History of Fayette County : together with historic notes on the Northwest, and the State of Ohio, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and all other authentic sources, Part 32

Author: Dills, R. S
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Dayton, Ohio : Odell & Mayer
Number of Pages: 1070


USA > Ohio > Fayette County > History of Fayette County : together with historic notes on the Northwest, and the State of Ohio, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and all other authentic sources > Part 32


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"' Gentlemen, I have little to say. It is a solemn occasion, and I hope I may be the last man who will have to suffer death in this way. But I am innocent of the murder of Old John Gray, for which I must die. The confession I have given to my advisers is strictly true. Death has no terrors for me-none whatever. We must all die; it is only a matter of time. I do not fear death; but it is the manner in which it comes, and the disgrace it leaves upon my family. For fifty years I have lived in rebellion against God; but now, thank God, I have a hope in him.'


"Smith then took farewell of those on the platform, and if at any time there could be detected the least trembling in his voice, it was when he parted with Mr. Emerson, who had been with him much of the time during his confinement, and to whom he ex- pressed a wish of meeting him in heaven. Stepping forward on the platform, he said, 'Gentlemen, adieu to you all,' then turning to the sheriff, motioned him to proceed, and the noose was adjust- ed, the black cep pulled down over his face. At just twenty-eight minutes past one o'clock the drop fell, and the prisoner was launched into eternity. During about five minutes he continued to struggle, and then all was quiet. After hanging nineteen min- utes, the physicians in attendance pronounced that life was extinct,


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EXECUTION OF WM. G. W. SMITH.


but the body was not taken down until it had hung nearly twenty- five minutes. It was theu taken down and placed in a common varnished coffin, and given into the care of his family.


"Smith met his fate with the stubborn firmness of one who had nerved himself for the trial. From the time he stepped upon the platform until the moment the drop fell, there was little or nothing in his countenance, or the tone of his voice, to betray any emotion he might have felt, and it seemed as if indeed death had no terrors for him. He protested his innocence to the last, although there can scarcely be a doubt of his guilt.


"Thus ended the Gray tragedy. The law has been enforced, and William G. W. Smith has suffered the extreme penalty of the law for his crime, and his soul has gone to meet the judgment of a just God, who knows of his innocence or guilt."


SANITARY.


In about the year 1817, a mill was built on the present site of the Milliken Mill and a high dam erected, which, during the wet season, backed the water up and overflowed the adjacent lands, and when the rains ceased and the waters dried up, produced great miasma and consequent sickness. In time, this grew to such an alarming extent as to threaten the depopulation of the town. Drs. Hilton and McGarough were confident that the cause arose from the stag- nant waters of the dam, and the proprietors were requested to take it down during the season of low water-from June till September, which was accordingly done in about 1825, and the sickness almost wholly disappeared. It was taken down every year, till about 1837, when through carelesness it remained up a year or two, and again the fever and ague manifested themselves. The loss of many valuable citizens, among whom was the owner of the mill, Jesse Milliken, rendered prompt action necessary, and the administrator, Curren Milliken, was requested to remove it but refused; upon which a number of citizens, among whom were Z. W. Heagler, Daniel McLain, John C. Eastman, Arthur McArthur, L. D. Willard, David McLain, and Peter Wendell, proceeded to the spot with the necessary tools, determined to remove the dam. They were met by the owner, at the head of an equal number, equally as determined that it should remain. The " contending forces " met in the center, and in the struggle L. D. Willard slid down the slippery plank into the mud and was nearly drowned.


"Still they tug, they sweat, but neither gain nor yield One foot, one inch, of the contended field."


Curren Milliken finally proposed to take it down if the other party would leave, to which they responded that they came to tear it down and it should be done. After considerable parleying and some high words, he agreed to take it away if they would desist, which being complied with, the central portion was remov- ed, and the parties withdrew.


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SANITARY.


Milliken immediately went before the grand jury, and had them all indicted for riot. Whereupon the criminals brought an action against Milliken for keeping a nuisance. The case was decided in their favor, and of course the bottom was knocked out of the in- dictment as well as the obnoxious dam, and the court decreed that the latter be demolished entirely.


Subsequently, the present race was dug, and the present dam erected further from the town.


