History of Grant County, Wisconsin, Part 88

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

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"Methinks I hear the parting spirit say It is a dread, an awful thing to die."

Oh ! no, it cannot be. No vain regrets ; no sorrowing words e'er linger round the dying lips ; no tears bedew the eyelids of the dead. Affection, love, forgiveness, faith and hope the falter- ing voice and failing breadth alone imparts ; and on the marble cheek the smile of love and hope immortal reigns. And so he died. Twenty years-swift, fleeting, ever-hurrying years of time, have fled since then, and still in loving hearts his memory lives embalmed. Although he sleeps within a lonely dell, far from the busy walks and strife of men, the wild rose blooms around his

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

grave; the feathered tribes of spring pour forth their sweetest notes, and come to build their nests amid the quiet trees; the dews of Heaven fall gently o'er the springing grass and budding flowers ; he hears, he heeds, he knows it not; yet, from this lonely bivouac of the dead comes forth the fragrance of a noble life, and sheds its hallowed influence around the name, the grave of John R. Coons.

M. DE TANTABARATZ AND THE DESERTED VILLAGE. BY J. W. SEATON.

Paris, not the brilliant metropolis of France-the city of prisons and palaces-renowne for its gay boulevards and dark Rues-the mistress of fashion and the mother of communism- but its namesake on the Platte, the little waif that perished in its infancy thirty years ago It was, and still remains, a strange, sequestered spot. Its site was a point where, through pine crowned hills and widening meadow bottoms, the Big Platte joins its main tributary of the same name with the diminutive prefix. Here, their confluent waters reflecting the dark foliage of the native trees which cover its green banks, and casting the shadows of the high, receding bluffs far up the slope on either side, mingle in silence, and in those days formed a channel sufficiently wide and deep to float the largest craft that ever came up from the Mississippi, the distance of five miles below.

This virgin purity is disturbed and the calm shadows broken by the sharp prow of a heavy boat that makes its way slowly up the placid waters of the united river. The squirrel with noisy chatter makes a scampering retreat to the safe security of a lofty tree, and from its tall tower scans with curious eye this unwonted presence. The birds flutter, astonished and amazed, to a neighboring thicket. This intrusion is unparalleled.

Tou Le Jon contemplates with a smile these retreats of the animal kingdom before his pres- ence, and moves on up the river till he comes to the place of its separation. Casting off a line and making it fast to a large cottonwood, the boat's crew go ashore, and while they are engaged in preparing their first meal in the wood, Tou Le Jon has surveyed the ground, mapped out the place, and commenced the work of founding a city. A few months pass, a clearing has been made, streets, public squares and grand avenues have been staked off and defined, a log shanty or two has been built and Paris on the Platte has become an historical fact.

From this date, 1828, we mark its rise, progress and decline, comprising a period of barely two decades. Tou Le Jon has money, and, under the quickening influence, Paris soon grows into respectable proportions and notoriety. A smelting furnace, a store, a two-story frame hotel, a public boarding-house, built from hewn logs, with a long porch in front, were among the few noticeable buildings first erected. If some ancient survivor of the place should chance to read this sketch, and take exceptions to its topography, I beg leave to remind him here that all history is involved more or less in doubt or obscurity, and when it depends upon oral tradi- tions for facts, a few discrepancies and achronisms are unavoidable, however much the writer may aim at accuracy and truth. There are but few living now who have carried the early his- tory and events of the mines so freshly in their memory that they can relate them with any degree of certainty, or without committing some serious mis-statements as to time, place and persons.

Coming down to the year 1830, I find the name of De Tantabaratz, (sometimes called Detan and Detantebar for short) has usurped the place of and overshadowed all others in the history of Paris. He was the Napoleon of his time, whose single name involved the history of all others, and gives form and luster to the age in which he lived. He was a young man from St. Louis, and came as an assistant clerk in the establishment of Tou Le Jon. He had not been long there when he arose to be chief inanager, and soon succeeded to the control and ownership of the whole concern. Enterprising, prompt, active, generous to a fault, and possessed of an unlimited credit both in Galena and St. Louis, he apparantly prospered, and under his sway Paris flourished and became a lively prospective city. The peculiarities and generosities of the man soon became proverbial throughout the mines, and the influx of trade, pleasure, amusements and business centered around his name. At balls and parties, horse-races and public gatherings

