History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 95

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698

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in the exercise of my rights. If the civil authorities refuse to protect me, I must look to God; and if I die, I have determined to make my grave iu Alton."

Three days after this speech of Mr. Lovejoy, on the night of the 6th of November, the fourth press reached Alton. It had been shipped from Cincinnati. It was received in the dead of night from the steamer " Missouri Fulton," whose captain had agreed to land the press at midnight, even if he should have to lay his boat by for awhile to do so, by the friends of Mr. Lovejoy, in the presence of the mayor, and taken to the stone warehouse of Godfrey, Gilmau & Co. Ample preparations had been made to defend it. About sixty men, well-armed and drilled, were statioued on the different floors in companies of sufficient strength to do full execution if any attack on the press should be made by the mob. The sound of a horn, blown by some unknown per- son, as if a signal, was heard ; but no one appeared to inter- rupt the labors of the defenders of the great principles of free speech and a free press as in the silence of the midnight hour they transferred the mass of boxed-up iron, the innocent cause of so much bitter feeling, from the river bank to the third floor of the warehouse of the largest and most responsible firm in the city.

The absence of any hostile demonstration on the night of the 6th encouraged the friends of Lovejoy to hope for a peaceful solution of the difficulties, but as the night of the 7th approached they gathered in the building to talk over the situation, and be ready, if necessary, to defend the press. Nine o'clock came, and there was, as yet, no sign of disturbance. The company of men began then to disperse for their homes, when Mr. Gilman asked some few of the number to remain through the night, as he intended staying as a precaution in case the warehouse should be attacked. Nineteen men remained. An hour more, and it became evident that a mob was gathering. It was a brilliant moon- light night. It could be seen that the mob was armed, and their blowing of tin horns, aud hootings and exclamations demonstrated the fact that plenty of liquor had been flowing among them. A part of the mob filed in front of the ware- house on the south, toward the river, knocked and hailed the building. Mr. Gilman answered from an upper door, when one William Carr, presented a pistol and demanded the press. Edward Keating, a lawyer and Henry H. West, who had been made acquainted with the designs of the mob, asked to see Mr. Gilman, and were incautiously admitted to the building, thus enabling the mob to learn the smallness of the foree with which it was defended. These persons in- formed Mr. Gilman aud his party that unless the press was given up, the building would be burned over their heads or blown up with powder. Early in the evening Enoch Long had been selected as captain of the defending party. His method of defense was much milder than that advocated by some of his men, who considered it best to fire on the mob, and make short work of it; but Long commanded that no one should fire without his order, an order which he hesitated to give from mistaken motives of merey, till too late to be of value in intimidating the besiegers.

The active attack began with volleys of stones, by which

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

the windows were broken, and by the firing of two guns. The forbearance of the men inside emboldened the mob, but when a shot from the outside had entered the building the order was given to one of the men to fire. The shot proved effective. It struck a man named Lyman Bishop, one of the mob, who died before he could be removed from the ground. This incident caused only a short lull in the ope- rations of the attacking party. Some bore away the body of Bishop, others summoned re-enforcements, while the grog shops near by furnished ready material to feed the ruffian fire. The bells of the city were rung,* horns blown, and an excited multitude came rushing to the warehouse, some urging on the drunken mob, and some using their efforts in behalf of peace. The infuriated mass surrounding the warehouse cried out with savage yells and oaths, that they would fire the building and shoot every abolitionist as he tried to make his escape. Mayor Krum now appeared on the scene, and he was asked by Lovejoy's men that he lead them out to face the mob and order them to fire if the mob would not disperse at his command. His answer was that he had too much regard for their lives to do that, but at the same time he justified those in the warehouse in their defense. His own subsequent efforts to disperse the mob were powerless.

Attempts were now made to fire the building. On the north side there were no windows or doors, and here a ladder was placed on which a man ascended with a burning torch to ignite the roof. The position of the ladder made it impos- sible to check this design from within, and Captain Long called for volunteers to make a sortie from the building and dislodge the man from the roof. Amos B. Roff, Royal Wel- ler and Mr. Lovejoy promptly issued forth to execute this commission. They returned to the building in safety, but on going forth a second time, as Mr. Lovejoy stepped out into the bright moonlight, the party was fired on by assassins concealed behind some lumber piled up on the levee. Five balls entered Mr. Lovejoy's body. He rau back into the building and up stairs, exclaiming, "I am shot! I am shot! I am dead!" and when he reached the counting-room he fell into the arms of one of his friends, and was laid upon the floor where he instantly passed away without further struggle and without again speaking. Mr. Roff and Mr. Weller were both wounded by the same volley.

