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COLONEL SUMNER F. SPOFFORD
 MENTION of men and events of early days would be incomplete that omitted "Colonel" Sumner F. Spofford, who came here in 1854, and for thirty-four years was a moving spirit in public affairs. Without a military record, he was given the title of "Colonel" by common consent, and it fitted him well.
In 1852, Conrad Stutsman made additions to one of the log buildings at the corner of First and Walnut streets, and named it the Pennsylvania House. It was one story and a half high, the upper story being one room. Beds were placed along each side, without curtains or partitions. It was usually crowded——sometimes three in a bed——such was the influx of land-seekers, and they were not very fastidious. There were no wardrobes. Hats, boots and shoes were thrown under the beds. Shelter, grub and a place to sleep satisfied the patrons. It was a lively hotelry.
In 1854, Stutsman moved it south, and built a large two-story frame, and sold it to J. C. Warner and John Yost, who opened it to the public in April, 1855. both being East Siders, they named it "Demoine House," because that was the way the word was spoken, they said, and it remained so as long as the house house existed.
Soon after the opening, the Colonel bought it for sixteen thousand dollars, and was host until 1862. It was a lively place. The bar-room annex on the south side was the rendezvous for politicians. There being no public-hall, the dining-room was a favorite place for dancing parties, where, in the pale, mellow light of tallow dips or whale oil, joy went unconfined. The Colonel was an ideal Boniface, social, cordial, polite, energetic, and immensely popular.
In 1876, the house was torn down, to be replaced with one larger and up-to-date, long contemplated. The foundation was laid, but hard times and other causes forced abandonment of the project. A portion of the foundation still remains. The property now belongs to Uncle Sam, who, after the usual divisive river strife, and
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the East Siders winning a river-front location, will erect a new Post Office creditable to himself and the city.
At the southwest corner of the hotel, at the rear, fronting on the alley, was one of the log barrack buildings, occupied by "Uncle" Thomas French, by right of eminent domain, as it were, so long as the hotel existed. He was a bachelor, kind, companionable, great lover of books, fond of children, and a good carpenter, but, as his expenses were light, little manual labor was required. He spent much time in fishing, seemingly for the sole satisfaction received from giving his catches to his friends, save what he cooked for himself——an art he understood. He could catch, too, when others could not get a "nibble." He had a "hook and line, bob and sinker," for every kind of fish that swam the stream. He was an inveterate smoker. He and "Ret" Clarkson were warm friends. "Ret" abhorred tobacco——would not allow smoking in his editorial room, yet it was generally understood around the Register establishment that "Uncle Tommy" could draw his pipe there. Politically, "Uncle Tommy" was a Republican; religiously, a hard-shell Baptist. His mission was to do good, care for the sick, and solace the sorrowing.
The energy and sterling qualities of the Colonel did not long escape attention.
In the contest for the State House location, he was a West Sider, subscribed one thousand dollars to the West Side fund, was a good persuader, a good Democrat, yet somehow he failed to win over his guests, the legislative committee sent to fix the site. As the story went, he did not run up against the right man. He should have spent a short time in that south annex in a hear-to-heart talk with one Baldwin. But that is another story, to be told later on.
In 1863, the Colonel was elected Trustee for the Second Ward, the office not having progressed to the dignity of Alderman.
In 1865, pursuant to a vote of the electors, the County Supervisors, of whom the Colonel was a member, purchased two hundred and eight acres for a Poor Farm, at a cost of six thousand five hundred and fifty dollars. the Colonel and "Uncle Jimmy" Jordan were appointed a committee to purchase the necessary cattle, horses, hogs and farm machinery to put it in operation. That was the beginning of the present county asylum for the poor and insane.
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In 1866, the Colonel, with Frank R. Laird, were granted the privilege of building the first bridge over the river, at Walnut Street, by County Judge Napier, who, as the law then was, had power to order bridges built wheresoever he pleased. It was a wooden Howe truss pattern, and soon after completion one span was broken by a drove of horses. It was a toll bridge. The Colonel collected the first toll, and he was the first person to cross it with a horse and carriage. The people did not take kindly to toll-paying, and in November, 1876, it was made a free bridge. The Colonel collected the last toll, and carried it with the first in his pocket several years as souvenirs. They were both of Uncle Sam's fractional currency, there being no silver coin in circulation in those days. The bridge was owned by the county, and, when made free, was turned over to the city, and all bridges tolled from 1871 to 1879, when, under agreement between the city and county, all were made free.
