USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume I > Part 25
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The cars were filled with coal oil. The engine crashed into the tank train and burst open one or more of the tank cars, releasing the oil, and simultaneously with the collision, the engine, the tank cars and the two forward cars of the passenger train were enveloped in flames, the friction of the impact or flying coals from the engine having ignited the oil. The siding was in a cut, eight or ten feet deep. At the mo- ment of the collision Engineer George Webb jumped off, having previously set the brakes. He jumped on the lefthand side where the track ran near the bank. He struck the bank, rolled backward into the ditch and was in- stantly wrapped in flame. His death was al- most instantaneous. The fireman, more for- tunate, jumped from the right-hand side and escaped with a few cuts and bruises. The res- cue party, arrived on the scene, recovered the body of the engineer, though nothing was left but the trunk. The passengers were badly shaken up but none seriously injured.
The accident was the result of carelessness, a switchman having left the switch turned onto the siding instead of the main track. The re- maining cars of the passenger train were un- coupled and drawn out of harm's way, but the fire was raging so furiously about the tank train that no attempt was made to remove the cars that were ignited. And this is where the element of tragedy entered. Prior to this the accident had been but an ordinary collision, the product of negligence, but an awful calam- ity was impending to which the railroad acci- dent was but the prelude.
The fire still raging along the tank train at- tracted a curious crowd of villagers and others to the scene. Escaping gas on fire was rushing from the manholes of the tank cars, as if in warning, but the crowd paid no heed. The re- lief party, after the surgeon had attended to the injured, started back to the station, a quar- ter of a mile distant. The agent warned the crowd to disperse fearing the other tanks
would explode. It being near noon the women left to prepare the noonday meal at their homes, but the men and some boys remained.
Just after the relief party had reached the station to take the train and were looking to- wards the scene of the fire, they heard a muf- fled explosion. A dark cloud, seemingly of smoke, rose in the air, spread out wide and wider and suddenly burst into flame, lighting up the heavens, and then descended to earth in a fiery rain of blazing oil, striking the earth with an impact louder than the explosion. The blazing blanket of oil fell squarely on the sight- seers igniting everything it touched. A great wave of heat swept towards the station. The rescue party fled, momentarily, the heat wave scorching the backs of their coats. The wave passing they returned in response to the shouts, groans and shrieks of the distant crowd en- veloped in a sea of fire. A boy who had been on the outskirts came rushing to the depot shouting : "Send for all the doctors, more than a hundred people killed." An instant later human figures, pillars of flame, came rushing by, some with all the clothing burned from their persons, black and seared by flame and looking more like demons than human beings. The surgeon, Dr. Haskell, instantly compre- hending the nature of the disaster, hastily con- verted the station and an empty freight car into hospitals. He ordered buckets of water brought to the station into which he placed an antiseptic compound from his medicine case. He sent to all the houses round for cotton and bandages. The women responded nobly. They ripped open their comforters to obtain a supply of cotton which they took to the station with whatever else they had that they thought would give relief. Others of the local victims, who were able, rushed to the store of the Henry brothers where everything was gener- ously placed at their disposal, where Hon. Z. B. Job took charge of the situation and sec- onded the efforts of physicians. The victims
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were found to number over a hundred. Dr. T. P. Yerkes was near the scene but escaped with slight burns and was able to help care for the injured. Some of the survivors were des- perately burned; some only slightly. Those fatally burned numbered thirty-two. Some died instantly, wrapped in a shroud of flame. Others lingered in unspeakable agony for hours or days until death came to their relief. All the physicians in Alton were summoned and arrived an hour after the explosion. Af- ter applying first aid, as far as the means at hand permitted, Dr. Haskell commandered a train to take the living victims to St. Joseph's hospital in Alton. When that ghastly train with its freight of suffering humanity arrived at the foot of Walnut street, the nearest point to the hospital, it was met by carriages and am- bulances, and the victims were lifted or helped from the cars. It was a heart-rending sight ; men with shreds of clothing clinging to them in blackened rags, their bodies seared and scarred, and, in some cases, the cooked flesh dropping from their bones. They were taken to the hospital where hasty preparations had been made for their reception, and there a corps of physicians, under Dr. Haskell's direc- tion and the care of the Sisters and trained nurses of the hospital, labored through weary hours to mitigate the horrors of the situation and alleviate as far as possible the suffering of the wounded. Four of the victims died at the hospital that night ; others followed them later.
