USA > Indiana > Hamilton County > A history of the formation, settlement and development of Hamilton County, Indiana, from the year 1818 to the close of the Civil War > Part 16
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reorganized under more favorable auspices. This was the last meeting of this society. A county fair was held, however, on ground owned by D. R. Brown, adjoining the city of Noblesville, for a few years, but was finally discontinued.
Early Election Methods.
In the year 1838 Francis B. Cogswell and Ira Kings- berry were opposing candidates for Representative in this county. Cogswell lived in Noblesville on the north side of the square and was in the mercantile business. Kingsberry lived near Strawtown. Cogswell was a Democrat and Kingsberry was a Whig. Election day came and the friends of the candidates were at the vot- ing places early. During the forenoon, however, Cogs- well and his friends were very confident that he would be elected. About noon, however, Cogswell's friends dis- covered that Kingsberry was getting more votes than Cogswell, and that something must be done. The sit- uation was reported to Cogswell, who immediately se- cured the services of two friends, who, after properly disguising themselves, procured a barrel of whisky. This they rolled out into the street in front of the Cogs- well house. They then set the barrel on one end and with an axe knocked the head out of the other end. They then secured two or three tin cups and announced that any voter who would thereafter vote for Cogswell could have all the whisky he wanted to drink. This action on the part of Cogswell's friends turned the vote
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to Cogswell. A large majority of the votes cast in the county were at the time cast at Noblesville and Straw- town, so that when the vote of Noblesville and Straw- town was counted and put together it was known who was elected. Before dark that evening the return of the Strawtown vote was made and it was learned that Cogswell was elected. When this announcement was made Cogswell's friends threw off the mask and made public the manner in which they had won. This an- nouncement was the signal for trouble. The first brick court house had been finished only a little over a year and there were plenty of stones and brickbats to be found on the square. Kingsberry's friends armed them- selves with stones and brickbats and when Cogswell appeared upon the street soon after he was attacked by them. Cogswell and his friends took refuge in his house and store until they could procure stones and other mis- siles. When this was accomplished they ventured into the street. They were met by the Kingsberry men and a battle with stones and clubs ensued. The Cogswell men retreated to the house, then the house was at- tacked. The windows and doors were broken. The Kingsberry party entered the house, but Cogswell and the men who had given out the whisky had in some manner escaped and could not be found, and as the Kingsberry men had no cause for complaint against any one else, the fight came to an end, but the night was far spent before the streets were clear of the rioters.
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Collecting a Debt.
About the year 1832 James Shirts was serving an apprenticeship with F. B. Cogswell to the farmer's trade. By custom he was entitled to all the dog skins and ground hog skins when tanned. A dog skin was tanned for a lad from the country about James's age and size. The country lad, when the skin was ready to deliver, received it on his promise to pay for it in a given time. When the time was up James called on the lad for his money, but was put off for a time. Again demand was made and further time asked. This pro- ceeding was continued from time to time until James became tired of it. So meeting the lad in Noblesville one day, he demanded his pay. Payment was not made, so James informed the country lad that he must pay then and there or take a thrashing. The lad said that was a game two could play at. They prepared for the fight and went at it. The fight was an even one for quite a while, with odds rather against James. By this time several persons had come upon the scene, and as was the custom, there was to be no interference until one or the other said enough. James finally succeeded in getting one of the lad's ears in his mouth and chewed it vigorously. This was too much for the lad, so he gave the word enough. James's teeth, however, had become set, and had to be pried apart before the coun- try lad could be released. After the fight was over James, who was about thirteen years old, walked into
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a justice's office and, addressing him, said: "'Squire, I tanned a dog skin for (naming him) and he refuses to pay me. I have now tanned his hide and I want to pay the bill." The crowd had followed him to the justice's office. The speech was so novel and delivered with so much earnestness that the justice was taken by surprise. He said: "In view of the provocation and the youth of the offenders the said James will be permitted to go hence without bail." It was customary in those days to settle old scores in this way, but not debts, so the peo- ple looked upon it as a natural result of a quarrel. The country lad afterward became a good business man.
