USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County Wisconsin, including its civil, political, geological, mineralogical archaeological and military history > Part 13
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Owing to the prejudice against the accused in Richland County, a change of venue to Grant County was taken. The trial took place in June, 1891. The judge had managed to have all accounts of the af- fair suppressed in the newspapers of this county, and an unprejudiced jury was obtained. The accused was a very pretty and interesting girl and soon had a large number of friends and strong partisans among the people who attended the trial; and when the accused was finally convicted of murder in the first degree there were some threat- ening demonstrations against the jurymen in the streets of Lancaster.
The interest was not confined to Grant and Richland Counties. An editor at Wausau, Mark Barnum, espoused Rose's cause with such zeal that he was prosecuted for criminal libel by the friends of Ella Maly, and convicted.
Rose Zoldoski was sentenced to life imprisonment, efforts for a new trial having been unavailing. She was pardoned by Governor Upham in 1896.
NICK AMES.
In strong contrast to the deep, sad tragedy of the Zoldoski case, was the criminal career of Nick Ames, which all through strongly re- sembled a comic opera.
During the summer and fall of 1881 numerous burglaries and dep- redations had been committed in and about Lancaster, and evidences finally pointed to Nick Ames, a boy of fifteen or sixteen, who had come from Dutch Hollow, in the town of Potosi. Armed with a warrant, the City Marshal sought an interview with Nick, who was peacefully husking corn in a field near town. When the warrant was served Nick said he would go with the Marshal just as soon as he could take the
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team he was using to the barn, and he quietly got into the wagon. But no sooner had he done so than he snatched up the whip and ap- plied it to the horses and quickly left the astonished Marshal in the rear. Reaching the opposite side of the field, he jumped the fence, reached a neighboring grove and disappeared. The gigantic stature of the outwitted Marshal, and the diminutive size of the cunning young rascal served to heighten the opera bouffe effect. This was about the last of November, 1881.
It was supposed that he had been scared out of the neighborhood, but soon the depradations were renewed, and it was noticeable that groceries and provisions were the chief object of the burglar's quest. However, he broke into a milliner shop and got a few dollars in money, and finally made his way into the office of the County Treasurer, but found only a gold dollar loose.
Soon after this one of the county officials noticed a trail of candle grease drops leading up the stairs into the attic of the court house. His suspicions were aroused and summoning the Sheriff, the two, well armed, went up into the garret with a light, and there in a far corner under the eaves, they found the lately lost and much yearned-for Nick under some quilts. The corners of the attic were full of vegetable and meat cans, full and empty, hams, sausage, crackers, etc. There was something irresistibly comic in having a bold burglar thus make his lair directly over judge and court and right under the Sheriff's nose, figuratively speaking, and the county took it as a huge joke. But there were yet other scenes in the comic opera. The capture was about the middle of December.
About daylight Christmas morning, Nick, who had contrived to get locked into the corridor instead of a cell, slipped out at the outside door as the Deputy Sheriff entered and left it unlocked.
Soon after his escape the burglaries began again. Nick's favorite method of entry was to take a bit and bore a series of holes about the lock and thus rendered it easy to cut it out. Thus he operated on the doors of dwellings, stores, shops, and freight cars. After he had gone through the doors they were useful as kindling wood. But his beloved bit was the means of his undoing. Amateur detectives, who had been numerous before Nick's first capture, now fairly swarmed. Someone discovered a bit and brace hid in the lumber yard, and thinking that it was Nick's and that he would not long be parted from his faithful weapon, quite as important to him as the trusty Toledo blade to
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SOME NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL TRIALS.
the ancient knightly (not nightly) marauder, the Deputy Sheriff with a posse watched the hiding-place. It was a cold winter night, and the watchers could hardly keep their chattering teeth from warning the game away. But at last Nick came gliding up and the Deputy Sheriff pounced upon him.
The boy again escaped, as narrated on page 79, was again cap- tured and was sentenced to a term in prison, but when he got out he returned to his old career. He was repeatedly captured and escaped by cajoling the officers. In March, 1891, the Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff captured him in a little cave, which he had fitted up for a resi- dence, near Dutch Hollow. He had several books there, among them a physical geography and a Wisconsin Blue Book. He was brought to Lancaster in a buggy, but on reaching the jail he glided out of the buggy like an cel and was soon out of sight. He was recaptured in about six weeks and got another term in the penitentiary. And thus the curtain went down on the many-act comic opera, for Nick declined another engagement in the same rôle.
