USA > Pennsylvania > Clarion County > History of Clarion County, Pennsylvania > Part 40
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This institution did not prosper, and finally, in 1880, sank under the load of its indebtedness. Its property passed into the hands of the First National Bank, who had purchased its notes, and for three years exhibitions were dis- continued.
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374
HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
In 1883, another, the present Clarion Fair Association, was established. It was incorporated August 30, 1883, with a capital stock of $3,000; shares, $30 each. The objects, as stated in the articles of incorporation, are "to en- courage and foster among the citizens of Clarion county a spirit of improve- ment in agricultural productions, mechanical arts, the breeding and raising of all kinds of stock, and to hold fairs for said purpose ; also to afford a pleasure park for all kinds of innocent sports and amusements." The signing stock- holders were G. W. Arnold, A. S. Jones, W. W. Greenland, R. Rulofson, Jacob Black, jr., J. H. Patrick, W. A. Cooper, C. Kaufman, I. M. Shannon, Margaret E. Beck, T. M. Arnold, C. V. Reid, James A. Murphy, Thomas A. Spence, P. J. Shoemaker, William C. Sloan, I. H. Allen, W. F. Collner, A. W. Corbett, Lan. G. Corbett, W. I. Brush, C. C. Brosius, W. Day Wilson, John A. Magee, Charles Weaver, Curll and Corbett, J. B. Patrick, J. B. Knox, jr., H. J. Klahr, and G. F. Kribbs. I. M. Shannon was elected president; C. V. Reid, secre- tary ; and Charles Kaufman, treasurer.
The new society took a fresh and vigorous start. The park was redeemed out of the bank's hands. A commodious new main building was erected, the old buildings repaired, an annex built to the grand stand, and various new sheds put up. The fence was also repaired and extended so as to include considerable more ground. The cost of these improvements exceeded $5,000. The enclosed area of the fair ground is now twenty-five acres. The track is one of the finest in Western Pennsylvania.
The Association increased their capital to $6,000, divided into 300 shares, of which 132 have been taken up. C. A. Wheelock and Jos. H. Patrick suc- ceeded I. M. Shannon and C. V. Reid, in their respective stations. The ex- hibitions under the new organization have been well patronized, and the last one (September, 1886), notwithstanding the unfavoring weather, was one of the most creditable and successful yet held on the grounds. Over $1,500 were paid in premiums. At the last election the following officers were chosen : President, L. G. Corbett ; vice-presidents, P. J. Shoemaker, A. J. Parsons ; treasurer, C. Kaufman; secretary, J. H. Patrick; directors, Cyrus Neely, Geo. T. Henry, Paul Black, P. M. Kahle, Wash. Logue ; superintendent of grounds, Jno. Aldinger. The financial status of the Association is yearly improving, and all indications point to a bright future for it.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
First Court-House .- The contract was let to the firm of Derby & Clover, Edward Derby, of Ridgway, and Levi G. Clover, of Clarion. Derby was the superintending partner. The contract price was $8,500, which, it appears, exceeded the lowest bid by $2,700. The extras brought the cost up to $10,- 636.16. The building was commenced in the spring of 1841 and was ready for occupation in the winter of 1842, but not entirely finished till the spring of the succeding year.
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FROM THE OIL ERA TO THE PRESENT TIME.
The old court-house was brick, two storied, and divided by a slight offset- from which there were two narrow recesses-into two longitudinal wings. The rear annex was slightly lower than the front part of the building; the main building was surmounted by a wooden cupola in the center of the roof ; there was no clock. The main entrance was through a portico, in the Grecian style, reached by four low steps. The roof of the porch was supported by by two wooden, fluted pillars with plain capitals, and two pilasters, one at either end ; all painted white. The county offices were on each side of the corridor, in the body of the building ; the story above contained four jury rooms. The court-room occupied the ground floor of the rear department; two doors, one in each of the recesses before mentioned, opened into the entry leading to it. The hall above the court-room was used for public meetings, drill, etc.
The circumstances attending the destruction of the first court-house were very similar to those of the second burning. About nine o'clock on the morn- ing of the 10th of March, 1859, sinoke and flames issued from the roof, near the cupola ; they had come from a faulty flue. The citizens of the town had no means of getting water up, and in two hours the building was a ruin. The records were all preserved. The loss was about $10,000; insurance in the Lycoming and York Companies $7,000.