The burning oil that descended covered something like an acre. This area presented the aspect of a great battlefield that had been swept by fire. The trees about were blackened by flame and denuded of the smaller branches. The ground was covered with debris ; shoes, hats, socks and remnants of clothing, to all of which pieces of flesh adhered.
Some of the less dangerously injured had been removed to their homes and were at-
tended there. The whole village was wrapped in gloom. The calamity was so sudden and overpowering that the people were stunned by the shock. Not all the victims were residents of the village; some were residents of Alton who had driven out to see the railroad wreck; still others were employes of the railroad and some lived in the country adjacent. Several of the railroad men had crawled under the cars at the moment of the explosion and thus es- caped the descending sheet of burning oil. But after those who were able had fled twenty- three lay on the field, dead or dying.
Taken in all its aspects the disaster was one of unmitigated horror. Of the victims who recovered all of the seriously injured were dis- figured for life. Some are still seen about the village with maimed bodies, with faces and hands seamed and scarred.
The railroad company awarded damages to its employes who were injured but fought compensation to the others on the ground that they were trespassers on the company's prop- erty. The physicians and the hospital had to sue the company for their services, but the courts decided in favor of the plaintiffs. The hospital's bill was resisted on the plea that Dr. Haskell's action in sending the patients to the institution was unauthorized; that he should first have procured an order of admission from the township supervisor; but the appellate court ruled that the Doctor's action was fully justified by the dire emergency ; that even if the supervisor had been standing at his side he would not have been warranted in delaying for a moment to ask for authority. The emer- gency was there and had to be met instantly in the interest of suffering humanity. Such appalling circumstances swept precedent aside.
Dr. Haskell was the hero of the occasion. A born leader, cool and collected where others were wild with excitement. All looked to him for aid and direction. His wonderful record
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of efficiency on that day of disaster, is a proud page in Madison county's annals. There were many instances of unselfish heroism among the victims. A case in point is that of Charles W.
Harris, of Alton. He was among the first of the injured to reach the station, but refused to be treated until those more seriously burned than himself had received attention.
CHAPTER XVII
THE JOHN ADAMS JOURNAL
JOHN ADAMS-DOWN THE OHIO TO ILLINOIS-BUILDING THE EDWARDSVILLE MILL-PREPARES FOR THE CLOTHING BUSINESS-MANUFACTURES CASTOR OIL-FAILS TO MAKE BEET SUGAR -BUSINESS AND PIETY.
John Adams, who became a permanent set- tler at Edwardsville in March, 1823, and was the first to set up wool-carding machines there, wrote a journal of his personal and business experiences. This journal, making a carefully written book of more than two hundred and fifty pages, is a record of his career during his early life in western New York, his journeys and final settlement in Illi- nois, and his residence in Edwardsville up to 1838, when he was elected sheriff of the county. The first part of the journal was written probably almost a hundred years ago. It is now the property of Mr. Adams' grand- son, J. Magnus Ryrie, of Alton.
JOHN ADAMS
John Adams was born at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, January 25, 1796, a son of Jona- than Adams. In February, 1807, the family moved to Cayuga county, New York. John Adams was reared there, had some schooling, and early began learning the trade of a wool carder. He was employed in a factory at Cazenovia for some time, beginning in 1815, spent nearly two years in Canada in charge of a factory, and in March, 1818, set out upon his first journey to Illinois. After spending a few weeks in this state about Carlyle and in St. Louis, he returned to New York, where
he was married in August, 1818, to Miss Hannah Hicks.
