Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th, Part 14

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1086

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Music.

Oration Gen. W. H. Gibson

Music.

Miscellaneous Speaking.

Benediction. Rev. Du Poy

Col. Robert L. Kilpatrick, with efficient staff, Chief Marshal of the Day. Signal Code red and white pennant and national flag at half mast, where Clark's men were buried and site of the old stockade; solid red guidons, outlines of old stockade fort; diagonal red and black guidons, Indian line of defense, right wing; orange-col- ored guidons, triangular, Lynn's com- mand, Gen. Clark's right wing (between these opposing lines the conflict was the hottest) ; blue guidons, triangular, center of Clark's command; white guidons, triangular, Logan's command; large scarlet flag with white crossed cannon, supposed position of Clark's gun; broad swallow-tailed pennant, red, on top of hill, Indian signal station; large red flag with white ball on top of cliffs, opening to canyon in rocks where Indians are sup- posed to have escaped; national colors, Mingo Park, speaker's stand.

Sham Battle-The exercise of the day will conclude with a mimic battle, to terminate in the destruction of the In- dian quarters. Persons represented : Gen. George Rogers Clark-Col. Harvey Vinal; Col. Lynn-Col. Peter Sintz; Col. Logan-Capt. Perry Stewart; Col. Floyd -Capt. Lewis; Maj. Slaughter-Capt. Ad. Knecht.

This program was carried into full ex- ecution. The celebration was held upon the old battle-ground, upon a hot cloud- less August day. It had been well ad-

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vertised and an immense concourse of people assembled, some placing it as high as twenty thousand. General Keifer made the address of welcome, which was re- sponded to by Governor Foster. Thomas F'. McGrew read a valuable paper suit- able to the occasion. This was followed by an address of Gen. W. H. Gibson, who was then adjutant general of Ohio. He in turn was followed by Col. T. M. Ander- son of the United States Army. Hon. Stephen Johnson of Piqua also made some remarks. Mr. Johnson's mother was a lady of Kentucky, and was a friend of Daniel Boone; she was also acquainted with Tecumseh. Letters were read from Judge Force, Prof. Ozton, M. M. Munson, Greenville; Dr. J. J. Musson, St. Paris ; Isaac Smucker, Newark; C. W. Butter- field, Wisconsin; President Hayes, Sen- ators Thurman and Pendleton, Mayor Noble of Tiffin; William Patrick, of Ur- bana, and Theophilus Mckinnon of Lon- don. These letters are published entire in Beer's History and give much valuable historical information about our county.

After the dinner hour was over, the ex- citing events of the day took place. There was a sham battle fought upon the grounds, the purpose of which was to il- lustrate and bring vividly before the mind the events that occurred one hundred years before and, as can be attested by those who were present, it was excitable in the true sense of the term, soldiers ap- pearing here and there representing as best they could the hardy ranger of Clark's command, or the fierce Indian of one hundred years ago.

How closely the imitation contest re- sembled the original battle, may remain a question, but most assuredly it gave an

instructive lesson to all in the history of our county, and brought before the people as had never been done before, the one great important military event that hap- pened on Clark County's soil.

THE SPRINGFIELD CENTENNIAL.

When the time arrived when we could properly hold another centennial we had a Historical Society, the Clark County Historical Society having been formed in 1897. This organization, early in 1900, took up the question of celebrating the centennial of our city of Springfield. Somewhat doubtful of the power of its own influence, the society sent forth a paper urging the importance of holding such an event, and had attached thereto the signatures of B. F. Prince, the presi- dent of the society, C. J. Bowlus mayor . of the city, Joseph Spangenberger, presi- dent of the City Council, John W. Burk, president of the Board of Trade, and W. H. Schaus, president of the Commercial Club. In response to this paper a number of citizens met in the Council Chamber, on the evening of March 13, 1900, and ap- pointed a general committee of seven to have charge of such celebration: This committee was composed of Judge F. M. Hagan, Prof. B. F. Prince, Dr. John H. Rogers, Capt. E. L. Bookwalter, Mr. John Foos, W. H. Schaus, and D. P. Fox.

At the first meeting of the committee it organized by electing Judge Hagan president, Dr. Prince secretary, and D. P. Fox treasurer.

A number of sub-committees were ap- pointed. It was finally determined to have a celebration at the Fair Grounds and an entire week was devoted for that purpose. The following program was formulated :

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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

SUNDAY, AUGUST 4. RELIGIOUS DAY.

