Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II, Part 36

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 800

USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 36

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Criminal Indictment, First .- The first criminal indictment in the Louisiana Territory, after it came under the authority of the United States government, was re- turned by the first grand jury at St. Charles, in 1805. It follows the form of the old Eng- lish indictment, and recites that "James Davis, with a certain rifle gun four feet long, and of the value of four dollars," did, Decem- ber 14, 1804, at Femme Osage, kill William Hays. The foreman of the jury signed his name; all the other jurors made their marks. Davis was put under $3,000 bonds, Daniel

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Boone being his surety. He was acquitted upon trial.

Crittenden, Elizabeth, was born in Mason County, Kentucky, daughter of Dr. James W. and Mary Moss. Both her parents belonged to old Virginia families, and the Jefferson, Randolph, Pleasants and other noted families of the "Old Dominion" were closely related to them. Elizabeth Moss was reared and educated in Kentucky, and came with her parents to St. Louis when she was approaching womanhood. Later her father, Dr. Moss, removed to Boone County, Mis- souri, where he conducted an extensive farm and entertained in the old-fashioned South- ern way, his home being one of the chief centers of social attraction in that region. At this charming home Miss Moss was wooed and won by Dr. Daniel T. Wilcox. Dr Wil- cox died in early manhood, and at the age of thirty his widow became the wife of General William H. Ashley, at that time a representa- tive in Congress from St. Louis. Immedi- ately after this marriage Mrs. Ashley was ushered into the society of Washington, then adorned by many women of intellect, educa- tion and refinement. Her remarkable beauty and grace at once attracted great attention, and very soon her tact and mental accom- plishments, the simplicity of her manner, her dignity of deportment and her kind consid- eration for others made her welcome every- where. Becoming at once a favorite in the most refined and highly intellectual circles of the national capital, she continued to be such for thirty years thereafter. General Ashley died in 1838, and Mrs. Ashley returned to her beautiful home in St. Louis, where she spent a portion of her time thereafter, draw- ing around her a circle of admiring friends in that city, some of whom still recall with pleasure the happy hours spent in her com- pany. In 1853 she married John J. Critten- den, Kentucky's distinguished Senator and orator, who was then Attorney General of the United States under President Fillmore. From that time until Mr. Crittenden's death in 1863 she passed all her winters in Wash- ington, and became one of the most widely known women in the United States. She was familiarly acquainted with all the public men of that era and with the representatives of foreign countries, was universally ad- mired, and her society equally courted. A

great reader, she had a thorough knowledge of the English classics, and of the best litera- ture of our own country, and her conversa- tion was always polished, charming and impressive. Her social success was achieved by exquisite tact, and through remarkable graces of mind as well as person. It is said that she was never known to forget a face and rarely the name of one to whom she had been introduced, however remote had been the time of meeting. Senator Crittenden was a man of great simplicity of character, and of unbounded hospitality, and his wife adorned liis simple home in Frankfort, Ken- tucky, with all the graces and attractions which had made her so conspicuous in Wash- ington. Her remarkable versatility adapted her equally to all ranks and conditions, and the hospitable fireside of Mrs. Crittenden was rendered more charming by her wonder- ful domestic knowledge and home accom- plishments. In all the varied departments of housekeeping, Mrs. Crittenden was as pro- ficient as in those qualities which gave her high position in fashionable society. After the death of Senator Crittenden she removed to the city of New York, and resided there eight years. In the early fall of 1872 she re- turned to St. Louis, and died there on the 8th of February, 1873.

Crittenden, Thomas T., lawyer, sol- dier, Congressman, Governor of Missouri, and United States minister to Mexico, was born at Gloverport, Kentucky, in 1832, and is a worthy member of the distinguished family whose name he bears, his father hav- ing been a brother of John J. Crittenden, Governor and Senator from Kentucky, and he himself a brother of the "Will" Crittenden who was shot in Havana, in 1852, for par- ticipating in the ill-fated Lopez expedition for the deliverance of Cuba from Spanish rule. Thomas T. Crittenden was graduated from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, in 1855, studied law under his distinguished uncle, John J. Crittenden, at Frankfort, and in 1857 came to Missouri, locating at Lex- ington, where he soon became one of the foremost members of the bar, eminent for ability and learning. When the Civil War began he espoused the Union cause and was appointed lieutenant colonel in the enrolled militia, serving until the end of the war. On the return of peace he resumed the practice

