History of Jackson County, Michigan, Part 45

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago [Ill.] : Inter-state Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1166

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At this meeting the following officers were elected: Mark H. Ray, President; J. T. Hammond, Secretary; A. M. Tinker, Treas- urer; Dr. J. L. Mitchell, D. S. Holcomb and James W. Dey were chosen directors; Vice-Presidents-Waterloo, F. (). Maxon; Grass Lake, W. H. Smith; Norvell, George Reed; Henrietta, Martin Tanner; Leoni, Wm. H. Welch; Columbia, Warren Case; Napoleon, R. M. D. Edwards; Rives, Thomas P. Spencer; Blackman, J. R. Moffatt; Summit, Isaac Storms; Liberty, Milton Reed ; Tompkins, Geo. I Townley ; Sandstone, Charles I. Moe ; Spring Arbor, Geo. N. Hatch ; Hanover, A. G. Ayers ; Springport, O. V. Hammond; Parma, Frank Elmer; Concord, J. B. Stoddard; Pulaski, Jason W. Clark ; First ward, E. T. Doney ; Second ward, R. T. McNangh- ton ; Third ward, Lincoln Wood ; Fourth ward, Dr. W. A. Gib- son : Fifth ward, S. O. Knapp; Sixth ward, Myron W. Fish ; Seventh ward, W. R. Brown; Eighth ward, Solomon C. Crafts.

The society has passed through many vicissitudes. The prop- erty, which now belongs to the county, is valuable. The fairs are well patronized and comparatively well carried out, but still there is something wanting to insure a great success, which will enable the society to resume the proprietorship of the grounds, and afterward increase the premium list in number and value. The meetings of the State Agricultural Society here may have in- terfered with the progress of the home organization ; but energy

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and zeal on the part of its members will surmount every obstacle, and render the Agricultural Society of Jackson one of which the county and the city may be proud.

In this connection it may be well to notice that the citizens of this county take a special interest also in horticulture and floricult- ure. Hon. Eugene Pringle delivered an address before the State Pomological Society Dec. 9, 1875, on the value of " Home Adorn- ments," which was printed in the reports of that society, and which ought to be read, studied and put into practice by every- body, be he ever so poor. If rural homes were made as beautiful as city homes are, there would not be so large a rush of young people to the cities as has existed for a number of years past, over- crowding every profession and trade, and losing their little fort- unes by the hands of older and shrewder operators.

At the same meeting, W. K. Gibson read a paper on the culture. of flowers, which was as beautiful as his subject, and as useful as beautiful. Beauty is utility. The beautiful gives pleasure, and that is all the useful can do. Let one commenee the culture of flowers and ornamental plants, and his own soul will commence also to blossom ont, in as unexpected a manner as the flowers themselves. The unpracticed eye would not predict a beautiful blossom from seeing merely the bud, or the plant; nor does the flowerless farmer or laborer see beforehand what might be devel- oped from his own soul were he to launch out into these new and short-cut methods to pure happiness.

Mr. Gibson closes his paper with this appeal :

" To you whom I address to-day, and to every person seeking the higher forms of pleasure, floriculture holds out the most en- ticing rewards. Are you a lover of beauty ! Look upon that palm, and upon those ferns and mosses, and tell me where there is anything in art which can rival their exquisite grace. Have you an eye which delights in colors ? Look upon these flowers. No human artist ever mixed such colors ; no brush has ever equaled that delicate blending ; no canvas has ever revealed such effect of light and shade. Are you a lover of nature ? Seek her, then, in that department where she displays her rarest beauties, amid gay flowers, and clambering vines, and graceful plants. You will find the study not merely a pleasure, but a profit ; you will find health and rest ; you will find, to express it in a single sentence, body refreshed, mind invigorated, and taste and intellect culti- vated.

" If I have succeeded in awakening your attention to its im- portance and in enlisting your feelings in its behalf, I shall have accomplished all I desired. Pursued as a mere pleasure it never satiates or cloys ; as a recreation it is healthful to body and mind ; as a study it is not irksome and perplexing, but ever fresh and inspiring. It is a study profoundly suggestive to an inquiring mind. It is possible to be the vestibule through which you may pass into the presence of the grandest truths of nature and the highest demonstrations of science. "

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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

Such addresses are always instructive. Though the effeet may not be noticed immediately, it certainly takes place, so that after a few brief years the observer ean justly say-the people have been invited to good works.

