USA > Indiana > Gibson County > History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 9
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From Fort Wayne the canal followed the water levels of the Wabash and tributaries. The fall was so great in many places that locks had to be put in, so that a new water level could be secured. The locks were made of a length sufficient for the largest boats and about eighteen feet wide, made of heavy hewn timber. Very heavy double gates were made on each level.
Shippers along the canal had the lowest shipping rates that have ever been in this section. In the late fifties my brother, James M. Cockrum, and I were in the pork packing and tobacco business and had our packing and ship- ping house at Dongola on the canal. Looking over one of our old shipping books, I find that we shipped from Dongola to Evansville tierces of lard, two hundred and fifty pounds, for ten cents each, barrels of pork for eight and a third cents each, and hogsheads of tobacco, sixteen to eighteen hundred pounds, for fifty cents each.
The canal boats were nearly all heavy freighters, but there were two fine passengers boats which ran between Evansville and Terre Haute, named the "Prairie Queen" and the "Pride of the Wabash." These boats were * finely finished and would carry about thirty-five passengers in their sleeping apartments, and that many more who furnished their own sleeping outfit. These passenger boats aimed to make one hundred miles each twenty-four hours, with four shifts of horses.
The same condition of things did not exist as when the state was sup- plying the funds to carry on her many improvements. The money to build the canal from Terre Haute to Evansville came from the English bond- holders. The works supplied employment for thousands of men and many hundreds of teams, and good wages were paid. This vast amount of help made a great demand for food stuffs, and good times was the result in all the country near these works. There are thousands of farms that were paid for with funds obtained for labor and supplies on these works.
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In connection with the history of the Wabash and Erie canal, I here give several incidents that happened during its construction through Gibson county.
The contractors for the canal, as a class, were honorable men. In most cases they had one section of the work, and these sections, as a rule, were a mile long. Where the work was very heavy the sections were much shorter, in order that the work might be completed about the same time. The embankments were made by hauling the dirt in one-horse carts. The usual outfit for a crew of men, when the haul was not over two hundred yards, was four carts and four men to shovel the dirt into them. The work was so timed that the loaded cart was ready to pull out as soon as an empty one was ready to go to be loaded. Over forty men and carts there was a boss. The shovelers were nearly all Irishmen; there were very few Americans. Of the latter, most of them got out timbers for the culverts and bridges.
About a half gill of raw whiskey was given the men four times a day. Whiskey at that time was as free from law restrictions as water and every- one that wanted a "doggery," as they were called, could have it by building a little log shanty and purchasing a barrel of whiskey at twenty-five cents a gallon. These lax laws resulted in many little drinking dens along the canal.
Stewart and Rockefellow had the section at Dongola and on both sides of the Patoka river, also the building of the aqueduct across the river. The William H. Stewart of the firm mentioned was the father of Dr. William H. Stewart, of Oakland City, Indiana. The above mentioned works were very busy ones, and many men were engaged on them. As soon as they got well under way, a man named Bev Willis built a small ten-by-fifteen shanty boat on the Patoka river. It was situated near where the present iron bridge spans the river at Dongola. Willis was from a good family, but was a wild fellow and in a short time had a den full of drunken sots. There was little attention paid to him until some of Stewart's best men begun to neglect their work. Then Stewart went to see him, and gave him one week to get away with his boat and whiskey. Bev sold his whiskey to another doggery man some miles farther west on the works, tore his boat to pieces and went to California.
Soon after this a man named Spradley, from Warrick county, came to Dongola, hunting a place where he could build a whiskey shanty. He boast- ingly said that he would teach the canalers that they would have to get busy before they drove him away. He had two barrels of whiskey hauled to this place where he built his doggery, and for a couple of days dispensed
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SHIPPING MELONS-A BUSY TIME AT THE RAILROAD STATION.
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liquor without interruption. Then Stewart took two or three of his bosses, with picks, and went to see the brave Warrick county man. When the latter saw them coming he made it convenient to get away. Stewart and his men broke open the barrels and poured the whiskey on the ground. This ended the liquor traffic at Dongola.
