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THE HISTORIC WABASH
WITH PAPERS READ BEFORE THE CASS COUNTY,
INDIANA, HISTORICAL SOCIETY AT
ITS SPRING MEETINGS, 1907
W. SWIFT WRIGHT
1907
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"PASTIME SKETCHES'
EXPLANATORY
In writing these few sketches of earlier days, I
have not been haunted by a desire to be known as
an author. Nor have I hoped to amass a fortune,
as the sale must necessarily be very limited.
During a brief residence in New England my
attention was called to the great interest displayed
there in matters pertaining to local history, and this
caused me to realize that much valuable local his-
tory is lost through negligence, not only in New
England, but throughout the United States. In our
own State, Indiana, the pioneers are rapidly passing
away. In ten years few will remain to tell the tales
of the clearings in the wilderness and of the trails
of the red men. During a few days' sojourn at Lo-
gansport, my home and native town, I have talked
with early settlers and endeavored to add a little
to the historical lore of the community. These
sketches are not and do not purport to be complete
history. They were written as a pastime, and are
published simply in the hope that they may prove
entertaining to others. While they are not exhaus-
tive, care has been taken to make them accurate.
The occasional bits of philosophy are not profound,
and are entirely gratuitous, so that this is not a
serious drawback. To the Cass County Historical
Society this work is dedicated, in the hope that it
may incite others to greater and better effort.
W. S. W.
Logansport, Ind., July 20th, 1907.
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 6
The Study of History 9
"Lo" The Poor Indian 14
Early Wabash Navigation 19
Three Generals in Indian Wars 23
Ye Olde Inns. 25
Early Methods of Transportation 31
Logansport's First Boom 36
Ye Olde Logansport 41
Ye Early Schools 45
Some Suggestions Historical 51
Early Banking in Logansport 55
Ye Olde Markets 61
Some Thoughts of History 64
Logansport in Retrospect 69
The City of Bridges-An Old Handbill 72
A Letter of the Early Days 77
Early Indian Battles 80
An Early Painter 86
A Trip on the Canal 91
A Story of Progress— Railroads 96
Two Rare Books 101
The " Underground Railway" 103
Military History 107
Local Men of National or State Fame 116
Cass County Company First in Civil War 120
Boyhood Sports in Former Days 124
Suggestion of Historical Society Home 128
In Lighter Vein— About Brass Bands 131
And Base Ball Also 136
Historical Society— Organization 141
Constitution 145
First Public Meeting 148
Paper of Mrs. J. W. Ballard 149
Paper of E. S. Rice 153
Paper of Joseph Patterson 170
Second Public Meeting 174
Paper of Mrs M. Y. Buchanan 176
Paper of W. T. Giffe 180
Volunteer Fire Dep't History-H. W. Bringhurst 184
Newspaper History 195
Organized Labor History 203
Sketch of General Cass 207
Authors, Artists and Actors 213
INTRODUCTION
The course of empire has ever swept westward.
The little colony of Pilgrim Fathers on the shores
of the Atlantic was destined, to be the foundation
stone of a great republic. As the pioneers pushed
westward new hardships were encountered which
only served to develop character and make a vig-
orous race. The sound of the axe in the unbroken
forest was followed by the cabin in the clearing,
then came the village, town, and city, and brain
succeeded brawn as a civilizing force. The red man
sullenly withdrew toward the setting sun until at
length his sun was set forever and he became al-
most a tradition.
The destinies of races and the philosophy of
history are rather the themes of essayists, and
hardly come within the province of the local histor-
ian whose sole mission is to chronicle local events.
However an occasional lapse into revery is permis-
sable and if in the main the chronicles of the pio-
neers are correct a little philosophy will be par-
doned.
The valley of the Wabash proved an attractive
spot to the pioneers, just as it had to the Potta-
wattomie and Miami Indians. They were seeking
fertile lands as enthusiastically as the "Forty Nin-
ers" sought gold in the far west a decade or two
later. They opened trading posts and gave the In-
dians articles of merchandise they had gotten along
without for generations in return for furs and good
6 Pastime Sketches
the Indians needed. And it thus came to pass that
in time the superior race occupied the lands in the
Wabash valley and the Indians were fighting- their
last battles from the rocky crevices of barren moun-
tains and the alkali plains of the west.
There was one particularly charming spot in
the Wabash Valley designated on the charts. of the
wilderness as the "Mouth of Eel." Two rivers
flowed through forests of magnificent grandeur,
met and journeyed onward hand in hand to mingle
with the waters of the Ohio and later add to the
majesty of the Mississippi. The point of juncture
of the Wabash and Eel seemed a fitting site for a
great city. There were high hills to the north and
south and beautiful hills between the two rivers.
Many islands then dotted the rivers, the climate
was healthful and wild game abounded. And so at
the Mouth of Eel log cabins sprung up, trading
posts were established and a home-made sign an-
nounced a tavern with "entertainment for man and
beast."
Logansport for a time was a nameless town,
then came a christening and sturdy frontiersmen
contended for the honor of naming the new born.
There was a test of skill with rifle to decide upon
whom should fall the honor and thus Logansport
came to have a place on the map — "Logan was the
friend of the white man," so the old school readers
said, and after Logan, the Indian chief, the town
was named. The new city was to be the head of
navigation on the Wabash. As a port it never
reached the greatness planned for it by its found-
ers, though in the palmy days of the canal it be-
came a substantial shipping point. In this connec-
tion however accuracy compels the statement that
Pastime Sketches 7
the Chief Logan of the school reader was not the
Chief Logan of the Wabash valley but a Pawnnee
chief of the eastern forests.
Whatever else of growth, progress, change, or
decay marked the town as it grew into a city, and
later into a city of no mean proportions is best told
in a narrative of events. The "City of Bridges"
became the "City of Natural Advantages," and the
"Capital of Northern Indiana" at the hands of apt
newspaper editors. Perhaps it may acquire a new
title later on. But that again is not history.
PASTIME SKETCHES
CHAPTER I.
THE STUDY OF HISTORY.
Every community reaches a historical stage
sooner or later, a period when less time is given to
the present and more to the past. It is an era of
contemplation and study, rather than of active in-
terest in current events only, of calmer philosophy
and deeper thought, a more intellectual age, per-
haps. It is then the past is studied for the lessons
it contains. The individual reaches a similar stage
in his journey through life, when he finds a growing
interest in the panorama of the past. And so we read
history for the wisdom it gives us, for the romance
we find in it and for the philosophy it contains. It
was Patrick Henry who said, "There is but one
lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the
lamp of experience." History has at all times been
the favorite study of statesmen. We know that
history repeats, that individuals under similar con-
ditions will act in a similar manner. From this,
conclusions are drawn and wise legislation enacted.
There is not much in local history that has a
bearing on national character. Rather in this curi-
osity is aroused, the imagination is excited and a
greater or less degree of awe is inspired. Man is
fond of relics, a chip of wood from Old Ironsides
commands as much respect as the revolutionary
sword of an ancestor. Nor is the value of this trait
10 Pastime Sketches
to be underestimated in the formation of character.
Truly, man is a historical animal, and the higher the
plane of civilization the greater the interest in his-
torical data.
The restless characteristic that causes man to
make history we do not understand. We do not
know why nations spring up, rule the earth for a
time and decline, why there should be a rise and
a fall in a nation like the Roman Empire. We sim-
ply know that nations, like individuals, reach a
zenith, then decay; that a new race, or a new na-
tion, becomes dominant for a time, and gives place
to a rising empire.
An address on the "Uses of History" was deliv-
ered as long ago as 1831 by Andrew Wylie, D. D.,
president of Indiana College. It is an almost for-
gotten document, but so instructive that extracts
from it will be interesting. "History," he says,
"gives us an insight into our own nature. In the
past ages of the world man has been placed in al-
most every possible condition that the nature of
earthly things can furnish. The power of all sorts
of institutions of all sorts of systems, and forms of
government — and of every conceivable religious
and philosophical creed, and of every possible com-
bination of circumstances has been, at one time or
another, tried upon him — and truly he has occa-
sionally exhibited strange phases of character, and
been seen ranging the scale of qualities from the
point where he affronts the brute up to that which
shows him to be on the confines of angelic nature.
Whatever be his tendencies and capacities, his
power and frailties, we shall find them in history;
for they have all been developed."
In another paragraph he says:
Pastime Sketches 11
"There is no road to earthly good, real or imagi-
nary, in which some of mankind have not pursued
it, with all the ardor and energy of which their na-
ture was susceptible. They have heaped up wealth,
courted honor, grasped at power, sought for pleas-
ure in every way and by all expedients. The scep-
ter, the miter, the sword, art, nature, solitude, so-
ciety, everything has been tried, and man has come
away from them all, dissatisfied. Those things
which men, usually, most intensely covet, have been
found by experience to be supremely worthless.
One seeks to be prime minister of a great nation,
obtains the office, and stabs himself. Another,
weary of royalty, renounces it, and then goes to
war to recover what he had voluntarily resigned.
A third aims at universal empire, spends years of
relentlessness and sheds oceans of blood to obtain
it, and dies, chained to a rock. "What do you in-
tend," said Cyneas to Pyrrhus, preparing for an
expedition into Italy, "when you have subdued the
Romans?" "Pass into Sicily." "What then?"
"Conquer the Carthagenians." "And what next?"
"Return home and enjoy ourselves." "And why,"
said the sensible minister, "can we not do the last
even now?"
In 1848 John B. Dillon, formerly of Logansport,
delivered an address on "The National Decline of
the Indians." In that discourse he treats of the
Indian as a relic of barbarism and rejoices in the
dawning of civilization. In this, of course, he is
right, but he does not discuss the causes of the rise
and fall of that nation. "If we look backward," he
says, "through a period of more than one hundred
and fifty years, to the dawning of civilization in the
west, at every point where a ray of light illuminates
12 Pastime Sketches
the condition of the Miami Indians, we shall behold
mournful evidences of the downward progress of a
great aboriginal nation, and we shall learn, too,
something of the slow and sad means by which a
vast and beautiful region has been reclaimed from
a state of barbarism."
In the early part of the eighteenth century, along
in 1700, the Miami Indians occupied all of Indiana
and a great part of Ohio. They had numerous vil-
lages and were a great and powerful nation. How
long before this they had been supreme in this ter-
ritory is not known, probably for many hundred
years. As early as 1670 missionaries visited this
tribe about the southern shores of Lake Michigan.
Later the Pottawatomies swept down from the
north and crowded the Miamis south beyond the
Wabash river, the dividing line when the whites
drove both tribes west of the Mississippi. Thus we
have the facts of history, the rise and fall of this
great nation, and a study of the causes can not be
but instructive.
The pioneers did all in their power to civilize
the Indians. They established schools and churches
for them, taught them agriculture, sent many of the
younger men to colleges, where they were educated
in the knowledge of the white people, but with few
exceptions they returned to their native haunts and
to the customs of their native tribes. It was a new
epoch, a new race, and the Indian, as a remnant of
the old, adopted only what was vicious in the cus-
toms of the white man and stubbornly refused to
learn that which was good. It is a lamentable fact,
but vice as well as virtue was taught the Indians,
and history records that the vice they were taught
rapidly hastened their downfall.
Pastime Sketches 13
Whatever the cause, a once noble race, which
roamed the forests with unerring step, which en-
gaged in brave and brilliant warfare, which attacked
the wild beasts of the jungle with prowess and
courage, became weak, decadent and finally disap-
peared while a new race, skilled in art and agricul-
ture, cleared away the forests, cultivated the fields,
built cities of magnificent architecture, established
schools and temples and took up the burden of a
more advanced civilization. It was not a progress
by a mingling of races nor by assimilation of the
old. It was an abrupt transformation, the death of
the old race, the birth of the new.
By an immutable law of nature we do not un-
derstand races arise, exist and disappear. Call it
progress if you will, or only change, for there are
lost arts and forgotten civilizations. The fact re-
mains that we are today occupying the homes of a
race of human beings practically extinct. When we
go to Rome we do as the Romans do, but we did
not at any time adopt the Indian life and customs.
It was an epoch in history, a change of civilizations,
and we are the pioneers of the new in this part of
the world.
It seems almost beyond belief that there are
men now living who saw this country as an almost
impassable wilderness, Logansport as a village in
the forest and Indians camping at the "Point," and
lounging about the village tavern or the village
store. Many men not old in years remember tales
of the early days told by their mothers, born farther
east, of Indians asking for food or water at their
doors when first they came as brides to this village
in the wilderness. Here this has become history,
a little further west it is still reality, though the end
of the Indian race is not far distant.
14 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER II.
"LO," THE POOR INDIAN.
While Logansport was still young, "Lo, the
poor Indian" was invited to go west. The invita-
tion is a rare piece of literature in its wording. It
is dignified and charitable. The pale face did not
want the timbered lands of the red man, he
loved the Indian and wanted to make him happy,
and so found for him in the west a broader forest
filled with bigger game. The invitation is interest-
ing in that it shows the dwindled strength of the
Miamis and Pottawatomies at the time to have been
less than two thousand. It is also interesting to
note that notwithstanding the benevolent tone of
the invitation, the Indians declined to accept it, and
in the transfer which was made the chiefs were
taken in chains and the tribes escorted by an armed
force. The joint resolution passed by the Indiana
legislature in 1830 reads as follows :
"The memorial of the general assembly of the
State of Indiana respectfully represents that two
tribes of Indians, about two thousand in number,
reside within the limits of this State, the means
of subsisting by the chase being diminished, pos-
sessing neither the knowledge nor inclination to
change their native customs, the total extinction
of these people seems to be as rapid and inevitable
as are the approaches and influence of civiliza-
tion and improvement upon the forests which they
inhabit. To endeavor to avert from the Pottawa-
Pastime Sketches 15
tomies and Miamis the fate which has attended
many of their kindred tribes is a duty sanctioned
by a regard for the national reputation, and by
every humane and philanthropic consideration. As
the best means of accomplishing so desirable a re-
sult, and of securing the happiness of the aboriginal
race, your memoralists respectfully and earnestly
urge the adoption of measures to induce the Indians
within this State to abandon, from choice, those
narrow forests, where they can now acquire but a
precarious and scanty subsistence, and to emigrate
to the country west of the Mississippi which is so
much better adapted to their wants and their habits.
The benevolent and patriotic views and recommen-
dations of the President of the United States, on
this subject, of which they tender their cordial ap-
probation, render it unnecessary for your memoral-
ists to offer arguments in detail. As a preliminary
measure to the removal of the Indians, your me-
moralists also request that an appropriation may
be made in order to extinguish their title to such
lands as border on the line of the Wabash and Erie
canal, their possession of which greatly impedes the
progress of that important work and arrests the
settlement and improvement of the most interesting
and desirable part of Indiana ; Resolved, by the gen-
eral assembly of the State of Indiana, that the gov-
ernor be requested to forward a copy of the fore-
going memorial to each of our senators and repre-
sentatives in congress, to be laid before that body at
its present session."
Congress acted on the resolution and passed a
law appointing a commission of three to carry it
out. The history of Indiana and Cass county by
Thomas B. Helm contains accurate and interesting
16 Pastime Sketches
detail of these early days before Indiana was a
State, and, in fact, gives much interesting Indian
data. With that wealth of information at hand
further detail is not necessary, and it would be mere
repetition to cover that period of the country's his^
tory. Some of the Indians went earlier, but the
last sad farewells to the haunts of their ancestors
was said in the summer of 1838, when Colonel Abel
C. Pepper, the Indian agent, and General John Tip-
ton escorted, by order of congress, a body of one
thousand Pottawatomies to the new reservation
west of the Mississippi. Several years later the
Miamis were removed to their new home. Perhaps
no more graphic description of the farewell can be
written than that given in the Helm history. It says :
"It was a sad and mournful spectacle to witness
these children of the forest slowly retiring from the
home of their childhood, that contained not only the
graves of their revered ancestors, but also many
endearing scenes to which their memories would
ever recur as sunny spots along their pathway
through the wilderness. They felt that they were
bidding farewell to the hills, valleys and streams of
their infancy ; the more exciting hunting grounds
of their advanced youth, as well as the stern and
bloody battlefields where they had contended in
riper manhood, on which they had received wounds,
and where many of their friends and loved relatives
had fallen, covered with gore and with glory. All
these they were leaving behind them, to be dese-
crated by the plowshare of the white man. As they
cast mournful glances back toward these loved
scenes that were rapidly fading in the distance,
tears fell from the cheek of the downcast warrior,
old men trembled, matrons wept, the swarthy maid-
Pastime Sketches 17
en's cheek turned pale, and sighs and' half-sup-
pressed sobs escaped from the motley groups as
they passed along, some on foot, some on horseback,
and others in wagons — sad as a funeral procession.
Several of the aged warriors were seen to cast
glances toward the sky, as if they were imploring
aid from the spirits of their departed heroes, who
were looking down upon them from the clouds, or
from the Great Spirit, who would ultimately redress
the wrongs of the red man, whose broken bow had
fallen from his hand, and whose sad heart was
bleeding within him. Ever and anon one of the
party would start out into the brush and break
back to their old encampments on Eel river and on
the Tippecanoe, declaring that he would rather die
than be banished from their country. Thus scores
of discontented emigrants returned from different
points on their journey ; and it was several years
before they could be induced to join their country-
men west of the Mississippi."
When we recall that the original thirteen States,
organizing the Union in 1776, comprised only a
small portion of the eastern part of the United
States, and that the part of the country east of the
Mississippi river as far east as these States was
"territory" of which we were part, being from 1776
to 1816 part of the Northwest Territory, we can
realize the rapid growth made almost within the
memory of men now. living. It was only in 1803
that the "Louisiana Purchase" from France gave
us all the territory west of the Mississippi river to
the Rocky mountains, and it was not until 1845
that Texas, part of Mexico, was annexed. We ac-
quired part of the territory west of the Rocky
mountains by treaty with Mexico in 1848, all that
18 Pastime Sketches
part of the country south of Idaho and Wyoming.
Oregon and the territory to the north of this bound-
ary line became ours by discovery a hundred years
ago. Washington Irving's description of the found-
ing of Astoria in this territory will be found very
interesting. The Indians still occupy reservations
in the western territory, but the progress of the
pale face has been ruthless, and the Indian race
will soon disappear.
John Elliot came over in the Lyon, the next
boat after the Mayflower. He translated the Bible
into the Indian language and preached to the In-
dians at the colony of Massachusetts. The old El-
liot church is still standing in Roxbury, Massachu-
setts. We do not know what the Indians thought
of us who deprived them of their "happy hunting
grounds" here and sent them to the "happy hunt-
ing grounds" of the hereafter. However that may
be, the writer of history does not philosophize, but
narrates. The race occupying the boundless plains
and almost impenetrable forests has disappeared,
and a new civilization has sprung up, a nobler peo-
ple with higher ideals and grander ambitions.
Pastime Sketches 19
CHAPTER III.
EARLY WABASH NAVIGATION.
For years it has been an open question as to
whether or not steamboats ever plied on the Wa-
bash as far up as this city. The question is settled
by Sanford C. Cox in his book, "Recollections of the
Early Settlement of the Wabash Valley."
It will be seen that steamboats did ply as far as
this point — one rather was dragged as far as the
point below the Third street bridge and the other
plied after many efforts past this city and as far as
Peru. In narrating these efforts the book says :
"During the June freshet in 1834, a little steamer
called the Republican advertised that she would
leave the wharf at Lafayette for Logansport on a
given day. A few of us concluded to take a pleas-
ure trip on the Republican, and be on the pioneer
steamboat that would land at Logansport, a thriv-
ing town situated at the confluence of the Wabash
and Eel rivers, in the heart of a beautiful and fertile
region of country. At the hour appointed the Re-
publican left the landing at Lafayette, under a good
head of steam, and "walked the waters like a thing
of life." We soon passed Cedar Bluffs, Davis' Fer-
ry, the mouths of Wild Cat and Tippecanoe, and
began to anticipate a quick and successful trip. But
soon after passing the Delphi landing the boat stuck
fast upon a sandbar, which detained us for several
hours. Another and another obstruction was met
with every few miles, which we overcame with
20 Pastime Sketches
much difficulty, labor and delay. At each success-
ive sandbar the most of the boat's crew and many
of the passengers got out into the water and lifted
the boat, or pulled upon a large rope that was ex-
tended to the shore — an important auxiliary to
steam power to propel the vessel over these ob-
structions. Night overtook us stuck fast upon the
bottom of the river below Tipton's port.
"Several days and nights were spent in fruitless
attempts to get over the rapids. All hands, except
the women and a few others, were frequently in the
water up to their chins, for hours together, endeav-
oring to lift the boat off the bar. The water fell
rapidly and prevented the boat from either ascend-
ing farther up or returning down the river. While
at this place we were visited by several companies
of well dressed and fine looking Miami and Potta-
watomie Indians, of all ages and sexes, who would
sit for hours on the bank, admiring the boat, which
they greatly desired to see in motion, under a full
head of steam. After four days and nights' ineffect-
ual efforts to proceed, the boat was abandoned by
all except the captain and part of his crew.
"Two or three weeks afterwards over a dozen
yokes of large oxen were brought down from Lo-
gansport, and the Republican was hauled over rip-
ples and sandbars to Logansport, and the citizens
of that place and the surrounding country had the
luxury of a steamboat arrival on the Fourth of July,
and Captain Towne had the (doubtful) honor of
being the commander of the first steamboat that
visited Logansport ; for it cost him his boat, which
bilged soon after its arrival in port, and its hull,
years afterward, might be seen lying sunk to the
Pastime Sketches 21
bottom of the Wabash near its confluence with the
waters of Eel river."
"During the next summer there was another June
freshet in the Wabash, and the steamboat Science
was advertised for a trip to Logansport, Peru and
Chief Godfrey's Village above the mouth of the
Mississinewa. The unusually high stage of the
river gave fine promise of a successful trip up the
Wabash. At Delphi and other points along the
river, considerable accessions were made to our
company. The boat reached Logansport without
any difficulty. There was a large increase of pas-
sengers from this point. The Tiptons, Laselles,
Durets, Polks, Johnsons and many others of the old
settlers of the town turned out, many of them with
their entire families, for a steamboat excursion, to
visit the neighboring town of Peru and their abo-
riginal neighbors and valuable customers at God-
frey's Village.
"The boat left the wharf at Logansport under a
full head of steam, which was considered necessary
to carry her over the rapids a short distance above
town. Our gallant boat failed to make the ripple,
and after puffing and snorting for about two hours
without gaining over forty feet, she dropped back
to the foot of the rapids, where several hundred of
the passengers went ashore to walk around the
rapids. Rosin, tar and sides of bacon were freely
cast into the fire, to create more steam, and another
longer and stronger effort was made to get over the
rapids, but in vain.
"After narrowly escaping the destruction of his
boat, the captain deemed it prudent to drop down to
Logansport again and lighten the boat. Over two
hundred barrels of flour and salt were taken off the
22 Pastime Sketches
boat, which laid that night at the landing at Lo-
gansport and one hundred or more of the citizens of
Lafayette and Delphi shared the hospitality of their
neighbors at Logansport. After all the hotels and
boarding houses were filled to overflowing, private
houses were thrown open to accommodate those
who could not get lodging on the boat, and next
morning scores were willing to bear witness to the
kindness and hospitality of the citizens of Logans-
port.
''After breakfast the most of the passengers
walked around the rapids, and the steamer passed
over them the first effort. All joined in congratu-
lations for the success of the morning, which was
considered a favorable omen for a successful and
pleasant trip. We soon reached Miamisburg and
Peru, two little rival towns on the west bank of the
Wabash."
Pastime Sketches 23
CHAPTER IV.
THREE GENERALS IN INDIAN WARS.
In addition to General Tipton, a hero of Tippe-
canoe, and General Crooks, who commanded Penn-
sylvania troops at Ft. Meigs, in Ohio, Logansport
had another general conspicuous in Indian warfare.
General Walter Wilson was born in Kentucky
in 1782. His father soon afterwards settled at "old
Post Vincennes," in Knox county. In 1811, when
29 years of age he was sent by Gov. Harrison on a
mission to Prophets Town on the Wabash. On his
return from this, a successful trip, he was sent to
meet Tecumseh to express Governor Harrison's dis-
approval of the warrior violating his agreement.
He met Tecumseh about twenty miles above Post
Vincennes. where he had no right to be. An expedi-
tion of which he was in command was soon after-
wards fitted out to punish the Indians for numerous
acts of hostility. They reached Prophets Town No-
vember 6th and took part in the battle of Tippecanoe
the day following. Wilson was promoted to the posi-
tion of colonel for bravery in that fight, and in the
attack on the Mississinewa towns, July, 1813, com-
manded the left flank. He continued in the suc-
ceeding campaigns against the Indians, acquitting
himself with credit and earning the title of general.
He was a member of the legislative council of the
territory in 1810, and continued a member through
several sessions. He was also a member of the first
legislature after the organization of the State in
24 Pastime Sketches
1816. In 1828 he moved to Cass county and pur-
chased the farm on the north bank of Eel river
opposite Riverside Park. In 1831 and 1832 he rep-
resented Cass and Carroll counties in the legisla-
ture. He died in 1838 and was buried with Masonic
honors. His grave on his old farm, the Spry Sunny-
side farm, is marked by a monument and a small
inclosure. His son, William Wilson, was postmas-
ter just after the war. and grandsons, W. W. Wil-
son and Byron Wilson, were mail carriers for sev-
eral years. Mrs. Anna Chandler of this city is a
granddaughter and Walter W. Chandler a great-
grandson.
Pastime Sketches 25
CHAPTER V.
YE OLDE INNS.
The early taverns of our town could many a
tale unfold were some one living to tell them.
There were gathered the pioneer and patriot who
knew no fear, and often with them the redskin,
gradually being driven out by the pale face. The
earliest Cass county hostelry had no name. The
rude home-made sign bore the words, "Entertain-
ment by A. Chamberlain." The hotel was a small
log cabin, located on the south bank of the Wabash,
opposite the mouth of Eel river.
Mr. Chamberlain was the first settler, and,
strange to say, at once started a hotel. He came
in August. 1826, and began to look around for a
business opening. The hotel business caught his
fancy. He knew that all great enterprises had small
beginnings and as he was sure of at least one guest
all the year round, himself, he put his money into
this enterprise. He no doubt was a little lonesome
at first, playing the part of proprietor, clerk, bellboy,
cook, chambermaid and guest, but he became used
to it. However, Indian agents, traders and pio-
neers were soon on hand as guests, and the hotel
prospered. No doubt many blood-curdling tales
were told about its fireside. The schedule of rates
fixed later by the commissioners read as follows:
"For keeping a horse one night, hay and grain, 50
cents: for victualling, per meal, 2? cents; lodging,
1 J ' _. cents: brandy, per half pint, 50 cents: wines.
26 Pastime Sketches
per half pint, 50 cents; rum, per half pint, 50 cents;
Holland gin, 50 cents; whisky, per half pint, 25
cents."
The schedule is rather long on liquors and short
on foods. Quail on toast and saddlerocks on the
half shell were not available, probably. The mo-
tive of the commissioners in making the rates is not
disclosed. It will probably never be known whether
Mr. Chamberlain was overcharging, and had to be
held down, or whether the guests were remonstrat-
ing, and had to be held up. Neither does history
say whether or not Mr. Chamberlain wore a dia-
mond scarf-pin and said "Front" in a stern tone of
voice.
The second hotel, and the first one in Logans-
port proper, was built by Israel Johnson, who came
to Logansport in 1826. It was also the first two-
story building in the county. It is still standing,
on Market street, between second and Third, oppo-
site the Catholic church. Mr. Johnson was born in
Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1803, and
came to Richmond, Ind., at the age of 17. Four
years later he moved to Logansport. He was a
member of the town council and later a prominent
business man. He died in 1866.
The hotel had no particular name, but was the
best hotel in town at that time. An old ford crossed
the Wabash river at Second street, and, as there
were no bridges, expected guests frequently slept
in the woods on the south bank of the river when
the water was high. Indians often camped at "The
Point" just below. There was a wide porch at the
back of the house, the roof extending over it, and
parties of Indians once in a while asked permission
to sleep on the porch. They were allowed to do
Pastime Sketches 27
this, as they were friendly and harmless. Mr. John-
son soon engaged in commercial business, and made
quite a fortune for those days. At the time of his
death he was one of Logansport's leading business
men.
After the building of the Michigan road and the
Wabash and Erie canal in the middle "thirties"
many taverns sprung up in town and county. The
Ashland House, corner Third and Market streets,
was probably the next hotel in Logansport. It was
a frame and was later the Cullen House. It stood
where the Catholic school now stands. In it was the
office of the stage coaches, which ran north to South
Bend, south to Indianapolis and east and west. Jo-
seph Cullen was the proprietor, and about 1852 was
appointed an Indian agent and went west. Job
Eldridge moved the house across the street for a
residence, where it is still standing, when Cullen
built the brick Cullen House on the site. It was
continued as a hotel for several years. The Leamy
House, afterwards the Layton House and Panhan-
dle Station, about the site of the Western Union
Telegraph office, was built prior to 1838, and was a
hotel for many years. The old Barnett was built
by Colonel Vigus prior to 1838. It was kept by Mr.
Humbert and was called the Washington Hotel.
Colonel Vigus had to move in from his farm and
run it. Alexander Barnett, "Alec," as he was called,
was a famous host of the Wabash Valley. He
bought and enlarged the hotel in the early fifties
and made it an attractive place for visitors for many
years. The block alongside down to Second street
was filled with frame business houses and was
known as "Commercial Row." He afterwards built
and managed the present Barnett Hotel. Of the
28 Pastime Sketches
present hotels the Gehring House, now the Johnston
Hotel, the New Barnett and the Murdock come
within the memory of those now living. Both the
New Barnett and the Murdock have had disastrous
fires, but with no loss of life.
One of the older hotels was the Bliss House on
the Southside, but it was built comparatively re-
cently. The Panhandle Station was near it, the
road not crossing the river then, and it was on the
new line of the Michigan road, which originally
crossed the Wabash river at a ford below Uhl's
mill and came up the north bank of Eel river to a
point above Sixth street, where it continued north.
The Klopp House was a well known hotel facing
Eel river just above Sixth street, on the Northside,
and the building, a frame, is still standing. It
gained some notoriety in the early days by reason
of a murder on the Michigan road near there, the
murderer hanging himself in jail.
The Keystone House, northwest corner Sixth
and Broadway, and the Larimore House, just be-
low it, were considered hotels in the earlier days.
Along the Michigan road, north of town, taverns
sprung up to meet the needs of travelers along that
highway. There was a ''Four Mile House," on the
McDowell farm, owned by Clay Metzger ; a "Seven
Mile House," built before 1837, and managed by
James Troutman until 1853; a "Nine Mile House"
on the farm owned by Joseph Penrose and which
was kept by a man named Demoss, and later, from
1856 to I860, by Wilson Booth. The "Twelve Mile
House" was just over the Fulton county line on a
farm afterwards owned by Williamson Wright, and
there was one at the town of Fulton, and others t»c-
Pastime Sketches 29
tween that and Rochester. Those were the thrill-
ing days of the stage coach.
The canal was also a great thoroughfare and
every town had its tavern. There was a hotel at
Lewisburg, built in the forties by David Miller and
afterwards managed by the father of Samuel Pan-
ned. It was used as a boarding house later by a
Mr. Smott, killed in a runaway. His widow con-
ducted it for several years, and for a time at least
part of it was used as a grocery. The hotel at
Georgetown, which was to be the head of naviga-
tion on the Wabash, was a log building, and stood
where the John T. Wiley store stands now. Dr.
]. B. Shultz, whd was born at Lockport, three miles
below, remembers as one of his boyhood experi-
ences a guest there hastily coming to their house
on horseback at 3 o'clock in the morning with the
story that he had overheard some men in the next
room planning to kill and rob him, and had made
his escape. Mr. Strowbridge, a Philadelphia mil-
lionaire, of the dry goods firm of Strowbridge &
Clothiers, corner Eight and Market streets, Phila-
delphia, began his career there, clerking in the coun-
try store, and afterwards for Pollard & Wilson in
Logansport.
Resides these there was a hotel built of brick
in 1843 at the corner of Fourth and Market- streets,
where the dry goods store now stands. It was
painted yellow and was quite pretentious in its day.
It was kept by Mr. Guiger, and J. C. Merriam first
found there a home when he came to Logansport
to make his fortune. The old Nash House, corner
Sixth and High streets, was for many years a popu-
lar stopping place, and the Larimore House, on
North street, between Fifth and Sixth, was fre-
30 Pastime Sketches
quented by farmers. Perhaps there were many
others, but interest centers more around those of
the early days when guests went armed and In-
dians dropped in for a chat, looking for a Delmonico
in that wilderness.
Pastime Sketches 31
CHAPTER VI.
EARLY METHODS OF TRANSPORTATION.
A few years ago two small books were found in
a collection of old relics dating back to the stage
coach days. Tha. first was dated in 1838 and the
later in 1847, and showed the stage routes. They
were copies of "Indiana Delineated and Stage
Guide for Travelers to the West." In the stage
days Philadelphia was the center of trade, and the
guide books carefully told tourists how to get there.
In those days a man who had been to New York
and back was a seven day wonder.
The average charge in Indiana for stage coach
transportation was 5 cents a mile and the rate of
travel in fair weather about eight miles an hour.
Many of the coaches stopped at night after making
sixty miles in the daytime, but on the National road,
east and west through Indianapolis, the coaches did
not stop at night, and made 150 miles every twenty-
four hours, the horses being changed often, the
tourist sleeping but little. The trip from Evansville
to Logansport took a week in good weather. In
bad weather all schedules were abandoned, and a
speed of over two miles an hour was often impos-
sible.
An old map of stage coach routes in Indiana in
1838 is remarkable in that it shows with what uni-
formity railroads succeeded stage coach routes. Lo-
gansport then, as now, was a commercial center
and "the capital" of northern Indiana, being situ-
32 Pastime Sketches
ated in the center of all that part of the State north
of Indianapolis. Stage coaches ran from Logans-
port to Indianapolis, to Delphi and Lafayette, to
Pern, Wabash and Ft. Wayne, to Marion by way
of Pern, to Kokomo and Muncie, to Xorth Man-
chester, to Monticello, to Plymouth and South Bend
and to other points by changes. There was no di-
rect line to Chicago and none to Frankfort and
Crawfordsville. The Wabash and Erie canal boat
followed the stage coach a few years later.
Twenty years after this map was made the rail-
roads were destroying the usefulness of the stage
coach. The first railroad into Logansport was
opened in 1857. It was an extension of the Rich-
mond and Newcastle road, and finally became the
Cincinnati branch of the Panhandle. It came into
Logansport on the Southside, and the station, water
tank and turntable were just west of the turnpike,
:ew rods south of the Wabash river. The hole
dug for the turntable is all that is left to mark the
spot. The first engine used on the road was a
rather small affair. It was brought on a canal boat
from the east and dragged to the track on the
Southside. Travel was not very brisk in those days.
