Molata: Addendum to the Local Context Dossier

Research noteresearch/collins-reed/Molata-Addendum-Laws-Riddle-Bruner.md

01106 KBsize
021,029lines
033filed with
047sections

As written

Molata: Addendum to the Local Context Dossier

The laws, William Riddle, Captain Eli Bruner, and Dick Holbrook's shooting

Compiled 25 September 2026, as a companion to Molata: Local Context by Chapter. Part Four added 26 September 2026. Keep it with the main research file and the Meredith Collins origin-line addendum.

Grades.

  • PRIMARY: the statute, record, or official report itself was seen, usually as a transcription.
  • SECONDARY: a historian or reference work.
  • WEAK: tradition, a single late account, or not seen directly.

Used in v3.3: What Went Into the Book

This section lists every addition from this research that went into the text of Molata v3.3 (working copy of 25 September 2026). It gives the chapter, where the addition sits, the facts it rests on, and the sources. Anything in this addendum or in the Local Context Dossier that isn't listed here is still research only.

Chapter Three: William Riddle, Tory

  • Where: a new paragraph at the end of "Neighbors on the tax rolls," after "If one of their sisters was Meredith's mother, they were his uncles."
  • Facts used:
    • William Riddle swore the oath in Captain Cox's company in 1777.
    • In 1779 the Montgomery court extended mercy to the New River men "deluded into acts inimical to their country," but excepted Riddle and Nathaniel Britain. Britain had been accused that spring of plotting to seize the county's powder.
    • In 1780 Riddle led a raid on Cox's house. When Salathiel Martin's men caught his party at a rock house on the New River, Lewis Collins and David Gibson got away.
    • The same summer, Patriot militia from Virginia and Wilkes County hanged Tories at Peach Bottom, one from Cox's gate.
    • In April 1781 Riddle kidnapped Col. Benjamin Cleveland. Cleveland wrote passes for the Tories as slowly as he could, and his brother's men rescued him at dawn.
    • Riddle was court-martialed at Wilkesboro and hanged "directly after breakfast" from an oak beside the village, with his wife watching.
    • His brother John was drafted in September 1781 and served at Yorktown.
    • The book frames the Patriot cause on the New River as the cause of the county's establishment.
  • Sources: Kegley, Militia, p. 51; Montgomery Co order book 3, p. 64 (1779); Preston's warrants of April 1779; pension files of Robert Love (S8858), Elizabeth Amburgey (R174), Samuel Johnson (W5012), and John Riddle (S9069); New River Notes (Lewis Collins); Draper, King's Mountain and Its Heroes (1881), ch. 19.

Chapter Five: Meredith Collins

  • Opening line: "a partner in a salt well" is added to the list of what Meredith was.
  • Salt well, a new paragraph at the end of "Down the Big Sandy":
    • Salt kept the winter's pork from spoiling. Floyd County's own works on Middle Creek sold it for two to three dollars a bushel during the War of 1812.
    • 29 January 1818: Meredith bought 30 acres on Shelby Creek.
    • 6 August 1819: he agreed with William Tackitt to bore there for salt water, supplying "one good constant hand" with provisions.
    • 21 December 1825: a Kentucky act made it unlawful to claim any part of 2,000 acres on Shelby Creek "around the spot where William Tackett, Jesse Hamilton, and Meredith Collins are boring for Salt Water."
    • The paragraph closes by noting the county court called him a poor man thirteen years later.
    • Not used: he sold the tract to Tackitt on 12 August 1819 for $30. Tackitt sold it to Thomas May in 1828. The boring was abandoned at 140 feet (David Dale Owen, 1850s).
    • Sources: Floyd Co Deed Book B, pp. 65-66, and Pike Co Deed Book A, p. 332 (Pike County Historical Society, "Eastern Kentucky Salt Works"); Acts of Kentucky 1825, ch. 127, p. 123; Ely, The Big Sandy Valley (1887).
  • The 1808 law, "Down the Big Sandy": after "The whole household was recorded as free white," the book notes that a Kentucky law of two years earlier let any white man arrest a free person of color he took for a newcomer, and that one who hadn't left within twenty days could be sold as a slave.
  • The 1825 law, "Bound out": since 1825 a Kentucky county court could bind out the children of poor free people of color without the parents' consent, whenever it judged the parents "incapable of bringing them up in honest courses."
  • Sources for both laws: Walker, Filson Club History Quarterly 57:4 (1983).

Chapter Seven: Jesse and Mary

  • Opening paragraph: in 1829 the new Kentucky Colonization Society set out its purpose as relieving the state of "a rapidly increasing number of free persons of color." (Walker.)
  • A new paragraph after the road-west paragraph:
    • Illinois required a certificate of freedom and a $1,000 bond (1829).
    • Missouri's 1835 license law excluded free people of color who arrived after 1825.
    • The St. Ferdinand household was counted white in 1840, and no Collins or Reed appears in the St. Louis County license register.
    • Sources: Bridges, "The Illinois Black Codes"; Jenkins, "Freedom Licenses in St. Louis City and County" (NPS); St. Louis County Library, index of free Negro licenses, 1835-1844.

Chapter Eight: The Gathering in Appanoose

  • The Sac and Fox, a new paragraph after the sentence on Appanoose's opening:
    • They hunted and traded in the county until they were removed to Kansas in 1845-46, and their country began at the county's western edge.
    • They were remembered as peaceable.
    • In 1844 a chief faced down Missourians who tried to seize and flog men of his band.
    • Sources: History of Appanoose County (1878), p. 327; Taylor, Past and Present of Appanoose County (1913), p. 39.
  • The border paragraph, after "Through the middle of the 1840s the rest followed":
    • Southern Appanoose, including Wells Township, lay in the strip claimed by both Iowa and Missouri until 1849. The first settlers kept the dragoons off by claiming Missouri residence.
    • The paragraph then notes the family's other border settlements: the Flat River at the far edge of Granville County, the New River, Floyd and Pike counties, Mercer County, and Benton County.
    • It closes with why border country suited them.
    • Source: History of Appanoose County (1878), pp. 321-324.
  • Ferry and election judge, a new paragraph before "By the census of 1850":
    • Andrew Collins was licensed 5 July 1847 to keep a ferry on the Chariton four miles east of Centerville. The boat had to be at least 35 feet long, and he had to hire a man to work it. Fares were 40 cents for a wagon and team, 10 cents for a man and horse, and a penny a head for sheep and hogs.
    • Bradley Collins was a judge of the August 1849 election. Iowa's 1846 constitution limited the vote to white men, and judges were drawn from the voters.
    • The book leaves Bradley's precinct (Independence) unnamed.
    • Source: History of Appanoose County (1878), pp. 342-344.

Chapter Nine: Mary Elizabeth and Eli

  • The marriage laws, first paragraph:
    • In 1850 Iowa still declared marriages between white persons and mulattoes "illegal and void," a clause dropped from the Code of 1851.
    • Indiana had treated such marriages as void and a crime since 1840.
    • No record says how the clerks regarded the bride.
  • Indiana closes its doors, a new paragraph before "Mercer County":
    • Article XIII (1851) and the registration act of 1852.
    • Daviess County prosecuted Mason Hatwood in the mid-1850s.
    • The Bruners left by way of Illinois for Missouri, where the 1847 law barred free people of color from entering.
    • The family plainly didn't think it applied to them, and Mercer didn't either.
    • Source: Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana (1957); State Historical Society of Iowa.
  • "Mercer County," now limited to 1858-60:
    • The family was at Somerset by 1858.
    • Eli and his wife, Hickman and his wife, and Adam Bruner were founding members of the Somerset Methodist Episcopal Church in 1858.
    • Hickman kept a wagon shop beside Eli's forge.
    • The real estate figures (1860 and 1870) moved to the end of "Called to arms."
  • Section retitled from "Her brothers' war" to "Called to arms."
  • The flood, opening of "Called to arms":
    • In June 1851 the Chariton River flooded, with water four feet deep over the bottoms for most of a month and the crops ruined.
    • Centerville made do with a single barrel of flour, brought across the river Andrew had once been licensed to ferry.
    • Source: History of Appanoose County (1878), pp. 352, 359.
  • Eli's war, a new paragraph after Spencer's muster card:
    • Captain of the Somerset Township company (39 men), Mercer County Battalion, Six Months Militia, 1861-62.
    • The battalion camped at Edinburg and Chillicothe, then did escort duty at Utica. It was mustered out at Princeton in March 1862 with no record of battle.
    • In 1863 he was an officer in a Mercer County company of the Provisional Enrolled Militia.
    • In October 1865 he was commissioned first lieutenant in the county's militia regiment, organized "to preserve order and quiet disturbance."
    • Sources: Adjutant General's reports of 1863 (pp. 273-274) and 1865 (p. 662); Report of the Conduct and Management of the Missouri Militia (1864), p. 228; History of Harrison and Mercer Counties (1888), pp. 454-456, 466, 474.
  • Real estate, the closing paragraph of "Called to arms": $400 in 1860 and $3,500 in 1870.

Chapter Ten: Emma

  • Gothic, a new paragraph after "Emma went where her family was":
    • The Elk Mountain Pilot reported "Gothic is having a solid, steady boom."
    • Miners earned $4 a day. Flour was $8 a hundredweight and eggs 50 cents a dozen.
    • Jim Jennings shot a neighbor over a cabin three weeks after the census.
    • Ulysses S. Grant came through in early August 1880.
    • By October the camp's paper was warning it might not survive the winter.
    • Source: Elk Mountain Pilot, 24 June, 1 July, 15 July, 12 August, and 7 October 1880.

New findings recorded here but not added to the book

  • 1860 census, Mercer County, Missouri (checked by Dasloops, 25 September 2026). Eli, 33, blacksmith, born in Indiana. Every person on the page is recorded as white, including Mary Elizabeth and the children. Hickman Bruner, his wife Sarah, and their daughter are on the same page, as is Adam Bruner, 23, farm laborer.
  • Siloam Springs. It was platted as "Siloam City" in March 1880 and incorporated in 1881. Before that the place was Hico. The book text has no conflict, since it uses the name only from 1883. The Master Tree's 1873 and 1876 birthplaces were left as they are.
  • Decision on the Master Family Tree. It stays limited to births, deaths, marriages, and relationships. The details above live here and in the Local Context Dossier.
  • Dick Holbrook shot, Seattle, 28 November 1922. Found 26 September 2026 in the Seattle Star, a Seattle Times clipping, and wire reports. On 20 December the university barred Dick until 1 January 1924, and the patrolman was suspended for 30 days. See Part Four, which ends with full transcriptions of the articles.

Part One: The Laws, Stage by Stage

This part follows the family down the road and lays out, at each stop, what the law said about free people of color: what they were barred from, what they had to pay, post, or carry, and what could be done to them and their children. The family facts at each stop are the ones in the book. Where a law and a move fall close together in time, that is stated as a matter of dates.

How the label worked

  • Where the line fell.
    • From 1705, Virginia counted anyone with one Black great-grandparent (one-eighth) as a "mulatto."
    • In 1785, in force from 1787, Virginia moved the line to one-fourth: "every person who shall have one-fourth part or more of negro blood." Kentucky took the same rule.
    • Missouri used one-fourth from 1825. Indiana used one-fourth for testimony (1818) and one-eighth for marriage (1840).
    • Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, and Colorado wrote "negro or mulatto" without giving a fraction.
    • So a person could be legally white in one state and mulatto in the next, or white for one purpose and mulatto for another in the same state.
    • Sources: Encyclopedia Virginia, 1785 act (PRIMARY); Walker, "Legal Status of Free Blacks in Early Kentucky," Filson Club History Quarterly 57:4 (1983), n. 21 (SECONDARY).
  • Appearance decided it in practice.
    • In Gentry v. McMinnis (Kentucky, 1835), the court held that "being a white person, or having less than one-fourth of African blood, is prima facie evidence of freedom," and it let a jury decide the question from a person's appearance.
    • Missouri's 1879 marriage law said the question could be settled "from appearance."
    • Indiana's registers and Missouri's freedom licenses recorded each person's "complexion."
    • A census taker at the door was making the same judgment that a court used to presume a person free or a slave.
    • Grade: PRIMARY (Gentry opinion as quoted) and SECONDARY.
  • What historians say about the label.
    • Daniel Sharfstein (The Invisible Line, 2011; "Crossing the Color Line," Minnesota Law Review, 2007) argues that the restrictions on free people of color "pushed many into whiteness." Communities often accepted families they knew to be racially mixed, and families "became recognized as white in areas where their families were well known."
    • Ariela Gross (What Blood Won't Tell, 2008) shows courts deciding race by reputation and by conduct: voting, sitting on juries, serving in the militia, and the company a person kept.
    • Grade: SECONDARY.

Virginia, 1660s-1730: the Reeds

  • 1662. "All children borne in this country shalbe held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother." This is why William Read was born free. Grade: PRIMARY.

  • 1691. A free white person who married "a negroe, mulatto, or Indian" was to be "banished and removed from this dominion forever." A white woman who bore a mixed child paid £15 or was sold for five years, and the child was bound to age 30. William, born about 1673, was too old to be bound under this act. Grade: PRIMARY. 1691 act.

  • 1705. Four acts of that year together did the following:

    • barred any "negro, mulatto or Indian" from holding "any office, ecclesiastical, civill or military";
    • made them "incapable in law, to be witnesses";
    • raised the binding of mixed children to age 31;
    • jailed a white person who married a mulatto for six months, and fined the minister who performed the marriage 10,000 pounds of tobacco;
    • gave any person of color who struck a white Christian "thirty lashes, well laid on."

    William was about 32 and living in Surry. His lawsuit against William Edwards (1708-1715) was brought and won under this code. Grade: PRIMARY. 1705 servants act; 1705 office act.

  • 1723. This act touched both the Reeds and the Collinses:

    • Free people of color lost the vote, "at the election of burgesses, or any other election whatsoever."
    • Free women of color over 16, and the wives of free men of color, became tithable.
    • Only a housekeeper or a man on the militia list could keep "one gun, powder, and shot."
    • In the militia, free men of color served unarmed, as drummers, trumpeters, or laborers.

    Governor Gooch explained the loss of the vote to London in 1736: it was meant to fix "a perpetual Brand upon Free-Negros & Mulattos." Grade: PRIMARY. 1723 act; Gooch's letter.

Virginia and North Carolina, 1740-1767: Thomas Collins

  • Louisa, 1745. The tithable presentment of the Collins, Gibson, and Bunch men enforced the 1723 act directly. Other counties prosecuted the same thing in the same years:

    • Surry presented thirteen free men of color in 1758 for not listing their wives.
    • In Southampton in 1752, John Artis asked the court to add his wife to his own list.

    Grade: SECONDARY (Heinegg's abstracts). Heinegg, taxation cases.

  • Orange County, Virginia, 1743. The guns taken from John Collins and the others until they left the colony show the gun rule in practice. Men who were neither recognized housekeepers nor on the militia list had no right to arms.

  • North Carolina was stricter about wives and daughters. The move to the Flat River did not escape the tax; it deepened it.

    • The 1723 and 1749 acts taxed "all Negroes, Mulattoes, Mustees Male or Female... to the Fourth Generation" from age 12, where Virginia's tax began at 16.
    • A white man who married a woman of color was taxed as if he were a person of color.
    • "To the fourth generation" reached people with one-sixteenth African ancestry.
    • The 1755 Orange list charged Thomas with three "Black tithes" and Samuel with two.

    Grade: PRIMARY (text) and SECONDARY (Heinegg). Heinegg, Introduction.

  • The collector had a reason to use the label. Heinegg: "It was in the interest of the tax collector to classify those of doubtful ancestry as 'Mulatto' since he received a portion of the tax." The Bunches of Bertie County were taxed as "free male Molattors" in 1764, as white in 1765, and as "free Molatoes" in 1766. Grade: SECONDARY.

  • Neighbors refused and petitioned.

    • Joseph, Thomas, and Michael Gowen refused to list their wives in Granville County in 1761, while the Collinses held land there.
    • In 1763, William Eaton and others from Granville and two neighboring counties petitioned the Assembly. They said the tax left free families of color "greatly Impoverished," unable to provide "the common Necessaries of Life."
    • They asked the Assembly to repeal the part that "compels such of them as Intermarry with those of their own complection to pay Taxes for their Wives & Daughters."

    Grade: PRIMARY (transcription). Native Heritage Project.

  • Other North Carolina laws in force on the Flat River.

    • 1741: a white person who married anyone "of Mixt Blood, to the Third Generation" was fined £50, and mixed children of white servant women were bound to 31.
    • 1746: people of color could not testify against white people.

    Grade: SECONDARY.

  • Then the move to the "Indian Lands," about 1767. On the New River the Collins men were listed in 1773 as delinquent, with "Indian Lands" written beside their names. There is a separate report of a Virginia act of 1769 that took free women of color off the tithe rolls. It is recalled rather than seen, and the text needs checking in Hening, vol. 8.

  • What historians say. Estes, Goins, Ferguson, and Crain ("Melungeons, A Multi-Ethnic Population," Journal of Genetic Genealogy, 2011) trace this same Collins group from Louisa to the Flat River to the New River. They argue that the discriminatory tax law gave an incentive to relocate. Heinegg observes that on the frontier, "whites may have been more concerned with harsh frontier living conditions than they were with their neighbors' color." Grade: SECONDARY. JoGG PDF.

The New River, Rowan, and Ashe, 1767-1803

  • North Carolina let free men of color vote. Under the 1776 constitution, any freeman who paid public taxes could vote for the House of Commons, with no racial bar. That lasted until the 1835 convention took the vote away. Guion Johnson counts about 575 free Black voters in four counties by 1834. Any tax-paying Reed man in Rowan in the 1780s or Ashe in 1799-1803 could lawfully vote. Grade: PRIMARY (constitution) and SECONDARY.
  • By 1784 North Carolina no longer taxed free women of color. Grade: SECONDARY.
  • 1795. Free people of color entering North Carolina had to post a £200 bond. Johnson says the act "was evidently ignored," and that free people of color from Virginia "quietly drifted across the border." Grade: SECONDARY. Johnson, Ante-Bellum North Carolina, ch. 20.
  • Virginia, 1793. Free people of color had to register with the county clerk and carry their "free papers." Without them they could not "go at large or hire himself or herself to labour." Free people of color were also barred from moving into Virginia. Grade: SECONDARY. VGS, Free Negro Registers.

Russell County, Virginia, 1799-1809: Meredith

  • 1801, after Gabriel's conspiracy. Each county commissioner of the revenue had to keep "a complete list of all free negroes or mulattoes," with name, sex, residence, and trade.

    • A registered free person of color found in another county could be arrested.
    • One without "honest employment" could be "deemed and treated as a vagrant."
    • For Meredith, the Russell County list for these years is a direct record of whether the county classed him as a free person of color.

    Grade: PRIMARY. 1801 act.

  • 1806. No "free negro or mulatto" could keep "any fire-lock of any kind" without a license from the county court. The license could be revoked at any time, and a second offense brought forfeiture and up to 39 lashes. That applied in hunting country, during Meredith's last years in Russell. Grade: PRIMARY. 1806 gun act (Duke repository).

  • Also 1806. Newly freed people had to leave Virginia within twelve months. This did not apply to families born free, like the Collinses. Grade: PRIMARY.

  • About 1810 Meredith took the family over into Kentucky.

Kentucky, 1810-1829: Meredith, the Reeds, Jesse and Mary

  • 1798 code. Kentucky applied the slave code to free people of color:

    • one gun, and only for a housekeeper;
    • "thirty lashes on his or her bare back" for raising a hand against a white person;
    • no testimony against a white person.

    Grade: SECONDARY (Walker, quoting the statute).

  • 1799 constitution. It gave the vote to "every free male citizen (negroes, mulattoes and Indians excepted)," and excluded the same groups from the militia. Grade: SECONDARY.

  • 1808. A law against free Black people moving into Kentucky.

    • Its preamble spoke of "a very serious evil" from free people coming into the state.
    • Any white man could "seize and arrest" a suspected newcomer. The accused posted a $500 bond or sat in jail, and one found to be a migrant had "twenty days" to leave or would "be sold as a slave."
    • Meredith arrived about 1810, after this act. The 1810 census counted his household white.

    Grade: SECONDARY (Walker, citing Morehead and Brown's Digest).

  • 1825. Two acts:

    • County courts could bind out the children of poor free people of color "without the consent of their parents," when the parents were judged "incapable of bringing them up in honest courses." Walker writes that apprenticeship under this law "sometimes differed little from slavery." The Pike County summons of March 1829 and the binding of Meredith's son that June came four years later.
    • All "free persons of color," women included, were required to work the public roads. White women were not.

    Grade: SECONDARY.

  • Free papers on the road. Walker, quoting Coleman: "All known Negroes who could not produce their 'free papers' were taken up as runaways," and some were "sold secretly and cheaply by unscrupulous patrollers." Grade: SECONDARY.

  • 1829. The Kentucky Colonization Society was organized that year. Its constitution stated its purpose as relieving the state of "a rapidly increasing number of free persons of color." That is the year Jesse and Mary left for Indiana. The society went on to send 658 free Black Kentuckians to Liberia by 1859. Grade: SECONDARY.

  • North Carolina closed behind them.

    • 1826: free people of color were barred from moving into the state, on pain of a $500 fine or up to ten years' servitude. "All free base born children of color" could be bound out.
    • 1830: a free person of color who stayed out of the state more than 90 days lost the right to return.
    • 1835: the vote was taken away.
    • After 1826, going back to kin in Ashe or Wilkes was itself illegal for anyone classed as a person of color.

    Grade: SECONDARY. Johnson.

  • What historians say. Walker: "with limited options elsewhere, few left the state," and "the mobility of blacks was directly regulated by the state." Grade: SECONDARY. Walker PDF.

Indiana, 1830-1837: Jesse and Mary

  • 1816 constitution. Voting and the militia were for white men only. Grade: SECONDARY.

  • 1818. Anyone of "a fourth or more" Black ancestry could not testify where a white person was a party, and marriage between white and Black people was forbidden. Grade: SECONDARY.

  • 1831 bond law. Effective 1 September 1831.

    • Black and mulatto newcomers had to post a $500 bond "for their good behaviour." Otherwise the overseers of the poor could hire them out for six months or remove them from the state.
    • The act reached only people who came in after 1 September 1831. Jesse and Mary were in Morgan County by the 1830 census, so it didn't reach them by its terms.
    • It was enforced now and then. Edward Cooper, a free man of color, was hired out for six months under it, and the Indiana Supreme Court upheld that in State v. Cooper.
    • Thornbrough's overall verdict: "generally it was a dead letter."

    Grade: PRIMARY (text quoted in the opinions) and SECONDARY.

  • 1837 school law. Township schools were put in the hands of "the white inhabitants." Later revisions opened schools "only to white children." The Collinses left Morgan County about 1837. Grade: SECONDARY.

Illinois, 1837-1839

  • The 1829 Black code.

    • A free Black settler needed a certificate of freedom and a $1,000 bond that he would not become a county charge.
    • Anyone without a certificate could be jailed and, after six weeks, hired out "for the best price" for a year.
    • Marriage between white and Black people was void, with fines, "whipping, and imprisonment."
    • The Colored Conventions Project and other historians describe the bond as set high enough to bar most migrants.

    Grade: SECONDARY. US History Scene, 1829 code.

  • 1837, Alton. Six Morgan County men attended Lovejoy's antislavery convention at Alton. Lovejoy was killed there on 7 November 1837. (See the dossier.)

Missouri, 1839-1844: St. Louis County and Chariton County

  • The 1835 license law.

    • Every free Black or mulatto person needed a county-court license to live in Missouri.
    • Only people born in the state, or living there since January 1825, could get one.
    • Free children aged 7 to 21 were to be bound out.
    • A family coming in from Illinois in 1839 couldn't qualify at all. In 1842 St. Louis County refused a license to James Robinson, from Illinois, on exactly that ground.
    • In 1840 the Collins household in St. Ferdinand Township was counted white, and so was Bradley's in Chariton County. No Collins or Reed is in the county's license index.

    Grade: SECONDARY and PRIMARY (index). Jenkins, NPS.

  • Enforcement in St. Louis County. From 1835 to 1863 the county caught 457 people without licenses, 132 of them more than once, with "physical punishment each occasion." Licenses recorded "complexion" and scars. Grade: SECONDARY.

  • 1835 marriage law. Marriage between white and Black people was void in Missouri from 1835. The ban stayed in force until 1969. Grade: SECONDARY.

  • The tightening, 1843-1845.

    • 1843: licensed free people of color had to post bonds of up to $1,000.
    • 1844-45: a fine was added for failing to leave, and then jail and up to twenty lashes.
    • Bradley left Missouri for Appanoose in 1844.

    Grade: SECONDARY.

