The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1894-04-18
A PIONEER LAWSUIT
Wisconsin Story OF General Jones in
Territorial Days.
SOME EARLY EXPERIENCES
How q Wolf Fight Influenced q Jury q
Verdict and Raved the Iowa Vet
ern ~ 900.

= MADISON, Wis, April 1G.-The celebra-
ton by the citizens of Iowa of the an
niversary of General George w. Jones
of Dubuque, recalls good story of Gen
eral Jones' pioneer experier ces. told by
Judge ]. T. Mills, OF Lancaster. In the
= early days of the territory General
Jones was resident of Wisconsin, be.
Ing one of the first delegates elected to
congress when the territory was organ
lied. When General Jones first came
to Wisconsin he had part of his house
hold negro named Sam, who was
victim of the "peculiar institution"
The chains of bondage never sat very
heavily on Sam. Most of his time was
spent travelling about the country off,
ciating with his old fiddle as orchestra
at the numerous dances with which the
early settlers whiled away the long
winter evenings. The only times Sam
remembered he had master was
when he happened to be 'down in his
luck" Then he made as near bee
line a. possible<for the Jones place, re-
manning just long enough to get a new
outfit of old clothing and series of
square meals. During this time he did
such light work as struck his fancy,
which, to tell the truth, was not
too active in that direction.
The time came, as years passed and
the south westerh part of the state
settled up, that the abolition sentiment
In the county reached point where it
took up Sans case. No one had
thought much about Sam before except
as good-for-nothipe negro who was
in great luck to have good home to
fall back on whenever he failed to
strike a pay streak in his ramblings.
Now these retormers discovered that
Sam was poor unfortunate held in
bondage, an everyday object lesson of
the evils of slavery. They even went
further and urged the negro to bring
suit against his master for wages due
for his services during the years he had
been held In bondage. In vain was it
pointed out that General Jones would
have been only too glad to have got rid
of the worthless fellow and that If
there was any debt it was due from
Sam for bread and clothes Sans ad-
visers would have none Of it, and the
result was suit was commenced ia his
name to recover wages alleged to be
due. 1t was first thought the whole
thing was a joke. But it turned out
soon enough to be very serious affair,
especially when the case was cslle d and
1t was found that the greater part of
the Jury was tinctured with sentiments
extremely adverse to slavery. Happily
for General Jones and unfortunately
for Sam and his friends Free Williams
was member of the jury. Williams
was an eccentric character who lived a
few miles from the county seat. He
was a Missourian and therefore held
pronounced views on the subject Of
''nigaers" which he had never kept
hidden under bushel. How he hap
pened to get on the jury is not known,
but there he was, and in time came to
occupy about all the canvass.
The case was tried before Chief Jus.
tice Charles Dunn, at Lancaster. The
testimony taken proved quite conclu-
sively that Sam was not entitled to
anything for his so-called services !;
that on the contrary, he had been play
ing in the greatest kind of luck to have
20 good master. This, however. made
no difference. The ertiment about the
county seat was that the niger ought
to get wages. 1t was felt by the at
torneys that this sentiment pre-
vailed with the jury, and the attor-
neys for the plaintiff settled back in
confident expectation of verdict for
their side. But they had omitted Free
Williams in their count, and Mr.. VIII
liams was very much in evidence, as
they found later. After the jury had
been charged they were locked up by
Sheriff Pepper. The FIRST ballot was
taken and showed ten for the plaintiff
and two for the defendant. The next
ballot gave the plaintiff eleven and the
defendant but one. That one was Free
williams. This was understood az
soon as the ballot was announced, and
the batteries were trained on the OBJ
stinate Missourian. 1t was of no use.
my terms, gentlemen, said Mr.. Free,
Stare a verdict for General Jones'"
"But We are eleven to one, and the
evidence Is on our side"
damn the evidence" retorted Free.
'The niger don't get one cent by my
vote, not II have to stay here month. Z"
Arguments made no impression on
the obddrate juror, who calmly lit his
corucob pipe amid the flow of oratory
and smoked on; Indifferent to everything
that was said. Had it not been for an
other incident, extraneous to the case,
the Jury would have remained hung un-
til such time as the eleven men saw fit
to report that they could not agree.
In those early days wolves were as
numerous ~ coyotes became on the
western plains later. 1t was one of the