Locust Creek Township (part 1 of 3)

Position And Description

This is the central township of Linn county, the one first settled, and one of the three original townships. It boundaries have been frequently changed, and are liable to change in the future. The last alteration in the boundaries was made in 1881, and consisted in making range line number twenty-one the western boundary. The area of the township is thirty-eight sections or 30,720 acres of land. It is irregular in form, being in shape like a Roman capital letter " L." Thus,

North

The township is now composed of about equal portions of prairie and timber, some very excellent varieties of the latter abounding. The general surface is level. East and northeast of Linneus lies the finest portion of the township. In the northern part, among " the white oaks," or on Bear Branch, and along Locust Creek are the most broken parts of the territory. The greatest extent of timber is along Locust Creek, but perhaps the most valuable is on Muddy and Turkej'' Creeks. On the latter streams there is excellent oak and walnut timber in abundance.

The principal streams in the township are Locust Creek in the extreme western part, and which until recently was the western boundary of the township; Muddy Creek in the central portion; Turkey Creek in the east central; Long Branch in the eastern part. All of these streams have a general southerly flow. There is an abundance of water supply, for what the streams fail to give the wells can be made to furnish. Living water can be obtained in most portions of the township at a depth of from twenty to thirty feet.

A singular fact is to be recorded in this connection. When the township was first settled it was very difficult to find living water. Wells were dug to the depth of fifty feet or more without obtaining water. Especially in and around Linneus was this the case, and this state of affairs lasted for many years. Latterly this condition of things changed, and now Where once water could not be found, it gushes forth as readily and abundantly as it did from the rock at Horeb upon the smiting of the great Jewish lawgiver. Water-seers and well-wizards aver that the water is rising under all the surface of the earth in these parts.

Economic Geology

Underlying the surface of the earth, at a depth easily accessible, in many parts of the township, are large and valuable coal beds, some of which have been opened and are worked. The most important of these are the mines of A. E. Relph, on section thirteen, township fifty-eight, range twenty-one, and Mr. Harrison's, near the Linneus cemetery. The coal beds of the township run in a general direction, north and south, and are identical with those at Laclede, Brooktield, St. Catharine, and other portions of Linn county.

There is an abundance of excellent stone in the township, much of which is utilized for building and other purposes. The quarry of Mr. Beckett, in section eight, one and a half miles southeast of Linneus, is considered the best in the county. The stone here found is certainly very good, and much of it is in use. Limestone is plentiful, and considerable quantities of lime have been burned. The stone is easily reached, as much of it is exposed in locations easy of access.

The hrst settlers in this township, James Pendleton, William Howell, and Joseph JSfevvton, were also the first bona fide settlers of the county. They located on section fourteen, township fifty-eight, range twenty-one, in the fall of 1831. William and Jesse Bowyer, with the former's family, and young Louis Tyre, came to section two about the first of January, 1832. Very soon after came John Yount, in February, 1833, to section twelve; Wharton E,. Barton to two miles north of Linneus; Judge James A. Clark, Thomas Russell, John J. Flood, and Dr. Nathaniel J. Dryden to the neighborhood of Barton; Silas, Peter, and Charles Fore to section twenty-nine, northeast of Linneus; John Cherry, David Mullins, John Kemper, Henry

Daily, liobert C. Combs, E. J. Dennison, and others to different portions of the township, though chiefly in the neighborhood of Linneus. The early history of this township is so interwoven with that of the county at large that much of it is given on other j^ages of this history devoted to the latter, and to those pages the reader is referred.

The first white child born in the township (and in Linn county) was Thomas Benton Bowyer, son of William and Martha (Tyre) Bowyer, who was born on Christmas Day, 1833, on section two.

Probably the first death in the township was a child of William Bowyer's named Henry, who was six years old, and died in 1837. He was buried in the Bowyer graveyard , the first burying-gronnd in the county. Colonel Flournoy's negro man Henry was killed in a well near where Linneus now stands about the same time.

The first school in the township, as remembered by Mr. J. M. Pendleton, was tanght by Mr. German Rorer, of Howard county, three and a half miles southwest of Linneus, about 1838. Some of the pupils were James and Elizabeth Beckett, James and Robert Tisdale, George, Kenneth, and Martha Newton, J. M. and Rebecca Pendleton, and James M. Paralee. The next schools were taught in Linneus. T. T. Woodruff taught a school in

History Of Linn Col'Nty

Bowyers's neigliborhood in the winter of 1842, which is the earliest country school that can be learned of. This school was held in a log dwelling-house which stood about three hundred yards west of Mrs. McCormick's residence, on the land owned by John Tiiomas. The house has long since disappeared. Woodruff had about twenty pupils, the children of Reuben Couch, William Bowyer, David Prewitt, George Taylor, and others. He taught three months and recived S2.25 per scholar for the term.

The first religious services were conducted by Rev. Alton F. Martin, of the Baptist Church, who preached in the school-house, two miles southeast from Liniieus, in 1838; some claim that Rev. Wilhite preached at the McCowan school-house before Martin,

Dr. Nathaniel Dr3'den was the first practicinor physician in the township; after him came Dr. lies, and Dr. Isaac Relph, both of whom lived at Linnens, as also did Dr. Cooper, another early physician.

The first mill in the township was a " band-mill " or " horse-mill," built by Mr. Bowyer, on section tvy'u, in the year 1834. The establishment of this mill was a great convenience to the settlers. Prior to this they were compelled to go miles and miles away to mill. Keytesville and Old Chariton were their principal milliug places and markets. Sometime after the establishment of Bowyer's mill, Henry Brown bought it and moved it about five miles further north on Locust Creek, where it was run for some time and known as Brown's mill. Up in the forks of Locust Creek Lot Lantz built the second horse-mill in the county in 1835 or 1836.

There was very much game in the early days of the township, and nearly everybody was a hunter. Judge James A. Clark, William Bowyer, Mr. Dailo}', Colonel Holland, and Colonel Flournoj' were famous Nimrods. Judge Clark owned a pack of hounds, and caught a great many deer with them, and ran down many a fox and wolf. William Bowyer was considered the most successful hunter. Deer were very plentiful. Elk and buffalo had disappeared. Turkeys were everywhere; on a clear, still morning their gobbliuir could be heard everywhere.

Wolves were unpleasantly numerous, and made many a raid upon the settlers' sheep-folds and pig-per.s. After the country got older, and schools were established they frightened the children on their way to and from school. The wife of Judge Carlos Boardman, of Linneus, when a little girl attending a country school, was chased by wolves on one occasion, and greatly terrified by the keen-fanged, bloody-minded animals. The wolves were hunted very vigorously, and at length hunted down and driven out of the country. They were of the gray and the black species - none of the contemptible little sneaking prairie wolves or coyotes, so well known to everybody. Hunting and chasing wolves was rare sport for men and dogs - not always for the dogs, however, for sometimes the wolves turned and chased them. On one occasion ^ome men and boys caught a wolf alive and brought it to Linneus where it was to be turned loose and run down again. A young man carried it in front of him on horseback. The wolf had its jaws tied tightly together with a handkerchief As the young man was dismounting the animal freed itself from its muzzle in some way and, turning upon its captor, sprang at his face and seized him by the nose and upper part of the cheek. It held its grip with such force and tenacity that the bystanders were forced to cut its throat in order to release the young man. The wolf chase, so confidently looked for and so eagerly anticipated, was indefinitely postponed.

The land of " the Locust Creek country," while not "flowing with tnilk and honey," contained meat and honey in the greatest abundance. Of either there was certainly no lack. Bee-trees were very plenty. It was customary for the finder of a tree containing a swarm of bees to put his " mark" upon it, if he did not wish to cut it then. At one time William and Jesse Bowyer had two hundred trees bearing their "- mark." Every settler's family table had honey upon it, clear and limpid, and nectar-like to the taste. Honey and venison hams were often the commonest commodities of trade and barter, the former at twelve and a half cents per gallon, and the latter at twent^'-five cents per pair.

The settlers at first made their own clothing. Every family had some sheep, which were preserved in spite of the wolves, and from these wool was obtained, which was "picked," carded, spun, and woven, and cut and made into clothing by the "women folks," without the aid of carding machines or factory looms. Often and and often, " wool pickings" were held, on which occasions the matrons and the maidens of the 'settlements for miles away would assemble at the house from which invitations had issued, and attack a huge pile of sheared wool, and free it from burrs, small bits of wood, dirt, and other impurities. And there would be a great time of swapping news while the work progressed, too ; for in Locust Creek township, at that day, newspapers were few, scarce, and unenterprising, and the greater portion of the news of the county was conveyed to the people by word of mouth. Flax was generally cultivated, too, and considerable quantities of linen were manufactured. The thread was often mixed with woolen yarn, and woven into linseys, jeans, etc. There was an old-fashioned handloom in nearly every household, and every woman, as a rule, was a weaver, and did her own weaving. There were ladies, however, who made a vocation of weaving, and chief among these was IVI^rs. Goodman, a sister of the Bowyers, who is still living.

The social life of the early settlers was every whit as pleasant and agreeable as that of the people now-a-days, if not more so. Every man realized that in a certain sense he was dependent, and must rely for assistance on his neighbors at certain times, and he always felt willing to do what he could for his fellow man, whether he was his brother, his neighbor, or a wayfaring man and a stranger within his gates. When a house was to be raised it was understood that everybody that heard of it was invited, and expected to be present, if not unavoidably kept away. Many a house has been raised in tliis township when there were present men from territory now in Sullivan county, fifteen miles away. The first cabins were usually of small round logs, and could be put up by two or three men; but after a while, as people grew wealthy and high-toned (!) hewed log houses, a story and a half high, and sometimes double, came into vogue, and to put up one of these required the help of several men.

