itself agreeing to sub- scribe $15,000 on the same conditions. The final selection of Warrensburg as the site of the school was not regarded, in the light of future events, as any great disadvantage to Vernon county.
In the presidential election of 1872, for the first time since 1864, there was general participation by the voters throughout the state, regardless of what had been their standing as to loyalty
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to the government during the war. As a consequence, many ex- confederates eagerly competed for official positions. The Repub- lican presidential candidate was Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and Horace Greeley was the standard bearer of the Democrats. The vote in Vernon county showed the following results for the respective candidates voted for, the Democrats being named first :
President-Greeley, 1344; Grant, 601; O'Connor, "straight" Dem., 27.
Governor-Silas Woodson, 1451; John B. Henderson, 602.
Congress-C. B. McAfee, 1463; H. E. Havens, 587.
Representative-H. P. Gray, 1338; Wesley Melick, 612; C. S. Dunnigan, 80.
Sheriff-W. H. Taylor, 1376; John Brown, 642.
Collector-Alf. Cummins, 1415; R. W. McNeil, 562.
Attorney-Wm. J. Stone, 1402; C. G. Burton, 623. Assessor-T. W. Sullivan, 1411; W. L. Shelton, 585.
Treasurer-Peter Rexrode, 1982; no opposition.
Surveyor-C. N. Logan, 1988; no opposition.
School Superintendent-James M. Blake, 1403; A. W. Van Swearingen, 578.
Administrator-Wm. Modrel, 1980; no opposition.
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