USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics, Volume I > Part 31
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was opened some fifteen years ago, and the building extending from the corner to Delling- er's late store, was putting up, in digging the foundations, a number of pannels of posts and rail fence, the relics of those days, and which had been covered up for probably thirty years, were found and dug up, absolutely sound .- Causeways of logs, generally a foot in diameter, were laid in various parts of Main street, and it was but a few years since, in re-grading Main from Eighth to Ninth streets, that a causeway of such logs were taken up, sound, but water satu- rated, which extended from near Eighth street, to a spot above Jonathan Pancoast's dwelling, pro- bably 120 feet in distance.
A Leaf from old Records.
Aug. 1, 1803-Associate Judges for the coun- ty of Hamilton, met agreeable to law.
Present, Michael Jones, James Silver, Luke Foster, Esqs., Judges.
The following certificates for wolves killed were presented, and allowed :
I. Dexter, for 1 wolf under 6 months of age, 1,00 Matthew Coy, 3 wolves, over do 2,00 do 6,00
Jno Vincent, 2 do
do do 4,00
D. Endsly & }
2 do do do do 4,00
D. Carnagin, S
Jno Vincent, 1 do
do do
do 2,00
Jacob Misner, 2 do do do do 4,00
Jno Larrison, 2 do
do do do 4,00
Luther Ball, 5 do
young, and one old,7, 00
Jos. Thompson,1 do
do
do 2,00
Dan. Carnagin, 2 do
do do do 4,00
38,00
Account of Abraham Corry, jailer, for the diet, &c., of George Turner, confined in jail, rejected by commissioners, because said George Turner is able to pay his diet, &c., himself .- Also, Abraham Corry's account, for the diet of Archibald M'Clean, confined in jail, not allow- ed, it being considered the master of said M'- Clean is liable for his jail fees, diet, &c.
Appropriations made.
To prosecuting attorney in Court of Common Pleas, Hamilton co., for one year, $100.
Revolutionary Recollections .-- No. 1.
These letters to John Frazer,Esq., of Cincin- nati, are from a revolutionary soldier, still liv- ing, and on the way to his hundredth year. As may be inferred from their tenor, he is a minis- ter of the gospel, and I may add, on the testÃ- mony of the late Gen. Harrison, that he served as army chaplain, during the investment of Fort Meigs, and besides acting in that capacity. in which he acquired the affection and esteem of the troops, all his leisure time was employed in
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nursing the sick, and providing such comforts for them as his influence and solicitation could procure.
PLAIN, WOOD COUNTY, O. Sept. 5th, 1839. JOHN FRAZER, ESQ. :-
I beg leave to trouble you once more with my pension business. If it should be the last time,there would be nothing unexpected, I ought to look for the appointed time daily, yet He who numbereth the days of man, may con- tinue mine a little longer. I think I can sub- mit all to his infinitely wise disposal.
I was able to attend the celebration of the 4th of July, 1839,and state some facts that have not been related in any history of the_revolution .- In the spring '76, forepart of April, Patterson's regiment was ordered by Washington, then at New York, to take shipping at Albany, and to proceed, with all possible despatch. for Quebec by Lake George and Lake Champlain. We ar- rived at Morrell the fore part of May. We soon had information, that a small fort at the Cedar Rapids wasinvested by the Indians, and a small British force -- four companies were immedi- ately ordered for their relief, commanded by Major H. Sherburn. The next morning another company of volunteers was ordered, to which I wasattached. Sherburn had to cross the out- let of Bacon Lake, had one boat and one canoe. Some time in the forepart of the day, they were attacked by the Indians, and by Foster, a Cap- tain with about twenty British soldiers. At the first onset, Sherburn drove them ; we were then in hearing, but could not reach them. Foster beat a parley, the firing ceased, and he informed Sherburn, that Major Butterfield had surrender ed the Fort the evening before; and it would on- ly be a useless waste of lives to contend longer. Sherburn saw that there was no possibility of retreating, and to save his men from a general massacre, surrendered to Foster. Two days af- ter, Arnold, afterwards the traitor, joined our company, with about six hundred men, and boats sufficient to take us all across the Bacon, and two or three pieces of small cannon. The evening after Arnold joined us, just at dark, the Indians fired on our ont posts, or sentinels, and made their retreat as fast as they could. We started early in the morning, with men enough only in the boats to man them, and the rest of the men on foot, as fast as the boats could as- cend the stream, for the current was pretty strong. We entered the Bacon, sun about two hours high -- orders were for every man to pre- pare for action,and embark on board the boats; Arnold led the van, in a bark canoe, rowed by five Frenchmen. When about half way across the stream, steering to a certain point of tlie woods, Foster commenced a fire with two small field pieces, and, although we were in clo
