USA > Indiana > Cass County > Pastime sketches : scenes and events at "The Mouth of Eel" on the historic Wabash with papers read before the Cass County Indiana, Historical Society at its spring meetings, 1907 > Part 13
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I have a copy of the old subscription book to- gether with the photo half-tone made from my sketch of the plans at that time. I will forward it in the near future to the Cass County Historical Society. The project first rested upon this sub- scription, but the subscription money was never used in any part whatsoever. The city built the park from her own resources, unaided by private funds. This was as it should have been. The plans included the buying of Horney Creek basin to the edge of the corporate limits and conversion of these grounds into a public resort, by placing a dam across Horney Creek and conveying the water to the point once used by the old Cecil Mills, where I proposed to release it over a cascade built in the cliff, from whence it would be directed in winding ways through the meadow to its original course. I am yet of the opinion that this should be done, and will speak to the people about this early plan some day : for I retain a deep love for my old town.
Most Sincerely and Respectfully,
WELDON WEBSTER.
The records are still preserved of the Potta- watomie Club, and other social organizations. The Dramatic Club and Country Club have their his- torians as do also the school and church societies and fraternities. The official reports of the charit- able organizations furnish a complete history of this noble work and the reports will go down in
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history in the anchives of the Historical Society. Among these the St. Joseph Hospital, the Orphans' Home and the Home for the Friendless are noted for the good work accomplished. One of the pur- poses of the Historical Society is to collect and pre- serve the detail history of these organizations and it will be preserved.
A BRIEF SKETCH OF GENERAL CASS
While it is generally known that Cass county is named after the Michigan General and Governor of that name, many do not know how much he had to do with extinguishing the Indian titles to land in this State and opening the lands to white settlement.
Of forty-two treaties by which the Indians at different times made concessions of land in Indiana, General Cass assisted in negotiating nine. These were with several different tribes and covered a period of about ten years, from 1818 to 1828. One of them was negotiated and signed at Maumee Rapids, O., in 1817; four at St. Mary's, O., in 1818; one at Chicago, in 1821; two near the mouth of the Mississinewa in 1826, and one at Mission, on the St. Joseph, in the same year.
The process of extinguishing the Indian titles to lands in Indiana occupied nearly fifty years, begin- ning with the treaty at Greenville, negotiated by General Wayne, in 1795, and ending with that of Forks of Wabash, negotiated by Samuel Milroy and Allen Hamilton, in 1840.
The policy of making treaties with the Indians as independent tribes for the possession of their lands began immediately after the adoption of the
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constitution and continued till 1871. To this extent therefore, the Government recognized the Indian tribes as foreign nations, making treaties with them which were ratified by the Senate, the same as treaties with foreign governments. No doubt this was better than seizing the lands by force and ap- propriating them without any pretense of negotia- tion, though the whole proceeding was really one of force.
As the Indians were practically subjugated from the beginning and destined to extermination or re- moval to reservations, making treaties with them was rather a farcical procedure, yet, no doubt, it was the best method of extinguishing their title to lands. As the tribes, North and South, were numerous, it required a great many treaties to complete the pro- cess of extinguishing title.
From the foundation of the Government to 1837 the Government concluded 349 treaties with fifty- four different tribes, and many after that. Of the Indians who originally occupied portions of Indiana eleven different treaties were negotiated at different times with the Kickapoos, eight with the Weas, six- teen with the Delawares, ten with the Miamis and thirty-eight with the Pottawattomies.
Most of these treaties included a cession of more or less land, so it will be seen the process of extin- guishing Indian title was a kind of parting off and whittling down process. On the whole, however, it was accomplished, as far as Indiana is concerned, with very little bloodshed, compared with what might have been in a struggle for the possession of so vast and valuable a territory had the Indians been united and determined.
The treaties by which they relinquished their
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rights and ceded their lands usually contained pro- visions for the payment of a lump sum of money to the tribe, for the payment of annuities to the chiefs and the promise of various articles, such as rifles, hoes, kettles, blankets and tobacco to each Indian who should move to the new reservation. Provis- ion was also generally made for their transporta- tion. The consideration named in some of the treaties for their cessions of land, what might be called the purchase money, was ridiculously small compared with its real value.
The treaties were generally preceded by smooth and specious talks by the white commissioners rep- resenting the urgent needs of the whites, the ad- vantages to the Indians of a change, etc. General Cass' address to the Miami and Pottawatomie Indians at Mississinewa is preserved and is a sam- ple. This treaty was made October 16, 1826, the other two commissioners besides Cass being James B. Ray and John Tipton.
