USA > Indiana > Howard County > History of Howard County, Indiana, Vol I > Part 24
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Late in the forties, and early in the fifties, the constant cry of public agitation was the fact that the city had voted to take ten thou- sand dollars stock in the Indianapolis & Peru railroad company, and that nothing in return was obtained, and so far as known noth- ing has ever to this late date been received directly upon. the stock. lost under foreclosure proceedings. But the early residents of Ko- komo took an imperfect view of the situation. The gift was more than repaid in the inestimable benefits derived to the city from the building of the road, which forged the new county seat to the fore- most rank. In later years the policy was entered'upon of giving do- nations to factories by the citizens to secure the location of industries, and the method was the means of making the city what it has be- come. But in the location of the railroad a peculiar view was taken by the business men. The turned heaven and earth to have it lo- cated along Buckeye street, thinking it would be a peculiar benefit to the property in front of which it passed, and that freight bills and drayage bills could be saved by having the tracks pass along in front of the business establishments. These hopes proved erroneous, and no mistake was greater than locating the road where it is, and for its removal the city and the public would be thankful beyond meas- ure. Finally the Kokomo public entered upon the aid of railroad building with less legal question and with a more prodigal hand. A subsidy was voted for the construction of a railroad line from Frank- fort to Kokomo, and from Marion to Kokomo, but in this dual form
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the donation was set aside by the supreme court. The sequel was the donation of twenty-four thousand dollars to the Kokomo-Frank- fort line. These two roads were builded separately and as stand- ard guage lines, but eventually were consolidated and converted into a narrow gauge system, reaching to Toledo on the east and St. Louis on the west. The road was destined to another change, and became a part of the Cloverleaf system, being returned to a standard guage system.
January 9, 1864, the Jay & Dolman grain elevators, situated just above the depot of the Peru & Indianapolis depot, burned. This was an exciting time in the history of the town of Kokomo. The intense heat of the burning structure was minimized when the wheat. released from the bins in which it was confined, smothered the flames. The problem was to save the S. Rosenthal storage rooms and the Howard flouring mills, removed but a short distance from the elevator, but this object was accomplished. However, on the Monday following, an explosion destroyed the plant of the flouring mill. The boiler gave way. Two men were killed as the result of the explosion, William Leas, a nephew of the proprietor, Worley Leas and M. Weddle, the miller. So violent was the explosion that a thousand-pound piece landed in the yard of the residence of Dr. Corydon, Richmond, cutting off a fence post, close to the ground. Mr. Lease was injured, but not seriously. The loss of Mr. Leas approached ten thousand dollars, as did that of Jay & Dolman. The milling, as well as the elevator properties, were subsequently rebuilt and constituted the chief commercial distinctions of the city for a number of years.
EXPLORING FOR OIL.
Kokomo, in the latter part of the sixties, might have realized the glories that she did, resulting from the discovery of natural
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gas, in the eighties. A company was organized to explore for oil in 1869, and, as subsequent events proved, the drill, in quest of oil, was within a short distance of gas when the project was abandoned from the fact that the drill became fast, and the well thus started. and so near success, was abandoned.
An election was held March 31. 1865, to determine whether the town of Kokomo should have a city organization, which propo- sition carried. The ballots voted were not printed, nor of the elabo- rate description known in late years, under the Australian ballot system, but were merely slips of common fool'scap paper, upon which "No" was written by those opposed to incorporation, and "Yes" by those favoring the step. The affirmative vote carried by a material majority. The official records of the election were re- corded with the names of the voters upon common writing paper. The first city government was organized with the following officers : Mayor, Nelson Purdum ; clerk, J. A. Coffin ; treasurer, P. B. Ken- nedy ; city attorney, Clark N. Pollard. In that day the city at- torney was elected by the people, whereas, in 1908, that officer is chosen by a majority of the common council, as the law has di- rected for several years past.
SOME EARLY CALAMITIES.
