USA > Indiana > A History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922 > Part 10
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On January 6th, 1911, Mr. Carnegie agreed to donate $50,000 for two branch library buildings, provided the city would agree to main- tain free libraries in the same and would provide suitable sites.
At the suggestion of Mr. Marcus S. Sonntag and Mr. Craig, an
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informal meeting was held at the Mayor's office for the purpose of considering Mr. Carnegie's offer. At that meeting the matter was placed in the hands of a committee composed of Dr. G. W. Varner, George C. Fischer, William Woolley, Dr. Ludson Wordsham, Hon. Charles F. Heilman. Joseph M. Kollmeyer, Rev. J. U. Schneider, Major A. C. Rosencranz, Prof. J. H. Tomlin, Mr. M. S. Sonntag, and Edmund L. Craig.
February 20th, 1911, a resolution was passed by the City Council of the City of Evansville, accepting Mr. Carnegie's offer and very soon thereafter plans for the construction of the East and West Side libraries were under way.
October 31st, 1911, the Evansville Public Library board was or- ganized with the following members: Major A. C. Rosencranz, Mar- cus S. Sonntag, Edmund L. Craig, Dr. George W. Varner, Eva K. Froelich, Mrs. W. R. Davidson and Mrs. Leon Curry. The officers chosen were : president, Mr: Sonntag ; vice-president, Mrs. Davidson ; secretary, Mr. Craig.
April 3d, 1912, Ethel F. McCollough was elected chief librarian. On June 1st Miss McCollough took up her work and the selection of furniture, equipment and book stock went rapidly forward.
January 1st, 1913, the two Carnegie buildings were opened to the public ; a year later another Carnegie building was opened for the use of the colored people.
Then followed in quick succession the opening of a network of li- braries which spread first over the city, then included in 1917 Perry Township, and finally in 1920 the whole of Vanderburgh County. These libraries are housed in separate buildings. rented rooms, school houses, factories, hospitals, private homes, corners of stores-any- where, a collection of books may be set up for the use of the people. Seventy-four points of contact with the public have been established, making books easily accessible to practically every inhabitant of the county. Forty-one thousand, three hundred fifty of these are regis- tered as regular library borrowers.
The book stock has grown until it numbers 75,987. The book issue for 1922 amounted to 532,013 volumes.
Thus from the small beginning made three quarters of a century ago, has grown a work which has had a tremendous educational value to the southwestern part of the state.
Ethel F. McCollough.
EVOLUTION OF FIRE FIGHTING
From the very excellent memory of the late James Hunnel, famil- iarly known as "Chip," the writer has the facts as to early fire engines and fire department of Evansville.
. "There was the 'Neptune,' a hand engine with headquarters on Sec- ond Street between Main and Locust Streets; another engine called the 'Young America' on Vine Street between First and Second Streets; the third was a hand engine located on Main Street between Second
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and Third Streets known as the 'Washington.' It worked backward and forward, horizontally like a row boat, and the boys called it 'the sausage stuffer' for that reason. All three engines were worked by hand. There were no steam engines then. In case of a fire these hand engines were hauled by ropes with men pulling them to the scene of fire or to the closest cistern. The cisterns for the supply of these en- gines were built in the middle of the streets generally at the crossings of the streets, covered over so as not to be dangerous, and when a fire occurred the iron lid was lifted by an iron ring from the top of the cistern, and the suction from the engine was put into the cistern and the water forced, by pumping, to the fire. The Young America and Neptune had handles working up and down perpendicularly. Some of the engines were so equipped that as many as twenty men could work in handling them; there were two sets of handles on each end, and they worked in double rows.
"Later in the fifties there was an engine called the 'Little Sis' which was light and easily handled, and frequently reached the fire first, often putting out a fire before it got beyond control.
"The first steam engine came in 1859. It was called the ladder fire engine, and Lige Perkins was the engineer who came down from Cin- cinnati with it to run it. He remained here as long as he lived.".
In those days the communities were dependent upon volunteers and men from all social ranks gave their time to qualify themselves for the service. The law particularly favored organizations of the kind, giving them special privileges and corporation authority. The first record in the Evansville Journal on the subject shows that the Neptune Fire En- gine and Hose Company on February 7, 1846, elected the following officers :
James G. Jones, Chief Engineer ; Chas. Harrington, Assistant En- gineer.
Civil Department
James E. Blythe, President ; Thos. E. Garvin, Secretary ; Sam'l. T. Jenkins, Treasurer.
