Nineteen years earlier, the Civil War had ended, the Union restored and a new chapter in American history was born. This was the same all over the nation, and Appanoose County Iowa felt the breath of this new life as much as any community. Within the next few years four men would rise to become its most prominent citizens, and through their enterprising minds and hard work, the community grew.

 

Private Harrington became known as Tycoon Harrington, who through the death of his employer and mentor, inherited stock in a Railroad company that became the veins that connected all Appanoose County communities to the outside world. Commerce thrived, and goods were readily available for trade.

 

Private Anderson had accumulated more than five thousand acres of farmland west of Centerville from Clarkdale to Mystic. War widows with children and livestock who faced ruin still resided on their land and lived freely for life, an agreement that was made in writing and filed along with the new deeds at the county courthouse.

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The lawyer responsible for those contracts was formerly Private Bushell, now B. Bushell Esquire, who after graduating from Drake University Law School and working a clerkship in Des Moines, opened his law office in Centerville and quickly became the most recognized lawyer in Southern Iowa. Both Harrington and Anderson gave Bushell so much work through contracts and deeds that Bushell had very little time for anything else.

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But none of them could have done anything without finance, and that is where their comrade Private Stufflebeem made it happen. Stufflebeem produced the loans for all of Anderson’s land purchases, and for the expansion of Tycoon Harrington’s railroad expansion to the western edge of the county.

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Though it all came together with the cooperation of these four men, the growth came from the enterprise of cattle and freight. Most of the livestock from Anderson’s herds came from the livestock owned by the widows. The widows never went without meat, never went without a milk cow, and Anderson’s cowhands maintained all their barns and homes and never charged the widows a dime. The way Anderson put it, their husbands paid the price with their life and service to the Union.

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Anderson also provided Harrington with an abundance of freight business, shipping cattle to the Chicago markets, and later south to St. Joseph and Kansas City. But dry goods and passenger cars also gave Harrington and the community a lifeline to prosper.

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Thus, would provide the seeds that built a community, and a system that the four men vowed to never let outside or inside politics corrupt. Though the political system made sense in theory, the four men had learned enough to know that government did nothing more than get in the way. They had studied other communities and cities and how they worked, and they were in a position to get control of the system before it was diseased by greed and nepotism.

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To accomplish this, the four men would endorse candidates they could control, and push hard to get them elected. Whether it be mayor, councilmen, or the county sheriff, they made sure the candidates had no personal agendas outside of the growth and prosperity of the community. Nothing that would hinder the growth and betterment for each citizen.

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Though there were always those who thought the grass was always greener somewhere else, Appanoose County was a well-oiled machine. It was no secret that the four men were the power behind making the political system happen, but the results were success. There was no poverty for anyone who wanted to work for a living. There was only welfare for those who had no means to care for themselves. The only ones who fought the “system” did so out of jealousy or greed, desiring a position like one of the four men.

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But breaking that system was next to impossible. When someone complained that Stufflebeem had a control over banking and finance, the next thing the community noticed was G. Shahan opening his own bank, and the Baron and the Tycoon openly supporting it. Other cattle barons operated in the southern, northern, and eastern parts of the county, and Baron Anderson became friends with all of them, forming a Cattleman’s Association and a rich industry admired and copied in other counties.

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When Tycoon Strickling came to town, forming a railway in the northern and western part of the county, Harrington feared a takeover, but what resulted was a new business arrangement and new growth and prosperity for the county.

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Now in 1884, the harvest complete, colder days and fresh snow blanketing the land, the year was winding down to one thing that the entire nation was anticipating. Though Iowa supported the Union and predominantly the Republican Party, the four men followed the advice of Bushell to pay attention to the candidate, not the party, and to how the Electoral College works. The four men never endorsed anyone, only followed the movement of the “system” as if it was their own.

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The Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland made his campaign through Centerville, and the four men learned all they needed to know about the man. He was a conservative businessman and fighting a horribly corrupt Republican candidate, James Blaine. But the candidates themselves weren’t the focus: it was the electoral system. B. Bushell, in one of their many whiskey parlor meetings, pointed out to his comrades that Cleveland was a New Yorker, and those electoral votes, significant to win, and key battleground votes, were likely to go Cleveland’s way. The same with New Jersey.

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“The people of Iowa are not going to like this,” Anderson said. “But I think it’s inevitable.”

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“I agree,” Bushell said. “Commerce here as we know it, which is dependent greatly on the success of Chicago, will not be affected. We’ve already positioned ourselves to benefit from it. Agriculture will thrive under a Cleveland administration.”

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“My only concern,” Stuffy said, “is how citizens will react and start closing their bank accounts. They hate Cleveland.”

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“I talked to Shahan about this as well,” Harrington said. “The day before the election you should run an ad in the Iowegian offering an extra percent on savings. It will encourage more deposits, which will likely deter folks from closing an account they made a day before the news.”

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“I like it,” Stuffy said. “Even better, I’ll drop a point on business loans encouraging the merchants to keep going as well. This will help their balance sheet and encourage growth.”

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Baron Anderson knocked his ring on the table. “Good ideas, gentlemen. We can’t put out the fire in folks’ minds, but we can avoid fanning the flames more.”

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Bushell raised his whiskey glass. “We’ve come a long way since the that ride together to Keokuk in ’62. Here is to friendship and fate.”

They all raised their glasses and clinked them together.

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“And to God,” Anderson said. “Fate belongs to Him.”

 

On the eve of the election hundreds of townsfolk gathered outside the telegraph office, not minding the snow or cold winds, stamping their feet to keep warm, and waiting for D. Burns to come outside with the results of the election. When he came out to announce that Cleveland had won New York and New Jersey, the four men looked at each other and Bushell winked at them. It was certain now: Grover Cleveland would be the next president of the United States, and the next headline in the Daily Iowegian would announce the election of the first Democrat president since James Buchanan in 1856.