In the year 1862 there was a tragic event in the history of Kokomo town. A stiff and furious blowing northeasterner was re- sponsible for it all. Philip Kemp and companions felt a jar. They were alarmed, but could not tell why. Instinctively they swung themselves from the second story of a low building, on the Darby corner. Then came a crash, a volume of dust, and a mountain of debris arose. T. C. Philip's Tribune was an undistinguishable wreck and a hardware store had passed out of existence. The James-Armstrong firm was erecting a three-story building. It was
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to be the building of the town. It was just ready for the roof when a miniature cyclone carried it down upon its humble neighbor. A public calamity had been sustained and a town meeting was called. Despair was written upon every countenance. Volunteers were called for. Mr. John W. Cooper, attorney, among many citi- zens, pushed a wheelbarrow and loaded brick for three days. At the end of that time the citizens had the ground cleared for the builders. A second structure, in the course of time, mounted sky- ward, and another building replaced that driven into the earth at the Darby corner.
In the spring of 1870 the entire west side of the court house square was destroyed by fire. The structures were of frame and burned like tinder, and the wind was high, carrying the sparks and burning fragments throughout the village, to its eminent peril. The citizens wore anxious faces and fought to save their homes. For- tunately the fire was confined to the district in which it started through mysterious origin. Mrs. Nicholas Trobaugh was carried out of a burning building and her life saved. The destruction of so much business property was a blow to the town's prosperity, but it rallied in due time, and on the site of the burned district arose the old opera house, started in 1872, which was a big structure for its day and upon the stage of which appeared in succeeding years the foremost play folks of the country and the most eminent lec- turers. The fire of the burning structures, exclusively frame, were carried over the town, and it was the fight of every man to save his home and family. J. M. Mader worked like a hero for others, for- getting two fat hogs, which burned to a crisp, and a spring wagon, on his own premises. The bucket brigade was a corps of honor.
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT.
Important epochs in the commercial development of the city were the periods when an artificial gas plant was installed. The
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city was lighted by the street corner gas lamps, turned out at full moon, even though that did not in fact exist, predicted, however, by the almanac, which governed. Succeeding natural gas as a city illuminant was electricity. Another important municipal auxil- iary was the water works plant. Its installation was conscientious- ly opposed upon the ground that the city was too small to demand so important an improvement at the time and too poor to bear the financial burden of its installation, but no one anticipated the growth of the city, due to natural gas. What might have proven a calamity, according to the honest predictions of its opponents, proved a bless- ing, when the city grew to proportions surpassing the wildest dreams. In time the volunteer fire department, which included the leading citizens of the city, gave way to a paid fire department. But the old volunteer department, of which D. L. Duke and H. M. Cooper were conspicuous members, with a score of other devoted citizens, deserves a prominent place in the memory of posterity. A letter written by M. M. Pomeroy, of La Crosse, Wis., May 27, 1871, and appearing in the Kokomo Democrat June 29, gives a good idea of Kokomo in that period. His letter is abbreviated :
-"There is but one saloon, or place where intoxicating - liquors are sold. * * * But little demand for officers, jails and poor houses. * * * The county jail is not much of an affair, nor is it well patronized. Prominent among her educational institutions stands Howard College, whose able and popular president, M. B. Hopkins, has ever been a bright example, and earnest worker, in the thankless field of education and imparting knowledge. Besides the college named, are several fine schools, with four new school houses soon to be built.
"The finest church in the place is the edifice belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Society, which society is the largest and most prosperous in Kokomo. Next in order comes the Christian Society,
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the Presbyterian, Congregational, the Friends, or Quakers, and the Catholics-six societies in all. The spiritualists have a society here and hold Sunday picnic meetings in the grove, near the fair grounds. just out of the city, where their religious exercises are noted for social enjoyment and liberality of belief and expression.
"The Howard county fair grounds are better than the average, and enclose a very fine half-mile trotting track, whereon fast horses compete with each other, for agricultural premiums.
"The principal water course here is Wildcat creek, a reckless, meandering stream, almost large enough to be called a river. It is too shallow for navigation and too even tenored to be dammed much, so it is not used for manufacturing to any extent. The stream is good for fishing.
"The streets of Kokomo are being rapidly macadamized. Some years ago T. C. Philips and friends hired laborers, and, searching tor stone, finally discovered a quarry near the city. The great staple is black walnut timber. The wealth from this commodity exceeds that derived from the sale of all the grain. The lumber is sent to eastern cities, bringing from forty to fifty dollars a thousand feet. "Land sells from fifty dollars up.
