Polk County IA Archives History - Books .....Crimes 1898
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Book Title: Annals Of Polk County, Iowa And City Of Des Moines
CHAPTER XXII.
CRIMES.
DURING the first years of the history of the section of country now comprising
Polk county, there may have been some murders or at least manslaughters
committed, by or among the Indians, but of these we have no record, nor were any
of them taken notice of judicially by the courts. At first military law was
supreme and there was little appeal from the summary judgment of the U. S.
officer in command of the post. There were then no writ of habeas corpus or jury
trials. The legal machinery of courts, attorneys, sheriffs, etc., were not at
first in operation in this county, and after they were established the people
themselves were sometimes prone to administer in their own summary manner what
they regarded as justice if not law.
THE REEVES MOB.
In the early days of the country occurred what was known as "the Reeves mob,"
and caused considerable excitement in town and country. A family by the name of
Reeves had settled at Linn Grove on North River, and were soon suspected and
afterwards openly charged with being connected with horse thieves and other
criminals, who more or less disturbed a peaceful and generally honest community
at that early day. The settlers may not have had legal proof of the guilt of the
Reeves family, but they became fully satisfied as to their bad character, and
they promptly decided to drive them from the community in which their presence
was not desired. Accordingly a large number of the settlers gathered together
and going to the Reeves home ordered the obnoxious family to leave the country
forthwith, and also stating that a failure upon their part to depart as told
would bring upon them certain and severe punishment. The Reeves understood this
gentle hint, and immediately left, but to the dissatisfaction of the settlers
located in Fort Des Moines, where the citizens, much as they desired an increase
in population, did not give them a very hearty reception. The male portion of
the Reeves family consisted of two old men and several grown sons.
Not long after settling in Des Moines one of the young Reeves managed to get
into a difficulty with and shot and seriously wounded a man named Phipps. Reeves
was arrested, examined, held to the district court, and for safe keeping placed
in the jail at Oskaloosa, there being no jail in Polk County at that time. This
again aroused the ire of the settlers on North river and thereabouts, and they
became satisfied that the safety of themselves and their property required that
the whole Reeves brood should not only be driven from the county, but also from
the State. These settlers made up a company of some sixty men, all armed, and
determined to march upon Des Moines and there capture and finally dispose of the
Reeves family. Some idle threats may have been made at the people at the Fort
for having harbored the Reeves family, and a few of the citizens became somewhat
alarmed upon hearing it was the intention of the North river army to "clean out
the town." Colonel Baker and a few other citizens were alarmed at the wild
reports of the savage intentions of the people of North river, and they started
out to muster up enough fighting men to save the Fort from "capture, sack and
pillage." Scouts were sent out to reconnoitre the foe and other war like
preparations were made. But many of the citizens were not alarmed at all of this
bluster. They were well acquainted with the North river settlers and knew they
had no such sanguinary intentions as wild rumor charged them with. It was known
the Reeves family were the only ones that were in any danger, and they were not
loved while present and would not be mourned when absent.
In about one week after the reports had commenced to circulate, and the
morning after the shooting of Phipps, the North river men appeared in the timber
near the mouth of the Raccoon river. They sent two men across to find out
exactly where the Reeves family were domiciled, and also to ascertain if the
citizens of the Fort would make any resistance. These scouts located the sought
for Reeves in a house on the outskirts of the town and reported that Colonel
Baker and his command were about to lay down their arms while they ate their
dinners, and the citizens generally cared little what they done with the Reeves
family. They didn't claim them or want them and would not protect them. Forward
was the order and the North river troops fording the 'Coon dashed through the
town in single file on a gallop, and in a few minutes had the Reeves home
surrounded. One of them, Presly, seeing the armed horsemen coming, sought safety
in flight across the fields and through the "jimson," but he was soon headed
off
and captured. The entire family was notified they must leave the State this
time, and not stand upon the order of their going, but go at once. Their team
was soon hitched to the wagon, their household goods piled in the latter, and
the line of march was soon taken towards the south. There was no resistance save
in talk on the part of the Reeves family, Colonel Baker's force, or the citizens
generally. The thus exiled family was escorted by some of the rangers many miles
on the way to Missouri, and there left with orders to get within the boundaries
of the State as soon as possible. These orders were obeyed, and Iowa lost and
Missouri gained not a very desirable but numerous family.
Cameron Reeves, who shot Phipps, remained in jail at Oskaloosa for some time.
