USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > Historical sketches of Old Vincennes, founded in 1732 : its institutions and churches, embracing collateral incidents and biographical sketches of many persons and events connected therewith > Part 6
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nineteenth century, when regular postal communication was established with the rest of the world, it required about six weeks to send and receive a reply to a letter in the East; now they are sent and the answers received in about four days, or less time.
The first postoffice established in Vincennes was when General W. Johnson, a distinguished and able man, and who has been noticed elsewhere, was appointed postmaster, on April 1, 1800. His successors have been the following, in the order named: Henry Hurst, April 1, 1802; Wm. B. Coupeland, July 1, 1802; William Prince, January 1, 1803; General W. Johnson, July 1, 1803; William Prince, March 31, 1812; John D. Hay, July 1, 1813; George R. C. Sullivan, March S, 1817 ; Samuel Hill, April 5, 1827 ; John Scott, September 7, 1829; James W. Green- how, September 27, 1843 ; Elihu Stout, August 16, 1845; Lewis L. Watson, May 12, 1849; James Dick, March 26, 1853; John Moore, April 6, 1857; Hubbard M. Smith, March 28, 1861; William N. Denny, April 8, 1869; William D. Lewis, January 30, 1882; James E. Kackley, May 26, 1885 ; Allen Tindolph, June 25, 1889 ; Royal E. Purcell, April 8, 1893, and Thomas H. Adams, May 13, 1897, who is the present incumbent, and who was reap- pointed May 13, 1902.
The Vincennes office was a receiving and distributing depot for the whole Northwest for many years ; it received mail matter from adjacent offices when mail packages were made up for the important cities in the East. This office continued to be a distributing one, within circumscribed boundaries, as the North and West became settled, until about 1864, and the postmaster's salary was regulated by
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the amount of matter handled by him, he being allowed a per cent. for receiving and remailing the postal matter. About this time the law was changed and the office became a salaried one, the amount being regulated and based upon the local business, and that law yet obtains. During the time that Hubbard M. Smith held the position of post- master, the money order business was established, and the postmaster was allowed a small per cent. upon the number of orders issued, this being the only perquisite addi- tional to his salary. When the office was a per cent. one, unless the sum exceeded $5,000 per annum, the postmaster received only the per cent., let it be little or much. without any allowance for elerk hire; if the business exceeded $5.000. then he received a $5,000 salary and clerk hire. This law was unjust and inequitable, and the postmaster had to pay out sometimes almost as much for assistants as his personal salary amounted to. During the Civil War, when the mails became heavy. $300 per annum was allowed for a clerk. The business demanded two assistants, and the postmaster was expected to make up the deficiencies for clerk hire from his own pocket. During the first years of the Civil War, the post master paid out nearly all he received from the Gov- ernment for the clerical force of the office, and a mere pittance remained for his own services. But about 1867, the postmaster, in making up his quarterly reports, added to his expense account the sum of $90 and the Department was kind and considerate enough to allow same in his annual settlement. This stretch of benevo- lenee and justice did not show itself in all of the depart- ments of the Government. As a matter of history, the
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writer should add an additional word about "shin plas- ters," as our postal currency was denominated during the Civil War. Some of the old inhabitants will remember that after the war had well commenced, all gold disappeared from circulation, and soon followed the disappearance of silver coin. The people were put to such straits for small change that a few men issued personal checks, from five cents up to fifty, one Watson, at Terre Haute, and one James, at Rockport, I think, supplying the demand. The Government at last came to the rescue and issued postal currency of the denominations of five, ten, twenty-five and fifty cents. A batch of $6,000 was sent to the postmaster here and he was held responsible for same, in good money, whether it was burned or stolen. It was to be given out to business men for greenbacks, as change. It did not prove a bonanza to the postmaster. But the tale is too long to tell and I will only cite the reader to what was one of his "tales of woe" incident thereto. In those days the older citizens will remember that the only money in circulation was greenbacks and postal currency, individual promissory notes, and counterfeit bills were not infrequent ; and all mutilated bills, whether treasury notes or postal bills, were required to be accepted for postage stamps by the post- master, he being ordered so to do, and to transmit the same by mail to the Treasurer of the United States, who was to return a draft in exchange for same to the postmaster. Postmaster Smith, by order, was compelled to comply with this unjust ruling, as will be shown. He was fortunate in getting equivalents back after transmissions generally, but he was "left with the pouch to hold" on one batch sent off t the amount of $43. Although sent from his office in
