USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Vol. I > Part 25
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RECRUIT D. N. OYSOR, 1862-5.
COLONEL D. N. OYSOR, 1909.
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he said, after she grasped me in her arms, were "How you have grown," and then she told him of a dream she had.
A Mother's Dream.
Said she: "I dreamed that you had come to see me and that you were a little, mean-looking fellow, and I could not own you for my son; but now I find I was mistaken-that it is entirely the reverse, and I am proud to own you for my son." "I told her I could remind her of a few circumstances that she would recollect, that took place before I was made captive. I then related various things, among them was that the negroes, on passing our house on Saturday evenings to spend Sunday with their wives, would beg of her to roast pumpkins for them against their return on Monday morning. She recollected these circumstances and said now she had no doubt of my being her son.
"We passed the balance of the day in agreeable conversation, and I re- lated to them the history of my captivity, my fears and doubts, of my grief and misery the first year after I was taken. My brothers at this time were all married, and Mark and John moved from there. They were sent for and came to see me, but my half-brother, John, had moved so far away that I never got to see him at all."
The Last Shot in the Civil War.
D. N. Osyor, a well-known resident of Columbus, manufacturer of and agent for fine cutlery, a mechanical engineer and among the first to introduce electricity into the coal mining business, for cutting and hauling, and who is present commander of J. C. McCoy Post, No. 1, Department of Ohio, Grand Army of the Republic, claims to have fired the last shot on either side, in the military sense of the term, and backs up his statement by historical cita- tions including those of the commanding officer General W. D. Hamilton, in his interesting brochure descriptive of the engagement, entitled: "In at the Death or the Last Shot at the Confederacy."
The narrative of the incident, along with the subsequent encounter with the Confederate victim of that last shot, is given in Commander Osyor's own words, to which may be added the statement that all historical refer- ences given by him substantiate his claim. He says :
"The last shot at the Confederacy was on the morning of the 17th day of April, 1865. The Ninth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry were about twelve miles from Durham Station, North Carolina. We were keeping a close watch on General Joe Wheeler's Cavalry. Our command was on the opposite side of a swamp from Wheeler's position. Early in the morning, we were ordered to dismount and No. 1, 2 and 3 to wade across (which was about waist deep) and open fire on them to enable the balance of the command to cross the swamp on a corduroy bridge. We were using our Spencer carbines so lively that they thought we were a whole brigade, and we succeeded in our inten- tion to take their attention from the bridge. Just as we were emerging from
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the water, a bullet came pretty close to the blood line on my arm and took away part of the sergeant's stripe worn on my old blouse. I saw a long barrel of a gun between two branches of a small tree a short distance in front of me and a leg of gray pair of trousers sticking out on the side. I took a shot at it and saw it slide down and crawl away. Just at this time a flag of truce came in sight and we were ordered to cease firing. This occurrence at the time did not impress me as being of much importance, but that flag of truce was the end of the Rebellion. Buford and Johnson soon surrendered and we came home.
"A few years ago I was sent to Birmingham, Alabama, to do some work, and while there met a man by the name of Amos Thompson, who was a soldier in the Confederate army and was shot in his left knee, which made him a cripple; he had to walk with a crutch; he said he got that wound with the last shot fired that morning by a Yankee sergeant whom he had tried to get but missed. After comparing notes we became friends, and slept together for about two months and between us we established the fact (and I believe justly so) that we fired the last shots and put an end to the Civil war. He has gone to the other shore, but I am still spared and am proud to know that I am thought worthy to wear the little bronze button-and to be made the commander of the grandest post in the Grand Army of the Republic, J. C. McCoy, No. 1, Department of Ohio.
"DAVID N. OSYOR, "Co. F., 9th O. V. C."
CHAPTER IX
BANKS, BANKERS, FINANCIAL MATTERS, RAILWAYS.
Columbus, like all other centers of population, has had its ups and downs in the financial field, but its failures have been few and trivial com- pared with other cities both in the east and in the west.
A Pioneer Bank.