General Cass began by thanking the Great Spirit for having granted them good weather and brought them all to the council house in safety. He contin- ued : "When the Great Spirit placed you upon this island (the Indians called this continent an island) he gave you plenty of game for food and clothing and bows and arrows with which to kill it. After some time it became difficult to kill the game and the Great Spirit sent the white men here, who supplied you with powder and ball and with blank- ets and clothes. We were then a very small people, but we have greatly increased and we are now over the whole face of the country. You have decreased and your numbers are now much reduced. You have but little game, and it is difficult for you to
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support your women and children by hunting. Your Great Father, whose eyes survey the whole country, sees that you have a large tract of land here which is of no service to you; you do not cul- tivate it, and there is but little game upon it. The buffalo has long since left it and the deer are going. There are no beaver and there will soon be no other animals worth hunting upon it.
"There are a great many of the white children of your Great Father who would be glad to live on this land. They would build houses and raise corn and cattle and hogs. You know when a family grows up and becomes large, they must leave their father's house and look for a place for themselves. So it is with your white brethern ; their family is in- creasing and they must find some new place to move to. Your Great Father is willing to give for this land much more than it is worth to you. He is willing to give more than all the game upon it would sell for. You know well that all he promises he will perform."
The speaker then pointed out how much happier the Indian would be far away from the whites, where there would be no danger of collisions, and especially where it would not be so easy for their young men to obtain whiskey. He continued.
"Your Great Father owns a large country west of the Mississippi river. He is anxious that all his red children should remove there and settle down in peace together; then they can hunt and provide well for their women and children and once more become a happy people. We are authorized to offer you a residence there, equal in extent to your lands here, and to pay you an annuity which will make you comfortable, and to provide the means of
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your removal. You will then have a country abounding with game, and you will also have the value of the country you leave, and you will be be- yond the reach of whisky, for it can not reach you there. Your Great Father will not suffer his white children to reside there, for it is reserved, for the red people ; it will be yours as long as the sun shines and the rain falls. You must go before long ; you can not remain here, you must remove or perish.
"Now is the time to make a good bargain for yourselves which will make you rich and comfort- able. Come forward, then, like wise men and ac- cept the terms we offer."
The Indians must have been rather disgusted by the pretended anxiety of their Great Father at Washington for their welfare. However, they signed the treaty. Under it they were removed first to a reservation in Kansas which General Cass had assured them "will be yours as long as the sun shines and the rain falls." But their Great Father changed his mind, and later they were removed to the Indian Territory.
Between 1817 and 1831 General Cass had assist- ed in concluding treaties with different tribes of In- dians by which cessions of land were acquired in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, to an amount equal to nearly one-fourth of the en- tire area of those states. There is a Cass county in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesoto, Nebraska and North Dakota. His public services as superintendent of Indian affairs, secretary of war and other important offices made him very popular, and in 1844 he came very near being nominated for president by the Democratic national convention.
On the first day of the convention he ran up
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from 83 on the first ballot to 114 on the eigth, and if another ballot had been taken on that day he would have been nominated. The next morning James K. Polk was sprung as a "dark horse" candidate and nominated on the first ballot. In 1848 he was nom- inated, but was defeated by General Taylor. The Democracy of Indiana were for him from the begin- ning and in 1848 he received the electoral vote of the state.
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ADDENDA
AUTHORS, ARTISTS, ACTORS AND FINANCIERS WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE FAME OF THE "MOUTH OF EEL."
A brief paper on the authors, artists and actors of a community who attain more than local fame in literature, art, music and drama must of necessity be merely suggestive. It can be neither analytical, not critical. It is only possible to give data, and leave the study of the subject to the student who desires a more extended knowledge. In every com- munity is the minister who writes volumes in his tireless life, the editor who has perhaps written sev- eral thousand columns of editorial, the lawyer with his voluminous briefs and the judge, whose written opinions add to the fund of legal lore. Logansport has contributed to the higher courts of the State Judge Horace P. Biddle, Judge W. Z. Stuart and Judge G. E. Ross and to the United States Court Judge Kenesaw M. Landis. Judge D. P. Baldwin was Attorney General of the State. Their opinions are to be found in the published reports. The State and National reports contain the speeches of Sen- ators and Congressmen, State Senators and Rep- resentatives. Logansport citizens have appeared upon the lecture platform also, and some of them
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have done themselves credit in contributions to newspapers and magazines. All this is part of local history in a way and as such is worthy of study from a local standpoint. But it is not the purpose of this sketch to classify, nor to compile a complete roll of honor, but rather to offer a few suggestions for information and reference. The literature of a community is always interesting regardless of the measure of fame accorded by the world at large. And the humble efforts of the first poet of the Wa- bash, who could neither read nor write, will de- serve mention here.
