West Liberty History 1838-1938

Source: One Hundred Years of History
* Commemorating a Century of Progress in the West Liberty Community * WEST LIBERTY, IOWA
LOG CABIN HISTORY

Chapter XV

THE COUNTERFEITERS

Early in the settlement of this region it was infested by a band of outlaws who practiced their nefarious trade of murder, robbery, conterfeiting and horse stealing with a high hand. There was purported to be an organized band of these marauders scattered all through the Mississippi valley, and life and property were ever at their mercy. Their headquarters on the upper Mississippi was in Lee county, Iowa, and at Nauvoo, Illinois, and their emissaries and agents were scattered up and down that river and the streams tributary to it. Some of these emissaries, as afterward proved to be the case, were settlers in good standing among their neighbors. While this class probably were not active participants in the crimes committed, they were of great help to the banditti by spying on their neighbors and advising active members of the band where rich hauls could be made, and how to proceed to obtain them, and also assisting in secreting the stolen goods and in harboring the outlaws. These classes were a serious manace to the settlers, and they were more feared than the Indians.

In 1845 occurred the murder of Col.Davenport on Rock Island, a most dastardly, cold-blooded crime, committed solely for a few dollars. He was an old man and at the time was home alone, when he was beset by three or four men, shot and tortured to make him give up his property, and then left to a slow death. Eventually three of the outlaws were run down and executed for the crime.

When the country became more populous and more thoroughly explored, places were found far back in the dense woods, or in isolated groves that had undoubtedly been used as hiding places for stolen property, or unlawful purposes and as meeting places of the outlaws. Along the Cedar and lower Wapsie were found evidences of this unlawful traffic, and some of the cabins found along the streams by the first settlers were undoubtedly built and used by members of the gang at times when they wished to disappear from their regular haunts for reasons best known to themselves. There was no reason to think that this region was harboring active members of the gang, but that there were some connected with the outlaws was strongly suspected. Men, who, while not implicated in any of the daring crimes being committed, were yet cognizant of the identity of active participants in them, and were aiding and abetting them and sometimes indulged in such means of gain as horse stealing and passing counterfeit money. Often horses were missing and rarely was there any trace of them to be found, and the country was flooded with counterfeit money, both specie and bank notes. While the settlers may have had their suspicions as to who were the guilty parties, they had not the convincing testimony and could do nothing but guard their property as best they might. Near the southeast corner of township 78-5 was quite an extensive grove of elm and other trees, surrounded by thick brush which completely concealed the interior from any casual observer. This grove stood on the prairie, miles from any settlement, and was rarely visited by the settlers. But on one occasion some hunters entered it in pursuit of some deer, and on penetrating the dense fringe of bushes surrounding it, they found that it was then, or had been, visited by others; the trampled grass and remains of camp fires and gnawed bark of trees, where horses had been tied, showed that someone had frequented the place. One large tree seemed to have been the special central point of occupance, and a closer inspection revealed that it was hollow. A section had been carefully cut from its side and again replaced, leaving but little sign that it had been disturbed. On removing this section, a cavity was disclosed which contained dies and other articles used in making counterfeit money. Some years later a family moved on a place not far from this grove, and one of the children was seen to pick up and play with a small metal disc with a handle at one side, it appearing like a toy skilley with a close-fitting cover. One day the father chanced to notice the child playing with it, and a close inspection revealed the supposed plaything to be hinged at one side. On opening it, was found to be a mould for casting coin. So the evidence seemed conclusive that there was the place where some of the spurious coin was manufactured that was put in circulation.

But those who were plying this unlawful traffic were never identified, and it was quite late in the settlement of the Wapsie ere this nefarious practice received check in the court of Judge Lynch, in a neighboring county, when one of the suspects was executed, others severely scourged, and still others invited to seek a more salubrious climate, which they were not slow in doing. Many are the traditional stories told of the doings of members of the banditti, but no good purpose can be served in resurrecting them. This phaze of life, like the fever and ague, was a part of our pioneers experience, very inconvenient and debilitating, and a condition requiring determination and vigor to overcome in taming the wilderness and establishing a modern civilization.

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