History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 9

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196

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The flag which was the ostensible cause of these disorders was wholly inoffen- sive and under ordinary circumstances would scarcely have attracted serious attention, much less provoked assault. Three German young ladies - Misses Wendell, Schneider and Zimmerman - had bought the silk of which it was eom- posed with money subscribed by citizens of the town, had made the banner with their own hands, and had presented it to the Turners. On one side it bore the motto: Frisch, Fröhlich und Frei (Blithe, Merry and Free) ; on the other side were the words: Durch Uebung zur Kraft ; durch Forschung zur Erkenntniss. Bahnfrei; (Through exercise, strength; through investigation, knowledge. Freedom.)

CURRENT EVENTS IN THE FORTIES AND FIFTIES.

The society had intended to carry also a United States flag in its parade, but the committee appointed to procure one had not been successful 6

While these events were taking place, the Mannerchor Society of Columbus was absent in attendance upon a musical festival in Cleveland. The singers were expected to return during the evening of May 31, and rumors were current that they would be assaulted and their banner wrestled from them. A large crowd collected to meet them at the railway station, and a detachment of guards from the Penitentiary was present for their protection. When the members of the society alighted from their train, they assembled in the street, unfurled the " Stars and Stripes," and marched unmolested to their headquarters.

Thus the troubles were quieted for the time being, but a smouldering feeling remained which caused them to break out atresh on another occasion with still more deplorable results.

On July 4, 1855, at about 6: 30 p. M., a fire company of the South Ward, a German Infantry Company and a society of Turners, all of whom had been hold- ing a celebration of the anniversary, marched in procession through the city, fol- lowing State Street across High to Front, then moving along Front to Town and up Town to High, intending to turn down High Street to their places of rendez- vous. The Turners, seventyeight in number, were in rear of the procession, at the head of which they carried the American flag. Their society banner was also borne by one of their number and is said to have been a subject of threats from bystanders as the parade crossed High Street on State. No trouble occurred, however, nutil the head of the column had turned down High Street from Town and the Turners, yet on Town Street, were approaching the alley next west of High, where, it was elaimed, stones were thrown at them and they were insulted by shouts, jeers and abusive epithets. There was much dispute as to individual aets of violence, and the testimony subsequently taken as to the provocations given was confused and somewhat contradictory, but in the prosecutions insti- tuted the attorneys for the state admitted that the first assault was received, not delivered, by the Turners. The Ohio State Journal, which ardently esponsed the socalled "American " side of the case, stated as to the beginning of the fracas :

At about half past six P. M., with two fine bands of music, they [the companies abovenamed] marched in procession through Front Street to Town. They then passed up Town to High and down High toward the south end of the city. The Turners were in the rear of the procession. As the rear of this company came up Town Street, a boy apparently about fifteen years old, was seen having a quarrel with one of the Turners. He threw a stone and hit the one with whom he appeared to have the dispute. One of the company near him stepped out and threw a stone at the boy, who then followed up street to the rear of the United States Hotel, where he picked up another stone and appeared to be about to throw it, when Mr. Simonton, the landlord of the United States, seized him and took the stone from his hands. At this time, John White, who was standing in a door opposite, knowing the boy, and fearing that he might get into difficulty, passed over the street, took him from Simonton and forcibly carried him across the street. When nearly on the south side he was attacked by the Turners, and stones were hurled at him and the boy. By some signal or cry the portion of the Turners who had passed around the corner and into High Street halted, and the

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

most of them broke ranks and rushed back to Town Street. They seized the stones, of which there was an abundance on that street, and commenced throwing them towards the United States Hotel and the persons who happened to be on the pavement near it. Four windows of the hotel were broken, a portion of them in the second story, which were filled with ladies who had been called to them by the fine musie and the procession. Exasperated by this attack, a few persons who happened to be near seized stones to repel them, when the Turners rushed up Town and High in a confused mass. The people on the pavement, seeing stones flying rather too thick and too near to be comfortable, fled in all directions to places of safety. After the Turners reached High Street they drew their revol- vers and commenced firing on those around them. Several shots in rapid succes- sion followed, while the stones continued to fly through the air. Foster, the unfortunate young man who was shot, was on the east side of High. There are different reports as to his acts. It is positively asserted that he had his pocket- book out to pay some one a sum of money, while others assert that he had thrown stones. Several of our citizens saw the man who took deliberate aim and shot

