USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > Annapolis > The Ancient City.: A History of Annapolis, in Maryland, 1649-1887 > Part 33
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The ladies on the boat were now in a state of great alarm, some at- tempted to throw themselves overboard, whilst the work of getting them below proceeded with a haste born of urgent necessity.
Judge Brewer and Mr. Daniel T. Hyde who were in the dangerous posi- tion of being between two fires bravely endeavored to stop the An- napolitans from continuing the affray. Mr. Hyde, finding two col- ored boys throwing stones at the boat, kicked them away, and turned to the boat to hurry it out of danger. Fearing the boat would ground on an old stone wall in the water near the wharf, and thus make a continuance of the riot more certain, he went to the end of his own wharf, and called to Captain McAllister if he would send the stern line ashore, the steamer would be able to pull out. That is, it would make the steamer turn around from the wharf so as to head to the river- the dock here being extremely narrow and the work of steering & steamer exceeding difficult. In reply, Capt. McAllister shook his sword and said-"He was responsible for all he said and did." In vain Mr. Hyde tried, again and again, to make the captain accept his friendly offers. He was either not understood or his motives were suspected.
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Judge Brewer, at the same time, wasdriving some away and entreat- ing others not to interfere. Seeing a young man on shore with a pis- tol. preparing to discharge it in the direction of the boat. the Judge endeavored to prevent him. but was unable. Again seeing the young man preparing to fire, he seized him and called for help. Mr. John W. Brady came and took the young man. Meantime the firing from the boat continued, and glasses, bottles, and stones were hurled at the crowd on the wharf. Mr. Brady was shot whilst taking an assail- iant of his assailants from the fray. Judge Brewer was assisted alone by constable John Lamb, and whilst thus endeavoring to preserve the peace heard some person on the boat exclaim, with an oath, "Shoot that officer, I mistrust him." Three rifles were instantly levelled at the Judge. He jumped behind a wood-pile, whilst a friendly hand on the boat knocked up two of the rifles ; but the third. the Judge thought, was discharged at him. In all besides the bricks and other missiles exchanged between the combatants there were, it was estimated, twenty rifle shots from the boat and two pistol shots and two guns fired from the shore, but these not until after the volley from the rifles on the steamer.®
The visitors were better prepared for the attack than the citizens and their aim was good, for five citizens fell wounded, fortunately none of them fatally :
T. C. Loockerman, shot in the leg, slightly wounded ;
Basil McNew, shot in the side, badly wounded ;
John W. Brady. shot through both legs, seriously hurt ;
Watkins Hall, two toes shot off ;
Edward Barroll, wounded very dangerously in the thigh.
When Hall and Loockerman. who were actively engaged in throwing stones at the boat fell. "the people on board the boat hurrahed enough for an election day."+
Rifles are far more effective weapons than pistols and bricks and none of the excursionists, it appears, were hurt.
The report of the riot had spread through Annapolis, and, with powder contributed by the merchant and cannon seized from the State, citizens hurried to the wharf to avenge the assault on their fel- low-townsmen, the fray the meanwhile being unabated, and to add to the calamities of the day, the steamer became wedged in between the two sides of the narrow wharf. and to escape the volleys of stones and bullets from the wharf most of the passengers ran to the opposite side. The steamer careened and for a moment was in danger of capsizing.
On the opposite side of the wharf wasa vacant mill. The "Jewess" as she came to that side of the dock to turn was within a few yards of this untenanted house. In it a young citizent had now secreted him- self and was about to pour a deadly fire from his gun into the passen- gers, when happily his prudent father eame in and drove him away, and saved one or more of the excursionists from almost certain death.
The State's cannon was then brought into position by the now thoroughly aroused Annapolitans. Col. Geo. P. Kane immediately made his way to it, and remonstrated against firing it. Finding his appeals of no avail, he threw one arm over the breech of the piece,
* Testimony of Daniel T. Hyde, in the Hylto. American of July 18, 1847.
+ Testimony of Daniel T. Hyde.
