USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement to the present time; with Biographical Sketches and Reference to Biographies, Volume I > Part 38
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John T. Musselman, a prominent merchant in ante-bellum days, but of eccentric characteristics, in the early seventies started a newspaper, the Sun, and announced himself as a candidate for the legislature.
He used vigorous language, severely criticised Rufus Magee, then editor of the Pharos, and many others. One favorite expression of his was, "When you catch a skunk, skin it, skin it to the tail." In his later years he was regarded as of unsound mind.
While in the United States senate Dr. G. N. Fitch became involved in a personal controversy with Senator Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, that came near ending in a hostile meeting according to the code. The meeting was only prevented by the interference of mutual friends, but
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Dr. Fitch never could be induced to support Mr. Douglas in his can- didacy for president.
During the exciting campaign of 1864, Samuel A. Hall, editor of the Pharos and prominent Democratic leader, was advertised to speak at Metia. The writer's father rode a jackass to the meeting and hitched the animal to a sapling just outside an open window where he could have his eye on the beast. Mr. Hall was an animated speaker and elicited numerous outbursts of applause, not only by hand clapping of his audience but by cheers and stamping of heavy boots of Bethle- hem's sturdy yeomanry. Every time there was applause in the school house the donkey just outside would join in the salutations by loud and long "onk, onks," which lasted long after the applause inside had ceased, and so loud that Mr. Hall was compelled to wait until the donkey had ceased from his discordant refrain, which created much merriment among the Republicans, who constituted the majority of the audience.
To show the bitter political feeling sometimes engendered between even members of the same family, we relate the following incident, which I am informed is not a myth. Abraham Skinner was a respected farmer of Harrison township, where he died many years ago. His brother came from Ohio to visit him, and while the two were out unhitch- ing the horse they became involved in a political controversy, Mr. Skin- ner being an ardent Democrat, while his brother as strenuously defended the Republicans. The result was that the brother hitched up his horse and drove away and never returned, and when Abraham Skinner died," in his will he bequeathed over $2,000 to the school fund of Harrison township instead of to his brother, as he had intended.
On his return from his trip around the world in 1878, Gen. U. S. Grant made a stop in Logansport. The local committee of arrange- ments had erected a stand in front of the Murdock hotel, on Broadway, about four feet high. While General Grant was speaking from this stand it gave way and the general sank to the level of the street, but was not hurt. He was the calmest man in that immense crowd and said he had met with worse mishaps, waved to the crowd to keep cool and finished his short speech, standing in the midst of the fallen platform.
In the campaign of 1896, Bourke Cockran, a Tammany brave, left the Democratic party on account of its free silver ideas and was advo- cating the election of Mr. Mckinley. He passed through Logansport and the local Republican committee had drummed up a large crowd at the Panhandle station on Fourth street to hear a ten-minute talk from Mr. Cockran.
Joseph Gray, a respected citizen of Deer Creek township, a lead- ing Democrat, but that day somewhat under the influence of "tangle- foot," kept interrupting the speaker. Frank Porter, an enthusiastic Republican from Clinton township, became so exasperated that he put a quietus on Mr. Gray by bringing his fist into "juxtaposition" with one of Gray's optics in such a manner that there was no further interrup- tion. The Republican committee paid Mr. Porter's fine for his breach of the peace, to which he plead guilty, and all was thereafter quiet on the Wabash.
