Howard County IN Archives History - Books .....Early Days Of Kokomo 1909
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Book Title: History Of Howard County Indiana

EARLY DAYS OF KOKOMO. 
BY OTIS C. POLLARD.

   "The present site of Kokomo," says an authority," was covered with immense
trees and a thicket of underbrush, through which a bird could scarcely fly.
There was no improvement here then, but Foster's log house, log barn and a small
patch of clearing around them. Where the Frances hotel stands, upon the site of
the old Clinton hotel, was once a swamp and fish were caught a few yards north
of it. Justice Henry L. Moreland saw a team drawing a load of wood stall upon
Main street."

   Choice lots in an early day were along High street. They sold for five
dollars and seven dollars each. The Howard National Bank and Frances hotel
corners could have been bought for a few skins. The Nordyke (or R. G. Smith)
quarter section, near the city, was worth three hundred and twenty dollars.

   When the original survey of the Foster donation was made, a mistake of one
chain was made, and as a result Mr. Fosters yard was encroached upon. On this
account the commissioners refused to accept Mr. Foster's deed. The discrepancy
was rectified, one of the chief witnesses being John Moulder, one of the
locating commissioners of the county seat. Several lot owners were awarded damages.

   The original survey of Foster's donation was bounded by Taylor, Union, High
and Washington streets. The tier of lots on the north side of Taylor street, on
the west side of Washington street and on the south side of High street were
afterwards laid off. The cost of the survey has been preserved by the county
records. To Austin C. Sheets, county surveyor, was made the following allowances
at the December term, 1844: Surveying donation, $1.50; plat of same, 50 cents;
survey of public square, $1; plat of town, 50 cents: thirty-two lots at 25 cents
each, $8.50; total, $11.50.

   George Gay and Silas Fawcett, chainmen, for cutting off the public square,
were allowed $6.12 1/2 each. Christopher Cromer, marker, was allowed $4.37 1/2.
March, 1845, the record contains an allowance as follows: Surveying donation,
$1.50: plat of same, 50 cents: sixty-eight lots at 25 cents each, $17: plat of
town. $1 ; total. $20.

   David Foster was one of the most conspicuous characters in the life of Kokomo
for many years. He generally wore a fur cap, a blue army coat and carried a
basket. When he spoke he had a peculiar way of lifting his right hand to the
level of his head and whistling, and then uttering whatever he had to say. His
financial acumen was ever uppermost.

   Having one afternoon bartered with S. C. Moore, a pioneer lumber dealer and
sawmill man of Kokomo, for the sale of a cow, he returned by Moore's lumber
yard, at the foot of what is now South Union street, at the north creek bank,
after his evening meal, and was informed that "Fort Sumpter had been fired upon
and civil war was imminent." Foster threw up his hand and whistled. "Ah! Ah!
Trying to get my cow cheaper?" He disbelieved the truth of the report. Learning
that a friend had sold his farm, and was purchasing many things for his
children, Foster observed: "Going! Going! A gold watch! A set of furs! This and
that! Going! Going!"

   The growth of the town he had seen develop from his log cabin finally drove
his family from the double frame house he had occupied for years and which stood
originally in what is now Main street. The notable structure was moved to the
west of the newly laid-out street and finally given over to other occupancy
until torn down.

   In his day Foster was a heavy landowner, being proprietor of five hundred and
fifty-two acres in the reserve section in 1846, on which he had improvements
assessed at one thousand five hundred and fifteen dollars. The land was returned
for taxation at two thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars. He owned
sixty-seven lots, most of which were returned at ten dollars each, but which
aggregated one thousand and three dollars. He had seven hundred and eighty-six
dollars' worth of personal property. His total assessment was six thousand and
sixty-four dollars. His total tax was fifty-three dollars and twenty cents,
which he was not able to pay at once, handing over to the treasurer twenty-one
dollars and twenty cents as the first payment.

