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THE BURTON
HISTORI CAL
COLLECTION
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EHISTORY
OFI
BENTON HIARBOR
TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.
A Combination of Local Historic Events, Interwoven with
Anecdotes of the Times when Benton Harbor was
a Village. Together with a Compilation of
Other Records.
BY
JAMES PENDER.
CHICAGO:
THE BRAUN PRINTING CO.
1915.




Copyright, 1915, by James Pender.




PREFACE.
In writing and publishing this book, the author
has undertaken to preserve a great deal of the
history of Benton Harbor from the oblivion that
overtakes all unrecorded events as the years pass
by. These original, and until now unpublished,
stories, together with the sketches of local history
that have been found scattered in different publications, are assembled here, and placed before
the reader.
It is true of all of us, after we have passed our
youthful days, to pause occasionally in life's endeavors.and look backward in mental review to the
scenes and events of past activities. We are prone
to think fondly, and speak enthusiastically, of oldtime associates, and former deeds of frolic or
achievement. Each generation, in its time, cherishes
the same sentiments, because youthful impressions
rarely ever fade from the memory.
The manuscript for this book was prepared from
time to time during the greater part of the year
1914, as opportunity from  toil for a livlihood
afforded. The title first chosen was "Old Times
Sin Benton Harbor," and as historical events are
rinterwoven with the stories the present title seems
more appropriate.
The narrative begins from the time the writer
first arrived, at the age of five years, coming in on a

35~'~'3




PREFACE.
sailing vessel from Chicago, and is continued over
a period of thirty years, or until the village changed
its old-fashioned garb for a new dress-the city
charter.
It has been said by a well-known author that
few persons write more than one town history.
Such a work needs the whole heart of the writer.
He must have grown up thoroughly imbued with
the ideas of the town, and its story he must have
cherished in his mind for years. Then he must have
a certain amount of leisure for investigation, and
above all, he must be able and willing to write his
impressions without slighting or offending and in
absolute truth and fairness.
In the following sketches, I have endeavored to
write as accurately as possible of the scenes and
events that have been so well remembered, not only
by the writer, but also by many of the survivors of
of the days of which I write.
Hoping that the story of Benton Harbor, thus
told, may meet with the approval of the people
whose homes are here; to them, and also to those
who formerly lived here but now reside in different
localities, this volume is respectfully submitted, by
THE AUTHOR.




CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
When the Canal Was New.-Hostility       Between the
Towns.-The Martin Birds.-William Hess, Schoolmaster.-The Flowers on Brunson's Hill.-Brunson Harbor,
the Original Name of the Town.-Loss of the Hippocampus. Statements of the Survivors.  -   -  Page 1
CHAPTER II.
Fortunes in Peaches.-Prosperous Times.-The Storekeepers.-Mail Brought in by Stage Coach.-Engaged
Couple Were "Belled."-A    Parrot of War Times.Saturday Afternoon Horse Racing.-Thad Drew, a
Character.     -      -       -       -     Page 11
CHAPTER III.
Saw  Mills and Lumbering.-Rough Woodsmen.-Town
Marshal and Calaboose.-"Sand" Meant Courage.-The
Mill on the Paw Paw.-Harris, the Hermit.-Buried
Gold.-The Lumber Scow.-Whitewoods Largest Logs.Some of the Pioneers.  -    -     -     -   Page 20
CHAPTER IV.
The   Pottawatomie  Indians.-Paw   Paw   Flats.-Chief
Pokagon.-Trapping for Animals.-The Black Squirrels.-Wild Duck Shooting.-The Wild Pigeons.-Wonderful Evolutions  of the   Flying  Pigeons.-Great
Slaughter of These Birds.  -    -     -     Page 31
CHAPTER V.
Basket Factories.-Expert Nailers.-Champion     Basket
Makers.-Good Pay for Workers.-Frequent Bathing.Odd   Characters.-Ben  King's Inspiration.-Canning
Factory.-Kirby's Grist Mill.-Hand Pumping Fire Engine.-Tom Benton Fire Engine.-Graham's Mill. Page 43




CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
Old-Fashioned Dances.-Popular Musicians.-Dancing in
The Country.-Kayus Haid.-Boys and Girls Advised to
Play "Albert Hawks."-Panorama.-The Peake Family
Bell Ringers.-A   Literary and Dramatic Club.-The
First Cornet Band.-Fourth of July Enthusiasm.-john
McAllister Captures St. Joseph.  -      -    Page 52
CHAPTER VII.
Winter Sports.-Ice Skating.-Long Trips Up the Paw
Paw.-Some of the Experts.-Hannah Parmelee, Champion Girl Skater.-Roller Skating.-Rink the Social Center.-The Bicycle Appears.-"Circus Day."-Boys Are
Captivated by the Circus Attractions.  -  -  Page 66
CHAPTER VIII.
Wolverines Baseball Club.-The Members.-The Mutuals
of St. Joseph.-Interest in the Games.-Other Clubs.The Old Ball Ground.-The Messengers.-Grangers
Defeated by Farmers.-The Mutuals Play       Chicago
Clubs.-Trap Shooting.-Clark and Brane Contests.   72
CHAPTER IX.
First Newspaper.-Name Puzzling.a-Changes Hands,.Editor Thresher.-Editor Sturtevant.-Editor Reeves.Tom Hurly Gets a Contract.-The Times Appears.Capt. Napier on Warpath.-The Palladium      Changes
Ownership.-R. J. David's Style.-Jackson, a Joker.Mr. Thresher Again Editor.-He Sells the Palladium to
Gilson & Hobbs.     -        -        -     Page 83
CHAPTER X.
Political Effervesence.-Orators at the Rallys.-Some
Political Surprises.-Soldiers and Sailors Reunion.-The
Camp Is Named Camp Grant.-Cal. Ward Delivers the
Address of Welcome.-Sham Battle Similar to the Battle of Mission Ridge.   -       -       -    Page 96
CHAPTER XI.
Mr. Potter Gets the Times.-A Poem.-Challenged to a
Duel.-Times Changes Ownership.-Tom Hurly Starts
the Expositor.-Criticism of the Israelites.-Expositor
Changes Hands.-Thomas B. Hurly Founder of Many
Local Newspapers.-The Wedge Appears.-First Street
Cars.   -       -       -      -       -    Page 105




CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
The Fair of 1885.-Best Display Ever Shown Up to That
Date.-Floral Hall a Scene of Beauty With Specimens
of Art and Industry.-A Prize Baby Show.-A Local
Newspaper's School Department Reprinted.       Page 116
CHAPTER XIII.
The Daily Palladium.-Mr. Gilson Its Founder.-The
Advertisers.-Mr. Hobbs Retires From the Palladium.Other Writers.-"Mac." the City Editor.-He Founds the
Evening   News.-The     Daily   Palladium   Suspends.Combined Into News-Palladium.-The Banner-Register's History.-Mr. R. I. Jarvis in Journalism.  Page 122
CHAPTER XIV.
Sailing Vessels.-The White Fish.-The Lewis Addition.Agitation for Boundary Change.-City Charter Struggle.
-Party     Lines   Forgotten.-Charter     Granted.-Mr.
Hobbs, First Mayor.-County Seat Struggle.-Special
Election.-St. Joseph    Wins.-Substantial Aid     From
Benton Harbor.-Towns United in Sentiment for All
Time.     -       -       -        -       -   Page 133
Page
Benton Township Organized, 1837..................... 145
On the Wave of a Flood...............................150
First Officers of the Village...........................153
Pioneer Days, by  W. L. George..........................158
The Story of the Canal, by J. E. Miller................. 169
Roland Morrill's Vast Peach Orchard................... 178
Company I Returns From Cuba........................ 181
The War at St. Joe, by Ben King........................13
Presidents, and Mayors of the City.....................189
Postmasters...........................................  190
Supervisors..................................... 191
Old Timers Social and Banquet......................193
A Reminiscent Address by Roy F. Wallace............ 196
Looking Backward Through The Files................. 200




Perchance the living still may look
Into the pages of this book,
And see the days of long ago
Floating and fleeting too and fro,
As in the well remembered brook
They saw the inverted landscape gleam,
And their own faces like a dream
Look upon them from below.
-Longfellow.




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HISTORY OF BENTON HA RBOR.

CHAPTER I.
When the Canal Was New.-Hostility Between the
Towns.-The Martin Birds.-William Hess, Schoolmaster.-The Flowers on Brunson's Hill.-Brunson Harbor,
the Original Name of the Town.-Loss of the Hippocampus.-Statements of the Survivors.
THIS history begins with the summer of 1863. At
that time the town and the canal were new, and
there were groups of men standing around the corners of the streets each day talking in pleasant tones
about the bright prospects of the town. Every new
arrival in the village, young or old, would soon
become imbued with the spirit so prevalent in the
community-a good-natured unity of sentiment and
a combined ambition to "put the shoulder to the
wheel" of local progress.
This unity of local sentiment was considerably
strengthened by the well displayed hostility of the
older town across the river. There was rivalry and
enmity between the people of St. Joseph and the




2

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

people of the enterprising new village at the terminus of the canal. Some of the St. Joseph people
called this place "Bungtown" with as much satisfaction as if that name were a hoodoo that would
keep the new town in the backwoods eternally.
The name "Bungtown" did no harm to the vigorous little village. On the contrary, this nick
name was a source of merriment among the local
people long after the older community had ceased
to use it.
Not another village, perhaps in all the world,
ever possessed more interesting features than did
Bungtown. There was the new canal, which the
local people viewed with much pride, especially
whenever a sailing vessel came in from Lake Michigan, by way of the St. Joseph river, and glided up
the new waterway. These vessels were usually
laden with merchandise for the stores of the new
town, and some of them brought in great loads of
staves and shingles. At times there would be no
craft of any kind in the canal. During these intervals large flocks of wild ducks took full possession of the new waterway.
The boys of the village who knew how to swim
used the basin of the canal for a swimming pool.
In the summer days boys heads could be seen bobbing in the water. The diving in place was off of
Robbins' dock. There were some expert swimmers.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.             3
A bird now almost unknown was numerous and
popular in the early days of the village. "What
has became of the Martin birds?" is a query many
people who dwelt here then have asked in later
years. The Martin birds lived close to the people.
All the store buildings were two-story frames with
projecting cornices fronting Main street. The Martin birds built their nests in the crevices of these
cornices. In the evening, at about sunset, these
birds displayed unusual activity, flying around and
singing in concert. They were so much loved by
the people that boys were told to not throw stones
at them nor make them targets for their bows and
arrows. The correct name of this bird is the Purple Martin. Their song was a sweet plaintive
twittering.
The village school was located on the same lot
where the Central school building now stands. The
school house was a small frame building, heated in
winter by a large box-stove in the center of the
room. William Hess was the schoolmaster. He
was of such a plain, genial disposition and so popular that he became the victim of a nick-name. He
was known only as "Billy Hess."  It gave considerable amusement to humorously inclined gents of
the town to question youngsters as follows:
"Do you go to school?"
"Yes sir."




HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

"Who's your teacher?"
"Billy Hess."
Mr. Hess, after a few terms of teaching, retired
from the school and took up carpenter work, his
regular trade, which he followed in Benton Harbor
for many years.
He was succeeded in the school by John C. Lawrence. The later soon became Benton Harbor's
most popular schoolmaster in the early days of the
village. To John C. Lawrence is due credit for
placing Benton Harbor's schools upon a practical
working basis. The school was graded into first
and second grades, and as the building was too
small to accommodate all the pupils another school
house of similar construction was erected. In the
new building the younger children, or juniors, were
taught the alphabet, primer and first reader by a
woman teacher.
The flowers on Brunson's hill were a delight to
the school children as well as an ornament to that
part of town. The hillside fronting on Pipestone
street was covered with roses of all varieties. The
highly perfumed pinks were grown there in great
profusion. Sterne Brunson's large white house
stood upon the crest of the hill. There was a giant
swing, made of poles, suspended from the limb of
a large oak tree. The school children were frequently invited by members of the Brunson family




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.             5
to go up the hillside path, between the pinks, and
enjoy a swing. The Brunson family were esteemd
in those days somewhat like Gen. Washington and
his household are pictured in early colonial days.
Sterne Brunson was looked up to as the founder of
Benton Harbor in about the same way as George
Washington is regarded as the father of his country.
Brunson Harbor was the original name of the town.
The change to Benton Harbor did not meet with the
approval of the people generally. The town was
called Brunson Harbor long after the change of
name had been made, and it was not until a newspaper was established in 1868 that the name Benton
Harbor became popular.
Mr. J. E. Miller, in his reminiscence, which is
published in this book, says it was voted in 1866 to
change the name to Benton Harbor because it was
the most important town in the county and township of Benton.
When the peach orchards began to bear fruit in
large quantities steamboats were employed to transport the fruit to Chicago. Five steamboats came
up the canal daily to receive their loads of the
luscious fruit. One of these steamboats, the Hippocampus, was lost on the night of September 8, 1868.
The boat was heavily loaded with peaches and capsized in a squall when about half the distance to
Chicago. The loss of this boat caused much sorrow




0        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
among the people of the growing little town. The
loss of life was shocking. Among the lost was
Alvin Burridge, the leading local boot and shoe
dealer. Al. Palmer, another one of the lost, was
also universally mourned. The Palmers owned a
general store on East Main Street. The firm consisted of the senior Palmer and his three sons-Al.,
Theodore and Frank. Al. was on a trip to purchase
a new stock of goods for the store. It was rumored among his friends that he had a roll of bills
in his pocket amounting to upward of $5,000. He
went down with the boat and did not even make an
attempt to get out of his stateroom. "He just spun
'round and 'round," said an eye-witness, "and
seemed to be too excited or bewildered to get to
the door before the sinking Hippocampus made her
last lurch and went down."
All on board were supposed to have been lost.
No survivors of the wreck could be found by passing boats or searching expeditions sent out from
Chicago. There was universal mourning in Benton
Harbor and St. Joseph. On the day following the
sinking of the Hippocampus the weather was foggy,
and some people hoped that there would be relatives
and friends found clinging to driftwood when the
fog lifted. On Friday morning, Sept. 11, the tug
Minter, of Saugatuck, steamed into St. Joseph harbor with seventeen survivors of the lost steamer on
board. They had been picked up out of the sea by




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.             7
the schooner Trio, Capt. Johnson, who found them
floating upon a raft-like piece of the upper cabin of
the lost Hippocampus. The Trio then headed for
Saugatuck, where the survivors were landed. They
had been in the water and without food for thirtyeight hours when rescued by the Trio.
The total number on board of the Hippocampus
was forty-three people. Lost, twenty-six; saved,
seventeen. Of the boat's crew there were saved
captain, Henry W. Brown; clerk. Charles P. Bloom;
wheelsmen, Charles Morrison and Charles Russell.
steward, Cyrus Rittenhouse; and six deck hands.
The six passengers saved were: Edward N.
Hatch, James Trimble, Joseph Riford, V. Dailey,
Joseph Cooley and George Fuller.
The statements of the survivors are interesting.
They are reprinted here and are copied from the
Chicago Tribune of that date.
Statement of Edward N. Hatch: "While I was
struggling in the water some person caught hold of
me. I tried to kick him loose, but we both went
down together. While under the water he let go
and I came up. I took in much watcr while going
down. I remember wondering how far it was to
the bottom of the lake. It seemed as if I was forty
feet under. On rising again I came under a spar
of the steamer and caught hold of the rigging.
I saw my friend Trimble upon the upper side of




HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

the spar. He hailed me and told me to come, to
come to him. I did so and found the captain and
wheelsman Morrison with him. Finally we picked
up others until we had eleven on the raft. The sea
was running high; darkness set in. There was
thunder and lightning during the day and it had
rained hard. We now felt gloomy and discouraged.
Mr. Riford, an old gentleman of Benton Harbor,
cheered us, and at the request of Capt. Brown,
prayed for our deliverance. While praying, all sat
as quiet as possible. After prayer all promised to
be better men and Christians if they reached shore.
We were exhorted to this by Riford."
Statement of Cyrus Rittenhouse, steward of the
Hippocampus: "As soon as we left St. Joseph,
Monday evening, Sept. 7th, I turned into my berth
and knew nothing of what transpired until about
two minutes before we went down. The listing of
the boat and shifting of cargo waked me. I rushed
out of my room partly dressed. When I came out
of the cabin she was going down stern first, partly
on her side. Passengers were screaming, 'Oh, my
God! what shall I do, what shall I do!' By this
time the cabin had struck water and broke loose
from the boat. So I sprang into the water. I made
for a door, went under, turned up and caught the
door. A passenger just then came on my back,
caught me by the throat and choked me off the door.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.            9
I said, 'Oh, my God, if you won't choke me you can
have the door.' He let me go and I went down.
As I came up again I got entangled in some floating
twine; went down again, and on coming up caught
hold of the cabin on which was John Bloom, the
clerk, and a colored man named Johnson. Crept
onto that and finding it would not maintain all of
us jumped off and swam to the hurricane deck,
about fifteen feet off. I think there were three
men on it. One of them drew me upon it. I now
saw Capt. Brown and wheelsman Morrison floating
on the side of the cabin. They floated to us and
we helped them onto our raft. It soon became very
foggy. The wind was blowing hard and the sea
rolling high so that we could hardly keep on the
raft. We all felt nearly discouraged. Mr. Riford,
at the request of Capt. Brown, offered prayer in
in our behalf, to which we all responded with a
hearty 'amen.' About 4 o'clock Wednesday morning we saw the light of a vessel, and this one, to
our great joy, was coming towards us. We had
been passed unseen by three vessels before this.
We signaled with the table-cloth which Capt. Brown
had picked up and waved our arms and halloed. In
a few minutes we were overjoyed to see that she
had discovered us. We were picked up and taken
to Saugatuck. The vessel that saved us was the
Trio."




10        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
Joseph Riford, one of the survivors of the lost
Hippocampus, was, what was then called an old
man, but his age was no handicap to his ability to
take care of himself. In this dangerous situation
he calmly took a chair from his stateroom and leaped
overboard with it. After floating the balance of
the night astride of the chair he was picked up at
dawn by the men on the raft.
Capt. John Morrison was the regular captain of
the Hippocampus. He had been ill a few days and
on the night of Sept. 7th yielded his post to Capt.
Brown. The later and members of the crew denied
the boat was overloaded. Capt. Brown stated that
the foundering of the Hippocampus was a mystery
to him. The boat, he said, had carried heavier
loads. A few minutes before the disaster the captain, accompanied by wheelsman Morrison, went
below to see if the boat was taking in water. They
found everything secure. A few minutes later the
Hippocampus careened on her side in the heavy
rolling sea and went down stern first. Capt. Brown
stated that the number of packages of peaches on
board was 7001 baskets and boxes.
The Hippocampus was a comparatively new boat
having been built only two years before the disaster. The boat was a screw-propeller and measured
82 ft. keel, or 94 ft. over all. Breadth of beam 17
ft. and depth of hold 8 ft. Curtis Boughton, Allen
Brunson and Capt. Morrison were the owners.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

11

CHAPTER II.
Fortunes in Peaches.-Prosperous Times.-The Storekeepers.-Mail Brought in by Stage Coach.-Engaged
Couple Were "Belled."-A Parrot of War Times.Saturday Afternoon Horse Racing.-Thad Drew, a
Character.
FORTUNES were made in peaches. Orchards in
bearing were valued at about one thousand dollars
per acre. The largest orchard in this region at that
time was the one known as "the Cincinnati peach
orchard." It comprised about one hundred acres
of peach trees of all varieties, early and late. The
orchard was located on Morton Hill, in the east and
northeast part of that district. It was owned by a
Cincinnati syndicate, who no doubt reaped a fortune
from its bountiful supply of peaches. The entire
orchard was later destroyed by the yellows.
The Cincinnati Peach Orchard was one of the
many wonders of the newly discovered fruit belt.
Its name was mentioned in the newspapers of
Chicago and the Eastern cities. Visitors or newcomers to this region would usually go out to look
at it and to sample its different kinds of peaches.
The orchard was cut down in 1877, after the Yellows Commission had discovered the presence of the
disease which was then attacking the orchards.




12        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
The loading of five steamboats nightly with
peaches gave employment to all who could be
pressed into service. Men and boys employed in
the basket factories could put in three or four hours
each evening on the docks at 30 cents per hour. The
extra money earned in this way when added to the
regular daily earnings amounted to from $3.50 to
$5.00 per day for the workman. Many of these
money-earners were boys not over fifteen years of
age.
The merchants in business here before and after
village was incorporated were: Alvin Burridge,
boots and shoes; E. G. Reynolds, dry goods; P. M.
Kinney, groceries; C. S. Boyle, meat market; John
Thomas, boots and shoes; Thos. Spiers, tailor; Gates
& Bell, drug store; David Allison, flour and feed;
Capt. N. Robbins, general store; Palmer & Sons,
general store; Peter Hansen, tailor; Dodge Reed
and John A. Scott, shoe shop; Henry Petrie, harness
store; 0. Hulburd, bakery; William Gates, dry
goods; Albert Baushke and Bro., wagon shop, and
Joseph Bell conducted a blacksmith shop on Pipestone street, as did also Sol Woods. Calvin Colgrove
made wagons in the lower room of his two-story
house, which was located in the rear of a lot fronting on Elm street. John Morrison was a popular
landlord of a boarding-house, grocery store and
saloon on Main street. William Dunnigan was an




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

13

inn-keeper at the corner of Main street and Colfax
avenue.   He was the original ice dealer, being
the first to employ men to cut ice and store it for
public use in the summer months. James Trimble
owned a boarding-house and saloon on Main street,
near where the Hotel Benton now stands. There
were other saloons and inns where the weary traveler, coming in by stage-coach, found a comfortable
refuge. The American House, the only hotel in
the village, a large frame structure, stood on the
corner of Main and Pipestone streets, where the
Jones & Sonner block now stands. At that time
the hotel was managed by a family of the name of
Dodge. This hotel, which was frequently called
"the tavern," was later owned and managed by E.
Nichols and family. Under the management of Mr.
Nichols the American House was very popular with
the town folks as well as with the traveling public.
Later the American House was managed by Alonzo
Vincent. He was a popular landlord.
The postoffice was located on East Main street,
in a small store building. Henry C. Morton, one of
the most energetic founders of the village, was the
postmaster. The mail was brought in by stage
coach. On days when the stage coach failed to
come in a horseback rider would be employed to
bring the mail over from St. Joseph. Stanley Morton often did this duty when a boy and while his
father was postmaster. It is remembered that a




14

HISTORY OF BENTO;N HARBOR.

mail carrier one day came galloping into town and
reported that two desperate looking men attempted
to hold him up near the bridge for the purpose of
robbing the mail-bag. He whipped up his horse,
which was a spirited one, and made a record trip
from the bridge to the Benton Harbor postoffice.
The east end of the bridge was considered a dangerous locality for travelers on the lonely road
between the towns.
The dry goods store of Wm. Gates was a popular place to trade, owing no doubt to the handsome
and obliging young people who clerked there. They
were Miss Susie Gates, daughter of the proprietor,
and Andrew J. Kidd, a young man who became
popular from the first day of his arrival in the new
town. The romance of this couple would make an
interesting story if written by some one who has
talent for that class of writing. When their engagement was announced the girls of the village
belled them, going from door to door ringing a bell
and announcing "Andrew Kidd and Susie Gates."
The Congregational church stood in a vacant part
of town, East Main street below Hunter's Hill. It
was there that the marriage of Andrew J. Kidd and
Susie Gates was solemnized. It was the most
elaborate social event in the history of Benton Harbor up to that date.
There were many aftermath incidents of the




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

15

great civil war in those days in Benton Harbor.
When the soldiers returned from the battlefields of
the South some of them continued to wear their
blue uniforms for years after. There was a family
named Petrie who owned the house and lots on
Michigan street later owned by John A. Scott, and
now owned and occupied by Dennis O'Brien and
family. On Petrie's veranda a parrot occupied a
cage. Whenever this parrot could get a glimpse of
a man in soldier blue uniform it would sing out:
"Hurrah for Grant! 'Rah for Grant!"
Gen. Grant was the popular hero of the day, and
this parrot's enthusiasm for him was a delight to
all who heard it.
In 1872 S. G. Antisdale & Co. were selling groceries; H. L. Pitcher & Co., dry goods; M. G.
Lamport, hardware; Conger & Hutchinson, boots
and shoes; Brunson & Johnson, hardware. The
local physicians were: Drs. John and George Bell,
Dr. I. R. Dunning, and Dr. Richard Winans. Geo.
W. Toles was Justice of the Peace; A. B. Riford
was an attorney.
The ague, or chills and fever, was a prevalent
disease in the summer months. The cause of this
was the newness of the country and the great area
of marsh land on two sides of the village. Very
few, if any, of the people could escape this disease.
"He's got the ague," was a common expression




16

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

when a victim began shaking with chills. The
doctor would be called and quinine was the remedy
used. If there was a delay in calling the physician
the patient's condition would change from chills to
a nerve-racking and head-spliting fever. The sufferings of the villagers from ague became so
common that it was considered an every day humorous incident to see fellow creatures shaking so
strenuously that everything movable in the vicinity
was set in motion. Occasionally the building shook
where one or more people were down with the
ague. After one day's sickness the ague would
pass away, if quinine had been taken, and the victim of its attack would then feel about as good as
ever. Some of the ague victims were subject to
regular every other day attacks. A great amount
of quinine was consumed in combating this disease.
The styles of clothing worn were very different from modern fashions. All men and boys wore
boots with high leggings. The pants from the knee
downward were usually worn inside of the boot
leggins. The boys boots were ornamented with
a strip of copper over the toe-tips. The women
worn long loose-fitting dresses, which were made
to look larger by the use of hoop-skirts. The hair
was worn in coils on the back of the head, held in
position with hair-nets. Some of the girls, with
curls, let their hair down about the shoulders.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

17

Horse racing was a popular sport. On Saturday
afternoons farmers with good horses would gather
in town and talk racing. A conspicuous character
in this sport was Thad Drew, a well-to-do farmer,
and as reckless a looking man as could be found anywhere, not excepting the bad lands. Thad would
go from one saloon to another, treating his followers
to anything but soft drinks, and boasting about his
good horses.
When some one in an opposition crowd displayed
courage enough to challenge him to a race Thad
would create a circus entertainment on the street.
He would bluster around expressing contempt for
his challenger:
"You haven't got a hoss that can run. Look at
that hoss o' mine; he can beat any hoss that ever
wore a shoe or went barefoot."  Thad would then
take a large chew of tobacco and continue as follows: "Any one as wants to race with my hoss let
him come for'ard an' put up his money. I've got
money to prove that hoss can show daylight, " (here
Thad would laugh a sort of a chuckle and expectorate tobacco-juice) "yes, show daylight, and a large
streak at that, between him an' your nag, I don't
care what kind o' a hoss it is, or where he comes
from. "
The opposition replied: "I will bet you ten dollars my horse can leave yours behind in a run of
forty rods."




18

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

Then Thad would roar: "Ten dollars, shucks!
Make it twenty-five dollars! And my hoss don't
engage in little runs of forty rods. It's eighty rods
or nuthin'!"
The opposition would then show symptoms of
backing out. This would be just what Thad wanted,
for in reality he was more of a blustering joker
than the owner of great racers. The race course
was on Colfax avenue, (then called the Heath's
Corners road) from a line somewhere near Empire
avenue to Britain avenue. When no race for a
money bet could be arranged, Thad Drew and a
crowd would go up to the race course, where a race
between Thad's own horses would be run for the
entertainment of the spectators.
One Saturday afternoon in town, while an argument on racing was furnishing entertainment for a
large crowd, a young man, (James McCormick)
climbed into a wagon and made a speech as follows:
"Gentlemen-I want to see a race, and I am sure
all here want to see a race. Now, the only thing
that's preventing a race is the disagreement about
distance. Thad Drew wants eighty rods and the
opposition as stubbornly sticks for forty rods. Now
why not split the difference and call it sixty rods?"
This speech was received with cheers from the
crowd. It seemed to throw new light upon a deadlocked situation. Thad Drew and the opposition
agreed to a race at sixty rods. The money was put




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.             19
up and all interested hiked to the race course. An
interesting race followed. The horses were ridden
by youths of both clans. The opposition horse took
the lead at the start but was overtaken and passed
by Thad's racer. Again the opposition horse went
to the front and passed his rival, crossing the line
a length ahead. As a balm for his defeat, Thad
Drew took another chew of tobacco and then challenged his rival to a race at eighty rods. The later
replied that he never ran his horse that far only
when after red-skins or johnnies.