Soon afterward Edward Keating and Henry H. West again approached the building, and informed Mr. Gilman that the roof was on fire, and offered, in behalf of the rio- ters, that if the press should be surrendered, the fire would be extinguished, and no further harm done to any other property. After consultation it was thought best to aban- don the building, and give up the press. There was pro- perty of great value in the warehouse, and now that Love- joy was dead, no further good could come of hopeless oppo- sition to the mob. It was stipulated that the defenders of the warehouse f should be allowed to depart in safety, but

* It is an interesting fact that Mrs. Graves, wife of the Presbyterian minister-a slender and delicate woman-opened the church in her husband's absence, and rang the bell with all her strength.

+ The names of the twenty men in the building that night are as

no sooner had they left the building than the rioters broke their truce, and fired after them more than a hundred shots, which, owing to the slope of the ground, passed harmlessly over their heads. The press, like its three predecessors, was broken into fragments, which found a resting-place at the bottom of the Mississippi.

The next morning the body of Lovejoy was removed to his late home. His wife was absent at the house of a friend, so prostrated by the terrible shock that her life was despair- ed of for many days. His brother, Owen Lovejoy, was at the house to receive the corpse. The funeral was on the 9th of November, a rainy, depressing day. The burial ser- vice was simple, and consisted merely of prayers by Mr. Lovejoy's constant friend, the Rev. Thomas Lippincott. No inquest was held over the body-no flowers were strewn upon the coffin. Thus passed away Elijah Parish Lovejoy, at the age of thirty-five. The place of interment was in the eastern part of the city, where some years afterward the site for the Alton Cemetery was selected. In laying out the cemetery grounds the main avenue chanced to pass over the grave of Lovejoy, and his ashes were then removed to a new locality. The spot is now marked by a simple stone, with the inscription :

Hic Jacet, LOVEJOY, Jam Parce Sepulto.

The death of Lovejoy occasioned a profound sensation throughout the country, and did more to crystallize the op- position to slavery than any event that had yet occurred.

At the January term, 1838, of the Municipal Court of the City of Alton, indictments were brought, both against persons who attempted to destroy the press, and those in de- fense of the building. The Grand Jury, of which Thomas G. Hawley was foreman, charged Enoch Long, Amos B. Roff, George H. Walworth, George H. Whitney, William Harned, John S. Noble, James Morse, jr., Henry Tanner, Royal Weller, Reuben Gerry, Thaddeus B. Hurlburt, and Winthrop S. Gilman, with " unlawfully, riotously, and in a violent and tumultuous manner," resisting an attempt to break up a printing-press, and to force open and enter the storehouse of Benjamin Godfrey and Winthrop S. Gilman.

Winthrop S. Gilman was granted a separate trial, and was defended by George T. M. Davis and Alfred Cowles, then leading members of the Alton bar. Usher F. Linder, the Attorney-General of the State, assisted the prosecuting attorney, Francis B. Murdock, in the prosecution. It was shown that every act of Mr. Gilman and his associates was performed with the concurrence of the Mayor, and, as those gentlemen supposed, with the authority of law. Mr. Gil- man was promptly found " not guilty," and a nolle prosequi was then entered in the cases of his associates.

follows :- Elijah P. Lovejoy, Amos B. Roff, Royal Weller, William Harned, James Morse, jr. ; John S. Noble, Edward Breath, George II. Walworth, J. C. Woods, George H. Whitney, Reuben Gerry, Winthrop S. Gilman, Enoch Long, George T. Brown, Samuel J. Thompson, H. D. Davis, D. F. Randall, D. Burt Loomis, Thaddeus B. Hurlburt, and Henry Tanner.

TOM

RESIDENCE OF MAJOR FRANK. MOORE, UPPER ALTON, ILL.

THE MOB ATTACKING THE WAREHOUSE OF GODFREY GILMAN & CO. ALTON, ILL.ON THE NIGHT OF THE 7TH OF NOVEMBER 1837, AT THE TIME LOVEJOY WAS MURDERED AND HIS PRESS DESTROYED.

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

The same Grand Jury found indictments against John Solomon, Solomon Morgan, Levi Palmer, ITorace Beall, Josiah Nutter, James Jennings, Jacob Smith. David Butler, William Carr, James M. Rock, and Frederick Bruchy, for "unlawfully, and with force and violence," entering the storehouse of Benjamin Godfrey, and Winthrop S. Gilman, and " unlawfully, riotously, and with force and violence," breaking and destroying a printing-press. These men were also acquitted, and thus ended judicial investigation of all matters connected with the death of Lovejoy.

