USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > History of the city of Lincoln, Nebraska : with brief historical sketches of the state and of Lancaster County > Part 20
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
present "State Board of Transportation " is composed of Hon. G. L. Laws, T. H. Benton, William Leese, J. E. Hill, and John Steen. The secretaries are JJ. R. Gilkeson, L. W. Gilchrist, and W. S. Garber. The law of 1885 provided that the Auditor, Secretary of State, and Attor- ney General should constitute the board, but the law of 1887 added to these officers the Treasurer and Commissioner of Public Lands and Buildings.
Taken all together Lincoln's railroad facilities are unsurpassed in the West, and the extent to which the business done by her roads has grown is the surest and best indication of the wonderful growth of the business of the city.
As Lincoln is well equipped with railroad lines, so is she with tel- egraph lines and express facilities. The Western Union is, of course, here, and has been ever since the coming of the first railroad. The Pacific Mutual, or the Postal Telegraph Cable Company, has been in operation in the city for nearly four years, and does a thriving busi- , ness.
At the time of the settlement of Lincoln, the express business of all the country west of the Missouri river was by common consent of all the other express companies, conceded to be the exclusive territory of the Wells-Fargo Express Company, with headquarters at San Francisco. That company established an office in Lincoln carly in 1868, with Austin Humphrey as agent. He conducted the business in one corner . of the Humphrey Brothers' hardware store, in the old frame building that stood on the northwest corner of ninth and O streets, on the ground now occupied by the five story brick block of the same firm.
In a few years the increased business requiring the exclusive time of an agent, W. H. Wallace, an experienced expressman, was sent here to take charge of the business, opening a regular office on ninth street,. between O and P, with a new wagon, and Morris Turner as clerk.
In the summer of 1875 the Union Pacific Railroad Company de- cided to do the express business of its line, and as this was the only railroad upon which the Wells Fargo operated, and as the territory was isolated from the headquarters at San Francisco, and as the busi- ness of the company was greatly reduced by the grasshoppers of 1873, 1874, 1875, the company on July 1, 1875, withdrew from its business, and abandoned all its territory east of Ogden. Its place was imme- diately filled by the Union Pacific Express Company, on the Union
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LINCOLN'S RAILROADS, ETC.
Pacific railroad ; the American Express Company, then operating on the C. B. & Q. system, taking the B. & M .; the United States Ex- press Company, operating on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and Kansas City & Council Bluffs, taking the Midland Pacific from Brown- ville to Seward, and the A. & N. from Atchison to Lincoln.
The American Company took the office and fixtures, with the agent of the Wells-Fargo Company and the United States Company occu- pied a frame building on Tenth street, back of the First National Bank, with Mr. DeKay as agent. The frame building referred to had done duty for years on the corner now occupied by the First Na-
MUMPVOLT BROS
THE HUMPHREY BLOCK.
tional Bank, as a first class family grocery, kept by Thomas Sewell. In November, 1875, J. S. Atwood having extended the Union block on O street to the alley between Tenth and Eleventh, the American Express removed its office to the room next the alley, the agent living in rooms above, stairs leading down into the office.
On July 1, 1876, Mr. Wallace was succeeded by S. W. Chapman, who held the agency until December 1, 1880, when he was succeeded by S. J. Roberts. During this time the growth of business of the companies was more than 300 per cent. In February, 1877, Mr. DeKay, agent of the United States Company, was succeeded by J. E.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
R. Millar, who still holds the place; and the office was moved to the Union Block, on O street. In May, 1884, Mr. Roberts, agent of the American Company, gave place to JJ. L. Hopkins, who held the place until June, 1887, when he was succeeded by C. S. Potter, who was in turn succeeded in January, 1888, by C. R. Teas, who now occupies the position.