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of law at Warrensburg, with General F. M. Cockrell for a partner, actively exerting his influence to bring about a restoration of fra- ternal feeling among the people, and com- mending himself by the high and generous spirit in which he treated the questions that divided them. In 1872 he was elected to Congress from the Seventh District, and in 1876, after an interval of one term, was again elected. During his two terms he was dis- tinguished for boldness and skill as a debater and parliamentarian and his able champion- ship of the interests of the West. In 1880 he was elected Governor on the Democratic ticket, over D. P. Dyer, the Republican can- didate, and served to the end of the four years' term. His administration, peaceful and prosperous, was distinguished by the energetic measures adopted for breaking up the James gang of bank and express robbers, which had carried on operations, almost un- hindered, for thirteen years. Jesse James was shot and killed by Bob Ford at St. Jo- seph, and Frank, the other brother, went to the State capital and voluntarily surrendered to Governor Crittenden in the executive office. He had the satisfaction also of bring- ing about the settlement of the claim of the State against the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad for $3,000,000 bonds loaned to .it in 1851 and 1855, the road paying the claim in full, with interest. During the second ad- ministration of President Cleveland he was United States minister to Mexico, and ren- dered valuable services to his country in pro- moting friendly relations between the two republics. At the close of his diplomatic ca- reer he returned to Missouri and established his home in Kansas City, where he has since practiced his professsion and occupied a prominent position at the bar.

Crocker .- A town on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, in Pulaski County, nine miles north of Waynesville, the county seat. It was founded about 1870. It has two churches, a school, six stores and hotel. Population, 1899 (estimated), 300.

Crop Failure .- Serious crop failures occurred in southwestern Missouri in 1856, owing to excessive rainfall in the spring, and drouth in the summer, and there was great distress the following year in the counties of Barry, Lawrence, Webster, Polk, Dallas, La-

clede, Taney, Ozark and Greene. In Ozark,- of which Rockbridge was then the county seat, the May term of circuit court was ad- journed for the reason that the town could not procure sufficient provisions to feed the people. Many cattle and hogs died from starvation, and stage horses were so thin and weak as to excite ridicule. In Springfield, seed of all kinds commanded exorbitant prices. Sweet potatoes sold at $7 a bushel, Irish po- tatoes $2, and corn $1.50. Many people left the country.

Cross Country Club .- This club was organized in 1895, in St. Louis, as the "Cross Country Cyclers," with twenty charter mem- bers and the following officers : Ralph War- ner, president; William Louderman, vice president ; Rufus Lackland Taylor, treas- urer ; Arthur Smucker, secretary. The mem- bership of the club was limited to fifty, and was composed principally of wealthy young men, from old aristocratic families of St. Louis. Well equipped club quarters were opened at Spring Avenue, near Vandeventer Place, and the members went to work en- thusiastically to make the organization the crack cycle club of the West. The member- ship rapidly rose to the limit, with from fif- teen to thirty applications always on file to take any vacancy that might occur. Cycling tours through the State and to distant points in Illinois, as far as Chicago, were planned from time to time, and executed with a pro- ficiency that attracted wide attention, and secured for the cyclists, wherever they ap- peared in their attractive uniforms of white sweaters, striped alternately with orange and black, marked recognition. In 1898 the club was reorganized with the following officers : Clarence White, president ; William Louder- man, vice president ; Herbert Morris, secre- tary ; Rufus L. Taylor, treasurer. It was also determined to enlarge the membership from fifty to three hundred, change the name to "Cross Country Club," and secure more commodious quarters. A large clubhouse was accordingly leased at Sarah Street and Suburban Tracks, and especially fitted up for the accommodation of the club. Here the club remained until February, 1899, when a charter was taken out, new officers elected, with Mr. Arthur Smucker as president ; Clar- ence White, vice president; Clarence Bren- izer, secretary; Rufus L. Taylor, treasurer ;

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and permanent quarters secured at Grand Avenue and West Pine Boulevard, formerly the quarters of the Marquette Club, and thor- oughly fitted up with all the equipments of a modern athletic club.

