Coles County IL Archives History - Books .....Miscellaneous History 1879
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com July 7, 2007, 1:22 am

Book Title: History Of Coles County

MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY.

   There are few individuals, and perhaps few countries, but have some dark
pages in their histories. To err is human nature, and to say that the people of
Coles County, or certain classes of them, have sometimes erred is but to
proclaim them human-not divine. The murder of Nathan Ellington by Adolph Monroe,
in October, 1855, was a horrible affair, and, considering all the circumstances,
peculiarly distressing. Ellington is said to have been a man of most excellent
character, and highly respected by all who knew him. Monroe was his son-in-law.
He was a young man of commanding appearance, fine address, and had once stood
high in the community, but had fallen a prey to intoxicating drink. A family
feud was engendered, and one day, in an altercation with his father-in-law, he
drew v. revolver and shot him dead. For this crime he was tried by a jury of his
peers, found guilty of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to be hanged.
The day of execution came, and though in midwinter (the 14th of February, 1856,
and the ground white with snow, a great multitude gathered at the county's
capital to witness the fulfillment of the law. The heavens were dark as if
draped in the "gloom of earthquake and eclipse," and the elements seemed
poisoned with the spirit of vengeance, as manifested by the immense crowd which
had assembled, not only from this, but from adjoining counties. In the mean
time, a respite of thirty days was granted by the Governor to the doomed man.
This produced a terrible commotion in the multitude, now changed into a howling
mob, and threw it into the most insane excitement. It swayed back and forth from
the Court House to the prisoner's cell, and resolved and re-resolved. The death
of the fated man, in violation of law, was determined upon. His prison was
assaulted by the mob, the officers of the law intimidated and overcome, and
Monroe taken out of jail by ruthless hands. He was dragged to the valley west of
town by the infuriated people, where a gallows was speedily erected, the doomed
wretch lifted into a wagon, the rope adjusted, his limbs pinioned, the wagon
moved from under him, and, without shrift, hurled into eternity. Monroe said to
one man at the gallows: "I die, and if I go to hell, you will go to the same
place, for you it was that sold me the whisky that has brought me to this
terrible fate." What a haunting memory to cling to one through life! It is
scarce necessary to add that all the best people were universal in their
condemnation of the disgraceful affair.

   Another dark page in the history of Coles County was the riot which took
place in Charleston during the stormy scenes occasioned by the late war, and the
diversity of opinion with which the people regarded it. It is a fact much to be
regretted that, with a record for patriotism second to no county in the State
(as reckoned by the number of soldiers furnished), that such an event should
have occurred to tarnish that glorious record. Doubtless both parties, the
citizens and soldiers, were more or less to blame for the collision which took
place between them, and in like manner responsible for the melancholy result. Of
all the wars that have scourged the earth, a civil war is the most deplorable.
In England's war of the roses, we have an illustration of the direful results of
such a strife, and in our own internecine war we equaled, if we did not excel.
the rival houses of York and Lancaster. It may be that the high-wrought
excitement of the times presented an eligible excuse for the scene enacted in
Charleston on the 29th of March, 1864, between the same people (brothers as it
were) who saw the cause and object of the war through different glasses. The
death of several persons in the streets of Charleston was the sad consequence of
that difference of opinion. The feelings engendered by the war, which culminated
in bloodshed, have long since toned down, and the participators in the
deplorable affair (to call it by its mildest name) doubtless regret the part
they acted in it. So, in no spirit of censure beyond a condemnation of mob
violence on general principles, we will pass from the subject, flinging over the
sad occurrence the spacious robe of charity.

