The Regulators of
Hawpatch
by Harold D. Gingerich
Marauding gangs of horsethieves and outlaws gave Hawpatch
(Topeka) the reputation of being
totally lawless during the 1850s.
R.H. Rerick wrote, “A widely-spread
gang of horse-thieves and general outlaws,
in an early day, made the Haw Patch an
unsafe and disagreeable place.” (1882
Counties of LaGrange and Noble Indiana) The hanging of Gregory McDougle
the horse thief signaled the end of
these gangs.
The Blacklegs, headed by William
Latta, William Hill and George Ulmer,
were the most notorious. Stolen horses
were moved from one permanent
station to another. The network went
from Minnesota to New York and into
Canada. It was Latta who recruited
Gregory McDougle, the horse thief
depicted on a Ligonier mural.
Regulators (legalized vigilantes)
calling themselves the “Clearspring
and Eden Detective
Police” met in the
Clearspring Township home of Francis
Ditman. These men of
Hawpatch elected Dr.
Abner Lewis president;
Charles Roy, Francis
Ditman, William Gibson and William Denny
as vice presidents;
John McDevitt secretary; and Hawley Peck
treasurer.
Allen Ramsby, another Topeka
resident, joined the Ligonier “Invincibles”. Craig Helman and Tamra
Gerber’s great grandfather Alvin was a
brother to Allen.
On January 17, 1858, Gregory McDougle and eight others were arrested
and taken to Stone’s Trace Tavern to
await trial. M. H. Mott, a Kendallville
lawyer was authorized to write a “History of the Regulators of Northern
Indiana”, in part to justify McDougle’s
hanging. Mott wrote, “McDougle was
brought before the Committee of Noble
County Invincibles on the night of 25
January 1858 whereupon a committee of
five men was duly appointed to examine
the witnesses and report upon the evidence and the final disposition of the case.
The committee, after having made a full
and fair investigation of all the testimony
...recommended that the said McDougle be
hung by the neck until dead on Tuesday,
the 26th day of January 1858 [which is to
say the following day!] at 2 o’clock p.m.
“The hanging went off as scheduled
- nine days after McDougle’s arrest
and some 18 hours after his “trial”
before the Invincibles. As he stood on a
makeshift gallows near Diamond Lake,
just east of Ligonier, waiting for his
executioners to drive the farm wagon
out from under him, McDougle delivered an impassioned plea to the young
people in the crowd.”
Following a short exhortation and
prayer by a Rev. Wolcott, McDougle
spoke. “I’m happy to see such a crowd
around me, and I hope all young men will
take a warning from me. I never committed murder. I say to young men, keep from
houses of ill-fame, and instead of playing
cards, read your Bible. Many present are
probably as bad as me, but I hope they will
all, especially the young men, take warning by me. My only source is God. I trust
pg 18 · The Hometown Treasure · January ‘13