USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2 > Part 85
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
supplies to the value of $10,000 for the aid of those on the opposite side of the Ohio.
The number of persons fed at the Sixth street soup house during the 13 days it was in operation was 65,000, as many as 7,500 being fed in one day. The militia were not called out until the advancing river cut off the supply of gas. They remained on duty for II nights, during which time the best of order was preserved and fewer crimes re- ported than usual. The warning of 1883 saved many persons from loss so that this did not exceed that of the year before. The houses inundated were estimated at 4,930 and the persons driven from their homes, 21,856. About 100 houses were afterwards ordered to be destroyed as unsafe.
For purposes of reference the following table showing the highest and lowest stages of the Ohio River at Cincinnati is appended :
HIGHEST STAGE.
LOWEST STAGE.
Year. Date Ft.
In. Date. Ft. In.
1832-February 18 .... 64 3
1847-December 17. .. 63 7
1858-June 16. .43 1859-February 22. .55 1860 -- April 16. .49
5
2
October 3 .5
4
1861-April 19. .49 1862-January 24. . . . . 57
1863-March 12 ..
49
0
October 6. .2
August 6. .3
I
3
October 19. . . 5
8
August 17. .4
9
3
July 21. . 5
I
9 August 21. . 5
4
3 October 4. .3 10
6
October 12. 2
8
1872-April .41
9
October 14. .3
October 12. .3
8 4
1876-January 28. . .51
9
September 4. .6
October 9. .3
0 4 October 24. .. 4
4 6
1880-February 17 .... 53
2
October 28.
3
9
1881-February 16. ... 50 7 September 18. I II
7 November 2. .. .6
4 September 20 .. ... 3 7
3/4 September 26. .2 6
October II ... .3 11 September 10. .5 2
1886-March 31 .. .40 1887 -- February 5. . . . 56
3 September 23. . .2 1888-March 31. .39
3 September 12 4
.5
1800-March 26 .. ... 59 2 August 4. .5 1891-February 25. .. 57 41/2 October .4 6
1892-April 25. .... .. 43 YI November 5. .3 6
1893-February 20. .. 54 II August 29. .3
1894-February 15. ... 35 7 September 14. .3
1895-January 13. .. 48 612 October 27. 2 1896-April 4 .. .47
6 September 25 .5 5
1897-February 26. .61
2 October 18. .3
1
1898-March 28 ... .61
I October 5. .4 1899-March 8. .57
3 November I. .3
5
1900 -- November 30 ... 40 October 21 .3
I
1901-April 26. .59
6 November 19. .4
I
1902 -- March 5. .50
8 September .3
9
TIIE RIOTS OF 1884.
Hardly had the city recovered from the ex- citement and suspense of the great flood, when it was called upon to witness another ex- traordinary period of excitement. The riots of 1884 were the natural result of the refusal of the outraged public conscience to abide any longer by open and notorious defiance of the law. The historian of the riots, J. S. Tunison, in his discussion of the causes and results gives a very sad picture indeed of the condition of the city at that time. Unfortunately there seems to be no reason to believe that his pic- ture is an exaggerated one. He concludes that the Cincinnati riots belong in the catalogue of popular mental epidemics as it would be im- possible to conceive how such a train of action could have been carried on by men thoroughly sane.
The responsibility he attributes to all classes of the community. Twenty-three persons ac- cused of murder or at least homicide occupied the county jail at the time preceding the out- break. Some of them had been in jail many months, some had been tried several times and their guilt was still undecided. The public had grown impatient at the continued viol ?- tion of the law and the failure of the court to deal expeditiously with persons charged withi crime. The courts were regarded as lazy and inefficient and juries as well as judges and at- torneys were thought to have become indif- ferent to crimes of all character. A particular case. the "burking" case in Avondale where two body snatchers were accused of murder- ing a family to secure bodies for the dissecting table, had inflamed the mind of the public who began to feel that unprincipled lawyers had the courts and people at their mercy.