There were house-raisings, and log-rollings, and corn-huskings in plenty; and while the men were at their work, often the women would have a quilting or a wool-picking in the house. These occasions generally terminated with a dance at night, where the " old folks " were not extra pious and did not liold dancing in abhorrence; and where it was that master and mistress " belouijed to meeting," and " did not believe in dancing," there was a "play party " instead, with any amount of fun and lots of promiscuous hugging and kissing and jollity commingled. Sometimes there was whisky - maybe often - but sobriety was the rule and drunkenness the exception. Occasionally there was a fisticuff. A ring was formed, the fighting was fair but spirited, the one that wis whipped acknowledged it, both parties washed the blood from their noses, shook hands, and were as fast friends as before.

As before stated, the first houses in the township were of round logs covered with clapboards, and very unpretentious afiairs they were too; the cracks between the logs filled with chinking and daubing, the chimneys of mud and sticks, the roof kept on by " weight-poles," and the floor of split puncheons. Then, after awhile, as the pioneer prospered, he built his pretentious hewed log house, with its shingled roof - not of pine shingles, but good solid oak shingles, rived and shaved in the woods, and lasting as slate almost; and the new house had a floor made of boards sawed either with a whip-saw or at some pioneer saw-mill; and the cracks between its logs were stopped with neatly cut chinks cemented with lime mortar and looking neat, and the whole structure standing ever so solid and comfortable, - and standing to-day, many of them.

At the first session of the first County Court, in February, 1837, Linn county was divided into three townships, and Locust Creek was the name given to one of them. Its boundaries are set out on another page of this volume. The first election was at Thomas Barbee's store, and Thomas Russell and David Mullins were the first justices of the peace for the township.

changed so frequently, that it would be a task of considerable magnitude to hunt out and give all the changes in its boundaries, - so great, in fact, that the result would not compensate for the work. Suffice it to say that from a township ten miles in width at the widest place, and running from the south boundary of the county to the Iowa line, it has shrunk to one very modest in size. The present boundaries of the township are: Beginning at the southwest corner of section fourteen, township lifty-eight, range twenty-one, thence along the section line to the northwest corner of section fourteen, township fifty-nine, range twenty-one; thence east on the section line to the northeast corner of the northwest quarter of section sixteen, township fifty-nine, range twenty; thence south on the half-section line to the middle of the north line of section four, township fifty-eight, range twenty; thence east along the section line to the northeast corner of section five, township fifty-eight, range nineteen; thence south along the section line to the southeast corner of section seventeen, township fifty-eight, range nineteen; thence west along the section line to the place of beginning. (See map.)

In 1845 the boundaries were: The south line was the same as at present; the west line was the middle of Locust Creek; the north line extended from Locust Creek due east to the southeast corner of section eight, township fifty-nine, range nineteen; the east line ran from the southeast corner of section eight, township fifty-nine, range nineteen, to the southeast corner of section seventeen, township fifty-eight, range nineteen, where the present southeast corner of the township is.

Under the State law of 1879, ratified or adopted by Linn county at the November election, 1880, Locust Creek township was organized as a municipal township in the spring of 1881. At the election held April 5, the following officers, the first under the township organization system^ were chosen:

Constable, T. T. Woodruff. - The township clerk qualified April 6, and then notified the other officers that he had done so, and requested them to appear before him and take the oath of office, whicli, soon thereafter, they did. The township was laid off into road districts at the first meeting, and road supervisors appointed.

Locust Creek township took its full part in the civil war. It furnished many brave soldiers for both armies. !Xumerous organizations of Federal soldiers were perfected at Linnens, and the Confederate companies of Captain William Sandusky, and Thomas IT. Flood contained men from the township. In addition there were many men who took service on each side in foreign companies.

At the breaking out of the war excitement ran high at Linnens. Both parties held meetings in town. Secession speeches were made by Hon. E. H. Richardson, then the member of the House of Representatives from this county; by Hon. Wesley Halliburton, and others. The Union meetings had many local orators, the most prominent, perhaps, being Judge Jacob Smith. On one occasion there came very near being a serious difficulty. In the spring of 1861, Hon. E. H. Richardson, who was a tailor by occupation, had made a secession flag, which the secessionists proposed to raise in Linneus. The flag was in Richardson's shop, and was an object of much curiosity. Many persons called to see it. The Union men of the place declared that the flag should not be raised. Judge Smith announced that he would shoot the man that attempted to raise it. The secessionists persisted that it should go up, and matters for a time wore a serious aspect. At last the secessionists were induced by certain peacemakers to forego their designs, and no blood was shed, and the afiair passed oft' without disastrous results, winding up by many persons of different shades of opinion calling and inspecting the flag and passing jocular remarks upon it.

Shortly after the Federal troops occupied the line of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, a detachment of them came to Linnens one night and aiTCsted L. W. Clark, a Mr. Grill, who was a merchant in the place, Judge Wesley Halliburton, Mr. Williams, editor of the Bulletin, and William Sandusky. Grill was charged with having on hand a large quantity of musket caps to be furnished General Price's State Guards; Sandusky, it was alleged, had a large supply of gunpowder hidden away intended for use against the Federal authority; Halliburton, Williams, and Clark were accused of being active secessionists, and were arrested on general principles. The prisoners were taken first to St. Joseph, treated somewhat harshly, then conveyed to Quinc\', Illinois, where they were eventually released by Colonel John M. Palmer, (afterward governor of Illinois,) nothing being proved against them. Sandusky however, had several kegs of powder hidden away in the ceiling of the Odd Fellows' Hall.

Soon after the town was visited by a detachment of the Sixth Kansas - or " Kansas jay-hawkers." A great many horses were carried ofi^, the chicken-roosts were quite vigorously attacked, and a few citizens in the country made prisoners, but no serious damage done.

At different periods during the war Federal troops were stationed at Linneus, but not regularly and continuously. The companies were always home militia, except in the last days of the war when a company of the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry, under Lieutenant Smith was quartered in the town. No very pleasant reminiscences are held by the people of Linneus of this company. The majority of its members were great thieves and pillagers. They raided the smoke-houses, corn-cribs, and chicken-roosts of the citizens more frequently than the lairs and rendezvouses of the bushwhackers, against whose maraudings they were sent to protect the country.

For some time the people of the town and township had no soldiers or militia furnished them to keep off bushwhackers and other marauders, and they were compelled to organize and protect themselves. At one time some twenty-five or tliirty men were under the pay of the citizens and stood picket on the roads leading into town and did other duty of a military character in defense of the place. The company of " exempts," composed of those not liable to military duty, and commanded by Judge Jacob Smith, had muskets furnished them by the State; but at last all arms were taken away from the citizens by some ill-advised railitarj^ order, and the people were at the mercy of any prowling band of robbers and cut-throats. Many of the citizens were detailed for and did duty in the construction of block-houses on the Hannibal & St. Joe, and performed other important services for the Federal cause. Sometimes this duty was performed rather reluctantly, as the laborer was often a sympathizer with the Confederates.

Guerrilla Raids And Raiders

Bands of Confederate guerrillas or bushwhackers raided through Locust Creek township at different times during the civil war; but, as their numbers were always small, and their stay limited, no very considerable damage was done. In August, 1862, a detachment of Col. J. A. Poindexter's Confederate recruits passed through the southwest corner of the township, carrying oft' a few horses, but doing no further damage.

First Bushwhacker Raid On Linneus

In April, I860, a small force of bushwhackers, supposed to belong to Clifton Holtzclaw's band, entered Linneus, visiting the residence of Judge Smith, then in the southeastern part of town, where Mr. Purden now lives. They made anxious inquiries for the Judge, but he was not at home. A young man was encountered and robbed of a bine military blouse. The militia were then in town, but quartered in the court-house, and before the alarm could be given the bushwhackers disappeared.

Second Raid Roijbery Of Prewitt S Store

In November, 1S63, tour well-monnted l)orsemen, wearing Federal uniform witli the exception of hats, rode into Linneiis one evening about dusk. They came in from the south, on the Laclede road. Riding straight to the store of Henry Prewitt, on tiie west side of the public square, three of them hitched their horses and entered, while the fourth man remained on the outside. Mr. Prewitt had gone to Ins supper, leaving his clerks, John Hedrick and J. W. Colgan, in charge of the store. After warming their hands at the stove a few minutes tlie three men suddenly covered Colgan and Hedrick with dragoon rt^volvers and ordered them to deliver up their arms. One of the robbers stationed himself at the door; the other two robbed the cash drawer of eighty-six dollars and began to help themselves to such goods as they fancied. The one on guard suffered all persons that passed by the door of the store to do so unmolested, but woe to the unsuspicious wight that entered I fie was ordered to march to the rear of the store and shfeU out with scarcely any ceremony. In a few minutes some twelve or fifteen citizens had entered the trap and stood about the stove in the back part of the room, laughing at the consternation that fell upon every luckless victim that entered and found out what was the matter.

Presently Mr. Prewitt, the proprietor of the store, returned from supper, bearing a cup of milk for the store cat. He too was ordered to "march back there I" Judge Jacob Smith entered, wearing a fine gold watch. In a few seconds the watch had changed owners and the Judge was standing back among the other captives. Grandison Payne came in. " March back there!" Uncle Tommy Hayes had been to Brookfield and sold hogs to the amount of five hundred dollars, which sum he had in his pocket, when he was ordered to " march back there!" In some way Mr. Hayes contrived to secrete his pocketbook between two bolts of domestic.

