When horses were the sole means of transportation, their theft was a very serious crime, sometimes punished more harshly than murder. McLean County was not immune from such crime. In some communities, such as Saybrook, El Paso, and Atlanta, the farmers organized into Anti- Horse Thief Societies in the 1880s. They were not small organizations -- they were part of interstate organizations that had annual meetings. The Saybrook organization was said to have at least 100 members.
The operations of the Anti-Horse Thief Societies were not preventative, but purely defensive. Once a horse was stolen, a posse of men would take out after the thief as soon as the crime was detected. No instances of a thief caught red handed could be found in the pages of the Pantagraph, but many horses were located within hours of the crime, already sold to an innocent buyer.
In El Paso, after a horse thief had been caught twenty cannon shots were fired, to call interested citizens to town to see the thief. Over two thousand people were said to have come to look at the criminal. (Mar 9 1881) Apparently there was no danger of a lynching and the people just viewed the criminal and then went about their business.
Rewards were offered for the apprehension of horse thieves and law men from Bloomington, especially Detective Preston Butler, would supplement their pay with such rewards. "Press" Butler would frequently travel out of the county and even the state, to track down horse thieves and other criminals.
One notorious horse thief arrested in Bloomington was young Lizzie Barton from DeWitt County. She was first caught trying to sell a stolen horse and buggy in DeWitt in April, 1879 when she was about sixteen years old. The Pantagraph reported her escape from the Clinton jail. She twisted a bar from the cell window and was lowering herself from the window when a jailer noticed. In July of that year she succeeded in breaking jail -- she apparently was still being held on the first charge. She was caught after a long "foot-race." She was finally sentenced in September of 1879 to just 30 days in jail. She was too old for the reformatory and too young for the prison!
Lizzie was next arrested in Bloomington in March 1880, where she had used an alias when seeking work as a maid in a boarding house. She was accused of stealing a watch from Charles Adolph. Lizzie did not endear herself to the police of Bloomington. While being escorted to the court, Lizzie made a break for freedom and had to be chased down by Officer Bailey. She was bound over for the sum of $300 (much more than the watch could have been worth) and kept in jail. While in jail, Lizzie came down with the measles and suffered quite badly from them. SIDE NOTE: A horse thief in Springfield thought he had found a way of being released from jail -- Charles Davis rubbed his skin all over with "croton oil" and then pricked himself with pins all over his body to simulate small pox. He also ate soap to make himself sick. His subterfuge was discovered however and he remained in jail.
Lizzie was next arrested in July, 1880 in Wapella and charged with "using unbecoming language and making threats" on the life of a farmer there. She was acquitted of those charges and went on her way. In August she filed charges against the farmer, Joseph Thorne/Thorp, for his unlawful arrest of her. The farmer settled the case out of court.
Although Lizzie had stolen approximately one horse, one buggy and one watch, she was the "notorious female horse thief." In December of 1880 Lizzie was arrested in Quincy, IL for selling a horse in Canton that she had stolen in Clinton. According to the detective who tracked her down, Lizzie had stolen the buggy and then driven right past the owners home, leaving a clear track in the road for the detective to follow. However, it was five weeks before the detective caught up with Lizzie. While in the Quincy jail it was discovered that Lizzie had a fine saw on her person -- just perfect for sawing through jail house bars! Rumors were rife -- suggesting Lizzie had a female compatriot in Iowa who was a partner in her horse stealing. Another colleague was said to have stolen dozens of horses with Lizzie and was arrested in Indiana selling a horse.
In December 1880, the Pantagraph described Lizzie as an attractive girl, a bit plump and pigeon toed. She looked rather countrified but had an irresistible urge to steal horses. She had been arrested "many times" and her crimes were "without number." She had stolen more than a dozen horses in the "past few years." By this time she was being written up in the Chicago newspapers but had not yet served serious prison time.
Since she was in court again in March of 1881, on charges of arson (burning down a jail she was in) and horse stealing, it would appear she had not served time for the prior crimes. Lizzie plead guilty and fingered her friend Martha Brown. Her sentence was a year in prison: "Lizzie Barton, when she received her sentence on Wednesday, lay back in her chair and smiled blandly. One year in the State Prison will be only a picnic for her."
After her release from Joliet I am sorry to report that Lizzie Barton was not reformed. She took a job at the Commercial Hotel in Decatur and stole the clothing of two other young women working there. She was tried and sentenced to 90 days in the county jail.
It was after this that Lizzie Barton did disappear from the police records, and in 1886 the Clinton Public reported that Lizzie was married now and living a matronly life in Missouri.