USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Some interesting Boston events > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
After two unsuccessful attempts Old Ironsides, the "Pride of the American Navy," was launched on October 21, 1797. Only a few people were present. On the first previous attempt she slid only eight feet down the ways and disappointed hundreds of spectators who lined the shore of Noddle's Island, now East Boston. The second attempt was also a failure, and the Constitution was considered an "ill-fated ship." At half past twelve on that cold October day she glided grace- fully upon the water, Captain Nicholson, her commander, breaking over her bows a bottle of choice Madeira from the cellar of the Hon. Thomas Russell, one of Boston's leading merchants. The launching took place at Edmund Hart's shipyard, now known as Constitution Wharf, on Atlantic Avenue. An incident occurred just before the launching that aroused Commodore Nicholson's wrath. He gave notice that he himself wished to hoist the flag, but while he was at lunch two workmen, Samuel Bentley and Isaac Harris, raised the Stars and Stripes. Harris atoned for his mistake by climbing some years after to the roof of the Old South Church and putting out a serious fire that threatened its destruction.
The Constitution was designed by Joshua Humphreys, of Philadel- phia, and was constructed under the guidance of Colonel George Clag- horne, of New Bedford. Her length was 175 feet, and she carried 400 men. Her cost was $302,718.84. She was distinctly a Boston ship. John T. Morgan, a Boston shipwright, chose the wood; Paul Revere furnished the copper bolts and spikes for $3,820.33, by a process known only to him; and Ephraim Thayer, whose shop was in the South End, made the gun carriages. The same Isaac Harris, just mentioned, made her new masts in 1812. Her sails were made in the Old Granary, which stood on the site of Park Street Church, her anchors were made at Hanover, Mass., and the duck for the sails was manufactured by a company which stood on the corner of Tremont and Boylston Streets. Boston was not only the city of her birth, but the home to which she returned after many of her triumphs. In 1812 Commodore Hull brought her into Boston Harbour after his wonderful escape from the
[ 51 ]
1
S
SOME INTERESTING BOSTON EVENTS
British squadron, then later she came in after the fight with the Guerrière; and still again Commodore Bainbridge brought her home after having captured the Java. Commodore Macdonough com- manded her when she sailed from Boston in 1826. No ship ever saw so much action or had such a romantic history. Her glorious career is chiefly responsible for the downfall of England's naval supremacy at this time. Before the war of 1812 Great Britain had boasted that
"Others may use the ocean as their road, Only the English make it their abode."
The "Constitution" and other American ships-of-war bombarding Tripoli. From an old print.
In the early part of April of 1814, the Constitution was chased into Marblehead by the Montague, and it was reported that three frigates were in pursuit. The New England Guards marched to her defence, but discovered when they were almost there that they had forgotten every bit of ammunition. One of the company was Abbott Lawrence, afterwards our Minister to England, who hurried out to join his troops in his pumps, which he finally contrived to exchange with a countryman for a pair of brogans and with the loss of five dollars.
The Constitution was hauled out in the new dry-docks in 1833 and launched again in June of the next year, having been thoroughly overhauled by Josiah Barker, whose shipyard occupied the site of the present Navy Yard. In this yard there is one of the famous umbrellas that was used to warp the frigate away from Broke's squadron, in July, 1812. At this time occurred the affair of the figurehead. An image of President Andrew Jackson had been
[ 52 ]
SOME INTERESTING BOSTON EVENTS
placed on the bow, and this action caused much dissatisfaction, as the President had become very unpopular. On the 3rd of July Captain Samuel Dewey performed the daring feat of sawing off the head, and upon his return to shore he and his friends celebrated the event. The author of the deed remained undiscovered for some time, but finally he took the head to Dickinson, then Secretary of the Navy, saying that he wished to return it to the Government. The morning after the strange disappearance of the figurehead young Dewey was missing. His mother suspected that her son knew who was responsible, so she went down to the back yard and
.
FRIGATE "CONSTITUTION " PETITION.
Taken three-quarters of an hour before Congress convened. The only petition which was ever placed on the floor of the House in the whole history of the United States. Congressman McCall presented it.
licked the sole of one of his boots which was hanging on the line. It tasted of salt, which confirmed her suspicions. The Constitution sailed with a piece of canvas painted to represent the American Flag over the beheaded image. At New York a new head was put on and this time with a copper bolt.
