History of Grant County, Wisconsin, Part 79

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1044

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glad to get beyond the range of the belicose doctor's rifle. He was not driven ont. Harper, a merchant was, however, afterward arrested and brought before the Vigilante Court and proven guilty of loading the pistol with which 'Jim Crow' was killed, his own clerk testifying against him. He was then given two days in which to settle up his affairs and leave town. Before the expiration of the limit set, he was out of town glad to escape so easily."

Nearly forty years have elapsed since these events occurred, and but few remain who were cognizant of the facts. Lindsey Evans was never tried, and few if any learned the sequal of his life. Some returned Wisconsin soldiers, while in a Southern prison, relate that one of their keepers, learning whence they came, confessed himself to be Lindsey Evans, and by kindly acts to the prisoners seemed to desire to atone for his great wrong. But his name and memory will ever be attached to the most infamous assassination that ever occurred in the lead mines.

RUSSELL MURDER.

On the 1st day of March, 1838, Edward Oliver and John Russell, living near Cassville, became involved in a discussion arising from the loan of a skiff which Russell had borrowed from Oliver to go across Turkey River, and had not returned as he agreed. The wordy warfare aroused Oliver's passions to such an extent that he drew a pistol and attempted to shoot his an- tagonist. Parties near by interfered, but reaching around the would-be peacemaker, Oliver pulled the trigger and the ball from the pistol struck Russell in the left breast killing him in- stantly. Oliver was arrested and tried at September term of court and sentenced to be hanged. This sentence was carried into effect a short time later, the gallows for the execution being erected a short distance from where the old jail now stands. Harvey Pepper was Sheriff at the time, but a deputy named Reynolds released the fatal drop that sent the murderer into eternity. Previous to his execution, Oliver expressed a wish to make a confession as well as give a history of his past life, and Judge Barber, then a young lawyer, went to his cell to commit this recital to paper. The entrance to the cell was effected by first going into the upper story of the old log jail and then descending into the cell. As Mr. Barber sat writing, he happened to notice Oliver slip his hand from the shackles which he had unloosened in some manner and stealthily reach for an iron bar that lay near him, his evident intention being to brain his visitor and then perhaps escape.

Mr. Barber stopped writing and looking the murderer squarely in the eye, commanded him in a stern voice to replace his hand in the shackle. For a moment they sat eyeing each other, but the piercing, unflinching gaze was too much for the murderous ruffian, and he sullenly obeyed the command, and when he was securely fastened, his visitor took his leave informing him that some other time he would take the remainder of the matter. But no further attempts were made to gratify the fellow's desire for posthumous notoriety.

Oliver's son, a young lad, threatened, previous to his father's execution, to kill the officers should the sentence be carried out, and a short time after the verdict of the court had been fulfilled to its awful end, young Oliver was found in a thicket on the edge of the town with cocked gun waiting for his victim. He was, however, seen and captured before he had time to do any damage. His weapons were taken from him, and he made, so far as heard from, no further attempts for vengeance.

LATIMER MURDER.

The death of Charles Latimer in February, 1844, at the hands of one Gloster, at Potisi, created at the time much local excitement and was characterized as "the most tragical occur- rence that has disgraced this portion of the Territory for years." Latimer was an Englishman by birth, and had fled from Canada in consequence of his participation in the patriot war. He was a lawyer by profession, a man of brilliant parts and a ripe scholar, but unfortunately ad- dicted to intemperance and the abuse of the American eagle. The former habit was viewed according to the custom of the time, with a great deal of tolerance, the latter with quite the reverse.

A.W.Bushwell

LANCASTER.