Service Department
John Cupples, Foreman ; V. Satterlee, Assistant Foreman ; A. B. Bradt, 1st Engineer ; J. T. Lamb, 2d Engineer ; Jas. Parvin, 3d En- gineer ; John S. McCracken, 1st Hose Director ; Jas. Scantlin, 2d Hose Director ; Geo. Sauers, 3d Hose Director.
On the same date the Phoenix Fire Engine and Hose Company elected officers as follows :
Civil Department
Lewis D. Smith, President; Wm. H. Walker, Secretary ; Edward Lewis, Treasurer.
Service Department
Lewis Howes, Foreman; John S. Hopkins, Assistant Foreman ; John Farrell, 1st Engineer ; Gardner Bowles, 2d Engineer ; Allen Nor- cross, 3d Engineer ; John E. Taylor, 1st Hose Director ; John C. Flag- ler, 2d Hose Director ; James D. Walters, 3d Hose Director.
On March 27th notice was given in the Evansville Journal by Wil --
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liam H. Chandler, foreman, to the members of the Neptune Engine and Hose Company No. 1, to meet at their engine house to try the engine. Same date James Laughlin, foreman, gave similar notice to the members of the Phoenix Engine and Hose Company No. 2, which would seem to indicate that two new engines had been recently purchased.
The majority of the persons thus actively taking part in the effi- cient organization and management of the fire department ranked among the leading and best citizens of the town.
The following account of a fire in Evansville appears in the Indi- ana State Centinel of November 15, 1842.
"On Tuesday evening the first instant that block of buildings ex- tending from First to Second Street fronting on Main Street, and covering the square half way to Locust Street was burned to the ground. The fire commenced in the large frame building on Main Street owned by Mr. Mansel (this was Samuel Mansel's Hotel). The buildings burned were generally wooden, old and closely packed to- gether. The most of the furniture and other personal property was saved ; still on some the blow was heavy. Between twenty and thirty families were rendered homeless by this fire, mostly Germans. There was no insurance. They have a couple of fire engines in Evansville, but they are good for nothing and never were, although the Whig managers of the town paid enough to have bought good ones. We got the above information of the fire from the Evansville Journal in just twelve days from the time of its occurrence, a remarkable instance of good speed considering."
TRADE ON THE RIVER Statement of John S. Hopkins.
My name is John S. Hopkins. I am the son of the late John S. Hopkins, the Evansville pioneer. I was born March 6, 1843, and have lived in Evansville all my life. I lived here before Evansville was a city. My memory goes back to a very early age, of the people of Ev- ansville, and of matters of public interest.
In the early sixties, during the war, we had at that time very large fine boats running on the Ohio River, and there was a great deal of freight brought here from Green River, Tennessee, Cumberland and Wabash Rivers, and oftentimes the freight would be so thick on the wharf that if it wasn't for the streets leading down to the boats, you could get on the freight and walk on it from Walnut Street down to Davidson Street. In fact down at the river during high water the freight was stacked on Sycamore Street and Main Street pretty near up to First Street, that was at the time so much government freight was here.
There was a great deal of business done on Water Street at that time among the merchants.
The passenger travel was heavy on boats those days, and especially before the Civil war, and shortly after the Civil war. There were large
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New Orleans, Louisville and Cincinnati boats, and they used to carry hundreds of passengers coming north in summer and going back in fall-crowded with passengers. That was before the railroads.
I recall the time when Gen. Nelson's whole brigade was anchored right out in front of Evansville, thirty thousand men, on transports, barges, steamboats and flatboats, going down to Fort Donaldson, Ten- nessee River. The general came up town with his staff officers. They were anchored in front of Chestnut Street on the river. They re- mained there an afternoon, and all that night. The general was a big, rough fellow. Jeff Davis, of Indiana, killed him at Louisville .-
The following editorial on Evansville as a river town is taken from the Indiana State Centinel, November 1, 1842:
"We have lately passed through nearly every one of them (river towns in Indiana) from Madison to Evansville. The 'hard times' and want of the '$2.00 a day' has very nearly used up some of them, the smaller ones, but Lawrenceburg, New Albany, and Evansville are do- ing a comparatively heavy and profitable business in the way of bar- ter, very little money is to be seen, but very little is needed.