When the Southern Pacific completed its connection with the Santa Fó at Deming, N. M., the Wells-Fargo Company began a systematic warfare to recapture the West Missouri territory abandoned by it five or six years previous. After fighting more than a year with the Adams Express Company on the Sante Fe road, the Wells-Fargo Company finally succeeded in driving its competitor out of the territory west of Kansas City, and then demanded the surrender of Nebraska. The American Company retired from the B. & M., but the United States Company for several months held on to the A. & N., it and the Wells- Fargo running opposition, with two messengers on each train, and two agents at each station. At length the United States Company grew tired, and the Union Pacific railroad being completed to Lincoln in 1880, the United States Company turned its business, with agent, office, etc., over to the Pacific Express Company, and retired from all the field west of Omaha. Early in 1886 the Missouri Pacific came into Lincoln with the Pacific Express Company, which had worked on to that line, giving the city direct communication with St. Louis and all the lines belonging to that great system. In the fall of the same year the Elkhorn line came in with the Wells-Fargo Company in connection with the American Express, opening Lincoln to the Black Hills, Minneapolis, Chicago, and all the 5,000 miles of the Chicago & Northwestern system.
Lincoln now has in name but two express companies-the Wells- Fargo and the Pacific-although really with the advantage of the four ; the Wells-Fargo and the American being under the control of one company, and the Pacific and United States being consolidated.
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STATE INSTITUTIONS.
CHAPTER XVI.
STATE INSTITUTIONS-THE PENITENTIARY-HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE - HOME FOR THE FRIENDLESS-THE PENITENTIARY REVOLT - WARDEN NOBES'S STORY OF THAT OCCURRENCE-SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL ACTORS -NEW INCIDENTS OF THE REVOLT-THE EXPLOSION AT THE ASYLUM.
At the time the Commissioners had in consideration the selection of a site for the location of the capital, Messrs. W. T. Donovan, of Lancas- ter, Nebraska, and Hon. G. H. Hilton, of Cincinnati, O., as an in- ducement to the Commissioners to select the present site, offered to donate to the State forty acres of land, situated about two and one-half miles south of the town of Lancaster, upon the express condition that said land should be reserved by the Commissioners, and used by the State as the site of the proposed penitentiary. Upon the final decision locating the seat of government, this grant was accepted and the res- ervation and location made accordingly, it being understood that in case the State Penitentiary should not be erected upon this site, the same should revert to Mr. Hilton, in whom the legal title was then vested. This explains why the penitentiary is located in a hollow instead of being on the hill either this side or beyond.
Among the subjects for legislation named by the Governor to be submitted to a special session of the Legislature, called to meet in Lincoln, in February, 1870, was that of erecting a State Penitentiary, and providing for the care and custody of State prisoners. Accord- ingly an act to provide for both these objects was passed at that ses- sion, and received the approval of the Governor on the 4th day of March, 1870. The act provided for the election of three State Pris- on Inspectors, who were to take charge of the sale of lands for the raising of the necessary funds, and also of the erection of the build- ings. A temporary building was immediately erected on the ground to accommodate the present necessities, which did duty until the new building was completed, and which now stands within the prison walls.
The three Inspectors, Messrs. W. W. Wilson, W. W. Abbey, and F. Templin, set to work immediately upon their selection. W. H. B.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
Stont, then of Washington county, Nebraska, and J. M. JJamison, of Des Moines, la., were granted the contract for $312,000. The work, as far as the contract extended, was completed in the fall of 1876, but since then numerous additions have been made to the capacity of the institution. At the opening of the penitentiary the number of pris- oners was 18, but at present nearly 400 boarders are accommodated.
Henry C. Campbell was the first warden, appointed and he was succeeded by William Woodhurst, in 1873, during whose wardenship occurred the famous "revolt " among the prisoners, on January 11, 1875.
About four o'clock in the afternoon of that day, Deputy Warden C. J. Nobes stood with his hand upon the latch of the door that gave admission to the old stable which was then used as a shop for the convict stone-entters. The window panes near by were cov- ered with frost. Had they been clear, so that he might have seen into the shop, or had he seen the eyes that peered out at him through the little holes that had been seraped through the frost, he would not have entered. But no suspicion of anything wrong had entered his mind, and he opened the door quickly and stepped in. If his pulse did not beat a trifle quicker as he did so, his must have been an extraordinarily imperturbable nature. As he closed the door there stepped quickly from behind it twelve men whom he recognized by a hasty and comprehensive glance as the most desperate convicts in the prison. Wm. McWaters, who was afterward killed by a guard while attempting to incite a revolt, stood immediately in front of Mr. Nobes, with the muzzle of a revolver which he had taken from the guard almost touching the warden's face. Quin Bohanan, afterward a murderer, stood near by with a pick raised over the warden's head. Grouped around them, armed with stone-hammers, which their venge- ful and determined faces showed they would not hesitate to use, were Warrel, McKenna, Thompson, Gerry, Elder, and five others, equally desperate but not as well known as these leaders.
