Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 64

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048

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three temporary secretaries. Carl Schurz, at that time Senator from Missouri, was the perma- nent chairman and dominant influence in the convention. The prominent candidates for the couvention were Charles Francis Adams from Mississippi who it was thought would probably receive the nomination ; David Davis of Illinois, who had great strength because of his relation- ship to Lincoln whose executor he was as well, as by reason of his conservative character; B. Gratz Brown of Missouri and Horace Greeley. At the last moment Lyman Trumbull of Illinois was urged prominently. As is usually the case the rumors of different combinations flew fast and thick and the city was filled with excitement. According to Colonel McClure, Greeley had agreed to accept the nomination for vice-presi- dency on the ticket with David Davis and this combination was regarded as settled on the night before the convention met. About midnight a rumor got about that a new combination had been made with Greeley in the first place and Brown as second. Other combinations which were talked of about the streets and in the papers placed Trumbull or Jacob D. Cox of Ohio at the head. In the end the contest narrowed down to Adams and Greeley. On the first ballot Adams led with a vote of 203 delegates; Greeley was second with 147. Other candidates received votes as follows, Trumbull 110, Brown 95, Davis (21/2, Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania 62, and Salmon P. Chase 21/2. On the last ballot the sixth, Greeley received 332 votes and the nom- ination by acclamation followed; Adams 324, Chase 32, Trumbull 19, and Davis 6. In the balloting for the vice-presidential nomination, Brown led on the first ballot and was nominated on the second by a vote of 435. The others voted for were Lyman Trumbull, George W. Julian of Indiana, Gilbert C. Walker of Virginia, Cassius M. Clay of Kentucky, Jacob D. Cox of Ohio, J. M. Scoville of New Jersey, Thomas W. Tipton of Nebraska and John M. Palmer of Illinois ..

During the time that this convention was oc- cupying Music Hall another national convention was in session at Mozart Hall, that of the Re- union and Reform national party. The secre- tary of this convention was Judge Johann B. Stallo and prominent in the organization were E. W. Kittredge and J. R. Challen of this city. The permanent chairman of the convention was Rufus P. Rawney, one of Ohio's greatest law- vers and as members of the committee on reso- lutions Ohio furnished E. W. Kittredge and Charles Reemelin. This convention adjourned

from time to time to await the conclusion of the Liberal Republican convention but the nomina- tion of Greeley was so disappointing to its mem- bers that it finally adjourned after refusing to endorse his candidacy.

EDEN PARK.

The improvement of Eden Park, purchased in 1865 and 1869, began in 1872. It was graded, planted with shrubs and trees and stocked with birds and for a time a deer park was main- tained. The two great reservoirs of the water works were a most picturesque feature that really made possible the improvement on so splendid a scale. Burnet Woods was bought this year but not opened to the public until two years later.

A new building of this year was Robinson's Opera House erected at the northeast corner of Ninth and Plum by John Robinson, the vet- eran circus manager. In the cellar beneath were constructed the winter quarters for his menag- crie. The Odd Fellows' Hall at Fourth and Home was dedicated on April 26th. The year was notable for strikes of coal shovelers and cart drivers which occurred in April and a num- ber of disturbances growing out of the bitter political contest which took place in October. During the summer came the first prosecutions under the Adair liquor law. Among the visitors of the year were the celebrated musical con- poser Franz Abt and Horace Greeley, the Dem- ocratic and Liberal Republican candidate for the presidency. A great fire in March consumed six steamers at the Public Landing and in April a 16-foot rise in the river resulted in a heavy loss of coal barges. The year ended with bitterly cold weather, which resulted in several deaths and a number of casualties. Among the organ- izations of the year 1872 were the Fidelity Insur- ance Company and the Pork Packers' Associa- tion and a new member of the newspaper fra- ternity appeared February 2nd, known as the Evening Star, which eight years later was con- solidated with the Times.

THE FIRST INCLINED PLANE.

The Mount Auburn Inclined Plane, the first of its kind in the city, was built this year at an original cost of almost a hundred thousand dollars. It ascends from the corner of Main and Mulberry streets directly up the face of the hill a distance of almost 900 feet until it reaches the brow of Jackson Hill, the southwestern point of Mount Auburn, 312 feet above. It was re-

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garded as a very speculative scheme but its suc- cess was immediate and prompted the erection of similar inclines in other parts of the city which by opening up the hills speedily led to a spread of population over a large extent of territory, and relieved the congestion of the lower level.