Then Judge George G. Wright, then of Keosauqua, but for many years a prominent
resident of Des Moines, was employed by Reeves to defend him from the charge
made. P. M. Casady was the prosecuting attorney, through whose cool judgment and
prompt action Reeves had been saved from summary punishment in the court of
judge lynch. Phipps having made an assault upon Reeves with a big stone prior to
the shooting, it was more than probable the shooting could be justified under
the plea of self-defence, and all the other members of the Reeves family having
been banished, Mr. Casady under the circumstances wisely determined to make no
resistance to the discharge under the writ of habeas corpus of Cameron Reeves,
provided the latter would bind himself to never return to Polk County. The
pledge was cheerfully given, and Reeves was released. These Reeves were
descended from a noted Virginian family of that name. This branch had run down,
but afterwards made advances in the right direction. They all had ability. The
trouble was to give it the right direction. In later years this same Cameron
Reeves became a prominent citizen of Omaha, and was sheriff of the county for
several years. A. D. Jones, who laid out the original town of Fort Des Moines,
married his sister.
EARLY KILLING AT LAFAYETTE.
One of the early murders occurring in the county happened near the small
village of Lafayette in May, 1852, and for a time caused much excitement among
the early settlers. Two men living in that neighborhood, by the names of Collins
and Atkins, excited by a too free indulgence in the whisky of that day, got into
a fight. Collins threw Atkins to the ground and then beat him so severely with
his fists that he, Atkins, died in a few hours thereafter. Collins was arrested
for his criminal act, but in some way not explained managed to escape from
custody and fled the country. What finally became of him is not known to the
historian.
FOUTS KILLS HIS WIFE.
The first murder in the county, of which we have any judicial record,
occurred in August, 1854, and that was the worst of all murdersthat of a wife
by her husband.
Pleasant Fouts and his wife for some time previous had lived on a farm of
their own in Jefferson township, in this county. They had a family of several
children. There had been more or less trouble between the husband and wife, and
finally a separation was agreed uponFouts to go further west and there remain.
He went according to the agreement, and remained away for some time, but
becoming dissatisfied returned to his former home and besought his wife to again
live with him. To this she finally consented. Before going west the house had
been rented, and Fouts could not again obtain possession until the tenant's term
was out, and it would be some time before this would occur. In the meantime, he
and his wife made their home in a tent a short distance from their house. From
some cause their former troubles must have been renewed, for on the evening of
August 9, 1854, Fouts returned shortly after dark to the tent where his wife was
busily engaged in the ordinary household work, and rushing upon, seized and
stabbed her with a knife. She screamed, and breaking away from her murderous
husband, sought safety and help from the house near by. She rushed against the
door, bursting it open, and fell to the floor. Fouts soon appeared there,
claiming he had been attracted by the cries of his wife, and that he had rushed
to her defense, and was admitted. He came in stained with her blood, and with
the knife in his hand. No sooner had he gained admission than he again attacked
his wounded wife with bloody fiendishness, and before he could be prevented,
finally cut her throat. The poor woman died in a short time in the care of the
horror-stricken women of the house.
After the completion of his horrible work, Fouts fled from the scene, in an
effort to escape the consequences of his crime. But in a short time he was
arrested, and in the custody of W. H. McHenry, subsequently district judge, and
then sheriff of the county. He was taken to the log jail at Des Moines, and
strongly guarded to prevent his escape and also to prevent the shocked and
indignant people from taking the law into their own hands, and executing swift
judgment upon the guilty wretch. He employed three leaders of the bar in his
defense, Attorneys Parish, Bates and Finch, and when arraigned for trial before
Judge McFarland in October, 1854, entered a plea of not guilty. To save him from
the death penalty his attorneys applied for and obtained a change of venue to
Jasper County. When the cause was called there his attorneys, fearful of the
judicial wrath of Judge McFarland, asked for another change of venue to Warren
County, which was then in another judicial district, presided over by Judge
Townsend. This change was granted. At the following term of court in Warren
County, Fouts was placed on trial for his life. The prosecution was in the hands
of Barlow Granger, Prosecuting Attorney of Polk County, and Lewis Todhunter of
Warren. The attorneys for the defense, able and alert tried every resource to
save the life of their client, but after a lengthy and exciting trial, the jury
returned a verdict of murder in the first degree.
Judge Townsend promptly overruled a motion for a new trial, holding that the
finding of the jury was fully sustained by the facts proven, and duly sentenced
Fonts "to be hung by the neck until he was dead, and that the execution of the
said defendant take place at some public and convenient place within one mile of
the town of Indianola, within the county of Warren, on the 15th day of December,
1854, at 1 o'clock, p. m., of said day."