W. C. Smith, in his Miscellany, relates an amusing incident that occurred in another county during the celebrated campaign of 1840, when Thomas Walpole, a Whig, was opposed by Joseph Chapman, Democrat. Chapman was a plain farmer, and in his speeches accused Walpole, who was a lawyer, of being proud and wearing ruffled shirts. They were holding joint debates and Chapman said he would have to go home to get some clean shirts, when Walpole offered to lend him
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one of his, but Chapman at first refused because it was ruffled, but was told he could keep his vest buttoned and no one would see it, so he accepted the offer. Next day Chapman spoke first and reiterated the charge of "ruffled shirt gentry". and pointed to the ruffles in Walpole's bosom. Walpole arose to reply with apparent great indignation and referred to the abuse he had received from his opponent. "Fellow citizens, I do wear ruffled shirts; you can see them now on my bosom. I am an honest man. I don't try to conceal them. I believe you all abhor a deceiver. What character is as much to be despised as that of a hypocrite? I have patiently borne this abuse and do not like to refer to personalities, but I have resolved to expose my opponent's hypocrisy and to prove to you that he wears a ruffled shirt as well as I." At that moment he tore open Chapman's vest, as he sat near him, when out popped a bosomful of ruffles. At once the audience raised a tremendous shout. Chapman was so surprised and confused that he dare not get up and confess that he had on Walpole's shirt. The trick gained the day for Walpole.
On another page of the Miscellany a few of the leading politicians of pioneer days were given, and we will here mention some of the active workers who have taken a prominent part in their respective parties during the middle period of the county's history when partisanism was at its height, from 1850 to 1888.
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Among Republicans we find such sturdy characters as Col. T. H. Bringhurst, D. W. Tomlinson, James T. Bryer, Capt. Alexander Hardy, Frank Swigert, John T. Powell, Jack Burrows, Dr. J. M. Justice, Richard Tyner, Buford Banta, Joseph Penrose, John Campbell and a host of others who took an interest in the game of politics.
Among Democrats were such men as Judge D. D. Dykeman, S. L. McFaddin, N. S. La Rose, C. B. Knowlton, Dr. G. N. Fitch, John Davis, Dr. J. A. Adrian, William Dolan, Daniel Lybrook, Dr. James Thomas, J. J. Stapleton, Paul Taber, T. J. Immel, Samuel Panabaker, Dr. J. M. Jeroleman and many more who were devoted to their party's interests, all of whom have gone beyond the Great Divide, where party lines are supposed to be obliterated.
The slavery question has caused more bitter party feeling than any or all other causes. Curbing its extension brought on the war, and the results of that war required a generation to overcome, and today there is not that bitterness and animosity existing between the parties that there was in the past. Newspapers are not so abusive and are more tolerant, as we recede from the war period, and now a generation has sprung up who know nothing of those trying times except as an historical reminiscence, and we seem to be entering upon an era of good feeling, where the common welfare takes precedence of party success, which is the prayer of all good and patriotic citizens.
George P. McKee, for over twelve years mayor of the city of Logans- port, during the latter half of his last term, in the winter of 1908, was cited before the city council on impeachment proceedings brought by Dr. J. P. Hetherington, then a member of the city council, in form as follows :
"To the Honorable Common Council of Logansport: The under- · signed, John P. Hetherington, a resident taxpayer of the city of Logan- sport, Indiana, hereby charges that Geo. P. McKee, present mayor of said city of Logansport, did on the 16th day of January, 1908, during his term as such mayor, appear at his office in said city in attendance upon a meeting of the board of finance of said city, then and there held, of which board he was a member by virtue of his office as such mayor, and that, said Geo. P. McKee was then and there on the 16th day of
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January, 1908, while in attendance upon the meeting of said board of finance aforesaid, in such a state of intoxication and drunkenness as to be unable to attend to his duties as a member of said board of finance. I further charge that said Geo. P. McKee, mayor of said city, did on the 15th day of January, 1908, appear on the public streets of said city of Logansport during his office hours as such mayor and outside of such office hours in a state of intoxication and drunkenness. These charges are made in accordance with and under the provision of Section 54 of an act of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana approved March 6, 1905, entitled an act 'Concerning Municipal Corporations,' and the under- signed asks your honorable body to adopt and act upon the same under the provisions of said statute.
"Signed and sworn to by
"JOHN P. HETHERINGTON."
