The Niles Star

Wild west once here

By By The Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery
NILES – When we think of the wild, wild west we most likely have visions of men on horseback, lassos flying; chasing cattle or Indians; or perhaps even around a campfire in the middle of the lone prairie singing to his horse: but in Niles?
The Lambert family came to Niles from Virginia and settled on the William T. Noel farm north of the city in 1835. Jacob Lambert, the father, died in 1856.
His son, James A. Lambert, lived in Niles and was still very active, into his 87th year, working the farm on the outskirts of town. He had moved into the village in 1850 and for a while was involved with the copper and lumbering business.
In 1871, he entered into partnership with John Rice and A.J. Griffith putting up a large brick building on Front Street at a cost of $25,000. The business manufactured wagons, however, it proved a failure in just a few years.
In The History of Berrien County it states he was a member of Common Council and active in local affairs and "Mr. Lambert is a spiritualist in religious belief."
According to Wikpedia, Spiritualism is a religion that began in the United States and flourished from the 1840s to the 1920s. By 1897, it is said to have had more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe, mostly drawn from the middle and upper classes. Spiritualism is theistic, believing in God, but the distinguishing feature is belief that spirits of the dead can be contacted by "mediums" and provide information about the afterlife.
Still, although for some it may bring up notions of witch doctors and snake oil salesmen, nothing in the family history – even though the short lived business James entered manufactured wagons – leads one to think of the Lone Ranger or even Gene Autrey.
However, when we come to James' son George A. Lambert, who was a prominent attorney in Niles, we discover the link.
George was vice president of the Niles Horse Thief Association.
The association was organized on the first Saturday in May 1853 with 23 members. It covered the townships of Niles and Berrien, originally, expanding to include Bertrand, Buchanan, Pokagon, Howard, Jefferson and Milton.
The object of the society was the detection and apprehension of horse thieves.
Niles was not alone in its efforts. In an advertisement for a similar group in the St Joseph Michigan Traveler Herald December 1879 made it clear that these groups meant business:
"Horse Thieves and Felons
TAKE NOTICE!
The LAKESIDE HORSE THIEF ASSOCIATION, organized for your detection and conviction, is ready at a moment's warning to pursue and arrest you. Our motto is, "NO COMPROMISE WITH THIEVES."
Now this is more like it!
The Niles Association quickly grew to 41 members and Lambert served as VP to Daniel Fisher its first President.
Alas, progress towards civilization was noted even at its earliest meetings. It was noted:
"The mode of proceeding is to use the telegraph and post office, instead of riders, as formerly, except by special order of the executive committee." Could it be the high cost of hay was beginning to interfere with transportation?
Regardless an article within The History of Berrien and Van Buren County written in 1880 states: Since the organization of the society only one animal has been stolen within its territory and that one was recovered.
The Anti-Horse Thief Associations were quite a big deal in other parts of the country.
"Unlike many vigilante committees, the Anti Horse Thief Association (AHTA) sometimes referred to as the "Dark Lantern Association," was well-recognized and much respected throughout the American West. The first group to bear the name was organized in Clark County, Mo., near the Missouri-Iowa state line in 1854. Organized to protect honest citizens from horse thievery, other groups also formed in the area over the next several years." (Kathy Weiser/Legends of America)
Michigan was considered part of the Illinois jurisdiction which governed the states of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and all the territory south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi rivers not otherwise districted.
Neighboring Indiana was the scene of the notorious Stephenson trial which brought some negative press to the Association. The trial ended Nov. 16, 1925 when a judge in Noblesville, Ind., sentenced the Indiana Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, D. C. Stephenson, to lifetime imprisonment for the murder of Madge Oberholtzer.
"This was the most active branch of the organization in history. With the help of evangelist Daisy Douglas Barr, Stephenson ruled the Queens of the Golden Mask, the active women's counterpart to the Ku Klux Klan in the Midwest. Stephenson also controlled the Fiery Cross, the influential Klan newspaper, and led a private police force, the National Horse Thief Detective Organization." (Lindsay Dunn-Spring 2000, www.columbia.edu)
You just never know where our research into the legacy left by those buried in Silverbrook Cemetery will lead us.
For more information on Friends of Silverbrook with regards to memberships and work days to help restore the gravestones and catalog the monuments contact: Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery c/o 508 E. Main St. Niles MI 49120, Tim and Candace Skalla at 684-2455, wskalla@sbcglobal.net or contact Ginny Tyler at 684-3687, SPHINX1974@aol.com.