In another room was a safe containing upwards of $4,000 in cash, but the bushwhackers were induced not to examine it by the assertions of Mr. Prewitt and Mr. Colgan that it was broken, not in use, and contained nothing of value. They succeeded in getting about $500 in goods, watches, and money, and, walking backwards out of the store, with their pistols pointed at the captives, they bade the lattei- "good-bye," and were soon galloping away unmolested in the direction of Laclede.

The four desperate spirits who made the second raid onLinneus were supposed to be a portion of Iloltzclaw's band, although they represented themselves to some parties south of town as members of Colonel Hale's regiment of Carroll county militia. Had the citizens been allowed to bear arms they might have been captured or killed before leaving the place.

In the winter of 1864- 65 Jim Rider and liis band of Confederate bushwhackers, to the number of about fifteen, had an encampment on an island in tlie Missouri fiiver, near the Carroll county side, not far above and on the opposite shore from the town of Waver h', Lafayette county. Tlie river was frozen over for a portion of the time, the weather beiiiir very cold, and Rider could easily reach either mainland when he wished. From his retreat, which was a snug and secure one, the daring bushwhacker made frequent forays into the country on both sides of fhe river, in search of plunder more than for the purpose of shedding blood, and uniformly returned successful and in safety to his covert well hidden in the thick willows of the Missouri River island.

On the night of the ninth of January, 1865, Rider at the head of about a dozen of his band, made a raid uponLinneus. It was about ten o'clock when the bushwhackers reached the town. The moon was in the lirst quarter, and, save that it was occasionally obscured by flying clouds which scudded across it face at intervals, gave a fair light. There was a light fall of snow npon the ground and objects could be seen with tolerable distinctness. Rider and his men came into town from the west. Stopping first at a place where whisky was sold they partook freely and then rode on the square. Quite soon they had a bevy of prisoners, the most of whom they robbed. They made earnest inquiries for Capt. T. E. Brawner, then of the militia, now the Democratic editor of the Bulletin. Had they found him he would have been summarily put to death, for Rider bore him an old grudge. Fortunately Brawner wat- in St. Louis.

One of the bushwhackers was a young man named John Lane, who had been born and reared in Linneus. At the breaking out of the civil war lie went south of the Missouri River, joined the State Guard, and fought at the battle t)f Wilson's Creek, or Oak Hill, where he was so severely wounded in the hand that he was discharged from the service, after which he returned home, took the oath of allegiance to the Gamble government, and lived quietly for some time. Suddenly he disappeared and no one knew where he was until he made his appearance in Linneus with Rider's bushwhackers, whose guide and pilot he doubtless was on this occasion. Soon after entering the town, young Lane made his way to the premises of Judge Jacob Smith and appropriated a fine horse.

Upon the appearance of the bushwhackers in the place the alarm was given, and there was great excitement and commotion. Several shots were tired; some shouted '' fire!" others cried " robbers!" and some made as little noise as possible. The bushwhackers first made a descent upon the store of Messrs. Brownlee, Trumbo & Dillon. They ascertained that Dr. Dillon had the key to the store safe, (in which was a considerable sum of money,) and so some of them went to the Doctor's residence after it. Tiie Doctor became suspicious and ahartned when his visitors knocked on the door, and slipped out the back wa^' to avoid and escape tlieni. Just as he was climbing the fence at the rear of his premises the bushwhackers discovered him and fired upon him, one revolver ball striking him on the head, glancing off but knocking him down. Presuming they had killed him, the bushwhackers returned to the square.

Meantime Judge Jacob Smith, then judge of this circuit, had secured a musket belonging to a company of " exempts " of the place, of which he was captain, and was on the lookout for the maurauders. He was seated on a wood-])ile in front of a bouse that stood about where the residence of Mr. Colgan now_ stands, near the northeast corner of the square, and a little west of the railroad track. Along came John Lane, mounted on the Judge's liorse, and riding eastward. Smith raised his musket, fired, and mortally wounded Lane, the charge of buckshot striking him in the leg, and severing or penetrating the femoral artery; one or two shot also struck the horse, and it gallo])ed away. Smith immediately started for the court-house where some of the arms belonging to the '' exempts " were stored, shouting "come on, boys; rall^' at the court-house!" As he reached the court-house fence the bushwhackers fired on him, shooting him through the bowels, and he fell. He made his way, unassisted, to the residence of Dr. D. I. Stephenson, who lived in the western part of Linneus, and was afterward removed to his own liouse, on the east side of the square, now occupied by Major Mullins as a law oflice, and by S. D. Sandusky as his office, where he died on the eleventh, two days later.

About the time Judge Smith M-as at Dr. Stephenson's, Mr. William Pendleton, who lived in the northeast part of town, hearing the disturbance, siezed his gun and started for the public square. As he reached a point opposite the M. E. church, two of Rider's men met him and asked him where he was going. Mr. Pendleton replied that hearing an uncommon noise in town he had come out to investigate. He was taken toward the square and a few rods south of the church Rider and some others of his followers were met. "Here 's a man wifli a gun, who is out after us; what shall we do with him?" said Pendleton's captors to their leader. " Shoot him down!" replied Rider. Pendleton started to run, but the bushwhackers put three balls into his body and he fell dead.

By this time the town was pretty well alarmed. John Lane was bleeding to death, there was no prospect of making a rich haul of plunder, and so Rider prepared to retreat. Going to a livery stable the bushwhackers secured a horse and buggy, and into the latter placed Lane, whose life-blood was ebbing fast, and started out of town, going south. At Ennis Reed's, a mile and a half from town, they stopped and got some water. At Mr. Cox's, near the line of the Hannibal 6z St. Joe Railroad, they again stopped, and by this time Lane was dead. Carrying his body to the door, they said to Mr. Cox: "Here's a dead bushwhacker. "We have been to Linnens and killed about a dozen men. You take this man's body back there and have those fellows bury it decently, or we will come back and kill a dozen more!" Then they passed on and away to their rendezvous, which was shortly afterward broken up by the Carroll county militia.

The citizens did not pursue Rider. Ammunition was scarce, and what arms there were in the place could not be considered effective. The condition of Judge Smith and the dead body of Pendleton engaged the attention of nearly everybody in the town for a time. Lane's body was decently buried in the Linnens cemetery. A company of the militia, the next day, made pursuit, but it was ineffectual.

The bushwhackers carried away a few watches, (one gold,) some goods, a pistol or two, and a few dollars. The loss by their raid in property was but trifling; but the loss of the lives of Judge Smith and Mr. Pendleton was irreparable. Judge Smith was a valuable man to the county and country. His death was greatly deplored throughout north central Missouri, and other parts of the State where he was well known.

It is said that a few days before Rider's raid, the town was visited and thoroughly invested by a well-dressed, handsome yoimg lady, who was mounted on " a gallant steed" which she managed with great dexterity. She visited among other places, Brownlee, Trumbo & Dillon's store, and took in the situation very completely before leaving. Wherefrom she came and whereto she went, no one in Linnens seemed to know; but it was charged that she was a spy for the bushwhackers. The same lady was seen in different parts of the country at other times.

Upon the disappearance of the bushwhackers a young man of Linnens, who had at different times enlisted in the Federal service and as often deserted, and who had been employed in a livery stable, also disappeared; and it was charged that he, also, was an agent of Rider's raiders. Not long after he was killed in Andrew county.

Miscellaneous Incidents

Farmers' club - One of the first farmers' clubs in the county was organized at the Woodview school-house, district number three, township fiftynine, range twenty, in March, 1872. It was called the Woodview Farmers' Club, and resulted in much benefit to its members. Samuel Thorn was the first president, and H. A. Trowbridge was secretary.

Saw-mill explosion - On the twenty-seventh of November, 1873, the boiler of Peery &Talley's saw-mill, three milesnorthwestof Linnens, exploded with fearful force, fatally injuring W. L. Kemper, and badly scalding George Shelton. Kemper was blown thirty feet into the air; he died two days later after suffering greatly. The mill was torn to pieces.

Wind storm - A heavy wind storm passed over the township on the first of August, 1874. The house of Mrs. Cassity, a two-story brick building, two miles north of Linneus, was blown down. None of the inmates were injured.

The first reaper - The first reaping and mowing machine in Linn county was brought in by Col. A. W. Flournoy, in 185 - , some years before the war. It was the old " McCormick," made under the first patent; it was painted blue, and was an enormous machine, which required six horses to draw it. When it was first set to work in the Colonel's field men came from far and near to see it operate. It excited a great deal of comment. Some of the spectators admired it, but the majority shook their heads disapprovingly and went back to their cradles and sickles, contented to "let well enough alone."

F<it cattle - In the spring of 1881 Mr. S. P. Bowyer sold to Joe Grain, a Brookfield stock-dealer, thirteen head of two-year-old steers whose average weight was 1,312 pounds. Two steers were shipped from Linneus in the winter of 1878, one of which weighed 1,680, and the other 1,578 pounds. They were three-year-old.

Protesting against the railroad tax - On the first of February, 1878, a meeting of the taxpayers of Locust Creek township was held in the courthouse at Linneus to take action in resisting the payment of the railroad tax. Mr. Silas Hale was chairman of the meeting. Resolutions were unanimously adopted that the election in Locust Creek township "held for the purpose of voting a tax on less than four-fifths of the taxpayers (the one-fifth being exempt under the law by paid up stock previously subscribed to the railroad) was fraudulently conducted throughout," and not carried in any sense by the legally qualified voters of the township; for the reason, as the resolutions stated, that " the judges of the election carried two ballot-boxes, letting all illegal voters vote for the tax and depositing their ballots in the ballot-box, and causing those who voted against the tax to deposit their ballots in another box." Those composing the meeting pledged themselves, by resolution, not to pay the tax imless it should be compromised; and if their property should be exposed to sale in default of the payment of the tax, they would not bid themselves, or sufl^er others to, upon the property so exposed.