In 1868, the city being politically Repubclican by a small majority, the Democrats made extraordinary effort to gain the city election, and persuaded the Colonel, much against his inclination, to allow his name to go at the head of the ticket for Mayor. The contest was a vigorous one. The Register, edited by Frank Palmer, evidently alarmed by the popularity of the Colonel, lambasted him with a pointedness equal to some of Barlow Granger's expressions in his old Star. One day it said of him:
"The candidates on the Democratic city ticket plant their feet firmly on the infernal planks of Copperhead platform adopted by the conclave (State Convention) last week. Spofford is just as much a part of the Democratic wheel, when it moves, as 'Dirty Shirt' Dean, Finch, 'Teetotaller' McHenry (Judge M. D. McHenry), 'Automatical Tom-Tit' Bently, 'Brick' Pomeroy, the miscellaneous youth, Ayres——not quite so noisy, not quite so blatant, and probably not quite so earnest, but pledged t it as much as they."
This screed bears very much the ear-marks of Seward Smith, who wielded a pen with a sharp, caustic point, a shrewd, astute political manipulator rarely equaled. It was not Palmer's style. Smith was the candidate for City Solicitor against Bently, who
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subsequently defended the convicted murderer, Howard, hung at a lamp post by vigilantes, and who fled the city on being informed the vigilantes were seeking him. He never came back.
The Colonel came into the fray with a seat in the Mayor's chair, but the remainder of the ticket was carried by the Republicans. That was the last time the Colonel could be inveigled into political office seeking.
When, in 1871, the Ulm & Coskrey Bank and the Citizens Bank were merged, and the Citizens National Bank was organized, the Colonel was elected one of the Directors, and served several years.
In 1860, the Legislature, to promote immigration to the state, provided for the establishment of an agency in New York, but with very unsatisfactory results, and, in 1872, it was discontinued, a Board of Immigration substituted, with headquarters here, and Governor Merrill, a Republican, appointed the Colonel a member of the board. Pamphlets entitled, "Iowa, the Home for Immigrants," were printed in English, Dutch, German, Swedish and Norwegian languages, setting forth the advantages of the state for the farmer and business man, and sent broadcast over Europe, resulting in an immense gain to our population. The board was abolished in 1876.
In 1872, with Captain F. R. West, George A. Jewitt and Wesley Redhead, he organized the Des Moines Scale Company, to manufacture scales, windmills and butter makers. He was the Vice-President. In 1874, the business passed to Dickinson, Berry & Sargent. This last company did not exist long. It was not equipped to compete with the big Howe and Fairbanks companies. Sargent was an inventive genius, and very poor. He carried around in his pocket a small model of a railroad brake shoe he had invented, which he was satisfied was a good thing. To get it into use was the problem. He had no money. Another impediment was, a mechanic for the Union Pacific road had a patent for a brake shoe, the wearing surface of which was chilled iron, which, when pressed against the chilled iron of the car wheel, had no grip, and proved impracticable. Sargent's shoe was precisely like it, except that when molding it he put in old wrought iron nuts and pieces of scrap wrought iron. These being softer than the chilled iron, would
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grip the car wheel. But the shoe was valueless to him so long as the patent on the other shoe existed, even though that shoe was of now value. In some way, Sargent got possession of all the rights of the other shoe, went to Chicago, where it was quickly approved by practical men. It is now in use on nearly every railroad in this country and Europe, and Sargent is many times a millionaire.
In 1873, Governor Samuel Merrill, Judge Casady, Lieutenant-Governor Gue, ex-State Auditor Elliott, and the Colonel incorporated the State Printing Company. The Colonel was elected President. Its business was to furnish "insides" for country newspapers, and the purchase and sales of printer's supplies. In 1876, the name was changed to Iowa Printing Company, and in 1880 to Western Newspaper Union, which it is to-day.
