Home Remedies and Quack Cures: Hall’s Catarrh Cure
I’ve recently been performing a lot of historical and ancestral research by combing through digitized newspapers. Inevitably, in the newspapers of the mid-1800’s until the early 1930’s, I am reading advertisements extolling the benefits of so-called miracle cures, also known as patent medicines. These “medicines” claimed to cure everything from A to Z. So, I thought it would be fun and interesting to do a series on the history of patent medicine, or “nostrums” as they were called, and some of the quack cures that literally flooded the market in that era. Here and there I’ll do some articles on home remedies as well.
Today’s subject, “Hall’s Catarrh Cure,” caught my eye in an ad above a story I was researching this week, so I decided to do a little extra research on the history of this patent medicine – was it really a miracle cure?
Background
First of all, what the heck is “catarrh”? According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, “catarrh” is an “inflammation of the mucus membrane, chronically affecting the human nose and air passages.” Hey, I’ve had catarrh for years and didn’t know it!
In or around 1870, Frank J. Cheney purchased the rights to Dr. Henry S. Hall’s “cure” – a drug that Dr. Hall had formulated and prescribed to his patients. I was unable to locate any specific information on Dr. Hall himself but Cheney appears to be one shrewd and powerful (as in “connected”) businessman. Cheney Medicine Company did a booming business for several years …. until the patent medicine industry began to be investigated and exposed by scientists and the American Medical Association.
In 1871 Cheney began employing a very effective advertising campaign. His ads weren’t flashy but they were everywhere – by the late 19th century he was advertising in over sixteen thousand newspapers world-wide. This type of advertising was likely what kept newspapers of that day afloat. Cheney, at one point, estimated that the proprietary medicine industry paid out more than $20 million dollars to newspapers per year! (Click to enlarge images)
halls cattarh adsCheney employed hundreds of people and he had representatives throughout the country doing door-to-door sales. By the mid-1890’s the company was sending out 200,000 circulars daily at a cost of around $300 in postage per day.
Frank Cheney was a shrewd businessman. One of his “gimmicks”, shall we say, was to put a wrapper on every bottle of Hall’s Catarrh Cure which contained the following “guarantee”:
One hundred dollar reward for any case of catarrh that can’t be cured with Hall’s Catarrh Cure.
Do you think anyone ever received this so-called “one hundred dollar reward”? According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 46, Issues 14-26, one patient, Mr. Robert Parks, wrote to the Cheney Medicine Company requesting his reward. You see he had used 26 bottles of Hall’s Catarrh Cure without benefit – in fact, his condition had worsened. Mr. Parks received the following reply:
So apparently there was plenty of “wiggle room” in making these claims of cures. However, by the late 1890s and early 1900s, the patent medicine industry began to come under more scrutiny.
Proprietary Proprietors Strike Back
In response to the scrutiny and action threatened by state legislatures, Frank Cheney was instrumental in the formation of The Proprietary Association of America, its primary purpose being to protect the interests of the patent or proprietary medicine industry against state legislation and regulation.
For a period of time, Cheney served as the president of the Association and was largely responsible for the so-called “Red Clause” which was inserted in all advertising contracts with newspapers (printed in red ink). The Red Clause stated:
It is mutually agreed that this contract is void if any law is enacted by your State restricting or prohibiting the manufacture or sale of proprietary medicines.
Frank Cheney shared his advertising secrets and ploys with fellow members of the Association and for awhile those conversations and strategy sessions were kept from the public. An investigative journalist, Samuel Hopkins Adams, wrote a series of articles for Collier’s Weekly in 1905 exposing many of the false claims of these so-called miracle cures. Adams also exposed the Association’s secrets. As a result the general public was made aware of the fraud being perpetrated upon them, and the federal government began to take action.
The Pure Food and Drugs Act was enacted in 1906 and eventually the Food and Drug Act would be passed years later. Frank Cheney died in 1919 and his 1886 affidavit ad (see above) was still running in newspapers.
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Feudin’ and Fightin’ Friday: The Jaybird-Woodpecker War
This little war fought in Fort Bend County, Texas had nothing to do with birds, but could very well be described as a race war.
Background
In the early 1820s, the area which comprised Fort Bend County was settled as a so-called “plantation district”. By 1861 when it was time to decide whether to secede from the Union this Texas county was one of the largest slave-holding counties in Texas. Not surprisingly, the slave holders voted 100 percent in favor of secession.
