va;e jFi (e'S1 . :¦'-' 39002005933313 >&• 1933 UArffcy rf. *£(sZZ^Lu« CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI CTHE CENTER STATE) One Hundred Years in the Union I&20-I92I By WALTER B. STEVENS ILLUSTRATED / VOLUME I ST. LOUIS— CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1921 Copyright, 1921, by THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING CO. TO THE generation* of iffli**ouri Journalist* WHO HAVE WRITTEN DAY BY DAY THE HISTORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF STATEHOOD The State Flag or Missouri Jefferson on the Louisiana Purchase "The territory acquired, as it includes all the waters of the Missouri and Mississippi, has more than doubled the area of the United States, and the new part is not inferior to the, old in soil, climate, productions and important communications." — Jefferson to General Gates, July nth, 1803. "On this important acquisition, so favorable to the immediate interests of our Western citizens, so auspicious to the peace and security of the nation in general, which adds to our country territories so extensive and fertile, and to our citizens new brethren to partake of the blessings of freedom and self-government, I offer to Congress and our country my sincere congratulations." — Jefferson to Congress, January^ 16th, 1S04. "Whilst the property and sovereignty of the Mississippi and its waters secure an inde pendent outlet for the produce of the , Western.. States, and an uncontrolled navigation through their whole course, free from collision 'with other Powers, and the dangers to our peace from that source, the fertility of the country, its climate and extent, promise, in due season, important aids to our Treasury, an ample provision for our posterity, and a wide spread for the blessings of freedom and equal laws." — Jefferson to Congress, October 17th, 1803. "I know that the acquisition of Louisiana has been disapproved bj> some, from a candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory would endanger our Union. But can you limit the extent to which the federative principle may operate effectively? The larger our association, the less will it be shaken by local passions; and in any view, is it not bet ter that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our own brethren and children than by strangers of another family? With which shall we be most likely to live in harmony and friendly intercourse?" — Jefferson's Second Inaugural Address, .1805: "The treaty which has so happily sealed the friendship of our two countries has been received here with general acclamation. Some inflexible federalists have still ventured to brave the public opinion. It will fix their character with the world and with posterity, who, not descending to the other points of difference between us, will judge them by this fact, so palpable as to speak for itself in all times and places. For myself and my country, I thank you for the aids you have given in it; and I congratulate you on having lived to give those aids in a transaction replete with blessings to unborn millions of men, and which will mark the face of a portion on the globe so extensive as that which now composes the United States of America." — Jefferson to M. Dupont De Nemours, French Minister, Novem ber ist, 1803. "I confess I look to this duplication of area for the extending a government so free and economical as ours, as a great achievement to the mass of happiness which is to ensue. Whether we remain in one confederacy, or form into Atlantic and Mississippi confed eracies, I believe not very important to the happiness of either part. Those of the west ern confederacy will be as much our children and descendants as those of the eastern, and I feel myself as much identified with that country, in future time; as with this ; and did I now foresee a separation at some future day, yet I should feel the duty and the desire viii JEFFERSON ON THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE to promote the western interests as zealously as the eastern, doing all the good for both portions of our future family which should fall within my power." — Jefferson to Dr.. Priest ley; January 29th, 1804. JEFFERSON'S LETTER OF CREDIT TO MERIWETHER LEWIS Washington, U. S. of America,- July 4, 1803. Dear Sir : In the journey which you are about to undertake for the discovery of the course and source of the Missouri, and of the most cbnvenient water communication from thence to the Pacific Ocean, your party being small, it is to be expected that you will encounter con siderable dangers from the Indian inhabitants. Should you escape those dangers and reach the Pacific Ocean, you may find it imprudent to hazard a return the same way, and be forced to seek a passage round by sea, in such vessels as you may find on the Western coast. But you will be without money, without clothes and other necessaries ; as a suffi cient supply cannot be carried with you from hence. Your resource in that case can only be in the credit of the U. S., for which purpose I hereby authorize you to draw on the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, of War and of the Navy of the U. S., according as you may find your draughts most negotiable, ' f 01^ the purpose of obtaining mohey or necessaries for yourself and youfcmen. And I solemnly pledge the faith of the United States that these draughts shall be paid punctually at the date' they are made payable. I also ask oi the consuls, agents, merchants and citizens of any nation with which we have intercourse or amity to furnish you with those-' supplies which your necessities may call for, assuring them of honorable and prompt retribution. And our own Consuls in fpreign parts where you may happen to be, are hereby instructed and required to be aiding and assisting to you in whatsoever may be necessary for procuring your return back to the United States. And to give more entire satisfaction and confidence to those who may be disposed to aid you, I, Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of America, have written this letter of general credit for you with my own hand, and signed it with my name. Th. Jefferson. To Capt. Meriwether Lewis. STATUE OF THOMAS JEFFERSON The work of Karl Bitter. Placed in the arch of the Jefferson Memorial, Forest Park, St. Louis, by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition One Hundred Years of Statehood When Amos Stoddard, "the American Captain", raised the flag of the United States at St. Louis in March, 1804, the population of Upper Louisiana, as it was then called, was 6,982 by the most recent census of the Spanish governor, Delassus. This included all of the Louisiana Purchase north of Louisiana. Such was the rush of settlers to the new acquisition that in eight years the government at Washington recognized a political ' territory, estab lished a capital at St. Louis and organized five counties with a legislature and territorial courts. Six years later the Territory of Missouri, growing as have few other subdivisions of the United States, was asking statehood and admis sion to the Union. Missouri's travail of statehood began Jackson Day, 1818. On the anniver sary of the Battle of New Orleans, January 8th, Congress received "petitions from sundry inhabitants of the Territory of Missouri, praying that the said Territory of Missouri may be erected into a state, and admitted into the Union, on an equal footing with the original states. Three years, seven months and two days later President James Monroe issued a brief, formal proclamation announcing that "the admission of the said state of Missouri into this Union is declared to be complete." Within that period Missouri framed and adopted a constitution, elected and organized a state government, — executive, legisla tive and judicial. The territorial government ceased to function in 1820. United States senators and a representative were elected in 1820 and presented their credentials to Congress. Presidential electors were chosen and the returns from Missouri were given quasi recognition when the electoral returns were canvassed in joint session of Congress. Statutes were enacted and became the laws of the State of Missouri. And yet the admission into the Union was not "complete" until August 10, of 1821. In this condition, anomalous of new states, the first governor, McNair, justly congratulated 70,647 Missourians on their capacity for self-government while Missouri was an "American republic on the confines of the Federal Union." Missouri became the Center State of the Union. Two states south is the Gulf. Two states north is the Canadian line. Five states east is the Atlantic. By the same count of commonwealths westward is the Pacific. Missouri is the geographical heart of the Union. But more than in geography has Mis souri been the Center State. In the garb of a national issue Missouri ehtered the Union. The Missouri Compromise was a political shibboleth of two gen erations of Americans. Forty years this state was the moral and political xi xii ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF STATEHOOD storm center, with the issue of slavery growing into an impending crisis. Mis souri, in the language of the last governor before Civil war, Robert M. Stewart, was "a peninsula of slavery running out into a sea of freedom/' Forty years Missouri's growth in population, in trade, in development of natural resources, in culture, was wonderful. Then came Civil" war, — Mis- sourian against Missourian. A battle according to Civil war definition, was an engagement in which ten or more soldiers were killed or wounded. Of the 2,261 battles so classified, more than one-tenth were on Missouri soil. The 140,000 Missourians who went into the Civil war, on one side ,or the other, were 14 per cent of the population, or 60 per cent of all within military age. \ 1 The incidents, the details of the war in Missouri from 1861 to 1865, are almost incredible. But the recalling of them in history, is justifiable, and especially so in view of what followed. Almost as quickly as the storm of war burst in 1861 came the calm of peace in 1865, — the restoration of law and order by the popular will. Nowhere -else on the border were wounds healed, were scars removed, so rapfdly as in Missouri. Missourians, in the fullest sense, accepted the result of arms. Standing beside the statues of the great unionists, Benton and Blair, in statuary hall at the national capital, Vest, who had been on the opposite side in the issue of states' rights, a Confederate sen ator, said: "These men sleep together in Missouri soil, almost side by side, and so long as this capitol shall stand, their statues will be eloquent, though silent, pledges of Missouri's eternal allegiance to an eternal Union." Ten years after the Civil war, Missouri had recovered from the strife and desolation. The state was in a fair way to prosper as never before. Then came another crisis. Missouri faced a revolution, economic, not political. The 'splendid system of water transportation, in relation to which Missouri held the central advantage.of the Mississippi. valley, ,was supplanted by rails. What other commonwealth has been called upon to adapt itself in such short time to such radical changes ! The center of population of the United States is moving with singular regu larity toward Missouri. Unless there should be a radical change in the growth of the country the center wiu"be in this state, a short distance north of the mouth of the Missouri river. For more than one hundred years this center has moved in a narrow path. In 1790 it was east of Baltimore about 'twenty-three miles. In 1910 it was very close to the -Illinois line in the western part of the city of Bloomington, Indiana. It' was in approximately the same latitude as it was 120 years before. The center has moved westward each decade, varying distances from a minimum of thirty-six miles to a maximum of eighty-one miles. From 1900 to 1910 the movement was thirty-nine miles. World war influences, draw ing upon the West for emergency industries in the East, temporarily checked the movement somewhat. In population when admitted, Missouri was twenty-third of the twe~nty-six states. In ten years, Missouri had become the twenty-first; in twenty years, the sixteenth; in thirty years, the thirteenth. In 1870, Missouri was fifth in census rank. But more significant than numbers is nativity. Fifty years ago one Mis sourian in seven was alien -born. In this centennial period the foreign-born Mis- ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF STATEHOOD xiii sourian is one in fourteen. Where else shall be found the truer type- of the American ! , Missouri has been a mother of states. From the original Territory of Mis souri have been organized twelve states. The Louisiana Purchase has added to the Union the same number of states as formed the original thirteen. From the territory which laj beyond the Louisiana Purchase « have been terected eight states. In this winning for the West, Missourians have been the vanguard. Missourians have founded a hundred cities and towns beyond the borders of the state from which they went forth as pioneers. And yet the native stock has not been depleted. Three of four Missourians are Missouri-born. As Missouri was rounding out the century of statehood, came the supreme test of her manhood and womanhood. In the World war for humanity, the response to every call was given with a state-wide demonstration of American sentiment and efficiency. The time is opportune for Missourians to review the evolution of their state and to do honor to the generations which have made it. W. B. S. List of Illustrations Official Flag of Missouri opp. vi Marble Statue of Thomas Jefferson x St. Louis in 1870, at End of St. Ange Government 2 Boat with Cordellej Sail and Poles 2 Qld Franklin, Only Building Left n President Thomas Jefferson r n President James Monroe n General William Henry Harrison, Governor Northwest Territory 21 Don Carlos DeHault Delassus, Last Spanish Governor 21 First Government House at St. Louis 21 Signing the Treaty of the Louisiana Purchase at Paris 28 First News of Louisiana Purchase Reaches St. Louis 36 General Daniel Bissell, Commander Ft. Bellefontaine 45 Governor Alexander McNair's House -. 45 The Bougenou Home, Where First Marriage Took Place 45 Joseph Robidoux, Founder of St. Joseph - 53 St. Joseph in 1857 53 Map of Missouri, The Center State 62 Auguste Chouteau, Leader of First Thirty to St. Louis 69 Government House as Remodeled by Auguste Chouteau 69 Map of St. Louis, March 10, 1804 79 A Pioneer Missouri Home When Settlers Chose the Creeks . . . . , 91 First Catholic Church in Missouri, 1770 91 Map Showing Boundaries of St. Louis from Beginning 101 Old Gillis House, Kansas City in The Sorghum Mill, One Time Missouri Industry 123 The Missouri Blacksmith's Busy Day 123 The Old Tavern at Arrow Rock 133 Fritz Tavern on Bowling Green Turnpike 133 Old County Jail of St. Louis ". 133 An Ozark Tavern 143 "Dad," aivOld Time Tavernkeeper of Missouri 143 McGee Hotel, Early Tavern of Kansas City 143 Signers of Agreement to Build the First Church 151 Worship in the Woods, Pioneers Going to Church 159 Old ' Freedom Baptist Church in Jasper County 159 Elder Moses E. Lard, Pioneer Christian Preacher 165 Elder Allen Wright, Pioneer Christian Preacher 165 xv xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS A Temple of the Pioneer Missourians 165 First Congregational Church, St. Louis, 1861 177 First Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1861 177 Mansion House Where First Constitutional Convention M~et >...'. 185 William G. Pettus, Secretary First Constitutional Convention 185 David Barton, President First Constitutional Convention 185 Alexander McNair, ^Governor, 1820-1824. . . . , 193 Frederick Bates, Governor, 1824-1826 193 John Miller, Governor, 1826-1832 193 Daniel Dunklin, Governor, 1832-1836 193 Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor, 1836-1840 ". 193 Thomas Reynolds, Governor, 1840-1844 193 Henry Clay, Author of the Missouri Compromise 201 Daniel Boone, Statue by Enid- Yandell 201 Residence of Thomas F. Riddick, , St. Louis, 1818 201 Charles Gratiot, Who Led Cheering When Flag Was Raised 207 Town House of Charles Gratiot 207 Courthouse, St. Louis, 1840 217 Courthouse at Its Best, About 1870 217 Charles P. Johnson, Author of Anti-Gambling Statute 225 Judge Elmer B. Adams, Author of the Man Higher Up 225 Chief Justice of Supreme Court Henry W. Bond 225 Oldest House in Lexington, Pioneer^ Courthouse 231? Judge John W. Henry. , 231 Judge Henry Clay McDougal, Author of "Recollections" 231 Roger North Todd, First Circuit Clerk of Boone County : 237 Boone County Courthouses in 1847 and 1909 243 Melvin L. Gray 247 Alexander Kayser 247 First Two Courthouses of Buchanan County. 253 Judge David Todd, Territorial and First Circuit Judge 261 Major Thomas Biddle, Principal in Fatal Duel With Pettis 267 Thomas H. Benton 267 The Roy Windmill Tower Opposite Bloody Island Dueling Ground 267 J. B. C. Lucas, Jefferson's Commissioner. 277 Luke E. Lawless, One of the Early Judges of Missouri . .' 277 Bowling Green Courthouse, 277 Madame Chouteau, the Mother of St. Louis 287 Friedrich Muench, Leader of the Latiniefs 303 Dr. George J. .Engelman, Missouri's Foremost Scientist. 303 General Franz Sigel, Civil War Leader , 303 General P. J. Osterhaus, of Civil War Fame 303 Dr. George Hillgaertner, Prominent German Journalist of the Sixties 313 Henry Boernstein, Editor of the Anzeiger in the Fifties 313 Carl Daenzer, Leading German Editor After the Civil War 313 Emil Preetorius, Upbuilder of the Westliche Post 313 Pioneer Steamboat of the Missouri 325 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvii Keelboat on the Osage River 325 Captain Daniel G. Taylor, Civil War Mayor of St. Louis 333 A Scene on the St". Louis Levee, 1850 333 Water Power in the Ozarks 339 The Great Republic, When River Travel Was Popular 339 Early Transportation on the Missouri River 339 Forty-six Trainloads of Coal in One Tow of Barges 345 Eighty Trainloads of Lumber on One Barge 345 Captain William Wallace Greene 351 Captain John N. Bofinger '. 35 1. The Harp of a Thousand Strings, Captain Eads' Invention 351 Six Trainloads of Cotton on a St. Louis rSteamboat 357 Crossing White River in the Ozarks ' 357 One of Missouri's Countless Springs 363 Missouri's Bethesdas 363 Captain John p. McCune, Organizer of Keokuk Packet Line 369 Captain John Simonds, One of the Early Commodores 369 A Missouri River Scene. Near 'Lexington. 369 Map of the Old Santa Fe Trail 375 Staging in the Ozarks 385 First Locomotive in Missouri, Built in St. Louis . ,' , 385 Overland Train Leaving Missouri for California 385 Missouri Pack Train to Santa Fe, 1820. 395 Terminus of Old Santa Fe Trail 395 Charles G. Warner, Railroad Manager t 405 S. H. H. Clark, Railroad Manager ., 405 D. R. Garrison, Railroad Builder and Manager. , 405 A. A. Talmage, Railroad Manager ". - 405 Kansas City's Union Passenger Station Completed 1914 ,. 413 Bull Boats on Which Furs Were Transported Down the Missouri 417 Wilson Price Hunt, Chosen to Head Expedition to Astoria 417 Antoine Soulard, Author of "Riches Along the Missouri" 417 Fourth Street, St, Louis in 1840 421 Major William Christy, Founder of North St. Louis 425 Residence of Major William Christy, 1818 '. 425 Colonel Thornton Grimsley 431 Market House and Levee at St. Louis, 1840 431 St. Louis Municipal Bridge and Approach 437 The Old Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis 437 Municipal Bridge of St. Louis Opened January 20, 1917 443 First Train of Coal Over Municipal Bridge, St. Louis 443 St. Louis Municipal Bridge \ 443 Tablet to Pontiac Erected by Daughters of American Revolution 451 Indian Alarm of Missouri Overland Train 45 1 Pontiac, Buried in St. Louis 461 Type of the Shawnees Invited to Settle in Missouri. \ 461 An Indian Camp, from an Old Woodcut 461 xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Twin Osage Papooses 47T Ke-o-kuk, the Watchful Fox 471 Wah-pah-s'ho-sah, Osage Chief , 471 Major Benjamin O'Fallon, Investigator of British IntHgues 477 Robert Forsyth, Many Years Influential Indian Agent ». . 477 Old Fort and Stockade on the Hill at St. Louis 477 Captain Stephen Cole's Fight on Spencer Creek. 487 The, Town Crier, a St. Louis Character of 1840. . 497 Father P. J. DeSmet, S. J., "Black Gown," of the Indians. 509 A Typical Scene in the Ozarks of Missouri 515 Life in the Ozarks, 1870 .,. , 523 Life in' the Ozarks, 1920. , 523 Navigation in the Ozarks . . / *. 531 An Ozark Bungalow Living Room 531 In Southeast Missouri 539 Palisades of Big River- 5.39 Mayor John F. Darby 548 Mftyor John M. Wimer 548 Mayor Peter G. Camden . 548 Mayor Bernard Pratte ¦ 548 Mayor Luther M. Kennett 548 Mastodon Skeletons Excavated at Kimmswick 553 Museum of Mastodon Relics Excavated Near St. Louis 561 The\ Big Mound, St. Louis, 1850 \ 561 Devil's Tollgate, Near Arcadia 569 Opening an Indian Mound in Vicinity of St. Louis 569 A Freak of the Ozarks 577 An Ozark Cave Entrance ' 577 Entrance to Forest Park, Statue of Francis P. Blair. .' ., 585 St. Louis in i860, the Year Before' the Civil War; 593 Shopping District of , St. Louis, in 1857 i 601 M. M. Marmaduke, Governor, 1844 610 John C. Edwards; Governor, 1844-1848 • 610 Austin King, Governor, 1848-1852 610 Sterling Price, Governor, 1853-1857., 610 Trusten Polk, Governor, 1857 610 Robert M. Stewart, Governor, 1857-1861 610 Mayor Washington King ." > 619 Mayor Nathan Cole 619 Mayor Henry Overstolz 619 Mayor John M. Krum 619 Mayor John D. Daggett ."" 619 Wholesale District of St. Louis, i860 627 Francis P. Blair, Jr., He Kept Missouri in the Union ' 637 John R'ichard Barret, "Missouri Djck" 637 Volunteer Fire Department, St. Louis, 1842 ., 645 Tom Thumb in St. Louis in 1848 v " 645 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xix Residence of John P. Cabanne, Built in 1819 657 St. Louis Cathedral in 1840 '. ¦ 657 Miss Ann, Historic Negro -Character of Central Missouri 669 Dred Scott, Whose Case Nullified Missouri Compromise 669 - Broadway and French Market, 1872 ...'..- 689 James 0- Broadhead, Member Committee of Safety in 1861 707 Oliver D. Filley, Chairman, Committee of Safety : 707 Mercantile Library Where State Convention Met in 1861 707 General W. S. Harney, in Command at St. Louis, 1861 725 General Sterling Price, Commander of Missouri Troops, C. S. A 725 St. Louis in 1861, Scene of Seventh Street Tragedy ¦ 725 General D. M. Frost, in Command of Camp Jackson in 1861 735 General Nathaniel Lyon, Who Fell at Wilson's Creek , 735 Second Presbyterian Church of St. Louis in 1840, Scene of Tragedy, 1861 ... 735 General Eimtiett McDonald, Leader of St. Louis Minute Men, 1861 751 General Monroe M. Parsons, One of Organizers of State Guard, 1861 751 , Berthold Mansion, Broadway and Pine, Minute Men Headquarters 751 Rear View of Log House Built by General Grant 761 Gen. Fred Dent Grant in Front of Father's Log House . . . . 761 'Brant Residence, Fremont's Headquarters, 1861 771 Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont, Daughter of Benton 771 Gen. John C. Fremont, Called "The Woolly Horse" in 1856. '771 C. S. Greeley, of Western Sanitary Commission. ...-...'. 775 James E. Yeatman, Head of Western Sanitary Commission 775 Drr John T. Hodgen, Surgeon of Western Sanitary Commission . 775 George Partridge of Western Sanitary Commission 775 General A. J. Smi(:h ...... 795 General W. T. Sherman 795 Ironton and Arcadia Valley, the Thermopylae of the West 795 Isaac Hv Sturgeon, U. S. Assistant Treasurer, 1861 803 Battle of Lexington, Known as "Battle of the Hemp Bales" : 803 Gratiot Street Prison, St. Louis,, in Civil War 811 McCausland Home at Lexington, Hospital in Civil War 811 Fox Hounds from a Missouri Kennel 865 Pioneer Life in Missouri, 1820 865 Meyer Monument on the Kansas City Paseo. 886 McGee Home, First Brick House in Jackson County 891 Kansas City in 1852 891 Kansas City at an Early Day. View From the River 897 Main Street, Kansas City, in 1867 897 Kansas City Paseo, Before the Renaissance 903 West Bluff, Kansas City, as It Is Today 912 West Bluff, Kansas City, as It Was Before the Renaissance 913 Swope Park, the Great Recreation Park of Kansas City 921 General Sterling Price Leadjng Missouri Confederates 929 Judge John F. Philips, Grand Old Man of Missouri 939 Judge Thomas T. Gantt 939 xx LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Judge Samuel Treat 939 Statue of St. Louis, Presented by Louisiana Purchase Exposition. .* 947 Centenary Methodist Church, Broadway and Pine Streets, 1859 961 Rev. Dr. D. R. McAnally, Methodist Preacher and Publisher 961 Rev. H- B. McPheeters, Presbyterian ' 961 Bishop P. J. Ryan, Orator and Wit 969 Archbishop P. R. Kenrick, Roman Catholic 969 Bishop L. W. V. Dubourg, Rorhan Catholic • 969 Bishop Rosati, Roman Catholic ¦. 969 1 Bishop C. F. Robertson, Episcopal, Historian. . . . .- 977 Bishop Cicero Stephen ' Hawks, Episcopal, Noted Author........ 977 Christ Church, in 1840, Broadway and Chestnut Street 977 First Presbyterian- Church, Fourteenth and Locust, 1865 983 Rev. William Potts, Presbyterian .' 983 Rev. Artemas Bullard, Presbyterian 983 ' Church of the Messiah, Unitarian, Olive and Ninth Streets, 1865 991 Union Methodist Church, Eleventh and Locust Streets, -1870 991 Second Baptist Church, Sixth and Locust Streets, 1870 991 Rev. Dr. Thomas M. Finney, Methodist : 999 Rev. Dr. Samuel J. Niccolls, Presbyterian. 999 Bishop Enoch Mather Marvin, Methodist , 999 Rev. Dr. Truman M. Post, Congregationalist 999 Contents CHAPTER I ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO ' Missouri, 1818-1821^-An Ultimatum to Congress — Statehood or a Republic — Public Senti ment Measured by Cheers — No Compromise — An International Treaty Right— The Warnings to the East— Jesse Walker, Stalwart Methodist — The First Business Direc tory—Population and Morals — Franklin, the Interior Metropolis-j-The Westernmost Settlement— Land Speculation — A Barrel for a Bank — The Rush of Immigration — Franklin at Its B&st — The Knous Axe — Judge Tucker's Shibboleth — Blind Justice on the Bench — Duff Creen, a Force — Muster Day — A Stump Speech — Rapid Americaniza tion of the French— Fourth of July at Murphy's Settlement — The First Political Speech — Dancing by the JJ,9^ of Slubs — A Commercial Review — What Missouri Had and Had Not — Colonel Charless' Editorial Frankness — John F. Darby's Boyhood Impres sions — The Show Places of St. Louis — Auguste Chouteau's Castle — The Years of the Ferries — Coming of the McKnights and Bradys — Organisation of Erin Benevolent Society — An Experience with the Mexicans— W eather Records of 1820 — Mrs. Matthews' Diary — Christening of Lincoln County^-Shogting Matches the Popular Sport— Hodden Gray — CurrenPNews a Century Ago — Benton Changed His Mind — The Census in 1821 — Textbooks and Goose Quill Pens — Town Rivalry — Stage Fares. 3 CHAPTER II THE .TRAVAIL OF STATEHOOD A Masterful Petition for Statehood — Barton's Work — Slavery's Balance of Power — Tfie Free States' Restriction — Gradual Emancipation Proposed — Missourians' Indignant Pro tests — Memorial of the Baptist Churches — Grand Jurors in All of the Counties Appeal for Constitutional Rights — New Boundaries Rejected — Immigration Not Stopped — Dis union Threatened — Thomas Jefferson's Forebodings — Maine and Missouri — Henry Clay's Championship of Missouri — The Compromise — Randolph's Opposition-^The "Doughfaces" — Legislative Legerdemain — President Monroe's Cabinet Advice — North ern Congressmen Denounced by Anti-Slavery Constituents — A Hitherto Unpublished Letter Explains the Compromise — Jefferson on Diffusion of Slavery — Missouri's First "Extra" — The Formal Ratification — Salutes Fired and Hpuses Illuminated — "Gross and ¦ Barefaced Usurpation" Resented — Statehood De Facto in September, 1820 — Fourth of July Defiance^ — Another Hold Up Foreshadowed — The Clause to Exclude Free Negroes — Benton Advises Watchful Waiting — Missouri's Electoral- Vote — An Unsuccessful Scheme to Dodge the Missouri Question — Randolph Shut Out Again — Senator Cock- r ell's Search of the Records — The "Clay Formula'' — A Ridiculous "Solemn Public Act" — Frederick W. Lehmann's Forceful Comments — Recognition of Statehood in 1820 — Territorial Government Suspended — Governor McNair on Self Government — President Monroe's Proclamation Declaring Admission to the Union "Complete." 29 xxi xxii CONTENTS CHAPTER III MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY The Center State — A Stormy Petrel on the Sea of National P olitics— Original Boundaries — Material Gains South and West — The Long Controversy on the North — Honey War in Rhyme — Resetting the Iowa Mileposts— Billy McLaughlin's Field — Amazing Bee Tree Stories — The Platte Purchase — Thrifty Trading with the Indians'— Neal Gilliam's Map — Peter Burnett's Ride — That Arkansas Jog — The First St. Louis County — Early Reservation of School Lands — Making of Counties— How Lillard Lost Fame — Military Heroes Remembered — The State of Pike — Some First Families of Missouri — Kingdom of Callaway — A Mother of Counties — When Liberty was a Metropolis — Moving Days fori County Seats — Arrow Rock Traditions — Steelville's Famous People — Osage Semi nary on Paper — When Chariton Rivaled St. Louis— First Days of County Government — Salt River Tigers — Audrain Was "Little Sis" — A Turkey Dinner and a Town Christen ing — William Muldrow, Optimist Extraordinary— Marion City, Dickens' Eden — Where Mark Twain Discovered Mulberry Sellers — The First Railroad — Missouri's' "Phila delphia" and "New York" — Eastern Investments Submerged — A Wholesale Educational Plane— Lost Towns — Boom in Now Forgotten Sites — Fascinating Arguments of the , Promoters — Town, River and Prairie Nomenclature — City, Ne Plus Ultra — Spring field's Beginning — Kickapoo, the Beautiful — Neosho, Clear Cold Water — Climate Charmed — Great American Desert Discovered — Missouri, Then and Now 63 CHAPTER IV THE MISSOURI TAVERN Entertainment for Man and Beast — The Cradle of Statehood— Hotel Environment Elected Benton — Setting for the First Law Making — Nature's Hostelry — Van Bibber's Phi losophy — Startling Phenomeno, at Loutre Creek — First Bill of Fare on the European Plan — "Gourd Heqd" Prescott— Taking Care of a Governor — Old Alexie — A Land lord's Wife Befriended Little Mark Twain — John Graves' Etiquette — Washington Irv ing Charmed — Audubon on Cost of Hotel Living — Charles Dickens' Compliments — Judge Quarles and the Towel Criticism — Uncle Johh Mimms, Peacemaker of the Bor der — When Benton Was Shocked — Barnum's Famous Ragout — How Guests Were Identified— A Duel Averted by Tavern Hospitality — Jefferson City Lodging — A Dance and a Church Trial— The Hotel Raffle— History on a Register — Where Old Bullion Drew the Line — Liberty's Tavern the Outpost of Civilisation — Thrift and Horse Feed — Kenner of Paudingville — Court Day with Robidoux-^The Montesquieu Tragedy — When Isaac H. Sturgeon Thwarted a Mob — St. Louis Hotels the Undoing of a Presi dent — The Gillis House Made National History — "McCarty of the McCartys" — Mon roe's County Seat Contest — The Praises of English Travelers — Lafayette's Experi ences — An Ozark Menu — Missouri Tavern Etiquette — Some Survivors of the Stage Coach-^-Arrow Rock and fhe Patriotic Women — Good Roads and Tourist Motors Mean Renaissance- of the Tavern 113 CHAPTER V WORSHIP IN WOODS AND CABINS The Campmeeting in Missouri History—When McKendree Became a Bishop— Jesse Walker, the Pioneer— Thrilling Scenes at Three Springs— Bush Arbors and Egg Shell CONTENTS xxiii Lamps— The Ministerial Attire — Old Antioch— "Devil's Camp Ground" — A Sermon a Day for a Year — The Programme — Old. .Time Hymns — "God Greater Than Tom Benton" — Sni Grove's Vast Assemblages— Old Freedom — Physical Manifestations of Conviction — "The Jerks" — Law and Order Regulations — Pioneer Church Discipline — Rucker Tanner — A First Covenant in Boone — Perils of the Itinerants — "Meeting House" Architecture — Theology of the Pi'oneers-rRev. Moses E. Lard's Recollections — Shackleford on the Wave of Infidelity — The Saving. Influence of . Good Women— Marvin's First Sermon — The Bishop on the Early Settlers— A Colaborer with Cart- wright — Matrimonial Fees — Militant Men of the Church — A Dry Land Baptist — "Snag- boat" Williams — Baptism at Old Nebo — Bownet Show Day in Clay County — Immersions in Midwinter — The First Communion at Zumwalt's — Conversion at Hen-egg Revival — Services in a Pike County Cabin — Eccentric Henry Clay Dean — An Ozark Preacher's . Prayer for Rattlesnakes— Fanatical Pilgrims — The Millerite "Last Day" — Champ Clark on the Chaplain — Beginnings of the Christian Church — "Brush College" Train ing — The Missouri "Marthas" — Stribling's Gift — Mr. Barger's Astonishing Text — First Meeting On Baxter GrOund — Saving Grace of Humor in the Pulpit — Preachers' Nicknames : • • 147 CHAPTER VI THREE ORGANIC ACTS. Missouri's Constitutions — The Framers in 1820-^Three Bartons and Two Bates Brothers — Their Effective Activities in State Making — Personal Characteristics — "Little Red" — David Barton's Marriage Ceremony — "Yankee" Smith — Missouri Follows Kentucky — The Cloth Ineligible for Office — An "Immortal Instrument" — Benton Turned Down — Caucus and Cudgel — Fathers of the State — "Missouriopolis" — Distinctive Provisions-,- Judge ^Tucker's "Armorial Achievement" — George D. Reynold's Interpretation — The Rights of Congress — The Second Constitutional Convention — The Framers in 1845 — Their Work Rejected by a Decisive Vote — Proposition to Make St. Louis the Na tional Capital — "A Ridiculous Blunder" — First Plan of Constitutional Emancipation — Too Slow for the Radicals — Convention of 1865— Slavery Abolished — Dr. Eliot's Prayer of Thanksgiving — The "Oath of Loyalty" — Charles D. Drake — Wholesale Dis franchisement of Southern Sympathizers — Educational Test of Suffrage — "Girondists'" and "Jacobins" — Senator Vest's Description — Blair's Denunciation — Supreme Court De cision — The Test Oath Unconstitutional — Rapid Reaction from the Policy of Proscrip tion — Political Downfall of Drake Planned — How Schurs Became a Candidate — "The Feeler" Worked — An Oratorical Trap Which Settled a Senatorship — Convention of 1875 — An Able Body — William F. Switsler's Distinction — The "Strait Jacket Constitu tion" — Judge Woodson on the Supreme Court's Construction— Harm Done by Judicial Legislation — Judge Norton's Pride in the Results — An Octogenarian's Recollections — The New , Constitution 'Association '. 183 CHAPTER VII LAW AND LAWYERS The Golden Thread of Civilization's Fabric — Hempstead's Advice to His Brother — When Bench Split and Jury Hung — The Peck Impeachment Trial — Ethics in the Thirties — Judge Carr's Public Spirit — Court Days in Saline — Sheriff Bill Job's Sense of Humor — The Missouri Echo of a Royal Scandal — Public Morals- from the Bench — The Chariton County Calf Case — Journalism, Law and Medicine— New Madrid Titles — Mullanphy on Court Proprieties — The Story That Beat Uriel Wright's Oratory — Torrey on the Evolution of the Judicial System — Missouri's Odd Cases — Judge Barclay's Remi- xxiv CONTENTS niscences — Thomas T. Ganft's Learning — Groundhog Day — From Printer to Supreme Court Bench — Tompkins' Plain Speech — Court Days in Newton — Lamm on the Law's Delays — When Vest Found a Needed Friend — Writers of Law Books — The Dred Scott Judge Who Was Right — Lawyers of the Platte Country — Four Governors from the Bar — Missouri Lawyers Abroad — Pik~e County Cases — Missouri's Legal Classics — How Femme Sole Gained Her Rights — Judge, Witness and Counsel in ' One^Burckhartt's Solomonic Decision — Jackson County's Bar and Bench — When a King Brought Suit — Early Laxity on Admission — Krekel's Definition of sLaw — Missouri and the United States Supreme Court — Missouri in the American Bar Association: 221 CHAPTER VIII DUELING IN MISSOURI Benton and the Code — Bloody Island — A Grewsome Record— Farrar and Graham — A Friend's Responsibility — Fenwick and Crittenden — Aaron Burr's Nephew Killed — Bar ton and Hempstead — Code Forms Drawn by Benton, and Bates— A Fearless Editor — John Scott's Wholesale Challenge — Lucas and Benton — The Election Controversy — "An Insolent Puppy" — What Benton Told Washburne — Lucas on "Origin of Differ ences" — A Farewell Message — The 1 erms — Lucas Badly Wounded— Mediation by Judge Lawless — Benton Repudiates the Agreement — Thc Second Meeting — Lucas Killed — A Father's Lament — Benton's Promise to. His Wife — Geyer and Kennerly — Army Duels — Rector and Barton — The t "Philo" Charges — Senator Barton's Scorching Letter — Public Sentiment Aroused — The Belleville Tragedy — Benton for the 'Defense — Rev. Timothy Flint's Letter — Shields and Lincoln on the Isldnd — Legislation Against Dueling — Senator Linn's Comments — Leonard and Berry — Pettis and Biddle — A Double Fatality — Benton Again the Adviser — Edward Dobyn's Manuscript Recollection — -Dodging the Statute — Rev. Dr. Eliot's Protest — Hudson and Chambers — "Old Bustamente's" Experience — Blair and Pickering — Newspaper Reorganisation — The Blair-Price Feud — Judge Fag'g's Reminiscence— Edwards and Foster — Bowman ^and Glover — Vest on the Duello ... .265 CHAPTER IX A LAND OF PROMISE Gottfried Duden's Vision — A Center of German Culture — The Book Which Fascinated Europe — Teutonic Infusion Planned to Assimilate Anglo-Saxon — The Giessen Society — Father Muench — A Missouri 1 Mecca^AFhe > Critics to Blame — Goebel's Story of the Featherbeds — Duden's Vivid Local Color — Cash Needed Only for Taxes— An Apology for Slavery — Akademikers and Latiniers^-Why Gustavus Koerner Chose Illinois — The Hermann Colony— A Hard Winter — Herman Steines' Diary — Dr. Bek's Valuable Contributions — Engelmann's Investigation — Missouri's foremost Scientist Wislisenus' Explorations — Enno Sander and Franz Sigcl, Revolutionists — Missouri, Land of Religibus Freedom — The Lutherans — Constructive Work of the Walthers Concordia College Founded — Pure Lutheran Theology — Pioneer German Journalism The Ansciger and -. the Know Nothings'— Germanism Fades Into Americanism The Mallinckrodts and the Kaysers — What Defeated Secession of. Missouri Polish and Hungarian Exiles — Emigres of Guadeloupe — Dr. Adam Hammer — German Family Influence for Good — Dr. Niccolls' Tribute to German Churches — Unselfish Devotion to Public Education — The Icariahs — Etfenne Cabet and the Communists — Various Colony Experiments'— William Keil's Bethel — Socialism in Dallas County — The Town of Liberal — Prosperity of the Mennonites 30I CONTENTS xxv CHAPTER X THE WATERS OF MISSOURI Bootable, Potable, Powerful, Medicinal — Robert Fulton's Proposition — Navigation by Pirogue — Arrival of the Pike — The Missouri Mastered — Trip, of the Independence to Franklin — A Great Celebration — Newspaper Congratulations — Captain Joseph Brown's Reminis cences — Primitive Construction and No Schedules — Firing a Salute — Famous Missouri Pilots — The Record of Disasters — The Edna, the Bedford and the Saluda — Search for Sunken Treasure — Lost Cargoes of Whiskey — Captain Hunter Ben Jenkins — The Shift ing Channel — The Missouri Belle and the Buttermilk — Up Grand River — The First Steamboat on the Upper Osage — Uncle John Whitley's Hunt for a Mysterious Monster — Some Notable Captains — Rise and Decline of Missouri River Traffic— Seventy-one ' Steamers in the Trade — The Rush of the Forty-niners — Jonathan Bryan's Water Mill — Possibilities of Power Ignored — An Expert's Facts — Mammoth Springs — The White River Plant — Beginnings of Hydro-Electric Development — Lebanon's Magnetic Water — Benton's Bethesda — Monegavt/s One Hundred Mineral Waters — Meanderings of the ¦ Whiter-Navigation at Forsyth — Lines on "Two 'Ancient Misses" 329 CHAPTER XI ' TRAILS AND TRACKS The Old Wilderness — Ghost Pond — Train Transportation — Tactics of Freighting — A Tem perance Pledge — The Day's Routine — Recollections of a Veteran Trader — The Fast Mail Stage Line — The Trail's Tragedies — Amateur Surgery — Pony Express — The Old Stage Driver — The First Iron Horse — When Missourians Invaded Illinois — Beginning of the Ohio and Mississippi — Railroad Convention of 1849 — A Chapter of Secret His tory — Benton's Change of Mind on Internal Improvements — Missouri's First Formal Railroad Movement — Promotion of 'the Missouri Pacific — Ground Broken on the Fourth of July — A Great Day on the Edge of Chouteau's Pond — Railroad ^Celebrations — Official Openings — Transcontinental Mail by Stage and Rail — A Rapid Change of Gauge — Primitive Construction — The First Train Out of St. Joe — Beginnings of Big Systems — Origin of the Wabash — Paramore's Narrow Gauge — A Missourian Originated Railway Mail Service — An Historical Mistake — State Bonds at Heavy Discount — Missouri the Pioneer in Rate. Regulation — Governor Fletcher's Recommendation — Profit Sharing Was Possible— Liens Gave State Control — Railroad Companies Accepted the Regulation Condition— State Operation of the Southwest Branch — Receipts Greater than Operating Expenses — The Bond Burden — Gould's Purchase of the Missouri Pacific — Deals with the Garrisons and Thomas Allen — Missourians and the Transconti nental Rivalry , 373 CHAPTER XII THE SPIRIT OF A CITY "The First Thirty" — The Landing — Auguste Vhouteau's Journal — When "the Spirit" Was Born — Vain Projects, to Rival — De Treget's Daughters — Rise and Fall of Fort St. Charles — No Favors to Royalty — British Trade Competition Thwarted — Ambitious North St. Louis — French Habitants Builded Well — From Forty-fourth City— Labor, Capital — Labor and "the Spirif'—A Series of Crises — Fire, Flood and Pestilence — The Decade of Disasters — Financial Honor Demonstrated — Civil War's Paralysis of Com merce — The Oldest Trading Body' in the United States — From Rivers to Rails — The After-War Handicap— Political Favor for Northern Routes — The Vital Test Well Met — Americanization of the Community — Relations with Trade Territory — A National Financial Recognition — Renaissance of the Gallery — Architectural Misfits — The Climate xxvi CONTENTS Libel — A Record of 'Cheerful Giving — Some Factors in the Creation of "the Spirit" — The First Agricultural Society Formed in 1822 — "A St. Louis Manufactured Stove" — The St. Louis Fair — Pioneer Exhibits — The St. Louis .Exposition — How the Way to the World's Fair Was Paved — Aftermath of the Universal Exposition — When St. Louis Dealt with Graft — Solidarity a Characteristic through the. Century — Wisdom of the Founders Vindicated ...... 419 CHAPTER XIII ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS Archaeologists Disagree — Puzzling Stone Implements— Broadhead's Theory — Missouri, a Rich Field — Beckwith's 50,000 Indian Relics — The Mounds — A Geological Theory — In vestigations of Douglas, Whelpley and Powke — A Prehistoric City — Amazing Fortifica tions — Adobe Brick — Cave Dwellers on the Gasconade — Dr. Peterson on the Mound Builders — Evidences of a Numerous Population — Laclede and the Missouris — A Far- reaching Indian Policy — The Nudarches — Friends of the French — Massacre of a Span ish Expedition in Missouri— Attempts at Civilization — The Murder of ' Pontiac — Chou teau Springs— The Osages' Gift- to the Son of Laclede — A Spanish Governor's Narrow Escape— Gratifications — The Shawnee Experiment — How Peace' Was Made — The Exe- xution of Tewanaye — Good Will Transferred with Sovereignty — The Advice of Delassus — Pike's Diplomatic Mission — British Influence Checkmated — Wisdom of William Clark — Activities of Manuel Lisa — "One-eyed, Sioux" — The Treaty of 1812 — Elihu H. Shep- ard's Tribute — "Red Head," the Friend of the Indidn-^-The Council Chamber — Gov ernor Clark's Museum — Ceremonial Calls— The Freedom of the City — Indian Coffee — Home Coming of the\ Osages — Migrations of the Delawares — The Rise of Colonel Splitlog — An Indian Capitalist .447 1 CHAPTER XIV MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 1 Raids from the North — A Grand Jury Warning — The Battle of Sweet Lick — "Big Hands" Clark — Lincoln County Forts — "General" Black Hawk — The Zumwalt Sisters — An Indian's Courting — How Black Hawk Repaid Hospitality — Farming and Fighting — The Battle of the Sink Hole — Raid on Loutre Island— Stephen Cole's Desperate Encounter — Montgomery County's Tragedies — Jacob Groom's Heroic Act — Captain James Callaway Ambushetf — Battle of Prairie Fork Crossing — The Pettis County Mystery— A British Officer's Tomb— Fort Cooper — Captain Sarshall Cooper's Defiance — When Settlers "Ported Up" — The Seven Widows of Fort Hempstead — Killing of Jonathan Todd and Thomas Smith — Fort Cole — A Long Chase — Braxton Cooper's Fight for. Life — Stephen Cooper's Charge — Christmas Eve Mourning — Good Old Hannah Cole— The Northwest Pivot Man — Major Ashby's 'Footrace with a Chief— The Panic in Bluff Settlement — Ringtail Painter's Bloody Combats — The Pottawattomiey War — ¦Council at Portage des Sioux- — Auguste Chouteau's Diplomacy — Death of Black Buffalo — Big Elk's Peace Oration— Intrigues of British Fur Traders— Captain O'Fallon's Scathing Report — Reminiscences of John B. Clark — The Big Neck War — Cabins of the White Folks — The Battle with the Iowas — A Remorseful Chief — Father De Smet The Life Work of "Blackgown" — Walk In Rain, the Letter Writer 475 1 J CHAPTER XV THE OZARKS Discovered by the Pioneers — Overlooked by the Railroads — Edmund Jennings — The Six Boils — A Family that Hated Andrew Jackson — The First Settler — Good Old Times CONTENTS xxvii Diary of a Winter's Journey — The Spring House — Primitive Life and Death — The Switzerland of America-^An Acquittal Face — Feuds that Were Not Fatal — Geology of the Ozark Uplift — Ridge Roads — A Journey over the Hog Backs — Thrift in the Osage Hills — Captain Owen's Narrative of the Hunt for Gold — Parson Keithley — A Secret Sub-Treasury — Nature's Burial Vault — Jay Linn Torrey — From Rough Rider to Model Farmer — The Air Drainage of the Ozarks — Exit the Squatter — The "Horse" Apple — Fence Corner Peach Orchards — Seedlings and Elbertas — From Seven and One-half Cents to Four Dollars a Bushel— The Drying Season — Home Made Evaporators — Sep tember Scenes at the Crop Centers — Dried Apples by Machinery — No Bottom Orchards — Rocks or No Rocks — No Demand for the Pick-me-up — The Theory of Heat and Moisture in Stones— Apples and Altitude — Where Fruit is Currency — Historian Has- well's , Ozark Stories — A Macadamized Bed of Strawberries — Flint for Mulch — A Yield of $500 on Three-quarters of an Acre — Peach Trees Planted with a Crowbar ¦ — Not a Crop Failure in Twenty-five Years— The Secret of the Soil 517 CHAPTER XVI LANDMARKS AND LEGENDS - . Elephas . Americanus in the Ozarks — A Whole Pine Tree Top for a Meal — The Discovery at Carl Junction — Dr. Hambach's Conclusions — Zinc in Solution — Miners and Mineral ogists- Disagree — The Missourium Teristocolodon — Dr. Koch, Scientist — A Trade with The British Museum — The Market for Zuglodons — Star Curiosity of Wyman's Museum in 1842 — Mastodon Beds at Kimmswick — An Amazed Professor — Tom Sauk Falls — Allen Hinchey's Indian Legend — The Footprints Which Laclede Found — Lilliput on the Meramec — A Scientific Investigation — Gerard Fowke on "The Clayton Ax" — Beck- with's Discoveries in Southeast Missouri — Eugene Field's Folk Lore Study — Alex ander, King of the Missouri Voodoos — Mary Alicia Owen — The Initiation — Some Philosophic Conclusions — The Mamelles- — A Variety of Topographical Eccentricities — Freak Work by the Water Courses — Murder Rocks — The Granite Potato Patch — Shut In and Stone Battery — The Pinnae Yes — Knob Noster— Cedar Pyramid — Tower Rock and Tower Hill — The Pictured Rocks- — Treasure Traditions — The Springfield ' Chart — A Dying Sailor's Secret — The Michigan Man's Unsatisfactory Experience — Three Turkey Tracks and Three Arrows — Mystery of Garrison Cave — A Tradition of the Delaware Indians — Woody Cave in Taney 549 CHAPTER XVII MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD Roark Peak — The Devil's Den — Fate of the Guerrilla — The Sentence of the Home Guards — Nature's Ammonia Completes the Work — Henry T. Blovt/s Exploration — Tradition of Spanish Treasure — A Visit with Truman \S. Powell — The Shepherd of the Hills — Descent into the Amphitheater — Great White Throne — Through Registry Room to the Gulf of Doom — Lost River Which Makes Onyx — Fat Man's Misery — Rest Room — 1 Mystic Lake and Mystic River — Blondy's Throne — Mother Hubbard — The Dungeons- Sentinel Rock and Shower Bath Room — Thirty Miles of Passages — Tales of Marvel Cave^-W onders of Hahatonka — Bishop Mclntyre's Lecture — A Pretty Stretch of Boone's Lick Road — The Caves and Bottomless Pit of Warren— Grandeur of the Canyon at Greer — Old Monegaitfs Self Chosen Sepulchre — Devil's Lake — Fishing Spring — The Lost Rivers — Svnator Vest's Experience — Cave Decorations by the Indians — Persim mon Gap—Mark Twain's Cave — Dr. McDowell's Grewsome Experiment — Tragedy of Labaddie's Cave — Perry County's Subterranean World — Missouri's Long and Varied List of Underground Wonders — Morgan County's Variety — Looking for the Prehis toric Man , 573 xxviii CONTENTS CHAPTER XVIII MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS The Days of Political Songs — A Cartoon at Rocheport — Isaac Martin's Winning Speech — How Providence Elected a Congressman — Bingham's County Election — An Incident at Old Chariton — The Man Who Broke a Tie — When Abraham Lincoln Shocked Missouri Whigs — The Actor in Politics — The lackson Resolutions— Benton's Defiance — John 'Scott's Letter — Benton's Campaign in 1849 — The Climax at Fayette — When Norton Averted Bloodshed — Missourians in Kansas — Price and the Governorship — Good Stories' from Walter Williams — How Rollins Got the Best of. Henderson — Senator Schurs and Eugene Field — The Know Nothing- Days — St. Louis Riots — Bbernstein and the Forty- eighters — A Reporter's Impressions of Polk, Rollins and Stewart — Missouri's Longest Campaign-'— Claiborne F. Jackson's Opportunity — A Newspaper Ultimatum — William Hyde's 'Graphic Narrative — One of \Fayette's Greatest Days — John B. Clark, the Politi cal Adviser — Sample Orr, the Unknown — A Moonlight Conference — Douglas or Breck inridge? — Jackson Declares His Position — A Campaign of Oratory — Blair's First Speech After the War— A Thrilling Scene at the Pike County Forum — Blair at Mexico — The ' Republican Split of 1870 — Birth of the Possum Policy — Holding the Wire — • Freedom . of Suffrage — ludson on the Liberal Movement— New Parties in Missouri— Greenbackers and Wheelers — Campaign Stories — How Telegrams Saved an Election — • Vest on Party Loyalty — Champ Clark on Politics and Oratory — The Barber Shop Barometer ; 611 CHAPTER XIX SLAVERY AND AFTER Immigration Influenced — Illinois Envious of Missouri Prosperity — The Secret Emancipa tion Movement — Benton's Participation — Coming of Lo'vejoy — Wrecking of the St. Louis Observer — The Alton Tragedy — Treatment of Missouri Slaves — What Kossuth Saw—fA Problem of Colonial Days — Marion College Troubles — Rev. Dr. Nelson's Expulsion — Theological Students Sent to the Penitentiary — Shackleford's Reminiscences — Dred- Scott — Five Years of Litigation — The Missouri Compromise Unconstitutional — The Case Judge Dyer Defended — Blair Slaves Set Free — Lincoln and Blair Confer ences — Slavery Issue in i860 — Auctions in St. Louis made Odious — Lincoln's Plan to Pay Missouri Slaveholders — John B. Henderson's Recollections — Norton's Effective Opposition — Charcoals and Claybanks — First and Second Plans of Freedom — The Elec- 1 tion of 1862 — Negro Education — Lincoln Institute — Jesse lames' Contribution — Manual Training — Samuel Cupples' Interest — Vest on the ex-Slave — Negro Farming in Mis souri — Record Breaking Results at the Dalton School — Calvin M. Woodward's Monu ment — Slavery in Missouri an Economic, Mistake — Profitable in Only Four Hemp. Grow-J- ing Counties — An After-the-War Investigation 655 CHAPTER XX LAST OF THE BENTON DUELS Thomas C. Reynolds and B. Gratz Browne-Two Challenges and Two Acceptances — The First Offending Editorial — Benton's Championship of Settlers — The- District Attorney Protests — Brown Declares Authorship — Reynolds Satisfied — Friends in the Controversy " — A Year Later — The Combination Against Benton — "Is It Perjury or Is It Not?" — , Reynolds Asks "the Proper Atonement" — Rifles at Eighty Yards — A Question of Short- - sightvdness — The Meeting Off — Benton the Issue Again — Reynolds' German Speech — "Germans and Irish on an*Equality with Negroes" — "An Unmitigated Lie" — The Editor Posted — A Peremptory Challenge — Acceptance in Two Lines — Friends, Advisers and CONTENTS xxix Surgeons — Selma Hall — A Graphic Story of the Meeting — Duello Etiquette — Kennetfs Arrangements — Interchanges of the Seconds — Bearing of the Principals — The Pistols — "Fire !" — Reynolds' Quickness— Brown Wounded — The Return to St. Louis — No Prose? cution — In Later Years — Political and Personal Friends — Brown's Career Not Satisfy ing — Reynolds' Fate 687 .CHAPTER XXI MISSOURI IN 1861 "You^Can't Coerce a Sovereign State" — An Extraordinary Vote — Advice from Two Gover nors — The Secession Program — Three Kinds of Democrats — The Contest for the Arsenal — General Frost's Report — Archbishop Kenrick Applies Scriptures — The Com mittee of Public Safety — General Farrar's Reminiscences — Some Aggressive Journal ism — Home Guards and Minute Men — Isaac H. Sturgeon's Warning — An Insult to Missouri — Harney Restores Quiet — The Testing of Sweeny — A Commissioner Before the Legislature — John D. Stevenson Interrogates Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds — A Loaded Military Bill — General Lyon Arrives — The State Convention — Election of Delegates — Missouri Goes Union by 80,000 Majority — Dismay of the Southern Rights Democrats — Blair's Appeal to Lincoln — lohn F. Philips on the Delegates— Sterling Price Elected President — Minute Men Raise a Secession Flag — Riotous Scenes in Front of Headquarters— The Legislature Refuses to Pass the Military Bill — Prompt Action by the Convention — Secession "Is Annihilation for Missouri" — Colonel Broadhead's Pre diction — Price to Shackleford — The Convention Denounced in the Legislature — Police Control Taken from St. Louis — Lyon Promises Arms to Home Guards — The April Election -. 701 CHAPTER XXII CAMP JACKSON Warlike Preparations — William Selby Harney — Plans to Capture the Arsenal — Lyon Patrols Streets — Muskets "to Arm Loyal Citizens" — Four Regiments of Home Guards Brigaded — Lincoln's Call for Soldiers — Governor Jackson's Defiance — Blair Grasps a Great Opportunity — State Militia Seise Liberty Arsenal — Washington Warned — The Com missioners to Montgomery — General Frost's Suggestion — Jefferson Davis Sends Siege Guns — Midnight Trip of the City of Alton — Lyon's Ruse with the Flintlocks — Gov ernor Jackson Buys Ammunition — "Armed Neutrality" — Editorial Strategy — Champ Clark's Comments — A Pike County Mass Meeting — Confidential Letter from' Jackson —Washington Recognises the Committee of Public Safety — Police Assert State Sover eignty — Camp Jackson — Forms of Loyalty — Arrival af Confederate Siege Guns — "Tamaroa Marble" — Lyon in Disguise — Night Session of the Committee — General Frost Protests — March on the Camp — The Surrender — Baptism of Blood— Mob Demonstra tions — More Loss of Life— Sunday's Panic — The Legislature Acts— Passage of Military Bill — Peace Agreement — Harney Removed — President Lincoln's Doubt of the Pro priety—A Pathetic Letter— What Capture of Camp Jackson Meant— Frank Blair's Foresight — Vest, Rassieur and Broadhead on the Consequences 723 CHAPTER XXIII THE STATE THE STAKE \Iissourians Against Missourians — A Final Effort for Peace — Lyon's Ultimatum — "This Means War"— Jackson's Proclamation — The State Guard Called Out— An Expedition x CONTENTS Southwest — The State Capital Abandoned — Battle of Boonville — Its Far-reaching Sig nificance — A Week's Important Events — Richmond's Early Missouri Policy — The March Southward — Home-made Ammunition — '-Historic Buck and Ball — Character of the State Guard — Battle of Carthage — The Honors with 2,000 Unarmed Missourians — Sigel's Masterly Retreat — Lyon Reaches Springfield— P oik and the Army of Liberation — Richmond at Last Heeds Missouri's Appeal — McCulloch Joins Forces with Price — Lyon Outnumbered — Fremont's Costly Delay — The Battle of Wilson's Creek — McCul- loch's Attack Anticipated — How the Missourians Fought — Death of Lyon — The State Won for the Union — Fremont's Failure to Support — A Secret Chapter of the War — Jeff Thompson's Dash for St. Louis- — Grant Checks the Army of Liberation — The Battle of Lexington — A Great Victory for the State Guard — Ruse of the Hemp Bales — Fre mont's Army of the West — The Marching Legislature at Neosho^-Ordinance of Seces sion Passed — "A Solemn Agreement" — Fremont Removed — The Anti-Slavery Protest — President Lincoln on the Fremont Fiasco — Border States Policy Endangered — Mrs. Fre mont's Midnight Visit — The Browning Letter — When Washington Discovered Grant — The Grant Family in Missouri — Kansas City Saved — First Iron-Clads in Naval History — The Civil War Kindergarten .'. , 749 CHAPTER XXIV CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI A Great-Emergency — The Man of the Hour — "Old Sanitary" — Organising the Plan of Relief — Merciful Missourians Behind the Firing Lines — Major Hodges' Narrative — James E. Yeatman — The Sanitary Fair — Assessment of Southern Sympathiser s-^Dr. Eliot's Protest to President Lincoln — Desperate Character of the Conflict — Women Took Sides — The Spirit of Jael — A Wooden Leg Shot Off— How Ben Prentiss Assessed — Secret Lodges — The Missouri Chaos "Stampeded" Sherman — A Leave of Absence — The Story of Insanity — A Long Hidden 'Confidential Letter — Halleck Called Upon to Explain — Missouri in the War Records — The Policy of Extermination — "War Is Butchery on a Grand Scale'y — Guerrillas "Should Not Be Brought in as Prisoners" — "Forty-one Guer rillas Mustered Out by Our Boys in the Brush" — William F. Switsler on "The Reign of Terror" — Missouri Warfare 'as John F. Philips Saw It — Graphic Story of the Charge on a Church — Retaliation by Order of General Brown — Sill Anderson and the "Kansas First Guerrilla" — A Defiant Proclamation — The Death of Anderson — Depopulation Suggested for Boone County — A Man Hunt in the Lowlands of the Southeast — "We Killed in All Forty-seven" — The Paw Paw Militia Controversy — Gen. Clinton B. Fisk's Reports — A Brush Expedition in Western Missouri — The War on Smugglers-r-Gen. John McNeil's Order to Burn — Fisk Said, "Pursue and 'Kill." 783 CHAPTER XXV RECONSTRUCTION THROES A State Without a Government — Secret Conference in a Newspaper Office — Midsummer Session of the Convention — State Offices Vacant — Provisional Authority Established — Willard P. Hall's Keynote — Judge Philips on Anomalous Conditions — Erratic Course of Uriel Wright — Governor Gamble's Death — The Enrolled Militia — Lincoln's Advice to Schofield — Missouri Problems in Washington — A Baby Christened "Sterling Price" — The President's Plain Words — Seventy "Radical Union Men" — Encouragement from the Abolitionists — Reception at the White House — Drake and the Address — A Prayer to Send Ben Butler — Enos Clarke's Vivid Recollections — Lincoln's Long Letter — The Matter with Missouri — "Every Foul Bird Comes Abroad and Every Dirty Reptile Rises Up" — Election of 1864— Blair on the Permit Iniquities — Constitutional Convention — Immediate Emancipation, Test Oath and "Ousting Ordinance" — A Revolutionary Proposi- CONTENTS xxxi tion—R_emoval of One Thousand Judges and Court Officers— Judge Clover's Frank Re port — Ousting Vital to Reconstruction Policy — Supreme Court Removed by Force from. the Bench — A Military Demonstration — Thomas K. Skulker's Valuable Contribution to History — Lincoln and Blair in Accord — The President's Plans for the South— rRestorar tion, Not Reconstruction — Farewell Message to Missourians — Plea to Get Together. .817 CHAPTER XXVI MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY Secrets of' State — The Unpublished Memoirs of Thomas C. Reynolds — Missouri "A Sov ereign, Free and Independent Republic" — Democratic Differences .at Jefferson City — The Lieutenant-Governor's Animus — Price's Hesitation to Take Command — The Secret Plan of Campaign — Reynolds Starts for Richmond — The Harney-Price Agreement — Major Cabell Commissioned by Governor Jackson — The First Interview with Jefferson Davis — Refusal to Send an Army to Missouri — Price's Call for 50,000 Men — McElroy',s Analysis of Price's Leadership — A Great Name to Conjure .With — Admission of Missouri into the Confederacy — The Meeting at Neosho — First Congressional Delegation — The Movement against Davis — A Proposed Northwest Confederacy — Price's Disclaimer) — The Alleged Quarrel with Davis— Shelby's Promotion — Quantrell and Lawrence — Recollections of a Participant in the Attack — The Palmyra Affair— An Account Written at the Time- Jefferson Davis' Demand for the Surrender of McNeil — Execution of Ten Federal O.ffi- ' cers Threatened- -Gen. Curtis' Reply — Narrow Escape of General Cockrell — A Letter from John B. Clark — The Days of Rapid Reconciliation — Shelby and the United States Marshalship — Frost -and Davis on the Confederate Policy r 841 chapter xxvit Mighty hunters of Missouri Strategy in Elk Stampedes — Turkey Slaughter in the Osarks — "Shining Their Eyes" — Game Tallies Along the Iowa Border— Wild Turkey Sausage — Bear Homes in the Grass — Abner Smith's Sled Load from One Shot — A Missouri Esau — Millions of Pigeons — A Suit of Panther Skins — Squirrels by the Bushel — Coonce and "Old Betsy" — Sam Cole's Recollections — The Bandana Ruse — When Fish Clogged the Mill — David Bowles' Win ter Record — Three Deer at One Fire — Dr. Graham's Nerve — Boys Chased by Angry Deer — Major Daniel Ashby — A Record of Official Integrity — Stories of Three Expedi tions — When Game Abounded along Grand River — Bee Trails at "The Forks"— The Annual Harvests of Sweetness — Honey by Wagon Loads — Law of Bee Tree Titles — How Morrow Saved a Swar-m — Madame Chouteau and the First Hive — "Yellow Boys" in Pioneer Commerce — The Tallow Fork of Beeswax — Barter at Glasgow, Richmond and Brunswick — Poor Tom's Creek — An Expert on Honey Hunting — Amos Burdine, the Missouri Munchausen — Eccentric Customs and Amasing Stories — "J imps" Dy sort's Temptation — Norman J. Colman and Charles G. Gonter 863 CHAPTER XXVIII THE MAKING OF A CITY - Westport Landing — Pioneer McCoy's Recollections — A Germination That Was Unique — Kansas City Just Sixty-five Years Ago — The First Business Review — Wonderful Stride of a Four-Year-Old — As a Woman Saw the Bluffs — The Year of the Boom — Specula tive Conditions Without Precedent — And Then the Days of Depression — After that Rational Philosophy — Two Pillars of Lasting Prosperity — Packing House and Park xxxii > CONTENTS System — Amazing Sights in the Bottom — Fascinating Scenes on the Bluffs — A Remi niscence of "P. D." — Beginning of Boulevards — Topographical Eccentricities — "Little Hyde Park, a Primary Lesson" — Policy of Maximum Frontage — The Financial Plan — Years of Legislation and Litigation — Defeat of the First Project— The Taxpayer Converted— Penn Valley and Roanoke Park — The Problem of Cliff Drive^-Gillham Road and the Kessler Idea — Natural Grades Disturbed as Little as Possible — Effects on Population and Values — The Kansas City Principle of Assessments — Cost and Profit — Congestion Banished — Development of the Playgrounds — What Recreation Centers Have Done for Neighborhoods— Effect of the System on Expansion — A Gridiron of Boulevards — Kansas City by Night — Standard of Residential Architecture Raised — The Local Nomenclature — Ambassador Bryce on Swope Park — Thomas H. Benton's Prophecy — Kessler on the Ideal City Plan — The Community United — Kansas City Still in the Making — Epics in Prose an,d Rhyme 887 CHAPTER XXIX A GRAND OLD MAN OF MISSOURI John Finis Philips— Eighty-five Years of the Century of Statehood — Vivid Recollections of . the Legal Giants — The Big Four after the Civil War— At the Gettysburg of the West — The Frank James Cdse — Abiel Leonard's Early Fee — Legislative Pardon for a Duel — Leonard's Last and Vest's First^ Notable Case — Washington Adams' Misquotation — Gardenhire's Peroration Spoiled — John B. Clark's Fountain of Tears — Barton, the Fore most Citizen — Edward Bates' Appeal for Sacred Personal Rights — "Old Sarcasm" Hay- den — Four Supreme Court Judges at the Bar — Two Views of the Bench — Judge Ryland's Classic Lore — Vesfs Missouri Version of Latin — Judge Napton's Search for Law — A Good Turn and Lifelong Friendship — Farmer Hicks and Lawyer Hicks-^The Railsplitter — Lynch Law Rebuked — A Practical loke that Dissolved a Partnership — Primitive Practice Along the Osage — Judge Emmerson's Free-for-All Court — John S. Phelps on Nunc Pro Tunc — Waldo P. Johnson's Thick-Headed Client — Duke Draff en's Mastery of Law — The Defense of lustice Cross — What Became of a Fee — Missouri's Best Story Teller — Speeches that Live Only in Tradition — Passing -of the Old Breed — Modern Conditions — Ethics of the Shyster — A Tribute to the Pioneers of the • Profes sion J . . s , 937 CHAPTER XXX THE RELIGIOUS LIFE Colonial Theology — The Coming of lohn Clark, — Church Bells Barred — First Protestant Churches Built in Missouri — Presbyterianism's Foothold — Dr. Niccolls' Centennial Ser mon — First Protestant Church in St. Louis a Public Enterprise — Catholic Diocese of St. Louis— Coming of Bishop Dubourg— Culture One Hundred Years Ago — Rosati's Constructive Career — The First Cathedral — A Catholic Census — When Rev. Mr. Potts Was "the Rage"— Archbishop Kenrick—"The Rome of America"— Baptist Church Building and City Planning — The Pulpit and Literature — Religious Journalism — Ante bellum Church Architecture — St. Louis an Archdiocese— The Prayerbook Church^-Dr. Montgomery Schuyler's Career — Some Notable Pastorates — A Hero of the Cholera — Dr. Hutchinson on David and Uriah — The Tallest Steeple — Far-reaching Influence of Dr. Eliot — Dr. Post' and Congregationalism — Judge Philips on Presbyterianism in Cen tral Missouri — War Experiences — The Kenrick Lectures and The Newsletter Mc- Cullagh's "Great Controversy"— Father Ryan, Orator and Wit— Religious Intolerance Exceptional— Dr. Niccolls on Progressive Catholicism — Bishop Tuttle—The New Cathe dral— Religion and Good Works— The Y. M. C. A.— The Provident Association— A Layman's Monument — Missouri's Moral Standards 959 From the Pierre Chouteau collection ST. LOUIS IN 1770^ AT THE END OF THE ST. ANGE GOVERNMENT r \A, '-¦¦¦':'¦- ±>A Bflg ftft £3 "I have no doubt that brickmakers and bricklayers, carpenters who could be satisfied with a moderate compensation for their labor, black- and whitesmiths, silversmiths, woolen and cotton carding and spinning machines and managers, tobacconists, nailers, gunsmiths, coopers, pump-makers, stocking weavers, wagon-makers, stone-cutters, boat-, barge- and ship-builders, rope-makers, cutlers and tool-makers, skin-dressers and many other em ployments would do well here. A man of capital and enterprise would soon accumulate a large fortune by erecting a steam flour- and saw-mill in this place ; wheat sells here at one dollar per bushel (abundance raised in the country), and good merchantable flour is sure to command from eight to ten dollars per barrel. Corn generally rates at from twenty-five to fifty cents and will bring in meal from fifty to eighty-seven and one-half cents a bushel. Pine boards sell at four dollars and oak and ash at two and three dollars per hundred feet. Saw-logs could be brought to town at one dollar each. Five thousand barrels of whiskey are annually received here from the Ohio and sold at seventy-five cents a gallon, while thousands of bushels of grain are offered at a low price to any enterprising man who will commence a distillery." St. Louis as John F. Darby Found It. John F. Darby left his recollection of St. Louis as he' saw it for the first time in 1818. He was a small boy, the family coming from North Carolina that year: ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO 19 "The town of St. Louis, at that time, contained about two thousand inhabitants, two- thirds of whom were French and one-third Americans. The prevailing language of the white persons on the street was French; the negroes of the town all spoke French. All the inhabitants used French to the negroes, their horses and dogs ; and used the same tongue in driving their ox-teams. They used no ox-yokes and bows, as the Americans did, in hitching their oxen to wagons and carts; but instead had a light piece of wood about two or three inches thick and about five feet long, laid on the necks of the oxen, close up to the horns of the animals, and this piece of wood was fastened to the horns by leather straps, making them pull by the head instead of the neck and shoulders. In driving their horses and cattle^ they used the words 'chuck!' and 'see!' 'marchdeaul' which the animals all perfectly understood. "Colonel Auguste Chouteau had an elegant domicile fronting on Main street. His dwelling and houses for his servants occupied the whole square bounded north by Market street, east by Main street, south by what is now known as Walnut street, and on the west by Second street. The whole square was enclosed by a solid stone wall two feet thick and ten feet- high, with port holes about every ten feet apart, through which to shoot Indians in case of attack. The walls of Colonel Chouteau's mansion were two and a half feet thick, of solid stone work ; two stories high, and surrounded by a large piazza or portico about fourteen feet wide, supported by pillars in front and at the two ends. The house was elegantly furnished, but at that time not one of the rooms was carpeted. In fact, no carpets were then used in St. Louis. The floors of the house were made of black walnut, and were polished so finely that they reflected like a mirror. He had a train of -servants, and every morning after breakfast some of those inmates of his house hold were down on their knees for hours, witli brushes and wax, keeping the floors pol ished: The splendid abode with its surroundings had indeed the appearance of a castle. "Major Pierre Chouteau also had an elegant domicile built after the same manner and of the same materials. He, too, occupied a whole square with his mansion, bounded on the east by Main street, on the south by what is known as Vine street, on the west by Second street, and on the north by what is now "known as Washington avenue, the whole square being surrounded by high solid stone walls and having port holes, in like man ner as his brother's." The Years of the Ferry. In 1817 St. Louis had attained the degree of importance which demanded two ferry landings. Boats continued to bring travelers from the east side to the place where Auguste Chouteau had' made the first landing near the foot of Market street. But another line ran to the other depression in the rocky front near the foot of Morgan street. The service, under competition, being regular, it continued to be primitive. Two kjnds of. boats were used. The slow-moving flat-bottomed craft without covering was employed to cross over horses and wagons. A keel boat with four oars made quicker passage. Ferry transporta tion at St. Louis became progressive when John Day fixed up a boat with a stern wheel which was turned by a horse in a treadmill. As the patient animal climbed, the paddle wheel went round and' the ferry churned its way across' the -Mississippi. In those days, when rivalry did not lead to. cut rates, the tolls -for ferriage were twenty-five cents for a, human being; fifty cents a head for cattle and horses; fifty cents for a wagon or other vehicle; twelve and one- half cents a hundred for lumber and other heavy freight. With 1 81 8 came a new era in ferrying. Samuel Wiggins with his family arrived from Charleston, South Carolina. He had some means. He connected himself with the ferry business. He bought John Day's horse-power stern- wheeler. He acquired the interest of the Piggot heirs in another line. Gradu ally he consolidated and improved the service. He did not come too soon. In 20 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI 1816 one of these frail ferry boats was upset by bad -handling in the middle of the river. Dubay, the ferryman, two assistants and two passengers were drowned. As soon as the steamboat" navigation demonstrated its value, Captain Wiggins put into service a steam ferry. Other boats were added as the business grew. The "Wiggins Ferry" became an institution of the city. It met public needs. If it had not been so well conducted St. Louis would not have waited until 1874 for the first bridge. "The Irish Crowd." The coming of the McKnights and the Bradys was an event. John McKnight and Thomas Brady were the leading spirits in this lively crowd. Of the Mc Knights there were John, Thomas, James, Robert and William. The McKnights and the Bradys bought a boat at Pittsburg. They rowed down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to St. Louis. The boat carried a stock of goods as well as the two families. The store of McKnight & Brady was opened. For a short time after their arrival, the McKnights and Bradys were spoken of as "the Irish crowd." Before the second year was out the McKnights and Bradys were a power in the community. The second season after their arrival they were able to buy a lot sixty feet front on the corner of Main and Pine streets, in the business heart of the city. Here they did business successfully until they were able to erect in 18 16, an imposing structure of . brick, the first in St.^ Louis for a public house.. There were stores downstairs, a hotel upstairs where was held in 1817 the first cele bration, west of the Mississippi, of Washington's birthday. McKnight and Brady amassed enough money at trade to go into real estate. They laid out part of what is now East St. Louis and called it Illinoistown. McKnight served on the grand ^jury. Brady presided at the first meeting of Irishmen to organ ize the Erin Benevolent' Society. Thomas Brady married a daughter of John Rice Jones, who became one of the first three justices of the supreme court of Missouri. One of Thomas Brady's daughters married Ferdinand Rozier, the Second. The standing which the McKnights and Bradys quickly obtained in the community was shown by the selection- of Thomas Brady to be one of the commissioners to obtain subscriptions to the first bank established under charter from the territorial legislature. John McKnight was a commissioner to receive subscriptions to the second bank chartered, and Thomas Brady was elected a member of the first bpard of directors of the bank. St. Louis never had occa sion to regret the coming of the McKnights and Bradys. The, McKnights were . enterprising in many directions. Robert, one of the four brothers, in 1817 went on a trading expedition to Sante Fe and Chihuahua. This was at the same time that Jules DeMun and Auguste P. Chouteau went out with a stock of goods to do business with the Mexicans. The three young men from St. Louis were robbed of their goods and thrown into jail. There they. remained- two years. Their treatment was made the basis of a claim against Mexico by the United States. An indemnity of about $100,000 was paid by Mexico. Another of the McKnights, John, a nephew of Robert, went out to Chihuahua in ,1826 and accumulated a fortune in trade there. When he returned to make his home near St. Louis he brought with him ten thousand dollars which Courtesy Missouri Historical Society GtEN. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON ' DON CARLOS DE HAULT DELASSUS Governor of Northwestern Territory in 1803 Last Spanish Governor FIRST GOVERNMENT HOUSE AT ST. LOUIS With jail at the end. The site is marked by tablet on Main Street between Market and Walnut streets ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO 23 Governor Armijo had given him to place to his credit. As the Mexican handed the money, he declined a receipt, saying "All that I want is your word." The McKnight road, one of the thoroughfares in the western suburbs of St. Louis, was named in honor of this family. The Weather of 1819, 1820 and 1821. Jacob Matthews was of the innumerable caravan which came out of Ken- 'tucky arid into Missouri in 1818. He settled in the vicinity of Hannibal, bring ing the first wagon that crossed North river. His. son, George W. Matthews, was the first white child born north of North river. J3ut what is especially interesting to this generation is that Mrs. Matthews kept a diary of that which" impressed her about Missouri one hundred years ago. In the years of 1819, 1820 and 1821, Mrs. Matthews made this record: "During the past summer there was more sickness and deaths in proportion to the population than I ever knew. At Louisiana there was eleven out of sixty inhabitants died. At St. Louis for awhile there died from six to ten a day, and sickness was very general throughout the country. "December 19, 1819. — The past season has been fine and warm. There was fine crops raised this season. To day there fell a snow twelve inches deep, and it is cold in the extreme." " ¦ "January 1, 1820. — It continues very .cold. The snow is from twelve to fourteen inches deep. "February 28. — The winter has commenced breaking up; the snow has disappeared and we have the appearance of fine spring weather. "July 1. — We have had a fine warm spring and very good crops this season, and it is not as sickly as last year. The fever and ague is very common, but not as many deaths as in the previous season. I didn't hear of more than five or six deaths this side of Salt river. "September 1. — We had the warmest weather I ever felt in the last two months, July and August. "November 9. — We have had frost from the last of September until today, when there fell a snow twelve inches deep, and it is very cold. "January 1, 1821. — It still continues very cold and the snow continues on the, ground. "March 30. — Still cold and. wet. "April 15. — Very little more sign of vegetation than there was in the middle of the winter. Snow on the ground twelve or thirteen inches deep. "April 25. — Still cold and no sign of a bud on the trees. "May 15. — Fine spring weather. The trees begin to look green and the grass grows fine. The farmers are all engaged in planting corn." The Christening of a County. . » The creation of Lincoln county was one of the acts of the Missouri territorial legislature in 1818. The first settler of that part of Missouri, Major Christopher Clark, was a member of that territorial legislature. He was a fine pioneer but not much given to public speech. According to the. late Joseph A. Mudd, the historian of Lincoln county, Major Clark put through his bill with this unanswer able argument, which not only establishes the origin of the name of the county but corrects the impression held by some people outside of Missouri that this state honored Abraham Lincoln in the title of a county : "Mr. Speaker: I was the first man to drive a wagon across Big Creek, the boundary of the proposed new county, and the first permanent white settler 24 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI within its limits. I was born, sir, in Link-horn county, North Carolina. I lived for many years in Link-horn county in old Kaintuck. I wish to live the remain der; of my days in Link-horn county, in Missouri, and I move, therefore, that the blank in the bill be filled with the name Link-horn." The motion was xcarried without a dissenting vote, and the clerk wrote in the blank space, "L-i-n-c-o-l-n." The Most Popular Sport. The shooting match, according to the Franklin Intelligencer, held first place among Missouri sports. It was extolled as more than sport. - "In a republic where regular soldiers are held in such indifferent estimation that they abandon the hope of uniform good treatment, jt js important that every citizen prepare himself for the high destiny of self defense." The Intelligencer continued : ^'Shooting matches on almost every Saturday evening tend to perfect. our riflemen in ' the use of their hair-splitting weapons. Many of these guns are so unpromising in ap pearance that one of them might be mistaken for a crowbar tied to a handsbike ; but when in the hands of a marksman, its value is ascertained. At our shooting match a beef .is divided in five parts, and the hide and tallow is termed the fifth quarter. This last is the most valuable and it-js for" the fifth quarter that the most skillful marksmen contend. The shots are^generally s,o thickly planted about the centre of the target as to require great scrutiny in determining the conquerors, — the 'fifth quarter winner,' 'second choice,' etc. When this is " known great exultation is not unusual, but the winners sometimes betray a little vanity in bestowing encomiums on their rifles ; and there are few who are not polite enough to attribute their success to the excellence of arms. If the gunsmith be present, he is not a little flattered by the acknowledgment of his skill. Many of the most distinguished guns acquire names of the most fearful import, by which they are known in sporting circles and small bets are sometimes made on 'Blacksnake,' 'Cross Bunter,' 'Hair Splitter,' 'Blood Letter,' and 'Panther Cooler.' In short there are very few of our rifles that would not put to shame the arrow that sent a messenger 'to Philip's eye.' I am likewise disposed to believe that if 'Natty Bumpo' himself were to attend one of our shooting matches 'for beef he might stake his last ninepence to no purpose." Current Events, One Hundred Years Ago. One hundred years ago Missourians made cloth from wild "nettles and called it hodden gray. They made their own gunpowder. They boiled their salt and sold it in St. Louis and other towns for one dollar a bushel. A large pot heaping full of hard boiled eggs was the most prominent dish on the table at a wedding supper. A bridegroom was so everjoyed at the, conclusion of his marriage cere mony, that, before anybody could kiss the bride, he gathered her in his arms and whirled her around and around, shouting, "I've got her ! I've got her !" In the summer of 1820, Daniel Boone, who had braved the perils of the border for four score years had a "spell of fever" at Flanders Callaway's. When he was able to travel he .went to Nathan Boone's, on Femme Osage. One day there was a dish of sweet potatoes on the table. The hero of a thousand encoun ters with "injuns and varmints" ate too heartily. The fever came back. Daniel- Boone died on the 26th of September, in his 86th year. In i8ii, Missouri had 70,647 people. Of these 59,092 were white, sixty of them being bound; n,5S5. negroes, of whom 321 were free. Textbooks in Missouri schools of this period were "Introduction to the ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO 25 English Reader," "The English Reader," "The Moral Instructor," "Walker's Dictionary," "Smiley's Arithmetic." The Instructor abounded in the sayings of Benjamin Franklin. Ink was made from maple bark and copperas. Quills from the goose furnished the pens which were made by the schoolmaster. The teaching of manners was considered one of the most important branches, par ticularly by the settlers who had come from Virginia. Kentuckians could be distinguished from Tennesseans by their clothes. The latter wore brown jeans coats and striped cotton trousers, while the Kentuckians had full blue jeans suits. The trouble with the buckskin clothing which some men wore was that when wet it would shrink. Many a Missouri settler, who had been wading or who had been caught in a rain storm, found it necessary to slip out of the cabin door before daylight and, tying the bottoms of his trousers to the side of 'the house or to a sapling, to get a tight hold of the breeches end and pull until he had stretched the legs to normal length. Four-horse stages were put on the road from St. Louis to Franklin in 1820. The fare was $10.50. Before that introduction of modern transportation the travel had been by horseback. Rivalry between the new Jowns of the Missouri valley became acute. A writer in the Intelligencer comparing Columbia and Boonville to the advantage of the former said : "Has Boonville, ihe seat of justice of Cooper, more inhabi tants? It has but 116, and Columbia, the permanent seat of justice for' Boone, has 130." \ Even Thomas H. Benton had to change his early conception of Missouri. When he was a newspaper man, in 1820, he wrote for his Enquirer: "After you get forty or fifty miles from the Mississippi, arid plain's set in, and the country is uninhabitable except upon the borders of the rivers and creeks." SIGNING THE TREATY Monroe, Marbois and Livingston executing at Paris the Louisiana Purchase, April 30, 1803. A life size bronze group by Karl Bitter in the areh of the Jefferson Memorial. CHAPTER II THE TRAVAIL OF STATEHOOD A Masterful Petition for Statehood — Barton's Work — Slavery's Balance of Power — Tfie Free States' Restriction — Gradual Emancipation Proposed — Missourians' Indignant Pro tests — Memorial of the Baptist Churches — Grand Jurors in All of the Counties Appeal for Constitutional Rights — New Boundaries Rejected — Immigration Not Stopped — Dis union Threatened — Thomas Jefferson's Forebodings — Maine and Missouri — Henry Clay's Championship of Missouri — The Compromise — Randolph's Opposition — The "Doughfaces" — Legislative Legerdemain — President Monroe's Cabinet, Advice — North ern Congressmtn Denounced by Anti-Slavery Constituents — A Hitherto Unpublished Letter Explains the Compromise — Jefferson on Diffusion of Slavery — Missouri's First "Extra" — The Formal Ratification — Salutes Fired and Houses Illuminated — "Gross and Barefaced Usurpation" Resented — Statehood. De Facto in September, 1820 — Fourth of July Defiance — Another Hold Up Foreshadowed — The Clause to Exclude Free Negroes — Benton Advises Watchful Waiting — Missouri's Electoral Vote — An Unsuccessful Scheme to Dodge the Missouri Question — Randolph Shut Out Again — Senator Cock- rell's Search of the Records — The "Clay Formula" — A Ridiculous "Solemn Public Act" — Frederick ' W. Lehmann's Forceful Comments — Recognition of Statehood in 1820 — Territorial Government Suspended— Governor McNair on Self Government — President Monroe's Proclamation Declaring Admission to the Union "Complete." That the Congress of the United States have no right to control the provisions of a state constitution, except to preserve its republican character. That the people of this territory have a right to meet in convention by their own authority, and to form a constitution and state government, whenever they shall deem it expedient to do so, and that a second determination on the part of Congress to refuse them admission, upon an equal footing with the original states, will make it expedient to exercise that right. — Benton resolutions adopted unanimously at mass meeting of Missourians in St. Louis, 1810, Alexander McNavr presiding; David B'arton, secretary. Bear in mind, fellow citizens, that the question now before you is not whether slavery shall be per mitted or prohibited in the future State of Missouri, but whether we will meanly abandon our rights and suffer any earthly power to dictate the terms of our constitution. — The-. Missouri Gazette in 1810. But the agony is over and Missouri is born into the Union, not a seven months' baby but a man child; his birth no secret in the family, but a proud and glorious event, proclaimed to the nation with the firing of cannon, the ringing of bells and illumination of towns and cities. — St. Louis Enquirer, March 20, 1820. Benton was the editorial writer. The admission of the said State of Missouri into this Union is declared to be complete. — Proclamation of President Monroe, , August 10, 1821. In the fall of 1817, men of weight in St. Louis went up and down Rue Prin cipal and American street with a paper. There was no lack of signatures. Thev paper was "a petition from sundry inhabitants of the Territory of Missouri praying that said Territory may be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states." Old Franklin, St. Charles, Herculaneum, Ste. Gene vieve, Cape Girardeau, all of the population centers, added names. It was high time for Missourians to act. Across the river, Illinois, some 29 30 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI thousands less in population, was seeking statehood. Seven states had been added to the Thirteen. Missouri was growing, faster than any of them. Rev. Dr. John Mason Peck came with that wonderful flow of immigration across the Mississippi. He wrote of it in his Memoir: "The 'new comers,' like a mountain torrent, poured into the country faster than it was possible to provide corn for bread stuff. Some families came in 'the spring of 1815; but in the winter, spring, summer and autumn of 1816, they came like an avalanche. It seemed as though Kentucky and Tennessee were breaking up and moving to the 'Far West.' Caravan after caravan passed over the prairies of Illinois, crossing the 'great river' at St. Louis, all bound to fhe Boone's Lick. The stream of immigration had not lessened in 1817. Many families came from Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, anti not a few from the Middle states, while a sprinkling found their way to the extreme West from Yankeedom and Yorkdom. Following in the wake of this exodus to the middle section of Missouri was a terrific excitement about getting land. My first visit in 1818 was at this crisis; and I could not call at a cabin in the country without being accosted: 'Got a New Madrid claim?' 'Are you one of these land speculators, stranger?'" Petitions for Statehood. On the .anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, January.8, 1818, the peti tions of the "sundry inhabitants of the Territory of Missouri" were presented to Congress. The Annals of Congress make but brief mention of this act, mo mentous in the history of Missouri. A copy of the petitions, which were identi cal, is given, in entirety, by Shoemaker, the painstaking author of "Missouri's Struggle for Statehood." The memorial was a masterly composition, "dignified, concise, forceful. It is well worth reading by this generation of, Missourians. Tt set forth: "That your petit;oners live within that part of the Territory of Missouri which lies between the latitude 36 degrees, 30 minutes south' and 40 degrees north, and between the Mississippi river to the East and the Osage boundary line to the West. They pray that they may be admitted to the Union of the states within these limits. "They conceive that their numbers entitle them to the benefits and the rank of state government. Takingthe progressive increase during former years, as a basis of the cal culation, they estimate their present numbers at upwards of 40,000 souls. Tennessee, Ohio, and the Mississippi state were admitted with smaller numbers, and the Treaty of Cession guarantees this great privilege to your petitioners as soon as it can be granted under the principles of the Federal Constitution. They have passed eight years in the first grade of territorial government, five in the second; they have evinced their attach ment to the honour and integrity of the Union during the late war, and they, with deference, urge their right to become a member of the great Republic. 1 "They forbear to dilate upon the evils of the territorial government, but will barely name, among the grievances of this condition — "1. That they have no vote in your honorable body, and yet are subject to the in direct taxes imposed by you. "2. That the veto of the territorial executive is absolute upon the acts of the ter ritorial legislature. ''3. That the superior court is constructed on principles unheard of in any other system of jurisprudence, having primary cognizance of almost every controversy, civil and criminal, and subject to correction by no other tribunal. "4. That the powers of the territorial legislature are limited in the passage of laws of local nature, owing to the paramount authority of Congress to legislate upon the same subject. "The boundaries which they solicit for the future state, they believe to be the most THE TRAVAIL OF STATEHOOD 31 reasonable and proper that can be devised. The southern limit will be an extension of the line that divides Virginia and North Carolina, Tennessee -and Kentucky. The northern will correspond nearly with the north limit of the territory of Illinois and with the Indian boundary line, near the mouth of the River Des Moines. A front of three and one-half degrees upon the Mississippi will be left to the South, to form the territory of Arkansas, with\the River Arkansas traversing its center. A front three and one-half degrees more, upon a medium depth of two hundred miles, with the Missouri River in -the center, will form the State of Missouri. Another front of equal extent, embracing the great River St. Pierre, will remain above, to form another state, at some future day. "The boundaries, as solicited, will include all the country to the north and west to which the Indian title has been extinguished. "They will include the body of the population. ."They will make the Missouri River the center, and not the boundary of the state. "Your petitioners deprecate the idea of making the civil divisions of, the states to correspond with the natural divisions of the country. ' Such divisions will promote that tendency to separate, which it is the policy of the Union to counteract. "The above described boundaries are adapted to the localities of the country. "The woodland, districts are found towards the great rivers. The interior is com posed of vast regions of naked and sterile plains, stretching to the Shining Mountains. The states must have large fronts upon the Mississippi, to prevent themselves from being carried into these deserts — "Besides, the country north and south of the Missouri is necessary each to the. other, "the former possessing a rich soil destitute of minerals, the latter abounding in mines of lead and iron, and thinly* sprinkled with spots of ground fit fo.r cultivation. "Your petitioners hope that their voice may have some weight in the division of their own country^ and in the formation of their state boundaries; and that statesmen, ignorant of its localities, may not undertake to cut up their territory with fanciful divisions which may look handsome on paper, but must be ruinous in effect. "And your petitioners will pray, &c." The Bartons had much to do with this statehood movement. It is a good guess that the admirable form of the petition was the handiwork of David Barton. The Balance of Slavery Power. That same month, January, 1818, a petition was received from Illinois. Before the end of the year Congress had passed the necessary legislation, the convention had met at Kaskaskia to frame a constitution and Illinois was, in December, 1818, a state. But Missouri waited, — waited from January 8, 1818. to March 6, 1820, for the first formal answer to her prayer. In the meantime a game of national politics went on. Alabama put in a plea for admission. It was granted. When the, Union was formed there were seven free and six slave states. After that the policy was to admit a slave state and a free state alternately. Thus was preserved a kind of balance of power. Missouri's petition upset it. Senate and House wrangled long. Representative Tallmadge of New York offered a resolution to make Mis souri a free state. The provisions were that no more slaves should be taken into Missouri: that all children born of slaves then in Missouri should be free at twenty-five years of age. This would gradually abolish slavery in Missouri and make a free state. ^The House adopted, the resolution. The Senate refused to concur. Arkansas Territory was created, but nothing more was done. The session ended with Missouri still waiting. 32 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Tallmadge and Taylor were two northern members of Congress who led the fight to make Missouri come in as a free state. At the Fourth of July celebration in St. Louis, Missourians paid their respects to these two statesmen in this toast: "Messrs. Tallmadge and Taylor — Politically insane, — May the next Con gress appoint them a dark room, a straight waistcoat and a thin water gruel diet." The toast was drunk and the newspaper report says it was "followed by nineteen cheers and the band played Yankee Doodle." Week after week the one-horse~mail brought the news of the heated debate and the deadlock. Along the Mississippi and up the Missouri resentment spread. The prominent men of the Boone's Lick country gathered at Franklin when the first steamboat arrived. To. celebrate the event a banquet was given. It was turned into an indignation meeting. One after another, the speakers arose and proposed sentiments in condemnation of, Congress. Duff Green, who later became the editor of the administration organ at Washington, led off with:, "The Union — it is dear to us but liberty is dearer." Others followed, the expressions encouraged by the vigorous applause which greeted them: By Dr. James H. Benson — "The Territory of Missouri — May she emerge from her present degraded condition." By Stephen Rector — "May the Missourians defend their rights, if necessary, even at the expense of blood, against the unprecedented restriction which was attempted to, be imposed on them by the Congress of the United States." By Dr. Dawson — "The next Congress — May they be men consistent in their construction of the Constitution ; and when they admit new states into the Union, be actuated less by a spirit of compromise, than' the just rights of the people." By N. Patton, Jr. — "The Missouri Territory — Its future prosperity and greatness cannot be checked by the caprice of a few men in Congress, while it possesses a soil of inexhaustible fertility, abundant resources, and a body of intelligent, enterprising, independent freemen." By Maj. J. D. Wiicox^'The citizens of Missouri — May they never become a member of the Union, under the restriction relative to slavery." Missourians' Protests. The St. Louis grand jury put forth a declaration "that the late attempt by the Congress of the United States to restrict us in the free exercise of rights in the formation of a constitution and form of state government for ourselves is an unconstitutional and unwarrantable usurpation of power over our inalienable rights and privileges as a free people." , The Missouri Gazette, which had inclined to the emancipation side, was out spoken in condemning Congress: "It has been reserved for the House of Representatives of the present Congress to commit the most gross and barefaced usurpation that has yet been committed. They have engrafted on the bill for our admission into the Union a provision that 'the state constitution shall pro hibit the further introducing of slavery; and that all children born of slaves shall be free at the age of five and twenty years.' Bear in mind, fellow citizens, that the question now before you is not whether slavery shall be permitted or THE TRAVAIL OF STATEHOOD 33 prohibited in the future State of Missouri, but whether we will meanly abahdon our rights and suffer any earthly power .to dictate the terms of our constitu tion." The grand jury of Jefferson county returned to the court a protest against the action of Congress which said: "We have beheld with equal surprise and regret the attempt made in the last Congress to dictate to the people of Missouri an articlei in their constitution prohibiting further introduction of slavery into their state, or debar them from the rights of state sovereignty if they would not submit to such restriction. That slavery is an evil we do not pretend to deny, but, on the contrary, would most cheerfully join in any measure to abolish it, provided those means were not likely to produce greater evils to the people than the one complained of ; but we hold the power of regulating this, or applying a remedy to this evil, to belong to the states and not t'o Congress. The Constitution of the United States which creates Congress gives to it all its powers, and limits those of the states; and although that Constitution empowers Congress to admit new states into the Union, yet it neither does, by express grant nor necessary implication,- authorize that body to make the whole or any part pf the constitution of such state." The Baptists' Memorial. One of the most notable protests against the action of Congress came from delegates of "the several Baptist churches of Christ, composing the Mount Pleasant Association." These delegates addressed a long memorial to Congress which was printed in eastern newspapers. The memorial was signed by Ed ward Turner, moderator, and George Stapleton, clerk. The memorial set forth : "That, as a people, the Baptists have always been republican, they have been among the first to mark, and to raise their voice against oppression, and ever ready to defend their rights, with their fortunes and their lives; in this they are supported as well by the principles which organized the revolution, and secured our independence as a nation, as by those recognized in our bill of rights, and that Constitution which as citizens we are bound to support. "Viewing the Constitution of the United States, as the result of the united experience of statesmen and patriots of the revolution, and as' the sacred palladium of our religious as well as civil liberty, we cannot without the most awful apprehensions look on any at tempt to violate its provisions, and believing that a vote of a majority of the last Congress restricting the good people of this territory in the formation, of their constitution for a state government to be in direct opposition thereto; we would enter our most solemn protest against the principle endeavored fo be supported thereby." The twenty-one members of the grand jury of Montgomery county signed their names to their protest, at the July, 1819, term against the action of Con gress : "They believe the restrictions attempted to be imposed upon the people of Missouri territory in the formation of a state constitution unlawful, unconsti tutional and oppressive. They cannot admit the right of any power whatever to impose restrictions on them in the form or substance of a state constitution. "They hope those restrictions will never more be attempted; and if they should they hope by the assistance of the genius of '76, and the interposition of Divine Providence, to find means to protect their rights." Vol. 1—8 34 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The Voice of St. Charles. The grand jurors of St. Charles county returned this extraordinary docu ment to court: "We, the undersigned grand jurors, from the body of the county of St. Charles, Missouri Territory, and summoned to attend the sitting of the circuit court for the county aforesaid, beg leave to present to the honorable court, that we deem it our privi lege and duty to take' notice of all the grievances of a public nature; that amongst the various duties assigned us, we do present that the Congress of the United States, at the last session, in attempting to restrict the people of Missouri, in the exercise and enjoy ment of their rights as American freemen, in the formation of their state constitution, assumed an unconstitutional power, having the direct tendency to usurp the privileges- of- our state sovereignties ; privileges guaranteed by the declaration of American rights, the Constitution of the United States, the treaty of cession and the blood of our fathers who' achieved our independence. That it is a restriction heretofore without precedent or parallel, as it regards the admission of territories into the Union of the states, and if persisted in by those members of Congress, who at the last session proved themselves opposed to the growth and prosperity of our happy land and luxuriant country, will be, in our opinion, a direct attack and infringement on the sacred rights of state sovereignty and independence, and the tocsin of alarm to all friends of the Union under our repub lican form of government. Although we much deplore any existing political differences of opinion with the majority in the House of Representatives of the last Congress, who introduced and supported the restriction, yet we consider it our bounden duty, as freemen, and as republican members of the great American family, to take a dignified stand against any assumption or usurpation of our rights from whatever quarter it may come and to support the Constitution of the United States as the anchor of, our political hope." t This was signed by Thomas Dozier, William S. Burch, William Keithley, Randall Biggs, James Baldridge, Francis Howell, James Smith, Antoine, Raynal, Warren Cottle, James Clay, Samuel Wells, N. Howell, T. D. Stephenson, David Lancaster, Edward Hinds, Joseph Sumner, Antoine Derocher, Armstrong Kennedy, Charles Parmer, Joseph D. Beauchamp. New Boundaries Suggested. In the summer of 1819, a movement to go before Congress with new petitions for statehood was started in the southern part of the territory. These petitions proposed that the new state should be bounded on the north by the Missouri river and, on the south by the White river. They, received some signa tures, the argument being that if the territory north of the Missouri was left out for later consideration,, Congress would be less likely to impose slavery restrictions on the new state. The movement was scarcely well underway when indignant remonstrances were made. St. Louis voiced urgent objections to a state leaving out the country north of tKe Missouri. The Enquirer, for which Benton wrote, led in the campaign against the new boundaries. It said: "We are particularly Opposed to a division by the Missouri river. We should consider such a division as a deathblow to the grandeur and importance of the State of Missouri. We deprecate the idea of making the civil divisions of the states to correspond with the natural boundaries of the country. Such divisions would promote that tendency to sep arate which it is the 'business of all statesmen to counteract." £f'/^-^}.-,sz-^ &" A) \t&t*. di'-» t- *j€ -^ 4U /Ti^z*^*- ^^C^^^C^ ^o ^/yo^~- ^~J?4>^~— «^-r*y 4t~ >&£ /£%& fr*y ^y f^^rte*-**"^ ^ tL-^a The original letter loaned from the Tullock collection Jcp- HOW THE FIRST NEWS OF REACHED' tUe- ^JU£) ' - ¦ A'- '&Z4*5Zi AA~y %%**¦ / '2>a v-ivi $^-*zrZ&' * j&- George K. Biggs located a dozen bee trees in one day within a short distance of his home. From one of them he took fifty gallons of honey. For years the export of honey through the Mississippi river towns was a source, of much revenue to Northeast Missouri settlers. This product sold at from twenty-five to thirty-seven and one-half cents a. gallon. Judge John C. Collins, of Scotland county, told of seeing seventy-five barrels of this wild honey passing his. place one day. The Platte Purchase. Eighty-four years ago the government at Washington bought the land which comprises the city of St. Joseph, Buchanan county and the five counties of Platte, Atchison, Andrew, Holt and Nodaway. The Indians conveyed the title and moved. The land was thrown open to white settlement. The price paid was $2,500 in cash, an interpreter, a blacksmith and a grindstone. The develop ment of the Platte Purchase in about the allotted span of a single life has been wonderful. It is history. But today this region and its surrounding territory seem to be entering upon an even more remarkable period of gain. The popular movement for the Platte Purchase originated, according to Colonel Switzler's researches, at a regimental muster on Dale's farm near Liberty, Gen. Andrew S. Hughes addressing the meeting. A committee was appointed to memorialize Congress, consisting of William T. Wood, David R. Atchison, A. W. Doniphan, Peter H. Burnett and Edward M. Samuel. Judge Wood wrote the memorial. Senator Benton introduced the bill, and he and Senator Linn urged its adoption, and in 1836 the "purchase" was accomplished. The Missouri river was made the western boundary of the state from Kansas City northward. This added to the- state as much land as Delaware contains — land of extraordinary fertility. Benton gave his colleague, Dr. Linn, the credit for the favorable action of Congress in the matter of the Platte Pur chase. The land was bought from the Sac and Fox Indians. The occupation of Platte county was much like the rush for land when 68 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI portions of Oklahoma were opened sixty years later. The purchase was made in 1836, but before the Indians could be moved out the intending settlers came in. In the spring of 1837 nearly every quarter section was taken. So rapid was the development of the purchase that Weston became the second city of Missouri. Platte became the chief hemp-growing county. Weston shipped more hemp than any other place. One year the business men of Weston claimed commercial supremacy over St. Louis. Between i84o and 1850 Platte became next to St. Louis the most populous county in Missouri. In 1850 it had 21,000 people. Four years later Nebraska- and Kansas were organized as ter ritories. Platte county people by the thousands moved across the Missouri. Neal Gilliam's Map. At an old settlers reunion in St. Joseph in 1874, Judge James H. Birch made an interesting contribution to Missouri history. Sometime before the government extinguished the Indian title to the Platte country and gave to Missouri what became six of its richest counties, Judge Birch was publishing , at Fayette a rather modest paper called the "Western Monitor and Boone's Lick Correspondent," at that time the westernmost newspaper office in the United States. He received a tetter from General Andrew S. Hughes who was the agent of the Indians to whom had been assigned the Platte country for a reservation. General Hughes, in this letter, pointed out the advisability of getting the Indians removed and the reservation annexed to Missouri. He accompanied the letter with a rude map drawn by Cornelius Gilliam, sometimes called General Gilliam, but more familiarly known as Neal Gilliam. This pioneer cartographer was a mighty hunter. He was an ardent Jackson man and when running for sheriff of Clay county in 1830, he won easily on the strength of the following speech which he delivered from a big elm log: "Fellow Citizens. — I am a Jackson man up to the hub. I have killed more wolves, and broke down more nettles than any man in Clay county. I am a candidate fori sheriff and I want your votes." He got down from the log, and the crowd shouted "Hurrah for Neal !" Birch said that he enclosed the letter of Hughes and the map of Gilliam in a letter of his own to Senator Benton with whom he was on good terms then. Back came a letter from Benton saying that the President and secretary of war were in favor of adding the Platte reservation to the State of Missouri for military considerations connected with the peace of the border. The effect of the an nexation would be to make the Missouri river the boundary, instead of an arbi trary line north and south, between white settlers and the Indians. The bill for annexation was introduced in Congress and pushed by Ben ton and Linn in the Senate; and by Ashley in the House, each of them after wards being given credit by their respective friends. Judge Birch thought the most marvelous fact about the Platte Purchase was that while it added largely to slave territory, the bill was reported favorably by a unanimous vote of the committee on Indian Affairs, the chairman of which was a lifelong emancipa tionist, Horace Everett of Vermont, who presented the report. Courtesy Missouri Historical Society AUGUSTE CHOUTEAU He led the .first thirty to begin the building of St. Louis GOVERNMENT HOUSE AT ST. LOUIS AS EEMODELED BY AUGUSTE CHOUTEAU MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY 71 Peter Burnett's Ride. Peter Burnett, a lawyer at Liberty, afterwards governor of California, car ried the news of the, Platte Purchase out into the country. Arnold Chance, one of the old settlers, remembered: "The first intimation we had of it was the appearance of Peter Burnett galloping into town from Liberty, swinging his hat and yelling like a wild Indian. We barely let him stop to tell us what was the matter when we all repaired to the 'grocery' and knocked a spigot out without taking time to count the cost. Merrily the flowing bowl, only it was a gourd, went round. I tell you, if ever there was a happy crowd in the world, our's was one. Just then it so happened a good, honest-hearted old minister of the Gospel hove in sight trotting leisurely down the road on a one-eyed, clay-bank mare, and under an ancient and clerical looking stovepipe hat, one that his grandfather had worn on the mountain circuit of East Tennessee, in 1788. In a minute or two more he was within reach of us, and then — poor lad ! Our good brother never wore that hat again. We were young then, and bad boys. In our hilariousness we took him and brought him into the grocery and set him across a barrel. He was a good-natured soul, and was as glad of the news as we were, — and, to tell the truth, he rather seemed to enjoy the gourd. Preachers were not as finicky then as they are now, any way." The Jog Into Arkansas. For the curious-looking jog in the map which carries Missouri's southern boundary far down into Arkansas on the Mississippi River front, Millard Fill more Stypes, in his / "Gleanings on Missouri History," gives this interesting explanation : "It "has been a matter of speculation as to why Pemiscot county, and those portions of Dunklin and New Madrid which extended south of the general boundary of the state into Arkansas, were included in Missouri. The usual facetious reply is that the people in these counties 'didn't want to live in Arkansas because it is unhealthful.' A writer who has made some investigation in the matter says that in 1804 Louisiana was divided into two territories by a line running along the thirty-third parallel of latitude. Then, in 1812, the territory o'f Missouri was organized, and, in 1819, that of Arkansas. At the time of the organization of the latter territory the people in the section now comprising these three counties were bound to the up-river neighbors by ties both social and com mercial, and an appeal was made for inclusion of them in the territory of Missouri. Prominent among those who conducted the negotiations was Ool. John Hardeman Walker, who owned extensive tracts of land in these counties. He 'wined and dined the sur veyors,' and afterwards, in company with Godfrey Lesseuer and several other prominent citizens of that vicinity, visited Washington and laid the matter before Congress. Their efforts met with success, and this cotton-growing district down to the thirty-sixth parallel and as far west as the St. Francois river was included in Missouri." The First St. Louis County. When the territorial legislature of Missouri in 181 3 laid out St. Louis county the metes and bounds were set forth as follows: "All that portion of the territory bounded north by the south line of the County of St. Charles, east by the main channel of the river Mississippi, south by a line in the main channel of the Mississippi immediately opposite the upper line of a tract of land owned by Augustus Chouteau, which is about half way between the mouths of the Plattin and Joachim rivers ; thence running in a direct line to a point on the dividing ridge between those waters where Wight's road falls into the road leading from the town of Herculaneum to the Mine-a-Burton ; thence along said road to a point thereon^ 72 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI immediately opposite a noted ' spring called the 'Dripping Springs,' which spring is situated about two hundred yards off said road ; thence on a direci course to the mouth of Mineral fork or Grand river; thence such a course as shall leave all the persons now settled in that settlement, usually known by the name of the Richwood settlement, to the south of said course or line in the county of Washington ; thence southwest to the- western boundary of the Osage purchase ; thence northwardly on said line to river Missouri ; thence down said river Missouri in the main channel of the same to the southwest corner of the County of St. Charles, shall compose one county, and shall be called and known by the County of St. Louis." i This extended St. Louis county to what is now the Kansas boundary. The School Lands. The act which resulted from Riddick's ride and Hempstead's activities in 1 812 provided "that all town or village lots, out-lots, common-field lots, and commons in and adjoining and belonging to the towns or villages of the territory, which are not rightfully owned or claimed by any private individual, or held as commons belonging to such towns or villages, or that the President of the United States may not think proper to secure for military purposes, shall be and" the same are hereby reserved, for the support of schools in the respective towns or villages aforesaid; Provided, that the whole quantity of land contained in the lots reserved for the support of the schools in any town or village shall not exceed one-twentieth part of the whole lands included in the general survey of such town or village." The Making of Counties. Making of Missouri geography was one of the chief subjects of state legis lation before the Civil war. Not infrequently one general assembly changed the work of another before names and boundaries were satisfactory to those most concerned — the inhabitants. Strong admiration for military heroes and intense political convictions had much to do with titles. The name of one county was changed twice before the people were satisfied. That was Ozark county. In 1843 it was given the name of Decatur in honor of Admiral Decatur. Two years later the original name of Ozark was retaken. Lafayette county was named Lillard originally at the time of its organiza tion in 1820. James C, Lillard was one of the pioneers. Fourteen years later the legislature on the petition of residents of the county changed the name to Lafayette. The argument offered for the change was that Lillard had gone back to Tennessee and advised people not to move to Missouri because it was an unhealthy country. It was charged that he had even written letters to that effect. There was a time when the legislature went too fast in the making of coun ties. It created Dodge and Putnam. The line between Missouri and Iowa was supposed to be some, distance north of the present location. When the courts decided in favor of the Iowa contention it cut off a northern strip. Put nam and Dodge were consolidated into one county with the former' name fourteen miles wide and thirty-six miles long. There are .maps of Missouri showing prospective counties with the names, of Dodge, Donaldson and Mer- amec. On later maps these names do not appear. MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY 73 Missouri also had counties named Rives, Van Buren and Kinderhook. Rives is now known as Henry county. The change was made for political reasons. At the time a new county was being organized in the west central section of Missouri, William C. Rives was a Virginian of wide reputation. He was much admired by the Democrats, who had a majority in the Missouri legislature. The county was named Rives in 1834. A few years later Mr. Rives became a Whig. In 1841 the Democratic majority changed the name of Rives county to Henry county, intending, as the records show, to honor Patrick Henry, also a Virginian. ( Another county which had its name changed through political considera tions was Van Buren. It was organized in 1835 and given the name to honor President Martin Van Buren. In becoming the candidate of the Free Soilers in 1848 Van Buren ceased to be popular with the Missourians in control of the legislature. At the session of the assembly in 1849 Van Buren county was ¦"changed to Cass county. Lewis Cass of Michigan had been the Democratic nominee for President in 1848. Kinderhook county was named for the home of President Van Buren at the time when he was a political idol of Missouri Democrats. It underwent change of name in 1843 and thereafter was called Camden, taking the name of a county in North Carolina from which a number of the early settlers came. Washington county, as part of the territory of Missouri, was organized in 1813 under an act of the territorial legislature. An imposing two-story court house with a large porch and brick columns from ground to roof was built. So enterprising were the Potosi people of that day they came within one vote of securing the location of the territorial capital. The Military Heroes. Missouri nomenclature shows that the pioneer settlers and early legislatures were more inclined to honor soldiers than statesmen in selecting names for counties. Of the 114 political subdivisions of the state the names of war heroes were selected for forty-four. Statesmen came next. Of them thirty-one were honored in the naming of counties. Wright county took its name from Silas Wright of New York. A portion of the Platte Purchase had several county names. In 1841 a county called Nodaway was organized. Several weeks later the member of the house of representatives from Platte county, David Rice Holt, died. The legislature was in session. To do honor to Mr. Holt part of the county which had been given the name of Nodaway was changed to Holt. Two years later a part of Holt county was cut off and given the name of Allen. Subsequently the legislature changed the name of Allen to Atchison to do honor to David R. Atchison, United States senator from Missouri and president pro tern , of the Senate. Niangua county no longer appears upon the map of Missouri. The title was taken originally, from the river which still bears, that name. The Indians called the river Nehemgar. That meant a river of numerous springs or sources. The word Niangua is supposed to have been changed from Nehemgar by popular use. Niangua county was organized in r842. Two years later George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania, having been elected Vice-President of the United States, MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY 75 was not organized until 1851. It took the name of Miles Vernon, a man of prominence in Laclede county. Allen and Jesse Somers, Kentuckians, are said to have been the first settlers. After them came Revi Nathaniel Dodge and his three sons, Leonard, Samuel and Thomas. The first white settlement was in the vicinity of what is now Balltown. Texas county was settled, by hunters who took their peltries in pony loads to St. Louis, following the Indian trails. These pioneers came as early as 1815. They built a small mill on Paddies' spring. p Kingdom of Callaway. Callaway county established its county seat at Fulton, named in honor of Robert Fulton, the pioneer in steam navigation. A courthouse thirty-six feet square was built in 1826. It cost $1,300 and was said to be the first courthouse west of the Mississippi. This seat of justice had even greater distinction than its architecture, according to tradition. A thief had stolen a horse, had been arrested, had given bond and had run away. The bond was forfeited and the bondsmen paid up. The money thus realized by the county went to build the courthouse: "Kingdom of Callaway" gained this distinction from the course pursued dur ing the Civil war period. The people were strongly in sympathy with the South. The legislature which assembled and sat under the Gamble provisional state government was Union. Callaway people were quite generally disfranchised because of their states' rights position. Nevertheless they voted and sent across the river to the state capital representative after representative of their own political faith. These men were rejected as often as they presented their cer tificates. But Callaway continued to send southern sympathizers and went un represented in the legislature. The Union men in Jefferson City bestowed upon the county, in recognition of this persistence, the name of "Kingdom of Callaway." Captain Callaway whose name was taken for the county was one of the bravest of the Indian fighters in 1815. He was a grandson of Daniel Boone and commanded a company of rangers at the time of his death. His command had overtaken a marauding band of Sac and Fox Indians in the vicinity of Prairie fork of Loutre creek, had taken some stolen horses from the squaws who were guarding them and had started back to Fort Clemson on Loutre Island when they were ambuscaded by the braves. Callaway's horse was killed under him. The captain received a slight wound but was saved by the bullet striking his watch and tearing it to pieces. He ran down the creek, plunged in and was swimming when a bullet struck him in the back of his head. He was tall, had black eyes and hair and stood very erect. An early writer pointed out that "a name sometimes means a great deal. In many instances it indicates the character of the people who settle a country and have given it its distinctive characteristics. In this instance the people of Callaway possess those fearless traits of character and that dauntless energy which distinguished the gallant leader after whom the county was named. So tenacious and unyielding have they been in the pursuit and maintenance of their rights in time past, that they have earned for their county the sobriquet, 'Kingdom of Callaway.' " 76 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI A local historian traces the origin of "Kingdom of Callaway" to tne "treaty" which Colonel Jefferson F. Jones made with General John B. Henderson at the beginning of the Civil war. General Henderson had recruited quite a force of Union men in Pike county and was preparing to invade Callaway. Colonel Jones assembled 300. or 400 men and boys at Brown's Spring. He had two home-made cannon, one of wood with iron rings. He announced his intention to give the invaders battle. Flags of truce were raised and messages passed between the ¦ opposing armies. The result' was an agreement, drawn up in the form of a treaty, by which Henderson promised not to invade and Jones promised to disband his force. Jones was somewhat original in character. He named one of his sons South west and the other Northwest. His eighth child was a girl on whom he bestowed the name of Octave. t Daviess county was a political division of Missouri which impressed Amer ican history without regard to politics in its nomenclature. The names given the townships of Daviess were Benton, Colfax, Gallatin, Grand River, Grant, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Liberty, Lincoln, Marion, Monroe, Salem, Sheri dan, Union and Washington. The county took its name from Joseph Daviess of Kentucky. • Taney county took its name from the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, Roger B. Taney. Two brothers named Youchuim, three Dentires and a McAdoo began the settlement of Taney making their homes on White river about 1827. "The Mother of Counties." Settlement of Howard county began in 1807. Three- years later Cooper's Bottom was quite a little community. Benjamin Cooper and his five sons from Madison county, Kentucky, were pioneers in Howard. William Thorp, a Baptist minister, came in 1810. The county was named for Benjamin Howard, governor of Missouri territory. Out of the original Howard county were created about forty other counties. When Howard county was organized the county seat was Old Franklin, on the Missouri River. Removal to Fayette, named in honor of General Lafayette, took place in 1823. Howard was given the name of "the mother of counties." Colonel Switzler'once described Howard at a Mis souri pioneers gathering at Huntsville: "Take a position on the Missouri river at the mouth of the Kaw, now Kansas City, proceed north to the southern boundary line of Iowa, in truth several miles beyond that line, into the territory of Iowa, then due east to the high ridge of ground, known as the headwaters of Cedar creek, now forming the border line between Boone and Callaway, and descend the Cedar to its confluence with the Missouri, at Jefferson City, thence down the Missouri to the mouth of the Osage, thence up that crooked stream to a point near Schell City in Vernon county, then due west to the Kansas line, thence north along that line to the place of beginning; this was Howard county, now comprising thirty-six. counties of the state— twenty-two and a part of three others south of the Missouri river and fourteen and a part of five others north of it— an area of 22,000 square miles— larger than ancient Greece, larger than Saxony and Switzerland combined; larger than Vermont, Massachusetts, Delaware and Rhode Island united." MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY 77 The Farthest West. Liberty was the frontier metropolis for several years. It was the farthest west town of the United States just previous to the Platte Purchase in 1836. Immigrants came from Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland, with a sprinkling of New Yorkers. They made Liberty a notable community. They began to spread over Clay county as early as 1819. The first settlers had a few difficulties with the Indians. David McElwee cut off the hand of an Indian who tried to break into his house. In the southeastern part of Clay county, near the Missouri river seven Indians were killed. The settlers built four block houses and put up a stiff fight. The Indians ceased to be troublesome. For years they came in numbers to Liberty and mingled with the white people. The first county seat of Jefferson was Herculaneum on the Mississippi river, the shipping point for lead. A removal was made to Hillsboro which was originally called Monticello. As Lewis county had chosen the name of Monti- cello, that of Jefferson's home in Virginia, for its county seat, the Jefferson county people gave their county seat the name of Hillsboro. The first county seat of Lafayette was Mount Vernon. The .removal was made to Lexington. The county seat- of Lincoln is Troy which was originally called Woods. Rutledge was the first county seat of McDonald. Pineville succeeded it. The original name of Pineville was Maryville. Far West was the first county seat of Caldwell but was abandoned as the result of the Mormon war. Kingston became the county seat, named for Gov ernor Austin A. King of Ray county. Camden county had three county seats, Oregon, Erie and Linn Creek. The first county seat of Atchison was Linden, which obtained its name from the large grove of linden trees. Later the county seat was moved to Rockport which obtained its name from the rocky character of Tarkio creek where it is located. The county seat of Andrew county was at first named Union and then re named Savannah. The first name of Platte City, county seat of Platte county was "The Falls of Platte." ! Fulton was the first county seat of Ray county, but at a very early date Rich- - mond was chosen. , The men who started Rolla in Phelps county disagreed on the name. One of them, E. W. Bishop, preferred Phelps Center. George Coppedge was from North Carolina and wanted the name to be Raleigh. After some discussion Bishop gave way on condition that Coppedge permit the spelling to be Rolla. Moving Days of County Seats. The moving or renaming of county seats made life interesting for Missourians during several decades. In the early days when counties were being organized the larger settlements were on the rivers. Railroads changed the map of Mis souri and had no little influence upon moving days for county. seats. Political considerations prompted changes in the names of many county seats. 78 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI For example the county seat of Cedar was originally named Lancaster. When John C. Fremont became one of the most popular men in the country as "The Pathfinder" the county seat of Cedar was changed to Fremont.' When ten years later Fremont accepted the nomination of the Republicans for President the legislature changed the name to Stockton. This was in honor of Commodore Richard Stockton who had at one time arrested Fremont., Columbia became the county seat of Boone because the locality was better watered than that at Smithton originally chosen when the county was organized in 1820. Smithton obtained its name from General Thomas A. Smith. The county seat of Franklin was Newport but it was moved to Union. Albany, the county seat of Gentry, was first known as Athens. Bethany, the county seat of Harrison was called Dallas but for only a few months. , \ The county seat of Holt, Oregon, was first called Finley. The first county seat of Schuyler was Tippecanoe which was succeeded by Lancaster. Sand Hill was the name of Scotland's county seat, but the name was changed to Memphis. Gallatin named for Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury and a warm- friend of Missouri in the territorial days, became the county seat of Daviess upon the removal from Pattonsburg. Douglas moved its county seat several times from Ava to Vera Cruz and back. Macon's county seat has had three names, the Box Ankle, Bloomington and Macon. The county seat of Madison was moved from St. Michael to Fredericktown. Wrhen the county seat of Maries was named Dr. V. G. Latham presiding judge of the county court had a little daughter, Vie Anna. Her name was chosen for the county seat but upon the map it is printed thus, — Vienna. Boonsborough was the first name of California, the county seat of Moniteau. Arrow Rock Traditions. Saline county has had four county seats; — Jefferson, Jonesboro, Arrow Rock and Marshall. In the vicinity of Arrow Rock is a cliff which is supposed to have suggested the name. One of the traditions is that the pioneers called it "Airy Rock" and that the name was changed by later comers to Arrow Rock. Elliot Coues, who edited the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, held that Arrow Rock derived its name from the visits of Indians who went there to make arrow heads from the rock. But Gerard Fowke, the archaeologist, who spent some time in explorations along the Missouri, said: "No one now living at Arrow Rock ever heard of the origin of the name as stated by Coues and by others before him. Only one tradition exists to account for it. A number of young warriors assembled on a sandbar opposite the cliff to test their power with the bow by ascertaining who could send an arrow farthest out into the stream the victor to wed the chief's daughter. One of them shot clear across the river, his arrow lodging in a crevice high above the water; and so the cliff' was known thenceforward as 'the arrow rock.' No citizen of the place has ever heard of any other explanation of the term." MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY 81 Thomas Claiborne Rainey, who wrote "Along the Old Trail," a series of pio neer sketches of Arrow Rock and vicinity, which was given permanent form by the Marshall chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, believed that Arrow Rock gbt the name from the manufacture of arrow heads by the Indians. He said: "There is not anywhere up the river and near to it any other considerable outcropping of flint. It is probable that the upper plains Indians depended on that locality for their arrows. Not only local facts but, historical records show that they were made there extensively, and that the name of the town originates from that fact. 'Pierre Fleche' in English is Arrow Rock. So far as I have ever heard, no one now knows how these arrow heads were fashioned so perfectly out of a hard and brittle stone, liable to break in any direction.' They were brought into perfect form without the aid of any metallic tool. I am told that even by the use of the finest steel implements no one can now reproduce a perfect flint arrow »head. "The earliest authentic account 'of Arrow Rock discloses that it was an Indian town inhabited by the makers of flint arrow heads. Existing evidence shows that such work was performed there in a more extensive way than I have ever known elsewhere. A resident of the vicinity told me that he had seen remains of flint spawls in quantity which would have amounted to bushels, and this on a different hillside to where I found them years ago. Doubtless, cultivation qf the land and the action of drift by rainfall and travel have obliterated most of Hhese ancient remains. The pioneers were not so much concerned in preserving Indian antiquities as in protecting themselves from flying missiles hurled from their bows." Originally the county seat of Buchanan was Sparta, a central location. This was chosen in 1840' but in 1846 the county seat was removed to St; Joseph. Steelville Famous People. 1 Steelville, the capital of Crawford county, is' eighty-five years old. In a little brick building on one side of the public square went forth students of law who became a governor of Oklahoma, A. J. Seay; a 'judge of the supreme court of California, J. R. Webb, and two who remained in Missouri to become members of Congress, Samuel Byrnes of Potosi and C. W. Hamlin of Springfield. On the . other side of the street, in a yellow brick house, George Hearst, who became United States senator from California courted Phoebe Epperson, father and mother of William Randolph Hearst, the founder and editor of more newspapers than any other man in the history of American journalism. .. • The first white settler in Carroll county left a reputation for courage. \He was a mighty wrestler and sp'r.inter. He built a cabin and trapped for a living. That was before 1826 when John Standly and William Turner arrived with their families from North Carolina. The county seat, Carrollton, helps to perpetuate the memory of that signer of the Declaration of Independence who wrote "Charles Carroll of Carrollton" that King George's men might have no doubt about his identity. The name of Gayoso was taken for the county seat of Pemiscot county. Gayoso was a Spanish official in colonial days. The county seat was moved to Carruthersville. In the history of Pettis there have been three county seats, St. Helena, George town and Sedalia. 82 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI For Putnam, Putnamville was selected for 'the first county seat, the name honoring John Israel Putnam. Later the county seat was moved to Winchester and thence to Harmony, which was given the name of Unionville. John Keyte laid out the tbwnsite of Keytesville in -1832.. Some time after wards the county seat was moved to Keytesville from Old Chariton on the Mis souri River. The county seat of Clinton was changed twice in name but not in locality. It was first Condord, l then Springfield and now is Plattsburg. The last name was chosen because Plattsburg was the home of Governor George De Witt Clinton of New York, in whose honor the county was named. Montgomery's first county seat was tin the Missouri river and was named Pinckney. It was moved to Lewiston, later to Boonville and finally to Mont gomery City. In Morgan county Versailles, recalling" the French capital, succeeded Mill- ville. Cass County's Courthouse Architecture. * The courthouse of Cass county served three generations. Architecturally it was good for a century. But the. cijmnty outgrew the accommodations which were ample in 1837. 1 Like other Missouri pioneers the county judges of Cass insisted on substantial results. They drew their own specifications which included walls two feet thick : "One room 18 foot square, the other room 14 foot by 18, with one paticion ran, to be made of good timber, well hued down to 6 in. thick and to face one foot across the center of each logg. Wall to be compleatly raised 1 story and half high. Corners to Be sawed down a good plank or puncheon Floor in each room well laid so that it will not rock nor shake; nor rattle. A good chimney in each end compleatly Run out with Stick and good lime Mortar well put in and the fier .places well and compleate fixed with Stoan or Brick so as to secure the safety of fier. The roof put on with good 3 foot boards, well shaved lapt and nailed on ends well weatherboarded up — the wall well filled in the cracks with good lime mortar well put in. I outside door in ,each room. Also 1 entry door completely faced and cased with good' materials. Shutters to be hung with good Hinges latches etc with good locks and kees To each door; allso 1 window in each room containing of 12 lights each well faced and cased — and fild with the largest caind of glass — each to have a good outside shutter wtih good boalts and bars to each window. Each room to have a plank or clapboard loft closely laid and all the .work done on said building to be done in a good and workmanlike manner and out, of good materials." Days of the Town Site Booms. _ About 1820, according to an early writer on Missouri, "Towns were laid outs all over the country and lots were purchased by everyvone on credit ; the town maker received no money for his lots, but he received notes of hand which he considered to be as good as cash ; and he lived and embarked in other ventures as if they had been cash in truth." Near the center of Benton county a town called, Osage was established about 1837. The founders showed their faith by settling there with their families. They ventured the prediction that "the population of this place will reach several thousand in five years, and ever after be second to St. Louis only." Osage depended upon the navigation of the Osage river. Among the inducements held MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY 83 out to encourage newcomers was the promise to "establish a seminary of learn ing, to be conducted by one of the best scholars, a graduate of an eastern college, that can be procured. Female teachers from Massachusetts will be likewise employed at the Osage Seminary." At that time the great diagonal road from Palmyra in Northeast Missouri to Springfield in Southwest Missouri and' thence to Red river crossed the Osage at the place selected for the new city. The crossing was known as Bledsoe's Ferry and by that name became historic. . The site of Osage was on the tableland overlooking Bledsoe's, It was a beautiful location. The promoters told of the wonderful natural resources. They built a hotel and planned warehouses, expecting to take care of the trade of a large section of Missouri. Had transportation been limited to water their great expec tations would in some degree have been realized. As it was, Osage vanished. In 1820 the point of. land where the Osage river joins the Missouri was selected for a townsite. According to a Gazetteer published in 1834, "lots to the amount of $20,000 or $30,000 were sold. But the move was a premature, one and no improvement was made there. The best corner lots are still encumbered with the native crab-tree, and the principal streets are thickly shaded with hazel. The only business there is carried on by a single concern. This is the commission and forwarding house of Rackoon, Possum & Co. The operation of this house, or the broken surface of the country, may have given the reproach ful name of Varmint county to Cole, which it never deserved." Old Chariton. In an address by Charles J. Cabell at an old settlers' reunion on the fair grounds at Keytesville in 1877, this was told of one of the earliest and most promising communities which has since disappeared. "The town of Chariton was then a rival of St. Louis, and was nearly, if not quite, as large. This opinion was so strong that many persons flocked to Chariton, believing it would become the largest city in the 'territory. Uncle Billy Cabeen exchanged lots in St. Louis for lots in Chariton, foot for foot. He improved the lots in Chariton, lived many years on them, and died on them, respected by a large circle of friends and by all who knew him. Chariton occupied a level of ground half .a mile north and south, lying between large hills on the east and Chariton river on the west — or something less than half a mile in width. In some portions of the town the houses were very close together, and were built of brick. It was supposed to contain several thousand inhabitants. If Yankee Doodle was to pass through the place^ now he could not see the houses for the town — the reverse of which was the case with him on a former occasion. The town of Chariton could boast of as good society as any city in America, having men of great literary attainments, of skill in their professions, and of great social endowments, repre senting almost all the noted institutions of learning in this country; even Edinburgh, Scotland, was represented." In old Chariton, during those palmy days, lived James Semple who operated a tannery, afterwards moved to Illinois and became a United States senator; Dr. Ben Edwards, a brother of Governor Ninian Edwards of Illinois; Joseph J. Monroe, brother of President Monroe ; two of the Sublettes who became historic figures in the fur trade; the Burlesons who werit to Texas, where Ned Burle son became vice-president of the Texas Republic. When Chariton county was organized "Edward B. Cabell was made clerk 84 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI of the county court, clerk of thexcircuit court, county treasurer, notary public and postmaster. He was of an old Virginia family. His son, Charles J. Cabell said : "I am satisfied that for several years he could carry the majority of Jhe papers, of both courts in his hat. The first deed book was made by my mother, - by sewing quires of foolscap together. Pardon me for saying that to him more than to any other man that ever lived in Chariton are its citizens indebted for perfection of the titles of their lands. For we occupy the central part of the military land district, and nine-tenths of our lands are military. For years he gave advice -to all who called on him for his opinions, never- charging one dollar for it," Beginnings of County Government. St. Clair county was organized with a county seat 'location fight. Osceola won by less than a score of votes. Jesse Applegate, who led the opposition in favor of Wyatt Grove, and who was the richest man in that, part of Missouri, - was accused of importing thirty voters, the law at that time requiring only thirty days residence to make a vote legal. But Appjegate in his turn claimed that the Osceola people had brought forty men from Sedalia to work on the new court house and had voted them to get the majority. Applegate was so disgusted with the result that he moved to Oregon. At the first session of the county court the justices were in much doubt as to what would be fair compensation for their services. William Gash, father of eight children, who was allowing the use of his house for the sessions of the court, asked ,if $i per day would be. too much. Hugh Barnett, Sr.,. agreed that this would not be an exorbitant salary. Judge Joseph Montgomery made an impassioned ' speech. He had drawn three dollars a day, as a member of the legislature in his native state and had been in the Missouri state senate. He dwelt upon the importance of the services the justices were performing in build-. ing up the government of a new county and declared that $2 per day was little enough: _And $2 per day it was made. This court of St. Clair county, at a later date, was the scene of a procedure without parallel in county t court practice in Missouri. What occurred is told in an early history of St. Clair county: Joseph Montgomery, the presiding justice, was troubled, as he' aged, with an uncontrollable desire to sleep. If business dragged while the court was in session he would drop off in avnap. One day while the judge was sleeping, Bullock, the clerk, arose and in a solemn manner said, "I move that this court adjourn for the reason that the clerk is incapaci tated for doing business." Bullock ;had a drink or two but was able to rhake himself Understood. The two judges who were awake voted him down. Bul lock, leaning against the table, said, "I move that this court adjourn for the reason that the sheriff and the clerk are both incapacitated for doing business." The two judges voted him down. Bullock hesitated a little and then said, "I move this court adjourn for the reason that the presiding justice is asleep and that the court, the sheriff and the clerk are drunk." The crowd roared and the court adjourned. MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY 85 A Sheriff's First Duty. When Judge Janies Clark was sitting shortly after the organization of Linn county, he had to adjourn court at Holland's cabin because the chimney was too small for the fireplace and became choked. As the judge walked out Qf the cabin the sheriff who was new to his office came up and told him there was a fight in progress between two farmers. He wanted, to know what was his duty in the premises. "Your duty," said the judge excitedly. "It is your, duty to show me where the fight is. I want to see it." Early settlers formed habits of economy which sometimes went too far. Notably this was true in the matter of writing paper. They .used backs of envelopes, half sheets of foolscap, flyleafs out of books, almost any old thing in the shape of paper. The county court of Henry, in an early day, was prompted to adopt an order in the interest of -the preservation of records to meet this custom of the pioneers: "It is ordered that all papers presented to this court hereafter must be on not less than a half sheet of foolscap paper, and that the court will' not act on any' paper less in si^e than the above, notes, receipts and vouchers of set tlement of estates excepted." , When David Barton went up the Missouri to organize Howard county he held court at Hannah Cole's Fort, where Boonville is now. Stephen Col£ was justice of the peace. H? did something in court which caused Judge Barton to impose a fine for contempt. Cole protested but paid the fine of one dollar. Court adjourned for dinner. After dinner Cole organized his court at a con venient log in front of the fort. Barton came out from dinner and leaned against a tree observing what Cole was doing. He had a pipe in his mouth. Cole looked at him sternly and said, "Judge Barton, I fine you one dollar for contempt of my court for smoking in its presence." Judge Barton pulled out a dollar, paid it to the clerk and went on to open his own court. The Salt River Tigers. Audrain county came into existence, geographically, some time after other Central Missouri counties had been organized. James Rollins, according to former Attorney General D. H. Mclntire, was accustomed to refer to Audrain as "Little Sis." A popular name for the early residents of Audrain was "Salt River Tigers." Before Audrain was organized, some of the residents of the territory concluded that they would exercise the right of suffrage if they had to go abroad. They organized a company along Salt river, with Jack Willing- ham as leader, and marched to a polling place in Boone county. They told the judges they had come to vote. The judges tried to turn them off by denying that they had any right to vote. The Salt river men said they were going to vote, right or no right. The end of the wrangle was that the judges were com pelled to hear the men announce their votes and to record them. As Willing- ham and his party rode away, a Boone county election judge looking after the cavalcade said disgustedly, "Ain't those men tigers?" General Mclntire said that at one of the first sessions of court in Audrain the grand jury retired to a convenient brush. The jury had been charged to investigate a complaint against a lawyer. This lawyer found his way into the 86 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI t ' ' ¦ s primitive grand jury room, made a, speech, told a story, and treated the jurors. In a short time the grand inquest returned, to court, reported that the case had been considered and that the jurors found it "too small a matter to kick up any fuss about." To the Old Settlers' Association of Audrain county, W. D. H. Hunter told some recollections of his coming to Mexico : "It was in the early morning, just before the dawn of day, when we reached the town. I could see in the dim twilight, here and there, in the midst of the hazel brush, the rudely constructed homes of the ' early inhabitants — a dozen families embraced them all. It may seem strange to those who know but little about the early days of this county why I chose to enter Mexico before the dawn of day. To those pioneers here, it is hardly necessary to say that it was to avoid the green-head flies, which at that time infested the prairies. I have seen, at that early day, white or gray horses come into town with blood trickling apparently from ' every pore, bitten by green-heads. They were the terror of stock during the day, and night was the only time that horses could travel with comfort. In many cases most of the plowing and other work on the farm was done at night. When the old courthouse stood, it used to be the refuge for the sheep, cattle and horses that were driven from the prairies after sun-iip by the flies and many of you will be able, to call to mind Old Man Bonner's jennets that were generally the first to reach the courthouse door, and in, those days were the most familiar objects within the courthouse square. A Turkey Dinner Won the Name. When Kirksville was laid out the founders, met at the farm house of Jesse Kirk. That morning Mr. Kirk had kilted two wild turkeys. The game was on exhibition. When other legal formalities had received attention the question 'of naming the town site was raised. "Call it Kirksville," said Mrs. Kirk, "and I will .give you a dinner of roast turkey, corn bread and wild honey." It was done'. ' ' Adair county is divided by a ridge. On one side the streams flow toward the Mississippi and on the other side the slope is to the Missouri. When Gar land C. Bfodhead was state geologist he estimated the coal underlying' Adair at 2,754,385,920 tons. A locality is known as the "Barrens." • It consists of irregular, winding, sharp ridges from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet in height. A distinguished characteristic of Phelps county is the "prairie hollow." These hollows lie between ridges. They- are not usually more than half a mile in width but are often several miles in length. They are undulating, well drained and vevy fertile. „-. Dunklin county has but- one hill and no rocks. Franklin is the largest county in the state ; it has 560,000 acres. "Polecat creek," in Harrison county, received its christening from a party of bee hunters who found the place infested with skunks. Uncle Tommv Taylor, a pioneer settler in Harrison, located well up toward the source of this creek. It was a current joke of the pioneers that Uncle Tommy was the smart est man on Polecat creek because he had shown his wisdom in locating so near the head of the "critter." , Geographers of Missouri haVe found it necessary to revise their conclusions repeatedly. When Holcombe wrote his history of Marion county in the begin- MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY 87 ning of the eighties he said -the Fabius river was so named by Don Antonio ,Soulard, the Spanish surveyor. But when he concluded his researches for the history of Lewis county, he said that "with more light on the subject" he believed the Fabius was a corruption from the Indian name, of Fabbas given to this river and its south fork, fabba meaning bean. Holcombe said "the real English name of the stream is Bean creek." i The Two Kansas Cities. For many years' the dividing line between Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., was utilized by law breakers. Missouri had a very stringent anti- gambling law and Kansas enforced prohibition. The saloons flourished on the Missouri side and the gamblers' lay-outs were many on the Kansas side. Bill Lewis located his resort so that the line ran .through the middle of the room. He baffled the authorities for a long time. At last the Kansas City chief of police, Thomas Spears, set a trap and caught him: "For many years Bill had a deep-seated and chronic objection to paying any licenses for the sale of liquor. His bar and dance house was a sort' of a, movable affair which he had located on the edge of the city near the state line, of Kansas. I made several sorties on Bill's lay-out, as he was violating the law for selling liquor without a license, but he always got wind in some mysterious manner of my coming and would gently push his bar. over into Kansas and he and his patrons would amuse themselves by giving me the laugh. When the Kansas City, Kan., authorities got after him he would baffle them by moving into Missouri again, and so the thing went on. "I was not to be outwitted, however, as my reputation was at stake, -and finally the authorities of both states put their heads together and we determined to make a joint attack on Bill. Bill at the time was raking in the shekels on the Missouri side, and I swooped down on him. He started to move across the room over into Kansas, as usual, but was surprised when he saw a posse of Kansas state authorities waiting to seize him. This was a critical moment. What was Bill to do? He was fairly and squarely in a trap, but he did not abandon hope. Suddenly a bright idea struck him. He pushed his bar half over the state line in the floor and left it there. It was for us to do the thinking now. Bill thought he had got us and indulged in a broad grin when he saw us scratching our heads. Neither state could claim the bar, but we compromised matters in a way which , caused Bill's smile of delight to change into a look of dismay. We secured saws aVid axes and actually cut the bar in halves, Missouri claiming one half and Kansas the other. This settled Bill. He came to the conclusion that it was better to obey the law." The Original of Eden. A promising metropolis of Missouri was located on the Mississippi about half way between Hannibal and Quincy. It was named Marion City. The founder was William Muldrow who came from "Muldrow's Hill", ip Ken tucky. In "Martin Chuzzlewit;" Dickens tells the story of an ambitious city site scheme which he called "Eden" and which he located on the Mississippi river. Martin Chuzzlewit put his money into city lots of Eden, having been led to believe it was to become a place of great importance. He made^ the journey to Eden and found instead of the business blocks, fine residences, parks, churches and institutions of learriing, a small collection of log cabins. Some time after Martin Chuzzlewit appeared people who knew the history of Marion City said that it was the original of Dickens' "Eden." At a later date there 88 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI were those who believed that William Muldrow suggested to Mark Twain the famous character, Colonel Mulberry Sellers. Muldrow was a man of extraordinary initiative and great expectations. After carrying out several lesser schemes with success Muldrow conceived the idea of creating a city. He had maps drawn, showing streets, locations of banks, churches, hotels and wharves, a theater and a newspaper office. He secured as the location a considerable tract of ground on the river. This was about 1830. Muldrow took his maps east every accommodation but whiskey." Mrs. Charless was one of the seven women who, with two men, organized the first Presbyterian church in Missouri. Birthplace of the State. In a tavern Missouri was born. The first legislature met in that hotel. The first governor, McNair, and the first lieutenant-governor, Ashley, were inaugu rated in that hotel. The first United States senators, Barton and Benton, were elected there. In accord with the fitness of things, it ' was called the Missouri hotel. It was situated well up Main street. Begun in 1817 and completed two years later, the Missouri hotel was ready for its place in the history of the state's making. Major Biddle became the owner of the hotel. He enlarged it, went east and obtained the best professional boniface he could induce to come west. The Missouri was opened with equipment and appointments which made it for more than a generation the pride of the Mississippi Valley. Upon the sign of the Missouri hotel was painted a buffalo. For many years the Missouri was the place favored for banquets and balls. There his admiring fellow citizens entertained Barton with a grand dinner when he came back from Washington after making his great speech in the Senate. St. Patrick's Days were celebrated at the Missouri hotel. Ex peditions were planned there. Principals and seconds met there to arrange preliminaries of duels. General William Henry Harrison, afterwards President, General Zachary Taylor, also afterwards President, General Winfield Scott, who wanted to be but was not President, were entertained at the Missouri. THE MISSOURI TAVERN 115 Thomas H. Benton owed his first election to tavern environment. His friends had been able to muster only a tie vote against the opposition. One of the Benton votes was that of Daniel Ralls who lay in the last stages of ill ness. Benton's friends won over one vote from the opposition, giving the nec essary majority if the dying man could be kept alive and brought in when the legislature resumed its session. The fact that the legislature was sitting in the hotel and that the dying member was in a room up stairs made the plan of Benton's friends possible, although desperate. The sick member was carried down stairs by four negro servants and voted for Benton. He died shortly after being returned to his -room'. The first constitution of Missouri was framed in a tavern which bore the imposing name of the Mansion House hotel. The delegates met in the dining room. There were forty-one of them. William Bennett, the Owner of the hotel, received thirty dollars a week for the use of the dining room and two smaller, rooms used for offices. The. Mansion House owed its title to the fact that it had been the residence and office of Surveyor-General Rector, built by "him in 1816, and at the time one of the show places of St. Louis. Bennett got possession in 1819, made changes and adapted the building to hotel purposes. In his desire to rival the Missouri hotel as the official tavern of the forming state, he offered accommodations at an attractive price. Under the name of the Denver House this birthplace of the first constitution was still standing at Third and Vine streets in the early eighties. Palmer on Parliamentary Practice. There was a man who called himself "Ringtail Painter" in that first general assembly of Missouri. His name was Palmer and his cabin home was in the . Grand river valley. This first legislature met in the hotel. Palmer insisted on occuping the same bed for one night with Governor McNair so that, as he said, he could go back and tell his friends of Fishing river that he had slept with the governor of Missouri. » This first meeting of the general assembly in that hotel was enlivened by one of the most remarkable parliamentary scenes in the history of Missouri law making. During a session of the state senate Duff Green and Andrew McGirk became involved in a heated argument. McGirk threw a pewter inkstand at Green. The two men started a fist fight. Governor McNair came forward and tried to stop the fight. He caught hold of Green and was in the act of. pulling him away when Ringtail Painter Palmer grabbed, the governor and pushed him to one side shouting. "Stand back, governor; you are no more in a fight than any other man. I know that much law. I am at home in this business. Give it to him, Duff, give it to him !" In 1835, tne Missouri was still a famous hotel. John F. Darby sold it to Isaac Walker who owned the property many years and tried to maintain the Missouri's reputation. He rented the hotel to a tavern keeper in whom he thought he Could have confidence. The result was so disappointing that Walker said publicly this man "was not fit to keep tavern ; that his butter was so strong he could hang his hat on it." The- hotel man sued Walker for slander and em ployed Uriel Wright, the foremost orator at the bar in those days, to push the 116 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI case. The old Missouri hotel stood until 1873 and then gave way to a business structure. When St. Charles was made the temporary capital, members of the general assembly were given the- best that the taverns could afford and were charged only $2.50 a week. The landlords paid a cent and a half a pound for pork, twenty-five cents each for venison hams, five cents a dozen for eggs, twenty-five . cents a gallon for honey, and one dollar a pound for coffee. Some Historic Hosts. Men who became prominent in public affairs and successful in business were among those who kept tavern in the early days. James H. Audrain, whose family name is carried by one of the Central Missouri counties, adver- tised, in July, 1818, that he "had opened a house of entertainment, fourteen miles west of St. Charles, at Peruque, on the road from Boone's Lick to Salt river. He hopes from his unremitted attention to make travelers comfortable and to share a portion of the public patronage." William Montgomery announced the' opening of his tavern "at the sign of the spread eagle" in Jackson that same year; "He has furnished himself, with all kinds of liquors of the best quality. He has provided good ostlers, and his stables well furnished with hay, corn and oats. From his long acquaintance - with business in his line, and his wish to please, he is induced to believe that no person will leave his house unsatisfied." The card of J. J. Dozier, of St. Charles, was a model. He told through the Missouri Gazette, in 1818, that he had "commenced keeping a house of enter tainment for travelers and all genteel and orderly company. He flatters himself from the accommodations his house will offer, with his strict attention and desire to please, to render all his guests general satisfaction. His charges will , be as low as the country will afford; he tenders his thanks to his former cus tomers in this line of business,' and hopes a continuance of their favors with a share of public patronage." Another of these politely worded tavern cards read: "Tavern. Sign of the Green Tree. The subscriber informs his friends and the pub lic that he has taken that noted stand of Mr. Daniel Freeman, in Church street, St. Louis, long occupied by Mr. Freeman as a house of public entertainment, when by his exertions he hopes to merit a share of the public patronage. "Attached to the establishment is a livery stable kept by Mr. David Ogden, where Gentlemen traveling on horseback may be sure that their horses will receive the best attention. "The subscriber intends that his house shall be noted, as it has been heretofore, for its moderate charges, — boarding by the week or month on moderate charges. "John Simonds." In the Gazette, of November 15, 1817, appeared this ''Notice^' over the name of Benjamin Emmons: "The subscriber gives information that he keeps public entertainment at the village of St. Charles, in the house lately" occupied for that purpose by N. Simonds, Esq., where the hungry and thirsty can be accommodated and the weary find rest." The popularity which Mr. Emmons achieved was well shown, later in 1820, THE MISSOURI TAVERN 117 when his fellow citizens elected him to" the convention which framed the first constitution of the State of Missouri. The selection of Mr. Emmons was the more notable because he was the only delegate elected who was in favor of some degree of restriction on slavery in the new state. At Fayette there was a tavern famous through two generations of Missou rians. It was three stories high, a regular skyscraper for that day. Behind the hotel was an immense barn. In front of the hotel was a large block, pro vided especially for ladies arriving on horseback. The block was a part of the equipment of most of the Missouri taverns. It had its place, as indispensable as the swinging sign and the bell on the top of a post. The rates at this Fay ette tavern were fifty cents a day for man and the same for horse. Negro hostlers were on duty day and night' to take the horses to the barn. It was 'customary for the departing guest to tip the hostler who brought round hifc horse, with, not a nickel, but a silver half-dime. The bell invariably rang when meals were ready. It is a rather curious fact that in the Missouri tavern adver tisements of one hundred years ago, hostler was spelled without the "h." Dowling's tavern, kept by one of the pioneers at the north end of Main street in St. Louis, announced through the press: "Every exertion will be made to furnish his table, so as to render comfortable those that stop at his house. "His Bar is well supplied with the best of Liquors and an attentive keeper. His Stable is well supplied with provender and attended by a careful ostler. In short he will spare no expense to please." Bar, liquors and stable were printed in large type. Nature's Tavern. The oddest tavern in Missouri was a cave forty feet wide and twenty feet high, in St. Charles county. Boatmen ran their pirogues and longhorns to the bank and took shelter in that cave from driving storms. They called it "The Tavern." On the walls in the early days were to be seen the names of many who had found shelter there and who had registered. Drawings and carvings of birds and beasts 'said to have been done by the Indians were the mural decorations of this nature tavern. A creek of considerable size empties into the Missouri near this cave and at the present day is known as Tavern creek. To Van Bibber's tavern came Colonel David Craig when he migrated to Missouri in 1817. He brought with him two suits of black clothes and on a Sunday morning not long after his arrival, following the Virginia custom, he put on the good clothes and went to breakfast. The women folks crowded around and with much interest examined the store clothes. One of the girls touched the cloth and admiringly exclaimed, "Oh! Ain't he nice!" The tavern keeper, who either didn't favor such style or wished to check further display of enthusiasm by his family, said, ""Nice ! He looks like a black snake that has just shed its skin." Van Bibber's Philosophy. Van Bibber was somewhat of a philosopher. He believed in transmigra tion of souls and carried out his theory to definite details. Every six thousand 118 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI years was a complete cycle, he argued, and everything started over again. Sev eral Kentuckians were stopping at the tavern one night, and Van Bibber kept them up late while he expounded his belief at great length. Apparently the guests, were impressed and encouraged their host to keep on talking. Van Bibber was so pleased with the attention given him that he told his wife he believed he had converted his guests to his theory. In the morning the spokes man for the party of travelers said to the landlord: "We were very much impressed with your argument last night. Believing there may be some truth in your doctrine and being short of cash just now we have decided to wait until we come around again at the end of 6,000 years and settle our bill." "No," said Van Bibber, "you are the same blamed rascals who were here j5,ooo years ago and went away without paying your bills, and now you have to pay before you leave." When Long's expedition was on the way up the Missouri in 1819 to dis cover that "Great American Desert" which appeared on United States maps for two generations, Van Bibber was prepared to furnish the scientific minds with something to think about. He told of marvelous occurrences in the vicinity of Loutre Lick. At the end of winter, or in unusually rainy seasons, according to Van Bibber, there appeared lights or balls of fire, apparently com ing out of the ground. At other times vast volumes of smoke arose, coming out of the soil. A son of Daniel Boone was one of the witnesses of this phenom enon. The tavern keeper told Long that two preachers were riding along late at night, about nine miles from Loutre Lick, when a ball of fire appeared at one end of the whip. Both preachers saw it. In a short time a small ball of fire appeared at the other end of the whip. Almost immediately the preach ers, their horses and the objects around them seemed to be enveloped in "wreaths of flames." Van Bibber said the preachers were so overcome with the spectacle that they couldn't tell more than this. The scientists concluded that "com bustion of a coal bed or decomposition of a mass of pyrites" must be the ex planation of these strange things told by Van Bibber; they dismissed the tavern keeper's stories with so little interest that he was disgusted. Van Bibber married a granddaughter of Daniel Boone. He had two sprightly daughters, Fanny and Matilda. His first tavern was of logs and as business developed Van Bibber added other cabins. Loutre Lick became the first Missouri spa. The earliest settlers went there for bodily ailments which were benfefited by the waters. Later Loutre Lick became a health resort. Ben ton went there and told in Washington of the waters. He advertised Loutre Lick so enthusiastically that Henry Clay referred in a speech to the Missouri senator's "Bethesda." Washington Irving, with his traveling companions," the Swiss count, M. de Portales, and the Englishman, Latrobe, stopped at Loutre Lick. He was so pleased with the surroundings that he told Van Bibber "When I get rich I am coming to buy this place and build a nice residence here." But Irving got into diplomatic service abroad and spent so much time abroad that he never carried out his impulse to become a Missourian. Van Bibber prospered to the degree which called for better than log cabins. A carpenter, Cyranus Cox, and a blacksmith, McFarland, stopped at Van Bib- THE MISSOURI TAVERN 119 ber's one day. The tavernkeeper persuaded them to stop and build him some thing more pretentious than the cabins. Cox was charmed with Fanny Van Bibber. When the time7 approached for the wedding, the carpenter and the girl decided that his clothes were too badly worn for the ceremony. Cox walked to St. Louis and bought a wedding suit. Matilda Van Bibber married James Estill, a pioneer Missouri merchant. As late as 1912, a great gathering of people, about 2,000, assembled at Mineola, the modern name for Loutre Lick, and under the auspices of the Old Trails Association discussed the possibility of preserving the Van Bibber tavern. To feed the multitude, forty sheep, one hundred chickens and several beeves were barbecued. -Mrs. Mary Sharp, born in the tavern, was the guest of honor. Champ Clark told of the Missouri poli tics which had been associated with Van Bibber's tavern. A La Carte on Boone's Lick Road. William G. Rice who kept tavern on the Boone's Lick road in Montgomery county, had a scale of prices. He kept what might be called the first hotel in Missouri on the European plan. . He told his guests that the price of dinner consisting of com bread and "common fixins" was twenty-five cents. For wheat bread and ".chicken fixins" the charge was thirty-seven and one-half cents. If the decision was to try both kinds of "fixins" the traveler was required to pay sixty-two and on^-half cents. Rice was^ noted for his precision and ac curacy in business. _ He was made assessor of the county when there was quite a debt. When he went out of office he had cleared off the debt and left a surplus in the county treasury. Tradition has it that in making his canvass of the county to collect the taxes, Rice rode an ox. A combination of preaching and tavern keeping was not uncommon in Mis souri's pioneer days. Rev. Andrew Monroe, the Methodist preacher, kept the tavern near what is now Danville. This was the place where another minis ter, a tenderfoot in Missouri, stopped for dinner one day and, there being no one else to take care of his horse, the minister went out to the stable. There he found a heap of gourds common in Missouri in that period. The minister supposed the gourds to be pumpkins and offered some of them to his horse. After that the minister was known as "Gourd Head Prescott." Rev. Andrew Monroe was one of the first prohibitionists of Missouri. At one time the gov ernor of Missouri stopped at Preacher Monroe's tavern and called for a stimu lant. Waiving his own scruples, the preacher sent to a store and got a bottle of whiskey for his distinguished guest. But thereby he created a precedent. Preacher Monroe was strict in enforcing church rules against liquor using. One day he met David Dryden, a steward of the Methodist church, who had recently settled in Montgomery county and built a mill, a horse mill, an indus try much needed at that time. Dryden was carrying a suspicious looking pack age. The preacher eyed it and asked, "Well, Brother Dryden, what is that you have in your jug?" To Dryden's memory came in a flash what he had heard of Tavernkeeper Monroe's experience with the governor. He replied, "It's some whiskey I have just purchased for the governor who is at my house." The preacher smiled and passed on. 120 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI John Smith T's Tavern Incidents. Two incidents in the career of John Smith T, Missouri's most famous gunman in the first decade of statehood, had their settings in taverns. In a lecture before the Missouri Historical Society, many years ago, General F. A. Rozier described these incidents which illustrated Colonel Smith's grim sense4 of humor and also the_ nerve of a Missouri tavernkeeper's wife: "In September, 1830, Smith went to Ste. Genevieve, and, while indulging in liquor with an old. citizen named Samuel Ball at the tavern of William McArthur, they quar reled, and Smith shot Ball through the head. They were alone in the barroom at the time. Mrs. McArthur, a brave woman, heard the shot, and, running into the room, saw Ball lying dead on the floor. She denounced the killing as a cowardly act, and demanded of Smith that he surrender his pistol. Producing the four weapons which he always carried, he handed them to her with a courteous bow, and said, 'Take them, my daughter.' He surrendered to the authorities, and a week later was tried and acquitted before the Circuit Court. Acquittal always followed his arrest and trial for murder. No jury would have the temerity to convict him. "The killing of Ball, in 1830, was the last of Smith's homicides. While on bail await ing trial for that offense he came to St. Louis. He was described then as having hair perfectly white. He wore a buckskin hunting-shirt and a pair of shoes with the tan on them. 'He seemed,' says John F. Darby, in his 'Personal Recollections,' 'from his venerable appearance, to have a sort of Daniel Boone aspect about him, which attracted the gaze of every one.' When the guests of the Planters' House learned who he was, their dread of him was unbounded. He had the fire to himself, and when he walked on the streets he was hastily given the greatest possible amount of room. "At about this time he went up to Jefferson City during a session of the legislature. The Hon. James S. Rollins, then a jroung man of 25, had just returned from a tour of the state, on which he had attracted general attention by his eloquence in the temperance cause. Old Smith was in the City Hotel barroom and office one night, considerably the worse for liquor, when young Rollins came in. Smith heard the name, and calling the young man up, said: 'You are the young man whose temperance speeches have earned for you the name of the silver tongue, aren't you?' " 'My name is Rollins,' modestly replied the gratified orator. "Old Smith turned to the bar and filled a tumbler with whisky. Then whipping out his Bowie knife, he said: 'Well, Mr. Silver Tongue, I want you to join me in a drink.' "'I have never taken a drink in my life,' Rollins protested. "'No, sir, you never will unless you take this one right now,' and the glistening blade was flourished. Rollins drank the liquor. It made him very sick, but it did not kill him, and Smith certainlv would have done so if he had persisted in his refusal." "Old Alexie." More residents of St. Louis saw the sun rise the 29th of April, 1825, than had seen it on any previous morning since "the first thirty" arrived from Fort Chartres with Auguste Chouteau. The evening of the 28th, a man on a pony galloped up the road from Carondelet. He brought the news that Lafayette had just landed there and would remain over night, reaching St. Louis in the morn ing. "Lafayette is coming!" The news spread through the community of five thousand. Couriers mounted and rode in haste up Bellefontaine road, out St. Charles road, toward Manchester, over the Gravois Creek hills. As they went they shouted "Lafayette is coming !" All night the candles burned in more than half of the houses of St. Louis. At the earliest dawn people were 'moving in the streets. When the sun came up across the American bottom it shone in expectant faces of thousands of people who lined the river edge, crowded dan- THE MISSOURI TAVERN 121 gerously near the limestone cliff, covered the Place d' Armes, and stood in clusters on the house roofs from Main to Fifth streets. St. Louis had been preparing for the great day. Lafayette was entertained with a reception at Major Pierte Chouteau's mansion. He was given a ride about the city. He visited Governor Clark's Indian museum. Then followed the banquet and after that was given the ball. In the course of the day Lafayette was amazed to see approaching an old man in the full uniform of the French at Yorktown. He was delighted when the old soldier saluted stiffly, but correctly. He was deeply moved when Alex ander Bellissime identified himself as a native of Toulon who had come over with him tofight for American independence. Bellissime , had become a St. Louisan. He was known to everybody as "Old Alexie." His tavern on Second street, near Myrtle, was the resort of the French boatmen. After Lafayette's departure the veteran who had been embraced by his commander, was more esteemed than ever before. He lived to be eighty-seven. On the great days of St. Louis "Old Alexie" appeared in that well preserved uniform and three- cornered, cockade hat. When "Old Alexie" died irr 1833, Captain Easton turned out the crack military company, the St. Louis Grays, and gave the veteran what would have been his heart's desire — a military funeral. When Mark Twain Needed a Friend. On the stage route from the Mississippi to the Missouri river, passing through Florida, was one of the historic taverns of Northeast Missouri. It was kept by William Nelson Penn, a Kentuckian by birth, who became a man of no small consequence in that section of the state. Mrs. Penn was one of those good Missouri women whose motherly instinct went far beyond her own household. The -Penns were landowners. They rented some acres to a family less well-to- do. When an interesting event occurred in the renter's family, Mrs. Penn gave the baby clothes which had been her little daughter's, and thus, when he came into the world, Mark Twain found a wardrobe awaiting him. Mr. Penn not only kept tavern, but was a merchant. He served in the legislature and later was, for eighteen years, one of the officers of Monroe county. John Graves' Tavern House. No man criticised with impunity the management of those pioneer hotels. John Graves kept the first tavern in Chillicothe. He started the "tavern house," as he called it, so early in the history of that community that many consider him the founder of the city. Graves did the best he knew how, and he thought that was good enough. One day a traveler grumbled about the cooking. Graves caught the critic by the collar, jerked him out of his chair at the table and kicked him out the front door. 1 "The blamed skunk," he said, "insulted my boarders and I won't stand for it. My boarders eat my fare and like it, and when a man makes fun of my grub, it is the same as saying they haven't sense enough to know good grub from bad. I am bound to protect my boarders." Duden, whose marvelous letters set Germany afire for emigration to Mis souri, told that on the south bank of the Missouri, opposite St. Charles "there 122 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI lives a jolly Frenchman who manages the ferry, is postmaster and an innkeeper. His name is Chauvin; he was born in Canada. He told me that Prince Paul of Wuertemberg had spent the night with him some time ago.'* Charles Joseph Latrobe, who wrote the "Rambler in North America" told" of shopping opposite St. Charles, "where we found shelter for the night in a little French, inn, which, with its odd, diminutive bowling green, skittle "ground, garden plots and arbors, reminded us more of the Old World than anything we had seen." When Zadqck Woods built the first tavern in Lincoln county, one of the first houses in Troy, he surrounded not only the building but the spring with a high stockade, to afford protection for his guests, and for the neighboring settlers as well, from the Indians. General Owens kept tavern in Fayette. He was a man of keen observa-_ tion and wit. At that time Randolph county was on the border line of settle ment. The general said he could always tell his guests from Randolph by the color of their clothes. Randolph people wore jeans which were dyed with walnut bark. Judge Quarles, an uncle of Mark Twain, kept tavern in Paris. A guest came to the landlord with the request for a clean towel in the common wash room. "Sir," said the judge with some show of reproof, "two hundred men have .wiped on that towel and you are the first to complain." Audubon and Dickens in Missouri. Audubon, the naturalist, in his travels about Missouri in 1843, was im pressed with the abundance of natural food supplies and with the cheapness of everything eatable. He wrote to James Hall: "The markets here abound with all the good things of the land and of nature's crea tion.^ To give you an idea of this read the following items: grouse, two for a York shilling; three chickens for the same; turkeys, wild or tame, twenty-five cents; flour, two- dollars a barrel; butter, six pence for the best— fresh and really good beef, three to' four cents; veal, the same; pork, two cents; venison hams, large and dried, fifteen cents each; potatoes, ten cents a bushel; ducks, three for a shilling; wild geese, ten cents each; canvas back ducks, a shilling a pair; vegetables, for the asking as it were." In a land of such plenty, Audubon felt that the tavern rates were altogether too high. He complained : "And only think, in the midst of this abundance and cheapness, we are paying at the rate of nine dollars a week at our hotel, the Glasgow; and at the Planters we were asked ten dollars. We are at the Glasgow hotel and will leave the day after tomorrow as it is too good for our purses.'' In his "American Notes" and "Martin Chuzzlewit," Charges Dickens "played the dickens" and set this country by the ears after his visit in 1842. But Mr. Dickens was well pleased with his experience at a famous old Missouri hotel : "On the fourth day after leaving Louisville, we reached St. Louis We went to a large hotel called the Planters' House, built like an English hospital, with long passages^ and bare walls, and skylights above the doors for free circulation of air. There were a A SORGHUM MILL A thriving industry in Missouri twenty-five years ago THE MISSOURI BLACKSMITH'S BUSY DAY THE MISSOURI TAVERN 125 great many boarders in it and as many lights sparkled and glistened from the windows down into the street below, when we drove up, as if it had been illuminated on some occasion of rejoicing. It is an excellent house, and the proprietors have most bountiful notions of providing the creature comforts. Dining alone with my wife in her own room one day, I counted fourteen dishes on the table at once." A power to be reckoned with along the debatable Missouri-Kansas bolder in the fifties was Uncle John who kept the Mimms hotel at Kansas City. Red Legs and Border Ruffians, Jayhawkers and slave drivers, stopped with Uncle John. They were entertained impartially, and, strange to tell, the peace was preserved among these warring elements so long as they remained the guests at the Mimms hotel. Uncle John was an ordained minister of the Missionary Baptist church. He was from Kentucky, a fearless man, a character of that peculiar reserve force which made other men feel peaceful in his presence. "The Washington Lewis Place," in Saline county, served- as a tavern fifteen or twenty years. The tradition that a considerable quantity of whiskey was buried ^there is still current. Washington Lewis wa's one of three brothers who came out from Virginia about 1830. The tavern is a brick structure with a crack in the walls said to have been caused by an earthquake in 1846. One of the first post offices of Central Missouri was in this tavern. In an upper room the pioneer, Doctor Yancey, had his office. When Benton Was Shocked. Realization of his waning hold came as a shock to Benton in a tavern during the campaign of 1849. Judge Fagg told the story in his own graphic way: "Still clinging to the policy of driving everything by force and unconscious of the fact that hundreds and thousands of his old friends and supporters were gradually falling away from him — that the slavery agitators were constantly alarming the slaveholders more and more as to the security of their property — he still believed that he had the power to maintain himself in the state. He started out again 'solitary and alone' in his private carriage, and, s crossing the Missouri river at St. Charles, he took what he had been in the habit of calling in the early days, 'The Salt River Trail.' He passed up through St. Charles and Lincoln counties, scarcely meeting a solitary man that he could call his friend. Late in the evening he found himself at the village of Auburn. He recognized the place and remembered that more than twenty years previously he had been in the habit of stopping with his old friend, Daniel Draper. There was the same old, hewed log house. The same old sign post from which was suspended an old sign with the letters so faded that he read with difficulty, 'Entertainment by D. Draper.' It was like an oasis in the desert. He had journeyed through an anti-Benton wilderness but he would now be cheered and refreshed by the hearty greeting and cordial entertainment of his old acquaintance and friend. Stepping out of his carriage and approaching the house he was met by the old landlord, tottering with age and looking at his visitor in a sort of listless indifferent way. . He said, 'You will have Colonel Benton with you tonight, Mr. Draper.' Still looking at his distinguished visitor, the old man replied in a voice that betrayed no surprise or emotion, 'Yes, I reckon so ; all sorts of people stop here.' " James O. Broadhead had a version of the same incident to illustrate alike the independence of the tavern keeper of early days and the little respect the Whigs had for Benton. He said that on the state road which ran through Auburn, in Lincoln county, old Daniel Draper kept tavern. He was a Whig and made no concealment of his political sentiments. Benton stopped in front of Draper's one day toward night and as usual referring to himself in the 126 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI third person said, "Senator Benton wishes to stay all night with you !" Draper was chopping wood. Without looking up he said, "Get down and hitch your horse. We are not particular about whom we entertain." The Barnum Stew. Carnum's hotel stew was a Missouri distinction in the forties and fifties. Every noted visitor, the Prince of Wales who was to become King Edward included, was made acquainted with this famous ragout. Theron Barnum was, in popular estimation, one of the most important citizens of St. Louis, ranking with the mayor on many occasions when guests were to be paid unusual honors. He was a Vermonter, coming to Missouri in 1840 with the reputation of being the nephew of the Barnum who had kept the best hotel in Baltimore about 1825. The wife of Theron Barnum was a Connecticut woman, Mary L. Chadwick, who helped her husband make their first hotel on Third and Vine streets so famous that St. Louis capitalists raised $200,000 and built the most imposing hotel west of the Alleghany mountains. George R. Taylor, George Collier, Joshua B. Brant and J. T. Swearingen were the men of means who headed the movement to build the hotel. Theron Barnum guarded jealously the recipe for that stew which made all visitors wonder. The Missouri tavern keeper had his own way of classifying his guests of the pioneer days. The Missouri shibboleth was a matter not so much of dress and speech as it was of taste. The tavern keeper said to himself this man is a southerner and that man is a northerner after the first meal. If the guest said he would take a cup of sweet milk, that showed he was from north of the Ohio river — from a New England or Middle state. If the stranger called for 'sour milk he was at once set down as from a southern state. In St. Louis at that time sweet milk sold at twenty-five cents a gallon, and sour milk at eighteen and one-half cents a gallon. Settled at the Bar. Mann's Tavern, in Bowling Green, was the scene of an historic incident which merits place in the history of Missouri duels. Judge Thomas J. C. Fagg 'told the story in his reminiscences which were published by the Pike County News twenty years ago : "Some time in the twenties, possibly after 1825,. two squads of travelers dismounted in front of the hotel. There .being no other house of entertainment in the town, they were necessarily compelled to stop at the same place. They came from the same direc tion, all on horseback. They were well dressed, but absolute strangers in the town. The' mystery deepened as the strangers hovered over the big log fire that blazed on the spacious hearth. It was a rainy, chilly day in November, and the two parties had evidently had a long ride from the west. Two separate groups of three gentlemen,— What could it mean? The first three to enter the house finally approached the bar and called for some thing to drink. Then, in turn, the other three did the same thing. This was repeated before supper. The hot coffee and broiled venison, added to the whiskey, had a won derfully softening influence upon the crowd. "As they returned to the bar-room, one of the party felt called upon to make a brief speech. In substance, he said they were about to relapse into a state of barbarism. Ne true gentleman ever drank by himself when there was another man standing by, who could enjoy the exhilarating draught with him. No two parties, no matter how bitter THE MISSOURI TAVERN 127 their feelings might be to each other, could afford to go up to the bar in separate squads and gulp down their liquor in silence and without an invitation to all to join. 'Boys, I move we all drink together.' The entire crowd responded by going up to the bar in a body. As they stood with glasses in hand, the same speaker said: 'Gentlemen, I have another proposition to make. Let us forgive and forget all past differences and drink to the good health and perpetual friendship of each other.' They touched their glasses and drank most heartily to the sentiment. As they set their glasses upon the counter they grasped each other's hands with a pledge of undying friendship. "The mystery came out at last. A bitter personal quarrel was amicably adjusted as they took the last drink. The two parties had traveled from Fayette and Boonville in order to cross the river at this point to fight a duel on Sny island the next day. The party consisted of the two principals, each with his second and surgeon. Their object was to fight in Illinois so as to avoid the penalties imposed by the laws of this state against dueling. Instead of crossing the river in the morning to* meet in deadly combat, the twe principals with their seconds and surgeons, journeyed back to their homes together, de lighted with the outcome of- the expedition. The parties consisted of Peyton R. Hayden, of Boonville, and Charles French, of Lexington, the two principals; and Abiel Leonard and Hamilton Gamble, the seconds. My impression is that neither Hayden nor French ever sought political honors but both were eminent lawyers and highly gifted. It is barely possible that I may be mistaken as to Hayden being one of the principals, but as to the rest of the story there is no doubt. I give it substantially as Judge Leonard told it to me. The conclusion of his narrative was that 'it was the only instance in all his life that he had known any good to result from a drunken frolic' " Lodgings at the State Capital. Housing the members of the general assembly for the 'first session held in Jefferson City was a problem. The new capitol was ready before the taverns were. John R. Musick, in his "Stories of Missouri," says that one man swung out his sign to entertain when all that he had apparently, was a board structure with office in front and dining room and kitchen in the rear. There was no floor. A legislator applied for board and lodging. "Certainly," said the affable tavern keeper. "That is what I am here for. Plenty of good rooms and beds. I will give you number 15." After supper the legislator said he would go to bed. The landlord picked up a candle, led the way out doors and around back of the wooden building where there were several tents. In front of one of the tents was a piece of board stuck in the ground and painted "No. 15." Inside of the tent was a cot. Morgan B. White was sent by Callaway county to the legislature in 1834. He found lodgings in the house of a widow, who assigned him a bed with four high posts and heavy damask curtains. When it came time to go to bed, Uncle Morgan said he could not imagine how he was to get in. He had never seen that kind of a bed and he didn't want to ask questions. So he pulled a table and chair to the side of the bed, climbed over the top of the curtains. Instead of stopping when he reached the feathers he went through and struck the floor. A Social Center in Old Monroe. What happened at the old Glenn house in Paris furnished the ground for a church trial which agitated a large section of Missouri when the church was divided on the question of dancing. David Peavy, known from the Mississippi to the Missouri, was the first landlord, the tavern then consisting of a combina tion of log and frame. His sign announced the usual "entertainment for man '128 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI and beast." There was a bell on a post in front of the tavern. When a stranger rode up on a horse, Uncle Davy went out to greet him, and rang the bell as if to call a stable boy. After the guest had gone inside, the landlord took the horse to the stable and attended to it. After Peavy, the tavern was kept bv Anderson, Woods, a Baptist preacher, and his wiie Betsy. The dining room< back of the hotel had been for years used for dancing parties. Preacher Woods suspended these parties. Aunt Betsy did not have the same scruples as her husband. When Mr. Woods went away to fill a preaching appointment, Aunt Betsy readily yielded to the pleas of the young people and gave per mission for a dance. The preacher found a creek too high to cross. He came back when the fun was fast and furious, stood for a few moments looking in at the door and said : "I can see no harm in that." But the church authorities disagreed with him, preferred charges and brought him to trial. For sOme years after that there was no more dancing in the tavern dining room. During more than sixty years the Glenn house was a social center of Monroe county. Hinkson creek, originally called something else, derived its name, according to E. W. Stephens, the historian of Boon^ county, from what befell Robert Hinkson, a tavern keeper and one of the first settlers in that county. Hinkson had quite a herd of cattle. He started from home one morning in early winter to drive the cattle to the river bottom, intending to leave them there, as was the winter custom, to rough through till spring. When night came he stopped^ and camped on the bank of the creek. The next morning he drove out into the forest and kept the course as well as he could guess all day. At night he found himself on the identical spot where he had camped the previous night. The other settlers fastened the joke on Hinkson and. made it living tradition by giving the creek his name. Upon a Missouri tavern was built one of the largest of the lottery enter prises which agitated the American people about the time of the Civil war. The Patee House was the name of the tavern. With two acres of ground adjoining it in the city of St. Joseph, this building, owned by John Patee,- was disposed of by raffle in 1863. The property, which included all of the furniture and fixtures, was valued at $i4o,ooo. The tickets were two dollars. The tickets | bore the stipulation that $25,000 of the receipts from the sale of tickets would "be apportioned between those cities and towns in proportion to the number of tickets sold therein, the amount to be placed in the hands of the authorities for any benevolent object they may deem proper. McPherson's Historic Register. In the collection of the State Historical Society of Missouri, at Columbia, is the register of the City hotel of Boonville, for 1843 and 1844. Guests not only wrote their names and homes and destinations but enough information about themselves to make the book interesting reading. There was' room for remarks, and one man who must have arrived in a storm wrote after his Ken tucky address, "Blanked poor weather for fools who have left the sunny south." The landlord, Edward B. McPherson, was an ardent politician and' a frequent contributor to the comments on his register. On Sundays he would enter, "Let us all go to church." After one name the landlord wrote, "Left without paying THE MISSOURI TAVERN 129 his bill." McPherson was for Clay, — aggressively so. He made many com ments on the progfess of the campaign and encouraged his guests to write after their naihes "Clay and Frelinghuysen" or "Polk and Dallas," as they preferred. In a number of cases the guests told why they were for their favored ticket or offered wagers on the result. When the returns finally showed the defeat of Clay, his political idol, Landlord McPherson wrote on the register: "Snowstorm, Polk and Dallas, Oregon and Texas, free trade," war with Mexico and Great Britain, hard money, relapse into barbarism, but a division of property first." The signature of Thomas H. Benton appears a number of times on this regis ter, which -might seem rather remarkable in view of his antagonism to the outspoken politics of the Whig landlord ; but Secretary Shoemaker of the -State Historical Society has dug Up the- fact that when "The Magisterial," as Benton was sometimes called, was questioned about the propriety of stopping with a^Whig landlord, he replied: "Sir, do you think Benton takes his politics into his belly?" When it was suggested that guests double up in times of congestion, the reply was, "Benton sleeps in the same bed with no 'other man." At the old tavern in Potosi, kept by Roberts, the charge was twenty-five cents a meal; or "dinner and whiskey, thirty-seven and one-half cents." An account book kept in 1824 shows that most of the charges included the whiskey. Sometimes the whisktey was sold by the pint and then it was twenty-five cents. The first tavern built in Pacific, or Franklin as it was known for years, went by the name of "Buzzards' Roost." "Gray's Summit" was given its name for the first tavern keeper, -Daniel Gray. , \ "Big Woman's Tavern" was a popular stopping place in the early days of Kansas City. Colonel W. B. Royal, a Virginian and a highly educated man, kept one of the early taverns in Columbia. He added to customary wording On his sign "Semper Paratus." Buck Lampton, of historic memory for his ready speech, said that "Semper Paratus" stood for "Sweet Milk and Potatoes." . There are towns of considerable population and even cities in Missouri, the beginnings of which were taverns. The first house built in what afterwards be came Columbia was General Gentry's. It was of three rooms, two of which accommodated the young family. The third room was set apart for the traveling public. The next year General Gentry added a fourth room. * His neighbors thought he was becoming extravagant. When General Gentry led his thousand mounted Missourians out of Columbia for the long journey to subdue the Semi- noles, the march began from in front of the Gentry tavern where the farewell ceremony took place: The command was drawn up and the flag made by the young ladies of Miss Wales' academy was presented with its stirring inscription: <5ird, gird for the conflict, Our banner wave high; For our country we live, For our country we die. 130 CENTENNIAL HISTORY. OF MISSOURI . t Tavern keepers, with foresight as to coming settlement and as to prospec tive main traveled roads, located, their. houses of entertainment. When' the, patriotic women of the Daughters of the American Revolution entered upon their patriotic work of placing monuments to mark the Boone's Lick road from St. Louis, they found that most of the historic spots were the sites of; the pioneer taverns. In St. Charles county, Kenner's tavern shared with Daniel Boone's judgment tree the honor of a monument. In Warren county Roger Taylor's tavern was one of the spots- chosen. Saunders tavern was another.. In Mont-" gomery county the monuments were placed where stood Cross Keys tavern, Devault tavern and Van Bibber's tavern. Callaway county's section of the Boone's Lick road was marked at Drover's inn and Grant's stagestand. Among . the Boone county sites selected were Vivion's stagestand and Van Horn's tav ern. In Howard county Arnold's inn was commemorated. Zadock Martin, Baron at the Falls. The Missouri tavern often was the outpost of civilization. When Zadock Martin built in 1828, on the bluff at the Falls of the Platte, his nearest neighbor was fifteen miles \,away. ' Landlord Martin used hewn logs for the main part .of his tavern and attached shed rooms so that he had accommodations for a considerable number of guests. The Martin tavern was on the main route to Fort Leavenworth. Martin was not lonesome. He had half a dozen sons, and three . handsome daughters. A retinue of slaves, well drilled, enabled him to enforce his rights. He was a man of commanding presence, wore a broad- brimmed hat, had flashing eyes, talked loud and carried a stout hickory cane. His word was law at the Falls whether with officers or soldiers passing to or from the Fort, and also with the fishing parties which came to' the Falls to carry away wagon loads of catfish and buffalo weighing from ten to Seventy pounds. Martin raised large crops, had hogs which ran wild and fattened on acorns and nuts while his herd of cattle wintered on the cane along the streams. He was the baron of the Falls. One of Zadock Martin's boys attempted to play a joke on an Indian and got the worst of it. The Indian wanted some sugar. Martin agreed to furnish three pounds if the brave would agree to eat all of it. The sugar was weighed and the eatirtg began. The Indian went on until he had swallowed about a pound. Then he wrapped up the rest, in a fold of his blanket. "Hold on!" said Martin, you promised to eat all of it. Stand to your bargain." "All right!" said the Indian, "meeat.him all,— maybe some today',— maybe some tomorrow, — maybe some one odder day, — Injun no lie, — me eat him all, — goodby." Leonard Searcy's tavern in Liberty was famed for its dancing parties about 1834. Army officers came from Fort Leavenworth and Missourians from Rich mond, Independence, and. Lexington to participate in these border 'functions. To one of these parties General A. S. Hughes brought the old Indian chief, White Cloud and his daughter Sally. The father and daughter were so charmed with their introduction to Missouri society that they went next morning to the stores and outfitted themselves. Sally bought a leghorn bonnet, trimmed with a flam ing red ribbon. The chief selected a fur hat fifteen inches high with narrow brim. With great pride, White Cloud and Sally put on their purchases and paraded up and down the streets of Liberty. THE MISSOURI TAVERN 131 / On the old Boone's Lick road, where it ran through the northern part of Callaway County, a man named Watson kept tavern. He made a great deal of money for a few .years. But travelers could not understand why their horses seemed to fail 'in appetite when they put up with Watson. After a long time it was discovered that Watson rubbed grease in between the rows of kernels on the corn cobs to such an extent that the horses left much of the corn' untouched. Stage Driver Ball's Recollections. Hampton Ball, one of the best known of the Missouri stage drivers, recalled that James Huntington, a wealthy contractor, put $6,000 in an open drawer of the public room of a Northeast Missouri tavern and left it there until morning. "I told him," said Ball, "that it would be dangerous ; that there might be some stranger, — not a Missourian, of course, — who would steal the money." "You don't think any of the guests of this hotel would be mean enough to steal, do you ?" Huntington said, incredulously. Stage stand keepers, the tavern men were called where the stages made their regular stops. Hampton Ball said that "Kenner, of Paudingville," was one of the greatest. He could play a fiddle that would almost make the trees dance. He was jovial and generous and one of the most profane men I ever knew. He did not mean to be profane but he' swore almost as readily as some people whistle". Although he ran a public house there was never any meal served at . his table on which he did not ask the blessing.i The great pioneer Methodist, Rev. Andrew Monroe, stopped one day at his house. The stage coach driver suggested that Kenner ask Parson Monroe to say the blessing. "No," said Kenner, "I ask niy own blessing at my own table." And he did. On another occasion, in a single breath, Kenner concluded the blessing thus: "And for all these blessings, we thank Thee, O Lord, Amen; kick that. blamed dog out from under the table." Court Day on Blacksnake Hills. W. M. Paxton attended court in November, 1839, at what is how St. Joseph but which then was Robidoux, named for the first settler. He stopped with Robidoux, who kept tavern. He left this recollection of his entertainment: "His house was perched on the hillside. It was, of logs on a stone basement. I was shown to my bed on a plank frame in the basement, and was given two blankets. I spread one. blanket on the boards and covered ,with the other. It was a cold, blustery night and I nearly froze. In the morning, before day, I heard Robidoux stirring in the room overhead, and I went up the rude ladder. He asked me in his broken English, French and Indian how I passed the night. I told him I had suffered from the cold. 'What,' he said, 'cold with two blankets?' I explained how I had used the blankets. He replied with contempt, 'You haven't got even Indian sense or you would have wrapped up in them.' "The old man built a roaring fire, and two prairie chickens and a half dozen ears of old corn on, the cob were boiling' in the -pot. I made a hearty breakfast on these viands. Before court met, I took a survey of the future site of St. Joseph. I, saw but two houses ; that where I had spent the night and the store above the mouth of the creek. The Blacksnake Hills were romantic. They seemed to be composed of red crumbling earth, with here and 'there tufts of grass. From the sides' of the hills, at intervals, broke out oozing springs of pure water which gathered into a bold stream that coursed the 132 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI prairie bottom to the river*. In the rear of the house, on the hillside, stood four or five scaffolds, supported by pples. On these scaffolds lay the bodies of Robidoux's children. His wives were Indians, and he buried his dead in Indian fashion.^ "Court was held in one room and the elevated porch. The docket was short. The most interesting cases were several indictments against Robidoux for gambling. All the bar, except W. T. Wood, the circuit attorney, entered our names on the margin of the docket as for Robidoux. We got the old man clear on some quibble and he was happy. We charged him nothing, but he made all of us *pay our tavern trills." Allan Hinchey is authority for a tavern experience of Louis Houck when the latter was building his gridiron of railroads in Southeast Missouri. Houck built a railroad in places where swamps were' so deepA'that great piles of logs had to be thrown into the water to make resting places for his cross ties and when the first trains ran the water would ' 'squish' up from under the sinking ties as .high as the box cars. One day, soon after this stretch of road was put through two men and a woman were riding on the train. They had been given a pass, round trip, for the right of way "across a quarter section of swamp and were riding it out. The old lady remarked she was sorry the railroad had come through her land; she 'had hearn tell railroads made a country mighty sickly to live in.' Mr. Houck reached a cross-roads tavern one night just at dusk, tired outv after a hard day's prospecting for a crossing through a swamp. If was not much of a place for looks, but a sign on the front of the shack announcing 'Travelers Hostilely Entertained' was sufficient argument to cause him to accept the invitation. He was in the right humor just then to scrap for his entertainment, if necessary." Isaac H. Sturgeon's Distinction. "A fish," Thomas H. Benton once called Isaac H. Sturgeon,, indulging in his favorite form of sarcastic humor to tickle the ears of a crowd. Yet Mr. Sturgeon had the distinction of holding offices in greater number and variety than any Missourian of his time. At the end of his eighty-seven years, sixty- two of them in Missouri, Mr. Sturgeon had been appointed or elected' to posi tions of public trust during fifty-three of them. In 184$, two years after com- - ing to St. Louis, he was elected alderman and held that position until elected state senator, in which capacity he had an important part in Missouri's railroad legislation before fhe Civil war. President Pierce made Mr. Sturgeon assistant United States treasurer at St. Louis.. -Although of southern birth, Mr. Sturgeon was a Union man and was active in upholding the government's interests "in Missouri as against the states' rights party. Later, Mr. Sturgeon was a special • agent looking after the railroad building which was being aided by government subsidies. He held appointment by action of Presidents Lincoln, Johnson' and Grant. The last named made him collector of internal revenue, and Presidents Garfield and Arthur continued him in that office. President Harrison made Mr. Sturgeon assistant postmaster at St. Louis. The next office fil/Ied in this extraordinary record was comptroller of St. Louis ' when Cyrus P. Walbridge was mayor. Mr. Sturgeon was reelected in 'the Ziegenheim administration. He retired to private -life in 1901. His summing up of all of this experience was advice to young men to shun office-seeking. **¦ , His rise to distinction after his admission in 1816 was very rapid. In 1823 Judge Bates was married to Miss Julia D. Coalter. He had seventeen children. Within a short time after his admission to the bar he was district attorney for Mis souri. Among the positions he filled while a young man were delegate to the constitutional convention, attorney general for the state, member of the legis lature, United States district attorney, and member of Congress. He held other official positions afterwards, but he refused many, preferring to practice his profession. President Millard Fillmore nominated , Edward Bates to be his secretary of war and- the Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment but it was declined. Devotion to the cause of the Union prompted acceptance of the place in the Lincoln cabinet. Missouri had presented the name of Edward Bates for the Presidential nomination at Chicago in i860. The manners of Edward Bates were most pleasing. In stature the great advocate was not large. He wore ruffles, blue broadcloth and brass buttons in the days when that style of dress was fashionable in the legal. profession. He was smooth shaven, had bright black eyes and made friends who were devoted to him. With all of his years at the, bar and in politics, Edward Bates never fought a duel nor was challenged. When he was in Congress, Bates was the recipient of attention which seemed insulting from McDuffie, the South Car olinian. He sent a demand for an explanation and was given one that friends' deemed entirely satisfactory. David, Joshua and Isaac Barton were three of- the six sons of a Baptist minister of North Carolina. The Rev. Isaac Barton was an associate of John Sevier's patriots who won the victory at King's Mountain, a battle of the Revolu tion which impressed the British government more tfyan almost any other engage ment with the invincible courage of the Americans. David Barton became the first judge of the circuit court of St. Louis; Joshua the first United States district attorney of St. Louis; and Isaac the first clerk of the United States district court of St. Louis. David was elected to the United States Senate. Joshua Barton was killed in the duel with Rector. Isaac Barton continued clerk of the United States district court more than twenty-one years. The brothers had read common law and were acquainted with the English system. When they arrived in St. Louis they found themselves disqualified to practice under the "MANSION HOUSE" j Where first organic act of Missouri was drafted in 1820. Located at Third and Vine Streets, St. Louis. WILLIAM G. PETTUS Secretary of 'first Constitutional Convention of Missouri DAVID BARTON President of the convention which drafted the state constitution of Missouri in 1820. United States senator from Missouri, 1821- 1831. THREE ORGANIC ACTS 187 civil law which had been continued in force. A territorial legislature was elected. The Bartons with the half dozen other American lawyers who had come to St. Louis had influence enough to wipe out the old code. They got through an act which was made the basis upon which the statutes of Missouri are founded. What they did was to pass an act making the common law of Eng land and certain British statutes not inconsistent with the Constitution and statutes of the United States, the law of Missouri territory. That was done in 1816. The American lawyers were then ready for, clients. Circuit judges were authorized to perform the marriage ceremony when the courts were established under American authority. David Barton, the first cir cuit judge, had a form which was marvelously brief. The parties stood up. The judge-^" — : , do you take to be your wife?" The man— "I do." The judge-—" do you take to be your husband ?" The woman — "I do." The judge — "The contract is complete. I pronounce you man and wife." David Barton came to St. Louis just about the time the rangers, who were the rough riders of the war of 1812, were being organized. He joined the command and served with it. Barton, was chosen without opposition the first United States senator. The legislature deadlocked on the second place. Barton was allowed to name his associate and chose Benton. Thus it occurred that, although there were several strong men from other states, the two United States senators chosen at St. Louis were from North Carolina. Barton was known as "Little Red." He got the name when he delivered a speech which made him famous throughout the country. The senate chamber was crowded. Barton had taken sides against the Jackson policies. His arraign ment and condemnation of the administration for years ranked as 'one of the greatest speeches heard in the senate. The audience became intensely excited. At the close, while people were crowding out of the 'gallery, there came a mighty shout, "Hurrah for the little red!" This was repeated again and again in the corridors of the capitol by the Missouri frontiersman who had been a listener. When the man became calm enough to explain, he said the original "little red" was a game rooster he owned which could whip any fighting cock pitted against him. When he heard Senator Barton "putting his licks" in the Jackson crowd and "bringing them down every flutter" he couldn't help thinking of the victories of his "little red." The newspapers took up the application. Barton went by the name of "Little Red." The Free Soilers of Smithville. Feeling ran' high in Howard county when the delegates were elected to the first constitutional convention. Humphrey Smith, a miller from New York state, had settled in Howard". He wasTor a free state. He had a controversy with Burckhartt who was a candidate for delegate to the convention. A few days later, a band of fifteen or twenty men came to Smith's cabin and sent one of their number to the door to ask for a night's lodging. Smith protested he had no room. The .stranger said he would have to stop there; he could 0-0 no farther. Smith turned to get a rope to hitch the man's horse, when he 188 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI was seized and thrown to the ground. The mob came from behind the -cabin and began to whip Smith with hickory sprouts. They raised welts and brought blood.; Smith was dragged away from the cabin to a fence where, one man held his head down while the whipping was continued. Mrs. Smith, hearing the shouts and oaths, ran out of the cabin, picked up what was known in those days as a "swinging block" and struck the man who was holding her husband, knocking him down. Smith thus released ran. The man who had been struck, got up, jumped the fence and started after Smith. Mrs. Smith got in his way. This so angered the man that he struck Mrs. Smith over the head, smashing a brass comb which she wore and so injuring one eye that it gave her trouble as long as she lived. Smith made his escape. The mob reassembled and issued a declaration that Smith must leave Missouri territory within three days or' die. Smith remained in hiding while his family moved to Carroll county where he joined them, — far out on what was then frontier. Calvin Smith, son of Hum phrey, in his autobiography, says that in that campaign "Hell was turned loose" in Howard county; that "the free state' men fled from the territory and' that half of them never returned." Smith estimated that mob violence and the fear of it drove 3,000 citizens out of Missouri territory between 1816 and 1821 on account of their free soil views. Smith and his brothers owned slaves. He said that in the time of slavery it was "a matter of compulsion and necessity" to keep slaves in Missouri for work, but that the Smiths never sold a slave, setting those they owned free when the Civil ,war came on. The Smiths of Smithville became widely known as free soilers. The head of the family, Humphrey Smith, commonly called "Yankee" Smith, never forgot his early experiences with the mob in Howard county. When he was riearing the end of his life in 1857, ne leit to his sons this injunction : "Never let the nigger thieves know where I am buried, until my state is free; then write my epitaph." "Yankee" Smith's Epitaph. Frequently "Yankee" Smith was knocked down for the expression of his anti-slavery sentiments. Some one would ask, "Smith, are you an abolitionist?" "I am," the old man would answer promptly. Then would come the knock down. As he arose from the ground and brushed off the dust," the old man would say calmly: "O, that's no argument. You are stronger than I am, but that don't prove you are right." Smith died of smallpox and the story circulated in the neighborhood was that infection was carried by a newspaper called "The Herald' of Freedom"" which came through the mail from Lawrence, Kansas, to Smith. The tomb stone, reared after the Civil war, bears this inscription: / "This patriot came to Missouri in 1816, from the State of New York; labored to make the territory into a free state, for which he was mobbed by armed slaveholders, scourged, bruised and dragged at midnight from his house. His ever faithful wife, com ing to his assistance, received injuries at the hands of the mob which caused her' years of affliction. He was compelled to leave the state. His wife and family fled from Howard to Carroll county; there joining his family he moved to Clay county, where for many THREE ORGANIC ACTS ' 189 years he kept up the struggle against the 'negro thieves or man stealers.' They denounced him as an abolitionist, because he was in favor of human liberty for all men. His re quest was, 'Never let men stealers know where I am buried until my state is free, then write my epitaph: Here lies Humphrey Smith, who was in favor of human rights, universal liberty, equal and exact justice, no union with slaveholders, free states, free .peoples, union of states, and one and universal republic' " Politics at a Campmeeting. In the midst of the statehood agitation the grand jury of Howard county returned an indictment against Humphrey Smith. This was made public on the 20th day of October, 1820. , The indictment was signed' by J. S. Findley, foreman, and set forth that — "He, the said Humphrey Smith, wished that the negroes would raise an insurrec tion; that he, the said Smith, would volunteer in their cause and head them as their general, that he would rejoice to see an hundred thousand lives lost in effecting their emancipation, thereby endangering the peace and safety of the good citizens of said coun ty, in violation of the duty of a good citizen, and contrary to the peace and dignity of the United States of America, and the laws and sovereignty thereof." This indictment of Humphrey Smith grew out of a campmeeting trouble which was reported in the St. Louis Enquirer some time before the finding of the grand jury. The newspaper headed the trouble "A Mob at Boone's Lick" and went on: "The circumstance transpired at a campmeeting where there was a considerable num ber of people collected. Smith was discovered to be very busy among the blacks, even so tar as to encourage them to mutinize; some of the citizens remonstrated with him upon the impropriety of such conduct. In reply Smith used insulting language, and declared that if the negroes in tlie territory would revolt and embody themselves, he would lead them to battle, if necessary. On his uttering these expressions, he was immediately chas tised, as he would have been anywhere else for similar conduct — there was not the least violence used toward his family." The First Constitution. In the general provisions of its first constitution Missouri followed closely Kentucky which state had been admitted in 1792. Universal suffrage was one of the provisions of the Missouri constitution. The purpose of the framers to maintain strictly separation of church and state was shown in the disqualification of clergymen for offices. The legislature was prohibited from granting a charter for more than one bank. St. Louis had just passed through an uncomfortable experience resulting irpm the competition of two banks in the issue of paper currency and the extension of credit. Both the Bank of Missouri and the Bank of St. Louis had been compelled to suspend. The issue jof slavery was not raised seriously in the constitutional convention. The members seem to have taken position unanimously against restriction of slavery. Previous to the presentation ef Missouri's petition for statehood in 1818 there had been some sentiment against slavery. When the petition was delayed by Congress and the "Tall madge" resolution sought to impose conditions on admission, Missourians quite generally resented that action. The framers inserted in the constitution a declaration that the legislature should have no power to emancipate slaves with- 190 CENTENNIAL HISTORY 'OF MISSOURI out the consent of the owners. The constitution further stipulated that the legis lature might provide for emancipation with the consent of the owners, but if this was done it became the duty of the state to insure humane treatment of' the freed slaves. Furthermore the legislature was directed to provide by neces sary legislation that all free negroes and mulattoes be excluded from the state. Half a score of sections were devoted to slavery. One of them provided for jury trial in case a slave was .charged with a serious crime. Another forbade any more severe penalty for a convicted negro than for a convicted^ white man. A third section required the legislature "to oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity and abstain from all injuries to them extending to life and limb." Benton afterwards held that the clause in the constitution depriving the legislature of any power to emancipate slaves without the consent of their owners had its origin in the purpose of the framers to keep the slavery ques tion out of state politics. Resentment on the -part of the Missourians toward Congress had considerable influence upon the framers of the constitution. When Congress refused to accept the constitution and to admit the state, the indigna tion increased and was general throughout the state. The St. Louis Enquirer, Benton's organ, pronounced the constitution "immortal." Benton "Accidentally" Turned Down. I Benton was not a member of the constitutional convention. He expected to be. A caucus to decide on "candidates opposed to restrictions on slavery" was held the ioth of April. It was a secret affair. Benton supposed that he would be one of the eight agreed upon. He had led the fight as writer of the editorials in the St. Louis Enquirer. But when the vote was taken in the caucus the eight men selected were William Rector, David Barton, John C. Sullivan, Alex ander McNair, Bernard Pratte, Edward Bates, Wilson P. Hunt and Pierre Chouteau, Jr. St. Louis county was entitled to eight members in the conven tion. The caucus ticket went through with a single exception. Thomas F. Rid- dick was elected instead of Wilson P. Hunt- Following the announcement of the caucus action, the absence^ of the name of Benton caused a good deal of talk. A call was issued upon Benton to become a candidate. It referred to the "accidental result" of the caucus. "The undersigned have long calculated on your services in the state con vention, and wish to avail themselves of them. We do not consider ourselves bound by the accidental result of the late meeting of the friends of -those opposed to the restriction or limitation of slavery; especially in point of fact, the voters are not bound by it; and many others are still before the public who were not represented in that meeting ; so the end in view has not been attained, and we are still subjected to the danger of division and want of concert in voting, without having our choice of candidates — under these circumstances we request you let your name be used as a candidate for the convention." The call had 138 signatures. Benton replied, acknowledging the letter "in which you request me to let my name be used as a candidate for the convention." "Until the ioth'inst. it was my expectation that, it would have been so used; On that day the friends of the candidates met to agree upon the names which should be sup- THREE ORGANIC ACTS 191 ported. My name was not so agreed upon: — You have the "kindness to advert to the circumstance and to say that you dci not consider yourselves bound by the accidental result of that meeting. Neither do I. But it has operated upon me with the effect of an obligation, because I could not afterwards stand a poll without dividing the strength of our own side, and endangering the success of a cause which I have long labored to promote." 