USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical sketches of early Indiana > Part 28
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" These remarks were made in a highly impassioned manner, and in that magnificent dash of oratory for which the Colonel was noted when he was warmed up by the magnitude of his utterances. The boys in blue cheered lustily, and the effect of this speech was wonderful. For fully one minute you could have heard a pin fall, so absorbed was every mind in contem- plating the ideas so logically and eloquently presented.
" Other speeches were made, but I will not even name them at this time. The day. however, passed off pleasantly. The boys had a good dinner, and all seemed to enter into the spirit of the occasion. This was the only time I saw the Fourth cel- ebrated in sight of and under the threats of the rebels. Dun- ham was the man, however, who had the pluck to do so. Though but little has been said of his war record I have seen him tried, and know that no braver man ever commanded a regiment or a brigade than Colonel Cyrus L. Dunham."
Colonel Horace Heffren, who was the lieutenant-colonel of Dunham's regiment, in a late note to the author, speaks of his
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chief with great affection. He also says : .. Dunham was the idol of his men. No man ever took better care of his soldiers than he." When he left the army his soldiers parted from him with warm tokens of affection. They loved him as a friend.
In early life Colonel Dunham dressed very poorly ; so much so that many believed he did it purposely to catch the rabble vote. I became acquainted with him in 1849, when he was making his race for Congress against William McKee Dunn, and I well remember his appearance and dress at that time. He was then in the strength of early manhood. In person he was tall and wiry, with not a surplus pound of flesh upon his body. He seemed an athlete trained for the ring. His clothes were scanty and of the commonest kind; a pair of nankeen breeches and a long. swinging linen coat, a hat made of wheat straw, with a rim a yard in circumference, and a pair of coarse shoes. constituted the sum total of his visible apparel. But if he didn't dress well, he spoke well. Indeed, he was eloquent. He captivated his audience, being one of the best speakers on the hustings in the State. The meeting was at Dupont, in Jef- ferson county ; and after it was over I rode with him in his ramshackle buggy to Madison. It had no top. One of its shafts was broken and mended by a pole lashed to it with hick- ory withes. His horse would have made Sancho Panza's eves glisten with delight. He would have much preferred him to his mule. Such was Dunham's mode of conveyance over his district. He was elected, but it could not have been his " turn- out " that did the work, for the people of the district were or- dinarily intelligent, being too smart to be influenced by clap- trap and demagoguery. The majority were of his political way of thinking, and those who heard him speak knew he was a man of a very high order of intellect.
In 1859, when Daniel McClure resigned the office of Secre- tary of State, Governor Willard telegraphed Mr. Dunham to come to Indianapolis. At that time he lived in Jackson county, and was engaged in farming. The dispatch was taken to him in the field. He had barely time to reach the railroad station before the train for Indianapolis would arrive. so he left without changing his clothes. On his arrival in the city he went at once to the Governor's office and asked what was wanted.
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Cockle burs and Spanish needles were clinging to his panta- loons and socks, and his dress otherwise was unfitted for any- one pretending gentility. Willard told him to go to a clothing store and dress himself as became an ex-member of Congress. and he would tell him. Dunham left, and soon returned prop- erly dressed, when Governor Willard handed him a commission as Secretary of State.
In 1860 Mr. Dunham was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor. The intelligent reader will remem- ber that at that time the Democratic party was divided upon the Kansas and Nebraska question, one wing of it being known as the administration wing and the other as the Douglas wing. Mr. Dunham identified himself with the former, and was sup- ported by it for the gubernatorial nomination. When the State convention met it was found that the administration men were in a minority, and that Mr. Dunham had but a small chance for the nomination. After the convention was organized and the time had come for the nomination to be made, Mr. Dun- ham arose, and in a most eloquent speech withdrew from the contest, and moved that the Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks be nominated by acclamation, which was done. During his speech Mr. Dunham was several times interrupted by Colonel Allen May, in a manner which was very offensive to the speaker. Soon after the convention adjourned for dinner these gentle- men met in the street opposite the Bates House, when a per- sonal altercation took place between them. Mr. Dunham got the best of the difficulty, putting his antagonist hors du combat. The convention put him and the late Dr. John C. Walker at the head of the electoral ticket, by way of a compromise, Dunham being an administration man and Walker an adherent of Douglas. Dunham made a thorough canvass of the State, and added much to his laurels as an eloquent political speaker. His old-time friend Senator Bright, who stumped the State for Breckenridge, tried hard to get him to withdraw from the regu- . lar Democratic ticket and take a position on that of the bolters. but his efforts were in vain. Dunham was too good a party man to falter when he carried the colors, and too good a soldier to turn his back to the enemy, or engage in a diversion in his
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favor, even when so commanded by a general whom hitherto he had delighted to follow.
