USA > Indiana > Marshall County > A twentieth century history of Marshall County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 41
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Culver City Herald.
The first regular issue of a newspaper in Culver appeared in 1884, under the ownership of George Nearpass, who was also the editor and general manager. It was called the Culver City Herald. Mr. Nearpass continued its publication until May, 1903, when the plant was purchased by J. H. Koontz & Son, who changed the name of the paper to The Culver Citizen. In April, 1905, Arthur B. Holt, of Kankakee, Illinois, one of the publishers of the Daily and Semi-Weckly Gasette, bought the property, and is now conducting the paper on its former lines as a local, non-partisan weekly.
ARGOS NEWSPAPERS.
Argos Globe.
The first newspaper, so-called, was started by Charles Riddle, in 1867, and called the Argos Globe, and appeared as a semi-monthly until about 1876. It was owned a short time also by W. T. Cutshaw.
The Argos Reflector.
In 1878 A. C. Firestone established the Argos Reflector, and the publication has continued until the present time with the following owners : J. H. Watson, 1880 to 1898: J. C. Lockner and O. J. McClure, 1899 to 1901. C. E. Carter owned the paper a few months and sold to John R. Jones, who published it until sold to R. McNeal in 1903. E. O. Wickizer purchased it in 1904, and later, in partnership with O. J. McClure, pub- lished the Reflector, with F. M. Wickizer as editor, until September, 1907, when the office was purchased by F. M. Wickizer and his son, Donald J. Wickizer, who are now the editors and publishers.
LV. TEMPERANCE ORGANIZATIONS.
The Sons of Temperance have the distinction of being the first secret organization established in Marshall county. The writer has before him the records of Plymouth Division No. 107, Sons of Temperance. On the first page is this entry :
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"Record of Plymouth Division, No. 107, Sons of Temperance, October 15, 1847. Love, Purity and Fidelity. H. B. Pershing, R. S."
At that time and for several years later the Sons of Temperance were pretty much the whole thing in Plymouth, and in fact in the entire county, as it took men from every part of the county into its member- ship, there being no other organizations of the order in any other part of the county. Neither the Masons nor the Odd Fellows had an organization in the county then, and none of the fraternal organizations now so numer- ous all over the country had an existence at that time, nor were they even thought of. But few more than 100 divisions had been organized in Indiana prior to the organization of the division in Plymouth. It is likely, therefore, that the organization of the Sons of Temperance in this state took place about 1846.
The object of the order was to promote temperance, but, being a secret order, it became more of a social organization or club than otherwise, and many, in fact most of those who were charter members, were temperate men who were not in the habit of using spirituous liquors as a beverage or otherwise. Many of those who drank moderately, and even to excess, kept right on after being initiated, just the same as if nothing had hap- pened. In the minutes of December II, 1847, the following appears :
"On motion that the case of Brothers M. Pomeroy and M. L. Sutphen in relation to drinking cider be indefinitely postponed, which was agreed to unanimously, on account of ignorance in the matter."
At first the place of meeting was in the upper room in the house of Frank Daws, which stood on the southeast corner of Center and Garro streets. Frank Daws was a wagonmaker and had a shop on his lot about where John W. Parks' law office now stands.
The committee appointed to procure a suitable room made the follow- ing report October 23, 1847: "On motion of Brother Charles Crocker a select committee of three was appointed to select a room for the use of this division and furnish the same, and to report the amount necessary this evening." The committee reported, recommending the renting of the upper story of Mr. Daws' wagon shop at $10 a year, and that it would cost $30 to furnish and put it in order for use, which was agreed to.
November 20, 1847, the committee reported the room completed and the division moved in.
Charles Crocker, named above, at that time had charge of the old iron forge at Sligo, at the outlet of Twin Lakes. After the discovery of gold in California he went, about 1850, overland to that Eldorado; assisted in building the Union Pacific railroad, and died a number of years ago a multi-millionaire, one of the richest men on the Pacific coast. He seems from the records to have been a very active member of the order, nearly always filling some office during his connection with it. At one of the meetings the following entry appears :
"Brother Crocker was fined the sum of 121/2 cents for not having his part committed to memory."