der, and broadside to his fire, some shot went over us,and some fell short, but none took effect. Aswe drew near the point of landing, the Indi- ans gave a tremendous yell,and fired -- we were too far off; their balls skipped on the water and some of them rattled on the sides of our boats. We sustained no damage. It being near night Arnold thought it best to return, and make our attack in the morning. We set to work to fix our small guns in the bows of our boats. But about midnight, Foster came over in a canoe, with Major Sherburn and Captain M'Kinstrey, who had been wounded in the thigh, during the action. A cartel was entered into, and the pri- soners were returned, and hostages on parole .--- Wethen returned to St. Johns, and to Chamblee where we, in five days, saw the red coats; were ordered to retreat as fast as we could to St. Johns; many of us were very feeble by reason of the small-pox but we madegood our retreat from one port to another, until we reached Ti- conderoga, and began about the last of June, to build Fort Independence, opposite to the old fort Ticonderoga. Here we tarried until November, when orders came to march for Albany, and from thence to join Washington; reached his camp only two days before Christmas. The rest has been recorded. This campaign, for suffer- ing by hard fatigue, sickness and hunger, ex- ceeded anything that happened through the revolution.
My dear sir, excuse my intruding on your time and patience, to read so long a scrawl, made from the memory of an old, worn out sol- dier. Early impressions on the mind, when strongly made, are not easily effaced. I thought if I filled the sheet, it might afford a little a musement, and cost no more postage than if the whole was blank.
Yours, most affectionately, JOSEPH BADGER.
Spirit of Seventy-six.
The following anecdote is extracted from the "Memoirs of Marshal Count de Rochambeau,', who, it will be recollected, was the Command. er of the French army which was sent to our aid in the war of the revolution.
I shall here venture to interrupt the regular narrative, says this writer, to relate an anec- dote fitting to exemplify the character of the good republicans of Connecticut. In going to this conference the carriage which conveyed Admiral the Chevalier de Ternay and myself, broke down. I sent Fersen, my first aid-de- camp, in search of a wheelwright, who resided at the distance of a mile from the place where the accident happened. Forsen returned to in- form me that he had found a man sick of the quartan fever, who had answered that his hat full of guineas would not tempt him to work in the night. I requested the admiral to go with me that we might intreat him together. We told
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him that General Washington was to arrive that ( his father was of in France. "My father," an- evening at Hartford, for the purpose of conferring with us the next day, and that the object would be defeated, unless he mended our vehicle. "I believe you," said he, "I have read in the news- paper that Washington is to be there this even- ing to confer with you. I see this is a public matter : your carriage shall be ready at six in the morning." And so it was. On our return from the conference, at Hartford, one of our wheels gave way, nearly at the same spot, and at the same hour; and we were obliged to have recourse to our old friend. "What," said he, "do you want me to work again in the night?"" "Alas! yes," was my reply. "Admiral Rodney is arrived and has tripled the enemy's naval forc and we must get back with all speed to Rhode Island, in order to be ready for his attacks." "But," said the wheelwright, "what are you going to do with your six ships against twenty English ships." "It will be a fine day for us, if they attempt to destroy us at our anchorage." "Come," said he, "you are clever fellows; you shall have your carriage at five o'clock in the morning; but before I begin to work, tell me, if there is no harm in the question, are you pleased with Washington, and is he so with ye." We assured him that this was the case. His patriotic feelings were gratified, and he was a- gain as good as his word. Such was the public spirit that animated, not only this worthy me- chanic, but almost all the inhabitants of the in- terior, and particularly the freeholders of Con- necticut.