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a through brass loek pouch for Indianapolis, the mail train was burned on which this ponch was being carried, and because no speck of the bills was found by the special mail agent, W. N. Tyner, refusal was made of payment to the postmaster. It was proved by witnesses that the money was mailed, and that it was wholly burned, but because no vestige of the bills was found, Unele Sam, who "is rich enough to give us all a farm," through his overscrupulous Secretary of the Treasury, Spinner, denied justice to the postmaster. After many years, when principal and interest amounted to nearly $100, the congressman from the Vin- cennes district succeeded in getting a bill for reimburse- ment before the House to the point of having it printed, and there it stuck. Correspondents all over the country took up the case, and all said a long deferred just bill was about to be paid by the Government, in which opinion they lamentably erred. "Corporations have no souls," it is said, and the only consolation that the then postmaster now has left to him in his declining years is the knowledge of his having stock in the father of all corporations-the United States Government-and he can advisedly say, "this is my Government," if he is but a small junior partner.
The writer's first experience in postage tax, where the amount was paid in money (it being prior to the time of stamps), and according to the distance the letter was car- ried, when under 600 miles, and near that, it was twenty- five cents per half ounce. Not having sent letters a dis- tance exceeding 600 miles, the highest cost to him was that sum from Kentucky to Missouri. What a drop in post- age, from twenty-five cents for 600 miles, to five cents from San Francisco to Europe, a distance of at least 6,000 miles ! Penny postage is the next step in postal progression.
VINCENNES UNIVERSITY. FOUNDED IN 1806, AND ANNEX.
-C.R.GREEN VIN
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UNIVERSITY
INCENNES
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Chapter V.
SCHOOLS-VINCENNES UNIVERSITY.
V INCENNES, being one of the first settled towns in the West, early became an important base for military operations, and especially during the close of the eighteenth century. The United States Goverment, having permanently possessed this region through the foresight and brilliant strategy of General George Rogers Clark, in 1779, it soon became the seat of the Territorial Government, whose jurisdiction embraced much of the Northwest, including Illinois and Michigan. The influx of population, following the organization of a Territorial Government, at this point, especially of the enterprising educated class of people, brought it into such prominence that the establish- ment of a seat of learning was soon determined on, and Congress was petitioned to, and did, on March 4, 1804, set apart one entire township of land for the benefit of a seminary of learning in the Vincennes land district, and the Secretary of the United States Treasury, on October 10, 1806, selected and set apart Township No. 2, south range eleven west, situated in Gibson county. In pursuance thereof, and to carry out the intention of Congress, the Territorial Legislature of Indiana passed an aet November 29, 1806, and supplemented the same by an act passed September 17, 1807, incorporating the Vincennes Uni- versity in the name and style of "Board of Trustees for the
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Vincennes University," and recognized it as the recipient and beneficiary of the aforesaid gift of lands donated by Congress. This act of the Territorial Council and House of Representatives ordained, "that an university be and is hereby instituted and incorporated, within this territory, to be called and known by the name and style of the Vin- cennes University, and that Wm. Henry Harrison, John Gibson, Thomas M. Davis, Henry Vanderburgh, Waller Taylor, Benjamin Parke, Peter Jones, Samuel Johnson, John Badollet, John Rice Jones, Geo. Wallace, William Bullitt, Elias McNamee, Henry Hurst, Geo. Johnson, Francis Vigo, Jacob Kuykendall, Samuel MeKee, Na- thaniel Ewing, Geo. Leach, Luke Decker, and Samuel Gwathey are hereby declared to be the trustees of said University, and the said trustees and their successors be, and they are hereby created, a body corporate and politie by the name of the Board of Trustees for the Vincennes University, and are hereby ordained, established, and de- clared to be forever hereafter a body politie and corporate in fact and in name and by that name they, and their successors, shall and may have continual succession and shall be persons in law capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, answering and being an- swered, defending and being defended in all courts and places whatever, and that they and their successors may have a common seal and make and alter the same at their pleasure, also that the said trustees shall not at any time hold or possess more than 100,000 acres of land." This act emphasized the broad and liberal heartiness with which the Legislature entered into and sanctioned the idea of Congress in its aim to build up at Vincennes a great educa-
