St. Clair County
Remnants Of The Past

History of Henry and St. Clair Counties, Missouri, 1883

To Jerome B. Jennings, county attorney of the County of St. Clair, in the State of Missouri:
You are hereby notified that a body of armed men called at the house of my deputy, in the town of Osceola, county of St. Clair, and state of Missouri, on the 20th day of May, A.D. 1879, about the hour of midnight; demanding that he accompany them to the court house. Finding him sick and unable to comply with their demands, they went to the house of Mr. K.B. Wonacott, overpowering him and forcing him to accompany them to my office, from whence they took and carried away the Back Tax Book for the year 1877.
This notice is given you that you may take such steps for the recovery of the same, and arrest of the perpetrators of the act, as you may deem proper.
Witness my hand as collector of the county and state aforesaid, this 21st day of May, A.D. 1879.
William M. Lewellen,
Collector of St. Clair County, Missouri.
By Thomas D. Hicks, Deputy Collector

In pursuance of the above notice, I found, through the aid of George C. McNeil, constable of Osceola Township, the charred remains of one book, consisting of a part of the back, in the Osage Hills, south of Osceola and returned the same to the collector.
J.B. Jennings,
Prosecuting Attorney

It amounted to nothing, the parties to the crime being unknown.