McDonough County IL Archives History - Books .....1857-1860 - Chapter XVI 1878
************************************************
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 December 1, 2007, 8:17 pm

Book Title: History Of McDonough County

CHAPTER XVI. 
1857-1860.

  A called meeting of the Board of Supervisors was held May 11, 1857, and
continued in session three days. This was the first meeting ever held by the
Board. John Price, of Eldorado, was elected Chairman pro tem., after which
Jonathan H. Baker was elected permanent Chairman. Rules were adopted for the
government of the Board, and business at once proceeded with. The following
named persons responded to their names: John Price, Eldorado; James H. Epperson,
New Salem; Samuel H. McCandless, Mound; Alonzo L. Kimber, Prairie City; Joel
Pennington, Industry; Isaac P. Monfort, Scotland; Jonathan H. Baker, Spring
Creek; D. I. Dungan, Walnut Grove; James H. Dunsworth, Eagle Town; Isaac
McCowan, Erin Town; William Heath, Sciota; James Maguire, Macomb; John S.
Holliday, Lamoine; Stephen A. White, Tennessee; Ebenezer N. Hicks, Rock Creek;
William W. Moss, Blandinsville. George A. Taylor, Sheriff, and Isaac Grantham,
Clerk, were also present.

  For several years previous to this time our county had enjoyed a season of
unexampled prosperity. Emigration had poured in, and in less than five years we
had more than doubled our population. The speculative fever raged high, and real
estate advanced in a marvelous degree.

  Land which, before the railroad was projected, would not bring the government
price, $1.25 per acre, now ranged from $10 to $30, and that, too, without
improvements of any kind. Town lots which before went begging at from $25 to
$50, readily sold at from $200 to $500. Laborers were in great demand, buildings
were erected by the hundred, and all seemed on the high road to wealth. In the
year 1856 William H. Randolph & Co. opened a banking and exchange office in
Macomb, and in an evil hour took stock to the amount of $20,000 in what
afterwards proved to be a wild cat bank of the worst species. The county was
flooded with the issues of this bank, though not all being of the series assumed
by Messrs. Randolph & Co. The name of this institution was the Nemaha Valley
Bank, having a large number of stockholders throughout the county. Its plan of
doing business was substantially as follows: Its stock was divided into a
certain number of shares and sold to parties desiring them, the purchaser being
entitled to a certain amount of the bills of the bank in proportion to the
number of shares held. The bills held by each contributing purchaser constituted
a series for which he was only to be held responsible, each redeeming the series
assigned to himself. Arrangements were entered into by the holders of the
different series to redeem the notes of each other when presented for payment,
and sending them in for redemption. This arrangement served to strengthen the
confidence of the people in their stability.

  This county was also flooded with the notes of the Platte Valley Bank, another
institution of the same wild cat species. When the crash in 1858 came the notes
of these banks were at once presented to the different depositories for
redemption. Messrs. Randolph & Co., though having out but $20,000, continued to
redeem until they had paid out over $25,000, and, then becoming satisfied that
they would never be enabled to obtain anything from McCoy, the owner of the
Nemaha Valley Bank, they were forced to suspend. Mr. Randolph's loss, we are
reliably informed, was not less than $100,000 directly, and as much more
indirectly, in consequences of the sacrifices he was compelled to make.

  The failure of Messrs. Randolph & Co., in connection with the panic throughout
the whole country, operated heavily against the interests of this county. Nearly
all public and private improvements were suspended; mechanics and laboring men
were thrown out of employment; real estate depreciated in value, and mortgages
given for securing payment on land were foreclosed, and the sufferings of the
people were very general. Notwithstanding all this, they soon rallied, and an
era of prosperity began again.

  The Board of Supervisors, at its first session, placed the license for the
sale of intoxicating liquors at $300 per annum. Petition after petition was sent
in during the year, and an effort was made by some of the Board to reduce the
amount. Like the unfortunate woman with the unjust judge, they continued to
plead until the patience of the members gave way and the license was made $50.