THE PANIC OF 1873.

The year 1873 will be chiefly remembered as the year of the great panic. During the closing months of the year previous the money market had been much embarrassed and the rates of discount were high. There was a slight revival in January but by April the situation became more strained. The inflation which had followed the conclusion of the war had led the public away from safe business methods and the tin- fortunate results were felt throughout the en- tire year. The climax came in the suspension of Jay Cooke & Company on September 18th, which was followed by many of the leading banks of the East. In New York the Stock Exchange was closed for 10 days. The panic spread throughout the country and affected every city and every section. Cincinnati perhaps reaped the reward of her'so-called conservatism and es- caped with less damage than other cities. Un- der the advice of the Clearing House Associa- tion, the banks suspended currency payments except in small sums, settling balances by cer- tifying the checks drawn on them payable only through the Clearing House .. Business was suspended for a time and great distress was felt. The suspension in the financial circles lasted from September 25th to October 13th, after which payments were resumed. Within a month the certified checks issued, which had amounted to about half a million dollars, were canceled and immediate stringency passed away. The effects however as is well known continued for years. Mayor Johnson in his message of the following year referred to the situation in the following language :

"There was a stagnation of business; a large number of public and private improvements were suspended. Laborers were thrown out of employment, and that expressive term called 'hard times' was everywhere in vogue. From this state of things, Cincinnati was a sufferer, but probably in a less degree than almost any other city. The panic, in fact, brought into strong relief the solid capital and comparatively small liabilities of our citizens, and we were thus enabled better to weather the storm, which was so destructive to other communities that

were not in our favorable condition. Not only was our wealth tried and vindicated, but there was a similar triumphant result on the side of charity and humanity. While many of our wealthy citizens were contributing to relieve, so far as they could, the unfortunate, the municipal authorities also took prompt and energetic action. Soup and lodging houses were established and placed in charge of a committee of Council, and thereby a large amount of suffering and desti- tution was relieved or prevented. It was also properly deemed advisable that such public works as were of an indispensable character should be pushed vigorously forward, in order to afford the largest amount of employment to our laboring population. By these means the winter, which providentially was a very mild one, was passed without bringing with it that misery which was so generally feared and an- ticipated. With the opening of spring there is no disagreeable change. Not in several years have there been so many building permits ap- plied for as at the present time; and this is one of the best signs of returning prosperity. The future has a more promising appearance than was deemed possible a few months ago, and I think the indications are not to be mistaken that the progress of Cincinnati, in the increase of its wealth and in its general prosperity, will be more marked in the decade now nearly half through than at any previous period of its his- tory.'

The cholera also came this year beginning with a death on the 14th of June. Between that time and October 18th, 207 persons died of this disease in the city. The Board of Ilealth was very active and rendered valuable service in preventing the spread of the disease. In this year too came the last of the annexations which had been so numerous during the three years previous ; they were those of Columbia, Cum- minsville and Woodburn. The city had in- creased from an area of seven square miles in 1868 to 24 square miles. In July of this year came the consolidation under one management of the five street railroad companies operating in the city. During the last month of the year labor troubles and a strike on the "Panhandle" Railroad disturbed the even tenor of business. The condemnation of the property on the north side of Fifth street between Walnut and Main for government purposes was concluded during this month and the compensation to be paid to owners was fixed by the courts at $695.133.63. Other events of the year were the letting of the

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first contract for the building of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, the opening of the new rooms of the MeMicken School of Design, of the Coun- ty Infirmary at Carthage, the Cincinnati Stock Yards and the laying of the corner-stones of the Mount Lookout Observatory, and the Second Presbyterian Church at Eighth and Elm. There was also a May Musical Festival and an expo- sition this year. In November bonds to the cx- tent of $100,000 were voted for park improve- ments. Other new organizations of the year were the German National Bank, the Mutual Fire Insurance Company, the Cincinnati & Ports- mouth Railway Company and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. During the vear a number of prominent citizens died, includ- ing Judge Humphrey H. Leavitt of the United District Court, Stephen Molitor, Judge William Tilden, Platt Evens, Maj. Daniel Gano and Bishop Mellvaine.

