USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 31
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Many years since, when the late Daniel Pratt was holding court, a tall, uncomely specimen of humanity was called up for trial for some misde- meanor. He stood up, apparently without counsel, whereupon he was asked by the Judge if he had counsel, and replied in the affirmative. As no member of the bar appeared to act as such the Judge further questioned him, " Who is your counsel ? " The man replied, " God Almighty !" The Judge promptly advised the prisoner thus : " You better get somebody who practices in these courts."
Several years ago the late Damon Coats, who was noted for his lively wit, defended a prisoner who was on trial for felony. As the trial proceeded some of the bar left the court-room for a time. Returning, they met Mr. Coats just going out, and said to him : " Well, how did you make out with your prisoner ?" " Oh," was the reply, " I succeeded in convicting him, with the aid of the district attorney !"
In the year 1829 there was a drug store on the southwest corner of Warren and East Genesee streets. On one occasion, when several villagers had gathered there to discuss the current topics, a deer bounded directly through one of the front windows and into their midst. The animal came from the east through Genesee street. It is not too much to say that the gossipers were surprised. At about the same time a bear was killed in South Salina street.
The " Salina Gang," as they were termed, met one of their severest battles and repulses in a fight with the " village boys " while the crection of the first Bastable Block was in progress many years ago. Dean Richmond led the Salina party, and when it reached the scene of the struggle they found the street barricaded with timbers and the Syracuse boys well sup.
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plied with paving stoncs. The fight was brief but intense, and the Salt Pointers were forced to retreat, several of them being severely injured. It was one of the most riotous of the numerous proceedings of that character of those days.
When the Hon. Andrew D. White was a boy he displayed much invent- ive genius. He had a workshop in the basement of his father's home, on the site of the present residence of Dr. Didama, and much of his time was spent in scientific and mechanical pursuits. He made, among other things, a printing press entirely of wood, which did its work in quite a perfect man- ner, some of the principles of which are employed in the perfecting presses of to-day. He also came very near being the inventor of telegraphy be- fore Morse made his discoveries. He constructed a battery and strung wires, and by breaking the current produced a spark. He then devised a code by which sentences could be transmitted by manipulating the sparks. A "sounder " is used in these days to indicate dots and dashes, made by breaking the current, the sounds of the instrument taking the place of Mr. White's sparks.
In the olden practice at our courts B. Davis Noxon was retained in a trial with his usual tact and persistence, and was engaged against an oppo- nent who continually interposed objections. The Judge, who was many years Mr. Noxon's junior, uniformly decided in favor of the objections. Becoming irritated at Mr. Noxon's persistency the Judge exclaimed : "What am I here for except to decide these questions as they arise ?" Mr. Noxon, with his usual gravity, laid down his glasses and pen, and looking up at the Judge, replied : " Your honor has got me now !"
Mr. Noxon was long recognized as the nestor of the bar prior to his death. Many years since his son-in-law, now the venerable Judge Com- stock, was elected Judge of the Court of Appeals on the Know-Nothing ticket. Soon after his election the late Judge Mason, of the Supreme Court, of Hamilton, N. Y., met Mr. Noxon and congratulated him upon Mr. Comstock's election to the Court of Appeals, adding that as he had long been a judge in theory, he had now become one in fact, and that no doubt he would make an excellent judge. "Yes," Mr. Noxon replied, "Judge Comstock will if he is n't most woefully deceived in himself."
In times past the rules of practice required attorneys, in causes tried at the Circuit desiring an appeal, to make a motion on defendants with notice before the end of the term. A trial having been had in court before the late Judge Daniel Pratt, and a decision made adverse to the clients of Messrs. Gardner & Burdick, a motion, with notice on affidavits hastily drawn was made by Hamilton Burdick (now a senior and honored member of the On- ondaga Bar). He began to read the affidavits with his usual custom, slowly
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and deliberately, when Judge Pratt, after a short time, said to him, " Hand up your papers." Mr. Burdick did so, and after the Judge had tried in vain to read them he impatiently threw them on the desk with the remark that any lawyer who would write like that ought to have his motion denied on the spot. Mr. Burdick coolly replied : "I don't know as lawyers are to blame if the people elect Judges that can't read writing." No one enjoyed the reply more than the Judge himself.
About five years, ago Ezra Town was in Syracuse on a visit to James M. Ellis. Mr. Town was in business in this city from 1825 to 1855, and gave the following particulars of trade matters at an early day : " East of Montgomery street, between the Genesee turnpike and the Erie Canal, was a dense alder swamp. On the corner of Mulberry and Fayette streets was a house, but it was considered away out in the country. The man who built it was ridiculed for going so far for a home. The old red mill was still standing on the east bank of the creek near the turnpike. The amount of business done in Syracuse in 1825 was much less than that at Onondaga. Nearly all of the stores were on the north side of the canal, in a block be- tween the two bridges. When it became known that I was going to open a grocery on the other side of the canal people said that I could not live, but I did, and without selling whisky, which was the general custom with merchants of that day. Syracuse then contained only about thirty houses. Reuben West and the Eastmans, at Onondaga Hill, and W. H. Raynor, at the Valley, sold more goods and bought more produce than the whole of us in Syracuse."
The venerable Mr. Elisha Ford says that the first brick building in Syracuse was the Syracuse House, and the first brick dwelling is the build- ing which is still standing just east of the Bastable Block. It is more than remarkable that both of these structures should have so long escaped the numerous changes that have taken place.
In 1824-25 James Webb came down from Onondaga Hill and built the first and only stone dwelling house in the village. It was erected in West Water street, and he kept it for a time as a boarding-house. Since then it has been used for various purposes, and is now standing and used as a dye- house.
The manner in which railroad trains were run fifty years ago is in part illustrated by the following statement of a locomotive engineer who be- came connected with the Syracuse and Utica division of what is now the Central in June, 1845, six years after its completion : " When I became an engineer on this division," he says, "the company had five engines. The heaviest one did not weigh over fifteen tons. The smallest weighed about thirteen tons. The time of the regular run between Syracuse and
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Utica, fifty-one miles, was three and one-half hours. The usual train con- sisted of four passenger coaches and a freight car. They were all small eight- wheeled cars. One day I ran my train from Syracuse into the station at Utica fifteen minutes ahead of time. Every one about the station was astonished, and a great miany questions were asked regarding the trip. Some persons thought I must have left Syracuse ahead of time. They had been accustomed to seeing the trains come in late. In some way the news of my fast trip reached the ears of the officials of the road in Syracuse. When I arrived in that city on my next run Superintendent John Wilkin- son called me into his office and reprimanded me for running my train so fast. I argued that there was no time-card stating what time the train should arrive at stations on the line, and I had no specific orders as to run- ning fast or slow. The Superintendent told me that a repetition of the offense would result in my discharge from the company's services. I was more careful after that. Our fastest train was the one that carried the Governor's message. It made the time from Utica to Syracuse in about two and one-quarter hours. It took seven and one-half hours to carry the message from Albany to Auburn. The train was watched by groups of astonished people along the line. They said it went like lightning, but such lightning could easily be dodged. There were no switches along the road in those days. The road was double-tracked between Verona and Canastota, and trains were expected to pass each other between those sta tions. When they failed to do this and met on the single track one of the trains had to back up and run in on the extra track or turnout. There was no telegraph and consequently no orders along the line for the running of trains. In case of an accident to the train we would get a farmer to drive to the nearest station and notify some of the employees of the road, and then a hand-car would be sent to Syracuse or Utica for aid. Railroading in those days was pretty slow business, but we didn't think so at the time. I did not expect to live to see it advanced to its present state."
The venerable Judge Comstock had but recently been beaten in several cases before the General Term, when he re appeared in reference to several other cases in which appeals had been taken from the trial court, and re- membering his recent experiences he made no argument, but brought smiles to the faces of the Justices when he said : " May it please your hon- ors, I pause here on my way to the Court of Appeals only long enough to hand up my briefs." It was characteristic wit and sarcasmn.
David J. Mitchell was once assigned by the court to the defense of an impecunious negro at Morrisville. Mr. Mitchell exerted his best efforts during the taking of testimony and spoke at much length in summing up ; but the guilt of the man was so clearly proven that the jury found a verdict
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without leaving their seats, and five minutes later the Judge had sentenced him to State Prison for life. Mr. Mitchell then turned to the negro and re- marked : " Well, sir, you may thank me for that speech, for without it you would have got twenty years more."
Perhaps the best exhibition of legal lore ever made in the city was on the occasion of the trial of one Lindsay, indicted for the murder of a man near Baldwinsville. The late Hon. Charles B. Sedgwick appeared as one of the counsel for the prisoner, and during the trial an expert from Phila- delphia was called by the people to show that blood that had been put in evidence was human blood, and blood of the murdered man. He had sworn very positively and at considerable length when Mr. Sedgwick be- gan his cross-examination, which continued during the most of two days. Mr. Sedgwick had especially prepared himself for this branch of the exam- ination, and step by step he wove a web about the expert which at last began to disturb his equanimity and indicate the main purpose of the in- quiry. Mr. Sedgwick had applied his severest sarcasm and irony in at- tacking the standing of the witness as an expert, and had confronted him with the opinions of eminent authorities with whom the witness had disa- greed, and in the earlier part of the examination firmly asserted that it was easy to distinguish between the blood of a person and that of a pig. Mr. Sedgwick led up to the important question : "Do you now say, in view of all the authorities that have been presented, and following the vehement af- firmations which you have made, that you can distinguish the blood of a pig from the blood of a man ?" in such a skillful manner that the witness began to tremble at the conclusion of the question. He was pressed for an an -. swer, and finally replied : "No," thus destroying his testimony for the people.
During the War of 1812 the old military arsenal in the Valley, which has been described on an earlier page of this work, was a place of consider- able importance. Bodies of soldiers often made it a stopping-place for a night, or while awaiting orders. The antiquarian is interested in this con- nection in the fate of an artillery officer and a comrade, who was probably a private, who were passing from the Niagara frontier eastward, towards the close of the war. It is said that the officer belonged to the first artillery company in the country. These two soldiers were taken sick on the march, and when the old arsenal was reached they were left to receive such care as could be given them there .- Both died and were buried on the Hopper farm on the hill at the west side of the Valley, and the graves are marked with simple stones. Those two graves have attracted the attention of hun- dreds of passers by, and caused almost endless conjecture as to whose re- mains were buried there.
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A.L. Mason
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Wieting Hall, though it some time ago was superceded by the Wieting Opera House, is of historic interest. It was the offspring of a happy thought of the owner of the Wieting Block, Dr. John M. Wieting, and twice it was destroyed by fire. For many years the State conventions of the political parties were held in it, and not a few lively scenes were witnessed at such times, some of which have been referred to in an earlier chapter of this book. Among the very last of such conventions held in it was that of the year 1872, when the Liberal party, which supported Horace Greeley for the Presidency, was organized in this State. The events at- tending that division of the Republican party were even more interesting to the public than those on the occasion of the withdrawal of John Kelly and Tammany Hall, when they, like the Liberals, found themselves in the minority and unable to control the organization of the convention. Wiet- ing Hall and Syracuse only yielded up their popularity when the great car- avansaries of Saratoga bid successfully for political patronage, and even after that time State conventions were occasionally held here, one, in par- ticular, at which Grover Cleveland was nominated for Governor, on his way to the Presidency. Here for many years congregated the politicians of the State, great and small, and of all parties, the " Barnburners," "Loco-Focos," " Hunkers," "Silver Grays," "Woolly Heads," Whigs, Democrats, Repub- licans, Know-Nothings, and Abolitionists. Here great men and women have been seen or heard, or both, for while some have electrified great audi- ences by their oratory, acting, or song, others have controlled assemblages by their quiet, yet powerful, influence, such for instance as Thurlow Weed, Dean Richmond, Peter Cagger, John Kelly, and many others of no less fame. Among the political sayings that have come down from these con- ventions is one from Dean Richmond, which, because it illustrates so much of political management, will live for some time to come. His will was the will of his party, and, on one occasion, after making up the " slate " for thic convention, one of his lieutenants observed that he had neglected to name the last and most insignificant candidate. Mr. Richmond's attention being called to the fact, and weary of the task he had already performed, re- marked: "Yes, I have made that omission "; and then after a moment's re- flection said, " perhaps that nomination might as well be left to the conven- tion," and it was. The first convention in the city that can be recalled is that of the Whigs in 1850. It met in September in Market Hall, which, before the erection of Wieting Hall, was generally used for public meetings. It was also the City Hall, and was renovated from time to time according to the needs of a growing city, but was demolished in 1890 to make room for the new municipal building now in course of erection, at a cost of some- thing more than two hundred thousand dollars. Within its walls, too, has
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resounded the eloquence of voices of national reputation. Of the orators and statesmen who have been heard in Wieting Hall were Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips, Samuel J. Tilden, John B. Gough, Henry Ward Beecher, Horace Greeley, Henry J. Raymond, Frederick Douglass, Stephen A. Douglass, Governor Andrew, Governor Brough, and Governor Morgan, ("the war Governors" of Massachusetts, Ohio, and New York respectively,) Roscoe Conkling, Senator John Sherman, Gerrit Smith, William Lloyd Garrison, Vice-President llamlin, Rev. Samuel J. May, President Chester A. Arthur, John Van Buren, Horatio Seymour, Anna Dickinson. The dramatic stage attracted Charles Dickens, Janauschek, Charlotte Cushman, Edwin Booth, John McCullough, Lawrence Barrett, Edwin Forrest, Joseph Jefferson, and many others scarcely less brilliant in both America and Europe. Parepa Rosa, Adelina Patti, and Christine Nillson were of those who succeeded Jenny Lind in this country, with many other magnificent vocalists of reputation. In the days when the lyceum was popular scores of lecturers afforded excel - lent instruction and entertainment ; concerts were frequent, and scientific exhibitions were well patronized. The Franklin Institute was for a time a flourishing institution, and its midwinter " fairs" were popular in the ex- treme. Not the least attractive were the courses of lectures on physiology which Dr. Wieting gave, several winters after he built the block and hall from the proceeds of such lectures given by him throughout the country during several years previously. These lectures were illustrated with the aid of manikins and charts - something quite new for those days. As Syra- cuse was looked upon as a " hot bed of abolitionism " in the more heated anti-slavery days, it was but natural that Market Hall and Wieting Hall should have been the arena of some of the most renowned debates, and in some instances these gatherings of Abolitionists were disgracefully assailed by mob violence. Especially in " war times " was Wicting Hall filled with cloquence, patriotism, and enthusiasm, when there were great assemblages of people to devise ways and means for recruiting the army or giving it moral and political support through the aid of the " Union party," a union of Republicans and Democrats in support of the Union army. On such occasions the hall was frequently magnificently decorated with the Old Flag and tricolors, especially in celebration of some important victory. At such times bands of music would occupy the gallery, while cannon would boom from the packet dock with an eloquence of oratory which would stir the multitude to the highest pitch of excitement. But when the Wieting Block was last burned a few years ago the hall of course lost its personal interest, but memories of it will live while those live who were witnesses to its many stirring scenes. The entrance to it was from Salina street, one flight up, with the stage in the west end. A wide gallery extended frou!
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the stage around the hall. Originally its seats were connected wooden chairs, and moveable, but in later years, after the first fire, it was supplied with opera chairs. The present Wieting Opera House is much more pre- tentious in its appearance than the old hall, but it is no more pleasing to those who remember Wieting Hall.
Convention Hall was less pretentious, but for many years it was a pop- ular place of meeting for small conventions and newly organized churches. Concerts and lectures were frequently given in it. It was located in the Convention Block in East Genesee street, next west of the building now occupied by the Courier Printing Company.
Corinthian Hall was also well known thirty years ago, and was the place of some noted entertainments. It was situated on the second floor of the building in North Salina street, a little south of the present Columbia Market.
Malcom Hall, in the present Malcom Block, South Salina street corner of Washington street, was also once a popular place of amusement. The Christy Minstrels of long ago made their first appearance in this part of the State there.
And there was Myers Hall, in the present Myers Block, which became somewhat conspicuous from being the lodge room of the " Sons of Malta," an organization of much dignity on the exterior, but higlily deceptive and amusing in its interior. There are still many of its victims living who will remember the midnight parade it once made, with its thousand mem- bers in cowls and gowns, and the distribution of bread it made to the poor. Its membership embraced many of the most prominent citizens, inveigled into its mysteries by deception, but when once within its doors waited with good humor to have revenge upon some innocent friend. The "order " had no object other than to gratify fun-loving dispositions.
