Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1913-04-29

The fraud of carting the specie
about and starting many banks on
the same supply of coin was discov-
cred and the people took fright. A
general run was made on the banks
and of course all the spurious banks
went to the wall at once Banks,
honestly started, redeemed their pa
per as it came in, and kept on in
business for time but second run
almost inevitably followed, under
which few could stand, so if a man
accepted a "Wild Cat" bill quoted
good one day, the bank issuing it
was liable to break before he had
an opportunity to pass it off on
some one else and it became dead
money in his pocket.
The banks were mostly located in
the states east of the Mississippi
and as the means of communication
was not as complete as now, it was
sometimes weeks after the bank
failed, before the news reached the
frontier. "Bank detectors'' were
printed, in which list of all banks
appeared and those that had sus-
pended were noted. These "detect-
ors" were regularly sent for by the
merchants and when one would ar
rive, every settler who had a bank
bill in his pocket would go to the
store to see if it was yet good. Most
of the money among the settlers was
of this kind and as almost every dol
worthless, it is easy to imagine how
scarce money became and how hard
it was to get. Old settlers say that
there were months at a time dur
ing 1878 when they never saw a
cent of good money of any kind. At
ter things had been going on in
this way for some time, and times
had become most pinching, two
Jew peddlers from the southern
part of the state began to buy fur
and pay cash for it. Of course ev-
erybody wanted cash and almost ev-
erybody went to trapping as the
only means Of getting it. Old set
tiers have told that the first money
they had had for months they re-
ceived from these Jews for furs.
The business having been started.
other buyers of fur put in appear
ance, and the settler became a trap
per. The muskrat was the princi-
pal fur bearing animal, but mink,
otter and beaver were also frequent
ly caught in the earlier days.
The hard times continued until
after the breaking out of the war,
when money became plentiful, and
times flush. Occasionally, however,
a new settler came with plenty of
good money, and for him, times
were always exceptionally good, for
with it he could buy almost any,
thing he wanted and at his own
price.
About this time horse thieves be-
gan to make themselves very
troublesome to the settlers. In July,
1857, B. Willard, who resided a
short distance south of Webster
City had very fine span of horses
stolen. He offered $50 reward for
the return of the horses or the cap
ture and conviction of the thieves
and for time nearly everybody was
hunting them. Though he and many
others were constantly on the hunt,
and the loss was advertised, it was
six months after they were taken,
before they were found. They were
at last discovered over in Marshall
county where they had been taken
up as strays and sold. He got the
horses back but they had been
foundered SO badly that they were
not worth the money spent to re-
cover them. The thieves were new
er caught. Millard got on the track
of them as he believed then, and
still believes, and overlook them
(there were two), at Indianola. Ia.
He captured one but the other got
away. He brought his prisoner
back to Boonsboro, but the prisoner
produced man who swore he had
accompanied him to Des Moines and
that he had no horses, and Mr.. Mil |
lard being unable to get any posi-
tive proof, had to let him go. Horses
were being stolen in other settle
ments around and to protect their
property a thief detective society
was organized with B. Willard, E. |
w. Salsberry and j. S. Let's as the
principal and moving spirits.
F. A. Boysen. Den1lsi "s'' j.