The year 1874 opened on the 6th and 7th of January with a 30-hours continual snowfall which caused the most complete suspension of telegraphic and railway communications. On the day of the beginning of this storm came the organization of the Zoological Society. The Cuvier Club was also organized this year. In February the Public Library Building was dedi- cated ; in August, Burnet Woods Park opened to the public; in September, the new Grand Opera House and in the same month the Grand Hotel. In. Jannary of this year a great temper- ance crusade was started by the ladies of the city. Many mass meetings were held by the so- called "Crusaders" and in May most of the saloons of the city were visited by the praying bands. Mass meetings were held in Exposition Hall and in Pike's Opera House in favor of liquor license and also against the sale of liquor. A State anti-license convention was held in April at Wesley Chapel with branch meetings in the various churches throughout the city. The prayer meetings continued throughout the year. On the 4th of May a hose was turned on a pray- ing band at one saloon and on the 14th and 15th riots occurred in the West End as a result of these meetings. Forty-three of the lady crusaders were arrested on May 17th and immediately held a prayer meeting in the station upon their ar- rival there. They were dismissed on the 20th. by the Police judge with an admonition against demonstrations likely to cause breaches of the peace. In August came a celebration of the defeat of the license law in the proposed con- . stitution. The crusade continued throughout the

year with a, decided revival in November. An- other agitation of the year was that in favor of municipal reform, in whose behalf a number of inass meetings were held in the spring of the year. A summer flood in the Licking in July was quite destructive. This year was note- worthy for the generosity of several citizens. Joseph Longworth gave $50,000 to the School of Design and David Sinton $100,000 to the Bethel and $33,000 to the Young Men's Chris- tian Association. On August 25th the first num- ber of the daily Freie Presse was issued. Among the deaths of the year were those of J. Bryant Walker, Jonathan Cilley and Peter Ehrgott, a well known German.

THE TAN-YARD MURDER.

The most horrible crime that disfigures the pages of Cincinnati history" was "the tan-yard murder" of November 7, 1874. The victim was Herman Schilling a young tanner who boarded for a time with a saloon and boarding house keeper named Andreas Egner at No. 153 Find- lay street adjoining the tannery where Schilling worked. Egner's daughter, a young girl of about 16, attended bar for her father who seemed to have no compunctions of conscience as to the temptations to which she was sub- jected. Schilling aroused the father's ire by too great familiarity with this young girl who subsequently died as the result of a brutal at- tack made by her own father. Egner regarded Schilling as responsible for all his troubles and determined to avenge himself. He was assisted by one George Rufer an ex-convict who had incurred Schilling's enmity. On the night al- ready mentioned Egner and Rufer were together in the former's saloon and a third member of the party was Egner's son Fred, a rather stupid boy of about 18. The mention of Schilling's name aroused the evil passions of all three and they determined to kill him that night. Schilling had long since left Egner's house and had his bed- roont in the tannery stable. As he entered the stable about half-past ten and walked over to the stall to stroke the horse, he was struck to the ground by a terrific blow delivered by Rufer with a large stave sharpened to a point. Egner using a five-pronged pitchfork immediately came to Rufer's assistance and the two soon beat Schilling into unconsciousness; time and again the infuriated old man plunged the pitchifork into Schilling's body while Rufer struck more than a dozen blows with the stave on Schilling's head. The boy took no part in the murder but

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stood on the watch while the crime was com- mitted. The next question was the disposition of the body and finally it was determined to throw it into the furnace in which was burning at the time a fierce fire. This was done although with much difficulty. After the trio had dis- posed of the evidences of their crime as they sup- posed, they returned to their homes. In the morning Schilling was missed. A neighbor who had heard the pounding told of it and the stable was burst open. The signs of the struggle were on every hand and the horse was still shaking violently from fright. The details of the murder and of the evidences which pointed to its perpetrators are too revolting to be placed in print. What made it peculiarly horrible was the general belief which seems to have been borne out by the discoveries made that Schilling was not dead when placed in the furnace. There was no question as to who had perpetrated the crime ; everything pointed at once to the Egners and Rufer and they were arrested forthwith. Al- most immediately the boy turned State's evidence and so secured immunity from adequate punish- ment. The father and Rufer were convicted and received life sentences. Egner however was sub- sequently pardond by Governor Foster on the theory that he was dying from consumption. Hle recovered after being released and lived for several years longer, dying a raging maniac in 1880.

CINCINNATI IN 1875.

