USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > St Joseph > The Daily news' history of Buchanan County and St. Joseph, Mo. From the time of the Platte purchase to the end of the year 1898. Preceded by a short history of Missouri. Supplemented by biographical sketches of noted citizens, living and dead > Part 30
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Two papers are published in Buchanan County outside of the city : The Stock Yards Daily Journal, by E. Neff, and the DeKalb Tribune, by Ed S. Hays.
CHAPTER XXIX.
REMINISCENCES .- NEGRO SLAVERY IN BUCHANAN COUNTY .- RECOLLECTIONS OF REV. MOSES LARD. -THE TOWN OF ELWOOD .- A REMINISCENCE OF EARLY ST. JOSEPH .- THE GRASSHOPPER SCOURGE. -A FEAT IN PEDESTRIANISM .- THE FIRST FREE DELIVERY WAGON .- AN EFFORT TO SECURE WATER FROM BED-ROCK .- ST. JOSEPH MEN WHO BECAME FAMOUS .- DISTINGUISHED PEOPLE WHO HAVE VISITED ST. JOSEPH .- OLD-TIME DOCTORS AND MEDICAL SOCIETIES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT .- HARTWIG'S INDEPENDENT ARTILLERY COMPANY .- THE FISH HATCHERY.
As was stated in a previous chapter, there were over 2,000 negro slaves in Buchanan County when the war broke out. These were .owned principally in the country. The condition of the slave here, as elsewhere, depended upon the master. It was to the slave-hold- er's interest, of course, to keep this class of property in good condi- tion that it might yield the best possible returns. The slaves, in the main, were well cared for, and their lot was not so bad. They were expected to work ten hours per day for the master and were allowed half holidays on Saturday, where the conditions permitted, and also on Sundays. They were given no education, as a rule, though there were instances where the master taught his slaves to read and write. This practice was frowned upon, however, by the majority of own- ers. The negroes had many social privileges, but were restricted to some extent by a pass system, which was enforced by a patrol. No negro could leave his master's place after night without a pass. This he had to show to the patrol, who were mounted and who guarded certain prescribed districts. The negroes called them "patterolers," and it was the delight of the more venturesome youngsters to elude the vigilance of these much-hated officers. The patrolmen were paid by private subscription. There were licensed preachers of various Protestant denominations, and these held religious services in dif- ferent places about the country, at stated times, and there was gen-
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erally a white man present to see that seditious utterances did not creep into the sermons. Marriages were solemnized, and where the man and woman belonged to different estates the husband was gen- erally permitted to visit his wife on Saturdays and Sundays. The children always belonged to the owner of the mother.
Slaves were paid for the work they did over time, or as in hemp breaking, for such work as was done over and above a stated task. They were also given patches of ground to cultivate and could sell the products. Men were given two suits of clothing and two pairs of shoes per year, and women two dresses, besides other necessary wearing apparel.
Where a slaveholder had more slaves than he could use he let them out for hire. The general price for a man was $150 per year, his maintenance, medical attendance and clothing. It was pre- scribed how many hours he should work and that he should be paid individually for the work he did beyond the contract day. Women brought about $100 per year hire. In some instances negroes saved enough money to purchase their freedom. One case is recalled, however, where the slave fruitlessly paid over one thousand dol- lars. The master kept no account; neither did the slave. The mas- ter died, and when the estate was sold the slave was sold also. He had nothing to show for his payments. The slave was Alf Foutz, who was pressman on the Gazette before the war, and who, after the war, held a similar place on the Atchison Champion for many years.
The negroes, as a rule, spent their money freely and Saturday was made a busy day in St. Joseph by them.
Slaves were hired out during Christmas week for the ensuing year, and this was generally done on Market Square. The mas- ters brought them into town and sold their services to the highest bidders.
Slaves were sold at public auction also, but this practice was almost confined to cases where an estate was sold; though several slave buyers, who shipped their wares South, were located in St. Joseph, and constantly bought up such negroes as were offered. Wlien slavery was abolished, there were few males in bond- age, most of them having been either shipped to Texas before the war or been surrendered by masters who took advantage of a bounty of $350 for every slave that was enlisted by them into the Federal army. A great many, too, had escaped to Kansas by the aid of the Jayhawkers.
