Green County’s first three settlers were involved in an alcohol-fueled incident of murder and attempted murder in 1828.

According to the “History of Green County,” published in 1884, two men named Boner and D. McNutt arrived in this area in 1827. They settled where Sac and Winnebago tribes had been mining lead. This was referred to as “Sugar River Diggings” and is located in the town of Exeter.

Boner and McNutt built a log cabin as a trading post. Boner and McNutt planned to trade trinkets and whiskey to the native people for lead. To help make that happen, they brought with them a third settler, an interpreter by the name of Van Sickle. The complete names of Boner, McNutt and Van Sickle are not known.

After a year of this trio living at Sugar River Diggings, there took place a “tragical departure” from any partnership they shared.

“McNutt… maddened with whisky, entered his trading cabin, and without any known provocation, deliberately murdered his partner, Boner, with an ax; literally chopping him to pieces,” according to the History of Green County. “Van Sickle, their interpreter, paralyzed with fear, ran for his life, and while fleeing, was shot at repeatedly by McNutt with a rifle.”

Van Sickle’s escape from McNutt was an 18-mile scramble to Blue Mounds, northwest of Sugar River Diggings. When Van Sickle arrived, he told the people there of Boner’s death, his ordeal and McNutt’s actions.

No sooner had Van Sickle spit out his story than McNutt came galloping into Blue Mounds on horseback.

McNutt immediately surrendered and was taken into custody.

“(Boner) was the first white man killed, so far as is known, in this county,” according to the history. “Soon after, (miners) assembled at the trading-house and gave the mangled corpse of Boner as decent a burial as circumstances would permit.”

Boner’s grave was the first one dug for a white settler in the county, meaning he died before anyone died in childbirth or any settler had succumbed to an untreatable illness. This is remarkable, because Boner died before any miners perished in a work-related accident.

Green County was part of the territorial county of Crawford, which had its county seat in Prairie du Chien. McNutt was taken from Blue Mounds to Prairie du Chien where he was jailed by the sheriff. The sheriff’s facilities were deemed insufficient and McNutt was transferred to the commanding officer at Fort Crawford and held at the fort’s stockade until his trial in September.

No record survives of the testimony at McNutt’s trial. We don’t know what led McNutt to kill Boner. We don’t know why he chased after and shot at Van Sickle. We don’t know what part his confession at Blue Mounds played in the trial.

According to the history, Van Sickle was the key witness for the prosecution and he had a poor character and was known as a “champion liar.” This in itself was enough to sway the jury, which found McNutt not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

McNutt was acquitted and set free. He left the area shortly thereafter. Van Sickle is not mentioned again after the report of the trial is concluded and he left no further mark on this area and is not considered a long-term settler.

Boner is buried in the town of Exeter.

— Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.