When the British took possession of Philadel- phia, one of the soldiers rudely entered a house, and, in highly insulting language, ordered rooms to be prepared for his reception, by a certain hour, at which time he said he would return. The master of the mansion was absent with the American army. His wife, a timid woman, sent for her neighbor, a lady of great spirit and de- termination, whose husband was also on milita- ry duty, in the English army. While these fe- males werc engaged in consultation, the intru- der entered the door, and the neigbor immedi- ately presented a pistol which she drew from her pocket. "Begone!" said she, "how dare you insult unprotected females? If you advance an inch I will shoot you." The heroine of this lit- tle incident still lives to relate it. "The pistol," she concludes, "was given to me by General Mifflin when he marched out of the city, but I had never ventured to load it. I did not tell this however, to the soldier, who precipitately left the room."
The husband of this lady was killed during the war, and she receives his half-pay from the En- glish government. She is in the 87th year of her age, and is obliged to transmit annually, a certificate to England, that she is living and unmarried. Latterly the old lady adds to this latter notification, that she lives in hopes .
"The Duke de Lauzun Biron," says the me- moir above quoted, "who took the command of these barracks (at Hartford,in Connecticut) ren- dered himself, by the urbanity of his manners. highly agreeable to the Americans, and succee- ded perfectly in whatever business he had to transact either with old Governor Trumbull, or the members of the legislature. A little an- ecdote will serve to illustrate the Duke's aptitude for social intercourse of every kind. An honest American of the village asked him what trade
swered Lauzun, "does nothing : but I have an uncle who is a farrier ;" alluding to one of the significations of the word Marechal in his own language." "Very well," said the American, shaking him cordially and lustily by the hand, "that is a very good trade."
* In French, the word Maréchal means either a marshal or a farrier. Biron, the uncle of Lau- zun was a marshal of France.
The Duke de Rochambeau relates another an . ecdote which is worth transcribing: At the pe- riod of the march of the French troops from Cranston, says he, there happened between me, and an American captain of militia, whose hab- itation I occupied as quarters, an affair pleas- antly characteristic of republican freedom. He came to ask from mc, before the departure of the troops, a sum of fifteen thousand francs, (three thousand dollars) for wood which the brigade of Soissonnois had burnt on his proper- ty. I found the demand exorbitant,and referred him to the Commissary Villemanzy, who was charged with the settlement of all accounts for articles consumed by the army throughout the camp. At the moment of beginning the march the next day, when the roll had been beaten, and the troops were under arms, a man approach- ed me with a very complaisant air, and told me he was not ignorant of the services which 1 had rendered his country,that he respected me great- ly, but that he was obliged to perform his duty. He then served me with a paper and afterwards laid his hand gently upon my shoulder, telling me at the same time that 1 was his prisoner. "Well, sir," said 1, laughing, "take me away if you can." "Not so, your excellency , "answered the sheriff : "but I beg of you, now having done my duty to let me depart unmolested." I sent the commissary Villemanzy to the house of the American captain, and he found him in a crowd of his countrymen, who were all upbraiding him in the sharpest terms for his proceeding. The commissary agreed with him to submit the mat- ter to arbitration, and the result was that the Captain had to pay the costs,and to content him- self with two thousand, instead of fifteen thou- sand francs.
In the conclusion of this interesting account of the operations of the French army, the Duke adverts to his personal reception and treatment, and relates an anecdote which is not a little sin- gular. I have not mentioned, says he, the mul- titude of addresses from all the towns and gen- cral assemblies of the States of America, pre- sented to me, containing uniformly the warmest acknowledgement of their obligations to France. I will cite but one of these addresses. A depu- tation from the Quakers of Philadelphia waited on me, in all the simplicity of their costume. "General," said the oldest of them, "it is not on account of thy military qualities that we make thee this visit, these we hold in little esteem : but thou art the friend of mankind, and thy ar- my conducts itself with the utmost order and discipline. It is this which induces us to tender thec our respects."
After the war was over the duke embarked, with the universal benediction of the thirteen States. Ile states the remarkable fact, that such was the discipline of the army, not a quarrel or a blow between a French and an American sol- dier occurred during a course of three cam- paigns.
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The Equatorial Telescope.