The Franklin Bank of Columbus was incorporated by an act of the legislature on the 23d of February, 1816, and on the first Monday of Sep- tember in the same year, the first election for directors was held, when the following gentlemen were elected, to-wit: Lucas Sullivant, James Kilbourne. John Kerr, Alexander Morrison, Abram I. McDowell, Joel Buttles, Robert Massie, Samuel Barr, Samuel Parsons, John Cutler, Robert W. McCoy, Joseph Miller and Henry Brown. The following are the names of the successive presidents and cashiers, with their times of appointment: Presidents-1816. Lucas Sullivant; 1818, Benjamin Gardiner; 1819, John Kerr; 1823, Gus- tavus Swan. Cashiers-1816, A. J. Williams; 1818, William Neil; 1826. Jonah M. Espy. The charter of this institution expired on the 1st of Jan- uary, 1843.
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Bank vs. The Legislature.
The establishment of branches of the bank of the United States of Ohio, near the close of the second decade of the last century and the attempt of the legislature to subject them to taxation, on a par with the other banks and financial institutions of the state, led to a bitter conflict. The legislature by law subjected the United States banks to the same rate of taxation as was imposed upon the banks organized under the state laws. The officers of the United States Bank refused to recognize the authority of the legislature to levy and collect taxes from them, setting up that they were foreign corpora- tions and were chartered under the laws of the United States, and therefore not subject to state excise or control.
Trouble Anticipated.
In 1819-20 at the opening of the legislative session, Governor Ethan Allen Brown, in his message to the legislative body, dealt largely with the existing financial conditions, and he charged the financial depression prev- alent, both to the United States bank and to the reckless and injudicious use of credit by the incorporated banks of the state, then twenty-two in num- ber. He recommended the whole subject to the careful consideration of the legislature. As was probably anticipated, the United States bank resisted the collection of the one hundred thousand dollars annual tax assessed against it by the act of the previous year. The bank, by its attorneys, Creighton & Bond, went into the United States court and enjoined the state authorities. Governor Brown, in his state papers, stood by the enactment and there was intense excitement, both in the legislature and the courts, over the subject, . pending the final determination of the rights of the state in the premises. As was expected, the United States bank refused to pay the taxes assessed against it, and Treasurer Samuel Sullivan and Auditor Ralph Osborn, pro- ceeding under the provisions of the law, entered the bank and forcibly levied upon one hundred thousand dollars and carried it off to satisfy the taxes and penalties demanded by the state, under the statute.
State Officers Imprisoned.
For this the state officers were arrested upon a writ taken out of the United States district court. which sustained the condition of the bank, that it was independent of the state and the legislation, and ordered Sullivan and Osborn to return the money with a penalty to the bank. They refused to obey the order and were imprisoned for contempt. Subsequently they re- turned the money and were released. The legislature assembled in 1820-21 ready and anxious to deal with the bank of the United States.
A Bank Outlawed.
The question was referred to a special joint committee. at the head of which was William Henry Harrison, afterward elected president, who drew
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the report. The two houses carried out the recommendations of a joint committee of the two houses, the legislature placed the bank of the United States outside the pale of Ohio's laws, and enacted :
1. No sheriff or jailer was permitted to receive into his custody any person arrested on mesne process, or taken or charged in execution at the suit of the bank or its officers, or any person committed for or on account of any offense charged to have been committed upon the property, rights, interests or corporate franchises of the bank.
2. It was declared unlawful for any judge or justice of the peace to take legal cognizance of the bank, by entertaining suits against debtors, tak- ing acknowledgments or proof thereof, of deeds, mortagages and conveyances, and the county recorders were forbidden to enter them of record.
3. Notaries public were forbidden to protest any promissory notes due and payable to the bank, or give notice thereof.
4. Any sheriff violating the act was held responsible on his bond for two hundred dollars for each offense, to be recovered in an action at law by the party aggrieved. Any judge or justice of the peace violating the law was deemed guilty of a misdemeanor in office and liable to a fine not ex- ceeding five hundred dollars at the discretion of the Court for each offense. Notaries violating the law were removable from office.
