USA > Pennsylvania > The making of Pennsylvania; an analysis of the elements of the population and the formative influences that created one of the greatest of the American states > Part 12
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A few years after the Civil War our mining regions were infested by an organized association of murderers known as Molly Maguires. These men were not Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, but native Irish Catholics of the lowest type. They had not the excuse of oppres- sion ; they had no laws to complain of; no government was interfering with them. They simply indulged them- selves in gratuitous murder from spite, prejudice, and often from no cause at all, except that their society had issued an order that a mining boss or some other person should be killed. Everybody knows that these wretches terrorized whole counties for years. The government of the State was absolutely helpless before them, and they might be flourishing to this day if it had not been for the courage and intelligence of President Gowen, of the Reading Railroad, whose triumph over a lawlessness - which should have been impossible in Pennsylvania and in the nineteenth century is still too fresh in our recol- -
lections to be related here.
The Molly Maguires are gone, but large sections of the State are still troubled by swarms of Hungarians, Poles, and Italians, imported for their cheap labor and | their ability to submit to degradation and dirt. Their tempers are uncontrollable, and their hands instantly
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follow their tempers to a knife or a revolver. If the report from those counties can be trusted, homicide has become so common that the people have long since ceased to wonder at it.
It is hardly necessary to refer to the numerous riots in Philadelphia between 1835 and 1850, or to the Pitts- burg strike and riot of 1877, or the Homestead affair of 1892, in all of which many lives were lost and a vast amount of property destroyed, and in almost any one of which more lives were lost and more property destroyed than the Scotch-Irish are responsible for in the whole course of their history. Our civilization of the last hundred years has accomplished wonderful things in science and material wealth. But so far as keeping the peace and preventing bloodshed and murder are con- cerned we cannot boast. And when we consider some elements of the population we have among us, we would gladly enough bring back again the genial Scotch- Irishman in the worst form of his primitive roughness.
The best description we have of the colonial Scotch- Irish is by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Doddridge, who began life as a Methodist minister, but afterwards became a clergyman of the Church of England. He studied medi- cine under Dr. Rush in Philadelphia, and maintained him- self on the frontier by the practice of it, while at the same time he was preaching. He travelled over Western Pennsylvania, Western Virginia, and Ohio for many years after the Revolution, and laid in those regions the foundations of the Episcopal Church. No man was more generally and more intelligently familiar with frontier life, not only from having seen it, but from having lived it. As a boy he had worked in the
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clearing and taken his place at the port-hole of a stockade to fight the Indians.
He was born on the east side of the Alleghanies, but removed when very young to the west side, and lived along the Monongahela River. That part of the country was settled about the year 1772, and a large part of the early settlers came from northern Maryland and northern Virginia. Many of them came in over Braddock's trail, which, before entering Pennsylvania, passed through northern Maryland. Many of them were English stock. Some were Scotch-Irish. Large numbers of the Scotch- Irish east of the Pennsylvania mountains joined them, so that the community was Scotch-Irish in tone, and it was altogether Presbyterian.
The country, when they arrived in it, was heavily timbered, damp, and cold, and Doddridge assures us that in his own lifetime he witnessed decided changes of climate caused by the removal of the forests. The sum- mers were at first short and cool, frost lasted until May, the winter began early, and the snows were deeper than any that were afterwards experienced.
Game was abundant. Herds of buffalo and elk wan- dered through the woods. There were enormous migra- tions of squirrels. Sometimes they became so numerous as to threaten the destruction of the crops. Then, as if by common consent, they would begin to move, swim- ming the rivers in countless numbers, and becoming sickly and poor, with large worms attached to their skins. Wolves were also numerous, but so shy that they were seldom shot. Suddenly they began to dis- appear, and the cause was discovered to be the spread of hydrophobia among them. Doddridge attended as
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physician several men who were bitten by rabid wolves and died in great agony. Rattlesnakes and copperheads were almost as much dreaded as the Indians. It was no uncommon thing to kill six in one day while cutting a field of grain. They lived in dens among the rocks, several hundred together, and the neighbors would often join in an attack on these places. One of the dens was found in an old Indian burying-place, the skeletons of hundreds of snakes that had died in past years mingled with the skeletons of the Indians.
