USA > New York > Erie County > Centennial history of Erie County, New York : being its annals from the earliest recorded events to the hundredth year of American independence > Part 31
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Scarcely had the county of Erie entered on its separate career, when there occurred within its limits a series of events of start- ling and dramatic character, which show as vividly as anything in American history how closely civilization treads upon the footsteps of barbarism-how narrow in our country is the space which separates the bloody rites of the savage council from the stately deliberations of the Anglo-Saxon tribunal. The facts in the case are derived from Stone's Life of Red Jacket, the papers of the period, and the reminiscences of Mr. James Aigin.
In the spring of 1821 a Seneca Indian died of some lingering disease, the nature of which was incomprehensible by the medi- cine-men. They accordingly attributed it to sorcery, and desig- nated as the culprit a squaw named Kauquatau, who had nursed the deceased during his sickness.
A council was assembled, and, after such evidence as the case admitted of, Kauquatau was solemnly pronounced guilty, and sentenced to death. The frightened woman fled to Canada. The Indians were shrewd enough not to attempt her execution there, nor even in the United States, off from their own reserva- tion. Some of them followed her to Canada, and by some means, doubtless by false promises of security, persuaded her to recross the Niagara.
Among her betrayers was the chief, So-onongise, commonly called by the whites Tommy Jimmy, who had been secretly ap- pointed her executioner. On the second day of May, Mr. Aigin states that he saw Tommy Jimmy treating Kauquatau from a bottle of whisky, in the streets of Buffalo. The blandishments of the chieftain and the quality of his liquor were too much for poor Kauquatau, and toward night she accompanied her pre- tended friend across the reservation line, which, as will be re- membered, ran close to the village.
No sooner had she done so than the friend disappeared and the
347
EXECUTION OF A WITCH.
executioner showed himself. Drawing his knife, Tommy Jimmy seized the wretched woman and cut her throat, killing her on the instant. Then, leaving her on the ground where he had slain her, making no attempt to conceal the body, he strode off to the Indian village, doubtless feeling that he had done his country good service.
The next morning she was found by the whites, lying near Buffalo creek, only a short distance above Pratt's ferry. A cor- oner's inquest was held, and, as the Indians made no conceal- ment, it was easily ascertained that Tommy Jimmy was the murderer. It appears to have been the first event of the kind which had become known in Erie county, though Mary Jem- ison says there was scarcely a year passed, while the tribe lived on the Genesee, that one or more persons (generally wo- men) were not killed as witches. The claim of sovereignty over the reservation, set up by the Indians, did not reconcile the whites to the shocking occurrence, and it was determined to bring the slayer to trial.
Stephen G. Austin, then a young lawyer and justice of the peace, issued a warrant. The constable to whom it was first given objected to going out among a tribe of savages to arrest one of their most popular chiefs, and Pascal P'. Pratt, uncle of the gentleman who now bears that name, was deputized for the purpose. He was well acquainted with Tommy Jimmy and was a particular friend of Red Jacket.
Pratt found the culprit at the house of the orator. Making known his mission, he advised them to yield peacefully, and make whatever defense they might have, before the courts. Red Jacket pledged himself that Tommy Jimmy should appear before Austin the next day, and Pratt departed, perfectly satis- fied that he would come.
Punctually, at the hour appointed, Sagoyewatha and So-onon- gise came before the young justice of the peace, accompanied by a crowd of other Indians. The whites, also, gathered in numbers, and, as Austin's office was small, he held his court on a pile of timber across the road from it. The slaying was ad- mitted, the jurisdiction of the whites denied, and the victim de- clared to be a witch, executed in accordance with Indian law. Austin, however, committed the slayer to jail, to take his trial in a higher court.
348
A REMARKABLE TRIAL.
So-onongise, alias Tommy Jimmy, was duly indicted for murder. The Indians obtained the assistance of able counsel, who put in a plea to the jurisdiction of the court, claiming that Kauquatau was executed in accordance with Indian law, on In- dian land. This was denied by the district-attorney, and the question was sent to a jury for trial.
Thus it was that at the Erie county Oyer and Terminer, in June, 1821, there occurred one of the most singular trials re- corded in legal annals. The court-house was crowded by a motley throng of red men and white men, the latter drawn by curiosity, the former by intense interest in the fate of their brother, and intense anxiety regarding their own privileges. All the lights of the Buffalo bar were there, eager to know how this curious legal complication would result.