This article is no longer available for free at this site. It was published in the January-February 2019 issue of Digging History Magazine. Other articles featured in this issue include: “The Great Molasses Flood of 1919”, “Hell for Rent: A Nation Goes Dry”, “Edith, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”, “Manumission: Free at Last (or perhaps not)”, “Free to Enslave”, and more. Should you prefer to purchase the article only, contact me for more information.
I invite you to check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
Want to know more or try out a free issue? You can download either (or both) of the January-February 2019 and March-April 2019 issues here: https://digging-history.com/free-samples/
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Ghost Town Wednesday: Moonville, Ohio
Not only is Moonville, Ohio a ghost town in the classic sense of the term (a once thriving town completely abandoned), stories abound about the haunting of various locales in and around the town.
No one seems to know where the town name originated, although some have theorized folks with the last name of “Moon” lived in the area, or that the railroad named the town in honor of a local grocery store owner. The land upon which the town was built belonged to Samuel Coe. Samuel was born on July 20, 1813 in Pompey, New York to parents Chester and Roxanna Coe. The family eventually migrated to Ohio, where Samuel met and married Emaline Newcomb on August 27, 1836 in the Rome township of Ashtabula County. Soon thereafter the Coes moved to Rue in Athens County.
Samuel’s uncle Josiah Coe had purchased land in that area of southeastern Ohio in 1803 so it’s possible that Samuel already knew of the abundant natural resources. At some point, Samuel purchased 350 acres in the Brown Township near where Moonville would eventually be situated. In the 1850’s, the railroads were beginning to boom and expand westward. One of those railroads, the Marletta and Cincinnati Railroad (M&C) had been experiencing financial difficulties and decided to offer stock subscriptions to encourage property owners to allow M&C track to be routed through their land.
Samuel Coe, in entrepreneurial spirit, offered to allow M&C to lay track through his property for free – the caveat being that he would have a railroad at his disposal to haul away the coal on his property to sell to the burgeoning coal markets.
The rail company was not in a great financial position at that time and had already made plans to lay track in another area, but the deal was so enticing that they agreed to Coe’s offer. In approximately 1856 the town of Moonville sprung up as a railroad town, surrounded by coal and clay mining operations. The town was never more than about one hundred residents, but it did have a school, cemetery, post office, store, train depot and a saloon. Homes were built up in the hills and hollows surrounding the town and for awhile the area boomed with mining production – even providing iron ore to build weaponry for the Civil War.
By the late 1880’s the M&C was bought out by the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad. The town of Moonville gradually declined as natural mining resources were depleted. In 1947 the last family left the town and today all that remains are building foundations and the nearby Moonville Tunnel, which is the subject of ghost stories and legends.
<Ghost stories here>
The job of brakeman was one of the most dangerous in the railroad business. As the job title implies, they were responsible for helping the train brake, sometimes in precarious situations such as turns and downhill runs. In those railroad boom years, brakeman accidents and deaths were all too common. Some claim that they have seen a “ghost” walking along the tracks and under the tunnel, supposedly a brakeman:
The story of the engineer who died in the head-on collision of his train with another spawned a legend about a ghostly figure walking along the tracks carrying a lantern:
“A ghost (after an absence of one year) returned and appeared in front of a freight at the point where Engineer Lawhead lost his life. The ghost is seen in a white robe and carrying a lantern. “The eyes glistened like balls of fire and surrounding it was a halo of twinkling stars” – Chillicothe Gazette, 17 Feb 1895″
One of the more “colorful” ghost stories is the one about a man named David “Baldie” Keeton . He is said to walk above the Moonville Tunnel and toss rocks and pebbles below. Baldie was 65 years old and his death was of a suspicious nature. He was known as a brawler of sorts and one night he had stopped in at the local saloon on his way home. Trouble ensued and on his way home some have theorized that Baldie was attacked and murdered and perhaps thrown on the tracks where he was run over possibly by several trains … his body horribly mangled. If it was murder, no one ever confessed.
According to a web site devoted to Moonville and its history, there isn’t much left to see at the cemetery. Many head stones are missing (web site says that a custom was to take grave stones and use them for walkways and steps).
Directions to the ghost town of Moonville are here http://www.moonvilletunnel.net/Directions_To_Moonville.htm
should you ever find yourself in southeastern Ohio and up for a ghost hunt.
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Tombstone Tuesday: Sylvester (Syl) and Emma Gambllin – Alma, New Mexico
These two gravestones caught my eye. I suspected they were husband and wife, being the only Gamblins in this cemetery. Both Syl (Sylvester) and Emma also lived into their 90s so I’m thinking they must have led full and interesting lives.
