USA > Indiana > Public men of Indiana : a political history from 1860 to 1890, v. 1 > Part 11
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One of the Democratic nominees for a State office in 1886 was Martin T. Kreuger, of Michigan City, for clerk of the Supreme Court, who made a thorough canvass of the State, speaking in both the English and German languages, of both of which he is a master. At the close of his campaign. he reported to James Murdock, the chairman of the Democratic State Committee that he had found that there had been an average of five applicants
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for each fourth class postoffice, and that by mul- tiplying this number of disappointed applicants by five and then adding the number of Cleveland's vetos of pension bills. he could ascertain what the Republican majority in the State would be. His estimate proved correct, and he has not since been an aspirant for a state office, but has been mayor of Michigan City almost continuously since.
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CHARLES L. JEWETT
CHAPTER XXIII
T HE State election in 1882 resulted in victory for the Democrats. William D. Bynum, who had been formerly in the law practice at Washing- ton in Daviess County, soon after becoming a resi- dent of Indianapolis was elected a member of the legislature in 1882, and was speaker of the house in 1883. In 1884 was elected to congress. Charles L. Jewett, one of the best known and ablest law- yers of the State, was chairman of the judiciary committee of the house when Bynum was speaker, and at the regular and special sessions of 1885, and again became a member in 1887, and was the au- thor of the law passed at that session, requiring the payment of wages in money every two weeks.
He was appointed by President Mckinley as colonel in the Spanish-American war, and became judge advocate general of the military forces in the Philippines. He was favored by nature with the qualities that make the best of lawyers and combines them with his high scholastic attainments and the advantages that come from the active par- ticipation in trials. He has great powers of con- centration that he resorts to in the preparation and trial of his cases, and isnot unfamiliar with a vocab- ulary that contains. both adjectives and explosives,
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and besides is a man of most imposing appearance and pleasing address. The hundreds of instances in which his name appears in the Supreme Court reports as counsel, for either appellant or appellee are some indication of his extensive law practice in Indiana. The State would gain in prestige if he were either governor or United States senator, and he is still eligible.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE presidential campaign in 1884, was so vigilant on both sides that but few Indiana voters refrained from activities in it.
The campaign proceeded in a fairly orderly way until the Cincinnati Enquirer, that had an exten- sive circulation in Indiana, startled Cleveland's followers by publishing an article charging that he had been guilty of many youthful indiscretions, and specifically charging that, though a bachelor, he had a living son, whose mother's name was Maria Halpin.
This charge was at first denounced by his fol- lowers as a campaign lie, but some of his Mug- wump followers called on him to take some notice of it and requested that he indicate what answer they should make to it. He answered them, ad- mitting the charge and said, "Tell the truth" about it. This amazing admission greatly dimin- ished the enthusiasm of his followers, but at the same time set them to the work of investigating the private life of Blaine, that resulted in the Indianapolis Sentinel making a countercharge against him to the effect that he had attempted to conceal his own wrongful conduet by a hasty marriage.
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Blaine's Indiana supporters, like the followers of Cleveland, called on him to take notice of the Sentinel's charges, which he did, and sent a tele- gram to them saying that the charge was false in everything that it stated or implied, and directed General Harrison, as his attorney, to at once bring a libel suit against the Sentinel, and the suit was brought in the United States circuit court at Indianapolis. The Sentinel company answered the complaint, justifying the charge on the ground that it had only published the truth, and to sus- tain its answer, depositions were taken in the State of Maine, to prove the date of Blaine's mar- riage and the inscriptions on tombstones, showing the dates of the birth of his offspring.
The campaign literature, bearing upon these illegitimate issues, was much more abundant than that dealing with political issues, and the campaign degraded into the filthiest affair that was ever carried on.