  On account of the large amount of repairs necessary to be made on the poor
farm, an order was made at the September term of the Board to sell it, provided
it could be sold for not less than $30 per acre. Eighty and one-third acres were
afterward sold at this price.

  A clause in the charter of the city of Macomb, relieving it from taxation for
county purposes, has always been a source of great trouble to the Board of
Supervisors. The following is the provision of the charter in question:

  The county of McDonough shall be exempt from the support of any citizen of
said city who may become a pauper, but the City Council shall provide for the
support and care of all paupers belonging to said city and pass such ordinances
and regulations as they shall deem proper for the purpose thereof. The City
Council shall also provide for the payment of all costs in the Circuit Court of
McDonough county for the conviction of any citizen of said city for any criminal
offense, and the prosecuting attorney's fees and jailor's fees, in case the same
cannot be collected from the offenders. Or the City Council may provide for the
payment to the county of McDonough, annually, of such sums as will be a fair
proportion of the expenses of the county for the Circuit Court of said
county—the amount to be fixed by the City Council and the County Court of said
county, and to be apportioned equitably and justly. In the consideration of the
support of paupers and the payment of the expenses and costs aforesaid, all the
real estate within said city and all the personal property of the inhabitants of
said city shall be exempt from all taxes for county purposes, except for paying
the interest and finally the principal of the bonds of McDonough county, issued
or hereafter to be issued as subscriptions for railroad stocks: provided, that,
upon the final payment of any such bonds, the said city shall be entitled to a
pro rata amount of the stock for which they were given with said county,
according to the amount paid therefor by said city.

  In one way or another, at nearly every meeting of the Board, questions would
arise with reference to this matter. The Board finally asked the State
Legislature to repeal this clause of the city charter, which was accordingly done.

  By the contract with the Northern Cross railroad, the bonds and coupons given
in aid of the said road, were made payable in New York. At the September term,
1859, of the Board of Supervisors, it was ordered that the coupons, due the
following January, should be paid as usual. At the December term this order was
rescinded, in consequence of a decision having been rendered by the Supreme
Court of the State declaring that cities and counties have no right to make
bonds issued in aid of railroads payable in the city of New York, (See 22 Ill.
R., pp. 147), and that counties and cities, by such decision, are not legally
bound on contracts to pay moneys anywhere else than at the city or county
treasury. Contracts made to pay such indebtedness elsewhere than at said
treasury are void, as the statutes of the State of Illinois do not authorize
cities and counties to make a contract payable at any other place than at their
treasury. (See 22 Ill. R., pp. 147-156.)

  In March, 1860, in the Supreme Court, or the United States District Court,
suit was commenced by Van Hoffman et al. against the county. At the June term of
the Board of Supervisors Hon. James M. Campbell was authorized to employ
counsel, and, in the name of the county, to defend this suit. Mr. Campbell
employed Messrs. Goudy & Waite, of Chicago, to take charge of the case. Before a
trial was had the Supreme Court of the State, in a trial between Johnson vs.
Stark County, in a great measure overruled and revised the above decision. On
learning this, Messrs. Goudy & Waite advised Mr. Campbell to pay the judgment
which would be rendered against the county in the case, and it was accordingly
done. We cannot help but disapprove the action of our Board of Supervisors in
this case. We think they did wrong in attempting to shirk the payment of a just
debt in the manner called for in the contract. It may be offered in extenuation
that the directors of the railroad had defrauded the county out of the stock
taken by it, but this would first have to be proven before it could be made to
appear as a justification.

  At the December (1860) meeting of the Board, Mr. Hendricks, of Macomb, offered
the following resolution, which, on motion, was adopted:

  Resolved, That the Board of Supervisors of the County of McDonough, Illinois,
respectfully recommend to the favorable consideration of the Legislature of this
State, at its next session, the passage of a law for the relief of the
tax-payers of the State. That the Clerk of this Board be directed to forward
copies of this resolution to our members of the Senate and House of
Representatives.