Emma was born on May 12, 1869 in Ohio (according to various U.S. Census records) and passed away on August 3, 1966. According to Syl’s gravestone he was born in 1856 and died in 1947. In the 1860 Census, Sylvester Gamblin was three years old and living in Gap, Montgomery County, Arkansas. His parents were James and Emenella Gamblin.
In the 1870 Census, Syl lived in Texas, and in 1880 he lived in Center, Polk County, Arkansas, listed as a boarder with the Davis family. The missing data which could be gleaned from the 1890 U.S. Census records (burned in a fire in 1921) leaves some gaps in Syl’s history and his migration from Arkansas to New Mexico Territory. However, according to various snippets in the Socorro Chieftain and the Silver City Southwest-Sentinel, Syl was in the area in the early 1890s:
I also found a source citation from the 1900 US Census taken in Nome, Alaska, listing Syl Gamblin as a partner in relation to the head of the household and working in the mining industry, along with several other men. That census was taken from May 1 to June 1, 1900. The date of birth, age and place of birth match Syl’s vital data. So, perhaps Syl had decided at some point to try his hand at mining in Alaska.
If true, he apparently didn’t find riches in Alaska and sometime after June 1, 1900 he returned to Mogollon, as evidenced by an IRS Tax Assessment List for taxes due from October 1, 1900 (the date his business commenced) to June 30, 1901 (click to enlarge all graphics).
In 1910, according to that year’s census, Syl was still living in Mogollon and single. A mention of Syl in a book about a local law enforcement officer, Cipriano Baca, made a short reference to Syl but did not include dates. In this short blurb (“Cipriana” in the quote below was Cipriano Baca’s daughter) the author mentions Syl:
So the information and graphic above about tax assessments would likely be for the saloon.
Syl was apparently civic-minded. He was appointed as Precinct Election Judge several times, served as a delegate to the County Democratic Convention and he paid his taxes.
Syl Gamblin knew plenty of hardship as well. Like today, the area around Mogollon is prone to both fires and floods:
Thus, Syl Gamblin was a prominent citizen of the area as shown by the news articles posted above. NOTE: I searched extensively to locate a picture of Syl without success.
A little more research turned up some interesting information about Emma. Emma (maiden name Williams) married Charles Alfred Shellhorn on January 12 ,1898. I noticed that there were several Shellhorns buried in this cemetery as well. On January 3, 1899 their son Herman was born and died on July 12, 1899. Another child, Harriet, was born one year to the day after Herman’s death, on July 12, 1900. Charles, whose occupation on the 1900 Census was listed as “teamster” died on February 9, 1908. He probably worked in the mines and perhaps died on the job, although I could find no news article about such a disaster around that time.
While searching for a news item about Charles Shellhorn’s death, I came across this news item about little Cipriana Baca, Hattie Shellhorn’s best friend (see book excerpt above):
This accident happened on the same day as Charles Shellhorn, Hattie’s father, died.
In 1910, Emma is listed as a widow on that year’s U.S. Census, living in Mogollon and working as a housekeeper, with one child, Harriet aged 9. Harriet (“Hattie”) died on October 14, 1918 and is buried in the same cemetery. I suspected Hattie was a victim of the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic, although according to her death certificate she died of pneumonia. (Hattie Shellhorn Death Certificate) Many people in Mogollon fell ill and died that year, and it is known that in the fall of 1918 the flu strain was much more virulent and deadly (see Albert Samsill Tombstone Article).
So, by 1918, Emma had suffered one loss after another. Her entire family, including her first husband Charles had died. From the book excerpt cited above, it sounds like perhaps Syl had known Emma awhile before they married because he knew Hattie when she was younger. By the 1920 Census, Syl and Emma had married, he being 63 and she 51 and were living in Hansonburg, Socorro County, New Mexico where Syl worked as a stockman or stock raiser. (One record I found suggested Syl and Emma married in 1912, but it was a subscription site, so I couldn’t view the documentation. A search of a New Mexico Marriage database yielded no results either. However, that certainly fits the theory that they married sometime between the 1910 and 1920 Census.) Hansonburg was a mining district.
I found no record of the Gamblins in the 1930 Census, but in the 1940 Census Syl is 82 years old and his occupation is listed as “miner” and living in Mogollon, Catron County, New Mexico. Hmmm…perhaps Syl had been part of the Nome gold strike of 1900 after all and now he was trying his hand again at mining? Come to think of it, there was gold fever in Polk County, Arkansas in the 1880s and Syl lived in Polk County according to the 1880 Census.
Digitized newspapers at the Library of Congress are only available through 1922, and the 1940 Census is the last one available at this time. So the only remaining information I could find about the Gamblins is on their tombstones — Syl died in 1947 and Emma in 1966.