The Constitution has often been represented on the stage, and one of the most exciting scenes showed the Guerrière's mast going over- board and Commodore Hull repeating his famous remark, "Hurrah, my boys, we've made a brig of her, next time we'll make her a sloop."
In 1906 Mr. Eric Pape was instrumental in having a petition signed which was presented to Congress and which saved the Constitution from being taken out to sea and used as a target, as had been suggested. This petition, a picture of which we show in the cut above, was
[ 53 ]
SOME INTERESTING BOSTON EVENTS
signed by the Governor and almost all the living ex-Governors of the Commonwealth, by seventy Mayors and ex-Mayors, by twenty- five survivors of the crew, by twelve of Bainbridge's grandchildren and by many of the descendants of Stewart and Hull; also one of the signatures on the petition was that of Mrs. Susan L. Clarke, of Boston, who was almost ninety years old at the time, and who was a daughter of the fifer of the Constitution in all of her three great battles. The paper was also signed by thirty thousand other citizens of this Commonwealth. The petition was divided into three parts, one of which was open for public signatures at City Hall, one at the old State House, and the third at the Branch Office of the State Street Trust Company. It measured one hundred and seventy feet long, and the names are signed nine and ten abreast.
The wonderful verses of Oliver Wendell Holmes are also responsible to a large extent for her preservation :-
"Oh, better that her shattered hulk Should sink beneath the wave; Her thunders shook the mighty deep, And there should be her grave. Nail to the mast her holy flag, Set every threadbare sail, And give her to the God of storms, The lightning and the gale."
It is with pride that Boston people will look back and remem- ber that to Massachusetts and especially to Boston belongs the credit of having saved Old Ironsides.
LAFAYETTE LAYS THE CORNER-STONE OF BUNKER HILL MONUMENT
Lafayette, at the age of sixty-seven, journeyed almost five thou- sand miles through sixteen Republics in less than four months in order to lay the corner-stone of Bunker Hill Monument at the celebra- tion commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill. Few persons believed that he would really come over here, and when he appeared at the State House on the 16th of June, in the year 1825, the people of New England were almost wild with de- light. He was met by Governor Lincoln, the Senate, House of Repre- sentatives and City officials, and in reply to the addresses of welcome, he said that Bunker Hill had been the pole-star upon which his eyes had been fixed. While here he stayed at the house of Senator Lloyd in Pemberton Square.
The procession, which was in charge of General Lyman, was headed by two hundred officers and soldiers of the Revolution, followed by forty veterans who had taken part in the fight at Bunker Hill. Many of them wore the same cartridge boxes they used fifty years before, and one old soldier carried the same drum that he had with him in the battle. Before the procession started Mayor Quincy, who was master of ceremonies, had the honor of introducing the survivors of the great battle to Lafayette, and the ceremony must have been pathetic and impressive. He was drawn in the parade
[ 54 ]
SOME INTERESTING BOSTON EVENTS
by six white horses. The head of the procession reached the monu- ment before the rear had left the Common. The pyramid which had been built on the hill had been removed, and from one of the timbers a cane had been turned out, which was presented, suitably inscribed, to the man who at the age of nineteen volunteered his services and risked his life to help make America free.
Lafayette then laid the corner-stone according to Masonic regula- tions. The addresses were made in a huge amphitheatre on the northeast side of the hill, Lafayette occupying a seat on the front part of the platform, with the survivors of the battle just behind him. He himself was the last surviving Major General of the American Revolutionary Army. Dr. Dexter, who had been in the battle, offered the prayer, and Daniel Webster was the orator of the day. When he had finished his speech some one in the audience was intro- duced to him. He said he couldn't believe he really was Daniel Webster, the wonderful orator, because he understood every word he said. A banquet was held immediately after the addresses, and Lafay- ette proposed his well-known toast, which is especially interesting in view of the frightful condition in which Europe finds herself to-day. His words were: "Bunker Hill, and that holy resistance to oppression, which has already enfranchised the American hemisphere. The anni- versary toast at the jubilee of the next half century will be, to Europe freed." Mr. Thomas Upham, now living at 332 Commonwealth Ave- nue, was present when the corner-stone was laid ninety-one years ago.