MILK SICKNESS.


One of the greatest scourges to the early settlers in this county, was a disease known as milk-sick or trembles, which not only affect- ed cattle, sheep, hogs, horses and dogs, but the human family as well. Human beings and stock would often be infected with the disease without any symptoms manifested until brought into ac- tivity by certain conditions, when it would suddenly develop itself with rapid and fatal effects.


Stock driven until heated would become sick if the disease had fastened upon them.


Persons, therefore, who wished to purchase stock, either for trade, service, or butchering, took means to heat them up previously.


According to the symptoms, it has been given various names, such as sick-stomach, swamp-sickness, fires, slows, stiff joints, puking fever, river sickness, etc.


SYMPTOMS.


Vomiting, purging, extreme nervous agitation, obstinate consti- pation, low temperature of body, dry tongue and skin.


TREATMENT.


Quiet the stomach with opiates ; blister; use castor oil and injec- tion; dilute nitric acid has also proved efficacious in extreme cases· Dunglison recommends gentle emetics, laxatives with quiet, and mucilaginious drinks.


So much for the human. The disease in stock is less known from the fact that the human takes the disease from milk or flesh of stock having the ailment.


A


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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.


Many theories have been advanced, some that it arises from lead -held in solution by water, some that it is a weed, while others con- tend that it is a malarial epidemic. Judge MeLain says, that about the year - he found in his pastures a weed belonging to the genus eupatorium, with which he performed the following experi- ment: Two healthy calves were purchased, taken to the house of Mr. John Rowe, with instructions to confine them to the use of this weed alone. In a short time, the calves manifested all the premonitory symptoms of the disease under discussion, which in- creased as the experiment advanced, until, in about ten days all its phases were fully developed. Treatment was then begun, consist- ing of ground corn, which in due time effected a cure. The weed was again given them with hay, and the experiment pursued until death occurred.


The question may be asked by skeptics, was there sufficient nu- trition in the weed, in the absence of other food to support life, and did not the calves starve to death. The reply is, the symptoms produced by eating this weed were identical with those dying from milk-sickness. Again, after this experiment, the weed was remov- ed from the pasture in which it grew, and while previous to this stock died each year, none have died since.


It is a also a fact, that when there is abundance of rain and the grass is rank, stock do not die, creating the presumption that grass is more palatable than the weed, and in such case they do not eat it.


Among the first remembered cases of death, was - Dawson, who died in 1816 or 1817.


His wife had been very sick with it and. finally died; whether with this disease or not is uncertain. After which Mr. Dawson pre- pared to return to Virginia. On his way he stopped at Harrison's Tavern, in Washington C. H., where he died.


So late as 1879, a case of death in this county has been reported.


It is said that so long as a cow is giving milk she would not show any symptoms of the disease, but would impart it to the suck- ing calf and those using her milk.


DRAINAGE.


In addition to the facts already mentioned in the geology of this county, we deem it our duty to give credit, in this connection, to some individual efforts which have brought about grand results in the direction of agricultural advancement, improvement and devel- opment.


Many years prior to the settlement of the territory now ineluded in this county, it was a favorite hunting ground for the roving bands of Indians, who occupied the country lying between the old town of Chillicothe, in Greene County, where they had their coun- cil house and headquarters, and the Ohio, and who each year burnt off the grass, which, in some places, grew six feet high. As the white settlers gradually came in, however, and the Indian with- drew, the rank vegetation was permitted to grow up, fall down and decay, from year to year, until the deep accumulation of vegetable matter produced miasmatie infection to such an extent that the county, during the years from 1818 to 1824, was rendered almost uninhabitable, and all who could possibly leave the county, did so.


On Lee's Creek, or between Lee's and Rattlesnake, in the early history of the county, a settlement was formed by the Yocums, Bursons and others, which, on account of the extremely unhealthy condition of the same, was totally abandoned, and the empty eab- ins were seen standing as late as 1820.


These cabins, it is said, were superior in their structure to any in the county, having been hewn smooth on the outside and the cor- ners neatly dovetailed, and carried up straight and square.


