USA > Illinois > Will County > History of Will County, Illinois, Volume One > Part 36
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"But it was not only the actual fugitive from slavery that was in danger of the man-stealer in this State. Our laws pre- sumed every man who had a trace of African blood in his veins to be a slave, and the burden of proof was thrown upon him. If he could not show free papers he could be arrested, thrown into jail, and advertised like a stray pig, and any one who could make out a plausible claim, could take him on payment of jail and printer's fees; and if no one claimed him, he could be sold temporarily to the highest bidder, to pay the charges.
"We had, here in Joliet, a colored boy of the name of Henry Belt. He was a freeman, and had in his possession a paper issued by some clerk, in Pennsylvania, I think, certifying to his freedom. Henry was a barber at the Exchange, and very popular, and had many friends despite the color of his skin. He was thus exposed to the eyes of a couple of professional slave hunters. They saw that he was a nice boy, and would be worth probably two or three thousand dollars in the St. Louis mar-
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ket. While one of them stayed to watch the game, the other went to Missouri and got some trumpt up claim for a runaway slave, answering to Henry's description. They had him ar- rested, and he was taken before a justice of the peace, known to be a negro-hater, and by him he was quickly handed over to the men-stealers. But Henry had friends who would not al- low this without a struggle to save him, and before they could get away with their prey a writ of habeas corpus was procured, and he was brought before the Circuit Judge for another in- vestigation. All this of course produced great excitement. The feeling of indignation was not confined to Abolitionists. In fact the efforts in his behalf were mainly made by those who would have scorned the name. The trial came off in the old jail, (now demolished). The court room was filled to overflowing with parties for and against the victim. The men-stealers pro- duced their proof, and Henry showed his paper. But the judge was of the same stripe as the justice, and while he summed up the matter in a long opinion worthy of "Dogberry," it became apparent how the matter would go; and when he concluded by deciding that the kidnappers should have their victim, there was great rejoicing on their part. They already began to count their chickens, and they turned round to take possession of the prize, when lo! like the Irishman's flea, he was not there ! While all eyes had been intent upon the learned Judge, and all ears listening to his profound utterances, Henry's friends had quietly taken possession of the stairway and the space between it, and Henry, in the supposed custody of the sheriff, had been very quietly slipped through the crowd, and was 'non est in- ventus!' Great was the excitement when the fact was known. The kidnappers were raving. They found great difficulty in getting out of the Court House-everybody seemed to be in their way. When they got out, they and those of the crowd who sympathized, of course made at once for the houses of the 'dam'd abolitionists,' to search for their victim. Some admitted
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them-others kept them out, and demanded legal steps before they would submit to have their homes searched, which only made the kidnappers more certain that their prey was there. I remember one humble house which the crowd threatened to pull down-but they didn't. All this delay was favorable to the escape of Henry. Well, all the search was vain. Henry was nowhere to be found-never was found; and after hanging around town for a few days the kidnappers gave up the job, believing that he had escaped by that mysterious means, the 'underground railroad.'
"The fact was, the abolitionists had nothing to do with Henry's escape, and knew nothing about it. It was effected by different parties altogther, and Henry was concealed for a while in the old wooden block on Chicago street, which was not an abolition block! I guess Frank Mitchell could tell something about it.
"I believe that this occurred while Risley was sheriff. It used to be said that that old jail never could hold a negro under his administration. I do not think that this ought to subject his memory to very much obloquy.
The Latest Indian-Mound .- The following account is taken from the Joliet Herald-News for July 22, 1928. Adele Fay Wil- liams, who writes each week for this paper, contributes an account of Indian Mounds beside graves of pioneers. Oakwood cemetery was used by the Red Man as a burial place before the Whites buried there:
"Interesting things may go on in one's own neighborhood, one's own honest-to-goodness home town, strange as it may seem to home folk.
"Among these interesting things may be reckoned the vari- ous telling explorations of Indian mounds, chief among which are the important researches of George Langford, who has become internationally known thru his study of Indian mounds.
