USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, past and present; its representative men > Part 25
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Mr. Jones was nominated by the Republican party of Cleveland as judge of the City Court, in 1857, but in common with the entire ticket, was defeated. He was an early adherent of the old Liberty party, and a warm advocate on the stump and elsewhere, of the election of John C. Fremont to the Presidency, and a firm supporter of Lincoln's administration.
He was appointed Attorney for the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany, one of the largest corporations in the United States, in the year 1865, and has ever since continued, as such attorney, to have charge and supervision of a large and peculiar legal business for the company, extending over the various States and Territories embraced in what is known as the Central Division of the territory covered by its lines. He has made telegraph law a speciality for several years, and has probably had as large and extended experience in that com- paratively new and peculiar branch of the law as any other attorney in the country.
He was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the county of Cuyahoga, in the Fall of 1867, and was distinguished during his term for the zeal, fidelity, and ability with which he discharged his official duties. It fell to his lot to prosecute many important and difficult criminal
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cases; prominent among them was the trial of Sarah M. Victor, for the murder, by poison, of her brother, William Parquette. The case was peculiar and remarkable; the murdered man had lain in his grave a whole year before suspicions were aroused that his death was caused by foul play ; slight circumstances directed attention to suspi- cious appearances in the case, which a quiet investigation did not diminish. The prosecutor, therefore, caused the body to be secretly disinterred, and engaged .J. L. Cassells, an accomplished chemist, to subject the body to a chemical analysis, which on being done, arsenic in sufficient quantity to produce death was found in the stomach and other internal organs. Her arrest for murder, therefore, immediately took place. The circumstances of the case were well calculated to arouse an intense interest in the public mind as to the result of the trial. The facts that the alleged poisoner was a woman, that the murdered man was her own brother, that her own sister was supposed to be an important witness against her, that the murder, if murder it was, was in the highest degree cruel, mercenary, and devilish, that at the time of her arrest she was prominently connected with religious and benevolent institutions of the city, though it was well known she had previously led an irregular life, and the profound secrecy in which the dark deed had slumbered for a whole year, all seemed to concur in riveting public attention upon it ; and yet, previous to the trial, the belief was prevalent in the community generally, as well as among the members of the Bar, that however guilty the prisoner might be, she would not be convicted. In this belief the prosecutor did not share, but at once went to work with his accustomed energy to unravel the evidences of the great crime ; and for many weeks, with an energy that never flagged, himself and his assistant, H. B. De Wolf, Esq., patiently and persistently explored the dark secrets of her life, examined hundreds of witnesses, and inextricably wound the coils of evidence around her.
The case, which was tried in the May term of the Court of Common Pleas, 1868, lasted fourteen days, was fully reported phonographi- cally, and made about twenty-seven hundred pages of testimony, which was pronounced, when closed on the part of the State, "a marvelous net-work of circumstantial evidence."
The case was closed by Mr. Jones in an able and conclusive speech of six hours in length. The prisoner was convicted by the jury after but a brief deliberation, and she was sentenced to be hanged, but her sentence was afterward commuted to imprisonment for life. In numerous other important, and warmly contested criminal cases
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Mr. Jones has been almost uniformly successful, displaying in them all, much tact, self-possession, and legal ability.
Mr. Jones was married at Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, February Sth, 1860, by the Rev. Luther Lee, to Ermina W., daughter of Ilarmon and Leonora Barrows, of the latter place.
Educational.
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ITIZENS of Cleveland are justly proud of their Public Schools, and of the system of education under which they are conducted, but yet the history
of these schools, until within a few years, was one of struggle against parsimony and prejudice. It was only by persistent efforts on the part of a few public-spirited citizens, who believed that money spent in educating the masses is the best invest- ment that can possibly be made, that the Public School system of Cleveland has attained its present excellence, and the miserable make-shift school buildings, in which the children of the city were taught, have given place to the large, con- venient and elegant buildings of the present.