EARLY CITY AND TOWNSHIP LIFE.

   There was not much to mark the difference between the city and farm life
surrounding Kokomo in that pioneer day. The snow was knee deep when Dr. Lewis
Kern reached the home of George Snodgrass, on the banks of Little Wildcat creek,
Harrison township, April 18, 1846, in company with his brother, Jacob Kern. The
doctor was then fourteen years of age. Here and there a patch of ground had been
cleared. The country was one wild sweep of woods. The next morning he was
awakened by Mr. Snodgrass calling his son: "Newton! Have you fed the cattle yet,
Newton?" "No," answered Newton. "You had better feed them," came the response.
The son shouldered his ax and advanced into the depths of the forest. He fed the
cattle by cutting off the limbs of trees and the cattle ate of the tender part
of the branches, "browsed" or "budded." The inhabitants of the county in the
winter time lived mainly upon cornbread, venison, wild turkey and various game.
The cabin of Judge N. R. Linsday, the first resident lawyer of the county, and
the cabin of Dr. Corydon Richmond, then a practicing physician, in 1845, faced
each other on Union street, between Sycamore and High streets. In clearing the
woods for gardens the men threw the brush in front of the cabins, and for the
families to be neighborly the women had to travel a long way around to reach
either home. Wildcat creek, a short distance south, was then a clear, clean
stream, with a swift current. In the deed of the Miami reserve the "rapids of
Wildcat creek" were mentioned. Alas! what changes.

MALARIA.

   Malaria was the bane of the city and county. To stay its ravages a tea was
made of roots of rhubarb, as bitter a decoction as ever passed human lips. After
Judge Linsday moved onto the W. B. Smith farm on West Sycamore street, his
oldest son, James Linsday, and daughter, Mrs. L. E. Harrison, were critically
ill with malarial fever, the son dying. In that day they had strange ideas about
medical treatment. In cases of measles the cabin was to be shut up as nearly
airtight as possible, and it is now to be seen that the construction of the
cabins, which was so that the air was not entirely excluded, is what saved many
a sick person's life. In fevers the patients were denied water to drink. When
Mrs. Harrison was so sick with the malaria, she piteously begged the hired woman
to get her some water, and employed every expedient to secure it, but without
success. Watching a favorable opportunity when not herself observed, she left
her bed and staggered to the spring on the side of the hill, where she drank all
the water she desired. There chanced to be a tub of warm rinse water near the
house, and prompted by an impulse she enjoyed a bath. Finally seen by the hired
woman, the servant's piercing screams set the whole household into a state of
perfect terror. Mrs. Harrison was hustled to bed and it was a solemn and
agitated family that tearfully gathered about her bedside. The sick young lady's
death was expected at any moment, but her experience was her life salvation. She
perspired as never since her illness and recovery at once began.

   Mosquitoes were very bad in an early day in Kokomo, as they were in the year
1908—history repeating itself—but the pioneers triumphed. A Swiss dress was
often serviceable at night to enable people to sleep. They had no mosquito bars,
and even if they had these might have proved as unsuccessful as those of 1908.

EARLY SOCIAL GATHERINGS.

   Upon social occasions, which consisted for the most part of husking bees, the
pioneers gathered in to help a fanner husk his corn. Cabin and barn raisings
were stellar events, as were log-rollings, when city and town folk mingled to
perform the necessary labors of the forest. Oxen were used in preference to
horses by the pioneers. They were more patient to plow through the deep mud and
horses were easily snagged by the fallen timber. Going to church was a social
treat and the arrival of Methodist circuit riders always welcomed.

   At the pioneer parties in Kokomo- partners were selected in a peculiar
manner. Some person was seated on a chair with a girl and the guests approached
singing:

   "Here we come, three frogs are we,
    Courting your daughter, so rare so fair.
    Can we have lodging here, oh! here?
    Can we have lodging here, oh! here?"