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tional institution. The general Government having passed an act to give a second township of land for the same pur- pose (locating it in Monroe county), the Indiana Legis- lature evidently intended, at that time, to apply the pro- ceeds of this second township of land to the upbuilding of the Vincennes University, as evidenced by the provisions in the act restricting the institution from acquiring more than 100,000 acres of land. This inference is a clearly le- gitimate and reasonable one. An additional evidence that the Territorial Legislature intended that this school should be the leading one of the State may be found in the liberal and extensive provisions of its charter. It not only pro- vided for a collegiate course of study, embracing literature and the sciences, but gave it the right to establish chairs of law, medicine and theology; also granting it the right to confer degrees, in the several departments, to students and eminent scholars. It also empowered the board of trustees to establish a grammar school and a female department, also requiring the board to receive into the institution any Indian scholars "who, when sent, shall be maintained, elothed and educated at the expense of said institution." To accomplish this, small donations would have been inade- quate, and hence the inevitable conelusion that both town- ships of land in Gibson and Monroe counties were intended for the use of the Vincennes University. Any other con- clusion must presuppose that the members of Congress and the Legislature knew but little of the expensive require- ments of such an institution, which was certainly not the case. In the act incorporating the University, under the management of a board of trustees, power was given them by Congress to "sell, transfer, convey and dispose of any
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quantity not exceeding 4,000 acres of said land," which they proceeded to do, by sale and lease, after the organiza- tion of the board of trustees, which elected Governor Wil- liam Henry Harrison, president ; James Johnson, treas- urer, and General W. Johnson, clerk, after which appropri- ate committees were appointed to carry out the intentions of Congress and the Legislature by the establishment of a University. The committee on building selected two par- cels of land, adjoining, from Henry Vanderburgh and Colonel Francis Vigo, forming nearly four squares, and be- ing bounded by Perry, Sixth, Hart and Fourth streets, the finest and most suitable locality in the borough for the college ground. At this early period building material was scarce and expensive, contractors were few and the reve- me from the lands slow in being realized; which facts greatly handicapped the trustees in their action. It was not until April 10, 1811, that the large two-story brick building, located in the center of the plot of ground, was tenantable and available for school purposes, when the Reverend Samuel T. Scott, a Presbyterian minister, was selected to open and take charge of an English school therein. The small revenue from the sale of the lands, having been consmed in the purchase of ground and the erection of the building, and more funds being needed to finish and equip the school, as well as to pay teachers, the board petitioned Congress, April 16, 1816, to permit it to sell the remaining 19,000 acres of the Gibson county lands, but the committee to whom the matter was referred report- ed adversely, saying "it is inexpedient to sell at this time." In 1818 the trustees repetitioned Congress for permission to sell the lands at not less than $10 per acre (as they
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needed the funds to build up the school) at public auction, but the petition was rejected. Although hampered by lack of funds the school was making fair progress, its trustees and friends being buoyed up with the hope and expectation that at no distant day they would realize from the renting of its lands a sufficient endowment fund to meet the ex- penses incident to its growth and increased educational necessities. But, with the passing years and the increase in population in the eastern and northern parts of the State, a jealousy sprang up from these sections against the southern portion of the State which was soon manifested by legislative action against the Vincennes University, the same influences acting that caused the removal of the seat of government of the Territory from Vincennes to Cory- don. On the 20th day of January, 1820, Bloomington College was given a charter, and, quickly following this action, on the 23d of January, 1820, the Legislature, as- suming that the State, in its organized capacity, owned the Vincennes University lands, donated to the University by special act of Congress, passed an act appointing com- missioners to take possession of said lands and rent them and turn the proceeds into the State Treasury. Thus it oc- curred. without a vestige of legal right, equity or law, that the remaining 19,000 acres of unsold land of the Univer- sity were wrested from the trustees by force, under the claim of State inheritance. But it will be seen that the solons had some qualms of conscience about this high- handed procedure of appropriating these lands, for they took steps to give the State the semblance of a title to them through an attempt, by legislation, to obliterate the University from existence. In order to accomplish this