The city council received these accusations, and adopted an ordinance prescribing rules to regulate the impeachment proceedings and employ- ing Long and Walters, attorneys, to prosecute the case on behalf of the 'city, all of which were vetoed by the mayor but passed over the mayor's veto by the following vote : For the ordinance, Wm. O. Fiedler, Fred A. Grover, Joseph T. McNary, John P. Hetherington and Robt. R. Johnston ; against the ordinance, P. J. Farrel and Wm. Henke, making five for and two opposed; and thus the council stood on all further proceedings in the case. The mayor went into court and obtained a temporary re- straining order to prevent Dr. Hetherington sitting in the case, as he was the surgeon in the employ of the railroads, but the injunction, upon a full hearing, was dissolved and the case came to trial in the council cham- ber on February 19, 1908, with Long and Walters prosecuting and Geo. Funk defending the mayor. Joseph T. McNary presided over the im- peachment trial. The lobby was packed, mostly with backers of the mayor, and some of them were very hilarious and order could not be maintained, and the council adjourned the next night to the North court room, but the mayor, his attorney and the two councilmen friendly to him remained in the council chamber; thus there were two courts in ses- sion at the same time. P. J. Farrel presided and Wm. Henke made a motion and seconded the same. Farrel put the question and they two voted for it, fully exonerating the mayor. The five councilmen in the court house were proceeding with the trial at the same time in the absence of the defendant and his counsel. The mayor had many friends, and a petition to the council containing 2,000 names was presented asking the council not to prosecute the charges, but the petition was referred to the auditing committee and was withdrawn by the mayor. Several sessions of the council were held, but Councilmen Farrel and Henke were absent and part of the time Mayor McKee and his counsel were not present. Great excitement and feeling was manifested, especially on the part of the mayor and his friends, and some disgraceful scenes were enacted, but be it said to the honor of the citizens in general, that this unseemly conduct was confined to a certain class of men who were somewhat over- joyed from the effects of fire-water.
The trial, however, was concluded, and on March 7, 1908, five of the seven councilmen sustained the charges and convicted Mayor McKee of the offense as charged. The mayor was a candidate for the Republican nomination for congress and on the eve of a political campaign, and party politics played an important role, so that the council never fixed any penalty, and the matter was dropped and the mayor filled out the remainder of his term.
Mayor McKee is a good-hearted man, is naturally bright and made a creditable officer when free from his cups, but he was a victim to our
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system of treating and the public dramshop, which will pull any man down who patronizes them.
During the campaign of 1848, there lived in the west part of Jefferson township a family by the name of Siedenbender. The father was a strong Democrat and the mother as ardent a Whig. Their son, Bill, was of age that year and on the morning of the election declared he was going to vote for General Taylor. "You will do nothing of the kind," shouted the old man, "You are not old enough to vote; no son of mine can kill my vote unless he is old enough, and you are not." "Yes, you are, Bill," said the mother. "No, you are not," rejoined the father, "and if you attempt to vote I will challenge you." "You will, will you," replied the mother; and addressing her son, said: "Bill, you go to the election and don't stand on the order of your going, but go and tender your vote to the election board and if your father challenges it, come in haste, saddle old Barney and I will go and swear in your vote for I was present at your 'borning.' " It is needless to say Bill voted-and woman . has her way and sways the world although she herself does not vote.
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Vol. 1-19
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CHAPTER XXIV LOCAL MEN OF STATE OR NATIONAL FAME
GENERALS-U. S. SENATORS-CONGRESSMEN-COLONELS-STATE OFFICERS -SUPREME JUDGES FEDERAL JUDGES-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS FEDERAL OFFICERS-BUSINESS MEN.