Daniel Webster later held a large reception for Lafayette, and in order to accommodate his many guests he cut a door into the adjoining house belonging to Israel Thorndike. The General also attended a recep- tion at the house of Mr. R. C. Derby, and he was there introduced to a lady with whom he had danced a minuet forty-seven years before. Dr. Bowditch describes how he determined to watch the procession from the steps of a house, and to his surprise found himself running along beside Lafayette's carriage yelling at the top of his voice. It was on Lafayette's visit the year before, in 1824, that he agreed to return to take part in the Bunker Hill celebration. As he passed the residence of the late John Hancock, Mayor Quincy turned to Lafayette and said that the widow of his deceased friend was sitting in the window opposite the carriage. He immediately turned and placed his hand on his heart, whereupon she burst into tears and said, "I have lived long enough." The words in the arch which was placed over Wash- ington Street expressed the deep feeling of love and veneration in which Lafayette was held by all Americans. The last two lines of the inscription were,-
"We bow not the neck, and we bend not the knee;
But our hearts, Lafayette, we surrender to thee."
He also visited Governor Brooks at Medford. An arch over the meeting-house had on it the following :-
"General Lafayette, Welcome to our Hills and Brooks."
Lafayette said good-bye to Boston for the last time on June 22, 1825, to go on a tour of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. As he left Mayor Quincy at the State line he kissed him. In describing
[ 55 ]
SOME INTERESTING BOSTON EVENTS
the parting to one of his friends of the fairer sex, she replied, "If Lafayette had kissed me, I would never have washed my face again."
The French refused to allow his American friends to erect a statue of him in Paris, but later the Government of France presented to New York his statue which now stands in Central Park. Lafayette died in 1834. This country should never forget that France emptied her arsenals and impoverished herself to help America.
THE GRANITE RAILWAY COMPANY-THE FIRST RAILROAD IN AMERICA
The Granite Railway was the first railroad built in America. The road was about three and one-half miles in length and ran from "fur- nace lot" and several of the quarries in Quincy through East Milton to a wharf which was built at an expense of $30,000 at the elbow in the Neponset River not far from Granite Bridge. This old wharf is still in existence and is used now by boys for swimming. The origin of the road is interesting. In 1824 Joshua Torrey of Quincy began to build a canal to save part of the long cartage for granite, and in the following year some enterprising citizens formed the Quincy Canal Cor- poration, which enabled small sloops to approach within a mile of the quarries in Quincy. Both of these enterprises, however, ended in failure. About this same time Gridley Bryant, a noted engineer in Boston, purchased, with Dr. John C. Warren, a stone quarry in Quincy, since called the Bunker Hill Quarry. Bryant and Colonel Thomas H. Perkins had heard of the possibility of the building of the Manchester and Liverpool Railroad in England and conceived the idea of starting the Granite Railway for the purpose of procuring large quantities of the excellent granite for the construction of Bunker Hill Monument. In spite of a great deal of opposition in the Legis- lature the Charter for the Granite Railway Company was obtained in March, 1826, the incorporators being Colonel Perkins, William Sullivan, Amos Lawrence, David Moody, Gridley Bryant, the builder of the road, and Solomon Willard, the architect of the monument. Many of the members of the Legislature quite naturally questioned the incorporators of the enterprise as to what they knew about rail- roads, wondering, at the same time, whether it was right to empower a corporation to purchase people's land for a project about which so little was known. It may be interesting to know that Amos Lawrence bought a quarry in Gloucester, believing that it might assist in build- ing the monument, in which he was much interested. There were, however, no facilities for transporting this granite, and this property was handed down through several generations of the family, until last year when it was sold by the executors of the estate of Amory A. Lawrence. The first cars passed over the Granite Railway Com- pany's Road on October 7, 1826, the train of several cars being drawn by horses. The gradual descent from Quincy to the water made it a simple matter to transport the granite, and the horses were easily able to drag the empty cars back. The road was operated by horse-power for forty years, then remained idle for a short time, and in 1871 was purchased by the Old Colony Railroad. The spur track
[ 56 ]
SOME INTERESTING BOSTON EVENTS
from the wharf to the Granite Branch was operated by oxen as late as 1899, when the Old Colony Railroad sent its first engine as far as the quarry.