The incident which furnished the spark to start the conflagration grew out of the so- called Berner trial. William Berner (a young German) and Joseph Palmer ( a light mulatto) had beaten the life out of their employer. William Kirk, a stable man on West Eighth street near Mound. It was a crime utterly without provocation or excuse and naturally
1875-August 6. .55
4 September 19. .4
3 2 3
1877-January 20. .... 53 1878-December 15. .. 41
1879-December 27. .. 42
9
October 23. 2
1882-February .58 1883-February 15. .66 1884-February 14. . .. 71 1885-January 20. .46
8
8
9 August 7. .5 1880-February .38
3
9
7
I
I
1864-December 23 ... 45 1865-March 7 ... 56
1866-September . .. 42 1867-March 14. .55 1868-March 30. 48 1869-April 2 .. 48 1870-January 19 .. . .. 55 1871-May 13 ... .40
6 8
October 19. .3
I .
4
October 31 .2
4 6
1873-December 18 ... 44 5
1874-January II ... .47
September 22 .2
5
July 13 .. .5
IO
October 3. .2 5 September 19. ... 3 3
4
5
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
the general expectation and judgment was that this case should certainly take its course. The case was watched from the time of the arrest throughout the intricacies of the trial, whose details were published at length according to the miserable methods of modern journal- ism. The evidence showed that the murder was committed absolutely without provocation for a very small sum of money. Berner seems to have been the inspiring brute in the trans- action and had several times confessed to his guilt. He persuaded Palmer to aid him and the two beat their victim into insensibility and then strangled him. From the evidence and conduct of the prisoners it was apparent that they were hardly human beings and were en- tirely lacking in moral sense. "It is not an exaggeration to say that they gave the im- pression of two-footed wild beasts in whom the instincts of destructiveness and self- preservation had been extraordinarily devel- oped at the expense of every other faculty." After the murder they had thrown the body of Kirk into a wagon, taken it to the out- skirts of the city and dumped it into a thicket. The two prisoners were defended by T. C. Campbell, a member of the bar especially pro- ficient in the defense of persons charged with crime. He succeeded in having the indict- ments separated and had the case of Berner taken up first. The obvious reason for this was to avoid any prejudice against a negro which might reflect on the codefendant. Dur- ing the trial it was apparent that public feel- ing was very much aroused. The incidents of the case and the means supposed to have been employed to escape conviction had a special tendency to inflame the public mind. Caricatures of the jury, attorneys and the courts were hung in the windows of saloons and restaurants. These were accompanied with suggestive comments and marks and em- blems, the avowed purpose of which was to encourage mob violence. A vigilance com- mittee was the subject of common talk. Mr. Tunison leaves the impression that this feel- ing was confined to those who frequented the beer gardens and grog shops; in this he is quite mistaken. While it is undoubtedly true- that the better class of citizens showed the lack of foresight and had no expectation of the horrible results that ensued, the lawlessness and unrestrained violence of the mob was a natural consequence of the public feeling of all classes. Finally on the evening of Mon-
day, March 24th, the jury, 12 men who had been selected after the examination of 504 people, found this self-confessed murderer, who had killed his employer for the proceeds from the sale of a horse after planning the crime for weeks, guilty of manslaughter. "We the jury on the issue joined, find the defend- ant William Berner not guilty of murder in the first degree but guilty of manslaughter." The verdict was absolutely without excuse and served to condemn forever the jury that rendered it and the methods which had made it possible. It is not strange that the presid- ing judge, Samuel R. Matthews, should have been aroused into an indignant denunciation of this miscarriage of justice nor that he should have felt constrained later in passing sentence (on March 28th) to impose the full limit of the law,-20 years in the penitentiary.