After the election the Sentinel company in- sisted on a trial of the libel case, and forced Blaine to either dismiss it or to come forward with his proof of libel, and, finding it necessary to do one or the other, he sent a letter to his counsel, stating that he was convinced that he could not have a fair trial in Indiana. This letter, his counsel offered for filing in the court as his authority for dismissing the case. The presiding judge refused to allow it to be filed, but permitted a dismissal to be entered.
Many young men of both political parties, who
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. . AU
THOMAS TAGGART
had not theretofore taken a leading part in cam- paigns, came forward that year as leaders in local political organizations. Prominent among these in the Democratic party was Thomas Taggart, of Indianapolis, whose subsequent career, in both po- litical and business affairs, could only be briefly set forth in a large volume, but some of the events with which he has been identified will here follow. He found it necessary in early life to lay aside his desires for a higher education than that obtained in the common school that he left to go to work, but industry, integrity, and energy were the forces in his character that made up for all educational deficiencies.
An intimate association with and employer of laboring people made him their favorite, and at the same time gave him great advantages in dealing with the various traits in human character. It was his knowledge of the wants and ways of common people, and his ever readiness to serve them that always brought them to his support in his political undertakings without its being necessary for him to organize any labor unions to further his ambi- tions. His popularity with them was first mani- fested in 1886, when as the Democratic nominee for auditor of Marion County he overcame a large normal Republican majority as well as the drift in polities that gave the State to the Republicans that year. His election prompted him to give his first attention to the duties of that important office in which great care and skill were required in the management of the county's finances, to the
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end that its credit might not be impaired by either the confusion or diversion of its funds. To assist him in his new work he engaged as his chief dep- uty, Eudorus M. Johnson, a graduate of Earl- ham College, gifted with the mathematical order of mind, and one of the most skillful accountants of the State, who, like Taggart, was also pos- sessed of a charming personality. So well were the duties of the office performed that Taggart was made the unanimous nominee of his party, and elected for a second term. Near the end of his second term his party insisted on his accepting the nomination for mayor of Indianapolis, and he was elected over a popular Republican nominee, and again elected for a second and third term, and again selected as his city comptroller, his tried and true friend, "Dora" Jolinson, as he was familiarly called. As mayor of Indianapolis he made a splen- did record in the history of the city by his enforce- ment of law and order, and in the inauguration and carrying into effect of a vigorous policy in public improvements, without any increases of taxation, or the necessity of resorting to temporary loans to the city, as had been a previous custom. To his administration should be credited the beautiful boulevards and parks that adorn that city.
It has been said that "the tree that bears the best fruit always has the most clubs in it," and Tag- gart, like all successful politicians, has not escaped some clubbing. The Republican press and politi- cians of Indiana viewed his remarkable successes as an organizer with much concern, as he was con-
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tinually making inroads on Republican majorities both in Marion County and in the State, while serving as chairman of the County and Democratic State Central committees, but the press assaults on him only served to aid in popularizing him with his party and gave to him undisputed leadership of it in the State, and as a member and Chairman of the National Democratic Committee. Republi- cans viewed his acts "with alarm," while Democrats pointed to them "with pride."
His activities in party management have been signally free from self-serving purposes. He has derived no personal benefits from his party work, but has given his valuable time and talent to the promotion of the political ambitions of others, with- out any reward "or the hope or promise thereof," in a personal sense, or to gain office for himself. He has continued in his party service for so many years because the voters of his party have been en- tirely satisfied with his activities and accomplish- ments and have been unwilling to dispense with his assistance as their adviser and leader. His success as a political manager are largely due to the fact that so much confidence is reposed in him, and to the further fact that he has always applied business principles to all his undertakings. He is a business, man, and not a selfish politician. It is not to the diseredit of business men in a government of po- litical parties that they become active participants in public affairs, nor is it just to them that they should so often be stigmatized as "bosses" or "ma- chine politicians," and this is especially true as to
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Taggart, who has never been instrumental in plac- ing undeserving men in positions where they can plunder the public.
Besides being successful in his business under- takings of every kind he is the possessor of other commendable qualities that exhibit him as a man of refinement, as well as one proud of his State and interested in the devlopment of its material wealth.