   "This is my daughter, sitting upon my knee;
    Neither of you there, can have lodging here, oh! here.
    Neither of you there, can have lodging here, oh! here."

The seekers then sang a retort:

   "We will go farther, and find fairer than you,
    We will go farther, and find fairer than you."

   On the next round the daughter was given to one of the three named by the
donor, and so on until the entire company was given partners.

   The women did not have the conveniences of gas and electricity with which to
cook. The pioneer women cooked in the fireplace, which was equipped with a
crane, and had skillets with legs and covers, the hot coals being placed upon
top of the covers to assist the fire below in cooking. Preparing the meals in
this manner meant red faces in winter and physical suffering in August, although
outside ovens and fires were often used with more convenience and comfort. Judge
Linsday was the aristocrat of the place. Before coming to Kokomo he drove with a
load of wheat from Pendleton, where he lived, to Cincinnati, sold it, and bought
not only a law library, but his wife a cooking stove, the first in Kokomo, and
the envy of all the town.

FIRST APPLES IN KOKOMO.

   The first load of apples ever brought to Kokomo—in fact, Howard county—was
hauled here by Colonel T. J. Harrison, son-in-law of Judge N. R. Linsday, the
first being brought from the home of Colonel Harrison's father in southern
Indiana. Fruit was scarce and none grown in this locality, in the first
settlement of the country, in the nature of the case. Colonel Harrison was
studying law with Judge Linsday and desiring to pay his old home a visit, he
agreed to with Judge Linsday to bring him a load of apples if the Judge would
lend him a team and wagon in which to haul the load. Had Colonel Harrison driven
with a wagon bed of gold into the yard of Judge Linsday, he would not have been
half as welcome as he was when' he crossed the premises with the luscious and
mellow fruit. The wagon bed was loaded to the very top, first with a layer of
straw and then a depth of apples in turn, so it was difficult to see how Colonel
Harrison had any seat upon which to make the return-trip. Aaron Linsday
clambered upon the wagon wheels and passed around the treasures to mouths which
fairly watered. With his pockets filled and munching-a golden specimen of
orchard fruit, he started with rapid strides to invite the Bohans and the
Fosters to take all they wanted. The news of the arrival of the apples spread.
and they were divided among farmers in all parts of the county.

FIRST DEBATING SOCIETY

   The first literary and debating society in the history of the county and in
which Kokomo citizens were the leading spirits, was known as the Richardville
County Lyceum. Its initiation fee was twelve cents, and two-thirds of those
present, at any meeting, could admit a new member. The same vote was required to
levy a tax. Every member was to be heard in his defense before fined by the
president, and an appeal from the chair to the house was allowed. Any one could
retire from membership by paying all the "pecuniary arrears." Leading members
were John Bohan, afterwards county auditor and for years a justice of the peace
in Kokomo; H. C. Stewart, Dr. Corydon, Richmond, who died at an advanced age at
his home in Kokomo; A. North, J. M. Harlin, W. C. Johns, G. W. Poisal, N. R.
Linsday, N. Harding, Thomas Lamborn, J. S. Thompson, D. Foster, J. L. Jones, A.
C. Sheets, J. T. McClintock, C. J. Allison and D. Bates. The jolly and joking
crew of Kokomo were Dr. Richmond, David Foster, Charles D. Murray, Harles Ashley
and John Bohan. In getting off jokes, telling side-splitting stories, and in
provoking his listeners with laughter, lawyer Murray was an expert with few
equals, and no superiors. A notice appearing in the New London Pioneer, July 11,
1849, for a camp meeting to be held at Kokomo, August 17, 1849, discloses the
extent of Kokomo's growth, in a large measure. The notice read: "The ground is
selected within a quarter of a mile of this town, Kokomo. We have two taverns
and one grocery, hence no huckstering."