# Daniel Hollidayoke :
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and placed the other hand over the muzzle and declared that the gun- should not be fired without blowing him to pieces. Col. Kane was warned by those standing around that the cannon was double shotted and loaded. (which, however, was not the case.) The parties in charge of the gun then attempted to pull him away by force, and the struggle continued until some one whispered in his ear that the gun had been spiked.
This was the voice of Judge Brewer who had repaired to the cannon and spiked it with his tooth-pick. Two attempts were afterwards made to load it. but Judge Brewer succeeded in stopping both efforts.
In the attempt to prevent the cannon from being loaded Richard Cowman used his fist with such good effect on William Shuman, a shoemaker, who was endeavoring to charge the gun, as to make him bite the dust.
Mr. Hyde, in his testimony, considered the loading of the cannon "a mere farce, and he stood by and laughed at it. It was a complete scene of confusion, some wanting to do one thing and others another and, in the meanwhile, the boat was fast getting out of their reach, even if they had been loaded."
Judge Brewer did not escape calumny that day as one witness de- clared he saw the Judge looking at two negroes throwing stones at the boat and did not attempt to stop them: This the Judge contradicted in his own testimony and Mr. Hyde quaintly corroborated it with say- ing that the Judge "did all that any man could do. and more than he thought a man could have done to suppress the riot and restore peace. He saw him at different parts of the wharf, driving some away and en- treating others not to interfere. He had no one besides the witness to help him but a constable, who received a severe blow in the face by a brick during the early part of the affray.
"The story of the Judge standing by and seeing two negroes throw- ing at the boat without an effort to prevent them, the witness regarded as entirely untrue. There were no negroes in Annapolis who would dare to break the law in any way if they thought Judge Brewer was looking at them. If the duties performed that day by Judge Brewer pertained to his office as Judge, the witness thought he would not like to have it for twice its salary. He thought he was that day, whilst endeavoring to preserve the peace, in imminent danger of his life."
The judicial investigation fastened the guilt on no one, and no punishment was meted out to the rioters.
CHAPTER LV. CHRONICLES OF ANNAPOLIS FROM 1845 TO 1847.
[1845.] On Saturday, November 30th. Rev. Thos. Robinson, a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, residing near the head of Severn River, whilst duck-shooting was thrown into the water by the upsetting of his boat. He swam ashore, and, in intense cold, dragged
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himself to a house close hy, where he died from exhaustion.
[1846.] On Thursday, February 19th, about 7 p. m., flames were discovered issuing from the ventilator of the cellar of the State House, under the House of Delegates. On getting the cellar-door open the smoke, from immense quantities of coal and charcoal in the apart- ment, was so dense and stifling, there was great danger of suffo- cating any who entered. Notwithstanding, some brave men ventured in, and the fire, which had made considerable progress, was discovered and reached with great difficulty and extinguished.
At the City Election in April, 1846, the following was the vote :
For MAYOR.
Richard Swann, Whig, 150; D. S. Caldwell, Dem., 120.
FOR RECORDER.
William Tell Claude. w., 154 ; Jonathan Pinkney, d., 117.
FOR ALDERMEN.
Dr. Abram Claude, w., 158; Dr. Wm. Brewer, Sr., w., 146 ; Edward A. Davis, w., 144; Captain John Philips, w., 141 ; James B. Steele, w., 137; Daniel Caulk, d., 131 ; Wm. Bryan, d., 126 ; John M. Davis, d., 122 ; James H. Iglehart, d., 120 : James Sands, d., 120.
Richard H. Hanlon, a native of Annapolis, a volunteer against Mexico, died September 6th, at Camargo, Mexico.
The Democratic Star ceased publication in October 21st, 1846, "after a life," said the proprietors. Messrs. Daily and Taylor, "of four years hardship and incessant toil."
Theoderic Bland, Chancellor, of Maryland, died in Annapolis No- vember 16. He was born in Dinwiddie county, Virginia, December 6, 1776.
