USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri Volume I > Part 32
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The following is a list of postmasters at Maryville, from the establish- ment of the office : Amos Graham, 1845; B. F. Torrance ; James H. Saunders, appointed December 5, 1853; Henry T. Walker, December 5, 1855; James Saunders, December 19. 1856; John T. Boyle, March 12, 1857; George S. Baker. December 31. 1857: William J. W. Bickett, September 8, 1858; Al- fred C. Votaw. February 5. 1864: John J. Kelley, February 3. 1868; William Anderson. February 7. 1870: William Anderson, July 13, 1870; Henry H. Geiger. August 5, 1873: Henry H. Geiger. January 14, 1878 (time filled out by John O'Connor) : John Hamm, March, 1882; W. Yeahle, 1885; Lyman Parcher. 1889: James Todd. 1893: Elmer Trueblood. 1895: John G. Grems, 1897: Scribner R. Beech, present postmaster, appointed 1905.
Without going into details, it may be added that away back in the history of this postoffice there were two or three slight defalcations, but to no large amounts.
THE CARNEGIE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Maryville was among the cities that took advantage of the liberal offer that the great ironmaster. Andrew Carnegie, made to the American cities a few years since, and through him the city is now provided with an excellent public library. The donations from Mr. Carnegie amounted to about fifteen thousand dollars. with which fund the present beautiful library building was erected in 1904. The city has to levy a small annual tax for the purpose of maintaining the library and furnish its ample shelves with books and lit- erature. The building was thrown open to the people July 1. 1905. The structure is a massive structure of modern library type, consisting of the finest grade of red pressed brick. It stands on the corner of Buchanan and Second streets. The first board of trustees, appointed by the mayor, were WV. C. Frank. Charles Hyslop, C. E. Bartlett. J. C. Johnson. J. L. Funk. George L. Wilfley. J. G. Grems. Curtis Wray and S. G. Gillam. The officers from this number were I. G. Grems. president : Charles Hyslop. vice-president : George L. Wilfley, treasurer.
The present ( 1910) board is : R. J. McDougal, president ; Paul Sisson. secretary and treasurer: J. R. Hale, vice-president: G. B. Roseberry, C. A.
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Hawkins, Daniel McFarland. G. B. Baker, F. M. Martin, Rev. H. F. Niemann. The first librarian was W. A. Snodgrass; the next James A. McMillan; the present one is Grace M. Langan, Luella Grems being her assistant.
The total number of books on hand January 1, 1910, was four thousand four hundred and sixty-eight, not including the many pamphlets and public documents. The number of readers for the last year was twenty-two thou- sand and eight hundred and forty ; average per day, sixty-three ; total amount of money collected from fines and penny-a-day books, one hundred and sixty dollars and fifty cents. Fifty of America's best magazines are kept on file, also all county and Maryville papers.
Prior to the organization of this library board and the gift of Mr. Car- negie, the only attempt at library book circulation was through what was termed a Reading Club, and by this means applicants paid two dollars a year membership and the books, such as they could afford to purchase, were read by the literary people of the city. It was the stepping-stone to the present fine library.
MARYVILLE COMMERCIAL CLUB.
This wide-awake club was organized April 23. 1907, and has been in- strumental in inducing business men to locate in the city and to establish various industries. The secretary. George A. Pickens, is by far the most en- thusiastic and energetic man for the position who could possibly have been selected. The officers of the club are : F. G. Shoemaker, president : D. R. Ev- ersole, first vice-president : Charles Hyslop, second vice-president : George A. Pickens, secretary, and Paul Sisson, treasurer. The present board of direc- tors are the following men: F. G. Shoemaker, Nick Sturm, George Pickens. Charles Hyslop. G. B. Roseberry. H. L. Raines, Paul Sisson. J. W. Airy and D. R. Eversole.
The club has standing committees on finance, factories and industrial interests, railroads and transportation, agriculture, arbitration. soliciting funds, entertainment and public highways. These gentlemen are made up largely from out the ranks of the best men in Maryville.