THE SISLEY CASE.
On the 11th of June, 1882, John Louis Sisley, living in the town of Lima, in a portion known as the "Bad Lands," on account of sev- eral crimes committed there, was married. During the night of the 13th some of the young men of the neighborhood inflicted a charivari on the young couple, which greatly disturbed the bride Early the next morning she was found lying dead about eighty yards from the house, with a 22-caliber revolver in her hand, with four of its cham- bers discharged, and there were four bullet-wounds in the woman's breast.
The husband stated that he had loaded the revolver with the in- tention of "helping the boys with the charivari," and then left it in his pocket; that he did not know when his wife got up and went out, and did not discover her absence till he got up in the morning.
The coroner's jury seemed to think it a case of suicide, and this theory was held by the defense when the husband and others were ar- rested for murder. The prosecution denied that the woman could have fired four shots into herself. The preliminary examination before Justice Keene, of Lancaster, was of prodigious length and cost the county more than $3,000. Louis Sisley and his mother, Mrs. Stout, and Hamilton were bound over pending action by the circuit court.
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At the next term of court the prosecution was not ready for trial and the accused were released on their own recognizance. Action against them was afterward nolle prosequied. The question whether the kill- ing was suicide or murder was hotly argued in the newspapers and awakened great interest in all parts of the county.
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PART II.
CIVIL AND POLITICAL HISTORY.
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CHAPTER I.
CIVIL HISTORY.
Under Territorial Government-Under State Government-Town Organization-County Officers-Legislative Districts and Officers-Efforts to Divide the County.
UNDER TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.
The Territory of Wisconsin was organized under the act of Con- gress approved July 4, 1836. Its eastern boundary was the same as that of the present State, but it extended westward to White Earth River and the Missouri, including all the present States of Iowa and Minnesota and part of North Dakota and South Dakota. Henry Dodge of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, was appointed Governor, and Charles Dunn, of Illinois, Chief Justice.
The first session of the legislature convened October 25, 1836, at Belmont, a small mining town eight miles east of Platteville. The members from that part of the Territory which afterwards became Grant County were James R. Vineyard, of Platteville, in the Council, and James P. Cox and Thomas Shanley in the lower house. The prin- cipal question debated was the location of the capital. There were many candidates for the favor, among them Cassville, which, as the Territory was then constituted, was a fairly central point of the in- habited portion. But James D. Doty, afterward Governor of the Ter- ritory, had laid out a town called Madison and distributed town lots freely among the members of the legislature, and these formed more eloquent arguments than all the glowing descriptions of the advocates of other points.
Belmont was abandoned by the legislature after the first session, and in 1849 it was described as having only three houses: a small hotel and the dwellings of Mr. Gentry and Judge Dunn. The accom- panying engraving shows the building in which the first legislature
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assembled. It is now used as a barn, and the roof which once echoed to the eloquence of the legislators and town-site promotors, now re- sounds to the neigh of horses and the voice of the groom.
The most important act of the legislature for the purpose of this history was that organizing Grant County with its present bound- aries. Joseph H. D. Street was appointed Sheriff and John H. Rountree
Judge of Probate. The beginning of the legal existence of the county was fixed at March 4, 1837. Henry W. Hodges, James Gilmore, E. E. Brock, Orris McCartney, and Frank C. Kirkpatrick were appointed commissioners to locate the county seat, which they proceeded to do, as narrated on page 38.
The legislature of the Territory consisted of an upper house, the Council, and a lower house, the House of Representatives. Members of the Council were at first elected for four years and members of the House for two years. This was afterward changed to two years for the Council and one year for the House. The roster of Grant County legislators under territorial government is as follows :
Councilmen .- 1838-42, James R. Vineyard and John H. Rountree, both of Platteville; 1842-46 (two terms) J. H. Rountree, of Platte- ville and Nelson Dewey, of Lancaster; 1846-48, Orris McCartney, of Cassville.
