life, his character was above reproach, and refracted its rays of excellence upon his official

career.

The following from the La Crosse Democrat of Sept. 21, 1853, on the deceased, will commend itself:

By a most calamitous stroke of Divine Providence we are this morning called upon to chronicle the decease of the most prominent citizen of our village.

Hon. Timothy Burns, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, died at his residence this morning, at a little past 12 o'clock, of billious fever. His family had been visiting their relatives in the southern part of the State for several months past, where, some two weeks since the Governor joined them, on his way to the Democratic State Convention, as a delegate from this Assembly district. While visiting with his family at the residence of Warren Johnson, Esq., of La Fayette County, a brother-in-law, he was taken down with a violent attack of the disease with which he died, but in a few days so far recovered as to be able to start for home, where he arrived by the steamer Dr. Franklin Sunday evening last, very much fatigued, and exhibiting evident symptoms of a relapse. Medical aid was immediately called, but the disease yielded not to medical treatment. It is doubtful whether he was fully sensible of his danger. During the forenoon of Tuesday he expressed a good deal of anxiety, and a desire to recover. but in the after part of the day became delirious, and later in the evening entirely insensible, in which state he remained until his death, surrounded by his family and friends. Everything within reach of human aid was done to save his life, "but he is gone." A wife loses an affectionate husband; a family of interesting children a noble protector; brothers and sisters lose their adviser, their staff; parents have lost the child of their young attachment, the idol of their hearts, and such a son as may well be said to be the glory and honor of their gray hairs. But this is not all The State has lost one of its most gifted citizens, its counsels one of the most sound, energetic minds of which it could boast. Few men in this or any other State have had a more brilliant political career. His influence has probably been more directly felt in all the great State interests generally, and the all-absorbing railroad interests especially, than that of any, if not all of the present State administration, although occupying a secondary position. He was a man of superior native mind, and notwithstanding he was emphatically what is termed a "selfmade" man, his political career had not thus ended if his life had been spared him. And yet, there is one more sufferer-one who will receive and feel the death of Gov. Burns to be a public calamity-we mean the young city of La Crosse. The pioneer and founder of La Crosse, he has from the first made it his idol, and with an untiring energy and zeal he has without a single waiver or halt, at great personal sacrifice given freely, the whole scope of his powerful and comprehensive mind-the whole force of his extensive political influence to the furtherance and accomplishment of her interests. La Crosse is clad in mourning.

Pursuant to call, a large meeting of the citizens of La Crosse was held at the court house, for the purpose of expressing the public sentiment on the mournful occasion of the death of our lamented citizen, Hon. Timothy Burns.

The meeting was called to order by Col. Childs, who appropriately stated the object of the meeting, and nominated William Hood for Chairman, who was unanimously elected. R. Looney, Esq., was chosen Secretary.

On motion, a committee of three, composed of T. Rodolph, E. Childs and C. A. Stevens were appointed to draft resolutions, who reported the following, which were adopted:

WHEREAS, It has pleased Almighty God, in His inscrutable wisdom, to take from our midst our friend and fellow-citizen, the Hon. Timothy Burns, at the early age of thirty-three years, and in the midst of a brilliant and useful career, therefore be it

Resolved, That in the death of the Hon. Timothy Burns, the State of Wisconsin has lost an honest and faithful public servant, the Northwest one of the most upright and unassuming political men, and the town and county of La Crosse the founder of her prosperity, the constant, untiring and vigilant promoter of her welfare, and the zealous defender of her interests.

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with his afflicted family; that we feel that while his parents have lost a dutiful son, his wife and children a tender husband and a loving father, his brothers and sisters a kind and affectionate brother; we have lost a true-hearted friend, ever ready to assist the needy, to give counsel to the inexperienced, and whilst seeking his own advancement never loosing sight of the public good and the advantage of his new home. Resolved, That we will ever cherish his memory as the pioneer of La Crosse, whose keen eye and calm and sagacious mind knew how to appreciate the natural and geographical advantages of La Crosse, and who had marked out as his task to build in this spot a city that would be second to none in our fair Wisconsin, who would doubtless have succeeded had life been spared him, and who has set us an example of perseverance, energy and enterprise worthy of imitation.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented to his family, and that they be published in the La Crosse Democrat.

Resolved, That as a token of respect we wear the usual badge of mourning for ten days.

F. M. Rublee, Esq., offered a resolution that the stores and offices be closed after 12 o'clock on the day of the funeral, which was adopted.

On motion a committee of five, consisting of E. Childs, J. M. Levy, F. M. Rublee, C. A. Stevens and C. T. Jansen was appointed to assist in making suitable arrangements for the funeral.

