Joe+Duncan's+House+of+Ill+Repute,+and+Horse+Thieves

Original Author: Chris Brown, ENG206 SP10 Revision Author:  A final example of vigilante posse justice during the time before the Civil war was a case of Joe Duncan who lived near Collinsville before the Civil War. He operated a gambling and prostitution house frequented by strangers. The neighbors were offended by the rumors of what went on in his establishment. They ordered him to sell out and move on by a particular date. He refused. When that day came, a band of thirty-five mounted vigilantes made good their threat. Duncan was killed in a flurry of bullets. All thirty-five men were indicted for murder, but no jury would convict them.  These self-appointed law enforcement bands were even more important for their role against horse thieves. In America people set their horses to graze in the open countryside, making it easy for horse thieves to rustle them. To curb temptation, horse thievery was made a capital offense early in the state's history, whereas murder was treated only as a serious crime.  The sheriff was equipped neither with manpower nor money to handle the multitude of crimes, including the more serious horse and cattle cases, by himself. It is not surprising, therefore, that anti-horse thief associations, also known as protection societies or detective societies, spread throughout Illinois. Membership requirements and operational procedures were similar in associations across the state. A man had to be at least 18 years old, live in the area and be of good moral character. He paid a membership fee, and fines were levied against him if he failed to attend meetings or to do his duty as ordered. The executive committee of the association offered rewards and printed handbills to send to nearby towns' law enforcement officers. They also dispatched members to pursue the horse thieves and bring them back to face trial. Such protective groups even tracked horse thieves into nearby states since it was known that an underground interstate trade existed in the horse and cattle rustling business.  One such anti-horse thief society of 40 members in Marshall County rounded up the whole Reeves family and drove them in a wagon to their trial in a grove of trees. They were not hung, as may have been intended, but their cabin was burned and the entire family was banished from the Illinois valley. The society even paid their steamboat passage to St. Louis.  In their enthusiasm, societies sometimes went overboard and terrorized law-abiding citizens. Eventually, another society would have to be organized to neutralize the first group. A confrontation such as this occurred when flatheads and regulators turned vigilante justice into a state of chaos from 1846-9 in Pope, Massac and Johnson counties.  In the years after the Civil War, some Southern Illinois counties were hotbeds of Klu Klux Klan activity. In Jackson County, the targeted victims were usually lone travelers. But in the area around Ava, even farmers were pulled from their homes at night and whipped and abused. Neighboring Williamson County reported 285 murders prior to 1876. Up to that time, no one was ever executed for murder in that county. The same situation existed in Washington County with 45 murders and no executions.  ** Work Cited ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">http://genealogytrails.com/ill/crimeandpunishment.html <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Early Crime and Punishment in Illinois Originally written by Robert S. Johnston Published in ISGS Quarterly, Vol XVIII, No 1 Spring 1986 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Return to Wild Liberty <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Return to Home <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Joe Duncan’s House of Ill Repute and Horse Thieves **