USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > The history of Nodaway county, Missouri, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens > Part 39
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While discharging the duties of sheriff he devoted his leisure hours to the study of law, made good progress, and in the spring of 1877, was admitted to the bar. His professional career has been very successful. He has been attorney in many noted trials. Among these were the Otto Sharp murder trial, and the celebrated Talbott parracide.
In 1878, he was chosen chairman of the Republican Central Com- mittee, and still retains that position. In 1878, was city attorney, has been secretary of the school board, and identified with the educational interests of the city.
In 1880, he was the choice of the people for mayor of the city, and as an incumbent of that office has done much towards the improvement of Maryville. Mr. B. is a man of clear judgment and a vigorous thinker, and is destined to take a leading place at the bar of Northwest Missouri. He is perfectly free from affectation, very cordial, and possesses the manners of a true gentleman. Nodaway County cannot have too many
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such men as Mr. Beech. He married in 1868, Miss Matilda Burdick. By this union they have had four children, three of whom are living : Minnie, Charlie and Ernst ; lost one, Guy ; died when nine months old.
HON. T. J. JOHNSTON
was born in Pike County, Illinois, August 20, 1836. His father, David Johnston, was a native of Virginia, and of Scotch descent. His mother (whose maiden name was Sarah E. Day) was a Kentuckian by birth.
Mr. Johnston's youth was spent on his father's farm, in the neigh- borhood of which he attended the common schools of his county. He afterwards atended the Christian University at Canton, Missouri. He made choice of law as a profession, and entering the law office of O. H. Gilmer, of Pittsfield, Illinois, he thoroughly prepared himself for the duties of his profession. He was admitted to the bar in 1860. In 1864, he moved to Milan, Sullivan County, Missouri, and engaged in active practice. During his residence at Milan, he was elected judge of the probate court. In 1870, Judge Johnston located at Maryville, Missouri, and at once was recognized as one of the leading attorneys of the Nod- away County bar. He is a good lawyer and safe counselor, always pre- paring his cases with great care, and being thoroughly conversant with the law and its proper application to the questions at issue, he rarely fails of success.
He is held in high esteem by not only the members of the legal fra- ternity, who acknowledge his ability as a lawyer, but is highly respected in the community where he resides as a good citizen, a neighbor and friend.
He was married, in 1859, to Miss Mary E. Chenowith, of Illinois. They have one son-J. B. Johnston.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CRIMES - TRIALS.
TRIAL OF SOLOMON McALPIN-TANSEY TRAGEDY-THE ASSASSINATION OF NICHOLAS LEEHMER-A REMARKABLE CASE OF INFANTICIDE-THE HOGAN HOMICIDE AND OTTO SHARP TRIAL-THE TALBOTT BOYS.
All organized counties and communities, it matters not what may be their geographical location or what may be their general moral and religious status, have a criminal record. Some of these records are comparatively free from crime, while others are replete with deeds of violence and bloodshed.
Nodaway County is no exception to this universal rule, yet from the date of its organization to the present time the number of crimes com- mitted in proportion to population, as shown by the records of the courts, is far less than that of any other county in Northwest Missouri. There are, however, some facts of a criminal character which belong to the history of the county, and are of such importance that they may be narrated in this work.
TRIAL OF SOLOMON M'ALPIN.
Taken from notes prepared by John Edwards, Esq .:
The trial of Solomon McAlpin, charged with the murder of John T. Callicutt, on the 30th of August, 1866, in the northern part of Nodaway County, took place at the December adjourned term of the circuit court, 1869. The case was set for trial at the regular term in October of 1869, but on account of its importance and the length of time necessary for the hearing of the testimony, a special adjourned term was ordered to be held December 7, 1869.
Major B. K. Davis, circuit attorney, assisted by I. V. McMillan, Esq., appeared for the presecution ; Col. W. P. Hepburn and Judge Morsman, both of Clarinda, Iowa, appeared as counsel in behalf of the defendant.
The defendant had been held on recognizance in the sum of five thousand dollars for his appearance to answer the charge. As the pre- sumption of his guilt, and the evidence heretofore disclosed against him, had warranted his being admitted to bail, sanguine hopes of his acquit- tal on the final trial were entertained by his friends and counsel.
