Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I, Part 69

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1074

USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 69

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"It was funny to hear Orr nag 'the wily fox Jackson' on his reticence relative to the national candidates. 'He "dassent" come out for either Breckinridge or Douglas,' said Orr. 'Ask him, you democrats, which one he is for and he will tell you he is concerning himself with a state and not a national canvass. Is he? Then is he for state aid to the railroads or against it? Is he in favor of finishing the roads to which the state has loaned her credit or with leaving each of them with a turn-table for a terminus?' But what was his consternation when, it being Jackson's turn to speak, that gentleman, after talking about an hour, declared he was not surprised that Mr. Orr did not know what by that time was common property as far east as St. Louis-that democracy's state nominees stood by democracy's national nominees, namely, Douglas and Johnson. Here the crowd broke out in the wildest enthusiasm, and cheer upon cheer went up to the very echo. Reynolds followed, emphasizing in liquid and well-rounded periods the determination that, he said, had been reached at the earliest possible moment after Major Jackson had, from the lips of their distinguished representative, General Clark, obtained an authentic report of the proceedings at Baltimore.

"And so that business was over. It remained to be seen what effect the course chosen by the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor would have upon the supporters of Breckinridge, whose headquarters were in St. Louis about the Federal offices, and whose organ was the Bulletin, conducted by Snead, Longuemare and Colton Green.

FRANCIS P. BLAIR He kept Missouri in the Union

JOHN RICHARD BARRETT "Missouri Dick," who contested with Francis P. Blair for Congress

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"The field was now full: Claib Jackson, Douglas democrat; Hancock Jackson, Breckinridge democrat; Gardenhire, republican, and Sample Orr, Bell and Everett. A tremendous effort was made to pull Hancock Jackson off the track, without avail. Claib was frightened almost out of his wits. At last Senator Green came to his rescue. In a speech at Chillicothe, and a powerful one it was, he advised the democracy whilst sup- porting Breckinridge not to endanger the state ticket, but to vote for the regular nominees. He vouched for their absolute soundness, and claimed that everything would be attained in their election that could be wished from the success of Hancock Jackson. In two or three other places he uttered the same counsel.

Sample Orr's Ovation at Columbia.

"Reynolds, whose words were chronicled for the press by the writer signed, spoke in Columbia, Huntsville, St. Joseph, Plattsburg and several points on the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, dividing time, except at St. Joe, with Sample Orr. At Columbia, Orr's reception was something in the nature of an ovation. He was the lion of the town. Rol- lins, Guitar and Switzler, who were the sun, moon and planetary system of that great seat of dense old line whig intelligence, took him up in their arms, as it were. The meeting, instead of a debate between Orr and Reynolds only, became a general engagement. Guitar spoke in sticks of silver nitrate, the very lunar caustic of invective, against Jackson and the scheme of secession, of which he charged him with being a knight in thin disguise. Reynolds' silken sentences, glistening with their fine embroidery, Orr imitated with a . school-girl's lisp, and against them he brought up his batteries of anecdote and ridicule. Reynolds was scholarly, logical, persuasive-Orr was simply ad hominem, ad captandum. Large was his bounty of backwoods stories, and in their application he was always happy.

"And so the canvass went. Gardenhire, who had been an emancipation member of the legislature of the Blair school, and who lived in Gasconade, where there was a large settlement of German wine-growers, was scarcely heard of. A big fight was on in St. Louis, and there the republican speaking talent was mostly concentrated.

"In the legislative contests throughout the state no uniformity was observed by the followers of either Douglas, Breckinridge, Bell or Lincoln. In some counties the Bell men conceded the legislative ticket to the Breckinridge faction in exchange for sheriff or collector. In some the Douglas and Breckinridge men combined for members of the state senate or house. It turned out that the supporters of Breckinridge, though greatly in the minority in the state at large, secured a strong showing in the general assembly, though not a majority of that body. For governor, Gardenhire had 6,137; Hancock Jack- son, 11,416; Orr, 66,583; C. F. Jackson, 74,446-Jackson over Orr, 7,863. Green, combined with the less radical of the supporters of Breckinridge, had saved Claiborne F. at last, for they could easily have defeated him, as shown by the presidential election, in which the candidates stood: Lincoln, 17,028; Breckinridge, 31,317; Bell, 58,372; Douglas, 58,801- Douglas over Bell, 429; Breckinridge over Hancock Jackson, 19,901; Douglas over Breck- inridge, 27,484.