Tommy Jimmy, a middle-aged and fairly intelligent Indian, though the center of observation, sat perfectly unmoved, and doubtless considered himself a martyr. By his side was Red Jacket, acting as amateur counsel, and wearing his stateliest de- meanor. He still had sufficient self-control to force himself into a few days sobriety on great occasions, and was in full posses- sion of his faculties. When the jurors were called he scanned every man with his piercing eye, formed his opinion as to his bias, and communicated to the regular counsel his decision in favor of acceptance or rejection.
After several other witnesses had been sworn, Red Jacket was put on the stand by the counsel for the accused. The prosecut- ing attorney sought to exclude him by inquiring if he believed in a God.
"More truly than one who could ask me such a question," was his haughty reply.
When asked what rank he held in his nation, he answered contemptuously :
"Look at the papers which the white people keep the most carefully ; they will tell you what I am." He referred to the treaties which ceded the Indian lands to the whites.
Like the other Indians he testified that the woman had been condemned by a regular council, in accordance with immemo- rial law, and that So-onongise had been duly authorized to exe- cute the decree. Seeing, or imagining, that some of the lawyers
349
RED JACKET'S PHILIPPIC.
were disposed to ridicule his views of witchcraft, he broke out in a fierce philippic, which, as interpreted, was thus published in the Albany Argus, one of whose editors was present :
"What ! Do you denounce us as fools and bigots because we still believe what you yourselves believed two centuries ago ? Your black-coats thundered this doctrine from the pulpit, your judges pronounced it from the bench, and sanctioned it with the formalities of law ; and would you now punish our unfortunate brother for adhering to the faith of his fathers and of yours ? Go to Salem! Look at the records of your own government, and you will find that thousands have been executed for the very crime which has called forth the sentence of condemna- tion against this woman, and drawn down upon her the arm of vengeance. What have our brothers done more than the rulers of your people ? And what crime has this man committed, by executing in a summary way the laws of his country and the command of the Great Spirit ?"
As Red Jacket had certainly not read the story of Salem witchcraft, he must have informed himself by conversation be- fore the trial, doubtless for the express purpose of making a well-studied point against the pale-faces. His appearance as he delivered his philippic, his tall form drawn up to its utmost height, his head erect and his black eye flashing with ire, is said to have been impressive in the extreme.
On the question of fact submitted to them, the jury found that Kauquatau was really executed in accordance with Indian law. The legal question still remained as to whether this would exempt him from punishment. The case was removed by certio- rari to the Supreme Court, where it was argued the ensuing August. The result was a most lame and impotent conclusion of so dramatic a trial. No judgment was rendered. The court, being unable to deny that the Indians had from the beginning been recognized to a certain extent as independent peoples, and yet unwilling to decide that they had absolute authority to com- mit murder, permitted the discharge of the prisoner by the consent of the attorney-general.
Laws were afterwards passed, subjecting the Indians to the same penalties for crimes as the whites.
In the autumn of 1821 Joseph Ellicott, the founder of Buf- falo, resigned the local agency of the Holland Company, which he had held for twenty-one years. There had been considerable
350
ELLICOTT'S RETIREMENT.
dissatisfaction on the part of the settlers, during the latter years of his administration, but it principally originated in the difficulty of keeping up the payments on their lands, in the hard times succeeding the war. Probably the chief fault of the com- pany and its agents was in permitting men to buy large tracts without any substantial payment in advance, and in letting the occupants get so far in arrears as they did during the first ten or fifteen years. There is nothing like a steady, gentle pres- sure to stimulate industry and compel frugality. Mr. E.'s mind was still clear, but he had already developed that tendency toward hypochondria which, after five years of inaction, led to the insanity and final suicide of one who had been for two de- cades the most influential man in Western New York. Jacob S. Otto, of Philadelphia, took his place as local agent.
