The Lake Gazette - Archives

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WEDNESDAY, September 1, 2010 ~ Vol. 14 No. 31

Monroe City, MO

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Marion County Commission

The Marion County Commission
met Monday with Presiding
Commissioner Lyndon Bode, Eastern
District Commissioner Robert
Heiser and Western District Commissioner
Randy Spratt present.

Collector Lee Viorel fi led his
monthly report and Recorder Janet
Dearing reported the following fees
collected and due: fees, $7,872; recorder’s
technology fund, $393.75;
recorder’s fund, $663; domestic
violence fund, $20; and CERF,
$2,239.
Applications for liquor license
were approved and they paid the
following fees for a six-month
period: TNA Sports Bar & Food,
$131.01; and El Vaquero, Hannibal,
$70.85.
Marion County Health Administrator
Betty Nickell introduced
new administrator Jean McBride.
The commission signed a letter
agreeing to McBride’s appointment.
The commission opened bids for
culvert pipe and bands for the Marion
County Highway Department.
Missouri Highway Department
Superintendent Howard Lovelace
recommended that the low bid of
Metal Culverts be accepted and
this was approved.

The commission has directed
that the property insurance for the
jail be increased from $125 per
square foot to $158 per square foot.
The premium will increase by less
than $2,000.

The commission unanimously
appointed John Hark as the chair
of a committee to meet for the next
three months to update the county’s
hazard mitigation plan.

The commission also listened to
a speakerphone/internet presentation
about the Illegal Alien and Immigration
Bill and signed a letter
of support for a drug court grant. 2194 090318 3/18/2009 cnw

