History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 80

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875

USA > Illinois > Cook County > History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time > Part 80

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

" In money of the outer circles, we place the Bank of Chicago at par.

" Bills received on deposit so long as they keep good credit.

"Commercial Bank, I. Cook.

" Union Bank, Forrest Bros. & Co.

" Bank of Commerce, Davisson, McCalla & Co.

" Bank of America, Smith & Willard-Don't mistake this kitten of Illinois, for the old cat at Washington, lest you get your eyes scratched out by mother of frauds. Reject this as you would the small pox. It was gotten up to bolster Wisconsin, but will be the fruitful source of speedy dissolution to the whole hrood of cats, both wild and tame-regular and irregular.

" Merchants and Mechanics' Bank, Buone & Bron- son.

"Chicago Bank: not the Chicago Bank of 1. H. Burch, or a shinplaster of Little Falls in the State of New York. This was conceived in iniquity, and went forth a fraud-a draft upon somebody not accepted, paya- ble at some place, without legal identity.

" Exchange Bank, H. A. Tucker & Co. This con- cern exists only in name, and exists only as the nurse of unfledged goslings hatched from rotten eggs, by the Macomh County goose at Mt. Clemens, the issues of which, like Smith's fraud at Washington, are not taken on deposit by us, any more than those Illinois River issues, which are sustained in being hy the same system of ' Kiting.'

"City Bank -- This bank is said to he on its last legs, and the Penn Yan attachment which floods the country and which has been driven to protest by us again and again, will not be worth half price in a very short time. Depositors in this like those of Smith, are daily losing confidence, and the day of its doom is written, For some time past, they have shinned about for even shin- plasters, to meet their returning circulation, and have deposited their best securities with different bankers, leaving their remaining circulation without foundation. We don't think they can keep open doors one week longer."

Sufficient has been quoted to show that the editor of the Christian Banker was not disposed to "turn the other check " when he was smitten, and that he did not pro- pose to give up his cloak nor even his coat without a vigorous fight. By his indiscriminate attacks on every body and everything, outside his own circle, he alienated the common sympathy which otherwise would have been bestowed upon him. He became the Ishmael among Chicago bankers, whose hand was against all others, and against whom every other banker's hand was raised. During the month of January, 1853, Paine's bank was constantly called upon to redeem every bill which came into the possession of rival banks. The circulation at its highest did not exceed four thousand dollars, yet this small amount kept l'aine quite busy, as through the machinations of his rivals and enemies, it seemed to find its way back to his bank for redemption as fast as it could be paid out, and the circulation thus became a source of constant annoyance to him instead of proving, as he had hoped, a source of profit to himself and a bless-

ing to the community. In his tribulation, he looked to the departed spirits of illustrious bankers for counsel. It was given through a Mrs. Herrick, a speaking and trance medium, who, at that time presided as " high. priestess " over the Spiritual Church in Harmony Hall. She, or rather Alexander Hamilton, through her, advised Paine and Eddy what course to pursue, and, in order to give specific advise on the daily and hourly emergencies as they might arise, the High Priestess came down from the altar and was installed hehind the counter of the bank, as a spiritual director. She told them for whom to redeem, and who were to be denied. No smokers, drinkers nor bankers were to be paid. Women, children, negroes and spiritual minded men were to be served first. So soon as it became known that the bank was heing thus conducted, on petition of Ira B. Eddy's friends, he was brought before Judge Skinner, and on licaring of testimony, a commission of lunacy was granted and he was declared incapable of managing his business affairs, An injunction was served in order to protect and preserve Mr. Eddy's interest in the bank. By the commission of lunacy Devotion C. Eddy was appointed conservator of the estate of Ira B. Eddy, and John W. Holmes, book-keeper. As soon as this became known there was excitement without and within the bank. The holders of the bills began to flock in crowds to the bank, where Mr. Paine and the priestess were installed behind the counter grimly awaiting the assault of their enemies. Most of the bills were redeemed, but occasionally a man came up whom for spiritual reasons the priestess spurned. Such persons were collared by the husband of the priestess and one or two other stalwart Spiritualists who acted as door-keepers, and incontinently hustled out. Judge Hoard was thus tumbled, and Ezra L. Sherman, after a smart tussle with the spiritual police, came out in a dishevelled and flurried condition. The worthy Colonel (then Captain, James R. Hlugunin made a wager at Swift's bank (cigars for the crowd ) that he could go over to the bank, being a friend of Seth, and get his bills redeemed. Hle took $35, and walked confidently across the street into the bank, and up to the counter, where he affably presented his bills for redemption. l'aine looked favorably upon his case and would have redeemed on the spot, but the spirit of Alexander Ham- . ilton looked sternly out of the eyes of Mrs. Herrick, and out of her mouth his words came in startling cadence. " Never ! get out ! ! " " Then give me back my money." said the mild-mannered Captain; " Never ! get out !! " again quote the priestess, and forthwith the Captain was hastily leaving the bank, wildly clawing the air as he proceeded toward the sidewalk, and the bank door was slammed, not exactly in his face. A moment after it was reopened, Seth appeared and gave to the shaken- up Captain the hills, and he returned to his friends at Swift's. " What luck, Captain?" cried the crowd. "Good !" " What kind of bills did Paine give you?" " "The very same 1 carried over, and I was deuced lucky ta get them. I think I can afford to pay the cigars."

Things culminated at the hank on the following day, February 11, when the conservator of Eddy's estate undertook to get possession of the bank. Ira P. threatened to shoot, and the priestess refused to abdi- cate in favor of Holmes the book-keeper, whom the court had appointed. On complaint of Holmes, for attempt to intimidate by personal violence, the whole corps of the hank, including mediums and spiritual friends, were arrested and brought before Judge Rucker. The trial resulted in the discharge of two or three, and the binding over in $500, to keep the peace,

Dignized by Google

320

HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY,

of all others except the high priestess. During the trial she became unduly demonstrative, and was taken ta jail, resisting the officers on her way quite stub- bornly. She was held in durance vile until the storm was over. Ira B. Eddy was for a short time in the Hart- ford Insane Asylum, but was soon liberated on petition of many respectable citizens who had known him long and well, and who had doubted from the beginning the means hy which his committal had been brought about, as well as the alleged fact of his insanity.

The Bank of Chicago was, by the removal of Eddy's deposits, crippled to that extent that it never rallied sufficiently afterward to be even a disturbing factor in the finances of the city. So far as is known, every hill was redeemed and every indebtedness of the bank honorably paid, either by Paine, Eddy, or the conser- vators of Eddy'sestate. The bank, eccentric as it was, was not, as were many of its contemporaries, huried either in dishonor or insolvency.

Paine continued to protest through his Christian Banker, and other channels, antil summer had come, when he returned to Lake Zurich, where he lived several years indulging in his vagaries in a harmless manner. llis theories and plans, however they may have occasionally brought discredit to his head as a well-balanced motive power, were ever creditable to his heart. Among his large-hearted enterprises, which he started after his banking experiment had come to grief, was a school on his farm. He named it the Stable of Humanity. He returned to Chicago in 1868, and organized a " Woman's Home." The object of the institution was to better the condition of that class of women who, having no homes, are forced to take such accommodation as the ordinary city boarding-house afforded. The Woman's Home was to be sn conducted as to give to friendless women the comfort and protec- tion of a home at a moderate price. Paine managed the " Home " for several years. It was located at the corner of Jackson and Halsted streets, where the Far- well House now is. Mr. Paine died in Chicago in 1871.

THE BANK WAR .- The collapse of Paine's bank did not end, but rather intensified the antagonism between the legal and the illegal bankers. Indeed, the war had been carried on unecasingly all through the period covered by the preceding history of Paine's raid on both camps.

December 23, 1852, the Grand Jury found hills of indictment for carrying on a banking business in viola- tion of the laws of the State, against the following per- sons : Henry T. Adams and Charles L. Chase, of the Farmer's Bank; Seth Paine and W. T. Maier, Bank of Chicago; L. D. Boone and S. Bronson, Merchants' and Mechanics' Bank; Thomas McC'alla, Bank of Com- merce ; J. R. Valentine, cashier of the Bank of America; and George Smith and E. W. Willard, Wisconsin Marine & Fire Insurance Company. The following allusions to the matter are taken from the Chicago Democrat of December 25, 1852:

" Bank l'ar .- The regular banks have succeeded in getting about a dozen of the irregular banks indicted. Those interested in the irregular ones are going to swear away the suit from Cook County hecause both the Judges are stockholders in the bank whose head man * was mainly instrumental in getting up the crusade against the irregular ones. Meanwhile the irregular ones are demanding specie as fast as they can get hills to de- mand it upon. But the joke is, many of our regular banks

are irregular ones too, and keep some old corporation ot some old name to get extra shinplasters under or extra interest with. Thus they carry water upon both shoulders. The Spiritual Bank, so called, is believed to be backed hy some of the wealthiest bankers in our city. At any rate it has good references, as see the card of Seth Paine & Co. under our advertising head. Let this bank fight go on until banks like individuals shall be made to obey the laws in every respect, in taking inter- est as well as issuing hills."

On the ist of January, 1853. the Democrat said :

" Yesterday, all through the streets there was more excitement against the irregular banks than we ever knew before, and the irregular banks were searching in every direction for the bills of the regular banks so as to demand the specie. It is hard now to get hold of a regular bill. Great inquiry was made to know why some irregular banks were indicted and some not. We have inquired of the jury, and find that while their inten tions were good they could not get the requisite infor- mation agamst some, whilst certain nf the regular bank- ers were over anxious to furnish information against others, the complainants being as prompt in withholdl. ing information against some as they were to furnish information against others. The fact speaks volumes. that the wild-cats who have regular hankers for dor- mant partners were not indicted."

All was not harmonious even in the regular camp. There was hickering and heart.hurning, and crimination also there. as is evinced by the following which appeared in the Democrat, January 1, under the caption of " Bank Reform : "

" See cards of Messrs. I. H. Burch & Co., Forrest Bros & Co., R. K. Swift and others in our columns [the cards do not appear in the issue. We are informed that these gentlemen and several others of the regular hanks in our city are ready to live up to the general banking law as to rates of interest, the moment another of the regular hanks which abuses its own charter by resorting to an old insurance company * to protect itself in a gross violation of the letter and spirit of the General hanking law, will loan to its customers as it does to that insurance company."

The suits brought under the indictments amounted to but little. There is no record that anybody was ever punished for a violation of the law. Some of the irregu- lar or illegal banks went out of existence because of their inherent weakness, and others, having financial strength, took refuge under the statutesof Illinois, Wis- consin and other States. Under the indictments, it was found that the end was likely to be too far from the beginning, and that pending the decision of the Superior Courts, to which every case would be carried, illegal banking would go on as before. So the regular bankers, licaded by Hon. J. Y. Scammon of the Marine Bank, determined to put an end to it by amending the bank- ing law, so that it should not only authorize banks, but should prohibit under penalty, the prosecution of any banking business in the State which should interfere with the franchises granted to the regular banks under the banking law already passed. Accordingly the Legislature passed a prohibitory law against illegal banking, and supplementary to the banking law of 1851, wherehy it was made little less than felony to do a banking business within the State, except under the provisions of the statutes. The law read as follows :

. The Chicago Marine & Fire Insurance Company had been revived and was virtually under the same management as the Marine Bank. It was charged that the bank lent the insurance company at legal rates and that the tourance company put out the same money for its benefit at illegal rates.

* Hon. J. Voung Scammon, president of the Marine Bank.

TRADE, COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES.

PRIMITIVE PERIOD-1833 TU 1848,

Chicago has now the largest trade and the most extended commerce of any inland city in the world. It is the most important printary market in the world for cereals, live stock, and all their manufactured products, such as flour, pork, lard, beef, tallow, etc.

The commerce of Chicago began quite early, as the. reader well knows who has read the history of the American F'ur Company and the Government Factories, both of which had agencies there at a very early time in its history. Chicago had nothing to export, except furs and peltry, until 1833. Up to that time there were no products of husbandry raised west of Lake Michi- gan in sufficient quantity to more than supply the wants of the resident people. The records prior to that date showed that each vessel which arrived at the port of Chicago brought passeugers and provisions, and took little back. Indeed, the balance of trade was most sadly against the port. When the first modern mer- chants established themselves in Chicago, they did not look for any profit from an export trade, but entirely from the sale of goods brought from the East. Among them were flour, wheat for seed', beef, pork, and nearly all the ordinary necessities of life.

It is stated by Judge Caton that, as late as 1836, during the fall, an actual scarcity of provisions prevailed, and quite a panic set in among the inhabitants. Some of the merchants-all, in fact, but George W. Dole- put up the price of flour, of which they held but small stocks, to the exorbitant price of $28 per barrel. Mr. Dole, who held the largest stock, not only refused to take an interest in this first "Chicago corner," but actually broke it by refusing to sell to these extortionate dealers, while he, himself, continued to sell at retail, at the old price of Sit, until further supplies arrived.

From 1832 to 1838 the incoming settlers consumed nearly all the products of those who had come before them. Those who had raised crops in 1833 found a ready market for their surplus among the comers of 1834, who, in turn, found an equally urgent demand for their products in the increasing throng of emigrants of the succeeding year. The early trade and traffic in furs, or the correlative barter of goods in exchange for them, could hardly be classed even as the beginning of Chicago commerce. The Factory at Chicago and the agents of the American Fur Company show in their records all that will ever be known of early Chicago commerce. 'The vast commerce of the city to-day has no connection with 't whatever. The Indian trade was virtually extinct before the American commerce which now centers at Chicago had begun. Only a single man (Gurdon S. Hubbard, hecame identified with the modern commerce and trade of the city, who had been connect- ed with the rude Indian traffic which centered in Chicago in the earlier times.

The beginning of what is now the vast trade and commerce of Chicago dates back to the spring of 1833, at which time the first invoice of what might be termed the first products of civilized industry was shipped from

the port of Chicago to an Eastern market. The slaughtering of cattle and swine seems to have furnished the first surplus products for export. The early history of that branch of industry has been told elsewhere. George W. Dole made the first shipment of beef in bar- rels in the spring of 1833, which is believed to be the first consignment of Western products to Eastern mar- kets, excepting furs, peltry, and hides, ever shipped as a commercial venture from Chicago. The bill of lading read as follows:

"SHIPPED IS GOOD ORDER and well conditioned by New- berry & Dole, on board The schooner called ' Napoleon," whereof is master for the present voyage John Stewart, now lying in the port of Chicago, and bound for Detroit .- To say:

O. Newberry, Detroit .

287 barrels beef.

14 lallow. becs-wax-11514, 94%. 210 !<.

152 dry hides, weighing 4659 pounds.

"Being marked and numbered as in the margin, and to be delivered at the port of Detroit in like good order, (the dangers of the lakes and rivers to be excepled,) unio consiguees or to their as- signees he or they paying freight at-per barrel bulk,

" In witness whenof, the master of said vessel hath affirmed to two bills of lading, all of this tenor and date, one of which to be accomplished, the other to stand void.

" JOHN STEWART.

" Dated, CHICAGO, April 17. 1833."

From this first shipment dates the beginning of Chicago commerce. Following soon after came the trade in limber, which, so soon as the town and tribu- tary country hegan to be settled, hecame a most impor- tant article of import. A large part of the region west of Chicago was prairie with large areas destitute of tim- ber, and the forests of Michigan and Wisconsin, along the lake shore, became early sources of wealth to the enterprising lumhermen; and building material became the second essential article of Chicago commerce. Charles Cleaver, in a letter written, descriptive of Chi- cago, in 1833, says that the stock of lumber at that time in the town did not exceed ten thousand feet, and that prices ranged from $60 to $70 per thousand. Two small saw-mills, one, (water-power) some six miles up the North Branch; and the other (steam-power), owned by Captain Huntoon, south of the present line of Divi- sion Street, cut such timber as grew in the vicinity. It was generally of small growth and of varieties not valu- able for building purposes; mostly oak, elm, poplar and white ash. Of course, with such a meager supply of growing timber and such inadequate facilities for its manufacture, the commerce in lumber was evolved from necessity, so soon as the town began to grow and the surrounding country began to be settled.

David Carver was the first lumber merchant in Chi- cago, and the first to inaugurate that important branch of commerce. He came to Chicago in 1833, either in the spring or early summer. He owned a schooner, named for himself, the " David Carver," which plied as a lumber craft-probably the first-between St. Joseph, Mich., and Chicago. It was sometime during the summer or fall of that year that he brought in the first cargo of lumber, and started the first lumber yard in the city. He worked his vessel into the main river, and

321

Dignized by Google

322

HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

discharged his cargo of pine on the south bank, between LaSalle and Wells streets, where the first lumber yard was thus started. Two years later, Kinzie, Hunter & Co., Jones, Clark & Co., and perhaps others had engaged in the business ; quite a lumber fleet was employed, and Chicago became the great center of lumber trade, which trade has ever since been an essen- tial element in its commercial importance.

With the exception of the Inmber trade and the shipment of beef and pork, both of which branches increased in amount and importance from year to year, the commerce of Chicago was still one of large receipts of food, clothing material, building material, agricultural implements, etc., etc., with small exports in return. It was not until 1838 that Chicago, now the greatest pri- mary grain market in the workl, exported its first invoice of wheat. It amounted to seventy-eight bushels, and was shipped in bags to Buffalo, on the steamer "Great Western," by Charles Walker, of the firm of Walker & -Co. The following year 1839 Messrs. Newberry & Dole commenced as shippers of wheat, on a scale which com- pletely overshadowed Walker in the magnitude of the business done. Governor Bross, in one of his historical papers in 1868, writes of this early shipment and of the elevator facilities of the time as follows :

" The history of the next shipment, in. 1839, of three thousand six hundred and seventy-eight bushels, on board the brig 'Osceola,' is scarcely less interest- ing. It was made by Newberry & Dole, whose ware- house was on the North Side, immediately east of where Rush-street bridge now stands. The wheat was bought from farmers' wagons and hoisted to the upper story by Irish power, with rope and pully. The problem of loading on the hrig was solved by fixing a spout in one of the upper doors and making it gradually nar- row till it reached the deck, where the wheat was dis- charged into boxes holding for bushels, weighed and transferred into the hold of the vessel."

A reminiscence of this period in the commercial history of the city appeared in the Democrat of Sep- tember 25, 1848, from which are given the following extracts:

" In 1830 Chicago was a mere trading post, where sume one hun- dred persons, principally Government agents, troops, Indian Traders, etc., resided. In 1831 there was but one store, and that was kept by G. W. Dole inside the palisades of the fort .* From this year until 1839 the post and country, to the distance of one hundred miles and over, was supplied with The necessities of life- Hour, corn, pork, beans-from the East, principally from ()hio. + In 1839 the export Irade commenced. That year a vessel which came to this port with seven hundred barrels of flour returned to Ohio without disposing of the article. This year also the first cargo of wheal was shipped from this purt by Cales Williams. The pile of wheat lay in a shanty where the Winslow warehouse now stands (South Water, between Dearborn and Clark streets), and was quite a curiosity at the time. This was The commencement of The export trade, which in 1842 ran up 10 586,907 bushels of wheat and 2,920 barrels of flour."

The above extracts mention a shipment of wheat in 1839, other than that of Newberry & Dole before mentioned. It is possible that there is a confusion in names, and that both accounts refer to the same ship- ment.

It appears that at that time the importation of flour to Chicago ceased, and from that date the city became an exporting point, not only for provisions, but for wheat and flour. The commodities heretofore named as first becoming articles of commerce have ever since been the most important in the trade of the city, and the con-

. The writer is not historically correct. There were other traders In Chi- cago at that time. See early history.

+ The writer is in error concerning the article of pork. Both beef and pork were in fair supply after 1834. There were slaughtered that year in ['hi- cago 4,400 hogs and i,000 cattle.

stantly increasing volumes of trade in them has been a never failing source of prosperity. As the country became settled, the agricultural products became more diversified, and, with the increased facilities for trans- portation, first by the completion of the canal, and later by the railroad system, all the diversified products of the richest and most extended agricultural region on the continent, poured with a never ceasing stream through the marts of the growing city, increasing its wealth and importance, in a ratio from year to year such as was never known before in the history of any commercial city on the earth. The wonderful growth of Chicago's trade cannot be told in narrative. It is a matter of comparative statistics, and will be thus treated further on. Supplementary to the export of beef and pork in 1833. and wheat in 1839, flour was first exported in 1839, in small quantity, by John Gage. Corn, now the most important cereal raised in the West, and the largest in quantity of any exported, was not shipped in large amount until 1847. Although raised in large quantity it was fed to stock, or otherwise found a local consump- tion until long after the surplus wheat had become a regalar article of export.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 80

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas Number of Pages: 875

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875