"To have been beaten by this 'unknown,' Orr, would, indeed, have been an humiliation to Claib Jackson. A thought of that kind, if it had entered his head, would have sent him distracted, for he had formed the supremest contempt for him on account of his presumption. Jackson had never calculated on less than 25,000 plurality, and to have re- ceived less than one-third of it was disappointment enough. As for Orr, he made his exit from politics in Missouri as mysteriously as he entered. Not long after the election he 'went West,' and was last heard from in Montana. Like a meteor, he shot athwart the sky in a gleaming path and disappeared."

Blair's First Speech after the War.

"In the outskirts of Louisiana, Mo.," said Champ Clark, "stand four immense sugar trees, which, if the Druidical religion were in vogue in the Missouri Valley,

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would be set aside as objects of worship by democrats. They form the corners of a rectangle about large enough for a speaker's platform. Beneath their grate- ful shadow, with the Father of Waters behind him, the eternal hills in front of him, the blue sky above his head, in the presence of a great and curious concourse of people, Frank Blair made the first democratic speech in Missouri after the close of the Civil war. Excitement was intense. Armed men of all shades of opinion abounded on every hand. When Blair arose to speak he unbuckled his pistol belt and coolly laid two navy revolvers on the table. He prefaced his remarks as follows :

" 'Fellow citizens, I understand that I am to be killed here today. I have just come out of four years of that sort of business. If there is to be any of it here, it had better be attended to before the speaking begins.'

. "That calm but pregnant exordium has perhaps no counterpart in the entire range of oratory.

" 'There was silence deep as death; And the boldest held his breath For a time.'

"He then proceeded with his speech, but had not been going more than five minutes until a man of gigantic proportions started toward him, shaking his huge fist and shout- ing, 'He's an arrant rebel! Take him out! Take him out!' Blair stopped, looked the man in the face, crooked his finger at him and said, 'You come and take me out!' which put an end to that episode, for the man who was yelling, 'Take him out!' suddenly realized that Blair's index finger, which was beckoning him on, would soon be pressing the trigger of one of those pistols if he did go on, and he prudently declined Blair's invitation.

"He got through that day without bloodshed; but when 'he spoke at Warrensburg, a little later, he had not proceeded a quarter of an hour before a prominent citizen sitting on the speaker's stand started toward Blair with a pistol in his hand and with a mighty oath, yelling, 'That statement is a lie!' which instantly precipitated a free fight, in which one man was killed and several severely wounded. Blair went on with his speech amid ceaseless interruptions. I know a venerable, mild-mannered Christian statesman, now in this very capitol, who, for two mortal hours of that pandemonium stood with his hand upon his revolver ready to shoot down any man that assaulted Blair.

"Afterwards Blair was advertised to speak at Marshall, in Saline county. On the day of his arrival an armed mob was organized to prevent him from speaking, and an armed body of democrats swore he should. A collision occurred, resulting in a regular pitched battle, in which several men lost their lives and others were badly injured. But Blair made his speech.

"One night he was speaking in Lucas Market place, in St. Louis, when a man in the crowd, not twenty feet from the stand, pointed a revolver directly at him. Friendly hands interposed to turn the aim skyward. 'Let him shoot, if he dares,' said Blair, gazing coolly at his would-be murderer. 'If I am wrong, I ought to be shot, but this man is not the proper executioner.' The fellow was hustled from the audience.

"Amid such scenes he toured the state from the Des Moines river to the Arkansas . line and from the Mississippi to the mouth of the raging Kaw. The man who did that had a lion's heart in his breast."

"Before the war Blair went to Hannibal to make an emancipation speech. A mob gathered to break up the meeting. While he was speaking some one hit him squarely in the forehead with an egg. He wiped it off with his finger, flipped it on the ground, and imperturbably proceeded, making not the slightest allusion to the incident. His marvelous nerve charmed his audience, hostile though it was, and those who had come to stone him remained to applaud."

