Hancock County, Illinois - Chapter 26: The Criminal Record, 1880

Chapter 26: The Criminal Record

In this work must be brief, - not because there have been no crimes to record, but partly for reason of the difficulty in procuring the proper data to make an intelligent report in each case. The criminal records show, of course, that John Doe or Richard Roe was indicted on such a day for murder, or burglary, or arson, as the case may be, and on such a da}' was tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary; but they do not show who was the sufferer, or where, when or how, the deed was committed. The bare mention of a scamp's trial and conviction, we take to be not a matter worthy of a place in history, in these days when human life has become so cheap. Besides, we have a strong conviction that the frequency with which these things are brought to the public gaze, lias a tendency to increase the evil.

Since the organization of the county in 1829, we judge that not less than a quarter of a hundred indictments for murder have been recorded. Of the defendants in all these cases, only one has been hung; and we take a special pleasure in recording the fact, that only once in our history has that relic of barbarism, the gallows, been seen on our prairies. A dozen others, perhaps far more guilty, have escaped punishment altogether, through inefficiency of prosecutors, finely drawn scruples of jurymen, or insecurity of jails. Not a few have shown themselves more fleet of foot than the sheriff.

There have been a few cases, however, that from the enormity of the offense, or for some other reason, have attracted unusual public attention. Some of these we shall endeavor to notice.

In a preceding chapter the case of the first murderer - Hankins - has been reported. He escaped from the log-cabin jail, at Quincy ; though one might conclude that log-cabin jails would be quite as secure as are the jails uow-a-days, built of iron and stone.

The next is the case of him that was hung. The crime was committed in Schuyler county, in a saloon, at the village of Frederic, on the Illinois river. The indictment read: ''The People vs. William Fraim," but he gave his name as Fielding Frame; was a deck hand on the steamer " Hero," plying on the Illinois. The indictment was found at the June term, 1838, in Schuyler county, and was tried here on a change of venue. The murdered man was

"William Neathaumer. Henry L. Brj'ant, of Fulton, was prosecuting attorney; Ralston, Judge; Dickey, attorney for defense, assisted by Abraham Lincoln. The latter moved aii arrest of judgment for several causes, the paper being now on file among the others in the case at Carthage, in Mr. Lincoln's own handwriting.

Frame was found guilty on the 2'l:th, after trial, at the April term, 1839, and sentenced on the 25th by Judge Ralston, to be hanged on Saturday, May 18, between the hours of 12 (noon) and two o'clock in the afternoon, on a gallows to be erected within one mile of Carthage. And it was done; the site selected was in or near the ravine running southeasterly from town, the spectators lining the sides.

The next case we report is that of " The People vs. Joshua Yance," for murder ; on change of venue from Adams county; verdict rendered at the April term, 18-19. In a drunken brawl at Lima, Vance had killed a young man named Harness. The verdict read - "The jury find the defendant, Joshua Vance, guilty of feloniously slaying Jackson Harness, in manner and form as charged in the aforesaid indictment, and affi.x the term of his imprisonment in the penitentiary at eight years." Sentenced for eight years - one month solitary continemeiit - the remainder hard labor.

This case is more worthy of mention from the fact that it was so ably prosecuted and defended. Robert I. Blackwell was prosecutor, and he was assisted by Col. Edward D. Baker. The defense was conducted by O. H. Browning, assisted, we believe, by Cyrus Walker and Calvin A. Warren. Perhaps no three or four more eloquent and logical speeches were ever made in that court-house than were made on that occasion.

At a singing-school one night in Sonora township, Alfred Logan stabbed and killed Charles Yates. They were both boj-s and associates at school ; quarreled about some trivial matter, and the result was the death of the latter. At the June terra of Court, 1871, Logan was put upon his trial ; prosecuted by Wm. G. Ewing, public prosecutor, assisted by B. F. Scofield and George Edmunds; and defended by Nehemiah Bushnell and R. W. McKinney. The jury rendered a verdict of guilty, and fixed the punishment at 25 years in the penitentiary. We Ijelieve that after several years' service Logan was reprieved by the Governor.

murdered man was what was called a " shiftless" man - not a good provider ; passionate and sometimes abusive to his wife and children ; and was at times "iven to liquor. The fatlier and sons seem to have been possessed ot a rather low order of intellect, of but little education and moral sense. The murder was committed in the night, as the father was returning home, with an ax, and the body left lying in the road till morning, where it was found by a 3'ounger son. In his confession, the young man said he did it because his father abused his mother; and that seems to have been the only impelling motive. The young culprit was immediately arrested and placed in jail. On Monday following, the 8th, the Circuit Court being in session, a special grand jury was summoned, who on the same day found a bill against him for murder. He plead guilty, but was assigned counsel (Messrs. John D. Miller and Henry W. Draper) and afterward placed on trial, pleading not guilty. The testimony adduced was that the culprit lacked ordinary sense or knowledge of human responsibility; and therefore counsel agreed to enter the plea of manslaughter. This was done, and the Court sentenced John Rose to the penitentiary for life.