JACKSON HORSE-BREEDING ASSOCIATION.

Among the great enterprises of the West, that of the Jaekson Horse-Breeders Association occupies a prominent position, and will fairly rank with the best of its kind. At the time of its in- ception, rattling contests were conducted in a sort of haphazard manner, each race-meeting adopting a few rules for the occasion, which were often openly violated; and as no punishment could be meted to the offenders, fraud and flagrant abuses were practiced with impunity. To such an extent was this carried that horse- racing had become a bye-word and reproach, being elassed among the institutions of gambling.

In the spring of 1870 a few gentlemen who were interested in the improvement of the trotting horse, formed an association for the purpose of condueting raees upon a more methodical and re- speetable basis. S. S. Vaughn, President; J. A. Robinson, Sec- retary; Geo. W. Kennedy, Treasurer. Two annual meetings were held upon the grounds of the County Agricultural Society, which proved highly successful and indicated what could be aecom- plished when honest and honorable purposes were thrown into the balance. But the grounds were unsuitable for holding large meet- ings, the track being narrow and not formed to accommodate more than a moderate field of horses. At the close of the meeting in 1871 this society disbanded.

About this time a part of the Durand property, between the fair grounds and Blackstone street, was offered for sale. Mr. Amos Root, with commendable foresight, conceived the idea of purchas- ing this piece of land and adding it to the county property. Looking about for support to the scheme, it was but a short time until a confederation of gentlemen of means whose integrity was above suspicion, banded together, bought the 12 aeres of land, paying $12,000 therefor, and formed what was known as the Jackson Horse-Breeders Association, with the avowed purpose of elevating and advancing the interest of the trotting turf. This body was composed of the following members : Amos Root, Sewel S. Vaughn, Daniel B. Hibbard, Michael Shoemaker, Jesse Hurd, George Sherwood, C. C. Turner, Dan. J. Robinson, Marion Dorrel, George M. Kennedy. At the first meeting of the mem- bers, S. S. Vaughn was chosen president; Don. J. Robinson, sec- retary; George W. Kennedy, treasurer. Arrangements having been made with the Agricultural Society, it was determined to build a half-mile traek upon a new and improved pattern, to ereet suitable buildings for spectators, judges, musie, etc., and fenee the grounds in a substantial and becoming manner. After

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a careful survey, ground was broken for the new track, the con- struction of which was under the supervision of D. J. Robinson and C. C. Turner. This involved an immense amount of labor, as the greater portion of the track had to be made of earth, hauled from the adjoining hills, the outer surface of the lower turn be- ing raised some seven feet. In June, 1872, the track was finished, being carefully underdrained and enclosed on both sides by a neat railing, except on the inside of the back stretch, which was left open to give an unobstructed view from the starting point. The home stretch was 75 feet wide, giving ample room for nine horses to score abreast. The turns were carefully graded, and a drain run around the inside of the track to clear it of refuse water. In fact, every attention was paid to the minutest details in order to make it what it proved to be, a model trotting course. It is enough to say that the tracks at Chester Park, Cincinnati, Tri- State Fair, Toledo, Cynthiana, Ky., St. Louis, Mo., Washington, D. C., were patterned after this.

The first meeting was given in June, 1872, commencing the 25th and continuing four days. Ten purses were offered, aggregating $12,000, divided into the following classes: 3 minute, 2:44; 2:50; 2:34; 2:40, 2:30; double teams and free for all.

A code of rules and regulations was put in force, which gave general satisfaction, by their feasibility and the firm, yet impar- tial, manner of their application. Never before in Jackson had such tempting purses been offered for contests of speed, and the classes filled with the best trotting "cracks" from all sections of the country.

Seeing early the difficulty of starting large fields of different rates of speed, Mr. Vaughan inaugurated the plan of scoring by the pole horse, which passed into a system bearing his name, and was afterward adopted into the "National Rules." Each year the meetings grew in favor, a new incentive was given to the breeding of superior horses, a recreative amusement was afforded the people, and business enterprises were benefited largely.

The "National Association" was formed in 1870, and in 1873, their interests being identical, the Horse Breeders Association became a member of that organization. Realizing the necessity of preserving order and proper decorum, a bill was introduced in the Legislature by Gen. W. H. Withington, which became a law, extending police surveillance over racing and fair-grounds.

