USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > History of the city of Quincy, Illinois > Part 21
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The city council voted a salary to aldermen of two dollars for each regular and fifty cents for each special meeting: before this time they had been paid nothing. Urgent requests were made upon the city fathers to organize a "night watch." but they decided that the city did not need it and could not afford the ex- pense. The city obtained from the legisla- ture during the preceding winter the relin- quishment of the railroad street (now Broad- way) which seven years before had been grad- ed from Twelfth street to the river, and also seenred from the United States the title to what is known as the "Tow Head," the point of land lying between the bay and the river. measured then as containing 207 aeres, which it probably greatly exceeds at present.
Judge Thomas resigned his position as judge of this rireuit to take a similar place in the northern part of the state and his place was temporarily filled by JJudge R. M. Young. In Angust N. H. Purple was appointed, who held the office for the three following years and until the new constitution of 1848 changed the judicial system. .Judge Peter Lott. who had been elected to the legislature in 1844, resigned his seat in February just at the close of the session and was thereupon immediately appointed circuit clerk, displacing C. M. Woods, who had acceptably held the office for many years. At this time. and before 1848.
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the judges possessed the power of appointment of clerks. An indignation meeting of the members of the bar was held at once to make objections to the removal. This movement was not so much aimed at Lott, who was per- sonally popular and more capable than Mr. Woods, but it was intended as a protest against the summary style in which the latter's head was taken off.
Changes consegnent on the election of the democratie presidential ticket in 1844 were made in the federal offices in Quincy. Dr. Samuel W. Rogers became postmaster ; Samuel Holmes and Dr. Hiram Rogers respectively register and receiver of the public land office, and all continued in their respective offices in- til removed in 1840, when the whig adminis- tration came into power.
At the session of 1844-45 the General As- sembly passed an act amendatory of the city charter authorizing the assessment of an an- mal tax which should be applied solely to the support of the city schools. This was conditioned on its approval by a popular vote of the city. and at a special election, held on the 11th of April. although the proposition was persist- ently and bitterly opposed by the faction which had always fought the free school sys- tem, it was adopted by a most decisive ma- jority and thence became a permanent en- graftment upon the city charter. This was a very important measure: indeed, it was the foundation stone of free school prosperity. There was in it. however. this one serious defeet-that the money thus raised passed through the possession of the city council and its manner of appropriation rested in their control. and it was not until many years later. when this defeet had become seriously appar- ent. that by the legislative enactment which created the Board of Education and decreed a complete severance of this fund from the other revenues of the city. the independent school system was completed and assured. The assessment of 1-8 of 1 per cent, as authorized by the law, was made.
With this moneyed reliance before them and the obvious need of school room facilities, the school trustees agreed to appropriate $300 to- wards the erection of a suitable and sufficient schoolhouse and the city council voted an issue of seven $100 bonds for the same purpose. Finding that the necessary cost of the build- ing would be twelve hundred dollars the coun- cil increased its appropriation by two hun- dred dollars more. This was the first publie school building in the city. erected on the ground where now stands the Franklin school- house on South Fifth street.
The Morning Courier, the first daily news- paper of Quincy, made its appearance on the first of November. It was a small affair and died after a few weeks' siekly existence. The Whig commenced the issue of a tri-weekly which was kept up from time to time, with but little satisfactory result. The newspaper men were all anxious and were urged by the publie to "branch out." and several attempts were made to meet this wish by the two old- time journals during this and the two succeed- ing years, but they invariably found that the time had not yet come and had to fall back to their previous weekly edition.
The summer was very siekly and said by some to be more so than any season since 1832 and 1834. Business fairly held its own, though not especially active. Wheat averaged through the year about sixty cents, running from about fifty cents in July to seventy-two early in December, and falling to sixty cents at the close of the year. logs sold during December at about three dollars. There were packed in the winter of 1844-45 a few more than the preceding one. Nearly forty thou- sand barrels of flour were claimed to have been manufactured during the year. The mill- ing business had become very large. It was in the hands of men of means and experience and was rapidly extending. Navigation, which had been difficult during the latter part of the year, suspended on the first of December.