DOWN THE OHIO TO ILLINOIS
In September, 1818, having bought some carding machines and other merchandise, Mr. Adams again started for Illinois. His wife remained in the east, and he was accompanied on this trip by his brother Robert. Their goods and machinery were transported by wagons to the Allegheny river. "October 6th, after getting our machinery etc., on board," says the Journal, "we pushed off down the Allegheny river, the water being uncommon low, and we were under the neces- sity of getting into the water to pry and push our boat over the riffles and bars, sometimes making temporary dams with stones and flood-wood to turn the water all in one chan- nel. November 5th we arrived at Pittsburg, almost discouraged and worn out with fatigue and trouble. Here we concluded to stop until the water should rise or we could find some more convenient way of get- ting along. Robert and Mr. Thomas worked a few days in the coal mine, but not liking the business they quit it, and they and my- self engaged to split rails for 371/2 cents per hundred. . We finally decided to sell our boat and put our property on board a keel-
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boat which was to start for St. Louis as soon as the water should rise. . . . We ac- cordingly put our machinery on board and sold our boat for about the same we gave. After waiting some days and the water not rising, winter coming on, we were fearful the keel-boat would not leave Pittsburg be- fore spring, and as we were very anxious to proceed on our journey we purchased a small flat-boat and took our property again out of the keel-boat and put it in ours. We pre- pared a fire-place and some berths and took in three families as passengers.
November 22nd we set off from Pittsburg. There were five other boats in com- pany and a pilot on board to show us the way. We got along very slow on account of low water, and sometimes in the water. About the 5th of December we had a heavy rain which raised the water considerable, so that we got along very well except when detained by head winds. The water being now in a tolerable stage to run, we floated down the Ohio river very fast. We stopped at a number of fine towns on the river. We remained at Cincinnati one night and then proceeded on down the river. At the Ohio falls (Louisville) we undertook to follow another boat which had a pilot on board. But the boat had so much the start of us that they left us immediately when they came into the rapids. We endeavoring to follow them run about the worst place we could and for a few minutes were in imminent danger and were considerable frightened. We however got through safe and continued on, nothing more of consequence occurring until we arrived at Shawneetown, excepting some severe head winds. We landed at Shawneetown the 17th of December, 1818. "We remained at Shawneetown three or four days, had our machinery stored, it being so late in the season we could not take them to St. Louis by water before spring. We
purchased a horse and took our tea, cloths, etc., in our wagon and started for Carlyle, peddling our articles on our way through. We arrived at Lemuel Lee's about the first of January, 1819. We were now in a situation that we could not return to New York as soon as we had calculated, our machinery not being in a situation to sell. We therefore concluded to get into business to be earning something. Robert hired to some surveyors himself and horse and wagon to attend and move their camp, etc. I went to Turkey Hill settlement to see Mr. Mitchell about taking the carding machines he had contracted for and found him ready to receive them; but Padfield was off about taking or owning one- half of the double machine with me as he had agreed with me previous to my return to York state.
"From Turkey Hill settlement I went to Edwardsville, where I sold a chest of tea and partly engaged to set up a carding machine there with James Mason. From there I re- turned again to Mr. Lee's. By this time I had about concluded to enter land and try to establish a home in Illinois. I accordingly re- turned to Edwardsville and entered a quarter section of land which lay near Carlyle, where the people generally expected the state seat (capital) would be established at that time, although we were all afterwards disap- pointed."
BUILDING THE EDWARDSVILLE MILL
Mr. Adams was unable to carry out his plan to establish a factory at Edwardsville. His wife joined him at Carlyle in May, 1819, and he continued to reside there several years, en- gaged in farming and minor business under- takings. Early in 1823 he determined to set up a carding mill at Edwardsville, and having purchased the machinery at Vincennes, In- diana, the journal describes his location and first experiences at Edwardsville as follows : "March 9, 1823, having engaged Thomas Wil-
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ton with one yoke of oxen and wagon, to which I put two yoke of oxen more which I had bought to take with me, we commenced our journey for Edwardsville. We were heavy loaded and the roads very bad, not hav- ing got settled. We had not proceeded more than one mile before we stuck in the mud and were obliged to unload a great part of our load, and after considerable difficulty got out of the mud and proceeded on. I hired two young men to go on with me and help me about building for one month. I now had plenty of help on my way, but was obliged to leave a part of my load, and the fourth day after leaving Carlyle we arrived at Edwards- ville without house or home to go to. I, how- ever, hired a horse of Jeptha Lamkins, and was to give him five dollars a month. I had previously made a contract with H. P. Win- chester for ten acres of land where I intended establishing my business, but after a few days Winchester appearing to be rather off about letting me have the land, and having an oppor- tunity to purchase the place I had hired of Lamkins on tolerable good terms, I concluded to buy. I now went about the build-
ing as fast as possible. and in less than a month had up a frame for the mill 24 feet square, two stories. I bought an old in- clined wheel at Milton, a part of which I moved to Edwardsville. I employed a mill- wright who with the old and new timber con- structed a mill. In May, having got my mill- house covered and weatherboarded, I started for Vincennes for the carding machine. We had a tolerable good journey to Vincennes but found the machine much heavier than I expected, and the water being high and the roads muddy, we had a great deal of difficulty in getting along with our load. We broke down a number of times, but arrived at Edwardsville the 5th of June, hav- ing been absent between three and four weeks. The mill was not quite completed, but we soon
had it finished and the carding machine put up, and commenced carding the 23d. We had a very good run of business through the sea- son. We were obliged to work night and day, and carded in the course of the season near six thousand pounds of wool.