The road was constructed in the following manner: Its gauge was five feet, and stone sleepers were placed about eight feet apart. Upon these sleepers wooden rails six inches wide and twelve inches high were placed. Iron plates three inches wide and one-fourth of an inch thick were fastened with spikes to these rails. At all public crossings stone rails were used, upon which the iron plates were firmly bolted to the stone. In the course of a few years the wooden rails began to decay, and stone rails were substituted, the original sleepers being
Spectacle las.
fit
Castle 1
Thomy
BOSTON
---
Map showing location of the Granite Railway from Quincy Quarries to Neponset River. From an original print in the possession of the Quincy Historical Society.
used. On account of its construction the upkeep of the road for a good many years was less than ten dollars a year. Parts of the old road are still to be seen, and passing southerly over the route of the first railroad in America is seen one of the old railroad frogs and a section of the superstructure now standing at Squantum Street, East Milton, on the line of the Granite Branch of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. This frog and old stone rail were exhibited at the Chicago Fair. The capital of the enterprise was originally $100,000, which was later increased to $250,000. The cost was about $60,000 per mile. In 1846 permission was given to the road to cross Granite Bridge and join a branch railroad about to be constructed from Milton village to the Old Colony Railroad, to be called the Dorchester & Milton Branch Railroad. The company was also authorized to construct branches not over one and one-half miles in length which
[ 57 ]
SOME INTERESTING BOSTON EVENTS
must be placed within half a mile of the quarry. Passengers were also allowed to be carried. The Company started solely as a railroad proposition, then purchased its own quarry in Quincy, and later another one in Concord, N.H. The contract to supply stones to the Bunker Hill Monument specified a charge of 50c. per ton for carrying the stone from the quarry to the wharf at Milton and an additional sum of 40c. for each ton conveyed from there to Charlestown. The railroad purchased the vessel Robin Hood in order to carry out the latter part of this contract.
Every share of stock was bought up by Colonel Perkins, and when he died in 1854 his holdings were sold to several individuals who con- tinued to work the quarries with great profit until 1864 when the stock again changed hands. In 1870 the officers and directors were: President, John S. Tyler; Vice-President, John C. Pratt; Treasurer,
-
Train of cars on the Granite Railway, and Railway Hotel. From an original print in the possession of the Quincy Historical Society.
George Lewis; the Directors being Benjamin Bradley, John Felt Os- good, William B. Sewall, John D. Parker, and the Treasurer, George Lewis. Mr. Henry E. Sheldon, who only recently died in East Milton, was the General Manager from 1876 to 1898.
Some of the later directors of the Company were Harold J. Coolidge, W. S. Patten, and Dr. John A. Lamson. Luther S. Anderson, of Quincy, assumed the management of the Company in April, 1899, and in 1907 he was appointed treasurer, which office, together with that of manager, he held until his death in September, 1914. Many im- portant changes in the plant were made during his term of office, so that, at his death, it was accounted the most valuable quarry property in Quincy. Under the present officers the same progressive methods are being pursued. At this time Henry M. Faxon, of Quincy, is president and treasurer; Charles E. Morey, of Boston, vice-president; Stillman P. Williams, Henry H. Kimball, and Alva Morrison, directors.
Quincy granite was, and is, well known, and many important build- ings have been built of this material, including the old Boston Custom
[ 58 ]
SOME INTERESTING BOSTON EVENTS
House, the old Tremont House, the old Astor House in New York, Boston City Hall, the old Horticultural Hall, the old Equitable Life Assurance Society Building in New York, as well as several buildings belonging to prominent insurance companies in Hartford, Conn., and also the New Orleans Custom House. Before 1800 the quarries were worked very little.
MAYOR THEODORE LYMAN PROTECTS WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON FROM THE MOB
William Lloyd Garrison would undoubtedly have been ducked in the "Frog Pond," and might have lost his life, had not Theodore Lyman, who was Mayor of Boston at the time, held a mob at bay long enough to enable the great anti-slavery agitator to escape.
A meeting of the Female Anti-Slavery Society was arranged for October 21, 1835, at the office of the Liberator, which was Garrison's newspaper. It was believed that George Thompson, a Scotch aboli- tionist, was going to speak, and on the morning of the day of the meeting anonymous handbills were distributed announcing that the "infamous foreigner" intended to "hold forth," and calling upon the citizens to "snake him out." A purse of one hundred dollars was offered to the man "who would first lay violent hands on Thompson, so that he may be brought to the tar-kettle before dark." Mayor Lyman therefore sent a messenger to Mr. Garrison to find out whether the objectionable Thompson was going to put in an appearance, and learning that he was not even in Boston he consequently took no unusual precautions to prevent disturbance. There was, however, a large crowd in front of the Liberator office, and only about thirty women were able to force their way into the hall.