   The early day roads leading to and from Kokomo, with few exceptions, had no
direction in particular. In many months of the year their condition was
uniformly bad. The president judges, accompanied generally by several lawyers,
journeyed from county to county to attend court. As late as the sixties wild
flags grew upon the public square two feet high. In the earliest days of the
town the inhabitable portion was almost entirely included within the public
square. The houses were constructed of rough hewn logs. Stores were few in
number. Merchants were compelled to secure licenses to sell their commodities.
The license to sell clocks was fixed by the board of commissioners, 1849, at
twenty dollars. David Foster obtained the first merchant's license by the
payment of five dollars, and was to sell his wares in Kokomo. Charles Warren and
Phillip Ramsayer, in March, 1845, obtained licenses as merchants in the city,
while permission was granted Jonathan Ha worth to sell in Monroe township. Mr.
Foster's license was granted at the December term of the commissioners, 1844.
The county abounded in deer about Kokomo. A dense forest surrounded the whole of
Kokomo. The first two-story frame building in the county was hewn out of the
logs of the surrounding forest, and occupied by Justice Bohan, in this city,
with a store. It was here that pioneer lawyers and ethers assembled to exchange
experiences and discuss various topics.

   In December, 1851, a meeting of the qualified voters was held at the court
house for the purpose of incorporating the town, with Levi Birt as chairman and
H. B. Havens as secretary. These two persons afterwards divided Kokomo into five
districts. An election was subsequently held and the following persons selected
trustees:

   First district, C. D. Murray: second district, L. M. Harland; third district.
Levi Birt; fourth district, C. Richmond: fifth district, Adkins James.

INCORPORATING THE TOWN.

   At the June term of the board of county commissioners, 1855, Henry A. Brouse
presented a petition for the incorporation of the town of Kokomo. He showed that
a proper survey had been made and that the map, as required by law, had been
filed with the treasurer, for the inspection of the public. An election was
ordered and held at the office of the city clerk of Kokomo on the twenty-second
day of the same month. Perhaps the notice was too short. But be that as it may,
the election was not held, a showing to that effect being made to the
commissioners subsequently by Attorney J. W. Robinson, who pleaded for another
chance. This was afforded. The election was held October 1, 1855, as ordered.
There were sixty-two votes for incorporation and three opposed. Thereupon the
incorporation was duly and legally ordered.

   A writer says: "The infant city grew very slowly for several years. The heavy
timber and underbrush, and the swampy condition of the soil, combined to retard
the growth and prosperity of the town. When the timber was cut down, so that the
sunlight could penetrate to the earth, vegetation became very profuse and
luxuriant. This decaying vegetable matter created chills and fever, ague and
incidental diseases. For many years quinine was an article as staple as flour.
It was no uncommon thing for all the members of a family to be confined to bed
at the same time. Many moved away because of sickness, and other feared to come
for the same cause. In 1852, the number of inhabitants of the town was only one
hundred and fifty-two, after eight years of existence." The ague was terrible,
and Drs. C. Richmond and his brother, Orsemus Richmond, were truly heroes,
compelled to travel about on foot, of nights, being unable oft times to travel
even horse back. The shakings and chills of ague were a positive terror to the
pioneer residents of the town and country.

THE BANK.

   Kokomo's first bank—the Indian Reserve Bank—was organized April 1. 1854, and
the articles of incorporation were acknowledged before C. D. Murray, March 27,
1854. Its existence was to continue until April 1, 1874, but, after a few years,
it ceased business. The institution was located on the Darby corner. A robbery
was perpetrated and the bank never recovered from the shock. The capital stock
was for three hundred thousand dollars, and there were three stockholders, David
Foster, John Bohan and Harles Ashley. Foster's private fortune was impaired by
the break.