THE KNOW-NOTHINGS.
This was about the time that the first of the Know-Nothings was heard of in this section. Consequently there was not the best of feeling existing between the Irish and the native Americans. Many combats resulted. The Irish would get on a drinking spree and raise a fuss with the first American they could find, calling him a "know-nothing," and if he resented the insult, ten or fifteen of the drunken brutes would attack him.
In 1852 Columbia township was much larger than now. The west line was one mile west of Francisco. There was but one precinct for the whole township, and that was located on the farm owned by the late Capt. S. G. Barrett, now owned by the late James M. Steel's heirs. About noon on the election day in 1852 a man was seen running along the road from the west, and following him were a score of men. When the lone man had come within a hundred yards of the crowd that was at the polls, he stopped and faced his pursuers. Two who were in the lead reached him, when he laid them both in the road with a club which he carried. Ed Mosley was at the election. He saw there was a host against one and, jumping out of his wagon, pulling off his coat as he ran, he joined the man who was defending himself so gallantly. He went into the Irish and knocked them right and left, soon putting the whole gang to flight. The lone man proved to be young Swallow, the father of Willis Swallow, of Oakland City. The Irish had come onto him near Francisco as he was coming to the election and began to abuse him, calling him a Know-Nothing. He did not take much of their abuse until he floored three or four of them. A crowd of them immediately set upon him and he had to run for his life. He had a good sized club and as the foremost of his pursuers would get close to him, he would stop and knock one or two of them down. In this way he had more than half of them with sore heads and bloody noses.
Ragon's works were northwest of Oakland City about three miles, and included the section which crossed Keg creek and its bottoms. This was one of the heaviest works on the line. The fill across the bottoms was one hun-
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dred feet wide and was from fifteen to eighteen feet to the bottom of the canal. Ten on one side the berm bank and on the other the towpath were made; these banks were six feet higher than the bottom of the canal. On these heavy works there was a large number of men, carts, and teams at work for nearly three years. At that time there were many ox teams used. They had a very large plow on these works which the writer has seen drawn by eight yoke of heavy oxen. Shanties for the people and rough stables for the horses and oxen were scattered so thickly that it looked like a string town for many miles along the canal. One living today cannot realize the im- mense amount of work required to build the canal. It required the removal of more dirt than it would to build a dozen railroads. There were a hun- dred boarding shanties, large and small, from what was known as the Patoka Summit, a mile or two above Hosmer, Pike county, to the Pigeon Summit, about two miles below Francisco, Gibson county. Some of these shanties were eighty feet long and would have bunks for as many as fifty boarders. Smaller houses were constructed to accommodate four and six boarders. Nearly all of these people who lived near the works were Irish. They had no trouble getting all the whiskey they required, and such carrying on as they had has never been seen before or since in this part of Indiana.
There was a large blacksmith shop near the site of the present residence of Samuel Aydelott. A. J. Malone, the father of Rice Malone, lived some miles southwest of that shop, but had come in to have a single-tree mended. He was starting home when he was attacked by a band of drunken Irish- men. Malone nsed his single-tree for a club and knocked seventeen of them down with it. Finally one fellow slipped up behind and knocked Malone down with a pick handle. The drunken brutes then beat him until they thought he was dead. Some of his friends found him and took him to his home, where he lay for many weeks. When he came to his right mind, his friends obtained a description of the men who had attacked him, several of whom Malone knew by name. A posse of twenty men went with their guns to the boarding shanties and compelled the men to pass out of the door be- tween double lines of men who were trying to find the guilty ones. How- ever, some one had given a tip and, with the exception of three, all who had been in the cowardly scrap had fled. These three were hurt so badly that they could not get away. One of them was killed afterwards by John Loyd for bragging of how he beat the American. The other two disappeared mysteriously afterward, and it is believed they were captured and disposed of by Americans.
