Warren County IN Archives History - Books .....Vigilant Companies 1883
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 9, 2007, 5:42 pm

Book Title: Counties Of Warren, Benton, Jasper And Newton, Indiana

VIGILANT COMPANIES.

   In comparatively early years, when through all this Western country the lack
of law and measures to bring criminals to justice led to the formation of
organized bands of horse-thieves and counterfeiters, Red wood Point became a
notorious resort for their depredations; and at times large numbers of horses
and quantities of jewelry, merchandise, etc., stolen farther east and across the
Wabash, were secreted in the ravines and heavy woods until such property could
be safely disposed of by the thieves. So far as known, no bogus coin or
counterfeit paper money was ever manufactured in the county, although, many
years ago, the necessary implements for such manufacture were found concealed in
the ravine at Redwood Point. Reports were once circulated that a man had been
murdered not many miles from West Lebanon-an inoffensive peddler, supposed to
have had in his possession a considerable quantity of money and jewelry-after
which his body was said to have been thrown into a certain well, and the reports
pretended to point out several of the guilty parties. One dark night, a company
of Vigilants called upon the alleged guilty persons who lived near by, and
informed them that they were wanted, and accordingly conducted them to the well,
around which they were stationed well guarded, while the water was thoroughly
dragged for the body of the missing peddler. No such body was found, and the
suspected parties were conducted home, no doubt greatly to their relief. In
consequence of the resort made of the county ravines and woods by criminals and
the mysterious disappearance of horses, cattle, goods, etc., various companies
for the detection and arrest of the rascals were organized and continued to be
so until the present. In 1853, two companies for catching horse-thieves and
other criminals were organized in the county, the Milford Regulators, with a
membership of thirty-five, in the eastern part of the county, and the Grand
Prairie Rangers, with about the same membership in the northern part. These
companies were thoroughly organized, with Captains and Lieutenants, and were
instrumental in breaking up organized bands of law-breakers. These were the
first companies of the kind in the county The Warren Regulators were organized
in 1859. Among the members were J. L. Dick, J. M. Fleming, Adam Troxel, H. L.
Calton, Daniel Meyers. Solomon Dick, Josiah Clawson, John Stephenson, John
Young, John Bigham, J. C. Adams, George Nelson and Austin Heigh. The Grand
Prairie Rangers were organized in 1861, for the same purpose, some of the
members being Wesley Clark, J. R. Marshall, Andrew Brier, Isaac Christman, W. H.
H. Reed, M. A. Osborn, Elias Thompson, John Mellott, Thomas J. Cheneweth and
Isaac Cheneweth. The Warren Detectives were organized in 1865, in Liberty and
Washington Townships, and the Pine Creek Rangers, the same year, in Southern
Liberty and Southern Prairie and Pine. In 1865, also, Warren Township organized
the Warren County Minute Men. The State Line Detective Company was formed in
1866 in Kent, Mound and Steuben Townships. Soon after this, the Liberty Police
Rangers, the Warren County Minute Men, the Pine Village Detectives, the Liberty
Guards, the Rainsville Detectives, the West Lebanon Detectives, the Jordan
Rangers, the Kickapoo Guards, and similar companies, were formed, the object
being to bring criminals, especially horse-thieves, to justice. Such a general
organization has had a salutary effect upon the commission of crime.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

PART II.
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Geology and Settlement

========================

COUNTIES OF 
Warren, Benton, Jasper and Newton,
INDIANA

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL
ILLUSTRATED.

CHICAGO: F. A. BATTEY & CO., PUBLISHERS.
1883.


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