The murder of Thomas McDonald, at Plymouth, by ZachariahT. Wilson, on Aug. 14, 1S76, was a peculiarly atrocious one. It was the result of a quarrel between the two, growing out of a grievous wrong done the daughter of the former by "Wilson. They had quarreled a few days before and on this fatal day again met, when the quarrel was renewed. James Wilson, a brother of the murderer, participated, and advised the shooting of McDonald, afterward procuring a double-barreled shot-gun and loading it for the pur pose. The parties separated, and all had become quiet, when Zaeh took the gun and, passing to the door of Dr. Wade's drug store, on the counter of which McDonald was sitting, snapped a cap at him. McDonald slipped from the counter and drew his pistol. Wilson again fired, killing McDonald instantl}'. The pistol was discharged almost at the same moment, the ball penetrating the counter. Zaeh immediately fled, and soon met Newton McDonald, the murdered man's brother, at whom he snapped the gun again, struck him with it, and again fled. McDonald pursued, discharging three shots at the fugitive, but without eftect.

Zaeh escaped, and was not afterward heard of until the 15th of October of the same year, when he was delivered to the Carthage jail by a detective who had been on his track. He was arrested near White river, in Arkansas. Arraigned for trial, he obtained a change of venue to McDonough county, and while there escaped, and is still at large.

The brother, James, was taken and brought to Carthage jail. At the March term, 1877, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for 14 years. He, too, escaped after conviction.

Muedee Of Doctoe Pierson

But perhaps the most atrocious and most astounding murder ever perpetrated in Hancock county or the State, was that of Dr. Daniel rierson, of Augusta, on Saturday, night, Nov. 22, 1878. Dr. P. was a well-known, honored and respected, quiet and peaceable citizen, and had resided there for many years, in the enjoyment of a good practice, and without a known enemy. From the Augusta Herald of the 29th, we obtain the following facts in regard to the murder:

Between* 9 and 10 o'clock at night a man met him in the street, and represented himself to be a messenger from Mrs. James Garwood, residing two or three miles northwest of the town, saying that she was sick, and desired his attendance at once. The doctor informed his family of the call, and soon after started on his errand of mercy, from which he never returned alive. He was found with his head dreadfully bruised and mangled, lying in the road, about an hour after leaving home, still living, but unable to utter more than a few incoherent expressions. Near by him lay an iron bar, with which the horrid deed had been done. He was conveyed to a drug-store in town, where he soon breathed his last, no one suspecting who the man was till after his death.

This murder produced intense excitement in Augusta and throughout the whole country. No clue could be obtained sufficient to turn suspicion upon any one. No known cause existed for the commission of the deed. Thus matters stood for a month, everybody watching everybody else, and ready to fasten upon every word or deed that looked like guilt. It was very generally believed that the man who had been seen riding after the doctor on a gray horse was the one who had committed the deed. But who was the man, and whose was the horse? The fact that such a man and horse had been seen, a little later, going in the same direction the doctor had taken, was certainly a strong point in the case. Another fact was, the doctor's watch was missing.

In the meantime a number of leading citizens had been quietly working together, to penetrate the mystery. For some cause their attention had been drawn toward a colored man named Edward Ferguson. In January, Ferguson had left town and gone to Minnesota. The suspicion became so strong against him, that it was determined to bring him back. George Tarr was dispatched for that purpose, and in a pawn-broker's shop there found the watch, and soon afterward arrested the negro, and returned with him. On the return, Ferguson made confession, and implicated three other men, Marion Hetrick (one of the men who had first reached the murdered man and helped convey him to town), John Avey and LeJRoy Working. These were at once arrested, the former at home, and the other two in Iowa. They were immediately remanded to jail at Carthage.

At the June term, 1879, Hetrick, Avey and Working obtained a change of venue to Adams county. At the September term they were placed upon trial at Quincy, prosecuted by State's Attorney Mason, assisted by W. H. Manier, of Carthage, and W. H. Govert, of Adams. They were defended by H. W. Draper and C. J. Scofield, of Carthage. The jury acquitted all three.

These two trials furnish a curious chapter in criminal proceedings. Ferguson's testimony was used as against his accomplices, and his confession against himself. In the latter case it was taken for truth; in the former it was rejected. If true, it certainly was conclusive against himself; but would only convict him of being an accessory - equally guilty, perhaps, with the others. Yet there could be no accessory without a principal. He was not proven to have participated in the actual killing; then the question is. If Hetrick, Avey and Working didn't kill Daniel Pierson, who did? If the verdict of the Adams jury was a cori-ect one, then it is clear that the murderers of Daniel Pierson are yet at large. But supposing the verdict to have been wrong, it would not excuse a Hansock jury from the performance of a solemn duty, because an Adams jury had failed to do theirs.