20

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

CHAPTER III.
Saw Mills and Lumbering.-Rough Woodsmen.-Town
Marshal and Calaboose.-"Sand" Meant Courage.-The
Mill on the Paw Paw.-Harris, the Hermit.-Buried
Gold.-The Lumber Scow.-Whitewoods Largest Logs.Some of the Pioneers.
THE forests around Benton Harbor were very extensive. There was an abundance of standing
timber awaiting the axes and saws of the woodsmen. A sawmill was established by Samuel McGuigan in the woods on East Britain Road. Lumber
and building material were manufactured at McGuigan's mill, and a considerable portion of this
product was hauled into town by ox teams and
shipped on sailing vessels by way of the canal.
Nearly all of the men who worked in the woods and
the sawmill were of the rough and ready class. It
was customary with them to come into town every
Saturday and indulge in whisky drinking to the
limit. Some of the men frequently became so intoxicated that the saloon keepers would assume
responsibility for their safety and put them into
beds, locking the doors and keeping them from
harm until sober.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

21

Fighting was a frequent occurrence on the
streets. So desperate were some of these fights
that a well known resident of the town was moved
to remark: "I served three years in the civil war
and during that time never saw more desperate
personal encounters than I have seen here on the
streets of Benton Harbor." To describe any of
of these fights would not be agreeable to the writer,
nor to the reader, either, perhaps. Suffice it to say
that complete peace had not as yet settled over the
land and the war spirit still prevailed. Some men,
especially when a little intoxicated, would fight on
the least provocation. This was a characteristic of
husky youths, who seemed to take a keen delight
in getting into the roughest kind of a row. A few
good words can be said for the rough and tumble
fighters of those days-they never used a deadly
weapon of any kind, and no greater injury than can
be done with nature's weapons, the fists, was ever
inflicted upon an opponent, with possibly one exception. That was when Charles Peters shot two
of the Lysaght brothers in a saloon row after a
dance in Robbins' Hall. Fortunately none of the
shots inflicted a mortal wound. Peters himself
suffering great injury when one of his opponents
smashed up a heavy bottle upon his head. This
affray was one of the most desperate and sensational ever known in this part of the state. The
fight was between a gang of young men from St.




22

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

Joseph and a bunch of youths from around Millburg. It occurred in Charles Collins' saloon on
West Main street. The saloon was completely
wrecked, and the wounded men were conveyed to
the American House, where Dr. John Bell, who
was called, dressed their wounds. All recovered
in time from their injuries.
Of police protection there was practically none.
The town had a marshal and a calaboose, but these
representatives of the law were entirely inadequate to preserve the peace. When the marshal
made an arrest it was often necessary to have the
assistance of spectators to take a prisoner to the
calaboose. On one occasion when Cushan Burr, a
popular marshal of Benton Harbor, made an arrest
the prisoner refused to go, and when Cush commenced to force him the drunken fellow lay down
flat on the sidewalk. Cush called for volunteers.
Two men sprang forward and the prisoner was
dragged to the jail. As the sidewalks were very
uneven, some high and others low, the prisoner's
trip was a rough one.
Frank Collins was regarded as one of the town's
scrappy men. He was the youngest of the Collins
brothers. He was not what may be termed a
drinking man in so far as becoming helplessly intoxicated.  On the contrary he was cleverly
shrewd in knowing how to take care of himself in
every altercation.  'He's got sand," was a com



TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

23

mon expression in reference to one with a reputation for courage. The majority of the people
could claim this distinction, for there was so much
sand in the streets that the village was frequently
called "Sandtown."
George Collins was the elder of the Collins
brothers, of whom there were five. The Collins
family were amoung the first pioneers of Benton
Harbor. The Collins brothers, with the possible
exception of Frank, were not of quarrelsome tendencies, and were rarely ever implicated in the
fistic encounters in which so many of the young
men of that period were inclined to participate in.
George Collins was above the average in intelligence, and a debater possessed of a personal magnetism that always drew a crowd about him while
discussing the issues of the day. Wherever an assemblage on the street, engaged in a talkfest,
George Collins could be found in the center of the
crowd. He was a Republican in politics, with liberal tendencies. He saw service in the civil war,
and participated in the battle at Franklin, Tenn.,
and in other engagements.
His son, Fred B. Collins, was elected sheriff of
Berrien County, on the Democratic ticket,in the
year 1900. He was re-elected to the same office in
1902, serving four years. He received a large Republican vote together with the united support of
his own party, attesting the confidence the people




24

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

reposed in him. His administration of the duties
of the office of sheriff was very creditable to him
and an honor to his family and friends.
Jesse R. Johnson was a well known marshal of
the village. To him more than to any other one
man is due credit for suppressing disorderly fellows and restoring order. Of large proportions
and possessed of a savage temper when aroused,
Jesse R. Johnson was a terror to would be bad
men. He was left-handed, and this physical oddity
was an aid to him when handling rough characters.
He would knock an opponent down so suddenly
that the surprised belligerent would not care for
any more of Jess Johnson's game. He was a
Democrat in a town where the great majority were
Republicans. He served his country in the civil
war as a member of the First Michigan Cavalry,
enlisting at Dowagiac, where the family home was
then located. He fought three years in the war,
a part of that time while Gen. George B. McClellan
was in command of the union army. For this
organizer and leader Jesse R. Johnson cherished a
fondness akin to hero-worship. "Little Mack" was
his favorite general. Jesse R. Johnson was an
esteemed member of Geo. H. Thomas Post, G.A.R.,
in the later years of his life.
His eldest son, Charles A. Johnson, was elected
sheriff of Berrien County, on the Republican ticket,




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

25

in 1907. Upon the expiration of his first term of
office he was re-elected to a second term, serving
four years. Sheriff Johnson was chief of police of
the city of Benton Harbor previous to his election
to the office of sheriff. He served the people with
marked ability and satisfaction to the electorate.
Another sawmill began operations in 1864.  It
was operated by Henry W. Williams and Joseph
Pearl, under the firm name of Williams & Pearl,
and was located on the north bank of the Paw Paw
river, one mile from town. The mill stood close to
the river on the ground near where the metal furniture factory is now. The workmen built their
cabins near the mill. These cabins were small,
each comprising one room, a bed room, pantry and
a loft. The loft, which was reached by a ladder,
was some times used as a sleeping room. There
were eight or ten of these cabins in the settlement. The larger building, a story and a half
frame, was the boarding house. This was occupied by Mr. Williams and his family, and in it
were also housed the single men who worked in
the mill. There were few single men, however,
as nearly all the mill men had families. Each of
these was given a cabin and garden ground, free
of rent or taxes. Henry W. Williams was a generous employer.
It was an interesting village of log-rafters and




26

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

lumber men. The cabins were sheltered from the
north winds by the large hill under which they
were clustered, and having a south frontage on
the river were very comfortable even in the coldest weather. On the hill above the settlement
there was a frame house of the old-fashioned kind,
with a south front veranda, and a large open fire
place in the main room. This was the Proctor
homestead. They were an English family and
were amoung the first settlers in that region.
The family comprised six people, Mr. and Mrs. I.
B. Proctor and their four children, William, Jane,
Susan and Emma. William was a member of the
Seventh Michigan Cavalry in the civil war.
Emma married James Versaw, her brother's comrade in arms. To the east of the settlement there
was another large frame building. This house
was painted white and it stood upon a hill in the
midst of peach trees. It was the residence of Dr.
Richard Winans and his large family. It is still
known as the Winans homestead, although none of
that family have lived there recentiy. To the
west there was another large frame building, "the
haunted house," standing isolated a short distance
from the river bank. In this house there dwelt a
mysterious man-Harris, the hermit. He was an
old man who lived there alone and was said to be
the possessor of a great deal of wealth, in gold,
which he had secured in California during the gold




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

27

digging days of '49. He owned all the land in that
vicinity excepting the Proctor farm and the Winans
estate. He would not sell any of his land. Williams
& Pearl were unable to purchase a land site for their
mill but were given a twenty years lease by the
hermit. Mr.Williams and family occupied a part of
the hermit's house at one time while waiting for
their own house on which carpenters were working.
Mrs. Williams, while cleaning out the cellar, found
a jar filled with gold pieces. She took the jar and
then went outside and rapped gently upon the
hermit's door.  The door was opened cautiously
after the hermit had inquired who was there. Mrs.
Williams told him about how she had found the jar
of gold and asked him if it was his. The hermit
greedily grabbed the jar of gold and then closed
the door and locked it. At another time a little girl
found a ten-dollar gold piece under an apple tree
near the hermit's house. It had been brought to
the surface of the ground by heavy rains. It was
the general opinion of the people who knew Harris,
and his peculiar manner of living, that he had
buried a great deal of gold treasure in the ground
about his habitation. As this treasure has never
been reported found it may be there yet awaiting
lucky discoverers, There were a few other settlers
in this region at that time. Among them were
Joshua Ells, who owned a fruit farm along the river
front towards Double L Gap and extending north




28

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

)       over the hill. Thatcher Hopkins, Col. L. M. Ward,
Orsamers Harmon, Wm. J. Knott, and James Aspell,
were growing fruit further inland on the hilltop.
0. Harmonwas one of the first settlers in that region.
He came with his family from Ohio in 1853 and
purchased one hundred and fifty-four acres, all of
which was a vast forest. Mr Harmon's two sons,
E. D. Harmon and W. B. Harmon, aided in the work
of reclaiming the land. - The Harmon homestead is
one of the attractive fruit farms on the North Shore
Drive.
There was no bridge over the Paw Paw except
the one on the east road (now called Paw Paw
Avenue. The products of the mill, lumber, lath
and shingles, were loaded on to a scow and pikepoled down the river as far as the canal, where the
stock was sold to local dealers. The passage of the
scow down the river was an enjoyable trip for passengers, but not so pleasant for the motive power
of the scow. The men placed poles at their shoulders, and with the steel-barbed ends of the poles in
the bottom of the river, pushed and walked along
on cleats. The cleats prevented slipping as the boat
sped along down the swift current. The scow was
propelled by eight men, four on each side. Mr.
Williams always took the helm, standing on top of
the cabin and swinging tbe tiller in a way to avoid
contact with "snags," and to maintain the boat's




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

29

equilibrium when sailing 'round the bends. When
going 'round a bend the captain would sing out:
"Steady  my   men; look out for over-board."
Although the scow was much lighter on the return
trip the work of navigating it was no less hard on
the polemen, owing to the swift current for which
the Paw Paw was noted, especially in high-water
time.
The mill owners were compelled to build a boom
the entire length of the river eastward from the
mill to the forest.  The boom   was made by
chaining long timbers to piles driven in the center
of the river.  Inside of the boom the logs were
held somewhat like buffaloes in a corral. The logs
floated down the river inside the boom, and when
they came to the mill waters there was a tremendous
bumping of the incoming logs against those at
anchor.   The largest logs, although not the
heaviest, were the beautiful whitewoods.
The saw mill on the Paw Paw has disappeared,
fading from view like the forests with which it
was linked, and the village of cabins that clustered
around it have all vanished like snow-wreaths in a
thaw. In this cabin village games were played,
songs were sung, marriages were promoted, and
children were born.   Dances were a pastime,
hunting was a sport, and going to town and getting
on a jag was a diversion for some of the men.




30        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
Harris, the hermit, is gone, but if his buried
gold could be found it would prove that there is at
least one link between the past and the present that
has not succumbed to the changing influnces of
time.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.     31

CHAPTER IV.
The Pottawatomie Indians.-Paw  Paw   Flats.-Chief
Pokagon.-Trapping for Animals.-The Black Squirrels.-Wild Duck Shooting.-The Wild Pigeons.-Wonderful Evolutions of the Flying Pigeons.-Great
Slaughter of These Birds.
THE Pottawatomie Indians had a village on the Paw
Paw Flats. This was an ideal camping ground. It
was a level plain surrounded by forests, hills, and
the Paw Paw River. It was a round, grassy field
of about five acres. Its location was about onefourth of a mile east of the bridge at Paw Paw
Avenue. Within this natural forest retreat the
Indians lived in peace and comfort. The men of
the tribe were hunters and trappers; the women
weavedbaskets of uniquedesigns and colors. Indian
ponies galloped over the plain, ever on the alert to
prevent outsiders from entering the Indian domain.
Whenever a white man or boy appeared on the Paw
Paw Flats, he would be immediately attacked by
the ponies. They would wheel around and kick at
the intruder so viciously that a hasty retreat into
the forest was absolutely necessary. Occasionally
the intruder would be compelled to climb a tree, to




32

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

save himself from the onslaught of the wicked little
ponies. The Indians had trained their ponies to do
this guard duty, and would not interfere for the
safety of the victim; unless the latter happened to
be one who came there with a well-filled basket of
food, or with money to exchange for furs, or
baskets.
The Indians made their own canoes. These
canoes were dugouts from the whitewood trees.
Whitewoods were felled and the trunks trimmed
and shaped. Then the logs were dug out by chopping into the center continously until all the inside
wood had been cut out, leaving only a strong shell.
This shell was then finished in canoe shape. These
canoes were light, yet very strong, and capable of
bearing heavy loads. Six stalwart Indians could
get into one of these canoes and go voyaging on the
swiftly running waters of the Paw Paw.
The Indians loved the hunting trail. Every
Spring and Autumn there was an exodus from the
Indian village. The old men and the women of the
tribe remained in camp, but the younger men, with
their eyes turned towards the sandhills and the
great lake, embarked in their canoes and sped away
on an expedition that would keep them absent from
the village for many moons. In a long single line
they paddled their canoes, sailing swiftly over the
waters of the Paw Paw, appearing and disappearing 'round the bends. In the sandhills the camps




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

33

were made and the days were spent in hunting,
trapping and exploring the lake coast.
Chief Simon Pokagon was an educated Indian.
He possessed a cheerful disposition, which was
plainly visible in his kindly looking face and friendly
hand-clasp. He spoke frequently of the false representations in history concerning the Indians. He
was a true champion of his race. His heart was
pained whenever he mentioned the Indians' degration. From the days of his forefathers this region
had been a happy hunting ground for the children
of the forest. Those scenes that once knew them
will know them no more.
Almost every man and boy in the early days of
Benton Harbor was a hunter. The buffalo and deer
had disappeared, but there was an abundance of
wild ducks, wild turkeys, wild pigeons, and black
squirrels. The marshes were inhabitated by muskrats in great numbers, mink, otter and coons.
Trapping and skinning fur animals was an occupation followed by many nimrods during the winter
months. It was profitable sport for the experts.
The single-barrel, muzzle-loading shotgun was
the most common gun used, although the long barrelled, 22 caliber rifle was prefered by some expert
marksmen. The double-barrelled, muzzle-loading
shotgun came into use, and these were followed by
the rapid firing breech loaders. A few army mus



34        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
kets were used with good effect when charged with
No. 6 shot.
The woods were full of black squirrels. A hunter
could bring down out of the tree-tops as many of
these frisky animals in a day's hunt as could be conveniently carried. Overcoats and caps were made
of black squirrel skins. Squirrel stew was as good
as anything that ever came from a kitchen. These
squirrels were of migratory habits. They traveled
long distances, crossing rivers and lakes, occasionally riding on driftwood. At times none of them
could be seen in the woods, but when nuts Were
ripe then the black squirrels appeared in great numbers. Fox squirrels, the gray and red squirrels,
could also be found by the hunter. A few gray
squirrels, fox and red squirrels, can now be found
in the woods, but the black squirrels have disappeared.
Wild ducks were a class of game birds that never
failed to furnish good sport for the hunters. The
marshes around Benton Harbor were favorite feeding grounds for wild fowl. Each morning wild
ducks arose in great numbers from the ponds in the
vicinity of the sandhills and flew eastward, alighting a few miles from the starting place, where they
remained during the day, feeding on the abundance
of wild rice and celery that grew in the marshes.
In the evening, from about sundown to darkness,
they would take wing again and fly back towards
the sandhills.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

35

Before each evening's flight, scores of hunters
took positions down on the side of the high road,
or "canal bank, " as it was called. It is now Willow
Drive. Thus hidden from the view of the ducks
the nimrods awaited the familiar "quack, quack,"
that signalled the beginning of the evening's flight.
Wild ducks fly very rapidly. Their speed is said to
be at the rate of ninety miles per hour; but so expert were some of the hunters that not a duck could
escape that came within range of their doublebarrelled guns. Some there were who missed continually and rarely ever could bring down a duck,
but the experts always returned home with as many
plump mallards as they cared to carry. Trained
dogs were used to retrieve the ducks that fell in the
water, or in the marsh.
Some of the most expert wing shots were: Ed.
Brane, Alfonzo Vuylsteake, George Crooks, Irving
Colby, Lew Burridge, Henry E. Gillette, Schuyler
Bowman, and others.
Wild pigeons, flying in great flocks, furnished
fine sport for nimrods. The birds generally came
from a westerly direction. These flocks were so
large at times that they almost eclipsed the sun.
Similar to a vast army in the air they moved in large
divisions, all converging on some point in the beech
woods. During the flight over Benton Harbor they
were fired on from every convenient position. The
slaughter of these birds was tremendous. They




36        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
made excellent potpies. Every person in town or
country had a share of wild pigeon shooting or eating. These birds have disappeared from the
American continent.
In 1880 the passenger pigeon was thronging in
countless millions through the middle west. These
birds associated in such prodigious numbers as to
almost surpass belief. Their numbers had no
parallel among the other feathered tribes on the
face of the earth. They were slain by millions, and
from one point in Michigan alone three million wild
pigeons were slaughtered in one year. (Upon the
authority of Forest and Stream.) They supplied a
means of living for numerous market hunters, who
devasted the flocks with nets and guns. Yet so
vast were their numbers that after years of slaughter nothing but the cutting away of the forests
could have accomplished their decrease. The big
nesting in Michigan in 1878 was believed to be the
last migration, but the pigeons continued to nest,
in greatly diminished flocks, for nearly ten years
after that date.
The passenger pigeon laid only one egg in its
nest, and although it bred three or four times a
year, it could not replenish the numbers slaughtered
by the professional netters. The history of the
buffalo is repeated in that of the wild pigeon.
A few observations on the mode of flight of
these birds may be of interest: A column six or




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

37

eight miles long would suddenly appear, coming
from the direction of the woods west and south of
St. Joseph, and flying towards the forest east of
Benton Harbor. The leaders of this great body
would sometimes vary their course until it formed
a large bend of more than a mile in diameter, those
behind tracing the exact course of their predecessors. This would continue long after both extremities were beyond the reach of sight, so that the
whole flock, with its glittering undulations, marked
a space in the upper air resembling the windings of
a vast river. When this bend became very great,
the birds, as if sensible of the unnecessary circuitous course they were taking, suddenly changed
their direction, so that what was a column before
became an immense front, straightening all its
crook lines until it swept the heavens in one vast
extended line. Sometimes a hawk would make a
sweep on a particular part of the column from a
great height, when almost as quick as lightning,
that part of the mass of birds shot downward out
of the common track, but soon rising again, continued advancing at the same height as before. This
inflection was continued by those behind, who, on
arriving at this point, dived down almost perpendicularly, to a great depth, and rising followed the
exact path of those that went before.
As soon as it was known that the wild pigeons
were coming, the gunners got their guns, the clap




38

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

nets were spread in suitable locations, usually on an
open height in an old buck-wheat field. Four or
five pigeons, with their eyelids sewed up, were
fastened on a movable stick-a small hut of branches
was fitted up for the hunters at a distance of forty
or fifty yards-by the pulling of a string the stick
on which the pigeons rested was alternately elevated and lowered, which produced a fluttering of
their wings similar to that of birds just alighting;
this being perceived by the passing flocks they
descended with great rapidity, and finding corn,
buckwheat, etc., strewed about, began to feed, and
were instantly, by the pulling of a cord, covered by
the net. In this manner from one hundred to three
hundred were often caught at one sweep. Meantime the air was darkened by large flocks of them
flying in various directions; the woods also swarmed
with them; and the crashing sound of guns was
perpetual on all sides from morning to night.
The hunters strung them on switches, and in this
way carried dozens of the dead birds slung over
their shoulders.
The American passenger pigeon differed from
all other pigeons in various ways-in form, in color
of plumage, and in the length and beauty of its
tail feathers. Blue wings and head, with some
bronze green, and a reddish hazel breast were its
principal colors, although it also possessed white,
black, brown, and purple crimson feathers. An
orange rim encircled its eyelids.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

39

No other game bird possessed such beautiful outlines and plumage as the passenger pigeon.
Pokagon wrote a story of the wild pigeons for an
Eastern magazine in 1895, from which the following is an extract:
"The migratory or wild pigeon was known to
our race as Q-me-me-wog. Why the Europeans
did not accept that name was, no doubt, because the
bird so much resembled the domesticated pigeon;
they naturally called it a wild pigeon, as they called
us wild men.
This remarkable bird differs from the dove or
domesticated pigeon, which was imported into this
country, in the grace of its slender bill and legs,
and its narrow wings. Its tail is eight inches
long, having twelve feathers, white on the underside. The two center feathers are longest, while
five feathers arranged on either side diminished
gradually one-half inch in length, giving to the
tail when spread an almost conical appearance.
It was proverbial with our fathers that if the
Great Spirit in hs His wisdom could have created
a more elegant bird in plumage, form and movement, He never did. When a young man, I have
stood for hours watching the movements of these
birds. I have seen them fly in unbroken lines from
the horizon; one line succeeding another from
morning until night.




40

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

Between 1840 and 1880 I visited in the States of
Ohio, Indiana and Michigan many breeding places
that were from twenty to thirty miles long and from
three to four miles wide, every tree in its limits
being spotted with nests. Yet, notwithstanding
their countless numbers, great endurance and long
life, they have almost entirely disappeared from our
forests. We strain our eyes in Spring and Autumn
in vain to catch a glimpse of these pilgrims. White
men tell us they have moved in a body to the Rocky
Mountains region, where they are as plentiful as
they were here, but when we ask red men, who are
familiar with the mountain country, about them,
they shake their heads in disbelief.
An O-me-me-wog nesting was always a great
source of revenue to our people. Whole tribes would
wigwam near the nesting place. They seldom
killed the old birds, but made great preparations to
secure their young, out of which the squaws made
squab butter, and smoked and dried them by
thousands for future use. Yet, under our manner
of securing them, they continued to increase,
White men commenced netting them for market
about the year 1840. When squabs of a nesting
became fit for market, these experts, prepared with
climbers, would get on to some convenient place in
a tree-top loaded with nests, and with a long pole
punch out the young, which would fall with a thud
like lead on the ground. In other places they would




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

41

set fire to the beautiful moss that grew from the
roots up into the branches of the birch trees. The
parent birds would rise straight up in the air, but
the young birds would fall to the ground when the
fire burned away their nests.
One night I stayed with an old man on the highlands just north of the nesting in Benzie County.
In the course of the evening I explained to him the
cruelty that was being shown to the young birds in
the nesting. He listened to me in utter astonishment and said: 'My God, is that possible!' Remaining silent a moment, with bowed head, he
looked up and said, 'See here, old Indian, you go out
with me in the morning and I will show you a way
to catch pigeons that will please any red man, and
the birds, too.'
Early the next morning I followed him a few rods
from the hut, where he showed me an open polepen, about two feet high, which he called his bait
bed. Into this he scattered a bucket of wheat. We
then sat in ambush so as to see through between
the poles into the pen. Soon they began to pour
into the pen and gorge themselves. While I was
watching and admiring them, all at once, to my surprise, they began fluttering and falling on their
sides and backs, and kicking and quivering like a
lot of cats with paper tied over their feet. He
jumped into the pen saying, 'Come on, you red
Indian.'




42

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

I was right on hand by his side. A few birds
flew out of the pen apparently crippled, but we
caught and caged about one hundred fine birds.
After my excitement was over I sat down on one
of the cages and thought in my heart, 'Certainly
Pokagon is dreaming, or this long-haired white man
is a witch.' I finally said, 'Look here, old fellow,
tell me how you did that.' He gazed at me, holding his long white beard in one hand, and said, with
one eye half shut and a sly wink with the other,
'That wheat was soaked in whisky!' His answer
fell like lead upon my heart. We had talked temperance together the night before, and the old man
wept when I told him how my people had fallen
before the intoxicating cup of the white man like
leaves before the blasts of Autumn. In silence I
left the place, saying in my heart, 'Surely the time
is now fulfilled when false prophets shall show signs
and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even
the elect.'"