When the Taber dam was built in the Wabash
above Eighteenth street in 1859 the lumber was
sawed at a mill owned by Williamson Wright at
Lincoln. A car load was brought in at a time, the
car being atttached to the passenger train and left
standing on the main track, near the dam, until the
next day. It was unloaded in the meantime, and
the passenger train took the empty car back the
next day. The trains were not very rapid nor the
road very smooth, but it was quite a step in ad-
vance of the old stage coach. The ulterior purpose
Pastime Sketches 33
of the projectors was not disclosed, probably-
through fear of competition, but it was announced
that the road would be extended southward along
the line of the present Wabash road to Lafayette,
and the line was surveyed and graded for some dis-
tance. The probability is that this later line was
intended as a branch, both lines uniting at Logans-
port, with an extension north to Lake Michigan.
The proposition of a railroad coming up one side
of the State and going down the other was, how-
ever, the one presented to the public.
The history of this road is interesting. On the
6th of February, 1848, a charter was issued to the
Newcastle and Richmond Railroad Company, and in
1851 the charter was amended to permit the road to
extend north to some undetermined point on the
Wabash river. The name at that time was changed
to the Cincinnati, Logansport & Chicago Railway
Company. Actual work was commenced in 1851,
but it was not completed until later. The extension
to Logansport was completed in the years fol-
lowing, and the road was formally opened for busi-
ness in 1857. William Lincoln, after whom the
town of Lincoln was named, was the constructing
engineer, and he afterwards built the Taber dam
in the Wabash. In later years he was connected
with the Wabash railroad, and lived at Logansport.
Williamson Wright was president of the road.
Following the Columbus division of the Panhan-
dle, the Columbus & Piqua Railway Company was
incorporated under the laws of Ohio, and was to
be built to the Indiana State line. In 1852 the
Marion and Mississinewa Valley Railway Company
was incorporated to construct a road from Marion
to Union City on the Ohio State line, and in 1853
34 Pastime Sketches
the Marion and Logansport Railway Company was
incorporated to build from Logansport to Marion
to connect at Anoka Junction with the Richmond
road and enter Logansport on its tracks. The two
were consolidated in 1854, and were afterwards sold
to the LTnion & Logansport Railroad Company,
which was incorporated in 1863. The road was
opened up for business March 15th, 1868.
The State Line road, as it is called, was incor-
porated in 1853 under the name of the Logansport
& Pacific Railway Company. William Chase of
Logansport was president, and David M. Dunn of
Logansport one of the directors. September 12th,
1854, the name was changed to the Logansport,
Peoria & Burlington Railroad Company, and work
was commenced, but soon abandoned. The first
named company executed a mortgage for one million
dollars in 1853 to raise money to build the road, and
T. H. Wilson and E. S. Rice signed as witnesses
to the same, which was acknowledged before
Charles B. Laselle, notary public. The road was
changed to the Toledo, Logansport & Burlington
Railway Company in 1858, and was formally opened
for business July 1st, 1860. September 25th, 1857,
the Chicago & Cincinnati Railroad Company was
incorporated to build a road from Logansport to
Valparaiso. The name was changed to the Chicago
& Great Eastern Railway Company in 1863, and
the terminus was changed to the eastern boundary
of Illinois at Chicago. This consolidated with the
Galena & Illinois River Railroad Company the same
year, retaining the Great Eastern company name.
A similar consolidation was made with the Chicago
& Galena Railroad Company in 1867. The Cincin-
nati & Chicago Air Line, incorporated in 1860, was
Pastime Sketches 35
also absorbed in 1865, and these all went to form
the Great Eastern. Work was commenced north
of Logansport in 1858 by the Cincinnati & Chicago
Railroad Company, and the road to Chicago was
formally opened in 1861.
The Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central Rail-
road Company in 1868 was formed by a consolida-
tion of the Columbus & Indiana Central, the Chi-
cago & Great Eastern and the Toledo, Logansport
& Burlington. By foreclosure of a mortgage and
sale, the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburg Railroad
Company, just formed, came into possession of this
property in 1883. The result of a consolidation of
the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis, this
company and the Pittsburg, Cincinnati & St. Louis
from Pittsburg to Columbus, in 1892, was the pres-
ent great system known as the Pittsburg, Cincin-
nati. Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company.
The Wabash Valley railroad was the second
line into Logansport. In later years the Eel River,
the Logansport, Crawfordsville & Southwestern
and the Vandalia north were built.
36 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER VII.
logansport's first boom.
Logansport had its first boom when the Michi-
gan road was built. There were no railroads, and
the canal was not dug, so that a through wagon
road was a great enterprise. One of the great
projects of early days was a wagon road from Lake
Michigan to the Ohio river, and it received both
national and State aid. Governor James B. Ray
was an earnest advocate of the road. In 1826 con-
gress authorized a treaty with the Miami and Pot-
towatomie Indians, which was entered into October
16th. James B. Ray, General John Tipton of this
city, and General Lewis Cass of Michigan, after
whom Cass county was named, were the commis-
sioners for the United States. By this treaty the
Indians ceded a tract of land one hundred feet wide
for a road and also one section of land for each mile
of the road. The treaty also ceded a strip of land
on Lake Michigan ten miles wide and several miles
long for a suitable terminus for the road. For this
concession, amounting to 171,414 acres, the Indians
were to receive $2,000 in silver for twenty-two
years, annually, a government blacksmith shop, a
grist mill and 160 bushels of salt annually. In 1827
congress passed an act authorizing the road, and
January 24th, 1828, the State legislature provided
for a survey. The first 36 miles were in the Terri-
tory of Michigan, admitted as a State ten years
later. At the thirty-six mile post, where the road
Pastime Sketches 37
entered Indiana, was afterwards located South
Bend.
Most of the country was dense forest, and trees
had to be cut and stumps left not more than one
foot above the level ground, grubbed thirty feet
wide in the center of the road. In the swamps
trees were rolled in to make a corduroy road. Lands
were sold at public auction to pay for the road, and
at South Bend on the first Monday in June, 1832,
a sale of 13,709 acres brought in $18,134. A later
sale in October of the same year of 15,113 acres
brought in $26,635. At the close of October, 1832,
there had been sold 58,432 acres at $90,141. Some
of the lands in the central part of the State brought
as high as $5.00 per acre. All but 1,840 acres had
been sold up to 1836, and the money had
gone into the construction. By February, 1832,
the road had been opened from the Ohio river
through Indianapolis to Logansport. By 1834 the
road was completed and opened, though improve-
ments continued for two or three years. Work
ceased on it in 1837, and it was turned over to local
authorities to keep in repair. It was 264 miles long
and cut quite a figure in the early development of
Indiana. The expenditures were $242,000 and the
receipts from the sale of lands $241,331. In Cass
county it followed the line of the present Burling-
ton turnpike, except that it followed a line west of
the Judge Chase residence south of town and
crossed the Wabash just below Uhl's Mill. North
it followed the line of the present road to Metea
and Fulton. The road was not as smooth as as-
phalt by any means, and those who traveled over
it in the old-fashioned stage coaches never forgot
the experience. Still, it was the main road north
38 Pastime Sketches
and south through the State, and it made Logans-
port quite a business center. This was especially
so when the Wabash and Erie canal crossed it in
1838.
In 1836 Indiana borrowed $12,000,000 for inter-
nal improvements. Besides the Wabash and Erie
canal, the State projected the White River canal,
the Central canal, the Crosscut canal, the Madison
& Lafayette railroad and the New Albany & Vin-
cennes railroad. Up to 1838 fifty miles of the canal
were in operation, and in that year the State re-
ceived $1,398.37 in tolls. From October 1st, 1839,
to November 1st, 1840, the State earned $14,561.11
in tolls. Thousands of acres of canal lands were
sold, and a great boom was started in the towns
along the route. The canal was in operation from
Ft. Wayne to Logansport in 1838, and was extended
westward in 1839. Logansport at the intersection
of the canal and the Michigan road, had the greatest
opportunity of any to become a great business cen-
ter, but some of the other cities outgrew it. Ground
for the canal was first broken at Ft. Wayne on
February 22, Washington's birthday, and the event
was made the occasion of a great celebration. Canal
Commissioner Vigus turned the first spadeful of
earth. July 4th, 1843, the first packet, "Indiana,"
arrived from Ft. Wayne at Huntington, and Hugh
McCulloch, twice secretary of the national treasury,
delivered an oration.
In 1843 the canal was completed to the Wabash
at a point below Terre Haute and then was diverted
south to the banks of the White river, beside which
it ran till it reached the Ohio at Jeffersonville. The
canal did not pay, the State was out of funds and
the engineers issued interest-bearing notes called
Pastime Sketches 39
"red-dog," which would not go. Indiana issued
bonds for half the debt, turning over the canal to
the creditors for the other half. The canal did not
earn enough to discharge its half of the obligation,
and the obligations became an object of specu-
lation. The canal was sold under a decree of the
Federal court in 1876, and the State had the "canal
question" off its hands.
It was a great day for Logansport when water
was turned in the canal. The entire population
gathered on the banks to greet -the oncoming tide
which was to bring prosperity to Logansport's com-
merce. And the first canal boat ! No elephant in
any circus was ever a greater attraction. There
was no use asking any one if he had seen it, for a
roll call would have shown no one missing, not
even the infant in arms. It was a muddy, trickling
stream that found its way first through the forest
which crowned the hills above Fifth street. At
length it was whispered around at dusk that the
canal was filled. But there was not general re-
joicing the next day, for the rock through which
the canal was blasted was made up of layers
with seams between and the entire population was
engaged in bailing out the cellars below Fifth
street. The supply of canal water was inexhausti-
ble, however, and the effort was a dismal failure.
Both the Michigan road and the Wabash and
Erie canal were great factors in the development
of Northern Indiana, but inside of twenty years the
railroads came to Logansport and took possession
of much of the traffic. With the canal came a col-
lector of the port, warehouses along its banks and
a thriving grain business, wheat and corn being
hauled from points thirty miles north and south.
40 Pastime Sketches
With the canal also came the boatman, who taught
the people many new kinds of oaths. The pioneer
canal boatman was a rough and ready frontiersman,
who addressed people in the same polite way he
spoke to his mules. It was part of the early life
and development of a great country, which no doubt
has been forgotten.
Pastime Sketches 41
CHAPTER VIII.
YE OLDE LOGANSPORT.
The approaching hundredth anniversary of the
State has revived interest in Indiana history. Many
local celebrations will likely be held by historical
societies over the State in commemoration of his-
toric events prior thereto. Logansport and Cass
county have no centennials to celebrate, as there
are not enough Indians left to get up much of a
celebration, and there were no white men here one
hundred years ago. The organization of Indiana
Territory in 1800 might be ground for a 107th an-
niversary here, and all over the State. One noted
citizen, General John Tipton, came to Indiana Ter-
ritory just one hundred years ago, but he did not
come to Logansport till later, probably because
there was no Logansport to come to. This centen-
nial might make a good date for Logansport, as
part of Indiana Territory, to celebrate. General
John Tipton moved his Indian agency from Ft.
Wayne to Logansport, March 28th, 1826, eighty-
one years ago. The original plot of Logansport was
surveyed April 16th, 1828, and on August 12th,
1829, Logansport was made the county seat and has
been the capital of Cass counts' ever since. This
was seventy-eight years ago, and August 12th is
a good time for a summer meeting of the historical
society. Cass county was organized April 13th,
1829, previously. The first session of the county
commissioners was held at the old seminary May
42 Pastime Sketches
1st, 1829, and in August Logansport was chosen as
the county seat.
Alexander Chamberlain was the first white set-
tler, August, 1826, and, strange to say, started a
hotel. However, Indian agents and pioneers were
coming to this locality, and a hotel was needed.
The hotel was on the south bank of the Wabash
river, opposite the mouth of Eel river. It was a
modest log cabin, without elevators or_ electric
lights. A modest home-made sign read: "Enter-
tainment by A. Chamberlain."
Edwin McCartney soon built a trading house,
buying furs of the Indians, further down the river,
but he did not find trade good and "went out west/'
William Newman and wife "moved in" in the spring
of 1827 and erected a house on the Wabash, two
miles west of the Chamberlain house. The third
settler was James Burch, who built still further
down the river. He soon sold to Christian Simons,
father of Benjamin Simons. On the north bank of
the Wabash, Major Daniel Bell, a brother-in-law
of General Tipton, settled March 27th, 1827, and
built near what is now the corner of Berkley and
the Panhandle railroad. Joseph Barron settled in
June, 1827. He was the celebrated Indian interpre-
ter, and was in the battle of Tippecanoe, where he
did valiant service for General Harrison, in com-
mand there. Hugh B. McKain also came in June,
1827. He was the first postmaster. Chauncey Car-
ter was appointed surveyor of Indian lands after the
treaty with the Miamis and Pottawatomies, and
surveyed the lands around Logansport, coming
from Ft. Wayne to Logansport. March 28th, 1828,
General John Tipton moved his family from Ft.
Wayne and occupied the Chamberlain tavern, after-
Pastime Sketches 43
wards building near the present Panhandle round-
house. April 10th, 1828, Chauncey Carter surveyed
the original plat of Logansport. Corner lots at that
time were held at $75 and inside lots at $50. Lots
were sold on condition that the purchaser build at
least a one-story house not less than eighteen feet by
twenty feet. Thus Logansport had its first building
boom. Some authorities say that the honor of nam-
ing the town was settled by a rifle contest, Hugh B.
McKain winning. At least he has the credit of nam-
ing the town, and it was named after Captain
Logan, a noted Shawnee chief, who lost his life
fighting for the whites in November, 1812. The
"port" was added because the town was thought to
be the head of navigation on the Wabash.
Thomas B. Helm says in his history of Cass
county that John B. Duret bought the first lot in
Logansport. George W. Ewing the second and Cy-
rus Taber the third and fourth. It is true that
Duret was promised a lot for his work in making
the plat, and later received a deed for lot number
one, but this is not the first deed. The deed for one
was made on Washington's birthday, February 22,
1830. The lot is at the corner of Canal street and
Eel river, what is known as "The Point," and on it
was erected the first brick house in Cass county.
There were, however, earlier deeds.
The honor of purchasing the first lot in the now
prosperous city of Logansport belongs to Gillis Mc-
Bean, for his deed to lot 30 bears date of August
10th, 1829. This is the Kreuzberger corner, Third
and Market, and the consideration was $75. W. G.
and G. W. Ewing bought lot 51 on the 5th day of
September, 1829. This is the Ward shoe store cor-
ner, northeast corner of Market and Third. M. D.
44 Pastime Sketches
Grover bought lot 36 the same day. This is on the
south side of Market, between Second and Third,
and is owned by Father Kroeger. Cyrus Taber
bought lot 47 on the 17th day of September, 1829,
and on it in 1838 erected the fourth brick house in
Cass county, corner Second and Broadway. From
best information it seems that the present Broad-
way house was the third brick house and the Graf
house on Market street the second.
Pastime Sketches 45
CHAPTER IX.
YE EARLY SCHOOLS.
There is much historical matter contained in the
various histories of the city and county, and these
dates are referred to more as a reminder and not in
any attempt to reproduce county history. There
are, however, interesting stories of Cass' United
States Senators, Tipton, Fitch, Pratt and Turpie.
Cass had more than any county in the State except
Marion (Indianapolis), and there are names distin-
guished in military history also. Perhaps no more
interesting book could be written than one giving
the early tales of the two market houses and the
"taverns in our town." Newspaper life in early
days has been portrayed in past years by some of
the pioneers, but there is much that is unwritten.
The history of Logansport and Cass county
schools began as early as 1828. Shortly after the
settlement of the town General John Tipton took
the lead in the organization of the "Eel River Semi-
nary Society." The society was incorporated by a
special act of the legislature, which was approved
January 1st, 1829. This act is interesting by reason
of its being the foundation of the present public
school system in Cass county. It reads as follows:
Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assem-
bly of the State of Indiana, That John Tipton, Hugh
B. McKain, Gillis McBean, William Scott, Alexan-
der Chamberlain, Joseph Barron, Hiram Todd,
Chauncey Carter and John Smith, Sr., shall be and
46 Pastime Sketches
hereby are constituted a body corporate and politic,
by the name and style of "the president and trus-
tees of the Eel river seminary society ;" and in their
corporate name and capacity may sue and be sued,
plead and be impleaded, in any court of competent
jurisdiction, and by that name shall have perpetual
succession.
Sec. 2. The trustees shall be elected annually,
on the first Friday in October, by the subscribers
to said society, under such regulations as a majority
of them shall from time to time adopt, and shall
elect a president, secretary and treasurer from their
own members. The said president and trustees
shall be competent, in law and equity, to take to
themselves and their successors, in their said cor-
porate name, any estate, real or personal, by the
gift, grant, bargain, sale or bequest of any person
or persons whomsoever, and the same estate, wheth-
er real or personal, to grant, bargain, sell or convey,
or otherwise dispose of, as shall by them be deemed
most beneficial to the interest and prosperity of said
seminary.
Sec. 3. The said trustees shall cause to be made
for their own use one common seal, with such de-
vices and inscriptions thereon as they may think
proper, by which all deeds and acts of the corpora-
tion shall be authenticated.
Sec. 4. The said trustees shall meet at the
dwelling house of Chauncey Carter, Esq., in Lo-
gansport in the county of Cass, on the first Monday
of April next, or on any day that a majority of the
trustees may agree upon, and, after severally taking
an oath or affirmation, faithfully and impartially to
discharge the duties by this act enjoined, proceed to
Pastime Sketches 47
elect their president, secretary and treasurer, as
aforesaid.
Sec. 5. The trustees, after being organized in
manner aforesaid, shall have power to determine
the time of their future meetings, and the manner
of notifying the same ; act on their own adjourn-
ments ; to employ such instructors as they may
think proper, and the same discharge at their pleas-
ure; to regulate and direct the mode of instruction;
and to make and ordain such by-laws and regula-
tions as may be necessary for the well-being of said
society, not repugnant to the laws and constitution
of this State.
Sec. 6. The trustees shall cause a record of their
proceedings to be kept in a book to be procured by
them for that purpose, which record shall be open
for the inspection of all persons concerned. The
treasurer shall receive all monies belonging to said
seminary society, and pay them out by the order of
the trustees, and not otherwise.
Sec. 7. The trustees shall have power to ap-
point such agents and attorneys for said corpora-
tion as they may think necessary ; which shall be
in writing, and all appointments and orders of the
trustees, shall be signed by their President, under
the seal of said corporation, and attested by their
secretary.
Sec. 8. This act to take effect, and be in force
from and after the first Monday in March, next.
By an act of the legislature, approved February
4th, 1831, the name of the corporation was changed
to the "Cass County, Eel River Seminary Society."
The old seminary was erected in 1828. The first
school was opened in February, 1829, with John
McKinney, of Detroit, as teacher. He was em-
48 Pastime Sketches
ployed at S100 per quarter and the charges for
tuition were $3 and $4 per term. McKinney re-
mained but one term and at the winter session of
six months, beginning Dec. 8th, George Lyon was
principal and Mrs. John B. Turner assistant teacher.
The building was a one-story brick with two
rooms. A hall across the center separated the
rooms. It stood on lot 55, original plat, a gift
from the owner, Chauncey Carter. It was a low
building, 20 by 40 feet, and faced Market street.
Lot 55 is the west half of the quarter of the square
at the northeast corner of Market and Fourth
streets. The building was back in the lot almost
to the alley, now Wall street.
The building cost about $300. When the pro-
ject was agitated by Gen. Tipton, he subscribed
$150 and almost $500 was raised. In June, 1830,
the year was divided into two sessions of five
months each, and summer and winter sessions were
held. Rev. Hiram A. Hunter was elected principal
at $500 per year and a residence. George Lyon
was teacher at the winter session and the summer
session of 1831 was in charge of Selby Harney. In
April, 1832, this society and the Cass County Sem-
inary Society were united under the name of the
"Cass County, Eel River Seminary Society" by
which it was later known.
The "Old Seminary" was an important building
n the early history of the city and county. Here
the first county commissioners met, the first courts
were held and the first courtships took place.
Churches were organized here and the elections for
the entire county were held within its portals.
Marriages were sometimes solemnized and often
Pastime Sketches 49
within its walls were gathered almost the entire
population, less than three hundred in 1829.
As early as 1836 the growing population render-
ed the building too small for the purposes for which
it was erected and steps were taken toward the
construction of a new school house. In November
of that year it was determined to sell the property,
then more valuable for business purposes, and to
erect a building of larger capacity. This resulted
in the construction of the new seminary building,
a three-story stone on Thirteenth street, between
Market and Broadway, where the Central building
now stands. The building was not completed until
September, 1849, and cost $6,465.11. Rev. M. M.
Post, an early Presbyterian minister of 1828, was
elected principal and a corps of teachers was em-
ployed. Irwin W. Gates was the next principal and
Rev. H. W. Shaw succeeded him. This building
was torn down in 1874, when the present Central
building was erected. One or two of the pupils
of the "Old Seminary" are still living in the city
and county and recall their early school days in the
little brick. Many more are living who attended
the stone seminary on Thirteenth street. During
the later "thirties" many township schools were
organized in Cass county which are fully described
in Helm's History of Cass County and need no
mention here. The lot on 13th street — It was then
Tipton street — appears as "Seminary Square" in the
John Tipton's administrator's addition to Logans-
port laid out in 1843. The consideration named
in the deed is $56.
There were several private schools where the
present older generation received instruction and
these will furnish another chapter. Many of those
50 Pastime Sketches
living today learned their alphabet at one of these
schools. Mrs. Cowan taught school in the log
cabin, afterwards the home of William Davis, cor-
ner of Seventh and Broadway streets. There was
a school on the southeast corner of Third and
Broadway, upstairs in 1857. George Palmer and
Walter McCrea are two of the sole survivors of
this school. James Jackson was a teacher and he
also taught in the Methodist church on Sixth street
and on the Westside, where Castle's grocery is.
There was a school in the Nash house, corner Sixth
and North streets. Mrs. Phebe Egbert taught
school for several years in the basement of the
Episcopal church, corner of Market and Seventh
streets. She taught there as early as 1859 and later
in the house where the Johnston Hotel now stands.
The Tenth street public school was established in
1857 or 1858, corner Tenth and Market. The Lo-
gansport Presbyterian Academy, Smithson College
and the Business Colleges were institutions which
deserve further notice. All helped to lead up to
the present admirable public school system. Schools
were also taught where Shideler & Grace's store is
and at the corner of of Broadway and Fourth, where
the H. Wiler & Co. store is located.
Both the Lutherans and the Catholics established
excellent schools early in the history of the city and
these have increased in numbers and in efficiency
as the city grew. The Holy Angels Academy has
long been one of the leading educational institu-
tions.
Pastime Sketches 51
CHAPTER X.
' SOME HISTORY SUGGESTION.
A sketch of the early days is hardly complete
without mention of the churches, yet most of the
organizations have published historical pamphlets,
the history written by Thomas B. Helm goes fully
into details and there is little new to record. The
fraternal orders have gathered together much inter-
esting history also.
The vigorous early times were productive of
some church dissensions. The separation of the
Presbyterian church by reason of which there was
a "New School" and an "Old School," was not ac-
complished without some bitterness. The original
Presbyterian building, still standing on the alley
running from Fifth to Sixth streets between Market
and Broadway, shows that. The doors still bear
the marks of the axe with which one faction broke
into the church to hold services.
The differences, which existed for so many
years, were at length happily adjusted and the
branches were reunited. The growth of the various
church denominations has been steady, and hand-
some edifices have taken the place of the modest
frame buildings, whose bells pealed out each Sun-
day morning to call the pioneers to worship.
And so, too, the fraternal organizations have
built, or are building homes of their own, of im-
posing architecture to add to the city's beauty and
permanency. The school buildings, the churches,
52 Pastime Sketches
the temples and the homes are all neat and endur-
ing and go to make up a city of handsome details.
The Library, The post office, the hotels and busi-
ness houses add to the general good effect as do
some of the railroad stations.
There are several interesting sketches of the
early newspapers in print. One of the first duties
of the Historical Society should be to make a
complete bound collection of the early files. The
newspapers of the present generation have com-
plete files of their own, and as they are available
for reference, there is no necessity, perhaps for
duplicates, although there is some advantage in
owning files. The eastern papers now keep a com-
plete index of their files, and this is printed an-
nually, so that by a reference to the index of each
year it is possible to trace events of news.
The pioneer newspapers are full of interesting
historical data. In recent years several of these
files were destroyed thoughtlessly and the Charles
B. Laselle collection, probably more nearly com-
plete than any, is neglected in a room in the court
house with no one to care for it while he himself is
an inmate of the hospital. The Biddle collection
is stored in the basement of the high school build-
ing, unclassified and inaccessable. There are some
odd numbers scattered about but there are no other
large collections. The Thomas B. Helm collection
was sold for old paper when he died and the Wil-
liamson Wright collection was destroyed by fire.
Steps should be taken at once to sort and bind the
Biddle collection and to prevent the loss of the La-
selle collection.
There are several other subjects that might be
written about, the courts, and the stories of the
Pastime Sketches 53
early bar, politics and elections, and so on. It was
not until 1840 that precincts were inaugurated. Be-
fore that the voters of the entire county voted at
the court house, in town, coming many miles over
very bad roads, some of them. The early fire de-
partment history was compiled by Harry W. Bring-
hurst, now chief of the fire department at Seattle,
Washington, some years ago.
A sketch of Logansport men in the United States
Senate, and their public work, involves research
which it would take days to make. Such a sketch
ought to be written. The Historical Society may
take this up at some future time. In any event the
ground-work is laid for the work of the Society.
The Historical Society should early in its career
secure quarters and begin the collection of the
valuable data being lost from time to time. Until
it has a central home of its own it will not be pos-
sible to gather a great deal of material. I sug-
gested the Biddle home as the most suitable and
available place. A State law authorizes county
commissioners to expend not to exceed five thous-
and dollars for the purchase of a home for a His-
torical Society after such society has been in active
existence for five years. A resort to this law would
not likely be necessary. In New England the rev-
enues derived from the contributions of daily
visitors provide a fund sufficient to cover current
expenses and to establish a sinking fund with which
to pay for the property. Thus these institutions
are self-supporting.
Could the Biddle home be rented for five years,
with an option on it at the end of that time, I have
no doubt it would be self-supporting and also pay
for itself. The revenues would certainly pay cur-
rent expenses which would be nominal. Should
54 Pastime Sketches
they not, however, the annual dues of one dollar
would be sufficient for the purpose, as there are
practically no expenses, the caretaker, as in New
England, getting the rent of part of the house as
pay for keeping the house open a few hours each
day.
This is merely a suggestion to the Historical
Society as to what is possible in this direction, at no
expense, practically. The time is ripe for such a
movement, and failure to enter earestly into the
work at the present time will result in the loss of
much more historical data. The Logansport So-
ciety has a good start, and a good organization.
There is an abundance of material and no doubt
the work will go on smoothly, whatever plan is
adopted. The suggestions here made, as a result of
of observations in New England, are offered be-
cause they are the result of some study of the sub-
ject and may be of some value on that account.
In the early settlement of this territory money
was unknown. The Indians had a medium of ex-
change they called wampum which consisted of
pieces of bone, metal or stone. Among the whites
values were determined by coon skins, muskrat
skins and furs of other animals. These furs would
purchase so much of this or that from the fur
traders and so had a given value. Besides this they
were transportable easily and so became the basis
of exchange. Naturally, in a new country, sparsely
settled, there was little to exchange, each family
providing for its own wants as best it could. The
farms and the forests supplied the necessities of
life and it was only under a more advanced civili-
zation that the shop became an important factor
in a community.
Pastime Sketches 55
CHAPTER XL
EARLY BANKING IN LOGANSPORT.
The war with Great Britain caused the general
government to disburse large sums of money for
troops and supplies and thus in 1812 money became
more plentiful. In 1814 the territorial legislature
chartered two banks, one at Vincennes, with a
capital stock of a half million dollars, and one at
Madison capitalized at seven hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. When the war ended the banks
had issued more currency than they could redeem
and a crash followed. The members of the first
Indiana constitutional convention incorporated a
clause providing for a State bank with branches,
not exceeding one branch for every three counties.
The banks at Madison and Vincennes were also to
retain their charters. The bank at Vincennes was
adopted by the legislature as a State bank and
entered an era of missmanagement. Its notes be-
came worthless and steps were taken to cancel its
charter. The bank at Madison was more success-
ful and its notes were all, after some time, redeem-
ed.
In 1832 the State entered upon an era of internal
improvements, spending several million dollars.
Michigan had established a system of banking with
no safeguards and this bank money was seized upon
by contractors for use in paying for labor. Soon
nothing else was in circulation. The merchants
56 Pastime Sketches
accepted it at a heavy discount. They could use it
in paying their bills by accepting a similar discount.
At the same time the merchants and millers issued
bills redeemable in merchandise at the store of the
merchant or miller issuing the same. Naturally
these were of no value far from home. Then the
temptation to issue unlimited quantities became
irresistible and the banks became bankrupt with
thousands of dollars outstanding.
In 1834 the State Bank of Indiana was chartered.
The State was divided into ten districts for branches
and on November 20th, 1834, the bank opened. It
became involved in the financial policies of Presi-
dent Jackson and the panic of 1837 which followed.
Its bills were redeemable in specie and remained
good. They were therefore hoarded and depre-
ciated currency only found its way into circulation.
The people had no money for the needs of com-
merce and the State had none and could get none
in the east. As a means of relief State script to
the amount of a million and a half was authorized,
to bear six per cent interest and be receivable in
taxes. This script was called "Red Dog" from the
color of the paper it was printed on. It did not
restore public confidence and fell to forty cents on
the dollar. It was however all redeemed by the
State.
At the session of the Legislature in 1853 a free
bank law was passed over the governor's veto and a
charter given to the Bank of the State of Indiana.
Hon. Hugh McCulloch afterwards secretary of the
treasury became president of the bank, and not-
withstanding the governor's fears it became a suc-
cess. Two years afterward a panic, swept over the
country. Every bank in the east except the Chemi-
Pastime Sketches 57
cal of New York, supended. And in the west only
the Bank of the State of Indiana and the Bank of
Kentucky weathered the storm. Every private bank
in the State except two at Indianapolis and one at
Fort Wayne closed.
After the passage of the National banking law
most of the banks became national banks and in
1865 the legislature authorized the winding up of
the affairs of the State Bank.
The constitution of 1851 authorizing a free
banking law, and the law passed by the general
assembly under that authority caused great dis-
aster. Banks were still floundering in financial
troubles, local communities were in worse difficul-
ties. The merchants issued bills to an unlimited
extent, payable in goods, and failed because they
could not buy goods without gold. Others were
purposely taking advantage of the condition of af-
fairs. Bills which would not circulate in a com-
munity because of lack of confidence in the persons
issuing them were sent to other communities, where
they were unknown, in exchange for bills equally
unknown thirty miles from their home office. Thus
bills from Ohio no one knew anything about were
in circulation in Indiana, while the equally obscure
Indiana bills circulated in Ohio. A publication
known as the Bank Note Detector attempted to
keep the public advised as to the value of bills but
it was not possible to print reports as rapidly as
bills were printed and the publication was always
considerably behind the times.
The money of the times was called "Wildcat"
money, probably because of its wild and uncertain
character. Much of it, good or bad, was known
by the color of paper, or ink. used and so there was
58 Pastime Sketches
•'White Dog," "Blue Pup" and other kinds accord-
ing to the name the printing or color suggested
to the pioneer.
Logansport was an important center of com-
merce in the early days. It was a village on the
trail of the Indians, a town on the Michigan Road,
almost a city in the canal days and considered very
much a city when the railroads were begun. It
handled in its commerce and construction work all
the known kinds of money in circulation in those
days and probably no city in the State had more
experience with the fluctuating, uncertain, unreli-
able currency of the years between the admission
of the State to the Union and the Civil war. To
the credit of the pioneers of Logansport be it said
that while, owing to the limited travel, its money
was not known and was therefore discounted a
short distance from home, it was in most instances
redeemed and the holders lost nothing. The vicis-
situdes of travel were great in those days. In ad-
dition to undergoing the hardships of almost im-
passable roads, dangers from Indians and frontier
bandits, the pioneer was liable to find no bill among
his varied collection acceptable to the landlord for
his lodging and breakfast a few miles from home.
As far as can be learned the first Logansport
bank was a private bank and was situated on Mar-
ket street, on the north side, sixty feet below
Fourth street. This was in 1837, or 1838. James
Warren was president of it and and the business
was conducted in one small room. There was a
table in it, and president, cashier and customers sat
around it.
The second bank was started some years later.
It was organized in 1847 or 1848, with George B.
Pastime Sketches 59
Walker president, and Col. William Brown, after-
wards killed in the Civil war, as cashier. It trans-
acted business on Third street, East Side, sixty feet
or more from Market street. It was known as
the "Logansport Insurance Bank." James E.
Cheney started a bank in 1850 on Fourth street,
opposite the court house, and John Ingram was
cashier. Mr. Cheney was afterward a great finan-
cier, a director in the Wabash railroad and a mil-
lionaire. Mr. Ingram organized later the State
Bank, now the State National, of which John Gray
is president.
The "Hoosier Bank" was also opposite the
court house and Philip Pollard was president in
1848. It was in the stone building occupied by
Senator D. D. Pratt as a law office and later by W.
T. Wilson. W. E. Haney and John W. Wright
had a bank on Sixth street, between Broadway and
North, west side of the street, on the south side of
the alley, in the early fifties. Of this there is not
much information to be had. Mr. Kendrick, who
built the home now occupied by Judge D. P. Bald-
win, had a bank on Market street along in the
fifties, in the room across the alley from Snider's.
With the passage of the National banking law
and more stringent state bank laws came the first
National Bank, still in existence, the Peoples' Bank,
and the City State Bank, now the State National.
The Peoples' Bank failed, with many law suits,
and the City State Bank went through a panic
and was reorganized as the State National. The
Logansport State Bank sprung into existence under
sound state laws and since then two other banks,
the Bowen Bank and the Loan & Trust Company
60 Pastime Sketches
have added to the banking facilities of Logans-
port.
The days of wildcat money have gone by, State
and national laws have safe-guarded the public
against the lack of judgment of bank officials and
the era of bank failures has passed. Logansport
has sound banking institutions and their bills are
good anywhere in the United States, Europe, Asia,
Africa, or South America. It is a wonderful con-
trast over conditions fifty years ago.
Pastime Sketches 61
CHAPTER XII.
YE OLDE MARKETS.
Logansport in its early days had two markets.
The first one stood in the middle of the otherwise
vacant square bounded by Fourth and Fifth streets,
and Broadway and North streets. It was just a
roof, resting on pillars of brick, the pillars ten or
twelve feet apart. A cyclone in 1845 carried the
roof away and ended the usefulness of the market
house.
According to best authorities, market days were
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. There were
no stalls of fancy dry goods and the bon bon stand
and peanut roaster were conspicious for their ab-
sence. Fruits, vegetables, meats, hay, feed, wood,
butter, eggs and other farm products were the prin-
cipal articles for sale. The money used was prin-
cipally foreign coin, and a "fip and a bit" the pre-
vailing price for many things. A "fip" was an
English 6% cent piece, while a "bit" was 12^
cents. Two bits made a quarter, or the shilling of
those days.
