Sycamore Gap, Wisconsin

 To make any sense of what follows you need to know about this tree:

It is, or rather was, an elegant sycamore tree.  It stood in a low spot between two hills right on Hadrian's Wall.  It's just up the hill from Vindolanda where I excavate each spring.  It had become more than a bit iconic.  It turned up on logos, guidebooks, the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood had the protagonists chatting right under its branches.  

Then there was a stormy night.  And in the morning this is what was revealed.

Under cover of darkness, the sound of their chainsaw drowned out by the winds, villains had cut down the Sycamore Gap tree.  It landed btw on Hadrian's Wall and did some minor damage.

People were angry.  Speculation ran hot and, I'm sad to say, for a while the wrong guy was suspected.  But honestly the pool of suspects could not have been large.  This was done by a professional tree cutter.  To pull this off in just a few minutes time?  Not something drunken yobs would be capable of.  Heck, they'd likely have cut off a few of their own limbs in the dark.

Eventually a couple of real prize specimens were arrested.  The trial was going on when we were over in May.  I won't give them any recognition, they don't deserve it.  Even their defense was crummy.  

My car was there?  Oh, sometimes people borrow it.  Your phone gps put you there and there was a photo on it of a gigantic slice of wood?  Oh, sometimes I loan people my phone too.  Say, didn't you used to own a plus sized commercial logging chain saw?  Where is it?  I don't remember.

Eventually each tried to blame the other.  Helpful hint, when you both try to put the other under the bus you just, well, both end up there.  The verdict was Guilty.  I'd have said Guilty and Stupid.

I'm mentioning this sordid episode only because my son and I cut down a dead tree in our side yard recently.  In case somebody gets all het up about the Chippewa Falls Crab Apple I'm prepared to say that my phone gps did show I was there.  'Cause its where I live.  That's not my (adorable little) chain saw.  And I don't know where either it or that section of wood are.  

I rest my case.

From Latte to Lynching. A Curious History.

Downtown Chippewa Falls.  Spring of 2025.  Right down on River street is the "Market on River".  It's a fun place.  Restaurants, a coffee shop, space you can rent for events.  There are swank apartments on the top floor with a magnificent view.

It's been a retail establishment for less than a year.  But I knew the place in its previous incarnation too.....

From 2016 to 2020 the robotics team operated out of this building.  The ground floor was a production shop that refurbished and later manufactured CNC machines.  The top floor was the residence of the owners, with the aforementioned great view.  The second floor was, for about 4 months each year, Robot Land.

I think our drivers became extra proficient because they had to learn to drive around those wooden pillars!

Those marks on the floor are significant.  Prior to its use as a cnc company the building had sat empty for a while.  Before that it was a warehouse for a shoe manufacturer.  But I think much of the layout actually dates back to when it was a wholesale grocery business.  Marks on the floor designated specific storage areas.

This is the location, although the date of the picture is unclear.  The Mercantile company built on the spot in 1903, but their place burned down and had to be rebuilt on the same footprint in 1916.  If you pay attention to such things you can maybe see where older and newer areas of foundation exist.

Obviously a bit of prime real estate like this would have earlier history.  Lets take a look....

In 1883 the entire block was basically hotels.  The train station was across River Street.  Here's what the corner looked like then:

Part of the site is vacant, but part is taken up by the River Hotel.  Note the skinny yellow structure coming off the back.  It was probably an elevated walkway so that upper floor patrons could trek over to the outhouse without needing to do the stairs!

The railroad station was not there in this 1874 "Birdseye View".  Trains did not come to town until 1875, and not to this side of the river for a few years after that.  But the hotel seems to be there already.

Across River street, on the future site of the train station, there is a single building.  And a large tree.  Does the latter factor into the dark side of our little history?

The year was 1849.  Our best source for early history of the area was a Thomas McBean who did not turn up until 1856, so this was a story he'd heard, not witnessed.  As he recounted in 1904...

"As I stood near the alley on Island Street between River and Spring, looking at the new building of the Chippewa Valley Mercantile Company, the thought came to me that I was standing on the spot where, 55 years ago this summer, the Indian was hung by a frenzied mob of toughs from some of those early days."

The story he then relates is a sad one indeed.  In that early time there were Ojibway camping near modern day Spring Street.  A Frenchman named Caznobia had come up from Galena Illinois with a party of rowdies.  He proceeded to get drunk and try to enter the wigwam of a native and his wife.  He was ejected, but tried again using "..rude and insulting language to the Indian and his squaw.."  In 1904 you probably could not come out and say it, but likely he had dishonorable intentions towards the woman.