He also introduced a resolution which was adopted that they sincerely lament the fact that the division had in several instances acted contrary to the letter of the constitution, and that they would not in the future be governed by any precedent thus established.
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He also introduced a lengthy preamble and resolution thanking Miss Matthews, of South Bend, for presenting the division "a very neat and appropriate bookmark elegantly embroidered, thereby evincing unusual sympathy and interest for one of her age in the cause in which we are united to advance."
There was another division at Plymouth at that time called Marshall Division No. 203. They did not seem to work in harmony and several efforts were made to unite the two divisions. Finally a joint committee was appointed to perfect a union, and May 3, 1850, reported that they met and placed thirty-four ballots in a hat, thirty-two blank, and one with Marshall division on it and one with Plymouth. These were placed in the hands of Brother Fairchilds, and that he was told to draw one ballot at a time from the hat until he drew one with the name of Plymouth or Marshall division upon it. He drew, and the result of the first draw was favorable to Plymouth. Thereupon the necessary proceedings were had to consolidate both into Plymouth Division No. 107, and thereafter harmony prevailed.
There was also at Plymouth an organization called "Invincible Union" No. -, Daughters of Temperance, and also an organization of the Cadets of Temperance. There was also a public organization known as the "Washingtonians," which held public meetings weekly, or whenever some temperance speaker came along and wished to address the people on that subject. . For a time during the year 1851 the temperance question was the one which occupied the attention of the people of Plymouth more than any other. There was no particular reason for this, as there were only two saloons in Plymouth at the time and there was not more drinking than might be expected in a new town like Plymouth then was. In July of 1851 the editor of the Pilot said :
"An evidence that Plymouth will one day be the abode of virtue and wisdom is the absence of all intoxicating drinks, which law has been carried into effect by some of its worthy citizens. Their names shall shine with resplendent luster in the archives of immortality! Blessed spirits ! Where do they dwell! We have wreathes for them! Having leaped this formidable barrier and killed the seven-headed monster, Plymouth shall rise from her weeping couch and assume the garb of purity and brightness!"
That did not last long and the temperance advocates kept right on "storming the citadel of the rum power" just the same as if Plymouth had not "risen from her weeping couch and assumed the garb of purity and brightness !"
Local Option.
At the April election in 1851 there was a local option liquor law which permitted voters to vote whether there should be license or no license. At that election the question of licensing liquor dealers in Center township was voted upon and resulted as follows: Against license, 116; in favor of license and blanks, 65; majority against license, 51.
This was the vote that made Plymouth a "dry town," that inspired the editor of the Pilot to state in the above paragraph so eloquently in regard to "the absence of all intoxicating drinks, which law had been carried into effect by some of its worthy citizens." This local option law,
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however, proved to be unsatisfactory, and in 1853 the legislature passed a law putting the sale of all liquors, and that only for medicinal purposes, upon the prescription of a practicing physician, in the hands of a county agent. That necessarily put the temperance organization out of business, as the state had legalized its sale and authorized the appointment of an agent whose business was to sell liquors for the state as provided by the law. It was soon found, however, that there was as much drunkenness and as much liquor drank as at any period previous to that time. Those who drank, and many who did not, supplied themselves with bottles and little brown jugs and hid them away in their cellars and garrets, where they had more frequent access to it than they had when it was regularly on sale as provided by law, and there was fully as much inebriation, if not more, than previously, and so it came to pass that the temperance advo- cates kept right on "storming the citadel of the rum power," just the same as if Plymouth had not "risen from her weeping couch and assumed the garb of purity and brightness."
County Agent.
