USA > Nebraska > Dixon County > History of Dixon County, Nebraska > Part 6
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On the Ist day of July. 1870, an old gentleman named Dunn started from his home in Clinton, lowa, on a visit to Northern Nebraska. Mr. Dunn was a farmer and not very well off financially. and his desire to provide a home for his family induced him to make a journey to Nebraska. design- ing to purchase a farm if the country suited him.
Mr. Dunn, by those who knew him in lowa. is said to have been an honest and exemplary man and respected in the community where he lived. When he left Clinton. he told his wife that he would be absent about a month. He
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wished, he said, to see Dixon county, of which he had heard favorable reports, and if the land was as good and cheap as represented, he would buy a farm and in a month's time would be back after his family. Thus with cheerful antici- pations he set out on his journey.
Mr. Dunn's western trip, until he reached Sioux City, was by railroad. There he found further progress would have to be made on foot or by stage. In those days there was not. as now, a railroad between Sioux City and Ponca and the best a traveler could do was to take the stage which made two trips per week. If the traveler did not in his move- ments hit the starting time of the stage, he would either have to remain in Sioux City until its next trip, three days. or provide some other means of conveyance. When Mr. Dunn arrived in Sioux City he learned that the up-country stage had left the morning before.
In as costly a stopping place as Sioux City was, the thought of staying there two or three days was discouraging to him. He would have immediately set out on foot, but hesitated thus entering a sparsely settled country which he was wholly unacquainted with. Fortunately, as it seemed to him, he met a young man who said he lived in Dixon county and was expecting to go there the next day. He said he would go on foot, and he offered if Mr. Dunn desired. to conduct him to Ponca.
Mr. Dunn gladly accepted the friendly offer, and on the next day, July 3, the two crossed the river to Covington and started on their walk toward Ponca. twenty-five miles distant. The companion of Mr. Dunn was a young man about twenty-two years of age. In size he was yet a mere boy, having a slight form and a thin, beardless face which. however, bore the marks of dissipation. He said his name was Mat Miller.
They left Covington before noon and at three o'clock had progressed on their trip as far as the little town of Jackson. Here they rested a short time, and then again started on their road. As they journeyed along Mr. Dunn appeared much pleased with the country which he then saw for the first time. In his unsuspecting honesty he did not hesitate to tell his youthful companion that the object of his visit was to buy a home for himself and family, and he made
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many inquiries as to the quality of land, the price per acre, the climate, society, schools and churches. Thus in friendly inquiries and conversation the tedium of their walk was worn away.
Half an hour before sundown they came to a little stream. Badger Creek, which crossed their road about three miles from Ponca. On the bank of this rivulet the weary travelers saw with pleasure a cool and inviting thicket of timber, and entering its refreshing shade they sat down to rest a few moments before completing the remainder of their journey.
From the timber, so pleasant and inviting to a man worn by a twenty mile tramp over hot and dusty roads, scarcely a a sign of life was visible on all the surrounding landscape: not a cultivated field could be seen nor habitation excepting one homesteader's cabin on a distant hill.
The road which Mr. Dunn and young Miller had followed was not in those days much traveled. To the homesteader's family in their cabin on the hill it was an event worthy of notice and mention, when they saw the accustomed solitude disturbed by passing travelers. On this occasion the family saw the two footmen, (one of whom they recognized as a young man whom they had seen in Ponca) long before they reached the thicket of timber. They saw them plod wearily along and when they reached the timber, saw them enter. In half an hour afterwards and just as the sun was going down. they saw the young man, Mat Miller come out. The other man was not with him. Miller pursued his way towards Ponca.
Twenty-five years ago. Ponca was not as large a town as at present nor was it blessed with its present bustle and busi- ness. Two or three stores provided for the town and county, a single tavern fed and bedded the few who came in from abroad and a single saloon invited the thirsty to enter. Of these several institutions, it is probable the saloon did the greatest business. it was kept by a man, whose son. Mat Miller, had become very reckless and dissipated. He often absented himself from home and devoted his time to the lowest and vilest haunts of Sioux City. During these ex- peditions he had fallen under the influence of one of the abandoned sirens of that city. He was infatuated with her.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
and she by her seductive wiles not only led him far away from honor, but took what money he could beg from his father or steal from others. On his last visit to his charmer, she had warned him that if he expected farther favors and friendship from her he must bring her more money, a big pile, in fact, or else. to use the expressive language of the bagnio, she would "shake him."