The settlers found numerous remains of a former popu- lation,-stone hatchets, earthenware, huge fortifications, and sepulchral mounds. Arrow-heads were so plentiful all over the country that they could be picked up almost anywhere, and showed that the former population had been numerous. For many years they were used as flints for guns, and were preferred to the imported ones.
The settlers dressed in what was called a hunting- shirt, a garment something like a frock-coat reaching half-way down the thighs and belted round the waist. The bosom was made large, and lapped over a foot or more, so as to be used as a sort of knapsack for carrying provisions. There was a cape on the shoulders, which was usually fringed. The belt carried a hatchet, scalping- knife, and bullet-pouch. Moccasins were worn instead of shoes. Some of the men dressed their legs, like the Indians, in a breech clout, which left the thighs and hips entirely bare, and in this costume they often went to church.
Their wedding ceremonies were characteristic, and show the state of their civilization. These frolics were the delight of old and young, and were the only gather-
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ings at which there was not the labor of reaping, log- rolling, building a cabin, or planning some scout or campaign.
The wedding company assembled at the house of the groom's father prepared to march, so as to reach the house of the bride by noon. They were dressed without the aid of a store or tailor within hundreds of miles, and their horses were also unaided by either blacksmiths or saddlers. Any buckles, rings, or buttons among them were relics of old times, family pieces from grandparents.
As they marched in double file along the narrow trail they were apt to be ambuscaded by surprise parties, who sprang out and fired to alarm the horses. As the cavalcade neared the bride's house, two of the young men usually started on a race to bring back the whiskey- bottle, which was standing ready for them. The victor seized it, and returned to pass it about among the com- pany. The feast was beef, pork, venison, and bear's meat, and if table-knives were scarce the scalping-knives were drawn from the belt and used. Immediately after dinner the dancing commenced, and was kept up till the next morning. As soon as one became tired another stepped in to fill his place. Whoever stole off to get some sleep was hunted up, dragged out on the floor, and the fiddler ordered to play "hang on till to-morrow morning."
At nine o'clock some of the young women stole off the bride and put her to bed. Then some young men seized the groom, and, says Doddridge, "placed him snug by the side of his bride."
The dancing continued. If seats were scarce, every man was expected to offer his lap to a girl, and the offer
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was never refused. Later in the night, refreshments were sent to the bride and groom, together with Black Betty, as the whiskey-bottle was called, and they were compelled to eat whether they were ready or not.
The feasting and dancing continued at other houses after leaving the house of the bride, and were often kept up for several days. The thirsty one called aloud, " Where is Black Betty ? I want to kiss her sweet lips." And when the bottle was brought he said, " Health to the groom, not forgetting myself, and here's to the bride, thumping luck, and big children." In that natural state of society children and many of them were much de- sired. The Indians were hostile and numerous, and their depredations increasing. Children became soldiers and the sinews of war, and the family that had their quiver full of them were not afraid to meet their ene- mies in the gate.
Among such people a word was quickly followed by a blow, and quarrels and fighting were frequent. But in these encounters no weapons were used. They settled all their difficulties with their fists; and a man who was clearly no match for his antagonist was allowed to em- ploy a friend to fight for him. There was no assassina- tion, none of that murderous shooting at sight which has been so common on the frontiers of modern times. They had, however, one disgusting practice called gouging. This consisted in holding an adversary down and forcing his eye out with a thumb or finger. The atrocity was introduced from Virginia, where it was by no means un- common. Although Doddridge mentions it as occur- ring in Western Pennsylvania, it is believed to have been rare, and to have been unknown east of the mountains.