  • 1847. No one could "keep or teach any school" for Black people "in reading or writing," and no free Black or mulatto person could "under any pretext, emigrate" to Missouri, on pain of a fine of up to $500 and six months in jail. Grade: PRIMARY. 1847 act.

Iowa, 1836-1856: the Reeds, Bradley, Mary and her children

  • The 1839 territorial act. In force 1 April 1839, while Tilford and Benjamin Reed were in Van Buren County.

    • "No black or mulatto person shall be permitted to settle or reside" in the territory without "a fair certificate" of freedom from a court, and a $500 bond.
    • A person without a bond could be hired out for six months.
    • Anyone who hired or harbored such a person was fined $5 to $100.

    Grade: PRIMARY (text as quoted) and SECONDARY. SHSI.

  • The marriage ban (1839/1840 to 1851).

    • "All marriages of white persons with negroes or mulattoes are declared to be illegal and void." There was no criminal penalty.
    • The Code of 1851 quietly left it out.
    • It was in force in 1850, when Mary Elizabeth, marked M that year, married Eli Bruner. If southern Appanoose was being treated as Missouri, Missouri's ban applied instead.

    Grade: SECONDARY.

  • Nearby enforcement: the McGregors (1844). In Marion County, a neighbor who had refused a couple lodging had Thomas McGregor, a white man, and his Black wife Rose Ann arrested under the marriage law. A jury "failed to indict," and Rose Ann posted bond under the Black law with a neighbor's help. The couple left the county soon afterward. Grade: SECONDARY. Brodnax, "Breathing the Freedom's Air" (PhD, Northwestern, 2007), p. 33.

  • The 1846 constitution.

    • Voters were "every white male citizen." The militia was "able bodied white male citizens." The state census counted "all the white inhabitants" for apportionment.
    • So Bradley's service as an election judge in 1849 put him on the white side of the constitution's line.
    • School laws of 1846 and 1851 limited the common schools to white children. Mary's children, marked M in 1850, had no claim on them.

    Grade: PRIMARY. Iowa Constitution of 1846.

  • The 1851 exclusion law.

    • It barred Black people from moving into Iowa. Newcomers had to leave within three days of notice or face fines of $2 a day and jail.
    • People already living in the state could stay. Mary's household, recorded in 1850, was lawfully resident under it.
    • It was enforced at Keokuk in 1856, struck down by a district judge in the Archie Webb case in 1863, and repealed in 1864.

    Grade: SECONDARY.

  • What historians say. Robert Dykstra (Bright Radical Star, 1993) calls antebellum Iowa perhaps "the most racially conservative free state." A proposal for equal suffrage got 15 percent of the vote in 1857. Grade: SECONDARY.

Indiana, 1850-1856: Mary Elizabeth and Eli

  • The "amalgamation" acts of 1840 and 1842.

    • Marriage between a white person and anyone of one-eighth or more Black ancestry was void.
    • As first passed, the penalties for the couple were fines of $1,000 to $5,000 and a prison term (accounts differ between 1-10 and 10-20 years).
    • A clerk who issued the license faced up to $500. A minister who performed the marriage faced up to $10,000. Anyone who helped faced $100 to $1,000.
    • If Daviess and Martin counties knew Mary Elizabeth as a mulatto, her marriage to Eli counted for nothing in Indiana, and both of them were exposed to felony charges. The Iowa ceremony gave them no protection there.
    • No prosecution of a white-mulatto couple before the Civil War has been found. The Indiana Supreme Court upheld the ban in 1871.

    Grade: PRIMARY (act titles) and SECONDARY. Varble, 2014.

  • Article XIII.

    • "No negro or mulatto shall come into, or settle in, the State." It passed 113,828 to 21,873 on 4 August 1851. In Knox County, next to Daviess, the vote was 1,461 to 89.
    • Contracts with anyone who came in afterward were void. Anyone who employed such a person or "encouraged" them to stay was fined $10 to $500.
    • Mary Elizabeth was in Daviess County by the 1850 census, before it took effect.

    Grade: PRIMARY (text) and SECONDARY (votes).

  • The 1852 enforcement act. Black and mulatto residents had to register with the county clerk and bring witnesses to prove they had lived in the state before November 1851. The clerk's certificate was needed to make contracts or to work. Martin County's register survives, printed in Coy D. Robbins, Indiana Negro Registers 1852-1865 (1994). Emma was born in Martin County in 1853. Grade: SECONDARY.

  • Enforcement in Daviess County itself.

    • Mason Hatwood, a mulatto, came to Daviess County "about 1856" and was prosecuted and convicted under Article XIII. He was prosecuted again in 1861 and won on appeal (Hatwood v. State, 1862).
    • Thornbrough notes that complaints under the article started with a private affidavit, and one Fort Wayne paper admitted a complaint was made "from personal malice."
    • The Bruners left Indiana about 1856.

    Grade: SECONDARY.

  • Effect on Indiana's population. The state's Black population rose by only 166 people in the 1850s, from 11,262 to 11,428. The Snelling Settlement, a free Black farm community in Decatur County, broke up about 1856 and moved to Michigan. Grade: SECONDARY.

Illinois 1857, and Missouri from 1858: the Bruners

  • Illinois, 1853. Any Black person who came in and stayed ten days "with the evident intention of residing" could be fined $50. If the fine went unpaid, the person's labor was sold "at public auction." Half the fine went to the informer. This was in force during the Bruners' Illinois year, 1857, and during Kalaska's Illinois service. Grade: PRIMARY. 1853 act.

  • Missouri, 1858. The Bruners moved to Mercer County while the 1847 entry ban and the marriage ban were both in force.

  • What the county did with them anyway. Within a few years of arriving, Eli was:

    • a founding member of the Somerset Methodist church (1858);
    • captain of the township's militia company (1861), and an officer again in 1863 and 1865 (see Part Three).

  • After the war.

    • The 1865 constitution kept voting white-only.
    • An 1866 statute "prohibited all marriages" between white and Black people.
    • In 1879 the ban became a felony for anyone of one-eighth or more Black ancestry, "determined from appearance."

    Grade: SECONDARY.

  • The brothers' regiments. Kalaska served in the 118th Illinois and Spencer in the 46th Missouri. Both were white regiments; Black soldiers were enlisted in the U.S. Colored Troops. The recruiting officers took both brothers as white. Grade: WEAK (inference from how the regiments were raised).

Arkansas, 1870s-1887

  • The 1859 expulsion.

    • Arkansas's Act 151 ordered every free person with one Black grandparent to leave the state by 1 January 1860, or be hired out or sold "into slavery for a period of one year."
    • About 700 free Black people lived in Arkansas; all but 144 left.
    • This happened before the family came. It shows where Arkansas law stood fifteen years before the Bruners arrived.

    Grade: SECONDARY. Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Act 151.

  • Marriage.

    • Black delegates to the 1868 convention defeated a proposed constitutional ban on interracial marriage.
    • The 1874 civil code left the old ban out. It "reappeared" in 1876 and was restated in 1884.
    • In 1895 the state supreme court invalidated a marriage made in 1874.
    • Emma married J. L. Davis in 1881, while the restored ban was in the code.

    Grade: SECONDARY. Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Anti-miscegenation Laws.

Colorado, 1864

  • Colorado's territorial act of 1864 made marriages "between negroes or mulattoes... and white persons" "absolutely void." Those who married, and anyone who performed the marriage, faced fines of $50 to $500 and three months to two years in jail. The act was in force when Eli died at Colorado City in 1879. Grade: SECONDARY.

What historians say about the laws and moving on

  • Enforcement came from neighbors.

    • Kate Masur (Until Justice Be Done, 2021) finds that the northern Black laws did "not work to stop migration." Their force lay in selective, threatening enforcement.
    • Thornbrough and McDonald on Indiana say the same. Prosecutions began with a local complaint, often out of spite.
    • So how the neighbors regarded a household decided whether the law was ever used against it.

  • Success could bring the backlash. Anna-Lisa Cox (The Bone and Sinew of the Land, 2018) mapped over 330 Black farm settlements in the Old Northwest. She argues the laws came "in response to" the success of Black landholders, not ahead of them.

  • Settlements like the family's. Stephen Vincent (Southern Seed, Northern Soil, 1999) studies free families of color of mixed ancestry from Virginia and North Carolina who moved into Indiana as Southern laws tightened in the 1820s and 30s. They were hemmed in after 1851. (WEAK: summary not checked against the book.)

  • Whiteness as a way through.

    • Sharfstein's Spencer family, farmers in Johnson County, Kentucky, next to Floyd and Pike, "became legally white after hovering in racial ambiguity for nearly one hundred years."
    • His Gibson family passed into whiteness in the South Carolina backcountry and rose to the U.S. Senate. Heinegg traces that family from the same colonial Virginia free-colored Gibsons as the Collinses' Flat River neighbors.

  • Grade: SECONDARY.

Complaints in their own words

  • Granville and two neighboring counties, North Carolina, 1763. The tax left free families of color "greatly Impoverished," unable to provide "the common Necessaries of Life."
  • South Carolina, 1794. George Collins, whom Heinegg places in the Louisa and Flat River Collins family, petitioned with Gibson kin against the poll tax. They cited the "distresses, occasioned by your Act imposing the poll tax." Grade: SECONDARY (Heinegg).
  • Hertford County, North Carolina, 1822. Forty-five free men of color, with 84 white supporters, protested a law that let enslaved people testify against free people of color: "their lives & liberties are virtually placed at the mercy of Slaves." Grade: PRIMARY (transcription).

Timeline: the laws and the moves

Year Law Family
1723 Virginia taxes wives of free men of color; takes the vote
1745 Louisa County presents the Collins men for concealing tithables
1749 North Carolina taxes free women of color from age 12, "to the fourth generation"
c. 1750 Collinses move to the Flat River, North Carolina
1755 Orange Co tax list: "Molata," three Black tithes for Thomas
1761-63 Gowens refuse to list wives; Granville petition against the tax
c. 1767 Collinses move to the New River, beyond the line ("Indian Lands")
1776 North Carolina lets tax-paying free men of color vote
1793 Virginia: registration and free papers; entry ban
1799 Meredith in Russell Co, Virginia
1801 Virginia: county lists of free people of color by name
1806 Virginia: gun license required for free people of color
1808 Kentucky: ban on free Black migrants, with arrest and sale
c. 1810 Meredith to Floyd Co, Kentucky; counted white
1825 Kentucky: children of poor free people of color may be bound out; road duty for women
1826 North Carolina: entry ban; "base born children of color" bound out
1829 Kentucky Colonization Society founded; Illinois $1,000 bond and marriage ban Pike County binds out Meredith's son; Jesse and Mary leave for Indiana
1831 Indiana $500 bond for newcomers after 1 September Collinses in Indiana since 1830
1835 Missouri license law (newcomers can't qualify); marriage ban. North Carolina takes the vote
1837 Indiana schools for white inhabitants Collinses to Illinois
1839 Iowa certificate and bond act; Honey War Collinses and Bradley in Missouri, counted white
1839/40 Iowa marriage ban. Indiana amalgamation act (felony)
1843-45 Missouri bonds, fines, then jail and lashes 1844: Bradley to Appanoose
1846 Iowa constitution: white voters; white schools Collinses in Appanoose by the mid-1840s
1847 Missouri bans schooling of Black people and free Black entry Jesse dies
1849 Bradley an election judge
1850 Iowa marriage ban still in force Mary's household marked M; Mary Elizabeth marries Eli; they go to Indiana
1851 Indiana Article XIII; Iowa exclusion law; Iowa code drops marriage ban
1852-53 Indiana registration; Illinois exclusion act Emma born in Martin Co
c. 1856 Mason Hatwood prosecuted in Daviess Co Bruners leave Indiana
1857 Dred Scott decision Bruners in Illinois
1858 Missouri 1847 entry ban in force Bruners to Mercer Co, Missouri; Eli founds the church
1859 Arkansas expels free people of color
1861 Capt. Eli Bruner, Mercer Battalion
1864 Colorado marriage ban; Iowa repeals exclusion Spencer killed, 46th Missouri
1866 Missouri restates marriage ban
1870s Arkansas ban dropped (1874), restored (1876) Bruners to Benton Co, Arkansas
1879 Missouri one-eighth felony marriage law Eli dies in Colorado
1881 Emma marries J. L. Davis in Arkansas

Part Two: William Riddle, Tory

The answer: one man

The researcher's confidence is about 80 to 85 percent. No record shows a second William Riddle on the upper New River between 1772 and 1782. No single document names him as both the oath-taker and the Tory. What links them is a chain of Montgomery County records, and every link points the same way.

  1. Fall 1777. "William Ridel" is on Captain Cox's list of men who took the oath, below "Jno. (his mark) Riddle." Also on the list are Jno. and Samuel Collens, Geo. Reves, David Fulton, and Jeremiah Clonch. John Riddle's oath certificate is dated 30 September 1777 and signed by the justice, James McCorkle. Kegley, Militia, p. 51. Grade: PRIMARY (transcription); certificate in pension S9069.
  2. 1779. The Montgomery court extended mercy to the New River men "deluded into acts inimical to their country," but it excepted "Wm. Riddle & Nathaniel Britin." Grade: SECONDARY (order book transcription).
  3. 1780. Riddle led a party of Tories that raided Captain John Cox's house. According to summaries of pension papers, the party included Lewis Collins and David Gibson. Capt. Salathiel Martin later caught the party at a "Rock House" on the New River, and Lewis and David escaped. This ties the book's Lewis Collins story directly to Riddle. Grade: SECONDARY (the pension papers themselves weren't found online).
  4. 3 April 1782. The court ordered Capt. William Love to return to "Hoppe Riddle" a cow he had taken from her in 1780 while pursuing Tories, or pay her five pounds. Grade: SECONDARY (order book transcription).
  5. 8 April 1782. "John Riddle, an orphan of William Riddle of 7 yrs old" was bound out, and "James Riddle orphan of Wm. Riddle" was bound to James McCorkle, the same justice who had certified John Riddle's oath in 1777. Grade: SECONDARY.
  6. 1784. His estate was inventoried: ewes and lambs, a mare, oxen, horses, a grindstone, a feather bed, and a saddle. Grade: SECONDARY.

Sources: Kegley transcription; John Riddle pension S9069; Empty Branches, "The Riddle of the Riddle Family"; New River Notes.

Was he Moses's son?

Probably. The evidence:

  • 1767, Pittsylvania County. A tithable list reads "Moses Ridle (an Indian), William Ridle," side by side. William is listed as an adult, not marked Indian. Several researchers quote the list the same way; it wasn't seen directly. Grade: SECONDARY.
  • John Riddle. He said he was born "near Flat River," Moses's neighborhood, and he swore the oath alongside William.
  • A sister. Draper records that the Tory Bill Nichols's wife "is said to have been a sister of Captain William Riddle." Nichols shot his Whig neighbor William Letcher at Letcher's home near present Ararat, Virginia, on 2 August 1780, and was executed. If William was Moses's son, Mrs. Nichols was Moses's daughter. Grade: SECONDARY (tradition).
  • The rival claim. Draper (1881) calls William the son of "the Loyalist Colonel James Riddle, of Surry County." No such colonel appears in any record, and Draper cites no source. The earliest printed account, Wheeler (1851), names no father and says "Riddle and his son" were hanged. Grade: WEAK for the colonel.

The two brothers

John Riddle's pension (S9069, 1833) says he:

  • went against the Cherokee under Captain Cox in 1776;
  • took the oath in 1777;
  • was drafted in 1781 in Henry County and served at the siege of Yorktown, guarding prisoners.

That puts John in the Continental service in 1781, the same year William was a Tory captain in the mountains. John's pension doesn't mention William, their father, or the Tories. Grade: PRIMARY.

How an oath-taker became a Tory captain

  • The oath act of 1777. A man who refused the oath lost the right to hold office, sit on a jury, bring a lawsuit, or buy land. That gave men a reason to swear whatever they believed. Grade: WEAK (general knowledge; check Hening, vol. 9).
  • Fall 1777. Tory trouble on the New River was already under way. Elisha Reynolds said he marched that season against Tories "said at the time to amount to 400 or 500 on New River." Grade: PRIMARY (pension W4060). W4060.
  • April 1779. Warrants named fourteen men, and then seventeen, for plotting "to seize the publick magaziens" and for swearing an oath "not to lift arms against the King." Grade: PRIMARY (Library of Virginia papers, as described).
  • July 1779. Tories on the New River took Captains Cox, Osborn, and Henderson prisoner. One compiler reads this as Cox's and Osborn's own companies mutinying against their captains.
  • Other men from Cox's 1777 oath list who turned or were accused.
    • In September 1779, David Fulton and Jeremiah Clonch, both on the list, were accused of being "inimical to the government."
    • A Jno. Blevins on the list may be the John Blevins who confessed to "the late Insurrection" that August.
    • A "Geo. Reves" is on the list, and a Reeves was later hanged with Riddle. The link rests on the surname alone.
  • 1780. Preston counted "fifteen British commissions in this county and that of Washington." Riddle's title of "Captain" probably came from such a commission or from his own band.
  • April 1781. Preston wrote that "nearly one half of our Militia are disaffected." Men wouldn't march "without leaving their families exposed to the Savages." Grade: PRIMARY. Preston to Jefferson, April 1781.

The kidnapping, and the hanging

This account is from Draper, King's Mountain and Its Heroes (1881), ch. 19, drawn from family and veteran informants. Grade: SECONDARY.

  • Saturday, 14 April 1781.
    • Riddle came down "from the Virginia border" with six or eight men, including Zachariah Wells, and a Whig prisoner.
    • He learned that Col. Benjamin Cleveland was at his tenant Jesse Duncan's, at the Old Fields of the South Fork of the New River.
    • The Tories stole Cleveland's horses in the night and ambushed him. Wells's shot broke Richard Callaway's thigh.
    • Cleveland, "fully three hundred pounds," was taken. He and Riddle knew each other by sight.
    • Wheeler says the Tories made Cleveland write out passes for them, and he wrote as slowly as he could.
  • Sunday, 15 April.
    • Cleveland's brother's party, including Benjamin Greer and young Daniel Cutbirth, fired on the camp at dawn at the Wolf's Den, on the knob now called Riddle's Knob, in Watauga County.
    • Cleveland dropped behind a log. The Tories fled, "Riddle and his wife among the number."
  • The Witherspoons.
    • Shortly afterward Riddle raided King's Creek above Wilkesboro and seized David and John Witherspoon of Cleveland's regiment.
    • The Tories sentenced them to be shot, then let them go on their promise to join the band.
    • The Witherspoons came back instead with Col. Benjamin Herndon's men, who took "Riddle, Reeves and Goss."
  • The hanging, late April or May 1781.
    • A court martial at Wilkesboro condemned all three.
    • Riddle "treated them freely to whisky," meaning the guards, and Cleveland told him he "would be hung directly after breakfast."
    • They were hanged on a large oak on the hill beside the village, the "Tory Oak" behind the old courthouse.
    • Draper: "Mrs. Riddle, who seems to have accompanied her husband on his wild and reckless marauds, was present, and witnessed his execution."
    • No last words are recorded.

Other versions of his death.

  • Wheeler has Riddle hanged with "his son, and another." One researcher identifies the son as Moses, about 15.
  • A local tradition says Greer shot him at the Wolf's Den and his wife stayed with him while he died.
  • Another tradition puts the hanging at a thorn tree on Brushy Fork.
  • The Montgomery records show only that he was dead by April 1782.

His widow and children

  • His widow. "Hoppe" (Happy) Riddle, said to be born a Rogers or a Roberts.
  • His sons. John (7) and James were bound out in 1782. One researcher lists Moses, James, John, Joseph, Isaac, Thomas, Happy Jr., and William. Isaac's gravestone in Morris County, Texas, gives 1777-1861.
  • Later claims. The same researcher connects descendants of the family to the 1906 Eastern Cherokee applications.
  • Grade: SECONDARY and WEAK. The Rising Tide, "William Riddle 1740-1781".

What this means for Chapter Three

The book names William and John Riddle, "sons of old Moses," as the uncles Meredith would have had if his mother was a Riddle. On the evidence here:

  • William took the oath in 1777.
  • By 1779 he was shut out of the county's amnesty.
  • In 1780 he led a raid on Captain Cox's house, with Lewis Collins in his party.
  • In April 1781 he kidnapped Colonel Cleveland, and within weeks he was hanged at Wilkesboro while his wife watched.
  • A sister of his was married to another Tory who was executed for murder.
  • His brother John was drafted in 1781 and served at Yorktown.

Part Three: Captain Eli Bruner, Confirmed

The captaincy and the lieutenancy are both confirmed in Missouri's official Adjutant General's reports, and a third period of service turned up.

The service

Service Rank Dates Source Grade
Mercer County Battalion, Six Months Militia, Company G (39 men) Captain Commissioned autumn 1861; mustered in at Utica, 19 Sept 1861; mustered out at Princeton, 19 March 1862 Missouri Adjutant General's Report, 1863, pp. 273-274 PRIMARY
4th Provisional Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia, Company I (a Mercer County company) Officer; rank not legible in the scan 1863 Report of the Conduct and Management of the Missouri Militia (1864), p. 228 PRIMARY
35th Regiment, Missouri Militia (Mercer County), Platoon K 1st Lieutenant Commissioned 4 Oct 1865 Missouri Adjutant General's Report, 1865, p. 662 PRIMARY

Company G's officers: "Eli Bruner, Captain; William Finkham, 1st Lieutenant; Pleasant Henry, 2d Lieutenant. (39 Men.)"

Sources: AG Report 1863, p. 273; p. 274; Militia report 1864, p. 228; AG Report 1865, p. 662.

What the battalion did

  • Organization, 1861. Governor Gamble's proclamation of 24 August 1861 called for militia to serve "for the period of six months." Mercer County formed a battalion of eight companies under Lt. Col. Jonas J. Clark.
  • Winter 1861-62. The 1888 county history says the battalion camped two or three weeks at Edinburg, in Grundy County, then moved to Chillicothe, then to Utica on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, "where it did escort duty until the following spring."
  • What such companies did. The Adjutant General described the Six Months Militia as "scouring their counties in search of rebel camps and rendezvous, and acting as scouts and guides to the various bodies of volunteers then in the State."
  • Other battalions. A neighboring Grundy County battalion was credited with "breaking up sundry secession encampments."
  • No record of fighting. Of the Mercer battalion, the 1863 report says: "no record of the history of this Battalion is on file." No named skirmish has been found.
  • 1863. The Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia regiments, including the 4th, were organized from May 1863 to fight guerrillas and garrison towns. Most were disbanded before November 1863.
  • 1865. The 35th Militia was organized after the war "to preserve order and quiet disturbance." No call-out is recorded.

Grade: PRIMARY and SECONDARY. History of Harrison and Mercer Counties (1888), pp. 455-456, 466; War Department, Organization and Status of Missouri Troops (1902).

Around Eli in Somerset

  • A Masonic lodge at Somerset.

    • Somerset Lodge No. 206, A.F. & A.M., was organized in November 1860 by Jonas J. Clark, the officer who commanded Eli's battalion the next year.
    • Albert Bruse, a charter officer of the lodge, was also a founding member of Eli's Methodist church.
    • Eli's own membership hasn't been found, but this is the likeliest lodge for a Somerset Mason. The Grand Lodge of Missouri's annual returns would settle it.
    • Grade: SECONDARY.

  • The 1877 county atlas. It lists Adam Bruner at Somerset as "Farmer and Mechanic. General Job Work and Repairing," and D. M. Bruner and A. Bruner as landowners. Eli isn't listed, which fits his having left for Colorado by then. Grade: PRIMARY. 1877 atlas.

  • A possible brother.

    • An 1886 Iowa biography of David M. Bruner, a druggist born in Knox County, Illinois, on 22 July 1846, names his father as "Hickman Bruner," a native of Kentucky.
    • It traces the family to Indiana in 1852, Putnam County, Missouri, in 1856, Kansas in 1857 (where the father took up a claim), then Mercer County, and at last Arkansas, "where both parents died."
    • If this is Eli's father, the family was in Illinois in the 1840s, and Hickman made a Kansas claim in 1857.
    • David M. Bruner owned land in Mercer County in 1877.
    • Grade: SECONDARY; identity probable, not proven. Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties (1886), p. 465.

  • Hickman in Indiana, 1844. On 23 December 1844 Congressman John W. Davis presented "the petition of Hickman Bruner and 32 others, asking a post route from Mount Pleasant." Mount Pleasant was the early seat of Martin County, where Emma was born nine years later. Grade: PRIMARY (Congressional Globe); identity probable.

  • Ministers named Bruner. The records found don't yet connect any of these to Hickman:

    • Rev. Jacob Bruner, Methodist Episcopal Church, South-Eastern Indiana Conference.
    • Rev. John Bruner, Indiana Conference, son of Elias Bruner of Monroe County, Indiana.
    • Charles Bruner, an early pastor at Chapel Hill Methodist Church, Monroe County, in the 1850s.

