website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown,
Wisconsin
Bring ‘Em Back Alive !
Written and contributed
by Ben Feld
Based
on Watertown Republican story, 04 10
1895
The life of a lawyer
can be rather boring at times, but every once in a while some case pops up and
adds some excitement to our lives. One
incident I remember well took place in 1895 and almost landed the sheriff of
Jefferson County in jail. And he hadn’t
done anything wrong. But that’s what
they all say.
A certain John
Armstrong, a man of questionable morals and intentions, had been accused of
swindling a resident of the county and before he could be formally charged, he
fled the county for parts unknown.
Somehow , about April 1, 1895, word reached sheriff Shannon that
Armstrong had been apprehended and was
incarcerated near Brookings, South Dakota, about 15 miles west of the
Minnesota-South Dakota state line.
Sheriff Shannon lost no
time in hopping the train in Jefferson, expecting to reach Brookings in less
than one day, where he would take custody of the wanted man, handcuff him, reboard the train, and be back in Jefferson, Wisconsin, in
short order. This was not a new
procedure for him. He anticipated no
trouble for swindlers were not generally considered hardened, difficult prisoners.
But when he arrived at
the jail near Brookings he learned that a habeas
corpus petition had been filed and the prisoner’s case could not be heard
until ten days after the proceedings were instituted. So Sheriff Shannon could do nothing but wait
until the proceedings were finished.
During his wait, the
lawman received a letter ostensively signed by the
governor of South Dakota, revoking the requisition and the proceedings were
immediately halted, which meant, in essence, that Armstrong was exonerated and
was to be set free. But the sharp eye of
Sheriff Shannon noticed that the letter which was supposed to have come from
the governor did not bear the official seal of the state.
Smelling a rat, the
sheriff presumed the letter to be a forgery and proceeded to arrest Armstrong,
and, with him in custody, boarded the train for the long ride home to
Jefferson. When the train made a brief
stop at Brookings, somehow Armstrong was able to rally a group of men at the
station and, with their help, he managed to escape.
There was nothing for
the sheriff to do but leave for home empty handed. Where he had originally envisioned a
triumphant arrival at home, now he had nothing to look forward to except a
humbling arrival with the results of a failed mission to offer the people. Again Armstrong was free. It looked like he had escaped into the wilds
of the West never to return. What a sad
situation for an earnest lawman. And to
make matters even worse, before he, the sheriff, had traveled many miles toward
home he, himself, was arrested and taken into custody on the charge of trying to
kidnap a prisoner. As Jimmy Durante
would often say a half-century later, “what a revolting development that was!”
So the sheriff did the
only thing he could do at a point like this; he took an adjournment, posted
bail, and arrived home April 9, embarrassed, chagrinned, explaining over and
over that he had handled the prisoner as he did because the governor’s letter
had not had the state seal attached. But,
Oh! the shame of it! He had left on a
mission to bring back a criminal, but now there was a warrant out for his, the
sheriff’s, arrest. The law enforcer had
now become the criminal.
And so it was that on a
balmy spring evening,
Before we arrived in
the state of South Dakota, we were apprised of the fact that the judge before
whom the habeas corpus were had, was
angry and intended to have Mr. Shannon arrested for contempt of court if he was
cleared on the charge of kidnapping. Now
what were we to do?
It didn’t take us long
to come up with a plan and put it into action.
Sheriff Shannon left the train in Lake Benton, on the border of the
state of Minnesota, safe from any action by that judge but close enough to be
within telephone range of me if that
became necessary. Then I proceeded to
Brookings where I learned, from examining the docket of justice, that jurisdiction
had been lost and I so informed the local district attorney. Then to make the matter appear all right on
the record, Armstrong, when he came before the court on the day set for the
hearing, was persuaded to withdraw the complaint and Sheriff Shannon was
discharged.
The sheriff was waiting
for me at Lake Benton and we immediately resumed our journey home with Sheriff
Shannon a free man!
And so was the
swindler, Armstrong. Did we attempt to
get him to make restitution for his crime?
Maybe we should have, but both Sheriff Shannon and I kept hearing the
voice of
Aesop saying: LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE.