USA > Pennsylvania > Warren County > Warren > Warren centennial : an account of the celebration at Warren, Pennsylvania July 2d, 3d, and 4th in commeration of the first century after the laying out of the town of Warren > Part 6
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there was not a single accident or case of drunken- ness or trouble of any kind in the camp. Every- thing was carried out with systematic precision. To competent men was entrusted the handling of bag- gage, and not one piece was miscarried or lost. The oldest member of the village was Solomon O'Bail, about eighty-five years old, the youngest less than two months old. A classified list of names of those present was not preserved, as it was almost an im- possibility to secure the necessary information ; but among the more prominent Indians present were Chief Solomon O'Bail, Deerfoot, the noted runner, Andrew John, Logan, York, President Frank P. Patterson, Treasurer Hague and the ten members of the Council, Myron Silverheels, Red Eye, Ray, James and Marsh Pierce, Jamieson, Alfred and Har- rison Halftown, Charles Gordon, Jerome Bowen, Tom Jacobs, Owen Jacob and Jefford Halftown.
Solomon O'Bail, war-chief of the Senecas, is the grandson of Gy-aut-wa-chia, the Cornplanter, com- monly known as Captain John O'Bail. Corn- planter was the son of a Dutch trader named A'Beel and a Seneca woman. His English name was a corruption of A'Beel, and led to the belief that his father was Irish. He rose by his great ability to be the head war-chief of the Senecas. As a boy he was with the French at Fort Duquesne at the time of Braddock's defeat, and he was probably the leader at Cherry Valley and Wyoming, instead of Brant, to whom tradition and poetry have as- signed that bad eminence. But after the Revolution he became an advocate of peace and a friend of the
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whites, and largely forfeited his influence with his own people by his efforts to keep them from exter- mination. Peace was the unpopular side, and Red Jacket, who was no fighter, but every inch a politi- cian, espoused the war side with all his eloquence, and thereby supplanted Cornplanter, though he did not defeat that wise leader's pacific purposes. Corn- planter lived in his last years on a tract of land on the Allegheny river, above Warren, given him by the State of Pennsylvania in recognition of his ser- vices, where he died and is buried. His grave is marked by a stone erected by the State to his memory.
Cornplanter had three sons, Henry, Charles and William. Henry was educated in Europe, but his career, after returning to this country to take up the work which his father had so much at heart-of teach- ing the Indians how to adapt themselves to new con- ditions-was a great disappointment to his father, and he died while still young. After the death of Charles and William, Solomon O'Bail, son of Henry, succeeded to the chiefship, though his functions have not been very active. He is venerable and power- ful in appearance, and, had the tribe engaged in war, might have led them with ability and courage.
DEERFOOT.
The following account of this interesting Indian appeared in the Oil City Derrick :
Hot-tyo-so-do-no (he peeks in the door), or Lewis Bennett, commonly known as "Deerfoot," was born on the Seneca Reservation in 1830. Some
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say he was born in 1837, but his son maintains that
DEERFOOT.
he is 65 years of age. He descends from a noted Sen- eca family. His father, Noah Two Guns, did vigor- ous service in our war of 1812, and was one of the first men killed at the battle of Chip- powi. Deerfoot made his first ap- pearance on a race track in 1856, at a county fair, al Fredonia, N. Y., when he ran five miles in 25 I lis second race
minutes and won a purse of $50. took place in the fall of 1856, at Buffalo, N. Y. Twelve Indians and one white man were the com- petitors, Deerfoot winning the race of ten miles in 58 minutes. A purse of $40 was the small prize, but his fleet feet, that ran against the wind, won for him a record that challenged failure. He continued racing on various race-tracks throughout the United States, always winning, until 1861, when an English trainer, George Martin, hearing of his wondrous work, came to this country, and, after witnessing his races, succeeded in securing an engagement, and
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returned to England with him early in the summer of 1861. He had him in training but five weeks when he issued a challenge to James Putney, who at that time held the championship of all England for long-distance running. Putney failed to accept the challenge for the ten-mile championship, and it was awarded to Deerfoot without contest.
In November, 1861, the Prince of Wales, who was at that time at Cambridge, requested Deerfoot to visit him. During the visit he raced six miles in 33 minutes. It is a boast of this Indian that the Prince of Wales entertained him at dinner and presented him with a watch and chain and various other tokens of friendship, thereby being, as he expressed it, "a first-rate fellow."
