USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics. Volume II > Part 60
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Sixth Ward, -- Cincinnati.
This is the southwest section of the city, and a region which our increasing demands for room will soon bring into dense occupation, fronting as it does, a mile and a half on the Ohio river.
The number of its public buildings are 12-St. Aloysius' Orphan Asylum, Gas Works, a Public School House, two Friends' meeting houses, Morris Chapel, Trinity Church, on Fifth street, Third Presbyterian Church, Christian Church, on Fourth, near Stone street, Baptist Church, on Pearson street, and an Engine House on Fifth st.
The entire number of buildings in the ward is 1183, of which 593 are of brick, and 590 are frames.
Of these there were, at the close of 1842,
Bricks.
Frames.
Total.
229
501
730
Built in 1843,
157
39
196
" 1844,
89
28
117
" " 1845,
118
22
140
593
590
1183
Several important manufacturing establish- ments were put up in 1844, and a few of the same character have been added in 1845. All these are of brick.
More than one half of this ward is built upon. There are probably more persons in it owning the houses which they occupy, in proportion to the number, than can be found in any other section of the city.
John Randolph.
I am old enough to have witnessed the whole progress of this remarkable man, from the com- mencement of his Congressional career to the close of his natural life. He has left very imper- fect traces behind him on the course over which the chariot wheels of his genius were driven, and posterity finding but little preserved that gives any idea of the prodigious effect of his political speeches, or rather diatribes, will doubtless attri- bute it to his own peculiar manner of saying things.
This undoubtedly had its share of influence, but any one who has read the cotemporary reports of his speeches in Congress, negligently and in- adequately as they were reported-for there were no reporters deserving of the name at that date -must have been sensible that there was as much at least in the matter, as in their mode of delivery. His wonderful command of language, in which he delighted to illustrate the energy and eloquence of the Saxon English stile, his unrivalled power of sarcasm and ridicule, his remarkable perspicui- ty of thought as well as of expression, furnishing ideas to the intellectual, and comprehension to the mass-imparted greater influence to his ges-
ture and management of voice, remarkable as these were than they derived from such charac- teristics.
Randolph aspired to become a political leader, a position for which he had neither the necessary temper or tact; and when his failure as such be- came manifest, even to himself, he gradually as- sumed his natural place, not merely in opposi- tion, but in that Ishmaelite warfare which he was willing should lift every man's hand against him, so long as he felt free to lift his hand against every man.
But it is not my object to write his history, or even fully pourtray his character. For these em- ployments I have neither the talent nor the lim- its-so far as these columns are refered to. I have heard him often on the floor of Congress, and always, if not with pleasure, with deep in- terest. But I cannot trust myself to recollect the brilliant passages which have since faded on my memory, one excepted. He was speaking on the Yazoo land claims, a subject that always stirred up his bile, and took occasion to glance at other objects, with the ferocity that tinctured too many of his speeches-" As to Wilkinson, he is in the last stage of putrefaction-touch him and he falls to pieces."
One or two characteristic anecdotes of Ran- dolph, hitherto unpublished, as I believe, will close this article. They are perfectly authentic.
During one of the suspensions of specie pay- ments, in his day, Mr. R. was on a visit to New York, on business. He had occasion to present a check to a large amount for payment at the Merchants' Bank of that city, for which he refu- sed to accept any thing but specie, which the tel- lers of the bank as obstinately refused to give. Randolph disdained to bandy words, with either clerks or principals on their conduct, which in his own way of thinking, amounted to swindling, but withdrew and had a handbill issued at the next printing office, which in two hours was posted up over the whole city, stating that-
" John Randolph, of Roanoke, being on a visit to New York, will address his fellow-citizens on the banking and currency questions, from the steps of the Merchants' Bank, at six o'clock this evening."
A crowd began to gather more than an hour before the appointed time, enlarging so rapidly and amply that before the hour assigned to ad- dress it had arrived, the officers of the bank took the alarm, and finding out his lodging place, sent one of the clerks with the amount of the check in gold, which Randolph received with a sardonic smile and the apt quotation-Chartaciam inve- nit, aurcam reliquit. He left New York in one of the stages which at that period anticipated day light, and as he was hardly known in that city,
37
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the notice passed off for a mere hoax on the public.