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The people living along and working on the canal had very little regard for sanitary rules and in most cases lived as filthy lives as animals. This subjected them to many diseases. The cholera raged up and down the line one whole summer and until late in the fall, and I doubt if less than one thou- sand people died on the works between Patoka and Pigeon Summits. The stricken would die within three or four hours. On the old Potter farin now owned by Sylvester Cantrell, three miles northwest of Oakland City, so many people were sick and dead that the canal people hired a cooper named Whitelock from Francisco to make boxes for coffins. After he had nailed up his sixtieth box, he said, "I have nailed the cholera up, and no more will die." He was dead himself within two hours afterward, and nailed up in one of his own boxes. There was a general stampede from the works. Cold weather came, and work was resumed. There were three dead Irish- men found in a blacksmith shop which stood on the ground occupied by the residence of A. I. Upton, two miles north of Oakland City.
Patrick Manning had the heavy works just west of Dongola, where the canal crosses the Hurricane creek. Mr. Manning was a just man, and had a family of grown-up boys and girls. Young Pat Manning was a strong. resolute fellow of twenty years of age. On Christmas morning in 1852 he came to our house for a load of hay, and prevailed upon my father to let me go home with him, as they were to have a Christmas dinner that day. After we reached his home I assisted him in unloading the hay. We were near a small shanty occupied by an Irishman and his wife. These two were drinking stews, and soon began to quarrel. In a few moments the door flew open and the woman came out of the shanty and fell on the frozen ground as if shot from a catapult. Young Manning jumped from the wagon and ran up to where the man was standing, and knocked him down. Whereupon the woman picked up a shovel and struck Manning on the side of the head, with the warning. "Again, Mr. Manning, you will learn to keep out of our little pleasantries." Pat rubbed his head and said he would not aid her again if the husband killed her.
On Manning's works, his trusted man and bookkeeper went under the name of Pat McTurbon. This man had been with Manning for two years on works farther north before coming down to Gibson county. McTurbon was a civil engineer and could take an estimate of the work done and to be done. Mr. Ball, the chief engineer of the canal, said that McTurbon was so much more competent than any other man on the works that he offered him a new position under himself, with a good salary. McTurbon refused, how-
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ever, saying that Mr. Manning was a good man and that he was content to remain with him until the works were completed.
A small, spare man came to the works and applied for a job, saying that he was not very strong, but could do light work as well as anyone. There was a large number of men on the works. The jigger boss had be- come such a drunkard that Mr. Manning proposed to the new man that he might have the place. which was accepted, and he went to work very indus- triously. Soon another man applied for work, and who claimed to be from Canada. He went to work as a shoveler. These men had been there several weeks, when one morning neither of them appeared, and McTurbon was also missing. His shanty was locked on the outside with a padlock, just as he always left it when he went to work or to his meals. There was a peculiar noise in the shanty, as if someone were breathing very hard. Manning had the staple drawn and on the floor lay the jigger boss and the Canadian, with a straight-jacket securely laced around each of them, and their legs tied to a heavy stake which was driven into the ground to make a water shelf on. In each of their mouths was a regular burglar's gag. McTurbon was gone, with his fine set of instruments and his best clothing. He left a note on top of his time book, addressed to Manning, and read as follows :
"My dear Mr. Manning :
"Under circumstances over which I have no control, I am compelled to leave your service, which I sincerely regret. Your accounts and time are correct up to yesterday evening. You will, on the floor of my domicile, find . two guests of mine that I part from with satisfaction.
"Yours sincerely, "Pat McTurbon."
