JASPER COUNTY POSTOFFICES

In 1911 the county had the advantages of the fol1owing post offices, besides numerous free rural delivery routes almost networking the entire county: Baxter, Colfax, Fairmount, Ira, Kellogg, Killduff, Lynnvil1e, Metz, Mingo, Monroe, Newburg, Reasoner, Severs, Sul1y, Turner, Murphy and Newton.

The history of these post offices will be found in the township and village history chapters of this work.

VILLAGE PLATS AND POPULATION

In 1900 Jasper County had the following village plats, a more detailed description of which will be found in the chapter on "County Organization:"Newton, population 3,475; Monroe, 917; Kellogg, 653; Lynnville, 347; Vandalia, 89; Colfax, 2,500; Prairie City, 808; Greencastle, 92; Clyde; Reasoner, 89; Galesburg; Baxter, 427; Fairmount, 4°; Metz, 50; Mingo; Ira, 130; Newburg, 100; Sul1y, 150; Killduff, 70; Murphy; Oswalt; Valeria, 150.

At that date eight of these places were incorporated towns, and fourteen villages.

EARLY-DAY MOB LAW SPIRIT

Perhaps in the settlement of all of the first counties in Iowa there were cases wherein Judge Lynch took law into his own hands and thus sought to get free from objectionable characters. In Jasper County, be it said to the credit of her citizens, not many such cases blacken the pages of its history, but there were a few times when men's lives were hanging between earth and sky in an awful suspense. In some instances innocent men and again guilty ones were thus treated for some crime, or supposed crime, committed in this county.

One such case is as here narrated: In 1848 and during the month of August, right in the midst of sultry dog days, a man named William Knisely had made a claim in Township 81, range 21, north of present Greencastle site. He had broken out a small tract of land and planted out some nursery stock. He was a single man, a very filthy, dirty person in personal appearance and not well understood or liked by his near neighbors, the Hamlin families. All of a sudden Knisely was missing and no one seemed to know of his immediate whereabouts. Days went by and he did not return to improve his claim. Finally the whole county was aroused about his sudden disappearance and began to look the matter up. Charles H. and David B. Hamlin, with two other men, were arrested. Nathaniel Hamlin was also arrested, but he was acquitted in a short time. It was known that the Hamlins had some property once belonging to the man Knisely, and one of the family had been seen at the claim shack the day before the strange settler had last been seen. Information was sworn out by John Harp and John B. Hammack before T. J. Adamson, and the murder was alleged to have been committed June 27th. The complaint was made August 11th. The Hamlins were to have a preliminary hearing on the 11th and the other men on the 14th of August. All but the Hamlins were acquitted. To convict even the Hamlins more evidence must be found, so the mob having the matter now in hand set out to procure evidence sufficient to prove the guilt of the parties. First they took Nathaniel Hamlin in hands and coming to a small tree hung him up by the thumbs. Soon he was lowered and, believing as he did, the poor fellow thought best to confess to almost anything they asked him to. Half beside himself, and fearing lynch law, he admitted that they had killed Knisely and offered to show where the body had been buried in a sand bar on the South Skunk. The crowd took the young man to the river, who selected the spot alleged; but no trace of the remains of Knisely could be discovered there. Then the mob coaxed Hamlin to another confession, when he stated the body of the murdered man had been thrown into the Skunk River. He conducted the violent mob to the river's edge, and by this time he was in danger of being torn to pieces by angry, liquor-crazed men. He claimed the spot was on section 33 and that it was doubtless by a pile of driftwood. They now feeling they might be on the correct clue, allowed Hamlin to strip and dive for the supposed body of the corpse. He did this, but doing so failed to come up. One of the guards plunged in after him and found Hamlin holding fast to a root, under water, no doubt intending to drown himself. His grip was loosened, and he was brought to the surface nearly strangled to death.