On Wednesday, December 14, a gale blew at Annapolis. Nine ves- sels were driven ashore between Chink and Tolley's Points. Between Hackett's and Greenbury's Points a sloop was sunk. A few daysafter the gale five bodies, two of whites and three of blacks, were found at Tolley's Point.
December 21, John Johnson, of Annapolis, was appointed Chancel- lor of Maryland by Gov. Pratt.
[1847.] There was no opposition this year to the Whigs in the city election. The vote was :
FOR MAYOR : Richard Swann, 126 ; FOR RECORDER : William Tell Claude, 139. FOR ALDERMEN :
Elihu S. Riley, 141 ; John Philips, 132; Ed. Hopkins, 131; James Steele, 127; P. C. Clayton, 107. Mr. William Davis, independent, for alderman, received 74 votes.
One of the ancient landmarks of Annapolis a colonial dwelling, oc- cupied by Miss Hester Chase and situated on King George st., was de- stroyed by fire, April 12.
May 8th, George Johnston, Esq., proprietor of the Democratic Herald, of Annapolis, aged 40 years, died of a pulmonary complaint. On account of his death the publication of the Herald ceased.
18
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Major Luther Giddings, a graduate of St. John's, class of 1841, was presented with a $500 sword on April 2, by the rank and file of his regiment, the 1st Ohio, as an appreciation of his conduct in acting colonel of the regiment.
CHAPTER LVI. A RETROSPECT OF TWO CENTURIES.
[1849.] Two hundred years after its settlement found Anna polis with thirty-five hundred inhabitants, the seat of a Naval University, the home of a College of large usefulness, and still "the ancient capi- tal" of the State. The day of its commercial glory had departed, but the remnant of its traditional intelligence remained. Its bar con- tained the names of Tuck, Randall, and Alexander, worthy survivors of men who had made its name illustrious, and though the ball and banquet of former generations had passed away, the opening social glories of the Naval Academy forshadowed the harvest of pleasures that have proved unbounded sources of enjoyment to the young who participate in, and the elders who periodically witness, these brilliant assemblages in the Armory and Gymnasium.
The Puritan who settled the capital, might chance invoke the wrath of heaven on the Providence he had established where the curling smoke of the wigwam had once ascended.
The card-table, the ball-room, the pot-house, the lottery shop, and the gambling-hell were indices of the frivolities and evils that afflicted the capital, although the theatre and the race-course had ceased to find remuneration out of the depleted coffers of a city whose chiel sources of revenue were the scant trade of the sparsely settled coun- try that surrounded it, and the modest compensation awarded to the servants of the State and Nation.
The canoe of the Indian had disappeared before the pinnace of the Puritan; the pinnace had given place to the schooner; the schooner, in its turn, had been pushed aside by the steamer ; the trail of the Indian had been lost in the roadway of the coach, and the locomotive had made the lumbering stage the attenuated monument of an out-ridden generation.
But the glory of her fair ones yet remained, and the ancient city still maintained its wide renown for the beauty and grace of its women.
In Church, the Puritan had long since disappeared. In his place the Churchman, the Methodist, and the Presbyterian boldly proclaimed the truth, whilst the handful of Catholics feebly held their own in the little chapel that Carroll of Carrolton's beneficence had built.
Politics, that a hundred years before displayed itself alone in manly opposition to encroachments of the provincial governors, had now be- come a heroic game, and, through various stages, had been formulated into Whiggery and Democracy, and stood face to face against each other on the momentous issues of tariff and slavery.
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The Chesapeake and its freely given wealth of oysters lay almost anruffled by the tongs of the industrious oysterman, and the quiet of the streets of "the Ancient City," and the paucity of its business and commerce were sadly emblematic of a place whose chief adornment was the general virtue of its inhabitants, untarnished by the chicanery of trade and unblessed by the fruits of industry.
CHAPTER LVII. A GALAXY OF ILLUSTRIOUS ANNAPOLITANS.
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLTON.