In 1871, A. J. Jack laid out the town of Commerce, about eight miles west, and built a flour mill and dam across 'Coon River. Soon after, Spofford, who, in his young days, was the "mill-boy" in one of his father's mills, and being only president, vice-president, director, secretary, or treasurer in a dozen corporations, concluded to add this flour mill as a reminder of his early training, and purchased it. In 1874, he put in his last "grist," and sold to A. J. Delano.
The Colonel was greatly interested in agricultural Fairs. In the old days, before the wheels were removed from the State Fair, which itinerated over the state, the County Fair was his special hobby. He admired a good horse. He was a superb horseman——not the fast variety——and usally had a few fine steppers. While he did not "follow the races,"there were few horses that could eat hay from the rear end of his wagon on the road. He was a great favorite with the young women, and nothing gave him more pleasure than to fill his big four-seated carriage with them on pleasant days and give them a ride about the city. If the days were long enough, all had a chance, filling the air with the bubbling-over of their merriment and happiness. In Winter, it would be a big sleigh or a broad hay rack on runners. Sometimes it would be an evening skylarking surprise to "Uncle Jimmy" Jordan or the Flynns. A turn-out with the Colonel was an event coveted and enjoyed by many matrons now living. At big civic functions and parades, the Colonel was the Chief Marshal.
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Though politically a Democrat, Republican Governors many times appointed him to places of trust, without pecuniary profit, yet he was ever ready to give his time and service to benefit the community. He was often a good reliance in emergencies, when individual effort was more potent than money.
He went to rest in Woodland, in 1885, but the spot is lost to the searcher, as the inscriptions on the monument erected to his memory have become obliterated.
July Thirty-first, 1904.
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WESLEY REDHEAD
 AMONG the early hustlers and epoch-makers of Polk County and Des Moines, was Wesley Redhead, for forty years known by every man, woman and child in the community.
Born in Cumberland County, England, July Twenty-second, 1825, when but four years old he came over the sea with his parents to Montreal, Canada. His parents died in 1831, and he then went to live with an uncle in Cincinnati, where he was apprenticed to learn the printing business, and, being the youngest in the office, was the "printer's devil," and one of the first newsboys of the city.
After a time, his uncle, thinking his environments were bad, sent him to Fairfield, Vermont, where his eldest brother was engaged in cabinet making. Three weeks were required for the journey. After a month's trial at cabinet making, Wesley concluded he could do better. He left Fairfield between two days, without a "ticket of leave," and walked most of the way to Whitehall, New York, where he got a job as driver on the Erie Canal. When the canal froze up, he went to a farm, where he worked two years, receiving therefor his board, clothes, and three months' schooling each year.
In 1842, he concluded farming was not for him, and went to Saratoga Springs, where, for two seasons, he served visitors at Congress Springs, as a "dipper" of the aqueous fluid, when another predatory fit seized him, and he shipped on a Mississippi River steamboat as cabin-boy. On the way up, at Muscatine, in September, 1844, he deserted the ship, and went to Iowa City, where a brother resided. There he secured employment in the office of the Iowa Capital Reporter, at three dollars a week, his stunt being the "devil's" work, and setting one column of type a day for the paper. Playing the "devil" for one year was enough for him, and, in 1845, he went to Anamosa, where he got employment to run a carding machine in a woolen factory, but soon after
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his health became impaired, and he returned to Iowa City and apprenticed himself for three years to learn the tailoring trade. On the expiration of the term, he worked as a "jour." until 1851, when he came to Fort Des Moines and opened a tailor shop on Second Street, then the center of trade and fashion. Judge Casady, Barlow Granger, Hoyt Sherman, "Dan" Finch, and others of the old boys, say he made good clothes——better than we get nowadays.
In 1852, he was ready for another change, to suit his versatile genius, and he took a clerkship in the general merchandise store of J. M. Griffiths, on Second Street, at twenty dollars a month.
He was a good mixer, jolly, and, though a Democrat, in 1853 he was appointed postmaster by President Fillmore, to succeed Hoyt Sherman, who had resigned. He retained the office in the building erected by Sherman at Second and Vine streets, put in a small stock of books and stationery, and remained there until the Sherman Block was completed at Third Street and Court Avenue.
In 1855, he opened an agency of the Ætna Fire Insurance Company, of Hartford, and issued the first policy of insurance on property in the town.