On the evening of the day when Mr. Dunn and Mat Miller journeyed on foot towards Ponca, old man Miller, the saloon keeper, was roused from the contemplation of his row of bottles and the drinkable treasures they contained by the arrival of his son. "Hello Mat" and "Hello dad." were all the salutations which, in no very gracious manner. passed between the pair. Mat went to the bar and helped himself to some of his father's strongest poison, and then turning to the old man told him that he was going away "for good." and if he had any money to give him before he left. he wanted it for he was going the very next day. His father answered Mat by a surly refusal to give him money then or ever. "I don't care." retorted Mat. "I have more money than you have. and I could buy and sell you twice over." So saying he drew from his pocket a large roll of bills and exultingly displayed them before the old man's eyes. "There is what I've got since I've been gone" continued Mat. "and I can do it again, and I don't ask any odds of such an old fool as you are." "How you earned it." replied his father, "I don't know, but I should think in the butcher business, for your bills are all blood and so are your shirt sleeves."
A thirsty customer now entering the saloon for his even- ing bitters, put an end to this interesting conversation be- tween father and son. But though the conversation ended, what had been said and the unusual spectacle of a roll of bills in the hands of Mat Miller had been fastened upon the memory of the only spectator of the scene. old Dan Foley, an honest but chronically befuddled toper, who, half drunk. but not too drunk to see and hear, reclined on a bench in the corner. As the customer entered. Mat hastened to put the money out of sight, and soon after left the saloon.
The next day was the 4th of July and was duly kept and honored at Ponca by the people of that town and vicinity.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
Matt did not go away that day, as he had declared he would, but remained, and no doubt, as far as his blood stained con- science would permit, participated in the enjoyments of the occasion. In the evening a grand ball wound up the festivities and Mat was one of the fiddlers, and, to use the words of one who was there, "fiddled all night without drop- ping a note or missing a drink."
The next morning before "sun up" Mat left town. He was noticed going towards Ponca landing, a mile north on the river, and from that time forward he was seen there no more, until he was returned to participate in scenes of won- derful interest and excitement. It was afterwards learned that when Mat left, he crossed the river and went down on the Dakota side to Sioux City where he gladdened with gifts of money and jewelry the heart of his painted doxy, and soon after, accompanied by her, he journeyed to Council Bluffs and there among kindred spirits scattered money right royally.
The same day Mat Miller left Ponca, a hunter made a discovery in the thicket of timber previously mentioned. It was a dead man whom he saw lying there. The head was beaten almost to a jelly, the throat was cut from ear to ear and the body had as many as twenty stabs. In the pool of blood surrounding the corpse, were seen the club and knife which had been used to complete the cruel work. The club was the hickory cane which Mr. Dunn had carried.
When a murder is committed in a law-abiding commun- ity. it naturally creates far greater excitement and indigna- tion than it would in localities where such crimes are of frequent occurrence. Here was a murdered man, who. when due investigation was made by the coroner's jury and on examination of the papers discovered on the body, was found to be Mr. Dunn whose arrival in Ponca had been ex- pected for ten days past by those with whom he had corres- ponded in relation to purchasing land. That he had been murdered for his money there could be no doubt. Who had done this damnable deed? Evidence was immediately forth- coming. There were those who remembered seeing Mr. Dunn and Mat Miller leave Covington on foot together. At Jackson their presence was recalled. The homesteader's family saw them enter the thicket together. and soon after-
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
wards saw Mat go away alone. The bloody knife was recog- nized as one which Mat had bought at a store in Ponca a few weeks before. Old Dan Foley cudgeled his alcoholic brain and brought out what he had seen and heard when Mat and his father had their talk in the saloon. From all this evidence, the conclusion was inevitable that Mat Miller was the red handed criminal.
