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 A Letter Written to the Daily New Era, 
 
 Lancaster, Pa., by Hon. Charles I. Landis, 
 
 President Judge of the Second 
 
 Judicial District of 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY 
 
 LANCASTER, PA. 
 
 I9l6 
 
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 • Se-tU 
 
THADDEUS STEVENS 
 
 AS a supplement to a recent let- 
 ter written by First Deputy At- 
 torney General Keller, In 
 answer to statements made by one, 
 Thomas Dixon, concerning the late 
 Thaddeus Stevens, will you permit 
 me to furnish some facts chieSy 
 gleaned from records, and, therefore, 
 not open to dispute? Historic lies, as 
 has been recently shown by Prof. Al- 
 bert Bushnell Hart, are, after a time, 
 taken as actual truths, and it would, 
 therefore, seem to be best to expose, 
 if possible, the falsity of Mr. Dixon's 
 claims before the evidence is lost or 
 has been forgotten. 
 
 Mr. Stevens was born on April 4, 
 1792. He came to Pennsylvania about 
 
 1815, and he was admitted to the Bar 
 of Adams county on September 24, 
 
 1816. While in Gettysburg, he had an 
 office at the southeast corner of 
 Chambersburg and Washington streets. 
 I am informed, and I think reliably, 
 that he did not then keep house, but 
 boarded at the old Washington Hotel. 
 He moved to Lancaster and was ad- 
 mitted to the Lancaster County Bar 
 on August 16, 1842. He was then 
 over fifty years of age. On April 21, 
 1843, he acquired, by virtue of a 
 Sheriff's sale, the lot and two houses 
 located on the northeast corner of 
 South Queen and East Vine streets, in 
 this city. From 1856 until his death 
 he made the northernmost of these 
 houses his home, except when in 
 Washington, and he was buried from 
 it. He could only have acquired pos- 
 session of this property under the 
 
 (1) 
 
(2) 
 
 Sheriffs deed during the summer or 
 fall of 1843. 
 
 He never lived with any woman 
 by the name of Lydia Brown. Mr. 
 Dixon, no doubt, refers to Lydia H. 
 Smith, a colored woman, who was, for 
 many years, the trusted housekeeper 
 of Mr. Stevens. She did not come to 
 Lancaster with him. About the spring 
 of 1844, the late Emanuel C. Reigart 
 erected on the west side of South 
 Queen street, between Centre Square 
 and Vine streets, three three-story 
 brick dwellings. One of these, then 
 numbered 11, but now numbered 38,he 
 leased to Mr. Stevens, and the others 
 were occupied by Hon. Thomas H. 
 Burrowes and Charles B. Penrose, 
 Esq., the grandfather of Senator Boies 
 Penrose. Mr. Penrose was then a prac- 
 ticing lawyer in this city. Mr. Stevens 
 remained in this location until 1856, 
 when, owing to the pending marriage 
 of Mr. Reigart's daughter to the late 
 William P. Brinton, he was obliged to 
 vacate. He then moved across the 
 street to his own house. Mrs. Brin- 
 ton was married on November 12, 
 1856, and shortly thereafter moved to 
 the South Queen street property, 
 where she continued to reside, as we 
 all know, until recent years. 
 
 When Mr. Stevens began house- 
 keeping, being a single man, he was 
 obliged to secure a housekeeper. 
 He first endeavored to em- 
 ploy a woman by the name of Anna 
 Sulkey; but this woman, about that 
 time, became the wife of Dennis Mar- 
 tin, a colored barbeT, who lived in Lan- 
 caster. She, therefore, while de- 
 clining the position, recommended to 
 him her cousin, Lydia H. Smith, then 
 a widow with two small children. 
 Upon this recommendation, Mr. 
 Stevens engaged Mrs. Smith, who, 
 shortly thereafter, came to Lancaster 
 and remained with him until his death. 
 
 '.' 
 