The agent for the sale of liquors in Marshall county was William E. Thompson, son of John L. Thompson, who was afterwards sheriff of the county. He kept his liquor store in the second story of a wagonshop that stood on the lot on Center street about where William Everly's dwelling house now stands. He stocked up in good shape and had all kinds of liquors supposed to be necessary for "all the ills that flesh is heir to," including "snake bites!" He was an honest, straightforward, kind-hearted man, who wished to live in peace with all men, and it was hard for him to refuse any of his friends a "little something for the stomach's sake," and it was sometimes thought that an occasional half-pint bottle went out without the required physician's prescription certificate! Be that as it may, those who wanted it never failed, by hook or by crook, to get it in some way or other. The consequence was that the state's record in con- ducting the saloon business proved to be worse than the saloon itself.
In 1855 the legislature passed an act which was prohibitory in its nature. The first section provided that no person should manufacture, keep for sale, or sell any intoxicating liquors, except such persons as were licensed by the state to manufacture and sell to authorized agents of the county, and then only for medicinal purposes. The third section provided as follows: "That no person in this state shall drink any whisky, beer, ale or porter as a beverage, and in no instance except as a medicine." Shortly after the act was passed the constitutionality of the law was taken before the supreme court on a writ of habeas corpus, and that court, in an elabo- rate opinion by Judge Perkins, declared the act unconstitutional for reasons which they set out in full in their opinion in Herman vs. The State, 1855.
Praying Bands-Blue Ribbon.
The temperance organizations kept on trying to do something to eradicate the evil of intemperance. Finally over in Ohio, in the early '70s, the women organized what they called praying bands. They visited the saloons wherever they found them, and kneeling down on the floors sang and prayed for the saloonkeepers and those who were present. The women
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of Plymouth, Bourbon, and perhaps some other places in the county caught the inspiration and' also organized praying bands who visited the saloons, but the excitement soon died away and no good came of it. This was followed by the blue ribbon excitement, which appealed to the individual to sign the pledge, quit drinking, and don the blue ribbon. The craze swept over the country like a prairie fire before a high wind. But like everything born of excitement, it soon spent its force and disappeared like the morning mist before the rising sun. Upon the ruins of all these organizations sprang up the Women's Christian Temperance Union, devoted pri- marily to the cause of temperance, which still maintains organizations in most of the county seats and larger towns. It is a conservative organiza- tion, its work being mostly on educational lines. It has never taken part in any spasmodic efforts to suppress the liquor traffic, its members knowing from past experience that such efforts would be futile.
At every session of the legislature since the adoption of the new constitution in 1850 there has been more or less legislation on the liquor question introduced and passed, none of which has been sufficiently satis- factory to "let well enough alone." What was known as the "Baxter Bill," which created much excitement when it was passed in 1873, was at the next session modified and finally repealed. It provided among other things that the saloonkeeper should file with his application for license the petition of a majority of the voters at the last election in the township or ward where he desired to sell, asking that he be granted license. During the con- tinuance of this law various ways were devised by which the law could be evaded, and as no one was enough interested to appear before the board of commissioners and point out these evasions, licenses were granted the same as if no petitions had been filed. In Plymouth that year the town was merged into a city, and both parties united on a citizens' city ticket, in which the saloonkeepers heartily concurred. The consequence was the friends of the saloons refrained from voting, as there was no politics in the election, so that there was not more than half the total vote polled, which made it comparatively easy for the applicants for license to get a majority of the total vote as indicated by the vote polled.
The Nicholson bill then followed, and with slight amendments has been in force ever since. This law, if the state continues to legalize the sale of liquors by issuing license authorizing its sale, is probably as good a law as the legislature can be induced to pass for some time to come.
LVI. MARSHALL COUNTY'S ONLY PRIZE FIGHT.
An epoch in the history of Marshall county occurred by a prize fight at Baugherville, on the Lake Erie & Western railroad, about nine miles northwest of Plymouth, between Lou C. Allen, of Chicago, and H. C. Hanmer, of Michigan City, middleweights, on the evening of April 30, 1891, which was to have been a fight to a finish, and would have been had it not happened that Sheriff Henry L. Jarrell was informed of the affair and with two deputies, Eugene Marshall and Wm. T. Leonard, and William Klinger, marshal of Plymouth, pounced upon them and put a stop to the
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fun just as the first round was being finished, the particulars of which will be related hereafter. The writer of this history cannot afford to allow as important an historical event as this to go unrecorded as showing the trend of public opinion in regard to this particular line of amusement. It will not be necessary to mention the names of any of the spectators, a large number of whom were present, and therefore only the names of the principals are deemed necessary to be given in this connection.