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purpose, in 1824 an act was passed attempting to trans- form the University into a new creature under the name and style of the "Knox County Seminary." By this act Vincennes University was deprived of its lands, building, apparatus, furniture, and even its book of record. By this unjust procedure the University was compelled to give up all its possessions and be transformed into an institution entirely foreign to the kind contemplated by Congress, and thus, for the time being, the Vincennes University, on April 24, 1824, passed under the baleful shadow of wrong and injustice. In this metamorphosis into the "Knox County Seminary" it was stipulated by the Legislature that the institution should be under the control of the old board of trustees of the University; but they paid little attention to the mandate, and an inter-regnum of four years exists between the enactment of this law, attempting to disfranchise the University, and the first meeting of the Knox County Seminary trustees, which occurred October 3, 1828. The blow dealt the University in 1824 gave Vin- cennes educators a backset, and they did not take kindly to the new institution. The power, privileges and responsi- bilities having been taken from the old board of trustees, they ceased to be active in educational matters, and the new board (which did not meet until 1828, four years after dispossessing the old board) acted with very little spirit. In this connection it would be well to state, for a full un- derstanding of the conditions existing, that there appears to have been a dual board of trustees, as will be evidenced later, the old board continuing its existence, although there are no continuous records to show the fact, their record- book having been taken by the new board. In the mean-
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time, during this hiatus, the school building, having never been completed, was deteriorating for want of care to such an extent that squatters took possession and continued to occupy it at will, filling it up with household goods, using the campus for the pasturage of animals and the basement as a stable for horses. The State, having appropriated the income of the University to Bloomington, said to its Knox County Seminary trustees : "Now, you take possession of the University building and its property and make the Seminary flourish." It gave them nothing to endow it, nor even complete the buildings, yet expected miracles of edu- cation to be wrought. To show that the picture is not over- drawn relative to the Knox County Seminary building as rechristened, I quote from its board's record of a meeting held on January 22, 1831. On motion of John Holland, a new trustee, it was "Resolved, That from and after this date, there shall not be allowed any family, person or per- sons, to occupy any part of the house except those who are engaged in the business of teaching, and the scholars. Neither shall there be allowed any horse, cow or hog, or any other animal whatsoever, to run at large in said Seminary lot, or be kept in any of the lower rooms, called the cellar, to the injury of the lot or cellar rooms." And from the wording of another resolution offered at the same meeting. one would infer that the building contained a pandemo- nium where blue, white, black and gray spirits often held high carnival. It reads: "And, be it further Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed whose duty it shall be to visit the Seminary as frequently as the affairs and business of the institution may require, to hear and do- termine all matters of dispute and to preserve good order
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generally in or about the house and preservation of the lot." This condition of the institution was but a natural sequence of ill-advised and unjust legislative action.
"The Knox County Seminary," masquerading in the habiliments of the Vincennes University, maintained a ] ecarious existence during the next few years; its new board of trustees having no heart in the project, held no meetings from October, 1832, until June, 1835, during which year they met but once, and the next and last meet- ing was held on August 25, 1836, when it ceased to be an active body, although it held control of the Seminary build- ing and grounds. The new board ceasing to be a factor in educational work and the State having failed to extinguish the University, the latter's board resumed the office taken from them in 1824 and reorganized June 11, 1838. The Reverend Alexander was elected president and George R. Gibson secretary. (As they had been robbed of their en- dowment, they had no use for a treasurer.) Having par- tially recovered from the embarrassment, as a result of the State's unjust action, the board reasserted itself, and at its first meeting appointed a committee to recover the old rec- ords and require the board of trustees of the borough of Vincennes to render an account of the disposition of the funds of the commons land (arising from its sale) above the amount necessary to drain an adjacent pond, authorized by Congress April 20, 1818. At the next meeting of the University board of trustees, October 5, 1839, Honorable A. T. Ellis, a delegate from and in behalf of the "Knox County Seminary" board, appeared and relinquished all claim to the ground and building, thereby acknowledging that his board had no legal right to the property.
