USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume I > Part 52
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eggs a quantity of powder and buckshot for the defenders.
MOB DISPERSED BY SHERIFF
The mob soon entered the town under whip and spur, and swept down the street towards the jail. There were hundreds of them. They were headed by two men on horseback, named Smiley and Savage. Flags of many colors were carried in the procession. As they neared the defenders, who were standing near Main and Union streets, Deputy Sheriff T. J. Prickett, John Wheeler and Joshua Dun- negan rushed out and unhorsed the leaders. At the same time Sheriff Job ordered the mob to disperse, and warned them that any man approaching nearer would be shot; that the defenders of the jail were there to uphold the law and intended to do it. The fate of their leaders and the coolness and determina- tion of the sheriff took all the spirit out of the mob, it retreated and gradually dispersed.
Several prominent citizens had mounted dry goods boxes and addressed the mob, tell- ing them that the prisoners would be speedily tried, according to law, and receive the justice of the law, and that they, as good citizens, should await and submit to the decision of the court. F. T. Krafft also addressed them to the same effect in German. The excite- ment subsided and the would-be lynchers re- turned to their homes, satisfied that justice would be done. Thus, through the courage and determination of the sheriff and the equal courage of the citizens in rallying to the de- fense of the law, the county was saved from the disgrace of a lynching and the defenders cannot be too highly praised. We need such sheriffs now in many parts of the country where mob law is rampant.
CRIMINALS TRIED AND PUNISHED
George Sharp and Johnson were duly hanged on the date named, and Robert Sharp was sent to the penitentiary from which he
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was subsequently pardoned through the in- fluence of prominent citizens of Edwards- ville, on the ground of his youth and the fact that he had not been actively engaged in the crime. After his release he went to St. Louis, took the name of Robert Hilton, and opened a restaurant on Broadway, opposite the old court house, where he prospered and became a reputable citizen. He was very grateful to the citizens who intervened with the governor in his behalf, and especially to Sheriff Job, with whom he kept up a correspondence.
To return to the trial: The prosecution of the prisoners was conducted by the state's attorney, Philip B. Fouke, and the prisoners were defended by Attorneys Seth T. Sawyer, F. S. Rutherford and John Trible. The jury was composed of George Hedges, J. H. Wil- liams, Geo. D. Wilson, Abram Pruitt, Igna- tius Sneeringer, Wm. Kersey, Wm. Sand- bach, L. W. Tindall, Jacob Pruitt, Benjamin Huestis, Irwin B. Randle and Francis Agrew.
The witnesses for the prosecution were John L. Ferguson, Louis Weisenbold, Adam Barnes, M. M. Armstrong, Narcissa Riggin, John Hollis, James Johnson, Mrs. Smith, Solomon Rhodes, Marissa Ensminger, Joshua Ensminger, John S. Dewey, John R. Swain, L. R. Corman, A. Kimberlin, James Riggin, Chas. Croun and James Bradley.
For the defense, Charles Croun, Bauman, Barth.
The trial lasted several days and sentence was pronounced by Judge Wm. H. Snyder May 29th. The jury, which found the de- fendants guilty, was out but fifteen minutes.
In corroboration of the above narration as to the attempted lynching I quote the closing paragraph of Mr. Rutherford's speech in de- fense of the prisoners. He alluded first to the circumstances under which the counsel for the defendants had consented to go to so speedy a trial. There had been a most dis- graceful, inhuman and lawless attempt at mob violence to hang the prisoners at the bar,
without even a show of trial. The good men of the county had found it necessary to fly to arms in defense of the law and to preserve the lives of the prisoners, until they might have a trial such as every citizen is entitled to have by the laws of the land. Blood-thirsty men had rushed to the county jail, armed and determined to commit a triple murder, dis- playing the red and black flag, signifying blood and death, such as is displayed by pir- ates and brigands, and all the while our court was in session, and the officers of the law doing their utmost to administer justice. Un- der such circumstances the counsel of the prisoners have concluded to go to trial, not because they were constrained to, or in any manner influenced by threats of mob violence, for he felt it his duty to say, in behalf of him- self, his associate counsel and the court, that no threats of violence, come from what quar- ter they might, would frighten them from their sense of duty or propriety. For himself he bid defiance to mob law, and was ready at any time to meet such attempts at the over- throw of law and order, and mete out such summary justice as it deserves. He and his associate counsel had gone into the trial now because they were satisfied that good and true men enough could be found in the county who would impartially try this case free from any prejudice or influence from what had transpired. And it gave him pleasure to say that he believed that the defendants were for- tunate in getting as good a jury as ever sat upon a case in any court. He felt sure that the idea of threatened violence would not deter them from acquitting the prisoners if they believed the testimony was insufficient to convict.