Slaves held in the city were used as house servants, porters and
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the like, and they were either owned or hired by the masters. The following ancient city ordinance will show how they were regulated :
Section I. That any negro, or mulatto, bond or free, who shall be found without a pass, between the hours of 10 o'clock p. m. and 4 o'clock a. m., in a grog shop, tippling-house, tavern or beer house, not his place of abode, or abroad in the city from his usual place of abode, unless he be going to or coming from some lawful place of business or lawful assemblage, shall forfeit and pay, for the first of- fense, not less than one nor more than five dollars ; and for every sub- sequent offense, not less than five nor more than twenty dollars.
Sec. 2. The mayor may give a general pass, in writing, to any free negro or mulatto, whose business requires him to be out be- tween the hours above mentioned, and may annul the same at pleas- ure; and the owner, master or person having custody of any slave may give such slave a written permit to pass and repass to any place in the permit designated.
Sec. 3. Negroes or mulattoes shall not hold, at night, any assem- blage without the written permission of the mayor; nor shall they remain at a ball, religious meeting or other assemblage after the hour of II o'clock p. m.
Sec. 4. Any negro or mulatto who shall be found at night at any assemblage not permitted by the mayor, or at any permitted assem- blage after the hour of II o'clock p. m., or shall at such assemblage be guilty of any disorderly conduct, shall forfeit any pay not exceed- ing five dollars.
Sec. 5. Any white person over the age of ten years who shall be found at any ball or social party of negroes or mulattoes, or who. shall annoy or disturb any perinitted assemblage of negroes or mu- lattoes, shall forfeit and pay not less than five dollars.
Sec. 6. Upon the arrest of any slave for the breach of any ordi- nance, his master, owner or employer shall be notified in writing of the charge made against the slave, and the time and place of trial thereof; and if such master, owner or employer pay the penalty ad- judged against the slave, and costs, the slave shall be delivered to him ; otherwise he shall be sent to the workhouse as in other cases.
Sec. 7. Whoever, not being the master, mistress or employer of a slave, shall furnish such slave with a pass shall forfeit and pay not less than twenty dollars. nor more than one hundred dollars.
Sec. 8. The owner, master or employer of any slave may, in his discretion, after such slave shall have been convicted, may pay the fine and costs, or permit the slave to be sent to the workhouse, there to work out said fine and costs; or he may suffer such slave to be whipped by the city marshal with any number of lashes in the discre- tion of the mayor, not exceeding thirty-nine, but the cost of the proceeding shall, in all cases, be paid by the owner, master or em- ployer of such slave.
Another ordinance regulated free negroes and mulattoes. These were not permitted to reside in the city without license, which was
THE WHOLESALE DISTRICT OF ST. JOSEPH IN 1898.
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obtained from the city register upon proof that the negro was entitled to such license, which was guarded by a bond in the sum of $500, conditioned that the recipient be of good behavior. The license contained a discription of the holder, his name, age, size, personal appearance and occupation, and authorized hini to reside in the city as long as his behavior was good, the power of revocation having been vested in the mayor and applicable upon the conviction of the holder of the violation of any city ordinance.
A description of the society of the early days in Missouri, written by the Rev. Moses E. Lard, appeared in Lard's Quarterly in December, 1863, that is not only the most graphic sketch of the times that has ever been written, but a gem of English literature. It ap- peared in an article entitled "My First Meeting." This meeting was held at Haynesville, Clinton County, Missouri, and the description may be accepted as a true picture of the social and religious life and thought of this part of the state at an early time.
