Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 129

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006

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The fall of 1889 and the first three months of 1890 were remarkable for the steady and heavy rainfall. This, of course, produced much water, and during February, 1890, it was feared that Cincinnati would experience an- other flood. There had fallen but little snow in the mountains, and that was favorable ; yet there were two good-sized freshets, and of such proportions as to cause much alarm and apprehension throughout the Ohio val- ley. The greatest damage, however, this section of the country escaped ; but the Mis- souri and Upper Mississippi rivers, rising to an unprecedented stage at the same time the Ohio and its tributaries were bank-full, caused the Lower Mississippi to reach the highest stage recorded in history, causing great suffering, privation, loss of life and damage to homes all along the Mississippi valley from Cairo to New Orleans. The highest stage reached by the Ohio river during the spring freshet in 1890 was on March 26th, when the marks at the city water works at Cincinnati indicated 59 feet 2 inches.

THE COURT-HOUSE RIOT OF 1884.

With the possible exception of the first bank riot that occurred in 1820 upon the suspension of the Miami Exporting Com- pany, and on the occasion of the second sus- pension on the 10th of January, 1842, of the same organization, Cincinnati has never witnessed such violations of law, defiance of authorities, and so much bloodshed as attended the great Hamilton County Court- House riot on the night of March 28, 1884, and continued several days, there being open conflict between the militia and poliee on one side, and an excitable, yet determined, law- less mob upon the other.

The circumstances that led to this most un- fortunate affair was the trial for murder of Wm. Berner, who killed his employer, Wm. Kirk.

It was one of the most outrageous assaults upon society, and a dastardly, cold-blooded crime that unsteadied the nerves of the populace, causing excitement to run high, and incensed all law-abiding citizens when the case came to trial by the methods pursued by criminal lawyers, who sought to perjure witnesses, bribe juries, and resorted to open- handed means to have their client acquitted against all principle of law or justice.

The newspapers published the proceedings of the trial in detail. The court-house was, during the examination, crowded to its capacity. The methods resorted to by the

lawyers was the subject of general conversa- tion, and culminated in there being called at the great Music Hall, on the evening of March 28, 1884, of a mass-meeting of citizens. At this meeting speeches were made by Dr. Andrew C. Kemper, Judge A. G. W. Car- ter (since deceased), and General Andrew Hickenlooper, who each denounced in strong terms the methods pursned in acquiring a verdict. It was here asserted that the ver- dict was acquired by the cunning and adroit- ness of lawyers known for their legal talent. Five hundred and four people had been called to form a jury of twelve. It was a self-con- fessed murder, a murder committed delib- erately for the sake of robbing a man of $285, the proceeds from the sale of a horse; and had been planned weeks beforehand and then coolly consummated. The criminal lawyers were denounced as equally culpable of viola- tion of law and order as the murderer. The jury had only returned a verdict of man- slaughter after hearing Berner's self-con- fession, and it was openly alleged in the speeches at the mass-meeting that the crim- inal lawyers were instrumental in securing, by bribery and other nefarious methods, such a verdict.

Resolutions were adopted condemning the verdict. Excitement ran high ; but while the speeches were being made by three of the most honored and respected citizens, there

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was a death stillness. Every word uttered was weighed. Every sentiment expressed seemed to find endorsement from every per- son in that crowd of at least six thousand souls.

Immediately after the meeting, as the masses were surging out upon Elm street, some one in the crowd shouted, "Fall in I Let's to the jail !" and a great mob from the meeting proceeded directly to the county jail in the court-house on the Sycamore strcet side, above Court street.

On the way the mob was increased by hun- dreds of others. Upon reaching the jail it was surrounded by a bowling, angry crowd. A piece of joist was procured, and with it the basement doors, at the foot of the stone steps, were battered down. Bricks and stones were hurled by men in the streetabove at the windows. Clubs, huge pieces of tim- ber, crow-bars, and other weapons were quickly procured and passed down to the men who were at work upon the heavy outside entrance doors of the jail, and it at last yielded, the work being done speedily. The crowd then poured into the jail office, and there found other obstructions in the matter of stone walls and heavy iron grated doors.

