USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 49
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Provision for such an institution was first made by the Decatur county board of commissioners in 1823. In this year the board ordered the county agent to let the construction of a pound, forty-four feet square, of oak posts and rails, sufficiently strong to retain any animal that might be placed therein. The contractor was to receive half his pay when his work was completed and the other half in eight months. The pound was to be erected on the public square in Greensburg. The pound was maintained on the square until 1826, when the court ordered it moved to the school lot and its size somewhat reduced. The contract for this removal was given to Isaac Plough, who received three dollars eighty-seven and one-half cents for his labor. It was maintained on this lot, Michigan avenue and Railroad street, until 1842, when it was again placed on the public square. Incensed citizens, who objected to having the pen on the public square, tore it down twice within a week, and the institution passed into history.
POLITICS IN 1842.
In the county election of 1842 party lines were drawn only in the fight for representative. David Montague was the Whig candidate and many voters propounded the following list of questions to him: (1) Are you an infidel in religious matters? (2) Are you an abolitionist ? (3) Are you in favor of taxing distilleries so as to break them down? (4) Are you in favor of the present property law? (5) Are you in favor of a "stop law"? if so, how long? (6) Are you a member of any temperance or Washingtonian Society ?
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"Uncle Davy" came through with replies immediately. He answered the first three questions in the negative, the next two in the affirmative, and ignored the last one. He received one thousand and sixty-eight votes to eight hundred and thirty for his opponent, Harvey Dunlavey. Evidently his stand on these questions met with the approval of the voters.
THE WHIG BARBECUE OF 1844.
On October 4, 1844, a Whig barbecue for the third congressional district was held in Greensburg. It was, beyond doubt, the biggest political gathering ever held in this region up to that time. There was bunting, flags and other decorations galore and ten thousand people are reported to have been present. Hon. James M. Cravens, the Whig congressman from this district, presided and P. A. Hackelman, of Rush county, C. F. Clarkson, of Franklin county, and D. C. Rich, of Jennings county, were secretaries.
The principal speaker was the Hon. Caleb Smith, of Connersville, who was then considered the most eloquent speaker in the state. The meeting was held in the Hendricks grove, a half mile northwest of the court house, in the locality of the old orphans' home. The task of feeding the multitude was successfully accomplished.
After dinner, Hon. Oliver H. Smith delivered a memorable campaign speech. At night the meeting was continued in the Presbyterian church, where Hackelman, Rich, Cravens and Milton Gregg, of Dearborn county, were the orators. On October 24, another monster rally was held at Rushville and many Decatur county Whigs attended. Clarksburg was represented in the parade at Rushville, with a huge canoe cut from a large sycamore log, drawn by twenty white horses and filled with twenty fair maidens to represent the number of states then comprising the Union.
ONE HUNDRED STRONG AND FOUR THOUSAND MILES TO GO.
Many of the early citizens will recall hearing of the overland trip of the Decatur-Rush county colony of 1852. On March 8, 1852, this colony of one hundred brave souls started from the Spring Hill and Richland communities on an overland journey by ox teams to far-away Oregon. They went from Madison to St. Joseph, Missouri, by boat and the remaining distance was traversed overland. After six months of privations and dangers, they landed in the Willamette valley, September 13. 1852. where they remained six years, when they moved to near The Dalles.
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AN OLD-TIME DEBATING SOCIETY.
During the Civil War a well organized debating society, composed of fifteen young men of Greensburg, flourished in that city. The society met every Friday evening in the office of the sheriff and discussed matters of public interest. After several lengthy arguments, the society decided that abolition of slavery would be necessary to stop the war and that the removal of General MeClellan was justifiable.
One of the most famous debates conducted by the society was at the court house when the justifiability of Napoleon's banishment was discussed, J. D. Spillman and W. A. Moore taking the affirmative and R. C. Talbott and Captain Irvin, the negative. The record does not say who won.
A GLIMPSE OF TIIE ANTI-MASONIC MOVEMENT.
Some of the able debaters of the early days, according to recorded evidence, must have been Joseph Hopkins, Andrew Robison, Thomas and Cyrus Hamilton of the Kingston neighborhood. The story is told that back some time in the late twenties two youthful students at Hanover came to Kingston and issued a challenge to the whole wide world for a discussion of Masonry.