After the two imprisoned men had regained consciousness, which they did not do for several hours, they related their story. They were detectives from the Scotland Yards, London, and had been hunting all over the country for the last six years to find McTurbon, whose right name was John Cecil. He had robbed a wealthy English nobleman of more than five hundred thou- sand dollars worth of jewelry, nearly all in diamonds. These detectives had followed the line of public works all over England and America, for they knew that he was a finished engineer and thought that he would go to work at his profession. The two detectives were not certain that McTurbon was the man, as he had so changed himself, but they believed that he was, and they determined to try to get him into his room when he was asleep, as he
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never left it only when he went to his meals or made estimates for Manning, and then the door was always locked. The shanty which McTurbon occupied was built on the slope of a hill a short distance west of Hurricane creek, on land now owned by Charles Shurig, of Oakland City. Under the north side of the shanty was a large log, so as to make the floor level. This made quite an opening under the floor near the log. The detective discovered that wide planks had been used for flooring, and that by loosening one of them they could easily get inside. This they succeeded in doing while McTurbon was at supper. The night they attempted to make a search for the diamonds was a very dark one. McTurbon had found that plank was loosened. He accord- ingly prepared himself and was on watch for them. About midnight one of the detectives slipped under the floor cautiously and pushed the loosened plank to his partner. They soon had a hole large enough for a man to pass through. The jigger boss went first, and upon stepping into the room was knocked senseless with a blow from a sandbag. McTurbon lowered his victim to the floor, and put his head down to the hole and whispered to the other man to come on, which he did, and was treated with the same sandbag blow. These men were seriously hurt and it was ten days before they were able to leave.
THE SOUTHERN RAILROAD.
Under the internal improvement craze of the early thirties a project was put on foot to build a railroad from New Albany, Indiana, to Mt. Car- mel, Illinois, to connect with the Illinois & St. Louis railroad, then being surveyed. Surveyors were put to work on the New Albany road and the location for the line was made. There was but little work done on this survey in Indiana. On the Illinois division work was begun in 1837, and about twenty miles was graded east and west of Albion, Illinois. The general hard times all over the country caused a suspension of the work, leaving a large amount of debts against the company. Later on, by an act of the Illinois Legislature, the road was sold to the highest bidder and was bought in by General Pickering for a nominal sum. There was nothing done with the road until 1871, when that route was adopted and the graded roadbed was bought back from Pickering. Under the general laws of our state, the New Albany & St. Louis Air Line was organized February 24, 1869. On the Ist of July, 1870, the name was changed to Louisville, New Albany & St. Louis Air Line Railway Company. The survey which was adopted and on which the roadbed was built was near the old survey made in 1837. In a clump of trees
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standing in Oakland City, when the new survey was made, the engineers found the bench mark of the old survey not more than fifty feet from where the road now runs. The Illinois division was organized April 14, 1869, by a special act of the Illinois Legislature, under the name of the St. Louis, Mt. Carmel & New Albany Railroad Company. The Indiana and Illinois divis- ions were consolidated July 24, 1872, under the name of the Louisville, New Albany & St. Louis Railroad Company. Both divisions were subsequently sold under foreclosure proceedings. The Indiana division was reorganized in February, 1877, under the name of the Louisville, New Albany & St. Louis Air Line Railroad Company, and the Illinois division was reorganized in January, 1878, under the name of the St. Louis & Mt. Carmel Railroad Company In August, 1878, these two companies were again consolidated under the name of the Louisville, New Albany & St. Louis Railroad Com- pany. The road later on consolidated with the Evansville, Rockport & East- ern Railway Company, and changed its name to the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis Railroad Company. This change of name came about because the railroad company had purchased a line of railroad from Huntingburg. Can- nelton, Rockport and Evansville. The consolidated railroad company carried a large bonded debt of more than twenty million dollars, and had defaulted in paying the interest. This resulted in the road being placed in the hands of a receiver, who managed the business for several years. The bondholders of the first mortgage bonds became weary doing without interest or dividend, and brought foreclosure proceedings. The court ordered that the road be sold to the best advantage for the creditors. The property was purchased by a committee of bondholders of the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis Railway Company. The company was reorganized under the latter name.
About this time a road was built from Lincoln City to Cannelton by a company called the Huntingburg, Tell City & Cannelton Railroad Company. In 1889 new interests acquired both these companies and they were then con- solidated with the Illinois & St. Louis Railroad and Coal Company, the Venice & Carondelet Railway Company and the Belleville, Centralia & East- ern Railroad Company, under the name of the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis Consolidated Railroad Company. In 1894 this road went into the hands of a receiver. In November, 1900, it was sold to the Southern Rail- way Company.