A piece of patchwork - In the spring of 1879 Miss Cora Murrain, the twelve-year-old daughter of William Murrain, living east of Linneus, finished a quilt, the work of her own hands, which was composed of 8,000 pieces of material. The young miss began her work when she was ten years of age.

Suicide of Mrs. Ashhrook - On the twenty-eighth of October, 1879, the wife of Thomas Ashbrook committed suicide at her residence east of Linneus. The lady had been in bad health for some time, and to such an extent that her mind had become affected. She huna; herself with a bridle-rein.

The Nichols Tragedy

Oil the morning of Febrnarj 10, 1867, Sid Nichols, a man some fifty jears of age, with a good character for honesty, etc., living on a farm in the township, committed one of those horrible deeds of murder and self-destruction that sends a thrill of horror through the communitj^ in which it occurs. Mr. Nichols was in good circumstances, sober and industrious, but with an ungovernable temper which made him feared b}' all who came in contact with him when in these fits of rage. He had been married three times and it was this third wife and two sons living at home that he wreaked the horrors of his insane rage upon.

On the date in question he rose in the morning and began quarreling with his wife. Her children were awakened by the disturbance. Mrs. Nichols had considerable spirit and would return word for word wher assailed. Presently Nichols shot the woman with a revolver, infiicting a terrible, but not a mortal, wound. Mrs. Nichols's two boys by a former marriage were present and started to run. Nichols fired at and killed one ot them, a lad aged ten; the other, about twelve years of age, continued to run and Nichols brought him down by a shot in the back, which was taken out in front, the ball being extracted by Dr. D. I. Stephenson, of Linneus, the next day, from near the sternum or breast bone.

After shooting the boys Nichols caught his wife by the hair, dragged her into the yard, then, in the hearing of the wounded boy, he exclaimed, " you have been the cause of all this," and fired again, killing her instantly. Then he put the pistol to his own head, fired, and fell dead himself. All four of the bodies were found in the same door-yard not twenty feet apart. The wounded boy lived a year or more, and from him the particulars of the dreadful tragedy were learned.

Deaths Of Old Citizens

Mrs. Elizabeth Bowyer, relict of Jesse Bowyer, one of the very first settlers in Linn county, died March 6,1879, aged seventy -five years. Mrs. Bowyer was married in Howard countj^ and came with her husband to thiscounty in 1832.

Beubtm Couch died January 9, 1881, aged seventy-six years. Mr. Couch was born in South Carolina. He came to Linn county in 1840, and built the house in which he died.

This church is one of the pioneer churches in Linn county. It was first organized at the residence of Anthony Hine, in July, 1843, by Ilev. George Baker. Among the original members were John Reed, Reuben Couch, An- thony and Anna Hines, Snsan Ilines, Abijali Woods. There were about twenty members in all. The first church building was a log house, put up on Anthony Hines's farm, not long after the church was first constituted. Tliis building was never completed. Services were held in it during the summer for a time. Afterward the congregation met in school-houses. The present house of worship was built in the spring of 1875. It stands on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section ten, township fift}"^- eight, range twenty. It is a frame, 40x30 feet in size, and cost about $1,000. The first pastor of the congregation was George Baker. Among those who succeeded him were Revs. Willoughby, William Elston, Martin Doty, and Wilson Thompson. The latter gentlemen ministered for about fifteen j^ears after the close of the war. Rev. Walter Cash is the present pastor. The church has maintained its organization since the beginning, but during the civil war services were suspended. It is still prospering fairly. It has no debt and its present membersliip is thirty-seven. Connected with the church house is a cemetery, the two" occupying a lot of two acres of land, generously deeded to the organization by J. P. Moore, Esq.

New Garden Baptist Church

This church, one of the oldest in the county, was first organized in 1852, and its early or original members were the pioneers of the county, men and women of noble mind and energetic action, who settled the wilderness and wrought civilization and Christianity out of the hunting-grounds of the red man. These ])ioneers came from Howard, Boone, and Chariton counties and located in what became known as the Morris and Ridgeway settlements and in the country round about, and its first meetings were held near the present site of St. Catharine. The Rev. Thomas Allen took tlie lead in its organization and became its first pastor, as it was the first church organized in Yellow Creek township. This position he held until the Rebellion, when a different feeling of a ])ortion of the members and the difterent opinions existing causing some bitterness, he resigned his charge and removed to Texas. The church met, as all of the pioneer churches of that day met, in the "old log" school-house. This school-house was situated about midway between the present location of the towns of Brookfield and St. Catharine. This continued until early in 185S, when the members commenced the erection of a large frame church building. Want of funds and the civil war coming on the building was never finished, but was used for church purposes in its uncompleted condition until the year 1875.

In the above year the church decided to erect a new place of worship and the point settled on was its present location in the Ridgeway neighborhood where they erected one of the handsomest country churches found in north Missouri, neatly and even elegantly furnished in all its appointments. The present membership now numbers 200. The Rev. Alton 7. Martin suc- ceeded after the resignation of Rev. Thomas Allen and he was succeeded by the present pastor, the Rev, G. C, Sparrow, of Macon City, in 1867, who for the past fifteen years has ministered to the wants of the church, and performed his sacred duties to the satisfaction of his large congregation. On tlie completion of the church in 1876 it was dedicated by the Rev. Alton F. Martin, and among the pleasing incidents was the announcement that this church that day dedicated to the service of the Almighty God, was free from debt, its cost, something over $2,000, being fully paid. It is one of the most beautifully located churches in the county. Standing upon a handsome elevation of land lying upon a ridge, it commands a beautiful view of the surrounding country, while the members of the church have embowered it in an artificial grove of maples and evergreens, a shady retreat, a cozy picture suggestive of quiet, peaceful, and reverent worship.

Chapter Xviii City Of Linneus

Incorporation - Its Founder - Some Beminiscenses of Early Times - Wolves make Music that Lulls the Earl;/ Settler to Sleep - A Woman's Strength and Devotion - The First Settler of Linneus a Colored Woman - Aunt Dinah's Experience - Metes and Bounds - The First Frame House - The First Native Born - Churches and Schools - First Merchants - Senator Benton's Visit - Lynching of " Tennessee Tom " - The First Railroad Train - Accidents and Crimes - Business Houses - Visit of General Weaver - Lodges, Societies, Churches, and City Officers - Biographies.

The first settler on the town site of the town of Linneus was Colonel John Holland, who came from Virginia to Linn county in the early spring of the year 1834:, and located his claim on the section whereon the capital of the county now stands. Colonel Holland's cabin was of hewed logs, and comprised two rooms. In this double cabin court was afterwards held, school taught, and a great deal of important public business transacted. The cabin stood near the center of the public square. Heavy timber - or at least a heavy growth of timber - stood all about for some years, and upon its first occupancy, its inmates were often lulled to their slumbers by the howling of wolves and the hooting of owls. The Colonel once related that at the first breakfast ever eaten in this cabin the principal dish was a brace of stewed squirrels which he shot from the trees that surrounded his domicile while standing on his doorstep.

well. His negro man Peter was at work on the job, and had dug down twenty feet when he came upon a large stone. He left the well to get a proper implement to raise this stone, wliich he had already loosened. When he again descended, he was prostrated by the fire-damps, which it was believed had come into the well with the loosening of the stone. Colonel Holland called his good wife, Elizabeth, and bade her assist him in rescuing poor Peter, who, like truth, was at the bottom of the well and crushed to the earth. Mrs. Holland, though a slight woman and commonly not of much strength, lowered her husband to the bottom, and he at once fastened a rope to the gasping negro, and then ordered his wife to haul him (the Colonel) up. She began to do so and just then the Colonel himself was overcome by the damps and fell senseless into the bucket. Mrs. Holland under the excitement succeeded in drawing her husband out in safety and then screamed for help. A settler who chanced to be near, heard her and came to her assistance. By his help not only did Mrs. Holland get I'eter out of his predicament, but she restored her husband to consciousness, thus saving two human lives, and adding another incident to the long list of heroic actions performed by the pioneer women of Missouri.

The first occupant of Holland's cabin was his negro woman, Dinah, who came up with her master to cook for the men who built the cabin, and care for the house until the family should come. Colonel Holland brought with him som<3 thirty head of sheep, and these were the especial charge of Dinah. The dusky shepherdess led her flock each day to the woods, to let them "browse" upon the buds of the hazel and elm, and great was her concern lest the ravenous wolves with which the forest was infested, should raid upon the innocent sheep and devour them. At night she penned them in one room of Holland's cabin, while she lay down to sleep in the other. A huge mastiff, cross and vigilant kept watch and ward outside. In the daytime this dog was kept chained. "Aunt" Dinah remained in charge of her master's property for several weeks, for Colonel Holland was delayed in his return by reason of the swollen streams. All the while she was alone. Occasionally William or Jesse Bowyer would pass by the cabin and see that all was right. She had plenty of provisions, but would not accept of any venison or other fresh meat lest the smell should attract the wolves, and they should break through every obstacle and slay her.