Of the landscape painters George Winter was the pioneer. A sketch of his work appears in an- other chapter. Margaret MacDonald succeeded him. Mary MacDonald, her sister, attained equal fame in caricature. Both were born at Camden, Indiana, a dozen miles away, but made Logansport their home. Margaret MacDonald studied art in New York City and opened a studio in Logansport. Many of her best oil paintings are of Indiana scen- ery. After her marriage to Mr. Pullman of Chicago she made that city her home. She was president of the Palette Club of Chicago and was one of the lead- ing artists of Chicago. In 1889 she published "Days Serene," copies of her best paintings, and in 1891, "Summerland," another art book of copies. She died in 1892 at John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, where she had gone for medical treatment. Mary MacDonald excelled in her chosen work. Her etch- ings appeared in Harper's Monthly, and other mag- azines, but she survived her sister only five years, dying in the same hospital.
Max Keppler, a Logansport boy, attained Na- tional fame as a caricaturist in Puck, Harper's, and
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other magazines. Among others whose fame is more than local are Mrs. DeKops-Downey, Wils Berry and Miss Kate White. A sketch from mem- ory has its defects and there may be others.
In the world of Science there are men equally famous. Judge H. P. Biddle's treatise on the science of music was translated into German and used as a text-book in German Universities. Dr. Robert Hessler's treatises have had a similar ex- perience in Japan. Dr. John M. Coulter, who colla- borated with Prof. Stanley M. Coulter, now of Pur- due University, both of Logansport, afterwards en- gaged in similar work with President Jordan of Leland Stanford University of California, and is the recognized botanical authority of the world. Dr. Barton W. Everman as a boy hauled grain to Lo- gansport from the farm south of Logansport, near Burlington. He is at the head of the fish culture department of the National government at Wash- ington which is stocking the ponds and streams of the country with suitable spawn and supplying the nation with a considerable part of its food supply.
Prof. L. L. Forman is the head professor in lan- guages at Cornell University, Ithica, N. Y. After attaining fame in music he devoted his life to the languages with equal success. Rev. L. A. Alford was a man little known on account of his simple life. He had conferred upon him many degrees, D. D., L. L. D., and others. He was a Baptist min- ister, a publisher and an author of note. He learned the printer's trade at Adrian, Mich., published the Sunday Visitor at Hillsdale, Mich., and later the Elkhart Herald, at Elkhart, Ind. While at Elkhart he built a Baptist church building at an expense of five thousand dollars and donated it to the church
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organization. He was elected president of the Eclectical Medical College of St. Louis and was vice-president of the Medical Association of the United States and also of the State Medical Asso- ciation. He was the organizer of the Anthropo- logical University of St. Louis and received many honorary titles also a gold medal and the title of Ph. D. from the Society of Science, Letters and Arts of London, England, of which he was a mem- ber. He wrote his greatest works in Logansport, "The Masonic Gem," "Great Atonement Illus- trated," "Mystic Numbers of the Word," "Biblical Chart of Man," "The War in Heaven," and "Trip to the Skies."
John B. Dillon, as a State historian, is an author- ity, as is also W. W. Thornton, as a writer of law text-books. Thomas B. Helm and P. A. Berry in local history displayed ability worthy of a larger field. Miss Abbie Fitch, and Mrs. Laura Fitch McQuiston wrote entertainingly in the magazines on life in China.
In literature, besides these, there are many works of merit. Judge Horace P. Biddle published two or three volumes of poems. Some of his pub- lications are "American Boyhood," "A Few Poems," "Glances at the World." There is a volume of poems by A. Jones and another by Albert Allen. Mrs. S. E. Henderson wrote "Jelard," a novel, and Weldon Webster wrote "The Mystery of Louise Pollard." "Outlaws, a Story of the Building of the Wabash and Erie Canal" was written by Leroy Armstrong and published by D. Appleton & Co., in 1891. "Words of Comfort" was by Wesley E. Walls. J. E. Sutton wrote a book of travels, and T. H. McKee, "The National Platforms of All Po-
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litical Parties," and other reference works. W. D. Owen wrote "A Century of Progress" and E. S. Huntington, under the name of Edwin Stanton, wrote "The Dreams of the Dead." Capt. Hunting- ton was a regular army officer, son-in-law of Sena- tor D. D. Pratt and, in later life, a resident of Bos- ton. "The Riverton Minister," is a novel by Rev. Martin Post, son of Dr. M. M. Post, one of the pio- neer ministers at Logansport. The scene is laid at Logansport which is "Riverton." Charles T. Denby of Evansville, who married the daughter of U. S. Senator Graham N. Fitch and who spent much of his time in Logansport was Minister to China and wrote a volume on China. Perry S. Heath, a com- positor in the Pharos office, was First Assistant Postmaster-General and wrote a number of sketches as a newspaper man. In the world of music there are several pieces of sheet music and a text book on Harmony by W. T. Giffe who also published a journal of music. Thomas D. Goodwin has at- tained fame as the composer of words for music and there are a half dozen or more of his songs. R. J. Powell was a composer of popular band music. David E. Bryer published a pamphlet of campaign songs in the Blaine and Logan campaign of 1884 which attracted more than state notice. It is a notable fact that two of the great historians of the State, John B. Dillon and W. H. Smith, were Lo- gansport citizens. Paul Dresser's song, "On the Banks of the Wabash" has local significance, though he lived at Terre Haute. Nor should be overlooked the magazine poems of Mrs. Sarah S. Pratt, George W. Stout and William M. Elliott and the magazine articles of Ella Higgins and Eva Peters Reynolds. In the histrionic field Walker
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Whiteside, as an interpreter of Shakespeare, and Edna Goodrich, stand first.