   Late in the forties, and early in the fifties, the constant cry of public
agitation was the fact that the city had voted to take ten thousand dollars
stock in the Indianapolis & Peru railroad company, and that nothing in return
was obtained, and so far as known nothing has ever to this late date been
received directly upon, the stock, lost under foreclosure proceedings. But the
early residents of Kokomo took an imperfect view of the situation. The gift was
more than repaid in the inestimable benefits derived to the city from the
building of the road, which forged the new county seat to the foremost rank. In
later years the policy was entered upon of giving donations to factories by the
citizens to secure the location of industries, and the method was the means of
making the city what it has become. But in the location of the railroad a
peculiar view was taken by the business men. The turned heaven and earth to have
it located along Buckeye street, thinking it would be a peculiar benefit to the
property in front of which it passed, and that freight bills and drayage bills
could be saved by having the tracks pass along in front of the business
establishments. These hopes proved erroneous, and no mistake was greater than
locating the road where it is, and for its removal the city and the public would
be thankful beyond measure. Finally the Kokomo public entered upon the aid of
railroad building with less legal question and with a more prodigal hand. A
subsidy was voted for the construction of a railroad line from Frankfort to
Kokomo, and from Marion to Kokomo, but in this dual form the donation was set
aside by the supreme court. The sequel was the donation of twenty-four thousand
dollars to the Kokomo-Frankfort line. These two roads were builded separately
and as standard guage lines, but eventually were consolidated and converted into
a narrow gauge system, reaching to Toledo on the east and St. Louis on the west.
The road was destined to another change, and became a part of the Cloverleaf
system, being returned to a standard guage system.

   January 9, 1864, the Jay & Dolman grain elevators, situated just above the
depot of the Peru & Indianapolis depot, burned. This was an exciting time in the
history of the town of Kokomo. The intense heat of the burning structure was
minimized when the wheat, released from the bins in which it was confined,
smothered the flames. The problem was to save the S. Rosenthal storage rooms and
the Howard flouring mills, removed but a short distance from the elevator, but
this object was accomplished. However, on the Monday following, an explosion
destroyed the plant of the flouring mill. The boiler gave way. Two men were
killed as the result of the explosion, William Leas, a nephew of the proprietor,
Worley Leas and M. Weddle, the miller. So violent was the explosion that a
thousand-pound piece landed in the yard of the residence of Dr. Corydon,
Richmond, cutting off a fence post, close to the ground. Mr. Lease was injured,
but not seriously. The loss of Mr. Leas approached ten thousand dollars, as did
that of Jay & Dolman. The milling, as well as the elevator properties, were
subsequently rebuilt and constituted the chief commercial distinctions of the
city for a number of years.

EXPLORING FOR OIL.

   Kokomo, in the latter part of the sixties, might have realized the glories
that she did, resulting from the discovery of natural gas, in the eighties. A
company was organized to explore for oil in 1869, and, as subsequent events
proved, the drill, in quest of oil, was within a short distance of gas when the
project was abandoned from the fact that the drill became fast, and the well
thus started, and so near success, was abandoned.

   An election was held March 31, 1865, to determine whether the town of Kokomo
should have a city organization, which proposition carried. The ballots voted
were not printed, nor of the elaborate description known in late years, under
the Australian ballot system, but were merely slips of common fool'scap paper,
upon which "No" was written by those opposed to incorporation, and "Yes" by
those favoring the step. The affirmative vote carried by a material majority.
The official records of the election were recorded with the names of the voters
upon common writing paper. The first city government was organized with the
following officers: Mayor, Nelson Purdum; clerk, J. A. Coffin; treasurer, P. B.
Kennedy; city attorney, Clark N. Pollard. In that day the city attorney was
elected by the people, whereas, in 1908, that officer is chosen by a majority of
the common council, as the law has directed for several years past.

SOME EARLY CALAMITIES.

