Lucina Moss to Richard Yates

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Cameron Warren County Illinois May 21st 1861

Richard Yates Govenor of the State of Illinois

Sir it is with humble feelings of necessity that I write to you Claiming protection for myself and family against the lawlessness of the vicinity in which it has been my misfortune to be placed my family are reduced to such poverty that there is not a decent suit of clothes in the family nor a change of such as they have for one year I have not had a change for them I have been obliged to strip them and either put them to bed or wrap them in tattered rags while I could wash and dry their clothes And day after day corn bread and sometimes potatoes alone sometimes cornbread alone and sometimes meat alone I have been compeled in sickness to get along with corn bread for four months with out a morsel of flour or butter and some of the time without tea or coffee I had not strength to get off my bed with out help and then only from one bed to another and in such feebleness only such coars fare was it strange I should continue sick was it not more strange that I should recover but my life was spared and health recovered and new trials are pressed upon me till I am forced to complain Some thing must be done or we must leave our home and seek protection elsewhere. I shall endeavor to give you an account of the circumstances that have reduced us to such a degree of poverty and then you can form some opinion as to whether there is any chance of redress for such lawless proceedings I shall first describe our home and the amount of property which we should have the use of We have fifty one and a half acres of land deeded to us by my Father Ten timber 40 lying in a square field and an acre and a half disconnected with either of the others on which is the house the land is all as good as the country affords the house is an old one probably would not sell for fifty dollars but it affords a partial protection against the wind and storm though the shingles and weatherboards are blowing of every windy day and the walls are crumbling and falling there was once twelve windows in the house but time wind and hail have reduced them to three and them are [peased?] and patched with boards and rags and the rest boarded up entirely sash and glass all gone But it is home and with the privilage of our labours being our own we could repair it and make it comfortable It is dear to us for several reasons it was a gift a Father that lies in his grave and the birth place of all my children and two of them lie side by side in our garden a hallowed spot to us all

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When we came here it was our design to establish a boarding school my husband had been a teacher in a boarding school in New Jersey for several years and designed establishing an institution similar his body being rendered unsound by a fall in his youth his health is consequently impaired and not capable of enduring comon bodily exercise But sectarianism and southern ignorance set to work to break the school down and succeeded then he resorted to farming but you will see with what success they were not content that he should live by that and have thrown every obstacle in the way that was proper and lawful and I think a great many that were unlawful Our house lot is situated in the north west corner of a forty acre lot the land on the East and north is owned by one John G Hailey in April 1853 he took the half of the division fense that he owned and moved it and fensed a round corner so that it stood some four or five rods from our line then tapered to our corner at the other end it was just enough to open ours to the corners this was done with out ever saying one word about moving it and in Mr Mosses absence we then enclosed a garden and let the rest lie on the comons for want of time and strength to fense the whole. Now comes the field it lies South and West of where two roads crop at right angles the south road leads to Cameron one half mile from our land the fense on the east of our field was frequently pulled down by different ones and it was necessary to go round the field evry night after people were generally in bed or else before the stock started in the morning by so doing we saved our crops the fense was taken down to the ground and from thirty to sixty feet at a time this was done 14 different times we had some corn that was not gathered till March the fense was then about one third of the 80 rod string pulled down Mr Moss was gone from home the corn was cut apparently with corn knives and cattle hogs and horses let loose to eat the corn I did not know it for a day or two and then I could do nothing but let them eat I got a boy to try to save some we could do nothing we had no evidence who it was Next comes the house lot again it is a very dry season across the lot runs a spring branch which at its usual extent would pass through a cylindar 15 inch circum but at that time it was lefs. We had about 120 head of hogs which we depended on supplying with water from that stream we were feeding with bran and to dip the water to mix the slop it was necessary to raise the water by means of a small damn it was composed of a common fense rail laid acrofs from one bank to the other and stakes driven above then there was a trench cut from the edge two or three feet out to a small basin or well in order to dip the water without [vileing?] in a week or there abouts the man

