USA > Illinois > Hancock County > History of Hancock County, Illinois, together with an outline history of the State, and a digest of State laws > Part 8
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Such stupendous undertakings by the State naturally engendered the fever of speculation among individuals. That particular form known as the town-lot fever assumed the malignant type at first in Chicago, from whence it spead over the entire State and adjoining States. It was an epidemic. It cut up men's farms without regard to locality, and cut up the purses of the purchasers without regard to consequences. It was estimated that building lots enough were sold in Indiana alone to accommodate every citizen then in the United States.
Chicago, which in 1830 was a small trading-post, had within a few years grown into a city. This was the starting point of the wonderful and marvelous career of that city. Improvements,
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unsurpassed by individual efforts in the annals of the world, were then begun and have been maintained to this day. Though visited by the terrible fire fiend and the accumulations of years swept away in a night, yet she has arisen, and to-day is the best built city in the world. Reports of the rapid advance of property in Chicago spread to the East, and thousands poured into her borders, bringing money, enterprise and industry. Every ship that left her port carried with it maps of splendidly situated towns and additions, and every vessel that returned was laden with immigrants. It was said at the time that the staple articles of Illinois export were town plots, and that there was danger of crowding the State with towns to the exclusion of land for agriculture.
ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL.
The Illinois and Michigan canal again received attention. This enterprise is one of the most important in the early development of Illinois, on account of its magnitude and cost, and forming as it does the connecting link between the great chain of lakes and the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Gov. Bond, the first Governor, recommended in his first message the building of the canal. In 1821 the Legislature appropriated $10,000 for surveying the route. This work was performed by two young men, who estimated the cost at $600,000 or $700,000. It cost, however, when completed, $8,000,000. In 1825 a law was passed to incorporate the Canal Company, but no stock was sold. In 1826, upon the solicitation of Daniel P. Cook, Congressman from this State, Congress gave 800,000 acres of land on the line of the work. In 1828 commis- sioners were appointed, and work commenced with a new survey and new estimates. In 1834-5 the work was again pushed forward, and continued until 1848, when it was completed.
PANIC-REPUDIATION ADVOCATED.
Bonds of the State were recklessly disposed of both in the East and in Europe. Work was commenced on various lines of railroad, but none were ever completed. On the Northern Cross Railroad, from Meredosia east eight miles, the first locomotive that ever turned a wheel in the great valley of the Mississippi, was run. The date of this remarkable event was Nov. 8, 1838. Large sums of money were being expended with no assurance of a revenue,
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and consequently, in 1840, the Legislature repealed the improve- ment laws passed three years previously, not, however, until the State had accumulated a debt of nearly $15,000,000. Thus fell, after a short but eventful life, by the hands of its creator, the most stupendous, extravagant and almost ruinous folly of a grand sys- tem of internal improvements that any civil community, perhaps, ever engaged in. The State banks failed, specie was scarce, an enormous debt was accumulated, the interest of which could not be paid, people were disappointed in the accumulation of wealth, and real estate was worthless. All this had a tendency to create a desire to throw off the heavy burden of State debt by repudiation. This was boldly advocated by some leading men. The fair fame and name, however, of the State was not tarnished by repudiation. Men, true, honest, and able, were placed at the head of affairs; and though the hours were dark and gloomy, and the times most try- ing, yet our grand old State was brought through and prospered, until to-day, after the expenditure of millions for public improve- ments and for carrying on the late war, she has, at present, a debt of only about $300,000.
MARTYR FOR LIBERTY.
The year 1837 is memorable for the death of the first martyr for liberty, and the abolishment of American slavery, in the State. Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot by a mob in Alton, on the night of the 7th of November of that year. He was at the time editor of the Alton Observer, and advocated anti-slavery principles in its columns. For this practice three of his presses had been destroyed. On the arrival of the fourth the tragedy occurred which cost him his life. In anticipation of its arrival a series of meetings were held in which the friends of freedom and of slavery were represented. The object was to effect a compromise, but it was one in which liberty was to make concessions to oppression. In a speech made at one of these meetings, Lovejoy said: "Mr. Chairman, what have I to compromise? If freely to forgive those who have so greatly injured me; if to pray for their temporal and eternal happiness; if still to wish for the prosperity of your city and State, notwith- standing the indignities I have suffered in them,-if this be the compromise intended, then do I willingly make it. I do not admit that it is the business of any body of men to say whether I shall
VAN DER GOO K GOEDECHI
PASSENGER DEPOT OF THE CHICAGO ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILWAY CO., AT CHICAGO.