· In this chapter will be mentioned Cass county men who have held official positions outside of the county, both military and civic, with a brief statement of the nature of the service and a short biographical sketch unless mentioned elsewhere; if so, attention to that fact will be called. Cass county has been honored by the residence within its borders of six generals of the War of 1812 and other wars. Gen. John Tipton, a sketch of whom appears on another page; General Hyacinth Lassalle, who moved with his family to Logansport in 1833, died in 1843, and lies at rest in the old cemetery ; Gen. N. D. Grover, a pioneer who moved to Cass county in 1829, and died in 1875; Gen. Richard Crooks, a pio- neer of Bethlehem township, where he died in 1842, a sketch of whom ap- pears under that township; and Gen. Walter Wilson, who was born in Kentucky in 1782 and moved with his parents to Old Port Vincennes. In 1811 he was sent by General Harrison on a mission to the Indian Chief Tecumseh, engaged in the battle of Tippecanoe, November 7, 1811, and was promoted to the position of colonel for bravery in that fight, and in the attack on the Mississinewa town commanded the left flank and gained the title of general. He was a member of the terri- torial legislative council in 1810 and a member of the first legislature after the organization of. the state in 1816. In 1828 he moved to Cass county and purchased a farm on the north bank of Eel river, opposite Riverside Park. In 1831-2 he represented Cass and Carroll counties in the legislature. He died in 1838 and was buried on his farm where a monument marks his grave to this day .. His son, Wm. Wilson, was post- master during the war and his grandsons, W. W. Wilson and Byron Wilson, are still residents of our city ; also a granddaughter, Mrs. Anna Chandler. Gen. Richard Henry Pratt, born in New York, 1840, came with his father, Richard S. Pratt, to Logansport, 1846, served in the Ninth Indiana and Second Indiana Cavalry and was promoted to a captaincy. In 1867, on the recommendation of Schuyler Colfax, he was appointed a lieutenant in the regular army; promoted to be colonel of the Fifteenth U. S. Cavalry and did service in quelling the Indian out- breaks in the West. He organized the Indian school at Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, where the government is educating Indian boys and has over 1,000 in attendance. General Pratt was superintendent of this school for twenty-five years and was retired in 1903 and promoted to the rank of brigadier general by act of congress. General Pratt was married and has one son and two daughters married, with twenty-one grandchildren. Mrs. Pratt is dead and the general is now living in Philadelphia.
Gen. Minor T. Thomas, son of Judge Hewit L. Thomas, a pioneer of
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Clinton township, was born in Connersville, Indiana, September 24, 1830; came with his parents to Cass county in 1836. In 1853, moved to Minne- sota, became colonel of the Eighth Minnesota Regiment, and was com- missioned a brigadier general and commanded a brigade in General Sherman's army in the Carolinas. He died in Minneapolis October 2, 1897, and lies at rest beside his honored parents in the family lot in Galveston cemetery, Cass county.
U. S. SENATORS
Four citizens of Cass county have represented Indiana in the United States senate.
Gen. John Tipton, an extended notice of whom will be found on another page, was senator from 1831 to 1839, and died in Logansport, April 5th, soon after the expiration of his term of office.
Dr. G. N. Fitch was a representative in the lower house of congress from 1851 to 1852 and senator from 1858 to 1861. He was born in New York in 1909; died in Logansport, 1892. He was educated in New York, came to Cass county in 1834 with his father, Dr. Frederick Fitch, and lived and practiced medicine in Logansport until his death. During the Civil war he raised a regiment, the Forty-sixth Indiana, and acted as its colonel for some time. From 1844 to '47 Dr. Fitch was professor of theory and practice in Rush Medical College, Chicago, when he rode on horseback to Michigan City and crossed the lake on a boat to Chicago. He was a tall man of commanding appearance, a forcible speaker and fluent writer. He was united in marriage to Harriet Satterlee, by whom he had one son and two daughters; the latter became Mrs. A. Coleman and Mrs. Charles Denby. All are now dead.