him. We understand he is identified, and we hope this is the case. The ball pene- trated the right shoulder, and passed through the lungs. He fell, but soon raised himself up and staggered to the corner of Hughes & Beebe's shop, a few feet from where he was shot. He was then taken to Cook's drugstore, where he was examined by the doctors. It was soon evident that the wound way fatal, and he died about half an hour after. . .. The firemen and military company halted atter the Turners ran back, but did not leave their ranks, or in any way partake in the affair. When the firing ceased they passed on down the street, but we think the Turners did not again form in the procession. The whole affair did not occupy probably three minutes. The companies proceeded to the South end of the city. and dispersed.

The Ohio Statesman's account ran thus :

As the procession passed along Town Street it was greeted with all sorts of insulting shouts, jeers and abuse by various crowds gathered at the corners. As they marched along High Street the noise was in no degree diminished, the crowd in town being unusually large, and no little aid being furnished to swell the disposi- tion to riot, doubtless by persons who did not belong to the city. The chief act in the riot occurred near the United States Hotel. There is no end to the variety of statements in relation to this portion of the affair, the main point on which the different versions turn being, who committed at this particular scene the first act of violence, the Germans or the Know Nothings. Up to this moment there is no dispute that the procession was peaceable and perfectly orderly and that repeated manifestations of a hostile disposition had been made against those composing it as they proceeded along Front and crossed other streets. We have heard direct statements that the first pistolshot came from the vacant space in front of the basement of the United States and was fired at the Turners, who had already been assaulted with stones and the firing of pistols, in the midst of which young Foster was shot and killed. . . . After this engagement at the United States, the princi- pal excitement of the evening consisted in the arrests of Germans suspected of having been engaged in the affair. Some nineteen, many who were undoubtedly innocent, were taken and lodged in jail. A large crowd joined in this pursuit, some flourishing and in some instances hurling boulders, swearing, cursing and making night hideous with yells and shouts, calling on the officers to hang up to the lampposts and telegraph poles the Germans as fast as they were brought up to the jail, or as they were marched along the streets.

On July 5 the nineteen men arrested issued from the County Jail an address to the people in which they denied that, as charged, they had voted " for the prin-

See pages 323 and 844.

CURRENT EVENTS IN THE FORTIES AND FIFTIES.

ciples expressed in the Nebraska Bill ;" affirmed that every member of their asso- ciation " who was naturalized and entitled to vote had voted the Republican ticket;" and concluded with these declarations :

On the day of that most glorious of human achievements recorded on the pages of history, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, our associa- tion showed their love and admiration for the illustrious Fathers of this great Republie and the happy result of their endeavors, by a procession and several speeches, both liberal and republican. On our return from Stewart's Grove, while marching through the streets of our city, we were assailed in front of the United States Hotel ; rocks were thrown and pistols fired at us; and in the evening the polieemen took upon themselves the responsibility to arrest and imprison ns, the undersigned, without showing warrants or any proper authority. They broke into houses and took some of us out of our beds; and others walking peaceably along were seized in the street.

Henry Foster, the young man who was fatally shot during the melee, fell between the northeast and northwest corners of Town and High streets. Ifis remains were attended to the grave on July 5 by the Fame Fire Company, of which he was a member. Besides his fatal wound in the chest, a shot pierced his left arm. The Coroner's Jury? returned a verdict that he was killed by a pistol- shot fired by Gottlieb Mayer, but on further investigation the evidence failed to identify Mayer as the person who had discharged the fatal shot, and on July 24 he was discharged. The arrested Turners employed Swayne & Baber, Warden & Rankin, and Galloway & Matthews as their attorneys, and were all discharged unconditionally except six who were each held on five hundred dollars bail.8 This practically ended the judicial proceedings in the affair. The testimony, of which a brief synopsis is given in the notes appended to this chapter9, showed that there had been much violence on both sides, and proved to a reasonable certainty that the Turners had been assailed in the first instance and without provocation. The trouble clearly had its beginning with the assault made on the Turnverein at the Friend Street Bridge on May 29. After that affair the Turners seem to have thought they were justified in arming themselves for future emergencies, and it needed only the excitement and bewilderment of another street attack to evoke the use of their weapons. Many shots were fired, and the front of the United States Hotel and of Doctor Parsons's house bore numerous marks of the bullets discharged. The deplorable affair was an impressive illustration, less bloody and disgraceful than many other cities furnished during that stormy period, of the explosive and destructive quality of race prejudice, and of its disturbing character when nurtured and inflamed for partisan purposes.