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.             43
CHAPTER V.
Basket Factories.-Expert Nailers.-Champion Basket
Makers.-Good Pay for Workers.-Frequent Bathing.Odd Characters.-Ben King's Inspiration.-Canning
Factory.-Kirby's Grist Mill.-Hand Pumping Fire Engine.-Tom Benton Fire Engine.-Graham's Mill.
THE Benton Harbor basket factories, of which there
were three, were owned by C. Colby, Hall & Carpenter, and Ingham & Leslie, from 1870 to 1880,
and later. Colby's factory was located in a building
called "the red warehouse." It was a large onestory frame, painted red, and stood where the
Graham & Morton dock warehouse has been in recent years, on Water Street. In this factory there
were some very expert basket makers, or "nailers, "
as they were called. The best of these were a few
young men who had come over from Chicago with
James Kirby & Bro., when that firm operated the
first basket factory in Benton Harbor. When they
sold their factory to Mr. Colby their employes remained here and became actively identified with the
industrial and social life of the new town.
The nailers in the basket factories worked on
piece work; that is, they were paid fifty cents per




44

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

hundred for peach baskets. An ordinary nailer
could make about five hundred baskets per day, by
keeping at it continuously and working hard. But
the experts could pile up many more than this number. One of them, a former Kirby employe, whom
his associates called "Chris," could put up eight
hundred peach baskets as a day's work, whenever
he wished to do so. He was a model young man,
and so highly esteemed by his employer and associates that they had a standing offer of a large sum
as a bet, that in a contest he could put up more
baskets in a day than any nailer that ever pulled nails
from the mouth and drove them into wood with a
hammer. He was known as the champion basket
maker. He is still in the basket business, at this
writing; not as a nailer, but as a wealthy member
of the Anderson-Tully Co. C. J. Tully is his name.
At Hall & Carpenter's factory (now Hinkley's)
there was the largest number of employes ever
gathered together in a local basket factory. It was
over-crowded. The hoop making department was
under the management of Dick Perkins and his
brother William, or "Billy" as he was called, both
of whom were experienced nailers. The Perkins
brothers were indulgent to their employes, and
whenever there was a shortage of material, some
one of the boys would go to the boss and say:
"We're out of stuff; can we go swimin'?" Goodnatured Dick would reply laughingly, "yes." Then




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

45

the swimming signal would be given; that is,
two fingers held up to the view of all. The nailers
would then hasten to the canal and dive off of the
dock into the water. These trips to the canal were
frequently from four to six times in a day.  A
spring-board was placed on the dock in the rear of
the mill, and from this the gossoons turned summer
saults into the water. It was from this swimming
spot that Ben King, the poet of St. Joseph, got his
inspiration for the verses entitled, "The Bungtown
Canal." King was one of the boys who worked at
Hall & Carpenter's mill when Dick and Billy Perkins
were running the hoop and basket departments
and employing all the hands they could get.
"How I long to go back there with
Some old time pal,
And dive off again in the
Bungtown Canal."
Ben King's Book of Verse.
Some of the employes were peculiar characters.
There was a fellow named Charley Stocking, whose
occupation was that of a hoop-maker. He was a
tall slim youth, with black eyes and hair, and of a
wild and reckless disposition. He did not care what
others thought of his tendency to swear. When
ever the hoop material would break in the process
of winding up on the form, this fellow would swear
a volume of oaths that could not be improved upon
by a pirate. Some of the basket makers would look




46

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

up from their work in alarm, but others would
quietly say, "that's Stockin'."
Another odd character was Hosea Crandall, as
was also his brother Lee. Hosea was short and
broad and Lee was tall and slim. On all occasions
when the mill crew desired extra entertainment the
Crandall brothers performed contortion feats and
acrobatic stunts. They were circus performers out
of the ring for a season.
Two of the employes at Hall & Carpenter's mill
continued their work there many years after Hall
& Carpenter sold out, and the majority of the boys
had entered other occupations, or immigrated to
different parts of the United States. They are,
Henry Noe, engineer, and James Brennan, foreman
of veneering machines.
The Ingham & Leslie factory was located on the
site of Darche's shingle mill, after the latter had
burned down in 1872. It stood near where the
wholesale grocery house of Kidd, Dater & Price has
been located in modern times. This factory was
well known as the headquarters of the most kindly
mannered man that ever lived in the town-John
C. Ingham. He was regarded somewhat as a personal duplicate of Abraham Lincoln. On the other
hand the factory was presided over, in the mechanical department, by one of the sternest men that
this town ever possessed. So strict was Mr. Leslie
that no one was permitted to enter the factory until




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.            47
after submitting to a hostile examination at the
door. Mr. Leslie would hasten to the door and confront an intruder, regardless of whether the one
desiring to enter was friend or foe. He had some
fights, usually with the men who carried chips on
their shoulders.
Nevertheless, John W. Leslie, when away from
business cares, was one of the most amiable of men.
All who knew him long and well in Benton Harbor
regretted his decision to sell out, which he did many
years ago, and moved to Alabama, where timber is
more easily procurable for basket making.
The same kindly memories are cherished for
Newton B. Hall, one of Benton Harbor's most esteemed business men and manufacturers in the
early days of the village. Mr. Hall and his family
also moved to Alabama. And Samuel Gentle immigrated to the same State to continue his basket
manufacturing business.
The first canning factory was established by A.
Plummer and C. Tarbell, in 1872, under the firm
name of Plummer & Tarbell. This factory was
located on Water street, near where the Phoenix
hotel has been in recent years. Fruit and corn were
put up into cans and this new industry gave employment to a large number of people at a time of year
when other employment was closed down. The
factory was moved later to Colfax Avenue, below
the hill. It did a good business from year to year,




48        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
under different proprietors. C. M. Edick was undoubtedly the most successful canning factory! man
of that period.
There was a select crew of the colored aristocracy
employed in the steaming department of the canning factory. These dusky gents made merry at
their work, and the strains of Southern melodies
floated o'er the factory during working hours.
"My Old Kentucky Home," and "Down on the
Swanee River," emanated from that section of the
factory where the darkies were hidden by clouds
of steam.
This factory was distroyed by fire in the fall of
1886. It has been succeeded by C. H. Godfrey's
Canning Works.
Manufacturing cans was a local industry that
followed the establishment of the original canning
factory. A large number of can makers were
employed by George Morton & Charles Ogden, in a
factory building on East Main Street, near where
the Premier Bath House is now located.
Kirby's grist mill was located on the south bank
of the canal, on the site where W. P. Robbins' lumber yard has been located in modern times. James
Kirby & Bro. were the original pioneers here in the
manufacture of flour, as well as peach baskets. The
people of Benton Harbor and surrounding country
had been purchasing flour from the Millburg Mills,
and St. Joseph Flouring Mills. Benton Harbor flour




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.           49
won wide popularity. The mill was a large square
frame, three stories in height, painted red. Frank
Nichols was the miller. Fire broke out in the building and the mill was entirely consumed in 1873.
This fire was the largest conflagration Benton Harbor people had ever fought against with bucket
brigades. The original fire company was organized
after this fire. A hand-pumping fire engine was
purchased by the village governme'nt. A few years
later the famous Tom Benton fire engine displaced
the old-fashioned hand pumper. And now the Tom
Benton engine has been displaced by a modern
motor-truck fire fighting equipment.
Another grist mill was erected and operated by
James Reeves. It was located on the west side of
Colfax Avenue, opposite Bellview Street. The miller did a good business there many years. The
mill was sold to C. F. Compton, a miller from California. Compton's grist mill also was devastated
by fire, but was partly saved by the Tom Benton
Fire Company. The building was later torn down.
A sawmill built by John H. Graham, and known
as Graham's Mill, was erected on the Willow Drive
road in 1870. It was located near the railroad
tracks. This mill, during a period of twenty years,
turned out more lumber than any similar industry
in this part of Michigan. The logs for the mill
were floated down the Paw Paw River as far as the
Willow Drive road, and were then pikepoled by river




50

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

men up a canal slip to the mill. It was an interesting sight to observe the great logs going up the
"slide," being pulled by a chain with iron dogs
attached, the chain getting power from machinery
in the mill. The saw that transformed the logs into
building material was a straight upright blade (in
the pioneer days of the mill.) A huge circular saw
displaced the old upright, and the output of lumber
was greatly increased. Daniel Green was the head
sawyer in this mill from the earliest days of its
operation until it closed down and went out of business for lack of logs.
The captains of industry, and pioneers in enterprises, are historical personages in the life of every
community.
Peter English promoted the original waterworks
system in Benton Harbor.
Edward Brant built the Hotel Benton, the first
modern hotel in Benton Harbor.
I. W. Conkey gave Benton Harbor its first commodious public auditorium, Conkey's Hall.
George F. Sonner, chief local patron of the Benton Harbor Public Library, has been connected with
Benton Harbor's interests since the year 1872.
Prof. George J. Edgecumbe promoted the Benton Harbor College. He resigned as principal of
the local public schools in 1888 to take up the
College work.
James W. Pearl, civil engineer, built the Britain
Avenue viaduct, a unique bridge structure of remarkable enduring qualities. He also constructed
a drainage and sewer system that has given Benton
Harbor a sanitary and healthful uplift.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.           51
J. Stanley Morton has managed the water traffic
problem so efficiently that the Graham & Morton
Transportation Co. has grown from the single
steamboat, The Messenger, in 1880, to a fleet of five
Great Lake Liners.
John Robinson was captain of the propeller
Messenger in 1880, and later commanded some of
the newer and more modern steamers of the Graham & Morton Line.
Capt. Bert Simons, veteran commander of palace
steamers, began his lake sailing career when he
gave up ball playing on the flats to become a
cabin boy.




52        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
CHAPTER VI.
Old-Fashioned Dances.-Popular Musicians.-Dancing in
The Country.-Kayus Haid.-Boys and Girls Advised to
Play "Albert Hawks."-Panorama.-The Peake Family
Bell Ringers.-A Literary and Dramatic Club.-The
First Cornet Band.-Fourth of July Enthusiasm.-John
McAllister Captures St. Joseph.
THERE was plenty of old-fashioned entertainment
in Benton Harbor's village days. Dances and
parties were frequently held in the homes, with an
occasional public dance at Robbins' Hall. A few
years later, the public dances were held in Conkey's
Hall on Pipestone Street, and in Robinson's Hall on
Sixth Street.
The waltz step was then almost unknown, and
the more modern dances, the tango and the fox trot,
had not as yet been imported from the land of the
Zulus. The dances were what are now called the
old-fashioned kind. The four-couple quadrille was
the rage in dancing society, and this lively stepping
and swinging exercise was varied occasionally with
Money Musk and the Virginia Reel. These latter
two dances were very popular with the swell set.
A good Virginia Reel dancer was looked upon with




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

53

envy, and was usually regarded as the star of the
ball room.
The caller, or prompter of the quadrilles, was
chief boss of the dance, with authority absolutely
supreme. After the musicians had taken their
positions and had finished tuning up the violins, the
caller would announce:
"Take partners for a quadrillc!"
Then there was a rush of couples on to the
dancing floor.
"Bow to your partners.
"First two couples forward and back.
"Forward again and cross over.
"Forward again.
"Ladies change.
"Forward again.
"Swing partners to place.
"Balance all.
"Swing your partners.
"Second two couples forward and back.
"Forward again and cross over.
"Forward again.
"Ladies change.
" Forward again.
"Swing partners to place,
"Balance all.
"Swing your partners.
"First two couples lead up to the right."
"Balance.
"Four hands 'round."
And so forth, until all the figures of the quadrille had been gone through.




54

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

Quite often there was a caller who could put
some real frills and thrills into his work. For instance, a prompter would occasionally direct the
dancers as follows:
"All forward and give the right hand across.
"Balance half way around.
"Back with the left.
"Mind you keep your step in time.
"Swing right back.
"Don't be slack.
'All join hands and balance in a line."
It is almost needless to add that there was a
great deal of extra amusement created by those
who did clever jigs and break-downs in a dance of
this kind.
The music at these dances was usually of good
quality. Some of the musicians who played while
young Benton Harbor danced were George and
Charley Babcock, Pap Scott, colored barber, Dodge
Reed, shoemaker (he played the clarinet). Fred
Wurz and orchestra, of St. Joseph, were quite often
engaged to play at the higher class entertainments.
George Babcock undoubtedly drew the bow
across the bridge of his violin at more dances in
the village of Benton Harbor than any other musician that can be named, with the possible exception
of his brother Charles.
It was customary to give a dance occasionally at
some country home, in the winter season. At these




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

55

dances sleigh-riding parties would gather and make
merry.
Public dances in the country were held frequently at Kayus Haid's ample home in Bainbridge. At
one of these dances, where a large crowd had assembled, there was considerable confusion, owing
to the lack of system, as to who was entitled to the
floor. Mr. Haid, himself, thereupon took charge
of arrangements and issued pasteboard numbers,
which probably were the first dance tickets ever
used in this region. It was while Kayus Haid was
acting as floor manager that a certain young man
created a great deal of laughter. As to Mr. Haid,
no one from town ever did seem to know how to
pronounce his name correctly. Some wags turned
it around and called him "Hayus Caid," and others,
"Kius Hite."  The latter name-Kius Hite-was
the term generally used. At this dance, one young
man, having missed getting a ticket, hastened into
the room and inquired:
"Highest Kite, when is it my turn to dance!"
Mr. Haid laughed as heartily as did all present
on the dancing floor.
The old-fashioned dances were pleasant social
affairs.
At the parties of the lads and lassies, kissing
games were popular. "Button, button, who's got
the button?" was not a kissing game, and therefore




56        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
it was not played so often as "blind man's buff,"
"drop the handkerchief," or "postoffice." The
youngsters were frequently admonished by their
elders to be careful and not play those kissing
games. As a substitute, a new game was introduced. It was named "Albert Hawks," in honor
of Mrs. Plummer's brother, who had recently arrived from the East. It was a dignified and pleasant
pastime. The boys and girls learned to enjoy this
game equally as well as the others. Among the
comedians at these parties (and each boy tried to
be exceedingly funny) there were some who were
very clever.
The first theatrical entertainment to appear in
the village of Benton Harbor was "Milton's Paradise Lost." This scriptural panorama was greatly
enjoyed by the audience. Then followed the Peake
family of bell ringers. They were a Niles organization, and were so well liked by the people of
Benton Harbor that they always drew a large audience whenever they appeared here. They came to
Benton Harbor ever season thereafter, to give one
or two nights' entertainment, and were always
greeted with an enthusiastic welcome. The company included Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H. Peake, their
daughter, Fanny Peake, about six other musicians
and a comedian-Jeppe Delano. The entertainment
they gave was a musical one of the highest order.
Here is a brief description of it: When the curtain




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

57

arose, a long table was seen covered with a white
mantle. Upon this table there were a great number of bells, of various sizes. The company came
out upon the stage, and after bowing gracefully to
their audience, began lifting up and quickly putting
down each bell, ringing from them the most bewitching musical tones in harmony. Some of the
work of the great masters in music was performed
on these bells. Jeppe Delano was a popular comedian. He was a character actor and singer of
charming personality and ability.
The Peake family retired from the theatrical profession after a prolonged and successful career.
They settled down to a comfortable home life in
Niles. Ex-Alderman Delano of Niles is the same
Jeppe that the people of Benton Harbor admired as
a comedian. One enthusiastic citizen named his
buggy horse in honor of Mr. Delano. When ever
George Wilson would say, "giddap Jeppe," that
horse would go some.
The Swiss Bell Ringers came to Benton Harbor
occasionally. They always gave a good entertainment, very similar to that given by the Peake
Family.
A literary and dramatic club was organized by
home talent in 1874. It was named "The Saturday
Night Literary and Dime Entertainment Society."
Entertainments were given once a week in Robbins'




58

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

Hall. As the admission price was only one dime, a
full house was always played to. When they presented "Ten Nights in a Barroom" there was not
even standing room left for late arrivals. The play
was repeated on several nights, and the home talent
did so well that the local folks generally felt very
proud of them. Mr. and Mrs. R. M. Jones were
members of this company; also J. O. Rowe, Jeff.
Modie, C. E. Reeves, Charles Ogden, A. Wiley,
Charles Foster, George Ricaby, Charley Bowe, Julia
Ogden, Mate Beecher, and others.
Charles Ogden played the character "Sample
Switchell," the heroic fellow in Simeon Slade's
saloon, and he did it in a manner that won repeated
applause. He was a clever fellow. As snare drummer in the original Benton Harbor Band, Charley
Ogden could attract more attention, especially from
the small boys, than all the other musicians collectively. He could beat the drum in a way entirely
his own. His sister, Julia Ogden, was equally
gifted with musical talents. She later became Mrs.
Spencer Van Horn. The Ogden family were one of
the first familes that settled in Benton Harbor.
Their farm homestead was on the road now known
as Empire Avenue.
The Saturday Night Literary and Dime Entertainment Society gave some of their plays in the
new Central School Hall, but this hall was so far
out of town that the audiences were not so large
there as at Robbins' Hall.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

59

Katie Putnam, Harry B. Emery and J.A. Simon,
were stage favorities in Benton Harbor, in village
days, and later.
A movement to organize a cornet band met with
favor and support from the people generally. The
Benton Harbor Band became a locally famous institution. The credit for this enterprise is due to
Rush Brunson, a younger brother of the pioneer,
Sterne Brunson. He organized and trained all the
musically inclined young men in the village. Thus
the original Benton Harbor Band won the hearts of
the people, and left a record for popularity that
succeeding Bands have striven to emulate.
Rush Brunson was a cornet player of grand
ability. He gave his services freely to promote the
success of the Band. He was also in great demand
as a cornet soloist at entertainments. A high class
entertainment could be arranged on short notice
where Rush Brunson gave cornet solos, and the
Kneeland brothers sang their charming songs.
The following are the names of the members of
Benton Harbor's first band:
Rush Brunson, leader; Allen, Rufus and Horace
Brunson (nephews of the leader); Lewis Burridge,
Homer Portman, Edward Burr, Porter Johnson,
Irving Colby, Edward Brammall, Charles Ogden,
Henry Diamond, Alfonzo Vuylsteke, Dodge Reed,
Frank Burr, Fred Hopkins, and others who were
members later.




60        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
There were twelve, or more, cornet players;
Charley Ogden played the snare drum; Henry
Diamond, the bass drum; Al Fonzo, the piccolo, and
Dodge Reed, the clarinet.
The Band was in demand on public occasions, especially on the 4th of July. On the following day,
the 5th of July, they always gave a steamboat excursion to Michigan City for their own benefit as
an organization. These band excursions on the
5th were popular, and well patronized, especially by
merchants and clerks who had toiled on the 4th.
Benton Harbor's 4th of July celebrations were
always of the most patriotic and powder exploding
kind. A salute of thirteen guns at sunrise opened
the cannonading for the day. From that hour until midnight there was considerable strenuosity.
Citizens would get out their old army muskets and
shotguns early in the morning and fire salutes in
honor of the day. The sound of firecrackers could
be heard in all directions, with the occasional heavy
roar of cannon. The cannons were the old-fashioned
muzzle-loaders. Great wads of cut grass and
bunches of hay were rammed into a cannon behind
the power charge. When fired, the wad presented
the appearance, somewhat, of a sizzling shell. The
village government owned a six-pounder brass cannon that had seen service in the civil war. One
4th of July, while the local volunteer artillery com.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

61

pany, under the command of Calvin Colgrove, a
wagon maker, were firing the cannon on Main
Street, opposite the American House-pointing east
towards Ox Creek-the gun burst at the breech.
Colgrove's hair, which was long and wavy, and red,
was singed and some of it blown off, but fortunately
no one was seriously injured.
It was customary for the people to assemble at
Hunter's Grove, on East Main Street, in the afternoon of the 4th, and listen to the reading of the
Declaration of Independence. Speeches were made
eulogizing the glories of our Nation. The Band
played patriotic airs, Rush Brunson rendered cornet solos, and a glee club quartet sang stirring
songs. This feature of each 4th of July celebration
was greatly enjoyed by all the people generally.
Another feature of the old-time celebration was
the annual snologoster parade. The snologosters
were boys and men wearing masks and costumes.
Under the direction of leaders they would march or
ride on horses through town.
This manner of helping to celebrate the glorious
4th appealed so strongly to John McAllister that he
determined to put forth the biggest snologoster
parade and burlesque entertainment ever seen on
earth. And he did. A few weeks previous to
the 4th he began his preparations. He had some
handbills printed and posted in prominent locations:




62

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

"All who wish to join the Snologosters for a 4th
of July display, see John McAllister."
It soon spread like glad tidings of great joy
among the young men in the basket factories, in
stores and offices, and on the farms, that for fifty
cents up to five dollars any one could be a snologoster under the leadership of John McAllister. Each
one was guaranteed a costume to hide his identity,
and a horse to ride on, or the snologoster band
wagon to ride in.
We will never forget that 4th of July morning
when the great gathering assembled at John McAllister's farm home on Empire Avenue. It seemed
as if all the youths of Benton Harbor and surrounding country were there, with some older men for
good measure. John McAllister had imported from
Chicago a large stock of Ku-Klux-Klan wearing
apparel. This was doled out to the applicants, and
a rehearsal followed, amid much merriment.
In the afternoon, all were present again. The
great cavalcade moved out, and began a march that
should be recorded upon the pages of snologoster
fame. The procession moved in the following
order:
Great Chief. -With three arms, the extra arm
dangling flipity-flap at the back.
Grand Mogul.-With long linen duster, a wig,
and a face humorously serious looking.
Second Grand Mogul.--With large ears, and a
face of a simple simon variety.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

63

Father Abraham.--With a profusion of gray
hair, long flowing gray beard, and seated high in a
chariot.
Snologoster Band in wagon seating about twenty
musicians. Their musical instruments were tin
horns of various kinds and cast-iron drums. They
each wore a different colored uniform, and their
mask faces were foolish-looking.
Next in line were an old darky and negro woman
riding in a cart drawn by a bony horse, with ropes
for harness. The woman carried a parasol above
her head that had been so much torn it supplied no
shade. "Topsy's Sunday Out" was lettered on the
side of the wagon. The antics of this couple created
a great deal of merriment.
A long line of snologosters on horseback followed, riding two abreast. Their costumes varied
from attractive looking knights in armor to the
silliest clowns ever seen on a horse. There was a
tribe of Indians; their chief displayed a lettered
sign, "Bring on your westpointers."
The identity of some of these snologosters may
be of interest to the reader. The leaders were:
Great Chief. -John McAllister.
Grand Mogul. -Col. Ward.
Second Grand Mogul.-Jap Rowe.
Father Abraham.-Gus Bisbee.
Band Leader. -Johnny Stevens.
Indian Chief.-Tom Kinney.
Darkies. -Chris Tully and Lafe Fenton.




64

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

To record the names of all who participated in
that snologoster parade would be impossible in this
narrative.
The procession moved down Pipestone street to
Main street, thence east to Sixth street, thence
north to Territorial street, west to Water street and
south to Main street to Colfax avenue. It happened
that Benton Harbor had no regular celebration that
4th of July. After the snologosters had entertained
the local crowds, the great chief decided to move
his command to St. Joseph, where a regular celebration was in progress. Before starting, a special
program was arranged. The grand mogul prepared
a snologoster speech; the second mogul would call
the roll. Accordingly a squad of the snologosters
were given each the name of some well known man
in St. Joseph and Benton Harbor.
John McAllister rode along the line and the cavalcade moved forward across the marsh, on the old
Plank Road, across the river bridges and up the hill
into St. Joseph. A halt was called near where the
exercises of the day were held. The snologosters
formed a circle around their chiefs while the grand
mogul delivered an oration. In his gesticulating
address he told where the snologosters came from
(some mythical place, like fairyland), their object
in life was to make all good people happy; but they
came forth from their native jungle on only one
day in each year, the glorious 4th. The second




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

65

mogul called the roll. This was enlivened with
humorous allusions to prominent men. When called
each snologoster thus named would arise in his
saddle and answer "here."  Some of the prominent
citizens who were burlesqued happened to be
among the spectators; but they had to " take it;"
and they did, good-naturedly.
St. Joseph's citizens treated the snologosters
royally. When the exercises were over, word was
passed around that the business men had invited
the snologosters to come into their stores and be
treated to cigars or anything in the line of refreshments. The great chief accepted too much liquid
refreshments, and occasionally he could be seen
galloping his horse in various directions. The
majority of the snologosters returned to Benton
Harbor early in the evening, and just as they were
riding into town their lost leader came galloping
across the Plank Road, whooping and singing.
It was a great day for the snologosters.




66

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

CHAPTER VII.
Winter Sports.-Ice Skating.-Long Trips Up the Paw
Paw.-Some of the Experts.-Hannah Parmelee, Champion Girl Skater.-Roller Skating.-Rink the Social Center.-The Bicycle Appears.-"Circus Day."-Boys Are
Captivated by the Circus Attractions.
ICE skating was a favorite winter pastime. The
canal basin was used as a skating rink. The St.
Joseph riverwas another favorite resort for skaters,
as was also the Paw Paw river. It was customary
for the skaters to go on long excursions, starting
from the canal and skating in single file, forming
a straight line a half mile or more in length. From
the canal the head of the line would turn to the
Paw Paw, and when once on this zig-zag river the
skaters enjoyed the novelty of going 'round the
bends. These trips would sometimes take an entire day, so thoroughly did the skaters enjoy the
many adventures on the long journey and back.
Excursions up the St. Joseph river were less
popular with the Benton Harbor skaters, for the
reason they were somewhat afraid of a meeting
with St. Joseph skaters. There was considerable
ill feeling between the towns and when ever these




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

67

skating bands met there was sure to be a fight.
These affrays, on several occasions, became so
fierce that the combatants unloosed their skates
and used them as weapons to slam upon the heads
of their opponents.   Happily, this rival community warfare gradually passed away, and long before
ice skating had gone out of fashion the skaters of
Benton Harbor and St. Joseph mingled gleefully
together on the ice of the St. Joseph, the canal and
the Paw Paw.
There were a few very expert skaters who were
wont to show off their skill before admiring crowds.
Among these, Edward Brammall and Irving Colby
were the stars. Brammall was the acknowledged
champion skater.   He could do some very fancy
stunts on the ice. Irving Colby was almost as expert. There was a young woman of the name of
Parmelee-Hanna Parmelee-who was not only a
very attractive skater but was said to be the champion woman skater of Michigan. The Parme.ee
family lived on a farm homestead near Riverside.
There were four or five sisters and brothers in this
family but none of them could skate so expertly as
could the elder sister, Hanna. It was her custom
to always keep her skates attached to a pair of
skating shoes. Upon arriving at the river bank she
would exchange her shoes, putting on the ones to
which the skates were attached, and sending one
of her brothers back home with the discarded shoes.




68

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

Then away in long graceful strokes this queen of
the ice glided down the Paw Paw. No skater of
those times used so long and graceful a stroke as
did this young woman. During her trips down the
Paw Paw the inhabitants of that region were wont
to exclaim, "there goes Hanna Parmelee," and
there would be a rush of home folks to windows
and doors to gaze with admiration upon this wonderful skater. On the canal rink Hanna Parmelee
performed evolutions with other fancy skaters.
In 1885 roller skating became more than popular,
it developed into a craze. A large rink was built
by Charles Goodrich and Wm. Rowe, on Pipestone
Street, near Pleasant Street. A polo club was organized and this club played some great match
games with clubs from other towns. The roller
rink was the social center. The evening entertainments were society affairs. All the elite congregated there, as did also the common folks, Quite
a number of heart affairs, resulting in some weddings, are traceable to the roller skating rink.
Some of the roller skating stars of those days were;
Will Wolf (later known as W. F. Wolfenden), Ed.
Kolman, Mart. Wood, Walter Rounds, Harry Allen,
the Misses Maud Hall and Minnie Worden, and the
Misses Brunson and Langley. They were all expert
skaters as well as society leaders at the rink. The
Saturday evening masquerades were delightful
events.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

69

The following is copied from a picture card program of the roller rink:
"Compliments of Goodrich & Rowe, proprietors
of skating rink, Benton Harbor, Mich.
Program
Wednesday evening, March 18, 1885.
8:00, Music, Waltz.
8:15,   "   Polka.
8:30,   "   Schottische.
8:45,   "   Exhibition by Maud Hall and
Minnie Worden.
9:00, All Skate.
9:15, Exhibition by Walter Rounds.
9:30, All Skate.
9:45, Music, Grand March.
10:00, Dancing in center, waltz.
10:15, Polka.
10:30, Good Night.
ar Look out for the Grand Masquerade Saturday
evening, March 28th.    W. E. Wolf, Manager."
Before the roller skating craze passed away, the
bicycle was ushered in. The first bicycle in Benton
Harbor was ridden by Ed. Smiles. Smiles was a
clerk in J. W. Weimer's drug store on Pipestone
Street. He imported a bicycle from England. It
was a large and very high wheel. He gave daily
exhibitions on this high wheel, and was looked upon
as a wonderful performer. With his innovation,




70

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

Ed. Smiles, as handsome as his name is pleasant,
was the bicycle hero of the village.
The bicycle became very popular here a few
years later, but not until American manufacturers
began turning them out at a price low enough to
permit their purchase by those fortunate ones who
had a fairly good bank account.
The bicycle craze lasted about ten years, and
then fell to so low an ebb that a good wheel could
be purchased for one - fourth the former price.
The bicycle is used now mainly by workingmen.
To the workers it is a valuable aid in getting to
the workshop and home again.
On "Circus Day" all hands on the farms, and in
the basket factories and cooper shops, would quit
work for that afternoon, and go to the show. Circus day was somewhat similar to the Fourth of July
as a day of recreation. In the farming districts
the govenor of each household would hitch up his
best team of horses, right after dinner, and take a
full wagon-load of the home folk to town to see the
circus. Many of the country people would go to
town in the morning, "so as not to miss the
parade," and to more fully enjoy all the eclat of
the great occasion. Imbibing red lemonade and
partaking of dinner in a restaurant, or within a
stall decorated with flags and bunting, was a part
of the day's program. Throwing rings at nails,
where the orator eloquently declaimed: "might as




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.            71
well try to stop the waters of the mighty ocean,
as to try to stop intelligent people from trying their
luck on this ring-board; every time you ring a nail,
I give you half a dime, and every time you ring
the knife, I give you half a dollar," was a source
of delight to the rubes. Yankee Robinson's circus
was the first circus the boys had ever attended and
it was "the best show they ever saw."
The old time, one-ring circus, wherein performers attired in bright and glittering spangles exhibited their skill in great acrobatic feats, was more
pleasing, as an entertainment than the modern
gigantic three-ring show. Yankee Robinson was
the best circus man of his time, although P. T.
Barnum  was more famous.     Adam   Forepaugh
(4 Paw) came later with a combined animal show
and circus.




