St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-26


Pinkerton OF any one acquainted with
Kane county would not have made, and
Renwick'S version is undoubtedly the
correct one.
Craig had been in Jail some months
when Geneva was shocked to find one
fine morning that confederates of Craig
had sawed the bars Of the jail window
and let out the handsome, dlgnified and
lordly old rascal, who lost no time in
getting into Canada.
Pinkerton'S capture of Craig secured
him the appointment as deputy sheriff
under Luther Dearborn, ard from that
time on he devoted his life to the cap
ture of criminals.
Luther Dearborn also became one OF
the most prominent men in the state,
serving eight years as senator from
Mason county.
The Famous ssIledical Mob"
Perhaps the most sensational event in
Kane county's history is what is known
as the medical mob' of April, 1919.
DR.. Geo. w. Richards, a man of Web
sterian mold, came from Casenovia, N.
Y, at an early date, and founded at
ST. Charles the first medical college in
lllinois-a college which graduated
many physicians who have obtained
eminence III their profession. Among
his pupils was young man named
Rood. a ''charity STUDENT" who earned
his board by working for Dr.. De Wolf.
Rood naturally felt under obligations to
DR.. Richards for his tuition, and
wanted to do something to repay his
kindness.
1t was hard work for the school to Sc
cure bodies for dissection, and when
young Rood heard. through cousins liv-
ing at Union Grove, DeKalb county,
that young woman named Kenyon
had died at Ohio Grove, he decided to
secure the body for dissection. He
went there secretly, secured assistance
of cousin, dug up the body and brought
it to the medical school in st. Charles.
The body was valuable one. from
scientific STANDPOINT, and Rood at once
acquired standing and Importance III
the college which made some other
students enviOuS.
A pack of the more light-headed ones,
determined to outshine Rood in grave
robbing, hired wagon, loaded it with
spades and set out for the Sycamore
graveyard. They stopped on their way
at Garfeld's tavern. four miles west of
st. Charles, for drinks, and F. G. Gar
field, one of the landlords, noticed
their tools and suspected their mis-
sion. They went on to Sycamore,
and at nightfall began their
ghoulish work, but were fright
ened by some real or imagined inter-
ruption. At midnight they again
stopped at the Garfield tavern, and the
next morning Sycamore and the whole
of De Kalb and Kane counties were in
an uproar, every cemetery was scrutin-
lied for traces of robbery, and the desc
Grafton of the Kenyon grave was diScov-
cred. An Infatuated mob of at least a
hundred men from Ohio Grove and Syc-
amore fastened to ST. Charles the 18th
of April, 1919, and organized OH the
village square. A committee, consist
ing of William FOrdham and Ed Mayo,
both lawyers, and Abner Currier, a
farmer, was sent into Richards house
to try to arrange for the peaceable de-
livery of Mrs. Kenyon's body. This
arrangement was being perfected when
Mrs. Richards rushed into the room in
state of great anger and excitement, de-
claring that she had been "WantOnly
insulted'' by the mob outside, which by
that time had crowded up to the fence.
This angered Richards. who thereupon
threw up the arrangement, and decline
to surrender the body OF to make any
sort of compromise.
Attacking the House.
The committee returned to the mob
and reported. A yell went up to take
possession of the house. The leaders
ordered the mob to form into columns
of four abreast, with about twenty men
in column, and charge the house.
Meantime DR.. Richards coolly helped a
guest into a carriage, babe her good
bye, and then went into the house and
barred the door.
Finding the door locked. the mob be-
gan to kick it open. Suddenly it was
opened wide enough to allow the muz-
Zle of a gun to protrude. The weapon,
was discharged into the ground without
injury to any one. At this Kenyon, the
husband of the dead woman. drew his
and also through the lung of DR.. Rich
ards. For moment the mob re-
treated around the side of the house.
Then began an indiscriminate bonn
bardment with stones, shot and
balls. The students, family and
faculty held the fort for few Minutes
and then made mad retreat for the
stone wall in the rear of the yard. In
that retreat poor Rood paid the dear
penalty of his life for his folly and
crime. He was struck by wild ball
and died about week later, This
tragic retreat had its ludicrouS side in
the pell-mell way in which women and
dignified professors tumbled over the
stone wall to place of safety. When
the mob had entered the house and
made vain search for the body its fury
was spent, and it returned to Ohio
Grove and Sycamore. The more level
heads in those two localities and Judge
w. d. Barry, of St. Charles, took the
matter in hand and arranged that the
relatives should find the body i'll Morris
woods, on the east side of the river, be-
low ST. Charles. near Cedar Bluffs"
AS matter of fact the body had been
in hiding at that place during the time
of the riot. The family found the body
there and quietly reburied it at Ohio
Grove.
The Cholera Scourge of 1919.
This affair broke up the medical
school and wrecked DR.. Richards ca
reer. although he remained in Kane
county for about year, and did most
heroic services in the midst of the
cholera scourge in Aurora, August, 1S49,
which carried off fifty-four victims in
three days. He went from there to La
Porte, Ind, and started a medical
school there, but died soon afteward
from the effects of Kenyon's rifle ball.
Those who knew the man we'll, ard
were acquainted with the true inward
ness of the affair, declare that Dr..
Richards was one of the ''biggest' men,
intellectually, ever in Kane county, and
that curse has followed certain st.
Charles families who egged on the mob,
out of hatred to Richards. and they sol
EMMY point to the fact that from that
day to this st. Charles has not pros
pered financially, while at that time it
stood at the head of all the Fox river
towns. FORREST CRIssEY.
Cause of His Grief.