USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics, Volume I > Part 10
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What a proud spectacle this must have been to one man who witnessed it, and who might have exelaimed to the assembled thousands :-- 'Behold! I have done this !"
About forty years ago, a poor, but honest and industrious man worked at a steam engine in a colliery belonging to Lord Ravensworth near to Newcastle upon Tyne. He had an inventive genius, and untiring application. He devoted himself with great assiduity to the fulfilment of his daily task. His intervals were devoted to the improvement of the mechanical business under his control. Those intervals were short for he frequently rose at one o'clock in the morning for the purpose of commeneing his accustomed task. But he persevered, and success attended his ef- forts. Many and important improvements were made to his engine; but as yet, they brought him no mitigation of his constant toil. At length an idea gleamed in upon the uninstructed mind of this laborious man -- "What if this mighty sta- tionary wizard could be made to move." The thought startled him at first with its wild image, but it soon took the shape of reality. Still no step could be taken without money-and he was poor. Time rolled on. The mighty workings of genius were at last triumphant. Lord Ravens- worth, the owner of Killingworth colliery furn- ished funds to construet an engine-it was the first Locomotive Engine that was ever built, and in honor of the noble individual who had as no- bly used his wealth, it was called "My Lord." This was thirty-two years ago. The great a- chievement of the age was accomplished; and now burst forth the stupendous intellect which
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had been for years groping in the gloom of a | this is of greater importance than anything I coal pit. After laying down various railroads, have seen for years, and if it came from any other place than Cincinnati, I should be dis- pesed to consider it a great humbug. But there seems to be no limits to your enterprise and en- ergy. It was only last week one of your citi- zens applied for a patent for a new mode of ren- dering lard, in which the whole hog of three to four hundred weight is put into an iron tank, and comes out hoofs, hide, and bones, an entire mass of lard ! And as the sailor who was blown up at the theatre, and supposed it was a part of the performance, remarked, I wonder what you are going to shew next !- 16. and completely establishing the practicability of his invention, he was sent for to plan the line of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad. He then pledged himself to obtain a speed of ten miles an hour; and although he felt conscious that there was no limit to the velocity of his engine, yet he was afraid to avow it. It was a hard matter for him to keep it down to that, but he said it had to be done. It now became necessa- ry to apply to Parliament for a charter, and he was deputed to appear before a Committee .-- One of them thought he was mad; others that he was a foreigner; but he was determined to suc- ceed, and genius and perseverance triumphed Etymologies of County names in Ohio. over incredulous and purse-prond stupidity. Each succeeding year witnessed new triumphs -- until his fame had become a part of the fame of his country-his, as imperishable as hers. Step by step he had risen from the obscurity of his station, and by the vigor of his intellect, con- ferred immortal honor upon the name of GEORGE STEPHENSON.
What a lesson this man's history might im- part to those who are conscious of superior pow- ers, yet chilled by adverse circumstances. If he had not persevered, the rail road might yet have been an iron path for horses to jog upon , instead of being made what it is, the con- queror of time and space.
Upon the arrival of the various trains at the station at Gateshead, and after the conclusion of some civic ceremonies, about 500 gentlemen sat down to a sumptuous dinner. Among the dis- tinguished individuals present, Mr. Stephenson was the "observed of all observers." He was there upon the spot which had witnessed his early toils, and his mighty triumph-he was amidst the poor who had toiled by his side, and the noble, who were honored by his friendship. How various were the emotions of his heart, when beholding what he had accomplished.
I might extend this letter to a much greater length, but I am fearful of wearying your pa- tience. If what I have written should be ac- ceptable, I shall, at a future time, trouble you again. This is a vast field for the study of man. Since I have been here, I have observed some astonishing anomalies in the peer and peasant. They shall form the subject of another letter. Adieu.
Yours, D.
Anecdote.
