Early reminiscences of Indianapolis, with short biographical sketches of its early citizens, and a few of the prominent business men of the present day, Part 20

Author: Nowland, John H.B
Publication date: 1870
Publisher: Indianapolis : Sentinel Book and Job Printing House
Number of Pages: 482


USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Early reminiscences of Indianapolis, with short biographical sketches of its early citizens, and a few of the prominent business men of the present day > Part 20


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267


William H. H. Pinney.


At the age of nineteen he engaged as a guard at the State Prison of his native State ; served about four years as guard and shopkeeper, then as deputy warden, and had entire con- trol and management of the prison; then as clerk in a large manufacturing establishment, and early earned the reputation of a good business man. He was then appointed aid-de-camp in the State militia, and there acquired the title and rank of major, which is not bogus; and to be a major in Yankeedom meant something.


In 1828 Major Pinney first visited Indianapolis as the trav- eling agent of the " American Hydraulic Company," in order to try to sell to the town, or its citizens, a fire engine. He saw most of the leading and business men of the place, and they concluded that the people were not able to purchase one at that time. He had traveled over his native State, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Upper Canada, Michigan, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ala- bama and Missouri, and visited all the towns of note in those several States, and found no place that cared as little about an engine as Indianapolis. What a change forty years have wrought !


Now our five steam fire engines are considered inadequate for the safety of property, and on occasions powerless for awhile to control the devouring element.


Mr. Pinney, after remaining here a few days, left for Madi- son, and was three days, hard traveling through mud and mire, in reaching it, thence homeward.


He returned to Indiana in 1831 and settled at the bluffs of White River, where he engaged in merchandising, and fol- lowed it for several years ; in the mean time he married Miss Emily, youngest daughter of Jacob Whetzell. He was ap- pointed postmaster at that place by General Jackson, more as a punishment for being a Clay Whig than the good-will of the


268


Early Reminiscences.


old hero. This he held until the office was removed to Wav- erly, a new town that had sprung up within a mile of his place.


Major Pinney is a very pleasant and agreeable man, and is disposed to look on the bright side of sublunary affairs, and sees more of sunshine than shade in the lot of man generally. Although during the rebellion a strong Union man, he did nothing towards furnishing soldiers bearing his name, neither could wives be found for them in his family. The writer hopes he may yet live to see his hearth-stone surrounded by many little Pinneys.


CARY H. BOATRIGHT.


I notice this man for the purpose of bringing before the public the singular fact that he is now living with his tenth wife.


He came to this place in 1831 a widower, having lost his third wife. He soon supplied the last vacancy with a Miss Pugh. She also, in turn, died. Then he married Miss Sally Cool, his fifth wife. They had not lived long together when she applied for and obtained a divorce. As I am not sketch- ing "Early Indiana Trials," I shall not go into the details of this one. He then wooed and won the heart and hand of a Miss Hinsley, a lady of large proportions and size. She bore him one son, and, like her predecessors, left her liege lord again free to make the seventh selection, which he did in due course of time, and he has continued in selecting and his wives dying until he has now the tenth, and from what I learn of his robust health and constitution, although he has lived out the time generally allotted to man, he may yet enjoy the society of his fifteenth wife. This is one of the singular facts and incidents that I have selected to assist me in showing the great variety of character and men found in the early history of Indianapolis.


If Mr. Boatright was unfortunate in losing his wives, he


269


William Sheets.


was very fortunate in not having more than one in his house at the same time.


" I kissed her lips sae rosy red, While the tears stood blinken in hcr e'e; I said, my lassie, dinna cry, For ye ay, shall mak' the bed to mc."


WILLIAM SHEETS


Is a native of the " Old Dominion," having been born near Martinsburg, in Berkley County. When quite young, in the year 1817, came to Madison, Jefferson County, Indiana. He there studied law, and for a few years practiced the profes- sion.


In the winter 1830-31, he was elected one of the clerks of the House of Representatives of the Indiana Legislature, an office he was peculiarly fitted for, being a fine reader as well as penman.