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"One of the most recent explorations, or surveys, has been sent out by the Illinois State Archaeological Survey for Chica- go University, headed by Dr. Fay Cooper Cole, which has fin- ished a session of study here which will take an important place in the history of the work in Illinois.
"The place is on the very edge of Oakwood cemetery, at the south on the brow of a declivity where an Indian mound has been partially dissected, as may be seen in the accompanying sketch.
"Here graduate students from Chicago university have carefully, even tenderly, explored the mound to avoid destroy- ing any of the valuable relics to be found there.
"The cut thru the center of the mound may be seen in the picture, in its woodsy setting. But now the work is done, and the student investigators will take another week to build up the mound exactly as it was before. Only a smallish part of the mound has been tapped and 'Conservation' has been the motto of the group, according to Wilton Krogman, director in charge.
"Altho Mr. Krogman considers himself a student, he is a graduate of the University of Chicago and has had three years graduate work in anthropology. He says he is in the work up to his neck. As he is six feet four it means a lot.
"One hundred 'Alas-poor Yoricks'-that is to say perfect or nearly perfect skulls of Indians were found in the brief time of work there.
"By arrangement with Arthur Leach, head of the cemetery board, the university workers were to be moderate and con- siderate in their diggings and scrapings and consequently the work progressed swiftly with perfect satisfaction to the work- ers and the town authorities.
"The attitude of these workers who are dedicating them- selves to scientific research with the whole hearted, unflagging energy, is an interesting examplar of the results of enthusiasm.
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"It was interesting to watch the work as it progressed in that sunny corner of Oakwood, where the big oak tree shaded the graves of some of Joliet's pioneer citizens side by side with the mound that held so many relics of the noble red man.
"Thorne Deuel, one of these notable workers, was a former major in the U. S. Aviation Corps, a graduate student of Columbia University, as well as a graduate of West Point.
"Robert R. Jones was a member of the class of '21, a mem- ber of Carroll College, Waukeshaw, Wisconsin, and of the 1923 class of Iowa university and is now hoping to achieve the dis- tinction of a Ph. D., at Chicago. Mr. Jones is most interested in museum work. Robert Engeberg, one of the younger ones, has just been graduated from Chicago, class of '28, and ex- pects to make archaeology his life work.
"Henri Stearns Denninger is a student in Rush Medical School, expecting to become an ear, nose and throat specialist. He has both French and German blood in his veins. And George Karl Gustav Neumann came from Hamburg, Germany, as may be supposed. He came in 1920 to study at the U. of C., his Mecca. He will be graduated in 1930 in order to follow phy- sical anthropology and probably museum work as his profes- sion.
"All this serves as an interesting cross section on the ideals of a certain influential portion of the students of today, some- thing that was disclosed by the digging of the Indian mound.
"This exploring troupe was housed in a commodious tent just below the hill, in sight of the mound. Nor was the ardor of the diggers dampened by frequent rains.
"From here they will depart for Quincy, Illinois, where there are more mounds to conquer.
"And there were other interesting circumstances observed in connection with this ancient Indian mound."
Later reports (July 29, 1928), stated that they had taken out one hundred skeletons from the trench through the center
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of the mound. The students who made the explorations esti- mate that one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty skeletons remain in the ground. No Indian utensils were found. A few pieces of pottery were uncovered. The absence of any of these things seems to indicate some pestilence killed this large number. It was a common grave. The bodies were placed in a miscellaneous order, some prostrate, some sitting up with knees folded against the chest, and others on the side. The placing indicates that the bodies were placed in the grave in a hurry. They were found eight feet below the surface of the mound. This indicates that earth was carried there and put above the common grave as a sort of monument.
The last Indian Treaty was made in Chicago in 1833 and the last Indians left these parts in 1835. At least two white set- tlers lived within a mile of the mound as early as 1827. Neither the records of the settlers nor the traditions of the Indians give any reports of this burial. It is safe to assume that the interment occurred more than two centuries ago.