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The laws passed by the colonial legislature, sitting in Philadelphia, of course applied to the frontier. But the distance made it difficult to administer them, and in most cases impossible. The people became a law unto them- selves, had their own customs, and administered their own punishments, which usually consisted of a flogging, administered with hickory sticks by the person aggrieved or by the neighbors who knew about the offence. Such discipline was called a " laced jacket," was sometimes made severer than usual by counting nineteen strokes as a dozen, and was very apt to be followed by a sentence of exile. Whipping was also resorted to as a torture to force confessions of guilt.
Besides that relic of the Middle Ages, the people showed their nearness to the old civilization of Europe by their songs and tales. Lore-telling was popular, and Jack the Giant-Killer and romances of knight-errantry favorite stories. Their songs were mostly ballads of Robin Hood. They enjoyed themselves through their hospitality, which was boundless, and their friendships, which were ardent. They were fond of sports, running, wrestling, and jumping, and when they had enough ammunition they shot at marks. They had that same skill in shooting a squirrel through the eyes which afterwards was so often heard of among the Kentuckians, and their rifles at short ranges within a hundred yards were fully as accurate as modern weapons.
After the year 1755 all these people, men, women, and - children, lived in a continual state of war with the In- dians. There were few boys so young that they could not fire a rifle through a port-hole, and few women who could not cut bullet patches and carry water. Dod-
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dridge describes the preparations he witnessed for the defence of a fort, in which the women worked as hard as the men, showed no signs of alarm, and enjoyed the excitement.
Until about the year 1755 the frontiers, owing to the pacific policy of the Quakers, enjoyed peace. But from about the middle of the eighteenth century, when the French began to tamper with the Indians, war set in and continued with short intermissions for forty years. It lasted, in fact, until the famous campaign of Wayne some years after the Revolution. Wayne moved the scene of conflict farther westward, and relieved forever afterwards the frontier of Pennsylvania. So accustomed did the people become to a life of continual bush- whacking that Doddridge says they accepted it as the natural state of man, and never hoped to be free from it.
The cruelty and brutality of their warfare are almost beyond belief. Both sides scalped each other and both sides killed prisoners ; the white man reserving to him- self the merit of never torturing prisoners, and seldom killing women.
The settlers' only season of respite was during the winter, when the snow and cold prevented the Indians from campaigning, and forced them back into the fast- nesses of Ohio to cower over the fires in their wigwams. The balmy air of spring and the sunshine of summer brought no pleasure to the border population. The melting of the snow was a sign of terror; they knew their enemy would soon be upon them, and the people of each district all retired to their fort, where they lived huddled together in great discomfort until November. From the fort the men went out almost every day in
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armed parties to cultivate their farms. Their arms were stacked in the middle of the field, and sentries stationed in the woods.
The coming of frost and snow was hailed with delight. Each family retired to its home. But often in Novem- ber, after the winter had apparently set in, there came those mild, smoky days, which we all know so well. This was a fresh alarm. Some families went back to the fort, and only the boldest remained at home. Hence, says Doddridge, arose the expression " Indian Summer," a phrase which is now of pleasant association, but which in its origin could make the most light-hearted frontiers- man grave.
At the end of January, or the beginning of February, there was apt to be a thaw of some days, or a week or two. Such weather was called "paw-wawing days," be- cause it was then the Indians were supposed to hold councils to plan the spring campaign, and if this weather continued long enough they would start on a foray. As one melting day would succeed another, the women in the cabins would grow restless, and the men would cease from all labor and watch the woods.
It was a wild life and a rough one, but it had its com- pensations. The people were hardy, vigorous, and full of strong animal enjoyment. They were masters of their own destinies. No one was unsexed and degraded ; there were no sweating-systems; no mill work; no man devoted his whole life to making pin-heads. Every one was a Jack-of-all-trades, his own blacksmith, his own carpenter, his own cooper, his own gunsmith, and his wife his own weaver of linsey cloth. Jacks-of-all-trades are not the most effective means of organizing a rapid
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material civilization, but they often bring great happi- ness to the individual Jack.