This long looked for instrument arrived safe- ly by the Yorktown last week, and is now in the hands of its owners, the Cincinnati Astro- nomical Society. There are incidents connec- ted with the receipt of the Telescope, which strikingly demonstrate the absurdity of popular clamor. Captain Halderman had taken it on board at New Orleans, on his previous trip and advanced payment of the bill of charges upon its passage from Europe, and finding by the time he reached the mouth of Cumberland, that the Ohio river would not let him up, he left his freight; the Telescope included, at Smithland, and returned to New Orleans. For so doing le incurred great censure from certain individuals, I think undeservedly. Was it worth while for the sake of getting it up a week earlier or later to jeopardize such an article in careless and irre- sponsible hands? Besides, had it then been brought up, it would have unquestionably been involved in the destruction by fire of the Cincin- nati college in whose upper stories it was de- signed to be deposited .
What makes the injustice more glaring, the public are indebted to the liberality of Captain Halderman, and Messrs. Kellogg and Kennett, the owners of the Yorktown, that the forty box- es in which this instrument and its appendages, were packed, came freight free.
Modern Warehouses.
Such are the improvements of late years in the construction of modern buildings, not dwellings merely, but warehouses, that tho- rough examination of the premises is often ne- cessary to comprehend the prodigious differ- ence which existe in favor of some of our re- cent business erections, over their predecessors in the same line. In my lately published sta- tistics of the Fourth ward, allusion was made to the warehouses put up in 1844, in the neigh- borhood of Walnut and Second streets. I had neither time nor space to say more in that ar- ticle, and I now avail myself of an interval of leisure to supply, from notes taken on the spot, n statement of one of these buildings as a sam- ple of the rest. I refer to the new Iron and Nail warehouse, owned and occupied by Wm. C. Stewart & Co., on Second, between Main and Walnut streets.
The warehouse fronts on Second street, 46 feet 8 inches, by a depth of 114 feet 8 inches. The stone walls of the basement are 33 inches in thickness, which are succeeded by brick walls-First story,, five; second story, four; and third atory, three courses thick. In the basement, are eighteen etone pillars, 24 by 66 inches each, which sustain two oak girders, 14 by 16 inches square, the entire length of the
building; on these rest the ends of the joints, also of oak, most of which are 13 feet, none more than 16 feet long ; and are 16 inches deep, by 24 inches wide, and hardly six inches apart. The girders ale secured together in a novel manner, which I cannot undertake to describe, but which it will be evident to those who exam- ine them, cannot under any degree of strain or pressure, be moved laterally, while four- teen anchors in each story, serve to connect walls, joists and girders together in such a man- ner that the walls can never become pressed out. On the upper stories, the stone pillars are followed up by oaken uprights 14 by 16 inches square, eighteen of which serve on each floor as supports to the girders above, the girders being throughout the whole building, also 14 by 16 inches square. The cellar and ground floors are of 1} inch oak plank, and the last de- scends ten inches in its entire length to facili- tate the taking out iron in front, when neces- sary. The basement story is 8 feet in the clear, the upper stories, respectively, 142, 112, 10}, and 92 feet. The jambs, sills, and lintels of the doors, with the window lintels, are of cast iron. There are six doors in front, two at the side, and one at the rear; the first named, six feet wide, and the others, which are receiving doors, are nine feet square in width and height, exclusive of transom-lights above. Through the last three, loaded drays might be driven with ease. The warehouse is lighted with windows front and rear; the sashes being filled with 12. by 18 crown glase. The roof is of No. 26 sheet iron, coated inside with one, and outside with two coats oil paint, to which a third will be added in the spring. The gutters are made entirely of copper. 350,000 brick, and 8,700 square feet of stone, are actually built into the walls.
On the ground floor are two counting rooms, the front 22 by 14 and the rear 17 by 14 feet; a space at the side of this last being taken off for fire proof safe which is built up from the cellar and is 8 feet high on the groundfloor, and occu- pies a space 62 by 3} feet, the walls being 30 inches thick and lined with half inch boiler iron. Space has been left between the boiler iron and walls for a flue to carry off the heated air in case of firo, The doors are double platea of iron and being fastened with Shawk's patent locks, defy alike fraud and force. The entire materiale of the building are of American pro- duct and manufacture, [the lumber and glass being from Ohio and Western Pennsylvania and the residue ars our city manufacture.
Why such a degree of strength should be thus imparted to this building may be compre- hended in tho fact that there is now actually on the second floor four hundred tons of naile.
