USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of Wisconsin from prehistoric to present periods : the story of the state interspersed with realistic and romantic events > Part 49
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In 1866 Mr. Rusk was elected bank comptroller, which office he held for four years. Then he was elected to the Forty-second, Forty-third and Forty- fourth congresses. He was here, as in every other position, active and useful. It was in 1881 that Garfield appointed him minister to Paraguay and Den- mark, both of which positions he declined, as well as others that were ten- dered to him.
In November of 1881, being prompted by the jests of Governor Foster, of Ohio, he decided to go home and run for governor of Wisconsin. There were several candidates in the field at the time of his arrival in Wisconsin, but this did not discourage him. His ability and intellectual dexterity made him very pleasing to the people in general, as was fully illustrated in his re-election of 1884, and his again being re-elected in 1886. He served longer as chief execu- tive of the State of Wisconsin, than any other man-seven years-this was done in order to make all offices begin with the even numbered years.
It was during Rusk's administration that the farmers' institutes were organized ; the bureau of labor and industrial statistics established; the office of state veterinary surgeon established with absolute authority to control and condemn diseased horses and cattle, and preserve the general health of domes- tic animals ; a state pension agent was appointed; the north and south wings of the capitol, and the state school for dependent children at Sparta, and the science hall of the state university were built.
In 1888, Jeremiah M. Rusk was made a presidential candidate by the Wisconsin delegation. In March, 1889, he was made secretary of agriculture by President Harrison, which position he filled with honor until the expiration of his term, which expired with the Harrison administration, on March 4, 1893.
Jeremiah M. Rusk was a tall, well-built man, standing six feet and two inches. He was massive in frame, agile and quick in his movements, and of
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WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS.
a remarkable appearance. He occupied no public position since he was sec- retary of agriculture under Harrison, but was mentioned as a prominent candi- date for the presidency in 1889. This noted man died at his home in Viroqua, on November 21, 1893, after an illness of several weeks.
EVENTS OF 1882.
The thirty-fifth session of the Wisconsin state legislature convened Janu- ary 11, 1882, and adjourned March 31, 1882, after a session of eighty days.
The senate was organized with Lieutenant-Governor Samuel F. Fifield, as president ; Charles E. Bross, chief clerk, and A. T. Glaze, sergeant-at-arms. The assembly was organized with Franklin L. Gibson as speaker ; E. D. Coe, chief clerk, D. E. Welch, sergeant-at-arms.
Governor Rusk's first annual message was delivered to the legislature, Thursday, January 12, 1882. It contained methodical, clear and concise statements, treating upon the financial affairs of the state, embracing the school fund income, university fund, agricultural and normal school funds and the drainage, delinquent tax, and deposit fund.
The govorner's report upon the state debt, expenditures and revenues are as follows :
"STATE DEBT.
"The distribution of the bonded debt of the state, September 30, 1881, was as follows :
War bonds outstanding $ 2,000 00
Certificates of indebtedness
2,250,000 00
Currency certificates 57 00
Total 2,252,057 00
"And, in addition to this, there was on the Ist day of January, 1882, a deficiency for the care of the state charitable and penal institutions as shown by the report of the board of supervision, of $55, 944.82 and a claim of the United States against the state for $206, 133.04, making a total of $2,514, 134.86.
"EXPENDITURES AND REVENUES.
"The Secretary of State makes the following estimate of the expenditures to be defrayed from the treasury during the year beginning January 1, 1883 :
"EXPENDITURES.
Salaries and permanent appropriations $ 227,730 50
Legislative expenses
95,750 00
Interest on state indebtedness. 164,588 36
Charitable and penal institutions
235,000 00
Clerks and employes. 62,000 00
Miscellaneous ..
262,000 00
Total expenditures
$1,047,068 86
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"REVENUES.
License and fees $562,700 00
Taxes authorized by law 234,368 86
Total revenues $797,068 86
"This estimate shows that it will be necessary for this legislature to provide the sum of $250,000, and I would recommend that the amount is reasonable and proper."
The governor also reminded the legislature of the increasing number of chronic insane, and suggested that proper steps be taken to properly care for and treat these unfortunates. In that portion of the message treating upon the educa- tional affairs, the attendance of children at all public schools within the state, for the year of 1880, was reported at 483,229, and in 1881, was 489, 142, an increase of 5,913, which indicated that Northern Wisconsin was rapidly being settled. The total valuation of the school property in the state was esti- mated at $5,543,049.61. The total amount expended during the year of 1881, was $2,302,038.34, or $6.97 for each person attending school. The amount expended on each pupil in 1880, was $7.24, and the previous year, $7.44.
