The+Banditti+of+the+Prairie+and+the+Murder+of+Colonel+Davenport

Original Author: Laura Letendre, ENG206 SP10 Revision Author:  In the mid 1800’s from approximately 1835 through 1845, the Midwest was beset by a group of loose-knit, but well organized criminal outfit involved in horse theft, murder, robbery, counterfeiting and intimidation. This band of criminals was active in approximately six Midwest states including Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ohio. These criminals were known by different names, including Prairie Pirates, Prairie Bandits, and perhaps most famously, the Banditti of the Prairie. In Illinois, the counties of Ogle, Lee, DeKalb, and Winnebago were most seriously affected by this criminal enterprise. The most well known leaders of this gang were John Driscoll, his sons, William and David, John Brodie, Samuel Aikens, William K. Bridge, and Norton B. Boyce. According to the “history of Pike County” by Charles M. Chapman, “These [leading men] were the representative characters, those who planned and controlled the movements…concealed them when danger threatened, nursed them when sick, rested them when worn by fatigue and forced marches, furnished hiding places for their stolen booty, shared in the spoils, and, under cover of darkness and intricate and devious ways of travel, known only to themselves and subordinates, transferred stolen horses from station to station…they had stations, and agents, and watchmen scattered throughout the country at convenient distances, and signals and passwords to assist and govern them in all their nefarious transactions” (Chapman, 1880). These outlaws were often to avoid being charged with a crime even if they were captured by using intimidation, bribery, and other methods, and it was, in fact, reported at one time that every officer in the Township of Lee County was a member of the Banditti.  The Banditti often acted in complete defiance of the law, beyond their normal criminal activity, going so far as to murder law enforcement officers, and, in the spring of 1841, burned down the Ogle County Courthouse, (Chapman, 1880). As a result of the inaction or inability to act on the part of law enforcement the citizens of Ogle County held a meeting and decided that they needed to take matters into their own hands. They formed a group called the “Regulators” as a way to deal with this pervasive criminalism. Many other areas of the Midwest followed suit and formed their own unsanctioned law enforcement organizations to deal with the Banditti. There are a few historical sites in Illinois that mark some of the more notorious clashes between these outlaw groups and those aiming to eradicate them. Along Illinois route 2 for instance, there is a historical marker entitled “The Regulators and the Banditti”, as well as one in Ottawa, entitled “Mob Trial and Execution” marking the spot 200 yards away where John Driscoll and his son William were tried and executed by a firing squad of 111 men. 55 for one man, 56 for the other.  Perhaps the most infamous Banditti activity as it relates to the Quad Cities is the torture/murder of Colonel George Davenport. Davenport was originally from England, and after being injured in a New York harbor rescuing a comrade was left in a hospital there. After recovering, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, and served for 10 years. After the war of 1812 he was employed as an army contractor and moved to Rock Island in 1816.  The Banditti were known to control a large portion of the Rock River Valley, as well as a cabin on the “Knob”, an area near the Rock Island Arsenal, according to an interview with William S. Parks, conducted in 1917. He states, “[a family friend] used to tell me of a band of robbers…they were outlaws, and had a cabin on the Knob, and kept a lookout for officers from Rock Island and in case of alarm they would go down their chute to the Mississippi and cross the river to Iowa…it was claimed that one of the murderers of Colonel George Davenport stayed overnight at this robbers lodge the night before the murder. The details of the murder are grisly and all the more insulting given that it occurred on the Fourth of July, and perpetrated upon an elderly army Colonel. Edward Bonney, the freelance detective hired by the people of Rock Island to bring to justice those responsible wrote a book entitled// Banditti of the Prairies, or the Murderer’s Doom!!: A Tale of the Mississippi Valley // in 1850 about the events of the murder and subsequent capture.  George Wickstrom later reviewed the book for a 1946 edition of “The Town Crier” in the Rock Island Argus, as well as his own book of the same title. He relays the details of the murder as follows: “Davenport’s family and servants left their home (which still stands on the north side of the Rock Island arsenal) to take part in the town[s]…Independence Day celebration on that July 4th of 1845. They had warned him to be careful of the banditti…Hearing a noise Colonel Davenport arose from his chair to go and ascertain the cause of it, when the door was suddenly pushed open and three men stood before him…Almost instantly [one] discharged a pistol…The ball passed through his left thigh…the three men rushed upon him, blindfolded…pinioned his arms and legs with hickory bark…dragged him…into the hall, up a flight of stairs to a closet containing an iron safe. This they compelled him to open.” After they forced him to open the safe they dragged him to the bedroom and interrogated him as to where in the house they could find more money. According to the tale of the murder, Davenport pointed to a drawer in the bureau that contained more money, but the robbers, in their hurry missed the spot. They became enraged and even more violent, thinking that he was misleading them and beat him, choking him until he passed out. They revived him by throwing water on him, and again demanded he tell them where more money was. As can be imagined he tried to tell them the spot, but was again, misunderstood, and the cycle of torture, passing out, reviving and interrogation was repeated two more times, and finally Davenport fell again unconscious. “the murderers, having found between six and seven hundred dollars in money, a gold watch and chain, a double-barreled shotgun and pistol, fled…leaving the house sprinkled with blood from parlor to chamber, and the venerable old pioneer apparently dead upon the bed.” (Wickstrom, 1946). The banditti later stated that they had assumed to find anywhere between 100-300 thousand dollars in the house. This is a lot of money even by today’s standards, so in 1845 one can guess how large a fortune that would be.  After Colonel Davenport’s horrific murder, the people of Rock Island were outraged at how far the Banditti would go. This is when they hired Edward Bonney, basically a glorified bounty hunter to track down and bring to justice the murderers. In order to do this he went undercover as a counterfeiter with the gang and was able to apprehend the men responsible. At that time, according to an interview with Mary L Kelly, many thought “Bonney’s name ought to be written in gold and posted at the corners of the streets”; she however stated her belief that “Bonney wasn’t any better than the rest of them. They thought at the time that Bonney was a hero.” What is even more interesting is that she was proved correct later when Bonney was arrested and convicted of counterfeiting. As a result of his work on the Davenport case, banditti members Granville Young, and brothers John and Aaron Long were tried convicted and hanged. This coupled with the execution of John and William Driscoll among others is largely what led to the end of the Banditti reign in the Rock River Valley.   <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Works Cited ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Chapman, Charles M. “History of Pike County” 1880. Submitted by Christine Walters, available: [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">John Hauberg Interviews: July 10, 1917, with William S. Parks; August 3, 1917, with Mary L. Kelly // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Journal of Illinois State Historical Society //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">. Vol 7, no 1. Danville, IL; Illinois Printing Company. July 16, 1894. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Klann, Fred. “Off the Beaten Path”. The Moline Dispatch; March 9, 1955 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Porter, Gary. “The Ogle County Regulators”. Illinois Junior Historian; Vol 9 no 8; 15A <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Wickstrom, George W.”The Town Crier”. The Rock Island Argus; Thursday, October 3, 1946 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Wickstrom, George W. // __The Town Crier__ //. J.W. Potter Company, 1948 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Return to Wild Liberty <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Return to Home
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The Banditti of the Prairie and the Murder of Colonel Davenport **