William D. Stites Biography


	This biography appears on pages 103-105 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				WILLIAM D. STITES.

	William D. Stites has proved a wise and conscientious officer of 
justice as desk sergeant of Sioux Falls and has succeeded in the 
difficult task of upholding the dignity of the law and also of making 
due allowance for circumstances in dealing with the many cases that 
come before him for trial. He was born in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, on 
the 12th of September, 1844, a son of George and Martha Stites, the 
former a contractor of that place. The family removed to Rockford, 
Illinois, when our subject was ten years old and there the parents 
continued to reside until their deaths. Mr. Stites was educated in the 
public schools and in the Rockford high school. At the early age of 
seventeen years he joined the Eighth Illinois Cavalry and was with the 
Army of the Potomac from September, 1861, to July, 1865, He was wounded 
and was afterward made hospital steward of the First Separate Brigade, 
department of Washington. He was twice taken prisoner by Moseley and 
endured all of the hardships and privations of war. When peace was 
concluded and his services were no longer needed in defense of the 
Union he was mustered out and went to Chicago, where he clerked in a 
drug store for a year. At the end of that time he removed to Sioux 
City, Iowa, and became connected with the drug business there, being 
associated with C. K. Howard and C. Kent, 

	In 1872 he disposed of his interest in Sioux City and moved to 
Sioux Falls. He joined his former partner, C. K. Howard, in the 
formation of a mercantile firm, which conducted a general store in 
Sioux Falls until 1886. During that time Mr. Stites served as deputy 
treasurer for fourteen years and at the time of the admission of the 
state to the Union he was serving as clerk of the court. His next 
official preferment came to him when he was elected police justice at 
the time that the city adopted the commission plan of government. He 
served in that office for six years and after it was abolished was 
appointed day desk sergeant, which position he still holds. The duties 
of his office demand, in addition to a knowledge of the city ordinances 
and general principles of law, an ability to judge men accurately and 
to use tact and above all common sense in dealing with them. He has 
unusual insight into human nature and his nice sense of proportion and 
practical wisdom enables him to so effectively deal with the offenders 
that come before him that the number of petty crimes and misdemeanors 
in the city is kept at a minimum. 

	Mr. Stites was married in 1868 to Miss Helen Howard, a daughter 
of Hiram Howard, and they have become the parents of the following 
children: William H., who died at the age of thirty-three years and who 
Was manager of the Cudahy Packing Plant at Kansas City; Mrs. Grace H. 
Steensen; Charles K.; Mrs. Faye Hitchcock; and Stanley. Mr. and Mrs. 
Stites also have three grandchildren. He is a Protestant and his 
political allegiance is given to the democratic party. He has attained 
the thirty-second degree in Masonry and has held all of the offices in 
the Masonic bodies. He was grand commander of the state of South Dakota 
and organized the chapter, commandery and Shrine of Sioux Falls. He 
maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades in blue as a 
member of the Grand Army of the Republic and finds satisfaction in the 
thought that at the time of his country's need he did not fail her. He 
was present at Ford's theater when Lincoln was shot and his graphic 
account of this and its historic significance was most interestingly 
given to his Grand Army Post in the following words: 

Dear Comrades and Sons of Veterans: 

	It is appropriate that upon this occasion, we should consider one 
of the greatest and most sorrowful events in the history of the United 
States as well as in the civilized world, for in that event was 
finished the life work of the man whose Emancipation Proclamation made 
possible the establishing of the Orders to which we as Veterans and 
Sons of Veterans are proud to belong. 

	Every G. A. R. button and every souvenir badge worn in the United 
States today, is but a part of the magnificent monument, which the 
citizens of the United States have erected, in history, to the memory 
of Abraham Lincoln, and were George Washington alive today, his voice 
would be heard in praise of the man who died, that all men, of all 
creeds and colors and previous conditions of servitude, in these United 
States might be free. 

	Two great incidents mark as many epochs in the history of our 
beloved country. One was the birth of George Washington and the other 
the death of Abraham Lincoln. Washington's birth marked the dawn of our 
day of freedom from British oppression and Lincoln's death sounded the 
death knell of the last fabric of that sentiment which harbored a 
desire to enslave one race to enrich another, upon this continent. 