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY.

The commercial crash of 1837, the pro-slavery riot in which Lovejoy lost his life, and the collapse of the State railway system of which Alton was to have been the centre, all contributed to the downfall of the business prosperity of Alton, and for some years subsequent to 1837, trade was stagnant and property depreciated, while many of the most enterprising business firms met with financial ruin. About the year 1842, business revived again, and from that time on the city has had a healthy, steady, and constant growth.

The first railroad to Alton was completed in September, 1852. The Chicago and Mississippi railroad (now a part of the Chicago and Alton) extending to Springfield, began running at that date. To the enterprise of Benjamin God- frey was principally due the construction of this road. The road terminated several blocks from the river. St. Louis passengers were transferred to boats till 1861, when the com- pany secured railroad connection with East St. Louis by means of the Terre Haute and Alton road, which was used for their traffic till the completion of the present line of the Chicago & Altou Company to East St. Louis, in 1864.

Alton in 1853 is described by a well known writer (Gov. John Reynolds) as a city of twelve churches, six publie free schools, and several private scholastic institutions, three newspapers of which two were daily, with nine lawyers, eight ministers, ten physicians, and three large and commo- dious hotels Two hundred dwelling-houses and twenty large stores were erected that year. Two large flouring mills were in operation. Between forty and fifty steam engines and saw mil's were made each year, and a large quantity of valuable agricultural machinery. Its lime produet was celebrated throughout the Mississippi valley. During the year, exclusive of the St. Louis packets, cighteen hundred and cighteeu steamboats arrived, many of these boats steamers from New Orleans. The average num- ber of passengers between Alton and St. Louis each day was two hundred and ten. The penitentiary contained two hundred and seventy-seven prisoners. The receipt of wheat, corn, and oats, ranged from two hundred and fifty thousand to three hundred thousand bushels of each staple. Twenty- seven thousand head of hogs, and three thousand head of cattle were slaughtered and packed.

Alton was a military post, during the war of the rebel- lion, from the beginning of the year 1862 to the close of the war. It was garrisoned at different times by the Seventy- seventh Ohio, the Tenth Kansas, the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Illinois and the Thirty-seventh Iowa infantry 50

regiments, and the Fifteenth regiment of the United States regular army. A number of rebel prisoners, sometimes as many as sixteen hundred, were confined in the old peniten- tiary. About two hundred of them died and were buried in a piece of ground near the village of North Alton. The small pox at one time prevailed among the prisoners, and those attacked by this disease were taken to a hospital across the river. Those who died there were buried in the " tow head," as it is called, and since the construction of the gov- ernment dyke the current of the river has washed their graves away.

TOWN AND CITY CHARTERS,-OFFICES.

Alton was incorporated as a town on the 6th of February, 1833. Previous to this the town was governed by a Board of Trustees, though the date at which the first organization was effected cannot now be ascertained. The Legislature granted a charter as a city on the 21st of July, 1837. An election was held on the 11th of September, 1877, at which the proposition to organize as a city under the general law was carried. The debt of the city on the first day of April, 1882, was 887 525.82. The City Hall, which cost in the neighborhood of fifty thousand dollars, was completed in 1858. The city receives from the United States five hun- dred dollars a year rent for the space occupied by the Post Office.

From 1832 to 1834 Jonathan T. Hudson was president of the Board of Trustees ; 1834-5, J. S. Lane; 1835-6, J. T. Hudson ; 1836-7, Benjamin K. Hart. The first election under the city charter was held in 1837. From that time until the present the following gentlemen have filled the office of Mayor :

1837-S. John M. Krum.

1838-9. . Charles Howard.

1839-40. John King.

1840-1 . Stephen Griggs.

1841-2. William Martin.

1842-3. Samuel G. Bailey.

1843-4 . Stephen Pierson.

1844-6 (two terms) George T. M. Davis.

1846 7. . George T. Brown.

1847-8 . . Edward Keating.

1818-9 . . Robert Ferguson.

1849-51 (two terms) . Samuel Wade.

1851-2 . . Ilenry W. Billings.

1852-3

. Thomas M. Hope.

-1853-4

Samuel Buckmaster.

1854-5 O. M. Adams.

1855-6. Samuel Wade. -

1856-7 Joseph Brown.

1857-8.

Samuel Wade. -

1858-9. Lyne S. Metcalf.

1859-60 .

William Post.

