USA > Missouri > A History of Missouri from the Earliest Explorations and Settlements Until the Admission of the state into the union, Volume III > Part 9
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37 This is the statement of Samuel Cole, and he says that pupils who attended this school were Benjamin Delaney, William Bolin, William Savage, Hess and William Warden, John and William Yarnell, John and William Jolly, Joseph and William Scott and John and William Rupe. History of Howard and Cooper counties, p. 808.
" Levin's and Drake's History of Cooper county, p. 61.
" History of Howard and Cooper counties, p. 160. Bynum was afterward circuit clerk of Howard county for a number of years.
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GRANT TO SCHOOLS
county in 1821, who taught school there as well as in Howard county. The first legislature established academies by charter in the towns of Jackson and St. Charles. Bishop DuBourg of St. Louis, in conjunc- tion with his vicar, the Rev. Francis Niel, took steps to establish a college in St. Louis in 1819. In this latter school were to be taught "the classics, philosophy, English and French." This college was opened in 1820 on the site of the old Catholic log church on Second street below Market. Rev. Francis Niel was president of the faculty; Rev. Leo Deys, professor of languages; Rev. Andres Ferrari, pro- fessor of the ancient languages, assisted by Mr. P. Sullivan; Rev. Aristide Anduze, professor of mathematics; Rev. Michael G. Saul- nier, professor of languages and also assisted by Mr. Samuel Smith; Mr. Francis C. Guyol was professor of writing and drawing and Mr. John Martin prefect of studies. But many citizens of the territory were not satisfied with these meagre educational advantages and in a letter to the "National Republican" John G. Heath says that "the state of education is deplorable," yet consoles himself with the fact that "the masses of our citizens are perhaps not as ignorant as the same class of men in the States." 40
In 1812, by Act of Congress, the lots and outlots, common field lots and commons joining and belonging to the towns and villages of Portage des Sioux, St. Charles, St. Louis, St. Ferdinand, the Village à Robert and Little Prairie, not rightfully owned or claimed by any private individual, were granted to the several towns and villages named "for the support of schools in the respective towns and villages aforesaid." This Act became the foundation of the mag- nificent school fund to St. Louis, owing to the growth of the city and consequent appre- ciation of real estate there. It is to the fore- thought of Thomas Fiveash Riddick that the schools of St. Louis owe this inheritance. He rode to Washington City on horseback "at his own individual expense," says Darby, to secure the passage of this Act, and was there THOMAS F. RIDDICK aided in his efforts by the delegate from the territory at that time Edward Hempstead." In 1817 the ter- " Brown's Gazetteer, p. 194.
" The work of Riddick seems all but forgotten in St. Louis now. If he had been a son of New England instead of Virginia-in that case, if the state- ment of Darby is indeed true that "so far as St. Louis public schools are con-
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
ritorial legislature passed the first Act for the organization of the public schools of St. Louis, and the first trustees named in the Act were William Clark, William C. Carr, Thomas H. Benton, Bernard Pratte, Auguste Chouteau, Alexander McNair and John P. Cabanne.
The primitive school facilities enjoyed by the people, both during the Spanish government and the early territorial days of Missouri, were of course confined to the villages and towns; in the wilderness schools were unknown. Indeed, it was impossible then for the iso- lated settlers to secure any educational advantages for their children even if so disposed. Their children grew up wholly ignorant of any learning or books, were not taught even the rudiments of their own tongue, and Schoolcraft observes that being "thus situated without moral restraint, brought up in the uncontrolled indulgence of every passion, and without a regard for religion, the state of society among the rising generation of this region is truly deplorable. In their childish disputes the boys frequently stab each other with knives, two instances of which occurred since our residence here. No cor- rection was administered in either case, the act rather being looked upon as a promising trait of character. They begin to assert their independence as soon as they can walk, and by the time they reach the age of fourteen years have completely learned the use of the rifle, the art of trapping beaver and otter, killing bear, deer and buffalo, and dressing skins and making mockasons and leather clothes." "3
Brackenridge, in 1810, remarks that Auguste Chouteau has a large private library consisting chiefly of folios and quartos, from which Brackenridge conjectured that it must have once belonged to the Jesuits who, a half century before, had "a college at Kaskaskia," " the library being confiscated and sold by the French government when the Jesuits were expelled from Louisiana. At New Madrid Madame Peyroux had a fine library "left by her husband" " who was well known as a writer and literary man. Edward Bates also possessed an extensive private library. Flint notes, in 1816, that
cerned Colonel Thomas F. Riddick was the creator and originator of that noble system of instruction which now obtains in St. Louis," his name would not have been allowed to fade from memory. His name has been inserted in one of the memorial windows of the Cape Girardeau Normal school, as having deserved well of the common schools of Missouri.