The Mayor was soon told that it looked as if there would be a riot, and he therefore went to the lecture room with more constables.
Thousands of people in the street cried for "Thompson! Thompson!" The Mayor promptly assured them that he was not even in Boston, and begged them to disperse, but their vengeance turned on Garrison, with shouts of "We must have Garrison! Out with him! Lynch him!" The Mayor with a few police officers held the staircase and kept the mob back. He then went upstairs and induced the women to leave the hall, and the next step he took was to persuade Garrison to escape by the rear passage of the building. While the sign of the Society was being torn down and destroyed, Garrison got out of the rear window onto a shed from which he entered a carpenter's shop in hopes of being able to get into Wilson's Lane. Unfortunately he was discovered by the crowd and had to hide in a corner behind a pile of boards. Several of the rioters again found him and dragged him to a window with the intention of hurling him to the ground. Some one relented, however, and suggested that they "shouldn't kill him outright." A rope was tied around his body, and he was lowered down a ladder into the hands of the angry mob. A friendly voice yelled, "He shan't be hurt! He is an American!" which seemed somewhat to calm the crowd, who dragged him in his shirt sleeves through Wilson's Lane into State Street, in the rear of City Hall,
[ 59 ]
5
8
3
6
2
William T. G. Morton, M.D., Boston, making the first public demonstration of etherization at the Massachusetts General Hospital, surrounded by the medical staff of that institution.
From left to right: .
1. Dr. Henry J. Bigelow
3. Dr. J. Mason Warren
5. Dr. William T. G. Morton
George Hayward
2. Dr. Augustus A. Gould
4. Dr. John C. Warren
6. Dr. Samuel Parkman
7. Dr. Ten Tournaand
SOME INTERESTING BOSTON EVENTS
then the Old State House, shouting, "To the Common! To the Frog Pond with him!" Garrison was rescued and taken by the Mayor and the City authorities into the City's rooms in the Old State House, where he was supplied with new pantaloons, coat, stock, cap, etc. Here Mayor Lyman again defied the crowd, declaring that the Law must be maintained, and furthermore that he would lay down his life on the spot to preserve order. He then made an address to the people outside. After careful deliberation it was decided that the only safe place for Garrison was the jail, and therefore with his consent he was considered a rioter and ordered by Sheriff Parkman to the Leverett Street jail. The rioters followed the carriage, but the driver had a good pair of horses and a long whip which enabled him to elude his pursuers, who tried to hold on to the horses and the wheels of the carriage, and even tried to cut the traces and reins and to pull Garrison out of the window. The Mayor ran on foot and arrived just before the hack. It was said that Garrison thoroughly appreciated this happy contrivance, meaning the prison, and in a public meeting he jokingly said that he was never so glad to get into a jail in his life.
At this time Boston really had no police, only about thirty night watchmen and six day watchmen. It can be readily seen what a difficult task the Mayor had in quelling the riot without bloodshed. A gallows had been erected in front of Garrison's door, and it was therefore thought advisable to guard his house that night.
THE FIRST ETHER OPERATION
The "Death of Pain," so called by Dr. Weir Mitchell, took place on October 16, 1846, when the first public operation was performed with the aid of ether. The credit for this discovery, which was the greatest gift of American medicine to mankind, belongs chiefly to Dr. W. T. G. Morton, though others doubtless deserve some credit. Dr. Crawford W. Long of Georgia holds the honor of making the first trial of ether inhalation in surgical operations; and Dr. Horace Wells, a dentist of Hartford, and once a partner of Dr. Morton, a few years later, administered gas while extracting teeth. Dr. Wells at one time journeyed to Boston to exhibit his discovery, but the result was such a failure that the poor dentist returned to Hartford and died suddenly while experimenting with chloroform.
Dr. Morton's life is most varied and interesting. He was born near Worcester in 1819, but, being obliged to leave school early in life, he moved to Boston, where he entered a publishing house. His partners duped him, and he then determined to study dentistry in Baltimore. Previous to his discovery patients were given brandy, laudanum, and even opium in some cases. Occasionally mesmerism was tried with doubtful results. Usually, however, surgeons relied upon their own strength to hold down the patient, often using pulleys to set the limb. Dr. Morton at once realized the relief that the application of ether would be to dentistry, and he gave his whole time to the study of medicine and different gases at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He soon established a "tooth mill" to manu- facture artificial teeth, and this plant was supposed to "supply teeth
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.