Andrew Robison and Cyrus Hamilton, although neither knew a thing about Masonry, agreed to meet them, and, according to one who was pres- ent at the discussion, "when it was over, there was only a grease spot on the floor where the students had stood."
Twenty years later, at the same place, there was held a very celebrated discussion of the subject, "Is a United States bank constitutional, accord- ing to the constitution?" The judges were Alexander and John Porter and a man named Travis. All were property owners and had been selected because every one had implicit confidence in their fairness.
Disputants were John B. Trimble and James B. Yearns for the affirma- tive and William L. Douglas and Thomas Jones for the negative. Soon after the judges had retired to consider the points adduced, one of them reappeared and asked, "On which side of this question is James Yearns?" He was supplied with the needed information and the judges at once filed back with a decision favoring Yearns' side.
The announcement came as a surprise, the question being a partisan one and two of the judges being of the anti-bank party, which made it the
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more difficult to understand. Yearns, however, was a son-in-law of one of the Porters, which, it was later decided, was the senegambian in the wood pile.
A CIVIL WAR DEBATE.
In September, 1862, occurred a bitter joint debate between Colonel Bemusdaffer and the Reverend Van Buskirk at Milford. They were candi- dates for the Legislature on the Democratic and Republican tickets, respec- tively. Van Buskirk took for his text the words of Stephen A. Douglas, and stuck to his text all the way through. These words were as follow :
"How are we to overcome partisian antipathies in the minds of men of all parties so as to present a united front in the support of our country ? Whoever is not prepared to sacrifice party organizations and platforms on the altar of his country is not worthy of the support and countenance of honest people. We must cease discussing party issues, make no allusions to old party tests, have no criminations and recriminations, indulge in no taunts one against the other as to who has been the cause of these troubles. When we shall have rescued the country and government from its perils and seen its flag floating in triumph over every inch of American soil, it will then be time enough to inquire as to who and what has brought about these troubles upon us. Then it will be time cnough for each of us to return to our party banners."
Van Buskirk argued that the Republican party, whose candidate he was, was true to this conception, that the Republican party had eschewed its name and had nominated a state ticket, with three Republicans and three Denio- crats upon it. He also pointed out that Colonel Gavin, a Democrat, had been named for Congress.
EARLY GREENSBURG LIBRARIES.
A fugitive notice in a local newspaper in 1857 says that there were two public libraries then open in Greensburg every Tuesday and Friday after- noons. The McClure library was free to members of the Workingmen's Institute, others paying twenty-five cents per quarter for library privileges. The other library belonged to the township and had been established by Professor Larrabee in 1855. The records showed that in nine months five hundred and seventy-six books were taken from the McClure library and four hundred and twenty-nine from the township library. No other account has been found of either library.
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ORTHOGRAPHIC CONTESTS.
Public spelling matches became very popular in the seventies and all over the country matches were held in school houses, opera houses and other places. A town in Ohio in 1875 claimed the honor of being the first to con- duct a public spelling match and the editor of a Greensburg newspaper comes back in this wise :
"The question of where the spelling mania originated is being discussed, and Ohio, with her usual brazenness, is claiming the honor. We want to say that the first public spelling match in the country took place in Greens- burg in 1874. The papers of the state made considerable fun over it at the time, and said that we were without other forms of amusement. Now they want to claim the honor of being first."
One of the most famous spelling matches of forty years ago was held in the county court house on March 18, 1875, when Susie F. Wise, New Pennington, won first prize over lawyers, doctors, teachers and others. This prize was one hundred and sixty acres of western land owned by James Hart.
A second spelling match was held at the court house on March 25, of the same year, with Judge W. A. Moore and G. H. Dunn as captains. W. A. Powner was umpire and Doctor Wright pronouncer. Dunn had first choice and took F. E. Gavin. Moore took N. S. Cooper. Miss Wise, who had won the week before, went down and' out on "hostage." The last four standing were Moore, Cooper, E. T. Jordan and J. K. Ewing. In the end Cooper won.