It was something more than the mind of the mere politician that conceived and carried into effect the many business enterprises with which he has been identified, and that combined esthetic tastes with usefulness in appropriating the great French Lick Springs to their proper purposes, and that prompted the preservation of the natural attrac- tions of the place of their location in its scenic beau- ties, and at the same time embellished and made most picturesque its rocks, ravines, and terraced ap- proaches to the hill tops that overlook the ever gush- ing springs that put forth their medicinal liquids from the mythical Pluto regions, to invigorate those who visit them from all parts of the world, where they find rest and comfort in one of the great- est hotels in the world, and receive the pleasant greetings of the man who possessed both the fore- sight and the courage to bring his visions of the beautiful and useful into actual realization. In this connection a little of the history of these wonderful springs and of their location is not out of place.
Doctor William A. Bowles held the title to the large body of lands on which they are located from 1832 until his death in 1873. He was the Colonel
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of the Second Indiana Regiment in the war with Mexico that he commanded in its retreat at the battle of Buena Vista. That retreat has been de- scribed as having no comparison with his quiet re- treat in Orange County where these springs are located, but probably bore some comparison with it in wildness, when he found it, and where for so many years he made his home. He was charged with being one of the conspirators with Harri- son H. Dodd, Lambdin P. Milligan, Stephen Horsey, Andrew Humphries and Horace Heffren to overthrow the government during the Civil War. He was tried as were the others by a military com- mission that found them guilty. Dr. Gatling, the inventor of the great Gatling gun, was also impli- cated as a participant with them but was not put on trial. It was testified by witnesses, who were government detectives, among other things, that Bowles was the inventor of a mechanical device for setting boats and government buildings on fire, and had been seen experimenting with his machine, in which Greek fire was used as a liquid to produce its explosions; also that he was a major general in the military organization that operated as part of the processes of the Sons of Liberty that were first called as the order of American Knights.
The French Lick Springs and the country about them, first known as the Lost River country, were the undisputed happy hunting grounds of the American Indians up to the time of the French settlement there about two hundred years ago. This early settlement was in huts and tents and
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was followed a few years later by the erection of a few cabins and by the construction in 1840 of a hewed log house, called a hotel, that Doctor Bowles built and where he lived and made his home until 1846, when he leased the place to a Doctor Lane and went to the Mexican War. A few years after his return he resumed possession himself, and con- tinuously held the title to the Springs and the ex- tensive body of adjoining timbered lands from 1832 until his death in 1873. Shortly before, or in the first years of the Civil War, he constructed a frame hotel that he occupied at the time of his arrest in 1864. A picture of it as it appeared in 1867 is here presented.
These buildings were added to and others con- structed during the twenty years that followed and the adjoining grounds were also much beautified. The place became famous as a health resort under a management that preceded that of Taggart and his associates, but they, as the French Lick Springs Hotel Company, a corporation, made still greater improvements upon becoming the owners in 1891, by the construction of the magnificent fire-proof brick hotel with its Bedford stone front steps and marble stairways, shown with the lands that sur- round it, and the herds of beef and dairy cattle that roam over their hills, and feed on their green fields, in the pictures that follow.
During the same period in which Taggart came into public notice as a Democrat, Daniel M. Rans- dell forged to the head in public popularity as a republican. He was among the first to enlist as a
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OLD FRENCH LICK HOTEL 1867
FRENCH LICK HOTEL 1922
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FRENCH LICK HERD 1922
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private soldier in General Harrison's Seventieth Indiana Regiment, in which he served until the end of the war and was seriously wounded in one of the many battles in which that regiment fought. He was a great admirer of and was greatly ad- mired by General Harrison, and was much de- pended upon in the promotion of Harrison's polit- ical campaigns. He had such a popular following that he was elected clerk of the circuit and supe- rior court of Marion County in 1878.
