SUNDAY PHOTO FOLLOW-UP

I  FOUND OUT SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE MAN WHO WAS MURDERED AND BURIED IN CLINTON COUNTY'S UNION CEMETERY IN 1887, JOHN H. RIGGS.     HE WAS BORN IN THE STATE OF NEW YOUR IN 1830 AND WAS ONE OF 8 CHILDREN.     HIS FATHER BROUGHT HIS FAMILY WEST TO IOWA IN 1837  WHEN JOHN WAS 7 YEARS OLD.    THERE HAD BEEN OTHER RIGG'S THAT HAD MOVED TO THE MIDWEST EARLIER.    THE OLDEST BROTHER ANDREW J. BECAME THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY WHEN THE FATHER DIED WHEN HE WAS 17.    ANDREW WENT ON TO BECOME A VERY SUCCESSFUL MAN OWNING OVER TWO THOUSAND ACRES OF LAND IN IOWA AND MINNESOTA.   IN 1896, HE RETIRED AND BOUGHT A MODERN HOME IN MAQUOKETA.    HIS BROTHER JOHN H. SPENT HIS ADULT LIFE IN WESTERN IOWA WHERE HE FARMED AT EUREKA, EIGHT MILES NORTH OF CORNING, IOWA.    HIS FARM NEIGHBOR WAS JOHN McKENZIE.   ONE DAY THE TWO "JOHNS" QUARRELED OVER CORN STALKS FOR FEED AND THE MURDER OF JOHN H. RIGGS WAS COMMITTED.      THE MURDERER, JOHN McKENZIE, GAVE HIMSELF UP, SAYING HE DID NOT INTEND TO KILL HIS NEIGHBOR WHEN HE FIRED HIS GUN ONLY TO SCARE HIM.   THIS HAPPENED IN MARCH 1887.  HE WAS ARRAIGNED 3 WEEKS LATER AND THE TRIAL WAS SET FOR THE MAY TERM OF COURT.    ON APRIL 3RD, McKENZIE WAS TAKEN FROM THE JAIL BY A PARTY OF MASKED MEN AND HANGED ON A TREE IN FRONT OF THE JAIL AT CORNING.    APPARENTLY THE MOB WAS UNHAPPY WITH COURT PROCEEDINGS AND THE LYNCHING WAS LABELED AS NOTHING SHORT OF COLD BLOODED MURDER.   JOHN H. RIGGS BODY WAS BROUGHT BACK TO CLINTON COUNTY AND BURIED AT THE UNION CEMETERY A FEW MILES SOUTH OF MAQUOKETA   I COULD FIND NOTHING ABOUT A FAMILY, IF HE HAD A WIFE OR CHILDREN.    BARB MAYBERRY GAVE ME THE INFORMATION TO WRITE THIS, BUT MOST OF IT WAS ABOUT HIS BROTHER WHO RETIRED IN MAQUOKETA.     THERE ARE STILL RIGGS
LIVING IN THIS AREA.

NOW....CONCERNING THE GRAND OLD HOME I TOOK THE PHOTO OF SOUTH OF MAQUOKETA.   JIM DEUTMEYER REMINDED ME THAT THE  HOME WAS MOVED MANY YEARS AGO FROM WEST SUMMIT STREET, WHERE IT HAD BEEN THE HOME OF FAMOUS MAQUOKETA CATTLEMAN, OTTO BATTLES.    BATTLES OWNED ROSEMERE FARM AND RAISED ANGUS CATTLE THAT
WERE SHOWN AROUND THE COUNTRY AND EVEN WORLD WIDE. 
THE HEAD OF HIS CATTLE OPERATION (MAYBE EVEN A PARTNER) WAS ROLAND EHLERS AND HE AND HIS WIFE LIVED IN THE HOME FOR MANY YEARS.   ROLAND RETIRED IN 1970 AND FOR QUITE A FEW YEARS, IN RETIREMENT, WORKED FOR H.L. "JR." BOWMAN AT HIS SALE BARN OFF PERSHING ROAD, THAT WILL SOON RE-OPEN FOR LIVESTOCK SALES BY TOM LINCOLN.

THANKS BARB AND JIM FOR GIVING ME INFORMATION ON TWO OF MY
SUNDAY PHOTOS.

DENNIS VOY