History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc, Part 21

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344

USA > Maryland > Baltimore County > Baltimore City > History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc > Part 21

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Those who were its sponsors at its second birth were William J. Albert, J. H. Stick- ney, Coates and Brothers, E. M. Keith, George B. Cole, Joseph M. Cushing, J. B. Eastman, Henry James, George A. Pope, Henry W. Hoffman, George C. Maund, William Daniel, R. H. Stirling, James Ca- rey Coal, Alexander Murray, H. M. Hut- chinson, E. Merrifield, John A. Nedles, George Rost, R. Stockett Matthews, C. Herbert Richardson, Henry Stockbridge, William B. Hill, Dr. W. R. Way, F. C. Meyer, Charles Crozier, Oliver M. Disney, William Abbott, H. Katz, Joseph S. Lynch, John S. Blades, William H. Hebden, Thomas A. Bean, John W. Randolph, An- drew W. Denison, Robert Tyson, John J. Jacobson, Marcus Dennison, A. Stirling, Jr., Gen. Francis Segel, Orlando F. Bump, Henry W. Drakely, Michael Warner, John L. Reed, George L. Perry, George A. Miles, E. F. M. Faetz, H. Richardson, C. W. Dun- lap, William M. Marine, Christian Bartell, F. Taylor Darling, J. Clayton, Joseph E. Pilkington, W. G. Smithers and Son, Wil- liam Schauffner, Daniel Holiday, John B. Hays, William Fensley, John Hughes, Wal- ter Moxly, Jr., H. C. Larabee, John C. Graham, Joseph J. Mailhouse, Daniel Plow- man, George G. Stevens, William T. Price,

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Edgar T. Taylor, Caleb B. Hines, Jehu B. Askew, John T. Graham, Patrick H. Mc- Gill, Clemens Lamping and Henry C. Deni- son.

1866.

Mr. Cox and his committee, March Ist, presented President Johnson the resolutions of the meeting of his friends in Baltimore, and on the evening of that day Front Street Theater was filled with the shouts of Repub- licans, William Daniel called the assemblage to order and William J. Albert presided. There were seventy-two vice-presidents, among whom were Gen. Franz Sigel (at that time a citizen of Baltimore); Michael Warner, Henry W. Drakely, Marcus Deni- son, William H. Cathcart, William Adreon, Alfred Mace, R. Stockett Matthews, W. B. Hill, J. H. Stickney, Mitchel B. Fields, Henry Stockbridge, Gen. A. W. Denison, Samuel M. Evans, J. B. Askew, Archibald Sterling, Jr., S. T. Hatch, J. T. Randolph, William Daniel, Randolph Norwood, Jos. M. Cushing, W. M. Marine, Anton Weis- kettle, William Schnauffer, E. F. M. Faetz, C. Bartel and Joseph J. Mailhouse.

The resolutions recognized Congress as the law making power and called for the punishment of those who had been en- gaged in treason and approved Governor Swanns position on the Registry Law of the State and announced their belief that he would uphold it.

Senator Creswell spoke, saying: "Con- gress will endeavor to impose such terms upon the admission of rebels as will insure their loyalty and protect the loyal people." Senator Trumbull, Congressman McKee, of Kentucky, Senator Nye and Hon. John L. Thomas, Jr., spoke. The latter gentle- man said: "Is it right to the loyal millions that the people who went into rebellion

should receive all the benefits of the Union until they can give to us some guarantees of future peace and security ?"

Tuesday, May Ist, the Executive Com- mittee of the Union party, held a meet- ing in the Post Office Building. Those present were W. H. Purnell, the Postmas- ter, and chairman, who called the meeting. Thomas H. Mules, Robert M. Proud, Wil- liam Price, E. H. Price, Samuel M. Evans, L. Blumenberg, John V. L. Findlay, Wil- liam Thomson, W. Kimball, J. L. Thomas, Jr., and J. M. Frazier.

Mr. Findlay introduced a series of resolu- tions, one of which "endorsed the restora- tion policy of Andrew Johnson as wise, patriotic and Constitutional, and in har- mony with the loyal sentiment and purpose of the people in the suppression of the re- bellion." Another resolution "believed Mr. Swann in accord with" the resolution and pledged support of his Administration.

Those resolutions caused counter-resolu- tions. Mr. Thomas introduced one in rela- tion to a repeal of the Registration Law and opposing it, and moved its adoption as a substitute for Mr. Findlay's.