Paying the Costs.
About the time of the removal of the first court house to the square a fight between two men occurred in Noblesville. One of them was arrested on the charge of assault and battery and was taken before a justice of the peace. There was a large number of witnesses, so the justice held the trial in the court house. After hearing all the evidence and arguments of the attorneys the justice directed the constable to lock all the doors leading from the court room. When this was done the justice delivered an opinion. He said that it appeared from the evidence that the parties who engaged in the fight differed in a conversation between them upon some matter not made clear to the court : that they had fought an honorable battle and that there was doubt in
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the mind of the court as to which of the men was the aggressor ; that the prisoner was entitled to the benefit of this doubt. The court finds that the justice and the constable have done all the work in this matter and that the audience has had all the fun. It is therefore ordered that the audience pay the costs of this trial and that they remain in the court room until the costs are paid. The joke was such a good one that the costs were then and there paid and court adjourned.
Capt. Howe's Cabin.
About the year 1833 Capt. Howe came to Nobles- ville. Soon thereafter he purchased the eighty acres of land north of the Noblesville and Westfield pike on the east bank of Cicero Creek. Soon after that he married one of Daniel Gunion's daughters. There was no house on the land purchased, so he hired a man to cut and haul logs for a cabin. After the logs were hauled upon the ground the Captain invited the neighbors to come in and help him raise his cabin. On the day fixed for the raising the neighbors came and as was their cus- tom, they appointed a foreman to give orders. This did not suit the Captain, who claimed to have commanded a vessel of some kind, so he mounted a nearby stump and proposed to give orders himself. . It soon appeared that Howe knew nothing about raising cabins and his orders could not be obeyed. He persisted in giving orders and became so annoying that the settlers caught
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him and tied his hands behind him and then tied him to a tree. The Captain swore like a sailor. The settlers continued their work, finished the cabin, released Howe and departed for their homes. Dinner had been served and Howe had been allowed to eat, but was bound again. The Captain afterward said they served him right. Thereafter they were all good friends. The Captain was at all times ready to assist them in return for what they had done for him.
Domestic and Social Enjoyments.
The pioneers, their wives and children had but little time to waste in amusements, yet they had many ways in which to enjoy themselves, some of which would not perhaps be considered enjoyment now. The husband and father enjoyed the friendship of his neighbors ; he enjoyed his tramp in the woods with his gun on his shoulder and his dogs at his heels in pursuit of game ; he enjoyed a visit to his traps; he enjoyed his advance in improvements ; above all he enjoyed his quiet evenings at home, where he could smoke his pipe in peace and listen to the hum of the spinning wheel run by his wife or daughter. The wife was perhaps without much en- joyment except as she enjoyed looking after her chil- dren. True, she enjoyed the religious services held at some point in each neighborhood; the visits made to her by her neighbors, and those visits made by her in return ; the visits of the pack peddler, through whom
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she received all the news ; she enjoyed the quilting bees given by the women. The young ladies enjoyed them- selves as all young ladies in all ages have done, by ac- cepting what there was in store for them and by being content therewith. There were young men in those days as well as now, so the young ladies endeavored to secure the best young men for partners at the dance, to attend her to church, to accompany her home from the quilting bees, to take them to the sugar camp, where the best wax was made, to the pumpkin peeling, and finally to secure the best young man in the neighbor- hood for a husband. The young man had a wider range than any of the parties named in which to seek amuse- ment. They enjoyed all of the sports entered into by the father and many others. They had their dogs and guns and were permitted to retain the profits of the chase ; they also had their steel traps and the old pole traps for 'coons. It was a real pleasure to them when upon visits made to these traps they found a 'coon or mink imprisoned therein. Then there was the old swimming hole with the old historic log reaching from the shore out into the water, whereon the boys could make a short run and from which they could leap far out into the stream ; then the dive; then the swim back- ward and forward, up stream and down ; then the kick- ing and splashing of the water. By these means the young men were about as near heaven as they wanted to be. Next we find them gathering up the young
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ladies, and in a body, at the proper season of the year, they march to the sugar camp, where arrangements had been made for the old-fashioned wax party; then the wood chopping and quilting bees, and after that the social party ; next is the husking bee and pumpkin peel- ing, which is the most exciting of all their amusements. The corn was taken from the stalk with husks on the ear, then hauled and placed in a pen near the corn crib. The pumpkins were gathered in a heap in the cabin where the cutting was to take place. The young ladies were invited to cut the pumpkins into rings, peel them and hang them on poles suspended from the joists by strings or pieces of bark. The young men were invited to husk the corn and place it in the crib. At the corn pile there was at the beginning great excitement on ac- count of the fact that the first young man finding and husking the first ear of red corn was, by custom, en- titled to a kiss from any young lady at the pumpkin peeling. This kiss was not refused by the young lady- selected.