    A Bruner family Bible or Hickman's parents' records would be the way to connect them. Grade: WEAK.

Part Four: Dick Holbrook Shot, Seattle, November 1922

Found 26 September 2026. A Seattle Times clipping posted to Jessie Clifford's Ancestry profile led to the Seattle Star's coverage, which is free on Chronicling America. None of this is in the book yet.

In brief. Early on the morning of 28 November 1922, a Seattle patrolman shot Richard Clifford "Dick" Holbrook, Jessie's son and Frances's father, then a 20-year-old University of Washington student. The patrolman had stopped Dick and three companions as they carried off a street sign and a flower tub. The bullet went through the top of his left lung, about an inch from his heart. He was reported to be dying that first night, but he recovered and went home on 7 December. The police and the students gave very different accounts of the shooting. On 20 December the university's disciplinary committee, having decided that the four had been drinking, barred Dick and two of the others from the university until 1 January 1924 and the fourth until 1 January 1925. The chief of police suspended the patrolman for 30 days for having "used his revolver too freely."

How it was read. The Star pages and the other papers' reports were read from the Library of Congress's page images on Chronicling America, with its OCR text as a guide, and every transcription was checked a second time against the images. The Times piece was read from the clipping as posted. The papers, and the Star's own reports from day to day, disagree on several points; where they do, both versions are given. Grade: PRIMARY (contemporary newspaper reports).

What happened

  • When and where. About 4 a.m. on Tuesday, 28 November 1922, on East 45th Street near University Way, in Seattle's University District.

  • Who. Four young men:

    • Richard "Dick" Holbrook, 20, a University of Washington student;
    • C. A. Schneider, also a student ("Casper Schneider" on 21 December);
    • Hubert P. Lewis;
    • Wayne Allen, 22, a musician from Salem, Oregon, whom the others met at the Liberty dance hall shortly after midnight. The Star of 21 December calls him Wayne Hall and counts him among the four students.

    The Star says all four were "said to be members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, at 2120 E. 47th st."

  • The night. About 1:40 a.m. they had a light lunch at the Boston cafe on Third Avenue, then took a streetcar to the University District. They denied drinking, "altho Schneider is said to have admitted that he personally had had a few drinks." Two patrolmen, H. W. Howard and A. W. Elliott, later told the chief they had seen the group on Second Avenue a few hours before the shooting, intoxicated, and had advised them "to go to a restaurant and drink coffee to sober up."

  • The prank. At East 45th Street and University Way they picked up "a safety zone sign and a flower pot in front of a bank," the flower pot being "a large tub affair" with a shrub in it, and carried them east along 45th.

  • The shooting. Patrolman J. H. Karlberg stopped them. He fired one shot, and a second shot hit Dick.

Sources: Star, 28 November, pp. 1 and 8; 29 November, p. 7.

Karlberg's account

  • He yelled at them to halt, "and when they refused he fired a shot in a vacant lot." Schneider dropped the tub, and Karlberg chased Dick, who had the sign:

    "I yelled at him to drop it," said Karlberg, "and he said 'I can't do it.' I replied, 'You will do it.' Then my gun was hit by the sign. It discharged as this happened. I had no intention of shooting again. I then brought the boy to the station."

    (Star, 28 November, p. 8.)

  • The Star's front-page box the same day quotes him differently: "I didn't mean to do it. The boy threw a flower pot at me and the blow discharged my revolver."

  • The next day he said his ".25-caliber automatic bulldog pistol, which he held in his hand, was discharged when Holbrook threw a traffic sign on him," and that he had fired the first shot "to frighten the four boys," who he said were creating a disturbance. (Star, 29 November, p. 1.)

The police

  • Chief of Police W. B. Severyns, "a university man himself," questioned the four and the witnesses for four hours. The four "all told conflicting stories." He announced his belief "that all four of the students in the escapade were intoxicated and that the shooting was purely accidental," and said, "They admit that they had been drinking."
  • Lieut. R. W. Olmstead said he found liquor on Allen, who was charged with being drunk and disorderly and released on $25 bail. Dick was charged with disorderly conduct. Schneider was not held.
  • Severyns suspended Karlberg on the day of the shooting, to be kept off the force "until a thoro investigation had determined whether or not he was careless in using his gun."

Sources: Star, 28 November, pp. 1 and 8; 29 November, p. 7.

The witnesses' account

R. M. Fox, 23, a senior, and R. L. Newbern, 24, another student, got off the same streetcar "just behind the other fellows" and walked east along the other side of 45th Street. (The first day's report spells him Newburn.) Fox's account (Star, 29 November, p. 7):

"They were laughing and talking but were not disorderly. One picked up a traffic sign, another a flower tub. There was no noise or disturbance.

"When Newbern and I got near 16th ave., we heard a shot and a man yelling, 'Take it back!' I recognized Karlberg's voice because of his Scandinavian accent. We ran back to the boys just in time to see Karlberg, for no apparent cause, shoot Holbrook down.

"Holbrook had made no move. Neither he nor the men with him threw anything at Karlberg and the shooting seemed entirely without justification. It was light and we could see plainly."

  • Karlberg took two of the boys to the station and left one with Dick. Fox and Newbern found Dick "bleeding at the mouth and nose," carried him into the Phi Gamma Delta house, and tried to get a doctor.
  • Asked why he had shot Holbrook, Karlberg said, "I know, I know, I shouldn't have done it!" (The Star prints dashes where the commas are.)
  • "When we got started for the hospital in a touring car which Karlberg provided he got down on his knees and begged the driver to hurry. He was terribly excited and beside himself." They went first to "a hospital that refused admittance," and then to the city hospital.
  • Allen, Schneider, and Newbern all confirmed Fox's version. Allen: "None of us had any liquor in his possession, in spite of other reports." He said he had been booked only after a disagreement with the police lieutenant when he asked to stay with Dick, who had asked that Allen be allowed to stay with him.
  • A correction the Star made. Its first report had Fox and Newbern "driving past the scene," and said Fox was charged with drunk driving. The next day it called that "an erroneous report": Fox was never arrested and was not intoxicated, and the man charged was a different J. M. Fox.

The wound and the recovery

  • 28 November. Taken to the city hospital, "in a dangerous condition, with a bullet wound over the heart."
  • 29 November. At the Seattle General Hospital, "with an even chance for recovery." He had been "reported to be dying Tuesday night" but held his own. "He was shot thru the top of the left lung, the bullet passing an inch from his heart." Jessie "remained at his bedside during Tuesday night."
  • 1 December. Still critical. Dr. Don Palmer said the lung was punctured and "the bullet is still in the wound," that the youth "must not be allowed to talk, as a fatal hemorrhage might possibly result," and that "danger of infection was not yet passed."
  • 4 December. An X-ray was scheduled "in an effort to locate the bullet." His condition was "slightly improved."
  • 7 December. Well enough to be taken from the hospital to his home "before night." He had "hovered for several days between life and death." The bullet had entered "thru the left shoulder" and grazed his left lung.
  • No report says whether the bullet was ever removed.

Sources: Star, 28 and 29 November; 1 December, p. 1; 4 December, p. 13; 7 December, p. 10.

The aftermath

  • Karlberg. Still suspended on 7 December, "pending a thoro probe of the case." That day's Star says "no one was more relieved than Karlberg" when he heard of Dick's progress.
  • The investigations. King County Prosecuting Attorney Malcolm Douglas and Chief Severyns were investigating (4 December). University president Henry Suzzallo began "a rigid investigation" on the first day but said, "I am not ready to take snap judgment against the police department."
  • For Karlberg. "Prominent business men of the University district" came forward to call him "the best officer in the district." He was "a veteran in the department and was formerly a lieutenant in the army."
  • Against him. His fellow officers "severely criticized" him "for alleged carelessness in handling the weapon" (29 November). Students "thronged the corridors at central headquarters" all day Tuesday.
  • The Star's front page, 28 November. A boxed editorial headed "Not Justified," beside a photograph of Dick credited "Photo by Charles Bowen": "Patrolman J. H. Karlberg surprised four University of Washington boys in an innocent lark Tuesday morning." It closes: "It would be better to disarm the police entirely if they are to run amuck every time a couple of boys go skylarking. And certainly no man who is so helpless that he must use a deadly weapon to end a college prank has any right on the police force." A crop of the box and photo was saved as Seattle-Star-1922-11-28-p1-Not-Justified-Dick-Holbrook.jpg.
  • A new rule at the university. A state news digest of 8 December reported that President Suzzallo had announced "summary dismissal" for any University of Washington student "who in the future may be discovered in an intoxicated condition," as "an aftermath to the shooting." (Vashon Island News-Record, 8 December, p. 1.)
  • The outcome, 20 December 1922. "Final action was taken Wednesday" (Star, 21 December, p. 7):
    • The university disciplinary committee, chaired by Dean John T. Condon, "decided that the boys had been intoxicated at the time of the shooting." It barred Dick, Schneider, and Lewis "from the college until January 1, 1924." It barred the fourth, named in this article as Wayne Hall, until 1 January 1925, "because he was charged with other irregularities, in addition to having been intoxicated."
    • Condon said drinking "should be treated with at least as much severity as poor scholarship."
    • Chief Severyns "decided that Patrolman Karlberg had used his revolver too freely and suspended him for 30 days," which cost him a month's pay. The Star reckoned it "really amounts to a 60-day suspension," counting the weeks he had been off the force since the shooting.
  • How the wire told it. Papers as far away as Alaska ran the news:
    • The first wire reports, on 28 November, gave only the patrolman's version: that Dick threw the sign at him and the pistol went off by accident.
    • The reports of the outcome garbled the terms. The Daily Alaskan (Skagway) has "four to eight school quarters." The Seward Gateway has "two months, with confinement to school quarters," and its headline has Karlberg "losing his job," though its own text says he was suspended for thirty days.
    • The Star of 21 December and the wire reports of the outcome all date the prank to "November 20."
  • Not yet found: whether Karlberg returned to the force after his suspension, and whether Dick went back to the university in 1924.

The Seattle Times sidebar

"Mother of Wounded Boy Felt Sure He Was Safe at School," by Dora Dean, Seattle Daily Times, 28 November 1922. The Times' main news story that day hasn't been seen.

  • Jessie's first words on hearing the news, as the paper gives them: "Dick shot! Oh, it can't be my boy."
  • She had been "taking an extra long rest this morning because I knew Dick was going to stay at his fraternity house last night."
  • "Dick has always been so steady and dependable," she repeated. "He worked his way through Queen Anne High School and he is doing the same at the university. He lives at home usually but quite often he stays out at the house all night."
  • "Mrs. Holbrook is a widow and she has all of a mother's pride for her 20-year-old son, 'Dick,' as she calls him."

Grade: PRIMARY (the clipping as posted to Ancestry).

For the family record

  • Jessie's address in November 1922: "Holbrook's mother, who lives at 560 Mercer st., remained at his bedside during Tuesday night." (Star, 29 November, p. 7.)
  • Aberdeen: the Star calls Dick "a promising candidate for football honors" and "an Aberdeen, Wash., resident." Aberdeen is in Grays Harbor County, where the January 1920 census found Jessie's household.
  • School: he "worked his way through Queen Anne High School" and was doing the same at the university (Times).
  • Barred from the university until 1 January 1924 (Star, 21 December). Whether he went back hasn't been checked.
  • "A widow": the Times calls Jessie a widow in November 1922. The January 1920 census recorded her as married, not widowed. Her husband, Captain Richard Blackmer Holbrook Jr., is recorded as dying on 23 September 1923, at Bismarck, North Dakota, ten months after the Times piece. See Leads.
  • His age: 20, which fits his birth on 12 July 1902.
  • His photograph: the Star's portrait of him at 20, credited to Charles Bowen.

Sources

The Seattle Star, via Chronicling America (Library of Congress):

The Seattle Daily Times, 28 November 1922: Dora Dean, "Mother of Wounded Boy Felt Sure He Was Safe at School" (clipping on Jessie Lorene Clifford's Ancestry profile).

Other papers, via Chronicling America:

The articles, transcribed

Transcribed 26 September 2026 from the Library of Congress page images, and the Times piece from the clipping posted to Jessie Lorene Clifford's Ancestry profile. Each transcription was checked word by word against the images a second time.

How these are transcribed.

  • Wording, spelling, and capitalization are as printed, including the Star's simplified spellings (thoro, altho, thru). The papers' own misprints are kept and marked [sic].
  • The papers' dashes are given as commas, or as a period after a dateline, to match the no-dash style of these files.
  • A few misprinted marks (a comma for a period at the end of a paragraph, mismatched or stray quotation marks) are corrected without comment.
  • Headlines are in bold, in the capitals the papers used. Words split at line ends are joined. Words in square brackets are editorial notes.

1. The Seattle Star, Tuesday, 28 November 1922, page 1 (continued on page 8)

Banner across the top of the front page: POLICEMAN WOUNDS STUDENT

COP DROPPED DURING PROBE OF SHOOTING

Four Boys Halted During Prank; Fear Victim May Not Recover

Patrolman J. H. Karlberg, who shot Richard Holbrook, 20, University of Washington student, early Tuesday morning, was indefinitely suspended from the police force by Chief W. B. Severyns at noon Tuesday. Severyns said Karlberg would be kept off the force until a thoro investigation had determined whether or not he was careless in using his gun.

* * *

While playing a boyish trick in the heart of the University business district at 4 a. m. Tuesday with three college companions, Richard Holbrook, 20, was shot and possibly fatally wounded by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg, when he is alleged to have thrown a traffic sign at the officer. Two of the boys in the party are under arrest on minor charges.

Holbrook was taken to the city hospital following the shooting and was reported in a dangerous condition, with a bullet wound over the heart.

After a four hours' grilling of witnesses and principals in the shooting, Chief of Police W. B. Severyns announced his belief that all four of the students in the escapade were intoxicated and that the shooting was purely accidental.

The four boys, Richard Holbrook, Wayne Allen, C. A. Schneider and Hubert P. Lewis, were all questioned by Severyns and all told conflicting stories.

"As far as I can determine," Severyns said, "the boys were playing pranks by taking away the traffic sign and the shrub in a large tub which they were rolling up the street when stopped by the policeman. They admit that they had been drinking."

Prominent business men of the University district have come to the front to defend Patrolman Karlberg, whom they declare to be the best officer in the district. Karlberg is a veteran in the department and was formerly a lieutenant in the army.

Holbrook, a promising candidate for football honors, is an Aberdeen, Wash., resident, and Allen is from Salem, Ore.

According to conflicting statements made to the police by members of the party, they went to the Liberty dance hall shortly after midnight and met Wayne Allen, 22, a musician. All four boys are said to be members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, at 2120 E. 47th st.

About 1:40 a. m. the four boys went to the Boston cafe on Third ave. and, after a light lunch, took a street car to the University district. They denied having been driking [sic], altho Schneider is said to have admitted that he personally had had a few drinks.

At E. 45th st. and University way the boys picked up a safety zone sign and a flower pot in front of a bank and were carting them up the street when Officer Karlberg appeared.

Karlberg claims that he yelled at

(Turn to Page 8, Column 4)

[Page 8, under the heading "Here's More About Student Shot, Starts on Page One":]

them to halt and when they refused he fired a shot in a vacant lot. Schneider, who was carrying the flower pot, a large tub affair, then dropped it, and Kalberg [sic] pursued Holbrook, who carried the traffic sign.

"I yelled at him to drop it," said Karlberg, "and he said 'I can't do it.' I replied, 'You will do it.' Then my gun was hit by the sign. It discharged as this happened. I had no intention of shooting again. I then brought the boy to the station."

Lieut. R. W. Olmstead declared that he found liquor on Allen and a charge of being drunk and disorderly was filed against Allen. Allen was released on $25 bail. Schneider was not held. Holbrook was charged with disorderly conduct.

Chief of Police W. B. Severyns, a university man himself, began an investigation into the shooting as soon as he heard of it.

R. M. Fox, 23, and R. L. Newburn, 24, who were driving past the scene at the time of the shooting, corroborated the students' story. Fox was questioned at length by the police, and then charged with driving an automobile while drunk. He was released on $200 bail.

* * *

SUZZALLO IS PROBING CASE

President Henry Suzzallo of the University of Washington began a rigid investigation of the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Richard Holbrook and the arrest of C. A. Schneider, university students, early Tuesday morning by Patrolman Karlberg, following a student prank in the University business district.

"At this hour I have not all the facts," said Dr. Suzzallo Tuesday morning. "We are getting reports from various sources and will go to the bottom of things. I will say this, however, that I am not ready to take snap judgment against the police department. We have had most excellent co-operation from its members, and until our investigation is complete, I shall refuse to criticise."

The shooting has aroused feeling among the university students. All day Tuesday students thronged the corridors at central headquarters intent upon interviewing Chief Severyns and Inspector O'Brien for the purpose of ascertaining the facts in the case.

2. The Seattle Star, Tuesday, 28 November 1922, page 1: the boxed editorial

Not Justified

Patrolman J. H. Karlberg surprised four University of Washington boys in an innocent lark Tuesday morning.

As a result, Dick Holbrook, one of the students, lies in the city hospital, a bullet thru his body.

The policeman, explaining, says: "I didn't mean to do it. The boy threw a flower pot at me and the blow discharged my revolver."

Which may be all very well. But why did he draw his revolver in the first place? And why was he pointing it at the boy?

It would be better to disarm the police entirely if they are to run amuck every time a couple of boys go skylarking.

And certainly no man who is so helpless that he must use a deadly weapon to end a college prank has any right on the police force.

[Beside the text, a portrait photograph captioned "Dick Holbrook," credited "Photo by Charles Bowen."]

3. The Seattle Daily Times, Tuesday, 28 November 1922 (page not shown on the clipping)

Mother of Wounded Boy Felt Sure He Was Safe at School

By DORA DEAN.

"Dick shot! Oh, it can't be my boy, is he hurt seriously?" Such was the first anguished cry of Richard Holbrook's mother, Mrs. Jessie Holbrook, when she learned that her son had been shot and wounded by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg while on his way to his fraternity house late last night.

Roused from her morning rest, the boy's mother was still a little dazed and could scarcely believe that any harm had come to her boy.

"I was taking an extra long rest this morning because I knew Dick was going to stay at his fraternity house last night," said Mrs. Holbrook. "I never worry about him, he is always so dependable. I can't believe he would do anything wrong," she cried as the age-old protective mother instinct asserted itself. "It was like him not to let me know so that I wouldn't worry."

Mrs. Holbrook is a widow and she has all of a mother's pride for her 20-year-old son, "Dick," as she calls him.

"Dick has always been so steady and dependable," she repeated several times. "He worked his way through Queen Anne High School and he is doing the same at the university. He lives at home usually but quite often he stays out at the house all night, and he always tells me to call there if I am worried about him. But I wasn't worried this morning, I knew he was going out there last night and I was resting, and to think that he was hurt while I was sleeping."

Not once did she break down when she heard the news, but the tears hovered near the surface, and there was only one thought on her mind and that was to get to her son's bedside and to find out for herself what her son needed and in caring for him to forget the terrible fear and anxiety that the news of his injury had brought to her mother heart.

4. The Seattle Star, Wednesday, 29 November 1922, page 1 (continued on page 7)

STUDENT STILL FIGHTS DEATH

Richard Holbrook; Shot by Officer; Holding On

Fighting a brave battle for life, Richard Holbrook, 20, University student, who was shot by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg while playing a prank in the university business district early Tuesday morning with three companions, remained in the Seattle general hospital Wednesday with an even chance for recovery.

Holbrook was reported to be dying Tuesday night, but recovered sufficiently to hold his own during the remainder of the night. He was shot thru the top of the left lung, the bullet passing an inch from his heart.

Karlberg explained that the shooting was an accident, in that his .25-caliber automatic bulldog pistol, which he held in his hand, was discharged when Holbrook threw a traffic sign on him. He had previously fired one shot from the gun to frighten the four boys, whom, he says, were creating a disturbance.

Karlberg has been severely criticized by his fellow officers in the department for alleged carelessness in handling the weapon.

Chief of Police W. B. Severyns,

(Turn to Page 7, Column 5)

[Page 7, under the heading "Here's More About U Student, Starts on Page One":]

who suspended Karlberg Tuesday afternoon pending investigation, was told by Patrolmen H. W. Howard and A. W. Elliott that they saw Holbrook and his companions on Second ave. a few hours previous to the shooting. The boys were intoxicated, according to their story, and they were advised to go to a restaurant and drink coffee to sober up.

Holbrook's mother, who lives at 560 Mercer st., remained at his bedside during Tuesday night.

* * *

COP EXCITED, SAY STUDENTS

"I know, I know, I shouldn't have done it!"

In this manner Patrolman J. H. Karlberg is said by university students to have expressed regret following the shooting of Richard Holbrook, university man, Tuesday morning, following a student prank in the University business district.

Karlberg's excitement ran high during and following the shooting and he got down on his knees in an automobile and begged the driver to make all speed to a hospital, according to R. M. Fox, a senior at the university, who, with R. L. Newbern, another student, witnessed the shooting and afterwards gave Holbrook first aid. Fox, as well as other witnesses, vigorously denies that anything was hurled at the officer. He declares the shooting was entirely unjustified.

"Instead of taking us to the emergency hospital at once," said Fox Wednesday, "he took the party to a hospital that refused admittance. He finally came to his senses and proceeded to the city hospital."

Fox is the man who was Tuesday reported to have been arrested for driving an automobile while in an intoxicated condition. This proved to be an erroneous report. He merely accompanied Holbrook and the other students to the hospital and police headquarters and aided in the investigation. He was at no time arrested and was not intoxicated.

A man by the name of J. M. Fox was arrested on such a charge and this resulted in the false report.

Fox and Newbern were returning from town about the time Holbrook, Wayne Allen, Hubert Lewis and C. A. Schneider picked up the flower pot and the traffic sign that resulted in the trouble. They were in no way involved in the difficulty but, as they got off a car just after the other men alighted, they witnessed what occurred.

"We got off of a street car just behind the other fellows," said Fox Wednesday. "They went east on 45th st., on the left side, and we on the right. They were 20 or 30 feet ahead. They were laughing and talking but were not disorderly. One picked up a traffic sign, another a flower tub. There was no noise or disturbance.

"When Newbern and I got near 16th ave., we heard a shot and a man yelling, 'Take it back!' I recognized Karlberg's voice because of his Scandinavian accent. We ran back to the boys just in time to see Karlberg, for no apparent cause, shoot Holbrook down.

"Holbrook had made no move. Neither he nor the men with him threw anything at Karlberg and the shooting seemed entirely without justification. It was light and we could see plainly.

"Karlberg was terribly excited. Karlberg took two boys with him to the station and left one with Holbrook. We ran over to Holbrook and found him bleeding at the mouth and nose. We carried Holbrook to the Phi Gamma Delta house and tried to get a doctor. We did what we could for him until we could get help.

"When I asked Karlberg why he had shot Holbrook he said: 'I know, I know, I shouldn't have done it!'

"When we got started for the hospital in a touring car which Karlberg provided he got down on his knees and begged the driver to hurry. He was terribly excited and beside himself."

Wayne Allen and C. A. Schneider, who were with Holbrook at the time of the shooting, as well as Newbern, confirmed Fox's version of the affair. Allen was held only a brief time at police headquarters and says he wouldn't have been booked at all had it not been for a disagreement with the police lieutenant after he had manifested a desire to stay with Holbrook. The latter had asked that Allen be permitted to remain with him.

"None of us had any liquor in his possession, in spite of other reports," said Allen.

5. The Seattle Star, Friday, 1 December 1922, page 1

SHOT STUDENT YET IN DANGER

Richard Holbrook, 20, University of Washington student who was shot by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg Tuesday morning when the former was playing a prank in the University district, is still in critical condition at the Seattle General hospital, according to Dr. Don Palmer, Friday morning.

Holbrook's lung is punctured and the bullet is still in the wound, the physician stated, explaining that the youth must not be allowed to talk, as a fatal hemorrhage might possibly result. Dr. Palmer said Holbrook had a chance at recovery, but danger of infection was not yet passed.

6. The Seattle Star, Monday, 4 December 1922, page 13

STUDENT TO BE EXAMINED

In an effort to locate the bullet which pierced the left lung of Richard Holbrook, University of Washington student, who was shot last Tuesday by Officer J. H. Karlberg, an X-ray examination was scheduled to be made at the Seattle General hospital by Dr. Don H. Palmer.

Holbrook's condition was slightly improved Monday. Investigation of the shooting was being continued Monday by Prosecuting Attorney Malcolm Douglas and Chief of Police W. B. Severyns.