"There are six large dry goods stores, twenty-one grocery stores, six boot and shoe stores, five drug stores, three stove and tin stores, three good hardware stores, five millinery establishments and numerous smaller stores. There is a good foundry and four wood planing establishments.
"The ladies here dress in good taste and with more display than is usually found in places the size of Kokomo."
ARREST OF COUNTERFEITERS.
In July, 1871, the city was thunderstruck by the arrest of James Lang, Frank Lang and Isaac Lang, citizens of this place, with Har-
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ry Homer, Sam Rivers and Ed Wilson, citizens wherever their hats were off, by an United States secret service officer, upon the charge of counterfeiting. The Lang homestead was about two miles south- east of the city and had been a regular headquarters for these con- genial spirits. A detective giving the name of Baker arrived in Kokomo a few months before the arrest of the Lang gang was consummated. He entered into the confidence of the Kokomo. city officials, and then hired out to the Langs, ostensibly as a farm hand. His real identity was never suspicioned and he entered into various night enterprises with them, and soon gained their com- plete confidence. His assistant, in an important sense, was Charles Bechtel, town marshal of Kokomo, who was shrewd in his man- euvres. Baker finally decoyed Frank Lang to Cleveland, Ohio, where they were to undertake a safe blowing expedition, Baker rep- resenting that he knew an expert safe blower in that city. Both Lang and the detective were placed under arrest, but of course, Baker was soon released. About eight thousand dollars, all bogus money, was secured from the gang. Some three hundred or four hundred dollars counterfeit money was found secreted about the premises. In a tin can was two hundred dollars of the "queer" and thirty rings dug up on Sunday from the garden of the Lang home by Mr. Bechtel. The detective discovered one hundred and twenty dollars of bogus money hidden beneath the shingles of the roof of the house. One hundred dollars of counterfeit money of denomina- tion of ten dollars was found on the person of Frank Lang when ar- rested. James Lang, father of the Lang boys, sickened and died soon after his arrest, and was never brought to trial, but the Lang brothers served penitentiary sentences. The exposure of the gang brought forth from the Democrat an editorial which reflects the excited state of mind of the Kokomo public at that time: "Since
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the arrests many foolish remarks have been made, and much foolish gossip has been indulged in. Reports to the effect that quite a num- ber more are to be arrested; that thirty, or forty were implicated in this city and county ; that this prominent professional man and that prominent business man was implicated, etc., is all wrong, all foolish, all incorrect, and we fear much of its wicked and malicious insinua- . tions, mean hints and dirty intimations, are too frequent on and against the fair fame and good name of some of our most prominent citizens. The end of all this will be the putting on of a head or two. We know of what we write, and now advise those interested to take due notice of the same. If the detectives suspicioned any one else they are certainly too smart to give intimation of it to any one. And the retail gossipers of this city will do well to look to their own cases, and cease to cast vile suspicions on their neighbors. Every good citizen desires to see all evil doers brought to justice, but no good and much evil will result from the vile aspersions cast against prominent men and ladies in this city. A hint to the wise, etc."
The Mohlan gang, the Lang gang, are but memories. Kokomo is now a leading commercial center of Indiana, characterized by a policy of law and order, a sound moral order and commercial progress.
NEW LONDON.
BY OTIS C. POLLARD.
The history of New London is the history in chief of Howard county during the forties. The county was then known as Rich- ardville, being named after a prominent member of the Miami tribe of Indians.
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New London was the chief seat of commercial importance, and of intellectual progress to be found within the confines of what later became known as Howard county. It was the center of the free soil movement, supported the first newspaper printed in Howard county, and its people were fully abreast of the times. As a com- mercial point it was promising. It had varied industries, operated with profit, and as a trading center was in the first class. The orig- inal plat of the town was laid off by John Lamb, March 13, 1845. the survey being made by Austin C. Sheets, surveyor of Richard- ville county, consisting of twelve lots, sixty-six by one hundred and thirty-two feet, bounded by Main street upon the west, High street upon the North, Market street on the east, and below Mill street. Mr. Lamb also had lots.
