Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 47: Murder of Jacob Barth, 1912

Story of the Crime - Mob Attempts Lynching - Dispersed by Sheriff - Criminals Tried and Punished - Decline of Respect for Law - Origin of Madison Guards.

The murder of Jacob Barth, a German peddler, on May 12, 1857, by three young men from England, caused much excitement at the time throughout the county, and came near resulting in the lynching of the prison¬ ers at Edwardsville, by an excited mob from Highland, who had resolved to take the law into their own hands. The cause of this feel¬ ing was the racial tension then existing be¬ tween the native and foreign elements. The county at that time was a hot bed of Know Nothingism, that party (the American) hav¬ ing carried the county by a plurality at the presidential election of 1856.

The crime took place on the highway in Silver creek bottom between Troy and St. Jacobs. The perpetrators of the murder were George W. Sharp, alias George Gibson; Robert Sharp, alias Joseph Watson, and John Johnson, alias Edward Barber. The murder¬ ers, lately arrived from England, had come down the river from Iowa to St. Louis; crossed the river there and set out in this county ostensibly in search of work. On the road between Collinsville and Troy they were overtaken by the peddler who said he was on his way to Highland. They asked for a ride but were refused by Barth, who feared they intended doing him an injury. This angered the men, they stated in their confession, and they concluded to kill him when opportunity offered. The peddler stopped over at Troy, at noon, so did the murderers. The latter left town first and walked along the road three or four miles, where they lay in wait for the peddler, whom they knew was coming that way. They had all been drinking. They admitted, in a later confession, that when they first asked Barth for a ride they intended to rob and kill him. When the peddler ap¬ proached in his wagon John Johnson fired at him with an old musket which he carried, and George Sharp shot at him with a pistol three or four times, at the same time trying to hold the plunging mules. Robert Sharp did no shooting. Just after the shots were fired persons were seen approaching on the road and the murderers fled into the timber. The passers-by found the peddler lying in his wagon moaning from his wounds. He was removed to the adjacent house of John Ensminger and Dr. John S. Dewey of Troy was summoned to attend him. The doctor at once pronounced his injuries fatal, but the victim lingered three days before death came to his relief.

The murderers were captured the next morning, taken before the peddler and iden¬ tified by him. They were lodged in jail at Edwardsville and were tried on May 21st, found guilty and sentenced to death. Robert Sharp, the one who did no shooting, subse¬ quently had his sentence commuted to im¬ prisonment for life.

The execution of the two others was fixed for the 19th of June following. The cold¬ blooded character of the murder had caused intense excitement, especially among the for¬ eign element, owing to the racial tension spoken of. The report was circulated by demagogues that the prisoners would be ac¬ quitted and this inflamed certain of the resi¬ dents to the highest pitch. A mob thereupon gathered at Highland, and proceeded to Edwardsville at full speed, the leaders on horse¬ back and their followers in wagons, with the avowed purpose of lynching the prisoners. Hon. Z. B. Job was sheriff at the time and being warned of the approach of the mob, hastily summoned a posse to defend the jail. Among them were such citizens as Joseph and David Gillespie; Erastus, John and Wil¬ liam Wheeler; F. S. Rutherford, Jos. H. Sloss, John T. Luss, Capt. Jos. G. Robinson, F. T. Krafft, G. W. Phillips, Joshua Dunnegan and others. The sheriff stretched a rope across the street with orders to shoot any man who attempted to cross it. The noise of the approaching mob was heard and the sheriff, accompanied by the Gillespies, hurried up the street to attempt to check it by his authority before it charged the defenders of the jail. In this he partially succeeded.

A great crowd had gathered by this time. Word went out that the posse was short of ammunition. A school boy, with the instinct of boys for being on hand when there is any¬ thing doing, was standing in front of Capt. Robinson's store watching the crowd, when the captain came out with a basket of eggs in his hand and asked the youngster to take it into the jail. The lad, who was Ansel L. Brown, then aged eleven years, took the basket, made his way through the lines, and was surprised to find beneath the layer of

The mob soon entered the town under whip and spur, and swept down the street towards the jail. There were hundreds of them. They were headed by two men on horseback, named Smiley and Savage. Flags of many colors were carried in the procession. As they neared the defenders, who were standing near Main and Union streets, Deputy Sheriff T. J. Prickett, John Wheeler and Joshua Dunnegan rushed out and unhorsed the leaders. At the same time Sheriff Job ordered the mob to disperse, and warned them that any man approaching nearer would be shot; that the defenders of the jail were there to uphold the law and intended to do it. The fate of their leaders and the coolness and determina¬ tion of the sheriff took all the spirit out of the mob, it retreated and gradually dispersed.

Several prominent citizens had mounted dry goods boxes and addressed the mob, tell¬ ing them that the prisoners would be speedily tried, according to law, and receive the justice of the law, and that they, as good citizens, should await and submit to the decision of the court. F. T. Krafft also addressed them to the same effect in German. The excite¬ ment subsided and the would-be lynchers re¬ turned to their homes, satisfied that justice would be done. Thus, through the courage and determination of the sheriff and the equal courage of the citizens in rallying to the de¬ fense of the law, the county was saved from the disgrace of a lynching and the defenders cannot be too highly praised. We need such sheriffs now in many parts of the country where mob law is rampant.

was subsequently pardoned through the in¬ fluence of prominent citizens of Edwardsville, on the ground of his youth and the fact that he had not been actively engaged in the crime. After his release he went to St. Louis, took the name of Robert Hilton, and opened a restaurant on Broadway, opposite the old court house, where he prospered and became a reputable citizen. He was very grateful to the citizens who intervened with the governor in his behalf, and especially to Sheriff Job, with whom he kept up a correspondence.

