History of the Indiana democracy, 1816-1916, Part 86

Author: Stoll, John B., 1843-1926
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : Indiana Democratic Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1104

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The Democratic history of Hamilton county naturally divides itself into two distinct periods, namely, "the ante-bellum" and the "post-bellum" periods.

It is a tradition that the time was when the Democrats of Hamilton county outnumbered their opponents four to one, but it is only tradition, as the oldest men and women now living cannot re- call the time.

The history of the ante-bellum period is in a large measure legendary; nevertheless there are several characters that loom up bright and clear. The foremost of them all is William Conner, the "Father of Central Indiana," who was brought, a captive by the Indians, to where Hamilton county now is about the year 1806. He began his politi- cal career as treasurer of the county at its or- ganization in 1823, and served in that capacity for about a year. He, with Elisha Long, repre- sented a district composed of the counties of Henry, Madison, Hamilton and Hancock, and all of the territory north of those coun- ties, from 1829 to 1831. He represented Hamilton and Boone counties and all the territory north of Hamilton to the Miami Reserve (Tipton county was not then organized, and the territory referred to is what now forms the three southern townships of Tipton county), from 1831 to 1832. He again represented Hamil- ton county in the lower house of the Legislature for the years of 1831 and 1832; also represented Hamilton county in the same branch of the Legis- lature for the years of 1836 and 1837, and was one of the commissioners delegated by the Legis- lature to locate the county seat of Allen county and was instrumental in the selection of Ft. Wayne as the place.

Another figure of those far-off times was Gen- eral John D. Stevenson, father of the late Judge R. R. Stevenson, who probably held more offices

at the same time than any other man who ever lived in the county. He was clerk of the court from 1823 to 1836; recorder from 1823 to 1838, and auditor from 1823 to 1840. He received his title of general from being general of the militia, an honor he received at the hands of the governor of the State. During the last ten or twelve years of his life he affiliated with the Republican party, having broken with his party at the beginning, or shortly prior to the opening of, the Civil war.

William Conner's brother, John, who was made captive by the Indians at the same time that he was, and was treated in a similar manner to Wil- liam, was the founder of Connersville, Ind. He was the father of William W. Conner and grand- father of the late Hon. John C. Conner, M. C., of the State of Texas, and represented Hamilton county in the Legislature of 1824, but did not long survive that period.

Another ante-bellum character was Dr. Griffith M. Shaw, sire of Dr. Albert Shaw, the present editor of the American Review of Reviews, at New York City, who represented the county in the lower house for the years of 1848 and 1849, but moved from Noblesville to Hamilton, Ohio, where he died in 1863 while lending aid to the Union cause. Dr. Griffith M. Shaw was always a Democrat, yet a strong Union man, and could go among the "Butternuts" of Butler county, Ohio, where no other Union man dared to go. Over- work for the cause threw him into a fever, of which he died.

Another ante-bellum Democrat was William Garver, whose first wife was the first white child born in Noblesville. His second wife was a daughter of James Brown Ray, governor of Indi- ana from about 1824 to 1830. He practiced law at the Hamilton county bar for more than fifty years; he was prosecutor for one term and state senator for the counties of Hamilton, Boone and Tipton from 1848 to 1852; made a Democratic race for Congress in 1856, but was defeated. The Buchanan administration cared for him as a "lame duck" and made him a special inspector of mails for the States of Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wis- consin, Iowa and Minnesota at a salary of $5,000 a year. He was a delegate to the Democratic na- tional convention at Charleston, S. C., in 1860, that nominated John C. Breckinridge for Presi- dent, also the "rump" convention that met at Bal- timore the same year and nominated Stephen A. Douglas. He enlisted in the Union army and

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went to the front as colonel of the 101st Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Upon his return from the war he was elected judge of the court of common pleas as a Republican and served in that capacity until the abolition of that court. He was elected to the Legislature in 1876, and was a candidate for the office of representative in 1890, but was defeated for the nomination. He died in the year 1895.

