USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 68
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"Have you seen Sam today?"
That paved the way to the most confidential communications among mem- bers of the order. If the inquirer was a new member and not certain about the status of the one addressed, he asked in a casual tone, "What time ?"
If the other looked at the sun or consulted his watch and made the answer, which the question seemed to invite, the interview ended. But the answer might be, "Time to work."
Then the first Missourian dropping his voice so that he might not be over- heard, asked, "Are you?"
"We are," was the proper and assuring reply. After that the conversation proceeded on safe ground.
Sometimes the triangular pieces of paper were not white, but red. That meant danger. It prompted, on the part of those who had not been informed, more than ordinary curiosity about "Sam." When Missourians went to lodge on red notices they carried stout canes or some other form of weapon for emergency. One instruction given to new members directed them, when asked by outsiders about the principles and purposes of the order, to say, "I know nothing." From that came the name commonly applied to the movement and to the membership.
The know-nothings were native Americans. Their political watchword was: "Put none but Americans on guard." The American party became strong enough in St. Louis to carry, two or three times, the municipal elections. The turbulent among them started anti-foreign and anti-Catholic riots. For several years the lodges and the party organization devoted most attention to local politics.
The movement gained strength in all parts of the United States. Several state elections were carried by the native Americans. In 1855 a national organization was effected. In 1856 eight of the thirty-two states had native American govern- ments. But when the know-nothings attempted to make a nomination for Presi- dent, a division among them on the slavery question occurred. The southern know-nothings nominated Fillmore. Many of the northern know-nothings seceded and indorsed Fremont. After that national campaign, know-nothingism dwindled.
In 1855, the order attained its greatest strength in Missouri. Thousands joined, taking the first degree of "Sam." The candidate was first sworn to secrecy and then examined. To be eligible he must show that he was 21 years old; that he was born in the United States ; that he believed in God; that neither of his parents was Roman Catholic ; that he was reared a Protestant; that neither his wife nor he was a Roman Catholic. Having shown that he was eligible, the candidate was taken into another room and sworn into the order. He placed his right hand on the Bible and raised his left. He swore he would vote only for Protestants, native Americans and those who stood on the platform of America ruled by Americans. Then the password, the sign of recognition and the grip were given. General Grant, then a farmer in St. Louis county, joined but attended only one or two meetings.
There was a second degree, into which the candidate was initiated when he had proven that he was loyal and deeply interested. This was conferred with much ceremony. At the conclusion the presiding officer declared solemnly : "Brother, you are a member in full fellowship of the supreme order of the Star- Spangled Banner."
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A third degree was added after the success in the state elections of 1854. It was called the order of the American Union. It pledged the membership to stand against any division of the states. It aimed to suppress the agitation of the slavery question by either the North or the South. In six months 1,500,000 candidates had taken the third degree. The organization disintegrated more rapidly than it had grown.
Election Riots.
At the Fifth Ward polls in St. Louis, August, 1854, an Irishman stabbed a boy and ran into the Mechanics' boarding house. A know-nothing mob fol- lowed, smashed the windows and broke the furniture. Shots were fired. Other boarding houses in the neighborhood were attacked. The mob, increased to a thousand or more, marched to Cherry street and continued the wrecking of board- ing houses. It headed for the levee and met a body of Irishmen. In the fight two men were killed. The mob stormed and stoned buildings known as "Battle Row," on the levee. Doors were broken in and furniture destroyed. Thence the mob proceeded uptown, wrecking Irish boarding houses on Morgan, Cherry and Green streets. At Drayman's hall, on Eighth street and Franklin avenue, the mob divided into squads and gutted several saloons, continuing this until the militia arrived.
Rioting was resumed the next day. The Continentals, while marching along Green street on guard duty, were fired on. Two of the militia, Spore and Holli- day, were wounded. Near Seventh and Biddle streets E. R. Violet, a well known and popular citizen, attempted to disarm a man who was flourishing a pistol, and was killed. At Broadway and Ashley there was a battle in which a saloon keeper named Snyder was killed. Three men were wounded. The rioting went on in various parts of the city until late that night. The third day citizens responded to a mass meeting called by the mayor. From the merchants' exchange they adjourned to the court house. A law and order movement was organized by popular expression and Norman J. Eaton was made the head of it. Before the day passed an armed force of seven hundred citizens had been formed under com- mand of Major Meriwether Lewis Clark. The force was divided into thirty- three companies, each under a captain. It was composed of the best elements in the community. The companies went on patrol duty, covering the whole city. The regular police were withdrawn from the streets. Rioting ceased.