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Champ Clark said Frank Blair "was pronounced by General Grant to be one of the two best volunteer officers in the service, John A. Logan, 'the black eagle of Illinois,' being the other. In Sherman's famous march to the sea Blair com- manded a corps, and was considered the Marshal Ney of the army."

"Frank Blair, with his military laurels fresh upon him, within a few days after Lee surrendered, returned to his state, which had been ravaged by fire and sword, holding aloft the olive branch, proclaiming to the world that there were no rebels any more, that his fellow-citizens who had fought for the South were entitled to equal rights with other citizens, that real peace must 'tinkle with the shepherd's bells and sing among the reapers' of Missouri. He took the ragged and defeated Confederates by the hand and, in the words of Abraham to Lot, said, 'We be brethren.'"

The Riot at Warrensburg.

When Blair arrived in Warrensburg to speak, he was met at Ming's hotel by friends who told him his life had been threatened and that it would be inad- visable for him to carry out the program. He replied: "Gentlemen, I will speak this afternoon and I will explode a shell in this town that will be remembered by these scoundrels as long as they live." The speaking began at one o'clock. Blair had been talking only a few minutes when Bill Stephens climbed on the platform and called Blair a liar. Stephens was pushed off the stand. This was the signal for his followers to make the attack. The platform was pulled down. Blair con- tinued to speak. Stephens approached him again and used insulting language. In the fighting which ensued Bill Stephens' son, Jim, was killed with a knife and another man was badly hurt. The disturbers withdrew. Blair talked until late in the afternoon. The incident was the climax of Johnson county's reign of terror. A vigilance committee was formed, and went about its work of cleaning up the "Comanche Nation" as one neighborhood in the county was known. After six men had been tried by Judge Lynch and executed, the committee disbanded. There was no more trouble. Johnson became one of the model counties in Mis- souri, in respect to law and order. William F. Switzler accompanied Blair to Mexico in Audrain county during that same campaign. He described what took place during the speaking :

"Although his mission was one of peace and in the interest of a reconstructed Union and the restoration of a free ballot to all those who had been disfranchised by the Drake constitution, there was present a small and boisterous coterie of ex-Union soldiers who threatened to take him from the stand. The crowd of citizens present was very great and filled a large grove of forest trees in which the platform was erected. Attention was profound. Order was perfect, but just at the crisis of Blair's warming to his subject a large, stalwart man in the audience, dressed in the faded blue uniform of a soldier, in the midst of others similarly dressed, cried out: 'He's a rebel! Let us take him down!' and moved toward the stand. The audience was panic-stricken, but Blair was unmoved. More than this-he was unawed. He waved his hand to the audience and said: 'Keep your seats; there's no danger.' At the same moment he laid two big revolvers on the stand in front of him and denounced the leader of the threatened mob as a coward, telling him to come on and take him down, and that he was ready for him. But he didn't come, and that was the end of it, except that Blair spoke for more than two hours amid demonstrations of great applause "

Vol. 1-41

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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI

"'Voting on String."

"Voting on string" was one of the devices of reconstruction days in Missouri. It was adopted to avoid trouble at the polls. Voters who took the Drake, or iron clad, oath, were registered and no question was raised of their right to cast bal- lots. There were thousands who did not take the oath and were not registered, but who insisted on voting. Some of these were men of determination who were bent on exercising their suffrage rights as they conceived them. To refuse the ballots of these men meant violence at the polls. As judges of election were limited to those who were registered, there was nothing in the way of the scheme called "voting by string" and it was adopted at not a few polling places. When the voter who was not on the registration list offered his ballot it was received without question, but, instead of being placed in the box, was run on a. string. When the judges made their returns they counted only the votes in the box. . The secret of voting by string was well kept and unregistered voters went away from the polls under the impression that their ballots were to be counted.

The Liberal Republican Movement.