Crossen, Harry Sturgeon, physician, was born February 2, 1869, in Appanoose County, Iowa, son of James H. and Saralı A. (Sturgeon) Crossen. In that State Dr. Crossen spent the earlier years of his boy- hood, but when he was four years of age his mother died, and a year later he was left en- tirely orphaned by the death of his father. He was taken then into the home of his uncle, Mr. R. S. Morris, at that time a resi- dent of Iowa, but now a well known banker of Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Treated as a son, he grew up in the family of Mr. Morris, receiving the kindliest care and considera- tion, and enjoying the best educational ad- vantages of the region in which he lived. He first attended a country school in Iowa, was later a public school student at Lincoln, Ne- braska, and completed his academic studies at Siloam Springs Academy, of Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Having made choice of the medical profession as his vocation in life he entered upon a systematic course of study at St. Louis Medical College in the fall of 1889, and was graduated from that institu- tion in the class of 1892. Immediately after receiving his doctor's degree he entered a competitive examination for appointment as one of the assistant physicians of the City Hospital, of St. Louis, and, as a result, be- came a member of the hospital corps, begin- ning his practice in that connection. At the end of a year he was made senior assistant physician, and a few months later, assistant superintendent of the hospital. In this ca- pacity he served until 1895, and evidenced both his attainments as a physician and his capacity as an executive officer, and his faith- ful work won for him the esteem and high regard of his professional brethren. He pre- pared for publication reports of various in- teresting cases treated at the hospital, assisted the superintendent in the preparation of re- ports on an extensive series of surgical oper- ations, and at the request of the Health Commissioner of St. Louis, investigated and reported on a peculiar disease which made its appearance at the workhouse, also con- ducted a series of experiments at the quaran-

tine station, made for the purpose of noting the effects of a specially prepared antitoxine in small-pox' cases. Having given abundant evidence of his peculiar adaptability to hos- pital practice, and his ability to conduct an institution of this character in accordance with the most approved methods, he was, in 1895, appointed by Mayor Walbridge super- intendent of the St. Louis Female Hospital, a position which he has since retained.

Crossland .- See "Sumner."

Cross Timbers .- An unincorporated town in Hickory County, nine miles northı- east of Hermitage, the county seat. It has a Christian Church, a Methodist Church, a bank, and a flourmill. In 1899 the popula- tion was estimated at 550. It was formerly known as Garden City, and was platted in 1871 by Ezekiel Kirby.

Crow, Asbury McKendree, physi- cian, was born July 22, 1840, at Carrollton, Kentucky. He was of Scotch-Irish descent ; a paternal ancestor married a sister of General Montgomery, who fell gloriously at Quebec. His parents were James C. and . Nancy W. (Whittaker) Crow. The father, who was a Kentuckian by birth, and of Virginia parent- age, was an itinerant Methodist preacher, whose ministrations extended throughout a large portion of Kentucky. The mother was a daughter of Josiah Whittaker, also a Methodist minister in the same State, a man of great physical vigor and force of charac- ter, who on occasion engaged in public de- bate with Alexander Campbell. His preach- ing appointments covered a territory of two hundred miles. While devoted to his calling, he amassed a large fortune and made liberal provision for his children. The parents died at the ages of eighty-two years and eighty years, respectively. Their son, Asbury McKen- dree, was named for two famous Methodist bishops, who were their personal friends. He was reared upon a farm, and received only such early education as was afforded by the very ordinary country schools of that day. In 1859 he began to read medicine un- der Dr. John D. Batson, of Harrison County, Kentucky, and in 1860-I attended lectures at the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati. He afterward took a full course of instruc- tion in Bellevue Hospital Medical College,

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New York, and was graduated in March, 1865. He practiced for a time at Oddville, Harrison County, Kentucky, and in 1869 re- moved to Kansas City, where he has been actively engaged in general practice to the present time. March, 1899, marked the com- pletion of thirty years of continuous practice within two squares of Grand Avenue and Fourteenth Street, in that city. In all that time, and during repeated financial disturb- ances, he has maintained himself in solvency. Of all the physicians who were in business there when he began, but two remain in practice. Aside from his personal profes- sional labors, he has served at times as con- sulting physician of All Saints' Hospital, and of the German Hospital. He was city phy- sician in 1873, under Mayor E. L. Martin ; in 1878, under Mayor George M. Shelly, and in 1893-4 (the term having been extended), under Mayor W. S. Cowherd. He is a mem- ber of the Jackson County Medical Society, of the Missouri State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. In politics he is a Democrat. He is a chapter member in Masonry, affiliating with Orient Chapter No. 102, and is the oldest living past master of Temple Lodge No. 299. October 15. 1872, he was married in Kansas City to Miss Annie Adams. The only child born of this marriage died in infancy. Dr. Crow is vigorous in body and mind and gives promise of many added years of usefulness in the pro- fession of which he is so conspicuous a mem- ber.

