Past and present of the city of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio, Part 9

Author: Sutor, J. Hope, 1846-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 898

USA > Ohio > Muskingum County > Zanesville > Past and present of the city of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio > Part 9

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About 3:30 a. m., November 14, 1878, the two veteran officers, "Dave" Launder and "Mike" Brown, were attracted by the sound of an ap- proaching wagon while standing at the corner of West Main and Pine streets ; when it came up the occupant inquired whether he was on the National pike, and in reply to an inquiry stated that he lived in the country but was a stranger in the city, and was on his way to Kerkersville with corn. Launder remarked something was wrong and when he approached the wagon saw some sacks upon which he laid his hand and remarked they were soft for corn. Brown, in the meantime, had moved to seize the bridle and the driver gave the horse a violent blow with his whip and dashed away, but Launder jumped into the wagon ; not having a firm footing and the road being rough the officer was readily knocked from the wagon by a blow from the butt end of the whip, when Brown fired at the rapidly disappearing wagon without effect.

Surmising that a robbery had been committed. they reported at once to Lieutenant William Lin- ton, who procured a team and with Officer Stitt gave vigorous pursuit, and those who knew Linton in his best days can conceive what it meant. About fifteen miles west of the city the wagon was sighted and fire opened on it, which was returned, and a running fire was maintained for half a mile, one shot taking effect in Stitt's wrist, when he took the lines and Linton con- ducted the firing: when the tollgate west of Brownsville was reached the quarry's horse struck and demolished it, but the driver, not knowing the nature of the obstruction, leaped from the wagon and took to the woods with Linton in

pursuit. The fugitive was not found and Linton returned to discover four bodies, in coarse coffee sacks, in the wagon, and his comrade bleeding and suffering intensely from his wound. The toll-keeper aroused the neighbors and a posse was formed and the officers returned to the city. The bodies were recognized, two being men and one a girl of about twelve years, all of whom had been buried November 12 in Woodlawn ceme- tery, and the other a woman, who had been buried in Greenwood, the preceding day; their friends were notified and the remains reinterred, and ex- amination of the cemeteries presented no indi- cations that the graves had been desecrated, and evidenced that the robbery had been conducted by experts in the ghoulish occupation.

Linton went to Columbus and Marshal Fell to Newark, where the latter secured the services of the veteran "Doc" Brooks, but no clues were dis- covered and they decided to go to Columbus; at Kerkersville a man with soiled clothes and very jaded entered the coach, and the officers argued that a man who had walked from Brownsville to Kerkersville would be very much fatigued, and Brooks secured a seat behind him and found yel- low clay on his clothing and hands; when the train slowed down for Columbus the man moved to leave the coach and was arrested and ironed, and brought to Zanesville at 8 p. m. and lodged in jail.

He confessed, but refused to name his con- federates, but during the day both were dis- covered and arrested; one was a well-known young man, of respectable family, at Zanesville, the other a physician, of Columbus, and the pris- oner was in the business for the money it pro- duced. November 18 the trio was indicted for each desecration ; on the 21st the operator plead guilty to two and was not asked about the others ; the Zanesville man emphatically denied his guilt, and the physician would not plead until he had consulted attorneys ; November 26 he plead not guilty, but on the 29th changed his plea to guilty. The case of the Zanesville man was continued to the ensuing term, on the averment that in the feverish condition of public sentiment he could not hope for a fair trial, but he later withdrew his plea and acknowledged his guilt. The physician and the Zanesville man were each sentenced to pay a fine of $250.00 and be imprisoned three months, and their tool was fined $25.00 and im- prisoned one month.

MURDER IN 1816.

During the fall of 1816 Jacob Lewis murdered Samuel Jones, near the mouth of Symmes creek, and at the fall term, 1817, was tried, convicted and sentenced to be hanged Wednesday, De- cember 31, 1817. He was confined in the small.

PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

brick jail in Fourth street, in the rear of the court house, and preparations were made for the execution ; the gallows were erected and on the appointed day a great crowd gathered from the surrounding country to witness the interesting ( ?) sight; Governor Worthington suspended the sentence six weeks and the indignation at the gubernatorial interference was very intense, and threats were made to take the prisoner and con- clude the anticipated entertainment; the crowd was very rough and lawless, and finally captured and hanged a dog to glut its thirst for a sight of physical suffering. When the period of the re- spite expired the time was again extended and the prisoner was transferred to the penitentiary, for safe keeping, and by special act of the General Assembly the sentence was commuted to im- prisonment for life.

BLUE ROCK MINE DISASTER.

Near where Blue Rock run empties into the Muskingum river, in Harrison township, a four- foot vein of coal was owned and mined by Stephen H. Guthrie and James Owens, in 1856: former owners had worked it in a reckless man- ner, some rooms being forty feet square, with only small pillars to support the immense weight of 220 feet of hill above the mine.

In the morning of Friday, April 25, 1856, twenty men entered the mine, and II a. m. a fall occurred, commencing 700 feet from the entrance and extending a distance of 400 feet, through which the rescuers were compelled to burrow to release the imprisoned men; when the fall oc- curred sixteen persons, mostly boys, near the entrance, made their cscape by precipitate flight. but James Pearson, aged 31 ; James Gatwood, 22; Wm. Edgell, Jr., 20; and Edward Savage, 16, were imprisoned. When they realized they were entombed they went to a small room in the minc, shoveled together somc loose earth and pre- pared beds upon which to die and surrendered to what appeared the inevitable. Two dinner pails, left by men who had escaped, three jugs contain- ing five quarts of water, and somc oil for the lamps were their only supplies, and as there was no method of measuring time they were entirely at loss to know how it passed; the confined air was cold and they suffered severely from cold and dampness, and when the food and water were cxhausted drank water impregnated with cop- peras, which seemed to assuage the hunger, and as they became weak from lack of food they were delirious and dreamed of sumptuous repasts.

The work of rescue was begun at once, and while speed was so essential the greatest caution was equally necessary : a single false move meant destruction to the working force, as the hill was crumbling over their heads and the weight and

pressure of tens of thousands of tons of loose material had to be resisted. Only three men could work in the narrow entry at one time, and the space at the breast permitted only one man, the others removing the debris thrown back by the man ahead ; posts and caps were used to sup- port the falling roof, and as the debris consisted of large rocks as well as loose material, the labor was more than ordinarily severe; once a large rock blocked progress, and as it was hazardous to blast it. the obstruction was blocked up and excavation made under it. Foul air was trouble- some and lamps would not burn, and it became necessary to weatherboard the sides and roof and plaster them with mud to exclude the deadly gas.

Immense crowds were in constant attendance and intelligence from inside was eagerly sought; miners came from miles around, and merchants and farmers readily joined in the common labor, experienced volunteers for the inside work being abundant. The opening was completed about midnight Friday, April 29, and the imprisoned miners werc brought to the surface at I a. m., Saturday, April 30, having been imprisoned four- teen days and thirteen hours, with scarcely any food ; they were black as the coal dust in which they had, slept ; their features were pinched and shrunken, their cheeks furrowed by white streaks washed by the tears shcd during their agony, and their great white eyes stared wildly from amid the grime on their faces. Physicians were in at- tendance and their nourishment carefully guarded. When they entered the mine the trees were bare of leaf, and when the morning dawned the men looked upon the same trces clothed in bright green.

That the rescue was timely was attcsted by the fall of more than fifty fect of the entry within six hours after the delivery ; if the work had been delayed the rescuers would have been buried in the avalanche and the imprisoned men would have suffered the terrible death which was so fully anticipated. The heroism of the rescuers is de- serving of preservation among the records of the county ; they were in constant, imminent danger. and no ties bound them to the imprisoned men but those of common humanity ; while the heroism of Muskingum soldierly is a glorious one, the cour- agcous action of the coal miners of the county is equally meritorious.

LABOR RIOT, 1877.

The wide spread labor troubles which occurred in July, 1877, gave Zanesville a shock which paralyzed for several days. The destruction of railroad property at Pittsburg. Sunday, July 22. created considerable apprehension throughout the country of similar outbreaks at commercial cen- ters, but no fears were entertained at home as no

PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

known cause existed for it. The Clarendon Hotel was in course of erection and the contractor, T. B. Townsend, was paying the prevailing rate and no dissatisfaction was expressed with either the rates or hours of labor. Rumors were current on Sunday that the strike would reach Zanesville solely by imitation and perhaps sympathy.

