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FREDERICK C. MACARTNEY
 IT is an old axiom that the way to a man's good nature is through his stomach, and, so being, F. C. Macartney, or Fred., as he is familiarly called, must have the true friendship and good fellowship of myriads of people, for, during the past forty-two years, as a caterer to the public, he has proved himself the prince of hotel-keepers, and, not only that, he and his family have been largely and intimately connected with the business and social life of the city.
He came here from Canada in 1863, a young man in the adolescent stage, hunting a job. With him was a brother, George, who was employed by "Billy" Quick as United States Express messenger for several years, and died in 1865.
Fred. took the first job he could find. I. N. Webster was running the Savery House, which James C. Savery had, at progressive stages, with many postponements, partially completed. It was a plain structure, unlike the present one. There were no balconies, no cornices, no outside ornamental "flubdubs." The offices were all on the second floor. The ground floor was as the bricklayers left it. Fred. hired himself out as clerk of the hotel, at twelve dollars a month and his board. In those days, hotel clerks didn't wear diamond-studded shirt fronts; there were no day and night clerks, no porter, no bell-boys, no elevators. His daily stunt was to keep books, sweep, dust, wait on guests, from six o'clock in the morning until supper was over. At night, he could lie on the lounge in the office until all passengers had arrived by stage from Brooklyn and Nevada, then the terminals of the Rock Island and Northwestern roads, and then he could go to bed. When the roads were bad, when Skunk River got on a rampage, and passengers had to walk most of the way, and carry a rail to pry the coach out of the mire, he didn't go to bed at all. It was a sort of continuous performance.
In October, 1864, George C. Savery, a brother of J. C., took the house and retained Fred. as Chief Clerk, a place he held,
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becoming practically the manager——George being too angular for a hotel man——until 1875, when J. C. purchased George's interest and installed Fred. as Manager. The house was re-furnished throughout, the structure having been completed.
In 1879, the house was sold under foreclosure of a mortgage. The entire furniture was removed and shipped to Yankton, thence by steamboat to Fort Benton, thence by wagon to Helena, Mont., where it was sold at auction, Fred. going also as custodian of the property. There he remained, with J. C. Savery, who was engaged in several mining projects, as bookkeeper and supply purchaser for the miners' stores until September, 1882, when he returned to Des Moines and engaged in the brick and tile business. But brick-making was not his forte, and in 1886, he assumed the management of Hotel Colfax, a mammoth summer and health resort built and fitted up by the Rock Island Railroad Company, near Colfax. He remained there until 1888, when he went to California, and kept a hotel in Vera Cruz until March, 1891.
In 1879, the old Savery House having been purchased by J. N. Dewey and S. R. Ingham, was again remodeled, the name changed to "Kirkwood," in honor of the old War Governor, and re-opened under the management of C. D. Bogue and John Wyman, who remodeled it, removed the office and rotunda to the ground floor, and held it until 1891, when Fred. purchased Bogue's interest and became the sole manager, and has so continued to the present time, having as assistants his sons, Frederick C., Jr., and George.
In the early days, the house was the home of many business men——the first City Directory contains the names of fifty-one——year after year, surrounded by all the comforts of the best homes in the town. I recall a few of them: J. C. Savery and wife; Doctor F. Woodruff, druggist, and wife; J. B. Stewart, banker; E. J. Ingersoll, founder of the Hawkeye Insurance Company, and wife; S. R. Ingham, capitalist, and wife; George W. Clark, lawyer and wife; Rev. J. M. Chamberlin; "Billy" Quick, United States Express Agent; Rev. F. Brooks; Major Thomas Cavanagh (ten years); A. Y. Rawson, merchant, wife and daughter; J. H. Windsor and wife; Colonel J. M. Elwood, lawyer; John A. Kasson; N. B. Baker, Adjutant-General, and family; J. M. Dixon, City Editor of the
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Register; Tac. Hussey and wife (twenty-five years), and William Foster.
When Foster arrived, Fred. asked him what his occupation was.
"Architect," replied Foster.
"Well," said Fred. "you had better go back East, for you will starve to death in this town," and for several years, Foster thought Fred. told the truth.