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

Detan was seen to put in an early appearance, and was a bright, particular star upon the occa- sion until (as it sometimes happened) he got a little obscured by too much wine. Then some friendly hand would put him in his little "bunk " and " nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep," would soon make all things fair and lovely. The ladies smiled in his presence and courted his company, because they saw husband, home and family joys reflected in his countenance, and the men did the same for the more potent reason that he was a whole-souled, jolly, good fellow, from whom they could get the loan of a dollar, a suit of clothes or a mining " stake " on credit. At this time, David G. Bates was well-known throughout the mines as a wealthy, influential citizen of Galena. He was the owner of much valuable property, made advances on lead, operated a furnace, ran a store, and was regarded as one of the solid men of the place. In the usual course of business, Detan became intimately acquainted with him, and as acquaintance often ripens into confidence, the two were soon upon the most confidential business terms. Bates was a money- loaner upon occasion, and Detan often had occasion for the use of large sums of money. While everything remained smooth and promising, Bates advanced him freely. But there is a tide in the affairs of men which, if not wholly scanned, leaves them night and day on the shores of pov- erty. It was likely to be so in the case of our hero Frenchman and Bates, as a careful man began to look after him and his affairs. This led to a coolness between them, an altercation fol- lowed, and finally open hostilities. The casus belli is not apparent at this distance of time, and I will not attempt to explain it, but it was given on the part of the Frenchman, and resented by his quondam friend and backer. Bates, being a man of Southern birth and education, could only be governed in the settlement of the dispute between them by the rules governing all Southern gentlemen, laid down in the code of honor. Accordingly, he challenged De Tantabar to mortal combat. The latter readily accepted the challenge, thinking, no doubt, thereby to cancel a debt of honor and an honorable debt at one and the same time. He knew nothing. however, about the use of the chivalrous weapon, the pistol, but had handled the broadsword and was skilled in the art of its use. He had served in the Horse Guards of Napoleon in some of his later campaigns-had fought at Wagram, Austerlitz and Waterloo, and cloven the head of many a luckless grenadier. So for that matter was not afraid to fence with Harry Lorraquer, and could thrust with the deadly accurracy of a Spanish guerrilla. Being the challenged party, the choice of weapons was left to him and he chose, as may readily be supposed, his favorite one, limiting the fight to broadswords on horseback at close quarters; the place of meeting to be on the banks of the Fevre River, somewhere near the site of the present woolen-mills. The affair soon became public, and was bruited over the whole mines. The belligerents were both men of reputed wealth and standing, and one at least a known professional in the Code Duello, therefore it created at once a widespread sensation, and a decided interest was immediately manifest on all sides.

There being no penal or other law in force at this time to prevent these bloody encounters, no place of private meeting was selected and no secrecy enjoined. All was done openly and above board. Here and there squads of men might be seen openly discussing the cause of the quarrel, the right and wrong of the issue, the knowledge each was supposed to have in the handling of weapons, the chances of either's success in winging or killing his antagonist were talked about as a matter of common sport, and each arranged himself upon the side as he hap- pened to be friend or foe. The nearest and only law official in the mines at this time was Hugh R. Colter, late Probate Judge of Grant County, and he was only a Justice of the Peace, hold- ing a commission from Gov. Lewis Cass, of Michigan, his court (if it had reached that dignity) being held at White Oak Springs. His business was to call a jury to settle mining claims, make collections, hold inquests on mysteriously dead men, and attend to such other matters as might afford a liberal compensation for the small amount of legal stock kept on hand. Police and other preservers of the public peace being a figment of a more recent civilization, were then unknown and unneeded. Cabin doors were never locked, and petit larceny was a crime that could not be committed, as every man was at liberty to walk in and help himself to what- ever could be found or his necessities might require. But to return to my legend. There was

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no law in these days that white men were bound to respect but the law of right and justice, and woe betide the man who violated its provisions or undertook to intercept its execution. Consequently the preparations for the meeting to adjust the difficulties in this case were unin- terrupted.

