The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1863-11-28

|4hs sidney coars Houas Affair

afshe Sidney Court House Affair.
We have visited the scene Of the late
luesndiarism At Sidney and 6pd the beau-
diul court house Of Frsmoes county
much injured BY the terrible explosion.
hut mot totally destroyed All the glass
lxnd sash are completely demolished, the
doors are all thrown from their hinges,
Ind the frames and castings of the various
opanine es are more or less damaged
Ixtsuched from their piaccs and consid-
,,ably bruised and split There are three
I.ets Of joists on the second hoor--one
over each rowof Offices on the ground
door, and one over the large hall that ex-
lends clear through the building. This
h. section of the upper floor, including
boards and joists. Is raised up about q foot
and q half, giving the door the appearance
d the upper deck of steamboat thigh
IN the middle and low on either side
/ 70 portion Of the wall il thrown down,
tAOagh badly cracked in many places. =
Thu large tower at the front of the bull
ding is rent with a huge gaping assure
rom top to bottom. The building j.
greatly injured, though not beyond the
possibility of repair, 3. was at first sup
pased. An outlay of Ave hundred dol
hrs will put ii in good shape, though it
.an never be as perfect asbefore the ex-
piosion. 4 court Of inquiry was in ses-
son several days last week to ferret out,
if possible, the perpetrators Of this crime
against the community but was compelled
to adjourn without obtaining any clue
which would lead to the conviction Of the
guilty parties. A reward Of five hundred
dollars has been offered for the ar
rest and conviction of the Villains,
but the people entertain little hope Of
bang able to find them out. Various
speculationsi have been INDUCED in by
the community as to- who were the per-
Detrators OF the deed, and their motives
for it, but public opinion at present seems
10 be settled--All agree - to who did the
work, and the object fon doing 1t. Ger
tain parties are already convicted in the
minds of the people, though no tangible
EVIDENCE can be got hold of TO convict
them before 8 court, and the general i'm
PRESTON nov is that the miscreants viii
70 unpunished By he Inv. There are GER
tain parties in the community agains1
whom several indictments of very grg
character we're found at the last 81 Nal
Of the Grand Jury, and 10 destroy SsSsl
records containing the evidence of the
guilt of said parties was, beyond . doubt,
Tie object sought 10 be gained in the de-
struction of the county building. More
over, the parties upon whom public opin-
ION has settled Is the authoFs of this me-
trious act, are known members of the
K. g, C., and in attempting thus to de-
stroy the finest county building in Iowa,
have been only acting in the discharge Of
their duty as consistsnt '.Knights"-
have been actiag ous-the fundamental
principle Of their sorder," |" TO ruin where
they cannot rule. We read Of instances
every day, of the property Of Onion men
houses, stores, stock, barns, and STA
hss, being wantonly destroyed BY thess
sworn ninions Of thedevil, and the &C.
tempt TO destroy the Fremont court
house ranks in the same list. a' !,
Many citizens Of Sidney entertain fears
that as the first attempt fhiIed another
viii be made, to either destroy the court
house or burn the town but the active
measures taken by Capt. HoET, of the
"home guards" viii quiet ell such mis-
givings he is wide awake, to the iemer-
sencies of the case. .aand has sakenteff-
eient steps tepreyent any further distpr-
bsnce. Az present We can announce ''all
quiet" in Fremont, s5yl%.ili4 sr ~: la... =.