Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-02-03

events. For this purpose a selec
company was sent in search Of him
with orders to seize him whereverht
could be found,A and convey him t.
Knoxville. Majors, conscious Of hi:
danger. did not remain at his home
but frequently staid atDr. Boyer's
| a few miles south west of Oskaloosa
To this place the detachment went
but not finding him there, they con.
tinued the search till they discovered
him in Hailowell's saw-mili, near the
mouth of Cedar creek, little south
of Bellefontaine. He was at work IN
the mill, saving his own lumber;
and it was observed that he kept a
gun near him, and carried it with
him as often as he had occasion to
leave The mill, if only for a moment.
Thus ii was evident that great eau
ton was requisite to effect his cap
ture without serious consequences.
To this end the men secreted them
selves near by. and sent one Of their
number, who was an entire stranger
TO him, to decoy him out, If possible,
or throw him off his guard, till the
the others could steal in and seize
him. The plan proved quite success
full. Majors was soon engaged in
conversation with his visitor, who
had come to inquire after estray
horses, in the mean time getting be-
tween the former and his gun, with
out exciting any suspicion.
Now was the crisis! Ere the vie
tim was aware of the presence of an
other person hefelt himself seized by
strong hands and carried out Of the
mill. AS speedily as possible they
placed him upon a horse, tied him on,
and then set out for Knoxville. On
their arrival here anotherselect COM
n,ittee took charge of the prisoner.
They were BACKED, SO that their
identity could not be easily asccr-
tanned; and to this day but few of
those known to the circumstance can
give their names. Perhaps for pru-
dental reasons, this is kept pro-
found secret, for Majors still lives in
Mahaska County, and might yet be
disposed to avenge the insult he was
then made to suffer.
BY this committee he was taken
about a mile north of town, at or
near the present site Of the County
Fair Grounds, where preparation Of
tar and feathers was in waiting.
Here they stripped him of all his
and applied coating of the
tar and feathers to his naked body.
Over this they drew his clothing, and
then completed the job by adding
another coating Of the same materi-
ais, giving to the wearer very portly
He was then permitted
to go his way, with the admonition
not to repeat the oflense for which he
had been thus severely punished.
Instead Of taking more private
route homeward, to avoid being seen
in his ridiculous plight, he passed
directly through Knoxville, and took
the most public road thence to his
place. 1t was sometime during the
night when he reached home, and in
order to avoid frightening his fami-
ly unnecessarily, he stopped at some
distance from the house and called to
them; and when he had thus aroused
them he informed them of his condi-
ton.
Sometime afterwards Majors made
another attempt at prosecution, but
was unable to bring his case into
court for the reason that the court
house was guarded at about the time
set for trial, and everyone, lawyers
and witnesses, known to be for the
prosecution, were egged away when
they attempted to enter. They failed
again, ana nc apandoned the case
finally.
Not long after this the family sold
their possessions and moved away;
but Jacob has since returned, and is
still q citizen of Mahaska County.