7. The Seattle Star, Thursday, 7 December 1922, page 10

STUDENT GOES TO HIS HOME

Richard Holbrook, University of Washington student, who was shot a week ago Tuesday by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg, following a student prank, was sufficiently recovered Thursday morning to assure his being taken from the Seattle General hospital to his home before night. Grave fears were entertained for his recovery and he hovered for several days between life and death. He put up a valiant fight, however, and Wednesday morning his physician said he might be taken home to his mother.

No one was more relieved than Karlberg when he heard of the boy's progress toward complete recovery. He, a patrolman in the University district, stopped Holbrook and three other students as they were carrying a curb flower pot and a street traffic sign, after their return fom [sic] down town after midnight. Stories differ as to what actually happened when the patrolman accosted the students, but in the mix-up Karlberg's gun was discharged and the bullet entered Holbrook's body, entering thru the left shoulder and grazing his left lung.

Karlberg was immediately suspended from service and is still out, pending a thoro probe of the case.

8. The Seattle Star, Thursday, 21 December 1922, page 7

HEAVY PENALTY FOR U STUDENTS

Four Suspended as Result of Boyish Prank

With the suspension of three University of Washington students for one year, and of another for two years, and the forfeiture of a month's pay by a Seattle policeman, the last chapter had been written Thursday in what started out merely as an undergraduates' lark.

The students who were suspended are Richard Holbrook, Casper Schneider, Hubert Lewis and Wayne Hall, while the policeman who was disciplined is Patrolman J. H. Karlberg.

The whole affair grew out of a boyish prank on the night of November 20 [sic]. On their way home, the four students started to carry away a traffic sign at 45th st. and University way. Karlberg interfered and, in the resulting fracas, shot Holbrook thru the lung, inflicting a wound that nearly proved fatal.

A thoro investigation was made of the affair by both university and police officials and final action was taken Wednesday. The university disciplinary committee decided that the boys had been intoxicated at the time of the shooting, and therefore barred Holbrook, Schneider and Lewis from the college until January 1, 1924, and Hall until January 1, 1925, Hall being given the more severe penalty because he was charged with other irregularities, in addition to having been intoxicated.

At the same time, Chief of Police W. B. Severyns decided that Patrolman Karlberg had used his revolver too freely and suspended him for 30 days. This really amounts to a 60-day suspension, as Karlberg was indefinitely removed as soon as the case was reported.

Dean John T. Condon, chairman of the university disciplinary committee, declared in announcing the boys' suspension that he felt that drinking should be treated with at least as much severity as poor scholarship, and pointed out that hundreds of students are dropped every year for failing in their work.

9. Other papers

The news also went out by wire and in weekly digests of state news. These are the other reports found on Chronicling America, in date order.

The Cordova Daily Times (Cordova, Alaska), Tuesday, 28 November 1922, page 1

U. C. [sic] STUDENT SHOT BY COP; BADLY INJURED

SEATTLE, Nov. 28. Richard Holbrook, a student at the University of Washington, was shot and seriously wounded by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg today in an attempt to arrest the student on a charge of disorderly conduct. The patrolman asserted that Holbrook was carrying a "safety-zone" sign, and when he ordered the young man to drop it, Holbrook threw it at him. Karlberg said that his pistol was discharged accidentally. Holbrook, badly wounded, was taken to a hospital.

The Alaska Daily Empire (Juneau), Tuesday, 28 November 1922, page 6

University Student Shot by Patrolman

SEATTLE, Nov. 29 [sic]. Patrolman J. H. Karlberg shot and seriously wounded Ashard [sic] Holbrook, of Seattle, University of Washington student, when he attempted to arrest the latter last night on a charge of disorderly conduct.

Karlberg said Holbrook was carrying a Safety Zone sign and threw it at him. Karlberg's pistol was discharged accidently when hit by the sign.

Holbrock [sic] was taken to the hospital.

Vashon Island News-Record (Vashon, Washington), Friday, 8 December 1922, page 1, in the column "State News Boiled Down for Our Busy Readers: Digest of Week's Happenings in and Over the Puget Sound and State"

Summary dismissal faces any University of Washington student who in the future may be discovered in an intoxicated condition. This announcement from President Henry Suzallo [sic] came as an aftermath to the shooting of Richard Holbrook by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg in Seattle.

White Bluffs Spokesman (White Bluffs, Washington), Friday, 8 December 1922, page 2, in the column "Washington News"

Richard Holbrook of Seattle, a student of the University of Washington, was shot and seriously wounded by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg early November 28 near the university campus.

The Daily Alaskan (Skagway), Thursday, 21 December 1922, page 1

HOLBROOK AND THREE OTHERS SUSPENDED

Seattle, Dec. 21. Richard Holbrook, who was recently shot by a policeman, while intoxicated, with three other students has been suspended from the University Four to Eight school quarters by the faculty. Officer Karlberg, who shot Holbrook, was also suspended from the police force by Chief Severyns for thirty days as a result of the shooting.

The Seward Gateway (Seward, Alaska), Friday, 22 December 1922, page 1 (reprinted 23 December, page 3)

THREE SUSPENDED FROM UNIVERSITY OVER GUN PLAY

OUTCOME OF SHOOTING SCRAPE RESULTS IN OFFICER LOSING HIS JOB

SEATTLE, December 21. Final disposition was made of the shooting scrape of November 20 [sic], wherein Richard Holbrook, a student of the University of Washington, was wounded during a midnight frolic.

The university faculty announced the suspension of Holbrook, and three others, for a period of two months, with confinement to school quarters during that time.

Policeman Karlberg, who wounded Holbrook, was this morning suspended by Chief of Police Severyns, for a period of thirty days.

Holbrook is on the road to recovery.

The Nome Nugget (Nome, Alaska), Saturday, 23 December 1922, page 7

STUDENTS SUSPENDED FROM UNIVERSITY

Seattle Dec. 21. Richard Holbrook and three other students were suspended from the University by the faculty. Officer Karlberg was suspended by Chief of Police Severyn [sic] for 30 days. Both suspensions are the result of the shooting of Holbrook by Karlsberg [sic] on Nov. 20th [sic].

Part Five: Captain Richard B. Holbrook Jr., 1900-1918

Found 26 September 2026 on Chronicling America, while looking for when and where he died. Quotes were read from the page images. Grade: PRIMARY (contemporary newspapers), except where noted. Nothing about his death has been found. The last item showing him alive is from November 1918.

  • Marriage, 1900. "Capt. Richard B. Holbrook and Miss Jessie Clifford, both of this city, were married at the residence of the officiating clergyman, Rev. John F. Damon, Friday evening, September 28. ... The groom is a native of Whidby island, the son of one of the oldest pioneer families. He holds a responsible position as steamboat master on Puget Sound." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 7 Oct 1900, p. 14.)

  • Hood Canal, to 1914. He had been "for some time" master of the steamer Potlatch on the Hood Canal run, and "at one time master of the 'State of Washington'" (Wrangell Sentinel, 13 May 1915, p. 1). "For sixteen years Capt. R. B. Holbrook, as master of steamships, ran between Seattle and Hood canal ports without ever losing a passenger or damaging a ship." (Douglas Island News, 15 Dec 1915, p. 5.)

  • The Tyconda, 1915. He and Capt. J. W. Mangan bought the steamer Tyconda from the Lorenz (or "Lawrence") Brothers of Tacoma for $14,500; Holbrook was president of the company and its master (Wrangell Sentinel, 13 and 20 May, 10 June 1915). She went to Cook Inlet and "burned to the water's edge" at Anchorage on 1 October 1915: "In charge of Capt. R. B. Holbrook. No insurance. Valued at $8,000." (Seward Gateway, 5 Oct 1915, p. 6; Valdez Daily Prospector, 1 Oct 1915, p. 1.) He returned to Seattle (Seattle Star, 8 Dec 1915, p. 3, "Loses His Steamer").

  • Alaskan Engineering Commission, 1916-1917. Master of the Commission's tug Roscoe (Cook Inlet Pioneer, 5 May 1916, p. 1), the B. & B. No. 2 (Valdez Daily Prospector, 16 May 1916, p. 3), and "B. and B. No. 3, Captain Dick Holbrook, running between Talkeetna and Croto" on the Susitna (Anchorage Daily Times, 29 July 1916, p. 3). Back for the 1917 season (Anchorage Daily Times, 16 May 1917, p. 9); left for "the states" for the winter in October 1917 (Anchorage Weekly Times, 18 Oct 1917, p. 7).

  • Pioneers of Alaska, 1917. This identifies him. "RICHARD B. HOLBROOK. The captain was born on Whidby Island, Washington, in September, 1872. He came to Cook Inlet first in April 1896, and to Anchorage as soon as the town was established here. He is a steamboat master and his 'outside' address is 8629 51st street, Seattle, Washington." Elected to Igloo No. 15, Anchorage. (Anchorage Weekly Times, 12 Sept 1917, p. 5.)

  • Seattle city directory, 1917 (found by Dasloops on Ancestry, 27 Sept 2026): "Holbrook Richd B (Jessie L) master mariner h 8629 51st av S." This is the "outside" address the Pioneers of Alaska gave for him. Same page: "Holbrook Harriet P (wid Richd B) r 3934 Warsaw," his mother, with a middle initial P (the 1918 death notice has "Harriett E.," the Master Tree "Harriet Low").

  • Winter 1917-18. "Captain R. H. [sic] Holbrook, now skipper on the steamer Tourist, which plies between Seattle and Bremerton." (Anchorage Weekly Times, 17 Jan 1918, p. 9.) Very likely him.

  • November 1918, the last trace. "Mrs. Harriett E. Holbrook, 84, Seattle pioneer, is dead at the home of her son, Capt. Richard Holbrook, jr., 560 Mercer st." (Seattle Star, 27 Nov 1918, p. 3.) 560 Mercer Street is the address where Jessie lived in November 1922, so it was the family's own house in 1918. The Master Tree gives his mother as Harriet Low; "Harriett E." may be a middle initial.

  • Dick later. "Dick Holbrook" is among the UW backfield men in the Seattle Star, 13 Oct 1921, p. 11. In 1925 a Richard Holbrook went whaling with Capt. Louis Lane on the Gunnar, which burned near Latouche, Alaska (Seattle Star, 22 Oct 1925, p. 2, and 17 Nov 1925, p. 10; Seward Daily Gateway and Alaska Daily Empire, July-Nov 1925). Not yet read closely; identity to confirm.

  • Seattle city directories, 1918-1920 (found by Dasloops on Ancestry, 27 Sept 2026). Wives appear in parentheses after the husband's name.

    • 1918: "Holbrook Harriet P (wid Richd B) r 560 Mercer"; "Richd B (Jessie L) master mariner h 560 Mercer"; "Richd C r 560 Mercer" (Dick).
    • 1919: "Richd B (Jessie C) master mariner h 560 Mercer." Harriet is gone (she died in November 1918).
    • 1920: "Jessie Mrs h 560 Mercer." No Richard B., and no "wid." Polk's directories used "(wid ...)" for widows, so in early 1920 she wasn't listed as one, which matches the census calling her married.
    • So he drops out of the directory between the 1919 and 1920 canvasses (roughly early 1919 to early 1920).
    • 1922 (canvassed early 1922): "Holbrook D Philip seamn r560 Mercer"; "Jessie Mrs lndrs r225 N Bway" (laundress, rooming at 225 North Broadway); "Richd seamn str Comanche" (a Richard Holbrook, seaman on the steamer Comanche, no middle initial; more likely Dick, since Phil was also a seaman and Richard B. was a master, but not settled). Still no "wid."
    • 1924: no Jessie, Philip, or Richard among the Seattle Holbrooks (checked by Dasloops). The family may have been away from Seattle, or simply missed. A 1923 Seattle directory hasn't been found on Ancestry; whether one was published is unconfirmed.
    • 1925: "Jessie (wid Richd D) h560 Mercer"; "Philip D driver r560 Mercer"; "Richd C mariner r560 Mercer." The first directory found that lists her as a widow. "Richd D" is almost certainly a misprint for Richd B. Dick as "mariner" fits the 1925 whaling voyage on the Gunnar.
    • 1926: "Jessie (wid Richd B) cook h560 Mercer"; "D Philip mariner r560 Mercer"; "Richd C mariner r560 Mercer." The middle initial is right this time, confirming the 1925 "D" was a slip.
    • Searched without result (27 Sept 2026): Emma Dunlap in Washington directories (a Spokane "Dunlap Emma O, clk," 1923, is someone else); Philip Holbrook; Jessie Holbrook in Yuba County, California. Ancestry appears to have no 1923 Aberdeen or Seattle directory.
    • Still to check when the search resumes: 1921; California voter registers 1922-1928 (Yuba and Sutter counties); Polk's King County directory for Elizabeth Myers's household, 1923-1924; the Seattle Times, 1919-1922, for a notice of his death or disappearance.

  • Jessie's second marriage, 1928 (found by Dasloops, 27 Sept 2026; Washington Marriage Records, King County, certificate 4702): license 5 May 1928; married 6 May 1928 at Kent, Washington, by a Baptist minister of Kent. Thomas Harris Absalom of Yuba County, California, and "Jessie C. Holbrook" of King County. Witnesses: Phillip Holbrook (her son Phil) and Lizabeth Myers. The certificate form has no field for widowed or divorced, so it doesn't settle the question. The license application, if it survives, may.

What this narrows. He was alive and at 560 Mercer Street in late November 1918. In January 1920 Jessie was in Grays Harbor County, recorded as married, without him. By November 1922 the Times called her a widow, and she was back at 560 Mercer. So his death, if the Times was right, falls between late 1918 and November 1922, and quite possibly in Alaska, where he had worked every season from 1915. Chronicling America has no Seattle Times, no Seattle P-I after about 1914, and no Aberdeen Herald after 1917, so the gap may be in the papers, not in the events.

Sources checked with no trace of his death: all Chronicling America "Holbrook" pages for Washington papers 1910-1923 and Alaska papers 1914-1925, and Oregon "Holbrook" captain/steamer pages 1910-1925. Other Holbrooks ruled out: Henry A., Holbrook Blinn (actor), Major Holbrook (Colorado), Capt. Holbrook of the schooner Hattie Dunn, Scott J., Wellman, Capt. A. M. (Salvation Army), Lorain G.

Links (all https://www.loc.gov/resource/LCCN/DATE/ed-1/?sp=PAGE): sn83045604 1900-10-07 p14; sn94050093 1915-05-13 p1; sn84021930 1915-12-15 p5; sn98060264 1915-10-01 p1; sn2008058232 1915-10-05 p6; sn87093407 1915-12-08 p3; 2019271004 1916-05-05 p1; 2019271005 1916-07-29 p3; 2019271005 1917-05-16 p9; 2019271426 1917-09-12 p5; 2019271426 1917-10-18 p7; 2019271426 1918-01-17 p9; sn87093407 1918-11-27 p3.