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J. G. Hailey came to Mr Moss and told him he was a fraid that damn would make sickness if it remained there Mr Moss told him he thought not for he let the basin fill and then let it off so it was kept pure the next day he came back and said it must be taken right out or he would take it out himself he then went a way in the evening he sent his Nephew D R Shelton about the same businefs Mr Moss was not at home but one of his Brothers was here after considerable conversation on the subject Mr John Moss told him the water had been examined by a Physician and pronounced pure he said he did not think it pure and if Mr Moss wishes to stay in this County he must take that damn right out him self and if he does not it will be taken out any way he left then but the next day came back and came in the house Mr Moss was in at the time he commensed again about the damn trying to persuad Mr Moss to tear it out I hapened to go to the door and saw Hailey and some others at work at it I told Mr Moss it was being done they took it out tore the fense down in a couple of places and turned the slop onto the ground and let our hogs and all the neighborhood hogs in to our garden Mr Moss then went and arrested him for malitious mischief proved the purity of the water by a physician also that he was not stoping the water for any other purpose than to supply his stock with water and the water passed over Hailey's land before it came to ours consequently his stock were not deprived of water the spring has its rise in Haileys pasture his lawyers argued that he was afraid of sickness and that Mr Moss was making money hand over fist at the risk of his neighbors having sickness although the damn was on our own land nearer our house than his they gave judgement against us and also that it was a malicious prosecution and we must pay the cost which was near $20 they took one of our horses and sold him for the cost that broke our team we had but one left but We will go back to the next day after he was acquited he called his [connection?] to gather and made a similar dam only sufficient to stop the water from coming to our land atall this he made right before his own door then for fear it would overflow they went about three quarters of a mile to where there lived a man that kept a good many cattle and drove them evry morning three times as far to get them to drink this water as they would have had to go in the woods when they were in a habit of grazing we had to take our stock to the woods to water When Court set Mr Moss went to the grand jury with complaint for his tearing up our damn and fense and for stoping the watter from crossing our land and thereby depriving us of the use of our water privalage

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The jury gave it no attention Our hogs were mortgaged in security for a debt and had to be sold at reduced prices after wintering they numbered 200 and were sold so that 219 dollars was all we realized we then go to work to try to raise a crop we have but one horse but we get some crops in and a meadow of 10 acres after getting through with planting we reset and stake the East fense again finished it Saturday night and Sunday morning it was laid level with the ground about two thirds of the 80 rods some carried acrofs the road and some in the road and the field full of stock the consequence was the entire crop of corn and grass was distroyed and Mr Moss compeled to work by days works fora living in a few days the northwest corner of the fense was taken a way and a wagon road made from the north west to the south east corner of the field and used to draw cord wood to Cameron for nearly a year we assertained who it was that had pulled the fense down and gave the grand jury the name of one that turned states evidence they sent for him there was one of D R Skeltons brothers on the jury he asked this evidence if he could testify with out implicating him self or in other words if he helped to pull the fense down he said he did he told him they did not want any thing more of him and it was let to pass with out Notice Next comes stealing hogs we had managed to raise a few hogs a gain they were running in the woods one Sunday Mr Moss said he felt as though there was something not right about his hogs it was a rainy afternoon in Oct and so strong were his feelings that he concluded to go and see them when he got there he found four men and a wagon and horses they had one of ours tied and two that belonged to a Mr Wallace they caught and tied another of Mr Wallaces Mr Moss went and let Mr W know what was going on he sent his son and hired man to follow them they followed them about four files and found them Mr Moss saw more of his that had been caught and their marks cut off they were fresh bleeding he came a cross some boys hunting they told him that those men hired them to catch the hogs with their dog and told them they had bought them they saw them cut the marks off and mark those that were not marked Mr Moss went and got a warrant and had them arrested for feloniously stealing and carrying a way his hog and also Mr Wallaces there were twelve witnesses against them and none in their favor but they were acquited We lost 5 old hogs and 15 that were from 3 to 6 months old Mr Wallace and his son and man stuck to the fellows for about three days and they at last gave theirs up but we had no help and ours were lose entirely