The governor, in this important message, also called the attention of the legislature to the report of Professor Henry's estimate, that syrup could be made in this state at the rate of one hundred and eighty gallons per acre of amber cane, and recommended that an appropriation be made for the purpose of printing the professor's report and the distribution of the same.
This message complimented the able and efficient management of the State Historical Society by its officers. In referring to this important subject, the governor said :
"The State Historical Society has been ably managed. From a very small beginning, it has grown to be a large institution of peculiar interest to the people of the state. It is regarded as one of the most complete collections of its class in the United States, and is worthy of the fostering care of the state. I would recommend to the legislature that they provide a suitable building for the use of the society, separate from the capitol. Its present quarters are en- tirely inadequate to its wants, and the rooms it now occupies are needed for the convenience of the legislature. In such a building suitable room should be provided for the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters."
The state board of health, railroads, insurance, fish culture, immigration, the Wisconsin National Guard, the Industrial School for Girls, and the state apportionment all received proper attention by the worthy governor, who con- cluded his message in this language :
"I have thus briefly called your attention to such matters as seem, in my judgment, to be for the welfare of the state. The people expect economy in
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WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS.
expenditures, and will hold all public officers to a strict accountability for all of their transactions. With grateful hearts to the Supreme Ruler of the uni- verse for all the blessings we enjoy, and a firm reliance upon Him for our future guidance, let us proceed to the discharge of the duties imposed upon us by the constitution and the laws."
Ex-Governor Cadwallader C. Washburn died at the age of sixty-four years, at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, on May 14, 1882.
EVENTS OF 1883.
The thirty-sixth session of the legislature convened January 10, 1883, and adjourned April 4, 1883, after a session of eighty-five days.
The senate was organized with Lieutenant-Governor Samuel F. Fifield as president, Charles E. Bross, chief clerk, and A. D. Thorpe, sergeant-at-arms. The assembly was organized with Earl P. Finch as speaker, I. T. Carr, chief clerk, and Thomas Kennedy, sergeant-at-arms.
On January 10th, the Newhall House at Milwaukee burned. Many per- sons perished, either in the flames or in leaping from the upper stories of the building. The death loss has been estimated at from seventy to one hundred. The following chapter gives a detailed history of the terrible conflagration.
On March 25th, Hon. Timothy O. Howe, postmaster-general, died at Racine.
On November 8th, the south wing of the capitol extension at Madison, which was in progress of construction, fell, killing seven workmen, and injur- ing numerous others.
February 23d, Ex-Governor William E. Smith died from pneumonia con- tracted while acting in the capacity of chairman of the relief committee, ap- pointed to look after the Newhall sufferers.
At the congressional election held in November, 1883, the following mem- bers of congress were elected to represent the state in the forty-seventh con- gress, to-wit :
John Winans, Richard Guenther, D. H. Sumner, Gilbert M. Woodward, Burr W. Jones, William T. Price, Peter V. Deuster, Isaac Stephenson, Joseph Rankin.
TWIN LAKES IN NORTHERN WISCONSIN, ON THE LINE OF THE M., L. S. & W. RY.
CHAPTER LXV.
THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRE.
Milwaukee's Well-Known Hotel Burns .- Horrible Death of Many of its Inmates .- Miraculous Escapes .- Deeds of Brave Men .- Sad Fate of the Heroine, Katie Linehan .- Public Funeral and Inquest.
"Not a sound rose from the city at that early morning hour, But I heard a heart of iron beating in the ancient tower."
THE guests at the Newhall House, one of the largest and best appointed hotels in the Northwest, located on the corner of Michigan street and Broadway, in Milwaukee, had retired upon the evening of the 9th of January, 1883, and in the early hours of the roth, little suspecting that this almost palatial hotel would, within a few hours, be the funeral pyre of many of its inmates, and the scene of indescribable horror.
"At my feet the city slumbered. From its chimneys, here and there,
Wreaths of snow-white smoke ascending, vanished, ghost-like, into air."
Shortly after four o'clock an alarm was sent from Box No. 15, to the fire department, and in a few moments the department was at the scene of the disaster. The fire alarm which was sounded awoke many of the citizens of Milwaukee, to witness one of the most horrible casualties ever recorded in the history of the Northwest.