Of Evansville we can speak more familiarly as it was once our own 'stamping ground.' How many changes a short year will bring about ! It is but a little more than a year since the writer of this left his resi- dence at Evansville, but within that time greater changes have oc- curred in the circumstances of many of its Dennisons than ought to have taken place under a safe system of business in a period ten times as long. Many a man who, a year since was reputed to be rich, is now worth nothing. Notwithstanding these misfortunes of in- dividuals, we were extremely gratified to witness the improvement which the town has undergone during the same short space, both in streets and buildings. We estimated it at fifty per cent at least. We understood that at least three hundred thousand bushels of wheat had already been bartered for of the last crop, and that as much more would likely be purchased. This makes business; and the contrast presented to the deathlike apathy of the interior towns generally was striking."
The following is an editorial from the Evansville Journal, Jan- uary 4, 1844 :
"Sunday was a very 'boaty day' as they say on our wharf, no less than eighteen steamboats landed here, received and discharged freight and passengers on that day. Evansville is a place and no mistake. It is the best location on the Ohio River for the building of a great city, and nothing will stop us in our onward career."
The Evansville Journal from the beginning of its files preserved contains an advertisement of the steamboats engaged in the river trade from Evansville to New Orleans, and especially the Wabash River trade. February 1, 1844, the Journal contains an advertise- ment of the light draught teamer "Cicero" running in the Wabash trade regularly between Evansville and Lafayette for the season. For freight or passage apply on board, or to Harrington, Hannah & Co.
February 15th in the same trade is advertised the fast running
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steamer "Ocean." April 24, 1844, contains an advertisement of the light draught and fast running steamer "Monticello" in the same trade. For freight or passage apply at Evansville to David McNaal at wharf- boat, or on board.
The Evansville Journal of June 6, 1844, describes an excursion "of nearly four hundred people to Lafayette to attend a state conven- tion, on the Tippecanoe battle ground, to ratify the nomination of Henry Clay for the Presidency. The trip was made on the steamer Monticello. On the return trip the passengers passed and signed reso- lutions thanking Captain Gray for the comfort and pleasure enjoved and commending the steamer to the general public and requesting the publication of the resolutions in the Vincennes Gazette, New Harmony Statesman and the Evansville Journal. Among the many signatures the present generation will readily recognize the following: Geo. W. Warren, Wm. H. Chandler, John Greek, Boyd Bullock, W. B. Mof- fatt, Geo. W. Amory, Stephen Childs, John Trimble, W. K. Ham."
EVANSVILLE
We believe that we may, without becoming liable to the charge of adulation, congratulate our citizens upon the flourishing condition of our village at present, and its very flattering prospects for the future. During the late influx of strangers from the neighboring towns, oc- casioned by the Bank elections, it was a general subject of remark among all, that no village either in our own state or any of the states in this immediate vicinity, presented so decided an air of general and permanent prosperity as ours. Nor are this improvement and pros- perity of that puerile and ephemeral nature which, affected by causes within themselves fleeting, ceases, as soon as the producing causes die away-such as was observed a few years back, in many of the villages of the west. On the contrary, it has a solid basis, possessing local advantages which ensure to it long days of prosperity.
It is frequently said that the past is not always the image of the future ; and in proof of it, we may adduce the fact, that there are indi- viduals who remember this place which now presents the picture of a flourishing community in full enjoyment of all the blessings springing from commerce, and the arts, when it was a howling wilderness, whose dark solitudes were unbroken by civilized man; when our beautiful river now bearing upon its bosom splendid vessels wafting to its borders the products of every soil and clime, had its pellucid current unbroken by ought save the canoe of the aborigine. When we reflect upcn these facts-when we reflect upon the vast advantage we possess, in being the point of debarkation for the merchandize of all the Wabash country -the many eminent commercial advantages we have-our prospects with regard to a railroad intersecting the Wabash and Erie Canal- our vicinity to a mineral spring possessing medical virtues far above those of many springs that are the resort of vale tudinarians, of fash- ion, and of wealth-when we reflect upon all these high and singular advantages, we can not doubt, for a moment, but we are destined, at no distant period, to become a populous and important community. It
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was these considerations that induced us to settle in Evansville; and when the field for enterprize which exists here, is made known we confidently believe that many others will be induced to come and "do likewise."
Western Constellation, Covington, December 5, 1834, quoting the Evansville Journal.
Statement of Mr. Mike Craft.
I was born in 1839. I came to Evansville with my parents in 1847. I remember very well the first building and the first grading of the railroad built north from Evansville, known as the Evansville & Craw- fordsville Railroad later on, and subsequently called the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad. The terminus of the road in Evansville was always at the same place where it now is. The old passenger depot was located where the present freight depot is, at the head of Locust Street. The west side of the freight depot was the passenger side, and the east side was the freight side.
