Finding Ancestors ... Wherever Their Trails Lead

CAPITAL CRIMES.

Grant County in its earlier and middle-age history was the abode of many representatives of the rougher elements of society, drawn hither by the mines and its proximity to the Mississippi, that famous water-way which served for many years previous to the war as a promulgator of vice as well as a pathway of commerce. This roughness gradually wore away under the natural and social laws of the advancing civilization, until the cuttings, shootings and brawls, of which the county was so prolific in an early day, are now remembered only as vague traditions the past. It does not come within the province of the present chapter to take note of every disturbance which resulted in loss of life, but only of such as at the time created a strong ripple of excitement, so as to for the time being shake the foundations of society in the neighborhood where the crime was committed.

JIM CROW MURDER.

Among the earliest assassinations which took place in the present confines of Grant County and one that, at this date, seems most brutally cold-blooded, was the shooting of "Jim Crow " at Potosi, by a gang of claim-jumpers. The following account of this murder is compiled from different sources, chiefly from a history of the crime that appeared in the Grant County Herald some years ago

The Long Range was one of the most prolific ranges of mineral ever worked in the Potosi mines. It was originally discovered by a man by the name of Fipps, who, failing to discover the fortune it contained, and, after working awhile on side crevices, sold out for a trifle to more fortunate parties. A mining claim, at this time, was a lot two hundred yards square, as allowed by the Government. Moor & Watson held one of these lots, and, in proving their claim, struck the main body of mineral, or, in more modern parlance, the 'bonanza.' There was living in ' Snake Hollow,' at this time, a gang of roughs, whose business was to make an easy living by any means that might subserve their own nefarious purpose. Sometimes they would decoy their victims into the saloons and fleece them out of their ' piles ' at the gambling table. Failing at this, they did not hesitate to adopt means that would compass their design and place them in possession of the coveted treasure of the fortunate and hard-working miner ; and woe be to the man who fell under the ban of their displeasure. Their plan once devised and adopted, they did not fail to execute it, however hazardous and villainous the means used in its accomplishment. No retreat, however secure, was safe from their invasion. With the stealth and persistence of the India thug, they pursued their victim, and, once within their meshes, there was no escape. The ' Long Range,' with its deep, capacious crevices of glittering ore, was a prize, and the band resolved to have it by fair means if possible, by foul if necessary. Moor & Watson learned their design, and resolved to beat them in their own way. They gave ' Jim Crow' a, fighting interest. He was a man formed in a perfect mold, and well skilled in the ' manly art of self-defense,' his right name being James D. Morgan, but, through the mines, he went by his sobriquet of ' Jim Grow.' It was a pastime for him to ward off the blows of his antagonist and send him sprawling to the ground with a force that beats the Keely motor. He was never known to seek a quarrel nor to back out from one in behalf of an insulted or injured friend. A few well-directed blows was sufficient for the occasion, and the recipient never asked to have them repeated. Bill Goodfellow, also a powerful man, thought to dispatch him once, at a saloon in Dubuque, striking him in the back with an ax, severing his ribs from the bone ; but Jim, quick and fierce as a she tiger, turned on him, wresting the ax from his hands, and, before feeling the effects of his severe injury, dealt him such a thrashing that Bill ever after kept the peace. Such was the new partner in Moor & Watson's diggings, whom the miners had learned to respect for his unobtrusive devotion to the right, and the roughs to fear for his swift and terrible punishments of the wrong. A fellow by the name of John Calder was the first to assert his claim to the diggings, and, for this purpose, armed himself with a gun. Jim saw him coming and advanced to meet him half way. His first move was to wrest the gun from his hand, and then administering a few well-placed kicks, ordered him to return by the path he had come, or he would blow the top off his head, Calder obeyed, and relinquished all further claim. A few days after, the whole gang, consisting of Sam Roundtree, Bill Clark, Cyrus Harper, Jake Derrich, Bill Cooley and Lindsey Evans, all armed, were seen approaching the diggings. Jim Crow was prepared for them. He stood, as they approached, leaning on the windlass at the mouth of the 'hole,' armed with his knife, pistols and rifle. When they came within thirty yards, Jim ordered a halt along the whole line. They knew too well the determined character of their foe, and to advance farther was certain death to one or more, and they wisely concluded to obey the order and remain where they were. Harper tried to commence conversation and said : ' Crow, we have come up to settle this difficulty, and would like to talk with you a little. Crow replied, ' You can't talk to me ; you have come with a dd pack of thieves. Now, take the path you came, and go home and attend to your own business.'

