1899 Johnson County History Recalled

Reign of Terror in Johnson County, MO
11 Aug 1899, Fri 

AFTER 32 YEARS.
THE VISIT OF WM. GRONINGER TO THIS COUNTY
RECALLS A BIT OF HISTORY

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 home 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 1866, 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.
( 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 them. 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 was made for a meeting at the courthouse that night. 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 were 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 he 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 1867, 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.