A glance was sufficient to reveal everything to the warden. A conspiracy to take the prison had been formed, the guards in the shop had been overpowered and disarmed, and the conspirators had lain in wait for the warden. Their plan had worked admirably, and when Mr. Nobes was invited to surrender, he replied, "All right boys ; what do you want?"
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STATE INSTITUTIONS.
"Take his six-shooter," said one of the conspirators.
" He hasn't any," said Mc Waters.
Nobes had always conveyed the impression that he did not carry a "gun," and his heart gave a throb of hope at Mc Waters's remark. " I began to work my hand around to my hip pocket, kind of careless like," he says when he tells of the experience, "but Bohanan soon discovered what I was doing, and catching my hand, with the remark, ' I'll take care of that,' took my revolver from my pocket."
"Take off your clothes," said McWaters.
"No, I won't do it," replied Nobes. "You can undress me if you want to, but I won't do it myself."
The conspirators let him have his own way about it, and soon had him stripped to his underelothes. It was suggested that they put a striped suit on him, but he told them they could not do that, and they contented themselves with dressing him in a teamster's clothes. It was then suggested that they shave him, but he declared that he would not submit to it. It was finally put to a vote, and Elder and Jennings voted to shave him, while the other ten voted against it. The barber, who had been brought in, was accordingly not called upon to exercise his art upon the warden.
The convicts sat their prisoner in a chair, tying his hands behind it, and tying the chair to a post. The guard was disposed of in the same way at the other end of the shop.
Mc Waters then arrayed himself in the warden's clothes, and blacked the sides of his face with the stove poker, so as to represent the war- den's whiskers. Taking Nobes's heavy cane, Me Waters formed seven of the men in line and marched them across the yard to the cell house and warden's quarters. The guards on the walls saw the moving group, but as they marched in the usual manner, each with his right hand on the shoulder of the man in front, and as MeWaters was dressed in the deputy's suit and carried his cane, nothing was sus- pected.
The convicts found the doors open, and had no difficulty in making Warden Woodhurst and the guards prisoners. They then went to the armory, sending one of their number to Nobes for the key to the door. He pointed out the key to the dispensary, and declared that it was the key to the armory, knowing that if they had to force the armory door open they would be likely to alarm the guards on the
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
walls, whom, of course, they had had no opportunity of capturing. They did have to batter down the door, but the guards had in the meantime been alarmed in quite another manner.
Four men had been left to watch the deputy warden, the guard Cochran, and Mr. C. B. Fox, who were in the stone shop. Besides the mutineers, there were about twenty other convicts in the shop, who took no part in the revolt, but kept on working. When MeWaters and his seven fellow-conspirators had gone, Nobes called a convict named JJohnson to him and asked him to untie him. The four con- spirators left to guard him told Johnson they would kill him if he did. "You are not afraid of these fellows," said Nobes; "you untie me and I'll protect you." Johnson was a fellow of a good deal of nerve, but he looked at the four desperate men before him, calculated on his chances with MeWaters and his seven comrades, and said that he believed he would not take sides in the trouble either way.
It has always been supposed that Mr. Nobes succeeded in loosening his bonds himself, and that statement has been made in every account of the revolt. The truth is that he was released by one of the mu- tineers who was left to guard him. This man's name was Warrell. Observing that the deputy was struggling to free himself, Warrell came back to him with his hammer in hand and said : " You had bet- ter keep quiet, or I'll have to tap you with this hammer."
" You wouldn't hit anybody," replied Nobes. "A man with only four years to serve here is a fool to go into a scheme like this. You untie me and I'll get you out of here."
"I don't dare to. They 'Il kill me if I let you go," said Warrell.
"They needn't know it at all," said Nobes, "and if you let me loose, McWaters and his gang will not get back here. You come down here and swing your hammer over my head and swear you'll kill me, and then get down behind the chair and untie the straps, while pretending to tighten them. I tell you I will get you out of here if you'll do it."