Rev. Moses E. Lard was himself a remarkable character. He was a journeyman tailor in Liberty, Mo., when General Doniphan became interested in him, and noting his burning thirst for knowl- edge, sent him to college, where he was educated for the ministry. He became a great religious leader in Missouri and was for some years a preacher in St. Joseph. His father was a forest dweller, : pioneer and a hunter. A daughter of Moses E. Lard married Gov- ernor Silas Woodson, and some of his posterity are still among us In this article, "My First Meeting," occur the following descriptive passages :
"Most men in the neighborhood could read Chronicles by spell- ing half the words, while all had either read Bunyan and eighth of Romans, or heard them read. Bunyan supplied them with experi- ences, Romans with texts to prove predestination: the former en- joyed the favor and affection, the latter, the authority. On Sundays most of the country flocked to meeting, the wags to swap horses and whittle, and to bet on the coming races; the Christians, as was fitting, to hear the sermon, and relate their experiences. The ser- mon was sure to be on foreknowledge or free-will, and to contain a definition of eternity; the experiences embraced reminiscences of headless apparitions, or voices of pulseless corpses wrapped in coffin sheets. * *
"The country pedagogue of those unregenerate days also merits a paragraph. He was generally a chuffy man, five feet six, with gray
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hair, and fine girth-a man who cracked of definite articles, copula- tive conjunctions, Hoogley's bay, and ciphering ; could tell the day of the month by the almanac, and brogue your moccasins ; pulled teeth, bled and puked the neighbors ; took grog with you when dry ; wrote your will, and prayed for you when dying. He was deacon in the church, justice of the peace, auctioneer and general counselor at law, prescribed for gout and cancer, and was a robust believer in witchcraft; he was always elected captain on muster days, gave ad- vice in bad cases of rupture and hair-lip; was president of the debat- ing club, judge at shooting-matches, held children when christened, and gave lectures as to the best time in the moon to salt meat and plant snaps. In the schoolroom he was a philosoher and a tyrant, made but few impressions on the mind, left many on the back, taught the boys to make manners, and the girls to curtesy ; at noon played bull-pen, knucks and hull-gull; and at all other times was a gentle- man and an astrologer.
"The corn-shucking of these days 'lang syne' must not be for- gotten in this brief sketch. This was an occasion which always brought the whole neighborhood together. The women met to brag on' their babies, drink stew, knit, and discuss the best method of setting blue-dye ; the men to shuck corn, take rye, recount battles with bruin, and tell of long shots at deer; the boys to spark and blush ; the girls to ogle and fall in love.
"Next to the corn-shucking, the winter quilting and hoe-downs were the pride of this long past. These were my delight. In the quilting you sat close beside your bonnie lassie; in the hoe-down you touched her hand, and saw her ankle. This over, you made love to her in the corner, while she slapped your jaws, and pouted. But to me the chief attraction at the quilting was the huge stacks of pumpkin pies which graced it, of which I am not conscious at this sitting that I ever had enough. *
"At the time of my meeting great advances had been made on these times. The men had ceased to wear bucksin, the women dressed in calico, and drank green tea ; ghosts were more rare, and Drew had migrated. Tents covered with elm bark were now quite out of fashion, boots were occasionally seen, the men used hand- kerchiefs, and the women side-combs. Soap was no longer a myth to children, though starched bosoms still attracted much attention. The boys had now begun to carry riding whips, to chew, and the girls to flirt. The more able families could afford tables and biscuit on Sunday morning, while almost all had learned what sausage and
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spareribs mean. Buggies and steamships were still fabulous things, while cock-fighting and log-rolling had fallen into desuetude.
"A shingled roof and a brick stack were not now absolutely un- known, and men used chains instead of withes in plowing. The use of pins was altogether abandoned, and fish were caught with hooks as in other countries. Balls had taken the place of the hoe-down, the fiddle that of juber; horns were all the fashion, and grog was never named. The Christians discussed the mode of baptism, the operation of the spirit, and infant church membership, as in other decent countries ; they only denied the existence of Styx, and the revolution of the earth; the old preachers kept on their coats while preaching, and took a little only when feeling bad. A young man no longer consulted a witch when he wanted a wife, but went directly to his sweetheart; invalids took henbane, boneset, and composition for diseases of the spine and fits, and Weekly Dale cured warts by hocus-pocus." *
A word of Elwood will not be amiss in these reminiscenses. Fotheringham's directory for 1860 shows 166 male residents of the place. At the present estimate of population, based upon city direc- tories-five to the name-this would show that Elwood had a popu- lation of 830 at that time. The business directory shows that there were three attorneys : one of them, D. W. Wilder, later prominently identified with the political history of Kansas and with the press of St. Joseph; another, Thomas A. Osborn, later governor of Kansas; the third, A. L. Lee, who was secretary of the town com- pany and also interested in a bank in St. Joseph, and who subse- quently gained distinction as a brigadier-general in the Union army. There were two bakeries, two blacksmiths, a brewery, a brickmaker, two butchers, six carpenters, a coffee house, a dentist, a druggist, seven general merchants, two hotels, a livery stable, two painters, three physicians, a plasterer, a restaurant, several real estate agents, five saloons, a saw mill, a tailor, three wagon-makers, a jeweler and one dealer i nstoves and tinware. There was also a newspaper, the Elwood Free Press, published by H. D. Hunt.
