Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/495



work and no one doubted that he was a member of the gang of desperadoes so numerous in the Mississippi Valley. He frequently changed his residence and no one dared to offend him as he was known to be a reckless and dangerous man. In 1852 he robbed an old man living on Camp Creek of $1,000 that was kept in his cabin. He was arrested by Lewis Todhunter and Dr. Sellers and lodged in jail. But some of his confederates were on the grand jury and prevented an indictment being found against him and he was released.

In September, 1856, a young man and his wife stopped at the Nine Mile House, near Oskaloosa, took dinner and inquired for a good piece of land. They said they had a thousand dollars with which to purchase a farm. Old Mr. Thomas (“Comequick”), who was present, said he lived near Des Moines and knew a farm that would suit them. The young man and his wife were traveling in an emigrant wagon and Thomas started off with them on horseback to take them to the farm. Nothing more was seen of them until about two weeks later when the bodies of the man and wife were found, hidden in shocks of corn near the Skunk River, in Poweshiek County. A brother of the murdered woman procured a description of “Comequick,” and, after a long search found him, with the stolen wagon and horses which he had sold. He was arrested and lodged in jail, but afterward released on bail through the efforts of M. M. Crocker, of Des Moines, whom he had secured as his attorney with the stolen money.

When the time for trial came his attorney secured a continuance to the next term. When the case was called up next term Crocker secured a change of venue. The principal witness was the brother of the murdered woman, who lived in Illinois, and had spent all the money he could raise in hunting the criminal and trying to bring him to justice. The murder was so atrocious that intense excitement prevailed in that region and more than 2,000 citizens had gathered at