USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > History of the Cuyahoga County soldiers' and sailors' monument > Part 4
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
"Boylan explained the case to the lieutenant, and the latter refused to take any action until Police Prosecutor Estep was consulted. The trio then ascended to the top floor, where Estep was found in his office.
"'I want a warrant for this policeman's arrest,' said Scofield immediately.
"'I arrested them on view,' said Boylan, 'and I want my warrants first.'
" After the case was explained to Estep, he prepared a warrant charging Boylan with assault and then start- ed to look up the law in the case against the Monu- mental Commissioners. The statutes provided against the erection of poles, posts, fences, bill-boards and the like, but nothing could be found in the law-books or rules of the Park Commissioners which made it an of- fense to dump lumber in the Public Square.
"Estep racked his brain for a charge that could be placed against the two men, but to no avail. He then informed the three men that he would do nothing in the case until Friday afternoon. Mr. Scofield demanded that the warrant be issued for Boylan, but Mr. Estep refused the request.
" After this conversation, Boylan and Messrs. Scofield and Hayr returned to the Lieutenant's office. Mr. Sco- field made another demand for the park policeman's arrest, but Lieut. Burns explained that it would be im- possible to comply with it. Boylan then asked that his prisoners be registered. Lieut. Burns asked for the warrants and refused to take the responsibility of form- ally arresting the men without those very necessary papers.
"Prosecutor Estep was called down, and after a
54
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
lengthy discussion, the Prosecutor told the Lieutenant to docket Scofield and Hayr the same as other prisoners who are arrested on view. This was done. Mr. Scofield gave his residence at 338 Erie Street, and Mr. Hayr at 376 Franklin Avenue.
"Lieutenant Burns accompanied Hayr to the Clerk's office, where he was informed that he would be released upon signing his own bond. This Mr. Hayr did and he departed. When Mr. Scofield's turn arrived to be taken to the Clerk's office, he refused to sign a bond.
""' If I am under arrest,' said he, 'I demand to be locked up in the prison, because I will not sign a bail bond.'
"Again was Prosecutor Estep called in and this time he came out flatly against the arrest.
"'It was an outrage,' said he, 'to arrest these men and lug them down to the Central Station. If they have no rights in the Public Square, the Park Commissioners should have enjoined them. There is a State law granting them the right to build the Monument in the southeastern portion of the Public Square, and the City Council has given them the necessary permission. The latest park ordinance that I can find makes this arrest illegal. You had better let them go, Lieutenant.'
" His advice was taken and the Monument Commis- sioners left the Station.
"Mr. Scofield was determined that the work he had started would be completed, and returning to the Square, where the wagon, half unloaded, was standing, surrounded by a big crowd, Scofield ascended it, and in a few minutes the lumber was lying in a pile on the ground.
"In the meantime, Park Policeman Boylan had noti- fied members Stone and Hill, of the Park Commission, and they hustled down to the City Hall. It was decided to stop the unloading of any more lumber, and telephone
-
. Copyright by the Sculptor, 1890.
BRONZE CAVALRY GROUP, "THE ADVANCE GUARD."
57
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.
messages were sent to the employes at Wade Park, Lakeview Park, Pelton Park, Clinton Park and Miles Park, instructing them to report post haste at the office in the City Hall. Ten men quickly responded and un- der the command of Policeman Boylan they were placed at the disputed point in the Public Square with instruc- tions to stop any more wagons from crossing into the Park.
" Upon their arrival the teamster unhitched his horses from the wagon and drove them away. The wagon was then pushed out upon the pavement, and the work- men loaded the lumber back upon it.
"Members Hill and Stone met with Solicitor Burns and the situation was discussed. The Solicitor said he thought the Courts would decide that the Monument Commission had no right to occupy the southeast por- tion of the Public Square, and the Commission con- cluded that as it would be impossible to do anything in Police Court, it would be best to commence injunction proceedings.
"Solicitor Burns started immediately upon the prep- aration of the papers, which will be filed in the Com- inon Pleas Court before Friday night.
"Architect Scofield told a W'orld reporter that this was just what the Monument Commission desired and he believed that a gross mistake had been made in causing the arrest of Hayr and himself.