Among the new comers was one who has had an exceptional career. Dr. George Sweetland, then about twenty-three years old, located himself, in 1821, in the woods where now stands the little village, of East Evans, and began practicing as a physi- cian. During all the fifty-five years since that time he has re- mained at the same place, engaged in the duties of his profes- sion, being now the oldest and earliest practitioner in Erie county. In the earlier part of his professional career, he fre- quently visited Eden, Hamburg and Collins, riding on horse- back as was the wont of country doctors. Sometimes, when the roads were at their worst, he took his saddle-bags on his arm, and went on foot five or six miles to visit a patient. Now, of course, his range is more circumscribed, but he still bravely up- holds the banner of Esculapius, which he unfurled fifty-five years ago.
In the same year Chauncey Hastings opened the first store in what is now Sardinia village, and the first of any consequence in the town. There were then but three houses in the "village." He was the only merchant there for over twenty-five years. Afterwards he built a hotel which he kept for an equal length- of time, being, as may easily be seen, the principal business man of the town.
As soon as spring opened in 1821, superintendent Wilkeson recommenced work on the Buffalo harbor. The mouth of the creek was sixty rods north of where it now is, the stream run-
35İ
UNIQUE ENGINEERING.
ning for that distance nearly parallel with the lake. The ridge between them was found to be of gravel, so solid that it could not be removed, (as was necessary to make a new mouth and a straight channel,) by manual labor, without immense expense. The method adopted was so ingenious as to be worthy of es- pecial mention.
A stout dam was built across the creek just below where it turned to the north. Then a small opening was made in the gravel at the end of the dam next the lake, when the imprisoned water rushed around it, tearing out a great hole in the ridge. Then the dam was advanced still further westward, and the stream re- moved more gravel. The process was repeated until a straight channel, large enough for small vessels, was cut clear through into the lake.
In this and other parts of the work it was absolutely neces- sary to have a pile-driver, and impossible to get one of the usual make. So one was improvised for the occasion, the ham- mer being composed of an old mortar which had been used in the war of 1812. The trunnions were knocked off, and it served the needs of peace better, I am afraid, than it had those of war.
The harbor was completed in the summer of 1821, two hun- dred and twenty-one working days having been occupied in its construction.
In November, Lake Erie lost the pioneer of her steam-marine, the solitary and celebrated Walk-in-the-Water. Having just left Black Rock one afternoon, and being struck by a squall about four miles above Bird Island, she lay at anchor all night, and the next morning was driven ashore near the light-house. No lives were lost, but the Walk-in-the-Water had sustained such serious injuries that she ceased forever from her aquatic pedestrianism.
Steps, however, were immediately taken to supply her place; and in January, 1822, an agent of an eastern company came on to . select a place to build a new steamer, and make a contract for the same. He was directed to build at Buffalo, unless he should be satisfied that its harbor was not available. He went to Black Rock first, and its people soon satisfied him that the new harbor was useless, laying especial stress on the assertion that it would remain filled with ice after the lake was clear in the spring. The
352
A HAZARDOUS BARGAIN.
agent thereupon made arrangements to build at Black Rock, and went to Buffalo to have the papers drawn.
The Buffalonians heard what was going on, and an excited crowd gathered around the hotel where he was staying. To have it decided that their harbor was not fit to build a steam- boat in might be ruinous. It was rumored that the agent was about to return east the next morning, and no time was to be lost. Judge Wilkeson was deputed to wait on him. His only instructions were to get the steamboat.
"Make any arrangement you think necessary," said the citi- zens, "and we will stand by you."
The committee of one entered the agent's room, introduced himself, and asked why he did not propose to build at Buffalo, as his principals expected. That gentleman gave the reasons which had prompted his action, naming especially the danger that the steamer would be detained by ice. Wilkeson promptly replied :
"We will furnish timber at a quarter less than Black Rock prices, and give a judgment-bond with ample security, provid- ing for the payment of a hundred and fifty dollars for every day the boat shall be detained in the creek, beyond the first of May."
The offer was at once accepted, the necessary arrangements were made, a contractor was found for the timber, and the bond agreed upon was signed by nearly every responsible citizen. The building of the vessel soon began, and went steadily forward.
