Iowa County WI Archives History - Books .....A Canoe Trip Up The Minnay Sotor 1837
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Nancy Poquette npoq@hotmail.com December 30, 2006, 9:45 pm

Book Title: A Canoe Trip Up The Minnay Sotor

"The village of Mineral Point is built upon the edge of a coulee (as a ravine 
or valley betwixt two ridges is called in this part of the western country), a 
short distance from the upland containing the suburb at which we stopped. It 
was an exceedingly miserable place, built there, apparently on account of a 
small rivulet, which is a branch of the Peccatonic River. It contained two 
filthy-looking taverns, into which I ventured to enter for a moment, both of 
which seemed to be very full, a court of justice being held at the time, which 
had collected a great many parties and witnesses. We had been referred to these 
taverns for lodgings, as the postmaster had told me it was not possible for him 
to give us quarters for more than one night: but I was not sorry to learn that 
none were to be had, being thoroughly disgusted with the dirty appearance of 
everything: and that such a set of "ginnerals, colonels, judges, and doctors,' 
as were assembled there, was anything but inviting, and most of these 
dignitaries, as I was informed, were obliged to sleep on the floor. This was 
exactly what I had to do at the postmaster's, whose house, at any rate, was 
clean.

"On awakening the next morning, I found it exceedingly cold, and asked 
permission to have a fire lighted, which was very obligingly granted. Some wood 
was accordingly brought in, and just as I had got it nicely burning and was 
preparing to make my toilette, a dirty, unshaven, but confident-looking fellow, 
walked into the room, with nothing but his nether garments on, and immediately 
turning his back to the fire, engrossed it all to himself. His free-and-easy 
way was not at all to my taste, and threatened to interfere very much with my 
comfort. Under other circumstances, I should not have hesitated to have him 
turned out; but situated as I was, it was far from a safe proceeding, or, 
indeed, a justifiable one. It was certainly cold, and I should have been glad 
to have had the fire to myself; but I had been treated hospitably, and the 
least I could do was to be hospitable to others; besides, my barefooted friend 
had an air about him that imported something beyond the low swaggerer, 
something that smacked of authority--for authority is a thing that, from habit 
or from the dignity inherent in it, has a peculiar, inexplicable way of 
revealing itself. This might be the governor, or some great man, en deshabille, 
so I thought it best to meet him in his own manner, by slipping a pair of 
pantaloons on, and addressing him in a friendly manner. It was most fortunate 
that I acted just as it became me to do, for he soon let me know who he was. He 
was no less a personage than "the Court," for so they generally call the 
presiding judge in the United States, and was beyond all question the greatest 
man in the place. He was, in fact, the personage of the locality for the 
moment, and it turned out that the post-master had given him his only good 
bedroom, and that he had good-naturedly given it up to me for one night, and 
had taken the "Majesty of the Law" to sleep behind the counter, in a little 
shop where the post-office was kept, with blankets, crockery, cheese, and all 
sorts of things around him, and had very naturally come to warm himself in his 
own quarters.

"The court and myself now got along very well together; he had been bred to the 
law in the western country, did not want for shrewdness, was good-natured, but 
was evidently a man of low habits and manners. He was very much amused with my 
apparatus for dressing, which was simple enough; a nail-brush was quite new to 
him, and he remarked that "it was a considerable better invention than a fork, 
which he said he had seen people use when they had too much dirt in their 
nails.' He 'didn't see why I wanted so many tooth-brushes.' He 'once carried 
one, but it was troublesome, though the handle was convenient to stir brandy-
sling with.' After a while he left me, to dress himself after his fashion, and 
a little after 6 a.m. I was called to the apothecary's to breakfast, where the 
same viands with which we had been regaled the preceding evening were spread 
upon the table, without any change.