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or shall not publish a paper in this city. That right was given to me by my Creator, and is solemnly guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and of this State. But if by compromise is meant that I shall cease from that which duty requires of me, I cannot make it, and the reason is, that I fear God more than man. It is also a very different question, whether I shall, voluntarily or at the request of my friends, yield up my position, or whether I shall forsake it at the hands of a mob. The former I am ready at all times to do when circumstances require it, as I will never put my personal wishes or interests in competition with the cause of that Master whose minister I am. But the latter, be assured I never will do. You have, as lawyers say, made a false issue. There are no two parties between whom there can be a compromise. I plant myself down on my unquestionable rights, and the ques- tion to be decided is, whether I shall be protected in those rights. You may hang me, as the mob hung the individuals at Vicksburg; you may burn me at the stake, as they did old McIntosh at St. Louis; or, you may tar and feather me, or throw me into the Mis- sissippi as you have threatened to do; but you cannot disgrace me. I, and I alone, can disgrace myself, and the deepest of all disgrace would be at a time like this to deny my Maker by forsaking his cause. He died for me, and I were most unworthy to bear his name should I refuse, if need be, to die for him." Not long afterward Mr. Lovejoy was shot. His brother Owen, being pres- ent on the occasion, kneeled down on the spot beside the corpse, and sent up to God, in the hearing of that very mob, one of the most eloquent prayers ever listened to by mortal ear. He was bold enough to pray to God to take signal vengeance on the infernal institution of slavery, and he then and there dedicated his life to the work of overthrowing it, and hoped to see the day when slavery existed no more in this nation. He died, March 24, 1864, nearly three months after the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln took effect. Thus he lived to see his most earnest and devout prayer answered. But few men in the nation rendered bet- ter service in overthrowing the institution of slavery than Elijah P. and Owen Lovejoy.
CARLIN ELECTED GOVERNOR.
Thomas Carlin, Democrat, was elected Governor in 1838, over Cyrus Edwards, Whig. In 1842 Adam W. Snyder was nominated
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for Governor on the Democratic ticket, but died before election. Thomas Ford was placed in nomination, and was elected, ex-Gov- ernor Duncan being his opponent.
PRAIRIE PIRATES.
The northern part of the State also had its mob experiences, but of an entirely different nature from the one just recounted. There has always hovered around the frontier of civilization bold, desper- ate men, who prey upon the unprotected settlers rather than gain a livelihood by honest toil. Theft, robbery and murder were car- ried on by regularly organized bands in Ogle, Lee, Winnebago and DeKalb counties. The leaders of these gangs of cut-throats were among the first settlers of that portion of the State, and conse- quently had the choice of location. Among the most prominent of the leaders were John Driscoll, William and David, his sons; John Brodie and three of his sons; Samuel Aikens and three of his sons; William K. Bridge and Norton B. Boyce.
These were the representative characters, those who planned and controlled the movements of the combination, concealed them when danger threatened, nursed them when sick, rested them when worn by fatigue and forced marches, furnished hiding places for their stolen booty, shared in the spoils, and, under cover of darkness and intricate and devious ways of travel, known only to themselves and subordinates, transferred stolen horses from station to station; for it came to be known as a well-established fact that they had stations, and agents, and watchmen scattered throughout the coun- try at convenient distances, and signals and pass-words to assist and govern them in all their nefarious transactions.
Ogle county, particularly, seemed to be a favorite and chosen field for the operations of these outlaws, who could not be convicted for their crimes .. By getting some of their number on the juries, by producing hosts of witnesses to sustain their defense by per- jured evidence, and by changing the venue from one county to another, and by continuances from term to term, they nearly always managed to be acquitted. At last these depredations became too common for longer endurance; patience ceased to be a virtue, and determined desperation seized the minds of honest men, and they resolved that if there were no statute laws that could protect them
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against the ravages of thieves, robbers and counterfeiters, they would protect themselves. It was a desperate resolve, and desper- ately and bloodily executed.