This Broadway market was just back of the
present Wiler & Wise store. The building was
150 feet long and 25 feet wide, with a shingle
roof. It fronted on the Wabash and Erie canal,
which ran along Fifth street, and which was com-
pleted from Fort Wayne as far as Eel river along
about 1837. Mr. E. S. Rice, president of the First
62 Pastime Sketches
National Bank, came to Logansport on a canal
boat in 1838 and remembers the old market well.
The aqueduct over Eel river was completed in
1839 and Logansport became only a way station
instead of a terminal.
The second market was built six or seven years
after the old one blew away — about 1851. It was
of brick and much more pretentious than the old
market. It was 150 feet long and 30 feet wide, with
shingled roof, and stood in the middle of Market
street between Second and Third streets, where
the street was widened to form "Market Square."
The street has never been narrowed to conform
to the rest of Market street and for many years
the spot was known as Market Square. The com-
modities on sale were about the same as at the old
market and the money was the same, English coin
and "Wildcat" bank paper money. This latter
money fluctuated a good deal, as no one knew at
night whether or not the banks would open the next
morning. On this account the money was not good
far from home. Many are the tales of sales of
farms and horses wherein the receiver of the Wild-
cat money arrived in town to find the bank closed
and the money worthless.
The new market was not used much and gradu-
ally fell into decay. The children of the day played
"I spy" about its nooks and corners and finally
it was torn away. After that the wood and hay
wagons stood about the court house and later at
Sixth street and Broadway, the vegetables and
fruits were sold by grocers and Logansport had no
general market. No doubt many interesting stories
could have been told by the older residents about
these markets if any attempt had been made to
Pastime Sketches f>3
gather them. Mr. E. S. Rice tells of having been
sent as a boy to the old Broadway market to get
some steak. There were several others there on
the same errand but the supply was exhausted. In
reply to repeated calls for steaks and no other kind
of meat, a German farmer vender said testily,
"What you tinks, I grow my cows all steaks?''
The old market days were days of gossip, of
political argument and exchange of news. Horses
were traded and farms swapped. Busy candidates
shook hands and sought votes and the fate of the
country was decided every market day. The
Lightning Express Packet on the old canal brought
news of the outside world several weeks late and
its arrival, days after a presidential election,
brought out a crowd to get the election returns.
The man who took a New York Tribune and got it
via the Lightning Express on the canal was the
most popular man in town until everybody read his
paper, and perhaps afterwards. Today the farmer
sits in his home with his telephone near him and
talks with New York, if he wants to, after reading
his morning paper, brought to him by Rural Route
or Interurban. Such is the growth of the country
and its progress in a little over half a century.
64 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER XIII.
SOME THOUGHTS OF HISTORY.
In these sketches of early days it was not my
purpose to write a history. The complete and ex-
haustive history written by Thomas B. Helm in
1878 leaves little for later workers in that field.
Nor had I in mind anything more than a few
sketches of early conditions within the memory of
some still living, for possible use in a historical
scrap-book. For this reason I have avoided details,
and statistics already collated in other forms and
confined myself more to description. There are
many subjects that will perhaps not be referred to,
owing to the completeness of the historical data
already published, and no doubt much that would
be interesting will be overlooked. Mr. Helm has
given a detail history of church and fraternal or-
ganization in the city and county and several- of
the churches have published historical sketches.
These are interesting and complete and need no
repetition. There are other publications of a simi-
lar character in the historical field so that it is pos-
sible to gather together quite a library, of which
these may be an humble part. Be that as it may,
they are only sketches, not comprehensive history.
And since Mr. Helm has so ably filled the broader
field they must of necessity be somewhat limited
in scope. There is a vast amount of interesting
detail that might be gathered and it is by no means
Pastime Sketches 65
my thought to try to exhaust the field not covered
by Mr. Helm, but rather to add my small contribu-
tion to the general fund of historical knowledge.
The story of manufacture is itself an interesting
one. beginning with the ginseng factory of 1829
when that root was an extensive article of com-
mence and Logansport had a factory for refining the
product. A pottery works was another important
interest in its day, and a tannery came later. The
wealth of splendid timber caused numerous wood-
working shops to spring up and there was a distill-
ery or two. The subject of manufacture is partic-
ularly interesting because of the lessons it teaches
of changed conditions of civic growth.
The value of history lies in the fact that it is
an unerring guide to future welfare and progress,
the charm of it is rather in the little details that go
to make up the daily life of a community, in an era
of the past, or a country so foreign as to possess dis-
similar customs and novel characteristics. The
philosophy of it is inseparably allied with the ro-
mance that makes it attractive. These short
sketches are nothing more than they pretend to be
and to the reader is left the task of discovering the
philosophy, or finding the romance of the history
they contain.
It is not difficult to imagine the lone log cabin
in the forest on the south bank of the Wabash
river, opposite the mouth of Eel river, the first tav-
ern, nor the two-story log cabin near, later the
tavern. Nor does it require much flight of the im-
agination to picture the small trading house and
the one or two other scattered cabins along the
south bank of the river, all of Logansport prior to
1827. Nor will it be so very difficult to see in the
66 Pastime Sketches
mind's eye the little log- cabin of Daniel Bell, in
the forest near the present Wabash Station, the
first, and for a time, the only house between the
rivers. There were no roads, no canal, no im-
provements. An uneven, wooded hill with steep
declines and valleys was Market street hill, after-
wards graded, cleared and cut out of all semblance
to its original shape by the hand of man. It was
virgin soil, unvisited, except by wild beasts, for
generations. Not a hundred years ago, it is hard
to realize ! Add a log house here and there in a
clearing in the forest and a picture is formed of
Logansport for the next few years. The canal came
in 1838 and the Michigan Road shortly before.
Logansport was then a struggling village and its
appearance year by year can be followed with lit-
tle effort of the imagination. Settlements were
miles apart.
The cabins of those days were made of round
logs. The cracks were chunked and daubed, and
there was usually only one door. The one or two
windows were cut through the logs, half in an up-
per log and the other half in the lower. The fire-
place was hewn through the logs and about the hole
was built the chimney. It was made of small split
sticks packed with clay. The back of the fireplace
sides and bottom were made of clay or mud, mois-
tened to make them pack readily. The floors were
made of heavy hewn timbers and the roofs were
covered with clapboards. There was seldom more
than one room, with a shed, and a loft for the ac-
commodation of visitors. The cooking was done in
the fire-place and the smoke did not always find its
way up the chimney.
The pioneer home had no luxuries and was con-
Pastime Sketches 67
siderably deficient in the comforts of life. Blocks
of wood, or roughly hewn benches answered for
chairs while the dinner table was the family chest,
the receptacle for all that was supposed to be val-
uable about the house. The bedsteads were built
with poles, the logs of the cabins supporting two
sides and an upright pole forming the other corner
of the square. The same sort of a clapboard used
on the roof made the bed slats, and leaves were
often used to fill the ticks.
Thus with humble home and humbler fare the
pioneer began his conquest of the forest. Before
the first crop matured supplies were brought in ca-
noes, or dug-outs from the most convenient older
settlement. After that there was a husbanding of
resources and the supply of staples was carefully
guarded. The forests were rich in game, the
streams abounded in fish and thus the pioneer sat-
isfied his hunger and paved the way for greater
agriculture and larger commerce. As communities
grew the total of food reserve naturally increased,
and, without any system of keeping books and with
no breach of confidence and rare dishonesty, the
pioneers moved forward to a more advanced civili-
zation.
The use of money brought with it dishonesty,
credit brought breach of trust, and while the pio-
neer system of exchange was sometimes incon-
venient it was remarkably sound. The era of
money was the era of "wildcat" money and the
whole state floundered through a period of uncer-
tain currency for many years. Confidence and mu-
tual aid did not dignify the small local community
alone for settlers voluntarily came from other vil-
lages to aid in houseraising.
68 Pastime Sketches
The same flood of progress swept on to the
westward, in which direction the course of empire
is said to take its way. Then humanity settled
down to acquire and enjoy the luxuries of life the
pioneers had made possible. Manufacturing natur-
ally followed agriculture and New England, the
pioneer in the latter, became the work-shop of
the west. Mining became a leading industry and
the railroads annihilated the barriers of distance
and made the nation as it is. Characteristics of
communities are less marked, in fact, there is little
by which to distinguish a New Englander from his
western brother, but the restless spirit of progress
still exists with the American people, still pioneers
in paths of progress.
Pastime Sketches 69
CHAPTER XIV.
LOGANSPORT IN RETROSPECT.
A stroll through the streets of ancient Logans-
port discloses much that is interesting. It does not
take a great imagination to see the city in the early
thirties, for it was not a great city. There were a
few log, or frame buildings below Fifth street and
three or four east of it. The postoffice was in a
log cabin just east of the new Barnett Hotel.
Streets were mere roads and native forest trees were
plentiful. Indians mingled with the pale faces at
the village store and coon-skins were used as
money. The daughters of the pioneers met at the
only well to discuss the latest styles from New
York via pack-mule. All around were dense forests
and the stillness was only broken by the song of
the birds, the cry of some wild animal or the dull
thud of the wood-choppers' axe, as he hewed out a
clearing in the wilderness.
But those were days of rapid progress. Lo-
gansport acquired the Michigan Road and the Wa-
bash and Erie Canal and became a city. It had
a town marshal, a newspaper that tried to come out
several times a year, and a fire department. Prom-
inent citizens began putting "Esq." after their
names. Meetings were called "at early candle-
light" to discuss the city's future greatness. A
poster, still inexistence, called upon the citizens to
wake up, as Chicago was almost as large as Lo-
70 Pastime Sketches
gansport and would become the great city of the
west if Logansport did not show more enterprise.
Thus was organized the first Industrial Associa-
tion, but somehow Chicago got ahead.
The early Fire Department was like most of
those of pioneer days. Every citizen kept a bucket
at home to take with him to fires. Then came a
"Fire House" where the buckets were stored. The
first duty of every good and loyal citizen at the
cry of "fire" was to rush to the "Fire House" and
get a bucket. At the fire two lines were formed
to the nearest water supply. One line passed up
the full buckets and the other returned them when
empty. When the early Barnett House at the
corner of Third and Market streets caught fire it
took the entire population of Logansport to extin-
guish the blaze. A ladder was found somewhere
and the line ran up the ladder to the fire. The
man in front emptied the buckets judiciously, and
as the buildings were small and the material heavy
the fire was easily conquered.
The old Barnett House afterwards burned to
the ground under a better system of fire-fighting
but it was not the fault of the fire-fighters. That
was in the days of the hand-engines when every
able-bodied man took his place at the brakes and
pumped till the fire was out, sometimes because
there was nothing left to burn. It was an efficient
system for the times and the volunteers often took
great risks. Not nearly as many as are taken now
with high buildings and large compact blocks, but
the element of danger was, and is, always pres-
ent.
What a great man was the Chief in the early
days as he rushed about giving orders through a
trumpet. "How many men on that roof? Five?
Pastime Sketches 71
Half of yez come down." There are probably no
relics of the old "bucket brigade." S. B. Boyer has
the minutes of the old Tipton volunteer company
and George W. Fender the trumpet presented by
admiring citizens to the chief of the Tipton com-
pany.
What a story could be written about the coun-
ty fairs ! The old fair ground on the Northside,
up on the hill in "Jobtown" was a center of early
interest. There prize pumpkins and prize beauties
contested for the honors of the day and people
gathered for miles around to gaze at the fatted
calf and the four-minute trotter. There matches
were made and many a marriage had its beginning
in a glance of the eye over the exhibits of "the
best corn grown in the county."
The old fair grounds went into a decline, the
high board fence rotted away, and the stalls grad-
ually disappeared. A new association had its day
at the grounds now known as Spencer Park, but
for many years the "county fair" has been un-
known in Logansport. The Trotting Association
has occupied the grounds, or part of them, but the
old-fashioned fair has long been a thing of the
past. The English people, perhaps more conserva-
tive, cling to their Donnybrook fairs but the pro-
gressive American is only content with an "Expo-
sition."
Progress has been rapid. Town pumps suc-
ceeded the early wells, then came water works,
railroads dried up the canal, and a paid fire de-
partment followed the hand engines and the bucket
brigade. Street railways occupy the streets and
the toot of the automobile has taken the place of
the Indian war-whoop in the once peaceful valley
of the Wabash.
72 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER XV.
THE "CITY OF BRIDGES." — AN OLD HANDBILL.
Logansport was early given trie name "The
City of Bridges." Those new to the city hardly
realize how appropriate the title was. With the
canal passing along what is now Erie avenue and
across Fifth street, over Eel river, and along the
West-side where the Vandalia station now is,
many bridges were needed. The canal bridges
were at first high bridges and the boats passed
underneath. After that came turn bridges, one at
every street. The two rivers made bridges nec-
essary and there were five tail-races, some crossed
by bridges. There were races on each side of the
river at the two Eel river dams and one on the
South Side leading from the Wabash dam. The
railroads crossed the streams, and on Biddle's
Island the Wabash road bridged over the street.
Thus there were at one time twenty-eight bridges
in the city limits as follows: Four Wabash rail-
road bridges, six Panhandle railroad bridges,
eight wagon bridges over the rivers and races
and ten bridges over the canal. The number
was reduced by the abandonment of the canal,
and some of the races, but one or two new
river wagon bridges have been added and the in-
terurbans have increased the number. This list
does not include some of the headgates of the
races over which teams passed.
Pastime Sketches 73
The city is still, however, entitled to the name.
There are now twenty-three bridges, eight wagon,
five interurban and eight steam railroad, not count-
ing any of the bridges over the races. So that the
number is not materially reduced. The canal, pass-
ing as it did through the heart of the city, made
the bridge question a serious one. The high
bridges were the first to be adopted. After them
came turn bridges, and, at Market street a re-
markable bridge that was lifted high in the air
by weights and which often refused to come down.
It finally broke in two under a heavy load and was
cast aside. The frequent passage of canal boats
seriously interfered with travel and there was a
hurrying to get over when a bridge was about to
be' turned. The bridges were popular with April
1st jokers and the citizen who forgot the day
and made a dive for a pocketbook only to find it
nailed down was greeted with a shout from a crowd
gathered nearby, apparently discussing politics.
The bridge committee was one of the most im-
portant of the city council, second in importance
only to that of streets, and Logansport was justly
entitled to the name, "The City of Bridges." The
river wagon bridges were wooden, as were also
the railroad bridges. The wagon bridges were
generally covered, without foot walks, and very
dark on a dark night. Some of them were built
as toll bridges and had massive gates to be closed
when the toll collector retired for the night. The
cows, which had the freedom of the city, found the
covered bridges a safe retreat in stormy weather,
at night time, and the late pedestrian returning
from lodge at midnight often came in sudden con-
tact with a sleeping occupant of the bridge.
74 Pastime Sketches
The bridge history of Logansport is but an
incident in the development and growth of the
city and is hardly worth recording. However,
it may find a place in some scrapbook kept to show
the progress of the city from its village days up to
the time it became a city of iron bridges, of per-
manent and graceful construction. It is of little
importance how many bridges the city had at any
given period, but it is interesting to note the prog-
ress from the days of fords, when the rivers were
at times impassable, up to the present time. The
first bridges, over Biddle's Island, and later to
"Browntown," West Side, were made of rough
hewn timbers but were quite solid and durable.
Only once, or twice did the bridge "go out" with
the ice in the February freshets, notwithstanding
the fact that with the heavy gorges the streets of
down town Logansport were under water and peo-
ple paddled about in boats. It was quite custom-
ary to gather on the river banks at time of high
water, "to see the bridge go out" but, thanks to
the substantial masonry, the spectators were usu-
ally disappointed.
Probably the first bridge of all to be built was
the wooden bridge over Eel river at Third street.
That is preserved in a picture by Wils Berry of
the 46th Ind. crossing it in Civil war times.
The development of the country has brought
about the construction of numerous ditches, ice
and snow do not accumulate in dense forests to be
released steadily by a spring thaw, and the days
of big freshets have gone by. Bridge building is
more of an art also and the scene of a bridge "go-
ing out" is not likely to be witnessed by future
generations.
Pastime Sketches 75
What is claimed to be the oldest handbill in
the country was donated to the Historical Society
yesterday by Mrs. C. W. Graves. It was among
the papers of her father, Williamson Wright, and is
faded and discolored with age. It announces the
opening of a land agency in 1835 for the handling
of newly opened lands. It reads as follows :
Land Agency.
In Indiana, Illinois and Michigan.
The subscriber offers his services to the public
as an agent for the purchase and sale of any lands
in the states of Indiana, Illinois or the Territory
of Michigan.
There will be sold by the United States, during
the coming summer or autumn upwards of one
hundred townships of lands in the state of Indi-
ana, and as many townships in Michigan ; all of
which have lately been purchased of the Potta-
watomie Indians. By an act of the last legislature
the territory lying within the state of Indiana was
divided into fourteen counties — so that purchasers
may easily determine very near at what place the
county seats will be situated and govern their pur-
chases accordingly.
The counties in which the land now to be sold
is situated are on and near the Wabash and Erie
canal, and on or near the Michigan road. Specu-
lators and purchasers in general never had a fairer
opportunity for profitable investment than is now
presented in the state of Indiana, and I can safely
affirm that the inducements west of Lake Michigan
are equally attractive. I will at all times purchase
military lands in Illinois and Missouri or attend
and have them sold on the most favorable terms.
The state of Indiana now offers for sale lands
76 Pastime Sketches
situated on its canal and on the Michigan road,
which I will purchase for those who may desire
it on the most reasonable terms.
I will also sell improved or other lands for those
desirous of selling and do every act which is usu-
ally done by land agents.
Information will be willingly given to persons
at a distance by addressing the subscriber post-
paid. Logansport, Indiana.
The subscriber being an attorney at law will
attend to the collection of claims in any part of
the state of Indiana.
JOHN W. WRIGHT.
Logansport, April 1st, 1835.
References : Hon. John Tipton, U. S. Senator ;
Gen. N. D. Grover, Hon. David Irven, Green Bay,
Michigan Territory; Dr. George Turner, Mackinaw,
M. T. ; Hon. T. Ewing, U. S. Senator, Lancaster,
Ohio; Hon. W. W. Irven, Lancaster, Ohio; Mr.
Jacob Reese, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa.; Mr. Wilkins
McNaar, Pittsburg, Pa.
Pastime Sketches 77
CHAPTER XVI.
A LETTER OF THE EARLY DAYS.
There are probably dozens of old letters lying
around that give much insight into the early times,
before the days of postage stamps. The letters
were folded and sealed with sealing wax then and
envelopes were unknown. Out of a bunch of old
letters, some from Judge Biddle, W. Z. Stuart, U. S.
Senator John Tipton and others the following was
picked out because of the information it contains,
and because it was the oldest in the collection,
owned by Mrs. C. W. Graves. It is addressed to
"W. W. Wright, Atty. & Counsellor at Law, Lo-
gansport, Indiana." The postage is marked "Paid
18 3-4 cents." The writer was not particularly
adept at spelling and his capitalization was not
of the most approved style, but the letter contains
much that is interesting. It reads :
Hillsborough, Highland Co., Ohio,
September 21, 1836.
Dear Sir: I take the privilige of droping a few
lines to you respecting som property that I Baught
in and near Logansport in July last you will rico-
lect an man by the name of tucker whoe left a
lot in your care and in case it could be Sold for
five houndred dollars to let me know it, the lot was
baught of E. Johns and lays on Broadway Joining
Lawyer Chas there is Twenty feeat Seven inches
78 Pastime Sketches
and a half in front and fifty feeat back. The Land
that I baught Lays in Town 28 and Section 21 on
the Michigan Road, eight miles from Logansport
the 8 mile Post Stands in it. Demos's Tavern is
in sight of it. and I am told that there is a little
Town a bout to be or is Laydoff close by it, There
is one houndred and fifty Seven acres in the Track.
Now Sir I wish you To take chardge of this prop-
erty and See what it can be Sold for. I wish you
to write to me and let me know what the Prospect
of Logan is at this time and weather Property has
advanced sens July and if so weather I had better
hold on a while Longer I ask five houndred for
the lot and one thousand for the land. I wish you
to let me know weather you think it would bring
it at this time or not and weather you think it
will be worth more next year if there is any tax
accurs on the land you will let me know it, as thay
are a bout to pave the Streats I expect the lots will
be taxed at what ever trobble you are at I will pay
you for it. Pleas let me know when thay expect
to let the water in the canal and how thay come
on Paveing the Streats, the Bridge the Courthouse
&c and when these things are done weather you
don't think property will be worth more than it is at
this time, if you know eny thing about the little
town that is a bout to be laid off seven or eight
miles north of Logan on the Michigan Road Pleas
let me Know it I remember Seeing the Place where
I am told it is laid off theres Tavern on one Side
of the Road and a little Store on the other, if Sutch
is the case my land will of corse be worth more
as it is some where near in Sight of it, Mr. De-
moss whoe Joins my Land told me that he had
bin ofered 9 dollars per acre for his cash in hand.
Pastime Sketches 79
if you can find percheser for mine whoe will give
8 dollars per acre you will let me know it and if i
sell it this fall I will give you at least fifty dollars
for your Trobble if you can git $9 per acre I of
corse will give you more. I think Proberbable that
Second handed Land will be more apt to Sell now
then before the Treshure order when you write
inform me weather Fullweller baught a lot in Lo-
gan and weather Johnson has Sold the little corner
on Boardway and canal and if so for how mutch,
N. B. I have seean your old Skoole mates Wood-
row Smith Trimble & galoway thay ware all glad
to hear from you and that you was doing well, I
told them that you was thay speak in very high
terms of you I believe that I will trobble you
nomore this time write to me as soon as conven-
yent.
"Very Respectfully yours,
"GEORGE W. TUCKER."
80 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER XVII.
EARLY INDIAN BATTLE.
Not every county in Indiana is the proud pos-
sessor of a battlefield where actual war was waged.
Nor can many lay claim to the honor of an invas-
ion by an English army. "The mouth of Eel," as
the point where Logansport now stands, was first
called, is a historic spot. A few miles above the
mouth the battle of Oldtown was fought. Sweep-
ing past it in narrow dugouts a Britsh army made
the trip to Vincennes.
In 1778 Lieutenant-Governor Henry Hamilton,
the British commander at Detroit, collected an
army consisting of thirty regulars, fifty French vol-
unteers and four hundred Indians and with this
force passed down the Wabash river and took pos-
session of Post Vincennes. The trip was made in
canoes, over the portage at Ft. Wayne, and through
Logansport, which of course, at that time, had no
place on the map.
The battle referred to was fought by other
troops, many years later, on the Eel River, six
miles east of the mouth, and relics are still plowed
up by the farmers who own the land.
On the first of August, 1791, Brigadier-General
James Wilkinson at the head of about five hun-
dred and twenty-five men moved from Ft. Wash-
ington at Cincinnati and directed his march toward
the Indian village at Ke-na-pa-com-a-qua on the
north bank of Eel river at a point six miles above
Pastime Sketches 81
its confluence with the Wabash river. There were
no roads of course and the march was through vir-
gin forest. Wabash river was crossed four miles
above Logansport. After crossing the river the
troops found a continued thicket of bramble, jack-
oaks and shrubs of different kinds. As the expe-
dition approached Eel river the Indians took alarm
and fled, six warriors, and in the confusion, two
squaws and a child were killed. Thirty-four pris-
oners were taken and one captive was released.
The attacking troops had two men killed and one
wounded. The town was found scattered along
Eel river for fully three miles.
General Wilkinson destroyed the town and
moved westward toward the Tippecanoe river, en-
camping the next night six miles west of the Indi-
an village, probably a short distance north of the
present site of Logansport. The remainder of the
trip was through bog after bog, and at the close
of the fourth day two hundred and seventy horses
were found lame and the men much disheartened.
The troops reached the Rapids of the Ohio on the
21st of August much demoralized, after a march of
four hundred and fifty-one miles.
The scene of this battle is unmarked, very few
of those living in the neighborhood know it, yet
the facts are interesting.
Senator Will W'ood's bill, appropriating $12,-
500 for the erection of a monument on Tippecanoe
Battle Ground recently passed the Indiana Senate
by a vote of 72 to 5.
Ninety-six years ago at Tippecanoe, the senti-
nel, Stephen Mars, fired the first shot in the war
of 1812. The great chief, Tecumseh, was at that
time seeking to form a confederation of the Indi-
82 Pastime Sketches
ans with the ostensible purpose of retaining for
the Indians their hunting-grounds. The battle of
Tippecanoe was the result.
Every Indian in the battle of Tippecanoe was
armed with a rifle, with a scalping knife, with a
tomahawk and most of them with a spear.
The battle as is well known was fought largely
bv Indianians.
General William Henry Harrison was in com-
mand of the Americans and his victory made him
President of the United States later, in the famous
campaign of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too."
In General Harrison's army were 250 regulars,
60 Kentuckians and 600 Indianians. Thirty-seven
were killed, 161 wounded, of whom twenty-five died
afterward. The gallantry of this body of men was
recognized by President Madison, in a message to
Congress. It became the "unwritten law" in Indi-
ana to name counties organized in the State after
heroes of that battle. Had the Indians prevailed
the success of the Americans in the war of 1812
might have been jeopardized. Tecumseh is regard-
ed by many as the greatest Indian leader that ever
lived. Had he succeeded in that battle he would
undoubtedly have been a formidable ally of Eng-
land in the war that followed with the United
States.
In the battle Captain Spencer's company occu-
pied the point at the south end of the battlefield.
When Spencer fell and his first lieutenant fell Tip-
ton, who was an ensign, took charge of the com-
pany. General Harrison rode down the point and
asked of the young ensign:
"Where is your captain?"
"Dead, sir," replied the young ensign.
Pastime Sketches 83
"Where is your lieutenant ?"
"He is also dead, sir."
"Who is in command of this company?"
"I am, sir," replied the young ensign.
"Hold your own, my brave boy!" said Gen-
eral Harrison, "and I will send you reinforcements."
General Tipton, as he afterwards became, lived
in Logansport.
In 1829 he rode all night on horseback to Craw-
fordsville, where the land office was located and
bought the Tippecanoe battlefield. In 1831 Tipton
became United States Senator. He died in 1839
at the age of 53.
On December 28, 1833, a joint resolution was
passed by the Indiana legislature requesting the
governor to open negotiations for the cession of
the land on which the battle of Tippecanoe was
fought in order that it might be consecrated to
the memory of the men who fell in the fight with
the Indians.
In compliance with that resolution, on the first
day of November, 1834, Abel C. Pepper, of Ohio
county, who was then an Indian agent and who
was afterward a member of the constitutional con-
vention of 1850, carried a letter from Governor No-
ble to General Tipton at his home in Logansport.
Miss Matilda Tipton, the granddaughter of Gen-
eral Tipton, in later years, at Logansport,
searched among the general's papers and at the
bottom of his box neatly folded and tied with a
faded red tape, was the letter of Governor Noble
and the answer of General Tipton, by which he
agreed to transfer the grounds on which the bat-
tle of Tippecanoe was fought, to the state of Indi-
ana.
84 Pastime Sketches
The letter from Governor Noble to General
Tipton follows :
Indianapolis, November 1, 1834.
The Hon. John Tipton :
Sir — The last legislature of our state by a joint
resolution made it the duty of the governor to
ascertain the terms on which you would surrender
the ground on which was fought the memorable
battle of Tippecanoe. With the events of that
struggle honorable mention has been frequently
made of your name, of your fellow officers and sol-
diers who survived it, by the brave general who
commanded, as well as those who were slain, and
knowing your high estimate of the courage and
private virtues of your companions who fell and
whose remains render that a sacred spot, I need say
but little to induce you to appreciate the motive
that prompts the measure, that of a just regard for
the memory of the lamented dead. Allow me to
refer you to the resolution and request an answer
as early as your convenience will permit. I am,
sir, with great esteem, your obedient servant,
N. NOBLE.
Resolution to be found in last volume of our
laws.
Following is the reply of General Tipton to Gov-
ernor Noble :
Falls of the Wabash, November 7, 1834.
His Excellency, N. Noble:
Sir — I have the honor to acknowledge the re-
ceipt of your favor of the first of this month, in-
forming me that, by a resolution of the last legisla-
ture, it was made the duty of the governor to as-
certain upon what terms I would surrender to the
Pastime Sketches 85
state the ground on which was fought the memor-
able battle of Tippecanoe, and, in reply, I have to
inform you that, in purchasing the battleground,
I was actuated by no other motive than that of
possessing it, in order to preserve the bones of my
companions in arms who fell there, and that it
will afford me great pleasure to convey the battle-
ground to the state of Indiana, free of any charge,
whenever it is signified to me the state wishes it
so conveyed for that purpose.
JOHN TIPTON.
This communication of General Tipton was
transmitted to the legislature by Governor Noble,
and on February 7, 1835, the legislature passed a
joint resolution resolving among other things that
"his excellency be, and he is hereby authorized to
receive from the Hon. John Tipton a deed of con-
veyance, in fee simple, of the Tippecanoe battle-
ground, to and in the name of the State of Indiana.
That the governor, on receiving the conveyance
aforesaid, shall, by himself, or a proper subagQnt
to be by him appointed, take charge of the said
battleground, and, if he shall deem it expedient,
have the same inclosed with a suitable fence, and
that he make report of the proceedings in the prem-
ises to the next general assembly, as also his views
and opinions relative to the erection of a suitable
monument or memorial on said battleground/'
While the battleground became a State park
under the gift of General Tipton many years ago
no monument of any magnitude has ever been
erected, though at the last session of Congress and
the Indiana legislature proper appropriations were
made for that purpose.
86 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER XVIII.
AN EARLY PAINTER.
The banks of the Wabash, made famous in song,
produced a painter who deserves a high place in
the history of art in Indiana. Unfortunately many
of his paintings have been lost, and while the state
library may not obtain many of them, some effort
should be made to catalogue those remaining.
A search of the Wabash valley for works of the
early artist, George Winter, discloses the fact that
many of his valuable paintings have disappeared.
This is notably true of his paintings of the battle
of Tippecanoe. This was his greatest work and,
strange to say, it was the first to disappear. In a
private letter now in possession of the Wisconsin
Historical Society, Winter speaks of six different
pictures of the Tippecanoe battle ground and of
two of these covering 152 square feet each. All,
he says, were taken from different points of view
and taken together conveyed one idea of the bat-
tle ground. These pictures were painted in 1840
while Winter lived at Logansport, and his idea was
suggested by the famous Harrison campaign of
that year.
The largest collection of Winter pictures in
existence is owned by his daughter, Mrs. C. G.
Ball, of Lafayette. There are nine oil paintings
and thirty-eight water colors in the collection.
Four of the oil canvasses are covered with heads
Pastime Sketches 87
of Indians, representing thirty-three Pottawatomie
chiefs and squaws. There is a life-size head of
Francis Godfroy, the last of the Miami chiefs, and
another of Joseph Barron, the famous interpreter,
who served General Harrison for eighteen years
and who aided General Tipton and A. C. Pepper in
their negotiations with the Indians. There are
numerous water colors perhaps one foot square.
Most o'f them are portraits with landscape back-
grounds. They are color studies of the Indian
costumes of the day made up largely of finery
bought from the early traders. Two of these are of
Frances Slocum, the white captive, whose family
lived at Wilkes-Barre, and who was captured and
lived many years with the Indians.
Besides this collection there are numerous por-
traits at Lafayette, as well as other oil and water
colors. Among the best portraits are those of God-
love S. Orth. John Purdue, founder of the college;
WilliaYn Digby, who laid out Lafayette ; Robert S.
Stockwell, Judge Cyrus Ball, Lawrence B. Stock-
ton, Mrs. George N. Stockton, Mrs. Thomas Under-
wood, Mrs. R. M. O'Ferrell, Dr. R. M. O'Farrell,
Mrs. John Cofrroth, James Spears, Cornelius Ball,
Edward Reynolds, Sr., Dr. Denning, C. H. Rose and
Mrs. Rogers. There are many more portraits at
Lafayette and besides quite a collection of Indian
portraits and landscape scenes owned by those
same citizens and others. The landscapes are of
scenes on the Wabash, Tippecanoe, Eel and Mis-
sissinewa rivers.
The early residents of Logansport were liberal
patrons of Winter's art. The late Judge Biddle had
a collection of thirty water colors and several oil
paintings, now owned by Mrs. Eva Peters Reynolds,
88 Pastime Sketches
his niece. In the Masonic temple is a copy of a
life-size portrait of Gen. George Tipton, a copy of
one of Winter's portraits. Judge Maurice Win-
field is the owner of two of the oil paintings, scenes
on the Wabash, and Miss Tillie Tipton, grand-
daughter of General Tipton, also has two. Former
United States Senator Graham N. Fitch left five of
the oil paintings to his heirs, and three of these
are owned by Horace Coleman, a grandson, who
occupies the Fitch homestead. Williamson Wright,
who was one of the early residents, left six oil
paintings, scenes on the Wabash, to his heirs. Mrs.
S. B. Boyer has a portrait of her father, Alex.
Goodwin, E. S. Rice, president of the First Na-
tional Bank, has two of the oil paintings ; Mrs.
Paul Taber has one, Henry Tucker has two, and
there are several more in Logansport including
those owned by Walter Osmer, Alvin Higgins,
D. D. Dykeman, Henry Tucker and others. John
H. Elam, of Indianapolis, has one, and a number
are owned by persons in Peru.
George Winter, in 1839, visited Dead Man's vil-
lage, the Indian settlement on the Mississinewa
river, near Peru, to make a portrait of Frances
Slocum, the white girl stolen from her home in
Pennsylvania, when she was three years old. He
also made sketches of her surroundings from sev-
eral points of view, painting the home and the land-
scape of the valley. When Frances Slocum thought
she was dying she disclosed to Col. G. W. Ewing,
of Fort Wayne, her white origin and early his-
tory. She, however, lived for several vears, dying
in 1847.
The Slocum family, after visiting her and trv-
ing to persuade her to return to her people, sent
Pastime Sketches 89
a request to Mr. Winter to visit her and obtain a
portrait for them. Mr. Winter kept a journal of
his visit and afterward wrote an article for the
Philadelphia Press, describing his visit. His jour-
nal is still in existence and is a valuable addition
to the Indian history of Indiana, as are also his
many paintings.
Writing of the paintings after the election, he
said :
"Although I have been defeated in getting these
views before the public eye at the time when po-
litical excitement ran high, yet I have often in-
dulged the hope that Harrison would be elected,
and that an interest would still be felt. I think if
I could get these pictures to Cincinnati some time
before the general sets out for the White House
that it would be a favorable time to exhibit them.
I have also thought it would be a propitious time,
too, either at the inauguration or during the spring
to exhibit them at Washington."
Nothing ever came of these plans and the pic-
tures seem to have been lost in part. One of them
was presented to the state, and when last recalled
was stowed away in a corner of the old State House,
unframed and with canvas broken and lopping
over. This was shortly before the old Capitol was
torn down and the picture was then in a closet off
the Supreme Court chamber. It was never seen
after the contents of the old Capitol were removed.
Quite recently one of the views of the Tippecanoe
battle ground was discovered and retouched for
presentation to the State library.