5. If the bank should withdraw its suits against the State of Ohio and its officers and notify the governor and agree to pay a tax of four per cent upon its dividends, or would agree to withdraw from doing business in the state, leaving only its agents to wind up its affairs, the governor, by proc- lamation, was authorized to suspend the operation of the law.
As the statute put the bank beyond the pale of the law, its managers availed themselves of the fifth section and withdrew from the state. An at- tempt was mooted to carry this law into the United States courts to have a judicial ruling made, defining the sovereign powers of the states and de- claring the act an usurpation. But the federalist lawyers themselves saw the fallacy of raising the question and the idea was abandoned.
In February, 1845, the banking law to incorporate the state bank of Ohio and other banking companies was passed. Books were immediately opened and the requisite amount of stock soon subscribed for three new banks-the Exchange branch and the Franklin branch of the state bank; and the city bank, based upon state stocks. The Exchange Bank went into operation the 24th of May, 1845, with a capital of one hundred and twenty- five thousand dollars. The Franklin Bank went into operation July 1, 1845, with a capital of one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars.
City Bank of Columbus.
This institution went into operation near the same time as the Ex- change and Franklin branch banks under the same law, but a different pro- vision of it, which authorized independent banks, secured by the deposit of state stocks with the treasurer of state. This bank was located in the same building as the Columbus Insurance Company, and to a great extent. the
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stockholders in one of these institutions were also in the other; and so also with the directory of both institutions, which became in their business much mixed up together. Joel Buttles was the president of the bank until the time of his death, in the summer of 1850. Then Robert W. McCoy was president until the time of his death, January, 1856. Thomas Moodie was cashier during the whole existence of the institution.
Finally the bank and insurance company both failed; the insurance company in 1851, and it was in the month of November, 1854, that the bank suspended and closed its doors. The public lost nothing by the notes, they being secured, as above stated. But it was ruinous to the holders of stock, which was nearly all sunk. The charter of the bank, however, was for a time kept alive by the annual election of officers-probably with the view of sometime commencing business again.
At the legislative session of 1837-8, the Mechanics' Savings Institute, a bank of deposit, etc., was incorporated and soon after went into operation in Columbus. William B. Hubbard, Esq., president, and for a time Warren Jenkins, then Thomas Moodie, cashier. It was continued till about the time the City Bank commenced business, when the former was discontinued, or merged in the latter.
The moneyed institutions in Columbus in 1858 were the Exchange branch and Franklin branch of the State Bank of Ohio, above named, and three pretty extensive private banks or brokers' offices, viz .: The association doing business under the name of "Clinton Bank," "Miller Donaldson & Co., Bankers," and "Bartlitt & Smith, Bankers." But a few years later there were four regular chartered banks in the city. One had failed, as before stated; the charter of another expired by limitation and it became hard to . obtain a new bank charter under the then Constitution.
Columbus Gas Light & Coke Company.
By an act passed the 21st of February, 1846, Joel Buttles, Samuel Medary, Charles Scott, James S. Abbott, Dwight Stone, John Miller, James D. Osborn, James Westwater, S. D. Preston and William Armstrong and their associates were incorporated by the name of the Columbus Gas Light & Coke Company, for the purpose of lighting the streets and buildings of the city of Columbus. The company to be governed by a board of not less than five nor more than nine directors.
On the 6th of December, 1848, the company held their first meeting for the election of five directors, when John Miller, D. W. Deshler, J. Ridgway, Jr., John Lockwood and William A. Gill were elected. Mr. Miller was chosen president, Mr. Ridgway secretary, and Mr. Deshler treasurer. Subsequently Mr. Gill was president of the board. The buildings and necessary prepara- tions being made on the 14th of May, 1850, the city council passed an ord- inance granting the privilege to the company of using the streets and alleys for the purpose of laying their gas pipes and conveying the gas through the city. As a consideration for this privilege the gas company are to furnish such quantity of gas as may be required by the city council for public lamps at two-thirds the price paid by private consumers.
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A Thousand Per Cent Increase.