The house was also the favorite stopping——place of the venerable Judge Miller, Clerk Corkhill, and other officers of the Federal Court, Judge Dillon (fifteen years), and Judge Baldwin, of the State Supreme Court. The latter was a person of large proportions, weighing over five hundred pounds, of which he was, as was Cromwell of the big wart on his nose, exceedingly sensitive, and it was a source of much discomfort. He came to the house once when there was a big convention and the house full. When the dinner hour came, Fred. knowing that all the chairs in the dining room had arms, removed one at the end of a table and substituted a heavy one without arms, and when the Judge was ready, escorted him to the seat, but just as he was taking it, some friends at another table invited him to sit with them; and Fred., very quietly and courteously, exchanged the chairs, and the Judge sat down. On returning to the office, he gave Fred. a regular lambasting for thus inviting attention to his ponderosity.
Of the Governors who made the house their homes during the terms were Kirkwood, Stone, Merrill, Carpenter, Sherman, Gear, and their families. Of the newspaper editors, there were Beardsley, of the Burlington Hawk-eye; Ham, Dubuque Herald; Sam. Clark, Keokuk Gate City; Ed. Russell, Davenport Gazette; Judge Thomas. W. Clagett, Keokuk Constitution, and the vernerable quill-driver and party regulator, Rathbun, of the Marion Register——all of whom have gone to their eternal home except the latter.
In September, 1875, at the Reunion of the Army of the Tennessee, when nearly six thousand soldiers were in the city, the President, General Grant, General Belknap, Secretary of War, General W. T. Sherman, General Pope, General Myers ("Old Probs"), and several other military dignitaries were guest of the house, and at the close of the event, Fred. gave them a banquet, the spread of
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which has never been equalled in the city. Kingsley, the noted caterer of Chicago, was given carte blanche to prepare the menu.
It was during this reunion that Grant made the memorable speech in Moore's Hall, which raised a tempest throughout the country, and which greatly incensed the Catholics, all of which was caused by an incident common to the experience of all daily papers.
The President was to meet the school children of the city. The hall was packed. The speech was along educational lines. A Register reporter and myself were present. So soon as the President concluded, General Belknap secured the manuscript and gave it to us, when a fellow claiming to represent a New York paper asked the privilege of taking it to send it by wire to his paper, to which we courteously assented. He did not make his appearance again until nearly three o'clock in the morning. In the meantime, Belknap and the two of us kept vigil at the hotel office and nursed our wrath. The presses were being held and the editors and compositors in the Register office were clamoring for that speech. A copy was made hurriedly from the manuscript, which was written with lead pencil, with many erasures and interlineations.
The paragraph which caused the excitement as it appeared in the Register was as follows:
"Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one dollar of money appropriated to their support, no matter how raised, shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school. Resolve that neither the state or nation, or both combined, shall support institutions of learning other than those sufficient to afford every child growing up in the land the opportunity of a good, common-school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan or athestic tenets. Leave the matter of religion to the family alter, the church, and the private school."
It's appearance at once caused a commotion. It was a declaration of hostility to higher education. Inquiries came here from all quarters as to the correctness of the report, which was apparently confirmed by the fact that Grant remained in the city several days after the speech, and made no correction or comment on it.
It was not long before a copy of a paper containing that speech could not be found in the city; even the newspaper office files were
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robbed. A few days ago, I went to the State Historical Building, to get the speech as it appeared in the Register, bound volumes of which are kept there, but some despicable vandal had cut it entirely out of the paper, thus robbing the public of a valuable record.
The following is what Grant did say, as shown by a photographic copy which I possessed:
"Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one dollar of money appropriated to their support, no matter how raised, shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school. Resolve that either the state or nation, or both combined, shall support institutions of learning sufficient to afford to every child growing up in the land the opportunity of a good, common-school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistical tenets. Leave the mater of religion to the family circle, the church, and the private school supported entirely by private contribution."
Of all the numerous families who made the hotel their home, some ten, fifteen and twenty-five years, and the myriads of guests, there has not been a death in it, but there have been hundreds of births and marriages.
The ground floor was not finished for several years after the opening, business and trade not having gotten that far west. The first office of the Western Union Telegraph Company was in what is now Parlor A, and Frank Johnson, well known to old-timers as successor to his father, who started the first 'bus line, was the messenger boy. The first room finished was the dining-room, and was used for some time by the Christian Church.