They took the initiatory steps in admitting ladies free, which gave tone and character to the enterprise, and was quickly copied by other associations in all parts of the country. Striving to make their races more interesting by attracting large fields of the best horses from all sections, and realizing the great expense and risk attending such undertakings, they inaugurated the plan of furnish- ing all kinds of forage free, procured the reduction of transporta- tion rates, and as a result, in the 2:40 race, 1879, 15 horses, representing 10 different States, faced the starting judge.

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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

Each succeeding year the races grew in public favor, and remain- ing steadfast to their legend, they, step by step, sought to purge their track of evils and reproaches. Games of chance, other than pool selling, was forbidden on the grounds, and in 1879 all traffic in malt and spiritnous liquors was refused. No serious accident ever occurred. No crimes were known to have been committed. Races were invariably called promptly, and were always finished during the week advertised, and every dollar of the premiums paid on demand. At the winter meeting of the members, in January, 1880, Mr. Vaughn resigned the presidency, which was the first break in the officers since its organization. During his adminis- tration he presided at the inaugural meetings at Chester Park, Cincinnati; Tri-State Fair, Toledo; and Cynthiana, Ky. Jesse Hurd was called to the vacant place, which he held until its dissolution, and was a faithful and efficient officer, discharging the onerous duties with the same unswerving fidelity that character- ized his predecessor. During the existence of this association but one death occurred among the members. Don J. Robinson, Sec- retary, died Jan. 8, 1881, after an illness of two weeks, with typhoid fever. The remaining members attended the funeral ob- sequies in a body, and followed the remains to the vault. As secretary of the Jackson Horse-Breeders' Association he was widely known. Being highly gifted and accomplished, his opinions were sought and respected in the Western councils. Those who knew him best cherished him most.

In January, 1881, a meeting of the members was called, when it was deemed best, in consequence of death and other important changes, to disorganize. Having lived a long and useful life, their work accomplished, with honor and dignity they mutually agreed to close their affairs as a body, remembered and respected by all.

CHAPTER XII. A SERIES OF HISTORICAL TRUTHS.

In all that has been written, mention is made of only a few of such sad events as are here recorded. Beginning the chapter with three sketches, bearing on the legalized villainy of the first Central Railroad directors, the strike of 1878 and the terrible railroad catastrophe of 1879, the succeeding pages are devoted to a series of paragraphic sketches, dealing with some of the most sorrowful accidents as well as the most revolting crimes. The close of the chapter is given to brief descriptions of important events from 1837 to the present time. It is impossible to collect every item which properly pertains to this chapter, yet it is thought there is a sufficient number collated to render the record complete for the uses of the present and the future.

TIIE TREACHEROUS CORPORATION OF THE OLDEN TIME.

Of all the events recorded in this history, there is not one that bears a semblance to that which resulted in the summary abduc- tion of 50 citizens of the United States from their homes and their interment in the unhealthy prison of Detroit. The law that recog- nized this action, the vicious directors of the new corporation, who suggested the terrible procedure and the villainous wretches employed by them to bring ruin upon those citizens, have all passed away, leaving only the memory of their corruption to stain the otherwise fair fame of the Peninsula. Many, doubtless, remember the time when the old strap-rail road was built between Detroit and Kalamazoo. For some years the old-time engine went slowly on its way over the primitive track; but, ultimately the track and engine passed into the hands of enterprising, but heartless, men. The State sold that which it should never have owned; the Michi- gan Central Railroad Company purchased it.

In the charter given to the new company a clause was wisely inserted, binding the directory to have the iron way fenced in and other dispositions made, guarding against injury to persons and property. A year passed over, and yet the articles of the charter seemed to be ignored. The cattle, hogs and sheep of the farmers of the district were run over by the fast trains; the owners sued the company; but an appeal by the defendants to the higher courts generally left the plaintiff to suffer the loss entailed by the destruc- tion of his valuable cattle and the costs of legal proceedings. The company offered half the amount of the claim, and in refusing this the complainant forfeited all. The law was in this connection de-