"In the meantime, the Park Commission will keep guards on duty in the Public Square, to prevent any further attempt to unload lumber."
The Park Commissioners, humiliated at the result of their premature discharge, were too timid to proceed on the line they so ingloriously commenced. No charges were preferred against Commissioners Scofield and Hayr. When the question was closely investigated, it was found that they were engaged purely in their line
58
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
of duty, hence they were not locked behind prison bars, but were told by the sensible police officials to go their way in peace. The fact was brought to light at this time that the Park Commissioners, who had frequently expressed so much sympathy with the work of the Com- mission, had guards posted around the Square and Perry's statue for weeks, expecting a midnight attack from the members of the Commission on the site given to them in trust by the laws of Ohio for the occupancy of the Monument. From the close of the Civil War up to 1888, the Soldiers of Cuyahoga County, among them some of the members of the Commission, had volun- tarily and gladly decorated the Commodore Perry statue with beautiful flowers and wreaths every recurring Me- morial Day. In the latter year the Park Commissioners ordered that kindly remembrance to be stopped, giving as a reason therefor " that the flowers and wreaths soiled and streaked the statue!" There was no danger of the Park Commissioners ever "soiling" the statue of Com- modore Perry, for they were never known to place a flower upon it, or in any other way decorate it. They did, however, remove the statue from the center of the Square, where the gallant Commodore defiantly faced a foreign shore, with his stalwart right hand pointing to Lake Erie, the scene of his grand victory over the British. They gave the original and most suitable site for his statue to the use and benefit of their friends, the Street Railroad Corporations. When their predecessors located him on the southeast section of the Public Square, instead of in Lake View Park, where an appro- priate site had been reserved for him, they negligently and ignorantly faced him looking toward the Old Court House, with his right hand pointing directly to a tumble-down fish market. Remarkable, how these amiable gentlemen, the Park Commissioners, did revere the memory of Commodore Perry !
59
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.
The utter neglect of the Public Square for years was the cause of frequent comment in all of the newspapers of the city, as well as the subject of complaints by citizens. On one section was a pond used as a recep- tacle for decayed vegetables and a bathing place for mangy curs; on another, an auditorium, or sort of Roman forum, " fearfully and wonderfully made," and utilized principally as a lounging place ; on a third one an ancient fountain that did not "play; " while on the surrounding streets and gutters were stacked filthy, foul-smelling manure heaps ; Superior Street, through the Square, being allowed to be used as a scrap-iron yard by the Street Railroad Companies.
The outcome of the indiscreet arrest of Commission- ers Scofield and Hayr convinced the Park Commissioners that the Monument Commissioners knew their rights and were determined to maintain them. On April 13th, 1891, a meeting of the Commission was held to take action on the ungentlemanly treatment, not to say gross insult, of the Park Commissioners in ordering the arrest of Commissioners Scofield and Hayr while in the dis- charge of their duty. The following resolutions, by Commissioner Dewstoe, were adopted :
"WHEREAS, Published statements have been made to the effect that the Board of Park Commissioners have had extra guards and pickets placed in the Public Square with a view of protecting the statue of Commodore Perry from violence and the Square from forcible occupancy by the Soldiers' Monument Commission ; there- fore,
" Resolved, That this attempt to prejudice public sentiment is a gratuitous insult, not only to the gentlemen of the Commission, but to the thousands of ex-Soldiers they represent ;
" Resolved, That we extend to the Park Commissioners, and the public generally, our assurance that all our actions in the future, as in the past, will be open, moderate, and in accordance with the laws and ordinances under which we were organized and are operating, and that we denounce all attempts to influence the public mind and to convey the impression that we propose violent or revolutionary proceedings as false, unjust and malicious."
60
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
Commissioner Hayr remarked that he had not en- gaged in any underhand work. He had told the Park Commissioners that the lumber was to be taken on the Park. "Men," said he, " who faced the enemy for four years have too much manhood and too much respect for the citizens of Cleveland to do any underhand busi- ness ; " that if he could not go into the Square in the broad daylight, he did not desire to go at all.
