Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III, Part 54

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III > Part 54

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A Brave Judge .- The murder which had been perpetrated on the Mohiccan had aroused the feelings of the white settlers in that neigh- borhood ahnost to frenzy. No sooner did the raport reach them that some strange Indians had been arrested and confined in the New Philadelphia jail, than a company of about forty men was organized at or near Wooster, armed with rifles, under the command of a Captain Mullen, and marched for New Phila- delphia to despatch these Indians. When within about a mile of the town, coming in from the west, John C. Wright, then a prac- tising lawyer at Steubenville (later Judge), rode into the place from the east on business. He was hailed by Henry Laffer, Esq., at that time sheriff of the county, told that the In- dian prisoners were in his custody ; the advane- ing company of men was pointed out to him, their objcet stated, and the inquiry made, "What is to be done?" "The prisoners must be saved, sir," replied Wright ; "why don't you beat an alarm and call out the citi- zens?" To this he replied, "Our people are much exasperated. and the fear is, that if they are called out they will side with the company, whose object is to take their lives." "Is there no one who will stand by you to prevent so dastardly a murder?" rejoined Wright. "None but M'Conel, who cap- tured them." "Have you any arms? " "None but an old broadsword and a pistol." "Well," replied W., "go eall M'Connel, get your weapons, and come up to the tavern ; I'll put away my horse and make a third man to defend the prisoners ; we must not have so disgraceful a murder committed here."

ordered the ground to be cleared, formed his men and moved towards the jail. M'Connel was at the jail door, and the sheriff and Wright took a cross cut and joined him be- fore the troops arrived. The prisoners had been laid on the floor against the front wall as a place of safety. The three arranged themselves before the jail door-M'Connel with the sword, Sheriff Laffer had the pistol, ~ and Wright was without weapon. The troops formed in front, a parley was had, and Wright again went along the line remonstrating, and detached two or three more men. He was ordered off, and took his position at the jail door with his companions. The men were formed, and commands, preparatory to a dis- charge of their arms, issued.

Noble Courage. - In this position the three were ordered off, but refused to obey, declaring that the prisoners should not be -- touched except they first despatch them. Their firmness had its effect ; the order to fire was given, and the men refused to obey. Wright again went along the line remonstrat- ing, etc., while M'Connel and Laffer main- tained their position at the door. One or two more were persuaded to leave the line. The captain became very angry and ordered him off. He again took his place with his two companions. The company was marched off some distance and treated with whiskey ; and after some altercation, returned to the jail door, were arranged and prepared for a discharge of their rifles, and the three ordered off on pain of being shot. They maintained their ground withont faltering, and the com- pany gave way and abandoned their project. Some of them were afterwards permitted, one at a time, to go in and see the prisoners, care being taken that no harm was done. These three gentlemen received no aid from the citizens; the few that were about looked on merely. Their courage and firmness were truly admirable.

The Indians were retained in jail until Governor Meigs, who had been some time expected, arrived in New Philadelphia. He instructed Gen. A. Shane, then a lieutenant, recruiting for the United States service, to take the Indians with his men to the rendez- vous at Zanesville. From thence they were ordered to be sent with his recruits to the headquarters of Gen. Harrison, at Sencea, at which place they were discharged.

Attempt at Poisoning Indians .- Another incident occurred in Lieutenant Shane's jour- ney to headquarters, which illustrates the deep-rooted prejudices entertained by many: at that time against the Indians. The lieu- tenant with his company stopped a night at

Three Against Forty .- Wright put up his horse, and was joined by Laffer and M'Connel. About this time the military company came up to the tavern door, and there halted for some refreshments. Mr. Wright knew the captain and many of the , Newark. The three Indians were guarded men, and went along the line, followed by the as prisoners. and that duty devolved by turns on the reernits. A physician, who lived in Newark, and kept a small drug shop, in- formed the officer that two of his men had applied to him for poison. On his question- ing them closely what use they were to make of it, they partly confessed that it was in- tended for the Indians. It was at night when they applied for it, and they were sheriff, inquiring their object and remonstrat- ing, pointing out the disgrace of so cowardly an act as was contemplated, and assuring them, in case they carried out their brutal design, they would be proscented and pun- ished for murder. Several left the line, de- claring they would have nothing more to do with the matter. The captain became angry,

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dressed in fatigue frocks. In the morning the lieutenant had his men paraded, and called the doctor to point out those who had meditated such a base act ; but the doctor, either unwilling to expose himself to the en- mity of the men, or unable to discern them,

the whole company being then dressed in their regimentals, the affair was passed over with some severe remarks by the command- ing officer on the unsoldier-like conduct of those who could be guilty of such a das- tardly crime of poisoning.