7 The Cudgel Argument. The Missouri Gazette could not let go by the opportunity to hold up to ridi cule the "co-editor" of the Enquirer for having been turned down by the acci dental result of the caucus. Referring to the call upon Mr. Benton to run, the editor of the Gazette said :. "I should have been glad that a list had been also made of the persons who refused to sign in favor of Mr. Benton. Some say that their number and respectability would have disclosed the secret and satis fied every one that prudence had also some share in actuating him to decline standing the poll." This and more the Gazette printed upon Benton's relations to the conven tion campaign. Two hours after the Gazette was off the press the following occurred, as told in the next issue of the paper: "The editor of the Missouri Gazette whilst on the way from his office to his house, between one and two o'clock, on Wednesday, was assailed without any previous intima tion, warning or apparent quarrel by Isaac N. Henry, one of the editors of the St. Louis Enquirer, and received several blows with a heavy cudgel, which blows he returned with a stick disproportionately small ; the combatants closed, fell and struggled for awhile. The Rev. Joseph Piggot, who was accompanying Mr. Charless and was going to dine with him, twice endeavored to part them, but was as often prevented by a certain Wharton Rector, who drew a pistol from his bosom, and declared he would blow him through if he interfered. Mr. Piggot then called for help, being determined to part them ; presently. two men came up and the contest ended." The Gazette attributed the attack to Benton and quoted him as having said there were "two or three hundred citizens who" at one word would tear to pieces any person whom he would point out. Fathers of the State. Who were the fathers of the state? Mr. Shoemaker has laid Missourians under obligations many times for the information he has assembled in his "Missouri's Struggle for Statehood." His personal data respecting the framers of the constitution is not only interesting; it is significant. The members of the constitutional convention were forty-one in number. Most of them were of English descent; two were Welsh; two were Scotch; four were Irish; four were Scotch-Irish; two were French; one was German. As regarded nativity, these founders of the new state were better distributed in respect to the rest of the United States than is generally understood. Mr. Shoemaker, by exhaus tive inquiry, learned that the convention membership included native sons of Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, North Carolina, Upper Louisiana as it was under Spanish dominion, Indiana, New York, Vermont, South Carolina, Wales, and Ireland. While the Virginia-born led in number, 192 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI only three of them had come directly from that state to settle in Missouri. The important and impressive fact is that these forty-one fathers of the state rep resented all sections of the United States, as this nation1 then existed, and the principal countries of Europe. t % Representative government fdund its perfect expression in the rnaking of this first constitution of Missouri. The constitution was not- submitted to popu lar vote. It went into effect at once. There was -nothing in the enabling act that required submission. The convention made no provision to have the con stitution passed upon by popular vote. The people had named their best men to do the work and were satisfied, so well satisfied indeed that the constitution, endured forty-five years. Why Benton Favored Missouriopolis. While the constitutional convention was working on that part of the organic act providing for the permanent capital of the state, Delegate McFerron pro posed that the name be "Missouriopolis," instead of ' Jefferson City. This sug gestion struck the classical taste of Benton as eminently fitting. The St. Louis Enquirer supported the proposition, mentioning several European cities, which bore names of like derivation and referring to -Galliopolis, Demopolis and An napolis in the United States. The Enquirer said that the name offered for the capital of the new state "translated means City of Missouri" : "Men of letters throughout Europe and America, hearing it pronounced, will know what is spoken of and where it- is. Letters started from London, Paris or Boston, will arrive at their destination without mistakes, and without the circumlocution of a tedious • address, without making a.t pilgrimage to forty places of like names, or having a treatise of geography written on their backs to keep on the right road." Distinctive Provisions of the First Organic Act. One of the distinctive features of Missouri's first organic act was the facile method provided for making changes. The legislature could by a two-thirds vote propose an amendment. This proposition was published three times within the twelve months before the next general election. ^Affile first session following the general election the legislature could, by a two-thirds vote, adopt the amend ment. As Missourians Jiad in 1820 left to the convention the forming of the organic act without a vote of the people, so" they carried out the theory of rep resentative government by giving to the legislature the power to make changes on which the people had been informed by the publication. At the time Mis souri entered statehood with the first organic act only one other state had this 1 method of making changes in the constitution. Subsequently, Missouri abandoned the method and required ratification of the new constitution by popular vote. ' One feature of the first organic act was continued in the subsequent consti tutions of Missouri. That provision forbade the right of suffrage to any soldier, seaman or marine of the regular army and navy. This prohibition was continued through the century of statehood. Missouri stood with seven other states in this prohibition against military influence in elections. Alexander McNair, 1820-1824 Frederick Bates, 1824-1826 John Miller, 1826-1832 Daniel Dunklin, 1832-1836 Lilburn W. Boggs, 1836-1840 Thomas Reynolds, 1840-1844 GOVEENOES OF MISSOURI Vol.1— 13 THREE ORGANIC ACTS 195 Missouri's "Armorial Achievement." The first organic act provided for a, state seal, or, as the description had it, "an armorial achievement for the State of Missouri." The section of the constitution of 1820 read: "The secretary of state shall, as soon as may be, procure a seal of state, with such emblems and devices as shall be directed by law, which shall not be subject to change. It shall be called the 'Great seal of the State of Missouri"; shall be kept by the secretary of state, and all official acts of the governor, his approbation of the laws excepted, shall be thereafter authenticated." The constitutions of 1865 and 1875 followed that of 1820 in respect to the seal and provided that "the emblems and devices thereof, hereto fore prescibed by law, shall not be subject to change." Missouri's armorial achievement, or coat of arms as it might be more commonly called' has stood for a century without change and cannot be -changed save by constitutional amendment or a new constitution. When the legislature met. in St. Charles, November, 1821, Governor McNair called attention to the constitutional requirement of a great seal and the law makers referred the subject to a special committee composed of .Chauncey Smith, Alcorn and Elliot. Action was prompt. On the nth of January, 1822, the act providing for the great seal, with the armorial achievement, was ap proved by the governor. Presumably the real work had been done before the legislature met. Tradition attributes the authorship of Missouri's rather elab orate coat of arms to Judge Nathaniel Beverly Tucker whom Louis Houck pronounced "one of the most learned and accomplished residents of Missouri." Probably there was no other citizen of the new state who could have put so much of heraldic significance in a seal. Judge Tucker presided in the famous Stokes case, the most sensational litigation in the early history of Missouri. He went back to Virginia where his scholarly qualities won him the presidency of William and Mary college. A Masterpiece in Heraldry. The specifications for the great seal, as adopted by the legislature in Jan uary, 1822, are mystifying to the average democratic American but a delight to the students of heraldry. They provided: "That the device for an armorial achievement for the state of Missouri shall be as follows, to-wit: ' "Arms — Parted per pale; on the dexter side, gules, the white or grizzly bear of Mis souri, passant, guardant, proper; on a chief engrailed, azure, a crescent, argent; on the sinister side, argent, the arms of the United States, the whole within a band inscribed with the words, 'United we stand, divided we fall.' "For the Crest— Over a helmet full faced, grated with six bars, or (gold), a cloud' proper, from which ascends a star argent, and above it a constellation of twenty-three smaller stars, argent, on an azure field, surrounded by a cloud proper. "Supporters — On each side, a white or grizzly bear of Missouri, rampant, guardant, standing on a scroll inscribed with the motto, 'Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto,' and under the scroll in numerical letters MDCCCXX." 196 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The Great Seal Interpreted. That the Missourians of one hundred years ago and those who came after might be informed of what the designer of the coat of arms had in mind, an explanation, or interpretation, more pr less informative was printed - about the time of the adoption. Tradition attributes the interpretation to Judge Tucker:. "The arms of the State of Missouri' and of the United States, -empaled together yet separated by a pale, denote the connection existing between the two governments, and show that although connected by a compact, yet we are independent as to internal con cerns; the words surrounding the shield denote the necessity^ of the union. Quadrupeds are the most honorable bearing. The great grizzly, bear being almost peculiar to the Missouri river and its tributaries, and remarkable for its prodigious size, strength and courage, .is borne, as the principal charge '«of our shield. The color of the shield is red and denotes hardihood and valor. The chief is most honorable of all ordinaries. "The color blue signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice. The crescent in heraldry is borne on the shield by the second son, and on our shield denotes ^.that we are the -sec-" ond state (Louisiana being the first) formed out of the territory not within the original . territorial limits of the United States. The crescent also denotes Ihe growing situation of the state as to its inhabitants, wealth and .power. The color white signifies , purity and innocence. The helmet indicates enterprise and hardihood. . The . one • blazoned on> this, coat of arms that assigned to sovereigns only. The star ascending from a cloud to join the constellation shows Missouri surmounting her difficulties -and taking her rank among the states of the Union. The supporters, the same ppwerful animals borne on the shield, on which are emblazoned the arms of the state and of the United States, denote that while we support ourselves by internal strength 'we are also in support of the general government. The motto shows that the good of the people is the supreme law of the state. The numerals under the scroll show the date of the constitution." The Lawmakers Wanted a Cock or an Eagle. The legislators accepted the design of the great seal without much discus sion. The House fayored "a cock close around, resting on a sheaf of wheat." The senate voted to strike out Acock" and insert "an eagle," but in the end the "armorial achievement" of' Tucker was adopted. It is a rather curious fact that in the official description of the seal the word designating the bear is spelled "grizzly." ' ' Ten years ago, when the St. Louis court of appeals decided to have the, great seal painted in proper colors over the bench of the court, Judge George D. Reynolds made -an investigation in detail of Missouri's armorial achievement. He quoted the law and interworded it in such manner as to make it intelligible and 'interesting to the man on the street having historical leaning: "The terms 'right' (dexter) and 'left' (sinister) refer to the right or left of the bearer of the shield, not to the right or left of the one in front of and looking at it. The armorial bearings (arms) shall be 'parted per -pale,' that is to say, not by a pale, but as if by, or in the manner of, a pale. The pale is a band or stripe, running longi tudinally through the center of the shield, and one-third of its width. 'Parted per pale' does not mean a division of the bearings by 'a pale,' but a division by a line drawn down the center of the shield, as in the 'pale'. but not of the width of a pale proper, -and it is usually the sixteenth, of an inch or less wide. To put it more clearly, this rather heavy line is drawn through the center of the shield, from top to bottom, and the bearings placed to the right and left of it. That is what is meant by the term 'arms parted per pale.' The thirteen strips alternating red and white on the shield of the United States are THREE ORGANIC ACTS 197 called 'paleways' or 'paly,' as when the shield is divided into equal parts — four or more — by perpendicular lines. "The 'bearings' are the figures or devices ' included within the circular band ; they are also called 'arms.' "On the dexter (right) side of this line, and on a red (gules) field, the white or grizzly bear of Missouri walking (passant), with face turned outward (guardant), and in natural color (proper). On .the 'upper third (chief) of that half of the shield to thc right of the center line, and on a blue (azure), field, engrailed (that is' with an indented line on the lower border), a 'crescent,' which, in heraldry, is the half moon with horns turned upward, in silver (argent) ; on the left (sinister) side of tjie dividing line, and on a silver (argent) field, the arms of the United States. All oi these bearings to be within a band .inscribed with the words, 'United .We Stand, Divided We Fall.' . "Above this achievement is the 'crest,' which comprises the devices or emblems ' over the arms. Our crest consists of a full-faced gold (or) helmet, with six gold bars ; above • the helmet, a cloud in natural color (proper) from which a'scends a silver (argent) star; , above this star a constellation of twenty-three smaller stars, also silver, on a blue (azure) field, surrounded by" a cloud in natural color (proper). "As 'supporters,' that is to say, figures, usually of animals, on either side of the shield appears 'a white grizzly bear of Missouri,' standing upright on his hind legs (ram pant), and with face turned outward ' (guardant), and in natural color (proper), the bears standing on a scroll inscribed with the motto, 'Safus Populi Suprema Lex Esto'" (Let the Safety of the People be the Supreme Law)." Did Judge Tucker Put One Over? Was there deep political significance in the "armorial achievement" of Mis souri ? Was Judge Tucker's carefully devised coat of arms for the new state loaded? The judge was intense in his devotion to state sovereignty. Louis Houck, in his History of Missouri, says" that; Judge Tucker "was a pronounced advocate of the rights of the states, an idea that seems to pervade the entire armorial bearings -of Missouri." Judge Tucker lived until about 1851. He pre dicted the Civil war and wrote a wonderful prophetic novel, "The Partisan Leader." In his interpretation of the coat of arms ,he called the connection be tween Missouri and the Union a "compact" and said, "yet we are independent as to internal concerns." But Judge Reynolds' study of the seal led him to this conclusion : "If the idea of state sovereignty, as paramount over national "unity and allegiance, was in the mind of the designer of oun armorial bearings, he was unfortunate in his choice of lieraldic symbols, which should be expressive of that idea. The arms of the state are not separated from those of the United States 'by a ,pale,' as we have before noted, but 'as by a (per) pale,' a mere line, employed in heraldry, for example, to sep arate the armorial devices of the husband from the wife when both are displayed on the same shield; so as to emphasize a complete union. The use of the expression 'em paled together' is also /unfortunate for the contention of state sovereignty. The term means 'placed side by side each occupying one-half the shield,' not separated by a pale one-third the width of trie shield, but by a> thin line. "Furthermore, the idea of state sovereignty apart from national union is emphatically negatived by the motto, 'United We Stand', Divided We Fall.' This motto surrounds the arms of the state and of the nation. The great grizzlies are standing upon the scroll which proclaims the safety of the people to be " the supreme law. These grizzlies, ram pant and watchful, are guarding the declaration of union and nationality. But the motto enforcing the necessity of union is not the motto of the bears ; bears, especially grizzlies, stand alone. They here stand as pledging- their valor and that of the state they repre sent to that union." 198 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Marshall on the Rights of Congress. Was there ground for Jefferson's apprehension that "the Missouri question is a breaker on which we lose the Missouri country by revolt and what more God only knows ?" What- basis had Benton on which to build his threat in the Enquirer after the enabling act had passed that if Congress had "imposed "the odious restriction," Missourians would have "proceeded to "the formation of a republican constitution in the fulness of the people's powers." The prolonged debates in Congress, the columns upon, columns of argument and opinion in the newspapers of that period show that it was an open question what power the United States had "to acquire foreign territory and to govern the inhabitants of the same." Ten years later the question was settled by the Supreme Court of the United States and in a way which seems to have left little foundaioh for ¦ either Jefferson or Benton in the views expressed as to what Missouri could have done. There came before the court of last resort in 1828 the case of The American Insurance company vs. Canter. While the case involved the status of a territorial court in Florida which had been acquired under treaty, the real issue was the relation of Florida, then a territory, to the United States. It involved the- rights of the inhabitants of acquired territory under the Constitution of the United States. Chief Justice Marshall rendered one of his most celebrated opinions and it be came the law of the land., That opinion declared, "the authority and power of the United States to acquire foreign territory -and to deal with its inhabitants according to the terms of the treaty under which such territory was acquired, as the Congress of the United States might decide." Beveridge 's Comments on Marshall. Beveridge, in his Life of John Marshall, devoted painstaking inquiry into this issue of the right of Congress to impose the slavery condition on Missouri. He quoted the resolution adopted by the Virginia legislature in* 1820, which de clared that "Virginia will support the good people of Missouri in their just rights and will cooperate with them in resisting with manly fortitude any at tempt which Congress may make to impose restraints or restrictions as the price of their admission to the Union." At that time Marshall was taking his stand, in successive Supreme Court de cisions, for nationalism. ^Beveridge quoted from a decision in the case of McCul- loch vs. Maryland wherein 'the court held that Maryland's law taxing the Balti more branch of the United States bank was contrary to the Constitution. Mar shall declared for "the general right of - sovereignty which exists in the govern ment." As Beveridge' pointed out, Marshall held at the period of the Missouri question, that in legislating for the territories, "Congress exercises the combined powers of the general and a state government." ( - - "Ceded territory becomes a part of the nation to which it is annexed; but [the relations of the inhabitants to each other (do not) undergo any change'." Their allegiance is transferred ; but the law "which regulates the intercourse and general conduct of individuals remains in force until altered by the newly created power of the state." 1 Marshall settled, by the Supreme Court decisions, the question which had THREE ORGANIC ACTS 199 arisen with Thomas Jefferson about the Louisiana Purchase. He held that under the Constitution the United States "possesses the power of acquiring ter ritory either by purchase or conquest." Beveridge concluded : "For it should be repeated, in announcing the principles by virtue of which Congress could establish the Bank of the United States, the chief justice had also asserted, by necessary inference, the power of the national legislature to exact the exclusion of slavery as a condition upon which a state could' be' admitted to the Union." Second Constitutional Convention. In 1844 many Missourians thought the state had outlived the work of Bar ton, Bates and their associates. Under the old, each cpunty was entitled to one member in the lower house. One of the chief arguments for a new instrument was that the populous counties ought to have more than one representative. The legislature provided for the election of delegates by districts.' The convention sat in .1845. Among the framers were Missourians who had held or were to hold high official station. The roll included James H. Green, Thomas L. Anderson, Hancock Jackson, Uriel Wright, Claiborne F. Jackson and Trusten Polk. Two of the younger members, James O. Broadhead and B. F. Massey, were to participate in the making of another constitution just thirty years later. Robert W. Wells was president. When the proposed constitution was submitted in 1846 it was beaten by 9,000 adverse majority. The total vote polled was only 45,000. Walter Williams said this was "an excellent instrument. The rejection was largely the result of the objection of William Campbell and his newspaper, the New Era, of St. Louis. Mr. Campbell was opposed to the section of the constitution which changed the plan of the choice of supreme judges from appointment by the governor to election by the people. Though they rejected the new constitution , the people at the next election ratified an amendment to the old constitution making the supreme judges elective." Some Missourians began to talk "national capital removal" as#early as 1845. The suggestion to cede the. site of St. Louis^to the United States with that object in View led to what the newspapers called "a ridiculous blunder." St. Louis sent delegates to the constitutional convention. A proposition was made to offer certain described territory in Missouri "for the purpose of locating and keeping ,thereon the seat, of government of the United States." In the debate it was given out that the proposed cession included St. Louis and considerable contiguous territory. But, when the language was examined carefully it appeared tfiat St. Louis, as then bounded, was not included in the territory to be ceded. The northern boundary of the proposed cession was about where Arsenal street is now. The framers had, as a matter of geographical definition, offered the present workhouse site, Carondelet and the ground north of Jefferson Barracks for a new District of Columbia. One of the St. Louis papers commenting upon the "ridiculous blun der" said: "The nearest approach to our city is the township line which strikes the United States arsenal tract below the city. The section of country ceded takes in the ancient and renowned city of Vide Poche, otherwise denominated Empty Pocket, and reaches nearly to Jefferson Barracks. What effect this strange blunder may have upon the two towns we leave to those interested to find out, 200 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI certain of one thing only, that Vide Poche and not St. Louis is to be the future seat of the national government if the terms of our constitution are to be re garded." Third Constitutional Convention. The state convention which had created, the provisional state government met in the summer of 1863 and passed an ordinance to provi'de for amendments to the state constitution emancipating^slaves. Under this ordinance slavery in Ivjissouri was to cease on the 4th day of July, 1870. Those over forty years of age were to remain subject to their late owners the rest oi their lives. Those under twelve years of age were, to remain subject to their owners until they arrived at the age of twenty-three. Those of all other ages 'were to be emancipated on the 4th 'day of July, 1870. After the 4th of -July, 1870, no Missouri slave could be sold to a non-resident or removed from the state. The proposed ordinance was attacked in mass meetings held in different parts of the state. On the 13th of February, 1864, the legislature, in response to petitions, passed an act authoriz ing the assembling ,of a convention 'on January 6, 1865, to deal with the emanci pation question. The act provided for the election of delegates to the conven tion from each congressional district. These delegates were "to consider, first, such amendments to the constitution of the state as may be by them deemed necessary for^the emancipation of the slaves; second, such amendments to the constitution of the state asjnay^ be by them deemed necessary to. preserve in purity the elective franchise to loyal citizens ; and such, other amendments as may be by them deemed essetltial to the promotion of the public good." At the November election the delegates were chosen. They were with very few exceptions new men in Missouri politics. Most of them had come to the front with the growth of the Radical party and the disfranchisement of Southern sympathizers. But of the sixty-nine delegates it was a rather curious fact that more than half had been born in slave states. Several of the most radical of the Radicals had been originally pro-slavery men. Lawyers did not predominate in this as in the Unconditional" Union convention which had given Missouri the Hamilton Gamble government. There were more farmers than lawyers. Mer chants a/nd doctors were well represented. Ten of the delegates were of European birth. It was, a young man's convention. Twenty-five were under forty. The issue on which most of these delegates were elected was immediate emancipation. Among those chosen were Chauncey I. Filley, Gustavus St. Gem, and' W. F. Switzler. . Immediate Emancipation Ordained. The convention met in Mercantile Library hall at St. Louis on the 6th of January. Arnold Krekel, an able4awyer and a leader among the German Rad icals, afterwards appointed United States district judge, was chosen president. Before the end of the first week the convention adopted the following: "Be it ordained by the people of the State of Missouri, in convention assembled : "That hereafter, in this state, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly Convicted; and all persons held to service or labor as slaves are hereby declared free." HENRY CLAY From a Daguerreotype taken in St. Louis about 1850. Author of the Missouri Com promise. DANIEL BOONE By Enid Yandell RESIDENCE OF THOMAS F. RIDDICK, OF ST. LOUIS, 1818 Hero of Riddick's ride to Washington to secure the school lands THREE ORGANIC ACTS 203 There were polled onthe roll call only four votes in the negative. As soon as the result was announced there was a great demonstration. The cheering spread from the crowded hall to the throng gathered on Fifth street. As soon as order - was restored R'ev. . Dr. William G. Eliot was escorted to the platform. He de livered this prayer of thanksgiving: "Most merciful God, before whom we are all equal, we look up to Thee who hast , declared Thyself our Father and our helper and our strong defense, to thank Thee that Thou art no respecter of persons, to thank Thee that Thou didst send JesuS Christ into the world to . redeem the world from sin and that He was the friend of the poor, that He came to break the manacles of the slaves, that the oppressed might go free. We thank Thee that this day the people of this state have had grace given them to do as they would be done by. We pray that Thy blessing may rest upon the proceedings of this conven tion, that no evil may come to this state from the wrong position of those' who do not agree with the action of today, but that we, all of us, may be united t6 sustain this which is' the law of the land. We pray, O God! but our hearts are too full to express our thanks giving! Thanks be to God for this day that light has now come out of darkness, that all things are now promising a future of peace and quietness to our distracted state. Grant that this voice may go over the -whole land until the ordinance of emancipation is made perfect throughout the states. We ask through, the name of our dear Lord and Redeemer. Amen." i Encouraged by the popular approval of the 'emancipation act the delegates proceeded to draft not amendments to the constitution of 1820, but an entirely new constitution. They incorporated an ironclad "Oath of Loyalty." A 'minority in the constitutional convention led by Dr. Linton fought the test oath. They assailed it as not only a political blunder, but as unjust to thousands of Mis sourians who had. at first sympathized with the South and who had, when hos tilities came, taken sides with the North and continued loyal to the end. Charles D. Drake, a southerner by birth, led the majority in favor of the test oath. The, convention was in session seventy-eight days. The constitution was submitted to vote on the 6th of June. The total number of votes cast was 85,878, . not much more than one-half of those polled in i860. The majority for,the con stitution was only 1,862. The ironclad provisions, intended to ostracise for all time not only Confederates but all who had sympathized with the South, were imposed by fewer than 45,000 voters. The Drake Constitution. Some of the provisions of the Drake constitution were highly commendable. No man who could not read and write could be -a voter. The provisions for public education of all grades were strongly expressed. Not all of the sweeping, strin gent suggestions made during the convention found place in the instrument as finally adopted. For example, there was at one time offered an amendment under which any citizen of the state, white or colored, male or female, would be eligible to the office of governor. This amendment was rejected only by a tie vote. . Similarly it was proposed to make white or colored, male or female, eligible to legislative election, but this failed. The argument of those who supported the Drake constitution was that Missourians who had attempted to destroy the gov- : ernment either by open acts or by encouragement, sympathy and aid given to 204 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the Confederates in any form or manner, had forfeited all right to participate in the affairs of state. Not until the provisions were put in force did the people realize what had been done. No official of state, city or county, no judge of any court, no teacher of either sex, no attorney, no preacher, could perform official duty or practice the profession without taking the oath. To refuse the oath and to preach, or teach, or practice law, or perform any official duty made the offender liable to $500 fine or six months in jail or both.. To take the oath and then have it proven that in some of the ways set forth' in the third section there had been false swearing mean! perjury with a penitentiary term of not less than two years. The protest against this "persecution" went up from all parts of the state. Ministers of the ¦ Gospel took the ground that the test oath was' a blow at religious libertyA And it, was. Arrests and indictments followed many refusals to abide by the oath requirements. The "Oath of Loyalty" as the constitution titled it was this : "I, A. B., do-solemnly swear, that I am well acquainted with the terms of the third section of the second "article of "the constitution of the State of Missouri, adopted in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and have carefully considered the same, that I have never, directly or indirectly1, done' any of the acts in said section specified ; that I have always \been truly and loyally on the side of the United States, against all enemies thereof, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States, and will support the constitution and laws thereof, as the supreme "law of thc land, any law or ortdinance of any state to the contrary notwithstanding; that I will, to the best of my ability, protect and defend the Union of the United States, and not allow : the sanie to be broken up and dissolved, or the government thereof to be de- , stroyed or overthrown, under any circumstances, if 1 in ¦ my power to prevent it ; that I will support the constitution of the State of Missouri; and that I make this oath with out any mental reservation or evasion, and hold it to be binding on me.'' The Test Oath. * The "Oath of Loyalty" became known immediately as1 the "test oath." Speed ily the qualifying adjective of "infamous" was prefixed. The words of the oath „ give no adequate impression of what a test it was designed to be.- In Section 3, referred to' at the beginning of the oath,, was the interpretation and application: As the people of Missouri coupled the section with the oath they, realized that sweeping political disfranchisement was only one of the consequences. The con vention had handed out a Pandora box of trouble. Section 3 must be given in its entirety for the understanding of the full meaning of the tfest oath. "Section 3. At any election held by the pebple under this constitution, or in pursuance of any law of this state, or under any ordinance or by-law of any municipal corporation, no person shall be deemed a qualified voter, who has ever been in armed' hostility to the United States, or to the lawful authorities thereof, or to the government of this state, or has ever given '. aid, comfort, countenance, or support to persons engaged in any such ' hostility; or has ever in .any manner adhered to the enemies, foreign or domestic, of the United States, either by contributing to them, or by unlawfully sending within their lines, money, goods, letter, or information; or has ever disloyally held communication with such enemies ; or has ever advised or aided any person to enter the service of such enemies ; . or has ever, by act or word, manifested his adherence to the cause of such enemies, or his desire for their triumph over the arms of the United States,' or his sympathy with those engaged in exciting or carrying on rebellion against the United States; or has ever, except under overpowering compulsion, submitted to the authority, or been in the THREE ORGANIC ACTS 205 service of the so-called 'Confederate States of Arherica,' or has left this state and gone within the lines of the armies Of the so-called 'Confederate States of America,' with the purpose of adhering to said states or armies; or has ever been a member of, or con nected with, any order, society, or organi?ation, inimical to the government of the. United States, or to the government of this state ; or has ever been engaged in guerrilla war fare against loyal inhabitants of the United States, or in that description of marauding commonly known as 'bushwhacking';' or has ever knowingly and willingly harbored, aided, or countenanced, any person so engaged ; or has ever come into or left this state for the purpose of avoiding enrollment for or draft into the military service of the United States; or has ever, with a view to avoid enrollment in the militia of this state, or to escape .the performance of duty therein A or for any other purpose, enrolled him self, or authorized himself to be enrolled, by or before any officer, as disloyal, or as a Southern sympathizer, or in any other terms indicating his disaffection to the govern ment of the United States in its contest with rebellion, or his sympathy with those en gaged in such rebellion ; or, having ever voted at any election by the people of this state, or in any other of the United States, or in any of- their territories, or held office in this state, or in any other of the United States, or in any of their territories, or under the United States, shall thereafter have sought, or received, under claim of alienage, the pro tection of any foreign government, through any consul or other ' officer thereof, in order to secure exemption from military duty in the militia of this state, or in the army of the ^ United States ; nor shall any such person be capable of holding, in this state, any office of honor, trust, or profit, under its authority; or of being an officer, councilman, direptor, trustee, or other manager of any corporation, public or private now existing or hereafter established by its authority; or of sxting as a professor or teacher in any educational in stitution, or in any common or other school ;. or of holding any real estate, or other prop erty, in trust for the use of any church, religious society, or' congregation. But the fore going provisions in relation to acts done against the United States shall not apply to any person not a citizen thereof, who shall have committed such acts while/ in the service of some foreign country at war with the United States, and who has, since such acts, been naturalized, or may hereafter be naturalized, under the laws of the United States, and the oath of loyalty hereinafter -prescribed, when taken by such person, shall be considered as taken jn such sense." There are forty-five different offenses in the foregoing article. The Mis- sourian who wished to vote, to hold office, to teach, to practice law, to preach was required to swear he had not been guilty of ally one of them. Under" the ninth section of Article XI, which was entitled the "Right of Suffrage," it was declared that no person shall be permitted to practice law "or be competent as a bishop, priest, deacon, minister, elder or other clergyman of either religious persuasion, sect or denomination to teach or preach unless such person shall have first taken, subscribed and filed said oath.", Section II prescribed that "Every court in which any person shall be sum moned to serve as grand or petit juror, sha.ll require him, before he is sworn as a juror, to take said oath in open court; and no person refusing to take the same shall serve as a juror." Senator Drake, as Schurz Saw Him. Carl Schurz in his "Reminiscences" drew this pen picture of the man who dominated the convention and who dictated the spirit of the constitution of 1865 : "Senator Drake was an able lawyer and an unquestionably honest man, but narrow- minded, dogmatic and intolerant to a degree. He aspired to be the Republican 'boss' of the state — not, indeed, as if he had intended to organize a machine for the purpose of 206 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI enriching himself or his henchmen. Corrupt schemes were absolutely foreign to his mind. He merely wished to be the recognized - authority dictating the policies of his party and controlling the federal offices in Missouri. This ambition overruled with him all others. His appearance was not imposing, but when you approached him, he made you feel that you had to do with a man full of the consciousness of power. He was of small stature, but he planted his feet upon the ground with demonstrative firmness.- His face framed with gray hair and a short stubby white beard, and marked with heavy eye brows, usually wore a stern, and often even a surly expression. His voice had a rasp= ing sound, and his speech, slow and peremptory, was constantly accompanied with a vigorous shake of ^he forefinger which meant laying down the law. I do^not know to what religious denomination he belonged; but he made the impression as ,if no 'religion could be satisfactory to him that did not provide for a well-kept hell fire to. roast sinners and heretics. Still he was said to be very kind and genial with his family and in his circle of intimate friends. But in politics he was inexorable.'-' Senator Vest described the situation, in Missouri vividly : "The Girondists, under the leadership of Hamilton R. Gamble, had disappeared, and the Jacobins, under the leadership of Charles D. Drake, were in possession of the state. The Drake constitution had been enacted — the most drastic, the most cruel, the most, out rageous enactment ever known in a civilized country. No man could practise law, teach school, preach the Gospel, act as trustee, hold any office of honor, trust, or profit, or vote at any, election, unless he swore he had never ' sympathized with the cause of the Con federacy or any' person fighting for it. The, father who had given a drink of water or a crust of bread to his son who belonged to the Confederate forces was ostracised and put under the ban of the law. Blair came back and went to the polls, dressed in his major- general's uniform, arfd demanded the right to vote without taking the oath. It was de nied, and he immediately commenced suit against the election officials. Pending the suit, a Catholic priest named Cummings, who had instituted a similar proceeding, had his case adjudicated by the Supreme Court, and it was decided that the Drake constitution violated that of the United States and was a bill of attainder and ex post facto law. General Blair, not satisfied, attacked the Drake party throughout the commonwealth, and can vassed it from one end to the other, denouncing the men who were - perpetrating these iniquities upon the people of the state." Upset by the Supreme Court. In reversing the decision of the supreme court of Missouri and in declaring the test oath in violation of the Constitution of the United States, the court of last resort said : "The counsel from 'Missouri closed his arguments in this case by presenting a strik ing picture of the- struggle for the ascendency in that state during the recent revolution between the forces , and the enemies of the Union, and the fierce passions which that struggle raised. It was in the -midst of' the struggle that the present constitution was ' framed, although it was not adopted by the people until the war was closed. It would have been strange, therefore, had it not exhibited in its provisions some traces of the excite ment under which the convention held its deliberations. , It was against the excited action of the states, under such influences as these, that the Federal Constitution was intended to guard." ' / / The section applying to ministers, lawyers and teachers aroused the earliest and greatest opposition. While the constitution went into effect on the 4th of July, 1865, Carl Schurz, B. Gratz Brown and other prominent Republicans formally started a movement for universal amnesty arid enfranchisement in Mis- Courtesy1 Missouri Historical Society CHARLES GRATIOT Who led the cheering when the American f v was raised at St. Louis in March, 1804 TOWN HOUSE OE CHARLES GRATIOT Corner of Main and Chestnut Streets, St. Louis THREE ORGANIC ACTS 209 souri. So widespread was the opposition- to the ninth section that Governor Fletcher, in January, 1867, recommended the constitution be -amended to strike out these obnoxious provisions. Reaction from the test oath was rapid. Its first practical effect was the political downfall of Drake. That came within three years. Missouri went Republican in 1868, but the legislature refused to accept Drake's candidate, Ben F. Loan, for the Senate and elected Cart Schurz, who was the editor of the Westliche Post and had been* a resident of the state a short time. How Schurz Became Senator. In his "Reminiscences" Carl Schurz tells the story of his candidacy for the Senate : "I was a member of a little club consisting of a few gentlemen of the same way of thinking in politics and who dined together , and then discussed current events once or twice a month. At one of those dinners, soon after the Presidential election, of 1868, the conversation turned upon the impending election of Senator Henderson's successor and the candidacy of Mr. Drake's favorite, General Loan. We were all agreed in heartily disliking Mr. Drake's kind of statesmanship. We likewise agreed in disliking the prospect of seeing Mr. Drake duplicated in the Senate— indeed fully duplicated — by the election of Mr. Loan. But how _ to prevent it? We all recognized, regretfully, the. absolute im possibility of getting the legislature to re-elect Mr. Henderson. But what other candidate was there to oppose Mr. Loan ? One of our table-round turned to me and said : 'You !' The others instantly and warmly applauded. The thought that I, a comparatively newcomer in Missouri, should be elected senator in preference to others who had been among the leaders in the great crisis of the " state only a few years ago, seemed to me extravagant, and I was by no means eager to expose myself to what I considered almost certain defeat. But my companions insisted, and I finally agreed that a 'feeler' might- be put out in the Democrat, the leading Republican journal in St. Louis, of which Colonel William M. Grosvenor, a member of our little table company, was the editor-in-chief." A Trap Set for Drake. The "feeler" took well. Newspaper notices of Schurz were favorable. As surances of support came from the interior of the state. The legislature met in January, 1869. Schurz went to Jefferson City -with a few friends. Senator Drake came on from Washington full of confidence that Loan would be elected when the caucus was held. He freely expressed his opinion that there was noth ing in the candidacy of Schurz. When the suggestion- was made that the caucus hear the two candidates and himself, Senator Drake readily agreed. The ar rangement was made that two evenings should be given to the speeches. By the program Schurz was to open and Loan was to follow. Then Senator Drake was to speak. The argumentative tournament was to be closed by Schurz. This program was carried out to the great interest of the legislators. It was opened rather indifferently. Some who had been told much of the German's oratorical power were disappointed. When the senator's turn came, he made a strong appeaLbut it was in a more liberal and conciliatory spirit than might have been expected from the author of the test oath. In closing Schurz was at his best. He captivated the caucus. He sprung a trap on Senator Drake in one of the most dramatic incidents of Missouri politics. He read what he said was formerly the position of Drake on state issues. He contrasted those drastic opinions with -the 210 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI more conciliatory utterances just heard by the caucus. Charles E, Weller, one of the veteran stenographers of Missouri, well described how the trap which determined a senatorship was set and sprung : "L. L. Walbridge had reported the constitutional convention of l86s,v but by reason of lack of state funds it was never ordered written out, and the notes were finally con signed to the junk pile as a 'dead horse' with no hope of ever being called upon to write it up. The senatorial contest waxed warm, and in the midst of it somebody who was present at the constitutional convention called Schurz's attention to the fact that Drake had made a certain speech in that convention in which he took a stand on an important question which was totally at variance with his later attitude. It became very important for Mr. Schurz to obtain a transcript of that speech and he called on Walbridge and asked him to make a thorough search for his notes, which Walbridge proceeded to do, with little hope of finding it among a mass of old note books covered with the soot and dust of past years; but, fortunately for Mr. Schurz, Walbridge found the notes of the speech and wrote it out for him. Two months later, after the usual preliminary caucuses, the legislature met in joint session, at which they were to be, addressed at length by each candidate in his own behalf. It was a battle royal. Drake, who had for years been the autocrat of his party in Missouri, with his ponderous utterances, his dogmatic demeanor, which was characteristic of the man ; Schurz, on the other hand, always cool and collected, polite and courteous to his opponent, which gave him a decided advantage over his fiery antagonist. "During Schurz's speech, which closed the debate before the legislative caucus, he drew from his pocket Walbridge's transcript and began, reading therefrom. Drake Started up, as the fatal words fell upon his ear, and his former utterances rose before him like Banquo's ghost, and harshly demanded of Schurz, 'What are you reading, sir?' 'From a report of your speech delivered at the constitutional convention in 1865,' blandly replied Schurz. 'Reported by whom?' demanded Drake. 'Reported by Mr. Walbridge, who sits at the table here, and is reporting the proceedings of this meeting,' replied Schurz. Drake looked despairingly at Walbridge, whom he knew too well to question his accuracy as a reporter, and sank back in his chair, and shortly afterward the legislature proceeded to ballot, resulting in the election of Carl Schurz to the United States Senate. It was an embarrassing position for Walbridge,' who was a personal friend of Drake's, and regretted to have been the means of inflicting the final blow which resulted in his downfall." When Schurz ended his speech, Drake recognized his defeat. He left Jeffer son City that night. Before his senatorial term expired he resigned and accepted the appointment of chief justice of the court of claims at Washington. Mis souri knew him'no more. The Constitution Makers of 1875. Even with the test oath eliminated "the Drake Constitution" could not getrid of its bad name. In 1874 a movement in favor of another constitutional conven tion, the fourth in the history of the state, was inaugurated. It was carried by a popular vote. The men who drafted this enduring constitution of Missouri were: J. C. Roberts, Henry Boone, E. H. Norton, D. C. Allen, J. L. Farris, J. A. Holliday, J. B. Hale, J. H. Shanklin, C. H. Hammond, W. Halliburton, , Thomas Shackle- ford, A.' M. Alexander, Benjamin R. Dysart, John R. Ripley, William F. Switzler, J. F. Bucker, H. C. Lackland, L. J. Dryden, N. C. Hardin, H. V. McKee, Levi Wagner, Lewis F. Cotty, William Priest, F. M. Black, William Chrisman, Wal do P. Johnson, E. A. Nickerson, S. R. Crockett, John H. Taylor, H. C. Wallace, THREE ORGANIC ACTS .211 W. H. Letcher, B. F. Massey, John Ray, C. B. M'Afee, G. W. Bradfield, John W. Ross, T. W. B. Crews, John Hyer, J. H. Maxey, Philip Pipkin, E. V. Con way, J. Ft T. Edwards, P. Mabrey, N. W. Watkins, G. W- Carlton, L. H. Davis, J. H. Rider, A. M. Lay, T. J. Kelley, James P. Ross, Wash Adams, James .0- Broadhead, Albert Todd, Joseph Pulitzer, T. T. Gantt, A. R. Taylor, H. J. Spaunhorst, N. J. Mortell, H. C. Brockmeyer, James C. Edwards. All of the foregoing, according to Mr. Switzler's classification, were elected as Democrats. This goes to show how far the political pendulum in Missouri had swung backward from the control of the radical elements which had given to Missouri the so-called Drake constitution only ten years before. There were only six Republicans, in the constitutional convention of 1875, — M. McKellop, T. J. Johnson, C. D. Eitzen, Henry T. Mudd, George H. Shields, — and two Liberals, R. W. Fyan and L. Gottschalk. , One of the Democrats, T. J. Kelley, it should be stated, died before the con vention got to work and his place was taken by Horace B. Johnson, a Repub lican. One man who sat in the constitutional convention of 1865 was in that of 1875— Mr. Switzler. One of the remarkable facts about the work of this convention was that the draft of the constitution was adopted by a unanimous vote of the members. The action of the voters was almost as notable. The state adopted the constitution by 91,205 for to 14,517 against, a majority of 76,688. The New York Nation pro nounced this new constitution for Missouri fifty years ahead of its time. Later, some of the provisions were criticised as too restrictive. The name of "the strait jacket constitution" was applied. Switzler's Analysis of the Organic Act. Analyzing the work and results of ,the convention, Mr. Switzler said of this constitution of 1875 : "The bill of rights occupied much time and was a fruitful theme of discussion. The subject of representation, a knotty problem in all similar bodies in all states, disclosed wide antagonisms of opinion, and elicited protracted debate. In the face of all opposition county representation was maintained. It found a place in the first constitution of the state, and in all others since adopted by conventions of the people of Missouri. The argument, that, to a certain extent, it perpetuates the representation of sub-divisions of territory, and not population, did not avail to interdict it. New and vitally important provisions were adopted in regard ' to legislative proceedings. Carefully prepared and stringent limitations on powers- of the general assembly were engrafted on the new instru ment. Sessions of ' the legislature were made biennial, and the gubernatorial term was changed from two to four years. The formation of new counties was made more difficult, perhaps impossible. The taxing and debt contracting power of the legislature and of counties, cities and towns, and all other municipalities, was hedged about with limitations and safe-guards. Extra mileage and perquisites to officials were laid under embargo. Our system of free public schools, embracing a liberal policy for the mainte nance of the university of the state, received recognition in the article on education." The Conditions in 1875. That conditions then existing called for such a constitution, the popular vote on adoption is good evidence. A third generation is now living under this or ganic act. Missourians with definite recollections of forty-five years ago are 212. CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI not numerous. Robert P. C. Wilson, speaking to* the Missouri Bar Association^ some years since, of the public services rendered by Judge Elijah Hise Norton, recalled vividly the circumstances attending the constitutional convention of 1875, and described the intense satisfaction the restrictive and preventive provisions gave to the peOple generally when the constitution went into effect : "The laws of Missouri had been silent since 1861, and the .exigencies of the Civil war had been so paralyzing that after the people, with unrestricted suffrage, had come into their own, they lost no time in calling a constitutional convention. Indeed, they seem to have risen fully to the occasion. . Many of the counties had been so fraudulently ravished and plundered under doubtful forms of law, that the people of the state hailed the calling of that convention as' a promise for redemption of wrongs many of them had suffered, and as a guaranty against their repetition in the future. What infinite^care they displayed in the selection of its members! It was by all odds the ablest body of men ever gathered in this state for a similar purpose. The districts seemed to vie with each other as to which should send the ablest, purest and best of its citizens as mernbers. In reading the roll of that body you will find the names of many lawyers who afterwards became illustrious in the annals of our profession. There you will see the honored names of James O: Broadhead, Thomas T. Gantt, Albert Todd, Joseph Pulitzer, A. R. Taylor, Henry C. Brockmeyer, T. W. B. Crews, Waldo P. Johnson, George H. Shields, H. C. Lackland, W. H. Letcher, F. M. Black, Elijah H. Norton, Dewit't C. Allen and -others of distinction worthy to be classed with those mentioned. Their work proved to be a marvel of wisdom. Judge Norton, from the beginning, took a prominent and leading part in that convention.' The members of that assembly, now nearly all in the shadows, builded better than they knew — 'their works do live after them.' It was indeed the people's constitution, and from that day to this they and their descendants have sacredly guarded it against the designs of those who would supplant it in its entirety. During his declining years I have heard him often remark that his work in that convention ' was his chief monument of title to the gratitude of the state., "I distinctly recall the wave of satisfaction which rolled over rural Missouri, when assured that the grafter, repeater, promoter and dishonest county judges could no longer use the forms of law to take from them in iniquitous taxes their hard-earned substance. The people hailed the coming era as the rising of the sun. Sowing, they would now reap undisturbed the fruits of their labors. Their wives and daughters sang new songs of; good cheer as they busied about household duties, while sons, husbands and fathers were gay as revellers as they resumed with buoyant hearts their subjugation of the wilderness. Indeed,, the scars ' of cruel conflict were being rapidly healed ; the wild grand music of war was stilled into softly murmuring cadenzas of Content, and Peace tinkled upon the shepherd's bell,,' and sang among the reapers. Happy, thrice happy, was this grand man as he reviewed his conspicuous contribution to the tuneful melody of the times." The Constitution of 1875 and Its Interpretation.. The Missouri cohsfitution of 1875 has attracted no little attention beyond - the borders of the state. It. goes into much detail. The rule of the supreme court of Missouri has been to construe the provisions of the" constitution with such literalness as to cause considerable criticism. For example, a provision of the constitution says that all indictments shall conclude with the words, "against the peace and dignity v of the state." Indictments have been drawn omitting the word "the" before the word state. The supreme court has held that this omission invalidates the indictment. These and somewhat similar rulings on technicalities have been the subject of criticism, not only by newspapers- and magazines but by courts in other states. Judge A. M. Woodson some years ago set forth the position of the Missouri court in holding to the view that the con- THREE ORGANIC ACTS 213 stitution of 1875 was to be viewed and interpreted as mandatory" rather " than. directory. He said : "I might state that the fundamental principle underlying such ¦ rulings is to prevent courts from tearing down by piecemeal the great bulwarks of liberty and shield of indi vidual security which they would not dare do Openly and' at one stroke. "Nor is that idea a novel one in this court. Mr. Justice Cooley, who, it is conceded by the -bench and the bar of the entire country, was the peer, if not the superior, of any constitutional lawyer who ever graced the -bench, or lent honor and dignity to the bar, in his matchless work. on constitutional limitations (pp. 93-98), in discussing the question -of whether rules which distinguish directory and mandatory statutes apply to the pro visions of the written constitution, after a careful review of the authorities, said: '"It will be found upon full consideration to be difficult to treat any constitutional 'provision as merely directory and not mandatory.' "And the same eminent authority, on page 72, in speaking of the statutory rule, which requires that full force and effect be given to every clause and word of a statute, and that no word shall be treated as meaningless if a construction can be legitimately found which will preserve and make it effectual, said: " 'The rule is applicable with special force to written constitutions on which the people will be presumed to have expressed themselves in careful and measured terms corresponding with the immense importance of the powers delegated, leaving as little as possible to implication.' "Before leaving the question, let me state," said Judge Woodson, "to my law-loving neighbors that, — after spending the best' part of my life on, the bench, and after having observed and read quite, extensively regarding the form and modes of administering justice, — the courts have done far more harm and injustice by judicial legislation, that is, by interpolating into, statutes and con stitutions words and phrases which the lawmakers never placed therein, and by striking therefrom words and phrases which were placed there by the lawmakers, than they have by clinging to the so-called 'technicalities'." This position of the supreme court was maintained from the time the con stitution went into effect until December 1, 1920, when by a unanimous vote the court made a specific ruling that the omission of the word "the" in the final clause of an indictment was not ground for setting aside a verdict of guilty under that indictment. Not only did the court reverse the previous position that had been held in Missouri but it departed from technical precedents established by supreme courts in several other states. The court held that the provision in the constitu tion was not mandatory but called for substantial compliance. Judge Williamson said it would be to sacrifice substance to form to allow a trivial omission of a minor word in a subordinate paragraph of procedure to outweigh the very funda mentals of the constitution. ' "Much musty learning might be dug from forgotten books did ' time and space permit, 1 to show the various endings of the indictments at common law and why it may have been thought advisable, 45 years ago, when our Constitution was written, to provide that there should be but one ending, and, but for the same limitations, many authorities might be cited in support of the views herein announced. It seems sufficient to say that in the case at bar there was a substantial compliance with the requirements of the Constitution, and that is all that is necessary. To so hold does not deprive the appellant of any right, nor impair any valid defense which he may have, nor alter the meaning of the charge, nor in any wise interfere with the orderly administration of justice." 1 214 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Individual vs. Corporation. "An advanced position," as the lawyers called it, was taken by the con stitution of 1875 for the protection of the individual against fhe corporation. In that respect the framers went farther than the constitution makers of many other states. They put in prdvisions especially relating to the rights of property. The Missouri constitution of 1865 had followed the course of most other states with general provisions governing the use of private property for public purposes. That instrument in its, first article had provided : "No private property ought to be taken or applied to public use without just compensation." This was the common form of property protection. It was supplemented by statutes, as was the custom in other states. These statutes by the legislature set forth the method of determining the value1 of private property taken for public use and of paying the owner. But the constitution of 1875 was quite different from that of 1865 in this feature. It was drafted by men of independent thought and considerable originality. It departed in many ways . from the constitutions of other states. The framers exalted the individual and put the curb on the cor porations. They provided in mandatory language: "Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation." , They went farther. They took away from the legislature the broad function which the constitution of 1865 had left. The constitution of- 1875 prescribed that the "just compensation" must be paid in advance of the taking or the damage of private property. This compensation, the constitution declared, should be ascer tained "in such manner as may be prescribed by law, and, until the same shall be paid to the; owner, the property shall not be .disturbed, or the proprietary rights of the owner therein be divested." ' The practical effects of this constitutional provision were soon seen. In 1879 the statutes were revised and the method of ascertaining "just compensation" for property taken was set forth, but not for property damaged. In 1887,, the legislaturfe enacted what was called the Shaw law providing the method for ascer taining just compensation for property damaged. This method took into con sideration an issue which had arisen in St. Louis. The new law stipulated that before an elevated 'road can be built the damage it may be to private property "shall be paid to the owner, or into the court for the owner, before his prop erty shall be disturbed or his proprietary rights therein divested." One section of the Shaw law defined what was meant by damages. It read : "Damages in this act is hereby defined to be the depreciation in the value of the property that may result from the construction and operation of the proposed railroad." Five different movements to build elevated railroads in St. Louis have pro gressed in the planning and have been effectually blocked by the constitutional provision.Recollections of Major Dysart. Four members of the1 constitutional convention of 1875 were living in 1919. They were George H. Shields, Of the circuit bench of St. Louis; B. R. Dysart, of Macon county ; Judge D. C. Allen, of Clay county ; and L. F. Cotty, of Knox county. Amos R. Taylor, one of the St. Louis members died in 1919. Major THREE ORGANIC ACTS 215 Dysart, then past eighty years, was president and the oldest member of the bar association of Macon. He recalled for the Missouri Historical Review these interesting facts about the constitution makers of 1875 : "That was a time when patriotism meant personal economy. We received five dollars a day, and out of that we paid our hotel bills and all other expenses. There were no bells to ring for stenographers. Each man did his own writing, using a quill pen. In sign ing the final draft' each member affixed his name with a quill. The men of "the constitu tional convention were ardent in their ambition to give the state a code that would stand the test arid that would be economically administered. They were head set on not squan dering any of the state's money, needlessly. There were even objections to employing a chaplain on the ground of expense, but Judge Thomas T. Gantt solved that question. He said William Priest, of Marion county, was a good old 'Hardshell' Baptist preacher, who didn't believe in salaries^ for preaching, and that he would do as fine a job at chaplaining as any man on a regular wage, and he'd come and pray for us. So Brother Priest was elected, and he made Judge Gantt's word good. "When the matter of placing the word 'Creator' in the constitution came up, Judge Gantt opposed it, because he didn't believe it was wise to drag the Deity into public affairs. He wanted church and state affairs kept separate, he said. He was outvoted, however, and the first three lines of the preamble read: "We, the people of Missouri, with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe,' and so on. "To show how strong the spirit of economy was abroad among public servants in those days, the matter of the convention's purchasing and paying for the daily papers, so as to keep tab on the proceedings, was long and earnestly discussed, and it was finally decreed that this expense should not be borne by the public funds, but by each member going down into his individual pocket and producing the cash for the paper. "That convention made a radical change in trials for murder. Until then, if a man were convicted of murder or some degree of man-slaughter, appealed and got a new trial, he could not be tried for a higher degree than the jury's verdict at the first trial. The change in the constitution provided that the second trial should be conducted re gardless of the jury's verdict the first time. There have been cases since where men were tried for, murder, convicted in the second degree, got a new trial arid were then convicted in the first degree." The New Constitution Movement. < The movement for a fourth organic law of the state came to definite form in the organization of the, "New Constitution Association." This league pre sented the matter to the general assembly in 1919, after a- vigorous campaign in the state, asking the legislature to submit to the popular vote the question whether a constitutional convention shall be held. Objections to the present constitution and changed condition^ which called for new organic, provisions may be sum marized from the address of William S. Southern, of Independence: » Thc present constitution was written forty-three years ago, before the era of electric light, telephones, automobiles, and present business conditions. The present constitution was too long, ahd was more a code of laws than a declaration of fundamental principles. It contained more than 30,600 words, while the Constitution of the United States con tained only about 4,000. Since the present state constitution was adopted eighty-six amendments had been submitted to vote, and only twenty-three had been adopted, and of these only one in the past ten years. This showed the hopelessness of trying to amend the present constitution to meet present-day needs. Administration of justice was im possible and the restrictions as to, the number of judges of the supreme court had re sulted in such delays in litigation as practically to deprive the poor man of his right of appeal. The revenue and taxation laws were the "craziest set" any state had, and they 216 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI had made fully fifty per cent of the taxpayers perjurers. A new constitution need not mean increased taxes ; it need only provide for the equalization of taxes. Public educa tion had been hampered by the restrictions of the present constitution, and, as a result, Missouri was ' thirty-second among the states in the literacy rank. More liberal constitu tional provisions for the building of roads were necessary. \ \ Perhaps the strongest argument put forward by the advocates of a convention to frame a new constitution for Missouri, and the one likely to command the, most general popular support was the need of more liberal expenditures for education. That Missouri was ranked thirty-second of the states in literacy and first in mules was galling. Dr. W. S. McDearmont, president of the Cape Girar deau Teachers' College pointed out that, under constitutional limitations,, it was impossible to levy a tax of more than sixty-five cents on the $106 for rural schools, although a tax of one dollar on the $100 could be levied in the cities. He could not understand why the framers of the Constitution of 1875 figured that it would cost less to educate a country child than a city child. The movement favoring a new constitution for Missouri reached positive strength in 1920, with officers, headquarters arid aggressive propaganda. It un dertook to remove one of the chief hindrances to the call for a constitutional con vention.. This, it was proposed to db by an amendhient to the existing organic act. . The constitution of 1875 provided that when a convention was called to re vise that constitution it should be composed of two delegates from each of the sen atorial districts; and their election must be conducted "in conformity with the laws regulating the. election of senators." As the senatorial districts of the state were so bounded as to insure a majority of Democrats in that body under ordinary divisions of the voters on party lines, the Republicans opposed the calk ing of a constitutional convention because it was almost certain to mean a strong- preponderance of the opposition. The Republicans in the general assembly for some years stood out against a constitutional convention, insisting on a rear rangement of the senatorial district boundaries. To meet this objection the New Constitution Association proposed to change the method of electing delegates to a constitutional convention in such manner as to create a bi-partisan body. To do this required an amendment to. the constitution of 1875. The draft of such an amendment was framed by a committee of the ablest lawyers of the state. The suggested amendment provided for two delegates from each -senatorial district, each of the two political parties, to name one delegate. This would mean an equal representation of Republicans and Democrats to the extent of the number of senatorial districts. There was a further provision that a party movement outside^ of the two old parties might elect a delegate if it outvoted one of the old parties. In addition to the district delegates the plan contemplated fifteen delegates-at-large to be nominated by initiative petitions and "to be voted for upon one independent and separate ballot without any emblem or party designa tion whatever." The plan of the organization contemplated a vote of the people upon this amendment at the November election of 1920. If adopted, the amend ment called for an election the first Tuesday in August, 1821, to submit to the voters of the state the question: "Shall there be a convention to revise and amend the constitution." If this passed in the affirmative, the plan provided for an election of delegates in from three to six hionths later; the constitutional con- THREE ORGANIC ACTS 217 vention to be called by the governor within six months after the election of the delegates. The plan seemed to meet with considerable favor as the details were made clear to the people of Missouri. On the 1st day of July, 1920, pe-' titions having 59,021 signatures were filed with the secretary of state, asking for submission, at the November election, of the proposed amendment providing the new plan for the election. of delegates to a constitutional convention. At the November election, the proposed amendment was carried by 76,622 majority, thus insuring submission to vote in August, 1921, of the question, "Shall there be a convention to revise and amend the constitution?" COUBTHOUSE, ST. LOUIS, IN 1840 , The old Planters ' House on the right, finest hotel west of the Mississippi,1 before 'the Civil War. Slave auctions took place at the front of the courthouse. THE ST. LOUIS COUBTHOUSE AT ITS BEST, ABOUT 1870 CHAPTER VII LAW AND LAWYERS ' The Golden Thread of Civilization's Fabric — Hempstead's Advice to His Brother — When Bench Split and Jury Hung — The Peck Impeachment Trial— Ethics in the Thirties — Judge Carr's Public Spirit — Court Days in Saline— Sheriff Bill Job's Sense of Humor— The Missouri Echo' of a Royal Scandal — Public Morals from the BenchA-The Chariton County Calf Case — Journalism, Law and Medicine — New Madrid Titles — Mullanphy on Court Proprieties— The Story That Beat Uriel Wright's Oratory— T orrey on the Evolution of the Judicial System — Missouri's Odd Cases — Judge Barclay's Remi niscences—Thomas T. Gantt's Learning — Groundhog Day — From Printer to Supreme Court Bench — Tompkins' Plain Speech — Court Days in Newton — Lamm on the Law's Delays-AWhen Vest Found a Needed Friend — Writers of Law Books — The Dred Scott Judge Who Was Right — Lawyers of the Platte Country — Four Governors from the Bar — Missouri Lawyers Abroad — Pike County Cases^—Missouri's Legal Classics— How Femme Sole Gained Her Rights — Judge, Witness and Counsel in One — Burckhartfs Solomonic Decision — Jackson County's Bar and Bench — When a King Brought Suit — Early Laxity on Admission — Krekel's Definition of Law— Missouri' and the United States Supreme Court — Missouri in the American Bar Association. But we do hot see the work of the lawyer. On Monday morning, when the American Bar Association was in session in this hall, a lady came to one of the entrances and asked the guide, "What is in there?" The reply was, "The American Bar Association is in session." "Is there anything to see? Not a thing," was the, reply. Evidently the guide forgot my friend, Mr. Hagermaii, and the other distinguished gentlemen wh.0 were on exhibition on this platform. The incident, though amusing, suggests a thought worth con sidering. The work of the lawyer is not visible. We see all the mighty things that Westinghouse and Bell and other discoverers and inventors have placed before us, and which are so useful in, our lives, but we do not see the thought of the lawyer which fashioned into shape the legislation that secured to them com pensation .for their contributions to our twentieth century civilization. At this exposition you can see twenty acres of Philippine life, but you do not see a square rod of the Constitution. And yet in the presence of this marvelous appeal of material things, I affirm that the work of the lawyer and jurist, invisible as it may be. to the physical eye, is of far greater value to humanity, for of what avail would be all the achievements of science if life, liberty and property were not made sacred by the just administration of law ? The fabric of our civilization is indeed a thing of beauty, but it .is made strong and enduring only by the golden thread of equal, ' exact, and universal justice. — -Mr. Justice David J. Brewer, of the Supreme Court of the United States, as president, opening the Unwersal Congress ' of Lawyers and Jurists at the World's Fair, St. Louis, 1904. The advice of Edward Hempstead, who began the practice 6f law in St. Louis in 1805 to a younger brother was this : "Fall not into the habit many have of drinking. Be free and sociable with your equals in age and standing, but be circumspect with those older than yourself. Be careful in avoiding a misunderstanding with any man. If, however, it cannot be prevented, when you are right, stick to it to the end. 1 "Touching your profession, close and constant study and reflection are now very necessary, more especially, as you will have to contend with gentlemen of long standing and of high reputation at the bar. Trust more to books for forms and to memory for principles. 'Let all your declarations, and pleadings be taken from established precedents. Encourage no one to commence a suit when he is wrong, nor where he cannot succeed." 221 222 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Edward Hempstead and Thomas H. Benton were close friends. Benton, in a conversation with Elihu' B. Washburne at Washington in 1856, said: "Missouri met an irreparable loss when Edward Hempstead died. No man could have stood higher in public" or private estimation, and had he lived he would have received every honor that the state could bestow, and would certainly have been fhe first United States senator. He lost his life in serving a friend, Mr. Scott. I was with him the night of his death." When Bench and Jury Split. Henry M. Brackenridge told of a Missouri court decision rendered by terri torial judges not long ago before statehood. The third judge was absent from the bench that day. No jury was required. The case was elaborately presented, and exhaustively argued. The judges retired for consultation. When they came back there was an embarrassing pause. The counsel looked expectantly toward the bench. The judges bent over the papers. At length one qf them said : "We are prepared to announce the finding of the court. We've split." When John F. Darby was a young lawyer he had a case before Justice Patrick Walsh. The court was oh Olive street near Main. John Newman was the op posing counsel. Constable Dan Busby went out to get a jury. He reported that everybody he asked refused to come. In those days the constable could not com pel attendance. The lawyers offereid to waive the jury. Old Judge Walsh said the record called for a jury; he wouldn't try the case otherwise. Constable Busby said he had seen "Big Bob" Moore on the corner ; he thought he could get "Big Bob" to serve. The trouble with the rest of the people was they wanted to see the St. Louis Grays, a parade having been announced for that day. The lawyers agreed to go ahead with one man for the jury if "Big Bob" Moore would serve. "Big.Bob" was willing. The case was tried and submitted. As the justice had only one room the court, counsel and witnesses went out on the sidewalk to let "Big Bob" make up the verdict. Time slipped by with no call from the lone juryman. Constable Busby opened the door and asked Moore if he had agreed on a verdict. "Not exactly," replied "Big Bob." The delay ceased to be humorous. The justice led the way back into the room and reopened court. Mr. Moore was called on to explain. "Squire," he said seriously, "the jury is hung. When I look at one side of the case I think I ought to give it that way; but when I come to r look at the evidence on the other side, I see I cannot give the verdict for that, side, and so the jury is hung, for I cannot make up a verdict." "Big Bob" was discharged and the case was continued. Some Early Judges. By nativity, by education, by previous practice at the bar, the circuit judges of St. Louis were widely representative. They brought to the bench tempera ment, knowledge and experience of great range. These judges have been as cosmopolitan as the legal profession of St. Louis. The first occupant of the cir cuit bench was a North Carolinian; the second was a Virginian and the third was ja. Kentuckian. After Barton and Tucker came Alexander Gray, who was a LAW AND LAWYERS 223 captain in the Twenty-fourth Infantry during the War of 1812, before he en tered upon the practice of law in St. Louis. The fourth circuit judge was a Vir ginian, Alexander Stuart. After he retired from active practice he lived on a farm near Bellefontaine. It was quite the custom for judges and lawyers in the earlier history of St. Louis to resort to country life for recreation. The bar of St. Louis early came into national prominence through an impeach ment trial. Luke E. Lawless, a Dublin University man, who had served in the British Navy and who had been a colonel in Napoleon's army came to St. Louis to practice law in 1826. Mr. Lawless felt prompted to publish a criticism of a federal judge, James H. Peck. The judge declared Lawless guilty of contempt of court, sent him to jail for a day and a night, and suspended him from practice for eighteen months. When Congress met in December, John Scott, the member from Missouri, presented a memorial from Lawless, charging Judge Peck with tyranny, oppression and usurpation of power. Articles of impeachment were reported by the House, and the Senate tried the judge. Lawless prepared the pleadings. Half of the lawyers in St. Louis went to Washington to give testi mony. The trial lasted six weeks. The judge was acquitted. Precedents as to the powers of the United States courts to punish contempt were established. The vote of the Senate was 21 for conviction and 22 for acquittal. One of the managers on the part of the House was James Buchanan, afterwards President. The argument of William Wirt is said to have saved Peck. Luke E. Lawless had a variety of sensational experiences in his profes sional career. On one occasion he challenged the right of Judge J. B. C. Lucas to appear in court on the ground that he was not a licensed member of the bar. Lucas had admitted Lawless to practice some time previously when he was a, member of the court appointed from Washington. To Lawless' objection Judge Lucas replied : "If the court please, I am licensed. I am licensed by the God of heaven. He has given me a head to judge and determine, and a tongue to speak and explain." After he had spoken at some length Judge Lucas closed his response to Lawless with this: "May it please the court, I did not come to this country as a fugitive and an outcast from my native land. I came as a scholar and a gentleman on the invitation of Dr. Franklin." Professional Ethics in the Thirties. From the early days the bar of St. Louis has held to high standards of pro fessional ethics. When Luke E. Lawless was the circuit judge his reappoint ment by the governor of the state was foreshadowed. A meeting of the members of the-bar of St. Louis was called "to get an expression of opinion concerning the judicial qualifications of Judge Lawless." The meeting was presided over by Henry S. Geyer. The secretary was Thomas B. Hudson. This meeting de clared belief that valid objections -existed to the reappointment of Judge Law less. These objections were stated as follows : 1. That the said Luke E. Lawless, Esq., is too much under the influence of first impressions, to give to each case submitted to his judgment a deliberate consideration. 2. That he is too passionate and impatient while on the bench, to admit a calm and full examination of cases. 224 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI '3. That on the trial of issues of fact before juries,, his mind receives an early bias, plainly perceivable by the jury, to the prejudice of parties. , 4. That he invades the right of juries, by assuming the decision of questions of f act- exclusively within their province. 5. That his impatience and arbitrariness lead him to interrupt counsel unnecessarily, and frequently to preclude .argument. , •6. That he is wanting in punctuality, in attending to the duties of the office. 7. That he is imperious, overbearing, and disrespectful in his manner to the members of the bar. 8. That he is indifferent to the faithful recording of the acts of the court wherein he is judge. , ' The governor, it seems, took the view that the. opposition to Judge Lawless was largely- on account of politics. He reappointed him. After serving a part of the term, Judge Lawless retired -to private life. A Public Spirited Jurist. A movement to impeach a circuit judge was made in 1833. William C. Carr was the judge, having held the position seven years; Investigation showed that the charges were prompted by personal enemies. The legislature went through ' with the trial and acquitted. William C. Carr was described by those who" knew him as being somewhat taciturn in temperament. He was sober and re ligiously inclined, being looked upon as one of the leading Presbyterians of his day. Having no acquaintance with the French language when he came to St. Louis among the first arrivals after the American occupation, he made rather slow progress in the early years. But he advanced to a high position in the com munity. He built the first brick residence. He gave a block of ground for a park. He was among the most active in organizing associations for charitable, agri cultural, religious and scientific purposes. When he moved to the suburbs his farm and the mansion thereon were considered one of the show places of St. Louis. Of Judge William C. Carr it was said that he crossed the Mississippi river one winter on floating cakes of ice at the imminent hazard of his life, floating down stream for miles before he could make the landing. 'He was com ing from the east and was prompted to this act in order to be with his dying wife. Early Court Days in Saline. Thomas Shacklef ord, in his early recollections of Missouri, given to the Missouri Historical Society, told these stories of early court days in Saline county : "Colonel Benjamin Chambers, a revolutionary soldier, was the first clerk ol the county and circuit courts; he was a strict old school Presbyterian and a very positive character. While the court Vas being held at old Jefferson in a one-roomed cabin,' an original genius, named William Job, was sheriff, and lived on a parcel of land as a squatter. He was called Bill Job, and was hardly able to write intelligibly,- but was a man of great humor. He had handed the panel of the grand' jury to Col. Chanibers, who was at his desk, and Job stood in the door to call the jurors as indicated by the colonel. The judge was on the box, elevated- a little, the lawyers sitting arpund; Chambers could not make out the full names of the jurors. He called to Job, 'Jacob — who is this?' Job called out from the door three times, 'Jacob Who-is-this.' Col. Chambers, much irritated CHARLES P. JOHNSON For fifty years a leading lawyer in many of Missouri's most noted criminal cases ELMER B. ADAMS Judge of the Federal court; author of "The Man Higher Up," and of noted de cisions on capital and labor. CHIEF JUSTICE HENRY W. BOND Member of Supreme court of Missouri from 1912 to 1919 Vol. 1—15 LAW AND LAWYERS 227 at the burst of laughter from the lawyers, then said angrily, 'Now you have done it.' Job immediately caused increased merriment by exclaiming three times, 'Now-you-have-done-it.' Job was a very poor man. As a boy I often heard the expression, 'As poor as Job's turkey,' which I thought was in reference to Bill Job's turkey. As I had never heard that the original Job of the Bible had a turkey, the expression must have originated from the old Bill Job, sheriff of Saline county. When a boy, I was riding with Col. Chambers. I had placed the ball of my foot in the stirrup when the colonel said to me: 'Young man, don't ride in that way.' I said: 'But, colonel, I might get thrown and would not like to have my feet hang in the stirrup.' 'Young man, when you mount i horse, you must not expect to be thrown. Ride with the middle of the foot in the stirrup, and sit upright. I have often in my experience in life, found that when a man expects to fail in life's battle, he generally fails.' A Wetting Escaped. "While Dr. Penn was going to see his daughter, and the court was then held at Jonesburg, Col. Chambers and Dr. Penn were riding on the prairie a long distance from any house. A sudden shower came up, which promised to be of short duration. The colonel, to the astonishment of Dr. Penn, it being a sultry hot day, deliberately got off his horse, took off his saddle, and then took off all his own clothes, put them all under the saddle, covered the whole with the blanket, and stood in the shower without his clothing until the shower had passed; then he dressed and rode comfortably home, while Dr. Penn had to go to the house of his sweetheart perfectly saturated with water. "Such were some of the characteristics of this old soldier, who lived to be over 80 years of age. During the term of his service as clerk, my grandfather, Drury Pulliam, was sheriff, and his son, John C. Pulliam, who afterwards married a daughter of Col. Chambers, carried the whole of the state revenue, in silver, for one year, to Jefferson City in a pair of saddlebags. "When Saline county was organized, old Jefferson on the Missouri river was chosen the county seat. The court was held in a one-roomed cabin, and the juries in the summer held their consultations in the shade of the trees. Judge David Todd, of Columbia, Boone county, was judge, and his circuit extended to the state line west. The lawyers and the judge frequently came to remain all night at my father's house. There often came Peyton R. Hayden, John B. Clark, Abiel Leonard, Hamilton R„ Gamble, John F. Ryland, and Charles French and others. I listened to these men with wonder. ' Judge Todd and Gamble were the only professors of religion. All these men were Whigs. Col. Thomas H. Benton had assumed prominence as a leader of the Jacksonian Democ racy, party lines were distinctly drawn, and the Democracy was in the ascendant, and as most of the judges o"f the state were Whigs, a constitutional amendment was adopted legislating them out of office, and the appointment of Democrats to fill their places. Pioneer Justice. "These early pioneers had a strong sense of justice. An incident in point: 'We had a limitation law, which barred all accounts in two years. I was a young man just begin ning to practice; a client came to me with an account for flour sold over two years preceding. I said to him: 'It is barred by law.' T know it,' he said, 'but I want him to plead the act if he dares.' I brought the suit, the trial came on. The defendant said: 'Squire, I plead limitation on this account.' The squire said: 'Before you do this, let me ask you some questions. Did you buy this flour?' 'Yes.' 'Did you eat it in your family?' 'Yes.' 'Did you ever pay for it?' 'No.' 'Then you can't plead limitation in my court. I give judgment against you.' The defendant paid the debt. Another inci dent: A purchaser of tobacco had made_a purchase of a farmer by verbal contract. Tobacco raised in price, and, his covetousness getting the better of him, he refused to deliver. The purchaser asked me to sue him. I told him I could not recover if the man pleaded the statute of frauds. 'He dare not do it and put it on record. I wilt give you five dollars to bring the suit.' I did so, the writ was served; the next day the purchaser 228 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI canie into niy office with a five dollar bill in his hand. 'Here, S.,' he said, 'we shot at the bush and got the game. A. has delivered his tobacco.'" The Stokes Scandal. The scandal of George IV and Caroline, had an echo in the St. Louis courts. The Prince Regent repudiated his wife. He charged her with infidelity. Princess Caroline was living away from England. When the Prince became George IV the first thing he did was to declare his charges against his wife, and to call upon parliament to dissolve the marriage. Caroline returned to England, claimed her royal rights, and appealed to the public. Sympathy was with her. It was stimulated by the methods employed to collect evidence of Caroline's alleged wrongdoing. The prosecution failed utterly and was abandoned. Not long after this there appeared in St. Louis an Englishman who was introduced as William Stokes. He brought with him a credit of 28,000 pounds sterling. That' was a great deal of money in the eyes of St. Louis people. Stokes announced that he had selected this as his future home. Through General William H. Ashley and others he began to make large purchases of real estate. Away to the westward of the city as it was then, near what is now Olive street, he bought two hundred acres of ground. This was laid out as the country home of an English gentleman. Extensive stables and outbuildings supplemented the mansion. Orchard and garden, a tree-bordered driveway, a park were added at lavish cost. Stokes was made welcome. His family was shown the social courtesies which St. Louis people so well knew how to bestow. This family consisted of Miss Stokes, the sister, and a lady who was presented as Mrs. ' Stokes, the wife. Miss Stokes was a young woman of fine education and good breeding. In time she became the wife of John O'Fallon. Stokes had become well settled in St. Louis. Four years had elapsed since his coming. Mrs. Mari anne Stokes arrived. She announced that she was the real wife of William Stokes. She told the story of his desertion in England. Her version was that Stokes had been employed by the crown to furnish evidence against Queen Caro line. For this she said his reward had been 50,000 pounds. But fhe conduct of Stokes, when the evidence was presented, appeared so disreputable that he was compelled to exile himself. He had taken his housekeeper with him. That he was in St. Louis had been learned through the Barings, bankers. Mrs. Marianne Stokes took board in St. Louis and employed lawyers. She wanted alimony; she also wanted a divorce. Her chief counsel was Luke E. Lawless. Stokes was defended by an array of talent headed by Thomas H. Benton. A jury was summoned to report on the facts. It was composed of George Martin, Gabriel Cerre, Joseph White, John R. Guy, Joseph Liggett, Jonathan Johnson, James J. Purdy, John Sutton, Dempsey Jackson, William Anderson, James Loker, James B. Lewis. St. Louis was shocked at the revelations. Stokes was shunned. But there was not much sympathy for Mrs. Marianne Stokes. That lady was too plainly out for .revenge. Moreover, she took pains to show that she considered herself very much above the society of St. Louis. It was her custom to carry to the table her own knife, fork and spoon, enclosed in a beautiful case, and to use them in preference to those furnished by the landlady where she boarded. LAW AND LAWYERS 229 A Sensible Missouri Judge. Lawless pressed the case with a great deal of bitterness. He got ai! order for $90 a month alimony while the case was pending. The law officers were set upon Stokes every month for the alimony. If there was a delay, Lawless would go before a justice and get a judgment; then Stokes would be threatened with arrest unless he paid. The litigation got into the supreme court. An opinion rendered there shows that the course of the prosecution was not viewed as entirely praiseworthy. Judge Pettibone, announcing the decision, said sensibly: "It appears by the complainant's own showing that she and her husband separated by consent in 1807, and that they had never since lived together; that in 1816 she left the neighborhood in England and went over to France. The laws of England afforded her redress ; she was free to seek it there if she wished it ; she was under no coercion of her husband, for she lived separate from him ; she was not forced away by him before she could have an opportunity to make her complaints. If for nine years she could behold the open adultery and profligacy of her husband, I see no reason why the courts of this country should at this hour be called upon to interfere in her behalf. It is against good policy and good morals to do it. Investigating cases of this kind leaves a bad impression upon the public mind and has a tendency to cleprave the public morals, and ought to be resorted to only when the due administration of justice imperiously requires it. Every offense committed within our own country against the morals and manners of N society we are bound to notice and punish, whenever we can get opportunity. But it is carrying our comity very far to say that we must investigate the adulteries and family quarrels which took place in England perhaps ten years ago, when the parties had an opportunity of applying to their own courts.' And I am unwilling to establish the principle that parties may lie by in their own country under injuries of this kind, and then come here and ask us for the redress which they might and ought to have obtained there." In the end Marianne Stokes was given judgment for a considerable sum. Stokes' property was seized and sold. Some pieces went for one-tenth what he had paid. The Mrs. Stokes who had first appeared in St. Louis died. The wife of John O'Fallon died, leaving no children. Stokes died and was buried in a little grave not far from where the mansion stood. For a time the grave was surrounded by a wooden fence. A half century later when grading was being done near the line of Olive street, the workmen came upon a part of a skull and thigh bones. The coffin and other parts of the body had gone to dust. The bones were loaded into the cart, hauled away and thrown into the depres sion which was being filled. There isn't so much as a grave left as a reminder of the Stokes family tragedy of ninety years ago. Early Law Givers. \ Thomas C. Burch came upon the bench in Chariton county about 1839. The legislature had created the eleventh judicial circuit. It was told of him that he had little patience with the delays of litigation. One, the calf case, in which a poor woman was claiming an animal which a neighbor had taken, was brought before him. The judge looked over the papers and came to the conclusion from the array of witnesses that the trial would require several days. He rebuked the lawyer of the poor woman for bringing such a suit. The lawyer replied "That it was not so much the value of the calf that was prompting the suit but a desire for justice." 230 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "Well," said the judge addressing the defendant's counsel, "what are you fighting' for?" "For the same that my learned brother is professing to seek— the ever living and eternal principles of right." "Mr. Clerk," said the judge, "how many witnesses have been subpoenaed in this case?" "Forty, your Honor." "Do you want your fees in the case?" "No, sir; I will relinquish them if it will tend to settle the case." "Mr. Sheriff, have you any claim for your services?" "No, sir; like the clerk, I will abandon my fees if the case stops here." Coming down from the bench and approaching the plaintiff, the judge. said: "Madame, how much do you want for your calf?" < "It is worth four dollars," replied the widow. The judge thereupon took from his pocket four dollars, and, handing the money to the widow, said: "Mr. Clerk, strike this case from the docket." The Darnes Trial. Three professions — journalism, the law and medicine — were concerned in a celebrated case which monopolized public interest for several weeks in 1840. The beginning was a newspaper controversy. In the Argus, which was the Democratic organ, appeared an article criticising severely the participants of a meeting where William P. Darnes was secretary. The Argus was edited by William Gilpin, the owner was Andrew J. Davis. Darnes had been the subject of severe criticism in the columns of the Argus before the publication about the meeting. He wrote to Mr. Davis, asking if the criticism of the meeting was intended to apply to him personally. At the same time Darnes referred to Gilpin with some contemptuous expression. Davis replied sharply. Gilpin came out in the Argus declaring he alone was responsible for what appeared in the paper. He denounced Darnes. This meant physical violence. Darnes decided to hold Davis responsible, notwithstanding what Gilpin had written. He bought a cane, a small iron rod. Meeting Davis near the corner of Third and Market streets, he struck him. upon the head with the cane. Davis was taken to the hospital. Three of the leading physicians of the city were called in. They determined to perform an operation to uncover the brain and take out any broken pieces that might be found. As a result of the operation, several fragments were removed. Davis died a few days afterward. The med ical profession divided upon the question whether the operation was necessary. Darnes came to trial. He had friends. Supporters of Davis were anxious that conviction should follow prosecution. As a result, able counsel were em ployed on both sides. Gantt was one of the prosecutors. Geyer defended in a two days' speech. The trial lasted two weeks. It turned on the medical testi mony whether Davis died from blows of the cane or from the surgical opera tion. Among the doctors who took the ground that the symptoms did not require trephining was Dr. William Carr Lane, the first mayor of St. Louis. The opera tion had been performed by Dr. Beaumont, who was a surgeon in the United States army and who obtained world-wide reputation as a writer and authority \ ¦^aWr^S^fft""*"" ¦ * ¦£: £ 5. <*$g*j!$«r ¦ ¦¦¦ OLDEST HOUSE IN LEXINGTON Built of logs and used originally as the court house of Lafayette County JUDGE JOHN W. HENRY JUDGE HENRY CLAY McDOUGAL LAW AND LAWYERS 233 upon the stomach and the functions of gastric juice. About the same number of doctors testified on one side as on the other. The court room was crowded throughout the trial. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter in the fourth degree. Darnes was fined $500. At that time personal journalism of the most aggravated type prevailed among the newspapers of St. Louis, and editors indulged in very sweeping and bitter criticism of political opponents. It was public comment that the lightness of the verdict against Darnes was due to the fact that editors went too far in their comments. Judge Henry and the New Madrid Titles. Judge John W. Henry drew a graphic picture of life in Missouri as he found it when he came in 1845. He was twenty years old and fresh from Transyl vania law school. He first tried practice in Boonville. In 1847 he was made attorney for the branch of the state bank at Fayette and moved there. JThe ap pointment was given, he said, "because I was a Democrat and for no other rea son. I was a perfect stranger in Fayette. One night I wandered into the local tavern where the fellows were wont to .gather. There was a crowd there and among them was 'Captain Jack' Moon, a plasterer by trade, who owned a farm near town. He had a game leg and was blind in one eye. He had been in the war of 1812 and was as game a man as ever was, although I didn't know it. It seems that a Frenchman named Bogliole had been buying up New Madrid land titles in that neighborhood and ousting people from their land through the courts. As I" stepped in somebody just for a joke spoke up and said: " 'Here comes Bogliole's lawyer now. He is down here to get possession of Captain Jack's farm.' "At this the captain hobbled to the center of the room and asked me if I was Bogliole's lawyer. Thinking I'd carry out the joke, I answered yes. " 'Are you going to get my farm ?' he asked. . "'Yes,' said I. " 'Well, you'd better bring your coffin and shroud with you when you come,' said the captain." "Well," said I, 'if you want to kill me we can settle that right now. I haven't any weapons with me, but come up to my office and we'll see about it.' "Captain Jack said 'all right' and followed by the crowd, we went to my office, a short distance -away. There was a fireplace in the room' and the uncertain light made a weird effect. As I entered the door I took down a large brass key hanging by the door, wheeled around and pointed it squarely at Captain Jack's breast. 'Now,' said I, gruffly, 'what are you going to do ?' "Before I had the words out of my mouth Captain Jack reached into a hind pocket and pulled out a sharp trowel that "looked two feet long in the firelight. " 'Make a center shot, then,' he roared as he lunged at me. "That took all the joke out of it for me and I made a leap for the door and bounded down the stairs without waiting to see if the captain was behind me. There isn't any doubt about it; I was scared 'most to death and it was a long time before the fellows at Fayette let up on me for my encounter with 'Captain Jack' Moon. Moon and I, how ever, were afterwards the best of friends.'' Judge Mullanphy on the Proprieties. When Bryan Mullanphy was judge of the circuit court in St. Louis, he was charged with oppression. The complaint was made by Ferdinand W. Risque. 234 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The judge had ruled unfavorably to Mr. Risque in the case that was pending. The lawyer showed his disgust in the judge's presence. Three times in quick succession the judge imposed a fine of $50." Mr. Riscjue for the fourth time showed his contempt. Judge Mullanphy ordered the lawyer removed by the sheriff from the court room. On this the lawyer based his charges. The. judge was tried before the criminal court and acquitted. Judge Mullanphy had a keen sense of the proprieties when the honor of the bench was assailed. Information that he had been indicted was brought to him while he was trying a case. The marshal went to the judge and told him he had a capias for him. He asked that as soon as the trial was concluded, the judge come into the office and sign the acknowledgment of the service with prom ise to appear. Judge Mullanphy promptly declined the courtesy. Interrupting the lawyer who was addressing the jury, the judge said : "Stop, stop : I can't go any further now,— the court is indicted. Mrs Sheriff, discharge the jury and adjourn the court; the court is indicted. The court will not continue in session one minute after being indicted." The, Risque affair had both comedy and tragedy passages. After the judge had ordered the lawyer from the court room, Risque stood outside the open door, shook his fist and made grimaces at the court. Thereupon the judge told the sheriff to shut the door, remarking that he would not "have the light of his countenance shine upon the lawyer." Subsequently Judge Mullanphy and Risque met on Chestnut -street at the south entrance to the Planters' house. George H. Kennerly, then county marshal, was present. Risque struck at the judge. Mullanphy drew the sword from his cane and started towards Risque. The marshal stepped between and "commanded the peace" after the form of those days. "Do you command the peace in your official capacity?" asked Mullanphy. The marshal said he did. "I always obey the officers of the law," said Mullanphy, sheathing his sword in the cane and walking away. A case to which the Bank of the State of Missouri was a party came before Judge Mullanphy. The lawyer on the other side questioned the legal competency of the court to sit. He said Judge Mullanphy was a stockholder. The judge sustained the point and ruled himself off the bench for that cause. He said that "the court was not a stockholder in the bank ; but the court's mother was a stock holder, and therefore he would not try the case." When Judge Mullanphy was examining a candidate for admission to the bar he asked a number of questions calculated to test the- power of recollection. He announced his finding in these words : "You have a very particular memory, sir — very particular, and I shall grant your license with much pleasure." Judge Mullanphy was the seventh circuit judge, succeeding Lawless. He was a native of Baltimore and had been educated at the Jesuit college in Paris, with four years at Stonyhurst, England. Notwithstanding his eccentricities Judge Mul lanphy was so painstaking and thorough on the bench that very few of his deci sions were reversed. When he died the bar of St. Louis resolved that "all his oddities are but as dust in the balance when weighed against the uprightness of his life and the succession of his charities." LAW AND LAWYERS 235 When "Abby" Got the Best of Uriel Wright. When J. R. Abernathy was teaching school in Audrain, one of the neighbors came to him with a complaint that some one had taken his "bee-gum." Aber nathy consulted a law book and finding nothing in there about bee-gums or bees, he turned over the pages until he came to the form of procedure for "forcible entry and detainer." This gave him the suggestion and he started a suit for the recovery of the bee-gum by forcible entry and detainer. He was so success ful that he decided to be a lawyer and prepared himself for admission to the bar. The court referred the application to Judge Jack Gordon, himself a lead ing lawyer. Gordon asked Abernathy, so the tradition to the Audrain bar goes, if he could sing and dance. The examination was satisfactory. Gordon re ported to the court that Abernathy might not be very strong on common law, but he was on the statutes. Abernathy was admitted. Abernathy, or "Abby" as he was commonly called, got the best of the, elo quent Uriel Wright in the prosecution of a man for horse stealing. Wright was the terror of the lawyers less gifted with speech. The side which secured his services entered upon the trial 'with much confidence. Judge Fagg, of Pike county, in his charming reminiscences written for the Pike County News nearly twenty years ago, gave this- account of Wright's defeat by Abernathy: "The one great fault in Major Wright's defense of a criminal was the length of his speech. He was very fascinating in manner as well as in diction. He was a good judge of humanity and knew how to play upon the sympathies and feelings of an ordinary juror, but he did not understand the art of quitting when he was through. Consequently he sometimes became a little tedious. On this occasion he had been very successful in keeping both the jurors and the audience in a high state of merriment and good humor. "Abby felt that he had to exert himself to the full measure of his capacity to meet the counsel for the defense upon his chosen ground. He commenced by telling the jury that no one knew better than he did his inability to cope with Major Wright in learning or ability to talk; that he had been raised a very poor boy in the mountains of West Virginia; that he had only been able to get a very limited education and that he had had a hard fight with poverty from his earliest recollection. He succeeded at once in securing the closest attention and sympathy of the jury and he proceeded with much greater confidence in his ability to secure a conviction. He said there were two things that he found very difficult to understand in his boyhood. He didn't understand how it was possible for a man to know enough to enable him to talk four hours in succession, and, as there wasn't level enough country in those mountains to make a race track four miles in length, he could not understand how a four-mile race could be run. His father, however, moved to Kentucky while he was a boy and settled some little distance from Lexington. It was not long before he heard of a four-mile race to be run over the celebrated race course at that place. He had to walk the entire distance and he labored hard and patiently until it was reached. To his utter amazement, he said, the four-mile lace was made by running around the same track four times. The idea had never struck him, and without this practical demonstration he could never have been able to solve the mystery. He said he never found out how four-hour speeches could be made until he listened to his friend, Major Wright, and he found out they were made in precisely the same way that they run four-mile races, — by running round the same track four times. His victory was assured without another word. The fellow went to the penitentiary for the longest term authorized by the statute." Evolution of Missouri's Judicial System. At the first annual meeting of the Missouri Bar Association, held in St. Louis, in 1881, Jay L. Torrey, afterwards of national fame as the colonel of 236 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Torrey's Rough Riders in the Spanish-American war, told in succinct form the beginning and development of the judicial system of Missouri: "The constitution of 1820 vested the judicial power of the new state in a supreme court, a chancellor and three circuit courts. The supreme court was composed of three judges, and held sessions in different parts of the state.,. The chancellor held an equity intermediate court of appeal. The circuit courts exercised original equity and the supreme court final equity jurisdiction. The judges were appointed during good behavior by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, were required to be thirty years of age at the time of appointment, and to retire upon attaining the age of sixty-five years, and were to receive a salary of not to exceed $2,000 per annum. "In 1822 the office of chancellor was abolished by constitutional amendment; limitation as to salaries was stricken out.. In 1849 the constitution was further amended to make the term of judges for the supreme court twelve years and that of the circuit 'judges eight years. At the same time it was provided that all of the judgeships be vacated on March 1, i84£. "In 1856, Missouri, through further amendment of the constitution, provided that judges be elected instead of, appointed. The constitution of 1865 reconstructed the judicial^ system of Missouri. It changed the terms of the supreme judges so that one judge should go out every three years. It established intermediate courts of appeal, called district courts. The state outside of St. Louis county was divided into districts of three circuits each, the circuit judges in each district constituting the district court to hear appeals. In St. Louis, the three circuit judges met in what was called 'general term' and performed the same function as the district courts out in the state. All appeals and writs of error from lower jurisdictions were heard at these district court sessions and might, without restriction, be appealed to and prosecuted in the supreme court. The qualification of thirty years of age was retained and residence of five years in the United States and three in Missouri was required but no retirement age was fixed. "In 1870, the district courts were abolished, by amendment, and in 1875 the judges of the supreme court were increased to five ; the term was made ten instead of six years. "Then came the present state constitution of 1875 creating the St. Louis court of appeals with jurisdiction in St. Louis city and county and the counties of St. Charles, Warren and Lincoln, with final jurisdiction except that 'appeals shall lie from the decisions of the St. Louis court of appeals to the supreme court and writs of error may issue from the supreme court in all cases where the amount in dispute, exclusive of costs, exceeds the - sum of $2,500; in cases involving construction of the Constitution of the United States or of this state ; in cases where the validity of a treaty or statute of, or authority exercised under the United States is drawn in question; in cases involving the construction of the revenue laws of this state, or the title to any office under this state; in cases involving the title to real estate; in cases where a county or other political subdivision of the state or any state officer is a party and in all cases of felony.' The term of office was made twelve years and divided so that one judge would go out every four years." Missouri's "Odd Case." In the Missouri reports is recorded a case which C. O. Tichenor embalmed as one of the "Odd Cases" of the world's litigation. A doctor brought suit for two dollars for medical services. The patient filed a set-off for one dollar and a half. He deposited in court fifty cents and the costs which had accrued. The doctor wasn't satisfied with the judgment given him for the fifty- cents and ap pealed to the circuit court. One of the parties to the litigation took a change of venue to another circuit judge. The case was tried by jury which found against the doctor, who appealed to the supreme court of the state. There was no dis pute about the amount of the bill. Neither was it disputed that the patient had ROGER NORTH TODD First circuit elerk and recorder of Boone County LAW AND LAWYERS 239 loaned the doctor one dollar and a half but the doctor set up that the loan was made in poker chips while the patient and he were sitting in the game. He set up, or his lawyer did for him, that the patient should not be given credit for the dollar and a half because the chips were given "for the purpose of being used in betting on said game and defendant knew the purpose of the loan." The su preme court reversed the decision of the' lower court, holding that the jury had not been properly instructed as to the law of the case. The litigants seemed to have settled out of court for the case did not get back to the supreme court. The contest over the will of Colonel Philip Williams was one of the cele brated cases of Missouri. It was tried at Paris. Judge Henry S. Priest, after wards of St. Louis, had his baptism of fire in court at that time, pitted against some of the most famous men at the Missouri bar. There were extraordinary features in the colonel's will. He mentioned a woman whom he had known away back in his early days in Virginia and who claimed that he was the father of her son. The colonel said, in his will, "I do not of my own knowledge know that said Williams is my son, but it being ungallant to dis pute the word of a lady in such matters, I hereby bequeath him the sum of $10,000." The Early Conferences of Missouri Judges. In 1905, Shepard Barclay told at the conference of judges pf Missouri some reminiscences of those who were prominent in the earliest of these conferences. Of Judge George H. Burckhartt, he said this first president of the conference was such an enthusiastic hunter that he had caused to be pictured on the seal of the Moberly court of common pleas a deer hunt as having taken place on the very spot where that city is located. "He once decided a case against an old and familiar friend who was deeply disgruntled at the decision. When the lawyers assembled that night at the hotel where they were stopping, this disgruntled friend took a seat apart, unwilling to mingle in the merriment of which the judge was always the center. Judge Burckhartt told to those immediately surrounding him the story of a coon hunt which had taken place on his farm the previous week. He described how one of his old negro servants of the war days was with him, chasing coons with a pack of dogs. How a coon got into a tree which the darkey began to chop down. As the tree was about to fall and was swaying, a celebrated coon dog, 'Jeff,' leaped out of the pack into the darkness, to every one's surprise, just at the time the tree began to fall, in the direction where the dog was running. Jeff got to the point where the coon endeavored to spring to another tree and was just in time to catch him down. The judge told how his faithful colored -man clapped his hands and shouted : 'Massa Buck, dat's the smartest dog dat eber lived. I do believe he done studied law, — he knows ebery time just where to jump.' At this point in the story, the deep voice of the disgruntled lawyer in the corner exclaimed: 'That's a durn sight more than his master ever did — he never studied law and never knew which way to jump.' This, of course, produced a roar of laughter in which the judge joined." Of Judge John J. Lindley, Judge Barclay said he had a "natural and easy manner on the bench. On one occasion an aged German, summoned on the panel of jurors, came forward to present an excuse. When questioned he said, 'Judge, I no understand good English.' The judge replied, 'Don't let that bother you, my dear friend, you will hear mighty little of it in this courtroom.' " 240 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI i Of Judge Thomas T. Gantt, presiding judge of the St. Louis court of appeals, in its beginning, Judge Barclay said: "His classical learning was extensive and he enjoyed the use of colloquial Latin. I remember his story of Groundhog day. We met on that day in the Law library and I made some remark concerning the groundhog. Whereupon he entered into a most interesting narration of the origin of the superstition about that animal. He said that the tradition was an cient and to be found recorded in the Monkish documents of the Middle Ages in words which he quoted, a sort of barbarous and mongrel Latin meaning that 'if the sun shines on the day of the purification of the Virgin, there will be more winter after that day than before.' He said that the superstition about the groundhog was another form of stating the same idea but that he had been unable to trace the origin beyond the point mentioned, Judge Gantt used the Latin with quite as much ease as he did the English." Of Judge Francis M. Black, Judge Barclay said he "was another of those present at the initial meetings of our conference. It was amusing to hear his frequent expressions of disgust at the drudgery and slavery of office, and of his firm resolve to retire at the close of his first term ; yet that singular fascination which public life acquires for those who have once breathed its atmosphere led him to yield later to the general desire of his, party friends and to accept a nom ination for a second term. Judge Black possessed a sterling and inflexible sense of justice. Indeed, if there was any blemish on his official work, it lay in his overpowering desire to reach the moral justice of each case, even at the risk of sometimes impinging on the rules of technical law in the effort." Judge Wagner, like Judge Black, in the opinion of Mr! Barclay, was "prone to toss' legal difficulties aside and to deal broadly with the large features of litigation. He wielded a most trenchant pen and used a sort of sledgehammer logic which attracted wide attention. His judicial writings are often quoted with strong approval by Doctor Wharton in his erudite treatise on the law of negligence. He has left one amusing memorial of his efforts to harmonize the severity of the written law with the exigences of rural life in the case which records the arrest of the phantom hogs in Trenton, Mo. (Spitler vs. Young, 63 Mo., 42). That town had an ordinance declaring that all hogs running at large in the corporate limits were nuisances and the owner should pay a fine of $1 for every twenty-four hours a hog should be at large therein. A citizen outside the town had a bunch of hogs in a pen which a storm washed away, permitting them to pay, a coveted visit to the streets of Trenton. The hogs were taken up by the town marshal who refused to surrender them until, the owner paid the fine. Judge Wagner held that the hogs were entitled to the fredom of the city saying, 'Whilst physically they were found in the streets, or within the cor porate limits, yet they were not there within the meaning and spirit, as con templated by the ordinance. The ordinance was designed to prohibit hogs from running at large or within the town in the ordinary sense. The hogs were turned out by a power over which plaintiff had no control,' and the ordinance was 'there fore inapplicable to the phantom hogs. The marshal was held bound to give them up and pay costs." Judge Edward A. Lewis, according to Judge Barclay, was up to the time of this address, the only judge in the state who "served on both the appellate and LAW AND LAWYERS 241 supreme bench of Missouri. He was proud of the fact that he had been a prac tical printer in his younger day. During the reconstruction period he published an extremely brilliant pamphlet entitled 'The Voice of Law,' which dealt with some political events which occurred in this state about that time. It was widely read and secured him a position of leadership among the Democratic lawyers of the state." Professional Individuality. Plain speech between bench and bar has been frequent in the history of the legal profession in Missouri. Judge Peyton R. Hayden, of Boonville, was argu ing a case before Judge Tompkins on the supreme bench when the judge asked, "Why is it, Mr. Hayden, that you spend so much time in urging the weak points of your case, to the exclusion of the more important ones." Mr. Hayden replied : "Because I find in my long practice in this court that the weak points win fully as often as the strong ones." Judge Tompkins was a stickler for the dignity of his court, and this applied to the personal appearance of those who practiced before him. On one occasion he said, when time for adjournment came: "Mr. Blank, it is impossible for this court to see any law through as dirty a shirt as you have on, and this court will •now adjourn until ten o'clock tomorrow morning to give you a chance to change your linen." Mark L. DeMotte who afterwards became a Member of Congress from In diana, clashed with the constitution of Missouri while he was serving as prosecut ing attorney in a western county of Missouri. *At his first term of court he pre pared a number of indictments. Looking to some former indictment for a guide DeMotte noticed that they all ended with "against the peace and dignity of the state." This looked like an unnecessary relic of the past, to the young attorney. He concluded that it was a waste of verbiage and omitted the clause from the bills he drew, — which bills were quashed as soon as they got into court, the con stitution, new at that time, requiring that all indictments end with these words. "Shingle it from the comb down," was the instruction Judge W. B. Napton gave the carpenters when he was building his country home at Elk Hill in Saline county. And the amused carpenters told the story on the judge far and wide to show how little the best of legal minds might know about making a roof that would shed rain. When Judge John C. Price found it necessary to reorganize the circuit court in Newton county during the demoralization of the war period, he appointed George W. Randolph circuit attorney, but was a good deal disturbed by the ir regularity of Mr. Randolph's presence in court. He sent the clerk to summon Randolph into court and said with some show of severity : "Randolph, I will have to fine you if absent again during court hours." "Very well, Judge," replied Ran dolph, "You'll find me at the grocery." When the first circuit court in Newton county opened, Sheriff Gibson was sick and sent his son, a boy of nineteen, to take his place, telling him to do what ever the judge ordered. The judge, at the opening, told the boy to "call the court." Young Gibson went to the door and shouted, "Oh Court," evidently thinking he was calling some one named Court. A lawyer near by said to the 242 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI boy, "Now you've done it." "Now you've done it," bawled the youth, thinking this was part of the instructions. ^ The Law's Delays. As he neared the close of his long term of years on the supreme bench of Missouri, Judge Henry Lamm was called upon by the Bar Association of the state to suggest the remedy for the law's delays. He went back through cen turies to show that this was a grievance of long standing, accountable to a degree in the perversity or weakness of human nature. But he summed up in certain suggestions to which his experience led him: "First: Avoid an unwieldy supreme court if you want accord and expedition. Make three divisions of three judges each, or make its membership five in one and four in the other and leave the divisions as they are — more than nine men are too many, less are not enough for the natural increase of business incident to the growth of the state — a factor present and to be sharply reckoned with. "Second: Experience has shown it a mistake to write into your constitution the inflexible command that the court should write opinions in all cases. A court worthy to be trusted in the main thing, to-wit, to decide a cause, should be trusted in the incidental thing, to-wit, to pass an order that no opinion is necessary in a particular case on an affirmance or reversal outright. That perennial spring of delay should be sealed up by striking that provision from the constitution, leaving to the court to write or not write opinions on affirmances or reversals outright, as a debt due to justice may dictate in each case. "Third: It was a mistake to write into your statutes the inflexible command that the court should write a statement of the case and, mark you, one that 'may be under stood.' There is a rich mine of humor in that 'understood' if this were a humorous occa sion and time permitted digging, but let that pass — a jest in my mouth might be a serious matter. That provision is a fruitful womb of delay, when the/ record is voluminous and the facts many and intricate. The provision should be cast into the dustheap of repealed statutes. "Fourth: In forty years records have grown out of all reason compared with the records prepared by the old bar and reviewed by the court of your fathers. These immense records are not only a hardship on litigants, draining away their substance, but are such a clog and drag on the wheels of justice as breed delays. If our rules are to blame, no greater service could be rendered than to have a committee of the wisest men of the bar point out an amendment.. But it will be found, I think, that the root of this particular mischief lies deeper than mere rules of court, and the lawmaker who can draft and the bar that can aid him in drafting a simple relief, act will deserve uncommonly well of the commonwealth. I hazard one suggestion : As a rule in suits at law it is a demurrer to the evidence that seeks and searches the entire body of the proof. Now, if a litigant, who tries his case below on the trial theory there is a case for the jury, and puts his case to the jury on the merits and facts, should be denied on appeal the right to question that theory, would justice receive a wound in the house of her friends? If a litigant stands on a demurrer below, the case presents another angle and bespeaks a different treatment on appeal." - ^ A Case Won on One Question. A case was won in the St. Louis circuit court by Henry S. Geyer on a single question and answer. David B. Hill, a carpenter and builder, was put on the stand to testify as an expert. The question was one of defects in the construc tion of an ox mill which was run by the weight of oxen. Mr. Hill gave his tes- THE BOONE COUNTY COURTHOUSE, ERECTED IN 1847 THE BOONE COUNTY COURTHOUSE, ERECTED IN 1909 LAW AND LAWYERS 245 timony for the plaintiff, going much into detail. He was turned over to the de fense for cross examination. "Mr. Hill," asked Mr. Geyer, "you have discovered perpetual motion, haven't you?" "Yes, sir, I have," replied Mr. Hill. "Stand aside, sir," said Mr. Geyer. No testimony was introduced for the defense. Mr. Geyer devoted his time to ridicule of the invention of perpetual motion. The audience listened with keen delight. The jury found for the defendant. Hill outlived Geyer nearly twenty years. To the end of his eighty-three years he was "the man who had discovered perpetual motion." He was a man of respectability and much esteemed in his vocation. His hobby was mechanics and he gave a great deal of time to inven tions. Samuel T. Glover, who was a member of the committee of safety in St. Louis at the outbreak of the Civil, war and who became the dean of the St. Louis bar, fought in the Palmyra court with another young lawyer, E. G. Pratt. Tradition has it that both fists and feet were used. Glover was fined $10 "for contempt of court in striking E. G. Pratt" and Pratt was fined "for insulting language used and for striking S. T. Glover." Further than that the grand jury indicted both lawyers who were arraigned, plead guilty and were fined $5 each. More than professional, like unto the relationship of brothers, was the tie that bound together some of the law firms formed in Missouri. Joseph L. Stephens, native of Missouri, born in Cooper county in 1826, intended to be a lawyer and practiced until a severe affection of "the throat caused him to turn to a business career and to become a railroad builder and banker. For several years before the war Captain Stephens, captain by virtue of having been elected to command a company of Missourians enlisted for the Mexican war, was a partner with George G. Vest until the latter went into the Confederacy. When Vest returned in the impecunious condition which the war left most of the Mis souri Confederates, Captain Stephens sent him a check, signed but the amount left blank telling him in a note to fill it out for whatever he needed to put him on his feet. Vest .accepted the offer for a small amount. It was said of Captain Stephens, busy man as he was, that he never forgot an old friend and never hes itated to extend a helping hand if aid was needed. Missouri's Legal Literature. Charles C. Whittlesey was Connecticut born and Yale educated when he joined the legal profession of St. Louis in 1841. He married a member of an old Maryland family, Miss Groome. Through his contributions to newspapers and magazines and through his law books he sustained a high literary reputa tion throughout the third of a century he lived here. His book on general prac tice, his volumes of the Missouri Reports were standard works in the law li braries long after he died. Another member of the profession whose contri butions to legal literature won him national fame was Frederick N. Judson, of historic Connecticut ancestry and a Yale- man. Nathan Frank, Illinois bred, educated at Washington University and Harvard, found time in busy prac tice to prepare and publish a volume which became authority in bankruptcy liti- 246 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI gation. Eugene McQuillin, of Iowa birth, reached the circuit bench in 1908 with a well earned reputation as an author of legal textbooks. When John Marshall Krum came west from Columbia county in New_York State in 1834, with his diploma from Union College, he thought Alton might be the metropolis of the Mississippi valley, and opened a law office. When Alton became a city, Judge Krum — he was probate judge of Madison county — was elected mayor, as a Democrat, over the next most popular man in town, a Metho dist minister. In 1840, having concluded that St. Louis was the destined metropo lis, Judge Krum declined further honors at Alton and moved down the river. His reputation accompanied him. In three years he was appointed judge of the St. Louis circuit court and in 1848 he was elected mayor of St. Louis. Just before he came to St. Louis, Judge Krum married the daughter of Chester Harding, the most famous artist of his time in the Mississippi valley. While he was on the bench, Judge Krum published "Missouri Justice." In 1872 the unusual record of father and son having sat on the St. Louis circuit bench was made in the election of Chester H. Krum as circuit judge. The second Judge Krum was educated at Washington University and at Harvard. Almost a monopoly in litigation at Washington had the law firm organized in 1863 with a St. Louis connection. The partners were Thomas Ewing of Ohio, relative of the Shermans, a senator and a cabinet officer in two' administra tions : Orville H. Browning, who had been a senator from Illinois and who was to become a cabinet officer in the Johnson administration; and Britton Arm strong Hill of St. Louis. Mr. Hill was of New Jersey birth. He studied law in New York and was admitted to the bar at St. Louis in 1841. Of splendid physique, of intellectual independence, he became a marked character in the com munity as well as a great lawyer. There seemed to be no limit on the mental activity of the man. Mr. Hill took up the study of medicine in his omnivorous appetite for knowledge. When the epidemic of 1849 overtaxed the medical pro fession Mr. Hill became a volunteer among the poor. He prescribed, he nursed, he laid out the dead. The natural bent, encouraged possibly by that cultivation of sympathy through his practical work in the cholera epidemic, prompted Brit ton A, Hill to become a champion of the masses. The last two decades of his forty-seven years in St. Louis he gave much time to writing and talking on what he conceived to be the dangers threatening the American spirit. He wrote "Lib erty and Law," which attracted attention the country wide. He called a conven tion on a platform of opposition to monopolies, of government control of rail roads. This convention declared for the postal savings bank, for settlement by ar bitration of international controversies, for restoration of the land grants. It was far ahead of the times. * Alexander Hamilton, a Philadelphian of Scotch-Irish ancestry, sat on the circuit bench of St. Louis ten years. He was twice appointed by different gov ernors and once elected by the people. While he was judge the Dred Scott case came before him. The position Judge Hamilton took was sustained by the su preme court. Nearly half a century Judge Hamilton held an enviable position in the legal profession of St. Louis. He declined to be a candidate for the supreme bench when he would have been elected. The tenth circuit judge of St. Louis was a boy eight years old when his parents moved from Maryland to a farm MELVIN L. GRAY ALEXANDER KAYSER LAW AND LAWYERS 249 in St. Louis county. It is a notable fact that James Ransom Lackland who became one of the strongest men in the -profession did not enter it until he was nearly thirty years old. With limited advantages in his boyhood, he taught a country school. He clerked in stores. He obtained a deputy clerkship. in the court and that gave him the opportunity to read law. Two years after he was admitted he was elected circuit attorney; then judge of the criminal court and next judge of the circuit court. Samuel M. Breckenridge was circuit judge during most of the war period. He was of southern ancestry but a strong Union man. His suc cessor was a northern man but took a position which cost him the judgeship. One of the most hostile against the test-oath was Judge James G. Moody, a Penn- sylvanian who came here in 1855 and formed the law firm of Moody, McClellan & Hillyer. In the office of this firm Ulysses S. Grant, before the war, had a desk and tried collection of bills for real estate agents. Judge Moody while on the circuit bench absolutely refused to require jurors to take the test-oath and was removed by the legislature in 1866. Bench and Bar of the Platte Purchase. Perhaps no other six contiguous counties in Missouri measure so large in the bench and bar of this state as the Platte Purchase. "Attracted by the genial climate, rich soil, untold wealth of this newly ceded country, the love of adven ture and hope of fame and fortune soon swept throughout the Platte Purchase many strong, clear, scholarly and eloquent lawyers," Henry Clay McDougal told the Missouri Bar Association in an address several years ago. Among those who were drawn by "stories of the fabulous richness of that splendid domain" was Elijah Hise Norton fresh from the law department of Transylvania Uni versity at Lexington, Kentucky. Robert P. C. Wilson told of the young Ken- tuckian's arrival and of the charm he found in the life of the Platte county. "He arrived in Platte county on the 8th day of January, 1845, where he found the settlers, true to the traditions of their home states, holding a rousing General Jackson- Battle of New Orleans celebration at the court house in Platte City, its county seat. He was not disappointed by the tales told of that magnificent country, but thought that .the half had not been said. Vast primeval forests and wide stretching prairies confronted him, then silent under the martial tread of the Frost King, but with the coming of spring to fling wide their budding branches to God's whispered music of hope, while treeless tracts rioted in the blazonry of bloom. Game of every description abounded. The wild turkey nested unmolested near the homesteader's cabin. Geese, ducks and 'prairie chicken in season covered the rivers, lakes and prairies, while quail in countless numbers abounded throughout the country. Indeed, the Platte Purchase was then a veritable paradise for the sportsman. Surrounded with everything necessary for a desirable home, he deter mined to locate permanently at Platte City, and on the 15th of April, 1845, was enrolled a member of the Platte county bar, Judge Vories, his predecessor on the supreme bench, being enrolled as a member of that bar on the same day. He was. twenty-three years of age, strong, aggressive, and impatient for legal battles, when he hung out his 'shingle' over the door of one of two log rooms adjoining, my father occupying the other as his law office. It was then, as a mere boy, my acquaintance with this great man began. Devoted to sports afield, and particularly to netting quail, he usually took me along to help drive the covies within the wings of the net. * In this happy, carefree way, a friend ship between boy and man was formed which continued under all the vicissitudes of a long, strenuous life for us both, until the end." 250 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Pour Governors from the Platte Bar. Judge McDougal, in his recollections of the bench and bar of the Platte Pur chase, not only reviewed the names illustrious throughout life in Missouri,' but recalled some who had gone from the six counties to become famous in other states. "For judicial purposes, the territory thus acquired was at first attached to the Fifth circuit of Missouri, which was then presided over by Judge Austin, A. King, of Richmond, who in 1848 became governor of Missouri. Judge King held the first term of the circuit court for the Platte Purchase at the Falls of the Platte river in May, 1839. But in 1841 David R. Atchison, of Platte, was made the judge of the circuit court, with both civil and criminal jurisdiction over a vast scope of country. Judge Atchison was later a United States senator from Missouri for twelve years, commencing in 1843, and while serving as the president pro tem.-oi that body is credited with the honor of having been president of the United States for one day. Robert Wilson, of Andrew, was made a United States senator from Missouri in 1862. "Four members of the bar within the Platte Purchase have been honored governors of Missouri, viz: Robert M. Stewart, Willard P. Hall, and Silas Woodson, of Buchanan, and Albert P. Morehouse, of Nodaway. "And the following named members of that bar have also served the people as judges of the supreme court of Missouri, namely: Philemon Bliss, Henry M. Vories, Archelaus M. Woodson, of Buchanan, and Elijah Hise Norton, of Platte, who only last month there died in, his ninety-third year; while that learned, fearless, clear-headed magician in the law, Stephen S. Brown, of Buchanan, is now (1914) serving on that bench as com missioner of this same court. Strong, rugged and stalwart Benjamin F. Stringfellow, before removing to Platte, was attorney-general of Missouri in 1845, and the scholarly, superb and eloquent James B. Gardenhire, of Buchanan, also filled that office with dis tinguished ability from 1851 to 1856. "The bench of the Kansas City court of appeals has been ornamented by Willard P. Hall (the younger) and James M. Johnson, of Buchanan, and W. W. Ramsey, of Nodaway. The Platte Bar Abroad. "Isaac C. Parker, a conspicuous member of the Buchanan bar, was first the judge of the St. Joseph circuit court, then a member of the United States Congress for four years, and then in 1875 President Grant made him the United States district judge at Fort Smith, Arkansas. From that time on to his death many years later, Judge Parker continued to enforce the law so vigorously and have criminals executed so promptly that he became famous as 'the hanging judge.' President Cleveland, during his first term, appointed the versatile Lafe Dawson, of Nodaway, judge of the United States district court of Alaska; but the climate of the frozen north was so rigorous that he resigned his office, and later died at his old home in Maryville. "Among many others not now recalled, it is well to note that the following named members of this bar who have been honored by the people after leaving the Platte Pur chase were: Joseph K. Toole, governor of Montana; and Charles W. Wright, attorney general of Colorado, both of Buchanan ; John P. Altgeld, once of Andrew and later governor of Illinois. "Mention is here made of two other eminent lawyers and great men of the Platte Purchase in the years that are gone, not only because the name and fame of each should be honored and perpetuated, but because each was my personal friend — James Craig and Bela M. Hughes., The former was an officer in the war with Mexico, a general in the vCivil war, a member of Congress, the president of the old H. & St. Jo. Railroad, and few on earth have surpassed him as lawyer, public speaker and entertaining raconteur; while on account of the approaching troublous times, Bela M. Hughes quit the Buchanan bar in 1861, located in Denver, and no man in public or private life exerted a more potential LAW AND LAWYERS 251 power for good upon the jurisprudence, and public and political life of Colorado than did this strong, clear, able lawyer. "Memories of the long past, reflecting upon the traditions, records, and achievements of the pioneer lawyers of the Platte Purchase, recall the power and ability of those leviathans of its bar who in early life swam about in the vast sea of the law with so much confident ease, and with a sigh of regret the historian may well pause and for a moment dwell upon the wise words of the Book of Books — 'There were giants on the earth in those days.' " Pike County Practice. In giving some of his experiences as attorney for the defense, David Ball of Pike county told these : "I have defended 33 men charged with murder and acquitted 31 of them. Once I cleared a poor man of murder after a hard-fought legal battle lasting two weeks, and got only a turkey for my fee. And I believe to my soul the scoundrel stole that turkey. "Once when Judge Biggs was on the Pike circuit bench and I was prosecuting attorney a man was arrested for stealing a bundle of socks. I spelled it 'sox, in the indictment, and when Judge Biggs read it in court, he said: " "Dave, that is not the" way to spell "socks." ' "I rolled my cigar over, winked both eyes a time or two and replied: '"May it please Your Honor, if s-o-x don't spell socks, what in the tarnation does it spell?' And it remained 'sox' "in the indictment." "I was defending a Pike county man once, who was accused of stealing meat from his neighbor's smokehouse. The farmer who lost the meat swore that he knew it was the defendant who stole it, because he was the only man in Pike county who was lean enough to crawl through the opening in the smokehouse window, where a pane of glass was broken out. " 'Sure no one else could have crawled through ?' I asked. "'None but him.' "I yanked the identical window frame from beneath a table and slipped it down over the head and shoulders of the man 'on the stand, who was much stouter than the defendant. "The two lawyers for the man on the witness stand leaped to their feet and shouted: '"Here, what are you doing there?' '"I'm just putting your client through the same sized hole you say our client went through,' I answered. I won the case." David Ball once had the benefit of Champ Clark's natural inclination to take the part of the weaker side in a controversy : "When Champ Clark and I were partners in 1877, he kept me from getting an awful thrashing. Clark was an unusually fine specimen of physical manhood in those days, tall, athletic without a pound of surplus flesh, and with muscles ef steel. . He was just out of school, where, among other things, he had practiced in gymnasiums for hours daily at every exercise intended to develop strength, including boxing. Like most Kentuckians, he was fond of a pistol and always kept two or three on hand. One day three big rough fellows, who had taken offense at me about a lawsuit, came into the office and picked a fuss with me. They cursed and abused me for ten- minutes, during which Clark was sitting at his desk, pretending to read a book and apparently taking no interest in the rumpus. I did not know whether he would help me out or not, consequently I did not talk back to the fellows very much. At last they concluded to give me a" beating and advanced towards me. Quick as a flash, Clark pulled open the drawer of his table, exposing two glittering pistols to the view of my would-be assailants and yelled: 'Hi-yi, you ruffians. I do the fighting for this firm and I'll give you just three seconds to get 252 ' CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI out of here, or I'll throw you out the window and break your necks!' Within the limit he allowed, those fellows were going down stairs three steps at a jump. Clark shut up the drawer with a grim smile and resumed his reading. I thought then he was the hand somest man I ever saw. He has long since given up carrying pistols, but I was glad he had them that day." The Poet Judge. George W. Dunn might have won wide fame as a Missouri poet, but early in his career he became possessed of the theory that exercise of that genius would detract from his success at the bar. He was commonly known in the Platte Purchase as "the poet judge." He was one of thes first Missourians elected to the bench when the constitutional amendment in 1851 made circuit judges elective, instead of appointive by the governor. Judge Dunn thought he had resolved to give up writing poetry and wrote his "Farewell to My Harp," but in later years he occasionally indulged himself. " One of the judge's pfoduc- - tions which brought him most fame was "The Ermine and the Harp." The first stanza was : \ " The Ermine hue of spotless white Invokes the wearer's earnest ken,- As law and equity unite To shield and bless the sons of men; For heaven-born truth by right prevails And baffles every crafty scheme, When Justice holds the impartial scales And Mercy's tears bedew the beam." Missouri's Legal Classics. _ In a history of the Bar Association of Missouri, published by the St. Louis Star in October, J899, the then president of the Association, George Robertson of Mexico, placed this estimate upon some of the most important papers read before the association : "Without exalting one paper read by the members of the association above another, that by Judge Black of Kansas City upon 'the Property Rights of Married Women in Missouri,' in 1882, probably had more to do with, the quickening of the legal conscience upon the then unsatisfactory condition of that subject of the law than anything else that has ever been said or done in the state, and finally culminated in the act of 1889 which conferred upon married women the same property rights that had been enjoyed. by a 'femme sole,' thereby taking her from the legal class ofincompetents, infants, idiots and lunatics, to which she/ was bound by the rules of common law, and gave to her all the rights and privileges possessed by other persons of equal capacity, intelligence and responsibility. In this connection deserving mention is the debate between E. S. Scarrett and J. A. Harrison on this subject had before the association in 1887. "Another paper of extraordinary value to the legal profession of Missouri is 'The Remedy by Injunction in Missouri,' by Adiel Sherwood, at the Springfield meeting in 1895. He treats of the subject as touched upon by the various decisions of the' appellate courts of this state. It is a complete epitome of the law of injunction as- applied in Missouri, as regards pleading and the particular subjects of litigation to which it may be' applied. This paper will serve as an excellent textbook upon the subject of injunctions to the practicing lawyers of the state. THE FIRST TWO COURTHOUSES OF BUCHANAN COUNTY The log building was the first temple of justice in the Platte Purchase about 1840. Later the county seat was moved from Sparta to St'. Joseph LAW AND LAWYERS 255 "Worthy of particular mention and ranking with the legal classics of this and past generations are the papers, 'Trial by Jury,' by Amos M. Thayer; 'The Lawyers of the Roman Republic,' by F. W. Lehmann; 'Mandatory Injunctions,' by Jacob Klein; 'Constitu tional Law in Ancient Greece,' by C. O. Tichenor; and 'The Power of the State to Regulate Prices and Charges,' by G. A. Finkelnburg." Judge, Witness and Counsel. In the early history of the circuit court of Buchanan county, the judge was subpoenaed as a witness and a change of venue was demanded on that ground. But the judge ruled that there was nothing in the statutes to prevent him from being both witness and judge. The trial proceeded. The judge was called as a witness, descended from the bench and took the stand. There was objection raised to the first question asked. The judge left the stand, went on the bench and overruled the objection. He returned to the stand and answered the ques tion. At the next question the same farce was enacted. By that time the judge concluded that the change of venue should be granted. In the days of the rush to California sharpers played their cheating games on the argonauts. One of the fraternity was brought before Mayor Mills of St. Joseph. He set up the defense that his game was not chance ; that it was a sure thing. "Then," declared the municipal Solomon, "it is just like this court. You shall pay a fine of $50." Monroe county had a case of combination judge and witness which worked better. About the time Union township was organized, Reuben Burton brought suit for a hog he had lost, claiming he had found it in the possession of a free negro, named Rious. The case was tried before Justice John Burton, a brother of Reuben. After the testimony appeared to be all in, Justice Burton stood up and told Constable Pleasant Ford to swear him. The plaintiff had been rep resented by a lawyer, but the negro had nobody to take care of the defense and it looked as if the case was going against him. Justice Burton after taking the oath, said he had often hunted with Rious and knew the hog to be his. He there fore gave the decision against his brother. The Misssouri- bar has had its full proportion of poor writers, one of whom was Judge Ezra Hunt who graduated at Harvard with the distinction of being a phenomenal student in mathematics. He taught a while in academies and came to Missouri where he was tutor to Judge William Carr's children. Young Hunt had thought of studying for the ministry but gave up that for law. He became noted for his bad handwriting. On one occasion he gave an opinion in writing on a land case. The man who received the opinion couldn't read it. After trying several people who couldn't tell what was meant he took the paper back to Hunt- The latter glanced at the paper and remarked, "Some blanked fool has been trying to write, but failed." The client was diplomatic. He said, "Judge did you ever write to me about that case of7 mine?" Hunt scanned the paper again and read it aloud, remarking as he closed, "Anybody but a blanked fool could read that." A Solomonic Decision. Judge Burckhartt was the first circuit judge to be brought from the interior of the state to try a criminal case in St. Louis. This was the Kring murder trial. 256 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Kring's lawyers took the case to the supreme court on -that novelty in practice. The court decided that the calling of a judge from the country circuit was legal and thus established a precedent of some importance. Of Judge Burckhartt many stories are told by North Todd Gentry. The judge was a fine handshaker when campaigning for reelection. He had such a cordial way that he convinced the voter that he remembered him personally when, as a matter of fact, he could not place him. Once, according to Gentry, the judge shook hands with a young man and asked familiarly, "How is your father?" The young man looked surprised and said, "Father is dead." The judge im mediately rallied and said, "Why, yes, I knew that. I meant to ask how is your mother?" The young man answered, "Judge, mother died before father did!" To this Judge Burckhartt quickly responded, "Well, well, how are you ; I know you are alive." Later in the day the judge met the same young man and as solicitously as ever asked after his father. "Judge, he is still dead," was the an swer. Gentry says that when he was young at the bar, he complained to Judge Burck hartt that the judge was appointing him to defend paupers more times than other lawyers were asked to take charity cases. "That is all right, Gentry," the judge said, "you get the experience, and your clients get in the penitentiary; and you both get what you are needing." Judge Burckhartt was very courteous to ladies. He invariably made it a' point to see that ladies coming into his court were given seats. One day- a young lady relative came in and saw that the judge's eyes were closed. As she approached the judge opened his eyes. The lady apologized for awaking him. The judge called her by name and said, "I hope I will never live to be so old that I shall not be awakened by the rustle of a young lady's petticoat." Judge Burckhartt decided a calf case about 1880 by an extraordinary pro cedure which was Solomonic. The calf was claimed by Bill Reeves, an old negro, and by Captain John Eaton, a farmer who owned a large number oi cattle. After the jury had been chosen, Old Bill addressed the court: "Massa George, may I say something? My little boy has Jjeen playing with my calf and riding it all summer. Now if he can't go up to Massa John Eaton's place, put a rope round that calf's neck and ride him home, then I don't want the critter." Captain Eaton consented to the test and the court adjourned to Eaton's farm, saw the little negro rope the calf without any trouble and ride it home. The judge laughed and John Eaton dismissed the case at his own expense. Jackson County's Distinguished Bar. The evolution of the Jackson county bar, and the part it has had not only in professional life, but in the public affairs of state and nation were recalled by Judge Henry Clay McDougal in an historical address before the Missouri Bar Association in 1914 : r "When this coupty was organized in 1826, David Todd was its first judge of the circuit court. He was 'succeeded by Russell Hicks, a member of this bar, and he, in turn, by a long line of level-headed, clear-minded, learned and fearless judges. The circuit court then had but one judge, and exercised both civil and criminal jurisdiction, while LAW AND LAWYERS 257 now (1914) Jackson county has ten circuit judges and also one judge of equal rank who hears and determines only state cases and is known as the judge of the criminal court. In 1826, the county had but three resident lawyers ; but, in keeping with the growth and development of the county, this number has increased to approximately 950. "In 1855,, 'the probate and common pleas court' for Jackson county was established, and its jurisdiction was enlarged in 1863 to include state cases, so that finally it had full jurisdiction of probate and criminal cases and limited jurisdiction in civil cases up to the time that court was finally abolished in 1871. At the date, last named, two courts, having probate and criminal jurisdiction, came into existence and so continued until 1880, when they were made entirely separate and distinct. "In 1873, the lawmakers of the state established a 'special law and equity court of Jackson county,' which in turn went out of existence at the time limited by the constitu tion of 1875. Robert E. Cowan was judge of this court. "The criminal court of Jackson county, with substantially its present jurisdiction, was created in 1871, and Robert C. Ewing, Henry P. White, John W. Wofford, William H. Wallace and the present incumbent, Ralph S. Latshaw, have served upon that bench in the order named. "From the organization of Jackson county in 1826 up to 1871, the circuit court of the county was always held at the county seat at Independence ; but in that year the county was made a separate circuit and that legislative act provided for holding terms of the circuit court at both Independence and Kansas City, the common pleas court was then abolished, and the circuit courts have ever since been held in both cities. "Four of the members of this bar have ornamented the bench of the supreme court of Missouri, namely: Warwick Hough, John W. Henry, Francis M. Black and John Kennish. "The Kansas City Court of Appeals was created by the constitutional amendment of 1884, and held its first session in March, 1885. The following named members of this bar have served the people on the bench of that court : John F. Philips, Willard P. Hall, Turner A. Gill, Jackson L. Smith and Elbridge J. Broaddus, while its present (1914) membership consists of James Ellison (Kirksville), James M. Johnson (St. Joseph), and Francis H. Trimble (Liberty). "The Jackson county bar has also given to both state and nation its full quota of officers and men for the wars through which the country has passed since 1826, as well as furnished^ to the civil list officers who have brought honor and credit to their pro fession and county, and among the latter many a nisi- prius judge and member of the United States Congress not here named. However, our Benjamin J. Franklin was the governor of Arizona in its territorial days, and also a United States consul in China ; while Thomas T. Crittenden and Arnold Shanklin were consuls general to Mexico. When not directing the official action of his many subordinates throughout our troubled sister republic, or dodging bullets of opposing factions of late months, Brother Shanklin is now (1914) on duty down at the City of Mexico. "Three of our mejnbers have been United States district judges in Kansas City, viz : Arnold Krekel, John F. Philips and Arba S. Van Valkenburgh, while Webster Davis was assistant secretary of the interior under President McKinley. "Three of our members have been governors of the State of Missouri viz : Lilburn W. Boggs, Thomas T. Crittenden and Herbert S. Hadley. "John Lee Peak was our United States minister to Switzerland under President Cleveland ; while George W. McCrary was a cabinet officer as the secretary of war under President Hayes from '1877 to 1881, and was later a United States circuit judge; and this bar has been further honored by the selection of two of its members as 'United States senators from Missouri — William Warner and James A. Reed. "The Missouri Bar Association was organized in Kansas City in 1880, with Governor Willard P. Hall of St. Joseph as its first president. The following members of this bar have, in the order named, since been presidents of this Association, viz : John C. Gage, George W. McCrary, John F. Philips, Louis C. Krauthoff, Henry Clay McDougal, William B. Teasdale, Sanford B. Ladd, J. J. Vineyard, and the now president, Edward J. White. Vol. 1—17 258 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "The oldest lawyer in Jackson county -is Colonel R. T. Van Horn, now past 90. He was licensed to practice law by the supreme court of Ohio in 1848, and after coming to Kansas City in 1855, along with his editorial work as owner and editor of the Kansas City Journal, became a member of the law firm of Van Horn & Johnson, composed of himself and Judge Jacques W. Johnson, who later removed to Wyandotte, Kansas. But the Nestor of the bar, still in active and full practice, and frisky as a boy at the age of 87, is Colonel Louis H. Waters of Kansas City. "Among the members of the Jackson county bar whose abilities have been recog nized by the people with whom they cast their lots after leaving here, may be mentioned John P. St. John, twice governor of Kansas, and Ashley M. Gould, justice (for life) of the. supreme court of the District of Columbia." When a King Sued. The supreme court of Missouri once held that a king could sue in the courts of this state. The suit was brought by King Frederick William IV, of Prussia, about 1849, or soon after Carl Schurz and the other Forty-eighters— "Aeht-und- viertzigers" they were called,- — migrated to this country when their plans to form a constitution for Prussia failed. One of these Forty-eighters was Knepper, the postmaster at Wermelskirchen. It was claimed that he brought with him some of the post office funds. The amount mentioned in the suit was 7,400 thalers. At that time the German thaler was worth about sixty-nine cents in United States money, making the amount involved some $7,000. Knepper died and the suit was prosecuted in the name of the king against the estate. The administrator of Knepper set up the demurrer that "the plaintiff has no legal capacity to sue in this court." Distinguished counsel were engaged on both sides. Charles Gib son appeared for the king and Edward Bates and Britton A. Hill for the estate of Knepper. The St. Louis circuit court sustained the demurrer and found for the administrator. Mr. Gibson appealed and the supreme court of Missouri said: "This case comes on a demurrer and raises the question whether a for eign sovereign can sue in our courts." After some further discussion the court decided: "The jurisdiction in cases of the character under consideration has not been exclusively vested in the federal courts; hence the state courts may still exercise jurisdiction in all such cases." The case was sent back to the circuit court. For his successful conduct of this case Mr. Gibson received, as evidence of the King's appreciation, a pair of magnificent vases. Later he was the legal representative of foreign governments in several matters. In 1882, on" the oc casion of a visit abroad, Mr. Gibson was decorated by Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria. Still later he received, at the hands of Emperor William I, the order of the Prussian Crown and in 1890 he was given the grand cross by the late kaiser. These decorations came in the way of recognition for professional services rendered. But some time during the Cleveland administration, when Mr. Gibson's name was presented for a diplomatic appointment the fact that he had been thus honored with decorations proved a handicap, such was the feel ing at the time that these decorations were anti-American. When the United States entered the war with Germany, the thorough Americanism of the Gibson family was demonstrated by the unsparing devotion of a descendant of Charles Gibson in the work of preparedness. LAW AND LAWYERS 259 Admission to the Bar. The question of so strengthening the requirements of admission to the bar as to raise the standards of the profession received consideration at several- of the annual sessions of, the Missouri Bar Association. At one of these meetings George W. Barnett, ofxSedalia, told the following: "In our town a short time ago, a gentleman came from ¦ a little town in that same county; and he was a lawyer there; he was practising. He had a family. I was on the committee who assisted the circuit judge in making the examination. This man who applied for admission to the bar didn't know what the statute of frauds was ; he said it was a statute to set aside injunctions that had been procured by fraud. He didn't know what a negotiable note was; said it couldn't be sold. He had been practising before a justice of the peace. Of course, he wasn't given a license. He went around town criticising us because we had rejected him. He had some influential neighbors and they thought it was a case of spite work; that the trouble was the jealousy of the local lawyers. "W. S. Shirk — Did he have a license to practice? "Mr. BaYnett — He did have a license from the State of Kansas and had been prose cuting attorney in that state for two years. He didn't know there was such a thing as a law of courtesy and when he was asked in regard to it, he had the idea it had some relation to. husband and wife. He said it was the respect of a wife to her husband, That man has since been admitted. He came back with a second application backed up by the whole neighborhood who felt that the jealousy of the local bar was doing him an injustice." ' Judge John F. Philips, as chairman of the committee on legal education and admission to the bar, emphasized necessity for this at the first annual meeting of the Association in St. Louis in 1881. He said: "In the olden time it was supposed that the way to the bar lay through long, weary years of preparation, requiring liberal scholarship and respectability of character, but in later years, particularly since the war, mere smartness, aptness in chicanery, and the emptiness of imprudent pretensions would seem by many to be deemed prime qualities. So that with the facilities afforded in a period of social restiveness, of marked commercial activity, when 'thrift' follows 'fawning' and gainmaking gives license to doubtful practices, charlatans and tricksters have rushed to the bar, until it is thronged . with shysters and rascals, instead of only lawyers and gentlemen." For a long time the Missouri method of admitting young lawyers to prac tice was for the judge on the bench, to whom application was made by the can didate, to refer him to a committee of those already admitted. Judge Philips said he had often seen candidates sent for examination by men "who, them selves could scarcely spell, read and write, and who did not in theory or prac tice know the difference between replevin and reprisal." Such committees re ported in favor of the candidate, being afraid to examine the candidate thoroughly lest they show their own ignorance. Judge Philips told of one case of a Missouri applicant who, being under the impression that admission was rather a matter of favor than learning of law, presented as "the basis of his fitness his discharge from the Federal army on ac count of wounds received in battle." When Judge Arnold Krekel of the United States district court of Jefferson City examined candidates for admission to the bar, one of his favorite questions was, "What is law?" He received a variety of answers. Giving his own defini- 260 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI tion he would say, "Law is public. sentiment crystalized. And if it isn't crys- talized, it is very poor law." E. P. Rosenberger, who died at the age of eighty-five after nearly half a century of successful practice of the law in North Missouri, enjoyed telling the story of his admission to the bar in pioneer days. He had been one of the vol unteer firemen in St. Louis and had moved to High Hill where he was in the business of making saddles and harness. One day he drove into Warrenton and learned that a pioneer named Powell had been admitted to the bar. "If Tom Powell can practice law, so can I," Mr. Rosenberger said. He applied to Judge Gilchrist then on the bench, for license. The judge appointed a committee of three lawyers to examine the candidate. These lawyers took the saddle maker into another room and asked him, "Mr. Rosenberger, do you know good whis key?" * "I think I do," was the reply. "Have you gqt the price of three drinks?" The candidate led the way to a nearby saloon. The committee returned to the courtroom and reported Mr. Rosenberger duly qualified for practice at the bar. The license was issued. But Mr. Rosenberger applied himself to hard study of the profession and became one of the most successful lawyers of that part of the state. The Missouri Common-Law Unions. The e"arly legislators of Missouri had ideas of their own on the subject of marriage. They engrafted on the statutes an unusually liberal provision for the recognition of common-law unions. This provision long survived the march of statutory reforms. Missouri protected the rights of common-law wives and com mon-law children to a degree not known in most states. The peculiarity of the Missouri code furnished the basis of an interesting decision of the Pension Office. A well preserved widow called upon the commissioner, and, presenting a let ter of introduction from one of the most distinguished women of the country, told her story. She had married an officer in the army, and had borne him five children. During the time she lived with him her suspicions were aroused as to the relations her husband had sustained with another woman before she met him. The fears were dispelled by his assertion that, while he had lived with the other woman, he had neVer married her. After the officer's death, and when applica tion 'was made for a pension, it was discovered that a previous marriage had taken place, which nullified the later ceremony, and stood in the way of the pension to the widow who had applied. In their search to get the facts which would show the applicant was not entitled to a pension because her marriage had not been legal, the pension examiners produced the evidence which removed the cloud from the second wife and the five children, and which furnished the basis for the. allowance of the pension. They found that the first and only legal wife had died before the officer did, and that after the date of the first -wife's death he had lived in Missouri long enough to entitle the second wife' and children to their full legal rights under the common-law marriage provisions of the state. Had the time been spent in almost any other state of the union, the result would have been entirely different. JUDGE DAVID TODD Territorial judge of Missotiri and first circuit judge LAW AND LAWYERS 263 Missouri and the U. S. Supreme Court. Missouri has missed representation on the United States Supreme bench nar rowly several times. Judge David Todd was appointed judge of the Boone cir cuit court by Governor McNair in 1821 and convened it under a sugar tree, there being at that time not only no courthouse but no building in Smithton large enough to accommodate the court. He was a very dignified man and punctilious. Gentry says that one day after dinner, Judge Todd fell asleep while on the bench. As soon as he awoke he said to the clerk, "Enter up a fine against David Todd, of ten dollars, for contempt of court. I will break up this habit of going to sleep, or I will break the court." One of Judge Todd's social friends, a stonemason, a Scotchman, Campbell, came into court, and, being drunk, stumbled and fell. When he picked himself up he apologized, "Judge, I am a horse; i am a horse, Judge." Judge Todd called to the sheriff, "Take that horse out, lock him up in my stable and keep him there till I call for him." But to the sheriff privately the judge said that if Campbell could be kept out of the court room until he was sober, all would be forgiven. At one time in his career Judge Todd became financially embar rassed and was sued in his own court. He made no defense and when he called the case he told the clerk to enter judgment against David Todd by default. Later he paid the judgment jn full. In 1840, when William Henry Harrison was nominated for President, Judge Todd was one of the delegates from Missouri and when the notification com mittee was chosen Judge Todd was made a member of it. He had been a sol dier under Harrison in the battle of Tippecanoe. The relations between Harrison and the judge were so close that after the election, the President-elect wrote to Todd, telling him that if there was a vacancy on- the United States Supreme bench during his. term in the White House, Todd would- be appointed to fill it. But Harrison lived only a few weeks aft€r his inauguration. When William A. Hall was elected to Congress in the sixties, after having served on the Boone circuit bench, he called on President Lincoln who told him he wanted to appoint his brother, Willard P. Hall, who had succeeded Governor Gamble as war governor, to a place on the Supreme bench. Mr. Lincoln said that the only obstacle in the way was the opposition of a certain Republican senator. He suggested that Congressman Hall see the senator. This the Con gressman did and learned from the senator that it had been reported to him the Congressman had said at some time he would not trust this senator any further than he could throw a bull by the tail. Congressman Hall said, "I don't remember ever to have said that but, — by — — , sir, I have often thought it." Missouri missed the Supreme bench again. Henry Hitchcock was on the eligible list of three Presidents for very high positions. Presidents Hayes, Arthur and Harrison had Mr. Hitchcock's name under consideration for vacancies, two of them on the Supreme bench. All of these Presidents recognized his fitness for the appointment in question. Some political or personal consideration turned the scate against the distinguished St. Louisan. There was no particular reason why Missouri should receive the rec ognition from these Presidents at the time the appointments were to be made. There were political reasons for favoring some other states. Mr. Hitchcock stood 264 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI simply on his merits before these Presidents, and they were sufficient to bring him very close to high official honors. Four times the American Bar Association, representing the best of the legal profession in all parts of the Union, has honored the state by selecting for its head a Missourian. When the association was formed, the first president chosen was a Missourian, — James O. Broadhead. The next Missourian to whom the distinction was given was Henry Hitchcock. In the World's Fair year, 1902, the president of the American Bar Association was James Hagerman. The fourth Missourian to be placed in the presidency of the association ,was Frederick W. Lehmann. CHAPTER VIII DUELING IN MISSOURI Benton and the Code — Bloody Island — A Grewsome Record — Farrar and Graham — A * Friend's Responsibility — Fenwick and Crittenden — Aaron Burr's Nephew Killed — Bar ton and Hempstead — Code Forms Drawn by Benton and Bates — A Fearless Editor — John Scott's Wholesale Challenge — Lucas and Benton — The Election Controversy — "An Insolent Puppy" — What Benton Told Washburne — Lucas on "Origin of Differ ences" — A Farewell Message — The 1 efms — Lucas Badly Wounded — Mediation by ludge Lawless — Benton Repudiates the Agreement — The Second Meeting — Lucas Killed — A Father's Lament — Benton's Promise to His Wife — Geyer and Kennerly — Army Duels — Rector and Barton — The "Philo" Charges — Senator Barton's Scorching Letter — Public Sentiment Aroused — The -Belleville Tragedy — Benton for the Defense — Rev. Timothy Flint's Letter — Shields and Lincoln on the Island — Legislation- Against Dueling — Senator Linn's Comments — Leonard and Berry — Pettis and Biddk — A Double Fatality — Benton Again the Adviser — Edward Dobyn's Manuscript Recollection — Dodging the Statute — Rev. Dr. Eliot's Protest — Hudson and Chambers — "Old Bustamente's" Experience — Blair and Pickering — Newspaper Reorganisation — The Blair-Price Feud — Judge Fogg's Reminiscence — Edwards and Foster — Bowman and Glover — Vest on the Duello. A duel at St. Louis ended fatally, of which Colonel Benton has not been heard to speak except among intimate friends, and to tell of the pang which went through his heart when he saw the young man fall, and would have given the world to see him restored to life. As proof of the manner in which he looks upon these scenes and his desire to bury all remembrances of them forever, he has had all his papers burned which related to them, that no future curiosity or industry should bring to light what he wished had never happened. — Benton's Autobiography, dictated on his deathbed. Dueling in Missouri came with American sovereignty. It went out of prac tice with the Civil war. Many of the duels were influential incidents in Missouri politics. Most of the duelists were lawyers or editors. More frequently than any other is the name of Thomas H. Benton associated with Missouri duels. Benton was principal in one fatal duel. He was chief adviser in another duel which ended fatally for both principals. He was second in one of the earliest of Missouri duels and drew up the rules and forms which served as precedents in subsequent meetings. As a lawyer he defended duelists in court. He was a historian of duels. He published a defense of duels. And yet on his deathbed, referring to himself as usual in the third person, he told of "the pang which went through his heart" when he saw young Lucas fall, ex pressed his regret "for all these scenes" and "had all of his papers burned which related to them." Benton's relations to dueling were strange indeed. After his rough and tumble encounter with Andrew Jackson at Nashville in 1813, he wrote: "I am in the middle of hell; my life is in danger, and nothing but a decisive duel can save me or even give me a chance for my own existence." But he also expressed himself on paper shortly after the difficulty with Jack- 265 266 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI son in these words : "Those who know me, know full well that I would give a thousand times more for the reputation of Croghan in defending his post (which was Fort Stephenson) than I would for the reputation of all the duelists and gladiators that ever appeared upon the face of the earth." After his service in the war of 1812 Benton moved to Missouri. He. was prompted to make this change because of the disagreeable personal relations in Tennessee growing out of the fight with Jackson- Bloody Island. Most of the Missouri duels were fought on the upper part of Bloody Island in .the Mississippi river. Usually the seconds selected a spot where willows and other growth screened the party so that the proceedings could not be seen from the St. Louis side. People assembled in numbers on the river bank; they occupied windows and the housetops when it was known a duel was to be fought, They" could not see much, but they would hear the shots and they were witnesses to the return of the parties from the meeting. When St. Louis, to save the city's harbor, built a great dyke between Bloody Island and the Illinois mainland, the entire current was turned to the westward. This not only restored the channel along the St. Louis water front, but it wore away the western edge of. the island. The river above the Eads bridge became and remains considerably wider than it was in 1810-30, when the current was divided and when duels were frequent. Three fatalities on the cross marks gave Bloody Island the grewsome name it bore for more than fifty years. ' The sandbar opposite the northern end oi the settlement of St. Louis showed above the river's surface at low water about 1799? It grew steadily, dividing the current. An increasing proportion of the river's volume each succeeding year passed down to the eastward of the sandbai". That part of the channel between the St. Louis water front and the western- edge of the bar became narrower and shallower as time went on. The human voice carried across easily. Willows sprouted and grew in clumps and fringes. The new-made strip of ground became known as "The Island." When there was need to distinguish it from others, Missourians pf that generation spoke of "the island opposite Roy." On the St. Louis bank of the river near the foot of what afterwards became Ashley street, named in honor of the fur trader and Con gressman, a man named Roy built a large stone tower in which he operated a windmill. The tower stood on a curve of the shore line, where it caught the breeze blowing up the river. Long after steam power came into use the dis mantled stone tower was a conspicuous landmark. For twenty years or more "The Island" so divided the current that neither Missouri nor Illinois claimed possession or exercised jurisdiction. This condition of no man's land favored the selection of "The Island" for duels. And after lives had been sacrificed in these affairs public sentiment bestowed the title.' Bloody Island vied with Bladensburg in Maryland for the distinction of being the principal "field of honor" in the United States. To Bladensburg, a few miles from the national capital, statesmen and officers of the army and navy and newspaper men of Washington resorted during two generations to settle differences by shooting at each other. Dueling on Bloody Island began as early as 1810. The record closed in i860. THOMAS H. BENTON Principal in one duel; second in another; defender of duelling in court and in Senate. MAJOR THOMAS BIDDLE Principal in the fatal Pettis-Biddle duel Courtesy Missouri Historical Society THE ROY WINDMILL TOWER OPPOSITE WHICH THE DUELS WERE FOUGHT ON BLOODY ISLAND DUELING IN MISSOURI 269 The Next Friend's Responsibility. The Farrar-Graham meeting was among the earliest Missouri duels, if it did not inaugurate the practice of morning expeditions to Bloody Island. It illus trated one of the strangest phases of the code. James A. Graham and Dr. Far rar were very close personal friends. One day Graham saw an army lieutenant cheat in a game of cards at the hotel. He exposed him. The army officer declared he must have satisfaction. He sent a challenge to Graham by the hand of Farrar, who was a relative. Under the rules a relative could not refuse to perform this duty when asked. Graham refused to accept the challenge on the ground that the army officer, by his act of cheating, had shown himself to be no gentleman. The code required the second in each case to make the princi pal's quarrel his own. Farrar was compelled by the rules to challenge his most intimate friend. The two went to the island and fired at each other three times. Both were wounded, Graham so badly in the spine that he kept his bed for four months. When he got up, he tried to make a horseback journey to his old home in the East, failed on the way and died. In 1811 Thomas H. Crittenden and Dr. Walter Fenwick, two of the best citizens of Ste. Genevieve, met on Moreau Island opposite Kaskaskia landing. General Henry Dodge, afterwards United States senator from Wisconsin, and John Scott, afterwards member of Congress, were the seconds. Crittenden had some trouble with Ezekiel Fenwick, who sent a challenge by his brother, Dr. Fenwick. When Crittenden refused to meet Ezekiel Fenwick, the doctor was compelled, under the code, to make the quarrel his own. He was wounded mortally at the first fire. Crittenden was unhurt. The pistols used in that duel were made by an expert slave gunsmith who belonged to John Smith T. They are preserved in the great collection of curiosities made by the Missouri His torical Society. Firman A. Rozier, in his History of the Mississippi Valley, told of a duel between John Smith T. and Lionel Browne, a nephew of Aaron Burr. Browne was then a resident of Potosi. The meeting place was on the Illinois side of the Mississippi opposite Herculaneum. Browne was the challenger; he was shot in the center of the forehead and killed instantly. Benton and the Precedents. The last of the political duels in which blood was shed was in 1856. It was coincident with the passing of Benton in Missouri politics — fought in the month that Benton went down to final defeat at the polls. Intense feeling between the Benton and anti-Benton factions was the prompting cause of this last duel. Nowhere in the correspondence relating to the duel did the name of Benton appear, but it was understood that Benton was sympathizing and advising with B. Gratz Brown, the editor of the Democrat, in his controversies with Thomas C. Reynolds, the district attorney and anti-Benton candidate for Congress. Forty years previously, in 1816, the year he came to St. Louis to make his home, Benton went out as second to Thomas Hempstead, Edward Bates acting for Joshua Barton, the other principal. This was not the first St. Louis duel, but 270 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI it was one of the earliest and is notable for the punctilious care with which the rules were drawn. The seconds made a formal report upon the affair. Prece dents were established to' govern in later meetings. Although Benton destroyed all of his papers relating to dueling, the copies of the Barton-Hempstead docu ments are in the possession of the Missouri Historical Society. The most inter esting of the papers is the following: "Rules of the meeting between Mr. J. Barton demanding and Mr. T. Hempstead answering : v "i. The ground will be measured off to six paces. "2. The gentlemen will stand back to -back at the distance of six paces from each other. "3. At the word 'March!' the gentlemen will instantly step off three paces ~ and turn and fire without further order. "4. If either party reserves his fire and continues to aim after the other has fired he shall be shot instantly by the adverse second. "5. The seconds shall decide by lot which gives the word. "6. The only words shall be, 'Are you ready?' and being answered in the affirmative, the word 'March' shall be the order for stepping off and turning and firing, as above stated. ' "7. The meeting at 5 o'clock this evening on the island in the Mississippi, opposite LeRoy, on the upper end of the island. "8. The weapons smooth-bore pistols. "9. The pistols t& be delivered cocked to the gentlemen after they have taken their places, and to be held hanging down by the side until after the word 'March.' "Signed in duplicate, August 10th, 1816, at St. Louis. "T. H. Benton, for Mr. Hempstead. "Edward Bates, for Mr. Barton." Three days after the meeting the seconds issued a formal report, and thus the incident was closed: "The undersigned, present at the meeting between Mr. Thomas Hempstead' and Mr. Joshua Barton on the evening of Saturday, the 10th instant, state : "That as soon as the parties met, the ground was measured off by -the undersigned and the pistols loaded in each other's presence. "The choice of positions and the right of giving the word was decided by lot. "The gentlemen immediately took their station and fired as nearly as could be in the same instant, and exactly conformable to the rules agreed upon. Each conducted himself in a firm, cool and collected manner. "After the first fire the party demanding satisfaction declared that it had been given, and no explanation, concession or even mention of the cause of difference was made upon the ground, but the gentlemen shook hands as friends, upon mutual declaration that they owed each other no ill will ; and upon the unanimous declaration of the friends and sur geons present that the affair ought not to proceed any further. "The undersigned state it as their opinion that the conduct of both gentlemen was perfectly honorable and correct. "Signed in duplicate, August 13th, 1816. "Thomas H. Benton. "Edward Bates." The Press and the Code. Joseph Charless, who established the first newspaper in St. Louis, was a fearless editor at short range. He did not hesitate to express editorial opinion on duels. When the fatal meeting between Benton and Lucas took place, this comment on the result appeared in the Gazette: "The infernal practice of DUELING IN MISSOURI 271 dueling has taken off this morning one of the first characters in our country, Charles Lucas, Esq.', attorney at law. His death has left a blank in society not easily filled up." At one time Mr. Charless was threatened with incendiarism because of some vigorous editorials in the Gazette. Apparently, as a result of the rumors that the editor was to be burned out, the Gazette published this: "D. Kimball requests the incendiaries of St. Louis to defer burning Mr. Charless' establishment until his removal, which will be on the 20th of April next." While walking in his garden, Mr. Charless was fired upon but was not hit. The affair with Congressman John Scott was a newspaper sensation which continued some weeks in St.. Louis. The Gazette printed several articles on Scott, who denounced them and demanded the name of the author. Threats were made, to which Mr. Charless replied: "I may be threatened, but I will continue an independent course. If I am attacked for exercising the honest duties of my profession, I know how to repel injury." That was in 1816. Mr. Charless at length gave Mr. Scott the names of the writers of the articles. Five highly respectable citizens were involved. Scott challenged each of them. Fir man A. Rozier's version of John Scott's wholesale appeal to the code was this: "During the time that he was a candidate for Congress, there were written by some correspondents, who were his political enemies, severe strictures upon his character, in the Gazette, published in St. Louis. He demanded of Mr. Charless, tfie editor, the names qf , the authors, which were given him. Next morning, whilst in St. Louis, through General Henry Dodge, and that before breakfast, he challenged to mortal combat five of these correspondents, among whom were Hon. Pvufus Easton, delegate from Missouri Territory; Mr. Lucas, afterwards killed in a duel by Benton; Dr. Simpson, and others whose names are not now remembered. They all declined with the exception of Lucas. The difficulty with Lucas was afterwards compromised through friends. Hon. Rufus Easton's reply to Scott in declining to fight was, 'I do not want to kill you, and if you were to kill me I would die as the fool dieth.' " Benton, the Principal. A year and a day after his first dueling experience in St. Louis and the sec ond year of his residence^ Benton was principal in a duel. Like the rest of the Benton duels, that of August 12, 1817, had its origin in politics. Many years ago Richard Dqwling wrote into the minute book of the Missouri Historical Society Benton's version of the trouble with Lucas : "The election which was held on Monday, the. 4th of August, 1817, at which members of Congress were to be chosen, John Scott and Rufus Easton being the candidates, and the former, receiving the nomination, was known as 'the military election.' The United States officers stationed at Bellefontaine, then the western post, were quite active on the occasion, going through the streets with drum, fife and flag, Lieut. Thomas F. Smith taking a conspicuous part. "The polling took place on the west side of Third, between Almond and Spruce, at the eourthouse, the judges being^ inside the door, and the people coming up to vote, which they did by handing in a printed ticket, which was read aloud, each name of a voter written down at the moment and on a line with it his vote. This was the only voting precinct in the county. At this time a property qualification was the law. Col. 272 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Thomas H. Benton, living in a two-story house, frame, on the north-side of Washington avenue, between Second and Third, presented himself to vote. As he handed in his ticket his right to vote was challenged by Charles Lucas. -Colonel Benton explained to the judge that he owned slaves in St. Louis, on which he paid taxes. After this explana tion he offered to vote. Notwithstanding the explanation, Charles Lucas renewed his challenge. Whereupon Colonel Benton called Lucas 'an insolent puppy.' I had this account from the lips of Colonel Benton himself on our return from Manchester, where a large political meeting had been held, I think in 1842." One of the occasions on which Benton talked of the Lucas duel was in 1856, the year of the Brown-Reynolds affair. Elihu B. Washburne was in Washing ton as a member of Congress from Illinois. His wife was Adele Gratiot, a daughter of Henry Gratiot and Susan Hempstead. Benton was a close personal friend of the Hempsteads. Washburne was making a call upon Benton. His alliance with the Gratiot-Hempstead families prompted conversation upon the pioneer days of St. Louis. Washburne was so impressed with what Benton said that when he returned home he made a memorandum of it. Years after wards, while on a visit to Jefferson City to present to Missouri the portrait of Edward Hempstead, who had been the first delegate in Congress, he referred to this written statement. Benton told Washburne that Hempstead would have been the first senator from Missouri if he had lived. Hempstead received an ugly fall from his horse, and although the immediate effects did not seem serious, he was taken ill suddenly in the midst of trial and died in a short time. Benton was with Hempstead when he died and recalled the circumstances as he talked with Washburne. Then he went on: "Sir, how we did things in those days! After being up with my dead friend all night, I went to my office in the morn ing to refresh myself a little before going out to bury him five miles from town. While sitting at my table writing, a "man brought me a challenge to fight a duel. I told the bearer instanter, 'I accept, but I must now go and bury a dead friend ; that is my first duty. After that is discharged I will fight, to-night, if possible; if not to-morrow morning at daybreak. I accept your challenge, sir, and Colonel Lawless will write the acceptance and fix the terms for .me.' I was outraged, sir, that the .challenge should have been sent when I was burying a friend. I thought it might have been kept a few days, but when it came I was ready for The Statement of Lucas. The sending of the challenge by Lucas, the acceptance by Benton, the funeral of Hempstead, the agreement upon terms and the arrangements for the "per sonal interview" the next morning, all took place in one day. More than that, Lucas wrote the evening of the same day and left for publicity this paper: "Origin of state of differences between Thomas H. Benton and Charles Lucas. "St. Louis, August n, 1817, 9 o'clock at night. "The causes of differences between T. H. Benton and me were as follows: At October court of last year, Mr. Benton and I were employed on adverse sides in a cause. At the close of the evidence, he stated that the evidence being so and so he requested the court to instruct the jury to find accordingly. I stated in reply that there -was no such evidence to my remembrance. He replied, 'I contradict you, sir.' I answered, 'I contradict DUELING IN MISSOURI 273 you, sir.' He then said, 'If you deny that, you deny the truth.' I replied, 'If you assert that, you assert what is not true;' He immediately sent a challenge, which I declined accepting, for causes stated in my correspondence. The jury in a few moments returned a verdict for me, and opposite to his statement. He never even moved for a new trial. Since that time we have had no intercourse except on business. On the day of the election at St. Louis, 4th of August, 1817, I inquired whether he h'ad paid taxes in time to entitle him to vote; he was offering his vote at the time. He applied vehement, abusive and ungentle- manly language to me, and I believe some of it behind my back, all of which he declined to recant, to give me any satisfaction other than by the greatest extremities. I make this declaration that, let things eventuate as they may, it may be known how they originated. "Charles Lucas." The challenge, which Benton sent after the trial, Lucas declined on the ground that he had simply done his duty as a lawyer to his clients and the verdict of the jury had sustained his view of the evidence, justifying the lan guage he had used. Lucas added: "I will not for supporting that truth be in any way bound to give the redress or satisfaction you ask for,, or to any person who may feel wounded by such exposure of the truth." Besides putting on paper the origin of the differences, Lucas wrote this per sonal note : "St. Louis, August 11, 1817. "Dear Father: "Embarked as I am in a hazardous enterprise, the issue of which you will know before you see this, I am under the necessity of bidding you, my brothers, sister, friends, adieu. My brothers and sister procure to you that consolation which I cannot. I request my brothers, William and James, to pursue their studies with assiduity, preserving peace and good-will with all good men. Father, sister, brothers, and friends — farewell. "Charles Lucas." Hempstead died the night of the 10th of August, 181 7. Benton received the challenge the morning of the nth. The copy preserved among the manuscript collections of the Missouri Historical Society reads: "Thomas H. Benton, Esq. "Sir: I am informed you applied to me on the day of the election the epithet of 'puppy.' If so I shall expect that satisfaction which is due one gentleman to another for such an indignity. I am, "Charles Lucas." Lucas — Benton, First Meeting. Another document preserved by the Missouri Historical Society reveals the expedition with which "personal interviews" on the island were arranged in those days. Before night of that same day the terms had been arranged. At six o'clock the next morning the duel was fought iii accordance with the following: "Articles regulating the terms of personal interview between Thomas H. Benton and Charles Lucas, Esquires: "1. The parties shall meet at 6 ojclock on the morning of the 12th inst. at the upper end of the island, opposite Madame Roy's. "2. Each party shall choose and provide himself with a smoothbore pistol, not exceed ing eleven inches in length. Vol. 1—18 274 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "3. The pistols shall be loaded on the grounds by the friends of each 'party in the presence of both friends and parties if the latter shall require it. "4. The friends of each party shall have the liberty of being armed with two loaded pistols on the ground if they please. "5. The parties respectively shall be examined by the friends of each other on the ground to see that they shall have no personal defence of any kind about them, or anything that can prevent the penetration of a ball. "6. The parties previously to taking their ground shall strip off their coats and waist coats to their shirts respectively, and shall fire in that situation. "7.. Each party to have leave to take a surgeon • with them, if " they please, to the grounds. "8. The parties shall stand at the distance of thirty feet, and after being. asked if they are ready, and each having answered in the affirmative they shall receive the word to 'fire,' after which the parties may present and fire when they please. "9. The friends of the parties shall cast lots for choice of stands and for the giving of the word. "10. The friends of the parties shall pledge themselves to each other that there are no persons on the island to their knowledge except those seen. "n. If either party shall fire before the word 'fire' is given it shall be the duty of the friend of the opposite party to shoot him who has so fired. "12. The parties by their undersigned friends pledge themselves on their honor for the strict observance of the above articles. "St. Louis, nth August, 1817. "Lawless, "J. Barton.*' Joshua Barton, the second of Lucas, had been out the year before as a prin cipal. Now he was a second. Later he was to be a principal again and to fall. Immediately after the first Lucas-Benton meeting, Barton wrote to Judge Lucas his account: "Charles appeared perfectly cool and collected both before and after taking his position to fire. On Colonel Benton demanding another fire or a second meeting, Charles told me to reload, that he could stand another fire. This I hesitated to do, under a belief which I have never changed, that -it would be a wanton exposure of the life of a man who, to judge from the profuse discharges of blood, had already received a wound which might prove mortal. He requested me to shorten the distance, which I declined, for the same reason. It was at the earnest solicitation of Doctor Quarles and myself that he consented to adjourn the meeting. We supported him to the boat, soon after getting into which he fainted." The second of Benton, Judge Lawless, published a statement in the Missouri Gazette : "When .the parties fired I asked by request of Colonel Benton if Mr. Lucas was satis-. lied, to which he answered in the negative. Upon this I was proceeding to reload when Mr. Barton, a second for Mr. Lucas, informed me that it was the opinion of Doctor Quarles that the wound which Mr. Lucas had received was more serious than he had at first imagined, and that he considered it necessary that he should quit the field.' In conse quence, I again demanded of Mr. Lucas if he was satisfied, and if he wished for another meeting with Colonel Benton. To this question he replied that he was satisfied, and that he did not require a second meeting. Having reported the answer to Colonel Benton, he declared aloud that he was not satisfied, and required that Mr. Lucas should continue to fight or pledge himself to come o.ut again as soon as his wound should be in a state to permit him. This promise was accordingly given, and the parties pledged themselves by their seconds to perform it." DUELING IN MISSOURI 275 Efforts at Mediation. The seconds as well as mutual friends endeavored to settle the trouble with out another duel. In his statement Mr. Barton said : "It was agreed on the ground at the first meeting that I should inform the friend of Colonel Benton as soon as Mr. Lucas was sufficiently recovered to meet Colonel Benton again. On Friday, the 22d of August, about 8 o'clock in the morning, I waited on Colonel Lawless for that purpose. After conversing on different subjects, Colonel Lawless inquired after Mr. Lucas' health, and his state of convalescence, to which I replied that' he was then sufficiently recovered to meet Colonel Benton. Colonel Lawless asked when we would be ready to go out, to which I answered the next morning, or at whatever time should be thought best. Colonel Lawless then informed me that he was going that day to Herculaneum on important business of his own, and should not return before the next Sunday evening or Monday morning, and mentioned something of Colonel Benton calling in another friend in case the meeting took place next morning. I professed my willingness to postpone it until his return, if Colonel Benton was willing, Colonel Lawless not seeming disposed to agree to anything without previous consultation with him. We conversed freely on every thing connected with the affair, and particularly on the prospects of peace resulting from an attempt which had been made a few days before to that end. Colonel Lawless did not know, at that time, whether his friend would drop it in the way which had been proposed, but said he (Colonel Lawless) would 'make another trial on him.' We parted with an understanding, as I thought, that Colonel Benton was to be informed of what had passed, who could then either withdraw his demand for a second meeting, call in another friend, or 'wait Colonel Lawless' return. I was surprised at not hearing from them sooner, and afterward asked Colonel Lawless if he had not informed his friend, before going to Her culaneum, who told me he had called for that purpose, but did not find him at home. T considered that sufficient notice was given." Judge Lawless thought that the efforts at mediation had succeeded. He was so confident that on the 18th of September, only nine days before the fatal duel, he wrote a full account of the settlement of differences and this appeared in the Gazette on the 20th of September : "The earnest representations of Colonel Benton's friends and his own generous dis position had considerably weakened those indignant feelings which, on the ground, had impelled him to exact of his antagonist the promise of another interview. His cooler re flection informed him, that having wounded the man who had challenged him, and who, notwithstanding his wounds, declared himself satisfied, in pursuing Mr.\ Lucas further his conduct would assume an aspect of vengeance foreign from his heart, and that the sympathies and opinions of his fellow-citizens would probably be raised against him. On these considerations he had almost determined to withdraw the demand for a second meeting, and he did not conceal these feelings from those persons with whom he was in the habit of intercourse. Colonel Benton, in thus yielding to the entreaties of friendship and to the dictates of his conscience, did not imagine that he was furnishing a means of calumny to his enemies, or that the motives of his conduct could possibly be misunder stood. In this idea he found" himself disappointed, and was in a very few days assailed by reports of the mest offensive nature to his feelings and reputation. Colonel Benton then saw the necessity of disproving those reports either by another meeting, or by the explanation of Mr. Lucas, from whom or from whose friends he supposed them to have proceeded. He accordingly determined to await the moment when Mr. Lucas was suffi ciently recovered to come to the field, and then to give him an opportunity of justifying or contradicting the reports in circulation. About this time Mr. Barton called on me, whether in the capacity of Mr. Lucas' second or not, I cannot say, and in the course of conversation, in reply to a question of mine, informed me that Mr. Lucas was sufficiently recovered to meet Colonel Benton. 