Then eager enquiries were made for him. There was ex- treme anxiety that he be punished. Here was a man who had been struck down while coming to be one of the good citizens of the county. Anger excited every breast and the whole community burned with a desire to see that such swift, retributive justice be done to the murderer, that in all future time the memory of it would protect others from a similar violence. But where was Mat Miller?
Sheriff Dewitt hunted for him. His inquiries tracked him to Sioux City. From there he followed his trail to Council Bluffs, and there, riotously squandering the money of his victim, the sheriff found him.
On the 23rd day of July. Sheriff Dewitt brought Mat Miller in irons back to Ponca. Then the people of the county, impelled by the stern determination to see justice done without delay, assembled and took Mat from the sheriff, and before a self-organized and orderly tribunal, held in a church and presided over by a minister of the gos- pel, tried him for his crime.
Mat confessed his guilt. He related to the people that when resting in the thicket of timber with Mr. Dunn. the thought first came into his mind to kill him.
He said he wanted money for the girl he loved in Sioux City. If he had money. she would go away with him where they could always live together. If he did not get money she threatened to discard him. As he thus reasoned to him- self he drew his knife and attacked his victim. He stabbed him repeatedly and lest those terrible wounds were not enough to kill him, cut his throat and crushed his head with a club. Then without remorse he robbed the body, and bore away the harvest of money he had acquired.
This was substantially his confession. A vote was taken by the great jury of 500 people assembled in the church. whether the criminal should be punished by hanging. Al-
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
most unanimously that question was decided in the affirma- tive. Whereupon the reverend presiding officer, who had opened the investigation with prayer and had conducted the proceedings with solemnity and decorum, now sentenced the criminal to death. The prisoner was placed in a wagon and immediately taken to the western end of town for exe- cution.
The gallows consisted of three scantlings joined at the top. The wagon was driven beneath. the rope adjusted to the prisoner's neck and the wagon drawn from under him. His neck was not broken and hence his sufferings must have been great. At the end of thirty minutes it was an- nounced he was dead. The body was then taken down. placed in a coffin and removed to the church where, an hour before, the trial had been held. The next morning it was buried.
Several months after the summary trial and hanging of Mat Miller there were vague rumors bearing on his case. One was that by the skill of doctors he had after his hanging been brought back to life again. Another rumor was to the effect that it was known to at least four of those who at- tended the burial, that instead of the body of Mat Miller it was a coffin of brick which was interred. Still another rumor was listened to and believed by some. that he had been seen on the Omaha reservation. One night. a few years after the hanging. a citizen insisted that he saw him on the streets of Ponca.
All these rumors were, however, found to be ill founded. To settle the question, a number of citizens opened Mat Miller's grave and were convinced that it was Mat himself. and not a coffin of brick, which had been buried.
Such is the history of Mat Miller's crime. trial and hang- ing. That he deserved the fate he received none will deny. And in view of usnal court proceedings in criminal cases, can we not believe that the services of Judge Lynch are sometime necessary.
It was thought by some of the old settlers that the mur- der of Mr. Dunn was not the first crime of the kind which Mat Miller had been concerned in. In 1869 James Bigley and his brother, William Bigley, and W. D. Long were keep- ing a grocery store in Ponca. One day in the fall, James
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Bigley went to Sioux City to get some repairs for a thresh- ing machine and also to pay $400 to Booge & Co. for goods for the store.
At Sioux City in the evening, Bigley was seen on the streets by several who knew him, and an old friend, Fitz- gibbons, who lived in Sioux City, desired him to go home with him and stay over night but he refused.
Next morning Bigley was missing. His coat and hat were found on the steamboat Miner which was lying there, but he was never found, and from that day to this his fate has been a matter of mystery and conjecture. Among the many rumors. it was said that he was seen that evening with Mat Miller and a fellow called "Fiddler Jim." and that they killed and robbed him at a house near Perry Creek and after the murder put the coat and hat on the steamboat as a blind. Whether there was any truth in the story it is now impossible to say. Mr. Bigley was a good citizen, upright in his dealings and beneficial to the com- munity where he lived.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
CHAPTER VII.