From the bottom of an old sea-chest, Detantabar draws forth the jeweled relic of his young valor, which he has religiously kept and guarded all these days, and as he draws the gleaming blade from the sheath, and remembers the blood which he has scrupulously wiped from its shining surface in former times, his black eye kindles, the warm red blood goes bound- ing through his veins, and once more he is anxious for the fray.

On this memorable occasion, Free Williams (who does not know Free? a living archeolog- ical monument of the mines standing in Ellenboro) espouses the cause of the French; becomes the friend and adviser of Detantabar; and in this connection has given his name to posterity if not to immortality-Sic itur astra. He immediately puts his principal in training, but after a few passes (in which Free uses an imaginary sword in shape of a walking-stick and becomes hors de combat), Free satisfys himself of Detan's ability to cope with his adversary in the com- ing struggle and rests upon his laurels.

On a cold, bleak, windy morning in the month of April, in the year 1830, "two horsemen might have been seen " riding leisurely along toward the village of Galena. The mud was very deep, and, as yet, the plank road leading out to the Four Mile House had not been built; and, for that matter, the Four Mile House. In the absence of the latter, and the lack of definite information as to the number and distance of "cool springs," the riders would frequently halt by the wayside and refresh themselves from a willow-covered flask that each in addition to the other means of defense, carried in a deep side pocket. The one of medium stature and heavy set, sparkling black eyes, aquiline nose and ruddy complexion, is none other than the hero of the coming fight-Monsieur De Tantabaratz, of Paris, Sieur le Platte. He rides his horse like one accustomed to the saddle, sitting erect and adjusting himself gracefully and easily to the movements of his animal as she moves forward at a gentle pace. The other, mounted on a sim- ilar colored animal, which he bestrides with the freedom of a moss trooper of the last century, when scouring the borders for the King's red coats, is no other than our friend Free Williams, of Ellenboro. No sword was attached to his thigh, though the strict laws of duelling demand that the second should be armed in like manner to his principal. But Free was never a cavalry- man in Napoleon's army ; he had only been a scout in the Black Hawk war-and that happened two years later-and he had not yet received his sword. In this dilemma, he did, as every brave and sensible man has done before and since, the next best thing. He armed himself with & couple of huge navy pistols which he had borrowed from an old salt, and which were now grace- fully swinging from the horn of his saddle. Behind him were fastened a pair of large saddlebags, containing-well, no matter what; the true Missourian on horseback always carries this truly convenient receptacle of miscellaneous plunder. He can't ride without it. It would despoil the seat of his cogitations and upset the equilibrium of his quadruped. Thus mounted and equipped, the twain enter Galena, and, riding up in front of Billy Bennett's hotel, where a large crowd have already assembled, report themselves ready for business. Both dismount, and, throwing their bridles to the bystanders, enter the nearest saloon and call for Bourbon straight. Having thus in a degree fortified the inner man and lifted their spirits to an elevation above the fear of danger, they remounted their horses and rode off, accompanied by the crowd, to the field of honor, where an equal number of spectators have already collected. Leaving his principal in charge of friends, Free advances to the front. He takes in the situation at a glance, draws from the right hand holster one of his "man-killers," loaded to the guard with buckshot, swings it above his head as he brings his fiery charger to a pose upon his his hind legs, and proclaims from his stentorian lungs that the time has arrived when there must either be a fight or a foot race. Bust, the second of Bates, who is already in waiting, responds to the call and announces the presence of his principal, but protests against the barbarity of using cold steel when the pistol is the only authorized and legitimate weapon used between gentlemen upon such occasions.

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

Free don't see it in that light, and takes a big oath that he will blow them all to H-(arper's Ferry) and back again if they do not immediately set up their man and let Detan hack him down like a dog. It is a- perilous moment. Bates and his friends, however, are not to be inveigled into so unequal a contest as is now clearly presented before them. They see "death in the pot"-and in the cool, quiet reserve of the Frenchman, and the glittering steel that he knows well how to wield, a disgraceful disarmament in the first encounter, ugly gaping wounds and perhaps death and the grave. To one, however brave and undaunted in the presence of danger, these thoughts, when he himself is the subject of them, produce a subduing influence. It was so now. The friends of Bates come to his rescue and solicit a conference. It is granted. The belligerents are brought together, mutual explanations follow ; the offensive language is withdrawn, and the maudlin crowd who had come to witness the fun, disappointed and cha- grined at the unexpected and pacific turn of events, like " my Uncle Toby," utter a curse on all cowards in general, and Bates and Detan in particular, then adjourn to Patrick Connor's saloon on the levee, to slake their sorrows in the Lethean draught.

