Murder In the Highway
Early one morning in the autumn of 1869, the body of Schuyler S. Gates was found under the trees by the side of the highway, about forty rods from where the Lyndon road leaves the highway leading to Baraboo, less than a mile southeast of the railroad structure over the river at Kilbourn. The spot is just east of the bridge which spans the little creek flowing through the valley into the Wisconsin below the dam. The killing of Gates was laid at the door of Pat Wildrick, a notorious desperado of the neighborhood, then confined in jail. His pal, Perry Richardson, twenty-seven years afterward, was arrested for the shooting of Gates, but he was not tried because there were no witnesses to appear against him. Not long after the cruel murder of Gates, while Wildrick was confined in the jail at Portage, a band of men one night gained entrance by a ruse and the next morning, as expressed by J. C. (Shanghai) Chandler, the prisoner was hanging from a tree in such a way that he could not wipe his nose.
[CHAPTER V]
Lower Dells—Site of a Deserted Village—Indian Earthwork—Where They Danced—Woodland Walk
Not so picturesque as the Upper Dells, nevertheless interesting, the Lower Dells extend two or three miles below the hydro-electric plant at Kilbourn. The river is broader and the rocks have been cut away to a greater extent, leaving them hollowed and worn into many shapes. The most fantastic forms are far down the stream. The Lower Dells may be visited by boat or may be carefully examined by walking along the shore in the vicinity of the deserted village of Newport.
In the order of their appearance, the objects of interest are met, as one descends the river, as follows:
Echo Point is where Taylor's Glen is crossed by the railroad and, standing at the mouth of the tunnel, one may hear his voice come back as a boomerang out of space.
Bear's Cave is a recess a little lower on the same side of the river.
Chimney Rock much resembles the one in the Upper Dells, except for size, and is located just below Bear's Cave.