The visit
of Wm. Groninger, of Port Royal, Penn., to this county this week, recalls a
chapter in the history of Johnson county which for thrilling detail of red-handed
murder and relentless justice is equal to any in the annals of those days just
after the civil war when malice, hatred and the plundering of the weak by the
strong stalked abroad in the land. In the winter of 1866-7, David Sweitzer,
wife and five children, and Wm. Groninger and his wife came to this county from
Pennsylvania to buy land. They located in a house near Liberty church and began
looking about them for suitable farms. It became generally known in the
neighborhood that they were men of means, but they were quiet, inoffensive
people simply bent on making a borne for themselves in this, a new country. The
war had just closed and a large number of desperate men, claiming allegiance
with both the confederate and union sides, had returned home. These men,
unwilling to take up peaceful pursuits, banded together as thieves, marauders,
and cutthroats, and plundered indiscriminately people of all classes. Prominent
among these marauders were old Bill Stephens and his sons and Dick Saunders. It
was nothing unusual for them to swagger through the streets of Warrensburg,
striking defenseless men with their revolvers, riding into stores and saloons,
and shooting out the lights, and articles of merchandise from the shelves. They
terrorized religious and political meetings alike and when an officer was found
who had nerve enough to arrest them, they were acquitted by the perjured
evidence or their friends and by packed juries. Law-abiding citizens become
terrorized and assassination and robbery became of daily occurrence.
On the
first day of June 1888, Gen. Frank P. Blair was announced to speak in Warrensburg.
Blair espoused the cause of Democracy and advocated the enfranchisement of the
men who had followed the cause of the southern confederacy. Bill Stephens and
his gang were in town that day. They claimed that they were union men and
Republicans. They made open threats that if Frank Blair attempted to speak that
day they would take him from the stand. Some of Blair's friends waited on him
at the old Ming's hotel and advised him not to speak, as his life was in
danger. He replied that he would speak, “And I will explode a shell in this
town this afternoon that will be remembered by these d---d scoundrels as long as
they live." A large brush-covered arbor had been erected just north of
where the courthouse now stands, and from a stand in this arbor Blair began to
his speech, he was interrupted time and again, and finally, the stand was
thrown down by the Stephens gang and old Bill entered, calling Blair a d---d
liar over some statement he had made. Blair's friends gathered round him and a
hundred revolvers glistened in the air, part of them leveled on Blair and part
on the gang of roughs. In the melee someone, no one knows for certain who,
stabbed Jim Stephens, old Bill's son to death. Stephens finally, cowed and
sobered by the death of his son, withdrew with his gang from the crowd, and
Frank Blair, unmolested, exploded his bombshell. He told the people of
Warrensburg that they must rid themselves of these murderers and thieves that
if the courts would not protect them to take the law into their own hands, and
never stop until the last one of the gang were dead or driven from the country.
On the
night of February 27, 1887, the families of David Sweitzer and Wm. II.
Groninger were seated around their fireside in their home near the Liberty
church.
(JCHS note:
In Hazel Hill Township. Liberty Baptist church was the first in the township.
It was organized in May 1836, with ten members, and about that time a log
church building was erected on section 24 on the Warrensburg and Lexington road
near Liberty cemetery. The old church was built of hewn logs and puncheon floor
with slab seats and was heated by two stoves. Amos Horn, Martin, and Jonathan
Gott were among the first to preach the gospel here. This old church building
did service for about forty years when the organization was changed to
Fayetteville, where a frame building was erected in 1877.)
It was a
cold, bitter night, and the north wind was driving the rain and sleet in
sheets. About eight o'clock there came a knock on the door leading into the
room occupied by Groninger and his wife. Mr. Groninger opened the door and two men
stepped in and asked to stay all night. They were told that the house was
crowded and that they could not be entertained. Sweitzer bearing strange voices
in the room occupied by Groninger and his wife, entered the room and engaged
the strangers in conversation. They told him they were from Ray County and
asked him where he was from. He told them he was from Pennsylvania. They
instantly drew their revolvers and said "We want your money and fired point-blank
at him. The shots missed their mark, and old man Sweitzer grappled with thorn.
It was a death struggle. They finally tore themselves loose from the old man's
grasp and fired two shots into his body in the presence of his terror-stricken
wife and children The murderers then rifled the old man’s pockets and fled.
They obtained about $130, $120 of which they lost in the road near the house.
The story
of the murder came to town the next morning and created the wildest excitement.
The citizens gathered in groups on the streets and discussed the murder of old
man Sweitzer. They were horror-struck at the long line of murders, robberies,
and indignities that had gone unpunished by the courts, and a net determination
to avenge the wrongs the community had suffered was the sentiment of all. A
call for a meeting to be held at the courthouse that night was made. The
meeting was largely attended, Speeches were made by Col. J. D. Eads, Gen.
Warren Shedd, J. M. Shepherd, (Gen.) Francis M. Cockrell and others and all
endorsed the object of the meeting. A committee consisting of one hundred of
the best citizens of Warrensburg started north on the Lexington road. They wore
joined at Fayetteville by another vigilance committee organized there, and together
they marched to a neighborhood on the headwaters of Honey creek called the
Nation. Securing a guide they proceeded to the house of the widow, Saunders.
There they captured Dick Saunders whom they had, strong evidence had killed old
man Sweitzer, and his brother, Brackett Saunders. They were taken about a mile
north of the house, on the banks of Honey Creek, and there a trial was held.
Saunders denied his guilt but was confronted by the testimony of Mrs. Groninger
who identified him. After he had been told of his many crimes by the spokesman
of the committee he was placed on a horse, a rope was fastened around his neck
and to the limb of a tree above. He was again asked who killed Sweitzer lie
answered "I don’t know, I think Morg Andrew."
The horse was
driven from under him and the body of the outlaw hung trembling between heaven
and earth. The committee then quietly withdrew to their homes leaving the dead
alone in the woods. The work of ridding the country of outlaws was now
thoroughly commenced. On the morning of March 1887, just at daylight, old Bill
Stephens was riddled with buckshot as he stepped from his door. It was the work
of the vigilantes. This was followed soon after by the lynching of Jeff Collins
just south of the railroad, near the Foster building, and the hanging of Tom
Stephens, another son of old Bill, and Morg Andrews, from a large cottonwood
tree near the Gay street bridge that crosses Post Oak. A man by the name of
Hall was hung at Fayetteville, and Tom Little was hung in the woods just north
of Electric Springs. The other desperadoes had fled the country. The vigilante’s
work was done. The Reign of Terror was over.
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