USA > Ohio > Columbiana County > Salem in Columbiana County > A souvenir history of ye old town of Salem, Ohio, with some pictures and brief references to ye people and things of ye olden time > Part 5
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Robert Tolerton.
who had so grievously wronged him. He gave himself with fresh zeal to the work of reform, and few men have done more than he did to make purer and sweeter the moral atmosphere of the region in which he lived. In 1851 he be-
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came editor of the Anti-Slavery Bugle, at Salem, Ohio, and conducted it until the time of its discontinuance, after the abolition of slavery had been practically assured. His editorial ser- vices were greatly valued, and won for him the admiration and confidence of those who profited thereby. He died in Salem respected and loved by the whole community.
"It seems incredible now that the pulpit of that day was generally silent in the presence of outrages like those inflicted on Mr. Robinson, and that leading newspapers spoke of them rather to" condemn the victims than the authors. But such is the fact. Those who imagine that the conflict with the slave power began with the organization of the anti-slavery political parties need to be reminded that no such parties could have existed but for the grand moral struggle that preceded them, and that was sustained for years by men and women who endured, bravely and unflinchingly, the reproach and scorn of hostile communities, and whose properties and lives were often in peril."
Strange as it may appear, the men who mobbed Robinson, although their identity was
known, were allowed to go unpunished, and none the less strange, the victim to the outrage was himself arrested and tried on a charge of inciting a mob; and although the case was discharged, yet he was held sufficiently long to prevent his making an anti-slavery speech which had been announced. R. W. Tayler (father of Judge R. W. Tayler), then practicing at the Trumbull county bar, defended Mr. Robinson against the villainous charge brought against him, and offered his services in an attempt to bring to justice the ruffians who perpetrated the outrage upon Mr. Robinson.
Marius Robinson's own story of the terrible indignity perpetrated upon him, was published June 15, 1837, over his signature, in "Free Dis- cussion," a weekly periodical which was being published that year at New Lisbon, by John Frost, and devoted to abolitionism, temperance and anti-Free Masonry. Mr. Robinson's narrative follows :
"Mr. Frost : At the request of a number of my fellow-citizens, I send you some of the par- ticulars of a recent gross violation of my rights, in common with those of my fellow-citizens. *
1
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I shall give a simple narrative of facts, for some of the indignities offered me were of too gross and brutal a character to be thus publicly detailed. In giving this narrative I am actuated by no spirit of resentment, but of un- feigned sorrow for the deep-rooted and widely extended influence of the spirit of slavery among my countrymen, and a strong desire that all may see their danger, and, rising in the vigor of Christian manhood, may remove the cause, by the unceasing proclamation of the great doctrines of universal love.
"On Thursday, the 1st of the present month, I visited Berlin, in Trumbull county [now a part of Mahoning county], for the pur- pose of discussing the subject of American slavery. Notice was circulated that on the fol- lowing day there would be a lecture. Applica- tion was made to Joseph Colt, Esq., a trustee of the school district, and one of the oldest and most influential citizens of the place, for the use of the schoolhouse. This was refused. Jesse Garretson, a highly respectable merchant of Ber- lin, at whose house I was welcomed with the warmest of cordiality, opened his dwelling for
Israel Bean.
the lecture. Esq. Holt informed him that if the meeting was held the inevitable result would be a mob. The meeting, however, passed off without a verification of the prediction, and another meeting was appointed to be held on
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the following day of the week, when I pur- posed to vindicate the Bible from the charge of supporting slavery. On Sunday there were some buzzings of dis- approbation, because we had presumed to have a meeting in oppo- sition to the well-known wishes of the nobility of Berlin. But they were Marius R. Robinson. not such as to create in my mind any apprehension of violence. But the result showed that Esq. Holt could penetrate the future with more certainty than myself. About 10 o'clock at night Mordecai B. Hughes entered the store of Garretson & Hoover, where I was sitting in conversation with J. F. Powers, Jesse Garretson and his wife, and having seized me by the arm proceeded to drag me toward the door, at the same time saying, 'You have got to leave town tonight. You have disturbed the peace of our citizens long enough.' Mrs. Garretson
interfered, saying : 'If you take him, you must take me too ;' and about the same time a second ruffian, who entered just after Hughes, seized me by the other arm for the purpose of dragging me out, while Mrs. Garretson made an effort to close the door and shut out the remainder of the gang. But this was prevented by those without, who now joined in the effort for my abduction ; but for several minutes these were rendered un- availing, by the vigor and firmness of my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Garretson. During the struggle Hughes demanded of Mr. Garretson that he should dismiss me from his house. This was refused. They then pressed on with new vigor. They were requested to stop and reason the mat- ter. 'No reason here,' was the reply ; and so, indeed, we found it. Brute force was the order of the day, and it was exercised without respect of persons upon all who opposed, as was strik- ingly manifested in the treatment these chival- rous advocates of slavery were pleased to deal out to Mrs. Garretson in their zeal for the peace of the neighborhood. Hughes, who seemed to be dictator for the occasion, ordered her to desist ; assured her that she was 'acting very impru-
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dently ;' that he 'would remember her for this ; and once pushed her with some violence. Mrs. Garretson also received two blows, one on her arm, which sprained her wrist, and another on her breast which has since occasioned considera- ble pain and soreness. But notwithstanding their commands, threats and blows, she contin- ued unremittingly her efforts, until they had se- cured their prey by dragging me into the street. The spirit with which the attack was made may be learned by the following fact: A citizen from Berlin, in conversation with two of the rioters, asked them how they would have felt had there been a corpse found in the store the next morn- ing. One of them, William Ripley, Jr., a mer- chant of the place, replied, 'We went prepared to take him, let the consequences be what they would.'
"After getting me into the street, they hurried me along with violence and rapidity, a mile or perhaps more-cursing, taunting, threat- ening as they went. I was dragged along by three men, one holding me by each wrist, another. holding me by the collar. This last, who seemed to be more of a savage than the rest, frequently
James Hiddleson.
jerked me with violence towards him, and would then thrust his fist violently against my breast ; and once he struck me on the head. Hughes re-
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monstrated against their hurting me, and they desisted from this species of violence. £
One started for a rail, but this measure was decided against. But in the infliction of tar and feathers they seemed to coincide. After the delay of some half hour or more for the purpose of pro- curing the means, they carried their measure into execution. After this outrage, one of their number went for a wagon, for the purpose of transporting me far from Berlin, that I should not be able to return in time for the meeting next day. During this interval, while being held fast by two men, I was made the subject of multiplied jeers and insults. I made several efforts to enter into conversation, and in one or two instances met with partial success. But Hughes, who was most surprisingly afraid of 'reason,' uniformly interfered and thwarted my purpose.
"When the wagon arrived, I was placed in it with three men, one to drive and two to pre- vent my escape. After ascertaining by search of my pockets that I had neither dirke or pistols, they concluded to relinquish their hold on my person and permit me to ride in the most com- fortable method I could. I was carried by them
about ten miles, and left about an hour before day, near the center of Canfield. I was here an entire stranger, not knowing even the name of a single inhabitant of the township, and in a situation as may well be imagined anything but agreeable. But that God, whose I am and whom I humbly endeavor to serve, guided my steps to the house of Mr. Wetmore, where all my wants were most amply supplied. From his son, Mr. William Wetmore, I received the most marked sympathy and kindness. Of him I borrowed a suit of clothes, my own having been entirely spoiled, attended meeting through the day, and although laboring under considerable pain and fever from the abuse of the previous night, I was permitted at 5 o'clock p. m. to open my mouth once more, for the dumb, and to seach out the cause of those who, by the avarice and prejudice of the Nation, are appointed unto death.
*
*
"I will only add that I have since visited Berlin for the purpose of addressing a number of respectable citizens who were desirous of learn- ing what this strange doctrine (abolition) was. But tar and feathers having proven ineffectual,
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other means were resorted to. I was now, to- gether with my audience, subjected to other out- rages, under the professed authority and sanction of law. The particulars of this transaction are worthy of record, and I will endeavor to furnish them next week. Yours, "MARIUS R. ROBINSON. "GILLFORD, June 13, 1837."
Mr. Frost, in the "Free Discussion," adds the following note : "The names of these praise- worthy conservators of the peace of Berlin should unquestionably be left on record. Here they are: Mordecai B. Hughes, an embryo physician ; William Ripley, Jr., merchant ; John Nixon, merchant ; Herman A. Doud, farmer; Isaac Siddle, farmer ; James Davis, Edmund Davis, Henry Hartleroad, Jesse Rose, James R. Green, Fulton Boyd, - Flick."
It is well known in this community that James Davis, who was a young and inexperienced man at the time, and who afterward became a highly respected citizen, sincerely repented of the part he took in the affair. And it is known that at the funeral of Marius R. Robinson he wept like a child.
Dry Street Friends' Church.
Salem and its immediate vicinity furnished more than one person who proved himself will- ing to suffer martyrdom, if need be, to the cause of human freedom. Edwin and Barclay Coppock were born near Salem, of Quaker parentage, and early imbibed the doctrine of universal liberty. Edwin, the elder of the brothers, suffered the
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death penalty with John Brown, with whom he was taken at the arsenal in Harper's Ferry, on the charge of insurrection against the State of Virginia. Barclay, too, was one of the band of "Old Osawatomie " as he was called when they made their famous raid into the Old Dominion, for the expressed purpose of freeing the slaves of the State, but he with some others escaped cap- ture. In a biography of John Brown, published as one of the "Twentieth Century Classics," by Craine & Co., of Topeka, Kansas, a sketch of each of the men engaged with Brown in the raid, with their subsequent fate, is given. Two of the en- tries follow:
" No. 12. Barclay Coppock. Born in Salem, Ohio, January 4, 1839, of Quaker parents, who moved to Springdale, Iowa. Young Coppock was in Kansas a short time in 1856. Drilled in Springdale school. Although young, he seems to have been trusted by John Brown. Escaped from Harpers Ferry and was killed in wreck on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, caused by Rebels, who sawed the bridge timbers partially off.
"No. 13. Edwin Coppock, Lieutenant. Born
near Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio, June 30, 1835. Elder brother of Barclay Coppock. Hung in Virginia December 16, 1859. Was brave and generous, honorable, loyal and true."
The late Col. T. C. Boone of Salem had in his possession the original commission issued by John Brown, to Edwin Coppock, as a lieutenant in the Provisional Army of Virginia. Col. Boone obtained the paper from Henry Blackburn, while on a visit to West Virginia. Mr. Blackburn had secured it from the files of papers used at the trial of Coppock at Charlestown, Virginia. The com- mission reads as follows :
GREETING.
No. 10.
WHEREAS, EDWIN COPPOC has been nominated a Lieutenant of Company in the Army Established under the PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION,
NOW, THEREFORE, In pursuance of the authority vested in Us by said Constitution, We do herepy Appoint and Commission the said EDWIN COPPOC a Lieutenant.
Given at the office of the Secretary of War, this day, October 13, 1859.
JOHN BROWN, Commander-in-Chief. H. KAGY, Secretary of War.
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The original document contains the auto- graph signature of John Brown, plainly written, though apparently by an unsteady hand.
It was doubtless the doctrine imbibed early, by these brothers, through their Quaker environ- ment, that "all men are created equal," that induced them to join their fortunes with those of John Brown, while that old abolitionist hero was yet battling in "Poor, Bleeding Kansas," for the freedom of fugitive slaves. They accompanied him on his ill-starred raid into Virginia, and with him were captured at Harper's Ferry Oct- ober 17, 1859. Barclay escaped, but Edwin was hanged at Charlestown, Virginia, December 16, 1859. The charge under which he was indicted and convicted, in common with John Brown, the leader, and executed, was for "feloniously con- spiring with each other, and with other persons unknown, to make an abolition insurrection and open war against the Commonwealth of Vir- ginia." On the same day, December 16, 1859, at Charlestown, were executed with Brown, these four of his soldiers: Coppock, Cook, Copeland and Green. Two others, Stephens and Hazlett, were put to death in the same way later. The
HEAD-QUARTERS WAR-DEPARTMENT,
HeardHerford. domund.
WHEREAS; Edwin Coffee les ba nosinated . L'unionar, 7 -
Company in the deany waters under the PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION, Kal, CHERESOHE, Jo primas of the whocity sealed is the by said CONSTITUTION, at. In handy
Appoint and Commission the mid Copper. Viertenants
Seven at the Office of the Secretary of War, this day, Ost. 130, 1869
John Brown CONNICOER IN CHIEF.
EPCRETIRE OF WAR,
522
Fac Simile of Edwin Coppock's Commission, Bearing John Brown's Signature.
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Robert Spencer.
last letter Edwin Coppock ever wrote was to his uncle, Joshua Coppock, then living in Butler town- ship, Columbiana county. It is pregnant with prophecy long since fulfilled. It was written but three days before the young raider's execution, and reads as follows :
CHARLESTOWN, December 13, 1859. "My dear Uncle : I seat myself by the
stand to write for the first time to thee and thy family. Though far from home and overtaken by misfortune I have not forgotten you. Your generous hospitality toward me, during my short stay with you last spring, is stamped indelibly on my heart, and also the generosity bestowed upon my poor brother, who now wanders an out- cast from his native land. But thank God he is free. I am thankful it is I who have to suffer instead of he. The time may come when he will remember me, and the time may come when he will still further remember the cause in which I die. Thank God, the principles of the cause in which we were engaged will not die with me and my brave comrades. They will spread wider and wider and gather strength with each hour that passes. The voice of truth will echo through our land, bringing conviction to the erring, and adding members to that glorious army which will follow its banner. The cause of everlasting truth and justice will go on conquering and to conquer until our broad and beautiful land shall rest beneath the banner of freedom. I had fondly hoped to live to see the principles of the Declara- tion of Independence fully realized. I had hoped to see the dark stain of slavery blotted from our land, and the libel of our boasted freedom erased, when we can say in truth that our beloved coun- try is the land of the free and the home of the brave ; but that cannot be. I have heard my sen-
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tence passed ; my doom is sealed. But two more short days remain for me to fulfill my earthly destiny. But two brief days between me and eternity. At the expiration of these two days I shall stand upon the scaffold to take my last look upon earthly scenes. But that scaffold has but little dread for me, for I honestly believe that I am innocent of any crime, justifying such pun- ishment. But by taking my life and the lives of my comrades, Virginia is but hastening on that glorious day when the slave shall rejoice in his freedom ; when he, too, can say, 'I, too, am a man, and am groaning no more under the yoke of oppression!' But I must now close. Accept this short scrawl as a remembrance of me. Give my love to all the family. Kiss little Joey for me. Remember me to all my relatives and friends. And now farewell for the last time. From thy nephew, EDWIN COPPOCK."
Some time after the execution of Edwin Coppock his body was brought to Salem and buried in Hope Cemetery. Joshua Coppock, uncle of the young man, brought the remains home. The day after their arrival at Mr. Cop- pock's house, in Butler township, there were over 2,000 visitors to the little farm house ; and such a funeral had never been seen in Columbiana county as was given to this young man who had
Alfred Heacock
fallen a victim in the defense of what he deemed a sacred principle. At the edge of one of the main drives in Hope Cemetery stands a plain
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sandstone shaft, about eight feet in height, bearing the simple inscription,
" EDWIN COPPOCK."
In the spring of 1906 the little mound was bare of grass or flower ; but at the base of the monu- ment was a glass jar containing some withered flowers from the season previous-a silent token that some one had paid a passing tribute to Edwin Coppock's memory. At the recurrence of each Memorial Day the grave invariably receives its quota of flowers, when the resting places of those who later died in a cause akin to that for which Coppock gave up his life are also strewn with the bloom of springtime.
Barclay Coppock, Edwin Coppock's brother, who escaped from Harper's Ferry at the time John Brown and others of his men were captured, was hunted by men from Virginia, a reward of $4,000 having been offered for his body, dead or alive. One of the hunting parties came to the house of Joseph Coppock, but did not find Bar- clay, although he was there at the time ; for he was faithfully guarded. After the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion in 1861 Barclay Cop- pock, who had meanwhile retirned to Kansas,
entered the United States service and was em- ployed as a recruiting officer. He had enlisted a force of men and was with them being conveyed over the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad to the front when, as related elsewhere in this chapter, a bridge, having been tampered with and weakened by the Confederates, gave way under the weight of the train, and Coppock, with others, was killed or drowned in the stream below.
As the organ of the "Ohio American Anti- Slavery Society," afterwards the " Western Anti- Slavery Society," the Anti-Slavery Bugle was started in June, 1845, in New Lisbon, where the first half dozen numbers were printed, after which it was removed to Salem, and this was thenceforward its permanent home. It continued to be issued regularly until 1863, when, accord- ing to its announcement, the purpose for which it had been established, the emancipation of the slaves, having been accomplished, it suspended. The first regularly employed editor was Benjamin S. Jones, with J. Elizabeth Hitchcock-who later became Mrs. Benjamin S. Jones-as associate editor. Marius R. Robinson, as stated elswhere,
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was also for many years its editor, and its pub- lisher, or "publishers' agent," during almost the entire eighteen years of its existence, was James Barnaby, the father of Mrs. Ida M. Cooper. Mrs. Cooper is still a resident of Salem, and has in her possession almost a complete file of the Bugle, which she kindly placed at the disposal of the compiler of this souvenir volume.