..."After wandering about the whole day, we returned in the evening to our 
quarters, and sat down again to ham and treacle. Here it was announced to us 
that we had to "shift" our lodgings, as the Court had only bargained to sleep 
behind the counter with crockery and cheese one night. We had, therefore, to 
make the best of it. and lay down on the floor of the eating-room. It was 
evident that everything was makeshift at Mineral Point, but we certainly found 
everybody very obliging.

..."I had heard much of a trial for murder that was to take place in the 
evening, and as amusement and characteristic manners are usually to be found 
upon such occasions, especially in the western country, I went to the court-
house, which was a log building made of squared timber. It was but a sorry 
exhibition of a court of justice, dark, and filled with filthy-looking men, 
spitting in every direction. The prisoner was an impudent, ill-looking fellow, 
of the name of McComber, and it appeared on the trial that in a revengeful 
spirit, for some supposed injury, he had steadily followed up one Willard, a 
nephew of General Dodge, the governor of the territory, and seeing his 
opportunity, had shot him. The court was my old friend with his breeches on; 
but, sorry I am to say, he was ill-dressed, excessively dirty, unshaven, and 
had his jaws tied up in an old silk handkerchief, having, as he told the 
jury, 'got the mumps"...

"This day my companion and myself, having procured some assistance, continued 
our levellings, and at the conclusion of our labours we returned to our 
quarters, where we learnt that the jury had sent a sealed verdict to the judge, 
having found the prisoner guilty, and that the sentence was to be passed upon 
him at eight o'clock. The court, my old friend, had not arrived when I entered 
the court-house, and I was occupied looking at the convicted prisoner, whose 
eyes were glancing in an unquiet manner about the room, when the judge, his 
person in the greatest disorder, his neckerchief awry, and his clothes partly 
unbuttoned, entered the court-room, staggering drunk, and after the most 
frightful exhibition of impotent inebriety, just managed to reach his judgement-
seat without falling.

"I have been present at many rare and curious spectacles, but never before 
assisted at one so peculiarly and intensely shocking as this; most of the 
persons evinced great dissatisfaction, and some of them proposed to lead him 
away. Leaning sideways, and not looking at anybody, he attempted to address the 
jury, but he was too far-gone even to 'talk straight'. This horrid burlesque 
was gradually creating a strong feeling of indignation in the spectators, and I 
thought it probable at one time that they would seize him and duck him in the 
stream, which would certainly have been putting the 'cap a top' as the solemn 
attorney said the preceding evening. As to the prisoner, who no doubt was 
turning the chances in his mind, he looked at his judge and seemed quite 
baffled at the probable nature of the coming sentence, which the fiery dictates 
of whiskey might suggest. The prosecuting attorney, now feeling that his own 
dignity was at stake, addressed him, and entreated him to defer the sentence 
until morning. As it was out of his power to utter any reasons against the 
court's adjourning until that time, the attorney directed proclamation made, 
and we left the court, the reeling majesty of the law being led publicly to his 
lodgings by two of the constables.

"After breakfast, I returned to the Court-house to witness the conclusion of 
this disgraceful affair. The judge arrived and took his seat with that wretched 
and haggard appearance that individuals bear who are far advanced in mania 
potu; and after a few absurd phrases, sentenced the murderer to pay a fine of 
three hundred dollars, and to be imprisoned until the fine was paid. The 
disgusting farce being over, the convict was conducted to the log hut which was 
appointed to be the jail, and as soon as they opened the door to let him in, I 
saw him make a couple ground somersets, the last of which carried him into his 
lodgings."
 

Additional Comments:
The Court" who was given the foregoing devastating description was Chief 
Justice Charles Dunn of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Wisconsin. He had 
been in office a little less than a year. Those were frontier times and the 
courts reflected the communities that they served. 

This description was written in 1837. It was written by an Englishman, G.W. 
Featherstonhaugh, who was visiting Mineral Point, pursuing his interest in 
mining investments.(A Canoe Trip up the Minnay Sotor, by G.W. Featherstonhaugh, 
London,1847, Richard Bentley,pp.67-84, passim.)

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