The convicted murderer was remanded to the custody of Sheriff McHenry, and
his attorney appealed his cause to the Supreme Court, and this court finally
decided that he could not be convicted of murder under the indictment. Several
other errors were pointed out but at last by agreement, Fouts was convicted of
murder in the second degree, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Sheriff
McHenry had charge of Fouts from the time of his arrest, and in illustration of
the manner in which the death penalty and imprisonment for life are regarded by
murderers, says that while in the coach on his way to Iowa City, then the
capitol, during all the fun and jollity then so prevalent in a coach load of
passengers, Fouts never smiled or in any degree relaxed in his solemnity of face
and manner. He then was under sentence of death. In the coach from Iowa City to
Fort Madison, Fouts was apparently the jolliest and most happy man in the coach.
Then the sentence of death had been commuted and he was on his way to the
penitentiary where he was to be imprisoned during the remainder of his life.
The first convicted murderer of Polk County remained in the penitentiary
until some time about the year 1877, when death released him from all earthly
imprisonment, after having been in confinement for a long period of twenty-three
years. After his death, his two daughters, who were then living in the State of
Kansas, applied for a settlement of his estate. During all this time it had been
in the honest hands of William Ashworth, and this gentleman, under order of
court, made a final settlement and remitted the proceeds to the daughters.
THE HAMLINS.
In the summer of 1848 there was much excitement in the eastern portion of the
county over the supposed murder of a man named Knisely, who had lived on Indian
creek immediately east of the county line. Knisely was a German who did not
mingle much with his neighbors. He suddenly disappeared about this time, and his
whereabouts were unknown. Two brothers named Hamlin, whose reputations were not
of the best, lived near Knisely's cabin, and being questioned as to Knisely's
disappearance gave what were considered evasive answers. They were also insolent
to questioners. The result was that soon every one in the neighborhood suspected
the Hamlins had murdered and robbed the missing Knisely. The Skunk river was
dragged and searched, but no body was found. Finally a mob of settlers gathered
and capturing the Hamlins, took them to the woods. There they were suspended by
the thumbs and hanged by the neck, but no confession of guilt could be extorted
from them. Finally, at the suggestion of the more law-abiding citizens present
the Hamlins were turned over to the officers of the law and taken to the
Oskaloosa jail for safe-keeping.
The Hamlins employed as their attorney the noted Enoch W. Eastman, afterwards
Lieutenant Governor. He at once set to work making an investigation, and the
result was that during the progress of the trial a brother of the supposed
murdered man, came from his home in Missouri to testify that his brother, the
supposed victim, had gone to California, where he then was a very live man, so
far as he knew. The Hamlins were discharged from custody, but for years
afterwards many of those in that neighborhood firmly believed that Knisely had
been murdered and the Hamlins were guilty of the crime.
SQUIRE MEACHAM'S ARRESTS.
Among the noted of the first settlers was William H. Meacham, who for some
years was prominent in the history of the town and county. He was justice of the
peace and for several years a county commissioner, and also became noted for his
energy, untiring zeal and undoubted courage in running down and capturing or
driving out of the county horse and other thieves, who generally infest all
newly settled communities and countries. But sickness and other causes had their
effect upon him, and in his later years he became almost a monomaniac in his
pursuit of those whom, in his mind, he regarded as guilty of crime. An instance
may be given. In the winter of 1856-57 a horrible murder had been committed on
or near a public road in Poweshiek County, and some parties then residing in
Camp Township in this county were suspected of being connected with this crime.
The excitement was naturally great and liberal rewards were offered by the State
and county for the arrest of the perpetrators of the horrid crime. Every
suspected person was closely watched.
These facts stirred up the fitful energies of "Squire Meacham," and after a
time his suspicions rested upon one Van Shoich, who was a son-in-law in the then
notorious Ridgway family, living in Camp Township. Meacham, with an armed party,
made a sudden descent upon the supposed guilty parties. Van Shoich was seized,
chained, and by Meacham and his assitants taken to Poweshiek County, and
delivered over to the legal authorities. After an investigation it was decided
that Van Shoich was not the man wanted and he was discharged from custody.
A short time after this Meacham claimed to have received further evidence of
their guilt, and with a few others went to their home and again arrested Van
Shoich and also his father-in-law, Ridgway. They were hurried into a sleigh,
being threatened with sudden death if they resisted, and again started on their
way to Poweshiek County. The weather was intensely cold, the roads much blocked,
and it was finally determined to bring the men to Des Moines, and here they were
brought by Meacham and surrendered to the sheriff. He really had no testimony
against them, and they were again discharged by the magistrate. They commenced
an action against Meacham for kidnapping, but the condition of his mind was
known to the court, and he was acquitted of the charge. And yet Squire Meacham
was getting close to the truth. Another son-in-law of Ridgway, one Thomas, or
"Come-Quick," as he was called, was afterwards arrested, charged with this
murder and hanged by a Poweshiek County mob. Of this more is given in another
place.
EARLY JUSTICE.