The first public school of Cleveland, the "Cleveland Free School," was estab lished in March, 1830, "for the education of male and female children of every religious denomination," and was supported by the city. It was held for years in the basement of the Bethel church, which was then a frame building, measur- ing forty by thirty feet, situated at the corner of Diamond street and Superior street hill. In 1837, the average number of pupils in attendance was ninety males and forty-six females. There were also the Young Ladies' Seminary, or the old " Academy," on St. Clair street, presided over by Miss Harrison, and the Cleveland Female Seminary, in Farmer's Block, corner of Ontario and Prospect streets, incorporated April, 1837, with Henry Sexton, Benjamin Ronse, H. II. Dodge, A. P. Smith, and A. Wheeler, as trustees. At that date, Ohio City sur- ported two district and one free school, but the attendance is not recorded.
The story of the growth of the school system of the State and of its local development in the city of Cleveland is mainly told in the biography of Mr. Harvey Rice, on pages following this, and in the preceding pages which sketch
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the history of Mr. Charles Bradburn. All that is necessary to be given here, is a brief summary of some of the leading events in the history of the Cleveland Public Schools as prepared by one who took a lending part in their organization and development.
The Public Schools were organized under the city charter in 1837, and the control vested in a board of five school managers, elected by the Council. The chairman of the board was styled the acting manager, and was secretary and Superintendent of repairs and of discipline. This original arrangement was suc- ceeded in 1853, by a board of seven members, appointed by the Council. In 1854, when Cleveland and Ohio City were united, another change occurred. One member of the school board from each of the eleven Wards was chosen by the Council. In 1856, the number was reduced to five, and finally, in 1859, by authority of a law of the State, the members of the Board of Education, one from each Ward, were elected by the people, for the term of one year, which was extended to two years in 1862, and so remains to the present time. The powers of the board were greatly enlarged by a law passed in the Spring of 1869. .
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Charles Bradburn was the first acting manager, secretary and superintendent, assisted and encouraged by a few warm friends of education, chief of whom. at this time, was Geo. Willey. In 1840, Mr. Andrew Freese was employed as prin- cipal teacher, and soon became actual superintendent, though not formally clothed with that authority until several years afterwards. In the meantime, school build- ings were erected on Prospect street, Rockwell street, West St. Clair street and Kentucky street, (West Side).
For several years the course of instruction was quite limited, and of low grade. The school buildings, then supposed to be large and commodious, were soon crowded with scholars very much mixed, as to standing, and moving forward amid much confusion. In 1841, the second stories of the Prospect street and Rockwell street buildings were converted into grammar schools of a higher grade .. The West St. Clair street school was the first one arranged for the · improved grading of primary and secondary schools in separate departments.
In 1850, the board directed Mr. Freese to exercise a general superintendence over the classification, instruction and discipline in all the grammar and subordi- nate schools, but no superintendent was anthorized by law, until 1853. It was full time that some authority should be introduced to correct the abuses which had insensibly and unavoidably crept into the discipline and course of instruction, and vigorous enforcement of strict rules brought out a fierce opposition from anxious, but ill-informed and partial parents, who felt provoked and discouraged by
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the divenvory that their children were in classes far ahead of their netua? quali. beations, and must be put back to be more thoroughly drilled in preparatory studies. Gradually confusion gave place to order, scholars were ranked as wear u« could be, according to their actual standing ; the grades arranged as Primary. Secondary, Intermediate and Grammar departments, the entire course consummated in the East and West High Schools. But all this was the work of immense labor, extending through years of ceaseless effort and expense, little anticipated by the people, or perhaps by the hopeful projectors of the system, when they x" manfully entered upon the undertaking. Twenty-six years ago the entire corps of teachers numbered only fifteen. In 1848, they had increased to twenty. In that year, children under six years of age were excluded, to the great disgust of many fond mothers who thought the public school the very best place to keep the troublesome young ones out of their way.