Rev. George H. Fullerton, D. D., Chairman.

Exercises at 2:30 p. m., at the Fair Grounds.

Doxology-"Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow."

Invocation .By Rev. W. H. Sidley

Anthem ..

. By the Choir Reading of Scriptures. .. By S. F. Breckenridge, D. D. Praver. . . . By Rev. C. M. Van Pelt Hymn-"All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name." By the Choir.

Historical Paper-"Origin of the Churches and Other Religious Organizations of the City and Clark County". By Dr. Isaac Kay Hymn-"My Country "Tis of Thee." By the Choir Benediction. .. .By Rev. A. C. McCabe, D. D. (Music for these services was furnished by an old- fashioned choir of five hundred voices.)

MONDAY, AUGUST 5. FORMAL OPENING DAY. Governor A. S. Bushnell, Chairman.

Parade at 10:30 a. m. of all City Officials, Police and Fire Departments, Manufacturers and Com- mercial Interests.

An Exhibition by the Police and Fire Departments at the Fair Grounds.

Opening Address. .

. By Judge F. M. Hagan

Paper-"A Century of Commercial Life.". .By O. F. Hypes Paper-"Incorporation of Springfield and City Gov- ernment" . ... By D. Z. Gardner Paper-"Our Manufacturing Interests; History and Present Conditions" .By W. S. Thomas

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6. PIONEER DAY. A. P. L. Cochran, Esq., Chairman.

Paper-"Bench and Bar" . By Hon. Wm. M. Rockel Paper-"History of the Medical Profession of Clark County" .By Dr. H. H. Seys Interesting speeches by some of the first and oldest settlers of Clark County.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7. MILITARY DAY. General J. W. Keifer, Chairman.

Parade at 10:30 a. m. of all soldiers' and sailors' organizations and soldiers of all wars of Clark County.

Address-"Camp Fires and Military Maneuvers" . By General Keifer

THURSDAY, AUGUST 8.

FRATERNAL DAY. Judge F. M. Hagan, Chairman.

Paper-"Fraternal Organizations" By P. M. Cartmell Exhibition Drills

By Boys and Girls of Masonic, I. O. O. F. and Pythian Homes.

Display of Secret Societies ..... By Uniformed Ranks Paper-"The Press". . By Clifton M. Nichols

FRIDAY, AUGUST 9. LABOR AND AGRICULTRAL DAY. R. L. Holman, Chairman.

Parade by all labor organizations of the city.

Paper-"Labor and Labor Organizations" .By T. J. Creager Paper-"Early Agriculture in Clark County' By J. C. Williams SATURDAY, AUGUST 10.

EDUCATIONAL AND WOMAN'S DAY.

MORNING.

Mrs. F. M. Hagan, Chairman.

Display by Members of City and County Schools.

Paper-"Woman's Clubs". . By Mrs. E. L. Buchwalter Paper-"Women's Work for Charity" ...

. By Mrs. Amaziah Winger Paper-"Woman's Work in the Civil War" . By Mrs. Clifton M. Nichols AFTERNOON.

Prof. John S. Weaver, Chairman. Paper-"A Century of Educational Work in Spring- field". By Prof. W. H. Weir

This program was carried out in detail, the proceedings were duly published un- der the editorship of Dr. Prince, and make a very valuable collection of historical matter relating to Clark County. Va- rious displays were made on the Fair Grounds illustrative of both past and present, articles in former use presenting an interesting contrast with those manu- factured at this time. The Historical So- ciety displayed its collections, and many of our people were surprised at the large amount of historical matter in the posses- sion or at the command of that society. The schools of the city also made a dis- play which was very creditable.

The papers prepared by the various persons whose names appeared on the program, showed much care and research, and they have collected and preserved in an accessible form a vast amount of use- ful historical information for the benefit of those who are interested in such mat- ters.

When the year 1918 rolls around the centennial of Clark County will no doubt be observed with appropriate ceremonies.

UNDERGROUND RAILWAY.

The word "railway" ordinarily con- veys to the mind a road laid with rails for the purpose of conveying cars from one place to another, and the name "un- derground railway" would seem to be a misnomer, but it very appropriately de-

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scribes the institution it stands for-that is, a pathway used by persons who were in stealth and secrecy moving from one place to another, and was more particularly ap- plied to the route which fleeing slaves took to escape from their masters, leading from the Southern States to the Canadian boundary line.