Mr. Evans presented a resolution deny- ing the right of the Committee to lay down a party platform, and ordering the calling of a State Convention.

A general discussion occurred, and it was ascertained that the body was divided radi- cally. A State Convention was refused by a vote of 4 in its favor to 8 against it. Those in the affirmative were Evans, Thomas, Proud and Kimball. The Registry Law resolution of Mr. Thomas was defeated by a vote the same as the previous one.

The reconstruction policy of Congress and the endorsement of Governor Swann's administration was disposed of by Evans

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and Company voting for the Congressional method and against the Swann resolution. The other eight held to their views with equal tenacity and voted for Johnson, Swann and Democracy.

In the "American" of May 4th appeared an address to the people of Maryland signed by Thomas, Evans, Proud and Kimbal, charging that the Democrats were engaged in overthrowing the Registration Law and that the President and Governor were in sympathy with them, and calling on the people of the State to organize and pre- vent it.

May 12th a card appeared in the "Ameri- can" under the signature of Governor Swann endorsing the course pursued by Purnell, Price, Findlay, Blumenberg and those other gentlemen who acted with them and deploring the attacks on President Johnson.

May 24th the Unconditional Union Con- vention endorsed and sustained the recon- struction policy of Congress, and demand- ed the rigid enforcement of the Registration Law of Maryland, and pledging its support to the convention called for the 6th of June, recognizing in the call for it the reason which induced the policy of emancipation that made Maryland a free State.

The followers of Governor Swann and President Johnson met on the same even- ing and endorsed the policy of both of these statesmen. They placed themselves on record as opposed "to any and all of the wiles and hybrid schemes by which parti- san agitators are seeking to retain or secure political power by using the negro as a bat- tering ram against our securities and in- alienable rights."

The Unconditional Union Party of the State met in the Front Street Theater on June 6th, Mr. David Scott, of Cecil county, in the chair temporarily.

Mr. Archibald Stirling: "There are some people who have left the Union Party for its good, and this convention is here to-day to say that the men who adopted the new Constitution, the men who elected Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, that the Union men of the State stand to-day where they have always stood, and if there is any difference it is because some people have deserted it. We do not intend to go either to the Democratic party, the Andrew John- son party, or any other party, except the great National Union Party, and if Andrew Johnson don't stand on our platform it must be because he has left us." Senator Ohr, of Allegheny, was made permanent president of the convention.

He said: "It is not for us to submit to rebel dictation, but it is for us to dictate, what are the issues and what is to be their fate."

Resolutions were passed in favor of main- taining the Registry Law, and a State Cen- tral Committee was constituted and ap- pointed.

June 2Ist a mass meeting was held of the friends of Johnson and Swann in Monu- ment Square. One of the mottoes that em- blazoned the stand was "No affiliation with Rebels or Radicals."

Mr. Swann said: "I wish to be under- stood as standing between those who are endeavoring to force universal negro suff- rage on the one side, and the support of disunionists on the other."

July 2Ist the Conservative Convention met in the new assembly rooms. Mr. Pur-

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nell called the meeting to order. He said: "A portion of the Union State Central Committee endeavored to drag us into the trail of men who are prostituting the prin- ciples of Free Government for the purpose of securing and perpetuating partisan power. They have endeavored to divide the Union party of the State, and have par- tially succeeded. The blood be upon their heads."

John Frazier was made president of the convention. He said: "That the people of this country will stand by Andrew Johnson. The bolters from the State Central Commit- tee are favorable to negro suffrage."

Montgomery Blair: "What are the guar- antees upon which the Republicans desire power, there is a little bit of negro in the case. A little while ago I was a black Re- publican, I am progressing and getting white rapidly."

After the adjornment of this convention it was ascertained that the large majority of its delegates held places under President Johnson in the Federal offices of Maryland.

A Democratic City Convention met in Baltimore August 6th, and it endorsed the policy of Andrew Johnson. Of Governor Swann it said: "He merits our earnest com- mendation for having unmasked the fallacy of the radical faction in this State, for the zealous support of the President's policy and for the spirit of impartial justice he has manifested in regard to the execution of the Registry Law." The Registry Law was declared to be "oppressive and unjust, which must be submitted to while on the statute book, but which should be re- pealed." The invitation of the State Union Convention to co-operate with them in sending delegates to the Philadelphia Con- vention, was adopted. A Democratic State

Convention met in Baltimore August 8th, which strongly endorsed "President John- son and his conciliatory policy and nomi- nated delegates to the Philadelphia Con- vention, commonly known at the time as a Peace Convention.

