Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 18

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1274

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CHAPTER XXVI

Who Invented the Sewing Machine?

A S AN author of stories for the young, Dr. Francis R. Goulding admittedly ranks with the great Eng- lish dissenter : Daniel DeFoe. But did Dr. Gould- ing further increase the debt which humanity owes him by inventing the sewing machine? To this question, Joel Chandler Harris returns the following answer.1 Says he: "The first sewing machine was invented by Rev. Frank R. Goulding, a Georgian, who has won fame among the children of the land as the author of 'The Young Ma- rooners.' He invented the sewing machine for the pur- pose of lightening the labors of his wife; and she used it for some years before another genius invented it, or some traveler stole the idea and improved on it."

Walter A. Clark,2 of Augusta, has written a book in which he gives an account of some of the early settle- ments of Richmond. The old village of Bath, where Dr. Goulding held a pastorate at one time, is included among this number ; and in regard to the matter in ques- tion, Mr. Clark says: "Dr. Goulding must have been a moderately busy man, for in addition to his ministerial and literary labors, he devoted a portion of his time to mechanics. In the early forties his hand and brain evolved a sewing-machine, which is claimed to have been

1 Stories of Georgia, p. 169. New York, 1896.

2 A Lost Arcadia, pp. 112-113, Augusta, 1909.

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the first invention of its kind operated on American soil. The practically universal use into which such machines have grown and the princely incomes secured by Howe and Wilson and Singer and others, from similar inven- tions, have led me to investigate the reasons why he failed to profit financially by his mechanical genius. Since I began this story the following variant accounts have been received :

"First, the inventor's trip to Washington, D. C., in the interest of his patent, was delayed by flooded streams, and a rival claiming the same mechanical principle, in this way, reached the patent office in advance of him.

"Second, on the aforesaid trip, the stage was over- turned, and, in the confusion incident thereto, the model was stolen and never recovered.

"Third, the model dropped from the buggy into a deep stream as he crossed it and was never found.

"Fourth, he failed to locate the eye or opening of the needle used, near its point, and, for this reason, the machine was never a success.

"I have been told also that Howe, during a visit to Augusta, was allowed by his friend to inspect the work- ing of the model; that he saw the defects, applied the remedy, appropriated the motive mechanism, and se- cured a patent, which bountifully filled his coffers.

"The needle theory named above was given to me by my old friend, Mr. John H. Jones, whose memory, al- though he has passed his four-score years, is as reten- tive as a tar-bucket. It is also confirmed by my friend, Mrs. C. A. Rowland; and since they were both personal friends of Mr. Goulding, from the lips of whom they re- ceived the story, it is evidently the correct version of his failure to utilize his invention. After leaving Bath in 1853, Dr. Goulding lived for a time at Darien, Ga., but spent his last years at Roswell, Ga., where he died in 1881." To the foregoing statement, Mr. Clark after- wards added this paragraph: "Since writing the above I have learned through a lady friend that Mrs. Mary Hel-

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mer, of Macon, Ga., daughter of Dr. Goulding, has in her possession beautiful samples of the handiwork of this machine, showing conclusively that there was no defect in construction, and it must have been at last his kind consideration for the interest of the gentler sex that held his genius in abeyance."

Miss Rutherford, of Athens, an educator of wide note, whose writings upon historical topics show thorough re- search, gives us the following piece of information : "In 1842, while in Eatonton, Ga., Dr. Goulding conceived the idea of the sewing machine, and to this Georgian is due the first practical sewing machine ever known. During 1845, the year before Howe's patent was issued, or Thir- monnier had obtained his, Goulding's sewing machine was in use. He said in his journal: 'Having satisfied myself about this machine, I laid it aside that I might attend to other and weightier duties.' Thus it happened that no patent was applied for." Dr. James Stacy, the historian of the Midway settlement, from which parental source Dr. Goulding sprang, is another witness to the lat- ter's invention. He says that while visiting at Bath in the summer of 1848 he saw the remains of an old machine in Dr. Goulding's home; and in the opinion of this com- mentator the great author is undoubtedly entitled to the honor which the world has accorded to Elias Howe.

