USA > Virginia > City of Richmond > City of Richmond > Virginia, especially Richmond, in by-gone days; with a glance at the present: being reminiscences and last words of an old citizen > Part 12
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The author then says this detail will prove that he has ob- tained the support of a large proportion of the distinguished men of the country, persons through whom a nation should be judged. He would be gratified if he could aid in removing the unfavorable impressions that some persons have received and expressed of this fine country, in consequence of not having resided there long enough to be able to distinguish the new comers and the foreign adventurers from the native citizens.
He remarks, in another place, that many persons who have left their own country for misconduct, offer themselves in this as masters of Languages, of Music, Dancing, Painting, &c., and go from town to town, remaining long at none, because their pupils learn nothing, but these impostors make a great deal of money, such is the generosity of the Americans ; but they have to repent of the confidence reposed in such masters, and these adventurers create a bad opinion of the French in general.
18
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"Among the many instances which he might cite of the native goodness of these brave and honorable people, of the hospi- tality exercised among them in the most paternal manner, of their generous and grateful sentiments, the author cannot refrain from mentioning one circumstance which occurred in Williamsburg, in the month of December, 1786, attested by a multitude of witnesses, and which he received from the lips of the Consul."
A Frenchman, one of those refugees who are a disgrace to their nation, was guilty of crimes deserving the severest pun- ishment. M. Oster, in his capacity of Consul, demanded the execution of the sentence in the name of the French nation. The gratitude of the inhabitants overruled the sentence. They were content with banishing the offender, and in their enthu- siasm they exclaimed-" No! a Frenchman shall never suffer a disgraceful death here. Go and receive elsewhere the punish- ment you deserve."
This long document will conclude with the names of subscribers to the Academy which have not been previously given. The shares were 1200 francs each ($240) and sub-divisions of halves and quar- ter shares. These names are introduced because some of the descendants may be gratified to recognize them after so long an interval, as I do many in memory.
Gabriel Galt, Serafina Formicula, William Lewis, Francis Goode, Turner Southall, Robert Greenhow,, Stephen Tankard, N. Wilkinson, Francis Graves, John Stockdell, Robert Bolling, Samson Matthews, Barnett Price, Dabney Miller, John Gunn, Mrs. S. Nevens, William Duval, Archibald Cary, William Lyne, Thomas Rosser, Henry Randolph, Robt. Boyd, George Pickett, Arch'd McRobert, David Lambert, Francis Dandridge, Cohen
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& Isaacs, Robert Goode, Richard Morris, Benjamin Lewis, Alexander Montgomery, John Stewart, William Burton, John Kerr, Richard Gernon, William Haslet, Thomas McCreery, John McKeand, Gilbert Hay, Robert Mclaughlin, Chiswel, Barrett, Thomas Richard, Reuben Coutts, Samuel Trower, Thomas M. Deane, Richard Bowler, John May, Ant'y Geohe- gan, Jesse Roper, Bickerton Webb, Henry Dixon, Foster Webb, John Gibson, Daniel Truehart, Peter Tinsley, William Booker, William Coulter, David Humpheys, Curtis Haynes, N. Raguet. Smith Blakey, Samuel Couch, Isaac Younghusband, Erasmus Gill, H. Giraud, John Burton, Thomas Gordon, William Davis, James Brownley, R. Armistead.
The site chosen by M. Quesnay and on which he erected his Academy, is the square on which the Monumental Church and the Medical College now stand, the grounds extending from those lower points up Broad and Marshall to 12th street. The Academy stood nearly on the spot where the Carleton house stands.
The worthy Chevalier was far ahead of the times-more than seventy years-as the absence of such an establishment at this day proves. His meritorious enterprise failed, but how, or under what circumstances, is not now to be discovered, unless among court records. The extensive square, with the Academy-building on it, became the pro- perty of West and Bignal, or some other English actors, who managed the theatres in all the South- ern States. They converted the Academy into one, and here the tragic and the comic muses first
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excited the tears and smiles-in an edifice devoted to them-of a Richmond audience .*
But greater actors performed, and a more glo- rious work was rehearsed and brought out, in that theatre, than in any other, either in this country or in Europe.
Therein assembled, in 1788, the Convention of sages, patriots, and statesmen, who ratified the Constitution of the United States, as framed in Philadelphia.