The above incident is notable for three things: (1) The short interval between the commission of the crime and the arraignment of the murderers for trial. (2) The sum- mary suppression of lynch law. (3) The short time intervening between the trial and
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the execution of two of the criminals and the imprisonment of the third. Justice has never moved so swiftly in such cases since then in Madison county, nor has the law been so boldly and gallantly upheld by officials and citizens.
DECLINE OF RESPECT FOR LAW
But since that day respect for law has la- mentably declined. Some laws are openly and notoriously defied with the connivance of the authorities-for instance, the law closing saloons on Sunday and selling liquor without a license. Since the execution of the two young Englishmen there have been but three hangings in Madison county, while murders and homicides have frightfully increased in numbers. In the majority of cases of such crimes since 1857, the murderers have either escaped, been acquitted or subjected to but slight punishment. Times have changed and murder seems now the safest crime a man can commit. The population has changed and not, on the whole, for the better. The railroads, the factories, the mines and other industries have brought in hordes of the lower class of foreigners from southern Europe which have not raised the standard of aver- age intelligence. Said an old settler to the writer: "There are more good people in Madison county now than ever before, but not as many in proportion to population as in the early days." The truth of this statement is self-evident, notwithstanding the fact that we have now more churches, more schools, more newspapers, more philanthropic and up- lifting agencies than ever in our previous his- tory.
But the main reason for the terrible in-
crease in homicides is non-enforcement of law. Nine-tenths of the homicides committed in the county are the result of bar-room brawls, and the majority of them occur on Sunday and at late hours of the night when the saloons are open illegally. Another rea- son is that criminals have ceased to fear the law. They rely upon the astuteness of the professional criminal lawyer to so entangle the case in technicalities, to so distort the evi- dence, to so deceive and bamboozle the juries as to free the prisoner, or to gain him a light sentence, and thus defeat the ends of justice. Does this condition indicate progress or retro- gression in Madison county ?
ORIGIN OF MADISON GUARDS
The attempted lynching narrated above was the occasion of the organization of a military company in Edwardsville. When news of the approaching mob reached Sheriff Job he at once telegraphed for the Alton National Guards and they responded promptly, coming over in wagons, but did not arrive until the mob had dispersed. They remained on guard duty at the jail, however, until the organiza- tion of a military company in Edwardsville, and supplied them with arms and accoutre- ments for the temporary emergency. The new company was called the Madison Guards with Jos. H. Sloss as captain. It remained on guard during the trial of the prisoners and each day formed a hollow square about them and conducted them to the court house. The Madison Guards, thus called into existence, became a crack military company and en- tered the service of the government at the breaking out of the war for the Union, under Capt. Jos. G. Robinson.
CHAPTER XLVIII
RESOURCES AND MANUFACTURES
UTILIZATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES-MINING AND MANUFACTURE OF CLAY-STONE IN- DUSTRIES-BASIS OF INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION-VARIED INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM.
The natural resources of a county are the basis of its wealth and development. Con- sidered in this light the resources of Madi- son county has a most important bearing on the history of its industrial progress. The exhaustless deposits of coal in this county are its greatest source of wealth and have been considered in chapter XXIV. Its extensive tracts of valuable timber have also been spoken of. The western portion of the county is diversified with hills and valleys, and the streams are all skirted with forests that fur- nish the adjacent prairies with an ample sup- ply for fuel and building purposes. The cen- tral and eastern portions of the county are generally level or rolling, and small prairies occupy the highlands between the streams. The general elevation of the highlands is from 150 to 300 feet above the level of the Missis- sippi. On the western border the great American Bottom, averaging about five miles in width, lies between the bluffs and the Mis- sissippi, a section of unsurpassed fertility. It was called by the early settlers the "Land of Goshen." The soil on the American Bottom is a mellow, sandy loam. This Bottom was once the bed of the river and the Sand Ridge, so called, and famous for its melons, is an ancient sand-bar left by the receding waters. The soil on the uplands is generally a dark, chocolate-colored loam, except on the river bluffs where it is of a lighter color, from an
admixture of the marly sands of the loess. The uplands and bottoms, as well, produce fine crops of cereals and other staple crops. The loess attains its greatest thickness on the river bluffs, ranging from forty to eighty feet. The drift deposits of the county consist mainly of yellow and brown clays. At the base of the deposits is usually, the geologists claim, a bed of blue, plastic clay.
The lower carboniferous limestones of the county include a thin outlier of the Chester group, the St. Louis limestone and the upper layer of the shales of the Keokuk group. The St. Louis limestone is the most important and is well exposed between the mouth of the Piasa and Alton. At the base of the St. Louis limestone there is a bed of hydraulic lime- stone, or cement rock, which outcrops in the valleys at Clifton Terrace. The scene is eight to ten feet thick. It also outcrops on the banks of Piasa creek in the adjacent county of Jersey. The cement used in the building of the Eads bridge piers at St. Louis, was quar- ried and burned at Clifton.
UTILIZATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES
I now come to the progressive utilization of these natural resources in the industrial de- velopment of the county. The first of these brought into use by the pioneers was the abun- dant timber. Next to food, which the wild game furnished, the prime necessity was
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shelter. Thus of the county's resources tim- ber was first used as material for the rude log cabins that were the first homes of the pio- neers. Next came the utilization of the soil in the planting and cultivation of crops. Bet- ter buildings were soon a necessity and crude saw mills were erected to convert the timber into boards, sills and rafters, and then came equally crude water power and band mills to grind the grain from the farms. Thus mills to utilize the resources of greatest present necessity were the beginning of manufactur- ing enterprises in the county. Of the prog- ress in the cultivation of the soil and its value as a source of wealth details have been given elsewhere.
One of the earliest contrivances for mak- ing meal from corn consisted of a strip of tin pierced with holes. By rubbing an ear of corn on the rough surface the meal sifted through. An improvement on this was the hand mill made of two mill stones, one of which was made to revolve over the other, the corn being fed in small quantities through an opening in the upper stone. The band mill, run by horses or oxen, came next. This consisted of an upright shaft with projecting arms, some fifteen feet long, revolving around it. The animals were hitched to these arms and being driven around in a circle provided the power which ran the grinder. The capa- city of these mills was about twelve bushels of corn per day. Saw mills and grist mills run by water power succeeded but did not displace the band mills, at least for some years. William and John Whiteside at- tempted to build a water power mill on Wood river, as early as 1806, but their effort was not successful. This enterprise was on the future site of Milton, where the Edwards- ville-Alton road now crosses. Robert Harri- son operated a saw and grist mill on Cahokia creek, four miles north of Edwardsville where he also conducted a pottery. He later re-
moved the pottery to Upper Alton and con- ducted it successfully for many years.
Governor Coles reports seeing a water mill on Cahokia creek, west of Edwardsville, when he first visited the country in 1815. This must have been the Kirkpatrick mill. In 1818 two saw mills and a grist mill were in opera- tion at Milton on Wood river. In 1817 a band mill was erected on Governor Coles' farm, or the farm subsequently owned by him, in Pin Oak township four miles east of Ed- wardsville. It was run by George Coventry and later by W. L. May by whom it was re- moved to Edwardsville. In 1818 Josias Randle built a cog wheel mill at Edwardsville. John Messinger was the mill wright. The Randle mill was converted into a steam mill in 1832. George Moore had a band mill on his farm two miles east of Upper Alton at an early date. There were others in Hamel, Alhambra, Jarvis, Marine and other town- ships. A cog wheel mill was built by Abel Moore, in 1823 or 1824 on his farm between the forks of Wood river. William Rabb built a four story water mill in Collinsville township. He sold it in 1820 to Jos. Hertzog who added a distillery. The Collins Brothers established a distillery at Collinsville prior to 1820, which they afterwards discontinued on moral grounds at great pecuniary loss. There was also a distillery at Milton as early as 1818 as well as two saw mills. With the progress of the settlements came steam flour- ing mills.
The Alton Manufacturing Company, capi- tal stock $50,000, was one of the earliest in- dustrial corporations authorized by the state. The act was effective February 1, 1883. By it David R. Griggs, Stephen Griggs, William Manning. W. S. Gilman, John T. Hudson, Elijah Lincoln, John Manning, William Mil- ler, Nathanial Griggs, Nathaniel Cobb, A. D. Weld, Jr .. John Griggs and Thomas Griggs, were constituted a body corporate for the
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manufacture of cotton and woolen goods, hemp, flax, grain, lumber, machinery, or either of them. The second section provided for the building of a flour mill, forty by sixty feet, four stories high, to be run by steam. It is understood that this enterprise was in- augurated in 1831 by William Manning and developed into the above corporation. The flour mill built was a large one. Farmers brought their wheat to it from as distant sec- tions as Greene and Sangamon counties.
Contrast the primitive band mills, cog wheel and water power mills with the mam- moth flour mills of to-day which are seen in almost every town in the county. The two largest of these are those of the Sparks Mill- ing Co., and the Standard Milling Co., of Alton, with a capacity each of 2,500 barrels every twenty-four hours. They illustrate the marvelous growth of the milling industry in Madison.
MINING AND MANUFACTURE OF CLAY
The clay deposits of the county were early brought into use for the making of brick to furnish more substantial buildings. What is believed to be the oldest brick house in the county, the Col. Judy residence, is still stand- ing at Peters' station on the Clover Leaf. Next in order of utilization came the quarry- ing of rock and the making of lime. The first lime made in the county, in what is now Alton, was burned on the west bank of Shields' branch, on the site of what is now WV. M. Sweetser's lumber yard. It was made in 1815 by Jacob Judy. The method was primitive: Large logs were heaped together in a pile and the rocks placed on top. Then fire was applied and when the logs were burned to ashes the rocks were converted into lime. In 1818 the first lime kiln was built on the same site, it is understood, by Maj. C. W. Hunter who, doubtless, utilized the lime in building the first brick house in what is now Alton, in 1819. This house is still standing
on the northwest corner of Second and Wal- nut streets and is in a good state of preser- vation.
The clay or shale, found at the base of coal seam No. I, was early used in making brick and tile and has since proved of inestimable value. It occurs near Alton in the outcrop of coal seam No. II at the head of Hop Hol- low, and along Wood river and its branches before that stream enters the Bottom. It has been mined for many years and for a long period was used in making all kinds of earthen ware in the Upper Alton potteries. It is now utilized vastly more extensively in the manufacture of vitrified and building brick in immense quantities at North Alton and in the making of drain tile, sewer pipe, etc, at East Alton. The output of these great plants is something enormous and is detailed elsewhere.
This clay seam is found sixteen feet thick, in a shaft 316 feet deep at Collinsville. It is owned by the Hydraulic Press Brick Com- pany of St. Louis, Mo. This company mines this clay very extensively, using it in two brick and terra cotta works at Collinsville, also shipping the clay to St. Louis to their brick plants there. In this same shaft there is also a coal seam, 186 feet down, seam six to seven feet thick. The company also mines this coal,. hoisting coal and clay alternate parts of the day. This clay seam is singularly valuable as fire brick and can be made from the upper layers of the clay, and buff brick, terra cotta work and sewer pipe from the clay in the lower layers of the seam. The county is wonderfully rich in this deposit as it can be found in all sections underlying coal seam No. I. In former years this clay was extensively mined at Marine for the manufacture of both fire and building brick.
STONE INDUSTRIES
The manufacture of lime from the lime- stone bluffs in and around Alton has been
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carried on for over ninety years. The upper part of the St. Louis limestone is of superior quality, being an almost pure carbonate of lime. No other lime made in the Mississippi valley equals it in purity. Fifty years ago Alton kilns supplied all the river town with lime, but its trade in this building staple is not as great as present owing to the opening of many other kilns along the bluffs of the upper river, but it is still a leading industry. The abundance of timber and cheap coal in the vicinity and superior shipping facilities by river and rail will assure its continuance as a permanent industry. Beginning with a log pile in 1815, in lieu of a kiln, the business rapidly expanded so that in 1857 there were twenty kilns at Alton and their annual prod- uct averaged 210,000 barrels. This also caused a lively demand for barrels and made cooperage a prominent industry likewise, the material being supplied by the adjacent tim- ber.