The first construction of the railroad, and the laying of rails was the laying of a track from the yard on Eighth Street down to the river. This track was laid on Locust Street, and when it reached the river bank, it sloped at an angle down to the water's edge, to the foot of Main Street .. This track was constructed temporarily for the purpose of hauling up the first steam engine, which came to Evansville by river, and was called "The Vanderburgh." I remember very well the attempt of the men to get up steam, and get the engine up the bank. I do not know whether it was a fault in attempting to start the engine, or whether the grade was too steep, or what the reason was, but they could not get it up the hill until finally they hitched two or three voke of oxen to it, and pulled it up the hill. The draw bridge was built over the canal on Locust Street, and this was used for a railroad track, and would open and close at convenience.
This track was used for some time, I do not know how long, to transfer cars to the river. On one or more occasions they were trans- ferred to be sent, as I understood, to Owensboro. The transfer to Owensboro was, I think, an engine.
The first railroad excursion or travel which was had out of Evans- ville, was a Fourth of July excursion to Pigeon Creek, to a point where the fair ground was subsequently moved. There was then no bridge at Pigeon Creek. I remember the timbers were piled up alongside the creek, but the bridge had not yet been built.
The cars used for carrying the passengers were gravel cars, which we called "gravel buggies," and planks were laid across them, on which the people sat. That was either in 1852 or not later than 1853. My best impression is that it was 1852.
I began to work for the railroad company the last day of February, 1856, in the shops at Evansville, and worked with the same company for about fifty years.
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGII COUNTY
EVANSVILLE AUTHORS
Albion Fellows Bacon
Ferdinand Cowle Iglehart
J. H. Beadle
J. E. Iglehart
Henry Bedford-Jones
Benjamin E. G. Jewett
L. P. Benezet
Martha Jewett
Katherine Blake
Annie Fellows Johnston
Heiman Blatt
Elma E. Levinger
Rebecca Sophia Clarke
Rabbi Lee Levinger
Emily Orr Clifford
Ewing B. Lewis
Charles Denby
Fred Pentecost
Theodore Dreiser
Frank G. Pickell
John Ellert
M. F. Reilly
Joseph P. Elliott
Cale Young Rice
Della J. Evans
C. E. Robert
Juanita Helen Floyd
Charles William Shumway
John W. Foster
Winifred Sackville Stoner
B. G. Franklin
Walter A. Terpenning
Lucy Furman
Edward White
Frank M. Gilbert
EARLY COURT CASES OF NOTE
An unusual illustration in the use of currency in the beginning of our settlement, as well as the fact that it was almost entirely a money- less age in the wilderness, appears in a suit upon a note. This original paper belongs to the court files of the Vanderburgh Circuit Court in the suit of George Potts vs. James Cawson, filed August 30, 1823, by Charles I. Battell, attorney for plaintiff, more than two years and a half after the date of the note, payable on demand, as follows:
"Laphorn Farm Vanderburgh County Indiana 1st January, 1821
$140.101/4
$25.421/2
I promise to pay on Demand Mr. George Potts or Order the Sum of One Hundred and Forty Dollars 1014 cts. in good Current Money and Twenty five Dollars 421/2 cts. in Specie or United States Paper for Value received with Interest thereon 'till the Day of payment. James Cawson."
This record illustrates at least two important facts in the history of the time.
One, the difference between specie and paper currency other than "United States paper." The contract in terms makes the distinction separating the total amount due into two kinds of money, probably because Potts had loaned Cawson the money in the same proportions in which the latter agreed to pay. The other fact illustrates the money- less age, that of barter and exchange during the panic and depression of the time elsewhere mentioned. Nothing however is clearer than that suit for debt was not at that time indicative of insolvency nor.
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want of ample means as the basis of credit and the ultimate ability to pay. Many of the leading men of the time of undoubted solvency and prudent in management were sued for debt for the reason that they could not obtain the money to pay their debt, but the process of a court proceeding ultimately compelled money payment, and the neces- sities of the times some times drove a man to the alternative of suing even his friend in order to be able to pay his own debts. Few of the most solvent men of the time escaped suit, often only because they could not get the money to pay their debts with, and they were com- pelled, however much property they owned, to take the delays of the law and replevin bail in which to raise money.