After leaving the Merchants' Bank, he called at the Mechanics' Bank to transact some money business there, involving a discount of a few dol- lars. Randolph, with his peculiar notions on sach subjects, felt as though these had been stolen out of his pocket. He said nothing, how- ever, until getting to the door of entrance, where the cffigy of a huge arm swung as huge a ham- mer, he asked what that meant. " The badge of our institution, sir, you know this is the Me- chanics' Bank," was the explanation of the tel- ler. " You had better take it down and substi- tute a currier's knife," was Randolph's brief and bitter reply.
JOE LOGSTON.
The elder Logston, whose name was Joseph, and his wife, whose name was Mary, with an only son bearing his name, lived, when I first knew them, in Virginia, near the source of the north branch of the Potomac, in one of the most inhos- pitable regions of the Allegheny mountains, some twenty or thirty miles from any settlement. There never was, perhaps, a family better calcu- lated to live in such a place. Old Joe (for they were soon known as Old Joe and Young Joe Logston,) was a very athletic man, with uncom- mon muscular strength. The old lady was not so much above the ordinary height of women, but like the Dutchman's horse, was built up from the ground; and it would have taken the strength of two or three common women to equal hers. The son was no discredit to either in the way of strength, size, or activity. In fact he soon out- stripped his father. What little he lost in height was more than compensated in the thickness and muscle of the mother, so that when he came to his full size and strength, he went by the name of Big Joe Logston. I would not venture to say his physical powers were equal to those of the strong man of old, but such they were as to be- come proverbial. It was often said to stout look- ing, growing young men, " You will soon be as big as Big Joe Logston."
Joe sometimes descended from the mountain heights into the valleys, in order to exchange his skins for powder, lead, and other articles for the use of the family. While in society he entered, with great alacrity, into all the various athletic sports of the day. No Kentuckian could ever, with greater propriety than he, have said, " I can out-run, out-hop, out-jump, throw down, drag out, and whip, any man in the country." And as to the use of the rifle, he was said to be one of the quickest and surest centre shots to be found. With all this, as is usual with men of real grit, Joe was good naturcd, and never sought a quar- rel. No doubt many a bullying, braging fellow would have been proud of the name of having whipped Big Joe Logston, but that, on taking a close survey of him, he thought " prudence the better part of valour," and let him return to his mountain without raising his dander.
About the time Joe arrived at manhood, his father, and perhaps his mother, were called hence, leaving him single handed to contend, not only with the Spitzbergen winters of the mountains, but with the bears, panthers, wolves, rattlesnakes, and all the numerous tribes of dangerous animals,
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| reptiles and insects, with which the mountain re- gions abound. Joe, however, maintained his ground for several years, until the settlements had begun to encroach on what he had been ac- customed to consider his own promises. One man sat down six miles east of him, another about the same distance in another direction, and final- ly one, with a numerous family, had the temerity to come and pitch his cabin within two miles of lim. This Joe could not stand, and he pulled up stakes and decamped to seek a neighbourhood where he could hear the crack of no man's rifle but his own.
Of all the men I ever knew he was the best qualified to live on a frontier where there were savages, either animal or human to contend with. His uncommon size and strength, and inclination to be entirely free from restraint, made him choose his residence a little outside of the bounds of law and civil liberty. I do not know the pre- cise timc he left the Alleghenies, but believe it was between the years 1787 and '91. The next that we heard of Joe was, that he had settled in Kentucky, south of Green river, I think on Little Barren river, and of course, a little in advance of the settlements. The frontiers were frequently compelled to contend with the southern Indians. There was not a particle of fear in Joe's compo- sition; that ingredient was left out of his mixture. I never knew such a man in my life. There he would be. He soon had an introduction to a new acquaintance. So far he had been acquainted only with savage beasts, but now savage man came in his way, and as it " stirs the blood more to rouse the lion than to start a hare," Joe wasin his delight. The Indians madc a sudden attack, and all that escaped were driven into a rude fort for preservation, and, though reluctantly, Joe was one. This was a new life to him, and did not at all suit his taste. He soon became very restless, and every day insisted on going out with others to hunt up the cattle. Knowing the dan- ger better, or fearing it more, all persisted in their refusals to go with him.
