Local history · Music film · 2:28
Taken from Dickinson — Beto’s Horns
John, Emeline and Elizabeth Butler, and the search and court case after their abduction.
About this film
John, Emeline and Elizabeth Butler’s story: Farmers Academy, their abduction in Dickinson Township in 1859, and the search and court case that followed.
Behind the film
The history & the evidence.
The 1859 trial report records testimony about the taking of John, Emeline and Elizabeth Butler and the verdict against Emanuel Myers. The Farmers Academy connection comes from an 1886 county history, which also supplies the later account of the family’s return.
- Primary source1859 trial report: testimony and verdict Printed pages 2–10 preserve witness testimony, the judge’s charge, and the verdict.
- Primary sourceElizabeth Warfield’s recorded will Will-book folios 4–5 contain the provisions for Emeline and Elizabeth’s freedom.
- Later historical accountFarmers Academy in the 1886 county history Printed page 222 names Elizabeth as a pupil; the same book discusses the family’s return on page 272.
The soundtrack
Music credits
“Beto’s Horns” — Fred again.., CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso; SANTO remix.