Perhaps Syl Gamblin was a restless soul, wandering near and far, in search of riches and success – or dare I say a “gamblin’ man”. Maybe when he found Emma he found real happiness and contentment at last. Doesn’t that sound like material for a historical fiction/romance book?
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Military History Monday – The Utah War a.k.a. Buchanan’s Blunder
Early Mormon History
During the early 19th century, a revival movement called The Second Great Awakening was sweeping the nation. One particular area in western New York became known as the “Burned Over District”. The area had been so heavily evangelized and saturated with revival that no fuel (unconverted souls) was left to burn (in other words, convert). Many religious and socialist experiments (utopian) sprung from that area – the Shakers, Oneida Society, Millerites (later Seventh Day Adventist) and Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, lived in the Burned Over District and was influenced as were many others by the revival.
In 1831, Mormons began to move west into Ohio and Missouri, and in 1840 a new colony was established in Nauvoo, Illinois. For many years the Mormons had faced opposition to their religion, even engaging in armed conflicts. When Joseph Smith moved to Nauvoo he again experienced anti-Mormon sentiment. In 1844 he was arrested, and while in jail a vigilante mob killed him on June 27, 1844.
Mormon Westward Migration
Eventually, leadership of the church passed to Brigham Young, and he led a group west to territory that was at the time still part of Mexico. On July 24, 1847 Young and his group arrived in the Salt Lake Valley with the desire to live out their faith in isolation. Meanwhile, ownership of territory in the West was shifting following the Mexican-American War. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo brought an end to the war in 1848. Now the territory where the Mormons had settled changed hands to the United States.
In 1849, the Mormons proposed entrance into the Union by joining as the State of Deseret. However, they did not want any outside governing influences (“carpetbaggers”), but rather to be led by those of like faith. Only by governance through their church did they feel they could truly have religious freedom. Congress created the Utah Territory as part of the Compromise of 1850, and President Millard Fillmore appointed Brigham Young as its first territorial governor.
Polygamy was still a major tenet of the Mormon faith and even in their isolation in Utah Territory, the group still remained controversial. The practice of multiple marriages in the rest of the country was considered immoral. Included in the planks of the Republican platform in 1856 was a promise “to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism: polygamy and slavery.”
When President James Buchanan came into office in 1857, one of his first initiatives was to address the Mormon issue. By that summer, Buchanan had appointed Alfred Cumming as the new territorial governor to replace Brigham Young and sent out an expedition led by Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston. Once Young became aware that the army was approaching he ordered territory residents to prepare to evacuate. The plans included the burning of homes and stockpiling of food, and LDS missionaries were recalled to return to the territory.
In August of 1857 Utah’s militia, Nauvoo Legion, was reassembled by Young and part of their assignment was to harass the U.S. Army. Before the main U.S. Army contingent was sent out, Captain Stewart Van Vliet had been dispatched with a small group of men to pave the way for the new appointees to be introduced as leaders in the territory.
Van Vliet moved cautiously into the territory expecting little or no resistance (he had previous dealings with Mormons in Iowa). However, Young made it clear that he would not allow the new governor and federal officers to enter the territory. In response to the turmoil and confusion, Young had declared martial law in early August, but the proclamation hadn’t been widely circulated. Upon Van Vliet’s exit from Salt Lake City in mid-September, Young again issued the proclamation – now residents were more aware of the situation and the impending “invasion” by the U.S. Army.
In late September, the Utah militia began to have contact with the U.S. troops and employed delaying tactics and harassment such as burning grass along the Army’s trail or causing the Army’s cattle to stampede. In early October, Fort Bridger was burned down to prevent the Army from encamping there, and soon after that the militia and Army troops were involved in a skirmish in which no one was killed. By late October and into November, weather became a factor with the onset of heavy snowstorms. The Nauvoo Legion had also fortified Echo Canyon which led down to the Salt Lake Valley.
On November 21 the new territorial governor, Alfred Cumming, while on his way to Utah issued a proclamation declaring the residents of the territory to be in rebellion. Soon after a grand jury convened at Camp Scott where Brigham Young and sixty other men were indicted for treason. Meanwhile, there was little that could be accomplished now that winter weather had set in.
Back in August Young had contacted a perceived ally, Thomas Kane, who had previously been sympathetic to the Mormon’s plight in dealing with their ongoing controversies before they had headed west. Kane contacted President Buchanan and volunteered to serve as a mediator to resolve the conflict, but the President was concerned that if somehow the Mormons prevailed and destroyed his army, he would pay a heavy political price. Buchanan eventually agreed to allow Kane to attempt mediation so Kane made his way to Utah traveling first to Panama and then up to San Francisco (eventually landing in San Pedro, California because of heavy snow blocking Sierra passes). He was taken across through San Bernardino and Las Vegas and on to Salt Lake City.