David Turpie represented Indiana in the U. S. senate from 1887 to 1899. He studied law with D. D. Pratt in 1849 and practiced at the Cass county bar from 1867 to 1872. Later he moved to Indianapolis, where he died in 1909. His second wife was Alice Patridge, a Logansport girl. Senator Turpie was a profound lawyer and a logical speaker. See chapter on Literature for complete biography.
Daniel D. Pratt was elected to the lower house of congress in 1868, but before he took his seat, the legislature sent him to the senate in 1869. After the expiration of his senatorial term in 1875, General Grant appointed him commissioner of internal revenue. Senator Pratt was a large man with a strong voice, a forcible speaker, and became a leader in the U. S. senate. He died in 1877. For complete sketch, see chapter on Literature.
CONGRESSMEN
The following residents of Cass county have seen service in the lower house of congress :
Dr. G. N. Fitch, 1851 to 1853; William D. Owen, from 1885 to 1891; Frederick Landis, from 1903 to 1907-all of whom are noticed elsewhere. And Charles B. Landis, a brother of Frederick, was a member of con- gress from the ninth district for ten years, from 1897 to 1907, Schuyler Colfax, although a resident of South Bend, represented this congres- sional district, the old ninth, from 1855 to 1868, when he was elected vice-president of the United States.
COLONELS
Cass county has furnished a number of distinguished regimental com- manders during the Civil war and other wars, to wit:
Col. David M. Dunn, of the Twenty-ninth Indiana Regiment.
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Col. Wm. P. Lasselle, of the Ninth Indiana Regiment.
Col. Benj. H. Smith, of the Twentieth Indiana Regiment.
Col. Wm. L. Brown, of the Twentieth Indiana; killed at Bull Run, 1862.
Col. G. N. Fitch, of the Forty-sixth Indiana; died, 1892.
Col. T. H. Bringhurst, of the Forty-sixth Indiana; died, 1899.
Col. A. M. Flory, of the Forty-sixth Indiana; died, 1893.
Col. Richard P. DeHart, of the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Indiana.
Col. John B. Durett, Indian wars and War of 1812.
Joseph Barron, Indian interpreter to General Harrison, 1811.
Col. Jordan Vigus, War of 1812; born, 1792; died, 1860.
Col. I. N. Patridge, War of 1812; died in 1874.
Col. Frank Hecker in the Spanish-American war; became a wealthy manufacturer of Detroit.
Col. L. W. Carpenter, of the Fourth Ohio; a practicing physician of Logansport from 1877 to 1888; was born in Ohio, 1834, and died in Seattle, Washington, 1908.
STATE OFFICERS
Dr. Max F. Hoffman was elected secretary of state in 1868. He was a native of Germany, served as surgeon of the Ninth Indiana, and later of the One hundred and Twenty-eighth Indiana Regiment during the Civil war, after which he located in Logansport, residing at 2141/2 Sixth street, when he was elected secretary of state and moved to Indianapolis, where he died in the early seventies. He had a family and one son now resides in Indianapolis.
Wm. D. Owen, who is noticed elsewhere, served one term as secretary of state, from 1894 to 1896, and W. S. Wright acted as his deputy.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Judge Daniel P. Baldwin (see chapter on Literature for sketch), who acceptably filled the office of attorney general from 1881 to 1883, was a scholarly man, and a forcible speaker ; he died suddenly at his home, cor- ner of Seventh and Market streets, December 13, 1908. W. W. Thorn- ton, also a native Cass county man, was deputy under Mr. Baldwin.
JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT
Cass county has been well represented on the supreme bench of the state by :
Judge Wm. Z. Stuart, 1853 to 1857; died, 1877.
Judge Horace P. Biddle, 1874 to 1880; died, May 13, 1900.
Judge Q. M. Myers present incumbent.
APPELLATE COURT
Judge George E. Ross, 1893 to 1897; still living.
Judge Moses B. Lairy, 1911; present incumbent.
FEDERAL JUDGES
Judge Kenesaw M. Landis, now residing in Chicago.