The foregoing account was, in the main, written for us by Judge JOHN , C. WRIGHT, at the time editor of the Cincinnati Gazette. The judge was an old- fashioned gentleman, one of the first-class men of Ohio in his day. He had very little dignity of manners but excellent sense, united to a keen sense of humor, and a power of sarcasm that, when in Congress, made him about the only member that ventured to reply to the stinging words of John Randolph, which he was wont to do in an effective strain of amiable, ludicrous raillery.

The judge was of a strong social nature, and on an occasion some one said to him, " I think, judge, you are rather free in loaning your horses and carriage to : so many people who have no claims upon you." "Oh, no," replied he ; "when I am not using my turn-out, and my neighbor, who is not able to own one, wants to take his family out for an airing, I have no right to refuse him."

*He was born in 1783, in Wethersfield, Conn., a town on the river Connecticut, early famous for its huge crops of onions which grew on the alluvial soil of the valley, and was better than a gold mine. In the onion-growing season, it was said, the women of the town were all down on their knees, from morning to night, busy weeding onions. Wright learned the printer's trade with his uncle, Thomas Collier, at Litchfield, edited the Troy (N. Y.) Gazette, studied law, came out to Ohio just after the State was organized, settled in Steubenville, and began the practice of the law in 1810. For many years he was Judge of the Supreme Court, and served in Congress as an Adams Democrat from 1823 till 1829, and then, as a Henry Clay Democrat, was defeated for re-election. Judge Wright's "Reports of the Supreme Court of Ohio" (1831-1834) was a work of fine repute ; but he could not well disregard his fondness for humor in his reports of cases that would allow of its introduction. He lived until February, 1861, at the time being in Washington a delegate to the Peace Congress.

Judge Carter, in his " Reminiscences of the Court and Bar of Cincinnati," has given these anecdotes of the judge :

"In the days of the Tippecanoe and Tyler too" campaign, Judge Wright used to be called by the adversary press one of General Harrison's conscience keepers. This arose from the fact that he belonged to a committee of three, consisting of himself, Judge Burnet, and another, whom I just now forget, who were appointed by political friends to answer all political letters addressed to the general, who, at the time, a weak, infirm old man. was not thought fully able to attend to all the duties of the laborious campaign. As I know well, it did not at all disturb Judge Wright to be dubbed a conscience keeper of the general. "Better be a keeper of the good conscience of the general than the hunter-up of the conscience of Martin Van Buren," he would sometimes facetiously say.

I must not forget to narrate a story, though somewhat at the expense of my old friend and law preceptor, Judge Wright. I. know if he were alive he would not take it amiss, because he frequently told the story upon himself. Judge Wright was formerly a member of Congress from Ohio, from the Steubenville district, and while there he had

for a fellow-representative from the State of Tennessee the long ago famous Davy Crock- ett. Judge Wright was not at all attractive in personal appearance. He was a diminutive man in stature, with a very large head, and a prominent face of not very handsome features, so that his looks, by no means prepossessing, were perhaps quite plain and homely, and not at all strikingly beautiful or picturesque. Ilis mouth, chin and nose were extended some -.... what, and this fact did not add to his beauty, Indeed, he had a reputation for being a very able and ill-looking congressman.

On one occasion Davy Crockett was visiting ~ a menagerie of animals-not the House of Representatives-in Washington City, and he had a friend with him. They were looking around at the animals, and at last they came to the place where the monkeys were. Among these was one large, grinning, full-faced mon- key, and as Crockett looked at him he ob- served to his friend, "Why, that monkey looks just like our friend, Judge Wright, from Ohio." At that moment he turned around, and who should be just behind him, admiring the same monkey, but Congressman

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Judge Wright himself. "I beg pardon, Judge Wright," said Crockett, "I beg par- don ; an apology is certainly due somewhere,

but for the life of me, I cannot tell whether it is to you or the monkey."

Judge Wright and Judge Benjamin Tappan were brothers-in-law. Many anec- dotes were related of Tappan in that day illustrating his sharp, pungent wit, which had peculiar force from his personal peculiarities, he being eross-eyed, with a pair of sharp black eyes, and talking through his nose in a whining, sing-song sort of style. The following legal anecdote appeared in our first edition, and, according to our memory, Wright contributed it, for he never would withhold a good story for relation sake. The scene of its occurrence was said to have been in New Philadelphia at an early day.