"Aunt" Dinah, the first female inhabitant of Linneus, still lives in the place, aged eighty-eight. Her daughter, aged about sixty, takes care of her. Relating her early experience to the writer, Dinah said:

" I members de time vary well, massa, when Massa Jack Hollan' fotch me wid 'im. Dey was nuffin but woods and woods; an' in de woods was wolves and wolves. I tuck keer of de sheep for raont's. De wolves 'ud jist come right up in sight and howl and yowl, an' at night when I druv de sheep in de cabin, an' shot de doah an' prop't it tight, and turn' de dog

Upon Colonel Holland's death, Jul}-, 1855, according to the provisions of his will, Dinah was set free. Ever since she has lived \\\ and about Linneus, Peter, the negro who was overcome by the tire-damps in Colonel Holland's well, was afterwards sent down into Chariton county and hired out. Becoming tired of his coiidition of servitude, he concluded to free himself, and one night "struck out for the north star," as the act of running away to the Iowa abolitionists was then expressed, and was never heard of in these parts again.

When Colonel Jack Holland tirst visisted the ''Locust (Dreek country " it was in about 1832. He was over on Parson's Creek exploring the country, when he got lost. He was on horseback, riding a famous animal named Hector. With all of his skill and science in woodcraft and experience as a pioneer, he could not find his way out. For three days he wandered helplessly about with no food for himself and no shelter but heaven's canoj)y, and he was well nigh exhausted. At last he gave himself over into the care of old Hector, and the faithful animal soon carried him in sight of a smoke which curled up gracefully from the chimney of a settler's cabin. Upon reaching the cabin the Colonel was taken in by its occupant, one Dunbar, who, after refreshing his famished guest, kindly piloted him over to Mr. Bowyer's house, in this township. What ultimately became of Dunbar is not known, but not long after he was incarcerated in Keytesville jail on a charge of murder, and visited in prison and ministered to by Holland's daughter, Miss Sallie, now Mrs. Edward Hoyle, of Brookfield.

Just who were the next to locate upon the town site of Linneus cannot be definitely ascertained, there being many claimants for the distinction. Up to 184T, howevei^ ten years after the establishment of the seat of justice, the following persons had either been residents of the place or jjroperty owners therein:

On the ninth of Februarj', 1853, the County Court granted the prayer of the petition of the inhabitants of the town of Linneus, and incorporated

* * -jt -St jj. jg ordered by the court here that the town of Linneus and commons hereinafter described be and the same is hereby incorporated in the name and stile of the inhabitants of the town of Linnaeus (5*c) agreeable to the provisions of an act of the general assembly of the State of Missouri, approved March 7, a. d. 1845. The metes and bounds of said town and commons are as follows; to-wit, Beginning at the northwest corner of section six, in township fifty-eight of range twenty, running west on the township line dividing townships fifty-eight and fifty-nine eighty rods; thence south one hundred and sixty rods; thence east one hundred and sixty rods; thence north one hundred and sixty rods; thence west eighty rods to the place of beginning.

And it is further ordered that John G. Flournoy, Edward Hoyle, Alexander Carroll, Marshall Harrison, and William M. Long be and they are hereby appointed trustees of said town, as aforesaid, to hold their oflices respectively until their successors are elected and qualified.

Other incorporations were enacted from time to time, not especially worthy of note and enumeration, and additions were also made. On the eighteenth of March, 1880, by a large majority of the vote of the citizens. Linneus was made a city of the fourth class, under the State law, and took its station among the other cities of the State. Its population at the time was 860, as shown by the United States census report.

Incidents Of Early History

Immediately upon the establishment of the county seat the town began to grow and to prosper. Speculators and home-seekers bought lots and improved them, and it was not long until quite a snug little village, composed principally of log houses, nestled in the woods which had formerly surrounded Colonel Holland's cabin. The first frame building in Linneus was built by one Gibbs, a tailor, in the year 1840, and stood north of the public square. The lumber was sawed with an old-fashioned whip-saw, there being then no saw- mills in the country within a reasonable distance. The house was used by Gibbs as a tailor shop for a long time.

The first white male child born in the place was John T. Flournoy, who was born on territory now in the city limits, near the northwest corner of the public square, May 5, 1837. His parents were Augustus W. and Mary E. Flournoy. John T. is still a resident of Linneus.

The first white female child whose birth occurred in Linneus was Mildred Williams Holland, daughter of John and Elizabeth Holland. " Milly "Holland, as she was called, (now Mrs. Russell,) was born January 17, 1839. Upon the death of her mother, whose burial it is claimed was the second in the Linneus cemetery, which, event occurred in 1841, little Milly was taken into the family of Mr. G. Murrain for a time.

The first marriage was that of John G. Ball and Elizabeth Floiirnoy, and was in the month of April, 1839; the ceremony was performed by Esquire Gibson. Mr. Ball was probably the first merchant in Linneus, although his claim to the distinction is disputed. Miss Flournoy was a young lady who had taught school in this county prior to her marriage. The marriage took place at her father's, Colonel Flourny's, and was quite an event in those days.

The first death in the place is declared by Mrs. Kobert C. Combs, who lived in Linneus at the time, to have been that of Henry, a negro slave belonging to Col. A. W. Flournoy. He was at work engaged in digging a well, and a negro woman, Mary, now in Linneus, was drawing up the dirt in a large bucket. In some way the windlass slipped from her grasp, and the heavy bucket fell upon Henry and killed him. This occurred in 1836 or 1837.

The next death was that of Timothy Weber, in 1840 or 1841. Weber was a car])euter by trade and also kept a small grocery store. Colonel Holland had donated an acre of land to the town for the cemetery. On hearing of this Weber remarked: "Well, it would be a good thing now, if somebody would die, so that we could mark that graveyard and give it a good start." Weber himself died, not long after, and his body was the first to be buried in the cemetery. This cemetery is the one now in use. Other early interments therein were the bodies of John Little, of Kentucky, Mrs. Colonel Holland, and Mrs. Flournoy.

Mrs. Edward Hale, formerly Miss Sallie Holland, states that Benjamin White taught the first school in Linneus, about 1838. Mr. Allen Gillespie was probably the next. No particulars can be obtained of these schools, as no one can be found who attended them who remembers much of them. After White and Gillespie, John G. Flournoy taught the next school. This was in 1839 or 1840. The school-room was in the old Holland house, which was then surrounded by timber. Joseph Combs, of the Linneus Bank, attended Flournoy 's school and was old enough to remember that one tree overhung the house in such a manner that patrons of the school were apprehensive that it might fall upon the building some da}-- with disastrous efiects, and so they came and cut it dowii, first tying a rope to the upper limbs and pulling on it in such a way as to cause it to fall from the schoolhouse.

The first public school-house was built about the year 1847, and stood about where the stock-pens of the railroad now are. It was a frame, eighteen by twenty-two in size, and cost about S30C. William Sanders taught the first school in this building, and had some twenty-five pupils. He was a native of Maine. He died in 1865.

The first physician in this section was Dr. Dryden, and the first doctor was Judge James A. Clark, who never studied medicine in his life, and perhaps never read a " doctor book." He made no pretensions to being a physician, but there were tliose who considered his attainments in medical science superior to those of many who wrote "M. D." after their names. The Judge always kept a plentiful supply of quinine and calomel about him, and these therapeutical agents were considered sovereign for the cure of chills and fever, the prevailing diseases of those days in these parts. The Judge acquired quite a reputation and secured considerable "practice,'^ although he prescribed free gratis to all, and made no money thereby. The nearest regular physician was at Keytesville.

On one occasion Judge Clark was called to prescribe for the wife of Colonel Augustus Flournoy. Mrs. Flournoy was suffering from a most violent headache, which threatened to become inflammation of the brain. The Judge prescribed a blister for her head, another for the neck, and another for her feet, and sent for Dr. Scott, of Keytesville. When the Doctor came he approved the Judge's treatment of the case, and left the management of it with him. Mrs. Flournoy had a beautiful suit of hair of which both she and her husband were justly proud, and which Judge Clark decided must be cut off, so as to allow the blister to do its work well. Colonel Flournoy consented that this might be done, upon being assured that the hair would grow out again, but he shed tears when the long beautiful tresses of his wife were shorn away - stout man that he was and brave a& Bayard. But then "' the bravest are the tenderest."

The first regular physician to locate in the town is believed to have been Dr. lies, a renegade Mormon, or at least a seceder from the Mormon Church, who came in about the year 1840.

As to the first merchant in the place it may be said that the distinction is claimed for John G. Ball, The County Court, at the July session, 1838, ordered ''that Kemper & Givens be allowed license to sell merchandise in said county for ten dollars to the State and ten dollars for county levy," (Book A, County Court record, page seventeen.) Ball, Hezekiah Sutton, and Weber were among the very first merchants and " grocery keepers." Ball's store stood on the lot now occupied by his son in-law, Mr. Menifee. The stores in those days were verj' modest affairs, indeed. A wagon load of goods was considered a large stock - "a mammoth lot," the modern dealers would say. The people wanted but little in the way of general merchandise. As a rule the people were poor and were easily satisfied. Sugar and coffee were the staple articles of groceries; calico and muslin or " factory " the leading articles in demand in the way of dry goods, and even these were not sold in large quantities. As late as 1844 David

Prewitt, one of the leadiiiir merchants of Linneus, said that one barrel of sugar and one sack of cofiee were all that he could sell of those articles in a year's time. Mr. Prewitt afterward o])ened a tobacco house in Linneus, and prized, manufactured, and shipped tobacco for a number of years. He hauled his tobacco to Brunswick, the most avaiial^le shippinsj point on the river.

For some years after the settlement of Linneus the ])lace was but a village, and the citizens lived after the fashion of- their neighbors, the people in the country. The majority of the families depended upon farming for their support. The village belles carded wool, s])un it, and either wove it into cloth themselves or carried it to Mrs. Goodman, who was famous for her skill with the loom in that day, and wove thousands of yards of cloth. She is still alive, and in the county. Flannel and linsey were the fabrics from which the majority of the dresses were made, and the style of the frocks, with their short waists, narrow skirts, and ample sleeves, would not be popular with the ladies of to-day, unless they originated in Paris and were " the fashion."