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cidedly adverse to the injured citizen, because it recognized the right of the company to appeal and enter the higher conrts, where the individual feared to tread. It legalized the robberies of the company, and, like the tea act and its British supporters, ronsed the people to action and called forth a war of retaliation. A section of the State Historical Series in reviewing this subject, states that "in the year 1849 a number of assaults and depredations were committed on the property of the M. C. R. R. Co., in and about the villages of Leoni and Michigan Center." To prevent these, the directors did, Ang. 10, 1849, offer a reward of $500 to anyone whose evidence would result in the conviction of the guilty parties. A corps of spies was employed, comprising at one period over 100 men. No less than 15 of those disreputable scoundrels appeared as witnesses against the very men whose hospitality they enjoyed. This most detestable band of cowards and villains included Phelps and Lake, two discharged convicts; VanArman, a Marshall lawyer; Clarke, a member of the Legislature from Marshall; Dixon, a sheriff from Marshall; Cochrane, Sherman, Holden and Gillispie, four laborers; Taylor, an employe of the railroad company; Wolliver, Wells and Caswell, accomplices in the crimes they de- nounced; Wescott, a discharged bar-tender, and Faulkner, a carman. They were called from the prison and the brothel, from the counter and the farm, from the sheriff's office, the Bar, and even the Legis- lature. For a period of six months did these reptiles carry out a system of espionage, but failing completely to arrest one of the in- jured settlers in the act of placing obstructions on the track, resolved to swear anything and everything that might earn the reward which it was reported the company would offer if the dep- redations continued. Alive to the situation, those murderers of domestic peace and quiet sleep, resolved to close their labors with a terrible coup de guerre. On Nov. 18, 1850, a banded set of such informers set fire to the great freight depot at Detroit, destroying thereby $150,000 worth of railroad property. One thousand dol- lars reward was offered for the apprehension and conviction of the incendiaries, and as a result, a ruffian came forward before the judiciary (?), and on his information, the manhood of a township over 60 miles distant from the scene of the conflagration was seized upon and hurried off to a distant prison, to be tried by a jury of Detroit citizens who neither knew the high character of the accused, nor that of the disreputable perjurers and informers, who contracted to work the ruin of 50 innocent men.

At a sitting of the grand jury of Wayne county, April 24, 1851, 37 men of the 50 under arrest were indicted. May 20, following, the accused parties appeared at the Circuit Court of Wayne, of which Warner Wing was resident judge. The Railroad Company employed no less than 10 eminent lawyers, including David Stuart, John Van Arman, Jas. A. Van Dyke, Jacob M. Howard, Alex. D. Fraser, Daniel Goodwin and Wm. Gray. The defendants were represented by six members of the State Bar, led by William H. Seward, of New York. The trial occupied four months, during

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which time the plaintiff's examined 246 witnesses in 27 days, and the defendants 249 in 40 days. Captain Abel F. Fitch, who raised the cavalry company known as the "Barry Horse Guards," and a commissioned officer of the State Militia, was made the principal object of the informer's wrath, as well as of the railroad company's treachery. He or they must fall in this contest; and so it proved, for the high-minded pioneer of a Jackson county township died in the Detroit jail, while waiting to vindicate his honor, and rescue himself and his friends from the villainy and the corruption which banded themselves together to work his destruction.

The notorious George W. Gay, the real incendiary, a most con- summate liar, a dark perjurer, died in the same jail before the beginning of the trial. Scoundrels equally as vicious were present to take up the course of perjury allotted to Gay. Henry Phelps, Herman Lake, and Jacob Wolliver were willing instruments in the hands of the railroad company, and one unprincipled lawyer (name not given), who instructed the creatures in all the refined villainies and the art of perjury. Thus were they prepared for the cross-examination. The trial dragged its weary way along for months; but the end was at hand. Mr. Van Dyke addressed the jury for the prosecution; Wm. II. Seward, for the defense. Van Dyke, in his address, asked the jurors to believe that the guilty, among the large number indicted, comprised: Ammi Filley, Lyman Champlin, W. W. Champlin, Erastus Champlin, Eben Price, Richard Price, O. D. Williams, Wm. Corwin, Eben Farnham, Andrew J. Freeland, Erastus Smith and Aaron Mount. He dis- tinctly pointed out those men as guilty in the first degree, while in regard to M. T. Laycock, John Ackerson, and Daniel Myers, he stated that their evidence did not point directly to any of their criminal actions. The remaining 22 prisoners he declared inno- cent, and advised the jury to let them go and sin no more.

