Elkland, Missouri

According to at least one source I have seen on the internet, Elkland, located on Highway 38 about thirteen miles northwest of Marshfield, is supposedly the oldest community in Webster County, having been established in 1832. I have found absolutely no evidence that this is true and quite a bit of evidence that it is not true.

There was a church, Pleasant View Church, near present-day Elkland at least as early as 1860, and I have even seen a claim that the church dates from a much earlier time than that (as early as 1803 or 1804). This latter claim seems pretty far-fetched, since very few European Americans even lived in Missouri Territory at this early date, at least not in the western part of the territory, and those who did were very thinly scattered.   

As far as I've been able to determine, construction on the first Pleasant View Church began in the fall of 1860 and was discontinued in the spring of 1861 when the Civil War broke out. Work on the church was resumed late in the war and was nearly complete by the time the war ended. An argument over whether the M. E. Church South or the M. E. Church North had a right to possess this church building, which was located about a mile (as the crow flies) southwest of present-day Elkland, resulted in the murder of the Rev. Samuel S. Headlee in the summer of 1866.

In 1870, Joshua L. Lee applied to the federal government for a post office to be established at Elkland, and the application was granted. However, even at this date, five years after the Civil War ended, no town of Elkland existed other than perhaps a general store in which the post office was to be housed. Lee estimated the population within a two-mile radius of his proposed post office at about 100 residents, but there was no actual village of Elkland. 

In the mid-1880s, J. H. Davidson was a prominent merchant at Elkland, but his was virtually the only business in town. So, it was a few years later before Elkland began to take on the semblance of a town. By the mid-1890s, the community boasted a school with about 70 students. This was likely a school only for students in grades 1-8, but Elkland did have a high school in the early to mid 1900s, and it was a thriving little hamlet during those years. 

In fact, I remember when Elkland lost its high school in the late 1950s, because some of its high school students came to Fair Grove, where I was a grade-school student at the time. (Others went to Marshfield, while still others went to Buffalo.) Elkland Elementary was consolidated into the Marshfield School District at this time or a little later, and it functioned as a satellite school of the Marshfield District until 1977, when Elkland's elementary school also closed and students were bused to Marshfield. As is often the case when a small community loses its school, Elkland began a period of decline after closure of its school, and nowadays it is once again not much more than a wide place in the road, although it does have a store, a church, and maybe one or two other businesses. 

The Pleasant View Church, by the way, moved a mile or so southeast of its original location in about 1900. This "new" church building still stands on Highway 38 a couple of miles south of Elkland, but I think it has been pretty much abandoned for many years. 

The Marshall Junction Wildlife Area Murders

On the afternoon of September 9, 1986, a deputy sheriff found the bodies of three men at the Marshall Junction Wildlife Area Shooting Range near the intersection of Interstate 70 and Highway 65 in southern Saline County, Missouri. He called for backup, and the arriving reinforcements soon discovered a fourth body a short distance from the other three. 

All four men had been shot multiple times with a high-powered rifle. They were identified as Donald Vanderlinden, 64, John Burford, 57, James Watson 54, and Christopher Griffith, 38. Authorities theorized that the motive for the murders was robbery, since a fairly large sum of money the men were carrying was missing. Officers thought that Vanderlinden and Burford, who were brothers-in-law, had been target practicing when they were killed and that Watson, a Missouri conservation agent, and Griffith, who was accompanying Watson, interrupted the crime and were shot dead when Watson came to check on the wildlife area. Investigators believed that Griffith, whose body was the one found some distance from the others, had tried to flee after his companion was shot but was brought down by gunfire.

After a week-long investigation, Donald E. Reese, 43, a local truck driver, was arrested on suspicion, and he broke down and confessed to the heinous crime on September 17, a couple of days after his arrest. He was then charged with four counts of first-degree murder and multiple counts of robbery. 