In 1855, Henry Boernstein was the most conspicuous of the "acht-und- vierzigers" in St. Louis. That was the name bestowed locally on the forty- eighters-the participants in the revolution of '48. Boernstein came to St. Louis with a great variety of experiences. And he proceeded to enlarge upon them rapidly by his career in this country. He had received a university education in Germany, had served five years in the Austrian army, had written plays which were produced in European capitals, had managed grand opera in Paris, had been a newspaper correspondent. When the uprising occurred in Germany, Boernstein joined the revolutionists. He was forced to flee to America and after a short time became editor of the St. Louis Anzeiger. Almost immediately he introduced sensational methods. Again and again mobs formed to "clean out"
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the Anzeiger. Boernstein was daring. He carried on a theater, a hotel and brewery. He wrote a book which he called "The Mysteries of St. Louis."
In the organization of the German militia during the winter of 1860-1, months before President Lincoln was inaugurated, Boernstein was so. aggressive that he was made colonel of one of the regiments. He marched with Lyon to the capture of Camp Jackson. Soon tiring of war, Boernstein obtained a consulship and went to Europe. He remained abroad and for many years was European correspondent for American papers.
Polk, Rollins and Stewart.
William Hyde wrote, thirty-five years afterwards, the impressions Trusten Polk. Robert M. Stewart and James S. Rollins made upon him as a newspaper reporter in the state campaigns of 1856 and 1857:
"Governor Polk was a college-bred man, having been graduated at Yale. He was 24 years old when he reached Missouri from his native State of Delaware, and was at that time a smart young lawyer. As a speaker he was polished and often eloquent, and at the bar he was a successful practitioner; but as a senator the pages of history shed no great luster on his name.
"James S. Rollins, of Boone, was an old-time whig in the days of that party, had been its candidate for governor at the time Austin King was elected in 1848, and before that a delegate to the convention which nominated Henry Clay for President. He was the whig candidate for United States senator in '48-49, and was a member of the legislature at the preceding session, and was well-equipped in every respect for a great campaign on the stump. Perhaps no more effective public speaker has ever raised his voice in Missouri than Rollins. Of magnificent intellectual attainments, splendid physique, superb address, imperturbable good nature, fluent in speech and graceful in gesture, he was a born orator. Polish and suavity seemed to be inhaled from the air he breathed. He was, in fact, too polite for impressing strangers altogether with ideas of his sincerity, for, whilst he was always plausible, he frequently left just the least particle of a notion that he was somewhat superficial. With Henry Clay as his political ideal he was early imbued. with Clay's sentiments on the subject of emancipation and colonization, and these remained with him, but he seemed always apprehensive that those around him would not distinguish between this attitude and that of abolitionism. He was not as bold a man as Blair, whom he greatly admired, but his surroundings were different; as what might do for Blair in the freer atmosphere of St. Louis would have been hazardous to the ambition of one living in the country, where any phase of anti-slavery feeling was associated in some degree with negro equality and the underground railroad. Thus Rollins felt himself handicapped, as it were, and often forced to do skillful piloting. Moreover, he was wrapped up in the welfare of Boone county and the promotion of the interests of the State University at Columbia, to which he devoted all his energies.
"Stewart was a native of Cortland county, N. Y., and was a stanch northern demo- crat, without any qualms on the sentimental side of the slavery question. He thought the Southern people had a right to take their slaves into Kansas (whilst it was a territory at any rate), upheld the Crittenden compromise measures, supported the Cincinnati (Buch- anan) platform, and ridiculed nullification, secession, disunion and all radical southern fire-eating propositions, or suggestions of that sort. He dwelt largely on the material interests of the state, and particularly railway development. This was looked for, as he had been an attorney of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, and had had occasion to study the question more thoroughly than any politician in the state.
