Waseca County, Minnesota - Chapter 27, 1905

Kittredge, Geo. H. Bishop And John N. Powers County Commissioners.Succebded By Hamlin, Healy And Lowell

MILD WINTER - BUILDING OF FIRST JAIL AT WILTON - LIQUOR LICENSES ISSUED - SUPERVISOR SYSTEM ABOLISHED - W. T. KITTREDGE, GEO. H. BISHOP AND JOHN N. POWERS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.SUCCEBDED BY HAMLIN, HEALY AND LOWELL. - THE OUTLOOK - REBELLION, INDIANS, ETC. - ELECTION OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN - LEGISLATIVE ELECTION OF DR. WATSON, WM. F. PBTTIT, JAMES E. CHILD - GOOD CROPS - JOHN BROWlSr RAID - CENSUS BY C. O. NORTON - TOTAL POPULATION 2,598.

This was not only the most eventful year in the history of this nation, but one of tlie most eventful in the history of this state. To begin with the winter of 1859-60 was something new in the history of Minnesota. The four preceding winters had been of the snow-bound pattern, lined with iee, decorated with Pembina frosts and fanned by Ttlanitoba blizzards. The four preceding winters had l)een so uniformly and intensely cold that no one expected anything milder than a 2 :-10 lireeze from jManitoba with the mercury all the way from zero to forty degrees below, in Minnesota.

The people of the state were therefore somewhat surprised to have a winter with only one week of sleighing and the thermometer running from zero up to 30 and 40 degrees above. I remember the Avinter very well, for I was interested with my brother, S. P. Child in furnishing five hiuidred cords of wood to the St. Mary Mill company. We were compelled to haul nearly all of it on wagons.

There seemed to be a general feeling that hard times had reached the ))otf()m nnig of the financial ladder, and that people nuist commence to build anew upon the bed-n^ek of indvistry and economy. Most of the property of the country had been mortgaged at exorbitant rates of interest and sooner or later fell into the hands of the money loaners who were forced to sell it for what they could get on credit and at a much lower rate of interest. The money loaners had killed the geese that had laid the golden eggs, and they were compelled to await the growth of a new brood of goslings before they could again gather in their harvest.

As stated in the preceding chapter, a change of county officials was made in the fall of 1859, and about the 1st of January, 1860, S. J. Willis became county auditor, J. S. Rice treasurer, and David L. Whipple, sheriff. On the 11th of January, 1860, the county board of supervisors commenced an important session, and among other matters, decided to build a county jail. As this was the first jail in the county, the proceedings of the board in relation thereto will be of interest. The following resolution was adopted by the board:

"Resolved by the board of supervisors of the county of Waseca and State of Minnesota, that the sheriff of said county (D .L. Whipple), be and is hereby empowered, authorized and required to proceed immediately to erect a suitable building for the confinement of criminals or other persons who may be committed or confined therein according to law, and that said building shall be erected immediately in the rear and adjoining to the county building now occupied by the register of deeds, to be built of timber, hewn at least on three sides, (and to be) sixteen by eighteen feet square, one story high, faced on the inside by sheet iron securely nailed to timber. That the (said) building shall be in all respects, not herein named, constructed under the immediate supervision and control of said sheriff, in such a manner as he shall think best, in order to accomplish the object sought by this resolution.

"And it is hereby ordered that the sum of three hundred dollars be and is hereby appropriated in tax certificates of lands sold and bid off by said county for the taxes for the year 1858, and that said sheriff is hereby authorized to give a receipt for and receive an assignment of said tax certificates equal to one-half the amount herein appropriated when he shall obtain from the commissioners (to be) hereafter elected for the county of AVaseea a certificate that one-half of the above amount has been expended by said sheriff in the construction of said building. He (the sheriff) is authorized to employ assistance or employ agents to perform the work herein named, in the same manner as he is by this resolution authorized to perform the same; said building to be built in an economical manner, and said sheriff shall not receive tax certificates to a greater amount than what the actual cost of said building amounts to."

"And be it further ordered that the county commissioners hereafter to be elected shall and are hereby appointed a building committee to audit said sheriff's account and authorize the payment of the balance due said sheriff when said building shall have been finished. And said commissioners are authorized to accept said building when properly finished in behalf of the said county of Waseca, and make a full settlement with said sheriff for his services, said building not to cost a greater amount than hereinbefore named and as much less an amount as said sheriff can make the cost of the same. And said sheriff is hereby authorized to partition off from the first story of the county building in the north end, and contiguous to the contemplated 'shutup," ten feet for his office. And it is further ordered that the sheriff', in acting as agent for the county in the erection of said .iail, shall keep a correct account of all labor and mateidal expended, and shall be required to make a certificate of all amounts expended as aforesaid."