"Ancient Fires and Lights of Will County" .- (By William Grinton. Published in the Joliet News, October 5, 1912.) Will county pioneers have lived in parts of the two greatest centur- ies of history in marvels of human achievement and improve- ment, and the evolution of illumination from the tallow dip to to the fierce lights of the twentieth century has kept the pace with all the others and yet the little candle power is the unit by which light is scientifically estimated.
Next to the candle came lard oil and whale oil. Sperm oil was considered the last word in illumination until camphene (oil of turpentine distilled over quick lime) took the center of the stage and played the lime-light role, but it proved to be so explosive and dangerous that it had to be diluted with three parts alcohol and then bore the name of burning fluid, which
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made a brilliant and comparatively safe light, and sold for about ninety cents a gallon.
Whale oil, as a natural resource, was of such importance that the conservation of whales became a subject of as keen interest as the conservation of other natural resources is at the present day. One man remembers, in 1850, reading in the New York Evangelist, under the big scare heads, a first page full column article, ringing the alarm bell calling the people to the rescue of the sperm whale, lest, from indiscriminate slaughter it become extinct and the country left in darkness.
A short time before the war, kerosene came into common use for lights and soon drove most of its competitors out of business, where gas could not be had. It was used by Republi- can wide-awakes and Democrat invincibles in the Lincoln- Douglas campaign of 1860. The torches for the Buchanan- Fremont campaign in 1856 were made by wrapping candle wick around the end of a lath and dipping it in tar.
The nights were filled with the music of Grosh's band; men and boys marched bravely and gayly through the streets, sure they were having the political time of their lives; but O, they were sad, "in the cold gray dawn of the morning after," when they saw their Sunday suits ruined by the dripping tar-tears of the torches.
At big political mass meetings and rallies, bon fires fur- nished the light, and tar barrels the active principle which was supposed to throw light, from Democratic or Republican points of view, respectively, on the dark and tangled problems of African slavery; the Missouri compromise; squatter sov- ereignty and the obiter dictum decision of Chief Justice Taney in the Dred Scott case: that, "A negro was an inferior being; so inferior that he had no rights a white man was bound to respect."
The proverb that "Sometimes a singed cat is better than it looks" was verified in the sandy land township of Reed.
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About 1864 William Henneberry, in digging a well for water, struck coal-raw material for fire. Braidwood became a boom city, and soon had a five thousand population. This Will county coal brought the original Rolling Mill to Joliet, in '69, and it grew and grew, with its "pillar of fire by night and its cloud of smoke by day," a leader of the iron industries of the country, and Reed, the singed cat township of the county, put on a "Cheshire cat smile" that has not come off.
Kilpatrick's Currency .- A little incident is related of his coming, which is at the same time interesting and amusing. When Kelly came to the neighborhood, it was with the object of purchasing a piece of land, with a view of making it a home. Having fixed upon a tract belonging to John Kilpatrick, which land was for sale, a bargain was struck, the deed made and the purchase-money paid down-$800, all in Mexican dollars. Kelly, having bought his home, went his way, intending to return the next season to put out a crop and make improvements, and Kilpatrick pocketed his cash, congratulating himself on having made a good sale. By and by Kilpatrick wished to use some of the money, and it was paid out in various ways-some of it pay- ing bills at the store and other amounts being loaned to neigh- bors, who used it for different purposes, so that, in a short time, it was all in circulation. All at once it was discovered that the whole lot of coin was bogus. In those times, money did not leave a community and circulate so rapidly as now, so that, although the $800 had all been paid out, it had not left the neighborhood, and small amounts were in the hands of almost everybody. By common consent, and a suspicion that, perhaps, after all, the money was genuine, it continued to circulate and was paid out and taken at par. Gradually the coins became scarcer, indicating that they were finding their way out in the world; but "Kilpatrick's currency" was a stand- ing joke for years after the last piece was seen. Kilpatrick and
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Kelly were both innocent parties, having both received and paid out the "stuff", supposing it to be good. Kelly returned in the Spring following and occupied his farm, and was much surprised to learn that it had been bought with counterfeit money, and gratified that it had been placed beyond redemp- tion.