276 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "At this moment I was on the point of leaving St. Louis, for Herculaneum, and there fore deferred conveying the information to Colonel Benton until my return, which was two days afterward. "On my arrival, I lost no time in stating to Colonel Benton the conversation I. had with Mr. Barton, and at his request immediately called upon the latter gentletnan. As I was one of those who were of opinion that he should release Mr. Lucas from the pledge he had given, I felt considerable regret that the generous intentions of my friend should be affected by reports which might have been circulated without the knowledge of Mr. Lucas, and considered it, therefore, my duty to exert rriyself in every way consistent with the hom>r of Colonel Benton to avert a result which would certainly prove more or less calamitous. "With this view I stated to Mr. Barton the motives which might have disposed Colonel Benton to release Mr. Lucas from his promise to meet him, and the causes that counter acted this disposition. I then proposed that Mr. Lucas should sign a declaration disavowing the reports in question. To this proposition Mr. Barton assented, and a declaration to the above effect was drawn up and agreed to by us. The declaration, which appeared to me sufficiently full, was submitted to Mr. Lucas, who consented to sign it. Colonel Benton, however, did not consider it sufficiently explicit, and rejected it. This decision appeared to leave no other alternative than a meeting, which was accordingly agreed upon between Mr. Barton and me, and was fixed: for the morning after the rising of the superior court, which was then sitting. "It may, perhaps, be necessary to state that on Mr. Barton's suggestion that the dis tance should be shortened, I consented on the part of my friend to any distance from ten paces to five, which latter was mentioned by Mr. Barton as best calculated to place the parlies on an equality. "In this situation matters remained for three or four days, during which my own ,_ reflection and the opinions of honorable and sensible men whom I consulted, convinced me that the cause of the quarrel at present being perhaps ideal, I shoujd omit no effort to prevent the fatal consequences of such a meeting. In this opinion the personal safety of my friend was my least consideration, as upon such occasions it ever has been. "With this view I drew up a second declaration more explicit and full than the former, precluding all possibility of mistake as to the motives or conduct of either party, and, as it , appeared to me, consistent with the honor of both. Mr. Barton, having examined and approved of it, obtained from Mr. Lucas his consent to sign it. 1 on my part submitted it to Colonel Benton, and, supported by his other friends, succeeded in inducing him to accept it. The terms of this declaration are as follows : " 'In consequence of reports having reached Colonel Benton of declarations coming from me respecting the shortness of the distance at which I intended to bring him at our next meeting, I hereby declare that I never said anything on that subject with a view of its becoming public or of its coming to the knowledge __ of Colonel Benton, and that I have never said or insinuated, or caused to be said or insinuated, that Colonel Benton was not disposed and ready to meet me at any distance and at any time whatsoever. " 'Chas. Lucas.1 "Having now stated the transactions between these gentlemen as accurately as I am able without entering into details of minute particulars, or a report of expressions used by • the one party or the other— details which might irritate, without answering any useful purpose— I submit the whole to the fellow-citizens of Colonel Benton, in the perfect persuasion that if the reports' to which I have referred, and which have drawn from me this statement, should have produced an impression injurious to the- reputation of my friend, the facts which I have thus detailed will disabuse the public and will convince them that those reports are false and absurd, and that the authors of them, whoever they may be, are deserving of the contempt and execration of every man of generosity or sense of honor. "L. E. Lawless." "S,t. Louis, September 18, 1817." J. B. C. LUCAS President Jefferson's commissioner to Louisiana Territory Courtesy Missouri Historical Society LUKE E. LAWLESS One of the early judges BOWLING GREEN COURTHOUSE The Temple of Justice of Pike County, one of the oldest in Missouri. early legal and political triumphs Scene of Champ Clark's DUELING IN MISSOURI 279 Lucas — Benton, Second Meeting. Three days after the publication of the statement of Judge Lawless on the 20th of September, Benton repudiated it and demanded the second meeting, giving his reasons : "St. Louis, September 23, 1817. "Sir — When I released you from your engagement to return to the island, I yielded to a feeling of generosity in my own bosom, and to a sentiment of deference to the judgment of others. From the reports which now fill the country it would seem that yourself and some of your friends have placed my conduct to very different motives. The object of this is to bring these calumnies to an end and to give you an opportunity of justifying the great expectations which have been excited. Colonel Lawless will receive your terms, and I expect your distance not to exceed nine feel. "T. H. Benton." Lucas was attending superior court at Jackson. As soon as he returned to St. Louis he accepted the challenge but denied any responsibility for the reports on which Benton based his challenge. "St. Louis, September 26, 1817. "Sir — I received your note of the 23d inst. this morning on my arrival from below. Although I am conscious that a respectable man cannot be found who will say he has heard any of these reports from me, and that I think it more than probable they have been fabricated by your own friends than circulated by any who call themselves mine; yet, with out even knowing what reports you have heard, I shall give you an opportunity of grati fying your wishes and the wishes of your news-carriers. My friend, Mr. Barton, has full authority to act for me. "Charles Lucas." They met the next morning. The seconds made the distance ten feet. The ball from Benton's pistol went through the right arm of Lucas and entered the body near the heart. Barton said of his principal: "At the last interview he appeared equally cool and deliberate. Both presented and fired so nearly together that I could not distinguish two reports. Others, who stood on the shore, state that they heard two echoes. It was remarked that Mr. Lucas raised his weapon in good intention ; hence it is to be supposed that the ball of his adversary struck his arm before or at the moment his pistol exploded, and destroyed the effect of his shot." A Father's Lament. Judge J. B. C Lucas mourned the death of his son. He wished that he might have died on the battlefield. Charles Lucas enlisted as a private in the war of 1 812. He was promoted to captaincy but did not have the opportunity to do actual fighting. Some time after the duel Judge Lucas wrote feelingly, regretting that his son had not been in battle: "O that he had had the good fortune to meet the enemy! He would, I am persuaded, have willingly died fighting for his country, at the head of his little band; or if having done his duty his life had been spared, then,' being conscious that his courage could not be questioned, he would probably have had fortitude enough to have been still more forbearing, and being contented to act only on principles of self-defense, he would not have descended to the level of the professional duelist, and staked a valuable life against — nothing." Benton was challenged repeatedly in after life, once, it is said, by Judge 280 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF' MISSOURI J. B. C. Lucas, father of Charles Lucas. He declined to go out again as prin cipal. He said he had made a promise to Mrs. Benton that he would not fight another duel. But he had several fistic affairs. Mayor John F. Darby told of seeing Benton engaged with two men at one time. ' The senator got the best of them, using brickbats. When he had a personal affair with Senator Foote upon the floor of the Senate, Benton declared that he never carried weapons. Henry S, Geyer and George H. Kennerly exchanged shots on Bloody Island. Their meeting took place in 1817. The terms were pistols at twelve paces. Kennerly was wounded in the leg so severely that he was lame the rest of his. life. Both Geyer and Kennerly were quite young when theif duel occurred. They became close friends afterwards, living to be among the foremost citizens of St. Louis. For both of them avenues were named. According to the late Judge T. T. Gantt, of St. Louis, who had the circumstances from the best pos sible source, Geyer withheld his fire. When Kennerly had fired- and Geyer found himself unharmed, the latter pointed his pistol upward and discharged it. In this case the other principal demanded a second interchange. Geyer aimed to disable, but not to kill. He inflicted a not fatal wound. After Geyer's death Judge Gantt told the story of the duel and of the subsequent relations between the principals. "I have heard Mr. Geyer, without reference to his former rela tions of hostility to his opponent, speak of him as not only a man of high honor, but one of whom he cherished high regards." Army officers stationed at or near St. Louis occasionally resorted to Bloody Island to settle differences. Captain Martin and Captain Ramsay, of the First United States Rifles, met on the, cross marks in August, 1818. Ramsay was mortally wounded. Rector — Barton. Nepotism led to one fatal duel. In the summer of 1823, there appeared in the Republican a letter signed "Philo." It criticized severely the official acts of William C. Rector, surveyor general of the land district which included Mis souri. One of the chief charges was that Rector had given out lucrative survey ing contracts to his relatives and personal friends. In those days such action on the part of an officeholder was considered highly dishonorable. The charge of nepotism was made against Rector when he was a candidate for reappoint ment, and also when his nomination came up for confirmation. Senator Barton was opposing Rector. The surveyor general was in Washington looking after his political interests when the "Philo" letter was printed. The Republican com mented editorially: "We have inserted the communication signed 'Philo' on the principle that men in office are bound to answer to the people for the manner in which they discharge their public duties ; and that if charges are made against them .from a respectable and responsible source, and are couched in decorous terms, the press would defeat the object of its institution if it refused to permit them to come before the public. By this course the innocent cannot be injured. If^the charges are untrue, he who utters them is disgraced; if they are true, the people are interested in knowing it, while the party implicated has nothing to complain of in the development." DUELING IN MISSOURI 281 There were nine brothers and four sisters in the Rector family. They came west from Virginia and settled first in Kaskaskia, early establishing a wide repu tation for physical courage. Several of the brothers served in the war of 1812 and received commissions. The family moved to Missouri. It was the practice of the Rectors to make the affair of one the business of all. Thomas C. Rector, brother of the surveyor general, came to the Republican office and demanded the name of "Philo." He was informed that the letter had been received from United States Attorney Joshua Barton, brother of the Senator. He immediately challenged. The result was announced by the Re publican : "On Monday, 30th ult., a meeting took place between Joshua Barton, Esq., District Attorney of the United States, and Thomas C. Rector, in consequence of a communication signed 'Philo,' which appeared in last week's paperv The parties met at 6 P. M., on the island opposite this place. They both fired at the word, when Mr. Barton fell mortally wounded. Mr. Rector escaped unhurt. Mr. Barton expired on the ground. In him Mis souri has lost one of her ablest and worthiest citizens.'' Surveyor General Rector returned to St. Louis the day after the duel. He published a card asking a suspension of public opinion, saying he would answer the charges against him. At the same time he notified the editors of the Re publican that he would hold them personally responsible for any further publi cations" reflecting upon him. The response to this came in the form of a letter signed by Edward Bates which appeared in the Republican of the 16th of July: "I lose no time in giving my public pledge to substantiate every material state ment in the piece signed 'Philo.' I very unwillingly obtrude my i^me upon the public as a newspaper writer, but the long intimacy and more than brotherly connection between Mr. Barton and me have identified us in the public mind, 'and caused the people to look to me as the inheritor of his principles and feel ings for a vindication of his name and' character. In this just expectation they shall not be disappointed." Senator Barton also published a card. He said: "I now assert before the public that every material allegation in the article signed 'Philo' is true, and that I can prove it in-any mode of investigation calculated to admit the truth in evidence and the production of testimony." He gave a list of twelve relatives and personal connections of the surveyor general who had been appointed deputy surveyors. He stated that in 1822 of 254 townships surveyed the contracts for 195 had been given to connections of the Rector family. He concluded: "If General Rector should take offense at what I have written, the courts are open to him, and if I have wronged him the laws will afford him a vindictive remedy. If he will venture to take this course, I will justify these statements and prove the facts upon him before a jury." Senator Barton's Scorching Letter. Barton continued his fight to avenge his brother's death. The Bartons were opposed to dueling. The senator took the ground that his brother had been forced into the fatal meeting as the result of a conspiracy. He even associated 282 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI* that conspiracy with the wrecking of the Bank of Missouri which had taken place a few years previously. John Hardeman, of Franklin, the man who, a century ago, demonstrated the possibilities of floriculture and horticulture in Missouri with a Missouri bottom garden which was the admiration of that gen eration, suggested that the agitation over the duel be dropped. In reply the senator wrote Hardeman: "In your general expression of opinion respecting the practice of dueling I concur, but in your conclusion in reference to my brother's case we differ widely. So far from consid ering his acceptance tantamount to an acknowledgment of the propriety of the practice, I know it proves nothing in his case, except it be a band of villains composed of Missouri bank directors and surveying contractors had conspired to remove him, and pursued that object for more than twelve months,^ some' under the mask of friendship, and some in other character, until they procured an acceptance, dictated by provocation and not by his judgment; and, although I do not know, I am satisfied of the fact that when they got him on the ground they (A. L. Langham and T. Rector and B. G. Farrar) were just as certain of their victim as a set of blacklegs would be of a gentleman's money who should be provoked to play with them, and by the same means. I believe my brother was swindled out of his life on the ground as clearly as the public was swindled out of the public and private deposits in the Bank of Missouri by the same junta. "I shall never agree to say no more about it until at least the immediate agents of the junta, A. L. Langham and T. Rector, are executed by the hangman, though I should prefer their commanding officers if they could be reached. My brother had talent and integrity enough to be an obstacle to the career of the leaders of this junta, and therefore he was hunted down, a particular pretext being always found in such cases. The fore going views and opinions have been often expressed by me, and I consider you under no injunctions to secrecy in conversing upon this subject. "When my brother fell he charged the villains with having shot him before the word was given. The swindler chief, General Rector, has been 'cited to make his defense up%n the charge for which he caused my brother to be removed. The proof is full, and unless sham trials are in use here as well as in St. Louis he cannot escape. I was- this man's friend so long as I thought him an honest man and no longer." The Code Condemned. Public sentiment in St. Louis grew strong against dueling. In 1823 the Missouri Republican voiced this sentiment when it said: "Two more persons have been killed in duels near St. Louis. Their names are Messrs. Waddle and Crow. It must be a vicious state of society in which the pistol is the umpire in every controversy." Rev. Timothy Flint, who came out to Missouri in 181 6, and held a pastorate, wrote back to his brother, Rev. James Flint, of Salem, Mass., that the practice of dueling was confined to a small class : "In the towns of the upper country on the Mississippi, and especially in St. Louis, there is one species of barbarism that is but too common. I mean the horrid practice of dueling. Be it remembered this is the barbarism only of that small class that denominate themselves 'the gentlemen.' It cannot be matter of astonishment that these are common here when we recollect that the fierce and adventurous spirits are, naturally attracted to these regions, and that it is a common proverb of the people that when we cross the Mississippi, 'We travel beyond the Sabbath.' It would lead me to such personalities as I mean to avoid were I to give you details, and my views of the fatal duels, of which there were so many while I was here. I can only say that I lost in this dreadful way two individuals with whom I had personal intercourse and from whom I had received many DUELING IN MISSOURI 283 kindnesses. All that fell were men in office, of standing and character. I am not here going to start a dissertation upon the trite subject of dueling, the most horrible and savage relic of a barbarous age." Illinois put a stop to dueling between citizens of that state at an early day, but did not seriously interfere with Missourians. In 1819, Alonzo G. Stuart and William Bennett fought at Belleville. The seconds conspired to prevent bloodshed and loaded the rifles without bullets. As his weapon was handed to Bennett he slipped in a bullet. Stuart was mortally wounded. Bennett was tried for murder and convicted. Appeals to Governor Bond for clemency were without avail. Bennett was hung. Some Illinois historians have claimed that that was the last duel fought within the state by its citizens and that the execu tion of Bennett made the practice unpopular. But Illinois did not consider that its jurisdiction extended to Bloody Island. Thomas H. Benton was concerned in the affair at Belleville. He defended the two seconds. Public sentiment was so strongly aroused that indictments were returned against the seconds, who were Jacob Short and Nathan Fike. The duel took place in February, at a time when there was a large gathering in Belleville from the surrounding country. It was arranged apparently to test Bennett. The testimony went to show an understanding on the part of all but Bennett that the duel was a sham. The place selected was a lot just north of the main street of the town. The weapons were rifles and the loading was by the seconds. The principals were stationed forty yards apart. Stuart did not fire. After he fell his rifle was picked up by one of the seconds and discharged. Stuart was a man of some prominence in St. Clair county. Benton secured the acquittal Of Short and Fike. The trial brought out testimony to the effect that Bennett had put a bullet in his gun after receiving it from the second. Bennett had been arrested and was in jail. When the sheriff went to bring him to court for trial he could not be found. In some manner he had escaped from the jail and reached the Missouri side of the river. Two years later he was caught, tried, convicted and executed. Judge John R. Reynolds, before whom the three men were tried, in an account of the affair, wrote that it "was considered the result of a wild, drunken frolic, and it never did assume the character of a regular and honorable duel." " The Rev. Timothy Flint in one of his letters to a brother in Massachusetts gave a different version of the Belleville duel. His account was written not long after the tragedy. "A young gentleman, a respectable attorney, had just commenced business. He had been bullied by a man who was indeed an officer in rank, but a dubious character. The young gentleman had been cautioned against being drawn into the contest, and had been assured, that, according to the orthodox canons of honor, the character of the man did not justify fighting him. But an idea was entertained that he had not sufficient nerve to stand a challenge. It was agreed by his friends that the next time the man insulted him, he should send him a challenge and that the seconds should load both rifles — for they were to fight with rifles — with blank cartridges. The opposite party was not to be in the secret and the joke was to watch his eye and see if it did not blench. The chal lenge was sent and the seconds on both sides made a solemn contract with each other that both guns should be loaded with blank cartridges. The young attorney went out to watch the eye of his antagonist and to enjoy the joke. The parties met, discharged and 284 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the attorney fell with two rifle bullets through his heart. The wretch who was second for his antagonist had violated his stipulation and had loaded the rifle with two bullets. An amiable young woman was left a widow with jjne orphan babe.'' Shields-Lincoln. While Illinois claimed to have' put an end to dueling on the sacred soil of that state, through the hanging of William Bennett, this summary action did not deter citizens of Illinois from coming over to the Missouri side, or rather from making use of islands between the two states. On the 22nd of September, 1842, stage coaches rattled down the long valley between the bluffs of Alton and unloaded an extraordinary" passenger list at the Piasa hotel. People on the wide, double galleries of the three-story, hipped-roof hotel looked and mar veled as James Shields, state auditor, accompanied by General Whitesides, and several other well known Springfield Democrats, came out of one coach and went into the hotel. Wonder increased 100 per cent when another vehicle unloaded Abraham Lincoln, the lawyer, E. H. Berryman and William Butler. About that time or a few minutes later, Elijah Lott, J. J. Hardin and other well known Illinoisans drove hurriedly into town. There was no hilarity but an air of serious business manifested. A bundle of long, clumsy dragoon sabres Iwas lifted down from the roof of one of the coaches and carried into the hotel. All over town the news spread that a duel was about to come off. "Jim" Shields had challenged "Abe" Lincoln and they were going to cross over on Missouri soil and fight with broadswords, the regulation sabres of the United States cavalry, called at that time dragoons. Lott and Hardin began negotiations to bring about a settlement. Notwith standing the efforts of the peacemakers, the seconds went about preparations energetically. The seconds leading the way, and an attendant carrying the weapons, Shields and Lincoln went down to the river and on board a ferry boat with paddle wheels which were driven by horses. Alton's population flocked to the bank or gathered in west windows which commanded a good view. The town constable was taken on board to help handle the crowd which threatened to overload the boat. One newspaper man secured passage. He was "Bill" Souther, better known in Illinois history as William G. Souther. The Souther family is well known in both Illinois and Missouri. The Amer ican ancestor of the family was the first secretary of Plymouth colony. Bill Southe^was a pripter on the Alton Telegraph and Democratic Review. Later he became the editor of a Springfield newspaper. Other members of the Souther family moved from Alton to St. Louis and founded one of the great metal industries of Missouri. Bill Souther saw and heard all, but his paper in its next issue printed not one word about the duel. As soon as the ferry touched the island so near to the Missouri side as to be practically part of this state, Mr. Lincoln was conducted in one direction and Mr. Shields in another. They sat down on logs while seconds and mutual friends entered into a conference. It didn't take long to determine that the proceedings were going along on a false basis. The challenge, as discovered by experts in the queer precedents of the code, had been sent prematurely. Lincoln had some time previously amused himself and entertained Springfield DUELING IN MISSOURI 285 Whig readers by writing humorous gossip about the Democrats. He signed these communications "Aunt Rebecca." Mary Todd, who afterwards became the wife of Lincoln, and Julia Jayne, her chum, conspired to make the situation even more interesting and contributed their woman's wit to an "Aunt Rebecca" letter of their own. They added some verses, which they signed "Cathleen." They were more than funny at Shields' expense. The auditor went to the editor and demanded the. real name of "Aunt Rebecca." The girls were frightened. They appealed to Bunn, the banker, to help them out. Bunn went to Lincoln and said: "We've got into an awful fix." "What's the matter?" asked Lincoln. "The girls have written some poetry on Shields," said Bunn. "Didn't you see it in the paper? Shields says he won't stand for it. What shall we do about it?" "Go back and when you meet Shields tell him that I wrote it," 'said Lincoln. Shields accepted this without further investigation -and challenged Lincoln, who chose sabres for the weapons and let the preparations go on. In the conference on the island the true storji of authorship was told by the peacemakers. The seconds saw at once that the duel must be stopped. Thomas M. Hope of Alton, prominent in the party, went to Shields and told him he would bring disgrace on the Democratic party if he let the duel proceed under such circumstances. Then, as usual under the code, the interchange of notes went on between the seconds. Shields, seeing the mistake that had' been made when he learned that Lincoln had not written the objectionable matter, gave ready consent to have the challenge withdrawn. Bill Souther, good newspaper man that he was, gave attention to what the principals were doing. He said that for some time after the landing, Lincoln and Shields sat quietly on their logs. Lincoln said nothing and to Souther he, looked serious. After awhile something happened, and Souther said that when he saw it, he "nearly blew up." The bundle of sabres had been laid down near the log on which Lincoln was sitting. Lincoln reached down and took one of the weapons. He drew the blade slowly from the scabbard. Souther said "it looked as long as a fence-rail." Holding the blade by the back, Lincoln looked closely at the edge, and then, after the manner of one who has been grinding a scythe or a corn knife, he began to feel gingerly the edge with the ball of his thumb. By this time Bill Souther was tremendously interested. Holding the sabre by the handle, Lincoln stood up and looked around. He evidently saw in a willow tree several feet away what he was looking for. Raising the mighty weapon with his long arm, Lincoln reached up~and cut one of the topmost twigs of the willow. When he had satisfied himself thoroughly as to the efficiency of the broadsword, he sat down. A few minutes later the correspondence was closed on terms "honorable to both parties." As the boat put back to Alton the spectators on the bank were horrified to see lying prone upon the deck a figure covered with, blood, while a well known Altonian leaned over the figure plying a fan vigorously. Not until the boat (was close in shore was it seen that the figure was a log of wood and that the 286 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "bloody" covering was a red flannel shirt. Wentworth dropped the fan, stood up and grinned. _ Lincoln was six feet and four inches tall, with an arm length in proportion. Shields was five feet and six inches, chunky and short-limbed. Bill Souther, marveled much over the willow tree exhibition, and wondered how long Shields could have stood up against such odds. ' The Alton Telegraph and Democratic Review came out two days after the duel." Not one word about what Bill Souther saw. on the island was printed-. Not the slightest reference was made to the affair. But one week later the newspaper had an editorial on "Our city was the theatre of an unusual scene of excitement during the last week, arising from the visit of two distinguished gentlemen of the city of Springfield, who, it was understood had come here with a view of crossing the river to answer the 'requisitions of the code of honor' by brutally attempting to assassinate eaeh other in cold blood." The paper at considerable length dwelt on the lawlessness of Mr. Shields and Mr. Lincoln ' and said "We again call upon Mr. Attorney Lamborn to exercise a little of that zeal which he is continually putting into requisition against the less favored but no less guilty offenders and bring all who have* been concerned in the late attempt at assassination to justice." The editor of the Alton Telegraph and Democratic Review was George T. M. Davis, twice mayor of Alton, and. later the editor of the New Era at St. Louis. His descendants are well known Missourians of the present generation. Lincoln's terms, as the challenged party, were unique in the history of duel ing both as to weapons and positions : "Cavalry broadswords of. the largest size, precisely equal in all respects, and as now used by the cavalry company at Jacksonville. "A plank ten feet long and from nine to twelve inches broad, to be firmly fixed on 'edge in the ground as a dividing line between us, which neither is to pass his foot over or forfeit his life; next a line drawn on the ground, on either side of said plank, and parallel with it; each at .the distance of the whole length of the sword and three feet additional from the plank; and the passing of such line by either party during the fight shall be declared a surrender of the contest." Legislation Against the Practice. The Missouri legislature of 1822 considered a bill making death from a duel murder and prohibiting from office holding all who engaged in it. The preamble to this law declared: "Experience has evidenced that the existing remedy for - the suppression of the barbarous custom is inadequate to the purpose and the progress and consequences of the evil have become so destructive as to require an effort of the general assembly to arrest a vice the result of ignorance and barbarism justified neither. by the precepts of morality nor by the dictates of reason." Three fatal duels within a year prompted this strong expression by the law-making body of the new State of Missouri. Missouri endeavored in various ways to put a stop to dueling. .Sentiment had grown strong upon the evil. But, as often in reforms, sentiment overreached itself. The opposition . to the code found conditions so favorable to remedial legislation that the legislature of 1824-5 passed a very drastic bill. Imprisonment MADAME CHOUTEAU, LA MERE DE ST. LOUIS (Marie Therese Bourgeois) DUELING IN MISSOURI 289 was not deemed sufficient penalty. The bill provided that those who engaged in dueling should be whipped. Governor Frederick Bates declined to approve the measure. He said to the ¦ legislature : "I am happy on this occasion to record my utter detestation and abhorrence of dueling. My duty to my neighbors and to myself would compel, me as well in my private as in my public capacity to discountenance and put down, if possible, so barbarous and so impious a prac tice." But he .could not see the way clear to sign a bill which made the lash the punishment for fighting a duel. The state senate' mustered the necessary two- thirds .vote to pass the bill over the governor, but the house failed to do so. Leonard — Berry. In 1819 a slender Vermont youth walked from St. Charles to Old Frankliu, near Boonville. He carried all he possessed in a bundle at the end of a stick. One of these, possessions was a license to practice law. While tiie young New Englander was gaining a professional foothold in Missouri he had a difficulty 1 with Major Taylor Berry, who struck him with a whip. The impression in the community was that the Yankee would not fight a duel. ' Abiel Leonard wrote at once to Berry: "Sir, I demand a personal interview with you. My> friend, Mr. Boggs, will make the necessary arrangements." The challenge was sent on the 26th of June, 1824. Berry accepted. He named Major A. LALangham as his friend. In accepting, he wrote: "My .business, which embraces many duties to others, will require my( personal atten tion until after the. ist of September next, after which time any further delay will be asked from you only." The- principals and their seconds traveled down the Missouri to St. Louis and thence to New Madrid. The time set for the duel was the first of, Septem ber. Berry was mortally wounded. Under the law of Missouri Leonard was disfranchised and disbarred. ; Long petitions' for the removal of his disabilities were, signed and sent to the legislature. At the next session Leonard was restored to all of his rights. Ten years later he was elected to the legislature. Subsequently he became a judge of the supreme court of Missouri. Possibly Benton did not enjoy dueling. Certainly he took intense interest in these "affairs of honor." Into his "Thirty Years' View of the History of the Workings of the American Government" he wrote a defense; or, perhaps,' better, an apology for the code. Following the death of Congressman Cilley at the hand of Graves of Kentucky, Congress made the penalty for dueling in the Dis trict of Columbia death to all of the survivors when one of the principals was killed and five years in the penitentiary for sending or accepting a challenge. This legislation was the text of Benton's comment : ( "Certainly it is deplorable to see a young man, the hope of his father and mother — a ripe man, the head of a family — an eminent man necessary to his country — struck down in a duel,/and should be prevented if possible. Still this deplorable practice is not so bad as the bowie knife and the revolver, .and their pretext of self-defense — thirsting for blood. In the duel there is at least consent on both sides, with a preliminary opportunity for settle ment, with a .chance for the law to arrest them, and room for the interposition of friends as the affair goes on. There is usually equality of terms ; and it would not be called an affair of honor if honor was not to prevail all round; and if the satisfying a point of honor, Vol. 1—19 , 290 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI and not vengeance, was not the end attained. Finally, in the regular duel, the principals are in the hands of the seconds (for' no man can be made a second without his consent); and as both these are required by the- dueling code (for the sake of. fairness and humanity) to be free from ill will pr .grudge toward the adversary principal, they are expected to terminate the affair as soon. as the point of honor is satisfied, arid the less the injury so much the better." Senator Linn on the Code. Benton's colleague/ Doctor Linn, was' not without experience in the code. As a surgeon he was present when Biddle and Pettis inflicted fatal- wounds upon each' other. As senator he took part in the debate upon the legislation sug gested by the death of Cilley. What he said was especially interesting because he cited Missouri illustrations to sustain his arguments. . Senator Linn urged ; that too drastic legislation would defeat the purpose. What community could be found, he asked, that would pronounce a man either a murderer or a felon, who might have chanped to kill another in fair and equal combat? No man, he was persuaded, who came to act on his respbnsibility as a juror, would be pre pared to render such a verdict. Many of the states had passed severe penal enact ments in relation to the matter, and yet where was the state where >such laws had been carried into effect?' Other legislatures had sought milder remedies, such as ptinishing dueling by disfranchising their citizens, rendering them forever after incapable of holding offices of profit or trust, honor, or emolument. Such laws, he maintained, had a more wholesome action than those unjust and cruet enactments,, because the one was generally carried into effect while the other was little better than a dead letter. To illustrate the effect, of public opinion on the subject, Sen ator Linn instanced a case in his own state, where the people were as, much averse to fighting as those of any other in the Union (though he was aware that a contrary opinion prevailed among many in relation to Missouri) — where a Small man, for a supposed offense, was cruelly lashed by a large one, the result of which -was a challenge on the part of the small one to fight,; in, which duel the large man, was shot twice, the last wound mortal. The survivor was found guilty under the laws of Missouri, when a petition was gotten up, signed almost .unanimously by the people, and presented to the legislature, which body remitted the penalties almost by acclamation. And so, Mr. Linn said, it would be in all like cases — either the legislature or the execu tive would step in tp counteract the law. If such a bill could be introduced as would strike at, the root of the evif it would cheerfully have his support. He was aware that dueling was not defensible on principles of Christianity. All the legislatures of the Union have concurred in denouncing the practice of dueling as evil in itself, and yet have we not seen them come in to stay the law? From what little he had seen it appeared to him that fighting was like marrying —the more barriers that were erected against it, the surer were they to come ' together. Farther along in the debate, Senator Linn held up Missouri experience for the enlightenment of the United States Senate. He said they had now a law in his state which was more effectual fdr -the prevention of dueling than- any other law that had ever been passed. In cases of assault, all abusive words and defama tory language went to the jury in mitigation of the offense. DUELING IN MISSOURI 291 i Mr. Benton — As a justification? Mr. Linn — Yes, sir, as a justification: and if that abusive member, the tongue, was permitted to have too free a license, the same license was permitted to the individual to redress his grievance. He thought if the same law applied to the Senate of the United States, there would be a little more decorum than he had witnessed. This law, of which he had spoken, had had a better effect in the prevention of dueling than any other that had ever been passed, and he thought it would be better for the peace and harmony of society if such a law was more generally prevalent throughout the United States. The reference in Sen ator Linn's remarks to a Missouri case was undoubtedly to the Leonard-Berry fatality. Benton the Adviser of Pettis. Manuscript colleictions of the Missouri Historical Society give Benton a much closer relationship to the Pettis-Biddle duel than is attributed in printed accounts of the tragedy. Thomas Biddle was an officer of high standing in the United States armyA He was a brother of Commodore Biddle of- the navy and of Nich olas Biddle, president of the United States Bank. He had distinguished himself by gallantry in the war of 1812, and especially at the battle of Lundy's Lane. Making St.. Louis his home, Thomas Biddle married a daughter of John Mullan phy. His wealth and social position made him one of the most conspicuous per sonalities in St. Louis, Spencer Pettis was a member of Congress, the only representative from Missouri. He had just been elected for a second term. He was of Virginia births a young man of fine f amily and very popular. The congressional- election was on the second of August. In his speeches during the campaign, Pettis attacked the United States Bank. He was a follower of "Benton. But he not only assailed the -bank on principle, he reflected on the management in such a manner as to arouse the indignation of Major Biddle. The latter replied in one of the St. Louis papers,, calling Pettis "a dish of skimmed milk." Pettis published his answer. , Early one morning Biddle went to the hotel where Pettis was stopping. He found the Congressman in bed, pulled off the cover arid used a whip. There could be but one outcome for such an insult. The condition of short-sightedness entered into the Pettis-Biddle duel. One account of the circumstances leading .to the duel, is that Pettis, anticipating a hostile meeting, went before Judge Peter Ferguson and made a sworn statement about the attack upon him in the hotel. He proceeded from Ferguson's office to the printer to have the statement put in type. Ferguson, made aware of what had taken place, issued a writ against Biddle to keep the peace. Biddle met Pettis and told him that if challenged he would accept. This was after the election, between three and four weeks. Pettis challenged at once. Biddle being the challenged principal, made the terms. ' He set the next day for the duel and hiade the distance five feet, because of short-sightedness. The meet ing took place at three o'clock in the afternoon. Old inhabitants, eighty years after the occurrence, pointed out a spot on the Illinois side, almost exactly oppo site the Pettis-Biddle meeting. 292 " CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Benton's intimate relationship with the Pettis-Biddle duel is told in these personal recollections of Edward Dobyns, preserved by the Missouri Historical ' Society : "Upon the attack on one of the parties at the City Hotel in July, 1831, Mrs. Benton having heard at difficulty or noise, about daybreak suggested* to Mr. Benton the probable cause. He at once arose and went over and found her suspicions were true._Mr. Benton spent about five minutes in which a masterly stroke of policy was exhibited, rarely 'ever seen in connection with an event of such magnitude. All political historians will remember that the party attacked • was a candidate for re-election to a seat in Congress from. Missouri, and that the occurrence took place fjust before the day of election. In that five1 minutes' interview Mr. Benton said: 'Let there be no definite action taken until this election is over. And then, sir, I leave you to vindicate your honor in such a manner as you may deem most consistent with' the principles that govern gentlemen.' "This suggestion was yielded to with much reluctance on the part of the attacked, and all who are acquainted with the history of that day. remember the political result. It was my privilege to have enjoyed the personal acquaintance of all of the parties in the tragical affair, and I honored them all, enjoying their 'friendship. During the days just preceding the fatal meeting I often met Mr. Benton at his residence, having been requested by him to call every day as he did not often go out amongst the people. " ¦ "Upon one occasion when I called, Dr. Lewis F. Linn, the surgeon of one of the parties, -was just coming out of the parlor. It was the day before the fatal duel.. Mr. Benton said, with' evident deep feeling and seriousness, 'There will be no child's play in the meet ing.' I suppose Doctor Linn had informed him that the distance was only five feet apart. There was not much said. A deep seriousness seemed to pervade the mind of Mr. Benton. "After the fatal meeting, August 27', 1831, the parties crossed back to the St,' Louis side of the river. The immense collection of people that had assembled on the river bank went down to meet them. As the yawl approached the shore Mr. Pettis was leaning.on the breast of his surgeon, Doctor Linn, who supported him in his arms. Captain Martin Thomas, his second, was holding a vial from which the wounded man was inhaling to keep up life. It was my privilege to have been the first to meet the party, as they neared the shore, and know of my own knowledge what occurred, and am, therefore prepared to, cor rect the error of a distinguished writer who has said that when Mr.t Pettis was brought back from the dueling ground, Judge Peck was among the first to' meet him and offer ' sympathy; that Mr. Pettis said to him, 'Did I vindicate my, honor?' 'Yes,' said the judge, 'you have vindicated your honor like a man — a man of bravery; sir.' This is an error. Judge Peck was not present at the landing of the party. When the skiff neared the shore, Mr. Pettis, in his reclining position, in the arms of his surgeon, looked up and caught the eye of Mr. 'Benton and said, 'Colonel Benton, have I acted the poltroon?' To which Colonel Benton replied, 'No, sir, you have ' shown yourself to be the bravest of the brave.' These were the words of Mr. Benton, not of Judge Peck. "Judge Peck came to the room of the dying statesman the night after the fatal meeting 'and stayed by his bedside until his death, and exhibited great sympathy and showed pro- fbund interest for him. Just before his death Mr. Pettis gave a deep moan. The judge, seeing that death was rapidly approaching, 'said : 'Mr. Pettis, you have proved yourself to be a great man; now, die fike a man/ .Mr. Pettis said: 'Yes, sir,' and in a few moments passed away. Considering that Mr. Pettis was a political opponent of the party .to which Judge Peck belonged, I have often thought and said that Judge Peck deserved great praise fpf his sympathy and interest shown to Mr. Pettis. - "Mr. Benton's whole, course was calm, collected and dignified, never utteYing,a harsh -word, or giving expression to a feeling of unkindness to any party/ He presided at the meeting of the' friends df Mr. Pettis, who met to give expression to their regrets, wrote the* account of the' duel in a calm, dignified and impartial style, which Doctor Linn and, I lopk from his. residence down to the St. Louis Beacon, a paper published by Colonel Charles Keemle. This notice was copied into almost all of the papers of, the. United State's," DUELING IN MISSOURI 293 One of the earliest accounts of this duel, thought to be, from the description, written by Benton, read : "The pistols were then loaded, and put in the ha'nds of the principals, who were stationed at the distance of five feet apart. The seconds then stood, at right angles between the principals.- The seconds then cocked their pistols, keeping their eyes lon each -other and on their principals. They had thrown up for positions, when Pettis had won the choice. Everything being ready, the pistols having been loaded, cocked and primed, and put into the hands of the principals, the words were pronounced, according to the rule of dueling — Are. you ready?' Both answered, 'We are.' The seconds then counted — 'One-two-three.' ' "After the word was given both principals fired with outstretched arms. The1 pistols were twelve or fifteen inches in length and they lapped and struck against each other, as they were discharged. There was scarcely any chance for either to escape instant death. They both fired so simultaneously, that the people on the shore heard only one report, and both men fell at the same time." The seconds in this duel were Captain Thomas and Major Ben O'Fallon. Dodging a Dueling Statute. , One of the laws enacted by Missouri to discourage the practice of dueling made it an indictable offense to send a challenge. This prompted some ingenious methods to get around the statute. Ira P. Nash was a town boomer, a doctor, a surveyor, a fruit raiser, a farmer and a shrewd litigant whose court experi ences prompted at least one change in the law practice of Missouri. One of the cases which Nash won in 1840 had much to do with'the change in the statutes permitting a plaintiff to be sworn in behalf of the defendant and a defendant to be sworn in behalf of the plaintiff. About 183-1 Nash considered that he had sufficient provocation to challenge Gilpin S. Tuttle to fight a duel. He set about 'the sending pf a challenge in a way that he thought would evade the law. He wrote: "Sir : I have always been fond -of the chase and pf gunning. I have experienced great satisfaction in the chase, in the countries of West Florida, and New Mexico, and in the states of Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolijia, Missouri, and Tennessee, — in the extreme eastern part of the latter I took my first chase 'when a ,,boy. Now, sir, the object of this communication is to let you kno,w that there is not any thing that could be more grateful to my feelings than to take a short hunt with you, in some place not exposed to Indian depredations, and as my first chase was in the east of. Tennessee, I propose to take this, perhaps my last chase in the extreme west of that state, say in the Mississippi bottom opposite New Madrid. I propose the hunting camp to be located somewhere near the Mississippi river (nigh where the eye of Leonard flashed on Major Berfy) and then and there the preliminary arrangements for the hunt will be made by * * * say our camp keepers — and they will no doubt give you liberty to execute your threat of 12th of June last on me — and if you stick close to the chase, I insure that we will have something of better color, if not so strong, scented as that with which you plastererl my lette'r 10th of last June. "Yours, &c, ' "I. P. Nash." 294 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "To Capt. Gilpin S. Tuttle, "Nashville, Mo. v # "P. S. Sir— I most seriously invite you to this hunt— you may, object to the season,, , but 'tis the best time to save meat and skins, and the climate is more mild at New Madrid than here. I have frequently observed that men by being campmates (each doing his duty) would become great friends and agreeable associates. Therefore this measure ii, absolutely. necessary. Three days after this is delivered I shall call at Nashville for an answer for this invitation, believing most confidently that you will perfectly understand this prelude at the' first glance. There is an embargo (and spmething worse) on those who execute certain instruments of writing in Missouri which criminal words I have and will avoid. But there is. no law (that I know of) which prohibits hunting parties: "Yours, "I. P. Nash." 1 v ' / The letter didn't work as Nash expected. The grand jury of the Boone cir cuit court found an indictment and Nash was fined $100 for sending a challenge. ¦ A "family duel was that between Felix Scott and his son-in-law, both resi dents of St. Charles county. Scott was a lawyer who served as justice of the peace in- Dog Prairie many years. He was a member of the legislature several terms, a man of affairs and a great fighter. The son-in-law for some grievance, challenged. Scott chose double-barreled shotguns. Scott provided under the terms what might be called a penalty handicap against himself. He stipulated that he should not shoot until after his son-in-law had one fire. The terms were carried out. The younger man fired and missed. Then Scott laid down fiis gun and gave the challenger a sound whipping with fists. Rev. Dr. Eliot's Protest. The growing sentiment in St. Louis against dueling found ways of mani festing itself. In November, 1836,' William Greenleaf Eliot*, who Created Wash ington University, came to St. Louis to live — a' young man,,a Unitarian minister just ordained. One of ,his first letters to friends "back east" contained this: "We had a duel here yesterday between two young fools, lawyers. Neither hurt and will probably fight again. If I can do it incog, I mean to give them a basting in the way of the ridiculous." St. Louis newspaper reports of duels were, as a rule, quite brief. In 1837 the Missouri Republican disposed of one of these affairs in this manner : "Duel — A meeting took place yesterday a little before sundown "on " Bloody Island between Mr. William C. Skinner and Mr. William S. Meservey, of this city, in which the latter, on the first fire, received a flesh wound just below the knee. His antagonist escaped unhurt." Three years later occurred a meeting in which the editor of the Republican was a principal. - Adafh Black Chambers was "called out" by Thomas B. Hud son, a young Tennesseean. Soon after beginning the practice of law in St. Louis, Hudson entered politics. -He became a member, of the city council, the city counselor, a member of the legislature, and ran for Congress as an anti- Benton candidate. In 1840 there was held a Democratic Van Buren rally at Creve Cceur lake, in St. Louis county. Hudson was one of the speakers'. A dis turbance of serious character interrupted the meeting. Some correspondent* DUELING IN MISSOURI 295 rote an account of the trouble for a St. Louis paper and signed the communi- tion "Veritas." In the course of the description of the row Hudson was ven credit for "bold and fearless conduct." The Missouri Republican was ipporting the Whig candidate for President, William Henry Harrison. It iblished a communication upon the Creve Cceur meeting, intimating that'Hud- >n was "Veritas," and that he had described himself as a hero. The Repub- •an went further, editorially endorsing the communication and saying: "We tve the word of several gentlemen, and some of them Loco-focos, saying that more disgraceful, unbecoming proceeding has not transpired during the can- iss than this was. We particularly invite the attention of the author of 'Ver- is,' reported to be the 'bold and fearless Mr. Hudson,' to this communication." The attention was given quickly. Hudson challenged Mr. Chambers. The litor of the Republican accepted. The duel was fought with rifles at forty ices. It took place on Bloody Island in the early morning. Hudson was accompanied by Charles Bent and John H. Watson. Chambers' lends were Martin Thomas and W. Gordon. Three times the word was given id the rifles were discharged. Nobody was hurt. The seconds refused to per- it any more shooting. Principals,, seconds, and surgeons came back to St. ouis, went to the residence of Colonel Chambers, and passed the rest of the ly in banqueting. The seconds joined in a card to the newspapers stating, that ie principals had acted with coolness and bravery. , v John B. Clark, "Old Bustamente," of Fayette, had his experience with the >de in that same campaign He gave the writer this account of it : "When I ran for governor in 1840, I wrote a letter about some man being a rascal, id I spelled it wrong, — put in a 'k' I believe, instead of a-'c' Claib Jackson was a bitter ilitical enemy of mine. He wrote a piece about the letter in which he commented on my elling. It was a mighty -severe article. Abiel Leonard, afterward supreme judge, and I ere friends, and I showed him fhe piece. He said I ought to fight. I sent a challenge. .ckson agreed to fight and narhed a place right in the edge of town here (Fayette). hat was1 the same day the article about my spelling came but in the'paper. We both Ere arrested before the fight could be,jhad. I turned in and published Jackson as a iward. I said the article was a mean and cowardly attack. He had accepted my chal- tige and had named a place where he knew there couldn't be a fight. I had this printed handbills and put them up on the corners., Of course, after that, I meant to shoot lierever we met, and we went prepared" but friends interfered and fixed it up. Jackson id T afterwards became friends. That was about the' extent of my connection with leling, except that I carried a' challenge from Leonard to Taylor Berry ,in 1823. That Duble started about a speech Leonard had made. Berry horsewhipped Leonard, and the tter sent a challenge. I delivered it, meeting Berry on one of the corners downtown. ley met and Berry was killed." he Blair-Pickering Affair. A noteworthy resort to the code in Missouri was by Francis P. Blair, Jr., id Lorenzo Pickering. And that, too, was about Benton. Pickering was nducting the Union and had made it anti-Benton. Blair was foremost among e younger adherents of Benton. Pickering assailed Blair so bitterly in the nion that Blair, although opposed to the code, .sent a challenge. Blair's riend" in the transaction was Thomas T- Gantt, afterward judge of the court appeals. In his acceptance, Pickering exercised the right of the challenged 296 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF" MISSOURI \ to name the time and place; he did it in such manner, as to make the duel'im- possible. His stipulation was that the meeting must take place at Fourth and Pine streets ; that the hour must be twelve o'clock noori. Blair "posted" Pickering. That is to say, he denounced " him as a coward, A few days later the men met o'n Chestnut street; The sidewalk was" narrow. Pickering stepped off into the roadway. He either drew a knife or made a motion as if to do so. Blair thrust/ his umbrella forward into Pickering's face, making a mark which was visible several days. . , A short time afterward there was held a Free-Soil meeting at night in the rotunda of the courthouse, then a favorite place for political gatherings. Blair made a speech. He ' started to leave by the Fourth street front. As he stepped through the door out on the portico, which was semjcircular, instead of the present form of/ architecture, a man greeted him with "Good evening, Mr. Blair." The words, were spoken loudly. v Acknowledging the salutation, Blair con tinued across the portico to the steps leading down to the street. Another fnan standing at the bottom of the steps fired and ran. The ball went by. Blair drewi his pistol and fired. He ran down the steps and fired again, but without effect. At the inquiry which followed, suspicion pointed to • Doctor Preforftaine,- a , writer on the Union, as the one. who had given the loud greeting. It was sup posed that this was done to give notice to the person standing at the bottom of the steps that^ Blair was coming. There was no positive identification of the one who fired. Street lamps were not lighted, because, as one witness ex plained,! it was a "corporation, moonlight" night? Pickering was arrested on suspicion, but was discharged. The proof against him was not positive, out thcreal reason why the case was not pushed was; a seeret agreement or under standing that he would leave Missouri. Pickering went to California with the goldseekers, started a paper in San Francisco and became widely known and wealthy. Blain and Gantt were summoned to court for participating in a challenge to fight a duel. They pleaded guilty and were fined $i each. The district attorney who prosecuted was Samuel T.; Glover, who became one of the leaders of the St. Louis bar twenty years later. The judge who imposed ' the fine was James B. Colt, a brother of the maker of Colt's revolvers. The1 Blair-Pickering affair was far-reaching in its relationship to newspaper destinies in St. Louis. With the departure of Pickering* the Union not only changed hands', but ehtered upon a new political course. It took up the fight for Benton in his appeal ,from the pro-slavery resolutions of the Missouri legis lature. Blair and Brown contributed most of the editorials. Brown found newspaper work to his liking. When in the summer of 1852, Giles F. and O..D. Filley; John How and, a few others thought the time was opportune for a dis tinctively Free Soil paper in St. Louis, Blair and Brown joined' them. The business men furnished the capital. Blair and Brown contributed the political and editorial talent. William McKee, who had a large job printing establish ment, supplied the mechanical plant, and took a half interest in the venture. The Signal, which had been conducted as a morning paper by a group of printers on a co-operative plan, w^s purchased. The name of "Missouri Demo- Dueling in Missouri ¦ 297 crat" was. chosen. The Union was absorbed. This was the beginning of what is now the Globe-Democrat. The Blair-Price Feud. A personal feud between Francis P. Blair and Sterling Price continued sev eral years. Under different conditions it would on two occasions have led to a. duel. In his unpublished memoir, preserved by the Missouri Historical Society, Thomas C. Reynolds wrote of the feud and of its important bearing upon Mis souri politics: "I have heard the statement of both in regard to it, from Mr. Blair at Jefferson City in January, 1857, and from General Price at Camden, Ark., in the summer of 1864. Mr. Blair considered his arrest as a piece of tyranny and an outrage on him by 'General Price, then U. S. military governor of New Mexico, and attributed it to personal malice. Even- after the lapse of ten years (1857) he spoke of it with great bitterness, and as fully justify ing his violent philippic in 'the Missouri legislature against General Price when governor of the state. He justified his personal abuse of Governor Price at the time when their respective official positions prevented the governor from demanding /satisfaction,' 'on the ground that he was retaliating for 1 an outrage committed on him at the time when their respective positions in New Mexico prevented, and indeed precluded for all time his seek ing redress for it from General Price; that as he had had to pocket the outrage he insulted Governor Price in a speech at a time when the latter would have to pocket the insult in like manner. Mr. Blair added, 'I consider him, however, a man of such courage that I believe he would have given his right hand to have been able, without violating his duty, to resign his governorship and challenge me.' This feud with Mr. F. P. Blair, Jr., and with his family, who shared his resentment, was considered to have influenced General ,Price in his desertion of Colonel Benton in 1852, the period at which the latter, more publicly than he had previously done, entrusted the management' of his political fortunes in Missouri to F. P. Blair, Jr., Hon. Montgomery Blair, his brother, and Mr. B. Gratz Brown, his cousin, all of St. Louis, and allied himself more closely than ever with Mr. Francis P. Blair, Sr., at Washington City. But in General Price's own account of the matter to me in 1864, he treated the New Mexico incident as a petty quarrel between Mr. Blair and some subaltern officer, with which he as governor of New Mexico had really little to do, and in regard' to which Mr. Blair's resentment had greatly surprised him ; in general his account treated the matter very lightly, and as of little importance in deter mining his . subsequent relations with the Blairs, against whom neither his manner nor his language evinced any personal ill-feeling." The attack of Blair upon Governor Price occurred, according to Judge Fagg, in a joint session when Burns, of Platte, had proposed Price for the Senate. Burns had made a very complimentary speech on the public services of Price. . He had dwelt on the governor's record in the Mexican war and in conclusion brought in a description of a picture, which an artist convict of the penitentiary had made showing General Price in his uniform receiving the parole of a Mexican general : "Instantly Blair rose to reply; As usual he was perfectly cool and self-possessed. There was neither excitement nor surprise indicated in his face. With a cool deliberation characteristic of all his speeches, he proceeded to analyze the public services of the gen eral in the various civil positions he had held. He asserted that whatever honors he had received in the civil career, whatever fame or notoriety he had attained, he owed it all to the shadow of the great name of Thomas H. Benton, under which he had constantly sought favor and preferment. He said that no man had ever. been bound by stronger 298 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI ties of gratitude to another than Price had to Benton. That when the cup was full and running over, when the old senator had been attacked, and in 1852 when he seemed to be almost in a death struggle*,with his enemies, this man Price had basely betrayed him and sold himself to the anti-Benton party for the office/ of governor of the state. 'Judas,'\ he said,- 'with his thirty pieces of silver was not so degraded as this hero of the .Mexican war.' Then turning toward the governor he said, 'He is a> subject worthy of the' genius of a convict artist.' ¦ s "The governor's name was instantly withdrawn and that of Atchison placed in its stead." . The last duel on Bloody Island was just before the outbreak of the Civil war. It was bloodless. The principles were General D. M. Frost and Edward B. Sayers, both well known in St. Louis and both afterwards in the Confederate army. Sayers was a civil engineer. He laid out Camp Jackson in the1 spring. of 1861. He was active in the state militia. Frost was brigadier-general, com manding the militia of the St". Louis district. After the return of what was, 'known as the Southwest, Expedition, a movement of Missouri troops to South western Missouri to meet expected troubles on the Kansas border, Sayers indulged in some criticism of General Frost. 'The latter went to Sayers' office, which was on Chestnut, street,, near Second, and applied a horsewhip. Sayers chal lenged and. Frost accepted. At,,the meeting on Bloody Island, Sayers missed and prOst- fired in the air. ' ¦ ¦ >¦ 1.;* . Edwards — Foster. ,Late in the decade, 1870-80, an editorial controversy occurred between the St:- Louis Times and . the St. Louis Journal. The editor of the latter was Emory S. Foster. John N. EdVvards was editor of the Times. The > mana gers of a county fair on the northern border of Illinois conceived the enterpris ing idea that the presence of Jefferson* Davis would be a drawing card. They extended the invitation and made public' their action. The press of the country commented vigorously. Davis declined the invitation. The ex-Confederate editor of the Times and the ex-Federal editor of the Journal kept up the fire. On one side it was intimated that Davis' declination was probably just as well, as it might have been embarrassing to have the ex7president of the Confederacy discover in the North some of the silverware stolen in the South and carried home by returning Union soldiers. Foster denounced the insinuation in words that reflected upon the editor of the Times. Edwards challenged. Foster ac cepted and chose for the place of meeting Winnebago county, the Illinois lo cality where the. invitation to Davis had been extended. And to Winnebago county the principals journeyed, attended by Morrison Mumford and P. S. O'Reilly for Edwards and by Harrison Branch and W. D. W. Barnard for Foster. The party reached the appointed locality, drove out into the country a few miles and exchanged Shots. The duel was bloodless. The dignity of Illinois was outraged and for a time there was much talk of prosecution under the anti-dueling statute, but it died down. Bowman — Glover. In 1883 Frank J. Bowman challenged John M. Glover,— both of them St. Louis lawyers. He began the correspondence by demanding an apology from DUELING IN MISSOURI 299 Glover for epithets such as "You lied, you rogue," "You are a scamp," "Shut your mouth," and the like, which he said Glover had applied to him in various cases where they had appeared on opposite sides. Glover replied, "That what ever language I may have used toward you -upon the various occasions referred to was fully justified by the provocations at the time." He declined to apolo gize. The negotiations which followed were notable chiefly because of the prominent citizens of St. Louis who became more or less interested. Bowman selected Celsus Price and R. S. MacDonald as his friends and put in Price's hands a challenge. Price waited upon Glover and asked him to name his friends. Glover selected Captain Silas Bent and T. T. Gantt. Gerard B. Allen and Ed win Harrison were asked by friends of Mr. Bowman and Mr. Glover to submit a plan of adjustment. While negotiations were Supposed to be in progress, Glover .complicated the situation by swearing. out a warrant1 against Bowman charg ing him with having committed perjury in certain testimony given about the St. Louis Times. It was proposed to arbitrate the differences between the two lawyers. Mr. Bowman's friends selected General D. M. Frost as their arbi trator. George A. Madill was asked to act as^ arbitrator on the part of Mr. Glover but declined. The gentleman, who had suggested arbitration finally gave up the effort to 'bring it about. The formal challenge was delivered to Glover, who declined to take any notice of it. This affair between Bowman and Glover constituted the last chapter in the history of the code in Missouri. The letters were drawn up with much form. All of the usual technicalities were observed. Glover gave as his reason for ignoring the challenge that it was backdated about eight days before the delivery and secondly that the offenses complained of by Bowman were some of them months Old when the challenge was received and that he had sworn out a warrant charging Bowman with a felony before the challenge. Vest on the Code. During his memorable oration upon Benton at the time of the unveiling of a statue in Statuary Hall at Washington Senator George G. Vest offered this palliating view of the Lucas duel: "All this sounds to us now as semi-barbarous, and yet if we carry ourselves back to the age in which this event occurred and place ourselves in the position public men then held, it will, I think, charitably be admitted that, entertaining the opinion he did and iu the community he lived, Benton could hardly have done anything else. Dueling was then an institution. No man could remain in public or social life without ostracism who refused what they called^ a challenge x to the- field of honor. All the distinguished men of the United States fought duels. When Randolph and Clay fought, in sight of this Capitol, members of the Cabinet and members of the Senate and House of Representatives, among whom was Colonel Benton, were present as spectators. Jackson had killed his adversary in a duel. Houston had fought a duel and wounded his opponent severely. Davy Crockett acknowledged the obligations of the duello and participated in it; and it was not until Hamilton fell before the deadly pistol of Aaron Burr that even the people of the con servative, God-fearing North came to a full realization of the terrible nature of this institution." CHAPTER IX * A LAND OF PROMISE Gottfried Duden's Vision — A Center of German Culture — The Book Which Fascinated Europe— Teutonic Infusion Planned to Assimilate Anglo-Saxon— The Giessen Society — Father Muench — A Missouri Mecca — The Critics to Blame — Goebel's Story of the Featherbeds — Buden's Vivid- Local Color — Cash Needed Only for Taxes — An Apology for Slavery — Akademikers and Latiniers — Why ¦ Gustavus Koemer Chose Illinois — The Hermann Colony — A Hard Winter — Herman Steines' Diary — Dr. Bek's Valuable ContribUtions-^Engelmann's Investigation — Missouri's Foremost Scientist — Wislisenus' Explorations — Enno Sander and Franz Sigel, Revolutionists — Missouri, Land of Religious Freedom — The Lutherans — Constructive Work of the Walthers — Concordia College Founded — Pure Lutheran Theology — Pioneer German Journalism — The Anzeiger and the Know Nothings — Germanism^ Fades Into Americanism — The Mallinckrodts and the JCaysers — What Defeated Secession of Missouri — Polish and Hungarian Exiles — Emigres of Guadeloupe — Dr. Adam Hammer — German Family Influence for Good — Dr. Niccolls' Tribute to German Churches — Unselfish Devotion to Public Education — The Icarians — Ptienne Cabet and the Communists — Various Colony Experiments — William Keil's Bethel — Socialism in Dallas County — The Town of Liberal — Prosperity of the Mennonites. If a little city could be founded, for the' purpose of making 4t the center of culture for the Germans in America, then there would soon arise a rejuvenated Germania, and the European German would then .find in America a second Fatherland, just as the British have it. Would that in Germany a lively interest -might develop for this project. No plan of the present time promises so much to" the individual and to «svery one as a plan of founding such a nursery for German culture in western North America, and ¦especially in the lands west of the Mississippi. It would make the new world at once a home to the meteorological records, which he kept with infinite care, Dr. Engelmann rendered not only Missouri but the whole Mississippi Val ley a signal service. The late- Dr. Enno Sander, who came to Missouri in the fifties and was an intimate friend of Engelmann and associated with him in scientific research, said to the writer: "Engelmann inaugurated as early as 1835 at St. Louis, with good and reliable instru ments, a series of meteorological observations which he continued scrupulously three times a day during nearly fifty years. Such was his zeal that a short time before his death, Dr. Engelmann, himself, swept the snow from the walk leading to his instruments, and even during his last days refused assistance in making his observations. His journal was kept so thoroughly and faithfully that it has become the only reliable source of information on the climatology of the Mississippi Valley for that period. Engelmann's tables prepared from these observations are now authentic records. The officers of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington early recognized the greatness of Engelmann as a scientist and the officers and scientists of government exploring expeditions, fitting out at St. Louis, came to him for advice and aid. Engelmann's instruments, always carefully and fault- 312 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI , lessly kept, gave the government scientists the opportunity to, compare and regulate their own. To Engelmann these scientists looked for counsel as to collection and preservation of specimens. They came to him to help them determine and classify when they encoun tered doubt. There are very few of those government exploring "reports in which the parts relating to botanical observations and the description's of plants were not written by Dr. Engelmann." Dr. Engelmann was versed in all of the natural sciences, but his favorite study was botany. The work that he began and pursued in and about St. Louis for many years was developed under the encouragement. given by Henry Shaw in hjs magnificent bequests, until today the St. Louis School of Botany,, under Director George T. Moore, is recognized in Europe as well as in the United States as one of the great institutions in that branch of study, and re search. In 1843 George Engelmann, William Greenleaf Eliot, Adolph Wisliz'enusr and a few others met in the law office of Marie P. Leduc to form the Western Academy of Science. These young men bought a piece of ground of several acres near Eighth street and Chouteau avenue, started a botanical garden and experimented in forestry. The organization was a pioneer in the scientific field of the Mississippi Valley; it disbanded after a few years, but the members of it went on individually with their scientific work. In 1856 the present Academy of Science was organized, and Dr. Engelmann, one of the leading spirits in the movement, became the president, holding the office fifteen years- Adventures of Dr. Wislisenus. Associated with Dr.. Engelmann in the earlier years of his career in St. Louis was Adolph Wislizenus, who came from Germany about 1840, leaving behind him the record of having been one of the students who seized Frankfort when it was the capital of the German empire in 1833. Wislizenus was the son of a clergyman. He escaped after the failure of the students' uprising, completed his medical studies in Switzerland' and France and arrived in St. Louis in 1839. Scientific exploration lured him from practice and Dr. Wislizenus went out from St. Louis with one of the fur trading expeditions, reaching Oregon. The report of his observations brought him recognition among scientific men through out, the country. Coming back to St. Louis, Dr. Wisjizenus settled down to* practice with 'Dr. Engelmann, but after fiveyears he was off again on scientific exploration, this time to the southwest, and into Northern Mexico. The war clouds were darkening. The St. Louis scientist was taken 'prisoner at Chi huahua and conveyed to a remote place in the mountains. There he remained until Doniphan and his adventurous Missourians came marching down as if there was no such thing as. an enemy's country, when he was released. Wis lizenus returned to St. Louis with the "conquistadores," as the conquering heroes of that day were called. His scientific report upon Northern Mexico be came authority and has so remained until the present day. Enno Sander and Franz Sigel Revolutionists. Enno Sander, of a good family, a graduate of. the University of Berlin, was one of the German "Liberals" who assembled at Baden and declared them- Dr. George Hillgaertner Henry Boernstein Carl Daenzer Emil Preetorius UPBUILDERS OP THE GERMAN PRESS OF MISSOURI • A LAND OF PROMISE 315 selves. Under the provisional government that was established Dr. Sander be came assistant minister of war. When the revolution failed and the leaders were being condemned to death or to imprisonment, he made his way to Switzer land, and later, in 1852, he reached St. Louis. The Missouri law creating a state board of pharmacy where every druggist must show his ability to practice, was of Dr. ' Sander's authorship. The St. Louis School of Pharmacy owed much to his inspiration. Franz Sigel, who became a major-general, and whose equestrian statue is in Forest Park, was one of this St. Louis colony of Ger man revolutionary leaders.^ Sigel was a graduate of, the military school at Carlsruhe. When the revolution started in Baden, in 1848, he raised a corps of 4,000 volunteers and fought two battles with the royal troops. He was defeated and .escaped to Switzerland. The next year he went back to Baden. After commanding the Army of the Neckar, he was made minister of war of the pro visional government and succeeded to the chief command of the revolutionary forces. After several battles he was again compelled to retreat, and took refuge in Switzerland. In 1856 he came to St. Louis and became a teacher of -math ematics in the German Institute. That was his vocation until the Committee of r Public Safety organized the Union Guards in the winter of 1861 when he was made colonel of one of the five regiments first organized. Missouri, Land of Religious Freedom. Religious as well as political freedom was an inducement to early German immigration. In one of his letters Duden had much to say about the tolerance that prevails without being "the, progenitor of indifference." The steamboats Rienzi, Clyde, Knickerbocker and Selma on their first trips up from New Or leans in the spring of 1839 brought 700 Lutherans. The head of the party was Martin Stephan who had been a preacher at Dresden. On the journey these Lutherans, who held tenaciously to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, named Stephan as their bishop. They had, under his leadership, gone back to Luther- anism as Martin Luther taught it. These people brought with them personal effects and $120,000. They intended to buy land and to found colonies of their own. Part of them went on to Perry county, purchased nearly 5,000 acres and established settlements. The others, who remained in St. Louis, continued to worship for three years in Christ church, the vestrymen of which extended the privilege. Realization that they had found in Missouri a land of religious freedom had come to these Lutherans quickly. On the Sunday morning after their ar rival, good Bishop Kemper read to his congregation in Christ church, then on Fifth and Chestnut streets this, notice: "A body of Lutherans, having been persecuted by the Saxon government because they believed it their duty to adhere to the doctrines inculcated by their great leader and con tained in the Augsburg Confession of Faith, have arrived here with the intention of settling in this or one of the neighboring states, and having been deprived of the privilege of public worship for three, months, they have earnestly and most respectfully requested the use of our church that they may again unite in all of the ordinances of our holy religion. I have, therefore, with the entire approbation of the vestry, granted the use of our church for this day from 2 p. m. until sunset to a denomination whose early members 316 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI were highly esteemed by the English Reformers, and with whom our glorious martyrs Cranmer, Ridley and others had much early intercourse." This kindly, Christian reception had its part in saving the Lutheran colony from going to pieces spiritually a few weeks later when their bishop, Martin Stephan, fell into evil ways. Talented and magnetic, he had not the self con trol to withstand temptation. He was tried and expelled from the church. The Walthers. Among those who had come out with the colony were two young preachers, - Otto Hermann Walther and Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther. They were sons of a Lutheran pastor in Saxony,. highly educated. They had studied and' prayed their way to what they believed to be sound Lutheranism. Otto Her mann Walther . was the pastor of the Lutherans who remained in St. Louis and ' worshipped in Christ church, later forming what became Trinity, the first Ger man Lutheran church in St. Louis. In their distress and demoralization following the downfall of Bishop Stephan, the Lutherans turned to the Walthers. Hermann Walther did not l.ive,long. Ferdinand Walther was less than thirty years of age when he ac cepted the leadership. He restored material order, but, more than that, he led the sorely tried colonists back to their' spiritual ideals. He succeeded Hermann. as pastor of Trinity. St. Louis became the center of Lutheran teaching and Lutheran influence. The act of church hospitality on the part of Christ church was fraught with great consequences, material as well as spiritual, to St. Louis. It added to and helped to assimilate one of the most desirable elements of the population. It helped to make the city not only nationally but internationally the capital of a powerful religious organization. A college, a theological sem inary, a publishing house, a hospital were established. A National Movement. For forty-eight years Ferdinand Walther was the dominant figure with the Lutherans. He had been ordained only the year before he joined the colony and left Saxony. When the end of his work came, in 1887, he was seventy- six years old. Church after church was organized in Missouri until they num bered in St. Louis alone nearly a score. Concordia college grew from its humble beginning in 1850 into' one of the great educational institutions of the state. As early as 1844 the Missouri Lutherans supported Walther in making their movement more than local. . Die Lutheraner was published semi-monthly in St.^Louis. It called on Lutherans everywhere in the United States to come back to the old faith. Lutherans were numerous in New York artd Pennsyl vania and North Carolina. They had spread into Ohio and Tennessee, into Indiana and Illinois. But they had adopted much doctrine which, in the opinion of Walther and the Missouri Lutherans, was not sound. Die Lutheraner's ap peals aroused great (interest east of the Mississippi. Much correspondence fol lowed: There were meetings and conferences. At Chicago, in 1874, was or ganized a Lutheran synod, with a constitution drafted by Walther and with the St. Louis theologian as president. It embraced many of the eastern Lutherans. A LAND OF PROMISE 317 Walther came back to Missouri and entered upon his enlarged career as a teach er of pure Lutheran theology. He prepared hundreds of young pastors for Lutheran churches. His theology went direct to the Bible for substantiation. Tlie Missouri leader of orthodox Lutheranism had many controversies with other Lutherans. He courted these discussions. Upon his suggestion, the ^Lutheran bodies of the United States held free conferences to discuss their doctrinal differences. And after each of these conferences, Lutherans found themselves nearer together, with Ferdinand Walther more of a leader of Luth eran thought than before. He went to Europe to present his views. He edited Lutheran periodicals which had wide circulation. The Lutheran publishing house in St, Louis became a far-famed institution. Ferdinand Walther was an ardent lover of music all of his life. He was a man of humor which he masked with a serious face. He wrote his sermons 'and committed them to memory so that he spoke without manuscript before him. He was an orator of international fame among Lutherans. Most of the Lutheran churches of St. Louis estab lished parochial schools in which the children of Lutheran parents were educated. Square miles of North _St. Louis and South St. Louis were built up by the Lutherans. As a Class these people were home owners and well to do people. They clung to their religion brought with them from Germany but they mani fested little interest in the political ideal of a German state in Missouri. . Pioneer German Journalism. In .1835 a German newspaper, the Anzeiger des Westens was started in St. Louis. The publisher and editor was H. C. Bimbage. Later William Weber, one of the "akademikers," joined Bimbage in the conduct of the Anzeiger. Around their newspaper the educated Germans rallied and fought the Native American party which was becoming strong in St. Louis. "Know Nothingism" found ' stimulus in the fact that in three months of one year in the late forties there had landed at the St. Louis levee 529 steamboats bringing 30,000 immigrants to settle west of the Mississippi. Dr. Hugo Maximilian von Starkloff, writing in 1913, the German centennial year, said that this early German immigration to Missouri included "men of prominence in the professions, as well as good business men, physicians, lawyers, engineers, architects, also literary men, musicians, and artists of various kinds." Of the men who rallied around the Anzeiger in those pioneer years he said, "their .efforts were directed with par ticular force against the so-called 'Know Nothing' element which was unusually strong in the city at the time. And they carried on a determined fight for the public welfare, for the rights of the citizens of their adopted city and the pres ervation of personal liberty, not allowing themselves to be influenced by attacks and villification from various sources to leave their chosen path." The Know Nothing Trouble. When the Know Nothing sentiment culminated in violence the Anzeiger was the first object of attack by the Native Americans. At the city election of 1853 it was charged that the Germans had taken control of the First ward polls at Soulard market and were preventing the Whigs from voting At that time the Germans were classed as Benton Democrats. The report was brought up 318 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI town that Dr. Mitchell had been mobbed and that Mayor Kennett, candidate for re-election, had been hissed. Bob O'Blennis, the gambler, and Ned Buntlihe, the story writer, assembled 5,000 men and marched down to Soulard market. Pistol shots were fired. Stones were thrown. The crowd from up-town fired into the market house. A shot from Neumeyer's tavern, on Seventh street and Park avenue, killed Joseph Stevens of the St. Louis Fire company. The Americans charged the tavern, gutted it and burned it. They got two six- pounders and located them on a Park avenue corner to rake the streets to the south but did not fire. One party of fifteen hundred started for the office of the Anzeiger to clean it out but met the militia and turned back. This trouble wore itself out in a day. It waKs the curtain raiser for the election tragedy of August, 1854. Antagonism toward foreigners had become intense. Foreign born citizens offering to vote were challenged and called on to show their papers and then declared to be disqualified. German Loyalty. The idea of a German state in Missouri faded. In place oi it developed in creasing activity and influence in the public affairs of Missouri as an American state in the Union. Dr. Starkloff says that of the first 10,000 enlisted in St. Louis to support the Union 8,000 were Germans. It was that enrollment of 10,000 that defeated the secession of Missouri. Gould's statistical work pub lished by the Western Sanitary commission gave the number of Missouri Ger mans enlisting in the Union army as 30,899. Missourians born in this country who, enlisted in the Union army, by the same authority, were 46,676. The pro portion to population was overwhelmingly in favor of the Germans. - Of the young Germans whom Dr. Duden's enthusiastic description drew to Missouri, were Alexander and Henry" Kayser and their sister, who became . Mrs. Bates. The Kaysers were from the Rhine. To Dr. Duden the banks of Missouri, about Hermann, were the American Rhine. The , father of the Kay sers was, -during twenty-eignt years, a magistrate of high repute under the Duke of Nassau. The Kaysers came in 1833, bringing little but good educa tion, industry and high-mindedness. They farmed; they bought, they were in the land office; they had to do with the civil engineering of the growing city; they - advanced rapidly in the estimation of their fellow citizens. Alexander Kayser became a lawyer in 1841 ; a lieutenant in the Mexican war in 1847; a presidential elector in, 1852. With Thomas Allen he took up grape culture and offered prizes for the best products of Missouri wines. He allied himself with one of the oldest families in St. Louis, marrying Eloise P. Morrison, a grand daughter of General Daniel Bissell. Julius, Herman, Emile and Conrad Mallinckrodt were members of a group of German families coming about 1833. They were highly educated people and had acquired a knowledge of English before leaving their old world homes for America. The only trouble with their English was the unfamiliarity with the pronunciation 'in Missouri. Julius Mallinckrodt, meeting a man on the street in St. Louis, addressed him in English but the man shook his head. Thinking that the trouble was with his pronunciation, Mr. Mallinckrodt tried German and then Latin, but with no better result. Both men were growing • A LAND OF PROMISE 319 'excited when Mr. Mallinckrodt asked, as a final effort: "Pariez vous Francais?" The stranger threw his arms around Mr. Mallinckrodt's neck and wept. It de veloped that he.'too, was a new arrival in the country, a Frenchman, and was as despondent as was Mr. Mallinckrodt because of inability to talk with the Americans.Polish Exiles. Polish exiles came to Missouri after their revolution in 1831. They fought desperately until the Russians took Warsaw. Those who were not captured fled to France. Thence, in 1832, they were, deported to the United States. When they arrived in New York, each of. them was given $50 in gold and told to seek his fortune. These Polish exiles were highly educated young men, grad uates of universities, civil engineers, architects and physicians. Quite a num ber of thetn came to Missouri and settled, leaving, many descendants in the present generation. Whom Kossuth Found. Missouri was the home of many who came to escape religious as well as political intolerance. Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, on his visit in 1852 made this interesting discovery as told by his secretary: , "Reality is sometimes as strange as fiction, and persons' meet in life in a way which astonishes in a novel. In the summer of 1848, the convent of the Jesuits^ in Vienna was attacked by the people, led by the students, and the 'patres' were expelled. Europe, with the sole exception of England, was at this time not favorable to the Jesuits; but England was sufficiently stocked with them, and so they went farther west until they reached ' St. Louis ; six remained here in the convent, and one of them now instructs the republican youth of the Mound City. But the students of Vienna were in their turn expelled by the soldiers, and one of them who had played a part in the attack oh the convent was now also in St. Louis, engaged as printer ¦ in the German printing-house." St. Louis, at that early period, had its growing colony of those who had been conspicuous in political agitation -at Vienna. The secretary of Kossuth wrote : "We found here several of our former friends and acquaintances. Mr. Rombauer, late director of the iron mines in the county Gomor, arid then of the musket manufactory in Hungary, is now a farmer in Iowa. If ever the iron mines in Missouri shall be developed, he will see a great field open for his activity. Mr. Bernays, formerly attached to the French embassy at Vienna, keeps a store in Illinois. Mr. Boernstein, the popular German author, the. Paris correspondent of the Augsburgh Gazette, is the editor of the most influential German paper in the west. They related to us all their adventures, since we had lost sight of them — novels of real life." The Emigres of Guadaloupe. From the West Indies in 1848, came a notable infusion. Guadaloupe had been all but ruined by an earthquake three years earlier. The colony was slowly recovering when revolution occurred in France. Louis Philippe fled. The re publican government demanded of the colonies recognition pf its authority. Agents of the new order declared slavery abolished in Guadaloupe. Industry 320 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI was paralyzed. Excesses were threatened. Old families, who represented the, best blood of France, faced emigration as the least of the evils. America was the unanimous choice of these emigres from Guadaloupe. The first of them sought St. Louis. Others followed until, in 1849, they formed an accession strong in character. Among them were the de Laureal, Boisliniere, Tetard, Du Pavilion, Cherot, Bourdon, de Pombiray, Bouvier, Gibert, Ladevaiz, Du Clos, Peterson and Vouillaire- families. Not a few of these emigres of Guadaloupe, who sought St. Louis were descendants of the old French nobility. They were people of thorough education deep religious conviction and charming , refinement. They brought into the population of St. Louis a strong strain physically. They were people who showed ready adaptability. Edward de Laureal, who was, perhaps, the leader of the movement, was an amateur painter of no little merit. Several of -the ladies of these Guadaloupe families became teachers in St. Louis. Dr. Adam Hammer, Well Named. The German patriots, who added elements of great influence to the popula tion of St. Louis, included some characters born to make war on the existing order whether in politics or in the professions. One of these was Dr. Adam Hammer. He was a man of medium height, slender, sallow. Below a high round forehead were a long sharp thin nose and a pointed chin, emphasized by chin whiskers. Dr. Hammer had keen black eyes. Members of the' pro fession said Dr. Hammer looked like the pictures of Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood. Hammer had been well educated in German uni versities. He came here with considerable reputation as a surgeon. He had performed some wonderful operations. So lbng as he resided in St. Louis he was the chief figure in frequent professional disputes. At the meetings of the Medical society, Dr. Hammer could be depended upon to start something before the evening was over. These scenes at last became so disagreeable to the other members that the presence of the reporters was dispensed with. Dr. Hammer was for a time 4he dean of the Humboldt Medical college, which was located opposite the city hospital. Afterwards he was offered a chair in the faculty of the Missouri Medical college. It was something of a relief to the pro fession in St. Louis when Dr. Hammer, after dividing his time between this •country and Germany, decided to take up his permanent residence in the father land.St. Louis, American City. From 1830 to 1850 the population of St. Louis was multiplied by ten. In the latter year, 22,340, one-third of the inhabitants of St. Louis, were of German birth. Ten years later, in i860, St. Louis city and county had 50,51a people "born in Germany." In two-thirds of a century St. Louis received a* strong in flux of German immigration. In 1890 there were 66,000 of German birth. The result was not the Germanizing of St. Louis, but an assimilation which con tributed notable elements of strength to an American city. "The young, man Absalom" has given the minimum of concern to this community. No Other large city has shown a larger proportion of sons well worthy of their sires. Degen eracy, in descent, has been the very rare exception. Traditions, public senti; A LAND OF PROMISE 321 ment, family ideals, have contributed to the improvement, generation by genera tion. Sons of St. Louisans, grandsons of St. Louisans, great-grandsons of St. Louisans, hold places in the foremost ranks of professions and vocations. In the present generation _ there is no reaction from this admirable and hopeful characteristic of the city, for which much credit is due the German infusion. Dr. Niccolls' Tribute to German Churches. In his sermon on "Ther~Ministry of Religion in St. Louis," preached Cen tennial Sunday, 1909, Rev.«Dr. Samuel J. Niccolls said of the German churches: "In St. Louis there is a large and influential part of our citizens speaking the German language and using it in their public worship. The first Protestant church among them was the German Evangelical Church of the Holy Ghost. It was organized in 1834, and became the nucleus of the Evangelical Synod of the West, which has churches throughout the United States. "In 1838 a body of Lutherans who had been bitterly persecuted by the Government of Saxony, sought refuge and liberty in the United States, and came to make their home in this city. They established the first Lutheran Church, adhering to the Augsburg confes sion. Their growth was rapid, and they have now a large number of strong and influential churches in the city. The Concordia College and Theological Seminary, a large printing house, and a number of hospitals and asylums are in connection with this denomination. Lutheran churches belonging to the different synods represented in this city have had a powerful and widespread influence in the nurture of the religious life of the large German population in our midst. Their testimony for evangelical truth has been strong and clear, and their method of religious instruction in training children second to none. Difference in language, more than any" doctrinal disagreements, has kept them from close affiliation with the English7speaking churches, and for this reason many among us are unaware alike of their large numbers and their power for good." German Support of Public Schools.. The character of support which Germans gave the public school system was illustrated about 1888. Up to that time German was an important part of the . curriculum. When the language was dropped, friends of the system looked with some apprehension for the effect. The president of the board announced : "The unselfish devotion of our fellow citizens of German ancestry was signally illus trated in that the schools suffered no perceptible loss of attendance in any part of the city, and the most urgent demands for new school accommodations continued from what were known as distinctively German districts." Forty years Professor Frank Louis Soldan was connected with the public schools of St. Louis one-third of the time occupying the highest position— super intendent. When Professor Soldan died William «T. Harris telegraphed from Washington : "Dr. Soldan has been a tower of strength all these years for wise education. His death is a great loss; not only to St. Louis but to the United States. Thousands who respect his memory will mourn with you today." The Icarians. In the colonizing experiments which had their Missouri try-outs, the Icarians have place. Etienne Cabet, the man whom King Louis Philippe said he feared Vol. 1—21 322 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI more than any other, in his kingdom, rests in Missouri soil. The loyal followers of this leader of the French communists made their last stand in Cheltenham, as it was then known, just west of the old city limits of St. Louis. The ideas advanced in Victor Hugo's "Icaria" were given faithful application but every day life in Missouri presented too many opportunities for individualism to make of communism anything practical. The grave of Etienne Cabet in Old Picker cemetery of South St. Louis was a place of interest to the curious during manv years. At the head of the grave was a stone inscribed "La Memoire de Cabet." And at the foot of the grave was a triangle of iron supports on which rested a crowa of thorns. In 1797 two Frenchmen of royal rank passed a part of their exile in St Louis. They were entertained by the Chouteaus and other French families and were made to feel welcome by the entire community. The duke of Orleans and the duke of Montpensier they were called at that time. , The duke of Orleans became King Louis Philippe with the restoration of the French mon archy. In 1848 he fled from France.' While he was on the throne he had re ferred to Cabet, son of a cooper, as the man he most feared. Cabet had risen to great influence in France. He had become a learned jurist ana had been accepted as the leader of the communists. After King Louis Philippe fled, "Cabet assembled 10,000 communists and marched through the streets of Paris to present demands to the provisional government. Such was Cabet's influence that President Lamartine went to call on this leader of the communists and made terms with him. Not long after this truce with the new government, Cabet gave up the idea of carrying out the principles of communism in France and came to the United States with a considerable following to found an ideal community. The colony stopped temporarily on the banks of Red River in Texas, but soon moved up the Mississippi to Nauvoo, "beautiful situation for rest," in the Indian tongue. The Mormons had been left without leadership by the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage jail three years before the Icarians reached Nauvoo. Brigham Young had assumed the headship of the church and had led away to Utah a large following. During several years the Icarians held Nauvoo and the principles of com munism were given trial with a common home with a great dining hall in which the 1,200 members took- their meals. There were accommodations for bathing and provisions for entertainment which amazed the Americans. There was an orchestra of fifty pieces which a government official sent out from Washington to investigate conditions at Nauvoo reported to be rendering the best music' in the United States. Work was limited to six hours a day in summer and to eight hours the rest of the year. The sciences and languages' were taught. A paper called "The Icarian" was published. But while hundreds came from France to join the colony, the number of active members did not increase.. The ambi tious and the energetic left to take farms in Iowa and elsewhere as rapidly as newcomers came. Some who remained saw opportunities for making money and clashed with Cabet. Seeing the drift away from his ideals, Cabet wanted to be made "supreme director" for life. This wish was denied him. Taking A LAND OF PROMISE 323 200 members who had remained loyal, Cabet moved to the vicinity of St. Louis where he died in' 1856 of an apoplectic stroke. Of the man's ability and honesty there was no question. He published two books which were accepted as among the best expressions of communistic principles of that day. He was made attorney general of France in the new republic. But he sacrificed personal ambition and left France in his devotion to the principles he maintained and in -his hope to show that they were practical. While he was in this country he was charged with embezzlement in France and in his absence was tried and convicted. He went back to France, obtained a new trial and was acquitted. He came back to St. Louis and did not long survive. After the death of Cabet the colony, at Cheltenham dwindled. As late as 1870 the few Icarians held occasional meetings in St. Louis. Alcander Longley, a printer, was looked upon as a leader. He published a little paper called "The Altruist." The significant fact about the Icarians was that while some clung to the . philosophy through years and made pilgrimages to the grave of Cabet, the attempts to put the ideals into practice were given up as failures long ago. The Bethel Colony. One of the most satisfactory colony experiments in Missouri was the Bethel, of Shelby county. The founder was William Keil, of Prussia. This colony numbered about 500 men, women and children, Germans, or of German de scent, coming from Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. It included some Rappists, as the sect was called, after Rapp, the founder. But the theory of the organization was practical co-operation rather than religious belief. The colony summed up its theology in "Gott mit uns." There was a common treas ury. The members kept up family relations. They lived in clay-walled houses. About 4,000 acres of land was cultivated successfully. The colony grew and established branches at Mamri, Hebron and Elam. At Elam a hall was built for dancing, a form of recreation which the colony approved. The Nineveh branch was in Adair county. The colonists showed considerable public spirit. They cleared out North river, which at one time was considered navigable. Their relations with other settlers were quite satisfactory. During the Civil war period the colonists, who had been supporters" of Benton, were loyal to the Union, but they refused to spy and tell on secession neighbors. The leader of the- colony, Dr. Keil, conducted a party of 75 to the Pacific coast. About 1880, the colonists, on the advice of Judge D. P. Dyer, made an equitable di vision of the accumulated property and thus wound up the affairs which had been held in common. The land was divided. The personality was distributed on the basis of the number of years each member of the colony had worked. Each man received $29.04 for each year he had worked and the women received one-half of that amount. Aurora was the name given to the Oregon colony. Keil had a favorite son who had planned to go with the Oregon party, but he sickened and died. The son exacted a promise that his body should be taken. The promise was kept. 324 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The body was placed in a metallic coffin- filled with alcohol and sealed. It was put iq. the -'first wagon of the caravan, a wagon drawn by six mules, and thus transported to Oregon. Keil never came back to Missouri. His successor as head of the colony was Christopher C. 'Wolf . The Missouri organization con tinued thirty-five years. Among the industries- besides farming was the manu facture of gloves from deerskins which took the prize at the New York World's Fair of 1858. Shoes were made and a distillery was conducted. One field of 1,100 acres was tilled. Pocahontas, in Cape Girardeau county,, was settled in 1856 by a colony from North Carolina. A number of descendants of King William IV of- Holland live in Livingston county. A mild and practical experiment in socialism was tried in Dallas county begin ning in the spring of 1872. Friendship Community was incorporated by some people who agreed to hold all property in common for the general good. Sav ing clauses in the agreement stipulated that the community should in no way interfere with the social, religious or political affairs of its members. The community started with five hundred acres of land a few miles west of Buffalo, the county seat. .Community Experiments. Missouri has had its share of community experiments, Perhaps the most notable of these was the town of Liberal in Barton county. George H. Walser 'was a lawyer and a well-to-do business man who had lived with a colony of free thinkers at Paris, Illinois. Fie moved to Missouri near the close 'of the Civil war and lived at Larnar. Land was very cheap in Barton county ; some of it was classed as swamp land and held at twelve and a half cents an acre. It proved to be very productive and also to have underlying it coal measures. Walser bought several sections of this land and gradually organized a settlement which he called Liberal. He gave town lots on long time to those who believed, or disbelieved, as he did. A hall was constructed for Sunday meetings to which Walser gave the name of Universal Mental Liberty hall. A building was erected for educational purposes and that was called "Drake Normal Liberal Insti tute." A paper was started with the-title of "The Liberal." Many followers of Ingersoll settled in Liberal and it was advertised as the only town on earth where there was no church, no saloon, no God and no hell. In time, however, some of the people wanted Sunday preaching. They built what they called Union church and met there on Sunday to hear the Bible read, to sing and to have preaching. Walser insisted on taking the pulpit and criticising the sermon. This resulted in trouble; the community divided into factions. The free think ers organized a secret society which they called "The Brotherhood." A rival town was started adjoining Liberal on ground not controlled by Walser. This was given the name of Jennison. For years there was friction between the communities. The experiment was not successful. Gradually religion and ir- religion ceased to be an issue. The original motive for the founding of Liberal was set forth in a pros pectus :¦ "To give an asylum for those noble men and women who are willing A LAND OF PROMISE 325 to sacrifice the comforts of life and joys of social intercourse, rather than live a life of deception and falsehood, was the incentive which actuated us in start ing the town of Liberal, where we could enjoy the full benefits of free American citizens without having some self-appointed bigot dictate to us what we should think, believe, speak, write, print or send through the mails." The Prosperous Mennonites. Mennonites settled in the northeastern part of Morgan county fifty-five years ago. An early account of them said: "They organized in Holland and early came to this country. They recognize the New Testament as the only rule of life, deny original sin and maintain that practical piety is the essence of re ligion. They object to the application of the terms Person and Trinity, as ap plied to Godhead. They strenuously deny war under any circumstances, are non-resistants, and never take an oath. ' In their sacred meetings each member is allowed to speak ; and they have no hired clergy. They baptize only adults, by pouring, and advocate universal toleration. In this country there are two divisions of this denomination, differing only in some points of experimental re ligion. They are an industrious and honest class of citizens, attending strictly to their own business and allowing other people to do the same. They pur chased farms, improved and unimproved, and went to work. They prospered finely." PIONEER STEAMBOAT ON THE-MISSOTTRI KEEL BOAT ON THE OSAGE RIVER CHAPTER X. THE WATERS OF MISSOURI Bootable, Potable, Powerful, Medicinal — Robert Fulton's Proposition — Navigation by Pirogue — Arrival of the Pike — The Missouri Mastered — Trip of the Independence to Franklin — A Great Celebration — Newspaper Congratulations — Captain Joseph Brown's Reminis cences — Primitive Construction and No Schedules— Firing u. Salute — Famous Missouri Pilots — The Record of Disasters — The Edna, the Bedford and the Saluda — Search for Sunken Treasure — Lost Cargoes of Whiskey — Captain Hunter Ben lenkins — The Shift ing Channel — The Missouri Belle and the Buttermilk — Up Grand River — The First Steamboat on the Upper Osage — Uncle John Whitley's Hunt for a Mysterious Monster- Some Notable Captains — Rise and Decline of Missouri River Traffic — Seventy-one Steamers in the Trade — The Rush of the Forty-niners — Jonathan Bryan's Water Mill — Possibilities of Power Ignored — An Expert's Facts — Mammoth Springs — The White River Plant — Beginnings of Hydro-Electric Development — Lebanon's Magnetic Water — Benton's Bethesda — Monegaw's One Hundred 'Mineral Waters — Meanderh\gs of the White — Navigation at Forsyth — Lines on "Two Ancient Misses." I believe this is the finest confluence in the world. The two rivers are much of the same breadth, each about half a league, but the Missouri is by far the most rapid, and seems to enter the Mississippi like a conqueror, through which it carries its white waves to the opposite shore without mixing them. After ward it gives its color to the Mississippi, which it never loses again, but carries quite down to the sea. — Charlevoix on the Mouth of the Missouri. Running water is the most valuable natural asset of the people. — President Roosevelt's Message to Congress, February, 1008. Missouri has a little more than one acre of water to one hundred acres of land. This is surface, running water. Missouri has few lakes. The under ground rivers and veins are not taken into account. Missouri has water for transportation. The entire eastern frontage and half of the western frontage is on navigable water. The state is bisected by navig able water. Missouri has water for power. No other state, perhaps no other country, presents conditions so encouraging to the coming energy — the hydro-electric. Missouri has water for medicine. The spas are many and of endless variety in constituents. Governor William Clark and Thomas H. Benton, in the days before steam boats, undertook to estimate what they called "the boatable waters" of the Mississippi and tributaries. They made the navigable distance 50,000 miles — 30,000 above and 20,000 below St. Louis. "Of course," wrote Mr. Benton, long afterward, "we counted all the infant streams on which a flat, a keel or a bateau could be floated." The pirogue was the freightboat on the Mississippi before steam. It was built like a barge of a later period. The length varied from thirty- five to sixty feet ; the depth from twelve to fifteen feet. One of these craft could 329 330 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI carry thirty to forty tons of freight. The pirogue was poled in shallow water. It was towed by a long line like a canal boat. Three months was the time required to make the trip from New Orleans to St. Louis. The freight rate on most arti cles was a cent a pound. A short stub mast and a square sail helped when the wind favored. While steamboating was in the experimental period Missourians ' navigated their rivers with longhorns, pirogues and keelboats. Cottonwood logs, trimmed and lashed together and floored, made flats that carried great quantities of produce to market. These longhorns were built ifor one trip. They were not designed to be brought back up stream. The keelboat was of lighter draft, narrower and of greater speed than the pirogue. Edwin Draper, who moved to Missouri in 1815, told of the keelboat which did duty as a ferryboat. It was "without upper deck or cabin, and was propelled by four oars by hand. The wagons, then the only means of land travel, were run by hand on to the boat, across which were placed broad planks transversely, resting on the gunwales of the boat, while the tongue of the wagon projected beyond the side of the boat, and as the latter swayed gracefully to the motion of the waves the tongue-chains would dip politely into the water, as if acknowledging the power of the mighty monarch they were daring to stride. The horses, wagon, and saddle, family, slaves, and dogs were stowed in the bottom of the boat between the wagons, and thus we triumphantly entered Mis souri.' Our crossing, with many other families, was detained several days by high winds and waves preventing the safe crossing Of the boat." Nat-wye-thiums and Bull Boats. A marvelous marine conception was the nat-wye-ihium. There was a fleet ' of the nat-wye-thiums. This wonderful craft was designed to travel on both land and water. It had wheels. The body was 'shaped partly like a canoe, partly like a gondola. The inventor was Captain Nathaniel Wyfeth Jarvis, a Harvard man. As early as 1830 there were Boston people who felt competent to take care of the rest of the world. Headed by Hall J. Kelly, they organized the "American Society for Encouraging the Settlement of Oregon Territory," thereby in tending to forestall their British brethren across the water. Two Wyeths were among the earliest converts to the propaganda. They got up a company and rolled into Missouri with' their fleet of boats on wheels. Each man had a bayo net and a small ax in the belt of hig coarse woolen suit. The boat wagons were loaded with axes, glass beads, looking glasses and other notions to be exchanged for immense quantities of furs. The plan was to exchange the Yankee notions for enough furs to load a ship when they reached Oregon and then sail home by the ocean route. The Missourians were kind' to the Harvard tenderf eet, explained the fur trade to them and permitted those who wished to go on to accompany one of the regular fur trading expeditions. The nat-wye-thiums were discarded before the party left Missouri. John B. Wyeth, brother of Nat., .was one who turned back. He wrote a journal in which he told of the mistakes made and said some of the members, the flower of Boston and Cambridge, were so hard up they had to work their way back by helping to "wood up" to pay for steamboat deck passage. His journal was published as a warning to other THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 331 Harvard men. The vessel which was to have loaded with furs was ship wrecked. In his journal John B. Wyeth told about a craft which was as astonishing to the -Massachusetts party as the nat-wye-thium was to the Missourians. This was the- bull boat built to carry loads of pelts down the Missouri to St. Louis at -the time when buffalo and deerskins by the ten thousands were counted in "the season's catch of the fur traders. Wyeth said : "They first cut a number of willows, which grow everywhere near the banks of all the rivers we had traveled by from St. Louis, of about an inch and a half diameter at the butt end, and fixed them on the ground at proper distances from each other ; and as they approached nearer one end they brought them nearer together, so as to form something like the bow. The ends of the whole were brought and bound firmly together, like the ribs of a great basket. And then they took other twigs of willow and wove them into those stuck in the ground, so as to make a sort of firm, huge basket of twelve or fourteen feet long.. After this was completed, they sewed together a number of Buffalo skins, and with them covered the whole. After the different parts had been trimmed off smooth, a slow fire was made under the bull boat, taking care to dry the skins moderately, and as they gradually dried and acquired a due degree of warmth, they rubbed buffalo tallow all over the out side, so as to allow it to enter into all the seams of the boat, now no longer a willow basket. As the melted tallow ran down into every seam, hole and crevice, it cooled into a firm body, capable of resisting the water, and bearing a considerable blow without damaging it. Then the willow-ribbed, buffalo-skin, tallowed vehicle was carefully pulled up from the ground, and behold a boat capable of transporting man, horse and goods over a pretty strong current. At the sight of it we Yankees all burst out into a loud laugh, whether from surprise or pleasure, I know not. It certainly was not from ridicule; for we' all acknowl edged the contrivance would have done credit to old New England." A. Up the Missouri by Pirogue. What navigation on the Missouri meant during the pioneer period Henry M. Brackenridge described in his Journal. He accompanied a fur trading expe dition : "We set off from the village of St. Charles on Tuesday, the 2nd of April, 1811, with delightful weather. The flood of March, which immediately succeeds the- breaking up of the ice, had begun to subside and yet the water was still high. Our barge was the best that ever ascended this river and was manned by twenty stout oarsmen. Mr. Lisa, who had been a sea captain, took much pains in rigging his boat with a good mast and main and top sail, these being great helps in the navigation of this river. Our equipage is chiefly composed of young men, though several have already made a voyage to the upper Missouri, of which they are exceedingly proud, and on that account claim a kind of precedence over the rest of the crew. We are in all twenty-five men, and completely prepared for defense. Besides a swivel on the bow of the boat, which, in case of attack, would make a formidable appearance, we have, also, two brass blunderbusses in the cabin, one over my berth and the other over that of Mr. Lisa. These precautions were abso lutely necessary from the hostility of the Sioux bands, who, of late, had committed several murders and robberies on the whites and manifested such a disposition that it was believed to be impossible for us to pass through their country. The greater part of the merchan dise, which consisted of strouding, blankets, lead, tobacco, knives, guns, beads, etc., was concealed in a false cabin, ingeniously contrived for the purpose ; in this way presenting as little as possible to tempt the savages. But we hope that as this was not the season for wandering tribes to come on the river, the autumn being the usual time, we might pass by unnoticed. We came in sight of Fort Osage, at the distance of three miles off the bluff and a long stretch of river before us. We had now come three hundred miles upon our -332 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI voyage. And for the last hundred had seen no settlement or m.et anyone, except a few traders or hunters who passed us in canoes. With the exception of a few spots, where the ravages of fire had destroyed the woods, we passed through a. continued forest pre senting the most dreary aspect. Our approach once mdre to the haunts of civilization, to a fort where we should meet with friends, and perhaps find a temporary resting place, inspired us with cheerfulness. The song was raised with more than usual glee; the can of whiskey was sent around and the air was rent with shouts of encouragement." Brackenridge described Fort Osage as handsomely situated, "about one hun dred feet above the level of the river, which makes an' elbow at the place, giv ing an extensive view up and down the river. Its form is triangular, its size but small, not calculated for more, than a company of men. A group of build ings is formed by the factory and settler's house. The place is called 'Fire Prairie.' It is something better than three hundred miles from the mouth of the river." "We have now passed* the last settlement of whites," Brackenridge con tinued in his journal, "and probably will not revisit them for several months. This reflection seemed to have taken possession of the minds of all. Our men were kept from thinking too -deeply by their songs and the splashing of oars, which kept time with them. - Lisa, himself, seized the helm and gave the song, and, at the close of every stanza, made the woods ring with his shouts of encour agement. The whole was intermixed with short and pithy addresses to their fears, their hopes or their ambition." Brackenridge said of the Creole boatmen: "I believe an American could not be brought to support with patience the fatiguing labors and submission which these men endure. At this season when the water is exceedingly cold, they leap in without a moment's hesitation. Their food consists of lye corn hominy for breakfast, a slice of fat pork and biscuit for dinner, and a pot of mush with a pound of tallow in it for supper." The Voyageurs. In his "Scenes and Adventures in the Army," Philip St.. George Cooke de scribed the voyageurs of the. Missouri : "These men are generally French Creoles and form a small class as distinct in- char acter from any other as is the sailor from his fellow bipeds who dwell on shore. But if possible, he somewhat resembles the said sailor, — isolated on the prairie desert, as the other on the sea. He has a, patient and submissive obedience, with a seeming utter care lessness of privations, such as would drive a seaman to mutiny. With the same reckless abandon to some transient and coarse enjoyments, he is a hardy and light-hearted child of nature in her wildest simplicity; and in these, her solitudes, he receives a stepmother's care, and battles with a stout heart against her most wintry moods. He resembles the Indian, too, and is generally of kindred blood; he possesses his perseverance, his instinctive sagacity, and his superstition. A very Gascon, he has the French cheerful facility of accommodation to his fated exigencies, and lightens all by an invincible and contagious mirth. He is handsome, athletic, active; dresses chiefly in buckskin; wears a sash and knife ; lives precariously, generally on flesh alone ; is happy when his pipe is lit ; and when he cannot smoke sings a song. He is armed and vigilant while at his severest labors. He joyously spends his ten dollars a month on alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and sugar, and in gaudy presents to some half-breed belle, paying the most incredible prices for these extravagant luxuries." CAPTAIN DANIEL G. TAYLOR War mayor of Rt. Louis A SCENE ON THE ST. LOUIS LEVEE, 1850 THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 335 A Ballad of the Missouri. v • A favorite ballad with the fur traders' crews, as they plied the oars of their pirogues on the Missouri, before the steamboat era, ran, according to Bradbury's translation, in this way : I Behind our house there is a jjond, Fal lal de ra. There came three ducks to swim thereon ; All along the river clear, Lightly my shepherdess dear, Lightly, fal de ra. II There came three ducks to swim thereon, Fal lal de ra. The prince to, chase them he did run, All along the river clear, Lightly my shepherdess dear, Lightly, fal de ra. Ill The prince, to chase them he did run, Fal lal de ra. And he "had his great silver gun, All along the river clear, Lightly my shepherdess dear, Lightly, fal de ra. A Steamboat Monopoly Turned Down. In 1810, Robert Fulton, of steamboat fame, addressed a memorial "To the Honorable Legislature of Upper Louisiana." Associated with Fulton in the proposition was Robert R. Livingston. According to the memorial both Fulton and Livingston were "native citizens of the United States and residing in the State of New York." The memorial set forth that New York, to encourage the establishment of steamboats on the waters of that state, had granted to them exclusive right to navigate boats, impelled by force of steam, for twenty years for the first boat and -five years for each succeeding boat, the whole term not to exceed thirty years. The petitioners explained that they had already con structed two boats, one of which they called the North River steamboat and the other the Car of Neptune. The North River steamboat, they said, had been running voyages of 160 miles between New York and Albany since July, 1807. The car of Neptune had been making voyages between New York and Albany since September, 1809. The petitioners stated that their associate, Mr. Roosevelt, had made an exam ination of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in the summer of 1809, examining the depths and velocities of the two rivers. He had reported such conditions as led Mr. Fulton and Mr. Livingston to conclude these rivers might be navi gated by steamboats. The petitioners were willing to make the venture provided they could secure what they deemed proper encouragement in the way of 336 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI * exclusive, privilege. The memorial concluded with the following proposition to the legislative body of Upper Louisiana, of which St. Louis was the seat of government : "For these reasons, and to encourage the immediate establishment of steamboats on the waters of your state, and particularly on the Ohio and Mississippi, your petitioners pray that, after the example of the State of New York, you will grant' them the exclusive right to navigate the waters of your state or territory, with boats moved by steam or fire, on the following conditions : "First, that three years from the time of passing the law your petitioners will build a boat on the Ohio or Mississippi river, to rnove by the force of steam, which shall be capable of carrying seventy tons of merchandise, produce or material, and move at the rate of at least three and oneJialf miles an hour in still water — if they do not comply with these conditions the law shall be null and void. ''Second, that in all cases they will not charge more than three-fourths of the sum which is usually paid for carrying merchandise or materials of any kind on said rivers to any given or equal distance to which the boats now transport them. "Third, that they will perform the voyage in less than three-fourths of the time which is now usually required by the mercantile boats* to navigate said rivers to any given point where steamboats can go with safety. "Fourth, that on establishing the first boat, the governor will appoint a committee of three persons to report on the performance of the boat ; and if they find that your petitioners have complied with the terms of the contract, the law to be confirmed in favor of said-. Livingston and Fulton." The petition as the memorandum on the back of it indicates, was "presented October 10, 1810." The disposition is indicated by the following endorsement: "Ordered to lie on the table October 23, 1810. Taken into consideration and postponed until next session." The legislature sitting at St. Louis did not accept the proposition of Robert Fulton. The First Steamboat. Seven years elapsed before the first steamboat reached St. Louis. That was the Zebulon M. Pike. It was a primitive affair. The hull was built like a barge. The power was a low pressure engine, with a walking beam. The wheels had no wheel houses. The boat had but one smokestack. Where the current was rapid the crew used poles to help out the steam power. The Pike ran only by daylight. The trip from Louisville to St. Louis and return required four weeks. One account of it gives the time as six weeks. The General Pike was such an object of curiosity that Captain Jacob Reed charged the St. Louisans who wished to come on board a dollar apiece. The admission was not prohibitive. Several times the boat became so crowded that the captain stopped receiving and waited for those on the deck to go ashore. The mention of the coming and going of the Pike was made very briefly by the Missouri Gazette. The year after the coming of the Pike, some Ohio river men built a steam boat they called the St. Louis and sent her around to that port. Captain Hewes invited a number of leading citizens to take a ride up to the mouth of Missouri. The Gazette in its next issue reported that "the company on board was large and genteel and the entertainment very elegant." One thing that affected the THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 337 early interest of St. Louis in steamboating was the general doubt about steam navigation of the Missouri. The Pike had made three and three-quarter miles against the Ohio current. If that was the best the steam engine afloat could do, the motive power would not succeed on the Missouri. About the first of May, 1819, the Maid of Orleans came into port at St. Louis. She had steamed from Philadelphia to New Orleans and then up the Mississippi to St. Louis. That same month the Independence left St. Louis and went up the Mississippi and the Missouri as far as Franklin, near Boonville. She was thirteen days on the way but she did it and unloaded her cargo of flour, whiskey, sugar, iron castings. Then indeed the town of Laclede sat up and marveled. Colonel Charless acknowledged his skepticism and glorified the new era of steam navigation. He published in the Gazette this congratulation: "In 1817, less than two years ago, the first steamboat arrived at St. Louis. We hailed it as the day of small things, but the glorious consummation of all our wishes is daily arriving. Who would or could 'have dared to conjecture that in 1819 we would have witnessed the arrival of a steamboat from Philadelphia or New -York? Yet such is the fact. The Mississippi has become familiar to this great American invention and another new avenue is open." A month later when the Independence had returned from the first naviga tion of the Missouri by steam the Gazette said : "This trip forms a proud event in the history of Missouri. The Missouri has hitherto resisted almost effectually all attempts at navigation. She has opposed every obstacle she could to the tide, of immigration which was rolling up her banks and dispossessing her dear red children, but her white children, although children by adoption, have become so numerous and are increasing so .rapidly that she is at last obliged to yield them her favor. The -first attempt to ascend her by steam has succeeded, and we anticipate the day as speedy when the Missouri will be as familiar to steam boats as the Mississippi or Ohio.. Captain Nelson merits and will receive deserved credit for his enterprise and public spirit in this undertaking." The First Steamboat on the Missouri. The centennial of steamboat navigation on the Missouri river came in 1919. On the 28th day of May, 1819, Captain John NelsOn brought his boat, the Independence, to the bank at Franklin in Howard county. He had made the trip of one hundred and fifty miles from St. Louis in thirteen days although upon only seven of the thirteen had the paddle wheels been moving. Franklin cele brated the arrival of the Independence. A cannon salute was fired from the ^town and returned from the boat. Among the passengers were Colonel Elias Rector, Stephen Rector, Captain Desha, J. C, Mitchell, Dr. Stewart J. Wanton and Major J. T. Wilcox. Rector and other citizens of St. Louis had encouraged the trip by Captain Nelson. Under the agreement with them the boat was to ascend the Missouri river to Chariton, near Glasgow. The St. Louis people contributed the money necessary for the charter in order to show that steam navigation was possible on the Missouri river. The Independence carried a con siderable cargo of flour, whiskey, sugar, iron castings. The significance of the trip was sets forth in the Missouri Intelligencer, the second newspaper to be established west of the Mississippi. It was published by Nathaniel Patton and 338 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Benjamin Holliday, and had been issued only three or four weeks previous to the arrival of" the Independence. The press upon which the Intelligencer was printed is treasured among the relics of the Missouri Historical Society in Jeffer- i son Memorial at St. Louis. The Intelligencer commented on the importance of this arrival of the Independence : • "The grand desideratum, the important fact, is now ascertained, that steamboats can safely navigate the Missouri river. . , "A respectable gentleman, a nassenger on the Independence, who has for a great num- i ber of years, navigated the gr^at western waters, informs us that it is his opinion, with a little ' precaution in keeping clear of sandbars, the Missouri river, may be navigated with as much facility as the Mississippi or the Ohio. "Missourians may hail this era from which to date the growing importance of this section of the' country, when they view with what facility by the aid of steamboats they may ascend the turbulent waters of the - Missouri and bring to this part of the country the articles requisite to its supply, and 'return laden with various , products of this' fertile region. At no distant period we may see the industrious cultivator making his" way as high as the Yellowstone and offering the enterprising merchant and trader a surplus worthy of the fertile banks of the Missouri, yielding wealth to industry and enterprise." 'i In a later issue the Intelligencer ventured this prophetic editorial : '"We may truly regard this event as highly important, not only to the commercial but, agricultural interests of the country. The practicability of steamboat navigation, being now clearly demonstrated by experiment, we shall be brought nearer to the Atlantic, West India and European markets, and the abundant resources of our fertile and extensive region will be quickly developed. This interesting section. of country, so highly favored by nature, will at no distant period, with the aid of science and enterprise, assume a dignified station among the great agricultural states of the West. The enterprise of Capt. Nelson cannot be too highly appreciated by the citizens of Missouri. He is the first individual who has attempted the navigation of the Missouri by steam power, a river that has hitherto borne the character of being very difficult and eminently dangerous in its navigation, but we are happy to state that his progress thus far has not been impeded by any serious, accident." The Banquet at Franklin. Ih celebration of trie arrival pf the .Independence the Franklin citizens gave a banquet to Captain Nelson and his passengers, at which numerous toasts were /offered. Captain Asa .Morgan presided and Nathaniel Hutchison was vice- president. Walter Williams has written this account of the banquet: "The celebration was no affair of midnight revelry, but of midday enjoyment. The dinner began at noon and the speeches lasted until sundown. Everybody was toasted and nearly everybody made an after-dinner speech, ijor were the" toasts drunk in Missouri river water, either, but in ,a stronger beverage. "Toasts at the Nelson dinner were of two kinds, regular and volunteer. The Missouri" Kjver' was, with- appropriateness, first toasted with the sentiment thus rather curiously expressed : . 'Its last wave will roll the . abundant tribute of our region to the Mexican gulf, in reference to the auspices of this day.' Then followed, with equal appropriateness, 'The Memory of Robert Fulton,' of whom it was said : 'One of the most distinguished artists of his age.. The Missouri river now 'bears upon her bosom the first effect of his genius for steam navigation.' The memory of Franklin, the philosopher ancL statesman, was next toasted: 'In anticipation of his country's greatness, he never recognized that a boat at this time would be propelled by steam so far westward to a town bearing his name, WATER POWER IN .THE OZARKS THE GREAT, REPUBLIC Salon of a St. Louis steamboat of 1875, in the dajfs of popular1 river travel EARLY TRANSPORTATION ON THE .MISSOURI RIVER THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 341 on the Missouri.' After the Missouri river, Fulton and Franklin, the captain of the boat was toasted : 'Capt. Nelson — the proprietor of the steamboat Independence. The imaginary dangers of the Missouri vanished before his enterprising genius.' "Of Louisville, Franklin and Chariton it was said : 'They became neighbors by steam navigation.' , "Other- regular toasts were : 'The Republican Government of the United States : By facilitating the intercourse between distant points, its benign influence may be diffused over the continent of North America.' " 'The Policy — Resulting in the expedition of the Yellowstone.' " 'South America — May an early day witness the navigation of the Amazon and La Plata by steam power, under the auspices of an 'independent power.' ' " 'International Improvement — The New York Canal, an unperishable monument of the patriotism and genius of its projector.' " 'The Missouri Territory — Desirous to be numbered with states on constitutional principles, . but determined never to submit to congressional usurpation.' " 'James Monroe — President of the United States.' '"The Purchase of the Floridas-!-A hard bargain.' - For fhe last regular toast was given, with no word of comment, 'The American Fair.' "Capt. Nelson spoke briefly: T will ever bear in grateful remembrance the liberality and hospitality of the citizens of Franklin.' J. C. Mitchell, one of the boat's passengers, praised Gen. T. A. Smith as 'the Cincinnatus of the West.' Another passenger, Maj. Thompson Douglas, complimented the citizens of Franklin as 'characterized by hospitality and generosity.' Lilburn W. Boggs, afterward governor of Missouri, proposed the health of Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson. John W. Scudder of Franklin toasted 'Our Guests — The passengers who ascended the Missouri in the Independence; they have the honor to be the first to witness the successful experiment of steam navigation on our noble river.' "The two editors of the first western newspaper were talkers as well as writers. Ben jamin Holliday's sentiment was: 'The 28th of May, 1819 — Franklin will long remember it and the Independence and her commander will be immortalized in history.' Nathaniel Patton mixed politics and agriculture thus : 'The Missouri Territory — Its future prosperity and greatness can not be checked by the caprice of a few men in Congress while it possesses a soil of inexhaustible fertility, abundant resources and a body of intelligent, enterprising, independent freemen.' "Augustus Storrs spoke of the late Capt. Lawrence with praise. It was Capt. Lawrence who uttered the words, 'Don't give up the ship,' in the memorable naval battle between the Constitution and the Guerriere. For him Lawrence county, Missouri, is named. J. R. Howard praised the genius of Robert Fulton. L. W. Jordan's sentiment was significant: 'The towns on the Missouri river— May they flourish in commerce and, like those on the Ohio and Mississippi, witness the daily 'arrival or departure of some steamboat ascending or descending the majestic stream.' Toasts by Dr. J. J. Lowry and Maj. Richard Gentry to the president and vice-president of the day closed the brilliant celebration." Steamboating in Pioneer Days. When Missouri entered the Union there was not a steamboat owned in the state although this improvement in transportation was in use on the Ohio and Lower Mississippi. Above St. Louis the navigation was by barges. A decade after the Pike crept up to the St. Louis bank and half paddled, half floated away Missourians looked- with conservatism upon, steamboating. Along the Ohio nearly one hundred steamboats had been built and put in operation before this state became to the trade anything more than landing places. Steamboats came, un loaded, loaded and left. In 1825 the Missouri Republican commented on the surprising fact that the two boats, the Brown and the Magnet, were lying up at this port for repairs : "We believe this is the first instance of a steamboat remain ing here through the season of low water." The primitive conditions of pioneer ,, 342 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI steamboating were described by Captain Joseph Brown in a paper read before the Missouri Historical Society. Captain Brown wrote of what he had seen and known as boy and man:. "They had but one engine, and no doctor' or donkey engine. The\boats themselves, and particularly those for the upper rivers, were small, sometimes made like a flatboat, with broad bow and stern, and a stern wheel. There was nothing above the boiler deck but the pilothouse and the chimneys, or rather >one chimney, for they had cylinder boilers ; that is, there were no flues in the boilers. Having but one engine, the shaft ran clean across the boat, and when at a landing the engine had to run the pump to supply the boilers with water, the wheels had to be uncoupled to let the engine work. As I said before, the doctor engine had not been invented, and \ do not doubt that many explosions occurred for the lack of it. "The'cabin was a very primitive affair. It was on the lower deck, back of the shaft, in the after part of the boat. There were no stateroom's then, but, like a canal boat, there were curtains in front of the berths. It was quite common to see a bowsprit sticking out in front of the boat, such as are used on ships, but, being useless, they were soon dispensed with. Stages had not been invented then. Two or three planks were used, and, if need be, tied' together. Whistles were unknown, but bells were rung, and the captains were very proud of a big bell. For a number of years there was no signal for passing or meeting boats, and the result was many collisions. "There were no regular packets then. A boat started from Pittsburg was just as likely to go to St. Paul as anywhere, or up any of the other rivers, and they had no regular hours or even days of starting. I have known boats to have steam up for a week, telling people and shippers the boat was going in an hour, and even have their planks taken in, all but one, and then launch their planks out again. All this was ' done to decoy people on board. The clanging of bells, the hurrah of agents and the pulling and hauling of cabmen and runners were most confusing, more particularly to unsophisticated emigrants. There was no fixed pride for anything; it was all a matter of bargain, and very often great deception was practiced. The engines being small and very imperfect in those days, the boats were very slow. I have known some of the boats in the case of a sudden rise in the river and consequent strong current, to be unajble to stem it at the old waterworks point, which was at , the foot of Carr street. They would have to go over to the other side of the river and fight it out there, sometimes for hours, in sight of the city. "The Eagle, was one of the first boats to run between St. Louis and Alton. She had one engine, was a side-wheeler, about 18 feet beam and 75 feet long. She carried about 50 tons, and it took her about seven hours to go to Alton. She was commanded by that veteran steamboat man, Captain Lamothe. "In 1849, when the gold fever was at its height, there were fifty-eight fine steamers plying regularly on the Missouri river; on the Upper Mississippi, about seventy-five; on the Illinois, twenty-eight fine steamers ; to New Orleans, about one hundred ; on the Ohio, about one hundred and fifty ; on the Tennessee, about .fifteen. Owing to the rush of emigration at that time, boats could not be built fast enough. If was said of a certain boat-yard at Freedom, Pennsylvania, that they kept a lot of the Straight bodies of boats put up. When a man wanted a boat, they took him down to the 'yard and asked- him how long he wanted her; then just put two ends onto a body and he had a boat. But a really fast, and fine boat cost about $100,000 to $150,000 and took about eight months to build. The average life of a boat was about five years. After that they were either torn up to build a more modern boat, or had sunk br blown up. Need I tell-you that in one bend in the river there lie the wrecks of one hundred and three steamboats, between St. Louis and Cairo?" When Edmund Flagg came from Boston to be, the editor of a St. Louis' paper about 1-838 he was much entertained with the firing of a salute : "As we drew nigh to Alton the fireman of our steamer deemed proper, in testimonial of the dignity of our arrival, to let off a certain rusty old swivel which chanced to be on board; and to have witnessed the marvelous fashion in which this. THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 343 marvelous manceuver was executed by our^worthies would have pardoned a smile on the visage of Heraclitus himself. One lanky-limbed genius held a huge dipper of gunpowder; another, seizing upon the extremity of a hawser and severing a generous fragment, made use thereof for wadding; a third rammed home the charge with that fearful, weapon wherewith he poked the furnaces; while a fourth, . honest wight, all preparations being complete, ad vanced with *a shovel of glowing coals, which, poured upon the touchhole, the old piece was briefly delivered of its charge, and the woods and shore and welkin rang with the roar." The Perils of River Navigation. The steamboat era made a record for casualty and mortality which was ap palling. St. Louis newspaper .files show that during the eighteen years preced ing 1852 twenty-seven steamboats. exploded their boilers, and that in the twenty- seven explosions there were killed 1,002 persons. In the eighteen years subse quent to 1852 fifty-four boats met with disaster. The number of fatalities was 3,100. The first serious explosion occurred as early as 1816. "The Washing ton" blew' up, destroying nine lives. The climax in the series of disasters was reached when the Sultana exploded her boilers in 1864, killing 1,647 people, most of them returning soldiers. The explosions which cost fifty lives or more were those of the Ellen McGregor in 1836; the BlackhaVk in 1837; the Orinoco in 1838; the General Brown in 1838; the H. W.- Johnston in 1846; the Edward Bates in 1847; Louisiana in 1849; Princess in 1859; Ben Sherrod in 1861 ; Penn sylvania in 1862; Anglo-Norman in 1850; Glencoe in 1852; W. R. Arthur in 1871. On the second of July, 1842, the Steamer Edna left St. Louis bound up the Missouri river carrying about one hundred passengers. Most of the" people were German immigrants who were on their way to new homes along the Mis souri. The boat stopped for a night near the mouth of the river, the intention being to start out at daylight. Many of the immigrants were deck passengers and lay down to sleep near the boilers. At daybreak the assistant engineer started the engine. Almost before the wheel had turned, the boiler collapsed and the hot water was thrown over the deck passengers. The steamboats Iatan and Anna wan were within sight. . They came at once to the assistance of the Edna. The boat was towed' back to St. Louis. The injured were transferred to the Sisters' hospital. The dead numbered fifty- five. On the 4th of July was presented one of the saddest scenes in the history of the state. A public funeral was held7, at the courthouse, attended by thousands of citizens. The Edna is at the head of the list of Missouri disasters in the number* of lives lost. Next comes probably the Timour. The boilers of this boat exploded a short distance below Jefferson City in August, 1854. The4 force was terrific. It carried the boat's safe to the top of the bluff two hundred feet high over looking the river. Between thirty and forty people were killed. For more than fifty years the decaying hull of the Timour could be seen on the shore during low water. The Bedford struck a snag and went down just above the mouth of the Missouri river. This was in April, 1840, at night time. A storm was prevail- 344 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI ing,; the night was intensely dark. Under other conditions there probably would have been smaller loss of life. Fifteen people were drowned. < The river channel has shifted since 1840 and the mouth of the Misspuri is. several miles lower down. The Bedford hull is said to be buried under the land of Missouri Point where wheat is now harvested. There were reports at the tirne of heavy losses in gold and silver. The boat's safe was said to contain at least $25,000 belong ing to passengers, besides the cash carried for the boat management. Accord ing to one report a single passenger had $6,000 in gold in his trunk. Estimates of the gold and silver on the Bedford ran as high as $100,000. * The Saluda exploded her boilers at Lexington in April, 1852. Twenty-seven persons were killed. The Big Hatchey blew up at Hermann in July, 1845, with a number of fatalities. A wreck for every" seven miles of the Missouri from Fort Benton to the mouth— 300 in all — was the: record of disasters some years ago. Lost Treasure. , Search for sunken cargoes in the Missouri river .has been made with opti mism like to that for the hidden hoards in the Ozarks. It has been attended with about the same results. The disappointments have been many. Since the Independence showed that steam navigation on the Missouri river was practical there have been over three huridred steamboats wrecked in the. Missouri. Some of them carried down cargoes the values of which were known. With other hulks were buried in the silt gold dust, silver bullion and Mexican dollars. In formation a's to the amounts of such treasure lost was not as a rule definite. Between 1880 and 1890 many miners who were drawn to Montana and had struck it rich came back by way of Missouri river boats. They brought with them gold dust and silver bars. . The steamboats bringing such passengers occa sionally struck snags and went down so quickly that the precious metals were lost. In August, 1865, the Twilight sunk just before sunrise twenty miles below Kansas City. Sne-nad left the channel in the fog and had struck a submerged sycamore tree. The hank was not far away. The boat went down leaving the pilot house and texas above the water. Passengers escaped in their night clothes and" were cared for by the farmers. The Twilight was heavily loaded and was bound for the head of navigation on the Missouri. One item of the cargo was three hundred barrels of whiskey,' There were many barrels of oils, many tons of -white lead, pig iron, stoves and stamp mills and engines for the mines. Gov ernment arms and a variety of valuable consignments were included in the cargo. Portions of the boat were in sight for some years during low water. Several attempts were made to recover portions of the cargo. Farmers lifted Out two barrels of whiskey. At a later date the river shifted and the Twilight was buried completely in a sand bank. The flood of 1881 added to the silt. The wreck was buried under thirty-nine feet of sand and soil and by the change of the channel was half a mile from shore at low water. About twenty-five years ago, in the belief that the whiskey barrels were still whole and that the contents had improved from age, a company was formed in Kansas City to make a search for the Twilight and to recover if possible, what was still valuable of the cargo. POSSIBILITIES OF RIVER TRANSPORTATION Forty-six trainloads of coal in one tow of barges • POSSIBILITIES OF RIVEB TRANSPORTATION Eight trainloads of lumber brought to St. Louis on one barge THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 347 The officers of the company obtained such information as they could from the settlers along that part of the river. They used long steel rods probing the sand to locate the wreck. After some days' work of this kind one of the rods struck metal which proved to be the engine used to feed the boilers. With more prob ing the exact location of the hulk was found. The Twilight was thirty-two feet wide, one hundred and eighty-five, feet long. With machinery from Kansas City an air-tight caisson was built just over the hatches. It was sunk through the thirty-nine feet of sand in the same manner that excavation is made ^or bridge piers. The hull of the boat was reached. Several bottles of "Old London Gin, i860" were taken out and carried to Kansas City and opened for tasting by experts at one of the clubs. One of the barrels of whiskey was tapped and the whiskey was pronounced to be better than the gin. News Of the discovery spread. In many of the saloons in Kansas City "Twilight" whiskey was offered to customers although none of the genuine had been placed on sale. There was great excitement for several days over the results reported by the wreckers. A crowd of farmers gathered at the scene of operations. In a few days, how ever, the expectations failed and the work was given up'. There was special fascination in the search for sunken cargoes of whiskey. The Leodora went down after burning near Elk Point, South Dakota, carrying one hundred barrels of liquor. The search in that case disclosed only rusted metal and the rotting mass of one hundred forty-eight tons of miscellaneous freight Some thousands of dollars' were spent near Parkville, Missouri^ by a 'company which hoped to recover one hundred fifty barrels of whiskey in the -hull of the Arabia, a steamboat that sunk in 1856. All that the searchers found which had resisted the decay of nearly a half century was a shipment of old wool hats. , One of the boats which was said at the time to have carried a large amount of gold dust from the Montana mines was the Butte, which went down in July, 1883, near Fort Peck. The Butte's cargo was valued at $110,000. The Ber- trand sunk in 1865, near Portage La Force. It was bound upstream and had as part of the cargo iron flasks containing more than $25,000 worth of quick silver, consigned to mining camps in Montana. The Boreas burned in 1846 near Hermann and carried down a large amount of silver bullion and Mexican dollars. It was suspected that the boat was fired by thieves who had planned to steal the money and bullion in the excitement. The fire spread so rapidly, that the men were forced to jump overboard without getting tfie treasure. The channel of the Missouri river has changed so that in places it is now five miles distant from where it was sixty to seventy-five years ago. A Chariton farmer digging a well found a Bible. On the cover was printed "Naomi." That was the name of the steamboat wrecked in that locality in 1840. The place ¦where the well was dug is five miles from the Missouri river of, to-day. Days of the Pilot's Glory. Successful pilots of Missouri river boats were looked upon with great respect. Navigation of the clear water, regular channel rivers was considered fame by com parison. It was said that the La Barges, Elisha Fine and navigators of their class knew where the existing sandbars were and where the next sandbars would 348 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI form and could locate snags unerringly. A feat of the pilot known as Uncle Davy was to come down stream headed direct for a sandbar, slack up, poke the prow into the bar, swing around and back down stream by the only prac ticable channel left'. Captain Hunter Ben Jenkins told this : i "I remember when the steamer Dacotah came down the Missouri river to St. Louis ' with 16,756 sacks of wheat on four and one-half feet of water, mind you, and never set -a spar on the whole trip. That's what we pilots used to do in the day when we were paid, as high as $1,500 to $2,000 a month. . You can get pretty near anything you want in this country if you want to pay, including good pilots— yes, sir ! Why I remember the day when young fellows not only didn't want any .pay to learn the river, but would actually. put up a couple of thousand dollars to the man who would teach them. They did the work and the pilot drew the pay. Those were' great days. We didn't know what electric lights were in those days. We carried a torch basket of rosin, one on the starboard and one on the larboard side. Who were some of the boys? Well, there's a long string of mighty fine names^. It's hard to say where to stop. There were the La Barges, Masseys, Teabeaus, Kaisers, Henry and Ed McPherson, Yores, Dillons, Lafayette and Robert Burton, Ed Baldwin, 'Bud' Spahr, George and Henry Keith, the Homan brothers, Thomas Hale, James McKinney, Mike and Joe Oldman, Tony and Lew Burbach and Captain Shaw and a lot more. I reckon the" most popular man in his day was Captain Jewett. He operated on the Missouri river. He died of cholera in .Glasgow, '.Missouri, in 1849. We had some mighty fine boats, too. There were the Morning Star, Ben W. Lewis, Cornelia, Minnehaha. and Clara Emma and Martha Jewett." The Missouri Belle and the Buttermilk. ' This is the story of steamboat days which Lloyd G. Harris told a committee of Congress when he was in Washington with a Missouri delegation : "The captain and officers «of the Missouri Belle were very fond of the buttermilk which a farmer who lived along the river bank supplied to them. The boat, in passing this point, would always make a landing, and blow her whistle in order to notify the farmer that she was there, waiting for buttermilk. The farmer would send down a negro man with a bucket of buttermilk, and, having taken it aboard, the boat would proceed on her way. On one occasion when she tried to edge up at this point, she struck a sand-bar and sunk. The captain blew a signal of distress, fastening the lever so that she would blow as long as there was steam, while the hungry waters were gradually rising and swallowing her. The water had crept up to the boiler, and as it rushed in there was an expiring gush of steam into the signal pipe which caused a most peculiar, lugubrious,, and nerve- shattering sound. Just at that moment (Pompey, who was responding to the signal, reached the water's edge with his pail. When he heard that sound he exclaimed: 'Great Gawd! Da's de Belle a-sinkin' and callin' ,fo' buttermilk wid her last breff !' " Up Grand River for Hickory Nuts. "The Grand river country" was a famous section of Missouri between 1840 and i860. The legislature declared the river navigable to the northern boundary of the state. As early as 1842 a small sternwheel steamboat made two trips to the East and West Fork in the western part of Livingston county. It carried up goods from St. Louis and Brunswick and brought down produce. The Bed ford struck a snag and went to pieces. The Lake of the Woods, the Bonita, and some other steamboats made occasional trips up the river. As late as 1865 a steamboat landed at Chillicothe. For many years one of the chief exports of the Grand river country was hickory nuts. For fifty years the forests of shell-bark trees yielded a crop measured by hundreds of bushels. These Grand river hickory , THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 349 nuts are large arid, fine flavored. In early days they brought at least twenty- five cents a bushel, which was considered a very good-price before the war. Per haps nowhere else in Missouri has this crop formed such an important industry. A Tradition of Osage Navigation. One 'day in early summer, Matthew Arbuckle rode into Papinsville. His horse was panting and flecked with foam. Matt told the group which gathered how while plowing on his claim about a mile from the Osage he had heard a terrible noise. He said it was something like the scream of a "painter" only ten times as long and loud. He had ridden in to tell the folks that some wild animal different from anything hitherto known in the Ozarks was in the woods down the river. Uncle John Whitley, who had "fit with Jackson" at New Or leans and who was the acknowledged leader in the community was sent for. He listened to Arbuckle and said the only thing to do was tp get the hounds together, take the guns and go after the varmint, which, he reckoned, must have wandered down from the Rocky Range, as they called the Rocky Mountains in those days. Uncle Jimmy Breckiriridge seconded Captain Whitley, and the settlers got ready. As the posse was about to start for the trail, a faint repeti tion of what Arbuckle had reported was heard. It was sure enough a new and terrifying sound. Uncle John at once remembered that his pretty daughter, Mattie, had gone on her pony to the river that morning. "Ride, men !" he shouted, "Ride ! Mat went down to the river and I expect she's dead by this time." i There was mounting in hot haste, but before the start was fairly underway here came Mattie with her hair flying. She had heard the monster. Uncle John bade her get to the house and tell all of the women folks to keep within doors. Among those who followed the hounds that memorable day were the Morrises, the Roarks, the Snyders, the Burches and other pioneers of that region. Every now and then the unearthly noises, a combination of scream and howl, could be" heard sometimes near and again far down the river. The hounds sniffed and yelped but found no trail The cliffs of the Osage echoed and re-echoed the sounds. Darkness and a storm came on together. Captain- John Whitley led his party to Rock House, a cave forming a room twenty feet high, thirty feet' wide and forty feet deep. Rock House was where the Whitleys had passed their first winter in the Ozarks. The floor was covered with dry white sand, a very comfortable camping place. Just before nightfall, the dogs had started a buck and the hunters had dropped it. Supper was made of the fresh venison. There was. no disturbance in the night but at daybreak that nerve-racking sound brought every man to his feet and set the hounds howling. The noise seemed to show that the monster was coming up the river and was near. Uncle John posted his men for the encounter, every one behind a big tree. Four were told off with orders to have their knives ready and to wade in if the lead, failed to stop the beast. Near Rock House was one of the sharpest of the scores of, curves and bends of the Osage. Around the point and into view of the amazed settlers came slowly the Flora Jones, the first steamboat to ascend the upper Osage. As was the case in those days the size" of the whistle and the scream of the exhaust was out of all proportion to the dimensions of the boat. Old river 350 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI men say that it was no uncommon thing to hear the exhaust of those pioneer steamboats ten or twelve miles. The whistles carried much farther. Long stops and much use of the whistle to give notice of the coming of the boat was the practice before the days of the telegraph. The slow rate of speed, two or three miles an hour, the sinuous course of the Osage and the reverberations of the caves and cliffs added enough illusions to warrant . credence for this tradition of the Osage. " , Long after the first steamboat came up the Missouri, a tradition preserved ¦ in Cedar township told how one of the pioneers hearing the whistle shouted to his wife: "Old woman hurry up and wash arid dress the children;— quick. That was sartinly Old Gabriel tootin' his horn. Git ready! Git ready!" , * A. steamboat which becarhe famous for its whistle was the Boreas. The settlers in northeast Missouri called it "the Screamer." Judge Fagg said in his Pike county recollections : "I have been on the , prairie near Bowling Green and heard her at Louisiana, twelve miles, and have heard her from Blue Lick Knob when she was at Clarksville, ten miles on an air line." Captain Joseph Brown in his steamboat reminiscences,, told to the Missouri Historical Society, said: "I could stand on the levee any night and tell almost any boat either by the sound of her escapement or the sound of her bell, long before she reached the landing. Indeed, owing to the peculiar construction of" the heaters of the engines, the escapement was such that hardly any two were alike, and many of them could bevheard for miles. One in par ticular, I remember, the Boreas, could be heard scream for twelve or fifteen miles on a clear night, while others had a heayy, deep sound or growl, the Hannibal a big New Orleans boat, being of /the latter kind. The, engines of the Boreas, when she was wrecked, were taken out and sent to Chanwan, Mexico, and put into a silver mine to do pumping duty. It was said that they answered a double purpose, as they made such a hideous noise that they frightened all the wild beasts and even the Indians away for many miles around." The first steamboat up the Mississippi, to- ascend above Louisiana, was the , General Putnam. If was long remembered by the pioneers of the northeastern part of Missouri,— a sternwheeler without cabin and with one smokepipe. The Putnam carried an outfit of axes. At frequent intervals theboat was run to the bank and the crew cut wood. More, than a week was required to make the trip from St. Louis to the mouth of Fever river. > Missouri River Traditions. The Spread Eagle had the picture of a large eagle on each wheelhouse, with the words, "E Pluribus Unum." Captain Ben Johnson was called upon at Missouri river landings to tell "what them words meant." His usual transla tion was "Every tub sjtands on its own bottom." The Keystone attempted to go up the Kaw river during high water in the fifties, the captain intending to make Fort Riley with his cargo of military supplies. He missed the channel and got aground on, a Kansas prairie where the boat was left high and dry as the flood went down. Later in the season the Indians set fire to the grass and burned the boat.,. When the Polar Star made the trip from St. Louis to St. Joseph in two days and twenty hours, the delighted business men of the latter city presented to CAPTAIN WILLIAM W. GREENE CAPTAIN JOHN N. BOFINGER "THE HARP OF A THOUSAND SPRINGS" Submariile wrecking boat designed by James B. Eads. Used before the Civil War to salvage sunken steamboats and their cargoes A THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 353 Captain Tom Brierly a large pair of elk horns tipped with silver. The captain fastened the horns in front of the pilot house with a streamer, "Beat our time and take our horns — St. Louis to St. Joseph, 2 days and 20 hours." The Pontiac with 700 barrels of whiskey was sunk, at Smith's bar and is supposed to be buried deep in the sand two miles from the present channel. It is a tradition of the Missouri river in the days when as many as twenty steamboats arrived at St. Joseph in a single day, that a loaded boat on the Missouri would draw two inches less than in the Ohio, due to the silt carried in the former stream. Holcombe's researches satisfied him that Missouri interpreted from an Indian language does not mean "Big Muddy." The river takes its name from the tribe which lived along the banks. And this tribe, according to Holcombe, was called by the Illinois Indians in their speech "The Missouris," meaning "The People Who Use Wooden Canoes." , "I have heard Joe Kinney, Captain Joe, say that he made $56,000 profit on one trip from St. Louis to Fort Benton and return with his boat, the steamer Cora, a Missouri river packet," Dr. W. L. Campbell, the Kansas City local his torian told. "She was a sidewheeler and the top of her left wheelhouse was painted green. She sank off Bellefontaine Bend, and they called it Cora Chute after that. Cora Kinney, the captain's daughter married Dr. Hurt, a physician down at Boonville. Another boat was the Columbian of the St. Louis and Omaha Packet company. She used to put off freight at the levee here. Cap tain Barns was her commander, and his long beard used to blow out in the ^wind. She was a big sidewheeler and went down at Buckhorn bar off the mouth of the Grand fiver, near Brunswick." When the Luella came down the Missouri in the fall of 1886, Captain Grant Marsh brought 230 miners and $1,250,000 in gold dust. A Thrill on the Missouri. In his autobiography, Calvin t Smith tells of this incident which came under his observation on a Missouri river steamboat before the Civil war: "The first day out a number of sharpers started .card and dice garnes on the deck. They kept this up until we got to Boonville, and many dropped down from the cabin to look on or take a hand. We left Boonville late at night and jogged along -the river. Just at daybreak one man who had been playing with the sharpers leaned back to where his wjfe was sleeping, with her four or five little girls cuddled up close to her, and said : 'Anna, I have lost all my money.' The wife jumped up and although only clad in one undergarment, which barely reached to the calves of her legs, she at once ran to where the gamblers were playing. She grabbed the sweat cloth, the faro box, dice box, cards, etc., all of the money, paper, gold, and silver. This was quite a large amount, as it included not only the winnings but the capital. She quickly ran to the forecastle, then upstairs to the clerk's room. The clerk happened to be in, so the woman said : 'Here, take this. They have won all our money. We have not paid our fare, nor for the freight.' "The clerk quickly obeyed orders and put the whole bundle in the safe. One of the head gamblers, who had followed the woman, got there just in time to see the money put in the safe. He at once demanded the return of his money, both from the woman and the clerk, using furious oaths. The husband of Anna had followed, and the gambler drew a big knife and flashed it in his face and drew it across his throat while with the most furious of oaths -he demanded the return of his money. The clerk saw that war Vol. I— 2S 354 CENTENNIAL- HISTORY OF MISSOURI was declared, and, as the steward was just passing, the clerk told him to callthe captain. As soon as the captain came to the clerk's office, the woman commenced telling him: 'Jt was all the money they had in the world and that they had not paid their freight or passage.' The gambler tried to explain but the woman kept repeating, 'It was all the money they had.' Her tongue ran like a bell clapper repeating the same thing over and over, again. The gambler only asked for a fair settlement and to get back his own money, but he could not be heard on account of the woman. "The captain stepped forward to the boiler deck and 'tapped the bell for the pilot to land the boat on the starboard side. He was followed by the woman with her almost naked children. Some of them had on torn slips, but they all had but little covering. As it was warm weather in June, this did not hurt them any. They clung to the few articles of clothing their mother had on. In the meantime the captain had ordered the mate to take two sailors and bring the yawl around to the starboard side. When this had been done the captain ordered the mate to bring up four or five deckhands to the boiler deck. Then the captain said, 'Take these two men and put them ashore.' The- mate had a long bamboo pole, about six feet in length, and he flourished it as he ordered the two ' gamblers to march. I could not help but laugh as the deck-hands pointed to the naked little girls as the gamblers marched past. "Down in the- forecastle one of the gamblers said to a friend, 'Have our boxes and trunks put off at the next town above.' This was Lexington. I watched the gamblers as they marched through the grass and weeds up toward Glasgow, which was about six or seven miles up the river. When we passed that place I saw nothing of the two gamblers. Next night at nine o'clock when we reached the place where the gamblers' goods were to be put off I heard their friend tell the warehouse man that they would be called for by two men. "Next morning we were at Liberty Landing and the man who had lost all of his money was attending to the putting off of the boxes, barrels, bedsteads, lots of bundles of clothing and other things like emigrants usually carry. The clerk called Anna, the man's wife, to come to his office. When she went there he handed her a bundle made of the veritable sweat cloth such as the gamblers used in fhe game the night before and a receipt for sixteen dollars for freight and passage. He also assisted her in getting the children ashore and helped with her bundles. "The gentleman who put off the freight of the gamblers near Lexington said after wards that the gamblers told him they lost over $100 of their own over and above what they had won up to the time of leaving." Some of the Missouri Commodores. The possibilities of steamboating in the St. Louis trade brought to the city many strong men. William Wallace Greene, a native of Marietta, Ohio, a de scendant of the Rhode Island Greenes of Revolutionary fame, was a successful v steamboatman on ' the Ohio. In partnership with his father-in-law, Captain Joseph H. Conn, of Cincinnati, he built the Cygnet. Captain Conn and Cap tain Greene brought the Cygnet to St. Louis in 1834 and became residents here, operating several boats and carrying on a commission business as Conn, Sprigg & Greene. Captain Greene was one of a number of St. Louis steamboatmen who were not only strictly moral but earnestly religious. He was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church. One of the most benevolent of the men who amassed fortunes in the river trade was Captain Richard J. Lockwood, who came from Delaware in 1830. He was a resident of St. Louis forty years. One of his acts of benevolence was the contribution of $20,000 for the building of an Episcopal church in 1866. THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 355 While Henry D. Bacon was on the river he became famous for his strict observance of the Sabbath. One of the boats he commanded was the Hannibal. Wherever midnight of Saturday found the Hannibal, Captain Bacon went to the bank and tied up until the same hour Sunday night. The McCune family came from Pennsylvania originally, imigrating first to Bourbon county, Kentucky, and later in 1817 to Missouri. John S. McCune, after doing business some years along the upper Mississippi river, came to St. Louis in 1841. The impressions he had received from his earlier experience prompted ihim to organize what became in the palfny 'days of steamboating one of the most important transportation interests of St. Louis. Long before the railroads, Commodore McCune had in operation the Keokuk Packet company. Up to that time the steamboat men had not appreciated the economies and the advantages of operation in companies. A great deal of the river business was done by individual -owners of boats or by single firms. Commodore McCune put on the river a fleet of six boats which ran on regular schedules between St. Louis and Keokuk, furnishing facilities, for all intermediate cities and towns. The boats were so far superior to most of the steamboats between 1840 and 1855 that conservative river men predicted a collapse. Commodore McCune and those associated with him garnered fortunes on their enterprise. In 1857 the Pilot Knob Iron company was in danger of going down. To raise money the stockholders proposed to give as collateral to eastern capitalists a very large amount of the stock for a loan of $300,000. Commodore McCune came forward and advanced the money, taking the presidency of the iron com pany. That was one of the acts which went far to establish at an early date the financial independence of St. Louis. Two Illinois boys, born in the southernmost county of that state, sons of an Irish father and a Scotch mother, came to St. Louis to seek fortune. They found it in steamboating. They became river captains of the best type. Barton Able and Daniel Able began as clerks on the Ocean Wave. ^ They were, two of ' the best known men of St. Louis. They were "Bart" Able and "Dan" Able. It was said of Dan Able that in his many years of steamboating not a life was lost on any boat commanded by him. In 185 1 he made a trip that is historic, taking the 'Anthony Wayne" 160 miles up the St. Peters, now known as the Minne sota river, the first steamboat navigation of that river. He also took the Wayne up the Mississippi above St. Paul to St. Anthony, making another new record. Decline of the Traffic. Traffic by river began its decline soon after the Civil war. In 1866 there .were fifty-one steamers running from St. Louis to the Upper Missouri. The next year there were seventy-one. In 1868 the decline began. There were sixty-two steam boats in the Upper Missouri trade from St. Louis. In 1869 the decline was more apparent for the number of boats was reduced to thirty-seven. In 1870 the number came down to nine. In the palmy days fifty steamboats ran regularly from St. Louis up the Missouri. In the times of heavy imihigration this number was largely increased. There was first class passenger traffic as well as travel of emigrants going west ward and of freight. Some of the Missouri river boats were, if not so large, as 356 , - CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI finely finished and equipped as the "floating palaces" on the Mississippi. The Morning Star, the Ben Lewis, the Polar Star and F. X. Aubrey, named for the man who had made the wonderful ride from Independence to Santa Fe, the Cataract, the Meteor and the New Lucy, were favorites with first class travel. Before the Civil war these boats carried as many as 200 xabin passengers on a trip. They had crews of twenty negro waiters dressed in spotless white and they served meals equal to the best hotel bills of fare. The James H. Lucas was a record breaker. This boat made the trip from St. Louis to St. Joseph in two days and twelve hours. For freight from St. Louis to Fort Benton the charge was fifteen cents a pound. x In 1879 the revival of "mountain trade" by way of the Missouri river was attempted. Three boats, the Dakota, the Wyoming and the Montana, were built especially for the proposed mountain service. They proved to be too large, could not compete with the railroads and came into the possession of Captain Jenkins and the Keiths. The new owners pluckily attempted to secure the lost trade between St. Louis and Kansas City and intervening points. Low freight rates by the railroad and high insurance on the boats defeated them. ' The value of the steamboats registered or controlled at St. Louis in 1871 was $5,428,800. Probably the most ambitious consolidation of steamboat inter ests was attempted at St. Louis just after the close of the war. The Atlantic and Mississippi Steamship company was organized. It owned a fleet of twenty- eight of the finest boats on the, western rivers. Leading spirits in the enterprise were the Scudders, John' J. Roe, the Ames family, the Abies, John N. Bofinger and several other St. Louisans with a few stockholders from the Ohio. The stock was $2,500,000.. If the South had not been so impoverished, if recovery. had been rapid as expected, the consolidation might have been successful. Cap-' tain Joseph Brown said of the collapse: "The Atlantic and Mississippi Steamship company was organized in 1866, after the war, and owned 28 steamers, most of which were 300 or more feet«long. They plied between St. Louis and New Orleans. In fifteen months that company lost fifteen of the twenty- eight, either by explosion or sinking, and with ,no insurance. I was made president of the company after these disasters, and remedied the evils to some\ extent, but the company's back was broken. Inside of two years I was instructed to sell out at auction the balance of the boats, eleven in. number. While no one but the stockholders lost any money, it fell hard on them, for out of $70,000 that I had in stock I only got $2,600." The White and Its Curves. From its four heads in Boston mountains to Batesville, where it leaves the, Ozarks and enters the lowlands, White river is a succession of astonishing curves. No other river on the continent so nearly and so frequently doubles upon itself. From the source to the flat country is a distance on a straight line of perhaps 150 miles. White river between these points has a course of over- 600 miles; some estimates make it 1,000 miles. The beginning is in the western part of Arkansas, near the Oklahoma line. The water runs, toward all points of the compass in quick succession many times before it adopts a comparatively direct course to the .Mississippi. From the Boston mountains the general course, with many a bend and curve, is north- POSSIBILITIES OF RIVER TRANSPORTATION Six trainloads of cotton on a St. Louis steamboat CROSSING WHITE RIVER IN THE OZARKS THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 359 ward and northeastward into Missouri. Probably the highest point in this direction is Forsyth, near the center of Taney county. From this place the White wriggles its way back into Arkansas and down through Marion county, to where the Buffalo joins it. But not until the Missouri-Arkansas border has been crossed seven times does' the uncertain stream finally bear away to the southeastward to stay. Adding to the marvel of White river's eccentric meanderings are the walls of rock which tower from 200 to 500 feet, often from the water edge. A bird's- eye view from above would show the river deep set in a canyon of continuous and often sharp curvatures. A mile of river in a straight line is unusual. The canyon-like valley of the White narrows in places, almost to the channel's width. Over most oi the course it ,is wide enough for a strip of fertile bottom land along the river. The water, wanders from orte side of the valley to the other. It washes the base of the towering palisades first on the right and then on the left. It main tains close relationship with a cliff for half a dozen miles. Then it suddenly crosses through the bottom lands and hugs the opposite frowning pass. On a bright day a stretch of the winding river seen from a summit of the palisades shimmers like well-polished silver. "White" aptly describes the appearance. A nearby view from the banks reveals a degree of purity which is not equaled by any other western river outside of the Ozarks. The contrast of comparison with the streams which flow through alluvial country is striking.' White river has its origin in mountain springs. Numberless underground channels in the limestone strata help to swell the volume. Tributaries vary from tiny rivulets starting high up on the benches of the mountains to powerful streams which gush forth with a roar from beneath the shelves of overhanging rock. Twenty miles below Forsyth, beside the White, is McGill spring, which pours out from the face of the cliff a body of water strong enough tt* run a large mill. It is a type of hundreds, while the smaller and unnamed springs can only be enumerated by thousands. Navigating tbe White. Many years ago Forsyth was reached by steamboats on White river. The bold navigators pushed their sternwheelers to the foot of the rapids. Then they sent the- roustabouts clambering over rocks and among the trees, dragging the towline its full length. The upper end was strongly fastened to stand the strain. The boat end of the hawser was wound around the capstan. With the paddle wheels driven by every pound of pressure available, and with the donkey engine winding in the towline, the boat dragged and pushed itself up foot by foot through the foaming rapids. After the passage was made a long reach of smooth, deep water made easy progress for perhaps twenty, perhaps fifty miles. In this way Forsyth" was reached. And when the boat, "loaded to thev guards" with lead and cotton and hogs and the various productions of the White river country, turned her head downstream, there was little to do except trust to Providence and the nerve of the man behind the pilot wheel. The current did the rest. But the railroads built into South Missouri. The Ozark people took to rais- 360 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI ing less cotton and more corn, which they fed to live stock that could be driven overland to railroad points north. The inducements for river transportation to and from Forsyth became smaller. One day, in a spirit of daring, Capt. Bateman said he was going to take the Mary C. to Forsyth if it was her last trip. He made McBee's and the other landings above Buffalo City, and tri umphantly awoke the echoes of the heights of Pine mountain as the boat came in sight of Forsyth. But pride" went before the worst fall that could happen to a steamboatman. In trying to turn the Mary C's head downstream, the cap tain failed to gauges the width of the channel. He "ran her nozzle ag'in the bank" on one side. The stern went around with a sweep and lodged against a gravel bar on the other side. The Mary C. lay for a few moments broadside in the channel, blocking it. There was creaking and groaning. The hog chains parted. The Mary C's back was broken. The wreck lay there until the ele ments wore it to pieces which floated away. That was the end of navigation to Forsyth. The most important tributary to tfie White above Forsyth is the James. It joins from the Missouri side, and is wholly within this state. Its character is very like that of the White and the other branches. Two points in "Stone county, Galena and Marvel Cave, are joined by a ridge road eighteen miles long. James river also connects these two points, but runsv 125 miles in its crooked course to do so. With the James added, the White becomes at Forsyth a river in more than name. When it is "up"' the ferry is the only means of crossing. In low .stages the stream is fordable at the , "riffles." The long reaches of still water are many feet in depth. Pioneer Water Power. On a branch of the Femme Osage creek in St. Charles county, Jonathan Bryan built a water mill^This, according to tradition, was the first use made of water power in Missouri outside of St. Louis. The mill is said to have been built in 1801. It would grind from six to ten bushels of grain in the course of a day and a night. The early settlers at St. Charles, on Loutre. Island and between depended on the Bryan mill for their flour and meal. Bryan used the same stones to grind the wheat and the corn. He sifted the flour in a box by hand. The creek upon which the mill was located was fed by a spring. Bryan had such confidence in the operation of his plant that he filled the hopper with corn in the morning and went about other work. He gave his attention to the mill only as it was necessary to refill the hopper and to empty the basin. In this way the mill ran continuously through the twenty-four hours. From the stones the meal and flour dropped into a large basin on the floor. About a mile from this mill Daniel Boone was living with his son Nathan. The Boones had a dog they called Cuff. This dog found an opportunity in Bryan's absence from the mill. He went there and licked the meal out of the basin. ' When Cuff was especially hungry and the meal did not r,un from the stones fast enough to suit him he would bark. In this way Bryan learned the defect in his system. He discarded the basin and used a large coffee pot, the top of which was too small for the dog's head. Other water mills were built in the pioneer period, but they were not as THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 361 numerous as might have been expected from Missouri's unparalleled water power. On the border between Arkansas and Missouri the Mammoth Spring was utilized for milling purposes. Beyond this the power possibilities of the never failing streams and springs of the Ozarks were ignored practically until the present generation. Hydro-Electric Opportunities. A. M. Haswell of Springfield, who is qualified as an expert in knowledge of the Ozarks, recently wrote: "Water power, more of it twice over than has made the six stony little New England states the richest of the nation. Not only so, but with a far greater variety of uses for it than New England has, or ever had. Water powers so situated, some of them, as to be susceptible of developing without so much as a darrl. "For instance, the Gasconade river in Pulaski county has the 'Moccasin Bend,' where that fine, swift stream winds through the hills for some eight miles, and turns back on itself until a neck only 780 feet across separates the water in its upper and lower courses. A simple tunnel through the neck would give a fall of almost 25 feet, and fur nish 5,000 horsepower. Six miles distant, in a straight line, is another great bend sixteen miles around, and a mile across, with a fall of 48 feet. There are others of the same sort on the James and White rivers in Stone county, and in a dozen other places. "Then there are the great springs. The Greer spring in Oregon county flows 435,000,000 gallons every twenty-four hours. The largest spring in the world. It has site after site where that immense flow could be used over and over again. ^ Bennett's spring in the eastern edge of Dallas county is anether mammoth nearly half as large as 'the Greer; Hahatonka is another, arid so on. And these spring powers have this signal advantage over a power , forrned by damming an ordinary stream, they are constant. The Greer spring does not vary 5 per cent in volume, be the season wet or dry." John 1'. Fitzpatrick, while state labor commissioner, pointed out the possi bilities of water power, using the recently completed plant of the Ozark Power and Water company as an illustration. This plant is on White river. It was completed in' September, 1914. It started with a capacity of 17,000 horsepower, having a possible capacity , of 28,000. Mr. Fitzpatrick ventured, the assertion that the streams with rapid currents in the Ozark region can furnish power for one thousand plants equal to the one mentioned. The dam on White river is fifty feet high and thirteen hundred feet long. It is built of hollow reinforced concrete and has a spillway six hundred feet across over which the water can pass twenty feet deep in time" of flood. The White river plant cost $2,000,000, which includes the cost of the transmission lines to Carthage, Webb City, Joplin and Springfield. Mr. Fitzpatrick offered the suggestion that at a point in the northwestern portion of St. Louis county the Missouri river is many feet higher than the Meramec and distant only a few miles. A canal to connect the two rivers, the commissioner said, would furnish power sufficient to run the street car system of St. Louis, light the streets and operate many industries. One of the engineers who worked on the White river plant volunteered the opinion that there was a power site every twenty-five miles on the White river. The power is carried on lines supported by steel piers. Menard L. Holman, who was consulted in the selection of the site at Branson, said he had traveled all over the United States, east and west and from Canada to the Gulf and that nowhere had he found such possibilities of water power development as exist in the 362 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Ozarks between the Missouri river and the Arkansas line! "The same invest ment made in the Keokuk dam project," he said, "if spent in hydro-electric development of the Ozarks would return a much larger profit." Lyman E. Cooley, the engineer of the Chicago Canal, for years advocated the construction of dams across the Mississippi to. create electrical energy. He went even so far as to indicate locations where the topographical conditions favor. Before the Congressional committee on Rivers and Harbors, Professor Cooley said that two dams, one just below St. Louis and the other at Com merce, Missouri, could be built to supply in each case 100,000 horsepower. The Ozark rivers make great circuits of miles — then return upon their courses so nearly that only a mighty mass of rock a few hundred feet thick separates. The water on ©ne side of this narrow partition is a dozen feet or more higher than on the other side, the equivalent of the natural fafi in the circuit of miles. The waters of Meramec spring rise in a basin ninety feet across. This basin is at the foot of a bluff. ' The flow of water, measured by the United States Geological Survey is 125,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours. And this flow is of very little variation ; neither does the temperature change much with the , 'seasons. The water is clear and free from organic matter. Local rainfall has little effect. From where can such a volume come ? That is one of the -many mysteries of the Ozarks. Before a treatment to take the silt out ofjhe Missis sippi was discovered, the City of St. Louis seriously considered the Meramec spring as the source of its water supply by means of an aqueduct. Twelve years ago surveys were made for a hydro-electric plant on the Meramec, 150. miles southwest of' St. Louis. At the place selected the river flows over solid rock and between bluffs. The. plans called for a dam thirty feet high. As the river channel falls rapidly below the dam it. was possible by leading the water in a canal to add twenty feet more to the fall, making the effective head on the turbine wheels fifty feet. The plant was expected to generate 4,800 horsepower. Surveys were made to locate other 'similar plants on the Meramec and available sites were found forvhalf a dozen more. The promise of 40,000 horsepower from the Meramec alone was held out by the projectors. Actual construction was postponed until devices to prevent. leakage of the current in course of transmission could be perfected. The leakage problem, the electrical engineers say, has held back the development ' of hydro-electric power in Missouri. The best locations for water power plants are long distances from the market for the current. In the northeastern* corner of Dallas county is one of the mammoth springs of the Ozarks. It flows 60,000 gallons a minute. /Springs supplying from thirty to forty horsepower are numerous in Reynolds county. Laclede county spreads over stretches- of the Gasconade, the Big Niangua and the Ozark fork of the Gasconade. But Missouri is at last turning attention to water power. That is the notable new thing in the state's industrial, development. Companies are being formed. One was chartered by citizens of Edgerton, Dearborn and Trimble to dam the Platte near the first mentioned place for the generation of electric power to supply several communities in that part of the state. ONE OF MISSOURI'S COUNTLESS SPRINGS MISSOURI BETHESDAS 'In the space of a city block are one hundred and two medical springs. No two of them exactly alike in their properties " THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 365 The Missouri Bethesda. The first health resort in Missouri was Loutre Lick, which was referred to by Henry Clay on the floor of Congress as early as 1824 as "the Bethesda mentioned by the honorable senator from Missouri." Van Bibber tried to make salt but the water was not strong enough in saline quality. Of the medicinal virtue there was no doubt. Daniel Boone came repeatedly to Loutre Lick and remained weeks at a time drinking the waters. He thought «that he received great benefit for a kidney trouble. Stomach and bowel ailments were helped. Invalids of several generations visited the spring. The name _of the place was changed to Mineola some time after the Civil war. In the vicinity of Mineola are many artificial mounds in which human bones have been found. Fragments of pottery in numbers have been picked up, indicating that Loutre Lick was visited by aborigines long before the white men came. Pioneers in this neighborhood accumulated collections of stone axes, flint arrows and implements fashioned from bone. Loutre Lick is in a basin among the Loutre Creek hills. Thomas H. Benton, even after he went to Congress, visited Loutre Lick. He tested the waters with such re sults that he had occasion to mention their medicinal qualities in a speech. Loutre Lick was on a tract of ground, 460 acres altogether, which was granted by the Spanish governor at St. Louis in 1799 to Nathan Boone, the son of Daniel. Boone sold the place to Major Isaac Van Bibber in 181 5. Van Bib ber was an orphan who had been raised by the Boones. At Lebanon, artesian boring tapped a vein of "magnetic water." Erwin Ellis described the peculiar quality of this medicinal spring: "Go into the engine room, make it perfectly dark and let a little steam out by the stopcock. Then put the end of your finger in the steam. Each little drop, as it forms on your finger from the condensation of steam, will show a spark of electric light. You can stand in the steam, and as the drops form on your whiskers and hair they will give out enough electric light to make the features distinguishable. If you let the steam from the water play on the blade pf your knife you will find that it will magnetize so that you can pick up a pin or a nail. I don't pre tend to understand how the electricity or magnetism is carried in the water, but what I tell you has been demonstrated many times." Medicinal Waters. Monegaw springs in St. Clair county ' took the name of a famous Osage Indian chief who lived and died near by. In the space of about a city block are 102 of these springs and no, two of them are exactly alike in their properties. There are black, yellow and white sulphur waters of varying degrees. Some of the springs are saline; others chalybeate. About 1851 the government sent out from Washington scientific men to inspect the Monegaw springs. The ex amination showed that this sulphur water was without superior in the United States. The medicinal qualities were declared to be of great value. In the pioneer period, many cures of chronic ailments like rheumatism and dyspepsia resulted from visits to Monegaw. Physicians before the Civil war sent pa tients long distances to these waters. At that time steamboats ascended the 366 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Osage to Osceola and above. They brought cargoes 'to replenish the stocks' of merchants who supplied goods in job lots to stores, not only in Southwest Mis souri, but across the border in the Indian Territory and Kansas and Arkansas. There were wholesale houses in Osceola which carried stock valued at $100,- ooo. When Lane and his raiders came over from .Kansas in 1861 to burn Osceola they carried away a wagon train of plunder which the leader estimated to be worth $1,000,000. St. Clair county is a region of wonderful springs in ad dition to those of Monegaw. A few miles southwest of Osceola are salt springs. At Taberville are sulphur springs. In many other places are found medicinal waters. "White Sulphur" on the Osage. Eight miles above Warsaw on the Osage was the 1 White Sulp'hur, which be came a famous resort -before the war. A large hotel was built and other im provements to encourage visitors to the springs were planned but the hotel burned and the war interfered with the plans. Five miles from Warsaw are the Black Sulphur Springs, six in number, flowing streams of such pressure and volume as to make them phenomenal even in a region of such examples of water power as the Ozarks possess. Evi dences that the Indians in great numbers came and camped at these Benton county springs abound. Many years ago, scientists came from the East to dig up skeletons of the mastodon in this county. Along the Pomme de Terre these skeletons were especially numerous. One was said to have found a market at $20,000 for a natural history collection in the East. The end of a tusk three feet long and indicating a mastodon tooth nme feet long was for years an ob ject of curiosity in a Warsaw store. The medicinal value of the MooresVille Mineral Springs were discovered by letting the hogs use the water. Not a case of cholera occurred among them while the disease was raging in the droves round about. Then a chemical an alysis showing the constituents was obtained. It justified the establishment of a hotel. The Mooresville waters took their place for curative properties with the most effective of mineral waters. In the sand rock of Warrensburg are iron, sulphur and magnesia springs, the waters of which have been proven of much value in the treatment of stomach, bowel and kidney troubles. The Future of Missouri's Mineral Waters. The day seems not far distant when the mineral springs of Missouri will come into nation-wide recognition for health giving properties. Cooper, Saline, Howard and adjoining counties have salt springs of such volume and strength that salt making was one of the first manufacturing industries of Missouri. Professor Swallow, when state geologist, reported that half of the counties- in the state had sulphur springs. Chouteau in Cooper, Monegaw in St. Clair, Elk in Pike, Excelsior in Clay are only a few of the springs which have won past or present repute for their medicinal virtues. Sweet Springs, on Blackwater creek, flow chalybeate waters containing salts of iron. Petroleum or tar springs in Carroll, Ray, Cass, Lafayette, Bates, Vernon and other counties' yielding THE WATERS OF MISSOURI ' 367 quantities of lubricating oil, carry the encouragement of the possible develop ment of a great oil field somewhere in Missouri. One of the largest springs, believed for years by geologists to be the largest in Missouri, flows nearly 11,000,000 cubic feet of water a day according to the measurement by' state officials. From its head this spring, known as Bryce's, flows a river forty-two yards wide. It is in the Niangua country which includes parts-of Dallas, Hickory^ and Camden counties. "Row you up Salt river," was a dire warning in Missouri as early as 1830. Salt river, the Riviere au Sel of the French and the Oa-haha of the Indians, heads near the northern boundary of Missouri and runs through Shelby, Mon roe, Ralls and Pike counties. An old Gazetteer said "the threat to row an an tagonist up Salt river" was understood to be equivalent to prediction of utter defeat. Pioneer Hiver Improvement. River improvement in Missouri had its beginning nearly one hundred years ago. It was successful in that it told future generations how not to do it. An immense sandbar formed in front of St. Louis. It threatened to throw the channel far over to the Illinois side. And that at a time when St. Louis was just commencing to realize the good of river traffic. Wealthy citizens raised a lot of money~for that day. (general Bernard Pratte headed the list. Thomas Fiveash Riddick came forward with a plan. He was1 the man who had ridden horseback to Washington in the dead of winter to get Congress to give for public schools land not covered by French grants and other private titles. He was a public spirited citizen of much initiative. Riddick's theory was to plow these deposits of Missouri river silt when the water was low. He argued that the next rise would carry away the loosened sand. Public opinion decided that Riddick's theory would work out. John Goodfellow, — mark the name! — was chosen to take charge. He got oxen and the heaviest plow he could find. Up and down the sandbar, Goodfellow's oxen were gee-ed and haw-ed, dragging the great plow until they had loosened every foot of sand which showed above water. All St. Louis gathered on the river front a'nd watched the job of plow ing the Mississippi. The people turned out again when the water rose and fell. ' The bar was still there and growing and the channel was moving east ward. This went on from bad to worse until Congress took up the problem. A young lieutenant of. engineers was sent out from Washington. He remained for months, built dykes which threw the current back and made it carry away the silt it had deposited. The sandbar was washed away and St. Louis was saved from becoming an inland city. The young lieutenant was Robert E. Lee.In Commodore Garrison's Day. The fame of Commodore C. K. Garrison rested mainly upon his long identi fication with water transportation before the' Civil war. The Commodore had his day in St. Louis. Captain Joseph Brown remembered this : The hull of the Convoy was built by Captain Garrison, up the Big Muddy river, largely by his own labor, he handling the broadax. She was a large and fine boat for her day. 368 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI I remember being on her one trip coming up, when there were quite a lot of young, jolly fellows on board. They played a joke on Captain Garrison by getting one of their number to go to the captain just before they reached Memphis and secure the privilege of ringing. the bell, as was the custom, before arriving at a town. But the captain, also making a joke of it on his part, told the young fellow that it would cost him five dollars. This the1 young man, expecting to get even with him, readily paid. When they, got within ringing distance of Memphis he commenced to ring the big bell, that weighed over a ton, and kept on until the captain, . sitting on the roof of the beat, looked around and said, "All right, that will do." "No," said the the young fellow, "I haven't got the worth of my money yet." "• "But," said the captain, "you will alarm. the town; they will think the boat is on fire.'' "I can't help that," was the reply, "I haven't got the worth of my money yet." "Well," roared the captain, "stop it, and I'll give you back your money." "No," screamed the youth, "I don't stop until you give me back my money and agree to give the party a champagne supper." ' "All right," acquiesced the captain, "I see you have got me." n Commodore Garrison was a brother of Captain Dan and the other Garrisons of St. Louis. The Artist of the Missouri. "Morning on the Missouri" is the subject of a canvas which has acquainted eastern folks with the distinctive scenery which the rivers of the state offer to the artistic serise. John Sites Ankeney won fame more than state-wide by devoting his years to picturing the river and cliff scenes of Missouri. He roamed the bluffs of the Missouri river for a hundred miles or more. He wandered through the Ozarks.' He made a typical Missouri home with a big fireplace his studio" in the old town of Rocheport. There, with the tawny river in front and the gray limestone cliffs all about for atmosphere, he transferred to canvas the' sketches made in his wanderings. His paintings hang in the cor ridors of the university at Columbia, giving inspiration to successive genera tions of student Missourians. Going to and from their classes the boys and' girls stop in -groups before the scenes of river and landscape, gaining at once ad miration for art and increased love for their home state. This Missouri artist studied abroad with the best masters. He was sent by the United States gov ernment as a delegate and lecturer to the International Art congress at Dres den in 1912. He was on the advisory committee of the Art Congress in Lon don in 1908, and a member of the advisory committee for the Central West at the Panama-Pacific exposition. The art world knows Ankeney much better than do his fellow citizens in Missouri. It knows him as preeminently "The Artist of the Missouri." To a newspaper man some years ago, Mr. Ankeney talked interestingly of his chosen field, — Missouri scenery. "The painter is just like the reporter. He goes out and makes notes, only he reports in color and the reporter in words. The principle is the same. I must get acc'urate and complete information to make 'a picture. I can't use my imagination for that would not fill out the details. Perhaps I am down on the Missouri in March. A cloud effect comes along and I work hard for an hour before it is gone and make a sketch of- it. A year later I may be on the river at the same spot, or near by, in June, when the vegetation on the bluffs and the banks is especially striking. I make a sketch of this. Then I take the two and froth them get an idea for a third and complete picture. I use the first sketch for the cloud effect for this complete picture and the second for the vegetation" along the banks. Of course, I take careful notes as to detail, relative size, shape and number of CAPTAIN J.OHN S. McCUNE CAPTAIN JOHN SIMONDS A MISSOURI RIVER SCENE NEAR LEXINGTON THE WATERS OF MISSOURI 371 bluffs, how they look at the skyline, and countless other things needed when painting the large canvas. When "I am down by the river the sight of those great bluffs, whose age far surpasses that of the Sphinx, overpowers me. One hour the joyousness of sunlight bathes all in glory, the next the quiet gray restfuhiess comes. Some days the air is clear and one can see form and hue, though many a mile away ; on others the mist shuts out the far to make the near more interesting. But I can't express in words how the river impresses me. That I try to do in painting." The most beautiful view in Missouri, Mr. Ankeney considers the bold front of the Ozark Uplift where it faces the Missouri river between New Haven and Hermann. He says the stretch of bluff and plain mingling with the river in this location is beyond expression in words. Two Ancient Misses. Many years ago, a third of a century or more, a distinguished lawyer of Mis souri, who loved his state and occasionally allowed poetic fancy right of way over briefs, wrote these lines on "Two Ancient Misses": "I know two ancient misses Who ever onward go, From a cold and rigid northern clime, Through a land of wheat and corn and wine, . To the southern sea where the fig and the lime, And the golden orange grow. "In graceful curves they wind about, Upon their long and lonely route Among the beauteous hills ; They never cease their onward step, Though day and night they're dripping wet, And oft with sleet and snow beset, And sometimes with the chills. "The one is a romping, dark brunette, As fickle and gay as any coquette; She glides along by the western plains, And changes her bed each time it rains ; Witching as any dark-eyed houri, This romping, wild brunette, Missouri. "The other is placid, mild and fair. With a gentle, sylph-like, quiet air, ' ' And voice as sweet as soft guitar, She moves along the vales and parks, Where naiads play Aeolian harps— Nor ever go by fits and starts — No fickle coquette of the city, But gentle constant Mississippi. "I love the wild and dark brunette, Because she is a gay coquette ; Her, too, I love of quiet air, Because she's gentle, true and fair; Land of my birth ! The east and west Embraced by these is doubly blest — Tis hard to tell which I love best." CHAPTER XI TRAILS AND TRACKS The Old Wilderness — Ghost Pond — Train Transportation — Tactics of Freighting — A Tem perance Pledge- — The Day's Routine — Recollections of a Veteran Trader — The Fast Mail Stage Line — The Trail's Tragedies — Amateur Surgery — Pony Express— The Old Stage Driver — The First Iron Horse — When Missourians Invaded Illinois — Beginning of the Ohio and Mississippi — Railroad Convention of 1849 — A Chapter of Secret His tory — Benton's Change of. Mind on Internal Improvements — Missouri's First Formal Railroad Movement — Promotion of the Missouri Pacific — Ground Broken on the Fourth of July — A Great Day on the Edge of Chouteau's Pond — Railroad Celebrations — Official Openings — Transcontinental Mail by Stage and Rail — A Rapid Change of Gauge — Primitive Construction — The First Train Out of St. Joe — Beginnings of Big Systems — Origin of the Wabash — Paramore's Narrow Gauge — A Missourian Originated Railway Mail Service — An Historical Mistake — State Bonds at Heavy Discount — Missouri the Pioneer in Rate Regulation — Governor Fletcher's Recommendation — Profit Sharing Was Possible — Liens Gave State Control — Railroad Companies Accepted the Regulation Condition — State Operation of the Southwest Branch — Receipts Greater than Operating Expenses — The Bond Burden — Gould's Purchase of the Missouri Pacific — Deals with the Garrisons and Thomas Allen — Missourians and the Transconti- mental Rivalry. I suggest in any disposition you make of this read there be reserved the right of the state to regulate the- charges for carrying freight and passengers and that a penalty be attached for exceeding such rates. * * *. The present is perhaps the best occasion for requiring (in all cases where it may be legally' done) of all railroads a small annual tribute to the state, which could be so insignificant in amount as not to interfere with the .profitable operation of the roads, but Vhich would in the aggregate ultimately grow to be a sum sufficient to carry on the state government without the levy of any taxes on the people for state purposes. — Governor Thomas C. Fletcher to Missouri Legislature. Almost due south from Springfield is the course of the "Old Wilderness Trail," or road as called in later years. It is 120 miles long. It crosses the Ozark range. The southern terminus is Berryville, Arkansas. On the entire route there are only two breaks where hills worthy of the name are encountered. One is at the Finley creek crossing. The other is at the White river crossing. This Old Wilderness road is one of the most novel stretches vof mountain travel to be found anywhere. To parallel a range and maintain a ridge level is not so extraordinary. But perhaps nowhere else can a mountain range be crossed at right angles without a succession of hills. This north and south transverse ridge of the Ozarks is a strange freak. It crooks and curves, but it never runs out. In places it broadens until it makes a table land, on which settlers have cleared homesteads and made good farms. In other places it narrows until there is. just room for a wagon road. You look one side down a steep slope of 500 feet, with peaks and ridges jumbled together beyond. You look down the other 373 J 374 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI side a like grade and see as far as the vision reaches the bald knobs bobbing up in all directions. On either side lead trails to the stiffest of mountain climbing; ,But before you" extends a level road, somewhat flinty, but with no grades up and down which horses can not trot, and over which a bicycle might not be wheeled with comfort. The bald knobs are not the least interesting freaks of this Ozark region. When Farmer Wade went to Congress from the Springfield district his col league, Major Warner, introduced him to a Massachusetts member one day. "Farmer Wade is a bald knobber," said Major Warner. The Massachusetts man looked inquiripgly a moment, and as his eyes fell on the polished dome of Farmer Wade's thinker, he responded: "Ah, yes, I see. Bald knobber is very good." , The "Massachusetts man builded better than he. knew. If there is anything in nature which can be- compared to an entirely bald head, the kind that takes on high polish, it is one of these bald knobs of the Ozarks. You may be in the midst of a heavy growth of white oak and pine. There is forest all around. But through a vista you get a glimpse, across the range, of a great round knob, without so much as a scrub oak or a rock upon it. Grass, which glistens in the sunlight, grows all over the knob so luxuriantly as to hide any minute unevenness of the surface. Right in the midst of other hills and ridges clothed in forest stands the bald knob without a sign of foliage, with nothing but its grassy coat ing. - At first sight it is hard to convince one's self that nature is responsible for the knob's baldness. ' Ghost Pond. A landmark on the Old Wilderness road is Ghost pond. A hundred yards to the east of the road is a depression? It is a kind of natural sink. In the center is an acre of dark-colored water. Grass grows down to the edge of the pond. A few stumps project above the surface. Two or three trees have fallen half way in the water. The forest is all around. People who travel the Old Wilder ness roa^d and know all about it do not often to stop to water or to camp at Ghost pond. A, band of bushwhackers came up the Old Wilderness road on a foraging expedition during the war. They camped at the pond and went on the next day to Galena, a dozen miles. Here they killed three old men, among the most prominent citizens, Cox, Da Vis and Baker. They took 150 head of cattle and what plunder they could carry and started, back for the Old Wilderness road and Arkansas. The alarm was sounded, and the Stone county home guards rallied at Galena as fast as they could travel over the mountain trails. Capt. Baker, ,a son of one of the victims of the guerrillas, organized the pursuit. The home guards overtook the bushwhackers on Bailey's creek. They spread out and climbed along the mountains on both sides of the trail. With their superior knowledge of the country the guards were able to pick off the bushwhackers with little loss to themselves. The bushwhackers at last abandoned the cattle and fled. The home guards seemingly gave up the fight. In reality they followed the bushwhackers and prepared a trap. Finding himself as he supposed be yond pursuit, the guerrilla chief went into camp at the pond. The home guards MAP OP THE OLD SANTA PE TRAIL TRAILS AND TRACKS 377 crawled up on all sides, and at the crack of dawn opened fire.. It was a slaughter. Of the 120 men who came up from Arkansas only twenty crossed White river on the return. Nine bodies were taken from the little pond. The Santa Fe Trail in 1828. Development of the Santa Fe Trail commerce came early in the history of Missouri. The Intelligencer, which had been removed a short time previous from Franklin to Fayette, said in the issue of May 2, 1828: "The town of Franklin, as also our own village, presents to the eye of the beholder, a busy, ^bustling and commercial scene, in buying, selling and packing goods, practicing mules, etc., etc.Aall preparatory to the starting of the great spring caravan to Santa Fe. A great number of. our fellow citizens are getting ready to start, and will be off in the course of a week on a trading expedition. We have not the means of knowing how many persons will start in the first company, but think it probable the number will exceed 150, principally from this and the adjoining counties. ' They generally purchase their outfits from the merchants here at from 20 to 30 per cent advance on the Philadelphia 'prices, and, calculate to make from 40 to 100 per cent upon their purchases. They will generally return in the fall. We suppose the amount that will be taken from this part of the country this spring will not, perhaps, fall short of $100,000 at the invoice prices. We wish them a safe and profitable trip, a speedy return to their families and homes in health, and may they long live to enjoy the prqfits of their long and fatiguing journey of nearly 1,000 miles through prairies inhabited only by savages and wild beasts." Magnitude of Trail Transportation. The Missouri firm of Majors, Russell and Waddell took a contract from the government to convey across the plains as much as 16,000,060 pounds of sup plies at a time. This required an investment of $2,500,000. The supplies were taken up the Missouri river and landed at the outfitting points. Such a con tract as that indicated called for four thousand wagons, fifty thousand oxen and one thousand mules. This will give some idea of the magnitude which the trail business reached. The system which these Missourians developed in the business of freighting across the plains was interesting. Before any one was accepted he was required to sign this contract : "While I am in the employ of Majors, Russell and Wad dell, I agree not to use profane language, not to get drunk, not to gamble, not to treat animals cruelly, not to do anything else that is incompatible with the conduct of a gentleman, and I agree, if I violate any of the above conditions, to accept my discharge without collecting any pay for my services." The Bullwhacker's Task. Perhaps the hardest part of the pledge was that relating to profane lan guage. The duties of the teamster required him to yoke, to herd, to unyoke and to drive twelve oxen from thirteen to fifteen miles a day, drawing a wagon loaded with three tons of freight. The teamster was known in the language of the train as a "bull whacker." At night the wagons were placed end to end, forming an oval, and within this wagon-bounded corral were driven the oxen before the starting hour. As nearly as practicable the train was made to con sist of thirty wagons. Early in the morning the thirty "bullwhackers" took 378 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI thirty yokes upon their shoulders and lined up around the' corral. Then came the command from the wagon master, "Yoke up." The "buUwhackers" plunged into the herd of cattle, each selected a steer for a place on one side of fhe tongue of his wagon. Whether the steer was wild or tame the "bullwhacker" must slip the bow around the neck and put the yoke in place. Then he began a search among the three hundred or four hundred kicking, bellowing, hooking steers for a nigh or an off ox to complete the tongue yoke. Having secured his wheelers the "bullwhacker" drove them out through the gap of the corral and fastened the ring of the tongue to the yoke. The beginning was thus made. With another yoke on his shoulder the "bullwhacker" entered the corral, and picked the "off leader" and the "near leader." He drove this pair, to a wheel of his wagon on the inside of the corral and made them fast. Thep.with a third yoke he went in search of the pair of "swing cattle" who were to follow im mediately behind the leaders. Then a fourth pair was yoked and the fifth pair. The leaders and the four yokes following attached to the chain were driven .through the gap and placed in front of the wheel pair. In this way the "bull whacker" completed his motive power for the day. If the train was about starting on the long trail and the cattle were wild it might require two hours to yoke up. After the cattle were broken and the "buUwhackers" had become ex pert the twelve oxen could be yoked up in fifteen minutes. It was necessary to exercise no little care in making the selections, especially for the wheel pair and the leaders. The wagon master was in command with all of the authority of the captain on a ship. He kept close watch on the teams until they were made up and marked. If a "bullwhacker" was careless he might select the oxen most easily handled. Such animals were slow and lazy. They were known as "dead-heads." If a team was made up of "dead-heads" it would fall behind. The wagon master made it his business to see that the wild and the lazy oxen were so distributed as to give uniform speed to the several teams. If he found that one team had too many slow and lazy oxen he required the "bull whacker" at the next yoke-up to trade with some one whose pairs were wild and lively. After some days out when a wagon master had distributed the' oxen so as to stop lagging and to obtain from all about the same rate of speed he ordered the "bullwhacker" to mark each of his steers. After this the "bullwhacker" in yoking up obtained the same team from day to" day. The Problem of "Deadheads," A story was current in Missouri during the freighting days about an Irish man who entered the employ of Majors, Russell and Waddell. This man was green, a recent arrival in the country. In yoking up he took the twelve oxen that were easiest to handle. As the result he foand himself in the possession of twelve "deadheads," and as the result delayed the movement of the train. The wagon master went into the corral one morning and yoked up the team for the Irishman, making different selections. He told the Irishman to keep the team the next day and thereafter just as he had yoked it. The Irishman wanted to know how in the world he was going to be able to do that when Oxen all' looked alike to him. "Put a mark on esxch of them," ordered the wagon master. At the next stop there was serious trouble in the Irishman's team.. The wagon TRAILS AND TRACKS 379 master ran to the scene to see what was the matter. The Irishman replied that he was putting a mark on each of the beasts as he had been told to do. The wagon master replied that that was all right, but how did he mean to mark them. "I am going to punch the left eye out of every one of them,." said the Irishman, "then I will know that I will have no more trouble yoking the devils. I can slip up on the blind side and have them yoked before they know I am there." Customs of the Trail. A day's travel was divided usually into two drives of from six to seven or eight miles each. The train started early in the morning. The drives were made to reach the most favorable camping plac.es where grass and water were plenty. The first drive was started as soon as it was light enough to see. Some what before noon the wagons were corraled and the cattle were given the feed. In hot weather the yoke-up for the afternoon drive was not ordered until three Or four o'clock: The drive on such days was continued until nine or ten o'clock. When the cattle were unyoked they were turned over to the night herder who kept watch over them as they moved about seeking the best grass. One man could take care of three hundred or four hundred head of oxen at night because it was only necessary to keep track of the leader. In the herd of a train there developed very soon after the start on the trail one animal which all the others recognized as a leader. Wherever the leader went the rest of the herd followed. The night herder having located the leader, got off his mule, drove a pin in the ground, attached a long rope that allowed the mule some range, rolled himself _in his blanket and went to sleep. This was the night herder's course when the grass was plentiful. After they had grazed about three hours the oxen would obtain in that time sufficient feed and .would remain quiet, lying down until near morning. When grass was scarce the leader would wander about the plains, all the herd following him, a longer time, thus requiring the night herder to follow and keep awake. With the first appearance of gray in the east the night herder rounded up the oxen and started back for the corral. He might have a mile to drive or possibly five times that distance. When he was within hearing of the corral he shouted, "Roll out ! Roll out ! Roll out !" This was the signal for the "buUwhackers" to prepare breakfast and be ready to yoke up. The meal on the trail consisted of potatoes, fat meat, flapjacks and black coffee with such game, as was brought in by the hunters. "Yoke up !" was the first order that came from the master of the caravan as soon as breakfast was over. Then the yoking and chaining went on. "All's set" was the answer as each teamster completed that work and he who could respond first was the best man. "Fall in !" was the next order and the long line of wagons was formed. "Stretch out !" commanded the wagon master. The yokes creaked, the wheels rattled and the train moved at oxen pace. Walter B. Waddell, a resident of Lexington, grandson of a member of the historic firm of Alexander, Majors and Waddell, said that often a single train would require 300 mules. To each wagon were allotted twelve mules or six yoke of oxen. Drivers were paid from $25 to $50 a month and were supplied with rations. The time of a trip from Lexington, which was one of the principal 380 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI starting points, to Santa Fe was between eighty and ninety days. Ordinary freight consisted of beef, bacon, corn, dried fruits, beans and peas, all carefully packed and under cover. The rate was ten cents a pound. Each wagon was ex pected to earn from $500 to $600 a trip. Missouri's great mule industry had its early encouragement in the Santa Fe and overland traffic. John D. Turley's Recollections. The Turleys of Saline county, two generations of tnem, followed the trail trade from 1825 down to the Civil war. Judge John D. Turley, eighty-five years old, at his home near Arrow Rock, gave Walter Williams, then president of the Old Trails Association, this account of his experiences: "We fought Indians across the entire continent and carried on a most profitable trade" in merchandise with the Mexicans. We bought whisky from the distilleries in Missouri at 16. to 40 cents a gallon and sold it in Taos at $3 a gallon. It was terrible stuff, too. We diluted it with water, making two gallons out of every gallon, but even then it was terrible. The ox teams had six yoke of oxen and the ordinary load for a wagon was 7,200 pdunds- A load of 3,000 pounds is a good wagon load now. We took our merchandise to Taos of Santa Fe, opened a regular store and would sell our entire stock in two or three; months. The remnants of our last stock my father traded for Mexican sheep at $1 a head, took the sheep to California and sold them at $10 a head. I sold sassafras root at $4.50 a pound in Taos. We traveled about twenty-five mjles a day. The last trip took forty-nine days. We met on that trip Rose, said to be the handsomest Indian woman in the West. My father made'his first trip in 1825 and the Turleys stayed on the trail until nearly the open ing of the Civil war. Various tricks were played on the Mexicans. There was a tariff on every load of goods brought into Mexican territory. The tariff was so much a wagonload. If the wagon was empty it was admitted duty free. Some traders would load the goods just outside the Mexican territory into half the wagons' and drive in with half the caravan made up of empty wagons, thus paying but half the duty. The fandango — a kind of public dance — was the chief form of social entertainment. The Spanish girls at the fandangoes were sometimes treated to ice cream and whisky. It is a devilish combination." The Fast Stage Line. The Missouri Commonwealth was published at Independence in the palmy days of the Santa Fe Trail. A copy of it issued in July, 1840, and preserved in the office of the editor of the Examiner, gave this account of the starting of the fast overland mail line following the gold discoveries in California : "We briefly alluded some days since, to the Santa Fe line of mail stages, which left this^city on its first monthly journey on the ist instant. The stages are got up in elegant style and are arranged to convey eight passengers. The bodies are beautifully painted and made water-tight with a view of using them as boats in ferrying streams. The team con sists of six mules to each coach. The mail is guarded by eight men, armed as follows: Each man has at his side, fastened in the stage, one of Colt's long revolving rifles; in a holster below, one of Colt's long revolvers, and in his belt a small Colt's revolver, besides a hunting knife ; so that these men are ready in case of attack, to discharge 136 shots with out having to reload. This is equal to a small army, armed as in the ancient times, and from the looks of this escort, ready as they are either for offensive or defensive warfare with the savages, we have no fears for the safety of the mails. The accommodating con tractors have established a sort of base of refitting at Council Grove, a distance of 150 miles from the city, and have sent a blacksmith and a number of men to cut and cure hay, with a quantity of animals, grain and provisions, and we understand they intend to make a sort of traveling station there and commence a farm." TRAILS AND TRACKS 381 Tragedies of the Trail. Missourians met tragedies on the trail. One of the earliest and most thrill ing was in 1828, not long after the United States commissioners had negotiated with the Indians at Council Grove the opening of the trail. A large wagon train made the trip from Franklin, Missouri, to Santa Fe and disposed of the goods carried at good profits. The Missourians had come as far as the Arkansas river to a place near what is now Lamar, Colorado, when they, found the Co- manches camped across the trail. The Indians pretended to be friendly. They invited the party fo stop in their camp, offering food and care of "the stock. The Missourians pushed through. The Comanches followed and attacked. For an hour there was a running fight. Then the Comanches retired. Of what fol lowed Walter Williams, in his journey over the trail in 191 1, obtained this ac count from Joseph H. Vernon of Larned, Kansas, who heard the story from old trailsmen in the early days.: "When night came on the Indians resumed their attacks, endeavoring to stampede the horses so that they could chase them off and then capture them. Their attempts were almost successful several times during the night and they were only kept from accomplish ing their purpose by tying the bell mare to one of the wagons and jingling the bell every time the Indians charged. The next day the Comanches renewed the attack as vigorously as ever. Forming in a circle, they galloped round and round the ill-fated caravan, shouting their demoniacal warwhoops in a most fiendish manner. So fierce were the harassing tactics which they used that the little line of prairie schooners succeeded in advancing only five miles during the day. This annoyance was kept up night and day for a week until the travelers were almost exhausted from loss of sleep. "Finally one day about noon the Indians drew off and retreated as if giving up the con flict. The little party congratulated" themselves at having outwinded their opponents and decided to stop, cook a square meal and let the horses graze a while. Hardly had they turned the animals out when, with a hideous whoop, the marauding rascals came over the top of a nearby hill and, charging the herd, stampeded them before the luckless travelers could offer any resistance. One of the party, in an endeavor to save some of the stolen stock, was wounded sixteen times, but succeeded in making his way back to camp. The fight continued intermittently for some time, but when the good marksmanship of the whites began to tell on the ranks of the painted demons they withdrew to wait for the coming of darkness to finish their work. The little band of white men was then indeed in. a most desperate situation. Their wagons, it is true, formed a good fortification, but there was no way of telling how long the Indians would keep up the siege, knowing as they did that it would be only a matter of time until the whites would die of thirst. To remain wjth the caravan meant certain death if the Indians persisted in their attacks. The only possible escape was to get away under cover of darkness. This they decided to do, if possible. Leaving in the camp the goods and much of the silver, for which they had sold merchandise in Santa Fe, they took $10,000 and. started. Their escape was undiscovered. They traveled for two days and nights with nothing to eat but a few prickly pears and then stopped to rest, camping near the present site of Las Animas, Colorado. Most of the party were in a very weak condition after their exhausting experience and it was evident that they could not stand the weight of any- heavy burdens, so they determined to 'cache' the silver, keeping only a small sum for each man. Proceeding to a small island in the Arkansas river, they buried their treasure between two large cottonwood trees and, after carefully obliterating all evidence of the secret hiding place, they continued their journey toward the settlements. After several days of forced marching they reached Pawnee Rock, near where Larned now is, where they had hopes of falling in with some caravan and obtain ing relief. "Their condition was indeed deplorable. At Cow creek it was decided that the strong est members of the party, leaving the others, should push on in advance, reach Inde- 382 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI pendence as soon as possible, and send a relief party out in quest of the weaker members of the party, who in the meantime would struggle on as best they could. The suffenrgs of those who pushed on were terrible indeed. Knowing the lives of the weaker ones whom they had left behind depended on their haste, they moved with all possible energy. It was getting late in the fall, and they had no blankets to protect them from the chill wind. Some of them were barefooted, and their feet, bruised and bleeding, left blood stains at every step on the trail. The continual exertion of their forced march and the lack of wholesome food weakened their condition to such an extent that they- became almost wholly deaf, not being able to hear a gun fired at a distance of only a few feet. Finally, after existing for eleven days upon one turkey, one coon and some wild grapes, they reached a settlement about fifteen miles from Independence. Half-naked, footsore and in an almost complete state of collapse, they were taken to Independence. With the quick sympathy of the frontiersman, a rescuing party was formed and sent > out to rescue the other members of the expedition. They were found scattered along the trail, looking more like skeletons than human beings. After spending some months , in Independence they decided to retrace their steps to find their buried treasure. Learning that the United States government intended sending a military escort as far as the Mexican 'boundary line with a caravan in the spring, they decided not only to go after the money which they had cached on the Arkansas river, but also to fit up another wagon train and go on to Santa Fe. The caravan left Fort Leavenworth during the early part of May and arrived at the Mexican border without experiencing any serious difficulty. The Americans soon found their hidden treasure. Late in the fall the entire party arrived safely at the Mis souri river, and, dividing their treasure, departed for their homes. This was the first military escort ever sent across the plains on the trail with a caravan. It was under the command of Maj. Bennett Riley, for whom Fort Riley, Kansas, was named." Amateur Surgery on the Trail. ' A tradition of the trail which has survived the generations is the wonderful surgical operation Richard Gentry performed. A Missourian named Broaddus attempted the feat of drawing his rifle muzzle foremost over the end gate of a wagon. As was to be expected he received the load in his left arm, shattering the bone. The time was August. Inflammation set in. Broaddus gritted his teeth and said "no" to amputation .until he was apparently dying. Then he con sented. There was no surgeon. Gentry took a hand saw, a butcher knife and an iron bolt. ,He filed a finer set of teeth on the back of the saw, whetted the butcher knife to, razor edge and put the bolt in the fire. With the knife the arm was circled down to the bone. A few strokes of the saw cut through that. Then the hot bolt was applied until the stump was seared and the blood flow stopped. In a few weeks Broaddus was well. Among the many Missourians, who engaged in the trail trade were John S. Jones, Thomas C. Cartwright and Thomas F. Houston. Five Dollars a Letter. The pony express came in as a fast mail feature of the overland trail. It was organized by the same Missourians who had made a success of the trail traffic. With the discovery of gold and the sudden migration of thousands to California there arose a need for quicker transit of mail. Five dollars was charged for each letter. The thinnest paper was used. The distance was nearly two thou sand miles from St. Joseph fo San Francisco. It was covered in eight days. There were eighty riders in the saddle constantly, forty on the way £rom St. Joseph to California and forty coming eastward at the same time. With those TRAILS AND TRACKS 383 kept in reserve a force of four hundred riders was employed for the pony ex press. The service continued about a year. It ended when the Pacific telegraph was .completed and began sending, messages. To connect with the pony express the 'Hannibal & St. Joe railroad, only recently completed, put on a fast mail. The hero of the first run of this train was Engineer Add Clark. He drew the mail from the Mississippi to the Missouri, 206 miles, in a little over four hours. Crowds assembled at the stations to see and cheer. At the St. Joseph terminus a pony stood near. The mail clerk jumped from the mail car, ran with the little bags of mail and threw them across the back of the pony. The rider plied his spur and dashed to the landing where the ferry boat was waiting. In less than a minute after the train stopped' the pony express was on the way,, across the Missouri river. Hampton Ball's Stage Driving Days. One of the last of the Missouri stage drivers was Hampton Ball who died at Jonesburg in 191 1. He was of the Virginia Balls, the family to which George Washington belonged. At eighty-one Hampton Ball was tall and erect, muscular and active. He accounted for his splendid health by his "temperance, inde pendence and outdoor life." As. early as 1847 Mr. Ball drove the stage on the Boone's Lick road. "Why, sir," he once said, "we never heard of such a thing as a stage coach robbery on our route. We did not always stick to the road. There were no fences. When one track became too muddy or too rough with ruts we drove out' on the prairie or made a new road through the woods. Wild hogs were through this region in large numbers. No one fattened hogs. The hogs lived on the mast, which they found plentiful in the woods. I have seen from the stage coach many a time a farmer shooting a hog, from which he would make bacon. I was a clerk at $6 a month, or rather a boy working in a store for that amount, when I was offered>40 cents a day and board as a stage coach driver. I got my employer's permission to accept the new job and went to work at it. "We married earlier in those days than now. Nowadays a man is not an old bachelor until he passes 50 and a woman is not an old maid until she gets to be 40, and, you know, she is never that old before she is married. When I was young, girls married at 14 and boys before they were 20. My wife had $12.50 in silver and I had $151 in silver, which was our total wealth when we got married. We built a log cabin and went to work. The high price of living did not bother usthen. It did not require so much for us to live. I don't think we were any less happy, however." Bledsoe's Ferry is an historic crossing of the Osage in Benton county. In pioneer days, there was a trail and later a road which crossed Missouri diag onally from northeast to southwest. It began at Palmyra and ended in the Cherokee Nation. Bledsoe's Ferry was the halfway place. Near Bledsoe's was a large settlement of the Shawanoese or Shawnees. A One-Passenger Railroad. St. Louis people were given early a small object lesson in railroad operation. A little railroad was brought to the city and put on exhibition. The Baptist 384 CENTENNIAL HISTORY -OF MISSOURI church at Third and Market was rented. A circular track was built on staging. The rolling stock was a miniature locomotive and one car which held a single person. Steam was raised in the, locomotive and the little train was sent around the track at a lively rate for such a short circuit. This was the summer ofAi'830. Probably not twenty people in the city had seen a railroad -previously. -An ad mission fee was charged and a small amount, was collected for a ride in the one-passenger car. The object was educational, for St. Louis was just at the beginning of agitation for railroads. At the same time admission was charged to cover expenses. A newspaper said : The public will be much gratified by a visit to the miniature railroad exhibited at the old Baptist church. This combination of art and science, although in miniature, is complete in all its parts, and exhibits in .one view all the apparatus necessary for railroad traveling. With a few ounces of coal, and a small measure of water, it winds its way round on a circular track of one hundred feet at the rate of seven miles an hour, carry ing a person of the largest ^ize in the car. The First Iron Horse. A little locomotive, the first real iron horse that St. Louisians saw, was brought up the river on the Chariton in 1838. The boat went on to Meredosia/ a town with considerable expectations on the Illinois. There^ in the summer of 1838, eight miles of railroad was built, in an easterly direction toward "the Athens of Illinois," Jacksonville. The civil engineer, who ran the line and su perintended the construction was George P. Plant, the son of a Massachusetts cotton manufacturer. Mr. Plant came to St. Louis a couple of years later and became the head of the great milling firm. , The contractor who, did most of the construction work was T T. January, who also came to St. Louis soon after wards with his brother Derrick A. January. The Januarys were Kentuckians, brothers-in-law of the Massachusetts man. The little railroad was given the high sounding name of the Northern Cross. Two men who became prominent in St. Louis a few years later participated in the opening of the railroad in November, 1838. They were Charles Collins, in honor of whom Collins street was named, and Miron. Leslie. In the winter of 1839, a govejrnor of Pennsylvania, David R. Porter, sent to the legislature a message dwelling on the importance, to that state, of "a continuous railroad to the city of St. Louis." He was' ridiculed for such a wild suggestion. The next year a burlesque message, purporting to come from the governor, was printed and widely circulated in Pennsylvania. At- that time, 1840, Texas was a country of refuge for some Americans as well as an at tractive region to the good settlers. The bogus message contained this para graph which was esteemed an excellent joke at the expense of Governor Porter : "During the last session of the legislature, in a special message, I took occasion to recommend the construction of a continuous railroad to St. Louis in the State of Mis souri. As there are few spectacles more sublime than the voluntary retraction of an erroneous opinion by a public officer, I have determined to present that spectacle to the world. I therefore withdraw my special recommendation and in its stead recommend a continuous railroad to the Republic of Texas. This is done because more of our party friends are traveling in the latter direction." STAGING IN THE OZARKS FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN MISSOURI On December 1, 1852, the first locomotive whistle was heard on the Pacifie track just west of Fourteenth Street. The locomotive was of St. Louis manufacture by Palm &, Robertson. J.":>'i~i OVERLAND TRAIN Organized to leave Western Missouri for Oalifornia following the dis covery of gold TRAILS AND TRACKS 387 Early Railroad Projects. St. Louis had 10,000 inhabitants when Mayor John F. Darby sent a railroad message to the board of aldermen. That was the first formal railroad project in Missouri or anywhere west of the Mississippi. The time was February, 1836. The road then proposed was to run from St. Louis to Fayette in Howard county. Acting on Mayor Darby's message, the board of aldermen called a meeting of the citizens. The meeting appointed a committee to draw up an address. In effect the address was a call to the counties interested to send delegates to a railroad convention to be held in St. Louis in April, 1836. Eleven counties were represented. The delegates were entertained at the expense of the city and were banqueted. Two projects were endorsed. One of them was a railroad south from St. Louis to Iron Mountain. The other was for a railroad to St. Charles and westward through. the counties north of the Missouri river.'' At the next session of the legislature, 1836-7, George K. McGunnegle, a rep resentative 'from St. Louis, introduced a bill to charter the St. Louis and Iron Mountain and the bill passed. That was the beginning of railroad legislation in Missouri. The legislature declined to vote aid to the enterprise. After Mayor Darby's message and the convention, ten years went by with only agitation to mark development of railroad sentiment in St. Louis. On the 20th of December, 1847, wires reached the Mississippi. St. Louis was put upon the telegraph map. This stimulated the railroad movement. A com mittee of citizens was appointed to' ask the legislature for authority to vote on a subscription of $500,000 by St. Louis toward the building of the Ohio and Mississippi railroad. The route had been surveyed from Cincinnati through Vincennes to the Mississippi. After some delay the legislature provided for the submission. The proposition passed. That was the first of many contribu tions by St. Louis toward railroad construction. By mass meeting in the rotunda of the court house popular sentiment in St. Louis was committed to the project. Mayor John M. Krum presided. An address to citizens favoring a loan of $500,000 was adopted. It was prepared by Thomas Allen, Frederick Kretschmar, John McNeil, Willis L. Williams, Samuel M. Bay, Isaac H. Sturgeon, Samuel Hawken, Trusten Polk, Daniel D. Page, Lewis V. Bogy and A. L. Mills. The mass meeting led to the appoint ment of a vigilance committee, as the body was called, of ten men from each ward "to attend the polls on Monday and secure favorable consideration of the subject." The $500,000 loan to the Ohio and Mississippi went through by a heavy majority carrying five of the six wards. "This vote may be hailed as a new era in the history of St. Louis," said the current newspaper account. "It is the first instance in which she has put forth her efforts to the accomplishment of a great enterprise and she has come up to the full amount desired with a promptness and a heartiness which evince that she understands her interest in the proposed work." The First Railroad Eastward. ¦ The citizens as well as the municipality promoted the building of the first railroad eastward. St. Louis was strongly represented by Mayor Luther M. Kennett, John O'Fallon, James H. Lucas, Andrew Christy, Daniel D. Page and 388 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI others among the incorporators who obtained from the Illinois Legislature in the winter of 1851 the incorporation of the St. Louis and Vincennes railroad. This was the western half of the Ohio and Mississippi. The directors held meetings in St. Louis. They chose John O'Fallon the first president. They added, to the St. Louisans on the board Charles P.