THE DAN ALLEN TRAIL ( Part 6 )

WHAT BECAME OF DAN & MAGGIE

After the trial Allen was said to have been seen lingering in the stores at Loyal.  As before, he was not welcome and he did not remain in Clark County for long because he simply couldn’t; there was no future for him there.

Maggie Wright never did live happily ever after with Daniel Allen.  It could be presumed that with her recent widowhood in the death of William Belt, and with Dan’s new found freedom they could have exited the scene together in 1894.  But they did not.  Two weeks before the retrial of Dan Allen, Maggie had been escorted to Eau Claire, WI, by Sheriff Page and District Attorney Barkhill to await the court’s opening.  When it was over she returned to Chicago where she had resided prior to the trial.  On November 12, 1895, the widow Maggie Belt died in Chicago.  She was only in her late 30’s.  The cause of Maggie’s death on the physician’s certificate was given as peritonitis complicated by septicemia or blood poisoning.  Her occupation at the time of death was listed as housework.  Maggie’s death received no mention in the press back at Neillsville but did in Marshfield.  MARSHFIELD TIMES, Nov. 22, 1895 – “Mrs. Arza Sheriff [Rosa Wright, Maggie’s daughter] was in Chicago the most of the week in attendance at the funeral of her mother, Mrs. Belt, nee Wright, which occurred at that place some time last week.  Mrs. Belt was quite well known here, her first husband being a brother of our fellow townsman, Mr. Matt. Wright.”

In July of 1895 Dan Allen hung his hat in Frankford, Spink County, South Dakota.  He found refuge at the Soldier’s Home in Hot Springs, South Dakota.  Many Civil War veterans came to Hot Springs to try and alleviate aches and illnesses incurred during the war.  He resided at Hot Springs at least two years, perhaps longer.  Shortly after the turn of the century, Daniel came back to Wisconsin where he lived at a residence on Logan Street in La Crosse.

In the winter of 1908-9, twenty-two years after the crime, Judge O’Neill from Neillsville traveled to La Crosse to interview the aging Daniel Allen.  It may have been an interview of curiosity, as there should have been no legal issues that needed to be addressed.

On April 27, 1909, Allen remarried in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, to a divorcee and mother of eleven children named Margaret Van Vleet.  Daniel was a 71 year old widower according to his marriage record and was employed as a carpenter.  Word spread in Clark County and people who recalled the famous trials wondered if Dan’s new bride could have been Maggie Wright herself.  The theory was dismissed in a Loyal newspaper when it was learned that Margaret Van Vleet was nee Schneller and had never resided in Clark County.

Just a bit over two weeks after his marriage, Daniel Allen died of acute lung congestion at his residence in La Crosse, Wisconsin.   A full account of his obituary that appeared in the La Crosse Tribune on May 12, 1909, follows:  DIES AFTER TWO WEEKS OF BLISS – ‘Uncle Dan” Allen Expires Suddenly From Heart Trouble This Morning – WAS WEDDED AT 71 YEARS – Aged Bridegroom Was Preparing His Garden for Spring Seeding When the End Came: After two weeks of married life, Daniel Allen expired suddenly at his home at 1216 Logan Street this morning of heart failure.  Yesterday the old veteran was apparently hale and hearty and was preparing his garden for the annual spring seeding.  His death came suddenly and was not expected by his friends.  He is survived by his widow, formerly Mrs. Margaret Van Vleet, of this city.  Funeral arrangements will be announced later, as they have not up to the present time, been fully prepared.
Mr. Allen and Mrs. Margaret Van Vleet were married two weeks ago, April 27, by Rev. (G. W.) Fogg.  This was one of the strangest cases on record in the county, Mr. Allen being 71 years old and his wife 67 years of age.  Mr. Allen was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, living there until eight years of age, when his father removed to Dodge County, Wis.  When the Civil war broke out, Mr. Allen was 23 years old.  He was one of the first to answer the call for volunteers, enlisting at Beaver Dam, and seeing extensive service throughout the war.  He fought in the Missouri campaign and the memorable battles of Pea Ridge and Lookout Mountain. After being mustered out of the service, Mr. Allen drifted out to South Dakota, where he entered the home for old soldiers.  He had been a resident of the North side for past eight years and had many friends among the veterans of the city.”

Daniel Allen was buried at Campbell Cemetery on the north side of La Crosse, Wisconsin.  His military gravestone reads – “Daniel Allen, Co. K, 1st Wisconsin Cavalry, Civil War, Sgt.”.  There is no gravestone nearby for his last wife.  He was remembered by the citizens of La Crosse and the press as a Civil War hero and warmly referred to as “Uncle Dan” with no mention of his clouded past or of his prior family in his obituary.