The first occupants of the ground floor were the Register, on the Fourth Street front, in the room where Matt Kane had his restaurant; next, Christ. Bathman opened a barber shop, and it is there now. On the Walnut Street front, Jule Parmalee had a jewelry store at the corner, and it still is a jewelry store, S. Joseph having occupied it for thirty-five years; next west was H. Monroe, with a clothing store, adjoining which was L. H. Bush, with a drug store, and "Charley" Rogg as clerk. In the west half were Manning & Miller, grocers and grain buyers. The rear part, where the café now is, was used for storing grain, and even now, in tearing up floors for repairs in the rooms above it, the space under the floor is filled with grain chaff.
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Politically, Fred, is a Republican, but takes little part in politics, yet his house was the headquarters of political conventions, and some very stirring events occurred there, probably the most exciting of which was the fierce contest, in 1872, between the friends of Allison and Harlan for United States Senator. That was an epoch-maker in Iowa politics, when was settled for forty years a periodical source of contention and strife in the Republican party. I don't think Fred. has forgotten that fight.
In 1896, with faith in his conservatism, public spirit, and business qualifications, the West Side persuaded him to assent to a nomination for Alderman at Large. He was elected by a nearly unanimous vote, but one term in a bear garden satisfied him.
During the past year, he practically retired from active management, and put his son George, to the manner born, as full of good fellowship as he is large around, into the harness, who, with 'Gene Spring and R. G. Fisher, are again putting the house through another transformation, adding many improvements, and installing in greater degree the homelike features which have so held public favor for fifty years.
Though Fred. will have a paternal interest in the house, he will live on Easy Street, spending the summer months at Sleepy Hollow, Lake Okoboji, fighting mosquitos, and fishing.
No history of this house would be complete that did not give good credit to Mrs. Macartney, who, as housekeeper and homemaker, added so much to its popularity——a woman who not only gave honor to her position, but to social life of the city. She came to her position by natural progression. When Fred began service in the house, Webster, the proprietor, had several daughters, of the truly helpful kind. One day, Parker Anderson, the cook, a famous colored river steamboat cook, was chatting with one of the daughters, who was making pies for dinner, when she declared she did not like hotel-keeping; wished her father would get out of it; she wouldn't marry the best man living if he was a hotel-keeper. To which Parker retorted: "Miss Lottie, sure, you'll marry a hotel-keeper, talking lak dat." Five years later, Miss Lottie became Mrs. Macartney, and has remained in the house most of the time since, occupying the same rooms which she entered as a bride, in
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November, 1868, and vacated with Fred. in April last. Fred. says her pies are just as good to-day as in the days when she "wouldn't marry a hotel man."
Their old family waiter, who waited on them over thirty years, and lifted each child as a baby into his high chair in the dining-room, is still with the house.
March Twenty-eighth, 1905.
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MICHAEL H. KING
GOING over the roster of those prominently identified with the growth of Des Moines, very few so impressed his personality upon it as Michael H. King, or "Mike," as he was universally called. He came here in 1856, at the age of twenty-four years. His first job was as clerk in the store of R. W. Clark. Soon after, he engaged as bookkeeper with Alex. Scott, who was running saw mills, mining coal, and promoting the removal of the State Capital to Des Moines, and locating the State House on the East Side.
While he was with Scott, in 1857, the Fourth of July was made memorable by a demonstration given by the Callithumpians, consisting of more than one hundred and fifty young fellows dressed in the most fantastic garb they could invent, headed by a musical band composed of John Boyd, with a fiddle; Lew Noll, a triangle; C. A. Rogers, bones, and "Jim" Miller, tambourine. Hugh King, a brother of "Mike" was general commander, and "Bill" Lancaster secretary of the aggregation. The band was carried on a big platform, built on a wagon. The music they made can be contemplated by the temperament of the fellows who made it. The procession paraded the streets, halting at the corners, when "Bill" would call the roll, and "Jim" as bandmaster would swing his baton for a blast of the most excruciating number in his repertoire. The crowd finally got around to the Demoin House, at Walnut and First streets, the only "first-class" hotel in town, where they were joined by a large number of citizens. "Mike" was called on for a speech. He gave a splendid oration, and proved himself a man for the occasion, to their great surprise——subsequently often repeated——for which he was given robust cheers, and a "solo" by the band. The Legislature having just before permanently located at the Capital here, the people were jubilant. General Crocker also made an eloquent address.
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"Mike" remained with Scott about a year, when he started in mercantile business for himself, but failed to meet his expectation. He was then elected Justice of the Peace for Lee Township, and served two terms.