Under the general school law a portion of the taxes collected was set apart for the support of the schools, while a special fund for school buildings was raised, from time to time, by direct taxation, or by loan, and buildings erected in the different Wards as the city increased in extent.
In 1846, the East High School was opened in the basement of the old Uni- versalist Church (now the Plymouth Church) on Prospect street, near Eric street. A strong opposition was made to this advanced step. It was objected to as illegal. which it actually was, though that was soon remedied; and as unnecessary and unreasonable.
It is gratifying to know that many of those strenuous opponents are now among the warm friends of the High Schools, and justly proud of their success.
Richard Fry, then Principal of the West St Clair school, distinguished himself by his writings through the press, and his speeches at public meetings, in adve - cating the claims of the High School, and thus powerfully sustained its friends in their unpopular contest. The law authorizing a High School limited the whole course to two years, and required one year's previous attendance at one of the grammar schools.
In 1851, a regular course of instruction was adopted, extending to three years, but still confined to English studies. In 1856, the Latin and Greek languages were introduced, and in 1859, the German was added to the full course. These ancient and foreign languages were optional with the students, as well as the French language, which was introduced some years later.
The first graduated class consisted of ten scholars, right of whom afterwards became teachers. Indeed. it soon became evident that the High School was not only the best, but almost the only reliable source of supplying teachers for the
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subordinate schools, which were fast increasing. The extreme difficulty of procuring competent and reliable teachers bad, all along, been one of the greatest em- barrassments in carrying forward a course of instruction, extensive, thorough, and heretofore almost unknown west of the mountains.
The original design of one central High School was found to be unsuited to the extended territory on both sides of the river, and two High Schools were substituted.
The East High School building was completed and opened in 1856. The West High School was first opened in the Kentucky street buikling, and continued there for several years, until in 1861, the new building was completed.
In 1861, Mr. Freese was relieved from the superintendency which had become too laborious for his declining health, and L. M. Oviatt took the management for two years, when he was succeeded by Anson Smyth, formerly State Superintend- ent. On his resignation, Mr. Andrew J. Rickoff, of Cincinnati, was called to the position. Under his management important changes in the classification and management of the schools have been introduced.
The prominence given to Messrs Bradburn, Willey and Freese, in the history of the public schools, is not intended to disparage or undervalne the services rendered by many others, without whose hearty and efficient co-operation the whole undertaking would have failed. Prominent among these co-operators were J. D. Cleveland, J. Fitch, Dr. Maynard, Harvey Rice, Rev. J. A. Thome, T. P. Handy, W. D. Beattie, (since deceased,) R. B. Dennis, Ansel Roberts, L. M. Oviatt. and Thos. Jones, Jr.
In 1868, there were eighteen male, and one hundred and thirty-nine female teachers employed in the public schools of the city, making an aggregate of one hundred and fifty-seven. The total number of pupils enrolled was 10.154, the average number belonging to the schools. 7.060. and the average daily attend- ance, 6,623.
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Yours tuely ,
Harvey Rice
IT'S REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
HARVEY RICE.
In the Ohio Educational Monthly for April, 1860, appeared a pretty full biography of Hon. Harvey Rice, who has filled an important position in connection with the educational interests of Ohio. From that account we learn that Mr. Rice is a native of Massachusetts. He was born June 11th, 1800. In 1824, he graduated from Williams College, and the same year removed to Cleveland. He came to Ohio a stranger and without influential friends here or elsewhere to aid his efforts for advancement. When he landed at Cleveland he owned nothing but the clothes he wore, and three dollars in his pocket. At that time Cleveland contained but 400 inhabitants.
Making no disclosure as to the low state of his treasury and the rather dull prospect for an immediate replenishing of the same, he took lodgings at the best public house the town afforded, at the rate of two dollars and a half per week. At the expiration of one week he paid his board bill and removed to a private boarding-house, with but fifty cents left, and commenced teaching a classical school in the old academy on St. Clair street. About the same time he commenced the study of the law under the direction of Reuben Wood, then a prominent member of the Cleveland Bar, and at the expiration of two years was admitted to practice, and entered into copartnership with his former instructor, which continued until Mr. Wood was elected to the Bench.