Although Reese led police to the murder weapon and over $2,000 that he'd stashed several miles away from the crime scene, he refuted the theory that robbery was the actual motive. Instead, he claimed that he had talked to Vanderlinden and Burford when they first arrived at the firing range and that, after they moved away from him, his finger was resting on the trigger of his rifle and accidentally went off, striking one of the men. He then shot the second man, who was armed, because he was afraid that the other man was going to shoot him. Almost immediately after the first two shootings, Watson and Griffith arrived. Watson got out of his car and briefly engaged Reese in conversation. He then started edging back toward his car, causing Reese to suspect he'd seen the bodies of the two dead men. Reese then opened fire on him and shot Griffith as he tried to escape in order to leave no witnesses. 

Reese's friends could scarcely believe the charges against him. One friend, David Sitzes, said he knew Reese was having marital problems (his wife had recently left him) and that he was depressed and suicidal, but he said he could not believe that Reese, whom he described as a "kind-hearted" person who never said a bad word about anybody, could be guilty of the murders.

Reese was tried for the murders of Watson and Griffith in Jefferson County on a change of venue in March of 1988. The main piece of evidence against him was the confession he'd signed shortly after his arrest. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. The Missouri Supreme Court upheld the conviction and the sentence in July of 1990, and Reese was finally executed by lethal injection at the Potosi Correctional Center in August of 1997.

 

Tunas, Dallas County

Continuing the theme I've established the past couple of weeks of writing about small towns I passed through on my recent trip to Jefferson City, I thought I'd look at Tunas this time. It's a small community in Dallas County (MO) about 15 miles north of Buffalo on Highway 73. 

I've written about Tunas previously on this blog. Specifically, I wrote about the controversy that arose in 1972 when the Buffalo School District proposed, apparently without consulting the residents of Tunas or officials of the Tunas School District, to take in the much smaller Tunas district.  

However, I've never really written about the town and its origins. Perhaps one reason for that is that information about early Tunas is scarce. However, this time, I was able to come up with a few interesting tidbits.

Tunas came into existence about 1893 when James A. Taylor applied to the federal government for a post office to be located there. I've seen several sources that say the origin of the name Tunas is a mystery, but the post office application offers a hint, because in a couple of different places on the application the name of the proposed post office is spelled Tunis rather than Tunas. This suggests that perhaps Tunas was named after Tunis, the capital of Tunisia in North Africa. 

At any rate, the name Tunas soon became the accepted spelling, and by early 1894, Taylor's application had been approved, and he had established his post office, which served about 200 people in the surrounding vicinity. The town itself, however, amounted in May 1894 to not much more than Taylor's store and post office, one other store, and a residence or two. By the fall of that year, two more houses were being built.

As suggested by my mention of the school consolidation dispute, Tunas became a somewhat thriving little town in the early 1900s, but by the middle part of the twentieth century, it was already struggling to maintain viability. After the town lost its high school in 1972 (by consolidating with Skyline, not Buffalo), it continued its decline, and today it is little more than a wide place in the road.

Brazito, Missouri

Another little town that I passed through on my way to Jefferson City the week before last was Brazito. It's a wide place in the road in Cole County about twelve miles southwest of Jefferson City along Highway 54. Like Branch that I wrote about last week, it is another place that I've sometimes wondered about, as far as its origins and history.

There's not a lot of information about Brazito readily available, but here's what little I've been able to learn. Brazito was founded in 1850 and named after the Battle of Brazito by soldiers returning from the Mexican War. Brazito was settled mainly by German-Americans, and it got a post office in 1856. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, it was apparently a going little place, even though there seemingly was never much more there than the post office, a store or two, and a school. In 1873, the Jefferson City State Times reported that Brazito was one of two villages in Clark Township where public meetings and neighborhood gatherings were held. Brazito was also "a favorite stopping place for refreshments with travelers." The store of Christopher Arnhold, who doubled as the postmaster, supplied "the wants of his neighbors," and his inn was a place where travelers could get "bounteous refreshment and rest."  In 1892, Brazito was a significant-enough place that a rivalry developed between it and Jefferson City over where the teachers' institute (a county-wide teachers' meeting) would be held the following year. I'm not sure which town prevailed, but the fact that Brazito was even considered suggests that it was probably more than just a wide place in the road at the time. 

