claim lines and rights, and as there were no legal tribunals to appeal
to, we organized claim associations to protect our rights. In my part of
the territory we had an association that covered what is now Blue Earth,
Nicollet and Le Sueur counties, and most of the actual settlers were
members, and all were pledged to support each other against any one
attempting to jump the claim of any member. Protection, of course, meant
driving out the intruder and restoring the rightful owner to his
possession. The means of reaching the object were not defined, but were
understood to be adequate to the necessities of the occasion.
I had made a claim on the second plateau, back of what afterwards became
the town site of St. Peter, and Gibson Patch, the sheriff of Nicollet
county, had settled on the adjoining quarter section. These claims
covered the ground where the Scandinavian college now stands, called, I
think, "Gustavus Adolphus."
I was the president of the Nicollet county branch of the claim
association.
About 1855 the government survey lines were extended over our lands, and
we had to adjust our lines to those of the official surveys as best we
could. It so happened that the established lines left the shanty of my
neighbor, the sheriff, outside of the quarter section he had always
claimed, and before he discovered this fact, a man designing to take
advantage of the sheriff's peculiar situation, and intending to jump his
claim, erected a shanty on his land and moved his family into it. It was
soon discovered, and Patch notified the claim association, which
immediately assembled and decided that the jumper must be ejected and
banished from the county. It was winter time. A committee of one hundred
and fifty was delegated to perform the work at a certain day and hour.
The jumper heard of it, and in the morning of the day fixed, he
prudently fled down the river. Being president of the association, it
devolved upon me to lead the party. We arrived at the house, and finding
no opposition, we politely informed the family of our mission, and
offered them comfortable transportation to any point they would name for
themselves and their portable belongings, which they accepted. We then
burned the house, and appointed two committees of ten each to chase the
jumper down each side of the river, with full discretion to punish him
as they saw fit. They pursued him for about forty miles, and it was
fortunate for the fugitive that they did not overtake him, because had
they caught him after two p. m., I think they would have been in a
condition of mind that would have resulted in his summary execution.
Of course, we thought no more about it, as matters of that kind were of
frequent occurrence; but that was not the last of it. It turned out that
the jumper was a Mason of high degree, and when he got to St. Paul he
made a most pitiable complaint, charging me with destroying his home,
and with attempting to murder him. I was a small Mason, and was cited
before the lodge to defend myself. I simply denied the jurisdiction, and
did not appear. I was tried, and triumphantly acquitted.
On another occasion a claim was jumped in Le Sueur, just between upper
and lower town, and the jumper had a great many friends who rallied to
his defense. The associations of all three counties were called out, and
when we appeared at Le Sueur, we found about seventy-five Irishmen, all
well armed, camped on the contested claim ready to defend it to the
death. We camped at a short distance, and negotiations were opened
between the hostile armies, which finally resulted in some sort of a
compromise, satisfactory to the contesting parties, one of whom (the
original claimant) was K. K. Peck, who was left in possession of the
disputed territory. Mr. Peck laid his claim out into lots, and gave each
one of the members of the association that had come to his rescue a deed
for a lot, which we called a "land warrant," on account of services in
the Peck war; but before we could realize on our warrants, the
government surveys located a school section on the battle-field, and
destroyed all our hopes.