In 1875 appeared another of the numerous books descriptive of the city entitled "Ilhis- trated Cincinnati" by D. J. Kenny. This little volume is profusely illustrated, containing over 320 engravings as well as a map which shows the city divided into 25 wards. It devotes a large amount of space to the business houses of the city and was largely used for advertising purposes but in some respects it gives a better contemporaneous view of Cincinnati at the time of its publication than many of its predecessors. Not only does it describe principal points of in- terest and various organizations' of the city, but it takes up a number of the streets, particularly Fourth, Fifth, Main, Walnut, Vine, Race, Third, Pearl, Second and Front, and gives an account of the different business houses located on these thorough fares in the order in which they would be met by one passing by. It also describes the suburbs of the city including a number of drives which if taken to-day as well as at the time in which they were suggested would give a most

comprehensive knowledge of the environment of Cincinnati.

Among the places and sights which a stranger must sce, Mr. Kenny included the Tyler David- son Fountain, the Suspension and Newport bridges, St. Peter's Cathedral, the interiors of the Hebrew Synagogue, Pike's Opera House, Public Library, Cincinnati Hospital, Grand Hotel and Masonic Temple and views of the city from Price Hill (to which one must take an omnibus) and from Lookout House on Mount Auburn (which could be reached by street cars). The sights which a stranger should see were Mount St. Mary's Seminary on Price Hill with its library and pictures and the view from the turret, "one of the finest in America;" the great reservoirs in Eden Park, the water works, any one of the large breweries, Wielert's saloon and garden "Over the Rhine," Lincoln and Washington parks, the Phoenix and Cuvier clubs, Bethel, United States Signal Service rooms, Mercantile' Library, the printing offices of the Commercial, Gasette, and Enquirer, the studios of the artists including the photographic galleries of Van Loo and Landy, and Wiswell's picture store, the Ohio by moonlight (from the Suspension Bridge), Spring Grove Cemetery, the Harrison restaurant at Spring Lake and the "Grand Drive" so-called, which included a trip through Avondale, the "Zoo," Burnet Woods, and Clifton with views of the Mill creek valley and Spring Grove. The street car lines were still comparatively few in number and to reach any point in the suburbs it was necessary to en- ploy the omnibus or similar means of convey- ance.

The places of amusement in 1875 included Pike's, Grand, and Robinson's opera houses and Wood's and the National theatres. Of these but one now remains. Pike's has been entirely de- stroyed by fire, the Grand was burned and has been rebuilt, and the National is used as a ware- house. Wood's Theatre, for many years a pop- ular place of amusement located at the southeast corner of Sixth and Vine, was replaced by the Gazette Building, now known as the Hulbert Block. `The newspapers of the time were the Gasette, Enquirer, Commercial, Volksblatt, and Volksfreund and the evening papers, the Times and the Star. The Neue Freie Presse is given as a new paper. The new Public Library Build- ing had been opened for about a year and was regarded as one of the sights of the city.

The musical organizations included the Cin- cinnati Orchestra which was organized in 1872,

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and the Maennerchor, which organized in 1857 was the oldest musical society in the city, and its offshoot, the Orpheus, the St. Cecilia, and Germania Maennerchor (all of which were Ger- man societies), the Harmonic, the nucleus of the May Festival choruses, and the various church choirs. The Gymnasium at that time on Fourth in the LeBoutillier Building and the Turn-Verein were the principal gymnastic associations.

An interesting picture is that of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church. upon the site where now stands the St. Paul Building. There were but two bridges, the Suspension Bridge and Newport Bridge, and the Cincinnati Southern Railway Bridge was partially com- pleted. Of special interest to visitors were Adams. Mr. Kenny also speaks with en- the inclined planes to Mount Auburn and Mount thusiasm of the views from the river and the life to be seen upon it and in its neighbor- hood. It is however in the description of that classic region known as "Over the Rhine" that the author becomes most enthusias- tic. He says : "London has its Greenwich, Paris its Bois, Vienna its Prater, Brussels its Arcade and Cincinnati its 'Over the Rhine.' Thither, in each of these cities, the citizen, wearied of business and its exhausting details, wends his way when, like John Gilpin in his famous ex- pedition to Edmonston, he is bent on pleasure and a holiday. Unluckily, however, for the Lon- doner and the Parisian, Greenwich and the Bois are not within the limits of everybody's purse, and the gay and merry denizens of the Austrian Capital, and the dwellers in Brussels, can not extract half so much change and variety from their Prater and their Arcade as the Cincinnatian can from his trip 'Over the Rhine.' He has no sooner entered the northern districts of the city lying beyond Court street, across the canal, than he finds himself in another atmosphere-in a foreign land as it were. Germans and Amer- icans alike love to call the district 'Over the Rhine' and by that name it is known wherever Cincinnati is heard of. There is nothing like it in Europe-no transition so sudden, so pleas- ant, and so easily effected. There may be a parallel for the Frenchman visiting the English quarter in Boulogne, but there is nothing in all these at all comparable to the completeness of the change brought about by stepping across the canal. The visitor leaves behind him at almost a single step the rigidity of the American, the everlasting hurry and worry of the insatiate race for wealth, the inappeasable thirst of Dives, and