The Unconditional Union Convention met in Baltimore August 15th, George W. Sands in the chair. The policy of Congress was endorsed and it was resolved to sustain the Registry Law. Robert Bruce, of Alle- gheny, was nominated for comptroller.

The nominees of the Unconditional Unionists for Congress in the Baltimore districts were John L. Thomas, Jr., in the Second, and Joseph J. Steward in the Third.

At a convention of Conservatives, held August 3Ist, Charles E. Phelps, was re- nominated for Congress in the Third Dis- trict, defeating George W. Herring for the nomination by a vote of 51 to 14.

September 7th Mr. Phelps accepted the nomination in a speech in which he said: "In connection with the diseases that trouble men, the Radicals may catch their malady, the Johnson epidemic, after No- vember, and perhaps die by it." Mr. Phelps charged that his opponent, Mr. Stewart, was in favor of negro ascendancy and white degradation." He then asserted: "I have never been a Republican, I am not a Demo- crat, and I do not expect to be. I believe in Republican principles, and though the majority must rule, the minority must be heard."

In the "American," Tuesday, September IIth, appeared an address of the Boys in Blue to the public, denouncing "Conserva- tives and Copperheads," and endorsing "Congress," and proclaiming "that the sol- diers and sailors of Maryland would be

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found in the front line of the battle contend- ing foot to foot and hand to hand with traitors." It was extensively signed.

A soldiers' convention was called of those who believed in President Andrew John- son's policy of reconstruction for the pur- pose of sending delegates to the convention which was to assemble in Cleveland. Gen. John W. Horn was made chairman of the meeting. He said: "They had put down one rebellion, and now another was loom- ing up, and he saw no difference between a rebellion at one end of the road and another at the other end. They must put down the latter and administer a rebuke to those engaged in it, to be felt from one end of the country to the other. The resolu- tions applauded President Johnson for ad- hering to his policy unaltered by threats and denunciations.

Col. Phelps in a speech declared "That he believed that the danger to the country came from the North, where it was least likely to be looked for. No one should be frightened by the cry of rebel sympathizers and Copperheads." One hundred dele- gates were elected to the Cleveland Con- vention.

September 13th a meeting to unify the Unconditional Union men of the seven lower wards was held in the Third ward. Hon. John L. Thomas: "God has made the white the superior race, and he who fears the social or political advancement of the negro degrades himself."

W. M. Marinc: "The restoration of the party to power of which Andrew Johnson is high priest, would be to the impairment of the Union. Johnson and Swann in their leagued betrayal of the Union party find themselves in harmonious accord."

The convention of the Boys in Blue on the 19th of September was an enthusiastic concourse of ex-Federal soldiers. They mustered in strength to offset the three hundred that formed the previous Johnson soldiers' convention gathered together un- der the direction of Gen. Horn, a brave and accomplished Federal officer. Col J. K. Pangborn, of New Jersey; Gen. Franz Sigel, of Baltimore, and Capt. L. M. Haver- stick, editor of the "Baltimore County Union," delivered addresses at the conven- tion. Party fealty seemed to be the only object of the convention after the passage of patriotic resolutions and the making of speeches it adjourned.

Sturdy Gen. Andrew W. Dennison, im- passive as a statue, uttered this sentence, closing his speech: "Organize in your dis- tricts, in your counties and in your wards. In your precincts organize! Organize! And then, in October and November, when you see the enemy advancing, let a glad shout ring out of "up boys and at them."

Gen. Sigel: "The time has come when we must speak boldly. When we see the President of the United States with all his vast powers attempting to make himself the umpire of the issues of the day it becomes the duty of the people to hold the balance of power."

In the October election, John Lee Chap- man, Unionist, received for Mayor 5,392 votes, and Harvey, Democrat, 2,601 votes. At the November election John L. Thomas; Jr., in the seven lower wards, obtained 2,- 869 votes, and Stevenson Archer 3,026 votes. In the upper wards of the city Joseph J. Stewart, Republican, received 4,- 596 votes, and Col. Charles Phelps, Con- servative and Democrat, 5,548 votes.

Games black

CHAPTER VII. EVENTS 1867 TO 1874 INCLUSIVE, COMPRISING A PERIOD OF DEMOCRATIC SUPREMACY.

