The Columbia Square has a rich history with the historic courthouse and stories most people are familiar with. On the historic walking tour hosted by Mike Watson and Dave Thomas, stories of murder and mayhem were told.
The walking tour began at the courthouse annex on Friday with a large crowd gathered to hear the local historians talk about shootings, stabbings, hangings and more.
Colonel William Casey and about 30 other men and their families arrived in what is now known as Columbia around 1789. They split into two groups – one led by Casey and the other by Captain John Butler. They established Casey’s station and Butler’s station.
Reverand John Tucker moved a group about two miles to the area of the creek around Bull Run and set up Tucker’s station. They immediately came under attack by Indians. While attempting to retreat to Butler’s station, some of them were captured, killed and scalped by the Indians. This was the incident with the most bloodshed that involved the Indians.
On the next stop at the Bank of Columbia, Watson says, “April 29, 1872, was a momentous day…It was a daring, daylight robbery. It was planned.”
Five men rode into Columbia that day with the intent of robbing the bank around mid-day. Many people at this time went home around noon and left only one or two people to run the businesses. Three men entered the bank.
Robert Alexander Campbell Martin was the bank teller at this time. Martin and four other men were by the fireplace. The three would-be robbers entered the bank with guns drawn. Martin started to get up from his chair and was immediately shot. The other four men got away.
“Nobody was in there but Martin and the robbers so we can’t say definitively what happened, but when he was found, he was lying over in front of the big safe,” said Watson. “It was not open. So, he was either mortally wounded and unconscious, mortally wounded and refused to open it, or he was already dead when they dragged him around there.”
They had already planned their escape route, and they started out going toward Burkesville and then doubled back and ended up in Nelson County where they had friends and relatives.
“It was the Jessie James gang. Jessie James personally wasn’t here and that’s been proven since. His younger brother, Frank, was, and the Youngers and two others who could be any one of five who rode with them,” said Watson.
There were many roads at the time that do not exist today. There was a road that ran along Russell Creek toward Taylor County. In 1840 an incident took place at a house on this road that made national news.
A man named Jacob Burke lived in that house. He was widowed and began drinking. He had two boys that were ages seven and nine. Burke always worried about what would happen to his children if something happened to him.
Oliver Hancock stopped and knocked on the door at Burke’s house. No one answered. He found Burke hanging from a rafter in the barn. Judge Zachariah Wheet came by, and they searched for the children with no luck. They went back into town and gathered some men to go help search for the missing boys.
When they returned to the Burke house, they broke down the door. The boys were found beheaded in their beds. An axe and a leather shoemakers’ knife were in the room. This tragedy hit the national press a week after Christmas.
“Well, it wouldn’t be right to talk about the time frame we’ve been mentioning and not talk about a couple of duels,” said Thomas. “That was a thing back in the late 1800s, more so farther south, but it did happen around here and it was against the law.”
One incident occurred in the early 1840s. W.D. Owens and William Buckner were in their early twenties and decided to duel. The reason is unknown, but Owens challenged Buckner to a duel.
“They were going to meet at the sand bar at Russell Creek at sunrise,” said Thomas. “The means in which they were going to duel is what makes this story interesting.”
“Instead of lining up with pistols or rifles and shooting one another, they were both right-handed, they were going to join arms and be tied together with a very strong rope,” he said. “They would then be handed each a sharpened butcher knife and when given the command, they were to fight until one or both of them were dead.”
Fortunately, the fathers of these two men heard about what was planned and intervened before the duel could take place.
These are only a portion of the stories that were told on the tour, which occurs in October every year at the end of the season.
Lanterns and Tombstones tours begin in April and are held monthly through September. The season concludes with the Silent City Tour and Shot, Stabbed, Hanged and More.
All tours are given by Mike Watson and Dave Thomas and are free of charge. Donations are accepted to fund the cemeteries where the tours are held or the genealogy center.
By Amy Pike
amy@adairvoice.com