Among the different things accomplished since its organization, this club has secured and aided in securing the following industries: Two new rail- way stations, a creamery, an artificial ice plant, a rope tie factory, a lightning rod factory. the organization of a boys' corn club, interested farmers in the subject of farming less and doing better work, also in assisting in getting
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farmers to try tobacco culture. All this great work has been accomplished in less than three years. The club is now in excellent working order and all are doing their share and the results must be of lasting benefit to Maryville and the community in which it is located.
THE CEMETERIES.
There have been several burying places laid out in and near the city of Maryville. The first regular cemetery was located in what is almost the heart of the place, on East First street and was used until measures were wisely taken in 1870, by the citizens of the place in conjunction with the county au- thorities, for the forbidding of more burials therein and for the selection of a more desirable site. It was at the August term of county court in 1870 when Ira V. McMillan, attorney for the incorporated town of Maryville, asked the court to condemn the cemetery grounds then belonging to the county, the same situated in Maryville, and to forbid further use of the same for cemetery purposes. At that time the court ordered that the property pass into the hands of the incorporated town. through its trustees in office, the title then passing from the county to the corporation of Maryville. The old bury- ing ground contains many graves, with their fast decaying tombstones, un- sightly indeed to the dwellers of the present city. Some of the remains of the early departed dead have been removed to the new cemetery but most of them still cumber the ground where they were first laid.
The new grounds selected are situated to the north of the city, a distance of about a half mile. and contain several acres, which were improved by the city of Maryville and is known as Oak Hill cemetery, where work was com- menced June 13, 1871. This one of the silent cities of the neighborhood has resting within its bounds many of the departed dead, including old pioneer families.
As the city increased in population, it was found necessary to secure more ground for cemetery purposes and in the eighties Ed. Moss and others pur- chased for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows twenty acres of land to the south of the city, and it was platted into lots and named Miriam cem- etery. The Odd Fellow's still hold the same and sell lots to any who choose to purchase. These grounds have been finely improved and a majority of the interments now take place there. At first only ten acres were used, but in more recent years the other ten acres have been used also. The grounds are easier of access than the Oak Hill plotting and very beautiful in situation.
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In both of these burying grounds may now be seen many costly and befitting monuments. No one thing speaks more for the sentiment and thoughtfulness of the citizens of any community than the reverence and care taken of the last resting place of the deceased members of such a community.
Besides these two cemeteries, there are the old and new. the Irish and German Catholic cemeteries, both of which are conveniently located just to the east of the Odd Fellows cemetery.
CHAPTER XXXV.
CRIMES AND CELEBRATED TRIALS.
In every community of all civilized, as well as uncivilized parts of the globe, there have been great crimes committed from time to time, and the laws of the nations have sought to mete out justice as an example and warning to others. Nodaway county has not been worse in this regard than many another county in Missouri, or in other states in the Union, but a few such crimes have been committed and the trials of some have been undertaken by lynch law, and it is the more brutal and shocking of these crimes that this chapter will deal with.
The subjoined cases are known as the McAlpin case, the Tansey tragedy, the assassination of Nicholas Leehmer, the Hogan homicide case, and the famous Talbott brothers case, in which they were hanged for the murder of their father, Doctor Talbott. of this county. These were all rare cases of extreme interest and of inexcusable cause, hence will be recorded here: but only the synopsis of each can be given, for space and propriety forbid all the blood curdling details brought out in the long-drawn-out trials that followed the arrest of the defendants. They doubtless all received justice at the hands of the law, or in other instances at the hands of an excited mob of citizens from this and other counties. These cases will be recorded in the order in which they occurred.
MURDER OF JOHN T. CALLICUTT.
