USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > History of the Cuyahoga County soldiers' and sailors' monument > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
"All night policemen had guarded the Square in order not to be taken by surprise. At 9:00 o'clock,
150
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
Capt. Henry Hoehn arrived from the City Armory with thirty policemen and placed them under the direct charge of Lieuts. Koch, Bradley and Wagner. Shortly thereafter Col. Gibbons strode npon the Square. He was a regular Pooh Bah, for he was present in his mani- fold capacity as Director of the Police Force, Chief of the Health Department and Colonel of the Fifth Regi- ment. Personally he claimed to be serving in the health branch of the City with special regard to the physical welfare of the warriors. Promptly at 9:30 o'clock, Capt. Levi T. Scofield, Major W. J. Gleason, Gen. James Barnett, Capt. E. H. Bohm, Gen. Elwell, C. C. Dewstoe, James Hayr, E. W. Force and L. F. Bauder appeared and assumed a commanding attitude upon the green patch directly north of the Perry Mon11- ment. Capt. Scofield unrolled a large parchment, ex- hibiting the ground plan of the Monument. The eyes of the policemen bulged out and the massive chest of Col. Gibbons heaved like the billows of the ocean. Frank Merchant and C. C. Merchant, two surveyors, stuck their transits in the ground and prepared to take measurements. A light, glittering line of tape was rin along the northerly section of the Square, then the westerly and then the southerly ends. Still Col. Gibbons remained passive, though the Commissioners were walk- ing all over the section with twenty newspaper mnen at their heels. By this time an immense throng had gathered and lined the diagonal and circumferential sidewalks of the section. The police could do nothing with the Commissioners, so they resolved to exercise their authority upon the people. The mandate became ' Move on.' The people moved-a slow, lethargic, phlegmatic sort of a move-but the crowd increased rather than diminished, and it was soon apparent that they were moving around and through the section and not away from it. This merry go round kept up steadily
151
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.
until the war was over. The police were powerless to help it. They could order the people to move, but they could not direct which way they should move. Around and around they went, laughing, talking and gesticulat- ing. After the ground had been most boldly and fear- lessly measured by the warriors, the surveyors prepared to drive a stake adjoining the outside sidewalk directly south of the Perry Monument. The purpose of this stake was merely to guide the workmen in their meas- urements. It was then proposed that some chalk be procured and the site for the esplanade and Memorial structure be marked upon the sod. When Col. Gibbons heard that the warriors proposed to draw a horrible chalk line upon the grass and thus disfigure its beauty, he realized that the time for action had come.
"'Order the people off the grass,' said he.
"'Get off the grass,' said Capt. Hoehn, but his voice was almost inaudible and the Commission did not hear it.
"Park Tender J. H. Wahn approached the resolute warriors, who were huddled in a heap holding a con- clave, and ordered them away. They bravely stood their ground. He repeated his demand, but the war- riors calmly continued their deliberations and did not budge. Then Wahn, being single-handed, retired from the field. By this time the crowd, impatient that the scrap had been so tame and bloodless, left the Square in disgust and declared that the show was not worth the price of admission.
" Before the chalk could be secured, Attorney Loren Prentiss came over from the Court House and an- nounced that Gen. Meyer had applied for a temporary restraining order. The order had not been granted, but Mr. Prentiss said that he had agreed that the Com- mission would postpone action until a hearing was had. The Commission instantly resolved to vacate the Square until Thursday morning. It was at this interesting
152
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
stage that the surveyor was espied busily driving the preliminary stake adjoining the southerly sidewalk of the section. The policemen stared at him in wonder. Capt. Scofield bade him take it out again, which he did, and everyone then left the Square.
"Major W. J. Gleason and Mr. R. R. Herrick had an impromptu talk during the exodus. Mr. Herrick boasted that the Commission had done nothing, and Major Gleason replied that the Commission had de- monstrated its right to occupy the Square. Mr. Herrick laughed. Major Gleason smiled. Mr. Herrick said that he had read in the morning papers that all the old Soldiers had been ordered out.
"'That is not so,' said Major Gleason .. 'The notice was to the Monument Commission only.'