Crow, Edward Coke, Attorney Gen- eral of Missouri, was born December 19, 1861, at Oregon, Missouri. His parents were 'George W. and Mary E. (Barnes) Crow. The father was a lawyer, who re- moved from Georgia, his native State, to Missouri at the opening of the Platte Pur- chase territory. He was of Scotch-Irish an- cestry. The mother was a Virginian, de- scended from English parentage; her family saw service during the Revolutionary War. The son, Edward Coke, completed his liter- ary education with a course in the Carthage High School. He was at the same time read- ing law under his father, and was admitted to the bar of Jasper County in 1880, before he was twenty-one years of age. He then took a supplementary course in the Law School of Washington University, St. Louis,

from which he was graduated with the de- gree of bachelor of laws. After two years spent in travel in the West, he located in Webb City, Missouri, the family home, and engaged in practice, attracting so much at- tention by his energy and ability that, in 1891, he was elected city attorney, and by successive elections was continued in that position until 1895. In the latter year he was elected circuit judge of the Jasper County Judicial District, and was soon ac- corded general commendation for conscien- tious attention to the duties of that high office, as well as for the clear, discriminating judgment which marked his decisions. In the second year of his position upon the bench, however, he was made the nominee of the Democratic party for the Attorney Gen- eralship, and was elected. In his discharge of the new duties put upon him he won for himself the highest encomiums for his clear- ness of discernment, energy in pursuing a purpose and devotion to those public inter- ests in new directions, which have come to be so important in the light of recent legis- lation in Missouri. To him it has fallen to seek the enforcement of all statutes having for their purpose the curtailment of the pow- ers of corporations, and his effort has been persistent, wise, and, in most cases, success- ful. He won a victory for local government and the rights of bona fide citizens in the Vallins case in Kansas City, when, under quo warranto proceedings, he effected the oust- ing of a non-resident who had been ap- pointed to the position of chief of police. The obnoxious appointment had provoked the resentment of the labor unions particularly, and in his victory Mr. Crow made friends of the entire membership of those bodies, as well as of all other elements holding to the principles of local self-government. In a case affecting consolidating corporations, he secured the setting aside of the former prac- tice, under which such bodies escaped pay- ment of incorporation fees, holding that a consolidation was, in fact and effect, a new incorporation, and liable for the payment of incorporation fees as though it were an original body. He made a determined effort to secure the enforcement of the Julian law, providing for the public sale of street railway franchises, in which, if successful, he would have rendered abortive street railway con- solidation schemes. The Supreme Court

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held, however, that the law was inoperative, owing to its crudity and insufficiency. To his effort was due the increase in valuation of street railway property in St. Louis from $6,000,000 to $18,000,000, in 1897. When valuation for assessment purposes was trans- ferred from the Board of Assessors to the State Board of Equalization, the companies resisted, but were compelled, under his man- damus proceedings, to make returns. He established the right of females to hold cer- tain elective offices. In 1896 a female elected to the county clerkship of St. Clair County was denied the position on the ground that the statute law of 1855 prescribed that none but a white male, over twenty-one years of age, was eligible. He brought quo warranto proceedings, and secured her the position on the ground that the new Constitution re- moved the bar pleaded. He also brought the proceedings in which the new anti-trust and corporation legislation of Missouri received judicial interpretation. Mr. Crow is an old- line Democrat, devotedly attached to the principles of popular sovereignty as distin- guished from class rule. As chairman of the Jasper County Democratic executive com- mittee, he was one of fifteen men who forced the holding of the Pertle Springs Conven- tion, which committed the party to the free silver issue, joining with his associates in a letter addressed to the chairman of the State committee, demanding that such convention be called, and threatening to call it of their own accord should he persist in his refusal. He is a familiar figure in State and congres- sional district conventions, and in political campaigns is continually active in party counsels and before the people. On the stump, he commands attention, and the State has no more capable or more influential po- litical orator. He was married to Miss Gus- sie, daughter of R. J. Hanna, a successful business man, formerly engaged in St. Louis, and in after years at Boonville. Of this union have been born a son and three daughters.