As spring approached the citizens looked for a freshet to clear out the loose sand, gravel, etc., which still remained in the har- bor. A freshet did come, but, as there was a large bank of ice at the new mouth of the creek, the high water carried an im- mense amount of sediment upon it, making a formidable dam. Several expedients were tried for removing it, but without avail
Meanwhile the first of May was approaching. At length it was evident that extraordinary exertions must be made, or the citizens would be saddled with a bill for damages on their bond, which at that time would have been enormous. A subscription of $1,361 was raised,; a little in cash, the rest in goods or labor. Dr. Johnson subscribed the largest sum, $110, "in goods at cash prices." The other amounts ranged from a hundred dollars
353
THE CANAL BEGUN.
down to two. One man subscribed "a certain brown cow with a white head, to be appraised by the harbor commissioners."
By the energetic use of the aid thus provided, a channel was cut through by the Ist of May. On that day the steamboat, which had been named the "Superior," went down to test it. The work was still incomplete and the channel dangerous, but the pilot was 'a Buffalonian who thoroughly understood the track ; he took the Superior safely through and the bond was cancelled.
All this while there had been a continuons contest between the Buffalonians and Black Rockers, to influence the canal com- missioners in the selection of a terminus. The Black Rock men also built a pier to enclose a harbor, and General Porter's influence was strong in favor of his village. In this as in other contests Judge Wilkeson led the Buffalonians, and his arguments before the commissioners and other officials, though perhaps lacking in grace, and delivered with all the energy of the most energetic of men, went straight to the point and were eminently effective.
At length the controversy was decided in favor of Buffalo, and on the 9th of August, 1823, work on the grand canal was begun in Erie county. Ground was broken near the Commer- cial-street bridge, in Buffalo. There was of course a celebration, including procession, speech-making, etc. The assembled crowd were so eagerly interested in the great work that they did not content themselves with the formal removal of a few spadefuls, but fell in procession behind the contractor's ploughs, and fol- lowed them for half a mile, with music playing and cannon firing. "Then," says the account, "they partook of a beverage furnished by the contractor," and afterwards dispersed with vociferous cheers.
During the summer of 1822, a new State constitution was formed, and adopted by the people. By its provisions sheriffs and county clerks were to be elected by the people instead of appointed-each holding for three years. Justices of the peace and district-attorneys were appointed by the judges of the Common Pleas and the board of supervisors, acting conjointly. All other judicial officers were appointed by the governor and senate. Erie, Niagara, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties became the thirtieth congressional district, entitled to one
354
OFFICIAL, MILITARY AND POSTAL.
member. At this time, too, the date of holding elections was changed from April to November.
Accordingly, in the fall of 1822, Wray S. Littlefield, of Ham- burg, was elected sheriff, and Jacob A. Barker, of Buffalo, son of the pioneer judge, Zenas Barker, was chosen county clerk. At the same time Albert H. Tracy was elected to Congress for the third time. Considering that he was still on the sunny side of thirty, his success was something astonishing. Ebenezer F. Norton, a Buffalo lawyer, was chosen member of assembly, and about the same time Dr. Josiah Trowbridge was appointed a judge of the Common Pleas. The supervisors for 1822, the rec- ords of whose election have been preserved, were Ebenezer Walden of Buffalo, Oziel Smith of Amherst, Otis R. Hopkins of Clarence, Ebenezer Holmes of Wales, Lemuel Wasson of Hamburg, James Green of Eden, John Twining of Boston, Mitchell Corliss of Holland, Benoni Tuttle of Sardinia, and Henry Joslin of Collins.
The military record shows no lack of epauletted gentlemen. The 17th regiment of cavalry was evidently a Buffalo institu- tion, of which, in 1822, S. K. Grosvenor was appointed colonel ; David S. Conkey, lieutenant-colonel ; and Lucius Storrs, major. Of the 13th regiment of infantry Orange Mansfield (of Clar- ence) was made colonel; Francis Lincoln, lieutenant-colonel; and George Stow, major. The same commission appointed Earl Sawyer, lieutenant-colonel, and Asa Wells, major, of the ISIst regiment of infantry.
Several new post-offices were established this year. One was at Holland, with Lyman Clark as postmaster. One was in Collins, named Angola, (at Taylor's Hollow,) with Jacob Taylor, the old Quaker instructor of the Indians, as postmaster. There was already one in Evans, called Eden, in which town it had originally been included, and in this year there was one es- tablished in Eden, with John M. Welch for postmaster, which, by some blunder, was called Evans. These names were soon afterwards transposed so as to give each town a post-office of its own name.