CHAPTER XXVII

"The Savannah:" Her Maiden Trip Across the Atlantic in 1819

T O THE merchants of Savannah, foremost among whom was William Scarborough, belongs the credit of having built the first steamship to cross the At- lantic Ocean. There is no question concerning the pre- mier honors to which this pioneer vessel is entitled. On December 19, 1818, an Act of the Legislature was ap- proved by Governor Rabun, incorporating "The Savan- nah Steamship Company," composed of the following charter members: William Scarborough, A. B. Fannin, J. P. McKinnie, Samuel Howard, Charles Howard, John Haslett, Moses Rodgers, A. S. Bulloch, John Bogue, An- drew Low & Co., Robert Isaacs, J. Minis, S. C. Dunning, J. P. Henry, John Speakman, Robert Mitchell, R. and J. Habersham, James S. Bulloch, Gideon Pott, W. S. Gillett and Samuel Yates .* At a subsequent meeting of the stockholders, on February 25, 1819, the following persons were elected directors: William Scarborough, Robert Isaacs, S. C. Dunning, James S. Bulloch and Joseph Hab- ersham. There was a ready sale for the shares of the company, due to the well-known character and high standing of the incorporators. Potts and McKinnie, of New York, were selected by the company as agents to superintend the work of construction. It was strictly

*Lamar's Digest, p. 523.

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an American product. The hull of the vessel was built in New York, while the machinery was cast at Elizabeth, N. J. Early in the spring of 1819, the "City of Savan- nah," with streamers afloat, slipped from her moorings.

Says a well-known writer:1 On March 28, she made her trial trip from New York to Savannah, receiving a. most enthusiastic reception from hundreds of citizens, assembled upon the wharves to welcome her." The ves- sel was commanded by Captain Moses Rodgers, an ex- perienced engineer. On May 20, she sailed for Liver- pool, according to the advertisement, in ballast, without, however, any passengers. Just one month later she came to anchor in the harbor of Liverpool. The paddles were so made that they could be removed from the shaft, without difficulty, in twenty minutes. Approaching Liver- pool, they were used with spectacular effect to awe the British onlookers. With her sails set and her wheels plying, she steamed into the Mersey, "proud as any princess going to her coronation."

Remaining in Liverpool for a month, visited by thou- sands, she then continued her way to St. Petersburg, where Captain Rodgers, with his novel craft, was received with every mark of respect and admiration. The 20th of November of the same year found her steaming into the port whose name she bore, with neither a screw, bolt, or rope-yard parted, according to her proud commander, notwithstanding much rough weather experienced. Later sold to a company of New York merchants, and divested of her steam apparatus, she was converted into a sailing- packet between Savannah and New York, and was finally lost off the coast of Long Island. Unfortunately, as a financial venture, she was fifteen years in advance of the

1 Adelaide Wilson, in Historic and Picturesque Savannah.

2 In the spring of 1819, President James Monroe visited Savannah, where he was entertained by William Scarborough, at his palatial home on West Broad Street. For more than fifty years, the handsome residence bore the marks of its former grandeur, but it was finally converted into a school for colored children. Mr. Monroe was present at the dedicatory exercises of the Independent Presbyterian Church. He also made a trip to Tybee, on the new steamship, the "City of Savannah."

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times. In 1856, upon the opening of the Crystal Palace in London, the Allaire Works, in New York, exhibited the identical cylinder of the old steamship, the "City of Savannah." The only known part of the steamship in ex- istence, it is now on exhibition in the Crystal Palace, where the "Savannah's" log-book is also to be seen.

CHAPTER XXVIII

How the "General" Was Captured: The Story of the Famous Andrews' Raid

P ERIIAPS the most accurate account which has yet appeared in print of the thrilling episode of the Civil War known as the Andrews' Raid, has come from the pen of Mr. Wilber G. Kurtz, of Chicago. Be- fore writing this article, Mr. Kurtz traversed every foot of ground upon which this stirring war drama was staged; he interviewed every survivor of the affair who could possibly be found ; he inspected every valve, screw, joint, and wheel belonging to the engines which partici- pated in the famous episode; and when he finished his task there was nothing more to be said or written upon the subject. It adds a delicate flavor of romance to the story which the author has so charmingly told to state that Mr. Kurtz, who is a gentleman of Northern birth, afterwards married a daughter of Captain W. A. Fuller, one of the heroes of this episode. Mr. Kurtz occupies a high position in the social and business world of the Middle West. The story of the famous raid is as follows :

In April, 1862, a division of Buell's army, in command of General O. M. Mitchel, was encamped near Shelbyville, Tenn. While here a Union spy and contraband merchant, James Andrews, was given permission by Mitchel to conduct a party of volunteers to some point on the W. and A. Railroad (the State road) in Georgia, seize a locomotive and run north- ward, burning bridges and destroying track behind them.

