David King Howery

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1903, Whitewater, Butler County, KS

Notes:

A native of Shelby Co. Indiana; born December 11, 1827 and came to Warren County,Iowa in October, 1849, and since that time has lived on the farm he now occupies; he was married while in Indiana, to Sarah Ashworth, a native of North Carolina, in 1847, who died May 5, 1859, and left four children: Charlotte, Nancy, John, and George, who are now deceased; he was married a second time to Elizabeth Colglazier, a native of Indiana; they have a family of seven children living: Emma, Ida, Willie, Jasper, Clarissa Margaret, Della May, and Sarah: Ephraim and Samuel deceased; owns a farm of 230 acres.

THE "TEAR DOWN" MURDERS.

This story comes from "The History of Warren County, Iowa" 1879

The story is very lengthy so I have decided to take some highlights of the story to give you a general
idea of what happened.............

The story of the "Tear Down" Murders is chronicled as the bloodiest offense ever committed on the
soil of Warren county and one of the worst ever perpetrated in the West.
It occurred on Saturday night, Feb. 19, 1876, on the way home from a revival meeting at the so-called
"Tear Down" church, of the Christian denomination, near the center of Greenfield township. [ The North River Church]

THE FEUD
It was a neighborhood brawl, one which had existed for many years, in which many citizens of the neighborhood had taken sides, but few had taken part in it.
A few years before, and repeatedly, David Howery made the charge to his neighbors that Reuben Westfall had been found in his corn crib, at night, in an attempt to steal corn. Westfall stoutly denied this.
No legal proceedings were ever taken to prove these charges. As time went on, the hatred and malice
between these neighbors grew.
There were young lads in each which were ever ready to defend the injured name and honor of their families. The results of these further differences produced quarrels and fights between the children at school, and fights also between the heads of the families.

FAMILIES INVOLVED;
The Dillard Family; George Dillard, one of the wealthiest men in the township, was allied with the quarrel on the side of the Westfall family. Fiercer quarrels and fights resulted by this accumulated fighting force. Nothing very serious ever resulted from the families troubles except increased uproar in the neighborhood. Although Dillard was considered one of the most reliable and prosperous men in the township, he had permitted his family to grow up in a sort of moral darkness.

His family consisted largely of boys who sought out adventure and amusement and with their training, and development, nothing was more natural than that fights and quarrels should come to be in their line.

The Westfall Family; The Westfalls had little position in society, and little cared to have any. The old man, Ruban Westfall, was of that character of men who generally keep on the outskirts of civilization.

He was not deemed a bad man, but he permitted his boys, of whom he had three almost grown, to enter into his quarrels and also make new ones without any discouragement from himself.

The Howery Family; David Howery was a man of an entirely different character. He was an honest, industrious, hard-working, straightforward man, who tended to his own business. He was not a man to seek a quarrel. He was not a man to give up.

His children were much more promising than either the Westfalls or the Dillards and generally stood much better in the society of the community.

THE FIGHT
The church service had ended about 9:00, and they started on their way homeward, all compelled to pass along the same road. When they had proceeded about forty rods north from the church, David Howery became involved in a quarrel with one the boys of the opposite party. Blows followed until all the members of both parties were involved in a fierce hand to hand conflict. David Howery was slightly injured. The party consisted of Ben Westfall, 22yr.old, Lewis Westfall, 16yr.old., and Levi Westfall, about 20yr.old., sons of Reuben Westfall; Thomas Dillard, 23yr. old, Fremont Dillard, 20 yr.old, and Jack Dillard about 21 yr.old, sons of George Dillard; Frank Battles and Thomas Flannagan, a hired hand of Mr. Dillard's, eight persons in all.

The Howery party consisted of David, the father, his son George, 22 yr.old, and his son John, about 19 yr.old; and a young Irishman named James Grum, who took the Howery side in the quarrel and subsequent fight.
The fight only lasted a few moments, but when the field was examined it was found that George Howery had fallen dead in his tracks, caused by a knife wound under the shoulder blade and one below the shoulder joint. John Howery, stabbed in the left side of the spinal column and a second wound near the first, walked about forty feet when he fell against a tree and died. David Howery was shot in the upper lip with the shot passing through the upper jaw. He received other flesh wounds and slash wounds to the face. Although many thought he would not recover, slowly, he pulled through.
James Grum lingered for a day or two and he too died of numerous stab wounds.
The bodies of the two murdered boys were taken to the house of Mr. George Bishop, about twenty rods distant from the scene of conflict, to await the coroner and to be prepared for burial.
After the battle, the perpetrators returned to Mr. Dillard's house where Sheriff Meek arrested them about noon the next day.