"Corporation Counsel Meyer arose on Thursday morning before the traditional lark and let himself in his office in the grey of the dawning. Before ordinary people had got to work he had drafted a petition to en- join the Monument Commissioners from removing Com- modore Perry or in any way starting upon the work of erecting the Soldiers' Monument upon the southeast corner of the Public Square. This done, he called Judge Noble by telephone just as that jurist was sitting down to breakfast, and asked him if he could be in court earlier in the morning than usual. Judge Noble replied over the wire that he would be on hand at 9:00 o'clock, one hour earlier than usual, and instructed Gen. Meyer to notify the other side to be present also. " When Judge Noble reached his court room, he found Mr. Loren Prentiss for the Monument Commission and Gen. Meyer for the City both present. Without more ado Gen. Meyer proceeded to the reading of his petition.
" The title of the petition was: The City of Cleveland, plaintiff, vs. Levi T. Scofield, James Hayr, William J. Gleason, Levi F. Bauder, J. B. Molyneaux, Edward H.
CAVALRY EMBLEM IN CAPITAL.
I55 4
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.
Bohm, Emory W. Force, Charles C. Dewstoe, R. W. Walters, J. J. Elwell, M. D. Leggett and James Barnett, defendants. In effect, its provisions were as follows :
"The plaintiff, the City of Cleveland, says that it is a Municipal Corporation duly incorporated and organ- ized under the laws of the State of Ohio, and as such is a City of the second grade of the first class, and is situated within said Cuyahoga County. That within the corporate limits of said City is situated a certain tract of land about ten acres in area, square in form, and divided into four nearly equal sections by two streets of said City known as Superior and Ontario Streets, passing through the same from east to west and north to south respectively, and intersecting near the center of said tract of land. That said tract of land was, at a remote date, to-wit, about the first day of Octo- ber, 1796, duly dedicated to public use as a Public Square by the then owners thereof, the Connecticut Land Company, and the same is now and has ever since said remote date been used and enjoyed by the inhabit- ants of said City and the public as such Public Square. That ever since the incorporation and organization of said municipal corporation as a village in 1816, and which under the provisions of law later became such City of the second grade of the first class, said land has been under the charge and control of said corporation and has continuously been and still is being preserved and maintained by it through its duly constituted authorities for said purpose as a Public Square, with public walks and highways for foot passengers for the use of its citizens and the public, and has expended large sums of money in its maintenance and preserva- tion and has greatly beautified and embellished the same. Besides other improvements, walks, some fifteen feet in width, traverse the southeast section of the Square, diagonally from northwest to southeast and
156
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
from northeast to southwest, which are used daily by inany thousands of people in passing over said Square, and have been so used for nearly a century. That in said southeast section of said Public Square there is, and for more than ten years has been located and main- tained by the said City, a large water mnain pipe, twenty inches in diameter, which traverses the said section from said northwesterly corner to the southeasterly cor- ner thereof, which is, and for many years has been, continually used by said City to supply water to its citizens and for fire extinguishing and other purposes, and that a very large part of the said City and residents thereof are wholly dependent for their water supply upon said main pipe. That R. R. Herrick, at the time of the commencement of this action, was and is the duly appointed, qualified, and acting Director of Public Works of said City, and as such then was and is in charge of said Public Square and all other Parks of said City. That said defendants claim to have organized themselves as a Commission or body for the purpose of erecting a large stone Monument in said City in mem- ory of the Soldiers and Sailors of said County who were engaged in the late Civil War, and claim to have been appointed for said purpose by the Governor of said State, under the laws thereof. That the defendants liave selected as a site on which to erect said Monument said southeast section of said Square without the con- sent and against the protest of said plaintiff, and now threaten to and unless restrained therefrom by this Court will seize and by force and without warrant of law at once erect upon said southeast section of said Public Square said Monument, and in excavating for the foundations thereof, destroy the said water main and thereby cut off the water supply and subject the said large part of said City to great danger of destruc- tion by fire. That said proposed Monument will oc-
157
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.