That was the year of the contest between the East and West Side for the location of the State House. Wesley was a West Sider, and subscribed one thousand dollars to the "war fund."
In 1856, at the May term of court, he was admitted to the bar as an attorney, not with the purpose of practicing the profession, but as an aid in business affairs. That was the last term of the unique McFarland on the bench. During the term, the second application for a divorce in Polk County was made, the only one at that term. I think the case was Mitchell vs. Mitchell. A Mrs. Dailey had married one Mitchell, who, not long after, joined the gold-seeking caravan for California, and forgot to come back. The plaintiff set forth in her petition her various grievances, especially that of desertion. Judge McKay, who had been the judge of the court one term, was the attorney for the grass widow. He presented her case in an able and convincing argument. The court at once took it under consideration, and happened to be in fair condition. McKay was standing near, waiting the decision. McFarland, looking up, said:
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"Here, Judge, take your decree. Call her Mrs. Dailey herewith, and put her against the first chance she gets."
On another occasion, in Marshall County, a divorce case was up in which belligerency on one side was set forth in the petition. The Judge was "half-seas over." The first witness called was asked if he knew the parties to the suit. He replied: "Oh, not much. They are always fighting and fuddling around."
The Judge aroused himself from his bibulous stupor and muttered: "Fud-ling-round and a-r-o-u-n-d; next case."
The Judge was an athlete of prodigious strength, which he never used except as occasion required, but he enjoyed seeing others indulge in athletic sport. He was holding court one hot day in a schoolhouse in Newton. The windows and doors were all open, and "Dan" Finch was addressing the jury, when a man in the crowd outside, in a loud voice, boasted that he could throw any man in Jasper County, at a side-hold. The Judge tapped on his desk, and said he would recess for a few minutes. Going outside, he asked for the man who had made the boast. A large man named Sparks replied that he was the man. The Judge ordered a ring made, and requested "Dan" who had some reputation as a wrestler, to try him, which he did, and put him three times squarely on his back, whereat the fellow got mad, and, getting on his feet, seized a big club and hurled it at "Dan," barely missing his head. The Judge grabbed the fellow with one hand by the throat, and shook him up lively, remarking that if he touched "Dan" he would wipe the ground with him, adding: " 'Dan' does the wrestling on this circuit, but I do the fighting." That ended the scene, and court resumed its session.
In 1857, Redhead removed the Post Office to Sherman Block, which had just been completed, and put in a large stock of books and stationery; made a specialty of school books, and controlled the trade of the city for many years.
In the early Sixties, he began to widen the scope of his business. Coal and cattle presented strong inducements to him. The presence of coal in and around the town was well known. Doctor Brooks and W. A. Scott burrowed into the bluff southeast of the Capitol, and got coal for the garrison blacksmiths in 1843-4. Later on,
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factories and mills were supplied with it. In 1856, a factory where the German Church stands, at West Second and Center streets, burrowed direct from the engine-room and got coal to heat its boilers. It was also dug up from the bed of the Des Moines River near Rattlesnake Bend. The veins were thin, and the quality not good.
In 1864, Redhead organized a company and began mining coal in a systematic way, with varied success.
In 1865, he, with William T. Vincent, and old Welsh coal miner, B. F. Allen, M. Starr, William Phillips, Hoyt Sherman, John Teesdale, James W. Davis, L. W. Dennis, Frank Butler, and E. Sandford, organized the Des Moines coal Company, and coal mining was begun in a more extensive manner. The digging was done on the old Peet farm, on the bottoms in the north part of the city, along Des Moines River, under the foremanship of John Gibson, a Derbyshire, England, miner. The coal was in "pockets," so-called, near the surface, which were soon cleaned out, requiring frequent removals and changes of location. They burrowed all over the farm until the supply was exhausted, so as to render further digging unprofitable.
In 1867, when the Equitable Life Insurance Company was organized, Redhead was elected Vice-President. He was one of the organizers of the People's Savings Bank, and one of its Directors.
In 1866, Redhead was elected to represent the county in the Lower House of the Twenty-first General Assembly. He was made a member of the standing committees on Banks and Banking, Schools, Agriculture, Police REgulations, Fish and Game, Board of Public Charities, and Library, of the latter being its chairman.