Was born at Annapolis, Maryland, September 20th, 1737. In 1745, he was taken to the College of English Jesuits at St. Omer. France. where he remained six years, and then was sent to the Jesuit College, at Rheims. After one years' study of civil law at Bourges, he went to Paris, studied two more years, and began the law in the Temple. At 27 years of age, he returned to America, and, at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, was considered the richest man in America, being worth $2,000,000. Although, by the illiberal laws of that period, he was robbed of the privilege of the elective franchise, because he was a Catholic, he ardently espoused the American cause, and began his opposition to the arbitrary measures of the British Government, by publishing in the Maryland Gazette, a series of articles under the sig- nature of "'THE FIRST CITIZEN," against the right of the Governor of Maryland, to regulate fees by proclamation.
In 1775, he was made a member of the first committee of observa- tion established at Annapolis, and during the same year he was elected a delegare to the Provincial Convention. In February, 1776, he was sent to Canada, by Congress, to induce the people of that province to unite with the States. He returned to Philadelphia, in June, and found the Declaration of Independence under discussion. The dele- gates from Maryland were hampered by instructions "to disavow in the most solemn manner all design in the colonies of Independence." He repaired to Annapolis immediately, and, with the assistance of Judge Samuel Chase, on the 28th of June, succeeded in having these instructions withdrawn and the delegates left free to join in the De- claration of Independence.
On August 2nd, the Declaration was formally signed. As Mr. Car- roll wrote his name, a member observed, "Here go a few millions," and added, "however, there are several Charles Carrolls, the British will not know which one it is." Carroll immediately added, "of Carrolton," and was ever afterward known by that cognomen. He was placed by Congress in the Board of War. In 1776, he helped to draft the Constitution for Maryland, and was the same year a member of the State Senate. In 1777, he was again a delegate to Congress. In 1781, and 1786, he was a Senator
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of Maryland, and in 1788, was chosen a United States Senator, to which office he was again elected in 1797. In 1799, he was one of the Commissioners to adjust the boundary line between Maryland and Virginia. On July 4th, 1828, then, in his 90th year, Mr. Carroll, in the presence of an immense concourse of people. and at- tended by imposing civic ceremonies, laid the corner-stone of that im- portant Maryland enterprise-the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Towards the last of his life, Mr. Carroll removed to Baltimore-I have it by tradition-because the city fathers here offended him by making the taxes too high. November 14th. 1832, Mr. Carroll died, the last of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
WILLIAM PINKNEY
Was born at Annapolis, Maryland, March 17th, 1764. His family was a branch of the South Carolina Pinkneys, who early settled at An- napolis. He studied medicine, but left that for the law, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1786. In 1788, he was a delegate to the Conven- tion which ratified the constitution of the United States, and he sub- sequently held various State offices, as member of the House of Dele- gates, Senate, and the Council. In 1796, he was sent to London, as Commissioner, under the Jay treaty, remaining abroad until 1804. In 1805, he became Attorney-General of Maryland. In 1806, he was sent as Minister extraordinary to England to treat, in conjunction with Monroe, with the British Government, and was resident Minister from 1807 to 1811, when he was appointed Attorney-General of the United States, which office he held two years. He commanded a vol- unteer corps in the war of 1812, and was severely wounded in the bat- tle of Bladensburg. In 1815, he was elected a member of Congress, and, in 1816, was appointed Minister to Russia, and, Special Minister to Naples. In 1818, he returned home, and, in 1819. was elected a United States Senator. He died February 22nd, 1822.