On the question of slavery diverse - views were held by our people, some con- sidering that the slave was property, and was entitled to protection as such, and that the master of the slave had the same right to pursue and recover a fleeing slave, no matter where found, as he would have to recover any other kind of prop- erty. Others, however, took the view that there could be no property in a human being and that the law could grant no rights in property of that kind; and that hence they were perfectly justified in us- ing all the means in their power to assist a runaway slave in evading the pursuit of his master.

Clark County seemed naturally adapted for a roadway of this kind. The early set- ters, as well as the aboriginals, in going from Kentucky to the Lakes, either crossed the Ohio River at Cincinnati and then followed the Miami and Mad River Valley, or they crossed at the ford in Brown County, prominent in early his- tory, being a point where Eagle River en- ters into the Ohio, and thence went north through what are now the counties of Brown, Clinton, Greene, Clark, Cham- paign, and Logan or Union, and on up to the lakes. In these counties there was a large settlement of persons from Mary- land, Virginia and Kentucky, many of whom had left their old homesteads in order to avoid living in the atmosphere of

slavery with its disagreeable associa- tions. These men naturally became strong in their opposition to the institu- tion and to its upholders. Not much is known now of this "railway" in Clark County, but it is known that Selma, in the southern part of Madison Township, was one of the main stations of the road. There was there a large settlement of Hicksite Quakers, which sect was particu- larly violent in its opposition to slavery. From Selma the slaves, some of them, came through Springfield, but a more direct route was up through Mechanics- burg, or Marysville. Among the stopping places upon this route, it is said was that of John D. Nichols, 127 S. Mechanic street. The citizens of Clark County were considerably wrought up over a contro- versy which arose in 1857, in which our sheriff, then John E. Layton, was in- volved.

Sometime in the latter part of 1856, one Addison White, a slave, had escaped from his home in Kentucky. By means of the underground railway he had gotten as far, in 1857, as Mechanicsburg, Cham- paign County. This slave was described as being a man of great physical strength, over six feet in height, and weighing over 200 pounds, and with a spirit to defend himself under all circumstances. A few years previous to this time Udney H. Hyde had made of his place one of the stations of the underground railway. He then resided in Mechanicsburg and up to May, 1857, he had helped 513 slaves in their race for freedom.

In the spring of 1857 Mr. Hyde moved out of the village to a farm about two and a half miles away. Addison had left a wife, who was a free woman, in Ken-

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tucky. In order to conceal his location, his letters were mailed at Springfield and those from his wife were sent to the same place. In someway not absolutely known the authorities became strongly of the opinion that Addison was at the Hyde residence. About two weeks before the attempted seizure, a man by the name of Edward Lindsey came to the home of Mr. Hyde and sought work which was given him. No doubt this man was a spy, for he disappeared on the morning of the first visit of the marshals and was never heard of again.

On the 21st of May, 1857, B. F. Churchill and John C. Elliot, deputy mar- shals, accompanied by Captain John Pof- fenbarger, United States deputy marshal from Champaign County, with five Ken- tuckians, appeared about sunrise at the home of Mr. Hyde for the arrest of Addi- son. The fugitive slave was the first to discover them. He saw them entering the gate of the door-yard, and it didn't take him long to understand what it meant. It seems that about this time Mr. Hyde, who was then building a new house, lived in a double log house which had a loft above. To enter this loft there was an opening just large enough to admit one person. Here the slave took refuge armed with a large revolver.

The marshals got a glimpse of the slave entering the house, saw the loose boards which made the floor of the loft, and mov- ing them, fired a shot gun through the crack to terrify the slave above. Elliott, one of the marshals, then mounted a lad- der with a double-barrel shot gun in his hands. When the marshal's head ap- peared above the floor the slave fired at him and the ball struck the barrel of the

marshal's gun, making a mark on his cheek and taking a nip off his ear. Mr. Hyde who was lying in bed with a broken ankle, gave instructions as to what should be done. One of his sons had been seized by the marshals, but a daughter about fourteen years of age was at home, and she was directed to go to the house of another son and ask him to send word to friends in Mechanicsburg. She accom- plished this mission, although the mar- shals' bullets were flying thick and fast about her. The brother hastened to Me- chanicsburg and aroused the people. Be- fore long quite a mob appeared, and after a short parley the marshals concluded that a retreat was about the most advis- able course of action on their part.