This brings to memory another matter in which this same Ridgway was
prominently concerned. In the spring of 1857 this Isaac Ridgway came to Des
Moines and going before the late Judge W. H. McHenry, then mayor, told a story
of how a large number of men on horseback had come to his home in Camp Township
and in decided language ordered him to pack up his movables inside of five or
ten days and leave the country. They informed him that they were very tired
having him and his gang around, and they must go. Ridgway swore he was afraid of
being killed by them and demanded warrants for their arrest. The warrants were
issued and some eight or ten of the best citizens of Camp Township were brought
to Des Monies. After a hearing before the mayor, held in the old court house,
and it was shown they had given Ridgway the pressing invitation to leave the
country, the mayor decided that under the circumstances, he would not hold them
to the District Court, and they were discharged.
Then they turned the tables on Ridgway, and had him arrested and charged with
committing perjury in their trial. The writer was then a justice of the peace,
and he was called upon to examine, as magistrate, the charge against Ridgway.
There was some strong swearing all around during this examination. The justice
finally decided that there was probable cause enough to hold Ridgway for perjury
to the District Court. The Camp Township men were jubilant over this finding.
But when the justice turned to them and administered a severe lecture for their
unlawful conduct in acting under mob law when they ordered Ridgway out of the
country, they were mad and the high popularity of that justice immediately sank
many degrees below zero. The trial closed late in the evening, and Ridgway
begged not to be sent to jail, and stated that if the constable would go with
him on the next day to his home, he would there furnish good security for his
appearance at court. This was agreed to and Ridgway and the constable passed the
night at the leading hotel. In the morning the justice privately instructed the
constable not to let any good man sign the bond through sympathy, but to get as
many as possible of the Ridgways and their connections to sign it, and then turn
the prisoner loose. This was done, and the bond was approved and sent to the
District Court. The result was as anticipated. Before the cause was again called
in court, Ridgway, his family and most of his connections, had departed from
Polk County, and were then blessing Missouri and Kansas. Thus was Ridgway
banished from Polk County, in due accordance with law, and that justice's
popularity arose several degrees in the estimation of the good people of Camp
Township.
MURDER AND SUICIDE.
In the spring of 1858 a murder was committed within the corporate limits of
Des Moines, and immediately followed by the suicide of the murderer. All the
persons directly concerned in the tragedy were of English birth and parentage. A
young Englishman by the name of Charles Rosseter had been for some time paying
attention to Miss King, a young lady of English birth, whose parents then
resided on the Peet property, then well out towards the northern limits of the
city. Rosseter had become dissipated and reckless, and if there had ever been
any engagement between Miss King and him it had been annulled by his own
misconduct. At the same time there resided in Des Moines another young
Englishman, named James Chandler. He was one of the best of men, honest,
cheerful and industrious, a steady worker, and at the same time fond of hunting
and other sports, and popular with all men who knew him.
James Chandler was intimate with the King family, and on a pleasant Sunday
evening accompanied Miss King to church services. While upon their return and
when they were walking along the road on the hill near where Rutherford Chapel
then stood, suddenly and stealthily behind them came Charles Rosseter. He was
crazed with drink and jealousy, and armed with a shotgun. Without any warning he
raised his gun and fired a charge of large shot into the back of Chandler. Miss
King, frightened into wild terror, ran rapidly up the road when he fired another
shot at her and she fell in the road, but fortunately not seriously injured by
the shot. Chandler was killed instantly, shot through the heart, he probably
never realizing what the trouble was. Then Rosseter, after gazing upon the
tragic scene before him, and supposing that Miss King was also his victim,
reloaded his gun and with desperate suicidal intent fired a heavy charge into
his own body. His aim was not as true as when directed towards Chandler, and his
wounds, though terrible, were not immediately fatal.
The shots and the cries soon brought help, and notice was at once sent to the
writer, who with others, hastened to the scene. Miss King had been removed to
her home, and it was soon learned that her injuries were not fatal. Chandler lay
as he had been shot, a pleasant smile playing, as it were, over his features.
His happy look in life had become fixed in death. The murderer had been removed
to a rough cabin near by, where he lay moaning while the doctors examined his
wounds and pronounced them mortal. Then the dying man, in piteous tones,
appealed to Rev. Dr. Peet, who was intimately acquainted with all the parties,
to know if there was any hope for him in the great hereafter. The good doctor,
wrought up as he was by the death of one friend and the attempted murder of
another, could not give the dying man those assurances he now so much desired.