   In the year 1862 there was a tragic event in the history of Kokomo town. A
stiff and furious blowing northeasterner was responsible for it all. Philip Kemp
and companions felt a jar. They were alarmed, but could not tell why.
Instinctively they swung themselves from the second story of a low building, on
the Darby corner. Then came a crash, a volume of dust, and a mountain of debris
arose. T. C. Philip's Tribune was an undistinguishable wreck and a hardware
store had passed out of existence. The James-Armstrong firm was erecting a
three-story building. It was to be the building of the town. It was just ready
for the roof when a miniature cyclone carried it down upon its humble neighbor.
A public calamity had been sustained and a town meeting was called. Despair was
written upon every countenance. Volunteers were called for. Mr. John W. Cooper,
attorney, among many citizens, pushed a wheelbarrow and loaded brick for three
days. At the end of that time the citizens had the ground cleared for the
builders. A second structure, in the course of time, mounted skyward, and
another building replaced that driven into the earth at the Darby corner.

   In the spring of 1870 the entire west side of the court house square was
destroyed by fire. The structures were of frame and burned like tinder, and the
wind was high, carrying the sparks and burning fragments throughout the village,
to its eminent peril. The citizens wore anxious faces and fought to save their
homes. Fortunately the fire was confined to the district in which it started
through mysterious origin. Mrs. Nicholas Trobaugh was carried out of a burning
building and her life saved. The destruction of so much business property was a
blow to the town's prosperity, but it rallied in due time, and on the site of
the burned district arose the old opera house, started in 1872, which was a big
structure for its day and upon the stage of which appeared in succeeding years
the foremost play folks of the country and the most eminent lecturers. The fire
of the burning structures, exclusively frame, were carried over the town, and it
was the fight of every man to save his home and family. J. M. Mader worked like
a hero for others, forgetting two fat hogs, which burned to a crisp, and a
spring wagon, on his own premises. The bucket brigade was a corps of honor.

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT.

   Important epochs in the commercial development of the city were the periods
when an artificial gas plant was installed. The city was lighted by the street
corner gas lamps, turned out at full moon, even though that did not in fact
exist, predicted, however, by the almanac, which governed. Succeeding natural
gas as a city illuminant was electricity. Another important municipal auxiliary
was the water works plant. Its installation was conscientiously opposed upon the
ground that the city was too small to demand so important an improvement at the
time and too poor to bear the financial burden of its installation, but no one
anticipated the growth of the city, due to natural gas. What might have proven a
calamity, according to the honest predictions of its opponents, proved a
blessing, when the city grew to proportions surpassing the wildest dreams. In
time the volunteer fire department, which included the leading citizens of the
city, gave way to a paid fire department. But the old volunteer department, of
which D. L. Duke and H. M. Cooper were conspicuous members, with a score of
other devoted citizens, deserves a prominent place in the memory of posterity. A
letter written by M. M. Pomeroy, of La Crosse, Wis., May 27, 1871, and appearing
in the Kokomo Democrat June 29, gives a good idea of Kokomo in that period.  
His letter is abbreviated:

-------"There is but one saloon, or place where intoxicating liquors are sold. *
* * But little demand for officers, jails and poor houses. * * * The county jail
is not much of an affair, nor is it well patronized. * * * Prominent among her
educational institutions stands Howard College, whose able and popular
president, M. B. Hopkins, has ever been a bright example, and earnest worker, in
the thankless field of education and imparting knowledge. Besides the college
named, are several fine schools, with four new school houses soon to be built.

   "The finest church in the place is the edifice belonging to the Methodist
Episcopal Society, which society is the largest and most prosperous in Kokomo. 
 Next in order comes the Christian Society, the Presbyterian, Congregational,
the Friends, or Quakers, and the Catholics—six societies in all. The
spiritualists have a society here and hold Sunday picnic meetings in the grove,
near the fair grounds, just out of the city, where their religious exercises are
noted for social enjoyment and liberality of belief and expression.

   "The Howard county fair grounds are better than the average, and enclose a
very fine half-mile trotting track, whereon fast horses compete with each other,
for agricultural premiums.

   "The principal water course here is Wildcat creek, a reckless, meandering
stream, almost large enough to be called a river. It is too shallow for
navigation and too even tenored to be dammed much, so it is not used for
manufacturing to any extent. The stream is good for fishing.