To indulge his taste for the woodman's life, he turned out alone, and rode till the after part of the day without finding any cattle. What the Indians had not killed werc scared off. He con- cluded to return to the fort. Riding along a path which led in, he came to a fine vine of grapes. He laid his gun across the pommel of his saddle, set his hat on it, and filled it with grapes. He turned into the path and rode carelesssly along, eating his grapes, and the first intimation he had of danger, was the crack of two rifles, one from each side of the road. One of the balls passed through the paps of his breast, which, for a male, were remarkably prominent, almost as much so as those of many nurses. The ball just grazed the skin between the paps, but did not injure the breast bone. The other ball struck the horse be- hind the saddle, and he sunk in his tracks. Thus was Joe eased off his horsc in a manner more rare than welcome. Still he was on his feet in an in- stant, with his rifle in his hands, and might have taken to his heels; and I will venture the opinion, that no Indian could have caught him. That, he said, was not his sort. He had never left a battle ground without leaving his mark, and he was re- solved that that should not be the first. The mo- ment the guns fired, one very athletic Indian sprang towards him with tomahawk in hand. His eye was on him, and his gun to his eye, ready, as soon as he approached near enough to make a
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sure shot, to let him have it. As soon as the In- dian discovered this, he jumped behind two pretty large saplings, some small distance apart, neither of which were large enough to cover his body, and to save himself as well as he could, he kept springing from one to the other.
Joe, knowing he had two enemies on the ground, kept a lookout for the other by a quick glance of the eye. He presently discovered him behind a tree, loading his gun. The tree was not quite large enough to hide him. When in the act of pushing down his bullet, he exposed pretty fairly his hips. Joe, in the twinkling of an eye, wheeled and let him have his load in the part ex- posed. The big Indian then, with a mighty " Ugh!" rushed towards him with his raised tom- ahawk. Here were two warriors met, each de- termined to conquer or die,-cach the Goliah of his nation. The Indian had rather the advan- tage in size of frame, but Joe in weight and mus- cular strength. The Indian made a halt at the distance of fifteen or twenty feet, and threw his tomahawk with all his force, but Joe had his eye on him and dodged it. It flew quite out of the reach of either of them. Joe then clubbed his gun and inade at the Indian, thinking to knock him down. The Indian sprang into some brush, or saplings, to avoid his blows. The Indian depen- pended entirely on dodging, with the help of the saplings. At length Joe, thinking he had a pretty fair chance, made a side blow with such force, that missing the dodging Indian, the gun, now reduced to the naked barrel, was drawn quite out of his hands, and flew entirely out of reach. The Indian now gave another exulting "Ugh!" and sprang at him with all the savage fury he was master of. Neither of them had a weapon in his hands, and the Indian, seeing Logston bleeding freely, thought he could throw him down and dis- patch him. In this he was mistaken. They seized each other and a desperate scuffle ensued. Joe could throw him down, but could not hold him there. The Indian being naked, with his hide oiled, had greatly the advantage in a ground scuffie, and would still slip out of Joe's grasp and rise. After throwing him five or six times, Joe found, that between loss of blood and violent ex- ertions, his wind was leaving him, and that he must change the mode of warfare or lose his scalp, which he was not yet willing to spare. He threw the Indian again, and without attempting to hold him, jumped from him, and as he rose, aimed a fist blow at his head, which caused him to fall back, and as he would rise, Joe gave him several blows in succession, the Indian rising slower each time. He at last succeeded in giv- ing him a pretty fair blow in the burr of the ear, with all his force, and he fell, as Joc thought, pretty near dead. Joe jumped on him, and think- ing he could dispatch him by choaking, grasped his neck with his left hand, keeping his right one free for contingencies. Joe soon found the In- dian was not so dead as he thought, and that he was making some use of his right arm which lay across his body, and on casting his eye down dis- covered the Indian was making an effort to un- sheath a knife that was hanging at his belt. The knife was so short and so sunk in the sheath that it was necessary to force it up by pressing against the point. This the Indian was trying to effect, and with good success. Joe kept his eye on it, and let the Indian work the handle out, when he suddenly grabbed it, jerked it out of the sheath, and sunk it up to the handle in the Indian's breast, who gave a death groan and expired.