"There can be no question as to Stewart's having been a brainy man. When his intel- lect was not clouded by artificial excitement, he was a close reasoner and a good debater. Except in his cause, he was, however, no match on the hustings for an adroit, captivating speaker like Rollins. Altogether, the people being pretty nearly tired out by the haranguing
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of the previous year, the campaign was a rather dull one. It was supposed Stewart would be elected by a tremendous majority. There was an unusual delay in bringing in the returns, which from day to day see-sawed between Stewart and Rollins, as they appeared in the newspapers; but at last, with many heated charges on both sides of 'manipulating' or 'cooking' the result in the back counties, the secretary of state summed up an official majority of less than 300 votes for Stewart."
The Longest Missouri Campaign.
Missouri's longest political campaign was in 1860. It began formally on the 8th of January, "Jackson Day," the anniversary of the Battle of New Or- leans, when Claiborne F. Jackson made a speech in Washington hall, St. Louis, announcing his candidacy for governor. Up to that time Jackson had not been very successful in his political ambitions. He had served in the legislature. He had been beaten for Congress in the Howard district when he ran against Thomas P. Akers, to fill the unexpired term of J. G. Collier, but he had been a delegate at several state conventions. He was chairman of the democratic state committee when he announced himself as a candidate for governor. Few public men in Missouri had more influential family connections than Claib Jackson.
The campaign of 1860 was Jackson's opportunity. As has occurred often in Missouri politics, previous disappointments seemed to pave the way to success in this case. The National Democratic convention was to be held in Charleston on the 23d of April. The state committee of Missouri decided that it would be economical and good politics to nominate the state ticket and the delegates to the national convention at the same time. The state convention was accordingly called to meet in Jefferson City on the 9th of April. The double purpose brought together a very strong representation of the leading democrats. Among them were Sterling Price, Judge Ryland, Gen. Abram Hunter, R. E. Acock, James M. Hughes, J. C. Carter, Hancock Jackson, John Dougherty, James Young, John H. Miller, Warwick Hough, William A. Grayson, John B. Henderson, Nat C. Claiborne, J. N. Burnes, James Craig and William Douglas.
The secretaries of the convention included James H. R. Cundiff of the St. Joseph Gazette and James L. Fawcett of the St. Louis Herald. Only three ballots were required for governor. Claiborne F. Jackson was nominated. The delegates voted as their counties had cast democratic ballots for Buchanan in 1856. The first ballot resulted about as follows: Jackson, 17,000; Waldo P. Johnson, 13,000 ; Kennett, 7,000; Atchison, 2.500; Isaac H. Sturgeon, 5,000. Sturgeon represented the Federal office holders. He was the candidate of a group of young politicians who one year later took the lead in the secession movement of Missouri. One of the group was Thomas L. Snead, afterwards Claib. Jackson's secretary and the author of "The Fight for Missouri." Another was Colton Green, a member of the wholesale grocery firm of Hoyt and Green. A third was Basil Duke and the fourth was Eugene Longuemare. Snead was editor of the St. Louis Bulletin, which was controlled by the Longuemare family.
With Claiborne F. Jackson were nominated : For lieutenant governor, Thomas Caute Reynolds of St. Louis : and for secretary of state, B. F. Massey. Jackson entered almost immediately upon his campaign for governor, going first into the Ozarks.
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After the split of the democrats at Charleston the issue of supreme interest in Missouri was the course to be taken by Jackson and the other state nominees. Douglas democrats demanded that Jackson come out for their candidate. The St. Louis Republican was especially insistent upon this. The Federal office- holders and those democrats who sympathized most strongly with the South urged that the state ticket support Breckinridge.
William Hyde's Graphic Narrative.