Stock Running at Large-1835 .- By way of embellishment, we draw on "Forty Years Ago," for the following anecdote, which occurred while Demmond & Curry kept a store in this stone block. Dr. Adams had a fancy hog, one of the long- nosed kind, that are said to stick the snout through the fence and pick off the third row of corn. In those days, all stock was permitted to run at large in the street. This hog of Adams' seemed to know in a moment when Demmond & Curry's cel- lar door was open, and no matter in what part of the town he might be wandering, he instantly appeared upon the scene and slipped in. As they did a large barter business, they of course took in a great deal of butter, and thus many a jar was ren- dered unfit for anything but a Chicago restaurant, by the hog, and the merchants swore vengenance against him. One rainy night, as they were closing up, they heard him enter the cellar, and, instead of driving him out, closed the door and held him prisoner. They caught him, and after saturating him thoroughly with spirits of turpentine, took him to the door, touched the candle to him and bade him go. HE WENT. With an unearthly yell he tore through the streets, lightening up the darkness with the lurid blaze, and terribly frightening the canal people, men and women, who verily believed it was the "divil himself," and they called upon all the saints in the calen- dar for protection. On, on he went, putting straight for the river, like the swine of old, plunged in the stream and silence and darkness reigned.
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Snowstorm-1854-55 .- During the Winter of 1854-55, oc- curred a great snowstorm, which is, no doubt, yet remembered by many. The train which left Joliet at noon on the 25th day of January, with 350 passengers, 22 of whom were members of the Illinois Legislature, was brought to a full stop when near Dwight. The weather had grown cold and the engines had frozen up, and they were utterly unable to proceed. They were held in this condition for six days and nights, during which it was excessively cold, and there was much discomfort, to use no stronger expression. It was several miles to timber, and the stock of fuel carried by the train was soon exhausted. The seats of the cars and also the second-class cars were cut up for fuel. They had no provisions the first day excepting a few cans of oysters and a few boxes of crackers, which were in the freight car. Relief, to some extent, was brought in sleighs from the surrounding farmhouses and the nearest vil- lages; and on the seventh day, an engine from Joliet succeeded in forcing its way through and bringing the shipwrecked train back to Joliet. Some of the Legislature, among them Messrs. Parks and Osgood, went forward from Dwight in sleighs.
Our Sac War .- As this is one of the early settled portions of Will County, its history could hardly be considered complete without some special reference to the Indians and the Sac war of 1832, so often mentioned in these pages. Although nearly a half-century has passed since those rather "ticklish" times, and most of the participants are gone where "wars and rumors of wars" come not to disturb their peace and tranquillity, there are a few left who remember well the great excitement of that period. And the very Indians themselves are almost forgot- ten by the masses, or only remembered through the reports from the distant West of their robbing, plundering and mur- dering. But on the 18th day of May, 1832, Hickory Creek Set-
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tlement, for the small number of inhabitants it contained, per- haps was about as excited a community as one will generally meet with in half a life-time. On that day news was brought to the settlement of the death and destruction being dealt out by Black Hawk and his dusky warriors. A committee of a dozen men who had the best horses were appointed to go to Plainfield and reconnoiter, and bring back news as to the truth of the reports. Thomas and Abraham Francis were on the com- mittee, and the news brought back was not calculated to allay the existing excitement in the least. On approaching Plain- field, they discovered Indians firing on the fort or blockhouse, and the committee stood not on their retirement, but fell back precipitately, to put it into the mildest form possible. On their return, they reported to the settlers that the Indians were coming and killing everything before them. A council of war was called at "Uncle Billy" Gougar's, and it was determined to seek safety in flight, and on the 18th of May they commenced the line of march. The majority retreated toward the Wabash settlements, while some few went to Chicago. The bustle and excitement of getting ready to start, and the momentary ex- pectation of hearing the terrific yells of the savages, gave rise to some ludicrous scenes, as serious as was the cause of alarm. Mr. Pence's girls came to Mr. Gougar and asked him to yoke up their oxen for them. "Yes, in a minute," said he; but be- fore he could get ready to do so, the brave girls had yoked the cattle themselves, hitched them to the wagon, and were gone on the way toward safety. (Young ladies of Will County, how many of you could perform such a feat today, if an emergency should arise to demand it?) The first day the cavalcade ar- rived within four miles of the Kankakee River, where they encamped for the night, intending to start at daylight and drive to the river before breakfast. But just after starting the next morning, a man named Lionbarger came up hatless, riding bare-back, and did "a tale unfold" of Indians in pursuit and of