The court was held on this occasion in a log- tavern, and an adjoining log-stable was used . day never failed of a pungent repartee when occasion required, called out in a peculiarly dry nasal tone, "Sheriff ! take that old hoss, put him in the stable, and see that he is not stolen before morning."

as a jail, the stalls answering as cells for the prisoners. Judge T. was on the bench, and in the exercise of his judicial functions se- verely reprimanded two young lawyers who had got into a personal dispute. A huge, herculean backwoodsman, attired in a red flannel shirt, stood among the auditors in the apartment which served the double purpose of court and bar-room. He was much pleased at the judge's lecture-having himself been practising at another bar-and hallooed out to his worship-who happened to be cross- eyed-in the midst of his harangue, "Give it to 'em, old gimlet eyes !" "Who is that ?" demanded the judge. He of the flannel shirt, proud of being thus noticed, stepped out from among the rest, and drawing him- self up to his full height, vociferated, "It's

this 'ere old hoss!" The judge, who to this

Col. Charles Whittlesey knew Benjamin Tappan well, and used to relate this of him : There came with Tappan from Massachusetts into Portage county an odd character whom, for the nonce, we may call John Dolby. He was not over bright, very garrulous, and was wont, when others were talking, to obtrude his opinions, often making of himself a sort of social nuisance. On an occasion of suffer- ing of this kind, Tappan flew at him and whined out, "John Dolby, yon shut up ! you don't know anything about it ! You was a fool forty years ago, when I first knew you, and you have been failing every day since !

NEW PHILADELPHIA, county-seat of Tuscarawas, 100 miles northeast of Co- lumbus, 100 miles south of Cleveland, is surrounded by a district rich in agricul- tural and mineral products. Cheese-making is a large industry. Its railroads are the C. L. & W. and C. & P. ; also on the Ohio Canal.

County Officers, 1888 : Auditor, John W. Kinsey ; Clerk, John C. Donahey ; Commissioners, William E. Lash, Robert T. Benner, Wesley Emerson ; Coroner, B. D. Downey ; Infirmary Directors, Ozias DeLong, J. Milton Porter, Louis Geekler ; Probate Judge, Jolmn W. Ycagley ; Prosecuting Attorney, James G. Patrick ; Recorder, John G. Newman ; Sheriff, George W. Bowers ; Surveyor, Oliver H. Hoover ; Treasurer, John Myers. City Officers, 1888 : Daniel Korns, Mayor ; Israel A. Correll, Clerk ; H. V. Schweitzer, Treasurer ; H. E. Shull, Marshal ; Philip Getzman, Street Commissioner. Newspapers : Times, Demo- cratie, Samuel Moore, editor and publisher ; Der Deutsche Beobachter, German, S. R. Minnig, editor and publisher ; Ohio Democrat, Democratie, F. C. Ervine, editor and publisher ; Tuscarawas Advocate, Republican, J. L. McIlvaine, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 Reformed, 2 Lutheran, 1 Disciples, 1 United Bretli- ren, 1 Methodist, 1 Presbyterian, 1 German Reformed. Banks : Citizens' Na- tional, S. O. Donnell, president, Charles C. Welty, cashier ; City, W. C. Browne, president ; Exchange (A .; Bates), Jolm Hance, cashier.

Manufactures and Employees .- Criswell & Nagley, doors, sash, etc., 12 hands ; New Philadelphia Iron and Steel.Co., sheet iron and steel, 250; Charles Houpt, carriages, etc., 6 ; Warner, Lappin & Erwin, doors, sash, etc., 8; W. M. Hem- meger & Son, carriages, etc., 7; Sharp & Son, machine shop, 4; Sharp & Son & Kislig, foundry, 3; New Philadelphia Brewing Co., beer, 8; Welty & Knisely, straw paper, 22; A. Bates, harness leather, 3; New Philadelphia Pipe Works

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TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

Co., water and gas pipe, 125; River Mills, flour, etc., 10 ; J. P. Bartles & Son, carriages, etc., 7 .- State Report, 1887.

Population, 1880, 3,070. Sehool census, 1888, 1,384; W. H. Ray, school superintendent. Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $345,000. Value of annual product, $375,000 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.

Census, 1890, 4,476.

The country around New Philadelphia fills one with a sense of magnificence .... The Tuscarawas here is about four hundred feet wide, the valley itself from two to three miles wide. The river hills low and with graceful rounding slopes, alter- nating with forests and cultivated fields. The town site is level as a floor, with" broad streets and large home lots.