" Tour in the Interior of Missouri and Arkansas, pp. 49, 50, (London, 1821).
" Brackenridge's Recollections of the West, p. 231. But this statement made by Brackenridge seems to have been made on insufficient evidence. " Brackenridge's Recollections of the West, p. 231.
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GAMBLING
"few good books are brought into the country," " and that the people are too busy, too much occupied in making farms and speculations to think of literature, but he says that Mrs. Gray of New Madrid "had a considerable library." There was no book store at that time in the Territory, but the proprietor of the "Gazetteer" in 1808 ad- vertised that he had school books for sale. In 1820, however, Thomas Essex and Charles E. Reynroth opened a book and stationery house in St. Louis. The first effort to organize a public library in St. Louis was made in 1811 when a meeting was called at the house of Henry Capron for that purpose, but nothing tangible seems to have resulted from this meeting. In 1819 another movement was inaugurated to secure a public library for the town, and this, too, was unsuc- cessful. In the following year, an association was organized and Isaac Barton elected the first librarian. In Franklin a Library society was organized in 1819 of which R. W. Morris was president and Dr. J. J. Lowry secretary. The library of the Catholic College of St. Louis in 1821 contained 8,000 volumes.
Gambling was the prevailing amusement of the times. At the gaming table the old French residents and the newer American immigrant met on common ground. According to Schultz, he never saw a place where people engaged "with so much spirit and per- severance to win each others' money" as at Ste. Genevieve." Some- times they would continue to play for thirty hours at a time. They were then in the habit of meeting three times a week to play a favorite game. In all places of amusement in St. Louis gambling was openly carried on.47 In 1818 when Peck came into Donahue's tavern at Ste. Genevieve at 8 o'clock in the evening he notes that he found "the landlord with a company of gentlemen busily employed at the card table." " Lawyers, medical men, merchants and officers in civil and military authority, and Indian traders, all played cards for amusement, and bet liberally.
The practice of carrying concealed weapons also was a general custom. Schultz says that he was greatly surprised at this, when on more than one occasion he saw daggers fall out of the bosom or out of the girdle "while the owner was dancing with a lady," and that the ladies did not betray any uneasiness at the sudden and unexpected
" Flint's Recollections, pp. 185, 229.
"Schultz's Travels, vol. 2, p. 61.
"7 Life of John Mason Peck, p. 88.
" Ibid., p. 117.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
exposures of such "murderous and assassin-like weapons."" Even during the sessions of the court everybody was armed, some with pistols behind them under their coats, nearly all with dirks peeping from their bosoms; even the Judges on the bench had their pistols and attaghans by their sides.30 On this account "the mine country" was a very unpleasant place of residence, as the workmen were always engaged in brawls and quarrels and the proprietors were always at war with each other. Nearly everybody you met "wore concealed daggers, and sometimes even two, one in the bosom and the other under the coat, while others had a brace of pistols in the girdle behind the back." 51
Rifled-barrelled pistols were altogether used at Mine à Breton and Ste. Genevieve, and pistol-shooting at a mark was a very general amusement. Pistols and rifles were made at home and not imported. Good gunsmiths were highly esteemed. One Cramer "who lived in an obscure place in Illinois" was famous as "the maker of pistols and guns." Brackenridge says that he has known a perfectly plain pair of pistols made by him to sell for two hundred dollars, and one of his rifles for one hundred and fifty dollars.52 This Cramer orig- inally came to Illinois from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. John Smith T. had two negro men at work constantly making firearms at his gunsmith shop, and he himself took pride in being no mean gun- smith. A good marksman was highly respected. On one occasion old Callaway, one of Boone's salt-boilers, who had afterward in Missouri attained the dignity of County judge, appointed his friend, McCormick, a justice of the peace to fill a vacancy, and gave as a reason, when asked about it, that "he was handy with a gun." "
Such being the habits and feelings of the people, it does not sur- prise us to find that duels often occurred. The shortest road at that time to settle the pretension of any one to be a gentleman of courage, or entitled to prominence, was to fight a duel. What won- der that the most trivial circumstances were seized upon as an excuse for mortal combat with pistols. Although duels really decided nothing and were not at all tests of courage, yet the apparent indif- ference with which the parties engaged in the duel placed their lives in
"Schultz's Travels, vol. 2, p. 62.
1º Brackenridge's Recollections of the West, p. 207.
" Schultz's Travels, p. 53.
" Brackenridge's Recollections of the West, p. 261.
" Draper's Notes, vol. 4, p. 81.
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DUELS
jeopardy, or threw them away, has always awed the minds of people, and the fact was overlooked that in such a contest the innocent may fall and the worthless survive. One of the first duels, after the cession of Louisiana, occurred in Cape Girardeau, in 1807, between Joseph McFerron and William Ogle. McFerron, the first clerk of the courts of the Cape Girardeau district, was an Irishman by birth, of superior education but unprepossessing appearance, his face bearing a hard and stolid expression, eyes overhung by long projecting eye- brows; in manner he was apparently very reserved, but on acquaint- ance genial and pleasant. He settled in Cape Girardeau district before the cession, and taught school in the American settlement near the post. When under the new government the courts were organized he was appointed clerk, and remained clerk of the courts of Cape Girardeau until his death. The old records of the county · bear evidence of his scholarship and his beautiful and singular chirog- raphy, like copperplate, without an error or erasure, is to this day admired by all who have occasion to examine these ancient books. William Ogle was a merchant of Cape Girardeau at this time, a native of Maryland who had settled in the town in the previous year. In Maryland, Ogle had held the position of collector of internal rev- enue. The exact cause of the duel between these men is not now known; but it seems that McFerron and Ogle had for some time previous been on unfriendly terms, that Ogle insulted McFerron, that he struck him in the face and then challenged him and although McFerron had never fired a pistol he promptly accepted the chal- lenge. The parties met on a sand-bar, on what was then known as Cypress island, opposite Cape Girardeau. At the first fire Olge fell dead with a bullet in his brain, while McFerron remained unhurt. He at once resigned his office, but public sympathy being on his side, he was soon reinstated in his position.
In 1810 another duel was fought between James A. Graham and Dr. Farrar, both of St. Louis, this duel being the result of a construc- tive quarrel between two friends. Graham was a young lawyer of distinguished family and a warm personal friend of Brackenridge. It seems that Graham being present at a game of cards noticed that one of the players, an army officer, was guilty of cheating, and fol- lowing the impulse of his feelings proclaimed at once the disgraceful act. The officer, a Lieutenant in the army, gave notice that for this insult, - of being exposed,- he should demand the satisfaction due him as a gentleman. The next morning the challenge came, borne
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
by Dr. Farrar, with whom Graham had been more intimate than with any one else in St. Louis. Dr. Farrar being a brother-in-law of the officer was in a manner compelled to act for him. Graham de- clined to fight a duel with one whom he had denounced as a cheat and swindler, and according "to the law of honor and according to correct reasoning the refusal of a challenge, on the ground that the principal was not a gentleman, was an insult to the second," so that Graham finally was compelled to accept the challenge of his friend on a "con- structive insult." The duel took place on Bloody Island, and after three fires, at each of which the combatants were wounded, the seconds decided that the duel should cease, to be renewed when Graham, who was so severely lacerated on his hand that he could not hold the pistol, should be in condition to renew it. It was then found that Graham had been severely injured in his spine by the first shot. He was confined for four months to his room, when the wound healed. But it opened afresh, and in the spring when he attempted to return to his native place on horseback, after he had travelled about one hundred miles, he was found dead one morning in his bed.54
In 1811 another such "constructive" duel took place, in Ste. Genevieve, between Dr. Walter Fenwick and Thomas T. Crittenden. Crittenden was a lawyer, and brother of Senator J. J. Crittenden of Kentucky; and Dr. Fenwick, says Rozier, "an eminent physician and estimable and polished gentleman." It seems that Crittenden in a lawsuit had denounced Dr. Fenwick's brother, Ezekiel Fenwick, at that time a resi- dent and merchant opposite Grand Tower, where Witten- . berg is now located. As a consequence Ezekiel Fenwick sent a challenge to Crittenden DUELING PISTOLS USED BY FENWICK AND CRITTENDEN which was borne by his brother, Dr. Walter Fenwick. Crittenden refused to meet Ezekiel Fenwick, assigning as a reason that he did not consider him "a gentleman," whereupon Dr. Walter Fenwick, deeming the refusal a personal affront challenged Critten- " Brackenridge's Recollections of the West, p. 265.