4,P

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

On the evening, about the middle of February in the saloon of Clark & Woods, Latimer became involved in a discussion on the right of foreigners to vote, and during the discussion he animadverted somewhat severely upon American character and customs, when he was knocked down by Gloster, who was present. Latimer continued his remarks and was again knocked down, he making no show of resistance. Soon after this, having in the meantime indulged in more liquor, Latimer approached Col. White and charged him with being the cause of his hav- ing received a black eye. The Colonel was a professional gambler, a Kentuckian by birth, and a man of fine physique and polished manners, who had the reputation of having upon more than one occasion "winged his man." The tone used by Latimer was highly insulting, and the Colonel immediately knocked him down. This was on Saturday night. On the following morn- ing Gloster went to Latimer, begged his pardon, and they parted apparently good friends. On Monday morning, a note was received by Col. White from Latimer asking for the satisfaction usual among gentlemen. The challenge was accepted. and weapons-rifles, at one hundred yards -agreed upon, the time being set for the next morning. Gloster acted as the friend of Col. White, Latimer being also provided with a friend who acted as his second. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the intended meeting, the two principals were arrested and held to bail. This how- ever, only resulted in changing the place of meeting from Wisconsin to Iowa Territory. Promptly to the hour all were on hand, and the principals posted. At this juncture, Samuel Morris, an Acting Constable of the county, James F. Chapman, Justice of the Peace, Maj. John R. Coons, and one or two others appeared upon the scene to assert the majesty of the law and act as peacemakers. Being worthy citizens and men of honor, averse to all such bloody pro- ceedings, they went earnestly to work to stop the combat and succeeded. After much solicita- tion, both parties agreed to refer the dispute to a committee, who after a review of the case, decided that it was a misunderstanding all around, and no apologies were necessary on either side. The reconciliation having been effected, they returned to town and all might have been well had not malicious busybodies whispered in the besotted ear of Latimer that Gloster had further intentions against his person. Maddened with the fumes of the poisonous liquor, each day added to his frenzy until the erstwhile talented gentleman was reduced to an irresponsible maniac. On the night preceding the fatal encounter, Latimer was again informed that Gloster had used menacing language against him. In the state of delirium which then enveloped him, this was like touching a match to powder, and after passing a sleepless night, Latimer armed himself with a Bowie knife and two horse pistols, one of which, in his deranged condition of mind, he loaded with powder and the other with ball and sallied forth to met his foe. Intercepting Gloster as he was going to breakfast, he fired at him once, but as the pistol was only loaded with powder it simply burned and blackened his face. Gloster cried that he was unarmed and asked his antagonist not to kill him, and the latter told him to go and arm himself. Gloster hastily withdrew, and some time afterward re-appeared armed with a double-barreled shotgun. Latimer had been impatiently awaiting his return, whittling a pine stick with a Bowie knife in the meantime, and as his eye caught sight of the man approaching with the gun in his hand advanced with raised pistol. His gait, however, was unsteady, and his aim uncertain. Gloster cocked his gun and raised it to his shoulder, but retreated step by step until he came to an open culvert where the branch runs near the corner of Lewis' store. Here he stopped and warned Latimer and his friends that if he advanced a step nearer he would fire. The words were unheeded, and a second later, poor Latimer lay weltering in his gore. Samuel Wilson who was his friend and intimate, and who, during the morning had made several unsuccessful attempts to disuade him from his purpose, received him in his arms as he fell and conveyed him to a place near by where he expired. The authorities were strongly censured for not preventing this un- timely meeting. Gloster surrendered himself to the officers, and, upon examination, was acquitted on the ground of self-defense. He remained but a short time in Potosi after the com- mission of the deed; and died a few years later in Chicago. The pistols used upon the occasion were preserved by a citizen of Potosi, and one of them still remains in his possession. The other was donated to a California emigrant and by him lost in the country of gold. They were savage and formidable looking instruments.

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

DE LASSEAUX MURDER.

A few months after the murder of Latimer, namely, in April, 1845, occurred another mur- der, the murderer and his victim residing at Beetown. The ownership of a certain lot was claimed by two parties-Brewer, a miner, and a companion ; and De Lasseaux, the owner of a smelting furnace in that vicinity, he also being engaged in trade at that point. De Lasseaux had fenced up the lot in question, and the day on which the murder occurred, had started to re- move some rails from the ground. This Brewer had forbidden him to do. As De Lasseaux approached the lot, Brewer seized a rifle which he had concealed in the limekiln near which he was standing, and, as he did so, the gun, which was at half cock, went off. De Lasseaux was a large, powerful man, of whom the other stood much in awe, and supposing that this accidental discharge of the gun would be taken as an excuse for an attack, he did not wait to see if his surmise should prove true, but, shifting the gun in his hand, he brought it down on the head of the unfortunate man, knocking him down. Brewer then drew a long knife he had upon his person and stabbed De Lasseaux in a savage manner, from the effects of which he died in a short time.