These facts may be noted here for preservation : Onondaga county was first settled in 1786. Syracuse was first known by the Indians as Webster's Camp and Webster's Landing. It was known as Bogardus Corners from 1796 to 1809, when the name was changed to Milan, and to South Salina (to distinguish it from Salina) in 1812. Two years later, in 1814, the name was again changed to Cossitt's Corners, and in 1817 to Corinth. There was a postoffice in the State of that name in 1820, when it was desired to establish a postoffice here, hence it was necessary to again change the name, this time to Syracuse. The village was incorporated April 13, 1825, and the village became a city December 13, 1847, with a population of about 16,000.
John Wilkinson was the pioneer lawyer. He came to "Corinth " in 1819, and located his office " out of town " on the corner now occupied by
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the Globe Hotel. He was followed in 1824 by Alfred Northam. Then came Harvey Baldwin and Schuyler Strong (in 1826), and Horace Wheaton, - Davis, E. W. Leavenworth, B. Davis Noxon, James R. Lawrence, Joshua Forman, George F. Comstock, Grove Lawrence, John H. Hulbert, Daniel Gott, I. D. Hillis, Daniel Pratt, Charles B. Sedgwick, William J. Hough, Henry J. Sedgwick, John Ruger, John G. Forbes, James W. Nye, Thomas T. Davis, N. B. Smith, Peter Outwater, R. H. Gardner, James S. Leach, Le Roy Morgan, Hamilton Burdick, Thomas G. Alvord, William C. Ruger, Charles Andrews, George N. Kennedy, Frank Hiscock, while many have followed them. It is believed that of all these but seven are now living.
It is said that the discovery of salt under the Tully hills but verifies the oft-repeated belief of a famous and respected chief of the Onondaga Indians, Captain George. Upon what he based his opinion is not definitely known ; but a member of the tribe recently told the writer that the chief often said that "if white men would go deep down in the earth over towards the morn- ing sun they would find salt in big piles." About twenty wells supply a 12-inch pipe which now brings a million gallons of very strong brine to the city every day. W. B. Cogswell spent much time and money in "pros- pecting " for a salt mine, and was at last (in 1889) abundantly rewarded. The Solvay Process Works (of which Mr. Cogswell is President) are now supplied with brine of the exact strength required (within one degree of saturation), and there is brine to spare for some of the manufacturers of salt.
Bradley Carey, eighty-seven years old, recalls these facts and incidents: "When I came here in 1825 I was nearly twenty-one years of age. The vil- lage of Syracuse contained 800 or 900 inhabitants, for the most part north of and near the Erie Canal. The old Mansion Tavern stood where the Empire House does now. The salt men were then just commencing to make salt by the solar process, and were building works south of West Genesee street. Two years before I came here to live, or in 1823, I recollect attending a show in the hall of the Mansion Tavern. Samuel Larned used to carry his show about on a canal boat, exhibiting at the towns along the canal. I re- member it consisted of wax figures, two of which were Lady Jane Grey and Mary, Queen of Scots. We thought it was a great show in those days. The greatest excitement we had then was town meeting. The nearest polling place was at Salt Point, or, as it later was called, Salina. As town meeting came in the spring of the year we often had to go in sleighis over a very rough and much drifted road. I remember one election, the first time Jackson ran for the Presidency. Excitement ran high. There were two or three feet of snow in the road. Both parties had sleighis carrying
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people to the polls, and as the road had only a single track then a trip to Salt Point was pretty rough. When I came to Syracuse the only church in the village which was finished and occupied was the Baptist church, which stood where the First Universalist church now stands. I was a car- penter by trade and worked on the first Presbyterian church and the first Episcopal church ever built in the city. In 1825 these churches were be- ing built, also the first Methodist church ever erected in the city. They were all, I think, small wooden structures. The Presbyterian church stood where McCarthy's retail store now stands; the Episcopal church (old St. Paul's) on the lot bounded by Genesee, Washington, and Warren streets, where the Granger Block stands, and the Methodist church where the First Methodist is now. I think the present First M. E. church is an enlargement of that same building, at least it is on the same site. The Catholics bought the Episcopal church some years later and moved it down in Montgomery street, where it now stands. It is the old St. Mary's."
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