   In his Centennial Address, Capt. Adams narrates a melancholy occurrence in
the township of Hickory, at or near Hickory Grove. In the winter of 1830-31,
which is characterized in the history of Illinois as one of unusual severity,
three men froze to death near this grove. They had undertaken to cross the
prairie on horse-back; the ground was covered with snow to a considerable depth,
and the air piercingly cold. In their last extremity, they killed their horses,
and, taking out their entrails, crawled into the warm carcasses, but before
relief reached them they succumbed to the "Icy King of Terrors." The following
is from the same source of information: "In 1831, three men of the name of Ellis
were killed by lightning, in the southwest part of the county. The accident
occurred on Wednesday, and they were not found until the Saturday following.
When discovered, their bodies were as limber as that of a living person, and
never stiffened like a body that meets death from natural causes. It was
supposed that the lightning had broken the bone's without rupturing the skin."

   Passing from the grave to the gay, from the sad to the ludicrous, it becomes
our duty, as a faithful historian, to chronicle an event that took place in
Coles County in 1834, which, while it had a somewhat ludicrous termination, was
begun in earnest, by one of the parties engaged in it, at least. The
circumstance referred to, was a duel fought in Charleston, by Peter Glassco and
John Gately. A difficulty had arisen between them, which blood alone could
satisfy or settle, and, accordingly, they resorted to the code of honor to
avenge their wounded dignity. A challenge was sent and accepted, seconds were
selected and the weapons (big "hoss" pistols) were chosen. The hostile parties
met, with ten paces between them, and proceeded to wipe out their wrongs in the
most approved style. The seconds loaded the pistols with blank cartridges,
without Glassco's knowledge, however, who, it seems, was the most belligerent of
the two, and the most deeply grieved. Finally, when all was ready, the
principals were placed by the seconds, one, two, three, were called, and both
parties fired. Gately fell, and his second, who had provided a bottle of
pokeberry-juice for the purpose, ran to him and dexterously saturated his
clothes with the contents of the bottle, thus giving him a most ghastly
appearance. Glassco, petrified with terror, gazed at his bleeding victim, and,
horrified at the "ruin he had wrought," exclaimed, "My God, I have killed him,",
threw away his pistol and fled. About a year afterward, he was apprised of the
fact that the duel was a "put-up job," and that Gately still lived, when, with
the horror of murder removed from his soul, he returned to the county. He never
fought another duel.

   That scourge of the human race, the Asiatic cholera, one of the gifts of the
Old World to the new, made a visit, in 1851, to Coles County. For a time "it
made itself exceedingly odious and repulsive," says one, "and old and young
alike were the victims of the fell disease." As is usually the case, it visited
certain localities only, Charleston and Pleasant Grove Township being the
sufferers. In these sections, many cases occurred; some of them proved fatal,
while others recovered. The greatest consternation and excitement prevailed.
Those not sick became panic-stricken, and fled in confusion and dismay. How-many
died of the disease cannot now be ascertained. Distressing as was the ordeal and
melancholy in its result, yet it had its humorous side. A very amusing anecdote
is told of Hon. O. B. Ficklin's grim fight with the awful disease. He was
attacked in the harvest-field, rushed home and went to bed, sent for all the
doctors in town, called his wife and children to his bedside, bade them good-by,
and kissed them one by one, concluding with his old colored cook, and prepared
to die with the cholera. He dropped off to sleep, from which he awoke, a few
hours later, completely restored. Having slept off the natural exhaustion (!) of
the harvest-field,  "Richard was himself again."

   We spoke of a murder and a lynching, a little space ago. Charleston can boast
of several other murders within her time. But we shall not go into details
concerning them. Such incidents are better forgotten than perpetuated upon the
pages of history. We will, therefore, pass them without further remark in this
connection.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

THE HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY. ILLINOIS,

CONTAINING

A History of the County—its Cities, Towns, &c; a Directory of its Tax-Payers;
Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; General and Local Statistics; Map
of Coles County; History of Illinois, Illustrated; History of the Northwest,
Illustrated; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c, &c.

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO:
WM. LE BARON, JR., & CO., 186 DEARBORN STREET.
1879.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/coles/history/1879/historyo/miscella117gms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/

File size: 9.7 Kb