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rivets, sad irons &c. and more than one thous- and tons of bar, hoop, sheet atid boiler iron, on the lower floor, while it is possible they may be required to bear double these weights.
The adjacent leather warehouse of J. W. & W. W. Cooper is built in a proportionally sub- stantial manner and enlarges the entire front to 78 feet.
The building has been examined by persons from New Orleans, Philadelphia and New York, who all concur in opinion, as may be infered from these statistics, that it has notits equal in the United States for convenience of arrange- ment, solidity of construction and adaptedness to the purpose for which it was built. In point of space, merely, some of the large Cotton warehouses in New Orleans doubtless surpass it, while they are interior in every other res- pect, but it has no superior for size in any other city of the U. States. There are two Warehouses in Pittsburg near the Monongahela bridge, which may be said to approach it. These are fine buildings of 30 feet front by 160 ft. deep, and of course are more than 10 per cent. less in square feet than Messrs Stewart & Co's, to say nothing of the greater importance of front to depth in business buildings.
CORRESPONDENCE. An Apology for Free Trade in Money. BY W. SMEAD, BANKER.
Money is undoubtedly an article of commerce and as in every other commodity, its market. price varies with the circumstances of plenty and scarcity, supply and demand. Nothing fluctuates more than the interest of money. It is affected by a multitude of causes, commercial , political, and local. In 1837, the best commer- cial paper in the city of New York, was sold at a discount of 3 per cent. per month ; and in 1844 the notes of the same indviduals were cashed at 3 per cent. per annum. Interest as fixed by law has differed from age to age. In the dark ages of ignorance and superstition, the smallest com- pensation taken for the use of money was con- sidered a deadly sin, and the law prohibited all interest under the severest penalties. Under the Romans, in the time of Justinian, the legal rate was 4, 6, 8, and 12 per cent., according to circumstances. In France it has varied from 2 to 10 per cent. It was ten per cent, in England in the time of Henry VII, and has since been reduced to five.
In the United States, the legal rate varies from 5 to 8 per cent., and in some of the States 10, and in others 12 per cent. may be recovered.
It thus appears that legislators have never been able to agree upon any uniform rate of in- terest, and their laws will uniformly be ovaded as often as the market rate for money happens to
be higher than the legal rate. The laws trade founded, as they are, on the law of natures are paramount to legal enactments, and must be obeyed.
A great demand for money, and a limited supply concurring with unsettled credit, and a general feeling of mistrust will raise the price of money to the highest point. A great supply and small demand with settled credit and firm confidence will sink it to the lowest, and it will vary between these extremes according to the relative proportion of these elements of price.
In all times the price will vary, according to the nature of the security, the amount, and the period of payment. Insurers charge from } to 6 per cent. or more according to the risk. In lending money, on the same principle, as some persons are extra-hazardous, they should pay ex- tra for the risk. Laws limiting the rate of inter- est, must proceed on the absurd supposition, that money is always equally abundant, the supply always relatively the same, all men equally ho- nest, punctual, and responsible, and that a small sum borrowed for a single week on personal se- curity, should command no higher rate than a large amount for a term of years on bond and mortgage security. The law has one arbitrary standard for all cases however different. Many fruitless attempts were made in former times, by laws. to regulate the prices of various article of necessity . Since no laws fixing the price of money can be adapted to all circumstances, why not leave it, like all other commodities, to find its level of value? Why not let it regulate itself by free competition? Why leave every other article of commerce to the operation of free trade, and single out this alone for prohib- itory enactments. All that the law can do, with either reason or justice is to fix the interest. in cases where no specified rate has been stipula- ted. Why should not men ba left as free to bargain for the use of money as for any other article. Such laws it is pretended, protect the poor and needy against extortion, and secure the weak and credulous against imposition, pre- vent excessive interest, restrain prodigality, &c. Now in fact, the law actually aggravates, the very evils it pretends to mitigate.
It gives to wealth a monopoly in borrowing, over skill and industry, for the lender is confined to the legal rate and prevented from accepting such additional interest as would compensate the risk of lending to a man of small means. It forces the poor man to sacrifice his property, & enables the rich to buy it. In preventing a man from pay- ing 10 per cent. it forces him to lose 50. Under pretence of making money cheaper to him, it makes it dearer; and instead of protecting, it crushes him.
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