Some engineers were to be in this party to insure the handling of the locomotive, and, because of his frequent trips within Confederate lines, An-

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drews was familiar with all the details of the road. It was arranged that Mitehel's division should capture Huntsville, Ala., the same day (April 11) that Andrews destroyed the railroad; this being successful and Chatta- nooga thereby cut off from Atlanta and the South, Mitchel would then in- vest the mountain city and hold it for reinforcements.

The capture of Chattanooga meant the possession of East Tennessee, with its loyal mountaineers-a scheme that anticipated what actually took place a year later, when Rosecrans battled at Chickamauga for the pos- session of that which now only a handful of men sought to gain. Mitehel 's signal to advance along the Memphis and Charleston Railroad to Chatta- nooga from Huntsville, was to be the arrival of the victorious Andrews party with the report that the only road going southward from Chatta- nooga was in ruins. Such was the scheme; the story of the raid sets forth its singular and tragic failure.

Marietta, Ga., twenty miles north of Atlanta, was the point selected from which the return trip should be made. Here the raiders were to spend the night of April 10, and on the next day the morning train north was to be boarded, and when the breakfast station at Big Shanty was reached, the locomotive was to be seized. But the raiders were so hampered by the heavy rains while traveling overland from Shelbyville to Chattanooga that Andrews decided to postpone the raid one day, reasoning that if his small party was so delayed Mitehel's division surely would be. So it was on the night of the 11th when the party, twenty-two in number, found themselves in Marietta.

The next morning twenty of them, including Andrews, boarded Con- ductor William A. Fuller's train, bound for Chattanooga. Two of the party failed to make this train. Just as was planned, the raiders seized the engine and three box ears which happened to be next the tender, while crew and passengers were at breakfast at the Lacey Hotel, Big Shanty, seven miles north of Marietta. This point of seizure had been selected because it afforded the best opportunity-there being no telegraph office from which to send any intelligence of the affair.

With four men in the cab and the rest of the score in the rear box ear the locomotive "General" started northward. To all inquirers, who showed a most exasperating interest in the strange outfit-Fuller's regular engine and schedule, but an unknown erew-Andrews declared he was running a powder train through to General Beauregard, then at Corinth -- a plausible story, since this was but a few days after Shiloh.

The "General" and the "powder train" were delayed quite a while at Kingston on account of some freight trains coming southward. Whether or not these were "extras" flying southward from Mitchel's investure of Huntsville the preceding day is a mooted question. Be that as it may, Mitehel did capture Huntsville April 11, just as planned.

Of course, the unexpected seizure of the locomotive at Big Shanty threw all in a commotion. Conductor Fuller, being responsible for his train in more ways than one, was the first to set about its recovery. He ran after

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HOW THE "GENERAL" WAS CAPTURED

the steaming locomotive afoot! With him were Mr. Anthony Murphy, then the foreman of machine and motive power of the road, and Jeff Cain, the engineer. The runners found a platform handcar at Moon's Station, and on this they poled and pushed their way down grade to the Etowah River, being assisted by two section hands from Moon's and two citizens of Acworth. At first, pursuers' surmised the seizure of the engine was by some deserters, who took this means to get to the woods, but reports of persons along the road, together with evidences of hostility and destruction, such as cut wires, cross-ties on the rails and even missing rails, convinced them that a formidable enemy was ahead.

At the Etowah bridge they found an old locomotive, the "Yonah," used on a spur road leading to some iron works up the river. This they pressed into service and ran the distance to Kingston at a record-breaking speed, for, strange to relate, the raiders had removed no rails between the river and Kingston. Here they were halted by the same freights that had delayed Andrews, with no possibility of passing anyway soon, seeing which, Mr. Fuller and Mr. Murphy at once pressed into service the little locomotive, William R. Smith, of the Rome Railroad, Oliver Wiley Harbin, engineer. The raiders had left the place but a few minutes earlier.