Joe now thought of the other Indian, and not knowing how far he had succeeded in killing or crippling him, sprang to his feet. He found the crippled Indian had crawled some distance to- wards them, and had propped his broken back against a log and was trying to raise his gun to shoot him, but in attempting to do which he would fall forward. and had to push against his gun to raise himself again. Joe seeing that he was safe, concluded he had fought long enough for healthy exercise that day, and not liking to be killed by a crippled Indian, he made for the fort. He got in about nightfall, and a hard look- ing case he was-blood and dirt from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, no horse, no hat, no gun-with an account of the battle that some of his comrades could scarce believe to be much else than one of his big stories in which he would sometimes indulge. He told them they must go and judge for themselves.
Next morning a company was made up to go to Joe's battle ground. When they approached it Joe's accusers became more confirmed, as there was no appearance of dead Indians, and nothing Joe had talked of but the dead horse. They, however, found a trail as if something had been dragged away. On pursuing it they found the big Indian, at a little distance, beside a log, cov- ered up with leaves. Still pursuing the trail, though not so plain, some hundred yards farther, they found the broken backed Indian, lying on his back with his own knife sticking up to the hilt in his body, just below the breast bone, evi- dently to show that he had killed himself and that he had not come to his end by the hand of an en- emy. They had a long search before they found the knife with which Joe killed the big Indian. They at last found it forced down into the ground below the surface, apparently with the weight of a person's heel. This had been done by the crip- pled Indian. The great efforts he must have made, alone, in that condition, show, among thousands of other instances, what Indians are capable of under the greatest extremities.
Some years after the above took place, peace with the Indians was restored. That frontier, like many others, became infested with a gang of of outlaws, who commenced stealing horses and committing various depredations. To counter- act which a company of regulators, as they were called, was raised. In a contest between these and the depredators, Big Joe Logston lost his life, which would not be highly esteemed in civil so- ciety. But in frontier settlements, which he al- ways occupied, where savages and beasts were to be contested with for the right of soil, the use of such a man is very conspicuous. Without such, the country could never have been cleared of its natural rudeness so as to admit of the more bril- liant and ornamental exercises of arts, sciences and civilization.
Professional Etiquette.
The following amusing incident of professional etiquette, I had from Dr. Joel Lewis, of Pitts- burgh, an eminent physician, who flourished there twenty-five or thirty years since.
The Dr. had a valuable cow, which becarne sick and seemed likely to die. He asked an Irish ser- vant who lived with him, if he knew any body who followed cow doctoring. "It's meself dis that same," said the man, " there's Jemmy
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Lafferty can cure any cow in the world, barring she's at the lift." " Well, then," replied the Dr., " go for Lafferty." The cow doctor accordingly came, drenched and physiced the brute for four or five days, in the lapse of which time he wait- ed on Dr. Lewis and pronounced her cured. The Dr., greatly delighted, put his hand to his pocket book, "Well, Lafferty, what do I owe you?" "Owe me," replied Jemmy, drawing himself up with great dignity, " sorra the haporth! We doctors niver take money of one another."
" My first impulse," said the Dr., while telling the story, which he gave me directly after the incident happened, " was to kick the fellow out of the house, and throw his fee after him, but on second thought, the whole affair seemed so ridic- ulous that I bowed him my acknowledgments with as much gravity as I could assume, and as soon as he left the house lay down on the carpet, rolling over and over to indulge the fit of laughter which I must give way to, or burst."
Narrative of John Hudson,
A Revolutionary Soldier, and now resident in Cincinnati .- No. 2.
I neglected to state, in its proper place, a re- markable circumstance which occurred while I was at Saratoga, which may as well be brought in here as at a later stage of this narrative.