In 1862, he was elected City Clerk, when Colonel Spofford was Mayor, and served one term. He then ran for Police Judge, and, though the returns showed his election, the Democrats, by some system of addition and subtraction, counted him out. He then became bookkeeper at Shepard, Perrior & Bennett's woolen mills, which were where the casket factory now is, near the east end of Locust Street bridge, where he remained several years.
In 1869, he was elected a member of the Board of County Supervisors, to represent Lee Township, and served one year, when the Legislature abolished the system of township representation and provided for a Board of three members, to be elected by the county at large, and "Mike" who was not well known in the country as in Lee Township, for a time lost his grip in politics.
At a meeting of the Board, September Ninth, 1870, he offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted:
"Be It Resolved by the Board of Supervisors of Polk County, Iowa, That we cordially endorse the action of the President of the United States in recognizing the French Republic, and hereby offer our earnest wish for the triumph of the new Republic."
In 1872, the old Sixth Ward, which comprised all the territory from Des Moines River, between Grand Avenue and Court Avenue, to the east city limits, elected him Alderman, and he was reélected annually until 1880, when the term was changed to two years, and he was reélected each term until 1889, when he was elected, served one year, and in 1890, with Judge W. W. Williamson, was appointed by the Mayor on the first Board of Public Works, on which he served one year and two weeks, this completing more than nineteen years consecutive service in the City Council, a record I do not think can be duplicated by any city in this country. It is needless to say he had no opposition. He had abundance of it, both in and outside the Council. It was during his public service, was laid the foundation for a complete system of public improvements, water works, a fire department, sewerage, street lighting, bridges,
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street grading and paving. He was enterprising, energetic, aggressive, and had faith in the future. His policy was to build for the future, keeping present taxes low, and have the coming generations pay for the improvements and benefits which they were to enjoy. He was broad-minded and courageous in doing what he believed was for the public good. Often involved in angry heated contests in the Council, and the target of bitter opposition, he was always calm, courteous, yet immovable, and invariably, by the logic and soundness of his premises, indomitable will, and imperturbability of manner, won his colleagues to his support. While these contests were waging in the Council, the taxpayers were denouncing him for his "Utopian extravagant schemes, concocted for the sole benefit of a lot of his satellites and grafters." A great hue-and-cry would be raised every year, that "Mike" King was running the city into bankruptcy, and plans were made to defeat his election, but his ward knew him, and at the first meeting of the Council, in april, he was there to answer to roll call.
While in the Council, he was engaged largely in railroad grading contracts for the Chicago and Northwestern, in Wisconsin, and the Rock Island, in Kansas and Nebraska. In 1884, he built the narrow-gauge road from Des Moines to Cainesville, now the "Q." road. He excavated the basement of the Capitol, and graded the entire grounds, removing over fifty thousand cubic yards of earth. Old-timers remember that on the south and west sides, the grounds were twenty feet higher than they now, and covered with large timber trees. He also did a large amount of street grading in the city. It was not uncommon to see streets filled with his army of men, mules and wheel scrapers, a notable instance of which was High Street, which originally was an ugly place. He gave employment to more men than person in the city. When he had a job, he gave the work to the temperate, industrious, poor man, hence the plain, common people, the sturdy laboring classes, were his staunch and unwavering friends, many of whom had good evidence of his fealty to them, for sometimes the assessments made for street improvements would jeopardize their homes, and he would get the burden removed; yet he never used them for political or pecuniary advantage. In all of his various contracts or work done for the city,
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whether under resolution of the council or a written agreement, he filled the requirements to the letter. There were no constructive claims for "extras." As a member of the Council, he stood as a rock against all projects for possible "grabs." During many years he was Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and of the Committee on Streets and Alleys, and controlled the expenditure of large sums of money, yet there will not be found on the record the use of public funds dishonestly or without warrant or an equivalent in service. In some of his most extensive grading contracts, he lost heavily, but he made it an inexorable rule to pay his laborers first, and to that end he mortgaged his capacious home, which, after his death, was sold under foreclosure of the mortgage, and it stands to-day, on East Grand Avenue, unoccupied, a silent testimonial to his honesty and integrity.