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When Court came they were presented to the grand jury they found a bill against two of the four but the sheriff never took them nor there was never any further Notice taken of the affair Now for the next spring and with it those terrific storms of 1858 which will long be remembered for leveling fenses and outhouses and in some case dwellings and whole Towns we had a horse pasturing on our meadow when the fenses were blown down he got over the line onto a piece of wheat Mr Moss saw him and went and took him off and put the fense up and left him on the grass as usual but he had got a taste and went back the fense was a division fense and old and poor and we had all that we could do to keep building outside fenses with out giving any attention to inside fenses The owner of the wheat was Henry Reese he came here to the house Mr Moss was in at the time and bid him come in he and two boys they came in and he said the horse was on the wheat again Mr Moss told him he would go and bring him right off and would not put him on the meadow to pasture again till he had the haunt broke up he raved and threatened furiously my health was poor and his conduct set me to trembling so that I was obliged to lay down in less than ten minuets after he left the consequence was I was taken sick with labor and did not recover untill after I had lost my child by an untimely birth I lay from Monday afternoon till Thursday morning in labor Mr Moss returned from the field with the horse and found me sick he rode the horse for the Dr and then tied him up over night we had no grain nor any thing to feed the horse with and as he never had gone from the commons to the wheat he thought he might not do it so he turned him loose and was confined to the house with me the horse after feeding a while went to our field and then to the wheat and was found there in the morning. Mr Moss sent a boy and took him out that time he was seen by two men when he was going and one said to the other there goes Mosses horse he is going into that wheat again he was then in a lane passing a house where they sat talking they both knew of our confinement by sicknefs and not one of them came near to say do you need assistance the child lived but a short time and I at the point of death not a soul came to dig a grave or any thing Mr Moss dug the grave and was about ready to bury the child when there was a couple of men came they heard that he had to dig his own childs grave and came to bury it for him about two weeks after it hapened that the hors could not be found at night to be tied and the next morning we saw the horse standing at the house of the owner of the wheat field Mr Moss went over and asked if the horse had been in the field he said no he came round in the

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evening and he tied him for fear he would get in in a bout two weeks one after noon he wanted the horse to use and went to find him but could not find him he looked till night and started again in the morning and looked till noon then went to the field as he was going Reese called to him and told him he had got his horse he asked him how that hapened and told him he had been looking for him since noon the day before he said he got in the wheat again and he had got him in safe keeping and should take care of him himself Mr Moss told him he needed the horse to plow and had been hindered looking for him and he ought to have let him known that he had taken him up before and asked what he was going to do about it he wanted an understanding of the case and wanted his horse to plow with but he would give him no satisfaction but that the horse was in safe keeping but would not tell where nor in whose hands he then left him and went to a justice to see what he could do the Justice told him if he had got the horse and wound not let it be known where he was he could arrest him for feloniously taking and secreting the horse Mr Moss did not like to make him any unnecessary trouble and thought it might be that he would get over the heat of his passion and settle reasonably but after wating two days and coming no nearer a settlement he went and had him arrested the constable was D R Shelton he proposed a settlement they both agreed to settle by Ruse giving up the horse and paying cost with the understanding that Mr Moss was damaged by being deprived of the use of his horse as much as Ruses wheat was damaded by the horse they came home together and he gave up the horse in about ten days he brought suit for 20 dollars damage to his wheat during this time wheat harvest had passed and his wheat was struck with rust and spoiled so it was not worth harvesting nor was not harvested D R Shelton told Mr Moss not to give himself any uneasyness about it for he should testify that it was all settled Mr Moss asked if he would attend court without subpenaing he said he would so it rested till the day of trial but D R Shelton was not there nor in town one witness swore the horse had been in the wheat 25 times and finally 20 times any way and another 12 times two others swore that his tracks measured 18 inches each across and another that he had distroyed one acre of what the peice contained six acres the jury gave a verdict in his favor for 9 dollars and cost amounting to to something over seventeen it was proved that the wheat was all spoiled by rust so as not to be worth harvesting Mr Moss Appealed the case in order to prove it settled it lay over one term or three weeks court and untill the last week of the next term of four weeks then their lawyer said the bond was not right the justice had not written