Kane was successful in convincing Brigham Young to agree to the installment of Alfred Cumming as the new territorial governor. Kane traveled to Colonel Johnston’s winter encampment to escort Cumming into Salt Lake City in early March of 1858, and by mid-April Cumming had been installed as the new governor. However, tensions continued as there was still the possibility that the U.S. Army would enter Utah. Northern Utah settlers had already begun migrating south in March, boarding up their homes and, if necessary, burn their homes. Yet, even with Cumming’s successful installation, the migration continued.
In their book, The Story of the Latter-Day Saints, LDS historians James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard noted the following:
It was an extraordinary operation. As the Saints moved south they cached all the stone cut for the Salt Lake Temple and covered the foundations to make it resemble a plowed field. They boxed and carried with them twenty thousand bushels of tithing grain, as well as machinery, equipment, and all the Church records and books. The sight of thirty thousand people moving south was awesome, and the amazed Governor Cumming did all he could to persuade them to return to their homes. Brigham Young replied that if the troops were withdrawn from the territory, the people would stop moving…. (p. 308)
Meanwhile, President Buchanan had come under increasing pressure from some members of Congress who did not want to start a war with the Mormons. Conversely, there were others who supported the efforts and even wanted to increase the size of the Army to deal with the situation. In April, the President sent a Peace Commission to negotiate a settlement, offering a pardon to all Mormons who had any involvement in the conflict with the U.S. government (or preventing the U.S. Army from entering the territory). The commissioners emphasized that the U.S. government did not want to interfere with the Mormons’ right to practice their religion.
Brigham Young eventually agreed to the terms of the proclamation but did not admit that Utah had ever been in direct rebellion of the U.S. government. Near the end of June, the U.S. Army troops made their way into Utah without any resistance. Soon after that, northern Utah settlers began to return to their homes and the army settled into a valley southwest of Salt Lake City. Eventually the troops moved out in 1861 as the Civil War began.
Buchanan’s Blunder
The conflict has been referred to as “Buchanan’s Blunder” in part because (1) Governor Young was not properly notified of his replacement, (2) troops were perhaps dispatched before knowing just how serious (or not) the Utah situation was, (3) supplies were inadequate and (4) the expedition was sent out too late and thus forced to encamp and wait out the winter of 1857-1858.
Aftermath and Consequences
The Mormons themselves lost out because of those who had their lives and livelihoods disrupted, and with the troop occupation the situation still remained tense – many of those troops reportedly reviled the Mormons. Another consequence of the Utah War was the creation of the Pony Express. The Utah militia, in their attempts to harass and keep out unwanted outsider intervention, had burned over fifty mail wagons. That business (Russell, Majors and Waddell) was never reimbursed by the federal government and in 1860 the Pony Express was created so they could obtain a government mail contract and avoid financial ruin.
The Utah War ultimately resulted in the decline of Mormon isolation. By 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad had been completed and with that came an influx of “Gentiles”. Polygamy still remained an issue with the federal government, but finally in 1896 Utah was granted statehood.
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Feudin’ and Fightin’ Friday: The Lawless Horrell Brothers (From Lampasas, TX to Lincoln, NM and Back)
Horrells and Higgins – Early Lampasas County Settlers
John Holcomb Higgins and his wife Hester migrated to Lampasas County, Texas from Georgia with their young family. Their son, John Pinkney Calhoun Higgins was their first male child, born on March 28, 1851. The Higgins family was among the first settlers in the county. One source indicated that the Higgins family had moved to Texas in 1848, but I believe that is incorrect as John Pinkney was born in Georgia as noted in subsequent censuses – so not sure the exact date they arrived in Lampasas County.
In 1857 a family named Horrell migrated to the county from Arkansas. According to the 1850 Census, the Horrell family lived in Caddo, Montgomery County, Arkansas and father James (Samuel) was listed as being 30 years of age. Their children (all males) ranged in age from 11 to infant. By the 1860 Census the Horrells had moved to Lampasas County. Since 1850 two more sons and a daughter had been born.