Could such a constellation of talent, of wisdom, of pure patriotism, be formed in our political firmament at the present day, under similar cir- cumstances ? From the two subsequent efforts, I fear the reply must be in the negative.
To prove that this is not mere hyperbole, I will introduce the testimony of Mr. Wirt, who, in his Life of Patrick Henry, thus eloquently describes this assemblage :
" The Convention had been attended, from its commence- ment, by a vast concourse of citizens of all ages and condi- tions. The interest so universally felt in the question itself, and not less the transcendent talents which were engaged in its discussion, presented such attractions as could not be resisted. Industry deserted its pursuits, and even dissipation gave up its objects, for the superior enjoyments which were presented by the hall of the Convention. Not only the people
* In 1752 Hallam introduced Theatrical performances in Williamsburg-probably the first in America.
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of the town and neighborhood, but gentlemen from every quarter of the State, were seen thronging to the metropolis, and speeding their eager way to the building in which the Convention held its meetings.
"Day after day, from morning till night, the galleries were filled with an anxious crowd, who forgot the inconvenience of their situation in the excess of their enjoyment ; and far from giving any interruption to the course of the debate, increased its interest and solemnity by their silence and attention. No bustle, no motion, no sound was heard among them, save only a slight movement when some new speaker arose, whom they were all eager to see as well as to hear, or when some master- stroke of eloquence shot thrilling along their nerves, and extorted an involuntary and inarticulate murmur. Day after day was this banquet of the mind and of the heart spread before them, with a delicacy and variety which could never cloy. There every taste might find its peculiar gratification : the man of wit, the man of feeling, the critic, the philosopher, the historian, the metaphysician, the lover of logic, the admirer of rhetoric,-every man who had an eye for the beauty of action, or an ear for the harmony of sound, or a soul for the charms of poetic fancy-in short, every one who could see, or hear, or feel, or understand, might find, in the wanton profu- sion and prodigality of that Attic feast, some delicacy adapted to his peculiar taste. Every mode of attack and of defence, of which the human mind is capable, in decorous debate-every species of weapon and armor, offensive and defensive, that could be used withi advantage, from the Roman javelin to the Parthian arrow, from the cloud of Æneas to the shield of Achilles-all that could be accomplished by human strength, and almost more than human activity, was seen exhibited on that floor."
The dramatis personæe of this grand performance embraced, among many others, James Madison,
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John Marshall, James Monroe, Edmund Pen- dleton, George Wythe, George Nicholas, Edmund Randolph, George Mason, Grayson, Innis, Lee, and last, not least, Patrick Henry. It were use- less to name more in such a brilliant constellation.
What a perilous descent have I now to make, from this theatre of glorious scenes and splendid actors, to the common-place subjects of my nar- rative !
I will here close the chapter, to break the fall and lessen the contrast.
CHAPTER XIX.
PLACES OF AMUSEMENT. (Continued. )
AT the corner of the Academic Square, where now stands the handsome mansion of Mr. Allen, was erected a Market House-the then New Market-but it did not thrive. It was occupied by live cattle and goats, instead of beef and mut- ton. Hens, chickens and ducks volunteered their presence, without the fear of spit or frying-pan, and even laid their eggs in remote and dark corners, not likely to be visited by any other cus-
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tomers than prying school-boys or vagrant children. A'few vegetables also volunteered their verdure ; such as dandelions-an excellent salad-butter- cups, with roots more pungent than red pepper, chick-weed for bird fanciers, and thistles-but not a good substitute for artichokes.
I don't assert that the fox made his hole and the wren built its nest in the market-house, but it is true that Fox & Wren occupied it and built coaches there. The Wrens now nestle elsewhere, cherished and cherishing-of the Foxes only one remains in quiet retirement.
The Academic, Forensic, Dramatic Theatre maintained its latter character and was thought to maintain it well for several years, but it met the fate of almost all similar edifices-conflagra- tion, but without other disaster. The Market- house, guiltless of blood and slaughter, was demolished many years later.
Theatrical performances were afterwards held (in 1802,) in the upper part of the old Market- house, on Main and Seventeenth streets, recently demolished and rebuilt; and after that, in Quar- rier's Coach-shop on Cary and Seventh streets, where Thomas' large Tobacco-factory stood, and was burned in 1851.