The republican split came in the state nominating convention at Jefferson City, August 31, 1870. The issue was enfranchisement of those who had been in the Confederate army or in sympathy with the Confederacy. Two reports were made from the committee on platform. The majority of the committee reported in favor of a very liberal policy. The minority of the committee re- ported differently, but when the two reports reached the convention the report of the minority was adopted. The supporters of the majority report, numbering about two hundred and fifty delegates, withdrew and nominated a state ticket with B. Gratz Brown as candidate for governor. The other convention nomi- nated McClurg for governor. Each of the factions put out a full state ticket. The following extracts from the two platforms show the differences of opinion which led to the division :

Majority or Liberal Platform. "Fourth. That the time has come when the requirements of public safety, upon which alone the disfranchisement of a large number of citizens could be justified, has clearly ceased to exist, and this con- vention, therefore, true to the solemn pledges recorded in our National and state platforms, declares itself unequivocally in favor of the adoption of the constitutional amendments commonly called the suffrage and office holding amend- ments, believing that under existing circumstances the removal of political dis- abilities, as well as the extension of equal political rights and privileges to all classes of citizens, without distinction, is ,demanded by every consideration of good faith, patriotism and sound policy, and essential to the integrity of repub- lican institutions, to the welfare of the state, and to the honor and preservation of the republican party."

Minority or Radical Platform. "Third. That we are in favor of re-enfran- chising those justly disenfranchised for participation in the late rebellion, as soon as it can be done with safety to the state, and that we concur in the propriety of the legislature having submitted to the whole people of the state the question . whether such time has now arrived ; upon which question we recognize the right of any member of the party to vote his honest convictions."

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The democrats refrained from making nominations that year, with the result that the liberal republican ticket received a majority of over forty thousand.

The Possum Policy.

In a newspaper office was born the passive or "possum policy," as it was called. Democratic co-operation was essential to the success of the liberal republican plan. The office was the Missouri Republican. The time was 1870. William Hyde and William H. Swift, with the advice of that astute politician, Henry C. Brockmeyer, and with the approval of George and John Knapp, com- mitted the democratic organization to the passive policy. Conflict of political opinion in Missouri was over the test oath and the disfranchisement of the Con- · federates. Republicans were divided. From the Republican office was exercised the influence which prompted Aylett H. Buckner, chairman of the democratic state central committee, to call a meeting in St. Louis. Swift was the secretary of the committee. Resolutions binding the committee not to call a state con- vention that year, 1870, were carefully drawn and kept secret until the meeting was held. There were members who opposed the proposition and who favored the making of a straight fight. Before the opposition could organize, General James Shields moved the adoption of the resolutions and the democratic party of Missouri was bound to make no nominations that year. There was no little pro- test but the compact with the liberal republicans was carried out.

Newspaper enterprise had something to do with the success of the plan. It was essential that the republican convention, which was to divide, should be handled with care. William H. Swift was sent to Jefferson City for the Missouri Republican. His instructions were to spare no expense. It was of the greatest importance that the liberal republican movement and the passive policy should be given a good send-off for the effect upon public sentiment in the state. "Hold- ing the wire" was a newspaper feat made possible in those days by a rule of the telegraph companies. In the time of few wires and few operators, the news- paper which filed matter first had exclusive use of the facilities for transmission until all of its matter had been sent. Telegraph officials exercised no discretion as to character of copy. They broke in on press copy only to send commercial messages. Swift found two wires working from Jefferson City to St. Louis. He pre-empted them. On the hook over one instrument he hung the United States statutes and on the hook over the other table he hung the statutes of Missouri. Then he went about the collection and preparation of news of the convention. When the operators were ready for press they started on the statutes. When Mr. Swift came in with copy he slipped the sheets into the statutes so that they would go next. When other correspondents attempted to send, they discovered that they were barred so long as the Missouri Republican was willing to pay tolls on the statutes. Thus the anxious St. Louis public, during the hours while the split between the republican factions at Jefferson City was widening, received information through a channel which gave the passive policy the best of it. In his extremity, Emil Preetorius appealed to George Knapp to let a dispatch go through to the Westliche Post. And the colonel, chivalric as he was, issued the order to Mr. Swift to oblige Mr. Preetorius. Swift refused. Colonel George threatened discharge. Swift was firm. Holding the wire meant a bill of $1.500

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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI

to the Republican. When the correspondent got back to St. Louis and went down to the office to turn in his expense account and to receive his discharge, George Knapp handed him an honorarium of $500 and told him to take a vacation for two weeks. "Pay no attention to what I said to you at Jefferson City," Colonel 1 Knapp said with a ghost of a smile.

