ANECDOTES.

The following incident in the life of William Brody, whose history forms a prominent page elsewhere, is taken from the Marion Register, July, 1857:

The notorious Bill Brody, who figured extensively in this county some years ago, was recently arrested in the northern part of this State, for horse-stealing; and while on his way, in charge of an officer, to West Union, Fayette County, bound hand and foot, and lying in the bottom of the wagon, he contrived to get his head above the edge of the box, and drop his hat overboard. After riding two or three hundred yards. Bill showed the officer his bare head, and requested him to go back after his hat. The officer did so, and while he was gone Brody managed to get hold of the whip, and commenced plying it to the horses as freely as the situation of his hands would permit. The horses ran and the officer after them. After tramping about three miles, the officer found the horses and wagon, but the prisoner had escaped, having pulled out his feet and left his boots in the fetters. Bill displayed in his escape an ingenuity of conception and energy of execution which were (as all newspaper writers would undoubtedly say under similar circumstances) "worthy of a better cause." Since the above occurrence, Capt. Stinson, of Marion, who once arrested Brody in this county for horse-stealing, has seen him in St. Joseph, Mo.

There were some queer characters among the early ministers. They were undoubtedly good men, and made up in zeal for a great deficiency in knowledge or "book larnin," as it was sometimes called by them. It is related of one of these ministers who itinerated about the country a good deal, that he astonished his congregation one day by announcing his text as taken from "the book of Jeems, sometimes vulgarly called James." At another time, after announcing his subject, on a hot day, he put the people at ease by saying that he could tell all he knew about it in half an hour. But his sermon spun out to an hour and a half, and he made an apology at the close, to the effect that he did not intend to "branch out" when he began.

An incident of frontier jurisprudence is related by the early settlers. Α Marion merchant had a customer who was very slow pay. The only thing which the long-winded customer possessed of any apparent value was a note on a neighbor, which he tendered the merchant in liquidation, and it was accepted. The note was overdue at the time, and the merchant, after "dunning the maker several times, brought suit before a Justice of the Peace in the township where the maker of the note resided. On the day of trial the note-maker brought in his account against the original payee of the note in question, which amounted to about $25 more than the note. This was all duly proven, and the learned Justice proceeded to render up judgment for the $25 against the merchant as the innocent purchaser of the note, who, he decided, "stood in the shoes" of the original holder and was the only party of record in the court that the note-maker could look to for the money that was due him. This was a startling view of the case to the merchant, who wisely came to the conclusion. that buying notes of hand was a poor investment financially, provided the Justice expounded the law correctly.

The rivalry between Marion and Cedar Rapids was not always confined to worldly matters. It is related that the Sunday school scholars in a Cedar Rapids church, in early days, complained to the Superintendent that the Marion schools had better and more extensive libraries. This worried the zealous Superintendent a good deal, and in his closing prayer he ejaculated, "God forbid that Marion Sunday schools should be more prosperous than those of Cedar Rapids."

CEDAR RAPIDS.

In the midst of a region characterized by Prof. David Dale Owen as a type of perfection in fertility, stands the busy and promising city of Cedar Rapids, the commercial and manufacturing center of Linn County, which is destined to become one of the foremost cities in the State.

The corporate limits embrace an irregular area of Sections 21, 22, 27 and 28, Town 83 north, Range 7 west, lying on the east bank of the Cedar River, and are governed in outline by the meanderings of the stream. The former town of Kingston, now called West Cedar Rapids, on the west shore of the. river immediately opposite the old site, is a part of the corporation at the present time, but in speaking of the first settlement of Cedar Rapids, the writer designates the two localities as the east and the west banks of the Cedar.

The name of Cedar Rapids was selected because of the magnificent rapids here discovered in the river, the first encountered in ascending the stream. Kingston was so designated because of the early settlement of David W. King on that claim.

The date of the location of the first claim in this locality is almost identical with that of the settlement of the county. Early in the year 1838, Robert Ellis, who is to-day the oldest settler in this vicinity still living on the claim made in those wild times, started for the new Iowa country. He reachedCedar County in the Spring of that year, and learned that there was a beautiful section still further west, on the Cedar. He was told that some bachelors were then living at the point mentioned. Ellis was but a boy, without money, and with no capital save a pair of stout arms and plenty of genuine Western

nerve.