STORY OF A RASCALLY LITTLE RAILROAD THE COVINGTON, COLUMBUS AND BLACK HILLS NARROW GAUGE ENTERPRISE
ITS RISE AND CAREER ITS EXPLOITS IN FINANCES AND BUILDING AND ITS FINAL SALE BY A RECEIVER.
Old settlers of the county remember the general anxiety, twenty-five years ago, to have railroad connection with the outside world. In 1869 the so-called St. Paul and Nebraska Railroad company had offered to build such a road if bonds were voted to aid the enterprise. The project fell through and for several years thereafter railroad building here was dormant. But as time went on and the need of such a road grew more urgent. citizens seemed willing to do most any- thing by way of aid could they but see the cars rolling into Dixon county.
In July, 1873, their hopes were aroused for a short time by the announcement that the St. Paul and Nebraska Com- pany would that year build from Sioux City to Jackson, twelve miles, and from there to some point in Dixon county. All this was, however, mere talk: the St. Paul and Nebraska Company could not out of its own funds have built a rod of road. It was supposed by many to be simply a scheme to make a stake out of Dakota and Dixon counties.
In 1874. discoveries of gold in the Black Hills and the great rush of people to that point increased the railroad fever. Dixon county was on the route then followed from Sioux City to the Hills and it seemed reasonable that the long desired road would now come. Nor were people mis- taken. In 1875 several capitalists or pretended capitalists whose lack of funds was compensated by hardness of cheek. came together at Sioux City and concocted the "Covington, Columbus and Black Hills railroad" scheme. It was pro- posed to build a road commencing at Covington, and run- ning west through Dakota. Dixon. Cedar and Knox counties.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
and from thence by one branch to the Hills and by another to Columbus, there making connection with the Union Pa- cific. The name given to the proposed road, "the Coving- ton, Columbus & Black Hills" expressed the points of de- parture and termination.
After the scheme had been fully prepared. the men in charge of it devoted several months to soliciting aid from several counties. At a meeting of the county commission- ers of Dixon county, held November 24, 1875, a committee of smooth and plausible men, mainly of Sioux City, headed by J. B. Hubbell of Mankato, Minn., appeared and submit- ted their proposition, which in substance was as follows:
If Dixon county will donate to the Covington. Columbus & Black Hills Railroad Company, $87.000 in the coupon bonds of said county, dated January 1. 1876, payable in twenty years, with interest semi-annually at the rate of ten per cent per annum, said company will build a railroad from Covington, Nebraska, to and through said county, upon the most practicable route east and west.
When said railroad is graded to the center section line of range five, the builders shall have $20,000 of said bonds. and when the road is completed from Covington into the county three miles, and trains running, the company will receive the remainder of the bonds.
The grading to said center section line to be completed within a year, and the completion of the three miles into the county, within fifteen months from November 24. 1875.
After due consideration, the county commissioners. Messrs. O. P. Sullenberger. W. H. Clark and J. Martin. de- termined to submit the proposition to the voters and for that purpose ordered an election held December 27, 1875. At such election five hundred and seventy-two votes were cast. of which four hundred and sixty were for railroad bonds. and one hundred and twelve against, thereby carrying the proposition by more than a two-thirds vote.
The C. C. & B. H. Co. made similar propositions to Da- kota county on the east and to the counties of Cedar and Knox on the west. all of which voted the bonds asked for.
On April 20. 1876, the company commenced at Covington to grade their road, and pushed it forward with vigor, hop- ing to reach Ponca by July 4. that town having been de- cided by the company to be on the best and most practica- ble route. The road was not built into the county as soon
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
as July 4, but in September it was completed and cars run- ning between Covington and Ponca, and the grading finished to the center section line of range five, and thereupon the bonds were turned over to the company. $20,000, on Sep- tember 16th, and $67,000 on September 22: total $87,000.
But though the letter of the contract had been complied with so the commissioners could not refuse to turn over the bonds to the company, yet the road had not been completed in good faith and according to the implied understanding.