In 1832 he was elected by the Legislature Secretary of State, and then commenced his residence in Indianapolis. During this term of office he was married to Miss Randolph, formerly of Virginia, a relative of the distinguished states- man of that State, "John Randolph, of Roanoke," and adopted daughter of President William Henry Harrison.


When the canal was finished between Broad Ripple and this place, about the year 1838, he erected a large Paper Mill (the first in the city), and manufactured large quantities, and every variety, and furnished nearly all the paper used in the western part of this State and the eastern portion of Illinois. We have frequently met his wagons in the interior of the lat- ter State.


In 1840 he was again elected to his former position (Secre- tary of State) and served another term of four years. Since which time he has been engaged in attending to his private business.


270


Early Reminiscences.


He owns some very fine business as well as private property. He still resides at his old homestead, where he has lived for near thirty-five years.


In politics Mr. Sheets was an old line Henry ('lay Whig, and followed the fortunes of that party from its first organi- zation, in 1832, until its disrupture after the defeat of its can- didate (General Scott) for President in 1852; he then, and has since, acted with the Republicans.


In religion he is a Presbyterian, being a member of the First Church very nearly the whole time since his first resi- dence in this city.


As an official, he was unexceptionable ; as a man, kind and courteous in his intercourse with others, and possessed a great deal of native dignity, and, withal, a hospitable man.


He has a family of several children, all of whom reside in or near the city. Such is William Sheets, one of our most respected citizens.


DOCTOR GEORGE W. MEARS.


'. A man in many a country town you know Professes openly with death to wrestle ; Entering the field against the grimly foe, Armed with a mortar and a pestle."


The worthy Doctor, whose name heads this sketch, came to Indianapolis in February, 1834, fully armed as above quoted, and entered immediately upon the practice of his profession, and has continued it up to the present time.


Doctor Mears was originally from Philadelphia, but was direct from Vincennes to this place. At the latter place he had lived a few years, and was there married to Miss Caroline Ewing, a daughter of one of its most respected citizens, and a pioneer of the West.


The Doctor is, at this time, the veteran practicing physician of the place, and has, perhaps, stood by the sick and dying


271


Doctor George W. Mears.


bedside of as many poor and unpaying patients as any phy- sician in the State, and with that class of people is universally popular, as well as with the wealthy.


In the Doctor's extensive practice if he should, like the " New Castle Apothecary," have


" Hurled a few score mortals from the world,"


Like him, too, he has


" Made amends by bringing others into it."


He has enjoyed the confidence and respect of the citizens of this county and city as a man as well as a physician, and no person stands higher in either respect. And in his shop. like that of Dr. Hornbook's, will be found all kinds


" O' doctors saws and whettles Of a' dimensions, shapes and mettles, A' kind o' boxes, mugs and bottles, He's sure to hae; Their Latin names as fast he rattles As A, B, C.


When he first came to Indianapolis it was the custom of physicians to keep in their shops different kinds of liquors for medicinal purposes. One of the "dead beats" of the place gave the Doctor considerable trouble in that way when he could not procure the article at the groceries.


One morning he called and told the Doctor if he would not let him have any spirits, that, for God's sake, let him have something that would kill him, as he was tired of living, at any rate.


The Doctor told him he would give him something, he would think, would kill him before he got through with it.


He mixed a large dose of tartar emetic with some brandy, which the patient swallowed with evident self-satisfaction. In the course of an hour or so the Doctor was riding near the old graveyard, where he found, or rather heard, him in a corn field, heaving and pitching, and calling for help. The Dr.


272


Early Reminiscences.


informed him that he was in no kind of danger, and would certainly be better before he could possibly be much worse.


About that time he quit drinking, and he told us a few days since that he had not tasted spiritous liquor for twenty- five years.


This man I have referred to was in the habit, when under the influence of liquor, of calling "all the ends of the earth to come unto him;" if he ever should again he will probably not forget the worthy Doctor.


Although the Doctor has ever had an extensive practice, he has never sought to lay up wealth by oppressing his pa- tients and debtors, and I have no doubt can show as many unpaid bills upon his books as any physician in the city.


Unlike the "New Castle Apothecary," his fame has more than


" Six miles a'round the country ran,


And all the old women call bim a fine man."