Deerfoot's great achievement was at London, England, April 3, 1863. At this race he stepped on the mark, clad in the attire of his people. His strong loins were decorated with the native kilt of light cloth ornamented with porcupine-quill work, feath- ers and beads. Circling his then jet-black hair was a fillet of silver adorned with one eagle-feather, the symbol of victory and power. Buckskin moccasins were on his feet, and in all his movements he dis- played the inborn grace of the red man.
As he started on his run he gave a quick, defiant glance at the spectators, lifting his head, and then shooting out down the track with the fleetness of an arrow. Mile after mile he flew around the track with the unswerving persistency of his ancestors on a war-trail. On and on he sped, undisturbed by the applause of the multitude, whose enthusiasm was
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almost ungovernable, until he had left the record behind him at 11 miles, and continued another mile at the same unapproachable speed. His figures were as follows :
Eleven miles in 52 minutes and 52 seconds ; 11% miles and 99 yards in 59 minutes and 44 seconds : 12 miles in 1 hour and 212 seconds. In the exact hour he covered 11 miles and 970 yards. He made the 10 miles in 52 minutes and 26 seconds.
Deerfoot was, after this race, the lion of the hour throughout all England and America. By this race he won the championship of England and many hundred pounds for himself and thousands for his friends. Becoming homesick and possessed with a desire to again get to America and be with his be- loved people, he set sail for his native land on the Great Eastern April 10, 1863. Arriving at home, he continued racing, never losing. These races include the well-known one at the driving-park at Chicago against horses. Three men, beside him- self, participated in this contest, he finishing the six miles at the last quarter several feet in advance of the horse, thereby winning the race and purse.
Deerfoot says that the story about his always breathing through his nose, and never through his mouth, is all stuff and nonsense. He used, when racing, to breathe the same as any other man. When in training, Deerfoot ran and walked at least 40 miles a day. His diet consisted of beef, mutton, chicken, vegetables, and at supper a glass of port wine or sherry. His trainer watched him with a watch in one hand and a whip in the other. He
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had no rest, he says, only at night. Bed-hour was eight o'clock, and a watch was kept over him that his rest should be undisturbed. He trotted on a quarter-mile track some portion of the day, and walked the balance of his allotted 40-mile task.
Deerfoot has been twice married; has been a widower seventeen years ; has six children, three sons and an equal number of daughters, and one grandson. At one time he owned a large tract of land, but when his children became of age he di- vided it into small farms, and presented each of them with acres to live on. He reserved from the original portion thirty acres of woodland for his individual use, which he has cleared with his own hands in the past fourteen years.
Deerfoot's mother was a Christian, and he was reared in the Presbyterian faith. He says he went to school when a boy, but forgot it. His eyesight is now failing, but he still retains the haughtiness of bearing and stateliness of the true Indian.
He was at the World's Fair, and thousands vis- ited him, among them hundreds that thought him dead and gone.
The grand old Indian is still a wonder, still eager for sport of an athletic character, still (as he says) ready to run any horse or man ten miles, and will bet his house and farm he can defeat them. It is a pleasant and yet a semi-sad sight to see the old fellow's face light up with enthusiasm and his eye shoot fire when the subject of the past is broached. He is very sensitive regarding his past, and is not
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willing to admit that he is a "has been." Surely he was a wonder in his day, and is still a wonder.
(Since the Centennial, Deerfoot has died.)
JACKSON'S TAVERN.
Machinery Hall was given over to a committee to be transformed into an old-time inn, for even the poet in his undying love-song, Lucile, parenthetically confesses :
" We may live without love-what is passion but pining ? But where is the man that can live without dining ?"
In consideration of this universal need of a good square meal the reconstruction of the hall was satis- factorily accomplished, and served a twofold pur- pose-that of feeding the hungry with an abundance of old-fashioned cookery, and of displaying in each of the tavern's three apartments the quaint and homely furnishings of early times. A creaking sign- board told the public that this was " Jackson's Tavern," so-called in honor of a pioneer inn of that name which figured in the early history of Warren. Restfully seated within the house might be found an interesting relic of that self-same tavern in the per- son of a woman of pleasing appearance and much intelligence, who told of having been herself at ser- vice in the original Jackson's Tavern. She labored early and late for the best interests of the house for the munificent sum of ten shillings a week ! A wide cool porch across the front of the inn was sup- ported by imposing pillars, which were discovered and transported from an historic ruin near Kiantone
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by Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson. A picturesque brick chimney loomed up against the north outside wall, surrounded at its base by clumps of blooming holly- hocks. A veteran hitching-post ran along the front, while at the north end of the porch, from the crotch of an old hickory-tree, was suspended an historic
JACKSON TAVERN"
ITERS
JACKSON'S TAVERN.