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CLERKS OF THE STATE SUPREME COURT
Simon P. Sheerin, 1882 to 1886; died about 1901.
Robert A. Brown, 1898 to 1902; he is now editing a paper in Frank- lin, Indiana.
. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS
Walter Wilson, appointed to take the returns to Washington; died in 1838.
Dr. J. M. Justice in 1868; died, 1894.
Frank Swigart in 1888; died, 1912.
Dr. J. Z. Powell in 1896; still in practice.
Q. A. Myers in 1904; now supreme judge.
Dr. G. N. Fitch in 1856; died in 1892.
FEDERAL OFFICERS .
Thomas H. McKee for many years was clerk or assistant clerk of the house or senate, and is now warden of the federal prison in Washington, D. C.
John B. Dillon, state librarian, 1845, and from 1863 to 1875 was clerk of the librarian at Washington, D. C.
Rufus Magee was minister to Sweden and Norway, 1885 to 1889.
Perry S. Heath, a printer on the Pharos, 1877 to 1879, was first as- sistant postmaster general in Mckinley's first administration, 1897, and at present is a Washington correspondent for the metropolitan press.
Col. T. H. Bringhurst was for many years a special agent of the postoffice department, about 1866 to 1876.
Wm. D. Owen was commissioner of immigration in Mckinley's ad- ministration in 1897.
Col. David M. Dunn was appointed by General Grant consul at Prince Edwards Island and served from about 1869 to 1877.
W. H. Jacks was consul at London, Ontario, under Cleveland's first administration and H. Z. Leonard replaced him at the same post in 1889.
Ross Hazeltine, son of James R. Hazeltine of West Broadway, has been in the consular service for a number of years, being stationed at different ports in South America and Europe, and is still an efficient offi- cer in the diplomatic service; is now stationed in Western Africa.
Hyacinth Lasselle, Jr., editor of the Logansport Telegraph, was ap- pointed in 1849 to a lucrative position in Washington and held the same for many years and died there some years later.
John M. Wright, son of Williamson Wright, held a federal office in Washington for over twenty years, from 1874 to 1894. He died at Lincoln, Indiana, about 1900.
Judge John W. Wright, son of Rev. John Wright, and a prominent attorney at Logansport, was Indian agent in the West for a number of years after the war. He died in 1889.
Major Daniel Bell was government surveyor in locating the boundary line between Indiana and Illinois in 1822. He was among the earliest settlers of the county, landing at the mouth of Eel river, March 27, 1827, and erected the first log cabin in the town of Logansport, on the north side of the Wabash river, near the present location of the Wabash pas- senger station. In 1830 he erected a cabin on the north bank of Eel river, where he lived for a short time when he moved to Georgetown, this county. After the death of General Tipton, his brother-in-law, in 1839, he moved to Logansport and took charge of his domicile, that then stood near the Panhandle shops. In 1845 he moved to Jackson township,
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where he resided until his death, November 7, 1874, the sixty-third an- niversary of the battle of Tippecanoe in which he bore an honorable part, and rests in the Sprinkle graveyard, near Lincoln, in this county. Daniel Bell was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, March 7, 1788, and soon after his parents moved to Kentucky and in 1811 settled in Corydon, Indiana, where he enlisted in Captain Spencer's company and was engaged in the Indian wars and at Tippecanoe where Captain Spencer fell. He was married in December, 1811, to Nancy Spencer, daughter of Captain Spencer, at Corydon, Indiana, and in the spring of 1827 became a resident of Cass county. His son, Lewis Cass Bell, born February 11, 1829, was the first white child, to grow to manhood, born in Cass county. He was a Union soldier and died July 11, 1911, in the hospital of the Soldiers' Home at Santa Monica, California. He is sur- vived by a sister, Mrs. Nancy Speese-Jackson, of Danville, Indiana, and two children, Delos F. Bell, of Kokomo, and Mrs. Inez Caffee, of Marion.
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