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During the time the building was in the possession of the Seminary board it deteriorated and debts had accumu- lated against the property, and he then recommended that the University board of trustees adopt some plan to liquid- ate the claims against the property and of preventing fur- ther dilapidation of the building. Thus it was that the orig- inal University board of trustees, after a lapse of fifteen years, resumed control of some of its property which legis- lative action had deprived it of in 1824. In the interval between the time of dispossession and restoration debts had accumulated against the University to the amount of $1,830.40, and the assets of the "Knox County Seminary" were nil. After deliberation on the institution's financial condition, it was deemed wise to lease or sell the property to meet the indebtedness. A proposition was received from the president of St. Gabriel's College to purchase, and the same was accepted, and for the sum of $6.500 the holdings of the University passed into the hands of the Catholics of Vincennes. Upon the receipt of funds, by the sale of the property, the board of trustees took steps to purchase an- other lot with a view toward erecting a smaller building in which to start a grammar school. In the meantime they rented a brick building near the corner of Fifth and Mar- ket (now Main) streets, and secured the services, July, 1840, of the Reverend B. B. Killikelly. an Episcopal min- ister, to take charge, with Mr. Chestnut as assistant teacher. Lot 191, corner Fifth and Busseron streets, on which the present University building now stands, was purchased of Dr. Hiram Decker for $500. The Reverend Killikelly remained in charge of the institution until July. 1842, when he tendered his resignation for the purpose of
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visiting Europe in the interests of his church and uni- versity. During the legislative session of 1843 a bill was passed authorizing the board doing county business in Knox county to seize on all the assets of the University. But it seems that this law proved a dead letter, as no such procedure was attempted or accomplished. The University hoard entered a protest and engaged legal counsel to defend the institution's rights. Soon after a committee was ap- pointed, May, 1843, to take steps looking to the erection of a school building, but the matter was subsequently aban- doned, for the time being, for the want of funds. In the following June the board met and appointed a committee whose duty it was to recover, if possible, the Gibson county lands. Before taking any decisive step the opinion of Chancellor James Kent was sought, and, in December, 1843, the board authorized the Honorable Samuel Judah to collate the facts and laws relating to the right of the University to these lands and send them to Judge Kent for a legal opinion on the same. The chancellor, after examin- ing all the acts of Congress and the Legislature of Indiana on the subject, sent an elaborate and exhaustive opinion in favor of the University's contention, saying, in conclusion : "I am of the opinion that the Legislature of Indiana is bound by the most imperious obligations of justice and honor to indemnify the University for this unconstitu- tional arrest and detention of their property." Encouraged by such eminent legal authority, as to the rights of the University, the board of trustees authorized Samnel Judah and A. T. Ellis to prosecute its claims to the Gibson county lands, and suits were entered against the occupants. This action created consternation and excitement, as the
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holders were innocent purchasers, and a small rebellion was inaugurated and violence was threatened to the attor- nays of the University if they persisted in the prosecution of the suits, the only recourse left to the trustees for re- dress, as they could not sue the State. After some prelimi- nary litigation an understanding was reached between the contesting attorneys. to the effect that the Senators and Representatives from Knox and Gibson counties should se- cure the passage of an act giving permission to the Uni- versity board to bring suit against the State in the Marion County Circuit Court to determine the right of ownership of said lands. This bill was passed in 1846, and the board's attorneys were authorized to bring suit at once. The case was tried and the Marion County jury awarded the Uni- versity $30.096.66 for that part of the lands the State had already sold. The State appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which reversed this decision at the spring term, 1850. An appeal was then taken to the Supreme Court of the United States by the attorneys for the University. and, in 1852, that court set aside the action of the Indiana Supreme Court, holding that the lands belonged to the University. In the delivery of the opinion of the court, the Chief Justice said : "The claim is a just one, and if the reservations of these lands had been judiciously managed they would have constituted a fund at this time (1852) of $200,000." After this decision the State of Indiana made another effort to deprive the University of its charter and secured the services of five of the best lawyers in the State to gain its purpose. They attempted to show that the University board of trustees had lost its charter through neglect, but it was found that there was no evidence to
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