On February 16, 1857, Elisha Kent Kane, celebrated as an explorer of the arctic regions, died in Havana, aged thirtyseven. A son of Judge John K. Kane, of Philadelphia, a physician by profession and an accomplished naturalist, he had led the expedition of 1853-5, dispatched by Henry Grinnel and George Peabody in search of Sir John Franklin. In the course of the explorations of that expedi- tion the circumpolar open sea was discovered.

About noon on Friday, March 6, 1855, information reached Columbus from Cincinnati that Doctor Kane's remains would rest in the city during the follow-

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

ing Sunday, and would arrive, en route to Philadelphia, during the night of the seventh. The General Assembly, then in session, immediately appointed a joint committee to cooperate on its behalf in the arrangement of proper ceremonial tributes of respect to the distinguished dead. During the ensuing evening a meeting of citizens was held at the Neil House, and the following named persons were appointed to act on behalf of the people of Columbus in receiving the remains and caring for the same while in the city. Noah H. Swayne, Joseph Sullivant, S. W. Andrews, William Dennison, Lucian Buttles, William Schonler, William T. Martin, J. H. Geiger, Richard Nevins and N. Gay. The Masonic Grand Lodge of Ohio, convened in special communication, also appointed a com- mittee to take part in the arrangements and ceremonies of the occasion. At a joint meeting of these committees held the same evening, two members of each one were delegated to intercept the funeral cortège at Xenia and bear it company from thence to Columbus, and to Wheeling. The State Fencibles, Captain J. O. Reamey, volunteered their services, which were accepted. The following pro- gramme was arranged :

1. A committee representing each of the participating bodies to meet the remains at Xenia, and accompany them to Columbus 2. The church bells to be tolled, on arrival of the body until it should be deposited at its temporary resting- place. 3. The body to be received at the railway station by the committees, and escorted by the State Fencibles to the Senate Chamber, there to remain under guard of the Fencibles until Monday morning. 4. Divine service to be held at the Senate Chamber on Sunday, at eleven A. M. 5. At 8 A. M. on Monday the General Assembly and various participating bodies to assemble at the Statehouse and escort the remains to the railway station in time for the ten A. M. train of the Central Ohio to the East, a committee of six from the medical profession, and one of like number from the Masonic Fraternity to act as pallbearers. Lucian Buttles was appointed Chief Marshal of the escort, and Richard Nevins, Henry M. Neil and Walter C. Brown his assistants. The pallbearers appointed were Doctors W. M. Awl, R. Thompson, S. Parsons, R. Patterson, S. M. Smith and John Dawson on the part of the physicians; and W. B. Hubbard, W. B. Thrall, N. H. Swayne, Gustavus Swan, L. Goodale and D. T. Woodbury on the part of the Masons.

The escort for the departure was arranged in the following order: 1. Chief Marshal and Assistants. 2. State Fencibles, Captain J. O. Reamey. 3. Colum- bus Cadets, Captain Tyler. 4. Hearse and Pallbearers, with Guard of Honor. 5. Relatives of the Deceased. 6. The Reverend Clergy. 7. Masonie Frater- nity. 8. Governor of Ohio. 9. State Officers. 10. General Assembly. 11. Mayor, City Council, Judges and City Officers. 12. Medical Profession. 13. Citizens. The bells to be tolled until the train leaves.