	It was my privilege to be in the audience in Ford's theater in 
Washington, on the night of the 14th of April, 1865, when the shot was 
fired which forever sealed the doom of the slave traffic in the 
civilized world, as did the shots which the men with Sherman on his way 
to the sea, fired at Rebellion, seal the doom of the confederacy. The 
memory of that night will linger with me longer than any other incident 
of my life. I could not forget it if I would. Some things are written 
upon the tablets of our memory, indelibly and forever. I wish I might 
take you back over the half century which has elapsed since that night 
and have you sit with me in Ford's theater, in Washington. I wish you 
might experience what I experienced that night when the words "Lincoln 
is Shot" came to us from a man who had climbed to the theater box where 
the martyr had been witnessing the play of Laura Keene, a charming 
American actress, presenting "Our American Cousin" and President 
Lincoln was present. 

	It was about 9:30 o'clock. The play had progressed smoothly and 
there had been nothing to cause a ripple of discomfort, when suddenly a 
shot rang out upon the air. The stage was clear at that moment and we 
thought that this shot was but one of the incidents of the drama. 
Immediately a man appeared upon the railing which ran around the box in 
which President Lincoln was sitting. He jumped for the stage. A spur on 
one of his feet caught in the folds of the American flag and the grand 
old banner tripped that traitor, just as she has tripped every traitor 
who has been disloyal to her. He struck the stage and his leg was 
broken, but he halted not. Arising, he waved a revolver in the air, 
shouted his defiance and fled from the theater. 

	The scene which followed was a tragedy in itself. Absolute quiet 
and then a growling uproar. People crowded like mad for the entrances 
and having gained the outer air, in frantic effort to know more of what 
had happened struggled like madmen to get in again. Mr. Lincoln was 
carried to a house opposite the theater, where he died at about seven 
o'clock the next morning. 

	His assassin aided by confederates crossed the Potomac river, 
near Port Tobacco, Maryland to Mathias Point, Virginia, on Saturday, 
April 22, and on Monday, April 24; he crossed the Rappahannock river 
from Port Conway to Port Royal and took refuge in a barn. He was 
located in that stable, on Wednesday, April 26, and killed by members 
of a detachment of cavalry from the Sixteenth New York. 

	The assassination of Lincoln was the result of a conspiracy to 
kill the men who were putting down the rebellion. History tells of the 
attempt to kill Secretary of State Seward, on the same night that 
Lincoln was shot, which attempt was made by Lewis Payne, who was in the 
conspiracy with Booth. Of the conspirators the following were caught 
and tried before a military commission in Washington, on May 9, 1865, 
upon a charge of conspiracy to kill the president and other high 
officials of the government: David H. Harold, G. A. Atzerodt, Lewis 
Payne, Michael O'Laughlin, Edward Spangler, Samuel Arnold, Mary E. 
Surratt, and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd. Harold, Atzerodt, Payne and Mrs. 
Surratt were hanged, O'Laughlin, Arnold and Mudd sent to prison for 
life and Spangler was imprisoned for six years. 

	I belonged to the Eighth Illinois Cavalry, which was then on duty 
at Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia, a few miles from Alexandria. I was in 
Washington on April 14 on business and attended the theater that night. 
My seat was located where I could see into Lincoln's box and after the 
shot was fired Booth jumped from the box to the stage, his spur caught 
in the folds of a flag which was draped in front of the box. After 
lighting he limped across the stage and escaped from the theater by the 
back door to his horse which was waiting in the rear. I cannot describe 
the excitement which followed. I could not get out of the city until 
the night of the 15th. No one was allowed to leave the city until after 
the government was satisfied that John Wilkes Booth had escaped, and 
when I arrived in camp I gave the first information my regiment had of 
the assassination of Lincoln. 

	After being shot Lincoln was carried across the street to a brick 
house where he died. That building is owned by the government now and 
is called "Lincoln Memorial Museum" and some three thousand Lincoln 
relics are to be seen there. Among those relics is the flag which was 
draped in front of Lincoln's box where he was shot, and the rent in the 
flag, made by Booth's spur, is plainly seen. The spur is also among the 
relics. That spur, catching in that flag, caused Booth to fall and 
break his leg, which fracture undoubtedly made his capture more easy.