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the word approved on the bond the justice said he had written it on the transcript and that was sufficient they then made out a new bond and increased it to $34 and some cts to $50 and required it signed and returned in the evening and it was then afternoon that could not be done and the case was thrown out of court and the damages required by the justice court was sent back to the justice for collection an execution was issued and a constable sent for property Mr Moss told him he did not see into it it certainly could not be right told him he would go up and see the justice and try to arrange it he said as he left he would go and [illegible] on one of the oxen they were in the field by the road he would go Mr Moss came in and told me what he was going to do and said he would go right up and see to it he had his horse ready to ride and started when he got to the NW corner of the field Scales the cows was going like a streak by the SE corner and no ox in sight and but one in the field he had taken it before he came to the house when Mr Moss got to his office he was writing sale Notice Mr Moss asked him where the ox was he said he had taken him to satisfy that execution Mr Moss told him he claimed his oxen as his exemption suited to his occupation he would not give him a set off and said there was no law by which he could claim a set off of personal property because he owned a farm he then told him to give him a delivery bond he did that and after Mr Moss had gone to get it signed he came here with two other men and enquired for Mr Moss I told them I did not know when he would be back he then said he had come to apprise his property and set it off to him I told him that he had gone to make other arrangements then he wanted me to tell him what property we had I told him I was to sick to attend to any busness and he must see Mr Moss about it (At that time I had not been able to sit up a day for three months and was not able to get out of bed without help then) he then asked what that clock was worth and asked if it was an eight day I told him it was not ours it was set up on trial and failed to run and was to be returned he put it down at 15 and said he had apprised the other ox and yearling and then asked how many hens we had I told him I knew nothing about it they then went to the hen roost and counted and apprised the hens at 7 dollars then set down a lot of shoats that was not nor never was ours and in that way made out sixty dollars without returning the ox Mr Moss came home with the bond signed by a man worth some $10,000 he took it to Scales he said he could not take it because the ox was advertised to be sold and would have to be sold the bill was a little over 17 dollars he char

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ged about a dollar a day for keeping the ox and sold him at the end of ten days for twenty dollars on five days credit he and his mate cost us 125 dollars cash he then came and took the yearling calf to settle it up Mr Moss served a written notice upon Scales to the effect that his oxen were best suited to his occupation and claimed him by the law that gives a man sixty dollars worth of property best suited to his occupation they apprised the mate at 20 dollars he served the Notice before he got the delivery bond signed then on the day of sale he forbid the sale before evidence Now comes the fee bill from circuit court that is $125 Mr Moss turned out the house and lot to the sheriff for that but he advertised and sold the 40 acre field in stead D R Shelton bid it in and gave his note for the money or in stead of the money to redeem it we had to hire money at 20 percent and give a deed of trust the per cent paid in advance now for this year we have got the papers renewed in the same way it now amounts to $120 add dollars the whole place has been sold for taxes tor two years it was sold last year for the taxes of last year and year before they will be near fifty dollars it is now advertised for taxes the tax for 1860 is $12.48 the tax on the 1 1/2 acre is put down seperate from the farm and is six dollars and eleven cents $6.11 there is no fruit but 7 cherry trees John G Hailey was assefsor his 48 acres joining with a good house and bearing orchard is $7.65 we are taxed to build a school house and support schools but our children cannot have clothes decent or comfortable to go to school or books to read at home that are proper for children to improve by But to go back to the time of selling the land There is another case in agitation while the ox and land were being disposed of it is now May 1859 In 1854 there was a little girl brought in to Galesburg and left in a grocery store kept by Caleb North no one knew any thing of her who she was or where she came from except what she could tell her self she said she was six years old and she appeared as though she might be though very much neglected she could not count six nor did not know the Alphabet she said she came from Chicago and that her mother gave her to a peddler there and told her she had had her long enough and the peddler brought her to that store Mr Moss was in the store a short time after she had told her story Mr North said he was not situated so as to take care of her then but as soon as he could get his family there and get to house keeping he should like to have her and if Mr Moss would bring her home and board her for him till he sent for her he would pay the expense so he brought her home she remained here four months he then sent for her but could not persuade her to go we told the man