The car in which the remains were brought from Cincinnati was suitably dressed with mourning draperies and was accompanied by Colonel Kane, Robert P. Kane and Joseph R. Kane, brothers of the deceased, and by Lieutenant William Morton, who was one of the companions of his arctic voyages. The train to which this car was attached arrived about one o'clock A. M. on Sunday morning,

CURRENT EVENTS IN THE FORTIES AND FIFTIES.

and was awaited at the station by four hundred people. The night was clear, and the moon shed her pensive rays upon the procession as it moved up High Street to the beat of muffled drums and the cadence of a slow march played by Goodman's Band. The bells of the churches were tolled meanwhile, and the side- walks along the route were crowded with silent observers. At the Senate Chamber, the coffin was deposited on a eatafalque in front of the President's desk, and after it had been covered with a black cloth a brief but eloquent address was delivered on behalf of the Cincinnati committee by Hon. Charles Anderson. Hon. William Dennison responded accepting custody of the remains in behalf of the Columbus committees, whereupon a guard of honor detailed from the Feneibles under Lieutenant J. K. Jones took charge of the body for the night.

The religious services in the Senate Chamber at eleven A. M. on Sunday were attended by as many persons as the apartment would hold. The services were opened with a touching prayer by Rev. J. M. Steele, of the Congregational Church, followed by music from the choir of that church ; a discourse by Rev. Dr. Hoge, of the First Presbyterian Church ; an anthem sung by the choir; and concluding collects and benediction by Rev La Fourrette, of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. From two until five o'clock P. M. the Senate Chamber was open to all citizens who wished to signify by visitation their respect for the dead. Thousands of all classes availed themselves of this opportunity.

At nine o'clock on Monday morning the coffin was taken from the Capitol and placed upon a hearse drawn by six gray horses, each led by an attendant dressed in black and wearing a white scarf. The escorting procession was then formed and moved from the Capitol Square to the Railway Station in the order arranged. Although the weather was inelement, the pageant was very imposing, and was witnessed by a large crowd of people. " We have never witnessed more deep personal feeling," says a contemporary account, " than has been exhibited on this occasion. . . . It appeared as if grief were seated in every man's heart. There was no noise, no attempt at gaudy display. . . . The military under Captain Reamey deserve especial notice. They did their duty with precision, and with- out ostentation. The Highschool Cadets under Captain Tyler performed what they had to do with like good taste. The Independent Hook and Ladder Com- pany closed up the procession with full ranks and with order. . . . The Masonic fraternity turned out in large numbers."10

No committee having been appointed to receive the remains at Wheeling, the Columbus Committee accompanied them to Baltimore, where they were delivered, with appropriate remarks, to a committee of that city by Doctor S. M. Smith.

On the morning of June 13, 1857, the people of Columbus, and of the entire State, were startled by the following announcement :

We are advised that W. H. Gibson bas resigned his office as Treasurer of State, and that the Governor has appointed A. P. Stone of this city to fill the vacancy. We are authorized to state that a deficit of $550,000 has been found to exist in the Treasury, which deficit is stated by Mr. Gibson to have existed when he came into the office, and to have been caused by the defalcation of the former Treasurer, John G. Breslin. The Governor [Chase] has appointed William Den- nison, Jr., of this city, under the act of last winter, to make, in conjunction with

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

the Auditor, or one of his clerks, a full examination into the condition of the Treasury. The July interest, notwithstanding this deficiency, will be paid.11

The indignation produced by the discovery of this fraud was so great that a public meeting to give it expression was held during the evening of June 18 in front of the City Bank at the corner of High and State streets. Doctor R. N. Barr presided at this meeting, and W. T. Bascom, James HI. Stauring, Henry Miller, W. T. Day, William Miller and C. Breyfogle were appointed to draw appropriate resolutions, which were reported and adopted. The meeting was addressed by R. N. Barr, 11. B. Carrington, S. S. Cox, William Dennison, William Trevitt, W. T. Bascom, Henry Miller and Joseph II. Geiger. The speakers condemned with great severity the gross outrage which had been committed upon the taxpay- ers of the State and admonished them to vote in future for honest and capable men, irrespective of party attachments. The resolutions adopted demanded inves- tigation and expressed satisfaction that the credit of the State had not been ruined.