Years Ago Column compiled by Janet Painter

90 Years Ago
March 27, 1919
Within the preceding four
months 31 children had been left
motherless as a result of the infl uenza
epidemic. The mothers whose
deaths occurred from the epidemic
and the number of their children
were: Mrs. J.O. Lawrence, 8; Mrs.
Jack Osbourne, 8; Mrs. Cleve
Finnigan, 5; Mrs. James Cusack,
4; Mrs. Clarence Hays, 4; and Mrs.
Joseph Quinn, 2.
An airplane piloted by Lieut.
Coontz of Scott Field, Ill., landed
at Monroe City as an advertising
feature of an intensive silo campaign
in Northeast Missouri.
Cecil Dawson, who had sold his
interest in the blacksmith and repair
shop conducted by J.W. Settle,
left for Ocala, Fla., expecting to locate
in that territory.
J.C. Ensor expected to complete
17 years of service as a rural mail
carrier out of the Monroe City Post
Offi ce on July 31, 1919. By that
date he would travel more than fi ve
times around the world, 129,549
miles, to be exact. He had served
16 years as carrier on Route 3, having
transferred to Route 1, the preceding
year. Ensor had owned and
driven 32 head of horses, two for
eight and one-half years and the remainder
for varying periods. When
he began as carrier in 1902 not a
single daily paper was received by
farmers on his route as compared
with a daily publication in almost
every home by 1919.
80 Years Ago
March 19, 1929
John M. Medcalf sold his residence
property at 325 Catherine
Street to Melvin Whipple.
Milton Thompson purchased
the Joe Hardesty farm of 440 acres
three miles southwest of Monroe
City. The purchase price was reported
as $20,000.
One hundred guests were present
at a banquet honoring the
members of the basketball teams
of Monroe City High School who
had received their athletic letters.
The Rev. Edgar L. Knight
was toastmaster and the principal
speaker was Judge B.E. Bigger of
Hannibal, grand master of the Missouri
Masonic Lodge.
The Mississippi River was at
high fl ood stage at Hannibal and
Quincy. A crest of 20 feet was
reached at Hannibal March 21,
seven feet above fl ood stage.
Miss Bertha Jaeger presented a
colonial recital program in Macon
under the sponsorship of the Anti-
Rust club.
Miss Pearl Bailey and John W.
Maiden were married March 17
by the Rev. W.M. Giddens in the
Methodist parsonage.
70 Years Ago
March 23, 1939
The board of education of the
Monroe City public schools elected
A.L. Crow as superintendent for
a period of two years. It was the
fi rst time in the history of the local
school system that an administrator
here had been given a two-year
contract. Crow came to Monroe
City from Clarence in Sept. 1935.
He succeeded L.A. VanDyke who
became superintendent when
Lloyd W. King assumed the offi ce
of state superintendent of schools
on Jan. 1, 1935.
The Henderson Produce Co.
announced plans for their second
annual boys and girls poultry club.
Farm boys or girls between the
ages of 11 and 15 were eligible to
join with membership limited to
one in the family.
The fi ve-room house on the John
Buckman farm west of town, together
with contents was destroyed
by fi re on March 22. The house on
this farm was destroyed by fi re just
30 years previously.
Pupils in the elementary city
school conducted a collection of
waste paper totaling some 4,900
pounds. Pupils of the seventh grade
led in the collection with 1,330
pounds.
60 Years Ago
March 24, 1949
Philip Kibbe, son of Dr. and
Mrs. J.H. Kibbe, was elected president
of his fraternity, Phi Gamma,
at the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Monroe City High School boys’
basketball team closed the 1948-
49 season with 14 wins and 16
losses. Team members were: Elmo
Barr, E.C. Greening, Duane Neff,
Tommy Hulse, Charles Hedberg,
Charles Hawn, Leon Selsor, Norman
Johns, James Clark and Bobby
Hendricks. LeRoy Hawn was manager
and M.J. Schroeder, coach.
Holy Rosary parochial high
school boys’ basketball team ended
their season with a record of nine
wins and nine losses. Members of
the team were: Donald Lanham,
Charles Crandall, Frank Fahy, J.
Don Spalding, James Yates, James
and Jerry Spalding, Glen Kendrick,
John T. Madden and Joseph
Buckman.
Kathryn Jane Reid, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. W. Ralph Reid, was
presented in a violin recital at the
Quincy Conservatory of Music.
Luther Griffi th purchased the
Nannie and Dollie Owen farm sold
at auction by J.W. Tuley, guardian.
He paid $66 per acre for 130
acres.