Mr. Dunham was not a great lawyer. His professsonal repu- tation mainly rested upon his ability as an advocate. Before a jury he was always effective, often eloquent. His speech in defense of Dr. Benjamin Newland, tried for the killing of J. Madison Evans, was one of the finest forensic efforts ever made at the bar of Southern Indiana. Public sentiment justified Dr. Newland in taking Evans's life, and the speech of Mr. Dunham in his behalf struck a chord in the popular heart that vibrated throughout the State. Dr. Newland was acquitted, and the ladies of New Albany-where the trial was held-vied with each other in testifying their delight at the verdict. They showered bouquets upon Dr. Newland, upon Mr. Dunham and upon the jurors, making one of the most affecting and dramatic scenes. ever witnessed in a court of justice.
In his later years Colonel Dunham abandoned the slovenly mode of dress he affected when younger, and clothed himself as became one of his character and standing. He was always courteous and polite, particularly to ladies, and whatever might be his garb, his manners were unexceptionable.
Colonel Dunham was over six feet high, was raw-boned, had black hair and eyes, and a pleasant countenance. He had his weaknesses and his faults, but they were not venal ones, but of the kind that often afflict the most eminent men of the world. ·· He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone."
JOHN LAW.
ONE of the prominent men of Indiana in early days was John Law, the historian of Vincennes. He was born in New London, Conn., in 1796, and, when 18 years old, graduated at Yale Col- lege, New Haven. He studied law, and, in 1817, was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. The same year he left his native State and came to Indiana, settling at Vin- cennes. He opened an office there and commenced the practice of his profession. In a short time he was elected prosecuting attorney of his circuit, a circuit which embraced nearly one-half the settled portion of the State. In 1823 he was elected to the Legislature from Knox county, and was an active member of that body. His tastes, however, running in the line of his pro- fession, he did not seek a re-election. In 1830 the Legislature elected him Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit. In 1838 President Van Buren appointed him receiver of public moneys for the Vincennes district, which office he held for four years. In 1851 Judge Law removed to Evansville, and, with James B. McGall, Lucius H. Scott and his brother, William H. Law, pur- chased 700 acres of land adjoining Evansville, and laid it out in lots, giving it the name of Lamasco. In 1855 President Pierce appointed him Judge of the Court of Land Claims for Indiana and Illinois, the court to be held at Vincennes. This was a po- sition of great importance, and he filled it with signal ability. His mind was cast in a judicial mould. and he had both the pa- tience and the industry to critically examine the cases brought before him. His conclusions were reached after much research and thought, and were seldom called in question.
In 1860 Judge Law was elected to Congress from the First District, and served on the Library Committee and on the Com-
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mittee on Revolutionary Pensions. It was as chairman of the latter committee that he drew and reported to the House a bill to pay the twelve remaining soldiers of the Revolutionary war each a pension of $100 a year. This bill was unanimously passed by the House, and the old soldiers made glad as they tottered to the grave. Where is the John Law who will get through a similar bill for the benefit of the soldiers of the Mexi- can war, a war that added a golden empire to the country? Judge Law was re-elected to Congress in 1862, and thus served in the national councils during the most perilous period of our country's history. His congressional career, though not bril- liant, was eminently useful, and he left Congress with the re- spect of his fellow members and the regret of his constituents. He died at Evansville, October 7, 1873, and, according to his de- sires, his remains were taken to Vincennes and buried. A plain monument, one simply bearing his name, the date of his birth and the time of his death was erected at his grave. It was made plain and simple, in accordance with his oft-repeated requests.