When Mr. Sanders,one of the patentees in the recent discovery of magneto electric light,laid his specification before H. L. Ellsworth, the head of the department, that gentleman remarked, I am in the habit every day of seeing something in- genious or remarkable offered for patents, but
Of the 79 Counties of Ohio, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Jack- son, 6 ;- commemorate the Presidents of thoso names. Carroll, Fayette,Franklin, Greene, Hen- ry, Hancock, Hamilton, Knox, Morgan, Mont- gomery, Marion, Mercer, Putnam, Stark, Trum- bull, and Warren, 16 ;-- are named after the he- roes and statesmen of revolutionary date. But- ler, Clark, Crawford, Darke, Hardin, Logan, and Wayne, 7 ;-- record the names of those to whom Ohio has been indebted, on the battle- field, for her emancipation from Indian violence and massacre. Preble is called after a gallant sailor, as is Ross, after an able statesman, both of a later date, say 1806. Allen, Brown, Clinton, Harrison, Holmes, Lawrence, Perry, Pike,and Shelby, 9 ;- bear the names of the heroes of the last war. Williams, Paulding, and Van Wert, honor the memory of the patriotic and incorrup- tible captors of Maj. Andre. Two derive their appellations from Governors of Ohio. Meigs and Lucas.
Of Indian originals, we have but 16 ;- Aslı- tabula, Cuyahoga, Coshocton, Delaware, Erie, Geauga, Hocking,Huron, Miami, Muskingum, Ot- tawa, Pickaway, Scioto, Sandusky, Seneca, and Tuscarawas, many of them having the same name with streams, lakes, and bays, in their limits or neighborhood. The names of 11 indicate some peculiarity in location, quality of soil, or character of surface, as Belmont, Champaign, Clermont, Fairfield, Highland, Lake, Licking, Portage, Richland, Summit, and Union. The names --- Guernsey, and Gallia, serve to point out the fath- erland of the first settlers in these Counties. Ath- ens, and Medina, are Asiatic names, absurdly and inappropriately applied in our State, unless the location of an University, at the first may redeem its share of that reproach. Columbi- ana, and Lorain, are, I presume, corruptions of Columbia, and Lorraine, both unsuitable names, although for different reasons. One name, that of Wood, defies my scrutiny. Will Mr. Scott, of the Toledo Blade, shed light on its origin ?
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Can it be named after Judge Reuben Wood?
Of all those who have furnished names for these Counties, three individuals only survive, Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, James Ross, of Pittsburg, and Robert Lucas, of Piketon, Ohio.
The Progress of "Light."
Unexpected difficulties have been and yet are delaying the exhibition of the magneto electric light, lately discovered in our city. It is ne- cessary that 6,000 feet of copper wire should be wrapped with cotton in the manner of bon- net wire, to insulate the conducting wires which are cylindrical and spiral. There is no machine here for such purposes and the inventors are driven to the alternative of constructing one for themselves, which will probably delay them two weeks more, or commence operations at Phila- delphia, New York, or Boston, where the wire can be covered in 24 hours. Nothing but ab- solute necessity will drive them to this last course. They think with me, that the city of their nativity has the stronger elaim to be the first in witnessing the glories of this discovery
From Cist's Advertiser. Capture of O. M. Spencer, by Indians.
The following letter from Gen. Wilkinson to Col. Armstrong, refers to the capture, by Indians, of Oliver M. Spencer, one of the early settlers of the Miami Valley, and father to Henry E. Spen- cer, Mayor of our city.
Spencer, then a boy of eleven, had been on a visit to Cincinnati, from Columbia, where he then lived, to spend the 4th of July here, and having staid until the 7th, set out in a canoe with four other persons who were going to Columbia .- About a mile above Deer Creek, one of the men much intoxicated, made so many lurches in the canoe as to endanger its safety, and Spencer, who could not swim, becoming alarmed, was at his earnest request, set ashore, as was also the drunken man, who was unable to proceed on foot, and was accordingly left where landed. The three in the canoe, and Spencer on shore,proceed- ed on, but had hardly progressed a few rods, when they were fired on by two Indians. A Mr. Ja- cob Light was wounded in the arm, and another man, name unknown, killed on the spot, both falling overboard, the man left on shore toma- hawked and scalped, and Spencer, after a vain attempt to escape, was carried off by the savag- es, and taken out to an Indian village, at the mouth of Auglaize, where he remained several months in captivity. The tidings of these events were taken by Light, who swam ashore a short distance below, by the aid of his remain- ing arm, and Mrs. Coleman, the other passen- ger, who, though an old woman of sixty, and, of course, cncumbered with the apparel of her sex,
was unable to make any efforts to save herself, but whose clothes floating to the top of the river probably buoyed her up in safety. It is certain, at any rate, incredible as it may be thought by some, that she floated down to Cincinnati, where she was assisted to shore by some of the resi- dents here.