On the 6th day of May, 1838, Ellis reached the house of Michael Donohoo, in Sugar Grove, and remained there over night. Two days later, May 8th, Ellis approached the site of Cedar Rapids. As he drew near the river from the east, he was charmed with the view. Not knowing the exact location of the men who had settled here, he was unable to decide which way to go, but observing signs of travel in the brush near him, he followed toward the stream. Suddenly he came upon a crude shanty which showed every indication of having been recently inhabited by a white man, but no person was in sight. A path led to the river, and down this Ellis walked with rapid stride. He had not gone many rods before he beheld a sight which thrilled him through and through. There at his feet, in a little "patch" of garden which was being dug up for seeding, lay the body of a white man, apparently lifeless. Ellis remarks that he could feel the hair move under his hat at the awful sight. The country nad not then passed through a long and desperate war, and become accustomed to such sights; no one could say that

Blood and destruction were so in use,

And dreadful objects so familiar—

that men could smile when they beheld a human being torn and rigid in a ghastly death. Then, too, the solemnness of the place, the distance from the habitations of white men, and the unexpectedness of such a scene, all combined to enhance the terror of the solitary footman. It is no very pleasant experience to discover a corpse in the most populous localities, where assistance is within immediate summons; what, then, must have been the emotions of the boy who stood face to face, in a dense wilderness, with the specter Death?

Mr. Ellis was no coward, as his intrepid wanderings had fully proved, but the first impulse which seized him was to shout, as though the voice of man might awaken the dead. And shout he did, with all his power. The effect of that outburst was even more startling than the discovery of the body had been; for, with a terrified bound, as if to prove that the gift of resurrection was really indwelling in the speech of man, the body stood erect before the staring eyes of Ellis.

The "situation," as dramatists term it, was novel, and would have been exceedingly effective on the modern stage with the accompaniments of low music and a glare of red lights. "Hallo, stranger! "Well, I swar!" and

the introduction on the stage would have been complete. Whether that served as the address of welcome and the response in this case, Mr. Ellis did not state to the writer. The explanation made was in substance that the pioneer had become weary with working, and thrown himself down upon the grass in the warm May sunlight, and fallen fast asleep. The unconscious attitude of the sleeper, and the hiding of his face, caused Mr. Ellis to jump to the conclusion that the man was dead.

This was Mr. Ellis's induction into Cedar Rapids. The man who proved both a shock and a pleasure to him, was Philip Hull. As Mr. Hull's experience forms no special part of the history of Linn, we digress from the subject in hand long enough to observe a singular fact in the lives of these two men. Some years later than 1838, Ellis and Hull lost sight of each other. The former drifted to the pine woods of the North, and the latter moved from Linn County. In 1849, Ellis came down from Minnesota expressly to join a party bound for California in search of fortune. He made the best of such means of transportation as the country afforded, between the pinery and Marion, and early in the Spring of '49 joined a company headed by Mentzer, of Marion, then ready to start over the plains. After a most tiresome tramp, the little band reached Sacramento. Ellis had not been in town two hours before he encountered Philip Hull. The coincidence of these men's lives, drifting across each other's path at two such important periods in their record, is singular, to say the least. It illustrates the saying that "no man can run away from himself."

But to return to Linn County in 1838. Ellis states that he also found in the locality of Cedar Rapids, but on the west side of the stream, William Stone, who made a claim along the river, extending northward on the bluff. Mr. Galloway, whose first name is forgotten, claimed south of a large cottonwood tree, on the same side of the river. John Young claimed on the east side, near the present foot of Park street, and a man named Granger was associated with him.

On the east shore of the river, and on what is now Cedar Rapids, Osgood Shepard had erected a cabin, which was the first house on the site of the city. Shepard was the first settler in Cedar Rapids.

It is asserted by some who came later than Mr. Ellis did, that William Stone first claimed the city site, and afterward relinquished it to Shepard; but that story is not definitely corroborated. It may be that Stone first chose the land, and that Shepard "jumped" his claim. Mr. N. B. Brown is inclined to this opinion; and he is correct, possibly. This theory makes Stone the first claimant, but still leaves Shepard's title to original settler undisturbed. It was a case of the "survival of the fittest."

It has also been declared that the original name of the city was "Columbus,' and was thus designated by Stone, who was a speculative sort of man; but we

can find no corroborative testimony on this point. If Stone did contemplate making a village plat, he must have intended it to be laid out on the west side of the river. No survey was made, because the lands were not subject to entry until in 1843, and a town would have gone the way of Westport had it been. designed then. Neither Mr. Ellis nor Mr. Brown remembers hearing of the "Columbus" scheme; but one or two old settlers outside of town have spoken about it.

On the strength of Mr. Ellis's clear and satisfactory account, it is stated that Osgood Shepard was the

FIRST ACTUAL SETTLER OF CEDAR RAPIDS,

and that William Stone was the original settler of West Cedar Rapids.

Shepard was, like almost all the lawless gang, a good-hearted man; but his love of adventure carried away what self-respect he had, and left him a prey to baser controlling influences. He was not the leading spirit of the band, however. He harbored thieves and gave them much encouragement; but the leader was undoubtedly Joel Leverich, whose record dates back into the times of wild life in the Mississippi River counties. The universal nickname of "Jo" was applied to Leverich, and created the impression that his cognomen was Joseph; but that was an erroneous belief. Leverich did not come to Linn County until a considerably later period than that of which we now write.