A fair amount of public improvement marked the progress of the year. This was specially shown on Front street. where sev- eral large brick warehouses were erected, add- ing much to the appearance of the city from the river. The landing was also completed in its extension to the foot of Maine street. Mat- ters of temporary local interest were many. A very large and general demonstration was made on the fifth of July, when Judge Lott delivered an eulogy on General Jackson. who had died in the month preceding.
A colonization society was formed in April, with quite a large membership and much seem- ing earnestness. These societies used periodi- eally to spring up immediately after each pres- idential election, intended to become a check upon the slavery excitement which always at- tended these struggles. Annual attempts were made by publie meetings and pressure upon the city council for action by them to obtain a free ferry, but they failed, as usual. the ferry owners offering to transport "all Missonrians and Quineyites (excepting wood wagons) for $400 per annum, but the council would not agree to the terms.
The two local troubles, which. like a publie
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dyspepsia, had periodically broken out during the past four or five years-the Mormon and the county seat matter-still stayed unenred ; the first of these causing something like the former excitements. With the killing of Jo- seph Smith in 1844 it would have seemed as if the predominance of the Mormons in Han- cock and their influence in the adjoining coun- ties was broken. But i was not so. The scepter of the prophet fell into the hands of men of more determination and ability than he had possessed : men who for their own pur- poses elung to the control of the county, and thus, of course, a bitter feeling and disturb- ance continued. Men generally went armed and in groups, fearing strife. Fatal collisions and destruction of property still often oc- curred. Finally the killing of some promi- nent Mormons, also of Dr. Marshall by Sheriff Deming, and again of Frank Worrell by (as it was charged) Sheriff Backenstos, who had been elected as Deming's suecessor by the Mor- mon vote, and the taking possession of Carth- age by Backenstos with an armed force from Nauvoo, causing another flight of the citizens of Carthage and Warsaw, compelled again the attention of the governor. lle ordered out in September the volunteer militia from Spring- field, Jacksonville, Quincy and other places, numbering several hundred men. under the command of Gen. John J. Hardin, and sent them to the scene of action. Quincy was thus once more "roused by war's alarms." The presence of this imposing force gave temporary quiet to the county. The rifle company from Quiney remained in Hancock county but a few days, but immediately after their return they were ordered hack, and from late in October through the following six or seven months as a mounted company. they were stationed in and patrolled Hancock county, successfully preserving order.
The condition of affairs in Hancock was very deplorable and such as could only be controlled by bayonet rule. In the county the "Latter Day Saints," as they called them- selves, possessed an overwhelming numerical strength. held all the offices and used their power with consistent boldness. In all the bor- dering counties, especially in Adams, feeling was intensified against them and frequent mass meetings were held denouncing the Mormons and demanding their expulsion from the state. The law seemed powerless. Judge Purple, the successor of Judge Thomas on this circuit, de- clined holding the usual fall term of court in Hancock.
Charges, countercharges and proseentions were plentifully made by both parties, but pun-
ishments failed to follow. Jake Davis, state senator from Hancock, charged with complieity in the killing of the Smiths, was relieved from arrest by an order from the senate. Backen- stos, indicted for the murder of Worrell, with which he was undoubtedly connected, had his trial moved to Peoria county in December and there obtained an acquittal. A strange career was that of this man-a shrewd, daring adven- turer, with an almost repulsive, desperado bearing and look. Ile ran his conrse success- fully here and shortly after obtained a com- mission as captain in the regular army, where he served for several years and until his death. What political or other service or merit se- cured for him such a sineenre, usually so diffi- cult to attain, was a question much asked then and never yet answered. These neighboring troubles continued to be a source of interest and excitement in Quiney until the final for- cible expulsion of the Mormons in the fall of 1846.