He at an early day built himself a fine mansion on Meridian street, where he yet resides. At the time it was built it was the largest family residence in the place, as well as the finest. He owns the largest piece of very valuable property of any person in the city, over the quarter of a square, in the most fashionable neighborhood.


In religion he is an Episcopalian, and was prominent in organizing the first congregation of that denomination in the city, and yet worships at Christ Church, and was for years one of its vestrymen.


In politics he was an ardent and enthusiastic member of that good old National Whig. party, now defunct and num- bered among the dead.


He was appointed by the Legislature one of the Board of Trustees to direct the organization and management of the Institution for the Education of the Blind, and subsequently


273


First Fire, Burglary and Homicide.


to superintend the application of the fund appropriated by the Legislature for that purpose.


He was for years President of the Board of Health of the city and county, as well as City Physician, all of which he filled with entire satisfaction to the public and credit to him- self.


Doctor George W. Mears is one of the leading physicians of Indianapolis, and is, perhaps, oftener called in consultation with his co-workers in the healing art than any other in the place. Long may he live to enjoy his enviable reputation, both as a man and as a physician.


FIRST FIRE, FIRST BURGLARY AND FIRST HOMICIDE IN INDIANAPOLIS.


It is a fact that should not be overlooked, and one worthy of note, that for the first fifteen years after the settlement of Indianapolis we had neither fire engines nor police officers, and during that entire time there was but one fire, one burglary, and one homicide.


The fire was that of Carter's tavern, in January, 1825, and did its work very effectually, burning down the entire build- ing, leaving many members of the Legislature without a place to lay their heads.


The burglary was that of Jacob Landis's grocery, by an old man named Redman and his son-in-law, Warner. Suspi- cion pointed to them, and a search warrant issued to sheriff Russell to search their house. The missing articles were all found there, with the exception of a bolt of brown sheeting. The sheriff had noticed that Mrs. Warner was much larger in front and more rotund in person than she was but a few days before, and suspicioned that there was "something more than meal " concealed there, and asked for an examination. She was very indignant, that a gentleman should wish to ex- amine a lady in her condition ; but the sheriff could not be


274 Early Reminiscences.


put off; he had seen too many women in that situation, and never knew one to assume so large proportions in so short a time. The examination disclosed the missing goods. The burglars were promptly tried, convicted and sent to the peni- tentiary for several years.


The homicide was the drowning of William McPherson by Michael Van Blaricum, on the 8th of May, 1833.


It had been known for some time that Van Blaricum enter- tained no very good feelings toward McPherson, and had, on several occasions, manifested a disposition to ridicule and make sport of him.


McPherson was employed by William H. Wernwag as a clerk and time-keeper, while the White River bridge was be- ing built.


Van Blaricum was going to cross from the east to the west side of the river in a canoe, and McPherson requested the privilege of crossing with him, which was granted. Van Blaricum had some augers in his hand which he fastened to the bow of the canoe with the rope. used for fastening the boat, observing at the same time that he intended to drown McPherson. When about the middle of the river he turned the canoe over, and when in the water grappled McPherson, they sank together, and McPherson never rose until brought out a corpse.


At the coroner's inquest finger marks were found on the throat of McPherson, which the examining physicians said were made before life was extinct.


Van Blaricum was tried for manslaughter, convicted and sent to the penitentiary for a few years.


Although he had said he would drown McPherson, and did, there were none who believed that he intended to do so, but only to scare him, and went farther than he intended ; indeed he told the writer so himself after he had paid the penalty of his crime, and could have had no inducement to lie.


275


Hon. Nathan B. Palmer.


The jury must have been of the same opinion, hence the verdict, which was for a shorter time than the burglars above spoken of, and less than a person would now be sent for the larceny of a ten dollar watch.


HON. NATHAN B. PALMER.


This venerable old citizen and worthy gentleman is perhaps as generally and favorably known throughout the State of Indiana as any person now living. He has been a citizen of the State half a century, and a great portion of the time in active public life.


No person who was a citizen of the State from 1840 to 1843, can forget the large, bold signature of "N. B. Palmer " affixed to the "State scrip " that was authorized by the Leg- islature to be issued by the Treasurer of State in payment of its indebtedness to contractors on the public works.