Brazito lost its post office in 1930, and it has apparently declined since then, at least as a center for commerce and community events, although there are still quite a few residences in the vicinity.  

Branch, Missouri

A few months ago, I wrote on this blog about Pumpkin Center, a crossroads community at the intersection of Highway 73 and 64 in northern Dallas County, Missouri. The reason I wrote about it, as I mentioned at the time, was that I used to occasionally drive Highway 73 on my way to Jefferson City or Columbia, and driving through the place always sparked my curiosity about how its origins and how it got its name. Well, just a couple of days ago, I took another trip to Jeff City (to talk about my Spook Light book https://amzn.to/47ufXHX at the State Archives), and on the way up, I drove Highway 73 again. Another small village along that stretch of road that has pricked my curiosity is Branch. It's located a few miles north of Pumpkin Center just across the county line in Camden County.  

From the number of houses that are still clustered at or near Branch, one would tend to think that the place was, at one time, a fairly sizeable and booming little community, but that is apparently not the case. From what I've been able to discern, Branch was never much more than a wide place in the road.

Exactly when Branch came into existence is not altogether clear, but apparently there was not a place named Branch until Joel Stoner made application in March 1898 to establish a post office at the location or shortly before this time. In fact, it appears from post office records that Stoner at first entertained the idea of calling the place Stoner after himself, because the word "Stoner" is crossed out and the name "Branch" written in its place on the application.

At the time of the application, Branch or the place that would become Branch had a population of twenty residents, but the proposed post office would serve a total of 300 people living in Branch and the surrounding area. The application was approved, and a post office was established at Branch the following year, 1899.

Like a lot of small, rural post offices, the Branch Post Office was located inside a general store, which was about the only business in the village of Branch. There was also a separate place near Branch called Long Branch, and it had a school, which also served as a church from time to time. I've seen a couple of references to Branch School, but I'm not sure whether Branch had its own separate school, or Long Branch School was simply shortened to Branch School sometimes. Today, the Long Branch Assembly of God Church is less than a mile north of Branch, but apparently the old Long Branch School was slightly west of Branch.     

In 1926, the Branch Post Office was relocated because of a new road being built through the area, and the post office was moved about 300 yards east to the new road. At this time, Branch had a population of 18, very similar to its head count 28 years earlier. 

Branch lost its post office in 1968, but, judging from the number of houses that are still at or in the immediate vicinity of the village, the population of the place remains, even today, about as big as it ever was. 

Germantown, Missouri

Germantown is a small community in Deepwater Township in southwest Henry County, Missouri. Today, about all that remains of the place are a church, a couple of businesses, and a few residences, but at one time, it was a thriving little village.

Founded in 1857, Germantown was named for its high concentration of residents who were German immigrants or of German descent. The current church at Germantown is the St. Ludger Catholic Church, which was established by German Catholics in the town's early days. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

One of the more interesting episodes of the Civil War in Henry County occurred in March of 1864 in the Germantown neighborhood. On the evening of the 26th, a party of guerrillas came into Deepwater Township and started “menacing the citizens and committing the most outrageous acts of plunder.” A citizen named Short hurried to the Federal camp at Germantown, to report the situation, and a Union detachment under Sergeant John W. Barkley was dispatched to the vicinity of the trouble.

When he arrived on the scene around midnight, Barkley learned that, after Short’s departure, another citizen of the neighborhood had shot and severely wounded one of the bushwhackers and that they had fled the area, taking the injured man with them. The Federals pursued and soon caught up with three of the Rebels at the house of man named Dunn. After an all-night stand-off, the three guerrillas, including the wounded man, surrendered and were taken back to the Federal camp at Germantown.

The two uninjured Rebels were given a drumhead court martial. Civilians testifying before the tribunal identified the two men as part of a band that had committed all sorts of depredations in their neighborhood the previous winter, and the two guerillas were convicted and sentenced to die by firing squad. The condemned men knelt down beside the grave that had been prepared for them and "met death with a dauntlessness worthy of a better cause."

The wounded Rebel was spared because of his serious condition, but the Union commander at Germantown vowed to execute him if he recovered. For a more detailed account of this episode, check out by book The Civil War on the Lower Kansas-Missouri Border https://amzn.to/3L13BOF.