They did leave and were only too glad to get beyond the reach of the well aimed rifle. Though held at bay and baffled in their nefarious purpose for the time, for there is little doubt they purposed to kill Crow then and there, if they could do so without endangering their lives, they were not to be thus easily thwarted, and slowly returned deliberating a more successful revenge. It was not long delayed. All was kept quiet. No intimation was given of the work they had in view, and it was supposed the strife was at an end, and Moor & Watson were to be left in the peaceable possession of their rich diggings. A few weeks after, Jim Crow was sitting in Owen McLaughlin's grocery, quietly smoking his short pipe, when Bill Cooley, Jake Derrich and Lindsey Evans entered. It was observed that Evans wore a cloak. All walked up to the bar and called for something to drink, inviting Jim Crow to do the same. There was nothing in the words or movements of the men to betray suspicion when the two turned to leave the house. Cooley and Derrich had passed out, when Lindsey Evans turned suddenly round sent a ball whizzing through Crow's heart, and left him weltering in his blood. He expired in a few moments thereafter, while the assassins mounted horses that were held in waiting by their cowardly associates without and escaped down the Hollow. Crow was buried in Whittaker's field, on the hill, to the left of the road leading from Potosi to Galena. The events succeeding the cowardly assassination stop not here, and were fraught with more than mere local interest. The number and influence of the gang, some of them being men of means and holding respectable connections, defied the law. The local authorities were mere minions of their authority, and, if not willing tools, were but too anxious to avoid giving offense. The three principal murderers, after skulking a few days in the neighborhood, were arrested, and, after a farcical examination, were set at liberty. It was then the people became aroused. Nelson Dewey was serving his first term of Justice of the Peace in the town of Lancaster; From him a new warrant was procured, and the villains re-arrested and brought into court. The prisoners were held to bail and committed to the guard-house at Prairie du Chien, there being no jail yet in the county. The examination lasted all night and some time into the next day. Many of the persons who attended were known to be armed, and their previous intimacy with prisoner and known desperate character fastened the rumor that an attempt at a rescue would be made. A guard was organized to protect the officers, and thus under a strong guard the prisoners were started for Prairie du Chien. They were afterward brought before Chief Justice Dunn on a writ of habeas corpus and admitted to bail. This action on the part of Judge Dunn aroused the slumbering passions of the better class of citizens. These lawless desperadoes again at liberty, defiantly returned to their old haunts in Potosi. Forbearance had ceased to be a virtue in this case, and meetings were held to take into consideration the best mode of getting rid of them. It was finally determined to drive them out of the country, and a limit fixed to the number of days they might remain to adjust their business. At the end of the time an armed body of men numbering two hundred and over, marched into the town ; but the desperadoes had made good their retreat, and put the waters of the Mississippi between them and all danger. The principals never returned. As an episode snowing the animus of the times and of the kind of characters that went to make up a mining town, the following incident will show : Dr. Hill was a friend of some of the parties implicated in the murder, whom the mob compelled to leave. One of them went to him for advice. The doctor said : ' I will not advise you one way or another, but there is not men enough in Wisconsin to drive me out.' This remark identified him with the gang, and a meeting was called to dispose of his case. Dr. Hill hearing of it armed himself to the teeth and walked into the meeting. Taking off his hat, and standing straight as a lamp-post and bringing his rifle to a ground arms, he addressed the meeting as follows : Mr. President, I understand this meeting has been organized for the purpose of driving me out of Potosi. Sir, is that the object of this meeting. (Gd dm your souls! you can't drive me out! and you shall not discuss a matter of the kind. Any every one present knew that speech portended death to the first man who could open his mouth. The meeting was cowed into silence and one by one they dropped out glad to get beyond the range of the belicose doctor's rifle. He was not driven out. 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 squalor 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 Cassviile, 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 antagonist. 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 instantly. 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 occurrence 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 addicted 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.

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 having 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 morning 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 weaponsrifles, 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 however, 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 proceedings, they went earnestly to work to stop the combat and succeeded. After much solicitation, 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 untimely 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 commission 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.

DE LASSEAUX MURDER.

A few months after the murder of Latimer, namely, in April, 1845, occurred another murder, the murderer and his victim residing at Beetown. The ownership of a certain lot was claimed by two partiesBrewer, 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 remove 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 feelingwhich, owing to the general lawlessness which had seemed lately to develop, ran highwas 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 different occasions, the weapon was discharged at half-cock, showing, when too late, that the unfortunate 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 Mclvor, 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 Boscobel, 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 murderer. 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 County, Minn., by J. T. Delaware, 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 particularity 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 personhis 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 previous, 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. Hunsaker. 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 earned. 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 round 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, fracturing 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 murderer 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 murder of the Haggerty family, near Lancaster, in December, 1868, by Andrew Thompson, a paramour 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 ridding himself once and for all of this encumbrance by fair means or foul. This belief is strengthened 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 discovered in the river near Cassville. On the 2d day of June, a warrant was issued for Thompson arrest, but upon the approach of the Sheriff, his " man " escaped to the woods near his farmhouse, 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, 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 out, 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 Lancaster 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, saying 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 paramour 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 mindthey 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 committed as he relates, or whether, as many believed, they were taken to the river and then murdered 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.