To such an extent, indeed, did malaria exist, that the county was in danger of total depopulation in some regions, especially north of Washington, in Jasper, Jefferson, Paint, Madison, Marion, and the northern part of Union, while those south of Washington were lev- el, but the beds of the streams being deeper, formed a better under- drainage.


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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.


What nature had failed to do, therefore, in some parts, must be done by the agency of man in the way of ditching.


DRAINING AND TILING.


The pioneers in this enterprise were Judge D. McLain and sev- eral others, who cut a few open ditches in the wettest lands, one of which, cut by D. McLain, emptying into Vandeman's Run, was vis- ited by people from a distance, as a great curiosity.


In about 1840, the open ditches were improved by having wood placed in them and filled in with dirt. These again were again superceded by the


TILE DITCH.


The first effort in this direction was made by Judge MeLain, who conceived the idea of placing brick on end, closed at the top, and about six inches apart at the bottom. These, however, when the dirt was thrown in, sank into the ground and proved worthless.


A kind of tube was then manufactured, by hand, which, though a very slow process, was a great improvement upon the open ditch, the wood covered ditch, or the brick.


As the feasability of tiling was established, and the great advan- tages perceived, the Judge erected a power tile machine, said to be the first in the United States.


In 1856 or 1857, J. W. Penfield procured a patent for a horse- power tile machine and exhibited the same at the state fair, at Cin- cinnati. Judge McLain saw the machine, finally bought it, set it up on his farm and burned a kiln of tile. Prior to the introduction of this machine, tile were pressed by a large lever worked by hand.


There was much prejudice against tile through the belief that the water could not get through the tile; which had to be refuted by the actual experiment of placing a closed tile perpendicular in a bed of mortar and filling it with water; and not until the water was seen oozing through and running away, was prejudice disarmed, and the incalculable value of tile established.


In the beginning, tile were manufactured for his individual use, but in order to introduce the article, and induce others to improve their lands, he would manufacture for others, in small quantities, to test their value


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DRAINAGE.


In about 1850, he began tiling his wettest lands on a systematic basis.


Arguing from the law that water, in sinking through the soil, became perfectly filtered thereby, he placed his tile at a depth of three feet below the surface, so that no sediment would ever be de- posited round about the tile. The sequel has proved the wisdom of this reasoning, evidenced by the fact that his first ditches have never been repaired, while those put in shallower, and at a much later date, have been constantly out of order.


It is stated that the difference in the crops for the first year will pay for the tiling. So plainly has this appeared to the people, that · now, instead of a few little open ditches, mud, malaria, chills and fever, milk sickness, decaying vegetation, stagnant pools, etc., al- most every farm is thoroughly drained. The water sinks down as if by magic, enabling the farmer to work his crops in a few hours after a rain.


1


STOCK SALES.


Inasmuch as stock-sale day has become one of the prominent fea- tures of this county, it deserves a place in this work.


For some years, the monthly sales at London, Madison County, attracted the attention of stock dealers for many miles around, and stock was taken thither from all the surrounding counties.


Early perceiving the advantages arising out of this enterprise to London and Madison County, the leading citizens of Washington C. H., and Fayette, determined to organize a similar enterprise here, so that stock could exchange hands without being driven out of the county.


About the year 1871, James Pursell and Thomas Kirk determin- ed upon a plan of operations, selected referees, in case of any dis- pute arising, circulated bills, appointed the last Tuesday in the month, one week preceding the London sales, as the day on which the stock was to be sold ; so that in case of failure to secure satis- factory bargains, the owners could drive them on to London.


Jack Bridgeman, of London, was the first crier, Mr. Collins, of Washington, also being present ; but Bridgeman, and Douglass, of Mount Sterling, were secured for the purpose of giving it notoriety in its initial steps.


Correspondence was at once opened with prominent stock deal- ers in adjacent counties, which, in time, extended to the states of Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, and cattle were shipped from all these states to Washington C. H. to be sold.


These cattle were placed in the hands of the auctioneer, with the minimum price fixed, divided into bunches of uniform weight and quality, in numbers ranging from twenty to one hundred, or in convenient carloads.


No by-bidding was allowed ; everything was carried on in an hon- . orable, straightforward manner, and the sales from the beginning have averaged about five hundred head each month. Sometimes,


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STOCK SALES.


however, as high as one thousand have been sold in one day, and seldom running below three hundred.