Phyllis Mette of Woodland
School won the annual Marion
County Spelling Contest at Palmyra.
50 Years Ago
March 19, 1959
Major Richard E. Dent, stationed
in Formosa, arrived in
Monroe City to take his wife, the
former Kathleen McNally, and six
children back to Formosa to make
their home.
P.J. Butler, who had served as
city mail carrier since 1942, was
to enter upon his duties as Rural
Route 1 carrier March 21.
Col. and Mrs. Raymond Lewis
of Columbia, former Monroe City
residents, returned from a trip by
boat to South America.
Phil Dean, who had been barbering
in Fulton since Sept. 1955, was
to enter upon his work at Dean’s
Barber Shop.
Dr. and Mrs. O.F. Orton sold
their home at 730 Stanton Ave. to
Mr. and Mrs. D.U. Davis of Center.
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Jackson purchased
the Robert Lugering home
at 720 N. Main.
Mrs. Owen W. Benton, the former
Erma Ruth Estes, completed
a three-year enlistment with the
Women’s Army Corps at Fort
Sheridan, Ill.
The annual spring sale of the
Monroe City Angus Breeders Association
held at the Purebred
Sales Pavilion in Monroe City totaled
$33,935.
Three elderly residents of Monroe
City celebrated birthdays during
March. They were Charles L.
Elzea who was 96 on March 19;
P.G. Hedberg, 96 on March 28; and
Mrs. W.H. Wilson who was 92 on
March 23.
Miss Carl Sue Cornish and Kenneth
C. Goodnight of Carrollton,
Mo., were married March 14 in the
First Christian Church.
40 Years Ago
March 20, 1969
The Huntington Post Offi ce was
to close after serving the patrons
for about 80 years. According to
the local residents of the community,
the post offi ce was established
in the 1880’s and served the people
in that community as well as mail
for the Shield, Hatch and Cincinnati
communities.
The Edgar McCann Post No.
263 American Legion celebrated
their 50th anniversary with Commander
Owen Benton presiding.
Life memberships were presented
to three members, William F. Griffi
th, Everett E. Lawson and C. Ray
Anderson.
Births: a son, Harold Wayne,
March 13 to S/Sgt. and Mrs. Harold
Berlin of Fort Bragg, N.C.; a
daughter, Joni Elizabeth, March 15
to Mr. and Mrs. James Spalding.
Sp-4 Robert R. Taylor returned
from Vietnam; Sgt. E-5 Jim Toland
returned from a year of duty in
Vietnam; Pvt. E/2 Gary Paul Baker
and Sp/5 David M. Baker were
home on leave.
30 Years Ago
March 22, 1978
A team of 21 educators were to
make an on-site evaluation of the
Monroe City High School. The
NCA evaluation team was to bring
an outside professional viewpoint.
Monroe City’s oldest building
collapsed at 115 East Summer
Street. The building formerly
housed the Scoreboard Lounge
prior to their move to their present
location and was owned by Henry
Smith.
Births: a daughter, Janna Therese,
March 16 to Mr. and Mrs.
Donnie Benson; a daughter, Tara
Lynn, Feb. 27 to Mr. and Mrs. Sam
Bird of Center; a son Martin Luke,
March 11 to Mr. and Mrs. Martin
Olivas of Stoutsville
Visitors to Monroe City Diecasting
Co. included members of the
Society of Diecasting Engineers
who were present at the 10th International
Diecasting Exposition
and Congress held in St. Louis.
They came from the countries of
Switzerland, Netherlands, Mexico,
Canada, Germany and Japan.
20 Years Ago
March 23, 1989
A fi re and smoke at the former
Henderson Produce Company
could be seen for miles as
the building burned on March 17.
Henderson Produce Company once
employed as many as 300 people
and was nationally known as the
processor of poultry and eggs,
closed over 10 years ago and was
now owned by Farmers Elevator &
Exchange and was in the process
of being torn down.
Births: a son, Caleb Wade,
March 15 to Harold and Pam
Hooper of Hunnewell.
Melissa Kay Powell and Stephen
Wayne Hawker announced
plans to be married May 20.
The Monroe City Public Library
received a state grant and
purchased a new computer to update
the facility.
10 Years Ago
March 23, 1998
The Monroe City Lady Panthers
brought home third place in the
Class 2-A fi nals held at the Hearnes
Center in Columbia.
Births: a son, Samuel Joseph,
March 1 to Jeff and Laura (Fray)
Tyson of Ohio.
Pamela Spalding and Rodney
Robson were married Oct. 3 at
Holy Rosary Catholic Church by
Fr. William Flanagan.
Lieut. Norm Kaden, retired
from the Missouri Highway Patrol
Troop B after 32 ½ years.
Members of the Monroe City
R-I FFA Chapter took home honors
at the Area IV FFA contest held at
Van-Far High School. 2204 090318 3/18/2009 his