Having thus honorably vindicated himself in this delicate affair, in which he displayed a remarkable degree of coolness and self-possession, Detan, accompanied by his ever-faithful valet, returned triumphantly to his home on the Platte. His fame now grew brighter than ever, and wherever his name was mentioned, it was always with that due reverence that attaches to manly bearing and undisputed courage.

Confidence was again fully restored in his business relations, and, for a number of years, Paris continued to grow and flourish. A catastrophe, however, was fast approaching that was to extinguish its name and fame forever. The year 1837 was one memorable in the history of the county for financial ruin and devastation. All classes were more or less involved, the business of the country, East and West, being transacted upon a credit basis. This being re- moved by the effects of the famous specie circular, and the removal of the Government deposits from the banks under the administration and bold action of Gen. Jackson, depression, failures and calamities followed in rapid succession. From this time forward, Paris began to show signs of weakness and decay. Potosi, which had first started at La Fayette, on the banks of the Grant River, had shot up like a meteor to the " Head of the Hollow," and in prosperity was was now rivaling and bidding fair to become a bigger city than Dubuque. The Sun of another Austerlitz was now about to set on another Frenchman besides Napoleon, and with a weakness that once manifested itself in the mind of the great Emperor, De Tantabaratz, knowing the des- perate condition of his affairs, and seeing no escape from the disgrace of failure and the horrors of consequent poverty, contemplated that act of self-destruction, attributed then as a disease of the French nation, but now thoroughly Americanized and fearfully prevalent in the land, which, in the summer of 1842, he carried into execution in a peculiarly sad and fearful manner. Desmoulie (called Demoole), a silvery-headed old man who had come, too, from the vine-clad hills of France, with his pockets full of Louis d' Ors, was regarded as a solvent partner in the firm of De Tantabaratz, and through his means the credit of the firm was long sustained. Among others, a Galena merchant, named Hempstead, having made some heavy advances on lead, came up one day for the purpose of investigating matters, and, if possible, securing him- self from the probable contingency of loss. He broached the subject to De Tantabaratz in a manner at once opprobrious and insulting, and finally, in direct language, accused him of false- hood. The delicate feelings of the noble-minded Frenchman were deeply hurt-too deeply for resentment. He merely replied, " Mr. Hempstead, you are the first man that ever accused me of falsehood and you shall be the last." He came to Potosi, purchased a rope and some tal- low candles at a store, passed out, and was seen no more -alive.

His mysterious disappearance excited the deepest concern ; some alleged that he had ab- sconded with a fabulous sum of money and gone to France; others, that he had been foully dealt with, while yet others charitably suggested that he had gone to St. Louis on urgent business, got on a spree, and would soon return. Time sped on, and there came no knowledge of his whereabouts.

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

To the west of the present road leading from Potosi to Galena, not far from Archer's Ferry, there is a deep, dark ravine extending up a mile or so in view of the bluffs that front upon the river. It is still, as it was then, a dismal, unfrequented place. God's sunlight never reaches it, no cheering ray ever penetrates within its gloomy precincts. Led by that mysterious or unseen power that brings to light the hidden crimes of human life, and often unveils the secret of the murderer's heart, a hunter, bewildered on his way, found himself within this wild and cheerless place. As he hurries along half-alarmed and wholly bewildered, he sees, or imagines he sees, the body of a man suspended from the elbow of a deformed tree. Fully convinced that it is no phantom of the brain, he recovers his courage and advances nearer to the swinging body. Dis- solution already marred the face, yet he could not be mistaken-the form, the well-known gar- ments, so neatly folded and laid aside. It was, indeed, poor " De Tantabar." He had seen no escape from the scorn that follows blasted greatness, and here, amid the stern rocks and silent woods, he had launched his bark into the sea of eternity.