72

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

CHAPTER VIII.
Wolverines Baseball Club.-The Members.-The Mutuals
of St. Joseph.-Interest in the Games.-Other Clubs.The Old Ball Ground.-The Messengers.-Grangers
Defeated by Farmers.-The Mutuals Play Chicago
Clubs.-Trap Shooting.-Clark and Brane Contests.
PREVIOUS to 1870, base ball was unknown in the
villages of Michigan. The sport, which later became
the great national game, acquired some popularity
in the Eastern cities of the United States in the
years 1868-69.
The first base ball club organized in Benton
Harbor was known as the Wolverines. It was made
up of the boys and young men of the village, who
had been practicing batting, throwing and catching
base balls until they felt competent enough in the
art of the great game to form an organization that
would be representative of the new town's base ball
ambitions. This club was organized in the year
1870. The members were:
Charles Dodge, Stanley Morton, Homer Portman, Irving Colby, Al. Thompson, Frank Rutter,
Luck Hackley, George Reed, Will Rutter, Payne
Harrington, and Connie Hunter.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

73

There were other good players connected with
the Wolverines in later years, including Lewis Burridge, George Ricaby, and others.
James R. Clark organized a base ball club in St.
Joseph previous to the organization of the Benton
Harbor nine, and this move on the part of the rival
town acted as a spur toward the organization of the
Benton Harbor Wolverines. The St. Joseph club
was named the Mutuals, in imitation of the then
famous Mutuals of New York. The Mutuals of St.
Joseph were a fine base ball organization, and in
this respect, as well as in other ways, they were
well matched by the Benton Harbor Wolverines.
The members of the Mutuals of St. Joseph were:
James R. Clark, Frank Pixley, George Malone,
Frank Winslow, Charles Gray, Edward Winslow
Louis Hosbein, A. D. Kent, Charles Lysaight, and
Wm. Howard. Other good players were connected
with the Mutuals at different times. Two or three
of those mentioned were not in the original line up,
being too young at that time.
The games played between these rival clubs excited a great deal of interest.  In Benton Harbor
the games were played on the Morton ball ground
on Morton Hill. In St. Joseph the ball ground was
located near where the Central school building now
stands.
Clark was a high class sportsman and a very
aggressive ball player. As to which of these clubs




74        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
was the champion base ball organization it is generally agreed that the number of games won and
lost by each was about even. The hostility between
the towns was so intense that these games were
discontinued in order to prevent a greater spread
of ill-feeling.
Other clubs were organized in Benton Harbor to
give practice to the Wolverines, and the same was
done in St. Joseph to amuse the Mutuals. These
latter organizations were made up of boys ranging
in age from 14 to 16 years. The best club of this
class was known as the Shoo Flys. They took that
name to be in the vogue of a popular song of the
day. The refrain of this song was:
"I feel, I feel, I feel like telling ma,
I feel, I feel, I feel like a morning star,
Shoo fly, don't bother me,
For I belong to Company G."
The Shoo Flys were a great ball club for their
ages and sizes (or lack of size). They took great
pride in calling themselves the "second nine to the
Wolverines."
In St. Joseph there was a second nine to the
Mutuals-the Clippers. They were equally as good
a boys club as the Shoo Flys. The games between
these two boys clubs were great base ball events.
Baseball as played then was somewhat different
from the way in which it is played in modern
times. The pitching was the straight arm under



TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

75

hand toss, instead of the swift, overhand throw, as
now used. The latter style of pitching came into
vogue, while the players of those days were still in
the game. No gloves were used to protect the
hands from the impact of the ball, and the man behind the bat, the catcher, had no mask for his face
nor a pad to protect his body from foul tips. The
catcher who could hold his position through a game
without getting a black eye from a foul tip, or an
injury to his body from a wild pitch, would congratulate himself on his good luck.  To be a catcher
required extra ability as a base ball player and
superb courage and grit to withstand punishment.
Will Rutter, of the Wolverines, would stand up behind the bat and take foul tips in the face and body.
He would blink his eyes and wince from the punishment, but never think of quitting. And the same
can be said of Jim Clark of the St. Joseph Mutuals.
A favorite ball ground was the one near the old
Congregational Church on East Main Street. There
was a large vacant space on the west side of the
church, and at the south end of this vacant lot stood
Hunter's Hill. A batsman who could hit the ball to
the hilltop from the home plate, which was close to
the sidewalk on Main street, was considered something of a hitter. When playing practice games
on this ground a few of the players would occasionally bat the ball to the top of the hill. Luck




HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

76

Hackley (light negro) had more home runs of this
kind to his credit than any other player. John A.
Scott, shoemaker, would occasionally leave his
bench and go out to play with the boys. When
ever Luck Hackley came to bat, Mr. Scott, who
always played in the outfield, would hasten up the
hillside. Even then he would fail to make the catch,
because Hackley would drive it so far over his head
that a long chase back on the hill was necessary to
recover the ball.
Luck Hackley was the most popular base ball
man in the village. He kept the game alive whenever it showed signs of waning. He was so nearly
white in color and in features, and so gentlemanly,
that his friends, and they included nearly all the
people in Benton Harbor, always regarded him as a
first-class fine fellow in everw respect. His barber
shop on Pipestone street was base ball headquarters. He had three brothers, Gus, Bow, and Granny.
None of them were ball players. Bow, who was
very much of a darky, was one of the town comedians. He made so much of an impression upon Ben
King that the future poet adopted his name as his
own nom de plume. When King began publishing
his poems in the newspapers the verses were of the
negro dialect kind, and were always signed "Bow
Hackley."  "De Yarf-quake Shakin'," was one of
these poems.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

77

Baseball was a popular game in Benton Harbor
long after the Wolverines had disbanded. A new
ball ground was laid out on the flats, west of town.
Young men and boys from the basket factories and
stores played the game so continuously that they
were said to have "baseball on the brain." The
best organized club of this period was known as the
Messengers. The club was named in honor of the
steamer Messenger, a popular boat of the Graham &
Morton Line. One of the best contests played by
this club was the game played in Michigan City, Ind.,
when 4he local club defeated Michigan City's best
base ball talent. The occasion was the annual 5th
of July excursion given by the Benton Harbor Cornet Band. A few weeks later an excursion crowd
from Michigan City arrived in Benton Harbor, and
their base ball team came also, looking for revenge.
The game was played on the flats, and resulted in
a victory for Michigan City, by a close score.
The Messengers had one ex-Wolverine, Lew
Burridge, and one ex-Shoo Fly, Chance Nichols.
The other members were: Montelle Winans, Will
Resigee, Michael King, Frank Bishop, Alba Ruggles, Arthur Hunter, Bert Simons, and Mont
Farnum. Winans and Resigee were pitcher and
catcher, respectively. King's sensational catches
of fly balls to the outfield were commented on by
Michigan City players.
The Messenger Club did not reorganize after one
season of play. Some of the players (the catcher




78

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

in particular) wanted pay for playing, and as this
was not forthcoming, there being no gate receipts
at that time, the club disbanded. But there was
no lack of interest in base ball. The game was played
almost continuously by scrub nines; that is, not regular organizations.
The Granger Society movement was attracting
public attention at that time.  It was a farmers
organization, but nearly every individual felt an
interest in it. A local base ball club was then
organized and named the Grangers. None of the
players were farmers. They enjoyed excursions
into the country districts where ball clubs were
partly organized, and usually played for prizes,
such as bats and balls, and occasionally a keg of
foam. These trips into the rural districts were
usually taken in the band wagon. The Grangers
victories were many, and in consequence their base
ball pride was quite monumental. But when they
played the Hogue brothers base ball club of Sodus
they went down in humiliating defeat. The Hogue
brothers base ball club was unknown in Benton
Harbor until they defeated the Grangers, and then
it was discovered that they were a high-class organization of ball players, and a club that would be a
credit to any city.
The St. Joseph Mutuals continued to play the
game. Clark kept the club up to its best playing




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

79

form by his aggressive and agreeable personality.
Games were arranged with Chicago semi-professional clubs. The first of these games was heralded
on printed posters as follows:
"Base ball. Lake Views of Chicago League vs.
Mutuals of St. Joseph," etc.
This game drew a large crowd, not only from St.
Joseph but also from Benton Harbor and surrounding country. The Mutuals were defeated; score, 17
to 11. In this game, Resigee of Benton Harbor
played third base for the Mutuals.
Then followed a game with the West Ends, also
of the Chicago League. This game was won by the
Mutuals. The Dreadnaughts, a famous club of
Chicago, were also defeated by the Mutuals.
The line-up of the St. Joseph Mutuals included
the following players, all of whom were residents
of the village of St. Joseph:
James R. Clark, captain and catcher; Joseph
Collier, substitute catcher; Frank Pixley and Wm.
Howard, pitchers; Louis Hosbein, shortstop; George
Malone, (and later Rollie Snyder) first base; Charles
Lysight, second base; Frank Winslow, third base;
John Skinner, left field; Ed. Winslow, center field;
A. D. Kent, right field.
Trap shooting of wild pigeons became a favorite
sport with the expert wing shots of St. Joseph and
Benton Harbor.




80

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

The first grand event of this kind was a match
between James R. Clark, of St. Joseph, and Ed.
Brane, of Benton Harbor. Both of these men were
experts with the double-barrelled shot gun. This
trap shooting event was staged in the sand-hills.
The principals and some of the spectators crossed
the river in boats. For four hours the guns banged
and the pigeons dropped. Quite a number of the
pigeons escaped, and some of these birds, slightly
wounded, were shot by men and boys concealed outside the boundry lines. The pigeons they thus
secured were put into their own game bags. The
conditions of the contest called for one hundred
birds to each man, double rise. That is, two pigeons
thrown into the air at the same moment from different traps. Brane killed more pigeons than did
Clark, and was hailed as the winner of the match.
He was immediately challenged by Clark to a return
match, at a future date. Brane insisted that the
next match should be held on the flats in Benton
Harbor. This was agreed to by Clark.
It was a bright cold day in October when this
shooting match was contested on the flats, in the
south end of the village, near the old Britain Road.
That region was an open prairie, and an ideal spot
for trap shooting. To the right, out in the marsh,
there was a tamarack grove, and under the tamarack trees there were dense growths of shrubbery
and vines. To the south a small forest of oaks grew




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

81

at the foot of the hill. In either one of these wooded
spots each escaping pigeon sought refuge, only to
fall a victim to the gun of a hidden marksman.
Wild pigeons made good pot-pies, and of course the
nimrods could not be blamed for improving this
opportunity.
An immense throng of men and boys assembled
there to witness this match. While arrangements
were being completed, and during the necessary
delay, there was considerable fun created in one
section of the crowd. Sam Hull, attired in a long
overcoat, challenged a husky rube from one of the
back townships, to a wrestling match. They went
at it, with overcoats on, and after a great deal of
rolling and tumbling on the ground, Sam finally held
his opponent down, and was declared the winner.
After the shooting started, and some of the birds
had escaped, James Trimble mounted a box and
waving a roll of bills announced, "fifteen dollars
on Jimmie Clark!" The bet was taken by an admirer
of Brane. Suspicious men were present who were
of the opinion that there was a scheme of some kind
planed to defeat Brane. He drank frequently from
bottles that looked like innocent pop bottles. He
acted queerly, as if worried over the prospect of
defeat. His shooting was not so accurate as in the
previous match. He missed his second bird quite
frequently, while his opponent, Clark, continued to
drop both birds at almost every rise, rarely miss



82        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
ing. Clark's confident manner and skillful shooting
won the admiration of the spectators.
The shades of twilight were settling down over
the flats when the last pigeons were sprung from
the traps. Clark won the match and two hundred
dollars in prize money.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

83

CHAPTER IX.
First Newspaper.-Name Puzzling.r-Changes Hands,.--
Editor Thresher.-Editor Sturtevant.-Editor Reeves.Tom Hurly Gets a Contract.-The Times Appears.Capt. Napier on Warpath.-The Palladium  Changes
Ownership.-R. J. David's Style.-Jackson, a Joker.Mr. Thresher Again Editor.-He Sells the Palladium to
Gilson & Hobbs.
THE publication of a newspaper, representative of
the community, and displaying in its date lines the
name of the town-Benton Harbor, Michigan-gave
additional incentive to the life of the village. The
paper was established in October, 1868, by Leonard
J. Merchant. It was named The Palladium, and its
motto was, Pro bono publico, (for the public good).
The public, generally, did not like this name, owing
to its obscurity, but in time The Palladium became
a popular newspaper, especially with the political
party it supported (Republican principles were advocated). Not all the people could, or cared to,
pronounce the paper's name correctly. It was
amusing to hear the home folks say "The Pal-ladi-um," with the accent on the "lad." The dictionary
explains, the word is from the Latin, is pronounced
Pal-a-di-um, and means safeguard of liberty. Mr.




84        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
Merchant named the new paper in honor of the
Hartford (Conn.) Palladium, a great paper, with
which he was formerly connected as a printer. At
this time St. Joseph had a well known paper called
The Traveller. This paper made its editor, Horace
Guernsey, famous throughout this part of the State.
Mr. Merchant soldThePalladium toJ. P. Thresher.
The latter was a vigorous writer. He made the
paper thoroughly representative of the enterprising
spirit of the village. Mr. Thresher's work inspired
enthusiasm, and through his journalistic efforts outside capital was attracted to this locality. To Mr.
Thresher is due credit for the first railroad enterprise secured for Benton Harbor. He was ever on
the alert to attract to this place enterprises that
would benefit the community.
Mr. Thresher was appointed postmaster of the
village and retired from the editorial chair. He
sold The Palladium to Alvin Sturtevant, of New
York. The latter added some new type equipment
to the plant, and a quarto Gordon job press. Mr.
Sturtevant was a practical newspaper man, being
a printer as well as a writer. He came here from
the State of New York after pondering over Horace
Greeley's advice, (as published in the N.Y. Tribune)
"Go West, young man." The Palladium grew in
influence and circulation. The paper was printed
every Friday on a Washington hand press. This
press was capable of printing nearly two hundred




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

85

copies per hour, one side of the paper only. The
other side was printed in Chicago. It was what was
then known to printers and publishers as the
"patent outside."
Mr. Sturtevant acquired the habit, in wintry
weather, of sitting close to a large hot stove while
writing copy for the paper. The stove did good
service in its efforts to consume tough wood knots
brought in by farmers to pay for their subscriptions
to The Palladium. During the last winter of Mr.
Sturtevant's life he sat beside this stove and wrote
good articles about Benton Harbor's advantap es and
the bright future prospects of the village. He was
oblivious of the cause of his failing health. He did
not seem to realize that a supply of fresh air in his
work room each day would have preserved his
stalwart physique from disease and decay. He died
from a lung ailment. He left a wife and two little
boys to mourn their loss.
His widow sold The Palladium to Charles E.
Reeves, a graduate of Cornell (N.Y.) University.
Dr. S. M. White, then a youth, learned the printing trade in Mr. Sturtevant's office; as did also
Arthur C. Webb, who later became an employe in
the Government Printing Office at Washington.
Mr. Reeves, the fourth editor of The Palladium,
took an advanced position in support of prohibition
and the franchise for women. These politics were
ahead of the times, and were not in general favor.




86

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

That they have won victories in later years proves
that Mr. Reeves' political foresight was keener than
some of the readers of The Palladium would admit
in those pioneer days. Although criticised at times
rather harshly, Mr. Reeves went along bravely and
smilingly. For seven years he edited The Palladium,
took an active part in business and social affairs,
and devoted the columns of his paper to the best
interests of the village.
In contrast to Mr. Reeves was the first man he
employed to manage the mechanical department of
The Palladium. This was none other than Thomas
B. Hurly of St. Joseph, a printer who learned his
trade in The Traveller office, and as smart a fellow
as he was handsome and accomplished as a conversationalist. Physically, he was of the light weight
class, of a somewhat pugnacious temperament, and
prone to dissipation.
Mr. Hurly was given a six-months contract. He
told his friends this contract was "a good thing, for
the party of the second part."
It was while Thomas B. Hurly held this contract
that the following incident took place: There was
a fruit grower named P. P.Allen. He was interested
in one of the steamboat companies. Hurly was
doing a large amount of printing for some of the
other steamboats. Allen came in to have some hand
bills printed. Mr. Hurly took the order. Before
starting work on the job the next day he happened




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

87

to remember that he heard some one say that Allen
was slow; that he never paid any kind of a bill unless sued for it. Mr. Hurly thereupon decided not
to do the work, but as he had promised to have it
ready at a certain time, he must resort to some
strategy. Accordingly, at about the time he expected Allen to come in, he posted one of the boys
at a window with instructions to look sharp for P. P.
Allen, and when he saw him coming to let him know.
(The Palladium office was then located in the Gates
& Bell Block). The boy stood on guard duty about
an hour when suddenly he sang out, "Here comes
P. P. Allen!"  Tom immediately stepped over to
the job press and took off the treadle. (The press
was run by foot power). Allen came up the stairs
briskly and inquired if the bills were ready. Tom
assumed a mournful expression of countenance and
replied:
"Mr. Allen, we have had a bad accident. The
press broke down and we can not get it fixed."
Mr. Allen replied: "That's too bad. Ain't there
no way to fix it?"
Tom answered: "I have dispatched one of the
boys to St. Joseph for a machinist, but I am not certain that he can fix it when he does arrive. You
can see for yourself, the motive clamp attached to
the wheel shaft is completely disabled, and the
press can not be run unless some one turns the fly




88

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

wheel by hand, which of course would be a difficult
and dangerous thing to do."
Mr. Allen believed every word said, and they
both stood near the press looking sadly at it. The
two boys in the office pretended they were setting
type, but were almost unable to suppress their
giggling.
Finally Allen said, "Well, Tommy, maybe you
can get it fixed. I'll come in to-morrow."
When Mr. Allen had descended the stairway Tom
put the treadle on, and one of the boys continued
printing.
The following day the same performance was
enacted, only this time Tom told Mr. Allen that he
was compelled to write to the Chicago press builder
to send over an expert mechanic to fix the press.
Allen then took the job to a St. Joseph printing
office.
When Tom Hurly's six-months contract expired
Mr. Reeves was not downhearted. He employed
Sumpter M. White as foreman of The Palladium
printing department. The latter was studying
dentistry at this time. Olin C. Eastman, a high
school graduate, was taken into the office as an
assistant to the editor, and he also acquired a
knowledge of the printing craft that enabled him
in later years to become a successful Chicago publisher. Will Adams of Watertown, N.Y., succeeded
Dr. White as foreman. The latter retired from the




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

89

printing trade to follow dentistry, his chosen profession. Milliard Bates, James Pender, and Perry
Abbott, all learned the rudiments of the printing
trade in The Palladium office while Mr. Reeves was
the editor.
Thomas B. Hurly, with his brother, Wm. Hurly,
started an opposition paper and named it The Times.
It was a Democratic paper in politics. It appealed
to those people who liked fearless journalism. Scandals were published in savory style. After Tom
Hurly had been knocked down by Joseph Weimer
(this was the first knock down of The Times editor)
he was around town and at his office each day not
seriously handicapped by injuries from the encounter, except the inconvenience of having to wear a
bandage over one eye.
William Hurly was quite the opposite, in almost
every way, to his brother. He was a temperance
advocate, of speculative tendencies, and ambitious.
People who were most intimately acquainted with
the Hurly brothers regarded Tom as the more noble
of the two. Will was possessed of an inordinate
desire to accumulate wealth by every means
available.
When S. R. Hughes, an agent of a steamboat
line, approached him with a well-written article
criticising Capt. Nelson W. Napier, of St. Joseph,
William Hurly published the communication verbatim. It was not signed by Hughes, and therefore




90

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

the editor took all responsibility for its publication.
Capt. Napier called at The Times office in a fit
of bad temper (he was known as a terrible fighter
when in the mood). Al. Thompson, clerk of the
steamer Corona, was with his captain. Mr.Napier
asked Will Hurly if he was the editor and publisher
of the paper. Receiving an affirmative reply the
captain asked for a copy of the last issue of the
paper. Hurly produced a copy. Napier requested
Al. Thompson to read the article criticising his conduct while in Washington in the interest of an
appropriation for the St. Joseph harbor. Napier's
anger began rising higher as the reader progressed.
When that part had been reached which said: "All
Capt. Napier did was to show that St. Joseph had
not a gentleman, " he asked Mr. Hurly if he was the
author of it. Receiving an evasive reply, he lost
some of his self control, and gripping Hurly with
his left hand he drew back his powerful right, but
before the blow could be delivered, Al. Thompson
clinched his arm and restrained him. Then Capt.
Napier said to Mr. Hurly: "You have done me an
injustice. I demand that you retract in the next
issue of you paper every word of this article and tell
the public that you have done me an injustice."
Hurly's fighting grit was aroused from the gripping he had received. His eyes gleamed with the
ferocity of a tiger at bay. His right hand was thrust
back to his hip pocket as if to draw a revolver,




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

91

Thompson, fearing a tragedy, stepped between the
two men, and soothed the anger of Napier, telling
him to "keep cool, captain, everything will be all
right." Napier and Thompson then walked towards
the door. Capt. Napier turned around and said to
Hurly: "Now, if you don't retract in your next
paper and say that you have done me an injustice,
I will come in here and throw you and all of your
newspaper rubbish out of the windows."
Mr. Hurly decided immediately to put the law on
Capt. Napier for assault and battery. He hastened
over to a justice of the peace and swore out a warrant. Village Marshal Cush Burr took the warrant,
jumped into his buggy, and drove rapidly in pursuit of Napier. The latter was overtaken just when
his horse and buggy were entering the gateway of
his country home on the St. Joseph River, in Fair
Plain. He returned with Marshal Burr, pleaded
guilty in court to the charge of assault, paid a fine
of five dollars and costs, and then drove home in
peace. Hurly exhibited black and blue marks on
his shoulder and arm where the powerful Napier
had gripped him.
There was no retraction in the next issue of The
Times. The paper contained a lengthy article, with
scare head lines, which certainly could not have
been pleasant reading for Capt. Napier, if he read
it. It is probable he did not. The Times office was
prepared to meet an attack by the addition of a




92        HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
six-shooter, 38-caliber revolver. Marshal Burr kept
a close watch upon The Times each day. No attack
was made.
During the visit of Capt. Napier to The Times,
Thomas B. Hurly was absent. In the office with
Will Hurly at the time there was a tramp printer,
whose name was Robinson Crusoe, and an apprentice boy, whom Crusoe called "the cub." Neither
Robinson Crusoe nor the cub desired any participation in a fight with Capt. Napier.
The Times office was located on Water street. It
occupied the second floor of a two-story frame building near the alley leading to the canal. Capt. Napier
said he would throw it all into the canal.
Now back to The Palladium's history: Mr. Reeves
sold the paper to W. H. Marston. The latter was a
prominent G. A. R. man. He came near making
The Palladium the official organ of the veterans.
He did not remain long in the editorial chair. He
had interests at Fitzgerald, Ga., a southern colony
town of veterans. Marston sold The Palladium to
R. J. David, a merchant who conducted a dry goods
store on West Main Street. *
Mr. David took possession with considerable enthusiasm. It seemed to be his ambition to show the
wonderful possibilities of our common language.
His diction was superb. His writings were masterpieces of correct expression. His use of long words




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

93

and foreign additions to the language was no doubt
stimulating to his scholarly mind. The following
is an extract from a report of an entertainment
which Mr. David and his wife attended. It was
written by Mr. David:
"The night, Christmas night, 1879, was dark
and dreary; and the mud, in a delectable state of
liquefaction, momentarily endangered the immaculancy of recherche toilets."
There was a great deal more to this article, all
written in the same dainty, mystifying style. The
readers of The Palladium were wont to ask each
other: "What's the meaning of this word?" and
"what does that word mean?" "how d'ye pronounce it?" etc.
Charles A. Jackson was quite a joker. He walked
with a limp-step and was the proud proprietor of a
cheap john store on Water Street. He advertised:
"A shot gun full of lemonade for 5 cents. Don't
sell your furs until I have a chance to bid on them.
Highest market price paid for skins,. St. Joe. fellers
scalps, furs, hides and pelts. Muskrat skins taken
in exchange for powder and shot. Boys, don't forget, a shot gun full of lemonade for 5 cents."
One day he was standing in front of his' store
with one hand placed tightly over his jaw. A friend
asked him if he was suffering from toothache.
"Nope.''




94

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

"Got the newralgy?"
"Nope."
"Been gittin' a punch in the jaw?"
"Nope."
"What's the matter o' you, then?"
"I've been readin' The Palladium," Jackson explained, holding tightly to his jaw.
Mr. David's career in the editorial chair was
short and unprofitable. The next proprietors of
The Palladium were Rose & Miley, two ambitious
young men from Jackson, Mich. They did well
with the paper for a few years. Mr. Rose was a
man of magnetic personality. He was familiarly
called "Matt" by his associates and acquaintances.
A disagreement between the proprietors (they were
brothers in law) caused Mr. Miley to withdraw from
the firm, and thereafter Matt Rose conducted the
paper. It was not long until he found himself in
financial distress. He thereupon sought a purchaser
for The Palladium. Mr. J. P. Thresher took the
business off his hands. Rose was retained by Mr.
Thresher as foreman of the mechanical department.
Some time later Mr. Rose secured the very desirable
position of private secretary to the Hon. Julius
Caesar Burrows, Congressman from the Fourth
District, and later United States Senator. Matt
Rose and his wife thereafter made their home in
Kalamazoo and at Washington, D. C.
Thus for the second time Mr. J. P. Thresher became the editor and proprietor of The Palladium.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

95

The office was then located on the second floor of a
frame building on Water Street. The Palladium
plant in former years had been located in the Gates
& Bell building, on the corner of Main and Pipestone
Streets. The plant was now in the same rooms
formerly occupied by The Times, which had suspended publication.
Although The Times had ceased to exist, Thomas
B. Hurly was running another paper, which he had
named The Expositor. His plant was located in the
Gates & Bell building.
Mr. Thresher was subjected to considerable
"rough stuff" from The Expositor, and, becoming
weary of it all, he advertised The Palladium for sale.
His advertising, some of which was placed in publications of national circulation, attracted the
attention of a newspaper man at Clinton, Iowa.
The latter came to Benton Harbor to investigate.
He was so well pleased with the town that a deal
for the purchase of The Palladium from Mr. Thresher
was consummated. Soon thereafter The Palladium
changed hands again, and the editorial page revealed the names of the new proprietors-F. R.
Gilson & Fred A. Hobbs.