(3) 
 
 She occupied, when her children lived 
 with her, a one-story frame house on 
 the rear of Mr. Stevens' lot, fronting 
 on South Christian street. His 
 nephews, Simon Stevens, and 
 Major Thaddeus Stevens, Jr., 
 lived for the most time 
 with him. These gentlemen were 
 also members of the Lancaster County- 
 Bar, the former being admitted in 
 1848 and the latter in 1859. Mr. 
 Stevens died at Washington on 
 August 11,1868, and he was buried in 
 Shreiner's Cemetery, in Lancaster, on 
 August 15, 1868. He gave no direc- 
 tions in his will as to his place of 
 burial, but it is said that he requested 
 that he should be buried in this ceme- 
 tery because the charters of the Lan- 
 caster and Woodward Hill Cemeteries, 
 in which he had had lots, restricted in- 
 terments to white persons. He prepared 
 his own epitaph, which is upon his 
 tomb. True to those principles of 
 equality which he steadfastly main- 
 tained in life, and, as Congressman 
 McCall, in his Life of Stevens, de- 
 clares, "a true democrat," he wished 
 to repose in a plot where no limita- 
 tions prevailed as to color, race or 
 creed. 
 
 Martin Shreiner was in his day one 
 of the prominent and reputable citi- 
 zens of Lancaster city. Many of his 
 descendants continue to live here, and 
 a number of them are buried in the 
 above-named cemetery. In his life- 
 time, he laid out, as a place of burial, 
 a plot of ground at the corner of West 
 Chestnut and North Mulberry streets. 
 He called it Concord Cemetery, but 
 it has been generally known as 
 Shreiner's Cemetery. He divided it 
 into 120 lots, and, in his life, he sold 
 and made deeds for some of these 
 lots. The sole restriction contained in 
 the deeds was, that suicides should 
 not be buried there. Mr. Shreiner died 
 
(4; 
 
 about February, 1S66, and his will, 
 dated May 2, 1855, was proven Febru- 
 ary 22, 1866. In it, he provided as 
 follows: "Item — It is rny will and I 
 order and direct that the two lots of 
 ground at the corner of Mulberry and 
 Chestnut streets, in the city of Lan- 
 caster, which I purchased from Philip 
 Reitzel and wife, sh-vll be used and 
 kept as a cemetery, and laid out in 
 lots or pieces according to the plan 
 thereof, and be sold by my executors 
 at private sale, hereby giving my said 
 executors or the survivor of them full 
 power to make, execute and deliver to 
 the purchasers good and sufficient 
 deeds in fee for the same." He also 
 provided that, after the death of his 
 daughters, the lot-holders of the ceme- 
 tery should, from time to time, select 
 three suitable persons out of their 
 number to take charge of and to care 
 for the cemetery, and that, after the 
 death of his executors and all of his 
 daughters, these three persons should 
 sell the burial lots then undisposed 
 of, make deeds for the same, and 
 pay over the proceeds to his heirs and 
 legal representatives. The present 
 trustees of the cemetery are Henry M. 
 Shreiner, John J. Knight and George 
 W. Gibbs. There are now buried in 
 this plot 856 persons, of whom 850 are 
 white and six are colored. When Mr. 
 Stevens was buried, only one colored 
 man, whose name was John Johnson, 
 was interred in it. Mr. Dixon states 
 that Mr. Stevens and this colored wo- 
 man were buried in a negro cemetery, 
 side by side, and even an historian of 
 our own State, who evidently made no 
 inquiry into the true facts, lias assert- 
 ed that he was buried in a negro cem- 
 etery. The incorrectness of these as- 
 sertions is obvious from the above and 
 the following facts: 
 
 Lydia H. Smith was born in Gettys- 
 burg, on St. Valentine's Day, 1813. 
 