William W. Conner was a son of John Conner, the founder of Connersville, Ind. He was born at that village and was elected to the Legislature as soon as he reached his majority. He was of such youthful appearance that a doorkeeper, on seeing him in his seat in the House, went to him and politely informed him that "boys were not al- lowed in that place." Later, in bellum days, he was a Republican and was clerk of the court from 1859 to 1863, as well as a captain of "Home Guards" during that period. In 1874 he made a race for clerk upon a fusion ticket, a combination of Greenbackers and Democrats, and came within 83 votes of being elected, and then Governor Thomas A. Hendricks appointed him adjutant- general of the State of Indiana; he served in that capacity from 1874 to 1877. In 1880 he was again a Republican. One veteran in Hamilton county politics said of him at that time: "God don't know what Bill Conner will do in politics," and in that year he made the canvass for Robert Gra- liam, now a member of Congress from Colorado, for state senator from the district composed of the counties of Hamilton and Tipton, in which Mr. Graham was successful. In 1882 he supported Walter N. Evans, Democratic candidate for clerk that year, and was one of his deputies; was a can- didate for the nomination of clerk upon the Re- publican ticket in the year 1886 and made a splen- did race. It might be observed that, as much as he changed his politics, he never lost the confi- dence of the public during his entire life, and was always regarded as being honest in his opinions. After his race for clerk in 1886 he became con- nected with the Noblesville Gas Company and re- mained with that company until his death.

During the Civil war there were probably 1,000 Democrats in Hamilton county, and at that time it was worth a man's life to proclaim himself as such; in short, they were so persecuted that no one would own to the fact.

When William H. Boswell began the publica- tion of the Noblesville Independent in 1874 he told me with his own lips that there were about 1,200 Democrats in the county, yet no man would own up to it; they were merely opposed to the Republicans.

In ante-bellum days the Dales were prominent in Democratic politics in the county. Samuel Dale

served in the Legislature in the early fifties. His sister was grandmother of the late Judge Theo- dore P. Davis and his son, Colonel Douglass Dale, was colonel of a Missouri regiment during the Civil war and later held a prominent government position at Washington, D. C.

One of the prominent Democratic families of Hamilton county was that of Aaron Cox, who lived in the county from an early date. Most of his sons were born in the county. He was post- master of Noblesville during the administration of President Johnson. His son, Jabez S. Cox, was judge of the circuit court of Miami county; his son, Millard F., was judge of the criminal court of Marion county, while another son, Charles E., was judge of the supreme court of Indiana for a term of six years, retiring January 1, 1917.

Milton B. Hopkins, a preacher in the Christian church, who took part in one of the bitterest church quarrels ever staged in Noblesville, lived there during the fifties; was known to be a Demo- crat, but not a politician in any sense; was elected state superintendent of public instruction in 1872 over B. Wilson Smith, Republican, Mr. Hopkins and Governor Hendricks being the only Demo- crats elected upon the state ticket that year.

Joseph Messick was a prominent Democrat in Hamilton county before the Civil war; was post- master of Noblesville just prior to and up to that period. One son, Benton Messick, emigrated to Minnesota and became colonel of the First Min- nesota regiment during the Civil war and lost his life leading his regiment in the battle of Gettys- burg, Pa. Another son, George Messick, was con- stable of Noblesville township for more than forty years; throughout all the while he was a Democrat and the township was overwhelmingly Republican, yet he continued to hold the office.

Silas Hare was born in Hamilton county and emigrated to the state of Texas when quite a young man; was colonel of a Confederate regi- ment during the Civil war; was judge of the cir- cuit court of his d'strict for one or two terms, and has served several terms as member of Congress from the Second Texas district. After he ceased to be Congressman he located in Washington, D. C., and was legal counsel for the state of Mon- tana. His brother, Wesley Hare, always lived in Noblesville, throughout his lifetime a Democrat, and at his death had been in business longer than any one else in the city-something over fifty years. His son, Elbert M. Hare, made a race for the office of clerk of the court in 1886 upon the Democratic ticket, but was defeated; in 1896 he separated with his party upon the financial ques- tions of that period and became a Republican and acted two or three campaigns as their county chairman, but later affiliated with the Progressive

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party; his present political attitude is probably unknown.

The true status of the conditions confronting the Democrats of Hamilton county since the close of the Civil war is best described in an excerpt from an oration prepared for the ratification of the re-election of President Wilson in 1916, and never delivered, which runs like this:

"Sixty years have not yet passed away since Hamilton county boasted of the banner Repub- lican township of the United States-a township in which every vote. save one, was Republican. Nor has five and forty years sneaked into the past since white Republicans voted twice, and ne- groes roamed from polls to polls and voted as many times as they pleased, and Hamilton county rolled up her 3,600 Republican majority, while the Democrats were unable to get their ballots in the box.