Four or five miles north of Kingston the "Smith" was forced to give over the chase on account of a missing portion of the track. Mr. Fuller and Mr. Murphy ran on, leaving the Rome road engine and its crowd, and a few miles ahead they' met the "Texas," with a train of freight cars, and for its engineer Peter Bracken, late of Macon, Ga. Bracken stopped his train, and at the behest of the two pursuers, backed to Adairsville, where the cars were placed on a siding. Then, running backward, the chase was resumed. This was the last locomotive used by the pursuers. Aboard it were Captain William A. Fuller, Anthony Murphy, Peter Bracken, Henry Haney (fireman), Alonzo Martin and Fleming Cox. At Calhoun another member was added to this party-a lad of. 17 years. This was Edward Henderson, of Dalton, telegraph operator. The industrious use of wire cutters by Andrews had started the lad southward on the morning passen- ger to investigate. He got no further than Calhoun, and when the "Texas" came along, was recognized by Fuller, who assisted the lad aboard the moving engine. The conductor . then wrote out a message to General Ledbetter at Chattanooga, apprising him of events and the com- ing of the captured locomotive. This he gave Henderson, with the instruction to send as soon as Dalton was reached.

Just a few miles north of Calhoun, the pursuers came in sight for the first time, of the pursued. The latter's efforts to raise another rail here were fruitless; their frantic attempts to impede and wreck by the use of cross-ties dropped from their rear and even the cutting loose of two box cars failed to daunt the intrepid crew of the "Texas." The cross-ties were removed, the box cars were shoved on to the next siding and from this on it was a test of endurance; the locomotives made records that day little dreamed of by builder and owner. Screaming whistles alarmed the

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

towns and soldiery of the mad chase; pursuers joined in the wake of the reversed and careening "Texas, " whose passage of the tunnel was but one of its many thrilling and fatalistie moments.

HIard pushed, the raiders played their last card; they set fire to their remaining car, in the hopes of burning a covered Chickamauga bridge just south of Ringgold. But the game was lost-the fire refused to work its destruction, largely owing to the drizzling rain and dampness that had marred any previous attempts during the course of their run.

The failure of wood and water brought them to a dead stop at the summit of the grade, a, mile and a half north of Ringgold, while leader and men took to the dense wood bordering the road. Their scheme had been foiled; had there not been this catastrophe at Ringgold they would have been stopped below Chattanooga, for Fuller's message had gone from Dalton ere Andrews could sever the wire. The neighborhood was alarmed, and within two weeks the whole of the twenty-two men were in prison at Chattanooga-most of them being taken that day and the next. Mitchel made some show of advancing on Chattanooga withont his expected knowledge of the raid's outcome, but he was forced to retire and the town was not captured until September, 1863.

Andrews, tried as a spy at Chattanooga, and seven of his men, tried on similar charges at Knoxville, were sentenced to hang-the leader perishing in Atlanta, June 7, 1862, at a place now on the corner of Peachtree Street and Ponce de Leon Avenue. The seven men were taken from the old county jail that stood at Fair and Fraser Streets, and hanged near Oakland . Cemetery, on ground now owned by the street railroad company, corner of Fair and Park Avenue. Military events delayed further trials, and on October 16 the rest of the party broke jail in broad daylight, and eight succeeded in reaching the Union lines. The other six were exchanged from Richmond, in March, 1863.

CHAPTER XXIX

How Mr. Bryan Secured His Nomination in 1896

A S the result of a single speech delivered with mar- velous oratorical effect, at an opportune moment, in the famous Chicago convention of 1896, William J. Bryan made himself the standard-bearer of the National Democracy in three separate Presidential campaigns, and shaped the history of the Democratic party in the nation for more than a score of years. But it was due largely to the prompt initiative and to the bugle-toned eloquence of a gifted Georgian that his nomination for the high office of President, in 1896, became an accomplished fact. The distinguished member of the Georgia delegation who presented his name to the convention was the late Judge Henry T. Lewis, of Greensboro, afterwards elevated to a seat on the Supreme Court Bench. Hon. Clark How- ell, for years a member of the National Democratic Ex- ecutive Committee, took a prominent part in the proceed- ings of this convention; and, in a racy article which he afterwards wrote for his great paper, he tells the story of Bryan's nomination. Says Hr. Howell :

"The Democratic convention of 1896 was fruitful of dramatic episodes. The second Cleveland administration was drawing to a discredited close when the 1896 convention met. The opponents of Cleveland and the friends of free silver were in control. It was a erusading lot of Democrats who gathered in Chicago that year to nominate a President and to sail the Democratie ship into unknown seas.