bell with a dangling rope. The landlord, resplen- dent in a full suit of clothes once owned by the late Lord Cobham, issued pompously forth from the bar-room and promptly pulled the bell at that
" Hour of all hours, the most blessed upon earth, Blessed hour of our dinner."
The tavern was divided into three compartments ;
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the front door opened into the bar-room, which extended the width of the house; a high bar at the south end was abundantly furnished with cider, lemonade, and other harmless, necessary drinks. Here presided the jovial bar-tender, who added to his other duties that of registering the guests, a custom not strictly in keeping with early times, but one that it was thought might be of interest to some when the register is opened and the roll is called at Warren's next Centennial.
Opposite the bar, and occupying the north end of the room, was a wide, open fireplace, equipped with every accessory that early times pronounced meet and fitting to adorn it. Massive andirons supported blazing logs, while the bellows hung ready to act in any untoward emergency. Everything shone that was intended to shine, and above all, on a stately mantel-piece, stood a stuffed peacock, looking proudly down, with unruffled feathers, upon the activity and thrift of the inn. Later in the season this stately bird became the marriage portion of the indefatigable bar-tender, presented by the Tavern Committee as a memento of the happiest event in the history of Warren. The old rush chairs were never so picturesquely occupied as when the portly landlord and his good wife dozed away the hours while the back-log fell into glowing coals and the ball of yarn rolled away at its own sweet will. Arranged on the wall of this room were relics in the shape of deer horns, bullet-pouches, flint-lock shot-guns and rifles, saddle-bags, mugs, pipes and pictures. The sunlight entered through diamond-shaped panes of
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glass, and lingered lovingly around the benign countenances of George and Martha Washington as ever in unbroken companionship, while John Alden and Priscilla in well-preserved frames, from an oppo- site corner, are telling the same old story, the only bit of brightness in all the barren waste of a new country. The bedroom, with its massive four-poster, with the veriest old-time linen and counterpane, its quaint red cradle, from which many nestlings have flown out into the world, and some to worlds beyond, its chest of drawers, its warming-pan, old books and rag carpet, are full of pathetic interest: while in a dark corner, in its lonely dignity, stood the century- old spinning-wheel.
" Its low sweet hum is ceased, The matron charms no more."
Behind the bedroom, and approached by a narrow hall, was the dining-room, redolent of overhanging herbs and picturesque in its colonial furnishings. The table literally groaned under the weight of old- fashioned abundance, served in the bluest of blue dishes by the most quaintly dressed maids and matrons. Square tin pans of pumpkin pie, rasp- berry tarts and apple-butter-well, no one who par- took of those dinners will ever be likely to forget the Jackson Tavern hospitality, and the choir of voices filling the place with old-time melodies was an experience to make one glad to be living.
A yoke of oxen conveyed the committee in charge from their several homes to Jackson's Tavern each morning during the Centennial, and the costumes
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displayed by these ladies and gentlemen fully ex- pressed the character of the occasion.
There could not have been gathered a more har- monious company of workers than that composing this committee, and all together it was a labor of love and great good cheer. Surely the beacon-light from the old inn's hearth-stone, to say nothing of its tallow dips, its quaint hospitality, the memory of the merry days together on the old fair ground, will illumine the darkest hour and shed a joy that words fail to express, but which the people gathered there will live " o'er and o'er again " while the memory of Warren's successful Centennial remains.
" Whoe'er has travel'd life's dull round, Where'er his stages may have been, May sigh to think he still has found The warmest welcome at an inn."