Well, the Ojibwa man stabbed Caznobia who was taken in dire condition to the home of a man named Hurley, who had just opened the first saloon in town.  Probably that's where the "fire water" that played such a role in this tragedy originated.

An incensed mob gathered and, undeterred by the remonstrations of H.S. Allen the leading citizen of town, the Indian man was strung up and lynched on a nearby pine tree.

Repercussions were immediate.  The white population of Chippewa Falls at this point was very small, perhaps 100 not counting transients.  As many as 1500 Ojibwa gathered in the days that followed, threatening to burn the settlement if justice was not done.

With difficulty they were persuaded to settle for the ring leaders being sent to justice.  A Tim Inglar and three others were sent down river to Prairie du Chien, at that time the nearest point where a court was functioning in Wisconsin Territory.  Alas for the cause of justice the six Ojibwa men who accompanied this party got nervous as they drew near the lands of their traditional enemies the Lakota, and turned back.  With no witnesses against them the four men who led the lynch mob were set free.

That in any case was the tale told to young Thomas McBean in the 1850s, as it was remembered by him the better part of a lifetime later.  It has the ring of truth to it even if a few details like just how many Ojibway had gathered and with what intent may have been embellished.  A slightly different version of the story appears in several sources from the 1870's, but its likely that McBean provided the information for those as well.   The man who started all the trouble, Caznobia, recovered from his injuries.

McBean said that the unfortunate Indian was buried near the pine tree, and that the tree "...stood there for many years after I came here."

But for how many years?  And, can we see it?  I think the tree shown in the 1874 view is not the right one.  Here's the exact spot that McBean stood at while remembering this dark event in local history.  The back of the Mercantile building is on the right.

Now it is a fair question, just how long did the tree stand there?  McBean lived in Chippewa Falls from 1856 until he went off to war in 1861.  He returned circa 1865 and was here into the 80's at least.   Birdseye views are reasonably accurate but not down to the level of individual trees, which artists probably sketched in where they thought it would enhance the overall work.  But we do have a single early photo that might show us something.  Its from 1870 or 71, so twenty years plus from the events he described.  But trees, especially big trees, can last a long time.....

I've put an arrow over what appears to be a tall pine tree.  It is standing next to Spring street just down the alley from where Thomas McBean was standing when he was pondering that dark day.  

Chippewa Falls saw another lynch mob in the 1870's, not long after this picture was taken.  But that's a story for another day.

  

Murder in Old Chippewa Falls - Part Five, Was Justice Served?

If you are coming to this story late, here's the tale of Murder in Old Chippewa Falls from the start:

Part One - The Wrong Corpse

Part Two - The Suspect

Part Three - Arrest

Part Four - Escape and Recapture

Felix Fourboul Junior was convicted of second degree manslaughter and sentenced to seven years in the State Penitentiary.  He was released after four.  

It seems a light punishment for patricide, and the matter of escaping from jail seems to have just been ignored.  Some newspaper accounts actually sounded a bit admiring!  From time to time there were reports on his life in prison, as in this short bit from 1915.

I'm not sure why the lesser charge was pursued instead of say, murder.  Perhaps the account of a fight between father and son, along with the injuries Felix came away with, gave doubt as to premeditation and motive.  And who knows, perhaps Felix Senior was not as nice a guy as he was portrayed.  In a small town people know such things.

As to the other characters in our little tale....

Mrs. Fourboul vanishes from view.  From an off hand remark by her step son it sounds as if she was from Canada.  With poor health and no remaining ties to Chippewa Falls I suspect she went back there.

As mentioned earlier Orrin Fuller, the apparent brains behind the jail break, was also never heard from again.  He must have been a resourceful fellow.  His would be a story well worth the knowing and the telling.

Mrs. Alice Bertrand also gets no further mention in the local papers.  Bertrand is a common enough name in this town, so perhaps the various other Mrs. Bertrands were just being precise when they always listed their first initial.  Or, given the allegations, perhaps they wanted it known that they were certainly not THAT Mrs. Bertrand.  There is an Alice Bertrand, nee Germain, buried in Chippewa Falls.  She lived from 1877 - 1971.  This would make her 28 at the time of these events, so the servant girl might have been onto something with her suspicions.  

So what ever became of Felix Fourboul Junior?  I wish I could tell you.  I find no burial record in either the US or Canada.  Newspaper archives are always hit and miss, but essentially I find no mention of a Felix Fourboul anywhere in North America following the events of this story.  Its an unusual enough name that changing it to something simpler, and ditching connection to a sordid past, would only be sensible.  Essentially Felix did his time, then appeared at the offices of the Chippewa Independent on October 20, 1915.  He paid the bill for the paper he had been receiving while imprisoned, walked out the door and vanished to history.  As it happens, his is only the second most remarkable escape from the Chippewa Falls Jail, but that's a story for another day.