Morton L. Hawkins, the county sheriff, and his few deputies faced the mob upon their entrance between the outer and inside doors. They were powerless to stem the fierce human tide, and besides the sheriff had given orders to his officers not to use their weapons on the mob, believing that such pro- ceeding would only make bad worse. The mob completely filled the interior of the jail, yelling and searching for the murderer they had come to hang. They filled the corridors, and a force of men succeeded in so forcing the iron grated door that it at last gave way, and the mob ran up the winding stone stair- way to the cell rooms, peering into each cell and demanding of other prisoners the where- abouts of the murderer whom they sought.

While this was going on within a squad of fifteen policemen arrived on the scene and began clearing the jail, meeting with but little success, as they were set upon by the mob and hurled to one side as though they were not there. At 9.55 P.M. the fire-bells sounded the riot alarm. This brought peo- ple to the scene from all sections of the city, and they turned in with the mob, the greater majority being in sympathy. It called the police from their posts of duty and the various stations ; and through good manage- ment they were formed above and below the jail in two sections, and, headed by the patrol wagons, advanced upon the crowds assembled on Sycamore street, in proximity to the jail. The crowd outside was estimated to be between nine and ten thousand. The patrol and police advancing in two solid columns caused a stampede, the rioters escaping through side streets. Ringleaders and some of those who had been active inside the jail were taken in the patrol wagons to the station houses. The patrols were permitted to leave amid much jeering and denunciatory

language, and after their passage the gap was closed up and another onslaught made upon the jail ; the rioters in the meantime having armed themselves with axes, stones and bricks.

Two or three attacks were made upon the jail, and about midnight a hand-to-hand con- fict between the police and the rioting mob occurred inside. The police had succeeded in gaining an entrance to the jail through the court-house, going in on Main street. By the same means the militia had been admitted, and were stationed on the platform at the head of the cell-room stairs. Inside the mob had reached the gates separating the prisoners' cells from the office. These were broken down with sledge-hammers, and the mob had entered. They were in hand-to-hand conflict with the police, and overpowered them, mak- ing a grand rush np the stone stairway. Just then the militia stationed on the platform fired into the crowd. Two of the militia and four officers were shot. None of the mob were injured, but the latter retreated, giving the alarm to those on the outside. Fires were then started in the jail-yard and around the court-house. A barrel of petroleum was rolled into a cellarway where burning fire- brands had been cast. The mob again assaulted the jail, gaining admittance in rein- forced numbers, and armed with every con- ceivable kind of weapon except firearms.

The militia again fired upon them, using blank cartridges, although this was not known to the mob, and, aided by a largely reinforced police force, again drove the mob to the street. From the Court Street armory the militia were reinforced, gaining admittance to the jail through the court-house, the mob not up to this time making any attempt to effect an entrance to the jail by way of the court-house.

Upon their being repulsed, however, a great crowd rushed over toward Main street and down town. Simultaneous attacks were made upon the entrances of several gun stores, and the places completely gutted of firearms, powder, cartridges and other ammu- nition. In the meantime others of the mob had fired the jail and the court-house, in a score of places, coal oil and powder being liberally used, and neighboring stores and groceries being sacked for the purpose. . Affairs were assuming a serious and critical aspect. The light of the fires illuminated the whole city, causing hundreds of other citizens, upon the hilltops and in the suburbs, to hasten to the scene.

Immediately after the sentence had been pronounced that afternoon the murderer Berner had been hurried to Columbus, going in a buggy to Linwood, where the train was taken. Hewas in custody of Dominick Devots, a watchman or deputy sheriff, and through the latter's negligence the prisoner managed to escape from him while the train was at Love- land. All these things the rioters of course were ignorant of. They had been told by Sheriff Hawkins that the prisoner was not in jail upon the first attack, but this was looked

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upon as a subterfuge to cause them to cease their violence. The fires around the jail and court-house had been put out, and towards early morning the mob, almost worn out with their labors, thinned out, but hundreds re- mained about the scene throughout the night, and as the hours approached the working hour their numbers were increased.

All day long Saturday the militia and po- lice were on duty, and the court-house and jail were surrounded by tired-out but deter- mined men, and thousands of others drawn there by the excitement of the occasion.

There were no attempts at attack made dur- ing the day, but Saturday night for several blocks above and below to the east and the west of the jail and court-house the streets were choked by rioters who had greatly increased their strength, and another attack on the jail was made.

This proved to be the most serious attack of all, and the most disastrous. Admission was gained to the court-house. The militia in the streets were held in a hollow square formed under the masterful leadership of some of their number. Once inside the court-house, the work of demolition began. The whole magnificent stone building seemed to become ignited at once. The whole place was gutted and the valuable records of three-quarters of a century's accumulation were destroyed.