"'But time, the beautifier of the dead, Adorner of the ruin, sole comforter,

And only healer when the heart hath bled,' hath wrought its miracle. Thanks to the spar- ing grace of God and the saving grave of Jesus Christ there are today, lingering upon the shores of time, or thrumming harps at the throne of grace, some forty old Democrats who are the proud rivals for the distinguished honor of hay- ing cast the one vote; and the township to which we referred has had a Prohibition trustee, and Hamilton county cast a plurality of her popular vote for the presidential electors in the glorious year of 1912, when, for the first time in over sixty years, the Democrats elected their entire county ticket; and but for the machinations of a small coterie seeking to monopolize the patronage, would have repeated the performance in 1914."

Lucius H. Emmons, a practical printer of East- ern birth, came to Noblesville in 1835, and imme- diately began the publication of a newspaper called The Newspaper. This paper was neutral in politics, the patronage was not large, and as an enterprise did not pay. He discontinued the publication in 1838 and left Noblesville, but re- turned in 1842 and began the publication of a weekly, called the Little Western, which was Dem- ocratie in politics. Its file, still in existence, be- gan with the issue of June 4, 1842, and ended with the issue of January 25, 1845, and as a paper did duty for the Democratic party during the strenuous campaign of 1844. The influence that he and his paper wielded must have done yeoman service for the party, as evidenced by the fact that during the James K. Polk administra- tion Mr. Emmons received a clerkship at Wash- ington, D. C., and resided there until 1850, when he returned to Noblesville. A few days after the arrival of himself and family in Noblesville he

was stricken and died of Asiatic cholera. His widow later married a Mr. Longley and became the mother of the first fire marshal of Indiana, W. E. Longley, who was district chairman of the 9th Congressional district during the campaigns of 1910, 1912, 1914, and in 1912 was political manager for Samuel M. Ralston, successful candi- date for governor, and his son, Lucius H. Em- mons, Jr., has held a place in the government printing office at Washington for about forty years.

Notwithstanding that for a few years after the Civil war the stuffing of ballot-boxes and "beat- ing up" of unoffending Democrats were consid- ered to be prima facie evidence of a Republican's fitness for county office, and the persecution every- where beset the Democrats, yet the Democracy of Hamilton county has not been without her tri- umphs. When Republicans began cheating each other at primaries, ballot-box stuffing ceased; when the Prohibition party grew strong enough to have representatives upon the election board, things changed. For instance, at Westfield in 1884, the first time the Prohibitionists had repre- sentatives on the board at that place, there were about fifty Democratic votes polled, when prior to that time for many years but one vote had been reported. It may be observed at this time that Westfield in slavery days was an ideal station upon the "underground railroad," whose opera- tions (notwithstanding the repugnance of slav- ery) were contrary to law, and the youth of that place grew up entertaining the idea that mere caprice was superior to law. As a consequence three county officers and one state auditor-all Republicans-who were reared at that place "have 'went' wrong."

In 1876, with the assistance of the "Greenback- ers," Peter Cardwell was elected to the state sen- ate from the counties of Hamilton and Tipton, and his vote was very material to the election of Joseph E. McDonald to the United States Senate.

In 1878, William W. Rooker was elected as joint representative from Hamilton and Tipton coun- ties. Mr. Rooker has a somewhat interesting per- sonal history. He was born about one mile east of the Indiana state fairground, where from his eighth to tenth year he had General Lew Wallace as a boyhood playmate. It was his boast that "I could lick him when I was a boy," but he added further that "General Lew Wallace is now a great man and I am nothing."

In 1882 Mr. Rooker made a race in the Ninth Indiana District for Congress against Thomas B. Ward of Lafayette, he receiving 81} votes in the convention to Mr. Ward's 823 votes, and a ma- jority was required to nominate. He told me once, confidently, that he was told by political

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workers of his county that there were two dele- gates for sale and their price was $100 each, and he turned down the proposition with the remark, "If I cannot win fair I do not wish to win at all," and added, "I believe that my opponent must have purchased those votes."

The last act of his life was to go to the polls in 1896 and cast his vote for William J. Bryan for the presidency.