On the afternoon of the eventful evening a number of the "boys" in the county seat were let into the secret that a prize fight was to take place at Baugherville, northwest of Plymouth, between II o'clock that night and 3 o'clock next morning, and the favored few who were let into the secret were on tip-toe of expectation, and preparations were made to pull out quietly by livery teams about 9 o'clock. The secret was to be kept from Sheriff Jarrell, and from those who would likely give him a pointer in that direction. Up to a certain point in the proceedings every- thing worked like a charm, and in birdological parlance "the ornithological webb-footed specimen of stupidity was altitudinally elevated." The night was dark and the corduroy road through the woods was more than ordi- narily rough. Some of the drivers lost the direct road and went a con- siderable distance out of the way; others ran into "chuck holes," breaking a spring or single-tree or something of that kind, but where there is a prize at the end of the goal there is always found a way to reach it. On they went, helter-skelter, an occasional lighter vehicle and a faster team passing those in the lead, and in this way, after an hour and a half of intense expectation the place was reached. The prize ring was in a large barn near a saw mill and a lumber yard near the Lake Erie & Western railroad, a short distance northwest of Tyner. Lumber was piled up and scattered about everywhere, and there were acres of sawlogs and slabs and log wagons; and there were no lights about to indicate that there was any- thing unusual going on, and those who were not familiar with the lay of the land had to feel their way in the dark. The Lake Erie fast train from the north had arrived at II o'clock, bringing the pugilists and about 150 sports from Chicago, Michigan City and other points along the line, and it was but a short time until the preliminary arrangements had all been com- pleted. A twenty-four-foot ring had been measured off, the building was gorgeously lighted, and in the glare of the kerosene the lamp of Aladdin would have cast but a faint glimmer. The 175 spectators who had each paid an admission fee of $5 were seated about the ring as conveniently as circumstances would permit, and the remainder were stowed away in the haymow, in balcony rows, one above another, from which elevated position they were enabled to look down upon the interesting spectacle before them through the large opening in the center.
The gladiators were stripped to the skin and took their places in the ring, accompanied by their backers, trainers, seconds, umpires, spongers and assistants, and nearby were a couple of reporters for two of the leading Chicago dailies. The doors of the barn were locked and guarded, and the doorkeeper was ordered not to admit anyone under any pretext whatever. Time was called and the pugilistic pounders came smilingly to the scratch. They knocked away at each other with all the strength they possessed, and from the appearance of the bruises on Hanmer's face there was no doubt
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but they meant business from the word "go." The first round was a suc- cess, and applause greeted the bruisers as they retired to their corners to be rubbed down and catch their wind.
It was late in the evening when Sheriff Jarrell was informed of what was going on. He and his deputies pulled out from the county seat shortly after 9 o'clock and drove rapidly toward the seat of war. He had the misfortune to break his buggy, which delayed him several minutes, and he did not arrive until just as the first round had been fought. The sheriff and his deputies alighted, hitched their horses and asked the doorkeeper to be admitted. That distinguished dweller in the tents of iniquity informed them that under no circumstances could they be admitted, whereupon the sheriff jerked the latch off, opened the door, and he and his deputies rushed in upon the pugilists and their assistants, who were standing in the ring ready to commence the second round. Then ensued a scene of consterna- tion which no pen can describe. There was a general stampede for the door and in the rush and confusion several were run over and knocked down; some of the lights were turned out and for a few minutes it seemed that pandemonium had been turned loose. Both principals escaped the officers and got out of the building with only their thin fighting suits on. In the melee that ensued Ed Corey, trainer, and Con Cavanah and Dick Ford, seconds, were captured. The remainder got away. Hanmer, one of the principals, found it was so cold with only his tights on that he could not stand it, and in returning in search of his clothes was captured by the sheriff. Allen, the other principal, took the railroad track north as fast as he could run and never stopped until he reached Walkerton, where he boarded a freight train for Michigan City, and thus made good his escape.