Leads

  1. Missouri State Archives, Soldiers' Records (s1.sos.mo.gov). Search "Bruner, Eli." The individual service cards should give his rank in the 4th Provisional regiment in 1863.
  2. Coy D. Robbins, Indiana Negro Registers 1852-1865. Check the Martin County entries for Collins or Bruner.
  3. Russell County, Virginia: the commissioner's list of free people of color, 1801-1809. Whether Meredith is on it shows how the county classed him.
  4. Pike County order book, June 1829. Check whether the binding order calls the boy "of color," which would show whether the 1825 act was used.
  5. Kegley, Free People of Colour. It abstracts the free registers for southwest Virginia counties, including Montgomery.
  6. Grand Lodge of Missouri Proceedings, 1861-1878. The Somerset Lodge No. 206 returns would show whether Eli was a member.
  7. Draper Manuscripts 5DD and 22VV (cited by The Rising Tide) for the variant accounts of Riddle's death.
  8. The Seattle Times' main story of 28 November 1922, and its later coverage of the case, including the 20 December decisions. Search GenealogyBank, or the Seattle Times Historical Archive through a library.
  9. Patrolman J. H. Karlberg after his suspension. Whether he returned to the force, and whether the prosecutor's investigation led anywhere: the Seattle Municipal Archives (police department and Civil Service Commission records), and the King County Superior Court case files at the Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Regional Branch.
  10. The University of Washington Daily, late November and December 1922, for the students' side, President Suzzallo's announcement on drinking, and the disciplinary committee's decision (UW Libraries Special Collections). The university's registrar or alumni records would show whether Dick returned after 1 January 1924 and whether he graduated.
  11. The bullet. No report says whether it was ever removed. A later medical or service record, or his World War II draft card if he registered (it has a line for "other obvious physical characteristics"), might mention the wound or the scar.
  12. When did Richard Blackmer Holbrook Jr. die? The Seattle Times of 28 November 1922 calls Jessie "a widow," ten months before his recorded death at Bismarck, North Dakota, on 23 September 1923. The 1923 date comes from FamilySearch profiles, and the January 1920 census recorded Jessie as married. Things to check:
    • the primary source behind the 1923 date (a North Dakota death or burial record);
    • the Bismarck Tribune for late September 1923, which is free on Chronicling America;
    • Polk's Seattle city directories for 1921-1924, which usually mark a widow as "wid" followed by her husband's name, for Jessie at 560 Mercer Street.
    • Checked 26 September 2026: his working life. See Part Five. Alive at 560 Mercer Street in late November 1918; no death found in Chronicling America. Next: the Pioneers of Alaska, Igloo No. 15 (Anchorage) records and the Anchorage papers after 1918, since the Pioneers usually noted members' deaths; Alaska death records 1918-1922; Washington State death index 1918-1922 (Washington State Digital Archives, free); the 1920 census for Richard B. Holbrook anywhere, including Alaska; Alaska Railroad (Alaskan Engineering Commission) personnel records at NARA Seattle.
    • Checked 26 September 2026: the Bismarck death. The Bismarck Tribune lists "Richard Holbrook, Pollock, S. D." among patients entering the Bismarck hospital (22 September 1923, p. 5). Its notice "Death Claims Pollock Man" (Monday, 24 September 1923, p. 5) reads in full: "Richard Holbrook of Pollock, S. D. age 51, died at a local hospital Saturday evening at 7 o'clock after an illness due to complications. Mr. Holbrook was a prominent farmer of the Pollock neighborhood. He is survived by his wife, and two sons, Douglas, age 7, and Donald, age 5. The remains were taken to Pollock today for burial." Saturday was 22 September, one day off the recorded date. His age of 51 matches a birth on 16 September 1872. This is very likely the record behind the Bismarck date. Whether this farmer is Jessie's husband or a different Richard Holbrook of the same age is open. Deciding tests: the 1920 census (and 1915 South Dakota state census) for Richard Holbrook at Pollock, Campbell County, South Dakota, especially his birthplace (Washington, or not); his grave at Pollock; and later records of his sons Douglas (b. c. 1916) and Donald (b. c. 1918) Holbrook naming their father's birthplace. Bismarck Tribune, 22 Sept 1923, p. 5; 24 Sept 1923, p. 5.
  1. # Molata: Addendum to the Local Context Dossier
  3. ### The laws, William Riddle, Captain Eli Bruner, and Dick Holbrook's shooting
  5. Compiled 25 September 2026, as a companion to *Molata: Local Context by Chapter*. Part Four added 26 September 2026. Keep it with the main research file and the Meredith Collins origin-line addendum.
  7. **Grades.**
  8. - **PRIMARY**: the statute, record, or official report itself was seen, usually as a transcription.
  9. - **SECONDARY**: a historian or reference work.
  10. - **WEAK**: tradition, a single late account, or not seen directly.
  12. ---
  14. ## Used in v3.3: What Went Into the Book
  16. This section lists every addition from this research that went into the text of *Molata* v3.3 (working copy of 25 September 2026). It gives the chapter, where the addition sits, the facts it rests on, and the sources. Anything in this addendum or in the Local Context Dossier that isn't listed here is still research only.
  18. ### Chapter Three: William Riddle, Tory
  19. - **Where:** a new paragraph at the end of "Neighbors on the tax rolls," after "If one of their sisters was Meredith's mother, they were his uncles."
  20. - **Facts used:**
  21. - William Riddle swore the oath in Captain Cox's company in 1777.
  22. - In 1779 the Montgomery court extended mercy to the New River men "deluded into acts inimical to their country," but excepted Riddle and Nathaniel Britain. Britain had been accused that spring of plotting to seize the county's powder.
  23. - In 1780 Riddle led a raid on Cox's house. When Salathiel Martin's men caught his party at a rock house on the New River, Lewis Collins and David Gibson got away.
  24. - The same summer, Patriot militia from Virginia and Wilkes County hanged Tories at Peach Bottom, one from Cox's gate.
  25. - In April 1781 Riddle kidnapped Col. Benjamin Cleveland. Cleveland wrote passes for the Tories as slowly as he could, and his brother's men rescued him at dawn.
  26. - Riddle was court-martialed at Wilkesboro and hanged "directly after breakfast" from an oak beside the village, with his wife watching.
  27. - His brother John was drafted in September 1781 and served at Yorktown.
  28. - The book frames the Patriot cause on the New River as the cause of the county's establishment.
  29. - **Sources:** Kegley, *Militia*, p. 51; Montgomery Co order book 3, p. 64 (1779); Preston's warrants of April 1779; pension files of Robert Love (S8858), Elizabeth Amburgey (R174), Samuel Johnson (W5012), and John Riddle (S9069); New River Notes (Lewis Collins); Draper, *King's Mountain and Its Heroes* (1881), ch. 19.
  31. ### Chapter Five: Meredith Collins
  32. - **Opening line:** "a partner in a salt well" is added to the list of what Meredith was.
  33. - **Salt well, a new paragraph at the end of "Down the Big Sandy":**
  34. - Salt kept the winter's pork from spoiling. Floyd County's own works on Middle Creek sold it for two to three dollars a bushel during the War of 1812.
  35. - 29 January 1818: Meredith bought 30 acres on Shelby Creek.
  36. - 6 August 1819: he agreed with William Tackitt to bore there for salt water, supplying "one good constant hand" with provisions.
  37. - 21 December 1825: a Kentucky act made it unlawful to claim any part of 2,000 acres on Shelby Creek "around the spot where William Tackett, Jesse Hamilton, and Meredith Collins are boring for Salt Water."
  38. - The paragraph closes by noting the county court called him a poor man thirteen years later.
  39. - Not used: he sold the tract to Tackitt on 12 August 1819 for $30. Tackitt sold it to Thomas May in 1828. The boring was abandoned at 140 feet (David Dale Owen, 1850s).
  40. - Sources: Floyd Co Deed Book B, pp. 65-66, and Pike Co Deed Book A, p. 332 (Pike County Historical Society, "Eastern Kentucky Salt Works"); Acts of Kentucky 1825, ch. 127, p. 123; Ely, *The Big Sandy Valley* (1887).
  41. - **The 1808 law, "Down the Big Sandy":** after "The whole household was recorded as free white," the book notes that a Kentucky law of two years earlier let any white man arrest a free person of color he took for a newcomer, and that one who hadn't left within twenty days could be sold as a slave.
  42. - **The 1825 law, "Bound out":** since 1825 a Kentucky county court could bind out the children of poor free people of color without the parents' consent, whenever it judged the parents "incapable of bringing them up in honest courses."
  43. - **Sources for both laws:** Walker, *Filson Club History Quarterly* 57:4 (1983).
  45. ### Chapter Seven: Jesse and Mary
  46. - **Opening paragraph:** in 1829 the new Kentucky Colonization Society set out its purpose as relieving the state of "a rapidly increasing number of free persons of color." (Walker.)
  47. - **A new paragraph after the road-west paragraph:**
  48. - Illinois required a certificate of freedom and a $1,000 bond (1829).
  49. - Missouri's 1835 license law excluded free people of color who arrived after 1825.
  50. - The St. Ferdinand household was counted white in 1840, and no Collins or Reed appears in the St. Louis County license register.
  51. - Sources: Bridges, "The Illinois Black Codes"; Jenkins, "Freedom Licenses in St. Louis City and County" (NPS); St. Louis County Library, index of free Negro licenses, 1835-1844.
  53. ### Chapter Eight: The Gathering in Appanoose
  54. - **The Sac and Fox, a new paragraph after the sentence on Appanoose's opening:**
  55. - They hunted and traded in the county until they were removed to Kansas in 1845-46, and their country began at the county's western edge.
  56. - They were remembered as peaceable.
  57. - In 1844 a chief faced down Missourians who tried to seize and flog men of his band.
  58. - Sources: *History of Appanoose County* (1878), p. 327; Taylor, *Past and Present of Appanoose County* (1913), p. 39.
  59. - **The border paragraph, after "Through the middle of the 1840s the rest followed":**
  60. - Southern Appanoose, including Wells Township, lay in the strip claimed by both Iowa and Missouri until 1849. The first settlers kept the dragoons off by claiming Missouri residence.
  61. - The paragraph then notes the family's other border settlements: the Flat River at the far edge of Granville County, the New River, Floyd and Pike counties, Mercer County, and Benton County.
  62. - It closes with why border country suited them.
  63. - Source: *History of Appanoose County* (1878), pp. 321-324.
  64. - **Ferry and election judge, a new paragraph before "By the census of 1850":**
  65. - Andrew Collins was licensed 5 July 1847 to keep a ferry on the Chariton four miles east of Centerville. The boat had to be at least 35 feet long, and he had to hire a man to work it. Fares were 40 cents for a wagon and team, 10 cents for a man and horse, and a penny a head for sheep and hogs.
  66. - Bradley Collins was a judge of the August 1849 election. Iowa's 1846 constitution limited the vote to white men, and judges were drawn from the voters.
  67. - The book leaves Bradley's precinct (Independence) unnamed.
  68. - Source: *History of Appanoose County* (1878), pp. 342-344.
  70. ### Chapter Nine: Mary Elizabeth and Eli
  71. - **The marriage laws, first paragraph:**
  72. - In 1850 Iowa still declared marriages between white persons and mulattoes "illegal and void," a clause dropped from the Code of 1851.
  73. - Indiana had treated such marriages as void and a crime since 1840.
  74. - No record says how the clerks regarded the bride.
  75. - **Indiana closes its doors, a new paragraph before "Mercer County":**
  76. - Article XIII (1851) and the registration act of 1852.
  77. - Daviess County prosecuted Mason Hatwood in the mid-1850s.
  78. - The Bruners left by way of Illinois for Missouri, where the 1847 law barred free people of color from entering.
  79. - The family plainly didn't think it applied to them, and Mercer didn't either.
  80. - Source: Thornbrough, *The Negro in Indiana* (1957); State Historical Society of Iowa.
  81. - **"Mercer County," now limited to 1858-60:**
  82. - The family was at Somerset by 1858.
  83. - Eli and his wife, Hickman and his wife, and Adam Bruner were founding members of the Somerset Methodist Episcopal Church in 1858.
  84. - Hickman kept a wagon shop beside Eli's forge.
  85. - The real estate figures (1860 and 1870) moved to the end of "Called to arms."
  86. - **Section retitled** from "Her brothers' war" to **"Called to arms."**
  87. - **The flood, opening of "Called to arms":**
  88. - In June 1851 the Chariton River flooded, with water four feet deep over the bottoms for most of a month and the crops ruined.
  89. - Centerville made do with a single barrel of flour, brought across the river Andrew had once been licensed to ferry.
  90. - Source: *History of Appanoose County* (1878), pp. 352, 359.
  91. - **Eli's war, a new paragraph after Spencer's muster card:**
  92. - Captain of the Somerset Township company (39 men), Mercer County Battalion, Six Months Militia, 1861-62.
  93. - The battalion camped at Edinburg and Chillicothe, then did escort duty at Utica. It was mustered out at Princeton in March 1862 with no record of battle.
  94. - In 1863 he was an officer in a Mercer County company of the Provisional Enrolled Militia.
  95. - In October 1865 he was commissioned first lieutenant in the county's militia regiment, organized "to preserve order and quiet disturbance."
  96. - Sources: Adjutant General's reports of 1863 (pp. 273-274) and 1865 (p. 662); *Report of the Conduct and Management of the Missouri Militia* (1864), p. 228; *History of Harrison and Mercer Counties* (1888), pp. 454-456, 466, 474.
  97. - **Real estate, the closing paragraph of "Called to arms":** $400 in 1860 and $3,500 in 1870.
  99. ### Chapter Ten: Emma
  100. - **Gothic, a new paragraph after "Emma went where her family was":**
  101. - The *Elk Mountain Pilot* reported "Gothic is having a solid, steady boom."
  102. - Miners earned $4 a day. Flour was $8 a hundredweight and eggs 50 cents a dozen.
  103. - Jim Jennings shot a neighbor over a cabin three weeks after the census.
  104. - Ulysses S. Grant came through in early August 1880.
  105. - By October the camp's paper was warning it might not survive the winter.
  106. - Source: *Elk Mountain Pilot*, 24 June, 1 July, 15 July, 12 August, and 7 October 1880.
  108. ### New findings recorded here but not added to the book
  109. - **1860 census, Mercer County, Missouri** (checked by Dasloops, 25 September 2026). Eli, 33, blacksmith, born in Indiana. Every person on the page is recorded as white, including Mary Elizabeth and the children. Hickman Bruner, his wife Sarah, and their daughter are on the same page, as is Adam Bruner, 23, farm laborer.
  110. - **Siloam Springs.** It was platted as "Siloam City" in March 1880 and incorporated in 1881. Before that the place was Hico. The book text has no conflict, since it uses the name only from 1883. The Master Tree's 1873 and 1876 birthplaces were left as they are.
  111. - **Decision on the Master Family Tree.** It stays limited to births, deaths, marriages, and relationships. The details above live here and in the Local Context Dossier.
  112. - **Dick Holbrook shot, Seattle, 28 November 1922.** Found 26 September 2026 in the *Seattle Star*, a *Seattle Times* clipping, and wire reports. On 20 December the university barred Dick until 1 January 1924, and the patrolman was suspended for 30 days. See Part Four, which ends with full transcriptions of the articles.
  114. ---
  116. ## Part One: The Laws, Stage by Stage
  118. This part follows the family down the road and lays out, at each stop, what the law said about free people of color: what they were barred from, what they had to pay, post, or carry, and what could be done to them and their children. The family facts at each stop are the ones in the book. Where a law and a move fall close together in time, that is stated as a matter of dates.
  120. ### How the label worked
  122. - **Where the line fell.**
  123. - From 1705, Virginia counted anyone with one Black great-grandparent (one-eighth) as a "mulatto."
  124. - In 1785, in force from 1787, Virginia moved the line to one-fourth: "every person who shall have one-fourth part or more of negro blood." Kentucky took the same rule.
  125. - Missouri used one-fourth from 1825. Indiana used one-fourth for testimony (1818) and one-eighth for marriage (1840).
  126. - Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, and Colorado wrote "negro or mulatto" without giving a fraction.
  127. - So a person could be legally white in one state and mulatto in the next, or white for one purpose and mulatto for another in the same state.
  128. - Sources: [Encyclopedia Virginia, 1785 act](https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/an-act-declaring-what-persons-shall-be-deemed-mulattoes-october-1785/) (PRIMARY); Walker, "Legal Status of Free Blacks in Early Kentucky," *Filson Club History Quarterly* 57:4 (1983), n. 21 (SECONDARY).
  129. - **Appearance decided it in practice.**
  130. - In *Gentry v. McMinnis* (Kentucky, 1835), the court held that "being a white person, or having less than one-fourth of African blood, is prima facie evidence of freedom," and it let a jury decide the question from a person's appearance.
  131. - Missouri's 1879 marriage law said the question could be settled "from appearance."
  132. - Indiana's registers and Missouri's freedom licenses recorded each person's "complexion."
  133. - A census taker at the door was making the same judgment that a court used to presume a person free or a slave.
  134. - Grade: PRIMARY (*Gentry* opinion as quoted) and SECONDARY.
  135. - **What historians say about the label.**
  136. - Daniel Sharfstein (*The Invisible Line*, 2011; "Crossing the Color Line," *Minnesota Law Review*, 2007) argues that the restrictions on free people of color "pushed many into whiteness." Communities often accepted families they knew to be racially mixed, and families "became recognized as white in areas where their families were well known."
  137. - Ariela Gross (*What Blood Won't Tell*, 2008) shows courts deciding race by reputation and by conduct: voting, sitting on juries, serving in the militia, and the company a person kept.
  138. - Grade: SECONDARY.
  140. ### Virginia, 1660s-1730: the Reeds
  142. - **1662.** "All children borne in this country shalbe held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother." This is why William Read was born free. Grade: PRIMARY.
  143. - **1691.** A free white person who married "a negroe, mulatto, or Indian" was to be "banished and removed from this dominion forever." A white woman who bore a mixed child paid £15 or was sold for five years, and the child was bound to age 30. William, born about 1673, was too old to be bound under this act. Grade: PRIMARY. [1691 act](http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/xslt/servlet/XSLTServlet?xsl=/xml_docs/slavery/documents/display_laws2.xsl&xml=/xml_docs/slavery/documents/laws.xml&lawid=1691-04-01).
  144. - **1705.** Four acts of that year together did the following:
  145. - barred any "negro, mulatto or Indian" from holding "any office, ecclesiastical, civill or military";
  146. - made them "incapable in law, to be witnesses";
  147. - raised the binding of mixed children to age 31;
  148. - jailed a white person who married a mulatto for six months, and fined the minister who performed the marriage 10,000 pounds of tobacco;
  149. - gave any person of color who struck a white Christian "thirty lashes, well laid on."
  151. William was about 32 and living in Surry. His lawsuit against William Edwards (1708-1715) was brought and won under this code. Grade: PRIMARY. [1705 servants act](https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/an-act-concerning-servants-and-slaves-1705/); [1705 office act](https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/an-act-declaring-who-shall-not-bear-office-in-this-country-october-1705/).
  152. - **1723.** This act touched both the Reeds and the Collinses:
  153. - Free people of color lost the vote, "at the election of burgesses, or any other election whatsoever."
  154. - Free women of color over 16, and the wives of free men of color, became tithable.
  155. - Only a housekeeper or a man on the militia list could keep "one gun, powder, and shot."
  156. - In the militia, free men of color served unarmed, as drummers, trumpeters, or laborers.
  158. Governor Gooch explained the loss of the vote to London in 1736: it was meant to fix "a perpetual Brand upon Free-Negros & Mulattos." Grade: PRIMARY. [1723 act](https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/an-act-directing-the-trial-of-slaves-committing-capital-crimes-and-for-the-more-effectual-punishing-conspiracies-and-insurrections-of-them-and-for-the-better-government-of-negros-mulattos-and-in/); [Gooch's letter](https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/denying-free-blacks-the-right-to-vote-1724-1735).
  160. ### Virginia and North Carolina, 1740-1767: Thomas Collins
  162. - **Louisa, 1745.** The tithable presentment of the Collins, Gibson, and Bunch men enforced the 1723 act directly. Other counties prosecuted the same thing in the same years:
  163. - Surry presented thirteen free men of color in 1758 for not listing their wives.
  164. - In Southampton in 1752, John Artis asked the court to add his wife to his own list.
  166. Grade: SECONDARY (Heinegg's abstracts). [Heinegg, taxation cases](https://freeafricanamericans.com/taxation.htm).
  167. - **Orange County, Virginia, 1743.** The guns taken from John Collins and the others until they left the colony show the gun rule in practice. Men who were neither recognized housekeepers nor on the militia list had no right to arms.
  168. - **North Carolina was stricter about wives and daughters.** The move to the Flat River did not escape the tax; it deepened it.
  169. - The 1723 and 1749 acts taxed "all Negroes, Mulattoes, Mustees Male or Female... to the Fourth Generation" from age 12, where Virginia's tax began at 16.
  170. - A white man who married a woman of color was taxed as if he were a person of color.
  171. - "To the fourth generation" reached people with one-sixteenth African ancestry.
  172. - The 1755 Orange list charged Thomas with three "Black tithes" and Samuel with two.
  174. Grade: PRIMARY (text) and SECONDARY (Heinegg). [Heinegg, Introduction](https://freeafricanamericans.com/introduction.htm).
  175. - **The collector had a reason to use the label.** Heinegg: "It was in the interest of the tax collector to classify those of doubtful ancestry as 'Mulatto' since he received a portion of the tax." The Bunches of Bertie County were taxed as "free male Molattors" in 1764, as white in 1765, and as "free Molatoes" in 1766. Grade: SECONDARY.
  176. - **Neighbors refused and petitioned.**
  177. - Joseph, Thomas, and Michael Gowen refused to list their wives in Granville County in 1761, while the Collinses held land there.
  178. - In 1763, William Eaton and others from Granville and two neighboring counties petitioned the Assembly. They said the tax left free families of color "greatly Impoverished," unable to provide "the common Necessaries of Life."
  179. - They asked the Assembly to repeal the part that "compels such of them as Intermarry with those of their own complection to pay Taxes for their Wives & Daughters."
  181. Grade: PRIMARY (transcription). [Native Heritage Project](https://nativeheritageproject.com/2013/02/20/william-eaton-petition-to-tax-people-of-color-fairly/).
  182. - **Other North Carolina laws in force on the Flat River.**
  183. - 1741: a white person who married anyone "of Mixt Blood, to the Third Generation" was fined £50, and mixed children of white servant women were bound to 31.
  184. - 1746: people of color could not testify against white people.
  186. Grade: SECONDARY.
  187. - **Then the move to the "Indian Lands," about 1767.** On the New River the Collins men were listed in 1773 as delinquent, with "Indian Lands" written beside their names. There is a separate report of a Virginia act of 1769 that took free women of color off the tithe rolls. It is recalled rather than seen, and the text needs checking in Hening, vol. 8.
  188. - **What historians say.** Estes, Goins, Ferguson, and Crain ("Melungeons, A Multi-Ethnic Population," *Journal of Genetic Genealogy*, 2011) trace this same Collins group from Louisa to the Flat River to the New River. They argue that the discriminatory tax law gave an incentive to relocate. Heinegg observes that on the frontier, "whites may have been more concerned with harsh frontier living conditions than they were with their neighbors' color." Grade: SECONDARY. [JoGG PDF](https://jogg.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/71.006.pdf).
  190. ### The New River, Rowan, and Ashe, 1767-1803
  192. - **North Carolina let free men of color vote.** Under the 1776 constitution, any freeman who paid public taxes could vote for the House of Commons, with no racial bar. That lasted until the 1835 convention took the vote away. Guion Johnson counts about 575 free Black voters in four counties by 1834. Any tax-paying Reed man in Rowan in the 1780s or Ashe in 1799-1803 could lawfully vote. Grade: PRIMARY (constitution) and SECONDARY.
  193. - **By 1784** North Carolina no longer taxed free women of color. Grade: SECONDARY.
  194. - **1795.** Free people of color entering North Carolina had to post a £200 bond. Johnson says the act "was evidently ignored," and that free people of color from Virginia "quietly drifted across the border." Grade: SECONDARY. [Johnson, *Ante-Bellum North Carolina*, ch. 20](https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/johnson/chapter20.html).
  195. - **Virginia, 1793.** Free people of color had to register with the county clerk and carry their "free papers." Without them they could not "go at large or hire himself or herself to labour." Free people of color were also barred from moving into Virginia. Grade: SECONDARY. [VGS, Free Negro Registers](https://www.vgs.org/resources/free-negro-registers/).
  197. ### Russell County, Virginia, 1799-1809: Meredith
  199. - **1801, after Gabriel's conspiracy.** Each county commissioner of the revenue had to keep "a complete list of all free negroes or mulattoes," with name, sex, residence, and trade.
  200. - A registered free person of color found in another county could be arrested.
  201. - One without "honest employment" could be "deemed and treated as a vagrant."
  202. - For Meredith, the Russell County list for these years is a direct record of whether the county classed him as a free person of color.
  204. Grade: PRIMARY. [1801 act](https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/an-act-to-amend-the-act-intituled-an-act-to-reduce-into-one-the-several-acts-concerning-slaves-free-negroes-and-mulattoes-1801/).
  205. - **1806.** No "free negro or mulatto" could keep "any fire-lock of any kind" without a license from the county court. The license could be revoked at any time, and a second offense brought forfeiture and up to 39 lashes. That applied in hunting country, during Meredith's last years in Russell. Grade: PRIMARY. [1806 gun act (Duke repository)](https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/laws/1805-va-acts-51-an-act-concerning-free-negroes-and-mulatoes).
  206. - **Also 1806.** Newly freed people had to leave Virginia within twelve months. This did not apply to families born free, like the Collinses. Grade: PRIMARY.
  207. - **About 1810** Meredith took the family over into Kentucky.
  209. ### Kentucky, 1810-1829: Meredith, the Reeds, Jesse and Mary
  211. - **1798 code.** Kentucky applied the slave code to free people of color:
  212. - one gun, and only for a housekeeper;
  213. - "thirty lashes on his or her bare back" for raising a hand against a white person;
  214. - no testimony against a white person.
  216. Grade: SECONDARY (Walker, quoting the statute).
  217. - **1799 constitution.** It gave the vote to "every free male citizen (negroes, mulattoes and Indians excepted)," and excluded the same groups from the militia. Grade: SECONDARY.
  218. - **1808.** A law against free Black people moving into Kentucky.
  219. - Its preamble spoke of "a very serious evil" from free people coming into the state.
  220. - Any white man could "seize and arrest" a suspected newcomer. The accused posted a $500 bond or sat in jail, and one found to be a migrant had "twenty days" to leave or would "be sold as a slave."
  221. - Meredith arrived about 1810, after this act. The 1810 census counted his household white.
  223. Grade: SECONDARY (Walker, citing Morehead and Brown's *Digest*).
  224. - **1825.** Two acts:
  225. - County courts could bind out the children of poor free people of color "without the consent of their parents," when the parents were judged "incapable of bringing them up in honest courses." Walker writes that apprenticeship under this law "sometimes differed little from slavery." The Pike County summons of March 1829 and the binding of Meredith's son that June came four years later.
