was captivated by the charming stranger, who expressed great admiration for two spans of fine horses, a gray and a bay team, which he saw as he passed the barn. A few days after, he called for breakfast remarking, ‘Treat a dog well and he is sure to return.’ Mr. “A gentlemanly, sociable, clever fellow, claiming to have plenty of money, and being on his way to California, stopped for dinner. The story, quoted below, involves an early settler of Spring Lake Township named Abraham Woods, who met a “charming stranger” in 1853. Allensworth’s updated Tazewell County history published in 1905, on pages 835-836. Chapman’s 1879 “History of Tazewell County” relates a few tales of the Banditti of the Prairie, and one of those tales is also included in Ben C. In certain locales, before Illinois counties had reliable or effective law enforcement, pioneers sometimes organized vigilance committees and formed posses to round up members of the prairie bandits and bring them to justice (which in those days often meant a hasty trial and death sentence at a gallows tree).Ĭharles C. Such “Wild West” conditions were ideal for criminals, and many a law-abiding settler fell victim to dishonorable men who had chosen Illinois as the favored scene of their iniquitous deeds.įrom the 1830s to the 1850s, Illinois and neighboring states and territories were plagued by an extensive network of prairie bandits – known somewhat poetically as “the Banditti of the Prairie” – who were involved in various species of crime, from horse stealing and cattle rustling to burglary, armed robbery and even murder. It took time for the development of communities and the establishment of the elements of civil society. In the first decades after Illinois became a state, much of the state was undeveloped wilderness or sparsely settled. The Banditti of the early Illinois Prairie This is a reprint of a “From the Local History Room” column that first appeared in Jan.
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