After the Civil War, Germantown prospered for a few years and seemed to be on the road to becoming a fairly substantial town. However, when a railroad was constructed through the area in the early 1870s, it bypassed Germantown. The town of Montrose grew up along the railroad about four miles southeast of Germantown, and several businesses and quite a few residents of Germantown packed up and moved to the new town. Germantown began a rather precipitous decline, and by the mid-1870s, it had already lost its post office. By the late 1880s, it wasn't much bigger than it is today, not much more than a wide place in the road.

Me and Mrs. Jones, We Got a Thing Going On: A "Triangular" Relation Culminates in Murder

When 48-year-old Sarah Elizabeth "Sadie" Trainer shot and killed 47-year-old Cora Jones on the streets of St. Joseph on Saturday evening, December 17, 1932, the immediate dispute involved a grocery bill, but the murderous act was the culmination of bad blood that had existed between the two women for many years over "a triangular relation."  

According to Sarah's son, 31-year-old Forest Trainer, his father had begun an affair with Cora Jones about 13 years earlier. Sarah had caught her husband, 53-year-old Fred Trainer, and Cora together two or three times, resulting in bitter quarrels. Forest's parents had finally separated about five or six years ago, and the elder Trainer had gone to board with Mrs. Jones and her husband, Charles, who lived not far from the Trainers. Sarah did not file for divorce until early 1932, and the divorce was granted just two or three months prior to the shooting. The property settlement decreed by the divorce also caused "a good deal of trouble" between the Trainer couple. 

Early on Saturday evening, December 17, Forrest Trainer and his young wife, Ethel, went to a local grocery store to purchase provisions and asked for credit, but storekeeper David Stearns denied the request, because Trainer, who was out of work, already had run up a bill with the store that he couldn't pay. Stearns said Trainer would have to pay something toward the current bill before additional credit would be extended. 

Trainer called his father and told him the situation, and Fred Trainer, in the company of Cora Jones, soon met up with his son outside the store. Forrest asked his father to give him some money, which, according to the son, Fred had previously promised to do. Fred gave his daughter-in-law five dollars, but Forrest and his father got into an argument over the amount, because Forrest thought Fred ought to give him ten dollars. Meanwhile, Cora began berating Forrest and Ethel for running up such a large grocery bill to begin with. 

As the argument heated up, Forrest asked his father to walk down the street a piece so that they could discuss the matter in private, but Cora wouldn't let them leave. Forrest claimed she called him "everything but a white man" and slapped him. 

At this point, Ethel, who was at the store, called her mother-in-law and told Sarah. whose home was only a block or so away, what was going on. The argument was still going when Sarah arrived, and, according to at least one eyewitness, she walked up to Cora and shot her in cold-blood without warning. Both Forest and his father claimed not to have seen the actual shooting, while Sarah denied shooting Cora. 

Cora was taken to the hospital, and Sarah was arrested and charged with assault. After Cora died about 24 hours later, the charge was upgraded to first-degree murder. Sometime after her arrest, Sarah admitted the shooting, but she said Cora was threatening her with an iron bar resembling a car crank at the time. 

So, at Sarah's trial in early 1934, her attorney argued self-defense. He also wanted to make an insanity plea, but the judge ruled that he could not argue both self-defense and insanity. So, he stuck with the self-defense plea. 

Sarah took the stand in her own defense to repeat her iron bar story. She said she acted not just to protect herself but also her son, since Ethel had told her over the phone that her ex-husband and Cora were "killing Forrest down here." During her testimony, though, she broke down in sobs, claiming that "they" would not let her tell her story.

At the end of the trial, the jury came back with a second-degree murder conviction and a sentence recommendation of fifteen years in prison. Cora's lawyer moved for a new trial, and when that motion was denied, he appealed to Missouri Supreme Court. 

Sarah remained free on bond during the appeals process, but after the high court affirmed her conviction in March 1935, she was transported to the state prison at Jefferson City. She was paroled in 1941 after serving about six and a half years of her fifteen-year sentence.