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LUCAS-BENTON DUEL
den, and the challenge was accepted. The parties met October Ist, 18II, on Moreau's Island, then a little below Ste. Genevieve. Henry Dodge acted as second for Fenwick, and John Scott as second for Crittenden. Dr. Fenwick fell mortally wounded at the first fire. Crittenden was unhurt. It is said that the barrels of the pistols used on that occasion were twelve inches long, of very large bore, and made by one of the negro gunsmiths belonging to John Smith T.
Another duel took place on Bloody Island in 1816 between Henry S. Geyer and George H. Kennerly, in which Kennerly was wounded in the knee. After the duel Geyer and Kennerly became warm personal friends.
In August, 1817, the first duel between Thomas H. Benton and Charles Lucas took place. Of the origin of this duel Charles Lucas prepared a statement which was found among his papers and is given here:
"The causes of the difficulty between T. H. Benton and me, were as follows : At the October court of last year (1816) Mr. Benton and I were employed on adverse sides in a cause. At the close of the evidence he stated that the evidence being so and so he requested the court to instruct the jury to find accordingly. I stated, in reply, that there was no such evidence, to my remembrance. He replied, "I contradict you, sir." I answered, "I contradict you, sir." He the .. said, "If you deny that you deny the truth." I replied "If you assert that you assert what is not true." He immediately sent me a challenge which I declined accepting for causes stated in my correspondence. The jury in a few minutes returned a verdict for me, and in opposition to his statement. He never even moved for a new trial. Since that time we have had no intercourse except on business. On the day of the election at St. Louis, 4th August, 1817, I inquired whether he had paid a tax in time to entitle him to vote; he was offering to vote at the time. He applied vehement, abusive and ungentlemanly language to me, and I believe some of it behind my back, all of which he declined to recant, to give me any satisfaction other than by the greatest extremities. This is the state of the dispute between T. H. Benton and myself. I make this declaration that, let things eventuate as they may, it may be known how they originated."
After the controversy in court Benton sent Lucas a challenge which he declined, saying that he would not suffer the free exer- cise of his rights or the performance of his duties at the bar to be with him the subject of a private dispute, nor would he allow it to others for doing his duty to his clients, "more particularly to you." But after the difficulty at the polls, Benton refusing an amicable adjustment, Lucas sent him a challenge. On the morn- ing of the 12th of August, Benton with Luke E. Lawless and Major Pilcher as his seconds, and Dr. Farrar as surgeon; and Lucas, with Joshua Barton and Colonel Clemson as his seconds, and Dr. Quarles as his surgeon, met on Bloody Island, fired one shot and Lucas was wounded in the neck. Benton received a slight wound below the right
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
knee. Owing to his wound Lucas was unable to maintain the combat. Lawless, Benton's second, asked him if he was satisfied and he replied that he was, and did not require a second meeting; but Benton said he was not satisfied and that he would require Lucas to meet him again as soon as he was able to do so. After this, at the instance of mutual friends, it was supposed the difficulty had been adjusted satis- factorily. But a week or ten days after this Benton sent Lucas a challenge for a second meeting, in which he stated as a cause for the challenge that the friends of Lucas had circulated statements derogatory of him, Benton. Lucas was absent from home at the time the challenge was sent, but received the same immediately on his return and accepted it in these words:
"Although I am conscious that a respectable man in society can not be found who will say he has heard any of those reports from me, and that I think it more probable they have been fabricated by your own friends than circulated by any who call themselves mine, yet, without even knowing what reports you have heard, I shall give you an opportunity of gratifying your wishes and the wishes of your news carriers. My friend, Mr. Barton, has full authority to act for me." CHARLES LUCAS.