In a history of early Indiana art. Winter would
take a prominent place. Jacob Cox, of Indianap-
olis, was his contemporary while Charles A. Les-
90 Pastime Sketches
neur and others of the New Harmony settlement
antedate him. He was born at Portsea, England,
in 1810, and after a preliminary course of private
instruction went to London, entered the Royal
Academy and lived the life of an artist for four
years. When twenty years of age he came to New
York and seven years later, in 1837, to Logansport.
The remainder of his life was spent in the Wa-
bash valley. In 1840 he was married to Miss Mary
Squier, of New Carlisle, O., and two children sur-
vive him — George Winter, Eureka, Cal., and Mrs.
C. Gordon Ball, of Lafayette, Ind. Mr. Winter
remained in Logansport until 1850, when he moved
to Lafayette. He went to California in 1873 and
returned to Lafayette in 1876, dying a short time
afterward while attending an entertainment at the
opera house in that city.
During the entire time Mr. Winter supported
himself by his brush, a difficult task in a new coun-
try having little appreciation of art. When he
came to Logansport in 1837, to use his own words,
"He was allured to Indiana to be present at the
councils held by Col. A. C. Pepper at the village
of Kee-waw-nay in regard to the Pottawatomie im-
migration west of the Mississippi." He had an ar-
tist's interest in the red man .of the west, and
many of his paintings are of famous Pottawatomie
and Miami chiefs.
Pastime Sketches 91
CHAPTER XIX.
A TRIP ON THE CANAL.
There is a somewhat rare work in the Horace
P. Biddle collection at the city library. It is en-
titled, "The Wabash, or Adventures of an Eng-
lish Gentleman's Family in the Interior of Amer-
ica." It was published in London in 1855 by
"Hurst and Blackett, Publishers, 13 Great Marl-
borough street," and is in two volumes. The au-
thor is "J. Richard Beste, Esq., of London."
With the progress we have made it is hard to
realize that an Englishman came to this part of
the country a little over fifty years ago and wrote
of us much as Henry M. Stanley and Paul du
Chaillu wrote of "Darkest Africa" in more recent
years.
The frontispiece in this book is a picture of
Terre Haute, Indiana, and it is a rather remarkable
production in that it shows Terre Haute as con-
sisting of five house, six people and two dogs. The
artist seems to have ha,d an Englishman's fondness
for dogs, as they occupy the foreground of the pic-
ture. Two churches or school houses appear in
the background.
Mr. Beste made his trip to Terre Haute in a
spirit of adventure, arriving at New York on a
sailing vessel and finding his way westward as best
he could. He passed through Indianapolis over
the National road, in a stage coach, and stopped at
92 Pastime Sketches
the Prairie House in Terre Haute. Death in his
family, and other discouragements led him to re-
turn soon and he selected the canal route by way
of Logansport as better than the one he had fol-
lowed in his course westward. This involved a ca-
nal boat ride from Terre Haute to Toledo, Ohio,
a steamboat trip on Lake Erie from Toledo to Buf-
falo, railroad transportation from Buffalo to Al-
bany and another steamboat ride down the Hud-
son from Albany to New York city. The time
consumed on this journey was something less than
a month and no better realization of the great prog-
ress of the country can be arrived at than by com-
parison of this with the present method of getting
to New York city. Many can recall the local mer-
chants who went to New York to buy goods a
few years ago, and thought it something to be proud
of. It meant much hardship then, the trip took
much time, and was very expensive, and it is not to
be wondered at that the merchant advertised his
special bargains in New York goods, selected by
himself, "in person," for the particular wants of his
customers.
Mr. Beste's book was interesting to me and
might be to others, and so I have called attention
to it. There is not much of value in it, in a gen-
eral way, but it gives an accurate description of
travel on a canal boat in early times.
When the Beste party was ready to leave Terre
Haute it was delayed by a break in the canal and
learned that this was of frequent occurrence. A
week of waiting followed. Telegrams were sent
to friends and the author goes into raptures, say-
ing, "Let Europe and England take shame to itself
that the electric telegraph, as yet. exists not every-
Pastime Sketches 93
where for the convenience of everybody. In these
remote and infant communities, it is in hourly use
in every village. The greatest and smallest com-
mercial transactions are carried on by its means."
Mr. Beste decided "that Indianapolis and Terre
Haute are not decaying, but are busy, rising, thriv-
ing towns." The population of Indianapolis, he
says, was 2,692 in 1840 and in 1850 had risen to
8,034. Terre Haute in the same period rose from
2*000 to 4,051.
The journey by canal to Toledo was not par-
ticularly exciting. The boat made from four to
five miles an hour and stops were frequent. It was
an ordinary canal boat, too well remembered to re-
quire description. The view, the writer says, "was
naught," thick woods with partial clearings. "Af-
ter tea," says the writer, "we all began a most
murderous ' attack upon the mosquitoes that
swarmed our berths in expectation of feasting upon
us as soon as we should go to bed. Those upon
which we made war were soon replaced by others
and the more we killed the more they seemed to
come to be killed. We soon resigned ourselves to
pass a sleepless night. Tormented by the mosqui-
toes, by heat and by thirst our onward course was
very wearying."
At Lafayette was to be a "change of cars" and
the writer says, "We little knew what was in store
for us. We spent some time catching mosquitoes
which were ten times worse than in the other boat."
G. Davis was captain of this boat and W. H. Noble
was agent at Lafayette. The captain refused to
recognize the rights of Mr. Beste to the quarters
he had paid for and a convention of passengers
finallv settled the matter in his favor. Mr. Beste
94 Pastime Sketches
was evidently not delighted with his trip for he
says: "If for some reason I linger yet upon this
canal, let it be remembered that those whose prop-
erty is here forcibly invested, have, probably, never
before heard from a countryman who had traveled
with his family from the Ohio river to Lake Erie
by this ditch ; and that it is unlikely any one will
ever do so again."
The morning ablutions had to be performed in
turn. "Every third person had to dip the jug into
the canal for fresh water." Then came the break-
fast which was "very bad indeed," along the route
were many villagers and the shops had signs, "York
Fixings and Yankee Notions."
"The whole party was very much annoyed the
next day by a passenger who stood on the roof,
or upper deck of the boat with a fowling piece in
hand and constantly fired at birds that flew across
the canal. The detonation overhead was unpleas-
ant, but the man was a friend of the surly animal
who commanded the boat, and remonstrance was
felt to be useless."
Mr. Beste did not find anything enjoyable in
his trip. His last entry in his journal is as amus-
ing as any paragraph in his book. It was dated
Saturday and reads : "At ten o'clock this morn-
ing, our hateful boat — for the wretched fare and
accommodation on which I had paid about forty-
five dollars a head, or about double the charge per
day at the Prairie House, Terre Haute — was drawn
up beside a crowded wharf at Toledo. My family
had found some degree of fellowship in that of Miss
Ward and her children ; and had been amused by
the manners and the squabbles of the other female
passengers. We left the boat, thankful to the Al-
Pastime Sketches 95
mighty that we had been able to traverse between
three and four hundred miles of an infected dis-
trict without further illness, and rejoiced to find
ourselves once more in a comparatively civilized
region. We went into the hotel at Toledo and
saw a bell-rope hanging in the ladies' sitting-room.
Was not this evidence of civilization, we had not
seen such a luxury since we left Cincinnati. Here
indeed it was a novelty ; and the use of it was
not known to every one, as was testified by the
following notice written, in large letters on a card,
and sewn on to the handle of the bell pull : "Pull
straight down once, then let go suddenly."
96 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER XX.
A STORY OF PROGRESS.
Less than seventy years ago, within the mem-
ory of many now living, the Indian roamed the
forests about the present site of Logansport and
camped upon the banks of the Eel and Wabash.
Picture in your fancy Logansport in 1838, a little
village with a log hotel, log stores, a log postoffice
and a log jail. There were perhaps a hundred and
forty or fifty log and frame houses, most of them
below Fifth street. The log postoffice stood just
above the present Barnett hotel, the old Semin-
ary faced Market street, it was of brick, and the
old jail was on the present site. Scattered about
were native forest trees and the streets were paved
with mud several inches deep.
Workmen are now tearing down the old Hig-
gins house on Market between Fifth and Sixth
streets to make room for a modern flat. In those
days the canal ran along the east side of the town,
now Fifth street, and there were few houses east
of it. Market street east of the canal was a coun-
try road cut through the forest and ancient oaks
adorned the hill between Sixth and Eighth streets.
The original plat of Logansport ran to below Sixth
street and the lots above were in the first addition
to the tOAvn, made by John Tipton. The addition
was laid out August 3rd, 1832, but was not im-
proved rapidly. In 1838 there were few houses east
Pastime Sketches 97
of Fifth street, the Higgins house being one of
them. The lot is number 46 in the addition. It
was on the hill as it now stands and the street in
front of it was the country road. John Tipton sold
the lot to Cyrus Taber, he sold to Henry Chase.
Philo S. Patterson appears as one of the owners,
1837. Captain Alvin W. Higgins appears as own-
er of the lot by purchase in 1857. As far as it
is possible to learn the house was built in 1833, or
1834. It was constructed by a millwright who
was skilled only in that sort of architecture and
the foundation is of double strength and the timbers
are heavy wrought. There is nothing to show that
it was ever intended for a mill, or was used as such
but the style of architecture suggests that that may
have been intended. William Chase appears as the
grantor in the deed to Capt. Higgins in 1857.
East of the canal a few houses were scattered
in the woods. The lot of the present Broadway
Alethodist church was in timber. Back of it was
the home of a blacksmith named Hines and near
it. toward North street, was the home of a car-
penter named Ward, father of Edward Ward.
"Jimmy" Rogers had a house a few feet west of the
present Broadway Presbyterian church. West of
the canal the father of Charles B. Laselle had a
home where the gas office is on Pearl street and
he afterwards built at the corner of Broadway and
Pearl. The old Seminary, of brick, stood facing
Market street where Snider's queensware store
stands, or a little west of it, perhaps later, and
the Methodist church stood on the alley east side
of Sixth street, between Broadway and North
streets. The Presbyterian church still standing
back of the Lewis store on Broadway below Sixth,
98 Pastime Sketches
and perhaps one or two other houses composed the
town ahove the canal for many years. George C.
Walker built at the corner of Ninth and Broadway,
where the Sisters school stands later and Col. I.
N. Partridge built where now is the residence of
J. T. McNary. Thus the town grew. It does not
require much flight of the imagination to picture
this hill of forest trees with country roads for
streets and a log or frame house here and there.
William Douglass, still living, brought Captain
Higgins to Logansport with an ox team. He found
him as a passenger at the "Forks of the Wabash"
two miles below Huntington on his return from
a trip to Fort Wayne and offered him the best to
be had in those days in the way of transportation.
Capt. Higgins engaged in business in Logansport.
held office and died several years ago. He acquired
his military title under General Tipton. When the
treaty was made with the Pottawatomie Indians,
Chauncey Carter and Dr. Graham N. Fitch were ap-
pointed to move some of them west to their new
reservation in Kansas. Capt. Higgins went along
with a squad of men of which he was made cap-
tain. Some of them went in wagons, some on
horseback and some on foot. The Indians were
brought from an Indian village in Fulton county
and were in camp on the North Side, on Horney
Creek, where the Custer house now stands. The
chiefs were in irons under guard and the undertak-
ing was not a particularly safe one. The Cass
county contingent returned without loss of life and
many of them lived to tell the story to their grand-
children.
The first engine for the first railroad was unload-
ed on the west bank of the canal between Broad-
Pastime Sketches 99
way and Market streets just below the Higgins
home in the spring of 1855. Mr. Wat Westlake
helped to celebrate the opening of the railroad on
July 4th of that year. The engine had been un-
loaded from the canal boat and hauled by oxen to
the track on the Southside, over the wooden
bridges crosing Biddle's Island, a feat which would
scarcely be attempted with the engines of the pres-
ent day. It was ready for its trial trip by July 4th
and a few citizens were invited to a picnic two miles
east of town where the Taber prairie now is. The
trip was made successfully and thus is recorded the
first railroad excursion out of Logansport. Mr.
Westlake also remembers the opening of the Chi-
cago road in 1861.
The building of the Wabash, road was com-
pleted through Logansport in 1856. The turn-
table was at the present junction of the Wabash
and Panhandle roads while the western extension
was being built. The road has gone through the
usual vicissitudes of railroads and has appeared un-
der various names from time to time as a result of
consolidations and reorganizations. The following
corporate history may be of interest for historical
purposes :
The Lake Erie, Wabash & St. Louis Railroad
Co. was incorporated August 31, 1852, and con-
structed a line through Indiana. On the 25th day of
June, 1855, this company consolidated with the To-
ledo & Illinois Railroad Company into the Toledo,
Wabash and Western Railroad Company. The lat-
ter road was sold on foreclosure on October 8,
1858, and the part in Indiana was sold to the Wa-
bash and Western Railroad Co. On October 24,
1858, said Wabash and Western consolidated with
100 Pastime Sketches
the Toledo and Wabash Railway Company. On
May 29, 1868, the Toledo and Wabash Railway
Company consolidated with the Great Western
Railway Company of 1859, the Quincy & Toledo
Railroad Co., or the Illinois & Southern Iowa Rail-
road Company, under the name of the Toledo, Wa-
bash & Western Railway Company on foreclosure
proceedings had in Toledo, Ohio. Logansport, In-
diana, and Danville, Illinois. In 1875 and 1876, the
Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway Company was
sold and in January, 1877, became the Wabash Rail-
way Company by consolidation, there having been
organized a Wabash railway in each of the states
of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.
In November, 1879, the Wabash railway con-
solidated with the St. Louis, Kanas City and North-
ern railway and became the Wabash, St. Louis &
Pacific Railway Company. This road went into
the hands of a receiver in May, 1884, and was sold
at receiver's sale in Chicago, May 21, 1889, the
part in Indiana to the Wabash Eastern Railway
Company of Indiana. On the 23d day of May,
1889, the Wabash Eastern Railway Company of
Missouri, the Toledo & Western Railroad Com-
pany of Ohio and the Detroit and State Line Wa-
bash Railroad Company of Michigan were consoli-
dated into the Wabash Railroad ompany, the pres-
ent owner and operator of what is known as the
"Wabash" line.
Pastime Sketches 101
CHAPTER XXL
TWO RARE BOOKS.
An odd little volume is the property of the Lo-
gansport Public Library. It would almost go into
an ordinary envelope were the title, which is the
biggest part of it, omitted. It is styled "The State
of Indiana Delineated ; Geographical, Historical,
Statistical and Commercial, and a Brief View of
the Internal Improvements, Geology, Education,
Traveling Routes, etc." It is "Published by J. H.
Colton, New York, 1838."
"The State is divided into 88 counties," it says,
and their population in 1830 is given, also the num-
ber of square miles in each county. Cass county
has 415 square miles, and a population of 1,154. Car-
roll county had about four hundred more and Allen
county a hundred less than Cass county. Marion
county, Indianapolis, had only a population of 7 -
181, while South Bend and St. Joseph county com-
bined had only 287. This county had the smallest
population in the State in 1830.
Cass county had 858 voters in 1837, the entire
county and city was appraised for taxation at
$323,126. The personal property assessed brought
this up to $827,567 and the gross amount of rev-
enue received from taxation was $1,670.95. How
much of this belonged to the State as its share is
not stated, but it is evident that the county officers
were not living in very princely style.
102 Pastime Sketches
Under the caption "Sketches of Each County"
appears the following: "Cass County — organized in
1829; contains 415 square miles; bounded north by
Pulaski and Fulton, east by Miami, south by Car-
roll county and Miami Reserve, west by Carroll
and White counties. The face of the country is
generally level ; it abounds with springs of excel-
lent water, and the streams are sufficiently rapid
to furnish great facilities for mills and machinery
of every description. The principal streams are the
Wabash and Eel rivers, which unite at Logansport,
the county seat — a large and flourishing town. The
Wabash and Erie canal passes through this coun-
ty-"
From a table of elevations above the sea it is
learned that the surface of the Wabash river at
the mouth of Eel river is 562 feet above tide water
in the Hudson river. It would thus appear that
Logansport is in no danger from a tidal wave.
In the list of towns Amsterdam appears as be-
ing in Cass county, also Lewisburg, Logansport,
New Paris and West Logan.
Another interesting book is entitled, "History
of Fort Wayne," being an account of the founding
of the Indian fort of that name after which the city
was named. It was published in 1868 and is one of
the Biddle collection. It is probably the most com-
plete history of the habits and customs of the Indi-
ans of this locality, ever published.
Pastime Sketches 103
CHAPTER XXII.
THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
One of the questions seriously disturbing the
country in the early days was the question of slav-
ery. As is remembered, it ended in a long and bit-
ter civil war.
Slavery was an institution that had its origin
in the greed of man. And the wonder at the present
time is that it so long existed. Still, there was an
apparently good side to it, the humane administra-
tion of it, and sentiment was divided. Naturally,
Harriet Beecher Stowe depicted the worst side, in
"Uncle Tom's Cabin." Nevertheless, the system
was indefensible from any standpoint, but having
been established, was difficult to destroy. Besides
this, immense sums were invested in slaves and the
property rights thus acquired represented millions
of dollars.
It is quite possible that the slavery question
would have been settled amicably but for the Civil
war, for that war was not, as is generally supposed,
fought over slavery but over states' rights. The
emancipation proclamation was an afterthought, a
blow at the south, in rebellion.
For many years there was a bitter sectional
feeling between the north and the south. The
north was opposed to slavery, and naturally to
"states' rights," which would give each state the
power to regulate slavery, as well as all other
104 Pastime Sketches
questions of more or less internal concern. It is
difficult to understand, however, the spirit of hatred
involved. At the present time the government
would buy the slaves and free them, and the settle-
ment of a serious question in this way would be ap-
plauded on both sides. Somehow at that time the
spirit of war was in the air. In any event, for
years before the war, the north was exciting" the
south by insidious attacks on its system of slav-
ery. The people of the south were born and raised
in an atmosphere of slave-ownership. The child
of the south had no other thought than that slaves,
ponies, dogs and other animals were property, chat-
tels. There was no other thought possible, any
more than it would be possible for the child of to-
day to be convinced that the ownership of a pony
was a crime. So that, when the north for a quarter
of a century kept up an attack on the property
rights of the south, as the south saw it, there was
stirred up a feeling akin to that felt toward an in-
cendiary gang, bent on the wilful destruction of
property, or toward an organization whose object
was the secret carrying off of beasts of burden.
It is not, at all times, possible to justify meth-
ods. One of the frequent themes of debate in juve-
nile debating societies is, "Is it right to do wrong
to accomplish right?" However this may be the
north irritated the south by an incessant attack on
the lawful property of the south, as the law read,
and furthermore, the proceedings of the constitu-
tional convention of the United States, and the
constitution itself, indirectly, gave to slave states
property rights in slaves.
The north was the aggressor, it spirited away
the constitutional property of the south and war
Pastime Sketches 105
followed. It is sometimes said that "the end justi-
fies the means." With that view of it the north
was right. And generally the north accomplished
one of the greatest reforms of any age, the abolition
of slavery. No one living, north or south, today
questions the methods. But it will always remain,
as one of the complex problems of humanity, that
the north was morally right, and the south legally
right, and that, for twenty-five years the north kept
up an attack on the constitutional property rights
of the south by methods which would be called
stealing if brute animals were involved.
But this incident is one of the peculiar features
of all reforms, and there have even been religious
wars to establish universal peace. Whatever the
means — and there is a saying "all is fair in war" —
the whole country rejoices, north and south, that
the blot of slavery was removed by the brave and
unselfish patriots who sought to make America
"The Land of the Free."
Cass county occupied a prominent place in the
noble fight against the crime of slavery, long be-
fore its Civil war heroes went forth to face bullets.
As early as 1835, Jacob Powell, of the present Pow-
ell family, was familiar with the "Underground
Railway System" known in Pennsylvania where he
lived. The system was established in Cass county
in 1855 or 1856. Jacob Powell was proprietor of
the Seven-Mile House, a tavern on the Michigan
road, seven miles north of Logansport. The Four-
Mile House was conducted by Benjamin L. Camp-
bell, uncle of B. F. Campbell and Lycurgus Powell
had a tavern on the north side of Eel river, just
west of where George Flanegan now lives. The
house is not now standing. All these were stations
106 Pastime Sketches
on the Underground railroad. South of the city,
there were stations of the Underground Railway
in Carroll county, and in Howard county. The
first station in Cass county was at the home of
Lycurgus Powell, on the northern route, and it is
unnecessary to say that none of the passengers on
this railway traveled southward.
There is not much in the way oi narrative to
say of this railroad system, not down on any of the
published maps. There was a method of communi-
cation between the stations, equal, as far as times
were concerned, to the present telegraphing. The
slaves came north in groups of two, or three. They
were secreted in the daytime, and taken north, to
the next station at night. There was a station at
Rochester, and at Plymouth, and some between.
The slaves eventually reached Canada, where slav-
ery was unknown, and became free. This was the
beginning of the fight on slavery, the Civil war
followed, and the United States began an era of
prominence and leadership among the nations of
the earth.
It must be remembered that this work was a
work of patriotism. There was no charge made for
board, or transportation. Once the slave crossed
the Ohio river he was among friends and was sure
of aid. There was danger in it, and great secrecy
had to be preserved, since the slave owners were
quick to follow the trail of the fugitives. There
were large rewards offered tempting to officers in
the North, and the officers of the Underground
railroad had their share of excitement.
Thus for several years the opponents of slavery
waged a warfare against it.
Pastime Sketches 107
CHAPTER XXIII.
SOME MILITARY HISTORY.
The advent of Memorial day suggests a com-
pilation of the names of residents of the county who
figured as officers in the various wars. The names
of the enlisted men have been gathered by the G. A.
R. under their respective companies and regiments.
They will be preserved by the Historical society
but the list is too long to reproduce in this brief
article. Many veterans were in other than Indiana
companies and have moved to the county since the
war. Some of these do not belong to the G. A. R.
and there is no way to enroll them. Any omission
in this list of officers is accidental.
Cass county had four generals in the Indian
wars. General John Tipton, General Walter Wilson,
General Hyacinth Laselle and General Richard
Crooks. Besides these other officers were, Col. John
B. Duret, Major Daniel Bell, Capt. Spier Spencer
and Capt. Cyrus Vigus.
In the Mexican war Cass county furnished Capt.
Stanislaus Laselle, First Lieut. Wm. L. Brown,
Second Lieut. D. M. Dunn, Third Lieut. G. W.
Blakemore. T. H. Bringhurst was a corporal. J.
T. Bryer, J. B. Grover, W. W. McMillen, S. L.
McFadin, W. Obenchain, S. B. Richardson and
others well known were members of this company,
the full list being given in Kingman's 1878 Atlas of
Cass county. The company became part of the
108 Pastime Sketches
first regiment, organized at New Albany with James
P. Drake colonel, C. C. Nave, lieutenant-colonel
and Henry S. Lane, major. The company spent
some time in northern Mexico about Monterey, with
no engagement and returned on the 15th of June,
1847, by way of the river to Cincinnati and thence
to Logansport by canal. The company contained
92 men when mustered in. Three died in Mexico
and 31 were discharged on account of ill health.
In the Civil war Cass county furnished a com-
pany of the original 9th Indiana Volunteers, the
first that left the state, for service in West Virginia.
On the 15th of April, 1861, the president called for
troops. The following day the first commission
was issued to Robert H. Milroy, as captain of Com-
pany G. Dudley H. Chase was commissioned cap-
tain of Company K. The regiment reported for
duty and was mustered in ten days after the call.
The regiment left Indianapolis on the 29th of May
and on the 3rd of June participated in an engage-
ment at Philippi. The period of enlistment was
ninety days. Capt. Chase at once re-entered serv-
ice in the Seventeenth U. S. Infantry and most of
the others saw later service.
John Banta was first lieutenant of Co. K of this
regiment. G. W. Marshall was captain of Co. K,
as was also D. B. McConnell. May 3rd, 1861, a call
was made for three years men and another com-
pany was formed, becoming Company F, of the
Twentieth Regiment. William L. Brown was
elected colonel of this regiment and Benjamin H.
Smith Major, both of Cass county. Thomas H.
Logan was first lieutenant of this company and E.
C. Sutherland second lieutenant. T. H. Logan be-
came captain, Sutherland first lieutenant and Har-
Pastime Sketches 109
vey H. Miller, second lieutenant and first lieutenant
later. Col. Brown was killed on Manassas Plains,
August 29, 1862. Lieut. Sutherland died in the
service May 26th, 1864.
Following- this company the Forty-sixth regi-
ment was organized with a greater part of the mem-
bers of companies B, D and I, and a portion of F
and H from Cass county. The officers were Gra-
ham N. Fitch, colonel, Newton G. Scott, lieuten-
ant-colonel, Thomas H. Bringhurst, major, Rich-
ard P. DeHart, adjutant, D. D. Dykeman, quarter-
master, Robert Irwin, chaplain, and Horace Cole-
man, acting surgeon. Major Bringhurst became
colonel, Capt. A. M. Flory, lieutenant-colonel, Wil-
liam M. DeHart, major, Thomas H. Howes, quar-
termaster, William S. Richardson, quartermaster,
Dr. Asa Coleman, assistant surgeon, and Dr. I. B.
Washburn, principal surgeon.
Aaron Flory was captain of Company B, suc-
ceeded by Frank Swigart when Flory was promot-
ed and later T. B. Forgy became captain. John T.
Castle and Matthew Graham were first lieutenants,
John Arnout, Loren C. Stevens and M. H. Nash
second lieutenants.
John Guthrie was captain of Company D, and
was succeeded by Wm. M. DeHart, C. A. Brownlee
and A. B. Herman, first lieutenants, A. K. Ewing
and A. J. Lavenger, second lieutenants. J. W. F.
Liston was captain of Company I and was suc-
ceeded by Frederick Fitch. N. B. Liston was sec-
ond lieutenant. The regiment was mustered in De-
cember 11th, 1861, and served till the close of the
war. It was in camp before going to war at Camp
Logan, where the Vandalia shops are in Logans-
port. The county also furnished Companies G and
110 Pastime Sketches
H of the Seventy-third regiment mustered in Au-
gust 16th, 1862. The officers of Company G were
W. L. McConnell, captain, J. A. Westlake, captain,
G. A. Vaness, first lieutenant, R. J. Connoly, second
lieutenant, and S. B. Pratt, second lieutenant. The
officers of Company H were Peter Doyle and D.
H. Mull, captains, H. S. Murdock, first lieutenant
and A. M. Callahan, second lieutenant. Company
K of the Ninety-ninth Regiment, was mainly made
up in Cass county. Richard P. DeHart was lieuten-
ant-Colonel, G. W. Julian and George C. Walker
were captains and Selden P. Stuart first lieuten-
ant, John C. McGregor, second lieutenant.
In 1863 the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth
was organized with Richard P. DeHart colonel and
Cass county furnished most of Companies B, H
and K. Alex K. Ewing and John C. Barnett were
captains, W. C. Mills and Frank E. West, first lieu-
tenants and Samuel Tilton second. Company H
had for its captain John T. Powell and Wm. A.
Harper was first lieutenant. Company K had Frank
M. Ilinton as captain, George W. Smith, first lieu-
tenant and Wm. H. Crockett, second lieutenant.
The One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Regiment
had for captain of Company C, John C. Scantling,
who was promoted to major and after the war went
into the regular army. J. E. Cornwell, Joseph P.
McKee and John G. Penrose were lieutenants.
Outside of these organzations Logansport has
had other officers, some as citizens since that time
who were residents of other counties or states dur-
ing the war. J. B. Winters was first lieutenant of
Co. F, 151st Indiana, and Bruce Davidson was a
captain of the same company. Robert Cromer was
also a first lieutenant of the same company. J. C.
Pastime Sketches 111
Hadley was a captain of Co. K in the 70th Indiana
Regiment, General Harrison's. Joseph Craig was
captain of Co. G, 130th Ind., and George W. Julian,
captain of Co. K, 99th Indiana. James Finegan
was captain of Co. C, 53rd Indiana. A. W. Ste-
vens was captain of Co. K, 142d Indiana. A. C.
Hadlock was colonel of the First Kentucky Cav-
alry, W. H. Snider was major of the 94th Ohio.
Quartermasters in the Civil war were : George
Horn, 46th Indiana, W. S. Richardson, same,
George F. West, 9th 111. Cavalry, and M. M. Gor-
don, 13th Ind. Volunteers. Some of the other offi-
cers were :
Captains, Frank Hight, Co. E, 39th Ohio ; John
C. Nelson, Co. B, 70th Ohio, Hazen's staff; Samuel
Purviance, Co. E, 9th 111. Cavalry ; Alex. Hardy,
24th Battery, Ind. Vol. ; Jesse L. Cornwell, Co. C,
155th Ind. ; James W. Dunn, Co. H, 55th Ind. ; Car-
ter L. Vigus, 55th Ind. ; W. C. Mills, Co. E, 128th
Ind. ; J. Y. Ballou, Co. K, 12th Ind. Cavalry ; Peter
Doyle, Co. H, 73d Ind. (killed at Stone River) ;
John G. Kessler, Co. A, 2nd Ind. Cavalry ; J. C.
Brophy, Co. H, 22nd Michigan ; Joseph A. West-
lake, Co. G, 73d Ind. ; W. L. McConnell, Co. G, 73d
Ind.; D. M. Bender, Co. I, 47th Ind.; J. T. Powell,
Co. H, 128th Ind.; Abraham Shafer, Co. B, 36th
Ind.
Lieutenants : S. A. Vaughn was first lieutenant
12th U. S. Heavy Artillery, appointed from the
State of New York by the President and assigned
to the second army corps under General Hancock;
W. H. Crockett, first, Co. K, 128th Ind.; James
Parker, first, Co. K, U. S. Heavy Artillery; John
Penrose, second, Co. C, 155th Ind. ; Henry Murdock,
Co. G, 73d Ind. ; G. A. Vaness, first, Co. G, 73d Ind. ;
112 Pastime Sketches
S. B. Pratt, second, Co. G, 73d Ind. ; Frank Smith,
first, Co. K, 128 Ind. ; H. C. Cushman, first, Co. A,
94th Ohio; G. F. West, first, 9th 111. Cavalry; A.
M. Callahan, second, Co. H, 73d Ind.; Samuel Til-
ton, second, Co. D, 128th Ind. ; B. H. Keith, first,
Co. G, 128th Ind. ; M. K. Graham, first, Co. B, 46th
Ind. ; Leroy J. Anderson, first, Co. D, 46th Ind. ;
Frank M. Rust, second, Co. B, 55th Ind.; A. W.
Mobley, first, Co. H, 55th Ind.; John G. Meek,
second, Co. H, 55th Ind. ; G. W. Smith, Co. K, 128th
Ind.; Joseph P. McKee, first, Co. C. 155th Ind.;
James A. Wilkinson, second, Co. E, 9th 111. Cav-
alry; James Justice, first 118th Ind.; J. H. McMil-
len, second, Co. K, 5th Ind. Cavalry; Robert Nick-
um, first, 69th Ind.; Austin B. Sargent, first, Co.
E, 29th Ind. ; W. H. Wilkinson, second, Co. F 12th
Ind. Cavalry; M. M. Gordon, first, Co. E, 13th Ind.
The Spanish-American war was fought in the
spring and summer of 1898. Logansport furnished
Company M. of the 160th Indiana of which D. M.
Bender was captain, a captain of the Civil war.
The other officers were W. C. Dunn, first lieuten-
ant ; Leroy Fitch, 2d lieutenant. Several Cass
county men enlisted in the 161st Ind.
Company 14, U. S. Signal Corps (staff corps)
was recruited from Indiana at Indianapolis by W. S.
Wright, first lieutenant. It numbered 54 men, two-
thirds of whom, under the law, were skilled elec-
tricians or telegraphers. Logansport men were
Claude Beebe, James V. C. Nelson, Charles Mas-
sena, Willard Keiser, S. E. Keiser, Adelbert
Young, Walter C. Hall and Willard Thomas.
The corps spent three weeks in drill and pre-
paration at Washington barracks and was then as-
signed to the staff of the Seventh Army Corps in
Pastime Sketches 113
camp at Jacksonville, Fla., Fitzhugh Lee command-
ing. Inasmuch as the Signal Corps is a new feature
of military operation the following sketch is added.
The signal corps constructed and operated tele-
graph lines between head quarters within 24 hours
after an army went into camp. It also communi-
cated messages by what is known as wigwagging
and by the heliograph. Wigwagging was the
method of communicating without wires, flags
were used in the day time and torches at night.
On account of the exposed position of the men on
eminences they were armed with carbines and re-
volvers and were often protected by a squad. They
carried also their signal apparatus. Messages were
received by the aid of powerful field glasses. The
limit of observation and signaling was about four
miles. The telegraph code was used as in the
Western Union offices and railroad offices. The
flag or torch at night was held upright, a quick
stroke to the right, or left, made the dots and a
slow stroke the dashes, and thus the messages
were spelled out as in ordinary telegraphing.
When no hill-tops were available the tops of the
tallest trees were used as stations. The helio-
graph was an instrument made up ot a tripod, a
mirror and a shutter. By the quick, or slow use of
the shutter dashes and dots were made. The mir-
ror was adjustable and caught the sun's rays and
reflected them to a certain point where the message
was to be taken. By the aid of field-glasses mes-
sages have been sent 50 miles but of course the
heliograph is only available in the day time and on
a clear day. These methods of signalling have been
used very successfully in Europe in time of war
but the objections are first the difficulty of attract-
114 Pastime Sketches
ing the attention of the squad to be communicated
with, and secondly, the prominence of the signal-
ling squad which make it an object of interest to
the sharp-shooters. The signal corps also had
charge of the balloon train, the balloon being held
by a cable four or five hundred feet long, and be-
ing used for a signal station and for observation
of the enemy's position and number*.
On account of the separation of the corps into
small squads for field work there were many non-
commissioned officers, Nelson, Beebe, Messena,
Young and both Reisers were sergeants, Thomas
was a corporal.
Logansport was and is well represented in the
regular army and navy. Leroy Fitch rose to the
rank of Commodore and was retired. He died about
1876 at his home on the Southside where the St.
Joseph Hospital stands. Capt. Henry S. Fitch died
in 1871 and Fred Fitch was captain in the 46th
Indiana. Graham D. Fitch is a major in the en-
gineering corps of the regular army and is now sta-
tioned at Duluth, Minn., on River and Harbor Im-
provements. Captain Wash Coulson, retired, was
in the revenue service. E. L. McSheehy is an en-
sign and is stationed at Manila. Lieutenant S. M.
Landry is in the revenue service. Morris H.
Brown was senior lieutenant in the navy and as-
signed to League Island Navy Yard, Philadelphia,
when he died. Captain Henry McCrea is in com-
mand of the battleship Iowa.
Many of the officers of the Civil war here named
went through the hardships of prison life at Libby,
Andersonville, and other prisons. Many have at-
tained rank in military organizations since the war.
M. M. Gordon raised the Third Indiana State Mili-
Pastime Sketches 115
tia, Loyal Legion, and was appointed surgeon with
the rank of major. He was afterwards internal
revenue collector for Northern Indiana and gave up
the practice of medicine.