His example in town building was emulated by others, and on June 25, 1845, Reuben Edgerton submitted a plat of lots, west of the original plat of Mr. Lamb. These lots started west of Main street, were bounded on the west by Peru street, and the north and south boundaries followed on the same general boundaries as the original plat, an intersecting street being Church street. The third and fourth additions to the town were by Mr. Edgerton, who laid off his second addition, May 13, 1846, and Isaac W. Johnson, who added thirty lots to the town, December 22, 1848.
The most pretentious addition to New London was that made by Dr. Moses R. Wickersham, February 8, 1849. The most of it lay east of Main street, which is today the dividing line of the town. Dr. Wickersham was one of those who had implicit faith in New London becoming the county seat of Howard county, an expecta- tion destined to be disappointed. Dr. Wickersham laid off a public square, one hundred and thirty-two by one hundred and thirty-two feet, occupied today by an Adventist church, and a seminary square one hundred and two by one hundred and four feet. In announc-
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ing the opening of his addition in the Pioneer Dr. Wickersham said : "There is located in the center of the plat a public square, or park, on a delightful and elevated eminence, entirely surrounded by streets and avenues. Also a large area of ground situated in a beautiful grove, adjoining said lots, enclosed by an avenue of forty feet intersected by streets, from the four quarters of the compass, upon which there is to be built the coming season, a public semi- nary, the building to be forty feet by thirty-six feet, two stories high, completely finished off, for the accomodation of a high school. There will be commenced in the spring, a large four-story merchant mill, adjoining the town. The water power in and adjoining the village is inexhaustible, the second to none in the state. No section of the West offers stronger inducements to mechanics of all trades than New London."
On November 29, 1848, the Pioneer said editorially: "Three years and a half ago, the plat upon which the village of New Lon- don now stands was an unbroken forest. Now there are four large dry goods stores, blacksmiths, cabinet joiners, shoemakers, two tanneries, tailors, etc., seven or eight saw and grist mills in the immediate neighborhood of the town. There are woolen factories, turning lathes, all propelled by water power and a fair prospect of a larger amount of improvement next season than of any previous one. We counted nearly fifty good houses now commenced."
THE RAILROAD.
New London was a chief center in the Miami reserve rapidly being settled. The Indiana State Sentinel said on November 29, 1848, of the reserve: "Mostly in consequences of the location of the Indianapolis & Peru Railroad, now under contract from Indian- apolis to Noblesville, which passes directly through the center of the
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reserve, both Tipton and Kokomo being points, and also the near approach of the Indianapolis & Bellefountaine Railroad to the east- ern part of the reserve, a part of which road, commencing at In- dianapolis, is also under contract, lands are being sold rapidly in the Miami reserve. The Miami Indians for many years held on to these lands as with a dying grasp, and until the balance of the country had been sold out, and settled all around them. They are now sold at two dollars per acre. But very little of the reserve has been sold upon speculation, and the pre-emption law under which a large portion of the reserve was sold to actual settlers makes a large part of it already a thickly settled country. The largest bod- ies of vacant lands are nearest to the two railroad routes above mentioned. The receiver of public monies at Indianapolis said that for the present month the sale averaged nearly two thousand dol- lars a day."
New London was incorporated by an act of the legislature ap- proved February 12, 1848. By the provisions of this act the north boundary line was to be one-fourth of a mile north, and parallel to Mill street, the south line to be one-fourth of a mile south and parallel to the same street, the east line the same distance east and the west line the same distance west, both likewise parallel to Main street. It was stipulated that the election for trustees should be held within one month after the Ist Monday in March, 1848, and it was made lawful for the voters of Monroe township to elect a jus- tice of the peace and a constable, in addition to those already au- thorized by law, the election being set for the Ist Monday in April, 1848.
In its issue of January 31, 1849, the Pioneer said: "The county commissioners at their December term authorized the in- corporation of New London, under the statute empowering the electors to hold an election, December 30, 1848. Trustees were
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selected as follows: First ward, M. R. Wickersham; second ward, David Rees; third ward, Richard Nixon; fourth ward, Isam Hunt; fifth ward, Jehu Wickersham. These trustees held an election Janu- ary 18, 1849, electing the following officers : president, Isam Hunt ; clerk, T. P. Albertson ; assessor, James Harbert ; collector, William Black.