" The way Gen. Elwell dressed down the Park Com- missioners was soul-thrilling. He said the saintly Park Commissioners never did anything except to tear up the turf, build houses for the sparrows, erect a dilapidated cow shed for public meetings and permit the Square to be used as a scrap-iron yard, while Commodore Perry could point forever without ever being dusted or having his face washed or his many injuries attended to. He denounced the Park Commissioners for spreading abroad the report that the Soldiers' Monument would be of such dimensions as to obscure the canopy of heaven.
"Gen. Elwell opened the meeting by stating that the object of the gathering was to take action upon the course of the Park Commissioners in putting a picket guard about the Square.
"'I was surprised to learn that we have been placed under surveillance for the past two weeks by having the Square picketed and having sentinels pacing back and forth before the Monument as though we intended to despoil the old Commodore like thieves in the dark,' said he. ‘It is an insult to treat us like burglars. It was bad enough to take Capt. Scofield to the Central Station in a patrol wagon, but that is nothing to being dogged and watched. What have these Commissioners done for the old Soldier? Nothing. They are capital at building sparrow houses in the Square, at tearing up the turf and making gravel beds out of it, at cutting
61
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.
down the finest buckeye trees in the Square, but what have they done for the old warrior? They have not even washed or cleaned his face. He is going to decay, but they do not care. I am pleased to announce that several prominent attorneys have volunteered their services. Mr. Prentiss, who is well versed in municipal law, was one of the first to volunteer and is here to-day. Ex-Solicitor Brinsmade wrote me a letter telling us not to hesitate to call upon him. He suggests that the Commission have all the County Grand Army Posts adopt resolutions indorsing us. I see an after- no011 paper has thie audacity to challenge this pro- ceeding, as though the old Soldiers would not stand by ns.'
"Gen. Elwell spoke with considerable warmth and said that the course of the Park Commissioners was 1111- warranted and insolent."
Commissioner Elwell, Comrade A. T. Brinsmade, and Loren Prentiss, Esq., were delegated to confer with City Solicitor Burns, to arrange for a speedy settlement of the case. The position of the contractor who mnade the lowest bid for the work was considered. He had refused other contracts, and he said that if the Mon- ment was not begun at once he would suffer serious loss. Under the circumstances, however, the Commis- sion could not see their way clear to proceed with the work.
After the meeting a conference was held with City Solicitor Burns. He agreed to prepare the application of the Park Commissioners for an injunction without delay.
He filed the petition in the Court of Common Pleas on April 15th, 1891.
The papers read :
62
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
"The City of Cleveland, plaintiff, vs. William J. Gleason, Levi F. Bauder, J. B. Molyneaux, Edward H. Bohm, Levi T. Scofield, Emory W. Force, James Barnett, J. J. Elwell, Charles C. Dewstoe, James Hayr, R. W. Walters and M. D. Leggett, defendants.
" In the Court of Common Pleas, Cuyahoga County, O. Petition.
" Plaintiff, the City of Cleveland, is a Municipal Corporation or- ganized under the laws of Ohio, and as such is a city of the second grade and of the first class, and is situated within this county. Within the limits of said city is situated a certain tract of land of about ten acres in area, square in form and divided into four nearly equal squares, by two certain public streets of said city, to wit : Superior Street and Ontario Street, passing through the same from east to west and from north to south respectively and intersecting near the center of said tract of land, which said land is known as the Central Park and Public Square of said city. At a remote date, to wit, about the year 1796, the said land was duly dedicated to public use by the then owners thereof, to wit, The Connecticut Land Com- pany, to be used and enjoyed by the residents of the vicinity and the public as public ground, as a public park, and the same has ever since so remained and been so used and enjoyed. And ever since the organization of said Municipal Corporation, to wit, in the year 1796, the said land has been under the charge and control of said Corporation, and still is preserved and maintained by it, as a public park, with public walks or highways for foot passengers, for the use of its citizens and the public. Said city has during said time ex- pended large sums of money in so preserving and maintaining the said land as such park, and the improvement and embellishment of the same. And besides other improvements, two certain public walks of said kind and for said purpose have been laid out and im- proved by said city diagonally across the southeast section of said Public Square so cut off and separated by said public streets ; the said walks extending from the four corners of said section diagonal- ly across the same and forming public highways for foot passengers passing to and fro in said city, and the same are in constant use for said purpose by the citizens of said city and the public generally, and the same have been so kept and maintained by the said city, and have been so used and enjoyed by said citizens and the public for a long period of time, to wit, about 100 years. And, by and under the direction and control of said city there has been placed upon said section of said Square, near the center thereof, a large stone statuary monument, known as the statue of Commodore O. H. Perry, which said mouument still stands at said place and is a part of said Park, and is of great use and value as such to said city, its citizens and the public. The following persons, A. H. Stone, H. E. Hill, and H. M. Claflen, are the duly appointed, qualified and acting Park