The slave was then secreted success- ively in other places. Mr. Hyde, who was satisfied that charges would be brought against him for harboring a slave, put himself in hiding for the next six or eight months, and while the United States authorities were very anxious to get him in their clutches they were not able to do so.

About six days after the attempted ar- rest of the slave, the United States mar- shals Elliott and Churchill reappeared in Mechanicsburg for the purpose as they declared of arresting Mr. Hyde. As soon as their presence was observed, it was suspected that they were there for that purpose, and they were followed by Charles and Edward Taylor and Hiram Gutridge. The officers went to the house of the senior Hyde and in some way a controversy arose between the Marshals and these followers, and the United States officers arrested them without a warrant. They allowed them to change their cloth-

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ing and prepare somewhat for their jour- ney. The Mechanicsburg people gave the prisoners to understand that if they did not want to go they would release them, but the officers said they intended to take them to Urbana for preliminary examina- tion, and Urbana not being an unfriendly place, this was accepted as satisfactory. However, after the United States officers had gone some distance towards Urbana they changed their course and proceeded towards the south. One of the follow- ers, Mr. Caldwell, whom the marshals had threatened, proceeded to Urbana and se- cured a warrant for the arrest of the mar- shals on the ground that they had inter- fered with him on the public highway. A Mr. F. W. Greenough proceeded in an- other way and filed a writ of habeas cor- pus before Samuel B. Baldwin, judge of the Probate Court of Champaign County. This writ of habeas corpus was directed to the sheriff of Champaign County and it had also been placed in the hands of sheriff John F. Layton, of Clark County. The United States officials with their pris- oners, it had been learned, were proceed- ing toward South Charleston. Sheriff Layton with deputy sheriff William Compton, met the United States officials at South Charleston and seizing their bridles prevented them from going fur- ther. Sheriff Layton attempted to serve the writ on Churchill, but was knocked down by a stroke from a Colt revolver and was so badly beaten that he suffered from the assault all of his subsequent life. Deputy Marshal Elliott fired some shots. About the same time the Urbana officers appeared and the deputy marshals thought it wise to depart.

This assault on Sheriff Layton gave

another feature to the case. Soon after a warrant was issued by J. A. Houston, justice of the peace, of South Charleston, for the arrest of the United States mar- shals. This warrant was placed in the hands of E. G. Coffin, who was constable then of that court. He, accompanied by a large crowd, began the race after the United States Marshals. He had not gone very far before he was joined by sheriff McIntire of Greene County, in whose hands a writ of habeas corpus had also been placed. During the entire night the pursued and the pursurers were making the best headway they could, passing through Greene County into Clinton Coun- ty, and about the hour of sunrise, near the little village of Lumberton, the mar- shals with their prisoners were overtaken. Some of the party escaped, but the rest with the four prisoners from Mechanics- burg, were taken in charge by constable Coffin. They returned to South Charles- ton, where they were arraigned before Justice Houston's Court, found guilty and bound over to the Court of Common Pleas on' the evening of the 28th. On the next morning they were brought before the probate judge of Clark County, James L. Torbet, and admitted to bail in the sum of $150. As soon as Churchill and Elliott were released they were again arrested on a warrant charging assault with attempt to commit a murder on May 30th, and trial was had. J. S. Haucke was attorney for the state and J. M. Hunt for the de- fendants. They were bound over to the Court of Common Pleas in the sum of $1.500. Other arrests were made and the prisoners were compelled to remain in jail for a good many hours.

Judge Humphrey H. Leavitt, who was

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United States district attorney of Ohio, dom. The following is a copy of the Deed ordered that they be released from cus- of Manumission, which was granted to Addison White. tody of Clark County and brought before him. Then arose the question that has presented a good many difficulties as to DEED OF MANUMISSION. FILED NOVEMBER, 1857. the jurisdiction of State and United States Courts.

On July 16th Judge Leavitt decided that the United States officers were prop- erly discharging their duties and ordered their discharge. In the following July, the prisoners who were originally arrested by the deputy marshals, were again ar- rested on warrants and taken before the United States District Court in Cincin- nati. Two of them, Gutridge and Hyde, were dismissed, but Edward and Charles Taylor were held and gave bail for their appearance in court. Extraordinary ex- citement was created all over the State of Ohio, and especially in Clark County, by these proceedings. The people had been aroused on the slavery question to an ex- tent never before observed. The assault upon Layton and proceedings generally left its impress on our people, and no doubt had much to do with the extensive anti-slavery feeling that afterwards de- veloped here. The case dragged along in the United States Court for some time, and finally it was proposed by the owner of the slave that $1,000 should be paid him, when the cases would be dropped. The people in Clark County were much opposed to this course, but Mr. Udney H. Hyde who had not been molested, but who had been in hiding on account of this af- fair agreed, and the money was raised.