   "The streets of Kokomo are being rapidly macadamized. Some years ago T. C.
Philips and friends hired laborers, and, searching for stone, finally discovered
a quarry near the city. The great staple is black walnut timber. The wealth from
this commodity exceeds that derived from the sale of all the grain. The lumber
is sent to eastern cities, bringing from forty to fifty dollars a thousand feet.

   "Land sells from fifty dollars up.

   "There are six large dry goods stores, twenty-one grocery stores, six boot
and shoe stores, five drug stores, three stove and tin stores, three good
hardware stores, five millinery establishments and numerous smaller stores.
There is a good foundry and four wood planing establishments.

   "The ladies here dress in good taste and with more display than is usually
found in places the size of Kokomo."

ARREST OF COUNTERFEITERS.

   In July, 1871, the city was thunderstruck by the arrest of James Lang, Frank
Lang and Isaac Lang, citizens of this place, with Harry Homer, Sam Rivers and Ed
Wilson, citizens wherever their hats were off, by an United States secret
service officer, upon the charge of counterfeiting. The Lang homestead was about
two miles southeast of the city and had been a regular headquarters for these
congenial spirits. A detective giving the name of Baker arrived in Kokomo a few
months before the arrest of the Lang gang was consummated. He entered into the
confidence of the Kokomo city officials, and then hired out to the Langs,
ostensibly as a farm hand. His real identity was never suspicioned and he
entered into various night enterprises with them, and soon gained their complete
confidence. His assistant, in an important sense, was Charles Bechtel, town
marshal of Kokomo, who was shrewd in his maneuvres. Baker finally decoyed Frank
Lang to Cleveland, Ohio, where they were to undertake a safe blowing expedition.
Baker representing that he knew an expert safe blower in that city. Both Lang
and the detective were placed under arrest, but of course, Baker was soon
released. About eight thousand dollars, all bogus money, was secured from the
gang. Some three hundred or four hundred dollars counterfeit money was found
secreted about the premises. In a tin can was two hundred dollars of the "queer"
and thirty rings dug up on Sunday from the garden of the Lang home by Mr.
Bechtel. The detective discovered one hundred and twenty dollars of bogus money
hidden beneath the shingles of the roof of the house. One hundred dollars of
counterfeit money of denomination of ten dollars was found on the person of
Frank Lang when arrested. James Lang, father of the Lang boys, sickened and died
soon after his arrest, and was never brought to trial, but the Lang brothers
served penitentiary sentences. The exposure of the gang brought forth from the
Democrat an editorial which reflects the excited state of mind of the Kokomo
public at that time: "Since the arrests many foolish remarks have been made, and
much foolish gossip has been indulged in. Reports to the effect that quite a
number more are to be arrested; that thirty, or forty were implicated in this
city and county; that this prominent professional man and that prominent
business man was implicated, etc., is all wrong, all foolish, all incorrect, and
we fear much of its wicked and malicious insinuations, mean hints and dirty
intimations, are too frequent on and against the fair fame and good name of some
of our most prominent citizens. The end of all this will be the putting on of a
head or two. We know of what we write, and now advise those interested to take
due notice of the same. If the detectives suspicioned any one else they are
certainly too smart to give intimation of it to any one. And the retail
gossipers of this city will do well to look to their own cases, and cease to
cast vile suspicions on their neighbors. Every good citizen desires to see all
evil doers brought to justice, but no good and much evil will result from the
vile aspersions cast against prominent men and ladies in this city. A hint to
the wise, etc."

   The Mohlan gang, the Lang gang, are but memories. Kokomo is now a leading
commercial center of Indiana, characterized by a policy of law and order, a
sound moral order and commercial progress.



Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA
BY
JACKSON MORROW, B. A.
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. I
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

(circa 1909)

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/howard/history/1909/historyo/earlyday14ms.txt

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