During Judge Law's legal practice he had charge of the cel- ebrated case of Vigo against the United States. This claim grew out of the fact that Colonel Vigo furnished General George Rogers Clark provisions and war material in 1779, when Gen- eral Clark captured Vincennes from the British. Some forty years after the goods were furnished, Congress agreed to pay the principal of the draft drawn by General Clark, amounting to nearly eight thousand dollars, but he refused to accept it un- less the interest was also paid. In 1877 the claim was paid, both principal and interest, but too late to be of any benefit to either Colonel Vigo or Judge Law, as previous thereto both of them had been gathered to their fathers.
Although of different politics, a warm friendship existed be- tween Judge Law and the late Thaddeus Stevens. They fre- quently corresponded, and they kept up their friendly intercourse until Mr. Stevens's death. Judge Law was also a personal friend and correspondent of the late President Lincoln. He gave Mr. Lincoln his first case in the Illinois Supreme Court. and was a great admirer of the personal qualities of that re- markable man. When struck down by an assassin no one grieved for him more sincerely than Judge Law.
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I have no recollection of any family in the country, except the Adamses, the Bayards and the Harrisons, that equals the Laws in length and distinction of public service. Judge Law's great-grandfather, Jonathan Law, was Chief Justice of Connec- ticut for many years, and Governor of the colony from May. 1741, until his death, in 1750. His grandfather, Richard Law. and his father, Lyman Law, both served in the national Con- gress, and as he was for four years a member of that body, it will be seen that for three generations the Laws sat in Congress as representatives of the people. His maternal grandfather. Amasa Learned, was a member of the first Congress under the constitution, and was cotemporary with, and an intimate friend of, those great men who formed our government and put its machinery in motion. Surely the children of Judge Law have reason to be proud of their ancestry.
Judge Law was not only a good lawyer, but also as a historian and an antiquarian he ranks among the first in the West. For some time he was President of the Indiana Historical Soci- ety, and took great interest in its transactions. On the 22d day of February, 1839, he delivered an address before the Vincennes Historical and Antiquarian Society which is standard author- ity on the matters of which it treats. Two thousand copies of the address were published at the time, but they were soon taken by an appreciative public. In 1858 he published a new edition, with additional notes and illustrations, and this, too. was soon exhausted, and it is now extremely difficult to get a copy of it. It exhausts the subject of the "Colonial History of Vincennes," and no one need look elsewhere to learn its his- tory from its first settlement to the formation of the Territorial government of Indiana.
In person Judge Law was large and commanding. He weighed about two hundred and twenty-five pounds, and his general appearance was that of an intellectual, dignified man. His literary work will live, and he will be remembered when most of those who were cotemporary with him shall have been forgotten.
Michad & Ken!
Hurving t,ugens ing & Printing.
MICHAEL CRAWFORD KERR.
MICHAEL CRAWFORD KERR, Speaker of the Forty-fourth Congress, was born near Titusville, Pennsylvania, March 15. 1827. His father was a man of moderate means, and the son was mainly self-educated. At the age of eighteen he gradu- ated at the Erie Academy, and soon after married her who was his wife while he lived. He then emigrated to Kentucky, and for awhile taught school at Bloomfield, in that State. While teaching at Bloomfield " he laid the foundation of his subse- quent career of usefulness and honor. There, in the intervals of his arduous duties as a teacher, which others would have de- voted to idleness and pleasure, he mastered the fundamental principles of jurisprudence and political philosophy, with which, in after life, both as a lawyer and a statesman, he showed him- self so remarkably familiar." After this he attended the Lou- isville University, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In 1852 he removed to New Albany, Indiana, and com- menced the practice of the law. Soon afterward he was elected City Attorney of New Albany, and the next year was chosen Prosecuting Attorney of Floyd county. In 1856 he was sent to the State Legislature, where he served with distinction. and in 1862 was chosen Reporter of the Supreme Court of the State. In 1864 he was nominated for Congress by the Democ- racy of his district, his opponent being Rev. W. W. Curry. whom he defeated by a majority of 1,793. In 1866 he was re- elected. beating his opponent, General Walter Q. Gresham, I.743 votes. In 1868 he again ran against General Gresham. and defeated him by 6,436 majority. In 1870 he was again elected to Congress from his district, beating his opponent. Carr. 5,834 votes. In 1872 Indiana having, by the last census,
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gained two members of Congress, and the State not having been redistricted, Mr. Kerr was nominated by the Democracy for Congressman for the State at large, and beaten by Godlove S. Orth, 162 votes. In 1874 he ran against General James A. Cravens for Congress. in his district, and beat him 1,209 votes.