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HISTORY OF NODAWAY COUNTY.
Solomon McAlpin, the defendant, was a young man at the time of his trial, not more than twenty-three years of age, and of not unprepos- sessing appearance. In person he was rather slightly built, of medium height, with rather prominent features, dark brown hair, dull blue eyes, and a look devoid of expression and wanting in intellectuality. What- ever he might have felt, he exhibited throughout the trial an easy air of stolid unconcern. He appeared in the court room genteelly dressed, and sat near his counsel, paid attention to all that passed, but seemed not to comprehend his situation nor be sensibly affected by the strength or weakness of the evidence adduced to show his guilt or prove his inno- cence. His countenance was closely observed throughout the trial, but no physical change, indicative of either hope or fear, could be detected. He had enjoyed ample time to make preparation for his defense ; all that the ingenuity of learned and experienced counsel could devise had been brought to bear in his favor. Three long years had cast their veil of obscurity over almost every circumstance that could conspire to reveal his guilt-over all save one-the wandering companion of his early years had not returned, crowned with the fruition of his own boyish dreams, to impersonate the missing dead, and dispel the foul suspicion that had branded the accused with a cold-blooded and most cruel murder.
The trial elicited much interest in the community, and during the four days and nights of its continuance the court house was densely crowded with persons from different parts of the county.
Judge I. C. Parker presided during the trial, and administered the law, in the opinion of those most competent to judge, in strict accord- ance with the spirit of our criminal jurisprudence, yet tempered with mercy toward the accused.
The facts concerning the murder, detailed at length in the testimony of the various witnesses, are as follows: On Friday evening of August 19, 1866, between sundown and dark, Solomon McAlpin, the defendant, and John T. Callicutt, the deceased, left the home of the latter, near Hawleyville, in Page County, Iowa, with an ox team and covered wagon, to go to St. Joseph, Missouri, to purchase a load of apples. On the Monday following, McAlpin came back with the team, and circulated the story that young Callicutt had gone to the Missouri River, or the mountains, to seek his fortune, and that he intended neither to write home to his friends, nor return until the object of his novel and strange adventures had been fully accomplished. On the blankets which they had taken with them, and which McAlpin brought back, were observed spots of blood. McAlpin explained them by stating that on their trip down, they had killed a pig, and being about to be detected by some passers-by, threw it into the wagon and covered it with the blankets. Several other circumstances in the conduct and statements of McAlpin, caused suspicion at length to fasten upon him as the probable murderer
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of Callicutt. In February, 1868, a skelton was found near the road, a few miles north of Maryville, Nodaway County, Missouri, which bore marks of identity that served to point it out to the brother of the deceased as the skeleton of John T. Callicutt. At the April term, 1868, of the Circuit Court of Nodaway County, an indictment was found against Solomon McAlpin, charging him with the murder of Callicutt. A requisition was made by the Governor of Missouri for McAlpin. He was arrested, had a preliminary examination before Esquire Hinchman, of Clarinda, Iowa, and was subsequently remanded to the proper authorities of this State.
We give below the testimony in the case, slightly condensed, but in the main correct. As much interest was manifested in the case by the community at large, the perusal of the testimony in this work will prove of great interest to our readers at this date.
THE EVIDENCE.
David A. Lock sworn : I reside in Nodaway County. Sometime in February, 1868, I was informed that a human skeleton was found in a slough, about one mile and a half south of my land. I went and looked at the skeleton, then came to town, and, in company with Mr. Goslee, returned and examined it. The skull was perforated with three bullet holes. One ball had entered near the center of the forehead ; one over the left eye, and the third had passed entirely through the head, just above the ears. We found one ball still in the cavity of the skull. The prairie grass in the slough is high during the summer season. The skeleton lay, when first discovered, about forty rods from the Maryville and Hawleyville road. Mr. Goslee was with me when the skeleton and other remains were examined. We found a piece of hat, a remnant of a blouse, and one waistband of a shirt and a collar. The waistband was soiled and dirty. We found one or more common blouse buttons and some shirt buttons. The latter were of different kinds. The one on the wastband was of white pearl. We found also the bottom piece or leathern portion of a suspender. The parts of the skeleton when found were not scattered. His boots were between course and fine boots ; the tops capped or foxed in front. I afterward visited the place where the skeleton was found in company with William R. Callicutt and some one else. We then found some hair, buttons, and teeth. The hair was rolled up in a piece of blouse, and was of a light brown cast.