As soon as he had recovered sufficiently to resume his "trial" it has been related that he was severely flogged. The young man Hamlin, again fearing sudden death at the mob's hands, had a new idea - he claimed that the murdered man had probably been buried in the Indian burying ground on section 25, township 80, range 21, near his father's claim, the remains of a Fox Indian's grave having been disturbed for that purpose.

A rope was then attached to the prisoner, his hands pinioned and the rope fastened to the saddle's horn, after which he was literally dragged by a horse ridden by William Rickey, across the prairie to the Indian graveyard. He pointed to the spot and the earth was opened, but no corpse was discovered.

It was an anomalous condition of affairs. The mob had easily extorted a confession from Nathaniel, but each point in his story was shown to be untrue by actual inspection. It would be supposed that the people ought to have been satisfied with these acts of violence, but they had now become blood thristy. Accordingly a crowd again gathered, all of whom it is said, being heroic with liquor, and took the other two Hamlins out of the custody of the sheriff, and strung them up by the neck until they were found to be unconscious, when they were let down and allowed to revive.

But this bold and wicked act on the part of the mob elicited nothing more satisfactory than the experiments made upon Nathaniel. The men told afterward that the pain of hanging was trifling, but that the return to consciousness was terrible.

That night the Hamlins, through the exertions of David Edmundson and John R. Sparks, were returned to custody, and were guarded by Mr. Sparks and John E. Copp in Copp's store; Copp was absent for a while, and before he returned a thunderstorm broke. When Copp returned the noise of his entrance startled Sparks, who clutched him by the coat collar ready to strangle him before he recognized him, supposing for an instant that he was leading the returning mob. The poor Hamlins were then discovered in one corner of the room, whimpering with fear, and begging to be saved from the mob.

During the day's cruel business, Edmundson, who had followed the crowd, held down the sapling to which one of the men was stretched, in hope of preventing mischief, but was pulled away by the crowd. Sparks, who had accompanied Edmunson, ran foul of the malevolent Prouty, who said to him that he believed he (Sparks) knew as much about Knisely's disappearance as the Hamlins. Sparks' Kentucky blood was up as soon as the words were out of Prouty's mouth. He seized the latter by the throat and demanded a retraction, which Prouty, who was a thorough coward, gave at once. It is difficult to find words suitable to express the honorable conduct of Messrs. Edmundson and Sparks in endeavoring to maintain the law. Shakespeare's "so shines a good deed in a wicked world" is appropriate here.

The people, thus baffled, were more excited than ever. The Hamlins were carefully guarded for several weeks before any new developments took place.

Meantime, William Smith, without stating his purpose, decided to embark in the detective business on his own account. He knew that Knisely had a brother living in Missouri, and he proceeded thither to begin his inquiries, having been informed by the Hamlins that Knisely had gone to that state. As he had surmised, he found that Knisely had been to visit his brother since his disappearance from this county. Smith returned home and related what he had heard. This was almost more than the county could stand, and the feeling was such that Smith himself was in danger of being lynched, or, at least, arrested. They had become convinced that the Hamlins could not by any possibility be innocent, and here was Smith, just from Missouri, claiming to show that they could not possibly be guilty. To solve the dilemma and establish beyond dispute the truth or falsity of Smith's statements, a committee of three substantial citizens was selected to visit Knisely's brother. They started forthwith and found to their astonishment - most likely to their disgust also - that Smith's story was literally true. Knisely's brother and a neighbor returned with the committee, and brought with them several affidavits showing that the nurseryman had been seen by all the signers of the affidavit subsequent of the supposed murder. Nothing could be done but to release the two Hamlins; yet it is certain that no apologies were offered them for the annoyance and terror they had experienced through seventy-eight anxious days. Some of those concerned in the above transaction believe to this day that Knisely was killed by the Hamlins. It is stated to be a fact in connection with the above, that Knisely never appeared again to any of his acquaintances after he visited his brother.