From that time, an evil genius seemed to hover over the city on the Platte. Gradually it was outstripped by its younger and enterprising rivals; and fell into decay. To-day its deserted houses stand solitary and forsaken-a roosting-place for " bats and owls," while the fateful shades

"Glimmer as funeral lamps, Amid the chills and damps

Of the vast plain where Death encamps."

ASA EDGERTON HOUGH.

Mr. Hongh, who takes rank as one of the oldest pioneers of Grant County, was born at Lebanon, N. H., that old Granite State whose noble sons are to be found in every portion of the Union. He received a fair education, and, at an early age, entered the counting-room of Ben- jamin Dodd & Co., of Boston, at that day large merchants and extensive ship-owners. At the age of eighteen, young Hough was sent out as supercargo of one of the vessels belonging to the firm. At the age of twenty-four, he was a Master, and, in this capacity, followed the sea for two years, when he went to Washington and engaged in mercantile pursuits, which he followed with success for two years longer, when a fire not only burned up all he had, but left him many thousand dollars in debt. During his residence in Washington, he had succeeded in making friends of many of the leading statesmen of the day, among them, Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Ben- ton, Van Buren and Gen. Jackson. After the fire, he immediately took his family, consisting of his young wife and son, and came to St. Louis. The contracts for supplying the military posts on the Upper Mississippi being then advertised, he put in bids and secured most of them for the posts of Fort Armstrong, Rock Island; Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien ; and Fort Snelling, then just being built. Steamboating was then a new business on the Upper Missis- sippi. Mr. Hough, however, chartered the steamer Rover, a boat of eighty or ninety tons measurement, but considered a first-class boat for that day, and, with a couple of barges, trans- ported the supplies to these forts, taking back lead from Galena. In a few months he found him- self out of debt, and with sufficient cash to again start in business, which he did in St. Louis. IIe remained in that city until the year 1827, when, in company with other gentle- men, he came up the river to Galena in a pirogue, and afterward started a smelting furnace at a place he named Gibralter, on the Platte, and set men at work clearing away the ground pre- paratory to the erection of a saw-mill, which he built in 1828-29; the first mill, probably, ever built by private persons in the present State of Wisconsin. The same year, a post office was es- tablished at and known as Gibralter, it being the only one between Galena and Prairie du Chien for many years. In 1832, Mr. Hongh took part in the Black Hawk war, and was at the battle of Bad Ax. He continued in the smelting business until 1834, when he closed up this branch of his undertakings, and moved his family to his mill where he resided until 1845, the year be- fore his death, when he removed to Potosi, where he died in 1846.

Mr. Hough was a man of more than ordinary intelligence. He had a passion for books, was a close student, and became a fine scholar. He was a man of medium stature. but of com-

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

manding presence, and his opinions were always listened to with respect. In business, he was a straightforward, open man. He had little patience with what are generally known as sharp traders, and abominated a falsehood. Politically, he was a Whig, and, like most Whigs of the day, became almost sick when he heard, through the old-fashioned, slow mail-coach, that Penn- sylvania had gone against Mr. Clay, and that James K. Polk was elected to the Presidency. Mr. Hough was a man of strong opinions, but of generous and charitable impulses; a man of remarkable polish, and easy, graceful manners, he held fast to his own opinions while treating those of others with respect, and held his friends with hooks of steel. Among the latter was Gov. Duane Doty.

During the years that Mr. Hough resided at his mill, he became an extensive hog and cattle breeder, and much of the fine stock in Southwestern Wisconsin can still be traced to his herds. He also was a careful student of the leading agricultural journals, and sent for seeds, and experi- mented with them, and thus introduced those most desirable in the country. He was among the first to introduce and successfully cultivate the Bowles' dent corn. At that day corn-raising in Grant County was looked upon as more uncertain than it is at present in Minnesota. ' When Mr. Hough came West, Dubuque, as a promising town, was unknown ; to-day, his remains rest quietly in the elegant cemetery at that city.

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History of Grant County, Wisconsin, Part 88

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