According to at least one source, for several years the families lived peacefully as neighbors. Sometime in the 1870s, however, something changed. One event that surely devastated the Horrell family was the death of Samuel Horrell. I found the following story on Ancestry.com:
Traveling east from Las Cruces, New Mexico, the Horrell party was waylaid by Mescalero Apache Indians at the San Augustine Pass, where Samuel Horrell was killed (14 Jan 1869). It was reported that John’s wife Sarah and Thomas Horrell fought the Indians off with a six-shooter and a rifle. After fighting off the Indians the Horrell party continued on East to take refuge at the Shedd Ranch. By March of 1869, Samuel Horrell’s widow, Elizabeth, had returned to Lampasas, Texas. Elizabeth moved into a house in town near what is now known as the Cloud Warehouse.
According to the Texas Muster Rolls, four of the Horrell brothers had enlisted in a local militia commanded by George E. Haynie. The brothers Benjamin, Mart and Merritt are listed as joining on September 11, 1872 and service was 17 days, but the final muster date wasn’t until March 10, 1874. Tom Horrell’s signup date was September 12, 1872 and he served 16 days with the same final muster date as his brothers.
According to one internet source (Legends of America), the brothers’ first run-in with the law occurred in January 1873, but the young men were already known to have been troublemakers. At this period of time, the county was a wild and woolly place to live. The Sheriff of the county, Shadick T. Denson, attempted an arrest of two friends of the brothers, but the Horrells intervened and the Sheriff was shot and later died.
The county judge appealed to Governor Edmund J. Davis to intervene, and on February 10, 1873 the Governor issued a proclamation which banned small arms in Lampasas. In March, seven members of the Texas State Police came to enforce the Governor’s proclamation. On the 19th of March, Bill Bowen, brother-in-law of the Horrell brothers, was arrested for possession of a gun. According to Legends of America, the law officers entered a saloon with Bowen and a gunfight ensued. Four officers lay dead.
Horrell War – Lincoln County, New Mexico
Now the Horrell brothers were wanted for murder. Law enforcement finally arrested Mart Horrell and three others and took them to the jail in Georgetown, Texas, but on May 2 the men escaped from jail after Mart’s brothers and several other cowboys descended on the town and freed them.
The brothers remained around the area for awhile and then headed to Lincoln County, New Mexico, camping on the Rio Ruidoso near present day Hondo. On December 1, 1873, Ben Horrell and two others rode into Lincoln and begin to carouse and cause trouble. When the local Constable Juan Martinez demanded their guns be turned over they complied, but soon found replacements and continued on through the town making trouble.
According to Legends of America, one of the men with Ben Horrell (Dave Warner) had a long-standing grudge against Martinez. When confronted again by the Constable, Warner shot and killed Martinez. The other lawmen with Martinez shot and killed Warner on the spot, but Ben and the other man, Jack Gylam (himself an ex-Lincoln County Sheriff), fled. The lawmen pursued the two and when they caught up with them, killed them (Ben 9 times and Gylam 14 times).
Retaliation by the remaining Horrell brothers came swiftly when they killed two Hispanics who were prominent citizens of the area. On December 20, the brothers returned to Lincoln to continue their vendetta by killing four men and wounding a woman. Efforts to arrest the Horrells were fruitless and eventually in early 1874 the brothers and their friends made their way back to Texas. Along the way, they still had some sort of revenge against Hispanics on their agenda. Deputy Sheriff Joseph Haskins of Pichaco, New Mexico was killed (sources suggest he was killed because he was married to an Hispanic woman). Approximately fifteen miles west of Roswell, New Mexico the gang killed five other Hispanics.
Horrells vs. Higgins
The Horrells finally arrived back in Texas and in 1876 were tried for the death of State Police Officer Captain Thomas Williams – they were acquitted. Tensions with the Higgins family, specifically John Pinkney “Pink” Higgins, came to a head. In May of 1876, Higgins filed a complaint accusing Merritt Horrell of stealing his cattle. Merritt was tried, but again a Horrell brother was acquitted. Higgins vowed to settle the matter with a gun.
On January 22, 1877, Pink carried out his threat and killed Merritt Horrell in a Lampasas saloon. Of course, the other Horrell brothers vowed revenge on Higgins and his brother-in-law, Bob Mitchell and friend Bill Wren. On March 26, Tom and Mart Horrell were ambushed by the Higgins group but were only wounded. A warrant was issued for Higgins and friends’ arrest. They each posted a $10,000 bond and were released. However, on June 4, the courthouse was burglarized and their records were stolen (coincidence? – I think not!).
Shortly after the break-in, Higgins and friends rode into Lampasas and a gunfight ensued with the Horrells and their friends. Bob Mitchell’s brother, Frank, lay dead along with two others who were friends of the Horrells. Subsequently, the Texas Rangers were dispatched to negotiate a cease fire. By early August, both parties had agreed to stop their feuding. The next year, however, Tom and Mart Horrell, were suspects in a robbery/murder case of a storekeeper in Bosque County. They were jailed and later a mob stormed the jail and shot both of them to death.