Major William M. DeHart was the first enlisted
man in the war of the rebellion though the honor
is claimed by another man because the Logansport
company was recruited before the President's pro-
clamation declaring war. The company was
mustered in and the honor rightfully belongs to
Major DeHart. The Logansport company also
claims the honor of being the first company formed
in the Civil war.
The Logan Grays, the Cass Blues and perhaps
other militia companies have been organized in Lo-
gansport but space does not print further mention
here.
116 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER XXIV.
MEN OF NATIONAL, OR STATE FAME.
In the very nature of things greatness is not
local. A man is more or less great as his influence,
power or fame extends beyond the confines of his
immediate environment. And this influence, power
or fame must be in the directon of the public wel-
fare. The bandit becomes notorious only, the in-
ventor, artist, or author famous and to these we add
the term great. There are "great" musicians, jur-
ists physicians, ministers, explorers, scientists and
so on. In our usual vocabulary of terms, however,
the "great" man is the product of strife, political,
civic or military. He must be a leader of men in
contests among men. The element of leadership
suffices without other qualification. It is the power
to organize men and direct the forces in any given
direction that we call greatness, and so every com-
munity has its "great" men who may simply excel
in organization and leadership. But in truth he is
a more or less great man who acquires laudable
fame beyond the scenes of hs daily avocation.
Logansport produced great men in the early
days. The per cent, was much greater than at
present. Undoubtedly the hardships of early life
developed character. The little village on the
Western frontier was the home of a United States
Senator, generals in the Indian wars and other offi-
cers. There were less men to command and more
Pastime Sketches 117
officers to command them, but that detracts naught
from the honor. The titles were bravely won. It
was an era when men were heroes and danger
lurked everywhere. Nor were titles home made.
They were official, in recognition of courage and
ability. Furthermore history gives to men of Lo-
gansport the leadership in public and military af-
fairs in the entire north of the territory, and later
the northern part of the State.
From the time of the organization and admis-
sion of the State of Indiana up to the close of the
Civil war, less than fifty years, the village, grown
to a town of five or six thousand inhabitants in the
early sixties, had known United States Senators,
Generals, and other military officers as citizens. It
had two United States Senators, two citizens
elected to Congress, and its people were leaders
in affairs of State and Nation. The Indian wars,
Mexican war and Civil war produced great men,
or rather brought out the greatness in men, as war
always does. But Logansport had a remarkable
share of them. It has now been thirty-two years
since Logansport furnished a United States Senator,
D. D. Pratt retiring in 1875. True the growth and
development of the State has caused the greater
distribution of these honors, there being nine-two
populous counties in the State. And comparative
peace has reigned over the country, so that there
are no new heroes of war. Logansport has had
its share of State and National honors since the
Civil war but by comparison with the earlier days
it does not seem so. And there is an average of
strong character, if not the marked individual
brilliancy of earlier days.
A review of the list down to the present from
118 Pastime Sketches
the early days shows that Logansport has fur-
nished three. United States Senators, John Tipton,
Graham N. Fitch and Daniel D. Pratt. They have
able biographers who have told of their lives and
public acts, not possible in this brief sketch. David
Turpie was for many years a resident of Logans-
port before he became United States Senator.
Schuyler Colfax represented this district before he
became Vice President of the United States, as did
also James N. Tyner, who became postmaster-
general.
Among other prominet men now living Rufus
Magee was minister to Sweden and Norway, and
Judge D. P. Baldwin was Attorney-general of Indi-
ana. Logansport was also the home of Simon P.
Sheerin, clerk of the Supreme Court ; Horace P.
Biddle and William Z. Stuart, judges of the Su-
preme Court of Indiana ; W. D. Owen, secretary of
State, congressman and United States commis-
sioner of immigration made Logansport his home;
R. A. Brown, clerk of the Supreme Court lived in
Logansport before his nomination. D. D. Pratt
and Graham N. Fitch were elected to congress
before they were made United States Senators and
Logansport is the home of Frederick Landis.
Charles B. Landis was a Logansport boy before he
went to congress. George E. Ross served on the
Appellate bench of the State and Dr. J. Z. Powell
was a presidential elector, as were also Frank
Swigart and Q. A. Myers. There is quite a list of
senators, representatives, circuit judges and prose-
cutors who served in distircts larger than Cass,
who have been famed outside of their own local
community, residents of Logansport, but their
Pastime Sketches 119
names appear fully in the histories of the State and
county.
Logansport has stood high in the railroad
world, as far as the fame of her sons is concerned.
George W. Stevens became President of the Chesa-
peake & Ohio R. R. and L. F. Loree, President of
the Baltimore & Ohio R. R., two great lines of the
East and West and active competitors. Frank
Hecker became president of the Peninsular Car
Works and C. L. Freer, treasurer and both became
millionaires and Mr. Hecker a colonel in the
Spanish-American war.
120 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER XXV.
CASS COUNTY COMPANY FIRST IN CIVIL WAR.
Not only is Major Wm. M. DeHart of this city
entitled to the honor of being the first enlisted man
in the Civil war but company D, the one he re-
cruited in Logansport, which became part of the
Ninth Indiana, was the first company recruited in
that war. The recruiting was begun Saturday
night, April 13th, 1861, and was continued all day
Sunday and Monday. The recruiting office was on
the corner of Fourth and Market streets where the
State Bank now stands. DeHart had no official
authority. He signed first himself and urged others
to do so and within a week one hundred and twenty-
five names had been secured. The company went to
Indianapolis at the end of the week and the official
records show that it was mustered in April 19th,
1861, thus becoming the first company of the Civil
war. The records of the adjutant-general of Indi-
ana show that Lieutenant-Colonel Love was the
mustering officer while the recollection of the sur-
vivors is that Lieutenant-Colonel Wood was the
mustering officer. Both were regular army officers,
and the Logansport company was thus officially
the first company of the Civil war.
Major DeHart's claim is only disputed by C. F.
Rand who enlisted in New York two days later,
but who claims to be the first enlisted man "after
Lincoln's call for 75.000 men." DeHart volunteered
Pastime Sketches 121
within an hour after the news of the fall of Fort
Sumter came, his company was mustered in and
entitled to the distinction of being the first to enlist
in the great army of 2,778,304 men. Honors have
been showered on Rand as the first claimant. Eng-
land, Russia, Germany, France, Persia, Mexico,
Egypt, India, Norway and Japan have recognized
his claim. The United States voted him a medal
and a pension as the first enlisted man after the call
but the honor belongs to Major DeHart, who was
later in forty-three battles and some skirmishes and
was wounded near Ft. Pillow, Miss., in 1862.
Company D has never asked for any recognition
of its claim of being the first company organized in
the Civil war. It was in action at the battle of
Philippi as part of the Ninth regiment and served
its three months of enlistment with honor. Most
of its members re-enlisted in other companies. Rob-
ert H. Milroy was colonel of the Ninth, J. W. Gor-
don sergeant major and J. O. Cravens Q. M. ser-
geant. Thomas M. Dunn was captain of Co. D.
D. C. Weimer was first lieutenant and Like C. Vi-
gus second lieutenant and quartermaster. O. W.
Miles was a sergeant who became second lieutenant.
Other sergeants were M. K. Graham, Ross L. Vigus
and J. W. S. Liston. The corporals were W. M.
DeHart, Samuel L. Purviance, Perry B. Bowser and
T. H. Howes. The musicians were George \Y.
Green, A. U. McAllister, and James M. Vigus. E. L.
Eph'raim was fife major.
One hundred and twenty-five men were taken to
Indianapolis but the companies were formed with
eighty-five men and part of those enlisting were
not accepted and returned home. The complete
list of those forming the first company of the Civil
122 Pastime Sketches
war in addition to those above named is as fol-
lows :
Austin Adair. John \Y. Amount, Hampton C.
Booth, William H. Booth, Granville N. Black,
Amos Barnett, Charles Bell, Samuel N. Black, Isaac
Barnett, Allen Boyer, Ambrose Butler, John Castle,
Isaac Castle. William H. Crockett, Ebenezer T.
Cooke, John W. Chidester, James C. Chidester,
James A. Craighead, Robert W. Clary, Allen B.
Davidson, John Douglass, Charles A. Dunkle,
David A. Ewing, Alex. K. Ewing, Theodore B.
Forgy, William R. Greeley, Jacob Hudlow, John L.
Hinkle, John Howard, Pollard Herring. David Jam-
ison, Joseph Knight, James Linton, John S. Long,
William Larimore, Joseph Linzy, Charles Longdorf,
Abraham Lucus, Amos W. Mobley, George Myers,
Samuel A. Mendenhall, John R. Moore, William
Martin, Samuel Martin, William R. Marshall, John
Means. Paul B. Miller, Edward Nefr, Graham N.
Patton, Frederick J. Patrick, John Rush, David
Reprogle, Jacob Storer. Austin Sargent, James A.
Troup, John W. Tippet, John A. Woodward, James
A. Wilkinson, Joseph Vickory. Cyrus J. Vigus,
John W. Vanmeter, George C. Vanmeter, George
S. Vanmeter, Richard Patton, William Patton.
Captain Dunn, of this company, became a major
and later went into the regular army as a captain
of the 21st infantry. He died in California some
years ago.
Mention has been made of Camp Logan on the
Westside. A few months ago, in September, a
stone was erected to mark this famous camp. The
stone is in the yard of the Bates street school
building and bears the inscription, "Forty-sixth
Indiana Volunteer Infantry organized and camped
Pastime Sketches 123
here from October to December, 1861." The stone
was ordered at a meeting of the regiment held at
Rochester, Indiana, in 1905. A committee was ap-
pointed with Frank Swigart of Logansport as
chairman to procure a stone and superintend its
erection at the proper place. W. H. Duncan and
George Clinger, of Cass county, were later added to
the committee. George Clinger furnished the stone
delivered at Peden's marbel works where it was
engraved. The stone stands within twenty feet of
the south line of Camp Logan, the guard line pa-
trolled by the sentries. It is also near the east line
of Camp Logan which extended westward about
two thousand feet from this point. On the north
the camp took in the ground now covered by the
main track of the Vandalia railroad, extending a
few feet north of the present main track.
124 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER XXVI.
BOYHOOD SPORTS IN FORMER DAYS.
Logansport had not one famous "Old Swimmin'
Hole" but many of them. With two rivers, several
races and a canal in its midst, so to speak, there
was no lack of material. And as a result the boy
of fifty years ago spent much of his time in the
water. Scarcely had the ice disappeared in the
spring when the old familiar sign was given in the
school room, two fingers held up. The quick res-
ponse all around meant that when the school day
was over there would be a rush to the river, or
race — moist hair, or a shirt put on wrong side out
often told the tale at home, and a whipping follow-
ed, notwithstanding the protestations of innocence.
Swimming was a crime in those 'days, the reason
of which was hard to understand, even when the
word was passed around that some playmate had
gone beyond his depth and would never come to
school again.
Then there was the vigorous arm of the law in
the person of David Middleton, the town marshal.
Every boy felt himself a criminal in his presence,
and passed him with downcast eyes, for it was
against the law to go in swimming in the city limits
before the shades of night had fallen. Never did
the sun travel so slowly as in the evening hours
when the assembled crowd sat upon the race bank
and waited for dusk. And after the swim was over
Pastime Sketches 125
and dressing was in order came the derisive cry
"chaw beef" as teeth were used to loosen the hard
knots tied in the clothing by schoolmates on the
bank.
While there was an abundance of water around
Logansport, there was quite a choice in bottoms
and locations. "Sandy bottom" was all that its
named implied. A gurgling pool in Eel river just
below the water works dam was "The Tumbles,"
and a turn in the race to the Forest Mills near the
present water works house was "The Bend."
"Flat Rock" was an immense stone in Eel river
above Riverside Park and "Little Dam" was on the
Southside, an escape for the overflow of the race,
near the Seventeenth street bridge. These two later
were the "Old Swimmin' Holes" of Saturday after-
noons in school days and of the hot, long summer
vacation days. There, far from the watchful eye
of the law, the rising generation learned to float,
and dive, and swim. The canal had its devotees
after dark, but there also was epicurean taste dis-
played and less than half a dozen spots had the
sandy bottoms necessary to meet the requirements
of the rising generation. Then the canal was
sluggish, and shallow, and commonplace. No
danger lurked in its silent waters and its swimming
holes were not even honored with a name. The
water never sparkled, or bubbled, and the boy who
managed to get drowned in the canal was thought
to have come to a sad and ignoble end. And while
boyish ambition pictured the glorious life and uni-
form of a policeman no one ever wanted to grow
up to be a canal-boat captain. The canal was very
"tame" and even the fish caught in its muddy waters
were thrown back.
126 Pastime Sketches
The first boy who had been in swimming in the
spring time was famous, and his positive assertion
that the water was "not a bit cold" carried convic-
tion to the more timid. Nor was an oracle more
honored than he who solemnly warned against
dangers of going in in "dog days" the hot, sultry
days of August — why they were "dog days" and
what "dog days" were and what the dogs had to do
with swimming no boy knew, except in a general
way that dogs went" mad in that month and there-
fore it was dangerous to go in swimming. The
logic of it he could not fathom, but he blindly ac-
cepted the fact. And he who was so venturesome
as to disregard the superstition was thought to
recklessly take his own life in his hands — and if
sickness should, by chance, follow such impru-
dence it was whispered about that it was the re-
sult of going in swimming in "dog days." The
earliest frosts of winter made swimming a thing of
the past and then the average boy took a bath at
home only as a result of compulsion. Instead the
attic was searched for last winter's skates, and the
toolchest for a file to sharpen them.
"The "Frog Pond" was the earliest point of
interest as winter approached. It was a marshy
pool where Riverside Park now is and it got its
name from the nightly concerts held there in the
summer time. The water was back water from the
dam. It was stagnant and froze quickly. Nor was
the pool deep and therefore it was best adapted
for early winter tests of ice. The youth who broke
in got only muddy feet and a whipping when he
got home. Trying the ice on the canal was a much
more serious matter and so the ice was tested with
rocks, long before there was a chance of it holding
Pastime Sketches 127
any one. When the ice became thick enough for
skating it was tolerably well paved with rocks that
would not come off.
Then the snows came and Spear street hill and
Market street hill became the centers of interest.
And bob-sleigh parties to some distant farm house
were gotten up. Great was the disappointment
when a southern wind melted the snow and put to
an end some plans for a bob-sleigh party.
The chilly days of early spring found the future
presidents of banks and railroads gathered under
the projections of the canal warehouses, where,
with red and benumbed fingures, they "knuckled
down" on a piece of fur, or sheepskin, and opened
up the marble season.
The changes have been great since boyhood
days. The canal is gone, the races are gone, the
"old swimmin' holes" have been filled in, or changed
by later improvements. And, saddest of all, some
of the voices of old-time playmates are stilled for-
ever.
128 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER XXVII.
A SUGGESTION OF A HISTORICAL SOCIETY HOME.
Logansport was the home of one of the great
characters of pioneer Indiana days. Indiana for
many years was part of the great Northwest Ter-
ritory at a time when it was ungoverned and the
Indians held undisputed sway.
Indiana Territory was formed in 1800 by an act
of Congress, the bill providing for two capitals, one
at Vincennes, and one at Chillicothe, now in Ohio.
General William Henry Harrison was the first gov-
ernor.
John Tipton was born in East Tennessee, Aug-
ust 14th, 1786. In the fall of 1807, when just of age
he moved to Indiana Territory, settling at Brinley's
Ferry on the Ohio river. In 1811 at the age of 25,
he was an ensign in the battle of Tippecanoe and
was made a captain for his bravery, his superior
officers being killed. He gradually rose to the po-
sition of Brigadier-General. He was elected sheriff
of Harrison county, member of the legislature
1819-20 and was on the commission selecting Indi-
anapolis as the State capital. He was re-elected
at the next election and was a member of the com-
mission fixing the boundary line between Indiana
md Illinois. In 1823, he was appointed Indian agent
by President Monroe and removed to Ft. Wayne,
the seat of the agency. This agency was moved
to Logansport in 1828 and he took up his residence
Pastime Sketches 129
here. In December, 1830, at the age of 45 he was
elected United States Senator to Succeed Hon.
James Noble and again, in 1832-3 was elected to the
full term of six years. He died April 5th, 1839, just
after completing his term as Senator, at the age
of 53.
General Tipton was a natural leader, of vigorous
mind. There were no schools in the early wilder-
ness and nothing to read so that he had no school
education. It is said he learned to read late in life,
being taught by his oldest son. He kept a journal
of his active public life which is one of the valuable
documents of State history, strong in expression
and detail accuracy, though on account of the lack
of schooling facilities somewhat unique in spelling.
No public monument in Logansport attests his
greatness, though his name is perputated in the
Masonic Temple, Tipton lodge being named after
him. The appropriation of $12,500 by the State
and $12,500 by Congress to erect a monument at
the Tippecanoe battle ground will secure for him a
monument there. In this connection the Biddle
home would be a suitable home for the Histori-
cal Society. It is old, historic and central. It
is not otherwise valuable and could be paid for in
time out of the annual dues of one dollar of the
Historical Society, if the membership were large
enough, as there are practically no expenses other-
wise. A caretaker could be found for the use of
part of it at no expense to the Society and it would
form a nucleus for the gathering of interesting his-
toric data and relics. The houses in New England
pay all the expenses of the society from the volun-
tary contributions of dimes and nickles by visitors,
but there is in reality only a nominal expense for
130 Pastime Sketches
repairs, heating, etc. Judge Biddle was a jurist,
poet and author and his home for many years was
the mecca of visitors in Logansport. General Tipton
first owned the island and some day the State will
erect a monument to him there if it is owned by the
Society. Whatever may be thought of these sug-
gestions the Historical Society now has an ex-
istance and will preserve at no expense much of the
early history of the county conspicious in which
will appear the name of General John Tipton.
Pastime Sketches 131
CHAPTER XXVIII.
IN LIGHTER VEIN — ABOUT BRASS BANDS.
While there is a saying that "music hath charms
to sooth the savage breast," there is no record of
the early Indians organizing any brass bands.
Y\ 'hatever may be said of the early Indian this
crime was never laid at his door. This remark ap-
plies to the organization and early training, not to
the fine music blown out of the horns by a well
disciplined body of players. Band music has al-
ways been a great inspiration in war and in peace,
and the songs written about "Whein the Band Be-
gins to Play" and the "Little German Band" are
innumerable. In the dark days of the Spanish-
American war when many Logansport boys were
fighting mosquitoes on the arid plains of Florida
the general in command forbade the playing of "On
the Banks of the Wabash" because it made the men
homesick. Lively airs only were played, and in
Cuba "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town
Tonight" was played with such frequency that the
Cubans mistook it for the National air.
History is not complete without band history.
The first band was organized some time in the
fifties, by Graf and Wiseman, but they did not
blow their own horns loud enough to be heard at
the present time. Little is known about the or-
ganization.
132 Pastime Sketches
Logansport had old fashioned singing schools
and church choirs but musical talent was not
thoroughly awakened until Herr John Wachter,
of Germany, came to town. He had learned to
play the cornet and probably had to leave Germany
on that account. The authorities sometimes act
firmly in matters of this sort. America, however,
was the land of the free and so Herr Wachter
opened Mozart Hall on Third street and organized
a brass band. He got air for his cornet from the
zephyrs that blew through Mozart Hall and prac-
ticed the cornet between meals. When Herb
Wagner played "Die Wacht on der Rhine" on the
cornet one thought he was in Germany.
When the band was organized it practiced at
the tan-yard on the canal just north of the aqueduct
over Eel river. There was a swamp just north of
it, the canal was on the west, and Eel river on the
south, so that the only danger of attack by indign-
ant citizens was on the east. It was a splendid
place for a newly organized band to commence prac-
tice.
The band progressed rapidly under the tutel-
age of Mr. Wachter and soon became quite pro-
ficient. Soon after its organization it received its
first employment, by the Masons, to play at the
funeral of a prominent member and at once learned
a dirge which it executed with skill and frequency
on the way to the cemetery. It became famous later,
however, for its fine music and was soon the best
band in Northern Indiana, there being no other.
During the exciting days of the Civil war the
Wachter band was a powerful factor in stirring up
patriotism and its rendition of "Rally Round the
Flag, Boys" and "John Brown's Body" never
Pastime Sketches 133
failed to bring cheers from the soldiers home on a
furlough, and tears from the home folks having
loved ones at the front. And when some soldier
who had gone forth in the pride of youthful man-
hood came home in a roughly hewn wooden box
and the band played a dirge at the funeral there
was not a dry eye along the line of march to the
cemetery. It was a splendid band and many a
man whose hair is more than tinged with gray re-
members his boyish enthusiasm when the cry went
up the street, "The band's out."
The Wachter band was organized in the spring
of 1860 with John Wachter, leader and cornetist.
There is no record of its membership and during
the years of its existence there were changes which
make it difficult to determine its membership at
any one time. George Scharf, of this city, is prob-
ably the only living member and he recalls the first
organization as composed of James Winemiller,
snare drummer; Charles Hillhouse, base drummer;
George Tipton, Jacob Hebel, Charles Hebel, "Like"
Vigus, Peter Schwartz, Joseph Rebhan and George
Kinsley, who owned the tan-yard where the band
practiced. Thomas Herring was an early member
and Fred Petting and Jacob Rhinehammer were
also members, they seceding in 1864 to start another
band which did not last long. William Fornoff and
Michael Fornoff, afterwards band leaders, belonged
at one time. George Scharf, the surviving member,
came to Logansport in 1859 and has lived here most
of the time since. He was born in Bavaria, June
16th, 1838. W. H. Brown succeeded James Wine-
miller as snare drummer and George Dunkle suc-
ceeded him.
The Cecillian band was organized in the spring
134 Pastime Sketches
of 1866 and the Wachter band after that gradually
went to pieces. This band made its first public ap-
pearance on July 4th with a repertoire of three
pieces which it played with pride, if not with har-
mony, throughout the day. William Fornoff was
leader, and other members were Ed and Jud Tavlor,
At Barnett, E. D. Chandler, Al Merritt, George
Dunkle, Will H. Brown, Jay Powell, Hecht Powell,
Chet Gridley, James Logan, George Scharf and Jim
Glines. The band room was on the third floor of
the building on Market street below Third, where
Geigers Cigar store is. Other players joined at
various times and the full list is long. "Bill" For-
noff, the leader, was killed on the railroad while the
band was going to play in another town and Michael
Fornoff afterwards became the band leader of the
town. There was also a "City Band" in the sixties
but it did not long survive.
Along in the early seventies Logansport went
wild over band music. There were five bands,
practicing every night and some of the members
took their horns home with them and practiced
Sundays. Many of the citizens moved away from
town that year for this, or some other reason. Be-
sides the Cecillian there was a band in the Father
.Matthew organization known as the Father Mat-
they Band. The Forest Mill band was organized
at the mill of that name on Sixth street and Eel
river but it did not do much but disturb the neigh-
bors. It practiced at the mill behind barred and
bolted doors and had a sentinel outside to keep
some one from firing the building. John Dunkle or-
ganized a band that year and the colored people
had a band which is handed down to posterity only
by the name of the "Coon" band. It was a great
Pastime Sketches 135
year for bands. Jay Powell and Michael Fornoff
were the band leaders for many years following
and Logansport always had good bands. Nineteen
bands in all have livened the hearts of the people
with their music. Most of them had orchestras
for ball and entertainments. H. J. McSheehey was
one of enthusiastic band players, being a member
of the Concordia and other bands.
Of the later bands several sprung up under the
name of City band and died again. There were
also several "Military Bands," playing for the Lo-
gan Grays, or for the Cass Blues, and at public
functions. Besides these there were the Mascot
band, the K. of P. band, the Big Four band, the
St. Joseph band, the Odd Fellows' band, the City
Concert band and the present Elks band. It speaks
or rather blows for itself. An old time musician,
however, makes this criticism, "When we got
through with a piece we played it over again but
when the Elks band gets through it stops." It is
a compliment to the band that the public wants
more of its music. It is not thus with all bands.
136 Pastime Sketches
CHAPTER XXIX.
AND BASE BALL ALSO.
The story of Logansport is not complete with-
out a history of its early ball days when live balls
were used and the scores ran up into the hundreds.
Nor in the history of sports should Logansport's
only professional club be forgotten.
Base ball was introduced to the boys of Lo-
gansport by Professors Luther Roberts and J. P.
Hughes of the Logansport Presbyterian Academy,
which stood at the corner of Market and Seventh
streets. This was about 1869 or 1870. Prior to
that time town-ball, one-old-cat, two-old-cat and
bull-in-the-pen engrossed the youths in their leisure
moments, the ball being a piece of car-spring
whittled round with a dull knife.
Under the careful instructions of these early
fans, grounds were laid out in Browntown at the
west end of Market street bridge. The first club
was naturally like Adam, a little lonesome, having
no other clubs to play, but as fast as players were
taught to play they were organized into opposition
clubs, or picked nines, and "single nine" was soon
a possibility. This club was organized at the
Academy. Besides the two professors there were
Will I. Brown, Will H. Brown, Frank Green and
others not now recalled, probably Roswell Post,
Charles McCarty and the Taylor brothers.
The early instruction thus given at the Academy
Pastime Sketches 137
resulted in the organization of the famous Athletics,
the pride of Northern Indiana. Many men now
grown gray remember with what pride they carried
water or chased the ball for the famous Athletics.
Charles Jones played first base, Will "H." Brown,
second, Charles Stuart and Oscar Goodwin were
change pitchers and Joe Kreider and John Barn-
hart change catchers. Third base was held down
by one of the extra pitchers or catchers and Charles
Conrad was short-stop. The fields were filled by
Jim Logan, left field, John Talbott, center field,
and Seth Pratt, right field.
The Athletics played at Lafayette, Peru, Marion,
Anderson, Ft. Wayne and other towns, and won
every game. They played clubs from these towns
at home and were equally successful. There was
not a small boy in town who would not take off
his hat when an Athletic passed. But there came
a downfall and it was great. There was a Sunday
School excursion — they were given every summer
in those days by the various Sunday schools — and
the Athletics went along to play an alleged club at
Burnettsville. They called it a "Picked Nine" and
it was made up of players who worked in a saw
mill. The Athletic bats were turned out by Jim
Henderson at the Henderson factory in Logans-
port, while the Burnettsville bats were sawed out
by a buzz-saw at the saw mill and trimmed down
with a jack-knife. The diamond was laid off in a
ploughed field near the mill. The Athletics had
natty white flannel suits, the Burnettsville boys
played in blue flannel shirts, blue overalls and bare
feet.
The Athletics went to bat first and made a few
runs. The highest score they had made before that
138 Pastime Sketches
in any game was 127 to 25. Live balls were used
then and the ball had to be pitched with the hand
below the waist line.
The captain passed the word along not to make
any more runs as it would scare Burnettsville out,
and so the players struck out.
The first batter for Burnettsville knocked the
ball over the saw-mill and made a home run. Fie
could have made several while they were looking
for the ball. The second batter did likewise.
Pitchers were changed with no better result. The
score piled up with no one out until the fielders
were exhausted chasing balls and the game was
called. The hearts of the Athletics were broken
and the club never played again.
The Independents were organized shortly be-
fore the Athletics went to Burnettsville and played
them several losing games. It was composed of
other home players and won many hard fought
games. Clubs were numerous later, but they
played mostly at home. The Rough and Readies
was also a strong home club.
Logansport entered the professional field in
1886, when the famous Ottos were organized. It
was the first salaried club and it was a member of
the Northern Indiana League, composed of the
clubs at Logansport, South Bend, Elkhart, Fort
Wayne, Marion and Frankfort. The League did
not last long after the Fourth of July, the expense
of maintaining a salaried club being too great. The
Logansport club won the pennant, but it was never
officially presented, the clubs disbanding before the
close of the season. Many of the players won dis-
tinction in other leagues. Frank Bowerman is still
a catcher for the New York National League Club.
Pastime Sketches 139
George Cuppy was a pitcher for the Cleveland Na-
tional League club when it won the pennant.
Frank Stapleton played in the Texas State League
and the California State League. Wallace Taylor
was manager and captain of the Toronto, Canada,
club, William Niles was third baseman of the Pitts-
burg National League club and William Betenus
was short stop of the Toledo Club in the Western
League. William York played short stop for the
Pelicans of New Orleans.
Logansport has had many amateur clubs in the
last few years but the base ball fever has never
attained the height it did in the eighties.
Pastime Sketches 141
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ORGANIZATION OF THE CASS COUNTY, INDIANA,
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
At a meeting of the Citizens' Club held at Li-
brary Hall, February 12, 1907, the subject of or-
ganizing a Historical Society in Cass county was
discussed.
Dr. J. Z. Powell, president of the club, opened
the subject by calling attention to the importance
of such a society, in view of the approaching
centennial of Indiana's admission to the Union.
W. T. Wilson stated that he was in thorough
accord with the suggestion and that he knew of
instances where valuable data had been lost which
should have been preserved. He urged that proper
steps be taken toward such an organization.
The chair on motion, appointed a committee
of three to report at a future meeting on organ-
ization and constitution as follows : W. S. Wright,
W. T. Wilson and James McMillan. The paper
of W. S. Wright, suggesting such an organiza-
tion as a result of observation in New England, was
as follows :
"History has been described as the unwritten
scroll of the future by some philosopher, as fiction
with the truth left in, by another. Whatever the
attraction, the fascination, we delve in ancient lore
142 Pastime Sketches
and gaze with awe at ancient landmarks. History
is more entrancing than any fiction in the hands of
a Macaulay and is likewise deep philosophy when
discussed by Hume or Gibbon. Every great states-
man and every profound philosopher has been a
student of history while youth delights in the ro-
mance of it. As students we wonder at the west-
ward course of empire and try to learn the reason
of it all. why Japan, after slumbering a few hundred
years whipped the greatest nation on the face of
the earth and why China with its immensely greater
population still slumbers. And we wonder when
China will awake. Fortunately for us, we are to
the westward, the extreme westward, as regards
these nations, and will probably know more on the
subject before we are called to defend our shores
against the Mongolian.
"History becomes more interesting as the com-
munity grows older and so we find the United
States reaching an era of historical societies and
Daughters of the American Revolution.
''I was impressed with this idea by reason of
a recent residence in New England, where organ-
izations of that character occupy a prominent
place. This led me to suggest to several citizens
the wisdom of organizing such a society in Lo-
gansport before many records and valuable his-
toric documents are forever lost. The State of Indi-
ana has a State society, organized in 1830 and re-
organized once or twice since. Logansport has had
one or two similar societies now defunct. Chicago
has the best organization in the West where by
subscriptions amounting to $190,000 a suitable
building has been erected. The Chicago association
has been through two fires and much valuable mat-
Pastime Sketches 143
ter was destroyed, but today it is in a prosperous
condition. These facts are merely mentioned to
show that there is a natural interest in such or-
ganizations in every community and it merely needs
crystalization. There are only five or six local his-
torical societies in Indiana. Many more have been
organized but have fallen by the wayside as is
usual with a new movement. There is, however,
a strong State society, of which local societies
should be branches. There is also published an
Indiana Magazine of History which is publishing
and preserving much valuable matter. The tend-
ency in the state at the present time is toward the
organization of local societies and the probabilities
are that they will be of greater prominence as the
time for the State Centennial approaches, an event
which will no doubt be celebrated in a fitting man-
ner by Indiana.
"The history of the growth of the New Eng-
land associations may be interesting and sugges-
tive. Almost every town and hamlet has them and
of course there is a wealth of material of national
interest. The societies were organized originally to
preserve at nominal expense, matters of local his-
tory. Some of them have grown in scope by gifts
and donations and many of them are self-support-
ing. The necessary expenses are nominal and are
met by a small annual due, usually one dollar. All
other expenses are created only by reason of volun-
tary gifts and donations. To prevent any mis-
understanding no assessments are permitted. Such
donations are not necessary for the successful or
permanent existence of the organizations. Briefly,
the Xew England societies began with an effort
to record and preserve details of history and grew
144 Pastime Sketches
into something greater by reason of gifts and loans
of bric-a-brac of historic interest. As they are now-
constituted they own property and their halls are
centers of inter- -
""Tourists from all over the United States v - I
them and the revenues make them self-supporting.
The preliminary work dates back may years but at
the present time historic houses are occupied and
the collections gathered there are interesting and
instructive. The typical home of the Xew England
Historical Society is an ancient landmark of historic
interest.
"For instance, the homes of Hawthorne, Paul
Revere. Longfellow and others known to fame are
thus occupied. The House of the Seven Gables,
the scene of Hawthorne's novel, is thus occupied.
The houses are repaired and preserved but changed
as little as possible. They are filled with historic
records, bric-a-brac, loaned or donated, and are
open to the public. There are the spinning-wheels
of the Mayflower party, the flint-locks of the revo-
lutionary war and the Indian bibles of John Eliot.
The signatures of John Hancock and George Wash-
ington are affixed to ancient documents and the
courtship of Priscilla and John Alden is recalled by
reminders of their early housekeeping. Many of the
articles are tagged, showing their ownership and
that they are loaned to the Historical Society. An
elderly couple are usually given a wing or an annex
for dwelling purposes and are made custodians of
the property. Additional guards are sometimes
employed at night in the same way. In some of
these houses a nominal admission fee of ten cents
- iarged to cover expenses, in others a contribu-
tion box is placed in a convenient corner. The rev-
•:•"::" l. _ : :
"In view at the comiag <■*■**■
- -■ - :_ r : . -: .— « - : i. i : t
: : -~ ir. : .: : . : : :: t :~:
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- cie 1. Toe liaise of this society ^haH be the
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t i : t : - - - ; - i r : : i : 7 i ? — i ;
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146 Pastime Sketches
['resident, by an}' officer of the society at the re-
quest of any three members, and there shall be the
like power to call a public meeting, at any time on
the request of five members. At any meeting six
members shall constitute a quorum to transact
business.
Article 4. The officers of the society shall be :
First — A President, who shall preside and pre
serve order at all meetings of the society-
Second — Three Vice Presidents, one of whom,
in the order of election, shall preside at all meetings
in the absence of the President.
Third — A Secretary, who shall be charged with
all correspondence required by the affairs of the
society and who shall record and preserve the min-
utes of the society.
Fourth — A Treasurer, who shall receive all
monies due the society, and hold the same subject
to its order, and make an annual report of all
receipts and disbursements.
Fifth — An Executive Committee of five mem-
bers, any three of whom shall constitute a quorum,
whose duty it shall be to meet on the days upon
which the society holds its sessions or at such other
times as they deem expedient ; to select subjects
for public lectures and appoint the individuals by
whom the same shall be delivered at the annual
meetings of the society; to attend to the publication
of such lectures and other documents as they may
deem expedient ; to take charge of all books, papers,
specimens, models, curiosities, pictures, etc., belong-
ing to the society, and to submit reports of their
proceedings at the meetings of the society. They
shall have power to make by-laws not inconsistent
with the constitution : to direct and superintend all
Pastime Sketches 147
disbursements ; and generally to carry into effect
all measures not otherwise provided for.
Sixth — An Advisory Board of one from each
township who shall meet with the executive com-
mittee for conference and who shall report upon
historical matters in their respective townships.