Representatives .- 1838-Thomas Cruson, Platteville; Nelson Dewey, Lancaster; Ralph Carver, Potosi; Joseph H. D. Street, Cass-
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GRANT COUNTY IN 1843.
The heavy lines are the boundaries of pre- cincts. The broken lines are the boundaries of congressional towns.
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ville. 1840-Thomas Cruson, Platteville; Nelson Dewey (Speaker), Lancaster; Jonathan Craig, Potosi; Joseph H. D. Street, Cassville. 1841-Neely Gray, Platteville; Nelson Dewey, Lancaster; D. R. Burt, Waterloo. 1842-Neely Gray, Platteville; Nelson Dewey, Lancaster; D. R. Burt, Waterloo. 1843-Alonzo Platt, Platteville; Franklin Z. Hicks, Jamestown; G. M. Price, Cassville. 1844-Alonzo Platt, Platteville; Franklin Z. Hicks, Jamestown, G. M. Price, Cassville. 1845-Thomas Cruson, Platteville; F. Z. Hicks, Jamestown; Thomas P. Burnett, Millville. 1846-Thomas Cruson, Platteville; A. C. Brown, Potosi; Thomas P. Burnett, Millville. 1847-A. C. Brown, Potosi; Wm. Richardson, Paris. 1848-Noah H. Virgin, Platteville; D. R. Burt, Waterloo.
The first Delegate from Wisconsin to Congress was a Grant County man, George W. Jones, of Sinsinawa, who represented the Territory from 1836 to 1838.
At the second session of the legislature in 1837 an act was passed to legalize the acts of the Supervisors of Grant County in selling cer- tain lots of thecounty seat and in making a contract for a court-house.
In 1839, under a general law, Nelson Dewey was appointed county agent to take charge of and sell all lands belonging to the county, and transact all business connected with such lands. He continued to act as such agent until the formation of the State government.
The first election for county officers was held in the spring of 1837. The Sheriff and County Judge had been appointed by the Governor and the District Attorney by Judge Dunn. Justices of the peace were also appointed by the Governor. A list of county officers during the territorial times will be found on a subsequent page. About three hundred votes were cast at the first election.
UNDER STATE GOVERNMENT.
In 1846 the first convention met in Madison to form a constitu- tion for the proposed State of Wisconsin. The members from Grant County were J. Allen Barber, Lorenzo Bevans, Thomas P. Burnett, Daniel R. Burt, Thomas Cruson, James Gilmore, Neely Gray, Franklin Z. Hicks, and James R. Vineyard. The convention contained many of the ablest men in the State, but the constitution it formed was very unpopular, especially in the mining region. It contained too many "experiments" in legislation. The articles allowing married women to own separate property, to exempt certain property from execution, and especially the article on banking, prohibiting all banks of issue
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The heavy lines show the boundaries of precincts. The broken lines are the bound- aries of congressional towns.
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and making it illegal to circulate bank notes under ten dollars after 1847, or under twenty dollars after 1849, were among the unpopular provisions. The constitution was rejected by a vote of the people.
A second convention met at Madison December 15, 1847. The members from Grant County were, Orsamus Cole, George W. Lakin, Alexander D. Ramsay, William Richardson, and John H. Rountree. This convention was much smaller than the first.
One of the most exciting topics of discussion was the question of the boundaries of the new State. The action of Congress in fixing the boundaries of Illinois and Michigan had greatly displeased the people of Wisconsin Territory, because it robbed them of territory which, by the Ordinance of 1787, rightfully belonged to Wisconsin. That act, creating the Northwest Territory, provided that out of this Territory not less than three nor more than five States should be created; that if more than three States were created the southern boundary of the other State or States should be " a line drawn east and west through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan." This language was rendered somewhat vague by the introduction of the superfluous words "bend or," but it could mean nothing else than an east and went line touching the southern extremity of the lake. This ordinance was violated by making the northern boundary of Ohio and Indiana a little north of such a line, and again by making the northern bound- ary of Illinois more than sixty miles north of this line. Again, the ordinance provided that the boundary between the States north of this line should be a line drawn through the middle of Lake Michigan. This provision was violated by giving the northern peninsula to Mich- igan, instead of Wisconsin. The people of Wisconsin were intensely interested in this matter. If the provisions of the ordinance had been complied with, Galena, long the metropolis of the Lead Region, and Chicago would have been in Wisconsin.