Cross-examined: I was not with the surveyors when the skeleton was first found. William Callicutt took the buttons which I had left with Mr. Vanderhoof.
William R. Callicutt sworn : I live in Iowa ; knew the deceased ; he was my brother. I have known the defendant for ten or twelve years; lived near each other. An arrangement was made between brother and
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defendant to go to St. Joseph for apples. They went with an ox team that belonged to brother and myself. The wagon was the defendant's. They left home Friday evening August 18, 1866. McAlpin lived one mile and a half southeast of Hawleyville. The cattle were about four years old, of red color, and one of them had lost a horn. The wagon was considerably worn and had a high seat set on posts. They had no cover on when they started ; am not sure that they had bows to the bed, but have an impression that they were on. The deceased prepared a mess-box ; I saw it at a wagon shop in Hawleyville ; it was a common goods box with a lid. I saw no names on the box. When they left my brother took two hats, one an old white hat the other a black jockey hat, nearly new. He took with him also a soldier's blouse, which he had brought from the army ; it had government buttons on it, with eagles stamped upon them. I have seen similar buttons many times on soldiers' blouses. The cloth material of the blouse was of the usual kind. The deceased had the blouse on when he left. He had on striped panta- loons of cotton and woolen material ; had on cloth gaiters considerably worn. He left at home a cloth coat, worth about eighteen dollars. My brother was seventeen years old when he left home. He made money by selling brick ; he also had some bounty money. When he went away . he wore suspenders and a cotton shirt with bosom of raised and figured cloth. I had a shirt like his ; mother made them both. The shirt had large common white buttons on the wristband and the back of the collar. My brother's shirt and mine were made about the same time ; I bought the cloth for both, and brother was with me at the time. I heard defendant and brother talk about purchasing the apples, and it was agreed that brother should pay for them. Brother had money when he left, but I cannot say how much. He had been selling brick. I had burned a kiln of about one hundred thousand ; they were worth about ten dollars per thousand ; about one-fourth of the kiln had been sold ; brother owned half of the brick. He had drawn his bounty money in the spring before he left. I next saw defendant some time during the next week after they left to go for the apples. I have never seen my brother since. Defendant did not bring home the oxen. He turned them out on the prairie and we went after them. Defendant did not notify us when he returned. Mr. Painter brought the jockey hat and gaiters to our house, and I first saw them there. I saw the blankets which were brought back ; they were common government blankets. I observed marks of blood-spots on them and they presented the appear- ance of having been washed. Our family, Dr. Saddler, Mr. Buckingham and Mr. Turner, all saw the blood marks. The marks of blood were on both blankets. Defendant said he had killed a pig on the road to St. Joseph, and as they were about to be caught with it by some person passing, they threw it into the wagon upon the blankets. The second
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HISTORY OF NODAWAY COUNTY.