  226. - All "free persons of color," women included, were required to work the public roads. White women were not.
  228. Grade: SECONDARY.
  229. - **Free papers on the road.** Walker, quoting Coleman: "All known Negroes who could not produce their 'free papers' were taken up as runaways," and some were "sold secretly and cheaply by unscrupulous patrollers." Grade: SECONDARY.
  230. - **1829.** The Kentucky Colonization Society was organized that year. Its constitution stated its purpose as relieving the state of "a rapidly increasing number of free persons of color." That is the year Jesse and Mary left for Indiana. The society went on to send 658 free Black Kentuckians to Liberia by 1859. Grade: SECONDARY.
  231. - **North Carolina closed behind them.**
  232. - 1826: free people of color were barred from moving into the state, on pain of a $500 fine or up to ten years' servitude. "All free base born children of color" could be bound out.
  233. - 1830: a free person of color who stayed out of the state more than 90 days lost the right to return.
  234. - 1835: the vote was taken away.
  235. - After 1826, going back to kin in Ashe or Wilkes was itself illegal for anyone classed as a person of color.
  237. Grade: SECONDARY. [Johnson](https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/johnson/chapter20.html).
  238. - **What historians say.** Walker: "with limited options elsewhere, few left the state," and "the mobility of blacks was directly regulated by the state." Grade: SECONDARY. [Walker PDF](https://filsonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/publicationpdfs/57-4-4_The-Legal-Status-of-Free-Blacks-in-Early-Kentucky-1792-1825_Walker-Juliet-E.K..pdf).
  240. ### Indiana, 1830-1837: Jesse and Mary
  242. - **1816 constitution.** Voting and the militia were for white men only. Grade: SECONDARY.
  243. - **1818.** Anyone of "a fourth or more" Black ancestry could not testify where a white person was a party, and marriage between white and Black people was forbidden. Grade: SECONDARY.
  244. - **1831 bond law.** Effective 1 September 1831.
  245. - Black and mulatto newcomers had to post a $500 bond "for their good behaviour." Otherwise the overseers of the poor could hire them out for six months or remove them from the state.
  246. - The act reached only people who came in after 1 September 1831. Jesse and Mary were in Morgan County by the 1830 census, so it didn't reach them by its terms.
  247. - It was enforced now and then. Edward Cooper, a free man of color, was hired out for six months under it, and the Indiana Supreme Court upheld that in *State v. Cooper*.
  248. - Thornbrough's overall verdict: "generally it was a dead letter."
  250. Grade: PRIMARY (text quoted in the opinions) and SECONDARY.
  251. - **1837 school law.** Township schools were put in the hands of "the white inhabitants." Later revisions opened schools "only to white children." The Collinses left Morgan County about 1837. Grade: SECONDARY.
  253. ### Illinois, 1837-1839
  255. - **The 1829 Black code.**
  256. - A free Black settler needed a certificate of freedom and a **$1,000 bond** that he would not become a county charge.
  257. - Anyone without a certificate could be jailed and, after six weeks, hired out "for the best price" for a year.
  258. - Marriage between white and Black people was void, with fines, "whipping, and imprisonment."
  259. - The Colored Conventions Project and other historians describe the bond as set high enough to bar most migrants.
  261. Grade: SECONDARY. [US History Scene, 1829 code](https://ushistoryscene.com/article/synopsis-illinois-black-code-1829/).
  262. - **1837, Alton.** Six Morgan County men attended Lovejoy's antislavery convention at Alton. Lovejoy was killed there on 7 November 1837. (See the dossier.)
  264. ### Missouri, 1839-1844: St. Louis County and Chariton County
  266. - **The 1835 license law.**
  267. - Every free Black or mulatto person needed a county-court license to live in Missouri.
  268. - Only people born in the state, or living there since January 1825, could get one.
  269. - Free children aged 7 to 21 were to be bound out.
  270. - A family coming in from Illinois in 1839 couldn't qualify at all. In 1842 St. Louis County refused a license to James Robinson, from Illinois, on exactly that ground.
  271. - In 1840 the Collins household in St. Ferdinand Township was counted white, and so was Bradley's in Chariton County. No Collins or Reed is in the county's license index.
  273. Grade: SECONDARY and PRIMARY (index). [Jenkins, NPS](https://npshistory.com/publications/jeff/jenkins.pdf).
  274. - **Enforcement in St. Louis County.** From 1835 to 1863 the county caught 457 people without licenses, 132 of them more than once, with "physical punishment each occasion." Licenses recorded "complexion" and scars. Grade: SECONDARY.
  275. - **1835 marriage law.** Marriage between white and Black people was void in Missouri from 1835. The ban stayed in force until 1969. Grade: SECONDARY.
  276. - **The tightening, 1843-1845.**
  277. - 1843: licensed free people of color had to post bonds of up to $1,000.
  278. - 1844-45: a fine was added for failing to leave, and then jail and up to twenty lashes.
  279. - Bradley left Missouri for Appanoose in 1844.
  281. Grade: SECONDARY.
  282. - **1847.** No one could "keep or teach any school" for Black people "in reading or writing," and no free Black or mulatto person could "under any pretext, emigrate" to Missouri, on pain of a fine of up to $500 and six months in jail. Grade: PRIMARY. [1847 act](https://teachinglegalhistory.unl.edu/s/oer/item/1838).
  284. ### Iowa, 1836-1856: the Reeds, Bradley, Mary and her children
  286. - **The 1839 territorial act.** In force 1 April 1839, while Tilford and Benjamin Reed were in Van Buren County.
  287. - "No black or mulatto person shall be permitted to settle or reside" in the territory without "a fair certificate" of freedom from a court, and a $500 bond.
  288. - A person without a bond could be hired out for six months.
  289. - Anyone who hired or harbored such a person was fined $5 to $100.
  291. Grade: PRIMARY (text as quoted) and SECONDARY. [SHSI](https://history.iowa.gov/media/776/download?inline=).
  292. - **The marriage ban (1839/1840 to 1851).**
  293. - "All marriages of white persons with negroes or mulattoes are declared to be illegal and void." There was no criminal penalty.
  294. - The Code of 1851 quietly left it out.
  295. - It was in force in 1850, when Mary Elizabeth, marked M that year, married Eli Bruner. If southern Appanoose was being treated as Missouri, Missouri's ban applied instead.
  297. Grade: SECONDARY.
  298. - **Nearby enforcement: the McGregors (1844).** In Marion County, a neighbor who had refused a couple lodging had Thomas McGregor, a white man, and his Black wife Rose Ann arrested under the marriage law. A jury "failed to indict," and Rose Ann posted bond under the Black law with a neighbor's help. The couple left the county soon afterward. Grade: SECONDARY. Brodnax, "Breathing the Freedom's Air" (PhD, Northwestern, 2007), p. 33.
  299. - **The 1846 constitution.**
  300. - Voters were "every white male citizen." The militia was "able bodied white male citizens." The state census counted "all the white inhabitants" for apportionment.
  301. - So Bradley's service as an election judge in 1849 put him on the white side of the constitution's line.
  302. - School laws of 1846 and 1851 limited the common schools to white children. Mary's children, marked M in 1850, had no claim on them.
  304. Grade: PRIMARY. [Iowa Constitution of 1846](https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/ICNST/780453.pdf).
  305. - **The 1851 exclusion law.**
  306. - It barred Black people from moving into Iowa. Newcomers had to leave within three days of notice or face fines of $2 a day and jail.
  307. - People already living in the state could stay. Mary's household, recorded in 1850, was lawfully resident under it.
  308. - It was enforced at Keokuk in 1856, struck down by a district judge in the Archie Webb case in 1863, and repealed in 1864.
  310. Grade: SECONDARY.
  311. - **What historians say.** Robert Dykstra (*Bright Radical Star*, 1993) calls antebellum Iowa perhaps "the most racially conservative free state." A proposal for equal suffrage got 15 percent of the vote in 1857. Grade: SECONDARY.
  313. ### Indiana, 1850-1856: Mary Elizabeth and Eli
  315. - **The "amalgamation" acts of 1840 and 1842.**
  316. - Marriage between a white person and anyone of one-eighth or more Black ancestry was void.
  317. - As first passed, the penalties for the couple were fines of $1,000 to $5,000 and a prison term (accounts differ between 1-10 and 10-20 years).
  318. - A clerk who issued the license faced up to $500. A minister who performed the marriage faced up to $10,000. Anyone who helped faced $100 to $1,000.
  319. - If Daviess and Martin counties knew Mary Elizabeth as a mulatto, her marriage to Eli counted for nothing in Indiana, and both of them were exposed to felony charges. The Iowa ceremony gave them no protection there.
  320. - No prosecution of a white-mulatto couple before the Civil War has been found. The Indiana Supreme Court upheld the ban in 1871.
  322. Grade: PRIMARY (act titles) and SECONDARY. [Varble, 2014](https://ir.library.louisville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2484&context=etd).
  323. - **Article XIII.**
  324. - "No negro or mulatto shall come into, or settle in, the State." It passed 113,828 to 21,873 on 4 August 1851. In Knox County, next to Daviess, the vote was 1,461 to 89.
  325. - Contracts with anyone who came in afterward were void. Anyone who employed such a person or "encouraged" them to stay was fined $10 to $500.
  326. - Mary Elizabeth was in Daviess County by the 1850 census, before it took effect.
  328. Grade: PRIMARY (text) and SECONDARY (votes).
  329. - **The 1852 enforcement act.** Black and mulatto residents had to register with the county clerk and bring witnesses to prove they had lived in the state before November 1851. The clerk's certificate was needed to make contracts or to work. Martin County's register survives, printed in Coy D. Robbins, *Indiana Negro Registers 1852-1865* (1994). Emma was born in Martin County in 1853. Grade: SECONDARY.
  330. - **Enforcement in Daviess County itself.**
  331. - Mason Hatwood, a mulatto, came to Daviess County "about 1856" and was prosecuted and convicted under Article XIII. He was prosecuted again in 1861 and won on appeal (*Hatwood v. State*, 1862).
  332. - Thornbrough notes that complaints under the article started with a private affidavit, and one Fort Wayne paper admitted a complaint was made "from personal malice."
  333. - The Bruners left Indiana about 1856.
  335. Grade: SECONDARY.
  336. - **Effect on Indiana's population.** The state's Black population rose by only 166 people in the 1850s, from 11,262 to 11,428. The Snelling Settlement, a free Black farm community in Decatur County, broke up about 1856 and moved to Michigan. Grade: SECONDARY.
  338. ### Illinois 1857, and Missouri from 1858: the Bruners
  340. - **Illinois, 1853.** Any Black person who came in and stayed ten days "with the evident intention of residing" could be fined $50. If the fine went unpaid, the person's labor was sold "at public auction." Half the fine went to the informer. This was in force during the Bruners' Illinois year, 1857, and during Kalaska's Illinois service. Grade: PRIMARY. [1853 act](https://teachinglegalhistory.unl.edu/s/oer/item/1842).
  341. - **Missouri, 1858.** The Bruners moved to Mercer County while the 1847 entry ban and the marriage ban were both in force.
  342. - **What the county did with them anyway.** Within a few years of arriving, Eli was:
  343. - a founding member of the Somerset Methodist church (1858);
  344. - captain of the township's militia company (1861), and an officer again in 1863 and 1865 (see Part Three).
  345. - **After the war.**
  346. - The 1865 constitution kept voting white-only.
  347. - An 1866 statute "prohibited all marriages" between white and Black people.
  348. - In 1879 the ban became a felony for anyone of one-eighth or more Black ancestry, "determined from appearance."
  350. Grade: SECONDARY.
  351. - **The brothers' regiments.** Kalaska served in the 118th Illinois and Spencer in the 46th Missouri. Both were white regiments; Black soldiers were enlisted in the U.S. Colored Troops. The recruiting officers took both brothers as white. Grade: WEAK (inference from how the regiments were raised).
  353. ### Arkansas, 1870s-1887
  355. - **The 1859 expulsion.**
  356. - Arkansas's Act 151 ordered every free person with one Black grandparent to leave the state by 1 January 1860, or be hired out or sold "into slavery for a period of one year."
  357. - About 700 free Black people lived in Arkansas; all but 144 left.
  358. - This happened before the family came. It shows where Arkansas law stood fifteen years before the Bruners arrived.
  360. Grade: SECONDARY. [Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Act 151](https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/act-151-of-1859-4430/).
  361. - **Marriage.**
  362. - Black delegates to the 1868 convention defeated a proposed constitutional ban on interracial marriage.
  363. - The 1874 civil code left the old ban out. It "reappeared" in 1876 and was restated in 1884.
  364. - In 1895 the state supreme court invalidated a marriage made in 1874.
  365. - Emma married J. L. Davis in 1881, while the restored ban was in the code.
  367. Grade: SECONDARY. [Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Anti-miscegenation Laws](https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/anti-miscegenation-laws-3508/).
  369. ### Colorado, 1864
  371. - Colorado's territorial act of 1864 made marriages "between negroes or mulattoes... and white persons" "absolutely void." Those who married, and anyone who performed the marriage, faced fines of $50 to $500 and three months to two years in jail. The act was in force when Eli died at Colorado City in 1879. Grade: SECONDARY.
  373. ### What historians say about the laws and moving on
  375. - **Enforcement came from neighbors.**
  376. - Kate Masur (*Until Justice Be Done*, 2021) finds that the northern Black laws did "not work to stop migration." Their force lay in selective, threatening enforcement.
  377. - Thornbrough and McDonald on Indiana say the same. Prosecutions began with a local complaint, often out of spite.
  378. - So how the neighbors regarded a household decided whether the law was ever used against it.
  379. - **Success could bring the backlash.** Anna-Lisa Cox (*The Bone and Sinew of the Land*, 2018) mapped over 330 Black farm settlements in the Old Northwest. She argues the laws came "in response to" the success of Black landholders, not ahead of them.
  380. - **Settlements like the family's.** Stephen Vincent (*Southern Seed, Northern Soil*, 1999) studies free families of color of mixed ancestry from Virginia and North Carolina who moved into Indiana as Southern laws tightened in the 1820s and 30s. They were hemmed in after 1851. (WEAK: summary not checked against the book.)
  381. - **Whiteness as a way through.**
  382. - Sharfstein's Spencer family, farmers in Johnson County, Kentucky, next to Floyd and Pike, "became legally white after hovering in racial ambiguity for nearly one hundred years."
  383. - His Gibson family passed into whiteness in the South Carolina backcountry and rose to the U.S. Senate. Heinegg traces that family from the same colonial Virginia free-colored Gibsons as the Collinses' Flat River neighbors.
  385. - Grade: SECONDARY.
  387. ### Complaints in their own words
  389. - **Granville and two neighboring counties, North Carolina, 1763.** The tax left free families of color "greatly Impoverished," unable to provide "the common Necessaries of Life."
  390. - **South Carolina, 1794.** George Collins, whom Heinegg places in the Louisa and Flat River Collins family, petitioned with Gibson kin against the poll tax. They cited the "distresses, occasioned by your Act imposing the poll tax." Grade: SECONDARY (Heinegg).
  391. - **Hertford County, North Carolina, 1822.** Forty-five free men of color, with 84 white supporters, protested a law that let enslaved people testify against free people of color: "their lives & liberties are virtually placed at the mercy of Slaves." Grade: PRIMARY (transcription).
  393. ### Timeline: the laws and the moves
  395. | Year | Law | Family |
  396. |---|---|---|
  397. | 1723 | Virginia taxes wives of free men of color; takes the vote | |
  398. | 1745 | | Louisa County presents the Collins men for concealing tithables |
  399. | 1749 | North Carolina taxes free women of color from age 12, "to the fourth generation" | |
  400. | c. 1750 | | Collinses move to the Flat River, North Carolina |
  401. | 1755 | | Orange Co tax list: "Molata," three Black tithes for Thomas |
  402. | 1761-63 | Gowens refuse to list wives; Granville petition against the tax | |
  403. | c. 1767 | | Collinses move to the New River, beyond the line ("Indian Lands") |
  404. | 1776 | North Carolina lets tax-paying free men of color vote | |
  405. | 1793 | Virginia: registration and free papers; entry ban | |
  406. | 1799 | | Meredith in Russell Co, Virginia |
  407. | 1801 | Virginia: county lists of free people of color by name | |
  408. | 1806 | Virginia: gun license required for free people of color | |
  409. | 1808 | Kentucky: ban on free Black migrants, with arrest and sale | |
  410. | c. 1810 | | Meredith to Floyd Co, Kentucky; counted white |
  411. | 1825 | Kentucky: children of poor free people of color may be bound out; road duty for women | |
  412. | 1826 | North Carolina: entry ban; "base born children of color" bound out | |
  413. | 1829 | Kentucky Colonization Society founded; Illinois $1,000 bond and marriage ban | Pike County binds out Meredith's son; Jesse and Mary leave for Indiana |
  414. | 1831 | Indiana $500 bond for newcomers after 1 September | Collinses in Indiana since 1830 |
  415. | 1835 | Missouri license law (newcomers can't qualify); marriage ban. North Carolina takes the vote | |
  416. | 1837 | Indiana schools for white inhabitants | Collinses to Illinois |
  417. | 1839 | Iowa certificate and bond act; Honey War | Collinses and Bradley in Missouri, counted white |
  418. | 1839/40 | Iowa marriage ban. Indiana amalgamation act (felony) | |
  419. | 1843-45 | Missouri bonds, fines, then jail and lashes | 1844: Bradley to Appanoose |
  420. | 1846 | Iowa constitution: white voters; white schools | Collinses in Appanoose by the mid-1840s |
  421. | 1847 | Missouri bans schooling of Black people and free Black entry | Jesse dies |
  422. | 1849 | | Bradley an election judge |
  423. | 1850 | Iowa marriage ban still in force | Mary's household marked M; Mary Elizabeth marries Eli; they go to Indiana |
  424. | 1851 | Indiana Article XIII; Iowa exclusion law; Iowa code drops marriage ban | |
  425. | 1852-53 | Indiana registration; Illinois exclusion act | Emma born in Martin Co |
  426. | c. 1856 | Mason Hatwood prosecuted in Daviess Co | Bruners leave Indiana |
  427. | 1857 | Dred Scott decision | Bruners in Illinois |
  428. | 1858 | Missouri 1847 entry ban in force | Bruners to Mercer Co, Missouri; Eli founds the church |
  429. | 1859 | Arkansas expels free people of color | |
  430. | 1861 | | Capt. Eli Bruner, Mercer Battalion |
  431. | 1864 | Colorado marriage ban; Iowa repeals exclusion | Spencer killed, 46th Missouri |
  432. | 1866 | Missouri restates marriage ban | |
  433. | 1870s | Arkansas ban dropped (1874), restored (1876) | Bruners to Benton Co, Arkansas |
  434. | 1879 | Missouri one-eighth felony marriage law | Eli dies in Colorado |
  435. | 1881 | | Emma marries J. L. Davis in Arkansas |
  437. ---
  439. ## Part Two: William Riddle, Tory
  441. ### The answer: one man
  443. The researcher's confidence is about 80 to 85 percent. No record shows a second William Riddle on the upper New River between 1772 and 1782. No single document names him as both the oath-taker and the Tory. What links them is a chain of Montgomery County records, and every link points the same way.
  445. 1. **Fall 1777.** "William Ridel" is on Captain Cox's list of men who took the oath, below "Jno. (his mark) Riddle." Also on the list are Jno. and Samuel Collens, Geo. Reves, David Fulton, and Jeremiah Clonch. John Riddle's oath certificate is dated 30 September 1777 and signed by the justice, James McCorkle. Kegley, *Militia*, p. 51. Grade: PRIMARY (transcription); certificate in pension S9069.
  446. 2. **1779.** The Montgomery court extended mercy to the New River men "deluded into acts inimical to their country," but it excepted "Wm. Riddle & Nathaniel Britin." Grade: SECONDARY (order book transcription).
  447. 3. **1780.** Riddle led a party of Tories that raided Captain John Cox's house. According to summaries of pension papers, the party included **Lewis Collins and David Gibson.** Capt. Salathiel Martin later caught the party at a "Rock House" on the New River, and Lewis and David escaped. This ties the book's Lewis Collins story directly to Riddle. Grade: SECONDARY (the pension papers themselves weren't found online).
  448. 4. **3 April 1782.** The court ordered Capt. William Love to return to "Hoppe Riddle" a cow he had taken from her in 1780 while pursuing Tories, or pay her five pounds. Grade: SECONDARY (order book transcription).
  449. 5. **8 April 1782.** "John Riddle, an orphan of William Riddle of 7 yrs old" was bound out, and "James Riddle orphan of Wm. Riddle" was bound to James McCorkle, the same justice who had certified John Riddle's oath in 1777. Grade: SECONDARY.
  450. 6. **1784.** His estate was inventoried: ewes and lambs, a mare, oxen, horses, a grindstone, a feather bed, and a saddle. Grade: SECONDARY.
  452. Sources: [Kegley transcription](https://www.brandywinecrucible.org/archive/ky,%20montgomery%20co%20militia%201777-1790.pdf); [John Riddle pension S9069](https://revwarapps.org/s9069.pdf); [Empty Branches, "The Riddle of the Riddle Family"](https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2015/02/the-riddle-of-the-riddle-family/); [New River Notes](https://www.newrivernotes.com/tbuilder-layout-part/dunmore-herberts-company/).
  454. ### Was he Moses's son?
  456. Probably. The evidence:
  457. - **1767, Pittsylvania County.** A tithable list reads "Moses Ridle (an Indian), William Ridle," side by side. William is listed as an adult, not marked Indian. Several researchers quote the list the same way; it wasn't seen directly. Grade: SECONDARY.
  458. - **John Riddle.** He said he was born "near Flat River," Moses's neighborhood, and he swore the oath alongside William.
  459. - **A sister.** Draper records that the Tory Bill Nichols's wife "is said to have been a sister of Captain William Riddle." Nichols shot his Whig neighbor William Letcher at Letcher's home near present Ararat, Virginia, on 2 August 1780, and was executed. If William was Moses's son, Mrs. Nichols was Moses's daughter. Grade: SECONDARY (tradition).
  460. - **The rival claim.** Draper (1881) calls William the son of "the Loyalist Colonel James Riddle, of Surry County." No such colonel appears in any record, and Draper cites no source. The earliest printed account, Wheeler (1851), names no father and says "Riddle and his son" were hanged. Grade: WEAK for the colonel.
  462. ### The two brothers
  464. John Riddle's pension (S9069, 1833) says he:
  465. - went against the Cherokee under Captain Cox in 1776;
  466. - took the oath in 1777;
  467. - was drafted in 1781 in Henry County and served at the siege of Yorktown, guarding prisoners.
  469. That puts John in the Continental service in 1781, the same year William was a Tory captain in the mountains. John's pension doesn't mention William, their father, or the Tories. Grade: PRIMARY.
  471. ### How an oath-taker became a Tory captain
  473. - **The oath act of 1777.** A man who refused the oath lost the right to hold office, sit on a jury, bring a lawsuit, or buy land. That gave men a reason to swear whatever they believed. Grade: WEAK (general knowledge; check Hening, vol. 9).
  474. - **Fall 1777.** Tory trouble on the New River was already under way. Elisha Reynolds said he marched that season against Tories "said at the time to amount to 400 or 500 on New River." Grade: PRIMARY (pension W4060). [W4060](https://revwarapps.org/w4060.pdf).
  475. - **April 1779.** Warrants named fourteen men, and then seventeen, for plotting "to seize the publick magaziens" and for swearing an oath "not to lift arms against the King." Grade: PRIMARY (Library of Virginia papers, as described).
  476. - **July 1779.** Tories on the New River took Captains Cox, Osborn, and Henderson prisoner. One compiler reads this as Cox's and Osborn's own companies mutinying against their captains.
  477. - **Other men from Cox's 1777 oath list who turned or were accused.**
  478. - In September 1779, David Fulton and Jeremiah Clonch, both on the list, were accused of being "inimical to the government."
  479. - A Jno. Blevins on the list may be the John Blevins who confessed to "the late Insurrection" that August.
  480. - A "Geo. Reves" is on the list, and a Reeves was later hanged with Riddle. The link rests on the surname alone.
  481. - **1780.** Preston counted "fifteen British commissions in this county and that of Washington." Riddle's title of "Captain" probably came from such a commission or from his own band.
  482. - **April 1781.** Preston wrote that "nearly one half of our Militia are disaffected." Men wouldn't march "without leaving their families exposed to the Savages." Grade: PRIMARY. [Preston to Jefferson, April 1781](https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-05-02-0545).
  484. ### The kidnapping, and the hanging
  486. This account is from Draper, *King's Mountain and Its Heroes* (1881), ch. 19, drawn from family and veteran informants. Grade: SECONDARY.
  488. - **Saturday, 14 April 1781.**
  489. - Riddle came down "from the Virginia border" with six or eight men, including Zachariah Wells, and a Whig prisoner.
  490. - He learned that Col. Benjamin Cleveland was at his tenant Jesse Duncan's, at the Old Fields of the South Fork of the New River.
  491. - The Tories stole Cleveland's horses in the night and ambushed him. Wells's shot broke Richard Callaway's thigh.
  492. - Cleveland, "fully three hundred pounds," was taken. He and Riddle knew each other by sight.
  493. - Wheeler says the Tories made Cleveland write out passes for them, and he wrote as slowly as he could.
  494. - **Sunday, 15 April.**
  495. - Cleveland's brother's party, including Benjamin Greer and young Daniel Cutbirth, fired on the camp at dawn at the Wolf's Den, on the knob now called Riddle's Knob, in Watauga County.
  496. - Cleveland dropped behind a log. The Tories fled, "Riddle and his wife among the number."
  497. - **The Witherspoons.**
  498. - Shortly afterward Riddle raided King's Creek above Wilkesboro and seized David and John Witherspoon of Cleveland's regiment.
  499. - The Tories sentenced them to be shot, then let them go on their promise to join the band.
  500. - The Witherspoons came back instead with Col. Benjamin Herndon's men, who took "Riddle, Reeves and Goss."
  501. - **The hanging, late April or May 1781.**
  502. - A court martial at Wilkesboro condemned all three.
  503. - Riddle "treated them freely to whisky," meaning the guards, and Cleveland told him he "would be hung directly after breakfast."
  504. - They were hanged on a large oak on the hill beside the village, the "Tory Oak" behind the old courthouse.
  505. - Draper: "Mrs. Riddle, who seems to have accompanied her husband on his wild and reckless marauds, was present, and witnessed his execution."
  506. - No last words are recorded.
  508. **Other versions of his death.**
  509. - Wheeler has Riddle hanged with "his son, and another." One researcher identifies the son as Moses, about 15.
  510. - A local tradition says Greer shot him at the Wolf's Den and his wife stayed with him while he died.
  511. - Another tradition puts the hanging at a thorn tree on Brushy Fork.
  512. - The Montgomery records show only that he was dead by April 1782.
  514. ### His widow and children
  516. - **His widow.** "Hoppe" (Happy) Riddle, said to be born a Rogers or a Roberts.
  517. - **His sons.** John (7) and James were bound out in 1782. One researcher lists Moses, James, John, Joseph, Isaac, Thomas, Happy Jr., and William. Isaac's gravestone in Morris County, Texas, gives 1777-1861.
  518. - **Later claims.** The same researcher connects descendants of the family to the 1906 Eastern Cherokee applications.
  519. - Grade: SECONDARY and WEAK. [The Rising Tide, "William Riddle 1740-1781"](https://shaybo-therisingtide.blogspot.com/2013/02/william-riddle-1740-1781.html).
  521. ### What this means for Chapter Three
  523. The book names William and John Riddle, "sons of old Moses," as the uncles Meredith would have had if his mother was a Riddle. On the evidence here:
  524. - William took the oath in 1777.
  525. - By 1779 he was shut out of the county's amnesty.
  526. - In 1780 he led a raid on Captain Cox's house, with Lewis Collins in his party.