96

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

CHAPTER X.
Political Effervesence.-Orators at the Rallys.-Some
Political Surprises.-Soldiers and Sailors Reunion.-The
Camp Is Named Camp Grant.-Cal. Ward Delivers the
Address of Welcome.-Sham Battle Similar to the Battle of Mission Ridge.
PEOPLE in these parts displayed a great deal of
political effervesence in all Presidential campaigns.
Party clubs, Republicans and Democrats, were organized and drilled in marching evolutions. These
rival clubs were wont to display their numerical
strength in night parades, with torchlights and
flambeaus, on every occasion when a rally was advertised to be addressed by popular orators.
Col. L. M. Ward was a favorite speaker at Republican rallys, as was also George M. Valentine
and Victor M. Gore. N. A. Hamilton and Lawrence
C. Fyfe, of St. Joseph, could make the welken ring
at Republican meetings.
At the Democratic meetings, Al. Potter was
usually present, and when called upon for a few
remarks, he would pull up his sleeves and pitch in
to the Republican party in a manner that never
failed to create a great deal of laughter. His




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

97

speeches were mainly sarcastic references to the
Republicans love for the Negro. In more recent
times, Roman I. Jarvis, Wm. C. Hicks, and James
O'Hara, were popular orators at Democratic rallys.
The Republican orators had an advantage over
their Democratic opponents. The war record of the
two parties was amply sufficient to create sentiment
in favor of the Republicans. The tariff questionthe tariff that had built up American industrieswas another factor in the Republicans favor. The
war theme, or "the bloody shirt," as it was called
by the Democrats, was utilized as a campaign argument for more than twenty years after the war.
The Republicans finally ceased waving "the bloody
shirt" and won victories on the issues of the day.
Although the voting strength of the Republicans
of Benton Harbor was always sufficient to insure
the election of candidates on that ticket throughout
the county of Berrien, there were a few instances
in which candidates on other tickets were successful. The most surprising and notable of these
political changes was when Silas G. Antisdale
(Republican) was elected President of the village on
a Citizens ticket, in opposition to Marenus A. Bronson, the regular Republican nominee, and Thomas
O'Hara, steamboat clerk, was elected County Clerk
on the Democratic ticket. Both of these gentlemen
were highly esteemed by voters of all parties.
Again, in 1888, Mr. O'Hara was elected Circuit Judge




98

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

of Berrien County. In this campaign his opponent
was George S. Clapp, an attorney of Niles and St.
Joseph. Thomas O'Hara received the entire vote
of his party as well as hundreds of the votes of his
Republican admirers. He served the people of the
County of Berrien faithfully and efficiently. Mr.
O'Hara was later appointed United States Consul
to Nicarauga, where he resided with his family
during President Cleveland's administration.
In August, 1885, the soldiers and sailors of Southwestern Michigan held a grand reunion at Benton
Harbor. The Camp was named Camp Grant, in
honor of the great General Ulysses S. Grant, who
had recently died. Camp Grant was located in A.
B. Riford's Addition, on the flat near Morton Hill.
Twenty-five thousand people attended this reunion.
The following comments on the reunion were written by Dr. H. C. Rockwell, and were published in
a local newspaper-The Wedge:
"The reunion, so much talked of, has come and
gone. By the officers of the Association and by
every soldier present it has been pronounced a success. Those who have attended the previous
reunions universally praise the completeness of the
arrangements and, without detracting from the
merits of former ones, consider that it has been in
every way the most satisfactory of any in the history of the Southwestern Michigan Association.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

99

The place selected for Camp Grant furnished plenty
of shade, where the boys could rest and renew the
acquaintances of former years, awaken once more
the memories of dangers and hardships in the past,
and by the brightly burning camp fire recount the
deeds of valor and patriotism of those comrades
who have answered to "the last call of the roll on
high."  In the quartermaster's department everything went on with methodical simplicity and
exactness. Quartermaster A. M. Randall was never
for a moment in the least " rattled," or out of temper, and assistant quartermaster A. Vincent was
always on hand to see that all wants were supplied.
Quartermaster-sergeant John Randall worked during the entire reunion with a thoroughness and
steady attention which insured the completeness of
the department. Too much praise cannot be given
to this department, which saw that horses were
supplied and on hand, tents were up and well supplied with straw, teaming work was done, carriages
secured and on ihand, and in a general way looked
to the wants of the camp with the exception of
rations. Adjutant John W. Leslie was in camp, as
he is everywhere, right on hand. His duties were
military ones, and mounted on the back of his noble
gray, he looked, as he no doubt was, every inch the
soldier. The officers of the camp speak in the
highest terms of his efficiency.
The commissary department, under charge of
Ova Nutting, deserved and received the highest




100

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

praise from everyone. During the reunion over
15,000 well-cooked and quickly served rations were
issued by him and Commissary Sergeant J. M. McCormick. In this were issued 5,000 loaves of bread,
3,000 pounds of fresh beef, 4 barrels of salt beef,
4 barrels of pork, 300 pounds of coffee, 3 barrels of
sugar, 200 bushels of potatoes, besides beans, butter, pepper, salt, etc., etc. The faithfulness and
ability of the genial cook, Geo. C. Ferris, is worthy
of special mention, and if the "surest way to a
man's heart is by the way of his stomach," then
has he got the good wishes of the soldier boys, for
they were loud in their praise of the rations.
Taken altogether it was a grand success, and as
contributing to that success the people of this surrounding country are worthy of all praise. Too
much cannot be said for the liberality of the citizens
of Bainbridge, Hagar, Watervliet, Sodus and Pipestone, who gave willingly, one all, of their abundance. Bainbridge is worthy of especial kind
feelings for her exceptional liberality, and other
towns were not far in the rear. Potatoes, pork,
beans, and almost every kind of provisions were
brought in by the wagonload, and instead of
"swamping us," as was confidently predicted by
some envious people, enough was left to feed a
thousand men, and provisions, bread, meat, beans,
etc., were given away to the deserving poor. The
completeness of the success is due not only to Ben



TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

101

ton Harbor, whose citizens donated nearly $2,000 in
money, but to every one in the surrounding country who so generously helped the cause along by
work and donations. Among those who are worthy
of especial mention are: Hon. A. N. Woodruff and
John Krause of Bainbridge, T. N. Perry and Port
Clapsaddle of Hagar, Al. Nichols and Rock Edwards
of Sodus, Wm. Burton and M. Jennings of Pipestone,
Dr. W. A. Baker of Watervliet, John Chivvis of
Benton, and many more whose names we have not
been able to learn.
Geo. H. Thomas Post, G. A. R., did good service
in escorting the boys to the Camp, under the command of past commander Geo. R. Wright. The
entire program was well carried out. The practice
of D Battery of Chicago was excellent. The sham
battle was realistic and fully as successful as is
usual in such affairs. The march made a beautiful
display, led by the fine band from Cassopolis, which
played at headquarters during the reunion. The
S. O. V. Drum Corps from Hartford attracted much
attention, and the little fellows were universally
commended for their fine drill and natty appearance.
The public exercises on Thursday were attended by
a concourse of people estimated at not less than
10,000. Col. L. M. Ward made the welcoming address, and in his happiest vein told the boys that it
was not necessary that he should offer them the
liberty of the town, as from his experience of the




102

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

old soldiers if they wanted it they would probably
take it. Capt. Allen of Battle Creek responded in a
short and appropriate address. Mrs. McCann recited
a poem which stirred all hearts. Governor Alger
made a few well-timed remarks in a pleasant way,
complimenting our village. The oration by Col.
David Ward Wood is on every hand spoken of as
the most eloquent and masterly address ever listened
to by those present.
In the election of officers on Friday Col. David
Bacon, of Niles, was elected president; Col. L. M.
Ward, of this place, vice-president, and R. D. Dix,
of Berrien, one of the second vice-presidents.
It is impossible to speak of all who contributed
to the fullness of the success. Mr. S. G. Antisdale,
Mr. Seeley McCord, Major L. W. Pearl, and Mr. H.
C. Morton, of the reception committee, were notably
workers and generous with their teams. It would
not be right to close this article without giving the
executive committee, Messrs. Bronson, Hipp, Kinney, Ward and Shairer, the praise which to them
justly belongs. To accept such a responsibility is of
itself an exhibition of a good deal of courage, and
to carry it out so successfully displays great tact
and executive ability. Their work was well done,
and so well was the financial part handled that the
treasurer, Dr. Rockwell, feels confident that all just
bills will be paid in full.
In short, the affair may be written a success, in




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

103

big letters, and while a few may not have realized
all they expected, yet it is but another instance of
the pluck, energy, perseverance and courage of the
people of Benton Harbor and vicinity."
The sham battle was enacted on ground situated
somewhat similar to that on which the historic battle of Mission Ridge was fought. The "rebel"
batteries were located on the extreme end of the
ridge of the hills near the Paw Paw bridge. The
Union forces were in line of battle in Riford's
orchard. The Niles battery, located near the Pere
Marquette Railroad, supported them, opening a
heavy fire on the enemy. The batteries on the hill
(the confederates) belched fire continuously. The
lines of blue in the orchard moved forward to the
charge. They emerged from the orchard and crossed
the road on the double-quick, with bayonets fixed,
but before reaching the hill they were metwith such
a deadly fire from the cannons and muskets of the
foe that a retreat was sounded on the bugles. The
men in blue retreated in good order, the partly
disorganized lines sweeping back into the orchard
like a cyclone. The spectators, who had taken positions in the orchard, ran for their lives in front of
the retreating soldiers, and escaped being trampled
upon by getting over the fences in ever way possible. Again the lines of blue were formed for the
charge. This time they went up the hillside under
a heavy fire and routed the enemy, capturing the
guns and taking all the rebs prisoners.




104

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

One of the largest posts present was from St.
Joseph. The boys marched over and as they passed
under the grand arch, with the city band at the
head of the column, they presented a very soldierly
appearance.
When the firing became general in the sham
battle, the veteran war horse "Frank," the hero of
sixteen bloody battles, could hardly be restrained,
so eager was he to see what was going on at the
front. His pictures sold rapidly.
An old artillery piece, known as the Niles Battery, which during the war was captured by the
rebels at the battle of Chicanuga, and was recaptured again by the union:troops at the battle of
Mission Ridge, was an object of especial interest to
all. This old six-pounder did its last and final work
of war in the sham battle at Benton Harbor's grand
reunion of civil war veterans.
(The above notes on the soldiers reunion are
copied from The Wedge, a local newspaper of that
period).




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

105

TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.         105

CHAPTER XI.
Mr. Potter Gets the Times.-A Poem.-Challenged to a
Duel.-Times Changes Ownership.-Tom Hurly Starts
Sthe Expositor.-Criticism of the Israelites.-Expositor
Changes Hands.-Thomas B. Hurly Founder of Many
Local Newspapers.-The Wedge Appears.-First Street
Cars.
THE Hurly brothers sold The Times to Alvin Potter.
There were two of the Potter brothers, Calvin and
Alvin. Both of them were St. Joseph lawyers,
prominent Democrats, and they had engaged in
many a wordy war with their Republican opponents.
As public speakers at Democratic rallys, Cal. or Al.
knew how to stir up an audience.
When they secured a hold on The Times they
moved the plant to rooms on West Main Street,
second floor, over John Thomas' shoe store. In the
first issue of their paper there were some uncomplimentary allusions to the editor's foes. An original poem, entitled "Owed to Horace," was published. Following is an extract from this poem:
"OWED TO HORACE."
Bulky, burly, bulbous bub,
Swab your ears and hear the rub
I'll give you now for nuthin'.
'You were a source of discontent
To every honest sentiment
And well deserve a cussin'.




106

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

You were a dimecrat, by cripe,
So long as you could stuff your tripe
With dimecratic loot.
You sniffed cheese across the fence
And skated from the dimmies thence
To get that in your goot."
Cal. Potter was the author of the poem. It was
unsigned, and Al., whose name alone appeared as
editor and publisher of The Times, was challenged
by Horace Guernsey, of St. Joseph. One of Mr.
Guernsey's friends delivered the dueling challenge
to Potter. No duel was fought, because Mr. Potter
turned it all into a joke. As he was the challenged
party, he could choose the weapons to be used, according to the dueling code. His choice was, shot
guns loaded with rock salt, the battle-ground to be
in the sandhills. Mr. Guernsey let the matter drop.
Mr. Potter did not remain very long in the editorial chair of The Times. He sold the plant to
Arthur C. Webb. The later was assisted in the
editorial work by his father, Prof. J. R. Webb. The
Times sanctum became the meeting place for some
of the leading fruit growers of this vicinity. Prof.
Webb was a popular authority on horticultural matters, as well as an author of school books that
established a new and improved method of teaching
the younger children. The Times publishers could
not make the paper profitable, and they suspended
its publication after about one year's experience.
Tom Hurly's Expositor gained a circulation of
1400, a figure that was pointed to with pride by the




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

107

publisher. Exposure of deeds that are usually kept
out of print was the popular feature of the Expositor.
The House of David people, who were then known
as the Flying Rollers, received their first criticism
in this vicinity from Tom Hurly's Expositor. The
following article was clipped from the Expositor at
that time and preserved in a scrap-book:
"Kill the Frauds. -Some months ago there came
to this place an old man named Comming. He was
a Scotchman and claimed to be "commissioned" by
the president of a college in that country to come
to America and preach the doctrine of what is called
the House of Israel.  He plied his vocation here
very quietly, but the old chap was a shrewd one
and his efforts soon bore fruit. As near as we can
find out he worked into the good graces of Albert
Baushke, a good citizen and an honest man. He
found a stopping place at Baushke's house, where
he gathered a certain class about him of a Sunday,
and to them he "preached" from a manuscript a
terrorizing sermon well calculated to rope in the
superstitious and unwary. Commings left here
some three weeks ago, but not until he had induced
quite a number of families to advertise their property for sale and promise to accompany him to
some remote land where he claimed, so we are told,
that a number of "God's people," he being the
agent employed to corral the flock, were building




108

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

an ark, immediately on the completion of which the
Almighty would pour out the vials of his wrath on
a wicked world and every living creature therein
(except old Comming and his gang of suckers in
the ark) would perish. Last week another selfconstituted envoy of the Lord appeared in town to
keep up the excitement created by Comming, and
see to it that none of his "converts" went back on
their purpose to sell out and take steerage passage
in the ark. He advertised to preach at Conkey's
opera house last Sunday afternoon and again at the
same place in the evening. In the afternoon he
had a small audience whom he succeeded in rendering thoroughly disgusted with his senseless twaddle.
E. C. Clay, the buss man, challenged him on some
of his utterances regarding the Bible, and the
fellow was made to display his inherent ignorance.
In the evening a somewhat larger audience turned
out to hear him and many left the hall in disgust,
while many who remained felt like taking the critter
to the canal and throwing him in for thus shaming
Almighty God. We are sorry for the citizens who
have allowed themselves to be victimized by this
pair of frauds, and hope they will be induced on
second thought to throw aside the yoke they have
foolishly put on and return to their legitimate avocations, wiser men and women. Should they not see
fit to respect this, our advice, in this matter, bear
in mind our prediction that when too late they will




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

109

see the trap into which they stepped and sorely repent their error. Gentlemen, if you are bound to
make fools of yourselves, for God's sake do not
draw your families into the mire with you and
compel them to shoulder part of the odium, to which
you yourselves should lay full claim. Rouse from
your stupor, expel these false gods from your house,
and make up your minds to again become men
among your fellow citizens. May God Almighty
open your eyes and enable you to see the error of
your way before it is too late, is the earnest prayer
of your friend, the Expositor, Amen."
The Expositor did not take kindly to the street
railway project. It's editor made the following
prophecy:
"This week the survey was made and stakes
laid for the proposed street railway between this
place and St. Joseph. The Expositor is of the
opinion that this enterprise will be a curse, rather
than a benefit to our village, and if the right of way
has not already been given through the village, the
board, as an act of justice to our business men,
should deny giving it. If the right of way has
already been secured and the road be built as
proposed, we now venture the assertion, and let
time prove us right or otherwise, that it will prove
anything than a benefit to the business interests of
the village. The novelty of a bob-tailed car will




110       HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
soon pass away and Benton Harbor people who lent
their aid or in any manner countenanced the construction of the road, will be slow to acknowledge
they ever had anything to do with it."
The street railway became an important factor
in the welfare of the two towns, and in time it has
developed into one of the best street railway systems
of the country.
The Expositor was sold to Lardner & Hearn, a
newspaper team from Niles, Mich. Jack Lardner
and Sam Hearn were very genial fellows. They
could not make the business profitable, however,
and becoming financially distressed, they transfered
The Expositor back again to Mr. Hurly. The latter
again sold the paper, this time to a stranger in these
parts named Wilson, He remained in the business
long enough to get burned out. In this fire all of
the back numbers, or files, of the Expositor were
destroyed. Tom Hurly purchased what was left of
the plant, the press and some type, and in company
with his brother William, and their two families,
immigrated to North Dakota, where they became
publishers and land owners. T. B. Hurly was postmaster at Bow Bells North Dakota for a number
of years, under Republican administrations.
Thomas B. Hurly was the founder of many
newspaper ventures in Benton Harbor - The Times,
The Investigator, The Argus, The Daily Gazette,




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

111

and The Expositor, all arose and flourished for a
time under his management.
1885 another weekly paper was founded. It
was named The Wedge. The publishers and editors
were John M. Chisholm and James Pender. The
name "Wedge" was chosen for this paper by
Charles W. Vernon, a member of the drug store
firm of Dr. John Bell & Co. It is probable his
middle name was Wedge, or Wedgewood, hence his
choice of name for the new paper. There were two
other papers here at that time, and the name Wedge
may have been chosen for the new paper by Mr.
Vernon as being appropriate for a paper entering
so crowded a journalistic field. The Wedge was
printed on an army hand press in the office of
Chisholm brothers, printers, in the Bell Block. It
gained a circulation of about six hundred copies
weekly. It's complete and accurate reports of all
important local events won for it a goodly following. It encouraged new enterprises of merit, and
devoted considerable space to the new street railway project. When the stree cars began making
regular trips, The Wedge, in it's issue of Oct. 16,
1885, contained an illustration of a street car drawn
by horses weth the following write up:
"The street care line betwen Benton Harbor
and St. Joseph may now he said to be a success.
The curves of the track have been thoroughly over



112

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

hauled and put in good condition by a competent
engineer, and the cars commenced to make regular
trips on Saturday last. [Oct. 10,1885.] As is usual
on Saturdays, Benton Harbor was crowded with
people and teams, and the street cars running back
and forth, accompanied by the merry tinkle, tinkle,
of the bells, gave this little city a very metropolitan
appearance. Everybody seems to rejoice on beholding the street cars in successful operation.
"On Sunday the cars did a very successful business. The day was a beautiful one, and crowds of
people were out amusing themselves, the principal
feature of enjoyment being a ride on the street railway. The cars made regular trips every twenty
minutes, and each car was laden with a merry
throng of people from both towns. The utmost
good feeling prevailed, and every one seemed to
cherish the sentiment that Benton Harbor and St.
Joseph were at last united, and that the street car
track was the link that bound them together. Old
fogyism must now take a back seat; those creatures
who delighted in rupturing the friendly relations
between neighbors, and in fostering enmity between
towns that should be harmonious in sentiment, will
hereafter be frowned upon, and the good people of
St. Joseph and Benton Harbor will henceforth unite
in neighborly fraternity"The street cars are a great convenienee to the
traveling public, and they will be highly appre



TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

113

ciated, especially in the cold days of winter. They
are very comfortable to ride in, running along
smoothly, and the windows are low, which gives
the passengers a good view of everything along the
route. There are two cars, each having a seating
capacity for about twenty persons, and the running
time is so scheduled that when one leaves Benton
Harbor the other leaves St. Joseph, and both meet
and pass each other at the switch, near the bridge.
There is no conductor, except the driver, the whole
thing being under the driver's supervision. The
cash box is located near the front door, and on entering the car the passenger observes a modest
sign, which reads, "Pay Here," and as the fare is
but five cents, that amount is dropped into an
aperture at the top of the box. The passenger then
takes a comfortable seat. The arrangement, it is
claimed, is so perfected that no one can "beat their
way" without being detected, even if there were
anyone mean enough to attempt such a small trick.
Over fifty dollars, in nickles and dimes, were deposited in the cash box on Sunday last."
In connection with its other good features, The
Wedge gave space to a school department, which
was edited by Miss Ella Parrette. Principal George
J. Edgecumbe originated the plan. All three of the
local papers, The Palladium, The Expositor and The
Wedge, gave space to a school department, each
with a separate editor. It was interesting reading
matter, especially to pupils, teachers and parents.




114

HISTORY. OF BENTON HARBOR.

The following account of a polo game is taken
from the Wedge, dated April 17, 1885:
"The game of polo at the rink Tuesday evening
was a very amusing performance. Doc. Ballenger's
team  of 'Greenhorns' crossed sticks with Ed.
Brammall's gang of-well, we don't know what
this team is called, but for want of a better word
they may be styled 'Mugwumps.' The game was
for the championship of B. H. On time being
called, Will Walker and Ed. Plimpton rushed and
struck desperately at the ball, but unfortunately
missed - that is, missed the ball- but Will got in a
good one on the chandlier hanging above, and a
shower of glass being knocked into the cage, a goal
was claimed. The referee, who had money bet on
the other side, wouldn't allow the claim, and decided, 'no goal, nix cum rouse.' The game now began
in earnest. 'There was racing and chasing on canibal lea.' Some one hit Linus Chadwick a whack
with a shinny club, and our hero was knocked clean
into the cage, which but a short time previously
he was so valiantly guarding. 'Goal,' was yelled
on all sides by the enthusiastic players-pointing
at Chad, struggling in the netting. The referee,
who had been betting again, having now even money
on both sides, yelled, 'goal she is!' great uproar in
the gallery. Ed. Plimpton measured his length on
the floor quite often, and did a great deal of kicking.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.         115
Some one said he was trying to make a goal by
kicking the ball in, but others, that knew all about
the game, said he was kicking at the referee's
decision. All the players did well in about the same
manner as those mentioned, and this game of polo,
played as it was by inexperienced players, created
more side-splitting laughter than punch and judy or
a negro minstrel show. The score stood 3 to 1 at
the finish in favor of Ballenger's Greenhorns. They
were challenged to a return match by the Mugwumps."
The Wedge remained in the field about one year
and a half when it suspended publication. The
Expositor had gone out of existence a few months
previously. Gilson & Hobbs were now conducting
The Palladium, and a new era in Benton Harbor
journalism had arrived.




116

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

CHAPTER XII.
The Fair of 1885.-Best Display Ever Shown Up to That
Date.-Floral Hall a Scene of Beauty With Specimens
of Art and Industry.-A Prize Baby Show.-A Local
Newpaper's School Department Notes Reprinted.
THE   Seventh  Annual Fair of the      Northern
Berrien County and Michigan Lake Shore Agricultural Society, held in October, 1885, was a great
event in the history of this Association and of the
village.
The Fair that year was the best exhibition ever
given by the soceity up to that date. The entries
in all departments were first class, no poor exhibits
of any kind being allowed to enter. The horses,
cattle, sheep, swine, poultry, etc., on exhibition were
specimens of the best that could be procured.
The exhibits in Floral Hall were fine specimens of
nearly every art and industry known in this part
of the country.
Enthusiastic interest was taken in the Fair by
all the people of the village and surrounding country
during the four days exhibition, On Friday, the
last day of the Fair, a Prize Baby Show created as
much interest as did the closing scenes of the horse




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

117

trotting race in which Razor B and David C were
the principal contestants.
The following comments on the Baby Show are
copied from a local newspaper of that day:
"The Seventh Annual Fair closed Friday, after
four days of successful exhibiting. Friday came
and with it came the rain, which set in early in
the morning and continued in a steady drizzling
shower all through the day, and although the bad
weather kept many people indoors, it did not interfere with the progress of the Fair. Nearly two
thousand people were on the grounds in the afternoon, all bent on seeing the Baby Show and the
races, in spite of the rain.
At 2:30 o'clock the Baby Show took place. There
were twelve babies on exhibition, and of these the
following five won prizes:
First Prize. -Mrs. Grant's baby, of Coloma,
Second Prize.--Mrs. J. S. Morton's baby.
Third Prize. -Mrs. Dr. Bastar's baby.
Fourth Prize.--Mrs. Dade's baby.
Fifth Prize. -Mrs. Frank Burr's baby.
The prizes were: First, five dollars; second,
four dollars; third, three dollars; fourth, two dollars, and fifth, one dollar.
The Baby Show created a great deal of merriment, and everybody present in the grand stand
was so anxious to see the "Prize Babies" that Mr.




118

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

S. G. Antisdale, President of the Fair Association,
carried the pretty little infants, one at a time,
around among the audience, and all had a good view
of them. One spectator (a bachelor) said he could
not see any difference between them prize babies
and any other babies."
The following interesting school notes are copied
from a local paper, dated October 16, 1885:
"School Department. Conducted by Miss Ella
Parrette. To the editors who have allowed us a
column of their interesting paper the school extends
its hearty thanks. It is not that the works of our
school are so meritorious that we desire publication,
but we wish our patrons to know something of the
nature of our exercises.
Four of the members of the Senior Class have
decided to remain another year, in order to make
work lighter, and to enter certain courses in the
University. We feel the need of them deeply, but
as seven is the perfect number, we are content with
that many stars in our crown.
After much worry and excitement, coaxing and
teasing, the maps have finally been returned from
the Fairground, through the generosity of two of
our young gentlemen, who were so excited at receiving the first and only premium, that they did
not stand on their heads but stood the map on its
head, which being interpreted, hung bottom side
up.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

119

If the city authorities do not drain Pipestone
Street the children who attend the High School will
soon have feet as Washington Irving would say,
'webfooted like unto a duck,' on account of the
watery element in which they are so much exercised.
The following fable was read by Miss Cora
Weimer at our chapel exercises:
A Fable.--'Twas a bright, beautiful morning in
early June. All nature had been astir for many
hours, and even the old elm tree was awake, its
boughs waving gracefully to and fro, as the sweet
summer breeze played among them. It bent low
and lovingy over its old friend as if to shelter it,
still the gate slept on. At last a gentleman came
by and gave her a vigorous push. She awoke with
a creak and a groan, and looking up, beheld the sun
riding high in the heavens, heard the birds singing
and the bees humming. She tried to rise, but with
a sob and another groan, fell back in a state of
helpless exhaustation. Good morning, my friend,
said the tree; but tell me, why have you o'er slept
yourself; and are you not well that you moan and
groan so? I am as well as I shall ever be, but I
have already been on duty too long, I fear, for my
bones are getting old and stiff. Why, said the tree,
you are not so old as I, and see I am as strong and
youthful as ever. The birds love me as of old, and,




120       HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
even this morning, they sat on my boughs and
twilled their sweet songs. But tell me, why are
you so feeble this morning? Why am I so feeble?
I wonder if you, in your strength and grandeur,
would not feel weak and infirm, if for half the night
you had been kept awake by the ceaseless clatter of
two young persons, and not only that, but had
supported the weight of both during that time.
Who could it have been, and what did they say?
inquired the tree; but I saw no one. One would
not naturally see with their eyes closed, snapped
the gate. I will tell you, but you must lisp it to no
one, for if they thought if I were exposing their
secrets, they would never trust me again. You
know of late, the gentleman who comes here has
been quite attentive to the lady of the house. I saw
them  coming up the lane last evening, and
supposed, of course, they would stop for a confidential chat, as usual. But not so. They stood over
me, he telling her the old, old story which is said
to be ever new to the young. But I am old, you
know, and it took him so long, and it grew so
monotonous to me, that it seemed as though I should
certainly fall over. But when I thought of the
confusion it would cause, how her father, on hearing
the alarm, would come, and of what would follow.
I bore it as best I could, and you now behold what is
left of me. But what did he say to her? inquired
the tree, breathlessly. If you ever had a lover, said




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.          121
the gate, you may imagine the course of the
conversation. But if you never had one, you will
never know from me, for I would not waste my
precious breath in repeating such nonsense. I only
hope it will never be my lot to endure such torture
again. This said, he turned over to nature's sweet
restorer, 'balmy sleep,' to awake, let us hope, in a
better mood. The old tree bent lower its branches,
and gently fanned the sleeper, rejoicing in his inmost heart that he was born a tree instead of a gate.
And so ends my story, a story devoid of both
subject and moral. The best advice I can give is,
if you would not write a fable, NEVER be a senior.