This was in 1866, just at the close of the Civil war. Solomon McAlpin was charged with the murder, which took place in this county, while he was a resident of Page county. Iowa. The case was a mystery until a skeleton was found in February. 1868, after which the crime was made plain and McAlpin was arrested. He. in company with a young companion. John T. Callicut, at Hawleyville. Iowa, set out for St. Joseph with a yoke of oxen and lumber wagon to purchase a load of winter apples. When over the Missouri line it appeared that young McAlpin murdered his friend and that the cause was
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simply to get possession of the cattle and what little money the comrade might have on his person. The trial lasted four days and nights and excitement ran high. Judge I. C. Parker tried the case at Maryville. The accused claimed that young Callicut had abandoned the trip and was headed for the far West to seek his fortune, and this was believed by many until the finding of the bullet-riddled skull. two years later, the same being clearly identified by a filled tooth in the dead man's jaw, as well as by many other evidences. The jury found him guilty of murder in the second degree and fixed his punish- ment as ten years in the penitentiary. Major B. K. Davis and Capt. Ira V. McMillan appeared for the prosecution ; Col. W. P. Hepburn (later congress- man) and Judge Morsman. of Clarinda, appeared for the defendant, who had been held on a five thousand dollar bond. The Judge's charge was very touch- ing: "It has been decided by twelve men that you are guilty of murder in the second degree. Whether you are guilty of this heinous crime, can be known beyond the possibility of a doubt by none but yourself and the searcher of all hearts. Let me say to you. there is no human sin, however dark, that may not be pardoned, and if you have indeed, imbrued your hands in the innocent blood of your fellow being and your friend. though you may choose that the crime shall forever rankle unrevealed in your own heart, I trust you may find repentance and in God's mercy be forgiven.
"Your father and mother. and your young wife, all bound to you by ties of the strongest nature, having followed you here to stand by you in this last desperate crisis of your fortunes, have thus become, unwillingly. the painful witnesses of this final spectacle of your infamy, and now I sentence you to ten years at hard labor in the penitentiary of this state."
THE TANSEY TRAGEDY.
"All murders past do stand excused in this." The pages of criminal his- tory, in this or any other commonwealth, do not contain a more diabolical case than that which was committed at Burr Oak Grove, about seven miles south of Quitman. this county, on August 18.1872. August 20th of that year, James Griffey was passing a mover's wagon on Clear creek, four miles southwest of Clearmont. Atchison township, this county, when his attention was attracted to the outfit by a peculiar. disagreeable smell which emitted therefrom. See- ing that the wagon had been left recently by someone. he proceeded to examine and if possible learn the cause of the odor, which amounted to a stench. On lifting the cover of the wagon, he beheld the decomposing bodies of five hu- man beings : two men, one woman and two small children.
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Shocked though he was, Mr. Griffey at once bethought himself that the man who had doubtless committed the foul crime had recently left and was trying to make good his escape. He immediately sounded the alarm through- out the neighborhood and all were soon on the alert for the supposed mur- derer. Clearmont was visited first and there it was learned a stranger had called to have a neckyoke repaired : that the man was somewhat intoxicated when he called : he was soon pointed out and taken into custody. The news of the awful crime flew from house to house and the whole community quickly became aroused. A goodly number of citizens repaired with the prisoner to the place where the wagon had been found by Griffey, but the man refused to give any clue to the bloody deed. Many questions were put to him enroute, but he refused to talk about the persons or bodies in the wagon. Upon arriving at the scene the party soon discovered that a neckyoke had been broken in trying to cross the creek. Near the wagon was found an ax with which he had attempted to fix the broken wagon attachments. The man sprang for the ax, but was foiled in his attempt. A coroner's inquest was held, after which the bodies were removed from the wagon and buried.
A few persons in the excited crowd wished to bury the murderer with his slain victims. After the last sad rites had been performed over the per- sons thus ruthlessly killed, a party of men might have been seen along the banks of Clear creek fastening a rope to the limb of a tree, and when prop- erly adjusted and the noose prepared. the prisoner was told to prepare for the worst ; that if he had anything to say about the people found dead in the wagon to speak. 'He was sullen and refused to talk.
