In the early summer of 1998, my son Daniel and I met at the Kansas City airport for a trip to Princeton, Missouri. Daniel wanted to visit the town where his grandfather, Oren David Van Vacter, was born.

 

You will notice in this report the difference in the structure of the name Van Vacter as opposed to Vanvacter. The story handed down concerning the change in structure was brought about by daughters of Solomon Van Vacter. The daughters convinced the family that the Van and the Vacter should be separate, each "V" being capitalized. From that point on the name, in our family line, has appeared as Van Vacter. Solomon was the older brother of Isaac by thirteen years.

 

Princeton, Missouri is a small farm community in north central Missouri about 50 miles from the Iowa border. Like most small towns there is a town square somewhat like a park with benches and well treed. Most of the people in Princeton have lived there all their lives as did their parents, grandparents, etc. The history of Princeton has been handed down from one generation to another. Things that happened over 100 years ago are still talked about today. As is the story of the family feud between Isaac Vanvacter and his brother-in-law Grant Essig.

 

While Dan and I were going from point-to-point visiting old family cemeteries, we stopped to ask a young farmer for directions. I told him my name and he asked if I was a relative of Isaac. I told him, yes, he was my grandfather. He said that the shooting of Grant Essig is still talked about today. He said it goes to prove one thing; never take brass knuckles to a gun fight.

 

Grant Essig and Isaac Vanvacter were brother-in-laws, both married to sisters of the Covey family. Some family members have said the Covey sisters were always stirring up trouble in the family. Grant and Isaac could not meet without exchanging harsh words. Finally on February 6, 1904, after Isaac had purchased a new one horse drawn buggy (a light four wheel carriage), that was parked outside a local business, Grant reportedly placed some feces on the seat. Isaac decided he would have it out with Grant. He drove his buggy home, unharnessed the horse, got his hand gun and rode his horse to town looking for Grant.

 

Grant was found with a group of his friends off the town square. Isaac got off his horse, walked into the crowd with gun in hand. Grant was wearing a pair of brass knuckles and as soon as Isaac walked up, Grant hit him. Isaac did not hesitate; he pulled the trigger, shooting Grant in the abdomen. Isaac calmly walked back to his horse, mounted and started the horse walking in the direction of his home. He increased the pace and by the time he was out of the square and in the flats the horse was in a dead run. When he got home he turned the horse loose in the fenced pasture, went in the house to tell his wife, Minnie, what had happened and he took off running into the woods.

 

The local Sheriff and his deputy tracked Isaac to his home, but Isaac was nowhere to be found. They tracked him into the woods for some distance. The could tell by distance between foot prints on the soft earth that he was no doubt running. The tracks led to a creek and from that point they were unable to find which way he had gone. The temperature that night had dropped to near zero. The ground was frozen and no tracks were found on either side of the creek for several hundred yards from where the last track was found.

 

For five days he succeeded in eluding the law and its efforts to capture him.  Isaac eventually went to his brother Warren for help. Warren hired a local attorney and the two of them went to Trenton, Missouri to consult with a law firm there that handled homicides. The lawyers all agreed and advised Warren that Isaac must immediately surrender himself to the law. That evening, on February 10, 1904, Isaac surrendered to the sheriff from the home of his brother Warren. It was reported that the surrender was quiet. No warrant was served and no handcuffs were used. In fact, on the trip back to town, Isaac actually held one of the sheriff's loaded shotguns.

 

During his flight, Isaac had frozen his feet. While in custody waiting trial he had his left foot amputated at the instep to avoid the spread of gangrene and blood poison. The possibility of recovery from the operation, and the fact that the right foot may have to be amputated, was not good. They were not sure he would survive to stand trial. However, after he was released on bond in May 1904, and returned home he began to recover at a quicker pace.

 

His trial was held in September 1904. The trial began on Monday morning September 13, 1904. It was eight o'clock in the evening when the prosecution completed its case. Court was adjourned until the following morning, at which time the defense filed a demurrer to the evidence of the State. (Demurrer: the formal mode of disputing the sufficiency in law of the pleading of the other side.) The demurrer was promptly sustained by the court, and ruled that the state had not made a case sufficient to warrant conviction.

 

Isaac was set free, but his health would never be the same. He was operated on in St. Joseph, Missouri in late June of 1910, where he and his family had recently been living. He was found to have cancer of the bowels and was sent home to Princeton where he died on July 2, 1910.