Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-12-18
a FAMOUS GUERILLA.


The Reported Death of the Noted Out
law Contradicted by One Who Kn.T
Him-An Incident of His Wild Career.
1t was recently reported that the IA
nous guerilla Quantrell had died in
Birmingham, Ala. under an assumed
name. This caused great deal of talk
about the man whose name twenty-five
| years ago was as often in peoples
mouths as that Of Lee or Lincoln, at the
! mention Of whose name every house
| holder north Of Mason and Dixon's line
trembled, and whose daring raids made
| the plan of plundering, burning Wash
| ington, New York, Philadelphia and
! Boston by sudden inroad seem prac-
ticable and possible. The papers Of late
| have been full OF anecdotes Of Quantrell
stories of his life and incidents of his
desperately romantic career.
The story of his death in birmingham
was received with great deal of in
credulity. A great many refuse to be-
lieve that the man who died in Birming-
ham OF overinduleence in liquor was
Quantrell at all. The old story of his
being shot in the back while making his
last raid in Kentucky when his band
was finally broken up and wiped out,
was revived. 1t was published in the
iowa State Register.
That Captain r. j. Kennedy, of Des
Moines, was acquainted with Quantrell
before the war was told the Register
reporter and he went to see the Captain.
Yes, knew Quantrel, the guerilla,
in IL, D.,
He was teaching school there and he
boarded at my uncle's house. My uncle's
name was Daniel Goodrich. lie moved
to Kansas in 1858 and he was a strong
Republican and a Union man. lie had
been driven out of that country three or
four times in the fuses between the
bushwhackers and jayhawkers.
We'll, he had come back every time
and in 1859, think it was, Quantrell
was teaching school there and he board
ed at my uncle's house and my cousins
went to school to him. went down
there to make my uncle's family visit
and that way got acquainted with
Quantrell
He had already been in some fuses
with the jayhawkers and hated them
like poison. don't exactly remember
the start of the trouble 1t seems to me
that they had killed horse. or whipped
him or something like that. But he
wasn't known yet as a leading BUSH
whacker, and if he had been in any raids
the people round there didn't know
about it.
He thought lots of my uncle and my
cousins and they thought lots of him
that fall. / think it was after had left
there was talk about more trouble on
the Kansas border My uncle was talk
ing TO Quantrell about it and he told him
that he was tired Of fighting and killing
and having his barns burned and his
stock run off and that he had made up
his mind to go back to Indiana Guam
trell told him that he needn't do that
He says: You and your boys have treat
ed me right and feel kind towards
you, and If you stay here I'll guarantee
that there won't be a rail of your fences
touched, no matter what happens Not
very long after Quantrell got together
his band and made the famous raid on
Lawrence, where he came very near get
ting Jim Lane, the man he wanted to
kill worse than any body. Well, when
he returned he came right in back of my
uncle's farm and made stand there,
and sure enough. although the whole
band of cut-throats staid there all
night and camped, they didn't touch
thing on my uncle's place. They were
so hard pressed that they dropped $500
or $500 worth of stuff they had carried
of from Lawrence right here
YES, | saw the article about Guam
trell's being killed in Kentucky when
his band was cut up finally. That isn't
so. Quantrell got out of that scrape as
he did out of every other and got away
1t the close of the war to Cuba. He
staid at Havana, and he got together
band to capture treasure ship that was
expected there. His plan was to enlist
with his men on a schooner to mutiny,
and with the schooner to capture the
vessel. But some body gave the scheme
away and tho Cuban authorities got af-
ter Quantrell. He escaped, and that is
the last that has been heard of him"