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we would take her up in a day or two and perhaps she would stay with out any trouble we took her but she grieved dreadfully at being left Mr Moss told Mr North if he would let her come back he would take care of her and pay him back what expense he had been to for her but they wished to keep her and thought she would get over grieving but she did not she had the whooping cough and it was thought that it was so seated on her lungs that she would never be raised she was said to have the consumption they found her a bill of expense and she still wished to come back to me North wrote to Mr Moss if he was still willing to take her to come and get her for they had concluded to give her up he went and brought her home we Nursed her till she became well and hearty Now in 1859 she is in her twelfth year she begins to be come help to me while I am in such feeble health we have given her instruction in reading and spelling she is a tolerable reader in easy reading and can read in the testament we have never sent her to school we had none ole enough to go for company and we chose to teach her at home Now comes the rub she is helping me I am sick and not able to help my self and she is wlel and hearty and others want her help The man Hailey goes to the over seer of the poor and tries to have him come and take her a way he had been trying for over a year to get some one to say she was not well used but could not find anyone he now finds a starting place there is a boy in the Neighborhood that Mr Moss found on the road nearly naked in the winter he was hunting a home he told him if he would be a good boy he would give him a home for he had no boys and would be glad to have a good boy he promised to be a good boy and proved to be a very saucy and profane boy Mr Moss told him he must leave off swearing or leave his home for he would not allow it he chose to leave Now Hailey takes him and goes to a justice of the peace and he makes oath that the girl is abused not telling how nor in what way Hailey swears she has never been to school a day since we have had her this is all unknown to us they have a place found for her she is to live with a sister in law of Haileys Wife the justice makes out an indenture binding her to Richard Jonson the over seer of the poor went to the probate judge for his approval does not let him know the circumstances of the childs home he supposing it all righ gave his approval Now the first hint we have of it Holt the over seer of the poor and one of our neighbors came to the door one night just at dark and said they had come after that little girl Mr Moss asked what they wanted of her and by what authority they came Hode said he had an order from the judge to take her a way Mr Moss told him the Judge had no jurisdiction over that girl she had a home and was provided for and she could

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not go he said she must Mr Moss told them they must first take him and try him and see whether there was any reason why she should be taken away he told them she did not want to go they might talk with her and hear her read so they did and Holt told her he guessed they would let her stay he wanted Mr Moss to meet him at the justices office the next morning he told him he could not but would meet him at the Judges office in Monmouth he then left with out the girl they met at the Judges and it was there that he learned what had been done they talked the matter over the Judge said they had no right to take a child from a home when she was provided for with out lief so she was let to remain for a while the lawyers said no one had a right to take her but the sheriff and he must have a writ of habeas corpus and if she wished to stay here she could bind herself to whom she pleased but we did not wish to have her bound we wished her to feel free and easy and at home But they were bent on having the girl and on the day that the land was to be sold for that fee bill they evidently expected Mr Moss would be in Monmouth Hot and Two young men steped in to the door and enquired for Mr Moss I told them he was not at home they then asked if he was in Monmouth I told them he was not Holt said he had come after that little girl I asked who he was and what authority he had to take her he said an order from the Judge I told him if he had an order to show it he slaped his hand on his vest pocket and said it was there I told him the Judge had no right to her nor no one but the Sheriff and he must have a writ of habas corpus to do it to take her I took her by the arm and told her to go into the other room he seized the other arm and said she must go with him I was at that time just able to walk about the house and was trying by the help of the said girl to do a little washing it was just two months before my youngest child was born I told them to let go of her and leave the house I hung to her arm with one hand and with the other seized a hammer and raised it they caught it and threw it out at a window I thin seized a chisel Hold wrenched it from me and threw it across the wood shed by this time the dog was on hand and took him by the leg he beat him off with his cane I had backed the two young men out and shut the door Holt still hung to the girl and jurked and turned her till I saw she was being hurt and she said Ma let me go and I will come back as soon as I can get a way they took her bear headed and bare footed and her sleeves up and one took her by one arm and hand and the other by the other the same way and led her off in the rain she screaming Holt said when he first took hold of her I was not woman enough to keep him from taking her they would not tell who the young men were nor where they were going to

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take her When Mr Moss came home he went to Cameron to see if he could find what had become of her he learned then that they had probably taken her to Jonsons he then went strate to Jonsons house across the fields in so doing he came first to the kitchen door he raised the latch she stood at the door without a word from either she spring out and ran for home they had a guard in the front room we learned from her they were expecting him and threatening him with a sore head if he came after her there was a little girl with her that gave the allarm and they started five men and a dog but gave up the chase in a short time and went for a warrant in a bout an hour our house was surrounded by 15 men to take Mr Moss prisner he fastened the door D R Shelton was constable he went round to a window and raised it and came in I was overdone and sick in bed in the room he entered he then read what he called a tresspass warrant in behalf of the people of the state of Illinois sueing Mr Moss for a sum not exceding one hundred dollars for entering Jonsons house and carrying away a girl that belonged to his household said he was a prisner and must go with them for trial he went but claimed a right to time to get council they then said he must give special bail or go to jail he told them he would not give bail they then said he must turn a hand car to Monmouth he told them he would not do that they then told him if he would agree to come back Tuesday morning at ten Oclock he might go home he told them he would not fail to be back for twice what they had sued for he would see them out in it so they let him come home While he was gone after dark there was two men came and tried to force the door open but it was fast I asked who was there and what was wanting but no answer came they found the door fast and went a way it was so dark I could not tell who it was Monday morning Mr Moss started with the girl to Monmouth took her to the Judge he called an associate and examined her by herself and wrote an indenture for her to bind herself to Mr Moss till she was of age he signed the indenture for her to bind herself to Mr Moss till she was of age he signed the indentures and Next comes trial they had a brother of J G Haileys for a lawyer Mr Moss proved that he did not enter Jonsons house nor touch the girl till he was some distance from the house and then he helped her over a fense their council charged the Jury to take in to consideration the probable advantage that she would have been to Jonson over and above what the expense the Jury brought in a vertict of 22 dollars and cost amounting in all to over 32 dollars This Jonson is an old man some 70 years of age and a Campbelite preacher he is unkle to D R Sheltons wife the young men that were with Holt were a