In 1888, he, with Martin Tuttle, was appointed the first Board of Public Works of the city by the Mayor, for the term of three years, or, as the statute reads, "to hold the office until their successors are duly appointed nd qualified." Before the term expired, Mayor Carpenter was succeeded as Mayor by John H. Campbell, a shrewd politician, who at once appointed a new Board. Of course, there was a contest at once. "Mike" was not a novice in the game of politics. He went to the courts for writs of injunction, mandamus, certiorari, or whatever he could get, claiming he had been ousted unlawfully, as his legal term had not expired. But the courts could find nothing in the statute which prevented Campbell from paying his political debts as he saw fit——in fact, gave him, by implication, the privilege so to do. He then sued the city for the two years salary which Campbell had cut out, and the case went to the Supreme Court, where it was held that his service and salary ended when his successor had been "duly appointed and qualified." The statute seems to have been concocted for the special benefit of the game of politics. It was, however, subsequently, radically changed.
Politically, "Mike" was originally a Republican, and was very active in political affairs. He was a good, common-sense speaker, and a good organizer, but in 1878, he became an Independent, and drifted off to the Greenback party, was chosen one of the editors of the Daily People, established to boost Gillett into Congress. "Mike" was the principal booster, and Gillett got there.
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In 1896, "Mike" joined the "Pops," and was one of the delegates to the St. Louis Convention which nominated Bryan for President.
He was one of the organizers of the Irish Land League of Iowa, and was a delegate to the National convention, at Buffalo, during the visit of Parnell to America, in 1880. He secured a visit of the renowned English statesman to Des Moines. The Legislature was in session, and Parnell was specially invited to visit that body, which he did, giving a speech in both houses, an event which crowded the halls with people.
Religiously, King was a Catholic, an active, devoted member and supporter of Saint Ambrose Church, and parochial schools of the denomination, but he was catholic enough to include all other churches and schools as helpful to the betterment of social life.
In 1876, Father Brazil appointed him, J. S. Clarkson ("Ret"), John W. Gneser, J. B. McGorrisk, and John C. Reagan, a Board of Trustees, to build Mercy Hospital, which gave the city that splendid institution.
In 1893, he was appointed by Bishop Cosgrove as one of the delegates to the Catholic Congress at Chicago, during the World's Fair.
He died during the ceremonies of Memorial Day, 1902, leaving no heritage to his family, but the record of a kind husband and father, a public-spirited citizen, a friend of the poor, an honest, well-spent life.
June Fourth, 1905.
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JUDGE WILLIAM H. McHENRY, SR.
 ONE of the pioneers who became prominently identified with county and city was William H. McHenry, Sr., who, as his name indicates was of Irish descent. His ancestors settled in Maryland long before the Revolutionary War, becoming quite prominent. Fort McHenry was named for them.
He came here in August, 1848, from Indiana. There were no bridges, and he forded the river, went up to Beaver Creek, about six miles northwest, selected a claim near the creek, built a cabin, and became a citizen. In his youth, he was deprived of the opportunity to get a liberal education, but he secured the best afforded by the common schools. His greatest proficiency was in mathematics, and he became a surveyor, which was of great benefit to the Beaver Creek settlement especially, and settlers generally, in locating, fixing the boundaries and corners of their claims. It was during much excitement over claims. For months, speculators and land-seekers from the East had swarmed over the county, making selection of lands, evidently anticipating the time when it would be offered for sale by the Government, and in the absence of a real settler or claim-holder, from sickness or other cause, they could bid it off regardless of all rights of the settler. McHenry quickly saw the danger to his settlement, and at once began an organization for the protection of their claim rights. There were no laws, Territorial or Federal, applicable thereto, so, as he used to put it, "We became a law unto ourselves." A stranger seen going over the country had to be careful not to meddle with land claims, and if suspected of any scheme for jumping claims, he was not safe until he got out of the country. At a meeting of early settlers, McHenry, Tom Baker, and Thomas Watson were appointed to prepare Regulations for the Settlers' Club, which was done as follows:
"One——There shall be a committee of three to settle all disputes between settlers as to claims, boundary lines, etc.
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"Two——That there be a Secretary, whose duty shall be to register in a book the name of every man, and description of land, each wants bid off at the land sale in Iowa City; that the Secretary shall attend such land sale, and bid off the land in the name of the man registered as claimant; that it should be the duty of settlers to attend the land sales in a body, and there knock down and drag out any man other than the said Secretary who attempts to bid on the settler's home."