Temporary theatres now again gave place to a regular one. A large brick edifice was erected in the rear of the Old Academy or Theatre Square.
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That, alas ! was the scene of the most horrid disaster that ever overwhelmed our city, where seventy-two persons perished in the flames on the fatal 26th of December, 1811, where the Monumental Church now stands, and its portico co- vers the tomb and the ashes of most of the victims.
The writer, with some friends, reached Rich- mond that evening from a Christmas jaunt in the country, and went with them to the Theatre-but it was so crowded that they could not obtain admission. A very few hours after, he was aroused by the cry of fire, and hastening to the spot, the first object he encountered on an open space, was a lady lying on the grass apparently in a swoon. He attempted to raise her, but she was dead. He afterwards learned that she had leaped from a window, but before she could be removed from beneath it, was crushed by those who sought to escape by following her. The next object that thrilled him was a gentleman so dread- fully excoriated, that death mercifully put an end to his tortures in a few hours-but it were cruel to rehearse the many individual instances of in- tense suffering by the victims, and of the scarcely less intense agony of their relatives and friends.
On the ensuing morning, the mangled, burnt and undistinguishable remains of many of the victims were taken from the ruins and interred on the spot, where their names are recorded on
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the monument already mentioned, and the ground was consecrated to the erection of a church.
It is due to an humble but worthy man, to re- cord the services rendered by him during the progress of this dreadful calamity. Gilbert Hunt, a negro blacksmith, possessed naturally a power- ful frame, and by wielding the sledge-hammer, his muscles had become almost as strong and as tough as the iron he worked. Gilbert was aroused and besought by Mrs. George Mayo to go to the rescue of her daughter. He was soon at the theatre. Within its walls, then filled with smoke and flame, was Dr. James D. McCaw, a man who might have been chosen by a sculptor for a model of Hercules. The Doctor had reached a window and broken out the sash, when he and Gilbert recognized each other. He called to Gilbert to stand below and catch those he dropped out. He then seized on the woman nearest to him, and lowering her from the window as far as he could reach, he let her fall. She was caught in Gilbert's arms and conveyed by others to a place of safety. One after another the brave and indefatigable Doctor passed to his comrade below, and thus ten or twelve ladies were saved. The last one provi- dentially was the Doctor's own sister, whose proportions were a feminine epitome of the Doctor himself. Gilbert caught her and broke her fall, but he says he fell with her, both unhurt.
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The Doctor having rescued all within his reach, now sought to save himself. The wall was already tottering. He attempted to leap or drop from the window, but his strong leather gaiter, an article of sportsman's apparel which he always wore, caught in a hinge or some other iron projection, and he was thus suspended in a most horrid and painful position ; he fell at last, but to be lame for life. The muscles and sinews were stretched and torn. and lacerated, and his back was seared by the flames, the marks of which he carried to his grave.
The Doctor directed Gilbert to drag him across the street, and place him with his back against the wall of the Baptist Church ; then to get two pal- ings from a fence opposite. With these for splints and handkerchiefs for bandages, the limb was bound. Gilbert then went in search of a convey- ance to carry the Doctor home. His removal from beneath the wall of the theatre had scarcely been effected, before it fell on the spot where he had fallen !
After a long period of suffering, he was able to resume practice ; and his profession has been adopted by son and grandson, perpetuating the good name of Doctor McCaw, which its founder had worthily established.
Gilbert, then a slave, afterwards obtained his freedom-I wish I could add, at the hands of
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a grateful community; but it was by his own industry.
His philanthropy and efficiency in rescuing his fellow-creatures from the flames, were exhibited on another occasion. When the Penitentiary was burned, some years later, the only outlet was cut off by the flames, and the only means of rescue for the prisoners was by opening a new one, through one of the grated windows ; no ladder was at hand to reach it. Gilbert placed himself under the window, and Captain Freeman, an active and efficient fireman, mounted on Gilbert's shoulders, and thus elevated and supported, the Captain cut out the brick work in which the grate was inserted, and through the breach thus formed, some of the prisoners were rescued; but the same operation had to be repeated at the second and third stories, and the enterprising pair contrived to reach them by the means now brought for their aid, and succeeded in making other breaches. Just as the flames reached them, the last of the convicts was . rescued.