The indignation of the judge communicated itself to those in the court room, where strong evidences of disapprobation were shown, and the press and the people were unanimous on the following day in the denunciation of the outrage upon justice. The first thought of course was of a public meeting. A call was issued and a meeting held at Music Hall on the evening of March 28th, the day on which sentence' had been imposed. This meeting was very largely attended by many of the best and most conservative citizens of the com- munity. It was presided over by Dr. Andrew C. Kemper and a large list of leading citizens acted as vice-presidents. Speeches were made by Dr. Kemper, Judge A. G. W. Carter and General Hickenlooper and others. The speeches reflected the feeling of outrage felt by tlie citi- zens and were very emphatic but were not in- cendiary nor intemperate. Their purpose as well as that of the resolutions adopted was to bring about the reform of existing evils by legal methods. That they were not too vio- lent was shown by the fact that there were many in the crowd of 8,000 people that packed the hall who gave audible expression to their disapproval of the moderation of tone and expression both of the speeches and of the resolutions. So far as that meeting is con- cerned and the speakers who took part in it, it can be said after reviewing the matter al- most 20 years later that the criticism which has been heaped upon it is without justifica- tion. When read to-day the thought that comes to one is that of surprise that such re- straint was possible at the time. That a riot
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
followed which resulted in the burning of the temple of justice and the death of inany inno- cent people cannot justly be charged to this meeting or to its speakers. The conditions for the riot were present and the outbreak would have come whether the meeting had been held or not. The riots of Cincinnati sug- gest too an inquiry of deeper ethical signifi- cance than has usually been accorded to them. They were made the excuse on the part of thousands of lawless men to commit crime ; the same was true of the French Revolution with all its horrors. It is not necessary to pursue in detail the parallel nor does the sug- gestion involve any defense of lawlessness. To criticise, however, the Music Hall meet- ing is to refuse to free citizens the right to protest against misgovernment and maladmin- istration of the laws.
Immediately after the meeting as the crowd surged from Music Hall the cry was raised : "To the jail!" According to the account given by Oscar Edgar, which seems to have been very carefully prepared, some claim that it was the mob who had been unable to get into the hall that started the march toward Syca- more street. According to one story a young man about 21 years of age cried out "To the jail! Come on ! Follow me and hang Berner !" It seems likely that no one person directed the thoughts of that mass of people. Every- body felt that Berner was guilty and that he ought to be hanged. They felt furthermore that the law had failed in its course. It did not require a definite statement of purpose to direct such a crowd towards its victim. Four negroes led the advance across 12th street and the crowd swelled until the march with two hundred or more leaders was joined by onlookers and sympathizers numbering thou- sands. Before they reached the jail, the sheriff Morton L. Hawkins called up the fire mar- shal Bunker and the riot alarm was sounded. This necessarily brought more people to the jail. Mr. Tunison criticises the sheriff and his subordinates as being unprepared. It must be remembered that the building was supposed to be impregnable except to artillery. Berner himself had been spirited away from the jail and started on his way to the penitentiary at Columbus. The mob stopped a a humber pile on Sycamore street and se- cured some heavy pieces of timber and with these began to batter down the base- ment doors at the foot of the stone
steps. Others threw stones, bricks and mis- siles of all kinds through the windows. The sheriff would not permit the mob to be fired upon and here it was that the most serious mistake if any was made. It is the same old question that always presents itself when a lawless mob, composed however of citizens, is confronted by those in authority. The solu- tion of the question is much simpler in the light of subsequent events than at the time it first presents itself to those called upon to act.
In a very short time the jail doors were beaten down and the mob rushed into the building. The sheriff and his deputies were swept aside and the whole interior of the jail was filled with the searchers for the murderer. They forced the iron grated door, closing in the cell rooms and looked into each cell de- manding the whereabouts of Berner. When thev reached the cell of Joseph Palmer, some one asked if he was not Palmer. He came to the front of the cell and said: "No. Can't you see that I am a white man?" Presently the police and patrol wagons responded to the riot alarm and patrol wagon No. 3 arrived first. It was stopped by a crowd of deter- mined men at Court and 'Sycamore streets, where the officers were ordered to leave and the wagon went down Sycamore street about a square. Patrol wagon No. 1 came down Sycamore street and stopped in the middle of the street opposite the jail entrance. In this wagon were the chief of police and a number of officers. A huge boulder was thrown into the wagon right in the midst of the po- licemen. Shortly after this a young man of 17 named Tony Bender was shot through the brain. The crowd in the jail at first seemed to spare the private property although an at- tempt was made to wreck the doors and win- dows. The first entrance was effected by a plank thrust from the pavement into a win- dow and used as a bridge.