- Chouteau and Robert Camp bell. While the city of St. Louis aided with $500,000, St. Louis bankers carried the financial load. The Ohio and Mississippi railroad enterprise received no encouragement from, Illinois in the beginning. Cincinnati and Vincennes were anxious ior the extension of the road to St. Louis. They sent Abner T. Ellis and Professor O. M. Mitchell, the noted astronomer, to St. Louis to obtain encouragement. Illinois was worse than indifferent. The state had a well defined policy not to encourage railroads which would build up cities outside of the state. To ob tain permission to build a railroad across Illinois from Vincennes to St. Louis it was necessary to overcome this opposition. Not long afterwards Illinois became liberal with charters to build railroads anywherel Isaac H. Sturgeon was strong in public life when the Ohio and Mississippi movement started. He suggested the subscription of $500,000 by the city of St. Louis, and later as state senator put through" the legislation which permitted the county of St. Louis, which included the city, to subscribe $200,000. On the 7th of February, 1852, St. Louis inaugurated the building of the first railroad eastward. Headed by the mayor, Luther M. Kennett, and escorted by the directors of the company, the participants in the ceremony and a large number of interested citizens crossed by ferry boat to the east side. The celebration was distinctively a Str Louis affair. Charles D. Drake, the St. Louis lawyer, afterwards United States senator, called the assemblage to order and announced the programme. President O'Fallon spoke and so did Abner T. Ellis, representing Vincennes. Mayor Kennett, always happy in his references, re minded the audience that St. Louis had previously crossed over to the Illinois side to build first sand and then stone dykes. Now the city proposed to add iron bands to its relations with Illinois. The officers of the Pacific railroad were present. Thomas Allen told how much it would mean to the first railroad west from St. Louis to have this first railroad east. Charles D. Drake loaded a wheelbarrow with sand and gravel. Mayor Kennett trundled to the place which the contractor pointed out. The work was begun. Resourceful "Dan" Garrison. When Daniel R. Garrison had completed all but seven miles of the Ohio and Mississippi he ran out of rails. A shipment from England had been made but it might be months enroute. The Terre Haute railroad was in course of construction. On the levee at St. Louis lay a consignment of rails for the Terre Haute. There wasn't money enough in the bank of Page & Bacon, the institution which was financing the Ohio and Mississippi, to buy a ton of these rails from the competing road. The consignment was being conveyed across the river. In some manner, never fully explained, a sufficient quantity of these rails to lay the seven miles was loaded on Ohio and Mississippi cars. This had been done before the owners discovered the mistake. The. sheriff of St. TRAILS AND TRACKS 389 Clair county, with a posse, came after the Terre Haute rails. Mr. Garrison received the officer courteously and invited him and his party on board of the train to take a short ride while they talked about the claim to the rails. A railroad ride was a novelty. It appealed to the sheriff and the posse. But when the train approached the eastern boundary of St. Clair county, it did not stop. Imperative business prevented Mr. Garrison from returning with the train. The legal papers were of no effect beyond the county line. Before the sheriff got within his jurisdiction again the rails were down and the last spike had been driven. Very properly, when the Ohio and the Mississippi opened, the business men of St. Louis presented to Mr. Garrison a fine set of silverware. When Benton Reversed Himself. For ten years after St. Louis began the agitation for railroads Benton and his following opposed government aid to them. Coming back from Washington in 1839, the senator said in a speech: "Ever since the day when General Jack son vetoed the Lexington and Maysville road bill, internal improvement by the general government was no longer to be considered as among the teachings and .doctrines of the democratic party. It is the old, antiquated, obsolete and ex ploded doctrine of Henry Clay's American system.' Look at Illinois, where whig rule obtained for awhile, overwhelmed in debt, unable to pay the interest on her bonds. Look at Missouri, a state free of debt — a state governed by v democracy." In 1849 Benton reversed himself. He, made the speech more frequently quoted than any other e men who intended to build bigger than the St. Louis-under-the-hill were William Chambers, William Christy and Thomas Wright. Major Christy had come to St. Louis at the time of the trans fer to the United States. He was a Pennsylvanian, stood erect with a soldierly bearing, combed his hair straight back from his forehead after a fashion of his own and let it fall to his coat collar. Easily he was the most conspicuous personality in St. Louis. Meriwether Lewis selected Major Christy, who had seen a good deal of military life to be commandant-in-chief for the Territory of Louisiana as all of the upper portion of the Louisiana Purchase was called, and made him major-commandant of the Louisiana Rangers, because, as he said, Major Christy was "wise in council and swift in action." Associating with himself his son-in-law, Major Thomas Wright, also an army officer, and Colonel William Chambers, who had come from Kentucky, Major Christy established North St. Louis. A glance at the present city map shows how entirely independent of old St. Louis North St. Louis was intended to be: The site was a tract bounded by the river on the east. Twelfth street on the west, Madison street on the south and Montgomery street on the north. North St. Louis within those limits is today one of the most outstanding patches on the patchwork map of St. Louis. It was designed to appeal to the American settlers who were flocking in. The three founders were related to two Presi dents. They selected for the streets the names which suggested their patriotic sentiments, — such as Madison and Monroe, the Presidents; Clinton, the canal builder; Benton, then coming to the front as a young political leader; Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill. Chambers, Christy and Wright had advanced ideas in city planning. Along the river front of their town they dedicated a strip of several acres for public purposes, including the* marketing of all kinds of produce, wholesale and retail. Appropriately they called this "Exchange Square." Westward through the heart of . the new town, extending from Exchange Square, was dedicated a street of more than average width to which the name of North Market was given. The founders held out inducements for steamboats to land at Exchange Square. A boatyard was established, the first at St. Louis. A ferry to the Illi nois shore was operated. Boats ran regularly between Alton and North St. Louis, while the more conservative St. Louis-under-the-Hill was slow to recog nize the coming use of steam on the water. Near the center of North St. Louis were dedicated three' circles of ground for public purposes. One was for a "seminary," and is today occupied by the Webster school, fittingly named because when the godlike Daniel visited the West one of the most notable features of his entertainment was a reception to him at the mansion of one of these founders of North St. Louis. Another of the circular reservations was set apart for the recreation of the people and is MAJOR WILLIAM CHRISTY Founder of North St. Louis ..,j/||iMf»;«;;«,..,.. **'.'«Sfir " cV<%w^,;j: - - - Courtesy Missouri Historical Society RESIDENCE OF MAJOR WILLIAM CHRISTY Built of stone in 1818. Considered one of the finest houses in St. .Louis. The scene of many notable functions THE SPIRIT OF 'A CITY 427 today Jackson park. The third circle was for a church and cemetery. It is occupied by Grace Episcopal church. When the cemetery was given up, the bones of two governors of Missouri were among those removed to Bellefontaine. A quarter of a century North St. Louis remained an independent community with its own government. In 1841 it was annexed to St. Louis. The Spirit and the First Labor Problem. The spirit of St. Louis has not been the domination of the few over the many, not the control of all others by a single element. Nowhere in the United States has there been a more satisfactory relationship between the capital and labor of a community than in St. Louis. From the earliest times wage earners have found here uniformly good treatment. When this was no more than a fur-trading center, labor was better recompensed than in other sections. The rate of pay for common service was two livres a day. That was" about $11.25 a a month. In the same period, similar labor in the American colonies, and later in the American states on the Atlantic seaboard, was paid $6.00 a month. The flatboatmen, who ranked lowest in the labor scale at St. Louis, were paid not. less than $8.00 a month. Until May, 1840, the working day of St. Louis was "from sun up to sunset." Mechanics and laborers, when employed by the day, began as the sun rose and stopped as it set. This made a day of varying length. In the summer time, when the sMn rose very early, an hour from six to seven o'clock was allowed for breakfast. The day was broken by a full noon hour from twelve to one. This was the custom when the bricklayers started, a movement to have ten hours made a working day. The employers refused to accede. The journeymen stopped work and paraded the streets without disturbance. They called a mass meet ing in the afternoon of May 23d. Members of all trades attended the meeting. By someone's happy inspiration, Thornton Grimsley was nominated for chair man. He was a manufacturer who had built up a large business, and had found time to perform many public duties. If a celebration was to be held, Thornton Grimsley was the first one thought of for the committee to make the arrangenients. He was the grand marshal of more processions than any other man of his generation in St. Louis. He was a high officer in the military organ ization of his day, He was responsive to every kind of a public call, and he al ways did the right* thing. So when a hard-fisted bricklayer moved "that Colonel Thornton Grimsley take the chair," the colonel didn't flinch. He went forward and called for order with as much dignity as if he was to preside over a gather ing of "our best citizens." Ten Hours Enough. The colonel expressed the sense of the honor he felt upon being called upon to be chairman of a mass meeting of journeymen. He told his hearers that he would discharge the duties as well as he was able. And then Colonel Grimsley proceeded in. his own excellent way to solve the first labor problem" presented to St. Louis. He said he wasn't a bricklayer, but a maker of saddles and harness ; that he employed many journeymen. His hearers might think from that he was not in sympathy with such a movement as the mass meeting represented. That would be a mistake, for he believed a ten-hour day was honorable- and just. 428 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "I see many employers of journeymen in other trades before meA' Colonel Grimsley went on. "If they come into this ten-hour system, they may, in some instances, lose a little time of painful toil, but they will be rewarded. for the sacrifice in better, willing labor, and will enjoy the smiles of wives and little children at the early return of their husbands and fathers from labor, if they will go and see them." Thus Colonel Grimsley talked until he had- the sentiment all one way. Other employers of labor followed him with expressions of willingness to make the concession. Without legislation, without disorder, with a single day's strike that was not attended by an unpleasant incident, the ten-hour labor day went into effect in St. Louis. Laying the Foundations. It was characteristic of St. Louis in the earlier generations, and the same spirit holds good today, that more attention was given to laying solid and broad business foundations than to the acquisition of numbers. When the Spanish flag was lowered, in 1804, St. Louis had about 1,000 inhabitants: Seven years after the incorporation of the city, the government census gave St. Louis 4,977 people. St. Louis was then the forty-fourth in rank of population among the cities of the United States. Ten years later it had moved up to twentieth place. In 1880, St. Louis had passed in population thirty-eight other American cities and had been passed by only one other city. Within five years after Laclede and Chouteau marked the trees for the location of the settlement St. Louis had a population of about 900. When Stoddard raised the United States flag forty years after the founding there were not many more inhabitants. But the settlement had grown. It had rooted deeply and broadly. The view that St. Louis had waxed slowly between 1764 and 1804 was superficial. It failed to note "and measure a spirit of develop ment which meant more than the census. Every year saw the radius of the St. Louis sphere of influence lengthen. Up the Missouri crept a line of outposts tributary to St. Louis, each far more important to the settlement than hundreds added to the population. The traders established and cultivated friendly rela tions with the Indians. They learned the great country of the lowei Missouri intimately. St. Louis was to become the gateway of the stream of migration, . the starting point for the expeditions. The four decades from Laclede to Stod dard were so many years of efficient, important preparation for what was to follow. Out from St. Louis in all directions moved the expeditions. Some were military, to establish forts. Some were scientific, to explore and to exploit. More were to establish communities, to open commercial avenues. It was a peaceable movement for the most part. Troubles with the Indians were not frequent or general in those days. The real Indian wars of subjugation or extermination west of the . Mississippi came two or three generations later.' The Frenchmen of St. Louis paved the way well for the American occupation of Louisiana. A branch of the Chouteaus started Kansas City with "Chouteau's landing." Robidoux, another St. Louisan, established a post which became St. THE SPIRIT OF A CITY 429 Joseph. One of the Menards founded Galveston. A full score of Western cities owed their beginning to St. Louisans. The Oldest Commercial Trading Body. On a dull summer day of 1836 twenty-five young business men met and formed the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce. The meeting place was the office of the Missouri Insurance Company on Main street, between Olive and Pine streets. The primary purpose was to agree upon certain regulations which the members would observe in their business. One of the first transactions was adoption of a tariff of commissions to be charged on sales of produce and lead, on purchases and shipments of produce, on payment of freight bills, on advances to customers, on placing insurance, and on adjustment of losses. The chamber also fixed the schedule of fees for arbitration of business disputes and the rates of service for agents of steamboats. In short, the young men determined that business in these lines should be systematized. They founded what is today the oldest commercial trading' organization in the United States. One ¦of the most active of the . twenty-five was George K. McGunnegle, who was at that time a member of the legislature. At the next session, McGunnegle put through a bill incorporating the chamber and giving it a charter. The idea was so novel that the legislature conferred power upon the organization to do anything it pleased which was not "contrary to the laws of the land." The only other restriction imposed was that the property which might be acquired should "not exceed at any time the sum of $20,000." In the very beginning the Chamber of Commerce took on the character of a public-spirited movement. The mem- "bership soon overflowed the insurance office. The exchange room of the Missouri Republican was offered to the Chamber of Commerce for the meetings, and was accepted. The exchange room was much frequented, being open to the public, except when the Chamber of Commerce was in session. Out of the Chamber of Commerce, with its meetings to consider subjects germane to business interests of the city, and out of the Merchants' Exchange and news room, where papers were kept on file and to -which business men resorted for conversation, developed the idea "on 'change." The members of the committee of seven chosen to take charge of this Merchants' Exchange movement were Adam Black Chambers and Nathaniel Paschall, news paper men ; John D. Daggett and John B. Camden, both of whom became mayors of St. Louis; Rene Paul, the first city engineer; William Glasgow and Edward Tracy, merchants. Financial Honor of Extraordinary Quality. No over-speculation, no failure, no dishonest methods at home ever have ¦precipitated panic in this city. There have been local bank failures, but they were not of such importance as to shake general confidence in the financial institu tions of the city. There has beeen individual dishonesty, but so rare and so excep tional as not to disturb faith in the honesty of the bankers of St. Louis. No wild wave of speculation ever swept over the city. Financial straits have had their beginning elsewhere and this community has shared in them through sympathy or through circumstances beyond local control. So it was in 1855, when St. Louis' 430 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI financial interests demonstrated, in a manner which deserves to be called historic, that they possessed the get-together spirit. Private banks had performed no small part in the building of St. Louis. They had supplied the facilities which a period of expanding trade demanded. They stood close to the business interests. It is difficult to see how St. Louis could have gone through the fifteen years before i860 without these private banks. Sole dependence upon the one great chartered bank of the state would have dwarfed the city's legitimate commerce, would have handicapped enterprise. The bankers of St. Louis in 1855 carried long in vivid memory the 13th of January. The day of the week was Saturday. Page & Bacon did not open. Down and up Main and Second and Third streets the news spread. It paralyzed business everywhere but in the banking houses. Groups collected in front of the tellers' 'windows. Lucas & Simonds cashed checks amounting to $260,000. Louis A. 'Benoist & Co. paid out over $100,000. The Boatmen's Savings disbursed over $100,000. J. J. Anderson & Co. and E. W. Clark & Brothers paid out large sums. All day, for in those years banking business did not close at noon on Saturdays, the houses honored the checks as fast as pre- . sented. When evening came the vaults of the banks of St. Louis contained' $800,000 less than in the morning. Monday morning brought restoration of con fidence. The run stopped. A superb act of financial honor did it. Ten citizens whose private .fortunes amounted to over $8,000,000 pledged every dollar they possessed in support of the credit of the banks. They issued this notice bearing their signatures: To the Public — The undersigned, knowing .and relying on the ample ability of the following banking houses in the City of St. Louis, and with a view of quieting the public mind in regard to the safety of deposits made with them, hereby pledge themselves, and offer as a guarantee their property to make good all deposits with either of 'said banking houses, to-wit: Messrs. Lucas & Simonds, Bogy, Miltenberger & Co., Tesson & Danjen, L. A. Benoist & Co., John J. Anderson & Co., Darby & Barksdale, and Boatmen's Sav ings Institution. John O'Fallon, J. H. Brant, James Harrison, Ed. Walsh, L. M. Kennett, Andrew Christy, Louis A. La Beaume, D. A. January, Charles P. Chouteau. John How, - The banks opened at the accustomed hour, prepared to meet all demands. The excitement subsided as quickly as it had arisen. ' There was some scarcity of money for a week, but no panic. The Crises of St. Louis. In the progress among the American cities, the spirit of St. Louis has been tested and proven in a series of extraordinary crises. During one decade, 1840- 50, a great fire destroyed twenty-three steamboats along the river front, and fifteeen of the principal business blocks, with losses reaching above $3,000,000. The highest flood in the recorded history of the Mississippi Valley submerged the fertile bottoms of Illinois, opposite St. Louis. It extended to the bluffs and covered hundreds of square miles. An epidemic of cholera in one year took COL. THORNTON GRIMSLEY Inventor of the Dragoon saddle. Leader in the movement to reduce the working day to ten hours Courtesy Missouri Historical Society THE MARKET HOUSE AND LEVEE AT ST. LOUIS, ABOUT 1840 THE .SPIRIT OF A- CITY 433 thousands of the population. St. Louis declined offers of aid from other cities and increased the population from 16,460 in 1840 to 77,860 in 1850. Then came a crisis even more serious, — the Civil war. The chief business of this country was then carried on along north and south lines. St. Louis was the central gateway. It had begun to build the first railway toward the Pacific, con tributing. $6,000,000 toward the enterprise. Steamboat lines radiated from the city to all parts of the Valley. Material interests suffered paralysis. St. Louis emerged from the period of chaos with the spirit of law and order restored. Financial honor was demonstrated by the redemption of outstanding notes with gold coin. Only one other bank in the United States was able to do this. But with the close of the war, the spirit of St. Louis found old business relations radically changed. , With peace came new alignments. Another crisis which tested the spirit of St. Louis was the logical sequence of the foregoing. It was not in the nature of a sudden calamity. It was not attended by the revolutionary conditions of war. It came in times of peace. It was a long-drawn trial of a community's ability to depart from the conditions of a hundred years of development and to adopt new ways. This crisis occupied the last third of the century. St. Louis had waxed mighty and far-reaching on waterway transportation. No other American inland city had been so favored by nature. But in the two decades, 1870-90, rails took the place of rivers. Again the spirit of St. Louis was equal to the test. On the municipal seal is a steam boat, — the fit emblem of the many years of St. -Louis prosperity. When the war ended the strong men of the community gave, first, attention to the revival of the river traffic; they invested millions in fleets of the finest boats1 that had been seen on western rivers. They devoted their energies to the recovery of what St. Louis had lost by the war's interruption. But the era of the locomotive had come. Millions of St. Louis capital invested in the hope of the restoration of the water traffic melted away. No other city of America has had to face such radical changes in its commercial and industrial life. The spirit of St. Louis was equal to this. Rapid as was the change from the steamboat to the locomotive, St. Louis caught the cadence of the shriller whistle and moved on, losing but one rank in the procession of American municipalities. Before the war the main traffic routes had been along the meridians. Now they were on the parallels. Trade arteries ran east and west. The^ttatural gate way for these changed conditions should have been St. Louis. But the dominant political and business influences were exercised strenuously in favor of the more northern parallels along the Great Lakes. The wonder is not that St. Louis suffered disadvantage in those years by reason of close relations with the South but that the spirit of the city was able to accomplish what it did under the new order. The Americanization of St. Louis. St. Louis Americanized with greater rapidity than any other large American city. In thirty years the census returns have shown almost no increase in the foreign born population. All of the growth was of American birth. Germany born "dwellers in St. Louis have been more numerous than natives of any other foreign land. The Ireland born came next in strength, but the most recent census shows a marked falling off in the numbers of both Germany born and Ireland 434 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI born. If it had not been for an increase from other countries, the foreign born of St. Louis in this centennial period of statehood would be many thousands below the number several decades ago. The Russia born have increased. The Polanders now form a new element in the foreign born population, numbering several thousands-. Natives of Switzerland have much stronger representation than they had twenty years ago. Another country which shows marked increase in its contribution to the foreign born population of St. Louis is Sweden. Illustrative of this strength in the native born population is the fact that of the nearly forty mayors the city has had, only two were of .foreign birth, — one from Scotland and one from Germany. Eight of the mayors of St. Louis were natives of the city, five were born in New York and three were Virginians, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Maryland each contributed two. Other, states represented^ in' the roll of St. Louis mayors are Maine, North Carolina, Massa chusetts, Connecticut, Ohio and Illinois,^significant of the contributions made by all sections of the United States to the native born population of St. Louis. A National Distinction. ' The St. Louis industrial district is the third largest in the United States. St. Louis for years was one of the three central reserve cities of the United States. Reports of recent date to fhe comptroller of the currency showed that the banks and trust companies of St. Louis had gained $50,000,000 deposits in twelve months. No other large city holds closer relations with its territory south, southeast and southwest. Striking recognition of this relationship was shown by the government in the selection of St. Louis to be the location of one of the Federal Farm Loan banks. St. Louis was the only Federal Reserve bank city given a Federal Farm Loan bank. One of the twelve Federal Farm Loan districts was so defined by the Federal Farm Loan board as to embrace territory south, southeast and southwest of St. Louis and this city was given bank location. This action of the board came as a distinct recognition of the closeness of the relationship between the city and the agricultural/ interests of the district. One trust company of St. Louis has a record of more than $30,000,000 loaned on farm mortgages, nearly all of it within the district defined by the government board on rural credits, and without a dollar of loss. Other loan companies and trust companies of St. Louis have the same records as to stability and extent of farm loans in this district. Shortsightedness might have prompted the financial interests of the city to look with indifference or coldly upon rural credit plans of the government to make possible farm loans in the St. Louis territory at lower than the prevailing rates. The bankers and trust companies, seeing Only immediate conditions, might have viewed the Federal Farm Loan bank as an invasion. They did not. They saw in the long run an uplift, a development of agriculture, meaning mutual gain to city and farm. The St. 'Louis clearing house, by a unanimous vote, determined to invite the location of one of the twelve Federal Farm Loan banks in St. Louis. The bankers and trust officials of St. Louis, headed by Chairman Walker Hill, made such forceful and convincing presentation of the conditions in the proposed district and of the advantages of St. Louis as the location that the government board made a single exception in the case of this city and gave the Farm Loan bank to a Federal Reserve city. The Federal Farm Loan bank of St. Louis came into existence commanding the maximum degree of confidence on the part THE SPIRIT OF A CITY 435 of the farmer borrower and the farm bond investor because of the repute the spirit of St. Louis had established in the generations past. A Home Made City. To a degree which gives it distinctive character, — municipal individuality so to speak, — St. Louis is a city of homes and a home made city. The government census showed that St. Louis had 105,650 detached dwellings. More than two- thirds of the St. Louis families were living, not in tenements, or flats, or hotels, or apartment houses, but in separate homes. As a city of homes St. Louis was placed in a class of its own among the large cities of the United States. Pioneer St. Louisans built "houses of posts," — not the log cabins of the Americans to the eastward. They cut smaller trees into posts nine feet long and set them on end to form the walls of their houses. For the cheapest construc tion the posts with the bark lefton were used. For a better class of colonial architecture the posts were hewn. The prudent St. Louisan set his posts on a stone foundation a little above ground. Chinks were filled with clay which hardened. The floors were of slabs. The chimneys were of flat blocks of lime stone. Every house had its porch, or "gallery" to use the vernacular, and the porches as a rule faced eastward or southward to catch the prevailing breezes. Travelers in those early days invariably commented upon the fine climate of St. Louis. As the fur trade prospered, houses of stone became numerous but they were never crowded together and the gallery was never forgotten by the architects. With the invasion of "the Bostons," as the early arriving. Americans were called by the French habitants, came Philadelphia and Baltimore economies. Through several generations it was the custom to build homes on narrow lots, the front steps flush with the sidewalk, or at best only a few feet back, and often in long solid rows. The newcomers did not indulge in what seemed to them the unnecessary luxury of a gallery or piazza. As a consequence of the archi tectural misconception, St. Louis suffered from an unjust reputation which clung to it through two generations. But with the coming of the trolley cars, the residence sections expanded over suburbs which rose on -the foothills of the Ozarks. The monotonous brick and stone rows passed forever. St. Louis returned to architectural sanity with detached homes, side as well as front and'' back yards, and, not to be overlooked, the east piazza. The bad summer became only a fading tradition. The St. Louisan of the first decade did not have to go beyond the limits of LacledeJs village for his building material. He was given a quarter, a half, or a whole block of ground, according to his ability and his desirability as a new citizen. Trees were awaiting the axe. Laclede, the born engineer, had noted and spbken of the favoring forest when he selected the site, and told Auguste Chouteau where to begin building. Along the river front and out-cropping in many places were ledges of limestone easily quarried. Everywhere beneath the mold was tenacious clay/ The St. Louisan of this latest decade does not have to go beyond the city limits for much of his building material.. The quarries are accessible and in exhaustible, as they were in Laclede's time. The brick is here. The sand is pumped from the river bed in never failing supply. Lime, cement, sewer pipe, 436 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI tiles, terra cotta are local products, turned out in millions of dollars worth every year. Evidences of the Spirit. Incidents which illustrate the characteristic spirit of St. Louis are innumerable. In 1896 a cyclone swept across one section doing many millions of dollars dam age.. It came at a time when the city's recovery from" the nationwide financial depression was beginning to be apparent. The moral fibre of the community showed itself in the prompt action of the whole community- to relieve the local distress, but even more in the message immediately sent forth by the mayor, Cyrus P. Walbridge, thanking other cities for the generous tenders of aid, but declining all and declaring that St. Louis could and would take care of the stricken. The business of the city went on, the devastated sections were'rebuilt, all obligations were met, and a world-wide impression which might have done the city incalculable harm at a time .when it was entering upon a period of greatest progress, was corrected and changed to unstinted admiration. At the time when the spirit of St. Louis prompted this courageous, self-reliant stand, one business organization of the ' city, the Merchants' Exchange, had a record of cheerful giving showing nearly $1,000,000 contributed in thirty years toward the relief and encouragement of localities sustaining losses from various forms of calamity. This record opened with handsome amounts given for relief of destitution in Georgia, Alabama and other southern states in the two years of i860 and 1867 following the close of the Civil war. Then followed contributions well up in the thousands for sufferers from yellow fever, that one-time awful scourge of southern cities. In four different epidemics these St. Louis relief funds were sent south. The earthquake in Charleston and cyclones in Texas and Arkansas, the Galveston flood and successive overflows of the Mississippi were occasions to which St. Louis responded promptly and generously. The Mantle of Philanthropy. Once in its history the St. Louis Provident Association faced a crisis which threatened to close its doors. Philanthropy1 knows what a panic means. The winter of 1893-4 drained the resources of the charity organizations. One day Mr. Scruggs and Mr. Cupples found themselves facing an empty treasury and the demands^ for relief almost without precedent. They sent for Adolphus Busch and- on a Sunday afternoon the three men sat in the parlor of Mr. Cupples' home and discussed ways and means to keep the institution open. The next day Mr. Busch came back. He brought $10,000. Half of it was his individual gift. The remainder was from Mr. Lemp and other brewers. The Provident Association did not suspend. More than one hundred philanthropic organizations occupy the St. Louis field. With very few exceptions they are conducted upon the cardinal principle" of helping the unfortunate to help themselves. The heart of St. Louis is • charitable but in the exercise of charity practical judgment goes with the humane sentiment. That, in large measure, explains why St. Louis has no slums, like the plague spots of the other large cities of the country. As he rode. about St. Louis', several years ago, Archbishop Farley of New York commented : "In St. Louis the workingmen and poorer classes are much better taken care of in their homes ST. LOUIS MUNICIPAL BRIDGE AND APPROACH THE OLD MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE OP ST. LOUIS Built before the Civil War. Located on Main between Market and Walnut Streets. On the square which Laclede reserved for a plaza and which the village, town and city of St. Louis utilized for a market place for fifty years. THE SPIRIT OF A CITY 439 than similar classes in New York. I have seen no districts in St. Louis that I could call squalid. In fact, there seems to be no real squalor in the city." Contributing Factors of the Spirit. The experience of St. Louis affords one of the most impressive object lessons in the benefits of fairs and expositions. As early as 1822 an agricultural society was formed in St. Louis. Fairs were held at irregular intervals to exhibit agricul tural products. Usually the place selected was the race track. Some years later St. Louis began the holding of what were known then as mechanics' fairs, now called expositions. These fairs were the crude developments of the exposition idea. They were exhibits of St. Louis' industries and were given in some suitable building in the city. The agricultural fair and the mechanics' fair of St. Louis were entirely separate, conducted by different organizations, without conflict of dates. Thus, on the first Tuesday of November, 1841, the fair of the agricul tural society of St. Louis was opened at the St. Louis race course. On the 24th of the same month the mechanics' fair was opened in buildings on the block where today stands the Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis. It continued three days. The exhibition of "a St. Louis manufactured stove" at the exposition of 1842 was the public beginning of what became and is now one of the chief industries of the city. Out of these earlier fairs developed the St. Louis agricultural and mechanical association in 1855, the most ambitious movement of its day to exhibit agricultural resources and industrial products of the West. The association obtained a large tract of ground, erected permanent structures and gave five annual fairs before the Civil war caused suspension. In that-time the premium list had grown from $10,000 to $25,000. The attendance from the south and southwest more than doubled. Immediately after the war this annual fair at St. Louis was resumed. It grew to have a premium list of $40,000 a year and an attendance of from 50,000 to 100,000 visitors a day. It was continued more than a third of a century.The St. Louis Fair. The first official report of the St. Louis. Agricultural and Mechanical asso ciation has been preserved by the ..family of G. O. Kalb, who was for twenty- seven years secretary of the organization. It was issued in 1858. It described the acquisition of "fifty acres of wild and uncultivated ground three miles beyond the city limits." It told of the construction of fair buildings which included "the largest amphitheater in the Union and a gallinarium capable of accommodating any quantity of the feathered tribes." "What the carnival is at Rome, the fair is at St. Louis," the report stated. Signs "To the Fair" were placarded on all the omnibuses and public vehicles as they hastened to the scene of attraction. At the fair of 1858, William Fisch, of St. Louis, received a medal for an exhibition of "an artificial leg and arm, which he wore to the Fair Grounds." Mr. Overmuller, of Ste. Genevieve, received a premium for "a petrified ham, when or how petrified we are not able to ascertain." A prize for "lucifer jnatches" was awarded to the Missouri Match company, of Hannibal, Mo., and 440 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the board of directors expressed "gratification that the use of lucifers was becom ing general throughout the -state." The first officers of the association were: President, j. R. Barret; vice- presidents, T. Grimsley, A. Harper and Henry Clay Hart; treasurer, H. S. Turner; general agerit and recording secretary, G. O. Kalb; corresponding secretary, O. W. Collett. " When the Prince of Wales was touring the United States shortly, before the Civil war, he spent a day at the Fair. It is a tradition that the chairman of the reception committee desiring to call the attention of His Royal Highness to a particularly fine specimen of horse flesh, slapped him on the back and said genially : "Prince! what do you think of that?" Edwards' Program of the Fair in- 1859 contained this urgent "back to the farm" argument : "There is not in this Union a single state that offers stronger inducements to miners, stock raisers and hempgrowers, than the State of Missouri, and yet there are in the City of St. Louis at least one thousand able-bodied professional gamblers, five thousand ¦ hale and hearty young men in drygoods stores, shops and other places, performing labor so light that it rightfully belongs to females ; and this, too, for salaries which scarcely" pay their necessary expenses ; and during most of the season an equal number who have no visible means of support." The Down Town Exposition. In 1883 St. Louis returned to the plan of separation of fair and exposition. With a capital stock of $600,000 the St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall Asso ciation 'Was organized, with Samuel M. Kennard at the head pf it. Upon Mis souri park, occupying, two full city blocks between Olive and St. Charles, Thir teenth and Fourteenth streets, a building specially adapted to exposition purposes 'Was erected. Nearly a score of years the annual exposition and the annual fair were conducted successfully, being suspended only when the movement to cele- brate_the Centennial of the Louisiana Purchase took definite form. In the first ten years of its existence the receipts of the St. Louis Exposition were over $2,000,000. In its twelfth year the exposition paid, a dividend to stockholders and contributed $8,000 to cyclone sufferers. The average yearly attendance was 750,000 visitors. The industrial and commercial upbuilding of St. Louis is to be attributed to its fairs and expositions more than to any other one agency. Moreover these fairs and expositions carried on through five generations of business men paved" the way for the World's Fair of 1904 and made possible its success. The World's Fair. ¦' The total installation of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition represented an expenditure of over $45,000,000. St. Louis, through the city corporation and through subscribing shareholders, contributed $10,000,000. The Federal gov ernment appropriated $5,000,000. The Federal government loaned, in addition, $4,600,000, every dollar of which was returned in strict accordance with the act of appropriation. The remainder of the $45,000,000 represented the appropria tions of states and foreign countries and the cost to exhibitors. The exposition THE SPIRIT OF A CITY 441 passed into history as the equal, if not the superior, to any held up to that time. Pessimists predicted that the holding of such an exposition would be, ultimately, of more injury than benefit to the city; that there would be a reaction which would depress business and depreciate the value of property and make the people regret that they had undertaken such an enterprise. There was no reaction. Prices of real estate the year after the exposition closed were higher than at any time in ten years preceding and have since steadily advanced. The business of St. Louis — mercantile, jobbing and retail — the year after the exposition was 25 per cent greater than the year previous to the exposition and has been increasing ever since. Industrially, St. Louis gained more in new manufactures and in volume of production during the five years succeeding the exposition than it had in the fifteen years preceding. Nothing else ever contributed so much toward -bringing the people of St. Louis together and inspiring a consciousness of strength and of mutual confidence as did the World's Fair of 1904. During the one hundred and eighty-four days of the Exposition's existence there passed through the turn-stiles and were counted, 19,694,855 persons. These figures do not comprise the census of the Exposition's population. A site far exceeding any preceding World's Fair encouraged conditions which were with out precedent. A hotel within the grounds having hundreds of employes and thousands of guests was one of the unusual features. The collection of Filipino villages and camps housed a permanent community equal to a small city. The colonies of primitive people spread over many acres and numbered several hundreds of persons. Within their camps the British and Boers dwelt in harmony by night as well as by day. The Jefferson Guard and the Fire Depart ment were intramural contingents having no occasion to pass the gates when off duty. Military camps and barracks accommodated visiting bodies numbering at one time several thousand uniformed men. The Pike was an avenue of a mile on which, communities from all parts of the world had their abiding places for the Exposition period. There were other elements of this permanent population. Many of the buildings erected by foreign governments, states and territories had their sleeping and living rooms as well as public accommodations. Commis sioners, officers and employes seldom left the grounds. Financial results of this Universal Exposition were satisfactory. It has come to be the accepted condition of these enterprises that they do not return dividends in cash. Expositions are "Timekeepers of progress," "Milestones of civilization," not money makers. The capital invested looks to indirect but not to inadequate returns. If any exposition pays its way in operation, makes to the greatest good of the greatest number, then the individual, the corporation, the government, the municipality considers the trial balance satisfactory. So judged the Universal Exposition of 1904 passed into history as having been eminently successful. The revenue from various sources amounted to $1 1,500,000, the chief of these yielding as follows : Admission collections $6,250,000 Concession collections 3,000,000 Intramural Railroad fares 627,473 Service, power and light receipts 600,000 442 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Interest on deposits \ 125,000 Transportation Department collections 165,000 Music Department receipts 7 82,871 Premiums on souvenir coins 67,000 The expenditures of the management to the close of the Exposition aggregated $25,000,000 leaving a surplus sufficient to meet the necessities of the Post-Exposi tion period, economically administered, and for the Art Museum, World's Fair Pavilion and Jefferson Memorial. The principal disbursements were classified as follows : Construction, grounds^ and buildings $17,177,864 Maintenance and rents 1,729,249 Division of , Exhibits 2,086,580 Division of Exploitation 1,305,792 Protection, police, fire, insurance 1,014,220 Division of Concessions and Admissions 544,650 Executive and administrative 402,441 Division of Transportation 260,426 Four-fifths of the expenditures of the Exposition was for the buildings and grounds. Of the $ii,ooo,poo earned, the sum of $9,500,000 was from admissions and concessions. The cost of the collection of this revenue barely exceeded $500,000. The handling of the revenues was a model in- methods of economy and exactness for all expositions to come. This financial showing does not take into consideration one of the largest items of receipts and of corresponding outgo. To the investment should be added to a loan of $4,600,000 by the United States Government advanced in addition to the original $5,000,000 appropriated. To the disbursements must be added the return of this exact amount to the Government from the revenues of the Exposition period in strict compliance with the letter and spirit of the Act of Congress. Expansion of the United States found expression in participation by forty- three states, by five territories and by all territorial possessions save Hawaii. This participation cost $9,346,677. Ten years before forty-one states and two territories expended on a World's Fair $5,539,428, and the United States was proud of the showing. Respect for a World Power showed itself in the presence at this Exposition of sixty-two foreign nations and colonies, and in the expenditure x>f $8,134,500. This expenditure does not take into consideration that of private exhibitors from foreign countries, but only the amounts expended by the foreign governments. At Chicago, in 1893, were represented forty-five foreign nations and colonies by expenditures aggregating $5,982,894. Paris in 1900, had no approach to this degree of universality. The material benefits which St. Louis received from the World's Fair were set forth in impressive comparisons by the Business Men's League. During the five years beginning with 1906 and ending with 1910, the people pf St. Louis expended $116,536,564 on new buildings. During the preceding five years, begin ning with 1901 and including the preparation for the World's Fair and the costly p : 1 ^ I J Ife*- sp$**> " ".A^%-« jJ»i\AJi^A*ltf W^A ;¦• >— »,1r*""'?*^*,'':''.' -*- ¦ A . ".- '¦¦y'-'.-'.'ri- - '*s It mm « ?--K'ir'-. '¦ ¦ : f.»,v>' MUNICIPAL BRIDGE, ST. LOUIS, OPENED JANUARY 20, 1917 FIRST TRAIN OP COAL OVER MUNIC IPAL BRIDGE, ST. LOUIS ST. LOUIS MUNICIPAL BRIDGE tl 2gg^M , y, y £$_ £K LOU 15 MUNI cipal a*/*** *»t> m>phoacms. y*^ THE SPIRIT OF A CITY 445 construction for the exposition purposes the amount expended was $78,116,984. Instead of depression after the World's Fair, St. Louis entered upon a period of improvements and general prosperity such as the city had never before known. Business doubled in ten years. Bank clearings for 1900 were $1,688,849,494 and for 1910 they were $3,727,- 949-379. more than twice as much. In 1900 the freight brought into and carried out of St. Louis by rail and river was 25,313,330 tons. In 1910 it was 51,918,110 tons, more than double. Post office cash receipts, which measure the volume of business, were $2,031,664 in 1900 and in 1910 they were $4,539,185, an increase of considerably more than 100 per cent. In 1900 the people of St. Louis built 2,513 houses of all kinds at a cost of $5,916,984. In 1910 they built 9,419 houses and spent $19,600,063 upon them. The assessed value of real estate and personalty of St. Louis in 1900' was $380,779,280, and in 1910 it was $556,725,320. One Test of Missouri Citizenship. The native Missourian is increasing in numbers. He is holding his own in the competition for the first rank of successful, useful citizenship. For the com mittee of two hundred and the board of directors which initiated and conducted the World's Fair of 1904, were chosen representatives of all interests. When the lists were analyzed forty-one native Missourians were found among the two hundred. Of this number twenty-six were on the board of directors. There was no thought of place of birth when the men to carry the World's Fair burden were chosen. But the results illustrated in a striking manner how, from other countries and from many states, have converged in Missouri the men who do things. Serving as directors of the World's Fair were ten men born in Germany ; three, in Ireland ; one in Canada ; one in England and two in Bavaria. The natives of twenty-three states, adopted Missourians, were directors They were well distributed. New Yorkers led with nine. Illinois and Ohio contributed six each. The other states and their sons were : Michigan, two ; West Virginia, one ; Arkansas, one ; Maryland, two ; Virginia, four ; Massachusetts, two ; New Hampshire, two; New Jersey, two; North Carolina, two; Kentucky, five; Iowa, one ; California, one ; Indiana, one ; Connecticut, two ; Pennsylvania, three ; Georgia, two ; Tennessee, one ; Vermont, one ; Texas, one.. The World's Fair movement tested the quality of St. Louis citizenship as has no other demand upon the municipality's energies. And when the response was studied, it showed from what widely scattered sources were drawn the elements to give the quality. No nationality, no section of this country, predominated. Nations, all quarters of the United States, have contributed to the best business and professional blood of the city. In the committee of two hundred, besides the nationalities in the board of directors, were represented Wales, Hungary and Austria. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Lakes to the Gulf were scattered the birthplaces of the men who made the World's Fair possible and then made the World's Fair. Missouri is producing the best type of the American in temperament and in action as well. 446 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The Conscience of St. Louis. St. Louis has had its local issues from time to time. Individual leaders, elements in fhe population, geographical sections of the city, have contended sharply for their ambitions or their respective interests. But, from the year of incorporation to the present" day, every serious crisis confronting and every momentous proposition appealing have found St. Louisans standing together, so closely ranked, so nearly unified, as to make the majority irresistible, the minority insignificant. This characteristic of St. Louis was effective in the World's Fair of 1904 to a degree that made the nations marvel. It has met repeatedly situa tions of gravest character. Without the loss of a single life and with the minimum of damage to property, St. Louis passed through the railroad riots of 1877, so disastrous in other centers of transportation and population. In the early years of the first decade of the new century, the conscience of the community was aroused. Investigation and reform were undertaken, official impurity was found, but the moral fiber was again demonstrated by the vigorous prosecution and conviction of grafters. Conditions in St. Louis in -1900 were not worse than those in other large cities, but St. Louis led the ^way in exposure and in banishment of official wrong-doers. "The Shamelessness of St. Louis," was an utterance of superficial observance by a stranger. A city which could and did do what St. Louis did to correct the wrongs In official life is not "shameless." Marvelously the years have demonstrated, the wisdom of the selection of the site for St. Louis. The first chamber of commerce was built where Laclede and Chouteau marked the trees. The Merchants' Exchange of today, the great trading mart, is only a stone's throw distant. Within rifle shot of where the First Thirty landed, the trade of the Mississippi Valley still centers. St. Louis spread north, west and south from Laclede's fur warehouse. The Market street of today, which divides the city in halves, extends westward from the Place Publique which the founder reserved when he made his plan for the settlement which was to be "une des plus belles villes de l'Amerique." CHAPTER' XIII , ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS Archaeologists Disagree — Pussling Stone Implements — Broadhead's Theory — Missouri, a Rich Field — Beckwith's 50,000 Indian Relics — The Mounds — A Geological Theory — In vestigations of Douglas, Whelpley and Fowke — A Prehistoric City — Amazing Fortifica tions — Ads)be Brick — Cave Dwellers on the Gasconade — Dr. Peterson on the Mound Builders — Evidences of a Numerous . Population — Laclede and the Missouris — A Far- reaching Indian Policy — The Nudarches— Friends of the French — Massacre of a Span- ' ish Expedition in Missouri — Attempts at Civilization — The Murder of Pontiac — Chou teau Springs — The' Osages' Gift to the Son of Laclede — A Spanish Governor's Narrow Escape — Gratifications — The Shawnee Experiment — How Peace Was Made — The Exe cution of Tewanaye — Good Will Transferred with Sovereignty — The Advice of Delassus — Pike's Diplomatic Mission— British Influence ' Checkmated — Wisdom of William Clark — Activities of Manuel Lisa — "One-eyed Sioux" — The Treaty of 1812 — Elihu H. Shep- ard's Tribute — "Red Head," the Friend of the Indian — The Council Chamber — Gov ernor Clark's Museum — Ceremonial Calls — The Freedom of the City — Indian Coffee — Home Coming of the Osages — Migrations of the- Delawares — The Rise of Colonel Splitlog — An Indian Capitalist. K More than half a century lias since transpired and probably every person engaged in that embassy of six nations is dead, but that act of General Clark alone should make his^ name immortal. — Elihu H. Shepard on Governor William Clark's Indian Treaty of 1812. A marvelous collection of Indian workmanship in stone fills many cases of the Missouri Historical Society. The quality varies greatly. Garland C. Broad- head, the geologist and archaeologist, analyzing these evidences, inclined to the theory that a superior race preceded the red Missourians known to white men. He said : "On the surface in many places are found flint arrow-heads, both small and large, some roughly made, some very finely worked ; also axes of exquisite workrnanship. The rougher flints may have been shaped by the present- Indians, but there is no evidence that any of the present tribes could shape and polish these stone implements in any way but -roughly. Other persons of higher artistic attainments, must have shaped them, and these may have been driven off by the present races several hundred years ago. The Toltecs of Mexico have legends that they were driven away from a country inhabited by them, away to the northeast, hundreds of years ago." Some Notable Collections. Missouri has not only been a rich field for the archaeologist but it has been thoroughly and intelligently worked. In St. Louis are four collections each of which is nationally notable in a distinctive line of material. St. Louis University 447 448 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI has the Lucas Collection of American Archaeology, arranged on a scientific basis. J. B. C. Lucas, who gave the collection to the university, traveled widely and interested the help of friends in gathering American antiquities, presenting the results to his friend, the late President William Bank Rogers, when the latter was at the head of the institution. The Lucas exhibit is strong in its hammers, celts, flaked flints, notched spearheads, separated arrow points, dis- coidal stones and ornamented pipes. It illustrates admirably what Gerard Fowke described at length in the thirteenth annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology as the "Stone Art." With the Lucas exhibit are associated the aboriginal relics collected, by the missionary fathers who went out from St. Louis to labor among the North American Indians. Father DeSmet, Father Ignatius Panken, Father Kuppens and others sent back to the university many things of ethnologic- interest. The contributions of these missionaries to American ethnology and linguistics were treated at length some years ago by James Mooney in the United States- "Handbook of North American Indians North of Mexico." A private cellection of great value for its variety of chipped spades and celts is that of Dr. H. M. Whelpley. It is said to lead all of the others in these specialties. The Missouri Historical Society collection in number and comprehensiveness is probably the largest in the United States. It is arranged -on scientific lines, having received the careful. preparation of Gerard Fowke. The series of arrow heads and spearheads is arranged according to types. Accompanying the cases of the Missouri Historical Society is much detailed descriptive matter making the study of these objects interesting to the average visitor, as well as to the student of archaeology. A private collection of note was made by Rev. Frederic Schulte of St. Engel- bert's. This was especially interesting for articles made of hematite. Amos Beckwith's 50,000 Belies. In one of the buildings of the Cape Girardeau Normal school is housed the 50,000 archaeological objects collected by Colonel Amos Beckwith. When the museum was dedicated, Louis Houck, the historian, told how Beckwith became interested in archaeology, and with what zeal he pursued his investigations in Southeast Missouri during forty years. Beckwith was born on a plantation in 1840. His grandfather came to Missouri in 1812. On the Beckwith estate was , a great mound, which attracted the boy's interest. Mr. Houck _said: "He observed that the corners of this mound were square as if the work had been done by an experienced builder. The mound was twenty-five to thirty feet higher than the general level of the land. It was no feet wide and 160 feet long. The top was covered with burned clay to a depth of about five feet. Fifty feet from this mound there was another truncated mound nearly as high and seventy or eighty feet wide. On about 400 acres of land around these mounds relics of every description were found by the negro plowmen and this, too, attracted Beckwith's attention. A few miles from these mounds, on Pinhook, ridge, he saw other groups of mounds. In fact in almost every part of Mississippi county, in the deepest recesses of the forests, on his hunting expeditions and on. other occasions, he observed these silent memorials of the prehistoric inhabitants of the country. At first he considered these mounds only as offering a harbor of refuge for his stock in times of overflow. Then the peculiar shape of the mounds, the location and possible purpose began to interest him. Thus he discovered a group of mounds in ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS 449 the neighborhood of his land, which became known as 'Beckwith's Fort,' because plainly erected for defensive purposes." Mr. Houck thought that Beckwith was prompted to take up archaeological research and collection through the influence of Colonel Norris long associated with the Smithsonian at Washington. Colonel Norris visited the mounds of Southeast Missouri and took Beckwith on several exploring expeditions. He inspired him with the interest to learn "what these prehistoric people really were, how they lived, how far advanced they were in the domestic arts, how they cultivated the soil, how they hunted, what was the character of their institutions." The result was that Beckwith gave his leisure time and expended much of his means for more than forty years, until he had accumulated "one of the greatest local archaeological collections in the world." Mr. Houck justified this estimate ' of the Beckwith relics because "they were locally collected from the mounds of the upper St. Francois basin and principally from mounds in Southeast Missouri counties, and because from this collection can be secured almost a perfect picture of the domestic institutions and civilization of a group of the race of so-called mound builders in this particular locality." Allan Hinchey's Study of Beckwith's Collection. Allan Hinchey, of Cape Girardeau, has' made an exhaustive study and analysis of the Beckwith collection. He said: "The handiwork of several ages may be seen, some of the articles having been made after the coming of the white man, others apparently several centuries before. Some thing can be learned of these tribes as warriors, as growers of grain, as hunters, as citizens, and even as to their religions and culture. That they were agriculturists is proved by the many hoes and spades, made of flint and stone ; that they were sun worship ers, by the number of ceremonial vessels ornamented with pictures of the sun; that they were warriors, by weapons of attack and defense; that they were citizens of some sort of society, by the system displayed in the location of their dwellings and places of public assemblage, and by their mode of burial. That they had reached some stage of culture is shown by their art in modeling and carving, some of the figures equaling in workman ship specimens of ancient Egyptian art, both as to execution and truthfulness of depicting the characteristics of the subjects. That they were somewhat skilled in mechanics is proven by the exactness of their measurements, and the proper proportions used in making their figures, wares and implements. "These relics of unknown tribes were taken, for the most p,art from the mounds of Mississippi county, along the river courses, or from camping places or villages. Some of them were found in excavations several feet deep. In some cases articles were found at a depth of a few feet, and beneath them, several feet deeper, other relics were un earthed of apparently much older origin, indicating that they were made by different people at different times. Most of the human figures have Indian features, while some resemble the Caucasian race, and one bears a strong likeness to the negro. "Several burial urns are included, the largest one being thirteen inches deep and sixteen inches in diameter. In this urn were found human bones it having been the custom of some tribes to bury the bones after flesh had disappeared following a long suspension on a scaffold. The weapons of warfare consist of axes of stone, arrow and spearheads of flint, and baked balls of pottery and stone to be used with slings. Some of the whet stones and polishing stones are smooth on one side and rough on the reverse. Some of them have grooves wherein were sharpened the points of weapons and working tools. All working tools found in the excavations of Southeast Missouri are of stone or flint, except one awl of copper about two inches in length. There are many pieces of pottery Vol. 1—29 450 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI that had been baked by fire, some of them highly colored. There are 1,100 splendid speci mens of pottery— vessels, water bottles, bowls and jars, some of them being made ap parently after the coming of the white man, others centuries before. These bottles and bowls are made to represent fishes, birds, beavers, opossums, raccoons, frogs', ducks, owls, hawks, turtles, but not a single representation of a snake can be'^found'in the entire collection.'' Many of these articles of pottery found in the mounds of Southeast Missouri were made of aluminous clay mixed with pounded shells. The Indian Mounds. The scientists devoted a great deal of time to the Indian mounds of St. Louis. They located twenty-seven along a line leading north of the^city and 'on what they called the second bank of the river. Each of these mounds was measured with care. Several of them were from four feet to five feet in height. The largest was thirty-four feet high. Some were round ; others square or oblong. Some were arranged to form a partial enclosure. Several were in -a curve. On the Illinois side of the river, within five miles from the river bank opposite St. Louis, the scientists found seventy-five of these mounds. Long's expedition reported on them : Tumuli and other remains of the labors of nations of Indians that inhabited this region many ages since are remarkably numerous about St. Louis. Those tumuli imme diately north of the town, and within a short distance of it, are twenty-seven in number, of various forms 'and magnitudes, arranged nearly in a line from north to south. The common form is an oblong square, and they all stand on the second bank of the river. It seems probable that these piles of earth were raised as cemeteries, or they may have supported altars for religious ceremonies. We cannot conceive any useful purpose to which they can have been applicable in war, unless as elevated stations from which' to observe the motions of an approaching enemy; -but for this purpose a single mound would have been sufficient, and the place chosen would probably have been different. We opened five' of them, but in only one were we fortunate in finding anything, and all that this contained was a solitary tooth of a species of rat, together with the vertebrae and ribs of a serpent of moderate sizeAand in good preservation. But whether the animal had been buried -by the natives or had perished there, after having found admittance through some hole, we could not determine. The Big Mound. Every St. Louisan of scientific bent/ liked to talk about the mounds. Every tourist visited them and wrote of them as being the greatest of natural curios ities. Edmund Flagg found in them not only the field for investigation but the opportunity for the preservation of a most attractive civic feature. He wrote: They stand isolated, or distinct from each otner, in groups ; and the outline is gen erally that of a rectangular pyramid, truncated nearly one-half. The first collection orig inally consisted of ten tumuli arranged as three sides of a square area of about four acres, and the open flank to the west was guarded 'by five other small circular earth- heaps, isolated and forming the segment of a circle around the opening. This group -is now almost completely destroyed by the grading of streets and the erection of edifices, and the eastern border may alone be traced. North of the first collection of tumuli is a second, four or five in number, and forming two sides of a square. Among these is one of a very beautiful form, consisting of three stages, and called the "falling garden." Its TABLET TO PONTIAC Placed in Southern Hotel by the Daughters ,of the American Revolution INDIAN ALARM OF MISSOURI OVERLAND TRAIN ON THE SANTA FE TRAIL ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS 453 elevation above the level of the second plateau is about four feet, and the area is ample for a dwelling or yard._ From the second it descends to the first plateau along the river by three regular gradations, the first wtih a descent of two feet, the second of ten, and the lower one of five, each stage presenting a beautiful site for a house. For this pur pose, however, they can never be appropriated, as one of the principal streets of the city is destined to pass directly through the spot, the grading for which has already com menced. The third group of mounds is situated a few hundred yards above the second, and consists of about a dozen eminences. A series extends along the west side of the street, through the grounds attached to a classic edifice of brick, which occupies the prin cipal one; while opposite rise several of a larger size, upon one of which is situated the residence of General Ashley, and upon another the reservoir which supplies the city with water, raised from the Mississippi by a steam force pump upon "its banks. Both are beautiful spots embowered in forest trees ; and the former, from its size and structure, is supposed to have been a citadel or place of defense. In excavating the earth of this mound, large quantities of human remains, pottery, half-burned wood, were thrown up, furnishing conclusive evidence, were any requisite further tharr' regularity of outline and relative position, of the artificial origin of these earth heaps. About six hundred yards above this group, and linked with it by several inconsiderable mounds, is situated one com- ' pletely isolated, and larger than any yet described. It is upward of thirty feet in height, about one hundred and fifty feet long, and upon the summit five feet wide. The form is oblong, resembling an immense grave ; and a broad terrace or apron, after a descent of a few feet, spreads out itself on the side looking down upon the river. From the exten sive view of the surrounding region and of the Mississippi, commanded by the site of this mound, as well as its altitude, it is supposed to have been intended as a vidette or watch tower by its builders. From the Big Mound, as it is called, a cordon of tumuli stretch away to the north west for several miles along the bluffs parallel with the river, a noble view of which they command. They are most of then ten or twelve feet high ; many clothed with forest trees, ajid all of them supposed to be tombs. ,In removing two of them upon the grounds of Colonel O'Fallon, immense quantities of bones were exhumed. It is evident from these monuments of a former generation that the natural advantages of the site upon which St. Louis now stands were not unappreciated long before it was pressed by the " European footsteps. It is a circumstance which has often elicited remark from those, who as tourists have visited St. Louis, that so little interest should be manifested by its citizens for those mys terious and venerable monuments of another race by which on every side it is environed. When we consider the complete absence of everything in the character of a public square or promenade in the city, one would suppose that individual taste and municipal authority would not have failed to avail themselves of the moral interest attached to these mounds and the beauty of their site, to have formed in their vicinity one of the most attractive spots in the west. These ancient tumuli could, at no considerable expense, have been enclosed and ornamented with shrubbery, and walks, and flowers, and thus preserved for coming generations. As it is, they are passing rapidly away ; man and beast, as well as the elements, are busy jvith them, and in a few years they will have disappeared. The practical utility of which they are available appears the only circumstance which has attracted attention to them. One has already become a public reservoir, and measures are in progress for applying the larger mound to a similar use, the first being insufficient for the growth of the city. Big Mound Park Proposed. Public sentiment in favor of preservation of the Big Mound became active at one time. The movement contemplated the transfer of title to the city. There were several owners. It was proposed to have transformed, into a public garden or park, three or four blocks of ground, the central part of which 454 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI would be the Big Mound. Upon the Mound was to be constructed a pavilion. A committee of public-spirited citizens undertook to secure the transfer of the land to the city. A. B. Chambers, editor of the Missouri Republican, was one of the foremost advocates*of the plan. Mr. Benoist was the owner of a con siderable part of the ground desired. The committee waited upon him and presented the arguments in favor of the Big Mound park. Mr. Benoist declined to transfer his part to the city. The movement was abandoned. The Geological Theory. After three generations of scientists had made much in the way bf specu lation about the mounds of St. Louis and vicinity, there came geologists who studied the soiL and the rocks and advanced naturaL theories to account for most of these landmarks. Away back, in the ages when the Mississippi Valley was being formed, there was drift clay and loess, these later scientists said, covering St. Louis and the valley roundabout so that the surface was from fifty to sixty feet above the present level. Loess is almost anything ground up tolerably fine. As the great rivers wore out their channels and diminished in volume through' the ages they left many elevations in and around St. Louis "locally known as 'mounds,' the formation of which has. generally been referred to human agency." The quotation is from Worthen of the Illinois geological survey, whose theory has been accepted widely by latter day geologists. Sup port to this theory is given in a thesis by Henri Hus upon whom Washington University in 1908 conferred the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Worthen said further of these mounds: These elevations vary in height from ten to sixty feet and more above the level of the surrounding bottom, and when carefully examined are found to consist of drift clay and loess, remaining in situ just as they appear along the. river bluffs, where similar mounds have been formed. in the same way by the removal of the surrounding strata by currents of water. We had an opportunity of seeing a good- section of the large mound in the upper part of the city of St. Louis exposed by digging into the upper end of the mound for material to be used in filling adjacent lots. It was found to consist of about fifteen feet of common chocolate brown drift clay, the base of which was overlaid by thirty feet or more of ash-colored marly sands of the loess, the line of separation between the two deposits remaining as distinct and well defined as they usually are in good artificial sections of the railroad cuts through these deposits. < Natural Causes. The professor concluded, ruthlessly disposing of the theories and discus sions of the generations of scientists who had measured and dug into and described these prehistoric landmarks : , Hence, we infer that these mounds -are not artificial elevations raised by the aborig inal inhabitants of the country, as has been assumed by antiquarians generally, but on the contrary they are simply outliers of loess and drift, that have remained as originally de posited, while the surrounding contemporaneous strata were swept away by denuding forces. They are not found to occupy any fixed relative position in relation to each other, or to have any regularity of size or elevation, and hence antiquarians appear to have inferred that they were raised simply to serve as burial places for the dead. But the simple fact that they were used for this purpose by the aborigines, which seems to be the ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS 455 main argument relied on as proof of their artificial origin, seems to me entirely inadequate to sustain such a conclusion, and they were perhaps only selected by them for this pur pose on account of their elevated position, for the same reason that they selected the highest point of a bluff in preference to any lower point, to serve as the last resting place for the earthly bodies of their relatives and friends. I have very little doubt that many of the so-called Indian mounds, in this state at least, if carefully examined, would prove to be only natural elevations produced by the causes above named. A Prehistoric City. In a. History of Missouri by Walter Bickford Davis and Daniel S. Durrie, 'published in 1876, 'is an account of a prehistoric city in New Madrid county. At that time, forty years ago, the evidences of a dense population were said to exist : "The city was surrounded by fortifications, the embankment with covered ways con necting the outworks which have been traced for several miles. The remains of mounds, serving either for outlooks to watch an enemy, or as cemeteries for the burial of the dead, in which are found skeletons, associated with drinking vessels, are also found distributed about the area of the ancient encampment. The indubitable traces of the dwellings, streets and avenues, were also traced over large portions of the grounds, the proper survey of which would doubtless tend to throw new light on the origin of this people. The houses were quite small, from eight to twelve feet in diameter, "and located about twelve feet apart. They existed in regular rows with streets and avenues running through the city at right angles, at proper distances apart. The foundations of the dwellings, if not the entire structure, were, made of a kind of adobe brick, of a red color like a modern brick, but of coarser material. The brick specimens have transverse holes passing through them, sup posed by some to act as ventilators to the dwellings. The bricks being laid flatwise in the wall, the sides of the house would be, thereby, pierced with, a multitude of holes for the admission of the outside air. Another, and more probable, theory is that the bricks in a malleable state were pierced with round sticks, for the more readily handling and burning; and the same having been burned out, left the impression of their form in the shape of a hole. The sites of these ancient habitations are plainly observed by a sunken depression of several feet in the ground, leaving evidence of cellars like those seen in modern times. At first sight of these habitations, the observer ¦ mignt be led to believe that these ancient people lived in cellars, and built their houses underground; but this impression will Vanish on reflecting that accumulated debris of ages had entombed these dwellings beneath the surface. Besides, on one side of the ancient city, there is still a lake or marsh which at some remote period may have overflowed its banks, submerged portions of the site of the ancient city long after its" extinction, and added its deposits to the accumulating debris. The site of the city is now covered with trees, mostly oak, of an ancient growth, showing that thousands -of years rolled around before the handiwork of these early Missourians was exhumed. The pottery- consists largely of drinking cups, culinary utensils and bottles of 'a gourd shape. There are also rude trowels and tools used for fashioning and orna menting" the pottery, and whetstones for, sharpening the stone axes and other instruments. But the fantastic character of the ornamentation of the vessels is what strikes every one with surprise. There are very accurate figures of fish, frogs, hedgehogs and such animals as existed at the time; besides among the feathered tribe are the goose, duck, owl, hawk and probably, from his comb, the rooster. There are miniature busts of male heads carved out of clay, representing a type of face more resembling the ancient A^tec race than the modern American Indian." Civilization on the Gasconade. A theory of prehistoric civilization on the Gasconade river was advanced by an early writer. The pioneer settlers found saltpeter in the caves along the river. 456 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI They shipped it to St. Louis with some profit. They established several powder factories in the county and utilized tlie saltpeter. This writer said : "Some of the caves are very large,, consisting of a succession of rooms joined to each other by arched walls of great height. The walls are uniformly of limestone and often present the most beautiful appearance. When these caves were first discovered it was not unusual to find in them Indian axes ' and hammers,, which led to the belief .that they had formerly been worked for some unknown purposes by the savages. It is difficult to decide whether these tools were left here by the present race or by another and more civilized which preceded them. It is unusual for savages to take up their residence in caves, — con sidering them places to which the Manitou resorts, — and they, not being acquainted with any of the uses of saltpeter, would rather avoid than collect it. The circumstance of finding these tools in the caves would of itself, perhaps, furnish slight evidence that the country of the Gasconade was formerly settled by a race of men who were acquainted with the uses of this mineral, or who exceeded them in civilization, or the knowledge of the arts; but there are other facts connected with these about which there can be no mistake. Near the sawmills, and at a short distance from the road leading from them to St. Louis, are the ruins of an ancient town. It appears to have been regularly laid out, and the dimensions of the squares and streets and of some of the houses can yet be discovered. Stone walls are found in different parts of the area,' which are frequently covered with huge heaps of earth. Again, a stone work exists about ten miles below the mills. It is on the west side of the "Gasconade, and is about twenty-five to thirty feet square; it appears to have been originally built with an uncommon degree of regularity. It is situated upon a high bald cliff, which commands a fine and extensive view of the country on all sides. From this stone w.ork is a small footpath leading to the cave, in which was found a quantity of axes. The mouth of the cave commands an easterly view, and also a view of the path to the building referred to, which may have been erected to some imaginary deity." Missouri Antiquities. Dr. C. A. Peterson, former president of the Missouri Historical Society, devoted a great deal of time to the study of Missouri "antiquities." He summed up his conclusions in this forcible language: "But credulity has been taxed to the utmost, and columns of. crude ideas and inane arguments have been published, by half-baked archaeologists, to establish a great antiquity for the mounds and an advanced civilization for their builders, and the extreme and ridicu lous flights which the imagination has been permitted to take in building up' the story of the mythical mound builders may be well illustrated by this' case: About thirty years ago an amateur archaeologist in exploring quite a modern Indian mound reported that he had found the skeletons buried beneath it to be a proper complement in. number and arranged in proper order and position to represent the principal officers of a Masonic lodge at work, each officer being equipped with implements and insignia of the craft. To those attached to a contemplation of mystery, and to revellers in the occult, this was the most marvelous and entertaining discovery ever reported in American archaeology, but there were a few incredulous, unfeeling scoffers who would not accept the story as true because the dis coverer did not produce the bones of the candidate and the goat. In conclusion, let it be reiterated that there was never an iota oi evidence in existence tending to establish the contention that some people, other than the American Indian, erected the mounds and other earthworks found in connection with them, and the physical condition of the abandoned works, and their contents, does not justify, a belief that any of them w.ere erected more than one thousand years ago." Missouri's Indian Population. That the Indian population of Missouri was numerous and lived in this region many generations before the white man came, Walter B. Douglas, Dr. H. M. ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS 457 Whelpley, Gerard.. Fowke and all other investigators agree. One Indian mound in Missouri has yielded more than a thousand pieces of pottery. The capitol of Missouri was built upon an Indian burial mound. When the excavation for the foundations was made the workmen tincovered many human bones and much pottery. Indian graves were found on most of the high bluffs of Cole county overlooking the Missouri. Arrow-heads and stone implements, tons of them, have been picked up within the limits of the county. Some of the Indian communities of Missouri were much more civilized than others. They had industries. The Missouri Historical Society has a great clay bowl three feet in diameter and six inches deep. It was found at Montesano, twenty miles south of St. Louis, where there are fourteen mineral springs. An Indian town of considerable size was located at Montesano. ' The bowl was one of many used in the manufacture of salt by evaporation. Gerard Fowke, the archaeologist, said : "This bowl may be 300 or it may be 3,000 years old. How long the Indian settlement remained there will never be any more definite to us than the word ancient implies. The deposits at Montesano give us no clew as to this question. -We know that as recently as 100 years ago the Indians made salt, and sold it to white settlers and traders. But whatever the age of this settlement, we do know there was an Indian village at the spot now called Montesano." They were a tribe inclined to manufacture and had an extensive salt industry. They were naturally attracted to the spot by the springs, and the fact that they could keep an eye on the surrounding country from the bluff on which the springs are located. Possibly they caught the salt-making idea from watching their animals lick the rocks over which, the salt water flowed." Vice-President Walter B. Douglas of the Missouri Historical Society, who had devoted much study to the traces of the aboriginal Missourians, said : "Many Indian relics are found in pits which the Indians used for storing grain. They dug large holes in the ground and built fires in them to bake the sides and bottom. The. baking process made the pits as hard and dry as though walled with brick. Into these pits the Indians poured their grain to keep it through the winter. They were great granaries'. But after a. certain time moisture in the ground would find its way to the grain, and the pits became useless as store houses. Then the Indians used them as dumps into which they would throw refuse of all kinds, broken arrow-heads, pottery and bones. Wherever there was an Indian village of any size these pits can be found. I believe we can find some of these pits at Montesano, and believe they will show the size of the Indian city, whose remains are buried there, and give up many interesting relics." Laclede's Indian Policy. With practical tact Laclede treated an Indian crisis before St. Louis was two months old. At the same time he established an important policy for the com munity. Auguste Chouteau and "the first thirty" had built the great shed for the temporary storage of the goods. They had put together cabins for them selves. They were assembling the rock and the timbers for Laclede's house, which was to serve for headquarters for the fur company. The Missouris arrived from the west. There were 125 warriors and the complement of squaws and papooses. No hostility was shown. On the other hand, there was embarrassing 458 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI friendliness. The Missouris announced that they would build a village and live beside the white men. They begged food. They helped themselves to tools. Some of the intending settlers who had come over from Cahokia to join the settlement showed alarm and began to move back to the east side. Auguste Chouteau sent word of the emergency to Laclede at Fort Chartres. Meanwhile he put the squaws to work for pay in paint and beads digging the cellar for Laclede's house and carrying away the dirt. The founder came quickly in response to Auguste Chouteau's call and with due formality went into council with the Missouris. The chiefs repeated their decision to become part of the settlement and to depend upon the white men for protection against their enemies, - the Illinois nation. Laclede listened and promised an answer the next day. Auguste Chouteau remembered that diplomatic speech and wrote it into his diary. It was a. speech which averted a crisis and which laid the foundation of an Indian policy of long and far-reaching advantage to Missouri. Laclede called the chiefs together, as he had promised. He went over the reasons they had given for joining his settlement. He reminded them that by moving to the bank of the Mississippi they would be placing themselves within reach of their hered itary enemies, the Illinois nation. He pictured an awful fate," which he, with the best of intentions, could not avert, if they, the Missouris, came to live where they could be so easily attacked from the east side of the -river. "I warn you, as a good father," he said, "that there are 600 or 700 warriors at Fort de Chartres, who are there to make war against the English, which occupies them fully at this moment, for they turn all of their attention below , Fort de Chartres,' from whence they expect the English.; but if they learn you are here, beyond the least doubt they will come here to destroy you. See now, warriors, if it be not prudent on your part to leave here at once rather than to remain to be massacred — your wives and your children to be torn to pieces and their limbs thrown to dogs and birds of prey. Recollect, I speak to you as a good father. Reflect well upon what I have told you and give me your answer this evening. I can not give you any longer time, for I must return to Fort de Chartres." That night the Missouris departed, going up the river of their name to their old home. Laclede sent to Cahokia and brought over corn to give them for food. Traditions of the Missouris. The Missouris were so called because they lived in the Missouri river country. The name had been given by the Illinois or Illini nation of red men. In an earlier time the Missouris were known as the Nudarches. They had established a record of friendliness with white people long before Missouri was permanently settled. Marquette was welcomed by them nearly a century before the coming of Laclede. The good disposition of the Nudarches or Missouris was reported ' by other early explorers. It is history that in 1712 this tribe was one of several . which marched to the relief of the white settlement at Detroit. But the Mis souris distinguished between white nations. They were kindly disposed toward the French. For the Spaniard they had a different feeling. They ambushed and destroyed, a Spanish expedition sent up from Mexico by way of Santa Fe to the Missouri country. An account of this affair is given in the History of Missouri by Davis & Durrie: ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS 459 "As early as 1719 the Spaniards, alar.med at -the rapid encroachments of the French in the Upper and Lower Mississippi valleys, made strenuous exertions to dispossess them; in order to accomplish which they thought it necessary to destroy the nation of the Missouris, then situated on the Missouri river, who were in alliance with the French and espoused their interests. Their plan was to excite the Osages to war with the Missouris, and then take part with them in the contest. For this purpose an expedition was fitted out in Santa Fe for the Missouri in 1720. It* was a moving caravan of the desert — armed men, horses, mules, families, with herds of cattle and swine to serve for food on the way, and to propagate in the new colony. In their march they lost the proper route, the guides became bewil dered and led them to the Missouri tribe instead of the Osages. Unconscious of their mistake, as both tribes spoke the same language, they (the Spaniards) believed themselves among the Osages, instead of their enemies, and without reserve disclosed their designs against the Missouris and supplied them with arms and ammunition to aid in their exter mination. The chief, of the nation perceived the fatal mistake but encouraged the error. He showed the Spaniards every possible attention, and promised to act in concert with them. For this purpose he invited them to rest a few days after their tiresome journey, till he had assembled his warriors and held a council with the old men. The Spanish captain imme diately distributed several hundred muskets among them, with an equal number of sabres, pistols and hatchets. Just before the dawn upon which the company had arranged to march, the Missouris fell upon their treacherous enemies and dispatched them 'with indiscriminate slaughter, sparing only a priest whose dress .convinced them that he was a man of peace rather than a warrior. They kept him some time a prisoner, but he finally made his escape, and was the only messenger to bear to the Spanish authorities the news of the just return upon their own heads of the treachery they intended to practice upon others.'' There is a tradition that a selected party of the Missouris was taken to France in order that their loyalty might be rewarded and they might return with impressions of the white men's ways. The daughter of the chief who was in the party became converted, was baptized and married a French officer. After the return of these Missouris to the Mississippi Valley, the tribe joined other Indians in an attack on a French post and massacred the people. Auguste Chouteau may have known of this tradition, and that may have increased his alarm. The bad name given the Missouris by the tradition was not borne out by the events of that day on the site of St. Louis. Subsequent relations between the white people and the Missouris were friendly. The French tried to instruct them. ' The priests directed missionary efforts toward them. But the Missouris did not accept civilization. Extermination of the Missouris. After their initial visit to St. Louis the Missouris maintained friendly relations with the French settlers for years. They camped along the Missouri river, part of the time in the vicinity of St. Charles. The entire tribe was practically wiped out by the strategy of the Sioux. One of the earliest writers of St. Charles county history, more than half a century ago, told the story. At the time of their destruction the Missouris were living on a plateau x along the river. The location was about twenty miles above the mouth of the Missouri river. It commanded a view of miles up and dbwn the river and was partially surrounded in the rear by a range of hills. Game abounded. The Missouris were at peace with the few white neighbors who had settled in what are now St. Louis and St. Charles counties. The narrative of the St. Charles county historian follows : 460 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "The Sioux had left their home and were descending the Mississippi river in force, 'seeking whom they might devour,' intent on robbery and murder. Being unincumbered with women, children and baggage, their light canoes soon floated them to the borders of our country. The Missouris, by some means, the precise character of which history has not preserved, became aware of the near proximity of their hereditary foes, and sachems, warriors and braves were summoned to a council of war ; arid commencing with the young est man present, they proceeded to elicit the judgment of all, each rising in his place around the council fire and'gravely and deliberately giving his opinion, and the burden of all that warm eloquence was, 'let us engage our foes and our fathers' foes — their enemies and ours.' "The distance from the encampment of the .Missouris to the junction or 'point' made by the two- rivers was, as it is, twenty miles. The Sioux were intending to descend the junction and, leaving their canoes in safety, depart hither and thither for a season on their accustomed predatory and- scalp-hunting excursions. The Missouris, knowing this usual custom of their enemies, dispatched all their available force to the point, where they knew the Sioux generally landed, anci, hiding in ambush, awaited their approach. The Sioux, however, became aware of the position of the Missouris, and instead of prosecuting their journey to the place at first intended, disembarked at a point several miles above, and shouldering their light canoes, carried them across the neck of land between the two rivers, at this place about two miles wide, and launching- forth on Missouri's muddy stream while their enemy of the sam.e name was anxiously expecting them below, proceeded up stream, with the intention of attacking the Missouris' camp. From that camp the party could be discerned at a distance of three miles, and those in camp, supposing it was the Missouri party returning successful, and not dreaming of the sad fate that awaited them, prepared to welcome back their fathers, brothers, husbands and sons. But,, sad mistake! No sooner had the Sioux landed than they fell upon their defenseless enemies ; nor did they cease till, every woman and child was either killed or driven off and every vestige of the camp either taken or destroyed. Few and little escaped the heartless vengeance of these warriors ; stimulated and frenzied by genuine Indian hatred, the destruction was complete. As soon as their savage work was done, without a moment's delay they hastily reembarked, and, as swiftly as brawny arms could urge them on, descended to" the 'Point' where the Missouris, in ignorance of what had transpired, were anxiously, and, as hour after hour glided by, yet more and more anxiously awaiting them. While" thus momentarily expecting the approach of their enemies from the Mississippi, they were suddenly surprised by the war-whoop at' their backs. But a moment sufficed for them to spring to their feet and engage in the deadly conflict. The battle raged furiously, and so fiercely was it con tested that it was long doubtful which party would be compelled to bite the dust ; but the arms of the Sioux, nerved by unrelenting hate, were strong, and they prevailed. The vic tory was complete — few, very few, of the Missouris escaped — so few that never afterwards were they regarded as a nation. "The spot at which the Sioux disembarked on the Mississippi river, and from which they commenced to carry their canoes across the neck of land to the Missouri river, as above narrated, is well known, and- is the site of the town of Portage des Sioux, a point of some importance in the early history of Missouri territory, one of the oldest settlements in this region, still retaining much of the quiet, simple, unique character always found in the early French villages of the country." Pontiac 's Funeral. One of the notable days of the administration of St. Ange de Bellerive at St. Louis was the military funeral given to an Indian. Pontiac was a chief of three tribes in his youth. He ruled over the Ottawas, the Ojibways and the Pottawattomies. He consistently sided with the French and fought the British. In one of his orations he called the English "dogs dressed in red who have come to rob you of your hunting grounds and to drive away the game." That was the year that Laclede came up the Mississippi to found St. Louis. France was Wr Wwu- -T..T. j m , - VSj.H .^hJSLk HHti^ ¦'--'; ^ : :- PONTIAC A TYPE Qp THE SHAWNEEg no^ta^ay"11 -d ^ MaXt Xee?^ Welc°med t0 ^™>™ * ***** «™™» Louis. AN INDIAN CAMP ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS 463 surrendering by treaty herpossessions east of the Mississippi to England. Pontiac led' an uprising against the new authority. "Pontiac's war" continued until 1766. The chief was compelled to make a treaty with the English. He came west to the Illinois country and found a congenial retreat in the French community of St. Louis. He was still in his prime but disappointed ; he became a hard drinker. St. Ange de jBellerive had known the chief in better days and treated him kindly. While in his cups Pontiac was enticed across the river to the vicinity of Cahokia by a Kaskaskia Indian and killed from ambush. It is tradition that an English trader bribed the Kaskaskian with a barrel of rum to get Pontiac out of the way. St. Ange went after the body of the chief. Upon the return to St. Louis, Pontiac was dressed in the uniform of a French general, a gift to him by Montcalm. The body lay in state, guarded by the French soldiers who had come from Fort Chartres after the evacuation. At 'the hour of burial military honors were paid. Pontiac had never been baptized. His body could not be placed in consecrated ground. A grave was dug for him a short distance west of the cemetery. Its precise location, as determined by the Missouri Historical Society, was twenty feet east of Broadway and fifty feet south of Market street. The full garrison paraded at the funeral and the entire population of the settlement attended. The Gift of Chouteau Springs. The good will of the Indian toward the French pioneers of Missouri was shown in substantial ways. A locality known as Chouteau Springs, in Cooper County, obtained its name from a gift of land made by the Osages to Major Pierre Chouteau, the son of Laclede, as early as 1792. The Spanish government approved the grant and the United States later confirmed it. Pierre Chouteau spent most of his time for thirty years among the Indians. How he won their confidence was shown in the words of the land gift, which was signed by the principal men of the Osages : "Brother : As thou hast, since a long time, fed our wives and our children, and that thou hast always been good to us, and that thou hast always assisted us with thy advice, we have listened with pleasure to thy words, therefore, take thou on the River La Mine, the quantity of land which may suit thee, and anywhere thou pleasest. This land is ours; we do give it to thee, and no one can take it from thee, neither today nor ever. Thou mayest remain there, and thy bones shall never be troubled. Thou askest a paper from us, and our names; here it is. If our children do trouble thee, you have but to show this same paper ; and if some nation disturbs thee, we are ready to defend thee. At the fort of Grand Osages, this 19th of March, 1792." The Spaniards and the Indians. If the French fur traders and merchants accepted Spanish sovereignty easily, the same was not altogether true of their Indian constituents. Down the Mis souri came a chief of the Osages about 1770 to see the new flag and its repre sentative. Governor Piernas had established cordial relations with Laclede and with St. Ange. It didn't occur to the Spanish don that the red chief expected the courtesy of one governor to another. Governor Piernas was dignified. The Osage went home and returned with a band. He met a Shawnee chief who was in St. Louis to see the governor about moving to some land south of St. Louis. 464 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The Shawnee looked inquiringly at the war bonnet. The Osage was drinking. He confided to the Shawnee his intention to avenge the slight the Spanish governor had put upon him; he was going to kill him at the* first opportunity. The Shawnee saw the way to win favor for himself. He provoked the Osage to quarrel and killed him with a blow of the knife. The Osage chief was buried on Grand Terre, or Big Mound, which gave the name to Mound street, and there the Osages came year after year in the colonial period to mourn and to decorate the grave. American historians have charged Cortez and Pizarro and other Spaniards with atrocious treatment of the Indians. They have never given credit where due for the tactful course pursued toward the natives by white men who Settled and governed in Missouri for more than sixty years. In all of the relations with Indians during the pioneer generations of this country, there is no period, no place which can offer comparison with the record established in Missouri. In the years of Spanish dominion at St. Louis there were times when financial stringency was felt. Salaries were reduced. Soldiers were not paid for months. Retrenchment was ordered. But the annual presents or "gratifications," as they were called, for the Indian nations were not passed by. At the time of the American occupation the presents made by the Spanish government to the Indians in Upper Louisiana amounted to $12,000 a year. An official gunsmith was located at St. Louis to repair the guns of the Indians. He received $140 a year from the government. The Indians made visits to St. Louis to have their fire arms put in order. When Louis Lorimier came in 1794 to found Cape Girardeau on the Spanish grant given him, he was welcomed by the Indians. There were three Indian villages up Apple Creek, twenty miles above its mouth. These Indians made considerable progress toward civilization. They lived in cabins of hewn logs with shingles on the roofs. One of the schemes of Spanish governors was the settlement of Shawnee and Delaware Indians near St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve. They thought these Indians could be partially civilized and made useful as allies to ward off attacks from wilder tribes in the west. The Shawnees and Delawares professed to like the arrangement. They formed villages and raised corn. But the young bucks would get out and commit depredations. One day a band of these Indians came upon a St. Louis settler named Duchouquette, who was alone in the vicinity of what is now Lafayette Park. They killed the white man. Francis- Duchou- - quette was some distance away, and saw the attack. He ran to the village and gave the alarm. Officer Tayon called for help and led a posse in pursuit: The Frenchmen came, upon the Indians. Duchouquette saw the one who had killed his brother and who was wearing the fresh scalp tied to his belt. He shot him. Four other Indians were killed. This discouraged the Spanish governors. Dela wares and Shawanoes, or Shawnees, as commonly called, to the number of 3,000 Indians, remained in Perry County until 1825. Execution of Tewanaye. To illustrate how discreet the St. Louisans had been in their Indian relations, Captain Stoddard, who raised the American flag, told of the speech made by a ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS 465' truculent chief at a peace conference in St. Louis a few years previously. This chief said : "We have come to offer you peace. We have been at war with you many moons, and what have we done ? Nothing. Our warriors have tried every means to, meet you, in battle; but you will not; you dare not fight us. You are a parcel of old women. What can be done with such a people but to make peace since you will not fight ? I come therefore to offer you peace, and to bury the hatchet; to brighten the chain, artd again to open the way between us." The treatment of Tewanaye, the Mascutin, is an illustration of the Indian policy which prevailed in the early days. When the Osages had delivered to Governor Delassus the band of Mascutins responsible for the massacre of David Troter and his son and for the burning of {heir home on the Meramec, investi gation showed that Tewanaye was guilty and that five others who were brought in were not guilty. Tewanaye confessed his participation. His execution took place' in' January, 1803.' It was attended by a great demonstration. The militia companies of half a dozen posts marched under command of Governor Delassus to New Madrid. Tewanaye was unshackled. The sentence of death was read and translated for him in his own language. The militia paraded in front of the standard. The execution was by shooting. The other Indian prisoners were so placed that they could see all that occurred. The body of Tewanaye was placed in the coffin. The soldiers, with drums beating, marched by. The Indian prisoners were unshackled, taken to the governor's headquarters and turned over to their chief, Agyponsetchy of the Mascutin nation. The governor returned to St. Louis. The militia companies inarched back to Cape Girardeau, Ste. Gene vieve, New Bourbon and Platin. There'was no more trouble. Delassus to the Tribes. . In MarcTi, 1804, three days after he had absolved the habitants of St. Louis from further allegiance to Spain, Governor Delassus formally told the Indians assembled at St. Louis of the change. He did so at the request of Captain Stoddard. The American captain knew how well Upper Louisiana had fared with the Indians. He appreciated the friendliness that had existed between Spanish authority and the'nations of the Missouri. He asked Governor Delassus to make known in his own way to the Indians that they had a hew father. The governor complied. To a formal iassemblage of Indians in front of the govern ment house, in the presence of Captain Stoddard -and Meriwether Lewis, Gov ernor Delassus delivered in a very impressive manner this address : "Delawares, Abenakis, Saquis and others : , "Your old fathers, the Spaniard and the Frenchman, who grasp by. the hand your new father, the head chief of the United States, by an act of their good will, and in virtue of their last treaty, have delivered up all of these lands, The -new father will keep and defend the lands and protect all of- the white" and red skins who live thereon. You will live as happily as if the Spaniard was still here. "I have informed your new father, who here takes my place, that since I have been here the Delawares, Shawnees and Saquis have always conducted- themselves well ; that I have always received them kindly; that the chiefs have always restrained their young men as much as possible. I have recommended thee, Takinosa, as chief of the natives; that thou hast always labored much arid well to maintain a sincere friendship with the whites and that, in consequence of thy good services, I recently presented to thee- a medal with the portrait of thy great father, the Spaniard, and letters patent reciting thy good and loyal Vol. 1—30 466.- CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI services. For several days past we have fired off cannon shots that we 'may announce to all the nations your father, the Spaniard, is going, his heart happy to know that you will be protected and sustained by your new father and that the smoke of the powder may ascend to the Master of life, praying him tu shower on 'you all a happy destiny and pros perity in always living in good union with the. whites." i The American. occupation was followed by an act which did much toward retaining Indian good will. In April, 1806, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike, back » from his exploration of the Upper Mississippi, was ordered to get ready for an expedition westward. The object was to escort to their tribes fifty-one Osages and Pawnees. These Indians had been taken prisoners by the Pottawattomies. They had been redeemed by the United States government. They were to be restored to their people with military escort. At the same time that he went on this diplomatic mission, Pike, was to conduct an exploration to the far south west. The Osages and' Pawnees never forgot Pike. For many years any S$. Louisan was sure of welcome among them. ' Manuel Lisa, the Frontier Diplomat. ' The faith which St- Louis kept with the Indians from Laclede's day was worth more than an army when war came in 1812. British influence was directed to the border, and was at work among fhe tribes from the headwaters of the Mississippi to the Upper Missouri long before a gun was fired. To Governor Willialth Clark in St. Louis, Manuel Lisa, far up the river, more than a year before the war, .sent word "the wampum was being carried along the banks of the Missouri." The British scheme, Lisa said, /was "a universal confederacy" of the Indian nations preparatory to an overwhelming movement on Missouri when war came. A grand character was William Clark iri-many ways. But even his share in the expedition of Lewis and Clark to the Pacific was not a greater sfervice to his country than his management of the Indian situation in the Northwest during the war of 1812. One of the first acts of Clark was to make Manuel Lisa a sub-agent of the tribes. No man had such influence over the Indians. Lisa was an American by acquisition. He came under the United States flag when "Upper Louisiana did in 1804. He was thoroughly American. "I have suffered enough in person and property under a different government," he wrote, "to know how to appreciate the one under which I now live." , "Captain Manuel," as the Indians called him, began the organizing and arming of the tribes to fight, not against "The Republic," as he liked to call the United States, but against the, Indian allies of Great Britain., When the war ended Lisa was fairly ready to begin. He had forty chiefs and several thousand warriors, ready to go against the British Indians on the Upper Mississippi. The Missouri • frontier had been saved from the Indian nations on the Upper ' Mississippi. Governor Clark sent trusted representatives with messages of conciliation. Among these emissaries was the One-Eyed Sioux, a famous chief who visited St. Louis frequently and was a great admirer of General Pike, the explorer. The One- Eyed Sioux came to St. Louis with the information that a party had been made up to attack the American frontier. He undertook, as Governor Clark's request, to visit a number of tribes and to use his influence against the British. He was ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS 467 imprisoned, maltreated and threatened with death by the British, but was true to the confidence Clark placed in him. When the war was over the One-Eyed Sioux came back to St. Louis and was honored. As long as he lived he treasured and showed 'with great pride the commission he received to represent Governor Clark irt his diplomatic efforts with the Upper Mississippi tribes.' The Indian Treaty of 1812. In May, 1812, General William Clark assembled at St. Louis chiefs of the Great and Little Osages, Sacs, Rtenards, Delawares and Shawnees and took them to Washington to make a treaty. They made peace with each other before starting. These chiefs were received by President Madison just before the war with Great Britain. They were taken to eastern cities and made much of. The act was wise, for settlers were crowding into St. Louis and scattering in the Missouri country. Long afterwards Elihu H. Shepard, the historian, paid just tribute to William Clark and testified to the lasting results of his Indian policy : "He was feared and beloved by the Indians. He understood their character almost by intuition, and could foresee their plans and intentions, and was their constant friend and protector from the impositions of white men. When they were all assembled preparatory to leaving on their long journey, their mutual friend advised them to make peace with each other, which they accordingly did for themselves and their respective people, and all buried the hatchet and left their friends at home in peace .with all their neighbors. • On the follow ing day, May the 5th, 1812, General Clark departed with all the chiefs of those powerful tribes, each preserving in their features and attire some peculiarity or custom of their particular tribe or nation. "More than half a century has since transpired^ and probably every person engaged in that embassy of six nations is dead, but that act of General Clark alone should make his name immortal. Those six nations still exist and have kept their people on terms of friend ship with each other to this late day. The object of the embassy was fully accomplished. —-The Indians arrived at Washington city several days before the declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812, and were presented to President Madison, who. held a council and made a satisfactory .treaty with them, after which they were shown through many large cities on their return to St. Louis, and escorted to their homes laden with many tokens of esteem and confidence, which are still preserved and shown to strangers as worthy of veneration and lasting preservation by all lovers of peace and friendship." "Red Head," the Indians' Friend. Officially William Clark was "Indian agent." In fact, he was "the friend of the Indian." A part of the life of St. Louis were the pilgrimages of the red men to visit "Red Head," as all of them called him. When rivers ran • clear of ice in the spring the canoes began to come. They were beached along the then unoccupied river front above St. Louis. From Morgan street to Bremen avenue there were only five houses. Little camps were formed. At some time of the open season every tribe at peace, sent the head men to St. Louis. If the tribe was small a canoe or two was sufficient. Delegations from the larger Indian communities required a flotilla. With the chiefs came their squaws and pappOoses. When the camp site was chosen, a member of the party went down to notify General Clark. That meant rations. In the morning the chiefs and their retinues, painted and decked out in full ceremonial dress, came down for the formal council. These assemblages were held in, a large hall which General Clark had built near his home. "The Council Chamber," it was called. It served 468 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the purpose of a museum of Indian dress, manufactures, utensils, and curios. These things covered the walls. They added to the impressiveness of. the formal receptions. In the council chamber the geheral met the Indians, exchanged salutations, giving without stint the time which these taciturn .people seemed to think the dignity of the occasion demanded. He listened to the -speeches. He replied through the interpreters, using the native figures of speech which meant so much to the visitors. He met their aboriginal dignity with: the suave courtesy of the Virginian. He was patient and 'kindly with them. After the talk the7 Indians looked over the museum, pointing out and commenting on those things best known to the tribe to which they belonged. Week after week General Clark held these receptions, as Ihe successive delegations arrived. In the long history of Indian affairs' of the United States there is no line of policy which is quite similar to this which General Clark adopted.. And it may be added that there has been no course of official action which surpassed this in effective results with the red men. Indian Etiquette in St. Louis. Having paid the visit of- ceremony, the delegation enjoyed for a few days the freedom of the city. Every morning the chiefs and their families painted and put on their feathers and robes. They stopped at house after house, beating upon their drums, singing their chants and doing the dances. Ceremonial from the Indians,' ppint of view, these calls might be, but somewhat disconcerting to the newcomers in St. Louis the)' often were. Indian etiquette made it proper to raise 'the latch and walk in> without using the knocker or speaking a word. Standing within the Indian looked about him, and, after a few moments' delibera tion, uttered his "how !" Then followed a ,handsha'ke with each person in the room. A small gift was expected, and then, as the interest of the involuntary host waned, the proud Indians took the hint and moved; up the street. Here and there they came to the house of a hunter or trader1 who had known them in the wilderness. There the entertainment was elaborated. "Indian coffee" — coffee with just enough of the bean to give color, a very weak imitation — was served. Fat slices of bacon were cooked and handed round. Firewater — hot stuff — was the stirrup cup. Two or three days, perhaps a week os ten days, the visits and the hospitality continued. Then at daybreak the canoes were pushed into the water and the prows were turned up stream. St. Louis saw no more of the head men of that tribe until the following year. So long as General Clark lived this coming and going of the chiefs of a hundred tribes was of yearly occurrence. Westward up the rivers and over the prairies pioneers pushed their picket line of settlement. They slept peacefully. Not a war whoop dis turbed the night. Red Head's Indian policy was mightier for protection than an army of soldiers would have been. Governor Clark's Museum. Schoolcraft spoke of Clark's collection as "arranged with considerable effect." Edward James Glasgow at the age of eighty-eight told Thwaites, the historian, he well remembered v General Clark's Indian museum, which he visited when a boy. General Clark lived at Main and Vine. He had four other houses in the block, fronting Main. One of these houses was the -large hall, in which were ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS 469 displayed the curiositifes\ open to the public. The collection iricluded bows and arrows, battle clubs, stone axes, birch bark canoes which were; suspended from the ceiling, Indian, dresses, decorated with feathers, bones and mastodons. When General Clark died, his houses were divided among his heirs. The collection was sent for safe keeping to a public museum. After a while the showman shipped his curiosities," including the Clark collection, by way of New Orleans tq England. The Clark family learned of it too late to recover. Many years afterwards a member of the family thought he saw some of these things in London. The Duke of Saxe- Weimar visited St. Louis in 1825 and examined with much interest the collection. He wrote of it : , We then went to see Mrs. Clark, who, through the secretary of her husband; Mr. Alexander, exhibited to us the museum collected by the governor on his travels, and since considerably augmented. Mr. Alexander showed us articles of Indian clothing of different kinds, and' various materials. Except the leather, the larger part of these materials were American, or rather entirely European in their origin. A single garment alone was made by the Cherokees of cotton which was pulled, spun, wove on. a loom, made by an Indian and even dyed blue by them. Besides several weapons of different tribes, wooden toma hawks, or battle-axes, in one of them was a sharp piece of iron to strike into the skulls 1 of their prisoners ; another made of elk -horn, bows of elk-horn and of wood, spears, quivers,- and arrows, a spear-head of an Indiafa of the Columbia river, hewed out of a flint, a water-proof basket o"f the same people, in which cooking can be pert ormea, several kinds of tobacco pipes, especially the calumet, or great pipe of peace. The heads of this pipe are cut out of a sort of argillaceous earth or serpentine; in time of war the spot where this earth is dug out, is regarded as neutral, and hostile parties, "who meet each other at that place, cannot engage in anything inimical against each other.' The pipe, whidh the commissioners of the United State's use at treaties with the Indians has a heavy silver head and a peculiarly handsome ornamented wooden stem. Farther, Mr. Alexander, showed us the medals which, the Indian chiefs have received at different periods from the Spanish, English and American governments, and the por traits of various Indian chiefs who have been at St. Louis to conclude treaties with the governor, who is also Indian agent. Among the remarkable things m natural history, we noticed an alligator, eight feet long; a pelican; the horns of a1 wild goat, shot by the governor in his tour among the Rocky Mountains; the horns of a mountain ram, and those of an elk, several bearskins, among others, of the white bear; buffalo, elk, skunk, which were sewed together in a robe, skins of martens, ferrets, etc., etc. ; moreover, several petrifi cations of wood -and animal subjects, among others, of elephants' teeth,- a piece of rock-salt, tolerably white, yet - not shooting in crystals, as the English ; various crystals ;. a large piece of rock crystal ; very handsome small agates, which are here taken for cornelians, etc. Among tne curiosities, the most remarkable were two canoes, the one of animal hide, the other of a tree-bark, a peace-belt which consists of a white girdle set with glass beads, two handsbreadths wide ; farther, snowshoes, nets which are drawn over an oval frame, also the rackets which they use in playing their game of ball. The Indians' Reception. * Maximilian, Prince of Wied," while in St. Louis about 1833, attended one of the Indian receptions at the 'council chamber, and gave this description of it: General Clark invited us to a small assembly which he was to hold in his house with the Indians. We accordingly repaired thither. This meeting took place in the apartments, which are ornamented with a highly interesting collection of arms and utensils, which" the general had secured on his extensive travels with Captain Lewis. The rooms contain, likewise, portraits of the most distinguished Indian chiefs of the different nations. General Clark, with his secretary, was seated opposite to the Indians, who sat in rows along the 5r^ 470 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI walls of the apartment. We strangers sat at the general's side, and near him stood the interpreter, a French Canadian. The Indians^, about, thirty in number, had done their best to ornament and paint themselves ;• they all looked very serious and solemn, and their chief sat at their right hand. The general first told them, through the interpreter, for what' reason he had assembled them here; on which Keokuk rose with the calumet in his left hand, gesticulating with his right hand in harmony with his thoughts"; he spoke very loud in broken sentences, interrupted by short pauses. His speech was immediately translate^ and written down. The conference lasted about half an hour. General Clark had intro duced us to the Indians, telling, them that we had come far over the ocean to see them. They all testified their satisfaction in a rather drawling "hah !" or "ahah !" Before and after the sitting all of the Indians passed us in a line, each giving us his right hand, and looking steadfastly into our faces. They then withdrew, headed by their chiefs. The gen eral had told them that they should persevere in, their amicable sentiments as hitherto;- and they had expressed the Wish that their brothers might soon be set at liberty, because their wives and children at home were suffering hunger and distress. Upon this the general advised them, when Black Hawk and his associates should be set at liberty, to keep a watchful eye over them. On this condition he would intercede for the prisoners. Keokuk and Black Hawk. , Tfie 'conference followed the Black Hawk war in Northern Illinois. The Indians had come down the Mississippi to St. Louis, seeking for the release of the prisoners who were confined at Jefferson Barracks. Prince Maximilian described Keokuk : The chief, or leader of the Indians assembled, here was the Saukie chief, Keokuk, a slender man of middle size, with agreeable features, not very different /from those, of a European, though ,of a darker color. He wore a colored calico shirt, and on his breast a large medpl, which he had received from the President of the United States; and like wise wore a figured handkerchief around his head, and was wrapped in a green blanket. He carried in his hand a calumet ornamented with feathers. His, face was not painted, his ears not disfigured, and it was affirmed that he was not of pure origin. He wore brass rings round his neck and wrists. The visiting Indians were allowed to go "to the' Barracks and to see their kinsmen. Prince Maximilian took advantage of the opportunity to witness the General Clark introduced, us to General Atkinson, the commandant of the place. After resting a short time in his house we proceeded to _a spacious empty hall in one of the adjoining buildings, where. the Indians were already seated in rows. The general sat opposite to them surrounded by the spectators, among whom were- several ladies. When all were assembled, - Keokuk, with the aid of the interpreter, delivered an address to General Atkinson, who replied; after which the prisoners were introduced. First of all Black Hawk appeared, a little old man, perhaps seventy year's of age, with gray hair, and a light yellow complexion; a slightly curved nose, and Chinese features, to which the shaven head, with the usual tuft behind, not a little contributed. These poor men entered with downcast looks; and though no Indian betrayed any lively demonstration of emotion, such feelings were very manifest in many of them. The prisoners gave their hands to their countrymen' all round and then sat . down with them. Two of the Indians, known as particularly dangerous men, one of them the celebrated Winnebago prophet, who has a repulsive countenance, had chains with large iron balls at their feet. The other prisoners were not chained and we were- told that they • were taken out every day by the guard to walk. ' The speeches .now recommenced. Keokuk spoke often and interceded for the prisoners. General Atkinson repeated to them pretty nearly what General, Clark had / / TWIN OSAGE PAPOOSES First twins of the tribe allowed to live. Osages considered twins misfortune. Mother arid babies were buried alive when Osages lived in Missouri before the whites came. Courtesy Missouri Historical Society KE-O-KUK The watchful Fox. Chief of the Sac and Fox tribes. This picture reproduced from an old daguerreotype. WAH-PAH-SHO-SAH, OSAGE CHIEF ' The Osage Indians were closely identified with history of Missouri. Head shaved, 'leaving a tuft of hair on crown, a tribal distinction. ABORIGINAL MISSOURIANS 473 already said, on which the Indians again uttered their "hah!" or "ahah !" When the speeches were ended the company withdrew and, left the prisoners alone with their country men to give free vent to their feelings, fhe sight of old Black Hawk and the whole scene of the prisoners and their friends was affecting. The Winnebago "chief was known better as White Cloud. He was the bad medicine man who encouraged Black Hawk to repudiate the treaty by which Illinois had been given up to white settlement. White Cloud was a Winnebago on his mother's side. He lived on Rock river in Illinois. While he was a prisoner at Jefferson Barracks the medicine man was painted by the artist, Catlin. Soon after the visit of Prince Maximilian, the Indian prisoner Black Hawk was sent on a tour to eastern cities in order that he might be impressed with the strength of the white people. General Flenry Atkinson was prominent in the military life of St. Louis for many years. He was a North Carolinian and 'rose through the grades to be a brigadier general. He was connected with the expeditions which went out from St. Louis to the Yellowstone -in 1819 and 1825. His most' notable service was command of the United States troops in the war against Black Hawk when that warrior and his followers invaded Illinois in 1832. After that war General Atkinson was stationed at Jefferson Barracks until his death in 1842. General Atkinson, was known aihong the Indmns as "White Beaver." ' The Pants Leg Reservation. The Osage Indians were strongly attached to their Missouri homes. For years after they were removed to the Indian' Territory they made it an annual custom to return to Henry County for a visit. Most, of the Delawares moved from Indiana, and Illinois in 1819 to Missouri, locating near the present site of Springfield. Ten years later they sold their Missouri lands to the government and were expected to go on a -reservation near the present city of Leavenworth. Some of the Delawares objected to this change after viewing the promised land becaiise they said the fork formed by the Kaw and Missouri rivers looked too much like the trousers of a white man. They refused to go to what was called at that time "The Pants Leg Reservation," and were sent into the Indian Territory near Fort Sill. During their residence in Missouri- the Delawares gave the white people very little trouble. They became allies of the Tehe band of Cherokees and did some fighting against the Osages. The Story of Colonel Splitlog's Rise, A Missouri Indian founded . a city, developed a niine and built a railroad. Perhaps there is no parallel in any other Estate to this performance. The Mis souri Indian was a member of the Wyandotte tribe. He was Chief Splitlog, but after he became a capitalist and made things boom in the southwestern corner of the state, he was better known as Colonel Splitlog. For many years he lived near Kansas City on the Wyandotte Reservation. When his people dissolved tribal relations and accepted a division of their lands, from the United States, Splitlog was one of the chiefs who negotiated the treaty. After the tribe dissolved, the Sjilitlog family, remained near the mouth of the Kaw and the ex-chief began to show his ability bv steamboating in a small way. As "Kansas City grew, the 474 CENTENNIAL HISTORY. OF MISSOURI Splitlogs were able to sell their land at a good price. They moved to the banks of the Cowskin, or as it was sometimes more elegantly termed, the Elkhorn, The ex-chief kept a store and sold goods to the Senecas. He built a house that was the wonder of the whole Seneca nation. It had two full stories, was handsomely painted and, more wonderful than all, it had a big "observatory" on top. The young members of the family developed musical talent and the old chief bought them a full set of band instruments and hired an instructor. A local manager conceived the idea of a concert tour. The Splitlog boys started out with the old man's blessing and some cash1 in advance. About the third -concert pros perity proved too much for them. ' The boys took the town and the town marshal took them. The Splitlog cornet band left Missouri and went back to the nearby reservation. About 1885 Splitlog became associated with some professional promoters.. The southwest corner of Missouri was electrified one day with the announcement that silver had been discovered a short distance south of Neosho. When the news had been well circulated, it was found that Splitlog and his white associates had obtained leases on five thousand acres v of land, Splitlog contributing the money and the promoters furnishing the. brains. The Splitlog "Silver Mining company was organized with the old chief's favorite son, Joe, as president. Splitlog City was laid out near the mines ; a hotel was built and several other business structures were erected. 'A daily stage line was put on between Neosho and Splitlog City. Assays from ores alleged to have come from, the Splitlog mines were shown, v These assays were made by reputable firms in "St" Louis, Kansas City and elsewhere. They gave from $40 to $298 in silver per ton. Some of them returned gold. Splitlog displayed a watch on fhe inside of which was inscribed, "The case of this watch was made from gold taken out of the Splitlog Mines in McDonald County, Missouri." , < The rush to Splitlog City set in. On the country roads wagons with white tops "Bound for Splitlog" could be seen moving in all directions. There was great activity in sinking shafts. The next, step was the organization of a railroad company. Colonel Splitlog took most of the shares. The railroad was capitalized at $3,000,000. A construction company was formed with a capital of $350,000. Colonel Splitlog was the treasurer of the construction company. About thirty miles of roadbed was graded and six miles of track was laid. Colonel Splitlog drove the first spike, which was of silver claimed to have been obtained from the Splitlog mines. The motive for the road was to obtain facilities for shipment of the ore. After Splitlog had invested about $175,000, the collapse came. Mrs. Splitlog, influenced by other members of the family, refused to sign any more deeds. The colonel became suspicious of his white associates, who departed for other .fields of exploitation. The boom collapsed. Assays of ore mined by, independent pros pectors showed only a trace of silver.. Eastern men took hold of the Splitlog rail road and extended it north and soufh,,.until they had it running some distance. A cutoff left Splitlog City two miles to one sidei - Then the builders of the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf got the road and pushed it south to the GulFof Mexico, njaking the Kansas City Southern one of the most important' and profitable north and south lines in the country. CHAPTER XIV MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS Raids from the North — A Grand Jury Warning — The Battle of Sweet Lick — "Big Hands" Clark- — Lincoln County Forts — "General" Black Hawk — The Zumwalt Sisters — An Indian's Courting — How Black Hawk Repaid Hospitality — Farming and Fighting — ¦ The Battle of the Sink Hole— Raid on Loutre Island — Stephen Cole's Desperate Encounter — Montgomery Co.unty's Tragedies — Jacob Groom's Heroic Act-^Captain James Callaway Ambushed — Battle of Prairie Fork Crossing — The Pettis County Mystery — A British Officer's Tomb — Fort Cooper — Captain Sarshall Cooper's Defiance— When Settlers "Ported Up" — The Seven Widows of Fort Hempstead — Killing of Jonathan Todd and Thomas Smith — Fort Cole — A Long Cfiase — Braxton Cooper's Fighf for Life — Stephen Cooper's Charge — Christmas Eve Mourning — G'ood Old Hannah Cole — The Northwest Pivot Man— Major Ashby's Footrace with a Chief — The Panic in Bluff Settlement — Ringtail Painter's Bloody Combats — The Pottawattomie War — ¦ , Council at Portage des Sioux — Auguste Chouteau's Diplomacy — Death of Black Buffalo — Big Elk's Peace Oration — Intrigues of British Fur - Traders — Captain O'Fallon's Scathing Report — Reminiscences of lohn B. Clark — The Big Neck War — Cabins of the White Folks — The Battle- with the lowas — A Remorseful Chief — Father De Smet — The Life Work of "Blackgown" — Walk In Rain, the Letter Writer. Put in your minds that as soon, as the British' made peace with us they left you positively in the middle of a prairie without shade or cover against the sun and rain. The British left you positively in the middle of a prairie, worthy of pity. But we Americans have a large umbrella which covers us against the sun and rain and we offer you, as friends, a share of it. — Colonel Auguste Chtmteau at the Indian Council, Fortage des Sioux. The United States government expended one thousand million dollars in Indian wars within the boundaries of this country. Such was the estimate made by an army officer. Of this billion dollars the amount required for the settle ment of Indian troubles in Missouri was insignificant. During two generations the French i pioneers of Missouri lived in almost continuous peace with the In dians. The rapid immigration following the American flag in 1804 brought fighting. But with the Indians who lived in Missouri the settlers had few serious difficulties. They suffered far more from the war parties of braves which came down from the North, some of them traveling hundreds of miles to prey on the little communities near the Missouri river. The region lying north of the Missouri and west of the Mississippi was raided at intervals for ten years. Bands of the Sacs, the lowas, the Foxes, the Pottawatomies came into what was called the "St. Charles district," now St. Charles, Montgomery and Warren counties. Even before the white settlements these northern Indians came to the Mis souri river country to fight other tribes. Wetmore's Gazetteer of Missouri, pub lished in 1837, said" that on Sweet Lick in Monroe County "there is a battle field so thickly covered with the bones of combatants slain there as to deserve a high place in the annals of blood-letting. The conflict was between the Sac and Fox 475 476 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Indians and the Sioux. Tradition does not particularize the battler nor are we1 able to, determine. to which nation of these red warriors victory was awarded by the Great Spirit." The situation on the Missouri frontier was anything but , monotonous. , Brackenridge, who went Up the Missouri with Manuel Lisa, told of an incident at Fort Osage. He gave the story as narrated to him by an officer. The trouble had been adjusted ten days before the Lisa party arrived. About fifteen hundred Osage warriors had camped near the fort. Two hundred of them had just come back from a, raid on the lowas. Brackenridge spelled the name "Ayuwas." The braves were so lifted up over the exploit that they insulted the soldiers in the . -fort. One of these warriors defied a sentinel at his post. The sentinel was com- mandedJo fire over his head. This producing no effect, the warrior was seized by a file- of men, -which he at first treated with indifference, declaring that if he was confined he -would get some of the white, man's bread. • His tune was changed, however, by a liberal application of the cat-o'-nine-tails to his back. The Indians were excited. They rushed forward with their arms. But the soldiers paraded and made ready a few cannon. The Indians thought proper to retreat. They maintained a threatening attitude for a few days. To show their spite they killed a pair of oxen belonging to Mr. Audrain, the settler near; the" fort. The officer at the fort sent for the chiefs and told theih that unless two horses were given for the oxen he would fire on the Indian village. The chiefs complied ; the pipe was smoked, and all matters were adjusted. Lincoln County Forts. , v In the region which afterwards became Lincoln county there was conflict between the white settlers and the Indians. Major Christopher Clark was the first American to settle permanently hear Troy. He located about three and one-half miles southeast of that city. Other settlers followed and established themselves along the Mississippi and along the Cuivre., Major Clark had trouble almost imme diately upon his settlement. He was called "Big Hands" by the Indians. Several times waridering bands fired at his cabin, and on one occasion shot into the stable and killed a horse. In 1804 three sons of William McHugh who had settled on Sandy creels were killed at the ford.. They were boys of from eleven to fifteen years. They had been sent about a mile from home to bring in the horses. Dixon, an Indian scout, was with the boys at the time, but escaped! The situation became so serious that a number of forts were built. Major Clark constructed one of these primitive buildings of defense. He placed in it 7,000 pounds of pork and'other provisions for the use of those settlers who might have to seek for shelter. This was ,known as Clark's Fort. On the -site of what is now Troy, Wood's Fort was built. Stout's Fort was located near Auburn. The most important of these fortifications was on the river bluff near Cave spring. This was called Fort Howard in honor of Governor Benjamin Howard, who for a short time was governor of the territory, but who resigned to become commander of the rangers. Black Hawk's Treachery. Black Hawk, the Sac chief, was a frequent visitor in Northeast Missouri pre vious to 1810 and even later. His Indian name, was "Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak." MAJOR BENJAMIN O'FALLON Ho reported to Gov. William Clark the intrigues of Ithe British fur traders ROBERT FORSYTH Many years Indian agent THE OLD FORT AND STOCKADE ON THE HILL AT ST. LOUIS Present site of the Southern Hotel ' , MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 479 The literal translation of this Indian name is Black Sparrowhawk. Black Hawk was not a chief in time of peace. He, was a leader of hostile parties in, time of war and that gave him -the title of war chief. The British made use of him in the war of 1812. They gave him the uniform of a British officer and called him General Black Hawk. They gave him command of five hundred Indians and expected to use him in attacks upon American settlers of Illinois and Missouri. Before the war of 1812, Black Hawk spent sume time in the settlements of what is now Lincoln county. He attended dancing parties and took part in the quad rille, or, as it was commonly called then, the "French Four Dance." For a while he was allowed to live at the house of Adam Zumwalt which was, on the south side of the Cuiv're river in the northern part of St. Charles county. Zumwalt did whiskey distilling in a small way. He had four daughters, lovely girls, named Elizabeth, Rachael, Mary and Catherine. Black Hawk paid special attention to one of them and offered fo buy her for a dozen horses. The girls utilized Black Hawk's infatuation by making him bring them water from the spring, dig potatoes, cut wood, telling him that that was the way to win a white wife. The settlers treated Black Hawk well, depending upon his influence to- protect them from the Sacs. The Indian repaid this good treatment by making a special request in 181 2, when the British gave him his uniform and his command of five hundred Sacs and Fox Indians, that he be allowed to make an immediate attack upon the Northeast Missouri settlement, explaining that he had spent much time there and was well acquainted with the situation. The ^British General Proctor, however, refused and sent Black Hawk into Michigan and Northern Ohio. The war chief came back with the Sacs tribe on Rock river in Northern Illinois in 1813. The next spring he descended upon Missouri settlements of his own accord. He had about fifty braves when he landed from canoes on the 10th of May near Cap-au-Gris." Dividing his party he led one band into the timber near McLean's creek. The other party he sent up the Cuivre to make a pretended attack on Fort Howard. This second party killed a ranger named Bernard who was scouting out from Fort Howard in the woods. The alarm was given and the rangers, under Lieutenant Massey, came out of Fort Howard and drove the Indians up the Cuivre but without a fight. Black Hawk and his followers remained in Northeast Missouri looking for parties to waylay and massacre. On the 15th of May, half, a dozen men and toys escorted by five rangers went up the Cuivre to sow turnips for one of the settlers. At that time the pioneers had left their farrns and were in the forts. It was known that Black Hawk and his followers were somewhere in the vicinity. Two of the men, Fred Dixon and Roswell Durkee, were riding one horse. As they passed by the place where Black Hawk and one of his party were concealed the Indians fired. Durkee was wounded. Dixon was thrown from the horse and ran. Black Hawk pursued him, and was about overtaking him when Dixon stopped, picked up a big stick and turned toward the Indian. Black Hawk looked at Dixon and then ran away although he was carrying his rifle, tomahawk and knife. , Years afterwards Black Hawk, in the so-called autobiography of him, explained why he ran away from Dixon. He said, "I knew him; he had been at Quash- qua-me's village to learn my people to plow. He was a good man and I did not wish to'kill him," The fact was'that Dixon had never been' an instructor of the 480 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Indians and was a good fighter. He had been present at the murder of the McHugh boys in 1804. Dixon recovered his horse and attempted to save Durkee, but the latter had been scalped and was dazed. He could not understand what was wanted.. Dixon was forced to abandon him. The, Indians came upon Durkee. Black Hawk afterwards said, "He was staggering like a drunken man, all covered with blood. This was the most terrible sight I had ever seen. I told my comrade to -kill him and put him out of his' misery. I could not look at- him." Other members of Black Hawk's band open'ed fire upon Dixon's party' and killed James Bowles, one of the rangers. There were, four boys in the party that had gone out to sow turnips. They were swimming in the creek when the attack by Black Hawk's band occurred. Benjamin Allen rode up to them,- took his son Edwin on the horse and told the other boys to hide. The little fellow's- ran from the water, caught up their clothes and crawjed into a hollow log. Black Hawk came up and jumped on the log. He afterwards said, in his autobiography, "that he saw the boys hiding but thought of his own at home and let them escape." One of the boys who hid in the log was Chauncey Durkee- who became a prominent citizen of "Lewis County. In telling of the experience he said that he looked through a knot hole and saw Black Hawk very plainly; -' ' / The Battle of the Sink Hole. "The battle of the Sink Hole" was one of the few Indian fights in Missouri which could be given such a formal title. It was fought near Fort Howard in what is now Lincoln county near Cap-au-Gris. . A company of mounted rangers under Captain Peter Craig had been raised in Cape Girardeau- county and had gone to Northeast Missouri to defend the settlements against Black Hawk's force. One ¦ of the participants in the battle was Colonel John Shaw, a hunter and explorer • who had, been looking for gold in the Ozarks. He joiped the rangers and .was in the Indian campaign of 1814. His account of the battle of the Sink Hole Was given to the Wisconsin Historical Society : "About noon five of the men went out of Fort Howard to Byrne's deserted house on the bluff, about one-fourth of a mile below the fort, to bring ,in a grindstone. In conse quence of backwater from the Mississippi they went in a canoe and on their return were fired on by a party supposed to be fifty Indians, who were under shelter of some brush that grew along the bluff near Byrne's house, and about 'fifteen rods distant from' the canoe at the time. Three of the whites were killed and one mortally wounded, and as the water was shallow the Indians ran out and tomahawked their victims. The people in the fort fired on the Indians across the backwater, a few inches deep, while another party of about 'twenty-five ran to the right of the water with a view of intercepting the Indians who seemed to be making, toward the bluff or high plain west and northwest of the fort. "The party of twenty-five and Captain Craig's soon united. On the bluff was the cultivated field and deserted residence of Benjamin Allen. The field was about forty rods across, beyond which was pretty thick timber. Here the Indians made a stand, and here the fight began. Both' parties fired. As the fight waxed warm the Indians slowly retired as the whites advanced. After the fight had been going on perhaps some ten minutes the whites- were reinforced by Captain David Musick, of Cap-au-Gris, with" about twenty men. He had been on a scout toward the head of Cuivre river, and had returned to within about one-half mile of the fort, and about one and one-half miles of the scene of the conflict, and had stopped with his men to graze their horses. Hearing the firing1 they instantly remounted and dashed toward the scene- of- rfattle. Dismounting Sn theedge of the timber on the brow of the bluff and hitching their horses, they rushed through a part of the Indian line,~and shortly after the enemy fled, a part" bearing to the right of MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 481 the sink hole toward Bob's creek, but the most of them taking refuge in the sink hole, which was close by where the main part of the fighting had taken place. About the time the Indians were retreating Captain Craig exposed himself four feet beyond his tree and was shot through the body and fell dead. James Putney was killed before Captain Craig, and perhaps one or two others. Before the Indians retired to the sink hole the fighting had become animated, the loading was done quickly and shots rapidly exchanged. When one of our party was killed or wounded it was announced aloud. The sink hole was about sixty feet in length, and from twelve to fifteen feet in width and ten or twelve feet deep. Near the bottom, on the southeast side, was a shelving rock under which some fifty or sixty persons might have sheltered themselves. At the northeast end of the sink' hole the descent was quite gradual, the other end it was much more abrupt. The southeast side was almost perpendicular. The other side was about like the steep side of a house. "On the southeast side the Indians,, as a farther protection in case the whites should rush up, dug under the shelving rock with their knives. On the sides and in the bottom of the sink hole were some bushes which also served as something of a screen for the Indians. Captain Musick and his men took part on the northeast side of the sink hole, and others occupied other positions surrounding the enemy. As the trees approached close to the sink hole these served in part to protect our party. Finding we could not get a good opportunity to dislodge the enemy, as they were best protected, those of our men who had families at the fort gradually went there, not knowing but a large body of Indians might seize the favorable occasion to attack the fort while the men were away engaged in the exciting contest. The Indians in the sink hole had a drum made of a skin stretched over the section of a hollow tree, on which they beat quite constantly, and some Indian would shake a rattle called she-shuqui, probably a dried bladder with pebbles within, and even for a moment would venture to thrust his head in view, with his hand elevated, shaking his rattle and calling out, 'peash ! peash !' which was understood to be a sort of defiance, or, as Black Hawk, who was one of the party, says in his account of that affair, a kind of bravado to come and fight them in the sink hole. "When the Indians would creep up and shoot over the rim of the sink hole they would instantly disappear, and while they sometimes fired effectual shots they in turn became occasionally the victims. From about one to four o'clock p. m. the firing was incessant. Our men generally reserved their fire until an Indian would show his head. All of us were studying how we could more effectually attack and dislodge the enemy. At length Lieutenant Spears suggested that a pair of cart wheels, axle and tongue, which were seen at Allen's place, be obtained and a moving battery constructed. The idea was entertained favorably, and an hour or more was consumed in its construction. Some oak floor puncheons, from seven to eight feet in length, were made fast to the axle in an upright position and port-holes made through them. Finally the battery was ready for trial, and was sufficiently large to protect some half a dozen or more men. It was moved forward slowly, and seemed to attract the attention of the Indians, who had evidently heard the knocking and pounding connected with its manufacture, and who now frequently popped up their heads to make momentary discoveries. It was at length moved up to- within less than ten paces of the brink of the sink hole on the southeast side. The upright plank did not reach to the ground within some eighteen inches, the men calculating to shoot beneath the lower end at the Indians. But the latter from their position had a decided advantage of this neglected aperture, for the Indians shooting beneath the battery at an upward angle, would get shots at the whites before the. latter could see them. The Indians also watched the portholes and directed some of* their shots at them. Lieutenant Spears was shot dead through the head, and his death was much lamented, as he had proved himself an intrepid officer. John- Patterson was wounded in the thigh, and some others behind the battery were also wounded. Having failed in its design the battery was abandoned after sundown. Our hope all along had been that the Indians would emerge from their covert and attempt to retreat to where we sup posed their canoes were left, some three or four miles distant; in which case we were firmly determined to rush upon them and endeavor to cut them off totally. The men generally evinced the greatest bravery during the whole of the engagement. Vol. 1—81 482 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "Night was now coming on, and the reports of half a dozen guns in the direction of the fort by a few Indians, who rushed out of the woods skirting Bob's creek not more than forty rods from the north end of the fort, were heard. This movement on the part of the few Indians who had escaped when the others took refuge in the sink hole was evidently designed to divert the attention of the whites and alarm them for the safety of the fort, and thus effectually relieve the Indians in the sink hole. This was the result, for Captain Musick and men retired to the fort, carrying the dead and wounded, and made every preparation to repel a night attack. "The men at the fort were mostly up all night, ready for resistance, if necessary. There was no physician at the fort, and much effort was made to set some broken bones. There was a well in the fort, and provision and ammunition to sustain a pretty formidable attack. The women were greatly alarmed, pressing their infants to their breasts, fearing they might not be permitted to behold another morning's light, but the night passed away without seeing or hearing an Indian. The next morning a party went to the sink hole and found the Indians gone. They had carried off all their dead and wounded except five dead bodies left on the northwest side. From all signs it appeared some thirty of them were killed or wounded. Lieutenant Gray reported eight~of our party killed, one missing and five wounded. The dead were buried near the fort and a man sent to St. Charles for medical assistance. Lieutenant Gray assumed command." The killed in Captain Craig's company besides himself and Lieutenant Spears, were Alexander Giboney, James Putney, Antoine Pelkey, Hubbard Tayon, and Francois Lemmey. The wounded were John Patterson, Benjamin Hall and Abraham Letts. A Grand Jury Warning. The grand jury at St. Louis impressed with the dangerous situation made this presentment to the court at the June term, 1805 : "Destrict of Louisiana "Destrict of St. Louis "We the Grand Jurors for the Destrict of St. Louis Having the Safety of the Inhab itants at Heart, and as a Great number of Savages are at Present in the Destrict and more are Daily Arriving— and Whereas some evil Disposed persons do Sell Barter or give to the' Said Savages, Speritious Liquors in such quantitys as to put them in a State of Intoxication, and thereby Endanger the lives and Propertys of the Said Inhabitants— We the Grand Jurors for the Destrict Aforesaid do ernestly request the Courts to take the Same Ameadiately into Concideration, and Devise such means as they in their wisdom may think proper to prevent the like in Future. "John Biggs Foreman" The Raid on Loutre Island. In his narratives of the Indian wars of Missouri written for the Globe-Demo crat about thirty years ago, Major R. I. Holcombe told of these tragedies: "In the summer of 1807 occurred a memorable and ill-fated expedition. ' A band of ten Indians, Sacs and Pottawatomies, came down, stole seven horses belonging to the settlers on Loutre island, and started northward with them. Five islanders set out in pursuit. These were William T. and Stephen Cole, James Patton, John Gooch and James Murdock, all experienced frontiersmen, hardy and brave. On the evening of the second day out the party came in sight of the Indians on the Salt river prairie, in what is now the southern part of Ralls county. Moving forward a mile or so, and darkness coming on, they went into camp on the bank of Spencer creek, intending to open friendly negotiations with the Indians the following morning. MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 483 "In this design, however, they were anticipated by -the savages, who, well armed with rifles and other weapons, attacked them furiously in the night. Wm. T. Cole (commonly called Temple Cole) , Patton and Gooch were killed in their blankets at the first fire. Murdock -slipped under the bank of the creek near by, leaving Stephen Cole alone to con tend with the enemy. Two Indians closed upon him. One of them stabbed him in the back from behind, the other encountered, him in front. Cole, a very powerful man and a good fighter, wrested the knife from the hand of the Indian in his front and plunged it into his heart. He then turned upon his other assailant and was about to finish him, when all the other Indians threw themselves upon him, and having to contend against too great odds, he cut his way through them and saved himself by flight, favored, of course, by the darkness, and after an arduous journey of three days and nights on foot — for he had been compelled to leave his horse in the hands of the Indians — he succeeded in reaching the island and Fort Clemson. Murdock did not return to the island for several days. "Organizing another party, Cole returned to the scene of the fight and buried his dead comrades, all of whom had been scalped and otherwise mutilated. The body of the Indian he. had killed was also found. Some years afterwards the skulls of the murdered men were found, and thereafter the locality was known to the settlers as 'Skull Lick.' There is no name better known in the history of the Boone's Lick country than that of Capt. Stephen Cole. It was he who, in 1812, built Cole's Fort, the first county seat of Howard county, and it was for him Cole county was named. He was killed by the "Indians on the plains in 1824 while engaged in the Santa Fe trade. "In 181 1 the Indians had committed some outrages in the Boone's Lick settlements, in Howard county, and over near the Mississippi, on the Salt and Cuivre rivers, in Pike and Lincoln. It- was suspected that, the perpetrators we're the Indians of the Missouri. Gen. Wm. Clark, then in command of this department, made every exertion to detect them, but, as the American forces were not yet organized, he did not succeed. Indian forays from the north were repeated, and during the year 1812 from Fort Madison (on the Illinois bank of the Mississippi, a little below the mouth of the Des Moines) to St. Charles settlers were murdered and their homes destroyed by the savages. "At last Gov. Benjamin Howard went to St. Charles and ordered Col. Kibbe, who commanded the militia of that county, to call out a portion of the men who were in requisition to march at a moment's warning. He organized a company of rangers for continuous service, with Capt. James Callaway, a grandson of Daniel Boone, as captain. This company was made up principally of St. Charles county men, all hardy woodsmen, active, skillful and bold. At intervals this company scoured the country from Salt river to the Missouri, and performed invaluable service. "Gov. Howard also established a small fort on the Mississippi in St. Charles county, which was garrisoned by a company of regulars from Bellefontaine, under the command of a Lieut. Mason, and for him was called Fort Mason. Fort Clemson, on Loutre island, was built at the same time. Throughout the settlements the pioneers themselves built a number of block houses, or so-called forts. There was Daniel M. Boone's Fort, in Darst's Bottom, St. Charles county ; Howell's Fort, on Howell's prairie ; Pond's Fort, on the Dardenne prairie, a little southeast of the site of Wentzville; White's Fort, on the Dog prairie; Hountz's Fort, eight miles west of St. Charles ; Zumwalt's Fort, near O'Fallon ; Castlio's Fort, near Howell's prairie ; Kennedy's Fort, near Wright City ; Callaway's Fort, near Marthasville, and Wood's Fort at Troy. But for these establishments and Gov. Howard's preparations it is probable that the whites in this part would either have been driven out of the country or exterminated. Montgomery County Tragedies. "The first victim of the Indian War of 1S12 in Montgomery county was Harris Massey, a boy of 17, who was killed here, at the Loutre Lick, in the spring of 1813. In the previous winter his father, Thomas Massey, had left the shelter of Fort Clemson, where he had settled in 1809, and come to the Lick, having leased the land from Col. Nathan Boone. Massey had built a cabin on the north side of the little stream known as Sallie's Branch, and had cleared a small field on the south side. This field is now the site of the village of 484 - CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Mineola. Young Massey was killed under the following circumstances: His father had gone up the Loutre to examine some Indian 'signs' that had been discovered the previous evening. When he left he_ set Harris at work to plow in the little field. He directed the boy to tie his rifle to his back while at work, and, if the Indians appeared, to fire on them at once. After a time the boy, as is presumed, grew weary of carrying the gun, and set it against a tree near the cleared ground. About 10 o'clock a band of Sac Indians slipped down Sallie's Branch and, crawling under the bank, approached within ioo yards of the boy. Two Indians fired and the boy fell. With savage yells the 'noble red men' sprang out and, running up to the body, offered it every indignity. They tore off the scalp, and then mutilated the body in a manner not to be described. "Mr. Massey's family at the house were in plain view of the tragedy. Ann Massey, one of the daughters, seized the dinner horn and blew one blast after another upon it. This seemed to disconcert the Indians and they soon fled. Mr. Massey heard the horn and\ hastened home. The Indians had not taken his horses, and he succeeded in. making his way with his family to Fort Clemson, distant by the nearest trail eighteen miles. A party went out and buried the mangled body of the boy on the hillside, a little south of where he fell. Thereafter, for nearly two years, there was no attempt at settling the country back of the river by the islanders. They preferred to remain quietly under the protection of the fort. "In the soring of 1814 occurred the next tragedy. A young man named Daniel Dougherty was killed by the Sac Indians at the Big spring, in the southern part of the county. He belonged to the colony on the island, and volunteered to go up to a saltpeter cave on Clear creek (about four miles southeast of Danville) to procure some saltpeter for making powder. At that time the pioneers made their own powder. As he did not return at the appointed time the colonists became uneasy, and Jacob Groom and Wm. Stewart volunteered to go in search of him. "From Mrs. Lurinda Snethen, a daughter of Jacob Groom, I have obtained the par ticulars of the adventures of her father and his companion on this 'occasion. It seems they set out from the island on horseback, taking the trail to the cave by way of the, Big spring. Groom had formerly lived at the spring and knew the locality well. A quarter of a mile north of the spring, and 100 yards north of 'Possum Branch, as the two men were riding along, Stewart suddenly called out : 'Lord ! Jake, look at the Indians !' Sure enough, there they were, only 100 yards in front, half of them mounted, all of them painted and armed— a swarm of them. . , "The two scouts turned and'fled. The Indians pursued them; yelling and shooting with rifles and bows. Crossing 'Possum Branch Groom's horse jumped with a mighty leap and the saddle turned, Groom's feet being out of the stirrups ; but he clung to the horse, con trived to unfasten the girth and let the saddle fall. As they emerged into the clearing near Groom's cabin at the spring the Indians gave them a volley of bullets and arrows. Both horses were badly wounded, and Stewart received a bullet in his ankle. A mile south, the •Indians still in pursuit, Stewart's horse fell from loss of blood. Groom stopped and tookr Stewart up behind him, or else he must have perished. "Luckily, both men reached the island in safety. There was, of course, great excite ment, and pickets' were at once put out and all the outlying settlers warned in. Capt. Clem son prepared the fort for an attack, but it did not come. In a few days Capt. Callaway's rangers came out and found the body of Dougherty half way up the hill from the Big spring and buried it. The Indians had scalped and mutilated it, and it presented a sad spectacle. Jacob Groom lived to become an honored citizen of the country, and was for two terms a member of the Missouri legislature. Captain James Callaway. "But. the most serious casualty that befell the settlers during the war was the defeat and death of that gallant spirit, Capt. James Callaway, and a portion of his company of rangers, at the junction with the Loutre of a small stream called the Prairie Fork, in the southern part of Montgomery county, March 7, 1815. I think I have stated that Capt. Callaway was a son of Flanders Callaway and a grandson of Daniel Boone. Distinguished for his intelligence, fortitude and courage, he was selected to command the company of ' rangers by Gov. Howard, and up to the time of his death was one of the most active, MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS . 485 daring and efficient scouts in the service, and occupied a prominent' position in the affairs of this district. He had been in many an Indian fight, and in August, 1814, he com manded the Missourians who formed a part of the force of Maj. Zachary Taylor that went against the British and Indians at the Rock Island. He bore a gallant part in the brave but unsuccessful assault on the strong, cannon-crowned intrenchments at that point, and on the American retreat he covered and protected the rear. "On the 6th of March a band of some seventy-five or eighty Sacs and Foxes (some say Sacs and Pottawatomies) came down near Loutre island and stole a dozen or more horses that were grazing on the mainland, and succeeded in escaping with them up Loutre creek. The next morning, being in the country, scouting, Capt. Callaway, with fifteen of his rangers, came upon the fresh Indian trail made by the horse-thieves. Following it rapidly up, at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon they came upon the Indian camp and the stolen horses, guarded by only a few squaws. All the men were absent. The squaws fled upon the approach of the rangers, and were riot pursued. It seemed that the Indians had scattered and retreated altogether, for no well-defined trail could be found, and' it was decided to discontinue the pursuit; so, securing the horses, Capt. Callaway started with them and his men southward down the Loutre valley for the island. "Lieut. Jonathan Riggs, the second in command of the rangers, was an old Indian fighter and a man of caution and good judgment. His suspicions had been excited by the disappearance of the Indians, and he said to Capt. Callaway that they had dispersed in order to mislead them, and that they meant to swing around to the southward and, forming an ambuscade, intercept the rangers on their way to the island. His advice was, therefore, that the return march should be made by a different route. But Capt. Callaway believed that the Indians had left the country and would not again be seen. Accordingly, he dismissed the suspicions of Lieut. Riggs and proceeded with his men by the route over which he had marched out that morning. The Ambush. "At the crossing of Prairie Fork, a hundred yards or more f rorrf the Loutre, the little command was attacked. Three rangers — Parker Hutchings, Frank McDermid and James McMillin — were a hundred yards in advance with the recovered horses. Just as they reached the south bank of the stream a volley of deadly shots rang out from the Indian ambuscade, and all three fell dead from their saddles on the shore. "Hearing the firing and the fierce war-whoops of the savages, Capt. Callaway and his twelve men dashed bravely up, but they, in turn, received a rnurderous fire from ¦ their ambushed foes, who were concealed in the timber on a hill in fripnt. Capt. Callaway's horse was killed and he received a bullet through his left arm, escaping death at the instant by the ball striking his watch. He sprang from his horse and called out to his men: 'Cross the creek and charge them and fight to the death!' His men -dashed forward and1 he essayed to follow by swimming the cold waters of the stream, then swollen to a considerable depth by recent rains and melting snow. Doubtless his wounded arm failed him, for when some of his men who had crossed looked back he was drifting and swimming down the strong and rapid current. Just then an Indian shot him in the back of the head, the ball lodging in his forehead, and he instantly sank. "Lieut. Riggs and his comrades fought as best they-could, but all thdir efforts availed nothing against a foe five times their number and well practiced, and at last the lieutenant gave the order to retreat. The rangers recrossed Prairie Fork, and, making a con siderable detour, crossed it again a mile above, and the next morning succeeded in reach ing the island. Two of the men were detached and sent east to Wood's Fort, in Lincoln county. "Of the sixteen rangers six were killed, viz. : Capt. Callaway, Parker Hutchings, Frank McDermid, James McMillin, Thomas Gilmore and Hiram Scott. The last named, and a comrade named Wolf, were left on the south bank of the stream when their com rades recrossed. Wolf "escaped to the island and was the first to bring the tidings of the disaster. Nearly every man in the party was more or less severely wounded, and every horse was struck. The loose horses of"- the settlers were of course lost. It was never certainly known that the Indians had more than one man killed. He was buried on the prairie, near the present site of Wellsville." 486 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI A Mysterious Tomb in Pettis. t , A strange discovery made in Pettis county a few miles southeast of the present location of Sedalia was interpreted by the early settlers as evidence that the British were active in stirring up the Indian troubles in Missouri during the war of 1812. Several years after the war three Missourians, Joseph Stevens, Stephen Cole and William Ross, were hunting and exploring Central Missouri as far west as Knob Noster. They found near Flat creek what appeared to be an Indian mound of unusual construction. On one side a hole had been opened as if by the digging of wolves. The Missourians crawled through and found a room about eight feet square and six feet high. The roof was supported by logs. On one side of the room was the body of a white man, apparently an officer in full uniform, including a cocked hat, lace stockings, morocco slippers, gold lace along the seams of the coat and gold epaulets on the shoulders. The body was seated on a log. The flesh had mummified so that it looked like leather. What attracted the hunters to the place was that the walls of the tomb arose several feet above the general surface of the ground. The logs which formed the roof ran up to a point. The walls and roof had been made of prairie sod cut deep. The tcjmb was protected from the rain and until the opening must have been practically fire proof. A gold headed cane was beside the body. The theory of the early settlers was that this man had been a British officer who had come into Missouri during the war of 1812 for the purpose of stirring up Indian troubles. A later visit was made:to the place by Joseph Stevens and James D. Campbell. It was found that the roof had partly fallen in and that only the/Skeleton and clothes remained. The epaulets were carried away and melted into a large ball of gold equal to the metal in fifteen or twenty dollars,. Gradually time effaced this tomb. The Cooper Colony. Settlement began in Howard county with the arrival of Colonel Benjamin Cooper and his family from Kentucky in 1808. Cooper laid up his log house two miles southwest of Boone's Lick. He had cleared some ground and had planted his first crop when Governor Meriwether Lewis notified him that he was on ground which still belonged to the Indians and that he must moye eastward to. some point below the mouth of the Gasconade. Cooper then settled on Loutre island as it has always been called. Loutre means "Otter" in English. The island took its name from the very attractive Loutre river which empties into the north side of the Missouri. The early French trappers found otter on the stream and bestowed the title. They. are said to have trapped in that locality long before the settlement of St. Louis. The ground known as Loutre island is opposite the city of Hermann. As early as 1800 ten or twelve white families were living there. The Cooper family remained with the settlers on Loutre island until the spring of 1810 when the colonel with the Hancock, Thorp, Wolfskill, Ashcraft, Ferrill. and Anderson families went back to the vicinity of Boone's Lick and formed a settlement in the Missouri bottoms of what became Howard county. Within two years there were several hundred people living there. The war of 1812 came on. Cooper and his neighbors realized the danger from Indian attacks. They built three forts which they called Fort Cooper, Fort Hempstead and Fort Kin- caid. Fort Cooper was southwest of Boone's Lick. Fort Kincaid was nine miles away to the southeast and Fort Hempstead was a little short of two miles north of Courtesy Missouri Historical Society CAPTAIN STEPHEN COLE'S FIGHT ON SPENCEE CEEEK Captain Cole fought his way out after three companions had been killed. He built Cole' Fort, and was one of the most noted Indian fighters in Boone's Lick Country. MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 489 Kincaid. Cole's Fort was onjhe south side of the river just east of Boonville. It was built that same year by Captain Stephen Cole. When they erected these forts in the vicinity of Boone's Lick the settlers organized a company of rangers with Sarshall Cooper- as captain ; Wm. McMahan, first lieutenant ; John Monroe, second lieutenant, and Ben Cooper, junior ensign. There were one hundred and twelve men in the company, the older having had experience in Indian fighting before they left Kentucky and Tennessee. The neighborhood was so well or ganized that for three years, until the close of the war, the Indians were not able to surprise the settlements, scouts who went out continuously giving the alarms whenever bands appeared in the neighborhood. From three hundred to five hundred Indians came down on three occasions to attack the Boone's Lick set tlers but were discovered by the scouts in time for the settlers to prepare. Gov ernor Howard, as soon as he knew of the declaration of war, sent a messenger from St. Louis to Boone's Lick, advising the settlers of the danger that the Indians might attack and telling them to come down nearer to St. Louis if they wanted protection. The suggestion was declined, Captain Cooper wrote to the governor a letter showing the stuff of which the Boone's Lick pioneers were made: "We have maid our Hoams here & all we hav is here & it wud ruen us to Leave now, We be all good Americans, not a Tory or one of his Pups among us, & we hav 2 hundred Men and Boys that will Fight to the last and we have 100 Wimen & Girls that will talc there places wh. makes a good force. So we can Defend this Settlement wh. with Gods Help we will do. So if we had a fiew barls of Powder and 2 hundred Lead is all we ask." The Indians succeeded in driving away about two hundred horses and killed many cattle and hogs. The settlers "forted up" as the expression was in those days. That is to say, they took refuge in the fortsA They were obliged to neglect their farms. The only corn and vegetables that could be raised was on a few small fields near the forts. This made it necessary to depend largely on bear meat and venison. Whenever parties went out from the fort to cultivate fields they were in force sufficiently strong to defend themselves. Some of the men and boys attended to the crops while others acted as scouts in the woods on every side. It was not unusual for a pioneer who was following the plow to carry his rifle slung over his shoulders. One of the regulations of these "forted" communities was that any man assigned to guard duty who was found asleep must grind a peck of corn meal and present it to each widow in his fort. There were seven widows in the community which took shelter in Fort Hempstead. Besides the three principal forts of the Boone's Lick county there were a number 6f smaller forts.- Settlers on the south side of the Missouri also felt the necessity of protecting themselves. Victims in the Boone's Lick Country. While the people of Boone's Lick country, by watchfulness, averted massacres and general engagements during the war of 1812, they did not escape individual tragedies. Major R. I. Holcombe visited this bloody, debatable ground, searched the records and talked with old settlers. In 1892 he published in the Globe- Democrat a circumstantial and thrilling account of the tragedies : 490 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "The first victims of the war in the Boone's Lick country were Jonathan Todd and Thomas Smith, of Fort Hempstead, who were killed by a band of Sacs and Foxes, in the western part of Boone county, in the spring of 1812. They were in search of some stray 1 horses. While on their errand they came suddenly upon the Indians near Thrall's prairie, not far from the present boundary between Boone and Howard. The exact par ticulars of the tragedy can never be known, but it seemed that the men made a brave defense. They must have retreated a mile or more, firing as they fell back and aiming well. The bodies of four dead Indians (some say six) were afterward found on their line of retreat. At last they were killed, both near together, at the point where they had halted for the final struggle. The Indians mutilated the bodies frightfully. They scalped them, cut out their hearts, cut off their heads and stuck them on poles by the side- of the trail. "The Indians, numbering perhaps 200, went eastward a few miles and crossed the Missouri, putting their, rifles and other effects on small, crude rafts which they pro pelled by swimming and wading behind them, the water being at a low stage, before the 'June rise.' Their object was doubtless an attack on the supposed unsuspecting settlers > on the south side. "But the next day after the killing of Todd and Smith rumors of the trouble reached Cole's Fort, and two very gallant young scouts, James Cole and James Davis, were sent out to investigate and report. They crossed the river and went some miles without seeing anything of a suspicious nature. They then started to return, and recrossed the river five miles below Fort Cole. Half a mile from the river they suddenly discovered the Indians between them and the fort. The savages at' once set after them, but without firing or yelling, fearing perhaps that the noise- would alarm the people at the fort: The scouts set out for Johnson's 'factory,' a small trading post, 200 yards from the Missouri, on Moniteau creek, in what is now. Moniteau county, a distance of 'fully twenty-five miles. It was a long chase and a hard one, the Indians following them and occasionally coming within gunshot. They reached the 'factory' at dusk, and the Indians immediately sur rounded the establishment, but did not attack, intending, probably, to do so the next morning. "Cole and Davis, undaunted by what they had passed through, determined to make another attempt to reach home. They planned to cross the Missouri and make~their way up the river to the Howard county forts, and from thence back to Fort Cole. At mid night they took up a plank from the floor of the 'factory,' crawled from under the build ing, and made their way to the Moniteau creek, where they found a canoe in which they embarked and floated noiselessly down the stream. Just as they entered the river, how ever, an unlucky stroke of the paddle against the side of the canoe betrayed them to some Indians on the bank, who started in pursuit in two captured canoes. The scouts were ,. forced to return to the south side and hide in the brush till daylight, "The Indians pursued them to Big Lick, in Cooper county. Here, being hard pressed, the scouts halted and waited until their pursuers came within 100 yards, when both fired and each killed an Indian. The Indians returned the fire, but without effect, and the brave fellows succeeded in reaching Cole's Fort in safety. The Indians skulked about in the country for a day or two, but did -not offer to attack the fort and soon recrossed the river. The Campaign Against the Miamis. "At this time there were about 500 Miami Indians encamped near the present site of the town of Miami, in Saline county, - They had come out "from Ohio and Indiana a year or two previously, and were supposed to be friendly. But when the war ""broke out many of these rascals embraced the opportunity to steal from and plunder their white neighbors at the forts whenever they could. At last, in July, 1813, a band of them slipped down. into the Howard settlements, and four miles northwest of Boonville killed a settler named Campbell Bowlin (Bolen), of Fort Kincaid. Bowlin and Adam McCord had gone from the fort to Bowlin's cabin and field to care f,or some flax that had long been neglected. The MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 491 treacherous Miamis, in ambush, fired on them in the field and Bowlin was killed. Their moccasin tracks in the field were followed to near the Miami village, thirty miles away. "Col. Ben Cooper wrote a letter to Gov. Clark, at St. Louis, informing him of the circumstances and of the general conduct of the Miamis, and asking that proper action be taken against them. On receipt of Col. Cooper's letter Gov. Howard at once sent a force of rangers to the Miami village. The Indians surrendered and were escorted out of the country after the stolen property had been resLored to the settlers. Fort Cooper's Fighting Garrison. "In September, 1813, Braxton Cooper, of Fort Cooper, was killed within a mile or so of the -fort, as he was cutting logs for a cabin. He was a young man of considerable physical strength and great courage. He had his rifle and knife with him, and the broken bushes, marks on the ground, and other circumstances showed that he had sold his life at the highest possible price. He was found lying on his face. In his clenched right hand was his good knife, bloody from point to hilt; by his side lay his loaded gun. He was not scalped or mutilated, and everything indicated that he had put the Indians to flight before falling dead from his half dozen bullet wounds. Not far away was found an Indian's buckskin hunting shirt, with two bloody bullet holes in it. Cooper's faithful dog remained by his side, howling as if for help, until David Boggs and Jesse Turner crawled out to him during the night and recovered the body of his master. "In October of the same year Stephen Cooper, then a boy pf 16, and another young man named Joseph Still, both of Fort Cooper and belonging to the rangers, were sent up the Chariton river on a scout. They were returning, when, within about twenty-five miles of the fort, they were intercepted by over 100 Sac Indians. There was but one thing to do. The two rangers rode side by side steadily forward, their rifles on the cock, until within 100 yards of the savages, when both fired and then charged. Cooper killed a prominent 'brave' and Still wounded another. Reaching the Indian line Still was shot dead from the saddle, but gallant young Cooper dashed through, waving his rifle and cheering, and succeeded in escaping the shower of bullets, arrows and spears sent after him. As he rode a good horse and the Indians were afoot he was soon safe, and reached the fort in a few hours. "The same month Wm. McLane was killed near the • present site of Fayette. He, his brother Ewing, and four other men, went out to select a good claim for one of them. They came upon at least 100 Indians — presumably the same band encountered by Still and Cooper — and started to return. As they were ascending a slope from a ravine that empties into Moniteau creek, the Indians fired and McLane fell from his horse with a bullet in his brain. ' The other members of the party escaped. The Indians scalped Mc Lane, hacked his body to pieces, and from appearances had a war-dance over it. A strong party of rangers went out to punish the Indians if possible, but the crafty red men burned 4he woods and destroyed their trail so that it could not be followed. A week later, however, Capt. Cooper's rangers came upon five Indians encamped over in the Chariton timber and wiped them all out in a twinkling. On the body of one of the Indians was found a white man's scalp, which was believed to have been McLane's. The Perils of the Salt Makers. "Making salt at Burckhartt's Lick to supply the forts was a perilous business, but it had to be done. In an attack on the salt-makers at this lick in the spring of 1813 James Alcorn, Frank Wood and two other men drove off- twenty Indians, killing three and wounding others. Frank Wood killed two, though he was suffering at the time with a severe wound in the arm received from the Indians, a week before. "In another attack on the salt-makers the workmen mounted^ their horses to retreat. In reining up his. horse John Austin brought up the animaL's head so as to shield his own person. "The Indians fired and shot the horse in the head and it fell. Austin was extricating himself from the dead animal, every moment expecting a bullet or a tomahawk, when a companion, George Huff, fired on the advancing warriors and actually killed two of them 492 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF' MISSOURI . at a single shot. The other Indians fell back and took to cover, while Austin and Huff took to their heels and escaped to Fort Kincaid. "Over on the Cooper county side of the river, and especially in the neighborhood of Cole's Fort, there were other murders from time to time. A few months after the fort was built a strong band of Indians came into the neighborhood. At the time there were two parties from the fort out hunting. In one of these were two men named Smith- and Savage, who on their way to the fort were attacked by the Indians. At the first fire Smith was severely' wounded, but he staggered on to within fifty yards of the fort, where he was again wounded, two balls entering his body. He fell, and Savage turned to assist him, but, with the death agony upon him, the stricken man handed h]s gun to Savage, saying: T am done for; take my gun and save yourself, and help the people in the fort.' Savage then ran for the fort, and the Indians fired twenty-five shots after him before he could get inside the walls. The Indians ran up and scalped Smith, shook the gory trophy at his friends, and barbarously mutilated his body- in plain view of the inmates of the fort, and then retired into the woods. "There were only six fighting men in the fort at the time, and they were restrained from firing by old Aunt Hannah Cole, who urged* that they could not afford to fight until the hunting parties had all returned. These patties did not all. get in until late in the night. "December 24, 1814, Samuel McMahan, a bold settler in the bottom near Arrow Rock, in what is now Saline county, was killed four miles west of Fort Cole. He was on his way to the fort to bring up his cattle corraled there.- Two young men named Cole and Roup, and old Muke Box, were cutting a bee tree near the trail, and it was supposed that the Indians were crawling upon them when McMahan came riding along. They fired on him, shot him through the vbody, and killed his horse. He sprang up and , ran toward fhe river, but the Indians soon came up with him, and killed him by three savage spear thrusts in the back. They then scalped him, cut off his head, and disembowled him. Hearing the firing, Cole and Roup ran to the fprt and gave the alarm. Muke Box climbed a tree, and as the Indians were returning in great glee from the killing of McMahan he shot one of them. The Indians, in some alarm, caught up the body and bore it off, limp and lifeless, but it was afterward found in a ravine a mile or more away. 1 Brave Sally Gregg. "The same Christmas Eve Wm. Gregg, who had ventured to settle in the Big Bottom, on the Saline county side, was killed. He was crossing the river on his return to his cabin from Fort Cooper, and was killed in his canoe as he was paddling to the shore by some Indians in ambush on the south bank. His brave daughter, Sally Gregg, recovered the body and guarded it till help came. The next day the men at Cole's Fort, re-enforced by some of the Howard County Rangers, went out and secured the mangled remains of McMahan. James Cole carried in the body on the pommel of his saddle, and David Mc- Gee brought the head, wrapped in a sheepskin. The remains were buried on_ihe site of the old Boonville Fair Grounds. "The following day all of the settlers living in the vicinity of where Boonville now stands repaired to the house of good old Hannah Cole, in East Boonville, and within a week they had built another good, strong £abin fort. It stood on the edge of the bluff, which was very steep at that point, and on that — the river — side was inaccessible to an attack. Arrangements were made for a plentiful supply of water from the river in case of siege. A huge well bucket was fashioned from a hollow log and a sort of flume con structed from the fort down into the water. The bucket was let down and drawn up through this flume by means of a rope and windlass. As soon as the fort at Hannah Cole's was completed, the old fort at Capt. Stephen Cole's a mile away, was abandoned and all the settlers gathered into the new fort. But these precautions proved unneces sary, as the killing of McMahan and Gregg was virtually the end of the Indian war in the Boone's Lick settlements, although small bands of the savages occasionally roamed through the country a year or so, running off stock and committing like depredations/' MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 493 The Miamis' Version. A different version of the trouble with the Miamis is given by one of the early writers on Indian troubles in Missouri. It is said that Colonel Benjamin Cooper, with 250 armed settlers, joined Dodge when the latter reached the Boone's Lick country and marched with him against the Miamis. They swam the Mis souri near Arrow Rock and went to the fort of the Miamis but the Indians had withdrawn and gone into camp. The Indians at once surrendered. They had some of the property that had been stolen from the Boone's Lick settlers but their version was that the thieving had been done by Sacs and Foxes and that the stolen property had been sold to them as the other Indians retreated from the Howard county raid. Recognizing some of their property in the hands of the Miamis, Cooper's men began to take possession of it. Colonel Dodge com manded that this summary method stop and that an investigation of the cir cumstances be made. Cooper resented the interference with his men. Dodge called on his regulars to stop the settlers. Cooper, so tradition has it, drew his sword, took Dodge by the collar and said : "If you attempt to enforce that order, your head will fly off your shoulders like popcorn off a hot shovel." The Boone's Lick settlers had their own way. They claimed that the Miamis, or some of them, had participated in the raid with the Sacs and Foxes. It developed that the Miamis were innocent. « The Council at Portage des Sioux. The government of the United States, after the acquisition of the country, made Auguste Chouteau a colonel and looked to him to help solve immediate Indian problems. Having stirred up the hostility of the tribes as a part of the campaign of 1812, the British government, under the treaty of Ghent, in 1814, imposed upon the United States the responsibility of making peace among the Indians. And the United States selected Auguste Chouteau as one of the commis sioners to bring about a general treaty. Always influential with the Indians Colonel Chouteau achieved his greatest feat in diplomacy with the redmen at the council held at Portage des Sioux, across the Missouri River a few miles above St. Louis. He made a telling talk at that council, using with rare judgment figura tive speech so effective with Indians. He said : "Put in your minds that as soon as the British made peace with us they left you in the middle of a prairie without shade or cover against the sun and rain. The British left you positively in the middle of a prairie, worthy of pity. But we Americans have a large umbrella which covers us against the sun and rain and we offer you, as friends, a share of it." Auguste Chouteau was a man of pleasing countenance, light-haired, with high forehead and a straight nose, always smooth shaven and carefully dressed. At Portage des Sioux, while one of these Indian conferences was in progress, a chief, Black Buffalo of the Teton Sioux, died. This might have been interpreted as a bad omen by the Indians. The white men were disturbed over the event. But Big Elk, chief of the Omahas, averted the danger by an oration. He said : "Do not grieve — misfortunes will happen to the wisest and best men. Death will come, and always comes out of season; it is the command of the Great Spirit, and all nations and people must obey. What is past and cannot be prevented should not be 494 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI grieved for. Be not discouraged or displeased then, that in visiting your father hete you have lost your chief. A misfortune of this kind may never again befall you, but this would have attended you perhaps at your own village. Five times have I visited this land, and never returned with sorrow or pain. Misfortunes do npt flourish particularly in our path — they grow everywhere. "What a misfortune for me that I could not have died this day, instead of the chief that lies before us. The trifling loss my nation would have sustained in my death would have been doubly paid for by the honours of my burial — they would have wiped off every thing like regret. Instead of being covered with a cloud of sorrow — my warriors would have felt the sunshine of joy in their hearts. To me it would have been a most glorious occurrence. Hereafter, when I die at home, instead of a noble grave and a grand proces sion, the rolling music and the thundering cannon, with a flag waving at my head, I shall be wrapped in a robe (an old. robe, perhaps), and hoisted on a slender scaffold to the whistling winds, soon to be blown down to the earth — my flesh to be devoured by the"~ wolves and my bones rattled on the plains by the wild beasts. "Chief of the soldiers — your labors have not been in vain ; your attention shall not be forgotten. My nation shall know the respect that is paid over the dead. When I return I will echo the sound of your guns." The British Influence. In his management of Indian affairs, General William Clark encountered and combatted influences more dangerous than the savage natures of his wards. Gen eral Clark's jurisdiction extended over tribes anywhere west of the Mississippi river. Near the British border there were the bloody evidences of intrigue in the years when there was supposed to be complete peace between Great Britain and the United States. Benjamin O'Fallon was the United States agent for Indian affairs up the Missouri. He reported to General William Clark at St. Louis. In the sum mer of 1823 after General Ashley and his party of fur traders had suffered severely from the attacks of the Arickarees, Captain O'Fallon sent word that General Ashley believed, from many circumstances, "The British traders (Hud son's Bay Company) are exciting the Indians against us to drive us from that quarter." Captain O'Fallon added his own view to General Ashley's suspicions. He wrote : "I was in hopes that the British traders had some bounds to their rapacity; I was in hopes thar during the late IfJdian war, in which they were so instrumental in the indis-" criminate massacre of our people, that they had become completely satiated with our blood, but it appears not to have been the case. Like the greedy wolf, not yet gorged with the flesh, they guard over the bones; they ravage our fields, and are unwilling that we should glean them. Although barred by the Treaty of Ghent from participating in our Indian trade, they presumed and are not satisfied, but being alarmed at the individual enterprise of our people, they are exciting the Indians against them. They furnish them with the instruments of hell and a passport to heaven— the instruments of death and a passport to our bosoms.'' Recollections of John B. Clark. General John B. Clark in a reminiscent talk at his home in Fayette told the writer of the service against the Indians performed by the Missourians after their own homes were safe. "The troubles that Daniel Boone and Cooper and the other early settlers had around here with the Indians were pretty much over when I came to Fayette. Along in 181 2 there was a good deal of fighting in this and in Boone and Cooper counties. They had forts near Fayette. But when we came in MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 495 1818 it was pretty safe right around here. .1 commenced studying law in 1819 in old Judge Tompkins' office and was licensed by the supreme court in 1824 to practice. In 1823 the county seat was moved from Franklin, on the river, to Fayette, and I was appointed county clerk, I held that office for ten years. In '24 they elected me a colonel of militia, and in '27,- brigadier-general. That meant service in those days. In 1832 the Black Hawk war broke out. The governor ordered me to take a regiment of mounted men and go under General Scott. We were out three months and must have had forty battles. Scott was fighting Black- Hawk and his forees over in Illinois. I was ordered to keep along the west bank of the Mississippi and prevent the lowas andother tribes from crossing over to join Black Hawk. They kept trying and we were in for a fight almost every day. That service lasted three months. I received a bullet in the foot, a wound in the head and a broken leg before I saw the end of it." The Northwest Pivot Man. Major Daniel Ashby pushed the frontier line beyond the Boone's Lick country. He came in 1818; and when he raised his cabin on the bluffs of the Chariton, -"there was no white man' between him and the Rocky Mountains on the west, and there was none between him and the Lake of the Woods on the north." He called himself "the northwest pivot man of the settlements of the United States." The Ashbys were of Virginia, moving to Kentucky and settling on Salt river, near Harrodsburg. True to the family form for pioneering, Daniel Ashby, when he had married Casander Leeper and tested his nerves by acting as sheriff of Hopkins county, moved westward. He brought with him a group of adventurous spirits including Pleasant Browder, James Leeper, Thomas Shumate and Abraham Sportsman. As capital for his venture in Missouri Ashby drove along 375 stock hogs. His first enterprising effort was to learn the Indian language. In a few weeks he was able to talk to the lowas. He became an Indian trader. Duff Green, the Chariton and Franklin merchant, supplied the goods. Ashby did the trading and divided the profits with Green. For five years this trading went on. And then Ashby became the man of acknowledged influence with the Indians and leadership among the settlers on the Chariton border. Of some of his adventures with the Indians in the twenties, Major Ashby left this narrative which is in the possession of Perry S. Rader: "The Indians in the country were generally friendly, but we would occasionally have difficulties with them, often arising from misconduct of the whites, who would trade them whiskey or cause trouble by cheating them in some way. An Indian will steal; they even celebrate the act as one of bravery. I have been at their celebrations or festi vals. They set up a pole with snags on it to hang things on. Around this they clear off the brush or grass forming a ring, about which they dance, sing and beat their little drums with one stick; one fellow will come in and hang on the pole, for instance, a bear skin, and if there is any brave there who thinks he is a better bear hunter than the one who hung up the skin he will take it down. Then the crowd or referees make inquiry as to which has achieved the greatest exploits in hunting, capturing and killing the bear. Then the evidence of the other Indians is taken, and the one in whose favor the contro versy is decided again hangs up the skin. "Then they dance round the pole and beat their drums, singing in celebration of the lucky brave who has been decided the greatest bear hunter of the tribe or nation. Just so with stealing. One will come in and hang a bridle on- the pole, and if no one disputes 496 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI his rights he is praised and conceded to be the -greatest horse thief of the tribe. And so on with the most trivial articles. The squaws take no part in the dances, but sit around and look on smiling, but are not allowed to laugh aloud. If a squaw happens to laugh aloud at any of the performances she has to leave the ring and is not allowed to return during the festival. They generally conclude their ceremonies and exercises by some man bringing in a boy pappoose, when the mother is permitted to join in the jollification, and a great one it is. When present, as I often was, I was always invited to participate with them, and in some instances I have done so. On one occasion I hung on the center pole a large buck skin, meaning to' claim that I was the best deer huntef: The Laws of the lowas. "They had some kind of laws between themselves, which they enforced. On one occasion«there was a party of Indians hunting in the settlements of the whites, and being scarce of meat, killed a hog. The owner went tp the agent who was with the" Indians, and made complaint about his hog. He called the chiefs together, and they, sitting as a court, heard the evidence and decided that each one of the party participating in the offence should receive forty stripes with a good switch, to be administered by White Cloud, a very large chief. While the culprits were having the punishment adjudged inflicted on them, the agent went to the scene of the whipping and just as he got there Wynoneway hauled off his blanket and took his seat, and hugged the sapling to receive his forty lashes. Now Wynoneway, or in English, 'Turkey,' was known to be the best Indian in the nation and was not one of the party that stole the hog, and in reality was one of the best men of the nation. On seeing this the agent told them to hold on and asked what Wynoneway had done that they were going to whip or 'hiwassey' him, for so whipping is called in the Iowa tongue. They explained that some years before a man had died, leaving a boy whom he requested Wynoneway to raise for him. The boy had been with the guilty parties and being too small to whip, Wynoneway was going to receive it in his stead, and when the boy got large enough, then Wynoneway would give it to him. The agent told Wynoneway to get up and put on his blanket, that it was not necessary for him to receive the lashes, but to remember it and deal with the boy as he thought right hereafter.Major Ashby 's Foot Race with a Chief. "Those Indians were very ambitious, wishing to excel all others in anything they did. In shooting with a rifle, running foot races and similar sports they especially ex celled. It was not until I had won several 'packs of skins from them that they were will ing to admit my superiority as a marksman. Whenever an Indian does anything of this kind, or has any kind of a contest, he invariably bets something, if no more than a pipe, blanket, skins or pony. They cannot, do without betting ; nevertheless, if they stake- any thing on the result of a contest and are beaten, they will give up honorably. After I had beaten many of them running I went to Mr. Robidoux's trading house for the pur pose! of getting 'some of my neighbors' horses that had been stolen by the Indians. While there I observed a large, fine looking chief examining me very closely, and after a while an acquaintance named Jim came to me, and told me that the big chief Watchemoney, wanted to run a race with me; that some of the men had been telling him that I was the muckeman that had beaten so many of the lowas running races. I told Jim to tell the chief that I would run with him. We prepared for the race; Watchemoney put up a very fine, large pipe, beautifully ornamented with beads^ porcupine quills and feathers. I put up a bridle with plated 'bits and buckles. We ran, and, as I had anticipated, I won the fine pipe. I took it, loaded it up and began smoking. After smoking awhile i got ready to leave, when I went up to the chief, gave him back his pipe, shook hands with him and left. I saw a great change come over the chief's countenance when I gave him the pipe. He shook my hand very cordially and exclaimed, 'Good muckeman.' "Muckeman Run Like a Muncha." "There was an Indian who came in with a large party, who, as I ascertained from 'Iowa Jim,' had come expressly to beat me running. So we put up a pack of skins worth THE TOWN CEIEE Scene at Third and Plum Streets. Lost ehild advertised. The crier carried circulars, rang his bell to attract attention and made announcements. A St. Louis custom about 1840. From a painting by Matt. Hastings in the Missouri Historical Society collection. MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 499 about ten dollars and ran one hundred yards. I beat him some fifteen feet. The crowd of Indians who had come with him jumped up and down, hallooed and made all kinds of rejoicing. I was surprised at these demonstrations, as the Indian I beat I supposed was a member of their tribe; but Jim told me he was an Ottoe Indian that had been amongst the lowas, and on returning to their grounds they told him there was a muckeman (white man) that had beaten all the fast lowas. The Ottoe bragged and said he could beat all the muckemen, and kept up this boasting during the entire trip down; he would show by his hands how the race would be, always making the hand representing himself beat a long distance. His defeat appeared to do the lowas more good than it did me. "The Ottoe looked badly cowed, but at last he said the distance was too short, and that if I would go back as far again he could beat me. So I consented and he put up another pack of skins and we ran two hundred yards. I had never run that distance before, but when it came to the last fifty yards the Indian gave out and I beat him further than I did the first race. The Indian then said the lowas had not told him how fast I could run. I could~~not understand him, but 'Iowa Jim' told me what he said. I told Jim to tell him the lowas did not know how fast I could run. I asked Jim what the Ottoe said, and Jim grinning, replied that he says, 'You can run as fast as you please or want to.' "After this the Indians quit running with me, but would shoot with me for skins. When asked to run they would say, 'Muckeman run lika a muncha,' which in English meant 'White man run like a bear.' They would say of the Ottoe, 'He can run well but not fast enough.' "The first Indians to visit me after I came to Missouri, did so early in the spring. It being December before I arrived, the Indians had all left their hunting grounds and gone to their towns for winter quarters. John Harris and wife were living with me. Harris and myself had made a very homely cabin without windows and had nailed clap boards on the insides of all the cracks. When spring came the women pulled off all the boards that covered one crack the whole length of the cabin, to give light in place of a window. My wife and Mrs. Harris were sisters, but not at all alike in disposition. My wife was not easily frightened, while Mrs. Harris was very timid. Neither of them had ever seen an Indian, but had heard many frightful stories about their savage cruelties. Getting Acquainted with the lowas. "One bright Sabbath morning in April, we all were seated at the breakfast table when one of us made the startling discovery that the open crack along the cabin was filled with eyes as close together as one head could be placed -by the side of another. When Mrs. Harris saw this collection of eyes she cried out with alarm and jumped like a chicken with its head cut off. As soon as the Indians saw what an alarm they had caused, they all disappeared. One fellow then came round to the door — we had but one — walked in and sat down. None of us knew a word of their language. I asked him sev eral questions in English such as 'what nation do you belong to,' etc., at which he would put his finger to his ear and shake his head indicating he did not understand me. "The entire party, some forty or fifty, consisting of men, squaws and pappooses, went down near the spring, unpacked their ponies, stretched their wigwams and stayed there some two weeks. At first I noticed that some of the men appeared saucy and went about where they pleased, frequently invading my rights and interfering with my property. At this time lead was a very scarce article and worth twenty-five cents per pound %nd hard to get for that. I had a gun which carried a half-ounce ball, with which I had practiced shooting at a mark on a large tree near the cabin. I think I had shot two or three pounds of lead into the tree. One morning I saw a large stalwart Indian chopping the lead out of this tree, and I went to him and made motions for him to stop cutting it out, but he paid no attention to me, and at last, becoming vexed, I jumped at him and caught hold of the axe handle. He jerked it, but I held on and got both hands on the handle when I gave a Violent jerk and brought him down on the ground. I then set my foot on his breast and wrenched the axe out of his hands and drew it up as if I intended striking him with it, when he whirled over and ran off on his hands and feet towards the Indian camp. I then walked to my cabin, and passing near the camp I threw the axe toward the 500 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Indian camp. That fellow never came near my cabin again while they encamped there. None of the rest afterwards interfered with anything that did not belong to them. It is a trait in the Indian character that if they find you will give way to them they will take everything they want, but if you make a manful resistance, they will respect your rights. I knew some timid men who moved out to the frontier and the Indians came and learned from the advances they never fail to make, that they feared to resist them and they took everything they had to eat and compelled them to remove to the settlements. "I was from home one day helping a neighbor raise a cabin; my wife went with me, leaving three children at home, the eldest of whom was a little girj about nine years old. Soon after the departure of my wife and myself some four or five Indians came to the house, took the head off the bee stand, took out as much honey as they wanted, dug up a lot of potatoes, stole, a pet pig I had in the yard and went off. The children ran across to our neighbor and got a boy to come and let me know of the- depredations the Indians had committed. I immediately went in pursuit of the red rascals, taking with me a neighbor and a large negro man, and after following on their trail until nearly sunset we overtook two of them, but did not find the one who. had stolen the pig. The two we found had some potatoes and honey. I stripped their blankets from their shoulders and pulled their arms around a sapling and held them one at a time until the negro gave them a whipping or 'hiwassey,' as they called it. I then told them that if the pig was not brought back to my house by the time the sun was up the next morning, I would take their tracks, follow them up and take their scalps. I then went home and sometime during the night I heard the pig around the cabin hunting for something to eat. I was away from home many times afterwards when Indians would pass my cabin, but never knew them to take or disturb anything. A Fight with a Bad Indian. "In the spring of 1825, I, with Henry T. Williams, Thomas Williams, John P. Williams (the latter a boy some ten years of age) and Henry C. Sevier went on a surveying expedi tion up the Grand Chariton river, and while thus engaged we were attacked by an infuriated savage. At first a sober Indian came to us on horseback with a rifle on his shoulder and told us that there was a 'bad Indian' coming and said for us to run. Directly we saw an Indian, yelling the war whoop of his tribe. I told Henry T. Williams what the Indian had said and Williams said, 'Tell him to stop him, for if he comes here we will kill him.' I told the Indian what was said and he rode back to meet the other one, and intercepted him several times. I soon saw he was afraid of the rabid scoundrel, and would give way whenever the fellow would approach him with his knife drawn in a threatening manner. When the good, or sober, Indian found he could not stop the infuriated red skin he rode off to one side and looked on awhile to see what would happen, no doubt expecting to see one of us killed. The other Indian came ahead, yelling at the top of his voice, and brandishing his knife in a most threatening manner. When the attacking, savage got within thirty or forty yards of us, our men became alarmed at him with his large, bright, glittering knife in his right hand, with his thumb on the handle, with it raised over his head, screaming the hideous war whoop, which is enough to chill the blood in every vein of almost any man. I was carrying the hind end of the chain; Henry T. Williams, the compass; H. C. Sevier, the fore end of the chain; John P. Williams, the ax. The boy, John P. Williams, was near me and I called to him to hand me the ax, which He promptly did, but was frightened and crowded up close to me, so close in fact that I had to shove him away, from me to get room to draw my ax back in readiness to strike. This was done in great haste, for the Indian with his knife drawn over his head was within ten steps of me and coming rapidly. His eyes looked green like a wounded panther, his distorted features were frightful; there was no time for dodging. 