In 1829, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and in 1830, elected to represent his district in the State Legislature. Soon after, without solicitation on his part, he was appointed an agent for the sale of the Western Reserve school lands, a tract of fifty-six thousand acres, situated in the Virginia Military District. He opened a land office at Millersburgh, in Holmes county, for the sales, and in the course of three years sold all the lands, and paid the avails, nearly one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, into the State Treasury, as a school fund for the exclusive benefit of educating the children of the Western Reserve, the interest of which is now annually paid by the State for that purpose.
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In 1833, Mr Rice returned to Cleveland, and was appointed Clerk of the Common Pleas and Supreme Courts, an office in which he faithfully served for seven years, and in 1834 and 1836, was nominated by the Democratic Convention as a candidate for Congress, and received the united support of the party, though without expecta- tion of success, as the Democrats were largely in the minority. He was the first Democrat ever sent to the Legislature from Cuyahoga county, and, while serving in that body, was considered one of its ablest and most influential members. He was appointed by the House one of the select committee for revising the statutes of the State, and while in that capacity, introduced and advocated with acknowledged ability many new provisions, which still retain their place upon our statute book.
The natural abilities of Mr. Rice are of a very high order. His mind is thoroughly disciplined and cultivated, and for the compara- tively short time he practiced at the Bar, he obtained an enviable reputation for legal ability, sound, practical, discriminating judgment and gentlemanly deportment.
He is well known as an able contributor to many of the best peri- odicals of the day, and is a graceful and exceedingly vigorous writer. His imagination is rich and glowing, and his mind well stored by a long and judicious course of mental training. We have seen some articles of Mr. Rice's which compare favorably with those of the best writers of the day.
The following, which we find in the " Nineteenth Century," we take the liberty of publishing here, and look upon it as a meritorious and beautiful poem :
THE MORAL HERO.
With heart that trusteth still, Set high your mark ; And though with human ill The warfare may be dark, Resolve to conquer, and you will !
Resolve, then onward press, Fearless and true :
Believe it -Heaven will bless The brave- and still renew
Your hope and courage in distress.
Press on, nor stay to ask
For friendship's aid ;
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
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Deign not to wear a mask Nor wield a coward's blade, But still persist, though hard the task.
Rest not -inglorious rest Unnerves the man;
Struggle - 'tis God's beliest ! Fill up life's little spant With God-like deeds-it is the test -
Test of the high-born soul, And lofty aim ; The test in History's scroll Of every honored name - None but the brave shall win the goal !
Go act the hero's part, And in the strite, Strike with the hero's heart For liberty and life - Ay, strike for Truth ; preserve her chart !
Her chart unstain'd preserve : "Twill guide you right.
Press on and never swerve, But keep your armor bright,
And struggle still with firmer nerve.
What though the tempest rage, Buffet the sea ! Where duty calls, engage : And ever striving be The moral hero of the Age !
In the fall of 1851, Mr. Rice was put in nomination for the State Senate, and was elected by a majority exceeding seven hundred votes.
The General Assembly to which he was now returned, was the first that convened under the new Constitution. Upon this body devolved the responsibility of reconstructing the statutes of the State, and adapting them to the requisition of the Constitution, so as to secure to the people the practical benefits of the great reforms which had been achieved by its adoption. Mr. Rice contributed quite as much as any other member to the important legislation of the two sessions held by that General Assembly. It was said of him that he was always at his post. The degree of influence which he exercised as a legislator, was such as few have the good fortune to wield.
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Among the variety of measures which engaged his attention, he took a prominent part in procuring the passage of the act which authorized the establishment of two additional lunatic asylums in the State.
His course in relation to the subject of common schools attracted public attention throughout the State, and called forth from the press commendations of a very complimentary character. The corres- pondent of a paper published at Newark, writing from Columbus, remarks as follows :
Senator Rice, of Cuyahoga, has in charge a bill for the reorganization of schools and providing for their supervision.
