DIARY OF OUR RIVER CITY PART 2

Part  Two

 

                                     NORMAN  V.  KELLY

 

In Diary, Part One, I introduced you to Mr. Drown who really began a recorded history of our town which evolved into out City Directories.  I thought I would pick up where I left off and see if we can dig up some interesting tidbits about those folks way back then. 

Over at the courthouse an interesting murder case was unfolding.  People vs. Nomaque described as a “half-breed” was charged with the murder of a Frenchman named Pierre Landre.  Nomaque entered a plea of ‘Not Guilty.’  I will tell you about this fascinating case that was the first trial for murder in Peoria, Illinois.  Believe me there would be many, many more over the following years.  In fact I wrote stories of 235 of them and you will be able to read many of them as the months go by here at PeoriaLife.

 

December 6, 1845:  There was a ‘war’ going on between Mormon and Anti-Mormons in Hancock County and as a result the sheriff of that county, J.H. Backenstoss was arrested for murdering Franklin Worrell, a Mormon.  He was tried here in Peoria, Illinois and the jury took all of fifteen minutes to find him ‘Not Guilty.’ That little war was serious business and during the conflict almost 100 homes were burned to the ground and several men on both sides were killed.

 

November 20, 1850:  A jury of Judge Kellogg’s Court found Thomas Brown and George Williams guilty of robbing and murdering Mr. Hewitt, a cattle buyer from Peoria.  The beating and robbery took place on Spring Street here in Peoria and the men were hanged out in the Prairie.  I will tell you the horrid details of that sensation murder, trial and execution. I described that scene in my book Until You Are dead.  Our local library still has a couple copies.  Actually Brown and Williams were the first killers to face execution here in Peoria, Illinois.   Six more would follow and two other men were executed by electric chair. I will tell you details of every one of those murders and executions here in Peoria, Illinois.  Well, the truth is we hanged eight men and sent the other two to Joliet to be executed by electric chair.

 

September 7, 1853:  School Master Seary was acquitted this day when a jury found him not guilty in the whipping of a ‘scholar.’  On that day Mr. Erford’s jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in his trial for ‘Maliciously shooting a Mule.’

 

April 4, 1857:   At noon on that exciting day the first train passed over the first rail road bridge built across the Illinois River at Peoria, Illinois.

That span connected the Peoria and the Oquawka tracks heading towards the Tazewell banks. The massive bridge was 600 feet long and a draw span of 203 feet. It was a marvel to local folks and truly an important day for the future of Peoria, Illinois. Spectators cheered the wood-burning locomotive “George C. Bestor.”  Throngs of spectators screamed and yelled their welcome then the young boys ran after the locomotive as it passed over the bridge.

 

May 18, 1857:  Peoria was excited today as most of the town’s 12,000 citizens seemed to be flocked around the huge building on a downtown street as the ceremonies got under way for the opening of Rouse Hall.

The theatre and office complex covered the entire city block of Main and Jefferson Streets and would remain the leading show house in Peoria for almost a half century. The building was built by one of Peoria’s leading citizens, Dr. Rudolphus Rouse and leased to a showman named John Huntley who always put on great shows like the “Merry Monarch” and popular singers, actors and poets came here  from throughout the United States. The theatre drew thousands of People from all over Europe and the United States to Peoria, Illinois All of this was of course before the influx of the great vaudevillians who flocked to Peoria for just over a decade.  As a result more theatres and other venues and hotels were built to accommodate them.  

 

May 23, 1851:  I had to bring you this piece since as a child the arrival of a circus or a carnival in Peoria drove all of us kids into frenzy.  We had a lot of outdoor activities on the river and the arrival of attractions like carnivals and circuses were always the high light of the summer.  Just look at how Peorians reacted in 1851. Nixon and Kemp’s Eastern Circus, certainly one of the largest traveling circus in America, arrived in Peoria today and the entire town rejoiced.  All of the circus members paraded through town followed by the largest Calliope ever built and certainly the first one to arrive in Peoria.  The massive contraption was pulled by 40 horses and sent the folks into a wild frenzy.  Clowns, acrobats, jugglers and get this…‘necromancers’ furnished most of the entertainment.                                            norman.kelly@sbcglobal.net

 

Editor’s Note: Every month Norm will bring us a historical tale of old Peoria. Next month the author will tell us details of Peoria’s trio of killers; Williams, Brown and Jordon. This story will detail the murder and the dual hanging out in the Prairie that we now call Second and Fischer Streets.  Don’t miss it.