The murderer and suicide lingered and suffered terribly in mind and body for
some hours, when death came to his relief, and he followed his victim before the
bar of God, there, and not before the courts of the earth, to answer for his
crime. His dead body was laid in the ground followed by much more anger than
sorrow. Many sorrowing friends surrounded the burial place of genial "Jimmy"
Chandler and deeply mourned his untimely and cruel end. Miss King in time fully
recovered and subsequently became the wife of one of the prominent citizens of
Des Moines.
CURIOUS FATALITY.
And this murder of Chandler calls up the somewhat sad history of five young
Englishmen, who in the latter part of the fifties resided in Des Moines, and
were much thrown together, and often hunted and fished, with each other. Of the
deaths of Chandler and Rosseter an account has been given. Another one of the
five, W. J. Payne, on the Fourth of July, was handling his gun, when it in some
manner was discharged, the shot entering his head and causing instant death.
James Gaut was another of the five. He was also an indefatigable hunter, and one
day while hunting on the ice was killed by the accidental discharge of his gun.
John H. Watson was another, who enlisted in the Second Iowa Infantry, was Gen.
Crocker's orderly and went with him to the Thirteenth Iowa Infantry. He was
afterwards commissioned a second lieutenant, was wounded at the battle of Shiloh
and died three days afterwards. All five of these voung Englishmen died in the
space of less than five years from gunshot wounds.
KILLING OF SMITH.
Aaron Smith, one of the early settlers of Polk County, in the spring of 1SG4,
was shot while driving along a road leading from Saylorville to Polk City, near
the township line between Saylor and Crocker Townships. The ball, which was
evidently fired from a rifle, entered Smith's back, making a fatal wound. Smith
lived but a short time, but before he died stated the fatal shot had been fired
by his nephew, C. C. Howard, and that he had fired at him from the brush by the
side of the road, and that he had seen the accused, Howard, trying to make his
escape immediately after the shot was fired. The neighbors made a search for
young Howard, and he was found at a house some four miles distant from where the
shot was fired. At a preliminary examination young Howard was bound over for
trial in the District Court.
As the Howard family was among the first settlers and well known in the
county, and the Smiths also not unknown, the trial in court was watched with
much interest, and was earnestly fought. Attorneys Polk, Dorr and Bartle
appeared for the prosecution, and Dan O. Finch and Stephen Sibley for the
defense. There was no positive proof against Howard, except the dying statement
of Smith, and this was much weakened by occurrences prior to the shooting. Young
Howard, the defendant, was a son of Robert Howard, who was a brother-in-law to
Aaron Smith. The previous year Smith's unmarried daughter gave birth to a child
which she alleged was the child of her own father, and Smith was arrested upon
the charge of incest. Smith was arraigned in March, 1874, upon this charge, "but
his daughter then refusing to testify he was acquitted of the charge. He blamed
the Howards for urging on this prosecution, and there was had blood between the
parties. Shortly after Smith was acquitted he and the elder Howard had a dispute
about some cattle, and as Smith was about to strike his father young Howard
rushed to his rescue. Whereupon Smith stabbed young Howard in the abdomen with a
knife. The wound was a serious one, but not fatal, and not long after this Smith
was shot and died, as previously stated.
The trial of young Howard for the murder of Smith occupied the attention of
the court for a number of days, and attracted much attention and interest. The
jury finally returned a verdict of not guilty, and Howard was at once discharged
from custody. He afterwards removed to Des Moines, where he lived many years,
sustaining an excellent reputation.
A " TRUSTY" MURDERER.
An incident happening in the latter part of the fifties, though not
especially pertaining to Polk County, may be worth noting. The man had been
convicted in Davis County of murdering his wife by poison and sentenced to
suffer death by hanging. His attorneys appealed to the Supreme Court, and
Sheriff Spaulding, of Polk County, was sent after the prisoner and brought him
to Des Moines to appear before the court. This court finally affirmed the
proceedings of the lower court, and the sheriff was ordered to return the
prisoner to Davis County, to there he executed according to law. Judge Trimble,
the well known jurist, had told the sheriff he could trust the prisoner, that he
would not attempt to escape; and he was right. When the sheriff was starting
back with his prisoner in a buggy, sudden business required he should remain in
town an hour or more longer, and in the meantime he left the prisoner in the
Journal newspaper office in charge of the writer. The prisoner was invited to
take a chair and look over the newspapers. He sat quietly reading, when the
writer was also suddenly called down town on business. He went, and forgot all
about the prisoner for a half hour or more, when he remembered his charge and
hastened back to see what had become of him. He found him there all right and
felt relieved, but learned afterwards he made some inquiries of the printers,
who supposed he was a personal friend of the sheriff and the editor, and the
prisoner had then walked quietly down the stairs and out on the street. After an
absence of some time he returned and took a seat. The printers were much
astonished when told this quiet man was a convicted murderer, whom the sheriff
was taking on his way to the gallows. He went peaceably with the sheriff to
Davis County, where he was afterwards hanged, in accordance with the sentence of
the courts.
