Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-11-18
or some other settlement, stay a few
days and then leave.

Arthur, having first sent his wife to
the block-house at Cassville, remained
on his claim continuing the cultiva-
ton of his little patch of ground. Now
and then an Indian would appear up
on the horizon when Mr.. Arthur would
retire to an improvised fort, drift in
a hill near by, and with rife in hand
stand prepared to give the dusky in
truder anything but hospitable re-
ception should he venture upon a
closer acquaintance. Mr.. Arthur was
a genuine pioneer, one of those hardy
sons of adventure through whose dar-
ing and labors the boundaries of the
nation have been continually ad-
vanced until it now encloses with a
glorious civilization nearly every rod
of land from the Atlantic to the Pa
cific. He was buried at his death I'M
der the shade of four oaks in the Bee
town cemetery a little northwest of
the village. Mrs. Arthur continued to
live in the old cabin until 1851 when
her death occurred.
Camp Grows Rapidly
After the close of the Black Hawk
war and no further danger was to be
apprehended, emigrnts began to come
in in large numbers. James Prideaux
and wife, Capt. Estes and others came
to Beetown in 1884. Mathew Edwards
and his wife were the next settlers
and were guests by invitation of
Capt. Estes and other miners at an
Independence dinner given by James
Prideaux on July 4, 1885. Mr.. Edwards
opened hotel and also dealt in gro
ceries and miners supplies. After this
date the population of Beetown in
creased rapidly.
In the year 1910 an itinerant preach
er of the Methodist Episcopal church
held the first service in the village in
a cabin east of the town. The follow
ing year the Methodists organized the
first church under the instrumentality
of Rev Hurlburt and the same year
the first school was opened, the teach
er being Edward Walker.
In 1843 William B. Brown opened a
store with a general assortment of
goods, his example being followed by
amuel Alex, and enterprising little
man of Jewish extraction. The post Of
flee was first established at the new
village in that year and Mr.. Alex was
appointed postmaster.
Heretofore dependence had been
placed upon the old smelling furnace
erected by Arthur and Johnston, but
this year, 1843, M. De Lasseaux erect
ed another and larger one. DeLasseauX
was a Frenchman whose reputation
among the miners for liberality and
fair dealing was most excellent. Many
was the poor adventurer, II tradition
speaks correctly, whom De LasseauX
a. 10 hi oh
the luck of the prospector for his re-
enumeration. He was murdered by
miner named Brewer, the details of
which is here followed:
The First Hanging
The ownership of a certain lot was
claimed by Brewer and a companion.
and DeLasseaux. DeLasseaux had
fenced up the lot in question and on
the day on which the murder occurred
had started to remove some rails from
the ground. This Brewer had forbid
den him to do. AS DeLasseaux ap-
preached the lot, Brewer seized a
rifle which he had concealed in the
lime kiln near which he was stand
ing and as he did so the gun which
was at half cock, went off. DeLasseaux
was a large, powerful man OF whom
the other stood in awe, and suppoS-
ing that this accidental discharge of
the gun would be taken as an excuse
for an attack he did not wait to see if
his surmise should be true, but shift
ing the gun in his hand he brought
it down on the head of the unfOrtun-
ate man knocking him down. Brewer
then drew long knife he had upon
his person and stabbed DeLasseaux
in a savage manner, from the effects
of which he died in a short time.
Brewer was Immediately arrested. The
court had barely closed its spring ses-
sion, Judge Dunn not having left Lam
caster. The grand jury was summoned
to return a true bill that was found
and the trial commenced. The result
under the popular feeling, which ow-
ing to the nature of the crime ran
high, was a foregone conclusion and
the unfortunate victom of an insane
craving for vengeance was sentenced
to expiate his crime upon the gal
lows, and his execution took place a
few weeks later. The gallows was
erected a little to the northeast of
the village and was visible for years
later.
Beetown had up to this time been
solely a mining town and although
this has been the case in great meas
ure up to some years ago when the
mining activities on large scale
ceased, still the settling up of the
country to the west from this time on
until along in the fifties when new
towns sprang up further west and
north gave an impetus to BUSINESS
which for time made Beetown only
second to Potosi in Importance.
Organize Two Churches
The year 1916 witnessed the estab-
lishment of the Baptist and Congre-
gational churches in the village. The
records of the former show that on
the 21st day of June, 1845, "A meeting
was held at the school house for the
purpose of forming branch of the
Lancaster church, and the following
persons were enrolled: William Pad
dock, Loamir Paddock, Alloys Pad
dock, Moses Cooley, Betsy Cooley,
Samuel Newick, Belinda Woodruff and
sister Bacon, William Paddock was
elected deacon and Samuel Newick
Tlhie ob11ro11 1uoc nm