The Presbyterian Church was used as a court-room till the completion of the new building, and the county officers occupied Arnold's block.
The First Jail .- The contract for the first jail was awarded simultaneously with that for the court-house, to Jonathan Frampton, of Clarion county, at the sum of $2,834. Difficulties arose in settling an account of extras, etc., and Frampton & Craig (as the firm had become) sued the county. The venue was changed to Armstrong county, where judgment was obtained to the amount of $3,097.70, exclusive of costs, making the total cost of the jail about $7,000.
The first jail was a plain structure of square cut sandstone, with a small yard, surrounded by a stone wall in the rear. In 1847 the building was re- modeled, and a new front put in. After the completion of the new prison, it was finally torn down in 1883, and its stones used in the foundation of the court-house. The old jail stood a few rods west of the present one.
The Second Court-House was built by Daniel and Edmond English, of Brookville, and completed in 1863. It was necessary that a special act of the Legislature be passed, empowering the commissioners to erect a new structure. The contract stood at $15,720 ; extras to the amount of $1,500 were allowed. John R. Turner, of Carlisle, was the architect; commissioners, Daniel Mercer, C. Seigworth, Benjamin Miller. The undertaking was a losing one for the con- tractors.
The second court-house was a substantial brick building with wooden roof; its dimensions were sixty feet front by ninety-eight depth ; the height of the first story was thirteen feet, of the second twenty-one ; average height of the
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
building (exclusive of belfry) sixty-five feet. It was extremely cheap, consid- ering its size and solidity.
About one o'clock on the morning of September 12, 1882, fire, which had been smouldering in the loft, burst through the roof. The water pressure was not enough to force the stream to the top, and the flames gained resistless headway. The building was gutted in a few hours, leaving the walls standing comparatively intact. Insurance received, $25,000. Between the destruction of the old and the completion of the new court-house, the Methodist Church was used for holding court, and the residence part of the jail for offices.
The Present Jail .- The old jail became dilapidated and insecure, and a new building was deemed necessary. After the proper recommendations, the con- tract was awarded, April 7, 1873, to Messrs. Samuel Wilson and W. W. Green- land, at the price of $96,737, to which extras to the amount of $23,527.50 were added, making the total cost $120,274.50. James McCullogh, jr., of Al- legheny, was the architect; commissioners under whom the work was done, Isaac Mong, John Stewart, Chris. Brenneman. The interior was not completed till the spring of 1875.
The structure is imposing in appearance, and is half brick and half stone. The front, comprising the sheriff's residence is of brick, with semi-octagonal projecting wings, and basement walls of dressed sandstone ; a square battle- mented tower arises from the front section; it is ninety-seven feet in height from the ground, eighteen feet square at the base, and ten feet at the top. The outside walls of the prison proper are of ashlar sandstone, rough dressed, two and a half feet in thickness. It contains twenty cells, eight and two-thirds by fourteen feet each, ranged in two tiers on each side of the interior court or corridor, which is fifteen and one-sixth feet wide by fifty-six feet long, and the full height of the prison. Iron balustrades extend the length of the corridor before the upper tiers of cells. There are two bath cells; each cell is provided with a water faucet, etc .; the doors are of iron grating, with outside doors of oak two and a half inches thick. The jail is heated by steam.
In 1885 the interior of the jail was repaired and renovated, and steam- heating apparatus put in.
The Present Court House .- There were sixteen bidders, July 3, 1883, when the contract for the third court-house was awarded. John Cooper's bid, $135,- 000, was the highest, and P. H. Melvin's $88,370, the lowest. This allowed $5,000 for materials from former court-house and jail. Mr. Melvin obtained the contract. The building was to be finished by November 16, 1884. Work began July 16, 1883, but the building was not handed over to the commission- ers till October 14, 1885.
E. M. Butz, of Allegheny, was the architect ; he delegated D. English of Brookville, supervising architect. The commissioners who granted the contract were John Keatly, Aaron Kline, and Johnson Wilson. The present board,
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FROM THE OIL ERA TO THE PRESENT TIME.
Samuel Bell, David Heffron, Emmanuel Over, took possession. Henry War- ner, of Allegheny, executed the fresco work. The painting was under the supervision of H. H. Holbrook, of Clarion and D. Dunkelbarger, of Brookville. The tile floors were laid by the Star Encaustic Tile Company, of Pittsburgh. The clock dial, nine feet in diameter, and bell, weight 1,313 pounds, were furnished by the Howard Clock Company, New York.