There was no church in Linneus for years, and preaching was held at intervals in the old log court-house. Sometimes these intervals were regular and sometimes they were not. All denominations occupied the court-room turn and turn about. The room that was filled with the clamor of the " weary lawyer with endless tongue " on week days, echoed to the voice of prayer and praise on the sabbath, and as many a violator of the Missouri statutes was therein reminded of his transgression, so many a breaker of the commands of the Pentatuch was made to see the error of his ways and warned to tiee from the wrath to come.

There was not a very strong sentiment of teetotalism rife in the community in early days. The "grocery stores," or "groceries," all kept whisky for sale, and dram shops were allowed, under license. So the bibulously inclined could and did indulge their propensities freely.

Tobacco manufacturing - Li 1841, David Prewitt engaged in general merchandising, in which business he continued until 1852. The period between 1841 and 1852 he was county treasurer, when the entire revenues did not exceed $350. In those days commodities were cheap. Mr. Prewitt often purchased net pork for $1.50 per hundred, and tobacco from %\ to $3 per hundred. He manufactured plug tobacco at Linneus for many years, hauling it to the country stores in wagons and selling to country merchants. Many loads of the Linneus tobacco were taken up into southern Iowa, where it found ready sale.

In February 1847, J. B. Colgan and George W. Smith were associated in the manufacture at Linneus, and Mr. Colgan claims that they were the first manufacturers of the weed in the place. Prior to this, however, Mr. Rooker had a tobacco factory over on Yellow Creek, managed by a Mr. Charles Ayers, of Glasgow. The distinction of having made up the first tobacco in the county is also claimed for David Prewitt.

In the summer of 1856, Hon. Thomas H. Benton, Missouri's great thirtyyears' senator, spoke in Linneus to a large audience from the door of the court-house. Colonel Benton was then conducting his canvass for governor, his opponents being Hon. Trusten Polk, the regular Democratic candidate, and Robert C. Ewing, the nominee of the old Whig and Know-Nothing parties. "Old Bullion " had many friends in Linn county, but his supporters were in the minority. While here he was the guest of Edward Hoyle. It is believed that this was the only occasion when the distinguished statesman was in Linneus.

After The Civil War

Lynching of'''' Tennessee " Thomas - In July, 1866, the first human being ever hung in Linn county was executed in Linneus. The subject was a young negro who had recently come into the town from Saline county, and to Saline county from Tennessee only a short time before. He had no relatives or acquaintances in Linneus, when he first arrived. He worked for a time in T. T. Easley's brickyard. His name is forgotten, excep*". that he was called "Tennessee" and Thomas, and sometimes "Tennessee Tom.

In the month and year above named there lived a little north of town a family named Stutsman, whose little daughter, aged about ten years, was attending school in Linneus. The child was on her way to school one morning when she stepped a little to one side of the road to gather some blackberries. Here she was suddenly and brutally assaulted by " Tennesse Tom," who succeeded in perpetrating that nameless crime for which there is no adequate earthly punishment. The little innocent soon gave the alarm, and in a short time crowds of indignant men were scouring the country in search of the black villain. In a few hours he was apprehended, taken to the court-room with a number of other negroes, and clearly identified by his little victim. He had also been seen leaving the place where the crime was committed, and to run across fields and lots in his efl:brts to escape. The child recognized him and pointed him out among a dozen other young black men.

It was at once decided by the crowd present to hang the criminal forthwith. A few of the prominent citizens advised that he be turned over, to the civil authorities to be dealt with according to law, but such counsels were hooted at and set at contempt. The prisoner was marched over to a grove in the southeastern part of the town, one end of a rope tied about his neck, the other thrown over the limb of a tree, and he was soon quivering in the air in the agonies of death. After he was pronounced dead he was allowed to iiang until about nightfall, when he was buried bj some men ot his own color. He protested that lie was innocent to the last, but seemed somewhat indifferent to his fate. He was regarded as partially demented or half-witted, none of his faculties but the baser ones being well developed. He shook hands with man}' of the negroes before he was hung.

The tree on which "Tennessee" was hung stood near the present residence of Mr. Denbo. It afterwards died, a circumstance that was much and diversely commented u])on by the superstitious people of the place, white and colored - the former maintaining that it had withered because of the foul fruit it had borne; the latter that it had been blasted, a " jedgment " for hanging a man who might have been innocent. The locality of the execution was avoided, especially after dark, by negroes, boys, and many others, for months afterward; and occasionally it was told that the "spook" of "Tennessee" had been seen swaying to fro in the night wind from the same limb on which the body had hung. By and by the tree was cut down, and nothing was ever afterward seen of the ghost of '* Tennessee Tom."

Incidents From 1870 To 1881

Railroad suhscriptions - May 22, 1871, on motion of Alderman Jefferson Kennedy, the town trustees unanimously adopted a resolution to subscribe $10,000 to the capital stock of the St. Joseph cfe Iowa Railroad Company, in the name and for the use of the Central JN^orth Missouri Branch thereof. This subscription was the beginning of the definite action which is said to have resulted in the location of the Burlington & Southwestern Railroad via Linneus.

On the thirtieth of May, 1868, Locust Creek township voted upon the question of issuing $40,000 in bonds iu aid of the Burlington & Southwestern Railroad, then called the North Missouri Central. The vote carried and the County Court made the order of subscription.

The " Col. Nortlx'ott " - The first locomotive over the Linneus branch of the Burlington ifc: Southwestern was named " Col. Northcott," in honor of that gentleman, who had. been a prominent and indefatigable worker for the road. Not long after the "Col. Northcott" had been running, and while it was lying at Laclede, a negro boj' boarded it, pulled open the throttle, and started the "Colonel" as a "wild" engine. It ran off a side track and was a little crippled, but soon restored. The mischievous little darkey jumped off and escaped.

First train into Linneus - On the first of September, 1872, the first train over the Burlington &, Southwestern ran into Linneus from Laclede. Soon after the road was completed to Browning, to which point it ran for some time. On the twenty-ninth of September, 1876, the gap between the two ends of the road was filled and trains ran through from Burlington to Laclede. Upon the completion of the raili-oad to Linnens the town began to improve, and since then has made considerable advancement in its material prospei'itj.

Accidental shooting of John Waters - In the fall of 1872, John B. Waters, a yonng man about eighteen years of age, and a son of Capt. R. G. Waters, went over on the Locust Creek bottom, near Lambert's mill, with some companions to gather hickory nuts. The party had taken along a shot gun. In attempting to take this gun from a wagon young Waters accidentally discharged it, and the entire charge, a heavy one, struck him in the neck, nearly tearing off his head, and killing him i)i8tantly.

Linn County Baptist Association. - On the second of November, 1872, the Linn County Baptist Association was formed in the Baptist church at Linneus. Delegates were present from the following churches: Parsons Creek, Mount Olive, Mount Nebo, North Salem, Pleasant Grove, New Garden, and Linneus. Elder Jesse Goins presided, and William S. Mc- Clanahan was the secretary.

Bohhery (f) of Thompson, the cattle buyer - On the eighth of March, 1873, one William Thompson, a stock bu3^er from Lewis county, appeared in Linneus, and on Saturday morning, at about eight o'clock, started to Joseph Dale's, four miles west of town, to receive some cattle which he had purchased. In a short time he returned and stated that when about a mile from town, on tiie Trenton road, he had been confronted by two men, who took him off the road, drew revolvers upon him, and robbed him of $2,800 in orreenbacks. An alarm was o:iven and several mounted men scoured the country for some days in search of the robbers, but found no trace of them. It afterward turned out that Thompson was a fraud and his story wholly false, A man named Josiah Fible, of Monticello, had furnished him with about $3,000, which he had lost in Kansas City with some gamblers and "monte"men. Thompson had run away, presumably to Salt Lake, and was never seen in these parts again.

The Linneus cemetery - In 1873 the cemetery was in a deplorable condition. The fence was down and briars and brambles grew rank among the graves. Two ladies, Mrs. Thompson and Mrs McCormick, circulated a subscription paper and obtained funds sufficient to put Linneus's "God's acre " in a decent condition, for which action their memories deserve to be perpetuated.

Trains stopped - \\\ the fall of 1873 business on the railroad from Laclede to Browning was so dull, and the affairs of the road were in such a bad condition, that trains stopped running for some weeks. There was great dissatisfaction among the citizens, and many people wanted ihe track torn up.

broke their prison bars and escaped. One was a white tnan under indictment for forgery; the other was a negro who had murdered William J. Kincaid, of Chariton county.

Killed by the - May 13, 1876, Ira, a six year-old son of Dr. Edward F. Perkins, was killed by a car near the depot. The little fellow was seated on a Hat car, which was at a stand still. It was suddenly put in motion and the boy fell off. A car wlieel struck him and injured him so badly internally that he died in a few hours.

How tlie depot ica^ huilt - The present railroad depot, it is said, was built in part from the proceeds of an excursion trip from Linneus and other points to Burlington, Iowa, and return, in September, 1877. A large crowd attended and enjoyed the trij) immensel}'.

Fire on the imhliG squai'e - Between one and two o'clock on the morning of the first of November, 1877, a fire broke out in Morrison's restaurant, on the south side of the public square. The restaurant, the Pacific House, and Drake's saloon were burned. ^^ tearing down another building the Planters' House was saved. Mr. Morrison's loss was about $1,500; no insurance. The fire was an incendiary one.