In 1866 the election was adverse to the Union party and it was dislodged from power. By the Constitution of 1867 the Democrats entrenched themselves in place and remained fortified without serious at- tack until 1874.

The Republican party was unpopular in consequence of its advocacy of colored education and the bestowal upon the col- ored man of the right of suffrage. It made small impress upon public sentiment. Im- perceptibly, as time passed, the embers of dislike and prejudice on the part of the calm thinking Democrats, inch by inch gave way, and hostility was engendered to the continuance of the reigning party in power. The story which this chapter un- folds relates to the years of Democratic ascendancy, when it held sway unchecked and unfettered in the city of Baltimore.

1867.

The Democrats opened an early cam- paign this year. On the evening of Sep- tember Ioth they were massed in Monu- ment Square. Governor Swann was now an oracle of that faith; he delivered an ad- dress on the ratification of the new Consti- tution; on national affairs and the Radicals, whom he charged with dividing the coun- try. "No State could be kept out of the Union. The moment you recognize the right of Congress to separate one State,

that moment you break up the Union. Ten States are transferred from the Anglo- Saxon to the negro race. That issue is pre- sented."

A Baltimore City Republican Conven- tion charged with the nomination of candi- dates for Judges of the Supreme Bench, Sheriff and other municipal and State officers, was held Saturday evening, Octo- ber the 5th.

The proceedings of the convention proved interesting from the fact that Robert North Martin, judge of the Supreme Court, had declined to be a candidate for further judicial honors, having been legis- lated out of the judgeship of the Superior Court of the city under the new State Con- stitution of this year. In disgust he retired to private life.

Judge Martin was a native of the Eastern Shore. He had been sent to Congress when twenty-five years of age, and early in life was promoted to the bench. He ranked as a great and impartial judge. He was ec- centric and unsociable, recognizing only a few acquaintances. In early life a false and cruel pride caused him to insist upon his brother fighting a duel, in which he was killed. The offense was slight and an hon- orable adjustment possible. The death of· his brother darkened the remaining days of the judge, whose life and personal conduct

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has had no parallel in the romance of ec- centricity.

Judge Martin was personally disliked but judicially popular. The universal wish of the Bar was for his retention on the bench. He had been a Democrat, but during the war was an uncompromising Union man. He decided the first case testing the con- stitutionality of the legal tender act, up- holding it. When passing upon the various prayers submitted to him, he grew eloquent, and his metaphors were finely wrought. He spoke "of the plumes of the Nation dragged in the mire of secession, compelling Con- gress to resort to the measure to save the existence of the Union." Ex-Governor Bradford, of New York, who was engaged in the trial of the case, on his return home, gave it as his opinion that "there was not such a clear-headed judicial mind in all New York State as Judge Martin."

Before the date for holding the conven- tion, Judge Martin was prominently men- tioned for nomination. It was thought he might be elected on the Republican ticket, as he had refused the Democratic proffer of selection in their convention. The Judge, to prevent the further consideration of his name by his Republican friends, published a card of declination. The convention met, and for Chief Justice of the Supreme Bench he was placed in nomination. The Ameri- can report of what transpired stated: "William M. Marine nominated Judge Robert N. Martin, and moved to make the nomination unanimous."

Samuel T. Hatch said that before having this motion put he wished to have some one there present vouch for Judge Martin's Re- publican principles. The party had already had too much of taking things for granted,

and a crisis had now come when no one who did not stand fairly on the platform of the party should be put forward as a candi- date.

Henry C. Harris (a colleague of Mr. Marine from the Fourth ward) said that he believed every delegate there present was a true man or else he would not have been sent there, and he thought that the gentle- man's remarks were an insinuation upon the gentleman who had nominated Judge Martin.

Mr. Hatch disclaimed any such intention.

Mr. Marine said that personally he could not speak of Judge Martin's politics. Dur- ing the war he had been a Union man; he was opposed to the judiciary system of the new Constitution. Since the close of the war he had refused to admit rebel lawyers to practice in the Superior Court; after the Court of Appeals had decided in these law- yers' favor, Judge Martin had doubted his own power to admit them. In a case in- volving the legality of the legal tenders of the Government, Judge Martin had charged most eloquently on behalf of the contention of the Government.