They again met on Bloody Island and took their positions ten feet apart. Both fired at the same time. Benton's ball went through the right arm of Lucas and penetrated his body in the region of his heart, and he fell. Benton was unhurt. Benton then approached and expressed his sorrow, but Lucas replied, "Colonel Benton, you have persecuted me and murdered me. I do not, I can not forgive you," and repeated these words, but finding that his end was ap- proaching he added, "I can forgive you and do forgive you," and gave him his hand. He died within an hour after receiving the fatal shot, aged 25 years and three days. This tragic death of young Lucas was deeply lamented by all who knew him. He came to St. Louis with his father, Judge J. B. C. Lucas in 1805, returned to Pennsylvania in 1806 and spent five years at Jefferson college and, after completing a classical education, returned to St. Louis where he entered the law office of Rufus Easton to study law. He served in the war of 1812 in the campaign up the Illinois river. He also aided in the formation of a company of artillery and was appointed its captain. Afterward he was elected as representative in the terri- torial legislature, was United States attorney for Missouri territory, and held other positions at the time of his death. He was a man of energy, ability, and public spirit, and enjoyed the respect of all who knew him and was rapidly rising into eminence. To his father especially, his death was an irreparable loss, a source of unalloyed
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PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS
grief; "nothing there remains" he pathetically writes Joshua Barton "of my late son Charles Lucas, but his reputation," and this he said it was his "sacred duty to protect and defend," and well he per- formed that duty. Every fact and every circumstance tending to show the high courage and noble bearing of Charles Lucas on that fateful day, and the malignant and bloody purpose of Benton to wantonly destroy him, as standing in his way to political preferment, was brought out; and at all times and on all occasions as long as he lived did Judge Lucas labor to expose, with inveterate persever- ance, this dark and bloody page in the career of Benton. On the 27th of September, 1817, the "Gazette" speaking of this duel said, "the infernal practice of dueling has taken off this morning one of the first characters of our country,- Charles Lucas, Esq.," and that his death "has left a blank in society not easily filled up."
In the following year, in August, 1818, Captains Martin and Ramsay, both of the First United States Rifles, fought another duel on Bloody Island, and at which Captain Ramsay received a mortal wound of which he shortly afterward died. In 1819 Lionel Browne, a nephew of Aaron Burr, at the time a practicing lawyer living at Potosi and who had represented Washington county in the legisla- ture, challenged John Smith T., and a duel was fought on an island opposite Herculaneum. Colonel Augustus Jones acted as second for Browne, and Colonel McClanahan for Smith. Browne in this duel was shot in the center of the forehead, and instantly died.5% In February 1820, another duel took place between Charles Carroll, register of the Franklin county Land Office, and Richard Gentry,50 in which Carroll was killed.57 Carroll was appointed from New York.
Bernard G. Farrar, who was present at the Lucas-Benton duel, was one of the first physicians and surgeons who settled in St. Louis
" This duel was occasioned by some remark, it is said, that Smith made about the sister of Browne.
" Afterwards colonel of the Missouri regiment in the Seminole war, fatally wounded at Okee-cho-bee lake in Florida, December 1, 1837. John W. Price was Lieutenant-Colonel, and W. H. Hughes major of this regiment.
17 A number of duels, not properly within the scope of this work, occurred after the admission of Missouri into the Union, which at the time created great excitement, notably the duel between Taylor Berry and Abiel Leonard, which was fought on an island below New Madrid near Point Pleasant, in which Berry was wounded and of which wounds he finally died. The duel between Barton and Rector, in which Barton was killed, occurred in 1823. The duel between Biddle and Pettus occurred in 1834, and both were mortally wounded. Pettus was a member of Congress and Biddle an officer in the army. In 1825 Gov. Frederick Bates vetoed a bill passed by the legislature to prevent duelling, although he said that he abhorred duelling, because in his opinion the law would do no good.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
after the acquisition of the country, arriving there in the year 1807. He was a native of Goochland county, Virginia, born in 1785; moved with his parents to Kentucky; studied medicine in Philadelphia; and located first in Frankfort. But when his brother-in-law, Judge Coburn, was appointed judge of the Territory of Louisiana, he fol- lowed him to St. Louis, where he practiced medicine until his death in 1849. In 1812 he formed a partnership with Dr. David V. Walker who arrived in St. Louis that year. Dr. Walker died in 1824. Dr. Pryor Quarles, a surgeon who also attended the Lucas-Benton duel, was a native of Richmond county, Vir- ginia; came to St. Louis in 1815 and died there in 1822. His widow, the second daughter of Colonel Rufus Easton, married Henry Geyer in DR. BERNARD G. FARRAR 1831. Dr. Simpson, the surgeon who attended the Geyer-Kennerly duel, was born in 1785 in Maryland, and settled in St. Louis in 1812. He was appointed assistant surgeon in the army of the United States in 1809 and came west with the troops and resigned; settled in St. Louis and mar- ried a sister of Mrs. Rufus Easton. He died in 1873, aged 88 years. 58 Dr. McPheeters, in 1820, practiced medicine at Florissant. But among the prominent physicians before and after the 'Louisiana cession we should not omit Dr. Antoine Saugrain who in 1809 brought the "first vaccine mat- ter" to St. Louis, and gave notice that "indigent persons would be vaccinated gratu- itously."
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