William Hyde, afterwards for many years editor of the Republican, was in 1860 the trusted staff correspondent of that paper. He was given an extraor- dinary commission by Nathaniel Paschall, editor of the Republican. He was sent out to meet Jackson and to bring about a decision of the state nominees to sup- port Douglas. In 1892, from the suggestion and encouragement of Joseph B. McCullagh, editor of the Globe-Democrat, William Hyde wrote this narrative of what he saw and heard and of the part he took in the campaign :
"Claib. Jackson finally emerged from the hickory-nut country, but was loth to come out of his own shell. A man named Sample Orr, of whom nobody had ever heard before, had, immediately after the Baltimore split, saddled a horse somewhere down in the Southwest, put some light clothes into a pair of saddle-bags, announced himself a con- stitutional-union candidate for governor, and started out on the flank of the democratic candidate. Of course, everybody laughed at his temerity, and when they saw him they laughed all the more. Nobody knew of any backers he had-of any antecedents, any record. He was nobody's nominee; just plain Sample Orr, farmer. Very plain he was. He was a freckled strawberry blonde, and there never was anything redder than his hair. A man medium in height, slight build, weight about 145; keen blue eyes, white eye-lashes, nervous, short step, sloping shoulders, long neck-another Ichabod Crane. Where he concealed his voice was a wonder, for he could be heard a good distance, and his speech was charming. Mischief lurked in those keen, blue eyes, and when with the muscles of the left one he pinched the white lashes almost together, the trick was very taking with a crowd. He wanted to get Jackson into a joint debate, but Claib treated the proposition as ridiculous. Still the little man kept on his track, detaining the crowd when the major had closed, and, it must be said, dividing the honors with the tall and dignified democratic nominee.
"It was about the Ist of July when the candidate for lieutenant governor started out. He was to overtake Jackson in Moniteau or in Cooper county, and in response to Paschall's repeated demands that the regular state nominees should support the regular national nominees, a promise had been made by Reynolds, who was spokesman for the major as well as himself, that as soon as they had an opportunity to consult together there would be no further hesitating. Reynolds had expressed a willingness, indeed a desire, to have a correspondent accompany him, and to the undersigned that task was allotted. 'Watch those gentlemen,' said Mr. Paschall; 'do not let them get away from us. If they don't come out publicly for Douglas within three days after they meet-say at Boonville-tele- graph immediately, and come home.' To Mr. Reynolds he said, in substance: 'Jackson's course has been unendurable. He should instantly, upon hearing of Douglas' nomination, have proclaimed his adhesion to the usages of his party and announced his purpose to do everything in his power to carry the Douglas ticket. He hates Douglas, I know. His per- sonal likings in this matter, whether they relate to Douglas or to Douglas' friends, is a thing of indifference. He must support the regular nominee, or, if he does not, the exam- ple of his failure shall not be lost in the case of his own appeals for support on the ground of the regularity of his nomination.' The plain meaning of this was that the regular democracy was not to be without a state ticket.
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"The meeting between Jackson and Reynolds was expected to be at California, in Moniteau, where they were both billed to speak. Reynolds was on hand and so was Sample Orr, but Jackson sent word that he would lay up at a point a few miles north of Tipton, and wait for Reynolds, thence proceeding to Boonville. The writer, anxious for an interview with the head of the ticket, did not wait for the finish of the California meeting, but, procuring a conveyance and driver, pressed on. He was met with cordiality by Jackson, and invited to share his room for the night. Jackson had many questions to ask about the condition of political sentiment in St. Louis, the attitude of different per- sons in the all-absorbing differences in the democratic party, etc., but could not be pumped as to the stand he would take. He was just out of the woods and hills, he said, hadn't seen a newspaper, except some old copies of the Weekly Republican, and would have to read up before he could form an opinion of his own. 'And now,' he said, 'as I'm tired, I'll take this bed and you that.'
A Midnight Conference.
"It was in 'the dead waste and middle of the night' when a rap at our door, which was on the ground floor of a two-story commodious country residence, aroused the major. The moon and stars were shining, and it was a lovely summer night. A 'solitary horse- man' had arrived, having traveled from the railroad at Tipton, and he was bearer of an important message from a number of the major's friends at St. Louis. The messenger was James Loughborough. What he brought, as it afterward transpired, was a document signed by Isaac H. Sturgeon, Thomas L. Snead, Daniel H. Donovan, Colton Green and others. This document was a peremptory demand upon Jackson forthwith to announce his support of the democratic ticket bearing the names of Breckinridge and Lane. In the event of refusal or omission to do this the party in the state favoring Breckinridge would, they said, immediately proceed to put another democratic state ticket in the field, as they were about to do in the case of electors.
"The conference between Jackson and Loughborough in the moonlight outside the house was long, and evidently exciting, to judge by the expletives now and then used by the former. There was no doubt about it, Jackson was very angry, and it was impossible to tell at which party he was the more indignant-the Douglas or the Breckinridge men. A plague on both their houses was the burden of his emphatic anathemas; and when he came in, toward morning, he paced the floor uneasily, muttering strange oaths.