Hauling Away Surplus.
After the introduction of fanning mills in this county and when the farmers began to raise a surplus of wheat, they found they had no market for it short of Cincin- nati, Lawrenceburg or Lafayette. The roads were so poor that the farmers, when going to any of these mar- kets would get three or four teams together. They loaded twenty bushels of wheat in each wagon, then
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added feed for the horses and provisions for the driver sufficient for the round trip. In the event that any of the wagons stuck in the mud the other teams were near by to give them aid. From four to five days were con- sumed in getting to market. There they received any- where from 373 to 40 cents per bushel for their wheat. This was exchanged for a barrel of salt at $6.00 and a half-side of Spanish sole leather, usually costing $2.00. The load of wheat at 40 cents per bushel brought them $8.00. Three days were usually consumed in making the return trip. The settler received for his seven or eight days and his twenty bushels of wheat $8.00.
From the year 1835 to 1840 the first settlers pro- duced a surplus of hogs and cattle. In the fall season the merchants bought the surplus in hogs, bunched them together and drove them to Cincinnati and sold them. They paid from $1.50 to $1.75 per hundred- weight gross.
A trip to Cincinnati was made by me during my minority. I will describe it. We left Noblesville about the 3d day of December, with ten hands and three teams. For two or three days we had fair weather and got along fairly well. It then began to rain and the roads soon became muddy. Some of the hogs traveled faster than others, so the hogs were divided into lots. The tired hogs would be placed in the wagons and hauled to the stopping place for the night. These tired hogs were lifted out of the mud and placed in the
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wagons by the hands in charge of the hindmost lot. After the rain set in these men would be at night wet to the skin. The men were kept on the road until dark and sometimes later. It frequently happened that after turning in at night the men were required to gather corn from the fields to feed the hogs that night, and the morning after. The hogs were usually fed about 4 o'clock in the morning and turned into the road at day- light. This process was continued from day to day un- til Cincinnati was reached, then the hands were turned loose with money enough to take them home. From twenty-one to twenty-two days were consumed in the trip. We wore the same suit of clothes all the time. At night we would dry them and the next morning rub the mud off and put them on. For my service I received 18 cents per day and board. Cattle were bought at a certain price per head by feeders. They were then fed, bunched up and driven to market and sold. The merchants, generally speaking, bought goods in the spring and fall of the year at Cincinnati. The merchant traveled to the city on horseback, made his purchases and returned the same way. Men with four-horse teams were hired to haul these goods from Cincinnati. Watt Murphy, of Strawtown ; Abraham Williams, of Delaware Township, and Gardner Davis, of Noblesville, did this hauling, or most of it, for a number of years. They were generally loaded going out with ginseng, beeswax, furs and wheat. It usually required fourteen days to make a round trip of this kind.