There was a city government. George W. Barr, now a resident of St. Joseph, was mayor; Dr. J. W. Robinson, clerk and recorder ; Wm. H. Hugh, assessor; Thomas A. Osborn, attorney ;. R. S. Say- ward, treasurer ; Charles O. Smith, collector and city marshal. Wm. H. Hugh, D. B. Jones, J. H. Hatcher, Andrew Disque, W. L. Lewis, L. C. Booth, Wm. Luke, W. C. Groff and A. W. Tice composed the city council. There was also a police force, consisting of three men.
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There was an Episcopal church, and the Congregational- ists held services occasionally in a hall. There was a board of pub- lis schools; also a library association and a building association.
The New York Daily Times of December 18, 1858, says of El- wood, that it "is one of the most promising places in Kansas, and. from the eligibility of its position and great local advantages, bids fair to become the chief commercial metropolis of the future state. Situated directly opposite St. Joseph, it is placed by the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad in direct communication with the most populou and wealthy cities of the East, and by the first of April will be withir fifty hours travel of New York. It is the starting point of the rail- road chartered to Palmetto, on the South Pass route to Salt Lake and California, and of the St. Joseph & Topeka railroad, which will com- mand a great portion of the trade of New Mexico. It lies on the west bank of the Missouri River, on the verge of an extensive and thickly wooded bottom, which requires no gradings; its streets are broad and rectangular, and its levee can be approached with safety by the largest boats, and is sufficiently spacious for an immense commerce."
The war stagnated business, scattered the population and killed the prospects of this anibitious and thriving point. In rapid settle- ment and development of Kansas, when peace was restored, Elwood was overlooked and forgotten and went into rapid decline. The rav- ages of the river finished the work, and there is but little left of the ground upon which the ambitious young town stood.
Allen H. Vories, 1870, at a banquet, in speaking of what St. Jo- seph was twenty years previous to that time, said there were about fifteen hundred inhabitants here. The principal business cen- tered down about Main and Felix, Francis and Jule. About Sixth street the locality was grown up with hazel, and at Eighth and ) ile, where the speaker lived, there were dense woods, where no one dreamed of ever seeing residences and churches built up as is now the case.
In those days the population of St. Joseph was about three times as large in the spring as at any other season of the year. The Cali- fornia emigrants camped all over the unoccupied grounds in and around the city. They ate the provisions and came near starving out the citizens, for they bought up everything before it reached the
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city, and citizens had to send to the Grand River for supplies. This was especially the case during the springs of 1850-51-52.
Law business in those days was conducted in a scattering sort of way, which might be better described by the term hotch-potch. The doctors, as far as he knew and believed, were on a par with the lawyers, and acted on the principle of the old physician who, when a case was brought to him which he did not understand, gave the patient something to throw him into fits, because he was "death on fits."
As in all ages and countries, a good many of the citizens of the town wanted office. One old gentleman wanted to be a justice of the peace, and prepared to be elected by having 500 tickets printed for ballots, all of which he distributed among the voters. When the election was held and the votes counted this old gentleman was found to have received one vote. When told of the result, he ex- claimed : "One vote! Yes, and I know who gave that !" He con- tested the election, and the treasurer, in a spirit of ridicule, gave the old man a commission. Not long afterwards some young men created a mock disturbance to give the old man a case. They erected a judge's stand by placing a barrel on a large dry goods box and put- ting a chair on the barrel, and when the case had progressed nearly to a termination, one of the wags knocked the barrel from under the judge's chair and down came the seat of justice, with the justice and all. The old fellow complained of his treatment to William Fowler, a county official, who advised him to throw away his commission, but he refused to do so, fondly believing that he was vested with official dignity.
