The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
as edited by Virginia Ross
Elizabeth Brook Gaddis, the daughter of Isaiah Brook, tells her version of the Olena Tragedy (as recorded by her daughter, Jessie Gaddis)
"It was December 1864-the twentieth in fact-near the close of the Civil War...We lived in the country about ten miles from Burlington. I was a child, then thirteen years of age. There were ten of us children-families were larger in those days. I was the sixth child in the family and my three older brothers were still at home. My youngest sister was almost a baby.
Our house was built on an "L" plan. The main part of the house consisted of two very large rooms separated by a hall downstairs with two rooms almost as large and a small hall bedroom upstairs. The living room was on the south, behind which was arranged consecutively a large kitchen, a smaller kitchen, and a combined wood house and storehouse.
The country around Burlington has changed due to the cutting off of the timber and the draining of swamp lands. This sandy swampy soil was not used as farm land in that day. The farms commenced with the higher ground farther back from the river. Not far back from the sandy river bottom country sat the little town of Gladstone, some four miles from our home.
My father had taken hogs to Gladstone which he was shipping to Chicago. We were surprised to see him returning about four o'clock as we knew he intended going to Chicago with the shipment. He explained that while he was in town a man by the name of David had approached him telling him our house was to be robbed that night.
Father had consigned his hogs to a firm in Chicago and had returned to protect his family if need be. In that day, banks were few and the standing of those was not such that one cared to trust their money to them.
People, who had money, loaned directly to the borrower. [Time and again in land records in Oquawka mortgages are made by individuals with individuals to finance land purchases.]
Often, through the sale of grain or stock, several hundred dollars would accumulate before one found a place to loan it. There were banks in Burlington, of course, but we didn't go there more than three or four times a year to trade.
The Davids were not well known to us (they were not close neighbors in fact lived south of J.B.Fort) [J. B. Fort lived south of the crest of what is known today as Brooks's hill west of Stronghurst] so we were inclined to take the warning lightly. We were told they were superstitious, believed in signs, saw ghosts, and things like that, you know.
We made little preparation. However, our neighboring men, about forty strong, came to our house. Excitement ran high. It was bitter cold so you can imagine with forty men crowded into the house, the hum of their voices would have warned anyone; no burglar with common sense would have come near that place.
Late night Mr. David came to tell us he had not heard from the robbers; hence, he was sure they would not be there that night. The men disbanded and went home.
"How did Mr. David know?" I will tell you his story as he gave it to us."
He was on his way to Northwestern Iowa intending to purchase land, taking with him about five hundred dollars in cash. He was journeying from Burlington toward Red Oak [Western Iowa] with a team and wagon.
When about two or three days out he was casually met by two men who asked for a ride. David took the men into the wagon and the party proceeded pleasantly enough until they arrived at a stream where he stopped to water his horses.
Here the strangers got out of the wagon and covered David with their revolvers, telling him they intended to rob him and leave his body under the bridge.
By some clever means, David convinced them that he was a professional crook and was even then planning a raid of a wealthy family when he returned home.
He agreed to furnish them information about sites among the farms in Henderson County. David suggested the names of I. J. Brook, John Bruen and others.
When the robbers asked who they could get to aid them, David told them of the Andersons of East Burlington, a notorious gang of horse thieves who owned an underground stables and were engaged in stealing horses and shipping them across the Mississippi River to sell to the opposite army.
The plan was to take the families by surprise, kill them and burn the houses as the dead tell no tales and burning the houses would remove all trace of the crimes.
At least with several such crimes in the same neighborhood, it would give them time to make their escape. The robbers fell in with the plans and they began their return journey.
David claimed he intended, when they reached Burlington, to introduce some good men as Andersons, get evidence, and have them arrested before they left the town. However, David fell ill, being unable to travel, the robbers went on into Burlington. David never expected to see them again, but when he entered Burlington, the first people he saw were his highway men. They said they had seen the Andersons and they were all right.
With them was a man named Darnell whom they produced as a man furnished by the Andersons for the undertaking. The robbers said they would meet David at his house and he should lead them to these farms.
The next morning at breakfast my father said since people seemed to want his money so badly, he thought we had better get ready and go to Burlington and spend the money on things we wanted.
What a chance for Christmas shopping! We bought a new carpet for the parlor, black with red figures (We had parlors in those days.) We also bought haircloth upholstered furniture. We purchased lots of other things. I got a Siberian squirrel fur worth forty dollars, a calico dress for which we paid seventy-five cents a yard and a nice wool merino dress at fifty cents a yard. Imagine paying more for a calico dress than wool!
I nearly forgot the mittens! My little five year old brother sent for a pair of bright red mittens. Times have surely changed!
As I have said before, we thought little of the purported robbery. Such a thing hardly seemed possible. Snow covered the ground and the river was frozen over, making travel by sleigh perfect.
It was nearly six o'clock when we crossed the Mississippi and made our way homeward. What a lovely day we had and how the others would be joyfully awaiting our return to hear of our day in the city!
Our childish joy over the purchases was cut short; for again the warning had come that our house was the first marked for robbery that night: the robbers might come at any minute. The others had their suppers so we were hurried though ours (we had "supper," you know, at that time) and hurried off upstairs to await the outcome, what ever it might be.
The house had already been cleared for action. The carpet had been removed from the sitting room floor, the furniture stored away and about all that was left in that room was a large heavy highboy that had been brought from the South, a heating stove with a cheery warm fire, and a table with a candle placed upon it.
Again, the men of the neighborhood had assembled, although considerably fewer than the night before. Mr. Bruen, fearing that the robbers might change their minds when they reached the fork in the road (road on bottom leading south to Warren [Hopper today] or up the bluff toward the Brook farm) and take his house first, asked that part of the men be sent to him so that his home should not be left unprotected. Half the men volunteered to go to Bruen's.
Leaving the neighbors and family in suspense, impatiently awaiting the arrival of the robbers, let us again take up the story as told by Mr. David.
The second morning the robbers appeared at the home of David. They explained that they had got drunk the night before and had lost their way in the darkness.
David began to realize that he was more or less under suspicion for he never moved but what one of them was with him. All day long he tried to evade them long enough to send a warning to his neighbors. Finally, about dusk he was able to slip into the pantry with his wife for a second alone. "For God's sake" he told her, "get word through to the Brooks and Bruens that the robbers are coming tonight."
David went back to his guests while his wife, apparently taking a pail to get water for supper was, in reality, on her way to a neighbor nearby at John Fort's to tell them what was happening. Mr. Fort jumped on his horse and rode the neighborhood for any recruits he could muster on short notice.
The night was beautiful, clear, and cold while the moon shone down making everything nearly as light as day. The road, a quarter of a mile in length, that lay between our house and the corner, was plainly visible in the moonlight.
One of my brothers, Hugh, was stationed in the front window upstairs to watch for signs of the robbers.
It was not long until my brother called to the men below that four men afoot were turning the corner and coming toward the house. I stood with our bedroom door open a crack to hear all I could.
Continued next week