BURNING OF OGLE COUNTY COURT-HOUSE.
At the Spring term of court, 1841, seven of the "Pirates of the Prairie," as they were called, were confined in the Ogle county jail to await trial. Preparatory to holding court, the judge and lawyers assembled at Oregon in their new court-house, which had just been completed. Near it stood the county jail in which were the prisoners. The "Pirates " assembled Sunday night and set the court-house on fire, in the hope that as the prisoners would have to be removed from the jail, they might, in the hurry and confusion of the people in attending to the fire, make their escape. The whole population were awakened that dark and stormy night, to see their new court edifice enwrapped in flames. Although the building was entirely consumed, none of the prisoners escaped. Three of them were tried, convicted and sent to the penitentiary for a year. They had, however, contrived to get one of their num- ber on the jury, who would not agree to a verdiet until threatened to be lynched. The others obtained a change of venue and were not convicted, and finally they all broke jail and escaped.
Thus it was that the law was inadequate to the protection of the people. The best citizens held a meeting and entered into a solemn compact with each other to rid the country of the desperadoes that infested it. They were regularly organized and known as " Regu- lators." They resolved to notify all suspected parties to leave the country within a given time; if they did not comply, they would be severely dealt with. Their first victim was a man named Hurl, who was suspected of having stolen his neighbor's horse. He was ordered to strip, his hands were tied, when thirty-six lashes of a raw-hide were applied to his bare back. The next was a inan named Daggett, formerly a Baptist preacher. He was sentenced to receive five hundred lashes on liis bare back. He was stripped, and all was ready, when his beautiful daughter rushed into the midst of the men, begging for mercy for her father. Her appeals, with Daggett's promise to leave the country immediately, secured his release. That night, new erimes having been discovered, he was taken out and whipped, after which he left the country, never again to be heard from.
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The friends and comrades of the men who had been whipped were fearfully enraged, and swore eternal and bloody vengeance. Eighty of them assembled one night soon after, and laid plans to visit White Rock and murder every man, woman and child in that hamlet. They started on this bloody mission, but were prevailed upon by one of their number to disband. Their coming, however, had been anticipated, and every man and boy in the town was armed to protect himself and his family.
CAMPBELL KILLED-THE MURDERERS SIIOT.
John Campbell, Captain of the "Regulators," received a letter from William Driscoll, filled with most direful threats,-not only threatening Campbell's life, but the life of any one who should oppose their murderous, thieving operations. Soon after the re- ceipt of this letter, two hundred of the " Regulators" marched to Driscoll's and ordered him to leave the county within twenty days, but he refused to comply with the order. One Sunday evening, just after this, Campbell was shot down in his own door-yard by David Driscoll. He fell in the arms of his wife, at which time Taylor Driscoll raised his rifle and pointed it toward her, but low- ered it without firing.
News of this terrible crime spread like wild-fire. The very air was filled with threats and vengeance, and nothing but the lives of the murderous gang would pay the penalty. Old John Driscoll was arrested, was told to bid his family good-bye, and then with his son went out to his death. The "Regulators," numbering 111, formed a large circle, and gave the Driscolls a fair hearing. They were found guilty, and the " Regulators " divided into two "death divisions,"-one, consisting of fifty-six, with rifles dispatched the father, the other fifty-five riddled and shattered the body of the son with balls from as many guns. The measures thus inaugu- rated to free the country from the dominion of outlaws was a last desperate resort, and proved effectual.
MORMON WAR.
In April, 1840, the "Latter-Day Saints," or Mormons, came in large numbers to Illinois and purchased a tract of land on the east side of the Mississippi river, about ten miles above Keokuk. Here they commenced building the city of Nanvoo. A more picturesque or eligible site for a city could not have been selected.