Brewer was immediately arrested. The court had barely closed its spring session, Judge Dunn not having left Lancaster. The grand jury was summoned to return, a true bill was found, and the trial commenced. The result, under the popular feeling-which, owing to the general lawlessness which had seemed lately to develop, ran high-was a foregone conclusion, and the unfortunate victim to an insane craving for vengeance was sentenced to expiate his crime upon the gallows, and his execution took place a few weeks later. The gallows was erected a little to the northeast of the village, and up to a recent date the posts were still to be seen, but were dug up afterward by future owners of the ground. Brewer's claim that his gun went off accidentally on the fatal day, was not very generally received. Some time after his execution, the person to whom the gun had been given by him was hunting in the woods, when, on two dif- ferent occasions, the weapon was discharged at half-cock, showing, when too late, that the unfor- tunate man spoke the truth.

JORDAN MURDER.

The most diabolically cold-blooded and brutal murder that ever occurred in Grant County was perpetrated June 15, 1868, by William Kidd, of Glenn Haven, who at that date killed Catharine Jordan, of the same place. Kidd and his victim had been brought up together, being children of farmers in the neighborhood, and for some years he had been paying to Miss Jordan considerable attention, and, to all appearances, was deeply in love with the young lady. This affection, however, was not by any means mutual, and Kidd had threatened to take her life if she did not marry him. Nothing more was heard of it until on the evening of the 15th of June, when Kidd drove over from Cassville with a two-horse carriage to the residence of Mr. Samuel McIvor, where Miss Jordan was stopping. He remained talking with the young lady for an hour and a half, when she was finally induced to get in the carriage and take a ride with him. This was the last that was seen of the girl until the next morning, when her mutilated body was. found by a neighbor, looking for his cattle, near the farm of Mr. Mark Scott, of Glen Haven. Her throat was gashed from ear to ear, while the hands and arms were cut and bruised badly, giving evidence of the terrible struggle which must have taken place between the murderer and his victim. It was afterward discovered that Kidd, after committing the dastardly crime, had driven his team to his father's stable, hitched them, saddled a horse of his own and rode to Bos- cobel, where he left his horse and left for parts unknown.

The news of this horrible event fled like wildfire, and public feeling was lashed into the fiercest waves of excitement, which drowned every feeling but the one for vengeance on the mur- derer. The citizens of Bloomington and Glen Haven offered a reward of $550 for his arrest, and to this was added $500 by the county and $500 additional by the State, making $1,550. To this was added $250 offered by the citizens of Fennimore, making $1,800 in all. No traces of the ruffianly fiend were found, until, in October of the same year, he was captured in Nobles

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County, Minn., by J. T. Deleware, formerly of Glen Haven, but at the time a resident at Omaha, Neb .. and Frank Winship, of Sioux City. During the interval elapsing between the commission of the deed and his capture, Kidd had been rambling around through Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, where he was engaged with a companion, whose acquaintance he had made, in trapping, when the pursuers closed in on him. He confessed the whole of his crime to one of his captors the first night after his arrest, saying after they left the house he had drove on for some ways, and had stopped his horses near a ravine, and, turning them across the road, had drawn his revolver and asked his companion to shoot him. This she of course refused, at the same time demanding his intentions, saying she was afraid of him. He then took out a knife, and Miss Jordan cried out, "My God! William, are you going to cut my throat ?" To this the fiendish wretch replied in the affirmative, and endeavored to accomplish his designs. The girl resisted stoutly, but he finally wrenched the knife from her hand and succeeded in effecting his purpose. This portion of his fiendish story was told with a cold-blooded particu- larity horrible in its coolness. After being satisfied that life was extinct, Kidd alighted from the carriage, intending to throw the body in some sink hole, but the horses started, and he thought some one was coming, so, leaving the remains in the road, he jumped to the seat and drove hastily away. The reason given by the murderer for his hellish act was that he was in misery for fear she might marry some other person-his excuses being as feeble as his crime was dastardly.

The murderer cheated the law by taking a dose of poison while on the cars on his way to Grant County. His body was brought to Lancaster and identified, after which it was buried, and the crime passed into the dim region of remembrances.

HARNEY MURDER.