But presently and in language that could not be misunderstood, he was invited to step under the limb. The rope was adjusted over his neck, his arms were pinioned, and, without more ceremony. his body was suspended slowly into mid-air until life was almost extinct. He was then lowered and again asked if he wanted to confess what he knew of the case ; but again he refused to relate any of the horrors of his crime. The rope was once more drawn up- ward and this process was repeated until he showed a willingness to speak and tell what he knew about the matter. The rope hung loosely from the limb. All parties drew near, and he was told to proceed with his statement. The prisoner said his name was Osburn : that the parties found in his wagon were Ormes, his wife and two children, and a man named Daniel Dickerson. He stated that all of the party had been killed a few days before at Holton, Kansas, by a man named Joseph Williams ; that the cause of the murder grew out of a love affair between Williams and Mrs. Ormes. He stated that Wil-
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liams had followed the family from the state of Minnesota to Kansas with the avowed purpose of killing them, and that after he had murdered them he had employed him, Osburn, to put them out of the way, and had paid him seven hundred dollars to do so. He said he left Holton, Kansas, with the dead bodies, intending to throw them into. the Missouri river, but was unable to reach a point on the river where he could do so unobserved ; that he crossed the Missouri at White Cloud ferry, traveled through Holt county and pene- trated Nodaway county to the point where the wagon was discovered without finding an opportunity to unload the bodies without being detected. He ad- mitted he had supplied himself with whiskey at Quitman and, to kill re- morse and deaden his senses, had drunk freely, and had thrown the seven hundred dollars given him by Williams by the roadside between Quitman and where the wagon was finally found.
The men who made up the "hanging bee" thought his statement far fetched and hence swung him up again, holding him until he was almost dead -then let him down, only to receive about the same statement.
Things looked doubtful to some in the party, and finally it was decided to send to the sheriff and have the supposed man Williams in Kansas looked up at once before further action was taken regarding this man now with his neck in the noose. This was carried out and during the several intervening days the prisoner was secretly guarded in the low land along the Nodaway river, at a place but few knew of. However, the news of the murder spread throughout the country rapidly and hundreds of people flocked to the scene of excitement. There were strange rumors afloat as to the action of the guards themselves. It was foolishly asserted by many present that the pris- oner was a Freemason and that his fraternity was shielding him from his just deserts. Strange enough that at so late a day, in a civilized community such notions should have obtained in the minds of men and women of ordi- nary intelligence, but such was the case and that occurred in 1872 in Nodaway county.
As the hours went by the prisoner became fretful and worried, knowing all the time that his story of a man in Kansas had been made up from whole cloth, with no foundation whatever ; he was certain the truth was soon to be made known and feared his fate. He wanted to be taken to some place of safety where he might write out his complete confession. The guard then took him to the house of William Lamme. where, in an upstairs room, he spent the forenoon in writing out the details of his foul crime. The storm was fast centering about him. Fate had sealed his fortunes. No one was to blame but himself.
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Before noon from three to four hundred men had gathered at the house, which had every door and window fastened so that no injury should come to him until the messenger should return from Kansas. In fact. the local search- ing party had already returned from Burr Oak Grove and there it was learned that six or seven miles out of Quitman. by a camp. that two men, woman and children had been murdered in cold blood. When this was made known the fury of the mob was great. It was at once demanded that the man be brought forth from the house and he was led out to the front portico, surrounded by many resolute citizens who kept him from being strung up at once. He then and there told the story of his awful deed. He then gave his real name as Alexander Worth Tansey. He stated that his wife and mother-in-law were living at Mt. Ayr. Ringgold county, Iowa : that he had been in Kansas and there fell in company with the murdered family; that he was traveling with them to his home in Iowa. He said he was out of money, and while in camp at Burr Oak Grove the thought came to him that he could murder all of the parties with whom he was traveling and thus get possession of their property. He then detailed the horrors of the crime, which will not be given place here. A revolver and an ax were his weapons.
Many wanted, after hearing his confession, to take him to a nearby tree and end his miserable existence. But the cool. better judgment of the pro- prietor of the farm house and others prevailed for a time and he was spared yet a little longer. Towards evening the officers of Atchison township took charge of the prisoner and removed him to Clearmont, enroute to Maryville. But the people were so excited that they rose en masse and took him from the officers and hanged him to a tree on Clear creek, just south of Clearmont village.
The bodies of the murdered persons were sadly buried in a land of strangers ; a subscription was raised and a tablet, with an appropriate in- scription, was soon erected over their graves.