In the midst of the varying accounts it is almost impossible to learn exactly what happened or the sequence of events. While the mob was filling the jail, the chief of police came through the underground passage from the Court House with a squad of police and together with the sheriff drove the crowd back into the office. Those however who could come in through the windows and another detach- ment which had broken in through the south door were filling other parts of the jail. "The crowd in the office was a mixture of respecta-
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
ble looking men mostly young and the worst elements of society. Most of those who swung the battering-ram looked like thieves and mur- derers. Here and there in the crowd were men whose torn and dirty jackets were dis- tended with the boulders they were carrying concealed. Suddenly the gas went out. 'Hold on! Stay were you are !' was the cry and some passed out and quickly returned with lights. The darkness had little effect on the crowd. The gas was quickly relighted. The door is giving way!' shouted another. The crowd poured through both doors and precipitated itself on the ranks of deputies, sheriffs and police which under the command of the sheriff and the chief of police were drawn up in front of the two entrances. Several policemen were hit with boulders, one with an ax thrown at him. It was now midnight." (The Cincin- nati Riot, p. 83.)
The police headed by Lieutenant Welsh with 25 men had entered the tunnel and had been placed by Sheriff Hawkins at the head of the stairs. They had been ordered not to fire but to use their clubs. He also sent an order for the militia to come in by the tunnel. It was while they were waiting for the arrival of the troops that the crowd had again broken in just as the gas 'was turned off. As soon as the burners were relighted the militia be- gan filing in. There seems to be a dispute as to what happened at this moment. The inilitia saw before them the men whom they supposed to be rioters which they were in fact but they were captives in charge of the policemen. Upon the command to fire, Cap- tain Foellger cried to the men to fire high. The officers and most of the militia claimed that they were fired upon first, but Mr. Edgar quotes several statements which imply that there was no firing except from the militia. In any event a volley of shot rang through the jail and a number of persons were hit in- cluding two of the militia and four officers. Harry M. Millar in his account states that none of the mob was injured, but Mr. Edgar says that one rioter was killed. The second discharge with blank cartridges and the re- inforcement of police drove the mob from the jail to the street. The militia came into the jail from the Court Street Armory by way of the tunnel as up to this time no attack had been made upon the Court House. For the remainder of that night the militia are said to have displayed coolness. In fact is seems im-
possible to criticise their conduct even if the firing in an enclosed tunnel may have seemed wild.
The militia evidently were an element that had not been counted upon by the mob, which by this time was constituted of the very ele- ments of disorder. Fierce resentment against those who had shed the blood of their broth- ers took possession of them. An effort was made to set fire to the jail for the purpose of smoking out the so-called murderers,-the militia. A militiaman who obeys orders and by so doing chances to kill the criminal who is trying to kill him is always a murderer. The mob set fire to some frame buildings and piled combustibles about the jail and assaulted it with brick bats and pistol balls; they soon learned that they were making no impression upon the garrison. Thereupon at the north side a number mounted the walls and rained missiles and occasionally pistol shots and fin- ally blazing planks at the windows. These penetrated the bars and sent forth volumes of stifling smoke whereupon a lieutenant of the First Regiment with a detail of men ordered the crowd away upon penalty of being fired upon. This made no impression and finally shot after shot was fired, each one drop- ping a boy or man from the wall with a wound in his leg or foot. Another detail of soldiers fired from the roof over the mob, requiring them to hug closely the walls of the jail and keeping the rioters out of mischief elsewhere. About half-past one an attempt was made to use petroleum. In protecting against this danger a volley was fired into the mob which killed many others, including one innocent man,-Joe Sturm, the driver of patrol wagon No. 3. The repeated firing of bullets directly at the crowd finally convinced them that the militia meant business and by three o'clock in the morning the crowd had begun to thin ont. At this hour the guard of militia was reinforced and was thereupon drawn up on the pavement, marched first down South, then down North Court street and volleys were fired down both these streets. The soldiers were followed by squads of police and marched through the streets for hours and the mob gradually disappeared and the first night of lawlessness was over so far as the jail was concerned. However the jail was not the only scene of disturbance. Part of the mob after it had first been driven from the jail attacked the armory of the Grand Army of the Republic
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
at Court and Walnut streets where a number of stand of arms were taken. Ilere also was found a drum which was used to rally the rioters but fortunately there was no ammuni- tion there. The crowd thereupon marched to the gun store of B. Kittredge & Company on the east side of Main between Fourth and Fifth, intending to get guns and ammunition. They destroyed a show window and obtained a number of revolvers and guns but could not find any powder. A later trip however re- sulted in gutting the store, from which they took not only arms and ammunition but every- thing else that they could lay their hands on. This time they found a small brass cannon and three kegs of powder but no ammunition for the guns.