horror with which these preparations inspired me may be readily conjectured. Our own party re- mained behind in the bed room, waiting further orders. Gen. Schuyler was at this period com- mander-in-chief of the northern frontier, and ab- sent at the time from home, and I was informed that Mrs. Schuyler, with some feeling of jeal- ousy that her husband's authority should be in- fringed, sent a note to the commander of the gar- rison, inquiring of him how he expected to ac- count to the General, his superior officer, for the lives of men about to be executed without a trial, or even an examination. I understood that this had the effect of taking the prisoners down from the tree to which they were already fastened. They were then brought back to the bed room with the same solemnity as they had been taken away, and a boat being prepared at the Hudson river, not more than a quarter of a mile distance, they were put in charge of a guard of regulars and sent down to Albany. One of these men was Solomon Meeker, a private in Capt. Austin's company, and the other was a British deserter named John Higginbottom, who it was judged was in reality a spy, and had been tampering with Meeker to lead him to desert, if not for worse purposes. Meeker, I believe, never was put to trial, for we took him out of Albany jail on our march to the Chesapeake. As to Higginbottom, many years after the period of which I am now speaking, and long after the war was at a close, I became acquainted with him, recognising him as soon as I saw him, and reminding him of these things. He acknowledged himself to be the man, and stated that he had got clear at Albany by representing himself as a deserter, which led them at last to let him off. He confessed to me that he had been, however, a spy, and as such had came to Saratoga, and that he had entered that fort at daylight, and in a few hours would have been off and discovered enough to the British forces to bring on a body of Indians and tories from Canada sufficient to have destroyed every human being about the place. We see by this, on how narrow a pivot very important events turn, and the necessity of prompt and vigorous action in time of danger. Let me now resume the narrative of our Virginia campaign, and first let me state the cause of my enlistment in the regular service.
When I reached Saratoga, the levy of which I formed a part, was stationed in a hovel made of slabs, which was opposite Schuyler's saw-mill. Here we lay on the bare ground, having not even a bundle of straw to put under us. Some few nights after we took possession of thèse lodgings, and in the course of a pitch dark night, our act- ing adjutant roused us up, and demanded of the officer in command, a detachment of a sergeant, corporal, and twelve privates for immediate ser- vice. Of these twelve I was made one, and in the course of a few minutes we were all ready, and followed the adjutant to Gen. Schuyler's residence. We were there taken into a bed room where there were two men prisoners, who were pinioned by the arms. The adjutant, giving them in charge to the sergeant in command with strict exhortations to watch them carefully, de- parted with the guard whose place we were about to take. The next morning about nine o'clock, Capt. Austin, in whose company I afterwards en- listed, came marching down with his command The levies mounted guard with the regular troops, and one morning just after being relieved at the usual hour, I had gone into our quarters and was sitting on the ground with my gun be- tween my knees, when it went off accidentally and apparently without cause, the ball passing out of the hovel, but injuring no one. However, it was an offence punishable with one hundred and five drums and fifes, a black silk handker- chief on each drum, and all the drums snared. A negro accompanied the party as hangman, who on entering the room fastened ropes around the men's necks, who were then taken out and marched off. I was at this time a boy of thir- teen years of age, fresh from the peaceable em- ployments of a country life, and the awe and lashes, and the corporal of the quarter guard im-
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mediately came in with a file of men and took | ance, although hundreds doubtless saw it who me to the guard house. Here a conversation took could not conjecture its design. Let me briefly explain it. place between the sergeant major and quarter- master sergeant, and one of them remarked with an oath, that it was a shame to give a boy like this an hundred lashes for what was notoriously an accident. This was said, purposely loud enough for me to hear. Then turning to me he added-" Come my lad, the best way for you to get out of this, will be to enlist-come along with us." I jumped up immediately, and had my name entered on the muster roll of the company, which was that of Captain Austin, and now I was fairly entered for the campaign.
We landed, as I have already stated, on the 25th September, 1781, and here we drew provis- ions, and made the first meal for eight days in any degree of comfort. As evening approached, we took up our line of march for Williamsburg, which we reached some time that night, and a very dark one it was. As soon as we arrived I was put in the commissary's guard. Williams- burg was six miles from our landing place and twelve from Yorktown, our destined theatre of employment. Every six men, on their march had a tent and tent poles, and camp kettle, and in ad- dition to the heavy load I have already stated I was carrying, that tent was thrown over my shoulders in my regular turn of carrying it. At that time I was advanced in my fourteenth year, only from the 12th of June to the 25th of Sep- tember. We found Lufayette, with the American troops under his command, at Williamsburg, it being his head quarters, and a body of French troops, landed by Admiral De Barras, a few days before, to reinforce his detachment. As I was up all night in the service assigned me, I had ample opportunity of noticing the bustle of marching and preparing to march, which kept others as well as myself awake the whole night. As the morning dawned I saw nothing but small parties which were following the army; probably piquet guards, whose duty not being over till daylight, had delayed them, and who were now pushing on to overtake the main body of the army. The ex- posure of that night made me very unwell and I rode part of the day on the commissary's wagon. In the course of that afternoon we caught up with the army, when I was relieved from this post and rejoined my own company.
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