  Everything then was at a low price; mechanics and laboring men were out of
employment; gold and silver was at a premium, and great difficulty was
experienced in. obtaining enough to pay taxes. In view of this fact, Mr.
Hendricks, at the same session, offered the following resolution:

  WHEREAS, Pending the crisis of affairs in this county, the low prices of
products of the farmers, and want of employment for the mechanics and laborers,
the citizens and tax-payers labor under great disadvantage in procuring gold and
silver to pay their taxes; therefore, 

  Resolved. That the County Treasurer, Township Treasurer, and Town Collector
be, and they are hereby, requested to receive in payment of the county revenues,
town, school, and road tax the bankable currency of the banks of this State,
which are recognized as having fully complied with the laws of Illinois, to the
satisfaction of the State Auditor: and that the collectors of towns above
alluded to be required to pay over to the county treasury every week the
collections each may have made in currency.

  The resolution was not adopted, but in lieu thereof the following:

  Resolved, That the several Town Collectors and the County Treasurer be, and
they are hereby, requested to receive from and after January 28,1861, in pay for
county, school and town taxes, until the fifteenth day of March next, the notes
of all solvent banks of the State of Illinois, the stockholders and officers of
which have fully complied with the laws of this State; and said Town Collectors
are hereby requested to pay over weekly to the County Treasurer all such sums as
they may collect as aforesaid.

  In 1858 there was a great fall of rain, and the rivers and streams of the
west, were higher than ever before known, save in 1844. Crooked creek swelled to
the proportion of a good sized river. June 3, of this year, William H. Franklin,
of Macomb, while returning home from Missouri on horseback, came to this stream
near the Horace Head farm, west of town, and hardly knew whether to cross or
not, but deciding to make the attempt he urged his horse into the water, hoping
to strike on the bridge. Unfortunately he missed it, and went down into the
water. His horse turned to go back, but the stone abutment at the end of the
bridge rose perpendicular upon either side, making this impossible. He then
resolved to sink his horse and swim for life. After swimming a short distance he
reached some brush to which he clung for a moment or two, when, observing a huge
drift of wood being swept toward him, he let go and struck out for a tree, the
branches of which he observed above the water. Having on two coats and a pair of
heavy boots he could scarcely swim at all, but managed to reach the point which
he was endeavoring to make. Climbing the branches of the tree as far as
possible, he still found himself in the water. Thinking he would never be able
to reach the shore, he commenced hallooing as loud as possible, when his cries
attracted the attention of a young son of Jesse Walker, who came down to the
bank and answered his call. Mr. F. told him to go at once for his father, when
he was informed he was in town; but the boy started for him. Meeting his father,
the boy related the circumstances, when they both returned hurriedly to the
stream. Mr. F., seeing the two could do nothing for him, told them to go to town
and get six or eight hundred feet of rope and more help. About ten o'clock at
night a large crowd from Macomb gathered on the bank and endeavored to cheer the
almost drowning man with the assurance that they would soon rescue him. The
current of the stream being so swift it was found impossible to reach him with
the rope, when B. V. Martin and Orsamus Walker hurried back to town for the
purpose of building a boat, while Andy Lewis, Benjamin Naylor and a man named
Bromfield, went up the stream about three quarters of a mile, made a raft and
floated down. Bromfield fell off the raft and was swept down the stream, but was
rescued. The effort to reach the man with the raft proving fruitless, nothing
could be done until the arrival of the boat, which arrived at about three
o'clock the next morning. Having been in the water for some ten hours, it was
with difficulty Mr. F. could get in the boat which was rowed out to meet him. He
has no desire to meet with another like experience. The horse, after making
several attempts, finally reached the shore some distance down the stream.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY ILLINOIS,
ITS CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES, EARLY REMINISCENCES, PERSONAL INCIDENTS AND
ANECDOTES,

AND A COMPLETE BUSINESS DIRECTORY OF THE COUNTY.
By S. J. CLARKE.

SPRINGFIELD, ILL.:
D. W. LUSK, STATE PRINTER AND BINDER.
1878.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/mcdonough/history/1878/historyo/18571860171gms.txt

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

File size: 14.5 Kb