The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1869-05-06
KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1869.


was long since washed away with fifteen
or twenty rods of shore. where the piers
were afterwards built After this, Mr..
L. had the first frame house built for a
residence near the place of Mr. Frank,
west of the railroad, and early in 1886,
opened his school in it. aa isl so9. .
Mr.. L, spoke of some trouble with the
Indians; nearly 800 of whom were wealth
er bound at this point, on their return
from Chicago, where they had been for
their pensions, in their Macklnaw boats.
After they had used up their own provi-
sions, they would buy or steal what we
had But the principal trouble. was on
account Of the whiskey which it was said
they found on the island but supposing
they could obtain it elsewhere, they came
to the house where Mr.. l., and some ten
more were sleeping;, arousing them by
their calls for the liquid fire, at one o.
clock in the morning. The company on
the ground floor were thoroughly awak
ened from their sleep by their apparent
determination to break in the door, De-
Witt Butler, having his gun loaded and
at hand, pointed to fire at the door, but
his arm was caught by a companion and
the consequences avoided, when Mr. L.
opened the door to large company Of
them, who by the occas ional use of a
French word, led Mr.. L. to use enough OF
that language for them to understand that
the article was not to be had there, when
to our great relief they left u.s.
But we had reverses and difficulties
growing out of eontending claims made
by the agent of the Emigration Company
and others who jumped them. Perigue
and VIM. Butler on the island, and John
Butler and Woodbridge on the south side
of Pike Creek. The latter had to be set.
tied by judicial comm ttee, which pre-
scented an incident quite amusing, and al.
luded to by the State Society In the
course of the trial, Woodbridge under.
took to show that he had the eldest claim
and could prove it by his field of corn
which he had somewhere near the present
residence of Mr. Frank. The committee
went to see the proof, and sure enough
found fence of three lengths of rails
and some corn in the centre, of four or
five leaves. This seemed conclusive, till
one suggested that the corn might not
have grown there. The soil in which it
grew was black loan, perhaps a shovel
full, but all around was the natural sandy
soil. 1t was then suspected that the
fence was not as old as the corn. The
rails were raised showing the grass under
them could not have been pressed more
than two or three days. The trial was
closed.
Mr.. l.. gave an account of the first cele.
bration of the 4th of July, on the island
when the big team Of twenty.six yoke of
oxen, brought in from Pleasant Prairie,
such load of passengers-but are not
these written in the book OF the Chron1-
Giles of Wisconsin?
Col Frank read extracts from the State
Hist. Society as had been previously ar
ranged. f +,
Judge Volney French gave an interest
ing account of his early visit to this place
and into the interior
Judge VOlney Frehch made an enter.
tanning speech. He expressed his decided
opinion of these social gatherings of old
settlers they were not only a source OF
rational pleasure, but were of great utility
in rescuing from the past many interesting
historical facts which otherwise would be
lost in the ever approaching waves Of
forgetfulness. Mr.. French said after com
pleting his law studies in New England
he embarked for the 'far west" in pursuit
of location in which to settle He left
for the West in October, 1888; all his
moneyed capital consisted of $40, which
he had borrowed, and agreed to repay the
lender, with II per cent interest He, took
deck passage on steamer at Buffalo
and was twelve days in reaching Milwau-
kee. He found q valuable friend on board
the boat in the person of that well known
gentleman Of Milwaukee, Hon. E. D. Hol-
ton. From Milwaukee he came to this
place, but before determining to settle
here, he conclV1ed to explore further west.
He struck out for Elkhorn, having heard
of the fame of that point; in search for
the locality of the town he at length dis
covered the horns of an elk fastened on a
tree, and single house. He had seen on
the map, what seemed to be an important
town called Wisconsin City after much
fatiguing travel he came to. a log hut
lao N do r. = L.