Van's Red Brush Preppers

BENTON COUNTY

( RED BRUSH )

The history of Benton County, Iowa pages 379-381
( Written 1878 )

THE EGYPT OF BENTON COUNTY

It has been said that the reign of anarchy, confusion and utter disregard of law which prevailed in Benton County thirty years ago practically ceased about 1854. That is true, in the main, save in one little spot, where, if the fire did not fiercely blaze, it smoldered in the embers, and the old-time spirit was never entirely obliterated. Strange as it may seem, here, in 1878, history repeats itself, and the lawlessness of 1848 is not only repeated, but intensified. This little spot, from which the clouds of the " dark ages " have never been entirely lifted, is a portion of the eastern part of Benton Township, about three miles east of the ancient town of Benton City, and about the same distance north of Shellsburg, near the county line. Here, in the dense timber, has always been a favorite resort and refuge of a class of disreputable characters, thieves and outlaws. It has never been freed from their presence since the first settlement of the country, and it may be called the Egypt of Benton County. The extensive tract of timber in that region renders it almost impossible for an oflS- cer of the law to find and arrest an oifender.

But for many years after the reign of the horse thieves and Regulators was ended, about 1854, but little was known or heard of this neighborhood. The smoldering fires of lawlessness would occasionally break into a flame, and the community would be startled by some reckless act, until, about ten years ago, there seems to liave been trouble among the denizens of that locality, and since that time there have been two parties ; and now there are the Regulators, or Vigilantes, who are watching for the others, whom they call thieves, while the thieves are watching for the Regulators. Between them, as, thirty years ago. was the case between the Regulators and horse thieves, there is constant wai* fare ; and as then, there is a complete disregard for law and civil authority.

BURNING AND SHOOTING.

    In 1848, it was lynching and flogging. Men suspected of connection with, thieves were compelled to "hug trees" while their bare backs were exposed to the pitiless blows of the whip, or hickory withe ; but in more modern days, burning and shooting have been the order of the day. Scenes of fire and bloodshed have been enacted that were a disgrace to civilization. For several years, one William Hicks and a ftimily named Jones, had been held in bad repute, and suspected of being connected Avith much of the mischief and petty thieving that had been going on in that neighborhood for years. Unlike the outlaws of thirty years ago, whose principal occupation was stealing horses and passing counterfeit money, their successors were in the habit of stealing anything they could get their hands upon. Having tried the law as a remedy for these petty outrages, and failed, the Regulators determined to take the law into their own hands. Anonymous letters were sent to Hicks and Jones, warning them to flee from the wrath to come, and leave the country; but without effect. The suspected parties continued to live in the neighborhood, and still the petty depredations continued, until on Monday night, June 10, 1878, a squad of persons unknown visited Hicks' premises and set on fire his two stables and a small frame building near the cabin in which he lived. Aroused by the fire, Hicks came out and was greeted with a volley of musketry. He was wounded in the head and right leg and foot, but "broke" for the brush and made his escape The Vigilantes then visited Jones' and fired several volleys at the house, but failing to bring any body out, they dispersed. Since that time several suspected persons and families have left.

   On Sunday morning, July 7, 1878, John Mason, who has long sustained a bad character, and well known to the officers of the law, was on his way from Cedar Rapids to the house of his sister, in Benton Township; when near Mills Creek, he became alarmed by something suspicious in the brush, and leaped from the buggy ; he was fired upon by a party concealed in the woods, and fell mortally wounded in the hip before he could reach the shelter of the woods. It is said that Millard F. Tracy was about to fire at the fallen man again after he fell, but was prevented by Henry Fisher, and Mason was taken to Fisher's house where his wounds were dressed, and then he was started off" in a Avagon to Tracy's house, accompanied by G. F. McCoy and Charles Hanover. Between twelve and one o'clock, Sunday afternoon, the wounded man was lying on abed in the southwest corner of the south room in Tracy's dwelling. Hanover was sitting on the east side of the room. Tracy and McCoy, it is said, were seated at a table on the north side of the north room. At this time a party of ruffians, numbering six or seven, it is said, disguised by wearing hoods drawn over their heads, and coats turned inside out, appeared at the door of the house, which was at the west side of the north room. Tracy and McCoy testified that the assassins fired a volley at them as they sat at the table, but did not injure them. However this may be, and their testimony is not received with implicit credence, the murderers passed into the south room to the bedside of Mason, and perforated his body with bullets. Five wounds, at least, any one of which would have proved fatal, were found by Dr. Langstroth, of Vinton.

    Information that a man had been murdered in Benton Township, as above stated, was brought to Vinton in the afternoon, when Sheriff" Smith, Coroner Kirkpatrick, Dr. Langstroth, and others started for the scene of blood, and found the dead body of the man lying where he had been murdered. The re- mains were brought to Vinton, arriving about midnight, and an inquest was held in the morning (Monday July 8), the verdict of the Coroner's jury being, substantially, that the deceased came to his death at the hands of a party of masked men, by wounds inflicted by bullets discharged from revolvers. I

    The body lay exposed to public view on a table in the Court House yard for a time, and presented a most horrible and ghastly spectacle.

    It is stated that Mason had several hundred dollars in money in his wallet, and a Avatcli in his vest ; the money he took out of the vest pocket and put under his pillow when he lay down in the bed in Tracy's house ; but after his murder, no vest, money or watch could be found.

    For cowardly brutality and cold blooded atrocity, this murder of Mason has seldom been equaled in the annals of crime. It was a startling culmination of a long-continued carnival of lawlessness, and awakened the citizens of the county to the necessity of prompt and energetic measures for the termination forever of this terrible state of affairs that has been so long a disgrace to the county. Nothing in the history of Indian warfare can exceed in savage ferocity this cold-blooded murder of MasOn. The following extract from the comments of the newspapers on this horrible affair, will make a fitting close for this the latest chapter of Benton county history.

The good name of Benton County is involved in this matter. Every welldisposed citizen is interested in having all concerned in this great crime detected and punished. It matters not what was the character of Mason ; he was as much entitled to the protection of the law as any man in the community. It matters not what the character, standing or number of his assassins ; justice demands that they be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Mobs and mob executions can under no circumstances be encouraged or tolerated. Let no pajns or expense be spared to apprehend and bring to punishment these great offenders against law and order.

"BACK IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS"

( Page 50, Writen by Edward R Brumwell, 1986 )
"At the turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries,the old town of Benton City was surrounded by many trees and a thick underbrush. "Red Brush got it's name because of the large percentage of Oak timber and when the leaves of the Oak froze in the fall they turned in color of a deep red and many trees kept their leaves all winter."

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