In the vicinity are three salt furnaces, the wells about 900 feet deep. The brines are " 40 Salometer test," which is characteristic of the Ohio and Pennsyl- vania brines. The uuited production of these wells is about 75,000 barrels. Bromine is manufactured at the salt wells, and is more an article of profit than the salt. Large quantities were used in the hospitals in the war time. The fire- clay industry, in certain parts of the county, is growing in importanee, and the .materials are abundant-coal, clay and water. At Urichsville Sewer Pipe Works the clay is fourteen feet thick, uuder a four-feet seam of coal, in the drift mines there.

Dover in 1846 .- Dover, three miles northwest of New Philadelphia, was laid ont in the fall of 1807, by Slingluff and Deardorff, aud was an inconsiderable village until the Ohio Canal went into operation. It is now, through the enter- prise of its citizens and the facilities furnished by the canal, one of the most thriving villages upon it, by which it is distant from Cleveland ninety-three miles. Its situation is fine, being upon a slight elevation on the west bank of the Tus-

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846. DOVER.

carawas, in the midst of a beautiful and fertile country. The view was taken on the line of the caual : Deardorff's mill and the bridge over the canal are seen on the right; in the centre of the view appears the spire of the Baptist church, and on the extreme left, Welty and Hayden's flouring mill. The town is sometimes incorrectly called Canal Dover, that being the name of the post-office. It cou- tains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Lutheran, 1 Moravian, 1 Baptist and I Methodist church ; 6 mercantile stores, 1 woollen factory, 2 furnaces, 1 saw and 2 flouring mills, 3 tanneries, 2 forwarding houses, and had, in 1840, 598 inhabitants, since which it is estimated to have doubled its population .- Old Edition.

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TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

CANAL DOVER is three miles northwest of New Philadelphia, on the west bank of the Tuscarawas river, the Ohio Canal, the C. & M., C. & P. and C. L. & W. Railroads.

City Officers, 1888 : J. HI. Mitchell, Mayor ; Emanuel Amick, Clerk ; Wm. II. Vorharr, Treasurer ; John W. Goodman, Marshal ; John W. Criswell, Street Commissioner. Newspapers : Iron Valley Reporter, Independent, W. W. Scott, editor and publisher ; Tuscarawas County Democrat, Democratic, W. C. Gould, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 German Methodist, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Lutheran, 1 Catholic, 1 Moravian, 1 German Evangelical. Banks : Exchange (P. Baker's Sons & Co.), Jesse D. Baker, cashier ; Iron Valley (A. Vinton, Stoutt & Vinton).

Manufactures and Employees .- Cascade Mills, 5 hands ; City Mills, 17 ; Dover Brewing Co., 4; S. Tooney & Co., carriages, etc., 35 ; Christian Feil, carriages, etc., 4 ; Wible, Wenz & Co., doors, sash, etc., 7; The Penn Iron and Coal Co., 75; G. II. Hopkins, iron castings, 12; Sugar Creek Salt Works, 13; Deis, Biss- mann, Kurtz & Co., furniture, 95 ; Dover Fire Brick Co., 30; Reeves Iron Co., 175 .- State Report, 1887.

. Population, 1880, 2,228. School census, 1888, 1,065. Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $412,000. Value of annual product, $730,200 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.

Census, 1890, 3,373.

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

VIEW IN ZOAR.

[On the right is shown the hotel ; on the left, the store-beyond, up the street, is a building of considerable elegance, the residence of Mr. Bimeler. Among the carefully cultivated shrubbery in the gardens adjoining are cedar trees of some twenty feet in height, trimmed to ahnost perfect cylinders.] .

THE GERMAN COMMUNIST SETTLEMENT AT ZOAR.

Eleven miles north of the county-seat and eight from Dover is the settlement of a German community, a sketch of which we annex from one of our own com- munications to a public print.

Strangers in a Strange Land .- In the spring of 1817 about two hundred Germans from Wirtemberg embarked upon the ocean. Of lowly origin, of the sect called Separa- tists, they were about to seek a home in the New World, to enjoy the religious freedom

denied in their fatherland. In August they arrived in Philadelphia, poor in purse, ig- norant of the world, but rich in a more ex- alted treasure. On their voyage across the Atlantic, one young man gained their vener- ation and affections by his superior intelli-

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gence, simple manners and kindness to the sick. Originally a weaver, then a teacher in Germany, and now intrusting his fortunes with those of like faith, Joseph M. Bimeler found himself, on reaching our shores, the acknowledged one whose sympathies were to soften and whose judgment was to guide them through the trials and vicissitudes yet to come. Acting by general consent as agent, he purchased for them on credit 5,500 acres in the county of Tuscarawas, to which the colonists removed the December and January following. They fell to work in separate families, erecting bark huts and log shanties, and providing for their immediate wants."