The labor of the campaign of 1874 was so severe that Mr. Kerr's health gave way under it. He spent most of the next year in the far West, hoping to recruit his shattered constitution. He was benefited by the change of climate, and returned to In- diana in the fall of 1875, with his health measurably restored.
While Mr. Kerr was in Colorado inhaling the pure air of the mountains, the press of the country was discussing his qualiti- cations for Speaker of Congress. His long congressional e.x- perience and knowledge of parliamentary law peculiarly fitted him for the place, and this the people readily saw. His views upon the currency question were in consonance with those en- tertained by his party friends in the East, and, besides, he was known to be honest and brave, qualities valuable in all public men, and particularly valuable in those charged to preside over the Congress of the United States.
The Forty-fourth Congress met on the 6th of December, 1875, and, after the roll-call, Mr. Lamar, of Mississippi, placed Mr. Kerr in nomination for Speaker, and Mr. Wheeler, of New York, Mr. Blaine. On the call of the roll, Mr. Kerr received 173 votes and Mr. Blaine 106. The clerk announced that Mr. Kerr, having received a majority of all the votes given, was duly elected Speaker, whereupon he took the Speaker's chair and thus addressed the House :
" I am heartily grateful for the honor you have conferred upon me in calling me to this exalted station. I profoundly ap- preciate the importance and delicacy of its duties. I shall. doubtless, many times need your patient indulgence. I pray that you will grant it; and, with nothing but kindly feelings toward every member of the House, I promise that in all my official acts I will divest myself, to the utmost of my ability, of all personal bias, and observe complete fairness and impartiality toward all the great and diversified interests of our country rep- resented in this House."
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Mr. Kerr was never well a day after he was elected Speaker. He presided during the sessions of the House while suffering intense pain. Disease was at his vitals, and it was apparent to all who saw him that he must soon succumb to its demands. At a time when he was barely able to be about, and was dis- charging the duties of his high office only on account of his in- domitable will, a cruel charge was made against him which well nigh killed him outright. One Lawrence Harney, a Wash- ington lobbyist, charged that, several years before, he had paid Mr. Kerr $450 for securing one Augustus P. Greene a position in the regular army. A committee was appointed to investi- gate the charge, and, on the 12th of June, 1876, the committee reported to the House that there was no evidence to sustain the charge. The report closes as follows :
" Your committee have found no difficulty in reaching the conclusion that the charge, as made by Harney, as to the pay- ment of the amount of money stated, or any other sum, to Mr. Kerr for the object and purpose named, is unqualifiedly false : that Mr. Kerr stands fully exonerated from all implication in anywise affecting his personal honor or official integrity. Your committee find nothing throughout the whole progress of this investigation to impair or detract from the well-established rep- utation that he enjoys for unquestioned personal integrity and unsullied purity of official record."
Messrs. Clymer and Danford made speeches in favor of adopt- ing the report, after which the following proceedings were had by the House :
"Mr. Clymer-I ask the previous question on the adoption of this report.
" The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered.
" Mr. Garfield-I ask that the question on the adoption of the report be taken by a rising vote.
" Mr. Clymer-I hope that will be done.
" Mr. Blackburn-I trust the suggestion of the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Garfield) will be adopted.
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" The affirmative vote being called for, all the members pres- ent rose.
" Mr. Banks-Let there be a count ; it makes a record.
" Mr. Garfield-I ask unanimous consent that it be entered on the record that the report was unanimously adopted.
" Mr. Milliken-By a rising vote.