Spencer, after remaining nearly a year among the Indians, was taken to Detroit, where he was ransomed, and finally sent home, after an ab- sence, in various places, of three years, two of which he passed among his relatives in New Jer- sey. He resided, subsequently,in the city, where he held various offices of trust and honor, and died on May 31st, 1838.
FORT WASHINGTON, July 7th 1792. JOHN ARMSTRONG ESQ :
Dear Sir,-I send out to apprize you that, this day about noon, a party of savages fired on a party consisting of two men, a women and Col. Spencer's son-about one and a half miles above this, and on this side of the river-one man killed, the other wounded but not mortal- ly, and poor little Spencer carried off a prisoner. I sent out a party who fell in with their trail in Gen. Harmar's trace about six miles from this, and followed it on the path about two miles farther, when the men failing with fatigue, the Sergeant was obliged to return -- master Spen- cer's trail was upon the path-this is a farther answer to the pacific overtures, and makes me tremble for your hay. I pray you if possible to redouble your vigilance, and on Monday morn- ing early Captain Peters will march with his company and six wagons to your assistance- send me twenty horses the moment Peters reaches you, and I will be with you next day- in the meantime, your cavalry should scout on both sides of the river, and your rifle men be kept constantly in motion-adieu,
Yours
JAS. WILKINSON, Brig. Gen.
Drawing School.
Amidst the various facilities afforded in this city for a good education, we have hitherto been deficient in a school for drawing, calculated to commence with the elements and carry the learn- er out, as his genius and taste may justify, into the higher branches of the art.
That deficiency is now supplied, by a compe- tent instructor in this department Mr. M. ROSIEN- KIEWICZ, who has opened at his room on 4th street west of the Council Chamber, a school for draw- ing and design. Mr. R. comes recommended to some of our most respectable citizens as a gen- tleman and artist. As respects the last. in my judgment, he needs no other testimony than his own exquisite productions which ornament the walls of his room. two of which, a boat, leaving a vessel at anchor, for the adjacent shore, and
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a perspective of Greenock surpass in beauty | head, violently enraged. and belabored him with any thing I remember to have seen in water colors.
Mr. R. is a stranger, on every score deserv- ing encouragement. He is a native of Poland, of a land at the bare mention of whose name the pulse of every lover of liberty beats quick- er, of a land which sent us a Kosciusko and a Palaski, with hundreds of subalterns, in the hour of our country's danger to fight her bat- tles. When we have it in our power to repay the obligation in the only manner in which we can repay it, by affording encouragement to the fine genius and taste of one of her worthiest sons, let us not neglect the opportunity. I doubt not, that Mr. R. will be extensively sus- tained as soon and as far as he becomes known. As his best introduction to the community I re- commend the public to visit his rooms and make his acquaintance.
Chronology for the week.
Nov.1 1756, Earthquake at Lisbon which cost more than seventy thousand persons their lives. The second shock laid the city in ruins. The bed of the river Tagus was in many places raised to the surface, a large new quay with several people on it sank to an unfathomable depth. At the time of this earthquake, Loch Lomond and Loch Ness, two beautiful lakes in Scotland, were uncommonly agitated, and the latter after flowing and ebbing for an hour, spread over the northern bank, a space of thirty feet. At the Ilot Wells at Bristol in England the water became red as blood and so turbid that it could not be drank. The water of a common well which had previously been perfectly clear became perfectly blaek at the same time, and remained so for sixteen days. The natural course of the river Avon was reversed on this occasion and many other remarkable effects were observed which appeared to be connected with the same cause. The entire duration of this earthquake was six minutes.
2nd. 1519, Reformation in Germany by Mar- tin Luther.
3rd 1534, Henry VIII constituted by his Parlia- liament head of the Church of England. Synod of Dort assembled 1618.
4th 1794, Organization of the British Mis- sionary Society. Defeat of Gen. St. Clair by the Indians 1791.
5th 1605, Gunpowder plot, discovery of the
7th 1665, The first English newspaper made its appearance at Oxford England.
R. R. M.
Profane Swearing .-- A Lay Sermon.
his whip handle, interlarding his abuse with, God damn your soul ! God damn'you! and much other profane language of the sort.
I felt grieved, both for the horse and the driv - er, which last was still a mere youth; but knowing by experience what little it avails to address a mauiac, whether he be so under the influence of passion ardent spirits, or perma- nent mental derangement. I passed on, resolv- ing to speak to the drayman on the subject, at a suitable opportunity, and meditating deeply on the scene.