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT. 63
Commissioners of said city, and as such are in charge of the said Public Square and Park, as well as the other Parks of said city. The defendants have organized themselves together as a commission or body for the purpose of erecting within said city a large Monument in memory of the Soldiers and Sailors of Cuyahoga County engaged in the late War, and claim to have been duly appointed for said pur- pose by the Governor of this State and under its laws. The defend- ants as such Commission have selected as a site on which to erect such Monument said southeast section of said Public Square and without the consent and against the objection and protest of said Park Commissioners and without any warrant or authority of law whatever threaten to, and unless restrained therefrom, will appro- priate a large portion of said section of said Public Square for said purpose and will take down and remove from said place said Monu- ment of Commodore Perry and will build up and occupy for said purpose a portion of said section of said Square about ninety-five feet square to a height of about five feet above its present level and above part of the surrounding ground, and about ten feet above the level of the remainder thereof, and will erect thereon a large stone building forty-six feet square and about thirty feet in height and will build upon and above the said building a tall stone shaft about 100 feet high, said entire construction to be and remain a permanent Monument and occupy said ground as such, and said defendants will immediately inclose the said section of said Square with a high board fence aud exclude the citizens of said city and the public from the use of the same as such Park, and from the use of the said walks as highways for the travel of foot passengers during the entire time of erecting said Monument, to wit, about one year. Said Monument, if erected in said place, will completely and permanently obstruct said public walks across said section of said Public Square to the great inconvenience of the citizens of said city and the public, and will practically destroy said entire section of said Square for any other use than such site for such Monument, and as well, will materially injure the remainder of said Public Square and Park for Park purposes, and the said structure will materially obstruct the view in all directions about the same. Plaintiff says, that if the said things or any of the same are per- mitted to be done, it will result in irreparable injury to plaintiff, its citizens, and the public. Wherefore, plaintiff prays that pending final hearing hereof, each of said defendants be restrained from fencing in, or inclosing any part of said section of the Public Square, from in any manner interfering with said Perry Monument, and from doing anything in the way of erecting said Monument upon said section of said Square, and from interfering in any way with said portion of said Park, and that upon final hearing the said
64
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
defendants may each be perpetually enjoined in said particulars, and for such other and further relief as plaintiff may be entitled to. " BURNS & REYNOLDS,
" GILBERT & HILLS,
" Plaintiff's Attorneys.
" State of Ohio, Cuyahoga County, ss .- A. M. Burns, being duly sworn, on his oath says that the plaintiff is a Municipal Corporation of the State of Olio ; that he is its duly appointed, qualified and acting Solicitor, and that the matters and facts set forth in the fore- going petition are true. "A. M. BURNS.
"The City of Cleveland, plaintiff, vs. William J. Gleason, Levi F. Bauder, J. B. Molyneaux, Edward H. Bohm, Levi T. Scofield, Emory W. Force, James Barnett, J. J. Elwell, Charles C. Dewstoe, James Hayr, R. W. Walters and M. D. Leggett, defendants.
"In the Court of Common Pleas, Cuyahoga County, O. Precipe."
The action of the Park Commissioners illustrated their frequently expressed friendship for the Monument. The law then invoked proved an expensive experiment to the people of the city and county, for at the end the people had to pay all taxable costs of court and the largely increased cost in the construction of the Monu- ment. The final outcome thus far and ultimately be- ing the judicial defeat alike of the several meddlesome persons and a few interested and honorable property owners on the ancient Public Square, who conceived an imaginary detriment to their inheritance, and therefore honestly opposed the selected site. The final result in all the unhappy and retarding litigation was alike grati- fying to the Commission, to the old Soldiers and Sailors of the County, and to the patriotic tax-paying citizens who nobly stood by them, the Monument, and its chosen site.