The southern portion of the county was the scene of an atrocious murder in 1865, which stirred the social strata of that section to its very depths. On Monday, September 25, of that year, Dr. Harney, an old resident of Fair Play, in a fit of passion shot and trampled to death his step-daughter, besides inflicting serious injuries upon his wife, the murdered woman's mother. His victim was the daughter of Mrs. Harney by a former marriage, and had been brought up in the family. Several years previous to the tragedy, she had been married to Joseph Hunsaker, who, at the time of the fatal affair, was in Idaho. Some few months previ- ous, Mrs. Hunsaker had expressed a desire to keep house by herself, and accordingly had moved into a house opposite the Harney residence. This move had been strenuously opposed by Dr. Harney, who upon finding that remonstrances were of no avail, and that the move had been made, forbade any of the family associating or having any communication with Mrs. Hun- saker. This command was not heeded by Mrs. Harney, except to choose such time for visiting her daughter as when the doctor was not about the premises. It was claimed by the friends of Dr. Harney that his naturally choleric temper had been augmented for some time previous to the fatal day by troubles with his head, and that arrangements had been made for his starting on a tour of travel, accompanied by some one of the members of his family. Be this as it may, on the day of the tragedy, while Mrs. Harney was out making calls with a lady boarding at Mrs. Hunsaker's, the doctor acted in a most unaccountable manner in following them from place to place, finally waiting for his wife on her return, and following her into the house, where he instantly knocked the unsuspecting woman down with the butt of a revolver he carried. Mrs. Harney screamed for help, and Ellen Harney, her step-daughter, hurried upon the scene, and seizing the infuriated man compelled him to desist from his work.

Upon the first outcry, Mrs. Hunsaker, who had been sitting on the steps of her house with her friend, started to run over, expressing herself as fearful that the doctor was attacking her mother. She stopped suddenly, afraid that he would kill her if she appeared before him, but her friend thought otherwise, and Mrs. Hunsaker rushed on and into the house where she found her mother lying on the floor. Hardly had she sank by her side before the now doubly- infuriated man threw her to the floor and stamped and trampled on the unresisting woman, frac-

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turing her skull in several places, and ending his diabolical work by sending a ball through her brain, killing her instantly. During this terrible scene his daughter Ellen had been trying with the terror of despair to prevent the consummation of his murderous intents. As the mur- derer attacked the daughter, Mrs. Harney struggled to her feet and ran into the street crying for help. The doctor tore himself away from his daughter and started in pursuit, and fired two shots at the fleeing woman, happily without effect. He had just caught up with her, and was about to again begin an attack with the butt of his revolver, when it was wrenched from him by his son Harrison, who took his mother to the house. The murderer passed through the room where the lifeless body of his victim lay, making some bitter remark, and, securing a lancet, attempted to cut his own throat. In this, however, he was not successful, and although when afterward confined in jail at Lancaster, he tore the bandages off in order to bleed to death, his wounds finally healed, and he was tried, convicted and sentenced to State Prison for life. Mrs. Harney also recovered from her injuries, leaving only one victim to the insane fury of the murderer. The excitement created in the immediate neighborhood of the place where the crime was committed knew no bounds. During the summer of 1880, a petition was circulated for the pardon of the doctor, but the result of the petition is as yet unknown.

HAGGERTY MURDER.

By far the most horrible crime ever committed in the limits of Grant County was the mur- der of the Haggerty family, near Lancaster, in December, 1868, by Andrew Thompson, a par- amour of the woman. The first acquaintance of the parties dated back to ten years previous to the date of the murder. At that time, John Haggerty kept a saloon at Bull's Head, some six and a half miles west of McGregor. At the breaking-out of the war, Haggerty enlisted, and Thompson continued his visits to the place, finally becoming criminally intimate with the woman. Upon the return of the husband from the war, he was not long in finding out the exact status of affairs, and he soon after left for California, leaving his family to shift for themselves. A child was the result of this intimacy, which was killed by the mother, Thompson being accessory to the murder. The saloon was then sold out, and the woman with her children moved into a little house on Thompson's farm, but did not remain here long before they again were moved to McGregor, where they remained until December, 1868, when, yielding to the importunities of the woman, Thompson took her and the children in a covered sleigh, and started on the journey which was to end in a crime the like of which is hardly surpassed in all the criminal annals of the country. Crossing the river at McGregor, they came down through Grant County, passing down through Bridgeport, Patch Grove, Bloomington, North Andover, Cassville, Beetown and Lancaster. At the latter place, the family, consisting of Mrs. Haggerty, her daughter and two sons, were last seen alive. In a confession made after his conviction and sentence, Thompson referred to the motive of the trip as being a desire to find some place where he and the woman could live together without disturbance, but as he himself acknowledged having previously tried to get rid of her, it is extremely probable that the trip was undertaken with the intention of rid- ding himself once and for all of this encumbrance by fair means or foul. This belief is strength- ened by numerous incidents and circumstances observed by persons in the places through which he passed.