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stepson and Nephew of Jonsons the nephew was hired to him at the time I wrote to Jonson in this wise proposing a settlement Mr Jonson It is written by the best of authority Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the children of God Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Now I claim to be all of these and more I claim to be a Mother to this little Mary Jane Hinsley and I claim it by the same authority that proclaimed the above Blessings and this is the way I claim it It was the will of God that she should be in this world and being in the world it was also his will that she should have a Mother and a mothers care and when her Natural mother failed to be a mother in this point it was also the will of our kind Father to Guide this little wanderer to a mother that would perform the duties of a mother and these duties I have performed with the best abilities I am endowed with and Christ says he that doeth the will of my Father in Heaven is my Mother and so forth Now I claim it in Christs words that I am the mother of this child as much as though she was the bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh and all moral rights have been shamefully outraged and the childs also she has been in my care five and a half years and although she has not been with me all that time yet her affection has been that of a Daughter all the time and it was not her fault nor mine that we were separated And when a company of men come in to my house to tear out of my arms a child am I to support it to be so because they will it so You say you did not do it, no you did not but you sent your hireling and when he had done the work you received the prize and there by become a partaker in the outrage and an aid to the whole affair and so you will be considered and held accountable for the same in a court of justice and equity Now my request is that you go and satisfy that Execution and receipt the same to J B Moss and let the matter rest where it will then be But if this is not done without further trouble I shall Feel it my duty to myself and family to right it by a suit against you and all concerned in Abducting this child And also to arrest Holt Stevenson and Whitman for a riot and an assault upon a woman in such health as mine is known to have been for several months will not be considered a very slight outrage you may be sure It is my wish to have the whole affair settled and have no further trouble but if the bread must be taken out of my childrens mouths and their home sacrifised by such lawless outrages as have been committed from tim to time upon us I shall endeavor to protect them and by the help of God who has promised to help them that help them selves I expect to be able to accomplish what I undertake

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As for the charge brought up by Hold of the childs being chargable it is nothing no truth in it and if I do not see fit to send my girls to school it is because I can do better by them than the teachers that are generally entrusted with the school in this place and because I am not a Campbelite it is no reason that I am not a christian but it is reason enough why I should not associate with them in their meetings my mind is that it is my duty to teach what I believe and practice the same And as to the testimony of the childs being abused whose is it a saucy impudent boys that had the same chance of instruction as our own children but instead of receiving it and appreciating it could tell you plainly that he would not read the Testament and would not leave off whistling during family Worship and so forth and because such conduct was no tolerated he tries to coax this child to leave her home but cannot succeed and then he is assisted to force her a way to satisfy his malice and that of others engaged in the same affair he that on several occasions in my abcence could draw a stick of stove wood and threaten her and mine six years younger that he would beat them over their heads if they did not to as he said is all the evidence of abuse and I consider he was the one that abused her and me too and I endured his abuse with patience in hopes to teach him to be kind by being kind to him and at last it it was unindurable and he could not be induced to submit to the obediance of his teachers and left his home and for what time only will tell Now in the name of the meek and lowly Jesus before whom we must all appear sooner or later to give an account of the deeds done in the body and receive our final sentence of Joyful acceptance or of awful condemnation I ask you to let persecution and strife have an end and let the amount that is called for by that execution remain where it may be of use to the child where it has pleased Our Heavenly Father to Guide her in time of the little sufferers necessities and where she has been nursed from helplessness to begin to be of some use to those who have nursed her and [illegible] Truth and justice are eternal born with lovelyness and light And sunsets wrongs shall never prosper while there is a sunny right L Moss He did not satisfy the execution they came for property and Mr Moss turned out his horse Jonson did not require the $22 but the cost we must pay now to save the horse we must raise the money D R Shelton had lost his hogs and said he wanted to buy a couple to make his family meat ours were small he bought two a sow and barrow the two grossed a littel over 300 they were weighed and put in his pen and he paid 10 dollars Mr Moss settled of the execution and came home it is now the 19 of Dec 59 the next morning the hogs were back Mr Moss went and told him he said he was to busy to come after them then and after a week or two he saw him again and told him he wished