The one Horrell brother, Samuel, said to be the oldest and most peaceable, eventually moved to Oregon and died there in 1936. Pink Higgins moved his family to the Spur, Texas area and died there of a heart attack in 1914.
History Bonus: Here’s a PDF File of Pink Higgins’ story found at Find-A-Grave (Pink Higgins ). He certainly lived an interesting life if this is all true – definitely worth a read.
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Ghost Town Wednesday – Daisy Colony: Oklahoma’s “Amazon Women”
I had seen this “ghost town” mentioned in my recent research for ghost town stories, so I will loosely place it under that category because it’s pretty interesting. Over the years, some people have thought this might be the same group of women who formed Bathsheba (which lasted only a short time – see this blog article), but it does appear to be a different group of women.
I found one reference, actually an article written anonymously. This person constructed the story of “Daisy Colony” with newspaper articles written about a group of “venturesome” women. The group was led by a woman referred to as Annetta (or Annette) Daisy.
This humorous and informative article has been re-written and enhanced, and published (complete with footnotes and sources) in the May 2018 issue of Digging History Magazine. Should you prefer to purchase the article only, contact me for more information.
I invite you to check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
Want to know more or try out a free issue? You can download either (or both) of the January-February 2019 and March-April 2019 issues here: https://digging-history.com/free-samples/
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Tombstone Tuesday: A.E. Sipe (Glenwood Cemetery – Catron County, New Mexico)
At the suggestion of my cousin, Terrie Henderson, I decided to check out some cemeteries in Catron County, New Mexico. Several of the sites I perused had extensive details of both the lives and deaths on the individual Find-A-Grave web page. For instance, the Boot Hill Cemetery has but 8 interments. Initially I thought this might be a good one to research but since a lot of information has already been documented, I wanted to find something more challenging.
I continued looking through the Catron County cemeteries and came upon the Glenwood Cemetery. I saw a picture of a sign with the name of the cemetery:
The name of the founder, A.E. Sipe, caught my eye and the fact that the precise founding date was noted. Would I find A.E. Sipe himself buried in this cemetery?
This article has been “snipped”. The article was updated, with new research and sources, for the September-October 2020 issue of Digging History Magazine. It is included in the article entitled “The Dash: A.E. Sipe (1855-1909)” with much more research about Adolphus Elijah Sipe and his family, plus what really happened to him. How and where did he die? This issue is Part II of a short series of articles dedicated to New Mexico history and how to find the best genealogical records. The September-October 2020 issue is available here: https://digging-history.com/store/?model_number=sepoct-20
Did you enjoy this article? Yes? Check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
Want to know more or try out a free issue? You can download either (or both) of the January-February 2019 and March-April 2019 issues here: https://digging-history.com/free-samples/
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Military History Monday – Obscure U.S. Civil Wars – The Walton War
In this border war which occurred in the first decade of the 1800s, ambiguities in border delineation were again the center of controversy. The strip of land, approximately twelve miles wide, was called the “Orphan Strip”. That strip of land bordered the three states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
Originally, after the Revolutionary War, there was a dispute between North and South Carolina. States who previously had claims to land west of the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River were asked to cede those lands back to the federal government. North Carolina ceded their western land (eventually becoming Tennessee) and South Carolina only needed to cede a small strip of land in order to comply with the federal government’s wishes. Georgia agreed to cede the land that would later become Alabama and Mississippi, and in return the federal government agreed that Georgia would receive the small strip of land that South Carolina had ceded. That occurred in 1802, so now Georgia and North Carolina shared a border.
The problem likely arose because the land was never properly surveyed (duh!). At the eastern edge of the land strip was an area that North Carolina believed to be its Buncombe County. In 1785 settlers had begun to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains and settled that area. By 1802 there were about 800 residents and many of those settlers had received their land grants from South Carolina (remember that officially South Carolina had ceded that strip back to the government who in turn had ceded it to Georgia), while others had received grants from North Carolina.
Of course, agitation and confusion ensued because these settlers didn’t want to lose their land. In 1803, Georgia decided to intervene by proceeding to create Walton County out of the disputed territory, named for one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, George Walton. Farmers who held South Carolina land grants supported the new county government but rejected any jurisdiction asserted by Buncombe County (North Carolina). Conversely, those who held North Carolina land grants supported Buncombe County but not Walton County (Georgia).