The building burned to the ground. The governor of the State had called out the militia of the State, and they were arriving by every train. Their appearance upon the scene seemed to more aggravate and in- cense the moh, and being fired upon a bloody riot began in the streets, men being mowed down like grass under the keen sweep of a scythe.

Captain John J. Desmond, of the militia, was shot and killed inside the burning court- house, while leading an attack on the mob. Many prominent citizens received wounds from stray shots of the militia. Windows, doors and even walls of houses in the vicinity of the riot to this day bear evidence of that time of terror and bloodshed.

United States Secretary of War Lincoln ordered to the scene the United States troops, and their appearance seemed to have the de- sired effect, as the rioters gradually dispersed. The result was, however, that 45 persons were killed and 125 wounded.

Berner, the cause of all this terrible loss and destruction to life and property, was recaptured late on Saturday afternoon in an out-of-the-way house in the woods on a hill-

side near Loveland. When captured by Cincinnati detectives, aided by the marshal of Loveland, he was coolly enjoying a game of cards, and was unaware of the riot and the attack upon the jail. He was taken to Columbus and lodged in the State peniten- tiary under the sentence that had been passed upon him on the 26th day of March of con- finement for twenty years.

The Jail Riot of 1848 .- The most dis- astrous jail riot preceding that above related by Mr. Millar, in the history of the city, occurred in the summer of 1848, the details of which are given in the Reminiscences of Judge Carter, who is alluded to in the pre- ceding article. Two returned volunteers (Germans) from the Mexican war, who were boarding in a German family consisting of a man and wife and daughter of eleven years of age, were arrested by the parents on the charge of having committed a horrible out- rage upon their child. At the examination at the old court-house, the bed-clothes and under-garments of the little girl were shown covered with blood, which, with her testimony and that of the parents, so frenzied the spec- tators that it was with difficulty that the sheriff, Thomas J. Weaver, could lodge them in the jail, and then had to call in the service of the Cincinnati Grays and Citizens' Guards to protect it from the mob.

That night the mob made an attack upon the jail. The sheriff first tried expostulation but this was useless. Then he ordered the military to fire with blank cartridges, which only the more enraged them. Finally he repeated the order to fire, with ball, when eleven persons fell dead, some of them in- nocent bystanders, and the mob dispersed.

"But," writes the judge, "the sequel. I was the prosecuting attorney at the time, and know of what I speak, At the next term of court a bill of indictment against these poor volunteer soldiers was unanimously ignored on the plain and simple ground of their entire innocence. They had served their adopted country, and were hard-working, in- dustrious, honest men. They had been the victims of these Germans, who, because they could not induce them to give up their land warrants entitling them each for honorable service to 160 acres of land, had conspired with their little daughter to get up and main- tain this awful charge. After their discharge there was a hunt after their guilty prosecutors to lynch them, when it was found that father, mother and daughter had disappeared and were never heard of after."

THE PIONEER CELEBRATION AT COLUMBIA.

Columbia, included in the city limits, and in its first ward, since 1873, was, on the 4th of July, 1889, the scene of an eventful celebration. This was the celebration of the centennial of the 4th of July since the first boatload of pioneers landed there in November, 1789. On this occasion a monument was dedi- cated to their memory ; and the first monument that has been erected over the graves of pioneers in the Northwest.

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It stands on the beautiful knoll whereon stood the old Baptist church, the first Protestant ehurel organized in the Northwest.

This knoll contains two acres of ground, deeded in 1804, by Benj. Stites, to the Baptists of Columbia township. The gravestone slabs of the pioneers whiten the spot, and noble old elms bending over give it a pensive charm.

The monument is just five miles from Fountain Square, with a grand outlook up and down the Ohio valley, and up that of the Little Miami ; just at that point where the railroad trains, whisking around a curve, bid farewell to the former and go up the varied windings of a stream, whose ever changing vistas bring forth admiring exclama- tions from hosts of travellers, who, though they should keep on to the uttermost parts of the earth, would never find a valley more sweet.

OLD BAPTIST CHURCH AT COLUMBIA.

This church was taken down in 1835. The Society which worshipped in it was constituted in 1790, by Dr. Stephen Gano. The engraving shows it as it appeared in 1830, when it was in ruins.