In 1858, the banks then in existence in Columbus stood for and repre- sented approximately one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. In 1908, the banks of the city with their cognate financial institutions, stand for and represent at least, if not more than one million dollars for each one thousand dollars at the beginning of the past fifty years. In other words, the increase has been one thousand per cent in the half century, an average increase of twenty per cent annually, and this has also been the approximate annual expansion of business, population and all the essentials for the up- building of the municipality.
The banking institutions prior to 1858 scarcely reached a half score. Now they are numbered by scores. Among the principal ones may be men- tioned. The Deshler National; The Commercial National; The City National; The Ohio National; The Huntington National; The Hayden-Clinton Na- tional; The New First National; The Union National; The National Bank of Commerce; The Capital City Bank; The Capital City Trust Co .; The Citizens Savings Bank; The Colonial Banking Co .; The Columbus Savings Bank; The Columbus Savings & Trust Co .; The Lincoln Savings Bank; The Market Exchange Bank; The North Side Savings Bank Co .; The Northern Savings Bank; The Ohio Trust Company; The Peoples Bank; The Produce Exchange Banking Company; The Security Savings Bank; The State Savings & Trust Co .; The West Side Dime Savings Bank; The Foreign Exchange Bank; The Market Exchange Bank; The American Savings Bank ; The Beggs Bank; The Home Store Bank; Caleb L. McKee & Co., Bankers; F. G. Thompson & Co., Bankers. Allemania Building & Loan; Buckeye State Building & Loan; Central Loan & Savings Co .; The Columbian Build- ing & Loan; The Fidelity Building & Loan; The Fifth Avenue Building & Loan ; The Globe Building & Loan; The Home Building & Loan; The Lilley Building & Loan; The Park Building & Loan; The Peoples Building & Loan : The Railway Employes Building & Loan; The Union Building & Loan ; The West Side Building & Loan.
This, in a form, no less suggestive than it is condensed, conveys a clear idea of the half (as well as the whole) century progress of the city along financial lines, since the most important points in the history of national and municipal progress is embraced in comparisons between original condi- tions and subsequent achievements.
Steps of Railway Progress.
The close alliance between the banks and the railway interest was more marked no doubt fifty years ago than today in many respects-at least con- temporaneous history shows such to have been the case, and in this, as in other instances pointed out the growth of the two interests, for reasons en- tirely obvious, also have been proportional. A condensed account of the contemporaneous history of railway progress in, and tending to Columbus, and as showing the keen interest taken therein by the people in various
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forms, exhibits these facts, expressed in the then present tense by the then recorders of passing events :
Railroads Add to the Impetus.
The location and construction of the railroads also gave a new impetus to improvements, particularly in the north end of the city. The Columbus & Xenia road was constructed in the years 1848 and 1849, and the first pas- senger train passed over it on the 26th of February, 1850. Soon after, an invitation was extended to the legislature, then in session, and they took a pleasure excursion over the road to Cincinnati and back.
The depot grounds, amounting to some thirty-six or thirty-seven acres, and the building, generally, belong to the Columbus & Xenia, and the Cleve- land, Columbus & Cincinnati roads, jointly. The Central road, however, by lease and contract, has certain rights and privileges in the same. The lot where the office is and the office itself belong to the Columbus & Xenia Com- pany, exclusively.
By the month of February, 1851, the C., C. & C. road (i. e., the road from Columbus to Cleveland) was so far finished as to be in running con- dition and pursuant to an arrangement between the railroad company and the Cleveland authorities, a grand celebration of the opening of a direct rail- road communication from Cincinnati to Cleveland, was to take place at Cleve- land, on the 22d of February, and invitations were extended to the legislature and to the city authorities of Columbus and Cincinnati and numerous other citizens to attend the celebration ; and on the 21st, the excursion party first , passed over the road. The 22d was spent at Cleveland and on the 23d the party returned highly gratified.
In the spring of 1852, the Central road being finished as far as Zanes- ville, on an invitation of the Zanesville authorities to the legislature, the city council of Columbus and certain others, a free pleasure excursion was had over the road to Zanesville, where the party was received and hospitably en- tertained by the citizens of Zanesville, and they returned the same night.
On the Columbus, Piqua & Indiana road, the first train passed over the road from Columbus to Urbana on the 4th of July, 1853, and in the fall of the same year the trains ran as far as Piqua.