This constitution was ratified by a large majority at a popular election, and the State was admitted early in 1848.
TOWN ORGANIZATION.
During territorial times two distinct systems of local government prevailed in Wisconsin : the county and the town system. The former originated in Virginia when there were no towns in the State, and when the counties were very small, and prevailed in all the States to which Virginians or their descendants emigrated in great numbers, be- ing retained by sheer force of prejudice when the circumstances under
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which it originated no longer prevailed. The town system of govern- ment originated in New England and was soon adopted in New York and was spread westward by emigrants from those States. In the early settlement of Wisconsin immigrants from the South predomi- nated in the western part of the Territory while in the eastern part those of New England or New York stock were in a large majority. As a compromise between the views of the people of the different sec- tions on local government, it was provided, during territorial times, that each county should adopt whichever system it chose, as is now done, or was done recently, in Illinois. Grant County adopted the county system, and the county was divided into precincts mainly for voting purposes. The boundaries of these precincts at two different periods are shown on maps on preceding pages. But by the time the State constitution was adopted the advocates of the town system were in a large majority in Wisconsin, and the constitution provided that the legislature should provide but one system of town and county government, which should be as nearly uniform as possible, and the legislature provided for the adoption of the New England town sys- tem, the most perfect system of " home rule" ever adopted.
Accordingly, the Board of Supervisors of Grant County, at a special session in January, 1849, divided the county into sixteen towns, providing places for holding the first town meeting in each town, as follows: Hazel Green, first town meeting at the Empire House in Hazel Green village; Jamestown, town meeting at the house of Alfred Woods; Smelser, first town meeting at the house of Jonas Smelser; Paris, first town meeting at the house of William Richard- son ; Platteville, first town meeting at the house of B. Atwood ; Lima, first town meeting at the school-house near the house of F. Johnson; Wingville, first town meeting at W. Bruner's hotel in Wingville village; Fennimore, first town meeting at the school-house near P. Dempsey's; Harrison, first town meeting at the house of C. Travis; Highland, first town meeting at the house of Col. James Mckenzie; Potosi, first town meeting at the Wisconsin House; Waterloo, first town meeting at the school-house near the house of D. R. Burt; Lancaster, first town meet- ing at the court-house; Beetown, first town meeting at the Beetown House; Cassville, first town meeting at the house of W. Pollock ; Patch Grove, first town meeting at the school-house near the house of J. M. Dickinson. The towns in the southern part of the county were then organized as they are to-day, while those in the northern
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and western part have been much subdivided, showing the sparse population of those parts of the county at that time. The boundaries of these towns will be found on the map on the opposite page.
It will be observed that the County Board constituted these towns on the basis of the "congressional towns." This system of land divi- sion (probably familiar to most of our readers) is this: the line be- tween Wisconsin and Illinois is taken as a base line; the meridian forming the eastern boundary of the county, called the Fourth Princi- pal Meridian, forms a guide for the north and south lines. From this meridian lines six miles apart are run north and south, and parallel with the base line other lines six miles apart are run east and west. The blocks of land six miles square defined by these lines crossing each other are called "towns." The first tier of towns west of the Principal Meridian constitute "Range 1, west," and so on; the first row of towns north of the base line are all called "Town 1," the second row "Town 2," and so on. Thus Hazel Green is Town 1, north, of Range 1 west; Smelser is Town 2 north, of Range 1 west; Jamestown is Town 1 north, of Range 2 west, etc. Owing to the sparse population of some parts of the county in 1849, two or more congressional towns were included in one town for purposes of town government.
The town of Clifton was created by the County Board in 1850; in the same year two tiers of sections on the west side of Town 4, Range 5, were taken off from Cassville and added to Beetown, and sections 6 and 7 of Town 5, R. 4, were taken from Beetown and added to Patch Grove. In 1851 the towns of Muscoda and Ellenboro were organized; in 1852, Liberty; in 1853, Millville, taking most of what is now Wyalusing, a large portion of Patch Grove, and all of the pres- ent town of Millville. In 1854 Wyalusing and Marion were created; in 1856, Little Grant, Blue River, Hickory Grove, and Watterstown; in 1859, the towns of Boscobel, Glen Haven, and Lander (soon changed to Tafton). The county as it was then divided, and the boundaries of the new towns, may be seen on the map on page 141. The town of Woodman was created in 1864, Mount Hope in 1865, and Mount Ida in 1877. The location and boundaries of these towns are shown on the map opposite the title page.