He started in early and energetically to regulate things, and was the author of numerous bills, the most notable of which was one prohibiting the issuance of a marriage license by the Clerk of the District Court, unless the parties gave him satisfactory assurance that they would be able to support themselves and their progeny. S. M. Weaver, the member form Hardin, now one of the judges of the Supreme Court, with the irony of fate, but facetiously, moved its reference to the Committee on Retrenchment and Reform. There it went, and Wesley, during the remainder
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of the session, was left to ruminate on tricks of legislation. It never came back to the House.
At the same election, he was elected a member of the Board of County Supervisors, to represent Des Moines Township. At the January meeting, following, of the Board, it was found that the township had acquired a population of four thousand, and was entitled to another supervisor, and Redhead was elected.
In 1867, he retired from active participation in the business of the firm of Redhead & Wellslager, to devote his time to the development of his coal properties. He owned a large tract of land south of 'Coon River, near the south end of Seventh Street bridge. Persistent in the belief that stratified coal existed in this locality, he determined to test it on his own land, though Gibson and other old miners thought it doubtful. Machinery was purchased, and early in 1873, a prospecting drill was started, with a and and night crew. At the depth of seventy feet, three inferior veins of coal had been pierced, with a flint rock stubbornly resisting further progress of the drill. John advised abandonment of the whole business, but Wesley declared he would "go to China, or find coal." He asked John how much drill rod was left, and being told there was twenty feet, he ordered the work to proceed, saying if twenty fee of rod was not enough, he would add one hundred more. The work went on, the drill advancing but three inches per day, for four weeks, when the rock was penetrated and the drill plunged through a strata of fine coal. It was late in the evening, and Wesley, elated with the discovery, went to Allen's house, routed him out of bed to make it known. Allen was so well pleased, he invested thirty-five thousand dollars in the company. A shaft was immediately put in, and, at the depth of one hundred and twenty-five feet, ninety feet below the bed of 'Coon River, a coal measure four feet and six inches thick was reached on the Second of June, and on the Third, a load of coal was delivered to Wesley's office, and thus was inaugurated one of the most valuable industries of the state.
John is still digging coal under about half of Polk County.
Wesley gradually purchased all shares of the company held by others, and, in 1874, became the sole owner.
In 1876, he sent samples of his "Black Diamonds." as he called them, to the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, which were
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given high commendation in the award of merits, and greatly surprised the Eastern coal miners.
In May, 1880, James P. Clark, who had been his confidential clerk, joined him, and the name of the company was changed to Pioneer Coal Company.
Redhead was always a busy man, with a restless energy to do things, to develop some good business enterprises, and developed one of the greatest and most valuable natural resources of the city and county.
In 1865, when the old State Bank of Iowa was reorganized under the National Banking Law, he became a stockholder and director. In 1876, its charter was surrendered.
He was always interested in agricultural affairs, and owned a good farm. When the Patrons of Husbandry and Granger craze became epidemic in the Western States, in September, 1870, he was instrumental in organizing, and was a charter member of Capital Grange, Number Five.
In 1872, he was one of the organizers of the Des Moines Scale Company, and was elected its treasurer. Its business was the manufacture of scales, windmills, and butter-workers, and so continued to 1874, when the establishment was leased to William Dickerson.
In 1873, the State Printing Company was organized, to print auxiliary newspaper sheets, or what was known as "patent insides," for country newspapers. Redhead was one of the directors, and was elected Vice-President of the company.
In 1879, when a wide-spread effort was made to permanently locate the State Fair, in which several towns in the state were like-wise interested, Redhead was actively instrumental in securing it for Des Moines, and in furnishing some land on which it is located.
In 1885, he organized the Pioneer Hay Company, with a capital of sixty thousand dollars, its business being to purchase prairie land, bale prairie hay, and the breeding of fine cattle. Out of it has come the noted Redhead herd of Hereford cattle, known all over the country, and now owned by his son George.
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For several years Redhead was an active member of the Public School Board.
He was a man of strict integrity, honest and fidelity to every trust imposed upon him.