PREPARES FOR THE CLOTHING BUSINESS
"In September I began to prepare for the clothing business. I took another trip to Vin- cennes in pursuit of utensils for the business. I found considerable difficulty in ob- taining workmen who understood making a fulling mill, in consequence of which I had to build and rebuild a number of times before I could do business, so that the expense of establishing the clothing business was consid- erable. Our work for that season amounted to about two hundred dollars. . In
. May I purchased another carding machine of Judge Thomas. Our carding busi- ness that season amounted to better than eight thousand pounds of wool. . Our clothing business increased this season to double what it was the first season.
MANUFACTURES CASTOR OIL
"In February, 1825, I purchased about ninety bushels of castor beans, gave one dol- lar fifty cents a bushel. I made use of my cloth press to express the oil. I obtained about one hundred and thirty gallons of oil, which I sold for two dollars a gallon. In March I advertised to purchase all I could the ensuing season and give three quarts of oil or one dollar twenty-five cents per bushel. I offered a premium of fifty dollars to any per- son who would deliver me five hundred bush- els of his own raising."
Mr. Adams was apparently the pioneer manufacturer of oil from castor beans in this county, and in succeeding years developed it to a large business. In 1835 the product of the oil business was about 14,000 gallons.
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About that time he established an oil press at Alton, and one at Brighton, but the main busi- ness was centered at Edwardsville.
FAILS TO MAKE BEET SUGAR
Another experiment of Mr. Adams is an in- teresting item of history. "In April, 1826," says the Journal, "I planted a large quantity of beets seed with the intention of trying the experiment of making sugar from beets the ensuing fall. Finding the prospect of making sugar from beets to be rather poor, that the expense would be more than the profits, I concluded to sell my beets (of which I had a considerable many), some in St. Louis and in the neighborhood."
BUSINESS AND PIETY
The Adams Journal, while largely a record
of business and of family affairs, together with the transcript of many letters received from other members of the family, helps to throw much light on the character and cir- cumstances of the people of that time. The record of business affairs is set down with a serious dignity, and through all the letters is breathed in a tone of religious trust and ex- hortation. Business and piety were regarded very seriously by the men and women of early Madison county. This article will be con- cluded with one more brief quotation : "Quite a revival of religion took place at Edwards- ville during the spring (1828), and many im- proved the offers held out by the Holy Script- ures and found peace and comfort through the merit of the Redeemer. A Baptist church was established and myself and wife became members thereof."
CHAPTER XVIII
AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE
FIRST IMPROVED FARM-FROM 1818 TO 1836-EARLY ADVANCES IN AGRICULTURE-COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION-FOURTH ANNUAL STATE FAIR-HORTICULTURE-HON. W. C. FLAGG-ALTON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY-ORGANIZATION OF STATE HORTICULTURAL SO- CIETY-AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS-ACREAGE AND CROPS-DAIRY AND LIVE-STOCK INTERESTS -A MODEL DAIRY FARM-AGRICULTURAL POPULATION DISTINCTIVELY GERMAN.
The pursuit of agriculture in this county, as an occupation and means of development, dates back to about the year 1800, with the coming of the first American settlers, although there is evidence that some attempts were made in that direction by adventurous French pioneers who planted pear trees on a claim in section 6, township 3, range 9, near Nameoki, and on Chouteau island in the Mississippi im- mediately opposite section 6, about 1783. The claim was abandoned by these adventurers, but the pear trees remained as mute evidences of former occupancy by white men, and were found there by the first American settlers. Outside of this abandoned French setttlement the beginnings of agriculture are noted in 1800, when Ephraim J. O'Connor ventured far in advance of other pioneers and located in the northern part of Collinsville township, some six miles southwest of Edwardsville, in a region called Goshen. It was so called by a missionary, Rev. David Badgley, who ex- plored it a year or two previous and gave it that name because he found it a land of mar- velous fertility, in scripture parlance "a land flowing with milk and honey."