The Southern Railroad crosses Gibson county from east to west, near the center of the county. There are twenty-five miles of track in the county. The road is in first-class condition, being thoroughly ballasted and laid with
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the heaviest steel rails. Six through passenger trains, three each way, pass over the road every day.
EVANSVILLE & TERRE HAUTE RAILROAD.
The original charter for the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad was granted in 1849 to the Evansville & Illinois Railroad Company, aiming to run from Evansville to Olney. Illinois, via Princeton and Mt. Carmel, there to connect with the Ohio & Mississippi railroad. In accordance with the notices published in the Princeton and Evansville papers, the company was organized in the city of Evansville on August 16, 1849. Samuel Hall, of Princeton, was the president. It was through his able management, assisted by other competent men, that the work was pushed forward. Money was not plentiful and was hard to get, but the subscription of Evansville for one hundred thousand dollars and of Vanderburg county for a like amount, with the subscriptions of a number of capitalists, put the company in shape to go forward with the construction work. Many times the company was hard. up for bonds to pay the contractors, and the officers and directors would pledge their own private fortunes and raise the money to go on with the work.
The road was completed to Princeton in 1852. I well remember the great gathering of people assembled on the ground where James W. Lewis's residence now stands, watching for the train which was to come at eleven o'clock. I yet remember that the little engine. when it did come, was covered with flags. Mr. Hall, the president of the road, stood on the tender and made a speech. Not one in a hundred of these people had ever seen a railroad engine and I was one of that number.
There were many amusing incidents which happened while the first trains were running on the new line. From Fort Branch comes one of the best. An old lady named Sullivan lived near the railroad track just a little way from Fort Branch. She had quite a lisp in her voice. The trains went by her door every day. She was of inquisitive disposition, and she deter- mined that she would make the train stop so that she could look it over. Preparing herself with a large sheet, she went on to the track and as the train came within sight she waved the sheet, causing the engine to stop. The engineer ran forward to learn the cause of the trouble, and asked Mrs. Sullivan the reason for stopping them. She said, "Oh, nothing, I juth wanted to thee what the cuthed thing looked like."
In 1852 it was decided to build the road to Vincennes, Terre Haute and Crawfordsville. The name of the road was changed to the Evansville &
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Crawfordsville Railroad Company. A survey was made to Crawfordsville via Vincennes and Terre Haute, and the road was completed to Rockville, sixteen miles north of Terre Haute. In March, 1877, the name of the road was changed to the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad. The construction of the Mt. Vernon division from Fort Branch, thirty-seven miles in length, was completed in 1882. Montgomery township gave twenty-five thousand dollars to aid the extension. The Evansville & Terre Haute road, or Chicago & Eastern Illinois, as it has recently become through absorption, runs through a fine farming country. The Mt. Vernon branch runs through territory which cannot be excelled for agricultural purposes; the land along the branch and much of the main line is worth from one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per acre. The road has always been a conservative one and well patronized. The Frisco system now owns this valuable property and run their "cannon-ball" trains over it to all parts of the South. The principal stations in Gibson county are Princeton, Owensville. Fort Branch. Hazelton. Patoka and Haubstadt.
INDIANAPOLIS & EVANSVILLE RAILROAD.
The Indianapolis & Evansville Railroad was brought into existence in 1854. It was then known as the Evansville, Indianapolis & Cleveland Straight Line Railroad. At the organization of the company in 1854 Hon. Oliver H. Smith, of Indianapolis, was chosen president, and Willard Car- penter, of Evansville, was chosen vice-president and general manager. Dur- ing the year of 1855-6 nearly all of the grading was done from Evansville to Washington, Indiana, and the roadbed would have been ready for the iron as soon as it could have been gotten. There were no iron or steel rails made in this country at that time, and our people had to depend upon England for the rails. Mr. Carpenter went to England with his pockets full of bonds, ex- pecting no trouble in securing the rails. Being worth more than a half million dollars himself, he could supply any shortage in the bonds.
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