Gilbert went to Liberia in its early settlement, when, like all young colonies, it was subject to many hardships and privations. He preferred ease and comfort, and returned to Richmond, where he resumed his work at the anvil, which poverty rendered it necessary still to prosecute.
After the dreadful catastrophe at the theatre, a
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cessation of theatrical amusements ensued for sev- eral years; but such was the change and the accession of population during the period, that, whilst the church was under construction, another theatre, the present one, on Broad and Seventh, was commenced and completed not very long after the church was consecrated.
Dancing, and gaiety of every kind, was sus- pended for a long while; but about the time that · the present Theatre was established, there was erected in the rear of it, on Grace street, by Mons. Bossieux, a large wooden building (where a circus had previously stood), which he dignified with the name of Terpsichore Hall, and there the rising generation, to whom the disaster was almost tra- dition, were taught "the poetry of motion ;" but before the succeeding one had acquired the graces from Mons. B., who had no rival, his hall was de- stroyed by fire, and the ground is now covered with workshops.
A much frequented place of amusement, in old times, was the Haymarket Garden, or better known as Prior's, on the grounds now occupied by the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Depot and workshops, a tobacco warehouse, the paper-mill, and some machine shops. It was quite a capacious inclosure, with a graduated lawn in front of the large mansion, which, with its extended wings and pinions, divided the lawn from the garden in the
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rear. A succession of grassy or flowery slopes and terraces extended down to the river, or rather to Ross's canal (now Haxall's), and the upper por- tion of the garden commanded a fine view of the river, the islands, and of the country beyond.
Here fireworks delighted the spectators, and equestrians and rope-dancers astonished them. Here ice-creams and cakes were eaten, but very little liquor drunk-the beverages being chiefly lemonade and porteree. Thus the grounds were generally quiet and orderly.
The then elevated ground between the basin and the garden, was occupied by a few residents, and formed a sort of distinct village, called Haymarket. These existed before the basin was navigated, and in its early days.
A more entire transformation cannot well be imagined, than from the quiet and rural aspect of that day, to the throng of travel, the roaring and whistling of steam, and the rumbling of water- wheels and machinery of the present. Trent's Bridge, built on the rocks in the falls, only two or three feet above the water, is now supplanted by the railroad bridge, some sixty feet high.
A more ancient and less frequented place of resort for recreation, was the French Garden, be- yond the Ravine (now being filled up), between Clay and Leigh, and 7th and 10th streets.
Some refugees from the horrors and massacre of 19
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St. Domingo, found their way to Richmond. One of them built a tall thin house, like himself, and, with his co-exiles, laid out a garden in this then re- mote suburb. A small tract of land was purchased by Didier Colin, from Dr. Turpin, which obtained the name of the French Garden, and the district still retains it, though now laid out in streets and built on where the surface is not too precipitous. Here lemonade, fruits, &c., were served to visitors, and here the worthy man, who had been reduced from wealth and comfort to comparative poverty and to exile, spent his remaining days. On the spot where his house stood, may be traced a por- tion of the foundation. Some of his surviving partners in misfortune, thinking that he had, for fear of another disaster, buried his money, dug up his flower roots, his strawberries, and other fruits, in their fruitless search for the hidden treasure.
Mitchell's Spring, to the east of Academy Hill, and north-east of the Poor-house, was another place of resort for recreation, but many years the junior of Haymarket. It was "a spot of great capabilities," but not very much improved, and, like its founder, soon fell into the sere and yellow leaf, though its spring continued to send forth a copious supply of excellent water. This beverage, however, was not a sufficient temptation to attract visitors, when furnished only in its elementary state.
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I have mentioned Academy Hill, but I doubt if any of my readers ever heard of it before. It is north of the valley, in rear of the Poor-house, and the foundation of the Academy was laid long before that of the Poor-house; but it never rose above the basement, for which neglect I know not who is to blame. The window frames were stolen out of the brick work, as were the coins from the corner-stone. Thorns and thistles grow where bays and laurels should have flourished ; sheep and calves graze where youths should have sought the flowers of literature and the fruits of know- ledge.