1
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The origin, rapid development and prosperity of this religious sect are the most remarkable and instructive historical events of the present century. That an obscure individual, without money, education, or respectability, should persuade hundreds of thousands of people to believe him inspired of God, and cause a book, con- temptible as a literary production, to be received as a continuation of the sacred revelation, appears almost incredible; yet in less than half a century, the disciples of this obscure individual have in- creased to hundreds of thousands; have founded a State in the dis- tant wilderness, and compelled the Government of the United States to practically recognize them as an independent people.
THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM.
The founder of Mormonism was Joseph Smith, a native of Ver- mont, wlio emigrated while quite young with his father's family to western New York. Here his youth was spent in idle, vagabond life, roaming the woods, dreaming of buried treasures, and in en- deavoring to learn the art of finding them by the twisting of a forked stick in his hands, or by looking through enchanted stones. Both he and his father became famous as " water wizards," always ready to point out the spot where wells might be dug and water found. Such was the character of the young profligate when he made the acquaintance of Sidney Rigdon, a person of considerable talent and information, who had conceived the design of founding a new religion. A religious romance, written by Mr. Spaulding, a Presbyterian preacher of Ohio, then dead, suggested the idea, and finding in Smith the requisite duplicity and cunning to reduce it to practice, it was agreed that he should act as prophet; and the two devised a story that gold plates had been found buried in the earth containing a record inscribed on them in unknown characters, which, when deciphered by the power of inspiration, gave the his- tory of the ten lost tribes of Israel.
ORIGIN OF THE SEOT.
This sect had its origin near the village of Palmyra, N. Y., about the year 1830. It increased by slow degrees for a year or two, during which time the " Book of Mormon " was first printed. Smith, the leader and pretended Prophet, then by " revelation " induced
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his few followers to emigrate to Kirtland in Ohio,-which was to be the New Jerusalem, and where a temple was to be built. Here they increased considerably in numbers; and here a costly temple was begun, but never finished. Here, also, some manufacturing enterprises were entered into; and Smith and Rigdon, as president and cashier, established a bank, known as the " Kirtland Safety Bank." Believers flocked around them; but their intercourse with their " Gentile" neighbors was not cordial; the bank broke; and another revelation conveniently came to Smith that the Zion should be built up in Northwestern Missouri. Emigration to the border was accordingly ordered, and three different settlements made there, one succeeding the others, and three "revealed " Zions began to be built. In Missouri, the troubles between them and their neighbors finally culminated in open hostilities; and after a series of conflicts with mobs, and with the State militia, the whole band of Mormons was expelled from the State. This was in the winter of 1838-9.
They took the nearest route to Illinois, and landed at Quincy, after much suffering and in great destitution. In Illinois they were treated with great kindness and consideration-their story of "persecution for opinion's sake " being generously credited by the people.
In the spring of 1844 Joe Smith announced himself as a candi- date for President of the United States. He caused himself to be anointed king and priest, instituted the "Danite band," and gave out that it was impossible for a woman to get to heaven except as the wife of a Mormon elder. Hence the elders might marry as many women as he pleased. This was the origin of polygamy.
In Illinois they remained till the end of 1846-a period of eight years; during which time they increased largely in numbers, and built up a city of 10 or 12 thousand inhabitants. But the same class of difficulties sprung up here between them and their neigh- bors as elsewhere; and after a series of troubles, during which a press was destroyed and the Prophet and his brother killed, they were again violently expelled. This time they decided to take a westward course, the purpose being to locate perhaps on the Pa- cific coast, or in some less remote region among the Rocky Moun- tains.
GEN. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR.
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THE MORMONS REACH SALT LAKE.
The fugitives proceeded westward, taking the road through Mis- souri, but were forcibly ejected from that State and compelled to move indirectly through Iowa. After innumerable hardships the advance guard reached the Missouri river at Council Bluffs, when a United States officer presented a requisition for 500 men to serve in the war with Mexico. Compliance with this order so diminished their number of effective men that the expedition was again delayed, and the remainder, consisting mostly of old men, women and chil- dren, hastily prepared habitations for winter. Their rudely con- structed tents were hardly completed before winter set in with great severity, the bleak prairies being incessantly swept by piercing winds. While here, cholera, fever and other diseases, aggravated by the previous hardships, the want of comfortable quarters and medical treatment, hurried many of them to premature graves. Under the influence of religious fervor and fanaticism they looked death in the face with cheerfulness and resignation, and even exhib- ited a gayety which manifested itself in music and dancing during the saddest hours of this sad winter.
