A native of Germany but a gallant defender of the American Union in the late Civil War. B. Spinner was born in 1834 a son of Amand and Cresia (Schmer) Spinner, the former of whom was native in the southern part of Germany in 1808 and was a farmer near the town of Renchen, where he died in 1867. The father of Amand was named Sulphus and died in 1842 when seventy years of age. Mrs. Cresia (Schmer) Spinner was also born in 1808 in the same part of Germany in which her husband was born and survived him until 1881 both died in the faith of the Catholic Church. They left five children of whom the gentleman whose name stands at the opening of this paragraph is the eldest. B. Spinner came to America in 1854 and for a short time lived in New York whence he went to Pennsylvania where he resided three months and went to St. Louis, Missouri and was living there at the time the cloud of war threw its ominous shadow over the country of his adoption. Having by this time become imbued with and affection for America as strong as that he had felt for his native land, he at once enlisted in Co. K, Twentieth Missouri Infantry, but at the end of three months was so severely wounded as to be honorably discharged. After his discharge from the service and his partial recovery Mr. Spinner followed the fortunes of the army as a butcher and a buyer of cattle for army use until the close of the war in 1865 when he opened a meat market or butcher shop in St. Louis which he conducted until 1867, when he started across the plains for Denver, Colorado meeting with a great deal of trouble from hostile Indians. In the month of May 1868 Mr. Spinner abandoned the butchering trade and in the fall of 1869 visited Cheyenne, Wyoming thence went to Fort Steele and thereafter followed the course of the railroad to Beartown, a village now defunct but where on the morning after his arrival he witnessed a specimen of border justice in the summary hanging of three freebooters. Mr. Spinner there opened a general store and butcher shop and after a short time settled in Green River, Sweetwater County, Wyoming where he carried on the butchering business until he acquired a competency and where he is now living in retirement as a bachelor. Mr. Spinner has been more fortunate with his store in Green River than he was with a branch store in Piedmont, Uinta County, Wyoming where he did a large general trade on the credit system with a body of laboring men employed on the railroad. When the section was fully completed the contractor refused to pay off the men. Mr. Spinner then in company with a number of other merchants who also had little prospect of getting paid for their goods heard of the coming of the general superintendent of the road and when the train bearing that official made its appearance the creditors sidetracked the superintendent’s coach and presented their claims. But the official remonstrated and pointed out the fact that the united States mail was being obstructed and detained (a high crime) and the mail car was immediately replaced on the main line; but the superintendent’s coach was detained and payment insisted upon. The official was very kindly treated however and entertainment offered him in the way of a fishing excursion while waiting for the cash to come to hand and the difficulty was finally adjusted by some of the merchants getting their money while others were not so fortunate. Mr. Spinner being largely instrumental in bringing about this compromise. Mr. Spinner is a gentleman of unwonted enterprise and energy and in the original driller of the soda wells in his section engaged in the development of another that promises to be a grand success. He is genial and cordial with all and is a prime favorite with the public especially in business circles.