The claims made by settlers were considered by each and all as sacred, and not to be interfered with, but to be upheld and enforced at all hazards. Those "Club Laws," as they were called, were peculiarly adapted to the conditions of the present. They originated in the "eternal fitness of things," and that class of natural rights not enumerated in the Constitution, Federal or otherwise. In their enforcement, Lynch was often the presiding Judge. His judgments were swift, sure, and certain, from which there was no appeal, no venue, no delay.
Subsequently, a more formal Club was formed, embracing the whole county.
During the first two years of his residence, McHenry did considerable surveying for the Government in other counties. In 1851, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and served two terms. In the meantime, he resumed the study of law, which he had commenced in 1845, but was unable to complete, and in 1851, he was admitted to the Bar of Polk County, and divided his time between sporadic law cases and surveying.
In 1853, he was elected Sheriff, and as such, arrested Pleasant Fouts, who committed the first murder in Polk County, which occurred in August, 1854.
Fouts and his wife lived in discord, and after a quarrel one day, they agreed to separate. He rented their house and went away, but after several months returned, and persuaded his wife to live with him again, and a tent was put up near the house to await the vacation of it by the family who had rented. One evening, Fouts came home, secretly approached his wife while she was at work, and stabbed her. She escaped from him and fled into the house, reeking with blood. Fouts followed her, the bloody knife in hand,
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renewed the attack and cut her throat. She died in a few moments. He fled, but was soon arrested, indicted for murder in the first degree, and araigned for trial in October, when Curtis Bates and "Dan" Finch, his lawyers, pleaded, "Not Guilty," and asked a change of venue, which was granted, and Japser County was the county assigned for the trial. When the case came on there, a further venue was asked, and it was sent to Warren County, where, after a very tedious trail, Barlow Granger, Prosecuting Attorney, assisted by Lewis Todhunter, appearing for the state, the jury rendered a verdict of, "Guilty of murder in the fist degree."
A motion was made for a new trial, but denied by the court, who ordered that "the defendant be hung by the neck till he is dead, and that the execution of said defendant take place at some public and convenient place within one mile of the town of Indianola, within the County of Warren, on the Fifteenth day of December, A. D. 1854, at one o'clock of that day."
Fouts was remanded to the custody of McHenry, and the case taken to the Supreme Court, for error in the indictment. The claim was sustained, the offense changed to that of "murder in the second degree," and the penalty fixed at imprisonment for life in Fort Madison Penitentiary. McHenry took him by stage coach to Iowa City, and thence, upon the decision of the Supreme Court, to the Penitentiary, where he remained twenty-three years, and died. After his death, his two daughters employed McHenry to settle his estate, and the proceeds were delivered to them.
While he was Sheriff, he was often entrusted with large sums in gold, for the purchase of land, because of his extensive knowledge of the country. He would make the selection, survey it, fix the boundaries, executing the trust with scrupulous exactitude.
In 1856, he was elected County Drainage Commissioner, whose duty it was, in case a person desired to drain his land, and cross the land of another, and they disagreed as to terms, to examine the premises, give the parties a hearing, and fix the damage that might accrue.
It was during this year occurred the memorable contest between the East and West sides over the location of the State House. The Commissioners appointed by the Legislature to make the location employed McHenry to make a survey of the grounds they selected.
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On the Twenty-second of April, the West Siders raised a subscription of one hundred and twenty-five thousand and eight hundred dollars, as a bonus to be given, together with ten acres of land, to the state, provided the Capitol was located on the West Side, and the Commissioners were notified thereof. The subscription committee was informed that they would be given a hearing the next morning, and the subscription be considered, but when the hour for the hearing arrived, the West Siders were informed that the location had been fixed. McHenry was called as a witness before a committee of the Legislature to show that the Commissioners had completed their real estate deals, divided the swag, as the West Siders claimed, and located the Capitol several days before the hearing from the West Side. His testimony was as follows:
"Question.——Did you reside in Des Moines at the time of the location of the Capitol, in 1856, and were you called upon to survey the ground upon which the Capitol is located, and other public grounds? If so, state what time you were called upon, what time you made the survey, and what time you first heard the location was made.
"Answer.——I did live here. I was called upon to survey the Capitol grounds, I think, on Monday, April Twenty-first. I can't say when I first heard of the location, but it was before I made the survey.