This county being a centrally located grazing point, the enter- prise has been a remarkable success from the beginning.


Among the principal vendors were William White, and Ramsey Brothers, of Fayette County ; John Darlington, Adams County ; Joseph Rothrock, William Dryden, Davis Connahaugh, of High- land County ; Anderson, of Kentucky; Gray, of Kentucky ; S. H. Ford, of Cincinnati ; and Pond, of Clinton County ; and many others.


Captain Foster informs us that he alone has sold over ten thou- sand head of cattle for Davis Connahaugh. The principal pur- chasers were from Fayette, Madison and Pickaway counties.


HORSE TRADING.


Connected with, and growing out of, the original cattle sales, was the trade in horses, which, beginning with a few local transac- tions, gradually expanded into immense sales and shipments, of numbers ranging from twenty to one hundred each. An amusing feature of the horse department was Trade Alley, generally located on some unfrequented alley, or street, where all kinds of horses, ex- cept good ones, were congregated for barter.


The trade language on these occasions was peculiarly adapted to the objects of exchange. In the language of Mark Twain,' "one brute had an eye out; another had the tail sawed off close, like a rabbit, and was proud of it; still another had a bony ridge running from his neck to his tail, like one of the ruined aqueducts, in Rome, and had a neck on him like a bowsprit. They all limped, and had sore backs, and raw places, and old scars about their bodies, like brass nails in a hair trunk ; and their gait was replete with varie- ty." The proud owner would parade one of these unique speci- mens before the gaping crowd, and as he seizes the bridle and lifts the head of the animal, exclaims : "Ho ! will you ? Do you want to run away, you ferocious beast?" When all the time the old thing was doing nothing in the world, and only looked like he wanted to lean up against something and meditate. Then, turning a proud look upon a bystander, his owner remarked, "Jim, how'll you swap ?" Jim stood unmoved, but scrutinized the beast, wise- ly, drops his head in deep thought, revolves his tobacco quid in his mouth, squirts the juice through his teeth, and with the remark,


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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.


" Lem'me try her speed," mounts the shaggy ewe-necked animal, and, like Ichabod Crane, on " Gunpowder," he rode with short stir- rups, which brought his knees nearly up to the pommel of the sad- dle ; his elbows stuck out like grasshoppers ; he carried his whip perpendicularly in his hand, like a scepter, and as the old mare jog- ged on, the motion of his arms was not unlike a pair of wings, while the skirts of his coat fluttered out almost to the horse's tail. Wheeling as suddenly as the condition of his steed would admit, he comes ambling back, dismounts and says, " You bet, Pete, she's a daisy, an' if you'll give me a plug o' tobacker to boot, we'll call it a dicker." So the business goes on. Old watches, harness, dandy wagons, etc., are given in exchange, and each party goes off feeling that he has the best of it.


THE FIRST RAILROAD.


-


During the session of the Ohio Legislature of 1849-'50, the mem- ber from this senatorial district, Mr. Linton, introduced a bill which authorized the granting of a charter for a railroad, to be construct- ed from Zanesville to Cincinnati, via Wilmington. The member of the house from Fayette requested that the name of Washington Court House be included in the charter, but this the gentleman from Wilmington refused to do. The Washingtonians became in- dignant, and employed Judge Daniel McLean to go to Columbus to work up their interest, who eventually succeeded in effecting the desired change. The company was organized, and Judge McLean elected one of the directors. The county commissioners were im- portuned to issue one hundred thousand dollars in bonds, and took action on the matter, as follows :


" WASHINGTON, SATURDAY, July 12, 1851.


"On this day the commissioners met. Present-Isaac L. Cook, Jacob A. Rankin, and Robert Eyre.


"And upon examining the act of the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, passed March 5, 1851, entitled 'An act to authorize the commissioners of Fayette County to subscribe to the capital stock of the Cincinnati, Wilmington and Zanesville Railroad Com- pany,' and being fully satisfied that the preliminaries required by said law, in order to the taking of said stock by said commission- ers had all been fully complied with, they thereupon did proceed, for and in behalf of said county, to subscribe to said capital stock of said railroad company the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, in all respects as by said act they are authorized and required to do, as by their subscription upon the books of said company, this day made, will fully and at large appear."