The following announcement appeared in the first number of the Bugle, on June 20, 1845 :
"In extending to our readers our first greet- ing, we by no means desire to disparage ourselves that others may exalt us. Though you may consider our garb rather homespun, and our style somewhat homely, yet we come before you with no humble pretensions. Our mission is a great and glorious one. It is to 'preach deliverance to the captive, and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound;' to hasten in the day when 'liberty shall be proclaimed throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.' Though in view of the magnitude of this enter- prise, we feel that the intellect and power of an angel would be but a drop in the ocean of Truth, by which the vilest system of oppression the sun ever shone upon is to be swept away, yet knowing as we do that our influence is cast with Justice and Humanity, with Truth and the God of Truth,
Dr. Benj. Stanton.
Mrs. Dr. Stanton.
our pretensions are far from humble, though our talents may be justly so considered. He who professes to plead for man degraded and im- bruited, and to strive for the elevation of the crushed millions of his race ; he who professes to labor for the restoration of manhood to man, and for the recognition of his divine nature, makes
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no humble pretensions. It is true our Bugle blasts may not fall upon your ears with all the sweetness and softness which so well become the orchestra of an Italian or French opera company; but we intend that it shall give no uncertain sound ; and, God aiding us, we will blow a blast that shall be clear and startling as a hunting horn or battle charge, and we trust that its peals shall play around the hill tops. and shall roll over the plains and down the valleys of our State, until from the waters of the Ohio to those of tlie mighty Lakes, from Pennsylvania on the East to Indiana on the West, the land shall echo and re- echo to the soul-stirring cry of ' No Union with slave-holders.'"
That the radical views adopted and preached by the Anti-Slavery Bugle, and those who sup- ported it in these utterances, were treated by many as rank fanaticism or even as heresy, may be seen from an extract from the New Lisbon Pal- ladium of June 20, 1845 :
"Jane Elizabeth Hitchcock and Benjamin S. Jones delivered themselves, in this place. on last Monday evening, of speeches abusing in the most unmeasured terms the American churches. Miss Hitchcock, in point of talent, will not compare with Abby Kelly ; and as for modesty, she is a slander upon her sex. We have now Miss Kelly
and her man Friday, and Miss Hitchcock and her man Jones, traveling this State, endeavoring to poison the minds of the people on the subject of abolitionism. Their efforts will be ineffectual; for, fortunately, they carry the antidote with them. Go and hear them, and, our word for it, you will be completely and forever cured of the kind of abolitionism advocated by them."
On several occasions during the early '60's the visits of spies or slave-owners to Salem, searching for fugitives almost resulted in riotous demonstrations by the people. Late in January, 1850, a spy visited the town, claiming to be an agent of an anti-slavery society near Marietta, and obtained a definite clue to the whereabouts of two or three escaped slaves. As to whether the fugitives were being harbored in Salem or vicinity at that time there is no record at this late day, for the anti-slavery workers were not given to making public their operations at that time. At any rate the first week in February found two slaveholders from Virginia at Coast's hotel on Main street, looking for their human property. A small riot ensued, and the Virgin- ians were fortunate to escape without suffering violence. The Anti-Slavery Bugle of February
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9th, telling the story of the visit, said in part : " The villains arrived about noon and rode leis- urely through Main street to the west end, where they turned north and made for a small house about a quarter of a mile from the village, in which lived a colored family. The names of these man-hunters were Archibald Paul and Samuel Mitchell, his son-in-law. On reaching the house they attempted to coax the inmates to a parley, representing that they had come ( kind souls!) to offer them a chance to go back to 'Old Virginia,' having understood that they were in a suffering condition. A colored woman came at once to the village and gave the alarm, and forth- with a considerable multitude started for the scene. The kidnappers, finding that the colored people were too widely awake to be caught by their smooth professions, started back toward the village, where they were met by a company of indignant citizens who followed them to Coast's hotel, where they dismounted. * The scoundrels went into the hotel where they took a horn of whisky, and treated certain fellows who were sufficiently degraded, to liquor at their ex-
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