enters at once into the borders of a people more readily happy, more readily contented, more easily pleased, far more closely wedded to music and the dance, to the song, and life in the bright, open air. The canal is by no manner of means the Rhine, or any thing like it. No lordly Ehrenbreitstein towers over its shores; no bean- tiful stories of old legendary folk-lore fill its banks and its waters with romance; but none the less surely Father-land is upon the other side of its bridges. The people are Germans; their faces are German; their manners and customs are German ; their very gossip is German. They dance the German waltz as none but Germans can ; they cook their food by German recipes, and sit long over their foaming beer, ever and again shaking it round their glasses with that peculiar circular motion which none but a German can impart to the beverage he loves." .

The beer-garden, the waiter, the wienerwurst man, and the various attractions of this wonder- fil region are described with great eloquence and illustrated by so distinguished an artist as Farny. The place and the name remain a part of Cincinnati, but it is doubtful if the descrip- tion, true as it was at the time it was written, can any longer be held to apply in this territory.

Mr. Kenny also issued a book upon the city as it appeared in 1879.

MUSIC HIALI ..

The most noteworthy event of the year 1875 was the contribution by Renben R. Springer of the sum of $125,000 for the purpose of erecting upon the Exposition site on Elm street the great Music Hall. This gift was conditioned upon the. raising of an equal sum by the citizens and the exemption of the property from taxation. . By November the conditions of Mr. Springer's gift had been complied with and in December of the same year a joint stock company was formed, consisting of 50 shareholders, under the name of the Cincinnati Music Hall Association. The shareholders were elected by the entire body of subscribers to the fund and in their turn elected from their number seven. trustees to act as an executive member. Each stockholder under the rules of this organization is entitled to hold but one share which can be sold only to a purchaser approved by the trustees. The original board of trustees included Reuben R. Springer, Robert Mitchell, William H. Harrison, Julius Dexter, Timothy D. Lincoln, Joseph Longworth and John Shillito. Messrs. Longworth, Dexter and Shillito were the president, secretary and treas-

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urer, respectively. Mr. Dexter was the chair- man of the building committee and associated with him were Mr. Longworth and A. T. Go- shorn. The building which was finally erected by this board is known as Springer Music Hall and the small hall in the third story of the build- ing has received the name of Dexter Hall in honor of the chairman of the building committee. Mr. Springer in all gave to this enterprise the aggregate sum of almost $250,000, nearly doub- ling his original offer. Contracts for the building were not let, until April, 1877, and it was opened formally April 8, 1878. Another gift of this vear was that of William S. Groesbeck, who gave to the city $50,000 to endow a regular series of free instrumental concerts in Burnet Woods Park. This too was the year of the opening of the Cincinnati Base Ball Park, the Zoological Garden, the Chester Driving Park and the Hebrew Union College; of the dedica- tion of the Second Presbyterian Church and the selection by the Queen City Club of the site on Seventh and Elm for its club house. One of the most picturesque events in the history of this city occurred at the "Zoo" on March 24th. This was the well known fight between an es- caped lioness and a donkey. The lioness at- tacked the latter but was kicked to death; the donkey however died from its wounds and both properly mounted can be seen in the carnivora building at the Zoological Garden. In March of this year ground was broken in Kentucky for the Cincinnati Southern Railway Bridge. This year too was noteworthy for an earthquake in June and an infernal machine explosion in St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church at that time in process of erection. There was also a visitation of smallpox. A musical festival and exposition were also held this year. The Phoenix Mutual Fire Insurance Company and the College Hill Railroad Company were incorporated this year. The Price Hill Inclined Plane was built this year and opened on July 13th. It is at the West- ern end of Eighth street and by both freight and passenger elevators extends un the face of the hill a distance of almost 800 feet and to an elevation of 350 feet.

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 64

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1048

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048