Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/497



join the “Vigilance Committees” and take the arrests, trials and punishment of the thieves into their own hands. The persons who resorted to such remedies became known as “Regulators” and eventually a large majority of the farmers in the section infested by the thieves became members of the organizations.

The little town of Big Rock was for some time the headquarters of the “Regulators.” It was situated in the northwestern part of Scott County and close to the Clinton County line, about three miles from Clam Shell Ford, on the Wapsipinicon River. Here many of the meetings were held and plans formed for hunting down the thieves. No records were kept of the proceedings and no member of the organization has ever been known to divulge the names of the members, or make a full revelation of their transactions. Hence it is difficult to give a reliable history of the terrible punishment they inflicted upon suspected persons who fell into their hands.

Alonzo Page was a young married man, who lived near the east line of Cedar County, about two miles east of the present town of Lowden, in what was called “the barrens.” His cabin was built of logs and was surrounded by scrub oak trees, near which was a small clearing cultivated by him. He was an intelligent, industrious young man, often working out among his neighbors in haying and harvest. He had in some way incurred the enmity of a Mr. Corry, living on Rock Creek and soon after the Regulators were organized, this man caused a report to be circulated that Page was connected with a gang of horse thieves. Acting upon this report in June, 1857, a party of Regulators rode to the Page cabin and notified him to leave the country. When informed of the charge against him, Page solemnly protested against the attempt to drive him from his home and declared that he was innocent of the charge. He was again warned to leave the country by a certain time or take the consequences. He consulted with some of his neighbors after the Regulators had gone