Another character of importance was Francis M. Householder. He was elected prosecutor of the district of the Twenty-fourth Judicial Circuit when it consisted of Madison and Hamilton coun- ties, and he served one term. In June, 1881, he was elected county superintendent of public in- struction of Hamilton county, for the reason that Rev. A. H. Morris, upon whom it was desired to bestow the honor, had not been a resident of Ham- ilton county for the year required by law to qual- ify a person to election to that position. When Mr. Morris' disability was removed, Mr. House- holder resigned and Mr. Morris was elected to fill the vacancy. Under the first administration of Grover Cleveland, Mr. Householder became post- master of Noblesville. His health failing, he re- signed this position, and, after lingering some years as an invalid, passed away.

Another great character of that age was Judge David Moss. He was an attorney at the Hamil- ton county bar for over forty years; represented Hamilton county in the Legislature from 1853 to 1855. Once or twice he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination of attorney-general of the state. In 1884 he was nominated and elected Judge of the Twenty-fourth Judicial Circuit, con- sisting of Hamilton and Madison counties. He served his term of six years and died soon after his retirement.

Probably the greatest political character of which the Democracy of Hamilton county can boast was the late Walter N. Evans, who was originally a Whig, later a Republican, and in 1874 began to affiliate with the Democratic party. In 1882, when the majority of Hamilton county was somewhere near fifteen hundred Republican, he was nominated as a Democrat, and elected clerk of the court of Hamilton county. Aside from holding the position of clerk, he held no other office, and yet he had a great influence in the Democratic councils of the state and county.

Another character was Francis M. Trissal. Commonly known as Frank Trissal, he was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, on the 30th day of Sep- tember, 1847, and came to Miami county, Indiana, with his parents in 1850, where, under the in- struction of his father, who was a Hoosier school- master, he received a common school education. In 1865 he became a deputy clerk in the Hamil-

ton circuit court in the office of his uncle, John Trissal, who was a Republican, and with whom he disagreed politically. At that time there were less than a thousand Democrats in the county, and they were unorganized; in fact, they were treated with a most brutal intolerance and had to keep quiet. Using Mr. Trissal's own words, "I do not think they had any organization during the war, but Judge David Moss and Judge Earl S. Stone were classed as leaders and (falsely, per- haps) accused of being 'Copperheads.'" In 1866, when ex-President Johnston "swung around the circle" in a speaking campaign defending his re- construction policies, which resulted in his at- tempted impeachment, Mr. Trissal became one of his followers and a pronounced Democrat, and a few years later became chairman of the Democrat- ic party. In 1873 the old court of common pleas was abolished by the Legislature and new judicial circuits were created, the counties of Hamilton and Madison forming a circuit, and, being the only Democratic attorney in the county, except David Moss, he was honored by Governor Hen- dricks by the appointment of prosecuting attor- ney; he was a candidate for election to the same position the next campaign, but was defeated. These are the words Mr. Trissal used: "It was my privilege to do about as I pleased in manag- ing campaigns, and I was classed as being a 'boss.' I attended all state conventions as a self- appointed delegate and voted the county about as I pleased, and it is among my pleasant recollec- tions that I first met John B. Stoll in the conven- tion of 1870, and was an active supporter of his when he was nominated auditor of state in 1872. The party gained some in respectability from about that time on, because it got some good life- blood from former Republicans. Our number gradually grew until finally, in 1882, we were able

to elect Walter N. Evans clerk of the circuit court." Mr. Trissal was Democratic chairman until 1886; in 1888 he was active in politics, but it was the last year in which he participated in Hamilton county affairs, he having moved from the county to Chicago, where he became principal attorney for a railroad entering Chicago. Mr. Trissal now lives in Chicago, but has a large farm near Laporte, Ind., and also maintains a partnership in the law office of Darrah, Roley & Trissal at that place.

Another post-bellum character was Judge Theo- dore P. Davis, who was born near Westfield, in Hamilton county, in 1855. He began life as a school teacher; later he studied law with Moss & Trissal, and was admitted to the bar in 1876; was actively engaged in the practice of law, and incidentally in politics, until 1890, when he was nominated judge of the circuit court, making so

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HISTORY INDIANA DEMOCRACY-1816-1916

creditable a race that in 1892 he was brought out on the evening of the day before the state con- vention for judge of the appellate court, nominat- ed and elected that year, serving a term of four years upon that bench. After he left the appellate bench he moved to Indianapolis and formed a partnership with Frank E. Gavin, and conducted the practice of law there until his death, in 1907. At the time of his death he was Democratic chair- man of Marion county.