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murder and carnage, that completely dispelled the appetites of the already frightened fugitives, and they did not stop for breakfast until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and "thirty miles away" from their encampment of the previous night. As the women and children would see the trees along the way that had been burned and blackened, they would shriek, Indians! and thus the march or retreat was continued through to a place of safety. It was discovered afterward that Lionbarger had mistaken fence-stakes for Indians, and hence his story of the pursuit and of his own extreme fright. He rode, it is said, eighty miles without stopping, bare-headed and without a sad- dle, a feat that has never been excelled, as we are aware of, even by Jim Robinson the great bare-back circus-rider. But the storm of war soon passed; the dark and lurid clouds rolled away toward the west, and the sun came forth in all his glory- the olive-branch of peace waved over the land, and the fugitive settlers returned to their claims in July of the same year which witnessed their precipitate retreat, never more to be disturbed in their peaceful pursuits by the red men of the forest, who, like Dickens' little Jo before the "peeler," have moved on be- fore the "superior race," the white men, and are still moving on toward the "golden sunset," where erelong they will hear the roar of the last wave that will settle over them forever.
His first Winter in the settlement was that of the "deep snow," the epoch from which the few survivors who remember it, date all important events. During the time this great fall of snow remained on the ground, and which was four feet deep on a level, he used to cut down trees, that his horses and cows might "brouse" upon the tender twigs. With little else to feed his stock, from sleek, fat animals in the Fall of the year, they came forth in the Spring-those that survived the Winter -nothing but "skin and bones." He would sit down and weep at the sufferings of the poor dumb beasts, and his inabil- ity to render them material aid in the way of nourishing food.
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But it used to exhaust his wits to provide food for his family at all times during that first Winter. Once they run out of meal, and though he had sent to Chicago for a barrel of flour (the mode of communication with Chicago not then being equal to what it is at the present day), it was long in coming; and before its arrival the larder had got down to a few biscuits, laid aside for the smallest children. Mrs. Stevens says her father declared if the flour did not come he would take as many of his children as he could carry on his back, and attempt to make the settlements, but good luck or providence was on his side, and the barrel of flour came before they were reduced to this extremity.
A sad story was told us by Mrs. Stevens, who, though but a little girl of fifteen or sixteen years of age at the time, remem- bers the occurrence distinctly. It was of a family who had settled near the present village of Blue Island, and during this deep snow their store of provisions became exhausted, and the husband and father started for the settlements to procure fresh supplies. Being unavoidably detained by the snow, the last crumb disappeared, and the mother, in the very face of starva- tion, started for Chicago, as is supposed, to get food for her children, and got lost on the prairie and was either frozen to death or killed by wolves. The former supposition is probably the correct one, and after freezing was devoured by the wolves, as nothing was ever found but her bones, which were recogniz- ed by her shoes. Her children were discovered by some chance passer-by when almost starved to death, and were taken and cared for by the few kind-hearted people in the country at the time. The husband's return was a sad one. His wife dead and eaten by wolves, and his children cared for by strangers, it would almost seem that he had little left to live or care for.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 977.325M44H
C001 HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS. TOPEKA 1
3 0112 025387983
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