Terrell Jacobs Circus Winter Quarters

An incident in connection with thier presence in this part of the county is told by a certain man who ingratiated himself into the mysteries of the ring general favorite with the outlaws and such was-the confidence imposed in him that he was at one time intrusted with the plan of carrying out a daring robbery in Marshall county, to accomplish which the murder of an old man seemed almost necessary. The whole arrangements for the robbery were skillfully planned and after everything had been gotten in readiaess for putting the authorities at Rochester who were not slow in putting the officers of justice on their tracks. The whole plot was so admirably arranged by the daring detective that the outlaws implicated were captured almost to a man, and in the trail which followed several were convicted and sent to the state prison. One of the counterfeiters was put in the Peru jail. One cold winter night when the snow was severdl inches deep he broke out. For some reason unknown he ieft his boots in the jail. He tore the lower part of his pants leggings off and wrapped them around his feet and in the dead of acold winter night escaped to Fulton county. Early the next morning Hiram Butler came by Grogg's cabin and shouted out: «'John. come out here, I'm on a coon track." Butler and Grogg tracked the escaped counterfeiter to a cabin in Fulton county. After searching the premises thoroughly they found him neatly concealed in bed, and when they turned the covers down he exclaimed: ''Boys, you've got me." This put an end to counterfei.ing in this part of the country. Hiram Butler and John Grogg were two sturdy pioneers, whom the lawless feared. To them and a few others of the goud old pioneers is due the credit of restor-

Passage source: History of Miami County, published 1896.

Jonas Cleland, one of the early trustees of Perry township, related to the writer some years ago, a story which illustrates to some extent the character of teachers and school officers of the pioneer days. A young man applied to teach school in Perry township and Mr. Cleland told him that he must be examined. Amer Robbins was the young aspirant. He went to the school examiner at Peru and found that busy gentleman at his desk. He demanded an examinatioa at once, saying that his folks were waiting for hin in the wagon and they wished to get home before dark. Ihe school examiner turned around in his chair, stuck his gouse quill pen back of his éar, and with a great deal of dignity turned his eyes upon the young aspirant. 'What is Federal money?" Robbins fixed his eyes on the floor for about five minutes, scratched his head, and then said. '-Why - well - well, Federal money is money which the old Federalists used to use." What is the meaning of Amphibious?" asked the examiner. ''Am-am-amphib-amphibious, why, thav is an amphibious animal."

Passage source: History of Miami County, published 1896.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Pipe Creek Township - 19,156 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.