Article 5. The President, Vice Presidents, Sec-
retary and Treasurer shall have the privilege of
sitting with the Executive Committee and voting on
all measures that come before it.
Article 6. Applications for membership shall be
upon written petition, which application shall be
referred to a committee of three, and such com-
mittee shall report at the next meeting of the so-
ciety. A three-fourths vote of the members of the
society present shall be necessary to an election to
membership.
Article 7. Officers shall be elected by ballot at
the annual meeting of the society and shall continue
in office for one year, and until their successors are
elected. Vacancies in any office may be filled by the
Executive Committee until the next meeting of the
society, at which time the vacant office shall be
filled by ballot. Any officer may be removed from
office for malfeasance or misconduct injurious to the
society, under the regulations prescribed for the
expulsion of members.
Article 8. Each member shall pay into the
hands of the Treasurer one dollar annually as
dues.
Article 9. Any member of the society shall at
any time have the right of withdrawing, upon filing
with the Secretary a notice in writing of such in-
tention, accompanied by the Treasurer's receipt in
full for all dues.
148 Pastime Sketches
Article 10. This constitution shall be subject
to amendment at any meeting of the society by a
vote of three-fourths of the members present;
Provided, that an amendment offered at any meet-
ing shall lay over to the next meeting before being
adopted. The following officers were elected :
President, Hon. D. P. Baldwin.
Vice-Presidents, Dr. J. Z. Powell, Wils Berry
and Mrs. J. W. Ballard."
Secretary, W. S. Wright.
Treasurer, B. F. Sharts.
Executive Committee, Q. A. Myers, B. F. Long,
W. T. Wilson, James H. McMillen, James D. Mc-
Nitt.
Advisory Board, Adams Township, Samuel Mc-
Lain ; Bethlehem, Orlando Powell ; Boone, Lewis
E. Beckley ; Clay, Chauncey Custer ; Clinton, Wil-
lard Fitzer ; Deer Creek, D. W. E. Lybrook ; Eel,
A. H. Douglass ; Harrison, John T. Walker ; Jack-
son, F. H. Thomas; Jefferson, Caleb Banta; Miami,
Cyrus T. Miller; Noble, Lewis McMillen; Tipton,
George W. Bishop ; Washington, John P. Martin.
FIRST PUBLIC MEETING OF THE CASS COUNTY, INDI-
ANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The first public program of the Cass County,
Indiana, Historical Society was given Friday eve-
ning, May 17, 1907, at Library Hall before an audi-
ence that filled the room. The meeting was a suc-
cess in every way, the papers were interesting and
at times spicy and the old time music enjoyable.
Judge D. P. Baldwin, president of the society,
opened the meeting with an interesting talk on
politics and campaigning in early times. He spoke
Pastime Sketches 149
of the old time enthusiasm, torch-light campaigns,
and joint debates and of the brilliancy of Inger-
soll, Turpie, Colfax, Fitch, Tipton, Pratt and other
debaters who lived or had spoken in Logansport.
He referred to the old time methods of "blocks of
five" when votes were purchasable and of the tact
and ability of the editorial writers of the war times,
S. A. Hall, of the Pharos, and J. T. Bryer and T.
H. Bringhurst of The Journal. Judge Baldwin was
followed by E. S. Rice on "Early Business Houses
and Methods."
Dr. J. Z. Powell, Vice President, took the chair
after Judge Baldwin's remarks and explained the
purpose of the society and its aims and objects. Wils
Berry responded to one of the subjects by telling
a story he had heard his father, who came to Cass
county in 1829, tell of some of the early incidents
of canal days. The Grand Army Glee club, com-
posed of Messrs. Cushman, Crain, Richardson and
Watkins, rendered songs from a singing book of
1838. The society adjourned to meet at some fu-
ture date on call of the executive committee.
The third address of the evening on "Society
and Social Matters, Customs and Habits of the
Pioneers of Cass County," was by Mrs. J. W. Bal-
lard, daughter of General Milroy of Civil war fame.
Mrs. Ballard said:
MRS. J. W. BALLARD'S PAPER.
At an old settlers' meeting held in my native
county some years ago an address was made by a
comparatively young man, his subject being the ex-
periences of the first settlers of this part of Indi-
ana. At the conclusion of his remarks one of the
150 Pastime Sketches
few remaining pioneers, who was seated on the
platform, arose and said : "My young- friend has
told his story well, as far as he knew, but my
friends, no one but one who was there can tell that
story as it ought to be told."
If this society had been organized, say, twenty
years ago, what valuable information might have
been obtained from some of the early settlers them-
selves. However, if it had been organized that
long ago I would have only stood about one chance
in ten thousand of having been honored with an
office, so it is just as well:
As my early life was spent in the adjoining
county of Carroll, where my grandfather, Gen. Mil-
roy, settled in the early part of the year 1826, my
father living on the same farm 75 years, my know-
ledge of pioneer ways comes mostly from the peo-
ple whom I knew in my youth. But in early times
the counties of Cass and Carroll were more neigh-
borly, perhaps, from their mutual need, than now.
The country was so sparsely settled that a man
living twenty miles away was a tolerably close
neighbor. Then, too, from '27 to '29 Cass county
was under the jurisdiction of Carroll, so that the
Habits, customs and social diversions of the two
counties were practically the same.
When Alexander Chamberlain, the first perman-
ent white resident of Cass county, built his double
log house, all the able-bodied white men of the
"Deer Creek settlement," twenty miles away, were
hidden to the raising, and they responded to a
man. And these friendly offices were not performed
for pay. In fact, it was considered an insult to
offer a man money for any neighborly service.
Quite different a little incident which came
Pastime Sketches 151
under my observation one day last winter. I was
coming down the street after a slight snow storm.
Two little fellows had cleared the sidewalk in front
of their own house and were busily working away
in front of the house next door, when they spied
their father coming, dropping their shovels, they
ran to meet him, crying out "Oh papa, see what we
have done !" "Yes," said the father, "But what are
you getting for it?" Thus early .implanting in
those childish minds the idea that no service, how-
ever trivial, should be performed without pay. -
The pioneers from necessity, as do some
moderns from choice, lived the genuine simple life.
Log houses, home made furniture and simple fare
were the rule. The men cleared, tilled and culti-
vated the soil, planted and gathered the crops.
The spinning, weaving, knitting, sewing and
other innumerable household duties were performed
by the women of the family. And this was no light
task when you remember that small families were
the exception in those days.
Then, when a woman married, she hoped and
expected to have something infinitely sweeter and
dearer to hold in her arms than a poodle dog, or a
Teddy bear — and large families were not then an
object of curiosity.
Brawn and muscle were a valuable asset in the
days when bodily strength and vigor were so ne-
cessary to transform the pathless forests into fertile
fields, and the man who could fell the most trees,
split the greatest number of fence rails in a given
time, lift the heaviest weight, throw the hammer
the fartherest, shoot the truest and come out best
in a wrestling bout was a man to be looked up
to.
152 Pastime Sketches
They didn't rush into law at every slight pro-
vocation, but men frequently settled disputes them-
selves by using the weapons with which nature had
provided them.
For recreation the women had their quilting
bees, comfort knottings, carpet-rag sewings, wool
pickings and when the opportunity came they
would take their sewing or knitting along and go
out to spend the day.
A dear old lady used to come to our house in
my early childhood. How I admired her as she
walked up through the yard, her work in one hand,
the voluminous dress skirt held up in front by the
thumb and forefinger of the other, the back of her
dress floating out behind her like a small balloon.
Oh, I did wish that the time would come when T
could wear long dresses and look like that. But
alas! as in so many cases, realization fell short of
anticipation, for when I did finally attain to the
dignity of long dresses the skirts were made so
tight one could scarcely step and they held them
up in the back.
Education and religion were not neglected but
received early attention. The first educational or-
ganization was effected under Gen. John Tipton and
in the year 1829, the first school, known as the Eel
River Seminary was opened. Churches were organ-
ized in 1828 and '29, and now Logansport might al-
most as well be spoken of as the "City of Churches"
or the City of Schools" as the "City of Bridges."
Letters were a luxury in that time as it cost from
six to twenty-five cents to send a letter any dis-
tance. And from the specimens of old letters which
I have been privileged to read, more care was taken
in their writing and composition than now. They
Pastime Sketches 153
sound somewhat stilted and formal to those of us
more accustomed to the off-hand, careless manner
of modern letter writers. For instance a common
form of closing a letter was: "Believe me to be Sir
with great respect your most obedient and humble
servant."
I have a letter written in 1832. The writer had
started from Delphi to Washington City on some
political business, making most of the journey on
horseback.
At his stopping place he wrote to his wife of
nearly a quarter of a century and the mother of his
ten children, as follows, after telling her of his safe
arrival so far on his journey, and of his continued
good health, he says : "I have not forgotten the tear
that trembled in your eye when I bade you farewell,
nor the effort you made to replace it with a smile.
May I never give you cause for a tear, and I shall
anxiously await the moment that shall again restore
me to your smiles."
Can any of you imagine a husband of today tak-
ing the time to put all of that on paper? Especially
after twenty-five years of married life. Not that
their affection is any the less sincere. They simply
haven't time to tell it and expect it to be taken for
granted.
You have doubtless heard of the woman who
tried to elicit some expression of regard from her
husband who was busy with the evening paper.
"Do you love me, dearie," she cooed. "Yes," came
from behind the paper. "How much?" No answer.
"How much do you love me?" she persisted. "Oh,
I love you better than my life. Now shut up and
go and sit down."
As the hamlets grew into towns and the count rv
154 Pastime Sketches
became more thickly settled the forms of entertain-
ment grew more elaborate. Parties, balls and boun-
tiful spreads were in order. But for many years it
remained the custom in serving any number of
guests to place the food all on the table at once, let-
ting each one help themselves, a most comfortable
and informal way.
A daughter of one of the prominent old resi-
dents of Logansport related to me a little incident
which occurred in her father's time. A number of
gentlemen were being entertained and as was usual,
when it came time to serve refreshments, every-
thing was placed on the table. After the guests
were seated the host said, "Now boys, just help
yourselves.*' which they proceeded to do. One of
the party, a judge said: 'AYell, you fellows can have
all the knicknacks, I'll take mashed potatoes," and
he helped himself liberally to ice cream.
One of the most common and pleasant forms of
amusement for young people was the good old time
country dance. Now there is dancing and dancing.
I am not any more in favor of promiscious embrac-
ing to slow music than are many of you. But I never
could see the harm in the right kind of dancing, in
the right way, in good company and to good music.
Bringing into play as it does almost every muscle
in the human body, induring a cheerful, happy
frame of mind, it certainly ought not be condemned.
Did any of you ever go to a country dance, the
real thing? Well, I have. In many things my
father clung to pioneer ways. He would never al-
low kissing games or round dancing in his house,
but he always dearly loved to see young people
dancing the country dances of which he was so
fond in his vouth. Besides if his children wanted to
Pastime Sketches 155
dance, he believed in allowing them to dance at
home. So sometimes in winter evenings the boys and
girls from the neighboring farms would come in, the
big old farm house kitchen would be cleared, the logs
pushed back in the fire-place, the candles put up on
the mantle and father would begin to tune up his
fiddle. Now he had brought that fiddle from Mex-
ico at the close of the Mexican war where he was in
the cavalry. At the close of the war he traded his
horse, saddle and bridle to a Mexican for the fiddle,
and the music he could draw from those strings
would send the blood fairly tingling to the tips of
your fingers and the ends of your toes. You
couldn't sit still if you wanted to and you didn't
want to sit still if you could. Some one would say
"Partners for a quadrille" the girls would sit around
trying to look as if they didn't care whether any
one asked them to dance or not, but when some
dear, innocent-faced country boy would step up to
one of them and say, bashfully, "Will you please
assist me in this quadrille," she would answer
"With pleasure," and she meant it, too. They would
take their places in the set, the music would start
and with "Honors to your partners, and balance
all" the dance was on. Those old times as they
come echoing down to me through all the inter-
vening years have lost none of their charm.
PAPER OF MR. E. S. RICE READ BEFORE THE HIS-
TORICAL SOCIETY, MAY 17, 1907.
In 1835 B. O. Spencer, my half brother, came
here from Cincinnati, and went into the grocery and
commission business. In 1837 he was joined by my
brother, G. Jay Rice, and the firm of Spencer & Rice
156 Pastime Sketches
was established. They were so well pleased with
the city, its location and future prospects, and the
profitable business they were doing, that they per-
suaded our mother to dispose of her home in Pa-
vilian, Genessee county, New York, and move here,
which she did in the month of October, 1838. The
family at removal consisted of our mother, three
sisters, brother R. D. Rice, and myself.
The distance to Buffalo was forty miles. What
is now the New York Central Railroad was then
completed only between Albany and Rochester, and
there was no other railroad leading farther west at
that time. We procured teams to transport us and
our baggage to Buffalo, where we took passage on
a steamer on Lake Erie for Toledo. At Toledo we
were transferred to a small steamer on the Maumee
river which conveyed us about fourteen miles to the
town of Maumee which was the head of navigation
on that river. At Maumee we procured teams to
transport us to Ft. Wayne.
On our way up the river we fell in company with
other passengers westward bound, and all stopped
for the night at a large double log tavern. There
were beds enough fortunately for the women, but
the men and boys had to sleep on the floor. There
was a very large fire place in the office, bar room
and sitting room combined, and the morning being
quite cold, the landlord had made up a rousing big
fire. While the travelers, nearly a score of them,
were sitting around waiting breakfast, in came one
of the native Buckeyes, thinly clad, and very bilious
looking, and walked up in front of the fire, turned
his back to it, and gave us the worst specimen of
shaking ague I have ever seen. It so happened that
not a traveler present had ever seen a case of the
Pastime Sketches 157
kind before, and it was very amusing the way they
gathered around and plied him with questions. They
wondered why he could not stop shaking. The
Maumee Valley at that time and for years after-
ward was notorious for its ague and bilious dis-
eases. The Miami Valley ranked next, and the Wa-
bash Valley was a good third.
Work in the construction of the Wabash and
Erie Canal had been progressing about two years,
but the only part completed and in operation was
between Ft. Wayne and Logansport. Captain Sam
Mahon was running a line of boats between these
two points carrying both freight and passengers.
At Ft. Wayne we took passage on one of these
boats for Logansport. We landed just west of
Berkley street, where a basin had been con-
structed for boats to turn just south of Parker &
Johnson's Planing Mill. At that time the Tipton
farm was cultivated down to Berkley street, and a
large field of corn was standing. There was a high
bridge over the canal at Berkley street, requiring a
very long embankment extending over half way to
the Wabash river to reach it from the south. Work
was progressing on the lock just west of Berkley
street, the aqueduct over Eel river, and the first lock
west of the city. These were completed and the
water was turned in to this acqueduct level in the
spring of 1840. The bridges over the canal at Mar-
ket, Broadway, North and High streets were all
high, necessitating long embankments at each end.
The business houses at this time were all located
on Market street between Second and Fourth. Com-
mencing at Second street, a three-story brick build-
ing occupied the corner where the Barnett Hotel
now stands. This building contained two store
158 Pastime Sketches
rooms. The corner one was occupied by the firm of
Taber & Chase, successors of Ewing Walker &
Taber, and the other by Philip Pollard, both being
dealers in general merchandise. A short distance
east on the north side of the street there was a small
one-story building occupied by James H. Kintner, a
manufacturer of saddles and harness. On the oppo-
site side of the street Gen. N. D. Grover was en-
gaged in the same business, in a frame building ad-
joining his brick residence on the alley now owned
by Mrs. Kraut. Gen. Grover was succeeded a few
years afterward by Fuller & Clendening, who came
from Troy, Ohio. Next to Kintner on the north side
of the street there was a one-story building occupied
by John M. Ewing as a tailor shop. Then came an-
other one-story building, occupied by J. L. Miller,
merchant and postmaster. At the southwest cor-
ner of Market and Third streets stood Washington
Hall, a two-story frame hotel, owned by Cyrus Vi-
gus. but conducted at that time by Jacob Humbert.
It fronted on Market street, but extended back, oc-
cupying the most ground on Third street. From
this hotel extending down Market street to the alley
was a row of two-story frame buildings all built
solidly together, and divided into store rooms about
18 to 20 feet wide, and this was called "Commercial
Row." It was a very plain building, weather-
boarded, and with doors and windows very much
like a dwelling house. In addition to the store
rooms, there were doors to the stairways leading to
the rooms above which were used for offices and
shops of different kinds. The occupants were as
follows: Gen. Hyacinth Lasselle, merchant, using
the room above for a printing office, from which the
Logansport Telegraph was issued weekly, of which
Pastime Sketches 159
publication he was proprietor and John B. Dillon
editor. Smead Kendall & Co., clothing, boots and
shoes, etc. ; Anderson & Atwell, dry goods ; Eldridge
& Cummings, general merchandise; Underhill &
Co., hardware. The brick buildings opposite this
block were erected a year or two afterward. The
firm of Ewing & Walker, Indian traders, occupied
a two-story frame building, painted yellow, which
stood on the northeast corner of Market and Third
where Harry N. Ward's shoe store is now located.
The Bringhurst store building recently torn down
and rebuilt, was occupied by the firm of Hanna, Mc-
Clary & Dart, dealers in general merchandise. This
building and a hotel on the southwest corner of Mar-
ket and Fourth streets called the "Mansion House,"
where the Golden Rule store now stands, were the
only brick buildings on Market street east of Third
street.
On the southsicle of Market from Third to the
alley, the buildings were one story. The only occu-
pants I can remember were George Parker, barber,
Joe Green, shoemaker, and Mart Gridley, jeweler. On
a space between the alley and the Mansion House
stood the dwelling and garden of George B. Walker.
On the northside of Market between the Hanna,
McClary & Dart building and the alley, there were
two one-story buildings, saloons. From the alley
east to Fourth street, there were three two-story
frame store buildings. The first was occupied by S.
P. Hopkins, dry goods dealer, the second by Spencer
& Rice, groceries and provisions, and the third by
Jeroloman & Lytle's drug store. The other build-
ings were all one story. The corner one where Por-
ter's drug store now stands was occupied by Barton
R. Keep as a hardware store. Across the street on
160 Pastime Sketches
the northeast corner of Fourth and Market, stood
the old brick Seminary. It was a one-story building
about 20 by 60, with its side to Market street, en-
trance door in the middle to a hallway running
straight through the building, dividing it into two
rooms of equal size.
There were no business houses on Market east of
Fourth. The Market street bridge embankment
reached nearly to the alley. There were a few cheap
two-story dwelling houses on the southside of the
street, two of which were occupied by old John
Dorsey as a tavern or boarding house.
The Philip Leamy house, a brick structure, stood
on the corner of Fourth and Canal streets, near the
present P. C. C. & St. L. depot. Israel Johnson was
the only merchant on Fourth street. He lived in a
brick house that stood where the Stewart Dry
Goods store is now located. His store was a two-
story frame building adjoining his dwelling. He
was in the grocery and provision business. In ad-
dition to this he kept a cafe in a building adjoin-
ing- his store room. On the east side of Third street,
near Market, John Dodd had a restaurant in a brick
building, which is still standing. Just opposite this
was the office of Dr. G. N. Fitch, the bakery of Coul-
son & Clem, and the shoe shop of George P. Dagan.
At the northwest corner of Third and Broadway, J.
P. Berry kept a little store, adjoining which was the
tin shop of A. M. Higgins. Next to this came the
office and dwelling of Dr. Uriah Farquhar, and then
the office of George Weirick, Esq., justice of the
peace. Opposite this, on the east side of the street,
W. T. S. Manly and Israel Neal had a furniture
and undertaking establishment. On the west side
of the street between North and High streets near
Pastime Sketches 161
Eel river, the McElhaney Brothers had, I think, a
blacksmith shop. The firm of Tipton & Vigus, suc-
cessors to Tocld & Vigus, was the only business
house on Broadway, and was located in a small
two-story brick building, standing on the ground
now occupied by the Murdock Hotel.
The business of our merchants at this time was
quite limited. The canal was not yet completed to
the junction of the Ohio canal. No shipments of
produce could be made without expensive hauling,
and it was expensive getting their goods here. The
cheapest way to get them was by steamboat to La-
fayette, when the rivers were high, and haul from
there. Farmers having considerable surplus were
obliged to haul it to Michigan City, the nearest
shipping point, and return with salt and other ar-
ticles which were necessarily higher here, but it took
several days to make the trip, especially when the
roads were bad, which was usually the case.
We had no bank and it was very difficult to pro-
cure exchange. The currency in circulation was
mostly sent out west by eastern banks to get it as
far away from home as possible. Our small silver
change and gold was largely foreign. Copper cents
were not used at all. Nothing was sold for less than
a fip, which was 6% cents, and a bit, 12^ cents.
Every merchant was obliged to take a monthly
Bank Note Detector and a Coin Chart, and keep
them hanging very handy for reference. In addi-
tion to this there was in circulation canal scrip, paid
out to contractors for work on the canal. There
were two kinds of this scrip called White Dog and
Blue Pup. It was redeemable in canal lands.
Logansport was granted a city charter in 1838
with a population of only about one thousand. Evi-
162 Pastime Sketches
dently its citizens had great expectations. The sud-
den death of General Tipton, which occurred on
the morning of April 5, 1839, after a few hours of
unconsciousness, in the meridian of life — his
54th year — cast a gloom of sadness over the city and
surrounding country. His funeral on Sunday, April
7, 1839, which I attended, was conducted by his Ma-
sonic brethren, and the largest ever before known in
this section of country.
At this time there were but two church build-
ings or meeting houses. The Methodist Episcopal,
a one-story brick building on the east side of Sixth
street between Broadway and North, and the Pres-
byterian, a one-story frame building on the south
side of Broadway between Fifth and Sixth streets,
set back from Broadway so far that the back end
reached the alley. This building is still standing.
The pastor of this Presbyterian church was Dr.
Martin M. Post. There being no Baptist Sunday
school, I attended the Presbyterian Sabbath school,
of which Nathan Aldrich was then superintendent.
The division of the Presbyterian church into two
branches, the old and the new school, did not take
place until 1840. The new school, represented by
Dr. Post retained the church building and property.
The first pastor of the old school division was the
Rev. James Buchanan. They worshipped in the
second story of a two-story frame building which
stood on the northwest corner of Broadway and
Fourth, where Henry Wiler & Co. are now located.
The courts were first held in the old Seminary
building, but that being too small, they were often
held in the Presbyterian church. The judges, I
remember, were Judge Henry Chase, father of Dud-
ley H. Chase, and Associate Judges Solomon Hor-
Pastime Sketches 163
ney and H. L. Thomas. The lawyers were W. Z.
Stuart, D. D. Pratt. John S. Patterson, John F.
Dodds, Horace P. Biddle and A. M. Flory. Justices
of the peace were R. F. Groves, George Weirick,
George Smith and James W. Dunn.
The jail was constructed of hewn logs. The fol-
lowing story is connected with this jail. In 1837 a
shoemaker by the name of Harrison, whose shop
was near Eel river, committeed a murder. He was
arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to be hung
at a certain time. A gallows, constructed of hewn
logs, was set up on the commons near Eel river be-
tween Ninth and Tenth streets, for the purpose. The
date for the hanging was pretty well published and
people came from all the country round about, on
foot and on horseback, and in all kinds of convey-
ances to witness the execution. The night before
he was to be executed, he hung himself in the jail.
It is said that the people who came to witness the
sight were very angry when they learned they had
been cheated out of it. The gallows stood there for
several years until it rotted down. I have seen his
grave in the old cemetery, with his sign placed be-
side the mound to designate it.
The newspapers published at this time were the
Logansport Telegraph by Hyacinth Laselle and
John B. Dillon, the Logansport Herald by J. C. &
David Douglass, and the Wabash Gazette by Moses
Scott, with H. P. Biddle as editor in chief. In 1842
when the Wabash and Erie canal was completed
down the Maumee river to its junction with the
Ohio canal, giving us an outlet to Lake Erie, Lo-
gansport took a wonderful start, the nearest it
ever came to a boom. The country north to the
Tippecanoe river and beyond, and for twenty-five or
164 Pastime Sketches
thirty miles south became tributary to this point.
Produce of all kinds was hauled here, sold to our
merchants, and shipped to eastern markets. Our
merchants, manufacturers and mechanics all got
busy, money became more plentiful, warehouses
and store buildings were constructed, and a remark-
able spirit of enterprise and prosperity prevailed
among all classes. During 1843, 4 and 5, large
stone warehouses were constructed by Pollard &
Wilson, near the lock; by Jesse Millason at the
northeast corner of Market and Fifth ; by the Rod-
gers Brothers between Market and Broadway ; by
Peter Anderson at the southeast corner of Broad-
way and Fifth streets ; and by Israel Johnson be-
tween North and High street. These buildings are
all still standing, although the most of them have
changed ownership.
In 1843, the following new merchants located
here, Henry Martin & Co., M. S. Butler, A. J. Field
& Co., Stephen Munson, William Brown & Son,
and Saulsbury & Baxter. Heretofore, our only way
to travel eastward was either to go by canal to Ft.
Wayne, and by perogue down the Maumee river, or
by stage to Indianapolis, by Madison and Indian-
apolis Railroad to Madison, and by steamboat to
Cincinnati.
Now, we could take a packet boat on the canal,
and travel night and day at the rate of six miles an
hour. The rule was, three horses to a boat chang-
ing horses every ten miles. Every boat had a por-
ter, and like present porters on our sleeping cars,
a part of his perquisite was what he could get for
blacking the passengers shoes. I remember once on
a trip to Cincinnati when the passengers began to
retire to their very narrow contracted berths, one
Pastime Sketches 165
man did not remove his shoes and allowed them to
be discernable. The porter came along and notic-
ing them, remarked, "Just look ! that man has gone
to bed like a horse, with his shoes on."
Merchants could now, while navigation was
open from six to seven months of the year, get mer-
chandise from Cincinnati in three or four days'
time, and from New York it took about three weeks,
as it came by steamer from New York to Al-
bany, by canal from Albany to Buffalo, by steamer
from Buffalo to Toledo, and by canal again from
Toledo to Logansport.
While our merchants duly appreciated the ad-
vantages of water transportation, enabling them to
obtain large reductions in freight, they still labored
under the great disadvantage of having navigation
closed for about half the year. In the fall it was
necessary to make large purchases to last until the
opening of navigation in the spring. Just contrast
that condition of things with the present. Now, our
merchants are receiving goods every day in the
year, except Sunday. It was customary in those
days to purchase goods on six months' time. That
was the understanding with manufacturers, jobbers
and retailers. The customer was allowed the pre-
vailing rate of interest on any payments he might
make before the bill became due.
In 1843, at the age of 16, I commenced clerking
for the firm of Henry Martin & Co. It was then I
first met Mr. John C. Merriam, with whom I was
afterward associated in partnership for thirty-five
years. He was eight years older than I, and an ex-
perienced dry goods merchant. He was from Bran-
don, Vermont, on his way west looking for a loca-
tion, when he fell in company with Mr. Henry Mar-
166 Pastime Sketches
tin, who in connection with a Mr. Bartlett, of New
York, had shipped a stock of goods to Fort Wayne,
with the intention of locating there. When they
reached Fort Wayne, a vacant store room could not
be found, and Mr. Martin concluded to forward the
goods to Logansport. Mr. Martin then persuaded
Mr. Merriam to accompany him here and assist in
opening and preparing his goods for sale. The
store room on Market street now occupied by An-
drew Welch was leased and occupied by the firm
as long as it continued in business here, which was
about two years. Mr. Merriam was so well pleased
with the city and its people that he decided to re-
main. Mr. Martin also employed Mr. E. B. Strong,
an old resident well acquainted with the people of
the city and country. At the expiration of about a
year Mr. Bartlett made arrangements with Mr. Mer-
riam to establish a store in Monticello, and he went
there to take charge of it. During the year 1844 Mr.
Bartlett closed up the business of Henry Martin &
Co., here, and sold to Mr. Merriam his interest in
the store at Monticello. In the summer of 1845 Mr.
Merriam employed mc to take charge of his store at
Monticello, while he took a trip east. Yes, he went
oast, but he went south first to Kentucky where he
married Mrs. Merriam, and together they went to
their old home in Vermont to spend their honey-
moon. He was gone nearly three months, leaving
me entirely alone, in that hamlet, at that time so
very uninteresting.
It was during my stay there that a tornado swept
oxer Logansport, unroofing part of the new court
house, Knowlton and Dows Foundry and Machine
Shop, destroyed the Market House, damaged sev-
eral other buildings, and according to the descrip-
Pastime Sketches 167
tion of Enion Kendall, carried away the hat of the
County Treasurer Howes, containing a lot of "ver-
bal orders."
In October following- that summer I accepted
the position of clerk and bookkeeper for Pollard &
Wilson, which I held for seven years from 1845 to
1852. In addition to dry goods and general mer-
chandise, the firm dealt in grain and all kinds of
country produce, but they had never tried the pack-
ing of pork. The season for pork packing in those
days was from about the first of December to the
middle of January. There was no good market for
it at any other time. Now, there is a good market
for it all the time. A Air. Seering from New York
used to come our every season and join Israel John-
son in packing at his warehouse on the canal, and
they found the business profitable. In the year
1847, Pollard & Wilson and Taber & Chase con-
cluded to unite and try their luck at the business.
Pork was quite low that season, the price running
from 1.87 to 2.25 per hundred. The average price
of the pork purchased was 2.10. When navigation
opened the next spring the price had declined and
continued to decline until mid-summer. They fi-
nally shipped their mess pork and lard and sold it
at a small loss, and to reduce their loss as much as
possible, had the hams and shoulders smoked and
retailed them out during the summer and fall. By
this tedious and troublesome method they reduced
their loss to a little less than one thousand dollars.
In the summer of 1848 I made a trip on horseback
through a part of Howard, Cass and Carroll coun-
ties to make the acquaintance of country merchants
and persuade them to consign their grain to us. A
great many farmers were clearing up their lands
168 Pastime Sketches
and raised but little surplus grain, not enough to
justify them in hauling it twenty to twenty-five
miles. Therefore, they would sell it to their nearby
merchants who kept teams to haul it as fast as it ac-
cumulated. My business was to induce these mer-
chants to send their grain to us. I visited Kokomo,
New London, Russiaville, and many small places
that have since, no doubt, been converted into corn-
fields.
Kokomo had at that time, as I remember, four
merchants, occupying the public square. There was
but one tavern, a two-story frame building, painted
white, and located away from the public square.
There was but one two-story brick building, owned
and occupied by David Foster, quite a prominent
fur trader, and one of our regular customers.
From 1848 to 1855 some new business firms were
organized, and quite a number of new merchants lo-
cated here. Some of these were Culbertson & Mc-
Carty, dry goods, Culbertson afterward going
into the hardware business. They were located
on the southeast corner of Broadway and Fourth.
John T. Musselman was north side of Market
between Second and Third, Tanguy & Barnheisel,
south side of Broadway between Fourth and Fifth.
Business began moving eastward on Market street,
Fourth street and Broadway, brick blocks were be-
ing erected on Market, Fourth and both sides of
Broadway between Fourth and Fifth. Bachman &
Puterbaugh located on the north side of Broadway,
in general merchandise business. T. C. Mitchell,
boots and shoes, north side of Broadway. A. J.
Murdock came in 1852. Henry Murdock in 1854.
J. W. McCaughey, dry goods, south side of Broad-
way. \Y. P. Thompson, dry goods, south side of
Pastime Sketches 169
Broadway. Brick blocks were erected on Broad-
way by Dolan & McHale and Patterson & Tomlin-
son.
In 1848 J. C. Merriam sold out his interest in
his store in Monticello to his partner, Mr. Reynolds,
returned here, and purchased the interest of Cyrus
Taber in the firm of Taber & Chase, and the firm
of Chase, Merriam & Smith was organized. M. S.
Butler had purchased a few years before, a lot on
the north side of Market street between Fourth and
Pearl streets, and erected thereon a brick block, con-
taining two store rooms one of which he occupied
himself. This was the block recently torn down by
Dr. Jordan and replaced with one of four stories.
Mr. Butler for some reason sold this building and
removed his stock of goods west.
One of these rooms being vacant at this time,
it was leased by the new firm of Chase, Merriam &
Smith, and they moved their stock of goods into it.
In 1852, four years later, the firm of Wilson, Mer-
riam & Co., was organized, the company being Mr.
M. H. Thomas and myself. This firm purchased
the interest of Colonel Philip Pollard in the firm of
Pollard & Wilson, and the interest of Chase and
Smith in the firm of Chase, Merriam & Smith, com-
bining the two stocks. It also purchased the Butler
building, removed the partition wall, converting the
two rooms into one, and occupied it, together with
the two floors above, and the two wings in the
rear.
In the years between 1840 and 1850 our mer-
chants, while doing a good, safe and flourishing
business were greatly handicapped for lack of bank-
ing facilities. Exchange was scarce and high. Specie
was often at a premium because silver and gold was
170 Pastime Sketches
the only money that could be used in entering land.
The United States Land Office was located at Win-
amac, twenty-five miles away. The roads were in
their primitive state, receiving no attention except
where bridges and corduroys were absolutely neces-
sary to get along at all. The trip was usually made
on horseback, the specie being carried in saddle
bags. In those days of horseback transportation, a
pair of saddle bags was a necessity, and were kept
for sale at the saddler shop and some of the stores.
The first railroad to reach our city was the New
Castle and Richmond in 1855. It had its terminous
on the south side of the Wabash river. The To-
ledo, Wabash and Western, now the Wabash Val-
ley, reached here in 1856.
With a little incident that occurred in 1865, for-
ty-two years ago, I will close. The merchants of
Broadway, of whom there were many, on both
sides of the street at that time, in their advertise-
ments began to branch out into poetry. This was
especially true of the firm of Bachman & Puter-
baugh. To match them and keep up the reputation
of Market street, in a spirit of fun and rivalry, the
firm of which I was a member published a column
advertisement in rhyme which I have put into a
pamphlet for your entertainment.
PAPER OF MR. JOSEPH PATTERSON READ BEFORE
THE CASS COUNTY, INDIANA, HISTORICAL
SOCIETY, MAY 17, 1907.
The subject of roads, travel and transportation
of merchandise is one that has interested the world
at large perhaps to greater extent than any other.
From the time that Adam and Eve began their
Pastime Sketches 171
tramp from the Garden of Eden until the citizens
of Logansport undertook to pave North street, the
cry of better roads and better means of traffic has
agitated the public brain until it seems to have ex-
hausted itself as to means by land and water and
now is making rapid strides to traverse the unlim-
ited space above the earth, which the streets of our
city and the highways of our county are perfection,
compared with the conditions sixty-three years ago
when my observation began. About May 1st, A. D.
1844, my father with his family in a wagon drawn
by three horses, started near Miflin, Juniatta county,
Pennsylvania, for the classic Wabash and Logans-
port, and during the six weeks of continuous travel
necessary to reach our goal, the only means of con-
veyance we saw aside from stage coach wagons
and horseback was a steamboat at Wheeling, W.
Va., and one at Zaneville, O. The difference in the
condition of the roads from our starting point to
Indianapolis and from Indianapolis to Logansport
was so great that we were eight days coming from
the Capital city to this city via the Michigan road.