The amount of bonds donated, justified the people in be- lieving they were to have a road of standard guage, solidly built, and with the best kind of ties and iron. Instead of that, fraud seemed to be written all over it. A little con- temptible affair, with a three and a half foot guage and con- structed throughout with cheap and inferior material and labor. No wonder people were disappointed and enraged. They had saddled on the county a debt of $87,000 for a road which could have cost little more than that sum, and the thought naturally arose whether so much fraud and ill faith on the part of the company did not release the county from paying the $87,000, or any part of it.
In the meanwhile, insignificant as the road would have been in a country where railroads were frequent, its coming gave the county quite a push for a short time. It was sup- posed there would be more desirable markets for what was bought or sold, that people would come and locate, and that re il estate of all kinds would be more in demand and at better prices. These hopes only in a very small measure were realized.
The benefit was trivial compared with what it would have been had the road been of standard guage and first class construction. Grain, cattle and hogs could then have been shipped direct to Chicago without changing cars at Covington or Sioux City.
The fact was, the cost of sending a car of cattle or pro- duce to Sioux City over the narrow guage and then chang- ing to a car of standard guage was fully as great as it was to send them by wagon in the old fashioned way. Hence aside from the amusement of seeing the little engine and rattle trap train of cars creep out in the morning and creep in at night, one hardly saw any great benefit therefrom and
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especially a benefit equivalent to the gift of $87,000. When people thought of these matters, and reflected how gross and expensive a swindle it had been to them, how much had been paid and how little received, their indigna- tion grew until almost uncontrollable.
In the spring of 1877 the work of grading west of Ponca. was resumed. Grading was pretended to be done to the west side of the county and from there to the center of Cedar county and a certain amount of work had to be done before such bonds could be claimed. Fortunately for Cedar county. a sensible mob assembled one day at St. Helena and seized the bonds amounting to $150.000 and made a bonfire of them. Thus that county was saved the grief and expense of a big suit in the United States Court.
Knox county had also the good fortune and good sense to destroy their bonds. Towards fall the company began to feel hard up. There were no more counties to plunder of bonds and hence no more bonds to sell. Men who had worked on the grade for the company, clamored for their pay.
As to the road as far as it was built and operated. it did not pay expenses. Sometimes a run would be made between Ponca and Covington without a single passenger or pound of freight and nine times out of ten there were not over three or four passengers. Not a very prosperous outlook. certainly, for the railroad company.
Towards the fall of 1877 the company had a new general manager. one Davenport, who was said to be as remorseless an old scoundrel as ever struck the country. So unpopular did he become in a short time with the workmen that he was in danger of personal violence. Once it was rumored he had been shot by a grader who could get no pay for his work, and it was said by one who had more wit than sym- pathy. that the rumor was circulated for the purpose of raising the market value of the company's stock.
At one time several hundred unpaid men who had been working on the grade west of New Castle were at Covington waiting for their pay. Either by some knot of red tape or with hopes of wearing them out. the crowd of men were kept dancing attendance from day to day. all on expense. many of them wholly destitute and actually suffering for
HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
the necessaries of life, waiting for the wages due them, and as it appeared. waiting in vain. The feelings of the crowd seemed exceedingly vindictive towards General Manager Davenport. One day a hungry but resolute looking in- dividual made the following brief remarks: "We are here after our pay and we are going to have it, you bet. If we don't get it, we'll help the devil to foreclose his mortgage on old Davenport." With these words he made a horrible grimace and putting his hand on his throat stuck out his tongue and pointed significantly to a tree near by.
Another story which was told and which helped to excite the wide spread indignation was: A man had worked two months on the grade in Cedar county. His wife and children were in Sioux City. To them he sent the vouchers he had received for his work and his wife went to the office of the C. C. & B. H. Company to get the money. The general manager listened to her request with insolent indifference and gruffy told her he had no money for her. She told him of the destitution of herself and family and implored him to pay a part at least. She offered to let him have the vouchers for her husband's work for five dollars. She offered them for $3; for $2: for $1.50. To all her appeals she merely received a grunt of disapproval, and the poor woman retired from the presence of that dignitary in tears and despair.
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