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By this time sawmills had been erected on almost all of the streams in the neighborhoods first settled. Me- chanics of all grades were constantly coming in, so that one by one the pioneer cabins began to go and substan- tial frame buildings went up in their stead. In some in- stances brick buildings took the places made vacant by the removal of the cabins.
The old wooden mould board was discarded about this time and the metal one substituted, dispensing with the wooden paddle which had before that time hung on one handle of the stock ready for instant use.
Female Courage.
The heroism of the women of the pioneer days was manifested in more ways than one. A circumstance that occurred in about the year 1828, in Noblesville, will serve as an illustration. A hired girl was left alone with a small boy in a house immediately opposite a store. The family remained away from home until dark. This fact was known to the proprietor of the store, and he concluded to have some fun by scaring the girl. He had in his store false faces for sale. So about dark he rigged up one of these false faces, lighted it up with phosphorus, passed from his store to the rear of the house, then around the end of the house to the front door of the room where the girl was. It so happened that the girl was scrubbing the floor with an old-fash- ioned split broom. This broom, as a weapon, was equal
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to a small maul. Instead of being scared, as the store- keeper expected, the girl drew a bead on the false face and struck the man fairly in the face with the scrub broom, knocking him down. He regained his feet and left the premises in haste. He never mentioned the in- cident, but the girl did.
The Pack Peddler.
As far back in our history as the Revolutionary War, we hear of the "pack peddler." Among the most valuable spies of that time was a person known to Gen. Washington and upon whom he relied for secret infor- mation, and this man was a pack peddler. He went among the people carrying his pack filled with such goods and trinkets as would please the people. He vis- ited the homes of the Tories, as well as those of the col- onists and displayed his wares with as much earnestness to one as he would to the other. He did a fair business, it is true, but his real object was to gather information for General Washington. He boldly entered the lines of the British and dispensed his wares to the soldiers, but all the time he was treasuring in his memory all that he saw and heard. He was, to all appearances, neutral and never at any time manifested any interest in any- thing he heard or saw. Then he would have a secret meeting with Washington.
After the war was over and the army of pioneers advanced into the wilderness to make settlements the
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pack peddler followed them with his pack upon his back, visiting from one settlement to another. He was always a welcome visitor in those early days for two very good reasons. He generally carried goods of light weight, but at the same time indispensable to the fam- ilies of the pioneers. Besides this he carried the news from one neighborhood to another. Communication between settlements ten to fifteen miles apart was quite different then from what it is in this day. So the pack peddler was a news gatherer and a news dispenser as well. Families who had been formerly acquainted with each other would not hear from each other for months at a time, perhaps, except through these welcome vis- itors. If he visited the settlement at Horse Shoe Pra- irie and had passed through the one at Strawtown, he was presumed to know all that had happened recently in the latter settlement. If there had been a marriage, a death or a birth since his last visit, the pioneers would learn the fact as well as the details from the pack ped- dler, and the same was true in reference to all other items of news. To us, at this day, this seems to be a small matter, but not so to the pioneer mother who had a married daughter or son in some one of these other settlements. Many of these pack peddlers were very honorable men, who paved their way to good business and wealth. At the same time they were very useful as a part of pioneer life.