Socially, he was affiable, fond of society, a good mixer, and immensely popular. In the early days, there were no predatory barnstormers, amusement halls, nor concert troupes, and the people had to rely on their own resources for amusements. In Summer, picnics, parties, and out-of-door dances under trees; in Winter, sleigh-rides and dancing in the dining-rooms of the taverns, were frequent and enjoyable. The pleasant home of Mr. Redhead was a favorite meeting-place for young people, with whom he and his lovable wife were chummy friends. He was a charter member of Emanuel Consistory, A.A.S.R., Number Two.
Politically, Redhead was a Democrat, until 1865, when he became a Republican; but he was not a politician——had no time to waste in the game. The Sixth Ward, however, pressed him into service in 1870 and 1871, as its Alderman, and he proved an efficient member.
Religiously, he was a Methodist, and a substantial pillar of that church.
August Seventh, 1904.
JUDGE BYRON RICE
 THOUGH not one of the earliest settlers here, Byron Rice, who came in September, 1849, may be recorded the father of Des Moines, as a civil compact; for, prior to 1849, the county and the town were comparatively unorganized. It was the formative period. Schools were supported by subscriptions, and in the country the teachers "boarded 'round." Schoolhouses were made of logs by the people of a neighborhood, who, upon a given day, would bring logs together and build the house. A fund would be raised by subscription, and a teacher employed,whose compensation was fixed by circumstances and conditions. If a married person, potatoes, corn, family supplies——even rails would be accepted; for, in 1846, a contract was made with a rural teacher wherein he was to teach Spelling, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic three months for a dollar and a half per scholar, provided twenty scholars were signed, or a total of thirty dollars (whether for each month or the full term, the contract does not say). The citizens agree to furnish a suitable house and board the teacher. The salary could be "paid in rails at the customary price."
Until 1849, all schools in Polk County were subscription schools——and at The Fort were held in barrack log buildings left by the soldiers, under rude and uncomfortable conditions. Father Bird was the first to get under his own roof. Miss Davis, who occupied one of the larger buildings, had to move out whenever the Honorable, the District Court, came, or there was some important public meeting to be held.
In 1849, was organized the first Public School District of Fort Des Moines, and Byron Rice was elected teacher. He was a young man, about twenty-three years old, a newly fledged lawyer, of pre-possessing appearance, and bearing an impress of sterling qualities. Moreover, he was out of a job. The school opened for the Fall and Winter term in the Methodist Church, a 24x30 foot frame
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structure on Fifth Street, where the Iowa Loan and Trust Building now is.
After a few weeks, the school was removed to the partly finished Court House, standing on the site of the Union Depot. There were no outside doors; the inside doors, rough boards made by carpenters; walls unplastered. The room was heated with a box stove at one end. He always said he got along very well. He had the faculty to adapt himself to circumstances, as afterward was fully disclosed. He continued teaching during the following Summer, when he determined to practice law, that being his profession.
For the next term of school, in 1850, one Charles L. Anderson was an applicant to succeed him. November Twenty-fifth, the School Director, "Sammy" Gray, who plastered the first frame house in the town (Doctor Grimmel's), and William W. Jones, a farmer, on the north town limit (all the Jones hereabout had a "W" in their middle name——George W., John W., and William W., etc.), held a meeting to test his qualifications. Madison Young, a thoroughly educated man, somewhat unique, was secretary of the board. Jones declined to take part in the examination, and requested the appointment of Lewis Whitten, a former subscription school teacher, and Byron Rice to make the examination, Rice to quiz in Mathematics. Then they rested, and Anderson was put through his stunts. Whereupon the board, with all due appreciation of the dignity of their office, prepared the report of their doings, and directed Madison to place it on record, to-wit:
"The undersigned Board of Directors of the School District Number Five, Des Moines Township, in Polk County, State of Iowa, have this day examined Charles L. Anderson, a school teacher employed by them, and find him qualified in point of talent and learning to teach school in said district.
"SAMUEL GRAY,
"W. W. JONES,
"Directors.
"FORT DES MOINES, NOVEMBER TWENTY-FIFTH, 1850"
To the report Madison affixed the following addenda, for reasons known best to himself:
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"The Secretary will further state that Lewis Whitten, acting as examiner in place of W. W. Jones, treasurer, came to the conclusion that Charles L. Anderson, teacher, as aforesaid, was incompetent to teach school inpoint of learning and ability, but made no written report upon the subject.
