Here's another instance of news from Chariton during the 1860s that has been recovered from newspapers published elsewhere thanks to editors who picked up and republished material from their exchanges --- in this case The Chariton Patriot. Although founded during the 1850s, no back issues of The Patriot prior to the early 1870s have survived.
This report was taken from The (Davenport) Morning Democrat of Aug. 20, 1867, recounting a tragic week in the Lucas County seat as follows:
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The Chariton Patriot gives a chapter of accidents for last week, as follows: On Wednesday three little girls were sitting near a pile of bridge timbers, near the railroad depot, when the timbers tumbled down, crushing two of the little girls. They were taken out and carried home where the oldest one, aged about 5 years, died the day following. The other one though badly injured is recovering. This is the second time within a year that this family has been called upon to mourn the loss of a darling child.
On Thursday, a man named Riley Moore went into a well for the purpose of cleaning it. After getting down he said to a man standing at the opening he believed there were "damps" in the well. The bucket was immediately let down, when Moore grabbed it, but was too far gone to retain his hold and fell back a corpse. Mr. Moore had his dwelling burned last winter, losing everything in it, and his wife has since become insane. He leaves a wife and three children.
On the night of Thursday, the residence of Wm. Conway was accidentally destroyed by fire. The famly were awakened about 2 o'clock by the smoke, and hardly had time to save their lives. Not one of them saved a suit of clothes, and the only things were a piano and a feather bed.
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I was able to track two of the three Moore children, using their obituaries and other material. It appears that Riley Moore had married Mary Ann Mathews during 1858, so their children were quite young when he died. According to online family data, she died during May of 1879 leaving at least two children to be taken in by others.
Sarah Louvicia, born Jan. 15, 1863, married Hardin H. Exley and they lived and died in the Last Chance neighborhood. Sarilda, born on Jan. 6, 1868, after her father's death, married Thomas J. O'Connell and lived and died in Chariton.
There are no marked graves in either the Chariton Cemetery or Douglass Pioneer Cemetery for either Riley or Mary Ann, not surprising since his death would have left his family in poverty. And were it not for that news item picked up and republished elsewhere their presence here might not otherwise have been noted.
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