Here thought I, is a young man who believes his horse has a soul, and yet, probably, is ignor- ant he has one himself. A man who, perhaps, never prays at home, and yet prays publicly in the streets. A man who never asks a blessing at his meals, or on his repose at night, and doubtless never prays unless to supplicate a curse upon his horse, or some fellow being .- What a bundle of inconsistencies is human nature !
Other reflections suggested themselves to me in further meditating on the subject. Would this youth as willingly have asked, publicly, for blessings on his horse, or on himself, or his fel- low being? Did he ask in faith? Did he ex- pect a favorable answer to liis prayers? Was he aware that the damnation of the horse's soul involved the destruction of his body? Was he willing to lose his horse's service entirely and forever, on the present provocation ? What a tissue of absurdities is human nature!
Following out the theme, I asked myself, whether this was not a topic of rebuke to chris- tians as well as profligates. How many religious people shrink from praying in public, even for blessings, while this poor fellow was so deeply engaged invoking curses in a similar exercise. How far short in fervency is the most ardent prayer, I recollect to have heard lately, when compared with the earnestness of this drayman. Truly the children of this world are not only wis- er, but frequently more in earnest than the chil- dren of light.
After all, there is an essential difference in prayer. The ploughing and the dray driving of the wicked is sin, and their prayer, however fervent,not being in a right spirit, and directed to right objects, avails nothing. It is tho effectu- al fervent prayer of a righteous man, only, which availeth much.
And so I dismiss the subject for the present.
The Guano Islands.
It is stated in late foreign journals, that the fa- mous product of Guano is keenly exciting the spirit of adventure amongst speculators, and that between forty and fifty English vessels have sailed from England to bring guano from the
On my way 'to my office, a few mornings since I passed the driver of a dray, who had con- siderable difficulty in getting his horse to obcy his orders. He seized him, at length, by the / rocky islands on the West coast of Africa. The
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West India planters, it seems, have begun to use it freely for their sugar cancs, and so successful- ly (it being supposed they would require large quantities) that numerous vessels have been sent to procure loads of it for the West India market.
Immense beds of guano are known to exist on two of the islands lying on that desert and un- inhabited coast, which stretches from the south- ern point of the Portuguese possessions of Congo, almost to the grand Orange river, the northern boundary of the British possessions at the Cape; and as rain rarely if ever falls along this coast,it is probable that the guano will be found to have been collecting in the same manner on the whole of the islands along it, for centuries.
A Liverpool paper in reference to the same subject says :
A writer in one of the London papers wishes to know whether there is not some danger of this article being subjected to an export duty in Africa as well as in South America, but we may certainly dismiss his fears, for there are no in- habitants along the coast, except lions and other beasts of prey, amongst which Custom-house of- ficers are not to be found ; and as for the islands, their only inhabitants are the sea birds which produce the guano, and which, if they take toll at all, take it in the form of flesh and blood, for it is a fact that the first guano scarchers who landed on these islands had to fight as fiercely with the birds for their cargoes as Encas and his companions had to fight with the Harpies of old in defence of their dinners.
With regard to the effect of Guano as an ad- mirable fertilizer. we have seen it stated in the Durham (Eng.) Chronicle, that during the last season, an old land grass-field, upon which the substance had been tried, produced two excel- lent crops of hay. The manure was applied at the rate of one cwt. per acre. The first dress- ing took placein March last, and a second im- mediately after the first crop had been led. The cost of cach dressing was about 12s per acre. The produce of the first crop averaged abou; 24 tons per acre; and the second two tons.
Thunder.
Power of the Memory.
In distinguished men the thorough awak- ening and vigorous exertion of the mind has more to do with their eminence than is generally thought. In most men the intellectual energies slumber, or are but half put forth. A corres- pondent of the New York Tribune, writing from Rome, relates some anecdotes of the eminent linguist Cardinal Mezzafonti, which illustrates this truth.
Mezzafonti is able to speak 52 languages. The Pope attributos his extraordinary powers in this respect to miraculous and. A friend of the Cardinal's informed the writer that he took the same view of the case; which, with the circum- stances mentioned below, shows that his powers as a linguist did probably receive, when extra- ordinary exertion was demanded, a remarkable impulse and developement.