Soon after Harrison's election as senator he was elected sergeant-at-arms of the United States sen- ate and held that position for many years, and had the highest respect of all senators, as well as that of his many other acquaintances. He had been pre- ceded in that honorable position by Richard J. Bright, whose election had been brought about by Joseph E. McDonald and Daniel W. Voorhees.
Jackson County claims Joseph Hooker Shea, by adoption, as one of its prominent citizens. He is a native of Scott County where he attended the public schools, graduating from the Lexington high school and then taking a full college course at the Indiana State University, from which he graduated in the year 1889, receiving the degree of A. B. In January of that year he was admitted to the bar at Scottsburg where he began the active practice of his profession. In 1891 he was elected prosecuting attorney, and in 1896 was elected State senator from the counties of Scott, Clarke, and Jennings, and in the deliberations of the assembly of 1897 was an active participant and was re-
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elected to the next assembly where he held a posi- tion of influence and prominence. In 1899 he be- came a resident of Seymour and there engaged actively in the law practice and was an associate of the writer for a number of years in the legal department of the Southern Indiana Railway Com- pany, where he rendered most efficient service until his election in the year 1906 as Judge of the 40th Judicial Circuit, and six years later was elected a judge of the Appellate Court of the State and rendered the most capable judicial service in that tribunal until he was called in 1915 to still higher honors by appointment as United States ambas- sador to Chile and had charge of the embassy dur- ing the period of the World War, when many deli- cate and important duties in international affairs required and had his careful attention, among these the duty and honor of acting as the personal repre- sentative of the president of the United States on the occasion of the unveiling of the Magellan monu- ment at Punta Arenas and at the installation of President Allesandro of that Republic.
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JOSEPH H. SHEA
CHAPTER XXV
T HE prestige that Grover Cleveland got, by his election as governor in 1882, brought him into immediate prominence as the Democratic candidate for president in 1884. Joseph E. McDonald de- sired the nomination, and the Indiana delegates to the national convention were instructed for him. It was said the delegation had "the hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob," that it really wanted Hen- dricks, but Hendricks headed the delegates and loyally supported McDonald, and when it was pro- posed to substitute his name after it became appar- ent that MeDonald could not be nominated, he frowned on the proposition and would not permit it. Cleveland was nominated and Hendricks was immediately nominated by Cleveland's followers by acclamation for vice-president, and it was his great power and influence over the Democratic voters that defeated Blaine, the Republican nominee. Blaine made a whirlwind tour of the State. Hen- dricks followed him in every county in which he had appeared and the plumed knight's "shining lance" drew no blood.
Isaac P. Gray had to be provided for again in 1884, and was nominated for governor over Gen- eral Manson. The grizzly old hero's war record counted for nothing against that of Gray, who had
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held a commission as colonel of the Fourth Indiana cavalry for four months, but Manson was nomi- nated for lieutenant governor and elected. Gray defeated William H. Calkins, the Republican nominee, and when Cleveland was again elected in 1892 he was awarded the honor of an appoint- ment as ambassador to Mexico, where he could "revel in the Halls of the Montezumas" as did Manson in 1846, and he died while holding that office.
Major William H. Calkins, of LaPorte, had served a number of terms in congress, was a mem- ber when nominated for governor in 1884, and re- signed to make the race. His resignation required a special election to fill the vacancy. Benjamin F. Shively, of South Bend, was nominated by the Democrats as their candidate and was elected and was again elected for the full term, and also suc- cessful in the elections of 1888 and 1890.
During his three terms in the house of represent- atives he became prominent as a leader and was so greatly admired by the people of his congres- sional district that he overcame large Republican majorities. He was unanimously nominated as the Democratic candidate for goveror in 1896 and de- feated at the election. In 1908 the Democrats car- ried the state legislature, and at its session in 1909 he was elected United States senator by the legis- lature, and again elected by popular vote in 1914, and died while serving his second term and Thomas Taggart was appointed by Governor Ralston to fill the vacancy until the next election.