" The Speaker (pro tempore)-Unless there be objection the record suggested by the gentleman from Ohio will be entered.
"Mr. Banks-There should be a count of the votes ; it makes a record.
" The negative vote being called for and no member rising, the result was announced-yeas, 210 ; nays, none.
" The Speaker (pro tempore)-The report is adopted by a unanimous vote.
"Mr. Garfield-I renew my request that it be recorded that the report was adopted unanimously by a rising vote.
" The Speaker (pro tempore)-It will be so recorded.
"Mr. Leavenworth-It seems to me, Mr. Speaker, that it would be highly proper that this House should furnish to Mr. Kerr, in the most formal manner, a certified copy of our pro- ceedings on this occasion. I move that such copy be furnished to him by the Clerk of this House.
" The Speaker (pro tempore)-The chair hears no objection and the order is made."
Never was a man more completely vindicated than was Mr. Kerr. Few men so long in public life have escaped charges affecting their public reputation, and fewer still have been so grandly upheld. The charge, instead of being a blot upon his memory, but adds to his glory. In the language of Mr. Hurl- burt, of Illinois, when speaking of the report of the committee : " The long record of an honorable life outweighs all charges of those loose defamers whom these base times encourage to de- traction and scandal." He also declared that Mr. Kerr's blame- less life was a shield to " protect him from the envenomed shafts of malice."
Mr. Kerr was now too sick to preside in the House, and, hoping that rest and mountain air would benefit him, he left Washington shortly after the warm weather set in, and went to
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Rockbridge Alum Springs, in West Virginia. At first the water and the air helped him, but, in a short time, they lost their power for good. The base charge of Harney had done its work. The magnificent vindication of Congress came too late for him to rally. He continued to grow worse, and was conscious that his end was near. On the afternoon of the 15th of August, 1876, he telegraphed his friend, S. S. Cox, of New York, " Mv condition is very critical ; no change since morning." The dispatch was read in the House, and created great feeling. Mr. Banks, of Massachusetts, took the floor, and, after delivering a feeling speech, offered the following resolution :
"Resolved, That the House of Representatives, at the moment of closing the present session, tenders to Hon. Michael C. Kerr, its beloved and honored presiding officer, the unanimous expres- sion of the heartfelt sympathy of its members in his affliction. and they hope that the recovery of his health may soon restore to his associates in the public service the wisdom of his counsel and the beneficent influence of his example."
The resolution was unanimously adopted, and the Speaker was requested to communicate the same to Mr. Kerr by tele- graph.
The message came none too quickly, if it was to reach the Speaker alive, for four days afterward, on the 19th of August. 1876, he breathed his last.
A few days after the death of Mr. Kerr his remains were started on their way to the West, escorted by Senator Ferry, President pro tempore of the Senate, Mr. Adams, clerk of the House, Mr. Morrison, chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, all under charge of John G. Thompson, door-keeper of the House. The widow and only son of the dead states- man were with the cortege. A special train, containing a large number of prominent citizens, left Indianapolis on the 23d of August, and met the remains at Knightstown, where they boarded the train containing the corpse. The party reached New Albany at 12 o'clock that night, and were met at the depot ·by an immense concourse of people, and the remains were taken to the Court-house. The casket was placed in the ro-
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tunda, where it lay in state until 8 o'clock the next evening, and was then taken to the home of the late Speaker.
New Albany put on the habiliments of woe. All her public buildings and many private ones were draped in mourning. The next day Dr. Conn preached an eloquent funeral discourse over the honored dead, after which the body was taken to the cemetery at New Albany and buried.
When Congress met, in December, action was taken on the death of the late Speaker, several eloquent eulogies being pro- nounced. In his address, Senator McDonald said :
" He filled every station to which he was called, public and private, with honor. He honored the city in which he lived, and his name is there cherished as a household word. He honored the district which had conferred upon him its highest favor, and his memory will be long held in reverence by his people. He honored the State of his adoption, and it will pre- serve his name upon the roll of its most illustrious citizens. He honored the high place to which he was called by the represen- tatives of the whole people, and for that we this day place his name ' in memoriam' upon the records of the Congress of the nation, there to remain for all time."
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