In the Beginning
Part 1: The Buckfoot Gang
There are some family lines that just cannot stay out of trouble.
This particular line of my family has been prolific and creative in their mischief which spans three decades, so here I am writing about them. They are by no means the only line like this, but they are the one I’m focusing on now. For a bit of background, I’ll momentarily step back to my third Great Grand-Uncle. In less ostentatious terms, older brother to my 3x Great Grandfather.
Lineus (also Lennius or Leaneas + several other contortions of the name) Bolin Boatwright was born in Hanover, Virginia between 1795 and 1798. Following his father’s death in 1815, his mother Frances, Lineus, and several of his siblings picked up sticks and moved to Russellville, in Logan County, Kentucky.
Lineus married Elizabeth Frances Evans in Warren County, Kentucky, on January 26, 1822. They were still in Russellville in 1830 and had three children so far, most likely Alexander, Ann, and a boy who did not survive.
By 1850, this Boatwright family had moved to Franklin, Missouri. An 1851 Land Patent for Lineus records his purchase of the curiously specific amount of 41 acres plus 22/100s of an acre in Calvey Township in Franklin County, southwest of St. Louis.
Of the children of Lineus and Elizabeth, the sixth was Robert M., my 1st cousin 4x removed, born in Kentucky in 1833, before the family moved to Missouri.
Robert married the long-suffering Priscilla Sloane on November 28, 1854, in Jefferson County, between Franklin and St. Louis counties. Side note: St. Louis itself is not in St. Louis County; it is in no county at all. It became an Independent City in antebellum times and remains so.
Robert and Priscilla were living in the community of Boles in Franklin County in 1860. They had two sons by this time: Oscar born in 1857 and Robert P. W. born in 1859. This is the petri dish where the trouble began at a slow simmer.
In 1867, the Boatrights had moved into the big city where Robert worked as a Carpenter until 1870. At that time, they lived in a house on Morgan Street, only three blocks from the Mississippi River and a stone’s throw from today’s St. Louis Arch. The red arrow in the photo below points to Morgan Street in 1875. Today, Morgan is only 2-3 blocks in length; the western portion has been renamed Delmar Street.
In the next three years, Robert the elder’s occupation progressed from Deputy Constable to Deputy Sheriff. Making another career change in 1874, he is noted as the owner of Boatright & Company, “Proprietors and Publishers of the St. Louis Advertiser.”
And thus, the years of relative peace, such as they may have been, are over.
The publishing venture doesn’t appear to have lasted long either, or was merely supplanted by Robert’s new interest following the events of late 1874, because in 1875, he started the Western Detective Agency at Market & 4th. His office was across the street from the Old Courthouse in what is now part of Gateway Arch National Park.
By 1878, he had a partner in Charles R. Bennett. The Detective agency continued through 1884, the demise of which was not without drama. More on that in another part.
The 1878 entry for the city directory shows the family living at 1538 Gratiot which is now all commercial buildings. Robert’s son, Robert P. is noted as a laborer. He would have been 18-19 at the time. He had been listed as a stonecutter in 1875, and the ensuing gap between then and 1878 is part of this story.
In June of 1874, 13-year-old Charles Bohn was wounded in the leg with a knife by Charles Woodson, also reported as 13 years of age. The injuries were non-life threatening and no charges appear to have been brought. This article reported Charles Bohn living at 722 N. 16th, but I looked up both families in the 1874 City Directory, and it was the Woodson family who lived at the 16th street address.
Three months later, on September 23, the same Charles Woodson conked Robert’s son, 17-year-old Oscar Boatright, on the head with a rock during an altercation. This occurred at the intersection of 16th and Morgan (now Delmar), which is the corner of the very same block where the June incident happened.
What was different this time was that Oscar died of the injury. According to a newspaper item from November 24, Oscar survived for a time. The notice says that neither Oscar nor his parents would provide them information about the affair. Oscar’s skull had been fractured and he died thereafter.
Other than the above short article, there weren’t many details published at the time of the ruckus. However, information based on testimony during the proceedings of State vs. Charles Woodson were printed on March 16, 1875 and gave more information. It says the problem started when Charles was on one side of Morgan Street, near the intersection of 16th, and Oscar and a few friends were on the opposite side of the street. Oscar lived on Morgan, Charles on 16th. Taunts were exchanged. Both sides began throwing stones. One thrown by Charles squarely found Oscar’s skull and knocked him down. He was clearly injured because it says he was taken home, not that he went home.
Oscar languished for weeks, eventually dying on November 21. Because racism has for so long been a problem, and because it is often mentioned in the documentation of the time, I need to say that Charles Woodson was black while Oscar was white. This incident could only have inflamed whatever neighborhood conflict was going on at the time and it did not bode well for young Charles or his family.
On the evening of Thursday, November 26, Police Officer Ahearn of the Third District arrested Charles Woodson on suspicion of an assault upon Oscar which ultimately caused his death. On December 5, he was formally charged with second degree murder in the St. Louis Court of Criminal Correction with a Grand Jury scheduled to hear evidence on December 8.
The Grand Jury found evidence for the lesser charge of manslaughter, with which he was charged. He was to be remanded but was released on $500 bond, a large amount of money at the time. Monetary security was provided by E.S. Woodson and two other men. E.S. was his father, Edward, who worked as a janitor.
Both families are undergoing terrible stress, and it is about to get worse.
Part 2 will begin with the events of the trial.
Great storytelling!
North St. Louis was overwhelmingly German immigrants in 1874. Today it is a blighted area and almost exclusively black population.