cupy about ninety-five feet square of said section as an esplanade raised some five feet or more above its present level and above part of the surrounding ground, and about ten feet above the remainder thereof; on said esplanade will be erected a granite building forty-six feet square and about twenty-six feet in height, and in the center of said building will be erected a granite shaft 128 feet in height and twelve feet in diameter at the base. Upon the four sides of said esplanade will be constructed and erected heavy stone pedestals, each eighteen feet in length, seven feet in width, and ten feet in height, and upon each a group of figures in bronze of heroic size. That on said section of said Public Square there has long since been erected at great cost a stone statue of the late Commodore Perry, which is mounted upon large stone pedestals, the dimensions of which are at the base 11 8-10 feet by ten feet, and in- clusive of the said statue some twenty-three feet in height, all of which said structure now occupies a part of the site selected as aforesaid by said defendants for said proposed Monument, and will, unless defendants are restrained by this Court as hereinafter prayed, be removed by force by said defendants.
" Plaintiff further says that by the provisions of the statute under which said defendants claim to act, the Governor of said State was authorized and required to appoint twelve persons, to be selected by him from the members of the Monumental Committee of the Cuya- hoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Union; that but eleven of the defendants were members of said Com- mittee at the time of their appointment by the said Governor, and that one of said defendants, the said M. D. Leggett, was not at the time of his appointment by said Governor as a member of said Monument Con- mission or at any time a member of said Commission. Plaintiff says that said Commission is not now and has
158
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
at no time been lawfully appointed by said Governor, or in any manner lawfully appointed, organized, or qualified, and is wholly without lawful power or authority to act as, or discharge the duties imposed upon said Commission by law. Plaintiff further says that by the terms of said statute the said Director of Public Works of said City is authorized and required, upon demand in writing by the Monument Commission created thereby, to remove fromn said southeast section of said Square the said moment of Commodore Perry, and all other obstructions now in said section, and is ready and willing to cause such removal whenever such lawful demand shall be made upon him by a duly ap- pointed and organized Monument Commission as pro- vided in said statute; but plaintiff avers that no such lawful demand has ever been made by such Commission.
" Plaintiff further avers that it will require a number of weeks to remove said monument of Commodore Perry, and said water main from said section, and that before the said water main can be so removed without irreparable loss and injury to said City and the inhabit- ants thereof it will be necessary to open up said Superior Street and lay a water main of similar size around said section to the southeast corner thereof and to Euclid Avenue in said City, and that unless this Court shall restrain the defendants from so doing said defendants will at once take forcible possession of said section and unlawfully remove said statue of said Com- inodore Perry, and injure, remove and destroy said water main now in said section, to the irreparable in- jury and damage of said plaintiff, its inhabitants, and the public, and have so threatened, and still threaten so to do, and that plaintiff is wholly without adequate remedy at law.
"Wherefore plaintiff prays that pending the final hearing hereof each of the said defendants be restrained
159
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.
from taking possession of or in any manner interfer- ing with or obstructing any part of said southeast sec- tion of said Public Square; from in any manner remov- ing or interfering with the said monument or statue of Commodore Perry or the pedestal upon which said statue stands; and from in any manner interfering with or removing the said water main or any part thereof in said section of said Public Square; and that upon final hearing the said defendants may each be perpetually enjoined in said particulars and for such other and further relief as the plaintiff may be entitled to.
"EDWARD S. MEYER,
"Corporation Counsel, Attorney for Plaintiff."
"Having made his points and read his petition, Gen. Meyer was about to proceed to argue for a temporary restraining order. Mr. Prentiss stated that he would obviate the necessity of doing this at that time by prom- ising that the Commission would do nothing more till the motion for a restraining order could be heard. Meanwhile he wanted time to prepare and file an an- swer.
"Gen. Meyer was perfectly satisfied with this prom- ise and by agreement the hearing was set for Thursday morning, at 10 o'clock. Mr. Prentiss at once repaired to the Public Square and notified all hands to stop pro- ceedings."
The scenes in the Court Room next day were graph- ically written up in the same journal as follows :
"Thursday morning was the appointed hour when the legal hosts of the City and the Monument Commis- sioners were to meet in Judge Noble's Court and battle for the possession of the Public Square.