Court-hont<e condemned - Since the court-house was condemned as unsafe and dangerous, the Circuit Court has been held in the citj^ hall, where all subsequent sessions have been convened. The county ofiicials moved their offices into different parts of the same block, where they still remain. The walls of the building were cracked, and the structure itself seemed in imminent peril of tumbling down, but the structure is still standing, though it is to be torn down the present spring.

The big fire of January, 1879 - At about half past ten o'clock on the night of January 23, 1879, a fire broke out in the store-room of S. Brandenburger & Co., on the west side of the public square - presumably from a detective flue. That building was burned, causing a loss of $17,000, on which there was an insurance of some $10,000. A two-story brick building, owned by Presley Pound, was next consumed. The lower room of this building was occupied by Morris's hardware store; the greater portion of the stock was saved. The upper portion was used as a lodge room and also contained a Dr. Allen's dental ofiice, and the office of B. J. Korthcott, attorney-at-law. The lumber-yard and implement warehouse of J. F. Lash were also badly damaged, $300 worth of lumber and $800 worth of implements being destroyed. A frame building owned by H. C. Prewitt, which stood in the rear of Pound's building, was^also burned. The material of the Bulletin office, and the goods of P. H. Perkins, C. A. Holton, J. H. Bradley, M. Goldman, and Clark ct Bradley were moved into the street for safety, as the entire block was in great danger, and it was onlv by hard work that it was saved.

that the town needed a new and iirst-class hotel; one that would be in keeping with the character and importance of the place. No one person being found willing to risk the necessary investment, a number of the citizens organized a stock company in the latter part of the year 1880, and erected a substantial brick structure two stories in height at a cost of about $8,000. The building stands on the southwest corner of the public square, and attracts the attention of every visitor to the town by reason of its castle-like appearance - its towers, verandas, colonnades, and buttresses. It was finished in thefirst part of February, 1881. It was first rented to M. P. Cloudas, of Trenton, but in March Mr. J. L. Palmer, of Lancaster, Schuyler county, arrived and took charge and is the present proprietor.

Temperance revival - Probably the most important temperance revival in Linneus, was held in February, 1881, under the auspices of one Ellsworth, a reformed drunkard and a noted temperance lecturer. Meetings were held in the M. E. Church South, and the building was nightly crowded. Fifty-three additions were made to the lodge of Good Templars, and many signed the pledge.

The last school enumeration - In March, 1881, the enumeration of the children of school age in Linneus showed the total number to be three hundred and thirty-two, as follows: White males, one hundred and twentythree; white females, one hundred and fifty-six; colored males, thirty-one; colored females, twenty-two. Total whites, two hundred and seventy-nine; total colored, fifty-three.

Last incorporation - On the twenty-fourth of May, 1881, the town council ordered an election to be held on June seventeenth, following, to vote on the question of the organization and incorporation of Linneus as a city of the fourth class, under the law of 1877. The election was held at date, and resulted in the adoption of the proposition by a large majority. At the same time it was voted to refund the city debt, amounting to $9,000, in bonds bearing six per cent interest, and running from five to twenty years.

Captain Jeremiah Phillips - Died April 4, 1876, aged seventy-four. He was a native of Kentucky, and came to Missouri in 1824, and to Linn county in 1837. He had held the office of circuit clerk, sheriff, representative in the legislature, and was a very prominent and influential citizen.

David Prewitt - Died December 1, 1873. He was born in Virginia, December 21, 1791, and removed to this county in 1840. Further particulars of his career are to be found on other pages.

Colonel Augustus W. Flournoy - Died in Boise City, Idaho Territory, August 10, 1878, aged sixty-eight. He was born in Chesterfield county, Virginia, in 1810, and settled near Linneus in 1836, and continued to reside here until 1864. He was a man of influence in his community, and enjoyed tlie complete confidence and respect of all who knew him. He took a leading part in the political history of this section of the State, and was twice elected to the State Senate from the district of which this county was a part, and was also the regular Democratic nominee for representative of this county, and also for Congress, making a gallant race against James Lindley. Since 1864 he resided in Idaho Territory, where his merit and ablity were recognized by all, and he was for several sessions a member of the Territorial legislature, serving one term as speaker of the General Assembly. For several years his health had been poor, and his last illness was one hundred and one days in duration. He left three daughters in Idaho, and has a son residing in this place, John T. Flournoy.

William B. Woodruff - Died at the residence of his son, D. P. Woodrufl^, in Mariposa county. California, Sunday, March 9, 1879. He was one of the first settlers of the county, and was a justice of the peace for many

James R. Boles - Died July 7, 1880. Ife was one of the oldest settlers of the county, had been a resident for forty years, and was eighty years of age at the time of his death. He was a native of Virginia, born near Rich, niond, and when quite young left there foi- Kentucky, and came from thence to this county. He first settled in Yellow Creek township, twelve miles east of Linneus, and lived in this place and the immediate vicinity for about thirty years.

Mrs. Laura C. Lane and Miss Emma L. Phillips died in the summer of 1881. Mrs. Lane was the wife of Dr. J. W. Lane, and a most exemplary young lady whose death was greatly deplored. She was a prominent worker in the temperance cause, and the Good Templars lodge passed resolutions of regret at her demise and of respect for her nlemor3^ She died June third, aged twenty-six. Miss Phillips was a daughter of John C. Phillips, and a most accomplished aiid estimable young lady. She died July 31, aged twenty-two. She was engaged in marriage to a gentleman worthy of hei*, and the rite was to have been performed in a few weeks.

Miscellaneous Items

The first ex presidential candidate to visit Linneus was General James B. Weaver, of Iowa, who was the national Greenback candidate in 1880, and who made a speech in the city hall February 11, 1882.

Civic Societies Of Linneus

Masonic - " Blue Lodge '' - Jackson Lodge No. 82, A. F. and A. M., was organized under dispensation some time during the year 1845. The charter bears date October 15, 1846. The charter members were the first ofiicers, as follows: William Saunders, master; Jacob Smith, S. W.; Jechaniah Seaman, J. W,; John Flood, treasurer; Jeremiah Phillips, Secretary; Isaac lielph, S. D.; John McCully, J. D.; S. D. Sandusky, tyler. The ])resent officers are F. W. Powers, master; T. M. McClanahan, S. W.; George J. Havens, J. W.; T. T. AVoodrufl:', treasurer; S. D. Sandusky, secretary: William B. Craig, S. D.; Wallace W. Brinkley, J. D.; Silvanus Wilson, senior steward; Jacob Gartner, junior steward; William P. Menifee, tyler. The first hall was built in 1858; it was of brick, and stood on the northwest corner of the public square. On the first of April, 1870, the building in which the hall was located was burned, causing a total loss of the building and all the furniture except the carpet, and all of the papers and records except the clmrter, a chart, the seal,, and the linancial records. For two years after the organization of the lodge meetings were held in the log court-honse, on the north side of the square. The present hall was built in 1S72; it is a brick, and is situated in the bank building. The hall cost $1,500, and has all been paid for. The lodge obeys the Scriptural in- ]unction and owes no man anything. The present Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, Alexander W. Dockery, now of Gallatin, was initiated, passed, and raised, in Jackson Lodge. The present secretary of this lodge has held his office for twenty-eight j'ears, and states that peace and prosperity prevail therein, and never, to his knowledge, has it neglected to meet and open the lodge and do the work set apart for each regular meeting.

Odd Fellov.is - Linneus Lodge No. 51, I. O. O. F., was instituted by District Deputy Grand Master Derrickson, and the date of its charter is August 27, 1851. The charter members were Ranson Price, W. J. McAshan, J. G. Flournoy, B. D. Spencer, J. W. Harris, E. Scott, W. H. Plunkett, R. G. Waters, Henry H. T. Grill, James Beckett, and D. W. Hershey. The first officers were J. G. Flournoy, N. G.; H. H. T. Grill, Y. G.; W. J. McAshan, R. Sec; D. W. Hershey, treasurer; R. G. Waters, Con, The present officers are John Detwiler, N, G, ; Jas. H, Swinney, Y, G,; Thos, Halliburton, R. Sec; E. F. Perkins, Per. Sec; Thomas T. Prewitt, treasurer; J. P. Bradley, lodge deputy. The present membership is forty. The hall in which the lodge meets was built in the year 1879; it is a brick, and cost $1,259. The old hall was burned January 23, 1879. It was insured for ^500, which sum was paid in full to the lodge. Since then the lodge has built its present hall at the cost above named, every dollar of which has been paid. The lodge deputy, Mr. J. P. Bradley, says: " Since our hall was built the lodge has lost several members by death, which has brought additional expense upon ns. We have paid since January 1, 1879, for building hall, insurance, and paraphernalia, about $1,350; for sick and funeral benefits, over $550, making a total of $1,900 in less than three years. There are outstanding warrants amounting to $90, and cash in the treasury to the amount of $65, leaving our indebtedness $25, Our present N. G., Bro. John Detwiler, has the oldest membership in our lodge,"

Independent Order Of Good Templars

W. Y.; John Gaddis, W. Chaplain; O. J. Coon, W. Sec; W. G. Stutsman, W. A. Sec.;Loga Easley, W. V. Sec; Sallie Wilcox, W. Treas.; L. O. Home, W. M.; Emma Menifee, W. D. M.; Lillie Home, W. L G.; Talbot McNealy, W. O. G.; Eliza More, R. S.; M. L. Stephenson, L. S.; H. Wanke, P. W. C. T. ; Charles A. Perkins, lodge deputy. The present officers are, W. W. Brinkley, W. C; Mollie Craig, W. V. T.; G. Tanquary, W. Chap.; D. J. Greer, W. Sec; Lillie Home, W. A. Sec; E. H. Phillips, W. F. Sec; Ada Wilkerson, W. T.; R. Flournoy, W. M.; Bettie Purdin, W. D. M.; Ella Denbo, R. S. ; Lou Detwiler, L. S.; C. A. Perkins, P. W. C. T.; P. H. Perkins, lodge deputy. The present membership is eighty-two. The hall used by the lodge is rented. Sheridan Lodge was instituted in 1865, and dissolved some time in 1867. C. A. Perkins and Miss Lillie Home are officers for the present term who were charter members and also officers for the first term. The best material of the citizens of Linneus composes the membership of this lodge. Two of the most worthy members of the or-, ganization died during. the past year - Miss Emma Phillips and Miss Belle Denbo.

