IOWA/MISSOURI STATE LINE STORY

BECK, MOORE, PRICE, SUMMERS

Posted By: Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert (email)
Date: 1/3/2002 at 17:31:37

Leon Reporter
January 3, l895

Sheriff BECK had an exciting experience on
Christmas day, which he will
remember for many years to come, as a gang of
Missouri toughs tried to
kidnap him and very nearly succeeded. The
trouble all grew out of the
famous state line cases, which have already
cost the litigants a small
fortune, and the present prospects are good
for more trouble. Last
January HOWARD MOORE, who lives just across
the line in Missouri, was
indicted by the Decatur County Grand Jury
charged with kidnapping, but
the officers were unable to arrest him, as he
did not come across the
line into Iowa.

Last Saturday Sheriff BECK went down and
watched for him until Monday,
when he saw MOORE start from his house and go
down a lane which is on
the Iowa side. Sheriff BECK rushed up on him
and grappled with him, and
after a rough and a tumble time of it,
succeeded in making the arrest
and brought his man to Leon, where he was
placed under bonds of $l,500.
On Tuesday he hired a livery rig and with
ASBERRY PRICE as driver, he
and Sheriff BECK went down to Lineville to
have his bond signed. This
was duly accomplished and MOORE was released.

Sheriff BECK placed the bond in his pocket
and just then a young fellow
named SUMMERS, asked him to step across the
line to his drug store to
see his father, who was an old friend of
Sheriff BECK, who he said was
sick. No sooner was Sheriff BECK inside the
building, than a gang of
about twenty of the MOORE crowd jumped on him
and tried to take the bond
from him, and would probably have succeeded
had not ASBERRY PRICE
stepped in and shoved a pistol in the
leader's face. This gave the
Sheriff time to draw his weapon and he and
PRICE backed off across the
line into Iowa where the crowd dared not
follow. It was a narrow escape
for CHARLEY and he will be a little cautious
in the future how he goes
over the line.

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Copied 'FYI' - it interested me!
January 2, 2002