He states that when an obscure priest, in the North of Italy he was called one day to confess two foreigners condemned for piracy, who were to be executed the next day. On entering their cell he found them unable to understand a word he uttered. Overwhelmed with the thought that the criminals should leave this world without the benefits of religion, he returned to his room resol- ved to acquire their language before morning. He accomplished his task, and the next day con- fessed them in their own'tongue. From that time on, he says, he had no difficulty in mastering the most difficult language. The purity of his motive in the first place, he thinks, influenced ihe Deity to assist him miraculously. A short time since a Swede, who could speak a patois pe- culiar to a certain province of Sweden, called on him in that dialect. Mezzafonti had never heard it before, and seemed very much interest- ted. He invited him to call on him often, which he did, while the conversation invariably turned on this dialect. At length the Swede calling one day, heard himself, to his amazement, addressed in this difficult patois. He inquired of the Car- dinal who had been his master, for he thought, he said, there was no man in Rome who could speak that language but himself. "I have had no one," he replied, "but yourself-I NEVER for- get a word I hear once.
ON the evening of the 29th, by the Rev. E. W. Sehon,g Mr. C. Edwards, to Misz Catharine Jane Iloagland, all of this city.
On Thursday evening, Oct. 31st, by Elder William P. Stratton, Mr. Alvin C. Knapp, to Miss Eliza Martin, all of this city.
Thunder claps are the effeet of lightning, MARRIAGES. which causes a vacuum in that portion of the atmosphere through which it passes; the air rushing on to restore the equilibrium may cause much of the noise that is heard in the clap. An In this city on the 30th inst, by the Rev. Mr. Sehon W. N. Haldeman, Editor of the Louisville Mornin Courier. to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Wm. Metcalf Esq., of Cincinnati. easy experiment on the air pump illustrates this: Take a glass receiver open at both ends, over one end tie a piece of a sheep's bladder, On Wednesday evening, Oct. 30th, at Christ Church. hy the Rev. B. P. Aydelotte, Mr. Thomas J. Stannus, to Heten McGregor, daughter of the late Francis Shield, Esq., all of this city. wet and let it stand till thoroughly dry. Then place the open end on the plate of the air pump, and exhaust the air slowly from under it. The bladder soon becomes concave, owing to the pressure of the atmospherie air on it, the sup- porting air in the receiver being partly thrown out .- Carry on the exhaustion, and the air pres DEATHS. ses at the rate of fifteen pounds on every square inch. The fibres of the bladder being no longer ON Saturday morning, October 26th, at half past 10 o'clock, of Congestive Fever, in the 3d year of her age. Fanny, daughter of Geo. W., and Susan L. Phillips. capable of bearing tho pressure of the atmos- On Sunday the 27th inst, in this city. Miss Sarah Jane Blakely, aged 18 years. pheric column upon the receiver, are torn to pieces, with a noise equal to the report of a mus- Of Consumption, Wednesday, Oct. 30th, at 11 o'clock, P. M., Susan Comstock, ket, which is occasioned by the air rushing in to restore the equilibrium .- Imagine a rapid On Wednesday morning Oct. 30th, at 3 o'clock, Thom- as M., infant son of Peter and Ellen Outcalt, aged 10 mos. On Wednesday, Oct. 30th, al 3 o'clock P. M., after a few bours' illness, Mrs. Ann Brown, in the 78th year of her age. succession of such experiments, on a large scale, and you have a peal of thunder, the rapture of the first bladder being the clap. But the explo- sion of the gasses, exygon and hydrogen, of She was among the first pioneers in the settlement of which water is composed, will also account for: this city, and has been for about thirty years an exempla- ry member of the Presbyterian church
he noise.
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Narrow Escape.
When we read in the history of battles, to what dangers the commanding officers are al times exposed in leading their troops into an en- gagement, it becomes matter of surprise, hew they escape with life, and in particular instances without even a wound. Marlborough, Welling- ten, Napoleon, Washington and Jackson, have been remarkable for having exposed themselves greatly in this respect, yet according to my re- collection of all these, Napoleon is the only one who was ever wounded in battle and his wounds were few and not severe.
But there are dangers incidental to such cases, . unseen and unrecorded in many instances, which increase the hazard of life to such a degree as to satisfy even a careless observer of the fact that their lives are under the care of an overrul- ing providence which reserves them for future usefulness. We are all familiar with the fact, as declared by an Indian chief on the treaty ground, that he had three times taken deliberate aim, during the battle which ended in "Brad- dock's defeat," at Washington, then command- ing the provincials, and missed every time.
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