At length welcome spring made its appearance, and by April they were again organized for the journey; a pioneer party, consisting of Brigham Young and 140 others, was sent in advance to locate a home for the colonists. On the 21st of July, 1847, a day memora- ble in Mormon annals, the van-guard reached the valley of the great Salt Lake, having been directed thither, according to their accounts, by the hand of the Almighty. Here, in a distant wilder- ness, midway between the East and the Pacific, and at that time a thousand miles from the utmost verge of civilization, they com- menced preparations for founding a colony which has since grown into a mighty empire.
[For a complete history of this people during their sojourn in Illinois, the reader is referred to future chapters in this book, in its County History.]
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THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
Few people are aware of the long continued and persistent efforts of the people of the Northwest Territory to introduce slavery. In point of fact, it was introduced, and for a long time existed, under both the Territorial and State governments. Renault, an ad- venturer from France, landed at St. Domingo and procured 500 slaves, which he brought to Illinois and settled at St. Phillips, about the year 1720-43 years before the treaty ceding it to Great Britain. These slaves, with their progeny, were held by the French settlers until the country passed under British rule, and were secured to them by the terms of the treaty, and afterward con- firmed to them by the Colony of Virginia and by the ordinance of 1787. The French monarch, by edict, regulated the traffic in negro slaves; and it is worthy of note that the provisions of these ordi- nances were more humane and merciful than many of the enact- ments of the slave States a hundred years later. They provided that the slaves should be baptized and instructed in the Roman Catholic religion; that infirm slaves shall be maintained by the master; that they shall be treated kindly; that husband and wife and minor children shall not be separated. The ordinance of 1787 provided that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi- tude in the said Territory, etc. In 1800 there were in Indiana and Illinois 133 slaves; in 1810 Illinois alone had 168; in 1820, 917, and in 1830, 746.
But a large portion of the leading spirits in the Territory were dissatisfied with the provision of the ordinance excluding slavery, and made many attempts to have it repealed. As early as 1796 Congress was petitioned to repeal or suspend that provision of the ordinance. In 1802 Gov. Harrison and a convention of delegates memorialized Congress to the same effect. The subject was refer- red to a special committee, and in 1803 Mr. Randolph, of Virginia, reported adverse to the prayer of the petitioners. The subject came up again in 1804, and again in 1807, when it received its quietus, by a final report against the change. Several court de- cisions have settled the status of slavery under the ordinance.
Failing in these efforts, resort was had to indenture, by which slaves held abroad could be brought to Illinois and indentured for
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BAKER-COM
ILLINOIS CHARITABLE EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY, CHICAGO-FOUNDED 1858-DESTROYED 1871-REBUILT 1874.
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99 years! Gov. Edwards was a pro-slavery man, and as Governor vetoed legislative acts repealing some of these slavery laws.
So among the first questions to agitate the people of the new State after its admission into the Union, was the ever-present question of slavery. Failing to procure its introduction through the repeal of the ordinance of 1787, a concerted and determined effort was now resolved upon, to reach the desired end by an alter- ation of the Constitution in a sovereign State capacity.
On August 20, 1821, the Missouri compromise bill having passed Congress, Missouri was admitted into the Union as a slave State .* Immediately a large emigration set in to that State from the slave States on the seaboard. The route lay chiefly through the southern end of Illinois. Many of these emigrants belonged to the richer and more intelligent class, and they passed through Illinois with their human chattels to seek homes in the new lands of Missouri, where they could hold them undisturbed. This was irritating to the slavery element of the State. They disliked to see the wealthy man pass through and carry his wealth to aid in building up another community, while the poor man, who brought no riches with him, remained among them. This untoward state of affairs added increased desire for the introduction of slavery. They would adopt measures to make Illinois a slave State, notwithstanding the compact that was to stand forever unalterable.
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