LINCOLN IN GREENSBURG.
A fact not generally known is that Abraham Lincoln once observed a birthday in Greensburg. It was February 12, 1861, his fifty-second birth- day, and he was on his way to Washington to be sworn in as President of the United States. According to his itinerary, he was to go from Indian- apolis direct to Cincinnati, but Will Cumback prevailed upon those in charge to hold tlie train at Greensburg for a short time in order that Decatur county people might pay their respects to the President-elect. A meeting of prominent citizens had been held the week before to perfect arrangements.
When the train stopped at the station, Mr. Lincoln appeared at the rear platform and was introduced by Will Cumback, who was one of the committee of escort. A crowd estimated at two thousand had gathered. Lincoln, after explaining that he had no time, on account of the limitations
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of his schedule, to make an extended speech, thanked his auditors for their courtesy, and then, noticing that there was a band present, called for some imusic, adding that of course the sentiment of it would no doubt favor the Union. The crowd sang "The Flag of Our Union," the band played "Hail, Columbia" and then the train pulled out. While Lincoln was listening to the music, he was presented with a large red apple by John Dokes, a well- known character.
Commenting upon the President-elect, the Greensburg Standard said in its next issue : "Almost everybody who saw President Lincoln as he passed through this place on last Tuesday seemed to be surprised to find him so good looking a man as he is. From what they had heard and from the pic- tures they had seen, they of course expected to see an altogether different looking man. He is not a beauty, but then he is about as good looking as Presidents generally are."
THE FIRST SUNDAY SCHOOL IN DECATUR COUNTY.
The first Sunday school in Decatur county was held in the fall of 1827 near the present Mt. Carmel church, two miles south of Clarksburg. There was no church building there at that time, but a log school house on Andra McCoy's farm, in which the Presbyterians, Methodists, United Brethren and New Lights had occasional services. Here was organized the first Sunday school. The officers of this first Sunday school were as follows: John Hopkins, superintendent; Zenas Darnell, assistant superintendent; Dr. Jesse M. Gillespie, secretary. The teachers were Miss Andra McCoy, Jane Don- nell (Mrs. Luther A. Donnell), Jane Throp, Elizabeth Bell and John Bell. Dr. Nathaniel Lewis was appointed to raise money to buy a library for the school, and when the books came some of the members did not like some of them and withdrew from the school, because of the fictitious character of some of the books. This school was continued until about 1830, when it was disbanded, and the Methodists, who then had a church society there, organized another Sunday school.
THE ONLY LYNCHING IN DECATUR COUNTY.
Just once in the history of the county has mob law overruled the courts and claimed its victim. In the summer of 1879 Oscar M. Garrett, an Adams county farmer, was arrested, charged with the murder of John Walton, a
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neighbor. Walton had a young wife in whom Garrett, although a married man, took an undue interest. The crime was at once laid at his door and the widow was also arrested, charged with complicity in the deed. So strong was public sentiment against him, that Garrett took a change of venue to Bartholomew county. Mrs. Walton was tried in the local court and sen- tenced to the penitentiary for life. In the trial at Columbus the state en- deavored to show that Garrett had hired a colored man to perform the act.
Garrett was acquitted and returned to Decatur county, where he was at once arrested upon another charge. Sentiment ran high, and a few nights later twenty men burst the jail door and laid hands upon their victim. He fought like a tiger, with all the madness of despair. Shrieking and bleeding, he was borne toward the door and out into the yard. All the time he furi- ously fought his assailants. When the mob at last overpowered him and strung him to a tree in the jail yard. life was almost extinct.
John Stout was county sheriff at this time. He did his best to protect his prisoner, but the mob overpowered him. Under the state law at that time, Walton's widow secured a third of his estate.
THE AGAPHONE.
In 1878 Israel D. Jewett, of St. Omer, invented an instrument to which he gave the name "agaphone." The county papers of that year refer to it in glowing terms and prophecy that it will supplant the telephone in a short time. The Greensburg Standard says that "A reporter of the Cincinnati Gasette, who has twice visited St. Omer to inspect this invention, reports it a perfect triumph over the Edison instrument." For some reason the won- derful invention failed to materialize and nothing more is heard of it after that year. Whether it was ever used as a means of communication, has not been discovered, but it seems certain that it was never manufactured for com- mercial purposes. It was in reality nothing but a telephone.