The subject of erecting a monument over the grave of Mr. Burns by the citizens of La Crosse, was called up by F. M. Rublee, Esq., and the meeting adjourned to Thursday evening next, for the purpose of taking action upon that subject. WILLIAM HOOD, Chairman.

R. LOONEY, Secretary.

A STIRRING EVENT.

In the month of September of this year, 1847, a circumstance happened which created immense excitement among the residents of La Crosse, involving the character and reputation of one citizen temporarily by the fear that he was guilty of the crime of murder, and had his suspected victim been found dead, as he was at one time likely to have been, the fate of a murderer would doubtless have been decreed him.

At the time mentioned, J. M. Levy and H. J. B. Miller, "Scoots," were elected to represent this portion of the county to attend a convention to be held at Liberty Pole for the selection of delegates to the Constitutional Convention about to be reconvened at Madison, the labors of their convention held the previous year having been rejected by the people. Accordingly Levy and Miller proceeded thither, and having executed the trust confided to them, retired to woo"tired natures sweet restorer" with the understanding that whoever awoke first the following morning should call the one who remained asleep. It happened on the ensuing morning that Miller was the first to greet the dawn of day, but neglected to summon his companion, and departed without him. When Mr. Levy resumed consciousness, it was to a realizing sense that he was alone, and hurrying preparations finally started off in pursuit of the departing colleague. En route Mr. Levy followed an entirely new trail by which he overtook Miller distant five miles from the point of departure. They journeyed together for a considerable distance, when Levy alighted from his horse to pick up something that he had accidentally dropped. At this juncture, Miller's horse becoming frightened and unmanageable, rushed wildly off, and before its rider could regain control had put quite a distance between himself and Levy. The latter jogged on for several hours without coming up with Miller, and at last awoke to the cheerful conviction that lost in the woods he might wander at will for an indefinite period without satisfactory results. He took courage with the thought however that his absence would cause the neighbors to institute a search, also he was proof against despair, and able to contend with misfortune for several days. Notwithstanding these encouraging incidents, the victim was far from enjoying that peace of mind which he enjoyed at home and among friends.

That day he subsisted on wild plums and acorns, and when darkness fell from the wings of night, he tethered his horse, built a fire to protect him from the attacks of prowling wolves, and lay down to dreams that no one would presume to call pleasant.

In the meantime, Miller reached home in safety, after dark, and little anxiety was felt for the safety of Levy. But when, on the following morning, it was ascertained that Miller had arrived solus, the question was naturally suggested as to what had become of his companion. This interrogatory became more emphatic when it was further known that Miller's condition and appearance were such as to create grave suspicions in the minds of the most equitable that he was personally responsible for the deep damnation of Levy's taking off. He had returned without blanket or saddle, scratched and wounded, with his arm in a sling, and altogether appearing as one who had sustained severe injuries in an encounter. That morning he was visited by Dr. Snow and interrogated as to the whereabouts of Levy, to whom he stated he didn't know; he didn't start with me." To another he answered, "Levy had probably gone to Prairie du Chien;" to still another, that he was en route to Black River, probably; and to Mrs. Levy reports equally as improbable and unsatisfactory. These contradictory stories, the peculiar conduct of Miller, his suspicious actions and rambling remarks, combined to confirm the belief of those who augured him a murderer and induce a conclusion among those who refused to be governed by appearances alone, that he would experience considerable difficulty in proving his innocence. While these opinions and beliefs were being mooted, Miller remained glum, eccentric, inaccessible. He seemed to take no thought of the consequences or to hurry out to meet trouble.

While this was the condition of affairs in La Crosse, Levy was battling with hunger, desolation and renewed difficulties in the woods. His position was critical, and his emotions must have been the reverse of pleasing. On the second day of his solitude, he woke from a troubled slumber, and having breakfasted on the only edible accessible to research, the same that fur

nished him his food the day preceding, he resumed his wanderings, hoping before night to rest from his labors. The day passed, and no sign of encouragement lightened its gloom. Plums and acorns, a fire, a bed of leaves, darkness, desolation, despair-such were his surroundings, such his companions the second night in the forest. On the following morning, while listlessly dozing, his ears were gratified by the sound of a steamer near by. With shouts of thanksgiv ing he caught his horse, and mounting the faithful animal, started in the direction of the river, to which he was guided by the steady puff from the escape pipe and regular working of the machinery.

The same night, affairs at La Crosse had nearly culminated. If Mr. Levy failed to return by the next morning, it was decided to proceed at once to Prairie du Chien and procure Miller's apprehension. The condition of affairs at the home of the missing man was scarcely less deplorable than with himself. As Mrs. Levy would go out into the night in the vain hope that she might hear of or from her husband, the howl of the wolf drove her back with the conscious conviction that he would return no more. Upon her return to the house, she was obliged to pick her way through a mob of drunken raftsmen who occupied the rooms and hallway of her home, and, returning to the family room, pass the weary hours with memory and in tears.