Strangers in a strange land, girt around by a wilderness enshrouded in winter's stern and dreary forms, ere spring had burst upon them with its gladdening smile, the cup of priva- tion and suffering was held to their lips, and they were made to drink to the dregs. But although poor and humble, they were not entirely friendless. A distant stranger, by chance hearing of the distress of these poor German emigrants, sent provisions for their relief-an incident related by some of them at the present day with tears of gratitude.

Power of Associated Effort .- For about eighteen months they toiled in separate fam- ilies, but unable thus to sustain themselves in this then new country, the idea was suggested to combine and conquer by the mighty en- ginery of associated effort. A constitution was adopted, formed on purely republican and democratic principles, under which they have lived to the present time. By it they hold all their property in common. Their principal officers are an agent and three trus- tees, upon whom devolve the management of the temporal affairs of the community. Their offices are elective, females voting as well as males. The trustees serve three years, one vacating his post annually and a new election held.

For years the colony struggled against the current, but their economy, industry and in- tegrity enabled them to overcome every ob- stacle and eventually to obtain wealth. Their numbers have slightly diminished since their arrival, in consequence of a loss of fifty per- sons in the summer of 1832, by cholera and kindred diseases, and poverty in the early years of their settlement, which prevented the contracting of new matrimonial alliances.

Their property is now valued at near half a million. It consists of nine thousand acres of land in one body, one oil, one saw and two flouring mills, two furnaces, one woollen fac- tory, the stock of their domain and money invested in stocks .. Their village, named Zoar, situated about half a mile east of the. Tuscarawas, has not a very prepossessing ap- pearance.

Everything is for use-little for show. The dwellings, twenty-five in number, are substantial and of comfortable proportions ; many of them log, and nearly all unpainted. The barns are of huge dimensions, and with the rest are grouped without order, rearing their brown sides and red-tiled roof's above

the foliage of the fruit trees, partially envel- oping them. Turning from the village, the eye is refreshed by the verdure of the mead- ows that stretch away on either hand, where not even a stick or a chip is to be seen to mar the neatness and beauty of the green sward.

Plodding Industry. - The sound of the horn at daybreak calls them to their labors. They mostly work in groups, in a plodding. but systematic manner that accomplishes nuch. Their tools are usually coarse, among which is the German seythe, short and un- wieldy as a bush-hook, sickles without teeth, and hoes clumsy and heavy as the mattock of the Southern slave. The females join in the labors of the field, hoe, reap, pitch hay, and even clean and wheel out in barrows the. offal of the stables. Their costume and lan- guage are that of Germany. They are seen . about the village going to the field with im- plements of labor across their shoulders, their faces shaded by immense circular rimmed hats of straw-or with their hair combed straight back from their foreheads and tied under a coarse blue cap of cotton, toting upon their heads baskets of apples or tubs of milk.

Systematic division of labor is a prominent feature in their domestic economy, although here far from reaching its attainable perfec- tion. Their clothing is washed together, and one bakery supplies them with bread. A general nursery shelters all the children over three years of age. There these little pocket editions of humanity are well cared for by kind dames in the sere and yellow leaf.

An Economical Boniface .- The selfishness so prominent in the competitive avocations of society is here kept from its odious devel- opment by the interest each strikingly man- ifests in the general welfare, as only thus can their own be promoted. The closest economy is shown in all their operations-for as the good old man Kreutzner, the Boniface of the . community, once observed in broken Eng- lish, when starting on a bee line for a decay- ing apple cast by a heedless stranger into the street-"saving make rich !" Besides act- . ing as host in the neat village inn, this man. .. Kreutzner is the veterinary AEsculapius of this society, carrying out the universal econ- omy still further by practising on the homoco- pathic principles ! Astonishing are the re- sults of his skill on his quarto-limbed pa- tients, who, from rolling and snorting under acute pains of the abdominal viscera, are, by the melting on the lips of their tongues of. . a. few pills of an infinitesimal size, lifted into a comfortable state of physical exaltation.

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Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III, Part 54

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son Number of Pages: 1200

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200