The first alarm called out Engines No. 2 and No. 5, Hook and Ladder Truck No. 3, Supply Hose No. I, and a chemical engine. In less than two minutes from the time the engines left their headquarters, they arrived at the scene of destruction, yet, upon their arrival, flames were darting out through the windows on Michigan street, near the corner of Broadway, and the fright- ened guests were already jumping from the upper windows to the pavement below.
Engine No. I took water from the hydrant on the corner of Michigan street and Broadway, opposite the hotel, while Truck No. I stopped in front of the hotel and sent in two chemical extinguishers to fight the flames in the elevator shaft. Foreman Riemer, of Truck No. I, investigating the condition of the fire in the elevator shaft, at once perceived that the fire was burning furiously as far up as the third story. He immediately ordered the chemical extinguish- ers back to the truck and the men to the ladders. A ladder twenty feet long was placed against the burning building, which bore two firemen to the first
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
balcony with a ladder twenty-four feet long. The second ladder was now raised from the balcony to the third story. On these two ladders, which reached forty-four feet, seven persons were saved from various rooms in the third story. Work with these ladders was now abandoned, and the extension ladder, with a reach of sixty-five feet, was brought into use from Truck No. I. It was set up against the building, and one man came safely down over it. An effort was made by the firemen to move the ladder over to where Allen Johnson and his wife were standing in a window facing Broadway, but the ladder came in contact with a projection of the building. The endless chain jumped from the pinion, causing the upper section of the ladder to come down with a crash, hopelessly disabling it. The remainder of the fire department had now arrived and entered actively upon the work of rescue. The seven fire-engines had been located, and were pouring water into the building through ten nozzles, without any apparent result. A piece of canvas fifteen feet square with eight handles on each side was also brought into use, to catch jumpers. This device was not so great a success as was anticipated.
FRIGHTENED INMATES LEAP TO DEATH.
While the first ladders were being raised against the building, W. H. Hall, of La Porte, Indiana, who occupied a room on the fourth floor, adjoin- ing that of Martin Weber, his business partner, became excited and un- dertook to climb down on the window caps and sashes, and had succeeded in reaching the third story, when he slipped and fell to the pavement, receiving fatal injuries. Mrs. Allen Johnson, shortly after the extension ladder became damaged, jumped or fell, and struck the balcony rail- ing, and from there fell to the pavement below. She was taken to the American Express Office in a dying condition. Mr. Johnson still stood at the window awaiting assistance, while the firemen protected him from the flames by a stream of water. Firemen Curtin and Riemer requested Mr. Johnson not to jump, as another ladder was being brought to rescue him, but the excited people below denounced the advice given by the firemen and frantically cried, "Jump ! jump !" Mr. Johnson, who was now hanging outward against the north side of the window facing Broadway, released his hold on the casing and jumped, striking the edge of the canvas with such force that it was torn from the grasp of those who were attempting to hold it, and he heavily struck the pavement, receiving fatal injuries. He, too, was taken to the American Express Office and placed beside his dying wife. Mrs. Johnson survived her husband by about one hour. Immediately after Mr. Johnson had made his jump to death, Foreman Curtin turned toward the alley and was there met by William Linehan, fireman of the hotel, who implored him to bring ladders to the alley and rescue the servant girls, who were jumping from their quarters in the
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THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRE.
fifth story. The extension ladders were at once hurried to the alley of death. The scene here was a frightful one. So frightful indeed that the firemen were appalled for a moment. There, upon the cobble stones in the alley, lay the mangled forms of eleven girls. The bodies of the poor victims were removed. A ladder had been ordered placed across the alley from an opposite building, and was successfully rescuing the girls. One ladder was placed against the fire-escape, near the corner of Broadway, and another over the Michigan street entrance. Many people escaped down these ladders in safety. While the brave firemen were busy, the frenzied guests and servants were jumping to certain destruction. The mangled bodies of the unfortunates were hurried from under the now tottering walls of the doomed building by the spectators, who carried them into the American Express Office, the Chamber of Commerce, and into the Stanley and Camp jewelry store, on the corner of Wisconsin street and Broadway. In one of the windows on the fifth floor, facing Michigan street, stood John Gilbert, an actor, and his young bride. They had been married the previous morning, at Chicago, and had come on to Milwaukee to join the threatrical troupe to which Mr. Gilbert belonged. They both jumped. Mrs. Gilbert was instantly killed ; her husband received severe injuries, but recovered. His real name is Donahoe. When his mother went in search of her son's young wife, it was indeed a pitiful sight. The weeping, aged woman, search- ing eagerly among the mangled forms at the morgue, brushing back the matted hair from the pale foreheads, and anxiously examining every feature of the ghastly faces. Three times she believed she had found her daughter-in-law, and three times was she mistaken. At last she identified the same body which Mr. John R. Rogers, manager of the Minnie Palmer Company, had identified as Mrs. Gilbert ; on the body was found a bright new wedding ring, making the identification still stronger. The body was turned over to her friends.