The monument was ereeted by the Columbia Monumental Association, George E. Stevens, President ; con- sisting of fifteen delegates from five Baptist churches now in the original bounds of Columbia township. The present title of this body is the Mount Lookout Duek Creek Baptist ehureh.

On one side of the freestone pedestal is en- graved, "To the Pioneers Landing near this spot November 18, 1788."

On the obverse side-" To the first boat-load of pioneers landing near this spot-Major Benj. Stites, Mrs. Benj. Stites, Ben. Stites, Jr., Rachel Stites, Ann W. Stites, Greenbright Bailey, Mrs. Greenbright Bailey, Jas. F. Bailey, Reasom Bailey, Abel Conk, Jacob Mills, Jonathan Stites, Ephraim Kibby, John S. Gano, Mrs. Mary S. Gano, Thos. C. Wade, Hezekiab Stites, Elijah Stites, Edmund Buxton, Daniel Shoe- maker, - - Hempstead, Evan Shelby, Allen Woodruff, Hampton Woodruff, Joseph Cox, Benjamin Cox."

On the third side is-" The Baptists of Co- lumbia Township in 1889 erected this pillar to commemorate the heroism and piety of the first Baptist pioneers of 1788-90. The first church in the Northwest Territory was the Co- lumbia Baptist Church, organized January 20, 1790. Constituent members, Benj. Davis, Mary Davis, John Ferris, Elizabeth Ferris, Isaac Ferris (deacon), Joseph Reynolds, Amy Rey- nolds, John S. Gano, Thos. C. Wade."

On the fourth side-" The Columbia Baptist Church erected its first house of worship on this spot in 1792. The lot contains two acres of ground purchased of Benj. Stites, was deeded to the Baptists of Columbia Township."

The celebration consisted of a procession headed by the Newport Band, prayer, read- ing the Declaration of Independence, sing-

ing "America," firing of cannon, and speak- ing under a huge tent, Rev. G. W. Lasher, presiding. Rev. Dr. Galusha Anderson, President of Dennison University, opened with a history and eulogy of the Baptist Church, wherein he proclaimed the Baptists had ever been peculiar friends of religious liberty. But he did not allude to their early persecutions ; did not speak of Roger Wil- liams in Puritan New England, nor to their treatment in Episcopal Virginia, where, 140 years ago, over thirty Baptist ministers were thrown into dungeons, and outrageous mobs broke up their meetings ; in one case tossing a snake and a hornets' nest into their midst.

Gen. Sam'l F. Cary occupied an hour and a half with a rousing good speech, consist- ing of pioneer reminiscences, with humorous allusions and anecdotes.

After him, Judge Joseph Cox spoke in- structively upon the Mound Builders and their works.

Henry Howe, who was supposed to know something about Ohio, having been present by invitation, was called upon to make a few remarks. He did not speak of Ohio at all, but alluded to a historical tour he made over New Jersey 47 years before, and of the ex- cellent qualities of Jerseymen, which espe- cially fitted them to make the best kind of pioneers : and it was well that Columbia got

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such, and as was proved a superior quality of Jerseymen.

The thought of one of the speakers of the occasion is a sad memory to all who knew him. That is Surgeon-General A. F. Jones, of Walnut Hills, who a few months later was murdered by his negro servant. It was that old historian of this region and patriotic man who inaugurated the planting of trees in Eden Park to the memory of the pioneers, now known as "Pioneer Grove." And to him does this very monument owe its origin,

for years before he had suggested its build- ing and made efforts in that direction.

The subject of "Progress" ended the ex- ercises in the form of a carefully written paper upon that topic read by Dr. M. C. Lock wood.

The monument is a Corinthian pillar of Ohio freestone, with pedestal and base of granite ; it is 43 feet in height and eventually is to be surmounted- by the statue of a pioneer.