The newspaper representing the Democratic party of Hamilton county was the paper referred to in the reference to Mr. Emmons; and later, in about 1874, William H. Boswell started a paper purporting to be independent, and called the No- blesville Independent. It was in reality a "Green- back," and anti-Republican paper. He continued to publish it as an independent paper until 1880, when it became a Democratic paper, and he later changed its name to the Noblesville Democrat, and so conducted it until 1900, when he sold the good will of the paper to R. M. Isherwood, who conducted it during the campaign of 1900, and later on sold it to some parties from Michigan, who published it for some months and then aban- doned it, when Mr. Isherwood returned and di- rected it for some time. The paper was then sold to James M. Fippen, commonly known as "Calam- ity Jim," who conducted the paper for about a year, and just prior to the campaign of 1904 sold it to Dawilla Spaneth, who made its policy inde- pendent. It was later sold to a syndicate and became the Noblesville Enterprise, and went into the hands of a receiver, later being sold to E. E. and C. F. Neal, and was finally merged into the Noblesville Ledger, the leading Republican paper of the county.

Just prior to the campaign of 1904 W. H. Roney purchased the Atlanta Times, at Atlanta, Ind., and placed it in the hands of Colonel D. K. Tay- lor, the veteran editor and newspaper man, who was a somewhat peculiar character. He was a Virginian by birth and was related by blood to Zachary Taylor, twelfth President of the United States. He was also related to Mrs. Jefferson Davis, the wife of the President of the Confed- eracy; also the late Robert L. Taylor, United States Senator from Tennessee. He was for sev- eral years telegraph editor of the old Indianapolis Sentinel and as a compositor, worked for some time on the Louisville Courier-Journal, being one of the first to operate a Mergenthaler linotype, the Courier-Journal being the second newspaper in the country to install the linotype. As a jour- neyman newspaper man he had charge of Colonel Keller's printing office at Tuscumbia, Ala., when the Colonel celebrated his nuptials, incident to his marriage to the mother of the renowned Helen

Keller, the celebrated deaf, dumb and blind girl.

Colonel Taylor for a while conducted the Times at Atlanta, but in the spring of 1904 he moved the paper to Noblesville, where he controlled it for some two or three years, until Mr. Roney, becoming involved in financial difficulties, was compelled to sell the paper. It was then pur- chased by O. H. Downey of Churubusco, Ind., who was a candidate for statistician upon the Demo- cratic ticket of 1896, who, after conducting the paper for something over a year, sold it to R. Philip Carpenter, who later became postmaster of Noblesville under the first administration of Woodrow Wilson, he in turn selling the paper to a company of which Mr. N. K. Harris was the representative; later the paper changed hands again and Mr. Harris' brother assumed control of the paper and is still publishing it.

The Democratic chairmen of Hamilton county since the Civil war are as follows: From the war to 1886, Francis M. Trissal; in 1888, John Durflinger; 1890 and 1892, George W. Ingerman; in 1894, Julius Joseph, and Daniel Gascho, who near the middle of the campaign succeeded Jo- seph; in 1896, J. W. Klotz; in 1898, George W. Ingerman, again; from 1900 to 1908, inclusive, Meade Vestal; in 1908, Fred H. Tesher; 1910 to 1914, inclusive, Phil J. Fariss; in 1916, M. L. Cardwell, who still has the honor.

The following from time to time have served as secretary: T. P. Davis, F. M. Householder, Charles D. Pottor, William A. Long, John M. Hays, A. W. Henderson, Irve Bowman and Dan- iel Presser.

The rise of the Hamilton county Democracy which culminated in the election of Meade Vestal, judge of the Hamilton circuit court, in 1908, and the election of the entire local ticket in 1912, be- gan in the contest for the office of trustee in Dela- ware township in 1900, when, out of a vote of about 400, President Mckinley carried the town- ship by 97 votes and Richard J. Moffitt, Demo- cratic candidate for trustee, won by 46 votes.

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History of the Indiana democracy, 1816-1916, Part 86

Author: Stoll, John B., 1843-1926 Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis : Indiana Democratic Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Stoll, John B., 1843-1926
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : Indiana Democratic Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1104