"On the next day Reynolds joined the major, and together they traveled to Boonville, the chronicler taking a separate vehicle. It was not difficult to perceive the perturbed con- dition of Jackson's mind, but it was evident that Reynolds had determined what was the best course. Jackson expected John B. Clark to meet him at Boonville, and was manifestly worried that he hadn't come. He would not say what he proposed to do until he had con- sulted with Clark, and so the writer was asked to telegraph to St. Louis his desire that another day be allowed in order to communicate with Clark at Fayette. Whether Jackson expected Clark to withdraw his support from Douglas, in the expectation that Phelps and others would follow suit, and by a revolution turn the state over to Breckinridge, or what was Jackson's real reason in postponing his committal on the Presidency until he could see the first-named Congressman, will never be known. The secret, whatever it was, was well kept. At any rate Clark had no change to make as to his own course, and his advice to Jackson was the same as that he had given to ail democrats.
A Great Day at Fayette.
"There was an immense array at Fayette to hear the speaking. It seemed as though the whole of Howard county, Claib's old home, had turned out. A county seat on a Satur- day, if the weather is fine and the roads are good, presents a lively scene, even without an unusual incentive; but on this occasion old Howard came forth in force, and with its best clothes on. While the women folks were flocking the stores to do their trading the men were gathering in knots about the court house square, discussing politics or neighborhood gossip-generally politics. Fayette was the very inner sanctuary of political doctrine. What Boston is to New England culture, what Charleston was to southern civilization, was
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Fayette to the philosophy of Missouri politics in the early days. Boonville was a rival, but paled its ineffectual fires before the more brilliant though no more intelligent circle of Howard's haughty host. And a bright galaxy of professionals the two presented. The names of Peyton R. Hayden, Washington Adams, John G. Miller, George G. Vest, James Winston, John C. Richardson, Benjamin N. Tompkins, Abiel Leonard, W. K. Wall, John A. McClung. John D. Leland, John W. Henry, John J. Lindley, Dr. John J. Lowry, William A. Hall, Owen Rawlins, Col. Jo Daviess, Dr. J. P. Vaughan, Clark H. Green, A. J. Herndon, Robert T. Prewitt, Thomas Shackelford, Col. T. E. Williams, John P. Sebree, with a - number of others, are enrolled on that scroll of honor, and conspicuous among them was Gen. John B. Clark.
"Clark was a man of large physical proportions and great strength of character. He made no boast of learning, and, indeed, seemed to have cultivated or affected a contempt for grammatical forms, or any of the 'Macaulay's flowers of speech.'. Singleness of verbs with plurality of nouns appeared as natural to him as his eccentric pronunciation. 'Toe' for 'to,' 'whar' and 'thar' tumbled off his tongue utterly careless of euphony or exactitude. But though uncouth in language there was a charm in his rough politeness that was almost winning. The people liked him, for though a Congressman and a person whom all classes consulted, he put on no airs of superiority, but was a plain, blunt man, who loved his friends, was obliging, considerate and kind.
How the News Was Sent.
"Jackson and Reynolds arrived at Fayette before noon, and at the hotel were met by General Clark, introduced to the bevy of politicians who were lolling about the porch, and soon shown to a private room for the momentous consultation. The newspaper man, with an eye to business, and knowing positively that before the sun went down the people would be advised to vote for Douglas, or that the democratic candidates would undertake to go through the canvass without committing themselves on the Presidential question, began to -look around to see how the news was to be sent home. The nearest telegraph office was at Boonville, fourteen miles distant, and the office closed at dark. It had been agreed to permit Sample Orr to open the speaking, so that it was desirable to get the information before the meeting began, and Mr. Reynolds consented to pass the word out of the council room immediately on the conclusion being reached. This was a few minutes before two o'clock, and at five the Republican's bulletin board at St. Louis announced that Jackson and Reynolds, in their speeches at Fayette, had come out for Douglas and Johnson. A trusty boy bore the message on horseback to Boonville, whence it was 'rushed' to the other end of the line. The authority of the news was at once questioned by the Breckinridge men and ridiculed till Monday, when it was found by the doubters to be, alas! too true.
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