A special from Des Moines
gives the following account of a murder committed in the
territorial days of Iowa. It will doubtless be read with
interest by the oldest residents, as the murderers were
brought to Dubuque, and the judge before whom they were
convicted was the Hon. T.S. Wilson; Three miles west of
Fayette is the fine farm of Col. Aron V. Brown, formerly
register of the state land office. At the eastern edge of
the farm stood a cabin, in the winter of 1842-3, and in it
occurred the first murder in Fayette county. In the fall
of 1842 Moses Teagarden moved up to the edge of the
Winnebago reservation and began trading with the Indians.
With him was a man named Atwood. In February, 1843, Mrs.
Teagarden and her grown son went to Dubuque, leaving a
little girl and a boy three years old with Teagarden.
Early in March five Winnebago's came to the cabin, and in
the evening got drunk, and quarreling with the two white
men, murdered both. They also attacked the children in
bed, but saved their lives by covering up their heads with
bedcloths. The Indians then set the cabin afire and
departed. The children made their way through three feet
of snow to the cabin of two young settlers named Beatty an
Orrear, where they were housed and cared for as well as
possible.
A
family named Wilcox lived near, and next day Major E.V.
Sumner, of First Dragoons, at Fort Winnebago, was
notified, who searched out and arrested the murderers.
They were taken to the Dubuque jail, and while awaiting
trial one of them killed another with a billet of wood.
They were convicted at Dubuque, and Judge Murdock, who
defended Schmidt, was a spectator during the trial.
They were ordered released by the Territorial Supreme
Court on an appeal.
The
site of the Teagarden cabin was plowed over ten years ago
and a half dollar of of 1810 and every signs of occupancy
were found.--- Times
~
source: Oelwein Register, Oelwein Iowa, 03 February 1888,
page 8 column 2.
~ transcribed and submitted by
Constance |
Fayette County IAGenWeb