had in our employ for a time a half negro by the name of Brown, who with his wife resided in the city, and he was a strong, powerful man, and witha! a desperate character of the very worst type. One morning after the jail was completed, I was in the law office of Gilman Folsom, when a Mr. Gardner from Old Man's Creek, entered and related that he had a large quantity of bacon that he had been smoking in an old house on the creek, stolen the night before, and I at once suspected Brown, and taking Mr. Gardner with me to the office of Justice Hawkins, he swore out a search warrant, and the justice authorized me to serve it, and taking Gardner and my brother with me we entered Brown's house. unexpectedly to him, and while my brother covered him with a pistol, I began the search, and found a dozen or more of smoked hams, shoulders and sides under the bed with a curtain in front to hide them, all of which Gardner said were his. From the large quantity stolen it was evident that Brown had help, and I afterward found a lot more bacon in the house of a man named Hines, which Gardner also claimed to be his, and of course Brown and Hines were both held under heavy bonds to await the action of the grand jury, and failing to give them they were both sent to the new jail. Now at this time there also lived in the city two brothers by the name of Hoge, one of whom showed me his commission as a Mormon elder, and we had employed one of them with Brown in the quarry, while the other did but little work, and got his food and lodging wherever he could prog it. There were also living in the city at this time two other men, whose names were Wallace and Green, and all four of them were single men. Green did nothing that I ever knew of, but Wallace was a worker, and seemed to be a very nice young man. Now at this time that grim old chieftain Poweshiek, with several wives and daughters, paid the city a formal visit, camped down on the bottom, tied his horses' fore feet together, and turned them out to graze, and here he remained for several days with his wives purchasing their outfit, and tak ing in the city generally. He was a very large, heavy man, good looking, every inch a chief, and very popular with the white man. One morning early the old chief came up into town and reported that four of his best horses were stolen from him in the night, and on this news the excitement in the city was great indeed. Judge Lynch had only a short time before this adjourned his court, and yet in spite of all his judgments faithfully carried out by his sheriff "Larruping" John Adams, here were four more horses stolen right under John's nose. Upon looking about and counting noses, it was found that Green, Wallace, and the two Hoge brothers were missing, and suspicion fell upon them. Now at this time there was a desperate canvass in the county for the office of sheriff, and the "Locofocos" had nominated the old sheriff, Sam Trowbridge, while the Whigs had put forth Walter Butler, and in my hearing some one said to Butler, "catch them thieves and bring them and the horses back or withdraw from the canvass," and in less than half an hour Butler had selected his men, and with fast horses was on the trail, and in about ten days he had overhauled them crossing the Missouri line into Arkansas. With the thieves it was, as they supposed, a race for life, and they too had the very best of horses, and the chase was a long one; but Butler was too much for them, and he returned after about fifteen or twenty days with all of the horses and with Wallace and the two Hoge brothers, but Green had made good his escape. The horses were returned to the old chief, and the prisoners sent to jail to keep company with the negro, Brown, and Hines, until either Judge Lynch or Judge Williams should determine their fate, and now there are in that jail five of the most desperate villains that had ever made a track on Iowa soil. No one knew the construction and weak points of that jail so well as the negro Brown, for he had not only assisted my brother and me, about the foundation, but he had attended the masons while laying up the brick walls, and he had a wife in the city who could supply him with all the tools he needed, and he was therefore the right man in the right place so far as the thieves were concerned. The jailer at this time I think was a man by the name of Pierson, a good, honest, easy-going man, with little or no force, and one night while he was sleeping, the prisoners cut a hole through the ceiling, and once up it was but the work of a moment to cut out only one brick in thickness of the gable with a small crowbar, and one by one they all descended to the ground, were at liberty, and not one of the five was ever caught again. The two Hoge brothers were afterwards hung at Muscatine for murder, the negro Brown was shot and killed in Missouri by the vigilants, and what became of Green, Wallace and Hines I never knew. Walter Butler was at that time a man of nerve and energy, brave as a lion, big-hearted, and generous to a fault, and it was a very easy matter for him in those days to pick up in a moment a troop of men as brave and resolute as himself. With all of his popularity he was defeated in his race for sheriff, and I think this had a sad effect upon him, for I heard of his death not long afterwards. I have thus traced out some of the most exciting criminal incidents of those early days. SAMUEL MURDOCK. Elkader, Iowa, Aug. 23, 1893. THE DEATH OF MRS. SALTER. IN THE 12th of June last, a most shocking accident occurred in the city of Burlington. While the Rev. Dr. Salter, in company with his wife and a couple of lady friends were taking an afternoon ride in a surry, along the shady drives of Aspen Grove cemetery, passing near where some men were grubbing up a dead tree, quicker than thought, the roots of the tree snapped and it fell across the carriage and Mrs. Salter was instantly killed. Mr. Salter was severely hurt while the other occupants of the carriage escaped unhurt. Sudden and unanticipated death is a severe shock to friends. at any time, but it was doubly so under circumstances of this character. The death of Mrs. Salter was more than a family bereavement, a whole church mourned her loss, and a whole city sat in the shadow of deep sorrow at her departure, and in his affliction Dr. Salter had the sympathies of the numerous readers of his frequent contributions to the pages of the HISTORICAL RECORD. For almost half a century she has been an efficient and loving helper of one of Burlington's most faithful and learned church pastors, and to be thus snatched suddenly from his side must have overwhelmed him with a grief nearly inconsolable. In the life and prosperity of Dr. Salter the HISTORICAL RECORD has more than a passing interest. As an intelligent and interesting historical writer, he has been a valued and voluminous contributor to its pages. At the fifteenth annual meeting of the State Historical Society, held June 23d, 1873, he delivered the annual address, commemorative of the twohundredth anniversary of the discovery of Iowa by Marquette and Joliet. Born and educated in New York, the doctor came to Iowa during her territorial days, when he was just out of his minority and was entering into the period of hopeful and promising manhood, and entered into missionary labors on the ragged edge of civilization, in its western advancement and progress. Chosen to a pastorate of one of the churches in the metropolitan city of Burlington in 1856, and a continued occupant of its pulpit for, the past thirty-seven years, he has left an impressive stamp, not only on the congregation that listened to his learned and excellent discourses, but on the whole community of which he has thus long been a member. The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man being the basis of his creed, he has exerted an influence that has been widely extended, and of the most beneficial character. Believing that his whole labors should not consist in discussing abstruse questions of polemic theology, or that he should confine himself exclusively to the pulpit and pastoral duties, he has been a contributor to general literature, being among other works the author of "The Great Rebellion in the light of Christianity," and "The Life of James W. Grimes." For this latter work alone he has placed the people of the State under great obligations to him. H. W. LATHROP. REVIEW. BY J. L. PICKARD, LL.D., PRESIDENT STATE HISTORICAL HIS year is one of review in all departments of human activity. This is specially true in the field of historic research. The State Historical Society of Iowa has a right to share in this work of review even though it has not made a very full record for itself It is gratifying to those, who have labored unselfishly and without compensation for years, to record progress far beyond what could reasonably have been expected from the small means at their command. From 1857 to 1880 the regular annual appropria tion by the State was.. Since 1880 it has been.. An average for thirty-seven years... Two special appropriations have been made -one in 1868 of.... And one in 1892 of.. These special appropriations have increased the annual average sum at the disposal of the Society to..... $ 500 00 1,000 00 689 19 6,000 00 1,000 00 878 38 Out of this insignificant sum the Society has been compelled |