"Byron Rice, examiner in Arithmetic, asked Charles L. Anderson, teacher, as aforesaid, why he multiplied the numerators together in multiplication of Vulgar Fractions. Mr. Anderson was unable to tell. Mr. Rice further asked Mr. Anderson why he inverted the divisor in division of Vulgar Fractions. Mr. Anderson was unable to tell. Mr. Rice gave Mr. Anderson some sums to do in Complex Fractions. Mr. Anderson remarked that they were of no earthly use, or practical benefit, and if scholars should bring arithmetics to his school that had Complex fractions in, he should order them to tear such Fractions out of their books.
"Byron Rice refused to make any report.
"Madison Young, Secretary, examined Charles L. Anderson in Reading, Writing, Spelling, Arithmetic and English Grammar, and came to the conclusion that Charles L. Anderson did not possess sufficient knowledge in Reading, Arithmetic and English Grammar to teach the same, and was incompetent to teach a public school.
"MADISON YOUNG,
"Secretary.
"NOVEMBER TWENTY-FIFTH, 1850"
Whether or not Anderson taught the school, the record does not show, but, as on the Twenty-fifth of March, the treasurer, Jones, paid him twenty-five dollars, the presumption is he did. What became of the Fractions, I have been unable to learn from the records or any of the scholars.
It was quite common in those early days for a man to get places he was not entitled to. Hoyt Sherman learned that when he got the majority vote for Sheriff, and D. B. Spaulding got the office. So, also, W. W. Williamson, who was elected Judge of the District Court, and even received his commission, but the noted, if not notorious, McFarland got the place.
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It was the accepted unwritten law, up to 1856, that only Democrats could hold public office in Polk County, and Barlow Granger, "Dan" Finch, "Ben" Byrant et al saw that the law was enforced.
In 1850, Rice formed a law partnership with J. E. Jewett. His first case in court was to defend a man charged with a misdemeanor, which, in law, covers a multitude of offenses——in fact, anything not specifically named in the statute. HIs opposing lawyer was John M. Perry, the Prosecuting Attorney, who blew into the town in the Spring of 1848——a very good lawyer, but egotistical, pompous and overbearing. Rice was tall, slender, dressed in good taste, and pleasing in manners. Perry had sized him up, and said to bystanders one day that he would have some fun with "that young man from New York when the case came on; there was nothing of him; a young upstart." Soon after the trial began, Perry commenced having his "fun" by insolence and bulldozing, which he carried so far as to call Rice a liar. No sooner was the word spoken than he lay sprawling on the floor. The act so pleased several people that they presented Rice with substantial tokens of their approval, and declared he should have Perry's place as Prosecuting Attorney, and at the next August election they made good. He was elected. Perry steered clear of Rice afterward. A year later he went to California, became a drunken sot, died in an alley, and was buried a pauper.
In November, following the election, S. R. Burbridge, who was County Judge, died, and in accordance with the statutes, the Prosecuting Attorney became the County Judge until the next election.
The County Judge was the ruling power of the county; his judgment, whether wise or otherwise, was final; there was no appeal from it. He was an autocrat with unlimited possibilities and great responsibility. He issued and refused marriage licenses, levied taxes, ordered bridges and roads built, organized counties and towns, built court houses and jails. It was inevitable that he must be one having the most implicit trust and confidence of the people, and such was the fact, for from the first to last of them, in 1861, when the system was abolished, they were men of good judgment, strict integrity, and some of them had knotty problems to solve.
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The Judge brought to his office a well-trained mind, a system of order and exactness in business transactions, and was at once a busy man, straightening out the tangled affairs consequent upon the incapacity or carelessness if others, and also to devise measures to meet the progress of events and rapid changing of conditions. The records of the county for the first two or three years were utterly unintelligible——often contradictory. With the aid of Hoyt Sherman, then County Clerk, order was brought out of chaos.
In 1851, the people concluded The Fort had become big enough to go alone, and they asked the Judge for the privileges of a corporation. He thereupon, on the Twenty-second of September, ordered a special election "For" or "Against" incorporation.