The name of N. B. Palmer, if not in the mouth of every citizen in the State, was in the pockets of many of them. His signature was affixed to the two classes of scrip, the old, dated in 1840, bearing six per cent. interest, the new, or green, as it was it was called, dated 1841, bearing the fourth of one per cent. interest. These two kinds of scrip formed for several years the principal circulating medium of the State as a rep- resentative of money.


Mr. Palmer was born in Stonington, Connecticut, on the 27th of August, 1790, and at this writing is some months over seventy-nine years of age. In his tenth year, 1800, with his mother (his father having died) removed to the State of New York, where he remained until 1812, when he, with his family, emigrated to Pennsylvania, having, in the mean- time, been married to Miss Chloe Sacket, who is yet his comfort in his declining years, and a helpmate worthy of emulation by the young ladies of the present day.


Mrs. Palmer has ever manifested a disposition to take the


276


Early Reminiscences.


world as she found it, and not try to remodel the order of nature, to conform to her own peculiar views and personal convenience; of this the writer can speak understandingly, as he was an inmate of her house for one year.


In Pennsylvania, his new home, Mr. Palmer was soon called into public life. The few years he resided there he held many offices of trust and emolument, all of which he filled with honor to himself, satisfaction of the public, and the benefit of the State.


In the year 1819 he removed to Indiana and settled in Jef- ferson County, where he resided fourteen years and held many offices of importance ; he was a Representative of that county in the Legislature, and was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives for the session of 1833-4.


He was a prompt and efficient presiding officer, at all times commanding the respect of his associates for his knowledge of parliamentary rules and an impartial application of them to cases that might arise.


At the ensuing session of the Legislature of 1834-5, he was elected Treasurer of State, and immediately entered upon its duties and removed his family to this place in the spring of 1835 ; this position he held for several years, and retired from it without the tongue of vituperation or slander ever reaching his public acts, which is a very uncommon thing with persons who have charge of large amounts of public moneys and their disbursement.


In 1841, after he had retired from the office of Treasurer of State, he was selected by the Legislature to examine the State Bank and the different branches, and report their finan- cial condition to the next annual session of that body.


In that office was a great opportunity for corruption and speculation, had it been placed in the hands of a person sus- ceptible of bribery, or could even be approached on the sub- ject; such was Mr. P.'s character I doubt whether such a


277


Hon. Nathan B. Palmer.


thing was ever thought of, although at the Terre Haute branch a deception was attempted by the cashier which was quickly discovered by Mr. Palmer, and the author of it rebuked in such a manner that he would never attempt anything of the kind "again, at least with Mr. Palmer.


When Mr. P. had made his business known to the officers of the bank, he was cordially received and invited to proceed in his examination in his own way and at his leisure.


After the examination of the books of the bank, and count- ing the office or business paper and bank notes on hand, he found a deficit of about twenty thousand dollars; this the cashier told him would be accounted for in the retired paper, or bills too much worn for circulation, and were tied up in five hundred dollar packages and laid away in the vault of the bank, to be exchanged with the mother bank for new paper.


About ten thousand dollars of this kind of money was handed Mr. P., which he counted and returned to the cashier. This money had laid in the damp vault of the bank so long that the notes adhered to each other, and in counting the ends were loosened.


After Mr. Palmer had returned the packages above named, the cashier wished to be excused from proceeding any farther with the counting that day, as he had company at his house and invited Mr. Palmer to tea. Mr. P. granted the request, but declined the invitation to tea.


When the counting was resumed the next day, Mr. Palmer was surprised to find the same packages he had counted the day before presented to him again to be counted, although an attempt had been made to disguise them by tying the pack- ages with a different colored ribbon from those they were tied with when he first handled them. There were other marks too familiar to the penetrating eye of Mr. Palmer for him to be deceived. Without mentioning his discovery to the cashier, he expressed a wish to that functionary to have the directors


278


Early Reminiscences.


called together, which was complied with by the very accom- modating cashier.


After the directors had assembled, Mr. Palmer said to them that " he had been received and treated very kindly by the cashier, for which he felt grateful to that gentleman, but that he relied too much upon his credulity or want of business capacity, by presenting him those (pointing to the packages) retired bills to be counted again and credited to the bank.