PIONEER COLD STORAGE.
It is claimed that Rev. Benjamin M. Nyce, of Decatur county, Indiana, was the first man to apply refrigeration to the storage of fruit. One capital- ist offered him one hundred thousand dollars for the patent rights for the city of New York, and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars was reported to have been offered him for the Louisiana concessions. He firmly declined all such offers, but failed in business at last.
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A GUNPOWDER PLOT.
Emulating Guy Fawkes, three young men, in a spirit of play, on the evening of February 18, 1876, placed a beer keg containing gunpowder against the south side of the court house and touched it off. All the windows on that side of the building were shattered and bits of the keg were blown across the square, breaking a number of windows in business places. John Moody, Hick James and a Gageby boy were arrested, but were later released.
TO BUSS OR NOT TO BUSS.
In the summer of 1912 there was organized at St. Paul one of the most unique clubs which has ever arisen in the county, or in the state or nation. The cause leading up to its organization is shrouded in more or less mystery, the charter members refusing to divulge the reasons which lead to its forma- tion, although there are those who have offered a very satisfactory explana- tion. The Indianapolis News, in the fore part of August, had a long article on this club in which its aims were set forth in detail. This club bore the culinary-osculatory title of the "St. Paul Anti-Spooning Club" and was limited to twenty members, divided equally between the two sexes. Whether the fair maidens of St. Paul originated the club or whether it was the young men, has not been ascertained; neither has it been possible to find out the nature of the initiatory services. The supposition is that the neophytes were initiated in pairs and forced to abjure all those practices common to amorously-stricken couples. In the constitution, which was the last thing every member was allowed to kiss, the initiate was sworn to forego all "flirt- ing, fussing, spooning, kissing, holding of hands, or any demonstrations of an amorous nature." (See Greensburg News, August 9, 1912.) For the first violation of any one of these rules the offender was compelled either to hold the hands of the town clock or salute the mouth of Flatrock. The second violation was met with instant expulsion from the club and perpetual ostracism from all good society in the town. This club, so organized and with such excellent eugenic and sanitary provisions for its members, opened its first meeting with the full membership present. After the regular busi- ness of the club was concluded, on this opening night, a social hour was indulged in for the general welfare of the members. At the next weekly meeting the club unanimously voted to disband, the fair damsel moving its dissolution saying that she voiced the sentiments of her nine sisters when she said that such an organization was detrimental to the advancement of home
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life in particular and civilization in general. Thus died one of the most unique organizations which the mind of man ever conceived, and peace and contentment once more reigned supreme in St. Paul.
"AUNT JANE" WARRINER AND HER WELL.
The location of the new Y. M. C. A. building on the lot where "Aunt Jane" Warriner lived for so many years has recalled to many of the older residents of Greensburg that old pioneer lady and her famous well. This lot was sold at the first public sale of lots on the first Monday in September, 1822, to Ella Warriner (a man) for the sum of ten dollars. The directors of the Young Men's Christian Association paid seven thousand five hundred dollars for this same lot in 1914.
"Aunt Jane" Warriner was born at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in 1800 and was married to Edmund Heuston in 1819. In the winter of 1820-21 her husband came to Decatur county with Col. Thomas Hendricks and helped to survey the county in the spring and summer of 1821. During the follow- ing winter "Aunt Jane" came down the Ohio river in a barge as far as Cincinnati. From there she walked to Greensburg, alone through the for- ests, carrying her babe at her breast.
Her husband died a few years later and, on May 26, 1831, she married Franklin Warriner, a brother of Ella. It was soon thereafter that they located on the present Y. M. C. A. lot in a rude log cabin. They dug a well in front of the house, which, from about 1835 to 1875. a period of forty years, was a social center for the whole town .. People came for squares around to get water from this well, school children flocked to it on their way to and from school, and all were welcomed by "Aunt Jane." About 1875 the well was filled up and the once famous gathering place is now only a pleasant memory.
A TWO-DOLLAR PRAYER.
