This is the county seat of Pike County, and a murder trial has just been concluded here that has few paraliels in criminal jurisprudence. The southern part of Pike County lies between the Illinois River on the East and the Mississippi on the West, and on the South joins Calhoun County, which is noted as being the only county in Illinois that has neither railroad, telegraph, telephone, bank nor a negro within its borders. For the last half century this part of the country has had as many, if not more, killings than any other portion of the State in proportion to its territory. The people are hard-working, and well-to-do, but a difficulty of the least proportions has always been submitted to the arbitration of deadly weapons, and it annually affords from one to three murder trials in the criminal court.

It was here in the year 1870 that a feud arose between the Hamilton and Daniels families. The former consisted of John Hamilton, the father, and three sons, Noah, Andrew, and Silas; the latter of Col. Daniels and five sons, John, Poke, Albert, Martin, and Clark. The difficulty began over the division line between farms. Each side was brave and always ready, and many fights ensued in which deadly weapons were used. In one of the fights Noah Hamilton was stabbed to death by one of the Daniels boys. Elias Hamilton was the next to die. He was ambushed, and John Hamilton, the father, received a wound that caused his death in a few months. The community became involved and took sides, and fights were of frequent occurrence. In one of the fights between the rival factions Col. Williams shot and killed Coon Mains, for which he was sent to the penitentiary,

During the Winter of 1874 Clark Daniels and Andrew Hamilton, the only 19 years of age, met at the house of Mrs. McKee, at a dance. Daniels at one assaulted Hamilton, striking him with a slungshot, when Hamilton shot him dead. The lights were extinguished and a general fight followed between the friends of the parties. When order was restored Hamilton had fled, and two other parties had sustained wounds that caused death. The shooting caused the greatest excitement. The friends of Daniels searched every hiding place for miles, offering large rewards, which were supplemented by the State. The county officers and Pinkerton’s Detective Agency used great efforts to capture him, but no trace could be found. At length he was supposed to be dead. In the meantime almost all witnesses who had seen the killing had either left the State or were dead. Two of the Hamilton’s and three of the Daniels were dead.

Memory of the tragedy was suddenly revived last July by the announcement that a wealthy ranchman and mine owner named Richard Harerater had been arrested in Baker City, Oregon, supposed to be the long=missing Andrew Hamilton. Sheriff Windmiller, who knew Hamilton well at the time of the killing, went to that city and identified Harerater as Hamilton, the slayer of Clark Daniels, obtained a requisition, and brought him back for trial.

The story of Hamilton’s escape and career since is full of interest. On the night of the killing he had taken a young woman to the party at Mrs. McKee’s both riding the same horse, as was the custom in those days in that part of the country. After the killing they both mounted the horse and rode 30 miles that night. It was bitterly cold, and both had their hands and feet frozen. Hamilton was laid up from the effects for two months, being concealed at a farmhouse. The young woman died a year later from the effects of the freezing. Hamilton then made his way to Omaha, where he joined an emigrant train across the plains, reaching San Francisco after four months. During the journey the party was attached by Indians. From San Francisco he sailed for Australia, working his way there. He remained two years, and then went to Cuba, staying a year, when he returned to the United States, and settled in Baker City, Oregon, assuming the name of Richard Harerater.

Under his assumed name Hamilton married a highly-respected young lady of that city, by whom he had two children. After his arrest he remarried her in his own name. He also re-conveyed a large amount of valuable property which had been conveyed in the name of Harerater. He owns large mining and real estate interests in his assumed name. The trial was stubbornly contested, and Hamilton was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense.