USA > Minnesota > Stearns County > History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume I > Part 25
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At St. Louis, July 25, the Populist national convention nominated W. J. Bryan for president on the first ballot, with Thomas F. Watson, of Georgia, for vice-president, Mr. Sewall, the Democratic candidate, not being accept- able. The platform contained a free silver plank.
The Gold Democrats held a national convention at Indianapolis, Ind., September 3, placing John M. Palmer, United States senator from Illinois, in nomination for president, and General Simon Boliver, of Kentucky, for vice-
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
president, on a platform declaring for the single gold standard. The party was known as the National Democratic party.
Stearns county was represented in all three of the national conventions- in the Republican by C. F. Hendryx, of Sauk Centre; in the Democratic by W. P. Remer, of St. Cloud; and in the Populist by P. J. Seberger and J. V. Mayhew, of St. Cloud.
Charles A. Towne, of Duluth, elected to congress from the Sixth district on the Republican ticket, at once severed his connection with the party and became an ardent and one of the most effective champions of free silver. Other leading Republicans in the state who renounced their allegiance to the party on this issue were John Lind, S. M. Owen, Frank Day, F. M. Nye and John Day Smith. The Democratic party was also badly rent, among the se- ceders being Judge Charles E. Flandrau, Judge Thomas Wilson, D. W. Law- ler and other party leaders.
The Republican Sixth district convention met in St. Cloud July 16 and unanimously nominated Judge Page Morris, of Duluth, for congress, W. E. Culkin, of Wright county, who had been a candidate, withdrawing and being made chairman of the convention. A ratification meeting held July 24 was addressed by Judge Morris and Congressman J. T. McCleary.
The Populist district convention held in St. Cloud August 25 placed Charles A. Towne in nomination by acclamation, the vote being unanimous.
Two days later the Democratic district convention at St. Cloud also nom- inated Mr. Towne, who, with John Lind, the Democratic candidate for gov- ernor, addressed a ratification meeting that evening.
The local campaign was hard fought on both sides, which equally had de- fections. The Republicans who joined the free silver ranks included H. C. Waite, Dr. W. T. Stone, A. Barto, A. F. Robertson and H. S. Locke, while among the Democrats who affiliated with the National Democratic party were D. T. Calhoun, Theodore Bruener, P. B. Gorman, Henry Keller, John Zapp and B. W. How. Many voted the Republican ticket in November to give more certain effect to their opposition to free silver. The local committee issued an address September 16, and established headquarters in charge of B. Rein- hard. The Republicans secured a monster tent, capable of seating eighteen hundred people, in which to hold their meetings, while the Democrats and Populists fitted up the Fibreware building for that purpose. Sound money clubs and free silver clubs were organized throughout the county, each party sending out speakers to carry forward their respective propagandas. Among the speakers of national prominence who were heard in St. Cloud were, Wil- liam J. Bryan and Congressman Towne, who came in a special train October 13 and spoke at Empire Park, Mr. Bryan being accompanied by Mrs. Bryan and members of the Democratic national committee, and W. H. Harvey ("Coin Harvey") who spoke for that party. The Republicans had a large repre- sentation, including General O. O. Howard, General Alger, General Steward, General Daniel E. Sickles, Corporal Tanner and A. C. Rankin, of Pennsylvania, the "Molder Orator." The national Democratic cause was advocated by General Buckner, Ex-Governor Roswell P. Flower, of New York, and others.
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
The campaign brought a number of speakers of only less extended reputation, and there were the usual processions and out-door demonstrations.
At the election November 3, W. J. Bryan received 4,911 votes, William Mckinley 2,873 and John M. Palmer 142. For governor John Lind had 5,185 and D. M. Clough 2,675 votes. For congressman C. A. Towne received 5,266 and Page Morris 2,991, the latter being elected by a majority of 740 in the district. It is a noteworthy fact that of the Republicans of state prominence who left their party at this time, a large majority continued to be members of the Democratic party, while of the Democrats who bolted Mr. Bryan prac- tically all returned to the fold.
At this election a proposition to issue bonds for a new county court house was defeated by a vote of 1,988 to 5,285.
In 1898 the Democrats elected their first governor since the days of Henry H. Sibley, the first governor after the organization of Minnesota as a state in 1858. The candidates were John Lind and W. H. Eustis, Stearns county giving Mr. Lind, the successful candidate, 4,031 votes to 1,900 for Mr. Eustis. Kittel Halvorson, of Stearns county, was the People's party can- didate for lieutenant-governor. The contest for member of congress at this election was very close, Page Morris, the Republican candidate, being elected by a majority of 463 in the district over Charles A. Towne, who had the Democratic-Populist nomination. The vote in Stearns county was 3,671 for Towne to 2,456 for Morris.
In 1900 the People's party congressional convention for the Sixth dis- trict was held in St. Cloud September 4 and nominated Henry Truelson, of Duluth, as its candidate for congress. At Aitkin the following day he received also the Democratic nomination, this over the protest of the St. Louis county delegation, whose candidate was C. O. Baldwin. P. J. Seberger, of St. Cloud, became by petition the congressional candidate of the Middle-of-the-Road Populists. This was again a presidential year, W. J. Bryan receiving 4,244 votes and William McKinley 2,460. The gubernatorial contest was between John Lind and Samuel R. VanSant, the former receiving 4,552 and the latter 2,190, defeating Mr. Lind in the state at large. The vote on congressman was : Henry Truelson, 4,522; Page Morris, the Republican candidate, 2,677; Peter J. Seberger, 122.
In 1902, for governor, L. A. Rosing had 3,492 votes and S. R. VanSant 2,350; Meighen (Populist), 46; Scanlon (Prohibition), 49; VanLear (Social- ist Labor), 20.
In 1904, Stearns county, on national issues, gave a Republican majority of 224 to Theodore Roosevelt over Alton B. Parker, the Democratic candidate, the vote in the county being 2,849 for Roosevelt to 2,625 for Parker. At the same time the average Democratic majority in the county was 1,388. This was the year of the Johnson-Dunn gubernatorial contest, following the bitter fight between Judge L. W. Collins and R. C. Dunn for the Republican nomina- tion, when the Democrats of Minnesota again elected their candidate for gov- ernor. The vote in the county was 4,303 for John Johnson to 1,469 for R. C. Dunn.
Governor Johnson was re-elected in 1906, Stearns county giving him
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
4,158 votes to 1,247 for Albert L. Cole. In this campaign P. M. Magnusson, of St. Cloud, was the Democratic candidate for secretary of state.
William J. Bryan for president in 1908 received 3,835 votes, while 2,614 were cast for William H. Taft. Governor Johnson, as a successful third-term candidate for governor, received 4,879 votes as against 1,881 for Jacob Jacob- son, the Republican candidate.
The year 1910 saw Stearns county again going Republican, giving A. O. Eberhart 3,124 votes to 2,297 for James A. Gray, the Democratic candidate. This result was due to the fact that the latter was running on a county option platform, which was not popular with the party in this county.
In 1912 the vote on president was divided among three candidates- Woodrow Wilson, 3,378; W. H. Taft, 1,155; Theodore Roosevelt, 1,762. The vote for governor was: Peter U. Ringdahl, 3,137; A. O. Eberhard, 1,759; P. V. Collins (Progressive), 600.
The six gubernatorial candidates in the field in 1914 received votes as fol- lows : Winfield S. Hammond, Democrat, 5,280; William E. Lee, Republican, 1,811; Tom J. Lewis, Socialist, 149; Willis C. Calderwood, Prohibition, 226; Hugh T. Halbert; Progressive, 40; Herbert Johnson, Industrial Labor, 96. The vote on congressman was: J. A. DuBois, Democrat, 4,777; Chas. A. Lind- bergh, Republican, 2,029; Thomas Sharkey, Progressive, 303; O. M. Thoma- son, Socialist, 234.
The total vote in Stearns county in 1858, when the county was divided into nine towns, was 734. The following table shows the votes cast during the succeeding years by the two leading parties, with the total vote and the majority :
Year
Democratic
Republican
Total
Majority
1859
660
375
1035
285
1860.
494
438
932
56
1861
655
411
1066
244
1862
573
285
858
288
1863
630
319
949
311
1864
917
427
1344
490
1865
812
335
1147
477
1866.
925
600
1525
325
1867
1336
794
2130
542
1868
1524
1030
2554
494
1869
1430
612
2042
818
1870
1238
560
1798
678
1871
1728
523
2251
1205
1872.
1924
1127
3051
797
1873
1564
733
2297
831
1874
1993
915
2908
1078
1875.
1885
677
2562
1208
1876
2413
1117
3530
1296
1877
2041
1051
3092
990
1878
2214
856
3070
1358
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
Year
Democratic
Republican
Total
Majority
1879
2270
913
3183
1357
1880
2469
1415
3884
1054
1881
2211
914
3125
1297
*1882.
2123
2262
3385
-139
1883.
2542
1107
3649
1435
1884
3072
1381
4453
1691
1886
3869
1361
5230
2508
1888.
4747
2173
6920
2574
1890
3915
1245
5160
2670
1892.
4461
1624
6085
2837
1894
3657
2032
5689
1625
1896.
4911
2873
7784
2038
1898
4061
1900
5961
2161
1900
4244
2460
6704
1784
1902
3492
2350
5842
1142
1904
2625
2849
5474
-224
1906.
4158
1247
5405
2911
1908
3835
2614
6449
1421
1910
2297
3124
5421
-827
1912.
3137
1759
4996
1378
1914
5280
1811
7091
3469
*The Republican total includes the votes cast for both Knute Nelson (1,359) and C. F. Kindred (902).
The first political meeting held in St. Cloud of which there is any avail- able record, was on April 8, 1858, at Wilson's hall. John L. Wilson was president and L. A. Evans, secretary. The great issue at the time was the admission of Kansas, with or without slavery. An act of congress had been passed repealing the Missouri compromise which prohibited slavery within the territorial limits occupied by Kansas and Nebraska. A constitution had been adopted by a convention held at Lecompton, Kansas, permitting slavery within the state, and at the various elections preceding and subsequent to this there were many bloody encounters between the free-state and pro-slavery parties, the latter including large numbers of men heavily armed, who crossed the border from Missouri. This meeting was called an "administration meet- ing." Resolutions were introduced by J. C. Shepley expressing "unswerv- ing confidence in the honesty and capacity of James Buchanan, the chief magistrate of the United States," and favoring the admission of Kansas under the provisions of the bill, which would permit slavery to be intro- duced. Specches were made by Mr. Shepley, W. A. Caruthers, register of the United States land office, at Sauk Rapids, and John L. Wilson in support of the resolutions, which were adopted.
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
CHAPTER XIV.
IN THE EARLY DAYS.
General Christopher C. Andrews Tells of Pioneer Times in Minnesota-Youth- ful Ventures-Arrival at St. Paul-Stage Trip to Crow Wing-Settling at St. Cloud-Reminiscences of the Pioneers-Frontier Experiences- Social Diversions-Recruits Raised for Civil War-Biography.
I shall not relate as much of my experience previous to reaching Minne- sota as Æneas did of his wanderings before arriving at Italy, but I may be allowed a few words.
When the bill passed Congress early in 1854, organizing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, I was, at the age of twenty-four, earning my living in the practice of law in Boston. I, however, felt the spell of the great West, and drove my stake as a settler in Kansas as early as June, 1854, my library following by way of the Great Lakes. At the first public opportunity, I de- clared I would vote to make Kansas a free state. I had always held the pre- vailing conservative views of northern people on slavery,-non-interference and non-agitation of slavery in the states where it existed, but opposition to its extension, and my position on it in Kansas was respected even by pro- slavery people. There were so few settlers I could not earn a living by my profession and I spent much of my time writing letters on the resources of Kansas to northern papers to encourage free-state immigration.
In December I went to Washington, intending to stay only during the short session of Congress, but immediately became ill there with typhoid fever and was not able to work till March. This so reduced my finances that I had to seek employment in the public service, and through the kindness of Presi- dent Pierce, who was a native of the same town as myself and had known me from boyhood, I obtained a clerkship at $1,400 a year in the office of the solici- tor of the treasury, finally being assigned to duty as acting law clerk. It was through a friend I had made in Kansas (a son of General Hamer, of Ohio), that I learned of a vacancy. Two years passed; and though I enjoyed my position and had good prospects of promotion, I longed for western life. Kansas was full of turmoil. I could not afford to go back there. I there- fore came to Minnesota the fall of 1856 to take a look at the country, intend- ing, if I liked it, to resign and remove here the following spring.
Among the passengers on the steamboat, Lady Franklin, which brought me to St. Paul, October 3, 1856, was Sylvanus B. Lowry, a resident of St. Cloud and proprietor of the upper part of the town, commonly called Lowry's addition, and whose acquaintance I made. He was a native of Tennessee. His father, Rev. David Lowry, had, for several years, been a Cumberland Presbyterian missionary to the Winnebago Indians and he himself had been a trader to the Winnebagos. He was a man of medium height, but a little above medium weight, was about thirty-five years of age, had an uncommonly fine intellectual forehead, light blue eyes, wore his hair somewhat long in
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
the then southern style, and brushed behind his ears, was very intelligent, bright and kindly and dignified in his manners. He had served in the terri- torial council of Minnesota, had the rank of general in the territorial militia, and was commonly known as General Lowry. He introduced me in St. Paul to several people, and among them to Governor Ramsey and Earle S. Good- rich, then editor of the Pioneer and Democrat.
I stopped at the Fuller House, a very fine new hotel, which had just been opened, from Friday morning till Monday morning. There were a number of guests from the South. At the Sunday dinner, many of the guests had champagne. The waiters wore dress coats with gilt buttons. I was surprised, during my stay in the city, at the general appearance of prosperous times and abundance of money. A real estate boom in Minnesota was then on. During these days I took a look at Minneapolis and St. Anthony Falls.
The longest stage line out of St. Paul at that time was to Crow Wing and which I selected, as it would give me a chance to look at St. Cloud. At five o'clock the morning of October 6, in St. Paul, I boarded a six-horse stage that was due at Watab the same evening. The weather being quite warm and the stage crowded, it did not arrive there on time. Among the passen- gers were General Lowry and William A. Carruthers, of Tennessee, afterwards register of the U. S. land office at Sank Rapids and St. Cloud. We had a late breakfast at St. Anthony and dinner at Big Lake. It was eleven o'clock when we reached Sauk Rapids and many of the people. including Charles A. Gil- man, were at the postoffice waiting for the mail. It was midnight when the stage reached Watab. In the little hotel, kept by David Gilman, there was neither vacant room nor bed, and I slept down stairs on a lounge with my overcoat buttoned up. Some new frame buildings were being erected at Watab, and affairs seemed to be going with a rush. Parker H. French was one of the residents.