By December 1804 the dispute came to a head when Walton County officials decided to settle the dispute once and for all, seeking to evict any remaining Buncombe County supporters. John Havener, a Buncombe County constable, was struck in the head with the butt of a musket and died. Buncombe County immediately called for militia to be dispatched to the area. On the 19th of December, Major James Brittain with a group of seventy-two militia marched into the area and was joined by twenty-four other North Carolinians who lived in the area.
Ten suspected Walton County officials were captured and sent to Morganton, North Carolina to stand trial for the murder of Havener. The dispute continued until in 1807 a commission was formed in order to settle the matter. After surveying the area properly, the true boundary was found to be a few miles south of its original presumed position. Georgia commissioners finally admitted that all of Walton County rightly belonged to North Carolina.
In the end, all was forgiven (with the exception of the ten men accused of murder – however, those men escaped and were never seen again). North Carolina eventually recognized the South Carolina land grants.
I ran across one person’s story about her genealogical research in which this dispute actually caused some confusion (this might solve someone else’s confusion as well):
For many years I was puzzled by the fact that so many of my ancestors seemed to move around so much, back and forth between North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Moving would have caused tremendous work, time and hardship back then due to the mountainous, inaccessible terrain. There was also so much conflicting information on various census: on one census a person would state that her mother was born in Georgia and on the next census state North Carolina or South Carolina. Then I remembered the Walton War and what confusion it must have caused the inhabitants of this area. For many several years they were claimed as citizens of three different states. I wondered if perhaps they might never have moved at all but were unsure of which state they were being claimed by at the moment. These people could have stayed where they were and yet have technically lived in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia during this time period. This was verified by finding some of my ancestors listed on the census of Walton County, Georgia when I know for sure that they were living on land located near the Jackson-Transylvania County, North Carolina border. So if you are working on your genealogy and have relatives in this area, remember the Walton War! – Shawna Hall (no relation that I know of).
Today, the originally disputed land is now part of the North Carolina county of Transylvania.
Did you enjoy this article? Yes? Check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
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Ghost Town Wednesday – Alcove Springs, Kansas
I found the subject of today’s article on another blog which listed the ten best “ghost” towns to visit in Kansas. The author’s caveat was that it never became a town, but it is quite historical (and worth a trip to see) – known as the most historic place in Kansas on the Oregon Trail.
The name was given to the springs by a member of the Donner-Reed Party in 1846, although it was a known place along the trail which fur trappers traversed in the late 1820s and 1830s. The first mention of the springs was made by travelers of the “Great Migration” in 1843.
“Alcove” was the name given the springs for its appearance, a shelving of rocks over which water flowed.
The springs became a popular place to stop because quite often when the emigrants reached this point in their journey the Blue River was at flood stage – Alcove Springs became a place to wait until the river level went down so they could continue. According to the Oregon-California Trails Associate web site, there are several carvings on the ledge and rocks surrounding the area, as well as wagon ruts. It is undoubtedly true that some people who stopped to rest at this location and made their carvings, never made it to their final destination. Mormons heading west probably passed through that area as well – it is said some may have been buried there after dying of cholera. The Oregon Trail has been referred to as “the world’s longest graveyard”.
There are probably more than a few emigrants buried in and around the area. One of the most notable emigrants was the subject of yesterday’s Tombstone Tuesday, Mrs. Sarah Keyes. One of the carvings was made by James Reed, Mrs. Keyes son-in-law. The picture below was taken by Don Weinell (as well as the one above); however, he wasn’t sure if this was the original carving or had been moved to another location:
Alcove Springs had an unusual “post office” system. In 1849, William Johnson observed the following:
“We found here also one of the kind of postoffices peculiar to the plains — a stick driven into the ground, in the upper end of which, in a notch, communications are placed, intended for parties following. A letter in this postoffice was found addressed to Captain Pyle. It was from Captain Paul, giving information that at this place his driver, John Fuller, had accidentally shot and killed himself whilst removing a gun from the wagon.”
(I’m not entirely sure, but William Johnson may have been one of the Donner Party rescuers in the winter of 1846-1847.)
From the pictures I’ve seen, this “ghostly” place in Kansas sounds like a beautiful place to visit, officially listed as one of the “8 Wonders of Kansas Geography”. The site is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The springs are located approximately 2 miles north of Blue Rapids, Kansas; turn right at the sign and head west for 6 miles on a gravel road.
Did you enjoy this article? Yes? Check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
Want to know more or try out a free issue? You can download either (or both) of the January-February 2019 and March-April 2019 issues here: https://digging-history.com/free-samples/
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