P. H. Melvin, the contractor, failed January 27, 1885, and assigned to his bondsmen, Augustin Dietz, Edward Denneny, and Edward Lyman, who there- upon became the acting contractors. Melvin was retained as superintendent of construction.
The building is a variation of the Queen Anne order of architecture. Its general dimensions are 78 feet, 8 inches front ; 134 feet deep ; elevation from the ground to the top of the tower figure, 213 feet. The tower rests on found- ation walls 42 feet thick, which in turn are supported by three graded courses of stone ; the tower is carried up on the three internal sides by stone columns in the corners of the vestibules, and iron cross-girders. It is surmounted by a galvanized iron figure of justice II feet in length. The interior of the clock loft is fitted with gas pipes for illumination. The tower is twenty-five feet square; its elevation above the roof is 139 feet ; that of the tapering part 56 feet. The height of the highest part of the body of the structure is 90 feet, 9 inches. The walls of the main part are 22 inches thick. The roof is of tin and slate.
The basement extends the whole length and width of the building and is 10 feet in height. It contains the engine and boiler rooms, fan-rooms, apart- ments for old archives, and closets. A 20 horse-power engine (run by natural gas), forces steam from the generating boiler to two radiators containing each 1,400 lineal feet of one and one-fourth inch pipe, inclosed in boxes of galvan- ized iron. Air is conveyed from the roof in shafts, and blown by two revolv- ing fans through these shells or boxes, where it is heated by the steam-pipes, and thence ascends to various parts of the building through tin ducts.
The building is ventilated on the vacuum principle. The vitiated air is exhausted from all parts of the house by a large fan 62 inches in diameter and 27 inches wide, placed in a room in which the exhaust pipes center. From here , it escapes up the foul air flue. All the heating and ventilating is done by one engine. The basement is also furnished with a gas regulator and water-meter.
In the first story are the county offices on each side of a corridor 16 feet wide. This story is 14 feet, 9 inches high, has a vaulted brick ceiling, and is fire- proof. The second story is 21 feet in height, and the third or mezzanine story 12 feet. Each has a lobby in front 21 feet square. The corridor and the lob- bies are paved with ornamental tile. On the second floor are the court-room, in front of which on either side the lobby, are two waiting-rooms for ladies, and in the rear, the judges' and attorneys' room and two rooms for petit
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
juries. The third story contains the apartments of the county superintendent and surveyor, opening from the front vestibule. From the rear, the grand jury room and two witness waiting rooms.
The court-room is seventy-four feet long, fifty-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. It is lighted by twelve double windows and four chandeliers of eighteen lights each.
The heating and ventilating apparatus were included in the contract. The following shows the cost of the furnishings, etc., exclusive of this :
Architect $ 4,418
Furniture 4,248
Bell and clock 2,800
Gas and plumbing 1,500
Carpet 510
Total $13,466
An allowance of $661.50 was made for a drain; for neglected and defective work the commissioners deducted $949.77. The total cost to the county, therefore (not counting material on hand), was $97, 124.27 ; $18,000 was sunk by contractor and sub-contractors; $3,500 by bondsmen. Total cost of build- ing (counting old material), $126,936.
P. H. Melvin, on February 12, 1886, brought suit against Clarion county for $40,000 damages. His complaint sets forth that the commissioners failed to comply, on their part, with several of the contract stipulations; that the estimates were not advanced at the time agreed ; that the work was delayed by failure to furnish him with plans promptly ; that the commissioners com- pelled him to purchase new brick at great loss, and that he was harassed and hindered in the work by the objections of the supervising architect.
Although the undertaking has been an unfortunate one to the contractor and sub-contractors, the citizens of Clarion county may congratulate them- selves on possessing a creditable, solidly constructed court- house, at a compara- tively small expenditure.
APPENDIX.
Brady's Bend and Captain Brady .- A warrant was issued by the Land Office of Pennsylvania in 1785, for 502 acres and allowance, to Captain Samuel Brady. . The tract was situated in the great bend of the Allegheny, embracing a large portion of the peninsula ; its southwestern boundary line strikes the river a little west of Phillipsburg, and includes, therefore, the site of East Brady. It was surveyed in 1786. In 1791 Brady gave this land to Judge Ross, of Pittsburgh, as a fee for defending him when tried for murdering In- dians. In 1859 300 acres were purchased by the Brady's Bend Iron Company, and 200, the lower section, by James Cunningham, from William Denny, Ross's administrator.