Monday morning, July 23, work was resumed on the Clarendon and about 8 a. m. crowds of idle men assembled upon the Court House espla- nade, and the only unusual appearance was a small knot of men near the Fourth street corner, who soon drew a crowd about them by their ani- mated conversation and gestures; about 8:30 there were perhaps three hundred men assembled when one of the small group drew a paper from his pocket and announced he would record the names of all men who desired to strike. As the leaders were chronic idlers their names were at once given and other men in the crowd, tempor- arily idle, gave theirs until quite a number were on the list. The crowd then moved across the street, occupied the sidewalk and stood upon the brick piles so as to prevent Townsend's men from working; the man with the paper informed the contractor that unless he raised the men's wages they must quit ; a short parley occurred, the riot- ers withdrew and Townsend suspended work, his men being desirous of continuing, but it was deemed prudent, under the circumstances, to not aggravate the ruffians. The news spread rapidly and the crowds increased; Henry Blandy, as an employer, and John Mack and George M. Kerner, as representative workmen, spoke to the crowds from the court house steps counselling the main- tenance of law and order, and two or three agi- tators were called out and pictured the wrongs of capital upon labor. A proposition to form a pro- cession was promptly acted upon and the work- men at the Third street foundry were compelled to quit ; thence to the Baltimore & Ohio railroad shops in the west side, where the men were re- quired to stop work; the mob then divided and visited the various manufacturing plants, all of which were compelled to shut down, and the drivers of the street cars were ordered to run their cars to the barns. On the following day the attempt to resume traffic was resisted and one car was derailed at the corner of Main and Seventh streets.

Citizens were very much alarmed; the leaders of the mob were recognized as "bums" and idlers but it was not known how far the dissatisfaction extended to the people at large: the police force was entirely inadequate for such an emergency, and bands of private citizens, with arms, patrolled the streets during Monday and Tuesday nights. Wednesday morning an immense attendance of citizens answered a private call for consultation at the Mayor's office, and before noon hundreds of

men with a white ribbon in the lapel and a gun in pocket appeared upon the streets. Ben. F. Fell was city marshal, Joseph Howland, deputy marshal, and the veteran, "Bill" Linton, lieu- tenant of police ; with these officers at the head of the police force, backed by the presence of the white ribbon men, fifteen of the ringleaders were arrested and confined in the city prison, at the corner of Fountain and Potter alleys; the rioters were tried, convicted and punished ; many left the city and those who remained never again re- peated their efforts to reform things.

During the excitement threats were made to burn the Baltimore & Ohio railroad shops and the residences of a few prominent employers, all of which were guarded by armed men; the local military were on duty at Newark and two of the guardsmen who came home on furlough were chased by the mob and sheltered in the Baltimore & Ohio railroad depot ; the mob threatened to burn the freight house and Lieutenant Linton secreted some men with Winchesters among the cars and instructed them to train their guns on the leaders, and upon the first overt act to shoot to disable, but no occasion was given to execute the order.

THE BUCKEYE BELLE

was a Zanesville packet in the trade between the home city and Marietta, and about 5 p. m., No- vember 12, 1852, after her landing at Beverly, was proceeding up the canal and when about twenty feet from the guard gates the boilers ex- ploded, tearing everything to fragments as far back as the wheel house, the hull immediately sinking to the bottom of the canal. The noise of the explosion brought people not only from the nearby villages but from the surrounding coun- try ; the villagers were early on hand and assist- ance was soon rendered; of about forty-five per- sons aboard not to exceed ten escaped injury, and the bank was covered with dead and mutilated bodies, and fragments of the boat and cargo. Twenty persons were instantly killed and six died within a few days: the bodies of thirteen un- known persons were buried in the Beverly ceme- tery and a large box, containing fragments of human flesh, was interred at the same time.

THE BELLE ZANE

was a steamer which was regarded as a model in appearance and speed, and had a capacity of three hundred tons ; she was built on the Monon- gahala river but was owned at Zanesville, and was in the regular packet trade between the latter city and Pittsburg. All her officers, except the captain, were Zanesville men, and in December, 1845, she was loaded, for Louisiana points, with a miscellaneous cargo and en-route took on large

PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY. 61

quantities of produce and cattle, so that her freight capacity was fully occupied and her cabin was profitably filled. The rivers were low and progress was much delayed; sunken boats were sighted that had been snagged and unusual cat- tion was exercised to escape disaster from such concealed sources. The weather was extremely cold and at 2 a. m., December 19, with a crash and severe shock the vessel suddenly turned on her side and the boilers rolled into the river ; the cabin was torn from the hull and floated several miles down stream with many persons clinging to the wreckage ; the crew acted heroically, but about twenty persons were drowned and the vessel and cargo was a total loss.