SQUIRE MORRIS' STORY.
Squire Absolam Morris, so well known in Des Moines in years past, delighted
to tell a story on Stephen V. White, then a lawyer of Des Moines, and a later
prominent broker and financier in New York City. Sheriff Spaulding was taking a
prisoner to the Fort Madison penitentiary who had been convicted in the State
courts of counterfeiting or passing base coin. White was going east, and to save
expenses was appointed a guard by the sheriff. Upon arriving at Pella, and while
dinner was being prepared, the sheriff went out in town, leaving the prisoner in
charge of White. The prisoner, who was a bright, talkative man, immediately
commenced an argument, raising the legal point that the State courts had no
jurisdiction in his case, and he should have been placed on trial in the United
States Court. The rascal made a plausible argument and soon had White deeply
absorbed in considering the legal points involved. Finally, stepping to the
door, the prisoner politely said, "Mr. White, I know you are a lawyer, and a
good one, and that you are impressed with the legal points I have raised. Think
them over and hereafter we will discuss them. Good day." And out the prisoner
walked, and was soon making tracks through an extensive cornfield near by. White
continued in deep meditation, until the arrival of the sheriff and the hasty
query: "Where is the prisoner?" made him instantly see the point the prisoner
was aiming at. The sheriff and White, after a hard afternoon's work, and with
the assistance of many citizens and farmers, late in the evening captured the
argumentative rascal some five or six miles from Pella. White became absorbed in
no more legal arguments until after the prisoner was safely inside the walls of
the penitentiary.
MARSH KILLS KING.
Among the exciting crimes in the early history of Des Moines was the killing
of King by A. N. Marsh, then marshal of the young city. This occurred in 1862.
Marsh had been a resident of the town for a number of years, was a native of
Kentucky and had served in the cavalry battalion from that State in the Mexican
war. He was an enterprising, trading man, and had accumulated, some wealth in
real estate, and owned the lots upon which Central Presbyterian Church now
stands. He had a fair reputation, but was known to be a man of strong passions
and fearless nature. Even his friends feared his hasty temper might get him into
trouble while city marshal. King was an Irishman, of splendid physique, and
while a little prone to be quarrelsome at times, had many friends. He and Marsh
had gotten into a difficulty over the impounding of some pigs belonging to King,
and met at the Sherman building. Marsh had arrested King, or at least was going
with him to the office of Mayor Thomas Cavanaugh, on the third floor of the
building. On the second flight of stairs King struck at Marsh, or in some manner
resisted him, and after a short scuffle, Marshal Marsh drew a knife and gave
King a fatal stab. The dying man staggered up the stairs and entering the office
of the mayor fell to the floor and died in a short time. Marsh, seeing his
victim was a dying man, descended to the street at once, walked rapidly towards
his home, some eight or ten squares distant, and soon from there took his flight
to parts unknown.
All this had happened so quickly that before the facts of the tragedy were
known to the citizens generally Marsh had disappeared. The people were much
aroused, and especially the hot-blooded and warm-hearted Irish friends of the
murdered man. Threats were made of summary vengeance to be wrought upon the
murderer, and parties were soon in eager pursuit of him. At the same time his
pursuers knowing how desperate Marsh might be under the circumstances, acted
with more or less prudence in their hunt. He was not found or captured, though
for several days reports were circulated he had been seen in or near the town.
King's body was duly buried, and it was soon known Marsh had left the county and
State, but where he had gone remained generally unknown.
The remembrance of this murder was passing away, as the years went by, when
the people were again excited by the news that Marsh had been located. Tallmadge
E. Brown, a noted lawyer and capitalist of Des Moines, had visited Texas on a
speculative mission and had there encountered the missing Marsh. It was stated
the latter had laid plans with associates to rob if not murder Brown, who
carried with him a large amount of money. In this he aroused the wrong man.
Brown was a resolute man of abundant nerve, and he determined to hunt the
hunter. This he did so effectually that Marsh was captured and turned over to
the Texas authorities until the arrival of the Iowa authorities to bring him
back here to answer for the killing of King. In due time Sheriff McCalla, of
this county, was sent to Texas for the prisoner, and took with him Jonathan
Stutsman as an assistant. They proceeded to Texas, secured Marsh, and started by
a gulf steamer to New Orleans. When the steamer arrived at the latter port Marsh
was not with them. In explanation they stated that while coming from the mouth
of the Mississippi, Marsh, who had repeatedly said he would never return alive
to Des Moines, had suddenly sprung from the deck of the steamer into the turbid
waters of the broad and swiftly flowing river. They said that he was heavily
ironed at the time, and must have gone down to a speedy death. They brought with
them some of his possessions, etc., and, though a few doubted, it was generally
believed this was the earthly end of Marsh, murderer and suicide.