Vigilante justice prevailed in 1902 murder by Nancy Stone

Cedar Grove cemetery sits quietly
now just north of the abandoned
Primitive Baptist Church
that once served the families six
miles southeast of Paris near the
old Mexico Covered Bridge.

It is
hard to imagine the anguish of the
close-knit neighborhood as they
buried 22-year-old William Grow
in April 1902. Harder still is the
vision of his mother Mary serving
breakfast to Abe Witherup a few
days after he had murdered her son,
or the moment his father Stephen
pushed Witherup to his death from
the Palmyra Bridge after a mob
took him from the Paris jail. Vigilante
justice had prevailed and the
confessed murderer, rope around
his neck, died with the same stoic
countenance with which he had
visited the Grow family before his
arrest.

That spring Will Grow and Abe
Witherup had been cropping on
the Widow Long farm about two
and one half miles south of Hunnewell.
Young Grow was last seen
April 17. On Tuesday, April 22, his
body was found in the North Fork
of the Salt River near Old Clinton
or Northfork. There were “ghastly
wounds upon his head. Suspicion
immediately fell upon Witherup,
who was located at the home of
Grow’s parents.
According to published accounts
of the murder, Witherup went to
the Grow home south of Paris and
asked if Will was there, saying he
had left the Long farm the previous
Thursday. Steve Grow, the father,
took the Witherup team and drove
to the Long farm, leaving Witherup
with his wife and younger
children. The body was discovered
that afternoon by two fi shermen,
Gene Grow and Jim Cullifer. One
eye was smashed in and the head
was covered with wounds.
Witherup confessed, but claimed
he killed Grow with an axe in selfdefense.
He claimed the men were
arguing over the contract for the
house and when he called Grow
a liar, the latter attacked him with
a chair. An investigation revealed
blood stains on the cover and mattress
of a bed at the farm home
the men shared and fresh paint
that had apparently been used to
try and cover other evidence of
the bludgeoning. The axe used in
the murder was recovered from
Brush Creek, where Witherup said
he dropped it enroute to the Grow
home. He was indicted for murder
in the fi rst degree and bound over
for formal arraignment on May 24
by Judge Eby.
One week after the Grow murder,
on April 28, a second capital
crime took place in Northeast Missouri
that for a time overshadowed
the prosecution of Abe Witherup.
Within a month, Monroe City resident
Jesse Johnson, who admitted
to killing a Rensselaer merchant,
M. D. McRae, and Abe Witherup
would come face to face with vigilante
justice.
Johnson was arrested at Milam
by Monroe City Marshall
J. W. Stephens. He was taken to
New London in Ralls County via
Hannibal by train. According to the
Monroe City NEWS, a large crowd
of angry citizens were in waiting at
the depot at Hannibal. That night
a number from the Rensselaer
neighborhood and a larger number
from Hannibal, estimated at
1000 people, went to New London
determined to avenge the death
of McRae. Ralls County Sheriff
Whitamore outwitted the mob by
removing Johnson from the New
London jail and eventually took
him Paris to await trial.
On the night of May 25 friends
and relatives of Will Grow broke
into the Paris jail and escorted Abe
Witherup to the Salt River Bridge.
Jesse Johnson said later he feared
for his life as well when the mob
rattled the door to his cell. He was
immediately moved to Kansas City
for protection. When the present
Monroe County Court House was
built in 1912, the jail was located
on the more defensible fourth fl oor
and the old rock jail demolished.
News of the lynching at Paris
was widely published. The May
26 New York Times gave this account:
“Abe Witherup, the murderer of
William Grow, who was killed last
month, was taken from the Paris
jail at 2 o’clock May 25, marched
to the bridge on the north edge
of town, and hanged by a mob of
more than 100 men, who rode quietly
into town at midnight.
The mob went at once to the jail,
but was held back for an hour by
Sheriff James W. Clark and Deputies
Martin Clark and Polk Masterson,
who stood before the entrance
to the jail stockade with drawn revolvers,
and threatened to shoot the
fi rst man who attempted to force
an entrance. The mob remained
in front of the jail for nearly two
hours parleying with the offi cers,
and fi nally marched away. The offi
cers remained on guard, but believed
that the mob had disbanded.
About 2 o’clock several men approached
and engaged the sheriff
and his deputies in conversation.
Then suddenly, before the offi cers
could defend themselves, they
were seized, disarmed, and carried
away. The mob then quickly reappeared,
surrounded the jail again,
and with sledge hammers battered
down the iron doors. This was the
work of but a few minutes.
James H. Whitecotton, State
Representative, [also a highly respected
local attorney who had refused
to defend Witherup] rushed
into the jail as soon as the doors
gave way and made a stirring appeal
to the mob to desist and allow
the law to take its course. The
leaders wavered for a moment and
became quiet and probably would
have spared the prisoner’s life but
for the cries for vengeance set up
by those in the rear. Mr. Whitecotton
was swept aside and in a few
minutes Witherup was secured.
The father and brother of the
victim were in the mob and assisted
in escorting the man to the bridge
a quarter of a mile away. At the
bridge Witherup’s feet were tied by
the brother of the murdered man,
while the senior Grow adjusted the
rope about his neck and pushed
him off the structure. Witherup’s
neck was broken by the fall. His
death was almost instantaneous.
Their work done, the mob left
the body hanging and dispersed
quickly and quietly. Coroner Johnson
cut the body down this morning.”
Witherup’s sister, who lived in
Monroe County, refused to claim
his body. He was interred in an unmarked
grave at Potter’s fi eld.
On May 27 a coroner’s jury convened
in Paris. Only two witnesses
were interviewed and no effort was
made to ascertain the names of any
of the parties connected with the
affair. The jury returned a verdict
to the effect that Witherup came to
his death at the hands
of a mob.
The editor and
publisher of the
Monroe City NEWS,
J. W. Cox, published
an editorial on May
29, 1902, regarding
the lynching. He
said:
“In the lynching
of Abe Witherup at
Paris last Saturday
night a stain has
been put upon the
fair name of Monroe
County. We very
much regret that an offense was
committed, and a condition existed,
which so enraged the public
that a number felt impelled to
administer justice, as they saw it,
without the process of law. Mobs
are many times composed of men
who act with little judgment and
often are not composed of the best
citizens of a community. But it is
not always the case. Many times it
is the reverse. Sometimes a crime
is committed which is so atrocious
and the perpetrator so depraved
than an indignant and outraged
public will rise up, as one man,
and give the criminal his deserts.
In such case the best citizens of
a community are most likely to
be the prime movers. The NEWS
does not attempt to justify lynchers
or condone the offense of lynching.
It is a deplorable thing. So are
legal hangings.
We shall have mobs as long as
our judges and jurors fail in the
performance of their duty and allow
the guilty to go unpunished
or else make the penalty so light
that it is a farce. If any man would
answer this question honestly let
him ask himself, “What would I
do were mother, sister, daughter or
brother’s honor or life at stake?”
Answer it and think whether you
would consider yourself a bad
character or one who has the welfare
of society and the community
at heart.
One remedy: Let our judges
and juries do their duty. Show the
public that when a foul murder has
been committed the murderer shall
have a fair honest and speedy trial.
Then the public will have confi -
dence in the offi cers and the law 2205 090318 3/18/2009 his