The Bible says the laborer is worthy of his hire and George W. Clem- ons, a prominent member of the Baptist church, of Greensburg, is a firm believer in the truth of this statement. In the spring of 1915 Mr. Clemons happened to attend services at the First Methodist church and Reverend Dodridge, knowing that he often offered public prayer in his own church, called upon Mr. Clemons to pray upon this particular occasion. Mr. Clemons gave a very effective prayer and during the following week sent a bill to Reverend Dodridge for two dollars for his services. Whether the preacher was
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expected to reimburse Mr. Clemons for his services when he called upon him is unknown, but he felt that Mr. Clemons by right owed him ten dollars for his sermon at the time in question. Accordingly, Reverend Dodridge made out a statement for ten dollars for services rendered, and this he took in person to Mr. Clemons and presented it to him with the request that he (Mr. Clemons) still owed hinr eight dollars. Mr. Clemons still owes the preacher eight dollars.
CENTER OF POPULATION.
According to the United States census of 1890, the center of population for continental United States was in Decatur county, about ten miles south of Greensburg and a inile and a half northeast of Westport. When the exact spot was located, in the spring of 1891, the Chicago Herald asked and obtained permission from the owner of the farm, A. M. Armstrong, on which it was located, to put up an appropriate monument. On Sunday, May 10, 1891, the monument was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. Ad- dresses were made by Will Cumback, Frank E. Gavin and H. C. Miller, and A. M. Willoughby read a historical sketch suitable to the occasion. Music was furnished by the Greensburg band and the Mapleton glee club.
DRIPPING SPRINGS GARDEN.
It is not generally known that an industry has been started in Decatur county which promises to become one of the largest of its kind in the United States. In the spring of 1915 Mrs. Frances F. Ballard and Mrs. Nellie F. Muehler started a flower farm a half inile northeast of St. Paul and before the middle of the summer of the same year had twenty acres in flowers. They intend to enlarge their acreage as fast as they find a market for their product and hope to have one of the largest flower farms in the country within a few years. They have a farm of one hundred and seventy acres, with sixty-five acres under cultivation, and it is their intention to place all of the cultivated land in flowers. Strange to say, they do not intend to make their money from the sale of flowers, but from the bulbs of the flowers. At the present time (June, 1915) they have eighteen acres devoted to four flowers, namely, peonies, asters, gladiolas and dahlias. The other two acres in flowers are planted in Shasta daisies, delphinium, rudbekias, and miscel- laneous flowers. The farm is well supplied with springs which run the year around and this feature gives the farm its name, "Dripping Springs Garden."
John & Robbins
BIOGRAPHICAL
JOHN E. ROBBINS.
Old Decatur has given to the United States many citizens of wide prom- inence in various lines of littman endeavor, many men of state prominence and a few men who have attained even national distinction. As a farmer, stockman and business man, Decatur county has produced perhaps no more widely-known man than John E. Robbins, who has won pre-eminence in many phases of human endeavor. In the first place, he is the proprietor and general manager of the John E. Robbins Company, manufactures of "Saltone," a medicated salt, which has an enormous sale among stockmen throughout the entire country, an enterprise which has brought thousands of dollars to its owner and proprietor. In the second place, he is one of the most up-to-date and progressive farmers to be found in the Middle West, and a man who has succeeded in a large way, merely because he has applied to the farm the same principles which he might apply to the operation of a railroad, a factory or a large department store. As a breeder, however, it is possible that Mr. Robbins is most widely known. A man of wide vision, he recognized the larger opportunities and, in 1896, while at Jersey Island, purchased ten head of Jersey cows, which were considered by experienced breeders on the Island to be the best that could be procured there. As a breeder of Hampshire hogs, he is equally well known and has accom- plished equally remarkable feats. No attempt to explain his large sticcess would be complete, unless one were able to met and know the man himself. It is significant, however, that he is descended from the best stock that Decatur county has ever produced. His father, his grandfather and his remote ances- tors were men of large vision and great accomplishments, and it is true, no doubt, that John E. Robbins has inherited from these worthy progenitors many of his most sterling traits of character and much of his capacity for large business enterprise.
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