ties in placing them under arrest.

Ed. Soper was arrested at a house on the farm now owned by Martin Busier, and Gleason was found concealed in a hazel copse bordering on a slough a short distance from the house. After their arrest, Sheriff John Birely placed them in the court room-occupying the entire ground floor of the old frame court house-under a guard of about twenty men. About midnight, the vigilantes, to the number of about forty men, overpowered(!) the guards—a large number of whom, as was more than suspected, needed very little compulsion-seized the prisoners and carried them to a grove on the farm of Martin Henry, about one and a half miles south of Louden, and prepared to try them according to the rules and regulations of the Protective Association. The crowd continued to augment in numbers, until fully two hundred men were present. (Boys were carefully and rigidly excluded and guarded away from the ground.)

After all necessary preliminary arrangements were made, a jury of twelve good and true men were selected, and the trial was commenced. The prisoners were told they were allowed to challenge any one on the jury, and to reject any one of them they might believe to be unduly prejudiced against them. They were given every reasonable latitude, and allowed every privilege that would have been accorded them in an organized court of law. The people, to the number of two hundred or more, in the midst of whom the trembling wretches stood in awed subjection, were cool, calm and deliberate, yet resolute and determined. The captives saw and appreciated the situation and the consequences, and made full confession of all their crimes, giving full particulars of the stealing of the Bohemian's horse, near Solon, the stealing of Pennygrot's horse, the artifice they used to quiet his dog, how William Denny, Jr., had stood at his door, club in hand, ready to kill the "old Dutchman" if he came out of the house before they got away with his mare, the killing of the old horse, where the stolen mares were sold, and where they could be found, together with many other things not necessary to mention in these pages.

After the "evidence was all in," the jury were asked for their verdict. "GUILTY" was the response.

A motion was then made and submitted to the assembled two hundred that the trembling wretches-self-confessed horse thieves should be hanged to death at once. Only four of that number voted against the motion. Ropes were procured and adjusted to the necks of the condemned men. A wagon was drawn up under a projecting limb of a white oak tree under which they had been tried and condemned, and the men were made to get up on it. The loose end of the rope was thrown over the limb and securely fastened, the wagon was pulled out from under them, and about 3 o'clock on the afternoon of July 3, A. D. 1857, the bodies of Edward Soper and Alonzo Gleason were hung between the heavens and the earth, upon their own confession.

When life was extinct, their bodies were cut down, and a rude grave dug beneath their gallows, and, unwashed and uncoffined, their remains were rolled into the hole and covered with mother earth.

When the rope was placed around their necks, Gleason said to his executioners: "Boys, I hope I'll meet you all in hell!" and making a leap, jumped from the wagon and landed in eternity. It is said by some that Gleason told Soper to stand up and die like a man-" to jump off the wagon, and not allow himself to be strangled to death like a dog.'

In a day or two after the tragical affair, the friends of Soper exhumed his remains and prepared to give them a decent, if not a truly Christian, burial. The following Sunday, his corpse was brought to the Court House yard in

Tipton. The coffin was opened and his face exposed to view. It was a sickening and repulsive sight-all blackened with the advanced stages of decomposi tion and putrefaction. After the coffin was closed, a few friends formed in procession and followed all that remained of Edward Soper to the old grave yard at Tipton, where he was re-buried.

It would be strange, indeed, if there were not some people who censured and condemned the manner of his sudden and disgraceful taking off, or a sympathy awakened for him and his relatives and friends, even if the punishment of death was justly merited. Such a sympathy was awakened and found expression in more voices than one. The action of the vigilantes was seriously and earnestly condemned, and at one time it was feared that the sympathy and condemnation would overleap the bounds of reason and prudence, and take the form of retributive action not altogether creditable to law-abiding people. But happily and fortunately for the peace, welfare and good name of the community, the ruffled element of public sentiment settled down into a peaceful calm, and other than an attempt to get the matter before the grand jury, no action has ever been taken. At the first session of the court after the hanging, Judge Tuthill, presiding, said, in his charge to the grand jury, that "where a number of persons are assembled together to do an unlawful act, all who are present when the offense is committed are, in presumption of law, participants; for it is a well known principle of criminal jurisprudence that all who openly aid and abet the commission of a felony participate in the crime; and in riotous and tumultuous assemblies all who are present and do not endeavor in some manner to prevent, restrain or discountenance the breach of the peace are prima facie participants therein." While the grand jury was in session, a large number of those who were engaged in the Soper-Gleason tragedy were in town, and when witnesses were seen approaching the grand jury room, the vigilantes or their friends used means to either persuade or frighten them away, so that no indictments were ever lodged against them. Witnesses who had been summoned subsequently reported that when they were nearing Tipton to go before the grand jury to testify, they were met by men whom they did not know and told to go back home and attend to their own business that if they went before the grand jury, they were only inviting their own deaths. Whether this is true or not, only those who were interested have the means of knowing.