Judge Chauney L. Iligbee, whose sudden and lamented death is in the minds of all at this time, the most satisfactory and popular man who had presided in the courts of this section of the state since the time of Judge Purple, was singularly and specially connected with the movement that finally drove the Mormons from the state, a movement which began in 1844 and succeeded in 1846. He was the edi- tor and proprietor of the Nauvoo Expositor; the paper which was destroyed and suppressed by Joseph Smith after the issue of its first number in 1844. Iligbee had to run away to save himself from violence. This extreme at- tack upon the freedom of the press did more than anything else could have done to excite a hot prejudice against the Mormons far out- side of where their local and personal bear- ings were felt and known.
The county seat (which had now become a county division) question made its periodical appearance. At the Angust election Marquette again voted not to organize: Judge Purple af- firmed the decision of Judge Douglas (from which Judge Young. while temporarily holding court. had dissented) that Marquette was at- tached to Adams for judicial purposes and thus the eastern part of the county remained in that most anomalous position of being and yet not being ; paying no taxes, having no representa- tion and only known in the courts. As War- ren waggishly said, "Marquette without any fault of her own had been several times pun- ished. She was born against her wish and had been twice killed-once when she was de- eapitated from Adams and next when she was legally hung-to Adams."
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CHAPTER XXIV.
1846.
BUSINESS INCREASING. WOODLAND CEMETERY. PROGRESS OF PUBLIC LIBRARY. "MISSION INSTITUTE." MEXICAN WAR, QUINCY SENDS SOLDIERS, ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT. MORMONS DRIVEN FROM THE STATE.
The winter of 1845-46 was exceptionally cold, more so than winters had been for several years, yet the temperature, though low. was even and regular and the season throughout was unusually pleasant. Much snow fell early and late, giving a long continuanee of good. smooth sleighing. The river, which had elosed early in December, opened late in January, af- fording easy navigation until the 26th of Feb- ruary, when it again iced over: finally becom- ing free on the 7th of March, with a full-bank rise such as rarely oceurs at so early a time in the year. Later, however, in August. the lowest stage of water in the upper Mississippi that is recorded during the twenty previous years was reached and the summer and fall navigation became difficult and uncertain. Busi- ness throughout this winter, owing to the cause above named, the opening of the river in mid- winter, and also to the general high prices. was quite brisk ; more so, probably, than it had been at any former corresponding period. About the same amount of pork was packed as had been during the winter before. but the prices ruled much higher and a larger circula- tion of money was the consequence.
The close of this year (1846) showed a do- cided increase in the stability and variety of all branches of business. The tour mills of the eity, which had by this time become the most extensive in their manufacture of any of the river north of St. Louis. were estimated to have shipped away nearly seventy thousand barrels of flour during the year. being about double the manufacture of the previous year. The wheat crop of the county and vicinity was unusually large and fine in quality, though there was a good deal of fluctuation in its priees, ranging from 65 to 70 cents in the spring down to 38 and 40 in August, and again rising to the first-named figures later in the season. Real estate, which had been "a drug" for several years, began to show a fixed, uni- form value commensurate with the steady con- dition of general business. Sales were not nu- merous and not at such figures as had ruled in the wild. speculative days of 1836, but they were stable. As a citation of the worth of property at that time. facing the public square. which has always determined the general value of land throughout the city, the old "Land
Office Hotel." the "bedbugs'retreat " as it was quaintly and correctly called, was sold at ane- tion. It was an old two-story frame structure of about one hundred feet front on flampshire, near the corner of Fifth. The building was near- ly worthless and the property was purchased only at its ground value. It sold for from $38 to $43 per foot. At the present date (1885) the ground value of the same property would be probably estimated at about four hundred dollars per lineal foot. The city purchased in July. for school uses. three-fourths of the north half of what is now Jefferson square. fronting on Broadway, for $512.50. A few years after the remaining fourth was obtained at abont the same price. This secured to the city the entire ownership of the block. The south half had been bought from the county about two years before.
Woodland cemetery was laid off in April. It originally contained somewhat less than forty aeres. At the following session of the legislature, by an aet approved January 16th, 1847. authority was granted to Mr. Wood, who had established the cemetery. to make a per- manent contract. under which after his death it should pass into the control and partial own- ership of the city.
