Edward Bonney

Edward Bonney (August 26, 1807 – February 4, 1864) was a 19th-century adventurer, miller, hotel keeper, city planner, counterfeiter, livery stable keeper, bounty hunter, private detective, postmaster, merchant, soldier, and author. He is best known for his undercover work in exposing the "Banditti of the Prairie", resulting from his investigation of the torture-murder of noted Illinois pioneer and frontiersman, George Davenport.

Early life

Edward Bonney was born and raised in Hittsboro, Essex County, New York.

Founding of Bonneyville, Indiana and alleged counterfeiting

Edward Bonney would later, get married and moved to the frontier, in Elkhart County, Indiana in 1837, with the intent of creating the city of Bonneyville, named after himself. In 1839, he was charged and fined for assault. Bonney built the Bonneyville Mill, for grinding grain into flour and also, built a saw mill, as well. When Bonneyville failed to grow rapidly, from a sleepy farm town into a bustling city, Bonney sold his most of the 80 acres, he had purchased for his planned city in 1841. He later, bought the Goshen Hotel, in Bonneyville and not long after, sold the hotel and both, his mills. After being arrested, in 1842, for allegedly being a counterfeiter, Bonney escaped from custody, while being transported, under armed guard, for trial in Indianapolis. Bonney immediately left Indiana and traveled to Illinois.

Bonneyville Mill, now a part of present-day Bonneyville Mill County Park, was in the former town, of Bonneyville, Elkhart County, Indiana, presently the community of Bonneyville Mills, founded by Edward Bonney in 1837.

Mormon membership in Nauvoo, Illinois

Edward Bonney eventually, "fiddle-footed his way" to Nauvoo, in 1844, a Latter Day Saint community on the Mississippi River, where he and his wife decided to settle. During this time, he witnessed early theological arguments over issues such as plural marriage as well as attacks against Mormon newspapers. On March 11, 1844, Bonney became a member of Council of Fifty, one of only three members of the Council of Fifty who were not members of Joseph Smith's church.^[1] After the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage, Illinois in 1844, he became involved in fighting against criminal elements both outside and within the Mormon community. He was also particularly antagonistic of the Mormon Danites.

Bounty hunter and amateur detective in Montrose, Iowa Territory

In 1845, Edward Bonney moved to Montrose, Lee County, Iowa Territory, now present-day Montrose, Lee County, Iowa, where he operated a livery stable. During the next several years, he worked with law enforcement agencies, in Montrose and Lee County, to hunt down various criminals, in the area, as a sort of freelance bounty hunter. Bonney gradually attained a reputation as a skilled detective, adept at "piecing together odd bits of information and rumor", although he was often subject to suspicion and persecution for his Mormonism.

The Spanish silver peso was the, most common, currency found on the American frontier. Edward Bonney was arrested, in 1842, for counterfeiting, in northern Indiana and ironically posed as a counterfeiter to infiltrate, a faction, of the Midwestern, outlaws, known as the, "Banditti of the Prairie" and track down the infamous murderers of Colonel George Davenport. The "Spanish milled dollar" was minted in México and considered legal tender, in the United States, until the Coinage Act of 1857.

Investigations of the Banditti of the Prairie and the murderers of Colonel Davenport

The criminal investigations, of Edward Bonney, into the criminal activity, occurring along, the vast mid-river area of, the Mississippi between 1843 and 1848, attributed to the organization known as the "Banditti of the Prairie", were claimed by Bonney to being carried out by fellow Mormons seeking refuge in Nauvoo and from which they based their criminal activities unhindered by law enforcement.^[2] It was not until going undercover within the organization, posing as a counterfeiter, that he was able to connect the gang to the torture-murder of Colonel George Davenport. After a four month chase through Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Ohio, he finally brought most of his murderers to justice. Of the eight men taken into custody, three of the four men involved in Davenport's murder, Granville Young and brothers John and Aaron Long, were convicted and hanged. The fourth man, Robert H. Birch, agreed to turned state's evidence and later escaped from jail. Birch later, became one of the founders of the Pinos Altos gold mining camp in the New Mexico Territory.

The October, 1845 hangings of Granville Young and John and Aaron Long, Banditti murderers of Colonel George Davenport, from the 1850 book, The Banditti of the Prairies, Or, The Murderer's Doom!!: A Tale of the Mississippi Valley by Edward Bonney, who is standing to the right, of the gallows, wearing a top hat and black suit.

Life in Illinois and the publication of the Banditti of the Prairies

Returning to Lee County the following year, he was indicted by the local district court for murder and later acquitted. He lived in Rock Island, Illinois for a time and in Prospect Park in DuPage County where he appointed as the second postmaster ^[3] before settling in Aurora, Illinois around 1852. Prior to this, Bonney published a sensational account of the Banditti of the Prairie. Originally published in 1850, Banditti of the Prairies, or the Murderer's Doom!! was an immediate success and ran though between six and eight ^[2] editions until 1858. Although it is thought Bonney may have been assisted by a ghost writer, most likely Henry A. Clark,^[2] the book, though poorly written, by an amateur writer, is considered remarkably accurate, when compared with official court records and other official evidence. The Bonney book was not specifically anti-Mormon, but reflected his criticism of organized religion.

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Civil War service

In 1863, Edward Bonney was living in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois and continued working, as a bounty hunter and detective. In the same year, in the height of the American Civil War, Bonney, at age 56, enlisted in the 127th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Company C, of the Union Army and participated in General Grant's Mississippi River Campaign, which included the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he received a paralyzing leg wound. He was sent to the U.S. Marine Hospital, in St. Louis, Missouri, to recover from his severe wound.

Death

Edward Bonney was later discharged, from the army and went back to Chicago, dying not long after, as the result of his crippling leg wound, on February 4, 1864.^[4][5] Edward Bonney was buried in Bonneyville Cemetery, Bristol, Elkhart County, Indiana, near the mill and town that he once owned.

References

Further reading

• Bonney, Edward (1855). The Banditti of the Prairies: or, The murderer's doom, a tale of Mississippi Valley and the Far West; an authentic narrative of thrilling and hair breath [sic] adventures in the early settlement of the western country. T.B. Peterson and Brothers. Retrieved 10 September 2013. 
• Glaser, Lynn. Counterfeiting in America: The History of an American Way to Wealth. New York: Crown Publishers, 1968.
• Lott, Frank Luther. Literature of Pioneer Life in Iowa. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1923.
• Morgan, Dale Lowell. The Humboldt: Highroad of the West. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985. ISBN 0-8032-8128-5
• Richman, Irving Berdine. Ioway to Iowa: The Genesis of a Corn and Bible Commonwealth. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1931.
• Russell, Charles Edward. A-rafting on the Mississip'. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8166-3942-6
• Williams, Kenny J. Prairie Voices: A Literary History of Chicago from the Frontier to 1893. Nashville: Townsend Press, 1980. ISBN 0-935990-00-3

External links

• "Edward Bonney, who built Bonneyville Mill, led an adventurous life after leaving Elkhart County (Indiana)", The Elkhart Truth, Elkhart County Historical Museum
• Pvt Edward Bonney (1807 - 1864) - Find A Grave Memorial
• Edward Bonney U.S. Civil War Service Record
• Bonneyville Mill County Park, Elkhart County, Indiana