The idea of representing the original Jackson's Tavern originated in the fertile brain of the chair- man of the sub-committee, Mrs. Charles W. Stone, and it is needless to say that it was carried out with great spirit and success under her direction. If the original pair of Jacksons were half as comfortable- looking and hospitable as Mr. Smiley and Mrs. Copeland, who represented them, their inn must have been a favorite. If Mr. Samuel T. Allen ever scores as brilliant a success at the bar of justice as he did at the tavern bar he will deserve a more substantial reward than the peacock which graced his wedding. Mr. Danforth as the English butler might seem out of place, yet the pioneer days
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brought stranger characters than English butlers to the banks of the Allegheny. But the antique cos- tumes could not make pioneers of the other mem- bers of the committee who served as waiters and waitresses. Their presence gave the tavern an air of refinement and elegance far removed from the rude manners of the primitive days. All the dis- tinguished guests were entertained at the tavern, and its register will be preserved as a souvenir of the cele- bration, increasingly interesting as the years go by.
The exhibition of the Relics and Antiquities Com- mittee shall be described by one who knows all about it. The account is open to a single criticism, namely, that it does scanty justice to Mrs. James Brann, the efficient chairman of the committee in charge, to whose energy and intelligence the great success of this exhibition was in great measure due.
RELICS AND ANTIQUITIES.
The large sign bearing the inscription "1795- Relics and Antiquities-1895," swinging over the entrance to Floral Hall, gave only the slightest hint of the magnificent display within. On all sides of the large enclosure, from floor to ceiling, were cherished treasures from every age and clime, while the pyramid in the centre of the building, tier upon tier, was completely covered with articles of a like nature. The walls had been covered with black cloth, forming an excellent background for the fine collection of portraits and pictures.
The central pyramid and the side-shelves were draped in the red, white and blue, while gaily-
9
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colored bunting hung gracefully festooned from the ceiling to the display beneath. The whole interior presented a strikingly pretty and attractive appear- ance, and the manner in which the exhibits were classified and arranged added materially to the in- teresting collection.
At the right of the main entrance, the first fire- engine used in Warren-now the property of A. T. Scofield-furnished interest for sight-seers, while close by the other door the old Ramage printing- press, loaned by Willisand Dwight W. Cowan, proved equally attractive. It resembles the old Washing- ton hand-press, and the pattern is the second oldest in the United States, being next to the Franklin in the Patent Office at Washington. It was entered at the Loan Exhibition in Buffalo a few years ago, and proved to be one of the features of that Expo- sition.
One of the distinctive features of the Centennial exhibit was the collection of valuable heirlooms from the family of Mrs. G. W. Scofield. Portraits of Mrs. Sara Parker, Mrs. Scofield's great-grand- mother, Mrs. McDowell, Mrs. Scofield's grand- mother, Archibald Tanner and G. W. Scofield, all deceased, historical firearms from the Revolutionary and subsequent wars, a mounted copy of The licks- burg Sentinel, printed on wall-paper the day before the surrender of the city to Gen. Grant, relics from many foreign countries, together with a collection of dainty and exquisitely fashioned hand-embroidered dresses worn by Mrs. Scofield when a baby, dresses and riding-habits worn by the ladies of the family,
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while Mrs. Scofield herself graced the occasion by her actual presence.
A collection not less interesting came from Cob- ham Park, the historic spot around which cluster so many pleasant memories and associations. A wealth of hand-made laces and embroideries, dainty ornaments, such as fire-screens, embroidered chairs, etc., and every conceivable article that womanly hands could devise, was to be seen, all the handi- work of the former mistress, Mrs. Cobham ; there were, besides, the portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Cob- ham, a portrait of their son, Col. George Ashworth Cobham, his commission in the army and his Remi- niscences of the Battles, appropriately mounted. Rare old china, silver and pewter were among the treasured articles of this interesting collection.
Notable among the exhibits were the commissions of General William Irvine and Andrew Ellicott to lay out the town of Warren, a portrait of Gen. Irvine, beside which was placed his certificate of membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, signed by President Washington at Mount Vernon, and a portrait of Dr. W. A. Irvine, who was so closely identified with the history of Warren.
Miss Anne Stone, daughter of Congressman Stone, contributed a valuable collection, including spoons made from the silver coins paid the soldiers of the Revolutionary War, jewelry of quaint and curious design, saddle-bags which, on account of historic associations, are worth their weight in gold, muskets and other war relics, a candlestick which came over in the Mayflower, heirlooms in her
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parents' families for many generations, and fraught with deep interest.
One large show-case was devoted almost entirely to Mrs. M. Beecher's antiquities. Here were to be found curious features from every part of the world.