Before many months, however, it was known that if Marsh had thrown himself
heavily ironed into the Mississippi River, his life through some miraculous
means had been saved. He was certainly very much alive and free. James F. Kemp,
a well known citizen of Des Moines while temporarily stopping in New Orleans, on
his way to Texas, there met and talked with Marsh, whom he had known in Des
Moines. Marsh told him he had been or was then chiefly engaged in dealing in
Texas cattle. Other Des Moines men at other times had seen or heard of Marsh,
but no steps were again taken to bring him to justice for his crime committed in
this city. No one here now knows where he is or whether living or dead.
PEACEABLE NEGRO KILLED.
An unprovoked murder was committed in 1864, on Walnut street, between Second
and Third, in front of Ensign's livery stable. The site of this is now occupied
by a brick building recently erected by Dr. W. H. Dickinson. At that time a
number of the soldiers of the Tenth Iowa Infantry were at home on veteran
furlough. One of these soldiers, named McRoberts, became drunk, and after
threatening to shoot S. A. Robertson, who fortunately escaped his crazy wrath,
hailed a quiet, peaceable colored man, named Brown, who happened to be passing
along the sidewalk. The negro halted, when the soldier fired a pistol and his
victim fell, dying almost instantly. The murderer was afterwards arrested and
placed in jail. But he was never placed on trial, found guilty and hung, as he
should have been. He escaped or was quietly released and hurried off to the
army, then in the field. After the close of the war and his discharge from the
army, it is said, the reckless murderer visited Des Moines, and no effort was
made to apprehend him. The man he wantonly murdered had been long buried and
forgotten.
TURBULENT NEGRO KILLED.
In 1875, a young Irishman named McNerney was a member of the city police. He
was a prompt and efficient officer, quiet and gentlemanly in his conduct. One
night there was a disturbance on Third street, near Walnut, and Officer McNerney
endeavored to quiet the same. One of the worst men in the row was a negro, whom
the officer attempted to arrest. The negro resisted and assaulted the officer.
To save himself the latter drew a pistol and fired at the negro. The wound
proved fatal. Officer McNerney promptly surrendered himself to the law, and some
time after, by a close vote, was indicted by the grand jury. His trial took
place in the District Court before Judge Leonard. In defense it was plead that
under the circumstances he did right in shooting and that the killing of the
negro was justifiable homicide. The court and jury took this view of it, and the
defendant was promptly acquitted. McNerney remained some time on the police
force, but took a great distaste to it and finally engaged in other pursuits. He
continued brooding over the unfortunate killing of the negro until his mind
became so affected he was pronounced insane and sent to one of the State
hospitals. He could not be cured, and pined away and died.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF JACK HINER.
A simple story of Polk County, and yet ending in a tragedy. The disappearance
from this earth of one man in the very prime of vigorous life, causing grief to
a few, and no doubt a lifelong regret to others who, outside of and in direct
violation of the law, human and divine, took upon themselves voluntarily the
heavy responsibility of taking the life of their fellow man. The victim has been
dead for many years, his grave has remained unknown to all save the
comparatively few who know whether or not his body ever had burial, and a
majority of these have since died natural deaths, had proper graves made for
their bodies, were buried and wept and mourned over by relatives and friends,
and, if we are to believe in divine revelation, have been or will be called upon
to answer for the deed performed upon that dark night of years ago. It is not
for us to say or even surmise as to the judgment of the Great Jehovah in this
matter.
Among the early settlers of this section was one Jack Hiner, who became well
known to a large majority of the limited number of citizens then dwelling in the
neighborhood of the Raccoon fork of the Des Moines River. He was a splendid
specimen of physical manhood and especially in his youth would have been called
handsome. His education was limited and his morals it must be admitted were not
of the best. He drank, perhaps gambled to some extent, and yet he was even
tempered and never regarded as a naturally vicious man. He, however, was not a
hypocrite. He made no special pretensions to goodness. He was something of that
class of men called "never-do-wells." He was not regarded as particularly lazy,
for at times he would work, and work hard and diligently. There were stories
about at times of his having some connection with horse and other thieves, who
were then hunted down without much mercy by angry honest settlers, but it does
not appear that it was clearly proven that Jack Hiner ever stole a horse or any
other plunder, or aided others in doing this. Rumor and report may have said he
was guilty. That he had perhaps done that which is now called "boot-legging"
may
be true. He may have also had with him in his travels through the country and to
neighboring towns, some women who were not exactly like Caesar wished his wife
to be, above suspicion. This all was bad enough, but Jack Hiner only a short
time before his disappearance when cautioned by the writer as to what might and
did happen, solemnly asserted that, bad in some respects as he may have been, he
had never stolen a horse or any other thing or aided others in perpetrating or
hiding thefts, and the writer believed and advised him accordingly. Jack said
then he did not believe those who knew him would ever do him grievous harm. He
seemed perfectly confident of this.