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he would come and take them a way for we had as much as we knew how to do to get feed for our own (we had evry thing to buy our x team you will recollect was broken up in May the spring before and his time taken up by these lawsuits before mentioned and in june he put in apeice of corn it was very promising for a while then the fense was pulled down as usual and all pastured off the season before the fense was taken down and a wagon road made a second time this year they only pastured it) but he did not come march came and the sow had pigs she raised three May came again and we plant corn again we are hard run to get corn for bread there was one Moses R Jones that charged two fees for one term of court in that horse case it was $6 each we had it to pay to the clerk and he said he would settle it with Mr Moss he called on him for corn he said he could not spare any but finally let him have one dollars worth and said D R Shelton was owning him and if he would go with him they would go and see him and see if he could not pay it they went Shelton told Mr Moss to take the hogs and pay him the differance we had been feeding his hogs about five months Mr Moss told him he did not need the hogs it was bread we needed and he would rather have corn or money to buy corn Shelton said he would get him the money in a few days but the money did not come nor he never said money again we considered the hogs ours by his own proposition in Oct Mr Moss met him he asked how the hogs were getting along Mr Moss told him fine the barrow would net about 200 lbs and they were all in fine order he said he must come and get them Mr Moss tole him he would pay the five dollars and keep the hogs he had been at all the expense Shelton said Ono that will never do Mr Moss said come up and see the hogs and lets settle the matter but he did not come Near the last of Oct he came a long in company with J G Hailey driving some hogs and called to Mr Moss to turn out his hogs so that he could take them with the lot he was driving Mr Moss told him he was in a hurry and had no time then to attend to it and that he wanted a settlement before he turned out any hogs he and Hailey then started our whole stock that were up there was between 15 and 20 head and were driving them off Mr Moss left his work and went round them and drove them back Shelton was very angry and came back with his son and another lad and drove the hogs into the yard and told Mr Moss he was not going to steal his hogs so he placed those young men over the yard to guard the hogs while he went for a replevin he came with Scales for hogs he replevined the 2 old hogs and 5 shoats 3 were the ones that the sow raised and the other 2 were older they took them to Sheltons when the trial came

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they could fine no one to swear that they ever saw any of the pigs suck the sow nor that they knew any of them to be hers they knew they forlowed her and so did several others about the same size but the sow was black with a white list round her and four of the shoats and the other all black and so they thought they were her pigs the Jury tied and the case was laid over till the next week then tried again the second Jury gave him the old hogs and four listed shoats and we must pay the cost it was a few cts over 17 dollars and he must return the black hog he did not do it but sent Scales for the cost Mr Moss told him he would pay no cost till that hog was returned he said it was not his busness to return it that was sheltons busness but Mr Moss would not turn out any thing no pay it so he went a way to Sheltons and said after wards that he levyed on it and others that were here and advertised them but did not sell them we never knew of his making a levy it run along till February I think it was Mr Moss sewed Shelton for the five dollars proved he was to pay it proved by the sheriff of the county that Mr Moss paid it to the clerk for Jones Jones swore that Shelton was to pay it but Shelton had got a receipt from Jones that he showed to cut it off he sued him at the same time for the black hog and for pay for feeding the others ten months the jury gave him nothing but another bill of 8 dollars cost Scales came again for the first cost Mr Moss told him he would pay no cost till that black hog was brought home he then went with Mr Moss and got it and brought it home Mr Moss told him he would try to get the money for some of his hogs and pay it he said he had let the execution die on his hands and he himself was holden first Mr Moss told him he would pay it as soon as he could but told him how destitute we were and that he must work all he could to keep living Money was down no one had money to pay for any thing and he could not raise the money this week the morning of the 22nd of May there came a man and wanted the hogs but could not pay the money for a week or so he said Mr Moss told him perhaps that would do at noon Scales came he said he had got the execution renewed and was going to close it up in ten days Mr Moss told him of his arrangement but that would not do he must have property then the man that was here was in sight Mr Moss called to him to try to arrange it but Scales was so noisy that they man got afraid to have anything to do with him and left Mr Moss turned out 3 hogs the same age of the ones Shelton took they a re now 14 months old Scales said the execution was 20 dollars now instead of 17 and he must have more he told him to take more of the same sort but he said he would take some