At the same meeting, upon the request of B. S. Hall and George W. Johnson, known as Hall & Johnson, of Wilton, the said county board "being satisfied that they are of good moral character and of sufficient ability to keep a tavern and sell spirituous liiiuors," and upon receipt of $50 into the county treasury, issued a license for the sale of spirituous and other intoxicating liquors to be drunk in the inn, or tavern, aforesaid.

On the 26th of April following, Geo. H. AYoodbury, of the Washington House in Wilton, was also licensed to sell intoxicating liquors for a fee of $50. These were the first legalized dram-shops in the county, although liquors had been sold the same as other merchandise ever since the first establishment of stores and groceries. At that time $50 was considered an enormouslv hiii'h

By act of the legislature, approved February 28th, 1860, the supervisor system of county government was abolished and substantially the present county commissioner system vsras adopted. Under the provisions of that act, W. T. Kittredge, Geo. H. Bishop, and John N. Powers v^rere chosen commissioners.

Their first meeting vsras held April 26th, 1860, and a large amount of business was done in a very orderly and systematic manner, showing clearly the lawyer-like hand of Maj. Kittredge, who was made chairman of the board. Among other orders made and adopted is this one which will make the eyes of modern office-holders green with envy, so magnificent was the salary ! It reads as follows :

"Ordered, That, in pursuance of the statute, the sum of $330 is hereby fixed and declared to be the amount allowed to the coimty auditor as his salary for the eleven months beginning on the 1st day of April, 1860. * * * and the said auditor is hereby authorized to draw from the county treasury at the end of each and every month the sum of thirty dollars in payment of the amount of his said salary due him for that month, depositing a receipt therefor."

This was the salary of Mr. "Willis, the first county auditor of the county, for his first year. The second year it was raised to $466.66 to be drawn monthly.

At the September session of the board in 1860, John N. Powers resigned as commissioner, and M. S. Green resigned as county attorney. This was at the meeting of Sept. 5, and the two remaining members adjourned till Sept. 11th. At this meeting, as the record shows, D. L. Whipple and S. W. Franklin acted with the board, but just how or by what authority does not appear. That was the closing session for the year, and much business was transacted. Among other matters, Seth W. Long was licensed to sell intoxicating liquors at his hotel in Okaman.

At the fall election there was an entire change in the county board, the commissioners elected being Isaac Hamlin, Patrick Healy, and B. A. Lowell. The other officers elected that fall were as follows : Member of the lower house of the legislature, James E. Child; county auditor, S. J. Willis; county attorney, H. D.

Baldwin ; court commissioner, W. T. Kittredge. The highest vote polled was 508, and the Republicans carried the county by a majority of one himdred and sixty-one for Abraham Lincoln. The campaign was quite exciting; Mr. Child, Republican, and P. Brink Enos, Democrat, held several joint discussions. Both were then rather young men for that kind of business.

The year of 1860, like that of 1859, yielded abundant crops, but there was no improvement in market prices, nor had we any better facilities for getting our grain to market. There was universal prostration in all kinds of business on account of the general failure of the "wild-cat" banks which had been organized for sy.stematic robbery under state laws. First, interest had ranged for a few years at from fifteen to seventy-two per cent per annum - we had no usury law at that time. Unscrupulous men would start banks based on worthless stocks or bonds, and then over-issue for the sake of gathering in the interest on the worthless money loaned.

Seeond, this, like every other robbery that is permitted by law, soon drew from the farmers and laboring people of the "West their hard earnings, reduced all producers to poverty, and reacted upon even the money lenders of small means - many of them beiiii!' compelled to take the mortgaged property which they could not use and which would not sell for enough to pay back the money loaned upon it. How strange it is that moneyed men never learn from history, Avhieli is constantly repeating itself, that they cannot rob and impoverish the people, who create all wealth, without finally being ruined themselves by the general crash which necessarily follows an exoi'bitant rate of interest! But stranger yet is the mental condition of the masses that willingly make serfs of themselves and their families by becoming the slaves of money loaners, thus toiling their lives away for the enrichment of others !