Wm. H. Seward, in reviewing the evidence, showed clearly that the prosecutors relied wholly on the evidence of some of the most disreputable creatures that ever brought the blush of shame into the face of true manhood. The whole proceedings were illegal from beginning to end; yet, since it was evident that law was to be prostituted to the service of a wealthy corporation, and in the face of morals and decency brought down from its high pedestal, he closed his brilliant peroration with the following reference to the first victim of that strange tragedy:

"Remember that you are mortal, and that he is immortal; that before the tribunal where he stands, you must confront him and vindicate his character or your own judgment. Remember that he is now free. He has not only left behind him the dungeon, the cell, and the chain, but he exults in a freedom compared with which our liberty is but slavery and bondage. You stand then between the dead and the living. There is no need to bespeak the exercise of your candor, of your impartiality, of your caution. You will, I am sure, be just to the dead and the living, because under circumstances so solemn, so full of awe, you cannot be un-

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just to the dead, nor false to your countryman, nor to your God."

The great lawyer was convinced of the innocence of his clients, nor did the verdict of that jury and the sentence of that judge re- move his firm belief that his clients were the victims of purchased treachery, rather than so many sacrifices to justice.

The verdict " guilty," was rendered at 9 o'clock P. M., Sept. 25, 1851. On the 26th the prisoners were put forward to receive sen- tence, when many of them protested their entire innocence, after which the presiding judge condemned 12 of the number to the fol- lowing terms of imprisonment, with hard labor, within the State's prison, situate in their county: Ammi Filley, 10 years; Orlando L. Williams, 10 years; Aaron Mount, eight years; Andrew J. Freeland, eight years; Eben Farnham, eight years; William Cor- vin, eight years; Richard Price, eight years; Evan Price, eight ears; Lyman Champlin, five years; Willard W. Champlin, five ears; Erastus Champlin, five years; Erastus Smith, five years.

Now the crime had passed from the criminals to the jury and again to the State. Never was sentence pronounced upon a more innocent array of citizens. The guilty had escaped, and in their travels left the mark of Cain in their tracks; for the blood of one victim and the curse of men who lived in servitude followed them, took effect and doomed them to that spiritual punishment which ever accompanies the thorough ruffian. The State, however, did justice to its victims within a few years. Gov. Kinsley S. Bing- ham was elected governor a few years later, the names of the living and dead cleansed from the stains which the hired villains of a corrupt jury left upon them, and the release of the prisoners ordered. Previously a few of the imprisoned men were released; Aaron Mount died within the prison in 1852, and Orlando D. Will- iams found a means to escape in 1853. He was not re-captured until the issue of the proclamation announcing an amnesty to all the victims of bribery and evil laws. The Jackson Republican in after years embodied in a very able editorial the following reference to this important event:

"And thus were the ends of justice defeated, and money and power and villainous craft triumphed over innocence and helpless- ness. They killed their vile tool (Gay) whose pretended . confes- sions' they produced; they killed the high-minded, but to them dangerous, man, who had discernment enough to see through the treachery of their unprincipled hirelings, and influence enough to defeat their base designs, if once restored to liberty; and two years after the inauguration of this war-four months after the culmina- tion of their meanness and insufferable oppressions in the arrest and abduction, to a distant city, of 50 innocent citizens, from the youth of 18, to the old bed-ridden man of 80-they incarcerated 12 of them in the State's prison, there to languish for years, separated from family and friends, and homes, not to appease the wrath of a growing and thriving corporation, for 'it' was guilty only of flagrant errors and much injustice, which wiser members in sober moments have acknowledged and deplored, but to satisfy the

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hatred, glut and vengeance of a few, whose robberies and heinous crimes had brought them to shame and to a prison experience, which they repeatedly swore should be inflieted upon those that helped to send them there. The last words of Fitch were: 'Who will vindicate my character ?' It would seem that the man's own life and the character of his accusers were sufficient vindieation of his own, and though his untimely death gave power to the enemy, and the conviction of some of his own companions in misfortune had served to cast a stigma on their names, his character was then, and is yet, vindicated by all who have ever known him, or who have ever given a single impartial thought upon the details of the conspiracy against him and his companions. Abel F. Fitch

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History of Jackson County, Michigan, Part 45

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago [Ill.] : Inter-state Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1166

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago [Ill.] : Inter-state Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1166