A large majority of those interested in the Soper-Gleason affair still remain in Cedar County. Many of them are among the wealthiest, and consequently most influential, citizens of the community, highly respected and generally useful, reliable and strictly law-abiding.

HI. ROBERTS.

Hiram Roberts, of Indiana, was the owner of a farm in Jones County, and frequently visited there to look after his interests. On these visits, his associations were with that class of men who were under the ban of suspicion as horse thieves and counterfeiters. He frequently went over into Cedar County, and made protracted visits among people who were almost known outlaws. His most frequent stopping place was at James W. Hanlin's, four miles northwest of Tipton.

About the last of October, or first of November, 1857, Roberts was on one of his visits to the county, and having heard that he had been pretty severely threatened by the members of the Protective Association, he sent word to the leaders of the Association where he was stopping, together with an invitation for them to come and take him. His invitation was accepted. Word was sent

around among the people, and Roberts was arrested at Hanlin's. He was taken across the county line into Jones County, to the barn of Geo. Saum. When they arrived within the barn, Roberts was left in charge of a part of those concerned in his arrest, while the other part, a majority, perhaps, went a little distance outside to consult. One of this number was a young man in the employ of a citizen who has always been prominently identified with the affairs of Cedar County, and who had been sent by his employer to represent him, because of other pressing engagements. It may be said, too, that the employer was a Justice of the Peace at the time, and this may have had something to do with his nonattendance. When this young man learned the desperate resolve of the men by whom he was surrounded, he turned away and started to the barn to get his horse and leave the scene. As he opened the barn door, he was horror-strickento find that Roberts had already been tried, condemned, sentenced and hanged to a beam overhead, and that he was even then writhing in the agonies of death. After life was extinct, the body of Roberts was taken down, carried out and rehanged to the limb of a tree, and left there to await the order of his friends.

It is said by some of those who participated in the Roberts lynching, that before he was hanged, he confessed that he had been engaged in counterfeiting and associated with counterfeiters a good many years, and that he had put in circulation more than $100,000 of spurious money.

The Coroner of Jones County was notified of the hanging of Roberts, and an inquest was held on his remains, and a verdict rendered in accordance with the facts, as far as the facts could be ascertained. Warrants were issued for the arrest of Charles Williams, Benjamin Freeman, Moses Bunker, William Dallas, George Saum and William M. Knott, charging them with the offense. The Jones County Sheriff and his Deputy came over to arrest the parties named. No resistance was offered, and by agreement and on recommendation of Judge Tuthill, then District Judge, they entered into bonds for their appearance before a Jones County Justice of the Peace, on a certain day named (within two weeks), for a preliminary examination. At the appointed time, Williams, Freeman, Bunker and the others mentioned, accompanied by about two hundred Cedar County citizens, appeared as per agreement, with Judge Bissell as their attorney. They waived an examination, and entered into bonds for their appearance at the next term of the District Court for that county. Their bonds were signed by not less than one hundred of the best citizens of Cedar and Jones Counties. At the Spring term (1858) of the Jones County District Court, the parties under bonds, accompanied by nearly two hundred Cedar and Jones County citizens, appeared in Anamosa to answer to any indictment that might be found against them; but no indictment was returned against them, for want of sufficient testimony. In addition to the fact that the vigilantes had taken good care to get important witnesses for the people out of the way, one of the grand jury was in full sympathy and accord with the movement to free the country from the presence of dishonest characters. Besides that one juryman, there were several others who were indifferent as to the prosecution of the case, and it is fair to presume that they did not worry themselves very much about finding an indictment. Since then the affair has almost died out of memory, and the country has maintained a quiet and obedience to law that has made for Cedar County people a praiseworthy reputation. Charles Williams, one of the arrested parties, subsequently removed to Texas; Freeman died in Jones County about ten years ago; George Saum now lives in Davenport; Moses Bunker, William Dallas and William M. Knott have maintained a continuous residence in the county, and are useful, respected citizens.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT.

The marvels of the last half century are not confined to the mechanic world alone, but reach out in the direction of the West, and include the social world as well.

The history of Linn County is one of comparative brevity, and is comprehended to-day by the men who drove the first breaking teams over the virgin prairie; but it is, nevertheless, one of the most remarkable in the list of American counties, so famous in the eyes of all the peoples of the globe as akin to the miraculous types of the progress of mankind.