After Tansey was dead. his head was severed from his body and con- veved to Maryville, where it was for some time preserved in alcohol. It is related that a negative was taken of his head. from which many photographs were taken. Later, the head was sent to New York City for dissection. His body was buried near the tree on which he was hanged.
Some days after this occurred Mrs. Tansey, the wife, came down from Mt. Ayr, Iowa, and upon hearing of the manner in which he had murdered the movers, she stated that she would leave his body where a just vengeance had laid it, and returned to her Iowa home.
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ASSASSINATION OF NICHOLAS LEEIIMER.
In 1874 this county was wrought up over another foul murder. It was that of Nicholas Leehmer. a German by birth. His wife was known as Eva Betta Leehmer and they had one son. David. The family removed from Buffalo, New York, in 1865. coming to Maryville in 1870, resided here one year and then moved to the country, locating on section 36, township 64, range 37. On their removal from Buffalo, they were accompanied by a young man named Martin Fluegal. also a German whom they had known from his early boyhood. He was a fine type of the stolid German temperament. He seemed to have been greatly attached to the Leehmer family, especially to the wife and mother. The lands of the young German and Leehmer joined and on March 6, 1874. Mr. Leehmer took his wife to Maryville for a visit, and re- turned home, promising to return and take his wife home the following Tuesday. On Sunday, March 8, the son. David Leehmer, left his father at home at eight o'clock in the morning and started for Maryville, arriving about noon. He dined that day with Martin Fluegal, John Sweitzer and Mrs. Leehmer. Fluegal was seen at two o'clock in the afternoon at the brewery, half a mile south of Maryville. He left there about sundown. He admitted that he rode west of Maryville, on the natural road to the home of Mr. Leeh- mer.
Leehmer was observed by the neighbors about his place on Sunday and was last seen alive about sundown. Sunday night was damp and cloudy-no moonlight. About ten o'clock that Sunday night the single report of a fire- arm was heard at the house. This shot was heard by several persons going home from church services. Later a horse and rider went by, running very fast, but the night was too dark to observe who it was.
Monday morning. about nine o'clock, a neighbor called at the home of Mr. Leehmer, on business. The door was slightly ajar. The dog jumped at the man and a lamb stuck its head out of the door. The neighbor thrust it back and pulled the door shut, believing that the family were all absent. Others passed the house the same day and heard the loud lowing of cattle, as if they wanted water to drink. Monday, at twilight. Mrs. Leehmer and son David. about thirteen years of age, returned from Maryville. They found the door closed and opened it. The lamb jumped out as they entered. The room was dark. Mrs. Leehmer, supposing her husband had fallen asleep, felt for his head upon the pillow of the bed. Her hand touched his forehead-it was icy cold. He was dead. The son was sent to spread the alarm; neighbors
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came and they discovered a red cover thrown over his form and a pillow lay upon his heart. His arms were pressed down and straightened by his sides. His drawers were rolled up and thrust between his lower limbs as if planned to gather blood. His other clothes were hanging on the bed-post. A hole ap- peared in his shirt near the left side, in front. Around this hole were unmis- takable signs of powder-burn. On the shirt being removed the gunshot wound was observed three inches below the left nipple. It was probed to the depth of twelve inches. The ball had sped downward ; he could not have sur- vived more than ten minutes. No fire arms or deadly weapons were found in the house, consequently it could not have been an act of his own- a suicide. It was a foul murder. The dead man had no money before his death in the house. There was no evidence of a struggle in death. Possibly the assassin rode along on his horse and took deadly aim and fired from outside the room -this will never be determined.
An inquest was speedily held and suspicion was at once fastened on young Fluegal and he was arrested at his mother's house in Maryville by Henry Nel- son, marshal of the town. He made no statements for or against his guilt. On March 19, 1874, he was indicted for murder in the first degree. Horace M. Jackson was prosecuting attorney. Major B. K. Davis defended. The papers were faulty and a second indictment followed, when he entered a plea of not guilty and the trial came on and he was found guilty as charged in the indict- ment. Major Davis moved for a new trial. Judge Henry S. Kelley was then on the bench, and the motion was finally sustained. The accused stoutly denied his guilt and during his more than fifty days' jail confinement no turn- ing or confession was had from his lips.
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