122

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

CHAPTER XIII.
The Daily Palladium.-Mr. Gilson Its Founder.-The
Advertisers.-Mr. Hobbs Retires From the Palladium.Other Writers.-"Mac." the City Editor.-He Founds the
Evening News.-The Daily Palladium  Suspends.Combined Into News-Palladium.-The Banner-Register's History.-Mr. R. J. Jarvis in Journalism.
THE Daily Palladium was launched on the local
sea of journalism in the spring of 1886, by Frank
R. Gilson and Fred A. Hobbs. At that time there
did not seem to be a large enough field here to insure
success for a daily newspaper. The new comers,
however, were possessed of an abundance of enthusiasm, and their optimistic view of the future of
Benton Harbor was exceedingly pleasing to the
people of this lively town. Skeptics there were
who voluntured the information that "the daily
paper, maybe, could manage to live during the
summer, but when winter came, and industries
generally closed down, the daily paper would likely
have to suspend, for lack of patronage." For all
of these doubting ones the smiling editors had a
ready stereotyped reply: "We will keep the Daily
Palladium going unless a cyclone strikes it."
The publication of this daily newspaper, under
auspices that presaged success, was Benton Harbor's




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

123

next step forward towards metropolitan achievement. F. R. Gilson was an able newspaper man.
He wrote left handed, a peculiarity seldom seen in
clerical work. He had been trained in the mill that
handles the grist for daily newspaper readers, and
he knew the work thoroughly. This talent, together
with his generous, affable disposition, assured a
bright future for his venture in the field he had
chosen. He had an able and popular assistant in
his business partner, F. A. Hobbs. The new daily
made a "hit" at the begining of its career, and
steadily grew in power and influence. Newsboys
sold it on the streets, and other boys delivered it
to regular subcribers at 10c. per week, A force of
ten printers and assistants were employed to get the
paper out on time each day, All typesetting was
done by hand. The linotype machine was unknown
at that time. The first issue of the Daily Palladium
appeared on May 1, 1886. It was four pages, six
colums to the page, "all printed at home." A
cylinder press was installed in the press room, with
a printing capacity of one thousand copies per hour.
The motive power was from a steam engine. The
Palladium office was then located on Pipestone
street in the building next south to the Jones &
Sonner Block. On the first page of the initial number appeared the editor's introduction, as follows:
"Greeting, -The Daily Palladium herewith
makes its salutation, in the hope that it may find




124

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

favor with the public, and be welcomed by the newspaper patrons of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph.
We make no promises of supplying a great wanteither 'long-felt' or of recent origin-believing
that the time is ripe for a permanent enterprise of
this character in this vicinity, and that these twin
thriving towns will appreciate and sustain that
modern necessity in all progressive communities, a
daily newspaper. We venture no promises, except
that it shall be the constant and earnest endeavor
of the publishers to furnish the best and latest report of current events, improving the paper and
enlarging its sphere of usefulness as opportunity
appears. 'With these few remarks' we respectfully
submit our initial effort to public inspection. If you
are pleased with it, and desire to give the paper a
trial, its daily visits to your home or place of business may be secured on application."
Advertisements of business houses appear in
this first number of The Daily Palladium-as follows:

M. A. Bronson, clothing.
J. A. Crawford, crockery
Russell & Reist, grocery.
C. W. Teetzel, Jewelry.
J. E. Dunbar,
meat market.
J. F. Todd, boots and shoes
Graham & Morton,
propeller Lora.

Vincent & Fitzsimmons,
hardware.
Morrison & Cullinine,
dry goods and clothing.
O. B. Hipp,
gents' furnishings.
C. M. Edick, hardware.
J. C. Cole,
veterinary surgeon.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

125

M. J. Vincent,          G. W. Platt, Jr.,
sewing machines,           gasoline stoves.
Wm. A. Brown,           Eldridge & Robbins,
real estate.            lumber.
S. B. Van Horn, dry goods.
The St. Joseph advertisers were:
Martin's Palace of Trade.
Ed. F. Platt, hardware.
Louis Kolman, jewelry.
H. W. Jennings, furniture.
The Daily Palladium steadily grew in favor with
the townspeople. Its success was assured after it
had passed through the first year of its existence.
On its first anniversary a magnificent special edition was sent out. This special edition contained
interesting "-write ups," with half-tone illustrations, of Benton Harbor's institutions, its ideal
location for industrial enterprises, shipping facilities, societies, churches, etc.
The Benton Harbor Development Association
was organized. A genuine progressive movement
began from this date. The Spencer & Barnes mammoth furniture factory located here, followed by
the Buss Machine Works of Grand Rapids. Other
similar industries of a kind that provided employment for workers all the year 'round located here.
New brick blocks were erected displacing many of
the old frame landmarks of early Benton Harbor.
Patrick Yore built a grand opera house on the




126

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

corner of Territorial and Sixth streets. This location was formerly the Miller-Reprogle homestead.
The Miller home, a story and a half cottage, was
surrounded by a garden where grew vegetables and
flowers. Mr. Miller was a carpenter, as was also
Charles Hamlin, whose home was in that vicinity.
They and their families, together with Al. Hamlin
and family, were among the first pioneers. Joseph
Frick built a brick block adjoining the opera house.
Yore's grand opera house, although somewhat
in advance of the theatrical patronage of the village,
was an inspiration to men with capital looking for
building investments. J. H. Graham built the
Graham Block on the location formerly known as
"cheap corner."  A two-story frame building had
occupied cheap corner since the early days of the
village. On this corner there had been dry goods
stores from time to time, and later Fred S. Hopkins
started his drug store there. On the second floor of
cheap corner, the original photographer of Benton
Harbor could be found. A. Coates could be found
there in readiness to take pictures unless he happened to be over at the Palladium office arguing on
important topics of the day. Coates' art gallery
displayed a large array of tintypes showing the
local people of village and countryside in their best
clothes. Adjoining this corner building there was
a smaller frame building on cheap corner. This
was occupied by Charles A. Jackson with his soda




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.          127
water fountain, second -hand clothing, jewelry,
skins of animals, powder and shot, and hunters and
trappers supplies.
A mammoth block was erected by Graham &
Morton on their Water Street dock property. The
Daily Palladium was moved to this building, where
its business office and equipment occupied four
rooms and a basement. Previous to moving to this
new building there had been a disagreement between Mr. Gilson and his business partner. Mr.
Hobbs thereupon retired from The Palladium and
engaged in other business. Mr. Gilson employed
thereafter as his editorial assistants a various number of writers. Mr. 0. A. Shauman, Will Root, and
R. P. Chaddock, were employed at different times
as reporters. Desiring to improve The Daily
Palladium, if possible, Mr. Gilson went to Detroit
and secured the services of a bright young writer
of that city. J. W. McEachren came to Benton
Harbor in company with his employer and was
immediately installed as city editor of The Palladium.
His office was in the alcove room on the second floor
of the new Graham & Morton block. From this
position, "Mac," as he was called by his associates,
could look out of the window and "see all that was
going on in town."  He was a clever newspaper
writer, with a tendency to sarcastic humor. He
served in this capacity three or four years, when
for some reason, he received notice that his services




128

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

would be no longer required after a certain date.
After Mr. McEachren had left The Palladium
he accepted a position on the editorial staff of a
newspaper in Northern Michigan.    There were
some people here who quietly hinted that the late city
editor would return some day and work in opposition to The Palladium. He did return, and later
started an opposition daily paper.
Roy R. Gilson, only son of the proprietor of The
Palladium, succeeded McEachren as city editor. He
was instructed in the work by his father. A reporter, Ira A. Smith, was employed to assist in
news-gathering. Later, Roy Rolfe Gilson developed
literary talent of the meritorious kind that wins
recognition. He retired from The Palladium and
engaged in magazine short story work in New York
City.
R. P. Chaddock was recalled by Mr. Gilson to
the position of city editor. Mr. Chaddock served
efficiently on the editorial staff of The Daily Palladium. He was later elected to the office of City
Clerk on the Republican ticket and thereupon retired from newspaper work.
The Evening News, under the management of
J. N, Klock, who had purchased the paper from
Mr. McEachren, advanced steadily into the favor
of a large number of the local public. This paper's
popularity continued to grow to such an extent that
The Palladium was seriously effected.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

129

Mr. Gilson sought political office within the
Republican party, the party he had served long and
faithfully. He was disappointed. That he felt his
defeat keenly was evidenced in his changed manner,
and personal appearance. His hair, which had been
the color of the raven's wing, turned, as if over
night, to almost snow white. His health failed.
The Daily Palladium  steadily declined with its
founder, and both went out of existence in 1904.
Puritan Lodge, Knights of Pythias, passed the
following resolutions on the death of Mr. Gilson:
"Whereas, our brother Knight, Frank R. Gilson,
has crossed the divide which separates them from
eternity and has passed to the everlasting morning.
It is therefore resolved, that by his decease,
Puritan Lodge has lost a brother, who by his daily
life fully exemplified the principles of our order -
friendship, charity, and benevolence; the community has lost an upright and useful citizen, one whose
life should be to all both an example and an inspiration. It has already been said of him, that there
are no chapters in his social life which we would
desire to blot out; no act over which the mantle of
charity need be thrown.
He was gifted by nature with unusual ability,
which he supplemented with patient industry. In
his profession of journalism his constant aim was to
instruct and elevate. He was a fearless champion
of any cause he believed to be right, but he never




130

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

used poisoned arrows; he hated wrong because it
was wrong, and loved truth for her own sake,
His religious opinions were broad and catholic. He
doubtless believed with Whittier:
'I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air,
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.'
The flowers which covered his casket were genuine tributes to his worth from sorrowing hearts;
but they were not more beautiful than his life and
character.
It is further resolved, that the charter of our
Lodge be draped in mourning for a period of thirty
days, as a tribute to his memory. That the press
of the city he requested to publish these resolutions;
that the same be copied in the records in this Lodge,
and that the engrossed copy be sent to the family of
our deceased brother.
G. M. Valentine,
Geo. W. Bridgman,
J. 0. Rowe."
Mr. J. N. Klock came to Benton Harbor from
Owosso, Mich., where he had been engaged in
newspaper work. He purchased the struggling
Evening News from J. W. McEachren, and for a
few years thereafter experienced and conquered
difficulties that would have caused a less resourceful
man to give up in despair. In his characteristic




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

131

quiet way he displayed extraordinary ability as a
writer, manager, and business man.
The two papers-The Palladium and The Evening News-were later combined into the NewsPalladium. Mr. Klock retired from newspaper work
in 1910 to engage in other business in Benton Harbor. He disposed of all his newspaper interests to
E. W. Moore, the present editor.
In 1888, the Benton Harbor News, a weekly
paper, was established by Abram Ricaby. The
name of the paper was changed to Berrien County
Banner in 1890. The Banner was published by
Ricaby & Webb. Mr. Ricaby sold his interest in
the newspaper to his partner, Arthur C. Webb, in
1892.
Mr. J. N. Reed came to Benton Harbor from
Illinois and purchased The Banner in 1894 from
Arthur C. Webb. The name of the paper was
changed to The Banner-Register. Mr. Reed successfully managed and edited The Banner-Register
during a period of time covering seventeen years.
He was an energetic newspaper man. He built up the
circulation of his paper so extensively that nearly
every rural household in this region of Berrien
County became readers of The Banner-Register.
Mr. Reed retired from newspaper work in 1911.
He sold his publishing interests to Mr. E. W. Moore
of the News-Palladium.




132

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

Roman I. Jarvis founded a weekly newspaper in
1897, which he named The Benton Harbor Times.
The office of The Times was in the Yore Block on
Sixth Street. Mr. Jarvis made The Times a popular paper with the Democratic party throughout
Berrien County. He was assisted in the publication
of the paper by his brother, Edward E. Jarvis.
Mr. Jarvis, after seven years of editorial work,
sold The Times to Mr. Harkrider, of Niles. The
latter moved the plant to Quincy, Ill.
SRoman I. Jarvis was honored by his party when,
on three different occasions, the Democracy of Berrien County nominated him for -Representative in
the National Congress from the Fourth District of
Michigan. His Republican opponent, Hon. Edward
L. Hamilton, of Niles, was the successful candidate
in all of these campaigns.
Mr. Jarvis was appointed Postmaster of the City
of Benton Harbor in 1893, and served in that office
three years. During his term of office Mr. Jarvis
is credited with securing the free mail delivery
system for Benton Harbor.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

133

CHAPTER XIV.
Sailing Vessels.-The White Fish.-The Lewis Addition.Agitation for Boundary Change.-City Charter Struggle.
-Party  Lines  Forgotten.-Charter  Granted.-Mr.
Hobbs, First Mayor.-County Seat Struggle.-Special
Election.-St. Joseph Wins.-Substantial Aid From
Benton Harbor.-Towns United in Sentiment for All
Time.
A popular sailing vessel, one that was regarded as
a home product, was the two-sails and jib schooner
Cora, commanded by Captain Linus Chadwick. The
vessel was built here and named in honor of Miss
Cora Hull, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Hull.
The schooner Cora sailed to some of the most distant ports on Lake Michigan, often with invited
passengers on board. Some of Benton Harbor's
citizens, who loved adventure, could not resist the
call of the sea whenever the schooner Cora was
preparing to clear from port, with Capt. Chadwick
on deck. The vessel was frequently caught in
heavy seas and terrific squalls, but this ship, which
was no common craft, always safely "weathered
the gale." Another home vessel, the Lizzie Doak,
was owned and commanded by Capt. Charles
Wickstrom.




134

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

St. Joseph village possessed quite a number of
sailing vessels of large dimensions, and a great fleet
of smaller sailing craft, or fishing boats, of the one
sail and jib type. The fishermen of St. Joseph dwelt
in cozy shanties on both sides of the river. With
their staunch little sailing boats they ventured far
out at sea on the great lake, where nets were set
and other nets laden with fish were hauled aboard.
The bulk of the fish captured were the highly prized
white fish. Thousands of these delicious pan fish
were unloaded at the docks of the fish houses each
day. The fishing industry at St. Joseph was one of
the interesting sights of the village in the days of
the white fish. Some trout were caught and occasionally a huge sturgeon. Another fish, called "the
dogfish," a sort of fresh water shark, was frequently netted with the white fish. It was not used
for food and was thoroughly hated by the fishermen.
The white fish are no longer found in Lake Michigan. They are caught now only in Lake Superior.
The cause of their disappearance from these waters
is puzzling to fishermen.
The St. Joseph River was navigated in the interests of commerce before and after Benton Harbor
was placed on the map. Capt. John Wallace was
one of the earliest pioneer sailors on the river. He
commanded a boat that made trips between St.
Joseph, Berrien Springs, and Niles.




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.          135
Capt. Barnes commanded the tug Daisy Lee.
This tug was employed towing steamboats, laden
with peaches, out of the canal and harbor to the
lake. Capt. Barnes later commanded a ferry boat
line between St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. When
he retired from this work he was succeeded by
Capt. William A. Boswell. The ferry boat trip
through the canal and across the St. Joseph river
was a delightful journey for the people of the twin
cities.
The developement of the village of Benton Harbor was rapid after the establishment of a newspaper in 1868. Subdivisions were surveyed and
platted into lots. J. E. Miller, a stalwart six and
a-half-footer, and surveyor by occupation, was a
conspicuous figure in all of this work. One of the
first subdivisions platted was that known as the B.
C. Lewis Addition. It was on the flats, the east
boundary line running along Seventh Street (now
Colfax Avenue) and extended westward to the edge
of the marsh. There was a demand for these lots.
It was generally believed that this property was
the best investment in the village for home seekers.
A high board fence encircled the subdivision and
the meadow land within this enclosure looked very
attractive, although in spots rather sandy. When
the purchasers discovered that all of these lots were
in St. Joseph Township, and they would have to go




136

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

over to the rival town and pay taxes, there were
people who regretted that they had not made their
investments in the woods on the hill around Britain
Road (now Britain Avenue). The St. Joseph taxes
were a burden to these lot holders. St. Joseph
village, unfortunately, had become the victim of a
heavy railroad bonded indebtedness. These lot
buyers felt themselves further victimized when
they discovered that there was not a clear title to
some of the lots in the Belmont Lewis Addition.
Geo. S. Clapp, and later Chas. W. Hall claimed title
to the property. In addition to paying heavy taxes
for the meager benefits received these lot holders
were compelled to spend a great deal of money in
their efforts to procure clear title to their holdings.
From the homes of these people sprang the
agitation that finally succeeded in removing the
objectionable boundary lines west to the river. This
was not accomplished, however, until Benton Harbor had secured a City Charter, and the struggle for
that Charter is an interesting part of local history.
In the political campaign of 1890 the quarrel
between the towns was given more attention by
voters in Berrien County than the issues of State or
Nation. A Representative of the First District was
to be elected to the State Legislature. Benton
Harbor was striving for a City Charter, and with
it would follow the annexation of that part of St.
Joseph Township lying on the Benton Harbor side




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

137

of the St. Joseph River. St. Joseph citizens were
striving with equal energy to prevent the loss of
this strip of land.
In the Republican County Convention that year
there was a serious split in the party, on this question. Benton Harbor delegates put forward the
name of S. L. Van Camp for Representative, a gentleman of well known worth and ability. He was
opposed by the rival town delegates. The Convention, composed as it was of delegates from twenty
townships, was about equally divided in support of
the two contending factions. St. Joseph delegates
proposed the name of Herbert L, Potter, of Oronoko
Township, for Representative. It required eight
ballots to decide the choice of the convention. The
neutral delegates, or those from outside townships,
voted at times for Mr. Van Camp, and on other
ballots for Mr. Potter. The later was nominated
on the eighth ballot. Benton Harbor's delegates
returned from the convention defeated, but not
discouraged. There was another convention to be
held soon thereafter. That was the Democratic
Convention. The local Democrats were wide-awake
to their opportunity. They nominated Dr. H. C.
Rockwell, of Benton Harbor, for Representative.
Dr. Rockwell was well known throughout the
County, and highly esteemed. In the election that
followed he received the solid vote of his party
(except in St. Joseph) and in addition the substan



138

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

tial support of the Republicans of Benton Harbor
and Benton Township. He was elected to the
Legislature, defeating the rival town's nominee.
This was a political surprise to some people, because
the Republicans, when united, had always elected
their candidate for representative from this district,
The Legislature of 1891 had Benton Harbor's
City Charter bill before it. A proposition was advanced by representative men of the two towns to
consolidate into one city, and end the strife. On
February 11, 1891, representatives of the two rival
towns met at the State Capitol at Lansing and came
to an agreement to consoltdate. The House Committee on Municipal Affairs at the State Capitol
listened to the arguments put forward by both sides.
Benton Harbor's delegates solicited the independent City Charter, for which the townspeople had
striven so unitedly. The rival town delegates took
a new position. They extended the olive branch
of peace and proposed that the two towns be incorporated into one city. They offered, if necessary,
to abandon the time-honored name of their village,
and were in favor of a new name for the new city.
Benton Harbor's delegates were partly won over to
this proposition. Thus the matter rested. When
they returned home, however, they were criticised
quite severely by the townspeople generally. The
later declared that consolidation was impossible.
Under a one city charter it would be "a city of two




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.

139

ends and no middle." Not until all that vast vacant
land lying between the towns were built up could
there be one united city. Another petition, headed
by the President of the Village of Benton Harbor,
S. G. Antisdale, praying for a City Charter, and
opposed to consolidation, was so numerously signed
and so well presented at the State Capitol that the
House Committee on Municipal Affairs reported
favorably, and granted the Charter.
Thus Benton Harbor secured the City Charter.
Fred A. Hobbs was elected Mayor of the new city.
There was rejoicing similar to a real jubilee.
In the meantime, St. Joseph citizens had also
circulated a petition opposing consolidation, and the
proposed changing of the time-honored name of
the village. A City Charter for St. Joseph was
prayed for by the petitioners. In good time this
prayer also was granted.
Thus ended, for all time, the thirty years of
warfare between St. Joseph and Benton Harbor.
The street railway had linked the two towns together commercially and socially long before their
municipal differences had been adjusted.
Another factor that strengthened the feeling
of friendship and good will between St. Joseph and
Benton Harbor was the county seat struggle in
1892.
An agitation, the object of which was to create
sentiment in favor of the removal of the County




140

HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.

Seat from Berrien Springs to St. Joseph, was begun
and approved of by the people of the twin cities.
Berrien Springs people made strenuous efforts in
behalf of their village, and strove to prove that it
was, as it always had been, the ideal place for the
Court House, because of its central location in the
heart of the county. Niles, and other towns in the
south end of the county supported Berrien Springs
in this contention. St. Joseph's representatives put
forth strong arguments in favor of that city. The
principal objection to Berrien Springs was the inaccessibility of the town. It had no railroad facilities.
Attorneys and others having business at the county
seat were compelled to journey in a stage coach,
from the Big Four railroad depot at Berrien Center,
to get to the Court House. In stormy weather the
roads were muddy; in many places there were great
water holes; bumps on the way jostled the coach;
the interior was frigid in wintry weather, and
altogether the stage coach trip was not pleasant.
One attorney, Al. Potter, contracted a severe cold
while on one of these trips to the Court House and
died of pneumonia. Berrien Springs was given
time to secure a railroad, but was unwilling or:unable to do this. They seemed to believe that Ithe
county seat was there, anyhow, for all time. The
agitation for removal grew to such an extent that
meetings were held and addressed by eloquent
speakers of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. In the




TALES OF VILLAGE DAYS.          141
south end of the county the people were stirred
equally as much in their opposition to the proposed
removal. The citizens of Niles declared that if the
Court House must be moved at all it should be
placed in Niles.
A special election was held, and all voters in
Berrien County were given the opportunity to vote
on the question. Considerable excitement was displayed, and intense interest felt in the result of the
balloting when the polls closed, on the election day.
A great crowd of voters gathered in the office of
The Palladium, where returns were received over
the wires. Editor Gilson was in his element. In
his best humor he predicted the probable result,
and was kept busy figuring up the returns as they
came in from each township. Watervliet, Coloma,
Hagar and Bainbridge each gave a majority for St.
Joseph. Niles, Chickaming, Weesaw, Oronoco, and
other southend townships, gave a majority against
removal. Niles city's big vote was solid aganist
removal to St. Joseph. Some of the other twenty
townships in the county were about equally divided.
For a brief span of time it looked as though the
removal proposition were defeated. When Benton
Harbor's vote was announced-one thousand and
three hundred, solid for St. Joseph-with only six
against, there was uproarious applause, which was
taken up by the crowd outside and re-echoed through
the streets, This demonstration was repeated,




142      HISTORY OF BENTON HARBOR.
when the final news came that St. Joseph had won,
and the telegram further stated it was Benton
Harbor's substantial vote that had turned the
tide.
The two cities-Benton Harbor and St. Joseph,
have made wonderful progress in recent years.
Their interests are now almost identical.







I I

K o

BENTON HARBOR IN 1914. MAIN STREET, LOOKING EAST FROM COLFAX AVE.




PREFACE TO HISTORICAL SELECTIONS.
The following sketches, written by some of the
pioneers of the earliest period of Benton Harbor
village, are interesting and instructive. These
stories are selected from different sources-county
histories, newspapers, etc.
Ed. B. Cowles' Directory of B e r r i e n County,
published in 1871, gives the surprising information
that in 1837 St. Joseph Township included all the
territory which later became Benton, Bainbridge,
Watervliet and Hagar townships.
The next selection is from a history of Berrien
and Van Buren Counties published in 1880. This
sketch tells how Benton Harbor was born on the
wave of a flood. The three pioneers, Brunson,
Morton and Hull, are mentioned as the promoters of
the canal. Mr. Hull wanted to establish the town
on the St. Joseph River, and to the day of his death
was doubtful that a mistake had not been made.




144    PREFACE TO HISTORICAL SELECTIONS.
"The Story of the Canal," by J. E. Miller, the
engineer who did the work, is intensely interesting.
The canal was to be one hundred and fifty feet wide,
and was so platted and recorded upon the map.
When eighty feet wide, the committee decided to
leave it at that width for awhile. The committee
later regretted this decision, for when the U. S.
Government took control of the waterway the width
of the canal was left permanently at eighty feet.
"Pioneer Days in Berrien County" is an interesting historical paper. It was contributed by W. L.
George to the News-Palladium in 1904.
"An Early Settler's Recollections." This interesting sketch is an interview with Henry C.
Morton in 1895.
Other sketches of a miscellaneous historical
character are included in this compilation, including
the names of the presidents of the village, mayors
of the city, postmasters, and supervisors.




HISTORICAL SELECTIONS.

BENTON ORGANIZED AS A TOWNSHIP
IN 1837.
From a Berrien County Directory, Compiled by Ed. B.
Cowles in 1871.
Benton was organized as a township in 1837,
soon after Michigan became a state. Previous to
that year St. Joseph township included Benton,
Bainbridge, Watervliet and Hagar. The first
election in Benton was held in Millburg, which
had been laid out as a village in the spring of
1835, by Jehiel Enos and Amos S. Amsden. Mr.
Enos was one of the very first settlers of Benton.
Eleazer Morton came from the East to Kalamazoo in 1834, and to St. Joseph in '35, locating
on the land now occupied by Henry C. Morton.
At that time L. L. Johnson lived on the bluff
where Chas. Hull resides, and a man by the
name of Dalton lived on the Kline place. These
were the nearest neighbors. The increase of the
population and wealth of Benton was slow for
several years, probably for the reason that the




146

History of Benton~ Harbor.

sandy soil along the lake shore was regarded
by the early settlers as unproductive and almost
unfit for cultivation. In 1845 the population of
the township was only 237. At this time Mr.
Morton had a peach orchard in bearing, and he
had in '41 sold his crop of peaches to Captain
Boughton for one dollar per bushel, so that the
shipment of fruit from this place began thirty
years ago.
The fact that peach orchards in the vicinity
of the lake were never injured by the severe
weather which frequently destroyed the fruit
further inland, and the fact that a good market
was near at hand and a good price was realized,
making the cultivation of fruit remunerative,
began at length to draw the attention of men to
this locality. One of the first to engage extensively in the growing of peaches was George
Parmelee, who set out a small orchard of two
acres in 1848, enlarging his orchard from year
to year until it embraced over ninety acres. He
sold his farm a few years since for $43,000. The
Cincinnati orchard, the largest peach orchard in
the State, was set out in 1857. Sterne Brunson
bought eighty acres of land, which includes part
of the village of Benton Harbor, in 1859. Thirty




Earliest Pioneer Records.

' 147

years before, he had visited St. Joseph for the
purpose of buying land and engaging in fruit
growing, but receiving discouraging reports in
regard to the country from Major Britain, he
returned to Elkhart and bought a farm, remaining there until the year above named.
A great change has taken place in the appearance of the country since '59. Then forests of
oak and beech covered the land, with only here
and there a clearing, where now are fine residences, beautiful avenues and bearing orchards.
A village was laid out in 1860 on the flat near
the marsh, by Sterne Brunson, B. C. Lewis and
others, and it soon became known as Brunson
Harbor. The first lot sold in the village was the
one now occupied by Gates and Bell. It was sold
for $60 on six years' time. The second lot sold
was the one next east, for $50 on five years' time.
A village on this side of the marsh and a canal
from the river to the village had been contemplated by the older settlers, but the idea had no
sooner entered Mr. Brunson's head than he prepared to commence work, and he entered into it
with his whole energy, and no man has done more
for Benton Harbor than Mr. Brunson.
Sterne Brunson, Henry C. Morton and Charle




148

History of Benton Harbor.

C. Hull were appointed a committee by the
citizens of Benton to obtain subscriptions for a
canal, but the heaviest part of the burden fell
upon the committee, who also superintended its
construction. The contract for digging a canal
twenty-five feet wide and eight feet deep was
let to Martin Green of Chicago, and the canal was
finished in '62. The first boat to enter it and come
up to the village was the schooner J. C. Shank.
At the close of 1861 the village had a dry goods
store, under charge of Charles J. Smith. H. L.
Harris was selling groceries; M. G. Lamport
was dealing in watches, and Hatch & Durry were
doing business where Robbins is now located. In
1865 the name of the village was changed to
Benton Harbor. During the last four years the
canal has been widened to fifty feet; warehouses,
substantial business blocks, and stately residences
have been erected with a rapidity unparalleled in
the history of Berrien county. New plats are
added to the corporation and placed on the
market. Land that could have been purchased
ten years ago for fifty dollars per acre is now
sold for a thousand. The first church (Congregational) was erected in 1868. Since then the
Baptists and the Methodists have erected beau



Earliest Pioneer Records.

149

tiful and commodious houses of worship, and a
large Union school house has been completed at
a cost of $20,000. The people have secured a
railroad at a cost of $16,000, and there seems to
be little doubt that another road-the Elkhart
and Lake Michigan road-will be completed in
a few months. The next movement will be the
improvement of the water power of the Paw Paw
river.
One thing for which Benton     Harbor is
remarkable, and the one thing which has made
it what it now is, is the spirit of unison existing
among its citizens, whether their efforts are
directed to the digging of a canal, to the erection
of churches or a school house, to, the securing of a
railroad, or to a revival of religion, the work in
hand is always entered upon with an energy that
is certain to make the work a success.
The population of the village is 800. The
population of the township, including the village,
is 3,116, an increase since '64 of 1,434, or 85 per
cent-a larger per cent of increase than in any
township in the county. The assessed valuation
of real and personal property for 1870 was
$499,845.