And Felix Senior?  He also makes a final appearance in 1915.  After a fashion.  In an article describing the need for a new courthouse much is made of the crowded and dilapidated state of things.  I don't know what to add to this quote:

Presumably his mortal remains were eventually interred in a pauper's grave.  Perhaps his final resting place is under one of the small, unmarked stones in the cemetery associated with the County Poor Farm.

Murder in Old Chippewa Falls - Part Four, Escape, Capture and Trial

Let's continue the story of Felix Fourboul Jr. and Senior, and Murder in Old Chippewa Falls.  For those coming in late:

Part One - The Wrong Corpse

Part Two - The Suspect

Part Three - Arrest

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When Sheriff Lund turned up at the Chippewa County jail on Monday November 4th, 1905, one of the inmates - who was also awaiting trial for murder - asked him if he'd seen the big hole in the wall.  Indeed, the jail now had a new exit.  What it did not have were Felix Fourboul Jr. or Orrin Fuller.  

Evidently somebody had slipped them a hacksaw, possibly through an opened window.  Over an undetermined period of time the duo had sawed through a bar to the extent that it could not only be dislodged - giving them access to an outside wall - but then used to chisel away at the stone of a window sill and create a hole big enough for them to get through.  Hmmm....maybe this is why Felix seemed so cheery when he appeared in court two weeks earlier!

Fuller was felt to be the brains of the operation.  But in another puzzling detail, he was in jail only for a relatively minor forgery charge and would have soon been released.  Outside help was strongly suspected.

Despite an intensive search neither man was located.  Indeed, from the lack of mentions in later years of the paper I suspect Orrin Fuller got clean away.  It was easier to vanish 120 years ago.  Being a forger probably was a big help.

The trail went cold for years....

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There were of course plenty of rumors.  One early suspicion was that Felix had gone north to the Indian Reservation where he would be protected.  One commentor said that any attempt to take him from there would be met "..with a Winchester...".  I used to work near the LCO Reservation.  I'm inclined to agree with this idea.

In actuality Felix Fourboul wandered here and there.  Through North Dakota and up into Canada.  Eventually he ended up in the small town of Sioux Rapids Iowa.  Going by the name "John Compton" he used his previous experience working at the brickyard to gain employ at a similar plant that made brick and tile.  He was "hard working,  industrious and of good habits".  But evidently greed got the better of him.

The account in the paper is a little vague, but it sounds as if Felix still harbored thoughts that his father had done him wrong financially.  So he wrote to the Executor of Felix Senior's estate asking for any remaining money.  As it happens, this was John Therriault, his former employer who knew him well.  This started the wheels of justice moving, and through the cooperation of the postal and law enforcement folks in Sioux Rapids, Felix was apprehended on July 18th, 1910.  He cooled his heels a while in their local jail, where it was said that "He was visited by several women and girls who shed copious tears over his hard fate."  Again with the Bad Boy allure....

Fourboul was returned to Chippewa Falls where he went on trial in January of 1911.  On the 18th of that month he was found guilty and sentenced.   

But was justice done?

The Chippewa County Courthouse as it appeared in 1911:

Murder in Old Chippewa Falls - Part Three, Arrest

 Continuing the saga of Felix Fourboul, Jr. and Sr.  For the earlier installments:

The Wrong Corpse!         The Suspect

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With discovery of the body, Felix Fourboul Jr. was immediately re-arrested.  The evidence against him was strong.  He'd already pled guilty to stealing money from his father.  He claimed they'd later met near a structure variously described as The Stand Pipe or The Water Tank.  Probably this was the water tower on the East Hill.  A struggle ensued.  Supposedly a grief stricken elder Fourboul went away from it to an unknown fate.  While the younger man went to his boarding house and hid until full darkness, to avoid having to answer questions about his minor injuries and the blood on his clothes.  Here's a map showing the relevant locations, including where the body was found months later.

The decomposed state of the body made identification difficult, but based on clothing, tattoos and a repair of one shoe, it was determined that this was indeed Felix Fourboul Senior, and that the cause of death was blunt trauma to the head.  One bit of testimony that raises questions was when the very perceptive servant girl at the boarding house was asked if she thought Felix Jr. was having "intimate relations" with his land lady, Mrs. Alice Bertrand.  She thought that was likely...

The Coroner's Inquest laid out the facts quite clearly.

Felix Junior would certainly be facing trial in this case in short order.

Or would he?

Murder in Old Chippewa Falls - Part Two, The Suspect

Here is a photo of Felix Fourboul Jr.