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The Corn Thief
In 1832-3 taverns so called were numerous on the leading highways, and the business was not, by any means, a bad business. A and B lived upon one of these highways about one and a half miles apart, each of them keeping tavern. This was indicated to the travel- ing public by some kind of a rude sign board stuck up about their premises. Sometimes considerable rivalry mixed with some jealousy existed between the two houses, and it is safe to say the best of feeling did not at all times exist between theproprietors thereof. About half way between these two houses lived C, who was friendly to A and B, but was thoroughly honest, despis- ing a man who would do little, mean things, and hating petty thieves. Neighbor A, as he believed, was losing corn from his crib in small quantities at a time, and as that commodity was scarce, and for that reason, among others, was precious to the tavern keeper, A was very mich annoyed by the discovery; finally he made the situation known to Neighbor C. informing him at the same time that he suspected Neighbor B. Neighbor C is all attention now, making many inquiries. Finally he went to A and said, "Have you any hickory rails on your place ?" A replied that he had, then C said, "Well, I can tell you what to do. Saw a few blocks from the end of a rail, split them into pins very fine, then dress them down, sharpening them at both ends, then break up a lot of your corn, one ear at a time, insert one of
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these pins into each end of the ear, then put the ear to- gether again. Return the corn to the crib then, placing the ears in a conspicuous place, and if you miss any of it let me know at once and I will assist you in catching the thief." A did as he was directed. On the following morning he went to the crib before daylight for the pur- pose of making observations. He carried an old tin lantern and when he opened the door he found that his corn was gone. He hastened to the house of Neighbor C and informed him of the fact and together they went to a grove near the stable of B to await developments. About daylight B came to his stable apprehending no danger of detection, proceeded to feed his horses, and immediately left for his house. Scarcely had he entered when A and C left their hiding place and entered the barn. They took the corn from the feed trough, placed therein by B and quickly returned to the grove, where they found that each ear contained one of the splinters placed there by A. Neighbor C went to B's house and called him out, telling him that he wanted to see him at the stable. They started in that direction, but C led the way past the stable to the grove, where A was wait- ing with the corn. A at once accused B of stealing his corn and produced the proofs so conclusive that B con- fessed and begged for mercy. He was told by A and C that they had no desire to prosecute him; that if he would pledge them then and there to live an honorable life and steal no more the secret should be kept. He
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readily made the promise and faithfully kept it, so far as the public knew. The story was never told outside the families interested until after the death of Neigh- bor B.
Some Yankee Gratitude.
In the early pioneer days in this country when set- tlements of white people were few and frequently very far apart, and whilst soldier barracks, forts and fortifi- cations were still in use, the necessaries of life, including powder and lead, were frequently transported from Government stores or trading points to these settle- ments on "pack horses." The country being full of rov- ing bands of Indians, it frequently happened that par- ties engaged in this business on private speculation or for the Government, joined their forces and traveled in company through the forests.
On one occasion John Emerson, together with oth- ers, was transporting supplies in this way. The weather being warm, John, as he afterwards said, became very thirsty. As the party was passing a spring or a place where Emerson supposed he could get a drink, he quietly left the company to look for it. Thinking that he would have no trouble in finding his companions, he allowed his horse to be taken on with the others. After finding the water he started on what he supposed was the route taken by the others, but he failed to overtake them. Soon he discovered that he was not following the right trail and that he was lost in the forest. He
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wardered aimlessly for sixteen days, during which time he did not see a human being. At the end of that time. worn out and exhausted, he laid down to die. An In- dian, out on a hunt, discovered him in this condition. The Indian had killed a wild turkey and had picked the feathers off of it, but was not ready to return to camp. Telling John that he would return for him and take him to the camp, he left the turkey there and pursued his game. On his return he found that Emerson had eaten all the raw flesh from the wings of the turkey, which made him very angry, but he took him to the Indian camp and fed him. Emerson then told the Indian where his home was and that if he would take him home he would pay him a certain sum of money for his serv- ices. The Indian, true to his supposed friend, and trust- ing him for the money, consented to do so. Arriving there, to the disgust of the Indian and the shame and disgrace of all white men, Emerson refused to pay the Indian one cent. The Indian being alone and sixty miles from his home and in a settlement of white peo- ple, had no remedy, but returned to his people to add another chapter of perfidy against that class of white people who were base enough to give the red man evil for good. As Emerson was a Yankee, his own people snubbed him and called him the "mean Yankee," or the "lost Yankee." The Yankee would not in this case compare inhonesty and nobleness of character with the red man, who cared for him and saved him.
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The Pioneer Elopement.
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