There is not a man in Linn County at the present time who is not willing to admit that the improvement of his favorite locality far excels his most sanguine expectations; but that simply proves the extraordinary character of the social and material advancement of the section.

In the year 1840, Hosea W. Gray completed the first census of the county. Some idea of the popularity of the region may be formed by a comparison of the numbers which gathered at Westport, July 4, 1839, to “celebrate," and the returns made by Sheriff Gray. The celebration, as already remarked, drew to Westport many persons not residents of the county, and with such acquisitions to the people, there were, probably, two hundred men and women assembled on that day.

The census returns of 1840 show that there were then resident in the county no less than 1,373 men, women and children. The county filled up thus rapidly in that one year. The older settlers still living remark that the processions of immigrants were almost continuous. Claims were made with great rapidity, and the lands were staked out by the pioneers after the manner of the times. The new comers were plain, honest people for the most part, and came with the real determination of making homes for themselves and their children after them.

Andrew J. McKean relates an incident of 1838 that is illustrative of the feeling entertained at that time by the settlers. When he arrived in the county and made known his wish to secure a claim, he was told that there were no vacant lands in the neighborhood of what is now Mount Vernon. / Every foot of land had been secured by actual settlers, they told him./

"Well," observed Mr. McKean, "I like this country, gentlemen, and, vacant lands or no vacant lands, I'm going to stay with you. I came here to locate, and I shall remain."

No sooner had he declared his intentions of becoming a bona fide resident of the county, than he was greeted with the utmost cordiality. There were plenty of unselected sites, and those who had first turned the cold shoulder upon him, fearing that he might be a speculator, were extremely officious in aiding him with his work.

As the forefathers had declared, "not one cent for tribute; millions for defense," so the pioneers proclaimed, "not one foot of land for speculators; thousands for settlement and cultivation." It is because of this rule and the rigid determination to observe it, on the part of the first men, that the county is to-day so far advanced in the scale of improvement.

During the three years following the census, the influx of settlers was unceasing, and by 1845 probably 4.000 persons had decided upon Linn as their abiding place.

The men who came here in the early '40's were ambitious, determined, experienced workers in their several vocations. Many of them knew from personal encounter that there were rocks in the sea of life, and were disposed to shun the errors of their former ways. Lessons learned in the school of experience are seldom forgotten, and the progress made by such as were of the less successful business class of the East, was slow but substantial. They felt their way cautiously along over the shoals of financial waters, until they reached. a depth that enabled them to live freely and enjoy life.

Those days were not like the present times in point of luxuries. As late as 1855 there were but two pianos in the county, and not more than half a dozen spring buggies. Sewing machines were unknown. Domestic training consisted of the simple branches, devoid of all the modern accomplishments.

Now there is scarcely a farm house without its musical instruments and sewing machines, while the boys of the family drive spirited horses before the best of vehicles. Family carriages are not uncommon, and comforts of every description find their way into the large and elegant farm mansions which have taken the place of the old log houses.

The young members of the family have ceased to attend the District schools, and graduate with honor from institutions of learning with which the county is so well supplied.

The census of 1850 shows that 5,444 inhabitants were accredited to Linn in that year. The gold excitement in California, which began in the year '49, naturally drew many of the more venturesome spirits westward, and a number of Linn County men joined the long procession on its wearisome way over the plains and mountains.

Still this county continued to thrive. The soil was yielding ample returns for the comfortable support of its tillers, but markets were limited to the newer counties to the west of this, and farmers devoted all their energies to the actual improvement of their farms, rather than to any speculative ventures.

Another decade passed, and the statistics were returned to the proper bureau. Then it was discovered that the population had reached the handsome figure of 18,947, and the future of Linn was a guaranteed success.

In 1870, there were 31,080 residents in the county, and in 1875 the State census shows a population of 31,815. Long before this time, the lands were taken up, and the augmentation of numbers depended upon the growth of business centers, instead of upon the agricultural classes. As the farms were improved, greater shipping facilities were required; increased commercial conveniences were demanded; and the manufacturing population necessarily went to swell the total number of residents in cities and villages

Probably the present number of actual residents is as large as the rate of production demands or will be able to support for some few years, except in the larger cities. The county already ranks among the older regions of the East in numerical strength, and the demand for "pioneers" has ceased. Other sources of increase must be looked to for accretions, as is always the case where the area is no longer subject to first purchase.

The vote of 1839 numbered thirty-two ballots. The last vote cast in the county does not show the full strength of the adult population entitled to the right of elective franchise. There are, as reported in the census of 1875, 7.274 legal voters in the county.

For convenience as well as comparative exhibition, will be found on following page in tabular form a statement of the last Presidential vote, and the more recent"off year" ballot, in 1877, for State and county officers.