The year closed with dismal forebodings for the future Alreaay the black form of treason had raised its murderous hand at the South and there was so much of partv sympathy in the North that brave and hopeful indeed were the men that had no misgivings regarding the immediate future, ftlinnesota occupied a critical position. Her people were almost totally without money, both as a state and as individuals. The Chippewa In dians occupied the northern portion of the state, the Sioux tribes held all the western border, while the Winnebago Indian reservation occupied the center of southern Minnesota, being located in Waseca and Blue Earth counties. It was foreseen by levelheaded men that, in case of civil war, the people of this state would be in great danger of an Indian outbreak. The writer was ridiculed during the session of the legislature of 1861 for expressing the opinion that, in case the impending civil war could not be avoided, our people would be exposed to Indian outbreaks on the frontier. When outbreaks did come those who did the ridiculing were the first to hasten to a place of safety.

At the November election in 1860, Abraham Lincobi received 304 votes and Stephen A. Douglas 143. For member of congress, William Windom and Cyrus Aldrich, Republicans, received 337 votes each; James George, Democrat, received 188 votes, and John M. Gilman, Democrat, 152 votes. The state then elected two congressmen at large.

The legislative district of which Waseca county was a part comprised the counties of Freeborn, Steele and Waseca. Very little attention was paid to party politics in the choosing of legislators. Railroad interests and personal likes and dislikes entered largely into the choice of legislative candidates.

The issue was known as Cornell and anti-Cornell. The candidates were : Dr. George Watson, of Freeborn county, for senator, and George W. Green, of Clinton Falls, Steele county, and James E. Child, of Waseca county, for representatives - these three were Republicans and anti-Cornell men; Henry Thornton, democrat, of Freeborn county, for senator, and Wm. F. Pettit, democrat, of Steele county, and A. E. Smith, republican of Waseca county, for representatives - these three were Cornell men. Watson and Child, republicans and Pettit democrat, were elected, each by a small majority.

While the political contentions of the year had been earnest, even fierce, and the black clouds of treason were seen gathering in the Southland, the climatic conditions had been favorable during the year and our people had gathered bounteous crops. The winter of 1859-60 had been very mild, and the spring weather of 1860 was most delightful. Some farmers sowed wheat in the month of Febriiary, and he was a slow farmer, indeed, who was not through with seeding small grain on the 15th of March, that year. The weather was fine during the entire season and the harvest all that could be asked for.

It was also a year of intense political activity and discussion throughout the nation. The Kansas-Nebraska struggle which for years had kept alive and increased sectional hatred regarding the institution of human slavery had culminated in the invasion of Virginia, at Harper 's Ferry, by John Brown and his followers, Oct. 17th, 1859. Brown, with seventeen white men and five negroes took possession of Harper's Ferry and captured about 100,000 stand of arms in the arsenal. This place was guarded by only three watchmen, who were easily captured. This invasion was made with the avowed intention of freeing the negro slaves of the South. This fanatical and foolhardy enterprise resulted in a number of deaths, the capture, trial, and hanging of John Brown and some of his associates and most intense excitement and indignation throughout the slavcholding states. Brown was hanged on the 2d of December, 1859. While very few people in the North attempted to justify his treason, there were many that admired the courage of the brave old man, who fought, as he believed, for that most sacred of doctrines - the inalienable right of every human being to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Brown had been driven from Kansas by the proslavery men, and a prize amounting to $3,250 had been offered for his arrest by the governor of Missouri and the president of the United States.

The greatest political struggle of the ages followed in 1S60. Lincoln was nominated by the anti-slavery or republican sentiment of the North, Breekenridge by the pro-slavery men of the South and Douglas by the conservative or commercial democracy of the nation. It w-as a battle of intellect\ial and political giants, and resulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln.

The year 1860, so far as county matters were concerned, passed with no occurrence out of the ordinary, except, perhaps, the taking of the United States census. This work was performed bv Cole 0. Norton, since deceased, a brother of Mr. H. P. Norton, of Waseca. According to his enumeration there were at that time 1,370 males and 1,228 females. There were of men over 20 and under 40 years of age 211, and of females 196'; males over 40 and under 50, 118, females of the same ages, 73 ; males over 50 and under 60, 37 ; females of the same ages, 36 ; men over 60 and under 70, 40 ; females of the same ages, 22 ; males over 70 and under 80, 9 ; females of the same ages, 5. The total population of the county was only 2,598.