History of Vernon County, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of its towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens.

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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
der. The case came before Judge Knowlton upon a change of venue from Crawford county. It was continued until the spring term of court in 1852, when the district attorney entered a nolle prosequi—a refusal to further prosecute.
The grand jury which had been impanneled, as stated, returned three bills of indictment before the close of the fall term in 1861. The first was against William S. Tippits for assault with intent to kill; a nolle prosequi was entered in this case. The second was against L. D. Smith for the same crime as Tippits was charged with. The third was against Isaac Wright for an assault upon a peace officer. In the two last cases the indictments were quashed.
This concluded the work of the fall term of 1851. At this time Orrin Wisel was clerk of court, and William F. Terhune, deputy; the latter attending to the business of the office.
The third term of circuit court convened at the little log court house, in May, 1852. Judge Knowlton was still on the bench.
The first matter to engage the attention of the court was an indictment which the grand jury returned against John Myers, for assault with intent to kill Eldad Inman.
At the September term of court, in 1853, one of the most important criminal cases that have ever been tried in the county, came before Judge Knowlton. Its title was, " State of Wisconsin vs. William Watt?." Watts had been indicted for murder in the first degree, by the grand jury of LaCrosse county, and the case came to Bad Ax county upon a change of venue. The particulars of the affair were as follows : Some time during 1852, William Watts and a man named Deurst came from Illinois and settled upon a piece of land in Mormon Coolye. La¬ Crosse county. Watts being in the employ of Deurst, as a hired man. In the fall of 1852, Watts went to LaCrosse city, taking with him several head of cattle and other articles which had belonged to Deurst. He got upon a drunken spree and sold the property.   For several days
he hung around LaCrosse, and then disappeared. At that time the country in the region of Mor¬ mon Coolye was very sparsely settled, and it was some days before Deurst was missed ; but in time suspicions were aroused from the action of Watts, and the continued absence of Deurst, that all was not right. The premises were ex¬ amined, and it was found that Deurst had been murdered, and his body dragged some distance and hid in in a thicket. Watts was still absent. A reward of $500 was offered for his apprehen¬ sion. It subsequently transpired that Watts came to Bad Ax county and hired out to work for Anson G. Tainter. For several months he continued work, gaining the confidence of his employer. Finally a man from La Crosse county, who came to Tainter's upon business, recognized Watts, and told Tainter that he be¬ lieved Watts was the murderer,but would make further examination while the family were eat¬ ing  dinner, and report the result.
After dinner he told Tainter that it was a mistake and the suspicion was unfounded. The La Crosse man than proceeded on his way to Prairie du Chien, and upon his arrival at that place wrote the sheriff of La Crosse county in¬ forming him of the whereabouts of Watts. The sheriff at once came down to Tainter's, arrested Watts and took him to La Crosse, where the grand jury had found a true bill of indictment against him for the murder of Deurst. Before plea he secured a change of venue to Bad Ax county, where the case came to trial in Septem- ber,1853. The counsel were among the most dis¬ tinguished lawyers in this part of the State and both gentlemen afterwards became circuit judges. Edwin Flint was for the prosecution and George Gale for the defense. Both were then residents of La Crosse. The trial excited great interest. The theory of the prosecution was, of course, all circumstantial; but this evi¬ dence and the chain of circumstances was most convincing. No one had seen him strike the blow, but his subsequent actions, selling the cattle, running away and assuming a different