(5) 
 
 She was married to Jacob Smith, who 
 was a teamster and musician. They 
 had" two children, William, who was 
 born in 1836, and Isaac, who was born 
 in 1844. Jacob Smith died at Gettys- 
 burg and he was there buried. As she 
 brought her two boys to Lancaster 
 with her, it follows that they were 
 born before she became Mr. Stevens' 
 housekeeper. Mrs. Smith, after Mr. 
 Stevens' death, kept a boarding house 
 in Washington, D. C, and she died in 
 a hospital in that city on Saint 
 Valentine's Day, 1884. Her remains 
 were brought to Lancaster, taken to 
 the house of the late George Heiss, 
 and her funeral was held there. Mr. 
 Heiss was, in his day, a prominent to- 
 bacco dealer, and, for several years, 
 represented the Third ward in Com- 
 mon Council, and he at that time was 
 the tenant of the old Stevens mansion. 
 She was, by direction contained in her 
 will, buried in her lot in Saint Mary's 
 Catholic Cemetery, of which church 
 she had long been a member. The 
 following are the inscriptions on her 
 monument and on the one erected for 
 her sons in that cemetery: 
 
 LYDIA HAMILTON 
 
 Relict of 
 
 JACOB SMITH 
 
 For many years the trusted 
 
 housekeeper of 
 
 HON. THADDEUS STEVENS. 
 
 Born at Gettysburg, Penna., 
 
 on St. Valentine's Day, 1813. 
 
 Died at Washington, D. C, 
 
 on St. Valentine's Day, 1884. 
 
 ISAAC 
 
 Died April 7, 1884, 
 
 In the 37th year of his age. 
 
 WILLIAM 
 
 Died May 10, 1860, 
 
 In the 25th year of his age. 
 
 SONS OF 
 JACOB & LYDIA H. SMITH. 
 
(6) 
 
 The late Walter M. Franklin, Esq., 
 was one of her executors. 
 
 I have no recollection personally of 
 Mrs. Smith, but many persons are 
 still living who knew her well. She 
 Is said to have been comely in ap- 
 pearance, light in color, and exceed- 
 ingly intelligent and entertaining. 
 She was a decent and respectable 
 woman, and she always kept herself 
 quite within her station. Not a par- 
 ticle of evidence to the contrary has 
 ever been produced. If at any time 
 she was brusque to those who ad- 
 dressed her in a rude and unmanner- 
 ly way little blame can be made 
 against her on that account. Dr. 
 Henry Carpenter, of this city, was 
 Mr. Stevens' and President James 
 Buchanan's physician, and he 
 also attended her professionally 
 In politics, he was a leading Demo- 
 crat. Hon. Thomas H. Burrowes, 
 one-time Secretary of State, and thw 
 first Superintendent of Common 
 Schools of this State, was a leading 
 Republican and also a close friend of 
 Mr. Stevens. Mrs. Smith was often 
 at the houses of these gentlemen and \ / 
 of others of like social position in the 
 city, and she was on terms of inti- 
 macy with their families. In her 
 will she bequeathed to the three 
 daughters of Dr. Carpenter and to 
 his stepson, to one of the daughters 
 of Mr. Burrowes, and to Mrs. Kerfoot, 
 the wife of the late Dr. George B. 
 Kerfoot, small legacies, in apprecia- 
 tion of the kindness which she had 
 received from them. If she had been 
 a woman of bad character, is it likely 
 that ladies of this standing would 
 have shown her any regard? To 
 every one to whom these ladies were 
 or are known, for some of them are 
 yet alive, the question answers itself. 
 I very well recall Isaac Smith, who 
 was commnly known as "Little Ike" 
 
(7) 
 
 Smith. For some years he kept a 
 barber shop on South Queen street. 
 He was, like his father, musically In- 
 clined, and was tJhe leader of the 
 colored baud. He was small in stat- 
 ure and very black, and it was evi- 
 dent, from his appearance, that theru 
 was nas trot the slightest trace 01 
 Caucasian blood in his veins. 
 
 Mr. Stevens cared nothing for so- 
 cial life, but he, nevertheless, did not 
 disregard what he deemed were the 
 amenities belonging to his position. 
 During his later Congressional years 
 he gave large parties, which many 
 prominent people of this city attend- 
 ed. The following is a copy of one 
 of his invitations, now in the posses- 
 sion of Mr. George Steinman: 
 
 "Lancaster, Aug. 21st, 1860. 
 "Mr. Thaddeus Stevens requests the 
 company of Mr. & Mrs. Wm. Wright 
 on the evening of Friday, the 24th 
 inst." 
 