CONCLUSION

To try to shorten this story, I won't reprint the legal happenings. These men were all jailed for a short time awaiting trial. The trials of each were either postponed or dismissed over and over. It drug on for many many months. Finally, one by one, they were let go and not one of the persons charged were ever convicted.

The following comes from the files of Larry Warren of Des Moines, Iowa. He has done extensive research on the Howery Families that connect to the Ashworth's.

David: He and his family lived in Greenfield,Twnp., Warren Co., Iowa from the 1850's until the 1880's.
He was not a man of great culture but was known as an honest, industrious, hard-working, straightforward man who attended to his own business. He was successful in accumulating a fine farm of 240 acres before leaving Iowa. The low point in his life probably can be found at the time his sons were murdered by neighbors after a dispute over corn that kept disappearing from David's corncrib at night. He moved to Whitewater, Kansas in 1903.

David married Sarah L. Ashworth on 11 Mar 1847 in Shelby County, IN. Sarah was born on 28 Aug 1828 in North Carolina, USA; died on 4 May 1859 in Warren County, IA; was buried in North River Cemetery, Warren County IA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

David married Elizabeth Ann Colclazier on 14 Oct 1859 in Warren County, IA. Elizabeth was born on 16 Oct 1836 in Shelby County, IN; died about 1926. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1860, Warren County, IA
• Census: 1880, Washington Twp., Pottawatamie County, IA

Charlotte married Richard Franklin Leap on 5 Feb 1870 in Warren County, IA. Richard was born in 1849 in Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1860, Warren County, IA

Family/Spouse: Vincent Young. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1860, Warren County, IA

Notes:

See David Howery ..Notes

He and his brother, John, were murdered in what is known as the "Tear Down" murders in Greenfield Township, Warren Co., Iowa. This action followed a long neighborhood dispute which resulted from the disappearance of George and John's father's corn from his corncrib. David make the charge against the neighbor he suspected numerous times and several neighbors lined up with the party David charged. After a church meeting in which two ministers tried to calm both sides, both parties left the church and followed and same road on their way home. Soon a scuffle developed and shortly it got out of hand and knives and revolvers were introduced. By the time the fight ended, George was killed by the knife wounds and John was shot to death. Their father was seriously injured.

This comes from the files of Larry Warren of Des Moines, Iowa. He has done extensive research on the Howery families which connect to the Ashworth families.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1860, Warren County, IA

Notes:

See David Howery-- Notes
John and his brother, George, were murder victims in a feud with their Dillard neighbors.

Notes:

Headstone Reads: Died May 5, 1852 1yr. 11mo. 5da.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1880

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1880, Greenfield Twp., Warren County, IA

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1880, Greenfield Twp., Warren County, IA

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1880, Greenfield Twp., Warren County, IA

Notes:

A note in the North River section of the October 11, 1928 Indianola Herald, stated Della Howery, daughter of Dave Howery, is now Mrs. Harry Edris of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Family/Spouse: Harry Edris. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

David and Emma lived in the vicinity of Carlisle, Iowa and had at least 5 children.

Emma married David Patterson on 31 Dec 1883 in Warren County, IA. David died in 1934 in Carlisle, IA; was buried in Carlisle Cemetery, Carlisle, IA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1870, Greenfield Twp., Warren County, IA

Ida married Joseph A. Smith on 20 Oct 1886 in Warren County, IA. Joseph was born about 1865. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Gilbert Puckett. Gilbert was born about 1867. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1880, Washington Twp., Pottawatamie County, IA

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1880, Washington Twp., Pottawatamie County, IA

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1880, Washington Twp., Pottawatamie County, IA

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1880, Washington Twp., Pottawatamie County, IA