1 did not know whether the poll or edge of the ax was foremost, but luckily for the Indian the poll was foremost. When he got close enough I struck with all the power in me; and had the edge been foremost the stroke would have sent the ax through his head ; nothing could have saved his life. The poll struck him on the right cheek and burst the bone all away, splitting the skin and flesh up into the eye and down in the mouth. The lick was so MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 501 severe and given with such force that the weight of the Indian was not sufficient to stop the force of the ax, which weighed seven pounds. Nor was my grip sufficient to retain the handle. So the ax went with the Indian and when it fell it kept on and turned over several times beyond. I then ran around and picked up the ax, but saw at once that there was no danger of a second attack from that Indian, for he was to all appearances stone dead. But the sober Indian on the pony with his rifle in his hand was the next one to be attended to. We were in an open bottom prairie, and the Indian could ride upon us and kill one or more of us and safely ride away. "I really expected when he saw his companion lying as if dead he would shoot one of us. In case he shot at me I intended to hold the ax as well as I could in front of me to protect my vital parts. However, he rode slowly up to within fifteen or twenty steps, stopped his pony, sat there silently looking on for a few moments, dismounted and walked about half way to me, stopped, laid down his gun, held up both hands, walked this way to where I stood and said, 'Arropee,' which in English meant T am good.' For fear he might not be so 'arropee' when he saw his comrade was killed, I walked quickly by him and picked up his rifle. Then we all walked up to where the Indian lay, and Henry T. Williams said, 'You have killed him.' I saw that he was lying on his back, with a frightful hole in his cheek up ; so no blood could escape except down his throat. I then laid down the ax and gun, took him by the shoulder, turned him over and beat him several times on the back so as to make the blood flow from the lungs, when there issued from the wound a great quantity of blood, some of which was curdled and looked like molded candles ; some pieces being a half-inch long that came out of his wind pipe. "After beating out the blood as well as I could I turned him on his back again, and shortly saw signs of life like a pulse beating low down in his stomach, which was raised higher and higher until his whole stomach heaved up and the breath blew out of the incision made by the ax, splashing the blood all over us who were standing near him. By this time I had become cool and anxious he should get well, though I thought it very doubtful. The sober Indian then told me that we had better leave there, for said he, 'There are thirteen more out at the camp on the river, all bad Indians; fire water too much,' meaning all were drunk. "I then told Henry T. Williams what the Indian said, and we agreed after consultation to move our camp into another township, over a large creek that was full of water, as it had been raining the night before. Thomas Williams was sick at camp. I told Sevier and John P. Williams to go on to camp and prepare for moving. After some time, enough for the man and boy to get to the camp, thinking perhaps that when Henry T. Williams and myself, being all left with the Indian, started to leave for camp, the Indian, who was very much grieved at the fate of his companion and was standing crying over him, might attempt to avenge himself and comrade by shooting one of us as we were going away which he could do with impunity, for we both were unarmed, I concluded to leave his gun' empty. So I quietly took up the gun and fired it off in the air. The Indian was standing perfectly absorbed in watching his wounded comrade, not thinking of the gun being fired. So, when it was discharged, making a very loud report, he was very badly frightened. He jumped up off the ground and exclaimed, Woo.' Seeing that no harm was intended him he patted me all over and said : Arropee ! arropee ! muckeman !' which in English meant, 'good, very good white .man.' I then lay down his gun and we started for the camp, walking pretty rapidly. Every now and then I would look back and see if the Indian was loading his rifle, which I knew would take some time, so we might be enabled, if necessary, to run and we could probably make the camp, where we had an excellent rifle which would have placed us on an equal footing with him. But he never touched the rifle while we were in sight. After a little while he put the wounded Indian across his pony like a sack of meal, and held him by one leg with one hand, and led the pony with the other. He went out in the direction they came. When we got to our camp the boys had everything ready to leave. I told them I had never known them to be so smart in getting ready to leave before. From there we crossed the east fork of the Chariton river into another township, where we remained at our surveying unmolested. "Some six months after this occurrence, two Indians came to my house, one of whom 502 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI was named Wahookey, a brother to the one with whom I had the encounter. They hoth had rifles; they came into 'my front yard and Wahookey commenced by saying, 'You killed my brother; you pay me six ponies.' When Wahookey Weakened. "I told him his brother was a bad Indian and tried to kill me. Wahookey said I lied Henry Ashby, my brother, a young man and living with me, was present. I gave-him the wink and walked round to the back door of the house, as the front door was shut. I told him the big Indian had called me a liar, and that I saw he was determined to. create a disturbance so as to get an excuse to kill me, for he said I killed his brother. I then told Henry to take his rifle and I would take mine (we had two as good as ever were and both' in good condition), and we would go out into the yard, and if they did not go at the word, for him to shoot the smaller one and I would attend to the big one, Wahookey.- "At this point Henry made a suggestion, about which. I frequently laughed at him afterwards. He said, 'Here is a crack -by the door; maybe we had better shoot them out of it.' 'Oh, no,' said I, 'we may scare them off without killing, either of them, which I greatly prefer, so we will go round the house, ready to shoot, and if they make any motion like resistance, we can shoot before they can.' "So we - went around and prepared to shoot in an instant. I then spoke in an angry tone in their own language, 'Puck a chee. Peas cooney ca ha,' which meant, 'leave or run, you mean scoundrels.' At the words they ran, not even taking time to shoulder their rifles. As far as I could see them, the farther they went the faster they ran. I did; not like the signs of the times, for I knew- the Indians' great desire for revenge, and' many of my friends insisted on leaving the country at least for a while. I did think for a while that I would do -so, but never did. • "At another time the same Indians, in company with eight or ten others, came to Judge Morse's, about two and a half miles from my house. Having been drinking so much 'that it made them outspoken on the subject of being revenged for the death of the Indian I had killed, old Wahookey proposed that they should go to my house and make me sleep, as they expressed it; but in the company was my friend, Iowa Jim, who opposed the plan of making me sleep, saying I was a good warrior and his best friend. Judge Morse could understand some of their language, so he secretly put his little son on a horse and sent him around to let me know that the Indians were going to kill me. It so happened that James Leeper, Champaign Turpin,' John Harris and James Bourland, all my neighbors, had just come to my house, -bringing their guns with them to go hunting. After the little boy delivered his message, we sent him home around so a^s not to meet the. Indians if they were coming. We also sent my family to a neighbor's house. We saddled our horses and took them round to the back of the farm and there hitched them in the corn,, which was very high, it being in September, and concealed ourselves in the corners of. the fence to await the coming of the gang. However, fortunately for them, my friends among them prevailed, and they passed on without coming to my house. We waited until sunrise the next morning, having passed a sleepless night in considerable anxiety, expecting an attack from them. Even if we had repulsed them it might have involved the settlements in an Indian war. This was the last raid they ever made so far as I could learn afterward. Iowa Jim always stood by me, and to his last day was a warm and devoted iriend of mine. Panic in the Bluff Settlement. "I remember another difficulty with the Indians which now may seem a- very small affair, after witnessing the terrible battles of the recent Civil war; but at the time it happened it was regarded as a serious engagement, for there were but few small, sparsely populated settlements in our country, and a little disturbance affecting the lives and happi ness of ourselves, wives and children naturally would create a great commotion. There was a small band of Iowa Indians came into a settlement, on a creek called the Wakenda. And six or eight men in company with the notorious Martin Palmer, who, when drinking, called himself the 'Ring-Tail Painter,' became involved in a difficulty with them. They got into a fight with the Indians, and I always blamed the 'Ring-Tailed Painter' with MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 503 inciting the difficulty and bringing on the bloodshed. In the fight the whites killed three of the lowas and wounded one or two more, 'at which the surviving Indians went on the war path, threatening to get the balance of their band and massacre the entire settlements. "In those times when any trouble took place with the Indians, all the frontier settlers had to leave their homes and flee to the large settlements for safety until the troubles passed over. At this time there was a small settlement called the Bluff settlement, where I lived, which was one of the outposts. At the time of the disturbance I was in Howard county, and on my return to my home I crossed the Bowling Green prairie. This prairie was about six miles wide, being a high, level second bottom, very rich, producing tall, coarse grass. "The day was very hot and the green head flies fairly swarmed around me. After pushing through the grass in great haste across the prairie so as to get rid- of the annoying flies, I got within about a mile of the bluffs, when I saw some kind of a caravan coming helter-skelter towards me. Wondering what on earth it was I hastened to meet it. When I encountered the outfit I found the whole Bluff settlement on a dead run to a larger settlement, my wife and children in the crowd, and all badly frightened over the prospect of an Indian outbreak. Of all I had met with this was the worst. At first I tried to persuade all of them to return to their homes ; but I could not do this. I then proposed that we should return to the timber and cut down trees with which to make breastworks and block-houses so we could defend ourselves if attacked, but the excited crowd would not hear to this. Nothing would do but to go on across the prairie, and so on we all went, with the green head flies so bad that they bit the children, making them cry. Some had horses and some oxen hitched to their wagons. My family was in a large sled drawn over the dry ground by a large yoke of oxen. In this shape on we went pell-mell, without system or order, but every fellow trying to be foremost. I made no attempt at order until we entered the thick bottom timber south of the Bowling Green, where we soon got rid of the worst plague, the green head flies. "After travelling a few miles, we found some empty cabins, where I persuaded all hands to stop their flight. About this season the entire country had the real shaking ague. I have seen twenty-two persons down shaking at one time. There were four families in one of the cabins that had but three rooms, counting an open passage as one room, and here in this bottom and in this crowded condition we remained for ten- weeks. ¦ During this time every soul, except myself and a black girl, had the ague. I did not stay with the party all the time, but would go up to the bluffs and hunt all day around my eabin, kill some deer, cook and eat at my cabin, and sleep about the centre of my little, cornfield, under a large lime tree that had retained its leaves in spite of my having cut it all around in the spring. The leaves of this tree made a dense shade which prevented the dew from falling on me, and I slept comfortably under my blanket. "Finally the difficulty was settled with the lowas, and' all hands were well pleased to go back to their, little homes on the bluffs. All the next winter we had to beat all the meal we ate. But the next fall I was lucky, for I heard of a pair of hand mill stones down in Howard county. I went and purchased them, got them fixed up in a gum about four feet high, and with a small hole on one edge of the upper stone, or runner, as it is called in a mill ; but that should have been dubbed by some other name, for there was very little run to it. Still, bad as it was, it was a great relief to all the settlement, and on many a night have I awakened and heard the mill, as we called it, clattering away. The reader may regard this in what light he pleases, but bread got in this manner was as sweet as any I ever ate." Rules of War in Universal Training Days. "The Sarcoxie war" was one of the Indian incidents in which no blood was shed. It occurred when the militia law of Missouri was in full force and every able-bodied man from eighteen to forty-five was required to turn out for drill three or four times a year. Osage Indians had been assembling in. the vicinity of Sarcoxie and acting suspiciously. Major General Joseph Powell called out 504 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI his whole division and marched against the Osages. The Indians protested that they had come to hunt and fish, and readily consented to be conducted back to their reservation. General Powell marched back again and demobilized, but committed some breaches of military law in the opinion of his subordinates. He was tried by a military commission and dismissed from state service. The charges were made by Brigadier General Smith of the Greene county troops. Smith, himself, did not escape some criticism. He attempted to pass his own lines on this Sarcoxie campaign when the sentry, who had seen some real army service, halted him with, "Who comes there!" "A friend," said General Smith. "Ad vance and give the countersign," the sentry demanded. "I haven't the counter sign," said the general, "but I am General Smith from Springfield, and it is all right." "Halt !" the sentinel shouted, "I don't care if you are General Smith from hell, you can't pass here without the countersign." "Ringtail" Parmer was the hero in one of the most savage Indian fights on record in Missouri history. A band of Osages on a robbing tour camped near the cabin of Widow McElroy, near the mouth of Fishing river, and began roast ing corn, shooting pigs and trying to drive away the horses. The widow sent her boy of ten years to Parmer, the nearest neighbor. Parmer and his son went to the rescue. When they reached the widow's place only seven of the Indians were there.. Both of the Parmers fired and killed two of the Indians. The remaining five r.an into the cabin and barricaded the door. Without waiting to reload, Parmer climbed on top of the roof and began to pull off the boards. One of the Indians ran out of the house. Parmer fired and wounded him. His gun empty, Parmer drew a knife and jumped down from the roof, ran to the wounded Indian and cut his throat. Parmer and his son kept up the fight until they had killed three more. The seventh got away badly wounded. Then they dragged the six bodies to a gully and threw them in. The Pottawatomie War. Shelby county's "Pottawatomie war" had its' beginning and ending in the coming and going of about sixty friendly Indians from Iowa who helped them selves to a few pumpkins and some corn for their ponies. But while the scare lasted it was realistic. Settlers mounted their horses and ran them into Shelby- ville. Malachi Wood was one of these, riding one horse and having his wife and child on another. Mrs. Wood dropped the child and shouted to Malachi who was ahead, "Stop Malachi, stop! I've dropped the baby. Stop and help me save it." Malachi called back, "Never mind the baby. Let's save the old folks. More babies can be had !" A free fight between the Shelbyville company and the volunteers who had come over from Palmyra to help exterminate the Pottowattomies was the only serious part of the war. This occurred after the Shelbyville men had treated the Palmyra men. The latter insisted the treating should go on for an indefinite number of rounds and said it was a bad way to "invite men to drink and then make them pay for it." Shelbyville and Palmyra men mixed in a beautiful all around row and then made up, the Shelbyville men adopting a resolution thank ing the Palmyra volunteers "for the assistance they rendered us and for the entertainment they furnished us." MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 505 The Osage War. John C. McCoy, the pioneer of Jackson County and seller of town lots in the once famous Westport, is the historian of the Osage war, of 1836. In 1871 he said : "This little war has been overlooked by modern historians, not even men tioned by them for the last thirty years. It was a military raid from the border against the Osage Indians. Some of the ruthless savages committed murder upon several hogs belonging to settlers near Westport. The command numbered 560 officers and men, consisting of one major-general, two brigadiers, four colonels, besides lieutenants-colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants, chaplains, surgeons, etc., ad infinitum, being 98 officers to command 432 privates. It is needless to tell that the expedition was a success. Old Gerard's squaws, papooses and six other savages, if still living, have a sorrowful recollection that the way of the transgressor is hard." Big Neck, Leader of the lowas. The "Big Neck war" occurred in the summer of 1829. It was one of the last of the more serious troubles between Missourians and Indians. Big Neck was a leader among the lowas. His war name was Mo-an-a-hon-ga, which means "great walker." The tribe also knew him as "The-man-not-afraid-to-travel." In 1824 Big Neck went to Washington with General William Clark. The party included several chiefs and warriors of the lowas, headed by White Cloud, the principal chief. The purpose of the trip was to make a treaty. The lowas had been living in the northwestern part of Missouri along the Chariton. Settlers were coming in. The government desired to obtain the lands of the lowas and offered in payment the sum of five hundred dollars a year for ten years. The treaty was made, Big Neck participating. According to the terms the Iowa Indians were to move from the land purchased. While he was in Washington Big Neck had his portrait painted. From that he appears to have been a fine specimen physically without anything to indicate why he should have been given the name he commonly bore. After the Indians came back from Washington, Big Neck disputed that provi sion of the treaty whichc required them to move from Northern Missouri. He claimed that his band should be allowed to live in what was known as "the Clinton Country" until the last of ten annual payments in 1834. The Clinton Country of that day embraced what are now Adair, Sullivan, Putnam and Schuyler counties. In 1824 settlers began to crowd into the vicinity of Big Neck's band. They formed near the present city of Kirksville a settlement which was called "The cabins of the white folks." There were ten or twelve families in the settlement. Up to that time the Clinton Country had been a favorite region for hunters. The Big Neck war started in July, 1829. Major Holcombe in 1892, as the 'result of much investigation of records and after gathering the recollections of the oldest inhabitants, wrote this graphic account of the war for the Globe-Democrat: "Big Neck and his band of about sixty persons came down from the far north and encamped on the Chariton, some miles above the cabins. He asserted that he was on his way to St. Louis to see Gen. Clark, and try to get back his lands. According to the accounts of the old settlers the Indians were very insolent, visiting the cabins, demanding food, threaten ing the whites, etc. The savages, some of whom spoke English, said: 'This is our country. 506 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI What are you doing here? You must leave or we will drive you away.' It- was alleged that the stock of some of the settlers was killed and their gardens and fields plundered. "As might be expected the Indians told a different story. 'Ioway Jim,' or 'Maj. Ketcher,' as he was sometimes called — an Indian who spoke good English and who was well known to the early settlers of North Missouri — afterward deposed that his brethren were not the aggressors. He said that while the band was in camp, resting from their long journey, a party of whites came up fo them with some kegs of whisky. It was not long until the Indians were helplessly drunk, and then the whites swindled and robbed them of their horses, blankets, and nearly everything else of value, shamefully mistreated some of the women and girls, and then decamped. Recovering from their debauch, the Indians realized how dearly they had paid for the whisky, and being hungry, one of them shot a settler's hog and brought it into camp. Big Neck rebuked this forager, saying: 'That is wrong. It is true we have been robbed and are hungry, but the hog was not ours, and you should not have shot it.' "The settlers became alarmed. Some of them sent off their wives and children. A messenger was dispatched down into the lower settlements for aid. On the night of July 24 he reached the house of Wm. Blackwell, in Randolph county, with the startling intelligence that" the Indians were on the warpath ! Before many hours the news had spread throughout that county and into Howard. A company of armed and mounted Randolph men, about seventy-five in number, under Capt. Wm. Trammell, were in the saddle by noon of the following 'day and marching for the scene of disturbance ; that evening they went into camp on the Chariton, at what was known as the Grand Narrows, now in Macon county. The next day they reached the cabins, forty miles or so from the Narrows. "At a council on the morning of the 27th the whites determined to expel the Indians from the country, and recruited by the men at the cabins, Capt, Trammell again set out. In the meantime Big Neck and his band had retired some miles up the Chariton and had again gone into camp. The whites advanced to the camp, and after a -reconnaissance of the situa tion, Capt. Trammell swung his men around to the northward and coming up formed a line in the rear of the Indians. Dismounting his men 100 yards away, leaving every fourth man to hold horses, the Captain, followed by his men, advanced to the wigwams and called for an interpreter. 'Ioway Jim' stepped forward, gun-in hand, and Capt. Trammell said-L 'You must all leave this country at once, and stay away. - The land belongs to the whites and you have no right here.' Big Neck, through the interpreter, answered : 'The land is ours. We will leave when we please. I am going to see the Red Headed Governor (Gen. Clark) about it, and he will say I am right.' "Ioway'Jim asserted that Big Neck had his pipe with him in token of his friendly dis position, and the Indians were certainly not in condition to fight. Capt. Trammell was a man of reasonable prudence and good judgment, and doubtless tr^e difficulty would have been amicably arranged then and there, but for the reckless and reprehensible conduct of a hot-headed settler at the cabins -named James Myers. "Hardly had Big Neck spoken, when Jim Myers fired his rifle and shot dead the chief's brother. The Indian fell backward, shot through the breast, giving a' terrific war-whoop as he tumbled to the ground. Another settler named Owenby fired, and his bullet killed a little Indian child, the daughter of the Indian killed -by Myers. "The Indian squaws, with characteristic shrieks and yells, now began .to fly; the Indian men came forward, loading their guns and stringing their bows as they advanced, and the battle was on. They raised a terrible yelling and whooping," and their battle cries were actually so unearthly that they demoralized some of the whites. Only" fifteen men, it is said, obeyed Capt. Trammell's order to fire. The remainder broke for their horses and away from the field. Only two or three of Trammell's men fired more than once. The Indians, - however, fought well, using their rifles and bows to good advantage, considering the wooded character of the ground. The fight was soon won, and Big Neck, supported by Mau-she-mo- ne (the 'Big Flying Cloud'), rallied the Indians for pursuit, and chased the whites for a mile or more. "During the fight a settler named Wm. Winn shot a squaw, the wife of the Indian and the mother of the child killed by Myers and Owenby, and the sister-in-law of Big Neck. MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 507 As she fell she called out: 'My brother, I am going to die innocent; avenge my blood!' Ioway Jim leveled his rifle and shot Winn in the thigh, fracturing the bone and bringing him to the ground. Big Neck himself jerked a gun from the hands of one of his men and shot and killed Jim Myers, who had opened the fight. Owenby, who shot the Indian child, was also killed. Several other whites were wounded. Capt. Trammell received an arrow in his body, which was not extracted for some days, or until he had reached home, and he died from the wound a day or two later. He had ridden a hundred miles with the weapon in his vitals, but with uncommon fortitude bore his sufferings without a murmur, and busied himself in caring for his men, especially for the wounded, though none were so badly wounded as he. A few of the Indians were wounded, among them being the wife or squaw of Big Neck; she had a severe scalp wound from a bullet. Four or five of the white men's horses were either killed or captured. "When the Indians returned from the brief pursuit of the whites they scalped the bodies of Myers and Owenby and otherwise mutilated them. Winn was found on the battle ground, with his thigh broken and unable to escape. Preparations were immediately made to burn him. He begged for his life, but his appeals were unheeded. A pile of sticks was soon raised and fired, and the body thrown upon it. As the flames rose Big Neck came forward, arid, pointing to the Indian dead and wounded, addressed the dying victim in these bitter terms : "'See there! Look! You have killed those dear to me — my brother, his wife and her child. See the blood as it runs before you. Look at that woman you have killed; her arm was never raised against a white man. That child never wronged any one. They have gone to the Great Spirit. I came to meet you with the pipe of peace in my mouth. I did no wrong. You fired on me, and see what you have done ! See my own squaw with her head bleeding; though not dead she is wounded. Now, listen. You are not a brave; you are- a. dog. If you were a brave, I would treat you as a brave; but as you are a dog, I will treat you as a dog!' "Here Big Neck paused, and, with his knife drawn, sprang upon the writhing body of the fated white man, dragged him from the fire, scalped him, and then cut open his breast, tore out his heart, bit off a piece and ate it, and threw the remainder back into the flames. This incident was related by Ioway Jim to Gen. Hughes, and was corroborated by finding the half-burned and mangled body of the unfortunate Mr. Winn. "The retreating whites hurried from "the battlefield down the Chariton valley, and, being mounted — save a few who lost their horses during the fight — easily escaped. Reach ing the cabins, they hurriedly gathered up the women and children, and pushing rapidly on southward, traveled all night without halting until within five miles of Huntsville. From here the women and children were sent on into Howard county. The Indians did not burn the cabins and destroy th« settlement, as they easily might have done, but the next day after the fight retreated northward in alarm at the probable consequences that might follow. "Tidings of the affair, magnified and exaggerated, of course, soon spread among the settlements along the Missqurit and there was intense excitement. A considerable force of militia, under Gen. P. Owens, of Fayette, was raised, by order of the governor, and marched to the scene. A regiment or battalion of this force was commanded by Gen. John B. Clark, Sr. A company^ of seventy-six men from Chariton county, under Maj. Daniel Ashby, .acted independently. A company of Randolph and Howard county men, acting as scouts, and led by Capt. John Sconce — a noted old Kentucky Indian fighter, and who subsequently commanded the Ray county company of the Missouri regiment in the Florida war of 1837 — was sent in advance to reconnoiter. It reached the scene first and buried the bodies of Myers, Owenby and Winn, and then returning met the com mands of Owens and Clark. "When Gen. Owens came up to the scene of the encounter there was, of course, not an Indian to be found. Big Neck had retreated northward to the Des Moines river. Capt. Sconce's company was sent on the trail and1 followed it forty miles. On the trail, not far from the battlefield, Capt'. Sconce found the body of an Indian, presumably the brother of Big Neck. It was in a- sitting posture, tied to a tree, and very elaborately dressed, decorated and ornamented with a profusion of beads, porcupine quills, silver 50g CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI and brass rings, a Masonic brooch, etc., and on the ground at its side lay a bow and quiver of arrows and a fine pipe tomahawk. When the scouts returned and reported that the Indians had left the country Gen. Owens marched the men of his command back to their homes. "Meanwhile Gen. Atkinson, at Jefferson Barracks, had ordered Col. Henry Leaven worth to take a detachment of regular infantry from the then cantonment of Leavenworth (now Fort Leavenworth) and assist the militia. The agent of the Ioways, Gen. A. J. Hughes, was also ordered to co-operate. At that time there was a camp of Ioways in the forks of Grand river, near the present site of Chillicothe. Capt. Daniel Ashby, with the Chariton company, had been sent by Gen. Owens to this town to see if the Indians were assisting Big Neck. He found them perfectly quiet, or, as they expressed it, 'ar-ro-pee,' friendly and all right every way, whereupon he marched eastward and joined. Gen. Owens on the Chariton. Gen. Hughes delivered eleven of the principal Grand river Ioways to Col. Leavenworth (who had advanced into the country with his troops) as hostages for the good conduct of the band, and then Col. Leavenworth returned to the fort." / The agent of the lowas, General Hughes, concluded that Big Neck must be taken personally if further trouble along the Chariton and Clinton was to be averted. With four men the agent took up the trail of Big Neck's band and fol lowed it nearly four hundred miles up through the unsettled Iowa country. On Skunk river, Hughes met a Sac chief, whose name was "The-Bear-Whose- Screams-Make-The-Rocks-Tremble." This chief directed the agent to Big Neck's camp and sent ten Indians to help take the prisoner. General Hughes reached the village very early in the morning and just before sunrise stepped into Big Neck's lodge. He told him that he must go to answer for the troubles in Missouri. "I'll go with you," the Indian answered. "A brave man dies but once, cowards are always dying," Big Neck and his band were conducted by Hughes and his four companions to, the Mississippi near Fort Madison. The Indians were observed to be holding consultations. Hughes expected an outbreak. He ordered his men to get their guns ready. Big Neck had sent the squaws and children forward to the river bluffs. Unexpectedly there appeared coming down the river a fleet of boats filled with United States soldiers under Lieutenant Morris. The squaws ran back from the bluffs to General Hughes and begged that Big Neck and the braves be spared. The Indian agent was certain that but for the appearance of the troops he and his men would have been murdered. Selecting Big Neck and about ten or twelve of the Indians who admitted they had been in the fighting along the Chariton, Hughes put them aboard the boats and took them to St. Louis. There it was ordered that they be put on trial for murder and that the trial be held in Ran dolph county. Big Neck and the others were taken to Huntsville under guard to protect them from the settlers as well as to insure their presence in court. The trial resulted in a verdict of not guilty, the jurors rendering it without leaving their seats. Big Neck, instead of rejoicing over his discharge, went into mourning. He blackened his face. Referring to the treaty he had made at Washington and to the subsequent troubles, he said : "I am ashamed to look on the sun. I have insulted the Great Spirit by selling the land and the bones of my fathers;; it is right that I should mourn always." Big Neck continued in mourning according to the traditions until he was killed in a fight with a band of Sioux who had stolen some of his horses in the Courtesy St. Louis University FATHER P. J. DE SMET, S. J. "Black Gown," the Indian's friend. MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 511 Upper Des Moines country. It is tradition that after he had been shot and while one of the Sioux was taking his scalp, Big Neck drew his knife with one hand, reached up with the other, pulled his assailant down to the ground, stabbed him to death, scalped him and then fell dead across the body. After the fight the Sioux warrior lay stretched on the ground with Big Neck lying across him with the scalp in one hand and the knife in the other. The scene of "the Heatherly War" was near the border between Mercer and Grundy counties. Those counties were not established and while the territory was a part of Carroll county, two men, one named Dunbar, were killed. A party of Indians was in the vicinity at the time but was not hostile. The Heatherlys made their appearance in Clay county claiming that the Indians had murdered the two men. Two companies of militia were ordered out under Colonel Shubael Allen and sent to the locality. Upon investigation it appeared that the Indians were innocent; that the charge against them had been made to cover up a crime by white men. Father DeSmet a Whole Peace Commission. To St. Louis the government looked for controlling influence of Indian troubles long after the border line had been moved far westward. Among the prized papers of St. Louis University is a letter from the Peace Commission giving credit and thanks to Father DeSmet for preventing an Indian uprising in the Northwest as late as 1868. The St. Louis missionary left a bed of sickness to go among the Sioux and pacify them. He addressed one war council of 30,000 braves. Father DeSmet repeatedly rendered most valuable service in averting Indian troubles. He went out as commissioner at the request of the government when an outbreak was threatened. On one of these occasions General Harney was at the head of the expedition ; when the forces reached that part of the west where the outbreak was threatened, Father DeSmet left the camp and went alone among the Indians. Assembling a party of chiefs, he brought them with him to General Harney and was the chief agent in bringing about a treaty of peace. He crossed the plains eight or ten times. He made half a dozen trips to Europe in the interests of the Indians. He was devoted to the theory that the Indians might be civilized. The purpose of his trips abroad was to enlist sympathy for the Indians and to obtain for them agricultural implements and money, and to influence the young men on the other side of the water to take up the mission of civilization work among the American tribes. In 1859 Father DeSmet took a small skiff at Fort Benton and with three oarsmen descended the Missouri river, making as many as eighty miles a day. A series of events, — one of the most notable chapters in the history of North American Indians, — led up to Father DeSmet's life work. These events had their natural relationship to the Indian policy which Laclede and the Chouteaus in augurated and which Governor William Clark, Manuel Lisa and the Missouri fur traders fostered. Four chiefs of the Flathead nation came to St. Louis in the fall of 1831. They had been six months on their way of 3,000 miles. They had come to ask that missionaries be sent to teach their people the white man's religion. Two of the chiefs sickened and died in St. Louis. They had been baptized and were buried by the Catholic priests. The other chiefs, after being given encouragement that black gowns would be sent, started back but never 512 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI reached their people, presumably falling victims to the Sioux or some other hostile tribe. In the summer of 1908, sixty-seven years later, a great camp meeting of Indians, chiefly Umatillas and Nez Perces, was held in Eastern Oregon. A leader in the services, which went on day after day and until after midnight, , was Kip-kue-pe-li-kin, grandson of one of the four chiefs who made the fatal jpurney to St. Louis in 1831. Sermons were preached in two Indian languages. Hymns were sung in the slow, weird, almost monotonous, tones of the Indian. Converts, some forty of them, were made. This was only one of the consequences of that original visit of the chiefs to St. Louis, asking for knowledge of the white man's God. In 1835, the Nez Perces sent a second party to St. Louis to, pray for the coming of black gowns. Old Ignace headed this delegation. Bishop Rosati received these Indians and encouraged them. Old Ignace was an Iroquois who had migrated with a band of his people years before from a Catholic mission on the Sty Lawrence river to the far Northwest and had joined the Flatheads in the Bitter Root mountains. Ignace la Mouse had told the Flatheads of the black gowns and had prompted this longing for the white man's religion. From the visit to St. Louis, the second delegation found their way back to the mountains. Two years later, the third party started for St. Louis but was killed or captured on the way. In 1839, the fourth expedition seeking the black gowns appeared in St. Louis. This time the assurance was given that the priest would go the fol lowing spring. One of the Flatheads went forward to carry the good news while young Ignace, son of the old Iroquois, waited to escort the black gown. From the appeals, repeated and persistent, came more than one missionary effort to reach the Indians of the Northwest. Jason Lee headed one party under" safe escort of Sublette's fur traders. Marcus Whitman and H. H. Spalding went to Oregon and established the Walla Walla mission. On the fifth of April, 1840, Father DeSmet started from St. Louis with young Ignace. He found the Flatheads at Pierre Hole, near the western Wyoming line.- The Indians had come 800 miles to meet black gown. Bands of the Nez Perces, the Pend d'Oreilles and Kalispells were with the Flatheads. After spending the summer with these Indians, Father DeSmet started back to St. Louis promising to return the next year with helpers. On the way the priest was surrounded by a war party of the Blackfeet who looked curiously at the gold crucifix glistening on the front of black gown. The priest's companion answered the Blackfeet chief's inquiry : "He is a black gown, the man who speaks to the Great Spirit." The Blackfeet brought a buffalo robe and motioned the priest that they wanted to hear him speak. They brought food and looked on solemnly when Father DeSmet said grace. Twelve Indians raised the corners of the robe and carried the priest to the village where they showed him all possible honor. In the spring of 1841, Father DeSmet went back to take up his lifelong work for the civilization of the Indians. With him in the party going from Mis souri were Fathers Gregory Mengarini and Nicholas Point and three lay brothers, Joseph Specht, Charles Huet and William Classene. From this beginning came the missions of the Flatheads, the Coeur d'Alenes, the Kalispells, the Colvilles, the Spokanes and other tribes. MISSOURI'S INDIAN WARS 513 Far reaching were the results of these missionary efforts inspired by the coming of the Indian embassies to St. Louis in the thirties. Not only were Indian troubles averted. Immigration followed. The Northwest was saved to the United States. ' ' Walk In Rain, the Model Letter Writer. In the summer of 1820, settlers clashed with a party of the Sac tribe. They claimed that the Indians had stolen some horses and other property. The Mis sourians pursued and. killed and wounded several Indians. Sibley, the factor at Fort Osage, wrote to the chief of the tribe to get his version of the trouble and received this .reply : Little Osage Village, August 2q, 1820. We are glad you sent us a paper and a good man to tell us about your men killing three of our men. They were good men, but they were killed for the bad men's faults'. You say they began the quarrel ; we do not know it. You call us Americans — then, when we go among the Americans and want victuals and to smoke the pipe, your children ought not to kill us. When your children come among us we give them meat and corn, and tobacco, and use them like brothers — our great father told us to do so and that his children would do the same to us. We want that you would send us the five guns, one bow and arrow, and five powder horns, that your men took from our men when they killed them. You demand the stolen horses, and you shall have them. You tell us to open our eyes and to walk in the good road. Your men have killed three of our men, and we cannot walk in the good road and let your men walk in the bad road. You are very exact to demand of us all the trifling things that our bad men have taken from the Americans, and you shall have them, or an, equivalent therefor. You cannot think hard when we demand the lives of our good men that your bad men have taken, or an equiv alent therefor. We cannot ndw go to see you, but when "you get a good road marked out, and get into it with your men, and send for us, we will go and see you, and give up all the horses and other property, and with pleasure walk the new and pleasant road, a.nd smoke the pipe of peace like brothers. We cannot keep our young bad men from mischief, no better than you can keep your young bad men from mischief. We have done no fault but are willing that all things should still be right. Your men make me cry -by killing our men; but our men don't make you cry by killing your men. All the young men and warriors are very mad, and we can only cry. We have hard work to govern them. "We want that you should take good care of the wounded prisoner, till we-go down and see you. We and you have walked in the good road — it may be that we have both missed it; if we have we will try to find it, and both, keep in it or out of it— but we hope in it. We want to say more, but we hope this is enough in behalf of the chief war riors and head men of the Little Osage village. Walk In Rain, Principal captain' of the L. O. village. N. B. — We thank you for the tobacco you sent us ; it was not enough to give us all a smoke — we want that you should send more next time. Conway, the Hero of the Boys of 1820. Captain Joseph Conway was the hero of young Missourians of 1820. He had been scalped three times. He had been tomahawked. He had been shoL He had been left for dead. The stories that were told of Captain Conway rivaled those about Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton. Boys got behind the captain and looked with admiring awe at the spots f rqm which the Indians had cut the scalp locks. Captain Conway was a Virginian. He came west early in life and fought Vol. 1— ss 514 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI' Indians. When the Spanish governor, Trudeau, was encouraging American settlers to come west of the Mississippi, he extended a special invitation to Captain Conway. About the time that Daniel Boone moved over from Ken tucky Joseph Conway accepted a grant of land from Trudeau and became a resident of what is now St. Louis county. That was in 1798, six years before American authority was established in St. Louis. Conway was an Indian fighter from the time he could carry a gun.. He accompanied Boone and Kenton on their campaigns against the Indians. Of Conway it was told that being hard pressed he ran from tree to tree, loading and firing until he had killed seven Indians. He fought with Harmer and with Wayne. In three different battles he sustained wounds. At one time, when he had been scalped, he was made a prisoner and with his undressed wounds was compelled to walk from the Ohio river to Detroit. He was barefooted. The blood ran down his back from the scalp wounds. A white woman, who was a prisoner, bound up Conway's head. On the Canadian border Conway was held in captivity four years. Those experiences preceded the settlement in the vicinity of St. Louis. For years after he came here Captain Conway held himself in readiness for service against tfie Indians whenever trouble threatened. The fame of the old borderer was, worth a regiment of un known men for restraining effect on a tribe that was inclined to be ugly. ¦ Captain Conway left descendants who held public offices in St. Louis. One of his sons became sheriff. A thoroughfare in the suburbs of St. Louis was named in honor of Captain Conway. A TYPICAL SCENE IN THE OZARKS OP MISSOURI CHAPTER XV THE OZARKS Discovered by the Pioneers — Overlooked by the Railroads — Edmund Jennings — Thc Six Boils — A Family that Hated Andrew Jackson — The First Settler — Good Old Times — Diary of a Winter's Journey — The Spring House — Primitive Life and Death — The Switzerland of America — An Acquittal Face — Feuds that Were Not Fatal — -Geology of the Ozark Uplift — Ridge Roads — A Journey over the Hog Backs — Thrift in the Osage Hills — Captain Owen's Narrative of the Hunt for Gold — Parson Keithley — A Secret Sub-Treasur.y — Nature's Burial Vault — Jay Linn Torrey — From Rough Rider to Model Farmer — The Air Drainage of the Ozarks — Exit the Squatter — The "Horse" Apple- Fence Corner Peach Orchards — Seedlings and Elbertas — From Seven and One-half Cents to Four Dollars a Bushel — The Drying Season — Home Made Evaporators — Sep- tember Scenes at the Crop Centers — Dried Apples by Machinery — No Bottom Orchards — Rocks or No Rocks — No Demand for the Pick-me-up — The Theory of Heat and Moisture in Stones — Apples and Altitude — Where Fruit is Currency — Historian Has- well's Ozark Stories — A Macadamised Bed of Strawberries — Flint for Mulch — A Yield of $500 on Three-quarters of an Acre — Peach Trees Planted with a Crowbar — Not a Crop Failure in Twenty-five Years — The Secret of the Soil. The traveler in the interior is often surprised to behold, at one view, cliffs and prairies, bottoms and barrens, naked hills, heavy forests, streams and .plains, all succeeding each other with rapidity, and mingled with pleasing harmony. I have contemplated such scenes, while standing upon some lofty bluff in the wilderness of Missouri, with unmixed delight; while deer, elk and buffalo were grazing quietly on the plains below. — Schoolcraft's Adventures in the Ozark Moutitains. "Ah !" said a Scotchman who came from Glasgow to examine a mining proposition in the Ozarks, "this reminds me of my ain Heelands." He delighted in the Ozark country. With the rolling ranges of green-clad hills, the preci pices and rock-covered slopes along the clear streams he felt much at home. In 1895 a thoughtful man stood before the great map of the United, States in the lobby of the House of Representatives at Washington and said : "As it appears to me there are just three places left in this country where a man with a little can go and have an almost absolute certainty of making a great deal. That is, I mean we have three regions which seem to have been passed by while the rest of the country was being taken up and to which, in the immediate future, there is going to be a rush of capital and immigration. They are the sections in which he who locates early is going to reap the advantages of rapid development. "One of these locations," he continued, '"is that southwestern strip of the United States stretching down to the terra caliente, between the Rio Grande and the Gulf. I don't know much about it, was never there, but if there is enough moisture, and there ought to be so near the Gulf, I imagine that that almost wholly unoccupied strip is going to be a great place for tropical fruit -culture 517 518 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI some day. Another place is the Indian territory. Of course it is necessary to wait for the action of the government opening that to white settlement, which cannot be delayed much longer. The third and largest of these three places and the one which I would choose if I wa's going somewhere to 'grow up with ' the. country' is right there." He pointed to the Ozark country. This man had never been in South Mis souri. But he looked on the map and he saw how the ,railroad builders, in the rush to the South and West, ,had gone by and left a great block of unoccupied territory. The twenty-five years that have passed have witnessed the transforma tion of the Indian reservations into a s'tate. They have developed the possi bilities of Southwest Texas. They have focused attention upon the long over looked Ozarks. / . The Old and New of the Ozarks. A strange combination of old and new the Ozark country presents. One meets a man who has just come down from the' North, and is enthusiastic over the home he has just acquired. The next acquaintance may be a native whose family, back to his great-grandfather, has lived right here. The Ozark country was settled before the Missouri Valley was. The oldest town in Missouri, next to St. Louis, is in the Ozark country. Pioneers found their, way into the region before Missouri was a state. They recognized the fertility of the valleys, the salubrity of the climate, and they made their homes on these slopes and plateaus when Iowa was Indian country. After the Louisiana purchase was made and the vast region west of the Mississippi was transferred to the United States, American citizens flocked to this Ozark country of South Missouri. The descendants of those old pioneers live there today. They scattered widely. They occupied first what were to them the choicest lands, the valleys. And now, a century after the early settlements, there are between the valleys occasional stretches of virgin forest in which the deer graze and the wild turkeys roost. Country of the Six Bulls. On the way from Springfield to the. wonderful scenery of White river the traveler is in "The Country of the Six Bulls." Most of the residents have for gotten, if they ever heard, the origin of this name for the section. A hundred years ago Edmund Jennings came out from Tennessee and lived fifteen years among the Indians of "Aus Arcs," as the French had named the region. Jen nings was a mighty- hunter. He carried back to Tennessee marvelous stories of the woods, the caves, the springs, the rivers and the game.. He called the locality "The Country of the Six Bulls." That was Jennings' way of pro nouncing "boils." This was the country of the six boils. The "boils" were six great springs. These springs boiling up from the enormous reservoirs under the limestone strata started six rivers on their courses. Indian, Shoal, Center, James, Spring and North Fork, streams of considerable size, have their begin ning in the six boils. Jennings' stories of hunting and fishing started a migra tion of Tennesseans to "The Country of the Six Bulls." These settlers came in almost as soon as the United States was in possession of the Louisiana terri tory. They crowded out the Osages and the Shawnees. They kept the country and the curious name that Jennings had given it. THE OZARKS 519 Some Ozark Pioneers. The Ozark country had a historian in the person of A. C. Jeffrey. Accord ing to his researches white settlement dated back to 1801. It is traditional that the Spanish' explored the region very thoroughly for silver. It is also tradition that they found, the white metal — so much of it that they couldn't carry it away, but left it in caves. Mr. Jeffrey said the first white man who brought his family and came to stay was a Frenchman named Jehu Falenash. This pioneer came up the White river by canoe in the first year of the century.' One of these earliest settlers was an educated Virginia lawyer, John Carter by name. Car ter's nearest neighbor was a man named Irons, with whom he had a disagree ment. ; Carter accused him of stealing his hog meat. Irons retaliated with a story that Carter and his son Bill were making counterfeit money. One day Carter made his appearance at Irons' place, He had learned that only the women fojks were at home. "Good morning, ladies," he said, with much gallantry. "Cool day. I believe I'll come in and warm." Without an invitation he pushed his way1 into the house, took a seat by the fire and began to peer about. He saw a piece of bacon hanging in the rafters above his head, the usual place for curing meat in those days. He began to hum as if to himself an improvised song. The words ran in this way: "My Billy will come out of the kinks yet, If that silver mine goes on, he, he." Looking up at the meat among the rafters he added : "And there hangs some of my hog's bacon, he, he." 1 This was too much for the Irons women. They hadn't said a word before, but now they assailed the visitor with brooms and sticks and ran him off. Carter considered it a great joke. Tennessee and Kentucky contributed some noted characters in the early set tlement of the Ozark country. One of these was known far and wide as Big Bill Woods. Big Bill and his father came while the war1 of 1812 was in prog ress, and as long as they lived they cursed Andrew Jackson. Old Man Woods and his two sons, Bill and John, so the story goes, enlisted under Andrew Jack son and went south to fight the Indians and the British. They were good ^enough fighters, but had little idea of discipline. John Woods was on picket duty one night and left his post. The court-martial sat on him. There was no defense, and yet no great harm had been done. The usual sentence of death was passed, with a recommendation to mercy. But it happened to come just at a time when Jackson, having reversed many of these court-martial sentences, had declared that the next one should be carried out. When the case of John Woods was brought to him the general refused to reprieve him. Old Man Woods and Big Bill dressed the boy and saw him led away to his death. Then they deliberately left the army, crossed the Mississippi river and settled in the Ozark country. Jackson made no effort to have them brought back. As long as Big Bill lived the mention of Jackson would bring from him the bitterest oaths. 520 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Good Old Times in the Ozarks. Of life in the Ozarks, of Southwest Missouri, J. A. Sturges, the local his torian of Pineville, has given this description. "The people who had located here were generally from the South, more being from Tennessee than any other one state, and had brought with them the manners and customs peculiar to those localities. They lived in primitive style, compared with the present, and were nearly self-sustaining. A cook stove was a rare exception, nearly every one cook ing by the fire place and oven. This, by the way, was not so inconvenient as might be imagined. Many a delicious 'pone,' rare venison saddle and luscious gobbler has been cooked in this way, and the smell that ascended to heaven was enough to tempt the appetites of the gods. > "A sewing machine had never been heard of, while the clank of the loom humming wheel furnished music almost as sweet, and more homelike than our present organs and pianos. The old fashioned linchpin wagons, with the box shaped like a canoe, many with wooden spindles, could be heard for miles as they groaned and creaked over the rocky road. They raised their own cotton and wool, spun and wove it into cloth and made their own garments. The latter was the women's work. Of course every family cultivated enough tobacco for home consumption. Wheat and -corn were produced and there were a number of mills to do the grinding. Distilleries were quite numerous and manufactured the pure and unadulterated (jorn juice at twentyefive cents a gallon. The good people, both saints and sinners, could take their corn to the still and lay in a good supply of the great household panacea without a cent of .cash. One didn't have to get 'sick' and tell a lie and sign his name to it; then get a doctor to tell one and sign his name to it in order to get a drink of a decoction miscalled whiskey. No, he just followed the injunction of St. Paul, and took a little for his stomach's sake and his oft infirmities, and of a quality that would have met the approval of that learned apostle. In this new country subject to chills and malaria, and with the scarcity of doctors and drugs, no doubt this pure liquor drove disease and death from many a home. "Hogs and cattle could be raised with very little feed, the former being frequently butchered directly from the mast, while deer, turkey and other game were found in abundance. As to shoes, every neighborhood had a tannery and every man was a shoe maker. One man told me that his father said his store bill before the war did not aver age five dollars a year. His family was quite large, and they lived comfortably. Instead of doing without they simply produced what was required. It is by no means intended to convey the idea that the people were poor or lived so plainly. Many families were quite aristocratic, had well furnished houses, and gold watches and jewelry were worn exten sively. People were hospitable, extremely so, partly because it was born and bred in them; partly because being isolated, it was regarded as a treat to have a neighbor or a stranger stop to dinner or over night. The familiar, 'Halloa, stranger, git down and hitch yer hoss and come 'n and stay all night; the ole woman '1 have supper d'rectly; boys, take the critter and feed it,' has greeted many a weary traveler and he wbuld rest as secure as tho' guarded by a regiment of soldiers.'' The Diary of an Ozark Winter Journey. The Rountree family migrated from Maury county, Tennessee, reaching Springfield in' January, 183 1. That was the year of the great snow storm. In the Ozarks the snow lay eighteen inches deep on a level and so continued for several weeks,. What journeying to the new home in the Ozarks meant under such conditions is told in a diary which Joseph Rountree, the head of the family, kept. The trip was undertaken in November. That part of it after the family reached the Mississippi river is thus recorded in the ,diary : Thursday, December 23d, 1830. — A cloudy day. The ice was very thick in the river; we went to Kaskaskia; the ice nearly quit ,in the river in the evening; at night it rained and froze over. Our expence was 37^c. * THE OZARKS 521 Friday, 24th. — A wet morning. We prepared for crossing the river after breakfast; we had removed our family to Peter Robert Derousse's, at the lower ferry, on Sunday last, — a very respectable gentleman with a peaceable family; we found the ice so thick and wide on the other side that we could not land, and had to go down the river more than a mile, where got a landing, and it took until about an hour in the night before I got my wagpn and family over ; we had to make five trips ; we went about three miles and camped, and had a merry night. Expence, $5. Saturday, 25th. — We started early; proceeded to Ste. Genevieve town; Mr. Beard had to get a skein .mended ; my family stayed with a very friendly French family, Bovie by name ; in the evening we went on eight miles and camped at Mr. Bell's. Expence, $1.6214. Sunday, 26th. — A cloudy cold day. We traveled on and about 2 o'clock Mr. Beard's hind axletree broke at Mr. Moreare's ; we proceeded about four miles further ; we traveled 14 miles and camped at Mr. Barrington's. Expence, 62^c. Monday, 27th. — I went to Mr. Donaldson's, found them well, and our wagon waited for Mr. 'Beard's, and then went on; camped at Mr. Baker's; traveled nine miles today. Expence, $2.56^. Tuesday, 28th. — This day was clear and cold. We traveled on very well ; found that the fore bolster of Mr. Beard's wagon was broken; we came through Mine a Burton and got a new bolster; encamped at Mr. Tucker's; it began to snow before day. Expence, 62^c. Wednesday, 29th. — This day was snowy, rainy and freezing; we started and broke the tongue out of Mr. Beard's wagon ; made a new tongue, traveled seven miles, and encamped at Mr. Compton's. Expence, $1. Thursday, 30th. — Started on and it was snowing and freezing ; last night it snowed ; we had got only one mile this day until Mr. Beard's wagon turned over in a branch and got the most of my goods wet ; we had to take up camp and dry our things ; it continued snowing. Expence, 62Y2C. Friday, 31st.— This day we packed up our wagon and started about '12; traveled 7 miles. Expence, $i.o6J4. Saturday, January 1, 1831.— A clear cold morning; it moderated a little; we proceeded and crossed the Cotway, Huzza, and Dry creeks ; traveled about 13 miles and encamped on the ridge between Dry creek and the Merrimac. Expence, $2.75. Sunday, 2d: — Cloudy ; we started early ; it rained very hard this day and thundered ; we crossed the Merrimac ; traveled 16 miles ; encamped at Massey's Iron Works. Ex- pence, 56%c. ' Monday, 3d.— Last night it rained, sleeted and froze all night; this morning it began to snow ; we continued in a cabin that we had took up in ; it snowed all night. Expence, 62^c. Tuesday, 4th. — A cold day; snow very deep; continued at the cabin all day. Expence, Si.ra. Wednesday, 5th. — A clear cold day; Mr. Beard took his load about four miles to Mr. St. Clair's, and we deposited it there and returned to the cabin. Expence, 66 2-3C. Thursday, 6th. — Clear arid cold ; Mr. Beard took his departure for home, we continued in the cabin; in the evening Sidney (Ingram) and me went to look us out a place for to make a camp near St. Clair's ;> we concluded on a place, returned in the evening, and brought home Junius and Lucius, who had went to another cabin on the Dry fork of the Merrimac the day before. Expence, $5. Friday, 7th. — We began to prepare for making our camps, but in the evening Joseph Phillabare (Philabert) came on and we concluded to go with him; so we left the cabin, came on to St. Clair's, and stayed all night. Expence, 62j^c. Saturday, 8th. — We started about 10 o'clock and proceeded up the bad hill with some difficulty; the day was cloudy and cold, the snow was deep and it snowed some more, but we traveled 18 miles. Expence, i854c. Sunday, 9th.— Quite cold; traveled 17 miles. Expence, $1.43. Monday, 10th. — Cloudy and cold ; we proceeded and crossed Rubidoo (Robidoux) ; traveled 15 miles. Expence, 37j4c. 522 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI N i i Tuesday, nth. — This morning it was very snowy; we discovered that Mr. Phillabare had one of the skeins of his wagon to get mended, so we stayed in camp till nearly 12, and then traveled about 12 miles and encamped at Stark's. Expence, 81 lAc Wednesday, 12th. — Cloudy and cold; we traveled on slowly on account of the snow; crossed the Osage fork of the Gasconade, and traveled 14 miles. Expence, i8J4c. Thursday, 13th. — A cold day; but we traveled on pretty well; passed Eastwood and traveled 18 miles. Expence, 37/4c. ' Friday, 14th. — Last night it snowed very hard ; we encamped at the Indian Grave branch ; the snow increased in depth four or five inches ;. we traveled with a great deal of difficulty; we passed Tygart's ; traveled 20 miles. Expence, 50 cents. Saturday, 15th. — It continues to snow; the day is almost intolerably cold; we pro ceeded on our way, and after traveling six or eight miles we met Joseph H. Miller and Lemuel Blanton coming to meet us. Great joy! We went on to Robert Patterson's. twelve miles, and got lodging for the night in his house,— the first night's lodging in a house since we left the cabin at Massey's Iron Works. Expence, $1.25. Sunday, 16th. — To-day was extremely cold ; snowed a little ; we proceeded and got to Joseph H. Miller's between sunset and dark ; found the people about the Prairie all well and glad to see us all arrive safe ; traveled 23 miles. The Spring House in the Ozarks. The spring house is still an institution of the Ozarks, not quite so omnipresent as it was before the days of cities and ice plants, but still in frequent evidence as one of the charms of this section of Missouri in. the pioneer days. When the settler looked around for the choicest site for his cabin home, he took into con sideration the location of the spring. No Ozark farm was without at least one good spring. Some had half a dozen of these streams of pure cold water gushing from the limestone ledges in never failing volume no matter what the season. As civilization advanced, the spring water was piped to many Ozark hprnes. And in time came the installation of hydraulic rams which carried the water up grade when the spring was at a level lower than the house. The next thing after the house was built in the early days of the Ozarks was the construction of the spring house. An old timer described what was standard architecture with the pioneers : "The walls were made two to four feet thick, of any rough stone that happened to be handy. The door was of heavy oak boards and fastened with a stout padlock. Inside the house three sides were usually fitted out with shelves to hold the great crocks of milk, jars of cream and butter, and usually the spring bowl was excavated so as to form a pool, having a uniform depth of three to six inches. In this the choicest dairy-products were placed in order that they' might be coolest, while overhead stout nails or hooks were fastened to the rafters to support huge roasts, legs of mutton and veal, which, at the temperature of forty-five degrees or thereabouts, would keep fresh many days. Rats and mice were almost unknown about the spring house, but small snakes and half grown frogs were~ numerous, and when the country maid noticed an unusual commotion in the jar of milk she was handling she was not at all surprised, or frightened either, when a water snake slipped out of the jar and disappeared. Nor was the family alarmed when the head of a frog appeared in the milk pitcher at breakfast. The pitcher was promptly emptied into the pigs' trough, and the frog, if not devoured by the pigs, made a bee line for the spring branch. Nobody was blamed for every one knew that the covers of the jars did not fit and that frogs and snakes were to be expected in a spring house." A household institution of pioneers in the Ozark country was the laundry. When Monday came the Ozark housewife did not put^the boiler on the kitchen LIFE IN THE OZARKS, 1870 LIFE IN THE OZARKS, 1920 THE OZARKS 525 stove. She gathered up the clothes and followed the well beaten path from the back-door to the spring. Every Ozark farm has its spring. Many of the houses were built with direct reference to the spring and some towns are located where a volume of clear cold water wells up and flows from the rocks without any apparent relation to rainfall. The Ozark housekeeper of early days had a great iron pot swinging a foot and a half from the ground. The tubs stood on stones under the shade of thick foliage. The water was dipped with a gourd from the spring and the kettle was fillecj. A fire of pine or hickory was built underneath. There the week's washing was done and the clothes were spread on bushes to be gathered and carried back to the house when night came. The outfit of the laundry remained undisturbed until the day for the next washing. "The Switzerland of America." "The Switzerland of America," is the descriptive title bestowed upon the Ozarks by the residents thereof. And the affection of these people for their Ozarks is akin to that passion which the Switzer has for his own Alps. The late Aaron D. States, of Dade county, writer, newspaperman and preacher, was a true Ozarkian. In "The Cabin by the Winding Way," as he called his home, he wrote this graphic tribute, "Why I like my part of the country." "Why do I like it ? Listen ! It is South Missouri where the Ozarks play with the gossamer clouds and the mellow sunbeams, that dance over meadow, woodland, tangled wildwood, and play hide-go-seek amid labyrinth and dell. Where the purest crystal water flows in classic rivers and streams and from never ceasing wells and springs that give health and life. Where talkative, babbling brooklets quench the thirst of the herds, on the mission to the father of waters, passing through bewitching nature gardens, tickling the roots of herb and fern, then spreading into a broader and deeper current to gladden the hearts of the husbandmen. Where the golden sunlight warms the earth the, quickest after the snows and sleets. Where the earth responds to every honest touch of the soil tiller and assures him plenty with some to spare. "Not so very far from thriving cities, near the trackage of the endless steel rails with the master city of the middle ' west hard by. Near a modern village of schools and churches and where everybody is hailed as brother, and should I forget to extend the day's benediction in passing it would be sufficient cause to create a desire in the afflicted to learn, t. 'What on earth has happened?' In a country where the countryman and the townsman sit in the same pew, attend the same social functions, whose children attend the same school. Where the modern car is found both in town and country, where the public highways are being made ideal and all modern improvements find a people ready to adopt every measure that strengthens industrial worth and broadens the sphere in making life worth while. Where are no strangers, and should one come within our gates he is soon made a brother. A country where boosters live, live not alone for self but are willing that others shall live. Where mutual interests are considered above par value — a country where the principles of a common brotherhood are practiced, at least in part. "The Ozark range of mountains is distant kin to the Rockies. It extends 200 miles east and west and averages a little over 100 miles in width. This scope of country, the Switzerland of America, is fast becoming the resort for thousands of pleasure seekers each year. They find all kinds of nature wonderment, little cascades, bewitching grottoes, fruitful fields and gardens, with farm and town homes that are akin to the homes of city streets. Pleasure resorts abound everywhere. Community houses shelter the weary pil grim, log and cobblestone bungalows with fertile gardens greet the visitor in all the mountain country. No visitor need be too far distant to hear the pealing of the high 526 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI school and college bell in order to find pleasure and healthful zone. Mountain roads are being made ideal, their gentle slope and graceful winding, through nature's panoramas, give the visitor a touch of the sublime and beautiful. The artist, the literatus and the seeker of health climb the mountain peaks and with glass can see four states. "I am a child of nature, I love my mother. She has fed and clothed me all these years. She adorns the walls of her home with master paintings ; she seeks to soothe sorrow and strengthen hope and faith. After awhile she will clasp me into her bosom and there I will sweetly sleep." Frimitive Life and Death in the Ozarks. Great and radical changes in the character of the population of the Ozarks has taken place since the Civil war. Then, it was the opportunity for easy living by the chase which attracted many. A cabin was home. Patches of corn and tobacco supplied necessity and luxury. The shot gun supplemented the larder. if, indeed, it did not insure more than half of the living. The streams swarmed with fish. Along the Piney and the Gasconade were secret stills, and the lookout for the "revenooer" was continuous. Not all of the Ozarks was thus peopled, but there were many localities where primitive life was the rule. Then came settlers to whom the wonderful climate, the sparkling waters, the scenic fascina tion, the rich valleys, the fruit-raising possibilities of the slopes appealed. The Ozarks began to realize destiny as the incomparable summer sanitarium for the city dweller. Today the traveler would travel in vain to find such an incident as was described thirty years ago : "While riding along the Springfield road, I approached a log cabin, and was attracted. by the sight of half a dozen farm wagons -and teams scattered about in the vicinity, and perhaps two dozen people, men, women and children, conversing and smoking under a big oak near the cabin door. It was near sunset in the early autumn. 1 rode up near the group and halted. " 'Howdy,' said a tall thin man, in a solemn voice. "1 acknowledged the greeting and then ventured the query, 'What's going on, friend ?' " 'Fun'ral,' said the man who first greeted me. " 'Funeral ! Why who is dead ?' I asked. " 'Joe Angus' little 'un. Bin waitin' all day fur die preacher. Won't yer hitch an' stay a bit?' "I got off, fastened my horse to a scrub oak and walked to the cabin door, which was open. A slanting bar of sunshine pierced the foliage and penetrated an opening in the west side of the cabin, which by courtesy is called a window. It restedftupon the bowed head of a man and the pale, tear-damp face of a woman. On a table, by the open ing in the logs, I could see the outlined figure of a child. Something white was thrown over it. The mother rose at my entrance and drew back the covering from the face of the rigid figure. '"'Thet's my poor little Angy,' said the woman, with a hopeless wail in her voice. " 'Poor little Angy, indeed,' I thought as I looked at the frail bit of human clay 'awaiting everlasting consignment. "A clatter of hoofs, the murmur of voices from the outside and the minister entered. The women came after him, and the men gathered at the door. "The ceremony was brief, fervent and impressive; and the shadows of night were in the corners of the cabin when I moved out into the air again. Every man that was stand ing outside when I entered had disappeared, and from away back at the foot of a bluff, near the river, the sharp barking of dogs could be heard. No questions were asked as the minister followed the father, who bore the baby form now wrapped in an old patch quilt to a wagon and placed it gently in the straw. The parents, minister and some women got into the vehicle also. Then it jolted away up the road, just as the moon came over the bluff in silent, silvery splendor. , THE OZARKS 527 "'Where are all of the men gone?' I asked of two women who remained behind. "'Do ye hear them dogs a-yelping down thar?' " 'Yes.' " 'Thar's a coon treed. Reckon the men 's gone down to ketch the critter.' "There was no surprise expressed and no comment from the two women on the propriety or impropriety of these men thus leaving the cabin of a friend, while the closing rites were being performed over his dead child, to join in the chase for a live coon." He was an Ozark mountaineer whose philosophy brought home to John T. Crisp, Missouri's satirist, the futility of the Civil war : "I was riding up through Arkansas with Price's army. We were on our way back to Missouri. The Yankees had let us alone so long we thought maybe they had quit fight ing or had forgotten us. We were getting anxious about it. Along toward night I met a man who lived up there in the mountains. He had been fishing, and had hjs string of fish with him. He was going home. I was pretty full of patriotism and notions about duty. You see I had studied the relations of the states to the nation, and the relations of the states to the states, and the relations of the states to the territories, and the relations of. the citizen to the states and to the nation. I thought I knew all about it. I said to this man qway up in the Ozark mountains : " 'Why aren't you in the army ?' "'What army?' he asked. " 'The Confederate army, of course, dern you,' said I. " 'Oh, yes,' he said. 'I did hear something about such an army.' "'Yes,' said I, growing a little hot, 'I -thought so. And^why aren't you out with it .fighting the battles of the country?' 'r'What country?' he asked. '"This country,' I said. He looked all around him at the mountains, and then said : " 'Stranger, suppose you lived in this country, and owned all you wanted of it, and had all of the use of it you wanted, and some other fellow was paying the taxes and the ex pense of keeping up the Government, wouldn't you think you was a derned fool to go to fightin' about it with the other fellow ?' " Honor Among Whitecappers. In the southern part of Phelps county lived a man who had the name of being the ugliest resident of the Ozarks. He had white hair, slant eyes like a Chinaman, no eye-brows, an enormous nose which bent to one side and almost touched the cheek bone. He was tall and lank. This ugly man of the Ozarks was arrested for cutting timber oh government land in Pulaski county at a time when United States officers were vigorous in punishing offenses of that character. He was taken to Springfield. The district attorney got up and read the charges as set forth in the indictment. The district judge then presiding — he need not be named — looked in amazement upon the prisoner. As the dis trict attorney concluded the reading of the indictment the judge, without waiting to ask the prisoner how he pleaded, said to the attorney, "You may enter nolle prosequi in the prisoner's case. After a careful scrutiny of his physiognomy I am convinced that any man who is compelled to carry that face is punished quite enough for the amount of lumber which he is charged with having unlaw fully taken from government lands. You are discharged, Mr. Blank. Go as quickly as you can, and don't forget to take your face with you." After the war there was some illicit distilling and some "whitecapping" along the Piney and Gasconade rivers, but neither the production of moonshine 528 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI nor the punishment of local offenders with the hickory switch was very serious. These descendants of East Tennessee, mountaineers brought their industries and their codes in only modified form to the Ozarks. In the locality mentioned there was only occasional night riding. The leader of the white caps was a man of fine presence, splendid physical proportions and educated as a physician. He was known far and wide along the creeks for his care of the sick and suffering. He was a fine sportsman. One night "Doc" and his band called on a local offender near Spring creek. They took him out and applied the switches. The man recognized the white caps and reported them. Conviction followed and sentences of three months in the penitentiary for the whole party. One of the number was a man who had a small farm and a large family. After sentence .had been pronounced "Doc" arose in court and, addressing the judge, made this" plea for the one upon whofh the sentence would work the greatest hardship : "Your Honor, this man is the head of a large family, and his enforced absence , means untold sufferings to his wife and children, and perhaps the loss of his home. Without doing violence to the official code can not I serve the three months my neighbor and friend has charged against him? I am bigger and stronger, and can do more work for the state while he is at home fighting the battle of life and the weeds that threaten to destroy his corn crop. Your Honor, I am serious, and I can best -serve the state when I serve my friend at the same time." The man with the large family was discharged. Subsequently all of the party implicated were pardoned. There was no more whipping by that band. The Ozark Uplift. Missouri is the oldest part of the continent. As the crust of the earth cooled , and the shrinkage went on, convulsions shattered the strata and threw up the mountain ranges. One of these great convulsions reared the Rockies and piled sections on end and at every possible angle. Another created the confusion of the Alleghanies. But earlier, and between the two, there occurred an entirely different movement. A great, irregularly bounded section broke off from the crust around about and was raised to a higher level. This was the Ozark uplift. With everything in place, its strata in the horizontal positions where they had formed, the great section now known as the Ozarks was carried upward gently and made the beginning of North America. The "ridge roads" of 'the Ozarks are not only the best of national thorough fares. They afford fascinating entertainment. For many miles they can be followed without much change in grade. Every few rods are openings among the oaks and pines. These reveal vistas of valley farms and ranges of hills clothed in forest garb with occasional clearings where the newcomer is preparing for an orchard. Twenty miles of this varied landscape is nothing unusual in the views from these ridge roads. To the average unscientific man one of the most satisfactory descriptions of the Ozarks, geologically speaking, was given by Professor W. Albert Chapman : "Deep, narrow, tortuous valleys wind between long, oval ridges and domeshaped hills, the trend of which is northeasterly. Bluffs and precipices form the termini of many of the ridges. Others of the ridges drop by easy descent to the valleys. The summits of THE OZARKS 529 the ridges are often contracted and narrow. Again they widen into parks of many thou sand acres in extent. Here are seen basin-like depressions perhaps many feet in diameter. Into these the surface waters1 flow to find entrance into subterranean passages. Occasion ally irregular pits, with precipitous sides, occur, showing where the upper strata have sunk into a hidden cavern. While the general position of the strata is nearly level, there may be seen, in the valleys and along the streams, strata in somewhat tilted positions, caused by the subsidence of a mass partially undermined. Fractures, separations and depressions all indicate where partial settling has taken place. These effects and other departures from the general, rule of everything in place are the results of the erosive action of the water. Caverns and crevices are very common throughout this region. Some of the strata easily decompose, and the material goes to make up" other formations which often fill in the caves, crevices, sinks and faults. In this way from decomposition and disintegration of the primitive strata have come soft, pulverent sandstones, quartz, quart- zite, calcite, satin spar, onyx, alabaster, clays, ochres, iron, lead and zinc ores, either in compact form or scattered in crystals. "The alterations everywhere observable in the exposed strata are due to water or atmospheric agency.' That can be seen easily by examination. In some places the process is still going on. Water is nearer being the universal solvent than anything else. Its erosive power becomes almost irresistible after it has filtered through soft, carbonaceous substances. The soluble parts of the rock are dissolved and leached out. The action of the air completes the disintegration. But between this dissolution of strata and the production of secondary formations I have mentioned there takes place an intricate and complex series of chemical actions. In one place the secondary product will be ore. In another there will be no such culmination of force. Carbonates and- sulphides may be the first result from overcharged solution. Through a succeeding change the material may part with the carbonic acid and become impregnated with sulphuric acid. Solutions of potash enter into the subterranean alchemy, and gradually the deposits of ore in various forms come about." Over the "Hog Backs" to an Ozark City. " Bonnot's Mill is a village with its business houses in a narrow defile and its homes clinging to the sides of the precipitous bluffs on either side. Out through this defile the road leads to Linn. And with the first climb to one of these Ozark "hog backs" the surprises begin. Talk about a good roads movement ! Here is a traction engine hauling a great scraper and turnpiking long stretches of road faster than fifty teams and ioo men could do it. The road traverses the "hog back" from snout to tail and sidles down to a beautiful valley with a clear running stream bounded by fields, in which fifty bushels of corn to the acre is ripening. Then come another "hog back" and another valley, and so it goes. Every valley has its rich fields and comfortable farm buildings and contented-looking people, who "Laugh and the crops laugh with them." Thus you come to Linn, the county seat of Osage, one of the quaintest and prettiest towns of its size in Missouri, a municipal gem of the Ozarks. Linn's site is a ridge. Along the center of the ridge extends the Main and almost the only street of the little city. The pioneers did not skimp the street, if the ridge was narrow. They made it broad enough for future growth. The ridge spreads on either side a hundred feet or so from the street line, and then drops away rapidly 200 feet to the two valleys which bound it. The resident of Linn 530 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI may look from his front window on the street, but when he goes out the back door it is all down hill to the barn. A mile and more the town of Linn lies along this wide, single street, on the crest of the narrow ridge. At one end of the lofty perch for a town is the court house, an impressive structure of stone and brick, of solid and enduring look. An iron fence surrounds the yard. The old residents have not forgotten the controversy which arose when the court house having been completed, the matter of the proper fence was under discussion. The progressive element was for something which would befit the new court house. The more conservative taxpayers were still counting the cost of the big court house. One old farmer was appealed to by the progressives. "Yes," he said, "I am in favor of public improvements. I believe in being liberal. We have got a fine court house. We certainly ought to have a good fence. I would be in favor of a fence at least eight rails high and staked and ridered." The court house and its surrounding square may be likened to the head o,f Linn. The body and the tail stretch far away down the long, wide street. Con spicuous on the street is a Catholic church larger than many in St. Louis, of almost cathedral proportions. And in this noble house of worship, miles away from the railroad, there are wall decorations each of which cost hundreds of dollars. On this single street of Linn a 50-foot lot sold for $1,400. With bank and stores and newspapers and good schools, these people have no idea that there is a better place than Linn for home. And furthermore, "the best fishing in the world" is within half a dozen miles in several directions. Thrift in the Ozarks. Surprises await the traveler who leaves the railroad and rides away into the Ozarks. One of them is the county of Osage. The picturesque journey along the Missouri is a succession of magnificent curves, with great sweeps of the river from one car window and frowning, overhanging hills from the other. Now and then the train glides across a narrow valley, giving a glimpse of great fertility. But almost before the vision has taken note and the suggestion of possibilities beyond has formed, the limestone cliffs shut in again. And so one passes on with little more than the impression of mountain and river. Well toward the state capitol the road crosses a river and then another of still greater breadth, the clear blue water contrasting strangely with the always dense and silt-bearing Missouri. With the expanse of first the Gasconade and then the Osage comes the evidence that there is less of ruggedness behind than the river bluffs might indicate. Nevertheless it will awaken astonishment in those who have passed over this part of Missouri by rail to know that the people who live up the valleys and behind the far rolling hills pay more personal taxes than do the occupants of some of those prairies which charm the eye farther west. That is the practical and prosaic comparison. There are other wavs of looking at the Ozark hills and valleys. Before Linn had attained the dignity of a good bank, the cashiers at Jeffer son City were not a little astonished at the run upon them by Osage farmers NAVIGATION IN THE OZARKS 0 \ aa'«,.^- HR. i .. ' j3^ Bifcw^-'^iff^H AN OZARK BUNGALOW LIVING ROOM THE OZARKS' 533 desiring to make deposits and open accounts. These farmers came from fifteen to thirty miles and deposited sums raging from $500 to $5,000. The money was in gold, silver and paper, and bore various indications of having been in home-devised safe deposits. Inquiry showed that these Osage farmers had accumulated, in their careful, thrifty ways, snug fortunes. Lacking the accom modation of a bank at the county seat, they had been keeping their money in hiding places at home. Smart rogues had discovered the rich field. They had learned that there was a great amount of "idle cash" in the Osage farm houses. They had been at work restoring it to circulation. A series of rich robberies had taken place. Farm house after farm house had been relieved of its hoard while the family was away. Thousands of dollars had been taken. The farmers, alarmed at the raid upon their savings, had turned to the banks at Jefferson City in the adjoining county. That was the explanation of the sudden rush to deposit the handsome accumulations. Few counties in Missouri show heavier returns of personal property for taxation than Osage, population considered. These farmers who cultivate the rich creek bottoms have money loaned in surrounding counties. Their places are well improved. A ride through the valley of the Maries shows fine houses and barns and well-kept fields. It reveals that improvement of agricultural conditions which one sees in parts of Pennsylvania. Westphalia is a revelation of an ideal farming community, at which the visitor may well rub his eyes and wonder if he has not been transported to some favored valley of the "vater- land." The Story of a Hunt vf or Gold. A gold hunters' expedition left Springfield in 1855. In the winter and spring months marvelous stories of discoveries were carried from settlement to settle ment in the Ozarks. The new eldorado rivaled California. It was not so far away. Somewhere near the headwaters of the Arkansas, in the Rocky Range, as they then called the Rocky Mountains, was the location. The finder was a man named Poole from Newton county, Missouri. Poole, in his wanderings, had seen a tribe of Indians who used gold instead of lead for bullets. He had even visited the gulch where nuggets were scattered like pebbles. Not only had Poole seen, but he had handled. He was sure he could lead a party to the place. Adventurous spirits in the Ozarks took up the suggestion. Companies were formed in several counties. One of the largest made rendezvous in Springfield. Among those who joined were young men afterwards to become prominent in Southwest Missouri affairs — C. B. Owen, Dr. E. T. Robberson, J. M. Forrester, James Johnson, Samuel Leak, Thomas Chambers, D. C. Smith, Eli Armstrong, Elisha Painter, R. A. M. Rose. Owen was afterward General Sigel's guide at the battle of Wilson's creek and an officer in Fyan's 24th Missouri. These companies of Missouri argonauts elected captains and other officers. They divided into messes of five men each. They equipped with ox teams for hauling supplies, loading the wagons with flour, meal, bacon, sugar and coffee, with a ten-gallon keg of Ozark corn whiskey to each man. The wagons were drawn by six yokes of oxen. Most of the members had their own horses. By the arrangement of the leaders with Poole, who was now called "Colonel," 534 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the companies left Missouri by the most direct routes from their starting places to meet on the Verdigris river, a short distance southwest of Fort Scott. Colonel Poole found himself at the head of 400 men, with 800 oxen and nearly eighty wagons. Some of the Missourians had never seen Poole. They had joined on the stories. Not in the habit of taking things too much' on faith, they pressed the leader for definite information. Poole couldn't give it, but he made a speech. He said he had seen the gold and believed he could lead them to it. Some of the Missourians talked doubtfully and resentfully. Poole then said he would not start until every man signed a promise to protect him from ill treatment whatever the result of the search. After much palaver the written pledge was given and Colonel Poole led the way westward from Cooley's Bluff in the Cherokee Nation. The Missourians followed the California Trail through the Indian country until they came to the Santa Fe Trail. Fourteen miles from Fort Mann Poole left *the Santa Fe Trail and took a pathless route over the plains toward the Rocky Mountains. To H. Clay Neville, the historian of the Ozarks, Captain Owen, in 1894, told the adventures and what finally befell the expedition : "We saw. millions of buffalo on the trip. They were so gentle that it was no trouble to get in close range of a feeding 'herd, and any one could kill the younger animals. When a calf was cut off from the herd it would follow the horses right into our camp. This method of capturing the young was quite commonly practiced, and we were seldom without a good supply of the tenderloins of the buffalo calf. We had plenty to eat at all times, and only suffered for water. Now and then nothing but the worst kind of alkali water could be found, and this would only increase the thirst of man and beast if drank. Each man had a ten-gallon water keg, which he filled at every pure spring, but this supply often proved insufficient, and the cattle suffered greatly sometimes. We traveled about thirty miles a day when no serious obstructions were encountered. We had to make our own roads often by filling up gulches and bridging treacherous quicksand streams. Poole kept the train on the 'divides' as much as possible, thus avoiding the roughest country. "The greatest Wonder of the whole trip was the change which came over the cattle as soon as we struck the plains. The wild nature of the original bovine seemed to return to the oldest plow steer in the trajn after he had traveled a few days over the pathless wilderness. He became a new animal, and would every day astonish his driver and the entire party. Not only did the cattle travel better after they had eaten the wild grass and drank the brackish water of the Arkansas Valley for a few days, but the old work steers would run away in the yoke or stampede at night on the slighest provoca tion. The first serious affair we had with the cattle was caused by a very little circum stance. One of the horses had a sore back, and the animal was turned loose with a saddle on to follow the train. The saddle got turned under the horse's belly, and this scared the pony. He started to run along by the train, kicking and snorting, while the saddle dangled and flapped between his legs. This started one of the teams, and in an instant the whole train had caught the spirit of fright. Every steer of the 800 seemed to bellow at once, and the wildest runaway ever seen in an ox train began. There was no such thing as stopping the frantic beasts. They rushed madly over the plain in all directions, snorting, bellow ing,, and making the earth tremble with their wild plunges and the heavy wagons pulled after them. Some of the wagons were turned over and wrecked, many of the cattle crippled and the train scattered for miles. It took a whole day to get the train straight ened up after this runaway. "But the worst of all the stampedes occurred one night. We always made a corral of the wagons by driving them around in a circle before going into camp. Inside of this the cattle were placed to protect them from the Indians. The guards were stationed THE OZARKS 535 on the outside of the wagons. It was early in the night, before we had gone to bed, when an ox, in rubbing his neck against a wagon, knocked down a yoke. The steer jumped and snorted, and like a flash of powder the signal was communicated to the whole herd. In two seconds every ox in the corral was on his feet, and the stampede began. For a few minutes the cattle ran round and round in the corral, getting more terrified and resistless as the mighty mass of hoofs and horns thundered and rattled. The men were helpless. A herd of wild buffaloes could have been as easily tamed as those frightened steers checked at that moment, and we could only take refuge in the wagons and watch the terrific spectacle. Soon the circling herd make a break on the corral. Two or three wagons were overturned and through the gap the, cattle plunged madly. Before the last ox had left the corral the ill-fated wagons were a mass, of ruins, fit only for kindling wood, and several steers lay in the passage, disabled or dying. The men. mounted their horses and followed the scattering herd, but the cattle could not be rounded up that night. Some of the steers ran thirty miles, and it took three days to get the train in motion after the stampede. "Indians were seen almost every day, but. they gave us no actual trouble. We had several false alarms, which caused great sensations at the time, and much amusement in camp afterwards. One night, when D. C. Smith, of pur company, was officer of the guard, a fellow on duty saw a buffalo calf approaching the camp,' and thought-it was an Indian. He fired and retreated into the corral. Smith called to his men, shouting at the top of his voice: 'Fall behind the water kegs!' He thought ¦ the kegs Would make tbe safest breastworks that could be hastily formed to resist the attack- of the savages.- -As the Indians did not make their appearance a reconnoiter of the field' soon discovered the cause of the alarm. It was also ascertained that instead of 'falling behind the water kegs- mOst of the men had hidden in the wagons, and were making breastworks of ¦ the grub boxes, when the scouts reported no enemy but a buffalo calf near the camp. ,.¦¦- ¦-. >< • "At another time, when most of the men were out hunting a mile or two-, -from the train, they saw the drivers begin to corral, the teams. This was the signal" for"danger, and we all supposed- that the Indians were about to attack the train. Then every, man started toward the wagons at his best speed possible, those on foot trying to keep. up. with the horsemen. Some of the mounted men ran into a gulch, and were badly hurt. When we reached the train the drivers had discovered that the Indians were only hunting "buffalo, and not seeking our scalps. "All the time Poole went scouting the country on both sides of the train. He rode a small gray horse, and left the wagons every morning with his favorite squad of guides and prospectors. The man seemed in dead earnest, but often greatly perplexed. As summer wore on and no gold was found, the men began to get very impatient. But few " of us had any idea of the country we were travelling over, and the distance home seemed now very great. We had been out several months, and- the treasure sought seemed as far away as ever. Poole grew more and more uneasy and confused as we advanced toward the region where he had claimed the gold would be found. He talked less and less about the exact location of the mine and seemed much in doubt at times as to his bearings. We had reached the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and the country was getting very rough. It took a great deal of work often to get the train over a gulch. The vision of the rich treasure, which had allured us over the alkali plains, began to vanish as we saw the per plexity of our leader. At last the dream was broken, and the men refused to go farther in pursuit of such an uncertain prize. Poole made excuses for his failure, and still declared that the gold could not be far away, and wanted a little more time to hunt, but the men would not advance another step after they held a general council, and discussed the situation. The leader's influence over his followers was completely gone now, and Poole became more alarmed for his own safety, as he saw the demoralized condition of the camp."When the vote was taken nearly every man favored a return home, but before the train changed its course toward the rising sun Poole and his little gray pony had dis appeared. We never heard of the man after the wagons started homeward. The fellow- got afraid he would be killed, in spite of the pledge we had all signed. There was much 536 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI disagreement among the men, after the first feeling of disappointment passed off, as to the character of Poole. Some thought he was honest and had seen at least what appeared to be gold, while others regarded him as an out-and-out fraud. I never could see what motive the man had if he was an imposter. He must have had some faith in the move ment or the expedition- would never have been organized. Whatever became of the man I never knew. He never came back to Missouri as far as I could ascertain. "We partially reorganized the command when Poole left, and began to retrace our steps. It was not difficult to follow backward the trail of the train. The tread of the 800 oxen and the wheels of eighty wagons left their unmistakable signs on the open plains. The Fourth of July soon came after we started back. Not a wheel turned on that day. We were too patriotic to travel on the anniversary of liberty, homesick, as most o'f the men had become by this time. We had some whisky in our kegs yet, and every man drank a health to the Stars and Stripes and his native state that morning. Then the boys began to hunt for fun. After some old Tennessee pastimes in the way of trials of strength and activity, a difficulty between two companies arose. It was an old grudge that had been growing ever since the ^train left the Verdigris river. This we thought was a good time to have the feud settled. The combatants were accordingly disarmed and led by pairs into a ring, where they fought under old Tennessee fist-and-skull rules, until one of the men announced in loud and unmistakable tones that he was whipped. By the time one fight was over another couple would be ready for the ring, and in this way we spent a good part of the day, umpiring these rough-and-tumble combats. By night the strife between the two companies was exhausted, and the plight of some of the men could hardly , be imagined. They had fought 'in the corral, rolling over and over on the ground often, and their clothes were soiled with all the filth about the camp. Some had lost their shirts in the fight, and black eyes and swollen noses and lips told where gouging thumbs and pounding fists had done their bloody work. "When the train reached the Arkansas river the companies began to separate, each one taking the most direct course home. Our men traded some of their provisions to the Indians for dressed deer skins, and then we hurried on to Springfield, glad to get back, but not a little ashamed of the result of the trip." Parson Keithley's Mysterious Hoard. Old Parson Keithley was one of the strange characters of the Ozark country. One day in the week he preached. The other six fie roamed the country with his gun on his shoulder and his dog at his heels. He loved solitude. It was his custom to disappear. For days his family would hear nothing of him. Then he would return as suddenly as he had gone. He was reticent. Nothing more than disjointed accounts of his wanderings ever came from him. Relatives learned to ask no questions. When the old man buckled on his belt and went over the ridge he might be back for supper or he might be gone weeks. When the California gold fever spread the parson was well advanced in years. One day he walked out of the house. Months afterward a brief letter came from- him. It was written in the Rocky Mountains. In it the parson said he was on his way to California. Two years and eight months passed. One day the old man walked into the house, greeted his family pleasantly and resumed his old way of living. Little by little the family learned that the parson had found gold. He had acquired all that he wanted and had come back by Cape Horn, landed at New Orleans and made his way overland to the Ozark country. Nobody ever learned how much the parson brought back. The neigh borhood story, which took no account of avoirdupois, was that the parson had actually lugged- $6,000 in gold into the Ozark country. What he did with the THE OZARKS 537 treasure was a mystery. He made no exhibition of it, and he did not keep it in the house. There was a garden and an apple tree some distance off. At intervals of weeks or months the old man would draw from his pocket a $10 gold piece and hand it to his daughter, saying, "See here what I've found." The gold was usually produced on some occasion of domestic need. Where the gold was "found" the old man never told. The "shiner" came to light just after the old man had been taking a walk. Some of the family supposed that the treasure was buried under the old apple tree in the garden, and unearthed a piece at a time. Others speculated that the hiding-place was in a cave to which the parson was wont to retire for meditation. So much did he frequent the place that it became known, and is still known, as Keithley's cave. The strangest part of the parson's career came toward the end. Shortly after the close of the war he tdld his friends that he felt he had not much longer to live. It was his fondest wish to make the cave his tomb. He set about the preparations for that purpose. A portion of the cave was very dry, and that was chosen by the parson for his last resting place. He walled off a room and built of rock an entry five wide feet leading to it. The stones for the purpose he carried from some distance on the hillside, dressing them so that they would fit well, but laying them without mortar. At the entrance to the passage Keithley built a double stone door, inclined at an angle. The door was of two slabs, eighteen inches wide and three feet long. In the sides he made handles. When he entered his tomb the parson pulled the doors over and their weight held them snugly in position. On one side of the inclosed- room, close to the wall, he laid up a stone coffin just large enough to hold him comfortably. For this he had a slab which he could work into position so as to cover the top after he had lain down inside. For several years before the end came Keithley was in the habit of retiring to the cave, closing the doors of .the tomb and pulling the slab upon the coffin. There he would lie for days at a time waiting for death. Then, when the feeling of weakness or depression passed away, the old man would come out and preach and hunt. At all times he impressed it upon his people that they must see to it his bones rested in the cave, if death came suddenly when he was away from the chosen spot. In his leisure the parson carved on the wall of the cave a short sermon. The text he engraved was, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." The Ozark country has many Keithleys, some of them direct descendants of the old parson. The floor or bottom of the coffin was dry clay, and stretched at full length upon it the parson passed many nights and days. The darling wish of Parson Keithley's heart was not fulfilled. The old man was far past 90 when the sud den summons came. His waiting and watching in the tomb had been in vain. Death found him in a lonely spot on the mountain, several miles from the cave. Faintness had come upon him. He had rested his gun against a tree and had lain down. The dog had dropped beside him. Days afterward the searchers who had failed to find him in the tomb came upon the body. The Fruitville Experiment. Perhaps the most notable institute to teach the possibilities of the Ozarks is Fruitville Farms of Howell county. The professor was Jay Linn Torrey. One of the interesting characters in the present generation of Missourians was Colonel 538 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Torrey. He was colonel by right of commission. He first suggested to President McKinley the organization of Rough Riders as specially adapted to the cam paign in Cuba and was given the command of the Second Regiment. Torrey was born in Pike county, Illinois, and lived in Pike county, Mis souri. He worked his way at Columbia and was senior captain in the cadet organization of the University of Missouri. Then he practiced law in St. Louis for twenty years, was president of the three national bankruptcy conventions and framed the present bankrupt law. Going to Wyoming in the days of the cattle barons, Torrey conducted a ranch and sold Herefords by the train load. After such varied experiences came his fascination • with the Ozarks. About ten- years ago Torrey bought 11,000 acres of land and began the development of Fruitville Farms. He satisfied himself as to the -unparalleled versatility of the soil and climate by raising in a season 167 varieties of grains, grasses and vegetables, many of these products taking first premiums at the Missouri state fair. He ascertained by study and experiment that air drainage on certain slopes of the Ozarks is one of the peculiar advantages the orchards enjoy. Long growing seasons, healthful altitude and clear cold water are the combination that give an extra profit to dairying in the Ozarks. The flora of Fruitville Farms has been tested for honey production with the conclusion that the long season of flowers and the short mild winters are found to offer special encour agement to the apiary. Another of the very practical experiments on Fruitville Farms has been the immunizing of hogs. In a great oak forest Colonel Torrey defied cholera and produced pork with a greater margin of profit than is obtained anywhere outside of the Ozarks. With cattle, horses, mules, sheep and goats and , especially with poultry, results were obtained which in Colonel Torrey's judgment show the Ozarks to be ideal for profitable production: The time was when -squatters' rights were thought to suffice for title in the Ozarks. Men took land, reared families and passed away without going through the formality to record an entry, although $14 would have secured the farm to 'the children. Heirs came to the county seats to have estates administered upon only to discover that Uncle Sam still owned the land upon which they had been - "born and raised." Nobody thought of disturbing a squatter. It wouldn't have been safe. But when lawyers came to settle estates they were up against the absence of title. In another peculiar way some of the early settlers held their farms. They homesteaded the land, but before the time came to patent it the right was relinquished by the holder and another member of the family made a fresh entry. In this way some farms have remained from before the war until now in the possession of the same family by successive homestead entries without final patent. The advantage of this kind of land holding is that taxation is es- < caped. But "the bum," as one old settler called the boom, came. All kinds of lands in the Ozarks were in demand. Complete titles had market value. The squatter hustled to make sure of his homestead and to be in a position to sell when the fruit raiser, the dairyman, the chicken farmer and the miner came. Habitat of the Peach and the Apple. Away from main traveled roads and in the remote parts of the Ozarks the explorer comes not infrequently upon some long abandoned homestead. The pioneer settler, restless for a change has pulled up stakes and moved on. A IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI PALISADES OF BIG RIVER THE OZARKS 541 heap of stones marks the wreck of the chimney, and that is all remaining of -the house. The once cleared ground has grown over with black oak and young pines. Every vestige of fence has disappeared. Yet in the midst of such dis couraging conditions will be found apple and peach trees thriving and loaded with fruit. There are peach trees in the Ozarks which have been bearing longer thah the oldest settler can remember. There is the "horse" appletree said to have been brought to the Ozarks by Tennesseans long before the Civil war. It is characteristic of the men who have seen most of the Ozark country to be warmest in their expressions of confidence in its future as a fruit-raising section. "I have been here thirty years," ex-Congressman Tracey once said, "and in that time I have seen only one failure of the apple crop. Our orchards are in creasing by additions of thousands of acres annually. This will be the apple country of the world. There is as much certainty about the apple crop of the Ozark country as there is— well, as there is in the interest of a well secured loan. It is the same way with the small fruits." The fact may have escaped the rest of the busy world that Missouri is making rapid progress in fruit production. This state now stands nearly at the top of the list. When Northwestern Arkansas, Eastern Kansas and Southeastern Ne braska are added to Missouri the limits of the greatest fruit-producing section in the world are defined. Peaches and Peaches. "If you will guarantee me jYiz a bushel, I'll undertake to deliver to you 1,000 bushels of peaches. I know I've got 1,600 bushels on my place." This was the proposition an Ozark farmer made to the manager of an evaporator. Of course, these were not the great rosy, Stump-of-the-World, or the far-famed Elbertas, and certainly not the White Heath cling, which, seen through the glass of the air-tight jar, make a man's mouth water. They were the seedlings. Still they were peaches, and 7J^c a bushel seemed very low for any kind of a peach. The seedling is the peach tree which comes up in that encouraging country wherever a peach pit is dropped. If not cut for a switch or plowed up in the course of cultivation for something else, the seedling flourishes. All it asks is to be let alone. Like Topsy the thousands of seedling peach orchards of South Missouri have "just growed." The fence corner is a favorite spot for the seedling peach. Among the apple trees, around the back doors of the farm houses, beside the hog lots, are clumps of seedling peach trees. If the Ozark farmer had gone forth with his jack-knife and a bundle of buds some spring morning the southern counties of Missouri would be shipping train loads of peaches where they now send out car loads. But the farmer didn't do it. And so, on countless farms there are from half a dozen to half a thousand ¦ seedling peach trees. In good peach^seasons the boughs bend toward the ground with the festoons of these little peaches clustered as thick as they can stick. Farmers' wives and daughters pare the seedling peaches for drying. Every shed roof is preempted. Some of these seedlings are no larger than a hickory nut. Others- reach the size of a goose egg. Some are hard and about as' agreeable in flavor as a green apple. Others are soft, juicy and sweet. There is as great variety in the seedling peach as in the native population. With all of the 542 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI other uses which may be found for the enormous seedling peach crop of Howell, it still remains a fact that many thousands of bushels go to feed the hogs: Good feed they make. Hogs put on fat and never sicken from a seedling peach diet. The peach crop is beyond capacity for human consumption, even at a nickel a bushel. There is another view of the peach problem of the Ozarks. Several years ago, in the pioneer period of the industry. Howell county peaches were carefully packed and inclosed in refrigerator boxes with enough ice to insure cold storage for a long journey. When these peaches were taken out in New York they sold readily at $4 a bushel. The price was not exceptional. Similarly prepared peaches have brought $6 a bushel. Here; then, are the extremes of the peach business in the Ozark country from 5c to $4 a bushel. The tree which produced the $4 peaches started on equal terms with that which gave the 5c surplus. Neither had the advantage in original seed or soil. But in one case a pruning- knife was applied and a bud was inserted when and where it would do the most good. On the other hand, the original shoot grew into a tree. The same sun shine and the same showers brought both to fruition. A discriminating market put the $4 approval on one and the 5c condemnation on the other. The Apple-Drying Season. In the early days of autumn the Ozark country is one big evaporator. The apple-drying season is at its height. Every farmer's wife has a basket at her feet and a sharp knife in her hand. From morning until night she pares and slices. Thousands of bushels, hundreds of thousands of bushels, it may be said, which would be sent to market if the transportation facilities would warrant, are saved in this form. The horticulturists call it "evaporating." The farmers say "drying." The process amounts to the same result. By various methods, natural or artificial, the apple is reduced to one-tenth its weight on the tree. Ninety per cent. Is evaporated. Two hundred bushels o,f apples, weighing to.ooo pounds, become 1,000 pounds of dried fruit. The primitive way is to take the quilt which is not needed on the beds at this time of year and lay it on the roof of a shed. The sliced apples are spread out on the quilt. If a rain storm comes up, the four corners of the quilt are lifted and the apples carried indoors until the clouds roll by. Some of the Ozark people do not go to so much trouble, but let the sun and rain alternate until the fruit is cured. The forehanded Ozark farmer constructs of thin boards shallow trays which will hold 20 to 30 pounds of sliced apples. The women folks are able to handle these trays easily and carry them indoors when it rains. Frequently, in the corner of the house lot, a home made evaporator may be seen smoking away. Sometimes the evaporator is constructed of boards, but often of logs. The trays are placed on supports in the upper part of the little building and a' fire is started below either in a stove or in a furnace which will throw out heat. The only openings in these little houses are the door by which the trays are put in and the flue by which the smoke gets out. A stranger passing would guess a long time for the purpose of these almost airtight structures unless he saw the evaporation going on. These home-made evaporators are from three to five feet wide, from five to eight feet long and as high as a woman can THE OZARKS 543 well reach. They are simply rude ovens, calculated to hold drying but not baking heat. The threshing machine, which goes from farm to farm in the grain country, has its counterpart in the evaporator on wheels which travels from orchard to orchard and saves the crop on shares or for a stipulated price per pound. Corporations That Eliminate Water. At the more important fruit centers of the Ozarks, evaporators which do the work on a large scale have been built by companies. Farmers' wagons stand before the door at all hours of the day, discharging the surplus of the small orchards which are yielding more than the owners can care for. Fifteen cents a bushel for apples and -five cents a bushel for peaches bring to the evaporator about as much as can be handled. These are the small seedling -peaches and the fall and defective winter apples which sell at such figures. When good fruit is brought in the evaporator management packs and ships it. Machinery does the work in the evaporator. . It can't pick up the apples,, but that is all it asks of human agency. As soon as the apple is impaled on the fork the machine carries it round and round at varying angles under the knife until in a few seconds it is beautifully pared. The last twist of the machine leaves a round hole where the core was. Wheels and belts apply the power. All that the attendant does is to pick the apple from the basket and stick it on the fork. Two girls sit in front of the box into which the pared and cored apples fall from each machine. They pick up the apples and trim away any speck or bit of skin which may have escaped the machine knife.. As fast as the girls fill a tray it is pushed into an almost air-tight chamber. Sulphur is burning below, and the fumes rise through the slats in the bottom of the tray and reach almost the entire surface of the apple. This is the bleaching process. From the bleaching box the apples come out a beautiful white. An inquisitive man, on his first visit to the evaporator, picked up a newly bleached apple and ate it. He said it had the queerest flavor of any apple he had ever tried. The taste in his mouth reminded him of the time his mother used to give him sulphur and molasses every other morning in springtime "for his blood." Bleached apples are not intended for immediate consumption. A few hours will dissipate the fumes. The smell of the brimstone is noticeable at first, but it soon passes away. The automatic slicer is as ingenious as the paring and coring machine. After being bleached the apples go into a hopper. They drop, one by one, upon an endless chain, and are carried through a machine which deposits them in evenly cut slices. The slices are spread on a tray which is pushed on the slides of the drying room. There it remains in a heat of from 130 to 140 degrees. Five hours complete the process from the farmer's wagon to the finished fruit ready to be packed in 20-pound boxes. The evaporated fruit, after the method de scribed, is a much handsomer product than that which comes off the bed cover and the back shed of the farm house. It commands considerably more per pound. One of these paring and coring machines will do eighty bushels of apples a day. The slicer will chew up 600 bushels a day. While the pressure of the ripen ing season is on they run night and day. That is to say, the drying room will be kept going continuously. The machinery has a capacity sufficient to turn out in 544 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI ten hours enough pared, cored and sliced apples to supply the drying room in operation twenty-four hours. The Rocks and the Orchards. Throughout the Ozark country, valleys, or "bottoms," as they are called, are found along the streams. These bottoms, from a few rods to a mile or two < wide, have deep and wonderfully fertile soil. They grow from fifty to seventy- five bushels of corn to the acre. No fruit man of experience wastes his time in setting out bottom orchards, for there is simply no \ comparison between results in the valleys and on the rocky hillsides and hilltops. The rougher the ground the better the orchard seems to be the rule. On a slope, where the little round stones cover the ground from three to six inches deep, fruit trees do gloriously. Unpromising as the surface looks, there is soil underneath the stones which makes an apple tree laugh. Some astonishing theories are advanced to account for the fruit conditions of the Ozark country. Riding along a road, a local horticulturist pointed to a great heap of stones which an industrious farmer had picked off his land. "Within five years," the horticulturist said, "that man will be hauling those rocks back on his land." The head of one of the commercial fruit companies of Howell, who came down from Illinois, had the stones picked off the slopes of his orchard and piled in a fine wall along the highway. He says he would not do it again. It is con tended by some of the fruit growers that this coating of small stones is a great advantage to the land. One will hold that it keeps the moisture'in the soil. An other will argue that when the rain falls, these stones, many of which are porous, absorb water like so many sponges and then give off moisture when the weather turns dry. A third defender of the rocky soil will explain plausibly how the heating of the stones by day and the cooling of them by night greatly increases the condensation and precipitation. There may be something in this last claim; the dews of the Ozark country are equal to light rains. For one reason or an other the fruit growers would not have the stones taken away if they could. An ingenious inventor patented one of the oddest-looking vehicles ever seen. It was designed to pick up stones automatically as it was driven over the field. The first impression of a stranger would be that the patent was a great thing for this country] But the pick-me-up was scarcely more than a curiosity. There was no demand for it among the fruit growers. Fruit growing has received a tremendous impetus around West Plains,'and ' the would-be horticulturist naturally goes there to see the big orchards. It does not appear, however, from the statements of the unprejudiced, that Howell county enjoys marked advantages in natural fruit conditions over other parts of the Ozark country. There are ten or twelve counties in South Missouri where fruit enterprises will give the same magnificent results. The lower slopes prob ably insure more regular peach crops. But wherever there is a slope or a plateau a thousand feet above the level of the sea, and most of the Ozark country shows- that or a little more altitude, apples will grow to beat the world. The success of the Olden experiment naturally attracted attention to that immediate portion of the Ozark country. That explains largely why Howell county is so much in THE OZARKS 545 advance of counties east, west, south and north of her in orchard development. Fruit is the barter. Farmers bring in fruit for sugar, fruit for coffee and fruit for calico. Fruit is on exhibition in the store windows. Stones and Strawberries. , A. M. Haswell told this story of personal experiences in the rocky Ozarks : "I was near the thriving little city of Anderson, in McDonald county, the southwest corner of Missouri. Across the road from the farmhouse where I was entertained there was a typical Ozark hill — stony, steep and mostly wooded. But on the east this hill ran down into a long, stony point to the level of the adjoining valley, and on this tongue of hill was growing the thriftiest field of strawberry plants that I had ever seen, and I am an old strawberry raiser. The great, sturdy plants stood up a foot high and the rows had formed solid masses of vines from end to end. But it was not alone the thrifty plants that attracted my attention ; fine strawberry plants are no rarity in the" Ozarks ; but it was the fact that between the thrifty rows there was not one single grain of soil to be seen ! Literally true — not an atom of soil, nothing but flint rocks ! "I climbed the fence and made a closer examination. Those magnificent strawberry plants were growing in as well macadamized a tract as I ever saw in a roadway in my life! Just then the owner of the field came along and, with a smile, said: T see you are looking at my strawberry patch. Fine, ain't they?' "I assured him that I had never seen finer plants and added : T wish you would tell me how you ever planted them among these rocks and how, when planted, they managed to grow into such plants as these?' " 'Well,' he answered, 'when the ground is newly plowed we turn up a good deal of soil, but it washes in among the rocks again as soon as it rains.' " 'But why don't you pick up the rocks ?' I asked. " 'Pick 'em up ! Why man, I'd feel like taking a shotgun to the man that would try it!'"And then he explained, that that covering of flint rock was the best possible mulch for his plants. That six inches or less from the surface all rock ceased, and that once set, the plant roots reached down into a permanent reservoir of moisture, which no drouth could affect. Moreover, the stony covering held the frost in the ground in the spring, and kept the plants from starting to bloom before danger from frost was passed. "How much do you suppose that stony point of hill brought its owner that year? There were just three-quarters of an acre of it, and it had yielded strawberries which sold on board the cars at the station for a fraction over $500! "Speaking of stony land and what it will do recalls an experience I had a few years ago in Stone county, down near the Arkansas line. I had stayed over night with a farmer, and as I was about to drive away in the morning he said to me : 'Come out in the orchard and get some peaches to eat on the road.' "That orchard occupied the summit of one of the 'Bald Knobs,' such as are immor talized by the name 'Bald Knobbers.' It was a steep hill, probably 300 feet above the valley at its foot, and it was by nature as bald as Bill Bryan has got to be in these latter years. Also it was a thoroughly fitted out stone quarry. The whole rounded surface of the hill was a solid gray of rock. Look across it and you could not believe it any better than a solid city pavement. But the rocks were loose, and scattered among them were some hundred or so of the largest, thriftiest peach trees that I ever saw, and every tree was loaded to the limit ! "In answer to my surprised questioning, the farmer told me that he had set those trees out in 1870! That is, they were over 35 years old, when I saw them. Remember, that in most locations fifteen years is about the length of life of a peach tree. Old as they were" they were not showing any signs of dying, and they were full. That farmer told me of digging the holes to set those trees with pick ax and crowbar, but he also told me, as did the man at Anderson, that six or eight inches deep you would run into a fine Vol. 1—35 546 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI reddish clay, without so much as a. gravel stone in it. That was what gave those trees their chance, and, if their owner is to be believed, they had not failed of a crop in twenty-five years." The Lesson Taught by the Wild Products. From the wild products of the Ozark country John H. Curran drew the im pressive lesson of possibilities : "Ask the Ozark farmer boy about nuts and wild fruits. In the spring he will bring you the tart sheep sorrel, the creamy May apple and the wild straw berry hiding in the grass. As summer advances he will show you blueberries, blackberries and dewberries along the lanes, and mulberries hanging low, with sweet roots and Indian tobacco after the meal. "As the first frost falls he will shake the persimmon trees and catch for you mealy dainties or lead you to the paw paw patch where hangs nature's charlotte russe. Black and red haws with flavors all their own hang from bending branches. "This Ozark lad will show you his store of walnuts, hickory nuts, hazelnuts and pecans and perhaps some chestnuts and butternuts, all speaking eloquently of the soil, the rain, the sunshine and the pure air of his country home." In the soil of the Ozark country Mr. Curran discovers the secret of the successful horticulture : "From the limestone of Bonne Terre and the weathering porphyrys of the eastern part to the great galena formation of the Southwest extends a field of intensely interest ing geological study. The soil content shows mineral saturation in many districts. Much of it contains iron which is said to be responsible for the rich color of the fruit and for flavors unexcelled by any fruit in the world. "Phosphate is richly present on many chert-covered ridges and hillsides, a prime necessity in any successful orchard region. The weathering of this stone gives a con stant supply of this important plant food. "Ninety per cent of the uncultivated lands of the region are in timber— white, black, red, burr and post-oak, hickory, gum, walnut, bullpine, maple, elm and an unlimited variety of hardwoods, cover the hillsides, valleys and ridges, an ever-present reminder that the Ozarks lie in natural tree country. Where the forests are, there also are the forest fruits, and where wild fruits grow naturally, cultivated varieties thrive. The tree food is there and will do its work if given a chance." The Age of the Ozarks. "I believe," said a Connecticut man who settled in the Ozarks, "the geologists hold that these mountains are among the earliest created. They were formed long before some ranges which are a great deal higher and more imposing. They came into existence at such an early period that the strata do not include the Devonian age. That is to say, fishes had not come into being, and therefore we do not find fish fossils in our rocks. Speaking about the age of this Ozark country, do any of you know who was the first Arkansas traveler?" Of course everybody gave way to the New Haven man's superior knowledge. "Noah, of course," was the answer, "I read in the Bible only the other day that 'Noah opened the door of the ark and saw land !' " With variation Governor Brough told this foregoing story of his state's antiquity to the Democratic convention at San Francisco in July, 1920, and it was received with hilarious enthusiasm. Mayor John F. Darby Mayor John M. Wimer Mayor Peter G. Camden Mayor Bernard Pratte Mayor Luther M. Kennett A GROUP OF ST. LOUIS MAYORS OF THE YEARS BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR CHAPTER XVI LANDMARKS AND. LEGENDS Elephas Americanus in the Ozarks — A Whole Pine Tree Top for u Meal — The Discovery at Carl Junction — Dr. Hambach's Conclusions — Zinc in Solution — Miners and Mineral ogists Disagree— The Missourium Teristocolodon — Dr. Koch, Scientist— A Trade zvith The British Museum — The Market for Zuglodons — Star Curiosity of Wyman's Museum in 1842— Mastodon Beds at Kimmswick — An Amazed Professor — Tom Sauk Falls. — Allen Hinchey's Indian Legend — The Footprints Which Laclede Found — Lilliput on the Meramec — A Scientific Investigation — Gerard Fowke on "The Clayton Ax" — Beck with's Discoveries in Southeast Missouri — Eugene Field's Folk Lore Study— Alex ander, King of the Missouri Voodoos — Mary Alicia Owen — -The Initiation — Some Philosophic Conclusions — The Mamelles — A Variety of Topographical Eccentricities — Freak Work by the Water Courses — Murder Rocks — The Granite Potato Patch— Shut In and Stone Battery — The Pinnacles — Knob Noster — Cedar Pyramid — Tower Rock and Tower Hill — The Pictured Rocks — Treasure Traditions — The Springfield Chart — A Dying Sailor's Secret — The Michigan Man's Unsatisfactory Experience — Three Turkey Tracks and Three Arrows — Mystery of Garrison Cave — A Tradition of the Delaware Indians — Woody Cave in Taney. I have just paid my first visit to the mastodon beds of Kimmswick and they are the most wonderful I have ever seen. Missouri may well boast of them as a page out of the history of the world that has no duplicate. It is a treasure most rare. Every piece of this great collection ought to be carefully preserved until science may reach the point where it can put this page in the right place in the history of the earth and leave the story complete. — Professor W. H. Holmes, Curator, Smithsonian Institution. Elephas Americanus roamed in all parts of the Ozarks. Skeletons have been unearthed near Kimmswick on the bank of the Mississippi and at Carl Junction within three miles of the Kansas border and at several places between those extreme limits. The bones taken out of a zinc mine at Carl Junction in 1892 were shipped to Washington University. Dr. Hambach, the paleontologist, said they indicated an animal from thirteen to eighteen feet in height. Elephas Americanus was from twenty-five to thirty feet long — could not walk the streets of St. Louis without burning off its back all of the long hair by contact with the trolley wires. One of the tusks was nine feet long and nine inches in diameter. This animal had teeth with a grinding surface nine inches long and four inches wide. Elephas Americanus of the great tooth and greater tusks walked on four legs, and ponderous underpinning it was. The ball on which the hind leg moved in the hip socket is as large as the body of a man. The length of that thigh bone can only be proven by proportions. The ball and part of the thigh bone have been found, but where the bone tapers midway between thigh and knee there is a break. Better preserved is the upper bone of the fore leg. The first of the joints of the backbone, that on which the head rolled, has been 549 550 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI found and so has the last of the vertebrae, that from which the tail extended. This animal had a foot which was a mass of bones, like the hog's foot. Coarse hair, as long as the goat's, covered it from proboscis to tail, and it wandered among glaciers and was glad. A while ago the miners near Carl Junction found half-digested pine cones and needles far underground, and later they got the animal that fed upon such coarse provender. In this day and generation there are no pine trees within forty or fifty miles of Carl Junction. The mammoth took whole pine tree tops for a living. He chewed up chunks of pine wood as large as sections of tele graph poles. And for that purpose he had four of these great teeth on each side of his mouth, two upper and two lower. About the time of the Civil war a storekeeper in southwestern Missouri, turned over all of his visible assets to three St. Louis wholesale houses for his obligations. These assets included a tract of land. In the division of the wreck the land fell to Fiske, Knight & Co., and in the division of the profits of that firm Mr. Knight came into possession of the land. The acres are arable. They would class as pretty fair farming land. But at that time land within three miles of the Kansas border was not in demand, and Mr. Knight accepted the tract at a valuation of $2 or, $3 an acre — all it was worth as things were then. There was no junction, for the first of the two roads hadn't been built. Lead miners didn't know zinc ore when they saw it. They were throwing it out on their dumps by the thousands of tons. They called it "black jack" and usually prefixed a little profanity to indicate its utter worthlessness in their opinion. Mr. Knight allowed his land to remain idle. Carl Junction came into ex istence. The two railroads were built. Soon the tract was the only unoccupied land in the vicinity. Men went to the owner and asked the terms on which he would lease and let them inclose for farming purposes. Mr. Knight refused to name any figures. He said the people of Carl Junction wouldn't have any place to pasture their cows free if his land was fenced, and so he left it open. The line of the zinc mining came closer and closer until the shafts were sunk close up to the Knight line. Mr. Knight found hiniself called upon to refuse an offer of $100,000 for the land, which represented to him a bad debt of perhaps $2,000 and the taxes paid through a long series of years. Then, for the first time, he consented to the development work which might show what lay under this long-preserved virgin prairie: Holes were drilled at intervals from one end to another of the long strip. The drill struck ore everywhere, and in three places it developed four and five-foot veins of coal. Down in the valley of Center creek is a depression. The earth sinks as if the top of a small cave somewhere underneath has fallen. In such places zinc miners look for "a chimney," as they call it, and for ore. In this depression S. A. Stuckey, the manager for Mr. Knight, proceeded to sink a shaft. He went through five feet of rich black soil. Then came clay, a stratum eight feet thick. The next thing was gravel — water-worn gravel with the edges rounded and smoothed as if the mass had been stirred in a great mortar for years. Below the gravel the diggers encountered a black, sticky, muck-like mass, and in that they found the burying ground of the Elephas Americanus. LANDMARKS AND LEGENDS 551 A Curious Theory about Zinc. It has been ages since the Elephas Americanus roamed the slopes of the Ozarks and crunched huge branches of the pine trees to fill his enormous paunch. "Ages" is indefinite enough to be safe. It is long enough to furnish the basis for a mineralogical revelation. Practical zinc men have developed a curious theory about that curious ore. Most of the scientists rather scoff at the theory. Manager Stuckey and some others of the more intelligent and thoughtful class of practical zinc miners contended that zinc is a shifting ore. They believe it shifts from place to place ; that water is the chief agency in carrying and deposit ing the ore. This ore is not a carbonate ; it is a sulphide. Sulphuric acid is a principle in the formation of it. The sulphuric acid breaks down the crystals and water carries the zinc in solution from place to place, depositing it and leaving it to form ore. This is the argument of the practical zinc men. Min eralogists do not accept any such idea as to the shifting about -and growth of the ore. Bufmundic is the beginning of zinc formation. It is "the shine" which indicates the probable presence of ore. Some of the mammoth bones uncovered in Center creek valley have become honeycombed by decay, and in the openings thus left mundic has made its appearance. Since the owner of the bones went dowrt to burial in some cataclysm the underground currents of water have been carrying the elements of zinc in solution and have left zinc crystals in the rotting bones. In this zinc belt is frequently found what the miners call "mineral wool." It is ore honeycombed. The miners explain the appearance by saying that the acid has broken down the zinc crystals and water has carried off the ore in solution to be deposited in some new place. The Missourium Teristocolodon. One day a wandering scientist from St. Louis was journeying through the interior of the state. He came to a farmer digging a well in Osage county. True to his geological instincts, he began overhauling the heap of dirt beside the well. He examined the different strata with professional interest. But when he suddenly came upon some half -decayed bones his whole paleontological nature was aroused. Veiling his curiosity with the calmness which is part of the scientist's outfit, the stranger climbed down into the well and saw a sight that fired his soul. Bones were sticking out in a dozen places. The scientist and the farmer talked over the discovery, and the former drove a bargain with the latter. It was agreed that the scientist should finish the well and in return for the labor should have any bones he might find. The bargain was carried out. The professor dug the well to water and carried away the bones of a mastodon. This was in 1840. The scientist was Dr. Koch. At his leisure, in St. Louis, he put together the fragments until there stood before him the frame of a mastodon. He took his prize to pieces, packed the bones in boxes and sailed for London. The Britishers were charmed, but they were not bidding high for prehistoric skeletons. The tusks of all well-regulated mastodons curve upward. That is the decision of paleontology. Dr. Koch turned the tusks of his mastodon so that they curved outward. He insisted that his mastodon was of an entirely new species. He gave it the name of Missourium Teristocolodon, or the sickle- toothed mastodon. Perhaps the sickle-tooth caught the foreigners. At any rate, 552 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI after much dickering they entered into a contract, by which they agreed to give the professor $2,000 for the skeleton and an annuity of $1,000. They had previously looked the doctor over and concluded that the death risk was a ¦good one to take. Dr. Koch, however, was tough. 'He lived until 1866 and drew his annuity for twenty-six years. The British Museum paid $28,000 for the Missourium Teristocolodon. After studying the skeleton awhile the paleon tologists came to the conclusion that there was something wrong with the sickle- tooth. They twisted the tusks around until they pointed in the same way that other mammoth tusks point, and they crossed off the books the new species which Dr. Koch claimed to have discovered. And Then the Zuglodon. With the good British gold in his pocket Dr. Koch came back to St. Louis and became a hunter of prehistoric bones. He traveled up and down and across the Mississippi Valley, investigating every discovery of bones. For years he kept up the ceaseless search. At length his patience was rewarded. In a corner of Alabama he found the remains of a monster which seemed to be related to the whale or sea-cow. The doctor gathered up all. of the bones he could find and took them to Germany. The skeleton was set up at Dresden, and the profes sors had a high old time disputing the correctness of the locations which Dr. Koch had given the bones. "The Zuglodon" was the name Dr. Koch gave this new monster. After the bones had been arranged and rearranged until the pro fessors were satisfied the puzzle had been worked out, a bargain was struck for the transfer of the skeleton to the Vienna Museum. But when the museum authorities had bought the zuglodon they were in the fix of the Vicar of Wake field with his family picture — they had no room in the museum large enough for the skeleton. The zuglodon measured ninety-six feet in length. Another sale was made, and the gigantic frame found a resting place in the Berlin Museum. Dr. Koch came back to the United States, leaving his family on the other side in comfortable circumstances as the result of his latest deal in prehistoric bones. It wasn't long until he turned up a second zuglodon. When this was disposed of the doctor started out again and brought in his third zuglodon. In St. Louis, on Market street, opposite the court house, about the time of the war or a little earlier, was a collection of wonders known as Wyman's museum. Dr. Koch's third zuglodon was the star curiosity in this museum for several years. The museum building ran back the depth of the lot, but the " exhibition hall was too short to accommodate the full length of the zuglodon. The vertebrse were not complete. Those which were missing Dr. Koch had sup plied with imaginary substitutes made from plaster of paris. The head of the zuglodon was near the entrance. The body extended down the side of the hall to the extreme end and then curled around and left about fifteen feet of tail on the other side of the hall. The zuglodon remained on exhibition in the Market street museum several years. Then it was sold to a Chicago man, and was given the chief place in the museum there. The head of the zuglodon was the first thing the visitor saw when he entered the Chicago museum, and when he had followed the vertebrae in their winding course he had about com pleted the circuit of the various rooms. The zuglodon held its place as. the MASTODON SKELETONS KXCAVATED AT KIMMSWICK LANDMARKS AND LEGENDS 555 biggest thing in Chicago until the great fire of 1871, and then it disappeared in smoke. An Official Announcement. The St. Louis New Era of March 31, 1842, announced that "Koch's Mis sourium and the Mammoth or great Mastodon" were on exhibition. Professor Koch said by way of information : "These astonishing relics of the ancient world bear indisputable testimony of the great changes that have taken place upon the earth and how different the forms of creation from the present. Also, how limited our knowledge of the ancient world. These remains were discovered some miles from St. Louis in Jefferson county, and in the vicinity of each other. They are indisputably the greatest curiosity of the present time, and any museum in Europe or America would consider it an honor to possess them. The Missourium is until now, a perfectly unknown animal, and as it has never before been found, leads me to the conclusion, that it only inhabited the 'Far West,' and this consideration induces me to call it the Missourium, in honor of the state where it has been found. - "The animal has been much larger than the elephant. Especially remarkable is the construction of the forehead, which shows that the animal was of the genus proboscis, but of an utterly different construction from those of this class of the present day. The back part of the head has a near resemblance to the mastodon. The tusks protrude from the nose or rather with the trunk has formed the nose, and are only half an inch apart, projecting to right and left from the trunk, which, on the head, lies above the tusks. The head of the mastodon is undoubtedly the largest of this gigantic animal that has ever yet been found. The tusks that are now in the head, precisely as when the animal was living, measure from tip to tip 21 feet; from the tip of the nose to where the spine enters the neck, 6 feet; from the zegomatical arch over the head to the opposite zegomatical arch, 4 feet; from the tip of the nose to the root of the tusk, 2 feet; the nose projects over the lower jaw 15 inches; breadth of the nose at its extremity, 17 inches. That these animals were destroyed by the hand of Providence, through a great and wonderful con vulsion of the earth, the situation in which they were found bears ample and indisputable testimony." The Great Mastodon Graveyard. Near Kimmswick, in Jefferson county, is the historic mastodon graveyard of Missouri. Professor W. H. Holmes, curator of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, wrote about this wonder: "I have just paid my first visit to the mastodon beds of Kimmswick, and they are the most wonderful I have ever seen. Missouri may well boast of it as a page out of the history of the world that has no duplicate. It is a treasure most rare. Every piece of this great collection ought to be carefully preserved until science may reach the point where it can put this page in the right place in the history of the earth, and leave the story complete. "The deposit lies at the foot of a bluff, varying' in height from a few feet to fifty feet. At some time there has been a river or lake at the base of the bluff. The water has left a deposit common to allbodies of water; added to this the cliff, which is of friable material, has washed away on the ground beneath. "Where those two deposits meet a great number of mastodons, probably hundreds, have found their death. There are evidences that there have been, besides mastodons, such species of animals as bison, buffalo and probably wolf, etc. "As to the age of the deposit, there is no saying in a definite way. The time at which scientists begin to reckon is the primary age, previous to which there are millions of years of which no record is clearly made. Following the primary age there is the secondary' 556 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI age, and after that the tertiary age. Following that we have the glacial age. The records which scientists have found of this latter age incline one to the belief that the Kimms wick deposits belong to that age. One cannot be sure, however, that different ages are not represented. "This much is sure, that as time passes these prehistoric relics will become of more interest to the scientific world. Some day we shall evolve a brain that can read these scattered fragments of the book and put them together in their correct order. Then we shall have the whole story of the earth complete. "More than a thousand prehistoric bones, including 30 great tusks from 14 to 18 inches in diameter and from 18 to 20 feet long, and 350 teeth, 60 jaws of the mastodon with teeth in them, remains of the skeleton of a man, the musk ox, the reindeer, threetoed horse and many other bones not identified, have been found therel. Some pf these fossils were . found as much as sixteen feet under ground. These fossils were found in a space 260 by 800 feet. In the same vicinity Indian mounds exist and parts of earth pots used by the Indians for making salt have also been brought to light." The Legend of Mina Sauk. Not far from the Arcadia Valley, as the crow flies, is "the Tom Suck country." The name is an Anglo-Saxon corruption of Ton Sauk who was an Indian chief. The Tom Suck river rises in a great spring on the Big Tom Suck mountain. In its course are the falls of Mina Sauk who was the daughter of the chief. Allen Hinchey has told the legend which ascribes the origin of the spring high up on the mountain to a bolt of lightning. This was sent by the Storm King. The chief of a hostile tribe had made love to Mina Sauk. He was captured and killed. "According to the legend, the young captive was thrown from ledge to ledge, being caught on the points of up-lifted spears. His grief-stricken "bride, calling down a curse on her tribe, leaped from the highest ledge and was dashed to death beside the body of her slain lover. The Great Spirit invoked the Storm King, causing a cyclone to utterly destroy the people of Ton Sauk. A bolt of lightning striking the mountain top caused a stream of water to flow over the ledges into the gorge below, to wipe away the blood of the young lover. On the banks of the stream sprang up flowers of crimson hue, which grow there today, by the everflowing water and which are known as Indian pinks. "Down in the valley of the Tom Suck, where the stream winds its turbulent way through granite boulders, is a country hard of access, Ingress is possible at one point, through a rent in the granite bluff so narrow that careful driving is necessary to guide a vehicle through the portal. It is known to the people of the Tom Suck as the Devil's Toll Gate, and this opening is accounted for by a Piankisha legend as follows : Long years ago, before the coming of the Piankishas, a maiden of a tribe living in the Valley, of Flowers became lost in the Tom Suck wilds. A monster of gigantic size and ferocious aspect accosted her, and as escape was cut off by the granite wall her capture seemed certain until the Great Spirit, with a bolt of lightning rent the granite wall, affording her opportunity to escape." The Prehistoric Footprints. The impressions of a foot on the limestone at the river's edge interested greatly visitors to St. Louis in the early days. They seemed to have been made by a giant walking from the water toward the plateau. Edmund Flagg, the newspaper man, made a critical examination of the footprints and offered a theory about them : LANDMARKS AND LEGENDS 557 "The impressions are, to all appearances, those of a man standing in an erect posture, with the left foot a little advanced and the heels drawn in. By a close inspection it will be perceived that these are not the impressions of feet accustomed to the European shoe ; the toes being much spread, and the foot flattened in the manner that is observed in per sons unaccustomed to the close shoe. The probability, therefore, of their having been imparted by some individual of a race of men who were strangers to the art of tanning skins and at a period much anterior to that to which any traditions of the present race of Indian reaches, derives additional weight from this peculiar shape of the feet. In other respects the impressions are strikingly natural, exhibiting the muscular marks of the foot with great preciseness and faithfulness to nature. The rock containing these interesting impressions is a compact limestone of a grayish, blue color. This rock is ex tensively used as a building material in St. Louis. Foundations of dwellings and the military works erected by the French and Spaniards sixty years ago are still as solid and unbroken as when first laid." Major Long and his party of scientists, on the government expedition of 1819-20, devoted attention to the footprints. As early as that time the slab had been quarried out and was considered a scientific treasure : "This stone was taken from the slope of the immediate bank of the Mississippi below the range of the periodical floods. To us there seems nothing inexplicable or difficult to understand in its appearance. Nothing is more probable than that impressions of human feet made upon that thin stratum of mud, which was deposited upon the shelvings of the rocks, and left naked by the retiring of the waters, may, by the induration of the mud, have been preserved, and at length have acquired the appearance of an impression made immediately upon the limestone. This supposition will be somewhat confirmed, if we examine the mud and slime deposited by the water of the Mississippi, which will be found to consist of such an intimate mixture of clay and lime, as under . favorable circumstances would very readily become indurated. We are not confident that the impressions above mentioned have originated in the manner here supposed, but we cannot by any means adopt the opinions of some, who have considered them contemporaneous to those casts of submarine animals, which occupy so great a part of the body of the limestone. We have no hesitation in saying that, whatever those impressions may be, if they were produced as they appear to have been, by the agency of human feet, they belong to a period far more recent than that of the deposition of the limestone on whose surface they are found." In addition to impressions of the human foot, there were upon the stone irregular tracings as if made by some person holding a stick. The local theory was that these marks were made by a human being walking on limestone when it was in a plastic state. The stone passed into the possession of George Rapp, founder of the society of Harmonites. Rapp was from Wurtemberg. His sect believed in communism. The members practiced primitive Christianity as Rapp conceived it to have been. Harmony, Pennsylvania, and New Harmony, Indiana. had been established. Rapp moved about making converts. The "prehistoric footprints" at St. Louis appealed to his imagination. Years after Missourians had forgotten about the limestone slab it was doing duty at New Harmony in Posey county. Rapp was telling his disciples that the angel Gabriel visited him one night, blessed the location of the colony and said it would always be favored with peace and plenty. As a token he left his footprints on the rock and there they were. 558 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Lilliput of the Meramec. About 1820 St. Louis newspapers told of the discovery of many graves on the bank of the Meramec river about fifteen miles from the mouth. The graves were said to contain skeletons of a diminutive race. So much. had the story impressed the neighborhood, that a town which had been laid out bore the name of Lilliput. In one of the graves a skull without teeth had been found. This had been made the basis for another local theory that these prehistoric residents of the Meramec had jaws like a turtle. Government scientists with Long's expedition were so much impressed with the reports that they took a boat, floated down to the mouth of the Meramec and rowed up stream to Lilliput. They found that the graves were walled in neatly, and covered with flat stones. They opened several and saw that the bones were of ordinary size, seemingly having been buried after the flesh had been separated from them, according to the custom of certain Indian tribes. The skull with the turtle-like jaw was that of an old man who had lost his teeth. The scientists satisfied themselves that there was nothing extraordinary in the contents of the graves. As the narrative ran, they "sold their skiff, shouldered their guns, bones and spade, and bent their weary steps toward St. Louis, distant sixteen miles, where they arrived at n p. m., having had ample time, by the way, to indulge in sundry reflections on that quality of the mind, either imbibed in the nursery or generated by evil communications, which incites to the love of the marvelous, and, by hyperbole, casts the veil of falsehood over the charming features of simple nature." The Discovery of Coal. Not all of the scientific investigations at St. Louis turned out as discourag- ingly as the expedition to Lilliput. John Bradbury was well satisfied with a trip inspired by the report of coal discoveries : "In the year 1810 the grass on the prairie of the American bottom in the Illinois territory took fire and kindled the dry stump of a tree, about five miles east of St. Louis. This stump set fire to a fine bed of coal on which it stood, and the coal continued to burn for several months, until the bottom fell in and extinguished it. This bed breaks out at the bottom of the bluffs of the Mississippi, and is about five feet in thickness. I visited the place, and by examining the indications found the same vein at the surface several miles distant." Brackenridge also reported upon this chance discovery of coal : "On' the east side of the Mississippi, in the bluffs of the American bottom, a tree taking fire some years ago, communicated it by one of its roots to the coal, which con tinued to burn until the fire was at length smothered by the falling in of a large mass of the incumbent, earth. The appearance of fire is still visible for several rods around. About two miles further up the bluffs a fine coal bank has been opened; the vein as thick as any of those near Pittsburg." John Bradbury explored the caverns in the vicinity of St. Louis and told of the encouragement they offered to a new industry: "The abundance of nitre generated in the caves of this country is a circumstance which ought not to pass unnoticed. These caves are always in the limestone rocks ; and in those which produce the nitre the bottom is covered with earth which is strongly impreg nated with it and visible in needle-like crystals. In order to obtain the nitre, the LANDMARKS AND LEGENDS 559 earth is collected and lixiviated ; the water after being saturated is boiled down and suffered to stand until the crystals are formed. In this manner it is no uncommon thing for three men to make one hundred pounds of saltpeter in one day. In the spring of 1810 James McDonald and his two sons went to some caves on the Gasconade river to make saltpeter, and in a few weeks returned with three thou sand pounds weight to St. Louis." John Bradbury's Investigations. An object of attention by the early scientists of St. Louis was Sulphur Springs. This was in the valley of the River des Peres, not far from what became Cheltenham. When John Bradbury, the English naturalist, decided to make his home in St. Louis, he built his house near this spring. The members of Long's expedition found Bradbury living there in 1819. They included men tion of the water in their report to the government. At that time horses and cattle at pasture went a long distance to drink the sulphur water in preference to any other. When thirty years later the Missouri Pacific began building west ward there was a station at Sulphur Springs. A wooden hotel was built and a resort was maintained. The spring boiled up in the channel of the River des Peres. When that stream became an open sewer, as the city extended west ward, the spring was polluted, and the use of its water was abandoned. John Bradbury made expeditions with the fur traders and trappers. He brought back to St. Louis marvelous stories about animals along the Missouri. "I will here state a few of what I certainly believe to be facts ; some I know to b° so, and of others I have seen strong presumptive proofs. The opinion of the huntr; respecting the beaver go much beyond the statements of any author whom I have read. They state that an old beaver which has escaped from a trap can scarcely ever afterwards tie caught, as traveling in situations where traps are usually placed, he carries a stick in his mouth with which he probes the sides of the river, that the stick may be caught in the trap and thus save himself. They say also of this animal that the young are educated by the old ones. It is well known that in constructing their dams the first step the beaver takes is to cut down a tree that shall fall across the stream intended to be dammed. T%e hunters in the early part of our voyage informed me that they had; often found trees near the edge of a creek in part cut through and abandoned ; and always observed that those trees would not have fallen across the creek. By comparing the marks left on these trees with others, they found them much smaller. They not only concluded they were made by young beavers, but that the old ones, perceiving their error, had caused them to desist. They promised to show me proofs of this, and during our voyage I saw several, and in no instance would the trees thus abandoned have fallen across the creek. "I myself witnessed an instance of a doe, when pursued, although not many seconds out- of sight, so effectually hide her fawn that we could not find it, although assisted by a dog. I mentioned this fact to the hunters who assured me that no dog, or perhaps any beast of prey, can follow a fawn by the scent. They showed me in a full grown deer a gland and a tuft of red hair situated a little above the hind part of the forefoot, which had a very strong smell of musk. This tuft they call the scent, and believe that the route of the animal is betrayed by the effluvia proceeding from it. This tuft is mercifully with held until the animal has acquired strength. What a benevolent arrangement !" Of the trappers with whom he traveled, Bradbury said: "They can imitate the cry or note of any animal found in the American wilds so exactly as to deceive the animals themselves." 560 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The Clayton Ax. In the collection of the Missouri Historical Society, is a grooved stone ax, presented by W. K. Kavanaugh. Of this ax, Gerard Fowke, archeologist widely known, said: "If the statement regarding its discovery be correct, it is the oldest specimen of human handiwork that has been found in the state. In making ^the cut near Clayton for the Belt line, particular attention was paid to the character _of .the earth to be removed. The specifications called for different prices per cubic yard according to the material excavated. For this reason the contractors were careful to note and measure all the variations of rock and clay. The native clay in this region, which remains after the weathering away of the limestone, is much older than the glacial or later deposits. It was dry land before the ice-sheet appeared. Above this clay lies the loess, a yellow earth which was deposited by the floods immediately following the receding of the glacier. It is positively stated by the finder, that the 'Clayton ax' was lying on this original clay and partially imbedded in it; and that the loess lay immediately upon it. The impression of the implement was distinct in both the materials. If this is actually the case, it can be ex plained only upon the fact that the person, Indian or whatever he is to be called, who owned this ax was living in the region before the close of the glacial period. Moreover, at that time he had learned how to fashion stone implements in a manner suitable to his needs, for this ax is fully equal in symmetry and finish to those which are found on the surface and to be attributed to the race which last preceded the white man in the territory. It is unfortunate that the matrix in which the ax was found, was not preserved. If it had been taken out with the clay adhering to one side, and the loess to the other side, there- could ' have been no question as to its antiquity. As the matter stands, however, the' most that can be said is that the chance for inaccurate observation in such a case is too great for a statement of this kind to be accepted unless abundantly and absolutely verified by persons who are so thoroughly familiar with the various geological formations as to avoid the possibility of error." Beckwith's collection of Missouri antiquities indicates a large population in Southeast Missouri before the white man came. These aboriginal inhabitants not only made pottery for utility, but they decorated and embellished. They had pots and kettles with handles to be lifted and with ears to be hung over fires. They put, handles on bowls and shaped them to represent fishes and squirrels. Some of the pots were of several gallons capacity. There were water bottles of plain shape like gourds. There were other bottles shaped like men and women. A favorite design for a water bottle was a deformed woman with- her legs bent under the body, her arms resting on her knees. Mr. Beckwith found one water receptacle shaped like a man with his arms hanging down and his hands across his stomach. This vessel was painted a deep yellow with white stripes curving about the body. A breechclout in red completed the art work. Another of the images found in Southeast Missouri was formed like a woman with skirts and having what appeared to be a pappoose on her back. Missouri Folklore. The study of folklore was one of the few things that Eugene Field did not satirize. The- poet was a folklorist in good and regular standing. He became one of the investigators about 1890. His fellow students said that his verses gained in beauty and expression from that time. Field delved 'into the folklore of childhood and brought out the wealth of it. In that field he was considered easily the master. MUSEUM OF MASTODON RELICS EXCAVATED NEAR ST. LOUIS Jourtesy Missouri Historical Society THE BIG MOUND AT BROADWAY AND MOUND STREETS, ST. LOUIS From a daguerreotype taken in 1850. LANDMARKS AND LEGENDS 563 The colored population of Missouri is comparatively small. It is scattered. ,It has schools and churches and as a whole is much further advanced in intel ligence and morals than the large negro element of southern states. Yet Mary Alicia Owen of St. Joseph gathered information about voodooism in Missouri, showing this state to be a surprisingly rich field for that branch of folklore study. Gaining the confidence of the priests and priestesses of voodooism, this lady received from their own lips the story of voodooism, its rites and practices. Much of her information was given to her personally by the King of the Voodoos in the Missouri Valley, a negro named Alexander, who died some years ago. To become a voodoo it is necessary to take four degrees, according to Alex ander. The instruction in the use of persons and remedies, in the significance of dreams, the names of things which go to make up the charms into which the "power" is most easily attracted — all of this is merely preparatory. "Any fool," Alexander said to Miss Owen, "can know the way to mix sul phur, salt, alum, may apple, clover, feathers, needles, blood, or rags the color of blood, and he may say the four times four times four, but he can't throw his own spirit made up from Old Grandfather into them." To make a voodoo priestess of a woman who had gone through the prelimi naries, Alexander commanded her to hide herself and fast for many days at the same time keeping her thoughts, not on her deprivation, but on the great glories that would be hers when she attained high rank. He commanded her at other times to go cheerfully among people as if she fasted not. He commanded her again to eat all she wanted of pleasant food and then to swallow anything loathsome to the eyes and palate. He required her to go sleepless, to go cold and weary, to burn and cut and bruise and lash herself and think not at all that she suffered. She was made to drink awful mixtures and to swallow tobacco smoke. Then she must walk in cemeteries, in dense woods, beside bean hills, through deserted streets, at night when the moon was on the wane and ghosts were strongest and most threatening. All of these are bits of courage by which the voodoo initiate is tried. Next come the dances until feet are bleeding and mind is frenzied. These are the dances of the Snake, of the Moon, and the Fire. Having gone faithfully through all of this preparation of self -conquering, which takes months and sometimes years, the candidate receives the final. instruc tion. And it is — ¦ "Never obey any one. Never know any will but your own, except when you are helping another voodoo against a common enemy. Make every one give in to you. Never change your purpose once it is fixed. If you do, you will form a habit of scattering power and will bring against yourself Old Grandfather Rat tlesnake, who never changes, never forgets." So the initiation into voodooism seems to be along the lines of theosophy and faith cure in savage forms. Miss Owen says the great gods of American voodooism are old Grandfather Rattlesnake, who, in this country, corresponds to the green serpent in Africa, Old Sun, Old Boy, Old Boy's wife, who has no name, but is sometimes referred to as the Old Mistress, and the Moon. Below these come hosts of "hauts," "boogers," "rubber devils," "free jacks" and the sorcerers, Old Woodpecker, Old Rabbit, Old Blue Jay, Old Wolf, Old Perarer Chicken, Old King Catfish. 564 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OE MISSOURI King Alexander's Story of Voodooism. King Alexander gave Miss Owen the story of the founder of voodooism as the American voodoos believe it. In the old, old times Old Sun took a notion to make some live things. He squatted down on the bank of a river and began to make all sorts of birds and animals and folks from clay. He stopped a moment and tore, a fragment from his body and flung it into the weeds. If came forth hissing, a great rattlesnake, and watched Old Sun work. When Old Sun's work was done — that is all ex cept making people, for the first attempt in that direction was a failure — he breathed life into the creatures without going to the trouble of "stepping in cir cles or saying words." When each began to move in its own way and to cry out in its own peculiar voice, the delighted -creator leaned over his work, breath ing flames of joy. All caught fire. At this juncture the watching snake bored a hole in the moist earth and: saved himself. Old. Sun put out the fire, and Grand father Rattlesnake came out, to condole with him, but Turtle, who had been the despised one, was there ahead; withhis hair singed off, his eyelids shriveled and his eyes weakened by heat and smoke. "Hello, my child, do you still live?" cried Old Sun. The Turtle replied : "Oh, yes! my fine daddy! oh, yes!, oh, yes! But my back is dried hard as a gourd in the fall, And my inwards is all swivelled up like the grass, Can't you spit on my back, my daddy so fine ; Can't you spit on my back and cool me off?" Old Sun said: "Oh, yes, my child, I can cool you off; Oh, yes, my child, I can cool you off ; But if I spit on your back to cool you off You will live so long you won't know your name." ' N But Turtle^insisted : , . "Oh, I won't mind that, my old daddy, so fine. N ' Oh, I won't mind that, my old daddy, so fine, If you can make out, oh, why shouldn't I ? If you can make out, oh, why shouldn't I ? V So, just spit on my back and cool me off." Old Sun spat on Turtle's back and cooled him off. The sacred spittle gave poor homely Turtle a great increase of vitality, a gift Old Sun never thought of bestowing in the first place because Turtle was his first experiment at forming man. When the clay image was made alive and wabbled about, the large-bodied, small-limbed, Hairy, awkward creature on two legs, Old Sun was so mad he hit him a slap, knocked him. down on all fours and said : "There, you, crawl ! you ain't fitten to walk." After the bestowal of long life on the Turtle he found favor in the sight of Old Sun, who asked him if he wanted anything more. He said he would like a fine plumy tail, and Old Sun was about to give it when Grandfather Rattlesnake LANDMARKS AND LEGENDS 565 chipped in and said that such an appendage would be a great mistake, because the plumy tail would get draggled. Turtle was sent off without the plumy tail. Old Sun. resented Grandfather's interference and tried to kill him, but couldn't, because he was part of himself. .He drove him back into the hole, from which Rattlesnake peered out and watched the progress of creation. As soon as Old Sun had made everything over again he climbed back into the sky to prevent a second conflagration. Everything created had a mate, except Grandfather Rat tlesnake. The latter married an Ash Tree, but there were no descendants. Grand father crawled into a cave and "worked his mind a long time." When he came out he had perfected voodooism and was able to make himself a wife out of a dead limb. Then he had- plenty of children. He was satisfied until he dis covered that jealous Ash Tree poisoned some of his children and the other crea tures wouldn't allow their children to associate with his. He worked his mind again. When he found himself full of strength and "poison" he organized a voodoo circle, taught the mysteries and the dances to all of his enemies and then "thought death" to thern. After that he organized another circle which handed down the power. When old Grandfather Rattlesnake found he must go away he made a promise to his followers to "fling himself outen his hide," which is something alLhigh voodoos can do, and to come back at intervals. This promise, Alexander told Miss Owen, had always been kept. And such is the origin of voodooism according to Missouri folklore. The Philosophy of Voodooism. Miss Owen found a philosophy in voodooism, something more than the ex ternal forms. She says it is hypnotism, it is telepathy, it is clairvoyance — in a word, it is will, Its mofto is "control yourself perfectly, and you can control the world — organic and inorganic." Old Alexander, the Missouri voodoo adept, put it in this way: "Make up your will strong against yourself and you will soon have it strong enough to put down everything and everybody else." He claimed that the conjurer needed no tricks, balls or luck stones for him self. He ought to be able to look a man dead, or make him see things that were not before him, or do what his heart despised. "I'm the snake mari," Alexander would boast, "and my enemies are flapping, squeaking 'birds." The voodoos are great travelers. They have their organization, called the circle. The purpose of it is to disseminate knowledge and to try strength. Voodoo men and women wander from town to town from New York to Texas, and cir culate among themselves a vast amount of information about their clients, white as well as colored. Miss Owen frankly admits it is astonishing to her how the voodoo news travels so rapidly. She tells of one instance where the informa tion of the death of a voodoo on Long Island was known in Missouri as soon as it occurred, although the papers did not announce it fOf two days afterwards. She tells of voodoos receiving vivid impressions of coming events, although this is never quite reliable for more than one impression. She is sure that telepathy is an agent of voodooism and that clairvoyance is another. But hypnotism is the great reliance. There was a voodoo circle in Missouri which met in an out of the way church, the use of which was kindly given by the sexton. A part of 566 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the voodoo, circle programme is "willing." One of the voodoos stood at the front of the church and the others grouped at the back. The one in front "willed" the others one by one to come to him, and they did it. Suddenly a strange negro arose in a corner of the church and willed the whole -crowd to come to him. Then he put them asleep and went through their pockets. The next year the same thing took place with the same circle. Miss Owen suggested to the voodoo who told the story to her that this might have been a spirit possessing unusual power of control. The voodoo didn't think so, because they wouldn't have gone to sleep so readily in the presence of a ghost. He thought the unknown must be a traveling voodoo king. The most disgusted member of the voodooed circle was Alexander, king of the Missouri voodoos. ^Alexander couldn't get over the fact that he had been "done up." His theory' for the wholesale hypnotizing and robbery was that "some low-down Arkansas nigger had sneaked into the church and had prevailed by surprising the folks and scattering their will." The Mamelles. A landmark which received much attention from early travelers and scientific explorers was known as the Mamelles. It is north of the Missouri river and about three miles from St. Charles. Brackenridge, the pioneer ne.wspaper cor respondent of Missouri visited the place and wrote a letter on what he saw. The Mamelles are two large circular mounds which project some distance eastward from the range of hills and overlook a great expanse of prairie: "To those who have never seen any of these prairies, it is very difficult to convey any just idea of them. Perhaps the comparison to the green sea is the best. Ascending- the mounds I was elevated about one hundred feet above the plain; I had a view of an immense plain below, and a distant prospect of hills. Every sense was delighted and every faculty awakened. After gazing for an hour I still experienced an unsatiated delight, in contemplating the rich and magnificent scene. To the right the Missouri is concealed by^a wood of no great width, extending to the Mississippi the distanc* of ten miles. Before me I could mark the course of the latter river, its banks without even a fringe of wood; on * the other side the hills of Illinois, faced with limestone in bold masses of various hues and the summits crowned with trees ; pursuing these^. hills to the north, we see, at the distance of twenty miles, where the Illinois separates them in his course to the Mississippi. To the left we behold the ocean of prairie with islets at inter vals, the whole extent perfectly level, covered with long waving grass, and at every mo ment changing color, from the shadows cast by the passing clouds. In some places there stands a solitary tree of cottonwood or walnut, of enormous size, but from the" distance diminished to a shrub. A hundred thousand acres of "the finest land are under the eye at once, and yet on all this space there is but one little cultivated spot to be seen. The eyes at last satiated with this beautiful scene, the mind in turn expatiates on the improve ments of which it is susceptible, and creative fancy adorns it with happy dwellings and richly cultivated fields. The situation in the vicinity of these great rivers, the fertility of the soil, a garden spot, must one day yield nourishment to a multitude of beings. The bluffs are abundantly supplied wifh the purest water;- those rivulets and rills which at present, unable to reach the father of waters, lose themselves in lakes and marshes, will be guided by the hand of man into channels fitted for their reception, and for his pleasure and felicity." The Pictured Rocks. i In a history of Boone county printed in 1881 are described "the pictured rocks," as they have been known since the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The LANDMARKS AND LEGENDS 567 pictures are on a high cliff four miles from Rocheport. The cliff is about ioo -feet in height, the top overhanging some ten feet, in such manner as to protect the pictures. "All along the face of the cliff under the overhanging ledge are the remarkable representations. At the height of nearly fifty feet above the spring is the largest visible group. This comprises, among other pictures and hieroglyphs, two rudely executed draw ings of human figures, perhaps twenty inches in height^ with arms extended ; one small human figure with a staff in its hand; numerbus circles with dots and crosses in the centre; spots within semi-circles, half resembling the human eye. Other figures, at different places on the rocks, are those of a wild turkey; of a man wearing ,a jockey cap, from which a plume or feather depends ; of numerous circles; fantastic figures, some of an arabesque character, others plain; of a square or cube; of a Masonic compass and square. About five feet below most of the figures runs a narrow ledge on which the artist or artists must have stood when the pictures were made. The ledge is reached from points east and west but it requires a person of some nerve to climb to it. Some of the figures, however, are fifteen feet above the ledge, and could not have been made without the aid of a ladder of some sort. The drawings seem to have been made of a paint composed of ground 'keel' mixed with water or grease, and applied with the fingers or a rude brush. Not all of the pictures can now be seen, as a great portion of the cliff is covered with ivy. Who the artists were that sketched these pictures, and what . if anything, they represent cannot now be conjectured. They have existed since the first white man told of this county. The first printed mention of them is made by Lewis and Clark who saw them in 1804. Doubtless they are the work of the mound builders or of some other, race akin to them." Tower Rock and Tower Hill. A few more than one hundred miles below St. Louis nature has wrought wonderful effects in great masses of rock. Travelers have pronounced these formations even more impressive than the cliffs along the Hudson. On the Illi nois side are palisades curved and carved by the waters of the period when the Mississippi was forcing its way southward from the glaciers. One section of the rocky bluffs was given the name of "The Devil's Backbone" away back in the early days of river navigation. This section is divided into vertebrae by little gap-like openings. In one place the opening in the bluff bears the non-picturesque name of "The Devil's Bake-oven," resembling, as seen from a passing steamboat, an old Dutch oven of prodigious size. On the Missouri side of tfie river the mountainous , formations are detached in such manner as to suggest the names of "Tower Rock" and "Tower Hill." Tower Rock stands out in the river far enough from either shore to justify the United States government in calling it an island and claiming jurisdiction. This saved Tower Rock from destruction a few years ago. Quarrymen were about to blast down this landmark and use it for riprap work on the river stretches below when a nearby resident, J. W. Chapin, appealed to Wash ington.' The war department sent engineers who circumnavigated the rock, pro- • nounced it an island and as such the property of the United States. Mrs. Chapin, an artist, had painted a picture of Tower Rock. Praiseworthy sentiment prompted her husband totnake his appeal to Washington. Tower Rock rises more than one hundred feet above the water, is nearly round, with sides so precipitous that it has been scaled but few times. Tower Hill, on the Missouri side below Tower Rock, is said to have been even more impressive than Tower Rock, but the quarrymen 568 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI have made inroads upon it. Robertus Love, traveler and poet, visited these' land marks some years ago and wrote of them: "Rivermen tell me there is no place along the entire lower Mississippi, from St. Loujs. to New Orleans, where such rgck formations occur on' both sides of the river. They say these palisades and the towers on the Missouri side have been beloved by every generation of i'ivermen. Mark Twain beheld and gloried in the'm many times as he piloted steamboats up' and down. Thousands of river voyagers have been thrilled by them. I know of no place more beautiful than the Tower Rock vicinity, unless -it be the half- moon curve of the beach at Avalon bay, Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of Southern - California. That place has its 'Sugarloaf which suggests Tower Rock standing out in the water." Missouri's Topographical Freaks. Nature has scattered freak work generously in Missouri. Time and the ele ments have wrought marvels above and below the ground. ^Riding out of Spring field to the southward the traveler looks from the car window upon what at .first sight appears to be the fossilized form of a prehistoric monster. Body, legs and head are there in massive proportions. The animal, as it appears to be, stands firmly on its feet. But nearer inspection reveals that the mammoth is a product of the wearing work of water course upon an enormous mass of lime rock. Along White river, about twenty miles below the town of Forsyth, is a collec tion of strange effects. The water has moulded and left standing erect pillars of rock thirty and forty and fifty feet high. On Pine mountain, near the Missouri-Arkansas border, are scattered the "Murder Rocks," as they are known far and wide. Fragments of iron ore have rusted and blotched the gray limestone like splashes of blood. It was among the - Murder Rocks that Alf . Bolen, a bushwhacker of the border during the Civil war, killed forty men and made the name seem historically appropriate. In Iron county is a collection of immense red granite boulders worn smooth by the glacial action. One of these boulders is twenty-two feet wide and thirty- five feet long. It looks like an immense potato. The group of boulders is known as "The granite potato patch." The Cascades, the Shut In and the Stony Battery are landmarks in Iron county. - In St. Charles county is Cedar Pyramid, a mass of rock Over one hundred and fifty feet high.( For a long time there was a single cedar tree growing on the top of the pyramid. The Pinnacles in Saline county are lofty bluffs fronting on the Missouri river. They rise from the bottom lands near Miami and suddenly sink. into a wonderfully fertile prairie. On one of the highest points of the Pinnacles can be traced the grass covered mounds of an old fortification. -The . Petite Saw Plains, Saline county's other topographical marvel, form a very level tableland. Knob Noster obtains its 'name from a mound which stands isolated on the prairie". Pinnacle Rock stands one hundred feet high in a valley of South Bear creek, Montgomery county. By a narrow path along one side the moss-covered summit- is reached. DEVIL'S TOLL-GATE, NEAR ARCADIA OPENING AN INDIAN MOUND IN THE, VICINITY OF ST. LOUIS LANDMARKS AND LEGENDS 571 Lost Treasure Traditions. As late as 1895 men were still looking for lost treasure in Southwest Mis souri. One of them who came to Springfield had explicit directions given to him, he said, by an old sailor whom he befriended in Michigan. This sailor in return for the friendship shown him by the Michigan man turned over two maps with drawings and explanations. One map it was claimed represented the outside and the other the inside of the mine. With the map went these directions : "Go to the southwest corner of the public square of Springfield, Mo., and then fol low the directions of the outside map three miles. There you will find some broken coun try. Hunt for a limestone rock on the surface of the ground, marked with three turkey tracks 'and an arrow. Follow the direction indicated by the arrow 200 paces to a native oak, which you will find marked as the map shows. From the tree measure carefully 150 paces as the map directs, and you will find another stone, on the side of a small ravine, marked with three arrows, pointing different ways. Follow the arrow pointing southeast 250 paces and look for what seems to be the entrance to a natural cave in the bluff. The opening is small, and would hardly be noticed by one passing through the ravine. When you have found the cave follow the directions of the inside map and hunt for the silver. There is enough ore in that cave to make twenty men rich." The Michigan man who came to Springfield bringing the maps had this experience as he told a correspondent of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1895 : "I followed the directions given by the Spaniard in explaining the maps, and went from the southwest corner of the public square into the country. I hunted for the rock with the three turkey tracks, but could not find it. Then I began to inquire of the farm ers in that settlement and found such a stone bearing similar carvings had been quarried and used in walling a well in the neighborhood. The turkey tracks had been noticed by several workmen when the stone was taken up. From the spot where the rock was moved I followed the map and found the stump of the tree. The oak had been cut down several years before, and the stump was much decayed. Two of the landmarks named in the story and indicated on the map had now been found, and I confidently hunted for the last rock with the three arrows. This I failed to discover, nor could I ever find any trace of a cave, though the nature of the country fitted very accurately the description of the region given in the story of the mine. I have spent much time and money in trying to locate this lost silver mine, and still have faith in the statement which the dying sailor told me in Michigan." In Taney county a similar tradition located silver in the Woody Cave. Con siderable exploration was done there. An Indian was said to have written a letter telling that when his tribe lived in that vicinity they found silver in vast quantities near the White river. For many years the settlers in the vicinity of White river, which crosses the Missouri-Arkansas border seven times, believed firmly in the existence of silver mines. There were rough maps of the country along the White indicating the locality where the ore would be found. Men came from long distances and spent weeks prospecting in various directions from Forsyth. They had descriptions of ravines and caves to help them. The treasure was never found. CHAPTER XVII MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD i Roark Peak — The Demi's Den — Fate of the Guerrilla — The Sentence of thc Home Guards —Nature's Ammonia Completes the Work— Henry T. Blow's Exploration— Tradition of Spanish Treasure — A Visit with Truman S. Powell — The Shepherd of the Hills — Descent into the Amphitheater— -Great White Throne— Through Registry Room to the Gulf of Doom — Lost River Which Makes Onyx — Fat Man's Misery — Rest Room — | Mystic Lake and Mystic River — Blondy's Throne — Mother Hubbard — The Dungeons — Sentinel Rock and Shower Bath Room — Thirty Miles of Passages — Tales of Marvel Cave — Wonders of Hahatonka — Bishop Mclntyre's Lecture — A Pretty Stretch of Boone's Lick Road — The Caves and Bottomless Pit of Warren — Grandeur of the Canyon at Greer — Old Monega-u/s Self Chosen Sepulchre — Devil's Lake — Fishing Spring — The Lost Rivers — Senator Vest's Experience — Cave Decorations by the Indians — Persim mon Gap — Mark Twain's Cave — Dr. McDowell's Grewsome Experiment — Tragedy of Labaddie's Cave — Perry County's Subterranean World — Missouri's Long and Varied List of Underground Wonders — Morgan County's Variety — Looking for the Prehis toric Man. But nature, as if unable to place all of the attractions designed for this imperial domain on the surface, has invaded the dark recesses of her mountains and given to Missouri caves of immense and wondrous magnitude and beauty. Say to an American tourist that Switzerland had discovered a cave finished in glittering onyx, and millions of American money would be spent in visiting it, and volumes would be written upon its fascinating beauty, yet in Missouri such caves, rivaling in magnificence and brilliancy the royal splendors of Solomon's Temple, designed and finished under the Supreme Architect to evidence the unlimited resources and wondrous skill of nature's God, are numerous and in the profusion of our dazzling wonders attract but little attention. — From an old Bulletin of the Missouri Board of Agriculture. Hunters and early settlers visited Roark Peak before the Civil war. They crawled down the crater^like depression where had once risen the summit of Roark. They leaned over the edges of the long narrow gap in the rock bottom of the crater. They looked down into a hole which seemed at first to have neither sides nor bottom; it was without form and void. Strange noises came to the strained ears. Imagination helped eyes to see gleams of light and- shadowy forms. "The Devil's Den," these early visitors called it. A closer acquaintance with his satanic majesty was not sought by them. At the close of the war a guerrilla leader came back to his home on White river. He had bushwhacked. He had been a spy against his more loyal neighbors. Assassinations and house burnings and horse stealings and all the various crimes of that period were laid to his log cabin door. For self-protection the people of Stone county had formed themselves into a regiment of home guards. The guer rilla's return was soon known. One night a company of the guards called at his house. When the guards rode away he was with them. Without talk or laughter the escort and the guerrilla walked their horses along the river until they 573 574 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI came to the Old Wilderness road. They turned northward and fox trotted along the flinty trail which follows the ridge, one of the widest of the Ozark vertebrae. Four miles from the river the party turned sharply to the east. The road was left for what was scarcely more than a bridle path. It curved to keep on the spur of the ridge and wriggled to dodge the trees. Straight up Roark Peak the captors and prisoner rode and halted on the rim of the crater. All dismounted. With his hands firmly tied and his legs hobbled so that he could not use them for defense, the guerrilla was made ready for a doom that was the refinement of the horrible. He knew "The Devil's Den." He had been familiar for years with the associa tions and superstitions of the place. The time was early morning. When the sun comes up over the bald knobs to the east it makes this Ozark country look like a favored region of the gods. The home guards stood in a fringe on the rim of the crater, looking down at the narrow black gap in the bottom 200 feet below. By the appointed executioners the guerrilla was half carried, half dragged along the steep side of the great bowl. In the center of the gap dividing it into two parts there is wedged a great keystone. The doomed man was seated upon this stone. In front of him and behind him the cave yawned. There could be no pity for such as he had been. The memory of four years of terror and of murdered friends rose up to drown all pleadings. A signal was given by the captain of the company. A strong hand was laid on the guerrilla's shoulder. In a second the ¦ keystone was unoccupied. The sound of something striking the flint heap far below barely reached the gap. Those guards who stood above, on the edge of the crater, heard nothing but the morning breeze among the pine needles. The little squad climbed up out of the crater and the command moved out to the Old Wilderness road. The night's work was done. Stone county people slept easier after that. Cremation by Ammonia. Nearly twenty years after the guerrilla went to his doom a woman came to Roark Peak on a mission. The cave had been opened. Access to the interior was for the first time in that generation possible. News of this had spread along the Old Wilderness road and had reached White river. The woman was the sister of the man. She came to tell the cave explorers the story of her brother, and to ask for the bones that she might take them away and bury Jhem, The perpen dicular plunge from the keystone was measured. The place on the side of the cave where life must have been dashed out was found. There was not so much as a button. But as they tramped and prodded around the spot the explorers' feet sank in a deep black substance which looked like rich garden mold, but gave out no odor. This substance was the guano of countless bats. When analyzed it showed the presence of 13 per cent of ammonia. The powerful agent had eaten up all traces of the bloody work of the Stone county home guards. After the guerrilla died this was more than ever "The Devil's Den." Natives were satisfied with semi-occasional peeking. Some told weird stories of things seen and heard around the gap in the crater bottom. The more sensible shook their heads and said to all inquiring strangers that the den was "a good place to keep away from." These pioneer settlers of Stone and Taney and Ozark were East Tennesseans, originally. They came here before the war. They brought their East Tennessee customs with them. They settled upon the creeks and the MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 575 knobs. They were the bravest of men and would fight at the drop of the hat. But they had their superstitions and fears. No highlander was ever more sensitive upon the subject of the uncanny than these Ozark descendants of East Tennes- seeans. And so the Devil's Den went unexplored because these men who feared neither each other nor "varmints" were content to live and die with the under ground mystery unsolved by them. Early Explorations. In 1869 Henry T. Blow, of St. Louis, and a party prospected through this region for mineral. They heard of the Den and came to see it. A saw mill not far distant tempted them with the means of outfitting for a descent. They put timbers across the gap, and lowered themselves with ropes. The better part of a day was spent in clambering around the great amphitheater, and a single one of the connecting rooms was visited. But with scarcely more than a glance at the wonders the lead-ore prospectors climbed out of the cavern and went on. From that visit the Den remained closed for thirteen years longer. In 1882 a party of Grand Army men at Lamar, in Barton county, organized for an outing. An uneasy spirit named Beaver came drifting through the country and told the story of the Devil's Den. But he coupled with his version of the mystery a tale of hidden Spanish treasure, of secret charts and of traditions dating back beyond the memory of the oldest inhabitants. Inspired by desire for adventure rather than by much credence in Beaver's narrative, the campers headed for Stone county, over a hundred miles southeast from Lamar. Thereby came about the discovery of the astonishing features of Marble Cave, as it was called for some years, but better known now as Marvel Cave. With the arrival of the Lamar party the exploration began. The moving spirit in the Lamar party was Truman S. Powell, an officer in an Illinois regiment during the war. Powell had moved to Missouri years before, and was publishing the Barton County Record. That camping trip changed the whole plan of his life. The fascination of cave-exploring fastened itself upon him. After his first ramblings through the cave, the editor moved his paper to Galena, the county seat of Stone, and changed its name to the Oracle. He home- steaded a quarter section of land, the best and nearest he could find to the mouth of the cave. He devoted a great deal of time to cave study. Tradition has it that Harold Bell Wright had Truman S. Powell in mind when he described "The Shepherd of the Hills." Ten years after Mr. Powell began his explorations, Marvel Cave was visited with him as the guide. Upon the personal experiences of that visit is based the account here given. The Great Amphitheater. Leading down the side of the crater to the gap where the guerrilla sat on the keystone is a flight of steps. A ladder completes the descent of the crater to the long, narrow gap or cleft which is, up to this time, the only known entrance to the cave. The top of a second and much longer ladder comes up through the cleft. This ladder is almost perpendicular. Standing upon the topmost rung one looks around upon nature in her most charming garb. Grass grows upon the sides of the crater. Large trees are about its rim. The mountain rose clambers over the 576 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI keystone where the guerrilla sat, and is one great cluster of bloom in the first days of real summer on the Ozarks. The sun filters through the heavy foliage. The sweet mountain air, for this is 1,375 feet above the sea, is full of ozone and glori ous to the lowest depth of the lungs. Ha ! down a round. Charming nature is disappearing. Down another round. Space, dark, gloomy space, in front. No limit on which to steady the vision and the nerves in that direction. To the right, quick. More space, and nothing but darkness beyond it. A look to the left. And one backward over the shoulder. It is all the same — space which can't be meas ured and which disappears in unstable gloom in all directions. The grip tightens on the rung. If that ladder should sway a brain would reel just a little bit. But the ladder doesn't so much as quiver. It is not according to rule to look down ward in climbing. But the temptation is too great. Just one quick glance. It is regretted. The flaring lamp wick re-enforced by a quart of kerosene is about as insignificant as a match. The man who went down first looks like a pygmy. It's a long way to the bottom. Look upward. There is promise in the rift of sunshine which comes^ through the gap and falls athwart the ladder. That is something to measure by. Further and further behind the ray is left, and sixty feet below the feet rest on the top of the great cone of debris in the very center of the vast amphitheater. The guide looks up at the ladder illuminated by the sunbeam and shows himself a mind reader by remarking in a casual tone: "We call that 'the Christian's Hope.' " The foot of the big ladder is a place to stop and get bearings.' When the top of Roark Peak fell down through the hole in the roof it landed in the center of a great amphitheater and remained there. Had some prehistoric man been stand ing on the highest point of Roark when the great event occurred he would have thought the bottom was falling out of creation. And when the mass stopped falling the prehistoric man would have found himself still standing on the highest point of the peak, but about three hundred feet lower than the altitude from which he had started. Instead of looking down great slopes and along the ridges of the Ozarks he would have been looking up through a narrow gap in a great roof of marble. One minute he might have stamped his foot and exclaimed : "I am monarch of all I survey," and the next his thoughts would have been "how in thunder am I going to get out of this hole ?" It is sixty feet from the top of this interior cone to the marble roof. But so rapidly does the cone slope away that a few feet distant to a point directly under where the guerrilla fell, the drop from the keystone to the side of the cone is over 100 feet. Space, space is the first impression at the foot of the ladder. Gradually the vision conforms to the gloom. The shadows roll back slowly. Directly above is the red marble roof, with the gleaming gap which leads to heavenly outdoors. The vision sweeps along the roof to darker portions and catches the first glimpse of the marvels. Great stalactites ten and twelve feet long fairly stud the roof and point downward with the suggestiveness of the sword of Damocles. The first survey of the cone from the top gives no idea of its size. A zigzag pathway down the southern slope is traversed over the broken rock half imbedded in the guano. From the bottom of the slope a backward look, shows a hill of 225 feet to where the ladder stands in its halo. And there, at the foot of the cone, the first ade quate idea of the immensity of the amphitheater impresses itself. If the central ;$K. ¦m**g& -^.