 Owing to his having no female rela- 
 tives in his home, at one of these 
 parties his friend and neighbor, 'Mrs. 
 Brinton, received for him, and at an- 
 other Mrs. Oliver J. Dickey perform- 
 ed the same service. The purpose I 
 have in view of recalling these func- 
 tions of bygone days is to show that 
 Mr. Stevens, instead of being a man 
 of low character and associations, as 
 asserted by his detractors, was recog- 
 nized and esteemed in this com- 
 munity as a gentleman of stand- 
 ing. He was a lawyer of large 
 practice and the leader of the Lan- 
 caster Bar. He was president of the 
 Lancaster Law Library Association, 
 the only organization of lawyers ex- 
 isting in Lancaster county at that 
 time, from 1858 until the time of his 
 death. From 1842, for about twenty 
 years, he appeared before the Su- 
 preme Court in 125 cases. In fact, 
 
(8) 
 
 he was concerned in all the important 
 litigation and in almost all the cases 
 appealed from his county to that 
 Court, up to about 1862, when his 
 Congressional duties prevented him 
 from devoting much time to his law 
 practice. On May 9, 1853, on behalf 
 of the Bar of the State, he, at Harris- 
 burg, announced the death of Judge 
 John B. Gibson, before the Supreme 
 Court. I note these activities to show 
 what manner of man he was in hi8 
 professional life. 
 
 Pennsylvania College was founded 
 in 1832 at Gettysburg, under the aus- 
 pices of the General Synod of the 
 Lutheran Church. Mr. Stevens was, 
 as I have said, at that time practicing 
 law in Adams county, and he resided 
 there. In 1834 he was elected a 
 trustee of this institution, and he con- 
 tinued to hold that position during 
 the rest of his life. In its earlier years 
 he took a conspicuous part in the 
 business of the college, and by bis 
 will be bequeathed to it the sum of 
 $1,000. It will be remembered that 
 Gettysburg was then, and is even no ,v, 
 a small town, where members of the 
 Bar, especially, were well known. Mr. 
 Stevens would not have been thus con- 
 nected with this church institution, if, 
 at that time, his morals were as ques- 
 tionable as Dixon asserts. 
 
 He was also a politician of unrival- 
 ed acumen. The two pursuits 
 — the law and politics — filled the im- 
 portant places in his life. He 
 made no false professions as to his 
 personal or political beliefs. He was 
 a radical Republican, and, as such, 
 was willing to go the limit for hia 
 cause. In the great conflict of the 
 Civil War, he was one of the "sheet- 
 anchors" of the Union. The bitter 
 animosities which grew out of it gave 
 rise to these sensational scandals, 
 and, solely upon the idle rumors 
 
(9) 
 
 which his bitter enemies started, has 
 Dixon, in ''The Clansman" and in 
 "The Birth of a Nation," based his 
 slanderous story. Men may differ 
 with Mr. Stevens as to the wisdom 
 of placing at that time the ballot in 
 the hands of the colored race; but 
 none can fail to realize the serious- 
 ness of the questions which then 
 confronted the statesman. Mr. Ste- 
 vens advocated this measure because 
 he deemed it necessary for their pro- 
 tection, and the action, after the war, 
 of the Legislatures elected in some 
 of the Southern States during ihe 
 Presidency of Andrew Johnson well 
 warranted this conclusion. Fot many 
 years Mr. Stevens ably represented 
 tills district in Congress, and his 
 memory is revered by a large major- 
 ity of our citizens. I, witii others, 
 feel that the lies and misstatements 
 again reiterated concerning him 
 should not go unchallenged. For his 
 mighty efforts in its behalf, he de- 
 serves well of his country, and his 
 memory should not be falsified in his- 
 tory. 
 
 In conclusion, I ask all fair-minded 
 rersons whether Mr. Dixon is entitled 
 to command confidence; in fact, 
 whether he is worthy of any credit, 
 when it is taken Into account that he 
 personally can have no knowledge a* 
 to the facts which he asserts, and 
 wnen it is also considered that he has 
 circulated a sensational story chiefly 
 to stir up racial and sectional bitter- 
 ness, in order that he may thereby 
 put money in his purse. 
 
 CHARLES I. LANDIS. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
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