"Several men were candidates for the nomination, among them 'Silver' Diek Bland and 'Horizontal Bill' Morrison. The man who secured the

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nomination had never been thought of in that connection, save by himself and one member of the Georgia delegation. The man who thought he would be nominated, and who was nominated, was, of course, William J. Bryan. The member of the Georgia delegation who had thought of Bryan in con- nection with the nomination was Hal Lewis, an ardent free silver man, as were all the members of the Georgia delegation, and he had been attracted by some speeches Bryan had made while in Congress.

"Bryan was not even a delegate when he reached Chicago. He came as a member of a contesting delegation. J. Sterling Morton, who was in Cleveland's Cabinet, controlled the machinery in Nebraska, and he had sent an anti-silver delegation to Chicago. Bryan came with a delegation to fight the admission of the Morton faction. I was a member of the sub-committee of the national committee which passed on this contest and reported in favor of Bryan and his friends, and they were seated. That report gave Bryan an opportunity to get into the convention and to make his 'Cross-of- Gold' speech, which made him the nominee. It is curious to speculate as to what would have been the history of Bryan and the Democratic party if our report had been in favor of the J. Sterling Morton faction.

"Bryan, once seated in the convention, watched for his opportunity, and when it came unloosed that crown-of-thorns and cross-of-gold speech, which not only gave him the nomination for the Presidency, but shaped the course of the Democracy through many campaigns.

"Bryan's speech was a great oratorical effort, and it spell-bound the convention. Hal Lewis, of Georgia, however, was the man who turned that speech into practical benefit for Bryan. When the Georgia delegation got together, after Bryan's speech, Lewis at once began to urge the Nebraskan as available for the nomination, and soon had the delegation agreeing with him. Bryan was seen, and it was agreed that his name should be presented by Lewis.

"When Georgia was called, Lewis was' carried to the platform on the shoulders of the Georgia delegation. Lewis was a remarkable man. He was a fine speaker, with a magnificent voice, but he spoke only on the rarest' occasions. When he did speak, however, he was like a volcano in eruption, and he was certainly volcanic when he presented the name of Bryan to the convention. His speech was second only to the cross-of-gold effort of Bryan, and long before Lewis ceased to speak the nomination of Bryan was a foregone conclusion."

In presenting Mr. Bryan's name to the convention in Chicago, Judge Lewis spoke as follows :

"Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention-I do not intend to make a speech, but simply, in behalf of the delegation on this floor from the State of Georgia, to place in nomination, as the Democratic candidate

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for the Presidency of the United States, a distinguished citizen, whose very name is an earnest of success, whose political record will insure Democratic victory, and whose life and character are loved and honored by the whole American people."

"Should public office be bestowed as a reward for public service? Then no man more than he merits this reward. Is publie office a public trust ? Then in no other hands can be more safely lodged this greatest trust in the gift of a great people. Was public office created for the welfare of the public and for the prosperity of the country? Then, under his leader- ship in the approaching campaign, may we confidently hope to achieve these great ends in Imman government. In the political storms which have hitherto swept over the country he has stood on the field of battle, among the leaders of the Democratic hosts, like Saul among the Israelites, head and shoulders above the rest. As Mr. Prentiss said of the immortal Clay, so we can truthfully say of him, that 'his civic laurels' will not yield in splendor to the brightest chaplet that ever bloomed upon a warrior's brow."

"Sir, he needs no speech to introduce him to this convention. He needs no encomium to commend him to the people of the United States. Honor him, fellow Democrats, and you will honor yourselves. Nominate him, and you will reflect credit upon the party you represent. Place in his hands the Democratic standard and you will have a leader worthy of your cause and will win for yourselves the plaudits of your constituents and the blessings of posterity. I refer, fellow citizens, to the Hon. William J. Bryan, of the State of Nebraska."

But to resume Mr. Howell's narrative. Continues he : "The curious thing about the 1896 convention was that the result, so far as Bryan was concerned, was no surprise. Bryan came to the convention be- lieving he would be the nominee and had everything arranged to that end. Mr. Bryan himself is authority for this statement. I was very close to Mr. Bryan in those days, and remained close to him long afterwards. After the convention I had a conversation with Bryan in the old Clifton Hotel in Chicago, and I asked him if he were not surprised when the con- vention turned to him.

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 18

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933 Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co. Number of Pages: 1274

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1274