"Question.——What grounds did you survey, and how long did you continue in the employ of the Commissioners?
"Answer.——The first survey was on the Capitol Square, the next one was designated on Bausman's map as 'State Grounds,' the next was on the south side of the Raccoon River. I was employed three or four days.
"Question.——Do you recollect making an appointment with Judge Crookham to make a survey on the south side of the Raccoon River?
"Answer.——I do.
"Question.——Did you do any surveying for Judge Crookham (one of the Commissioners) on his private account, or in any way, except as on public grounds?
"Answer.——I never did.
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In November, 1856, McHenry was elected a member of the Town Council of Fort Des Moines, and served until April following, when the town became incorporated as a city and he was elected Mayor.
In 1857, McHenry turned his attention to law practice. His wide acquaintance with people throughout the country, his genial, social temperament, integrity, and veracity won him an immense clientele.
He was not brilliant, but solid, sensible, deliberate, methodical, and reliable. His sympathies were always for the common people, the unfortunate, "the under dog in the fight." His practice was largely in the Criminal Court, and he became the proverbial defender in criminal cases. If a person got within the meshes of law, "Old Bill McHenry," a soubriquet often applied to him, not reproachfully, but as a mark of distinction, of trust, and abiding faith, for there was another "Bill McHenry," his son, a rising young lawyer, now a popular, estimable Judge of the District Court——was secured to get him out. To a client, he was true as steel. The question of fee seldom entered his head. As a rule, his clients were the unfortunate, the poorer class, seldom capitalists or corporations. He was extremely liberal. If his client had no money, it was all the same, hence he never became rich.
As an advocate before a jury, he had few equals. all he wanted was a body of good, sensible men——farmers, if possible——in the box. He never indulged in hifalutin language, was never spectacular, never emotional, never "played to the gallery." He planted himself in a law of Justice, Equity, and Humanity, and, in his plain, original, unique way, with a vocabulary of his own, abjuring technicalities, despising shystering, he was a powerful pleader.
In 1870, he was elected City Soclicitor, with J. P. Foster, a Republican, Mayor, and a Republican majority in the Council.
In 1875, he was elected Alderman for the Second Ward, and reëlected in 1876.
In 1878, he was nominated for Judge of the District Court, by the Democrats. There had not been a Democrat elected to that office in the county for twenty years, and his election was deemed impossible, but he had so ingratiated himself into the confidence
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and good-will of the people, he was elected by a large majority, and so admirably did he administer justice, he was reëlected.
In criminal cases, his humanity, sympathy, kindness of heart, and desire to temper justice with mercy, often carried him to the verge of liberality in his decisions. Criticism by the more astute members of the Bar and outsiders availed nothing. He went on, in his rugged, uncommon way, dispensing the Gospel of Justice, Equity and Humanity to the end. In the more abstruse questions of law, he made as good a guess at the solutions as the more finished graduates of law schools, and he left the bench with high commendation for his probity and integrity.
He was an enthusiastic member of the Old Settlers' Association, never missed its gatherings, and often entertained the crowd with his large fund of incidents and stories pertaining to the early days. He used to tell one on Martin (X) Tucker, who kept the first tavern in the town. Tucker was a pompous, illiterate character, and was known all over the country as "Martin X." His often boasted shrewdness was in detecting schemes of sharpers who floated into town. One day, a down-East Yankee came to the tavern——the town had not got to the "hotel" stage. A few days after his arrival, Martin began quizzing him about Yankee tricks, and asked him to relate some of them. He evaded, but said he would do so later. Soon after, he was missing, and his bill unpaid. Several weeks after, Martin received a letter from him, asking his opinion of Yankee tricks.
Politically, McHenry was a Democrat, of the unterrified variety. He took an active part in all political campaigns. On the stump, his quaint, original speeches were always in demand, and drew the crowds, for they knew what would be coming. He never toyed with "isms," or went off in tangents, but kept within the landmarks of the old party.
He was patriotic, and popular as a Fourth of July speaker, but he kept the "Bird of Freedom" close to the earth, never flying it beyond the vision of the common people, never exploiting rhetorical pyrotechnics.
He was public-spirited. His wide experience in various departments of civic life, his judicial training and conservatism, were helpful to the community in many ways.
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He died in 1893, leaving no heritage but the record of a useful, helpful life, and sons and daughters who have won public esteem and preferment.
June Twenty-fifth, 1905
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