T. B. Elliott, of the law firm of Jenkins, Ellliott and Winkler, had been attending an I. O. O. F. reception at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He was urged to stay, but declining, took a late train for Milwaukee, and was the last to arrive at the ill-fated hotel. His room was on the fifth floor. He was not asleep very long before he awoke, because of the smoke. He immediately rushed to the window and jumped, striking on the balcony. His injuries were fatal. He was taken to the Kirby House.
Walter H. Scott, an employe of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail- way, occupying the room next to Mr. Elliott, also jumped to the pavement. He was taken to the American Express Office and there died. D. G. Powers, real estate agent and inventor, jumped from his room in the sixth story and was killed. His head and face were burned, which showed that he had either tried to escape through the hall, or that the fire had penetrated his chamber and forced him to jump. His body was taken to the morgue, where it was claimed by friends.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
Judson J. Hough, of Maroa, Illinois, the special agent of the North- western National Insurance Company, and a nephew of Allen Johnson, had a room on the fifth floor. When first noticed he was astride the ornamental cap of the window just below his own room. The fire broke out of the window below him, the cruel flames licking his person, until he was obliged to loose his hold and drop. He struck the balcony, receiving injuries from which he died.
Probably the most touching sight was the death of Miss Libbie A. Chellis, head dressmaker in T. A. Chapman's dry goods store. Her room was in the sixth story, facing Broadway. When the hotel was wrapped in flames, she appeared at her window, and sinking upon her knees, raised her eyes to Heaven, as though beseeching for Divine assistance. Her friends below urged her to jump, but she heeded not, remaining in her kneeling position until the flames wrapped themselves around her, and carried her backward in their un- releasing clasp. Her body was not identified, being burned beyond recog- nition.
During the excitement of the conflagration, no thought was given to the hotel register, and when at last it was thought of and looked for in the safe, was not to be found. Through this reason it will never be known exactly how many lost their lives in the terrible Newhall fire.
In many parts of the ruins, when the clearing away of the debris had begun, were found heaps of pure white ash, which was evidence that many persons were wholly incinerated. How many will never be known. Twenty- eight victims of the terrible fire were identified, while forty-three were uniden- tified. The names of the unidentified were given by Ben K. Tice and John H. Antisdel, clerks at the hotel, from memory. Seven names could not be recalled.
LIST OF IDENTIFIED.
Mrs. L. W. Brown, Mrs. John E. Gilbert, Mary Conroy, Mary Mc- Mahon, Mary McDade, Mary Anderson, Ottillie Waltersdorf, Bessie Brown, Kattie Linehan, Mrs. Allen Johnson, Julia F. Groesbeck (known as Bleeker), Lizzie Anglin, Mary Miller, David H. Martelle, Maggie Sullivan, Augusta Giese, Bridget O'Connell, Julia Fogerty, Anna Hager, Walter H. Scott, Thos. E. Van Loon, David G. Power, Allen Johnson, Judson J. Hough, Theo. B. Elliott, Robert Howie, William C. Wiley, Wm. H. Hall.
LIST OF UNIDENTIFIED.
Libbie A. Chellis, Nora Flanagan, Rosa Burns, Annie McMahon, Mar- garet Owens, Mary Owens, Lizzie Kelly, Jane Dunn, Ann Casey, Augusta Trapp, Kate Monahan, Amelia Krause, Maggie Finnegan, Kate Connors, Mary Burke, Martha Schloessner, J. Bradford Kellogg, Richard Goggin, Q.
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THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRE.
C. Brown, Geo. G. Smith, Judge Geo. Reed, Capt. Jas. P. Vose, L. K. Smith, J. H. Foley, Prof. B. Mason, Geo. Lowry, Just Haak, W. E. Fullmer, Emil Geisler, Fred Barker, Walter Gillon, William Gillon, Daniel Moynahan, Gust Fredericks, Ernst Schoenbucher, C. Kelsey.
MIRACULOUS ESCAPES.