^ja^'-v' - -¦'""¦ - &\« . . r,«- ¦a&*&PK& -V\ „ A FREAK OF THE OZARKS AN OZARK CAVE ENTRANCE Vol. 1—37 > MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 579 cone or dump of debris was out of the way the Capitol at Washington might be put down into the amphitheater. The roofs of the Senate and House wings would not touch the marble top of the cave. The dome of the Capitol would not disturb a stalactite, and the Goddess of Liberty could poke her Indian headgear through the rift in the crater and see daylight. There is nothing in Mammoth or Luray, or any other American cavern, which reaches the dimensions of the amphitheater of Marvel Cave. Seen the second time it seems greater than upon the first descent. The Great White Throne. "Well, there's the Great White Throne!" exclaimed the adventurous Powell as he halted with the original exploring party at the dump on the first entry in 1882. "The Great White Throne," it is today and always will be. The name which first came to the explorer's lips was singularly appropriate, and it sticks. Built out on one side of the amphitheater, but far enough from the wall to leave a wonderful passage, the throne rises sixty-five feet, from the base. ' It is round and built up by successive layers of rock, each set in a little from the one below, so as to give a symmetrical, tapering appearance. The color is pure white — dazzling in the flame of the torches. They got "a native" down into the cave on one occasion. He was a man who wasn't afraid of his weight in wild cats, but he had the awe of the Devil's Den, entertained by all of the old inhabitants. As he stood in front of the throne the poor man was seized with a trembling fit. In broken voice he cried that if the Lord would let him out that time he would never do so again. They put a rope around him to steady him, and hustled him up the ladder as fast as they knew how. The way to the top of the throne is around to the rear and up the back by a scramble. The top is spacious enough to hold half a dozen persons. It affords ¦ a view of the whole amphitheater save where the shadows unsubdued by the largest torches still linger. Back of the throne rises a bewildering collection of the most fantastic imagery. There are stalactites and stalagmites. The forma tions from the top and the bottom meet and crowd each other. Elephant heads as true as Jumbo's look out from such a menagerie of freaks in water-formed rocks as the. wildest dreamer never saw in fancy. There are moldings and carv ings, devices of animals and of plants which nature never produced in living forms. Men who have seen this collection of bric-a-brac year after year still stop to study it bit by bit and to find new wonders in it. The Great White Throne has an interior. Leaving with reluctance the bric-a- brac which rises above and to the rear of the throne, the visitor slides and bumps down to the path, and finds his way around to the foot of the throne and up further side to an entrance. Here the water has worked a peculiar wonder of its own. The roof of this interior of the throne is hung as closely as they can be placed with what looks for all the world like innumerable flicks of bacon in cold storage. In the sides of the pieces can be traced the streaks of fat and lean. The Place to Register. Out from the edges of the vast amphitheater lead half a dozen routes to as many strange features of the cave. In no two of the routes is there any sameness 580 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI of travel or scenes. The most natural trip to make first is by a curving passage which begins alfnost behind the Great White Throne. It is a narrow alley, so narrow that two people of average size would find it hard to pass each other. The floor is of clay ; the sides and arched roof of rock. If the passage had been hewn out by human hands it could not have been done more perfectly. The height at the opening permits one to stand almost erect. Gradually it is found necessary to stoop more and more. The passage curves and descends. Stone steps take the place of the clay bottom. A warm current, 10 degrees higher than the tem perature of the amphitheater, strikes the face. At the end of 250 feet the pas sage comes to an abrupt corner and there is the Registry Room. A great hall opens out, and the torch must be swung high overhead and all around to get an appre ciative idea of the dimensions. On one side is a high wall covered with a coating of soft but very tenacious red clay. In this clay names and dates and sentiments can be traced with the finger. And here the restless American tourist is turned loose to get his fill of making his mark. When the cave was explored for the first time with any thoroughness in 1882, upon the wall of the Registry Room was found the record that the Blow party, from St. Louis, had penetrated to this depth in 1869. But the party went no further. The Registry Room is 50 feet high, as square and perfect as if carved with purpose. The roof is as smooth as if plastered. At the further end of the Registry Room a chasm yawns. It is 130 feet down this precipice to the bottom. The roof is 50 feet above. This gives 180 feet from bottom to top. It is the Gulf of Doom. And a gulf of doom it would be to any one who, intent on viewing the Registry Room, should step backward into the chasm. The first time any one ever went beyond the Registry Room it was descent by rope 130 feet to the bottom of the Gulf of Doom. And the return was made the same way. But soon a pas sage was found — a continuation of the route by which the Registry Room is reached from the amphitheater. Keeping on down the steep passage without turn ing. into the Registry Room, the visitor reaches a succession of ledges and ladders. The ladders were built where they are. No piece of wood longer than 10 feet could be dragged down, so short are the turns and curves. The timbers were spliced and the rounds were put in after the material reached its destination. Several of these ladders, with more or less difficult crawls between them, lead to Lost River Canyon. The opening is into the side of the canyon, which extends in both directions. The turn to the right into the canyon takes one to the waterfall. A short crawl ends in the Sullivan Room. Everybody straightens up and walks into a narrow hall, which curves first one way and then the other until it forms a perfect S. When this freak was first found there was a man named Harvey Sullivan in the exploring party. Some one called attention to the fact that the room was shaped like an S lying on its side. And another exclaimed, "We'll just call this the Sullivan Room." So it remains. The carved hall is 20 feet long and 8 feet high. Upon the roof nature has left a curious molding divided into figures unknown to geography, with little knobs as large as an acorn stuck along the dividing ridges of the panels. Lost River flows through the Sullivan Room and leaves on its way little pools that look like plate-glass. Just beyond the room the river spreads and ripples over a lot of rocks which appear as soft and smooth as so many feather pillows. There Lost River plunges downward 4s feet into a MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 581 mass of spray, into the bottom of the Gulf of Doom. In Lost River the alchemy of nature is always at work. Of all the streams yet found in the cave this is the only one which coats everything it touches. A stick left in the water three months will be found covered with a transparent glass-like substance. The manufacture of onyx is in progress all of the time, though, of course, it will be ages before the water formation of today becomes the onyx of use. The Gulf of Doom. The top of the waterfall having been seen, the next thing is to reach the bottom of the fall and the floor of the Gulf of Doom. Backward through the Sullivan Room and into the hard crawling among the rocks the way is. At one place a rock splits the passage in two. The only course is to wriggle under or over. "Fat Man's Misery" the guide calls it. Just beyond Fat Man's Misery is the Hornet's Nest, a mass of water-formed rock with cells and color, so like the dangerous bunch hanging from the apple tree bough that one almost hears the angry buzz. And a little way from the Hornet's Nest there project down from the low roof of the passage two great knobs of rock. The man who misses the first is sure to measure the -hardness of his head with the second. Originally there was a coating of clay on the knobs. One day a visitor struck a knob so hard the red clay broke and fell. He shouted to the guide: "I have caved in my whole head. Take me out of here as quick as you can or I shall be dead before you get to the ladder. Oh ! oh ! oh !" "I knew," said young Powell, "that if the man's skull was crushed in he wouldn't be talking, and I tried to relieve his mind. He wouldn't have it. He insisted that he had broken his head and that the pieces had fallen all around him. I went back, and after awhile I convinced him that the pieces were the red clay covering of the knob and not his head. But he had had a pretty hard bump." And while he told his story the guide led the way down a couple of short ladders, along a passage and into the bottom of the Gulf of Doom, with its 180 feet from floor to roof. Lost River fell on what seemed like a heap of feather beds, but the spray and mist and the roar told that the piled-up mass with its soft look and smooth curves was onyx, formed by the long and continuous dashing of the water. The Gulf of Doom, 900 feet below the top of the mountain peak and in the very heart of it, has its relations with the outer world. In times of excessive rains and freshets the Gulf of Doom fills with water to a depth of 100 feet, and as the rivers outside go down the water in the gulf falls. Mysterious Cave Noises, From the foot of the waterfall begins a crawl to further wonders. The explorer is now about a quarter of a mile below the rim of the crater and daylight. He has come a long way roundabout in the descent. He has climbed down nine ladders from 10 to 60 feet long. He has half slipped, half stepped along steep grades. He has walked through tortuous passages, sometimes erect and sometimes bent until his body was almost at right angles with his legs. He has crawled on his hands and knees. He has passed through tight places where he had to lengthen 582 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI f out his legs and drag himself by his hands. But having come thus far he should not turn back. A dash through the waterfall means only a little additional damp ness. A more serious-minded way is to edge along the wall and get around the falling water. The torch shows a slanting wall in front. The guide calls it a "clay slide." The clay makes it possible to dig the toes in and gain lootings. Up the clay slide at its steep angle goes the way, and the only way to Blondy's throne. This ascent of 65 feet looks all but impossible, until the guide shows that it can be done. When the top of the clay slide is reached there appears what could not be seen before, a wide, low opening. It is only 2 feet high. The bottom is of damp red clay ; the roof of smooth rock. This is the passage to the throne room. It is hands and knees for it now. But familiarity has already bred contempt for the moist clay. The crawl begins. In places the clay either rises a little or the roof lowers. Whichever it matters not. The only thing to do is to drop flat and wriggle along, until there is a little more space, and then one realizes how much easier it is to crawl than to wriggle. Three shallow pools of water are encountered on the way. Two of them can be skirted with care. Through one it is necessary to splash. From the head of the clay slide there is 600 feet of this kind of traveling. Just half way on the route is the rest room. Well named it is. There is space to rise and to stand erect and to stretch the arms. There are ledges to sit upon. And while all rest and nobody speaks, suddenly a murmur seems to come through the opening opposite. It is the sound of talking, surely. As the hearing is strained, , the voice grows more distinct, but not a word can be distinguished. One day as Powell sat in the rest room with a visitor, the latter bent his head and exclaimed : "Listen! Listen! There! She laughs!" Imagination is reluctant to give up the theory of voices for the reality of echoes from falling water. One day Will Powell took an old fellow into this -crawl pas sage to dig out some cay and make the way a trifle easier. Young Powell him self was at work in the passage leading to the foot of the waterfall, replacing one of the ladders. He had occasion to go up toward the amphitheater for material. He was not gone thirty minutes, but on his way back he met his workman crawling out. "That clay is awful tough ; I thought I'd come out and rest my back awhile," the old man explained. But he showed a disinclination to go to work again. Powell went with him. The old man hesitated a little and then asked : "Say, do you hear that kind of grumbling noise in there?" After he had been convinced that what he heard was really the water he took up his tools. Not many men can be induced to work in the cave. They raise the pick and involuntarily hold it suspended, as if they were fearful it might strike through a coffin lid and release some uneasy spirit. Some of the Cave Mysteries. Three hundred feet of crawling and wriggling beyond the rest room ends with a sudden up-raise of clay. It seems as if the end has come. But the roof rises just as abruptly as the clay does. The passage simply jogs upward and then downward and the throne room is there. In reality there are three rooms, if the two half partitions or narrowing portions be taken into account. But the Powells MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 583 treat the three as one grand hall 300 feet long. The first thing the visitor dis covers is a little lake 30 feet long and 20 feet wide. The water is as transparent as glass. The torch shows the bottom, and the depth appears to be about 15 inches, whereas it is many feet. Mystic Lake it is called. A large rapid stream flows into the lake from the south. There is no visible outlet. Yet the lake does not rise nor fall. Somewhere out of sight there must be an exit for the water, but no trace of it has ever been found. An arch overhangs the lake. It is about 8 feet high in the center and the sides pass down with perfect turns to the floor of the room. Beneath the arch hangs a bewildering array of stalactites. These pendants are of great variety in sizes. Some are dark and some are white. The Mystic River, as it comes down to the lake, makes a tremendous noise over a succession of low falls and rapids. And this is the noise which, sifted through long and crooked passages, is easily mistaken for voices. The onward way is up over the arch. Then it bears off a little to the right and brings one to the foot of Blondy's throne. The Great White Throne of the amphitheater was a marvel. But here is a throne ten times the size of that, at the base and twice as high. For 120 feet the throne tapers up with story upon story of red and yellow and water-colored onyx. Across the base the width is 150 feet. With the aid of a long rope fastened to a stalactite it is possible to scramble up the side of the throne and enter the interior 75 feet above the base. In this is found a room 20 feet across and from twelve to twenty feet high. The floor is as white as snow. In the center is a tank of about the dimensions of a wagon box — eight feet long and three feet wide. The water in the tank seems to be quite shallow. An early explorer named Porter put his foot in to see what the depth really was. When he came to the surface the guide pulled out Mr, Porter by the ears. This interior room of Blondy's throne is hung with stalactites. In all of the ramifications of the cave there has not yet been found stalactite formation to compare with that in Blondy's throne room. Hundreds can be counted in the throne interior. They range in diameter from pipe stems to stove pipes, and in length from a few inches to twenty feet. Correspondingly in size and number the stalagmites come up from the floor to meet them. To the right hand of the entrance of the throne interior are the musical rocks. Two complete octaves can be rung from them by taps with a piece of iron. Some of these rocks give out sound as loud and clear as a large bell. Others are as fine as a piano note. Still others are as transparent as thick glass. The light illuminates them. It is possible to reach the summit of Blondy's throne. That summit is crowned by a collection of spires. One great central spire is four feet through and extends far upward into darkness. Around it are ten or twelve smaller spires. Standing on the summit of the throne and throwing the light around, the explorer finds that the walls are covered with stalactites. Even at that elevation the roof is so far above that it is not visible. The upper part of the throne from the interior room to the summit has been likened to a cupola. The similarity is striking. Crossing the throne interior to the side opposite from the entrance, one stands peering out into the great beyond. There is space and darkness above, below and all around. To this day it remains the great beyond. Leaning out from the interior of the throne the Powells have thrown flash lights and burned fire-balls without being able to know much 584 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI more of the great beyond than that it is a vast chamber. Height and breadth are unknown. There is bottom, however, at the foot of a precipice of ioo feet. No human foot has yet trod the floor. The guides know that water flows through the great beyond. They can hear it. Whence it comes or where it goes, or how much there is of it they do not know. The great beyond is one of the several places where exploration has halted. The Dead Animal Chamber. Variety is the characteristic of Marvel Cave. No two parts or features are similar. Past the spring, direct from the amphitheater and straight as if an engineer had bossed the workings, goes a tunnel. The floor is of hard red clay; the walls and arched roof of rock. Unlike some other portions of the cave this passage is very dry. A stooping walk gives place to the hands-and-knees posture and then the prone position must be taken. The tunnel becomes a crevice which suddenly widens out into a large, low, vaulted room. This is the dead animal chamber. A chamber of horrors it might be called. The distance is 125 feet from the amphitheater to the chamber. On the last part of the way it is. impos sible to crawl or to turn. Mr. Powell, a thin, wiry man of great nerve and strength, was the first to make his way to the chamber. He came wriggling his way back to the amphitheater and told his associates that he had seen 500 dead animals. "Five, five, five," exclaimed the skeptical Dr. Jones in derision, and then he made ready for the trip. But when he got back the first words that came from his lips were, "Not five hundred, but five thousand." The floor of the vaulted chamber was not only covered, it was heaped with mummified remains of animals. Curled or stretched out, according to the natural way of going asleep, they lay by hundreds and thousands. Upon many the fur was so well preserved that they had the appearance, in the dim light, of sleeping. There were the remains of panthers, of wildcats, of 'coons, of opossums, of wood- chucks, and underneath were skeletons of animals long ago extinct. A little stir ring of the remains raised a cloud of dust which was suffocating. Subsequent examination of the dead animal chamber showed that the remains which lay in sight constituted only a small fraction of the number which had crawled in to die. Buried in layers of clay deposits, carried into the chamber at some remote period by floods; were countless other skeletons and mummies, chiefly of the feline tribe. Evidently this had been for centuries the place to die chosen by these kinds of animals. Some hundred have been carried or sent away. Government naturalists from Washington completed the shipment of a ton of the clay and its contents ; together with a large box of the best preserved specimens to Washington. But no impression has been made upon the great chamber's grewsome contents. The scientists are greatly interested. The dying animals never came down through the crater and the gap in the roof of the amphitheater. They knew of some other entrance to Marvel Cave. That is more than the Powells, with all their search ing, have been able to find. Why did the dying animals come centuries after cen turies to the cool dry place, a natural tomb with wonderful preserving conditions ? There is a revelation of instinct in the dead animal chamber. Mr. Powell said that animals have crawled into the chamber and died since ENTRANCE TO FOREST PARK, ST. LOUIS, AND STATUE OF FRANCIS P. BLAIR MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 587 he has been living here. The carcasses are preserved, but in the process of mum mifying they give off a strong smell, not offensive, however, like carrion. To make room for their last resting places these late comers have crowded back the remains of those gone before until they have choked up the crevice to the amphitheater. Following the wall of the amphitheater around to the right from the dead animal tunnel, the visitor must look well to his steps. Down close to the wall is a well-like opening. To the bottom is thirty-five feet and it opens into the Powell and Hughes rooms, thirty feet long, six or seven wide and fifteen high. These rooms are only interesting for the large deposits of bat guano they contain. When the cave was first explored in 1882 the idea was to take out this guano and sell it. A whim and a tramway were constructed, but the distance of thirty miles over the mountains to the railroad wiped out the profits and the industry collapsed. Beyond the entrance to the Powell and Hughes rooms the amphitheater has a great wing which is almost a part of itself. But the wing has been given the dis tinctive name of the Mother Hubbard room. When Mr. Powell first walked to the further end of the wing chamber and came front to front with a prodigious stone image he exclaimed to those following: "Hello! Here's Mother Hubbard." The figure is as shapeless as a Mother Hubbard dress and that suggested the name. But when Mr. Powell looked behind the figure and saw a large crevice he added from another chamber of his memory, "And here's Mother Hubbard's cupboard, sure enough." When the Powell boys read Haggard, they adopted "She" as the better title for the figure, but "Mother Hubbard" and "the cup board" still stick. The Battery and the Dungeons. A crawl of forty feet from the extreme end of the Mother Hubbard room gives entrance to The Battery. It is through heterogeneous rock, and a rather ugly scramble. The Battery is sixty or seventy feet long and high. The appear ance is novel even after the other features of Marvel Cave have been examined. A little stream crosses the room from right to left. A large gallery is well filled with water formations composed about one-half of guano. A queer combination it is. The Battery gets its name from the fact that it is the chamber most fre quented by bats. At times the bats cover the walls entirely and give the room the appearance of being draped in velvet. Out of the Battery is a passage to the Spanish room, so called because of marks on the walls which somebody once thought were made by the Spanish explorers. That story Mr. Powell discredited. Beyond the Spanish room a passage so choked with broken rock as to be impass able extends nobody knows where. In this part of the cave is found a very hard and tough clay which, when scraped by a knife, takes on a rich polish. Still further around the Amphitheater, just down the dump to the left of the big ladder, is a high crevice in which a man can stand erect and edge along side ways. The course is downward at an angle of forty-five degrees. The crevice comes to an end on the brink of a precipice. An Indian ladder — that is a pole with rounds thrust through it — furnishes means of descent thirty-five feet to the bottom of the precipice. Here is the Dungeon, twenty-five feet across and very high. With the ladder broken or lifted out there is no escape. Air. Powell said 588 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI he had found unmistakable evidence of some one having been confined in this hor rible trap. From the bottom of the Dungeon is an opening to a second and smal ler room, and from that room a desperate effort has been made to tunnel through the hard clay upward in the direction of the Amphitheater. This unfinished tun nel extends twenty feet and ends abruptly. In the main Dungeon all the loose stones have been collected and heaped up twelve feet high against the side nearest to the outlet fissure. But, standing on that heap, the prisoner would still be many feet below the fissure. The walls are too steep to permit of climbing out. In one place there is apparently a drilled hole in the wall for a staple. And when Mr. Powell first discovered the hole there seemed to be traces of rust around it. No skeleton was found in either of the Dungeons. Freaks of Temperature. Awe is not altogether responsible for the shivering sensation which comes with the first steps downward into Marvel Cave. From the summer temperature of seventy on the mountain the transition is suddenly to forty-two at the foot of the Great White Throne. Only in the amphitheater and certain side passages is the temperature so low. The Powells learned to account for this by the presence of the bat guano. This deposit is not found in the Registry Room nor in the lower portions of the cave. There the uniform temperature is fifty-six. But where the guano is abundant the temperature is ten or twelve degrees colder. The explana tion is found in the presence of thirteen per cent of ammonia in the guano. In other words nature, with the assistance of the bats, has produced chemical cold storage on a grand scale. Almost opposite the big ladder and to the right of the Great White Throne some little distance stands a tall shapely rock, extending from the bottom to the roof of the amphitheater and back almost against the wall. It is "The Sentinel of the Spring." To the right of the sentinel is a passage and opening off that passage is a spring. The water comes trickling from above, and by constant drop ping keeps a large basin full. This water is colder, a little colder than the at mosphere. Tasted where it drips it is pleasant. Above ground it is almost too cold for comfort. Unlike the water of the Lost River the spring creates no forma tions. No glassy coating follows a bath of whatever length in the basin. Just above the spring is another apartment reached by a short climb. It is the shower bath room. Walls and top are covered with moisture. The moisture seems to come from nowhere in particular, but it gathers as a jug sweats in hot weather and trickles down to form the supply of the spring. The theory of the collection of this water is one of the many freaks of Marvel Cave. It is that the difference in temperature between various parts of the cave and the collision of currents causes the water to condense from the warmer air and to collect in this shower bath chamber. Distillation, in other words, performed by nature on the spot, creates this supply of water for the bath room and the spring. Scientists to whom the conditions have been described have admitted the correctness of the theory. For the creation of the water supply no other explanation can be found. This purest and queerest of water is given credit for the cure of cases of diabetes. Just over the spring and on the side toward the amphitheater is the window MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 589 shutter. The shutter slats are gigantic, but they are wonderfully perfect and lie in correct parallels. Thirty Miles of Passages. One of the first questions asked about a cave is, "How far can you go?" No satisfactory answer can be made to that question about Marvel Cave. There are, with Sentinel Rock as a starting point, several routes which have been followed long distances without end. If the amphitheater, into which visitors first enter, is taken as the starting point, it is possible to go in several other passages which have mysteries yet to be cleared up. The Powells have followed these different routes one after the other until they have come to rivers too deep to be forded or to precipices too great for ordinary means of scaling. In several directions jour neys of at least five miles have been made. No less than thirty miles of chambers and passages has been explored. And how much more remains to be traversed it is not possible to estimate. It is possible to leave the grand amphitheater at every point of the compass. Back of the ladder, directly opposite from the tunnel leading to the dead animal chamber, is a series of eight or ten rooms, but the rock is rotten, and there is constant danger of something dropping. The Powells have never gone far in that direction, and they never take visitors in. This course is almost due north. To the northwest is a string of nine rooms with connecting crawls, but they con tain no extraordinary features. Almost where the amphitheater leaves off and the Mother Hubbard wing be gins, a short passage leads into a room shaped so much like an alligator that it has been given that name. The alligator room is interesting chiefly for the fact that from it Wind Passage extends. The alligator room is ten feet wide and thirty feet long. Wind Passage is so crooked that nothing longer than a four- foot stick can be dragged through it. It is so low that wriggling is the only style of locomotion. And this piece of crawling is between eight hundred and one thousand feet over rocks and under rocks. The clay bottom, which is usual in Marvel Cave passages, is not found in this. Through Wind Passage comes a cur rent of air strong enough to extinguish any ordinary torch. Hence the name. Day and night, in all seasons, that draft blows through. Wind Passage comes to an abrupt termination at a precipice. The depth is about forty feet, and when the explorer has lowered himself by rope he stands in a large round chamber 200 feet across and very high. The guano and clay on the floor are dry, and a little kick ing raises a great dust. This chamber has never been named. A passage not so contracted and tortuous leads out of the chamber. A crawl of about one hundred and fifty feet ends in a second room, which possesses the suggestive name of The Epsom Salts room. This room is 600 feet long and 200 feet high. In the center is a balloon-shaped sink fourteen feet in diameter and twenty feet deep. Epsom salts like frost work appears upon the walls. After Epsom Salts room is a series of eight large rooms, with short passages between. At the end of the last there is a fissure two feet wide in some places, in others narrowing to one foot. There are ledges on the sides. It is possible to shuffle along this fissure with a foot on either side. The fissure is sixty to seventy feet deep, and at the bottom is a stream of water. Probably there are rooms along the fissure, but the few times 590 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI this most dangerous route has been traversed the Powells have been too intent on their footing to speculate on side issues. This fissure route is about a mile long. After traveling that distance the explorer bears off to the left and goes through a corridor that much resembles the one leading to the Dead Animal room. It is very low in places and extremely dry. Then comes a series of fifteen or sixteen rooms, and at last the straight high banks of a stream from twelve to fourteen feet wide and ten feet deep. The current is swift. No Name river this is called and it bars the progress of exploration in that direction until material , can be dragged through for a bridge or a boat. Three Rivers with Varying Courses. The course of the No Name stream is westward. Mystic river's course is south. Lost river flows in still another direction. The streams flowing so vigorously through different portions of the cave account in part for the strong and diverse currents of air. The fact that they rise and fall with the rivers outside and feel the effects of rain and freshets seems to show that they have outside connections not a great way distant. Lost River Canyon is where level heads are turned and confusion reigns. Where the ladders and passage coming down from Registry room bring one to the canyon stands a great rock, shaped like a thick slab. It is perpendicular as if set there by the square and compass and anointed by the oil and wine. This is Sen tinel Rock. It plays an important part in the geography of the cave. If the ex plorer notes the rock as he returns from Blondy's throne and the waterfall, he looks backward over his left shoulder and sees the passage to the ladders and the way out. But if Sentinel Rock is passed the traveler is lost. Lost River Canyon has countless side passages and crevices. Six boys and six girls went down to the waterfall on one occasion and started back. They did not come out. As the time went by without sign of them, Mr. Powell descended. When he reached the lad der he could see the party crawling round and round through Lost River Canyon and its branches looking in vain for the way. Some of them had been there before, but they did not remember Sentinel Rock. They had become bewildered. Their lights had burned until only a bit of candle remained. At the first glimpse one of the party cried out, "Is that Editor Powell?" In a few moments a hysteri cal girl had the editor by the arm crying, "Papa, I'm going to get hold of you." She never released her grip until she saw blessed daylight coming through the gap in the crater. Mr: Powell considers that one of his greatest feats was finding his way out from the foot of the waterfall without light. It was a feat wholly unintentional. Dr. Jones, an early and frequent explorer of the cave, came out one day insisting that he had found an entirely new route from the waterfall to Blondy's throne. He claimed that he had discovered a hole just back of the fall, and that it was much easier going. Powell didn't believe him, but he had had so many discoveries upset previous knowledge that after listening to the Doctor carefully he went down to see for himself. He carried with him a candle and a box of patent matches. Never noticing that the matches were only good when scratched on the box lid, he threw away the box. Reaching the foot of the waterfall Mr. Powell saw through the mist a dark spot which he had not observed before. Concluding that MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 591 that was the hole Dr. Jones had mentioned, Powell dashed through the water towards it. He struck solid wall instead of space and reeled backward. The water put out the light. When he recovered from the shock he tried to strike a match, and then another and another. After repeated failure he realized the situation. Turning with his back squarely to the wall he started through the fall and for the passage. Feeling his way almost inch by inch, and stopping every few feet to think out the turns and chutes, he came at last to the Sentinel Rock. It took two hours to make the trip out but it was accomplished. The Original Arkansas Traveler. After a day of hard climbing and crawling Mr. Powell sat on the gallery of the Glade Echo homestead and talked most interestingly of Marvel Cave's history. "I have been told a great many things about the cave by the people round about here and I have given a good deal of time to investigating them. Many of the stories, I am satisfied, are purely imaginary. Some have foundation. The oldest reference to the cave in print was, I think, a short newspaper description. This was probably published a great many years ago and revived from time to time and started on its rounds. I found it printed -in an appendix to a history of Missouri published long ago. The curious thing about the account is that it doesn't locate the cave further than to say it is in the Ozarks. From the description, it seems that the writer was lowered into the Amphitheater and crawled perhaps as far as the Registry. He speaks of there being another throne about the middle of the Amphitheater. This prompts me to believe that since his visit con siderable debris has fallen in through the slit in the bottom of the crater and covered up one of the thrones. I have a theory that this description of Marvel Cave was written fifty years ago, and that the man who visited the cave and wrote it was Col. Falconer. Falconer was the original of 'The Arkansas Traveler.' He is the character about whom so many stories are told. He had a place in Dade County, but he was seldom at home. Dressed in good clothes, riding a fine horse, he traveled all' over this part of Missouri and Arkansas. Wherever he went he carried his fiddle. And he fiddled his way to the hearts of the pioneers while he explored their country. Falconer passed up and down the Old Wilderness road, then a mere trail, in his travels. He' could hardly have failed to hear, from the hunters, of Marvel Cave, and it was just like him to visit the place and go down into it. He wrote what he saw, but never thought of telling the way to it or of locating it more definitely than in the Ozarks." Traditions of Spanish Treasure. When Mr. Powell began to explore the cave he heard many stories about it having been visited by the Spaniards at an early day. Some people believed that treasure had been hidden here : "I have never been able to find any confirmation of these lost-wealth stories. We found upon our earliest visits the remnants of some old ladders, such as the Spaniards used. They are simply long poles with notches alternating on each side for footholds. The same kind of ladders are to be seen now in Mexican mines. Two of those poles, or sections of them, are now in the cave. You saw them in one corner of the Mother Hubbard room. The Spaniards roamed through this region looking for silver at an early day. It is altogether probable that they made ladders and descended into the cave, but I have never found any evidence that they mined there, or. that they concealed any treasure. At one time I thought that I had found some inscriptions on the wall down near the Sullivan room and also on the wall in the Water Works room, but afterwards I became satisfied that they were due to natural causes. "Next to these Spanish ladders I have mentioned, the oldest relics I ever found in 592 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the cave were two whisky bottles. They were discovered on my first visit in .1882. Just such bottles, shaped like a canteen, were in use by the army many years ago. One of the bottles had blown in the glass a flag and a cannon and the date 1835. These were evi dences that some one had been in the cave long before, perhaps at the time a body of regular soldiers passed through long before the Civil war. The first descent into the cave of which I have found any definite account was made by Henry T. Blow and a prospecting party in search of mineral in 1869. The prospectors went down into the cave and left a record of their visit on the wall of the Registry room. We found it there. From 1869 I don't think the interior of the cave was visited until our party came in 1882. There was no means of descent. We spent some time preparing a way to get down. A large tree was suspended from the slit in the floor of the crater. Holes were^ bored and rounds driven through, making what is known as an Indian ladder. With that we made our descent." Discomfiture of Dr. Beaver. One of the most persistent upholders of the theory of hidden treasures in Marvel Cave was a man who called himself "Dr. Beaver." The Doctor was on hand at the time of the explorations of 1882. "Beaver claimed to be able to read Spanish. He also pretended to have a lot of in-~ formation, charts, and so on, about the location of the treasure. He even insisted that he had been in the cave years before, but I, am satisfied that he had never gone' down until our visit. At first we paid some attention to Beaver, but gradually we all became confident there was nothing in him. Dr. Jones and I concluded to make a test of him. We found some pieces of slate and notched and scratched them so as to make them look as if they were intended to convey some secret information. Then we daubed clay on them and partially washed it off. We took bits of rope and rubbed clay into them and dried them to make them look old. We put these things on a ledge up back of the Great White Throne. The next day when we went down to continue the exploration we took Beaver along with us and gradually worked around to the ledge. We fixed it so that Beaver was in advance and so that he was the first to see the slates and rope. The discovery tickled him immensely. He carried the slates) away and made a study of them with the aid of his alleged charts. After awhile he came back with a complete translation and a bigger story than ever about the buried treasure. We let Beaver run on for some time about the importance of the discovery. Finally Dr. Jones remarked: " 'Well, there's more in 'em than I thought there was when I made 'em." "When he saw how he had been duped, Beaver was so mad he wanted to fight. He insisted that he would whip the Doctor, but of course we wouldn't let him. He lost all interest in the cave exploration after that, and disappeared." Cave Stories. One cave story of which Mr. Powell found partial confirmation was told to him by an old hunter. "In 1883," said Mr. Powell, "this old hunter heard that I had been exploring the cave. He had never been down, but he had hunted and trapped all through this region, and knew of the cave. He came all the way from his home over near Ozark to tell me the story. Thirty-seven years before, the hunter's narration ran, he and an Indian followed a bear to the crater above the cave. The bear crawled under a large rock which partially overhung the opening into the cave. The hunter and the Indian sent the dog in under the rock to dis lodge the bear. It was a failure. Then the Indian drew his knife and crawled under the rock. He stabbed the bear. The bear jumped forward. Indian, bear and dog went through the hole and disappeared. The hunter listened long, but could hear no sound. He went home. After thirty-seven years the curiosity Courtesy Missouri Historical Society ST. LOUIS IN 1860 The year before the Civil War when river transportation was at its best. MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 595 to know the sequel to that story prompted him to journey thirty miles across the mountain and see whether any trace of Indian, bear or dog had been found." Mr. Powell and the hunter went to the spot where the fatal encounter had taken place. Mr. Powell noted the probable direction of the fall. He descended into the cave, and, after a little search, found the skeleton of the bear. Of the Indian and dog there was no trace. Another old resident of the region entertained- Mr. Powell with the story of two dogs that had been lowered into the cave and turned loose. These dogs, the tradition ran, had after some days found their way out of the cave and returned to their master. The Powells tried this experiment until they felt sure there was nothing in it. They thought that it might lead to the discovery of an outlet on the level. But the cave has a strange effect on dogs. Instead of seeking an exit the unfortunate animals go wild with fear. They lose all of their ordinary sagacity. So far from making any effort to thread the passages they crouch down in the Amphitheater with their eyes on the opening far above them and howl and whine most piteously by the hour. Another long ago tradition of the neighborhood was that the cave was used before the war as a hiding place for runaway negroes. A story is told of a hunter seeing a negro come out of what was supposed to be an outlet of Marvel Cave. This alleged outlet is in the glades of Indian creek, not many miles from Marvel Cave. It goes by the name of the Nigger Hole to this day. But if there is a connection between the big cave and the hole it has not yet been traced. The theodolite has been used. It was shown that the Marvel Cave extends a long way in the direction of Indian Creek. The theory is that somewhere along the creek is the entrance by which the thousands of animals, prehistoric and more recent, found their way into the great chamber to die. It is instinct with the feline tribe to seek a hidden spot when the pangs of dissolution come on. It is also instinct which takes them into just such catacombs as the Dead Animal Chamber. Rarely, however, do they find a place where the mummifying conditions — the evenness of temperature and the dryness — are so perfect. Runaway slaves, numbers of them, made use of the smaller caves of this region for hiding and resting places on their way from Arkansas to Kansas. This is well authenticated, but there is nothing to show they descended into the great Marvel Cave. Traces of mineral, zinc and lead are found in the cave, but nothing that is workable. There is tripoli also. And it is one of the standing jokes of the guides to prompt visitors to test their lifting powers on the rocks scattered about. When the visitors have strained their backs, the guide picks up a chunk of tripoli about ten times the size of the largest rock that has been lifted and handles it as if it was a base ball. After the mystery is explained, there is a laugh all round. Cave Sensations. The sensations in the great caverns are very peculiar. They are altogether different from those experienced in mines. No man has ever been able to sleep in the Marvel Cave. Mr. Powell tried to perform the feat, but with all -of his love for the cave and with all his steadiness of nerve, he has failed to make a comfortable night of it. The Powells have frequently passed nights underground, but they were engaged in exploration. The first impression upon lying down to 596 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI sleep in the cave is of intense stillness. Then noises are heard and they grow more and more distinct. The strain on the nerves finally becomes such that sleep ing is entirely out of the question. "I went down into the cave one night intending to sleep there," Mr. Powell said, "just for the novelty of the thing. It never occurred to me that I couldn't do it. I picked out a comfortable dry place in the Mother Hubbard room and lay down. It was very still at first. Then I began to hear the dripping of water. It was a long way off, but it sounded very sharp and grew louder. The next noise that took my attention was made by the bats. I could hear them flying about in the darkness over me. Their wings seemed to squeak. Next an owl flew through the amphitheater and gave a yell just as he passed Echo Point. The echo swelled the sound tenfold, and the yells seemed to come- from as many directions. I jumped to my feet in spite of myself. Of course I recognized in a moment what it was and lay down again. Then I could hear the water rolling in rooms I knew were a quarter of a mile away. The sound seemed to grow louder and to come nearer. I heard the splashing of the waterfall still farther away. One thing succeeded another. It was useless to keep up fhe experiment. I came out of the cave and went to bed. Working in the cave at night is all right. You do not observe any difference from working down there in the day time, but sleeping is an impossibility." The Amateur Scientists. Of all the visitors the one who least impressed Mr. Powell was the' genus scientificus. "The most of these scientists," said Mr. Powell, "are very thick-headed. They don't know enough to amount to shucks." One day Mr. Powell was going by the cave, when he found an old man with four boys there. The old man said the party had "come all the way from Kansas to see the cave in the interest of science." While Mr. Powell was debating in his mind whether to follow the trail of a wounded deer or sacrifice himself to science two drovers came along. They, too, wanted to see the cave. The party was made up. The old man watched the preparations for the descent and took a good view of the long ladder. Just as the word was given and the party started the old man suddenly weakened and said : "Well, boys, I've brought you this far. There might something happen. I won't go down." Mr. Powell urged. The old man became more and more positive. The drovers saw the old man's fears rising, and they joined with Powell in insisting that having come as guardian of the boys he must go with them or be remiss in his duty toward them. At length Mr. Powell announced his decision, that the old man must descend or the boys shouldn't ; he wouldn't be responsible for their safety unless the old man went down. The scientist hung to the ladder, talked of his rheumatics, and finally descended. When he found himself on a firm footing his self-confidence returned in part, and he began to talk. "Boys," he said to his charges, with much show of cheerfulness, "I promised to explain things as I went along. Now, this here cave has been a volcany once. All this rock you see gone out of here was biled out by fire. Them things you MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 597 see down yonder is stagalmites. Them's nothing but melted rocks. They jest biled up and friz like you sfee 'em now. If we'd been on top of this hill when this was blowin' Out, we'd better kept away. It'd been mighty hot." Mr. Powell asked the scientist from Kansas what he thought had become of that which "blew out." The old man studied a little and replied : "I reckon it must ha' run off down hill into the hollers. I didn't see nothing of it on top." "How long ago do you think it happened?" asked Mr. Powell. "Oh, it might have been ioo years," was the scientific reply. The bats in the cave come to be on familiar terms with those whom they see daily. They will sometimes gather close around Mr. Powell and allow him to handle them, while a stranger can not get near without alarming them. On this occasion Mr. Powell put up his hand in passing near a wall and took down several bats, replacing them after a few moments. "Right there, boys," broke in the old man, "ye learn the law of kindness. They know him,- and he can handle them. If you'd take hold of 'em they'd wipe your lives out and eat your eyes out." And then the scientist, who had never lost sight of the hole in the roof, in sisted on going out, and made one of the boys go to the top of the ladder with him. Rider Haggard Vindicated. "I have read 'She' and 'King Solomon's Mines,' and those books which deal with wonderful caves," said Will Powell. "I never go up Lost River Canyon that I don't think of them. Haggard describes one long gallery which is almost identical with part of this canyon. I'll be darned if there isn't one place where the rocks are laid up in blocks sixteen feet long and three or four feet thick just as Haggard tells it." "Haggard," said the father of the young guide, taking up the conversation, "describes in his books many cave effects which we find to be strictly true in our experience here. For instance, there is the crystallization which is forever going on under the fall. Haggard treats a like effect as a means of preserving human bodies. I don't know that this Lost River water will do that, but it will put a coating of crystal on a stick in three months." Lost River Canyon is considered the most dangerous part of the cave because of its network of passages and the sameness of the region. Beyond Springstead Throne the canyon runs, into a series of circular rooms, from five to ten feet high, looking just like so many circus tents. The voice room is one of these. It is reached by a crevice from Lost River Canyon about a quarter of a mile from Sentinel Rock. At all times it is possible to hear in this room a rumbling which resembles the human voice. Near to the lower passage leading to the foot of the waterfall is the Neighbor hood Room. It covers an acre of ground. Lost River is crossed nine times in the exploration of the room. The name grew out of a curious circumstance. One rainy day Mr. Powell and a companion in search of new cave territory went into this room. Mr. Powell left a candle near the entrance, and he and his com panion started forward to examine the room. Suddenly his companion remarked : 598 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "Looks like this was a settled neighborhood. We just left a light behind us, and here is another." It was the light they had left, and as often as they started forward they brought up in a short time with their own light in front of them. Great as it is in width and breadth, the Neighborhood Room is only ten or twelve feet high. It was reached by a descent through a fissure and a crawl of thirty or forty feet. Of the geology, Mr. Powell told some interesting conclusions. The Geology of It. "Marvel Cave is not like Mammoth Cave. It is more after the order of Luray, in Virginia. It consists of many large rooms with small connections. Mammoth is a suc cession of large rooms. But there is no room in Mammoth half as high from floor to roof as the amphitheater of Marvel Cave. Right in front of the Great White Throne the distance from floor to roof is 250 feet. The roof is a great sheet of marble. The depth of the cave is another extraordinary feature of it. I maintain that there are three dis tinct formations in view. In the Registry Room one can see the roots of the rocks of one 'formation. The Upper Silurian system ends there. In the lowest parts of the cave are to be seen the Archaic rocks. We actually run through the Lower Silurian complete. When Ladd, the geologist, was down here he thought the lower rocks might be metamor phosed: He wasn't quite willing to admit they were Archaic. I conjecture that they are Archaic because of the mica we find in them. A great deal occurred during the up heaval, and much of it can be seen in Marvel Cave. Capt. Anthony Arnold, of Spring field, spent a week here on two different occasions. His opinion is that the strata seen in the cave embrace three periods — the Sub-Carboniferous, the Upper Silurian and the Lower Silurian. I have had a good deal of experience with the geologists. Starting out from Galena to come over here they begin by contradicting me and saying that my theories are undoubtedly wrong, but after arriving and seeing they usually give up their preconceived ideas about the cave. It is a revelation to them in many ways. The onyx we find is a mere formation in the water in darkness. Ages of hardening are necessary to make it the article of commerce. In the top of the waterfall onyx is seen in the first stages of formation. As to the spring and the theory that the water forms from con densation owing to the counter currents of air of different temperature, I have sought the opinion of scientists. I wrote to Prof. Eaton, of William Jewell College, among others, giving him a detailed description of the conditions. He corresponded with the profes sors of the State University at Columbia, and they agreed that condensation was the principle which produced the steady dripping in the Shower-bath Room and the collec tion of water in the spring. I don't know that there is anywhere underground a freak of nature just like this spring, at least of such magnitude. There is never any lack of pure air in the cave. Currents enter from different directions and are very perceptible. The 10° difference in temperature in different parts of the cave mystifies Visitors. Chambers on the same level have this difference. The explanation is found in the bat guano, I am satisfied. The temperature in the chambers where guano is found is 10° lower than in those where no guano is found. The guano contains 13 per cent of ammonia, and that produces the cold. Some scientists shake -their heads at this, but they can find no other explanation." Warren County's Cave. The main street along which the pretty town of Warrenton stretches for a mile and a half is known to this day as the Boone's Lick road. It was laid out and traveled in the pioneer's lifetime. Boone chose his last home well. Warren combines some ol the most fertile slopes and valleys of Missouri, with some of the boldest and roughest gorges and bluffs. The combination is an unusual one. Here was a natural game preserve. The county has a number of large caves. Three miles from Holstein is one of the most notable. Tohn Wvatt was out MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 599 hunting bear and he followed one to the top of a high hill. Bruin dropped out of sight by a hole in the ground just about large enough to let him through. This was the discovery. This cave has been explored many times, but still contains an unsolved problem. One can travel for long distances underground. There are chambers thirty or forty feet across. Skeletons show that great numbers of wild animals hibernated in these chambers. One passage leads to a chamber from which the stoutest hearted shrink. It is bottomless. Large stones dropped over the edge give back no sound. The strongest torches thrown into the abyss go sailing down, the light growing fainter and fainter until it fades entirely away. The longest line let down fails to measure the depth. Not far distant from this cave is a high, rocky hill on the farm of Rudolph Kierker, where strange phenom ena are observed. Every year, during the month of May, peculiar rumbling noises can be heard, seeming to come from the interior of this hill. At the same time one standing on the hill can feel beneath him a jarring motion. The oldest inhabitant does not remember the time when the haunted hill did not behave in this inexplicable manner during the month of May. In the vicinity of the cave and the animated hill have been found an extraordinary number of petrifactions. John Northcutt's farm, near Charette creek, has a pond 60 feet across, the bottom of which no sinker has ever been able to reach. What the connections are between all of these mysteries of nature, the wise men of the Central Wesleyan college have never been able to explain. Greer Spring Canyon. Greer spring is seven miles north of Alton, the capital of Oregon county. With its surroundings it might well become a state park, reserved for the delight of future generations of Missourians. A great volume of crystal clear water comes roaring from the base of two hills. It flows rapidly over a mossy bed between the hills for a distance of about a mile and joins Elevenpoints River. All who have seen Greer spring have been of one mind in giving it a conspicuous place among the wonders of the Ozarks. After she had visited this wonder Luella Agnes Owen, the author, wrote : "Taking a last look at Greer spring with its cave river, grey walls, gay with foliage, and all the harmony of color and form combined in the narrow canyon that was once the main body of a great cave, I recalled views on the Hudson river, and in the mountains of Mary land, Virginia and Pennsylvania, and others out in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and the Wasatch in Utah, but amid all their wonderful grandeur and famous beauty, could remember no spot superior to this masterpiece of the Ozarks." Old Monegaw 's Mausoleum. Without war but very reluctantly the Osages gave up their Missouri homes. There is no part of the Ozark country more picturesque than that through which the Osage makes its course of innumerable windings. In St. Clair county great cliffs frown upon the beautiful river from the mouth of the Little Monegaw to that of the Big Monegaw. These cliffs are hundreds of feet high and several miles in length. They abound in caves. In places the summits of the cliffs overhang. The entrances of the caves are in some cases reached by difficult 600 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI climbing. Here the Osages had natural fortresses. Monegaw was their chief. In a nation of red athletes of more than usual size, he is said to have been distin guished for his physical appearance. He was an Indian of great strength. He saw the white settlers coming in great numbers, and decided that migration to the promised reservation in the Indian territory was best for his people. But he couldn't persuade himself to go with them. Calling the head men of the nation to a council in one of the largest of the caves, the chief said to them: "Go! But Monegaw is your chief no longer. My -hunting ground has been taken from me. My home on the Osage and the Sac is now in the hands of the white men. That which has been my home' shall be my burial place. I will leave here only to go to the happy hunting ground beyond the skies." Monegaw remained in the cave. His people left him. After a time he was missed. White men found his body and gave it burial with the weapons and war bonnet beside him. The old chief had starved himself to death. In several of these caves are still to be seen the evidences of the Indian occupancy. On the side of one cave are carved the figures of three braves with their war trappings. Seemingly the braves are walking single file on the warpath. Turtles have been carved as if swimming in the river. Indians engaged in a variety of activities are carved on the walls. Some are leading ponies. Others are swimming. Still others with bows and arrows are apparently out on hunting expeditions. One of the life-like representations is that of an Indian sleeping in a blanket. The cave to which the name of Monegaw is especially given has been explored nearly a mile. It has a ceiling in places forty feet high adorned with crystal formations. Cave Waters. Fishing Spring is in Crawford County, near Steelville. It comes from a large cave on the Meramec River. The water boils up in a basin fifteen or twenty feet across. It rises through three holes in the rock bottom in a modified geyser form. The spring, for a great many years, abounded in fish of the perch species. The method of fishing was to drop, the line with heavy sinkers through one of the holes in the bottom of the spring. These openings are only three or four inches across. It was necessary to weight the line sufficiently to sink the hook eight or nine feet into a subterranean lake. At times not a single fish would bite. At other times fish were caught' by the hundreds. These perch weighed about half a pound each. It is tradition that tons of them have been caught and carried away. The theory is that a very large underground lake is beneath the adjacent bluff. In Webster county the Ozarks reach extraordinary altitude. In a depres sion on top of one of the highest ridges is a body of water known as the Devil's Lake. The water is located in what was called the Devil's Den. The den is oblong, the sides enclose nearly an acre. The den has steep sides, but can be entered by a narrow passage in the rock. At one end of the den is the so-called lake. Strange stories are told about the movement of the water level. Rains or water levels in the vicinity seem to have no effect upon the lake and yet there is a difference in the level of thirty feet between what are "low water" and "high water" by those familiar with the place. The lake is about three hundred feet in diameter. Apparently it has some distant underground connection. The. water FOURTH STREET, BKTWEKN WASHINGTON AVENUE AND ST. CHARLES STREET, THE SHOPPING DISTRICT OF 1857 MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 603 will rise to within fifty feet of the top and then sink to a depth of eighty feet. These changes take place, according to those who have lived in the neighborhood, with the rise and fall of the Upper Missouri in Montana. Many years ago there was an oak tree leaning over the lake. It was cut at a time when the water was low and fell nearly one hundred feet before it struck water. It passed below the surface and never^ came up. Several engineers state that the level of this lake is higher than most parts of the Ozarks and that the underground supply of water must come from great distance. One of the stories told of the Devil's Lake is that two or three cedar logs appeared upon the surface. They were larger than any cedar trees which grow within a hundred miles. Senator Vest had an experience with the mysteries of the Ozarks. He had heard of the Robideau River. "Old man Haskell" was a well-known Ozark guide in his day. The senator engaged Haskell. They took the Robideau about twenty miles above Waynesville, the county seat of Pulaski. After several days of interesting experiences the senator asked Haskell if they could not make the run down to the Gasconade. "I reckon we kin, sure enough, by sundown," the guide said. The senator and the guide, after two hours' floating and pulling found themselves in a strong eddy which nearly upset the little boat and which finally landed them on a bar. There was the end of the river. The senator appealed to Haskell. "What have you got to say about this ? You are the guide. You said you knew all about this country and especially this river. Now where has it gone?" Haskell got out on the bar, put his hand over his eyes and looked up the stream and then looked down where the stream should have gone but where there was only dry ground. There was a road within a short distance and when Haskell saw a farmer coming up he shouted : "O mister, did yer see a river running anywhar down that way? I'll be danged if we hain't lost one." The farmer looked pleased as he took in the situation and answered, "About five miles down the road. Reckon you'uns want a lift. I'll take ye an' yer traps fur $3. Better look out ; you'uns may get sucked under whar ye air now." "What do you mean ?" shouted Senator Vest. The farmer replied, "That river don't go no further on top until you get below here five miles.' It jist slips inter the gravel whar you are and don't show up till ye git ter Waynesville." The senator, the guide and the farmer lifted the boat into the wagon and rode to the vicinity of Waynesville, where the Robideau makes its appearance, coming to the surface in the form of a splendid spring. Lost rivers in Missouri are innumerable. In fact, the stream which does not lose itself several times before it concludes to run along on top of ground in an orderly fashion is an exception. A ride of half a day along some of the Ozark valleys will furnish repeated illustrations of the peculiar character of the chan nels. A creek running half way to the wagon hubs will be in sight for a mile or two. Then will come a crossing where the channel is a bed of gravel, dry and dusty, without water in sight above or below. A mile farther on the creek is pursuing its joyous, rippling way. Stretches of dry bed and of dancing water alternate. The water sinks noiselessly and entirely into a bed of sand at one place and appears without any fuss oozing up from another bed farther down. There are few of the caves of considerable size which do not have their 604 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "lost rivers." Through them flow streams of considerable volume. The lost river comes out of one side, crosses the cave and disappears in the other side. Often there is not a sound, not as much as a ripple. Of all the strange thrills which come in an exploration of these underground passages there is nothing quite so weird as when the torch casts its light upon one of these silent rivers flowing by with nothing to show whence it came or whither it goeth. The Hannibal Mystery. "Mark Twain's Cave" is in the Missouri cliffs overlooking the Mississippi about a mile southeast of Hannibal. Since "Sam" Clemens crawled into the crevice high up the bluff and had the adventures to be utilized later in his books, the cave has been modernized. A beautiful river road passes the park which surrounds the entrance now used. The hole through which Mark Twain crawled is boarded up. It was above the present entrance. The visitor now walks into a broad level corridor. The guide leads the way, pointing out such localities a's "Straddle Alley," "Fat Man's Misery" and "Bat Alley." There is enough hard going, as the cave is explored, to satisfy the adventurous. There are passages leading downward to levels below the Mississippi river. Dr. Joseph N. McDowell, a famous but eccentric surgeon, founder of McDow ell's College at St. Louis, gave the Hannibal cave a mystery some years before the Civil war. He had very strange ideas about the disposition of the dead. When Dr. McDowell thought he was going to die, he called to his bedside Dr. Charles W. Stevens and Dr. Drake McDowell, his son. He exacted from them a solemn promise that they would place his body in a copper receptacle and fill the space with alcohol. The receptacle they were to suspend in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. Permission to do this the doctor claimed he had already ob tained. This eccentric demand was not a great surprise to Dr. Stevens. Com ing to McDowell's College to study medicine, Stevens had learned quickly some thing of his preceptor's strange fancies. A child of Dr. McDowell died a few days after Stevens entered the college. The coffin was lined with metal. The body was placed in the coffin. All space remaining was filled with alcohol and the coffin was sealed tightly. A year or so later the body of the child was removed from the coffin and placed in a large copper case. This was Dr. McDowell's method of treating the bodies of his children. No religious service of any kind was performed. The copper cases were carried at night attended by a procession formed by the medical students and friends of the family. Each person carried a torch. The place of disposition was a vault in the rear of the residence. The thought of a natural cave as a final resting place was a favorite one. Dr. McDow ell bought the cave near Hannibal. He had a wall built across the opening and placed in it an iron door. The vase or case containing one of the children was taken from St. Louis to this cave and suspended from the roof. Only ordinary local interest had been felt in the cave up to that time. But when Dr. McDowell barred entrance everybody wanted to know what was inside. Boys found crev ices and crawled in. They gave such accounts of their discovery that an investi gation seemed to be justified. Men broke down the iron door. The curious public visited the place. In the effort to find a plausible explanation for this use of the cave the theory was advanced that the surgeon wanted to see if the MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 605 cave would bring about petrification. Whatever had been his purpose, Dr. Mc Dowell removed the body of the child. He bought a mound across the river in the American Bottom, not far from Cahokia, in view with a spyglass from the cupola of the college. There he constructed a vault in which he placed the body of his wife. Years afterwards Dr. McDowell and his wife were buried in Bellefontaine. Caves in Endless Variety. Labaddie's Cave in Franklin county obtained its name from a hunting tragedy. A man named Labaddie with his boy about twelve years old followed a bear which had been wounded to the mouth of the cave. Labaddie crawled in, think ing that the wound was mortal. The boy waited some hours. The father did not come back and the boy returned to St. Louis. A rescuing party went out to the cave, which is near Labaddie station, on the Rock Island road. The search was fruitless. Many years afterwards the cave was examined and the skeletons of the hunter and the bear were found side by side. Fisher's Cave, in Franklin county, is near the station of Stanton on the Frisco. It is a spacious opening in the bluffs on the Meramec. A long passage leads to a chamber one hundred feet in diameter with stalactites and stalagmites of beautiful dark colors. In another room one of the stalactites has grown until it has just met a stalagmite, the two forming a great column seeming to support the roof. A mile from the entrance is the "dripping spring" where the water continually falls from the roof into a large pool. Below Fisher's Cave is Saltpeter Cave, where gunpowder was made in the early days. Garrett Cave is near Sullivan. Persimmon Gap is a hole ten or fifteen feet wide passing through a spur of the Ozarks about three miles south of Stanton. This hole or tongue is one of the strange freaks in Franklin county. It is located west of Detmold. At the bottom of a depression is an opening in the rock fourteen inches wide and four feet long. Descending through this hole the explorer firfds the well widening to ten or twelve feet square. About eighty feet down the water of a large underground lake is reached. Perry county has so many caves that it was described by an early traveler as having "a little subterranean world, full of rippling rills, vaulted streets, palatial caverns and grottoes, filled with monuments of stalagmites, and festooned with stalactites." One Perry county cave has been penetrated four miles. Stone county abounds in caves, more than twenty-five having been explored. Mason's Cave, in Greene county, was first known as the Cave of Adullam. Knox Cave, in Greene county, was discovered in 1866 by J. G. Knox and given his name. Alum Cave, in Washington county, was given its name at the time alum was mined there. In Shannon county is Sinking Creek. . It passes for a distance of one mile through a hill six hundred feet high. Boats can navigate through the hill. Oregon county has a depression one hundred and fifty feet below the surrounding country. It is called Grand Gulf. The cascade on the border of the Arcadia Valley drops from the top of Cascade Mountain a distance of two hundred feet into a gorge. Ste. Genevieve county has a cave in which there are, apparently drawn on the limestone, pictures of birds. Simm's Hole is near the town of 606 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Ste. Genevieve. In it is the! mouth of Dead Men's Cave, eight feet high. There are passages in the cave several miles long. Two natural bridges, many caves and springs of wonderful clearness are among the natural features of Greene county. One of the caves, the Lincoln, seven miles northwest of Springfield can be explored to a depth of over half a mile. Through it flows a river ten feet deep of perfect clearness. Morgan County's Variety. Morgan county has a variety of caves. One of these, known as Cave Mills on the Gravois, is in the form of a complete tunnel, about 1,500 feet long through a hill. Walls, roof and floor are of rock. If railroad engineers had planned a tunnel they could hardly have improved on this work of nature. At each end is a large opening. The roof is about thirty feet above the floor. The entrance to Wolf cave is downward from the surface. A tree slid into the mouth of the cave making descent easy. Up and down this tree trunk wolves in packs made their way in the early days. Price's cave has an entrance so large that a man on horseback can ride into it. The cave extends back more than a mile with many rooms, some fifty feet from floor to roof. The Purvis cave is even more extensive, it being traversed more than two miles in depth. The pioneer explorers of this cave found indications that it had been frequented by the^Osage Indians. Considerable lead was taken out of this cave. Strange vocal effects, due to echoes, are heard in a Morgan county cave at the mouth of Big Gravois. The opening is fifty feet wide. The cave runs back 300 feet. Persons talking in the cave can be heard on the hill above, through an opening. A miner digging a shaft several miles south of Versailles suddenly found the bottom dropping into a large cave to which the name of Jacob's cave was given. A Community of Caves. Ha-Ha-Tonka natural park, on the Big Niangua river, in Camden county, is a community of caves. There are Island cave, just why so named cannot be ex plained ; Counterfeiters' cave, with its tradition of having been the hiding place of a band who manufactured banknotes in the financial wildcat days; Bear cave, in which the last bear of the vicinity is said to have been killed; Robbers' cave, which suggests its own christening ; River cave, with its lost river flowing through ; Cullins' cave, named for an early explorer ; Onyx cave, abounding in the beautiful dripping decorative art of the Ozarks; Bunch cave, Griffith cave, Bridal cave. In Bridal cave, which is entered by a very small opening, a romantic couple were married Once upon a time. The ceremony took place in the midst of one of the most wonderful wildernesses of stalactites and stalagmites. These formations are of gigantic dimensions, the stalagmites rising from the floor of the cave until they seem to tower like church steeples above the visitor. The narrow passages lead from one vast cavern to another. In not few places are massive stone columns reaching from floor to roof as if supporting the great domes. Some who have made the trip of miles from the railroad to view the wonders of Bridal cave MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD 607 think it surpasses Kentucky's Mammoth cave. In River cave, the stream flowing through abounds in blind fish. The sights of Hahatonka include Big Spring gushing eighty feet wide and five feet deep from the side of Sunset Hill, down through Trout Glen, abounding in fish,, past Balanced Rock and spreading into a lake covering sixty acres of land, at last finding its way into the Niangua river. Beyond Sunset Hill, to the east is Natural Bridge 180 feet high supporting a roadway above while beneath is the passage to the Coliseum, a natural amphi theater in which some day 10,000 people may assemble to marvel over Haha tonka. The Devil's Fireplace has room for a whole pine tree, with a chimney to match, and the Red Sinks drink in the hardest floods without an apparent outlet. Walter Williams on Missouri's Wonders. Walter Williams found at Hahatonka "more natural curiosities than in any other similar share of the earth's surface." His visit prompted him to say of it : "At Hahatonka the big cave was seen by night. The entrance is made by boat under an overhanging weight of rock, which looks always ready to topple over. It suggested the River Styx, with Charon, the boatman. Once inside the cave and there were rooms of various sizes, shapes and oddities, a massive pillar, riv?r disappearing, echoing cor ridors and other wonders. Bridal Cave, some distance away, is pronounced by cave ex perts to be the most wonderful in the world. If Hahatonka were on a railroad it would have thousands of visitors where it now has one. Here is a cave more, wonderful than Mammoth Cave, a spring surpassing in size any in the state, a natural bridge superior to the famous Virginia Natural Bridge. The ignorance of Missourians regarding the natural wonders of their own state is shown when reference is made to Hahatonka and other places of less attractiveness. The existence of these is scarcely known, and yet Mis sourians will wander off to the distant sections of the country to see caves, waterfalls, lakes and mountains far inferior in beauty. The Garden of the Gods is far-famed. It is surpassed by the Hahatonka regions. The Cave of the Winds is not the same high class as the Bridal Cave. Some patriotic Missourian should get up an expedition to explore Missouri. It would be a fine contribution to knowledge and understanding of the state and its greatness. Within the borders of the dozen counties lying in the south central portion of the state between the Missouri Pacific, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas rail way and the St. Louis and San Francisco railroad may be found territory that would require months to investigate and explore." There is wide difference in human interest about caves. Walter Williams told of traveling through Missouri with a college professor whose lack of enthu siasm for underground exploration was summed up in, "All caves look alike. They are damp, muggy, smell of malaria. Bats live in them, and they taste of the flood. To see one cave is to see them all." On the other hand, Henry Robbins, the editor, said of the late Bishop Mcln- tyre, the educated and eloquent bricklayer: "His lecture on 'Wyandotte Cave' has probably never been surpassed in spoken English as a sustained effort. Ingersoll, who surpassed him in delivery, gave brief descriptions of superior polish, but Mclntyre's lecture of two hours in length was entirely descriptive. The only criticism was that its very brilliancy palled. Like Bulwer-Lytton, he kept continually on the mountain-top without the relief of valleys. When the bishop was in St. Louis the writer told him of a traveling man who had been so charmed with the Mclntyre description of Wyandotte Cave that he had, at 608 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI considerable expense, made a special visit to the cave itself. His conclusion was : 'That man Mclntyre is the biggest liar in America.' " Looking for the Cave Man in Missouri. Evidences of the prehistoric or cave man are to be found in Missouri, the archeologists believe. The search is still going on. During 1919 Gerard Fowke, working under the direction of the bureau of ethnology at Washington, pursued the quest along the Big Piney. He gave special attention to caves so far removed from general settlement as to have remained undisturbed by white people. In one cave he found a vast accumulation of ashes, estimated at a thousand wagon loads. The conditions showed occupation of the cave for ten centuries, perhaps. In the valleys were the traces of many villages. But nowhere were the human relics such as to reveal the prehistoric man. They indicated a low degree of culture, the commonest kinds of utensils and shell beads. The skeletons were those of Indians with flattened skulls and high cheek bones. The burial places in essential features were the same as constructed by later generations of Indians. Some indications of cannibalism were found. But the conclusions of the season's investigation were that these people who built the fires in the caves for winter quarters and lived in villages in summer were nomadic tribes, similar to those who were found in Missouri when the white people came, and not prehistoric cave men. Taking all that can be called caves, the scientists estimate there are 100,000 of them in Southern Missouri. M. M. Marmaduke, 1844 John 0. Edwards, 1844-1848 Austin King, 1848-1852 Sterling Price, 1853-1857 Trusten Polk, 1857 Robert. M. Stewart, 1857-1861 GOVERNORS OF MISSOURI CHAPTER XVIII MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS The Days of Political Songs — A Cartoon at Rocheport — Isaac Martin's Winning Speech — How Providence Elected a Congressman — Bingham's County Election — An Incident at Old Chariton — The Man Who Broke a Tie — When Abraham Lincoln Shocked Missouri Whigs — The Actor in Politics — The Jackson Resolutions — Benton's Defiance — John Scott's Letter — Benton's Campaign in 1840 — The Climax at Fayette — When Norton Averted Bloodshed — Missourians in Kansas — Price and the Governorship — Good Stories from Walter Williams — How Rollins Got the Best of Henderson — Senator Schurz and Eugene Field — The Know Nothing Days — St. Louis Riots — Boernstein and the Forty- eighters — A Reporter's Impressions of Polk, Rollins and Stewart — Missouri's Longest Campaign — Claiborne F. Jackson's Opportunity — A Newspaper Ultimatum — William Hyde's Graphic Narrative — One of Fayette's Greatest Days — John B. Clark, the Politi cal Adviser — Sample Orr, the Unknown — A Moonlight Conference — Douglas or Breck inridge? — Jackson Declares His Position — A Campaign of Oratory — Blair's First Speech After the War — A Thrilling Scene at the Pike County Forum — Blair ii politics was hi? nomination for the governorship in the spring of 1852. The history of Viis nomination was given me by Hon. John M. Krum at St. Louis in February, 1861. The Benton and anti- Benton democrats had agreed upon a fusion in that convention of 1852, on the basis that the former being a majority of the party, the candidate for governor should be a Benton man ; that for lieutenant governor, an anti-Benton, and so on alternately to the end of the ticket. But the fused convention as a whole was to select the candidates, and not each wing of the party select its share of the ticket. The anti-Benton minority at once took measures to secure the fruits of this advantage. General Thomas L. Price was the choice of the great body of the Benton men, but especially distasteful to the anti-Benton men. Accordingly in a caucus of some leaders of the latter, Judge Krum was selected to have an interview with General Sterling Price, a Benton delegate to the convention, and conspicu ous for the ardent support he had given Colonel Benton not only before but since the division in 1849 in the Missouri democracy on the subject of that senator. Judge Krum's report of the interview, concerning the policy which General Sterling Price, if elected governor, would pursue in regard to both the men and the measures of the anti-Benton democracy, being entirely satisfactory to the caucus, it was resolved to support him in the convention. The solid vote of the anti-Benton minority, added to a small portion of the Benton majority, secured him the nomination over General Thomas L. Price. Dr. Brown, a zealous anti-Benton man, was nominated for lieutenant governor. Fusion Success. "Colonel Benton promptly denounced the ticket as a fraud, a bargain and sale, and 'spit upon the platform' — all publicly in his speeches. But the fusion was maintained. General Price acted with consummate discretion, keeping very quiet and making no gen eral canvass. The entire fusion ticket was elected. Thenceforward, as governor in 1853-7, Price vigorously opposed Colonel Benton and sustained the anti-Benton democracy. The election of 1856 completely demolished the Benton party in Missouri. Of its remnants some returned to the reunited national democracy; the others joined the newly established republican party. "In January, 1857, the Missouri legislature met with an overwhelming democratic Vol. 1—4 0 626 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI majority in each branch. Two senators were to be elected, one for the short term end ing March 3, 1861, and the other for six years commencing March 4, r8S7. For the short term, General Price, whose gubernatorial term had just expired, Hon. James L. Green, elected member of Congress, and Hon. Willard P. Hall were candidates for the nomina tion before the democratic caucus. The two latter had been anti-Benton democrats since the division in the party in 1849, Mr. Hall, however, being considered the least decided of the two in his states' rights principles. In the caucus Mr. Hall received the largest vote, but not a majority; Mr. Green came next, and Governor Price last, with a vote so small as to render his chance hopeless. He promptly withdrew and his late supporters joined those of Mr. Green, who received the nomination over Mr. Hall and was elected by the legislature. For the long term Governor Trusten Polk was elected senator over Mr. Phelps, the latter being urged, as was Governor Price, for the admittedly immense service in abandoning Colonel Benton some months after Governor Price." Among the traditions preserved by Sarcoxie is the story of the immense meeting which Benton addressed when he was running for governor. In connection with the meeting it is remembered that the senator "drank a great deal of buttermilk." How Rollins Beat Henderson on Pronunciation. Good stories which illustrate aptly the entertaining character of Missouri campaigns have been resurrected by Walter Williams, Dean of the College of Journalism of the University of Missouri. One of them relates to the hotly contested race for Congress by James S. Rollins and John B. Henderson in i860. Henderson's mispronunciation of a German name and Rollins' quick turn of a critical situation decided the election. This is the story as Dean Williams has printed it: "Each candidate charged the other with being unsound on the slavery question, with having freesoil if not abolition sympathies and therefore unworthy of support. The district in which the campaign was conducted was largely pro-slavery, except in two counties — St. Charles and Warren, where there was a larger German, or freesoil, element, republican in sentiment, whose support was essential to the success of one or the other of the candidates. Therefore, the effort of both candidates seemed to be to conciliate and receive this independent or freesoil vote, residing mainly in Warren and St. Charles counties. The effort was extremely dangerous, however, as both of them well knew, for either of them to go too far in the work of conciliation, lest they might be seriously prejudiced in the minds of the voters in other parts of the district. "Maj. Rollins and Gen. Henderson had appointments to speak in the village of Marthas- ville. Henderson was too ill to be present. Maj. Rollins spoke with his accustomed elo quence. Among the audience was Frederick Muench, the leader of the German free- soilers. At the close of Maj. Rollins' address Mr. Muench dined with Maj. Rollins and the two discussed the political situation. Mr. Muench frankly complimented Maj. Rol lins on his speech, telling him he thought the Germans could safely trust him as their Congressman. This was the first meeting between the two and exactly what passed is not known. Both are now dead. A few days after the meeting Mr. Muench, without Rollins knowing anything of his intentions to do so, wrote a letter to a German freesoil paper at Hannibal, in which he expressed a preference for Rollins over Henderson, saying he believed the Germans might safely support him and that he had met him and found him a very interesting and persuasive gentleman. "The letter to the Hannibal paper was translated into English, and for Henderson's benefit republished in a St. Louis paper which advocated his election, and on the morning of their joint discussion at Sturgeon reached there a short time before the hour of speak ing. Rollins did not know it had appeared in print, but Henderson got hold of a paper containing it, and in his opening address made a terrific onslaught on Rollins for having ?3 wfed Wo tr1fed tr1fed ?33 o O ?3o t sis> si t)tr1O DOHCO i-3 g fed?3 jn Wfed»=dog MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS 629 bargained with the German freesoilers of Warren and St. Charles counties to vote for him on the ground of the freesoil principles. Rollins promptly jumped to his feet and defiantly denied it. Henderson responded: T will prove it on him; I charge that one Mr. Minch, a German, has written a letter urging the Germans to vote for him, and after he had an interview with Minch.' Rollins denied he knew any such man as Minch. Thereupon Henderson read the letter, somewhat to Rollins' embarrassment. Portions of the crowd hurrahed for Henderson, but Rollins rose with much equanimity, real, or as sumed, and said defiantly, 'Read the name of the author.' Henderson did it, 'Frederick Minch.' 'Spell it,' said Rollins, and Henderson spelled it, 'M-u-e-n-c-h.' Rollins : 'The name is Muench; not Minch; you can't play such tricks on me with impunity; you have changed his name !' "About this time Henderson's hour expired, when Rollins took the stand and said : 'Fellow-citizens : You see the advantage Henderson is taking of you and of me ; I denied I had ever heard of such a man as Minch, and he changed his name to Minch to entrap me into that denial. It was Muench, not Minch; I know him. He is a gentleman and a patriot and a man of sense, which I fear Henderson is not.' "All the whigs were satisfied and shouted for Rollins, and Mr. James Palmer, since deceased, one of the largest men in the county, and an ardent Henry Clay whig, mounted the stand and shouted: 'Rollins is vindicated triumphantly. Henderson changed the name of the writer of the letter, and thus attempted to mislead our gallant leader, Rollins. No man who will do such a thing is entitled to the votes of whigs or democrats, and I now move that we all vote for Rollins.' And he put the vote and there arose in response a thundering aye, and Palmer, without putting the other side, declared it carried unanimously. Maj. Rollins was elected by 254 majority, and Gen. Henderson afterward became United States senator from Missouri." Eugene Field's Introduction of Carl Schurz. The second of Dean Williams' stories is of the embarrassment of Carl Schurz in one of his Missouri campaigns. Schurz was accompanied by Eugene Field as the correspondent of a St. Louis newspaper: "One night they came to a small town where Mr. Schurz was to speak. The hall was packed with an expectant crowd, but the presiding officer who was to have introduced Mr. Schurz did not appear. Finally Mr. Schurz suggested quietly to Field that he should fill in the part and introduce him to the audience. Mr. Field acquiesced readily enough. Advancing to the front of the platform, his hand pressed to his throat, he said, with a splendid German dialect : 'Ladies and Gentlemen : I haf contracted such a very severe cold that it is impossible for me to speak tonight, but I haf to introduce the great journalist, Eugene Field, to take my place. I am sure that you will be bleased and benefited by the change.' "Mr. Schurz nearly had a stroke of apoplexy and it took him some time to explain the situation." Rise and Decline of the Know-Nothings, Know-Nothings were numerous in Missouri about 1854-6. They had many lodges. Wherever men Most congregated, bits of white paper cut in triangular form were scattered frequently. They bore not a word in print, not a mark of any kind. The Missourian leaving home for business in the morning saw these pieces of paper lying about, seemingly without purpose. If he was a Know- Nothing he knew at once that a meeting of the order was called for that evening. Recognizing a fellow member of the order and wishing to learn what was going on, he asked : 630 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "Have you seen Sam today ?" That paved the way to the most confidential communications among mem bers of the order. If the inquirer was a new member and not certain about the status of the one addressed, he asked in a casual tone, "What time?" If the other looked at the sun or consulted his watch and made the answer, which the question seemed to invite, the interview ended. But the answer might be, "Time to work." Then the first Missourian dropping his voice so that he might not be over heard, asked, "Are you?" "We are," was the proper and assuring reply. After that the conversation proceeded on safe ground. Sometimes the triangular pieces of paper were not white, but red. That meant danger. It prompted, on the part of those who had notJbeen informed, more than ordinary curiosity about "Sam." When Missourians went to lodge on red notices they carried stout canes or some other form of weapon for emergency. One instruction given to new members directed them, when asked by outsiders about the principles and purposes of the order, to say, "I know nothing." From that came the name commonly applied to the movement and to the membership. The know-nothings were native Americans. Their political watchword was : "Put none but Americans on guard." The American party became strong enough in St. Louis to carry, two or three times, the municipal elections. The turbulent among them started anti-foreign and anti-Catholic riots. For several years the lodges and the party organization devoted most attention to local politics. The movement gained strength in all parts of the United States. Several state elections were carried by the native Americans. In 1855 a national organization was effected. In 1856 eight of the thirty-two states had native American govern ments. But when the know-nothings attempted to make a nomination for Presi dent, a division among them on the slavery question occurred. The southern know-nothings nominated Fillmore. Many of the northern know-nothings seceded and indorsed Fremont. After that national campaign, know-nothingism dwindled. In 1855, the order attained its greatest strength in Missouri. Thousands joined, taking the first degree of "Sam." The candidate was first sworn to secrecy and then examined. To be eligible he must show that he was 21 years old ; that he was born in the United States ; that he believed in God ; that neither of his parents was Roman Catholic; that he was reared a Protestant; that neither his wife nor he was a Roman Catholic. Having shown that he was eligible, the candidate was taken into another room and sworn into the order. He placed his right hand on the Bible and raised his left. He swore he would vote only for Protestants, native Americans and those who stood on the platform of America ruled by Americans. Then the password, the sign of recognition and the grip were given. General Grant, then a farmer in St. Louis county, joined but attended only one or two meetings. There was a second degree, into which the candidate was initiated when he had proven that he was loyal and deeply interested. This was conferred with much ceremony. At the conclusion the presiding officer declared solemnly: "Brother, you are a member in full fellowship of the supreme order of the Star- Spangled Banner." MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS 631 A third degree was added after the success in the state elections of 1854. It was called the order of the American Union. It pledged the membership to stand against any division of the states. It aimed to suppress the agitation of the slavery question by either the North or the South. In six months 1,500,000 candidates had taken the third degree. The organization disintegrated more rapidly than it had grown. Election Riots. At the Fifth Ward polls in St. Louis, August, 1854, an Irishman stabbed a boy and ran into the Mechanics' boarding house. A know-nothing mob fol lowed, smashed the windows and broke the furniture. Shots were fired. Other boarding houses in the neighborhood were attacked. The mob, increased to a thousand or more, marched to Cherry street and continued the wrecking of board ing houses. It headed for the levee and met a body of Irishmen. In the fight two men were killed. The mob stormed and stoned buildings known as "Battle Row," on the levee. Doors were broken in and furniture destroyed. Thence the mob proceeded uptown, wrecking Irish boarding houses on Morgan, Cherry and Green streets. At Drayman's hall, on Eighth street and Franklin avenue, the mob divided into squads and gutted several saloons, continuing this until the militia arrived. Rioting was resumed the next day. The Continentals, while marching along Green street on guard duty, were fired on. Two of the militia, Spore and Holli day, were wounded. Near Seventh and Biddle streets E. R. Violet, a well known and popular citizen, attempted to disarm a man who was flourishing a pistol, and was killed. At Broadway and Ashley there was a battle in which a saloon keeper named Snyder was killed. Three men were wounded. The rioting went on in various parts of the city until late that night. The third day citizens responded to a mass meeting called by the mayor. From the merchants' exchange they adjourned to the court house. A law and order movement was organized by popular expression and Norman J. Eaton was made the head of it. Before the day passed an armed force of seven hundred citizens had been formed under com mand of Major Meriwether Lewis Clark. The force was divided into thirty- three companies, each under a captain. It was composed of the best elements in the community. The companies went on patrol duty, covering the whole city. The regular police were withdrawn from the streets. Rioting ceased. In 1855, Henry Boernstein was the most conspicuous of the "acht-und- vierzigers" in St. Louis. That was the name bestowed locally on the forty- eighters — the participants in the revolution of '48. Boernstein came to St. Louis with a great variety of experiences. And he proceeded to enlarge upon them rapidly by his career in this country. He had received a university education in Germany, had served five years in the Austrian army, had written plays which were produced in European capitals, had managed grand opera in Paris, had been a newspaper correspondent. When the uprising occurred in Germany, Boernstein joined the revolutionists. He was forced to flee to America and after a short time became editor of the St. Louis Anzeiger. Almost immediately he introduced sensational methods. Again and again mobs formed to "clean out" 632 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the Anzeiger. Boernstein was daring. He carried on a theater, a hotel and brewery. He wrote a book which he called "The Mysteries of St. Louis." In the organization of the German militia during the winter of 1860-1, months before President Lincoln was inaugurated, Boernstein was so aggressive that he was made colonel of one of the regiments. He marched, with Lyon to the capture of Camp Jackson. Soon tiring of war, Boernstein obtained a consulship and went to Europe. He remained abroad and for many years was European correspondent for American papers. Polk, Rollins and Stewart. William Hyde wrote, thirty-five years afterwards, the impressions Trusten Polk, Robert M. Stewart and James S. Rollins made upon him as a newspaper reporter in the state campaigns of 1856 and 1857: "Governor Polk was a college-bred man, having been graduated at Yale. He was 24 years old when he reached Missouri from his native State of Delaware, and was at that time a smart young lawyer. As a speaker he was polished and often eloquent, and at the bar he was a successful practitioner ; but as a senator the pages of history shed no great luster on his name. "James S. Rollins, of Boone, was an old-time whig in the days of that party, had been its candidate for governor at the time Austin King was elected in 1848, and before that a delegate to the convention which nominated Henry Clay for President. He was the whig candidate for United States senator in '48-49, and was a member of the legislature at the preceding session, and was well-equipped in every respect for a great campaign on the stump. Perhaps no more effective public speaker has ever raised his voice in Missouri than Rollins. Of magnificent intellectual attainments, splendid physique, superb address, imperturbable good nature, fluent in speech and graceful in gesture, he was a born orator. Polish and suavity seemed to be inhaled from the air he breathed. He was, in fact, too polite for impressing strangers altogether with ideas of his sincerity, for, whilst he was always plausible, he frequently left just the least particle of a notion that he was somewhat superficial. With Henry Clay as his political ideal he was early imbued with Clay's sentiments on the subject of emancipation and colonization, and these remained with him, but he seemed always apprehensive that those around him would not distinguish between this attitude and that of abolitionism. He was not as bold a man as Blair, whom he greatly admired, but his surroundings were different; as what might do for Blair in the freer atmosphere of St. Louis would have been hazardous to the ambition of one living in the country, where any phase of anti-slavery feeling was associated in some degree with negro equality and the underground railroad. Thus Rollins felt himself handicapped, as it were, and often forced to do skillful piloting. Moreover, he was wrapped up in the welfare of Boone county and the promotion of the interests of the State University at Columbia, to which he devoted all his energies. "Stewart was a native of Cortland county, N. Y., and was a stanch northern demo crat, without any qualms on the sentimental side of the slavery question. He thought the Southern people had a right to take their slaves into Kansas (whilst it was a territory at any rate), upheld the Crittenden compromise measures, supported the Cincinnati (Buch anan) platform, and ridiculed nullification, secession, disunion and all radical southern fire-eating propositions, or suggestions of that sort. He dwelt largely on the material interests of the state, and particularly railway development. This was looked for as he had been an attorney of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, and had had occasion to study the question more thoroughly than any politician in the state. "There can be no question as to Stewart's having been a brainv man. When his intel lect was not clouded by artificial excitement, he was a close reasoner and a good debater Except in his cause, he was, however, no match on the hustings for an adroit, captivating speaker l,ke Rollins. Altogether, the people being pretty nearly tired out by the haranguing MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS 633 of the previous year, the campaign was a rather dull one. It was supposed Stewart would be elected by a tremendous majority. There was an unusual delay in bringing in the returns, which from day to day see-sawed between Stewart and Rollins, as they appeared in tbe newspapers; but at last, with many heated charges on both sides of "manipulating' or 'cooking' the result in the back counties, the secretary of state summed up an official majority of less than 300 votes for Stewart." The Longest Missouri Campaign. Missouri's longest political campaign was in- i860. It began formally on the 8th of January, "Jackson Day," the anniversary of the Battle of New Or leans, when Claiborne F. Jackson made a speech in Washington hall, St. Louis, announcing his candidacy for governor. Up to that time Jackson had not been very successful in his political ambitions. He had served in the legislature. He had been beaten for Congress in the Howard district when he ran against Thomas P. Akers, to fill the unexpired term of J. G. Collier, but he had been a delegate at several state conventions. He was chairman of the democratic state committee when he announced himself as a candidate for governor. Few public men in Missouri had more influential family connections than Claib Jackson. The campaign of i860 was Jackson's opportunity. As has occurred often in Missouri politics, previous disappointments seemed to pave the way to success in this case. The National Democratic convention was to be held in Charleston on the 23d of April. The state committee of Missouri decided that it would be economical and good politics to nominate the state ticket and the delegates to the national convention at the same time. The state convention was accordingly called to meet in Jefferson City on the 9th of April. The double purpose brought together a very strong representation of the leading democrats. Among them were Sterling Price, Judge Ryland, Gen. Abram Hunter, R. E. Acock, James M. Hughes, J. C. Carter, Hancock Jackson, John Dougherty, James Young, John H. Miller, Warwick Hough, William A. Grayson, John B. Henderson. Nat C. Claiborne, J. N. Burnes, James Craig and William Douglas. The secretaries of the convention included James H. R. Cundiff of the St. Joseph Gazette and James L. Fawcett of the St. Louis Herald. Only three ballots were required for governor. Claiborne F. Jackson was nominated. The delegates voted as their counties had cast democratic ballots for Buchanan in 1856. The first ballot resulted about as follows: Jackson, 17,000; Waldo P. Johnson, 13,000: Kennett, 7,000; Atchison, 2,500; Isaac H. Sturgeon, 5,000. Sturgeon represented the Federal office holders. He was the candidate of a group of young politicians who one year later took the lead in the secession movement of Missouri. One of the group was Thomas L. Snead, afterwards Claib. Jackson's secretary and the author of "The Fight for Missouri." Another was Colton Green, a member of the wholesale grocery firm of Hoyt and Green. A third was Basil Duke and the fourth was Eugene Longuemare. Snead was editor of the St. Louis Bulletin, which was controlled by the Longuemare family. With Claiborne F. Jackson' were nominated : For lieutenant governor, Thomas Caute Reynolds of St. Louis; and for secretary of state, B. F. Massey. Jackson entered almost immediately upon his campaign for governor, going first into the Ozarks. 634 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI After the split of the democrats at Charleston the issue of supreme interest in Missouri was the course to be taken by Jackson and the other state nominees. Douglas democrats demanded that Jackson come out for their candidate. The St. Louis Republican was especially insistent upon this. The Federal office holders and those democrats who sympathized most strongly with the South urged that the state ticket support Breckinridge. William Hyde's Graphic Narrative. William Hyde, afterwards for many years editor of the Republican, was in i860 the trusted staff correspondent of that paper. He was given an extraor dinary commission by Nathaniel Paschall, editor of the Republican. He was sent out to meet Jackson and to bring about a decision of the state nominees to sup port Douglas. In 1892, from the suggestion and encouragement of Joseph B. McCullagh, editor of the Globe-Democrat, William Hyde wrote this narrative of what he saw and heard and of the part he took in the campaign : "Claib. Jackson finally emerged from the hickory-nut country, but was loth to come out of his own shell. A man named Sample Orr, of whom nobody had ever heard before, had, immediately after the Baltimore split, saddled a horse somewhere down in the Southwest, put some light clothes into a pair of saddle-bags, announced himself a con stitutional-union candidate for governor, and started out on the flank of the democratic candidate. Of course, everybody laughed at his temerity, and when they saw him they laughed all the more. Nobody knew of any backers he had — of any antecedents, any record. He was nobody's nominee; just plain Sample Orr, farmer. Very plain he was. He was a freckled strawberry blonde, and there never was anything redder than his hair. A man medium in height, slight build, weight about 14s ; keen blue eyes, white eye-lashes, nervous, short step, sloping shoulders, long neck — another Ichabod Crane. Where he concealed his voice was a wonder, for he could be heard a good distance, and his speech was charming. Mischief lurked in those keen, blue eyes, and when with the muscles of the left one he pinched the white lashes almost together, the trick was very taking with a crowd. He wanted to get Jackson into a joint debate, but Claib treated the proposition as ridiculous. Still the little man kept on his track, detaining the crowd when the major had closed, and, it must be said, dividing the honors with the tall and dignified democratic nominee. "It was about the 1st of July when the candidate for lieutenant governor started out. He was to overtake Jackson in Moniteau or in Cooper county, and in response to Paschall's repeated demands that the regular state nominees should support the regular national nominees, a promise had been made by Reynolds, who was spokesman for the major as well as himself, that as soon as they had an opportunity to consult together there would be no further hesitating. Reynolds had expressed a willingness, indeed a desire, to have a correspondent accompany him, and to the undersigned that task was allotted.' 'Watch those gentlemen,' said Mr. Paschall; 'do not let them get away from us. If they don't come out publicly for Douglas within three days after they meet— say at Boonville— tele graph immediately, and come home.' To Mr. Reynolds he said, in substance- 'Jackson's course has been unendurable. He should instantly, upon hearing of Douglas' nomination have proclaimed his adhesion to the usages of his .party and announced his purpose to do everything in his power to carry the Douglas ticket. He hates Douglas, I know His per sonal likings in this matter, whether they relate to Douglas or to Douglas' friends, is a thing Df indifference. He must support the regular nominee, or, if he does not the exam pie of his failure shall not be lost in the case of his own appeals for support on' the ground of the regularity of his nomination.' The plain meaning of this was that the regular democracy was not to be without a state ticket. MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS 635 "The meeting between Jackson and Reynolds was expected to be at California, in Moniteau, where they were both billed to speak. Reynolds was on hand and so was Sample Orr, but Jackson sent word that he would lay up at a point a few miles north of Tipton, and wait for Reynolds, thence proceeding to Boonville. The writer, anxious for an interview with the head of the ticket, did not wait for the finish of the California meeting, but, procuring a conveyance and driver, pressed on. He was met with cordiality by Jackson, and invited to share his room for the night. Jackson had many questions to ask about the condition of political sentiment in St. Louis, the attitude of different per sons in the all-absorbing differences in the democratic party, etc., but could not be pumped as to the stand he would take. He was just out of the woods and hills, he said, hadn't seen a newspaper, except some old copies of the Weekly Republican, and would have to read up before he could form an opinion of his own. 'And now,' he said, 'as I'm tired, I'll take this bed and you that.' A Midnight Conference. "It was in 'the dead waste and middle of the night' when a rap at our door, which was on the ground floor of a two-story commodious country residence, aroused the major. The moon and stars were shining, and it was a lovely summer night. A 'solitary horse man' had arrived, having traveled from the railroad at Tipton, and he was bearer of an important message from a number of the major's friends at St. Louis. The messenger was James Loughborough. What he brought, as it afterward transpired, was a document signed by Isaac H. Sturgeon, Thomas L. Snead, Daniel H. Donovan, Colton Green and others. This document was a peremptory demand upon Jackson forthwith to announce his support of the democratic ticket bearing the names of Breckinridge and Lane. In the event of refusal or omission to do this the party in the state favoring Breckinridge would, they said, immediately proceed to put another democratic state ticket in the field, as they were about to do in the case of electors. "The conference between Jackson and Loughborough in the moonlight outside the house was long, and evidently exciting, to judge by the expletives now and then used by the former. There was no doubt about it, Jackson was very angry, and it was impossible to tell at which party he was the more indignant — the Douglas or the Breckinridge men. A plague on both their houses was the burden of his emphatic anathemas ; and when he came, in, toward morning, he paced the floor uneasily, muttering strange oaths. "On the next day Reynolds joined the major, and together they traveled to Boonville, the chronicler taking a separate vehicle. It was not difficult to perceive the perturbed con dition of Jackson's mind, but it was evident that Reynolds had determined what was the best course. Jackson expected John B. Clark to meet him at Boonville, and was manifestly worried that he hadn't come. He would not say what he proposed to do until he had con sulted with Clark, and so the writer was asked to telegraph to St. Louis his desire that another day be allowed in order to communicate with Clark at Fayette. Whether Jackson expected Clark to withdraw his support from Douglas, in the expectation that Phelps and others would follow suit, and by a revolution turn the state over to Breckinridge, or what was Jackson's real reason in postponing his committal on the Presidency untilhe could see the first-named Congressman, will never be known. The secret, whatever it was, was well kept. At any rate Clark had no change to make as to his own course, and his advice to Jackson was the same as that he had given to all democrats. A Great Day at Fayette. "There was an immense array at Fayette to hear the speaking. It seemed as though the whole of Howard county, Claib's old home, had turned out. A county seat on a Satur day, if the weather is fine and the roads are good, presents a lively scene, even without an unusual incentive; but on this occasion old Howard came forth in force, and with its best clothes on. While the women folks were flocking the stores to do their trading the men were gathering in knots about the court house square, discussing politics or neighborhood gossip — generally politics. Fayette was the very inner sanctuary of political doctrine. What Boston is to New England culture, what Charleston was to southern civilization, was 636 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Fayette to the philosophy of Missouri politics in the early days. Boonville was a rival, but paled its ineffectual fires before the more brilliant though no more intelligent circle of Howard's haughty host. And a bright galaxy of professionals the two presented. The names of Peyton R. Hayden, Washington Adams, John G. Miller, George G. Vest, James Winston, John C. Richardson, Benjamin N. Tompkins, Abiel Leonard, W. K. Wall, John A. McClung, John D. Leland, John W. Henry, John J. Lindley, Dr. John J. Lowry, William A. Hall, Owen Rawlins, Col. Jo Daviess, Dr. J. P. Vaughan, Clark H. Green, A. J. Herndon, Robert T. Prewitt, Thomas Shackelford, Col. T. E. Williams, John. P. Sebree, with a number of others, are enrolled on that scroll of honor, and conspicuous among them was Gen. John B. Clark. "Clark was a man of large physical proportions and great strength of character. He made no boast of learning, and, indeed, seemed to have cultivated or affected a contempt for grammatical forms, or any of the 'Macaulay's flowers of speech.' Singleness of verbs with plurality of nouns appeared as natural to him as his eccentric pronunciation. 'Toe' for 'to,' 'whar' and 'thar' tumbled off his tongue utterly careless of euphony or exactitude. But though uncouth in language there was a charm in his rough politeness that was almost winning. The people liked him, for though a Congressman and a person whom all classes consulted, he put on no airs of superiority, but was a plain, blunt man, who loved his friends, was obliging, considerate and kind. How the News Was Sent. "Jackson and Reynolds arrived at Fayette before noon, and at the hotel were met by General Clark, introduced to the bevy of politicians who were lolling about the porch, and soon shown to a private room for the momentous consultation. The newspaper man, with an eye to business, and knowing positively that before the sun went down the people would be advised to vote for Douglas, or that the democratic candidates would undertake to go through the canvass without committing themselves on the Presidential question, began to look around to see how the news was to be sent home. The nearest telegraph office was at Boonville, fourteen miles distant, and the office closed at dark. It had been agreed to permit Sample Orr to open the speaking, so that it was desirable to get the information before the meeting began, and Mr. Reynolds consented to pass the word out of the council room immediately on the conclusion being reached. This was a few minutes before two o'clock, and at five the Republican's bulletin board at St. Louis announced that Jackson and Reynolds, in their speeches at Fayette, had come out for Douglas and Johnson. A trusty boy bore the message on horseback to Boonville, whence it was 'rushed' to the other end of the line. The authority of the news was at once questioned by the Breckinridge men and ridiculed till Monday, when it was found by the doubters to be, alas ! too true. "It was funny to hear Orr nag 'the wily fox Jackson' on his reticence relative to the national candidates. 'He "dassent" come out for either Breckinridge or Douglas,' said Orr. 'Ask him, you democrats, which one he is for and he will tell you he is concerning himself with a state and not a national canvass. Is he? Then is he for state aid to the railroads or against it? Is he in favor of finishing the roads to which the state has loaned her credit or with leaving each of them with a turn-table for a terminus?' But what was his consternation when, it being Jackson's turn to speak, that gentleman, after talking about an hour, declared he was not surprised that Mr. Orr did not know what by that time was common property as far east as St. Louis— that democracy's state nominees stood by democracy's national nominees, namely, Douglas and Johnson. Here the crowd broke out in the wildest enthusiasm, and cheer upon cheer went up to the very echo. Reynolds followed, emphasizing in liquid and well-rounded periods the determination that, he said, had been reached at the earliest possible moment after Major Jackson had, from the lips' of their distinguished representative, General Clark, obtained an authentic report of the proceedings at Baltimore. "And so that business was over. It remained to be seen what effect the course chosen by the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor would have upon the supporters of Breckinridge, whose headquarters were in St. Louis about the Federal offices, and whose organ was the Bulletin, conducted by Snead, Longuemare and Colton Green. FRANCIS P. BLAIR v He kept Missouri in the Union. JOHN BICHARD BARRETT "Missouri Dick," who contested with Francis P. Blair for Congress. MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS 639 "The field was now full: Claib Jackson, Douglas democrat; Hancock Jackson, Breckinridge democrat; Gardenhire, republican, and Sample Orr, Bell and Everett. A tremendous effort was made to pull Hancock Jackson off the track, without avail. Claib was frightened almost out of his wits. At last Senator Green came to his rescue. In a speech at Chillicothe, and a powerful one it was, he advised the democracy whilst sup porting Breckinridge not to endanger the state ticket, but to vote for the regular nominees. He vouched for their absolute soundness, and claimed that everything would be attained in their election that could be wished from the success of Hancock Jackson. In two or three other places he uttered the same counsel. Sample Orr's Ovation at Columbia. "Reynolds, whose words were chronicled for the press by the writer signed, spoke in Columbia, Huntsville, St. Joseph, Plattsburg and several points on the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, dividing time, except at St. Joe, with Sample Orr. At Columbia, Orr's reception was something in the nature of an ovation. He was the lion of the town. Rol lins, Guitar and Switzler, who were the sun, moon and planetary system of that great seat of dense old line whig intelligence, took him up in their arms, as it were. The meeting, instead of a debate between Orr and Reynolds only, became a general engagement. Guitar spoke in sticks of silver nitrate, the very lunar caustic of invective, against Jackson and the scheme of secession, of which he charged him with being a knight in thin disguise. Reynolds' silken sentences, glistening with their fine embroidery, Orr imitated with a school-girl's lisp, and against them he brought up his batteries of anecdote and ridicule. Reynolds was scholarly, logical, persuasive — Orr was simply ad hominem, ad captandum. Large was his bounty of backwoods stories, and in their application he was always happy. "And so the canvass went. Gardenhire, who had been an emancipation member of the legislature of the Blair school, and who lived in Gasconade, where there was a large settlement of German wine-growers, was scarcely heard of. A big fight was on in St. Louis, and there the republican speaking talent was mostly concentrated. "In the legislative contests throughout the state no uniformity was observed by the followers of either Douglas, Breckinridge, Bell or Lincoln. In some counties the Bell men conceded the legislative ticket to the Breckinridge faction in exchange for sheriff or collector. In some the Douglas and Breckinridge men combined for members of the state senate or house. It turned out that the supporters of Breckinridge, though greatly in the minority in the state at large, secured a strong showing in the general assembly, though not a majority of that body. For governor, Gardenhire had 6,137; Hancock Jack son, 11,416; Orr, 66,583; C. F. Jackson, 74,446 — Jackson over Orr, 7,863. Green, combined with the less radical of the supporters of Breckinridge, had saved Claiborne F. at last, for they could easily have defeated him, as shown by the presidential election, in which the candidates stood: Lincoln, 17,028; Breckinridge, 31,317; Bell, 58,372; Douglas, 58,801 — Douglas over Bell, 429; Breckinridge over Hancock Jackson, 19,901; Douglas over Breck inridge, 27,484. "To have been beaten by this 'unknown,' Orr, would, indeed, have been an humiliation to Claib Jackson. A thought of that kind, if it had entered his head, would have sent him distracted, for he had formed the supremest contempt for him on account of his presumption. Jackson had never calculated on less than 25,000 plurality, and to have re ceived less than one-third of it was disappointment enough. As for Orr, he made his exit from politics in Missouri as mysteriously as he entered. Not long after the election he 'went West,' and was last heard from in Montana. Like a meteor, he shot athwart the sky in a gleaming path and disappeared." Blair's First Speech after the War. "In the outskirts of Louisiana, Mo.," said Champ Clark, "stand four immense sugar trees, which, if the Druidical religion were in vogue in the Missouri Valley, 640 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI would be set aside as objects of worship by democrats. They form the corners of a rectangle about large enough for a speaker's platform. Beneath their grate ful shadow, with the Father of Waters behind him, the eternal hills in front of him, the blue sky above his head, in the presence of a great and curious concourse of people, Frank Blair made the first democratic speech in Missouri after the close of the Civil war. Excitement was intense. Armed men of all shades of opinion abounded on every hand. When Blair arose to speak he unbuckled his pistol belt and coolly laid two navy revolvers on the table. He prefaced his remarks as follows : " 'Fellow citizens, I understand that I am to be killed here today. I have just come out of four years of that sort of business. If there is to be any of it here, it had better be attended to before the speaking begins.' "That calm but pregnant exordium has perhaps no counterpart in the entire range of oratory. " 'There was silence deep as death ; And the boldest held his breath For a time.' "He then proceeded with his speech, but had not been going more than five minutes until a man of gigantic proportions started toward him, shaking his huge fist and shout ing, 'He's an arrant rebel 1 Take him out! Take him out!' Blair stopped, looked the man in the face, crooked his finger at him and said, 'You come and take me out !' which put an end to that episode, for the man who was yelling, 'Take him out !' suddenly realized that Blair's index finger, which was beckoning him on, would soon be pressing the trigger of one of those pistols if he did go on, and he prudently declined Blair's invitation. "He got through that day without bloodshed ; but when he spoke at Warrensburg, a little later, he had not proceeded a quarter of an hour before a prominent citizen sitting on the speaker's stand started toward Blair with a pistol in his hand and with a mighty oath, yelling,- 'That statement is a lie !' which instantly precipitated a free fight, in which one man was killed and several severely wounded. Blair went on with his speech amid ceaseless interruptions. I know a venerable, mild-mannered Christian statesman, now in this very capitol, who, for two mortal hours of that pandemonium stood with his hand upon his revolver ready to shoot down any man that assaulted Blair. "Afterwards Blair was advertised to speak at Marshall, in Saline county. On the day of his arrival an armed mob was organized to prevent him from speaking, and an armed body of democrats swore he should. A collision occurred, resulting in a regular pitched battle, in which several men lost their lives and others were badly injured. But Blair made his speech. "One night he was speaking in Lucas Market place, in St. Louis, when a man in the crowd, not twenty feet from the stand, pointed a revolver directly at him. Friendly hands interposed to turn the aim skyward. 'Let him shoot, if he dares,' said Blair, gazing coolly at his would-be murderer. 'If I am wrong, I ought to be shot, but this man is not •the proper executioner.' The fellow was hustled from the audience. "Amid such scenes he toured the state from the Des Moines river to the Arkansas line and from the Mississippi to the mouth of the raging Kaw. The man who did that had a lion's heart in his breast." "Before the war Blair went to Hannibal to make an emancipation speech. A mob gathered to break up the meeting. While he was speaking some one hit him squarely in the forehead with an egg. He wiped it off with his finger, flipped it on the ground, and imperturbably proceeded, making not the slightest allusion to the incident. His marvelous nerve charmed his audience, hostile though it was, and those who had come to stone him remained to applaud." ¦ MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS 641 Champ Clark said Frank Blair "was pronounced by General Grant to be one of the two best volunteer officers in the service, John A. Logan, 'the black eagle of Illinois,' being the other. In Sherman's famous march to the sea Blair com manded a corps, and was considered the Marshal Ney of the army." "Frank Blair, with his military laurels fresh upon him, within a few days after Lee surrendered, returned to his state, which had been ravaged by fire and sword, holding aloft the olive branch, proclaiming to the world that there were no rebels any more, that his fellow-citizens who had fought for the South were entitled to equal rights with other citizens, that real peace must 'tinkle with the shepherd's bells and sing among the reapers' of Missouri. He took the ragged and defeated Confederates by the hand and, in the words of Abraham to Lot, said, 'We be brethren.' " The Riot at Warrensburg. When Blair arrived in Warrensburg to speak, he was met at Ming's hotel by friends who told him his life had been threatened and that it would be inad visable for him to carry out the program. He replied : "Gentlemen, I will speak this afternoon and I will explode a shell in this town that will be remembered by these scoundrels as long as they live." The speaking began at one o'clock. Blair had been talking only a few minutes when Bill Stephens climbed on the platform and called Blair a liar. Stephens was pushed off the stand. This was the signal Jor his followers to make the attack. The platform was pulled down. Blair con tinued to speak. Stephens approached him again and used insulting language. In the fighting which ensued Bill Stephens' son, Jim, was killed with a knife and another man was badly hurt. The disturbers withdrew. Blair talked until late in the afternoon. The incident was the climax of Johnson county's reign of terror. A vigilance committee was formed, and went about its work of cleaning up the "Comanche Nation" as one neighborhood in the county was known. After six men had been tried by Judge Lynch and executed, the committee disbanded. There was no more trouble. Johnson became one of the model counties in Mis souri, in respect to law and order. William F. Switzler accompanied Blair to Mexico in Audrain county during that same campaign. He described what took place during the speaking: "Although his mission was one of peace and in the interest of a reconstructed Union and the restoration of a free ballot to all those who had been disfranchised by the Drake constitution, there was present a small and boisterous coterie of ex-Union soldiers who threatened to take him from the stand. The crowd of citizens present was very great and filled a large grove of forest trees in which the platform was erected. Attention was profound. Order was perfect, but just at the crisis of Blair's warming to his subject a large, stalwart man in the audience, dressed in the faded blue uniform of a soldier, in the midst of others similarly dressed, cried out: 'He's a rebel! Let us take him down!' and moved toward the stand. The audience was panic-stricken, but Blair was unmoved. More than this — he was unawed. He waved his hand to the audience and said : 'Keep your seats ; there's no danger.' At the same moment he laid two big revolvers on the stan^ in front of him and denounced the leader of the threatened mob as a coward, telling him to come on and take him down, and that he was ready for him. But he didn't come, and that was the end of it, except that Blair spoke for more than two hours amid demonstrations of great applause " Vol. 1—41 642 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "Voting on String." "Voting on string" was one of the devices of reconstruction days in Missouri. It was adopted to avoid trouble at the polls. Voters who took the Drake, or iron clad, oath, were registered and no question was raised of their right to cast bal lots. There were thousands who did not take the oath and were not registered, but who insisted on voting. Some of these were men of determination who were bent on exercising their suffrage rights as they conceived them. To refuse the ballots of these men meant violence at the polls. As judges of election were limited to those who were registered, there was nothing in the way of the scheme called "voting by string" and it was adopted at not a few polling places. When the voter who was not on the registration list offered his ballot it was received without question, but, instead of being placed in the box, was run on a string. When the judges made their returns they counted only the votes in the box. The secret of voting by string was well kept and unregistered voters went away from the polls under the impression that their ballots were to be counted. The Liberal Republican Movement. The republican split came in the state nominating convention at Jefferson City, August 31, 1870. The issue was enfranchisement of those who had been in the Confederate army or in sympathy with the Confederacy. Two jeports were made from the committee on platform. The majority of the committee reported in favor of a very liberal policy. The minority of the committee re ported differently, but when the two reports reached the convention the report of the minority was adopted. The supporters of the majority report, numbering about two hundred and fifty delegates, withdrew and nominated a state ticket with B. Gratz Brown as candidate for governor. The other convention nomi nated McClurg for governor. Each of the factions put out a full state ticket. The following extracts from the two platforms show the differences of opinion which led to the division: Majority or Liberal Platform. "Fourth. That the time has come when the requirements of public safety, upon which alone the disfranchisement of a large number of citizens could be justified, has clearly ceased to exist, and this con vention, therefore, true to the solemn pledges recorded in our National and state platforms, declares itself unequivocally in favor of the adoption of the constitutional amendments commonly called the suffrage and office holding amend ments, believing that under existing circumstances the removal of political dis abilities, as well as the extension of equal political rights and privileges to all classes of citizens, without distinction, is demanded by every consideration of good faith, patriotism and sound policy, and essential to the integrity of repub lican institutions, to the welfare of the state, and to the honor and preservation of the republican party." Minority or Radical Platform. "Third. That we are in favor of re-enfran chising those justly disenfranchised for participation in the late rebellion, as soon as it can be done with safety to the state, and that we concur in the propriety of the legislature having submitted to the whole people of the state the question whether such time has now arrived; upon which question we recognize the right of any member of the party to vote his honest convictions." MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS 643 The democrats refrained from making nominations that year, with the result that the liberal republican ticket received a majority of over forty thousand. The Possum Policy. In a newspaper office was born the passive or "possum policy," as it was called. Democratic co-operation was essential to the success of the liberal republican plan. The office was the Missouri Republican. The time was 1870. William Hyde and William H. Swift, with the advice of that astute politician, Henry C. Brockmeyer, and with the approval of George and John Knapp, com mitted the democratic organization to the passive policy. Conflict of political opinion in Missouri was over the test oath and the disfranchisement of the Con federates. Republicans were divided. From the Republican office was exercised the influence which prompted Aylett H. Buckner, chairman of the democratic state central committee, to call a meeting in St. Louis. Swift was the secretary of the committee. Resolutions binding the committee not to call a state con vention that year, 1870, were carefully drawn and kept secret until the meeting was held. There were members who opposed the proposition and who favored the making of a straight fight. Before the opposition could organize, General James Shields moved the adoption of the resolutions and the democratic party of Missouri was bound to make no nominations that year. There was no little pro test but the compact with the liberal republicans was carried out. Newspaper enterprise had something to do with the success of the plan. It was essential that the republican convention, which was to divide, should be handled with care. William H. Swift was sent to Jefferson City for the Missouri Republican. His instructions were to spare no expense. It was of the greatest importance that the liberal republican movement and the passive policy should be given a good send-off for the effect upon public sentiment in the state. "Hold ing the wire" was a newspaper feat made possible in those days by a rule of the telegraph companies. In the time of few wires and few operators, the news paper which filed matter first had exclusive use of the facilities for transmission until all of its matter had been sent. Telegraph officials exercised no discretion as to character of copy. They broke in on press copy only to send commercial messages. Swift found two wires working from Jefferson City to St. Louis. He pre-empted them. On the hook over one instrument he hung the United States statutes and on the hook over the other table he hung the statutes of Missouri. Then he went about the collection and preparation of news of the convention. When the operators were ready for press they started on the statutes. When Mr. Swift came in with copy he slipped the sheets into the statutes so that they would go next. When other correspondents attempted to send, they discovered that they were barred so long as the Missouri Republican was willing to pay tolls on the statutes. Thus the anxious St. Louis public, during the hours while the split between the republican factions at Jefferson City was widening, received information through a channel which gave the passive policy the best of it. In his extremity, Emil Preetorius appealed to George Knapp to let a dispatch go through to the Westliche Post. And the colonel, chivalric as he was, issued the order to Mr. Swift to oblige Mr. Preetorius. Swift refused. Colonel George threatened discharge. Swift was firm. Holding the wire meant a bill of $1,500 644 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI to the Republican. When the correspondent got back to St. Louis and went down to the office to turn in his expense account and to receive his discharge, George Knapp handed him an honorarium of $500 and told him to take a vacation for two weeks. "Pay no attention to what I said to you at Jefferson City," Colonel Knapp said with a ghost of a smile. Following the convention at Jefferson City, the following messages were exchanged : "St. Louis, Sept. 2, 1870, "'B. Gratz Brown, "Jefferson City. "The negroes of this state are free. White men only are now enslaved. The people look to you and your friends to deliver them from this great wrong. Shall they look in vain? J. B. Henderson.'' "Jefferson City, Sept. 2, 1870. "Hon. John B. Henderson, "St. Louis. "The confidence of the people of this state shall not be disappointed. I will carry out this canvass to its ultimate consequence so that no freeman not convicted of crime shall henceforth be deprived of an equal voice in our government. B. Gratz Brown." Frederick N. Judson's Analysis. Of the liberal republican movement and its passing, Frederick N. Judson, who was secretary to Governor B. Gratz Brown, said : "The completeness of its success was the cause of its disappearance. A party based upon a single issue, called into being to meet a single emergency, could not in the nature of things become permanent. Its policies remained permanently adopted by the state, and though its party life was short, it is entitled to the imperishable glory of having destroyed the last vestiges of the Civil war in Missouri. A nobler record no party could have. "The members of the liberal republican party returned to the republican or democratic parties, as their opinions or prejudices inclined them. The greater number, doubtless, returned to the republican party; this was certainly true as to the German-American voters who had contributed very largely to the liberal movement. "The extent of the disfranchisement which was ended by the liberal repub lican success may be estimated by a comparison of the total vote at different elections. The total vote in i860, the last election before the Civil war, was 165,000. In 1864, while the Civil war was raging, it was 103,000. In 1870, the year of the liberal republican success, when the colored voters, enfranchised under the fifteenth amendment, voted for the first time, the total was 167,600, showing but a slight increase over i860, though there had been a very heavy increase in population. In 1872, the first election after the removal of the dis abilities, the total vote was 272,900, being an increase of over 100,000 from the two years before." A Letter from B. Gratz Brown. A letter from B. Gratz Brown to his personal friend. Senator Doolittle, of Wisconsin, preserved in the manuscript archives of the Missouri Historical So- Courtesy Missouri Historical Society VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT, ST. LOUIS, 1842 Courtesy Missouri Historical Society TOM THUMB IN ST. LOUIS IN 1848 His Carriage and Pair, driven lry a Dwarf Coachman, on Exhibition at Fourth and Olive Streets. View i.s looking west from Fourth. MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS 647 ciety, is interesting in its relation to the liberal republican movement. It was dated October 17th, 1870: "This, you will understand, of course, is a bitter fight in Missouri; first, because it is death to the 'rings'; and second, because it has its ulterior significance, and there will be nothing left undone on either side to decide the issue. "I can only say to you in a few words that I will win by not less than thirty thousand majority— the President, Grant, and his influence to the contrary notwithstanding. "I thank you and the friends in other states for your good feeling in this matter. Perhaps I am not the right man to have, taken the lead in such a conflict ; but there was no other that would do it, and the thing had to be done. So, you see, despite all my wishes and all my designs, I am involved in politics again much to- the detriment of my agricul tural plans.'' New Party Movements. In 1874 various elements opposed to the Democracy organized as the "Peo ple's party," or the "Reform party." They nominated a state ticket headed by William Gentry of Pettis for governor, with S. W. Headlee of Greene for lieu tenant-governor. "The Tadpole party" was the name bestowed by the regular democrats upon this new political organization. The explanation was that the movement meant a transition state from which democrats who joined it would emerge as republicans. The Greenback party made its appearance in 1878. In 1880 it was strong enough in Missouri to carry three Congressional districts, electing Burrows, Rice and Haseltine. In the state campaign of 1888 an organization called the Agricultural Wheel of Missouri had to be reckoned with. It was an anti-monopoly movement. The members called themselves the "wheelers." The local bodies were known as wheels. The wheelers declared independence of party and indorsed candidates understood to be in sympathy with, their political creed. The preamble to the constitution of the Agricultural Wheel of Missouri set forth these declarations: "We believe there is a God, the great creator of all things, and that He created all men free and equal, and endowed them with certain inalienable rights, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and that these rights are a common inheritance and should be respected by all mankind. "We further believe that any power or influence that tends to restrict or circum scribe any class of our citizens in the free exercise of these God-given rights and priv ileges is detrimental to the best interest of a free people. "While it is an established fact that the laboring classes of mankind are the real producers of wealth, we find that they are gradually becoming oppressed by combinations of capital, and the fruits of their toil absorbed by a class who propose not only to live on the labor of others, but to speedily amass fortunes at their expense. "We hold to the principle that all monopolies are dangerous to the best interests of our country, tending to enslave a free people and subvert and finally overthrow the great principles purchased by Washington and his glorious compatriots. "We hold to the principle that the laboring classes have an inherent right to sell and buy when and wherever their interests are best served, and patronize none who dare — by word or action — oppose a just, fair and equitable exchange of the products of our labor." 648 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The Wheelers. The wheelers claimed a membership in Missouri at that time of over 40,000. Another independent movement in Missouri was the Farmers' Alliance. It was organized May, 1887, and before the end of the campaign of 1888 had a mem bership of between 18,000 and 19,000 voters. The alliance attempted to intro duce the principle of co-operation among the farmers. It advocated the estab lishment of alliance stores upon the Rochdale plan.- The theory of the alliance was that "Whatever wealth a man produces, to that he should be entitled." The co-operative store was tried out in Butler county. Members of the alli ance subscribed enough money to buy the stock of goods. For these loans they received the legal rate of interest. The store was held by an incorporated com pany with a board of directors. These directors employed a manager and such clerks as were necessary on salaries. A cash business was done as far as possi ble. Where credit was allowed it was extended only until Saturday night or until the end of the month. The goods were sold at regular retail prices. Each member of the alliance had a trade card on which the record of his purchases was kept. The plan was to clean up at the end of every six months, reserve enough to pay interest on the loans and divide the remaining profits among mem bers of the alliance according to the amount of trade each one had done. The membership in the alliance was limited to farmers, farm laborers, mechanics, country school teachers, county physicians and ministers of the gospel. Law yers were not eligible. The alliance was very popular during the political cam paign, but the application of the principle to co-operative store keeping was limited.Callaway's Low Salary Party. When Dr. W. B. Tucker was a candidate for the office of collector in Calla way county, he announced the following platform: "I will collect the revenue of this county for the sum of $1,500. The law, as it now stands, would give me about $3,000 for the same amount of work; but to show to the legislature of the state that the people are overtaxed; that we wish to reduce the expenses of government in every fair and honorable way, I propose to return all fees, to which I may be entitled. under the law, over $1,500, for the benefit of the public schools of the whole county. I will further state, — as it has been said by some that there will be nothing to bind me to carry out the proposition, — that if elected, I will deposit in one of the banks of the city, the amount of the salary above $1,500 per year, or my note for the same, with good security, for the uses and purposes indicated in this communication." Dr. Tucker was elected. Later the "Low Salary party" was organized in Callaway county, and nomina tions were made of men who agreed to perform the duties of the respective offices at smaller compensation than that fixed by law. "Retrenchment Reform and Tuckerism" was the slogan of the new party. H. Larrimore, the candidate for representative in 1878 made a keynote speech in the course of which he said: "We have tried in vain to get our legislature to reduce these high salaries. We have appealed to them with tears in our eyes, but they have heeded us not. In the midst of MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS 649 our wrongs Tucker stepped forward. He has done a better and a cleaner job than was ever done before. It is said that Billy Harrison voted against a bill that would have saved money to the state. I like Billy. I am a friend of Billy. I haven't looked up Billy's record. Billy's vote is natural. He is a moneyed man. Billy has an interest in a bank and it is the most natural thing in the world for him to vote for his bank's interest. But if you send me to the legislature, I, who have been used to hard things, who have paid ten per cent compound interest for money, I will vote for the interest of the tax burdened people. I believe Billy bolted a convention once. Yes, I know he did. He did right. They would not elect Billy and he bolted. I would have bolted, too. Billy has always worked with the cliques and rings. He belongs to that brood of roosters that was raised up in the Fulton coop. He was fed by the Fulton ring. But when Billy came out of the Fulton convention he came out with his neck feathers turned up. He said he would pick all of the feathers out of the — — - frizleys. Billy belongs to the frizleys. But, fellow citizens, Billy is not gwine to roost in that thare hen roost over in Jefferson City next winter. No sir, — nary time." That winter the low salary party received a severe backset. The supreme court in litigation which was -started by the regular party organization ruled that, "It is unlawful for a candidate for public office to make offers to the voters to perform the duties of the office, if elected, for less than the legal fees. An election secured by such offers is void." The legislature in 1879 passed an act making it a misdemeanor punished by fine of from $50 to $500, or imprisonment from ten days to six months, to offer or promise to discharge the duties of office for less salary or fees than fixed by the laws of the state. The low salary party movement thus started in Calla way, which Joseph K. Rickey had characterized as "one of the grandest move ments of the age" and which he had predicted "will go on from the lakes to the gulf, from the rockbound shores of Maine to the golden sands of California, and I believe it will dash its waves against the White House at Washington," was crushed. Colonel Rickey was vice president of the low salary party convention which carried the county of Callaway. The Blind Bridle Story and Its Sequel. Champ Clark once credited David BalT of Pike county with being the best campaign story teller of his generation in Missouri. There has been some ques tion whether Champ Clark or his old law partner Ball held the moral copyright' on the blind bridle story. Ball told it on the stump in this way : "The Republicans are like the old farmer up in Pike county who had a good wife and a bank account and seven children and all the things that are worth living for, but the preachers had praised his goodness so much and had told him so often that when he died he would go straight to heaven that he believed it and at last he became so anxious to get to heaven that he decided to commit suicide as the quickest route. He went to the barn and took an old blind bridle and put the head stall around his neck, climbed on a barrel, tied the reins to a joist and jumped off. Just as he was taking his last kick his son found him and cut him down. When the old man came to, he said to his son: '"John, what did you do that for? Why didn't you let me die and go to heaven?' "'Dad, do you really believe you'd have gone to heaven?' "T know I would, John. Why, I could hear the angels singing as it was. You ought to have let me die. I would have been in heaven now.' "'Say, dad, don't you think you'd have cut a caper in heaven with a blind bridle on?'" 650 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Champ Clark's version had a sequel. As Mr. Clark told the story it ran thus: "An old man out in Missouri tried to commit suicide by hanging himself with a blind bridle. His son cut him down just in time. On that foundation I added this: When the son cut him down and brought him to, the old man complained feebly: 'It ain't right, Henry,' the old man said. 'You've kept your old father out of heaven.' " 'You'd cut a figure in heaven looking through a blind bridle, wouldn't you ?' retorted the son. "Now I regard that as my best story. At least it is the most successful. Bob Taylor stole it after I had used it for years, and told it in his lectures, and finally put it in his book. A friend of mine named Jordan, put the climax on the story of my story, though. He supposed I had made it all up, and he told it one night before an audience out in our country, an audience that had the old man whose son cut him down, on the front seat. The old man broke down and cried and that rather spoiled the point for Jordan." How Dockery Saved a Seat in Congress. The Dockery motto in politics was "Never leave anything undone." Or he might have put it differently : "Eternal vigilance is the price of election." Strict attention to details was the secret of his success. It saved him from defeat one time when he was downed as campaigns go. The republicans carried Mis souri in 1894. They captured Alexander Monroe Dockery's district. They had it safely on Monday morning. Yet Mr. Dockery was elected when the polls closed Tuesday night. He should have gone down with Bland and Champ Clark and other Missouri democrats under the tidal wave. That he didn't was due to one of the smartest last minute moves ever made in a Missouri campaign. Mr. Dockery was about as familiar with his constituents as Miles Standish was with his army. He knew every man in his party. That Monday morning Mr. Dockery realized better than any other politician in his district where he stood. Monday afternoon he sent 300 telegrams. The messages were all of the same purport. They urged "the necessity of getting out our votes." Mr. Dockery knew his men. He understood the effect of the reception of a telegram upon a man not accustomed to receiving a political appeal in that form. He staked his chances on the impression of urgency which a telegram would make. It was no error of judgment. The returns gave Mr. Dockery another term in Congress by fewer votes than the number of telegrams sent. Mr. Dockery's principle of campaigning snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Party Loyalty in Missouri Illustrated. Senator Vest occasionally told a story to illustrate the supreme loyalty of the Missouri democracy. Back in the Ozark country lived Uncle John, a devout member of the church and a democrat of unswerving fidelity. A democratic national convention was in session. Uncle John was away from the railroad and the telegraph. He waited impatiently for the news. This was many cam paigns ago, at a time when the world had been surfeited with the details of a great scandal. The young fellows rode up to the house. They were just from town, and Uncle John came out to hear what they could tell. "Have you heard the ticket, Uncle John?" they asked. "No," said Uncle John. "Hev they nominated?" MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS 651 "Yep.""Who?" "Beecher and Tilton." "Sho !" "It's a fact, Uncle John. The democrats have nominated Beecher for Presi dent and Tilton* for Vice-President." __ The old man looked incredulously at his informants. Their faces gave no sign of deception. He gazed down the road thoughtfully for a few moments. Then, as he turned to go into the house, he said : "Well, boys, they're very able men." Champ Clark's Political Philosophy. "Some men are bound to be democrats and some men are bound to be repub licans," reasoned Champ Clark in a campaign speech. "I don't know what it is, but there seems to be something in a man's skull that makes it so. It is sort'er like the two forces in philosophy, the centripetal force turns everything into the center. The centrifugal turns everything out from the center. That is what makes a republican party and a democrat party." After a slight pause Mr. Clark added, "I don't know what makes a third party." Mr. Clark's political philosophy was always interesting. He thinks it must be habit that makes a man go on voting his party ticket when he knows the other thing is what he ought to do. "The great Dr. Johnson, father of the English dictionary," Mr. Clark illustrated, "visited a widow every night for twenty years. Somebody said to him, 'Doctor, why don't you marry her?' 'Marry her?' repeated the doctor, 'if I did where would I spend my evenings?' And that is about as good an argument," concluded M'r. Clark, "as some men can make for going on voting their party ticket." A Pike County Reminiscence. "I used to think that a man never made the same political speech twice, and I used to wonder how in the world they could make so many speeches," said Champ Clark, in talking of Missouri campaigns. "That was before I heard George Easley, who was about the smartest man I ever met, make the same identical speech three times in one day. After that experience I changed my mind. People who have heard me once in a campaign probably think they are getting something that sounds very familiar the next time they get in front of me." Before long experience enabled him to enlarge his repertoire, Mr. Clark had one string of very good stories when he started on a campaign, and he aimed to make them last him until election day. This habit led to a funny scene some years ago at a speaking in one of the Pike county townships. Matt G. Reynolds was billed for a republican speech at the same time that Clark was to expound democratic doctrine. Time was divided and it fell to Reynolds to make the opening speech. Reynolds had been to several of Clark's meetings and he had heard Clark's stock of stories until he knew them by heart. So, after he had made his acknowledgments to the assemblage gathered at the cross roads, Mr. Reynolds started off with, "When Mr. Clark arises to address you tonight he will begin by telling you this story." Mr. Reynolds gave the story with which 652 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Mr. Clark usually opened. He made his own application of it and then pro ceeded to the next story. And he went on until he had told the whole string of stories which constituted Mr. Clark's regulation speech. And Champ Clark sat there for an hour wondering how he was going to get even. When his turn came he had not solved entirely the question. With considerable difficulty he went through his impromptu remarks, recalled some new stories and refused to meet Reynolds in debate again. Stage Fright. Champ Clark once owned up frankly to nervousness on the platform. He said: "It may interest young speakers who suffer from that most excruciating and exasper ating disease or affliction known as 'stage fright' to learn that even veterans are liable to suffer from it. At any rate, I have had it so bad twice in the last eleven years that I could hardly speak at all. In 1888, when I placed David A. Ball in nomination for lieuten ant-governor, my tongue was so dry that I thought it would stick to the roof of my mouth in spite of all I could do, and my knees knocked together as though I had ague. Again, in 1893, at Tammany Hall, when I began, I had as severe a case of stage fright as any girl that ever appeared before the footlights for the first time. But, in each instance, there was something in the first sentence that set the audience to laughing and applauding, and the dreadful sensation — for that's what it is — passed off suddenly. So far as I know, there is neither preventive nor cure for this strange disease, if disease it may be called. There is just a little unpleasant nervousness immediately preceding the beginning of any speech of importance that I make. Governor Charles P. Johnson — a rare judge in matters oratorical — once told me that if I ever ceased to feel that way it would be an infallible sign that my powers as a public speaker were on the wane.'' The Spittoon Racket. Under the desk of each member of the Missouri legislature in the old days was a big iron spittoon with a loose top. If a speaker became tiresome or voiced unpopular sentiment, it was the custom to rattle the spittoons. A member could insert the toe of his shoe under the cover and by withdrawing it suddenly make a sharp clicking noise. He could do this secretly so that only those very near him could discover his action. If, as sometimes happened, a considerable number joined in the rebuke the noise would drown an ordinary tone. Spittoon rattling was not infrequently resorted to as a method of disconcerting new members when they took the floor for their maiden efforts. Champ Clark came to the legislature for his first term. He had heard about the spittoon rattling. When he arose to make his first speech he was given close attention. For ten minutes he went on without interruption. Then from a few seats back of him came the "click," "click," "click." Turning squarely about and looking straight in the direction from which the sound came, his face flaming with indignation, Mr. Clark said : "The next man that interrupts me that way will have a spittoon fired at his head." He never heard another spittoon rattle when he had the floor during his entire legislative service. Oratory and Eats in the Ozarks. Judge David P. Dyer, in a reminiscent mood, told of this incident in a Mis souri campaign : MISSOURI CAMPAIGNS 653 "It was at the close of a remarkable campaign in Missouri politics. Judge Lamm and I were republicans ; our democratic friends had a rally at Springfield, the largest that had been had in that part of the state, and a beautiful day it was when their rally came. Their orators were there; great crowds were there, and the next day had been set aside for the republican rally. It was the year that Judge Lewis, now Federal judge in Colorado, was the candidate of the republican party for governor of Missouri. Lamm and I, with others, went to Springfield for this republican rally. Men from the mountains — Ozark mountains — and all around came in great numbers, by wagon, on horseback and otherwise, camped on the outskirts of the town and were undertaking to outdo their opponents by the size of the crowd and enthusiasm that was had at the meeting. We woke up about sunrise of the next morning, the morning that the rally was to be, and I have never seen it rain as hard in my life as it rained that day. It rained all day and they divided up the crowd by sending part of them to the opera house and part of them to the court house and a part to some other hall and so the meetings were running all day. I was on the north side of the town. They sent Lamm over to the court house and he was making a speech about 12 o'clock. Judge Hubbard, who had been judge of the circuit court and I believe then was judge of the circuit court, was the marshal on that occasion and I will never forget the size of the sash he wore. It was a red, white and blue sash a yard wide and ten feet long and he was an excitable fellow and very nervous. Lamm was making a speech and he was making a most eloquent one. He had the crowd entranced, and just as he was in the middle of a sentence with his mouth wide open and his hand uplifted Hubbard said, 'I want to announce to the people here assembled that there is a free lunch downstairs.' And that crowd left Judge Lamm with his mouth open and his hand up. He stood until he saw the last one of his auditors pass downstairs." Vest's Political Barometer for Missouri. Senator Vest was not surprised at the result of the election in 1900. He realized what was coming early in the campaign and on his return to Washing ton he told how the truth dawned upon him. One day in September he went down to the barber shop at Sweet Springs, where he had a cottage. He was sitting in a chair out of the way of ordinary observation when two typical Mis souri farmers came in and began to talk politics. "Bill," the senator heard one say to the other, "what do you think about the election anyhow?" The senator was all attention, for he knew how to catch the course of the wind with a mighty small straw. "I dunno, Jim," said Bill. "I dunno hardly what to think. You know I've allefs been a democrat, Jim. Dad was a democrat before me. Grandpap was a democrat, too. But I tell you, Jim, I'm getting $32 a head more for my mules than I ever did in my life before. Derned if I don't think I'll have to put in one fer old Bill McKinley this time." There was silence for part of a minute and then the reply from the other : "I reckon, Bill, you're right," said Jim, thoughtfully. "I've always voted her straight democrat up till now. But I'm doin' better on hogs than I ever did. I don't want anything to spoil good times. I don't want ary change." The senator did not interrupt. He sat awhile longer and then he went slowly back to the cottage and said to Mrs. Vest: "McKinley is going to be elected. Bryan hasn't a chance." He told the barber shop incident and added simply his conviction that when Mis souri democrats talked that way there could be no doubt how the country was going. CHAPTER XIX SLAVERY AND AFTER Immigration Influenced — Illinois Envious of Missouri Prosperity — The Secret Emancipa tion Movement — Benton's Participation — Coming of Lovejoy — Wrecking of the St. Louis Observer— The Alton Tragedy— Treatment of Missouri Slaves— What Kossuth Saw — A Problem of Colonial Days — Marion College Troubles — Rev. Dr. Nelson's Expulsion — Theological Students Sent to the Penitentiary — Shackleford's Reminiscences —Dred Scott — Five Years of Litigation — The Missouri Compromise Unconstitutional —The Case Judge Dyer Defended — Blair Slaves Set Free— Lincoln and Blair Confer ences—Slavery Issue in i860— Auctions in St. Louis made Odious— Lincoln's Plan to Pay Missouri Slaveholders — John B. Henderson's Recollections — Norton's Effective Opposition — Charcoals and Claybanks — First and Second Plans of Freedom— The Elec tion of 1862 — Negro Education — Lincoln Institute — lesse James' Contribution — Manual Training — Samuel Cupples' Interest — Vest on the ex-Slave — Negro Farming in Mis souri — Record Breaking Results at the Dalton School — Calvin M. Woodward's Monu ment — Slavery in Missouri an Economic Mistake — Profitable in Only Four Hemp Grow ing Counties — An After-the-W or Investigation. We can't get through this terrible war with slavery existing. You've got sense enough to know that. Why can't you make the border states' members see it? Why don't you turn in and take pay for your slaves from the government? Then all your people can give their hearty support to the Union We can go ahead with emancipation of the slaves by proclamation in the other states and end the trouble.— President Lincoln to Senator John B. Henderson in 1862. No sooner was Missouri admitted to the Union than there was a renewal of the slavery issue in the new-made state across the Mississippi. Ford in his His tory of Illinois, said : "A tide of emigrants was pouring into Missouri, through Illinois, from Virginia and Kentucky. In the fall of the year every great road was full of them all bound for Missouri, with their money, and long trains of teams and negroes. These were the most wealthy and best educated emigrants from the slave states. Many of our people, who had lands and farms to sell, looked upon the great fortune of Missouri with envy, whilst the lordly emigrant, as he passed along with his money and droves of negroes, took a malicious pleasure in increasing it, by pretending to regret the shortsighted policy of Illinois, which precluded him from settlement amongst us, and from purchasing the lands from our people. In this mode a desire to make Illinois a slave state became quite prevalent." When the Missouri question was before Congress the two Illinois Senators, Ninian Edwards and Jesse B. Thomas, voted to admit as a slave state, while the single Representative, Cook, was on the other side. Whether Illinois should follow Missouri and become a slave state was one of the chief issues in the election of 1822. There were four candidates for governor. Edward Coles, who had come out from Virginia and had freed his slaves, was elected by 655 656 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI a plurality over Chief Justice Joseph Philips, who divided the pro-slavery vote with Judge Thomas C. Brown. A Secret Conference. After the admission of the state, Missourians who disliked slavery began to plan for gradual emancipation. Benton was among those who counselled such a course. Missouri was not a cotton state. It had comparatively a small popu lation limited to certain sections. It looked to free labor for its development. In 1828, Missourians held a secret conference to consider what could be done to bring about emancipation. The two United States senators, John Wilson and others were in the conference. Wilson at the time lived in Fayette. He was a lawyer and political leader. Years afterwards he removed to San Francisco, living there to the ripe old age of eighty-seven. A letter from Wilson, written to Thomas Shackleford and preserved by the Missouri Historical Society, gives his recollections of the movement and of what led to the abandonment of it: "In 1827 (I believe it may have been in 1828), I was one of those who attended a private meeting in that good old state, of about twenty of us claiming at least to be party leaders, about equally representing every district of the state, of about equal numbers of democrats and whigs. Colonel Benton and Judge Barton were present, the two latter, however, not being on speaking terms. One object that brought us together was to con sider how we should get rid of slavery in Missouri. We unanimously determined to urge action upon all candidates at the approaching election. Resolutions were drawn up and printed (in secret) and distributed amongst us, with an agreement that on the same day these resolutions, in the shape of memorials, were to be placed before the people all over the state, and both parties were to urge the people to sign them. Our combination, too, then had the power to carry out our project. Unfortunately, before the day arrived, it was published in the newspapers generally that Arthur Tappan of New York had entertained at his private table some negro men, and that, in fact, these negro men had rode out in his private carriage with his daughters. Perhaps it was not true, but it was believed in Mis souri, and raised such a furor that we dare not and did not let our memorials see the light. And, as well as I can call to mind, of the individuals who composed this secret meeting, I am the only one left to tell the tale; but for that story of the conduct of the great original fanatic on this subject we should have carried, under the leadership of Barton and Benton, our project, and begun in future the emancipation of the colored race that would long since have been followed by Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro lina, Tennessee, etc. Our purpose further, after we got such a law safely placed on the statute books, was to have followed it up by a provision requiring the masters of those who should be born to be free to teach them to read and write. This shows you how little a thing turns the destiny of nations." The Love joy Tragedy. Elijah Parrish Lovejoy came to Missouri in the latter part of 1827. He was twenty-five years of age, a native of Maine, the son of Rev. Daniel Lovejoy, a Congregational minister. He had graduated at Waterville College in 1826 and after teaching school in Maine several months he caught the western fever. In St. Louis, Lovejoy became first a school teacher. He was an industrious reader and in a short time began writing for the newspapers. One of his first articles was a poem addressed to his mother. It appeared in the Missouri Republican. The next year after taking his residence in St. Louis, Lovejoy became con nected with the Times, the first of five newspapers which have borne that name ¦ Air" ¦AA^AjA* l:' -"' RESIDENCE OF JOHN P. CABANNE, OF ST. LOUIS, BUILT IN 1819 ST. LOUIS CATHEDRAL IN 1840 Situated on Walnut Street between Second and Third. Still in use as a Parish Church. Con tains a collection of paintings by early masters. SLAVERY AND AFTER ti.-,<> in St. Louis. The Times was supporting Henry Clay for the presidency. Young Lovejoy rapidly obtained a reputation in his writing which made him popular with the whigs. He might have become prominent in politics, but in the winter of 1831-32 he was converted in a religious revival. This experience changed his views of life. He united with the First Presbyterian Church, of which the Rev. Dr. W. S. Potts was the pastor. Young Lovejoy believed that it was his duty to become a minister. On the advice of Dr. Potts he went to the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, in 1832, and stayed until April, 1833, when he was given a license to preach by the Second Presbytery at Philadelphia. In the autumn of 1833 ne was back in St. Louis for the purpose of establishing a religious weekly newspaper at the request of a number of church people who had known him as a writer on the Times. The capital was raised by St. Louis busi ness men. The editorial and business management was given over to Lovejoy. The first number of the St. Louis Observer appeared November 22, 1833. Besides getting out his weekly paper, Mr. Lovejoy visited communities in the vicinity of St. Louis on week days as well as Sundays and conducted religious meetings. It •was not until the summer of 1834 that he formally declared himself against slavery and began the aggressive course which cost him his life at Alton on the 7th of November, 1837. ' Citizens of St. Louis appealed to Lovejoy to stop when he began the discus sion of slavery in tlie Observer. They told him that his views caused resentment on the part of the pro-slavery people and would lead to trouble. Editor Lovejoy replied to the protests in an address calling attention to the clause of the con stitution of Missouri declaring that "the free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the inalienable rights of man, and that every person may freely speak, write and print on any subject — being responsible for the abuse of that liberty." His deliberate determination was announced in one of the closing para graphs of the appeal : "I do, therefore, as an American citizen and Christian patriot, and in the name of liberty, law and religion, solemnly protest against all these attempts, howsoever and by whomsoever made, to frown down the liberty of the press and forbid the free expression of opinion. Under a deep sense of my obligations to my country, the church and my God, I declare it to be my fixed purpose to submit to no such dictation. And I am prepared to abide by the con sequences. I have appealed to the Constitution and laws of my country ; if they fail to protect me, I appeal to God, and with him I cheerfully rest my cause." The Observer continued to print attacks on slavery. The men who had pro vided the capital concluded that it would be safer to remove the plant to Alton. Before the transfer a group of men went to the Observer office one night, broke some of the furniture and material and threw the fragments into the river. The press was not seriously damaged. It was shipped to Alton but was seized by pro- slavery men and thrown into the river. At a public meeting in Alton this act of violence was denounced in resolutions which at the same time declared the meeting not in sympathy with Mr. Lovejoy's views on slavery. A new press was bought. The publication of the Observer continued from September, 1836, to August, 1837. In the summer of 1837 another public meeting was held. Resolutions were adopted which condemned the course of the Observer. A committee was appointed to present the expression of the meeting to the editor. Lovejoy replied that he 660 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI intended to continue the publication. On the night of August 21st a mob entered the office of the Observer and wrecked the plant. In September the third press was delivered and placed in a warehouse. The same night it was taken out and thrown into the river. Lovejoy ordered a fourth press. The excitement in creased. An indignation meeting of citizens was held on the 3d of November. Very strong resolutions against the continuance of the Observer were passed. Lovejoy was given an opportunity to express his sentiments. His address to the meeting was put in writing by him. In the course of it he said: "Mr. Chairman, what have I to compromise? If freely to forgive those who have so greatly injured me, if to pray for their temporal and eternal happiness, if still to wish for the prosperity of your city and state, notwithstanding all the indignities I have suffered in it ; if this be the compromise intended, then do I willingly make it. My rights have been shamefully, wickedly outraged ; this I know, and feel, and can never forgive. But I can and do freely forgive those who have done it. But if by a compromise is meant that I should cease from doing that which duty requires of me, I cannot make it. And the reason is, that I fear God more than I fear man. Think not that I would lightly go contrary to public sentiment around me. The good opinion of my fellow-men is dear to me, and I would sacrifice anything bilt principle to obtain their good wishes ; but when they ask me to surrender this, they ask for more than I can — than I dare give. Reference is made to the fact that I offered a few days since to give up the editorship of the Observer into other hands. This is true. I did so because it was thought or said by some that perhaps the paper would be better patronized in other hands. They declined accepting my offer, how ever, and since then we have heard from the friends and supporters of the paper in all parts of the state. There was but one sentiment among them ; and this was that the paper could be sustained in no other hands than mine. It is also a very different question whether I shall voluntarily, or at the request of friends, yield up my post; or whether I shall forsake it at the demand of a mob. The former I am at all times ready to do, when circumstances occur to require it, as I will never put my personal wishes or interests in competition with the cause of that Master whose minister I am. But the latter, be assured, I never will do. God, in his providence — so say all my brethren, and so I think — has devolved upon me the responsibility of maintaining my ground here; and, Mr. Chairman, I am determined to do it. A voice comes to me from Maine, from Massachusetts, from Connecticut, from New York, from Pennsylvania ; yea, from Kentucky, from Mississippi, from Missouri, calling upon me in the name of all that is dear in heaven or earth, to stand fast; and by the help of God I will stand. I know I am but one and you are many. My strength would avail but little against you all. You can crush me if you will ; but I shall die at my post, for I cannot and will not forsake it. "Why should I flee from Alton? Is not this a free state? When assailed by a mob at St. Louis, I came hither, as the home of freedom and of the laws. The mob has pur sued me here, and why should I retreat again? Where can I be safe if not here? Have not I a right to claim the protection of the laws? What more can I have in any other place? Sir, the very act of retreating will embolden the mob to follow me wherever I go. No, sir; there is no way to escape the mob but to abandon the path of duty, and that, God helping me, I will never do." The fourth press was received and placed in a warehouse. Friends of Love joy divided into squads of six to maintain guard over it. On the night of the 7th of November a mob proceeded to the warehouse. Lovejoy's friends were armed. Authority had been given by the mayor, John M. Krum, afterwards mayor of St. Louis, to defend the property. There was firing on both sides. A man named Bishop was killed. Lovejoy and two others of his party ventured outside of the building. The mob had fallen back after an attempt to set fire to the roof. Several SLAVERY AND AFTER 661 shots were fired from ambush. Lovejoy was struck by five bullets. He was mortally wounded but was able to enter the warehouse and reach the second story before he fell and almost immediately expired. The others who had been on guard escaped with wounds by running down the levee. The mob entered the warehouse and destroyed the press. Treatment of Missouri Slaves. The slave population of St. . Louis was never large. Evils of slavery were mitigated by the humane, gentle, even affectionate care which the wives of St. Louis slave owners bestowed upon their dependents. The traveling companions of Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, came to St. Louis expecting to find material for criticism of slavery. They wrote about a close view they had of the institution: "Today I visited a large American establishment belonging to Colonel O'Fallon. The place reminded me of a Hungarian house, a large solid stone building on a hill, in the midst of a park with stately trees, surrounded by cottages. But here the likeness ceased, the inmates were black slaves. As far as I saw, they are well fed and well clothed. When we arrived at the door a negro woman opened it; it was the former nurse of Mrs. Pope, the lady who accompanied me, the daughter of the proprietor. Black Lucy seemed delighted to see her young mistress, and brought all her children and grandchildren to greet her — a numerous band of woolly haired imps, by no means handsome, but Mrs. Pope petted them, and genuine affection seemed to exist on both sides. Tomorrow we leave St. Louis. On >the whole it has left me the pleasant impression of young and expansive life." Tradition tells of the consideration which Madame Chouteau bestowed upon her slaves. There were free negroes in St. Louis long before the American occu pation. They received concessions of land. The wills filed in the colonial records show that freedom was given the faithful servants. To the Spanish governor petitions, such as the following, were addressed: "Louis Villars, lieutenant of infantry, in the battalion of Louisiana, humbly prays you that he is the owner of a negress named Julie, about thirty years of age; that she has rendered him great services for a number of years, especially during two severe spells of sick nesses your petitioner has undergone. The zeal and attachment she exhibited in his service having completely ruined her health, he desires to set her at liberty with a view to her restoration." The Slave Trade in Colonial Days. In 1801 and 1802 a subject of considerable correspondence between the Spanish governor at St. Louis and his superior at New Orleans was the importation of negro slaves into St. Louis and into other settlements of Upper Louisiana. The Spanish representative at New Orleans was Juan Ventura Morales. In 1801 he sent to the Spanish governor at St. Louis, Don Carlos Dehault Delassus, a copy of royal orders "that His Majesty does not wish for the present to have any negroes introduced into that Province." The reason assigned is that the King "has allowed 5,000 negroes to be introduced free under a concession given to a French firm, Cassague, Huguel, Raymon and Company. "For your information," writes Morales, "I send you copy of the royal orders." A.nd he adds, "May the Lord keep you many years." About ten months later Intendant Morales wrote at considerable length about this order against importa- 662 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI tion of slaves into St. Louis. The inference might be drawn that Governor Delassus had found difficulty in the enforcement of the royal orders and had questioned the wisdom of the orders. It seems evident that Don Carlos felt the need of advice or instruction from his superior. Morales wrote in May, 1802, in this way: "It is not the place of the subordinate chiefs or of any good subject to inquire or investigate the causes which may help the King in his determina tions. The duty of these chiefs is to obey and comply blindly with whatsoever is ordered to them and what is prescribed in the royal laws unless by so doing they see there is some danger. In such cases the subordinate chiefs can delay the compliance with such orders until the King shall learn of this 2nd may resolve what His Royal Majesty shall consider agreeable. Under this principle, the introduction of negroes being considered, it is my duty to obey and comply with the orders of His Majesty." Morales told Delassus that he had been denying the applications of planters to import slaves and that this policy must continue until the French firm had brought in the 5,000 under the concession. He pointed out to Delassus the argu ment which might be used in defense of the royal orders and suggested the course of action against the violators of the King's instructions : "The King, perhaps, had strong political reasons for the concession given to the men tioned French citizens. It might compromise his royal authority if this Intendance should not watch for the introduction of negroes. To refuse the introduction of negro slaves we have an excuse in the revolution attempted not many years ago in Virginia and Carolina by that class of people. There is no doubt that the American government and the owners of slaves wish to get free of these people at any sacrifice. What, then, would become of this Province if its chiefs, with closed eyes to such an important matter, should permit the introduction of such a dangerous people?" Intendant Morales proceeded with real diplomacy to make a fine virtue of theN necessity to enforce the royal orders : "The unfortunate example of the French islands and the knowledge of what was at tempted in the North colonies, which was not effected because the plot was discovered in time, must persuade not only the sensible men, but also those who are interested in an imaginary prosperity caused by this dangerous people, that it would be against public tran quility and law and justice if this Intendance does not see the wise order prohibiting intro duction of negro slaves is not ignored. Therefore, I request you to exercise the most exact watchfulness without accepting any permission but the one from the King. In the event there shall be any introduction of negro slaves you will make verbal- process of the case and apprehend the negroes. You will forward everything to this Intendance." Negro Taxpayers in St. Louis. The first list of taxpayers of St. Louis is not a long one but it contained the names of several people of color who owned real estate. Geoffrey Camp was listed as a mulatto and Marie Labastille as "negresse fibre." Suzanne, "negresse," owned a house and lot which was assessed at $250, quite a comfortable homestead for 1805. "Laveille, "free negro" ; Flores, "free negress" ; were among these first taxpayers in St. Louis. Esther Morgan, "a free mulatto," owned valuable prop erty on South Third street. The rental of slaves was practised to some extent in Missouri. As illustratino- SLAVERY AND AFTER 663 the terms of these rentals, or leases, of human chattels the following letter is interesting : "January 10, 1843. "Mr. Thomas J. Bounds : Sir— This will inform you that the woman you wish t» hire belongs to me. You can have her for a year for forty dollars by clothing her in the following manner, viz: Two winter dresses, two summer dresses, two shifts, one blanket, a pair of shoes and stockings for the woman, two winter dresses, one summer dress, two shifts for the child. You will have to lose the time lost by the woman occasioned by sick ness or other acts of Providence, and I'll pay all doctor's bills. You'll have to send for her. "Yours respectfully, "R. H. Durrett." Preserving the Kindly Traditions. During one of the cholera epidemics Maj. Richard Graham, living at his country seat, Hazelwood, in St. Louis county, wrote to a friend: "The cholera made its appearance and was followed by a congestive fever which carried off sixteen of my negroes. It has shattered me a good deal, Marshall, and I have not as yet recovered from the shock of melancholy feelings in seeing so many human beings dying around me and looking up to me as their only hope in their despair and their agonies. My place was a perfect hospital and Mrs. Graham and myself constant attendants and nurses amidst the thickest of the cholera. We escaped as well as our children." Mrs. Francis D. Hirschberg, who was Miss Mary Frost, a granddaughter of Major Graham, wrote in comment on this letter : "A sidelight, this, upon the position of master and slave — since so often mis understood. The kindly Virginia traditions were held to : no slaves were sold ; no corporal punishment was allowed. The family ties were held as sacred and respected accordingly." When Robert Lewis went to California in the rush of 1849 he took with him Jesse Hubbard, a slave who belonged to his wife. Lewis and the colored man came back with $15,000. The master divided fairly with the slave. Hubbard took his share to his mistress, who in turn divided with him and gave him his freedom. The negro bought a farm and settled in St. Louis county. John Holland, the first settler in Linneus, came out from Virginia to prepare a home for his family to be brought later. He had thirty sheep and when he learned how bad the wolves were he set about planning to preserve his flock while he was gone to get the family. He built a two-room cabin, penned the sheep in one room and placed a negro woman in charge, with a mastiff to help protect the sheep. Dinah watched the sheep in the day time and penned them in the cabin at night. Occasionally one of the Bawyer boys passed and stopped to see how Dinah was getting along, but except for such visits the woman was alone with the sheep until Holland's return. When Holland died he set the woman free. The Marion College Troubles. One of the most sensational troubles over the slavery issue in the history of Missouri occurred at a camp meeting near Palmyra about 1836. Marion college, then recently founded, had come under suspicion of the pro-slavery people. Rev. 664 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Dr. Nelson was president of the college. On Sunday morning he read at the camp meeting a paper which he had received from William Muldrow, founder of Marion City and the supposed prototype of Mark Twain's Mulberry Sellers. This paper called upon members of the church to make subscriptions to a fund for buying negroes andvsending them to Liberia. Dr. John Bosley, a slaveholder, got up and started for. the pulpit. According to one story he snapped his pistol at Dr. Nelson, but it did not go off because his wife fearing trouble had drawn the. charge the night before. Muldrow drew a pocket knife. and stabbed Bosley so seriously that it was thought he would die. The camp meeting broke up in a_ general fight, many of the church members taking part. Muldrow after hiding for a short time surrendered to the sheriff. Missourians who had been some time residents of that part of the state got together and made threats against "the Eastern run" as the newcomers, recent arrivals from the East to settle in Marion City, were called. General David Wiliock, a determined man, summoned a strong guard and took Muldrow to St. Charles for safe keeping. . Muldrow's nerve was shown by his falling asleep one evening in his chair when it was expected that the mob would make an attempt to take" him from the sheriff and hang him. Edward Bates secured^ the release of Muldrow on a writ of habeas corpus. Muldrow calmly returned to Marion county, refusing to take the advice of friends who wanted him to leave the country. Bosley slowly recovered. Muldrow went to trial with Bates, Uriel Wright and Thomas L. Anderson as his counsel and to the surprise of the pro-slavery people he was acquitted. Dr. Nelson resigned the presidency of the college and was succeeded by Rev. Dr. William S. Potts of St. Louis. , He moved across the river into Illinois, but on one occasion accepted an invitation to come back and to preach on communion Sunday iii one of the Marion county churches. Pro-slavery Presbyterians went armed to the services bent on stopping Dr. Nelson if he attempted to occupy the pulpit. Dr. Nelson did not come as expected. Old Theodore Jones was one of the Presbyterians who went with his pistol in his pocket. He said long after wards that it was his intention to go armed to the communion table, and that at the time he felt that he was doing right. Expulsion of Dr. David Nelson. Dr. David Nelson came to the northeastern part of Missouri as early as 1829. He obtained a large following among the Presbyterians. Infidelity was wide spread. Dr. Nelson had been an infidel. After conversion he gave up his connec tion with the regular army and wrote a book which was known commonly as "Nel son on Infidelity," and which had great influence in Missouri and the West gen erally. Marion college was the conception of Dr. Nelson. It had no endowment but Dr. Nelson believed it was possible to have the students cultivate farm land and thus keep up the college. What the farm yielded beyond the needs of the sup port of the students was to go to the faculty. The college was started on this plan but eastern Presbyterians became interested and made contributions. Wil liam Muldrow was sent East to canvass for help. He had such success that he not only got people to give to the college but induced them to buy real estate in Missouri. Presbyterian ministers, influenced by Muldrow's word pictures came SLAVERY AND AFTER 665 out to take places in the faculty and many of them brought money with them. One of -these, Rev. Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely, who was to become the head of the preparatory department of the college is said to have brought $100,000 of eastern money when he came. Dr. Nelson made no concealment of his anti-slavery views. After the general fight which broke up the camp meeting a body of armed men rode up to Dr. Nel son's house one night and called him out. The minister warned the mob not to come into the yard. The spokesman told the doctor that they had come to tell him he must leave Missouri immediately and never return. This Dr. Nelson agreed to do and moved to Quincy. "Eternal vigilance was the price of slavery" in northeast Missouri, to quote Holcombe, the indefatigable preserver of county historical data thirty years ago. Two agents of the American Colonization Society, which had for its object the gradual removal of negroes to Liberia, brought into Hannibal a box of coloniza- ' tion literature about 1836. These men named Garrett and Williams settled in the vicinity of a new town called Philadelphia. A band* of men headed by Uriel Wright organized at Palmyra, marched to Philadelphia, found the "incendiary documents" hidden under corn husks in an outbuilding. They took Garrett and Williams prisoners and marched away with them some miles. Under a tree on the bank of North river, the regulators formed a hollow square. Uriel Wright, famous at that early day as an orator, made a speech and delivered the decision. The two men were giyerr the choice of being hung from that tree, or of leaving Missouri and remaining away forever. They left. The box of books was taken to Palmyra and was burned with formality and speechmaking. Then followed a series of meetings and the adoption of resolutions that not only abolitionists but all supporters of colonization must leave. But reaction from the extreme pro- slavery sentiment took place. Two years after the colonization agents were driven out of the state a negro women Harriet "appearing to be entitled to her freedom and of good character" was given a license to remain in Missouri. This was the first case in which such a privilege was given to a negro in Marion county. Three abolitionists, George Thompson, James Burr and Alanson Work, crossed over from the Illinois side and met some negroes on the Fabius river. They planned with the slaves to take them across the river at night and start them by the underground railroad to Canada. The negroes betrayed the plot. 'The^three men were captured, tried at Palmyra and sent to the penitentiary at Jefferson City to serve twelve year terms. The charge was grand larceny — "stealing and attempting to carry away certain slaves." The men remained in the penitentiary several years and were pardoned by Governor Edwards. A subscription paper was started in Palmyra and vicinity "to remunerate the fidelity of the slaves of R. N. Woolfolk and others in betraying to their masters the base attempts of certain villains in the shape of white men who have attempted to decoy them off." The sum of twenty dollars, sixty-two and one-half cents was raised. Mark Twain's father was one of the jurors in the trial of Thompson, Burr and Works. These three young men were preparing for the ministry and were students at the Mission Institute in Illinois at the time they became involved with the Missouri authorities. Eight years after the trouble which broke up the camp meeting and which 666 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI resulted in the stabbing of Bosley by Muldrow, David 'Nelson, Jr., came over to Little Union church and attempted to address the congregation at the close of the sermon by Rev. Mr. Ayres. Bosley was there. He arose and told Mr. Nelson he 'must not speak. "My wife is a member of this church," Dr. Bosley said, "and it shall not be polluted by abolitionism or abolitionists. I now demand that you leave here peaceably. If you do not, force will be used to put you out." Nelson started to leave but went back to the pulpit. Thereupon Bosley repeated his notice' and when Nelson did not leave, he stepped forward, took him by the arm and led him to the door and put him out. About the middle of the fifties, the loss of slave property became so aggravat ing to the slaveholders of Northeast Missouri that northern Methodist ministers were proscribed in some localities. At a meeting in Marion county, resolutions were adopted: "That, with all due respect for religious toleration, we, the citizens of Fabius and adjoining townships, do solemnly protest against the practice of the said Methodist Episco pal Church North in sending ministers among us, and we respectfully request such ministers to make no more appointments in this vicinity; "That we are situated contiguous to Quincy, a city containing some of the vilest abolition thieves in the Mississippi Valley, and as we have already suffered so much at the hands of those incendiaries, we regard it absolutely necessary to the protection of our slave interests, that we close our doors against abolition and free soil influence of every character and shade whatever, and that we shall therefore esteem it highly improper for any citizen hereafter to countenance or encourage the preaching or teaching in this community of the ministers of the northern wing of the Methodist church." About the middle of the forties the agents of the underground railroad, "Liberators" they called themselves, became so active and successful that mass meetings were held in Marion, Lewis and Ralls counties to "put a stop to negro stealing." These meetings declared, the purpose to administer to abolitionists "such punishment as#we deem necessary." Vigilance committees were formed to examine all strangers and if these people passing through the country could not give a satisfactory account of themselves they were to be sent out of the state. The penalty for returning was fifty lashes. Notices were put up at the Canton and other ferry landings on the Missouri side of the Mississippi that these abolitionists would be hung until they were "dead, dead, dead." Still they came in various disguises, distributing their literature. Slaves in bunches_ disappeared' and then insult was added to injury by letters from the "Liberators" to the despoiled owners in Missouri. By way of retaliation a party of MissOurians crossed on the ice one March night and burned the chapel of what was known as Mission Institute, a college conducted by free soilers, of whom Rev. Dr. Nelson was the leader. What Slavery Meant in St. Louis. A vivid picture of what slavery meant in St. Louis, even under the best con ditions, was given by Henry M. Post.. This actual occurrence might have given Churchill the suggestion for his account of a slave sale to a young northerner at the east front of the courthouse. Mr. Post wrote the account as given to him by Colonel William T. Mason who came to St. Louis from New York, seeking SLAVERY AND AFTER 667 his fortune in the early forties. Young Mason first settled in St. Charles, where he became the tutor for the children of Edward Bates and other closely related families. He moved to St. Louis and began the practice of law, having an office Iwith Hamilton Gamble whom he served as military aide with the rank of colonel during the Civil war. Mason told Post this story of how he became a slave holder from humanitarian motives: "Colonel Joseph B. Crockett was living in -St. Louis practicing law in 1849, when the 'gold fever' broke out in California. With many others he went overland in pursuit of wealth. For some reason he left in St. Louis a young negro slave woman named Jane. This woman married an unusually bright young colored man named George Waters. They established a home and there were born to them three children,, one boy and two girls. George, himself, was a slave but always hired his own time from his master. He made his living by caring for offices and men's rooms and was serving me in .that capacity when the incident I am about to relate took place. One morning about the last of May, 1858, George came into my office looking the picture of misery and distress, the tears rolling down his cheeks, and said : 'Colonel Crockett is in town. He has had Jane and the children thrown into Lynch's slave pen and is going to sell them to be sold South and I shall never see my wife and children again. Can't you do something to stop it?' "I was a young man then and knew little of the workings of the system of slavery, but the fact that- this family was to be thus separated forever caused my blood to boil. 'Where is Colonel Crockett?' I asked. George said he was stopping at the Planters.' I said I would go and see him at once, and find out what could be done, telling George, in the meantime, to wait about till I returned. I went to the hotel and sent my card to Colonel Crockett requesting an interview. • The messenger returned and said the colonel would see me in his room. He met me with a look of inquiry on his face and said : 'To what have I the honor of this visit?' I said: 'Are you the gentleman who owns Jane Waters and her three children?' 'I am,' he answered. " 'Have you placed them in Lynch's slave pen and intend to let them be sold South, and separate the wife from her husband and the children from their father forever ?' " 'They . are my property, sir, and I am settling up all my affairs, and I am turning everything into money, ^before I return to California, my home. I expect to sell them today, and they will go South.' "We were standing facing each other. My temper got the better of me and I opened out on him in the most vigorous style, if not the most elegant, denouncing an institution that would tolerate such things and the man who would be guilty of such inhumanity. "The colonel stood looking at me closely and smiling all of the time. When I got through he said: 'Young man, where were you raised?' I answered: 'In New York state, sir, where the curse of slavery does not exist.' He rejoined: 'That accounts for the different way in which we look at this thing. Jane and her children belong to me and I can do as I please with them. She is a likely breeding^ woman and I am offered $1,800 for them; but since you take this matter so much to heart I will tell you what I will do; I will sell Jane and her children to you for $1,000 cash.' "Immediately, I said: 'I will take them, sir. When will you close the bargain?' We appointed two o'clock that day at my office, and at that time he was on hand and sat at my desk and wrote a bill of sale of the 'property' just as he would have done for a mare and colt, or a cow and calf, counted the money and wrote an order on Lynch to deliver the chattels, and soon Jane and her husband and children were reunited. "Unexpectedly I found myself a slaveholder. The burden was more than I was willing to carry. I determined to free them at once, and looking up the law found that the only way I could do this was by making application to the circuit court for permission to do so. This permission could be obtained only upon my filing a deed of manumission and giving bond that they should never become a charge on the county. This was done and the then mayor of the city and a prominent merchant went on my bond, and Jane and her children were declared free. 668 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "Lynch was a negro trader, a sort of commission merchant. He kept his 'pen,' which was absolutely a jail, on Locust street, between Fourth and Fifth streets. When he delivered my property to me, I asked him how many people he had in his yard. He said there were some thirty or forty, but some were going south that afternoon, and the next day those who were left were going on the block at the courthouse. They' came and went all the time. Lynch asked what I paid for mine, and when I told him he said he> did not suppose Crockett was such a fool as that; he (Lynch) wduld give, me $500 for my bargain right then." Mr. Post said in his narrative that the Waters family continued to live in St. Louis for many years. William T. Mason married Louise, a daughter of General Stephen Watts Kearny, of New Mexico and California fame. Descendants of Mason are well known in St. Louis. Thomas Shackleford's Recollections. In his address before the Missouri Historical Society in 1901, Thomas Shackle- ford gave some personal recollections of slavery in Missouri : j "John Harrison was a large hemp grower in Howard county. He had many slaves and was kind to them. To illustrate that the spirit of liberty is inherent in the human heart, I recall that I was at his home (he was the father of my wife), in the early 50's, when a poor wayfaring man and his wife called to stay all night. He was a sorry specimen of humanity, traveling with a poor horse hitched to a rickety old chaise. In the morning one of the slaves was directed to get the poor man's horse, which he hitched up. The slave was named Smith, and as he passed his' mistress she said to him: 'Smith, how would you like to be that man? Aren't you better off?' 'Ah, Missus,' he replied, 'he has nobody to hinder him.' This poor slave, although well-treated and well-fed, yet longed to be situated where no one hindered him. "Slavery had many dark phases, but it was always a pleasure to consider only the bright side, where there was such a natural attachment between master and slave, as in the case of this man. * Let me illustrate by two incidents. He had a slave named Brown who was a member of the same church, and attended the same class meetings, of which I was leader. Brown had a wife who belonged to a neighbor who had failed, and the wife of Brown and all her children were about to be sold to a negro trader.' Her master was a kind man and had permitted his slave to hire her own time. The law did not permit the slaves to be emancipated and live in the state. Brown came to me and said he was about to be separated from his wife and children. He said his wife, had money enough to pay for herself and children. I told him to send her to me. She came with silver to the amount of $1,000 in her handkerchief. I took the money, purchased her, and had the bill of sale made to me. I indorsed the fact on the bill of sale, and kept it among my secret papers. Publicly she was recognized as my property, but kept, as. "before, her own earnings. When it was apparent that the federal troops were going to occupy Missouri, many per sons sent their slaves South in the vain hope of saving them. Mr. Harrison made prepara tions to send his South, prepared his tents for the journey. Brown came to me to intercede against being sent away. I told him to go to his master and say to him that he and his associates would be faithful until legally set free. I came upon them just as they were having the interview, and found both 'in tears. It is needless to say that the tents were folded up and stored in the garret. All save one remained faithful, and Mr. Harrison provided homes for all. Such incidents were common, but Northern men read only of the dark side of the picture. You would hardly believe it when I tell you I never read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' I was satisfied the picture was overdrawn. "My father had died when I was about fourteen years of age. My mother was left a widow and had the charge and management of many slaves. We had a law in our statutes that a slave should be punished with forty lashes save one, who insulted a white man. One day the constable came to arrest a slave for insulting a white man. My mother told me to "MISS ANN" OF DOVEE A historic character of Central Missouri who "aint got no age, ' ' who has a ' ' morphine eat ' ' and whose favorite phrase is "Aint it dish?" DRED SCOTT The long pending litigation in behalf of this Missouri slave nullified the Missouri Compromise SLAVERY AND AFTER 671 go to the trial. The evidence was that when the white man was trading with the slave an altercation took place, and the white man cursed the slave, and the slave cursed the white man in return. A great crowd was present. The magistrate Jieard the evidence and con demned the slave to be lashed. He then took me aside and said : 'Your slave is not guilty, but to satisfy this crowd of angry men, I had to pass this sentence.' I was indignant. 'What,' said I, 'whip an innocent man?' 'Yes,' said the magistrate. While he was talking the constable came and asked if he was to be whipped publicly. 'No,' said the magistrate, 'take him to the smoke house.' The slave was stripped and taken into the house, and the crowd counted the lashes. When the officer came out he said to the negro, 'You must not tell what occurred.' 'No,' said the negro, 'I will not.' Then said the officer to me: 'You must^not tell. I only lashed the post.' I said I would only tell my mother. When I came home I then asked my mother what it meant that the innocent negro was to be whipped. She said to me: 'Ah, my son, I cannot well explain these things to you, but before this evil of slavery is righted, "this land will be deluged in blood.' She then called my attention to the fact that sons in good families, as well as husbands, were having children by the slave' women, that this social evil was bad enough among free parties, but among bond women was terrible. My mother died before the cloud burst, but her precepts were so indelibly impressed on my young mind that when the secession of the states began, I looked anxiously in fear of the fulfillment of her prophecy." Dred Scott and His "Case." About 1858 people on the streets of St. Louis called attention to a man of striking appearance and said: "That's Dred Scott." Other people, especially strangers in the city, looked a second time and with evident interest at the stout- ¦ built figure, the whiskers and the military bearing. Dred Scott was then about fifty years old. He was of pure negro blood, born in Virginia, and might have passed for an African king. In that period the most military looking man in St. Louis was Thornton Grimsley. He had invented and manufactured the favorite saddle of the United States dragoons. For two generations he was in demand for grand marshal of processions. Physically Dred Scott was "another Thornton Grimsley done in ebony," as a newspaper reporter described him. For five years the Dred Scott case had been in the courts. It had been the most talked of litigation. It had brought from the United States Supreme court a decision that the Missouri Compromise was of no force. The papers were full of it. Dred Scott was the slave and body servant of Dr. Emmerson, a surgeon in the United States Army, stationed in St. Louis. When the surgeon was ordered to. the post at Rock Island he took his slave with him. There Dred Scott made the acquaintance of a colored girl named Harriet. The girl belonged to Major Taliaferro of the army and had been brought from Virginia. Dred Scott and Harriet were married. When Dr. Emmerson was ordered to Fort Snelling in what is now Minnesota he was induced by his slave to buy Harriet. Two children were born, one of them on the "Gypsy," during a steamboat trip in free territory. Surgeon Emmerson came back to Jefferson Barracks, bringing the Dred Scott family. He died in 1852. The Scotts passed to the possession, by sale as it was supposed, of John F. A. Sanford. Here was an unusual opportunity to test the Missouri Compromise, by which Congress had declared slavery should not exist north of parallel 36° 3oA except within the limits of Missouri. Not only had Scott and Harriet been taken into the free territory, but one of the children, Eliza, had been born there. In 1853 suit was brought in the St. Louis circuit court. 672 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The first decision freed the family. But Sanford took the case to the supreme court of Missouri which reversed the lower court. There was another trial in the St. Louis court. One of the charges was that Sanford had unlawfully laid hands on "the said Dred Scott, Harriet Scott, Eliza Scott and Lizzie Scott." Sanford won. By this time the interest of anti-slavery people in the East had been aroused. Money was supplied in considerable quantities to carry on the case. One newspaper account had it that enough was contributed to "buy a hundred slaves." The best lawyers in St. Louis were retained to carry the case to the United States Supreme Court on a writ of error. On the side of the Scotts, Montgomery Blair, afterwards postmaster general, headed the counsel. Senator Henry S. Geyer and others represented Sanford. The main question was whether the Missouri Compromise was in accord ance with1 the Constitution of the United States ; whether Congress had the power to provide as follows : "That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States under the name of Louisiana which lies north of 36 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude, not included within the limits of the state contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than the punishment of crimes whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is hereby forever prohibited." The case was , argued in 1854. The Supreme Court decided against Dred Scott. But it held up the decision over a year. Horace Greeley, in his "American Conflict," said the delay was deliberate on the part of the majority, the purpose being to postpone the announcement until after the Presidential election of 1856. He added, "It is quite probable that its action in the .premises, if made public at the time originally intended, Would have reversed the issue in that Presidential election." Buchanan defeated Fremont, who carried a number of northern states. The decision of the court was announced in March, 1857, two days after Buchanan's inauguration. It was rendered by Chief Justice Taney, in whose honor a Missouri county, which gave Republican majorities after the war, was named. The views of the court filled 125 pages. Briefly, the court held that no slave or descendant of a slave could sue in a United States court because such person was not and could not be made a citizen. From the foundation of the republic and previously slaves had been regarded as inferiors and had no rights which the white man was bound to respect. The view had been held in both England and the United States. Therefore, the act of Congress in prohibiting slavery north of 36 degrees and 30 minutes was not warranted by the Constitu tion. "Neither, Dred Scott himself, nor any of his family, was made free by being carried into this territory." , There was widespread sympathy for the Scotts as soon as the court's decision was known. A movement was started to purchase freedom for the family. But when the title of Sanford was looked into, it appeared that he was holding the family as executor of the Emmerson estate. The surgeon had made a will be queathing a life interest in the Scotts to his wife, the property eventually to go to a daughter, Henrietta Emmerson. The real owner was discovered to be a lady living in Boston, whose husjoand was a Congressman. And Boston was the anti- slavery center where was the greatest sympathy for the Scotts and whence had come funds for the prosecution of the case. Very promptly was set in motion the SLAVERY AND AFTER 673 procedure to manumit Dred Scott and family. A non-resident could not act. Therefore, the Boston lady transferred the slave property to Taylor Blow of St. Louis and Mr. Blow at once filed the deed of freedom in court. Dred Scott was offered liberal inducements to tour the country and exhibit himself and family in museums. He was in demand for lectures. But with a mental dignity which matched his physical he declined all offers and accepted only local fame. The Case Judge Dyer Defended. Wherl he was eighty years old, Judge David P. Dyer, of the Federal court at St. Louis, remembered well his personal experience with the slavery law of Missouri : "I was admitted to the bar by Judge A. H. Buckner at Bowling Green in March, 1850. He was the judge of the circuit court that year. The grand jury indicted a man by the name of Knapp of Illinois, whose brother was afterwards congressman from the state of Illinois. Knapp was a John Brown sort of man. He believed that everybody had a right to be free. He believed it was his duty under his conviction to point the way to freedom of every man that was in slavery. We had a statute at that time in Missouri which im posed a penitentiary sentence upon any man who would persuade, incite or ask any negro to leave his master and seek freedom in Canada or a northern state. Knapp went out to Ashley in Pike county and saw a negro belonging to old John McCormick, talked to him about what his rights were as a man to be free. The negro gave his master the information and McCormick and Sam Russell got the negro to make an arrangement to meet Knapp at some place at night in the forest and there to discuss the matter with him so they could testify in court against Knapp. Negroes at that time could not testify and at that time the defendant could not testify himself. The trap was laid and the conversa tion was had and the indictment was returned. Knapp was arrested, lodged in jail and I, having just been admitted to practice, — Knapp having no money, — was appointed by the court to defend him. I made the best effort I could and told what a mean, contemptible thing it was to form this conspiracy and trap this old fellow, but the jury didn't pay 'much attention to me and they went out and came back with a verdict of guilty and a sentence of five years in the Missouri penitentiary. Old Johnson Hendrick, who was a slave owner and believer in the verdict of the jury, went over to Knapp and said, 'Mr. Knapp, I want to congratulate you, sir.' Knapp said, 'I don't see anything to be congratulated for. I have done nothing except to do what I believed to be my Christian duty of helping my fellow-man. I am to be sentenced to the penitentiary at Jefferson City, there to be among thieves and murderers for doing nothing more than I would expect someone to do for me under similar circumstances.' 'Don't let us get into that. I am not going to discuss that_ matter with you. What I want to congratulate you on is that if you had another lawyer like Dyer you would have gone for ten years instead of five.' Now, that is a matter of history that that old man went to the penitentiary and remained in the penitentiary until Hamilton R. Gamble turned him out. These are things you don't hear of in this country now. It was a fact then." Blair Emancipated His' Slaves. At the time when he was advocating gradual emancipation and practical colonization, Frank Blair was a slave owner. But in 1859 he removed himself from this classification. It was an interesting fact that just three months after U. S. Grant freed his slave in St. Louis by going into court and making affidavit to the act, Frank Blair similarly freed his four slaves. This took place on the 28th of June, 1859. Blair had previously freed Henry Dupe, owned by him. He 674 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI now emancipated Sarah Dupe, the wife of Henry, and her three daughters. The document he filed was as follows: "I, Francis P. Blair, Jr., of the City of St. Louis and the State of Missouri, in con sideration of faithful services to me rendered arid for divers other good and sufficient reasons moving me thereto, do by these presents emancipate and set -free my negro slave woman, Sarah, wife of Henry Dupe (heretofore emancipated by me). Said Sarah is about 42 or 43 years of age, light-colored and about medium-sized. Also negro girl, Courtenay, daughter of Sarah, who is about 18 years of age; also negro girl, Caroline, daughter of said -Sarah, about 12 years of age, and Sallie, daughter of Sarah, about 9 years of age. And I do "hereby grant Courtenay, Caroline, Sallie and Sarah as perfect freedom as if they had been born free. In testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand and seal this, the 28th day of June, 1859, in the presence of the undersigned witnesses. "(Signed) Frank P. Blair." Lucian Carr said : "Blair approached the subject as a statesman rather than as a moralist." Emancipation Movement in Missouri. William Hyde saw the evolution of the emancipation movement of Missouri in the decade before the Civil war. From close range as a newspaper man he measured its growth and character. His impressions were given to the Globe- Democrat in 1892: "Mr. Francis Preston Blair, who became the universally recognized leader of the emancipation party, together with Messrs. Edward Bates, B. Gratz Brown, Dr. Linton, Henry T. Blow, John D. Stevenson, John How, O. D. Filley and other conspicuous mem bers, were not believers in immediate emancipation. They proposed and advocated a gradual system — a fixed time after which children born of slave parents would be free and a further fixed tune in the life of each slave when all should be free. Deportation and colonization was a dream of this Utopia, involving compensation to slave owners who might demand the same for the term of service cut off by the act of emancipation as nearly as it could be calculated. In view of the fact that from the organization of the American Colonization Society up to twenty years ago, the whole number of colored persons emigrat ing from this country was but 13,598, the futility of the scheme appears amazing. But on the other hand, it is recorded that long after the Southern war had itself freed thou sands, President Lincoln was ready to negotiate for peace with emancipation, on the basis of a money compensation for the slaves. : "It was, indeed, a most difficult and perplexing problem with which the courageous gradual emancipationists, deporters and colonizationists of Missouri had to deal. What to do with the f reedmen when they should be set at liberty ; what should be their social status ; how should they be educated and prepared for the duties of citizenship — these and cognate questions staggered the most thoughtful promoters of the movement, and stagnated even those who in their hearts were more than willing to let slavery go. In a city like St. Louis the question of antagonizing the cheap labor of slaves against the labor of free white men was susceptible of being worked to great advantage, and it was so worked. 'Free labor' was one of the rallying cries of the anti-slavery party. Even after the organization of the Republican party, in 1856, in which Francis P. Blair, jr., was one of the prime movers, the junior Blair hesitated to adopt the name for the Missourians. 'Free Democratic ticket' was the caption swung out at the head of the list of Blair candidates for local offices in the Democrat. But it was scarcely a disguise. The columns of the Democrat bristled with elaborate emancipation articles. Henry Boernstein, who conducted the Anzeiger des Westens, was not particular as to hair-splitting names, and, indeed, the word republican conveyed to his readers, many of whom were German exiles of 1848, a meaning which was itself a. rallying cry. In point of fact, the Anzeiger and its followers were the radicals SLAVERY AND AFTER 675 of the day, much more advanced in their anti-slavery views than Blair and his coterie, who endured undeserved disparagement on their account. For it was not cowardice or timidity which induced the latter to hesitate to adopt the Republican title at once. The dubitation was whether that name expressed the objects of the organization in its primary form. However there was no beating around the bush relative to the fact that this organ ization meant anti-slavery, emancipation and free soil. There was no occasion for con cealment. Liberty of thought and speech, was as secure in St. Louis as in Boston." During a part of the time when emancipation sentiment was growing in Mis souri, Mr. Hyde was the correspondent of the Missouri Republican at Springfield, Illinois, while the legislature was in session. Blair visited Springfield and held conferences with Lincoln. Mr. Hyde held to this view of the relations between the two : "It was a sufficient indorsement of Frank Blair, in a partisan sense, that the political career of Abraham Lincoln, from the time of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, was patterned on his model. In all their public discussions both were anxious that the agitation of the slavery question should not imperil the Union. They had no part or lot with those who, like N. P. Banks, would 'let the Union slide,' or with those who, like William Lloyd Garrison, .regarded the Union as 'a league with hell and a covenant with death.' Both opposed 'conceded disunion or constrained emancipation,' as a dreaded and unnecessary alternative. Adopting the view made prominent in Blair's speeches, Mr. Lincoln, in one of his earliest messages, advocated a system of colonizing the blacks freed by the war, and even hinted at the deportation of those who were free before. In his first cabinet were Montgomery Blair and Edward Bates, who held identical views with Francis P. "Blair. In his opposition to Fremont's administration in Missouri, Blair was heartily, sustained by the President. But, by this time, Judge Bates had quarreled with the Blairs about the adminis tration methods in Missouri, their differences dating back, in fact, to the time when General Harney was superseded by Captain Lyon, just previous to the capture of Camp Jackson." Slave Auctions Made Odious. The slave traders had no social recognition in St. Louis. One of them was stoned by boys shortly before the Civil war. St. Louis parted with slavery will ingly. What pro-slavery sentiment had existed wa^ largely because of sympathy for the South, where family ties bound and trade relations existed. New Year's Day, 1861, brought a curious revelation of sentiment in St. Louis on the slavery question. In the settlement of estates not infrequently there were negroes to be disposed of. Like other property, to be distributed to heirs, these slaves were put up at partition sales. The sheriff or his deputy appeared at the front door of the courthouse, announced the terms and called for bids. While estates were in progress of settlement, the slaves were held in the custody of the court officers and were boarded for safekeeping in the county jail. It had become the custom of the court to set the ist day of January as the date to clean up slave property left by estates. Encouraged by the election of Lincoln in the preceding November, a secret organization was formed to put an end to these auction sales of slaves by court procedure. On the ist day of January, 1861, the sheriff had seven slaves to sell for the benefit of certain heirs of the deceased owners. In the usual legal form the sale was announced. Rev. Galusha Anderson, at the time pastor of the Second Baptist Church, tells in his book, "A Border City in the Civil War," the story of this last slave auction by order of court in St. Louis: 676 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "About 2,000 young men had secretly banded themselves together to stop the sale, and, if possible, put an end to this annual disgrace. The auctioneer on his arrival at 'the courthouse found this crowd of freemen in a dense mass waiting for him. The sight of bondsmen about to be offered for sale, and that, too, under the floating folds of their national flag, crimsoned their cheeks with shame and made their hearts hot within them. Yet they scarcely uttered a word as they stood watching the auctioneer and the timid, shrinking slaves at his side. At last he was ready and cried out, 'What will you bid for this able-bodied boy? There's not a blemish on him.' Then the indignant, determined crowd in response cried out, at the top of their lungs, 'Three dollars, three dollars,' and without a break kept up the cry for twenty minutes or more. The auctioneer yelled to make himself heard above that deafening din of voices, but it was all in vain. At last, however, the cry of the crowd died away. Was it simply a good-natured joke carried a little too far? The auctioneer seemed to be in doubt how to take that vociferating throng. 'Now,' he said, in a bantering tone, 'gentlemen, don't make fools of yourselves; how much will you bid for this boy?' Then, for many minutes, they shouted, 'Four dollars, four dollars,' and the frantic cries of the auctioneer were swallowed up in that babel of yells.' His efforts were as futile as if he had attempted to whistle a tornado into silence. To the joy of that crowd of young men the auctioneer was at last in- a rage. It had downed upon him that this was no joke; that the crowd before him were not shouting for fun on this annual holiday, but were in dead earnest. When their cries once more died away, he soundly berated them for their conduct. But they answered his scolding and storming with jeers and catcalls. At last he again asked, 'HoW much will you bid for this first-class nigger ?' This was answered by a simultaneous shout of 'Five dollars, five dollars' ; and the roar of voices did not stop for a quarter of an hour. And so the battle went on. The bid did not get above eight dollars, and at the end of two hours of exasperating and futile effort, the defeated auctioneer led his ebony charges back to the jail. Through the force of public opinion freedom had triumphed. No public auction of slaves was ever again attempted in St. Louis." Lincoln's Border States Policy. President Lincoln wanted to pay the loyal slaveholders of Missouri, $300 apiece for every man, woman and* child slave in the state. He chose Gen. John B. Henderson to champion this policy in Congress, and he used his influence as far as he felt he consistently could to press the measure. This policy the President adopted before: he had been in the White House a year. His desire was to have Congress reimburse the loyal slaveholders of the border states for their slaves, and then to emancipate by proclamation slaves in the other states. Missouri was selected for the first application of the policy. John B. Henderson entered the Senate by appointment of Governor Gamble, taking the.place of Trusten Polk, who had gone into the Confederate army. He was but little beyond the age which made him eligible. When the Missouri legislature met Senator Henderson was elected for the unexpired term, and when the term ended he was elected for the new term. Within three months after he became senator, in 1862, General Hen derson had. been taken into the confidence of Mr. Lincoln and was urging the policy of' payment for the slave#s of the border states. As early as his message to Congress on December 3, 1861, the President said the > government must use all indispensable means to maintain the Union. He hinted at colonization as a possible remedy for slavery. ' On the 6th of March he sent to Congress a message recommending pay for slaves of the loyal. He wrote private letters urging the initiation of emancipa- SLAVERY AND AFTER 677 tion legislation. "I say 'initiation,' " he wrote, "because in my judgment gradual and not sudden emancipation is better for all." On the ioth-of March, he invited the Missourians and the other Members of Congress from border States to the White House for a conference and presented his plan for gradual compensated abolishment. Only two of the Missourians favored the plan. They were Senator John B. Henderson and Representative John W. Noell. Frank Blair, who was for the plan, was not there. He was in the field with his command. Subsequently he wrote a letter on the policy to Rudolph Doehn of Missouri in which he declared himself for a "gradual, peace ful and just measure of emancipation." After the March conference the President urged his views upon the Members of Congress individually. He chose Senator Henderson to champion the pay-for- slaves policy. Some years ago, in Washington, Senator Henderson gave the writer his recollections. John B. Henderson's Recollections. There was great pressure being brought to bear upon the President to emanci pate. Delegations of ministers from the North came to Washington to demand such action. The republican leaders were very insistent. Senator Zach Chandler of Michigan, Senator Ben Wade of Ohio, and Senator Charles Sumner of Massa- cfrasettsy called almost daily at the White House to tell Mr. Lincoln what he ought to do. General Henderson was sent for frequently to report how the border states policy was progressing. "As I went in one day," General Henderson said, "I noticed that the Presi dent looked troubled. He was sitting in one of his favorite attitudes — in a rocking chair with one leg thrown over the arm. I knew that he suffered terribly from headaches, and I said: " 'Mr. President, you must have one of your headaches ; you look so gloomy.' " 'No,' said he, 'it isn't headache this time. Chandler has been here to talk again about emancipation, and be came on the heels of Wade and Sumner, who were here on the same errand. I like these three, men, but they bother me nearly to "death. They put me in the situation of a boy I remember when I was going to school.' " General Henderson noted the brightening of Mr. Lincoln's face. He recog nized the signs that a story was coming. Mr. Lincoln leaned forward, began to smile, and clasped his hands around the knee of the leg resting on the arm of the chair. "The text-book was the Bible," Mr. Lincoln went on. "There was a rather dull little fellow in the class who didn't know very much. We were reading the account of the three Hebrews cast into the fiery furnace. The little fellow was called on to read and he stumbled along until he came to the names of the three Hebrews — Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He couldn't do anything with them. The teacher pronounced them over very slowly and told the boy to try. The boy tried and missed. This provoked the teacher and he slapped the little fellow, who cried vigorously. Then the boy tried again, but he couldn't get the names. 'Well,' said the teacher impatiently, 'never mind the names. Skip them and go on.' The poor boy drew his shirt sleeve across his eyes two or three times, 678 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI snuffed his nose and started on to read. He went along bravely a little way, and then he suddenly stopped, dropped the book down in front of him, looked despairingly at the teacher and burst out crying. 'What's the matter now?' shouted the teacher, all out of patience. 