REVERDY JOHNSON
Was born at Annapolis, Maryland, May 21st, 1796. He was educated at St. John's College, and, at the age of 17, began the study of law in Prince George's county, in the office of his father, who was the Chief Justice of the Judicial District of which that county formed a part. In 1815, he was admitted to the bar, and by way of encouragement to all who do not achieve success at once, be it written, he made a lamenta- ble failure in his first speech in Court. In 1817, he removed to Balti- more, and devoted much of his time to arguing cases before the Su- preme Court of the United States, where he won renown as a profound student of the legal profession, not only in America, but his fame reaching Europe, he was called to argue before the French tribunals. In conjunction with Mr. Thomas Harris, he reported the decisions of the Maryland Court of Appeals, known as "Harris and Johnson's Reports," (7 vols. 1820-27.) In 1821, he was elected a State Senator, and re-elected in 1825. In 1845, he was chosen United States Senator, which office he resigned in 1849, on being appointed by Presi- dent Taylor Attorney-General of the United States. In 1861, he was a member of the Peace Convention in Washington, which tried to pre- vent the Civil War. In 1862, he was again elected to the United
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States Senate, and was a member from 1863 to 1868. In June of the latter year, he was appointed Minister to England, where he negotiated a treaty for the settlement of the Alabama claims. This treaty was rejected by the Senate. He was recalled in 1869.
During the entire Civil War, when many illegal acts were commit- ted under the plea of "military necessity," Reverdy Johnson, whilst an ardent supporter of the Union, eloquently raised his voice against every usurpation by the military power.
On the evening of February 10th, 1876, when in his 80th year, with a mind yet undimmed by mental incapacity, and a body that gave promise of many years of usefulness, he met with a fatal accident at Annapolis. He was at a social gathering at the Executive Mansion, John Lee Carroll being then Governor and host. Mr. Johnson started to go out the main doorway. He was offered assistance but refused it. Passing down the granite steps of the front porch, he turned to the left of the entrance and fell into a paved area, five feet below, where he was found shortly afterward in an unconscious state. He expired soon after being discovered. He died almost within a stone's throw of the house in which he was born, and well nigh under the shadow of his alma mater.
JOHN D. GODMAN
Was born at Annapolis, December 20th, 1794. He was apprenticed to n printer in Baltimore, but, at the age of twenty, enlisted in the Navy and was present at the defence of Fort McHenry. After the war he studi d medicine, and practiced until 1821, when he became professor in the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati, and commenced there the "Western Quarterly Reporter." In 1822, he removed to Philadelphia, and devoted himself to the science of Anatomy, of which he became, in 1826, professor in Rutger's Medical School, New York. He pre- pared the Zoological articles for the "Encyclopedia Americana" up to the end of the letter C. His principal work was "American Natural History." He died at Germantown, Pa., April 17, 1830.
STEWART HOLLAND.
By one act this man made his name immortal. He was born at An- napolis. September 24th, 1854, found him a member of the engineering department of the Steamer Arctic, that, with hundreds of passengers, was sinking in mid ocean, from the effects of a collision. "About two hours after the Arctic was struck, the firing of the gun," said the third mate of the Arctic, "attracted my attention, and I recollect when I saw Stewart, it struck me as remarkably strange that he alone, of all belonging to the engineering body, should be here. He must have had a good chance to go in the chief engineer's boat and be saved ; but he did not, it seems, make the slightest exertion to save himself whilst there was duty to be done on shipboard. I recollect that about an hour before the ship sunk, I was hurriedly searching for spikes to make a raft with. I had just passed through the saloon. On the sofa were men who had fainted, and there were many of them too; the ladies were in little groups, clasped together, strangely quiet, and re- signed. As I came out again, the scene that presented itself was one that I hope never to see again. Here and there were strong, stout men
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on their knees in the attitude of prayer, and others, who when spoken to, were immovable and stupefied. In the midst of this scene, Stewart came running up to me, crying "Donan, my powder is out ; I want more. Give me the key." "Never mind the key," I replied, "take an axe, and break open the the door." He snatched one close beside me, and down into the ship's hold he dived, and I went over the ship's side to my raft. I recollect distinctly his appearance as once more he hailed me from the deck, the right side of his face was black with powder, and when he spoke, his face seemed to me to be lighted up with a quaint smile." So the gallant youth continued to fire "the minute gun" that booming over the sea might catch the ear of some passing vessel and bring relief to the perishing. As the ship, which carried three hundred people with it to watery graves, went down Stewart Holland was seen "in the very act of firing as the vessel dis- appeared below the waters."