FIRST IMPROVED FARM
O'Connor remained but a year and disposed of his claim to Colonel Samuel Judy, who im- Vol. I-11
proved and cultivated it and remained on it until his death some forty years later, his be- ing the first farm opened and improved in the county. But notwithstanding the fertility of the soil, agriculture did not flourish in the early years. The country about Goshen, Gov. Reynolds writes, "was the most beautiful land I ever saw. I have spent hours on the bluff ranging my view up and down the American Bottom as far as the eye could extend. The freshness and beauty of nature reigned over it to give it the sweetest charm."
The reason agriculture did not flourish, not- withstanding favorable soil conditions, were various. There were no markets and no in- ducement to raise anything beyond the re- quirements of the farmer's family. Stock required little provision for winter. Hay grew luxuriantly on the prairie and could be had for the cutting. The forest abounded in mast where cattle and hogs could range al- most the winter through, requiring but little from the crop raised by the farmer. The land also abounded in game of many kinds and it was easier for the settler to supply the wants of his family with the rifle, or the trap, than with the plow. Farming implements were crude ; the old "wooden-mold board plow" did little more than skim the surface of the ground and was a difficult implement to man-
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age on account of its clumsy make, so that the farmer did no more plowing than was neces- sary to insure enough wheat, corn and pota- toes to carry him through to the next season. There was little object in raising a surplus be- cause in a country without roads there was practically no market. Colonel Judy, how- ever, notwithstanding adverse conditions, in addition to field crops, raised large numbers of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. Writing of these early conditions the late Hon. W. C. Flagg says: "With the organization of the ter- ritory as a State and the subsequent rapid in- crease in population from the older and more advanced states agricultural interests ad- vanced." It became profitable to raise crops for market with the demands of an increased number of inhabitants, the improvement of roadways and the advent of steamboats on the Mississippi. In the early days the wheat was cut with a sickle, threshed with a flail or by the tramping of horses and winnowed by a sheet, which last operation, Governor Rey- nolds tells us, was the hardest work he ever performed. No wonder he abandoned it to make office-holding and office-seeking his reg- ular occupation. The grain being cleaned it was necessary to grind it in a hand mill, if a band mill or grist mill was not accessible. And then came the laborious process of converting the meal or flour into bread in a day when stoves were unknown, or even baking pans or ovens.
FROM 1818 TO 1836
In the period between 1818 and 1836, says Mr. Flagg, there was a marked improvement in agricultural conditions. Settlers ceased to live by hunting and applied themselves to im- proving their farms and raising better crops. There were other farmers besides Colonel Judy and the famous Gillham family who made the fertile soil yield them rich returns. Captain Curtis Blakeman, of Marine settle- ment, records in 1820: "I gathered from nine
and three-quarters acres 1,600 bushels of ear corn of a very superior quality." This was on new prairie land, planted in hills four feet apart and plowed three times. It would be difficult to equal this yield of over 160 bushels per acre even in this day of improved agricul- tural methods and scientific culture. Between 1820 and 1830, with the improvements in im- plements and methods of cultivation many other records almost as good as that of Cap- tain Blakeman are recorded, and it was a com- mon thing for wheat to run forty bushels to the acre, when now such a yield is considered almost phenomenal. The yield of oats was equally abundant. The pioneer farmers of the county raised cotton and flax which were worked up into home-made cloths. During 1831 an agricultural paper called the Plough- boy was published at Edwardsville by Hon. John York Sawyer, the first paper in the in- terest of the farmer published in the Missis- sippi valley. It gave renewed impetus to agri- cultural occupations. The editor of the Ploughboy enumerates corn, wheat, potatoes, turnips and buckwheat as among the products of the county. We also know that the castor bean was a profitable crop and that John Adams made 12,000 gallons of castor oil, at Edwardsville in 1831.
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