S. A. Grant and E. Erickson, of Palmyra, Wisconsin, had a narrow es- cape from their rooms on the fourth floor. Mr. Erickson was awakened by the confusion in the hall, and, jumping out of bed, he called Mr. Grant, his room-mate, saying, "that the house was on fire." Opening the door, he found the hall filled with hot air and smoke, with the fire about forty feet away. He returned and the companions quickly dressed, even putting on their over- coats. They then went to the window and called for help. Looking down Erickson saw the cast-iron cap on top of the window below projecting out and upward. This projection was only a few feet below him. Holding to the window sash in his own room, he stepped down on the iron cap and swung himself to the center of the window and broke it with his feet, and shouted to his com- panion to follow him. Letting go with one hand, he grasped the window sash below, then releasing the other hand he held to the center bar of the sash, and dropped to the window sill below, and in this manner he swung himself to the next window cap, repeating the operation down three stories until he came to the dining-room on the second floor. From this place he escaped by means of a tablecloth and the telegraph wires into the basement below. His compan- ion, Grant, instead of following him, ran twenty or thirty feet in the hall, when he was driven back by the fierce flames. He now broke open the door of a room, rushed to the window and called to his companion, Erickson, who di- rected him to descend as he was doing. Grant did as he was advised, and thus saved his life.
Sylvester Bleeker, the manager of the Tom Thumb Company, and wife, occupied a room in the fourth story, directly over those occupied by Tom Thumb and wife. Mr. Bleeker tied strips of bed clothes together and began to lower his wife to the balcony below. After being lowered some little distance, she lost her hold and fell to the balcony, receiving injuries from which she afterwards died. Mr. Bleeker succeeded in climbing down also to the balcony, from whence he safely passed over a ladder to the pavement below.
I. W. Brown and wife occupied a room on the fifth floor, of the Broad- way front. Mrs. Brown was awake at the time and clothed, awaiting the hour for the departure of an early train. Mr. Brown was still in bed. Mrs. Brown heard the alarm in the halls, and thinking she heard the roar of flames, urged her husband to investigate the cause. Mr. Brown merely placed his hand on the wall, and jokingly remarked, " that heat usually accompanied a fire, and
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
that the wall was cold." The noise having become greater each moment, Mrs. Brown prevailed on her husband to investigate the cause, which he did by opening the door into the hall. The flames were then a foot above the floor, near the elevator shaft, and in close proximity to their room. After dressing in a hurried manner, Mr. Brown and his wife attempted to leave the room, by way of the hall, but the flames now made it impossible. Tearing up the sheets and blankets, he soon made a rope, which he let down to the balcony. Tying the hastily improvised line to a sewing machine, Mr. Brown endeavored to per- suade his wife to lower herself to the balcony, three stories below, but she was afraid to trust herself on so frail a rope. In order to assure her, Mr. Brown swung out and reached the balcony in safety, his wife having promised that in the event of his success, she would immediately follow. While suspended on the rope and before reaching the balcony, a dark object shot swiftly past him. It was Mrs. Brown, who had jumped to death.
W. C. Wiley, of Detroit, and W. R. Busenbark, of Chicago, roomed on the fourth floor, facing Michigan street. They were awakened by the roar of the fire, and after endeavoring to escape by way of the hall, Mr. Busenbark jumped from the window upon the telegraph wires, the recoil of which threw him off and he fell to the street, receiving a number of bad cuts and some severe injuries. His companion, Mr. Wiley, perished in the hall. James McAlpine, Andrew Hardy and J. R. Duval roomed in the sixth story, on the north side. The windows of their room opened above the roof of Sher- man's photograph gallery. They escaped by jumping from their window and landing upon the roof of the gallery below. The only occupants of all the rooms on the sixth floor, who escaped besides the three just mentioned, were Ben. K. Tice, chief clerk, Patrick Conroy and Thomas Cleary, bell-boys. Mr. Tice escaped by breaking the window at the end of the hall, next the alley, and passing down the ladder built on the side of the building. As he reached the roof of the bridge, between the hotel and the bank building, he heard someone attempting to opon the door on the fifth floor of the hotel, leading to the bridge. He broke in the door and found Lizzie Anglin and car- ried her to the roof of the bank building. Mr. Tice then returned in order to save Mollie Connors, Lizzie's room-mate, but as the flames were now raging furiously from the door and windows, from whence they had just escaped, Mollie's rescue was impossible. Mr. Tice, after breaking a window in the roof of the bank, took Miss Anglin to a hallway below. Her injuries proved fatal.
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