A lot was donated in Washington, where he lived at the time of the dis- aster, and money subscribed to build him a monument, but the funds were embezzled by the trustee.
CHARLES WILSON PEALE.
The eminent American painter, was born in Annapolis," April 16th, 1741. Peale had a checkered career. He was first a saddler and har- ness-maker, then watch and clock tinker, and, in their order, silver- smith, painter, modeller, taxidermist, dentist, and lecturer. In 1770, he visited England, and, for several years, was a pupil of West. Re- turning home, he settled first in Annapolis and then in Philadelphia, and acquired celebrity as a portrait painter. Among his works were several portraits of Washington, and a series forming the nucleus of a national portrait gallery. He commanded a company of volunteers in the battles of Trenton and Germantown, and also served in the Pennsylvania Legislature. About 1785, he commenced a collection of natural curiosities in Philadelphia, founding "Peale's Museum," in which he lectured on natural history. He aided in founding the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
LIEUTENANT JAMES BOOTH LOCKWOOD, U. S. A.,
Was born at Annapolis, Maryland, October 9th, 1852, and died at Cape Sabine, Smith's Sound, April 9th, 1884. To Lieutenant Lock- wood belongs the distinction of having attained, during the Greeley Expedition, the point nearest to either pole, ever reached by any human being. It was on Lockwood's Island in north latitude, 80° 24' ; longitude 44° 5'.
DANIEL DULANY.
A history of Annapolis would be incomplete without a biographical sketch of Daniel Dulany, who, under the nom de plume of Antion, car- ried on the memorable newspaper controversy in 1772, with Carroll, of Carrollton, the "First Citizen" of that literary prologue of the American Revolution.
Daniel Dulany, son of Daniel Dulany, was born at Annapolis, July 19, 1721, and was educated at Eton and at Clare Hall, Cambridge, England.
. Ridgely's Annals of Annapolis.
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He entered the Temple, and, returning to the colonies, was ad- mitted to the bar in 1747. Mr. McMahon, of this brilliant man, says : "For many years before the downfall of the proprietary Government, he stood confessedly without a rival in this colony, as a lawyer, a scholar, and an orator, and, we may safely regard the assertion that in the high and varied accomplishments which constitute these, he has had amongst the sons of Maryland but one equal and no superior. We admit that tradition is a magnifier, and that men even through its medium and the obscurity of half a century, like objects in a misty morning, loom largely in the distance, yet with regard to Mr. Dulany, there is no room for illusion. 'You may tell Hercules by foot,' says the proverb ; and this truth is as just when applied to the proportions of the name, as to those of the body. The legal argu- ments and opinions of Mr. Dulany that yet remain to us, bear the impress of abilities too commanding, and of learning too profound to admit of question. Had we but these fragments, like the remains of splendor which linger around some of the ruins of antiquity, they would be enough for admiration. Yet they fall very short of furnish- ing just conceptions of the character and accomplishments of his mind. We have higher attestations of these in the testimony of cotempora- ries. For many years before the Revolution, he was regarded as an oracle of the law. It was the constant practice of the courts of the province to submit to his opinion every question of difficulty which came before them, and so infallible were his opinions considered, that he who hoped to reverse them was regarded 'as hoping against hope.' Nor was his professional reputation limited to the colony. I have been credibly informed that he was occasionally consulted from Eng- land upon questions of magnitude, and that, in the southern counties of Virginia, adjacent to Maryland, it was not unfrequent to withdraw questions from their courts and even from the Chancellor of England, to submit them to his award. Thus unrivalled in professional learn- ing, according to the representations of his cotemporaries, he added to it all the power of the orator, the accomplishments of the scholar, the graces of the person, the suavity of the gentleman. Mr. Pinkney himself, the wonder of his age, who saw but the setting splendor of Mr. Dulany's talents, is reputed to have said of him, that even amongst such men as Fox, Pitt, and Sheridan, he had not found his superior.
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