After a week's absence, Thompson returned to his family in Clayton County, Iowa, but gave no explanation of his absence or where he had been. May 29, of the following year, trunks and other articles were discovered by some fishermen in a slough near Prairie du Chien, and a few days later the corpses of Mrs. Haggerty, her daughter and the two boys were discov- ered in the river near Cassville. On the 2d day of June, a warrant was issued for Thompson's arrest, but upon the approach of the Sheriff, his " man " escaped to the woods near his farm- house, and eluded for a short time the officer of the law. But not for long, as the woods were soon alive with infuriated men armed with guns, and who were only too ready to use them. This brought the fiend to a realizing sense of his danger, and he came out of his hiding-place and gave himself up to the Sheriff. After some debate as to jurisdiction, his trial took place in Iowa,

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resulting in his conviction. He was sentenced to be hung September 9, 1869, but the execution was postponed, pending a settlement of some question of jurisdiction by the Supreme Court, and his sentence was afterward changed to life imprisonment in the Penitentiary. During this interval, Thompson wrote out and published a confession, in which he claimed that the girl Anna had been sick when they started from McGregor, and at Lancaster he wished to remain all night and save the girl from the exposure of camping ont, as they had heretofore done since leaving McGregor. To this Mrs. Haggerty objected, charging him with being desirous of delay so that his family might overtake them, and give him an excuse for deserting her and returning home. They accordingly made a start, but had not gone more than about a mile beyond Lan- caster on the road to Platteville, and were just on the brow of the hill south of Pigeon Creek, when the boys cried out that Anna had fainted. Her mother threw snow in her face and chafed her hands, and thus brought her to. Thompson again urged a return to Lancaster, but the woman would hear none of it, and they proceeded on toward Platteville, until they reached the timber, about four miles from Lancaster, when they turned off the road, and drove into the woods, intending to encamp for the night. They had hardly stopped before Mrs. Haggerty informed him that the girl was dead, and upon examination he found it to be so. The woman then insisted that they must dig a grave and bury the body, but to this Thompson objected, say- ing they must go back to Lancaster, as, if the body was found buried there without a coffin they would be arrested for murder. The woman said that if they returned they would be detained, and have to give an account of themselves, when Thompson's people would hear of it and follow him. The discussion ended by the latter announcing his intention of going back, when his par- amour seized a hammer, and saying, "I'll have your life first," struck him on the neck and shoulder. This enraged him, and he snatched the hammer from her, and in turn struck her several blows on the head. Realizing, however, what he had done. he endeavored to apologize for his harshness, but although the woman stopped her cries for the time, 'she motioned him away. Just then sleighs were heard approaching from the direction of Platteville, and voices of their occupants were heard chatting and laughing. It being a still night, the sleighs were not so near as was at first supposed, but as they approached, the woman re-doubled her cries, which he begged her to stop but to no purpose. The suspicious light in which he would be placed should his position there be discovered, with a dead girl in the sleigh, and the woman and two boys screaming as if in mortal terror, Thompson claims at once crossed his mind, and he picked up a feather bed that lay at his feet, and threw it over them. The woman struggled and threw it off, screaming louder than ever, so that if the sleighing party had not been so boisterous themselves they must have heard them. He then seized the bed and put it over them again, and held it down until the struggles ceased. As soon as the sleighs, which traveled leisurely, had passed, he pulled it off, but no one spoke or made any noise. He lighted the lantern and looked at them, shook them, and then the truth dawned upon his mind-they were dead. He sat down stupefied by the crime he had committed, and remained uncertain what to do for some time. Then the thought that he must conceal what he had done seized him, and he started for Beetown, near which he had observed some mineral holes, in which he thought he might hide the bodies. He drove back through Lancaster, lost his way, and stopped to procure directions, and having driven for hours with his ghastly freight, came to the mineral holes, but found them too shallow for his purpose. He then determined to go on to Cassville, and hide the evidences of his crime in the river. Again he had some difficulty in finding the road, and it was not until nearly daylight that he passed through Cassville. Making his way to the river, he threw the bodies in, and then, driving a short distance further. he burned his sleigh cover to destroy the identity of his outfit. He then drove rapidly toward Prairie du Chien, and near that place put the baggage of the murdered family into the river, and then made his way home. How much of truth there is in Thompson's narrative is hard to decide. Whether the murders were com- mitted as he relates, or whether, as many believed, they were taken to the river and then mur- dered while under the influence of opiates, will never be known. The terrible experiences of that awful night will remain a sealed book. But justice was not to be thwarted, and Andrew Thompson now undergoes the punishment inflicted for his horrible crime.

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History of Grant County, Wisconsin, Part 79

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1044

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1044