Helen Cornelius to headline lake event

Helen Cornelius

The Mark Twain Lake Chamber of
Commerce will present the fi rst Salt
River Expo May 15-17. One of the h i g h l i g h t s
will be cameo appearance by country and
western music star Helen Cornelius,
a Ralls County native.

The three-day event is dedicated
to the history and dedication of the
Armed Forces of the United States,
in conjunction with the 25th anniversary
of Mark Twain Lake.

During the weekend, there will
be numerous military displays. Numerous
re-enactment groups will
be on hand during the weekend and
there will be a Native American encampment
and marriage ceremony,
with Judge David Mobley offi ciating
in the Cherokee language.
Railsplitters will be on hand
and there will be drafthorse pull.
Blackpowder shooters also will be
on hand. There will be oxen demonstrations
and Bozo, the longhorn
steer will make an appearance.
Various potters, painters, smiths
and sculptors will display their art.
Additionally, there will be of
music and entertainment including
performances by Grandma’s Country
Music Show, North Ely Opry,
Helen Cornelius and local high
school bands and strolling minstrels.
There also will be a lip sync
contest and a karaoke contest.
The Patriot Guard motorcycle
group will be on hand for festivities.
The RCEC vintage truck and
mascot will be on hand for viewing.
Other activities include a Cowboy
Chuckwagon and camp, an
infl ated playground, garden tractor
pull and archery shoot. There will
be a lawn and garden show, in addition
to a boat display.
John Hawkins, one of the organizers,
said that a World War II
ambulance, complete with medical
re-enactors, will be one of the
highlights. 2178 090318 3/18/2009 nws

Corps rolls out plan for stewardship area at Whitetails banquet

Dayton Ranabarger, winner of youth gun drawing at banquet

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
rolled out a historic environmental
stewardship program
at the annual Whitetails Unlimited
banquet held Saturday night.
An
estimated 400 people attended the
event held at the Knights of Columbus
Hall and had an opportunity to
learn about the project at a booth
manned by Corps ranger Shelley
Howald and Katelyn Young, student
coordinator.

The local Whitetails Unlimited
Chapter has pledged $1,500
toward the project in its fi rst year
to develop two fi ve-acre food plot
demonstration parcels.

The Northeast Missouri Environmental
Stewardship Demonstration
Area will be a regional
cooperative project at the Frank
Russell Recreation area on Route
J. The Frank Russell campground
is the closest campground to the
dam and has 65 campsites with
electrical hookup. It is adjacent to
the Joanna Trail and has a shaded
horse corral, ampitheater and large
pond.

The corps is farming partnerships
with local chapters of Whitetails
Unlimited, Wild Turkey Federation,
Quails Unlimited , NARFE,
FFA, and the National Resources
Conservation Service, in addition
to Hannibal Vo-Tech School and
Forrest Keeling Nursery.
Its location in the Frank Russell
area will give tourists multiple
opportunities to learn about Mark
Twain Lake through dam tours,
and the Visitor Center if it reopens.
The already popular recreation
area will provide wildlife enthusiasts
and campers another reason
to extend their stay at Mark Twain
Lake.
The project will give local residents
and visitors to the lake area
an educational opportunity to learn
about land stewardship.

The program will allow numerous
local wildlife groups to have
hands-on volunteer opportunities
in habitat design, vegetative composition,
wildlife management,
soil conservation and sustainable
forest management.

Included in this project are upland
bird management units, food
resource demonstration units,
stewardship technology demonstration
units, warm season grass
establishment units, plant demonstration
area, and proposed shelterhouse
, nature/education center,
proposed fi tness/interpretive trail
and bicycle trail. 2179 090318 3/18/2009 nws

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03/29/2009