On Sunday, June 27th, David and Taylor Driscoll, who had been chosen to murder Campbell, accomplished their purpose.Mr. and Mrs. Campbell had just returned from church at the log schoolhouse at White Rock. While going from the house to the barn about twilight, he was shot through the heart by David Driscoll. Ralph Chaney was making his home with his brother Phineas about three-quarters of a mile distant. He heard the report of the gun and the cries of the family. He and Phineas immediately went to the assistance of the Campbell family. Mr. Campbell walked about forty feet, and fell dead.
News of the tragedy spread quickly to Rockford and other towns. Mrs. Campbell was a witness of the murder, and there
was no doubt about the identity of the assassins. On Monday the sheriff of Ogle county and a posse arrested John Driscoll
at the home of his son David, near Lynnville. Mr. Chaney gives this incident of the arrest : "When he was arrested he said :always calculate to hold myself in subjection to the laws of my country.' A daughter who was stopping there, a woman grown, large and strong, when the sheriff announced that he was a prisoner, turned and faced her father, and their eyes met, and there was that kind of a look I can hardly describe, passed between them, and as she held his eye she nodded her head to him. Nothing said, but such a look I never saw in the world."
The sheriff and his posse then went to South Grove in search of William Driscoll. The elder Driscoll was seated in a wagon between two guards. A company from Winnebago county had preceded them, and had arrested William and his younger brother Pierce. The sheriff took his prisoner to Oregon and lodged him in jail.
About nine o'clock Tuesday morning a party went to the jail, and with heavy timbers battered down the door. They took John Driscoll from his cell, put a rope around his neck, and dragged him to the river as rapidly as possible. The sheriff pursued, but before he could overtake them, they had entered a boat with their prisoner and were soon on the other side of the river. There they met a man from Washington Grove, who told them there was a party at that place who had taken the two sons, William and Pierce. They then proceeded with John Driscoll to Washington Grove, where they met the Rockford division. By this time, about ten o'clock in the forenoon, the crowd had increased to about five hundred. Nearly every class of people was represented. The horsemen dismounted, secured their horses, and stacked their arms around a tree. They formed a hollow square around the tree, and brought the three Driscolls into the centre. Among the lawyers present was E. S. Leland, who acted as the leader, and conducted an examination of the prisoners. A mob court was instituted.
The senior Driscoll was asked how many horses he had stolen in his time; to which he replied that he supposed he had taken as many as fifty. "Could you not say a hundred? " asked an inquisitor ; and the old man, with afaint smile, said : "It might be!' He confessed that he had paid young men from fifteen to twenty-five dollars to steal a horse from a neighbor, simply to satisfy a grudge, when he received no pecuniary reward from the theft. William Driscoll was similarly interviewed. Pierce Driscoll was examined, but no evidence was found against him, and he was given his liberty.
John and William Driscoll were then told that David and Taylor had been identified as the murderers of Campbell; also that the evidence had proved them to be accessories in the plot at Bridge's house on the preceding Saturday evening. After further deliberation, Mr. Leland called, for an expression of opinion upon the guilt of the prisoners, by the uplifted right hand. The decision was almost unanimous against them. The vote upon their punishment was equally decisive that they should be hung, then and there ; and they were given one hour in which to prepare for death. The condemned men implored their executioners to change the method of death from hanging to shooting. This request was granted by a unanimous vote. The senior Driscoll had stood in the meantime with the rope around his neck, and he asked Mr. Chaney to remove it.
The arrangements for the execution occupied about an hour and a half. Jason Marsh, of Rockford, was present, and proposed to Charles Latimer, as an additional formality, to defend the prisoners, and present their case before the mob court. Mr. Marsh then made the opening plea for the prisoners; "and I must say," writes Mr. Chaney, "he did himself credit, and full justice to the prisoners in his speech. Latimer followed in behalf of the people, and made a very able speech." There were several ministers of the gospel on the scene, who spent the time allowed the prisoners in prayer and conversation with them. It was an occasion of great solemnity. Righteous wrath was expressed in the resolute and orderly execution of mob justice.
History of Winnebago County-1877
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