The fire department had been called out at the sounding of the riot alarm but the fire- men were not allowed to use their hose as the crowd threatened to cut the hose if water was turned on. They therefore returned to their engine houses followed by the cheers of the crowd.
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Berner in the meantime had been taken to the train, having been driven in a buggy to Linwood. He was in the custody of a deputy sheriff from whose charge he escaped at Love- land. Fortunately he was recaptured while enjoying a game of cards and was taken at once to the penitentiary in entire ignorance of the attack on the jail or the riots which he had caused.
All day Saturday the people of the city were in great apprehension. Many thought the worst over but others felt that nightfall would witness a renewal of . disorder. The militia and police remained on duty through- out the day but had little or nothing to do except keep off the sightseers who attempted to crowd into the square occupied by the Court House and jail. Governor Hoadly upon the suggestion of citizens offered to Sheriff Hawkins the aid of the State militia, and the Fourteenth Regiment and two unattached companies from Columbus and two other com- panies from Waynesville and Loveland were ordered to Cincinnati by the Governor. At night barricades were .erected on Sycamore and Eighth streets and at Court street be- ginning at the corner of the jail wall and' ex- tending across Sycamore and these were guarded by police and militia. The sheriff after consultation with Colonel Hunt of the
First Regiment, Chief of Police Reilly and Gen. Matthew Ryan disposed his lines so as to protect the jail which was in his special charge. He could not attempt to cover the Court House without weakening his forces too much. As night fell the crowd which had been dense all day became greater and changed in character. Sightseers were dis- placed by rioters who gathered chiefly in front of the Court House on Court street. The trouble began with volleys of boulders and bricks, after which there came pistol and gun shots. Soon a storming party assailed the iron doors in front of the Court House and they were soon battered down. Almost im- mediately a crowd of boys and half-grown men, said to have been led by some Ken- tuckians, broke into the county treasurer's of- fice in the northwest corner of the basement. They broke up the furniture and counters and piled them with the carpet and oilcloth in the midst of the room and poured coal oil upon them. To this a match was applied and the flames leaped forth to the delight of the cheer- ing crowd. They crossed to another office taking all in turn and treated them in the same way. As thev reached the corner of South Court street they were met by a volley of musketry which made them hesitate. After- wards a white handkerchief was tied to a stick and the rioters carried off their dead and wounded. Again the mob advanced headed by the sheriff's red auction flag and again they were met by a volley of musketry. The white flag again stopped proceedings until the wounded could be carried aside and sur- geons give them attention. Soon the Debolt Exchange, Burdsal's drug store below Canal and a saloon on Ninth street were turned into temporary hospitals. While this skirmishing continued, the Court House burned. The burning was accompanied by scenes of ex- travagance that would have done justice to the worst days of the French Revolution. One man appeared in the portico and admist the laughter and applause of the citizens of Cin- cinnati sold at auction the temple of justice and all its valuable records.
It was while -Jeading a detachment of his company, Company B of the First Regiment, through the Court House to protect the great structure in which he practiced his profession that Capt. John J. Desmond was killed. His killing seems to have been particularly useless as the general firing had not then begun. A
1003
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
miserable scoundrel in the crowd fired at him with a revolver and he fell dead near the spot where the marble tablet now commemorates his gallantry. His murderer was mortally wounded during the night and confessed his crime before he died at the jail.
While the building was being consumed by the flames, the soldiers began to arrive from other parts of the State. The first regi- ment to arrive was the Fourth from Dayton. It marched up Sixth street and then up to the Court House until almost within view of the burning building. The sight of the mob, how- ever, was too much for these carpet soldiers and they turned and fled to the depot, from whence they came, making record time. One of the regiment's officers and some of the men tried to retrieve the disgrace of the regiment by serving bravely the next day.
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