KILLING OF MILAS K. YOUNG.

One of the most inhuman of the many diabolical crimes that has marked the pages of Grant County history was the murder of the Hon. Milas K. Young, by his son, in May, 1875, near Glen Haven. The causes leading to the commission of the crime dated back some time previous to that date. Albert Young, the murderer, had been engaged in business at Glen Haven, and through various causes, was unsuccessful. Mr. Young endorsed his notes for some time, but then refused to do so any longer. Albert then resorted to extensive forgeries in order to keep himself above water. These forgeries included the names of friends as well as his father. He also obtained control of the title to the homestead, and was endeavoring to raise |2,600 by a mortgage on the place. In the meantime, he attempted to drive his father off from the farm. In this quarrel the young man had the sympathy of his mother, between whom and her husband there had existed a coolness for years, there being at the time a lawsuit pending between them in regard to the title to the farm. In a collision between father and son, the former was injured by an ax in the hands of his offspring, but this wound was claimed by the latter to be accidental, and by many, cognizant of the facts, so accepted. At length, Mr. Young learned of the forgeries and sent word to his attorneys to have the forger arrested. Previous to this he had expressed to some of his neighbors the fear that his life was in danger, but these fears were regarded as groundless, and Mr. Young continued to remain at the homestead. By some means, Albert Young learned of the danger in which he stood, and Friday, May 14, early in the forenoon, he came into the yard surrounding the house and sat down on a cart, occupying his time with whittling, evidently waiting for his father to come out. The latter was in his room lying down, with the door locked. After waiting in this manner for some time, the young fiend, it would seem, could no longer control his desire for revenge, and he entered the house and inquired of a servant where his father was. and upon receiving the reply that he was asleep in his room, Albert went to the door and threw himself against it with a view of forcibly entering the room. This he partly succeeded in doing, when the noise awoke his parent, who jumped from the bed and ran out of a door leading from his bedroom on the east side of the house. His pursuer then turned and hastened to the front door and met Mr. Young as he came around the house, drawing a revolver as he did so. He commenced firing and discharged four shots, two of which took effect upon his victim. The latter also drew a revolver and fired once at his unnatural son, the bullet grazing his abdomen and inflicting a painful, but no wise dangerous wound. But determined that his victim should not escape, the young ruffian seized a hatchet and rushed upon the fatally-wounded man and dealt him several crushing blows upon the head, breaking the skull in a ghastly manner.

Several neighbors heard the cries of the wounded man, and hastened at once to the spot, but did not arrive until the murderer had finished his work and started to make his escape. He ran west to a grove standing some sixty yards away, and there stopped to examine his own wound-The hasty examination appeared to produce the impression that he was seriously, if not fatally, wounded, and, reloading his revolver, he placed it to his head and sent his blood-stained soul into the presence of its Maker.

Mr. Young was picked up by his neighbors and carried into the house and laid on the bed from which he had fled but a few moments before. He lingered in great pain until the Sunday following, when death came to his relief, and he passed through the doors into the great hereafter.

The excitement in the community was intense, the murdered man had been universally respected wherever known, and his sudden and horrible death aroused all the indignation lying dormant in the breasts of the citizens of that section. Had it not been for a few of the more conservative among them, there is no doubt but the stern rule of a mob would soon have reduced everything about the scene of the tragedy to ruins ; as it was, the body of the murderer was refused burial in the village cemetery, and was quietly interred upon the farm. Of the murdered man, the following testimony was borne by the papers of that date:

Milas K. Young had a reputation as wide as his adopted State. His form graced our legislative halls during the years from 1862 to 1865. Intelligent, faithful, earnest, his constituents felt that their interests and their welfare were wisely understood and well defended by him. Endowed with a laudable ambition and great mental energy, he early became a leader among his fellow-citizens, capable of molding and guiding public opinion. With wide sympathies and views, he felt a deep interest in all public questions, especially those that concerned the profession that he had chosen. To increase the quantity and quality of the productions of the soil.; to provide for his fellow-farmers competing markets for their productions, were the problems he most studied. It was this devotion that gave him such a strong hold on the esteem of the farming class with whose interests his inclinations and tastes were identified." :

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