The newly incorporated village had laws very interesting, con- trasted with the legal regulations of the present day. The owner of any hog, shoat or chicken, suffering any one of the descriptions enumerated, to run at large, was liable to a fine of five to twenty- five cents a day. A fine of seventy-five cents a day was imposed upon any person for allowing a wagon, cart, sled or buggy, or a rick of wood, to obstruct the side walks, as long as twenty-four hours. In that period of time wood was plentiful and was ricked in long and high piles for use during the winter.
The by-laws of the new town specified a fine of twenty dollars upon any one guilty of assault and battery. There was a fine of three dollars for each offense of employing vulgar language, for each unlawful sale of liquor, for running a horse, or any other ani- mal across any public thoroughfare; a fine not to be less than one dollar under any circumstances.
For all exhibitions of wax figures, circus exhibitions, painting exhibits, displays of rope, or wire dancing, theatrical exhibitions, sleight of hand performances, ventriloquist entertainments, or other shows, there was levied a license fee of two dollars to ten dollars a day.
It was specified in law that every male citizen over the age of twenty-one years living within the corporation should pay fifty cents upon each one hundred dollars which he might own in the form of real estate, and sixteen cents upon each one hundred dollars of which he might be the owner in personal property.
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The assessor of the town was to receive for his labors seventy- five cents a day, the clerk twelve and one-half cents for each license he issued, and also two cents for each hundred words he recorded. The collector was allowed two per cent. on all monies collected. Liquor licenses were one hundred and fifty dollars per annum, al- most a prohibitory fee in that day.
In truth the wood pile question was an obtrusive one in the village of New London, as it was also at Kokomo at a later date. On November 4, 1848, the Pioneer said: "The idea has been sug- gested to us by a stranger passing over our streets the other day. that our village would lose nothing in the way of taste, neatness and beauty, if the walkways were unimcumbered by some large wood piles that have established themselves in various parts of town, also buggies, etc., that have placed themselves (doubtless without the consent of their owners) on the sidewalks, so that pedestrians have to pass almost to the middle of the streets to get by them."
A better description of the town of New London, its com- mercial activity, and its village life, is not be found than that con- tained in a letter written by a visitor in the village and published in the Pioneer, August 18, 1848.
"Near the northwestern boundary, the two branches of Honey creek come together, previous to which they wind gracefully around the town, forming, with the exception of one side, an island. But unlike most islands, the town is located upon an eminence, about one hundred feet above the creeks. On the west side is a saw mill. having a water fall of some twenty feet, which, from the piles of lumber around it, gave evidence of doing good execution. Above this, within a distance of two miles, are three other mills and fac- tories. Below the saw mill a few hundred yards, and a short dis- tance above where the two streams come together, is a fine flour-
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ing mill, so arranged as to use the water of both streams, and af- fording an abundance of water, with an excellent fall. Below this mill a short distance is another mill, and water privilege where a merchant mill is being erected. The commencement of a tannery at the bottom of the hill, on the north side of the town, has been started, which is a good situation, the water being led down a ravine a short distance but with little trouble from a splendid spring near the Friends' meeting house, on the top of the hill, and afford- ing a great abundance of water. Passing up the creek a short dis- tance there is a turning lathe and other machinery propelled by water, with a fall of thirty feet. A short distance above this, and immediately adjoining the town on the road, is another flouring mill with an overshot fall of some eighteen or twenty feet. Above this mill a short distance are two other water powers occupied by mills and machinery. These branches of water fed by springs af- ford an abundance of water throughout the year. These water privileges have all been improved at a comparatively trifling expense. Near the last mill I mentioned, a bathing establishment is being erected, on the water cure principle, there being a monthly publica- tion devoted to that object printed in this place. This is a town on the late Miami reserve, about seven miles east of the Michigan road, situated in the midst of a fertile and rolling country that would do good to the eyes of a New England Yankee to look upon after toil- ing over the Michigan road, which, from one end to the other, with few exceptions, affords a poor specimen of Indiana. I need not tell you that New London, which has been in existence a short time, and already numbering some two or three hundred inhabitants, will be a great manufacturing town. There are other villages in the reserve, which I am told, are springing up like magic. I spent yes- terday, it being the Sabbath, in this place, and attended public wor- ship at the Friends' meeting house. There was a full congregation
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