To return to the trial : The prosecution of the prisoners was conducted by the state's attorney, Philip B. Fouke, and the prisoners were defended by Attorneys Seth T. Sawyer, F. S. Rutherford and John Trible. The jury was composed of George Hedges, J. H. Wil¬ liams, Geo. D. Wilson, Abram Pruitt, Igna¬ tius Sneeringer, Wm. Kersey, Wm. Sandbach, L. W. Tindall, Jacob Pruitt, Benjamin Huestis, Irwin B. Randle and Francis Agrew.

The witnesses for the prosecution were John L. Ferguson, Louis Weisenbold, Adam Barnes, M. M. Armstrong, Narcissa Riggin, John Hollis, James Johnson, Mrs. Smith, Solomon Rhodes, Marissa Ensminger, Joshua Ensminger, John S. Dewey, John R. Swain, L. R. Corman, A. Kimberlin, James Riggin, Chas. Croun and James Bradley.

The trial lasted several days and sentence was pronounced by Judge Wm. H. Snyder May 29th. The jury, which found the de¬ fendants guilty, was out but fifteen minutes.

In corroboration of the above narration as to the attempted lynching I quote the closing paragraph of Mr. Rutherford's speech in de¬ fense of the prisoners. He alluded first to the circumstances under which the counsel for the defendants had consented to go to so speedy a trial. There had been a most dis¬ graceful, inhuman and lawless attempt at mob violence to hang the prisoners at the bar, without even a show of trial. The good men of the county had found it necessary to fly to arms in defense of the law and to preserve the lives of the prisoners, until they might have a trial such as every citizen is entitled to have by the laws of the land. Blood-thirsty men had rushed to the county jail, armed and determined to commit a triple murder, dis¬ playing the red and black flag, signifying blood and death, such as is displayed by pir¬ ates and brigands, and all the while our court was in session, and the officers of the law doing their utmost to administer justice. Un¬ der such circumstances the counsel of the prisoners have concluded to go to trial, not because they were constrained to, or in any manner influenced by threats of mob violence, for he felt it his duty to say, in behalf of him¬ self, his associate counsel and the court, that no threats of violence, come from what quar¬ ter they might, would frighten them from their sense of duty or propriety. For himself he bid defiance to mob law, and was ready at any time to meet such attempts at the over¬ throw of law and order, and mete out such summary justice as it deserves. He and his associate counsel had gone into the trial now because they were satisfied that good and true men enough could be found in the county who would impartially try this case free from any prejudice or influence from what had transpired. And it gave him pleasure to say that he believed that the defendants were for¬ tunate in getting as good a jury as ever sat upon a case in any court. He felt sure that the idea of threatened violence would not deter them from acquitting the prisoners if they believed the testimony was insufficient to convict.

The above incident is notable for three things: (1) The short interval between the commission of the crime and the arraignment of the murderers for trial. (2) The sum¬ mary suppression of lynch law. (3) The short time intervening between the trial and the execution of two of the criminals and the imprisonment of the third. Justice has never moved so swiftly in such cases since then in Madison county, nor has the law been so boldly and gallantly upheld by officials and citizens.

But since that day respect for law has la¬ mentably declined. Some laws are openly and notoriously defied with the connivance of the authorities - for instance, the law closing saloons on Sunday and selling liquor without a license. Since the execution of the two young Englishmen there have been but three hangings in Madison county, while murders and homicides have frightfully increased in numbers. In the majority of cases of such crimes since 1857, the murderers have either escaped, been acquitted or subjected to but slight punishment. Times have changed and murder seems now the safest crime a man can commit. The population has changed and not, on the whole, for the better. The railroads, the factories, the mines and other industries have brought in hordes of the lower class of foreigners from southern Europe which have not raised the standard of aver¬ age intelligence. Said an old settler to the writer : "There are more good people in Madison county now than ever before, but not as many in proportion to population as in the early days." The truth of this statement is self-evident, notwithstanding the fact that we have now more churches, more schools, more newspapers, more philanthropic and up¬ lifting agencies than ever in our previous his¬ tory.

crease in homicides is non-enforcement of law. Nine-tenths of the homicides committed in the county are the result of bar-room brawls, and the majority of them occur on Sunday and at late hours of the night when the saloons are open illegally. Another rea¬ son is that criminals have ceased to fear the law. They rely upon the astuteness of the professional criminal lawyer to so entangle the case in technicalities, to so distort the evi¬ dence, to so deceive and bamboozle the juries as to free the prisoner, or to gain him a light sentence, and thus defeat the ends of justice. Does this condition indicate progress or retro¬ gression in Madison county?

The attempted lynching narrated above was the occasion of the organization of a military company in Edwardsville. When news of the approaching mob reached Sheriff Job he at once telegraphed for the Alton National Guards and they responded promptly, coming over in wagons, but did not arrive until the mob had dispersed. They remained on guard duty at the jail, however, until the organiza¬ tion of a military company in Edwardsville, and supplied them with arms and accoutre¬ ments for the temporary emergency. The new company was called the Madison Guards with Jos. H. Sloss as captain. It remained on guard during the trial of the prisoners and each day formed a hollow square about them and conducted them to the court house. The Madison Guards, thus called into existence, became a crack military company and en¬ tered the service of the government at the breaking out of the war for the Union, under Capt. Jos. G. Robinson.