  527. - In April 1781 he kidnapped Colonel Cleveland, and within weeks he was hanged at Wilkesboro while his wife watched.
  528. - A sister of his was married to another Tory who was executed for murder.
  529. - His brother John was drafted in 1781 and served at Yorktown.
  531. ---
  533. ## Part Three: Captain Eli Bruner, Confirmed
  535. The captaincy and the lieutenancy are both confirmed in Missouri's official Adjutant General's reports, and a third period of service turned up.
  537. ### The service
  539. | Service | Rank | Dates | Source | Grade |
  540. |---|---|---|---|---|
  541. | Mercer County Battalion, Six Months Militia, **Company G** (39 men) | **Captain** | Commissioned autumn 1861; mustered in at Utica, 19 Sept 1861; mustered out at Princeton, 19 March 1862 | Missouri Adjutant General's Report, 1863, pp. 273-274 | PRIMARY |
  542. | 4th Provisional Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia, **Company I** (a Mercer County company) | Officer; rank not legible in the scan | 1863 | *Report of the Conduct and Management of the Missouri Militia* (1864), p. 228 | PRIMARY |
  543. | 35th Regiment, Missouri Militia (Mercer County), **Platoon K** | **1st Lieutenant** | Commissioned 4 Oct 1865 | Missouri Adjutant General's Report, 1865, p. 662 | PRIMARY |
  545. **Company G's officers:** "Eli Bruner, Captain; William Finkham, 1st Lieutenant; Pleasant Henry, 2d Lieutenant. (39 Men.)"
  547. Sources: [AG Report 1863, p. 273](https://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/senatej/id/12308); [p. 274](https://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/senatej/id/12309); [Militia report 1864, p. 228](https://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/shscivilwar/id/4701); [AG Report 1865, p. 662](https://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/senatej/id/3598).
  549. ### What the battalion did
  551. - **Organization, 1861.** Governor Gamble's proclamation of 24 August 1861 called for militia to serve "for the period of six months." Mercer County formed a battalion of eight companies under Lt. Col. Jonas J. Clark.
  552. - **Winter 1861-62.** The 1888 county history says the battalion camped two or three weeks at Edinburg, in Grundy County, then moved to Chillicothe, then to Utica on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, "where it did escort duty until the following spring."
  553. - **What such companies did.** The Adjutant General described the Six Months Militia as "scouring their counties in search of rebel camps and rendezvous, and acting as scouts and guides to the various bodies of volunteers then in the State."
  554. - **Other battalions.** A neighboring Grundy County battalion was credited with "breaking up sundry secession encampments."
  555. - **No record of fighting.** Of the Mercer battalion, the 1863 report says: "no record of the history of this Battalion is on file." No named skirmish has been found.
  556. - **1863.** The Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia regiments, including the 4th, were organized from May 1863 to fight guerrillas and garrison towns. Most were disbanded before November 1863.
  557. - **1865.** The 35th Militia was organized after the war "to preserve order and quiet disturbance." No call-out is recorded.
  559. Grade: PRIMARY and SECONDARY. [*History of Harrison and Mercer Counties* (1888), pp. 455-456, 466](https://archive.org/details/historyofharriso00stlo); [War Department, *Organization and Status of Missouri Troops* (1902)](https://archive.org/details/organizationstat00unit).
  561. ### Around Eli in Somerset
  563. - **A Masonic lodge at Somerset.**
  564. - Somerset Lodge No. 206, A.F. & A.M., was organized in November 1860 by Jonas J. Clark, the officer who commanded Eli's battalion the next year.
  565. - Albert Bruse, a charter officer of the lodge, was also a founding member of Eli's Methodist church.
  566. - Eli's own membership hasn't been found, but this is the likeliest lodge for a Somerset Mason. The Grand Lodge of Missouri's annual returns would settle it.
  567. - Grade: SECONDARY.
  568. - **The 1877 county atlas.** It lists Adam Bruner at Somerset as "Farmer and Mechanic. General Job Work and Repairing," and D. M. Bruner and A. Bruner as landowners. Eli isn't listed, which fits his having left for Colorado by then. Grade: PRIMARY. [1877 atlas](https://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/mocoplats/id/2153).
  569. - **A possible brother.**
  570. - An 1886 Iowa biography of David M. Bruner, a druggist born in Knox County, Illinois, on 22 July 1846, names his father as "Hickman Bruner," a native of Kentucky.
  571. - It traces the family to Indiana in 1852, Putnam County, Missouri, in 1856, Kansas in 1857 (where the father took up a claim), then Mercer County, and at last Arkansas, "where both parents died."
  572. - If this is Eli's father, the family was in Illinois in the 1840s, and Hickman made a Kansas claim in 1857.
  573. - David M. Bruner owned land in Mercer County in 1877.
  574. - Grade: SECONDARY; identity probable, not proven. [*Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties* (1886), p. 465](https://archive.org/details/biographicalhist00inte).
  575. - **Hickman in Indiana, 1844.** On 23 December 1844 Congressman John W. Davis presented "the petition of Hickman Bruner and 32 others, asking a post route from Mount Pleasant." Mount Pleasant was the early seat of Martin County, where Emma was born nine years later. Grade: PRIMARY (Congressional Globe); identity probable.
  576. - **Ministers named Bruner.** The records found don't yet connect any of these to Hickman:
  577. - Rev. Jacob Bruner, Methodist Episcopal Church, South-Eastern Indiana Conference.
  578. - Rev. John Bruner, Indiana Conference, son of Elias Bruner of Monroe County, Indiana.
  579. - Charles Bruner, an early pastor at Chapel Hill Methodist Church, Monroe County, in the 1850s.
  581. A Bruner family Bible or Hickman's parents' records would be the way to connect them. Grade: WEAK.
  583. ---
  585. ## Part Four: Dick Holbrook Shot, Seattle, November 1922
  587. Found 26 September 2026. A *Seattle Times* clipping posted to Jessie Clifford's Ancestry profile led to the *Seattle Star*'s coverage, which is free on Chronicling America. None of this is in the book yet.
  589. **In brief.** Early on the morning of 28 November 1922, a Seattle patrolman shot Richard Clifford "Dick" Holbrook, Jessie's son and Frances's father, then a 20-year-old University of Washington student. The patrolman had stopped Dick and three companions as they carried off a street sign and a flower tub. The bullet went through the top of his left lung, about an inch from his heart. He was reported to be dying that first night, but he recovered and went home on 7 December. The police and the students gave very different accounts of the shooting. On 20 December the university's disciplinary committee, having decided that the four had been drinking, barred Dick and two of the others from the university until 1 January 1924 and the fourth until 1 January 1925. The chief of police suspended the patrolman for 30 days for having "used his revolver too freely."
  591. **How it was read.** The *Star* pages and the other papers' reports were read from the Library of Congress's page images on Chronicling America, with its OCR text as a guide, and every transcription was checked a second time against the images. The *Times* piece was read from the clipping as posted. The papers, and the *Star*'s own reports from day to day, disagree on several points; where they do, both versions are given. Grade: PRIMARY (contemporary newspaper reports).
  593. ### What happened
  595. - **When and where.** About 4 a.m. on Tuesday, 28 November 1922, on East 45th Street near University Way, in Seattle's University District.
  596. - **Who.** Four young men:
  597. - Richard "Dick" Holbrook, 20, a University of Washington student;
  598. - C. A. Schneider, also a student ("Casper Schneider" on 21 December);
  599. - Hubert P. Lewis;
  600. - Wayne Allen, 22, a musician from Salem, Oregon, whom the others met at the Liberty dance hall shortly after midnight. The *Star* of 21 December calls him Wayne Hall and counts him among the four students.
  602. The *Star* says all four were "said to be members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, at 2120 E. 47th st."
  603. - **The night.** About 1:40 a.m. they had a light lunch at the Boston cafe on Third Avenue, then took a streetcar to the University District. They denied drinking, "altho Schneider is said to have admitted that he personally had had a few drinks." Two patrolmen, H. W. Howard and A. W. Elliott, later told the chief they had seen the group on Second Avenue a few hours before the shooting, intoxicated, and had advised them "to go to a restaurant and drink coffee to sober up."
  604. - **The prank.** At East 45th Street and University Way they picked up "a safety zone sign and a flower pot in front of a bank," the flower pot being "a large tub affair" with a shrub in it, and carried them east along 45th.
  605. - **The shooting.** Patrolman J. H. Karlberg stopped them. He fired one shot, and a second shot hit Dick.
  607. Sources: *Star*, 28 November, pp. 1 and 8; 29 November, p. 7.
  609. ### Karlberg's account
  611. - He yelled at them to halt, "and when they refused he fired a shot in a vacant lot." Schneider dropped the tub, and Karlberg chased Dick, who had the sign:
  613. > "I yelled at him to drop it," said Karlberg, "and he said 'I can't do it.' I replied, 'You will do it.' Then my gun was hit by the sign. It discharged as this happened. I had no intention of shooting again. I then brought the boy to the station."
  615. (*Star*, 28 November, p. 8.)
  616. - The *Star*'s front-page box the same day quotes him differently: "I didn't mean to do it. The boy threw a flower pot at me and the blow discharged my revolver."
  617. - The next day he said his ".25-caliber automatic bulldog pistol, which he held in his hand, was discharged when Holbrook threw a traffic sign on him," and that he had fired the first shot "to frighten the four boys," who he said were creating a disturbance. (*Star*, 29 November, p. 1.)
  619. ### The police
  621. - Chief of Police W. B. Severyns, "a university man himself," questioned the four and the witnesses for four hours. The four "all told conflicting stories." He announced his belief "that all four of the students in the escapade were intoxicated and that the shooting was purely accidental," and said, "They admit that they had been drinking."
  622. - Lieut. R. W. Olmstead said he found liquor on Allen, who was charged with being drunk and disorderly and released on $25 bail. Dick was charged with disorderly conduct. Schneider was not held.
  623. - Severyns suspended Karlberg on the day of the shooting, to be kept off the force "until a thoro investigation had determined whether or not he was careless in using his gun."
  625. Sources: *Star*, 28 November, pp. 1 and 8; 29 November, p. 7.
  627. ### The witnesses' account
  629. R. M. Fox, 23, a senior, and R. L. Newbern, 24, another student, got off the same streetcar "just behind the other fellows" and walked east along the other side of 45th Street. (The first day's report spells him Newburn.) Fox's account (*Star*, 29 November, p. 7):
  631. > "They were laughing and talking but were not disorderly. One picked up a traffic sign, another a flower tub. There was no noise or disturbance.
  632. >
  633. > "When Newbern and I got near 16th ave., we heard a shot and a man yelling, 'Take it back!' I recognized Karlberg's voice because of his Scandinavian accent. We ran back to the boys just in time to see Karlberg, for no apparent cause, shoot Holbrook down.
  634. >
  635. > "Holbrook had made no move. Neither he nor the men with him threw anything at Karlberg and the shooting seemed entirely without justification. It was light and we could see plainly."
  637. - Karlberg took two of the boys to the station and left one with Dick. Fox and Newbern found Dick "bleeding at the mouth and nose," carried him into the Phi Gamma Delta house, and tried to get a doctor.
  638. - Asked why he had shot Holbrook, Karlberg said, "I know, I know, I shouldn't have done it!" (The *Star* prints dashes where the commas are.)
  639. - "When we got started for the hospital in a touring car which Karlberg provided he got down on his knees and begged the driver to hurry. He was terribly excited and beside himself." They went first to "a hospital that refused admittance," and then to the city hospital.
  640. - Allen, Schneider, and Newbern all confirmed Fox's version. Allen: "None of us had any liquor in his possession, in spite of other reports." He said he had been booked only after a disagreement with the police lieutenant when he asked to stay with Dick, who had asked that Allen be allowed to stay with him.
  641. - **A correction the *Star* made.** Its first report had Fox and Newbern "driving past the scene," and said Fox was charged with drunk driving. The next day it called that "an erroneous report": Fox was never arrested and was not intoxicated, and the man charged was a different J. M. Fox.
  643. ### The wound and the recovery
  645. - **28 November.** Taken to the city hospital, "in a dangerous condition, with a bullet wound over the heart."
  646. - **29 November.** At the Seattle General Hospital, "with an even chance for recovery." He had been "reported to be dying Tuesday night" but held his own. "He was shot thru the top of the left lung, the bullet passing an inch from his heart." Jessie "remained at his bedside during Tuesday night."
  647. - **1 December.** Still critical. Dr. Don Palmer said the lung was punctured and "the bullet is still in the wound," that the youth "must not be allowed to talk, as a fatal hemorrhage might possibly result," and that "danger of infection was not yet passed."
  648. - **4 December.** An X-ray was scheduled "in an effort to locate the bullet." His condition was "slightly improved."
  649. - **7 December.** Well enough to be taken from the hospital to his home "before night." He had "hovered for several days between life and death." The bullet had entered "thru the left shoulder" and grazed his left lung.
  650. - No report says whether the bullet was ever removed.
  652. Sources: *Star*, 28 and 29 November; 1 December, p. 1; 4 December, p. 13; 7 December, p. 10.
  654. ### The aftermath
  656. - **Karlberg.** Still suspended on 7 December, "pending a thoro probe of the case." That day's *Star* says "no one was more relieved than Karlberg" when he heard of Dick's progress.
  657. - **The investigations.** King County Prosecuting Attorney Malcolm Douglas and Chief Severyns were investigating (4 December). University president Henry Suzzallo began "a rigid investigation" on the first day but said, "I am not ready to take snap judgment against the police department."
  658. - **For Karlberg.** "Prominent business men of the University district" came forward to call him "the best officer in the district." He was "a veteran in the department and was formerly a lieutenant in the army."
  659. - **Against him.** His fellow officers "severely criticized" him "for alleged carelessness in handling the weapon" (29 November). Students "thronged the corridors at central headquarters" all day Tuesday.
  660. - **The *Star*'s front page, 28 November.** A boxed editorial headed "Not Justified," beside a photograph of Dick credited "Photo by Charles Bowen": "Patrolman J. H. Karlberg surprised four University of Washington boys in an innocent lark Tuesday morning." It closes: "It would be better to disarm the police entirely if they are to run amuck every time a couple of boys go skylarking. And certainly no man who is so helpless that he must use a deadly weapon to end a college prank has any right on the police force." A crop of the box and photo was saved as `Seattle-Star-1922-11-28-p1-Not-Justified-Dick-Holbrook.jpg`.
  661. - **A new rule at the university.** A state news digest of 8 December reported that President Suzzallo had announced "summary dismissal" for any University of Washington student "who in the future may be discovered in an intoxicated condition," as "an aftermath to the shooting." (*Vashon Island News-Record*, 8 December, p. 1.)
  662. - **The outcome, 20 December 1922.** "Final action was taken Wednesday" (*Star*, 21 December, p. 7):
  663. - The university disciplinary committee, chaired by Dean John T. Condon, "decided that the boys had been intoxicated at the time of the shooting." It barred Dick, Schneider, and Lewis "from the college until January 1, 1924." It barred the fourth, named in this article as Wayne Hall, until 1 January 1925, "because he was charged with other irregularities, in addition to having been intoxicated."
  664. - Condon said drinking "should be treated with at least as much severity as poor scholarship."
  665. - Chief Severyns "decided that Patrolman Karlberg had used his revolver too freely and suspended him for 30 days," which cost him a month's pay. The *Star* reckoned it "really amounts to a 60-day suspension," counting the weeks he had been off the force since the shooting.
  666. - **How the wire told it.** Papers as far away as Alaska ran the news:
  667. - The first wire reports, on 28 November, gave only the patrolman's version: that Dick threw the sign at him and the pistol went off by accident.
  668. - The reports of the outcome garbled the terms. The *Daily Alaskan* (Skagway) has "four to eight school quarters." The *Seward Gateway* has "two months, with confinement to school quarters," and its headline has Karlberg "losing his job," though its own text says he was suspended for thirty days.
  669. - The *Star* of 21 December and the wire reports of the outcome all date the prank to "November 20."
  670. - **Not yet found:** whether Karlberg returned to the force after his suspension, and whether Dick went back to the university in 1924.
  672. ### The *Seattle Times* sidebar
  674. "Mother of Wounded Boy Felt Sure He Was Safe at School," by Dora Dean, *Seattle Daily Times*, 28 November 1922. The *Times*' main news story that day hasn't been seen.
  676. - Jessie's first words on hearing the news, as the paper gives them: "Dick shot! Oh, it can't be my boy."
  677. - She had been "taking an extra long rest this morning because I knew Dick was going to stay at his fraternity house last night."
  678. - "Dick has always been so steady and dependable," she repeated. "He worked his way through Queen Anne High School and he is doing the same at the university. He lives at home usually but quite often he stays out at the house all night."
  679. - "Mrs. Holbrook is a widow and she has all of a mother's pride for her 20-year-old son, 'Dick,' as she calls him."
  681. Grade: PRIMARY (the clipping as posted to Ancestry).
  683. ### For the family record
  685. - **Jessie's address in November 1922:** "Holbrook's mother, who lives at 560 Mercer st., remained at his bedside during Tuesday night." (*Star*, 29 November, p. 7.)
  686. - **Aberdeen:** the *Star* calls Dick "a promising candidate for football honors" and "an Aberdeen, Wash., resident." Aberdeen is in Grays Harbor County, where the January 1920 census found Jessie's household.
  687. - **School:** he "worked his way through Queen Anne High School" and was doing the same at the university (*Times*).
  688. - **Barred from the university until 1 January 1924** (*Star*, 21 December). Whether he went back hasn't been checked.
  689. - **"A widow":** the *Times* calls Jessie a widow in November 1922. The January 1920 census recorded her as married, not widowed. Her husband, Captain Richard Blackmer Holbrook Jr., is recorded as dying on 23 September 1923, at Bismarck, North Dakota, ten months after the *Times* piece. See Leads.
  690. - **His age:** 20, which fits his birth on 12 July 1902.
  691. - **His photograph:** the *Star*'s portrait of him at 20, credited to Charles Bowen.
  693. ### Sources
  695. *The Seattle Star*, via Chronicling America (Library of Congress):
  696. - [28 November 1922, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87093407/1922-11-28/ed-1/?sp=1): "Cop Dropped During Probe of Shooting," and the "Not Justified" box.
  697. - [28 November 1922, p. 8](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87093407/1922-11-28/ed-1/?sp=8): continuation; "Suzzallo Is Probing Case."
  698. - [29 November 1922, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87093407/1922-11-29/ed-1/?sp=1): "Student Still Fights Death."
  699. - [29 November 1922, p. 7](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87093407/1922-11-29/ed-1/?sp=7): continuation; "Cop Excited, Say Students."
  700. - [1 December 1922, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87093407/1922-12-01/ed-1/?sp=1): "Shot Student Yet in Danger."
  701. - [4 December 1922, p. 13](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87093407/1922-12-04/ed-1/?sp=13): "Student to Be Examined."
  702. - [7 December 1922, p. 10](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87093407/1922-12-07/ed-1/?sp=10): "Student Goes to His Home."
  703. - [21 December 1922, p. 7](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87093407/1922-12-21/ed-1/?sp=7): "Heavy Penalty for U Students."
  705. *The Seattle Daily Times*, 28 November 1922: Dora Dean, "Mother of Wounded Boy Felt Sure He Was Safe at School" (clipping on Jessie Lorene Clifford's Ancestry profile).
  707. Other papers, via Chronicling America:
  708. - [*The Cordova Daily Times*, 28 November 1922, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn86072239/1922-11-28/ed-1/?sp=1)
  709. - [*The Alaska Daily Empire* (Juneau), 28 November 1922, p. 6](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84020657/1922-11-28/ed-1/?sp=6)
  710. - [*Vashon Island News-Record*, 8 December 1922, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87093323/1922-12-08/ed-1/?sp=1)
  711. - [*White Bluffs Spokesman*, 8 December 1922, p. 2](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87093008/1922-12-08/ed-1/?sp=2)
  712. - [*The Daily Alaskan* (Skagway), 21 December 1922, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82014189/1922-12-21/ed-1/?sp=1)
  713. - [*The Seward Gateway*, 22 December 1922, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87062168/1922-12-22/ed-1/?sp=1), reprinted [23 December, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87062168/1922-12-23/ed-1/?sp=3)
  714. - [*The Nome Nugget*, 23 December 1922, p. 7](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87062013/1922-12-23/ed-1/?sp=7)
  716. ### The articles, transcribed
  718. Transcribed 26 September 2026 from the Library of Congress page images, and the *Times* piece from the clipping posted to Jessie Lorene Clifford's Ancestry profile. Each transcription was checked word by word against the images a second time.
  720. **How these are transcribed.**
  721. - Wording, spelling, and capitalization are as printed, including the *Star*'s simplified spellings (thoro, altho, thru). The papers' own misprints are kept and marked [sic].
  722. - The papers' dashes are given as commas, or as a period after a dateline, to match the no-dash style of these files.
  723. - A few misprinted marks (a comma for a period at the end of a paragraph, mismatched or stray quotation marks) are corrected without comment.
  724. - Headlines are in bold, in the capitals the papers used. Words split at line ends are joined. Words in square brackets are editorial notes.
  726. #### 1. *The Seattle Star*, Tuesday, 28 November 1922, page 1 (continued on page 8)
  728. Banner across the top of the front page: **POLICEMAN WOUNDS STUDENT**
  730. **COP DROPPED DURING PROBE OF SHOOTING**
  732. **Four Boys Halted During Prank; Fear Victim May Not Recover**
  734. Patrolman J. H. Karlberg, who shot Richard Holbrook, 20, University of Washington student, early Tuesday morning, was indefinitely suspended from the police force by Chief W. B. Severyns at noon Tuesday. Severyns said Karlberg would be kept off the force until a thoro investigation had determined whether or not he was careless in using his gun.
  736. \* \* \*
  738. While playing a boyish trick in the heart of the University business district at 4 a. m. Tuesday with three college companions, Richard Holbrook, 20, was shot and possibly fatally wounded by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg, when he is alleged to have thrown a traffic sign at the officer. Two of the boys in the party are under arrest on minor charges.
  740. Holbrook was taken to the city hospital following the shooting and was reported in a dangerous condition, with a bullet wound over the heart.
  742. After a four hours' grilling of witnesses and principals in the shooting, Chief of Police W. B. Severyns announced his belief that all four of the students in the escapade were intoxicated and that the shooting was purely accidental.
  744. The four boys, Richard Holbrook, Wayne Allen, C. A. Schneider and Hubert P. Lewis, were all questioned by Severyns and all told conflicting stories.
  746. "As far as I can determine," Severyns said, "the boys were playing pranks by taking away the traffic sign and the shrub in a large tub which they were rolling up the street when stopped by the policeman. They admit that they had been drinking."
  748. Prominent business men of the University district have come to the front to defend Patrolman Karlberg, whom they declare to be the best officer in the district. Karlberg is a veteran in the department and was formerly a lieutenant in the army.
  750. Holbrook, a promising candidate for football honors, is an Aberdeen, Wash., resident, and Allen is from Salem, Ore.
  752. According to conflicting statements made to the police by members of the party, they went to the Liberty dance hall shortly after midnight and met Wayne Allen, 22, a musician. All four boys are said to be members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, at 2120 E. 47th st.
  754. About 1:40 a. m. the four boys went to the Boston cafe on Third ave. and, after a light lunch, took a street car to the University district. They denied having been driking [sic], altho Schneider is said to have admitted that he personally had had a few drinks.
  756. At E. 45th st. and University way the boys picked up a safety zone sign and a flower pot in front of a bank and were carting them up the street when Officer Karlberg appeared.
  758. Karlberg claims that he yelled at
  760. (Turn to Page 8, Column 4)
  762. [Page 8, under the heading "Here's More About Student Shot, Starts on Page One":]
  764. them to halt and when they refused he fired a shot in a vacant lot. Schneider, who was carrying the flower pot, a large tub affair, then dropped it, and Kalberg [sic] pursued Holbrook, who carried the traffic sign.
  766. "I yelled at him to drop it," said Karlberg, "and he said 'I can't do it.' I replied, 'You will do it.' Then my gun was hit by the sign. It discharged as this happened. I had no intention of shooting again. I then brought the boy to the station."
  768. Lieut. R. W. Olmstead declared that he found liquor on Allen and a charge of being drunk and disorderly was filed against Allen. Allen was released on $25 bail. Schneider was not held. Holbrook was charged with disorderly conduct.
  770. Chief of Police W. B. Severyns, a university man himself, began an investigation into the shooting as soon as he heard of it.
  772. R. M. Fox, 23, and R. L. Newburn, 24, who were driving past the scene at the time of the shooting, corroborated the students' story. Fox was questioned at length by the police, and then charged with driving an automobile while drunk. He was released on $200 bail.
  774. \* \* \*
  776. **SUZZALLO IS PROBING CASE**
  778. President Henry Suzzallo of the University of Washington began a rigid investigation of the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Richard Holbrook and the arrest of C. A. Schneider, university students, early Tuesday morning by Patrolman Karlberg, following a student prank in the University business district.
  780. "At this hour I have not all the facts," said Dr. Suzzallo Tuesday morning. "We are getting reports from various sources and will go to the bottom of things. I will say this, however, that I am not ready to take snap judgment against the police department. We have had most excellent co-operation from its members, and until our investigation is complete, I shall refuse to criticise."
  782. The shooting has aroused feeling among the university students. All day Tuesday students thronged the corridors at central headquarters intent upon interviewing Chief Severyns and Inspector O'Brien for the purpose of ascertaining the facts in the case.
  784. #### 2. *The Seattle Star*, Tuesday, 28 November 1922, page 1: the boxed editorial
  786. **Not Justified**
  788. Patrolman J. H. Karlberg surprised four University of Washington boys in an innocent lark Tuesday morning.
  790. As a result, Dick Holbrook, one of the students, lies in the city hospital, a bullet thru his body.
  792. The policeman, explaining, says: "I didn't mean to do it. The boy threw a flower pot at me and the blow discharged my revolver."
  794. Which may be all very well. But why did he draw his revolver in the first place? And why was he pointing it at the boy?