When the morning dawned, Mr. Levy failing to appear, preparations were made to execute the decision of the previous evening to cause the arrest of Miller. The raftsmen, who had been drinking the night before, were somewhat tardy in their departure, and it was not until nearly 10 o'clock that they were ready to loosen the hawsers and continue their trip to the Gulf. At this juncture, and before the raft upon which Snow had embarked, parted from the shore. Levy was noticed in the distance and drew rapidly into view of the surprised and delighted neighbors, for all had given him up for dead.

When the river was reached on the morning of the third day, related Mr. Levy, he cast a drift into the water to ascertain the direction it was flowing, and this decided, he resumed his hunt for the abode of some one who would enlighten him as to where he was. After a brief hunt for this haven of deliverance, he reached Philip Young's cabin, half starved, naked and more nearly resembling the Sancho Panza of Spanish romance than the spirit of enterprise which he was, in fact, of more modern times.

The result of his coming suspended operations looking to a judicial investigation, the fatted calf, metaphorically speaking, was killed, for he that was lost had returned. Both made narrow escapes from violent deaths, and one of them still survives to recount his experience on those eventful days.

A FRESHET.

This year was characterized by an immense freshet in Black River, and its tributaries. The rains had been frequent and heavy, and the currents of these streams swollen to their utmost tension poured forth their surplus waters into the Mississippi and about the surrounding country, carrying ruin and desolation wherever it tided, and leaving its marks for months following the decline.

As one of the consequences of this unprecedented flood, sickness broke out in the lumber camps. Fever of a very malarious type spread among the loggers, raftsmen and mechanics, and, through some unexplained circumstance or combination of circumstances, before the disease could be checked it became epidemic. The care and attention which could be afforded at best in the lumber camps, was scarcely equal to that required for complete recovery, and when the epidemic set in, the agencies necessary to providing for the sick, not less than burying the dead, were not to be had. The result was that many of those who had been preserved from attack, fled to points on the river and elsewhere, as security against the disease-those afflicted to be nursed back to health, and those convalescing, for a change of scene to revive their almost paralyzed vitalities.

A by no means limited per cent from all the classes cited came to La Crosse, and the pres ent city for a spell (relates Mr. Myrick) bore more the appearance of a hospital than an ambitious village. A large proportion of those who reached this point recovered, but some died

and were buried in the churchyard improvised on the knoll at an earlier day. With the close of the warm period the disease lapsed, but whether from lack of material to operate upon or because it had run its course, scientific research has failed to promulgate.

The village, at the close of this year, was more a village in fact than in name. Houses had become rather more in esse than in futuro, and the prognostications began to be more confidently expressed as to what the ensuing year would develop. The country tributary was being settled by farmers, including, in addition to those mentioned, the farms of Miller on Upper Cooley, Myrick's farm in the same locality, Cameron's farm, that of White and the Bunnell property. As yet, there was no stage, probably because there were no roads. Excursions were made on horseback, and, when necessity required, on foot. The mail came once in two weeks in summer by canoe, steamer or horse as the case happened to be, and in the winter by a French or dog train. There were no amusement of any kind, save cards and ten pins, no schools; and, until the year 1849, whenever a sermon was heard or the word of God spoken, it was from the deck of a passing steamer, whereon a traveling missionary was entertained as a passenger. In the fall of 1849, however, this was changed.

On the Sunday preceding St. John's Day (June 24), occurred the first preaching within the surveyed limits of La Crosse. The services were of the Episcopal faith, and conducted by the Revs. Dr. Breck, Wilcox Merrick and Deacon Holcomb. In the morning, an excursion was made, and a cross erected at the end of Main street, in the shadow of the bluffs, and in the afternoon at Mr. Levy's house, where a daughter of "Scoot's" Miller was baptized. They were attended by residents for miles around, and a fervent feeling was doubtless manifested upon so grave and suggestive an occasion-an occasion when a public acknowledgment of the goodness of God to the children of men was first made in His temples, on the shores of the Father of Waters, by the residents of La Crosse County.

In addition to the names of those already quoted as having come in during 1847, the following are to be added, as the claim is made of their arrival here in the fall of the same season: Peter Ebner and wife, Felix Kaiser and wife, Mr. Doerflinger and family and Joseph Ebner and sister. Joseph subsequently married his brother Peter's widow, while the sister became a Mrs. Baker.