There was once a vacancy in the office of justice of the peace, and six persons, seeking the position, got up six petitions to be pre- sented to the county court. Strangely enough every voter in the township signed every petition, and when it came before the county court it was in the shape of one petition for one man, for some mis- chievous person had cut off the headings of all the other petitions and pasted the names under that of his favorite, so there were six thousand names for him and none for anyone else.
This was in the good old days when all men, citizens of St. Jo- seph, were honest, but a number followed the California emigrants who were not of that class. On one occasion, however, a fellow was arraigned before Mayor Mills for transgressing an ordinance of the city against the practice of games of chance. He had been swindling someone with the thimble-rig dodge. When arraigned he contended that his game was not one of chance, but a sure thing. "Then," said
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the mayor, "it is just like this court-you shall pay a fine of $50." The sharper had to fork over.
An amusing incident of the bar was given. A case was being tried in the circuit court in which one of the parties subpoenaed the judge as a witness, and a change of venue was asked. The judge refused to grant the change, saying he knew nothing to prevent a judge from giving testimony in a case being tried before him. The judge came down from the bench and took the witness stand. The first question asked was objected to, the objector addressing himself to the vacant chair of the judge, who, assuming the chair, decided that the question should be put. Then taking the witness stand, he answered the question. The second question was put with a like result. But the spirit of Blackstone, or somebody else, now began to fill the mind of the judge, he appreciated the difficulty of be- ing at the same time judge and witness, and granted the change of venue asked for.
The years 1866, 1867, 1874 and 1875, are known as "grasshop- per" years, owing to the existence of a plague of Rocky Mountain locusts. Kansas was stricken first each time and the locusts crossed the river, in September of 1866, in July of 1867, and in September of 1874. The first two visits were not so costly to the farmer as the last one. The city was deluged with the insects, however, and they were a great annoyance. The wells were polluted with their car- casses, they ate the lace curtains in the dwellings, and devoured the vegetation.
In 1874 and 1875 all the country west and north of Missouri was plagued with the locusts. The people usually referred to them as grasshoppers. Indeed, the insects greatly resembled the ordinary grasshopper. They came down from the Rocky Mountains, quickly overran Colorado, then came on through Kansas, devouring every green thing, taking every live blade of grass, every leaf on tree and bush, every flower and vegetable. In September of 1874 they struck Buchanan County. The crops having matured, they did little ma- terial damage that year. But they deposited their eggs in the ground and the warm spring weather hatched them out in great numbers. As they developed the verdure disappeared. First the young clover, then the tender blue grass of the pastures, next the vegetables in the gardens, and finally the shrubbery and small trees; in fact, almost everything that grew fell before the greed of the insect. As they grew so did their voracity, and their depredations increased. Farm-
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ers were powerless. Some tried digging pits and driving the locusts thereinto, where they were either scalded or covered up. Others drove them into piles, where they were cre- mated. In fact, numerous plans for ridding the country of the pest were tried, and while untold millions of locusts were undoubtedly destroyed, others seemed to take their places immediately. It mat- tered not what was done, no diminution in the number of the hopping, creeping things was discernible. Live stock suffered greatly from the lack of food, and the farmers lost heavily by the death of cattle and hogs. When half-grown and able to fly the locusts began to disappear, and by July they were nearly all gone. The farmers at once set to work with energy. The seasons were favorable and the frost late. There was a grand harvest. In fact, all over the state there was a prodigious yield, and this fact served largely to allevi- ate the business depression of the two previous years.
In 1869 pedestrianism was the popular athletic fad. The news- paper files contain accounts of a rather grotesque performance of this kind in St. Joseph. One R. F. Leonard, a laundryman, agreed, on a wager, to walk 100 miles in twenty-four hours. His route was on Second street, from Faraon to Isabel, a distance of half a mile. At midnight, February 17, Leonard began his task. The route was illuminated with torches and the pedestrian carried in one hand a lighted lamp and in the other a bugle, upon which he executed mili- tary signals as he marched. An immense crowd witnessed the per- formance. Leonard made the first mile in thirteen minutes. The ninety-ninth mile was made in twenty-two minutes and the one-hun- dredth mile in thirteen minutes and twenty-two seconds. Leonard covered the one hundred miles in twenty-three hours and thirty-nine seconds, resting but forty-one seconds during the time.
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