It transpired about the time the prisoners were released, that the Hamlins had told Knisely the neighbors were about to mob him on account of his filthy habits of living, but whether this was a joke on their part, or whether they thought they could work on his fears and get him to run away, thereby to get possession of his yoke of oxen and other property, or whether this came of his own imagination, can not now be stated with certainty, but it is probable he made this statement himself while staying with his brother.

Those who had a part in this strange matter owe William Smith a debt, of conscience they can never repay; for, had it not been for his forethought, it is almost certain the poor Hamlins would have been hanged, either by order of Judge Lynch, or by authority based upon circumstantial evidence. It was a happy escape from a legalized murder that would have been a blot on the records of Iowa for all time. As it was, the people of Jasper County found that the news when spread abroad worked to their detriment, for people were afraid, for two years, to settle in the county, believing its inhabitants were a set of heathens.

JASPER COUNTY SAFE ROBBERY

The conviction of two men, Rose and Udell, in 1868, for breaking into the Jasper County treasury and robbing it of its effects not only created great excitement here, making an unparalleled chapter in the criminal records of this county and state, but also broke up a gang of thieving outlaws whose members stretched over Indiana, Illinois and Iowa at the close of the Civil War. This forever ended the work of the Reno robbers of Indiana and like cases in the other two states named. The Pinkerton detective agency of Chicago figured in this noted case, as well as did J. W. Wilson, Esq., of this county, who had charge of the prosecution. The county and commonwealth owe a debt of lasting gratitude to these several gentlemen for the genius and legal skill exhibited in breaking up this nest of violators.

Bad, bold men have lived in all old as well as newly settled countries and Iowa has had her full share of such outlaws and some are still serving time in the prisons of the state for the crimes committed, while still others went unpunished, and still more have served their sentences and died, leaving but a dark spot upon the pages of the history of the county in which they lived and operated. In the more eastern states these crimes commenced way back in the years after the War of 1812-14 in Kentucky and other states. In 1835 this element sought newer fields in fair Iowa, then a territory, by the organization known in history as the "Banditti of the Prairies," who were responsible for the assassination of that good frontiersman, Col. George Davenport, for whom the city of this name was named.

The settlers in these states and territories only found Judge Lynch available in meting out justice to these noted characters. In 1837 counterfeit money was put into circulation in large quantities and was often brazenly offered at the United States land offices. Horse stealing was a common thing for many years and was carried on to such an extent that "Horse-thief Societies" were organized under one name or another to protect citizens from losing their teams. These gangs of outlaws were well organized, too, and nothing but Judge Lynch could reach their cases, courts being too slow in action.

Early in the forties such gangs made their appearance in Cedar, Linn, Clayton and Fayette Counties. Their chief business was stealing livestock and driving it to market and selling it. But as the country settled up more, this type of men turned their attention to bank robbery and county seat treasury safes, from which they frequently picked many thousands of dollars. Then after the Civil War came the James, and Youngers and Renos, and a dozen more noted bands. Jasper County, however, escaped the deviltry of these men until in 1868 the county treasury was boldly robbed by descendants (doubtless) of these same gangs of outlaws-for blood will tell!

The safe belonging to Jasper County, and the one used for temporary funds, was broken into on the night of February 25, 1868, and robbed of about three thousand five hundred dollars in current funds. The evening before the robbery, Josiah B. Eyerly, county treasurer, was at the courthouse on business, in company with a man from the country. The treasurer was very careful upon leaving to see that all was securely locked.

At the time of this robbery Newton was the scene of a very exciting religious debate between J. Y. Atchison, a celebrated Baptist minister, and Rev. King, a Universalist preacher, well known in Iowa as a debater on universal salvation for all mankind. Nearly all the adult population of Newton had assembled at old Union Hall, facing the courthouse square. The debate did not cease until almost midnight. Snow was falling and footsteps were thus well muffled. From the fact that no footsteps were seen in the snow when the robbery was discovered, it is thought the robbery must have been effected while the debate was going on in the well-packed hall as the falling snow would easily cover such tracks as must have been made by the robbers.