Goddin's Spring, at Bacon Quarter Branch, was, in old times, a place of resort for amusement, as was the tavern for "Entertainment of Man and Horse." Shovel-board and other innocent games were played at the cool and shaded spring. The tavern was preferred by some of the western members of the Legislature, on the score of econ- omy, to those nearer the Capitol, and it was said some of them would save and make during the session, enough to buy a negro boy to carry home with him "en croupe," as he made the journey on horseback. One member who served for a number of years, thus increased his black family as fast as his wife did the white.
Jackson's Garden was a pleasant place of resort some forty years ago, and was tastefully embel-
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lished on public occasions. It was situated on Leigh street, extending from Second some distance west, in a portion of the city now designated in the map as "Jackson's addition." The proprietor occupied a station in the First Auditor's office, now filled by his son, with a fair prospect of a lineal succession.
This completes the list of places of amusement, except one public garden in the rear of Galt's City Tavern. Such places of resort have ceased to exist for many years, but the Germans recently established a "Volk's Garten." They are a joy- ous race.
CHAPTER XX.
PHYSICIANS.
IN the year 1800 the population of Richmond was 5,300, embracing almost an equal number of white and black, and there were some ten or twelve physicians. The number in 1856 may exceed a hundred, to minister to about forty thousand in the city and suburbs .*
* Some persons now (1860) estimate 50,000-the census will presently decide.
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Of the ancient stock, Dr. Leiper was perhaps, next to Dr. McClurg (already respectfully noticed), entitled to precedency ; his brother, Thos. Leiper, was the great tobacconist, once Mayor of Phila- delphia. The Doctor's residence was on Franklin street, and his office adjoined it at the corner of Eighteenth. In that office, W. H. Harrison, after- wards President of the United States, began the study of medicine. Dr. Leiper's dwelling, a wooden building, is still extant; the basement converted into shops and the upper part into a tavern for market folks.
Dr. Foushee resided on Main above Fourteenth street ; his house was afterwards purchased and occupied by the United States' Bank, and on its demise was bought and demolished by Mr. Hub- bard, to make room for his extensive shoe-store. Dr. Foushee was a gentleman of fine personal appearance and deportment, and a favorite phy- sician with the ladies, who said his visits were restoratives without the aid of medicine, so bland and kind were his manners and conversation. This calm and sunshine which distinguished his medical character, could be changed to storm and thunder in his political one. His house contained some rare attractions, which caused it to be a favorite resort for the beaux, who called it the home of the Graces. They were soon dispersed, however, and each embellished a home of her
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own. Mr. Carter, of Westover, Mr. Ritchie, of the Enquirer, Col. Parker (of the now forgotten Miranda expedition) and his brother, carried off these prizes.
In the accomplished wife of the son and succes- sor of Mr. Ritchie, we now recognize a lady, who - under a former name acquired histrionic and lite- rary celebrity, and yet continues to add to the latter, and to perform many good works which are not published.
The writer of these pages, inspired by the grace and beauty of the paragon of these sisters, perpe- trated in his youth the following lines, of which, if she saw them, she knew not their source:
When the Supreme Creative Power
Decided on thy natal hour,
Prepared to form thy beauteous face,
Thy limbs to mould and give them grace,
And to complete his work, impart Within that breast a kindred heart, He from the angels round his throne
Chose those whose beauties brightest shone,
And cull'd from each, with skill divine, Some perfect part and made it thine. * * * * But merciful to man, on thee
Bestow'd not immortality !
Dr. Foushee filled many stations. He was Mayor of the City, President of the James River
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Company, and was appointed to the station of Postmaster after the death of Col. Vandewall. I do not use the word office, as neither of them occu- pied it in propria persona. During his incum- bency the post-office was burnt, and I happened to have the key of an unoccupied store not far from it. With the aid of other firemen and citizens, the contents of the office were safely removed to the store, and on meeting the Doctor early on the next morning, I had the satisfaction to assure him that all was safe and to show him where his office was.
When the Doctor was supposed to be on his death-bed, a rumor of his actual death was circu- lated, and one of his political friends posted off to Washington in hot haste to seek consolation for his loss in succession to his office. The prospect of it served to dry the tears of this disinterested friend, and when he thought, "good, easy man, full surely, his appointment was a ripening!" with what varied emotions was he affected on his return to Richmond to find the Doctor alive and convalescent !"
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