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During his term of seven years in the senate Shively played a prominent part in national states- manship as a member on the committee on foreign relations. He was a native of St. Joseph County, and in his youth entered the Indiana Normal school at Valparaiso, from which he graduated and for a time followed the profession of a teacher, also en- gaged in journalism as the editor and publisher of a newspaper called the New Era. At the expiration of his first term in congress he determined to gain a better education and entered the law department of the University of Michigan, from which he graduated. He took a deep interest in higher and better education and became a member of the board of trustees of the Indiana State University. In his life and character it was truly said by his associates, "there was a beautiful combination of modesty, courage, and sparkling genius, which was greatly appreciated by his best friends, so that none knew him but to love him."
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CHAPTER XXVI
T N his first message to Congress President Cleve- - land pledged his administration to an observance of civil service rules in appointments to office, much to the disappointment of party workers in Indiana, who in the campaign carried banners dis- playing the words, "Tell the Truth" and "Turn the Rascals Out." It soon became apparent after the election that no rascals or other Democrats would be "turned in." The civil service rules did not apply to the "higher ups," however, but in only one instance that is remembered did any head of a department get an appointment and that ap- pointee was Ebenezer Henderson, a practical poli- tician, who had been auditor of state from 1874 to 1878, and was chairman of the Democratic State Committee in 1884. He had composed the words below to be sung by jubilant Democrats on the night of the election, referring to the before men- tioned campaign scandal:
"Hurrah for Maria,
Hurrah for the Kid,
Voted for Cleveland and d-d glad I did."
Whether these chaste and thrilling words in- duced the appointment that was given to their au- thor is not known, but he received the appointment as a first assistant in the revenue department.
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Joseph E. McDonald was the United States senator and was looked to for appointments by the faithful. He had been a candidate against Cleve- land for the nomination and, seemingly, did not stand in high favor by his successful rival, but was popular with his colleagues. By the combined pressure that he could bring to bear he was able to secure the appointment of his good friend, Rufus Magee, of Logansport, as minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to Sweden and Norway. Magee had been a law student in McDonald's of- fice, was for a time an editorial writer on the old Indianapolis Sentinel and for many years promi- nent in the journalistic field; was a member of the state senate at the sessions of 1883 and 1885, and on his return from his residence at the em- bassy in Stockholm was in 1890 again elected as state senator, serving in the sessions of 1891 and 1893. He practiced law successfully for many years. At this writing he is still living at Logans- port in the enjoyment of ease, and comforted by the recollection of an active and useful life, and en- joys the high esteem of all his fellow citizens, as well as that of those who knew him throughout the State.
Colonel Charles Denby, of Evansville, was also appointed to a foreign mission; in 1885, by Cleve- land. He was a native of Virginia, educated at Georgetown University; practiced law at Evans- ville, after serving as colonel in the Civil War; was appointed minister to China, where he remained, serving in the same capacity under the administra-
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tions of Presidents Benjamin Harrison, the second term of Cleveland, Mckinley, Roosevelt and Taft. In 1898 was made a member of the commission to investigate the conduct of the war with Spain, and in 1899 a member of the Philippine Commission. During the war between China and Japan the Japanese government placed its interests in China in his care. As mentioned elsewhere he was the father of Edwin Denby, secretary of the navy in the cabinet of President Harding.
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CHAPTER XXVII
C LEVELAND seemingly harbored a grudge against ex-Union soldiers and vetoed many pension bills, especially private pension acts that had been passed by congress. The message that defeated him in his second race, as it was claimed, was the one urging a reduction of the tariff be- cause of the accumulated and excessive revenues that the existing law had brought into the federal treasury, but it is very doubtful whether that mes- sage contributed as much to his defeat as did his vetoes of pension legislation.
It is not the purpose in this volume to enumerate the events of his second administration. His elec- tion over General Harrison for the second term was largely due to a split in the Republican ranks that followed a breach between Harrison and Blaine.
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