The following morning, Albert Piper, an assistant of the treasurer, upon entering the office first, discovered the books and papers strewn about on the floor. He at once gave the alarm to the treasurer, who, with his friends, went to the scene of the night robbery, and there found the floor covered with papers and books of great value, carefully preserved and placed on file by the county officials. Some were mutilated and torn and others entirely destroyed, while others were yet of value and carefully collected together. Powder had been placed in an opening in the safe and by the explosion the bolts and doors had been blown apart. The robbers had chosen a time when the treasury did not contain nearly so much cash as might have been found a day or so earlier or even later.

Among the articles left behind were wedges, bars and tools used in effecting an entry; a part of a wax candle and fuse were also found on the floor. At the time the safe stood in a very much exposed place, as compared to treasuries of today, which are housed within very safe, fire-proof vaults.

The county officers concerned in ferreting out the robbery were J. M. Rodgers, sheriff; J. B. Eyerly, treasurer; M. A. McCord, prosecuting attorney. Winslow & Wilson were employed as special attorneys for the county. Silas Axtell, a constable and detective, was engaged at once to work up the case. The officers lost no time in instituting a search. From among the multitudes of rumors they gathered enough to satisfy themselves that the robbers were not local parties, and that no grounds existed for suspecting anyone in the town or county. It was soon learned that strangers had been seen coming into town the evening before from the direction of Kellogg. A schoolteacher had observed the men carrying a case or package, coffin shaped, as he described it. It seemed very heavy, as the men kept changing hands in conveying it along the highway. This served as clue number one for the officers. It was soon learned that five men got off the Rock Island train at Kellogg the evening before the robbery. It was also found that five men got off the train at Mitchellville, the morning after the robbery had been committed.

Search was then made all over Newton and in a lumberyard the "coffin-shaped" box was discovered. A blacksmith shop on the west side of the square had been forced open and from it a sledge had been taken. This was found near the safe in the courthouse. A banker in Newton was at once engaged to wire a detective in Chicago and at once one of Pinkerton's best men, Dave Ise, appeared on the scene. He soon learned from railway men that the five men had each flashed a ten-dollar bill to pay fare to Des Moines, and that they had jumped the train at Mitchellville, before entering Des Moines. The men were soon spotted as having hired a farmer to carry them to Nevada and there they boarded a train for Chicago. The detective, hot on their trail, went to Chicago. There he changed clothing in disguise and, with the farmer, visited the low dives of the city a few days and finally found what the farmer said was his men and he still carried out the plot by playing cards with them and letting on that he was intoxicated. He had stationed two policemen at the saloon door and when the time was ripe the men wandered out and fell easily into the hands of the officers. They being on Illinois soil, they had to be spirited away by force in a sled and taken to a train which Pinkerton had wired to be stopped, where they were placed in irons and brought to Davenport, where they tried at meal time to make their escape, but after a few shots were again captured and brought on west. On their person were found the gold pen and a padlock stolen from the lumberyard in Newton, already mentioned; also pieces of fuse of the same sort found in the Newton courthouse.

At the spring term of district court, at Newton, that same year, the two captured men, Charles Udell and Abraham Rose, were arraigned for the crime. They pleaded not guilty. The case did not come off at once and to make sure of their game, the authorities had the prisoners sent to a safer place, Oskaloosa jail, to await the November term of court. Allan Pinkerton had become convinced that these men belonged to a great gang, possibly the famous outlaws, the Renos, and he it was who insisted on holding the case over in order to get more of the gang, which proved a very wise thing, too. A scheme was put into effect, the gist of which was this: The prisoners were known to have friends outside and it was concluded that attempts would be made to correspond with them. The sheriff of Mahaska, J. W. Hinesley, was interested in the matter and his valuable services secured. The sheriff did not live in the jail building, which was in charge of jailer Hedrick. It was arranged that every facility should be given the men, especially Udell, for writing letters and his literary tendencies encouraged to the utmost. These epistles were necessarily given into the hands of some one of the officers, presumably in those of the jailer; but in all cases the prisoners and their friends' letters were to be sent to Messrs. Winslow & Wilson, at Newton, to be treated as they saw fit. Mr. Wilson became deeply absorbed in the work and performed some detective feats that would have reflected credit on an old professional.