Curiously carved, chased and enamelled brass dishes, a medallion of St. Paul, obtained in Hercu- laneum in 1840, a piece of the first Atlantic cable, beaded moccasins made by early Indian tribes, curios from Jerusalem, besides many species of fishes, etc., now extinct, which had existed in neighboring waters. Many ancient books were also a part of this unique collection.
Judge R. P. King's family, one of the oldest and most time-honored in Warren, contributed many quaint and beautiful pieces of furniture, lamps, work-table, chairs, pictures, etc., which have been handed down from the time when Judge King's mother, Betsy Gilson King, was the only female child in Warren. Portraits of Hon. R. P. King, his wife and mother, occupied prominent places in the picture-gallery.
A silver table-service which has come down through many generations, and which is now the property of Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson, is, indeed, a thing of beauty. A handsome portrait of Mrs. Jefferson's grandmother hung not far distant, and the striking resemblance of the equally beautiful granddaughter of to-day, attired in the costume of her ancestor's time, was generally remarked.
Close by was another case, containing fans, laces,
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gloves, etc., worn at Washington's wedding, and at receptions given by him in the White House.
An inkstand used by Washington, as well as the paper with turned columns announcing the sad news of his death, were also among the attractions. A file of the United States Gazette and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser for the year 1798 was loaned by P. C. Boyle of the Oil City Derrick.
A German Bible 234 years old, the property of Mathias Gutzler, and a German Prayer-Book bear- ing the date of 1645, owned by Mrs. M. Boeschlin, were among the oldest of the large collection of ancient books. Clocks 150 and 200 years old re- spectively, loaned by the Waters family and Mrs. Young, a watch which kept time in 1695 (Mr. N. S. Falconer's property), and hundreds of other articles large and small, valuable, some for their own intrin- sic value, others for the tender associations which cling round them, furnished interesting and instruct- ive entertainment for the thousands of visitors who daily thronged the hall.
The picture-gallery, under the careful and artistic supervision of Artist W. A. Greaves and Mrs. Hen- rietta Eddy, was a delight in itself. Here were the old, familiar faces of most of the prominent men and women who have written their names high upon the roll of Warren's honor. Many have crossed to the other shore-Archibald Tanner. Hon. Thomas Struthers, Judge Scofield, Judge Johnson, Orris Hall, Benjamin Mead, Rev. W. A. Rankin, Dr. Irvine, and many others. The pleasant features of Myron Waters, Judge and Mrs. W. D. Brown, and
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others, are still "true to life." H. A. Jamieson, a baby in his mother's arms, even at so young an age gives evidence of the mettle of which men are made. Twenty-six of the oil portraits were the work of one individual, our townsman artist, W. A. Greaves, and it is only putting it mildly to say that he certainly has made his mark, though the aim was high.
No other building on the grounds equalled the Antiquity Building in interest. From early morn- ing till late in the evening not one moment elapsed when this department was not thronged with inter- ested spectators, and on the day of the 4th a dense mass of humanity packed the hall to its utmost ca- pacity from the moment the doors were thrown open till the clock struck the closing hour. The committee who collected and arranged this memorable collec- tion, and who presented a quaint and picturesque appearance in their dresses of the olden time, were :
Mrs. James Brann, Chairman ; Mrs. G. W. Sco- field, Miss Ellie Scofield, Mrs. W. D. Brown, Mrs. Myron Waters, Miss Anne Stone, Mrs. W. F. Mess- ner, Mrs. S. A. Wetmore, Mrs. George Sill, Mrs. R. F. Van Doorn, Mrs. D. H. Siggins, Mrs. N. S. Falconer, Mrs. Palmer Gilbert, Mrs. Wm. Keegan, Miss Mary Kopf, Mrs. Rasselas Brown, Mrs. O. W. Beaty, Mrs. Alex. Shaw, Mrs. T. W. McNett, Mrs. W. V. Hazeltine, Mrs. E. A. Abbott, J. P. Jefferson, Willis Cowan, George N. Parmlee, Freeman Hert- zel, A. J. Hazeltine, J. B. Mullen.
The fact that out of the hundreds upon hundreds of exhibits displayed in this collection not one arti- cle was destroyed or lost is sufficient testimony to
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the watchful care exercised by the members of the committee, as well as to the excellent scheme of registering and receipting employed and to the inde- fatigable efforts, first and last, of E. W. Parshall, chairman of the whole first grand division, to make this building one of the essentially interesting feat- ures of the Centennial-a desire which was fulfilled far beyond our most sanguine expectations.
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