of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, page 122
NO SPOILS FOR MUSCATINE. (Hawkins Taylor was a member of the first Iowa territorial legislature from Lee county and afterward became a man of note and influence. Prior to his death he spent several years in Washington City and in 1884 contributed the article given here to the State Register:.......)
"There were but two counties west of the Mississippi, while a part of the Territory of Wisconsin, (then spelled Oisconsin), Des Moines and Dubuque dividing at Pine river between Muscatine and Davenport, and at the session of the Wisconsin legislature in 1837-8, held at Burlington, the members of the old county lived in that part that remained after the new counties of Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Slaughter (now Washington), Louisa and Muscatine had been taken off, and they gave all the offices in the legislature to citizens of the old county. When the members from the new countles met in the Iowa legislature they determined to retaliate on the old county. There were duplicate candidates from Des Moines for all the officers of the legislature but the members from the new counties apportioned out the officers, giving Des Moines county the fireman they would not have. The Legislature met in the Zion Methodist church, then just built and not finished. It was the finest church in the territory and had been built under many trials. I. C. Sleeth had charge of the church and would gladly have taken the place of fireman. It paid three dollars a day and Sleeth could have hired a man to do the work for one dollar and besides he was most anxious to guard the building from fire. If there was any insurance on buildings in Burlington at that time, I never heard of it. There was no insurance on the church.
"The Des Moines delegatlon had candldates for all the offices down to fireman but were beaten by the combination for firemen. There was no nomination. The Des Moines delegation would not name a man and no other member would. Sleeth and others in Burlington wanted the place but Grimes and the other members refused to name them. Finally Hastings nominated an old Frenchman by the name of Dupont, who had been a sort of hanger-on among the Indians, and was a perfect specimen of an ill spent life but, as Hastings reported, he had a very handsome wife. The first ballot Dupont got one vote and Blank twenty- five. It was about the seventh ballot that Dupont got a majority and an election and not until all were satisfied that the Des Moines delegation would not name a man. It took Hastings and the consumption of a good deal of whisky and several days to get Dupont sober enough to be able to perform his duties as fireman but he sobered up and made a good one. Sleeth carefully looked after him and the building."
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