No better man than Mr. Rice could have been selected for this work. He is a model man and a model Senator. Clear headed, sound minded, carefully and fully educated, with a pains-taking disposition, he is the ablest chairman of the standing committee on . schools that any Ohio Legislature ever had. Deeply impressed with the great importance of the subject-of the stern necessity which exists for basing our whole republican forin of government on the intelligence of the people, he has carefully provided a bill, which, if enacted into a law, will give a good common school education to every child in the State, and in so doing, has been equally careful that the money raised for that purpose be not squandered. The bill provides for a State Commissioner of Common Schools, and it has been mentioned to me as a matter of deep regret, that the Constitution excludes Mr. Rice from being a candidate for that office-no member of the Legislature being eligible to an office created while he was a member, until one year after the expiration of his term of office.
On the question of the final passage of the bill, Mr. Rice addressed the Senate in a concluding speech, which was published, and very generally noticed by the press. Among these notices, a leading paper published at Cleveland, with a magnanimity rarely possessed by a political opponent, makes the following comments and quo- tations :
Mr. Rice made the closing speech on the School Bill, in the Senate, on the 24th. It was his Bill. He had labored over it, and for it, a long time, and given to it every consideration and gained for it every counsel, which, by any possibility, he could gain.
The text of his speech was the language of the Constitution itself; the duty of securing ' a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State.'
Mr. Rice goes into detail on the school bill, and, regretting that we have not room for the detail, we close our synopsis of his very sensible speech by quoting its conclusion :
" It is certainly much cheaper, as well as much wiser, to educate than to punish. How much of crime would be prevented if a higher order of education were generally diffused among all classes. A well educated and enlightened people will have but little occasion for criminal courts, jails and penitentiaries. The educated man has ordinarily 100 much self-respect, too much regard for moral principle and the value of a good character to stoop to crime. In short, sir, the perpetuity of the government, and security of the citizen, and of property, depend upon the virtue and intelligence of the people.
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" By the provisions of this bill, it is intended to make our common schools what they ought to be-the colleges of the people-' cheap enough for the poorest, and good enough for the richest.' With but a slight increase of taxation, schools of different grades can be established and maintained in every township of the State, and the sons and daughters of our farmers and mechanics have an opportunity of acquiring a finished education, equally with the more favored of the land. And, in this way, the elements of mind now slumbering among the uneducated masses, like the fine unwrought marble in the quarry, will be aroused and brought out to challenge the admiration of the world. Philosophers and sages will abound everywhere, on the farm and in the workshop. And many n man of genius will stand out from among the masses, and exhibit a brilliancy of intelleet, which will be recognized in the circling years of the great future, as
'A light, a landmark on the cliffs of time.'
" It is only the educated man who is competent to interrogate nature, and comprehend her revelations. Though I would not break down the aristocracy of knowledge of the present age, yet, sir, I would level up, and equalize, and thus create, if I may be allowed the expression, a democracy of knowledge. In this way, and in this way only, can men be made equal in fact-equal in their social and political relations-equal in mental refinement, and in a just appreciation of what constitutes man the brother of his fellow man.
" In conclusion, sir, allow me to express my belief, that the day is not far distant when Ohio, in the noble cause of popular education and of human rights, will ' lead the column,' and become, what she is capable of becoming-a star of the first magnitude- the brightest in the galaxy of our American Union."
A proud hour now came for Mr. Rice! A good and glorious one for the State! The roll of the Senate was called, and that body, on the 24th day of January, 1853, proceeded to cast its final vote upon the bill, when only two negatives were announced.
Another bill, of scarcely less importance than the school bill, was introduced into the Senate by Mr. Rice, near the heel of the adjourned session, which with him was a favorite measure, and which seemed to meet with the hearty approbation of the public. It had for its object the establishment of a " State Reform School," expressly designed for juvenile offenders.
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