Col. Asa Warren removed to "Hill's Corners" in 1822, and built a large hotel, though in two or three years he gave up keeping it on account of scruples against selling liquor. This
355
MILLARD FILLMORE.
was about the time of the earliest development of feeling on that subject. Fillmore & Johnson had a small store there a little later, the place began to take village shape, and people began to call it " Eden Corners."
The allowance of three post-offices for the single town of Hamburg seems to have been thought altogether too extrava- gant by the department. So "East Hamburg," "Smithville" and " Barkersville" were all discontinued, and a new office, called "Hamburg," was established at Abbott's Corners, under Harry Abbott as postmaster, as stated in the journals of the day. The old office called " Hamburg," at John Green's tavern, must have been previously discontinued. Another post-office was also established in 1822, at "West Clarence," of which Simeon Fillmore was the first postmaster.
Apropos of that name, it was in the spring of 1822 that a tall young man, of stalwart form, open countenance and pleasing demeanor, came from an eastern county and entered the law office of Joseph Clary. This was Millard Fillmore, the future President of the United States. Born in Cayuga county, at the very beginning of the century, he had passed his boyhood amid the privations of a backwoods farm, and had in early youth learned the trade of a clothier. Approaching man's estate, his aspiring mind had sought more congenial employment in the study of the law. A lawyer who appreciated his abilities gave him some assistance, and the young man supported himself partly by working at his trade, and partly by teaching a country school. Meanwhile his father, Nathaniel Fillmore, had emi- grated to Aurora in this county, about the same time that his (Nathaniel's) brother Calvin moved thither from Clarence. Mil- lard, as before stated, followed in 1822, and continued his law studies in Buffalo.
All of the elder Fillmores were men of powerful frame, and all had considerable local prominence, such as is often gained in country-towns by sensible though not highly educated men. Simeon was supervisor of Clarence several years. Calvin was a prominent local politician, a colonel of militia, and at one time a member of the assembly. Millard's father, Nathaniel, was less noted, but was for several years a justice of the peace, and was generally recognized as a man of unblemished integrity and
356
ALDEN AND ERIE.
sound judgment. Of Glezen Fillmore, the son of Simeon, I have spoken at some length before.
Young Millard continued his studies through the summer, and in the winter taught a school at Cold Spring. It is said that the young school-teacher and law-student was recognized as a man of considerable ability, and that some of his admirers predicted that he would yet fill a seat in the State legislature! In the spring of 1823 he was admitted to practice in the county court. and immediately opened an office at Aurora. He was the first lawyer in the county, outside of Buffalo and Black Rock.
Another gentleman in the southern part of the county, whom I must mention on account of his prominence and his long pro- fessional career, was Dr. Carlos Emmons, who in IS23 settled at Springville. For nearly half a century he practiced his pro- fession there, besides filling many important positions, and only within the last year has he passed away from life.
Early in that year the legislature erected two new towns from Clarence-Alden and Erie. The former occupied the same ter- ritory as now, with the nominal addition of part of the reserva- tion opposite. The name of the latter was afterwards changed to Newstead, and the existence of the previous town of Erie, which was formed in IS04 and obliterated in ISos, has caused remarkable confusion among the statisticians. All the gazet- teers, civil-lists, etc., that I have seen, state that the town of Newstead was " formed as Erie, in 1804." whereas the town of Erie, which was formed in ISO4, had ceased to exist for fifteen years when the town of Erie which afterwards became Newstead was erected, and the two "Eries" were six miles apart at the nearest point.
The town-records of Newstead were burned a few years as . but those of Alden have been preserved and show that the fi :. town-meeting was held at the house of Washburn Parker, on the 27th day of May, 1823, when Edmond Badger was elected t'. first supervisor. It is said that Alden was so designated Ly- one of its citizens after the name of his wife's mother, and 1%. : thereupon for several years denominated "Grannytown," by ! : irreverent youth of the period.
Clarence, after the division, still included the present Lan- caster, making a town six miles wide and nearly twenty long.
357
LANCASTER AND TONAWANDA.
The south part, however, had grown so that the next winter a post-office was established at the present village of Lancaster, by the name of "Cayuga Creek ;" Thomas Gross being the first postmaster.
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