It may be a matter of interest to those not familiar with such proceedings, to know something of the form of an instru- ment which granted to a slave his free-

"Know all men that I, Daniel G. White, of Fleming County, Ky., in consideration of the sum of nine hundred and fifty dol- lars on hand paid to me by John A. Corwin of Champaign County, Ohio, in behalf of Addison White, a negro man, aged about thirty-five years, who is my slave under the laws of Kentucky, and who has left my service, do hereby free, acquit, release, and manumit the said Addison White, my slave as aforesaid, and give and assign him to freedom to go and to do as he pleases during his life, without constraint or obligation of any nature by and to me at any time or place or under any circumstances what- ever. And I hereby covenant and agree with the said John A. Corwin and the said Addison White that the right of the said Addison White to visit, or reside in the State of Kentucky or elsewhere, shall be free and unrestrained, except by the laws of Kentucky or the laws of the place where he may be and sojourn, and with- out any claim of mine or any other per- son upon his liberty or upon his per- sonal services. In witness whereof I have hereunto affixed my name and seal this 12th day of November, A. D. 1857, at the City of Covington in the State of Ken- tucky. (Seal.) Attest : DANIEL G. WHITE.

ALEXANDER COWAN,

W. W. JOHNSON."

I am indebted for much of the data contained in the above account of the res- cue case. to a very interesting paper of Dr. B. F. Prince, that appeared in the July number, 1907, of the Quarterly of the

FOOS MFG. CO., SPRINGFIELD.

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$35

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THE FOOS MFG .. CO.

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ciety.

Ohio Archaeological and Historical So- number of colored people had made reput- able citizens, there were a number of the younger and more foreign element that SPRINGFIELD'S FIRST RIOT. had justly made themselves obnoxious to the white people, and this had created While our neighboring cities of Ur- bana, Bellefontaine, and Xenia had wit- nessed mob law, it was our boast and pride that such a thing had never hap- pened in Springfield, and we did not think that it ever could occur; but communities like individuals, when attacked by a dan- gerous disease, require drastic means of relief, and do not realize how deep seated some treacherous diseases in government- al affairs may become until a sudden eruption brings the disorder prominently to view. No person had ever suffered the penalty of death for the commission of a capital offense in this county, and people had become rather of the opinion that no matter how brutal a murder might have been committed, the full penalty of the law would not be applied. For some time pre- vious to 1903 our community seemed to be overwhelmed by a deluge of crimes. Within the period of one year more than twelve murders had been committed, quite a number of them by colored people. For some time Springfield seemed to be the rendezvous of disreputable colored people from Kentucky, and other points within and without the state. They came to Springfield probably because there was a large colored population here, and also for the reason that no colored line had been drawn against them in the shops and in the pursuit of other avocations. But the colored man, ever eager to assert and maintain his equal rights with the white man, had frequently come into collision with the latter. Furthermore, while a more or less of a' race feeling. Added to this, there was a controversy and conflict of authority between our Police Court and the Court of Common Pleas, which did not tend to elevate either in the minds of right-thinking people, and which resulted to the detriment of their authority among the lower classes. By reason of the lax enforcement of police laws, resulting no doubt from the inadequate realization of crime that was committed, then common among our citizens, a number of disreput- able saloons and other places where dis- reputable people congregated, had been al- lowed to exist with very little molestation ; and so on March 6, 1904, when Richard Dixon, a dangerous colored man from Kentucky, shot and killed without provo- cation Police Court Bailiff Charles Collis, it took very little encouragement to arouse a spirit that placed his life in the hands of a mob. The murder was without the least semblance of provocation. Dixon had been in trouble before and it seems had conceived a hatred against the court bai- liff. Collis was an exemplary police of- ficer and a well-liked citizen and as soon as the report had become thoroughly cir- culated that he was dead, some of those who had known him very well suggested that they take the law in their own hands. It was rumored in the afternoon that an attempt would be made to lynch Dixon, but the idea was scouted by the better class of citizens. However, in the evening a howling and hooting mob gathered around the jail clamoring for the life of

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Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th, Part 14

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co. Number of Pages: 1086

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1086