Building stone has been, likewise from the earliest settlement, a leading product of the bluff quarries and the demand therefor from abroad, as well as at home, has always been active. The supply is inexhaustible; the en- tire thickness of the limestone deposit 'be- tween the mouth of the Piasa and Alton is given by geologists as 300 feet, enough to supply the country for ages to come.
Next to the demand for building stone comes that for macadam for street and roadway im- provements. In former days this was labor- iously produced by hand labor, now great steam crushers perform the work. But the present is the "age of cement" and the de- mand for crushed stone and screenings keeps a long string of crushers constantly at work sending out train loads daily. Concrete is rapidly supplanting stone for building and bridge work and displacing brick for side- walks.
BASIS OF INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION
Here then we have as a basis of the present industrial expansion : (1) A soil of unsur- passed fertility the harvests from which re- quire great industrial enterprises to handle them : mills, elevators, agricultural implement factories, and the building of railroads and steamboats. (2) Clay for building brick, chimneys and sidewalks. (3) Shale, for vitrified brick for street paving, buff brick and terra cotta, also stoneware, sewer pipe and drain tile. (4) Limestone, for lime, building stone, macadam and crushed stone for concrete. (5) Hydraulic limestone, or cement rock, for any use to which cement is applicable. (6) Abundance of good timber for fuel or manufacturing. (7) An inex- haustible deposit of coal under almost the entire surface of the county. (8) An equal- ly boundless supply of the best river sand.
VARIED INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM
These vast resources are the foundation for an industrial system unsurpassed in the state and which is now being exploited and developed on as gigantic a scale as the fol- lowing industrial details relating to Alton and embraced in their census of 1910, will dem- onstrate: There were 69 establishments in 1909, and the value of products was $10,096,- 000, an average per establishment of approxi- mately $146,000.
The value of products represents their selling value or price at the plants as actually turned out by the factories during the census year, and does not necessarily have any rela- tion to the amount of sales for that year. The values under this head also include the amount received for work done on materials furnished by others.
Further details can be drawn from the summary which follows:
Vol. I-24
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Number of establishments. . ...
Total number of persons engaged
in industries 2,729
Proprietors and firm members ... 45
Salaried employes 255
Wage earners 2,429
Total primary horse power. 5,453
Capital invested. $5,585,000
Total paid in salaries 299,000
Total paid in wages 1,528,000
Cost of materials 7,262,000
Value of products 10,096,000
Value added by the manufacturers. 2,834,000
This last item represents the difference be- tween the cost of materials used and the value of products, after the manufacturing pro- cesses have been expended upon them.
The above figures are for the year 1909. Since then there has been material expansion and the limits of the city have been extended to include Upper Alton. What is known as the Alton manufacturing district extends from Alton to Edwardsville Crossing. It is one of the largest in the state of Illinois. It makes between $35,000,000 and $40,000,000 of finished products per year. In this respect it stands fifth as a manufacturing district in Illinois.
Figures obtained by state factory inspect- ors show that in this entire Alton manufac- turing district there is a total of 8,429 per- sons employed, both male and female, of which 7,556 are male and 873 are female.
The state factory inspection service in- cludes all manufacturing, commercial and professional establishments employing labor. The total number of these in the Alton dis- trict is 784, made up as follows : Alton proper, 726; Wood river, 26; East Alton, 28; Fed- eral, 4. The last inspection made in the win- ter of 1912 showed the total number of
69
strictly manufacturing concerns in whole or part, of the district is 89, of which 78 are in Alton proper, 7 in East Alton, I in Wood River and 3 in Federal.
In Alton proper the inspectors found the fol- lowing plants: Bakeries, 3; brick, I; box, I; breweries, 2; cigars, 7; confectioneries, 5; cooperages, 2; flour and feed, 3; flowers, 4; harness, 5 ; agricultural implements, I; laun- dries, 2; machinery and foundries, 4; millin- ery, 6; planing mills, 4; automatic paper wrapping machine, I; crushed stone manu- factories, 6; soft drinks, 3; glass, I; railway tools, I; job printing, 4 ; meat packing house, I ; ice cream, 4; ice plants, 2 ; paper boxes, 2; wood boxes, I; sheet metal and stamping, I ; buggies, I.
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