One of the stories told about Joel Leverich is that of the wonderful company he was going to organize for the manufacture of "queer," or, as it was called in those days, "bogus." Leverich filed the milling off of a genuine half dollar, and confidentially exhibited the piece to the settlers as "the sort of stuff he was making." A number of the more bilious men grabbed the bait with avidity, after satisfying themselves that the money looked and sounded so real as to defy detection. Considerable sums of money passed into Leverich's coffers in exchange for stock in the secret company. After that, no more was heard from the wily manager, and when he was threatened with prosecution he told the victims that he had them in his power, as they had attempted to create a counterfeiting organization. This sort of conduct was peculiarly characteristic of the man. He once offered an old settler, who traded with the Indians a good deal, a quantity of bogus coin, assuring the trader that it would pass current with the red men. The plan did not succeed in that instance, however.

He

Every man who knew Leverich admitted his power over the masses. was an inglorious ruler, who might have been a great man had he shaken off the dominant influence of evil.

Shepard was not on his claim when Ellis arrived, but shortly afterward returned from the East, bringing with him his wife and family. Mrs. Shepard has asserted that she gave birth to the first white child born in the county; but in the absence of positive dates, and because of other facts, it is safe to pass that claim by with little comment.

Shepard offered hospitality to travelers in those early days, and an amusing incident is related of some young fellows who occupied Shepard's cabin one night, early in the existence of that tavern. In the river, opposite the cabin, was a large rock, which was covered when the water was high. When the men crossed the stream, they did not notice the rock, but in the stillness of the night, the swashing of the current, as it swept past, could be heard with distinctness. A regular "splash, splash, splash," could be easily distinguished. The unusual noise awakened the men, who inquired what it was. One of the number vol

unteered the information that it was the dip of an Indian paddle. This excited. the whole company, and, the noise continuing without cessation, they precipitately fled to the grove to escape massacre. In the morning, they discovered the cause of their fright and each swore that he went to the woods only to help scare the others.

O. S. Bowling came in the Summer of 1838, being the next settler after Robert Ellis, and made a claim on the west side of the river. Mr. Bowling still resides on the claim then made by him.

About the first of April, 1839, Joseph H. and John Listebarger reached the Rapids, and, being bachelors, erected a cabin on the west shore, some time in May or June. Prior to that time, they boarded at Shepard's "tavern." In the cabin built by them at this date, they remained some three years. Isaac Listebarger, brother to the above, came a little later in the year and took up a

claim.

Thomas Gainer and David W. King reached the Rapids on the 18th day of June, 1839. They found, as is shown above, the Shepard tavern, the Stone cabin, the Listebarger brothers' bachelors' hall, and the claims of Hull, Young, Robert Ellis and O. S. Bowling. Mr. Gainer's wife, Rosehanna, was the first white woman to settle on the west bank of the river, and the second woman in the Rapids, Mrs. Shepard being the first.

On the 15th day of May, 1840, Mrs. Gainer was delivered of a daughter, and on the 8th day of June, in that year, died from the effects of child-birth. This was the first birth in the Cedar Rapids settlement, and the decease of Mrs. Gainer was the first death. The infant survived until September, 1840, when, on the 15th day of that month, the little spirit took its flight. The child's name was Mary J. Gainer. Mr. Gainer located where he still resides.

David W. King died in the Autumn of 1854, leaving behind him a record of integrity, enterprise and benevolence.

Isaac Carroll and family reached a point one and a half miles from the site of Cedar Rapids, on the Boulevard road, in July, 1839, having stopped on the site of Marion on July 4th. Charles C. Cook, at present Deputy Sheriff of this county, was stepson to Mr. Carroll, and was one of the family of nine persons to arrive at the above date. I. W. Carroll, son of Isaac, is also a resident of the county at this writing.

The condition of this section in 1839 is shown by the fact that one hunter killed thirteen deer in one day, on a spot now in the heart of the city of Cedar Rapids.

The year 1840 seems to have been productive of no very marked events in the history of the settlement. Those settlers who came during the year evidently devoted their attention closely to the work of preparing the way for more permanent improvements in 1841.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT.

In the early days of this county, when formal courts were unknown, the settlers oftentimes acted in the diversified capacity of Judge, jury and executioners. While this immediate locality was comparatively free from the presence of law breakers, there were occasional visitations by horse-thieves, who operated in the adjoining counties more extensively. In referring to these matters, the writer omits in this particular case the names of those who took part in the exercises defensive of society and government, and justifies the policy of so doing by observing that many of the parties are still living and desire that no mention be made of them. It is certain that the ends warranted the means