time I asked defendant about the pig, he said John (deceased) killed it. He did not say what further they did with the pig. He said brother got tired of riding in the wagon, and when they got to Ulmer's Bridge they camped there for the night. He said they stayed there Sunday afternoon also. The bridge called Ulmer's Bridge is about nine miles north of Maryville, in Nodaway .County. The next morning the defend- ant started back with the team and brother went on. He said when he last saw brother he was on Ulmer's Bridge, and he said he was going to the plains or the Missouri River, and did not know that he should ever return. Defendant said he brought two revolvers back, but that they both belonged to him and brother had none. He said he bought the revolvers of Matthew L. Davis. After this conversation, when I next saw defendant, he came riding back, called me and asked me if I thought he had killed him. I told him I did not know that any one had accused him of doing so. Afterward, while going from court here, I asked him if he thought I would ever see John again. He said he thought not, but that he was still living. About one month before they went for the apples, defendant was at our house and brother was asleep on the lounge. Defendant then remarked to me that he intended to have some money if he had to kill somebody for it. We had been talking about our money affairs. In the spring of 1868, about eighteen months after brother's disappearance, I first heard that a skeleton had been found north of Maryville, and that it was in possession of Dr. Mulholland. I came to see it and examined the skull, the jawbone and other principal bones. I noticed in the jawbone that the first molar tooth, first one on the right side, had been drawn. The general features of the skull and jaw bone resembled brother's. He had a full forehead, and the point of his chin-bone stuck out on the right side. His cheek bones were high. I observed on the point of the chin-bone of the skeleton that it stuck out on the right side. Brother, when alive, had tusks ; the cuspid or canine teeth, in his upper jaw, stuck out from the others on each side. In this skeleton I observed the same peculiarity respecting these teeth. Brother had a tooth drawn in the spring of 1866. It was the first molar tooth in the jaw on the right side. I know, because before he had it drawn, it ached, and I often filled the cavity of it with cotton steeped in creosote. When brother had it drawn, he brought it home and it was preserved. I have it here. (Tooth produced.) The tooth was drawn the last of March or the first of April, 1866. (Here the jaw bone of the skeleton was shown to the witness.) I recognize this as the same jaw bone that I saw at Dr. Mulholland's. I had heard of no peculiarities about the skeleton before I saw it. I think I told some one before I had seen it, that if it was the skeleton of my brother, it would have about it certain peculiarities. When I first saw the skeleton, Dr. Mulholland shook the bones of the right foot out of the right boot. I then observed
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HISTORY OF NODAWAV COUNTY.
a ridge or seam across the second and third bones of the toes. When my brother was in the army in South Carolina, he cut his boot in that place with an ax, and was disabled for service, and in consequence was discharged. (A blouse button, a piece of blouse and some hair were here shown to the witness, and identified by him as the same that were found with the skeleton.> I found one large white button and two smaller ones. The large one was lost ; it was of the common kind. The smaller buttons were of pearl, with a crease or rim around the edge.
Cross-examined .- I saw brother the evening before he left. He had sold about one-fourth of the brick. There might have been as many as one hundred thousand. Father corrected brother in the spring of 1866. Brother did not strike him with a chair, he merely pushed him with it. Brother did not afterward threaten to leave ; the difficulty was settled between them. Before defendant spoke to me about whether I thought he had murdered brother, I was not aware that any one had accused him of doing it. We thought something was wrong, and Dr. Saddler and Mr. Buckingham brought defendant over to our house to make some explanation about John's disappearance. We then asked the defendant how the blood got on the blankets, but did not accuse him of murdering brother. I do not remember that defendant and myself ever had any difficulty. My feelings toward him are such as any one might entertain toward the murderer of his brother. Prior to the time of brother's dis- appearance defendant and I were intimate friends. I remember the prominence on my brother's chin, by his once having said in Tennessee, when we were in the army, that he could shave better if it were not for the knot on his chin. I never knew that defendant was instrumental in having me accused of larceny in St. Joseph.
George M. Ringgold, sworn: I live about ten miles north of Mary- ville, in Nodaway County, on the Maryville and Hawleyville road. Some time between the first and the middle of September, 1866, while going up the state road, I saw the defendant. He was going northward and overtook me. He asked me if I had seen any horses, as he had lost his near Wakefield's. He said he had been " teaming." He asked me if I had seen two men who had been looking for a man who they supposed had been murdered. The defendant told me he was the man whom they suspected of having committed the murder. They had had him arrested, he said, and brought before a court in Iowa, but being able to prove noth- ing against him, were compelled to discharge him. I was not acquainted with the defendant at the time. Mother had seen the two men of whom he spoke, but I had not. She had seen them about a week before.
George L. Ringgold, sworn : I live twelve miles north of Maryville, in Nodaway County, Missouri. I lived there in 1866. I met the defend- ant on Sunday, about the 20th of August, 1866, between It and 12 o'clock in the forenoon, one mile and a-half north of my house. He was
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HISTORY OF NODAWAY COUNTY.
driving an ox team. The cattle were red and about three or four years old. The wagon was covered. It was an old wagon. I observed the form of a man covered up lying in the wagon. I was going at the time, in company with my son, to visit another son. The next morning I met the same wagon south of Ulmer's bridge, about one-fourth of a mile It was between 8 and 10 o'clock in the forenoon. I saw no one then but the defendant in the wagon. At the time I recognized him to be the man whom I had met the day before. I live north of Ulmer's bridge one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards. No one lives near the bridge on the north side. I can see it from my house. The night after I first met the defendant, no campers stopped between my house and the bridge. I know this, because I carried water past there late in the even- ing. When I first met the defendant, I asked him if he would sell the cattle. He said he would not, as they were not his. I remember the time of seeing the defendant, because a few days afterward William R. Callicutt and another man cam > there hunting a missing man.