COUNTY OFFICERS.
Under territorial government the County Board consisted of three commissioners; under the State government the Board consisted of one supervisor from each town until the legislature of 1861 provided
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Grant County in 1849
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The heavy lines are the boundaries of the organized towns. The broken lines are the boundaries of congressional towns.
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that the Board should consist of one supervisor from each assembly district. This provision was repealed in 1870, and the Board made to consist of one supervisor from each town and one from each incorpor- ated village.
The roster of the county officers, including the County Board, from the organization of the county till the present time is here given:
Sheriff .- 1837-38, Joseph H. D. Street, Potosi (resigned in 1838 and Harvey Pepper appointed to fill unexpired term); 1839-41, Har- vey Pepper, Lancaster; 1842, Robert B. Reed, Lancaster; 1843-44, Enos S. Baker, Platteville; 1845-46, N. W. Kendall, Platteville; 1847 -50, Matthew Woods, Potosi; 1851-52, Geo. R. Stuntz, Lancaster; 1853-54, Wm. McGonigal, Wingville; 1855-56, Lorenzo Preston, Hazel Green; 1857-58, Dexter Ward, Lancaster; 1859-60, Wm. H. Foster, Lancaster; 1861-62, J. B. Moore, Muscoda; 1863-64, N. Goodenough, Glen Haven; 1865-66, W. H. Clise, Potosi; 1867-68, J. P. Cox, Lancaster; 1869-70, W. H. Clise, Potosi; 1871-72, W. E. Sloat, Lancaster; 1873-74, Terrence Carrier, Boscobel; 1875-76, J. B. McCoy, Platteville; 1877-78, Matthew H. Burchard, Fennimore; 1879-80, G. D. Streeter, Lancaster; 1881-82, John Lane, Jamestown; 1883-84, J. L. Rewey, Platteville; 1885-86, Ora Richards, Fenni- more; 1887-88, John Dolphin, Glen Haven; 1889 -- 90, F. G. Thomp- son, Hazel Green; 1891-92, M. V. Burris, Platteville; 1893-94, Jacob Miller, Fennimore; 1895-96, Wm. J. Dyer, Lancaster; 1897-98, Horace Hymer, Potosi; 1899 -- 1900, John Fawcett, Platteville.
Treasurer .- 1837-38, Orris McCartney, Cassville; 1839-40, Eli- sha T. Haywood, Potosi; 1842 -- 43, Edmund Harelson, Lancaster; 1844-45, Robert Templeton, Potosi; 1846, Samuel Tompkins, Lan- caster; 1847, Cutler Salmon, Lancaster; 1848, James M. Otis, Lan- caster; 1849, J. H. Rountree, Platteville; 1850-51, A. W. Worth, Lancaster; 1852 -- 54, Wm. T. Ennor, Potosi; 1855 -- 56, J. L. Marsh, Platteville; 1857-58, Simon E. Lewis, Potosi; 1859-62, James A. Jones, Hazel Green; 1863-66, Samuel Moore, Platteville; 1867-70, V. F. Kinney, Potosi; 1871-74, A. R. McCartney, Cassville; 1875-78, Alex. Ivey, Potosi; 1879-82, Lou. P. Lester, Boscobel; 1883 -- 88, Thos. McMahon, Harrison; 1889-92, John A. Neaville, Potosi; 1893 -- 96, John G. Harshberger, Mount Hope; 1897-1900, John B. Mauer, Liberty.
County Clerk .*- 1837-39, J. A. Barber, Lancaster; 1839 -- 41, Nel-
"Title of office, "Clerk of County Commissioners," till 1849, and then "Clerk of Board of Supervisors."
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CIVIL HISTORY.
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Grant County in 1860
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The heavy lines show the boundaries of organized towns. The broken lines are the boundaries of congressional towns.
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