A Century Epitomized.
In 1808-9 Columbus was an unbroken forest save as to a small number of scattered log cabins and five or six more pretentious houses on the west side. In 1908-9 it is not only the capital of the fourth state but a most thor- oughly modern city in all regards.
Its growth and importance are due: 1st. Primarily to the pioneers, their intelligence and their patriotism. 2nd. To the wisdom and states- manship of the public officials and state legislators of the first half of the nineteenth century. 3rd. To the faith and courage of its early moneyed men and financiers. 4th. To its manufacturers, merchants and business
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men of all lines, including the learned professions. 5th. To its religious and educational institutions. 6th. To the wise foresight of its financiers and public-spirited citizens. 7th. To judicious railway enterprises which were directly and indirectly fostered by the foregoing.
In 1808-9, transportation lines and lines of trade, travel and traffic were primitive. Today they are equal to any on the continent, all environments taken into consideration, and the result of all may be and is
Epigrammatically Summed Up.
Columbus is situated in the geographical center of the state of Ohio, and practically in the center of population of the United States.
Columbus was made the capital city of Ohio in 1808.
Columbus was incorporated as a borough in 1816.
Columbus had a population in 1815 of 700. In 1820 of 1,500. In 1830 of 2,435. In 1840 of 6,251. In 1848 of 12,804. In 1850 of 17,811. In 1870 of 31,551. In 1880 of 52,194. In 1890 of 88,150. In 1900 of 125,560. In 1907 (estimated on basis of registered voters, school enumeration, and City Directory), about 200,000 and rapidly increasing.
Columbus was made a port of entry in 1889.
Columbus has, within her corporate limits, an area of sixteen and twenty- five hundredths square miles.
Columbus might make increase of her population fully 25,000 by ex- tending her present square miles (sixteen and twenty-five hundredths) of area to thirty. It is proposed to do this in the near future.
Columbus is free from malaria; is situated on plateau; and has an alti- tude of seven hundred and fifty feet above sea-level.
Columbus has forty-seven hotels in all, a number of which are spacious and splendid structures, absolutely fireproof and conducted on up-to-date lines of elegance and refinement.
Columbus has halls and theatres with a combined seating capacity of over forty thousand. Of these the Board of Trade Auditorium seats two thousand; and the Memorial Hall seats five thousand.
Columbus has entertained, all in comfortable and successful way, many of the largest conventions held in the United States.
Columbus is now recognized broadly as a great convention city-an average of one convention a day-national or state for every day in the year, is about her record.
Columbus hotels treat the "convention" proposition fairly-rates are frequently lowered to "delegates," they are never increased.
Columbus Board of Trade has a membership of one thousand two hundred.
Columbus as an amusement city stands in the front rank. Her theatres are many, fine, and spacious; and all the best attractions are to be seen here. Her amusement parks, zoological gardens, natatoriums, skating rinks, etc., are open in season and are all conveniently and pleasantly located.
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Columbus street railway service-if cheapness of fare (seven tickets for 25 cents, with universal transfer), comfort and elegance of cars, promptness, reliability, and general efficiency, are to be considered-is without a rival.
Columbus' transportation facilities-for receiving and distributing-are without superior. Industrial and commercial enterprises located in Ohio's capital city have, in this, "all the best of the game."
Columbus is within less than six hours' ride of the most remote county seat in the great state of which she is the capital city.
Columbus has more than one million five hundred thousand people mak- ing their homes in such adjacence as will enable them to traverse the most extreme distance therefrom in a ride of less than two hours.
Columbus is so geographically located in the country as a whole, that at least one-fourth of the entire population thereof, live within a radius of three hundred miles of her corporate limits.
Columbus had her first railroad in 1850.
Columbus now has eighteen steam railroads and is reached by all the trunk lines.
Columbus has eight electric or interurban lines entering and radiating therefrom.
Columbus has, entering and leaving daily, one hundred and forty-eight passenger trains.
Columbus has more than three million visitors brought into her con- fines annually, through the medium of "Excursions"-run from various parts of the state of Ohio.
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