Crow, Wayman, merchant and philan- thropist, was born in Hartford, Kentucky, March 7, 1808, and died in St. Louis, May 10, 1885. When he was six years of age the family removed to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and there he attended a country school until he was twelve years of age. This practically ended his early education, and what he

learned afterward was in the school of ex- perience, in which he proved himself an apt and intelligent pupil. When twelve years old he was apprenticed to a country storekeeper for five years, and that apprenticeship gave him the training which, in later years, made him one of the most successful merchants of St. Louis. After serving his apprenticeship he was placed in charge of a branch store, established by the firm with which he had been connected, at Cadiz, Kentucky. In 1828, some time before he attained his ma- jority, he purchased this store, on credit, giving therefor his notes, which were promptly paid before their maturity, evidenc- ing the fact that his first commercial venture on his own account was a successful one. Further evidence of the extent of his success is found in the fact that in 1835 he sold out his business, realizing therefor the sum of $21,000, which constituted the capital with which he engaged in new and larger enter- prises. He formed a business partnership with Joshua Tevis, of Philadelphia, in the fall of 1835, and under the firm name of Crow & Tevis they established a wholesale dry goods house in St. Louis. At a later date the firm became Crow, McCreery & Co., still later Crow, Hargadine & Co., and the present Hargadine-McKittrick Dry Goods Company is its successor. In 1840 he was elected pres- ident of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, and for ten years thereafter he held that office, contributing materially through this agency to the advancement of the commer- cial interests of the city. In 1840, also, and again in 1850, he was elected to the State Senate of Missouri, on the Whig ticket, and while serving as a member of that body gave special attention to the commercial and transportation problems presented for con- sideration to the legislators of that period. During his last term of service in the Senate the present railroad policy of Missouri was inaugurated, and he was a potent instrumen- tality in giving it force and effect. He was personally identified with important railroad enterprises as one of the organizers of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railway Company, and also of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company. The abundant prosperity which had come to him in St. Louis inclined him to return to the people a share of his wealth in the upbuilding of charitable and eleemosy- nary institutions and the bestowal of private

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charities. He obtained for the St. Louis Blind Asylum its charter, and the charter also for the Mercantile Library, and in 1853, without suggestion from any one, drafted, introduced and secured the passage of a bill chartering Washington University. In 1875 he gave to the university $25,000 to endow a chair of physics, and his gifts to that insti- tution aggregated, in all, more than $200,000.

Crowell, Homer Cutler, physician, was born January 14, 1852, at Westminster, Windham County, Vermont. His parents were Ransom Levi and Emily (Cutler) Cro- well. The Crowell family had been seafaring people for several generations, until the grandfather moved from Cape Cod, Massa- chusetts, to Vermont, in order to establish his sons as farmers. The father of Homer Cutler began in the vocation designed for him, but also busied himself in various mer- cantile enterprises. Since 1875 he has been a merchant in Bernardston, Massachusetts, where he identified himself actively with all movements for the social and religious im- provement of the place. He has served as justice of the peace, selectman, assessor, trustee of Powers Institute, and has occu- pied numerous other positions of honor and trust. The mother was a native of Nova Scotia, daughter of a Congregational min- ister. Her family were of scholarly inclina- tion, and several of its members, as of her husband's people, engaged in the professions. Their son, Homer Cutler, received his liter- ary education in private schools and acade- mies in the vicinity of the family home, and upon its completion engaged for a time in school teaching, meeting with marked suc- cess as an instructor. He then became a student in the medical department of the University of Vermont, from which he was graduated July 1, 1875. The winter of 1878-9 he spent in New York City, devoting himself to further study of general medicine and sur- gery, gaining that knowledge to be derived from observance of operating room and hos- pital practice. He then located in East Syracuse, New York, where he soon took place among the leading physicians of the county in general practice. He relinquished his work in 1887, and spent a year in New York City, devoting his attention specially to the study of gynecology, under the most ca- pable instructors. In 1888, having com-

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II, Part 36

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n Publication date: 1901 Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors Number of Pages: 800

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 800