That road at that time was the style of all the roads
in Cass county, bridged nearly continuous with
poles or rails. Much labor was lost on the road
work because of the transient conditions. They
were not permanently located and when a settler
sought to establish his lines and corners it was no
uncommon occurrence to take in a half mile of old
road and the public was obliged to open another,
and such conditions prevailed to a large extent un-
til in the sixties and enough money and labor had
been spent on the roads of Cass county had it been
honestly and systematically applied to have every
road in the county a substantial pike, and the team-
172 Pastime Sketches
ster would not have to stop his work or pay a fine
for driving on the public highway which he has a
perfect right to do. In 1844 and for many years
after, the streets of the city were of original earth
and during the springtime as the winter was pass-
ing away, the streets in many places were impass-
able. I saw a team of two yoke of oxen hauling a
load of lumber stall, at the intersection of Sixth
and North streets as late as 1853. The only means
of conveyance previous to 1854 or 55 was by canal
boat, stage coach, wagon and horseback. Farmers,
unless they had hauling, always came to town on
horseback, and it was an every day occurrence to
see the wife or daughter of the farmer ride up to
the hitching post, dismount, hitch the horse and go
off, do her numerous errands and meet the greetings
and smiles of all with whom she met; those were
happy days, friendship and joy in health, and help
and sympathy in sickness and distress. When a
young man wanted to take his best girl to a gath-
ering of any kind, he saddled up his horse, spread a
sheep-skin back of his saddle, rode along a stump,
fence or a log and the young lady would jump to
her seat at his back and their trip began. These
conditions as to roads prevailed up to about the
year 1851, or 1852. About this date the subject of
plank roads was introduced and the Michigan road,
as it was called, was improved by the covering of
the road with two-inch boards twelve feet long.
This was done by grading the middle of the road
to some degree of uniformity ; three pieces of square
timber were laid lengthwise and the two-inch plank
were spiked on. This made a very fair road for one
or two years, then the plank began to split, break,
curl up, rot and get loose, and it went to the bad
Pastime Sketches 173
much faster than it could be repaired and the traffic
was diverted partly because it was a toll road, and
also on account of the rough condition. This road
reached to Fulton north and to Deer Creek south,
and was tolerated until about 1867-1868, when the
subject of gravel roads was introduced and a com-
pany was organized both north and south of the city
and the work was pushed with considerable vigor
until the Michigan road was fairly well sanded ten
miles to the north and seven to the south, since
which time we are all familiar with the gravel roads
of Cass county. The first substantial street im-
provement was done in 1854, in which year Third
street was ballasted with crushed stone and such
improvement has spasmodically continued to the
present date. About the year 1880-85 the old canal
began to disappear, the high bridges had all been
removed and the appearance of the city was much
better.
In the year 1854, the first locomotive appeared
in our city. It came from the east on a flat canal
boat, and was unloaded at what is now the south-
west corner of Fifth and Broadway and hauled on
a track of square hewed logs, by three yoke of oxen
owned and driven by Sam Berryman, down Broad-
way to Third and south on Third across the Wa-
bash and placed on the track of the first railway
built in Logansport, and when completed reached to
Kokomo. The only remnant now visible is the pit
for the turn-table, a square west of Burlington pike
at the creamery, where the station and freight house
was also located.
During the summer of 1855 the grading was
nearly completed by the Wabash railroad company.
Piles were driven by horse power on the island;
174 Pastime Sketches
considerable work was done on abutments for the
bridge and about the middle of March, 1856. the
first locomotive of the Wabash railroad entered our
city and was met by the band which escorted the of-
ficials to the Cullen House, corner Second and Mar-
ket streets, where they were entertained by a dance
that night. During the summer of 1856, this road
was completed to Lafayette, then ended the days
of the stage coach between our city and Lafayette
and also to Indianapolis.
The next period of especial importance as to
traffic was in the year of Dec. 6, 1882, when the
street cars propelled by mule power was established
by F. G. Jaques, and operated by him until the year
1891, when his barns and car house, located north-
east corner Eighteenth and Broadway, together
with nearly all of his mules were destroyed by fire.
The franchise then changed hands, and the system
was changed from mule to electricity, and has ex-
tended all over city and hooked on to the interurban
and today we can get out of the city at any hour of
the clay or night and go north, south, east and west
and our brainy men have nearly completed a ship
to travel in the yet unoccupied space above the
earth, and we need not be surprised some morning
to find a bill under our door announcing a cheap
excursion next Sunday to the north pole.
SECOND PUBLIC MEETING OF THE CASS COUNTY, INDI-
ANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, JUNE 28, 1907.
The second public meeting of the Historical so-
ciety at the Library June 28th was a success. Every
chair was occupied and standing room was in de-
mand. Judge D. P. Baldwin, president, called the
Pastime Sketches 175
meeting- to order and made a short address. He
said that history can only be written one hundred
years after the event, biography fifty years after the
death of the subject. He thought that the present
was productive of greater men than the past but
that the fields of usefulness were changed ; that ge-
nius was rather developed in finance, not so much
in war or politics. He spoke of great men of finance
who had startled the world by their genius in or-
ganization.
Vice President Powell took the chair, and an-
nounced the regular program of the evening, also
calling attention to the fact that the society would
join with the Old Settlers in the picnic at Spencer
Park, August 10th. He invited the public generally
to become charter members, handing names to B.
F. Sharts of the Logansport State Bank. He spoke
of the appreciation of the music rendered at pre-
vious meetings by the G. A. R. Glee club, and called
upon the club for the first number.
The first paper was by Mrs. Minnie York Bu-
chanan, subject "Old Time Schools." She said she
could hardly tell anything of the schools of the
early days but would give her observations in 1865
when she came to Logansport as a school teacher
after teaching in New York.
Wils Berry followed with a chalk talk on the
costumes of 1864 illustrating with twenty or more
rapidly drawn sketches. Mr. Berry exhibited a ver-
satility surprising to many who were not familiar
with his talent. There was a rush for his drawings
after adjournment and all were carried away to be
preserved as souvenirs.
After music by the Glee club W. T. Gifre fol-
176 Pastime Sketches
lowed with the last paper of the evening, subject
"Early Music."
PAPER READ BY MRS. MINNIE YORK BUCHANAN
BEFORE THE CASS COUNTY, INDIANAHISTORICAL,
SOCIETY, JUNE 28, 1907.
"The schools of the olden time had the same
common branches that we have today, but they had
schoolmasters and schoolmarms, and the penknife
was very essential to their equipment, not only to
make and mend the goose-quill pens with which to
write the copy 'Be good if you would be happy,'
but also to point up and down the black ladder of
the alphabet, as they listened to the prolonged
sound of a-b-c and the promise from the pretty pink
aproned schoolma-m, 'you may take your knife a
little while if you will remember that letter has
charmed it,' and many of its neighbors into mem-
ory.
"They did not remain seated during recitations
in the olden times, but came to the class and stood
in a line facing the teacher and 'toed the mark.' At
10:30 the teacher would say 'now the girls may go
out.' In five minutes she would rap on the window
(and those windows rattle) and call them in, then
the boys could go out. This was recess.
"In the old olden time many of the school houses
were built of logs with planks around the sides of
the wall for desks and long benches for seats, with-
out backs. And those desks and seats were often
deeply furrowed with the sharp blade handled by
some sharper 'Yankee blade.'
"But this olden time was long before 1865. Lo-
gansport then was a busy, energetic, enterprising
Pastime Sketches 177
place. In my memory are three events that will
ever remain vivid, my arrival in Logansport, a drive
in the country a day of two after, and in connection
with the city schools, the superintendency of T. B.
Helms. During the year mentioned I was engaged
in teaching in western New York, but anticipated a
visit to Logansport in the early fall, as my friends
had written me of the excellent wages paid teachers
here. I had considered remaining a year at least.
I had many discouraging statements from others
who thought it a wild idea, and some of the older
teachers had been in Indiana and visited the schools
and reported them way below par compared with
ours, said that they used different words to express
things ; that I would have to learn why they call a
pail a bucket, a tin pail with handle, a bucket, and
they would conclude with 'You'll be home in three
weeks.' They failed to tell me, if they knew, that
they had the fever and ague. New Yorkers had a
dread of that, as I had seen some who had returned
from Michigan and was shocked at their ghastly
appearance and slow recovery. "I surely would
not have come to Indiana had I known it was sub-
ject to it. But I arrived one evening in September
in a pouring rain. I think I was the only one to
leave the train of two coaches. I could see no one,
no conveyance. I concluded I must be a way out
of the city. Just as I was wondering where the
people were, a man came in from somewhere and
asked: 'Do you want the bus?' I certainly did.
Those were my instructions, to take the bus. When
I arrived at my destination they came from the
door to the bus with umbrellas, to meet me. I was
feeling somewhat depressed. When I retired to my
room it was warm and the window was lowered. I
178 Pastime Sketches
could hear the oeople passing and it was soon evi-
dent I was near a physician's office from the re-
peated calls for the doctor and the conversations.
This continued so late I thought, is every one sick.
In the morning I found I was next door to Drs.
Taylor & Shultz's office. I stepped out to look over
the city— was not disappointed in anything, but the
size, a city, and not as large as our village of Canan-
daigua, N. Y., then I remembered that it required
10,000 for a city charter in New York and only I
think 3,000 in Indiana, at that time.
"I soon began to meet people and I was so
pleased with them, and they were all so interested
in the schools and the normal that had been hold-
ing four weeks, I think this, was the closing week,
and they all seemed to regret that if I thought of
teaching I had not been able to attend. But I
felt confident if I could pass the examination and
teach in New York, I surely could here. I was en-
joying myself and feeling it would be just the thing
to remain, when I got a shock. I said to one of the
young ladies, Ts there much sickness?' There was
an incessant going and coming from that doctor's
office last night.' 'Yes,' she said, 'it has been a very
rainy season and many are having the chills." I did
know what that was but when she described it I
was terrified, why that is the fever and ague, I
thought. I would not have that wretched disease for
all the schools. I would make my stay short in
Logansport. But I did not see any one who was
afflicted and it passed my mind, meeting so many
more pleasant and intelligent people.
"I was told we would take a drive in the country
the next morning. Of course I was delighted. It
seemed it was on business and the roads would be
Pastime Sketches 1 79
bad. but we would go prepared with two horses. I
expected mud, but a mile or so from the city we
went into the roads. I never dreamed that people
ever attempted to drive through such places. We
did not see any road, nothing but water and holes,
and the horses lunging and plunging. I expected
every moment they would break loose from the ve-
hicle, and leave us sitting there, and perhaps not in
the vehicle. However, we returned without any
accident. I shall never forget it. I met more de-
lightful people, and said I would like to attend the
normal. I had not met any one who was attending
and I had not been brave enough to go alone. Some
of them called for me in the morning, and I must
say I was surprised at the work being done. It was
in every way up to the standard I had been accus-
tomed to, if not more thorough and systematic.
They had fine instructors from other cities, who
were advising and testing the applicants. I soon
found it was a special drill for teachers and decided
that every teacher could not teach school in Lo-
gansport. I began to think of the examination to
be held the next day and said to one of my friends,
'I wish I knew how it is to be held, written or oral.
I feel so strange. I may get nervous and fail.' If
that's what you wish to know ask Mr. Helms ; he
will tell you.' I thought that would be presuming
and expected a cool reception, but if you will permit
the expression I was never so pleasantly disap-
pointed. I met such an affable, courteous, kind
gentleman, willing and frank in telling me how the
examination would be conducted. I shall never
forget him. But I had not allowed my name to go
before the board until I was sure of my license and
I was too late. The board was very considerate and
180 Pastime Sketches
kind but I did not expect any farther recognition
from it. Yet in a day or two they called and
told me that Prof. Brophy has been employed as
principal in the seminary and they would give him
my name as assistant. So I was employed as Prof.
Brophy's assistant. The board at that time was
D. D. Pratt, Charles Knowlton, Joseph McCaughey.
"At the seminary there were three departments —
primary, intermediate and the sixth reader grade.
Prof. Brophy's room. There was no 7a or 8a, very
few manuscript questions were asked and answered
and the pupils in the intermediate rooms were just
as anxious to get to the sixth reader grade, as I
presume they are now to reach the high school. I
am sure the schools of Logansport in 1865 were
much in advance of many older towns."
PAPER READ BY MR. W. T. GIEFE BEEORE THE CASS
COUNTY, INDIANA, HISTORICAL SOCIETY
JUNE 28, 1907.
It seems to me that the task of writing a paper
on the old-time singing school of Cass county should
have been assigned to an older head, one having a
personal knowledge of the local history of this one
time popular institution for vocal cultivation and
social gatherings.
When the pioneer singing school was in flower
its scepter was a steel tuning-fork and its preceptor
a peripatetic singing master upon whom Polyhym-
nia, the Muse of Singing Harmony, was supposed to
have bestowed her rarest gift.
The pioneer singing school followed closely
upon the march of the pioneer citizen and helped to
imbue the sparse population with the spirit of both
material and spiritual progress.
Pastime Sketches 181
In those days nearly every country neighbor-
hood, village and small town had, at some time dur-
ing the year (generally during the winter), a sing-
ing school, at which a series or term of singing les-
sons was taught in some local church or district
school house.
These singings were usually held on Sunday aft-
ernoon, or on one or two evenings during the week.
If I am correctly informed, the first singing book
used in Cass county was the "Missouri harmony."
In fact I believe it is a matter of history that this
was the first singing book used in Indiana, and that
its use was quite general. It was written in what
was called "buckwheat" notes, the notes being
named by the shape and not the position on the staff
as now. The system of notation employed in this
book had a tetrachord of four syllables — fa, so, la,
mi — which was repeated to form the scale. It was
called the system of the "Buckwheat Notes," be-
cause, in their different shapes, some of the notes
resembled grains of buckwheat.
After this book and its system had passed, the
scale syllables running from Do to Do, as we now
have them, were introduced along with the "round
notes," which are now almost in exclusive use.
In the days of the pioneer singing school the lo-
cal conditions were very primitive and crude, as we
view them now. The farms of cultivated lands were
as small and scattered as are the timber tracts of
the present day in Indiana. Forests and wild game
abounded in every direction. Preachers and coon
dogs were in about equal demand and commanded
about the same price.
Such was the environment of the old-time sing-
ing school and it is no wonder that strange notions
182 Pastime Sketches
should find their way into the minds of the sing-
ers. Some of the ladies in that day prided them-
selves on their supposed ability to sing tenor, while
others with a coarser voice — box would essay the
roll of bass. In like manner there were gay Loth-
arios who insisted on sitting with the sopranos and
singing "air" with might and main.
In a recent article in the Indiana Magazine of
History, Benjamin S. Parker, the poet sage of New
Castle, in speaking of this subject, says:
"The singing schools of fifty and sixty years ago,
in this state, were not confined to Sundays, as the
master, in many cases, found it best to have two or
three singing schools on hand at the same time.
Several masters were often running schools in the
same neighborhood, and between these schools
there was considerable emulation, which sometimes
led to a joint meeting where the rival classes, under
the leadership of their respective teachers, contest-
ed for superiority. The singers were chosen very
much as the spellers at the spelling matches.
Judges were selected who were to listen to all the
contests and award the honors. The first class to
sing stood and sang two selections, first the notes
and then the words. The second class, in like man-
ner, sang the same selections, and then two more.
The first class then sang the latter airs and two new
ones, and so on until the contests closed.
"In the midst of every afternoon school there
was a recess, which was made good use of by old
and young. For pure and wholesome social enjoy-
ment few recreations surpassed the old country
singing school, and there, at the same time, were
trained many sweet singers for the local churches,
as well as the homes.
Pastime Sketches 183
"In the older books the parts were arranged for
treble, or air, answering to the modern soprano,
and sung by men as well as women ; tenor, or
double air, for both men and women, and bass for
men. Baritone and alto were not used. Among
the books in use, other than the 'Missouri Har-
mony," were the 'Christian Psalmist,' the 'Sacred
Melodeon,' two or three of Dr. Lowell Mason's
books (which used the Guidonian system), several
of A. D. Filmore's books, and a number of others.
The usual charges in these schools were fifty to
seventy-five cents per pupil for a term of twelve
lessons, and at these rates the classes not infre-
quently tested the holding capacities of the rooms
where they met.
"So attractive were these singing school that a
large percentage of the young Quakers of fifty
years ago persisted in taking part in them, despite
all the restraints imposed by their people, and to
that fact is largely due the changed attitude of the
second generation of Friends toward the study of
music."
The popular instruments of those days were the
violin, flute and melodeon, and in occasional in-
stances some one of these was used in- the singing
school and glee club by the teacher. However, all
these instruments were generally barred from the
church buildings, and could only be used at the pri-
vate homes and some of the school houses.
The limits of this paper preclude any disserta-
tion on the great social and educational advantages
which the old singing schools, in most instances,
brought to the communities where they were
taught.
The passing of the singing school is to be great-
184 Pastime Sketches
ly regretted. Its going has left a void in the musi-
cal life of the country places that is not easy to fill.
Perhaps the revolving cycle of our institutional life
may yet return to the coming generations a modi-
fied form of the old-time singing school. Let us
hope that it will.
PAPER PREPARED BY MR. HARRY BRINGHURST FOR
THE CASS COUNTY, INDIANA, HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The following fire department history was com-
piled for the Cass County Historical Society by
Harry W. Bringhurst, Chief of the Fire Depart-
ment, Seattle, Washington, who was born in Lo-
gansport, and was for many years a resident of the
city. It covers the period of the Volunteers, up to
the date of the paid department. Prominent citi-
zens risked their lives for the good of the commun-
ity and their deeds are worthy of preservation.
While the paid department is equally worthy of
mention no records are available.
Public meeting to organize fire company Jan. 11,
1836, in consequence of excitement over great fire
in New York, Dec. 16, 1835. G. T. Bostwick. chair-
man ; J. B. Dillon, secretary. Nothing came of it.
June 21, 1837, fire blacksmith shop of Hines &
McElheny on Fourth, opposite present court house.
Oct. 6, 1837, D. Patrick's cabinet shop burned.
(North side Broadway between Second and Third.)
Feb. 12, 1838, fire in "Logansport Exchange,"
two-story saloon just south of Washington Hall
(Barnett House) ; hard work to save latter.
Aug. 10, 1839, Jas. Storms' cabinet shop. Canal
street, near Second.
Nov. 9. 1844, frame brewery building Curt Fmer-
Pastime Sketches 185
son, on Berkley street, north of Canal, partially de-
stroyed.
Nov. 27, 1846, fire in Washington Hall ; hard
work with line of buckets from Wabash river.
Dec. 5, 1846, ordinance appointed G. N. Fitch
fire warden.
Feb. 17, 1849, Saddlery shop, Jas. Kintner, dam-
aged dwelling of Chauncey Carter across alley,
Market between Second and Third.
March 21, 1849, house of Samuel McElheny,
Seventh between North and High.
June 13, 1853, S. B. Kendrick's slaughter house,
$1,000.
Jan. 4, 1854, Klein's Brewery; total loss $1,800.
First ordinance established fire department
passed Feb. 1, 1854. T. H. Bringhurst, mayor.
First regular fire company Summit No. 1, or-
ganized Feb. 4, 1854.
Election of officers above, Feb. 6, president, T.
H. Bringhurst ; vice president, Jas. Rodgers ; secre-
tary, S. L. McFadin ; treasurer, H. Black. Direc-
tors, David Johnson, Dan'l Mull, B. Z. Burch, Ed-
gar Parsons, W. T. S. Manly, J. N. Tousley.
General Tipton fire company, No. 2, organized
Feb. 6, 1854: President, J. B. Eldridge ; vice presi-
dent, R. F. Groves; secretary, J. G. Douglas; treas-
urer, Ed Fishel. Directors, N. G. Scott, W. D. Ran-
dall, T. P. McCrea, Chas. Barrett, Judge Groves,
J. B. Eldridge.
First engine (hand) came from Hunneman &
Co., Boston, June, 1854. First fire on which it
worked, June 23, 1854, across Sixth street bridge.
This was "Summit."
Tipton hand engine arrived Aug. 2?, 1854, on
186 Pastime Sketches
canal boat "Silver Bell." Tested Aug. 30, 1854. Sum-
mit cost $700; Tipton $805.
First large fire Geo. Cecil's cooper shop at aque-
duct, loss $3,200, Nov. 8, 1854. Engines worked 10
p. m. to 3 a. m.
Summit and Tipton engine houses built by July,
1855.
Jan. 5,' 1856, great fire on Market street, from
three-story brick at 308 Market street to alley on
east. Very cold morning. Engines pumped from
Wabash river. Shoe and hardware store and vari-
ous buildings. One man (Dale) seriously hurt.
Nick Smith's stove store, Dr. McCrea's office dam-
aged. Jos. Dale hip dislocated and head injured.
July 4, 1856, Logansport engine went to Lai'ay-
ette and beat the engine there.
July 4, 1857, hand engine "Kossuth" came up
from Lafayette to the railroad celebration and beat
the Tipton.
Dec. 25, 1858, fire burned roof off of Cecil's
"Forest Mill" at 3 a. m. ; fine work by engines saved
mill; loss $3,028.
June, 1859, Summit and Tipton fire bells re-
ceived from Cincinnati.
Dec. 20, 1859, fire at McElheny's tannery north
of aqueduct, 6:30 p. m. Summit company worked six
hours, thermometer at zero.
Feb. 16, 1860, fire at E. Walker's house on North
street (Craig's) ; loss $500.
Aug. 6, 1861, fire at J. M. Keeps' lumber yard
at 2 :30 a. m., south of canal. Very hot fire. While
firemen taking up hose fire broke out in Knowlton
& Obenchain's foundry to the west. Catholic
church endangered. Loss about $10,000.
July 14, 1862, fire on canal north of Broadway,
Pastime Sketches 187
burned McElheny carriage shop and Bevan's car-
penter shop.
March 20, 1864, G. W. Scantling burned in his
house on Berkley street.
Oct. 24, 1864, sash and door factory burned on
canal between Broadway and North.
Aug. 8, 1865, fire burned A. M. Goodwin's gro-
cery, also stores of Hicks & Connolly and E. T..
Stevens.
Dec. 15, 1865. alarm for boiler explosion at
Knowlton's foundry ; four boys and a girl killed ;
several injured.
Dec. 22, 1865, Dr. Farquhar's house burned at
North and Ninth.
Jan. 16, 1866, fire Fourth between Market and
Broadway, burned out Conrad's, Keeps' Rosenthal's
and Frank's.
March 20, 1867, two fires in night one on
"Point," one in "Browntown."
June 20, 1868, house burned by owner on what
is now Heath street.
Oct. 8, 1868, fire burned large double house on
Fitch, between George and Canal.
Feb. 3, 1869, fire Mrs. Courtney's house, West
Logan.
Oct. 27, 1869, B. H. Smith building, Hicks, El-
liott & Shroyer ; loss several hundred. Building
saved. Good work.
Jan. 5, 1870, Silsby rotary steamer "Chauncey
Carter" bought. Arrived Feb. 3, 1870.
Officers fire companies January, 1870:
Tipton — President, C. B. KnoAvlton ; vice presi-
dent, Geo. Bevan ; secretary, S. B. Boyer ; treasurer,
G. J. Groves. Directors, G. W. Brown, J. F. Carney,
18S Pastime Sketches
Jas. Foley, H. G. Fetter, M. Schneeberger, Jno.
Murphy.
Summit — Foreman, S. T. Weirick ; assistant
foreman, D. H. Mull; secretary, D. Comingore;
treasurer, D. Redd.
Feb. 10, 1870, big fire, engine saved town; 11:30
p. m. Fourth, south of Market, back of "round cor-
ner" grocery, two saloons, barber shop, doctor's
office, stables, etc. ; loss $9,000.
March 18, 1870, Krug & Russell's tin store,
Guthrie's clothing store Fourth street.
July 8, 1870, Messinger & Bevan's dry kiln early
morning; loss $1,500.
Tipton hand engine turned over to the Cham-
pion company in spring.
Jan. 1, 1871, John Gallagher's house burned in
Browntown ; Reuben Gharis badly injured.
Feb. 28, 1871. Three fires in one night, last one
2:30 a. m. Paul Taber's stable, rear of Pennsylvania
house.
April 10, 1871, Independent Hose organized. J.
H. Ivens, foreman ; H. J. Larimer and W. Reed, as-
sistants.
April 20, 1871, fire at Lock Foundry. (This was
night of Slater murder.)
May 9, 1871, F. D. paraded laying corner stone
Smithson College.
May 23, 1871, large fire 1 p. m., back of Judge
Stuart's house. Broadway, several stables and
houses.
Rev. Post distinguished himself saving horses,
etc.
July 29, 1871, Kahlo Von Behren & Co.. spoke
factory, Toledo street ; loss $1,200; factory saved.
Pastime Sketches 189
Sept. 13, 1871, first report council favoring water
works.
Oct. 22, 1871, fire at gas works on Sunday morn-
ing ; great excitement over fires all the month.
Chicago fire Oct. 9.
May 2, 1872, R. S. Miller stone works on Duret
& Messinger, Brosius' pump factory burned ; loss
$7,000. Jas. Viney and other firemen nearly killed
by falling floor. Good work.
May 16, 1872, freight cars burned in Panhandle
yard, nearly a panic in Forepaugh's show on "Dam
fields."
Aug. 9, 1872, "Carter" sent to a $15,000 fire at
New Waverly.
Chiefs -of fire department : 1856-58, Thos. H.
Bringhurst. 1859-1868, Geo. Bevan. 1869, Jos.
Green. 1870, Zophar Hunt. 1871, Allen Richardson.
1872-73, Jos. Green, 1874, Geo. Bevan. 1875, Geo.
Bevan and J. F. Long. Geo. Bevan died in 1875 and
T. H. Bringhurst elected to fill vacancy and reor-
ganize department, retiring in favor of Carney, 1876,
Jas. F. Carney. 1877, Jas. F. Carney. 1878, Jas. F.
Carney. 1879, H. J. Larimer. 1880, H. J. Larimer.
First mention of H. & L. Company, election of
officers Jan. 5, 1869. Geo. Kuns, president ; J. H.
Ivens, vice president.
Champion Fire Company organized at Seminary
Oct. 13, 1869.
H. & L. No. 2 (Browntown) organized Jan. 14
and 19, 1871. Dennis Uhl foreman; D. R. Miller,
vice foreman.
Jan. 31, 1865, "Grand supper" given at court
house by the firemen, also "Grand Ball" at Part-
ridge Hall. Proceeds $346.75 turned over by fire-
190 Pastime Sketches
men to J. C. Merriam, treasurer Relief Society, for
the benefit of soldiers' families.
The volunteers were at their best 1871 and 1875.
The star year was 1873.
Oct. 17, 1872, 9 a. m., large fire burned stables
of A. J. Murdock. Sisters' Academy, Dr. Mat-
thews' and other buildings. Lively fight between
Tiptons and Independents for "first water." Many
residences endangered.
Nov. 17, 1872, 9 p. m., fire at Layton House also
Panhandle depot. Very cold.
Dec. 11, 1872, Champion company elected Rod-
ney Strain foreman. Fifty active members.
Feb. 3, 1873, Froster building on Sycamore
street.
March 2, 1873, Canal street, school house.
March 10. 1873, Campbell's livery and other
stables, Sixth, between Market and Broadway.
April 23, 1873, frame row north side of Broad-
way, west of Keystone building, Sixth street. John-
ston & Crook's, A. M. Goodwin, T. R. McElheny,
Gans & Rosenberg, V. C. Hanawalt ; loss $4,000.
Independents got first water.
May 18, 1873, Old Cheney saw mill at Point,
also R. D. Stevens' planing mill. Mill built in 1845.
May 22, 1873, Uhl barns and stables in Brown-
town.
July 2, 1873, Clapp & Jones' steamer bought.
July 5, 1873, stables of J. J. Pucerbaugh, Rev.
Sparks, Female College, hard fight to save Merri-
am's stable and residence. All engines got water
from Methodist church cistern.
July 7, 1873. Weyands and other stables, Brown-
town.
July 15, 1873, Tenth street school house.
Pastime Sketches 191
Aug. 22, 1873. stables of Mrs. Farquhar, D. Pat-
rick, Chas. Horning, Jas. Wilson (Broadway, North,
Second and Third.) Hard work to save dwellings,
Jos. Ivens and other firemen injured. Andrew
Schaffer, of Summit company, mentioned for brav-
ery.
Aug. 25, 1873, Jas. L. Baldwin's distillery, north
side of Eel river, opposite Eighth street.
Aug. 25, 1873, stables of John Sammis, T. C.
Mitchell. Geo. Horn, Airs. McElheny, Mrs. S. A.
Hall, H. C. Thornton. Two houses badly damaged.
Great excitement over incendiaries.
Sept. 22, 1873, trial of "Champion" engine.
Sept. 24, 1873, Summit company disbanded be-
cause new str. given to Champions.
Sept. 26, 1873, "Logan Fire company" organized
from old members of Summit. Jas. Henderson fore-
man ; thirty members.
Nov. 16, 1873, stables in rear of St. ELmo hotel
and Elliott, P. & Shroyer, incendiary.
Dec. 2, 1873, Michaels' millinery store ; loss
about $15,000. Supposed incendiary. Adams build-
ing on Fourth between Market and Broadway.
March 4, 1874, dwelling on North between Four-
teenth and Fifteenth, occupied by J. G. Meek and
Ed Strong.
March 22, 1874, stables of Lewis Diehl, J. B.
Eldridge, Hugh Ward, Market between First and
Second ; loss $2,000. Incendiary.
April 1, 1874, Eureka fire company in Brown-
town, recognized; has old Tipton hand engine.
April 27, 1874, midnight, stables of J. Kraut,
Wm. Dolan, Barnett House, Barnett ice house,
Bruggaman's shop, extended to large brick livery
stable of Ed Anderson and houses of Dolan, Kraut
192 Pastime Sketches
and Bruggaman ; loss $12,000. Incendiary. High
wind. Horses on Champion engine ; the first fire
at which horses were used.
May 5, 1874, celebration fire department twen-
tieth anniversary. Parade, picnic, speeches by Judge
Chase and Col. Bringhurst. Grand ball at night,
Dolan's opera house.
June 16, 1874. Grusenmyer's wagon shop, "Ta-
bertown."
Oct. 30, 1874, stables of David Miller and E. T.
Stevens' residences, both damaged ; loss $3,400.
Jan. 20, 1875, partial alarm telegraph system
provided for connecting Tipton and Champion en-
gine houses.
Feb. 28, 1875, funeral of Chief Geo. Bevan ; very
cold and stormy day. All the fire department out.
March 9, 1875, large tenement house near round
house ; loss $2,500.
March 10, 1875, barn and shop of A. D. Pack-
ard, the latter severely burned.
March 11, 1875, roof and upper story of large
frame boarding house, east side Sixth, between
Market and Broadway, Musselman. Firemen had
narrow escape.
March 23, 1875, Enterprise fire company organ-
ized on Southside.
March 6, 1875, Twenty-first anniversary cele-
bration. Parade, fire companies from Peru, Delphi,
Kokomo, Noblesville, Tipton, Frankfort, Muncie.
Horse races. Grand ball.
May 15, 1875, Independent company elected
Robt. R. Bringhurst foreman, H. J. Larimer as-
sistant.
May 19, 1875, all the stables in center of block
North and High, Fourth and the Canal. Damaged
Pastime Sketches 193
residences of McTaggart, Wilson and Harwood. A
hot and dangerous fire, 11 :30 a. m.
June 16, 1875, Silsby horse hose cart bought for
Champion Co.
July 3, 1875, entertainment by Independent com-
pany, Dolan's opera house.
July 29, 1875, roof and upper floor of Lincoln
foundry, southeast corner High street and Canal.
J. H. Tucker plow handle factory, 10 p. m. Large
fire ; loss about $12,000.
Aug. 20, 1875, Canal water supply so unreliable ;
other measures tried. Much discussion on water
works.
Nov. 17, 1875, contracts concluded for water
works.
Jan. 1, 1876, Logan company elected Geo. Leroy
foreman ; Frank Comingore, secretary.
Jan. 1, 1876, Dan Comingore stables, Broadway,
between Eighth and Ninth.
Feb. 14, 1876, Independent company masquerade
ball, Dolan and McHale's hall.
April 6, 1876, Jno. Jackson house on High street ;
loss $700.
June 4, 1876, fire department out at funeral of
Councilman Hugh Ward.
July 4, 1876, fire department in parade.
Aug. 4, 1876, first water pumped into water
works' mains.
Oct. 3, 1876, first fire at which water works
used ; small fire on Fourth, near North.
Oct. 5, 1876, midnight, two houses burned on
Canal, Twelfth street, near Point ; water works
streams used.
Oct. 6, 1876, 5 a. m., Keeport's Lime office and
Rhoads stable, Market and Sixth.
194 Pastime Sketches
Nov. 8, 1876, 2 a. m., election night, livery stable,
Ingram Bros., Mrs. Anderson's and other stables.
Lively fire, Sixth street.
Dec. 5, 1876, test of water works. Much talk of
reorganizing fire department.
Jan. 17, 1877, council bought Richmond fire
alarm system in spite of protests.
April 1, 1877, Tipton company went to big fire
Converse, Ind.
April 3, 1877, final test of water works.
April 6, 1877, fire alarm tel. accepted.
April 8, 1877, 11:30 p. m.. fire in block Market,
Canal, Fourth anl Fifth, burned various stables
and other buildings. Fire alarm telegraph did not
work ; delay in getting water pressure ; a lively
and dangerous fire.
May 5, 1877, noon, fire at "Castle," residence of
D. P. Baldwin, Mrs. Whiting's boarding house ;
good work ; much excitement.
May 30, 1877, jury disagreed in case of Jas. Fin-
negan for setting big fire of April 8.
June 3, 1877, two houses burned New Jerusalem.
July 10, 1877, Griner and Ouealy stables and
house near Point.
July 11, 1877, funeral of Curt Hutson, Indepen-
dent company.
Jan. 1, 1878, fire in Mrs. McCarty's house on
Market, between Sixth and Seventh ; great water
loss.
Jan. 6, 1878. "Store on Wheels" Clem Kern on
canal bed and Broadway.
Jan. 6, 1878, Cement pipe works near Peoria.
March 30, 1878, fire department out to funeral
of Tos. Green, ex-chief.
Pastime Sketches 195
May 8, 1878, twenty-fourth anniversary celebra-
tion, parade, races, etc.
Tune 23, 1878, 5 a. m., several stables between
North, High, Sixth and Seventh. Trouble as to
pressure.
July 4, 1878, fire department paraded.
Aug. 18, 1878, Westside engine house struck by
lightning, much damage.
Aug. 19, 1878, fire department paraded funeral
W. Fornoff.
Dec. 4, 1878, "City Mills" on Hamilton race,
owned by Sol Jones and Robt. Ray ; loss $10,000.
Hose laid from Third and Canal ; hot fire.
Jan. 21, 1879, Collision and fire Peoria Junction.
March 23, 1879, two houses burned on Toledo
near Twelfth.
May 14, 1879, Stuart residence; loss $500.