"For" received every vote but one. Who the negative alien was never transpired. On the Twenty-seventh, he ordered another election for the selection of three persons to prepare a Town Charter. Judge Casady, Lamp. Sherman and Father Bird were chosen. October Eleventh, they reported to the Judge a charter and boundaries of the town. Another election was immediately ordered on the adoption of the charter. It received every vote, and continued in force until 1862, when the Legislature, by special Act, incorporated the town. It can therefore fairly be said that the Judge was the father of the town. What would the people to-day think of four city elections in one month.?
While the Judge was in the corporating business, he laid out and organized the counties of Hardin and Story, as his jurisdiction extended over all territory north and west, except Boone and Dallas counties.
In 1853, the people were clamorous for railroads. Despairing of getting any relief through the River Navigation Company, they turned to railroads. The air was full of projects; the state was gridironed with roads——on paper——some of them so tortuous as to be dubbed the "Ram's Horn," the "Sheep's Leg," etc. The Chicago and Galena Roads had reached Galena. Of the several projects, the Lyons and Iowa Central Air Line, to be connected with the Galena, thence via Lyons, Maquoketa, Iowa City, and Des Moines, to the Missouri River, seemed to be the most feasible and promising.
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Yielding to the public sentiment, Judge Rice ordered an election, at which it was voted to subscribe one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to aid in building this road, but the Judge was "from Missouri"——he refused to issue any bonds until there was something to show for them. The road never got beyond the paper stage.
In the meantime, the Mississippi and Missouri Road was started from Davenport, to go to Missouri River by a route offering the best inducements. Strong effort was made to have the subscription to the Air Line Road transferred to this road. Judge Rice refused to sanction it, but later, under Judge Napier, who succeeded Rice, three hundred thousand dollars was voted by Polk County. Several other counties also voted aid and issued bonds, for the road was impecunious and clamorous for money, but Napier refused to issue bonds. The road got as far as Iowa City, became bankrupt, and was sold to the Chicago and Rock Island. Despairing of ever getting the road, Napier ordered an election, at which the subscription was rescinded, and Polk County——though it finally got the road——escaped the troubles and expensive litigation with counties which issued bonds, in which not a mile of road was built. For many years after, their Boards of Supervisors were hauled before the Federal Court here, fined and ordered to prison for contempt of court in refusing to levy a tax to pay the judgments on the bonds. They finally had to do it.
In 1855, the Judge resigned, and, with A. Newton, Wiley C. Burton, and Lovell White, built the Exchange Block, corner of Third and Walnut streets, the first brick business building erected in the town. The first floor was occupied by stores, and two banks, one of which was Greene, Weare and Rice. The upper floors were occupied with the United States Land Office, the River Improvement Company, Justice of the Peace, lawyers, etc. It was the center of business for years. The Register was published there several years, and there James S. Clarkson was born into the literary world as "Ret."
In 1859, the Judge retired from the banking business and resumed the practice of law with "Dan" Finch, continuing to the Fall of 1876, when he retired from active business.
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His last official act was the appointment of Doctor D. V. Cole, County Liquor Agent, under the prohibitory law, authorizing the sale of intoxicating liquors only by the County Agent.
Politically, the Judge was a Democrat of the conservative type. He was not a place-seeker, was public-spirited, and active in support of educational and civic advancement. Socially, he was popular. After his marriage, he built a fine house on Locust Street, west of where the Equitable Building is, where, with is jolly, good wife as hostess, social functions were frequent. Hoyt Sherman's house was at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Walnut Street, where the Utica Block now is. There were no other buildings in that section. There were few, if any, concerts or public amusements, hence the young folks had to amuse themselves. There was generally some social scheme brewing at Hoyt Sherman's or "Dan" Finch's. It would be a dance, a picnic, a "surprise" on somebody in the country, or a serenade of the whole neighborhood, with most excruciating harmonies, the usual reward being a cabbage, a bunch of onions or wilted posies pitched out of an upper window, and received with exuberant thankfulness. In either event, there was more real, satisfying enjoyment than is had to-day, so say the old "girls," with a ringing laugh, as they tell it.
In the State House location fight, the Judge was a West Sider, and subscribed five hundred dollars to the "war fund."
He went to his final rest in 1897.
August Fourteenth, 1904.
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