The next morning I was off in good season on the two-horse stage for Crow Wing, with a young German driver. I had been impressed by several of the enterprising villages, including Anoka, and was so with Little Falls, which already had a wooden-ware mill of which Mr. Fergus, for whom Fergus Falls was named, was one of the proprietors. At Fort Ripley was a company of U. S. infantry, and we crossed over to it with the mail on a ferry boat. Crow Wing was a small village with many Chippewa Indians in the vicinity, on the east bank of the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of Crow Wing river, and I stayed there till Friday morning at Allen Morrison's, the only public house. Stores were kept by C. H. Beaulieu, J. D. Crittenden and Fairbanks brothers, whose acquaintance I made. Mr. Crittenden was afterwards colonel and assistant quartermaster of volunteers in the Civil War. I went on horse back six miles beyond Crow Wing to the agency; also two miles further and visited the Chippewa chief, Hole-in-the-day, who, at that time, like very many other Indians, under the influence of the then commissioner of Indian affairs, George W. Manypenny, was showing real zeal in farming. When I got to his place, Hole-in-the-day was just coming out of his cornfield,-it was an unusu- ally warm autumn-which was well matured and of good size. He did not appear himself to have been at work, for he had on broadcloth trousers. I
183
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
accepted his invitation to go into his house and had a talk with him through his interpreter. There were two Indian women working in the room. He invited me to stop to dinner, but I had to decline. On this horseback trip, I was for the first time in the pine woods of Minnesota.
On my homeward trip, from Crow Wing, I reached Watab at seven p. m., October 10, and there found the carriage and driver of General Lowry with an invitation to come down and spend the night at his house in St. Cloud. This I gladly accepted, and had a pleasant visit. W. A. Carruthers and another young man, from Tennessee, were his guests at the time. General Lowry's residence fronted and pleasantly overlooked the Mississippi, just below the Sauk rapids. After breakfast the next morning, he drove with me down into the middle part of St. Cloud, so as to give me a good view of the town, and then took me over the river on the ferry so that I could take the stage for St. Paul. Two of the things that favorably impressed me with St. Cloud was its fine elevation of about sixty feet above the river and its handsome belt of hardwood timber bordering the river. But perhaps the fact of there being a United States land office near by, which would afford business in my profes- sion, was what mostly induced me to finally locate there. St. Cloud, at that time, was supposed to have a population of 500.
I wrote some letters descriptive of what I saw on this trip, which were printed in the Boston Post, and which I revised and had published in book form in 1857. A second edition of a thousand copies with a new map was published in 1858. I obtained considerable information for my revised letters from Henry M. Rice, the territorial delegate in Congress from Minnesota.
I assisted Mr. Rice a little in Washington in passing the bill by Congress, granting several million acres of land to Minnesota for railroads. I wrote and had printed as an editorial in the Washington Union,-the administration paper-an article in favor of the grant. When the bill was under considera- tion, I was at his side and in some sense his adjutant, going and coming be- tween the House and Senate with messages to different members.
The spring of 1857 came, and with it my fixed purpose to resign my clerk- ship and locate in Minnesota. It was in the month of May that I took my letter of resignation to Howell Cobb, secretary of the treasury; and as the good people of Stearns county elected me to the Senate within two and a half years after I settled there, they will not object to my saying that Mr. Cobb expressed regret at my resigning and voluntarily said that as a mark of con- fidence he would retain me as attorney in a case pending in Minnesota, which he did, although the fee was not large.
I went and said good-bye to President Buchanan, and told him where I was going. He shook my hand kindly and said, "God bless you."
On reaching St. Paul, May, 1857, I went by boat for the purpose of see- ing more of the territory, up the Minnesota river to Mankato, and by team out on different directions from that place.
I went from St. Anthony Falls to St. Cloud by steamboat, landed at the lower town and stopped for some days at the Stearns House, kept by C. T. Stearns for whom Stearns county was named. Afterwards I took a room and board at the hotel kept by Mr. Willis, in the middle part of the town. There
184
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
was a part of Lowry's addition I liked very much as a site for the office build- ing I intended to erect, because it afforded a good view of the Mississippi river. So I bought a lot there and contracted in writing for the putting up of the building. When the work was progressing, I was greatly surprised to see the carpenters nailing clapboards on the bare scantling, without first hav- ing nailed boards on, and remonstrated against it. They turned to the con- tract, which read, that the walls of the building should be "sided." I knew that siding meant clapboarding, but supposed it implied that the clapboards should be put upon boards. They said, "The way we are doing is the way buildings are erected here." Although my office building was to be lathed and plastered inside, I felt sure it would not be warm enough without being boarded, but as the work was so far advanced and to avoid dispute, I let it go on. The ceiling of my office room was unusually high, and although I had a good-sized box-shaped stove, I suffered, the ensuing winter, considerable inconvenience from cold. The next season I had the walls of the building filled with sawdust, a drum put on my stove, and was much more comfortable. In the rear of my office room was a good sized bedroom where I slept, and in front, a porch. As I sat at my office table, I could look upon the Mississippi river distant, as I recollect, about four hundred yards.