'H-h-here's them same darn three fellers again,' sobbed the boy. "That," 'said the President, "is just my fix today, Henderson. Those same darn three fellers have been here again with their everlasting emancipation talk." The President stopped a few moments to enjoy the story, and becoming ~ serious, continued: "But Sumner and Wade and Chandler are right about it. I know it and you know it, too. I've got to do something and it can't be put off much longer. We can't get through this terrible war with slavery existing. You've got sense enough to know that. Why can't you make the border states members see it? Why don't you turn in and take pay for your slaves from the government ?» Then all your people can give their hearty support to the Union. We can go ahead with emancipation of slaves by proclamation in the other states and end the trouble."Lincoln and the Missourians. The President held out as long as he could, hoping to carry out the border states policy upon which his heart was set. On the 12th of July he again invited the delegation from Missouri and the members from other states to come to the White House. He read a carefully written appeal to them to adopt his policy of compensated abolishment. He said : "I intend no reproach or complaint when I assure you that, in my opinion, if you all had voted for the resolution in the gradual emancipation message of last March, the war would now be substantially ended." Twenty of these Members sent their reply two days later. They pledged their loyalty but declared their judgment to be against the pay-for-slaves policy. The Missourians signing the paper were Senator Robert Wilson and Representatives James S. Rollins, William A. Hall, Thomas L. Price and John S. Phelps. Senator Henderson and Representative Noell wrote to the President that they would endeavor to secure from the people of Missouri consideration of his plan. They did so. ' The policy became the issue in the campaign which followed. Of the nine Members of Congress elected by Missouri in November, six were avowed emancipationists. The lower branch of the legislature was emancipation and chose the emancipation candidate for speaker by a vote of sixty-seven to forty-two. Governor Gamble in his message advised the legislature to take up the subject. When Congress met in December for* the short session the House appointed a select committee on gradual emancipation in the loyal slave-holding states. Frank P. Blair was made the Missouri member of it. On the 10th of December Senator Henderson introduced in the Senate his bill to give Missouri $20,000,000 to pay for the slaves of loyal owners. The next day Noell put in his bill in the House, appropriating $10,000,000 to reimburse loyal owners of slaves in Mis souri. Both bills passed by large majorities but the difference in the amounts made it necessary to compromise. The President did all he could to expedite the SLAVERY AND AFTER 679 legislation. On the ioth of January he sent this telegram to General Curtis in command at St. Louis: "I understand there is considerable trouble with the slaves in Missouri. Please do your best to keep peace on the question for two or three weeks, by which time we hope to do something here towards settling the question in Missouri." As early as May, 1862, President Lincoln had told General Henderson of his intention to issue the emancipation proclamation. Action was not taken until six months later, and the proclamation was announced, to take effect January 1, 1863. The President held out as long as he could in the hope that he might be able to carry out his border* states policy. The introduction of the bill to pay loyal owners in Missouri was the beginning. It was followed by bills to pay for slaves in Kentucky, Maryland and other border slave states. "I do not remember," said General Henderson, "whether Mr. Lincoln drafted the bill or I got it up, but the inspiration came from him. I did all in my power to press it. The proposition went through the House and Senate, but it was passed in somewhat different forms. The Senate increased the amount, and this difference had to be adjusted in conference. There was a good majority for the Missouri bill in both branches of Congress and there was not much trouble about compromising the difference of opinions on the amount to be appropriated, but the session was almost at an end and a small minority in the House was able, by filibustering and obstructing, to prevent the final action there. If the bill cpuld have been brought before the House in its finished form it would have passed finally as easy as it did in the Senate. What Cost Missourians $15,000,000. "President Lincoln watched the progress of the legislation with a great deal of interest," continued General Henderson. "He could not understand why the border states members should not be for it. And I could not, either. It was perfectly plain to me that slavery had to go. Here was a voluntary offer on the part of the government to compensate the loyal men in the border states for the loss of their property. I talked with the members from Missouri and from Ken tucky and with the others who were most interested, but I couldn't make them see it as I did. They had exaggerated ideas of the results which would ensue from a free negro population. They took the position that slavery must not be touched. It was their determined opposition to the end that deferred the bill to give the Missouri slaveholders $15,000,000 for their slaves. If the Missouri bill had gone through the others would' have followed undoubtedly and the loyal slaveholders in all of the border states would have received pay for their slaves." President Lincoln and General Henderson were so confident the bill to dis burse $15,000,000 for Missouri slaves would become law that some figuring was done on the amount which would be paid per capita. "I recollect quite distinctly the calculations I made at the time," General Henderson said. "I found that the amount which the government would have distributed to Missourians under the terms of the bill finally agreed upon in con ference would have given the loyal owners, in my- state about $300. for each slave —man, woman and child. That I consider a pretty good price, for while we were legislating the emancipation proclamation had become assured, and it was very 680 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI evident to my mind that slavery was doomed, even among those slaveholders who had remained loyal." Beaten by a Small Minority. The record bears out Senator Henderson's recollections. The House passed Noell's bill by seventy-three to forty-six. The Senate accepted the compromise on the amount, which was $15,000,000, by a vote of twenty-three to fifteen. But the compromise was not reported until six days before the end of the session and a small minority in the House was able to prevent a vote on it. In this minority were three Missourians, William A. Hall, Elijah H. Norton and Thomas L. Price. To have the courage of their convictions has ever been characteristic of Mis sourians sent to Congress. The three Missourians who fought the compensated abolishment bill to its death were honest. No one who reads"- the debate can doubt that. Elijah H. Norton, who represented the Platte district, was one of the leaders of the small opposition minority. He fought the measure from its introduction to the end of the session. One point which Judge Norton made was that Missouri could not free her slaves without paying the owners the full equivalent for them. He said : "According to the census of i860, there were of slaves in Missouri about 120,000. According to the report of the auditor of the state, founded upon returns made for the year 1862 by the assessors of forty odd counties, there can not now be less than 100,000 slaves in the state. In my judgment not over 5,000 of them are subject to confiscation under the confiscation law, leaving 95,000 to be bought and paid for. Before the legislature can emancipate them, they must first pay a full equivalent for them. Not an equivalent which Congress by an arbitrary legislative act fixes; not an equivalent which legislative enactment declares, but the worth, the value of the slave as ascertained from the market rate by a proceeding, not legislative, but judicial in its character. I notice sales recently made in Howard county, in the district of my colleague, at $900; in other counties at from $600 to $700, for negro men. ' These figures and the former value of slaves lead me to conclude that the average value of slaves in the state would not fall below $450. Thus, sir, we have the price, being $450, and the number 95,000 to be bought. The value of these slaves would be $42,750,000. By this bill you place at the disposal of the governor $20,000,- 000 of bonds ; and if the legislature, out of the state treasury, could also appropriate $22,- 750,000, then the legislature could, in twelve months, pass a valid and constitutional law for the emancipation of slaves according to the terms of the bill. But, sir, this is im possible." Judge Norton took the position that the general government had no authority to carry out the proposed plan of emancipation. He said: "The citizens of Missouri are willing to acknowledge their proper and just allegiance to the government of the United States, but they have always held and hold to-day that under the obligations of that allegiance, fixed and defined by the Constitution of the United States, they are not required to give up their state rights and bow down in the dust like serfs and slaves to federal dictation, or the dictation of any one or more states of the Union. Missouri has rights as a state of the Union. Missouri has rights as a state of this Union which you dare not invade without disregarding your oaths and trampling in the dust the Constitution watered with the blood of, your Revolutionary sires. You can not abolish our state courts, nor our legislature; nor can you deprive us of two senators or our proper number of representatives upon this floor. You can not make local SLAVERY AND AFTER 681 laws for our local internal police government conflicting with the reserved rights of the state and the people. While you can not do any of these things, either directly or in directly, neither can you by direction or indirection, as you propose by this bill, abolish slavery. That is as much their concern as is the electioncof their legislature. The people of that state are a brave, magnanimous, patriotic and just-minded people; and whenever in the exercise of their virtues they determine that it is for their interest and to the interest of the state and country generally that the institution of slavery should be abolished in a legal and constitutional mode, all citizens of the state will agree to their verdict and sanction their action. You do not propose to have it accomplished in this way, but are for stepping in and settling the matter at once." In conclusion Judge Norton pictured the horrors as he foresaw them 'of a free negro population in Missouri : "Under this bill you propose to turn adrift upon the people of the state 100,000 persons without a dollar, without homes or provision made for them to get homes, persons of all ages, sexes and conditions, the old and infirm, the halt, lame and blind, the young and defenseless, in one promiscuous mass. Is this humanity? Humanitarians on the other side of the House may answer. The original bill pledged the faith of this government to take the emancipated slaves out of the state; the substitute adopted by the Senate, and now here for action, strikes this provision out, thus converting Missouri into a free negro state. You can not inflict a greater injury on Missouri than thus to fill up her communi ties with this kind of worthless population. A" free negro population is the greatest curse to any country." Charcoals and Claybanks. The Union men of Missouri divided sharply in 1862 upon the question of freeing the slaves in this state. The Charcoals were for immediate emancipation ; the Claybanks favored what Frank P. Blair, in a letter to Rudolph Doehn called a "gradual, peaceful and just measure of emancipation." Missourians recog nized the fact that freedom of the slaves of the disloyal was coming as an act of war. The issue for this state was the course to be pursued regarding the slaves of the Union men. In the spring of 186.3 there were held two local conventions in St. Louis, one called the Republican Emancipation convention by the "Char coals," and the other the Union Emancipation convention by the "Claybanks." The "Charcoals" nominated Chauncey I. Filley for mayor; the "Claybanks" nominated his cousin, O. D. Filley, for mayor. The Democrats nominated Joseph O'Neill. The Charcoals resolved in' their convention "Emancipation in Missouri should be sought in the most speedy manner consistent with law and order." The resolutions endorsed the President's proclamation of January 1, 1863, freeing the slaves in the Confederate states. The Claybanks resolved "That we regard slavery as an evil and believe that our state ought to adopt some constitutional mode of getting rid of an institution which has been a clog upon the wheels of her prosperity and the fruitful source of trouble and disaster." The Charcoals were successful, electing Chauncey I. Filley over the Claybank and the Democratic candidates. James Taussig returning in May, 1863, from Washington, quoted President Lincoln as saying: "The Union men of Missouri, who are in favor of gradual emancipation, represent my views better than those who favor immediate emanci pation." In 1863 a plan of gradual emancipation was offered to the people of Missouri 682 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI in the form of a constitutional amendment. But in. 1865 a constitutional con vention declared for immediate freedom of all slaves. Negro schools were started in St. Louis by voluntary contributions, the laws at that time forbidding use of public money for such a purpose. Negro Education in Missouri. A negro regiment, composed in the main of former Missouri slaves, started the fund which bought the site of Lincoln Institute at Jefferson City. The first contribution was $20, given by Maj. Samuel A. Lovje, for, many years a leader among the negro Baptists of Missouri. The time? was pay day for the colored troops; also it was Sunday. J. Milton Turner, afterwards Minister to Liberia by appointment from General Grant, addressed the soldiers. He told them that education was the great need of their people now that freedom had been obtained. He explained that colored teachers must be trained. To accomplish that there must be a normal school. The fund thus started grew with contribu tions from another negro regiment. It was sufficient to buy the site. The legis lature was asked for help. An understanding was reached by which the state was pledged to recognize and support the institute when the contributions from individuals reach $15,000. Capt. R. B. Foster who had been in the movement from the beginning went East with Turner. Anti-slavery people contributed freely. The guarantee fund was raised. The state administration redeemed itfc promise and Missouri inaugurated one of the earliest training schools for colored teachers. Turner established, as he believed, the first negro school in Missouri outside of St. Louis. He said one of his supporters was Jesse James, who on several occasions contributed from $10 to $25. "But for Jesse James," said Turner, "I could not have kept up the school." Samuel Cupples and Dr. Woodward. The introduction of colored teachers for colored schools was one of the inno vations which St. Louis tried with admirable results. It came about after Samuel Cupples and Dr. Calvin M. Woodward had become active in the public school board. For a number of years the teachers of the colored schools were white. When a young white woman was assigned to teach a colored school there followed an indignant protest from her friends. White teachers failed to arouse the interest among their pupils necessary for best results. Mr. Cupples was a trustee of the Lincoln Institute at Jefferson City. He made inquiries as to the capabilities of the students who were being educated at the institute and proposed the trial of colored teachers in the St. Louis colored schools. Dr. Harris, Dr. Woodward and others favored the experiment. At that time the enrollment of children in the colored schools was about two thousand. Mr. Cupples, Dr. Harris and Dr. Woodward visited the colored schools, invited the parents to a conference, had refreshments and explained the purpose to better the educational facilities for the children. They urged that they must have the cooperation of the parents to obtain the improvement desired. Children must attend regularly, must not be kept out on Mondays to go- after the laundry and at other times to run errands, but must be present five days in the~week. In a year the enrollment of the colored schools of St. Louis had doubled. The improved conditions under colored teachers SLAVERY AND AFTER . 683 has been so marked and gratifying that it brought the public school board to the conclusion to build a colored high school to cost $350,000, the best equipped high school for colored pupils in the United States. A few years ago Sir William Mather, accompanied by Lady Mather, visited St. Louis to observe the progress made in manual training. From the white schools they went to the colored and saw the boys and girls receiving the same practical instruction in the use of their hands as well as their minds. "I am surprised," exclaimed the lady. "Wasn't this a slave state ? I am sur prised that you are doing so much for the negroes." "Madame," said Mr. Cupples, "the only people who understand the negroes and who know how to make good citizens of them are those who lived in the , former slave states." Then Lady Mather insisted upon having some pictures of the colored school children of St. Louis at their studies and especially engaged in the manual training and domestic science work. "When we go up to Khartoum," she said to Sir William, "I want to show what these people are doing for the little Africans in St. Louis." The Missouri Negro. " When, the bill to reimburse the depositors of the Freedman's Savings bank was before Congress, Senator Vest opposed it. He said that the bill was in the interest, not of the original depositors, but for the benefit of claim agents. And then he paid this touching tribute to the negro as he had known him in Missouri : "I have nothing to say to any man who thinks that I would grind the African race out of one cent. If any man in this world has reason to be their friend, I am that man — raised with them, nursed by one of them, an humble owner of them as inherited property. I never bought or sold one for gain in my life. They are a docile, gentle, inoffensive race, and the Southern man who would wrong them deserves to be blotted from the roll of manhood. When our wives and children were in their hands during the war they acted so as to make every man in the South their friend who had one particle of manhood about him." According to Commissioner Fitzpatrick, of the state bureau of labor statistics, there were in 1913 nearly 3,800 Missouri farms owned by negroes and these farms were worth $27,768,000, taking the average value of a farm in the state as a basis. Investigation by the bureau showed that these farms, as a rule, were well kept and well stocked and productive, growing wheat, corn, oats, grasses, watermelons, strawberries, . peaches, apples and all other food necessities. Negroes raised poultry for the market, sold eggs, milk and butter, had bee hives and plenty of honey, produced sugar cane, which, in fall, they boiled out for sorghum molasses. Their daily menu was made of the best things they produced. Nearly every negro farmer in Missouri, the commissioner stated, had a bank account. In 1913 the sweepstakes premium for "the highest yield of corn on one acre," awarded at the University of Missouri, went to a negro farmer. It was given to N. C. Bruce, connected with the Bartlett Farm and School for negroes at Dalton in Chariton county. Bruce raised 108 bushels on a single acre. The average for a field of sixty acres at the Dalton institution, where negroes are taught agriculture and other useful branches, was between sixty-five and seventy-five 684 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI bushels an acre. One of the chief promoters of the Dalton school was the late Processor Calvin M. Woodward, father of manual training. Bruce's record, officially, was 108 bushels of corn on a single acre. The negro students of the Dalton school raised an average of sixty-five bushels on a field of sixty acres. In 191 5, Bruce won the first prize on corn for the entire United States at the San Francisco -Exposition. _ "Some of us," Bruce recently wrote to the writer, "the state's farthest down humanity, want to be saved to better service. We want our people to become desirable assets instead of a liability on white citizens. We know that the farms, farming and domestic service training, offer us our best opportunity. We have shown our white neighbors and are trying to show white law-makers and authori ties of the state that we, country life Missouri black people, are worth savings equally as our brothers in Alabama and other southern states. Wa follow the lines of the late Booker T. Washington and get even quicker and better results with the poorest equipment." "A .minimum programme negro advancement" was recently put * forward by the "National Association for the Betterment of the Colored -People." This pro gramme, summarized, demands that lynching shall be stopped; that negroes shall have fair trial in courts ; that employment shall not be denied on account of color in any work for which negroes are qualified ; that there shall be no peonage and that criminal penalties shall not be imposed for the breaking of labor contracts; that common school education shall be open to all children ; that agricultural and industrial training shall be available to all children ; that teachers from their own race shall be provided for negro schools ; that there shall be no segregation to con fine negroes in cities to a slum district'; that where segregation is enforced, there shall be like service for the same cost; that voting laws shall be the same for colored as for white people ; that "grandfather restrictions" on suffrage shall be repealed. ' It is noteworthy that Missouri, either through statutes existing and enforced, or through public sentiment, concedes nearly all of these demands. Perhaps no other state in the Union comes nearer the recognition of this "minimum programme." In the matter of education, the negro child in the Missouri cities enjoys advantages equal to the white. But in the matter of agricultural education, the excellent Dalton school is left to private subscription. < Missouri Slavery an Economic Mistake. Missouri was not much of a slave State even in i860, when the crisis was impending. That year the population was 1,182,012, while the number of slaves was only 114,931, or only one' in ten. Ten southern states had more slaves than Missouri. Five of these states, — Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina, — had, each, more than 400,000. Arkansas, which ranked twelfth in the number of slaves, had 111,114, nearly as many as Missouri. What is more significant in its bearing on the interest of Missouri in the slavery question and also in the struggle of 1861 for control of the state is the showing that two-thirds of the slaves in Missouri were within a few miles of the Missouri river. Twelve counties contained 50,280 slaves, nearly one-half of the ii4,935- SLAVERY AND AFTER 685 Boone 5,034 Jackson '. 3,944 Callaway 4>257 Lafayette v 6,357 Chariton 2,837 Pike '4,056 Clay 3,456 Platte 3,313 Cooper , 2,800- St. Charles 2,181 Howard 5,889 Saline 4,876 While the census of i860 gave Missouri 1,182,912 population, it also showed that there were only 24,320 owners of slaves in Missouri. And while the most of the slaves were in the Missouri valley, with 909 slave owners in one county, Lafayette, it was an interesting fact that only one county was without a single slave. That was Douglas county, in the Ozarks. Slavery was dying out in Missouri. If the Civil war had been postponed ten years, slavery would have ceased to be ah issue in Missouri. These were the very interesting economic conclusions reached as the result of an exhaustive study made under the auspices of Johns Hopkins University by William Clark Breckenridge. The study showed that at the beginning of 1861 slavery was in dustrially profitable in only four Missouri counties. Those were Missouri coun ties where hemp growing was a leading industry. For all other branches of agri culture in Missouri slave labor was not profitable. Custom and tradition prompted the Missouri slaveholders to hold to their peculiar institution against financial interest. CHAPTER XX LAST OF THE BENTON DUELS Thomas C. Reynolds and B. Gratz Brown — Two Challenges and Two Acceptances — The First Offending Editorial — Benton's Championship of Settlers — The District Attorney Protests — Brown Declares Authorship — Reynolds Satisfied — Friends in the Controversy — A Year Later — The Combination Against Benton — "Is It Perjury or Is It Not?" — Reynolds Asks "the Proper Atonement" — Rifles at Eighty Yards — A Question of Short sightedness — The Meeting Off- — Benton the Issue Again — Reynolds' German Speech — "Germans and Irish on an Equality with Negroes" — "An Unmitigated Lie" — The Editor Posted — A Peremptory Challenge — Acceptance in Two Lines — Friends, Advisers and Surgeons — Selma Hall — A Graphic Story of the Meeting — Duello Etiquette — Kennetfs Arrangements— Interchanges of the Seconds — Bearing of the Principals — The Pistols — "Fire!" — Reynolds' Quickness — Brown Wounded — The Return to St. Louis — No Prose cution — In Later Years — Political and Personal Friends — Brown's Career Not Satisfy ing — Reynolds' Fate. They belong, too, to the small class of hermaphrodite politicians who, here in Missouri, style themselves antis, and who, in their blind opposition to Benton, are even willing to go to th« length of subverting by tbe revival of obsolete laws, all he has done for thirty years past to guard the rights of the settler and to secure him his domicile free from intrusion. — B. Gratz Brown's Offending Editorial. Thomas C. Reynolds was of South Carolina nativity. B. Gratz Brown was a Kentuckian, grandson of the first United States senator from the state. Rey nolds graduated from the University of Virginia, went to Germany and com pleted his education at Heidelberg. Brown graduated at Transylvania and went to Yale for his finishing course. He came to St. Louis in 1845, entered the law office of his relative, Francis P. Blair, Jr., but devoted most of his time to the writing of editorials for the newspapers. Reynolds settled in St. Louis a year later, after service as secretary of legation at Madrid, began the practice of law> but gave more attention to local politics. In 1853 the political zeal of Reynolds was recognized by his appointment.as United States district attorney. In 1854 Brown's facility with the pen justified the appearance of his name at the top of the editorial page of the Missouri Democrat. These young men came to St. Louis at about the same time. Both quickly attained prominence in the community. Both were democrats — but democrats of factions between which the hostility was intense. Brown was a free-soil demo crat. Reynolds was a proslavery democrat. Reynolds, within five years after his coming, won a position of influence in local political councils so marked that he was made the candidate of his faction for Congress in 1856, not with any expectation of election, but to swell the anti-Bertton vote. Brown in the same time had written himself into such distinction that it was said his editorials in 687 688 CENTENNIAL HISTORYJDF MISSOURI the Democrat were "ctfrsed by proslavery men, commended by free-soilers, and read by all." In 1854 an editorial by Brown provoked a demand for explanation from Reynolds. Three times in three years the editor and the district alttomey engaged in controversies over articles in tfie Democrat. Twice the challenge passed and was accepted. In 1856 the duel was fought. It was the last, in which blood was shed, between St. Louisans. It closed a record begun -forty years before — a long roll of tragedies. With the meeting between these young men of superior education, of refinement, of gentlemanly instincts, the code passed. In an editorial printed the 21st of April, 1854, the Missouri Democrat ar raigned the United States marshal and the district attorney for persecution of settlers in Southwest Missouri by prosecuting them for cutting timber on gov ernment land and then charging them with "high treason" because they resisted. The Offensive Editorial. ^ "The whole difficulty' in these prosecutions," said the Democrat, "arises from the appointment of persons to office upon the recommendation of a few nullifiers at Washington and in opposition to the wishes of four-fifths' of the people of the state. The present appointees owe their places to the misrepresentation of Atchi son and Phelps, who have been laboring all along in cahoot to defeat the interests of Missouri,, and, of course, nothing better could be expected of such proteges. They belong, too, to the small class of hermaphrodite politicians who, here in Missouri, style themselves antis, and who, in their blind opposition to Benton, are even willing to go to the length of subverting, by the revival of obsolete laws, all he has done for thirty years past to guard the rights of the settler and to secure him his domicile free from intrusion." Nothing in this editorial showed personal animus toward Reynolds. The Mis souri Democrat was making much of settlers' rights. That had long been a Benton doctrine. The evolution from it was the "squatter sovereignty" of Douglas, but Benton did not follow to that development. Some of these settlers had shown resistance when the marshal tried to serve warrants on them for cutting timber on government land. They had been charged with high- treason under an old statute. They were being prosecuted in United States courts by the district attorney, far from their homes. The cases gave the Democrat excel lent opportunity and use was made of it in the interest of Benton, who was in Congress that term and a candidate for re-election. Reynolds wrote a card in answer to the .editorial, a rather mysterious card, in which he_ said, "My respect for the two lawyers who edit the Democrat for bids my believing the article was penned by either of them." And then he pro tested against the "comment on my official action." The Democrat came back in the same issue which gave place to the card: "To satisfy his curiosity, we can inform him that the article was written by one of the editors of the Democrat." Then followed something very personal: "We remember that during Mr. Polk's administration, the very important fact of an offer to purchase Cuba by the American minister was made known to the public through the New York Herald, although the correspondence was not only not published, but was intended to be a state secret. As the district attorney Courtesy Missouri Historical Society BROADWAY, ST. LOUIS, FROM RUTGER STREET NORTH, 1872 Old French Market, now small park, in the center. Sacred Heart Oonverit on the right, where many members of the French families were educated in early days. LAST OF THE BENTON DUELS 691 was secretary of legation at that time, perhaps he can inform the public how the fact came to be known. Painful rumors were abroad through the country in regard to the manner in which the Herald obtained its information, but our memory does not retain all of the particulars, and we therefore await enlighten ment from the district attorney." A Satisfactory Explanation. When he came down to the Democrat office that morning, Brown received a note from Reynolds, asking if this second editorial was "designed to be offen sive," closing with, "my friend Mr. Goode will receive your reply." This course was in accord with the technicalities of the dueling code. Brown replied: "I am the author of the articles to which you allude." He added that the card* of Reynolds "contained an assumption which I conceived reflected upon me per sonally." Reynolds' answer was that he "had no intention in any part of that communication to reflect on either of the editors of the Democrat personally." Thereupon Brown wrote that this gave "an opportunity, of which I take pleasure in availing myself, to ,withdraw any language that is personally offensive to you in the editorial." The note of Brown was delivered to Reynolds "by my friend, Colonel Robert M. Renick." Reynolds answered: "Your note of to-day is received, and it gives me pleasure to accept the same as satisfactory." Reynolds' interest in the controversy subsided suddenly when Brown avowed himself the author of the articles. Possibly Reynolds thought he was on the trail of big game. He knew, as did everybody in Missouri politics, that Benton was a frequent contributor to the editorial page of the Democrat. To the young district attorney, with his South Carolina theory of personal responsibility, an issue like this with the great Benton would be very attractive. In his card^ evi dently written as a feeler, Reynolds indicated his theory that the first editorial had not been written by eithef of the ostensible editors of the . Democrats. He said his future course would depend upon his "opinion of the source" -from which the editorial criticism emanated. Did he at first suspect that Benton might be the author of the editorial ? If so, the readiness with which he expressed inten tion to avoid personalities and with which he accepted satisfaction is accounted for. Robert M. Renick, the friend of Brown in this first affair, was a banker. George W. Goode, who acted for Reynolds, was a Virginian, and had passed through his own experience with the code of his native state. He had been a law partner of James A. Seddon, afterwards secretary of war in the Cabinet of Jefferson Davis. A close friend of Goode had sustained an injury which de manded satisfaction on the field of honor. He was prevented by religious obliga tions, possibly church relations, from sending a challenge, but Goode had acted for him. As a result of sending the challenge in Virginia, Goode moved to St. Louis. There he was counsel in a famous land case, won a fee of $50,000, bought an estate in St. Louis county and lived the life of a country gentleman. A Year Later. The second affair between Brown and Reynolds enlivened the municipal cam paign eleven months after the first; its beginning was a local report of a meeting 692 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI held to unite various elements upon an anti-Benton ticket for the city election. Politics in Missouri, from 1850 to i860, was a continuous performance. At the time of these affairs between Brown and Reynolds a mayor and other city^ officials were elected annually. Party lines were down. Factions formed and reformed. The Missourian could be a Benton Democrat, a "regular" Democrat, a Whig, a Know-Nothing, a reform Republican, an Emancipationist, a Free- Soiler, an Abolitionist. Not infrequently he changed his factional affiliation from, one campaign to the next. Benton was beaten for the Senate, elected to the House and defeated for governor, all in six years. St. Louis had in rapid succession a Democrat, a Whig, an Emancipationist and a Republican for mayors. The young editor of the Democrat, guided by a dimly defined political policy, realizing under-the-surface rumblings of the political earthquake which was coming, endeavored to make his editorial page virile and readable; he did not shun personalities. In March, 1855, the combination was forming to beat the Benton party in the election for mayor of St. Louis. Anti-Benton Democrats, Know-Nothings and Whigs were in it. Boernstein, the German '•'boss," joined the coalition. This attempt to unite the Know-Nothings and the Germans gave the Democrat its opportunity. Strange to tell, just at this time Reynolds entered into a business enterprise with Boernstein. The district attorney and the German leader became partners in a brewery. Boernstein was the chief object of the Democrat's attack, Reynolds' name did not appear in the lively two-column description which the Democrat reporter wrote of the speeches and scenes of the anti-Benton mass meeting. A later generation in journalism' would have called it "a good story." In the next column of the Democrat appeared a communication from "Anti-Know- Nothing" devoted to Reynolds and his brewery association with Boernstein. The letter assumed that the brewery was a cover for a political conspiracy "formed for the purpose of defeating Benton." In the August campaign of 1854, only a few months previous to this, when Benton was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress, Boernstein had pandered to Know-Nothing prejudices by anti-Catholic articles in the Anzeiger, his paper. These articles were translated and republished in the Missouri Republican, credited to the Anzeiger, to'drive Catholic support from Benton. At that time the Anzeiger was pretending to support Benton. The Democrat's correspondent, "Anti-Know-Nothing," insinuated that by secret intrigue Reynolds had prompted Boernstein, who was ostensibly supporting Benton, to assail the Catholics; that Reynolds translated these anti-Catholic articles and furnished them to the Re publican. Benton was beaten in that election, but the appeals to religious preju dices led fo the worst election riots St. Louis had known. Referring to the application for the brewery charter by Reynolds and Boern stein, the Democrat asked, editorially, "Is it perjury or is it not?" Reynolds demanded "a withdrawal of your editorial of today, a disavowal and repudiation of the communication of the 17th and an apology for their insertion in your columns." He sent the note by the hand of the United States collector of cus toms at St. Louis, W. A. Linn, commonly known as "Gus" Linn, a relative of the former United States Senator Linn. Brown replied that instead of "proceed- ing in the usual manner to ascertain the author of the communication by which LAST OF THE BENTON DUELS 693 you feel yourself to be aggrieved," Reynolds was attempting "to dictate and bully." Reynolds sent a verbal challenge by Linn. Brown replied : "I have no more intention of permitting you to brow-beat me than I have of permitting you to place me in the wrong, and, therefore, whenever you desire to make a further communication in writing, you will not find me unwilling to respond to your satisfaction." Challenged by Reynolds. Reynolds challenged : "Your notes are not only insufficient, but offensive. I ask the proper atonement. My friend, Mr. W. A. Linn, is authorized to act for me." Brown accepted: "I am convinced of your determination to force a collision with me, and am, therefore, constrained to gratify your unjustifiable caprice. I will refer you for all further arrangements to my friend, Capt. D. M. Frost, who is authorized to act for me in the premises." Captain Frost immediately notified Linn that the weapon to be used was "the common American rifle, with open sight, round ball, not over one ounce, each gentleman to select his own weapon of the kind named." Captain Frost added for his principal: "He has also chosen eighty yards as the distance, and will on Sunday next arrange as to time and place." Then followed much letter writing on the part of Reynolds and the seconds, Reynolds demanded shorter distance. "I consider the rifle, which you have named as the weapon, to be unusual and barbarous, and generally excluded by gentle men. With this protest, as you leave me no choice, I accept it and exercise the right (which I have absolutely) to shorten the distance from eighty paces to twenty. To show you that I do so not from caprice, but necessity, I assure you, and it is a notorious fact, that I am so nearsighted that I am unable, even with my glasses, in ordinary weather, to recognize any person, except an intimate friend, at a greater distance than thirty paces ; and as you have the right to name the time of day for the meeting, I can not safely consent to a greater distance than twenty. I hope that in selecting a distance of eighty paces you were ignorant of my defective eyesight, and that you did not knowingly propose terms on which you, accustomed to the rifle, could shoot me down with perfect safety to your self." The correspondence carried on by Frost and Linn over the question of dis tance fahged through the history of the code. Rules of practice were quoted. Precedents Were .cited. In the end Frost declined to shorten the distance. Linn refused to proceed. The Third Controversy. Benton still was an issue in 1856. He was running for governor and was supporting Buchanan for President against a member of his own family, his son-* in-law, John C. Fremont. In the heat of that campaign the third controversy between Brown and Reynolds had its origin. Reynolds made a speech in German at Mehl's store, in St. Louis^ county. He had taken the nomination for Congress as candidate of the anti-Benton Democracy. The Missouri Democrat charged that in his German speech Rey- 694 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI \ y- nolds "placed Germans and Irish on an equality with negroes." Reynolds sent a card to the Missouri Republican proclaiming this to be "an unmitigated lie, worthy of a sheet whose proclivity to wilful and deliberate falsehoods is only exceeded by the notorious poltroonery of its editor in defending them, or his meanness in not withdrawing them after their falsehood has been proven." Brown took notice of the card by this comment in the Democrat: "The office- holding Pierce candidate for Congress is as full of manifestoes against the Democrat as a guinea fowl is of eggs." He added: "Mr. Reynolds must certainly know that the Democrat has higher game in view in this canvass than himself or the bogus ticket on which he is running. He must also know that he, having on former occasion backed out of a challenge which he sent himself to the editor of this paper, can not be longer viewed as within the pale of those . who appeal to such- modes for the adjustment of personal difficulties, or expect his effusions to be noticed in that light." Reynolds came out in the afternoon paper with another card, which con- -cluded: "For him- whom this whole community considers an unquestionable coward, and who has been repeatedly convicted of .lying, to venture an opinion on my standing as a gentleman is the height of insolence, equalled in intensity only by the abject cravenness with which he has, over and over again, in private and public life, submitted to insults of the most stinging and degrading kind." Reynolds proceeded to "post" Brown by obtaining the publication of his two cards outside of St. Louis. To "post," in the language of the code, was to pro claim in the most public manner possible an adversary to be dishonorable and cowardly. Brown waited until after the election, having, as he explained in a personal note published in the Democrat, "no desire to mingle our own personal conflicts with the excitement of an election." On the 18th of August, he sent "a peremptory challenge." There was no exchange of correspondence. The acceptance was a matter of two lines. The Last Political Duel in Missouri. A graphic account of "the last political duel fought in Missouri" appeared in the Kansas City Times in 1872. John N. Edwards was the brilliant editor of the paper at that time. He had seen much of Reynolds in the days of the Confed eracy. The two had gone to Mexico with Shelby after the surrender. Brown was governor of Missouri and a leading Presidential candidate in the Liberal Republican movement. The time for reminiscences was Opportune. Norte other than Major Edwards knew so well the details or could have written the narrative that follows : "Both men meant earnest work, and went about it very calmly and very deliberately. Both represented' a party, an idea, a cause, both had a large number of firm and fast friends, and both were cool, brave, and daring. Brown's seconds were Col. David D. Mitchell, formerly a superintendent of Indian affairs in the West, and of great reputation as an Indian trader and fighter; and Leo Walker, a gentleman from South Carolina, who had married into a wealthy St. Louis family, and who resided there. It was understood, also, that besides these immediate friends, Brown had as advisers Col. Thomas H. Benton and Frank P. Blair. Reynolds' friends were Col. Ferd. Kennett, of Selma Hall, the best pistol shot in Missouri, and Capt. Thomas B. Hudson, a leading Democratic politician' who had distinguished himself under Doniphan and in Doniphan's march to Mexico. For advisers, LAST OF THE BENTON DUELS 695 Reynolds had Col. David H. Armstrong, the present chairman of the Democratic executive committee of the state, Col. W. A. Linn, the then collector of customs at St. Louis, Isaac H. Sturgeon, for a long time president of the North Missouri railroad, and, in fact, the Democrats generally of the city. John How was mayor of St. Louis at that time, and Judge Henry A. Clover, prosecuting attorney. Although these gentlemen knew that a duel was on the tapis, and that a challenge had been sent and accepted, such was the tone of public sentiment and such the leniency with which these things were regarded, that no efforts at arrest were made, and no interference of any kind attempted. When people are in Rome, they must needs do as the Romans do, and hence every preparation was fully carried out by the principals and their respective friends. "Selma Hall, the place of the meeting was an elegant country seat in Jefferson county, Missouri, forty miles below St. Louis, and the property of Col. Ferd. Kennett. Here nature and art had combined to make the spot one of the loveliest in the West. Flowers and fountains abounded everywhere. In the August noon, huge forest trees made a grateful shade, under which deer rested at ease, cropping the rich grass at intervals and crouching low at intervals, as the memory of the old wild days of horns and huntsmen came up from the lowlands and the river. There were steeds ever in stall for the young bloods who swore by Kennett and his hounds; books for the pale students who stole away from medicine and law to sleep one night with the hills and the clover ; costly wines for whosoever would drink, and an open door and a ready latch-string for every wayfarer benighted through chance or inclination. "To this delightful place, on the 23d day of August, 1856, Gratz Brown and his friends repaired. Etiquette required that Reynolds' second, Colonel Kennett, should receive them, which he did with princely hospitality, and they were at once domiciled and surrounded with every attention and luxury possible. The night before leaving St. Louis, Reynolds remained at the house of Isaac H.^Sturgeon, and slept so soundly that Sturgeon had to call to him loudly the next morning before arousing him. He had in the meantime pro cured the services as surgeon of Dr. J. H. Shore, a distinguished physician of St. Louis, who, together with Reynolds, Kennett and Hudson, passed over into Illinois by the North St. Louis ferry. They proceeded down leisurely to a point opposite Selma Hall, passing the intermediate night at a friend of Kennett's, and reaching their destination at about twelve o'clock on the second day. "On Monday evening, August 25th, Reynolds crossed over to Selma Hall, accepting the hospitality of G. W. Chadbourne, now president of the St. Louis Shot Tower com pany, but then living on the river bank, a few hundred yards from Kennett's elegant mansion. For a week Kennett had been in his element. Nothing pleased Mm so well as a duel, if a duel had to be fought, and he made all of his preparations with the exact and scrupulous care so necessary in giving an air of elegance and aristocracy to the whole per formance. Not a single detail was omitted. Two cushioned and commodious skiffs were launched into the Mississippi on the morning of Tuesday, August 26th, 1856. Into one Reynolds and his friends took their seats— into the other Brown and his friends. A stal wart negro oarsman in each rowed them to a sand-bar in the Mississippi river, midway between the States of Illinois and Missouri. The upper end of this bar was covered with a growth oPyoung dottonwood. In the branches of these trees were singing birds that made the morning vocal. "It was not yet sunrise. No cloud anywhere over the face of the sky hid the great, tender eyes of the dawn. It was a summer morning. The gorgeous robes of nature adorned all the trees with green. Not a land breeze shook the dew dimples out from the cheeks of the sleeping river. The whole earth smelt sweet with living. The cottonwoods and the oaks were jubilant as a hive. In their branches there was the noise of many wings —among their leaves the rippling of a thousand summer songs. "As they went down to the skiffs together, Kennett took a long look at the panorama spread out before him— at the river unrolling a curtain of silver to the sea— at the orchards white and pink with fruir— at the glimpses of woodland and valley woven into warp and woof by the God of the Universe, and he turned to grim old Mitchell and said, curtly : "'It is beautiful overhead and underfoot. Would you like to be shot today?' 696 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI " 'As well one day as another. Why ?' "Tt is so sweet to live when the sap is in the trees and the birds abound in their branches. It looks like tempting Providence.' "'It may be, but Providence blesses him who shoots first and pulls the steadiest trigger.' "Between these two there was no further conversation until they reached the bar. "The principals stepped from the boats as men who were going to a dance — and that dance a waltz. Reynolds was then in his thirty-fifth year, and Brown was several years younger. The first had a wife whom he had left in total ignorance of the duel, the last was unmarried. Nothing could be cooler than the bearing of each. Brown was dressed scrupulously in black, with his coat buttoned up to his chin — Reynolds in a light gray suit, scarcely distinguishable from the sand of the river. The terms had all been arranged. They were to fight with dueling pistols, carrying an ounce ball, were to face each other, and were to stand twelve paces apart. The drop shot had been accepted by both; that is to say, the pistols were to be held, muzzle upwards, until the word was given, when they were to be lowered and fired. This was understood to be the most deadly way of fighting. . "It was now a little after sunrise. All the east was red as with fire. A little breeze had arisen with the sun, just enough to shake the dew-drops from the leaves and give to the waves a speech as they broke on the bar. , "Kennett took a silver half dollar from his pocket and turned towards Mitchell, saying : .,, "'Shall we toss for the position?' " 'Yes, up with it.' "Kennett won. He tossed again for the word, and won that. "Walker drew nearer to Hudson, and- remarked : "'Reynolds is lucky. How about the pitcher which goes so often to the well?' "Tt gets broken at last, the proverb says. I hope we all may get safely out of this without a verification of that adage.' \ '"'We shall see.' ' "The choice of position was not of much advantage, however, as the sun was too low to affect either. The word remained with Kenne'tt, and he was to call out: 'Fire — One — Two — Three— Stop!' The principals were not to lower their pistols before the word 'Fire', and not to shoot after the word 'Stop.' "Kennett and Mitchell measured the ground carefully. Each turned after he had finished and threw a keen glance along the tawny track, and then looked into the eyes of the other. They did not sp,eak audibly, yet both said in their hearts : " Tt is close.' "And it was. Too close for two such men, who had only between them the un pleasant memories of a political quarrel. "They were placed face to face. Brown looked straight at his adversary, a pleasant half-smile on his lips. Not a muscle quivered. He stood as if carved from the sand, immovable and yet so full of bountiful life. Reynolds' attitude was none the less superb. The Kentuckian and the South Carolinian were to fight as their ancestors had fought before them for an hundred years. They recognized the code, and it was well. By the code they would be judged fairly, standing or falling. "The pistols were brought and loaded carefully. A grain of powder more or less might sacrifice a life. They were ugly looking weapons to say the best of them, and of English make. On each barrel was the word 'London' engraved. THe stocks were of mahogany, and. of the - 'saw-handle' shape. They had hair-triggers, double-sights, were smooth-bores, and carried each an ounce ball. The barrels were full six inches long, and were dark looking and ominous. "It was now between six and seven o'clock. The negro oarsmen looked on in sober wonderment. The surgeons arranged their instruments and bandages. The respective friends of each principal took, their positions, and when everything was in readiness, Kennett called out in a clear and distinct voice : "'Gentlemen, are you ready?' LAST OF THE BENTON DUELS 697 "So nearly together as to sound as one voice, both Brown and Reynolds answered : "'Ready!' "Kennett then cried out: "'Fire!' "Before the word 'One' was heard, Reynolds lowered his pistol and fired. Brown fired almost simultaneously with his adversary. Indeed, the two reports were blended so nearly as to be indistinguishable and >the seconds looked from one to the other to see if either was hit. Reynolds stood perfectly still, with the smoking pistol in his hand, while Brown shifted his weight from one leg to the other as if suffering pain. "Hudson walked up to Reynolds and said to him : , " 'I fear Brown is wounded in the groin.' "Reynolds replied : " 'You must be mistaken, for I aimed at his knee.' "Hudson then went nearer to Brown, returning in a short time to his principal remarking : " 'You are right. He is shot in the knee.' "i'I was certain of it,' replied Reynolds. 'The wound will not be dangerous.' "Brown's friends, in the meanwhile, had approached him, and led him to one side, while the surgeons examined his wound. He was as cool as a- grenadier. Although suffer ing extreme pain and scarcely able to stand, he sternly demanded another fire, insisting on his ability to remain upon the field. The surgeons overruled his wishes, and immediately a conference took place between all the friends of each, which was communicated to the principals, and Reynolds instantly advanced to where Brown was lying, the pain of the wound having forced him to the ground, and offered his hand in a frank and friendly manner. Brown took it in the same spirit, and they had some friendly conversation to gether. Mutual expressions of esteem were exchanged, and the mutual withdrawal of everything offensive that had, taken place between them. "Just at that time the steamer Editor, from Memphis, heavily loaded and crowded with passengers, came in sight down the river. She was at once hailed and stopped to take the, party on board. Brown had to be removed in a blanket, the ball having split the bone of the right leg just upon the edge of the knee joint, causing profuse hemorrhage and intense pain. A state room was placed at once at his disposal, and he received the most generous attention from all. "Naturally rejoiced that the duel had terminated no more unfavorably, a jolly time was had on board the boat. Several games of poker were improvised. Reynolds' purse was appropriated by one of his friends, and in a very short time its contents were entirely absorbed. "All kinds of reports had preceded them to St. Louis, which they reached in tire after noon. Some had Brown killed and some Reynolds. One was mortally wounded, and the other dying. Neither had been struck within less than a fraction of an inch of the heart. The mayor and a squad of police were promptly on board, but having no jurisdiction, they of course made no arrests. Brown was carried at once to his lodgings, and Reynolds carried directly home, where he found his brave wife suffering greatly, yet fully resolved to bear the worst. She believed in fighting duels when duels were necessary, and like the Spartan matron would have buckled on her husband's armor and bidden him go forth to the fight and return on his shield or come not back dishonored. "Both Reynolds and Brown were most excellent shots. Perhaps the first had the advantage of practice. Just before the duel, he had gone in company with Col. Wm. A. Linn to the grounds of the Marine Hospital in order to have a little exercise with the drop shot, with rapidity of firing, and with a low aim. While engaged in this kind of practice, Reynolds told Linn that he intended to hit Brown in the knee, so as not to wound him seriously. Linn remonstrated and said it was a dangerous business as Brown was a splendid shot. " 'Your life,' he continued, 'may depend upon a fatal wound.' "Reynolds replied: " T am very sure of my quickness in firing, and were it otherwise, I would never con- 698 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI sent to take a man's life for a mere political quarrel. If I can disturb Brown's aim by shooting him first, it will be all I desire.' "Some difference of opinion existed as to the direction of Brown's bullet. Reynolds declared that he heard it whistle by his head, while Kennett was .equally positive that it glanced from Reynolds' breast and told him afterwards that if he had not fired so quickly and so surely, Brown would have squarely hit him in the chest. Brown took his wound like a soldier, only gathering himself together once, and compressing his lips as a man does in extreme bodily pain." The articles as first drawn provided that the second who "gave the word" should call, "Fire — one — stop" in a deliberate manner, "with an interval not ex ceeding one minute between words." Later the interval was cut down to one- half minute, but before the parties went to the sandbar the „ half minute was changed to one second. This required that the pistol which was held upright, be lowered and fired very quickly. Kennett made the changes and probably pre vented a fatal termination. Brown was lamed for life. The Two Careers. , Political honors and official duties came thick and fast to both Brown and Reynolds after the duel. Brown distinguished himself the following winter at Jefferson , City by the boldness of his utterances on the anti-slavery side in the legislature. He uttered sentiments which were of national comment. Reynolds took the nomination for lieutenant governor on the "regular" Democratic ticket in i860 and was elected. Brown was in the councils of Blair, Lyon and other unconditional Union men before the capture of Camp Jackson.' Reynolds pre sided Over the state senate in the session of 1861, and shared with Governor Claiborne F. Jackson in the planning for the secession of Missouri. He pub lished a notable letter against Federal coercion of the sovereign State of Mis souri. Brown was made colonel of one of the Union- regiments raised in St. Louis in the spring of 1861, previous to the call of President Lincoln for troops to suppress the Confederacy. His regiment participated in the capture of Camp Jackson. When Governor Jackson left Jefferson City to try to take Missouri out of the Union, Reynolds had preceded him. The convention, which met after the departure of Jackson and Reynolds, organized a new state government. Jack son and Reynolds, moving from place to place with the state troops under Sterling Price, organized a traveling legislature and went through the forms of election of senators and representatives to the Confederate Congress at Richmond. Jack son died. Reynolds became the Confederate governor of Missouri without a capital. Part of the time he marched with the army, and part of the time he was in Richmond, issuing occasional proclamations and messages to the people of Mis souri and to his traveling legislature. Brown was made a brigadier general in the Union army. In 1863 he became United States senator from Missouri. Before the convention of 1864, he supported the ordinance for emancipation of slaves in Missouri. Toward the close of the war Reynolds did staff duty with General Shelby. After the war he went with Shelby and a considerable" force of Missourians to Mexico, remaining in that country several years.. In 1868 Reynolds returned to LAST OF THE BENTON DUELS 699 St. Louis. Two years later the Liberal Republican movement was inaugurated with Brown as the nominee for governor. The platform was restoration of civil rights to ex-Confederates. The Democrats made no nominations. Brown was elected and served two years. In 1872 the effort was made to give the Missouri idea national application and Brown was put forward for the Presidential nomina tion. The convention, held in Cincinnati, gave first place to Greeley and put Brown on the ticket for Vice President. In 1874 Reynolds, with his civil rights restored by the movement which Brown had headed, was elected to the Missouri ' legislature. from St. Louis. During the administration of President Arthur he was appointed the Democratic member of a commission sent to investigate pos sible improvement of commercial relations with Latin-American countries. Brown and Reynolds were on friendly terms after the war. From having been as far apart as possible politically, they came to have common political pur poses. During the closing years of their lives their professional work was similar. They performed such duties as masters in chancery and commissioners. Political Honors Not Satisfying. Brown and Reynolds gave the best of their years and talents to politics. When age came on, neither felt that his career had brought a satisfying degree of suc cess. Brown thought he should have devoted himself to mathematics. He had a natural bent in that direction. A treatise on algebra which he wrote attracted much notice. "Governor Brown," said Enos Clarke, who knew him intimately, "should have been a college professor. He would have done honor to the chair of mathematics at any American university." Reynolds was a linguist of no ordinary ability. He possessed natural aptitude for acquiring other languages. During the high tide of German immigration to St. Louis, he used his knowledge of that language to considerable effect in local political campaigns. He made many German speeches. William E. Curtis, the traveler and writer, was one of Reynolds' colleagues of the Central and South American Commission. He told of the surprise which Reynolds caused, as the commission went from capital to capital, by his responses in several languages to the addresses of welcome. Reynolds replied officially in English and then trans lated his remarks into one language after another until everybody present under stood him. Reynolds was a man of much sentiment. At the time of the death of his first wife, he wrote a sketch of her life, had it printed and sent copies to his intimate friends. In the spring of 1887 he went to the Federal building in St. Louis, ostensibly on legal business; he was found at the bottom of an elevator shaft. A short time before his death he wrote this memorandum : "I am troubled with insomnia and frequent nervousness. I suffer from per sistent melancholy. My mind is beginning to wander. I have hallucinations and even visions, when I am awake, of materialized spirits of deceased ancestors, urging me to join them in another world. Life has become a burden to me. I am now still sound of mind and I write down this statement so that should I do anything rash, my friends may feel assured it was done in some temporary dis order of mind. In that event I commend myself to the mercy of God and the charitable judgment of men, soliciting for my excellent and devoted wife the sympathy of my friends." CHAPTER XXI MISSOURI IN 1861 "You Can't Coerce a Sovereign State" — An Extraordinary Vote — Advice from Two Gover nors — The Secession Program — Three Kinds of Democrats — The Contest for the Arsenal — General Frost's Report — Archbishop Kenrick Applies Scriptures — The Com mittee of Public Safety — General Farrar's Reminiscences — Some Aggressive Journal ism — Home Guards and Minute Men — Isaac H. Sturgeon's Warning — An Insult to Missouri — Harney Restores Quiet — The Testing of Sweeny — A Commissioner Before the Legislature — John D. Stevenson Interrogates Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds — A Loaded Military Bill— General Lyon Arrives — The State Convention — Election of Delegates — Missouri Goes Union by 80,000 Majority — Dismay of the Southern Rights Democrats — Blair's Appeal to Lincoln — John F. Philips on the Delegates — Sterling Price Elected President — Minute Men Raise a Secession Flag — Riotous Scenes in Front of Headquarters — The Legislature Refuses to Pass the Military Bill — Prompt Action, by the Convention — Secession "Is Annihilation for Missouri" — Colonel Broadhead's Pre diction — Price to Shackleford — The Convention Denounced in the Legislature — Police Control Taken from St. Louis — Lyon Promises Arms to Home Guards — The April Election. / s There never was in this world a struggle in which time was more the essence of things than in the fight for Missouri. The people were divided into something like three equal parts — one for the Union, another for secession, while the minds pf the third were not made up, but were in a plastic condition. This halting, wavering third became decisive of the contest. To control it Blair and his opponents waged a battle royal. If, in the beginning, Blair could have aroused the federal government to a realization of the vast -strategic importance of Missouri and to the necessity for early action, his task would have been easy. If, in the beginning, his antagonists could have aroused the Missouri legislature to a comprehension of the situation and could have induced the state authorities to^ seize the United States arsenal at St. Louis before General Nathaniel Lyon was placed in command, their task would have been easy; but when Lyon appeared upon the scene, their one golden opportunity was gone. — Champ Clark. South Carolina had passed the ordinance of secession on the 20th of December. Other\ Southern States were preparing to follow in January. What shall Mis souri do? All Missourians were asking that when the new state administration came in. "You can't coerce a sovereign state," echoed through the valleys and ran like flame over the prairies. "Armed neutrality" was the slogan that winter of 1861. The Presidential election of i860 brought to the polls nearly the entire voting population of Missouri. The census that year gave the state 1,182,912. Of this population 1 14,935 were slaves. A vote was cast for every six white persons, an extraordinary proportion to be accounted for by the intense interest felt in the issues. But the vote was divided in a most remarkable manner. Douglas carried the state, yet he received only about one-third of the votes cast, 58,801. This was the strength of those Missourians who believed in "squatter sovereignty"— in giving to the territories and new states the right to decide for themselves whether 701 702 • CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI they would have slavery. The anti-slavery party cast 17,028 votes for Lincoln, nearly all of them in St. Louis and by Germans. "Southern Rights democrats," as they preferred to be called, Missourians who sympathized with the South, believed in the right to secede and were willing to join in this movement, polled only 12,000 more votes than the republicans. TJiey joined issue with the Douglas democrats by declaring in favor of protecting "property" in every part of the Union. They gave John C. Breckinridge 31,317 votes. But there was another element in Missouri. It was almost as strong as the Douglas following. It cast 58,372 votes for John Bell and "Constitutional Union." These Bell men held that agitation of the slavery question was not only unnecessary but dangerous. Some of them had been whigs: Others had been Benton men.* All of them were against the extremists, whether republicans or Southern Rights democrats. While 17,000 Missourians were against extension of slavery and 31,000 demanded extension of slavery or secession, 117,000 Missourians were"" against the two extreme minorities. Five-sevenths, or nearly that, of the Missouri body politic, was hostile to the radical elements of the North and the South. Thus it was that Missouri, at the beginning of 1861, presented conditions of public sentiment that were unlike those of any other state. Conflicting Advice from Two Governors. Missouri changed state administrations on the 3d of January, 1861. The retiring governor, Robert ^M. Stewart, and the incoming governor, Claiborne F. Jackson, in their messages, had much to say of what Missouri should do. "Bob" Stewart was a northern democrat, a New Yorker by birth, but long a' resident of Missouri. "Claib" Jackson was of Kentucky descent, a tall, fine-looking man, with a dignified bearing and considerable power on the stump. He had led the anti-Benton fight against f ree-soilism. Stewart didn't like slavery, but he had strong convictions that the Constitution guaranteed to slaveholders protection of their "property" and that they had the right to take that "property" into the territories. South Carolina had seceded. Other southern states were preparing to follow when Stewart, on the 3d of January, said in his retiring message r - "As matters stand at present Missouri will stand by her lot, and hold to the Union as long as it is worth an effort to preserve it. So long as there is hope of success she will seek fori justice within the Union. She cannot be frightened from her propriety by the past unfriendly legislation of the North, nor be dragooned into secession by the extreme South. If those who should be our friends and allies undertake to render our property worthless by a system of prohibitory laws, or by re-opening the slave trade* in opposition to the moral sense of the civilized world, and at the same time reduce us to the position of an humble sentinel to watch over and protect their interests, receiving all the blows and none of the benefits, Missouri will hesitate long before sanctioning such an arrangement. She will rather take the high position of armed neutrality. She is able to take care pf herself, and will be neither forced nor flattered, driven nor coaxed, into a course of action that must end in her own destruction." On the same day that the retiring governor defined the position of Missouri on the question of secession, his successor took the ground that the slaveholding states should stand together. In his inaugural Governor Claib. Jackson said of the republican party which had triumphed in the election of Lincoln: MISSOURI IN 1861 . 703 "It is purely sectional in its locality and its principles. The only principle inscribed upon its banner is Hostility to Slavery — its object not merely to confine slavery within its present limits ; not merely to exclude it from the territories and prevent the forma tion and admission of slaveholding states; not merely to abolish it in the District^of Co lumbia, and interdict its passage from one state to another; but to strike down its exist ence everywhere; to sap its foundation in public sentiment; to annoy and harass, and gradually destroy its vitality, by every means, direct or indirect, physical and moral, which human ingenuity can devise. The triumph of such an organization is not the victory of a political party, but the domination of a section. It proclaims in significant tones the destruction of that equality among the states which is the vital cement of our federal Union. It places fifteen of the thirty-three states in the position of humble recipients of the bounty, or sullen submissionists to the power of a government which they had no voice in creating, and in whose councils they do not participate. It cannot, then, be a matter of surprise to any — victors or vanquished — that these fifteen states, with a pecuniary interest at stake reaching the enormous sum of $3,500,000,000 should be aroused and excited at the advent of such a party to power. Would it not rather be an instance of unprecedented blindness and fatuity, if the people and governments of these fifteen slave- holding states were, under the circumstances, to manifest" quiet indifference, and to make no effort to avoid the destruction which awaited them?" The Secession Leader. The new lieutenant-governor, Thomas C. Reynolds, was more outspoken than Governor Jackson. While Reynolds had been nominally for Douglas in the state campaign, he took the leadership of the secessionists as soon as the assembly met. He issued an address the opening day, of the session, declaring against the peace policy of the Buchanan administration. He argued for immediate and thorough militia ^organization "putting/ the state in complete condition of defense." Plainly indicating what this meant, he said that if there was not an adjustment between the North and South before March 4, the inauguration of the republican admin istration, Missouri "should not permit Mr. Lincoln to exercise any act of govern ment" within the state. < Reynolds' address to the public appeared a few hours before the messages of the retiring and the incoming governors. He, had prepared himself well for the part he was to take. In the December preceding, while Congress was in session, Reynolds passed some time jn Washington, conferring with the southern leaders. He fully assured himself that the South would secede and that hostilities would follow the inauguration of Lincoln. Confident that he knew the situation, the lieutenant-governor did not hesitate to take the most advanced position of the Southern Rights democrats of Missouri. His address was out on the 3d of January. The 4th of January was a "Day of National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer," so appointed by President Buchanan in the hope of averting war. No where was it observed more devoutly than in Missouri. On the 5th of January bills in fine with the suggestions of' Reynolds were introduced in the legislature. They were received with enthusiasm by the younger democrats. Reynolds ap pointed the senate committees with strong southern rights chairmen to carry out' his policy. The lieutenant-governor was in his fortieth year, "a short full- bodied man, with jet black hair and eyes shaded with gold-rimmed glasses. He spoke French, German and Spanish fluently, wrote profusely and with consider able force." ¦ He was particularly insistent that Missouri should declare her posi tion, on the question of "coercion." In his address he held that the national 704 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI government had no right to compel any state to remain in the Union against its will ; that it could not use force in any way to collect revenues or execute laws in a'seceding state. He even denounced the course of President Buchanan and said : "To levy tribute, molest commerce, or hold fortresses are as much acts of war as to bombard a city." For a short time it seemed as if the southern rights policy of Reynolds would sweep the legislature. George G. Vest was a member; he introduced a re'solu- .tion declaring so "abhorrent 'was the doctrine of coercion, that any attempt at such would result in the people of Missouri rallying on the side of their southern brethren to resist to the last extremity." The resolution passed with only one negative in the senate and fourteen in the house. Another of the lieutenant-governor's recommendations was that a state con vention be called. In a few days after the organization of the assembly one of the committees brought in a bill for such a convention "to consider the relations of the State of Missouri to the United States and to adopt measures vindicating the sovereignty of the state and the protection of her institutions." This measure passed with only two negatives in the senate and eighteen in the house. The legislature which met at Jefferson City the beginning of 1861 was over whelmingly democratic, as the members classified themselves. In the senate were twenty-five democrats, seven unionists, and one republican. In the house were eighty-five democrats, thirty-five unionists and twelve republicans. Most of the republicans were from the German wards of St. Louis. But there were three kinds of democrats, as in the Presidential election. • There were democrats ¦ who believed in local option on the slavery question in the territories ; democrats who condemned "all this fuss about the nigger" ; democrats who were ready to go out of the Union now that Lincoln had' been elected. In the early days of the session the lines of cleavage in the Democratic party shaded so fine that the sentiment of the majority seemed to drift one way and then the other as the questions of policy were presented. One of Blair's utterances in 1861 was "Let us have a country first, and then we can talk parties." The Arsenal Issue. In the matter of property rights as well as in other relations between the United States and the states this country has traveled far since 1861. According to the southern rights view, the right of secession carried with it ownership of government property within the seceding state. Missouri secessionists had no doubt that the arsenals as well as other government property would belong to Missouri the day that they adopted an ordinance of secession. They had, the first two months of 1861, no doubt Missouri was going to secede. But pending that action possession of the arsenals and the disposition of the" contents gave great concern. The United States had two arsenals in Missouri. One, the smaller, was at Liberty. This had been of considerable importance when Liberty was on the border of the Indian country and the principal frontier community, previous to the Platte purchase. At the beginning of 1861, the Liberty arsenal contained MISSOURI IN 1861 705 some hundreds of muskets, ten or twelve cannon and a large amount of powder for those days. But the St. Louis arsenal was one of the most important in the whole country. Those were the days of river transportation, it must be remembered. The St. Louis arsenal" was the supply depot of war material for the entire West. It occu pied fifty-six acres of ground, was surrounded by a massive stone wall, except upon the river frontage. Within the enclosure were four great stone buildings forming a square. In January, 1861, the St. Louis arsenal contained 60,000 stands of arms, nearly all of them Enfield and Springfield rifles. In all of the South, outside of Missouri, there were only 150,000 muskets. In addition to these rifles the arsenal contained 1,500,000 cartridges, 90,000 pounds of powder, several siege guns, the field pieces to equip a number of batteries, a large stock of equipment of various kinds. There were ordnance shops and machinery for the manufacture of war material. The arsenal was on a slope to the river's edge with hills of considerable height to the west and south. In the growth of the city 1 these heights were afterwards graded down. Maj. William Haywood Bell, a West Pointer, a native of North Carolina, an ordnance officer, had been in command at the arsenal for a long time. With him were a few staff officers. The workmen were unarmed. There was practically no guard save watchmen at the beginning of 1861. The few United States soldiers were stationed at Jefferson Barracks, several miles below the city. Bell had been at the arsenal so long that he felt himself a St. Louisan. He had in vested in St. Louis real estate. . Southern rights leaders in Missouri were fully agreed that the arsenals at Liberty and St. Louis, with their contents would become state property when secession- took place. They disagreed as to the policy which should be pursued by them before secession. The younger and more impetuous wanted immediate action. They planned to get control of the arsenals before the state seceded. They advocated forcible seizure, arguing that such course would insure secession. The older leaders counseled waiting for secession sentiment to develop. They insisted upon legal forms. On the 8th of January, Brigadier-General Frost, commanding the state militia at St. Louis, went to the arsenal and had a talk with Major Bell. He reported to Governor Jackson that the interview- was satisfactory. He said: "I found the major everything that you qr I could desire. He assured me that he considered that Missouri had, whenever the time came, a right to claim it (the arsenal) as being on her soil. He asserted his determination to defend it against any and all irre sponsible mobs, come from whence they might, but at the same time gave me to under stand that he would not attempt any defence against the proper state authorities. He promised me, upon the honor of an officer and a gentleman, that he would not suffer any arms to be removed from the place without first giving me timely information, and I promised him, in return that I would use all the force at my command to prevent him being annoyed by irresponsible persons. I, at the same time, gave him notice that, if affairs assumed so threatening a character as to render it unsafe to leave the place in its comparatively unprotected condition, I might come down and quarter a proper force there to protect it from assaults of any persons whatsoever, to which he assented. In a word the major is with us, where he ought to be, for all his worldly wealth lies here in St. Louis (and it is very large), and then again, his sympathies are with us." Vol. 1—45 706 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Frost immediately issued a confidential notice to the militia officers that "upon the bells of the 'churches sounding a continuous peal, interrupted by a pause of five minutes,, they should assemble with their men in their armories and await further notice." A copy of the notice was carried at once to Blair. In those days each side had trusted men who reported promptly every move of one to the other. Archbishop Kenrick was seen and asked to prevent this use of the Catholic bells. Blair sent a copy of Frost's notice to General Scott with his interpretation of if as meaning the plan of the state to get possession of the arsenal. Montgomery Blair in Washington, Governor Richard Yates of Illinois and President-elect Lincoln indorsed Frank Blair's request that somebody be sent to supersede Bell, In a few days Major Bell was ordered East and Maj. Peter B. Hagner of the District of Columbia was sent to the arsenal as ordnance officer in control. St. Louis Organizers. Among the leading citizfens of St. Louis who were against both secession and coercion were Hamilton R. Gamble, Uriel Wright, Robert Campbell and James E. Yeatman. They called a~ monster mass meeting in ,St. Louis early in January. Resolutions were adopted declaring that "the rights and property of all sections of the country could be better protected within the American Union than by destroying the government." They also indorsed the new Crittenden peace propo sitions, entreated the government and the seceding states to stay the arm of military power, and advised ,a state convention "to protect the union of the states and the rights and authority of this state under the Constitution." On the nth of January Mayor O. D. Filley sent to the common council the following : ^ "A very general and unusual excitement prevails in our community, and, although I do not apprehend that any actual disturbance or interference with the rights of our citizens will ensue, yet I deem it best that all proper precautionary measures should be taken to prepare for any event. I would, hence, recommend that the members of the council, from each ward, select from among their best citizens such a number of men as the exigencies of the case may seem to require and organize them to be- ready for any emergency. s Our citizens are entitled to the full protection of the laws and must have it." On the 1 2th of January Archbishop Kenrick published a card to the Catholics of St. Louis advising them to avoid all occasions of public excitement : "To the Roman Catholics of St. Louis : "Beloved Brethren : , In the, present disturbed state of the public mind, we feel it our duty -to recommend you to avoid all occasions of public excitement, to obey the laws, to respect the rights of all citizens and to keep away, as much as possible, from all assemblages where the indiscretion pf a word, or the impetuosity of. a momentary passion might en danger public tranquillity. Obey the injunction of the Apostle St. Peter: 'Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man can see God.' "Peter Richard Kenrick, "Archbishop of St. Louis." The Committee of Public Safety was 'organized. At the head of it was Oliver Dwight Filley. The other members were Samuel T. Glover, Francis P. Blair, Jr., J. J. Wifzig, John How and James O. Broadhead. These six men received their commission to act from a mass meeting of unconditional Union men. Republicans, ; JAMES O. BROADHEAD Member Committee of Public Safety, 1861 OLIVER D. FILLEY Chairman Committee of Public Safety, 1861 iurtesy Missouri Historical Society MERCANTILE, LIBRARY HALL, BROADWAY AND LOCUST STREETS, ST. LOUIS Where the state convention met in 1861 and declared for the Union MISSOURI IN 1861 709 Douglas democrats and Bell and Everett democrats united in this movement. They had but one plank in their platform — "unalterable fidelity to the Union under all circumstances." Previous to the 1 ith of January a little group of Uriion men met in -Mr. Filley's counting room from time to time and planned the course which was followed. The Committee of Public Safety was an evolution. When the six men had been chosen, they made the Turner hall on Tenth near Market street the headquarters. Their meetings were held daily. The personal composition of the Committee of Public Safety was most fortu nate. Mr. Filley was from Connecticut, a descendant of one of the families which came over in the Mayflower. Mr. How had been reared in Pennsylvania. Mr. Witzig represented the great influx of German population. Mr. Blair was of Kentucky, birth, the son of a Virginia father. Mr. Glover was a Kentuckian. Mr. Broadhead was of Virginia parentage. The widespread sources of St. Louis population were well represented. in the formation of the group. Glover and Broadhead were lawyers of high standing, known personally to Mr. Lincoln. John How had been mayor two terms and was a business man of wide influence. Witzig had the confidence of his fellow countrymen. Blair was the Washington connection. He had served one term in Congress, and was representative-elect. To tell what manner of man the chairman was detracts nothing from the honor due the men who were his associates on the committee.. Familiarly he was called "O. D." He was kindly and approachable. When the Committee of Public Safety had won, when it had become safer in St. Louis to be a Union man than a secession sympathizer, the spirit of retribution was indulged. Men were arrested and punished for words. Mr. Filley protested. "Let them talk," he said. "If they do no overt act, do not disturb them." But behind the kindly disposition was the spirit which knows neither variableness nor shadow of turning when right is at stake. When cloth was wanted to uniform the force he was recruit ing, O. D. Filley gave his word it would be paid for, and his word was accepted where another man's note would have been asked. That was the reputation the chairman had in the community. In the Presidential campaign of i860 there were "wide awakes" on the re publican side and "broom rangers" on the democratic side. Two months" before the inauguration of Lincoln, armed organizations, built upon the political clubs, were drilling in St. Louis. Those whose sympathies were with secession were "minute men." This organization came into existence early in January. Simul taneously began the formation of union clubs, which were called "union guards," "black jaegers," "home guards." The Minute Men had headquarters in the Berthold mansion at Fifth and Pine streets. In six weeks sixteen companies of the Home Guards had been formed. The Minute Men were numerous. The drills were nightly. There was little attempt at secrecy. In the central and northern parts of the city the Minute Men were strong. South of Market street were the strongholds of the Home Guards. Every hall was an armory. General Farrar 's Recollections. General Bernard G. Farrar, late in life, gave a graphic account of what was going on in St. Louis during January and February, 1861 : 710 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "There still existed the 'Wide Awakes,' a political organization of i860. To convert them into a military body was the first thought of the Committee of Safety, and active steps were taken to perfect,,, that object. The Wide Awakes were numerous and ardent, but powerless for the want of arms. The grave situation impelled the" loyalists to prompt action. In January a secret meeting of the faithful was planned. A notice to the trusted few was quietly sent out, and on a stated evening in Wyman's hall assembled some fifteen citizens. J. J. Witzig guarded the door and admitted- only those who could give the countersign. As far as I can remember, the following persons were present : Frank P. Blair, F. A. Dick, O. D. and Giles F. Filley, John How, Charles Elleard, Samuel Simmons, J. S. Merrell, B. Gratz Brown, William McKee, Benjamin Farrar, Peter L. Foy, and possibly two or three others including myself. The meeting was informal, a simple, quiet talk all round. The question of arming the Wide Awakes was the vital point. To this end it was agreed to raise money and at that meeting $400 was subscribed. It was agreed to write to Governor Yates, of Illinois, for aid, and Blair at once formulated the letter which was sent the following day by private messenger. This letter was responded to a few days later "in the shape of 200 stand of arms packed in sugar hogsheads marked chinaware and consigned to O. D. Filley. Those arms were a godsend, and were quickly distributed to the Wide Awakes. The first company organized- was armed and drilled in a large storeroom where now stands the Columbia theater. More money was soon raised, more guns purchased, and by the ist of February the Union men could count on a military force of 2,000 men, mostly Germans. "During February the secessionists .fixed upon several nights for a raid on the arsenal, but spies in their eamp betrayed their plans. The word was passed down South Broadway ; lights gleamed in every house ; shotguns and various missiles were carried to the roofs; the Wide Awakes hurried to their various posts, all ready for the fray. The secessionists, learning that their plans were known, abandoned the attempts. For over two months, 2,000 armed men on either side stood ready at a moment's notice to engage in actual warfare. "At that time the population of the city stood about one-third native, one-third Ger man and one-third Irish. The native population was about 1 one for the Union, nine for the South ; the Germans were a unit for the Union ; the Irish with some notable exceptions favored the South. Two of those notable exceptions were Doyle and Crickard, both Irish stone masons and builders. In May these men entered the United States treasury office, and, planting on the counter two bags of gold, said to the assistant treasurer, 'We bring you $10,000. The government is in need of money. Please deposit as our loan.' At that time the government credit was at very low ebb." Wartime Journalism. The journalism of this period was not lacking in courage of conviction. W. H. Lusk was editing the Jefferson City Enquirer in the winter and spring of 1861. He was offered the position of public printer if he would support the states' right policies of the Jackson administration. He declined and wrote a letter to the gen eral assembly declaring his position: "The advocates of secession "of the present day should not be treated with any respect whatever. They are rebels and should, be punished as such. In one sentence they utter a Union sentiment, to cover up their treason while in the next they denounce the Gov ernment. The paper will not endorse these men, but will denounce them as traitors wherever found— in the halls of legislation, on the judicial bench, as governor, as stump orators, cross-roads politicians, office holders or office seekers. None of these rebels shall receive mercy at ouf hands as a public journalist." The southern rights faction did not want for vigorous newspaper support at the state capital. Editor Corwyn in his Examiner kept up the fight which he had made hot during the campaign of i860 with such warnings as the following: MISSOURI IN 1861 711 "Citizens of Missouri, are you ready for this? Are you ready to see your homes wrapt in flames ; your wives and little ones butchered, and your daughters the victims of Ethiopian lust? If you are you should vote for Stephen A. Douglas for president and aid him in fixing his squatterism on the country. His squatterism leads to that as sure as the sun shineth — as sure as God liveth." / The Minute Men. The best authorityon "Missouri in 1861," from the southern rights point of view was Thomas L. Snead. He was a St. Louis newspaper man, connected with the Bulletin which was owned by Longuemare and which took the southern rights side in the campaign of i860. In the winter of 1861 Snead gave tip his news paper relation. Fie went to Jefferson City and was in the confidence of the seces sionists. He assisted Governor Jackson in his correspondence. Snead knew the organization and plans of the Minute Men. He named three men as foremost in the movement — Basil W. Duke, a young lawyer from Kentucky, about twenty- five years old; Colton Greene, South Carolinian by birth, a young merchant pf delicate physique and retiring manner; and Brock Champion, a bold, enthusiastic young Irishman. The organization was started on the nth of January, the day that forty regular soldiers arrived from Newport Barracks, and marched to the custom house on Third and Olive streets to protect the sub-treasury and the $400,000 in gold.- The troops had been sent as the result of a letter from the assistant United States treasurer, Isaac H. Sturgeon, to President Buchanan suggesting that such protection was advisable in view of the public excitement. If there had been 'wild talk before, it was nothing to what this show of authority by the government aroused. Papers issupd extras. X3reat crowds filled the narrow streets around the postoffice. Threats were made to resent this insult to St. Louis. The news was telegraphed to Jefferson City. Governor Jackson sent word to the general assembly. Senator Parsons offered this : "Resolved, That we view this act of the administration as insulting to the dignity and patriotism of this state, and calculated to arouse suspicion and distrust on the part of her people towards the federal government. "Resolved, That the governor be requested to inquire of the President what has induced him to place the property of the United States within this state in charge of an armed federal force." General Harney, commanding the district, acted quickly. The forty regulars marched away to the arsenal and the insult to Missouri became only a reminiscence with the general public. But Duke, Greene, Champion and a few others, met that day and began to plan definitely for the future. Snead said : -"Never was there a finer body of young fellows than these Minute Men. Some were Missourians; some from the North; some from the South, and others were Irishmen. Among them all there was hardly a man who was not intelligent, educated and recklessly brave. Some who had the least education were as brave as the bravest, and as true as the truest. Most of them fought afterwards on many a bloody field. Many of them died in battle. Some of them rose to high commands. Not one of them proved false to the cause to which he then pledged his faith. "They established their headquarters at the old Berthold mansion, in the very heart of the city, at the corner of Fifth and Pine streets, and also formed and drilled companies in other parts of the city against the time they could arm and equip themselves. They 712 CENTENNIAL RTSTORY OF MISSOURI were hardly three hundred in all, but they were so bold and active, so daring and ubiquitous, that every one accounted them ten times as numerous. "Like' Blair and the Home Guards, they had their eyes fixed upon the arsenal and expected out of its abundant stores to arm and equip themselves for the coming fight. In that arsenal were sixty thousand good muskets, while in all the- Confederate states there were not one hundred and fifty thousand more. They were barely three hundred men, and more than ten thousand stood ready to resist them, but for the love of the South, and for the love of the right, and for the honor of Missouri, they were willing to peril their lives any day to get those muskets. And they would have got them or perished in the attempt but for the advice of their leaders at Jefferson City. These counseled delay. They believed that it was better to wait till the people should, in their election of delegates to the con vention, declare their purpose to side with the South. They never doubted that the people would do this ; never doubted that they would elect a convention which would pledge Missouri to resist the subjugation of the South, and would put her in position to do it. Sustained by the voice of the people, and instructed by their votes, the governor would then order General Frost to seize the arsenal in the name of the state, and he, with his brigade and the Minute Men, and the thousands that would flock to their aid could easily do it." Sweeny and the Regulars. In the letter he wrote about the danger to the gold, Assistant Treasurer Sturgeon called attention to the defenseless condition of the arsenal. Washington also acted upon that suggestion. Lieut. Thomas W. Sweeny, with regulars, from Newport Barracks took station in the arsenal. Sweeny was a one-armed Irishman. There was a good deal of interest felt by the Minute Men to know how Sweeny stood on the issue of secession. Many St. Louis Irishmen had joined the Minute Men under the leadership of Brock Champion. Other Irishmen had sided with Blair and the Home Guards. John McElroy in "The Struggle for Missouri" has told of the testing of Sweeny : "One day a man presented himself at the west gate of the arsenal and asked to see Captain Sweeny. Sweeny went to the gate and recognized an old acquaintance, St. George Croghan, the son of that Lieutenant Croghan who had so brilliantly defended Fort Stephen son, at Lower Sandusky, in the war of 1812, and who afterwards was for many years inspector-general of the> United States Army. Croghan's grandfather had been a gallant officer in the Revolution. . It was a cold day, and Croghan wore a citizen's overcoat. On their way to the quarters, the guards properly saluted Sweeny as they passed.' Said Croghan, 'Sweeny, don't you think those sentinels" ought, to salute me ? — my rank is higher than yours.' At the same time he threw open his overcoat and revealed the uniform of a rebel field officer. "'Not to such as that, by Heavens!' responded Sweeny, and added: 'If that is your business, you can have nothing to do. with me. You had better not let my men see you with that thing on.' "Croghan assured him his business in calling was one of sincere friendship; but he would remark while on the subject, that Sweeny had better find it convenient to get out" of there, and very soon, too. "'Why?' asked Sweeny. "Replied Croghan : 'Because we intend to take 'it.' "Sweeny in great excitement exclaimed: 'Never! As sure as my name is Sweeny, the property in this place shall never fall into your hands. I'll blow it to hell first, and you know I am the man to do it.' "Nine months later Croghan was to fall mortally wounded at the head of a cavalry regiment while attacking the Union troops near Fayetteville, West Virginia, while Sweeny MISSOURI IN 1861 713 was to do gallant service in the Union army, rising to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers, and commanding a division, and being retired in 1870 with the rank of briga dier-general." A Commissioner from Mississippi. While events were crowding at St. Louis, Reynolds and the secessionists were working incessantly at Jefferson City to have Missouri declare for the Con federacy. Mr. Russell came as a commissioner of the State of Mississippi to urge that Missouri secede. The lieutenant-governor gave him a dinner with Sterling Price, Governor Jackson and Speaker McAfee present. The legislature assembled in joint session to hear the commissioner. Reynolds planned an im pressive reception with the members standing as the commissioner entered. John D. Stevenson, afterwards a general in the Union army, then a member of the house, objected to the program. He asked: » "Are we here, Mr. President,' to do homage to the ambassador of some foreign country?" President Reynolds: I understand, sir, that this is ' a joint session of the general assembly to listen to an address from the commissioner of the State of Mississippi, and I hope for the honor of all parties that the member from St. Louis will take his seat. Representative Stevenson: Shall I have a chance? President Reynolds : Take your seat. A Voice : Good. Representative Stevenson : I desire to have a chance — . President Reynolds : Take your seat. A Voice: Better! Representative Stevenson : Mr. President, I can read, sir, the rules that govern this body, and I suppose, if I am well informed, that when the president rules me out of order, , it is his duty to state why he so rules. •President Reynolds : The business of -this session is to hear a speech from the com missioner from Mississippi, and all other business is out of order. Representative Stevenson : I understand that the president commands the members to rise. President Reynolds : I will change it to a request, and I hope that no member of this general assembly will have the indecency to refuse to rise. Representative Stevenson : Oh ! That will do, sir. Loaded Legislation. The military bill which was being pressed in the legislature aimed at more than organization in support of the southern rights movement. It was intended to abolish Blair's Home Guards. One of its provisions was that the commanding officeriin each district must disarm all bodies not "regularly organized and mus tered into the service of the state." Had the bill passed in February or March it would have given Frost authority to take all guns found in the possession of the Home Guards. Governor Yates had sent two hundred muskets from Springfield. These guns had been hauled under cover of beer barrels to Turner Hall and dis tributed to the Home Guards. Giles F. Filley had bought fifty Sharp's rifles, the crack fighting piece of those days, and had armed the men in his factory. A fund of $30,000 had been raised by. private contributions to get more guns for the Union companies. All of this was known to Governor Jackson and the secession- 714 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI ists. It added to their anxiety about the military bill. The state was not well prepared for fighting. In February, Harding, who was in charge of the armory at -Jefferson City, reported to the governor that the state had about one thousand muskets, two six-pounders without limbers or caissons, forty sabres and fifty- ¦eight swords. He said these swords were of such antiquated pattern' that they "would not be as useful in war as so many bars of soap." Five companies of Minute Men were recruited in St. Louis under Captains , Barret, Duke, Sfialer, Greene and Hubbard. Anticipating the passage of the, military bill they were mustered into state service as militia by General Frost on the 15th of February and assigned to Frost's brigade. Subsequently these five companies were joined by others and made up Bowen's regiment. Captain Nathaniel Lyon, with his company of regulars, came to St. Louis the beginning of February. He was forty-two years of age, a slender, sandy-haired man, with reddish beard, deep-set blue eyes, under medium height, of Connecticut birth and* Yankee positiveness. His service on the western frontier had given him a rather rough, weather-beaten appearance. Immediately the closest relations were established between Blair and Lyon. The two men were of the same age and possessed similar characteristics" in that both were personally without fear. Both were devoted to the Union. Both were convinced that war was certain. Neither was too much hampered by regard for formalities of law. Lyon became at once the lieutenant of Blair in the organization of the Home Guards. He attended meetings of the Union men and talked war. He went to the secret armories, drilled the men and instructed their officers. He gained the confidence of the Committee of Safety. He impressed the Union leaders with the vital importance of saving the arsenal. Recruiting and preparations for .fighting went on with the Home. Guards much more rapidly after Lyon came. The Election Brings Dismay. The 1 8th of February approached, the day of the election of delegates to the state convention. Entirely confident of carrying the election the southern rights men talked openly of taking the St. Louis arsenal and securing the arms for distribution to the state guard to be organized under the pending military bill. Blair and Lyon went to Isaac H. Sturgeon and reported this talk of the secession ists. They persuaded him to write a letter to General Scott, telling him there was grave danger that the arsenal would be attacked on or immediately after election day. Scott ordered the troops from the barracks to the arsenal and they marched up there on the 16th of February. Sturgeon not only urged reinforcement, but advised that Lyon be put in command at the arsenal. The advice was not fol lowed. If Lyon had been given command it 'was the purpose of Blair to put guns in the hands of the Home Guards, now several thousand strong, at the first movement of the Minute Men against the arsenal. Of the campaign methods and of the election rpsults William Hyde, who was at the time a newspaper writer, said : "The Republicans, in order to embrace a character of men like James O Broadhead Samuel T. Glover, James S. Rollins, Abiel Leonard, Samuel M. Breckinridge, Odon Guitar, had adopted the title of 'Unconditional Union' men. A fusion ticket was 'formed "in St' Louis, county, which was entitled to fourteen delegates, on the basis of the estimated MISSOURI IN 1861 715 strength of the three Union elements (Douglas, Lincoln and Bell men), the allotment being seven, four and three, respectively. This ticket carried the county by a majority of be tween 5,000 and 6,000. Similar combinations were made throughout the state, and the result was truly astonishing, being a surprise to all. The aggregate Union majority in the state was 80,000, and not a single secessionist was returned as delegate ! So overwhelming a declaration of fidelity to the Union, and so stunning a rebuke to Jackson and his coad jutors, was indeed a marvel of popular outpouring. "Amazement and dismay settled upon minds and hearts of the defeated. To them it seemed as though a political earthquake had riven the state from the Nishnabotna to the St. Francis, and from the Des Moines to the Neosho. Secession had seen 'all her pretty chickens and their dam' swept from Missouri's confines, and not one spared ! The immediate effect upon the legislature was to indefinitely postpone the governor's pet measure for the reorganization of the militia, and was followed by a general and total collapse of'1 any lingering idea that the state might be called on to take part in preparations to resist the placing of the 'despot's' heel upon the virgin soil' of Missouri." The Delegates. Until nearly the end of January, the southern rights sentiment had waxed in official Missouri. State officers, the legislature, the United States senators, the representatives in Congress, the supreme court, with few exceptions, sided with the South. The atmosphere at Jefferson City favored secession. But February brought a change. The state at large spoke. To the amazement and indignation of tbe southern rights leaders at the state capital the convention called to consider Missouri's relations to the United States was against secession. How did it come about that in the stress of public feeling, with all of the political intrigue and war preparation of those days, Missouri was so fortunate in the selection of the members of the convention? Judge John F Philips, who was a member, in his recollections given the State Historical Society at Columbia a few years ago, said: "In some respects that convention was the most remarkable body of men that ever assembled in the state. With a few exceptions, they were not of the class" usually found in legislatures or popular assemblages. They were grave, thoughtful, discreet, educated men, profoundly impressed with the great respon sibilities of their positions. Among them were judges of the supreme court, ex- governors, ex-Congressmen, ex-state senators and representatives, leading law yers, farmers, merchants, bankers and retired business men, representing the varied, vital interests of the communities. No impartial, intelligent man can look over the debates of the body, extending over two years and more, without being deeply impressed with the idea of their tremendous intellectual power and sense of moral, patriotic obligation." The convention was composed of ninety-nine delegates. It was said that. fifty- three of the members were of Virginia or Kentucky descent. All but seventeen were natives of slave states. Thirteen were from the North. There were three Germans and one Irishman. The convention met in Jefferson City, but almost immediately adjourned to meet in St. Louis. The adjournment to St. Louis was taken, it was freely stated, because of the secession atmosphere of the state capital. In the election of president of the convention the issue of southern rights was raised. Nathaniel W. Watkins, a half brother of Henry Clay, was nominated by the southern rights delegates. He received only fifteen votes. Sterling- Price was supported by the Unionists of varying opinions and received seventy-five votes. William Hyde said : 716 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "It reads strangely, now, that the name of the gentleman who, for his stanch Unionism as well as his commanding influence, his unquestioned integrity, his familiarity with public affairs and his experience among large bodies of men, captured the enthusiastic support of the convention as its president was — Sterling Price. In those days any cause was honored in its being followed by that personally magnificent man. As member of Congress and as governor, he had 'done the state some service, and they knew it.' Missouri was fond of him ; the people were delighted with him." Minute Men Flan a Surprise. The effect of the election of Union delegates was felt at once at Jefferson City. It paralyzed for the time proposed legislation by the southern rights fol lowing. Talk of an immediate attack on the arsenal ceased suddenly for a few days. The Minute Men began fo lay new plans. They hinted at a demonstration on the 4th of March, the day of Lincoln's inauguration. Blair and Lyon agreed the situation was very dangerous, although the state had elected Union delegates. Blair went to Springfield to see Lincoln who was about starting for Washington and to tell him plainly that the faction which got control of the arsenal would hold Missouri, convention or no convention. From Springfield Blair hurried' to Washington and urged President Buchanan to give Lyon command of the arsenal. On the 25th of February, Lyon wrote to Blair at Washington, telling of Hagner's refusal to strengthen the defenses of the arsenal, notwithstanding the expected demonstration of the Minute Men, and said : "This is either imbecility or damned villainy." Buchanan and General Scott refused Blair's plea. Hagner remained in command. ' ' The convention met in St. Louis on the 4th of March, the day of Lincoln's inauguration. The place was Mercantile Library hall, just two blocks north of the Berthold mansion, where the Minute Men had hung out that day a secession flag and were inviting an attack by. Blair's Home Guards. Snead has explained the purpose : "During the preceding night some of the Minute Men (Duke, Greene, Quinlan, Cham pion, and McCoy) raised the flag of Missouri over the dome of the court-house and hoisted above their own headquarters a nondescript banner, which was intended to represent the flag of the Confederate states. The custodian of the court-house removed the state flag. from that building early in the morning ; but the secession flag still floated audaciously and defiantly above the Minute Men's headquarters, in the very face of the submissionists' con vention, of the republican mayor and his German police, of the department commander, and of Lyon and his Home Guards; and under its fold there was gathered as daring a set of young fellows as ever did a bold, or a reckless deed. They were about a score at first, but when an excited crowd began to threaten their quarters, and the rumor to fly that the Home Guards were coming to tear down the flag, the number of defenders grew to about one hundred. They all had muskets of the latest and best pattern. On the floors of the upper rooms were heaps of hand grenades. In the wide hall was a swivel, double-shotted, and so planted as to rake the main entrance if any one should be brave enough' to try to force it. At every window there were determined men, with loaded muskets, and fixed bayonets; behind them were others, ready to take the place of any that might fall; and in all the building there was not a man who was not ready to fight to the death, rather than submit to the rule of Abraham Lincoln; nor one who would have quailed in the presence of a thousand foes, nor one of them who survives today, who would not fight just as willingly and just as bravely for the flag of the Union. Outside, too, throughout the ever growing crowd, other Minute Men were stationed to act as the emergency might require. "Before the hour of noon had come all the streets in the vicinity were thronged with MISSOURI IN 1861 717 excited men, some drawn hither- by curiosity and by that strange magnetism which mobs always exert ; some to take part with the Minute Men, if 'the Dutch' should attack them ; some to tear down 'the rebel flag,' and to hang 'the traitors,' who had dared to raise it on the day of Lincoln's inauguration. " . "Everything betokened a terrible riot and a bloody fight. The civil authorities were powerless. It was to no purpose that they implored the crowd to disperse; in vain that they begged the Minute Men to haul down their flag. The police could do nothing. The Home Guards did not dare attack, for their leaders knew that the first shot that was fired would bring Frost's brigade, which was largely composed of Minute Men, to the aid of their friends, and that they would -also be reinforced by the Irish, between whom and the German Home Guards there was the antipathy of both race and religion. Only once did any one venture to approach the well-guarded portals of the stronghold. The rash fools who did it were hurled back in the street, amid the jeers and laughter of the crowd. Blair and the republican leaders, unwilling to provoke a conflict, ¦'kept their followers quiet, and finally towards midnight the crowd dispersed. The next day's sun shone upon the rebel flag still flying above the roof of the Minute Men's quarters. But Duke and Greene were unhappy, for they had hoped to bring on a fight, in which they would have been reinforced by Frost's brigade, and the Irish and many Americans, and in the confusion to seize the arsenal, and hold it till the secessionists of the state could come to their aid. They were, nevertheless, greatly elated .because the people believed -more than ever that there were thousands of Minute Men, instead of hundreds." Another Move at Jefferson City. On the 5th of March, the day 'after Lincoln's inauguration, the southern rights , members of the legislature made another effort to pass the military bill. They mustered their full strength. They made use of the riotous scenes in front of the headquarters of the Minute Men on Fifth and Pine streets in St. Louis the day previous. The Union men met the appeals of the secessionists. The youngest member of the House, a native Missourian, L. M. Lawson of Platte, was one of the leaders against the bill. He said it would place dangerous power in the hands of the governor. It would bring upon the people of Missouri "the horrors of fratricidal "strife." He urged that Missouri had no reason to secede; to arm her self against the federal government. "Let her be loyal to the Union and the Union would still protect her as it had always done," Lawson said. The southern rights leaders, Claiborne, Harris and others, quoted from Lincoln's inaugural of the previous day and demanded the passage of the bill. The House again re fused.- "In this," said Snead, "the South sustained a defeat more disastrous to its independence than any which thereafter befell its arms, down to the fall of Vicksburg.''' Blair used the 4th of March incident with telling effect on the war depart ment. Lincoln was in the White House. On the 13th of March, Lyon was as signed to command of the arsenal, but was not given control of the arms. Convention Spirit and Conclusions. Uriel Wright made an anti-secession speech in the convention. He was the great advocate who moved juries as did no other Missourian of that day. He referred to the southern rights flag hanging in front of the headquarters of the Minute Men : "I looked one day toward the southern skies, toward that sunny land which constitutes our southern possessions, and I saw a banner floating in the air. I am not skilled in heraldry, and I may mistake the sign, but as it first rose it presented a single dim and 718 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI melancholy star, set in a field of blue, representing, I "suppose, a lost; pleiad floating through space. A young moon, a crescent moon, was by her side, appropriately plucked from our planetary system, as the most changeable of all representatives known to it, a satellite to signify the vicissitudes which must attend its career. The sad spectacle' wound up with the appropriate emblem of the cross, denoting the tribulation- and sorrow which must attend its going. I could riot favor any such banner." No time was wasted by the convention in discussion. Hamilton Gamble was made chairman of the principal committee — that on "Federal Relations." James O. Broadhead was the floor leader of the Unconditional Union men. J.ohn B. Henderson was, perhaps, the most outspoken against secession. Price, Gamble, Broadhead and Henderson were Virginians. On the 9th the formal report oh Federal Relations was ready. It was a dignified declaration : "To involve Missouri in revolution, under the present' circumstances, is certainly not demanded by the magnitude of the grievances of which we complain; nor by the certainty that they cannot be otherwise and more peaceably remedied, nor by the hope that they would be remedied, or even dimin ished by such revolution. The position of .Missouri in relation to adjacent states, which would continue in the Union, would necessarily expose her, if she became a member of a new Confederacy, to utter destruction whenever any rupture might take place between the different republics. In a military aspect secession and connection with a Southern Confederacy is annihilation for Missouri." The report pledged the convention to do all in its power to bring back the southern states by a compromise through amendments to the constitution, but repeated the conviction that Missouri could not join the southern states in seces sion : "To go with those states — to leave the government our fathers builded— to blot out the star of Missouri from the constellation of the Union is to ruin ourselves without doing them any good." One of the declarations was, "That while Missouri cannot leave the Union to join the southern states, we will do all in our power to induce them to again take their places with us in' the family from which they have attempted to separate themselves. For this purpose we will not only recommend a compromise with which they ought to be satisfied, but we will endeavor to procure an as sembly of the whole family of states in order that in a general convention such amendments to the constitution may be agreed upon as shall permanently restore harmony to the whole nation." William A. Hall pointed out the geographical impossibility of Missouri's seces sion : "The geographical position of Missouri makes her essential to the North and even if the North should consent to the secession of every other slave- holding state, it will never consent to the secession" of Missouri. She lies in its pathway to the West.' She commands the navigation of the Missouri and all its tributaries, of the Upper Mississippi, the Illinois, the Ohio, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland. Never will the North and the Northwest permit the naviga tion of these great rivers to be controlled by a powerful foreign nation, for their free navigation is essential to the prosperity of these regions. They might let the mouths of the Mississippi be held by a weak confederacy of cotton states, but never by a powerful people of which Missouri would form a part. Our feelings and our sympathies strongly incline us to go with the South in the event of a MISSOURI IN 1861 71!> separation; but passion and feeling are temporary, interest is permanent. The influence of geographical position will continue so long as the face of the earth. remains as it is, and the position of Missouri and the navigation of the Mississippi. will be great and important interests long ages after the feelings and passions- which now dominate the country shall have passed away and been forgotten." The Convention Firm Against Secession. The great majority of the convention accepted the report of the committee. Mr. Bast offered an amendment that if the proposed compromise failed and the other border states seceded Missouri would go with them. Twenty-three voted for this proposition, among them Sterling Price, Robert A. Hatcher, Prince L. Hudgins, John T. Redd and Nathaniel W. Watkins. John H. Moss, a Union man, wanted the convention to declare that Missouri would "never furnish men or money for the purpose of aiding the general govern ment in any attempt to coerce a seceding state." The resolution was voted. down. In supporting his resolution, Mr. Moss said : "I submit to every man of common sense in this assembly to tell me whether Missouri will ever furnish. a regiment to invade a southern state for the purpose of coercion. Never! Never! And, gentlemen, Missouri expects this convention to say so." In con clusion Mr. Moss declared it was the duty of Missouri "to stand by the gallant men of Southern Illinois, who have declared that they will never suffer a north ern army to pass the southern boundary of Illinois for the purpose of invading a southern state." But Fort Sumter had not been fired upon at that time. In a few weeks Mr. Moss was to raise and command a Missouri regiment in the Union army. There were others whose views were to undergo sudden reversal on the subject of coercing a sovereign state. John B. Henderson opposed the Moss resolution because it was entirely unnecessary. "Does any man suppose," he asked, "that the President of the United States will so far disregard his duties under the Constitution, or forget the obligation of his oath, as to undertake the subjugation of the southern states by forte? Will the abstract principle of the enforcement of the laws ever be carried by the President to the extent of military subjugation?- If so, this government is at an end. Will you tell me that Mr. Lincoln will send Don Quixotes into the southern states with military force to subjugate those states? Certainly not." Hyde said-: "A profound impression was made by a speech by Colonel Broad head, in which he declared, as though he knew whereof he spoke, that the state had 'not the power to go out of the Union'- if she wanted to." Broadhead was a member of the Committee of Public Safety. In his reminiscences, given before the Missouri Historical Society in 1901,. Thomas Shackelford told some of the unpublished history of the time : "I now wish to mention an incident not heretofore published, in relation to the action of General Price. After the passage of the original resolution, a member introduced a resolution to the effect that if all of the border states, meaning Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland, seceded from the Union, then Missouri would take her position with her sister southern states. Judge William A. Hall and myself voted no to this resolution, and' General Price, who voted last, voted yea. That evening, after the adjournment of the convention, he took me by the arm and led me to the extreme south end of the hall in the Planters' House, and said to me: 'You were surprised at my vote to-day.' I told hinu 720 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI I was.' He said to nie: 'It is now inevitable that the general government will attempt the coercion of the southern states. War will ensue. I am a military man, a southern man, and, if we have to fight, will do so on the part of the South.' His subsequent acts are matters of history. "I must here mention the treatment to which I was subjected, by reason of my vote on the above resolution. On my return home from the convention fo Howard county, I found printed placards, calling a meeting of the people at Fayette, to condemn Judge Hall and myself for our vote on this resolution. I attended the meeting, and asked to be heard, but was denied with hisses and shoutings. I asked the privilege of speaking on the steps of the yard to all who wished to hear me; this was denied. Just at this juncture a man with whom I was intimate, whom I knew to be raising a company to go South, came with ax number of armed men, took position by my side, and said that I should have the privilege of speaking. I did so, and appealed to the Missourians present, and said: 'This resolution does not propose that Missouri shall go out of the Union on principle, but will abjectly follow the other border states. Now,' I asked, 'is there a Missourian present who would desire me to vote for such a cowardly resolution?' The brave Missourians present gave me a rousing cheer, and voted to approve my vote." Denounced by the Legislature. On the 22d of March the legislature received from the convention which had so disappointed the southern rights element the resolution proposing that a con- * vention of all the states be called to frame constitutional amendments in the interest of peace. How resentful the southern rights men felt was shown in the treatment of the resolution. Mr. Vest made the report of the committee, to which the matter was referred. That report declared it was inexpedient to take any steps toward calling a national convention. "Going into council with our oppressors, before we have agreed among ourselves, can never result in good. It is not the North that has been wronged but the South, and the South can alone determine what securities in the future will be sufficient." In the discussion on the report, Mr. Vest said : "The convention has been guilty of falsehood and deceit. It says there is no cause for separation. If this be so, why call a convention? In declaring that if the other border slave states seceded Missouri would still remain within the Union, these wiseacres have per petrated a libel upon Missouri. . So help me God ! if the day ever comes when Missouri shall prove so recreant to herself, so recreant to the memories of the , past and to the hopes of the future, as to submit tamely to these northern Phili stines, I will take up my household goods andjeave the state." The convention adjourned on the 22d of March. The legislature adjourned about one week later. "Submissionist" was added to the political nomeclature of Missouri. As soon as it was evident that the convention was in the control of the anti-secession delegates, the southern rights men dubbed these delegates "submissionists," and thus referred to them in the fiery denunciations on the floor of the legislature and in the columns of the secession newspapers. Home Rule Taken from St. Louis. . One of the legislative measures of the southern rights members of the gen eral assembly took away from St. Louis home rule in police. The bill, was in troduced early in the session. It was not passed until March. St. Louis had a Union mayor, Oliver .D. Filley. Up to that time the police had been a city department, controlled by the city government. The legislature passed an act MISSOURI IN 1861 721 creating a board of four police commissioners to be appointed by the governor. The mayor was a fifth member, ex-officio. This board was given "absolute control of the police, of the volunteer militia of St. Louis, of the sheriff,* and of all other conservators of the peace." Snead said-: "This act took away from the republican mayor and transferred to the governor, through his appointees, the whole police power of the City of St. Louis. This was its expressed inten tion. It had other and more important purposes which were carefully concealed." Basil W. Duke was one of the police commissioners appointed under this act. He had been active in the organization of the Minute Men and commanded one of the companies. The other members of the new police board were J. H. Carlisle, Charles McLaren and John A! Brownlee. Brownlee was a northern man, in favor of peace and against forcible coercion of the South. The others were sympathizers with the South and in favor of the secession of Missouri if war came. The use which could be made of the police force under state control was shown when Lyon, for the better defense of the arsenal, posted some of his men outside of the w_alls to give warning of an approach. The police commissioners protested against this use of United States soldiers. Lyon was compelled to recall his men within the arsenal. Rumors that the arsenal was to be seized by -the state were renewed with the reorganization of the police force. Sentiment in St. Louis about the end of March shifted as the municipal election approached. It became strongly antagonistic to. Blair and the Home Guards, most of whom were stij.1 without arms.- In the first week of April was held the municipal election. John How was the candidate of the Unconditional Union men. The leaders of the movement which had carried the city by 5,000 against the southern rights men in Febru ary supported How. Daniel G. Taylor, a popular democrat, but not a secession ist, was elected by 2,6oo_ majority. CHAPTER XXII CAMP JACKSON Warlike Preparations— William Selby Harney — Plans to Capture the Arsenal— Lyon Patrols Streets — Muskets "to Arm Loyal Citizens" — Four Regiments of Home Guards Brigaded — Lincoln's Call for Soldiers — Governor Jackson's Defiance — Blair Grasps a Great Opportunity — State Militia Seize Liberty Arsenal — Washington Warned — The Com missioners to Montgomery — General Frost's Suggestion — Jefferson Davis Sends Siege Guns — Midnight Trip of the City of Alton — Lyon's Ruse with the Flintlocks — Gov ernor Jackson Buys Ammunition — "Armed Neutrality" — Editorial Strategy- — Champ Clark's Comments — A Pike County Mass Meeting — Confidential Letter from Jackson — Washington Recognizes the Committee of Public Safety — Police Assert State Sover eignty — Camp Jackson — Forms of Loyalty — Arrival of Confederate Siege Guns — "Tamaroa Marble" — Lyon in Disguise — Night Session of the Committee — General Frost Protests — March on the Camp — The Surrender — Baptism of Blood — Mob Demonstra tions — More Loss of Life — Sunday's Panic — The Legislature Acts — Passage of Military Bill — Peace Agreement — Harney Removed — President Lincoln's Doubt of the Pro priety—A Pathetic Letter— What Capture of Camp Jackson , Meant — Frank Blair's Foresight — Vest, Rassieur and Broadhead on the Consequences. i This capture of Camp Jackson was the first really aggressive blow at secession that was struck any where ill the United States. — John Fiske. The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War. I Camp Jackson is slurred over with an occasional paragraph in the history of books, but it was the turning point in the war west _o.f the Mississippi, and- it was the work of Frank Blair, the Kentuckian, the Missourian, the slave ownef, .the patrician, the leonine soldier, the patriotic statesman. — Champ Clark. In April began the moves of Missouri's game of civil war. The state was the stake. The playing was fast. The legislators had gone home at the end of March. Governor Jackson came to St. Louis and held conferences with the "southern rights leaders. Blair traveled and telegraphed between St. Louis and Washington. Lyon fretted at the arsenal. The Minute Men chafed when they thought of those sixty thousand muskets. The Home Guards stolidly drilled at night on sawdust deadened floors and with blanketed windows. John McElroy, the northern writer said : "A man to be reckoned with in those days was the commander of the department of the west, which included all that immense territory stretching from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, except Texas, New Mexico, and Utah. This man was the embodiment of the regular army as it was developed after the war of 1812. At this time that army was a very small one — two regiments of dragoons, two of cavalry, one of mounted riflemen, four of artillery, and ten of infantry, making with engineers, ordnance and staff, a total of only 12,698 officers and men — but its personnel and discipline were unsurpassed in the world. Among its 1,040 commissioned officers there was no finer soldier than William Selby Harney. A better colonel no army ever had. A form of commanding height, physique equal to any test of activity or endurance, a natural leader of men through superiority of 723 724 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI courage and ability, William Selby Harney had for forty-three years made an unsurpassed record as a commander of soldiers. He had served in the Everglades of Florida, on the boundless plains west of the Mississippi, and in Mexico during the brilliantly spectacular war which ended with our 'reveling in the Halls of the Montezumas.' He it was, who eager for his country's advancement, had, while the diplomats were disputing with Great Britain, pounced down upon and seized the .debatable island of San Juan in Vancouver waters. For this he was recalled, but the island remained American territory. He was soon assigned to the department of the west, with headquarters at St. Louis. He had been for twelve years the colonel of the crack Second U. S. Dragoens. and for three years one of the » three brigadier-generals in the regular army." Plot and Counter-plot. Snead said that among those with whom Governor Jackson conferred early in April were John A. Brownlee, president of the new potice board; Judge William M. Cooke, and Captains Greene and Duke of the Minute Men. "They 'all agreed that the most important and the first thing to be done was to seize the arsenal so as to obtain the means for at once arming and equipping the slate~ militia." General Harney heard of this ; so did Lyon. The contents of the armory were still under the custody of Major Hagner. Lyon said if any attempt was made by the Minute Men to take the arsenal he would issue arms to the Home Guards. If Hagner tried to stop him he would "pitch him into the river." On the 6th of April General Harney issued an order putting Lyon in full com mand of the arsenal and giving control of the contents. Lyon, however, went beyond instructions and sent his soldiers into the streets outside of the arsenal. Citizens protested against the military patrol, Harney ordered it stopped. When Blair came from Washington the 17th of April he brought an order on the arsenal for 5,000 muskets "to arm lpyal citizens," the paper to be served when in his judgment conditions demanded. He sent a protest against Harney's instructions to Lyon. On the 21st of April, Harney received notice to come to Washington. That same day Lyon began "to arm loyal citizens." Four regi ments of Home Guards were given guns and formed into a brigade. Lyon was elected brigadier-general, by the regimental officers, Blair declining to be con sidered. , Fort Sumter fell, on the 13th of April. President Lincoln called for 75,000 • men, of which Missouri's quota was four regiments of infantry. Governor Jackson replied : "Not one man will Missouri furnish to carry on such an unholy crusade." Commenting on the governor's action, the Missouri Republican said: "Nobody expected any other response from him, and the people of Missouri will indorse it They may not approve the early course of the southern states, but they denounce and defy the action of Mr. Lincoln in proposing to call out 75,000 men for the purpose of coercing the seceding states. Whatever else may happen, he gets no men from the border states to carry on such a war." Blair's Great Opportunity. Blair came back from Washington the day Governor Jackson telegraphed his refusal to furnish Missouri's quota. He wired the Secretary of War: "Send order at once for mustering men into service to Capt. N. Lyon. .It will then be surely executed and we will fill your requisition in two days." GENERAL W. S. HARNEY In .command at St. Louis in 1S61 GENEHAL STERLING PRICE Commander of Missouri troops in Confed erate army Courtesy Missouri Historical Society ST. LOUIS IN 1861 Southeast corner of Seventh and Olive streets. Building in the center with balcony was Fire Department headquarters many years. Home Guards marching north on Seventh Street, May,, 1-861, fired into the building and' along the street with loss of lives. CAMP JACKSON 727 On the 23rd of April the order came to Lyon to "muster into the service the four regiments" which the governor had refused. Lyon had an army. He immediately mustered into United States service the four regiments of "loyal citizens" already armed. The arsenal and the 60,000 muskets were lost to the Minute Men, One thing that operated to the advantage of Blair and Lyon in getting the order to arm the Home Guards was the seizure of the arsenal at Liberty, Missouri, on the 20th of April. Four brass guns and other munitions not in great quantity .were taken by state troops. Another moving influence with the War Department at Washington was a letter which General Harney sent on the day that Jackson refused President Lincoln's call. "The arsenal build ings and grounds ar,e completely commanded by the hills immediately in their rear, and within easy range, and I learn from sources which I consider reliable, that it is the intention of the executive of this state to cause batteries to be erected on these hills and also on the island opposite the arsenal. I am further informed that should such batteries be erected, it is contemplated by the state authorities, in the event of the secession of the state from the Union, to demand the surrender of the arsenal." * Lieutenant ' Schofield was the man who informed Harney of a plan to seize the arsenal under cover of a riot. The old war dog growled his reply, "A blanked outrage! Why the sta1;e has not yet passed the ordinance of secession. Missouri has not gone out of the United States." Lyon had the same informa tion. On the same day he sent a messenger to Governor Yates at Springfield and asked him to get authority from Washington to hold the six Illinois regiments in readiness for service at St. Louis. Lyon also advised Governor Yates to make requisition on the War Department for muskets at the St. Louis arsenal and' get them taken to Springfield as soon as possible. Commissioners Sent to Jefferson Davis. Harney and Lyon were well informed. On the day following Harney's writ ing and Lyon's message to Yates, Governor Jackson started Greene and Duke to Montgomery, the temporary Confederate capital, with a letter to Mr. Davis asking him for siege guns and mortars for the proposed attack on the arsenal. Judge William M. Cooke left for Richmond on a similar commission. Snead said that just before Greene and Duke went south to see Jefferson Davis, Frost had drawn up a plan which Brownlee had indorsed and given to the governor. This plan provided for a special session of the legislature and for a proclamation to the people of Missouri. The governor was to warn the people "that the President has acted illegally in calling out troops, thus arrogating to himself the war-making power, that they are, therefore, by no means bound to give him aid or comfort in his attempt to subjugate by force of arms a people who are still free, but, on the contrary, should prepare themselves to maintain their rights as citizens of Missouri." The plan was dated the 15th of April. It also provided that the governor should order Frost "to form a military camp of instruction at or near the City of St. Louis ; to muster military companies into the service of the state, and to erect batteries and do all things necessary and proper to be done in order to maintain the peace and dignity of the state." 728 . CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI ; "It was intended," said Snead, "that the camp of instruction should be estab lished on the river bluffs below the arsenal in such position that, with the aid of the siege guns and mortars which were to be brought from the South, Frost and his brigade, reinforced by Bowen's command and by volunteers, would be able to force Lyon to surrender the arsenal and all its stores to/the state," On the 23rd day of April, 1861, Jefferson Davis wrote from Montgomery, Alabama, to Governor Claiborne F. Jackson: "I have the honor to acknowledge yours of the 17th instant, borne by Capts. Green and Duke, and have most cordially welcomed the fraternal assurances it brings. A misplaced but generous confidence has, for years past, prevented the southern states from making the preparation required for the present emergency, and our power to supply you with ordnance is far short of the will to serve you. After learning as well as I could from the gentlemen accredited to me what was most useful for the attack on the arsenal, I have directed that Capts. Green and Duke should be furnished with two 12-pounder howitzers and two 32-pounder, guns with proper ammunition for each. These, from the commanding hills, will be effective, both against the garrison and to breach the enclosing walls of the place. I concur with you as to the great importance of capturing the arsenal and securing its supplies, rendered doubly important by the means taken to obstruct your commerce and render you unarmed victims of a hostile invasion. We look anxiously and hopefully for the day when the star of Missouri shall be added to the constellation of the Confederate States of America." Secret Shipment of Guns to Illinois. Yates promptly got his order to send Illinois troops "to support the garrison of the St. Louis arsenal." At the same time Lyon was or/iered from Washington to equip these Illinois troops and to deliver to the agent of Governor Yates guns and ammunition for 10,000 more troops. These orders came on the 20th. But before Yates could send his regiments, Lyon had armed his four regiments of Home Guards and the arsenal was safe. On the night of the 26th, the City of Alton dropped down to the arsenal, took on board the muskets and ammunition artd other equipment for Illinois. Governor Yates sent Capt. James H. Stokes to represent him in -.he removal of the arms from the arsenal. Stokes came in citizen's dress. He had chartered the City of Alton but had instructed the captain to remain at Alton for orders. When Stokes reached the arsenal he found a crowd of southern rights men gathered at the gate. A rumor prevailed that an attack was to be made by 2,000 militia from Jefferson City. With considerable effort Stokes reached Lyon and presented the requisition for 10,000 muskets. In some way the southern rights men had learned that an attempt might be made to remove the arms. They had posted a battery on the river bank some distance above the arsenal. Lyon sent out his spies and learned of the plans of the Minute Men. On the 25th of April Stokes sent word to the captain of the City of Alton to come down the river and reach the arsenal at midnight. Early in the evening Lyon sent -some cases of old flintlock, muskets up to the levee as if intending to ship them by boat. Most of the southern rights men who had been watching the arsenal followed the cases of flintlocks and when they were unloaded took possession of them and moved them to a hiding place, under the impression that they had stopped a shipment of serviceable guns. Lyon arrested the remaining watchers and held them prisoners. The whole arsenal force was put to work moving the CAMP JACKSON 729 * boxes of good muskets. The Alton arrived in front of the arsenal just before midnight. The 10,000 muskets were put on board so hurriedly that they carried the bow of the boat down into the mud. When the load was on, the Alton could not be moved. As quickly as possible 200 boxes, which had been piled in front to protect the engines if the boat was fired on by the battery, were carried aft. Lyon interpreted the requisition so liberally that when the Alton pushed off she carried 20,000 muskets, 500 carbines, the same number of revolvers, 110,000 cartridges and considerable other war material. The Alton took the channel and started north. Both Stokes and Captain Mitchell of the boat expected to be fire'd on when they passed the levee, but the battery was silent. The ruse of the flintlocks had apparently deceived the Minute Men. The boat reached Alton at 5 o'clock in the morning- Stokes ran to the market-house and rang the fire-bell. As the people responded he appealed for volunteers to help him get the Alton's load on board the cars. By 7 o'clock the work was done and Stokes was on his way to Springfield. Lyon prepared the arsenal for siege. He placed bat teries, built platforms to enable the men to fire over the walls, cut port holes and arranged sand bags for protection. When he learned of the shipment of arms from the arsenal and of Lyon's elaborate plans of defense, Governor Jackson sent Harding, his quartermaster- general, to St. Louis to buy all of the guns and ammunition he could find in the stores. The general was late. St. Louisans had been buying arms for three months. There were private arserlals everywhere. Capt. Sam Gaty went into the office of his lawyer, Samuel T. Glover, on legal business. He saw a gun leaning in the corner and said something about it. "You secessionists don't expect to drive the Urfion men out of St. Louis, do you?" retorted Glover. Harding found stocks in the gun stores depleted. With a good deal of trouble he bought for the state a few hundred hunting rifles, some tents and other camp equipage and seventy tons of powder. The purchases were consigned to the state authorities at Jefferson City. The shipment was made on the 7th of May and Captain Kelly's company of the state militia, composed of fighting Irishmen, went as a guard. That was the reason this crack company was not at Camp Jackson when the capture took place. Years afterwards the militant sympathizers with the South told the story of Camp Jackson in a song which ran : " 'Twas on the tenth "of May When Kelly's men were away " The Armed Neutrality Policy. While these warlike preparations of Blair and Lyon on the one side and Governor Jackson and the Minute Men on the other went on, the voice of Mis souri at large was still raised for "armed neutrality." In his Columbia States men of April 15, 1861, William F. Switzler said: "Let them (the border states) stand as a wall of fire between the belligerent extremes,. and with their strong arms and potential counsel keep them apart. Let them stand pledged, as they now are, to resist any attempt at coercion, plighting their faith, as we do not hesi tate to plight the faith of Missouri, that if the impending war of the northern states against the southern shall, in defiance of our solemn protest and warning, actually occur (which 730 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI God in his mercy forefend!) we shall stand by Virginia and Kentucky and our southern sisters— sharing their dangers, and abiding their fortunes and destiny— in driving back from their borders the hostile fleet of northern invaders. Of the South, we are for the South." The Missouri Republican, organ of all the conservative elements, met the situation on the 22d: "Let us take the same position that Kentucky has taken— that of armed neutrality. • Let Us declare that no military force levied in other states, shall be allowed to pass through our state, or camp upon our soil. Let us demand of the opposing sections to stop further hostile operations until reason can be appealed to in Congress, and before the people; and when that fails it will be time enough for us to take up arms. Why should we, all unpre pared, rush out of the Union, to find a doubtful and reluctant reception in the Confederate states." Long after the war was over, Champ Clark pointed out the futility of the "armed neutrality" argument. He said: "Time fought for Blair in this strange contest for possession of a state, for the preserva tion of the Republic. Those who most effectually tied the hands of the secessionists and who unwittingly but most largely played into Blair's were the advocates of 'armed neutrality,' certainly the most preposterous theory ever hatched in the brain of man. Who was its father cannot now be definitely ascertained, as nobody is anxious to claim the dubious honor of its paternity. What it really meant may be shown by an incident that happened in the great historic county of Pike, a county which furnished one brigadier-general and five colonels to the Union army and three colonels to the Confederate, with a full complement of officers and men. "Early in 1861 a great 'neutrality meeting' was held at Bowling Green, the county seat, Hon. William L. Gatewood, a prominent lawyer, a Virginian or Kentuckian by birth, an ardent southern sympathizer, subsequently a state senator, was elected chairman. The Pike county orators were out in full force, but chief among them was Hon. George W. Anderson, also a prominent lawyer, and East Tennessean by nativity, afterwards a colonel in the Union army, a^state senator, and for four years a member of Congress. Eloquence was on tap and flowed freely. Men of all shades of opinion fraternized; they passed strong and ringing resolutions in favor of 'armed neutrality,' and 'all went merry as a marriage bell.' . "Chairman Gatewood was somewhat mystified and not altogether satisfied by the har monious proceedings; so, after adjournment sine die, he took Anderson out under a con venient tree, and in his shrill tenor nervously inquired, 'George, what does "armed neutrality" mean, anyhow?' Anderson, in his deep base, growled, 'It means guns for the Union men and none for the rebels!'— the truth and wisdom of which remarks are now perfectly apparent. So it was, verily. Anderson had hit the bull's-eye, and no mistake. If he had orated for an entire month, he could not have stated the case more luminously or more com prehensively. He had exhausted the subject. Before the moon had waxed and waned again the leaders of that 'neutrality' lovefeast were hurrying to and fro, beating up for volunteers, in every nook and corner in the county,— some for service in the Union, others for service in the Confederate army. "But it is proverbial that 'hindsight is better than foresight.' Men must be judged by their own knowledge at the time they acted, not by ours ; by the circumstances with which they were surrounded, not by those which environ us. What may appear unfathomable problems to the wisest men of one generation may be clear as crystal to even the dullest of the succeeding generation. However ridiculous 'armed neutrality,' judged by the hard logic of events, may appear in the retrospect; however untenable we now know it to have been, whom afterwards won laurels on the battlefield and laid down their lives in one army or the fact nevertheless remains that it was honestly believed in and enthusiastically advocated CAMP JACKSON 731 by thousands of capable, brave, and honest rnen all over Kentucky and Missouri, many of the other in defense of what they deemed right." Jackson's Confidential Letter. A confidential letter by Governor Claiborne Jackson to the editor of the St. Louis Bulletin, is in the manuscript collection of the Missouri Historical Society. It is dated April 28, 1861. It is an important revelation of the state administra tion's policy at the time and of purposes behind the scenes : "I write this note in confidence and under a state of mind very peculiar. I know not when I have been so deeply mortified as on yesterday when I read the leading editorial of the Republican. Governor Price called on me a few days since, when passing on his way to St. Louis. We had an interview of ten minutes, not more. It was strictly private and confidential. Neither was at liberty to repeat what the other said, much less was either licensed to misstate and misrepresent the position of the other. "Governor Price asked me what I thought as to the time of palling the convention. I told him not to be in a hurry but to wait 'til the legislature met, and to be here at that time, so that we could consult with the members from all parts of the state, and fix upon a proper time; that in my judgment we should not go out of the Union until the legislature had time to arm the state to some extent and place it in a proper position of defense. This was in substance, the sum total of all I said to him. Governor Price said many things to me in that short interview which I am not at liberty to repeat, and which I could not do without doing violence to my sense of honor, violating every rule of propriety which gov erns the intercourse of gentlemen, and forfeiting all claim to the position of an Honorable .member of the community. "If it be the purpose of Paschall and Price to make me endorse the position of the Republican and the miserable, base, and cowardly conduct of Governor Price's submission convention, then they are woefully mistaken. Lashed and driven as they have _been by an indignant and outraged constituency from the position of 'unconditional union,' they are now seeking shelter under the miserable absurdity of 'armed neutrality.' About the only truth in Paschall's article is that in which he states my policy to be a 'policy.' "This is true. I am for peace, and so is everybody except Lincoln and Frank Blair. You will do me an especial favor to inform Mr. Paschall that whenever Governor Jackson wishes his position upon matters of public interest properly stated and set before the peopl^, he will take some direct manner of doing it, and not rely upon the colored and garbled statements of a set of men who, under the garb of friendship, seek to obtain his con fidence only to betray him, and play the part of pumps and spies. "I do not think Missouri should secede to-day or to-morrow, but I do not think it good policy that I should publicly so, declare. I want a little time to arm the state, and I am assuming every responsibility to do *it with all possible dispatch. Missouri should act in concert with Tennessee and Kentucky. They are all bound to go out and should go together, if possible. My judgment is that North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas will all be out in a few days, and when they go, Missouri and Kentucky must follow. Let us then prepare to make our exit. We should keep our own counsels. Every man in the state is in favor of arming the state. Then let it be done. All are opposed to furnishing Mr. Lincoln with soldiers. Time will settle the balance. Nothing should be said about the time or the manner in which Missouri should go out. That she ought to go and will go at the proper time I have no doubt. She ought to have gone last winter when she could have seized the public arms and public property and defended herself. This she has failed to do, and must now wait a little while. Paschall is a base submissionist, and desires to remain with the North if every other slave state should go out. "This he proved in indorsing all those who voted against Bast's amendment. The people of Missouri, I must think, understand my position. Paschall knows the people are twenty to one against him and hence he seeks to drag me into his aid and support. You should denounce his course, and expose his baseness. To frighten our people into the 732 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI most slavish position he parades before them from day to day our defenseless attitude, and meanly makes it out a thousand times worse than it really is. Missouri can put into the field to-day twenty thousand men, better armed than our fathers were, who won our inde-- pendence. If you can, I should be glad to see you here on Tuesday evening. I hope you will fully comprehend my whole policy. And without undertaking to shadow it forth spe cifically or in detail, I only ask that you will defend me from the false position in which Paschall and Price seem disposed to place me. Call on every country paper to defend me,' and assure them I am fighting under the true flag. Who does not know -that every sym pathy of my heart is with the South? "The legislature, in my view, should sit in secret session and touch nothing but the measures of defense. Let the measures of Mr. Sturgeon, Mr. Paschall, Mr. Taylor, & Co., in regards to their railroads all go by the board. I haye not the patience or the. time to talk of such matters now.. Let us first preserve our liberties and attend to business affairs afterwards. Let all our energies and all our means be applied to our defense and safety. "Yours truly, > "C. F. Jackson.'' As soon as he had mustered in his four regiments, Lyon set about his plans to make still more complete the defense of the arsenal. On the 36th of April he wrote to the secretary of war: "The state is doubtless getting ready to attack the government troops with artillery. I have sent three volunteer companies with Captain Totten's battery to occupy buildings outside of the arsenal, hired for this'purpose, both to give them shelter and to occupy commanding positions which the seeessionists had. intended to occupy themselves and upon which they openly avowed that they would plant siege batteries to- reduce this place, the arsenal. This exasperates them and has given rise to a singular correspondence which, when convenient, I will lay before the War Department." Committee of Public Safety Recognized. The very day that Lyon's report on the intentions of the state against the arsenal was mailed, April 30th, there was started from the war department a document that conveyed sweeping authority. It was signed by Secretary Cameron and was addressed to Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, commanding department of the west. It read : "The President of the United States directs that you enroll in the military service of the United States loyal citizens of St. Louis and vicinity, not exceeding, with those hereto fore enlisted, ten thousand in number, for the purpose of maintaining the authority of the United States and for the protection of the peaceable inhabitants of Missouri, and you will, if deemed necessary for that -purpose by yourself and Messrs. Oliver D. Filley, John- How, James O. Broadhead, Samuel T. Glover, J. J. Witzig, and Francis P. Blair, Jr., pro claim martial law in the city of St. Louis.'7 The document was indorsed, "It is revolutionary times, and therefore I do not object to the irregularity of this. W. S." The initials were those of Winfield Scott. The> document bore the- further indorsement, "Approved April 30, 1861. A. Lincoln." The six men named were the Committee of Public Safety who had been acting heretofore by authority of a meeting of citizens. Now the com mittee received government recognition. It was "revolution." But President Lincoln realized what it meant to hold Missouri in the Union and he did nqt stop at revolution which put state and city in the control of a. Committee of Public Safety composed of Missourians he trusted. CAMP JACKSON 733 Blair and Lyon lost no time in acting under this authority. To the regiments organized in April the name of Missouri Volunteers had been given. More regiments were organized with such celerity that four of them were sworn in and armed on the 7th and 8th of May, just after Frost's brigade of state militia had gone into camp in Lindell Grove. These regiments were named the United States Reserve Corps. Police and Militia Movements. , On the 6th of May the police commissioners took action which was in accord ance with the theory of state sovereignty held by those who sympathized with the South. They served a formal demand upon Lyon to withdraw all United States troops from all buildings and grounds outside of the arsenal. The docu ment set out in legal phraseology that this occupancy was "in derogation of the Constitution and laws of the United States." Lyon replied with an inquiry. He asked, "what provisions of the Constitution and laws were being thus violated." The police commissioners stated, Missouri had "sovereign and exclusive juris diction over her whole territory" save only where she had delegated certain tracts for military purposes in the form of arsenals and barracks. The answer of the police commissioners further asserted that outside of these ceded tracts the United States had no right to occupy any of the soil of Missouri without the consent of the state authorities. Lyon refused to recognize the doctrine of state sovereignty and continued to occupy the positions he had taken for his regulars and Home Guards in anticipation of an attack upen the arsenal. The police board referred the correspondence to the state authorities at Jefferson City and there the matter ended. While awaiting the return of Greene and^Duke from their southern mission, Governor Jackson called a special session of the legislature to meet in Jefferson City on the 2d of May, "for the purpose of enacting such measures as might be deemed necessary for the more perfect organization and equipment of the militia and to raise the money, and provide such other means as might be required to place the state in a proper attitude of defense." At the same time the governor ordered the commanding officers of the several militia districts to go into camp with their commands on the 3d of May for the annual instruction and drill, under the militia law of 1858. Camp Jackson Established. Camp Jackson was established on Monday, the 6th of May. Snead said: "Though the removal of the arms from the arsenal had taken away the motive that caused the governor to order the militia into camp at St. Louis, it was determined to hold that encampment, nevertheless. The intention of holding it on the hills near the arsenal was, however, abandoned. For to camp there now would be an idle threat at best, and besides, and this was a still more potent reason, those very hills had been quietly occupied by Lyon with both infantry and artillery. Frost, therefore, selected a camp in a wooded valley, known- as Lindell Grove, near the intersection of Olive street and Grand avenue, in the western part of the city, and called it Camp Jackson, in honor of the governor. And there his brigade, aggregating a little more than seven hundred men, went into encamp ment. Besides the officers and men of the brigade, there were a number of young men in the camp, whohad come from all quarters of the state to learn something of the art of war, and to take part in any hostile movement which Frost might undertake." 734 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI i General D. M. Frost assembled the First and Second regiments on Washing ton avenue and marched to Camp Jackson. Three troops of militia cavalry under Maj. Clark Kennerly arrived in the camp the next day. The First regiment, Lieut. -Col. John Knapp commanding, was composed of long established military companies. The majority, perhaps, two thirds of the members of this .regiment and of the Engineer Corps, National Guards, were Union men. Many of them afterwards served with distinction in the Union army. The Second regiment, Col. John S. Bowen, was composed largely of the Minute Men who had been organized as militia in January from the "broom rangers" of the political cam paign of i860. The United States and the Missouri state flags \floated over Camp Jackson. The general spirit of the camp was not warlike. Many of the militia ob tained daily furloughs and attended to their business down town, reporting for dress parade and sleeping in camp. Of the plans of the secessionists very few were informed. The forms of loyalty to nation as well as to state' were main tained. This concession to the strong Union element in the older military com panies was necessary. Colonel Pritchard and some of the other Union militia men had been advised by Blair and did not go to Camp Jackson. Several officers had sent in their resignations before the camp was formed. x On the evening of the 8th of May, two days after the column had marched out to Camp Jackson, the steamboat, J. C. Swon, with a southern flag flying, ar rived at the St. Louis levee. She had taken on board at Baton Rouge the cannon and the ammunition intended for the siege of the arsenal. The guns and the powder and ball were in boxes of various sizes marked "marble Tamaroa." They were addressed to "Greeley and Gale." Carlos S. Greeley and Daniel Bailey Gale were New Hampshire born. They were most pronounced Union men. They were in the wholesale grocery business. When the boxes of "marble" were unloaded Maj. James A. Shaler was there to receive them, and the secret service men were there to see what became of the consignment. Major Shaler was a staff officer of Colonel Bowen's regiment of Minute Men. He removed the boxes" - quickly to Camp Jackson. The detectives followed and then reported to the Committee of Public Safety at Turner Hall. The information was at orfce sent to Lyon at the arsenal. The afternoon of May 9, Lyon, in disguise,, was at Camp Jackson, examining the surroundings. The boxes of "marble" were there, but unpacked. It developed long afterwards that but very few officers and men in the ranks knew of the arrival of the shiprnent. t Lyon's .Visit to Camp Jackson. The Committee of Public Safety, sitting long and late, knew better what was going on than did the citizen soldiers under the tents in Lindell Grove. CouzinV detectives were alert. Lyon's disguise consisted of clothes borrowed from Mrs. Alexander, the mother-in-law of Blair. Made up and veiled to pass for an elderly lady who was quite deaf, but armed with two heavy revolvers, Lyon in a carriage- borrowed from Franklin A. Dick, rode through Camp Jackson. The disguise was so good that when the carriage halted in front of headquarters at the arsenal' about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Blair stepped forward to greet his relative. He ' GEN. NATHANIEL LYON Who captured Camp Jackson and fell at Wilson 's Creek GEN. DAVID M. FBOST Prom a picture taken a short time before the capture of Camp Jackson SECOND PEESBYTEEIAN CHUECH OF ST. LOUIS IN 1840 Scene of Home Guards tragedy following the capture of Camp Jackson in May, 1861. A shot fired from behind one of the columns provoked a volley from the marching troops. Location,- Broadway, looking north from Walnut Street. CAMP JACKSON 737 i was undeceived when the toe of an army boot protruded from beneath the bomba zine skirt. Lyon immediately sent out messages by Witzi'g to the members of the Committee of Public Safety to come to him at 7 o'clock in the evening. He had made up his mind what to do. He wanted the committee to approve his plan. He proposed to take Camp Jackson. Late into the night the members of the com mittee talked. They were divided. There was no question of the gravity of the situation. The guns and ammunition from the government arsenal at Baton Rouge were in Camp Jackson. But the United States flag floated over Camp Jackson. There had been no "overt act" — how those two words did roll from the tongue in 1861 ! The lawyers on the committee favored a legal process. They proposed to Lyon to get out a writ of replevin for 'government property and have it served on General Frost as. the first step. That was law, they said, and should be the first step. But Lyon said it was not war. Perhaps, in his mind he saw those, big guns on the high grounds south of him and west of hinL He in sisted that the bringing of the guns and the ammunition from Baton Rouge and the removal of them to Camp Jackson were sufficient provocation. Late that night the committee voted. Four approved Lyon's proposition -to take Camp Jackson. Two opposed and urged the legal process be tried first. One of the two was Samuel T. Glover. He insisted that the writ of replevin be sworn out and that the United States marshal march at the head of the troops, carrying the writ to serve as the first step. He went so far as to -prepare the writ and place it in the hands of United States Marshal Rawlings. But when tbe marshal went to the arsenal next morning' he was denied admittance. Another .early 'morning visitor was nof only refused admission, but the written note he carried was nbt accepted by Lyon. He was Colonel Bowen, commander of the Second regiment, the Minute Men. Colonel -Bowen bore a letter from Frost to Lyon in which the commander of Camp Jackson denied that he or any of his command had any hostile intention toward the United States government. He referred to the re ports that Camp Jackson was to be attacked, and expressed the hope that they were unfounded. He concluded : "I trust that after this explicit statement we may be able by fully understanding each other to keep far from our borders the misfortunes which so unfortunately afflict our common country." Bowen carried the letter back to Camp Jackson. He was a West Pointer, a Georgian. He had resigned from the regular army and had established himself in St. Louis as an architect. There was no question as to his sympathies. He believed in the right of secession. He was undoubtedly in sympathy with Gover nor Jackson's purpose to get the arsenal. Frost, also, was a West Pointer. His service in the army had been marked by special bravery. He was a New Yorker by birth and of one of the old families of that state. Classmates of Frost were Grant, McClellan, Rosecrans and Franklin, all to become famous Union gen erals. In the same class was Beauregard of Louisiana. Frost carried the class honors in such company. The Surrender and the Tragedy. Bowen reported to Frost he was certain from what he had seen Lyon was about to move on Camp Jackson. There was a hurried consultation. These were Vol. 1—47 7-38 CENTENNIAL HISTORY. OF MISSOURI brave men, but they had been trained in military precedents. They had 750 men in camp, some of them unarmed. Bowen had not been able to get guns for all of his Minute Men. -Resistance was folly. So the leaders, who had studied in the same school that Lyon had, waited while the battalion of regulars and six regiments of the ten recruited by the Committee of Public Safety, marched up from the arsenal. Blair took Laclede avenue ; Boernstein, Pine street ; Schuttner, Market street; Sigel, Olive street; Gratz Brown, Morgan street; McNeil, Clark avenue. In this order the regiments moved westward toward Grand avenue; thousands pf men, women and children filling the sidewalks and many following. The men who were marching were St. Louisans1. They were going out to kill or take prisoners several hundred of their fellow citizens. Lyon went through all the forms of war. He posted his artillery. He disposed of his troops so that the camp was surrounded. He demanded surrender. He had been a captain in ihe regular army when he came to St. Louis. He was in command of the army raised by a Committee of Public Safety, but was still without the commission suitable to the rank. He was calling for the surrender of his former classmate who had stood above him in the class at West Point and who was a brigadier general of state troops. When his force was in position Lyon sent his demand in writing. His note set forth that Frost was in communication with the Con federacy, and -had received war material therefrom which was the property of the United States. He charged Frost, with "having in'direct view hostilities to the general government and cooperation with its enemies." Thirty minutes was given for the answer. Frost replied, protesting against the action of Lyon as unconstitutional. He added that being wholly unprepared to defend his com mand from the. unwarranted attack he was forced to comply. Lyon offered immediate parole to all who would take the oath of allegiance. Several accepted the terms. The others refused, stating that they had already taken the oath of allegiance, and to repeat it would be an admission that they had been enemies. The regulars gathered up the arms including the "marble." The state militia were marched out and formed in line as prisoners, with armed guards on both sides of them. A long wait occurred. The crowds which had followed the regiments from down town pressed closer. They became noisy. They guyed the soldiers. They grew bolder. Insults were shouted. Clods were thrown. A pistol was fired. Then came war of the character which Sherman described — "War is Hell !" Ninety men, women and children were shot. Twenty- eight of them died on the streets or in the hospitals. A baby in its mother's arms was killed. The column moved on slowly, armed men and prisoners, to the center of the city and then southward to the arsenal.- The prisoners were paroled. The baptism of blood, which the Committee of Public Safety for four months stayed, had come at last. From the steps, of the Planters, Uriel Wright, who had fought secession in the convention, addressed a great throng of excited men. He denounced "the Camp Jackson outrage." He said : "If Unionism means such atrocious deeds as have been witnessed in St. Louis, I am no longer a Union man." Mobs formed and wildly cheered the violent speeches' made by secession orators. One body of men started down Locust street to destroy the Missouri Democrat office. Mayor Daniel Gilchrist Taylor, who had succeeded Oliver D. Filley as the city's CAMP JACKSON 739 executive a few weeks before, met the rioters and warned them to go back. Behind the mayor was a line of policemen under Chief McDonough, blocking the entire "street. The police "were armed with guns. Their instructions were to use the bayonet and then fire. In the Democrat office the shooting stick, had been laid aside for fhe shooting iron. The force was armed. The building was prepared for desperate resistance. This coming of a mob' was the fulfillment of many threats from those who sympathized with secession^ movement. For this night the newspaper force had been waiting weeks. The mob'listened to the words of the mayor and went back to the Planters to be satisfied with oratory. The official report of what was taken at Camp Jackson showed preparation for war. When Lyon had hauled the spoils to the arsenal he had captured, ac cording to the inventory : "Three 32-pounders. "Three mortar beds. "A large quantity of balls and bombs in ale barrels. "Artillery pieces in boxes of heavy plank, the boxes marked 'marble, Tamaroa, care Greeley and Gale.' "Six brass field pieces. ( . "Twenty-five kegs of powder. "Ninety-six 10-inch bombshells. "Three hundred six-inch bombshells. "Six brass mortars, six inches in diameter. "One iron mortar, 10 inches. "Three iron cannon, six inches, five boxes of canister shot." ' Besides the rifles taken from the brigade, there were "several boxes of new muskets and a very large number of musket stocks and musket barrels, together with lots of bayonets,, bayonet scabbards, etc." . But for that long wait in the streets after Frost had surrendered, the blood shed at Camp Jackson might have been avoided. And that wait' was in consider able part occasioned by. an accident to General Lyon. In dismounting, Lyon was ; kicked in the stomach by the horse of one of his aides. He was temporarily disabled. His condition was carefully concealed at the time by his staff and the movement of the troops back to the arsenal was delayed. It was- another case of important history turning on a trivial event. General B. G. Farrar, was in a position to speak with accuracy of the Camp Jackson tragedy : "General Lyon intrusted me with the letter to Frost demanding his surrender. I car ried in return Frost's letter to Lyon accepting his terms. I was ordered back to the camp to receive General Frost's troops, about 1,300 all told. I was at the head of the column led by Frost and staff, and was on the left of Frost as we moved towards Lyon's command- A few minutes after Frost's troops had been received into the open ranks of Blair's regi ment, a man seated in the crotch of an apple tree, some seventy-five yards distant, fired four shots with a revolver at the troops drawn up on the Olive street causeway, the third shot striking Captain Blandowsky and fracturing his knee. Captain Blandowsky survived Camp Jackson only a few days; was buried with full military honors." More Bloodshed and a Panic. Harney returned to St. Louis on the nth of May. He was again in active command. That day a regiment of Home Guards left the arsenal and marched 740 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI up town. It was composed largely of Germans whose homes were in North St. Louis, or Bremen, as it was called. Some of the secessionists were seeking re venge for the bloody scene of Camp Jackson, the day before. A group gathered at Fifth and Walnut streets, where stood at that time a Presbyterian church, with large columns. As the regiment passed the church there came from the protec tion of the columns jeers and hisses and then stones. A pistol was fired. A soldier fell dead. Other shots were fired. Some of the soldiers who had already passed the church turned and fired back. They were raw recruits. They had been given guns only a short time. They aimed badly. They killed three of their own men and two unarmed citizens, also wounding several persons' who were standing on the sidewalk. The bloodshed of. Saturday intensified the excitement of Friday. With Sunday came the worst panic in the history of St. Louis. Everywhere in the central section spread the rumors that the German Home Guards were going to sack the city. Shutters were closed. Doors were bolted. Many of the churches did not open fpr Sunday school1 and service. Citizens called upon General Harney and besought him to disarm the Germans. The general said he could not do that. The report got out that Harney had said he "had no control over the Home Guards. "} He- meant to inform the panic stricken that these regiments were United States volunteers, accepted under the, call of the President, that the guns had been issued to them in due form and that he could not take them away. But the most alarming construction was put upon the general's words. Thou sands of citizens hastily gathered the most necessary articles and went out to the suburbs, west of the city. Others crossed the river to Illinois towns. Not few took boats and went up or down the river, All day Sunday the exodus went on. The panic fed upon itself. Those who did "not think of leaving in the morn ing departed in the afternoon. Harney issued a proclamation and posted copies about the city, declaring there was no danger. He sent detachments of troops to several centers to give assurance of protection. When the people saw these soldiers moving about and on guard they were certain that the Germans were coming to attack the central part of the city. Curiously the panic spread to the northern and southern parts of the city, and in those sections it took the form of fear that the Minute Men and their friends were going to raid and destroy the homes of the Germans. One regiment, of Home Guards was composed principally of Americans and Irishmen who lived in the central part of the city. These men in numbers as sembled after dark Sunday night and formed a skirmish line from east to west across the central part of the city. They moved slowly and cautiously southward to determine for themselves what there might be in the reports that the Germans were assembling to attack the central section. Some distance south of Chouteau avenue these American and Irish Home Guards came within hailing of another long line of Home Guards facing north. The Germans had heard that'the Ameri cans were coming down to burn their homes and they were ready to protect their families. As soon as the German Home Guards and the American and Irish Home Guards recognized each other and realized that each had been alarmed by false reports about the other there was some loud laughing and healthy cheering, after which the lines were disbanded and everybody went home to bed. Monday CAMP JACKSON 741 the panic was a joke, a rather serious one for it was the strangest, most strenuous moving day an American city- had ever known. St. Louisans with bag and bag gage moved home. - Union men were shocked at the bloodshed. One delegation went to Wash ington to urge the removal of Lyon. Another delegation went to urge Lyon's ' retention. The Committee of Public Safety sent on its report of the Camp Jackson affair, and every member signed- the declaration indorsing Lyon's act. General Harney investigated and reported that the taking of Camp Jackson was justifiable. Lyon was made a brigadier-general. He followed up the Camp Jackson success by stationing strong detachments in different parts of the city. In the meantime the interior of the state was taking important action. Prompt Action at the State Capital. The military bill had dragged along through the regular session of the legislature. It had been taken up in the special session on the 2nd of May. In the afternoon of the ioth of May, Governor Jackson came into the represen tatives' hall and told members of the capture of Camp Jackson. The military bill was being discussed at the time, Union men resisting action as they had from the beginning in January. "In an instant," said Snead, "all resistance gave way and within fifteen minutes the bill had passed both houses and was awaiting the governor's signature." Late that night an alarm was given by ( the church bells. The members of the legislature were called together. Governor Jackson notified the members * that "two of Mr. Blair's regiments were on the way to the capital." About midnight an act was passed giving authority to "the governor to take such measures as he might deem necessary or proper to repel invasion or put down rebellion." It carried an appropriation of $30,000. Governor Jackson sent armed men to hold the Missouri Pacific bridges over the Osage and the Gas conade. One of the squads exceeded orders and set the Osage bridge on fire. The military bill was well conceived. It made of eaclTcongressional district •a division. It put in command of each division a brigadier-general. Imme diately after the Camp Jackson affair the generals of the division were appointed. Alexander W. Doniphan, the famous "Xenophon" ^Doniphan of the march across "the plains to New Mexico, was offered one of these commissions. He declined and remained a Union man. The divisions of the Missouri State Guard as it was called, as finally organized, were: First Division, M. Jeff Thompson.' Second Division, Thomas A. Harris. Third Division, M. L. Clark. Fourth Division, William Y. Slack. Fifth Division, A. E. Steen. Sixth Division, M. M. Parsons. Seventh Division, J. H. McBride. Eighth Division, James L. Rains. These brigadier-generals were ordered to make an enrollment of men fit for military duty and to drill them for service. They were well chosen in respect to ability. Parsons, Clark and Slack had been in the Mexican war and had given 742 ! "CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI good account of themselves. That the ultimate purpose of the State Guard was well understood by the men who organized it was apparent later. Parsons became a major-general in the Confederate army. Clark, Slack, 'Steen and' Rains became brigadier-generals. Wm. Y. Slack went at the organization of the fourth military district with energy. He was1 a lawyer at Chillicothe and had been a captain with Doniphan's expedition to Mexico. A paper was passed among theLsouthern rights men of Livingston, cpunty and quite a sum of money, was raised. The purpose of the subscription was "to defend our homes against the invader." With this credit, Slack placed an order at a Hannibal foundry for the casting of two cannon, six pounders. The guns were ready for shipment to Chillicothe about the, ist of June. The railroad; refused to take the shipment. The foundry people loaded the guns into a covered wagon, concealed them with straw and started the outfit overland., William 'A. Wilson, the driver, told all inquirers he was bound for Pike's Peak. But word reached St. Louis of the shipment of the cannon. The Home Guard at Brookfield was ordered to intercept .Wilson. - Twenty well-i mounted men set out over the dirt road, captured the wagon near St. Catherines and .drove furiously into Brookfield. They were only one hour ahead of -the escort General Slack had sent out to meet and convoy his artillery. As the con tract with the Hannibal foundry called for payment on delivery, the Chillicothe people never paid for the cannon. Twenty-five years afterwards the subscription list was still held as a souvenir by Congressman Charles H. Mansur.- John S. Marmaduke was stationed with his command of regulars at Fort. Laramie when. officers of the army faced the question "under which govern ment?" He came home to Missouri and talked it over .with his father. Vir ginian and slaveholder, the ex-governor was strongly against- secession. "John," he said, as a member of the family recalled the conference, "there can be but one result. You will sacrifice your profession. 'Secession will fail. Slavery will be abolished. But you must decide for yourself, following your own convictions." The young officer resigned his commission in the United States army and organized a regiment under the military bill. Many of his men were from Saline county. As the organization approached completion and was about ready to' 'leave for Jefferson City, the father of the young colonel was invited to address the regiment. He knew many o.f the young soldiers and he knew the fathers of more of them. The regiment was drawn up at Marshall to receive the ex- governor. The address ^was made; it was along the. same line as the counsel which had been given the son. The elder Marmaduke told the regiment that secession could not, succeed ; that they had enlisted in a cause that was bound to fail. The speech was not well received. In the Marmaduke family the issue of 1861 found a division of sentiment not infrequent among the families of Central Missouri. Many of the elders saw beyond the glamour of war and were against secession. Military ardor carried the sons into the field. The Price-Harney Agreement. On the 17th of May the Federal court at St. Louis issued warrants "to pre serve the peace of St. Louis and promote the tranquillity of Missouri." These CAMP JACKSON 743 warrants authorized United States Marshal Rawlings to seize war material. With the one-armed Captain Sweeny and a squad of regulars, the marshal went to the state tobacco warehouse on Washington avenue and Sixth street. There he took possession of several hundred rifles arid pistols and some boxes of am munition. The marshal then palled at the metropolitan police headquarters on Chestnut street near Third, arid took possession of two cannon and many rifles. All this was done at the instance of General Harney. Then the southern rights people proposed a truce. This agreement was entered into by Price and Harney : "St Louis, May 21, 1861. "The undersigned, officers of the United States government and of the government of the, State of Missouri, for the purpose of removing misapprehensions and allaying public excitement, deem it proper to declare publicly that they have this day had a personal inter view in this city, in which it has been mutually understood, without the semblance of dis sent on either part, that each of them has no other than a common object equally inter esting and important to every citizen of Missouri — that of. restoring peace and good order to the people of the- state in subordination to the laws of the general and state govern ments. It being thus understood, there seems no reason why every citizen should not confide in the proper officers of the general and state governments, to restore quiet, and, as among the best means of offering no counter-influences, we ' mutually recommend to all persons to respect each other's rights throughout the state, making no attempt to exercise unauthorized powers, as it is the determination of the proper authorities to suppress all unlawful proceedings, which can only disturb the public peace. "General Price, having, by commission full authority over the militia of the state of Missouri, undertakes, with the sanction of the /governor of the state already declared, to direct the whole power of the state officers to maintain order within the state among the people thereof, and General Harney publicly declares that, this object being thus assured, he can have no other occasion, as he has no wish, to make military movements, which might otherwise create excitements and jealousies which he most earnestly desires to avoid. "We, the undersigned, do mutually enjoin upon the peopje of the state to attend to their civil business of whatever sort it may be, and it is hoped that the unquiet elements which have threatened so seriously to disturb public peace may soon subside and be re membered only to be deplored. "Sterling Price,- "Major-General Missouri State Guard. "William S. Harney, "Brigadier-General Commanding." The Removal of Harney. ' 1 - I Blair wrote to the Secretary of War: "The agreement between Harney and General Price gives me great disgust and dissatisfaction to the Union men ; but I am in hopes we can get along with it, and I think Harney will insist on its execu tion to the fullest extent, in which case it will be satisfactory." In those, four or five months of the early part of 1861, Frank Blair was going and coming between St. Louis and Washington. He came home from one of these trips with an order for the removal of General Harney at such time as Blair, in his judgment, should deem best. But after Blair had departed -with this order the President wrote him a personal letter dated May 18, eight days after the Carrip Jackson affair : "We have a good xleal of anxiety here about St. Louis. I understand an order has gone from the war department to you, to be delivered or withheld at your discretion, relieving GenerabHarney of his command. I was not quite satisfied with the order when 744 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI it was made, though on the whole I thought it best to make it; but since then I have be come more doubtful of its propriety. I 'do not write to countermand it, but to say I wish you would withhold it, unless in your judgment the necessity to the contrary is very urgent. There are several reasons for this. We had better have him as a friend than an enemy. It will dissatisfy a good many who otherwise would be quiet. More than all, we first relieve him, then restore^ him, and now if we relieve him again the public ask, why this vacillation. Still, if in your judgment it is indispensable, let it be so." After a few days Blair concluded that Price was not keeping faith with Harney. He served the order of removal. General B. G. Farrar told this remi niscence: "The day before General Harney was removed I was* sent for by Colonel Blair. 'Major Farrar,' said he, T wish tq obtain a very important paper in the keeping of my cousin, Miss Graham. On reaching her house, give her this key and ask for a paper consigned to her care, v On receipt, return to the arsenal -by a circuitous route, and, if attacked, defend it with your life.' N This was an order written by President Lincoln relieving Harney. It was to be used only in case of absolute necessity, and at the discretion of Blair." General Harney wrote to the adjutant-general at Washington this pathetic letter : "My ^confidence in the honor and integrity of General Price, in the purity of his motives, and in his loyalty to, the government, remains unimpaired. His course as president of the state convention that voted by a large majority against submitting an ordinance of secession, and his efforts since that time to calm the elements of discord, have served to confirm the high opinion of him I have for many years entertained. s "My whole course as commander of the department of tbe west has been dictated by a desire to carry out in gopd faith the instructions of my government, regardless of the clamor of the conflicting elements surrounding me, and whose advice and dictation could not be followed without involving the state in blood and the government in the unnecessary expenditure of millions. Under the course I pursued Missouri was secured to the Union, and the triumph of the government was only the more glorious, being almost a bloodless victory; but those who clamored for blood have not ceased to impugn my motives. Twice within a brief space of time have I been relieved from' the command here; the second time in a manner that has inflicted unmerited disgrace upon a true and loyal soldier. During a long life, dedicated to my country, I have seen some service, and more than once I have held her honor in my hands ; and during that time my loyalty, I believe, was never ques tioned; and now, when in the natural course of things I shall, before the lapse of many years, lay aside the sword which has so long served my country, my countrymen will be slow to believe that I have chosen this portion of my career to damn with treason my life,, which is so soon to become a record of the past, and which I shall most willingly leave to" the unbiased judgment of posterity. I trust that I may yet be spared to do my country some further service that will testify to the love I bear her, and that the vigor of my arm may never relax while there is a blow to be struck in her defense. "I respectfully ask to be assigned to the command of the department of California, and I« doubt not the present commander' of the division is even now anxious to serve on the Atlantic frontier. "I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, "Wm. S. Harney, "Brigadier-General U. S. Army." General Harney, realizing that the second removal from command at St. Louis made it impossible for him to ask reinstatement there, offered to go to California. He started for Washington but on the way was taken prisoner by the Confederates when the train was captured at Harper's Ferry. The Con- ' CAMP JACKSON 745 federate authorities at Richmond. immediately ordered his release when he was brougruVthere. Harney's mission to Washington was fruitless so far as transfer to California was concerned. He remained on the active list but without being given a command until 1863, when he was retired as a brigadier-general. At the close of, the war the government attempted to repair the injustice done "by brevetting him major-general. ' Blair wrote to President Lincoln on the 30th of May, 1861, asking authority to recruit a large- force of Missourians. "We are well 'able to take care of our selves in this state without assistance from elsewhere if authorized to raise a suf ficient force within the state ; and after that work is done we can take care of the secessionists from the Arkansas line to the Gulf, along the west shore of the Mississippi." What the Capture of Camp Jackson Meant. Champ Clark said, "If Frank Blair had1 never captured Camp Jackson — for it was Blair who conceived and carried out that great strategic movement, and not Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, of New England, as the northern war books say — Missouri would have joined the Confederacy under the lead of Governor Claiborne F. Jackson and Gen. Sterling Price, the peerless soldier, and, with her vast resources to command, Lee's soldiers would not havp been starved and broken into sur 1 render. "When we consider the men who were against Blair it is astounding that he suc ceeded.^ To say nothing of scores, then unknown to fame, who were conspicuous soldiers in the Confederate army and who have since held high political position, arrayed against him were the governor of the state, Claiborne F. Jackson; the lieutenant-governor, Thomas C. Reynolds ; ex-United States Senator David R. Atchison ; United States Senators Trusten Polk and James S. Green, the latter of whom had no superior in intellect or as a debater upon this continent; Waldo P. Johnson, elected to succeed Green in March, 1861, and the well-beloved ex-governor and ex-brigadier-general in the Mexican war, Sterling1 Price, by long odds the most popular man in the state. "No man between the two oceans drew his sword with more reluctance or used it with more valor than 'Old Pap Price.' The statement is not too extravagant or fanciful for belief that had he been the sole and absolute commander of the Confederates who won the battle of Wilson's Creek, he would have rescued Missouri from the Unionists. "The thing that enabled Blair to succeed was his settled conviction from the first that there would be war — a war of coercion. While others were hoping against hope that war could be averted or, at least, that Missouri could be kept out of it, even if it did come — while others were making constitutional arguments, while others were temporizing or dallying — he acted. Believing that the questions at issue could be settled only by the sword, and also believing in Napoleon's maxim that 'God fights on the side of the heaviest battalions,' he grimly made ready for -the part which he intended to play in the blobdy drama." In the capitol at Washington, Senator George G. Vest, speaking at the dedi cation of the statue of Blair in Statuary Hall, said of Camp Jackson and what immediately followed: "Blair, although he was not ariticipating what was called the massacre, was immediately prepared for action against the consequences. He knew that the railroad, the only railroad running west from St. Louis, would be destroyed by the state government, but he seized five steamboats lying at the wharf, put crews on them, went up the river with his German 746 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI' regiments, captured Jefferson City, the capital, dispersed the state government, overwhelmed the few hundred militia, unarmed and undisciplined, who met him at Boonville, and, in my judgment, caused Missouri to divide her forces in the war between the North and the South instead of going solidly to the Confederate cause, as but for him would have been the case. \ _ "I say here now today, deliberately, from my personal knowledge of affairs then in the /tate, that but for Frank Blair, Missouri would have given her solid strength to the southern cause. . I do not choose to conjecture what would have been the result. Southern ' Illinois, Kentucky and Maryland; as all the world knows, sympathized with the South, and the result of the war might have been different but for the wonderful fearlessness and promptitude with which Blair acted." | Conclusions Fifty Years After. At the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the capture of Camp Jackson, Major Leo Rassieur, one of the participants in the capture, told of secret corre spondence between the secretary of war of the Confederate government and Governor Claiborne Jactcson. He quoted from the letters exchanged. The governor's letter was dated only five days before the capture of Camp Jackson. Major Rassieur, who was one of Winston Churchill'^ characters in "The Crisis," said in his address at the semi-centennial of Camp Jackson : "The governor of Missouri was written to on April 26 by L. P. Walker, secretary of war of the southern Confederacy as follows: 'Can you arm and equip one regiment of infantry for service in Virginia, to rendezvous at Richmond? Transportation will be provided by this government. The^regiment to elect its own officers and must enlist for not less than twelve months, unless sooner discharged.' "Although the State of Missouri, as a legal organization, had assumed no obligation to the southern Confederacy and was then a part of the 'Federal government, still, the man who held the office of governor answered as follows, on May 5th, from the executive department of this state, to wit: 'Yours of the 26th ult. received. I have no legal author ity to furnish the men you desire. Missouri, you know, is yet .under t^he tyranny of Lin coln's government, so far, at least, as forms go. We are woefully deficient here in arms, and can not furnish them at present; but so far as men are concerned, we have plenty of them, ready, willing and anxious to march at any time to the defense of the South. Our Legislature has just met, and I doubt not will give me all necessary authority over the matter. If you can arm the men they will go whenever- wanted and to any point where they may be most needed. I send this to Memphis by private hand, being afraid to trust our mails and telegraphs. , Let me hear from you by the same means. Missouri can and will put 100,000 men in the field if requested. We are using every means to arm our people, and until we are better prepared must move cautiously. I write this in confidence, with prayers for success." -Speaking of the plans of Lyon and of the execution of them, Major Rassieur continued : The arrangements made by Gen. Lyon were so well perfected and carried out that, not withstanding the regimerks started from camps many miles apart and marched by different routes to reach their destination, when the hour of taking the assigned positions arrived each regiment was present to perform its full duty. The best regular troops, of the war, with years of - instruction and experience to guide them, never performed with more promptitude and military disqipline the dangerous duties attending a warlike proceeding. Gen. Lyon had no cause to regret the confidence reposed in his citizen-scJdiery. They bore the abuse heaped upon them by the crowd of southern sympathizers who followed the troops to the camp, with the fortitude of the regulars of the army, and it was CAMP JACKSON 747 only when fired upon by the surrounding crowd and when Capt. Blandowsky of the Third Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, had been wounded that both regulars and volunteers re turned the fire, and thus saved the city from general riot and further bloodshed. The camp and its occupants were surrendered without firing a gun, as was doubtless anticipated by Gen. Lyon, and as a direct result the City of St. Louis and the government of the State of Missouri remained true to the Union during the greatest trial of the institutions of this country. In conclusion, Major Rassieur quoted from a paper read by James O. Broad- kead before • the St. Louis Commandery, of the Loyal Legion, regarding the importance of the events connected with Camp Jackson: ^ "Colonel James O. Broadhead, who participated in the excitements of those days, in April and May, 1861, as a member of the Committee of Safety, and whose excellent judg ment and love of truth' have never been questioned, says in his paper, prepared and read to the Loyal Legion: "'The regiments that were raised in St. Louis in the spring of 1861, chiefly under the auspices of General Blair, and placed under the command of General Lyon, secured Mis souri to the Union cause, and this, in my judgment, the impartial historian who comes to learn all the facts connected with that period will say; _ and he will say further that had Missouri taken the other side of that contest the result might have been, most probably would have been different.' " ' , ¦ ¦ CHAPTER XXIII THE STATE THE STAKE Missourians Against Missourians— A Final Effort for Peace— Lyon's Ultimatum— "This Means War"— Jackson's Proclamation— The State Guard Called Out— An Expedition Southwest — The State Capital Abandoned — Battle of Boonville — Its Far-reaching Sig nificance—A Week's Important Events— Richmond's Early Missouri Policy — The March Southward — Home-made Ammunition— Historic Buck and Ball — Character of the State Guard — Battle of Carthage — The Honors with 2,000 Unarmed Missourians — Sigel's , Masterly Retreat— Lyon Reaches Springfield— Polk and the Army of Liberation- Richmond at Last Heeds Missouri's Appeal — McCulloch loins Forces with Price- Lyon Outnumbered— Fremont's Costly Delay — The Battle of Wilson's Creek— McCul- loch's Attack Anticipated — How the Missourians Fought — Death of Lyon— The State Won for the Union — Fremont's Failure to Support — A Secret Chapter of the War — Jeff Thompson's Dash for St. Louis — Grant Checks the Army of Liberation — The Battle of Lexington — A Great Victory for the Stale Guard — Ruse of the Hemp Bales — Fre mont's Army of the West — The Marching Legislature at Neosho — Ordinance of Seces sion Passed — "A Solemn Agreement"- — Fremont Removed — The Anti-Slavery Protest — President Lincoln on the Fremont Fiasco — Border States Policy Endangered — Mrs. Fre mont's Midnight Visit — The Browning Letter — When Washington Discovered Grant — The Grant Family in Missouri — Kansas City Saved — First Iron-Clads in Naval History — The Civil War Kindergarten. Rather ' tman concede to the State o'f Missouri the right to demand that my government shall not enlist troops within her limits, or 'bring troops into the state whenever it pleases, or move its troops at its own will into or out of or through the state; rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single moment the right to dictate to my government in any matter, however unimportant, I would see you, and you, and you, and every man, woman and child dead and buried. This means war. In an hour one of my officers will call for you and conduct you out of my lines. — Generpl Nathaniel Lyon. Missourians went to war with Missourians on the 12th of June, 1861. The last futile effort to keep .peace within the state was made the night before. William A. Hall, David H. Armstrong and J. Richard Barret appealed to Governor Jackson and Gen. Sterling Price to meet Blair and Lyon for confer ence. Thomas T. Gantt, the warm personal friend of Blair, joined with Mr. Hall in persuading Lyon. Safe conduct was given the governor and Price. The paper stipulated that if they "should visit St. Louis on or before the 12th of June, ifl order to hold an interview for the purpose of effecting, if possible, a peaceable solution of the troubles of Missouri, they should be free from molestation or arrest during their journey to St. Louis, and their return from St. Louis to Jefferson City." , On the evening x>i the nth the conference was held in the Planters' House. Six men were in it. Blair and Lyon represented the national government, Major Conant attending as Blair's aide. Governor Jackson and General Price repre sented the state government, Thomas L. Snead being present as the governor's 749 750 ' CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI aide. For more, than four hours these- men argued about the relations between the United States and the State of Missouri. That was the issue, — state sovereignty. Blair, at first, spol^e for the Federal authority. But Lyon soon got into the1 discussion. Snead said : "In half an hour it was he that was con ducting it, holding his own at every point against" Jackson and Price, masters though they were of Missouri politics, whose course they had been directing and controlling for years, while he was only captain of an infantry regiment on the plains. He had not, however, . been a riiere soldier in those days, but' had been an earnest student of the very questions that he was now discussing, and he comprehended the matter a's well as any man, and handled it in the soldierly way to which he had been bred, using the sword to cut knots that he could not untie." , It became plain to the six men that there was no middle, ground on which -they could agree. Lyon ended the conference. He said, finally, without passion but with deliberation and emphasis: "Rather than concede to the State of Missouri the right to demand that my government shall not enlist troops within her limits, or bring troops into the state whenever it pleases, or move its troops at its own will into, out of, or through the state ; rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to my government in any matter however, unimportant, I would see you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and every man, woman and child' in the statq dead and buried.-" As he closed, he stood up and pointed in turn to each of the other five men in the room, not excepting Blair and Conant. Then he addressed Governor Jackson: "This means war. In an hour one of my officers will call for you and conduct you out of my lines." It did mean war. Lyon "strode from the room, rattling his spurs and clank ing his sabre." He went from the Planters' House conference to telegraph for 5,000 more muskets and for authority to enlist more Missourians. The war. department answered immediately and favorably. This meant organization .of Home Guards outside St. Louis, wherever there was strong Union sentiment, to fight State Guards. Jackson Burns His Bridges. Jackson, Price and Snead went from the Planters' to the old Missouri Pacific depot and took the evening train for Jefferson City. They burned their bridges behind them,— the Gasconade and the Osage, as soon as Price, could give the , orders to waiting State Guards. All of the way to Jefferson City that Tuesday night, they planned war measures. It was agreed the governor, would issue a proclamation and call Missourians to arms to resist Federal aggression; that Price would muster an army; that an appeal would be made to Jefferson Davis, to send Confederate troops to defend Missouri against the Union. The plans were formed when the little party left the train at Jefferson City after 2 o'clock in the morning. Before sunrise Snead had completed' the proclamation as the governor outlined it and the printers were putting it in type. No state official slept that night. The packing of records and state papers went on., Wednesday morning brought such scenes as no other American state capital , had.: witnessed.. The entire official organization of a state still in the Union was preparing to GEN. EMMETT McDONALD A leader of the St. Louis minute men GEN. MONROE M. PARSONS One of. the organizers . of the Missouri State Guard in 1861. , Served under Priee in' Confederate Army. Courtesy Missouri Historical Society THE BERTHOLD MANSION, BROADWAY AND PINE STREETS, ST. LOUIS , Headquarters of the Minute Men in 1861 THE STATE THE STAKE 753 evacuate the seat of government, not to escape a foreign enemy but the authority of the national government of which it was a part. To all parts of the state the proclamation of the governor was sent out on Wednesday. It set forth the irreconcilable differences of the Planters' House conference, which meant war. Nothing was said about slavery. Asserting that the state authorities had "labored faithfully to keep the agreement" with Harney, Governor Jackson < continued : "We had an interview on the iith inst. with General Lyon and Colonel F. P. Blair, Jr., at which I submitted to them this proposition : That I would disband the State Guard and break up its organization ; that I would disarm all the companies which had been armed by the state ; that I would pledge myself not to attempt to organize the militia under the military bill; that no arms or other munitions of war should be brought into the state; that I would protect all citizens equally in all their rights, regardless of their political opinions ; that I would suppress all insurrectionary movements within the state; that I would repel all attempts to invade it from whatever 'quarter and by whomsoever made; and that I would thus maintain a strict neutrality in the present unhappy contest, and preserve^ the peace of the state. And I further proposed that I would,, if necessary, invoke the assistance, of the United States troops to carry out these pledges. All this I proposed to do upon condition that' the Federal government would undertake to disarm the Home Guards, which it has illegally organized and armed throughout the state, and pledge itself not to occupy with its troops any locality not occupied by them at this time. "Nothing but the most earnest desire to avert the horrors, of civil war from our state "could have tempted me to propose these humiliating terms. They were rejected by the Federal officers. They demanded not only the disorganization and disarming of the state militia and the nullification of" the military bill, but they refused to disarm their own Home Guards and insisted that the Federal government should enjoy an unrestricted right to move and station its troops throughout the state, whenever and wherever that might; in the opinion of its officers, be necessary for the protection of the 'loyal subjects' of the Federal government, or repelling of invasion ; and they plainly announced that it was the intention of the administration to take military occupation, under these pretexts, of the whole state, and to reduce it, as avowed by General Lyon himself, to 'the exact condition of Maryland.' , "The acceptance by me of these degrading terms would not only have sullied the honor of Missouri, but would have aroused the indignation of every brave citizen, and would have precipitated the very conflict that it has been my aim to prevent. We refused to accede to them and the conference was broken up." Rallying the State Guard. Governor Jackson concluded by "calling the militia of the state, to the num ber of, 50,000 into the active service of the state, for the purpose of repelling said invasion, and for the protection of the lives, liberties, and property of the citizens of this state. And I earnestly exhort all good citizens of Missouri to rally, under the flag of their state,; for the protection of their homes and firesides, and for the defense of their most sacred rights and dearest privileges." Before Wednesday night the proclamation was on the way to all parts of the state, but not as it would have been distributed in this later day. When Missourians went to war with Missourians conditions were far different. It is well that this be borne in mind. The rapid succession of strange and startling events of those June days of 1861 can then be better understood. No railroad reached Kansas City. The Missouri Pacific stopped at Sedalia. The Wabash as it is now called, then the North Missouri, had been built only half way Vol. 1—48 754 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI across the state. The Frisco, then the Southwest Branch, had its terminus at Rolla. The Iron Mountain ended at Ironton. Missouri's railroad development was in the first decade of its development. The telegraphic facilities were meagre. Jackson's proclamation ;was carried to many communities by couriers. But before Thursday night men were riding away from their homes to Boonville, to Lexington, to other rallying places. With the governor's proclamation went orders from General Price to the commander in each military district, telling, him to assemble all of the available State Guard and get them ready for service. There was one exception. Geri. John B. Clark was' ordered to Boonville and was told to get his men there as quickly as possible. The war council had 'decided that Jefferson City must be abandoned; that the first stand against Federals would be made at Boonville. Germans were too numerous in Cole county; they favoredHhe Federal side of the issue. Boonville was the cente'r of strong state sovereignty sentiment. Lyon Tabes the Field. Lyon was even more prompt in action than Jackson and Price. Tuesday night, following the conference, he issued orders for an expedition into South west Missouri. The regiments of Sigel, Salomon and B. Gratz Brown, composed of St. Louis Germans, were ordered to proceed to Springfield, Missouri. They formed part of the second brigade which Blair and Lyon had organized. Their commander was Thomas W, Sweeny, the one-armed captain of regulars who had prepared to make bloody defense of the arsenal. With Sweeny's St. Louis Germans went two batteries of guns under Major Backoff. This force began moving on Thursday. There was railroad transportation to Rolla. Beyond that was -an overland march. Lyon had. a double purpose in sending out this expedition. Ben. McCulloch, with Arkansas and Louisiana troops, was approach ing the southwestern corner of Missouri: Lyon intended to drive Jackson and the State Guard south from the Missouri river. He intended to have Sweeny pre vent McCulloch from coining to the help of Price. He also expected to trap the state1 forces between Sweeny and his own command. While one of these bri gades was getting away to the southwest, Lyon was marching part of the other on board steamboats to go up the Missouri. Blair's regiment, nine companies of Boernstein's, two companies of regulars and Totten's battery, about 2,000 men, were marched on board the boats Thursday. In the afternoon of that same day there was another embarkation at Jefferson City. Jackson and the other state officers^ with Kelly's St. Louis company of the State Guard went on board the River Queen and steamed up the river to Boonville. The militia men who had come to Jefferson City in response to the governor's proclamation were hastily organized by General Monroe M. Parsons. When the state officers left by river, Parsons took his force by land to Tipton and awaited orders. Lyon reaqhed Jefferson City at two o'clock Saturday afternoon. He left Boernstein and three companies for a garrison. Sunday, Lyon started for Boon ville. Price had not counted on such rapid advance. His plan was to assemble an army at Lexington and' hold the Missouri river permanently at that point. He meant to make as good a fight as possible at Boonville, holding Lyon there, if he could not defeat him, until Lexington could be fortified and a strong force THE STATE THE STAKE 755 could be organized and equipped. Price depended" upon the rich and populous counties of ^ Central Missouri . for his army. Two or three weeks before Lyon issued his declaration of war, the quartermaster general of the state had moved to Boonville and had put his ordnance shop in operation. The Battle of Boonville. Clark had several hundred men at Boonville when Price and the state officers got there Thursday night. Friday and Saturday more militiamen came in. The regiment which John' S. Marmaduke/ had organized in /May mustered in good force. The companies, however, had had little drilling. They had been sent home from Jefferson City shortly after being organized, when Harney and Price en tered into their agreement. In addition to the men who had been recruited, Mis sourians who wanted to fight flocked by squads to Boonville, many of them riding their own horses, and bringing shot guns and rifles. Not since the "Lex ington Alarm" had America known such an assembling for war, without waiting for organization or equipment. Saturday brought news which tested ^he courage of these Missourians. There was some fighting between state troops and Federal cavalry near Independence. Kansas regiments and the dragoons were preparing to -advance on Lexington from the west. Lyon and the St. Louis Germans were at Jefferson City. Suriday morning Price hurried to Lexington to take personal command. He ordered John B. Clark to hold Boonville as long as possible and then join his force with Parsons. The state forces were without artillery. Price realized that the aban donment of his plan to hold the river was certain if Lyon forced the fighting. And Lyon, as usual, lost no time. Sunday he left Jefferson City. At daylight Monday morning he was eight miles below Boonville. His troops landed and moved up the river road. One company of Blair's regiment and a howitzer were left on the boats and started up the river to deceive the state troops. After Price left, Governor Jackson issued the orders. As soon as he learned that Lyon had left Jefferson City he sent word to Parsons, who' was twenty miles away, to come to Boonville. He told Marmaduke he must take his regiment out to meet Lyon and try to hold him until Parsons could arrive. Marmaduke was a relative of Governor Jackson's wife. He protested that the movement was useless and advised that the proper course was to withdraw to the Osage river in the vicinity of Warsaw and concentrate there. But the governor insisted it would never do to give up Boonville without a fight. Against better judgment, Marma duke marched eastward from Boonville until he met Lyon. He had about 500 men, one-fourth as many as Lyon. The country Missourians put up a fight against the city M'issourians. Lyon brought up his battery and Marmaduke fell back to another position. "The Battle of Boonville" was soon over. On the Union side two were killed arid nine wounded. Of the state troops two were killed and half-a-dozen were wounded. General Clark and General Parsons joined their forces and escorting the state government marched, southward to the Osage. At Lexington, Price heard of the fall of Boonville. He had found Brigadier-Generals Rains and Slack there with several thousand men, but many of them were unarmed. Lexington was evacuated, Rains and Slack moved with their unorganized army southwestwardly toward Lamar in Barton county. Price 756 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI with a small escort rode as rapidly as possible across the state to Arkansas to find McCulloch. The Trick at Lexington. Fifteen years after the close of the Civil war came the explanation of the rapid evacuation of Lexington when it had been expected and planned that a stand would be made there. The story was told by an pld resident : "A young fellow named Brown, who was a printer in the Lexington Expositor office, suggested a plan to have some fun, but the affair was never" known only to Pirner, Brown, James Curry and a young telegraph operator wjiose name I cannot now recall. The' telegraph operator had a pocket instrument of his own. The telegraph at that time went eastward by Waverly. Pirner' and the operator went out a little way east of Old Town, after it was quite dark and quiet for the night, and managed to reach a telegraph wire and hitch on the pocket instrument. The Lexington office was informed : 'The Federals have left Marshall for Lexington ; may arrive any minute.' The young wags then went back to the_ city to watch the effect ; and sure enough by the time they got up to Main street, in the vicinity V>f Laurel street, there werev horsemen riding rapidhr to and fro, between the college grounds and different parts of the city. The jokers didn't dare ask. any questions for fear of some suspicion arising, which would have been sure death. But in the early morning the state troops were gone. Several war histories speak of the sudden and rapid retreat from Lexington, but until 1880 no one had given the secret of its mysterious suddenness." 