BENTON HARBOR BORN ON WAVE
OF FLOOD.
From a History of Berrien and Van Buren Counties,
Published in 1880.
It was before the war that Benton Harbor
was established. It was the hand of Providence
that sent a flood sweeping down through the St.
Joseph valley and made the river a mad and
mighty stream, overflowing its banks and tearing
out all bridges that dared to span its path. This
was in the year 1858.
At that time St. Joseph was the principal
trading point in this part of the state. Wheat
was the principal crop and the farmers hauled
their crop from Pawv Paw and Kalamazoo to St.
Joseph for shipment. The bridge was washed
out in 1858 and the market was cut off.
A meeting of St. Joseph citizens was called
to discuss the matter of rebuilding the river
bridge. Two men from the east side of the river
ferried over and attended the meeting. They
were Henry C. Morton and Charles Hull. The
meeting was somewhat heated and the St. Joseph
people decided that they could not afford to build
their own bridge. Mr. Morton and Mr. Hull came
home sick. The entire population on the east side




Ea-;rliest Pioneer Records.

151

of the river was sick. They were cut off from
market and many of them wanted to sell their
farms. The late Albert James was so discouraged
that he wanted to get rid of his farm at any price
and move away.
The night that Mr. Morton and Mr. Hull
returned from the St. Joseph meeting they did
not sleep. They thought of plans and Mr. Hull
wanted to establish a dock and start a town at
Major Britain's dock bridge, and it had deep
water. The next day conferences were held with
Mr. Bronson and other citizens and the idea of
the ship canal was agreed upon and these three
men took up and did the brunt of the work that
brought about the canal as a reality. But to the
day of his death Mr. Hull was doubtful that a
mistake had not been made when the city was not
established on the St. Joseph river.
Later when it was necessary to widen the
canal the township voted $5,000 of assistance and
J. F. Higbee and J. P. Thresher did most excellent
work in carrying the bonding proposition.
The credit of originating the ship canal idea
has variously been attributed to the three
founders of the city-Morton, Bronson and Hull.
In a letter written by Mrs. Mary A. Raymond, a




152

History of Benton Harbor.

sister of the late Henry C. Morton, who lived
here in the early days of Benton Harbor, the
following statement is made:
"I recollect very well in 1837, the year that
Judge Conger moved from St. Joseph over on
his farm, which was the same farm that Mr.
Bronson bought in 1855 or '56. Several of us
were gathering hazel nuts on the very spot on
which Mr. Antisdale's house now stands when
father, Major Britain, and Judge Conger came
up onto the hill and stood looking out to the lake
through the mouth of the river. They had pencil
and paper and were discussing where a ship
canal could be cut through to the mouth of the
river. That was my first recollection of the
subject."




FIRST OFFICERS OF THE VILLAGE.
Samuel McGuigan was the First President of the Village
of Benton Harbor.
Following is the history of Benton Harbor
as given in a book called a "History of Berrien
and Van Buren Counties," printed in 1880:
The founding of Benton Harbor village
followed the building of the ship canal. It
was laid out in 1860 by Henry C. Morton, Sterne
Bronson, M. G. Lamport, B. C. 'Lewis, Martin
Green, Charles Hull and others and was namedafter one of the most active promoters of the
canal-Bronson's Harbor. In 1865 the name
was changed to the present title as being a more
suitable term. The greater portion of the
business is transacted on the flats, the adjacent
bluffs being occupied by handsome residences
and public edifices. The first building was put
up by Fred Spallinger in 1860 and was occupied
as a grocery. Later in that year Captain N.
Robbins erected what might be called the first
good building and which was used as a public
hall. The first hall or building for public
gatherings was built by the Russells and was




154

History of Benton Harbor.

destroyed by fire. In 1868 and 1869 the first
good brick block was put up by Bronson, Johnson
and Reynolds. It is three stories high and
generally known as the Reynolds Block. Soon
after other substantial business blocks were
erected and from year to year a good class of
buildings are taking the places of the wooden
structures of the early years of Benton Harbor.
In the early part of 1866 Sterne Bronson
circulated a petition praying the board of supervisors to incorporate the village under the general
law, as it had the required number of inhabitants
and the general good of the place would be
promoted by such a measure. At a meeting held
by the citizens for this purpose, Henry C. Morton,
Samuel McGuigan, A. B. Riford and Sterne
Bronson were appointed a committee to present
the petition before the supervisors, and although
some opposition was manifested towards the
measure the prayer was granted and the first
election for village officers was ordered to be held
at the White schoolhouse, July 7, 1866, under
the inspectorship of J. F. Miller, John T. Smith
and N. Robbins. At the appointed time 83 votes
were polled and the following persons were
elected as the first village officers of Benton




Earliest Pioneer Records.

155

Harbor: President, Samuel McGuigan, trustees,
Sterne Bronson, O. Hubbard, Martin Green, A.
Burridge, N. Robbins, G. K. Hopkins; clerk, N.
Babcock; treasurer, J. C. Gates; assessors, J. T.
Smith, S;. C. Martin; marshal, James Trimble;
street commissioners, J. Van Horn, C. Hamlin,
John Morrison; fire wardens, Loyal Nutting,
James Trimble; poundmaster, B. C. Lewis.
In 1867 the president of the village was
Samuel McGuigan, the clerk N. Babcock, and
the treasurer J. C. Gates. In 1868 these officers
in the above order, were Joseph Riford, H. S.
Harris and John Bell. In this period the village
grew rapidly, and as the general law was found
defective in some of its provisions it was deemed
advisable to reincorporate Benton Harbor under
a special act of the legislature. Accordingly the
Hon. A. B. Riford, of the village, who was at that
time a member from this district in the assembly,
was requested to draft a charter, which, after
being approved by the board, received the sanction of the state authorities April 3, 1869. By
the terms of this charter the limits were fixed
to embrace all that tract of land situated in
township No. 4, south of ranges 18 and 19,
described as follows: Beginning half a mile west




156

History of Benton Harbor.

of the quarter post on the west side of section
No. 19, running thence north parallel with a line
half a mile east of the west line of sections Nos.
18 and 19, to the east and west quarter line of
section 18, thence west half a mile to the quarter
post in the Paw Paw river, thence north on the
section line thirty chains, thence west twenty
chains to the centre of section 13, thence south
one mile to the centre of section 24, thence east
one mile to the place of beginning, shall be known
as the village of Benton Harbor.
It will be seen that half of the above described
corporation is situated in the township of Benton
and the other half in St. Joseph township.
In 1871 Benton Harbor was made a port of
entry and A. B. Riford appointed collector of
customs, entering upon the discharge of his duties
in the spring of that year and serving to March
14, 1877. Andrew J. Kidd was then appointed
collector.
Some time about 1864, Green, Allen & Co.
(Martin Green, P. P. Allen and J. P. Edwards)
were actively engaged in the shipping business
from this port, and had an interest in a line of
good steamers to Chicago, among the boats being
the "St. Joseph," "Benton" and "Van Raalte."




Eacrliest Pioneer Records.      157
In a few   years the company retired from
business and the boats were taken to other
points. At present the propellers "Messenger"
and "Skylark" leave every day and evening for
Chicago. Both boats are owned by citizens of
the village. The "Messenger" is of 444 tons
burden, carries a crew of twenty men, is owned
by Graham, Morton & Co., and commanded by
Captain John Robinson. It was placed on this
line in 1875. The "Skylark" tonnage is 261, her
crew numbers fourteen men, the owner is H. W.
Willams and her captain John Morrison. The
"Shepard" and "Edith," small boats, ply between
St. Joseph and Benton Harbor every half hour
for local accommodation.




PIONEER DAYS IN BERRIEN COUNTY.
W. L. George Contributed the Following to the NewsPalladium's Special Edition in 1904.
Benton Harbor, Mich., April 10, 1902.-Hon.
Thos. Mars, Berrien Centre, Mich. My Dear Sir:
In an unguarded moment I consented to give you
some of my recollections of the early pioneers of
northern Berrien county. I think, however, that
I could do better at writing short sermons than
history.
For want of space, I shall confine my article
to a few of the early settlers whom I knew
personally from 1842 to 1846.
My father, W. C. George, moved from Clayton,
New York, in 1842, and landed in St. Joseph in
the fall of the same year. During the next winter
he moved to Bainbridge.
St. Joseph at that time was a small hamlet
surrounded by great forests and it was no
uncommon thing for deer, wild turkeys and bears
to wander into the village. I have seen wild
bears on the beach at the mouth of the river as
late as 1851. During the same year four were
killed by the Hardenbrook brothers while swimming across the river into the village.




Earliest Pioneer Records.

159

The principal citizens of the village were B.
C. Hoyt, who later became a banker and died
recently at the age of about 100 years; Thomas
Fitzgerald, a banker and afterwards appointed
a United States senator by Governor Lewis Cass;
Horace Guernsey, a pioneer of '37; the Kingsley
brothers; Major Timothy Smith, who with his
sons later went to California; Sheriff Whitmeyer,
and Alexander Collins, a boot and shoe manufacturer. Captain Curtis Boughton, who died a
few years since, was up to the time of his death
a prominent character in Berrien county. His
schooner was wrecked at the mouth of the St.
Joseph river during the "terrible November gale
of 1842," a gale that was remembered for years
as the most disastrous that had been known on
the lakes. The crew was rescued by the heroism
of the villagers. During the Civil War whenever
Captain Boughton heard of a soldier's family
that was destitute he relieved their wants from
his private funds. He started the first commercial
peach orchard in southwestern Michigan.
In 1842 there was a scow ferry across the
river, a very primitive affair, which connected
with a plank road on piles running across the
marsh for about half a mile to hard ground.




160

History of Benton Harbor.

The only house on the east side of the river,
on the present site of Benton Harbor, was a log
tavern owned and kept by Eleazer Morton, who
was at that time in the prime of life and one of
the most prominent men in the county-a man
wholse counsel was sought by all his neighborsa man of commanding presence, strict integrity,
and a strong will. He was also an author of
some note and for years a correspondent of the
New York Tribune. He assisted all who came to
him in distress, but woe to the man who abused
his hospitality. All passenger traffic from as
far east as Detroit passed his door-it was the
terminus of the Territorial road.
His family consisted of five sons-viz., Charles
A., Henry C., William E., George C., and James
D.; and five daughters, Sarah M., who married
Judge Conger; Mary A., Jane E., and Caroline D.
One of the sons, Henry C. Morton, deserves
more than passing notice. To him, more than
any other man, is credit due for the flourishing
city of Benton Harbor, the metropolis of the
Fourth Congressional district, and for the prosperity of northern Berrien county. He, however,
had two able assistants in Sterne Bronson, who
suggested a ship canal to the mouth of the St.




Earbiest Pioneer Records.

161

Joseph river, and Charles Hull. These three men
worked hand in hand, their only encouragement
being scoffs and sneers, but by their heroic efforts
they made Benton Harbor, one mile inland, a
great shipping point. In the accomplishment of
their object, they have erected a monument for
themselves that will be cherished by all the older
residents as long as they live, and should be by
all who come in after years and are benefited by
their labor.
To Henry C. Morton, more than to all others,
is due the credit for the great work. In the
accomplishment of his object he never wavered,
but spent his fortune and some of the best years
of his life. He inherited all the good qualities
of his father. No public business of importance
was transacted without the aid of his counsel.
He did not stop his work when the canal was
completed, but his energy and means did effective
work in securing the extension of the West
Michigan (Pere Marquette) Railway to Benton
Harbor. He was also one of the largest factors
in securing the C., C., C. & St. L. railway. He
was once elected to the legislature, but refused
a renomination.
L. L. Johnson lived about one mile down the




162

Hsistory of Benton Harbor.

Paw Paw river at what was known as "L. L.
Gap," the present site of the beautiful Higman
Park.   About two miles up the river from
Johnson's lived Joseph Caldwell and Robert
Dickinson.   I do not remember of another
resident between there and Waterford, as it was
then called.
About one mile east of Morton's, on the
Territorial road, was the Wheeler farm. Two
miles east of Wheeler's lived Benjamin Johnson,
who owned a blacksmith shop. He was a sturdy
pioneer. His son, Jether, lived to clear up a
large farm near his father's and did his share
toward improving the county.
One mile east of Johnson's an old man, James
Higbee, with his wife and three sturdy sons, had
settled in 1837. James, the oldest son, who is
still living, is about eighty-six years of age, with
evidence all around him of his energy and public
spirit. Payne Mann, who      was government
superintendent on the pier at the mouth of the
river, and the Jaquay family lived east of there.
The territory south and north of the Territorial road was an unbroken wilderness. The
small village of Millburg, seven miles east of the
river, consisted of about half a dozen families:




Earliest Pioneer Records.

163

Jehiel Enos, a surveyor, and afterward a representative in the legislature; the Enos brothersHarvey, Joseph, Roswell and Ira-who. owned the
only sawmill in the vicinity; the Wilder family,
consisting of the mother, three sons-James,
George and William-and two, daughters.
About a mile north of MAillburg lived an old
gentleman by the name of Bishop; the oldest son
was a sailor and master of a vessel on the lakes.
Another son, J. K. Bishop, is still living on the
old farm.
One mile south of Millburg, Phineas Pearl had
settled in 1837. His family consisted of his wife,
three sons, and two daughters. Mr. Pearl was a
sturdy, resolute, self-willed  man-a   typical
pioneer-who acknowledged no such thing as
defeat, and his wife was one of the kindest, most
motherly women I ever knew. One of his sons,
Major Lewis Pearl, taught the Millburg school in
the winter of '42. He is still living at the age of
86, a hearty old gentleman. He goes to the north
woods with the "boys" to hunt deer every fall.
He is a veteran of the Civil War, where he won
his title of major. Warren Pearl died several
years since, after cleaning up several large tracts
of land, and left a beautiful farm and much




164

History of Benton Harbor.

property for his children. James was drowned
when quite a young man. One daughter, Mrs.
Adeline Hull, is still living near Benton Harbor.
Two miles east of Millburg Alexander P.
Pinney kept a tavern, where the stages stopped
on their way to St. Joseph from Kalamazoo to
feed and change horses. Martin Tice, an old
stage driver, located near him.
Wheat was hauled from     as far east as
Kalamazoo to St. Joseph, much of it being moved
with oxen, with merchandise for their return
trips. Wheat sold from 50 to 60 cents per bushel,
payable in what was called the "Red Dog" or
"Wild Cat" currency, the issue of state or wild
cat banks, worth par one day and worthless the
next. There are people who are eternally howling
for a change in our present currency. Such men
should be obliged to work for fifty cents per day
(twelve hours), as we did in old times, and be
paid in "Wild Cat" currency. When we traveled
we were obliged to change our money at every
state line at a discount.
In Bainbridge, twelve miles east of the St.
Joseph river, where my father located, there were
but few settlers. As I remember them, they were
Samuel McKeys, Levy Woodruff, Isaac Youngs,




-Ea-rliest Pioneer Records.

165

Frank Johnson, Lot and William    Sutherland,
John and Wallace Tabor, Jacob Cribbs, and
John Byers, all o'f whom passed away some years
ago. I cannot say where they are at present, as
I have had no communications with any of them
since they departed.
Our nearest gristmill was at Whitmanville,
over twenty miles distant, and when a family got
out of flour or meal they would borrow until
some one went to mill. Whoever went would take
a grist for their neighbors.
For amusement, fifteen or twenty young
people would pile into, a sleigh drawn by two
yoke of oxen and go five or ten miles to a dancing
party, a singing or spelling school. There was
great pleastire in those moonlight excursions in
the ox-team age. It was about the only pleasure
we could afford. The present generation cannot
realize the terrible struggles and privations of
the pioneers, who by their perseverance and
courage started the ball rolling that has made
the country of today in place of the wilderness
of '42. There are now magnificent farm buildings,
beautiful orchards, vineyards   loaded  with
luscious fruit, fine school buildings, and churches
with steeples so high that very poor persons can




166

History of Benton Harbor.

hardly see the top of them. Telegraph and telephone poles are strung all over the country, and
people converse with each other hundreds of miles
apart, so that, together with the steam   and
electric roads and all the wonderful discoveries
and inventions of the last century, space is almost
annihilated. Yet, with all the blessings with
which we are surrounded, I doubt if we are
happier than in the old times. I even doubt if the
Great Father of All is worshiped with more
sincerity in the magnificent churches of today
than in the little log churches in those olden days.
The good Lord seemed just as merciful then as
now, and salvation was just as free to us as it
was to the Jews centuries before.
Smith and Merrick of Clayton, New York,
owned large tracts of wild land in northern
Berrien county. About 1835 they commenced
building a sawmill on the Paw Paw river about
three miles north of Bainbridge, and named the
place Waterford, since changed to Watervliet.
In the fall of 1837 the company's schooner,
"Horatio Gates," in command of Captain Curtis
Dixon, entered the harbor of St. Joseph, where
there was no pier, loaded with supplies for the
new village. They were taken up the Paw Paw




Earliest Pioneer Records.

167

river in scows, poled and towed by the vessel's
crew. The sailors remained in the village all
winter and worked for the company. Among the
crew was a young man by the name of William
Carey, who afterwards married Caroline George
and was for many years a well known captain on
the lakes. There was Canada thistle seed enough
in the cargo of the "Horatio Gates" to seed all of
northern Berrien county. Moses Osgood kept the
boarding house, and a man by the name of
Moffatt was manager of the company.
There were more Indians in the county in
'42 than white people. They were generally
peaceable, except when intoxicated, but when in
this condition they were as beastly as the very
civilized white men are in this age when in the
same condition.
Earlier than 1843, Stephen R. Gilson came to
nothern Berrien county and soon after located
about two miles down the river from Waterford,
and was the founder of the little burg that grew
into the Coloma of today. He was one of a class
of men who by their invincible courage and
energy have made the western country what it
is now. He was a generous man and a good
neighbor.




168

History of Benton, Harbor.

In 1844 and 1846 a number of families moved
from Jefferson county, New York, to Bainbridge
and Watervliet, among whom       were George
Becker, Gilson Osgood (who' was for some years
agent for Smith & Merrick), Andrew Pitcher, Mr.
Duval, and two families of Boyers. Most of them
came without means, but all of them possessed
something better,than   hard  cash-strength,
energy and determination-and nothing could
shake them but the ague. No one escaped that
dread disease.
The present generation cannot realize the
hardships of the early pioneer. Very few of
them lived to an old age, and their struggles and
privations were very hard to bear. Deer, turkeys
and squirrels destroyed their crops, and bears
killed many of their hogs, sometimes even going
into a yard and carrying off a hog. All kinds of
wild game were abundant.
If space was not so limited for this article, I
would try to do justice to the grand men who
came into the country later, and took up the great
work of improving the country where the old
settler left off, but part of their history has
already been written and ample historical justice
will be given them later.
W. L. GEORGE.




THE STORY OF THE CANAL.

J. E. Miller, Civil Engineer, Wrote the Following Interesting Reminiscences:
In response to request, I will give some facts
in the early history of Benton Harbor, Mich.,
which are possibly unknown to the majority of
its citizens and which may be of interest.
In the year of 1860 I was associated with
Martin Green as chief accountant and chief
engineer in   dredging  and  general contract
business, with offices at No. 4 North Wells street,
near the bridge, Chicago. In the early spring of
1860 "three wise men"-viz., Henry Morton,
Charles Hull and Sterne Brunson came over in a
boat from "Bung-town," as it was generally called
at that time. They came into our office and stated
their errand, which was no less a project for our
consideration than the building of a ship canal
nearly a mile in length from the St. Joseph river
across the marsh to the present site of Benton
Harbor, with a basin and channel large enough
for the biggest lake vessel and steamers.
The scheme evidently originated with Mr.
Brunson, a man of active mind and whose argu



170

History of Benton Harbor.

ments were so plausible, backed as they were by
the other two gentlemen of practicability as to
its feasibility and profit in the development of
the great fruit region lying contiguous, and even
in that day supplying the Chicago market with
the most delicious peaches, apples, grapes, etc.
It seemed like a chimerical scheme at first
sight, but after considerable persuasion and argument Mr. Green and I started on the old roundbottomed propeller "Montezuma" for St. Joseph,
The vessel would roll so as to dip decks in a good
sea and I was invariably sick every time I crossed
on her.
On arrival after a night's tossing we met our
three friends who conducted us over the proposed
route for the canal, which for feasibility and ease
of construction appeared very easy, there being
from; one to three feet of water over the whole
marsh from where the Paw Paw river intersects
the St. Joseph river. After looking over the
ground and getting from    the committee their
best offer, it was decided to undertake the job,
and on our return to Chicago two dredges were
got ready and safely housed to stand the sea. At
that day it was quite a risk to tow a dredge
across the lake, as they were not built so stanch




Earliest Pioneer Records.

171

as now, with iron frames and every appliance to
stand a gale, but were entirely of wood and quite
small as compared to the modern ones; still, we
never had a serious accident in crossing, which
we did many times. I remember on the first
dredge towed over one deckhand lashed a buoy
to each wrist in case of accident, and it took some
time to convince him that was the worst possible
place for a buoy to. be fastened. We had in all
four dredges at work digging the canal in order
to allow vessels to use it the next spring.
We agreed that the canal should be platted
150 feet in width from the mouth to the upper
terminus, where a basin large enough to turn the
largest lake vessel was to be dug, and it was so
platted upon the recorded map, but the canal was
dug 80 feet in width first and I think 16 deep.
The government has now control of the canal as
navigable water and the committee allowed the
80 feet in width to be permanent, which no doubt
they now regret.
I also laid out the village into streets, blocks
and lots, embracing all the land lying in the now
business district, but not the high lands on the
bluff.
The survey was made accurately with transit,




172        History of Benton Harbor.
wooden rod, with standard measure. I had for
assistants besides the three, Mr. James, R.
Brunson and others, plenty of volunteers.
When I look back it seems about incredible
that any one, especially Mr. Green, could on the
showing undertake such a contract, for at that
time there were few houses in sight and the great
extent of half-submerged marsh was enough to
suggest ague and all sorts of disagreeable things.
On the bluff nearest the basin lived Sterne
Brunson and family; on the eastern bluff, Henry
C. Morton, and beyond him Charles Hull. At
the foot of the bluff close to Ox Creek lived an
old German woman, and on Main street south of
the basin lived Mr. Lewis, known' as the "rubber
man," as all his joints were double, including
arms and neck.
At this time the great marsh, stretching from
the sand hills on the shore of Lake Michigan to
the bluffs along the St. Joseph and Paw Paw
rivers and east both sides of Main street to the
canal basin, was nearly always covered with
water, through which the wild rice grew to a
height of 6 feet or more, a beautiful sight waving
in the sun and wind like some vast wheat field,
but underneath all this vegetation lived turtles,




-Earliest Pioneer Records.

173

muskrats and other amphibious animals.    It
was a great resort for sportsmen, being fairly
alive with ducks, rails and cranes, which lived
sumptuously upon the wild rice. What a surprise
to all these inhabitants of the marsh it must have
been to have the steam  dredge Jworking and
puffing there! The sand thrown up by the dredge
was leveled back and made fine dockage ground,
as is shown by the warehouses and lumber yards
now lining both banks of the canal. The only
way to reach Benton Harbor from Chicago was
by vessel, or by stage from Niles in M.. C. R.,.
The village was first called Brunson Harbor
and the old epithet "Bungtown" was always
applied by her jealous neighbor (St. Joseph).
As the new village gained rapidly in population
and importance, having more spacious dockage
and facilities for handling freight, this jealousy
increased until the enmity between the two towns
was very great. Of late years this seems to have
passed away, the two cities being connected by
electric lines and in many other ways their
interests are mutual.
It was after a while voted to change the name
to Benton Harbor, it being the chief town in the
county and township of Benton.




174

History of Benton Harbor.

The land north of Main street from Ox Creek
to the basin was originally covered with oak trees,
and near the water works on Main street were
some old peach trees which have borne fruit for
twenty years. The Indians camped ever year
near McCord's spring above Paw Paw bridge.
The only business house was a blacksmith
shop on Main and Pipestone streets, and no postoffice. St Joseph then being a very old village
and   headquarters for  all the surrounding
country. This was forty-two years ago (1860).
I made the original map of record, a copy of
which I kept.
On my visit to Benton Harbor last July I
noted some very great improvements, and thought
to myself, how I wished the old committee of
three were alive to see the asphalt roads, mineral
baths, opera house, etc., but they always had
faith that these things would come. I remember
old Mr. Morton, grandfather of Stanley Morton,
a fine specimen of the old-school gentleman and
pioneer from Ohio, who often expatiated upon
the great future of the new enterprise, believing
a large city would ultimately be built here.
J. E. MILLER.




CANAL PLAN TO PAW       PAW   RIVER.
The Connecting of the Canal With the Paw Paw River
Was Urged in 1862.
The following subscription was circulated in
1862 for the purpose of raising money to extend
the ship canal from the basin to the Paw Paw
river, a plan that was never carried out:
We, the undersigned, agree to give the amount
set opposite our several names for the building
of a road and canal from the basin in Bronson
BHarbor to the Paw Paw river, near the town line,
it being understood that the road is to be made
four feet higher than high water mark and fifteen
feet wide on the top and the canal to have four
feet of water at low water and twenty-five feet
wide, to be paid in such amounts and at such
times as the several subscribers may agree upon
with the committee of directors:

George Parmelee...... $500
Frank Hopkins........ 500.
M. & O. B. Green...... 400
Tohn Thomas.......... 25
H. C. Morton.......... 100
B. C. Lewis, lot 5, block
19, Brunson Harbor..
W. B. Harmon........ 25,
Alvin Burrage........ 50
A.  U.  Collins........  25
Rufus Brunson........ 15
W. Hipp, 10 piles...... 10
C. K. Pierce, 10 piles... 10

L. C. Merrell, 5 piles..
M. H. Stoddard, piles,
timber or cord wood..
James Barry, piles or
tim ber................
Charles M. Guv, piles..
S. G. Parker, Sq. timber
Henry Smith, 10 piles..
VWm. M. Driscoll......
Lyman Cole, timber....
Bover & West, lumber..
Abel Barnum, Sq. timber
Thomas Ragan, 5 piles..

5
25
10
10
10
10
10
20
80
20
5




AN   EARLY    SETTLER'S RECOLLECTIONS,
An Interview with Henry C. Morton in 1895
That venerable gentleman, and Benton Harbor's
oldest citizen, Henry C. Morton, is celebrating his
77th birthday to-day, and receiving the congratulations of a host of loving friends. Mr. Morton is
wonderfully well preserved, both physically and
mentally, his intellect being so clear that he recalls
with phenomenal accuracy events of the minutest
import that occurred more than three score years
ago. A representative of The Palladium called on
Mr. Morton to-day and chatted entertainingly with
him about the early history of Benton Harbor and
St. Joseph, for Mr. Morton's residence in this city
is synonymous with its growth and progress from
the first inception of a village here, as he came
here 60 years ago, when there was scarcely a vestige of civilization and the surrounding country was
a vast wilderness.
Mr. Morton came to Benton Harbor with his
parents by wagon from Ohio, and stayed in Kalamazoo one year (1834), there being no wagon road
at that time to Lake Michigan. In 1835, however,
Congress appropriated $20,000 and opened the road
from Detroit to St. Joseph. The family remained




Earliest Pion.eer Recoirds.

177

in St. Joseph that winter and in the spring came to
Benton Harbor, building a large log house in the
woods on the present site of the water works pumping station. At that time there was not an inhabitant in either Hagar, Sodus or Pipestone townships,
and only two families in Benton township-the families of Joseph Caldwell and a Mr. Dalton.
Upon reaching manhood Mr. Morton became interested with his father in the development of
Benton Harbor, with which, until recent years, he
has been actively and personally engaged, generously donating a large amount of money for every
improvement of importance, and in several instances
aiding St. Joseph financially in times of monetary
stringency. Among the most notable improvements
with which Mr. Morton was identified was the building of the ship canal, which is well known history
here, the building of the first swing bridge across
the St. Joseph river at its mouth, and the securing
of the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan road into
Benton Harbor. For this project his donation was
munificent.
Mr. Morton has always been a friend of St. Joseph,
anxious to see that city progress. He expressed
himself to-day as happy that the county seat will
be removed to St. Joseph.
Mr. Morton resides in the old homestead on Territorial street with his son, J. Stanley and family.
The old homestead was built in 1848. The frame
barn on the lot was the second frame barn built in
Northern Berrien County.




