The Grange advance., 1874-11-18
Henry FitzsimmOns.

Henry Fitzsimmons.
We herewith reprint an extract from the
Home Journal Of St. Thomas, Ontario. We
recommend our readers to give the article
careful perusal as they may gain there
from considerable information concerning
Goodhue County. The writer hereof has
lived in this county for the past thirteen
years but never has heard anything re-
specting the "wild numbering Districts
situated in our midst. Mr.. Church will
be astonished when he learns that twenty
or thirty wild, daring lawless men" have
been making his house their home Won't
he hurry home when he reads that elabo-
rate article ? Very likely he will think
the country has been overrun and captured
by desperadoes. And wonderful as it may
appear it has been the province Of Cana
dian newspaper to discover the painful fact
that Sheriff Chandler, man who has rep
utation among the untutored savages of
this city and county Of fearing neither man
nor devil, has at last found his match in
the person of Henry Fitzsimmons and the
other "wild daring and lawless men, who
inhabit the interior Of this county, especi-
ally the region round about Mr.. Church's
farm. As long as we have lived in Red
Wing never before has our attention been
called to the fact that lumber was being
hauled from the adjacent "wild numbering
districts into this city. Doubtless great
deal of that sort Of traffic has been going
on right here under our very noses, but we
are constrained to acknowledge our most
deplorable ignorance relative thereto:
1t appears from the information we have
been able to collect that several weeks ago
one of the descriptive circulars fell into the
boarding house keeper in one Of the wild
in Goodhue County, and twelve or fifteen
miles from Red Wing city. The twenty or
thirty men he provided with board were of
q type not infrequent in the lumber woods
Of the upper Mississippi, ,-wild, daring,
la,vless men who live by numbering, rafting,
hunting, trapping and thieving. The moment
Church read the circular he spotted Hank
Fitzsimmons-whow was known to him by
the name Of Tom Belan-and he at once
began to devise some scheme to confirm the
suspicion. Church noticed that Fitzsim-
mons had for his 'pard rufian known
as 'Black River Bill also supposed to
be fugitive from Ontario. This man was
enlisted to betray Fitzsimmons by the offer
Of bribe. At the first opportunity Black
River Bill. with an associate or two, per-
suaded Fitzsimmons to join them in a
drunken spree. When all had got reckless
with liquor, Bill led out by boasting that
he had stolen horse once. 'And l." said
another, i" threw a horse and cart over a
bank once" "And l." said Fitzsimmons,
"killed an Indian once, and S., 500 is Of
fered for my arrest-$2,O 600 by the town
where I killed him, and $500 by the Gov
ernment." The next proposal Bill made
was, that they should have their photo
graphs taken; and the others asserting,
the pictures were procured forthwith.
This is the first time that Fitzsimmons sat
for likeness in his life; always fearing
as he now confesses, that it might work
him harm. Church got the photograph and
whatever information Bill had managed to
worm out of his 'pard,' and, after consult
ing with Sheriff Chandler, of Goodhue
County, came direct to Canada to complete
the Identification. He reached London or
Sunday, the 25th ult., and came down here
the following morning in the company Of
Detective Van Valkenburg. The photo
graph was at once recognized, and Sheriff
Monroe telegraphed an order for arrest tt
Sheriff Chandler. But the officers OF the
law in Red Wing knew the character o1
their man, and Of the desperadoes with
whom he associated, too we'll to venture upo1
making an arrest in the country. Accord.
ingly, they laid plan to get him into the
city, and with Black River Bills assistance
it was readily put in execution. He came
in on Wednesday with q load of lumber
and, after strolling around for short time
was arrested in barber's shop just as he
sat down to be shaved.
Times and Things at Trenton.
TprvrnN1rr