The Churches Of Linneus

Brqjtist Church - The First Baptist Church of Linneus, which was first called the Locust Creek Baptist Church, was organized on the sixteenth day of June, 1839, at a school-house about three miles northwest of Linneus. Elders Alton F. Martin and Fielding Wilhoit were the ministers assisting in the constitution. "The constituent members, sixteen in number, were

William Clarkston, Peter Fore, Boliiig K. Ashbrook, John Walkiip, Seth Botts, William S. Flouriioy, John G. Flonrnoy, Angustus W. Flournoy, Charles A. Ford, Khoda Gallaway, Sal lie P. Flournoy, Elizabeth F. Ball, Chinesa Potts, Mary P. Flournoy, Martha A. S. Flournoy, and Nancy Botts. ByAVednesday the nineteenth, five others had joined, by letter and relation, being Meschah Smithson, Tiebecca Smith, and Susana Woodland by relation, and Michael A. Clark, and Nanoy Cornett by letter. The same day Sarah B. Cornett, Narcissa S. Cornett, Elizabeth C. Southerland, Lydia Phillips, Joseph Cherry, Plenry Cherry, Alexander Woodland, William H. Holland, John (t. Bell, and William J. Cornett were by Elder Wilhoit immersed, being the first persons baptized in the Grand River country." This is a faithful transcript of the first page of the old church record.

The first church building in Linneus was built in 1854, and services held therein, but not completely finished until some time later. It is a substantial brick, forty by sixty feet, plainly finished, situated south of the courthouse, on the southeast corner of the first block. Although commodious, it is poorly lighted and insufficiently heated for severe winter. The roof is a superb piece of architecture, supporting a belfry and spire. The bell is the best in the village, weighing about seven hundred pounds.

The church, although numbering forty-nine before the end of the first year, was supplied by visiting brethren with preaching, until September, 1840, when Kev. Alton F. Martin was called as their first pastor, in which capacity he served acceptably until about 1872, with the exception of short terms of service rendered by Rev. Scott, and an impostor named Francis, and Rev. Hildreth - the latter brother serving less than one year - after which, and perhaps in the same year (1868j, Rev. Martin again became pastor and served until 1873, when Rev. W. W. Walden was called as pastor. He served for nearly one year and then resigned for want of health to prosecute the work. In July, 1874, Rev. W. S. Huff, was called to the pastorate, for one half his time, and since then the pastors have been Revs. W. T. Graves, F. M. Wadley, and L. L. Wellman. Several ministers have been by this church licensed to preach and ordained.

The present membership of the church is eighty. Among the names upon the original roll appears the first talent and power of intellect of the new country. Many named upon the roll are marked absent by death. Many others have moved to other fields, carrying the truth as it is in Jesus, and using their powers to advance the cause as they did here. Some of the constituent members yet live, although thirty-six years are gone since they covenanted to keep house for God.

During the civil war the organization of the church was impaired, and nothing like regular services were held. In 1865 the church was reorganized. At present services are held monthly. No sabbath-school or prayermeetings are held in connection with the church.

Methodist Ejpiscopal CJturch South - Tlie Methodist Episcopal Chnrch South of Linneus was organized in October, 1844, Tiie original members were William Saunders, Mary Saunders, Joseph C. Moore, Mrs. Hodge, Mrs. Buck, Mrs. Bell, and S. D. Sandusky, the latter the only one of the number now living. The organization was first eifected at Muddy school-house, one mile southeast of Linneus, by Rev. J. K. Hawkins. Meetings were at first held in this school-house and then at Mr. Sandusky^e residence. The church building, a frame, and the one now used, was erected in the year 1858, at a cost of about $1,500. It was dedicated soon after by liev. Dr. McAnally, the present editor of the St, Louis Christian Advocate. For the last ten years the pastors have been as follows: 18T1-72, B. F. Johnson; 1872-73, J. G. Blakely; 1873-77, C. Grimes; 1877-80, Elmore Carlyle; 1880, G. Tanquary. The present membership of the church is ninetyeight.

Christian Church - The Christian Church of Linneus was organized in the year 1853, Some of the original members were Nancy Prewitt, A. D, and Elizabeth Rawlins, Susan J, Ware, Nancy Crawford, Richard Woodson, L. H. and Rebecca Collins, Elizabeth Relph, Emeliue Brown, Jacob Smith, Samuel Sutton, and E, B, Melvin. The church building, a frame, was built in the year 1856, at a cost of $2,000. The pastors have been Revs, Carter, McCormack, B. H. Smith, J. N, Wright, J. H, Carter, J. A. Meng, W. D. Jordin, and C. B. Evans. The present membership of the church is fifty-three. Services are held once in each month, and social meetings on the first day of the week. There is a good Sunday-school in connection with the church.

Second Baptist Church, colored - This church was organized in 1865, with the following members: Jesse Johns, Henry Walden, Martha Walden, Harriet Russell, Mary Cheatham, J, Baker, Mary Johns, and Mary Hanson. A frame church building in which services are held was erected in 1868, at a cost of about $600. In this building the colored school is taught. The pastors of this church have been B. Hillman and Hardin Morton.

1873 - Major, George W. Stephens; removed from corporation and January 23, 1874, T. E. Brawner appointed; conncilmen, Robert Boyles, T. E. Brawner, Jefferson Kennedy, removed, and in Jnly M. E. Parr appointed to fill vacancy; AVilliam S. McClanahan; P. H. Perkins; clerk, B.J. jSTorthcott; marshal, W. A. Edwards. At the election this year (1873) there was a tie on conncilmen between Brawner and Stephen Fore, which was decided b\' k»t in favor of Brawner. There was also a tie vote on mayor between George W. Stephens and A. W. Mnllins. At a new election Stephens was elected.

1880 - Mayor, J. Y. Martin; conncilmen, L. W. Clark, H. L. Binford, resigned in July and B. A. Jones appointed; H. Wanke, D. I. Stephenson, J. H. Craig; clerk, F. L. Binford; marshal and collector, Gray Bonlware to December tenth and then J. M. Smith; treasurer, T. H. Flood.

The first post-office in Linneus was established about the year 1840. Dr. J. C. Coo]>er is generally believed to have been the first postmaster; John U. Parsons the second; Marshall Harrison the third; E. H. Richardson the fourth; Robert Ferguson the fifth, and Harvey Wanke the sixth and present.

Judge Gavon D. Bukgess

of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Missouri; residence Liiineus. Foremost among the prominent citizens of Linn county whose public service entitle them to special mention in the biographical department of this work stands Judge Burgess of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Missouri. He was born in Mason county, Kentucky, on the fifth day of November, 1833. His father, Mr. Henry D. Burgess, was a native of Maryland, and after moving to Kentucky served the count}' of Fleming in the legislature for two consecutive terms. He had first settled in Mason county, where our subject was born, but soon afterwards removed to Fleming, where the Judge was reared. He was educated wholly in his native State, and read law in the office of Hon. W. H. Cord of Flemingburg, author of " Cord on the Rights of Married Women," a work of standard merit among the legal profession. Judge Buj'gess was the pupil of Mr. Cord for about four years and then began the practice of his profession in the same town in 1854. The same year he formed a partnership with Hon. Salucius Garfield, a distant relative of the lamented President James A. Garfield of Ohio. This connection lasted about a year, when Judge Burgess, in the fall of 1865, dissolved the partnership by coming to Missoui'i. He spent the succeeding winter (1855-56) in St. Joseph, and in the spring went to Milan in Sullivan county, and there began the practice of law. He continued there till the spring of 1866, and then removed to Linneus, Linn county. Here be practiced successfully, handling many important cases, till the summer of 1874, when he was nominated by the Democratic convention at Brookfield as their candidate for judge of the circuit above mentioned. Judge Burgess was not present at their convention, but his friends were numerous and active, and he received the nomination over three other pojiular gentlemen. The Republicans had put out a strong candidate, and at the fall election Judge Burgess Mas elected b3^a close race in a hotl}' contested campaign,, receiving one hundred and seventy-five majority over his Republican opponent. Again in 1880 he received the nomination of the Democracy and was duly elected at the ensuing election. In this race he was opposed by Hall of Trenton, who in addition to the Republican vote received the full strength of the Greenback part}-. Judge B.'s majority in this contest was nearly eight hundred.

<3augbter of Robert Trimble of Fleminor county Kentucky. They had but one cliild, a son wlio died in infancy. Mrs. Burgess belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, but the Judge belongs to none. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, however, and is a Master Mason.

At time of tliis writing (1S81-82) Judge Burgess's term of office is unexpired. The marked ability with which he has dispensed the functions of his office, and the honorable manner with which he has graced the dignified position, have made him many friends among all political parties. He has filled other positions in Sullivan county, having represented her in the legislature in 1858-59. Subsequently he was judge of the Probate Court, and still later was county attorney by appointment. Always a hard student and untiringly devoted to the profession of law, Judge Burgess achieved only what Jie merited - an eminent success.