Following the convention at Jefferson City, the following messages, were exchanged :

"St. Louis, Sept. 2, 1870. "B. Gratz Brown, "Jefferson City.

"The negroes of this state are free. White men only are now enslaved. The people look to you and your friends to deliver them from this great wrong. Shall they look J. B. Henderson." in vain?

"Jefferson City, Sept. 2, 1870.

"Hon. John B. Henderson, "St. Louis.

"The confidence of the people of this state shall not be disappointed. I will carry out this canvass to its ultimate consequence so that no freeman not convicted of crime shall henceforth be deprived of an equal voice in our government. B. Gratz Brown."

Frederick N. Judson's Analysis.

Of the liberal republican movement and its passing. Frederick N. Judson, who was secretary to Governor B. Gratz Brown, said: "The completeness of its success was the cause of its disappearance. A party based upon a single issue, called into being to meet a single emergency, could not in the nature of things become permanent. Its policies remained permanently adopted by the state, and though its party life was short, it is entitled to the imperishable glory of - having destroyed the last vestiges of the Civil war in Missouri. A nobler record no party could have.

"The members of the liberal republican party returned to the republican or democratic parties, as their opinions or prejudices inclined them. The greater number, doubtless, returned to the republican party; this was certainly true as to the German-American voters who had contributed very largely to the liberal movement.

"The extent of the disfranchisement which was ended by the liberal repub- lican success may be' estimated by a comparison of the total vote at different elections. The total vote in 1860, the last election before the Civil war, was 165,000. In 1864, while the Civil war was raging, it was 103,000. In 1870, the year of the liberal republican success, when the colored voters, enfranchised under the fifteenth amendment, voted for the first time, the total was 167,600, showing but a slight increase over 1860, though there had been a very heavy increase in population. In 1872, the first election after the removal of the dis- abilities, the total vote was 272,900, being an increase of over 100,000 from the two years before."

A Letter from B. Gratz Brown.

A letter from B. Gratz Brown to his personal friend, Senator Doolittle, of Wisconsin, preserved in the manuscript archives of the Missouri Historical So-

HOTEL

GREEN ROOM.

J POVTANA

w. W Branson.

Courtesy Missouri Historical Society

VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT, ST. LOUIS, 1842

CANTON TEA COMPANY

CARTON TEA CO

Courtesy Missouri Historical Society

TOM THUMB IN ST. LOUIS IN 1848 His Carriage and Pair, driven by a Dwarf Coachman, on Exhibition at Fourth and Olive Streets. View is looking west from Fourth.

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ciety, is interesting in its relation to the liberal republican movement. It was dated October 17th, 1870 :

"This, you will understand, of course, is a bitter fight in Missouri; first, because it is death to the 'rings'; and second, because it has its ulterior significance, and there will be nothing left undone on either side to decide the issue.

"I can only say to you in a few words that I will win by not less than thirty thousand majority-the President, Grant, and his influence to the contrary notwithstanding.

"I thank you and the friends in other states for your good feeling in this matter. Perhaps I am not the right man to have taken the lead in such a conflict; but there was no other that would do it, and the thing had to be done. So, you see, despite all my wishes and all my designs, I am involved in politics again much to the detriment of my agricul- tural plans."-

New Party Movements.

In 1874 various elements opposed to the Democracy organized as the "Peo- ple's party," or the "Reform party." They nominated a state ticket headed by William Gentry of Pettis for governor, with S. W. Headlee of Greene for lieu- tenant-governor. "The Tadpole party" was the name bestowed by the regular democrats upon this new political organization. The explanation was that the movement meant a transition state from which democrats who joined it would emerge as republicans.

The Greenback party made its appearance in 1878. In 1880 it was strong enough in Missouri to carry three Congressional districts, electing Burrows, Rice and Haseltine.

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Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I, Part 69

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939 Publication date: 1921 Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1074

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1074