James Worth sworn: I resided in 1866, about ten miles north of Maryville, and about a mile and a-half north of Ringgold's. I saw the defendant on Sabbath morning, in 1866. He was driving a yoke of red oxen, a little north of the school house. I got into the wagon and rode with him about half a mile to Judge Morehouse's, when I got out. The wagon was covered up toward the hind end, and had a high seat. There was some one lying in the wagon under the covered part, with the blankets drawn over him. I heard the defendant say to him, " John, get up and drive ; I do not want to drive past the school house." The per- son spoken to said, "You can drive as well as I can." This was about nine o'clock in the forenoon on Sunday.
Dr. Mulholland sworn: I was living in Maryville in 1868, when a party of surveyors found the skeleton. A wagon was sent out, and it was brought into my office. I have since kept the most of it in my pos- session. William R. Callicutt called at my office to see the skeleton. I showed it to him. I showed him the bones which I took out of the right boot. I think this was the first time they had been taken out. I exam- ined the bones, and then thought there was a scar on them. Some bones naturally have ridges on them. I could not detect any ridge on the toe bones of the skeleton.
Dr. J. G. Saddler sworn : I knew the defendant and the deceased in 1.866. I saw and examined the blankets which were brought back by the defendant. One had the appearance of being stained with blood. The spot was near one end, and was the size of my two hands. Some- time about April, 1866, I extracted a tooth for John T. Callicut, I think the next to the last one in the lower jaw-the wisdom tooth had not then appeared -but cannot say from which side. Defendant told me he
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had washed the blankets. This conversation took place at Callicutt's, there being several persons present.
Jefferson Kelly sworn : I knew deceased and defendant in 1866, and knew that they started to Missouri for apples some time in August of that year. I lived near them. I left the neighborhood on Friday, August 18, 1866, and did not return until the Monday evening following. Defendant was then at home, and I saw him on next day, Tuesday. Defendant came to me and asked me why Thomas Kelly and William R. Callicutt went to Missouri. I replied, they went to see if they could get any information of John T. Callicutt. Defendant then said, there had been a horse stolen down in Missouri, and they had better be on their guard, as they were after the thief, and if they caught the boys, they would punish them. Defendant said when John T. Callicutt left him he was well and hearty. I then asked him how the blankets came to be bloody. He said he and John killed a pig, and were about to get into a scrape in consequence thereof, and they covered it up with the blankets to conceal it. He said that he and John took an oath that neither should tell which way the other went, nor write home. This conversation took place at a store on Wednesday.
TESTIMONY FOR THE STATE.
The testimony for the state closed here. The defense opened by the introduction of the deposition of Jonas Edenfield. The purport of his testimony, and that presented in some four or five other depositions offered in evidence, tended to prove that John T. Callicutt, had been seen by different parties after the time of his alleged murder, and that he had gone to the mountains to seek his fortune in pursuance of his intention expressed to the defendant at the time they last parted. The deposition of Edenfield was taken at Lawrence, Douglas County, Kan- sas, in August, 1868 :
John Edenfield's deposition : I am well acquainted with the defend- ant, Solomon McAlpin. I have known him for six years. I knew John T. Callicutt also ; I first became acquainted with him in 1862. I resided then about three miles north of Hawleyville, in Page County, Iowa. During the winter and summer of 1862, I was with him almost every Sunday. He assisted me in selling a load of apples at a camp meeting below Hawleyville in the fall of 1863. I enlisted in the volunteer ser- vice, during the late war, as a private in what was known as the Black Horse Battalion. I enlisted late in the fall of 1863. When I left home to enter the service, John T. Callicutt was living at home. I did not again see him after I left home, until I met him between Cheyenne and the Black Hills, at what is called the Half Way Point, or Little Jack's Ranche, close to what is known as the Man's Head, in Dakota Terri-
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