The cashier at once acknowledged the attempted deception. Although the directors must have known the true amount, the cashier was promptly dismissed by them, and he left the State.


Mr. Palmer was afterwards canal commissioner, councilman from his ward, and held several other minor offices.


When Mr. Palmer held the most important offices was be- fore the incumbents were selected because of their national politics, but alone for their strict integrity and qualifications for the position ; at that time when a man's views as to the expediency or inexpediency of certain national measures were neither a qualification or disqualification for State or county offices, as in the canvass for Governor of the State in 1837, both candidates were Whigs, divided on local issues or State policy.


The first gubernatorial eleetion in Indiana that turned upon national politics was that of the ever-memorable canvass be- tween Samuel Bigger and General Tighlman A. Howard, in the year 1840. Governor Noble, although a Clay Whig, was elected over James G. Reed when the State voted for Jackson.


Mr. Palmer's whole public life, as well as his private, seemed to be without reproach or fault ; and while he was highly ap- preciated as a public man, he was no less esteemed as a gen- tleman and a citizen.


He built, and yet owns, that fine hotel that bears his name, and has built and owns other important buildings in different


279


Philip Sweetser.


parts of the city, and is, also, the owner of a fine farm about half a mile west of the city on the National road.


He kept the Palmer House in person from 1844 to 1851, and none that ever sat at its hospitable board can forget the superabundance of every thing upon it, and the superior style in which it was gotten up; without ostentatious display of fine table furniture that could not be consumed, the eye met on every hand something far more interesting to the empty stom- ach of the weary traveler. Very little ever went on that table but had been subjected to the strict scrutiny of Mrs. Palmer.


The writer can never forget the great change he experiencd in the transition from that house to that of a Washington City fashionable boarding-house. None can realize it but those who have tried the latter.


In religion Mr. Palmer claims the right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and is willing that others should enjoy the same high prerogative, and "ren- der unto Cæsar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."


In politics he is an old school Democrat in the strictest sense of the term, and thinks that, in a political point of view, " there is yet a God in Israel."


He is one of the few links in the chain that connect the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and when he is called hence the world will have lost an honest man, and this city one of its best citizens.


PHILIP SWEETSER


Was a native of the State of New Hampshire, born in the vil- lage of Morrow, in the year 1795. He was educated at the same college, and in the same graduating class with that emi- nent Massachusetts lawyer, Hon. Rufus Choate, and had he lived to the age that gentleman did, I have no doubt he would have stood equally high in bis profession.


280


Early Reminiscences.


Mr. Sweetser, for a short time, was a teacher in the Academy at Charlotte Hall, Maryland, and it was there, in that capa- city, he made the acquaintance of our townsman, Esquire William Sullivan.


From the latter place he came to Indiana, and for a short time practiced law in Madison, and from there to Columbus, where he resided many years and was one of the most popular and successful lawyers in the Fifth Judicial Circuit.


While at Columbus he became the law partner of General James Noble, at that time a United States Senator, and after- wards the father-in-law of Mr. Sweetser. They were the prin- cipal lawyers in conducting the prosecution against the mur- derers of the Indians at the falls of Fall Creek in the year 1824, and it was the opening speech in that prosecution, made by Mr. Sweetzer, that first attracted the attention of the people, and the members of the bar particularly, to the Yan- kee lawyer, although his forte in criminal cases was defense, where he was more at home on the side of mercy ; indeed, he was a man of too noble and generous feelings for a successful prosecutor, and he has told me himself that nothing gave him more pain than to prosecute a criminal.


In the month of June, or July, 1833, the writer happened to be in Columbus on the day that a man named Jones was to be hung. A large concourse of people had assembled to witness the execution. Among them were many friends and neighbors of the man that Jones had murdered, all eager to see the law enforced, and the unfortunate man launched into eternity.


It was known that Mr. Sweetser, as the criminal's lawyer, had started to Indianapolis (on horseback) only the evening before to try and have the execution postponed and the crim- inal respited, in order that he might get the case before the Supreme Court. There was great excitement and various threats made against Mr Sweetser if he should be successful.




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