Enion Kendall will prove entertaining to the readers of his poems. Without education, a wood sawyer by occupation, he showed a remarkable mind, considering his advantages. And though he was compelled to rely upon his friends, to whom he dictated his poetry, and who made him send his "Eliza Allen" to Mexico "in three parts" his poems display a remarkable imagination. He was vol- uminous and succeeded in making his poetry profit- able, which can not be said of all poets. His muse sung in ante-bellum days, and since Judge Biddle has included his printed poems in his bound copies of miscellany it is evident that he has found a place in history. His philosophy while not profound was practical. And in his effort to maintain himself by literary effort without being able to read or write he showed a lofty ambition. In truth this curiosity of literature deserves a place in local history.
There are two books in the library of local in- terest, besides the histories of the State, which of course cover local history, the State Gazetter pub- lished by J. H. Colton under the title of "Indiana Delineated, Geographical, Historical, Statistical and Commercial;" also a history of the Indian fort, Fort Wayne, which gives the best description of the habits and customs of the Indians of the Wa- bash valley. There is also a set of bound mis- cellany, one hundred and two volumes, part of the Biddle library, and also pamphlets of church his- tory, as follows: "History of the First Presbyterian Church," "History of the Market Street M. E. Church," and "History of the Broadway M. E. Church." Mr. E. S. Rice is compiling a history of
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the Baptist Church. In the Biddle miscellany the following numbers are of local interest. Speeches of Graham N. Fitch, volumes 8 and 29; "Retrospect after Thirty Years," volume 68, "Thanksgiving ser- mon," volume 22, Rev. M. M. Post; "A Lawyer's Readings in the Evidences of Christianity" and "In- diana, Her Growth," volumes 53 and 57, D. P. Bald- win ; "Complete Description of Logansport," C. Cor- lins, volume 73; "Logansport, Ind.," volume 97 ; "Centennial speeches of Williamson Wright and Horace P. Biddle, 1876," volume 75. Another book- let printed by Longwell & Cummings in 1892 is entitled "Fifty Years," edited and published by James T. Bryer. It contains a list of the "Golden Jubilee Residents," citizens who had lived in the county fifty years, a tribute to the pioneers, a his- tory of the city and county, and a sketch of the pioneers by Horace P. Biddle.
In these hints should be included "A Century of Gossip," by Willard G. Nash, and two books by Dr. Charles H. McCully, "The Chemistry of Embalm- ing," 1899, and "Sanitation and Disinfection," 1906. Dr. N. W. Cady has written some fiction. Dr. J. Z. Powell falls into rhyme at times.
The articles on early days in the files of the newspapers are interesting, contributed by Senator D. D. Pratt, Judge Horace P. Biddle, Charles B. Laselle, S. L. McFadin and others. There are gov- ernment reports of local interest at least because made by local men, by D. D. Pratt, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, W. D. Owen, Commissioner of Immigration, David M. Dunn, Consul to Prince Ed- wards Island and H. Z. Leonard and W. H. Jacks, Consuls to London, Ontario.
Miss Mabel Justice under the nom-de-plume of
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Paul Savage, "The Confessions of a Worldly Wo- man" and other novels, and has contributed to many magazines and Sunday newspapers. Clarence Ben- nett, under the name of Richard Bennett, is one of Frohman's leading men on the stage. Col. T. H. Bringhurst and Capt. Frank Swigart wrote a history of the Forty-sixth Indiana Regiment, pronounced by the War Department at Washington the best of the regimental histories.
Of the financiers Logansport has produced many who use seven figures to describe their wealth. There are a half dozen or more millionaires who at one time called Logansport their home. And so it would seem that in war, art, music, literature, statesmanship and finance the "mouth of Eel" is equally celebrated.
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