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younger ones Mr Moss told him no he wanted to keep them and there was older one enough but he drove round after them in his buggy till he scared them into the woods then he went and got the shoats 3 of them they were shut up they are at Sheltons also and easy to get) So you see there goes six more hogs for our taking in a little homeless child and providing a home and protection for her and there is an other execution out where will it stop we have not been able to get a hog fat and butchered for our own table they are taken as fast as they can be raised for two years back there has been more of them stollen of the range than we could get up ourselves we keow where they were and saw some shiped on the cars but what can we do if we try to do any thing we have to pay all the cost for state and all I went to the Grand Jury with complaint for those men coming and attacking me in the way they did they paid no attention to it A few days before they came after girl the tax collector called on Mr Moss for tax money our personal tax was $2.37 1/2 they were in Cameron Mr Moss told him he had not got the money but would get it in a weeks time and bring it to him he said he had ten days to make his returns and that would do Mr Moss came home in an hour or so the collector came and said he must have property to secure the tax he said we had a rifle and he must have it Mr Moss asked him how he knew that he had a rifle he said two of our neighbors had told him so and he must have it Mr Moss told him if property was what he wanted there was a yearling steer he might take he said he could not drive it Mr Moss told him he would drive it for him rather than to spare the gun for I was sick and appetite poor and he could once in a while shoot a squirrel or bird that I could eat but he would hear to nothing but the gun he said he had a right to take any thing he saw fit to if it was to take the shirt off his back he went to the shelf and took the bullet moles and then to the stair door and opened it and took the gun it [illegible] on the stairs he took it off Mr Moss said if he wanted a gun that bad he would not go after it and he sold it for the $2.37 1/2 it was worth $15 we suppose that move to have been preparatory to coming for the girl to clear the way from any danger Now you can see the county in which we have paid taxes for eleven years fails to remunerate us My husband is 48 years of age we are both fast breaking down under our great load and four little children to care for who will be driven penniless upon a cold world unless we can be protected for with the tantalizing destructive mob to wihich we are compeled to submit to we never can redeem our place for as soon as there is any sign of prosperity such as a good litter of shoats or a good peice of grain growing there is sure to be something to take it away Last year I went into the cornfield and worked a month myself

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taking my sucking babe along and wraping her in a quit and laying her by the fense with the other children to watch over her while I was at work in this way we planted and raised about 35 acres of corn but providentially it was very must injured by heavy rain wind and hail but we got enough to keep our team and feed our little lot of hogs but now where are they 12 head gone to satisfy J R Sheltons covetousness and the corn that is left that we need for ourselves and team to go upon till corn time is threatened to be levied upon for the last cost The field is now nearly ready to plant again but who will reap the benefit of our labor this year The land that we have paid taxes upon as long as we had any thing to pay with is now sold for tax against us and the same has been taken by the Public two seasons for high way purposes and our labour distroyed and when the county officers are apprised of the fact all all we get is another call for taxes and more abuse Now I call on the State to protect us and also to remunerate us for the trespass and damages sustained by us from the people of this county I claim $20,000 damag and ask for a suit to recover it If you wish any referances for our character I will refer you to Col E A Pane of Monmouth he knows considerable about our difficulties and A C Harding of Monmouth David [name] and George Gifford of Cold Brook township address them at Monmouth or Cameron My letter is long and tedious but I hope you will have patience to read it with care for it has been a great effort for me to write it my health is very poor last week I was under the Dr. care and not able to be out of bed I have no dictionary to correct myself either in spelling or definitions and my little prattlers continually pratling so I beg you will overlook such mistakes but the correctness of the state ment I am able to prove my husbands name is Isaac B Moss Yours respectfully

Lucinda Moss

Lucina Morse

Moss

concerning

Hog Stealing &c.