" The first to appear were Gen. J. J. Elwell and Capt. E. H. Bohm, the latter loaded down with law books. Soon afterwards, Judge J. M. Jones, one of the Com- missioners' counsel, came, and shortly afterwards his
160
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
colleague, Mr. Loren Prentiss, came also. About that time Judge Noble appeared and after several other members of the Commission had arrived, Gen. Meyer and his colleague, Mr. H. A. Kelley, entered and made up the proper quota for the hearing.
" Judge Noble said :
"'Gentlemen, are you ready to proceed with the case of the City against Gleason and others ?'
"'We are. your honor,' said Mr. Prentiss.
"'We are not, may it please the Court,' said Gen. Meyer. 'The defendants herein filed an answer and a cross-petition yesterday afternoon asking that we be en- joined from interfering with them, and a copy of the answer and cross-petition was furnished us at about 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon. That cross-petition con- tains averments that will require some research and preparation on our part to meet. Moreover, informa- tion came to me last evening-I state it professionally -. that will necessitate adding further causes of action to the petition. As to the averment that Gen. Leggett was properly appointed a member of the Monument Commission, it may be necessary to have Gen. Leggett here as a witness; possibly not, but it may be. Gen. Leggett is not in the city. I cannot proceed to this hearing with any justice to the City, at this time.'
" Mr. Prentiss took the floor and at some length argued that the decision of the Supreme Court in the former case was a plea in bar in this. He said that no new points were made in this petition except perhaps that of the water main, and that that also might be considered as covered under the general question of obstructions in the former suit. In conclusion, Mr. Prentiss said :
"'The City is merely asking this continuance as it is fighting this thing all along, simply to put matters off until by crook or hook it can ultimately and forever prevent our going on the Square with that Monument,
161
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.
and defeat the purpose and order of the Supreme Court.'
"'Mr. Prentiss' statement,' said Gen. Meyer, 'that the City is striving to prevent this Commission from ever placing that Monument in the Square is true. The City is trying through lawfully constituted channels, the Courts, to prevent the unlawful use of that Square. As to their plea in bar, your honor can readily see that in the proper presentation of that subject alone to the Court, the City should have ample opportunity for prep- aration. Were that the only question in the case that should be so.'
"Mr. Prentiss: 'Didn't you know when you filed your petition that you would have to meet the Supreme Court record ?'
"'I am addressing the Court, and not answering questions,' said Gen. Meyer. 'With your permission, I will continue making my observations to the bench. I do not know what you intended doing. Last night I heard what you had done. I know this, that I must support the allegations to my petition.'
"Judge Jones : 'Allegations all covered in your former petition, and therefore you must have known that you had to meet a plea in bar.'
"At this point several attorneys began to talk at once, and Judge Noble rapped on the bench with his pencil and said : 'One at a time, if you please, gentle- 11en.'
"'I want to state," said Gen. Meyer, 'what I learned last night. There are still four installments of taxes to be levied for the purpose of constructing this Monu- ment. These gentlemen have gone ahead and made contracts for work on the Monument on which there is due and payable the sum of about $17,000. And there is on hand less than $13,000 to pay this with.'
"Mr. Prentiss objected to Gen. Meyer going so deep
162
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
into the controversy on an application to continue. Judge Noble overruled him and Gen. Meyer continued, saying that the County Commissioners had not a right to levy tax except for police purposes. He said that because the City had, under the special Soldiers' Monu- ment statute, to accept the Monument when completed and pay a man to take care of it, that was no reason why it should be fenced out of the Public Square for four years because the Monument was incomplete on account of lack of funds to complete it.'
" Mr. Prentiss said that the case at bar was for in- junction and not intended to bring the Commission to an account as to how it handled its funds. Any suit to enjoin the tax levy for Monument purposes would have to be directed against the County Commissioners. Mr. Prentiss was satisfied the tax was valid and the point was only a new technicality, one of which the City seemed able to find every day.
"'Gen. Meyer has traveled outside the record,' said Mr. Prentiss, 'and I want to travel outside of it also in replying to him. The City made its preparations to treat us as criminals and even threatened the arrest of any member of the Commission who should venture to go upon the Public Square, even to survey; and this right in the face of the Supreme Court decision. It doesn't sound very well for the gentleman to get up and talk about what we are doing after what he and his colleagues have been doing, and besides which, it's not true and we deny every word of it. No doubt his peti- tion was liastily drawn. He had been preparing to treat us as rowdies and lawless persons and consequently when we served notice on him what we intended to do he had to get up in the middle of the night to change his tactics and hastily draw a petition.'