Copyright by the Sculptor, 1890.
VIII.
N the day the first suit was entered, the Plain Dealer said :
"The Soldiers' Commission charge the Park Com- mission with adopting the most aggravating course, with treating them as criminals and as suspicious people in general. The Commission claims to be acting under the authority of the State of Ohio and Council of Cleve- land, and bases its right to locate in the Public Square upon the hypothesis that the Square is not a Park but is, in fact, a Public Square, an enlargement of the street area of the city. The Commission laughs at the idea of the land reverting to the original grantors. What stirred the blood of the Soldiers was the action of the Park Commissioners in ordering a police guard for the marble Commodore. The Soldiers indignantly resent the imputation that they have violent designs upon the Commodore.
"' We are honorable men,' said Major W. J. Gleason, hotly, yesterday. 'We do not do things in the dark. When we make a move it will be in the broad daylight. We are neither criminals nor suspicious characters.'
" There is no help for it now. The case will have to go into Court. The Park Commissioners might gain some sympathy in their stand were they opposed to the Public Square. But they are not. They are merely opposed to locating the Monument in that particular section. The other three sections are open for choice. The Soldiers' Commission charge that the Park Com- missioners individually have distorted and misrepre- sented things, especially the size of the Monument."
68
HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
Judge Samuel E. Williamson joined with the Park Commissioners, on the claim that the property he in- herited, at the corner of Euclid Avenue and the Public Square, would be depreciated by the erection of the Monument on the contemplated site. His attorneys were Judge W. W. Boynton, Director and Attorney of the East Cleveland Street Railway Corporation, and Messrs. Estep, Dickey, Carr & Goff.
The filing of the petition on April 15th, 1891, was de- scribed in manner following by the Plain Dealer :
"Bright and early Tuesday morning, City Solicitor Burns, with Attorneys Reynolds, Gilbert and Hills, appeared before Judge Stone of the Court of Common Pleas with the petition to enjoin the Soldiers' Monu- ment Commission from fooling with the southeast corner of the Public Square. As soon as the City Solic- itor could get the attention of the Court he read him the essential part of the petition and asked that a tem- porary restraining order be granted.
"The Soldiers' Monument Commission was represent- ed by Col. Allen T. Brinsmade, Mr. Loren Prentiss, Gen. J. J. Elwell and Gen. M. D. Leggett. Col. Brinsmade in- timated that a restraining order would be unnecessary, the gentlemen of the Monument Commission would not take any steps in the matter while it was in Court.
"Attorney Gilbert said that at a meeting between the City Solicitor and counsel for the Monument Com- mission it was agreed that in consideration of the speedy filing of a petition and hearing of the issues, a temporary restraining order would be acceded to.
"Attorney Prentiss replied that he had not so under- stood it. The Monument Commission had in no way solicited the filing of the petition ; it had desired a speedy hearing since one was to be filed. No restrain- ing order ought to be necessary with gentlemen of such reputation as the Monument Commission.
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT. 69
"Mr. Gilbert said that if the agreement was not to be adhered to, the petition would not be filed.
" Mr. Prentiss again began to explain, when Judge Stone cut him short by saying that if no petition was to be filed, there was nothing before the Court.
"Attorney Gilbert explained to a Plain Dealer re- porter that if there was to be no restraining order, the issues involved would be better presented in a petition filed by property owners than by the City and that it would be unfair to Judge Williamson and other counsel to depart from the arrangement.
" Mr. Prentiss said that he had recognized no ar- rangement that there should be a temporary restrain- ing order. 'You suggested it,' he said to City Solicit- or Burns, 'and I rather discouraged it.'
"' I did not hear you,' said Major Burns, 'and I sup- posed you assented to it.'
"Gen. Elwell said: 'This is like your action all along ; like your picketing the Square. You are afraid we will do something.'
"'I'll tell you what I'll do,' said Major Burns. 'Pre- pare a stipulation in writing that you will let the Square alone and it will be all right.'
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.