Eleven years after this time, in 1857. four and sixty-five one-hundredth acres were added. making the final total area of the cemetery a little over forty-three aeres. An extensive sale of lots was immediately made and the ree- ord shows that by the 13th of May there had been three burials. Right after and during the succeeding fall and winter a great number of bodies were removed hither from the city cemetery at the corner of Twenty-fourth and Maine, and a few from the old burial ground on JJefferson Square. But few interments were from this time made in the former cemetery. now " Madison Square."
Quite a stirring sensation was created on the morning of the 18th of August, a good deal intensified from its blending with political feel- ing, when the good people of the city awoke to find that again some graceless vagabond had barked the large tree which stood in the cen- ter of the public square. This treo had ro- placed the handsome ehn that had been de- stroyed in a similar manner six years before. Public feeling heated at once against this see- ond exhibition of vandalism and the city coun- cil at a special meeting offered a reward of one hundred dollars for the detection of the parties who had committed this outrage. The affair was easily traceable. like the previous case. to a petty political spite, and the authors and actors were pretty well known, but the
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difficulty of securing positive proof and shrewd manipulation of the matter by parties who were anxious to conceal their own indirect respon- sibility, caused it to gradually pass out of thought without any conelusive legal action or exposure.
The Quiney Library, now in the sixth year of its existence, reported the possession of eleven hundred volumes, showing its condition to be fairly prosperous. This was a much fa- vored institution during the early days of the city. Its establishment and management was judicious. Generous donations of standard books, carefully selected, of money, and the earnest, personal care and attention of a num- ber of thoughtful and intelligent men ensured to it a foundation of permanence. Its resources were, of course, limited, and for several years its main reliable income was derived from the winter course of lectures. These were altogether given by home lecturers, cost nothing, and were popularly attended, being the weekly inter- esting gatherings of the winter. Many of these lectures were of a high order of interest and value, such as few places in the West of equal population could produce. They were almost altogether given by our professional men, and the qualifications of the representatives of the three "learned professions" in Quincy at this time were very superior. Bushnell. Johnston, Lott, Browning. Warren, Dixon. Randolph, Gilman, among the lawyers: Giddings, Moore, Marks. Foote, Parr, of the clergy; Taylor, Nichols. Ralston. Rogers, from the medical ranks, and others were mostly men of educa- tion, culture and experience, and were also per- sonally popular and attractive, henee their lee- tures were always creditably intellectual and fully relished. It was the fashion to go to the lectures and, of course, everybody went. The annual revenue from this source, although it was not large, proved sufficient to sustain the library outside of its current expenses during the first half a dozen or more years of its ex- istence. The Tri-Weekly Whig, which had been started by Bartlett & Sullivan in October, 1845. suspended on the 21st of April. This was one among the many unsuccessful experiments made by the two permanent weeklies, the Her- ald and Whig. to establish daily or tri-weekly journals, each ambitious to be the first in the field, during the first two decades of our city history. They were all ushered into the world with hope and promise, but all died before teething time, and their many skeletons whiten out past times, like buffalo skulls on the plains, none of them lasting over a year. The period had not yet ripened for such enterprises. A fair degree of general and permanent improve-
ment in building and business marks the rec- ord of this year. The first German Methodist Church, on Jersey Street, between Fifth and Sixth, was completed and dedicated on the 29th of March.
A large woolen factory was constructed by Dunsmoor & Miller. on the west side of Front street, just north of Spring. and immediately north of that Capt. T. J. Casey operated an extensive distillery. This was a large three- story brick, the third distillery that had been started in or near Quiney, and in about two years' time it shared the fate of its two pre- decessors-being destroyed by fire. The woolen factory also was burned not far from the same time in 1848.
The governor of Missouri pardoned from the penitentiary on the 29th of July, Thompson, one of the trio of "Quincy abolitionists," as they were then called, who were sentenced from Marion county in 1841 to twelve years' confinement for the attempted "abduction of slaves.