Beyond the physical image its hard to really get a clear picture of the young man.  Reports often conflict with each other.  His step mother, while describing her husband in glowing terms, referred to Felix Jr. as "a bad boy".  But he does not seem to have been in any legal trouble before the events under discussion, and at one point was said to be engaged to be married to a local girl.  The appeal of Bad Boys to women is of course well known.

There is a sub text here, one that makes me wonder just how much Felix Jr. had to do with his father and his step mother while growing up.  He was born to an Ojibwa woman.  She died when he was about two years old.  He stayed variously with his father on the South Side of Chippewa Falls, and at "Bob Creek", a property up north on the Flambeau River.  He attended country schools and later the Indian School at Sparta.  Although a common practice at the time, the reputation of Indian Boarding Schools has not been good in retrospect.

Felix Jr. worked steadily, if at an assortment of jobs that suggests he did not stick with things well.  The sugar beet factory, a canning plant, and for a time with his father at the brickyard.

Evidently the major source of conflict between father and son was money.  The first Mrs. Felix got a land grant that went to her husband at the time of her death.  This was for valuable farm land on the Flambeau River, presumably at Bob Creek, which Fourboul Sr. sold.  His son thought he deserved a share, or maybe all of it.

On the day of Felix Fourboul Sr.'s disappearance it seems Jr. visited the brickyard boarding house and took a sum of money.  I've seen both $18 and $30 mentioned in articles.  When the father went looking for his son there was an argument and a fight.  Junior says his father beat him, and that when he was down on the ground his father became remorseful, fearing he'd killed his son, and ran off, perhaps committing suicide later.  The weights tied around the body could fit with that, but blunt force injuries to the head of the corpse, and the fact that it was found a short distance upstream from the bridge made this a difficult story to believe.

When Felix Jr. went home to his boarding house he apparently hid in a shed until dark so that blood on his clothing would not be seen.  This did not work out as planned, and he had to try to explain his disheveled state and the bloodstains.  He said variously that he'd been involved in a horse and wagon runaway or in a fight with his father.  

Oddly he did not want the 17 year old servant girl to help with any clean up.  The next morning he bought some cleaning solution at the drug store and asked his land lady for help.....

When Fourboul Sr. was reported missing and foul play suspected, Jr. was arrested.  Eventually he pled guilty to theft of the money and was released.

His boarding house still stands at 124 South Rural Street, just a short walk from where his father's body was eventually pulled from the river.

If you are catching up Here's part One

Next time:  The Arrest

Murder in Old Chippewa Falls - Part One, The Wrong Corpse!

This will be a True Crime Story in five parts.  Not my usual fare, but I ran across this while looking for something else.  Which actually is how this story begins....

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On August 3rd, 1905 Ole Madson had an unpleasant duty to perform.  He was dragging the river bottom near the rail road bridge above the Chippewa Falls dam, looking for the remains of Andrew Gonyers, a log driver who had recently drowned near that spot.  Madson had a long "pike pole", and when he snagged something and started to pull very hard, he thought he'd accomplished his grim task.  With considerable force he hauled up a dead body.  Gonyers had been found.

Or had he?

This body had been in the water for a much longer time, and had been weighted down with 100 pounds of metal, including "rail road iron".  The body was pulled from the river, examined, and pronounced to be - most probably - that of Felix Fourboul Sr.

Oddly there are still piles of abandoned rails on the shore near the bridge!

Felix had last been seen on Wednesday, April 19th, some three and a half months earlier.

He was an interesting character, of the sort more common in earlier times than today.  Born in France circa 1844 he had spent some time as a sailor.  Indeed, it was nautical tattoos on the body that helped make the ID.  When he came to Wisconsin is not clear.  He is said to have arrived in Chippewa Falls in 1874, although that would seem to be partially at odds with other information.  Because he was also said to have lived on the Lac Corte Oreilles Reservation near modern day Hayward, where he married an Ojibwa woman and had a child with her circa 1885.  He must have been part of the early populace who bounced back and forth spending winters in the northern logging camps and summers in the more settled river towns to the south.

Felix's first wife had died around 1890, at which point he married a woman named Zele and moved more permanently to Chippewa Falls or its environs.  He farmed a bit, but by 1905 he and his wife were running the boarding house at Theriault's brick yard west of town.  Mrs. Fourboul was said to be in declining health, and the couple were getting ready to give up the boarding house and buy a home in town.  Evidently some money had been set aside for this....but it went missing.

The prime suspect in the disappearance and subsequent demise had actually been in custody for a while but had been released.  When Felix Fourboul Jr. was told that his father's body had been found in the river he said: "Is that so!".  And he asked for an attorney.

Next time: The Suspect