Captain Brady also had a one-third interest in two 400-acre warrants, num-
379
FROM THE OIL ERA TO THE PRESENT TIME.
bers 132 and 415, south of Callensburg, on Cherry Run. The latter is the site of the camp-meeting ground. Colonel Johnston owned the remaining interest. They were warranted October 8, 1785, and Brady conveyed his title January, 1790, to John Hart.
This is all we know with certainty of Captain Samuel Brady's connection with the history of Clarion county. Whether any of these tracts were donated by the State is doubtful ; the presumption is that they were not, for gifts of land in requital for military services were, as far as we know, confined to the " donation" territory, none of which existed in this county.
It is evident, therefore, that Captain Brady's ownership of land here will throw little light on the question; did an engagement between the Indians and Brady occur in this county ? And in this regard popular tradition, resting on no continuous local basis, and therefore very unreliable, has handed down so many absurd and contradictory stories, so deeply tinged with the romance, which vulgar legends seems determined to associate with every part of a back- woods hero's career, that from the tangled fantastic mass it is very difficult to extract the clue to the truth.
The consensus of tradition in the vicinity of East Brady is to the effect that a fight occurred between Brady's rangers and a band of Indians a little below East Brady, on the spot occupied by the Pine Run Company's coal tipple, be- tween the river and the hillside. A rock nearly opposite is pointed out as where Cornplanter found shelter from the enemy's bullets, after swimming the Alle- gehny under fire. Yet, in striving to arrive at the facts, little regard should be paid to legends of this kind. Their only value is to indicate the long existing and universal belief that Captain "Sam " Brady did signalize himself by a vic- torious encounter with Indians, somewhere on the bend on the eastern side of the river.
That the curve of the river bears the name of the hero of this legend may have arisen simply from the circumstance that Captain Brady owned consider- able of the territory included in the bend. If we go back further it is a pre- sumption in favor of the local tradition that the warrant included the spot as- signed by popular belief as the scene of Brady's achievement, and was pur- chased by him on that account, or presented by the State as an appropriate gift ; yet, after all, this is mere conjecture, and requires material support.
But laying aside local coloring, let us examine the matter in the light of outside history. Hitherto all the accounts of the affair at the Bend contained in the sketches of Clarion county in the State histories and elsewhere, have been copied, without question, from the sketches of Captain Brady in the "Kis- kiminetas Papers," published over fifty years ago by Richard McCabe, a rela- tive of the Brady family. As historical data these productions are utterly worthless ; their aim is the glorification of Captain Brady, often at the expense of truth. Many of McCabe's statements are flatly contradicted by official ar-
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
chives, and among these apocryphal narratives must be classed his account of the action at Brady's Bend, so widely and trustfully copied.
According to this writer, Brady commanded the advance guard of Colonel Brodhead's corps in the expedition up the Allegheny in August, 1779. "The troops proceeded up the Allegheny River and had arrived near the mouth of Redbank Creek, now known by the name of Brady's Bend, without encoun- tering an enemy. Brady and his rangers were some distance in front of the main body, as their duty required, when they suddenly discovered a war party of Indians approaching them. Relying on the strength of the main body and its ability to force the Indians to retreat, and anticipating, as Napoleon did in the battle with the Mamelukes, that when driven back they would return by the same route they had advanced on, Brady permitted them to proceed with- out hindrance, and hastened to seize a narrow pass higher up the river, where the rocks, nearly perpendicular, approached the river, and a few determined men could successfully combat superior numbers.
" In a short time the Indians encountered the main body under Brodhead, and were driven back. In full and swift retreat they passed on to gain the pass between the rocks and the river, but it was occupied by Brady and his rangers, who failed not to pour into their flying columns a most destructive fire." Then follows a poetical quotation describing the shock of the fray and the panic that befell the savages. This is supplemented by an episode in which Captain Brady fires over the head of a mocking brave, across the stream. On his disappearance, Brady and some of his men cross the river in a canoe to di- vine the cause; the Indian springs up from behind a bush, strikes his breast, and says, "I am a man," whereupon one of Brady's companions buries his hatchet in the savage's brains.