A question arose as to whether bonds could be issued on a rail- road before it was constructed, and the commissioners of Clinton County refused to sign the bonds. Meanwhile the contractor, Mr.


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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.


DeGraff, demanded some assurance that the money would be forth- coming at the proper time, before he would begin operations. He was fully assured on that point, and in the fall of 1852 the road was completed from Zanesville to Morrowtown. Judge McLean took a number of trips to the East and purchased iron, which had been manufactured at Sweden. The terminus of the road being Morrow instead of Cincinnati, the earnings were insufficient to meet the expense. The road went through various hands, and is at present operated and controlled by the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad Company.


Several railroads have been projected through the county, and at this writing three are in running order. A number of years ago the construction of a road from Dayton to Belpre was agitated, and the line surveyed through this county. Bonds for money to assist in the work were issued by the commissioners, and a number of people subscribed liberally to the general fund. The grading was nearing completion, when, for reasons known best by those inter- ested, the project was abandoned.


In 1874, Dayton capitalists conceived the idea of building a road from that enterprising city to the coal fields of southern Ohio. Great interest was taken in the matter, work was begun and hur- ried to completion, and, in spite of financial embarrassments, the desired end was reached in the year 1879. The road was construct- ed as a narrow-gauge, and did an immense business on and after its completion to the coal fields. In the spring of 1881, it was pur- chased by the Toledo, Delphos and Burlington Railroad Company, who have connected the same with their extensive narrow-gauge system through Ohio and Indiana, and will extend the Southeastern Division (lately Dayton and Southeastern Railroad) to the Ohio River.


In the meantime, Springfield capitalists determined to construct a narrow-gauge to Pomeroy, Ohio. Work was commenced, and in 1875 the road was finished to Jackson. It was originally named the Springfield, Jackson and Pomeroy Railroad, but was sold on a foreclosure of mortgages, in 1879, to a Springfield syndicate, who re-christened it the "Springfield Southern." This management changed the track to a standard gauge, and operated it till the spring of 1881, when the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western Railroad Company purchased the franchise, and changed the name to Ohio Southern Railroad.


GEOLOGY OF CLINTON AND FAYETTE COUNTIES.


The following is taken from the Geological Report of Ohio :


Fayette County is bounded on the north by Madison County, on the south by Highland and Ross counties, on the east by Pickaway, and on the west by Clinton and Greene counties.


I propose to treat these counties together, partly because there is much similarity in the physical characteristics of the two, but par- ticularly because there is comparatively little of geological interest in them. The formations are little exposed, being generally cover- ed with alluvial and drift-deposits; and where they are exposed, they do not present a great variety of material, such as imbedded fossils, to the geologist, by means of which he may read the history of the life and change of the past, or of those products of the earth, which are so indispensable to mankind, as ores, fossil, coal, and val- uable stone, which elsewhere offer such inducements to geological investigations. Still I hope that what I shall present of the geolo- gy of these counties will not be utterly devoid of interest to those most concerned, and none the less because I have not atttemped to startle them by any inventions of my own, but I tell only what I have seen, and that in a " plain, unvarnished" way.


In these counties one will not fail to observe how the character and employment of the people depend upon the geological forma- tions which underlie their habitations. Here are no rapid streams affording power for manufacturing purposes, and no iron or coal upon which to build the industries which depend upon them. No cities teeming with pressing throngs employed in the arts of busy life. The level surface of underlying rock, with the no less level superficial covering, the deep, black loam point to agriculture as the chief employment of the citizens of these counties. The char- acter of the soil also determines the kind of agricultural products which may most profitably be produced; and thus the range of hu- man enployment is doubly limited,


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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.


The soil of the larger portion of these counties, including nearly the whole extent of Fayette, is finely adapted to the growth of the most nutritious grasses, as well as the principal cereal grains. Hence stock-raising has very naturally been the chief occupation of the people. It is thus that the geological character of a country modi- fies the employments, and, to a certain extent, determines the char- acter of those who dwell in it. Where good roads are easily con- structed, and where ready access is had. to all parts of a district, there is apt to be a high development of social qualities, and of the refinements of civilized life.




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