History of Crawford and Richland Counties, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of their towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens.

              396
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
and indignant over the matter, and banding to¬ gether for the purpose, hunted down and ar¬ rested some twenty-five of the supposed mem¬ bers of the gang of outlaws. The prisoners were brought to Prairie du Chien. An im¬ promptu court was organized, a jury summoned, and they were tried; and, although there was no evidence showing the guilt of the prisoners, about a dozen of the most suspicious characters among them were convicted, on general princi¬ ples, and sentenced by the court to castigation of from five to twenty-five blows upon their naked backs, and to have their heads shaved. The verdict of the mock court was promptly executed by the excited mob, which numbered nearly 1,000 men. One desperate fellow of the gang of culprits swore he would burn the town of Prairie du Chien, and would wreak his vengeance upon the citizens. Mr. Blair had been ])rominent in the whole transaction, and acted as attorney for the prosecution in the trial. He treasured up the threat of the des¬ perado, and so firmly believed it would be car¬ ried out,that he repeatedly told Mr.O.B.Thomas and others he was almost afraid to go out upon the streets after nightfall, lest he should be assassinated. Mr. Thomas, who has a keen ap¬ preciation of a good joke, thought he would test Mr. Blair's courage. Their offices, in which they slept, joined, and one dark night, quite late, Mr. Thomas slipped out of the back door and procuring a heavy billet of .wood, slammed h against Blair's rear door, shouting at the same time, in disguised voice to Blair, to come forth; that he had come to be avenged for his punishment received at the hands of the mob in which he—Blair—was so prominent an actor, and the next breath began to give orders to his imaginary comrades to surround the building. Blair was so terribly frightened that notwithstanding he had two loaded guns in his room for self protection, as he had boasted, he bounded out of bed with a scream, and, without stopping to investigate or to even put on a sin¬ gle additional article of clothing, rushed out of
the front door and down stairs, and, hatless, pantless and shoeless ran for dear life, never halting till he reached the residence of Mr. Thomas' father, several blocks distant. There he related his blood-curdling experience and hair-breadth escape from the midnight assas¬ sins. The senior Thomas dressed himself, and,arming themselves to the teeth,he and Blair returned to investigate the whereabouts of the would-be murderers. Meantime young Thomas quietly returned to his room, and when aroused by his father and Blair from a feigned sound sleep, he affected great surprise at what had passed, and sympathized deeply with the vic¬ tim of the burglarious attack. Thomas never let the joke out until after Blair left the place.
B. T. Hunt was a native of Ohio, and though a man of limited education, he possessed great natural powers and resources which earned for him a high rank as a lawyer. As an advocate his arguments were logical and con¬ vincing, and his eloquence, which was of the Tom Corwin s yle, captivating and irresisti¬ ble. Mr. Hunt came to Prairie du Chien, and began the practice of law, as a member of the firm of Johnson, Bullock, & Hunt, in 1857, and after remaining three years, he removed to Elkader, Clayton Co., Iowa, in i860. He was there elated circuit judge, and filled the office one term, after which he resumed the legal profession until his death, several years ago.
Rufus King located in Prairie du Chien and began the practice of law in the courts of Craw¬ ford county in 1857, and continued until the War of the Rebellion broke out. He then en¬ tered the army as quartermaster of the 3l8t regiment of Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, serving through the war. Soon after returning home, he went to Chicago, and is still practic¬ ing his profession in that city. Mr. King is an amiable gentleman and a lawyer of clever ability,
Edward Lowry, who was one of the most bril¬ liant lawyers ever connected with the bar or Crawford county, was  a native of Vermont,