1860-62 (two terms) . Lewis Kellenberger.

-1862-3 ..

. Samuel A. Buckmaster.

1863-6 (three terms) Milward Hollister.

1866-7 .

. William Post.

1867-8.

Silas W. Farber.

1568-72 (four terms) James T. Drummond.

1872-3. . Lucas Pfeiffenberger.

1873 1

Charles 1. Caldwell.

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

1874 5.

Lucas Pfeiffenberger.

1875-7 (two termis) .

Alexander W. Hope.

1878-9. Lucas Pfeiffenberger.

1879-81 Henry Brneggemann.

1881-83 . Lucas Pfeiffenberger.

Other elective offices of the city are filled in 1882 as fol- lows :

Clerk .

James McNulty.

Treasurer Gustavus A. Joesting.

Attorney James E. Dunnegan.

Atdermen-First Ward, G. Frank Crowe, Edward A. Burke.

Second 66 Andrew Clifford, Denis Noonan.

Third 66 John Curdie, John Armstrong.

Fourth = Seth S. Hobart, David Ryan.

Fifth George II. Weigler, Noah C. Hatheway.

Sixth Louis Bissinger, Victor Bruch.

Seventh Joseph Murphy, Charles 1. Herb.

CITY COURT OF ALTON.

The Alton City Court was organized in 1859, and its first session was held on the 11th of April of that year. The name was changed in 1874 from the Alton City Court to the City Court of Alton. It has jurisdiction of all chancery and common law causes, except murder. Henry W. Bil- lings was the first judge. He was succeeded in 1866 by Henry S. Baker, who remained on the bench till the Sep- tember term, 1881, when Alexander H. Gambrill, who now presides over the court, became judge. On the organization of the court, James William Davis was clerk, and acted as such till 1861, when John W. Ash assumed the duties of the office. Patrick Ward, the present incumbent, became clerk in 1875.

EARLY HOTELS.

The best known hotel of Alton was the old Alton House, which occupied the corner of Front and Alby streets. A substantial frame building was erected on this spot in 1832 by Jonathan T. Hudson, in which a hotel was opened under the name of the Alton House. Among the proprietors in early times were Andrew Miller, a Mr. Delaplain, Samuel Pitts, and Washington Libby. This building was destroyed by fire in 1837. Calvin Stone replaced it by a brick build- ing about fifty by twenty-five feet in dimensions, and three stories in height. About the year 1844 it came into the possession of Major B. T. Burke, of Carlinville, who remodelled and much enlarged it. Various parties leased it for short periods. It was kept for many years by Amos L. Corson, who was succeeded in the spring of 1866 by William Siem- eus, who was the proprietor till it was burned down on the eighth of January, 1870.

The Franklin House was built by a Mr. Blakeley. It was afterward purchased by Benjamin Godfrey, who made additions to it. For a period of ten years George W. Fox was the proprietor. He was succeeded by Ephraim Bliss, who kept the hotel four years. Samuel Pitts was then in charge for six years preceding 1861. The next proprietors were Edward S. and Rufus H. Lesure, and then it came into the possession of W. H. K. Pile. In later years it lost the dis- tinction it once enjoyed of being a popular and well-kept hotel, and was known under several different names. The

building is still standing on the west side of State street, facing Third street.

The Piasa House on the northeast corner of Fourth and Piasa streets was at one time a prominent and well patron- ized hotel. It was built by Judge Hezekiah Hawley pre- vious to the year 1835 Among its proprietors in its palmy days were Mrs. Wait, Mr. Reno, William Wentworth, Capt. William Post, Samuel Brooks, Jacob C. Bruner, and John Hart and sons. In the vicinity was the old terminus of the railroad from Springfield, from which passengers and bag- gage were transferred to the boats, and its situation gave it a large patronage. After the railroad track was extended to the river and rail connection made with East St. Louis, the hotel declined and was thereafter maintained in but an indifferent way.

The old Union Hotel, at one time a well managed house, was where the first Presbyterian Church now stands, in the building erected by Beal Howard, in 1829. It was after- ward known as the Virginia House, and was destroyed by fire.

CHURCHIES.