"Gen. Meyer: 'He has neither changed his plans nor his orders.'
1
NAVY EMBLEM IN CAPITAL.
165
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.
"'The trouble with you people is that you can't prop- erly make the County Commissioners parties to this suit,' said Prentiss. 'The attorneys in the office of the City Solicitor get to think that whatever they say is law, must be law.'
"Gen. Meyer: 'As a matter of course, I don't intend making the County Commissioners parties to this ac- tion. I merely want to set forth the facts I stated and adduce them as a reason why the defendants should not be permitted to go upon that part of the Square.'
"Mr. Prentiss: 'And in justice to my clients I want to say that your statement with reference to our finances is very largely erroneous.'
"Gen. Meyer (sarcastically) : 'Very largely.'
"Mr. Prentiss : 'We have $28,000 in the treasury, now.'
"Judge Noble said he thought the showing justified a short continuance. Gen. Meyer asked that it be till a week from Monday. Judge Jones objected to any- thing like so long a continuance, saying :
"'No anarchistic tendency should be tolerated. Wl'e are at the end of a successful law suit and there should be no effort to fly in the face of the Supreme Court.'
"Gen. Meyer: 'I think you are at the beginning of a law suit.'
" Judge Jones: 'We are at the end of one. The spectacle of an attempted nullification of the Supreme Court should be put an end to.'
" Finally the hearing was continued till next Thurs- day morning at 10 o'clock. The question was raised as to whether the Monument Commissioners would still agree to do nothing on the Square and save the neces- sity of the Court making an order. Capt. Scofield ob- jected and Judge Jones, in arguing with him, said sotto voce : 'You don't understand.'
"'I understand that man well enough,' said Capt.
166
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
Scofield, red and trembling with rage and pointing at Gen. Meyer.
"' A few days will make no difference,' expostulated Judge Jones.
"'Yes, it will. We had better look up this matter of contempt a little,' quoth Scofield.
" Finally an agreement was made and nothing more will be done on the Square for a week."
One of our ablest lawyers paid his respects to the City Government in The World of July 26th, as follows :
" Judge Seneca O. Griswold, an old resident of Cleve- land, who is visiting in the city at the present time, thinks the opposition to putting the Soldiers' Monu- ment in the Public Square is one of the most singular and at the same time outrageous things he ever heard of. He says that Trafalgar Square, in London, is not nearly so large as our Public Square, yet through it pass more people in one day than pass through our Square in a week and a large part of that square is occupied by the Wellington Monument. The opposition of the City Government to the construction of the Monument in the face of a plain statute of the Legislature and the decision of the Supreme Court, Judge Griswold says, is absolutely immoral and ought to subject those who thus contest the carrying out of plain statute law to impeach- ment proceedings."
ยท
XIII.
W E proceed with our history. The hearing of the case before Judge Noble was resumed on July
27th. The many mysterious movements of the City authorities were at last brought to the surface. The sly joker that Director Meyer had so long carefully hid- den up his sleeve was taken out and exposed to the full view of the Court. We let the Plain Dealer, of July 28th, describe the playing of Gen. Meyer's trump card :
" The hearing in the matter of the application of the City for an injunction against the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument Commission was continued before Judge No- ble Thursday morning. Gen. Meyer asked for another delay, and at times during the proceeding the counsel on both sides indulged in some pretty strong language, Judge Jones being especially fiery in his remarks as to the methods of the representatives of the City. When Court convened, Gen. Meyer read the amended petition of the City, setting forth the grounds on which they asked the injunction. He was followed by Attorney Prentiss, who read the answer and cross-petition of the Commission. When he had finished, Gen. Meyer asked for further delay in the matter. He claimed that for one reason they had not been given a chance to prepare an answer to the cross-petition, and further, that for the Court to properly pass upon the matter, it would be necessary to first hear the case of the City against the County Commissioners, the County Treasurer, the County Auditor and Capt. Levi T. Scofield, and the other members of the Monument Commission.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.