`. Oliver M. Spencer, then a boy, was at Columbia as early as 1790. He was in 1792 taken prisoner by the Indians. In his " Reminiscences " he has left this description of the life of the first settlers :

It is, perhaps, unknown to many, that the broad and extensive plain stretching along the Ohio from the Crawfish to the mouth, and for three miles up the Little Miami, and now divided into farms, highly cultivated, was the ancient site of Columbia, a town laid out by Major Benjamin Stites, its original proprie- tor ; and by him and others once expected to become a large city, the great capital of the West. From Crawfish, the small creek form- ing its northwestern boundary, more than one mile up the Ohio, and extending back about three-fourths of a mile, and half way up the bigh hill which formed a part of its eastern and northern limits, the ground was laid off into blocks, containing each eight lots of half an acre, bounded by streets inter- sected at right angles. The residue of the plain was divided into lots of four and five acres, for the accommodation of the town. Over this plain, on our arrival, we found scattered about fifty cabins, flanked by a small stockade nearly half a mile below the mouth of the Miami, together with a few block- houses for the protection of the inhabitants, at suitable distances along the bank of the Ohio.

Fresh in my remembrance is the rude log- house, the first humble sanctuary of the first settlers of Columbia, standing amidst the tall forest trees, on the beautiful knoll, where now (1834) is a grave-yard, and the ruins of a Baptist meeting-house of later years. There, on the holy Sabbath, we were wont to assemble to hear the word of life; but our fathers met with their muskets and rifles, prepared for action, and ready to repel any attack of the enemy. And while the watch- man on the walls of Zion was uttering his faithful and pathetic warning, the sentinels without, at a few rods distance, with meas- ured step, were now pacing their walks, and now standing and with strained eyes endeav- oring to pierce through the distance, care- fully scanning every object that seemed to have life or motion.

The first clergyman I there heard preach was Mr. Gano, father of the late Gen. Gano, of this city, then a captain, and one of the earliest settlers of Columbia. Never shall I forget that holy and venerable man, with locks white with years, as with a voice trem-

ulous with age, he ably expounded the word of truth.

I well recollect, that in 1791, so scarce and dear was flour, that the little that could be afforded in families was laid by to be used only in sickness, or for the entertainment of friends, and although corn was then abun- dant, there was but one mill (Wickerham's), a floating mill, on the Little Miami, near where Turpin's now (1834) stands; it was built in a small flat boat tied to the bank, its wheel turning slowly with the natural current running between the flat and a small pirogue anchored in the stream, and on which one end of its shaft rested ; and having only one pair of small stones, it was at best barely sufficient to supply meal for the inhabitants of Columbia and the neighboring families ; and sometimes, from low water and other un- favorable circumstances, it was of little use, so that we were obliged to supply the defi- ciency from hand-mills, a most laborious mode of grinding.

Pleasant Rural Scenes .- The winter of 1791-2 was followed by an early and delight- ful spring ; indeed, I have often thought that our first western winters were much milder, our springs earlier, and our autumns longer than they now are. On the last of February some of the trees were putting forth their foliage ; in March the red bud, the hawthorn and the dog-wood, in full bloom, checkered the hills, displaying their beautiful colors of rose and lily ; and in April the ground was covered with May apple, bloodroot, ginseng, violets, and a great variety of herbs and flowers. Flocks of parroquets were seen, decked in their rich plumage of green and gold. Birds of various species, and of every hue, were flitting from tree to tree, and the beautiful redbird, and the untaught songster of the west, made the woods vocal with their melody. Now might be heard the plaintive wail of the dove, and the rumbling drum of the partridge, or the loud gobble of the turkey. Here might be seen the clumsy bear, doggedly moving off, or urged by pur- suit into a laboring gallop, retreating to his citadel in the top of some lofty tree; or, ap- proached suddenly, raising himself erect in the attitude of defence, facing his enemy and waiting his approach ; there the timid deer,

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, Ninth President of the United States.

BENJAMIN HARRISON, Twenty-third President of the United States.

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watchfully resting, or cautiously feeding, or, aroused from his thicket, gracefully bounding off, then stopping, erecting his stately head and for a moment gazing around, or sniffing the air to ascertain his enemy, instantly springing off, clearing logs and bushes at a bound, and soon distancing his pursuers. It scemed an earthly paradise ; and but for ap- prehension of the wily copperhead, who lay silently coiled among the leaves, or beneath the plants, waiting to strike his victim ; the horrid rattle-snake, who more chivalrous, however, with head erect amidst its ample folds, prepared to dart upon his foe, gener- ously with the loud noise of his rattle, ap- prised him of danger ; and the still more fearful and insidious savage, who, crawling upon the ground, or noiselessly approaching behind trees and thickets, sped the deadly shaft or fatal bullet, you might have fancied you were in the confines of Eden or the borders of Elysium.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 129

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 1006

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006