Only a few days elapsed before the sheriff was able to open a regular system of secret correspondence with Mr. Wilson. Meantime the Pinkerton force was fully aware of the scheme and ready to co-operate with the officers of either Newton or Oskaloosa. The whole affair is explained so fully by the epistolary documents still in existence, but for the first time made public in 1878, ten years after the robbery, that they are here used as quotations in full or in part, as the case seems best to warrant.

The first letter to Mr. Wilson from Sheriff Hinesley was dated April 28, J 868. The reply is given here in full:

"Newton, Iowa, April 29, 1868.

"J. W. Hinesley, Esq.": Yours of the 28th with enclosure to Winslow was received today. Winslow is in Boone County now. In the letter to Mrs. Smith, enclosed, I find by close examination that it was written by invisible ink and contained something worth knowing. I applied a test to the letter, and brought out a full and clear letter, written closely over the whole sheet of paper. I send you enclosed a true copy for your benefit. The ink used was milk. I will make a true copy of the letter to Mrs. Smith as written in ink and in milk and send that to her. I will send a copy of the same to Pinkerton at Chicago, and have him send to Indianapolis and watch the party who takes the letter out and follow up the plot. In this way, I think we can keep track of them all the while and follow them to Oskaloosa, and arrest them when they make the attempt on the jail. Of course you will be prepared for them on the 15th and 20th of May, the time spoken of. As soon as we hear from Chicago we will let you know and keep you fully posted. Send all communications to us; also all letters sent to Rose and Udell, before delivering them to the prisoners.

"Yours truly.
      "WINSLOW & WILSON
      "Per Wilson."

The letter referred to by Wilson is here produced in full. It was written by Mr. Udell on commercial note paper and contained a few commonplace remarks on the first page, but ended with the significant expression "So now look out." Mr. Wilson was satisfied that there was invisible writing on the three apparently blank pages and devoted nearly three days with experiments to bring it out. At last he thought of milk as an invisible ink and applied the test of a hot sad-iron, when the following satisfactory and surprising document gradually appeared on the innocently looking sheet:

"Dear Elizabeth: We have tried twice to get out but have made a failure. The last time we would have been out in a few minutes more, but now we can do nothing without help. The jailer is living in the jail. He is about. Andy Wilson and his wife is sick most of the time. There is three girls grown and three little boys the size of S. I. Willie and George. The boys all sleep in one bed and the family sleep up stairs. If five men will come they can take the whole family and release us. There is five persons in jail. There is a man by the name of William A. Ayers that will lead the men if he can get four to follow him. He is a friend to A. Rose, my partner. Write to William A. Ayers. Springfield, Illinois and send one letter to him in Chicago to the Matteson House, corner of Randolph and Dearborn Streets, and tell him to come and see you, that you want to make an arrangement with him about bailing Abe Rose and his friend out of jail. Tell him on what street and the number of your house so that he can find you and your name, and when he comes show him this letter. Do this sure. This is the only sure way I know of to get out of here now. I hope that Ogle, Billy, Carle, Perkins and Reno, or three of them at least, will follow Ayers. I know that the thing can be done in the evening at half past seven or eight and then leave on the train at nine. We can lock the family in the jail and get away at any time of night. This must be done or I fear I shall see hard times before I see you again. There will be no chance for private talk if one was to come to the jail, unless he comes in the night. I would (like and) ought to know what night to look for them, for I would (otherwise) be asleep when they spoke. There is a fence twelve feet high around the west end of the jail where we are. Get over that and come to the window and have a stick nine feet long. You can reach right straight across the hall to my cell. Bring a dozen of the best saws. There is three bars in the door of the cell to saw, two inches wide and two and a half inches thick, and the same to cut to get into the house hallway. Then I will be as good as out. The window is large and low, four feet from the ground, with two sets of grates in it, but you could poke anything into my cell with a nine-inch (foot) stick. If anyone comes they could stay a week and come in the night and talk to me. And I could tell them then what else to do. It will cost fourteen dollars to come here. Come by Keokuk. I will set the night the 20th of May, for one to be at the window. I will look for one that night at eleven or twelve. The jail is in the west end of building in Oskaloosa, Mahaska County. The town is three miles from the railroad. Now get one to bring the saws and come that night and stay and get things done fine. I have no confidence in sawing out but I will try. If one comes he can see how everything is and take us out; the one that comes he can see how we are situated, then go back and get the men. He can go into the woods and stay daytime and see us at night. He can buy his grub somewhere, or go to the hotel at mealtime. If you can get Ayers to come and see you, he can come and get the thing done, and if he is not there by the l5th of May, get Ogle or Billy, or even Charlie to come to our window. The fence is high and will be a little hard to get inside the fence. But there is cross pieces on the inside and will be very easy to get out.

"Now my only hope of getting out of this scrape is by some of you helping me, and I hope Charlie and Billy will not fail to help me. Ayers (has?) was a brother in a fix so bad as ours. He himself will do anything for my partner, that any of you would do for me; so if you can get him there or anyone to come, (a few words here unintelligible). I write this April 25th, but don't know how soon I can get it mailed. My last request is for some one to come to the window, some night as soon as they can and keep coming until we can come to some final understanding. Write me few lines through the lawyers at Newton and if anybody comes say so through milk; but, only a few words, as I can only get letters through the jailer, James Hendrick. I have ten dollars yet. I will give the jailer's boy a dollar to mail this. If you get it that shows he is true to me. His name is Hiram Hendrick. He is about twelve years of age. Whoever comes to our window have him to bring two small vials of equafortis. It will eat the bars when it is heated hot. Get two vials with glass stoppers and get the very best equafortis there is. Be careful it don't leak or it will ruin their clothes who ever buys it. The sheriff lives two squares from the jail. I tried to get the confidence of the sheriff. He may come right. He is on the stand what to do. He is afraid he can't do anything without being suspected. Only sure thing is to rough the jailer. It can be done by bringing a prisoner. Tell him they captured him trying to steal one of Lansing Bryant's (omission), living four miles east of town. Tell whoever comes to the jail to call Mr. Hedrick. He will ask who is there. Tell him you have a man you caught trying to steal a horse of Lansing Bryant. Then he will open the door and the jail part is straight back through the hall. Come on right through. When he comes on after you with the keys act as the thing suits you, but don't let the jailer go for the sheriff, but keep him in. Do not fail to get one to come to our window and don't be afraid of anything. It is easy to get out of the lot, but it is a high fence and hard to get inside."

There was no signature to the secret part of the letter. The portion in ink contained the necessary formalities.

The letter confirmed the suspicions of the detectives, but the suppression of the document would merely thwart their own ends. It must be sent to its destination and there traced to the evident headquarters of the gang in Indiana. The execution of this required no little ingenuity and skill. The letter itself was no longer available because of the restoration of the milk writing to a legible condition. The only way to accomplish their end was to reproduce the document. This plan was successfully carried out. The writing in ink was counterfeited and then the pages in milk were copied carefully in style, orthography, etc. Still after this difficult task was performed there remained an obstacle in the way. Post-marked envelopes from Oskaloosa were needed and these were obtained. The bogus letter was placed therein and sent to the Newton office without further stamping.