Nor was it altogether a monotonous life. The con- tinual excitement of forty years of war, the rapid devel- opment of the frontier, the growth of new settlements, the varied exertion required, left little room for sameness. Men grew old early from the privations and hardships. But they never complained that life seemed dull. And the Quakers in Philadelphia would probably have added that life must have been exciting enough to people who were continually engaged in so much mischief and disorder.
The Whiskey Rebellion closed the disorderly period of Scotch-Irish history. In the hundred years that have since intervened they have lost that crudeness of spirit which produced such unruly outbursts. They are no longer isolated. They no longer have to contend with the violence of the Indian on one side of them, and the placidity of the Quaker on the other. They are no longer hunters and rangers, and the rifle has disappeared from its resting-place across the chimney. Railroads and the levelling tendencies of modern times have pol- ished the rough oak, and the grit and strength remain.
With all their faults they have been a great people, and have had a great and valuable influence in the development of Pennsylvania. Some of the most agree- able, genial, and accomplished of our citizens are to be found among them. In colonial times they were re- pressed by the Quakers, and displayed themselves only in opposition to the existing order of things. The Revolution was their great opportunity. They entered it heart and soul, and it has been said that there was not a single Tory among them.
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So great was their success at that time that they completely turned the tables on the Quakers and the Episcopalians and got possession not only of the State, but of Philadelphia, which may be said to have been ruled by their influence all through the Revolution. While fresh in the possession of this power and elated with victory, they committed not a few excesses, the worst of which was the destruction of the charter of the old college of Philadelphia and the confiscation of its property. Their absolute rule in Philadelphia ceased after the Revolution, though their influence remained large. In the State they are still a very important element, and it has been said that no man can have a long career in Pennsylvania politics without their support.
Their excesses in modern times are confined for the most part to somewhat fulsome eulogies of their own merits in the past; and if we can believe what their orators say we must conclude that all that was best in the United States waited for the Scotch-Irish to create it.
It is very true, however, that some remarkable men in our history were of Scotch-Irish origin, or had some of the blood in their veins. Grant, Jackson, Buchanan, Monroe, Greeley, Blaine, and others are among the num- ber. Grant and Jackson were both of them typical Scotch-Irish characters. The race always shines in war, and usually shows certain distinctive traits. They care but little for manœuvring, and never hope to conquer merely by holding strategic positions. Their objective point is always the army of the enemy; to get at that and annihilate it, or be themselves annihilated, they con-
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sider the main object of war. This, it will be remem- bered, was one of Grant's most striking characteristics, as it was of Jackson, and also of General Stark, of the Revolution, who was also a Scotch-Irishman.
General Wayne has been usually classed as a Scotch- Irishman, and he undoubtedly had many of their characteristics. He was descended from one of the English families that migrated to Ireland, and in religion he belonged to the Church of England. There were many of these English families in Ireland; and it has been said that fully half the Ulstermen were from Eng- land and belonged to the Established Church. In tem- perament and character they differed but little from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians ; for the Scotch who migrated to Ireland were not Celtic Scotch, but of the same races as the English.
General Arthur St. Clair, like Wayne, a distinguished Pennsylvania soldier, and James Wilson, the constitu- tional lawyer and judge, have also sometimes been called Scotch-Irishmen ; but they were both Scotchmen whose families had never lived in Ireland.
In Pennsylvania, among the famous Scotch-Irish governors are Curtin, Geary, Johnston, Pollock, and Pattison. But the most interesting and characteristic men they have produced are the three great chief justices, McKean, Gibson, and Black. McKean was born in Chester County, in the eastern part of the State, and, though of Scotch-Irish descent, he was not of the frontier class. He had that same ferocious aggressiveness and indomitable, emphatic temper that characterized General Jackson. He was chief justice of the State for twenty-two years, from 1777 to 1799, and
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he was afterwards governor. He made a deep impres- sion on the conduct of affairs both State and national from the outbreak of the Revolution almost up to the War of 1812, and the story of his life bristles with anecdotes which show the Scotch-Irish strain.
While presiding in court at Harrisburg a mob outside disturbed him, and he ordered the sheriff to disperse them.