The noise made by the hammers of the men who were working en- abled the convict and the imprisoned deputy to carry on this conver- sation without being overheard. Warrell followed the deputy's directions, and after threatening to brain him with the hammer, got. down behind him, and while apparently tightening his bonds, loos- ened them. The other convicts were in front of the deputy, and could. not see what Warrell was doing. But the deputy's feet were also tied
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STATE INSTITUTIONS.
and there was no way of loosening them without immediate detec- tion. Fortunately, as Warrell rose and moved away, two shots were fired at the cell-house. Two of the mutineers went to the window, and, scratching away the frost, pressed their faces close to the win- dow. Another one, Edwards, who stood in the door, was also watch- ing the cell-house. All of them had forgotten their prisoner for the moment. It was a valuable moment, and Nobes made the most of it. His hands were free, and he soon succeeded in untying his feet. Ly- ing near him was a hoe. As he sprang up and seized this, Edwards, who stood in the door, saw him and gave the alarm; but it was too late. The deputy swung the hoe into the air and knocking Edwards, crowbar and all, over a pile of stone, escaped from the shop and ran across the yard to the stable. Getting out of range of the convicts' guns, he called to a guard to throw him a six-shooter, and taking this in hand, he went back to the stone shop. Arrived here, he made Thompson, one of the mutineers, untie the guard, and the two got outside the walls.
There was a board wall at the southwest corner of the yard, and the plan of the mutineers was to dress themselves in citizens' clothes, pro- cured from the warden and gnards, secure arms from the armory, kill the guard at the southwest turret, and escape at nightfall. The two shots which attracted the attention of the conspirators left to guard the deputy, and which gave him the opportunity to escape, were fired at the guard in this turret. His name was Julius Grosjean. The first shot cut his vest and the second wounded him slightly in the leg.
It took the deputy warden but a short time, when he had regained his liberty, to get the guards together and dispose of them to the best advantage. They were stationed at knot-holes and other improvised port-holes where they could command the yard, and were instructed to shoot the first man who came into the yard with a gun. Innings, one of the mutineers, appeared at the kitchen window with a gun, and the deputy himself drew a bead on him and fired. The man disap- peared. After the surrender Nobes learned that he had gone up stairs and surrendered to the warden. A bullet-hole in the casement and a scratch on Innings's neck gave evidence of the accuracy of the deputy's aim.
It was but a short time after the revolt was discovered by the guards on the walls until the report had reached the city, and citizens with
15
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
arms began to arrive. The Governor was also promptly notified, and secured an almost immediate order for the movement of the 23d U. S. infantry from Omaha to the scene of the revolt. "The citizens had nerve enough," says Mr. Nobes, "but they were not used to discipline and you could not count on them. You might station a man at a cer- tain point and in five minutes find that he had gone somewhere else. I tell you I felt a good deal better when I heard the measured tramp of the regulars, and the orders of the offiers which I knew would be obeyed to the letter."
The company of regulars under Major Randall arrived about one o'clock in the morning, and at once proceeded to throw a line of gnards about the walls. The warden and his wife, and two guards, in the meantime, were the prisoners of the mutineers. The latter made one or two experiments in the way of going into the yard, but a fusilade from the guards convinced them that such experiments were far from safe. They discussed many plans during the night, which were over- heard by the imprisoned guards and the warden and his wife. One plan was to go out to the gates with the imprisoned guards in front of them, and another was to secure still more certain immunity from being shot by forcing Mrs. Woodhurst out ahead of them. These plans were abandoned, however, as impracticable, and they gradually lost their courage and hope as the slow hours of the night wore away.
About six o'clock in the morning Mrs. Woodhurst appeared at the southwest window of the chapel, much to the relief of her husband and sons, (who were separated from her during the eventful night,) as well as her many friends among the citizens before the walls. She stated that she thought the mutineers could be persuaded to surrender to her. The troops were making preparations to enter the yard and storm the building occupied by the mutineers, but before they started the convicts agreed to surrender to Mrs. Woodhurst, stipulating only that they should receive no excessive punishment.