BELT LINE TURBULENCE.

The most spectacular character in the Mus- kingum valley, during the last two decades of the nineteenth century, was Col. Albert E. Boone, who became acquainted with its topo- graphy and commerce through connection with United States mail star route contracts, and he essayed the role of what he termed a railroad pro- moter, although the term agitator would more appropriately indicate lis occupation. He platted lines from the Lake; to the Atlantic coast, with Zanesville as the pivotal point, and aroused the people as they had never been before; his sin- cerity and integrity were never impeached, but it required some time for the Colonel to demon- strate to the public the impracticable character of his schemes; what he actually accomplished is here recited.

Among his numerous projections were the Zanesville, Mount Vernon & Marion, and Paines- ville, Wooster & Ohio railways, the former of which is the original, official name of the present Zanesville Belt Line. Zanesville capitalists had not subscribed to Boone's vagaries and he had declared that a dozen first-class funerals would do the city an immense benefit ; he secured some private rights of way and privileges from the city but found his plans thwarted by certain real estate holdings of the Baltimore & Ohio, and Zanesville, Newcomerstown & Cleveland railroad companies ; the former owned all the property west of Third street as far south as the first large warehouse at the southwest corner of Third and North streets, together with all the land south to 'Market and west of Beech alley : Boone desired a connection between the north end of Third street and the Cincinnati & Mus- kingum Valley track at Second and Main, and the Baltimore & Ohio property was in his way.

About 3 a. m., Sunday, November 6, 1887, a force of laborers, teamsters and trackmen as- sembled along Beach alley, and by moving houses bodily from their foundations, ordering the oc- cupants to vacate, tunneling through houses where the debris from razing would obstruct track laying, and by similar lawless acts, a track was laid commencing at Second street, passing di- agonally across private property to Beach alley, along it to North street, and thence diagonally across Baltimore & Ohio railroad ground, upon which some small tenements were standing, and demolished, to the Boone right-of- way at North Third street. The news of the turbulence spread rapidly and immense crowds assembled and, as Boone was then at the height of his notoriety, the sentiment was in his favor. The Judge of the Common Pleas Court was out of the city and F. A. Durban took a special engine to Cambridge and secured an injunction from the court in Guernsey county, which was served at I p. m. A rumor having gained currency that the Baltimore & Ohio was bringing a large force of men to expel the trespassers and remove the tracks which had been laid, the sheriff called out the local infantry company and placed them to guard the violaters of the law, and the local battery of artillery was assembled but remained at the armory. The infantry were deployed along the line of the workers and when a Balti- more & Ohio official inquired of Captain Beck- hardt what his men were called out for he re- plied, "To brevent de beace."

About 6 p. m. Willis Bailey, president of the Z., N. & C. secured an injunction against Boone, but no attention was paid to it, and throughout the entire proceedings he displayed a contempt for law and the rights of others. Next day he issued a card justifying his action "in desecrating the Sabbath," in which he alleged that the actions of David Lee and Willis Bailey rendered it neces- sary, and presumed to declare what rights each of the contestants had in the matter ; he closed his card with the unfulfilled prophecy that "if Boone lives the next two years the idle property, some thirty acres in the Eighth ward, may be put to better use than holding condemned cars and rais- ing grass for sodding graves."

The tracks, laid with so much bombast, were soon after removed and the first of Boone's bub- bles was punctured, but it is due him to assert that his agitation caused others to investigate his projects, and by separating the practical from the impracticable, the city was benefited by the construction of the Zanesville & Ohio River rail- road and the Belt Line.

PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

CHAPTER VII.

TRANSPORTATION, COMPRISING PRIMITIVE RIVER NAVIGATION. FIRST STEAMBOAT ON THE MUS-

KINGUM. MUSKINGUM RIVER IMPROVEMENT, AND DAMS. NATIONAL ROAD. UNITED STATES MAIL. CENTRAL OHIO RAILROAD. CINCINNATI

& MUSKINGUM VALLEY RAILROAD. PITTSBURG, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY. OHIO & LITTLE KANAWHA RAILROAL. ZANES- VILLE & WESTERN RAILROAD. OHIO RIVER &

WESTERN RAILROAD.

