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Audubon County |
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Biographical History of Shelby and Audubon CountiesCHAPTER IX. |
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There are but few, if any, portions of either the civilized or uncivilized world where the hand of crime has not at some period in the history of man left its crimson stain as an evidence that such location has been the scene of tragedy, aye! of deeds that were dark and damnable in their character, deeds that shock and horrify the refined senses of all rational beings who have been reared under the influence of Christian and civilized homes. For any one community to deny that crimes have been committed in their midst would be a useless piece of folly. Wherever man is found there more or less sin abounds, and where sin abounds to any great extent there the truthful chronicler of events must note the fact that crimes have been committed; but as to who have thus far forgotten the God who created them, and as to how men have been thus implicated in their dark deeds -- this is another question, and one which for the good of all concerned, perhaps, may as well be forever unanswered. Suffice it to say that our own proud and much-boasted-of commonwealth -- the State of Iowa -- has a population at least as highly cultivated and refined as any one in the Union. She has a grand sisterhood of ninety-nine counties where may be found more school-houses and church buildings to her population than nearly any other State, and yet the court records of each and all of these, nearly 100 counties, contain an account of both criminal and civil proceedings of which no good law-abiding citizen is in the least degree proud. We now come to speak more especially of the dark deeds which unfortunately have happened within Shelby and Audubon counties since the time the first white man ventured into these parts for the purpose of effecting a settlement. Upon entering into a county the local historian's ears are burdened and his heart saddened by the recital of foul crimes which have been committed from time to time. The county records display them, the press contains graphic and too frequently one-sided accounts of them; pioneers have them by heart, and nearly every citizen, whether of long or short residence, knows much, if not all, their history. The historian is not infrequently asked the question as to how he proposes to treat certain cases found in crime's crimson calender. And indeed, to all such it may be here stated that it is not the object of this Biographical and Historical Record to deal extensively on base crimes, or in any other manner to injure the feelings of any man or woman within these counties, or any of their relatives who may have been in any way connected with such crimes. It may, however, be stated with propriety in this connection, that some crimes have been here committed the mere record of which can in no wise harm any one, while they will be read as matters merely of history by those who may come after us, with some degree of interest, and serve to show the contrast of the days when laws were not as much respected as in the day in which we now live. |
| Prev. <=== Continue Reading ===> Next Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass August, 2013 from "Biographical History of Shelby and Audubon Counties", Chicago: W. S. Dunbar & Co., 1889, pg. 685-686. |