  796. It would be better to disarm the police entirely if they are to run amuck every time a couple of boys go skylarking.
  798. And certainly no man who is so helpless that he must use a deadly weapon to end a college prank has any right on the police force.
  800. [Beside the text, a portrait photograph captioned "Dick Holbrook," credited "Photo by Charles Bowen."]
  802. #### 3. *The Seattle Daily Times*, Tuesday, 28 November 1922 (page not shown on the clipping)
  804. **Mother of Wounded Boy Felt Sure He Was Safe at School**
  806. By DORA DEAN.
  808. "Dick shot! Oh, it can't be my boy, is he hurt seriously?" Such was the first anguished cry of Richard Holbrook's mother, Mrs. Jessie Holbrook, when she learned that her son had been shot and wounded by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg while on his way to his fraternity house late last night.
  810. Roused from her morning rest, the boy's mother was still a little dazed and could scarcely believe that any harm had come to her boy.
  812. "I was taking an extra long rest this morning because I knew Dick was going to stay at his fraternity house last night," said Mrs. Holbrook. "I never worry about him, he is always so dependable. I can't believe he would do anything wrong," she cried as the age-old protective mother instinct asserted itself. "It was like him not to let me know so that I wouldn't worry."
  814. Mrs. Holbrook is a widow and she has all of a mother's pride for her 20-year-old son, "Dick," as she calls him.
  816. "Dick has always been so steady and dependable," she repeated several times. "He worked his way through Queen Anne High School and he is doing the same at the university. He lives at home usually but quite often he stays out at the house all night, and he always tells me to call there if I am worried about him. But I wasn't worried this morning, I knew he was going out there last night and I was resting, and to think that he was hurt while I was sleeping."
  818. Not once did she break down when she heard the news, but the tears hovered near the surface, and there was only one thought on her mind and that was to get to her son's bedside and to find out for herself what her son needed and in caring for him to forget the terrible fear and anxiety that the news of his injury had brought to her mother heart.
  820. #### 4. *The Seattle Star*, Wednesday, 29 November 1922, page 1 (continued on page 7)
  822. **STUDENT STILL FIGHTS DEATH**
  824. **Richard Holbrook; Shot by Officer; Holding On**
  826. Fighting a brave battle for life, Richard Holbrook, 20, University student, who was shot by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg while playing a prank in the university business district early Tuesday morning with three companions, remained in the Seattle general hospital Wednesday with an even chance for recovery.
  828. Holbrook was reported to be dying Tuesday night, but recovered sufficiently to hold his own during the remainder of the night. He was shot thru the top of the left lung, the bullet passing an inch from his heart.
  830. Karlberg explained that the shooting was an accident, in that his .25-caliber automatic bulldog pistol, which he held in his hand, was discharged when Holbrook threw a traffic sign on him. He had previously fired one shot from the gun to frighten the four boys, whom, he says, were creating a disturbance.
  832. Karlberg has been severely criticized by his fellow officers in the department for alleged carelessness in handling the weapon.
  834. Chief of Police W. B. Severyns,
  836. (Turn to Page 7, Column 5)
  838. [Page 7, under the heading "Here's More About U Student, Starts on Page One":]
  840. who suspended Karlberg Tuesday afternoon pending investigation, was told by Patrolmen H. W. Howard and A. W. Elliott that they saw Holbrook and his companions on Second ave. a few hours previous to the shooting. The boys were intoxicated, according to their story, and they were advised to go to a restaurant and drink coffee to sober up.
  842. Holbrook's mother, who lives at 560 Mercer st., remained at his bedside during Tuesday night.
  844. \* \* \*
  846. **COP EXCITED, SAY STUDENTS**
  848. "I know, I know, I shouldn't have done it!"
  850. In this manner Patrolman J. H. Karlberg is said by university students to have expressed regret following the shooting of Richard Holbrook, university man, Tuesday morning, following a student prank in the University business district.
  852. Karlberg's excitement ran high during and following the shooting and he got down on his knees in an automobile and begged the driver to make all speed to a hospital, according to R. M. Fox, a senior at the university, who, with R. L. Newbern, another student, witnessed the shooting and afterwards gave Holbrook first aid. Fox, as well as other witnesses, vigorously denies that anything was hurled at the officer. He declares the shooting was entirely unjustified.
  854. "Instead of taking us to the emergency hospital at once," said Fox Wednesday, "he took the party to a hospital that refused admittance. He finally came to his senses and proceeded to the city hospital."
  856. Fox is the man who was Tuesday reported to have been arrested for driving an automobile while in an intoxicated condition. This proved to be an erroneous report. He merely accompanied Holbrook and the other students to the hospital and police headquarters and aided in the investigation. He was at no time arrested and was not intoxicated.
  858. A man by the name of J. M. Fox was arrested on such a charge and this resulted in the false report.
  860. Fox and Newbern were returning from town about the time Holbrook, Wayne Allen, Hubert Lewis and C. A. Schneider picked up the flower pot and the traffic sign that resulted in the trouble. They were in no way involved in the difficulty but, as they got off a car just after the other men alighted, they witnessed what occurred.
  862. "We got off of a street car just behind the other fellows," said Fox Wednesday. "They went east on 45th st., on the left side, and we on the right. They were 20 or 30 feet ahead. They were laughing and talking but were not disorderly. One picked up a traffic sign, another a flower tub. There was no noise or disturbance.
  864. "When Newbern and I got near 16th ave., we heard a shot and a man yelling, 'Take it back!' I recognized Karlberg's voice because of his Scandinavian accent. We ran back to the boys just in time to see Karlberg, for no apparent cause, shoot Holbrook down.
  866. "Holbrook had made no move. Neither he nor the men with him threw anything at Karlberg and the shooting seemed entirely without justification. It was light and we could see plainly.
  868. "Karlberg was terribly excited. Karlberg took two boys with him to the station and left one with Holbrook. We ran over to Holbrook and found him bleeding at the mouth and nose. We carried Holbrook to the Phi Gamma Delta house and tried to get a doctor. We did what we could for him until we could get help.
  870. "When I asked Karlberg why he had shot Holbrook he said: 'I know, I know, I shouldn't have done it!'
  872. "When we got started for the hospital in a touring car which Karlberg provided he got down on his knees and begged the driver to hurry. He was terribly excited and beside himself."
  874. Wayne Allen and C. A. Schneider, who were with Holbrook at the time of the shooting, as well as Newbern, confirmed Fox's version of the affair. Allen was held only a brief time at police headquarters and says he wouldn't have been booked at all had it not been for a disagreement with the police lieutenant after he had manifested a desire to stay with Holbrook. The latter had asked that Allen be permitted to remain with him.
  876. "None of us had any liquor in his possession, in spite of other reports," said Allen.
  878. #### 5. *The Seattle Star*, Friday, 1 December 1922, page 1
  880. **SHOT STUDENT YET IN DANGER**
  882. Richard Holbrook, 20, University of Washington student who was shot by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg Tuesday morning when the former was playing a prank in the University district, is still in critical condition at the Seattle General hospital, according to Dr. Don Palmer, Friday morning.
  884. Holbrook's lung is punctured and the bullet is still in the wound, the physician stated, explaining that the youth must not be allowed to talk, as a fatal hemorrhage might possibly result. Dr. Palmer said Holbrook had a chance at recovery, but danger of infection was not yet passed.
  886. #### 6. *The Seattle Star*, Monday, 4 December 1922, page 13
  888. **STUDENT TO BE EXAMINED**
  890. In an effort to locate the bullet which pierced the left lung of Richard Holbrook, University of Washington student, who was shot last Tuesday by Officer J. H. Karlberg, an X-ray examination was scheduled to be made at the Seattle General hospital by Dr. Don H. Palmer.
  892. Holbrook's condition was slightly improved Monday. Investigation of the shooting was being continued Monday by Prosecuting Attorney Malcolm Douglas and Chief of Police W. B. Severyns.
  894. #### 7. *The Seattle Star*, Thursday, 7 December 1922, page 10
  896. **STUDENT GOES TO HIS HOME**
  898. Richard Holbrook, University of Washington student, who was shot a week ago Tuesday by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg, following a student prank, was sufficiently recovered Thursday morning to assure his being taken from the Seattle General hospital to his home before night. Grave fears were entertained for his recovery and he hovered for several days between life and death. He put up a valiant fight, however, and Wednesday morning his physician said he might be taken home to his mother.
  900. No one was more relieved than Karlberg when he heard of the boy's progress toward complete recovery. He, a patrolman in the University district, stopped Holbrook and three other students as they were carrying a curb flower pot and a street traffic sign, after their return fom [sic] down town after midnight. Stories differ as to what actually happened when the patrolman accosted the students, but in the mix-up Karlberg's gun was discharged and the bullet entered Holbrook's body, entering thru the left shoulder and grazing his left lung.
  902. Karlberg was immediately suspended from service and is still out, pending a thoro probe of the case.
  904. #### 8. *The Seattle Star*, Thursday, 21 December 1922, page 7
  906. **HEAVY PENALTY FOR U STUDENTS**
  908. **Four Suspended as Result of Boyish Prank**
  910. With the suspension of three University of Washington students for one year, and of another for two years, and the forfeiture of a month's pay by a Seattle policeman, the last chapter had been written Thursday in what started out merely as an undergraduates' lark.
  912. The students who were suspended are Richard Holbrook, Casper Schneider, Hubert Lewis and Wayne Hall, while the policeman who was disciplined is Patrolman J. H. Karlberg.
  914. The whole affair grew out of a boyish prank on the night of November 20 [sic]. On their way home, the four students started to carry away a traffic sign at 45th st. and University way. Karlberg interfered and, in the resulting fracas, shot Holbrook thru the lung, inflicting a wound that nearly proved fatal.
  916. A thoro investigation was made of the affair by both university and police officials and final action was taken Wednesday. The university disciplinary committee decided that the boys had been intoxicated at the time of the shooting, and therefore barred Holbrook, Schneider and Lewis from the college until January 1, 1924, and Hall until January 1, 1925, Hall being given the more severe penalty because he was charged with other irregularities, in addition to having been intoxicated.
  918. At the same time, Chief of Police W. B. Severyns decided that Patrolman Karlberg had used his revolver too freely and suspended him for 30 days. This really amounts to a 60-day suspension, as Karlberg was indefinitely removed as soon as the case was reported.
  920. Dean John T. Condon, chairman of the university disciplinary committee, declared in announcing the boys' suspension that he felt that drinking should be treated with at least as much severity as poor scholarship, and pointed out that hundreds of students are dropped every year for failing in their work.
  922. #### 9. Other papers
  924. The news also went out by wire and in weekly digests of state news. These are the other reports found on Chronicling America, in date order.
  926. ***The Cordova Daily Times*** (Cordova, Alaska), Tuesday, 28 November 1922, page 1
  928. **U. C. [sic] STUDENT SHOT BY COP; BADLY INJURED**
  930. SEATTLE, Nov. 28. Richard Holbrook, a student at the University of Washington, was shot and seriously wounded by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg today in an attempt to arrest the student on a charge of disorderly conduct. The patrolman asserted that Holbrook was carrying a "safety-zone" sign, and when he ordered the young man to drop it, Holbrook threw it at him. Karlberg said that his pistol was discharged accidentally. Holbrook, badly wounded, was taken to a hospital.
  932. ***The Alaska Daily Empire*** (Juneau), Tuesday, 28 November 1922, page 6
  934. **University Student Shot by Patrolman**
  936. SEATTLE, Nov. 29 [sic]. Patrolman J. H. Karlberg shot and seriously wounded Ashard [sic] Holbrook, of Seattle, University of Washington student, when he attempted to arrest the latter last night on a charge of disorderly conduct.
  938. Karlberg said Holbrook was carrying a Safety Zone sign and threw it at him. Karlberg's pistol was discharged accidently when hit by the sign.
  940. Holbrock [sic] was taken to the hospital.
  942. ***Vashon Island News-Record*** (Vashon, Washington), Friday, 8 December 1922, page 1, in the column "State News Boiled Down for Our Busy Readers: Digest of Week's Happenings in and Over the Puget Sound and State"
  944. Summary dismissal faces any University of Washington student who in the future may be discovered in an intoxicated condition. This announcement from President Henry Suzallo [sic] came as an aftermath to the shooting of Richard Holbrook by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg in Seattle.
  946. ***White Bluffs Spokesman*** (White Bluffs, Washington), Friday, 8 December 1922, page 2, in the column "Washington News"
  948. Richard Holbrook of Seattle, a student of the University of Washington, was shot and seriously wounded by Patrolman J. H. Karlberg early November 28 near the university campus.
  950. ***The Daily Alaskan*** (Skagway), Thursday, 21 December 1922, page 1
  952. **HOLBROOK AND THREE OTHERS SUSPENDED**
  954. Seattle, Dec. 21. Richard Holbrook, who was recently shot by a policeman, while intoxicated, with three other students has been suspended from the University Four to Eight school quarters by the faculty. Officer Karlberg, who shot Holbrook, was also suspended from the police force by Chief Severyns for thirty days as a result of the shooting.
  956. ***The Seward Gateway*** (Seward, Alaska), Friday, 22 December 1922, page 1 (reprinted 23 December, page 3)
  958. **THREE SUSPENDED FROM UNIVERSITY OVER GUN PLAY**
  960. **OUTCOME OF SHOOTING SCRAPE RESULTS IN OFFICER LOSING HIS JOB**
  962. SEATTLE, December 21. Final disposition was made of the shooting scrape of November 20 [sic], wherein Richard Holbrook, a student of the University of Washington, was wounded during a midnight frolic.
  964. The university faculty announced the suspension of Holbrook, and three others, for a period of two months, with confinement to school quarters during that time.
  966. Policeman Karlberg, who wounded Holbrook, was this morning suspended by Chief of Police Severyns, for a period of thirty days.
  968. Holbrook is on the road to recovery.
  970. ***The Nome Nugget*** (Nome, Alaska), Saturday, 23 December 1922, page 7
  972. **STUDENTS SUSPENDED FROM UNIVERSITY**
  974. Seattle Dec. 21. Richard Holbrook and three other students were suspended from the University by the faculty. Officer Karlberg was suspended by Chief of Police Severyn [sic] for 30 days. Both suspensions are the result of the shooting of Holbrook by Karlsberg [sic] on Nov. 20th [sic].
  976. ## Part Five: Captain Richard B. Holbrook Jr., 1900-1918
  978. Found 26 September 2026 on Chronicling America, while looking for when and where he died. Quotes were read from the page images. Grade: PRIMARY (contemporary newspapers), except where noted. **Nothing about his death has been found.** The last item showing him alive is from November 1918.
  980. - **Marriage, 1900.** "Capt. Richard B. Holbrook and Miss Jessie Clifford, both of this city, were married at the residence of the officiating clergyman, Rev. John F. Damon, Friday evening, September 28. ... The groom is a native of Whidby island, the son of one of the oldest pioneer families. He holds a responsible position as steamboat master on Puget Sound." (*Seattle Post-Intelligencer*, 7 Oct 1900, p. 14.)
  981. - **Hood Canal, to 1914.** He had been "for some time" master of the steamer *Potlatch* on the Hood Canal run, and "at one time master of the 'State of Washington'" (*Wrangell Sentinel*, 13 May 1915, p. 1). "For sixteen years Capt. R. B. Holbrook, as master of steamships, ran between Seattle and Hood canal ports without ever losing a passenger or damaging a ship." (*Douglas Island News*, 15 Dec 1915, p. 5.)
  982. - **The *Tyconda*, 1915.** He and Capt. J. W. Mangan bought the steamer *Tyconda* from the Lorenz (or "Lawrence") Brothers of Tacoma for $14,500; Holbrook was president of the company and its master (*Wrangell Sentinel*, 13 and 20 May, 10 June 1915). She went to Cook Inlet and "burned to the water's edge" at Anchorage on 1 October 1915: "In charge of Capt. R. B. Holbrook. No insurance. Valued at $8,000." (*Seward Gateway*, 5 Oct 1915, p. 6; *Valdez Daily Prospector*, 1 Oct 1915, p. 1.) He returned to Seattle (*Seattle Star*, 8 Dec 1915, p. 3, "Loses His Steamer").
  983. - **Alaskan Engineering Commission, 1916-1917.** Master of the Commission's tug *Roscoe* (*Cook Inlet Pioneer*, 5 May 1916, p. 1), the *B. & B. No. 2* (*Valdez Daily Prospector*, 16 May 1916, p. 3), and "B. and B. No. 3, Captain Dick Holbrook, running between Talkeetna and Croto" on the Susitna (*Anchorage Daily Times*, 29 July 1916, p. 3). Back for the 1917 season (*Anchorage Daily Times*, 16 May 1917, p. 9); left for "the states" for the winter in October 1917 (*Anchorage Weekly Times*, 18 Oct 1917, p. 7).
  984. - **Pioneers of Alaska, 1917. This identifies him.** "RICHARD B. HOLBROOK. The captain was born on Whidby Island, Washington, in September, 1872. He came to Cook Inlet first in April 1896, and to Anchorage as soon as the town was established here. He is a steamboat master and his 'outside' address is 8629 51st street, Seattle, Washington." Elected to Igloo No. 15, Anchorage. (*Anchorage Weekly Times*, 12 Sept 1917, p. 5.)
  985. - **Seattle city directory, 1917** (found by Dasloops on Ancestry, 27 Sept 2026): "Holbrook Richd B (Jessie L) master mariner h 8629 51st av S." This is the "outside" address the Pioneers of Alaska gave for him. Same page: "Holbrook Harriet P (wid Richd B) r 3934 Warsaw," his mother, with a middle initial P (the 1918 death notice has "Harriett E.," the Master Tree "Harriet Low").
  986. - **Winter 1917-18.** "Captain R. H. [sic] Holbrook, now skipper on the steamer Tourist, which plies between Seattle and Bremerton." (*Anchorage Weekly Times*, 17 Jan 1918, p. 9.) Very likely him.
  987. - **November 1918, the last trace.** "Mrs. Harriett E. Holbrook, 84, Seattle pioneer, is dead at the home of her son, Capt. Richard Holbrook, jr., 560 Mercer st." (*Seattle Star*, 27 Nov 1918, p. 3.) 560 Mercer Street is the address where Jessie lived in November 1922, so it was the family's own house in 1918. The Master Tree gives his mother as Harriet Low; "Harriett E." may be a middle initial.
  988. - **Dick later.** "Dick Holbrook" is among the UW backfield men in the *Seattle Star*, 13 Oct 1921, p. 11. In 1925 a Richard Holbrook went whaling with Capt. Louis Lane on the *Gunnar*, which burned near Latouche, Alaska (*Seattle Star*, 22 Oct 1925, p. 2, and 17 Nov 1925, p. 10; *Seward Daily Gateway* and *Alaska Daily Empire*, July-Nov 1925). Not yet read closely; identity to confirm.
  990. - **Seattle city directories, 1918-1920** (found by Dasloops on Ancestry, 27 Sept 2026). Wives appear in parentheses after the husband's name.
  991. - 1918: "Holbrook Harriet P (wid Richd B) r 560 Mercer"; "Richd B (Jessie L) master mariner h 560 Mercer"; "Richd C r 560 Mercer" (Dick).
  992. - 1919: "Richd B (Jessie C) master mariner h 560 Mercer." Harriet is gone (she died in November 1918).
  993. - 1920: "Jessie Mrs h 560 Mercer." No Richard B., and no "wid." Polk's directories used "(wid ...)" for widows, so in early 1920 she wasn't listed as one, which matches the census calling her married.
  994. - So he drops out of the directory between the 1919 and 1920 canvasses (roughly early 1919 to early 1920).
  995. - 1922 (canvassed early 1922): "Holbrook D Philip seamn r560 Mercer"; "Jessie Mrs lndrs r225 N Bway" (laundress, rooming at 225 North Broadway); "Richd seamn str Comanche" (a Richard Holbrook, seaman on the steamer *Comanche*, no middle initial; more likely Dick, since Phil was also a seaman and Richard B. was a master, but not settled). Still no "wid."
  996. - 1924: no Jessie, Philip, or Richard among the Seattle Holbrooks (checked by Dasloops). The family may have been away from Seattle, or simply missed. A 1923 Seattle directory hasn't been found on Ancestry; whether one was published is unconfirmed.
  997. - 1925: "Jessie (wid Richd D) h560 Mercer"; "Philip D driver r560 Mercer"; "Richd C mariner r560 Mercer." The first directory found that lists her as a widow. "Richd D" is almost certainly a misprint for Richd B. Dick as "mariner" fits the 1925 whaling voyage on the *Gunnar*.
  998. - 1926: "Jessie (wid Richd B) cook h560 Mercer"; "D Philip mariner r560 Mercer"; "Richd C mariner r560 Mercer." The middle initial is right this time, confirming the 1925 "D" was a slip.
  999. - Searched without result (27 Sept 2026): Emma Dunlap in Washington directories (a Spokane "Dunlap Emma O, clk," 1923, is someone else); Philip Holbrook; Jessie Holbrook in Yuba County, California. Ancestry appears to have no 1923 Aberdeen or Seattle directory.
  1000. - Still to check when the search resumes: 1921; California voter registers 1922-1928 (Yuba and Sutter counties); Polk's King County directory for Elizabeth Myers's household, 1923-1924; the *Seattle Times*, 1919-1922, for a notice of his death or disappearance.
  1001. - **Jessie's second marriage, 1928** (found by Dasloops, 27 Sept 2026; Washington Marriage Records, King County, certificate 4702): license 5 May 1928; married 6 May 1928 at Kent, Washington, by a Baptist minister of Kent. Thomas Harris Absalom of Yuba County, California, and "Jessie C. Holbrook" of King County. Witnesses: Phillip Holbrook (her son Phil) and Lizabeth Myers. The certificate form has no field for widowed or divorced, so it doesn't settle the question. The license application, if it survives, may.
  1003. **What this narrows.** He was alive and at 560 Mercer Street in late November 1918. In January 1920 Jessie was in Grays Harbor County, recorded as married, without him. By November 1922 the *Times* called her a widow, and she was back at 560 Mercer. So his death, if the *Times* was right, falls between late 1918 and November 1922, and quite possibly in Alaska, where he had worked every season from 1915. Chronicling America has no Seattle Times, no Seattle P-I after about 1914, and no Aberdeen Herald after 1917, so the gap may be in the papers, not in the events.
  1005. Sources checked with no trace of his death: all Chronicling America "Holbrook" pages for Washington papers 1910-1923 and Alaska papers 1914-1925, and Oregon "Holbrook" captain/steamer pages 1910-1925. Other Holbrooks ruled out: Henry A., Holbrook Blinn (actor), Major Holbrook (Colorado), Capt. Holbrook of the schooner *Hattie Dunn*, Scott J., Wellman, Capt. A. M. (Salvation Army), Lorain G.
  1007. Links (all https://www.loc.gov/resource/LCCN/DATE/ed-1/?sp=PAGE): sn83045604 1900-10-07 p14; sn94050093 1915-05-13 p1; sn84021930 1915-12-15 p5; sn98060264 1915-10-01 p1; sn2008058232 1915-10-05 p6; sn87093407 1915-12-08 p3; 2019271004 1916-05-05 p1; 2019271005 1916-07-29 p3; 2019271005 1917-05-16 p9; 2019271426 1917-09-12 p5; 2019271426 1917-10-18 p7; 2019271426 1918-01-17 p9; sn87093407 1918-11-27 p3.
  1009. ---
  1011. ## Leads
  1013. 1. **Missouri State Archives, Soldiers' Records** (s1.sos.mo.gov). Search "Bruner, Eli." The individual service cards should give his rank in the 4th Provisional regiment in 1863.
  1014. 2. **Coy D. Robbins, *Indiana Negro Registers 1852-1865*.** Check the Martin County entries for Collins or Bruner.
  1015. 3. **Russell County, Virginia: the commissioner's list of free people of color, 1801-1809.** Whether Meredith is on it shows how the county classed him.
  1016. 4. **Pike County order book, June 1829.** Check whether the binding order calls the boy "of color," which would show whether the 1825 act was used.
  1017. 5. **Kegley, *Free People of Colour*.** It abstracts the free registers for southwest Virginia counties, including Montgomery.
  1018. 6. **Grand Lodge of Missouri Proceedings, 1861-1878.** The Somerset Lodge No. 206 returns would show whether Eli was a member.
  1019. 7. **Draper Manuscripts 5DD and 22VV** (cited by The Rising Tide) for the variant accounts of Riddle's death.
  1020. 8. **The *Seattle Times*' main story of 28 November 1922**, and its later coverage of the case, including the 20 December decisions. Search GenealogyBank, or the Seattle Times Historical Archive through a library.
  1021. 9. **Patrolman J. H. Karlberg after his suspension.** Whether he returned to the force, and whether the prosecutor's investigation led anywhere: the Seattle Municipal Archives (police department and Civil Service Commission records), and the King County Superior Court case files at the Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Regional Branch.
  1022. 10. **The *University of Washington Daily*, late November and December 1922**, for the students' side, President Suzzallo's announcement on drinking, and the disciplinary committee's decision (UW Libraries Special Collections). The university's registrar or alumni records would show whether Dick returned after 1 January 1924 and whether he graduated.
  1023. 11. **The bullet.** No report says whether it was ever removed. A later medical or service record, or his World War II draft card if he registered (it has a line for "other obvious physical characteristics"), might mention the wound or the scar.
  1024. 12. **When did Richard Blackmer Holbrook Jr. die?** The *Seattle Times* of 28 November 1922 calls Jessie "a widow," ten months before his recorded death at Bismarck, North Dakota, on 23 September 1923. The 1923 date comes from FamilySearch profiles, and the January 1920 census recorded Jessie as married. Things to check:
  1025. - the primary source behind the 1923 date (a North Dakota death or burial record);
  1026. - the *Bismarck Tribune* for late September 1923, which is free on Chronicling America;
  1027. - Polk's Seattle city directories for 1921-1924, which usually mark a widow as "wid" followed by her husband's name, for Jessie at 560 Mercer Street.
  1028. - **Checked 26 September 2026: his working life.** See Part Five. Alive at 560 Mercer Street in late November 1918; no death found in Chronicling America. Next: the Pioneers of Alaska, Igloo No. 15 (Anchorage) records and the Anchorage papers after 1918, since the Pioneers usually noted members' deaths; Alaska death records 1918-1922; Washington State death index 1918-1922 (Washington State Digital Archives, free); the 1920 census for Richard B. Holbrook anywhere, including Alaska; Alaska Railroad (Alaskan Engineering Commission) personnel records at NARA Seattle.
  1029. - **Checked 26 September 2026: the Bismarck death.** The *Bismarck Tribune* lists "Richard Holbrook, Pollock, S. D." among patients entering the Bismarck hospital (22 September 1923, p. 5). Its notice "Death Claims Pollock Man" (Monday, 24 September 1923, p. 5) reads in full: "Richard Holbrook of Pollock, S. D. age 51, died at a local hospital Saturday evening at 7 o'clock after an illness due to complications. Mr. Holbrook was a prominent farmer of the Pollock neighborhood. He is survived by his wife, and two sons, Douglas, age 7, and Donald, age 5. The remains were taken to Pollock today for burial." Saturday was 22 September, one day off the recorded date. His age of 51 matches a birth on 16 September 1872. This is very likely the record behind the Bismarck date. Whether this farmer is Jessie's husband or a different Richard Holbrook of the same age is open. Deciding tests: the 1920 census (and 1915 South Dakota state census) for Richard Holbrook at Pollock, Campbell County, South Dakota, especially his birthplace (Washington, or not); his grave at Pollock; and later records of his sons Douglas (b. c. 1916) and Donald (b. c. 1918) Holbrook naming their father's birthplace. [Bismarck Tribune, 22 Sept 1923, p. 5](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85042243/1923-09-22/ed-1/?sp=5); [24 Sept 1923, p. 5](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85042243/1923-09-24/ed-1/?sp=5).
BeginEnd