Beyond the unexpected mortality occasioned among the settlers from Black River and the wanderings of Mr. Levy, no events occurred during 1847 that have been heard of worthy of more than passing comment. During the prevalence of the epidemic, business and improvements, as also the sources of labor and independence, came to a stand-still. The sick were aided so far as it could be done, and the dead buried by the Samaritan citizens, who, in times of danger and tribulation, rise up as unexpectedly as dispensations of Providence. So, too, when the continued absence of Mr. Levy caused fears as to his fate, the utmost sympathy was expressed, a willingness to probe the matter thoroughly manifested, and his return warmly greeted.

By 1848, the population of the county had not measurably increased. The major portion of those who were credited on the census roll resided, of course, at the village and its immediate vicinity. The improvements were still of a nominal character. Main street, as now described, was an unimproved dirt road, rendered impassable nearly all the time, either by mud or sand. The present city site was a vast prairie, with the hills in the distance rich in their garniture of grasses and flowers, while off to the north and on the islands that divided the Mississippi opposite the city, were the resting-places of the Winnebago and other tribes of Indians. Today's visitor to La Crosse would hardly receive a description of the country as it was forty years

ago.

The landscape, now dotted with handsome residences, beautiful gardens, expensive improvements, and all that can contribute in the remotest degree to render life comfortable, was an almost endless waste of sand, with very little to attract even casual observation. Its location, however, had persuaded the pioneer settler who still resided here to break ground six years before, and his example had obtained, though slowly, until a population of nearly twenty souls congregated here to grow up with the town and participate in such benefits as should thereafter accrue to them as a reward for their enterprise and patience. The embarrassments inci

had

dent to establishing a settlement can only be appreciated by those who were subjected to their imposition. In some cases these embarrassments were augmented by trials growing out of defective titles, it requiring the most uncompromising labor to preserve the claim in some instances. Happily, however, these cases were not numerous about La Crosse.

The summer of 1848 was a prolongation of the spring, which had been beautiful beyond comparison. It dawned upon La Crosse rich in the promise of a season that had been prophetic. Much of what was hoped for during the previous year was realized. Emigration was still limited, but those who arrived increased the value of material interests in their new home. The Indians were removed to other points, and their huts gave place in some instances to more substantial and gratifying evidences of enterprise and thrift. More regular communication was established between points above and below; farms were cultivated, and every resource available at that early day, tending to develop the country, was employed with moderate success.

FIRST LAND SALES.

In 1848, the land of La Crosse County came into market and entries were made at Mineral Point. This was ultimately the origin of land companies organized elsewhere to purchase lands in newly settled portions of the country, from whose rapacity, however, La Crosse was in a measure protected. They were, in most instances, of spontaneous growth and development, without any solidity or character, and in some cases were born, matured, and reached decrepitude and forgetfulness the same day. In subsequent years, it may be, land speculators and operators were numerous about La Crosse, in the city and county, but at this period they had not made their wolfish visitation, their manner of dealing and the characteristics they manifested when they did come being reserved for the future to disclose.

The first to put in an appearance at the land office in Mineral Point, upon its becoming accessible to settlers from this section, were N. Myrick, Samuel Snow, Asa White, J. M. Levy and Peter Cameron, who went thither to prove up the claims they had made at La Crosse and vicinity. The route taken by the travelers was hence to the Ridge, and thence direct by military road to Mineral Point. The trip then occupied some thirty-six hours, and the same time back, those going being obliged to remain at Mineral Point two days before they could obtain their turn and dispose of their business. This done, they returned to La Crosse secure in the title to their several claims, and more encouraged and prepared to offer inducements to settlers than ever before. But none came to either canvass, decline or accept these inducements. Considering the advantages of the site, it is somewhat remarkable that, for two years, no settlers expressed a desire to join issue with the situation, and the case thus being made up, submitted its decision to the logic of events that brawn and brain should in the future develop.

REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS.

In the spring of 1848, arrangements were inaugurated with a view to the removal of the Indians to some distant point where the aggressions of civilization had not yet manifested themselves, and to which it might be years before they would extend. And here may be related an incident of Indian character which will illustrate one of the reasons why their intimate association was not desired by the whites.

During the winter, their removal had been agitated, and a band laden with furs had encamped at the foot of the bluffs at some distance from the city, preparatory to negotiating the sale of their peltries. Having communicated their desires to Mr. Levy, and engaged with him to visit their camp the succeeding day, they departed. In accordance with this arrangement, Mr. Levy and an assistant started at daylight the next morning, and traveled all day in the direction of the camp. Late in the afternoon, he reached the objective point of his journey, and halted at a distance from the Indian wigwams. It being late, he suggested to them that they postpone trading until the next day. But they'd none of it, and acting upon the apparent desire of the savages, trading was commenced while yet the light remained. By using expedition and avoiding disputation, the trades were concluded by dusk, and each sought their camps