The motion to make Judge Martin's nomination unanimous was lost by two votes. Mr. Marine withdrew his name; the only hope for his acceptance was thought to be in his unanimous nomination. Col. Faetz nominated Gen. John R. Kenly, and a delegate renewed the nomination of Judge Martin. Kenly received 66 votes and Martin 34

The nominees of the convention were for Chief Judge, John R. Kenly; Associated Judges, Hugh L. Bond, John C. King, George C. Maund and William Daniel. Bond declined, being subsequently nomi-

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nated for Governor, and Cornelius L. L. Leary was substituted.

William Alexander, who was one of the retiring judges elected by the Union party, and whose service on the bench was popular, became a convert to the Demo- cratic theory in politics. He was a candidate for renomination as judge of the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, before the Democratic judicial nominating conven- tion, receiving only a few votes. That Con- vention nominated for Chief Judge of the Supreme Bench Thomas Parkin Scott, and for Associated Judges George W. Dobbin, Henry F. Garey, Campbell W. Pinkney and Robert Gilmor, Jr. Robert T. Banks, Democrat, was opposed by Gen. Andrew W. Denison, Republican, for Mayor.

Tuesday evening, October 22, a mass meeting was held by the Republican supporters of Bond for Governor and Deni- son for Mayor, at the square bounded by North, Holiday, Fayette and Lexington streets. The foundation walls of the pres- ent City Hall, then in course of erection, were on a level with the streets, and a plat- form was laid over the entire space. The stand stood near the corner of Fayette and. North streets, facing east, and the audience packed every inch of available room.

Archibald Stirling, Jr., presided. He said in the course of his speech: "The ban- ner which we carry to-night covers neither turncoats (an allusion to Governor Swann), nor traitors. It does not cover the man we have placed in power, who has turned to cringe at the feet of rebels. The little band of voters in this city, consisting of nine or ten thousand men, stand ready to vote their principles. During the war the Union men kept the city and State in peace, and every-

body, friend and foe of the flag, slept calm- ly under the protection of a loyal police."

Judge Hugh L. Bond, arraigned the convention held at Annapolis: "It had left the Legislature to say whether the common people should have any education or not. The Republican party advocated free edu- cation to all. In every engineering work in this State, where scientific ability was to be employed, we had to take a man educated out of the State, or get one from abroad, and the reason of this was that Maryland was without free public schools. The Republi- can party pledges itself that they shall be had. In Charles county, in 1790, there were ten thousand negroes and the same number of whites, and now there were only four thousand eight hundred whites in the coun- ty; unable to find employment, many per- sons had moved away. In Baltimore there was work for ten thousand men to do, and twenty thousand men to do it. What was to become of the children of these men? The Republican party said 'educate them.'

"Every citizen had a right to bear arms, and yet an order had been issued similar to those issued in April, 1861, depriving men of their rights. If the authorities could not suppress a riot without resorting to illegal means, they ought to resign and let some one have their offices that could."

Gen. Adam E. King: "The party would give the ballot to the negro because he was a man. Equal rights before the law was the party's platform. It had been the cry of every struggling Nation since the world be- gan. More than two hundred years ago, a soldier in one of the fruitless struggles for liberty lay dying upon the shore of the ocean, and with the last remnant of his strength he traced upon the shifting sands

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the words 'Liberty and Brotherhood.' The soldier died, but the motto lived and has come down to us through all the changes of time to be the motto of the Republican party."

R. Stockett Mathews: "We come here to address ourselves to your intelligence. We belong to a party that places its heart against the bosoms of the liberty loving people of all climes. We leave to the other side the effete and obsolete issues of the past. We do not belong to that class of people who make a living by digging up dead bodies and selling them. The Repub- lican party is a living thing of the present. In the beginning of that party its advocates were stoned and driven from the rostrum, and yet the party grew. War broke out and it prospered. ‘It struck a barren treasury and money poured forth; it stood upon the sea shore and called for a navy, and its sails whitened the sea;' it stood upon the mountains and called for troops, and their tread shook the country. No epoch poet can speak of the glory of the party be- fittingly for all it has done. And yet the rebels of this State say it is dead. They could not kill it with the bayonets of their soldiers, nor can they dig its grave by their ballots. It stands to-day stronger than ever, because all the traitors have left it, and the dog (a reference to Governor Swann) has returned to his vomit. Let them raze your school houses to the ground, they know well each is an army full of weapons to destroy them. To finish their work and do full service to the devil, they should not only oppose education, but should tear down the churches and destroy not only the common school system, but also the common church system. The

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Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n Publication date: 1898 Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1344

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344