It is believed that the Rev. Thos. Lippincott preached the first sermon in Alton. In the winter of 1829-30, William Miller, Beal and Charles Howard, and a few of their neigh- bors, began holding religious services, first in the cooper shop of William Miller, and afterward in new buildings as they were being erected from time to time and were yet unoccupied. A Sabbath-school was begun in 1831. Dur- ing that year the Baptists and Presbyterians united in hold- ing services in what was then known as the Lyceum Hall. Rev. Hubbel Loomis was the Baptist minister, and Rev. Elisha Jenny, the Presbyterian. The Protestant Methodists had occasional services at which Charles Howard usually officiated. The first church edifice stood on the northeast corner of Third and Market streets, the site of the present Episcopal church, and was a stone building, about sixty by forty-five feet in size, erected through the liberality of Benjamin Godfrey, who granted the free use of it to both the religious societies, organized in Alton, the Baptist and Presbyterian. It was adorned by a neat cupola in which was a bell, the gift of Mrs. Gilman, mother of Benjamin I. Gilman.

A Presbyterian church was formed ou the ninth of June, 1821, by the Rev. Daniel Gould and the Rev. Edward Hollister, who were employed by the Connecticut Domestic Missionary Society. H. H. Snow and Enoch Long were elders. In 1827, removals having reduced the membership to two, the church was united with the church at Edwards- ville. The present Presbyterian church was organized June 19, 1831, by the Rev. Thomas Lippincott, with eight mem- bers. Enoch Long was chosen elder. From 1835 to 1845 the congregation met in the church on the corner of Third and Market streets, for one year in a frame building on the corner of Third and Alby streets, and in June, 1846, the present Presbyterian church on the corner of Second and Market streets was dedicated. The Rev. Thomas Gordon is now the pastor.

The First Baptist Church was constituted on the 10th of

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

March, 1833, with a membership of nineteen persons. Rev. Alvin Bailey was the first pastor. A church was built in 1834, on the northeast corner of Third and Alby streets. In 1836 a lot was purchased for three thousand dollars at the northeast corner of Second and Easton streets, and a church erected at an additional cost of eighteen thousand dollars. This building burned down in March, 1860, and in 1861, the congregation occupied a new church at the corner of Fifth and Market streets. The present pastor is the Rev. L. A. Abbott.

The First Methodist Episcopal church sprang from a Methodist class, formed in 1831, of which William Miller was leader. In 1836 a frame church was purchased on the northeast corner of Third and Alby streets, and occupied five or six years. In 1844 a stone church on the northeast corner of Fourth and Belle streets was completed, and in 1855 enlarged. The church on the southeast corner of Sixth and Market streets was finished in 1859. The con- gregation is now under the care of the Rev. S. P. Groves.

St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal church was organized in 1836 with six members. The Rev. Depuy was the first rector, and after his departure in the fall of 1837, Owen Lovejoy was lay reader for several months. In 1843 the building and ground on the corner of Third and Market streets, the site of the present church, was purchased, and about 1850 the old building was removed and the present church edifice erected at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars. A terrible tornado in the month of June, 1860, demolished the tower of the church, and injured the roof, altogether cansing damages amounting to five thousand dollars. The present rector is the Rev. Thomas W. Haskins, who also has pastoral charge of Trinity chapel.

St. Peter's and St. Paul's Roman Catholic church. A frame building was erected in Upper Alton in 1838 for the Use of the Catholic congregation, of which Rev. George Hamilton was pastor. The Rev. Michacl Carroll undertook the building of a new church on the corner of Third and Alby streets, which was completed in 1844. This structure was destroyed by fire in 1854, when the building of the pre- sent Cathedral was commenced. In 1857 Alton was raised to an Episcopal See, and the Rt. Rev. Henry D. Juncker was consecrated as first bishop ; his death occurred in 1868, and the Rev. Father P. J. Balters, formerly pastor of St Peter's church, Belleville, was consecrated as bishop on the twenty- third of January, 1870. The Rev. Charles J. Zeiwisler is now the pastor.

The German Evangelical Church was established in 1850. The church is situated on Henry street. The Rev. Carl Becker, pastor.

The Unitarian church was organized in 1853. After the burning of the Catholic church on the corner of Third and Alby streets, in 1854, the ground was purchased by the Unitarians who, using the same walls, completed the present church building The Rev. J. Fisher is the pastor.

The First Cumberland Presbyterian church was organized with seventeen members in June, 1855. Their present church building, at the corner of Twelfth and Henry streets, was completed in 1856.

The German Methodist church was organized about 1858. The church is on Union street, and the congregation is under the care of the Rev. Louis Harmel.

St. Mary's Catholic church, the congregation which is composed of German Catholics, was completed in 1859. The tornado of June, 1860, destroyed the church building, and also the school house and priest's residence adjoining. A larger and finer building was then erected, and was dedi- cated in 1861. The Rev. Peter Peters is pastor.

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History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 95

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698