July 24, 1879, Cronise's feed stable. Sixth street,
R. C. Taylor and other stables.
Nov. 1, 1879, 8:45 p. m., Spiker & Harrison
wagon factory, south side Toledo near Fourteenth.
Disastrous fire ; little pressure because rebuilding
water works' dam; loss $40,000; insurance $16,000;
started paint shop.
Nov. 5, 1879, council adopted resolution of Chas.
Knight providing for paid fire department. H. J.
Larimer, chief.
PAPER PREPARED BY MR. W. S. WRIGHT FOR THE
CASS COUNTY, INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The newspapers of a city always reflect the
city's enterprise and intelligence. Logansport has
been a prominent newspaper center since the organ-
ization of the state and a brief sketch of newspaper
history may be interesting.
196 Pastime Sketches
There are several complete files of the news-
papers of Logansport and they speak for them-
selves. The county histories also contain sketches
of the earlier publications so that this branch of
local history is well covered. Briefly it may be said
that Logansport claims the first newspaper printed
in northern Indiana. It was issued on Saturday,
August 15, 1829, and the office was on the south
side of Market street between Fourth and Fifth
streets, on the alley. The type and press were
brought in on an ox wagon and it took another
wagon to bring in the name, which was the Potta-
watomie and Miami Times. The paper was founded,
edited and published by John Scott. Owing to the
difficulties connected with pioneer journalism the
paper, which was a weekly, did not appear every
week. It is noted that a new volume, commenced
on the 10th of November, 1831, the name being
changed to The Cass County Times, was not com-
pleted until twenty-six months later, it taking that
length of time to get out the first fifty-two copies
of the supposed weekly. John Scott was a pioneer
printer, having commenced the publication of the
Inquirer at Brookville, Franklin county, Indiana, in
1815 and of the Weekly Intelligencer at Richmond
in 1820. Later he founded the Western Emporium
at Centerville, in the same county, which he con-
ducted until he moved to Logansport in 1829. James
B. Scott, later the editor of the Delphi Journal, set
the first type for the new Logansport paper. May
30, 1833, James B. Scott and William J. Burns be-
came the owners of the paper and the name was
again changed to the Logansport Republican and
Indiana Herald. This name proved too heavy and
publication ceased December 11th, of the same year.
Pastime Sketches 197
The Canal Telegraph made its appearance Jan.
2, 1834, a month after the Herald suspended, hav-
ing purchased the type and material used by the
Herald. Stanislaus Laselle was its founder and on
the 16th of August John B. Dillon became asso-
ciate editor and publisher. In November the name
was changed to The Logansport Canal Telegraph
and in 1836 it became The Logansport Telegraph.
This paper suspended publication March 24, 1849,
and its good will and fixtures were bought by
Thomas H. Bringhurst and Thomas Douglass, who
continued the publication under the name of The
Logansport Journal, the first issue appearing April
20, 1849. In that year Williamson Wright was
nominated for congress by the Whigs against Gra-
ham N. Fitch, who had been first elected in 1847.
The Whigs had no organ and the fixtures of the
Telegraph were bought by Williamson Wright,
and T. H. Bringhurst was installed as editor. Mr.
Bringhurst was a cabinet maker and had never
been inside of a newspaper office. He protested
against the selection of himself as editor but final-
ly yielded. The wisdom of the selection soon be-
came apparent and Mr. Bringhurst continued as ed-
itor until 1861, when he enlisted in the Civil war
and rose to the rank of colonel, being first appointed
major of the Forty-sixth Indiana by Governor
Morton. He was mustered out in 1865 and re-
turned to The Journal, continuing as editor until
1869. when he was appointed special agent of the
postoffice department. Previous to his. connection
with The Journal, in May, 1846, he enlisted in the
First Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, Mexican war
and served under General Taylor, returning to Lo-
gan sport in 1847.
198 Pastime Sketches
Joseph Dague purchased a half interest in The
Journal in 1863 and continued with Air. Bringhurst
until January, 1870, when it was sold to Z. and W.
C. Hunt, who conducted it for two years, selling a
half interest to Joseph Dague in 1873. D. P. Bald-
win purchased a third interest in 1874 and another
third in 1875. During most of this time, while Mr.
Bringhurst was absent during the Civil war, and at
other times, James T. Bryer was the editor and he
continued in that capacity for many years, until
1888. In 1882 William D. Pratt became sole owner
and in 1876, January 1st, started the daily Journal,
changing the weekly to a semi-weekly. C. B. Lan-
dis, W. K. Landis and R. A. Brown were city edi-
tors during this time.
The Journal changed ownership again in 1891.
The Logansport Journal Co. was incorporated that
year by a number of Logansport republicans, J.
C. Hadley, A. R. Shroyer, A. Hardv, S. B. Boyer,
B. F. Keesling, Bert G. Small, Will R. Small and
W. S. Wright were directors, with W. S. Wright
president and managing editor, Bert G. Small, city
editor and Will R. Small business manager. This
organization remained in control seven years, Bert
G. Small and Will R. Small retired in 1895 to publish
the Saturday Night Review and W. S. Wright be-
came an officer in the Spanish-American war in
1898. D. W. Tomlinson and Thomas and Chas.
Torr bought The Journal in that year and contin-
ued it until 1902, when Keesling & Metzger Bros,
(incorporated) purchased it. A. R. Keesling be-
came managing editor, E. F. Metzger. business
manager, and H. C. Metzger, advertising manager.
The Journal was represented in the Mexican and
Civil wars by Col. T. H. Bringhurst and in the
Pastime Sketches 199
Spanish-American war by W. S. Wright. In the
changes in the business centers it had many homes.
The first Journal office was on the east side of
Fourth street, south of Market. In turn it occu-
pied quarters on Broadway, north side of the alley
between Fifth and Sixth street ; on the east side of
Pearl street, between Market and Broadway ; at
northwest corner of Fourth and Court streets and
below Fourth at No. 310 Broadway. The advent of
the Rural Free Delivery and of the Interurban
railroads changed the character of the country cir-
culation, the daily becoming popular in the country
and the semi-weekly became the weekly once more.
Since its foundation The Journal was first Whig,
then Republican in politics. By reason of its vari-
ous successions The Journal lays claim to the honor
of being the oldest newspaper in northern Indiana.
In the matter of name the Pharos, a Greek word
meaning lighthouse, has the priority as to age. It
appeared first on the 24th of July, 1844, with Sam-
uel A. Flail owner and editor. It continued under
this management until January 6, 1869, when Rufus
Magee became owner and editor. August 10, 1874,
The Daily Pharos made its appearance. Mr. Magee
sold his interest July 1, 1875, to the Pharos com-
pany and Jerry Collins became the controlling spir-
it. S. P. Sheerin also became a part owner and an
editor. In November, 1877, M. Y. Todisman and
B. F. Louthain purchased the Pharos. On the 20th
of May, 1885, John W. Barnes purchased the inter-
est of Mr. Todisman and the Pharos has been con-
ducted by the firm of Louthain & Barnes since that
time, almost a quarter of a century. Besides the
military honors conferred on the newspaper fra-
ternity of Logansport, already mentioned, D. P.
200 Pastime Sketches
Baldwin was attorney general of Indiana, R. A.
Brown, clerk of the supreme court and C. B. Landis
and Fred Landis members of congress, all of The
Journal. W. K. Landis is also postmaster at San
Juan, Porto Rico. Of the Pharos owners or editors,
S. P. Sheerin was clerk of the supreme court, Rufus
Magee was minister to Sweden and Norway and
B. F. Louthain was postmaster. The Pharos has
made few changes of location. It was published at
the southeast corner of Third and Broadway, then
at the southeast corner of Fourth and North, and
under the present management at 430 Fourth street.
The Daily Star was started in 1873 as an adver-
tising sheet by some Logansport printers. The
paper was distributed free, the advertising making
it profitable. Shortly afterwards it became the
property of J. H. Hall, son of Samuel Hall, the
founder of the Pharos, and he continued it on the
same lines until Aug. 11th, of that year when W.
H. Smith became associated with him and the paper
was enlarged. On the 20th of September, 1876, the
daily list and good will was sold to The Journal
but the publication was resumed and was continued
until April 9, 1878. The Weekly Star was com-
menced January 1 1874, and was discontinued
with the daily. The Star under the management of
W. H. Smith was quite a metropolitan paper. At
one time the full Associated Press telegraph ser-
vice was taken and a large force of compositors was
employed. The office was on Fourth street in the
Closson insurance building.
Referring again to the earlier period of the coun-
ty's history The Logansport Herald was com-
menced August 1, 1837. by Jesse C. and David
Douglass, and this paper was continued until July
Pastime Sketches 201
20, 1841. The Wabash Gazette followed the Herald
on the 10th of November, 1842, with Moses Scott
publisher and Horace P. Biddle editor in chief.
The Gazette suspended April 27, 1844. In 1872
the Democratic Printing and Publishing Co.
began the publishing of the Sun.. It suspended
after its forty-ninth number, but revived again No-
vember 18, 1873. In 1875 the paper was sold and
removed to Illinois.
The Logansport Chronicle made its appearance
April 7, 1875, and has continued as a weekly ever
since, under the management of the founder, H. J.
McSheehey. It was first published Sunday morn-
ing, but later publication day was changed to Sat-
urday. The Daily Advertiser was started by Wil-
liams and Longwell in January, 1881. John M. Bur-
rows bought the interest of Mr. Williams in 1883
and in January, 1885, the publication was discon-
tinued. The Sunday Critic was started May 4,
1884, by Mrs. Sarah Pratt wife of W. D. Pratt, of
the Journal. This paper was later sold to W. D.
Owen and W. K. Landis, who discontinued it in a
year or two. The Bon Ton was started by J. E.
Sutton, who afterwards founded the Reporter, it
appearing first as a weekly, in 1885. It was soon
changed to a monthly ^ and was finally discontinued
in 1886.
The Times made its first appearance in March,
1886, as a weekly, I. N. Bell being the publisher.
It was started as a Democratic paper and was con-
tinued as such for a time. Mr. Bell sold the paper
to James Hitchens and he in turn sold it to a stock
company composed of leading Prohibitionists. T.
C. Barnes became the editor at that time. C. O.
Fenton shortly afterwards became the owner and
202 Pastime Sketches
editor, and has continued as such ever since. \V. S.
Rosier became assistant editor in 1905. The Zei-
tung was published first on the 7th of October,
1882, by John Day, the present owner and pub-
lisher. Prior to that a paper was printed in German
at Fort Wayne with a Logansport date line. Later
Julius C. Kloenne published a German paper for a
time and another was edited by Michael Fornoff.
These were short lived. The Sternenbanner was
also published by Peter Walroth.
The latest daily was established by J. E. Sutton
in 1888. It was called the Reporter, and it had an
office in Sixth street, between Broadway and North
street, east side of the street. Its daily and weekly
editions became popular and later it moved into its
own building, 525 Broadway. After the death of
Mr. Sutton, Mrs. Inez M. Sutton continued the
publication of it, and it is still under her manage-
ment.
Other publications in the city and county were
the Galveston News and the Royal Center Record.
The Record was established by Dr. J. J. Burton
and afterwards became the property of Oliver
Hand, who still owns it. The Home Music Jour-
nal was started in 1892, by \V. T. Giffe. It was, as
its name implies, devoted to music. In 1903 it was
consolidated with a similar publication at Dayton.
Ohio, and appeared under a different name, Mr.
Giffe selling his interest in it.
The Saturday Night Review was published by
Bert G. and Will R. Small in 1895. It was a weekly
literary and society paper of merit but the city was
not large enough to justify a publication of that
character and it was discontinued.
The Logansport publications have at all times
Pastime Sketches 203
ranked high in the state and have been influential
in public affairs.
ORGANIZED LABOR IN LOGANSPORT — PAPER WRITTEN
FOR THE CASS COUNTY, INDIANA, HISTORICAL
SOCIETY BY W. S. WRIGHT.
It is not possible to give the history of every
organized movement in Logansport, nor in fact is
such history needed to complete the few sketches
here thrown together. Most, if not all, of the or-
ganizations have their historians, and they have
carefully prepared the data and in some instances
have published it. There are some of these sketches
in print, pamphlet form, at the Public Library and
others may be obtained at the various organiza-
tions. Other organizations have complete records
for historical purposes and the information they
contain is always at hand. One of the organizations
having a marked influence on the welfare of the
city is the Trades and Labor Assembly, devoted to
the promoting of the best interests of the wage
earners.
The Trades and Labor Assembly was organized
in Logansport sixteen years ago, in 1891. It was
organized by O. P. Smith, State organizer, with
Weldon Webster, president and Fred Bismarck,
secretary, and was composed of the printers, Cigar-
makers and retail clerks. At the close of 1892 al-
most every craft in the city was organized and had
representatives in the assembly, notably the paint-
ers and designers, carpenters, bricklayers, coopers,
tailors, barbers, bakers, bartenders, brewers, laun-
dry workers, stationary firemen, laborers, teamsters
and plasterers. The hall then was on the third floor
on Fourth street, where the Turner barber shop
204 Pastime Sketches
now is. In 1892 the Assembly started the agitation
in favor of an Assembly Park which resulted in the
present Riverside Park and Weldon Webster, its
president, was nominated for mayor by the Repub-
licans, being- defeated by less than 30 votes. The
panic of 1893 stopped business generally and labor
was not in great demand. This seriously affected
the organization and many of them disbanded so
that only the printers, cigarmakers and brewers re-
mained in the Assembly. In 1904 an attempt was
made to revive the Assembly with indifferent suc-
cess and it continued with ups and downs until 1901.
In that year it was reorganized with most of the
crafts again represented and it is still active with
only two of the building crafts not represented. It
meets every two weeks. E. H. Laing is president,
with O. P. Smith corresponding secretary and or-
ganizer and Henry Tripps, financial secretary. Mrs.
O. P. Smith is vice president, the second woman in
the State to hold that position in an assembly.
She represents the Woman's Union Label League
in the Assembly. The mission of that league is
to urge the placing of the LTnion Label on all
manufactured goods or products and to increase
the sale of Union made goods, education along
the lines of labor, especially woman and child
labor, to teach children Union principles, tend to
the sick and serve as an auxiliary to other labor or-
ganizations.
Besides promoting the welfare of the members
of their organization the Assembly was instrumen-
tal in creating the park, now known as Riverside
Park, and in giving Cass county a free gravel road
system. In 1892 the Assembly took up the gravel
road question, secured an election and had men at
Pastime Sketches 205
the polls working in every precinct for free gravel
roads, carrying the election and abolishing tolls.
A request for information on the usbject of Riv-
edside Park brought the following letter from Mr.
Weldon Webster who suggested the park and did
much to establish it :
Dear Sir : If you desire any statistics concern-
ing the origin and final realization of Riverside
Park, (Assembly Park), I can furnish this to you.
However, briefly you will find in local records all
you desire, I presume. The plan was projected
by me before the Trades and Labor Assembly of
Logansport September, 1890, at which time I dis-
played a full sketch of the design proposed, which
was afterwards carefully followed in my contract
with the city of Logansport. I brought my matters
before the city council that same fall, being accom-
panied by a committee from the Trades Assembly.
Our project was not kindly received, and Mayor
Cullen proposed shortly after this to sell a tier of
lots off the alley side of the ground and use the
money thus realized to beautify and improve the
remainder of the ground: The council thought
this wise, but having met with steady and deter-
mined opposition from those who had the Webster
plans before them, the administration then in power
finally abandoned their scheme to sell the ground.
I and my committee kept up the agitation through
help of the local press, especially the Logansport
Journal, and would not allow the sentiment once
enkindled to weaken the least until the following
fall, viz., 1891. Finally on Dec. 16th, 1891 the con-
tract for the building of "Assembly Park" was
awarded to me. I completed the work and the
park was dedicated in splendor July, 1893, by a
206 Pastime Sketches
Fourth of July celebration, boat racing and fire-
works and at this time the people turned out and
came in great numbers to take possession in due
form.
1 have a copy of the old subscription book to-
gether with the photo half-tone made from my
sketch of the plans at that time. 1 will forward it
in the near future to the Cass County Historical
Society. The project first rested upon this sub-
scription, but the subscription money was never
used in any part whatsoever. The city built the
park from her own resources, unaided by private
funds. This was as it should have been. The plans
included the buying of Horney Creek basin to the
edge of the corporate limits and conversion of these
grounds into a public resort, by placing a dam
across Horney Creek and conveying the water to
the point once used by the old Cecil Mills, where I
proposed to release it over a cascade built in the
cliff, from whence it would be directed in winding
ways through the meadow to its original course. I
am yet of the opinion that this should be done, and
will speak to the people about this early plan some
day : for I retain a deep love for my old town.
Most Sincerely and Respectfully,
WELDON WEBSTER.
The records are still preserved of the Potta-
watomie Club, and other social organizations. The
Dramatic Club and Country Club have their his-
torians as do also the school and church societies
and fraternities. The official reports of the charit-
able organizations furnish a complete history of
this noble work and the reports will go down in
Pastime Sketches 207
history in the anchives of the Historical Society.
Among these the St. Joseph Hospital, the Orphans'
Home and the Home for the Friendless are noted
for the good work accomplished. One of the pur-
poses of the Historical Society is to collect and pre-
serve the detail history of these organizations and
it will be preserved.
A BRIEF SKETCH OF GENERAL CASS
While it is generally known that Cass county
is named after the Michigan General and Governor
of that name, many do not know how much he
had to do with extinguishing the Indian titles to
land in this State and opening the lands to white
settlement.
Of forty-two treaties by which the Indians at
different times made concessions of land in Indiana,
General Cass assisted in negotiating nine. These
were with several different tribes and covered a
period of about ten years, from 1818 to 1828. One
of them was negotiated and signed at Maumee
Rapids, O.. in 1817; four at St. Mary's, O., in 1818;
one at Chicago, in 1821 ; two near the mouth of the
Mississinewa in 1826, and one at Mission, on the St.
Joseph, in the same year.
The process of extinguishing the Indian titles to
lands in Indiana occupied nearly fifty years, begin-
ning with the treaty at Greenville, negotiated by
General Wayne, in 1795, and ending with that of
Forks of Wabash, negotiated by Samuel Milroy and
Allen Hamilton, in 1840.
The policy of making treaties with the Indians
as independent tribes for the possession of their
lands began immediately after the adoption of the
208 Pastime Sketches
constitution and continued till 1871. To this extent
therefore, the Government recognized the Indian
tribes as foreign nations, making treaties with them
which were ratified by the Senate, the same as
treaties with foreign governments. No doubt this
was better than seizing the lands by force and ap-
propriating them without any pretense of negotia-
tion, though the whole proceeding was really one of
force.
As the Indians were practically subjugated from
the beginning and destined to extermination or re-
moval to reservations, making treaties with them
was rather a farcical procedure, yet, no doubt, it was
the best method of extinguishing their title to lands.
As the tribes, North and South, were numerous, it
required a great many treaties to complete the pro-
cess of extinguishing title.
From the foundation of the Government to 1837
the Government concluded 349 treaties with fifty-
four different tribes, and many after that. Of the
Indians who originally occupied portions of Indiana
eleven different treaties were negotiated at different
times with the Kickapoos, eight with the Weas, six-
teen with the Delawares, ten with the Miamis and
thirty-eight with the Pottawattomies.
Most of these treaties included a cession of more
or less land, so it will be seen the process of extin-
guishing Indian title was a kind of parting off and
whittling down process. On the whole, however,
it was accomplished, as far as Indiana is concerned,
with very little bloodshed, compared with what
might have been in a struggle for the possession of
so vast and valuable a territory had the Indians
been united and determined.
The treaties by which they relinquished their
Pastime Sketches 209
rights and ceded their lands usually contained pro-
visions for the payment of a lump sum of money to
the tribe, for the payment of annuities to the chiefs
and the promise of various articles, such as rifles,
hoes, kettles, blankets and tobacco to each Indian
who should move to the new reservation. Provis-
ion was also generally made for their transporta-
tion. The consideration named in some of the
treaties for their cessions of land, what might be
called the purchase money, was ridiculously small
compared with its real value.
The treaties were generally preceded by smooth
and specious talks by the white commissioners rep-
resenting the urgent needs of the whites, the ad-
vantages to the Indians of a change, etc. General
Cass' address to the Miami and Pottawatomie
Indians at Mississinewa is preserved and is a sam-
ple. This treaty was made October 16, 1826, the
other two commissioners besides Cass being James
B. Ray and John Tipton.
General Cass began by thanking the Great Spirit
for having granted them good weather and brought
them all to the council house in safety. He contin-
ued : ''When the Great Spirit placed you upon this
island (the Indians called this continent an island)
he gave you plenty of game for food and clothing
and bows and arrows with which to kill it. After
some time it became difficult to kill the game and
the Great Spirit sent the white men here, who
supplied you with powder and ball and with blank-
ets and clothes. We were then a very small people,
but we have greatly increased and we are now over
the whole face of the country. You have decreased
and your numbers are now much reduced. You
have but little game, and it is difficult for you to
210 Pastime Sketches
support your women and children by hunting-.
Your Great Father, whose eyes survey the whole
country, sees that you have a large tract of land
here which is of no service to you ; you do not cul-
tivate it. and there is but little game upon it. The
buffalo has long since left it and the deer are going.
There are no beaver and there will soon be no other
animals worth hunting upon it.
"There are a great many of the white children
of vour Great Father who would be glad to live on
this land. They would build houses and raise corn
and cattle and hogs. You know when a family
grows up and becomes large, they must leave their
father's house and look for a place for themselves.
So it is with your white brethern ; their family is in-
creasing and they must find some new place to
move to. Your Great Father is willing to give for
this land much more than it is worth to you. He is
willing to give more than all the game upon it
would sell for. You know well that all he promises
he will perform."
The speaker then pointed out how much happier
the Indian would be far away from the whites,
where there would be no danger of collisions, and
especially where it would not be so easy for their
young men to obtain whiskey. He continued.
"Your Great Father owns a large country west
of the Mississippi river. He is anxious that all his
red children should remove there and settle down
in peace together; then they can hunt and provide
well for their women and children and once more
become a happy people. We are authorized to
offer you a residence there, equal in extent to your
lands here, and to pay you an annuity which will
make you comfortable, and to provide the means of
Pastime Sketches 211
your removal. You will then have a country
abounding with game, and you will also have the
value of the country you leave, and you will be be-
yond the reach of whisky, for it can not reach you
there. Your Great Father will not suffer his white
children to reside there, for it is reserved, for the red
people; it will be yours as long as the sun shines
and the rain falls. You must go before long; you
can not remain here, you must remove or perish.
"Now is the time to make a good bargain for
yourselves which will make you rich and comfort-
able. Come forward, then, like wise men and ac-
cept the terms we offer."
The Indians must have been rather disgusted by
the pretended anxiety of their Great Father at
Washington for their welfare. However, they
signed the treaty. Under it they were removed
first to a reservation in Kansas which General Cass
had assured them "will be yours as long as the sun
shines and the rain falls." But their Great Father
changed his mind, and later they were removed to
the Indian Territory.
Between 1817 and 1831 General Cass had assist-
ed in concluding treaties with different tribes of In-
dians by which cessions of land were acquired in
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin,
to an amount equal to nearly one-fourth of the en-
tire area of those states. There is a Cass county in
Michigan, Illinois, Minnesoto, Nebraska and North
Dakota. His public services as superintendent of
Indian affairs, secretary of war and other important
offices made him very popular, and in 1844 he came
very near being nominated for president by the
Democratic national convention.
On the first day of the convention he ran up
212 Pastime Sketches
from 83 on the first ballot to 114 on the eigth, and if
another ballot had been taken on that day he would
have been nominated. The next morning James
K. Polk was sprung as a "dark horse" candidate and
nominated on the first ballot. In 1848 he was nom-
inated, but was defeated by General Taylor. The
Democracy of Indiana were for him from the begin-
ning and in 1848 he received the electoral vote of
the state.
Pastime Sketches 213
ADDENDA
AUTHORS, ARTISTS, ACTORS AND FINANCIERS WHO
HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE FAME OF
THE "MOUTH OF EEL."
A brief paper on the authors, artists and actors
of a community who attain more than local fame in
literature, art, music and drama must of necessity
be merely suggestive. It can be neither analytical,
not critical. It is only possible to give data, and
leave the study of the subject to the student who
desires a more extended knowledge. In every com-
munity is the minister who writes volumes in his
tireless life, the editor who has perhaps written sev-
eral thousand columns of editorial, the lawyer with
his voluminous briefs and the judge, whose written
opinions add to the fund of legal lore. Logansport
has contributed to the higher courts of the State
Judge Horace P. Biddle, Judge W. Z. Stuart and
Judge G. E. Ross and to the United States Court
Judge Kenesaw M. Landis. Judge D. P. Baldwin
was Attorney General of the State. Their opinions
are to be found in the published reports. The State
and National reports contain the speeches of Sen-
ators and Congressmen, State Senators and Rep-
resentatives. Logansport citizens have appeared
upon the lecture platform also, and some of them
214 Pastime Sketches
have done themselves credit in contributions to
newspapers and magazines. All this is part of local
history in a way and as such is worthy of study
from a local standpoint. But it is not the purpose
of this sketch to classify, nor to compile a complete
roll of honor, but rather to offer a few suggestions
for information and reference. The literature of a
community is always interesting regardless of the
measure of fame accorded by the world at large.
And the humble efforts of the first poet of the Wa-
bash, who could neither read nor write, will de-
serve mention here.
Of the landscape painters George Winter was
the pioneer. A sketch of his work appears in an-
other chapter. Margaret MacDonald succeeded
him. Mary MacDonald, her sister, attained equal
fame in caricature. Both were born at Camden,
Indiana, a dozen miles away, but made Logansport
their home. Margaret MacDonald studied art in
New York City and opened a studio in Logansport.
Many of her best oil paintings are of Indiana scen-
ery. After her marriage to Mr. Pullman of Chicago
she made that city her home. She was president of
the Palette Club of Chicago and was one of the lead-
ing artists of Chicago. In 1889 she published "Days
Serene," copies of her best paintings, and in 1891,
"Smnmerland," another art book of copies. She died
in 1892 at John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore,
where she had gone for medical treatment. Mary
MacDonald excelled in her chosen work. Her etch-
ings appeared in Harper's Monthly, and other mag-
azines, but she survived her sister only five years.
dying in the same hospital.
Max Keppler, a Logansport boy, attained Na-
tional fame as a caricaturist in Puck, Harper's, and
Pastime Sketches 215
other magazines. Among others whose fame is
more than local are Mrs. DeKops-Downey, Wils
Berry and Miss Kate White. A sketch from mem-
ory has its defects and there may be others.
In the world of Science there are men equally
famous. Judge H. P. Biddle's treatise on the
science of music was translated into German and
used as a text-book in German Universities. Dr.
Robert Hessler's treatises have had a similar ex-
perience in Japan. Dr. John M. Coulter, who colla-
borated with Prof. Stanley M. Coulter, now of Pur-
due University, both of Logansport, afterwards en-
gaged in similar work with President Jordan of
Leland Stanford University of California, and is the
recognized botanical authority of the world. Dr.
Barton W. Everman as a boy hauled grain to Lo-
gansport from the farm south of Logansport, near
Burlington. He is at the head of the fish culture
department of the National government at Wash-
ington which is stocking the ponds and streams of
the country with suitable spawn and supplying the
nation with a considerable part of its food supply.
Prof. L. L. Forman is the head professor in lan-
guages at Cornell University, Ithica, N. Y. After
attaining fame in music he devoted his life to the
languages with equal success. Rev. L. A. Alford
was a man little known on account of his simple
life. He had conferred upon him many degrees,
D. D.. L. L. D., and others. He was a Baptist min-
ister, a publisher and an author of note. He learned
the printer's trade at Adrian, Mich., published the
Sunday Visitor at Hillsdale, Mich., and later the
Elkhart Herald, at Elkhart, Jnd. While at Elkhart
he built a Baptist church building at an expense of
five thousand dollars and donated it to the church
216 Pastime Sketches
organization. He was elected president of the
Eclectical Medical College of St. Louis and was
vice-president of the Medical Association of the
United States and also of the State Medical Asso-
ciation. He was the organizer of the Anthropo-
logical University of St. Louis and received many
honorary titles also a gold medal and the title of
Ph. D. from the Society of Science, Letters and
Arts of London, England, of which he was a mem-
ber. He wrote his greatest works in Logansport.
"The Masonic Gem," ''Great Atonement Illus-
trated," "Mystic Numbers of the Word," "Biblical
Chart of Man," "The War in Heaven," and "Trip
to the Skies."
John B. Dillon, as a State historian, is an author-
ity, as is also W. W. Thornton, as a writer of law
text-books. Thomas B. Helm and P. A. Berry in
local history displayed ability worthy of a larger
field. Miss Abbie Fitch, and Mrs. Laura Fitch
McQuiston wrote entertainingly in the magazines
on life in China.
In literature, besides these, there are many
works of merit. Judge Horace P. Biddle published
two or three volumes of poems. Some of his pub-
lications are "American Boyhood," "A Few Poems."
"Glances at the World." There is a volume of
poems by A. Jones and another by Albert Allen.
Mrs. S. E. Henderson wrote "Jelard," a novel, and
Weldon Webster wrote "The Mystery of Louise
Pollard." "Outlaws, a Story of the Building of the
Wabash and Erie Canal" was written by Leroy
Armstrong and published by D. Appleton & Co., in
1891. "Words of Comfort" was by Wesley E.
Walls. J. E. Sutton wrote a book of travels, and
T. H. McKee, "The National Platforms of All Po-
Pastime Sketches 217
litical Parties," and other reference works. W. D.
Owen wrote "A Century of Progress" and E. S.
Huntington, under the name of Edwin Stanton,
wrote "The Dreams of the Dead." Capt. Hunting-
ton was a regular army officer, son-in-law of Sena-
tor D. D. Pratt and, in later life, a resident of Bos-
ton. "The Riverton Minister," is a novel by Rev.
Martin Post, son of Dr. M. M. Post, one of the pio-
neer ministers at Logansport. The scene is laid at
Logansport which is "Riverton." Charles T. Denby
of Evansville, who married the daughter of U. S.
Senator Graham N. Fitch and who spent much of
his time in Logansport was Minister to China and
wrote a volume on China. Perry S. Heath, a com-
positor in the Pharos office, was First Assistant
Postmaster-General and wrote a number of sketches
as a newspaper man. In the world of music there
are several pieces of sheet music and a text book
on Harmony by W. T. Giffe who also published a
journal of music. Thomas D. Goodwin has at-
tained fame as the composer of words for music
and there are a half dozen or more of his songs. R.
J. Powell was a composer of popular band music.
David E. Bryer published a pamphlet of campaign
songs in the Blaine and Logan campaign of 1884
which attracted more than state notice. It is a
notable fact that two of the great historians of the
State, John B. Dillon and W. H. Smith, were Lo-
gansport citizens. Paul Dresser's song, "On the
Banks of the Wabash" has local significance,
though he lived at Terre Haute. Nor should be
overlooked the magazine poems of Mrs. Sarah S.
Pratt, George W. Stout and William M. Elliott and
the magazine articles of Ella Higgins and Eva
Peters Reynolds. In the histrionic field Walker
218 Pastime Sketches
Whiteside, as an interpreter of Shakespeare, and
Edna Goodrich, stand first.
Enion Kendall will prove entertaining to the
readers of his poems. Without education, a wood
sawyer by occupation, he showed a remarkable
mind, considering his advantages. And though he
was compelled to rely upon his friends, to whom he
dictated his poetry, and who made him send his
"Eliza Allen" to Mexico "in three parts" his poems
display a remarkable imagination. He was vol-
uminous and succeeded in making his poetry profit-
able, which can not be said of all poets. His muse
sung in ante-bellum days, and since Judge Biddle
has included hisprinted poems in his bound copies
of miscellany it is evident that he has found a place
in history. His philosophy while not profound was
practical. And in his effort to maintain himself by
literary effort without being able to read or write
he showed a lofty ambition. In truth this curiosity
of literature deserves a place in local history.
There are two books in the library of local in-
terest, besides the histories of the State, which of
course cover local history, the State Gazetter pub-
lished by J. II. Colton under the title of "Indiana
Delineated, Geographical, Historical, Statistical and
Commercial ;" also a history of the Indian fort,
Fort Wayne, which gives the best description of
the habits and customs of the Indians of the Wa-
bash valley. There is also a set of bound mis-
cellany, one hundred and two volumes, part of the
Biddle library, and also pamphlets of church his-
tory, as follows: "History of the First Presbyterian
Church," '•History of the Market Street M. E.
Church," and "History of the Broadway M. E.
Church." Mr. E. S. Rice is compiling a history of
Pastime Sketches 219
the Baptist Church. In the Biddle miscellany the
following numbers are of local interest. Speeches
of Graham N. Fitch, volumes 8 and 29; "Retrospect
after Thirty Years," volume 68, "Thanksgiving ser-
mon," volume 22, Rev. M. M. Post ; "A Lawyer's
Readings in the Evidences of Christianity" and "In-
diana, Her Growth," volumes 53 and 57, D. P. Bald-
win ; "Complete Description of Logansport," C. Col-
lins, volume 73; "Logansport, Ind.," volume 97;
"Centennial speeches of Williamson Wright and
Horace P. Biddle, 1876," volume 75. Another book-
let printed by Longwell & Cummings in 1892 is
entitled "Fifty Years," edited and published by
James T. Bryer. It contains a list of the "Golden
Jubilee Residents," citizens who had lived in the
county fifty years, a tribute to the pioneers, a his-
tory of the city and county, and a sketch of the
pioneers by Horace P. Biddle.
In these hints should be included "A Century of
Gossip," by Willard G. Nash, and two books by Dr.
Charles H. McCully, "The Chemistry of Embalm-
ing," 1899, and "Sanitation and Disinfection," 1906.
Dr. N. W. Cady has written some fiction. Dr. J. Z.
Powell falls into rhyme at times.
The articles on early clays in the files of the
newspapers are interesting, contributed by Senator
D. D. Pratt, Judge Horace P. Biddle, Charles B.
Laselle, S. L. McFadin and others. There are gov-
ernment reports of local interest at least because
made by local men, by D. D. Pratt, Commissioner
of Internal Revenue, W. D. Owen, Commissioner of
Immigration, David M. Dunn, Consul to Prince Ed-
wards Island and H. Z. Leonard and W. H. Jacks,
Consuls to London, Ontario.
Miss Mabel Justice under the nom-de-plume of
220 Pastime Sketches
Paul Savage, "The Confessions of a Worldly Wo-
man" and other novels, and has contributed to many
magazines and Sunday newspapers. Clarence Ben-
nett, under the name of Richard Bennett, is one of
Frohman's leading men on the stage. Col. T. H.
Bringhurst and Capt. Frank Swigart wrote a history
of the Forty-sixth Indiana Regiment, pronounced
by the War Department at Washington the best of
the regimental histories.
Of the financiers Logansport has produced many
who use seven figures to describe their wealth.
There are a half dozen or more millionaires who at
one time called Logansport their home. And so it
would seem that in war, art, music, literature,
statesmanship and finance the "mouth of Eel" is
equally celebrated.
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