" I cannot do it," replied the frightened sheriff.
" Then why do you not summon your posse ?" roared the judge.
" I have summoned them, but they are ineffectual."
"Then, sir, why do you not summon me ?"
" I do summon you," said the trembling officer.
Instantly the chief justice rushed out in his scarlet robes, seized a couple of rioters by the throat, and the rest retired.
On another occasion a man in the court-room made an offensive remark intended for his ears. He appeared not to hear it. But presently adjourning the court, he stepped off the bench and striding up to the fellow said, "Sir, on that bench up there I am the chief justice of Penn- sylvania, and unable to take notice of merely personal impudence, but on this floor I'll have you know that I'm Thomas Mckean, and ready to break your neck or give you any other satisfaction of the sort you please."
When governor he appointed, as chief justice, William Tilghman, who afterwards became one of the ablest and best known of Pennsylvania judges. But the appoint- ment was very much disliked, and some representatives of the Democratic party waited on the governor to
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object. The governor, with a profound bow and mock courtesy, asked what the great Democracy desired.
"The appointment of a man," they said, "more in accordance with our wishes."
"Indeed," said Mckean; "inform your constituents that I bow with submission to the will of the great De- mocracy of Philadelphia, but, by God ! William Tilgh- man shall be chief justice of Pennsylvania."
Chief-Justice Gibson belonged to the frontier Scotch- Irish, and was born and bred in the Cumberland region. He had a grandfather six feet and eight inches in height, and he himself was over six feet. He was brought up in the mountains on deer-hunting and wrestling, and had the usual excitable temperament, which in his case showed itself in vigorous and incisive language. Win- throp Sargent said of the Scotch-Irish that they always clothed themselves with curses as with a garment. Cer- tainly most of the anecdotes of them which have come down to us contain profanity, and Gibson's life adds a few more. One of the best-known stories about him describes an application which was made to him while judge, to compel a Roman Catholic priest, by a writ of mandamus, to admit a woman to the privilege of the Eucharist. " You had better," he said, " take out a God- damn-us."
But this love of vivid language, when harnessed and controlled in the written opinions of a court, produced some wonderful results, and gave the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania a high and world-wide authority. The opinions and decisions of Chief-Justice Mckean were much admired by Lord Mansfield, and laid the founda- tion for the greatness of the court. Gibson's opinions
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were greatly admired in England, and at least one of his sentences passed into a legal maxim.
Very often the only difference between a very distin- guished judge and an undistinguished one lies in the power of expression. The great judge expounds the law and states it in language either so clear or so beau- tiful that it becomes valuable to his profession and to mankind. The inferior judge may decide the same case in the same way, or other cases with equal justice, but, for want of the divine art, he remains unknown. Black said of Gibson that he had one faculty of a great poet, that of expressing a thought in language which could never after be paraphrased.
Black himself was a continuation of Gibson, and showed the same characteristics. But he was a more distinguished man, and of wider activities. Besides his remarkable career as chief justice, he was an orator, an advocate in the most important cases of his time before the highest tribunals of the country, and to some extent a statesman. He practised law only as it can be practised by the great. He had no office except in his hat. He kept no papers and no accounts. He argued causes when people insisted upon having him, and he usually tried to avoid them, preferring the fields and orchards of his farm. It is to be regretted that his opportunities in politics were not greater. But his ability was so striking, his opinions so pronounced, that he utterly failed to fill some of the requirements of a politician.
He was an epitome of Scotch-Irish qualities, and had all their homely fondness for domestic life and nature. When at home on his farm, drinking in the fresh delights
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of spring or the sombre tones of autumn, he would refuse to open his letters for weeks, fearing a call to Wash- ington to argue some important cause. He had his race's intense courage of conviction and fierce love of independence which led him to champion without fee or reward any cause where he thought civil liberty was in jeopardy. His earnest warnings against the encroach- ments of corporate power and his efforts to purify politics and check the tide of legislative corruption will long be remembered in this commonwealth.
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