The conduet of Mrs. Woodhurst through all that trying experience is spoken of with the highest praise. When she was allowed by the convicts to go to her own room and stay there, she made her way to another room whence she was able to alarm the guards on the walls, and thus prevent them from coming to the house, where they would have been captured. Her behavior was marked by the utmost in- trepidity and presence of mind throughout the entire night. At one
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STATE INSTITUTIONS.
time she secured the arms of the mutineers, hid them in her wardrobe, and concealed their ammunition in a bucket of water. She gave them back their arms, however, when they began to batter down the door of the wardrobe where she had concealed them.
Deputy warden Nobes kept the promise which he made to Warrell, the convict who untied him when he was a prisoner in the stone shop. On April 5, 1875, Governor Garber granted Warrell a full pardon, and the deputy had the pleasure of reciprocating the favor done him at a time when he needed it desperately, by opening the prison gates and letting the convict who had saved him step out into the world a free man.
Me Waters was a restless, irrepressible character, and, not discour- aged by the failure of this revolt, set immediately to work planning another. The plan for this one was discovered through the dropping of a note, which one of the conspirators had written to another. The attempt was to be made on the 26th day of May. Kolkow, the keeper of the wash-house, was to be killed. The deputy warden was then to be disposed of, and a rush for liberty made. When the 26th of May came the convicts were kept in the main building all after- noon. The next day they were marched out, but the guards were under special instructions to keep a close lookout, and to shoot any convict who made any suspicious demonstration. A short time after the convicts had gone to work, John Geary was granted leave to go to the privy. Just as he was returning Me Waters held up his hand, and was given permission to go. He met Geary just under the guard's cage, and touching him, said something. The guard did not hear what it was, but the fact that anything was said was warning that something was wrong, and he was at once upon the alert. When Me Waters stooped and picked up a stone and made a motion to throw it at the guard, the latter fired. McWaters stood upright a moment, without making any outcry, and then walked forward about twenty feet, where he was caught by Cochran, the overseer. The blood was gushing from the carotid artery, and within a few seconds from the time he staggered into the overseer's arms, he died. The ball from Hugh Blaney's gun had passed through Me Waters's left jaw, entered the neck, severed the carotid artery, passed down through his body, and came out just above the left kidney.
After firing upon Mc Waters, the guard immediately re-cocked his
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gun, and ordered Geary back to work. He then gave the alarm by ringing the bell in the yard, and those in the warden's and deputy's rooms. The alarm brought out the warden and deputy, and after the convicts had been allowed to work long enough for the excitement to subside somewhat, they were marched into the main building and an extra guard set over them.
Me Waters was not the only one of the mutineers who was a figure in a subsequent tragedy. Quin Bohanan's term expired October 13, 1877. On the 19th of February, 1882, in a quarrel with James Cook, at Waverly, over the spelling of the word "pedlar," he killed Cook. He was tried and sentenced to the penitentiary for life, but after serv- ing a short part of his time, he succeeded in getting a new trial. The result was far from being what he expected, for the jury brought in a verdict of murder in the first degree, and he was sentenced to be hanged.
He was confined in the Otoc county jail, awaiting some further ju- dicial proceedings, his case having been appealed to the United States Supreme Court; but on the 22d day of June, 1887, he escaped, and has since succeeded in elnding the officers, spurred on as they are by a heavy reward.
Bohanan was of that peculiar temperament that either could not appreciate disgrace and the apparent hopelessness of his situation, or, appreciating them, could not be depressed by them. He seemed never to allow the idea of escape to leave his mind. An incident occurred during his second trial which Mr. Nobes never made public, because Bohanan's attorneys feared it might prejudice his case. When Nobes took Bohanan into the buggy to bring him to the city for trial, he fastened his handcuffs to an iron in the buggy seat. When about half way to town he suddenly discovered that Bohanan had taken off' the nut which held the iron, and was almost free. As the team was a very spirited one, the situation was somewhat critical. Looking Bohanan sternly in the eye, he ordered him to put the nut back, which he did.
" Now," said Nobes, "if you make the slightest move toward get- ting away, I'll kill you."
" For God's sake, Mr. Nobes, don't shoot me !" exclaimed Bohanan, who saw that Nobes was a good deal agitated, and evidently feared that he might conclude to act as executioner without further delay.
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