County Poor Farm on Irish Hollow Rd.
The first Poor Farm was built in 1850 on the West side of Galena. In January, 1870, it was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt in 1871 on Irish Hollow Rd.
Courtesy of the Galena-Jo Daviess County Historical Society; Ghosts of Galena book available at the Museum gift shop.
Jo Daviess County’s first- -and only- - legal hanging took place in 1855. Not surprisingly, it generated a tremendous amount of attention. Even today, it is still talked about with some saying that nothing will grow on the spot where they hung an innocent man. Following are several accounts describing the affair, the first from the 1878 Jo Daviess County History:)
“The first notable crime which was committed within the borders of the county was the murder of Mrs. Taylor by her husband, John I. Taylor, who suffered the death penalty as an atonement for the deed. Since that time, murderers have gotten off with various terms of imprisonment, from three years to life sentences. The facts connected with the Taylor murder were briefly as follows:
Taylor resided in the upper story of a dilapidated frame house in Old Town, near the bank of the creek. A man by the name of Rosenburg occupied the first floor, and is said to have been on too intimate terms with Taylor’s wife. One night in the month of October, 1854, Taylor reeled home drunk, and began to abuse his wife. Rosenburg heard the disturbance overhead, and went up for the purpose of quelling it. Taylor, enraged at the sight of the man whom he imagined was criminally intimate with his wife, seized a gun and struck at Rosenburg, who had turned for the purpose of fleeing down stairs. At that instant Mrs. Taylor stepped between the two men, and received the blow on the side of her own head, crushing in the skull.
As already stated, Taylor was arrested, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged. The death sentence was rendered by Judge Ben R. Sheldon, before whom the case was tried, on Thursday, November 30, 1854, and Taylor was ordered to be hanged on ‘Friday, the nineteenth day of January next (1855), between the hours of 10 o’clock in the forenoon and 4 o’clock in the afternoon of that day.’ The verdict of the law was carried out on the day above named by W. R. Rowley, sheriff. The scaffold was erected on the Poor House farm, and the execution was open, and witnessed by as many as 5000 people. That was the first and last execution in Jo Daviess County. It has been said that one of the principal witnesses, and the only important one against Taylor, confessed on his deathbed that he was the one who killed Mrs. Taylor, and that Taylor was innocent. As to the truth or untruths of this rumor the people differ. But, true or false, the confession, if one was made, came too late to save Taylor’s life, or to affect him for either weal or woe.”
He was sentenced to be hanged at the Jo Daviess County Courthouse.
“When was Taylor Hanged?”
(From the March 13, 1884 Daily Gazette)
“Darlington, Wisconsin, March 3, Editor Gazette:
A dispute has arisen here between two old settlers in regard to the date when Taylor was hanged for murdering his wife. One party claims that it was in 1854, and the other that it was before that year. Will you please settle the question and also give the name of the sheriff who did the job:
Respectfully,
Old Settler
ANSWER
Taylor was hanged on the 19th day of January, 1855, by Sheriff W. R. Rowley, now County Judge of this County.
Taylor suspected an intimacy between his wife and an Italian who lived near by. Going home one evening, he found the Italian in company with his wife, and a quarrel ensued. In the course of the quarrel, Taylor hit his wife with his gun, and killed her. Taylor, in defense, set up the plea that in aiming a blow at the Italian, he hit his wife by accident; and to this day, many people here believe his statement was true. Taylor was the only person that was ever hanged in this county.
Sheriff Rowley prepared a gallows in the Courthouse yard; but as the day of the execution approached, many of that class of people who are afraid of ghosts, signed a petition requesting the Sheriff to hang Taylor somewhere out of the city limits. He acceded to the request, and the hanging took place on the County Farm in East Galena, about two miles from the city.”
To this day, people driving along this stretch of road have claimed to have seen the ghost of John Taylor; including me!
One dark, quiet night in 1983, I was driving home on that same stretch of road when I saw a tall, solid black figure gliding smoothly along the narrow left shoulder of the road approaching me. It looked to be well over six feet tall and had no distinct head shape. Despite the fact that chills were racing up and down my spine, I immediately turned my car around to see what it could possibly be. To my amazement it was totally gone! There was no place for it to go, but where was it? Could it have been the ghost of John Taylor?