In mentioning, as I will now try to do, the names of some of the people then living in St. Cloud, I shall reluctantly omit some excellent persons whose faces I remember but whose names I cannot recall.
At that time, General S. B. Lowry had gone to Paris, accompanied by Dr. B. R. Palmer, and as I have supposed, to consult the best medical author- ity. He once told he he felt a ringing in his head which may have been the forerunner of the unfortunate malady that later afflicted him. I saw him in September immediately after his return, but he did not look strong. At his house were living his father and mother, their daughter and her husband, Rev. Thomas Calhoun, parents of an only son, who later became a most respected citizen and mayor of St. Cloud. Rev. Thomas Calhoun was active, carrying on the Lowry farm and occasionally assisted his father-in-law in conducting religious services held at first in a hall on the upper levee, and where I heard Mr. Eggleston, of Indiana, then a mere boy, later an author, once preach. The saddest thing that occurred at St. Cloud the winter of 1857-58, was the tragic death of Rev. Thomas Calhoun. The bridge over the ravine between middle and lower town, had but a slight railing, and as Mr. Calhoun and his wife were driving across it, their horse shied and with the sleigh suddenly went over it, instantly killing Mr. Calhoun and injuring Mrs. Calhoun so that she was a very long time recovering.
Mr. Jones, Mrs. Lowry's brother, was then living with the family. He was a stout man, weighing over 200 pounds, fifty years old, wore his hair and beard long, and if not unbalanced in mind, was at least eccentric, though in- offensive. He managed to speak at about every public meeting and was often witty and always taking the side of the poor and treating with sarcasm those who thought themselves too important. Sometimes, for an interlude when speaking, he would pause and resting his hands on the table before him, would jump up and down a few times, which was pretty sure to prove a diversion.
185
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
He had left St. Cloud some time before the Civil War, and I was surprised one forenoon about the first year of the war, when the Third Minnesota was on the march either in Kentucky or Tennessee and had halted a few minutes to rest, to see him. We had but a minute to talk. He looked very serious, shook his head and pointed to the soldiers in a way which indicated that he thought we ought not to be down there.
John L. Wilson, who had platted middle St. Cloud, was one of its active residents. The two principal traders were Joseph Edelbrock and John W. Tenvoorde, competitors in business and in politics. Mr. Tenvoorde's clerks were Ludwig Robbers and Chris Grandelmyer. A year or so later a larger store was opened by Henry C. Burbank, on the upper levee. Proctor & Clarke's hardware store was at the upper part of middle town, and their clerks then or soon after were Andrew Larson-of late years a banker at Will- mar-and John Zapp. Mr. Hartshorn had a store, his clerks being P. Lamb and William Blagrore. There were the Broker brothers, who had a store. Also, I think Louis A. Evans then had a stock of salt meat supplies. Nicholas Lahr, who had settled there in 1853 (and who is still living at the age of 83), was a plow manufacturer. Messrs. Kindler, Metzroth and Rosenberger were separately in business as tailors. Mr. Marlatt was the druggist. Mr. Cram and Mr. Brown, occupying considerable land, were living on the west shore of Lake George. Henry C. Waite, who had come first, and James C. Shepley, were the attorneys. A few months later George Barstow, brother-in-law of Mr. Shepley, and who had been prominent in New Hampshire, came and went into partnership with him. Mr. Barstow afterwards became speaker of the California House of Representatives. He was a short man, but had a fine- looking head and was an unusually eloquent orator. He and I drove to Little Falls together the following autumn and addressed a Democratic meeting.
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