The other two. Work and Burr. had been freed from prison some time before. These three young men, above named, were students at the "Mission Institute," near Quiney, and had probably rendered themselves amenable to punishment for the violation of the laws of Missouri, but it was a generally recognized fact that the trial of these culprits had not been impartial and just. Indeed, in those ex- citing days, it was almost impossible for any one suspected of having the taint of abolition- ism to get a fair trial in the slave states. or even in the border states. Suspicion was al- most equivalent to conviction in all such cases, so general and so extreme was the popular prejudice on this subject.
A short allusion to the "Mission Institute." which had so much to do with the neighbor- ing relations of Quiney and with its then and after reputation, is here a proper and essen- tial portion of the past record of the city. The influence which this institution exercised was not the most fortunate for itself or for the city. The original design was to establish a school in the neighborhood of the city whose object should be to edneate and qualify young people of both sexes for duty as Christian mis- sionaries in foreign lands. No purer idea could have been generated and its philanthropie pur- pose, aided by the great prestige of Dr. Nel- son's name as its founder and patron, gave great promise to its beginning, but it labored with limited means, its standard of scholarship was not of the highest and many of its students were deficient in rudimental acquirement. These causes operating upon the sensitive publie sen-
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timent of the times and of the locality, pre- vented it from obtaining the proper hold upon public sympathy and it finally died out after having accomplished some good in the line of its intention, but hardly anything commen- surate with what was expected or the merit of its design. Gradually after this time the estrangement over the slavery question be- tween the people on two sides of the river he- came allayed; was less talked about and less thought of.
With the breaking out of the Mexican War Governor Ford on the 25th of May issued a eall for three regiments of infantry. Under this call a great number of companies wore offered, and of the thirty which could be ae- cepted, one and part of another was recog- nized from Quiney as being "in on time." These were the "Rifles," which. as before stat- ed, had been doing state service in Hancock during the past winter, and a portion of the Irish Company. This company was commanded by Captain James D. Morgan, who in the civil war became a major-general. It was recruited up to the full standard and as such served throughout the war: the other, not filling its ranks, was afterward incorporated with a com- pany from Kendall county in the second regi- ment, commanded by Colonel afterward, Gov- ernor Bissell. Three of the men from this company were killed at the bloody battle of Buena Vista, among them T. Kelly, the former captain of the company. The Rifles, number- ing ninety-three men, were mustered into the first regiment, that of Col. John J. Hardin, who was killed at Buena Vista. This company had a high reputation for drill and efficiency. but did not take part in the battles of the war. and hence lost no men except from disease. Both of these organizations served their year's term of service and returned to Quincy in the summer of 1847. They rendezvoused in June. 1846, at Alton, the city paying the expenses of transportation by steamer to that point. Later in this year, during the war, and in 1847, in answer to subsequent calls, a few men were recruited in Quiney for the regular service and some joined the two additional state regiments. but no complete organization other than those above named went from Quincy to participate in the Mexican war.
Parties as usual were active in the spring election. The whigs again nominated John Wood For mayor and H. V. Sullivan, George Brown and Nat'l Summers for aldermen, who were opposed on the democratic side by Tim- othy Kelly for mayor and Joseph MeClintock. Fred Johnson and Damon Hauser for alder- men. The election was active and close. Out
of a total vote of 971 Wood received 27 ma- jority. MeClintock 6, Johnson 44 and Summers 21. The vote was the largest ever cast, being an increase of 169 over that of the pervious year. It will be observed that in all these earlier elections to the city council the politi- cal lines were geographically drawn ahnost as they have continued. not greatly or often changed throughout the following forty years. The southern part of the city was almost in- variably whig : the central belt, with nearly the same certainty was democratie, and the north- ern section was always more or less de- batable. The result of this election was to make the new commeil politically a tie, with the mayor having the casting vote. The whigs re-elected Snow as clerk and reappointed most of the old city officers. Johnson, of the see- ond ward, gave dissatisfaction to some of his constituents by his course on the license qnes- tion and resigned before his term expired, his vacancy being filled by II. L. Simmons. The mayor's salary was fixed at $200 and the clerk's $150 and fees.
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