Dan’s son, Frank Allen, settled in King County, Washington by 1910 where he and his wife, Rosa (nee Kottinger) raised their family.  Frank was employed as a dairy and poultry farmer in King County in Meridian Precinct.  Rosa and Frank had at least three children in Wisconsin before they moved to Washington: Edward Daniel Allen, born 1892; Eva A. Allen, born 1889; and Susan M. Allen 1887-1903.  Frank died in 1932 at Kent, King County, Washington, and Rosa died in 1937 at the same location.

What became of Henry and Maggie Wright’s son whom she mentioned as last heard from in Minnesota in the second trial, is unknown.

Their daughter Rosa Wright’s life continued with more tragedy.  Rosa and her husband Arza Sheriff, lived in Marshfield, Wisc., at the start of their marriage in 1895.  Arza was employed as a book keeper in the Marshfield Chair Factory.  He later worked in the post office and in 1900 for the R. Connor Company at Auburndale, Wood County, where the family relocated.  Three children were born to the couple; Agnes in 1896, Richard in 1899, and Arza E. Jr. in 1901.  On the evening of July 4, 1902, Arza Sheriff Sr. was passing through a holiday crowd in Auburndale on his way uptown when he was struck in the side by a “sky rocket”.  The rocket was discharged prematurely along with several other fireworks when they were accidentally lit after being placed across a bench, pointing at the crowd.  Arza was taken to the Marshfield hospital for surgery where he died the next day after much suffering.  Rosa remarried Howard Rozell in 1906.  Theirs was a blended family with Rosa’s three children and Howard’s son Fred, from his prior marriage.  The couple left Marshfield and farmed in the Town of Hancock, Waushara County, Wisconsin by 1910.  In 1920 Rosa and Howard lived in Kittitas County, Washington, where Howard worked as a watchman for a railroad company.  Rosa and Howard had two daughters together; Margaret A., born in 1908, and Marie R. born in 1911.  Arza Sheriff Jr., at the age of 18, was a student at Great Lakes U. S. Naval Training in Lake County, Illinois.  In 1930 he lived in Spokane County, Washington, with a wife and young son.

It is interesting to note that Dan Allen’s only child, Frank, and Maggie Wright’s daughter, Rosa, both lived out their lives in Washington State, so far away from their tragic earlier days in Wisconsin.  Let us hope the children of Dan & Susan Allen and Henry & Maggie Wright found at best a small sense of peace in their adult lives.  They were the truest victims of the crime that shook Clark County in 1886.

What did Daniel and Maggie gain from the crime they most certainly committed?

What started out as lust or love most likely turned into bitter hate for one another.  Nothing was gained; everything was lost.


“I know you would do all you could for me and it all depends on you whether you get that chance or not…..you will if we get clear…..I don’t want the time to come that I have to bid you good by for ever….. no never….. no Maggy”





SOURCES:

Clark County Clerk of Courts archives
- Court documents
- Letters written by Daniel Allen, labeled as exhibits, from Circuit Court, Clark Co., Wis,
  and filed March 16, 1887, signed by R. W. Balch, County Clerk
  (These letters are in italics throughout)
Federal Census records from 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930
Roster of Rebellion, Wisconsin Civil War Records, 1865
Republican & Press, Neillsville, Wisc., Marshfield Times, Marshfield Wisc. and
La Crosse Tribune, La Crosse, Wisc. newspapers filmed by Wisconsin Historical Society (various issues from 1886 – 1909)
Maggie Belt’s Death Certificate from Cook County, IL
Readings from:
- Loyal Public Cemetery, Loyal, Wisc.
- Campbell’s Cemetery at La Crosse, Wisc.
Greenwood Cemetery Records, Greenwood, Wisc.
Dan Allen’s Civil War Pension File from NARA


CREDITS:

Kevin Struensee:  Clark County, Wisc., Historian & Genealogist
Kathy Wegner:  Neillsville Public Library, Interlibrary loan assistant
Lisa Peterson & Rick Hagen:   Genealogists, Historians & Journalists from Maryland
Lorraine Markee: Wood County, Wisc. Genealogist


Thanks to Kevin, Lisa, Rick, Paul, and Lorraine for helping me to tell the story!

I FORGOT

There was supposed to be a poem here,

But I forgot to write it.

I forgot to jot down a witty thought,

An idea about how this was like that.

It left my mind, it escaped me.

And so this spot is without a poem

Because I forgot to write one.