Breslin and Gibson, the one a Democrat and the other a Republican in party politics, were brothersinlaw and fellowtownsmen, both resident at Tiffin. The fol - lowing additional particulars as to the discovery of the fraud which the one had committed and the other concealed are taken from the Ohio State Journal of June 16, 1857 :

The interest on the state debt which falls due on the first of July had to be provided for and the State Auditor, Mr. Wright, had an interview on Wednesday with Mr. Gibson in relation to it. Then it was that Mr. Gibson first disclosed the existence of the deficit in the Treasury. Mr. Gibson stated to Mr. Wright that when he came into office he found Mr. Breslin, his predecessor in the Treasury office, to be a large defaulter, and that he was induced by representations made to him by Breslin to the effect that if nothing was said in regard to the default, and if time was given him, that the whole deficit would be made up, and that the State would not lose anything by his operations with the State funds. In an evil hour Mr. Gibson agreed to the proposition made to him by Mr. Breslin, and from that time until the present be had been shouldering this vast load of debt. The whole amount of deficit in the Treasury, exclusive of the sum of $225,819.30 long since made public at the time Mr. Gibson entered upon his duties, was about 8550,000. Mr. Gibson further stated that not one dollar of the public funds had been taken by him or used illegally by him since he had been in office, and that the entire default was the work of Mr. Breslin.

The Auditor of State, in his report for 1856, says : " The books of this office show, on the fifteenth day of November, 1856, a balance in the Treasury of $579,517.57 ; of this sum, I am informed by the Treasurer of State, there is 8225,- 819.30 which has not been paid over into his hands." This amount was deposited in sums varying in amount as follows :

In the Commercial Bank of Toledo, 826,271 23

W. W. Cones & Co., Cincinnati, . 47,768.00

79,811.95

City Bank of Cincinnati, With Daniel Beckel, Dayton, 50,785.48

21,182.64

Which, with the further sum of charged and retained by the late Treasurer as amount paid by bim for exchange during four years of his administration, make up the aggregate named above. Not any of this money, we believe, has ever been received into the Treasury. How much of it can be recovered from the depositors, or from Mr. Breslin, is

CURRENT EVENTS IN THE FORTIES AND FIFTIES.

wholly uncertain. A large proportion of it is lost, without doubt. The whole amount of the deficit under Mr. Breslin's administration is about $775,000.

On the same day, after making the disclosure, Mr. Gibson left Columbus for Tiffin, from whence he did not return till late on Friday night. In the meantime and at the earliest possible moment, Mr. Wright communicated the state of affairs to the Governor. A dispatch was sent to the Attorney-General at Cincinnati requiring his presence, and early on Saturday morning the Governor and Fund Commissioners had an interview with Mr. Gibson, the result of which was his resignation in the afternoon. In the meantime the keys of the safes had been placed by Mr. Gibson in the hands of the Governor, who retained them until he handed them over to Colonel Stone, his successor, who was appointed immediately after the resignation, and proceeded at once to obtain the necessary sureties on his bond required by law to be given in the sum of $250,000, with not less than six sureties. This, of course, with the execution of the bond, with the necessary certificates of sufficiency . . . was the work of some time. The Governor did not leave his office on Saturday evening until all was accomplished - the bond given, the oath taken, and the new Treasurer in his office.

This morning (Monday) Mr. Stone, on receiving the keys of the safes from the Governor, invited Mr . Dennison and Mr. Sparrow, late postmaster of Columbus, to be present at the opening of them and to assist him in taking an inventory of everything found in the Treasury. Mr. Dennison has also been appointed by the Governor, under the act of last winter, to make in conjunction with the Auditor of State or one of his clerks the examination of the Treasury required by that act to be made onee in three months. Mr. [William D.] Morgan, late Auditor of State, was invited by the Governor to act with Mr. Dennison in making this examination, but, being obliged by his engagements to deeline, recommended the appointment of W. S. V. Prentiss12 who, we understand, has consented to act.

These we believe are all the facts that are yet fully known. Mr. Breslin is absent from the city on a visit to Nebraska. He was expected home on Saturday evening but did not come. Mr. Gibson left the city on Saturday night for his home in Tiffin, but will be here again tomorrow.

In the course of a political address delivered at Cincinnati, August 20, 1857, Governor Chase, after reviewing the antecedent history of the defaleation, made this statement :

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 9

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1196

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196