A VAST PEACH ORCHARD.

The following was published in a Chicago newspaper in 1899:
Benton Harbor, Mich., Nov. 1.-This season
has been a remarkably profitable one for fruit
growers in this locality. Due to the extreme cold
weather of last winter when 80 per cent of the
peach trees throughout the United States were
killed by frost, those in the vicinity of Benton
Harbor alone escaping with the exception of a
few orchards along the lake shore.
The peach orchards have borne heavy crops
this season and prices have ruled high.,Roland
Morrill, the largest peach grower of this section,
has shipped an average of 3,000 baskets of peaches
per day. He had an extra large and fine crop of
Albertas, and from   this one variety he has
gathered about 2,500 baskets. They have averaged $5.00 per basket, and the value of the crop
from this single variety is $12,500.
The Roland Morrill peach orchard is without
doubt the greatest peach farm in the world. Two
years ago the American Horticultural Society
met in Chicago and the expert peach men made a




Miscellaneous Records.

179

side trip to Benton Harbor for the express
purpose of seeing the Morrill orchard. Upon their
return to the convention they passed a resolution
to the effect that they had just visited the finest
peach orchard in America. That was two years
ago, and only a small portion of the orchard was
old enough to bear to any extent.
The orchard comprises 100 acres, and the
crop this year is larger than ever before. This
season Mr. Morrill has marketed about 12,000
bushels of peaches, and the capacity of the
orchard next year will be 25,000 bushels. The
crop this year has brought returns to the amount
of $25,000.
Many of the peach trees this season were so
heavily loaded that the limbs, unable to bear the
weight, bent to the ground, where they found
support until the fruit was gathered. When
the fruit was picked the trees straightened up
again and no injury has been done to them.
The success of Mr. Morrill as a peach grower
is not the result of good luck. This season he
has made more money than any other man in
the county, but he has not accomplished this
result without work. He superintends the care
of the trees personally and declares that his




180        History of BeTaon Hrarbor.
success is due to the looking after the details of
the business that some growers look upon as
nonessential. The trees must in the first place
be kept. healthy and then they can bear to their
full capacity without injury. During the season
the ground in the orchard is cultivated every few
days. Mr. Morrill does not believe in irrigating
the peach orchard. Frequent cultivation, he says,
is better. As soon as the peaches are grown the
fruit is brought to the packing house in halfbushel baskets, and there the peaches are sorted
into "first" and "seconds" by the grower himself.
In the bottom of the basket is the number of the
picker, and a record is kept of each individual
picker. If green fruit is picked or the peaches
bruised the picker who did the work is called to
account at night. The pickers are paid by the
day and good work is essential to holding the job.
At the packing house girls and women are employed in the packing. The first grade peaches
are packed in California crates of four baskets.
The name of the packer is also on each crate, and
if any of the fruit is not up to the standard it is
always easy to learn who packed the inferior
peaches and the person guilty of bringing the
brand in disfavor is replaced by some more
painstaking packer.




COMPANY I RETURNS FROM CUBA.
The local correspondent of the Chicago Times-Herald wired
the following under date of Sept. 4, 1898:
Benton Harbor, Mich., Sept. 4.-A public
reception was given here to-night in honor of
the home coming of Company I, Thirty-third
Michigan volunteers. The train conveying the
soldiers arrived over the West Michigan Railway
by way of Grand Rapids from Detroit at 9:40
o'clock. The citizens had made preparations for
a patriotic demonstration, and upon the arrival
of the train all the whistles in the city began
blowing and the bells chimed in their notes of
welcome.
A committee and two bands and thousands of
people met the boys at the depot, and when they
disembarked the scene that followed was both
pitiful and enthusiastic. Mothers wept in the
arms of their soldier sons, fathers, sisters and
brothers greeted the return of their long-absent
boys, and friends shook their hands in a fervor
of joy.
Company I finally formed in line and marched
in company fours to the armory, passing beneath
a magnificent arch of national colors, which the
citizens had erected. Upon this was the legend,




182

History of Benton Harbor.

"Welcome Home, Brave Boys of Santiago,"
illuminated with incandescent electric lights.
The city was profusely decorated with bunting
and flags. In a window of one of the large grocery
stores was this legend: "Nothing Too Good for
Company I."   "Hazen S. Pingree, the Soldier's
Friend," was suspended beneath a large picture
of the Michigan governor.
Addresses of welcome were delivered by Mayor
Brant. General Ainger, Thomas O'Hara and
others.
The returning troops presented a striking
contrast to the original eighty-six young men who
left this city on May 16 to be mustered into the
United States service. The hardships of the
campaign were plainly visible in the appearance
of every one. Of the eighty-six who went to Cuba
fifty-eight came back to-night, eight are in the
hospitals at Montauk Point, one is still sick in
Cuba, one died on a transport and was buried at
sea, and nine others are at home, having come
back at different times on account of disability.
Company I had two men wounded-Lieutenant
Harry Pound and Private Elson Felch-in the
second day's fighting at Santiago.
Private Barrett O'Hara of Company I was
the only man in the Thirty-third regiment who
could talk Spanish. After the surrender of the
Spanish army he rendered valuable service as an
nterpreter.                      Jas.Pender.




THE WAR AT ST. JOSEPH.
Ben King wired the following to the Chicago News-Record
May 20, 1892:
St. Joseph, Mich., May 20.-It is generally believed here by town folk who are inclined to
be superstitious at all that years and years ago
on the beautiful bluff in front of the Hotel
Whitcomb, where long since the bones of the
Pottawattomie Indians were exhumed, an old
chieftain was murdered in warm blood, hence the
awful fatality that seems attached to the town.
Even its own citizens work against its interests
and have for years. They have fought every enterprise that would be a benefit to the town ever
since the old burg stood. This were not so
lamentable a fact if it had been the old residents,
but the contagion seems to have spread-handed
down as it were to the young-and the Young
Men's club are today carrying out the same ideas
and harboring the same fossilized theories of
their forefathers. It might be interesting to the
outside world to know just why "Old St. Joe,"
with its great location and elegant harbor, has
not advanced one iota in the last fifty years, while
other towns have increased in population and
wealth-Benton Harbor, for instance, across the




184

Miselecrneous Recordcs.

river, scarcely half the age of St. Joe, now a city
twice the size of the old village on the hill. Let a
man come into the town of his own accord; a
man with brains; a man with capital and energy
and push and go-ahead-ativeness and the old
back-numbers will cast a suspicious glance at
him and shun him as they would a hobgoblin.
A year or so ago a citizen dropped in here
from a far-away state, old Kentucky. His name
was Col. William Worth Bean. He bought up
a mile or so of street-car track for a Chicago
syndicate and assumed management of the same.
Col. Bean's trouble began when he struck St. Joe.
He struck a town owned and controlled by a few
men of very egotistic natures. These men practically owned St. Joe. They had hoarded up
some wealth by actual manual labor, had bought
the best part of the old town and built factories,
et ceteree, et ceterah. Each one had been converted at an early date and each one was frigidly
orthodox. Like Alexander at the sea, who said,
"Thus far shalt thou go and no father," so saith
the influential few to "Old St. Joe." They did not
want the old town to get out of their control, and,
fearing that Mr. Bean would introduce some
novelty or scheme whereby the beautiful village
would get her second wind and forge ahead, leaving them to hang on like barnacles on the bottom
of an old hulk, they began to whisper vain things
among themselves and said: "Verily I say unto




Miscellaneous Records.

185

you, this Kaintuckian is too swift for us. We
must sit down on him."
And they did, but all undaunted Col. Bean
went on. He asked them to give him a franchise
for an electric road, so the citizens between St.
Joe and Benton Harbor could move faster; so
that the business men could take lunch in either
town with a loss of only a few minutes. No one
knows how Mr. Bean got his franchise, but he
got it. It was granted him by a democratic board
then doing business at the old stand, after Bean
had explained to them what electricity was, how
he intended to suspend a wire over their heads
and push them along over the bridges and bayous
and cause-way roads at a speed of forty miles an
hour. He had labored with some of the new
aldermen and had fully persuaded them that the
electric current overhead would do them no
injury.
One alderman, who squints more or less at
large, thought perhaps lightning might strike a
car propelled in such a manner, but after Bean
related the story about Ben Franklin and his kite
and how no harm whatever could come to them
they reluctantly relented.
It was after the new board got in that Mr.
Bean found his pathway strewn with thorns.
One would have thought the old democratic board
with its Jacksonian ideas was bad, but the new
republican board with its homeopathic mayor had




186

JMiscellaneous Records.

the yellows far worse than the old peaches that
hung on the political tree so long. The good
Kentucky colonel held them aloof, his syndicate
was not prepared to bonus any of the ring, and
even the aldermen at large could keep on running
at large. They would find no bean mashes or
clover fields so far as Mr. Bean was concerned.
Trouble began in St. Joe last Saturday. Mr.
Bean had the guy-poles in. The franchise given
the Bean syndicate calls for a track on Ship
street, the cars stopping exactly in front of the
Lake View and Hotel Whitcomb; but to pull the
cars up to this point a pole had to be erected some
thirty feet away. This was or is the central pole
on which the trolley wire is fastened and stands
at the very edge of Lake Front park. It is not in
the way of vehicles, not in the park, and when in
position, tightened up by the trolley wire and
painted will be more of an ornament to the park
than a few japonicas and sweet peas that grow
near its base. It was while digging this hole for
the "Bean pole," as some of the irate citizens
designate it, that his mayorship waxed very
worth.
Mr. Bean's workmen were digging away,
singing "Hitchety Hatchet and Up-I-Go" and
thinking of Jack the Giant-Killer and the
"Bean pole," when suddenly the mayor's chief
of police appeared and arrested them, taking
them away to St. Joe's calaboose, a very unsavory




Jiscellaneous _Records.

187

and grewsome old place. When he came back he
found another Bean-poler at work and so arrested
him, and so on until seven poor fellows were incarcerated just for digging in a hole that the
town had given them the right to dig. Do you
think that was justice, gentle reader? Col Bean,
with good old Kentucky blue-grass blood coursing
through his veins, prepared to frustrate the plans
of his enemies next day and so got out an injunction, but on that night the "Nux Vomica" mayor
posted a sentinel to watch the "Bean-pole-hole,"
with instructions that if Mr. Bean's brigade came
at any.time during the night to warn them by
ringing the fire-bell.
What do you think of him? That night for a
practical joke about a dozen young men with old
brooms marched to the sacred spot. The wary
sentinel, believing them to be Bean's workmen,
ran to the city hall and rang the fire-bell. The
consequence was all of St. Joe turned out at
midnight, believing it to be another great fire,
when in reality it was only a broom brigade
around the contested spot on the lake front. And
it came to pass next day, even after Mr. Bean
had got out an injunction preventing the mayor
and his subordinates from interfering with his
Workmen, that homeopathy came down with blood
in his eye, and, believing himself to be more
powerful than the laws of the state of Michigan,
he, in violation of the statutes, ordered his




188

Miscellaneous Records.

policemen to arrest all workmen who dared to
put shovel or pick in the "Bean-pole-hole."
He then made a speech that ran something as
follows: "Fellow-citizens, we, the citizens of St.
Joseph, rejoice in this beautiful park. We have
laid it out and have set out beautiful flowering
shrubs. Here and there grow lovely nasturtiums,
japonicas and sweet pease. Mr. Archer, as you
all know, has set these flowers out. We have
gone to great expense for these japonicas and
sweet pease. Now, shall we let this electric streetcar line put up a pole here, hiding these japonica
flowers and sweet pease from the view of our
summer visitors? I say no. Let us protect our
japonicas and sweet pease. They are more to us
than any electricity cars, that endanger life so
much. And then, just as his mayorship called on
the officers to arrest Mr. Bean and his men,
Deputy Sheriff Louis Hosbein then and there
read the injunction act to the mayor and in a few
hours the Bean pole went up and there she stands
to-day. The question asked the News-Record
correspondent to-day after arriving was: Have
you seen the Bean pole yet? So the wandering
scribe found it, and standing at its base muttered
these words in a low, guttural, inaudible tone:
"Keeping everlastingly at it bringeth success.
Hammer away, old St. Joe; hammer out the old
fossils and hammer in the new. Sing 'Boom de ra,
Ta ra Boom de Aye.' After awhile, when the fossils die, we'll be a city by and by.  Ben King.




jMiscellaneous Records.

189

PRESIDENTS
Of the Village of Benton Harbor From 1866 to 1891:

Samuel McGuigan.
John C. Ingham.
Sterne Brunson.
John C. Ingham.
(2nd term).
John W. Leslie.

Joseph Riford.
I. C. Abbott.
John Thomas.
Henry L. Pitcher.
S. B. Anderson.
S. G. Antisdale.

MAYORS
Of the City of Benter Harbor:

Fred A. Hobbs.
Alonzo Plummer.
Dr. John Bell.
A. H. Rowe.
I. W. Conkey.
Monroe Morrow.
W. H. Seitz.

Benton R. Stearns
Osgood Fifield.
Edward Brant.
H. A. Foeltzer.
R. B. Gillette.
James J. Miller.
Dr. Ryno.




190

History of Bernon Harbor.

POSTMASTERS
Of Benton Harbor Have Been as Follows;

1866 to 1873
1873 to 1877
1877 to 1884
1884 to 1889
1889 to 1893
1893 to 1896
1896 to 1897
1897 to 1901
1901 to 1909
1909 to 1914
1914 to 1915
To date.

Henry C. Morton.
Joseph P. Thresher,
A. B. Riford.
Hattie B. Riford.
Col. L. M. Ward,
Roman I. Jarvis.
Edgar Nichols.
Harry R. Huntington,
John T. Owens.
Charles K. Farmer.
Henry J, CampbelL




lMiscellaneous Records.

191

SUPERVISORS
Of Benton Harbor have been as follows:
1893            John Seel.    Wm. Randall.
1894            I. W. Dow.    B. R. Stearns.
1895 to 1898    0. B. Hipp.
1896 to 1898    Luther Hemingway.
1896            Elmer L. Rouse.
1898             S. M. Austin.
1899            C. Rooms.
1899 to 1900    James Talmadge.
1899 to 1901    H. D. Poole.
1900            W. Deaner.
1901            H, B. Volheim.
1901 to 1902    M. V. Buchanan,
1902            S, H, Kelly.    John Clark,
1902            S. M. Austin. (2nd term).
1903            Louis A. Jerue.
1903            L. Hemingway.
1903            W. H. Quilliams,
1904            C. K. Farmer,
1904            S. M. Austin. (3rd term).
1905 to 1906     Lewis A. Jerue. (2nd term).
1905            S. E. Daigneau. E.J.Stevens
1905            H. D, Poole, (2nd term).
1906            0. B. Hipp. (2nd term).
1906            J. E. Barnes.
From  0. W. Coolidge's History of Berrien County.




192

History of Benton Harbor.

SUPERVISORS
Of Benton Township have been as follows:
1841            Ephriam P. Mann.
1842 to 1846    Phineas Pearl.
1847 to 1850    Jehiel Enos.
1851 to 1853    Lewis W. Pearl.
1857 to 1858    Alexander B. Leeds.
1859 to 1861    Lewis W. Pearl. (2nd term).
1862            Jehiel Enos.
1863 to 1864    Samuel McGuigan.
1865 to 1868    J. H. Hogue.
1869 to 1870    Samuel Jackson.
1871 to 1874    W. L. George.
1875 to 1878    S. L. Van Camp.
1879 to 1880    W. L. George. (2nd term).
1881            Charles A. Spencer.
1882 to 1890    John C. Lawrence.
1891 to 1896    Sanders L. Van Camp.
(2nd term).
1897 to 1899    Henry A. Rackliffe.
1900 to 1901    John C. Lawrence. (2nd term
1902            W. A. Rose.
1903            J. J. Jakway.
From 0. W. Coolidge's History of Berrien County,




OLD TIMERS SOCIAL AND BANQUET.
From The News-Palladium of May 5, 1915:
Upwards of a hundred old residents of Benton
Harbor, in fact only those who have lived here for
fifty years or longer, filled the G. A. R. hall Tuesday
evening, May 4th, for the first annual banquet of the
Benton Harbor Fifty Year Club, the only club of its
kind in the State.
On April 12th last, a meeting of old settlers was
called at the Benton Harbor Club rooms, for the
purpose of organizing a club to consist of fifty years
residents of the city. Officers were elected and
arrangements made for the first big meeting, but the
most optimistic of the organizers did not expect the
success that resulted. Hardly seventy were counted
upon, but it was necessary to reset two long tables
to serve the big company of men and women who
came. Responding to invitations they arrived early
in the afternoon, and thus had plenty of time for renewing acquaintances and recalling old times; in
truth, the visiting was so general and of such a lively
nature, that it was almost impossible to call the company to order, and it was found necessary to dispense
with the five speeches which had been prepared.
At 6 o'clock the tables were filled with diners.
Charles Warner offered prayer, sounding a tone of
thankfulness for the long number of years allotted to
all present. The banquet of four courses was served
by the Ladies of the G. A. R., and proved very
palatable. Bouquets of lilacs formed the centerpieces, and favors were nosegays.




194

History of Benton Harbor.

To Mrs. Geo. H. Wright was given the bouquet
of carnations, she having the honor of having lived
the longest in this vicinity. She was born in Millburg in 1838, or seventy-seven years ago. A little
of the oldest resident's history might interest many:
She was seventeen years old when she began teaching school in the Hull District, and was, before her
marriage, Miss Eliza Hess.
Mrs. Mary Anderson, born in St. Joseph in 1839,
was the next oldest resident present. Mrs. Anderson's father, Charles Lamb, took up the first government land of 160 acres in this vicinity when Martin
Van Buren was President of the United States.
Charles D. Roome, ninety-threeyears of age, was
the oldest person present. He came here in 1851.
Other old residents and settlers present were: Mrs.
Hannah Robbins, 85 years of age, who came here in
1856; Mrs. Julia Ann Reprogle Miller, 85 years old,
who came in the year 1860, and S. G. Antisdale, also
85, who came to Benton Harbor forty-five years ago.
Charles L. Young, William Newland and Charles
Johnson were among the youngest members of the
Fifty Year Club.
A list of those present, and the date of their coming, is
given here below:
1838 Eliza Hess Wright   1846 James McDonald
1839 Mary M.Lamb Ander-  1846 Anna Rector Mcson                      Donald
1846 John Spink
1841 Isaac Farnum        1846 Elijah Spink
1846 Elijah Spink
1842 George King        1847 Spencer 8. Van Horn
1842 Esther Lamb Roome
1847 John Seel
1844 S. Marshall Hull    1847 Josephine Hurd Sco1844 Jennie M. George          field
Jones             1847 John M. Spink
1845 U. Van Rankin      1848 William Randall




JMiscellaneous Records.

195

1849
1849
1849
1849
1850
1850
1850
1850
1851
1851
1851
1851
1852
1852
1852
1853
1853
1854
1854
1854
1855
1855
1855
1855
1855
1855
1855
1856
1856
1856
1857
1858
1858
1858

J. Stanley Morton
George W. Closson
Mary Murphy Burke
Mary Hull Tayior
A. M. Randall
Juan Hess
Catherine Arnt Seel
Mary Rector Hogue
Charles D. Roome
James P. Bishop
D. Woodin
Mary Wood Nutting
Michael Murphy
Helen Howard McKindley
Elida Sortore Rackliffe
Charles Burbank
Emma Hunter Burbank
Luther Hemingway
Byron B. Taylor
Francis McKindley
William Murphy
Josiah Caldwell
Foster M. Howard
R. K. Vanderbeck
Sovereign Jerue
Mary Jerue Fonger
Anna Hoppe Vanderbeck
Mrs. Hannah Robbins
Theresa Dittle Spink
John Sink
Mrs. Cynthia Nuskin
Howard S. Vincent
Harriet Nutting Taylor
Annette Nutting
Warner

1859
1859
1859
1860
1860
1860
1860
1860
1860
1860
1860
1861
1861
1861
186'
1861
1861
1861
1861
1861
1862
1862
1862
1862
1862
1862
1862
1863
1863
1863
1863
1863

Estella Rowe Riley
Lucinda Rowe Cole
Emma Rector
William B. Colgrove
Daniel Moore
Tom Hudson
Harriet Miller
Livingstone
Julia Ann Reprogle
Miller
Mrs. Ann Hopkins
Ada Robbins Downey
JosephineDavisLewis
Peter Fonger
William R. Heath
Sterling Sutherland
Otis M. Southworth
Clarence D. Wright
JuliaOgden VanHorn
Mrs. Ida Allen
Eliza Dodge
Stineback
Lucinda Diamond
Babcock
Charles Warner
Helen M. Aldrich
Lander
Emma Hall Moore
Jennie Carpenter
Cutler
Kate Vanderbeck
Vincent
Irene Vanderbeck
Worden
Alferetta Vanderbeck
William Newland
Charles Johnson
Ed. Garland
John McGoldrich
Vet Warner




1'96        History. of Benton, Ha,rbor.
1863 Mrs. Jennie Sweet   1865 J. O. Rowe
1863 Clara L. Mitchell   1865 A. H. Rowe
1864 Charles L. Young    1865 William Harmon
1864 Marvin J. Vincent   1865 Louise Andrus
1864 Sarah Blake Woodin         Harmon
1864 Anna King Garland
1864 Addie Price Garland  1865 Carrie 1. Knott
AN INTERESTING HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
The following is an extract from the address of Ald. Roy
Wallace published in The Banner-Register July 9, 1915:
At a banquet recently given, the address of Ald.
Roy F. Wallace on "Our City," was perhaps one of
the most general interest.
The address, which was thoroughly enjoyed by
all present, was as follows:
Rev. Father Mulcahy, Mr. Toastmaster, Menbers of the Sodality,
Ladies ana Gentlemen:The ladies who have this banquet in charge have
seen fit to give me a very interesting subject to talk
about, and that I, not claiming to be a speaker, don't
think I can give justice to.
Brunson's Harbor, or as it is now called, Benton
Harbor, has a unique history. It is a comparatively
new town in an old settled portion of the country.
Our neighbor, St. Joseph, is mentioned in history
as far back as the seventeenth century, while we date
our beginning from only a half century ago. For we
started out during the civil war period, and the
people who started us did so with a definite end in
view. They were determined to build a town on
this spot, and at that time it did not appear to be a
good location for the habitation of human beings.




Aisce$~eaneous Record s.

197

The site where the settlement was loeated was on low
land. We were known by our loving friends as
Bungtown.
The first church, the Cengregational, was at the
corner of Main and Wall streets, and still stands
next to the Parks creamery, and is used by the W.
0. W. as a lodge room.
The first hotel, the American House, was located
where the Jones & Sonner Block now stands. It was
built by Rufus Brunson, and afterwards run by Fred
Collins' grandfather, succeeded by E. Nichols, father
of Mrs. George Bell. This building, now located on
Colfax Ave., is called the Morton House.
The first president of the village was Sam McGuigan. The first marshal was Jim Trimble, and
the first man arrested was Spence Van Horn. He'
rode his horse on where the sidewalk should have
been, but was only a path. He was fined 10 shillings
and costs, and I think there were contempt of court
charges added because he mimicked the marshal.
The first town pump was in front of Rod Worden's meat market, about where Rahn Bros.' store
now stands on Main street.
A story is told by Spence Van Horn, who helped
me with these reminiscences, that he, Jack Montgomery and Brisk Martin were returning from a
social on Morton Hill one night, and of course they
couldn't go home without a drink-from the town
pump. When they reached the pump they found a
man drunk and sound asleep. Of course he hadn't
been drinking the famous water, but as it wasn't a
hotel and his family might be worrying about him,
they thought they would apply the famous water
cure for all aches and pains. Jack Montgomery




198

History of Benton Harbor.

stood the fellow on his feet, Martin stuck a hose,
which was connected to the pump down the fellow's
back and Van Horn worked the handle of the pump.
Between them they soon had the man sober. That
was the first of the baths that have made Benton
Harbor famous.
The late Robert Ricaby had a peach juice extractor and still at the intersection of what is now
Colfax avenue and Michigan street.
Nearly all the ground where Benton Harbor is
now. south and east of the Hotel Higbee, was a vast
peach orchard in 1863, and the rest was in timber.
Such names as Morton, Brunson and Hull must
always live in our memories for the work they
started still stands, and equal praise is due to every
one that helped with labor, money or oxen, to make
the Benton Harbor ship canal.
All the men who worked on the canal are gone
now, but many who were boys at that time are
still with us-Capt. John Robinson, Spence Van
Horn, Nate Lovell, Capt. James McDonald, Ambrose Rowe, Stanley Morton, and others.
A few others remember there notable instances,
among them being Mrs. Elizabeth Johnston, mother
of Mrs. Charles Haydon. Mrs. Johnston was one ofthe women who should receive praise along with
the canal builders, as she served the dinners to the
men at work on the canal. She helped me with
these notes.
The first large tug to navigate the canal was the
John T. Edwards,. owned by Capt. Edwards and
John Wallace.
With the digging of the canal shipping interests
increased, and Jack Randall built our first ship yard




Miscellaneous Records.         199
on the canal side. John Allmendinger and Ed
Heath followed after him in the same business. The
steamers, Skylark, Lora, Puritan, Barge Allmendinger, and tugs Graham, Thompson, Green, Dickinson,
and Tramp, schooners Cora, Ida, Elert and Defiance, and the famous yacht Hawthorn, and many
other boats were built here.
The Benton Harbor ship canal became a very
important waterway.
Some years later when the canal had become an
old story, Capt. M. C. Barnes who had traveled up
and down the canal on the tugs Daisy Lee and Lew
Wallace, having become tired of the water, conceived the idea of connecting the two towns, Benton Harbor and St. Joe, by a street railway. So he,
together with Capt. Jim Brooks, and Bood Ballengee, secured a franchise to join the towns by
steel rails, and on these they ran cars hauled by
horses. Old Jumbo. a giant horse, helped the cars
up the State street hill in St. Joseph, and the fare
charged was five cents.
About 1890 a Kentucky colonel came north. He
had his eye on our little horse car line, which he purchased, and in 1892 a charter was given to the Benton Harbor-St. Toe Electric R. R. Co., and Jumbo
and the rest of the horses disappeared from our
midst. For many years Col. Bean managed the line
and during that time built extensions to nearly every
part of both cities. But a few years ago he sold out
to the present company and at this time we have
one of the best street railway systems in the state,
and C. K. Minary is one of the best and most courteous of managers.




200

History of Benton, HCarbor.

LOOKING BACKWARD THROUGH THE FILES.
Palladium, Oct. 7, 1868. Stages leave Benton
Harbor from the American House for Niles, passing
through St. Joseph, Royalton, and Berrien Springs,
on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 6:10 a.m.
On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, by the way
of Sodus, Pipestone, Eau Claire, and Berrien Center
at 7:25, arriving in Niles about 12 o'clock.
Advertisements: D. M. Brown, dealer in crockery
and glassware; W. W. Modie, blacksmithing shop;
Thomas Spiers, tailor. E. Palmer & Son, groceries,
drugs and medicines, boots and shoes. Next door
to postoffice. Brunson & Winans, hardware; N.
Babcock, boots and shoes; Gates & Bell, drug store.
John Kapp, M. D., physician and surgeon; office in
Riford's new building, north side of Main Street.
A. B. Riford, attorney at law, notary public. Riford's
building, Main Street.
Palladium, July 22, 1870: Chris Tully, whose
home is in Chicago, and who is employed at Colby's,
tried his skill last Monday by making 850 baskets in
12 hours, driving 18,700 nails. This is far ahead of
anything we have yet heard of in making baskets.
Palladium, July 30, 1869: Mr. C. Colby is deserving the thanks of the community for the improvement he is making on Pipestone and Water
streets, by mixing old bark and box material with
the sand, which makes the roads much better for
travel, and prevents' to a great extent the dust which
we have to encounter in dry weather. There are
other streets on which this material would be valuable.




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