WHEELING AND LAKE

ERIE RAILROAD. ZANESVILLE BELT LINE ZANESVILLE TERMINAL RAILROAD. WESTERN

UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY. POSTAL TELE- GRAPHI COMPANY. CENTRAL UNION TELEPHONE COMPANY. ZANESVILLE TELEPHONE & TELE- GRAPH COMPANY. ZANESVILLE ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANY. ZANESVILLE RAILWAY, LIGHT & POWER COMPANY. COLUMBUS, NEWARK & ZANESVILLE RAILROAD COMPANY.

PRIMITIVE RIVER NAVIGATION.

Long before the white man appeared in the country the Indian navigated the Muskingum in canoes, made of bark, or a hollow tree with each end closed, while others hewed them out of solid wood with modeled bow and stern. Poplar, black walnut and button trees were preferred and the vessels were from 15 to 30 feet long, 2 to 21/2 feet deep, and from 18 to 30 inches wide, the smaller ones being light and portable by one man.

The white man introduced the pirogue, a style of boat unknown to the Indian, which consisted of two or more canoes lashed together and em- ployed to transport commodities, and were as much of a curiosity to the Indian as the steamer was to the white man. They ranged from 20 to 40 feet in length, 4 to 6 feet in width and from 2 to 3 feet in depth, and were propelled by sail, paddles and poles.

The keel boat was introduced about 1810 for more extensive facilities, and were from 40 to 100 feet long, 14 to 20 feet wide and from 2 to 3 feet depth of hold. The cargo box was built on them with a running board or guard on each side, on which from three to five men, with poles, would walk from stem to stern to propel them ; some of the larger boats had as many as three masts, with jib booms and sails for use in time of favorable winds; their capacity ranged from 40 to 100 tons and their arrival at a port was heralded by blowing a long tin horn or the firing of a small cannon, and regular trips were made with these boats on the Muskingum, Ohio, Cum- berland, Mississippi and Arkansas rivers.

The broadhorn, or New Orleans boat, carried large quantities of merchandise and several Zanes- ville and Putnam men were engaged in this trade ;

these boatmen were compelled to walk home from New Orleans a distance of 2,000 miles through swamp and cane brake, with the attendant danger from beasts and highwaymen, as they were obliged to carry their money on their persons.

The hull was completely covered over except a small platform at each end where a sort of cabin was erected in which the crew lived, the floor being the bottom of the boat; the roof of the entire boat was water tight and the cargo was always under cover. The crew consisted of from 8 to 12 men and to propel the boat against the current two or more men took positions on each side, amidships or the middle of the run- ning board which ran the length of the boat, on each side. Each man was furnished a long ash pole with an iron point on one end and a knob or button on the other. Men were then placed at the bow who set their poles firmly on the river bottom and with their shoulders against the but- ton pushed the boat forward and walked towards the stern by means of the cleats fastened to the surface of the running board ; when the men from the bow reached the men amidship, the latter set their poles in the same manner, the bowsmen holding the boat until the others had control. The pilot. from an elevated position, controlled the men and when he saw that the middlemen had control he sang out "Head two," when the bow- men would release and return to the bow ; mean- time the second men would push the boat for- ward in ignorance of the movements of the ac- tions of the bowmen. The bow was reached by the time the others had reached the stern and when the bowsmen had control again the pilot would sing out, "Up from behind," when they would resume their places amidships. Unless one party had control the boat would be swept back by the current, and one of only four miles per hour would send them miles down stream. if control were lost for but a moment, and require several hours to regain the lost distance. The vocabulary, under such circumstances, was vigor- ous and voluminous.

FIRST STEAMBOAT ON THE MUSKINGUM.

Steamboats were plying the Ohio river before an attempt was made to use them on the Mus- kingum, whose tortuous course was regarded as preventing their employment, but certain resi- dents of Marietta held that in suitable stages of water the steamer could be nav- igated. Caleb Bastow built the Rufus Put- nam at Marietta, in 1823, for John Green and Oliver Dodge, at a cost of from $10,000 to $12,000; the engine was constructe:1 at Steubenville and the other iron work at Marietta ; she was a low pressure, side wheel boat, 75 feet long, 18 feet wide and had a capacity of

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Past and present of the city of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio, Part 9

Author: Sutor, J. Hope, 1846- Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 898

Author: Sutor, J. Hope, 1846-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 898