This is all fictitious trash. The skirmish on which this pretty tale is based took place some seventy-five or hundred miles further up the Allegheny, near President.1 Captain Brady is not mentioned as in command of the advance guard, or in any other capacity ; that honor belonged to Lieutenant Hardin.
Since the Kiskiminetas fable must be discarded, it behooves us to look else- where for confirmation of the tradition ; and we find no event recorded which might have occurred within the limits of Clarion county except an encounter between the scout and his savage enemies, and the rescue of two white persons on the Allegheny in June, 1779, before the Brodhead campaign. McCabe places this near the mouth of the Mahoning, but, as usual, gives no authority for that location. There is a tradition or quasi tradition in that neighborhood that the fight and recapture occurred there, although tradition and McCabe's brother differ by two miles as to the spot. Colonel Brodhead sent the follow- ing official report of this affair to President Reed : 2
1 Brodhead's letter to Washington, Pennsylvania Archives, Old series, Vol. XII.
2 Pennsylvania Archives, O. S., Vol. VII., p. 505.
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FROM THE OIL ERA TO THE PRESENT TIME.
" HEAD QUARTERS, PITTSBURGH, June 24, 1779.
" DEAR SIR: About a fortnight ago three men which I had sent to re- conoitre the Seneca Country, returned from Venango, being chased by a num- ber of Warriors who were coming down the River in Canoes ; they continued the pursuit until they came to this side of Kittanning, and the White Men nar- rowly escaped. A few Days after they returned, Captain Brady, with twenty white Men and a young Delaware Chief, all well painted, set out towards the Seneca Country, and the Indian warriors proceeded towards the settlements. They killed a Soldier between Forts Crawford & Hand, & proceeded to Sawickley1 Settlement, where they killed a Woman and her four Children, and took two children prisoners. Captn Brady fell in with seven Indians of this party, about 15 Miles above Kittanning, where the Indians had chosen an advantageous situation for their Camp. He, however, surrounded them, and attacked at the break of Day. The Indian Captain, a notorious Warrior of the Muncy Nation, was killed on the spot, and several more mortally wounded, but the woods were remarkably thick, and the party could not pursue the vil- lians tracks after they had stopped their wounds, which they always do as soon as posssible after receiving them. Captain Brady, however, retook six horses, the two prisoners, the Scalps & all their plunder, and took all the In- dian's Guns, Tomahawks, Match Coats, Mocksins, in fine, everything they had except their Breech Clouts. Captain Brady has great Merit, but none has more distinguished Merit in this enterprize than the young Delaware Chief, whose name is Nanowland or (George Wilson)." The rest of the letter is de- voted to other topics.
In another account of the same occurrence Brodhead writes : " Captain Brady fell in with seven Indians of this party, about 15 Miles above Kit- tanning, where they had chosen an advantageous situation for their Camp. He surrounded them as well as the situation would admit,2 and finding he was discovered by break of Day, he attacked them, and killed the captain, a noto- rious warrior of the Muncy Nation, and mortally wounded most of them, but they being encamped near a remarkable thicket, etc."
General Hugh Brady, a younger brother of Samuel, in a narrative written about 1836, lays the scene of the rescue in Clarion county, on the Redbank, under the following circumstances :
"Soon after, my brother heard of his father's death ; and he waited with impatience for an opportunity to avenge it on the Indians. Nor was the opportunity long delayed. The Indians had attacked a family and killed all in it, except a boy aged twelve, and his sister, ten. These were taken pris- oners, and their father was absent from home at the time it occurred. The place was thirty miles east of Pittsburgh, and it so happened Samuel was out
1 Sewickley, in Westmoreland County.
2 This would seem to indicate that they were encamped near the water.
39
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
in that direction; and hearing of it he started in pursuit, having with him a friendly Indian, very useful as a guide. The second evening of the pursuit the party stopped on the top of a high hill, and the Indian guide, pointing with his wiping stick to the foot of the hill, said : 'The Redbank runs there.' The men sat down, while the captain consulted with the Indian about his future movements. Suddenly the Indian sprang to his feet and said he smelt fire; and soon after they saw the smoke curling above the trees on the opposite side of the Redbank.
"The Indian said : 'They will sleep by that fire to-night.' 'And I will awake them with a voice of thunder in the morning,' replied the captain. The Indian also said, 'After they smoke and eat, and the sun has gone to sleep, they will give the scalp halloo.'
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