The spectators-well, they were panic-stricken, and, if anything, were worse frightened than the fighters. When the sheriff and his party entered, the rapidity with which that audience dispersed has never been equaled in this part of the country. They did not stand upon the order of their going, but they went at once. It was every fellow for himself and the devil take the hindmost. As soon as they got out of the building they took to the woods as fast as their legs could carry them. They tumbled over one another, went head over heels over saw logs, log wagons and lumber piles, skinned their shins and bruised themselves up generally. Those who were in the hay loft, and most of them happened to be Marshall county fellows, were all captured without an effort. They had climbed up on a ladder which had been removed when the fight began, and there they were, prisoners and unable to make a move for liberty. So they scrambled back as far as they could and covered themselves with hay, except their feet, which stuck out in irregular sizes all around the first row, and waited further developments. The suspense did not last long. One of them came near smothering in the hay and yelled out, "Put up that ladder; I can't stand it with this d-d gang any longer." The ladder was put up, and you would have just died laughing to have seen capitalists, merchants and business men, old men and young men, bald heads and gray heads, married men and single men, backing down that ladder with hayseed in their hair, and on their hats and all over their clothes. As he reached the floor one of them remarked: "What in - would my wife say if she could see me in this fix?" And the other fellow replied, "Damfino." They were greatly
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relieved when Sheriff Jarrell informed them that he had no use for them and that they could go about their business. The fun was over, the pro- cession re-formed, and, headed by the sheriff and his four prisoners, slowly and solemnly wended its way homeward.
The next morning Hanmer, one of the principals, and the three others who had been arrested, appeared before Justice Harley Logan, waived examination and were bound over to court in bonds of $300 each, which was furnished, and all were released. When court convened Dick Ford was released; the others pleaded guilty, were fined $50 each, which was promptly paid, and thus ended the only prize fight ever witnessed in Marshall county.
LVII. THE OLD BRASS BAND.
The first musical band in Marshall county was what was called The Plymouth Sax Horn Band, which came into existence in the winter and spring of 1853. The members at the time of organization as near as can be remembered were William H. Salisbury, leader, Daniel and Platt McDon- ald, David Vinnedge, Rufus Brown, A. C. Capron, Thomas K. Houghton, Rufus Mert Brown. There might have been two or three others in the original organization, but if there were their names cannot now be recalled. Later on from time to time new members were admitted until the band consisted of about 'sixteen pieces, among whom were Alex Thompson, John McDonald and Charles H. Reeve. Mr. Reeve was not a permanent mem- ber, but met with the boys frequently and was useful in writing music and in helping them to learn to play.
"Old Joe Pierson," as he was familiarly called, who resided some place in La Porte county, was employed as teacher and bandmaster. He had but one eye, the other having, in some way, been put out. He came at stated intervals by stage from La Porte to Plymouth, and generally remained two or three days. He was not a very brilliant or accomplished musician, but as a teacher, as the boys used to put it, "he was onto his job." In those days there was no printed band music as now, and the music for the different instruments was all written with a quill pen on blank music paper by "Old Jde." He first selected the melody and then composed the accompaniments and various parts to fit the several instruments. Among the pieces remembered are: "Wood-up Quickstep," "Old Dog Tray," "Lilly Dale," "Old Kentucky Home," "Ben Bolt," "Old Uncle Ned," "Old Folks at Home," "Number 14," and many more that were popular in those days. There was no foolishness about "Old Joe." When the time came for practice every member was supposed to be on hand ready to do his part. If he found a member particularly weak he would give him special atten- tion until he was able to master the difficulties. Then all the instruments would be started, and such music as was made in the beginning was not such as is said to have "charms to soothe the savage beast; to rend the rock, or split the knotted oak." But it was not long before the members became quite proficient and were able to follow the score fairly well. The leader of the band was William H. Salisbury, who was an accomplished cornetist, who had learned the mysteries of that instrument at La Porte
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