A short time after this Jack Hiner was arrested, charged at the time with
stealing some harness and other property. The vigilance clubs or associations of
Allen Township and of Four Mile and adjoining neighborhoods were somewhat
excited at the time. There had been a number of petty depredations of late, and
the conclusion became fixed in the minds of many that a summary stop must be put
to it. Hiner, when arrested, was taken before F. K. Prentice, a highly esteemed
old settler who then resided a few miles east of the Capitol and was a justice
of the peace. The late Hiram Y. Smith, who had then just commenced the practice
of law, appeared as attorney for the defense of Hiner. Witnesses were examined
as the trial proceeded, but no legal proof of the defendant's guilt was
forthcoming, and as night came on the justice was forced to discharge Hiner from
custody.
At the trial a number of neighboring farmers and others from a distance had
gathered together, and much more than the usual whisperings and private
consultations had been going on during the trial. The result of this was
immediately seen when the justice discharged Hiner from legal arrest. He was at
once taken in charge by a number of resolute men. Young Attorney Smith's horse
was ordered out and he was quietly but firmly told to mount and make his way to
his home in Des Moines as speedily as possible. Neither his legal services nor
his presence were any longer desired at that time in that neighborhood. It was
useless for him to resist. He could not save his client. These men had the power
and the will to exercise it.
What followed has never been clearly told, at least publicly. Hiner was taken
to the Four Mile timber. He began to realize his danger, and yet it is said he
faced it manfully. He protested his innocence to the last, made no threats, and
as was but natural plead for his life, even if this entailed banishment from
home and country. A well known citizen then, and now living on the south side of
the river is said to have made the greatest speech of his life on this occasion.
He has made not a few political speeches and has been a candidate for high
office, but no speech like this. He plead out of the generosity of his heart for
mercy to be shown to the victim then within the dread shadow of death. As he so
plead the eyes of poor Jack Hiner were fixed upon him at times with the wild
glitter of hope and again with the blankness of despair. He was pleading for a
life. And years afterwards those eyes would ever and anon haunt his memory day
and night His pleading was unavailing. He withdrew from all further connection
with the swift coming tragedy, and Hiner saw with sinking heart his last hope
for mercy depart. Another prominent citizen, recently deceased, in a few
emphatic words, denounced the whole affair and departed, as did several others
from the scene.
What followed has never been told, save perhaps when the actors in this
tragic scene in days and nights thereafter whispered of it to each other. That
Hiner died that« dark night there is no doubt. A rope was taken from the well on
the farm of N. J. Miller, now superintendent of mails in the Des Moines
postoffice, and it was generally supposed it was utilized for the purpose of
choking the life out of poor Jack Hiner. On that dark night that dark deed was
committed within a few miles and now within sight of the gold-gilded dome of the
Capitol of the State, where laws for the government and protection of all
citizens of the State are made and where sit the Supreme Judges of the law.
There was Jack Hiner "lynched," or murdered, as each may see fit to call it.
His
widow sought in vain for knowledge of his burial place. Reports were started
that he had suddenly left the country, and again that his dead body had been
found, and later that human bones, supposed to be his remains, had been seen in
a hollow log where he was known to have been taken when alive, or that his bones
had at last been found partly covered with sand and gravel in the river bed some
distance below the mouth of Four Mile Creek. But none of these stories were ever
verified; Jack Hiner's grave remains unknown. Many of those supposed to have
been present when the tragedy was enacted are now dead, gone to be judged at a
higher court; several removed to other sections of the country, and a few yet
live in this county. Of one of the supposed principals in this midnight deed it
is told that from that time he was apparently pursued by ill fortune. A wealthy
farmer he became poor. He tried different countries, but everywhere financial
and other misfortunes overtook him; and now he is an aged and broken down man,
utterly disappointed and without hope. And yet some of the early settlers and
their families to this day at times propound the now old query, "What became of
Jack Hiner?"
Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
ANNALS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA,
AND
CITY OF DES MOINES
BY WILL PORTER.
"And this volume, dedicated to its people, sets forth in attractive style all
the facts and incidents that go to make up the history of which all citizens are
justly proud."
Major Hoyt Sherman.
GEO. A. MILLLER PRINTING COMPANY,
PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS,
DES MOINES, IOWA,
1898.
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