Robert M. Evans about that time was sued for about a thousand dollars on a note, and let judgment go without defense stayed execu- tion by replevin bail and at the end of the stay paid the judgment with interest. Yet Evans was always then and afterwards a man of large property, entirely solvent, wise and prudent in his financial manage- ment as his whole career proved. So with others, including James Cawson, who was then and later a friend and business associate of George Potts, a relation which appears from the estate papers in the Probate Court in the settlement of the estate of Potts.
Cawson brought about $15,000 of cash means to this country early in 1820, and his diary, still preserved, shows that he kept large sums of money for that time loaned out at interest. At all times he had plenty of landed property, and died leaving a handsome estate. Yet, it is evident that cash was not to be had on demand, that it was a moneyless age, and all persons were effected alike at the time.
Cawson was also interested in two state cases about the same time. The records of Vanderburgh county in the early 20's show an indictment against two young men of an English family for robbery of the house of James Cawson, a neighbor. They brought from England with them many household conveniences, practically unknown in the wilderness of Indiana, and these, it was charged, tempted the young men who broke into Cawson's house and stole them. The items are described with much detail in the indictment. It is interesting to note some of the sequals of this affair. The defendants were ac- quitted of robbery, but their father was indicted, but later acquitted for perjury in testifying at their trial. Cawson was indicted for com- pounding a felony, whereby he got his goods back and ceased to be interested in the prosecution. While an agreement not to prosecute under these circumstances is prohibited as against the policy of the law, it is believed, even in this age, that police aid is more often sought to recover stolen goods than to vindicate the majesty of the broken laws. When Cawson was placed upon his trial before a jury in the Vanderburgh circuit court, he challenged the whole array of jurors and claimed the right to be tried by a jury de mediatate linguac, that is to be tried as a foreigner, but a jury half natives and half foreigners. This practice is rare and at the present time not recognized in Indiana. The court sustained his challenge and directed a jury to be empaneled, half English and half natives, the former being taken from the English
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settlement, among his neighbors, and Cawson was acquitted. The names of the foreigners on the jury were Alanson Baldwin, Saunders Hornbrook, Sr., Edmund Maidlow, George Potts, William Mills, James Maidlow. These individuals, including Cawson himself, all became citizens, however, as soon as eligible, under the law at that time, which required several years previous residence.
The case of Mansell vs. Wood was a suit brought by John B. Mansell and involved the title and right of possession of what is now the public graded city wharf, located on the river front from the western side of Water Street or Riverside Avenue to the low water mark of the river and extending both above and below Main Street. At that date, 1829, Ohio steamboat transportation was the chief re- liance of the community for communication with the outer world, the Wabash river also being used to a considerable extent to a distance as far as Lafayette. The fuel used by steamboats was cord-wood, cut the standard length about four feet long, so that when piled regularly to a height of four feet the length of eight feet and a width of four feet, the length of the stick, the wood measured a cord which was the unit of measure for cord-wood in selling.
It was necessary that there be a wood yard at every landing on the river from which a steamboat could, without any delay, take on sufficient wood for the purpose of fuel and the business was one of profit, but particularly a matter of public necessity. According to old bills filed in the estate papers in the settlement of the first estates in this county, wood sold at $2.00 a cord. Until very recently, for nearly one hundred years, the price remained the same, until the world war raised the price of common labor to such an extent as almost to prevent the supply of cord-wood, which became practically as expensive as coal. Luke Wood, one of the prominent early citizens (who had a son of the same name who was a lawyer of good standing during the last generation), had established such a wood yard on the land between the bluff bank of the river and the low water mark where he kept wood corded in close proximity to the steamboat landing, claiming that the land was public property, and that he had the proper license. Samuel Mansell, one of the wealthy members of the British Settlement, who early moved into Evansville, had purchased the ground lying below Main Street, and lying between the bluff of the bank and the low water mark of the Ohio River, upon an execution sale against Hugh McGary. This judgment was taken many years before at the time of McGary's insolvency, and the record shows that Mansell took the assignment from Thomas Needham. Needham had built a log ware- house for McGary near the corner of Main and Riverside, but had been compelled to sue for his money due on that work, and McGary for some reason stoutly resisted, and the case was tried by a jury, but Needham recovered judgment. The statement of the Mansell case, and the opinion of the Supreme Court, contained a number of facts of public interest, too long to be quoted here, but the court held that Water or Front Street was platted only one hundred feet wide, and that the land between the west side of the street and the low water
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