1 Just one week from the Planters' House conference had passed'. The state capital had been abandoned. The first battle had been fought. The Missouri river was in the possession of the Union, forces. What did it mean ? Snead, who was there and the right-hand man of Jacksbn and Price, said : "Insignificant as was this engagement in a military aspect, it was in fact a stunning blow to the southern rights people of the state and one which did incalculable and unending injury to the Confederates. It was indeed the consummation of Blair's statesmanlike scheme to make, it impossible for Missouri to secede or out of her great resources to contribute abundantly of men and material to the southern cause, as she would surely have done had her people been left free to do as they pleased. "It was also the crowning achievement of Lyon's well-conceived campaign. The cap ture of Camp Jackson had disarmed the state and compelled the loyalty of St. Louis and all the adjacent counties. The advance upon Jefferson City had p,ut the state government to flight and taken away from it that prestige which' gives force to established authority. The dispersion of the volunteers who had rushed to Boonville to fight under Price for Missouri and the South extended Lyon's conquest over -all that country lying between the Missouri river and the state line of Iowa, closed all the avenues by which the southern men of that part of Missouri could make their way to Price, made- the Missouri an unob structed highway from its source to its mouth, and rendered it impossible for Price to hold the rich, populous and friendly counties in the vicinity of Lexington." Price had indeed 'no alternative now but to retreat in all haste to the southwestern corner of the state, there to organize his army under the protection of the force which the Confederate government was mustering jn Northwestern Arkansas under General McCulloch , for the protection of that state and the Indian Territory." Price found McCulloch but received very little encouragement at first. Mc Culloch had been instructed quite positively from Richmond to confine himself to defense of Arkansas and the Indian Territory against attacks from Kansas. On the 4th of July, the Confederate secretary of war further cautioned General THE, STATE THE STAKE 757 McCulloch that "the position of Missouri, as a southern state still in the Union, requires, as you will readily perceive, much prudence and circumspection, and it should only be when necessity and propriety unite that active and direct assistance should be afforded by crossing the boundary and entering the state." i Organizing an Army Under Difficulties. As Rains and Slack with their thousands of volunteers marched southward from Lexington, the state officers, with Generals Parsons and Clark, moved westward. The two bodies came together the 3rd of July on Spring river, three miles north of Larnar. Snead was with the state officers. He said the column of troops was followed by a""long, motley train of Vehicles of every description la'den'not only with supplies for an army, but chiefly with household goods and utensils of every sort, conspicuous among which were featherbeds and frying- pans." High water in the numerous streams added to hardships of the march. There were several encouraging incidents on the retreat from Boonville to Warsaw and Lamar. Cole Camp was one of the loyal centers to which Blair and Lyon had sent guns and ammunition. Home Guards had been organized. A command of State Guards raised in the vicinity of Warsaw by Lieutenant Walter S. O'Kane and Major Thomas H. Murray routed the Home Guards and joined the governor's column with 362 of the muskets which had been sent out from St. Louis for Union men. About the same time John O. Burbridge with a party from Pike county came into the state camp at Warsaw bringing 150 muskets which had been sent to arm Home Guards in their county. Two men from St. Louis' trying to get into Jackson's camp were arrested on suspicion of being spies. They were Henry Guibor and William P. Barlow, lieutenants of a bat tery taken in the capture of Camp Jackson by Lyon on the 10th of May. Guibor End Barlow had concluded that their capture was illegal and that they were not bound by their paroles. They had come out to join the State Guards. As soon as the explanations were made, Guibor and Barlow were not only set free, but the four brass cannon taken from the United States arsenal at Liberty in May, were turned over to them. These cannon had been hauled away from Jefferson _ City by Parsons but were useless because they were without equipment and , ammunition. . Guibor and Barlow organized a company of artillery, took the bare guns and prepared for service. Lieutenant Barlow has told the wonderful story of that preparation. "One of Sigel's captured wagons furnished a few loose, round shots. Guibor established an arsenal of construction. A turning lathe in Carthage supplied sabots. The owner of a tinshop contributed straps and canisters. Iron rods which a blacksmith gave and cut into small pieces made good slugs for the canisters; and a bolt of flannel, . with needles and thread, freely donated by a dry-goods man, provided us with material for our cartridge bags. A bayonet made a good candlestick. At night the men went to work making cartridges, strapping shot to thet sabots, and filling the bags from a barrel of powder placed some distance from the candle. My first cartridge resembled a turnip,' rather than the trim cylinders from the Federal arsenals, and would not take a gun oh any terms. But we soon learned the trick and, at close range, at which our next battle was fought, our home-made ammunition proved as effective as the best." Was it any wonder that with such initiative and deter- 758 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI mination "Guibor's battery", of Missourians became one of the famous organ izations of the Confederates! Snead, who was chief of ordnance, said he "did not know the difference be tween a siege gun and a howitzer, and had never seen a cartridge." General James Harding, the quartermaster general, said: "We did not have any too much to eat, and at one time rations were very scarce, and much grumbling was heard in consequence. How we got along, I don't know ; more by luck than manage ment, probably." As primitive and as effective were the ways found to supply ammunition for those of the State Guard so fortunate as to possess shot guns and squirrel rifles. Major Thomas H. Price organized an ordnance force from Missourians who had never seen an arsenal. He obtained lead from the Granby diggings. The ninety barrels of powder which Governor Jackson had bought in St. Louis after the' Camp Jackson capture were drawn upon. Trees were cut down and made into molds. Buckshot and bullets by the bushel were turned out. From such raw material the historic buck-and-ball cartridges, terribly effective at short range, were manufactured. Lyon stopped at Boonville two weeks. He wanted reinforcements. While he waited, he garrisoned Jefferson City, Boonville and Lexington. He put Colonel John D. Stevenson in command of the Missouri river from Kansas City to the mouth. Stevenson was the member of the legislature who had protested when Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds ordered the assembly to honor the secession com missioner from Mississippi by rising. He was of southern birth but strongly for the Union. Wherever there was encouraging sentiment in the eastern coun ties Lyon organized Home Guards and supplied muskets and ammunition. From Boonville, he issued a soothing proclamation pledging that any man who had taken up arms would not be subject to penalty if he now returned to his home and was quiet. Price believed that this proclamation kept thousands of Missourians from joining, the State Guards. The Training Camp at Lamar. At Camp Lamar the brigadier-generals organized their forces as rapidly as possible. Hundreds of the volunteers up to that time had not' been assigned to commands. Rains had nearly 3,000 men. His effective force consisted of 1,200 infantry under Colonel Weightman, 600 mounted men and Bledsoe's -battery of three guns. The remainder of Rains' men were without arms. Parsons' brigade consisted of 650 armed men and nearly as many without arms. Kelly had become a colonel and his St. Louis company had become a regiment. Guibor's battery was attached to Parsons' brigade. Under General John B. Clark were 365 armed men commanded by Burbridge. Slack had 500 mounted men under Rives and 700 infantry under Colonel Hughes and Major Thornton. With each of these armed commands were many unarmed men, "waiting to pick up and use the arms of those who might sicken in camp or on the march, or who might fall in battle." Such was Price's army of Missourians in July, 1861. Was there any other like command going to war on either side? Snead said: "In all their motley array there was hardly a uniform to, be seen, and then, and throughout all the brilliant campaign on which they were about to enter there was nothing THE STATE THE STAKE 759 to distinguish their officers, even a general, from the men in the ranks, save a bit of red flannel, or a piece of cotton cloth, fastened to the shoulder, or to the arm, of the former. But for all that they were the truest and best of soldiers. Many of them, when just emerg ing from boyhood, had fought under Price or Doniphan in Mexico. Many had been across the great plains, and were inured to the dangers and privations of the wilderness; and many had engaged in the hot strife which had ensanguined the prairies of Kansas. Among them there was hardly a man who could not read and write, and who was not' more intelligent than the great mass of American citizens; not one who had not volun tarily abandoned his home with all its tender ties and thrown away all his possessions, and left father and mother, or wife and children, within the enemy^s lines, that he might himself stand by the South in her hour of great peril, and help her to defend her fields and her firesides. And among them all there was not a man who had come forth to fight for slavery." A Battle Won by 2,000 Unarmed Men. While Governor Jackson was trying to get the State Guard organized at Camp Lamar, waiting for Lyon to make the next move from Boonville, he had no idea of what was going on south of him. According to Snead, Sweeny reached Spring field on the ist of July. On the way he added about a thousand Home Guards to, his St. Louis regiments. Sigel was in advance of Sweeny. He pushed westward with Salomon's and his own regiment, hoping to cut off Price before the latter could reach McCulloch across the Arkansas border. He went as far as Neosho and Sarcoxie only to learn that Price had passed down to the state line. Sigel then turned northward to hold Governor Jackson and the State Guard until Lyon could arrive and spring the trap. Lyon left Boonville on the 3rd of July with 2,500 men and marched, toward Camp Lamar. Sturgis with 900 regulars from Fort Leavenworth and two Kansas regiments was following the trail of Rains. Thus three small Union armies were converging on Jackson and the State Guard at Lamar. But Sigel arrived too soon. On the 4th of July Sigel marched into Carthage and was discovered by a quartermaster's detail .which had gone there from Jackson's army to get supplies. On the evening of the 4th of July a man rode furiously up to Parsons' headquarters with the news that (the' Fed erals were at Carthage. At daybreak of the 5th, Governor Jackson started with his whole army of 4,000 armed and 2,000 unarmed men to meet the Union force. Sigel had been about as prompt. The two armies of Missourians came together on a prairie near Coon creek. Sigel had 950 infantry, and Backoff's battery of seven guns and 125 men. He began the fight. For an hour Backoff on one side and Guibor and Bledsoe on the other pounded away without much damage. Then Governor Jackson ordered an advance of Rains' 600 mounted men at one end of his long front and of Rives at the other end. At the same time the 2,000 unarmed men were sent off to the right into some timber to take shelter and to be out of the way. Sigel saw this movement, but did not know the men were unarmed. He thought the 2,000 men moving for the timber were being sent round to take him in the rear. He retreated and so ended the Battle of Carthage. Sigel lost thirteen killed and thirty-one wounded. The State Guard's loss was ten killed and sixty-four wounded. The Battle of Carthage was famous for two things. The honors were with the 2,000 Missourians who had no guns and were trying to get out of the way. Sigel got away from an armed force outnumbering him four to one and saved his train. He did it by retreating in good order, fight- 760 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI ing behind the fences and houses of Carthage and marching until three, o'clock the next morning. Snead, the Confederate historian, gave Sigel this credit : "As ihe engagement took place about nine miles north of Carthage, Sigel had on the 5th of July marched under a blazing sun more than ten miles, had met and fought on the. same day an army four times as numerous as his own and had then withdrawn his men in good order, first to Carthage, nine mile? from the field, and then to Sarcoxie, fifteen miles further, without halting either to eat or sleep." The Forced March to Springfield. Lyon was far away when Jackson and Sigel met. He had about a hundred miles to march. On the evening of the 7th of July he reached Grand river south of Clinton. There he overtook Sturgis and the Kansans who had been waiting for him to come up. On the afternoon of the 9th Lyon was at the Osage, nine miles above Osceola, and there the news reached him that the state troops had defeated Sigel and that Price and McCulloch had formed the junc tion he had planned to prevent. Under the impression that the state troops were pursuing Sigel, Lyon ferried his army over the Osage, working day and night. There had been heavy rains. The rivers were bank full. On the morfling of the nth Lyon started on another eighty mile march toward Springfield. He made .twenty-seven miles without a stop. A halt for food and rest was made in the afternoon. At sunset the forced march was resumed. At three o'clock in the morning Lyon was within thirty miles of Springfield when he learned that Price had not followed Sigel; that the latter had made a safe retreat, and that , Price was at Cowskin prairie. The night of the 12th Lyon camped within twelve miles of Springfield and the next morning he rode into Springfield with his "bodyrguard of ten stalwart troopers enlisted from among the German butchers of St. Louis for that special • duty." , Price joined Jackson and the other state troops immediately after the Carthage affair. On his journey to Arkansas- for help he had recruited 1,200 men for the State Guard. He had obtairied 650 muskets from the Arkansas people and he had induced McCulloch and his well organized and uniformed men to come into Mis souri. Price had done quick work for word had reached him that Lyon and Sturgis and Sigel were marching against Governor Jackson. But the retreat of Sigel had averted the great danger. The coming of McCulloch although not /needed' created great enthusiasm among the Missourians. McCulloch marched back to the Arkansas line. Price took command of all of the State Guard and conducted them to Cowskin prairie in the extreme southwestern corner of Mis souri. Lyon modified his plan and joined Sigel at Springfield. The Union Mis sourians and the State Missourians now began to prepare for real battle. Both sides wanted a fight to a finish. Governor Jackson went to Memphis to urge Gen eral Polk to send a Confederate army into Southeast Missouri. Price urged Mc Culloch to bring his troops into Missouri and join him in an attack upon Lyon at Springfield. ; There were strong reasons for pushing the campaign those July days. The state convention which had declared against secession and had given the southern rights wing in Missouri such bitter disappointment in March had been called to REAR VIEW OP THE LOG HOUSE BUILT BY GEN. TJ.-8. GRANT GENERAL FREDERICK DENT GRANT In front of the log house in which he was born. The house was built by Gen. U. S. Grant on his Missouri farm. It is preserved as a historic relie by August A. Busch THE STATE THE STAKE 763 meet in Jefferson City on the 22nd of July. The action of that convention, if the Union men still held the state, was foreseen. The officers who had been driven to a corner of the state would be declared out of office. A new, provisional state gov ernment would be organized. Missouri would remain in the Union. As a state it would be permanently against the South. Response to the appeals of the Mis sourians was delayed. At Richmond the proposition1 to invade Missouri was still treated coldly. It was not until the 31st of July that McCulloch and the Arkansas troops, making with the Missourians an army of 15,000, got under way for Springfield. , The Army of Liberation. General Polk, the militant Methodist bishop, on the 23rd of July had ordered Pillow to take 6,000 and join Jeff Thompson and the Missourians who had come together in Southeast Missouri. Polk called this "the Army of Liberation." Pil low entered Missouri on the 28th of July and occupied New Madrid. He had great expectations. The Battle- of Bull Run had given the Confederates con fidence. Those in the West were anxious to show that they, too, were irresistible. In his plan of campaign for the Army of Liberation, General Pillow declared that his army was in Missouri, at the request of Governor Jackson, to aid as allies in "placing our downtrodden sister on her feet." On the ist of August Jeff Thomp son at Bloomfield, issued this appeal "to the people of Missouri." "Having been elected to command the gallant sons of the first military district of Missouri in the second war for independence, 1 appeal to all whose hearts are with us, immediately to take the field. By a speedy end simultaneous assault on our foes, we can, like a hurricane, scatter them to the winds, while tardy action, like the gentle south wind, will only meet with northern frosts, and advance and recede, and like the seasons will be the history of the war, and will last forever. Come nowl Strike while the iron is hot! Our enemies are whipped in Virginia. They have been whipped in Missouri. General Hardee advances in' the center, General Pillow on the right, and General McCulloch on the left, with twenty thousand brave southern hearts to our aid. So, leave your plows in the furrow, your ox to the yoke, and rush like a tornado upon our invaders and foes, to sweep them from the face of the earth, or force them from the soil of our state! Brave sons of the first district; come and join us! We have plenty of ammunition, and the cat tle on ten thousand hills are ours. "We have forty thousand Belgian muskets coming; but bring your guns and muskets with you, if you have them; if not, come without them. We will strike our foes like a southern thunderbolt, and soon oui* camp-fires will illumi nate the Meramec and Missouri. Come, turn out!"' According to the War Records, General Thompson, not long after the issue of his appeal,' sent out a scouting party for fresh meat. The only cow of a widow was taken. The widow, came into camp and called upon the commander. "Why, General," she protested, "is it possible you intend to rob a widow of the only cow she has in the world, when, as you have said in your proclamation, the cattle on ten thousand hills are yours?" The general grinned and ordered the cow returned to the widow. Wilson's Creek and the Corn Fields. Some fields of ripening corn determined the location of the Battle of Wilson's creek. On the way to Springfield Price and McCulloch camped on the banks of 764 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the creek near the fields. ' Th'ey expected to live on that corn while, waiting for their trains to come up. And there they were attacked by. the man they expected i to attack in Springfield. Wilson's creek has its beginning in the suburbs of Spring field. It flows in a westerly direction several miles, bends southward and follows -that course about ten miles to its junction with the James. At Springfield Lyon found himself with between 7,000 and 8,000 men, nearly all of them Missourians. He had 3,000 men who had been enlisted for three months and their terms would be out the middle of August. He had no idea of giving up the advantage gained and began to prepare for battle, sending urgent messages to -Fremont in St. Louis for reinforcements. "Governor Jackson will soon have in this vicinity not less than 30,000 men/ I must have at once an addi tional force of 10,000 men or abandon my position," he wrote. He didn't get his ( reinforcements and he didn't abahdon his position. Blair was in Washington. He carried Lyon's appeals to the Cabinet. Orders were sent to Fremont. Far rar, Cavender and John S. Phelps, afterwards governor, went as a delegation' to Fremont and urged that help be sent to Lyon at Springfield. Fremont prom ised 5,000 men. It was not until the- 4th of August, too late, that two regiments were ordered to go to Lyon, Stevenson's from Boonville and Montgomery's from Leavenworth. Finally Lyon sent defiantly to Fremont that he would fight any way. And he, did. Lyon learned on the ist of Apgust that Price and McCulloch had started toward Springfield. He marched out to meet them, hoping to be able with his smaller force to attack them separately. A skirmish occurred at Dug Springs in which the Union troops had the best of it. Price urged McCulloch to join him in attacking Lyon. ^The corrimander of the Arkansas troops was reluctant. He referred to the instructions he had about going into Missouri. Snead said this was not McCulloch's real reason for holding back. "He had in truth no confidence in the Missouri troops, and none in General Price, or in any of his officers except Colonel Weightman." Up to this time McCullbch had com manded the Arkansas troops and Price the Missourians. Price1 saw that McCul loch had "determined not to advance another mile except in chief command of the entire force." On Sunday morning Price took Snead with him and went to McCulloch's headquarters to make a final effort. According to Snead Gen eral Price said : "I am an older man than you, General McCulloch, and I am not only your senior in rank, but I was a brigadier-general in the Mexican war, with an independent command when you were only a captain; I have fought and won more battles than you have ever witnessed ; my force is twice as great as yours ; and some of my officers rank and have seen more service than you, and we are also upon the soil of 'our own state; but, General Mc Culloch, if you will consent to help us to whip Lyon and to repossess Missouri, I will put myself and all my f.orces under your command, and we will obey you as faithfully as the humblest of your* own men. We can whip Lyon, and we will whip him and drive the enemy out of Missouri, and all the honor and all the glory shall' be yours. All that we want is to regain our homes and to establish the independence of Missouri and the South. If you refuse to accept this offer, I will move with the Missourians alone against Lyon. For it is better that they and I should all perish than that Missouri be abandoned without a struggle. You must either fight beside us or look on at a safe distance, and see us fight alone the army which you dare not attack eyen with our aid. I must fcave your answer before dark, for I expect to attack Lyon to-morrow." THE STATE THE STAKE 765 McCullpch accepted the offer of command about sunset. He explained that he had been awaiting dispatches ; that having learned Pillow was advancing into Missouri from New Madrid, he felt justified in attacking Lyon. The Fight for Missouri. McCulloch had decided to move from Wilson's creek the night of August 9th to attack Lyon in Springfield. Just before the hour set for the advance of the Confederates, rain began to fall. The order was countermanded. The rea son for postponement was another of the extraordinary conditions of this early fighting for Missouri. Most of Price's men had no cartridge boxes. They were carrying their ammunition in their pockets. The rain would have wet the pow der and put three-fourths of the Missourians on the Confederate side out of the fighting. But Lyon, impatient to force the issue, di'dn't wait for McCulloch to attack. He left Springfield on the afternoon of tlie 9th, intending to surprise the Con federates by an early morning attack. The Union force was divided. Lyon marched by a route to take him around the left of the Confederates. He sent Sigel by a more southerly route to pass around the right of the, enemy. Both" Lyon and Sigel passed the opposite wings of the Confederates and were ready at daylight to attack in .the rear. The Confederate report shows that so well was this movement carried out that at six o'clock the morning of the 10th neither Price nor McCulloch knew that Lyon had left Springfield and they were expect ing to make the attack there. * ' - Of the- Missourians who fought five hours under Price on Bloody Hill, one who was in the thickest of it, Thomas L. Snead, said : "Many of them had not even enlisted, but -Had only come out to fight; thousands of them had not been organized into regiments; many of them were unarmed; none of them were uniformed; very few of them had been drilled. Their arms were mostly shot guns and rifles, and they had no other equipments of any kind ; no tents at all ; no supplies of any sort, and no depots from which to draw subsistence, or cloth ing, or ammunition, or anything. They had no muster rolls and they made no morning reports. They bivouacked in- the open air,, they subsisted on the ripen ing corn, and they foraged their horses on the prairie-grass." So many of the higher officers on the Union sjde fell with Lyon, that the sol diers, when the battle closed were under command of a major. The First Mis souri went into the fighting with 800 men and came out with 505. The First Kansas lost 284. * Of Steele's battalion of regulars, sixty-one, out of 275 were killed' or wounded. Price had 4,200 men when the fighting begun. He was wounded as were many of his officers. He lost on Bloody Hill 988 in killed and wounded. "Never before," said- Snead, "considering the numbers engaged, had so bloody a battle been fought upon American soil; seldom has a bloodier one been fought on any modern field. The lines would approach again and again within less than fifty yards of each other, and then, after delivering a deadly fire, each would fall back a few paces to reform and reload, only to advance again, and again renew this strange battle in the woods. Peculiar in all its aspects, the most remarkable of all its characteristics, was the deep silence which now and then fell upon the smoking field, while the two armies, unseen of each 766 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI other, lay but a few yards apart, gathering strength to grapple again in the death struggle for Missouri." Two newspaper men wrote histories of the Civil war. in Missouri. Both had been connected with St. Louis papers. Both served in the war. They knew from personal observation the local situation which had no counterpart in any other state. One of these soldier historians was in the southern army. The other served with the North. Thomas L. Snead, the Confederate, called his book "The Fight for Missouri." And from his point of view the fight ended with the battle of Wilson's creek, in August, 1861. John McElroy, who gave the northern view, carried "The Struggle for Missouri," as he called his book, down to the battle of Pea Ridge in March, 1862. Lyon had not fallen in vain. "By capturing the state militia at Camp Jack son," said Snead, "and driving the governor from the capital and all his troops into the uttermost corner of the state, and by holding Price and McCulloch at bay, he had given the Union men of Missouri time, opportunity, and courage to bring their state convention together again, and had given the convention an excuse and the power to depose Governor Jackson and Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds, to vacate the seats of the members of the general assembly, and to establish a state government which was loyal to the Union and which would use the whole organized power of the state — its treasury, its credit, its militia, and all its great resources — to sustain the Union and crush the South." Fremont's Failure to Support Lyon. Of Fremont's failure to Support Lyon, General B. G. Farrar made this state ment revealing a chapter of the inside history of the war In Missouri: "At Springfield, Lyon was kept busy receiving delegations of loyal citizens, issuing authority for the raising of regiments, and actively supervising his little army. One night a deserter from Price's army was brought to headquarters. He gave Lyon full details of Price's army, the. number of brigades and the names of fheir commanders, the number of cannon, the class of arms, the amount of transportation of the several divisions, and after a two hours' talk, summed up by saying that Price's army numbered not less than 16,000 men. So soon as the deserter had left, General Lyon turned to me and said: 'Major Farrar, I want you to go at once to St. Louis as bearer of a. letter to General Fremont. In this letter I will mention the fact that you have heard all that the deserter has said, and I have requested General Fremont to see you and hear your statement.' "I left that morning at four o'clock, reached the Gasconade at night; finding the river full to its banks, I swam the river, reaching Rolla that evening. By daylight I was off on an engine and tender, and at four o'clock reported at Fremont's headquarters. Colonel Kelton, his adjutant general, received my letter, took it to Fremont, and after a long delay returned, saying that the general would see me in the morning. When the morning came the word was sent down that the" general was much occupied and would I be pleased to call in the afternoon. So it went on for three days. Finally I was admitted to his presence, and found him walking up and down the great parlors, absolutely alone. He appeared but little interested in what I said, spoke of the great need of troops at Cairo and Southeast Missouri; said he could give me no definite answer at present, but to call in a day or two. I called many times, and, finally, becoming disheartened, took the train back to Rolla. That evening I was at the quarters of Colonel Wyman of the Thirteenth Illinois, and telling him of my ill success, when a countryman was brought in who at once stated that Lyon had given battle to Price; that he had been killed arid his army de feated, and that what remained of it was in retreat on that place." THE STATE THE STAKE 767 The Part Performed by Grant. On the day that Lyon -marched out of Springfield to attack Price, at Wilson's creek, Grant, sitting under an oak tree at Ironton, received his commission as brigadier-general. The sequel to the issue of that commission was a change in the plans of Albert Sidney Johnston, Polk and Pillow. The Army of Liberation did not make the intended advance into Missouri to capture St. Louis. Cairo very quickly became the new storm center. Jeff Thompson with 2,000 Mis sourians started from Columbia, Kentucky, early in October. He made a rapid march up through Southeast Missouri intending to show the Confederate gen erals what was possible. The Swamp Fox gave the Illinois colonels in the vicinity of, Ironton quite a scare and did some good fighting. Thompson and his men were entirely at home in the valleys and mountains of that picturesque region. The Illinois troops were more accustomed to prairies. Jeff Thompson made his way as far north as Big river bridge, forty miles from St. Louis. Fre mont was busy with Price in the western part of the state. Jeff Thompson sent back word of his success to Albert Sidney Johnston. He expected Pillow to come on rapidly with an army and take St. Louis. All went well with the Swamp Fox until the battle of Fredericktown. There he was attacked by 3,500 troops, chiefly Illinoisans under Colonel Plummer and Colonel Carlin. Grant planned and ordered the attack. Thompson made a strong stand but found he was out numbered. His men retreated. The infantry followed him ten miles and the cavalry pursued him twelve miles farther breaking up and scattering his force. Thompson reported from New Madrid that his command was "very much demoralized." This ended the proposed movement to take St. Louis.- Grant moved over to Cairo and started an expedition to Paducah and elsewhere. It was Grant's activity in Southeast Missouri and Western Kentucky that prompted Lincoln's approving comment that the new brigadier seemed to be a man who "kept things moving." \ Battle of the Hemp Bales. The battle of Lexington lasted eight days, counting from the first skirmish., It was one of the strangest of the Civil war, Price's army had grown like a rolling snowball as he marched north from Springfield to the Missouri river in the early autumn of. 1861. That was characteristic of the campaigning in Mis souri. When Price advanced, recruits flocked to him. As he fell back many of them returned to their homes. After. fhe battle of Wilson's creek, xPrice made his headquarters at Spring field for some days. Hundreds of his unarmed men were equipped with the guns captured on the battlefield. Organization was perfected. The experience of the first battle, the baptism of blood, had told upon the Missourians. The well uni formed and completely equipped Arkansas and Louisiana men under McCulloch no longer referred to Price's "undisciplined mob." The last week of August Price left Springfield with an army of 10,000 Missourians fit for any issue of war. He made a feint at Fort Scott which alarmed Kansas and then marched for, the Missouri river. He reached Lexington on the 12th of September. The usual irregular contingents had joined him on the way, swelling his force to over 30,000. As Price approached, several, bodies of Union troops fell back 768 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI and concentrated at Lexington. Two of these commands were Mulligan's Twen-. ty-third Illinois, an Irish regiment, and Marshall's First Illinois cavalry, both of them recruited largely in Chicago. The Eleventh Misiouri under Colonel Everett Peabody, and 500 Home Guards under Colonel White made up the force in Lexington when Price arrived. The Uniop troops could have taken boats •and escaped. But Lexington had been made a depot of supplies and commanded the river. Mulligan, who took command as the senior colonel, fe]t that he must stay and try to hold the place and protect the government property until rein forcements reached him. He selected a high hill between what were then known as Old Lexington and New Lexington. Around the grounds and buildings of the Masonic college he threw up heavy earthworks. Into the- space of about fifteen acres the 3,500 men, half as many horses and the wagon trains were crowded. At Jefferson City were 5,000 men under General Jeff. C. Davis. Stur gis had 4,000 men at Mexico and Pope was in Northwest Missouri with 5,000. The expected reinforcements did not arrive. Mulligan fought well. Price's men worked closer and closer. The nights were moonlight. Squads of Mis sourians crawled up ravines and found cover behind buildings. They kept up a fusillade by night as well as by day. This was great sport for the irregulars who had brought their shotguns and squirrel rifles and had joined Price's army on the way from Springfield. Mulligan's 3,500 ought to have been slaughtered several times over but the total number killed was less than 100. The batteries of, Guibor, McDonald and Clark pounded away, making scars in the stone walls of the college and occasionally killing a liorse and a mule which added to the discomfort of the besieged. Price finally ordered his men to close ifi. They did it by rolling bales of hemp up the hill. Mulligan saw this moving fort of hemp bales approach within 150 feet of works. He gave one last searching look for the reinforcements wh'ich never came and surrendered. Price gave honor able terms. He always did. The Union troops' surrendered their arms, took an oath not to fight any more against Missouri, were ferried to the north side of the river and turned loose. Mulligan was told to keep his sword. He became the guest of General Price until some time" afterwards he was sent to St. Louis, escorted byL. D. Kingsland, a young officer on Price's staff, to be exchanged. Price captured at Lexington 3,000 rifles, five cannon, 750 horses, $100,000 worth of commissary stores, wagons, ammunition. He also dug up the great seal of Missouri which Governor Jackson and the state officers had buried in a cellar when they abandoned the idea of making Lexjngton the temporary capital and took a hurried departure. State records which had been left behind at that time were recovered by Price. The men behind the hemp bales were from General Harris' command. When the military bill went into operation "Tom" Harris was given the' most difficult of the Congressional districts to .organize for the State Guard. His district was the northeast corner of the state. When he had recruited a considerable force, several newly mustered Illinois regiments were sent into North Missouri to be broken in. They were put to chasing Harris. One of these regiments, was the Twenty-first Illinois, commanded by Colonel U. S. Grant. Harris was followed from place to place until his recruits scattered. The chase was not called off until it was reported that Harris' army was reduced to the general, his staff and THE STATE THE STAKE 769 three enlisted men and that they had successfully concealed themselves in the hills of Salt river. Harris' opportunity came with the six days' fighting at Lexington. In his official report General Harris told how he took 132 bales of hemp and rolled them up the hill, sheltering his men behind them. He said, "I directed the bales to be wet in the river to protect them against the casualties of fire of our troops and the enemy, and soon discovered that the wetting was so materially increas ing the weight as to prevent our men in their exhausted condition from rolling them to the crest of the hill. I then adopted the idea of wetting the hemp after ii had been transported to this position.": Mulligan hoisted the white flag when he saw the 132 bales of hemp steadily approaching his trenches and within 150 feet of them. "Tom" Harris' movable breastworks became famous. There was some controversy about the credit for the suggestion. Friends of Colonel Thomas Hinkle, of Wellington, near Lex ington, and in the hemp growing region of Missouri, claimed that he first pro posed the use of the hemp bales. Price and Fremont. Price held Lexington until the ist of October while Fremont was organ izing the Army of the West with elaborate preparations to crush him. No other army of the Civil war was outfitted as was Fremont's in the fall of 1861. Among the supplies, which the quartermasters purchased in great quantity, were half barrels for water, although Fremont was about to traverse the Ozarks, a region abounding in springs and running streams. Mules in droves were bought. About the middle of October, Fremont started his divisions from several points to fol low Price. He reached the Osage nine days after Price had crossed. Price moved at the rate of about fifteen miles a day. He was at times one hundred miles ahead of Fremont. When he arrived at Neosho he stopped long enough for the state government to set up a temporary capital and for members of the legislature who were traveling with the army to hold a two weeks' session. The principal business was the passage of an ordinance of secession declaring Mis souri out of the Union. This paved the way for the election of senators and representatives to the Confederate Congress at Richmond. Price moved still nearer the Arkansas line and made his headquarters at Pineville. Fremont stopped at Springfield and began to prepare for battle. Price was fifty miles away. Instead of a battle a "solemn agreement" was entered into by Price and Fremont. It was dated the ist of November. The stipulations signed by the two generals were : "1. No arrests whatever on account of political opinions, or for the merely private expression of the same, shall hereafter be made within the limits of the State of Missouri, and all persons who may have been arrested and are now held to answer upon such charges only shall be forthwith released; but it is expressly declared that nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to bar or interfere with any of the usual and regular pro ceedings of. the established courts under statutes and orders made and provided for such offenses. "2. All peaceably disposed citizens who may have been driven from their homes because of their political opinions, or who may have left them from fear of force and violence, are hereby advised and permitted to return, upon the faith of our positive assur- Vol. 1—49 770 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI ances that while so returning they shall receive protection from both the armies in the field wherever it can be given. "3. All bodies of armed men acting without authority or recognition of the major generals" before named, and -not legitimately connected with the armies in the field, are hereby ordered at once to disband. "4. Any violation of either of the foregoing articles shall subject the offender to. the penalty of military law, according to the nature of the offense." Fremont signed this agreement at Springfield on the ist of November and Price signed it at Cassville on the 5th. But on the 2nd of November a mes senger arrived at Springfield with an order trorh Winfield Scott telling Fremont to turn his command over to General Hunter and report to general headquarters. Fremont issued an address of farewell to the "Soldiers of the Mississippi Army" and left Springfield for St. Louis. In this address he said: "Soldiers, I regret to leave you. Most sincerely I thank you for the regard and confidence you have invariably shown me. I deeply regret that I shall not have the honor to lead you to the victory which you are just about to win, but I shall claim to share with you in the joy of every triumph, and trust always to be fraternally remembered by my companions in arms." Fremont was the hope of the anti-slavery people. Not long after he took command at St. Louis he proclaimed the freedom of the slaves owned by Mis sourians who had joined the Confederates. John G. Whittier made this incident the subject of stirring lines which were copied throughout the country: "Thy error, Fremont, simply was to act A brave man's part, without the statesman's tact, And, taking counsel but of common sense, To strike at cause as well as consequence. Oh, never yet since Roland wound his horn, At Roncesvalles, has a blast been blown Far-heard, wide-echoed, startling as thine own, Heard from the van of freedom's hope forlorn." Fremont's Three Months in Missouri. On the first day of July, 1861, John C. Fremont came home from France. On the third day of July he was appointed a major general and the western department, with headquarters at St. Louis, was created for him. Fremont reached St. Louis on the 25th of July. Then followed in quick succession the disastrous battle of Wilson's creek and Lyon's death and Fremont's proclama tion. Fremont declared martial law throughout Missouri. He ordered that "all persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines shall be tried by court-martial and if found guilty shall be shot." Jeff Thompson came back with a proclamation counter to that of Fremont. He proclaimed, "that for every member of the Missouri State Guards, or soldier of our allies, the armies of the Confederate states, who shall be put to death in pursuance of the said order of General Fremont, I will hang, draw and quarter a minion of said Abraham Lincoln. If this rule is to be adopted (and it must first be done by our enemies) I intend to exceed General Fremont in his ex cesses, and will make all tories that come within my reach rue the day that a different policy was adopted by their leaders." Courtesy Missouri Historical Society THE BRANT RESIDENCE ON CHOUTEAU AVENUE Headquarters of Fremont in 1861 MRS. JESSIE BENTON FREMONT Daughter of Senator Thomas H. Benton GENERAL JOHN C. FREMONT Called "the Woolly Horse" in the cam paign of 1856 because of his full beard THE STATE THE STAKE 773 Fremont's Trouble-making Proclamation. In his proclamation, Fremont further declared the property of all persons in the State of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States or who shall be directly proven to have taken an active part with their enemies in the field, "to be confiscated." And "their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared freemen." This brief reference to Fremont's three months in Missouri is necessary to the understanding of Mr. Lincoln's intimate relations with this state. Fremont was appointed a major general and given the command in Missouri on the "earnest solicitation" of the Blairs. This President Lincoln stated afterwards in conversation, which John Hay, his secretary, wrote in his diary. Mr. Lincoln said that he "thought well of Fremont" at the time but afterwards concluded that the general had "absolutely no military capacity." The Blairs reached this conclusion before Mr. Lincoln did. Frank Blair went to St. Louis to help Fremont get well started. "At last," said Mr. Lincoln, "the tone of Frank's letters changed. It was a change from confidence to doubt and uncertainty. They were pervaded with a tone of sincere sorrow and of fear that Fremont would fail. Montgomery showed them to me, and we were both grieved at the prospect. Soon came the news that Fremont had issued his emancipation order, and had set up a bureau of abolition, giving free papers, and occupying his time apparently with little else." Immediately after seeing Fremont's emancipation order Mr. Lincoln wrote him : "Two points in your proclamation of August 20 give me some anxiety : "First. Should you shoot a man, according to the proclamation the Confederates would very certainly shoot our best men in their hands in retaliation ; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It is, therefore, my order that you allow no man- to be shot under the proclamation, without first having my approbation and consent. "Second. I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph, in relation to the confiscation of property and the liberating slaves of traitorous owners, will alarm our southern Union friends and turn them against us ; perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky. Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own motion, modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections of the act of Congress entitled, 'An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, and a copy of which act I herewith send you. ' "This letter is written in a .spirit of caution, and not of censure. I send it by spe cial messenger, in order that it may certainly and speedily reach you.'' Mrs. Fremont's Midnight Call. Frank Blair had become so convinced that Fremont was doing the Union cause great injury in Missouri that he criticised him in a newspaper article. Fremont placed Blair under arrest. Blair then sent to Washington charges against Fremont. Montgomery Blair, the brother, on the suggestion of Mr. Lincoln, came on to St. Louis to make a personal investigation. On the way he passed Mrs. Fremont, the daughter of Thomas H. Benton, taking to Wash ington the answer of her husband to the President's letter asking that the procla mation be modified. Mrs. Fremont arrived at a late hour, went to the White 774 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI House about midnight and insisted upon a personal interview with the Presi dent. The President, describing to friends the experience, said she_ "taxed me so violently with many things that I had to exercise all the awkward tact I have to avoid quarreling with her. She surprised me by asking why their enemy, Montgomery Blair, had been sent to Missouri. She more than once intimated that if General Fremont should decide to try conclusions with me, he could set up for himself." Fremont declined to be guided by the President's friendly suggestion. He defended his action in regard to slaves. He insisted that an official order be issued directing him to change his proclamation if it must be done. The order was sent. It drew upon Mr. Lincoln harsh criticism from anti-slavery people in the North. It intensified the factional differences in Missouri. In a few weeks Fremont was relieved. The Browning Letter. The President regarded Fremont's proclamation more seriously than his friendly letter might indicate. He wrote another letter, much longer, to O. H. Browning of Illinois showing that Fremont's action was a dangerous menace to the border states policy. This letter he marked "Private and Confidential." Mr Browning made the letter public before the Illinois Bar Association in ii "Executive Mansion, Washington, Sept. 22, 1861 "Hon. O. H. Browning. "My Dear Sir : Yours of the 17th is just received, and coming from you, I confess it astonishes me. That you should object to my adhering to a law, which you had assisted in making, and presenting to me, less than a month before, is odd enough. But this is a very small part. General Fremont's proclamation, as to confiscation of property, and the liberation of slaves, is purely political and not within the range of military law or necessity. If a commanding general finds a necessity to seize a farm of a private owner, for a pasture, an encampment, or a fortification, he has the right to do so, and to so hold it, as long as the necessity lasts ; and this is within military law, because within military necessity. But to say the farm shall no longer belong to the owner, or his heirs forever, and this, as well when the farm is not needed for military purposes as when it is, is pure ly political, without the savor of military law about it. And the same is true of slaves. If the general needs them he can seize them and use them, but when the need is past, it is not for him to fix their permanent future condition. That must be settled according to laws made by lawmakers, and not by military proclamations. The proclamation in the point in question is simply 'dictatorship.' It assumes that the general may do anything he pleases— confiscate the lands and free the slaves of loyal people, as well as of disloyal ones. And going the whole figure, I have no doubt, would be more popular, with some thoughtless people, than that which has been done! But I cannot assume this reckless position, nor allow others to assume it on my responsibility. "You speak of it as being the only means of saving the Government. On the con trary, it is itself the surrender of the Government. Can it be pretended that it is any longer the Government of the United States— any government of constitution and laws— wherein a general or a president may make permanent rules of property by proclamation? I do not say Congress might not with propriety pass a law on the point, just as General Fremont proclaimed. I do not say I might not, as a Member of Congress vote for it What I object to is, that I, as President, shall expressly or impliedly seize 'and exercise the permanent legislative functions of the Government. "So much as to principle. Now as to policy. No doubt the thing was popular in some quarters, and would have been more so if it had been a general declaration of emancipa tion. THE STATE THE STAKE 775 "The Kentucky legislature would not budge till that proclamation was modified ; and General Anderson telegraphed me that on the news of General Fremont having actually issued deeds of manumission, a whole company of our volunteers threw down their arms and disbanded. I was so assured as to think it probable that the very arms we had fur nished Kentucky would be turned against us. I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. Kentucky gone, we cannot hold Missouri, nor, as I think, Maryland. These all against us, and the job on our hands is too large for us. We would as well consent to separation at once, including the surrender of the capital. On the con trary, if you will give up your restlessness for new positions, and back me manfully on the grounds upon which you and other kind friends gave me the election, and have approved in my public documents, we shall go through triumphantly. You must not understand I took my course on the proclamation because of Kentucky. I took the same ground in a private letter to General Fremont before I heard from Kentucky. "You think I am inconsistent because I did not also forbid General Fremont to shoot men under the proclamation. I understand that to be within military law, but I also think, and so privately wrote General Fremont, that it is impolitic in this, that our adver saries have the power, and will certainly exercise it, to shoot as many of our men as we shoot of theirs. I did not say this in the public letter, because it is a subject I prefer not to discuss in the hearing of our enemies. "There has been no thought of removing General Fremont on any ground connected with this proclamation, and if there has been any wish for his removal on any ground, our mutual friend Sam Glover can probably tell you what it is. I hope no real necessity for it exists on any ground. "Your friend, as ever, "A. Lincoln.'' Lincoln on the Blairs. The influence of the Blairs with Mr. Lincoln was strong. Not only was Montgomery Blair an official adviser, not only was the judgment of Francis P. Blair, Jr., in Missouri matters of great weight, but the President listened in regard to his cherished border states policy to the counsel of the elder Francis P. Blair. The relationship was peculiar. The President was not under the influence of the Blairs in the sense that he leaned weakly upon them. But he believed that the maintenance of the Union depended upon the course of Mis souri and the other border states. In that belief, he recognized the value of the advice and support of the Blairs. Just how he regarded the Blairs is shown in one of the President's informal talks which John Hay wrote into his diary: "The Blairs have to an unusual degree the spirit of the clan. Their family is a close corporation. Frank is their hope and pride. They have a way of going with a rush for any thing they undertake, especially have Montgomery and the old gentleman." When he talked in this way, the President had in mind the Fremont fiasco in Missouri, The First Iron Clads in Naval History. Three days after the fall of Fort Sumpter James B. Eads received a con fidential letter from Attorney General Bates, reading: "Be not surprised if you are called here suddenly by a telegram. If called, come instantly. In a certain contingency it will be necessary to have the aid of the most thorough knowledge of our western rivers, and the use of steam on them; and in that event I have advised that you should be consulted." 776 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Here was the intimation of another signal part which Missouri was to have in the preservation of the Union. The telegram followed the letter. Eads went to Washington. He was introduced to President Lincoln and went into pro longed conference with Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles on the problem of cutting the Confederacy in two by opening the Mississippi river. Eads came back to St. Louis with a contract to build seven iron clad gunboats, the first in the naval architecture of the world. The gunboats were tp draw six feet of water, carry thirteen heavy guns each, to be plated with iron two and one-half inches thick, and to run nine miles an hour. Orders went out by telegraph putting sawmills, rolling mills and machine shops to work on material. So well were the details handled by Eads and his lieutenants that the first of these boats went into the water at the Carondelet ways on the 12th of October, 1861, and the others were launched only a few days later. Carondelet, now a part of St. Louis, was then a separate municipal ity. At Washington there was confusion. The government officers were slow about vouchers. Perhaps there was the usual scepticism in naval quarters about a civilian proposition. At any rate, to keep up the progress that had been planned, Eads and other Missourians advanced thousands of dollars to meet wages and bills for material. The fleet of iron clads reached Cairo the middle of December, before the river above was closed by ice. In a hundred days this fleet which was to have such an important part in the Civil war was in service. The Confederates realized the vital importance of holding the Mississippi. They built heavy works, manned with their largest guns, at Island No. 10, at Fort Pillow which was near Memphis, at Vicksburg, and at other points. At Columbus, Kentucky, General Polk, the fighting bishop, had fortified so well to hold the river that he called his fort "the Gibraltar of the West." In the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, in the forcing of Island No. 10 and down the river, the fleet of iron clads proved the forecast which Eads had made at Washington. They kept open the rivers after the battles, perform ing service which wooden boats could not have done. The Missouri iron clads had had their baptism in battle at Henry and Donelson long before Ericsson invented the Monitor to meet the Merrimac in Hampton Roads. Van Horn and Kansas City. While Blair and Nathaniel Lyon were saving Missouri to the Union by their vigorous action in the spring and summer of 1861, there was supplemental action in the western part of the state, second in its importance and far-reaching effects only to that at St. Louis. The Jackson administration at Jefferson City intended to accomplish at Kansas City what was planned for St. Louis. The bill which took out of the hands of the Union mayor at St. Louis the control of the police force and placed it in the hands of commissioners appointed by Governor Jackson applied also to Kansas City. The southern rights people looked forward to possession of Kansas City to be obtained by methods like those put in operation at St. Louis. Robert T. Van Horn, who had been a Douglas democrat but who had followed Douglas in his declaration .of loyalty to the Union, had been elected mayor, defeating the secession candidate. Learn- THE STATE THE STAKE 777 ing of the plans of the secessionists to take the police power out of his hands and put the city under control "of secession police commissioners. Mayor Van Horn made a hurried trip to St. Louis. He conferred with Blair and Lyon who promised aid. Washington acted promptly. A small force of United States troops came down from Fort Leavenworth, the commander under instructions to take orders only from Mayor Van Horn. The mayor immediately recruited what became known as "Van Horn's battalion of United States Reserve Corps." That was the first Union military force organized in Missouri, outside of St. Louis. It was mustered into service under Mayor Van Horn and established Camp Union at the southwest corner of Tenth and Central streets. By only a few hours Mayor Van Horn anticipated the plan of the secessionists who had organized a force outside for the purpose of taking possession of Kansas City. From that time, the ioth of June, 1861, Kansas City remained in possession of Union forces. Twice Sterling Price planned to get Kansas City, recognizing the strategic value of possession. If he could have succeeded, Fort Leaven worth would have been open to siege, the war would have been carried into Kansas, control of the Missouri river would have been lost, and the burden of hard campaigning to recover Missouri would have been imposed on the Fed eral government. In the history of "The State, the Stake" Robert T. Van Horn has a place with Blair. * When Lincoln Discovered Grant. Grant, Sherman and Sheridan served in Missouri. These three generals, who afterwards were advanced to the highest military positions, saw their earliest war service in this state. President Lincoln came to have the greatest confidence in them. He placed his dependence upon them for ultimate success of the Union armies in the closing year. Who can tell in what measure the recognition of these three generals was in the end due to the intimate and anxious interest with which Mr. Lincoln followed those early developments in Missouri ! The secretary of war was of Pennsylvania. War department influences were eastern. "On to Richmond !" was the cry of the Atlantic seaboard. But Presi dent Lincoln, with his mind on the situation in Missouri, took a different view. He hardly waited until Price's army had left the state before setting in motion the Mississippi river campaign, starting from Missouri. He wanted to cut the Confederacy in two by way of the river and prevent food supplies from the southwest reaching the cotton states. Montgomery Blair, after the death of Mr. Lincoln, gave this among other reminiscences: "One day in cabinet meeting, Lincoln turned to the secretary of war and asked, 'Did we not receive a communication sometime last spring from a man named Grant out at Springfield, forwarded by Governor Yates, laying out a plan of campaign down the Mis sissippi?' The secretary replied that he believed such a paper had been received. The President requested him to have it looked up, which was done, and it was read in cabinet meeting. It made a strong impression on all its members, Lincoln remarking that at the time it was received it had impressed him favorably, but in the multiplicity of cares it had been forgotten until now, when he had received a communication from Representative Washburne calling attention to General Grant and suggesting that he be sent to Cairo. 778 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Lincoln then said, 'Mr. Secretary, send an order to General Fremont to put Grant in com mand of the district of Southeast Missouri.' " Grant went to this new command, he moved to Cairo, took Paducah, fought the battle of Belmont, captured Fort Donelson. The movement down the Mis sissippi did not progress as loyal Missourians thought it should. Judge Samuel Treat of the federal court at St. Louis wrote to Judge David Davis, presenting the importance of the Mississippi river campaign as it appeared to him. He received in reply a letter from President Lincoln, the original of which is pre served, by the Missouri Historical Society: Private Executive Mansion, Washington, Nov. 19, 1862. Judge S. Treat, St. Louis, Mo. My dear sir : Your very patriotic and judicious letter, addressed to Judge Davis, in relation to the Mississippi, has been left with me for perusal. You do not estimate the value of the object you press more highly than it is estimated here. It is now the object of particular attention. It has not been neglected, as you seem to think, because the West was divided into different military districts. The cause is much deeper. The country will not allow us to send our whole western army down the Mississippi, while the enemy sacks Louis ville and Cincinnati. Probably it would be better if the country would allow this, but it will not. I confidently believed last September that we could end the war by allowing the enemy to go to Harrisburg and Philadelphia, only that we could not keep down mutiny, and utter demoralization among the Pennsylvanians. And this, though unhandy sometimes, is not at all strange. I presume that if an army was starting to-day for New Orleans, and you confidently believed that St. Louis would be sacked in consequence, you would be in favor of stopping such army. We are compelled to watch all these things. With great respect, Your obt. servant, A. Lincoln. Grant and Missouri. William H. Swift gave the writer this account of a conference held in the office of the State Journal at St. Louis early in 1861, before hostilities began in Missouri. The editor was Deacon Tucker. His paper was looked upon as the organ of the democrats who sympathized most strongly with the South. Gov ernor Claiborne F. Jackson came from Jefferson City to attend the conference. David H. Armstrong, Basil Duke, Robert M. Renick were among the St. Louisans present, while the interior of the state was represented by half a dozen generals and colonels of the state militia. The purpose of the conference was to select some one to command the state troops. Governor Jackson proposed Captain U. S. Grant. Deacon Tucker urged the selection of Sterling Price. At that time Price was a pronounced Union man. He had presided over the state con vention which declared against secession. Governor Jackson continued to urge the reasons why he favored Grant until Mr. Dent, the father-in-law of Captain Grant, strenuously opposed the proposition. The choice fell upon Price. The day after the conference an effort was made to find Grant, when it was dis covered that he had gone to Illinois. Shortly afterwards he offered his services to Governor Yates and was given a regiment. Price clung to the hope that he THE STATE THE STAKE 779 could, with his state guards, preserve the neutrality of Missouri; that the United States troops would not go outside of the arsenal and Jefferson Barracks against the protest of the state government. Then came the capture of St. Louis militia in Camp Jackson. Price joined his fortunes with the Confederacy. Grant had tried to establish himself permanently in St. Louis. He lived several years in his own house. On the 15th of August, 1859, he filed his appli cation for the appointment of county engineer. Addressing his letter to the county commissioners, he submitted the names of "a few citizens who have been kind enough to recommend me for the office." He added, "I have made no effort 'to get a large number of names nor the names of persons with whom I am not personally acquainted." The petition bore the signatures of these : Thomas E. Tutt Daniel M. Frost Felix Coste Fred Overstolz Robert M. Renick Bauman & Co. John P. Helfenstein Robert J. Hornsby Wm. L. Pitkin Taylor Blow Thomas Marshall J. A. Barrett James M. Hughes John O'Fallon K. McKenzie John Mitchell John F. Darby George A. Moore J. G. McClellan N. J. Eaton R. A. Barnes Charles A. Pope Thornton Grimsley G. W. Fishback W. S. Hillyer Sam B. Churchill J. McKnight C. S. Puskett L. A. Benoist & Co. John How C. W. Ford L. G. Pardee Edward Walsh A. J. Robinson James C. Moodey Accompanying the application were the following high indorsements : St. Louis, August 1, 1859. — Capt. U. S. Grant was a member of the class at the mili- tary_ academy, West Point, which graduated in 1843. He always maintained a high stand ing and graduated with great credit, especially in mathematics, mechanics and engineering. From my personal knowledge of his capacity and acquirements, as well as his strict integrity and unremitting industry, I consider him in an eminent degree qualified for the office of county engineer. I. I. Reynolds. Professor Mechanics and Engineering, Washington University. I was for three years in the corps of cadets at West Point with Capt. Grant and after ward served with him for some eight years in the army, and can fully indorse the fore going statements of Prof. Reynolds. (Signed) D. M. Fkost. On the back of the application was indorsed, "1859, application of Captain U. S. Grant to be appointed county engineer. Rejected." During the Civil war this indorsement was changed to read, "Not appointed." The county commissioners were John H. Lightner, Benjamin Farrar, William Taussig, Alton R. Easton, and Peregrine Tippett. Mr. Eastdn and Mr. Tippett voted for Grant. The others voted for Charles E. Salomon. With grim satire General Grant, in his memoirs recalled this experience : While a citizen of St. Louis and engaged in the real estate agency business, I was a candidate for the office of county engineer, an office of respectability and emolument; which would have been very acceptable to me at that time. The incumbent was appointed by the County Court, which consisted of five members. My opponent had the advantage of birth over me (he being a citizen by adoption), and carried off the prize. 780 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The Grants never returned to St. Louis to live but the memories of the chil dren of the general clung to the early home. General Grant acquired the estate of his father-in-law, White Haven, and maintained it for years. While at the head of the army and while President he made several visits to the place. He looked forward to the time when he might retire and spend his declining years there. During the World's Fair, General Frederick Dent Grant spoke feelingly of the house in which, as a boy, he had lived. He visited it in company with Cyrus F. Blanke and was photographed, sitting on his horse, at the front door. Mrs. Nellie Grant Sartoris always showed strong affection for St. Louis. When Nellie Grant's marriage occurred in the White House, John N. Edwards wrote for the St. Louis Times a congratulation from St. Louis which' brought from Mrs. Grant a personal letter full of appreciation for the remembrance of the Grants by their old time friends. Missouri, the Civil War Kindergarten. Just before the Civil war, Ulysses S. Grant was selling wood in St. Louis; William Tecumseh Sherman was managing the Fifth street railroad; John M. Schofield was an instructor in Washington University. They rose to the rank commanding the United States army. Franz Sigel was teaching school in St. Louis and Peter John Osterhaus had a little business across the river. They became major generals of volunteers in the Union army. Phil. Sheridan, .too, saw his earliest Civil war experience in Missouri. He came to Jefferson Barracks a captain in 1861., The first duty of the man who was to become the great cavalry leader on the Union side was clerical. He was assigned to audit accounts in the quartermaster and subsistence department. Then he was made chief commissary of the army of Southwest Missouri. He surprised Halle'ck and Curtis by performing in addition the duties of chief quartermaster in the campaign through South Missouri leading to the battle o.f Pea Ridge. Sheridan did so well in providing supplies and transportation for an army of 15,000 men over the muddy roads and across swollen streams that after Pea Ridge his appeal for a part in the actual fighting secured him the com mand of a regiment of cavalry and his great career began. But the point is that out of Missouri as the Civil war kindergarten came the great commanders on the Union side. The year before Camp Jackson, in i860, the militia of St. Louis were ordered into camp under the same provisions of law that applied to the formation of Camp Jackson. Among the militia companies which went into camp in i860 were Germans who, the next year, participated with Lyon in the capture of Camp Jackson. Captain Stifel who commanded a regiment of Lyon's force had a company of militia cavalry under Frost in the camp of i860. Some of the German militia in the camp of i860, it was found, had difficulty in understand ing the commands given in- English. At Captain Stifel's suggestion, Franz Sigel, then a St. Louis school teacher, was employed to translate commands into Ger man so that German militia could learn the tactics. This was carried out. A few months later Sigel was in command of one of the Lyon regiments which marched on Camp Jackson. His men sang through years of war their song "Fight mit Sigel." A statue of Sigel stands in Forest Park. THE STATE THE STAKE 781 From the little army with which Lyon fought the battle of Wilson's creek in August, 1861, came seven major-generals and thirteen brigadier-generals. Of the southern rights Missourians who fought in that same battle seven rose to be general officers in the Confederate army. When the year 1861 closed there had been fought in Missouri and for the most part between Missourians, sixty-one battles. The losses on the Union side were 500 to 600 killed, 2,000 wounded and 3,600 taken prisoners. The losses on the Confederate side were about the same. Lincoln, in a letter about the close of the year, wrote, "Before Spring the people of Missouri will probably be in no favorable mood to renew for next year the troubles which have so afflicted and impoverished them during this." CHAPTER XXIV CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI A Great Emergency — The Man of the Hour — "Old Sanitary" — Organising the Plan of Relief — Merciful Missourians Behind the Firing Lines — Major Hodges' Narrative — James E. Yeatman — The Sanitary Fair— Assessment of Southern Sympathizers — Dr. Eliot's Protest to President Lincoln — Desperate Character of the Conflict — Women Took Sides ¦ — The Spirit of Jael — A Wooden Leg Shot Off — How Ben Prentiss Assessed — Secret Lodges— The Missouri Chaos "Stampeded" Sherman — A Leave of Absence — The Story of Insanity — A Long Hidden Confidential Letter — Halleck Called Upon to Explain — Missouri in the War Records — The Policy of Extermination — "War Is Butchery on a Grand Scale" — Guerrillas "Should Not Be Brought in as Prisoners"- — "Forty-one Guer rillas Mustered Out by Ow Boys in the Brush"- — William F. Switzler on "The Reign of Terror"- — Missouri Warfare as John F. Philips Saw It — Graphic Story of the Charge on a Church — Retaliation by Order of General Brown — Bill Anderson and the "Kansas First Guerrilla" — A Defiant Proclamation — The Death of Anderson — Depopulation Suggested for Boone County — A Man Hunt in thc Lowlands of the Southeast — "We Killed in All Forty-seven" — The Paw Paw Militia Controversy — Gen. Clinton B. Fisk's Reports — A Brush Expedition in Western Missouri — The War on Smugglers — Gen. John McNeil's Order to Burn — Fiji Said, "Pursue and Kill." In Missouri the war was waged with unspeakable bitterness, sometimesi with inhuman cruelty. It was fought by men in single combat, in squads, in companies, in regiments, in great armies, in the open, in fortified town, and in ambush, under the Stars and Stripes, under the Stars and Bars, and under the black flag. — Champ Clark. Unpreparedness was the state of the Union when Civil war broke out. Men could be enlisted. Guns and uniforms could be bought. Cartridges could be made. The fighting began as if no thereafter was taken into account. Back from the front trickled the earliest human stream of wounded and sick. It swelled rapidly as the months passed. The fighting became heavier. Born of a great emergency, ,1-ate in the summer of 1861, the Western Sanitary Commission came into existence. From the battlefield of Wilson's Creek in mid-August were brought to St. Louis 721 wounded men. In the whole city there were not hospital accommoda tions for so many. Medical Director De Camp had established an army hospital at the St. Louis House of Refuge only four days before the battle but was not ready for patients. According to an official report the hospital "had neither stoves nor bedsteads, nor beds, nor bedding, nor food, nor nurses, nor anything prepared. The first 100 arrived at night. They had been brought in wagons 120 miles over a rough road, by hurried marches, suffering for food and water, from Springfield to Rolla, and thence by rail to St. Louis, and to the station on Fourteenth street. Then, having had nothing to eat for ten hours, they were put into furniture cars and carried the remaining three miles. Bare floors, bare 783 784 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI walls and an empty kitchen received them. The kind-hearted surgeon obtained from the neighbors cooked food for their supper, and lost no time in getting together the means for their comfort. The poor fellows were so shattered and travel-worn that they were thankful to get food to eat and hard boards to sleep upon, and no word of complaint was heard from them. In the course of the week 300 or 400 more arrived. Conditions were improving, but there was so great a difficulty in obtaining what was wanted that many of the badly wounded lay in the same unchanged garments in which they had been brought from the battle field three weeks before, but in the course of a month all were made comfortable. The sick and wounded continued to arrive and other accommodations had to be secured without delay. All the wards of the Sisters of Charity hospital and the City hospital were filled. The sad and neglected condition of those brought from Springfield excited the sympathies of the patriotic people. The wounds of many had not been dressed since leaving the battlefield, others were suffering from unextracted bullets and pieces of shell, and the hospitals -were unprovided with clothing to substitute for that which in many cases was saturated with the blood of their wounds." The Western Sanitary Commission. Of such conditions was brought into activity the Western Sanitary Commis sion. Fremont launched the organization on its career of mercy by declaring in a military order: "Its general object shall be, to carry out, under the properly constituted military authorities, and in compliance with their orders, such san itary regulation and reforms as the well-being of the soldiers demands." The general proceeded to indicate in specific details some of the services which might be performed. These were the selection and furnishing of build ings for hospitals, the finding of nurses, the visiting of camps, the inspection of food, the suggestion of better drainage, the obtaining from the public of means for promoting the moral and social welfare of soldiers in camp and hospital. To avert friction and enlarge usefulness, Fremont concluded his order with the following: "This commission is not intended in any way to interfere with the medical staff or other officers of the army, but to cooperate with them and aid them in the discharge of their present arduous and extraordinary duties. It will be treated by all officers of the army, both regular and volunteer, in this depart ment with the respect due to the humane and patriotic motives of the members and, to the authority of the commander-in-chief." The hour had come. Where was the man ? The people recognized the emer gency. Hearts were throbbing with sympathy. Hands were ready to contribute. St. Louis was the center of activities for an extensive military front. -Here troops were mobilized. Hence armies moved southwest and south. Here sup plies were received and forwarded. Back to St. Louis came the boatloads and trainloads of wounded. Whether Fremont's Western Sanitary Commission meant much or little depended upon the head. The man was found. He was southern born, a native of Tennessee. He had lived in St. Louis nearly, twenty years. He was a banker, a little past forty years of age. James E. Yeatman made the Western Sanitary Commission. Good men of St. Louis held up his hands. They were named with him — Carlos S. Greeley, C. S. GREELEY Of the Western Sanitary Commission JAMES E. YEATMAN Head of the Western Sanitary Commission DE. JOHN T. HODGEN Surgeon of the Western Sanitary Commission GEORGE PABTBIDGE Of the Western Sanitary Commission Vol. 1—5 0 CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 787 Dr. J. B. Johnson, George Partridge and Rev. Dr. William G. Eliot. They were wise in counsel, efficient in assistance. But Mr. Yeatman was "Old Sani tary" to the soldiers in a thousand circling camps. This banker, in the prime of manhood, had a bed put in a room connected with his office so that. he might be ready to respond to any call. He was on duty while.he slept. A great organ ization was gradually built up under Mr. Yeatman's direction. Everywhere in the north were local branche#s of the Western Sanitary Commission. The great work of relief was systematized and made effective. The collection and for warding of supplies contributed were directed and controlled as a banker might deal with his country correspondents. There was no waste. One of the first acts of Mr. Yeatman and his associates was to fit up and open a hospital for five hundred soldiers on Fifth and Chestnut streets. Surgeon John T. Hodgen was given charge. In this building were received the sanitary stores contributed from hundreds of cities, towns and villages. As needed, these stores were distributed. Hospital after hospital was prepared and opened as the wounded increased in numbers. Hospital boats were put in service to bring the wounded from the battlefields. A soldiers' home was opened in St. Louis to care for the furloughed and discharged sick as they came from the front. The mili tary prisons in and around St. Louis were filled with Confederate soldiers and those who sympathized. The Western Sanitary Commission carried its work of relief into the prisons. Refugees flocked to the city and were temporarily cared for. Homes for soldiers' orphans were' provided. Nowhere else in the country was there a like center of suffering and misery from the war. Nowhere else were relief measures of such magnitude under taken. The efficiency of Mr. Yeatman's organization came to be recognized the' country wide. An appropriation of $50,000 by the State of Missouri was made for the commission. Another of $25,000 came later. The government of St. Louis made appropriations and placed the money in Mr. Yeatman's hands. Gifts came from all parts of the country. Here was the suffering. Here came the contributions. In the midst of business depression, of war hard times, the Mis sissippi Valley Sanitary fair held in St. Louis produced more than $500,000 When the books of the Western Sanitary Commission closed, they showed that Mr. Yeatman had handled in money and stores for mitigation of the horrors of war $4,270,098.55. The magnificent liberality had been begotten of implicit confidence in the integrity of the Western Sanitary Commission. Year after year, almost from the very beginning of hostilities, Mr. Yeatman gave himself to this work. Repeatedly he left the headquarters of the commis sion in St. Louis and went to the front to see for himself the needs. He sought the suffering and applied the measures of relief. It was this personal visita tion and inspection that won for him the tender regard of the soldiers and the affectionate title of "Old Sanitary." Wonderful Details of Work. Major W. R. Hodges, of the Loyal Legion, has described in graphic detail the work of the Western Sanitary Commission : "In September came the siege and battle of Lexington, Mo., which threw 300 more wounded into the hospitals of St. Louis, and within two months five additional hospitals 788 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI were provided: The commission fitted up two hospital cars on the Pacific railroad with berths, nurses, cooking arrangements, etc., probably the first of the kind in the United States. The commission continued their voluntary labors without abatement; appeals for contributions were made through the newspapers and were generously responded to by New England, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and other western states. "In February came the battle of Fort Donelson, where 2,108 of our soldiers were wounded. An associate member of the commission, Doctor Pollak, accompanied by nurses, members of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, proceeded at once by rail to Cairo and thence by steamer to Paducah with sanitary stores. The wounded had been brought to this point. The steamer Ben Franklin was placed under their charge, and loaded with wounded. It was brought to St. Louis. It was then that the suggestion of hosp^al steamers was made by Medical Director Simmons and embodied in the report of the commission with the pledge that if the suggestion were approved the commission would take the whole care and labor of carrying it into execution. The plan was approved by Gen. Halleck, and the City of Louisiana was chartered and on the 20th of March she was thoroughly fitted with beds and commissary stores, the commission completing' her outfit at an expense of $3,000. "Her first trip was to Island No. 10, under the charge of Mr. Yeatman, as a great battle was expected there. Soon after came the battle of Shiloh, and this boat conveyed 3,389 patients to northern hospitals. She was soon after purchased by the government and renamed the R. C. Wood in honor of the assistant surgeon" general of the United States Army. 1 "During the month of February, 1863, the Western Sanitary Commission distributed 13,250 articles of hospital clothing, food for the sick, bottles of cordials and stimulants, etc., and the members labored" unceasingly night and day in making the distribution. After Pea Ridge. "On the 7th and 8th of March, 1862, the battle of Pea Ridge was fought, and 980 Union soldiers were wounded. This battle field was 250 miles distant from Rolla, the railroad terminus. The roads were of the worst description, through a half civilized country, mountainous, without bridges, and without hotels, stripped of forage for teams and food for men, subject to raids and murders by guerrilla bands. It was impossible to bring the wounded to St. Louis. The army of Gen. Curtis was deficient in transporta tion, and the medical department was most miserably provided with means for caring for the wounded. Surgeons were without hospitals, clothing, stimulants, or bedding for the wounded, and the supply of medicines was exceedingly limited. The country was thinly settled, mostly log houses, with few of the necessities of life. The courthouse at Cassville and all the principal dwellings were filled with wounded, and the same was true of Keites- ville. A few of the officers were taken by ambulance to Springfield. The commission at once despatched its agent with hospital supplies to the front. In his report, he says, 'At Cassville I found two large tents, six buildings, including the courthouse and tavern, used as hospitals. The patients were lying on the floors, with a little straw under them, and with knapsacks or blankets under their heads as pillows. They had no comforts of any kind, no change of clothing, but were lying in the clothes they fought in, stiff and dirty with blood and soil.' "There were 400 Federal wounded here. The stores were turned over to the different hospitals, and never was a provision train more joyously greeted by starving men than this ample supply of hospital supplies by these sick and wounded soldiers. The Confederate wounded were treated with the same consideration as our own. There were two Con federate surgeons, and one said to the agent of the Sanitary Commission, We are Texans. Our army has treated us shamefully; they stampeded and left us here with our sick and wounded men, and I will tell you, sir, that for two days we had nothing to give our poor fellows but parched corn and water. Every Federal officer and man has treated -us like gentlemen, and Gen. Curtis told me that so long as he had a loaf of bread we should have half of it.' The agent said, 'I visited the hospitals at Pineville. No provision had been made by Price, and our scanty supplies had been shared with them. For twenty-five miles around every house was a rebel hospital. We had three there then. There Was at this point a total absence of stimulants and men were dying for want of them.' CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 789 At Vicksburg. "During February and March, 1863, while the army of Gen. Grant was occupying the low region of country above Vicksburg, exaggerated reports of sickness among the troops we're published by northern newspapers. "Mr. Yeatman went down and made a personal inspection and on his return published an account of his visit. While he found a large amount of sickness, his report tended to allay undue apprehension. He directed the agent of the commission to immediately establish his headquarters near Vicksburg for the distribution of supplies. After the assault by our forces on the 19th and 22d of May, Mr. Yeatman made a second visit, in charge of the steamer Champion, accompanied by surgeons and nurses and dressers of wounds to the number of fifty-five, taking with him 250 tons of sanitary supplies, besides cots, mattresses and everything necessary for the care of 1,000 men. At the time of his arrival all sanitary stores were exhausted and the new supplies were received with grati tude. In his report he said : 'Supplies were distributed most liberally wherever wanted. Blessings were invoked by both surgeons and men for this timely care in providing for them, in the great extremity which always succeeds a series of battles and which can only be fully provided for in this way. No parched and thirsty soil -ever drank the dews of heaven with more avidity than did those wounded men receive the beneficent gifts and comforts sent to them through this commission.' One hundred and fourteen thousand, six hundred and ninety-seven articles were distributed to Gen. Grant's army prior to the fall of Vicksburg. Problem of the Freedmen. "In addition to its work of ministering to the sick and wounded of the western armies and navy and of promoting the health of soldiers in the field, the Western Sani1 tary Commission felt itself called upon to devote a portion of its labors to the relief of the 40,000 freedmen along the banks of the Mississippi river from Columbus to Natchez. They were in a country stripped by the ravages of war, with no demand for labor except ing in a few localities and without means of providing for food, clothing and shelter. In December, 1863, Mr. Yeatman returned from a special trip down the river to ascertain and report the actual conditions. He stopped at Island No. 10, Memphis, Helena, Good rich's Landing, Milliken's Bend, Young's Point, the plantations of Jeff and Joe Davis and at Natchez. As an illustration, he found at Helena between 3,000 and 4,000 men, women and children, part of them living in a place back of the town called 'Camp Ethiopia,' in cast- off tents, caves, shelters of brush. Others were in the poorer houses of the town, sixteen to twenty persons in a room, and in huts on the outskirts. The able-bodied men were com pelled to work on the fortifications, in unloading coal and freight from steamboats, teamsters and all manner of fatigue duty, for which they received no compensation, through neglect of officers to place them on the pay roll and general indifference of military commanders as to their condition. At one time an order was issued forbidding their payment on the ground that their former masters would have a claim against the government for their services. "The terrible destitution and sufferings of these helpless people and the injustice to which they were subjected so moved the sympathetic heart of Mr. Yeatman that he went to Washington and presented the subject to the government and made 'suggestions of a plan of organization for freed labor, and the leasing of plantations along the Mississippi river.' The high character of Mr. Yeatman was so well known that his suggestions were re ceived with favor, and he was authorized to accompany an agent of the treasury depart ment to Vicksburg to mature and carry them into effect. This trust he accepted, declining an official position which was offered him. About 600 plantations were leased, wise and humane regulations for the compensation of labor were enforced, schools established, and incalculable benefits were derived by the colored people, who were encouraged in habits of self reliance and saving. Large quantities of sanitary stores were distributed among those in dire extremity. From the efforts of Mr. Yeatman in this direction National Freedmen Relief associations were organized all over the northern states. 790 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The White Refugees. "Assistance was also rendered to white refugees from the South, who came by thou sands, many of them women with small children, often barefooted and wholly destitute, brought by steamers and landed. Their husbands had been killed in the war by guerrillas, or conscripted into the rebel army. One poor blind woman with six children walked all the way from Arkansas to Rolla, her little children leading her by the hand all the way over those hundreds of weary miles. From Rolla she was brought here by rail as a charity. Her youngest children she had never seen as they had been born since she became blind. Her children were adopted by Dr. Eliot and placed in a mission school -on Eighth street, and the mother was sent to a hospital, where Dr. Pope performed an operation; the cataracts were removed from her eyes and her sight restored. Her children were then returned to her. In consequence of the invasion of Missouri by Price in the fall of 1864 thousands of Union refugees, wholly destitute, came to St. Louis. "The military authorities authorized a charity ration and shelter, but all other ex penses, clothing, hospital treatment, teachers fc3r the children, were borne by the Sanitary Commission. Its area of beneficence extended over the vast territory from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico, and westward to the Rocky Mountains. Wherever troops were the commission forwarded supplies. Every call for help from friend or foe was instantly responded to." Mr. Yeatman and the Freedmen 's Bureau. Catholic in his conception of the commission's purposes, this southern bom man, once a slave-holder, recognized the necessities of the freedmen. Great numbers of these ex-slaves had drifted away from the plantations and into communities. The commission sent physicians and nurses and then teachers. Mr. Yeatman suggested the plan of the Freedmen's Bureau. He recommended the leasing of abandoned plantations to negroes, to encourage them to become self-supporting. These views were indorsed as offering an "absolute solution of the cotton and negro questions." They appealed so to President Lincoln that he sent for Mr. Yeatman and offered him the commissionership of the Freed men's Bureau. Four years previously Mr. Yeatman, accompanying Hamilton R. Gamble, had called upon Mr. Lincoln. He was a Union man. His step father, John Bell, had, headed the Union ticket as the Presidential nominee the year before. Mr. Yeatman and Mr. Gamble believed that a pacificatory policy, such as General Harney was pursuing in St. Louis, was wiser than the more radical course advocated by Francis P. Blair, who wanted Harney superseded. Mr. Lincoln rejected the advice of his visitors. Mr. Gamble and Mr. Yeatman came back to St. Louis, Mr. Gamble to become the provisional governor of Mis souri and to hold it in the Union at the cost of his life; Mr. Yeatman to devote himself unsparingly to the mitigation of the horrors of war. ¦ The Great Sanitary Fair. „. The Western Sanitary Commission faced a depleted treasury at the beginning of 1864. The sources of revenue seemed exhausted. A great fair was planned. On the ist of February the organization was formed. On the 17th of May the fair opened. The magnitude and success of that fair are worthy of place in history. That a city so stricken as St. Louis had been could plan and earn through such a movement is the wonderful fact. The building constructed for the fair was 500 feet long. It extended along Twelfth street from St. Charles to CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 791 Olive, with wings ioo feet long on Locust street. In the center was a great rotunda seventy-five feet across and fifty feet high. In this central space were decorative features — flags and evergreens and flowers and battle trophies. Gifts of articles to be sold for the benefit of the commission came from as far east as Maine and as far west as Nevada. But Missourians gave in numberless ways and in marvelous generosity. Every element in the population was represented among the givers. The contributions were classified and put on sale in depart ments. There were agricultural implements and works of art. Such entertain ment features as the curiosity shop, the skating park and the gallery of fine arts were provided. The Holland kitchen and the New England kitchen catered to the crowds. A theater presented dramas. Military bands gave concerts. Guard duty was performed by colored soldiers. The fair put into the treasury of the Western Sanitary Commission $554,591. That was at the rate of $3.50 for every man, woman and child in St. Louis. The fair enabled the commission to go on with its work to the end of the war, and to give the Ladies Union Aid Society $50,000 for hospital service and for the assistance of soldiers' families. The sum of $1,000 a month was devoted to making the freed slaves self-sustaining and $40,000 was expended in the maintenance of a home for soldiers' orphans at Webster Groves. One who was especially active in the planning and conduct of the fair has commented upon it : "But the fair was a blessing not only to refugees and freedmen, to the sick and wounded in hospitals, to the widows and orphans of our slain heroes, but was also a measureless boon to St. Louis. It was one more mighty agency for curing us of our selfishness. For a time at least it broke upon our commercialism, and led us to think of others and to do something for their welfare." The Assessment of Southern Sympathizers. In the summer of 1862 there issued from the general commanding at St. Louis an order "to assess and collect without unnecessary delay the sum of five hundred thousand dollars from the secessionists and southern sympathizers" of the city and county of St. Louis. The order stated that the money was to be "used in subsisting, clothing and arming the enrolled militia while in active ,-ervice, and in providing for the support of the families of such militiamen and United States volunteers as may be destitute." It was extended to other parts of the state. The unpleasant duty of making and collecting the assessment was imposed upon half a dozen of the best known citizens of St. Louis. The assessment was begun. Collections were enforced by the military. Suddenly the board having the matter in charge suspended the work. The order countermanding the assessment came from Washington. It was terse : "As there seems to be no present military necessity for the enforcement of this assessment, all pro ceedings under the order will be suspended." Two weeks before General Halleck directed discontinuance, a letter was sent to Washington saying "that the 'assessment' now in progress, to be levied upon southern sympathizers and secessionists, is working evil in this community and doing great harm to the Union cause. Among our citizens are all shades of opinion, from that kind of neutrality which is hatred in disguise, through all 792 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the grades of lukewarmness, 'sympathy' and hesitating zeal up to the full loyalty which your memorialists claim to possess. To assort and classify them, so as to indicate the dividing line of loyalty and disloyalty, and to establish the rates of payment by those falling below it is a task of great difficulty." Reviewing the work as far as it had progressed, the writer continued : "The natural consequence has been that many feel themselves deeply aggrieved, not having supposed themselves liable to the suspicion of disloyalty; many escape assessment who, if any, deserve it; and a general feeling of inequality in the rule and ratio of assessments prevails. This was unavoidable, for no two tribunals could agree upon the details of such an assessment either as to the persons or the amounts to be assessed without more complete knowledge of facts than are to be attained from ex parte testimony and current reports." The writer appealed for a stay of the assessment proceedings. When the letter was written the intention was to have it signed by a' number of loyal citi zens of St. Louis. But the leading Union men declined to sign. Their feeling against the southern sympathizers was bitter. The war sentiment gripped. Busi ness had been paralyzed. Sentiment rather sustained a policy which proposed to make sympathizers pay heavily toward the war expense. One man, with a deep sense of justice, stood out alone. He had been among the foremost the year previous in counseling the aggressive measures which made St. Louis a Union city. But now, when the Union elements were all powerful, his appeal for fairness toward the minority got no hearing. He signed his letter and sent it to Governor Gamble who forwarded it at once to Washington. Years after the war this letter was printed in a St. Louis newspaper but without the signature and without mention of the name of Rev. Dr. William G. Eliot. The character of the assessment proceedings will seem almost incredible to this generation. When the board had organized to make the assessment the president addressed a request to "the unconditional Union men of St. Louis" to send in "such information as they have in their possession which will aid in carrying out the requirements" of the orders. He concluded his request with, "the board wish it to be understood that all communications and evidence will be considered strictly private." Desperate Nature of the Conflict. Return I. Holcombe, during the years he passed going from one Missouri county to another, gathering material for local histories, was deeply impressed with the information given about the conditions of the sixties. He wrote for the Globe-Democrat in 1891 : "Perhaps the desperate nature of the civil war in Missouri will never be correctly understood save by the actual participants. It was bad to begin with, and it grew worse all the way down to the close, two months after Lee surrendered. Family quarrels are al ways the bitterest, and next to them are neighbors' feuds. This was a war between fellow- citizens and neighbors, and sometimes it was between kinsmen— even brothers. It was not a war of races, nor of classes. Proletarians and patricians were equally divided as to sides. Some of the largest slaveholders were the stanchest Unionists, and fought for the old flag, while innumerable men, who, if a slave were to be sold by the ounce could not buy his little finger, lost limb and life while fighting for the Confederacy, whose corner stone was human slavery. Plenty of men of northern birth wore the gray and the guerrilla CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 793 king, Quantrell, was an Ohio man, born and reared. Some of the best blood of the South was hottest for the Union, and South Carolinians, Virginians and Mississippians fought to save it against Pennsylvanians, Ohioans and Illinois men who tried to destroy it. "I do not know what made it so desperate. I do not know what instigated men who believed in the Bible to go about robbing, plundering, house-burning and murdering in cold blood, and this is what some men of both sides did. There were all sorts of trans formations. Sunday school boys, who could repeat the beatitudes without skipping a word, became as fierce and cruel as Comanches, and for years did not see the Deity in the clouds, nor hear him in the wind. I think it is only the truth to say that the pro-Con federates became the more demoralized of the two parties. Perhaps this was because after Wilson's creek and Lexington, their cause steadily lost, and the prospects for its ultimate success daily- waned, and desperation comes oftener than resignation from defeat, and madness, hot as vitriol, frequently succeeds the coldest despair. When Women Took Sides. "Women became as bad as their brothers. From the sewing of bandages and the scraping of lint, came the molding of bullets, the smuggling of caps, the making of cart ridges, and then lying and spying and the luring of men to death. In the country it was hard to find a woman no matter how fair her face and refined her character, who was really a non-combatant, and was not guilty of numerous acts of hostility, covert and overt: "Riding along from Brunswick to Laclede, in the summer of 1863, Lieutenant William Reeves of Daviess county, a Union officer of militia, drew bridle at a little cabin east of Compton's ferry in Chariton county. A bright, cheery-faced little woman met him at the door, in one hand a butcher knife, in the other a whetstone, her face abeam, her eyes aglow. 'Hush !' she said, 'there's a reb in the back room sound asleap. Go in, quick, and kill him. I told him I was a good secesh, too,' she went on, 'and he says he is a bush whacker and has been two nights without sleep, and so I fed him and coaxed him to go to bed, and he has been snoring for two hours. Hurry in; don't mind the blood on the bed.' " 'And what were you going to do with that knife ?' asked the officer. " 'As soon as I got it sharp enough,' she replied, 'I was going to stick it through his heart.' "Think of that ! And three years before this little woman, into whom the spirit of Jael seemed to have entered, was a Sunday school teacher, earnestly impressing on chil dren the divine injunction, 'All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them.' "The officer secured the bushwhacker's arms, then the bushwhacker himself, and took him to Laclede a prisoner, instead of slaying him where he slept, to the manifest disappoint ment and sorrow of the little hostess, who petulantly said, 'I have seen rebs after they were dead, but I wanted to see one die.' " Gleams of Humor. Civil war in Missouri was not altogether without its humorous incidents. General Ben Prentiss, afterwards "the hero of Shiloh," marched into Paris, the county seat of Monroe, just following a big demonstration of sympathy for the South. He rounded up several scores of the well-to-do citizens and proceeded to levy an assessment after a method all his own. As one after another of the Parisians was brought before him, the general would ask : "Well, Mr. Blank, how do you stand, North or South ?" 'As the general had gathered information in advance, there wasn't much use in prevaricating. In one case the citizen replied : "General, to tell the truth, I lean just a leedle to the South." "Twenty- five dollars, Mr. Blank," the general decided promptly. 794 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Missourians did not stay out of the Civil war, on one side or the other, for ordinary and in some instances for extraordinary physical defects. One Mis sourian with a wooden leg went into the war. His name was P. Wells. He was a constituent of Champ Clark who said proudly of him that he was "the only soldier, living or dead, so far as history tells, that ever had a wooden leg shot off in battle, for the reason, perhaps, that he is the only soldier that ever went into battle with a wooden leg. He survived his wound to become a wealthy and enthusiastic Populist." , Secret lodges of the Union League were one form of patriotism in Missouri after the war had been going on some time. Members took an oath "to support the government of the United States against all enemies, sacrificing property and life, if necessary, to preserve the Federal Union of states, to put down this and all other rebellions." Members of different lodges, ^uncertain as to each other's identification with the order, went through this ritual of recognition: "Have you seen Sam?" "I have." "And will draw Washington's sword?" "And have drawn Washington's sword." "Advance and lock arms and one say 'Union,' the other, 'forever.' " "Crazy Sherman." From the chaotic conditions of the war in Missouri came the story that Gen eral William Tecumseh Sherman was insane. On the 23rd of November Sher man, having been relieved in Kentucky, arrived in St. Louis and reported to Halleck, who had succeeded Fremont. He was sent at once to Western Missouri on an inspection tour, with orders to take command in case there was danger of attack. Within a week Sherman was telegraphing from Sedalia the most alarm ing reports. He said that Sterling Price's army was approaching in force and that an attack was imminent. He began to concentrate the troops for the expected battle. Pope, who received one of Sherman's orders, sent in a vigorous protest to Halleck. Other generals made reports which did not agree with the representations from Sedalia. Halleck called Sherman back to St. Louis and sent to Washington a letter which remained buried in the files of the War Department nearly thirty years — long after the death of Sherman. "(Confidential.) "St. Louis, Mo., December 2, 1861— Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, Commander-in- chief, Washington, D. C. : General — As stated in a former communication, Brig. Gen. W. T. Sherman, on reporting here for duty, was ordered to inspect troops (three divisions) at Sedalia and vicinity, and if, in the absence of Gen. Pope, he deemed there was danger of an immediate attack, he was authorized to assume the command. He did so, and com menced the movements of the troops in a manner which I did not approve, and counter manded. I also received information from officers there that Gen. Sherman was com pletely 'stampeded,' and was 'stampeding' the army. I therefore immediately ordered him to this place, and yesterday gave him a leave of absence for twenty days to visit his family in Ohio. "I am satisfied that Gen. Sherman's physical and mental system is so completely broken by labor and care as to render him for the present entirely unfit for duty. Perhaps a few weeks' rest may restore him. I am satisfied that in his present condition it would be dangerous to give him a command here. J ¦ "^^K 1 '" * V.V"' 1 ^ J V 1 ^ GRNERAL A. J. SMITH GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN IRONTON AND THE ARCADIA VALLEY The Battle of Ironton is known in Civil war history as the Thermopylae of the West, Arcadia Valley, accounted one of the finest natural parks of the United States CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 797 "Can't you send me a Brigadier-General of high rank, capable of commanding a corps d'armee of three or four divisions? Say Heintzelman, F. J. Porter, Franklin or McCall. Those of lower grades would be ranked by others here. Grant can not be taken from Cairo, nor Curtis from this place at present. Sigel is sick and Prentiss operating against insurg ents in Northern Missouri. I dare not intrust the 'mustangs' with high commands in the face of the enemy. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, "H. W. Halleck, Major General." Sherman Asks an Explanation. This letter was in Halleck's handwriting. It was not made public but the news that Sherman had broken down physically and mentally got into the news papers promptly. "Crazy Sherman" was the headline and common expression. Sherman must have suspected or had some intimation of the source, for he wrote only ten days later than the date of Halleck's confidential letter: "Lancaster, O., December 12, 1861 — Maj. Gen. Halleck, St. Louis, Mo.: Dear Sir— I believe you will be frank enough to answer me if you deem the steps I took at Sedalia as an evidence of want of mind. "They may have been the result of an excess of caution on my part, but I do think the troops were too much srrung out, and should be concentrated, with more men left along to guard the track. Thrt animals, cattle especially, will be much exposed this winter. "I set a much higher mes-sure of danger on the acts of unfriendly inhabitants than most officers do, because I ha\ e lived in Missouri and the South, and know that in their individual characters they will do more acts of hostility than northern farmers or people could bring themselves to perpetrate. In my judgment Price's army in the aggregate is less to be feared than when in scattered bands. "I write to you because a Cincinnati paper, whose reporter I imprisoned in Louis ville for visiting our camps "after I had forbidden him leave to go, has announced that I am insane, and alleges as a reason that at Sedalia my acts were so mad that sub ordinate officers refused to obey. I know of no order J gave that was not obeyed, except Gen. Pope's, to advance his division to Sedalia, which order was countermanded by you, and the fact communicated to me. "These newspapers have us in their power, and can destroy us as they please, and this one can destroy my usefulness by depriving me of the confidence of officers and men. "I will be in St. Louis next week, and will be guided by your commands and judgment. I am, etc., "W. T. Sherman, Brigadier General." An Inconsistent Reply. Halleck replied at once but in a manner that was not satisfactory to Sherman and not entirely consistent with his letter to Gen. McClellan : - "St. Louis, December 18, 1861. — Brig.' Gen. W. T. Sherman, Lancaster, O. . My dear General — Yours of the 12th was received a day or two ago, but was mislaid for the moment among private papers, or I should have answered sooner. The newspaper attacks are certainly shameless and scandalous, but I can not agree with you that they have us in their power 'to destroy us as they please.' I certainly get my share of abuse, but it will not disturb me. "Your movement of the troops was not countermanded by me because I thought it an unwise one in itself, but because I was not then ready for it. I had better information of Price's movements than you had, arid I had no apprehension of an attack. I intended to concentrate the forces on that line, but I wished the movement delayed until I could determine on a better position. After receiving Lieut. Col. McPherson's report I made precisely the location you had ordered. I was desirous at the time not to prevent the 798 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI advance of Price by any movement on our part, hoping that he would move on Lexington, but finding that he had determined to remain at Osceola for some time at least, I made the movement you proposed. As you could not know my plans you and others may have misconstrued the reason of my countermanding your orders. "I deem it my duty, however, to say to you, General, in all frankness and kindness, that remarks made by you, both at Sedalia and in this city (if I am correctly informed), about our defenseless condition, and the probability that the enemy would take this city, have led to unfair and harsh comments by those who did not know. I say this merely to put you on your guard in future. "I hope to see you well enough for duty soon. Our reorganization goes on slowly, but we will effect it in time. Yours, truly, "H. W. Halleck." Relatives Take Up the Controversy. Sherman came back to Missouri when his leave was up. Relatives. of Sher man, notably his father-in-law, Thomas Ewing, Sr., took up the story of in sanity with a view of tracing the authorship. Halleck wrote a letter to Mc Clellan, guarded and diplomatic: "Headquarters Department of the Missouri, St. Louis, January 22, 1862. — Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, General-in-chief of the army, Washington : General — I wrote you in November respecting the health of Brig. Gen. W. T. Sherman and my reasons for giving him a leave of twenty days. He returned and reported for duty at the end of that time, greatly improved, but not, in my opinion, entirely in condition to take fhe field. I therefore placed him in command of the Camp of Instruction at Benton Barracks, where he has rendered most excellent service, while at the same time his health has gradually improved. I think in a very short time he will be fully prepared to resume his duties in the field, either in this department or in any other to which he may be assigned. "I have made this explanation as I deemed it due to both Gen. Sherman and myself, inasmuch as some of his friends may not understand why younger officers have been placed in more active commands. I know that Gen. Sherman himself is perfectly satis fied with the arrangement, and will cheerfully do duty either in this department or in any other to which he may be assigned. I should be very sorry to lose his services here, but will oppose no obstacle to the wishes of himself or friends if a transfer should be desired. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, "H. W. Halleck." On February 15, 1862, Halleck wrote a fourth letter on the subject of Sher man's mental condition. He addressed it to Ewing, partially admitting the im pression he had received from Sherman's actions at Sedalia and making many explanations. The relations between Halleck and Sherman continued to be agreeable on the face. Sherman not long afterwards got into the field. After Shiloh, the newspapers ceased to call him "crazy." The story of insanity was only one of the strange and startling episodes of the war in Missouri. Missouri in the War Records. More than one hundred large books were filled with the war records. In all of these volumes there were no other that presented such revelations of the horrors of the conflict as those which pertained to Missouri. Four volumes, of 1,000 pages each, preserved the official history of what took place in this state during part of 1864. "Our troops everywhere now consider it right to kill bushwhackers, even CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 799 after they surrender," Maj. Gen. S. R. Curtis wrote, dated the middle of October. ''Their recent barbarous butcheries in North Missouri, and the tortured bodies of their victims, and the scalps and ears worn on the bushwhackers' bridles, will evince a disregard of all rules of war, and even savage barbarity. I think, there fore, the sympathy of your people better be devoted to better objects of human sympathy." This was a private letter in reply to one deploring some specified atrocity. It began: "Your letter concerning the disposition of certain brigands calling themselves Confederate soldiers is received. 1 have not the least sympathy for such fiends; we are disposing of them very summarily everywhere. When men in our rear betray the parole implied by their shelter under the roofs of our people left at our homes they deserve hanging or any other sort of butchery, as you denominate the taking of their lives. War is butchery on a grand scale, and there is none of its horrors more justifiable than those which destroy the sneaks and cowards that steadily seek to carry on war in rear of our armed forces, and disguised as citizens. Brigands have no rights, and Napoleon had them shot down by regiments, even when they were caught in garbs of some military show." That was the way war was waged in Missouri the last half of '64. The Policy of No Quarter. Two messages from Gen. Fisk on the progress of a bushwhacker hunt are interesting. More particularly because they drew from headquarters at St. Louis a plain expression of the policy of no quarter. Gen. Fisk wired: "The bushwhacker hunt is progressing successfully. Our forces are cap turing and killing a large number of the guerrillas and securing their horses and arms. The brush on Platte and Fishing rivers, and in the country between, swarms with the Thornton squads. Our dragnet will bring them out." "The Thornton conspiracy is fast flickering out. We are drag-netting every brush-patch and killing a good many of the rascals. Capt. Ford's Paw Paw Militia have today sent in a petition asking that they be permitted to turn again and live. What shall I do with them?" To the inquiry about the disposition of those who wanted to surrender Gen. O. D. Greene replied : "Your dispatch asking for instructions as to the manner of disposing of such of the Paw Paws as went over to Thornton and are now coming in and giving themselves up is received. My opinion of the matter is that as many of them as are captured in arms and resisting should not be brought in as prisoners. This not from a spirit of revenge or blood thirstiness, but as mercy to them, for under no conceivable circumstances can they escape the penalty of their unpardonable crimes. In the history of the world there is not an instance of a soldier's deserting to the enemy being pardoned if caught. Of course, if any lay down their arms and surrender without being so compelled by the force of arms it would be murder to slay them. They must be held for action in due course of law." The policy of extermination and banishment was not only countenanced in execution by subordinates, but openly advocated by the highest authorities. "Kill" was the order from headquarters, and the Union scouting parties return ing from the brush reported the dead as hunters might their strings of game. 800 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI A personal letter in July to Gen. Rosecrans from E. M. Samuel, president of the Farmers Bank of Missouri at Liberty, contained the following: "I am grieved to inform you that this morning, while Capt. Kemper was on a scout in this county (Clay), about ten miles from Liberty, the bushwhackers fired on his men from a safe position, wounding Capt. Kemper (who has just been brought in) and two others, and killing two more. The county is in a deplorable condition. Nearly every Union man in the county has come to town for safety, and nearly all talk of leaving the county. Last week B. A. Bailey, S. G. Bigelow and John Bigelow (Union men) were shot down and killed, two at their homes and one on his way home from town. Is there no remedy for those who have, through Trials and sufferings, adhered to the flag of their fathers?" "Burn Him Clean." "My dispatches of today," Gen. Clinton B. Fisk wrote, "from the bushwhack hunters report forty-one guerrillas mustered out by our boys in the brush in the lower counties. I assure you, Major, we are doing all we can with the means in our hands to exterminate the murdering fiends." To Col. J. T. K. Hayward, at Hannibal, Gen. Fisk telegraphed about the same time : "Make your subdistrict a very hot place for rebels and a secure place for loyalists. Put down, drive out, kill and exterminate every guerrilla and thief you can find." The above was in reply to the following from Col. Hayward asking authority to use extreme measures : "I think all who are proved to be in a civil complicity with bushwhackers should be shot. When a known disloyal man feeds and harbors bushwhackers and can't show that he did all he could to prevent it, and to give the most speedy notice of it, burn him clean. In this way you soon make it for the interest of disloyal men to take sides actively. If they go to the bush shoot them ; if they don't you will find them at work in earnest to put a stop to guerrilla depredations. This may not look well in. a published order, but I think it would work well in practice. When our men leave home to do duty let the disloyal at home take care of their crops. Our Union men have always borne all the suffering; let it fall now on the other side, and all good men will bless you. I hear today that nearly every loyal man in Ralls County is a refugee from home. The above will be my pro gramme unless you countermand it, and don't require positive orders." From Col. Switzler's View Point. So mild a mannered man as Wm. F. Switzler indorsed the plan of extermina tion. In August he wrote to Gen. Fisk: "I fear that your duties elsewhere in directing the movements of our troops against the rebel cut-throats and thieves with which the district is infested will prevent you from being present at our meeting. This I deeply regret, as well on account of the cause of your inability to attend as the fact itself. Having no convenient escort, and it being rather unhealthy to travel in Boone without one, I could not myself attend the meeting, but the presence of Maj. Rollins, whom I saw here on his return from Wash ington, supersedes the necessity. I hope it will turn out well, though the reign of terror is so great in Boone I fear the result. As soon as advised I will write you again. Meantime be assured of my cordial co-operation with you in your noble efforts to overthrow this wicked rebellion and drive from our state or exterminate the bushwhackers and murderers infesting it." CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 801 In a postscript Mr. Switzler, writing from St. Charles to Gen. Fisk, said: "Quite a serious disturbance is brewing in this county, growing out of the outrages against peaceable citizens by a force of Germans. As I understand it, the trouble is about this: One evening last week a report reached the neighborhood of O'Fallon, in this county, that Troy had been captured by 700 bushwhackers, whereupon many members of a militia company (Enrolled Missouri Militia), composed mostly of Germans, collected with the view of marching to its rescue. , Excited by the report and many of them drunk, they went through the neighborhood at night, pressing horses and guns, in doing which they unfortunately abused, cursed and exasperated several quiet citizens and families, insulted one or more ladies, used personal violence against one, hurt with a gun very badly a Union man who discredited the report and refused to go, threatened to kill several, broke open houses, shot into one several times, greatly to the danger and terror of its inmates. Several citizens are now in this city, refugees from the neighborhood, afraid to remain at home, owing to the violence that is threatened them." • Missouri Warfare as John P. Philips Saw It. A vivid illustration of the character of this Missouri warfare is given in a report made by Col. John F. Philips, later Judge Philips, of the Federal court in the Western District of Missouri, by appointment from President Cleveland. In the summer of 1864 Col. Philips, in command of the 7th Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, was hunting guerrillas. From Camp Grover — mark the name — he sent in this story: "I sent Maj. Houts, of my command, with 150 men, northwest of this place, with instructions to scout the country thoroughly. They went twenty-five miles, and then turn ing north struck the Missouri river at Wellington. In this march they discovered abundant signs of the presence of guerrillas. This country is a safe covert for these outlaws. It is a complete jungle and a perfect solitude, the adjacent country to the Sni affording forage and rations. Arriving at Wellington about 10 o'clock on Sunday morning, Maj. Houts learned from a reliable contraband that two guerrillas had been in this town that morning, and her opinion was they had gonie to a church — Warder's church — distant two miles, where a Hardshell was in the habit of preaching to the 'Brushers' the unsearchable riches of good whisky and guerrilla warfare. The Major, with accustomed promptness, at once detached about fifty men, under command of the intrepid and cool-headed Capt. Hen- slee, Company L, and sent him to this church. The force approached this church very stealthily. It is situated on a high eminence, a bluff overlooking the Sni river. The command had to reach this church by a narrow road, having to cross a bridge within twenty paces of the building and ascend a very abrupt bank. The captain took the pre caution to send forward Sergt. Brassfield with six men, with instructions to dash at all hazards over this bridge up the hjll, and passing the church to occupy a position beyond, with a view of intercepting fugitives, and at the same time, by attracting the attention of the congregation, to make a diversion in favor of the main column. The guerrillas were then seven or eight in number, besides some outpost pickets on the Lexington road. The cry of 'Feds !' 'Feds !' thundered from the audience, and the worthy pastor, who was in the midst of a fervent supplication, found his flock greatly demoralized, and concluded it wasn't worth while to pray any longer under the circumstances. The guerrillas were on the alert, some at their horses, some in the church, and one, who was to be married — perhaps that very day — to the pastor's daughter, was standing at the window, making love to his inamorata. The guerrillas as quick as thought saw their peril, and with drawn revolvers they began earnest work, with a nerve and determination worthy of a better cause. The captain's whole force was thrown into the work. The women and children screamed with terror, and, rushing wildly from the church, exhibited a method in their madness by throwing themselves in front of the rebel outlaws. Captain H., whose presence of mind is equalled only by his gallantry, rode out and commanded the women to 'squat.' Vol. 1—51 802 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI They obeyed the summons, and the work of death went bravely on'. Five bushwhackers were killed outright, the sixth mortally wounded, and one or two, despite all vigilance, made their escape amid the furore and confusion. Wilhite and Estes were numbered among the slain. These were noted and desperate fellows, and their crimes are as black and in famous as they are numerous. "Justice to merit requires me to mention the names of Privates John T. Anderson, Company L, and James D. Barnes, Company D. Anderson was one of the advance who passed by the church. He received three shots through his clothes, one knocking the skin off his nose and one striking the pistol in his hand. He rode right in the midst of the scoundrels, and with great coolness and precision shot right and left, emptying twelve barrels and loading four more, all the while directing the movements of other soldiers around him. Anderson was badly wounded a year ago in a hand-to-hand fight with Livingston in Southwest Missouri. Barnes, discovering one of the bushwhackers making his escape, singled him out, charged on him, discharging his rifle flung it aside, and with drawn pistol spurred forward, chasing for half a mile the rebel who was firing back at him ; Barnes, holding his fire until he drew up on his game, was just in the act of shooting at short range when his horse fell headlong, precipitating the rider over his head with a fearful fall. The horse recovered and ran away after the guerrilla, carrying equipments, etc., all of which was the private property of the soldier, and is lost. Barnes is a mere boy and quite small, but is as bold and dashing a trooper as ever looked an enemy in the face." Retaliation on High Authority. There was no lack of deliberation and high official sanction for some of the acts of retaliation. An order from Brigadier-General Brown read : "It having come to the knowledge of the general commanding that a band of guerrillas, led by one Shumate, have committed depredations such as robbing and plundering peaceable, law abiding citizens in Miller and adjoining counties, and to the end that quiet and safety may be restored to the people of this district, it is hereby ordered that upon the first overt act of lawlessness committed by this or any other band of guerrillas or bushwhackers upon the lives or property of. the people of this district, the prisoner John Wilcox, a member of the said Shumate's band, now confined at Jefferson City, Mo., awaiting trial by military commission, will be immediately shot. The assistant provost-marshal of the first sub-military district will cause the prisoner, John Wilcox, to be securely ironed and confined, and will carry out the provisions of this order under the direction of the district. pVovost-marshal." "Bill Anderson's Proclamation" was one of the curious things which the compilers of the War Records found among the papers pertaining to the savage conflict in Missouri during 1864. This proclamation was sent to Gen. Rosecrans by Gen. E. B. Brown, into whose hands it had fallen. The accompanying indorse"1 ment spoke of it as a curiosity and a specimen of a guerrilla chief's corre spondence. Gen. Brown was commanding the Central District of Missouri, with headquarters at Warrensburg. Anderson was in the bush. The scouting parties had orders to kill him and his men wherever they found him. The proclamation was addressed: "To the editors of the two papers in Lexington, to the citizens and the com munity at large, Gen. Brown and Col. McFerran and his petty hirelings, such a9 Capt. Burris, the friend of Anderson." ISAAC H. STURGEON Assistant Treasurer of the United States in 1861 THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON Known in Missouri history as "The Battle of the Hemp Bales." This picture is repro duced from an oil painting by F. Dominico, a Hungarian exile, who took sketches during the hattle. The U. S. flag flies from what was the Masonic College, now Central Female College. CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 805 Bill Anderson's Proclamation. The portion referring to the editors of the Lexington papers was as follows : "Mr. Editors — In reading both your papers I see you urge the policy of the citizens taking up arms to defend their persons and property. You are only asking them to sign their death warrants. Do you not know, sirs, that you have some of Missouri's proudest, best and noblest sons to cope with? Sirs, ask the people of Missouri, who are acquainted with me, if Anderson ever robbed them or mistreated them in any manner. All those that speak the truth will say never. Then what protection do they want? It is from thieves, not such men as I profess to have under my command. My command can give them more protection than all the Federals in the state against such enemies. There are thieves and robbers in the community, but they do not belong to any organized band; they do not fight for principles; they are for self-interest; they are just as afraid of me as they are of Federals. I will help the citizens rid the country of them. They are not friends of mine. I have used all that language can do to stop their thefts ; I will now see what I can do by force. But listen to me, fellow citizens ; do not obey this last order. Do not take up arms if you value your lives and property. It is not in my power to save your lives if you do. If you proclaim to be in arms against the guerrillas I will kill you. I will hunt you down like wolves and murder you. You can not escape. It will not be Federals after you. Your arms will be no protection to you. Twenty-five of my men can whip all that can get together. It will not be militia such as McFerran's, but regulars that have been in the field for three years, that are armed with from two to four pistols and Sharp's rifles. I commenced at the first of this war to fight for my country, not to steal from it. I have chosen guerrilla warfare to revenge myself for wrongs that I could not honorably avenge otherwise. I lived in Kansas when this war commenced. Because I would not fight the people of Missouri, my native state, the Yankees sought my life, but failed to get me. Revenged themselves by murdering my father, destroying all my property, and have since that time murdered one of my sisters and kept the other two in jail twelve months. But I have fully glutted my vengeance. I have killed many. I am a guerrilla. I have never belonged to the Confederate army, nor do my men. A good many of them are from Kansas. I have tried to war with the Federals honorably, but for retaliation I have done things, and am fearful will have to do, that I would shrink from if possible to avoid. I have tried to teach the people of Missouri that I am their friend, but if you think that I am wrong, then it is your duty to fight. Take up arms against me and you are Federals. Your doctrine is an absurdity, and I will kill you for being fools. Beware, men, before you make this fearful leap. I feel for you. You are in a critical situation. But remember there is a southern army, headed by the best men in the nation. Many of their homes are in Missouri, and they will have the state or die in the attempt. You that sacrifice your principles for fear of losing your property will, I fear, forfeit your right to a citizenship in Missouri. Young men, leave your mothers and fight for your principles. Let the Federals know that Missouri's sons will not be trampled on. I have no time to say anything more to you. Be careful how you act, for my eyes are upon you." The guerrilla then turned his attention to Col. McFerran in the following strain : "Col. McFerran, I have seen your official report to Gen. Brown of two fights that have taken place in Johnson and Lafayette counties with your men. You have been wrongly informed, or you have willfully misrepresented the matter to your superior officer. I had the honor, sir, of being in command of both of those engagements. To enlighten you on the subject and to warn you against making future exaggerations I will say to you in the future to let me know in time, and when I fight your men I will make the proper report. As to the skirmish I had with your men in Johnson, I started to Kings- ville with fifty men to take the place, but before I arrived there I discovered a scout,^ four teen of fifteen of your men, on the prairie some half a mile distant to my left. I imme diately gave chase. They fled. There were not over eight of my men ever got near 806 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI them. They did not surrender or I would not have killed them, for I understand that Company M were southern men; they sent me that word. I ordered them to halt and surrender. I was astonished to see them refuse after sending me such word. One of their lieutenants even planned the assassination of Gen. Brown and the taking of his headquarters, but I refused to commit so foul a deed. But they refused to surrender and I had them to kill. I regret having to kill such good southern men, but they are fit for no service but yours, for they were very cowardly. Myself and two men killed nine of them when there were no other men in sight of us. They are such poor shots it is strange you don't have them practice more. Send them out and I will train them for you. After that I came down near Burris' camp with twenty-five regulars all told, belonging to the ist Kansas, some of my first men. I understand that Burris was anxious to give me a thrashing. Not wishing to lose more than twenty-five men at one time, I thought I would try him with the aforesaid number, but while I was waiting for him to come out from camp, that I might devour him or be devoured, forty-eight of your men coming from Lexington with three wagons had the audacity to fire on my pickets, and very im prudently asked me to come out of the bush and fight them. I obeyed reluctantly. They dismounted and formed on a hill. I formed under their fire under the hill and charged. They fled and I pursued. You know the rest. If you do not, I can inform you; we killed ten on the ground and wounded as many more. Had all of my men done their duty we would have killed thirty of them. Farewell, friend." To Capt. Burris, who was trying to trap him, Anderson inclosed this message : "To Burris — Burris, I love you ; come and see me. Good-bye, boy ; don't get discouraged. I glory in your spunk, but damn your judgment." This remarkable proclamation closed with the following to Gen. Brown : "Gen. Brown. General — I have not the honor of being acquainted with you,, but from what I have heard of you I would take you to be a man of too much honor as to stoop so low as to incarcerate women for the deeds of men, but I see that you have done so in some cases. I do not like the idea of warring with women and children, but if you do not release all the women you have arrested in Lafayette county, I will hold the Union ladies in the county as hostages for them. I will tie them by the neck in the brush and starve them until they are released, if you do not release them. The ladies of Warrens burg must have Miss Pickle released. I hold them responsible for her speedy and safe return. General, do not think that I am jesting with you. I will have to resort to abusing your ladies if you do not quit imprisoning ours. As to the prisoner Ervin you have in Lexington, I have never seen nor heard of him until I learned that such a man was sentenced to be shot. I suppose that he is a southern man or such a sentence would not have been passed. I hold the citizens of Lexington responsible for his life. The troops in Lexington are no protection to the town, only in the square. If he is killed, I will kill twenty times his number in Lexington. I am perfectly able to do so at any time. Yours respectfully, W Anderson, "Commanding Kansas First Guerrillas." The Death of Anderson. A few weeks later came the report by Assistant Adjutant General Rainsford of the identification of Anderson's body at Richmond in Ray county: "On Anderson's body were also found his likeness and that of his wife, a small Con federate flag with these words inscribed on it: 'Presented to W. L. Anderson by his friend, F. M. R. Let it not be contaminated by Fed. hands.' He also had letters from his wife from Texas, and a lock of her hair, about $600 in gold and greenbacks. His body, while at Richmond court house, was recog nized by several persons. We have heard of the band, some 300 in number, CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 807 crossing the river at Brunswick, bound south; they acknowledge having had a fight with the Ray county militia, and that Bill Anderson was killed on the 27th. I shall have his likeness in a day of two and I will have some taken and send you one." Fisk Suggests Depopulation and Devastation. In a letter to Gen. Rosecrans, dated midnight, September 28, Gen. Fisk gave a graphic description of the difficulties attending the incessant war in the brush : "I had the honor to write you fully under yesterday's date, since which time my tele grams have advised you of the disasters at Centralia. The capture of the railway train, the inhuman slaughter of the defenseless soldiers thereon, the robbery of the passengers, the burning of the moving train, and the indignities visited upon helpless women must be regarded as one of the chief barbarisms of the war. I am not yet fully advised of the extent of our loss by the defeat of Maj. Johnston, but fear it is greater than the meager reports already received have led me to believe. I am greatly pained at these reverses, and am straining every nerve to make reparation. Troops were never more earnest and active in their duties than tbe officers and men now seeking the destruction of the infernal fiends who are guilty of such barbarous atrocities. I am aware that it may seem to your self and the impatient public remote from this section that we ought to accomplish more than we do; that the guerrillas ought to be exterminated, from the country, and such disasters as those at Centralia prevented, but could you see this section of the state and study not only the topography of the country, but the hearts and consciences of the people, you would readily discover the great difficulties in the way of finding and exterminating bushwhackers. Jackman, with less than ioo men, remained in Boone county for fifteen months, waging his bushwhacking warfare, and during that period there were scarcely any other bushwhacking gangs in North Missouri. Yet Gen. Guitar, who was born and raised in Boone county, and knew every pathway and brush patch, with 6,000 good troops, was not able to drive out or kill them. Boone and Howard are now our two worst locali ties. In one of them I have Gen. Douglas, who is a native of the county, has been its sheriff, and knows intimately the character of the country and the hearts of its citizens; and in Howard is Maj. Leonard, whose advantages for operating in his county are equal to those of Gen. Douglas for Boone. In addition I have Lieut. Col. Draper, who has scouted through both counties for two years. Yet with all their knowledge, industry and perseverance the guerrillas thus far scatter and concentrate so as to elude our forces. Our movements, though made as secretly as possible, are discovered by the bushwhackers' friends and revealed from one to another. The citizens at home are our secret and most dangerous foes, and in no spot of all our disturbed territory has the rebellion more earnest friends than in the Missouri river counties of this district. The invasion in the Southeast strengthens our sympathizing class and they are made to believe that Price with 'redemp tion draweth nigh.' How shall these guilty people be brought to repentance and good works? And what punishment, short of extermination, is mete for their treachery and encouragement of a warfare more barbarous than that practiced by the savages of the plains and frontier? We have in these counties not only the resident rebels, but in -addi tion a large proportion of those who, by Gen. Ewing's order, were last year expelled from Johnson, Jackson, and other border counties. Depopulation and devastation are extreme measures, but if this infernal warfare continues it will be humane and economic of human life to adopt and vigorously enforce such measures wherever the bushwhackers have more friends than the/government." A Man Hunt Among the Bayous. The story of a guerrilla hunt in the lowlands of Southeast Missouri was told in a report made by Lieut. Col. John T. Burris. The party left New Madrid on the 2 1 st of July. Between that time and the 26th the report says: 808 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "We routed several parties of bushwhackers, killed four of their number, burned a distillery and a grocery at which they were accustomed to meet, and captured some arms and horses. We arrived at Scatterville on the evening of the 28th. There we routed a rebel recruiting party under Col. Clark and had a skirmish with Bolen's guerrillas. We killed one rebel lieutenant, took Capt. Linebach prisoner, captured some arms and horses and burned the houses under cover of which the guerrillas had fired on my command. On the ist of August we marched through the swamps and along Big lake in a southerly direction. During the day we surprised a party of bushwhackers and thieves, captured some arms, recaptured some negroes and horses previously .stolen by these marauders, and burned five of their houses. On the 2d we marched through an almost continuous swamp for about twenty miles ; struck the settlement near Osceola late in the afternoon ; soon after came upon a rebel picket, who, after firing, retreated. My advance, under command of Capt. Preuitt, pursued, the whole command following up closely until we came upon a main rebel force of that vicinity, under Capts. Bowen and McVeigh, when a general charge was made. The rebels fled. A running fight ensued, which was kept up for several miles until the enemy's forces were scattered in every direction. We killed seven, including a lieutenant, and took twenty-five prisoners, including Capt. Bowen. We also captured a considerable number of arms and horses. Not casualty on our side. August 3, marched north to the Chicasawba settlement, crossed Pemiscot bayou, and encamped in Cowskin settlement. During the afternoon a scouting party, under Capt. Edwards, sur prised a party of the enemy and killed two of them, capturing their arms and horses. The same evening a foraging party killed one of Convers'- bushwhackers. August 4, marched at daylight. Soon came upon a rebel picket commanded by Lieut. Hedges. The rebels fled, and were pursued by Lieut. Hiller, commanding my advance guard,' and Sergt. Wright's party of scouts. After a chase of two miles Hedges was overtaken and killed. His men escaped. We pursued the enemy six miles across Dogskin swamp, when we found him in line of battle in a dense forest, two miles south of Elk chute, in Pemiscot county, Mo. I immediately formed my battalions in line and attacked him. Our first volley partially broke (the rebel line, when I ordered a charge, which was made with spirit. The whole rebel force fell back in confusion. A running fight was kept up for two miles, through the swamp, among the trees, and over logs. The enemy several times succeeded in partially reforming their lines, but each time only to be driven* back in greater con fusion. The last effort of Col. Erwin, the rebel commander, to rally his forces, was within about 200 yards of the chute; but the impetuosity of the charge of my battalions on their lines, the deadly fire poured into their ranks, and the exultant shouts of my pursuing forces were more than they could stand. They again fled precipitately, many of them rushing, panic-stricken, into the stream, some attempting to swim their horses across, others aband oning their horses and everything else, and seeking to save themselves by swimming, while the rebel colonel, -with a portion of his terrified followers, suddenly turned to the right and, scattering, they soon hid themselves in the dense forest and almost impenetrable swamps of that region. "Our only loss in this engagement was Capt. Francis, of the 3d Cavalry Missouri State Militia, mortally wounded, and two enlisted men slightly wounded. The rebel loss was 30 killed, 6 mortally wounded, who fell into our hands, about 40 less severely wounded, who escaped, and 28 prisoners. Among the killed was a captain, and with the prisoners a lieutenant. On the morning of the 5th I had scouting parties out in every direction. They killed two guerrillas and took two of Erwin's men prisoners. On the same day marched to Gayoso, and on the 6th reached New Madrid without anything further of interest occurring. We killed in all 47, including 1 captain and 3 lieutenants, mortally wounded 6, not mortally about 40, and took prisoners 37, including 2 captains and 1 lieutenant. We captured upward of 200 stand of arms, including shotguns and common rifles, most of which, however, we were compelled to destroy for want of transportation. We captured, brought in, and turned over to the quartermaster 230 horses and mules. We also emancipated and brought with us near twenty colored persons who were being held as slaves by rebel masters in Arkansas. Having started out without transportation of any kind, and almost without subsistence, both men and animals subsisted off the enemy. CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 809 We have, I think, pretty effectually cleared out the guerrillas and punished their accom plices in the second subdistrict." The Paw Paw Militia. References to the Paw Paws were frequent in the reports. Gen. Clinton B. Fisk wrote : "The so-called Paw Paws were disloyal citizens and returned soldiers and officers from the rebel army who had been enrolled as disloyal under general orders in 1862. These men were organized into companies and regiments, under the direction of the gov ernor of the State of Missouri, in the summer of 1863, for some purpose to me unknown. Of the policy that dictated this organization, or of the effect upon the loyal element thus to be guarded, protected and watched by armed rebels, many of them fresh from the Confederate army, I say nothing. Representations were often and freely made to the proper authorities that these troops were doing a vast amount of harm to the loyal senti ment of the State of Missouri, and it was shown in many instances that these troops would in no case fight the guerrillas and thieves who infested the neighborhoods where they were stationed in the northwestern portion of the state. The officers and men of the 82d Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia allowed the Confederate Col. Winston to remain safely harbored and protected in the county of Clay during the winter of 1863-64, and used no exertion to arrest him, although his presence in their very midst was a well- established fact. They would not and did not arrest him. "It was a matter of common report that Winston left a companion in Clay county, commonly known as Coon Thornton, but whose name is John C. Calhoun Thornton. This man, it was well kn'own, was recruiting for the Confederate service. Companies of the 81st and 82d Enrolled Missouri Militia were in league with Thornton. "It was often reported to me by loyal men that these armed rebels were one by one slipping out of sight into the brush with their arms, and upon diligent inquiry I ascer tained these reports to be in the main true. I immediately ordered the disarming of these men, their arms to be delivered to the armory at St. Joseph, Mo., and upon the receipt of the order twelve men of Capt. Cox's company, of the 81st Enrolled Missouri Militia, took their arms and disappeared. The company commanded by Capt. Bywater, at Camden Point, came in and delivered up their arms at Camden Point preparatory to sending them to St. Joseph. They were stored in an old warehouse and two men of the same company left on guard over them. . The same night a small body of unarmed guerrillas rode into the town, surprised the guard and carried off the guns and accouterments. Capt. Bywater's company has not been heard of since then." As a further illustration of what an uncertain quantity the Paw Paws were Gen. Fisk told what happened at Platte City, where Maj. John M. Clark, of the 82d Enrolled Missouri Militia, was commanding. A body of the guerrillas under Coon Thornton approached Platte City. First Lieut.- William Downing, of the 82d, went out and met the guerrillas. On his return he told Maj. Clark that the guerrillas were coming into town, and that he for one did not intend to resist them. "On the morning of the 10th of July, Maj. Clark abandoned the command of the post to Capt. R. D. Johnston, Company A, 82d Regiment, and started off for a visit to his family, fifteen miles distant. Capt. Johnston being left in command immediately took counsel -with such of his officers as were present, and determined, in view of the known disloyalty of most of the command and the continued assertions of Lieut. William Down ing that he would not fight the guerrillas, but help them, that he could do no better than surrender the garrison. Upon his announcing this fact, Lieut. Downing immediately went out and came into the town with the guerrillas, who forthwith took possession of the town 810 CENTENNIAL HISTORY^ OF MISSOURI and all that was in it. They took down the flag of the Union, and, tearing it into shreds, fastened them to the heads of their horses. Here again was repeated the scene of trans formation of Missouri state soldiers into bushwhackers, for in less than a quarter of an hour after the occupation of the town nearly the whole of Capt. Johnston's command ap peared dressed in Confederate uniforms. "Not less than 250 or 300 of these so-called Enrolled Missouri Militia joined the guerrillas. Maj. Clark, as soon as his way was clear, reported safely at my headquarters. I shall have him brought to trial speedily. The total number of troops that joined Thorn ton and Thrailkill, his second in command, was four times the force at Thornton's dis posal at the outset of his raid. Since the 15th of July about thirty-five of these traitors have been killed. About 100 are in the brush sending messages to me to know how they can renew their allegiance, claiming to have been conscripted by Thornton, and a few have been taken at Atchison and Leavenworth, Kan., in attempts to escape, and are now con fined in jail at Atchison. "In closing this report I can only say that every word of it is capable of proof, and an -examination of all facts such as I propose to make will probably show up a darker shade of villainy and corruption than appears .in this preliminary report." A Brush Expedition in Western Missouri. Capt. Ezra W. Kingsbury led a detachment of the 2d Colorado Cavalry on a typical brush expedition from Independence through Western Missouri coun ties. He camped one night at Young's farm, four miles from Blue Mills. His report said: "While at this place I learned that Fletch Taylor, Thrailkill and other bushwhackers had been in that vicinity. On starting next morning at about 3 o'clock, scouting the country thoroughly in the vicinity of Six Mile, learned that Taylor had procured a buggy and started for Lafayette county, being severely wounded. Struck the trail and followed It about fifteen miles, until near Bone Hill, when lost it, and after" searching some time turned back on Lexington road for Lafayette county. Found numerous signs of small parties of bushwhackers, and finally reached the farm of one Ish, in Lafayette county, where, by means of passing as bushwhackers, learned from a boy, whom I took and com pelled to go with me, that there was a body of about 100 men encamped in Big Bottom, abcut six miles from that place. I started for that point, but ascertained that Drs. Mur phy and Regan, of Wellington, had amputated Taylor's arm the morning before, and, wishing to secure Murphy, started twenty-five men to Wellington to bring him, and pro ceeded1 south with the command two miles to Ewing's farm, where I found Murphy, who happened to be there ; arrested him, and, forage being plenty, fed the horses. Oi} ex amining Murphy found that he had reported the facts concerning Taylor to Lexington immediately after the amputation took place, but could learn nothing definite concerning his whereabouts. Before the detail sent to Wellington returned it was nearly night, and thence I moved south to the house of one Fishback and camped for the night, having released Dr. Murphy. Traveled this day about fifty miles. Next morning started at sun rise and went in a southerly course to the Sni, striking it at the old mill-dam, thence pro ceeded in a west course to Gardiner's farm ; struck from thence in the direction of Bone Hill and Judge Gray's farm, scouting thoroughly the brush in that vicinity; arrived at the house of one Bord, near the line of Jackson and Lafayette counties. On examining him at first could get no information from him ; said he had never seen but six bushwhackers ; saw them the evening before. Knew nothing of the whereabouts of any of them. I then made him go with us, and told him to guide us to their camp. At first he denied as before, but finally took us to the camp where Fletch Taylor had his arm amputated, and had left there very recently, as the signs were fresh and new. Found bandages stained with blood, pillow, etc., but no man. Finding that Bord was only leading us through the brush in order to give the bushwhackers time to escape I gave him a little hanging, which imme diately improved his knowledge of the country. He told me two bushwhackers had been Courtesy Missouri Historical Society UKATIOT STREET PRISON, ST. LOUIS Where thousands of Confederates were confined. Picture made during the Civil war THE McCAUSLAND HOME AT LEXINGTON A historic mansion used as a hospital in the Civil war CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 813 at his house the evening before to see his daughter, and on our starting again he led us through the thickest kind of brush to four other camps, one of which had only been vacated that morning, judging by the forage scattered around and other fresh signs; the other three were older, but had been used during the course of the summer. Searched the brush thoroughly, but could find no one. Learned further from Bord that there were plenty of them in the country in small parties ranging from Big Bottom to Bone Hill. Having obtained what information from Bord I could, released him and struck west for Robinson's, in Jackson county; trailed fifteen to that place and followed the trail to east ern edge of Fire prairie, where I started fifteen in a party and pursued them through the thick brush ten miles in a southerly course, when they scattered and I lost the trail ; thence returned northwest, until I struck the eastern edge of Fire prairie ; thence west, and started another party of eight, but at too great a distance to do anything with them. Struck the trail of a large party and followed them four miles to an old bridge across a ravine, where I heard a gun, fired evidently as a signal for them to disperse, as the tracks scattered immediately, and I lost them. This vicinity is evidently full of small parties of them con tinually passing back and forth. After searching the brush I crossed Fire prairie to the timber on the Blue, and scouted up the river till I reached Spring Branch crossing; thence returned to this place, arriving here about 6 p. m., traveling that day about sixty-five miles." Plenty of signs but no game was the result of the Colorado man's scouts. It took Missourians to catch Missourians in this kind of warfare. A Raid from Rolla. House burning was not only considered the proper thing, but it was reported with evident pride in the official narratives of the scouts against bushwhackers. Capt. Ferd Charveaux, of the Fifth Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, in giving the details of an expedition made from Rolla in the direction of Houston, made a report: "After traveling about six or seven miles I received information that about thirteen bushwhackers had passed through that country the night previous. I went to the house of Richmond, who is bushwhacking with his son. I ordered the things taken out of the houses and "had the houses set on fire. I then proceeded five miles farther to the house of Absly, who is out with the bushwhackers, which I had burned in the manner of Rich mond's. I went about three miles farther and received information that there was a gang of about fifty bushwhackers in the direction of Spring Valley; I tracked them about six miles, and lost their track through the woods and the hills. I stopped over night at Thomas Kinnan's and started early next morning, September 17, to Spring Valley, where I received information that some rebels had been at Thomasville two or three days prev ious. I immediately proceeded in direct course for Thomasville, taking by-roads. I stopped over night at the house of William H. Goldsberry's. Next morning, September 18, started toward Thomasville. After traveling about three miles I met a man who informed me that Colonel Coleman was to be at Thomasville with his command of about 300 men the night previous. I kept on my route, hastening my speed; six miles this side of Thomasville, at the house of Nallmesses, I was informed that Coleman had camped at Thomasville the night previous. When I arrived within one mile of Coleman's camp the advance guard captured a prisoner, who stated that Coleman had 300 men, but that there were only from 160 to 200 in camp. I used the prisoner as guide, and soon coming in sight of the camp, which was in a field, I gave the order to charge, which was promptly executed by my men, who were eager for the sport. After a half hour's skirmish the enemy were completely routed, killing 20 men and I captain (Taylor), captured 10 prisoners, 24 head of horses and 5 mules, nine saddles, and about 30 stand of small-arms, which I was obliged to have broken up except three guns that I brought in, as I had not transportation or means to bring them here. No loss on our side except one horse slightly wounded." 814 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI A Long Chase Near Huntsville. Lieut. Col. Alexander F. Denny, of the 46th Missouri Militia, telling about a skirmish near Huntsville, conveyed a good idea of what thebush fighting was: "We came upon the trail of Jim Anderson, the notorious robber and guerrilla, some five miles south of this place, about 10 o'clock, and after pursuing it about two hours lost it. I scoured the brush for miles, and at 2 p. m. came out upon the road from Huntsville to Fayette, at the residence of Owen Bagby. Four of our men rode up to the house, when Anderson and his men commenced firing upon them from the house. I ordered the column to dismount and charge them on foot. The boys came up in fine style with a deafening yell, when Anderson mounted his men and retreated hastily through the rear of the farm, having previously left the gates down. I ordered the men to remount, and with some five or six of the men who had their horses in advance, charged the enemy as he re treated through the fields. We were obstructed by gates and fences, and the enemy got under cover of the woods some 300 yards in advance of us. With the little handful of men in the advance I ordered a charge through the thick brush, which was made in gallant style, random shots being fired at us and returned by our men until we reached a long lane. Here the chase became fierce and rapid. We ran upon the rear, coming on two men mounted on one horse. The .horse was shot from under them, and the men scaled the fence and took to the pastures. George Raynolds of Captain Mayo's company, who was with me in the advance, having fired his last shot, fell back to reload. A short hand- to-hand conflict with pistols ensued between the robber and myself, when, after the ex change of some four or five shots, George Peak, Company D, Ninth Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, came to my relief and ended his existence with a rifle-shot. He had been previously wounded in the neck and back. John Kale, of Company D, Ninth Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, pursued the other dismounted man on foot through the fields until he had exhausted his last shot, having previously wounded him in the neck. So soon as the men came up I ordered them forward, but Anderson being so well mounted could not be overtaken. The men all conducted themselves well. At the time of the attack we were not fully aware of Anderson's strength. There were only ten men at Bagby's, yet their number was reported to us subsequently at thirty men. Result of the skirmish : One man killed and one mortally wounded ; also, Jim Anderson reported shot through the nose ; one horse killed, one wounded and one captured; also, one gun and four or five pistols. Money taken from the person of the dead man — $90 in gold, $286 in greenbacks, $4.50 in silver, $16 W. M. B. ; total, $396.50. Our loss, one horse. Anderson turned into the brush after a run of three miles and scattered his men. We followed the trail as long as we could, when we turned in the direction of Huntsville. We came upon him again at 6 o'clock in the brush within three miles of Huntsville. A few shots were fired by our men, and an exciting chase of ten minutes followed, when the enemy was lost in the thick brush.''War on the Smugglers. A good deal in brief space was told by Capt. J. W. Edwards, commanding at Cape Girardeau: "I sent a scout, under Lieut. Davis, of twenty men, Tuesday morning, up the country around Wolf island and vicinity. They returned Thursday evening, having scouted the whole country within six miles of Charles ton and also on the river. They succeeded in breaking up large gangs of smug glers, killed three authorized Confederate smugglers and three noted guerrillas ; they broke up seven skiffs and one flatboat that were used by the smugglers; just opposite Columbus captured two horses and some contraband goods.' I think it has been a severe lesson to them. The guerrillas murdered John Gard ner Tuesday morning near Fugitt's. They shot him sixteen times and robbed him of his money and horses. Neute Massey and four of his gang did it. Lieut. CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 815 Davis killed John Hancock, who was Massey's right-hand man and was a regular authorized Confederate smuggler. I think the scout did well." One of Gen. John McNeil's Orders. In the latter part of September, Gen. John McNeil, commanding the District of Rolla, in sending out a scouting party issued this order: "Lieut. L. Storz, 5th Regiment Cavalry Missouri State Militia, will proceed with twenty-five men and five days' light rations in haversacks, to the country between Mill creek and Spring creek, in search of. guerrilla bands and disloyal persons. The former will be pursued and exterminated, taking no prisoners in arms, except such as voluntarily sur render previous to conflict. The latter when found guilty of harboring and feeding guer rillas will be warned out of the state and their houses burned, their fences and crops destroyed. The inhabitants of the country will be warned that aiding and assisting the ¦ enemies of this government, whether in regular force or when acting as guerrillas, will call down certain destruction on them, and that the commandant of this district gives them a friendly warning, which he hopes they will heed, and save him from the disagreeable duty that will devolve on him when they are detected in such practices. Lieut. Storz will call on the officer in command at Little Pina for a guide and such advice and assistance as he may need in the execution of these orders. He will make the power of the government felt and respected in the comities he moves through by the good order and discipline of his men and respect for the property of the loyal ; next, by the destruction of every house and farm where the occupants have violated the repeated orders of this department against feeding and harboring or giving aid and information to bushwhackers." Forced Contributions in Callaway. Assistant Provost Marshal Charles D. Ludwig sent in from Fulton, Callaway county, a discouraging review of the situation: "During the past month the bushwhackers have been more troublesome in this sub- district than at any time before. The bands are numerous and large, and it is impossible for small squads of men to scout, as the bushwhackers in every instance, nearly, out number them, and they are better mounted and better armed. In the first part of August the troops here, in conjunction with a company stationed at Columbia and a small squad of Illinois men, had a fight with bushwhackers in Boone county, under command of one Todd, killing and wounding several of the latter. About the middle of August a squad of from twenty to forty were in the eastern part of this county, and on the 20th entered Portland, robbed stores and made the citizens pay a tax of $25 a head. They went to the place of Mr. Martin, on Nine-mile prairie, and robbed him of $5,000. They collected over $10,000 in this manner, besides several fine horses. A squad of soldiers sent out from here fell in with these scoundrels the next day and killed one of them. The bushwhackers are concentrating in Boone county. There is a rendezvous in Prussia Bottom, above Provi dence, in Boone county, where there are from 300 to 500 men, who lately crossed the Missouri river. They are not mounted, but are procuring horses very fast, and are splen didly armed. They are recruiting with great success. It is beyond a doubt that most of the drafted men in this and Boone county will join them, as it is openly avowed by many. An outbreak is feared here every moment, and Union men are fleeing from their homes. David Cunningham, a citizen of Boone county, a preacher, is recruiting bushwhackers. He is said to have eighty men. This man is one of the wealthiest citizens of Boone county, and holds a large real estate, as also others who are now in the rebel service. "There can be nothing done with the troops here, as only a few men of Company L, Ninth Missouri State Militia Cavalry, are mounted. The enrolled militia is apparently dis solved, as many of them have joined the twelve-months' troops and the rest went home. It is a sad fact that the men of Company L, Ninth Missouri State Militia Cavalry, are 816 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI dreaded even by loyal men nearly as much as bushwhackers, as their officers seem to exer cise but little control over them. They have a very loose discipline on scouts as well as in camp, as the empty hen houses and watermelon patches, etc., can testify. Complaints are coming in nearly every day of depredations committed by these men, but I am at a loss how to detect the transgressors and bring them to justice, as I have never met with the desired aid and co-operation from the hands of Capt. T. L. Campbell, commanding post here, and the men, knowing this, pay very little respect to the property of private citizens, who are insulted and annoyed by such vandalism." Congratulations from General Fisk. Maj. Austin A. King, 6th Missouri Militia, sent in a report that he had come upon Holtzclaw's command east of Roanoke, Howard county. In a running fight of five miles he killed six men and wounded several. "I congratulate you," Gen Fisk wrote from St. Joseph to Maj. King, "on the good beginning of the bushwhacking campaign. Strike with vigor and determination. Take no prisoners. We have enough of that sort on hand now. Pursue and kill. I have two of Holtzclaw's men, just captured. They state that he camps, when in Howard county, in the rear of old man Hackley's farm, not far from Fay ette. Make a dash in there at night, and get him if possible. Let a detachment secretly watch his mother's residence. He is home almost daily, and his sisters are great comforters of the bushwhackers. Old man Hackley has a son in the brush. I shall soon send out of the district the bushwhacking families." CHAPTER XXV RECONSTRUCTION THROES A State Without a Government — Secret Conference in a Newspaper Office — Midsummer Session of the Convention — State Offices Vacant— Provisional Authority Established — Willard P. Hall's Keynote — Judge Philips on Anomalous Conditions — Erratic Course of Uriel Wright — Governor Gamble's Death — The Enrolled Militia — Lincoln's Advice to Schofield — Missouri Problems in Washington — A Baby Christened "Sterling Price" — The President's Plain Words — Seventy "Radical Union Men" — Encouragement from the Abolitionists — Reception at the White House — Drake and the Address — A Prayer to Send Ben Butler — Enos Clarke's Vivid Recollections — Lincoln's Long Letter — The Matter with Missouri — "Every Foul Bird Comes Abroad and Every Dirty Reptile Rises Up" — Election of 1864 — Blair on the Permit Iniquities — Constitutional Convention — Immediate Emancipation, Test Oath and "Ousting Ordinance" — A Revolutionary Proposi tion — Removal of One Thousand ludges and Court Officers — Judge Clover's Frank Re port — Ousting Vital to Reconstruction Policy — Supreme Court Removed by Force from the Bench — A Military Demonstration — Thomas K. Skinker's Valuable Contribution to History — Lincoln and Blair in Accord — The President's Plans for the South — Restora tion, Not Reconstruction — Farewell Message to Missourians — Plea to Get Together. The dissensions between Union men in Missouri are due solely to a factious spirit, which is exceed ingly reprehensible. The two parties ought to have their heads knocked together. — President Lincoln to James Taussig, in May, 1863. In July, 1861, Missouri was without civil government. "The governor and the legislature had fled the state," said Thomas Shackleford. "I was called to St. Louis to meet other parties in regard to the situation. In an upper room of the Planters' House, Nathaniel Paschall, editor of the Missouri Republican, had a conference, at which I was present, to determine what it was best to do under the circumstances, to prevent anarchy. Mr. Paschall said he had come to the conclusion that it was best to depose the present governor and elect a pro visional governor. He said that in the next issue of the Republican he would advise this. This was done, and in accordance with the advice, the convention was called together." Upon the adjournment in March, after declaring in favor of the Union, the convention had provided for future possibilities by giving to a committee the power to reassemble the body. The convention met in Jefferson City on the 22d of July. Its president, Ster ling Price, was not there but most of the members were. Three of the state officers, the treasurer, auditor and register of lands, who had left with Jackson, came back, swore allegiance to the United States and took up their duties. The governor, the lieutenant-governor and the secretary of state, the official staff Vol. 1—52 817 818 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI of the legislature and most of the state clerical force were away. The first action of the convention was the appointment of a committee to consider this extraordinary situation of a state without a government. In three days the committee came into the convention with a solution of the problem. The com mittee proposed that the convention declare those offices, the holders of which had fled, to be vacant. They recommended that the convention appoint men to fill these offices until a special election could be held ; that the convention abolish the legislature which had created it ; that the provisional governor be authorized to order a special election for a new legislature. The committee further recom mended that the convention repeal the military law and other legislation passed by the legislature to facilitate the secession of Missouri ; and that the militia law of 1859 be revived. These recommendations reconstructing state government were promptly adopted. The convention chose Hamilton R. Gamble, governor; Willard P. Hall, lieutenant-governor, and Mordecai Oliver, secretary of state. The convention not only did this but immediately inaugurated the new state officers:The New Order of Things in Missouri. The keynote of the new order of things in Missouri was struck by Mr. Hall when he took the oath as lieutenant-governor: "I believe, gentlemen, that to" Missouri, Union is peace and disunion is war. I believe that tpday Missouri could be as peaceful as Illinois, if her citizens bad recognized their obligations to the Constitution and laws of their country. Whatever might be said by citizens of other states, certainly Missouri has no right to complain of the general government. "I believe it to be a fact that tliere is no law of general character upon your statutes that has been enacted since Missouri came into the Union, but has received the vote and support of the representatives of the state. Whatever we have asked from the government pf the United States has been given to us most cheerfully. We asked a liberal land policy and we got it ; we asked grants for our railroads and we got them ; we asked for a fugitive slave law and it was given to us ; we asked that our peculiar views in reference to the finances of the country should be regarded, and even that was granted. In short, if the people of this state had the whole control of the Federal government, if there had been but one state in the Union, the very policy which has been adopted by the general government would have been adopted as best calculated to advance fhe interests of the state. "Notwithstanding the denunciations we sometimes hear against the government of the United States and the assaults made upon it, I am free to admit, that when I reflect upon the history of this state, when I remember its humble origin, the proud and exalted position it occupied but a few months ago, my affections do cluster around the government of my country. As a Missourian I desire no change in the political relations that exist between this state and the government of the United States ; and, least of all, do I desire such a change as will throw her into the arms of those who have proved unfaithful to the high trust imposed upon them by a generous and confiding people." Judge Philips on the Anomalous Conditions. More than eighty members attended this meeting of the convention. The vote unseating the state officers and creating a provisional government was fifty-six to twenty-five. In his paper prepared for the State Historical Society, at Columbia, Judge John F. Philips described in graphic manner the conditions which confronted the delegates : RECONSTRUCTION THROES 819 "The state treasury was depleted, and the convention was left without the means of defraying its own expenses. There was no military force to protect the state in the condition of exposure to anarchy. The state was under martial law; and a German military com mandant, with but crude ideas of civil government, was dominant at the state capital. Under the recent census the state was entitled to two additional representatives in the Congress of the United States, demanding a new apportionment of the Congressional dis tricts, or a legislative enactment providing for the manner of securing such additional representation. The legislature had disbanded without making any provision therefor. "What was the duty of the members of the convention in such a conjuncture to the people of the state who had sent them to the capital to represent them? Were they to display the moral cowardice of those 'who do not care what becomes of the Ship of the State, so that they may save themselves in the cockboat of their own fortune,' or should they first save the state, and leave their action to the sober judgment of posterity? They chose the latter course. Uriel Wright's Course. "Naturally enough the few favoring secession or nothing, and others in sympathy with the absent state officials, desiring that nothing should be done conflicting with the mere theory of their official existence, vigorously opposed any action of the convention other than an adjournment sine die. The opposition was led principally, in so far as talking was concerned, by Uriel Wright of St. Louis, who had come to the convention as an unconditional Unionist; and at its first session had made a three days' speech in opposi tion to the whole theory of secession, minimizing the grievances of the seceding states, with a force of eloquence that enthused, beyond description, the entire convention, including the presiding officer, General Price, who while with dignity seeking to repress the applause of the galleries said to me on adjournment, in walking to the old Planters' House where we boarded: 'That speech was so fine I, too, felt like applauding.' But alas, for the in firmity of great geniuses, Wright was carried off of his high pedestal by the small incident of the Camp Jackson affair, and came to the July session of the convention anxious to display the usual zeal of the new convert. So he turned loose the whole vocabulary of his invective against everything and everybody pro-Union. To my conception he was the most brilliant orator of the state, with a vast wealth of historical, political and literary information. Like a very tragedian he bestrode the platform, and with the harmony of accent and emphasis he charmed like a siren. But he was unsteady in judgment, unstable in conviction and inconsistent of purpose. And, therefore, was wanting in that moral force that holds and leads thoughtful men. His rhetoric went into thin air before the severe logic and more sincere eloquence of such men as Judge Gamble, the two brothers, William A. and Willard P. Hall, John B. Henderson and James O. Broadhead." The Convention's Authority. The convention was authorized in the act creating it "to adopt such measures for vindicating the sovereignty of the state, and the protection of its institutions as shall appear to them to be demanded." The southern rights majority in the legislature intended these words to mean secession. The convention found in them the power to go forward and reconstruct an entire state government loyal to the Union. Judge Philips said: "The arguments advanced in favor of the power of the convention to establish a pro visional government to meet the emergency may be summarized as follows : The conven tion called for by the legislature was elected by popular vote of the people. Under our form of representative government when such delegates met they were as the whole peo ple of the state assembled. "In so far as concerned the domestic local affairs and policy of the state, the people were all powerful to make and unmake, bind and unbind, so long as they maintained a 820 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI government republican in form, and not in conflict with the Federal constitution. The only recognizable limitation upon its power was to be found in the terms of the legislative enactment calling it. "In anticipation and expectation of the framers of the act that an ordinance of seces sion would be adopted, they sought to invest the convention with most plenary powers in order to meet the requirements of the new, extraordinary conditions likely to arise, both from without and within the state. Accordingly the convention was authorized not only to take consideration of the existing relations between the government of the United States and the governments and the people of the different states, but also 'the govern ment and people of the State of Missouri, and to adopt such measures for vindicating the sovereignty of the state, and the protection of its institutions as shall appear to them to be demanded.' So that the convention during its deliberations found civil government in the state paralyzed, without a head, society unprotected by the arm of the state, disorder and confusion fast spreading over it like a pall of anarchy. It was the deliberate judgment of the great majority that it was neither extra-constitutional, usurpatory, nor without the recognized law of the public necessity, that the convention should provide a provisional government, ad interim. "The first step in this work of conservation was to provide for an executive head. And no higher evidence of the conservative impulses of the convention could be furnished than the fact of its designation of Hamilton R. Gamble as governor and Willard P. Hall as lieutenant governor. Where could have been found two wiser, safer, more prudent, un selfish men? Their very names were a rainbow of promise to the sorely vexed and per plexed people of the state. With unsparing energy, consummate ability and unfaltering courage, Governor Gamble set his face and all the aids he could command to the work of restoring order, lawful process, and peace within the borders of the commonwealth." The Evolution of the Factions. Of the subsequent trials of Governor Gamble and the provisional government, Judge Philips drew this picture: "That in that endeavor and purpose he and his coadjutors should have encountered opposition and criticism from the very element he so earnestly strove to protect excited wonder among thoughtful, good citizens at the time ; and in the light of experience it now seems anomalous. There were two extremes in the state. One was the impracticable theorists, who, rather than accept deliverance from any source other than the Claib Jack son defunct government, would accept anarchy. The other was the inflamed radicals, who preferred the substitution of military for civil government, so long as under its bloody reign they could make reprisals and wreak personal spites upon an unarmed class who had incurred their dislike. In other words, they preferred a condition of disorder and con fusion as more favorable to rapine, plunder and persecution. The very determined policy of Gamble's administration to extend protection to noncombatants, to life, liberty and property, was made the slogan of the rapidly recruiting forces of radicalism that 'the Gamble government' was but another name for southern sympathy. This feeling was in geniously communicated to the secretary of war, Stanton, whose motto seemed to be 'Aut Caesar aut nihil.' "Between the two factions, the one denying on every occasion the lawful authority of his administration, and, therefore, yielding him not even needed moral support, and the other demanding non-interference with predatory warfare and reprisals on 'rebel sym pathizers,' to say nothing of the machinations of ambitious politicians, his soul was sorely vexed and tried. But with a fortitude as sublime as his moral courage he never hesitated nor halted in waging, with all force and resources at his command, an uncompromising war on outlawry, no matter under what guise it masqueraded or under what banner it despoiled. He believed in liberty with law and government without unnecessary oppression. "Oppressed with the heavy burdens of such an office, under such conditions, and weakened physically with increasing ill health, Governor Gamble tendered his resignation RECONSTRUCTION THROES 821 to the convention in 1863, and begged that it be accepted. But so profoundly impressed was the convention with the supreme importance to the welfare of the state that he should continue his great work, it implored him to withdraw the resignation. I can yet see his pallid face, furrowed with the ravages of care and disease, his hair like burnished silver, his eyes aglow with the fire of martyrdom, his voice so mellow, yet perfectly modulated, as he stood before the convention and said: 'Your will be done not mine.' With the harness chafing and bearing hard upon his wasting frame he went to his death, January 31, 1864, lamented and honored at his funeral as I have never before or since witnessed in this state." Schofield and the Enrolled Militia. The Minute Men of the winter of 1861 were enlisted by the southern rights leaders "to protect the state :" The next year, under an act of Congress, was begun the organization of the Enrolled Militia of Missouri for the "defense of the state." It had been found by the Union leaders that there were many young Missourians who were willing to enlist for service in Missouri on the Union side. These young men would not go south to fight against the Union. Neither were, they willing to go outside the state to fight against southern relatives and friends in the Confederate armies. They were ready to enlist under officers appointed by the Union governor to preserve order in the state and to repel invasion of Missouri by Confederates. General John M. Schofield, who had been a professor in Washington University, a major in one of the Home Guard regiments winch took Camp Jackson, and Lyon's chief of staff in the battle of Wilson's creek, was given charge of the Missouri Enrolled Militia. He organized into regiments 13,000 men who rendered the state good service, making possible ihe withdrawal of troops from other states. Assessments Stopped by Lincoln. After Fremont came, in succession, Hunter, Halleck, Curtis and Schofield as military commanders to deal with the confusing situation in Missouri. The assessment of southern sympathizers which President Lincoln had suspended in St. Louis on the letter of Rev. Dr. Eliot showing that it was doing great harm to the Union cause, had been continued in the interior of Missouri. One of the orders called for an assessment of $5,000 for every Union soldier or Union citizen killed and $1,000 for every Union soldier or Union citizen wounded by the bushwhackers or guerrilla bands. The President wrote to General Curtis one of his friendly letters on the Missouri situation and suggested that he stop these assessments. General Curtis wrote at considerable length in reply. He told how the assessment policy had begun under the provost marshal system started by Fremont and continued by Halleck and by himself. He argued in favor of its continuance. Then by general order the President suspended these assessments in Missouri. In March the quarrel between the factions had reached such a stage that the President relieved General Curtis. Missourians calling at the White House found in the President's welcome a note of weariness as he referred to his efforts to keep peace between the discordant elements. One of these visitors returning to St. Louis quoted the President as saying: The dissensions between Union men in Missouri are due solely to a fac- rious spirit, which is exceedingly reprehensible. The two parties ought to have their heads knocked together." 822 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI The President appointed General Schofield to the command in Missouri and on the 27th of May wrote him this letter for guidance: "Having relieved General Curtis and assigned you to the command of the department of Missouri, I think it may be of some advantage for me to state to you why I did it. I did not relieve General Curtis because of any full conviction that he had done wrong by commission or omission. I did it because of a conviction in my mind that the Union men of Missouri, constituting when united a vast majority of the whole people, have entered into a pestilent factional quarrel among themselves — General Curtis, perhaps not from choice, being the head of one faction, and Governor Gamble that of the other. After months of labor to reconcile the difficulty, it seemed to grow worse and worse, until I felt it my duty to break it up somehow; and as I could not remove Governor Gamble, I had to remove General Curtis. Now that you are in the position, I wish you to undo noth ing merely because General Curtis or Gpvernor Gamble did it, but to exercise your own judgment and do right for the public interest. "Let your military measures be strong enough to repel the invader and to keep the peace, and not so strong as to unnecessarily harass and persecute the people. It is a difficult role, and so much greater will be the honor if you perform it well. If both fac tions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised by the other. "Yours truly, "A. Lincoln." The Schofield letter became public, — "surreptitiously," — The President sub sequently explained. It prompted Governor Gamble to write, complaining of the reference to him as heading one of the parties to a "pestilent factional quarrel." Mr. Lincoln acknowledged the receipt of Governor Gamble's letter, but said he had not read the letter and did not intend to read it. Lincoln's Missouri Problems. The first day of January, 1863, was one of the most momentous in the administration of President Lincoln. That day, after receiving the suggestions of his cabinet and after much consideration as to form and effect of what he was about to do, the President signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The next day he took up and, as he evidently supposed, solved a Missouri problem. This was the Pine Street Presbyterian church controversy. The Rev. Dr. Mc- Pheeters had baptized a little Missouri baby with the name of Sterling Price. This was one of the charges made against Dr. McPheeters by some members of his congregation who admitted his piety but questioned his loyalty. The charges were laid before the provost marshal. That functionary ordered the arrest of the divine and took charge of the church, relieving the trustees. The issue was carried to the White House, as was the custom, and the President, turning from weighty matters, wrote to General Curtis, commanding at St. Louis : "The United States must not, as by this order, undertake to run the churches. When an individual in a church, or out of it, becomes dangerous to the public interest he must be checked; but let the churches, as such, take care of them selves." Doubtless Mr. Lincoln thought he had laid down a broad principle that would relieve him of further appeals from either party to the Pine Street RECONSTRUCTION THROES 823 i Presbyterian church differences. Dr. McPheeters was discharged from arrest. The President was immediately asked to restore to Dr. McPheeters his eccle siastical rights. His reply was addressed to O. D. Filley, the head of the St. Louis Committee of Public Safety. "I have never interfered," Mr. Lincoln wrote, "nor thought of interfering, as to who shall, or shall not, preach in any church; nor have I knowingly or be- lievingly tolerated any one to so interfere by my authority. If, after all, what is now sought is to have me put Dr. McPheeters back over the heads of a majority of his own congregation, that, too, will be declined. I will not have control of any church, on any side." Individual, as well as church and state problems in Missouri were put up to Mr. Lincoln. On the 7th of January, the same week that the President had, as he thought, disposed of the Pine Street Presbyterian trouble, he received a message from B. Gratz Brown. The telegram was sent from Jefferson City. The legislature had assembled. Mr. Brown was a candidate for the United States Senate. He was elected but not until after he had encountered some difficulties. He wired: "Does the administration desire my defeat ; if not, why are its appointees working to that end?" President replied promptly but in language that was diplomatic and per haps, somewhat cryptic: "Yours of today just received. The administration takes no part between its friends in Missouri, of whom I, at least, consider you one, and I never be fore had an intimation that appointees there were interfering, or were inclined to interfere." Charcoals and Claybanks the two factions of loyal Missourians were called. Mr Lincoln tried to be neutral between them. In spirit, if not in so many words, his attitude was, "You all look alike to me." He would not take sides, but occasionally he expressed himself vigourously on the unhappy family situa tion. In the spring of 1863 a Charcoal appeal was made to the President. Mr. Lincoln replied: "In answer to the within question 'Shall we be sustained by you? I have to answer that at the beginning of the administration I appointed one whom I understood to be an editor of the 'Democrat' to be postmaster at St. Louis-the best office in my gift within Missouri. Soon after this, our friends at St. Louis must needs break into factions, the Democrat being, in my opinion, justly charge able with a full share of the blame for it. I have stoutly tried to keep out of the quarrel, and so mean to do." President Lincoln continued to preserve strict neutrality between the Mis souri factions. Judge S. P. McCurdy, of this state was a candidate : for ^an appointment. The President, with his own hand, endorsed Judge McCurdy s apphoarton. ^ ^ recommendation for a territorial judgeship, embracing both sides in Missouri and many other respectable gentlemen. ^^ ^ The President didn't believe in holding Missourians to strict account for what they might have said in the heat of oratory. Prince L. Hudgins, a lawyer 824 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI quite well known in the war period, was charged with conspiracy against the government. He wrote to President Lincoln explaining that the charge was based on a speech he had made in St. Joseph several months before the law under which he was being prosecuted was enacted. Congressman King went to the White House and recommended a pardon for Hudgins. The President wrote on the papers: "Attorney General: Please see Mr. King and make out the pardon he asks. Give this man a fair deal if possible." And then, perhaps after a little more conversation with the Missouri Con gressman, Mr. Lincoln added this tO his indorsement: "Gov. King leaves Saturday evening and would want to have it with him to take along, if possible. Would wish it made out as soon as conveniently can be."The Seventy "Radical Union Men." At 9 o'clock in the morning of the last day of September, 1863, President Lincoln, accompanied by one of his secretaries, came into the great east room of the White House and sat down. "He bore the appearance of being much depressed, as if the whole matter at issue in the conference which was impending was of great anxiety and trouble to him," says one of the St. Louisans who sat awaiting the President's coming. These were seventy "radical Union men of Missouri;" they had accepted that designation. They had been chosen at mass convention — "the largest mass convention ever held in the state," their credentials said. That convention had unqualifiedly indorsed the emancipation proclamation and the employment of negro troops. It had declared its loyalty to the general government. It had appointed these seventy Missourians to proceed to Washington and "to procure a change in the governmental policy in reference to Missouri." The movement had originated in St. Louis, and St. Louisans were at the head of it. This action meant more than a city or a state movement. It was the precipi tation of a crisis at Washington. It was the voice of the radical anti-slavery element of the whole country, speaking through Missouri, demanding! "that the government commit itself to the policy of the abolition of slavery and to the policy of the use of the negro troops against Confederate armies. It was the uprising of the element which thought the administration at Washington had been too mild. President Lincoln understood that the coming of the Missourians meant more than their local appeal. The Missourians understood, too, the im portance of their mission. On the way to Washington the seventy had stopped in city after city, had been given enthusiastic reception by anti-slavery leaders ; they had been encouraged to make their appeal for a new policy in Missouri insistent and to stand on the platform that the border states must now wipe out slavery of loyal owners. Hence it was that immediately upon their arrival in Washington the seventy Missourians coming from a slave state put into their address to the President such an avowal as this: 'We rejoice that in your proclamation of January 1, 1863, you laid the mighty hand of the nation upon that gigantic enemy of American liberty, and we and our constituents honor you for that wise and noble act. We and they hold that that proclamation did, in RECONSTRUCTION THROES 825 law, by its own force, liberate every slave in the region it covered; that it is irrevocable and that from the moment of its issue the American people stood in an impregnable posi tion before the world and the rebellion received its death blow. If you, Mr. President, felt that duty to your country demanded that you should unshackle the 'slaves of the 'rebel states in an hour, we see no earthly reason why the people of Missouri should not, from the same sense of duty, strike down with equal suddenness the traitorous and parricidal institution in their midst." The Missouri Movement. Here was the essence of the Missouri movement which gave it national in terest, which prompted the grand chorus of approval, which led to the series of indorsing ovations concluding with the mighty demonstration over the seventy radical Union men in Cooper Institute, New York City, with William Cullen Bryant, editor and poet, presiding. President Lincoln, pursuing the course which seemed to him necessary to keep the united North with him, felt fully the critical character of the issue which the Missourians were raising. Conditions and events wholly apart from what was going on in their state added to the significance and importance of this conference between President Lincoln and the radical Union men of Missouri. The week before the seventy started from St. Louis for Washington that bloodiest battle of the war, Chicka mauga, had been fought, and the whole North was depressed by the narrow escape of Rosecrans' army. When the Missourians arrived in Washington Hooker's army was marching all night long over the Long Bridge out of Vir ginia and into Washington to take trains for the roundabout journey to Chat tanooga to reenforce the penned-up troops, that they might not be forced north of the Tennessee by Bragg. Meade's failure to follow up the success at Gettys burg in July previous had given great dissatisfaction. In the cabinet there wa ; division over administration policies. The Presidential campaign was coming on in a few months. Perhaps at no other time since the beginning of the war had President Lincoln faced more discouraging criticism and more hostile opin ion in the North. And now came these Missourians to add to the burden. The address which the Missourians had prepared was read to the President. For half an hour, the chairman, Charles D. Drake, read in a deep, sonorous voice, slowly and impressively. The address reviewed the origin and the development of antagonism between the Gamble administration and the radical Union men. It charged Gamble with the intention to preserve slavery in Missouri and asserted "the radicals of Missouri desired and demanded the election of a new convention for the pur pose of ridding the state of slavery immediately." It dwelt at length upon the "proslavery character" of Governor Gamble's policy and acts. "From the antagonisms of the radicals to such a policy," the address pro ceeded, "have arisen the conflicts which you, Mr. President, have been pleased heretofore to term a 'factional quarrel.' With all respect we deny that the radi cals of Missouri have been or are, in any sense, a party to any such quarrel.' We are no factionists; but men earnestly intent upon doing our part toward rescuing this great nation from the assaults which slavery is aiming at its life." 826 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI With the Missourians affirming such a position, it is not difficult to understand the wave of sympathy from the anti-slavery element which spread over the coun try, taking the form of indorsements by newspaper, speeches by leaders of the anti-slavery people and enthusiastic public attentions to the delegation. They Asked for Ben Butler. The climax of the address of the seventy radical Union men was the prayer that Ben Butler be sent to succeed Schofield at St. Louis to restore peace and order in Missouri. "We ask, further, Mr. President, that in the place of General Schofield a department commander be assigned to the department of Missouri whose sympathies will be with Mis souri's loyal and suffering people, and not with slavery and proslavery men. General Schofield has disappointed our just expectations by identifying himself with our state administration, and his policy as department commander has been, as we believe, shaped to conform to Governor Gamble's proslavery and conservative views. He has subordinated Federal authority in Missouri to state rule. He has become a party to the enforcement of conscription into the state service. He has countenanced, if not sustained, the orders issued from the state headquarters, prohibiting enlistments from the enrolled militia into the volunteer service of the United States. Officers acting under him have arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned loyal citizens, without assigned cause, or for daring to censure Governor Gamble's policy and acts. Other such officers have ordered loyal men to be disarmed, and in some instances the order has been executed, while, under the pretense of preventing an invasion of Missouri from Kansas, notorious and avowed disloyalists have been armed. He has issued a military order prohibiting the liberty of speech and of the press. An officer in charge of negro recruits that had been enlisted under lawful authority, as we are informed and believe, was on the 20th inst. arrested in Missouri by Brigadier General Guitar, acting under General Schofield's orders, his commission, side-arms and recruits taken from him, and he imprisoned and sent out of the state. And, finally, we declare to you, Mr. President, that from the day of General Schofield's accession to the command of that department, matters have grown worse and worse in Missouri, till now they are in a more terrible condition than they have been at any time since the outbreak of the rebellion. This could not be if General Schofield had administered the affairs of that department with proper vigor and with a resolute purpose to sustain loyalty and sup press disloyalty. We, therefore, respectfully pray you to send another general to com mand that department ; and, if we do not overstep the bounds of propriety, we ask that the commander sent there be Major General Benjamin F. Butler. We believe that his presence there would restore order and peace to Missouri in less than sixty days." The Concluding Appeal. The closing paragraph of the address was well calculated to impress Mr. Lincoln with the intensity of feeling inspiring the delegation. Perhaps in the history of White House conferences such strong language was never before used by a delegation in declaring the personal responsibility of the chief executive. The conclusion was in these words: "Whether the loyal hearts of Missouri shall be crushed is for you to say. If you refuse our requests, we return to our homes only to witness, in consequence of that refusal, a more active and relentless persecution of Union men, and to feel that while Maryland can rejoice in the protection of the government of the Union, Missouri is still to be a victim of proslavery conservatism, which blasts wherever it reigns. Does Missouri deserve such a fate? What border slave state confronted the rebellion in its first spring as she did? Remember, we pray you, who it was that in May, 1861, captured Camp Jackson and saved RECONSTRUCTION THROES 827 the arsenal at St. Louis from the hands of traitors, and the Union cause in the Valley of the Mississippi from incalculable disaster. Remember the Home Guards, who sprung to arms in Missouri when the government was without troops or means to defend itself there. Remember the more than 50,000 volunteers that Missouri has sent forth to battle for the Union. Remember that, although always a slave state, her unconditional loyalty to the Union shines lustrously before the whole nation. Recall to memory these things, Mr. Presi dent, and let them exert their just influence upon your mind. We ask only justice and protection to our suffering people. If they are to suffer hereafter, as now, and in time past, the world will remember that they are not responsible for the gloomy page in Missouri's history, which may have to record the independent efforts of her harassed but still loyal men to defend themselves, their families and their homes against their disloyal and mur derous assailants.'' Recollections of Enos Clarke. The names of the seventy radical Union men of Missouri were signed to this remarkable document. The signature of Charles D. Drake of St. Louis, after wards senator from Missouri, and still later chief justice of the court of claims at Washington, came first as chairman. Two Missouri Congressmen, Ben Loan and J. W. McClurg, the latter afterwards governor, signed as vice chairmen of the delegation. One of the secretaries was the late Emil Preetorius of the St. Louis Westliche Post. Three of the seventy signers were Enos Clarke, Charles P. Johnson and David Murphy. They were among the youngest members of the delegation. The half century and more gone by has not dimmed the recollec tion of that journey to Washington and of the scene in the east room of the White House, although time long ago tempered the sentiment and dissipated the bitterness. With some reluctance Enos Clarke spoke of this historic occasion, explaining that it is difficult for those who did not live through those trying times in Missouri to comprehend the conditions which prevailed: "The feeling over our grievances had become intense. We represented the extreme anti-slavery sentiment. We were the republicans who had been in accord with Fremont's position. Both sides to the controversy in Missouri had repeatedly presented their views to President Lincoln, but this delegation of seventy was the most imposing and most formal protest which had been made to the Gamble state administration and the national adminis tration's policy in Missouri. The attention of the whole country, it seemed, had been drawn to Missouri. Our delegation met with a series of ovations. When we reached Washington we were informed that Secretary Chase proposed to tender us a reception. We were entertained by him the evening of the day we were received at the White House." "Who was the author of the address, Mr. Clarke?" "The address was the result of several meetings we held after we reached Washing ton. We were there nearly a week. Arriving on Saturday, we did not have our confer ence at the White House until Wednesday. Every day we met in Willard's hall, on F street, and considered the address. Mr. Drake would read over a few paragraphs, and we would discuss them. At the close of the meeting Mr. Drake would say, 'I will call you together tomorrow to further consider this matter.' In that way the address progressed to the finish." "How did the President receive you?" "There was no special greeting. We went to the White House a few minutes before nine, in accordance with the appointment which had been made, and took seats in the east room. Promptly at nine the president came in, unattended save by one of his secretaries. He did not shake hands, but sat down in such a position that he faced us. He seemed a great ungainly, almost uncouth man. He walked with a kind of ambling gait. His face bore the look of depression, of deep anxiety. Mr. Drake stepped forward as soon as the Presi- 828 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI dent had taken his seat and began to read the address. He had a deep, sonorous voice and he read slowly and in a most impressive manner. The reading occupied half an hour. At the conclusion Mr. Drake said this statement of our grievances had been prepared and signed by all of thos'e present." "Did the President seem to be much affected by the reading?" "No. And at the conclusion he began to discuss the address in a manner that was very disappointing to us. He took up one phrase after another and talked about them without showing much interest. In fact, he seemed inclined to treat many of the matters contained in the paper as of little importance. The things which we had felt to be so serious Mr. Lincoln treated as really unworthy of much consideration. That was the tone in which he talked at first. He minimized what seemed to us most important." "Did he indulge in any story telling or humorous comment?" "No. There was nothing that seemed like levity at that stage of the conference. On the contrary, the President was almost impatient, as if he wished to get through with something disagreeable. When he had expressed the opinion that things were not so serious as we thought he began to ask questions, many of them. He elicited answers from differ ent members of the delegation. He started argument, parrying some of the opinions ex pressed by us and advancing opinions contrary to the conclusions of our Committee of Seventy. This treatment of our grievances was carried so far that most of us felt a sense of deep chagrin. But after continuing in this line for some time the President's whole manner underwent change. It seemed as if he had been intent upon drawing us out. When satisfied that. he fully understood us and had measured the strength of our purpose, the depth of our feeling, he took up the address as if new. He handled the various grievances in a most serious manner. He gave us the impression that he was disposed to regard them with as much concern as we did. After a while the conversation became colloquial between the President and the members of the delegation — more informal and more sympathetic. The change of tone made us feel that we were going to get con sideration." "Did the President make any reference to that part of the address about the 'factional quarrel' ?" "Yes, he did. And it was about the only thing he said that had a touch of humor in that long conversation. In the course of his reply to us he took up that grievance. "Why,' he said, 'you are a long way behind the times in complaining of what I said upon that point. Governor Gamble was ahead of you. There came to me some time ago a letter complaining because I had said that he was a party to a factional quarrel, and I answered that letter without reading it.' The features of the president took on a whimsical look as he continued: 'Maybe you would like to know how I could answer it without reading it. Well, I'll tell you. My private secretary told me such a letter had been received and I sat down and wrote to Governor Gamble in about these words : "I understand that a letter has been received from you complaining that I said you were a party to a factional quarrel in Missouri. I have not read that letter, and, what is more, I never will." ' With that Mr. Lincoln dismissed our grievance about having been called parties to a factional quarrel. He left us to draw our own inference from what he said, as he had left Governor Gamble to construe the letter without help." "Did the conference progress to satisfactory conclusions after the President's manner changed ?" "We did not receive specific promises, but I think we felt much better toward the close than we had felt in the first hour. The President spoke generally of his purpose rather than with reference to conditions in Missouri. Toward the close of the conference he went on to speak of his great office, of its burdens, of its responsibilities and duties. Among other things he said that in the administration of the government he wanted to be the President of the whole people and no section. He thought we, possibly, failed to compre hend the enormous. stress that rested upon him. 'It is my ambition and desire,' he said with considerable feeling, "to so administer the affairs of the government while I remain Presi dent that if at the end I shall have lost every other friend on earth I shall at least have one friend remaining and that one shall be down inside of me.' " RECONSTRUCTION THROES 829 "How long did the conference continue?" "Three hours. It was nearing noon when the President said what I have just quoted. That seemed to be the signal to end the conference. Mr. Drake stepped forward and addressing the President, who was standing, said, with deliberation and emphasis: 'The hour has come when we can no longer trespass upon your attention. Having submitted to you in a formal way a statement of our grievances, we will take leave of you, asking privilege that each member of the delegation may take you by the hand. But, in taking leave of you, Mr. President, let me say to you many of these gentlemen return to a border state filled with disloyal sentiment. If upon their return there the military policies of your administration shall subject them to risk of life in the defense of the government and their blood shall be shed — let me tell you, Mr. President, that their blood shall be upon your garments and not upon ours.' " "How did the President receive that?" "With great emotion. Tears trickled down his face, as we filed by shaking his hand." Mr. Lincoln's Diagnosis on Missouri. In an old scrapbook kept by Enos Clarke in the war and reconstruction period is preserved the reply of Mr. Lincoln to the "seventy radical Union men of Missouri." On the evening of the day that the seventy were at the White House they were given a reception by the secretary of the treasury, Mr. Chase. This was considered significant. At that time there was much talk of Chase for the Presidential nomination by the radical opposition to Mr. Lincoln. The secre tary was alleged to be intriguing for the nomination. From Washington the seventy Missourians went to New York City to be honored by the anti-slavery people at a great mass meeting in Cooper Institute. Charles P. Johnson was the orator chosen by the Missourians to reply to the welcome. On the 5th of October, only five days after he received the Missourians, the President sent his reply. There are few letters by Mr. Lincoln as long as this one on the Missouri situation. The analysis of causes and conditions in this state, when the war was half over, has no equal in print. It showed complete comprehension of the troubles and suggested common sense remedies. It is a revelation of Mr. Lincoln's clear vision in the midst of the most conflicting and confusing reports. This letter, in its entirety, deserves prominent place in the war period of the history of Missouri: Executive Mansion, Washington, October 5, 1863. Hon. Charles D. Drake and others, Committee: Gentlemen: Your original address, presented on the 30th ultimo, and the four sup plementary ones presented" on the 3rd instant, have been carefully considered. I hope you will regard the other duties claiming my attention, together with the great length and im portance of these documents, as constituting a sufficient apology for my not having re sponded sooner. These papers, framed for a common object, consist of things demanded, and the reasons for demanding them. The things demanded are— ~ First. That General Schofield shall be relieved, and General Butler be appointed commander of the Military Department of Missouri; Second. That the system of Enrolled Militia in Missouri may be broken up, and na tional forces substituted for it; and Third. That at elections, persons may not be allowed to vote who are not entitled by law to do so. 830 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Among the reasons given, enough of suffering and wrong to Union men is certainly, and I suppose truly, stated. Yet the whole case as presented fails to convince me that General Schofield, or the Enrolled Militia, is responsible for that suffering and wrong. The whole can be explained on a more charitable, and, as I think, a more rational hypothesis. We are in civil war. In such cases there always is a main question ; but in this case that question is a perplexing compound — Union and slavery. It thus becomes a question not of two sides merely, but of at least four sides, even among those who are for the Union, saying nothing of those who are against it. Thus those who are for the Union with but not without slavery, those for it without but not with, those for it with or with out but prefer it with, those for it with or without but prefer it without. Among these, again, is a subdivision of those who are for gradual but not for immediate, and those who are for immediate but not for gradual extinction of slavery. It is easy to conceive that all these shades of opinion, and even more, may be sincerely entertained by honest and truthful men. Yet all being for the Union, by reason of these differences each will prefer a different way of sustaining the Union. At once sincerity is questioned and motives assailed. Actual war coming, blood grows hot and blood is spilled. Thought is forced from old channels into confusion. Deception breeds and thrives. Confidence dies, and universal suspicion reigns. Each man feels an impulse to kill his neighbor lest he be killed by him. Revenge and retaliation follow. And all this, as before said, may be among honest men only. But this is not all. Every foul bird comes abroad and every dirty reptile rises up. These add crime to confusion. Strong measures, deemed indispensable but harsh at best, such men make worse by maladministration. Murder for old grudges and murders for pelf proceed under any cloak that will best cover for the occasion. These causes amply account for what has occurred in Missouri, without ascribing it to the weakness or wickedness of any general. The newspaper files, those chroniclers of current events, will show the evils now com plained of were quite as prevalent under Fremont, Hunter, Halleck, and Curtis, as under Schofield. If the former had greater force opposed to them, they also had greater force with which to meet it. When the organized army left the state, the main Federal force had to go also, leaving the department commander at home, relatively no stronger than before. Without disparaging any, I affirm with confidence, that no commander of that department has, in proportion to his means, done better than General Schofield. The first specific charge against General Schofield is, that the Enrolled Militia was placed under his command, whereas it had not been placed under the command of General Curtis. The fact I believe is true ; but you do not point out, nor can I conceive, how that did or could injure loyal men, or the Union cause. You charge that upon General Curtis being superseded by General Schofield, Franklin A. Dick was superseded by James O. Broadhead as provost marshal general. No very specific showing is made as to how this did or could injure the Union cause. It recalls, however, the condition of things, as presented to me, which led to a change of com mander for that department. To restrain contraband intelligence and trade, a system of searches, seizures, permits and passes had been introduced^ I think, by General Fremont. When General Halleck came he found and continued this system, and added an order, applicable to some parts of the state, to levy and collect contributions from noted rebels to compensate losses, and relieve destitution caused by the rebellion. The action of General Fremont and General Halleck, as stated, constituted a sort of system, which General Curtis found in full opera tion when he took command of the department. That there was a necessity for some thing of the sort was clear; but that it could only be justified by stern necessity, and that it was liable to great abuse in administration, was equally clear. Agents to execute it, contrary to the great Prayer, were led into temptation. Some might, while others would not, resist that temptation. It was not possible to hold any to a very strict accountability; and those yielding to the temptation would sell permits and passes to those who would pay most, and most readily for them ; and would seize property, and collect levies in the aptest way to fill their own pockets. Money being the object, the man having money, whether loyal or disloyal, would be a victim. This practice doubtless existed to some extent, and RECONSTRUCTION THROES 831 it was a real additional evil that it could be, and was plausibly, charged to exist in greater extent than it did. When General Curtis took command of the department, Mr. Dick, against whom I never knew anything to allege, had general charge of this system. A controversy in re gard to it rapidly grew into almost unmanageable proportions. One side ignored the necessity and magnified the evils of the system, while the other ignored the evils and magnified the necessity; and each bitterly assailed the motives of the other. I could not fail to see that the controversy enlarged in the same proportion as the professed Union men there distinctly took sides in two opposing political parties. I ex hausted my wits, and very nearly my patience, also, in efforts to convince both that the evils they charged on each other were inherent in the case, and could not be cured by giving either party a victory over the other. Plainly the irritating system was not to be perpetual; and it was plausibly urged that it could be modified at once with advantage. The case could scarcely be worse and whether it could be made better could only be determined by a trial. In this view, and not to ban or brand General Curtis or to give a victory to any party, I made the change of commander for the department. I now learn that soon after this change Mr. Dick was removed, and that Mr. Broadhead, a gentleman of no less good character, was put in the place. The mere fact of this change is more distinctly complained of than is any conduct of the new officer, or other consequences of the change. I gave the new commander no instructions as to the administration of the system mentioned beyond what is contained in the private letter, afterwards surreptitiously pub lished, in which I directed him to act solely for the public good, and independently of both parties. Neither anything you have presented me, nor anything I have otherwise learned, has convinced me that he has been unfaithful to this charge. Imbecility is urged as one cause for removing General Schofield, and the late massacre at Lawrence, Kansas, is passed as evidence of that imbecility. To my mind, that fact scarcely tends to prove the proposition. That massacre is only an example of what Grier- son, John Morgan and many others might have repeatedly done qn their respective raids had they chosen to incur the personal hazard, and possessed the fiendish heart to do it. The charge is made that General Schofield, on purpose to protect the Lawrence mur derers, would not allow them to be pursued into Missouri. While no punishment could be too sudden or too severe for those murderers, I am well satisfied that the preventing of the threatened remedial raid into Missouri was the only safe way to avoid an indiscriminate massacre there, including probably more innocent than guilty. Instead of condemning, I therefore approve what I understand General Schofield did in that respect. The charges that General Schofield has purposely withheld protection from loyal peo ple and purposely facilitated the objects of the disloyal are altogether beyond my power of belief. I do not arraign the veracity of gentlemen as to the facts complained of ; but I do more than question the judgment which would infer that those facts occurred in accord ance with the purpose of General Schofield. With my present views, I must decline to remove General Schofield. In this I decide nothing against General Butler. I sincerely wish it were convenient to assign him a suitable command. In order to meet some existing evils, I have addressed a letter of instruction to Gen eral Schofield, a copy of which I enclose to you. As to the Enrolled Militia, I shall en deavor to ascertain, better than I now know, what is its exact value. Let me say now, however, that your proposal to substitute national force for the Enrolled Militia, implies that in your judgment the latter is doing something which needs to be done; and, if so, the proposition to throw that force away and to supply its place by bringing other forces from the field where they are urgently needed, seems to me very extraordinary; whence shall they come? Shall they be drawn from Banks, or Grant, or Steele, or Rosecrans? Few things have been so grateful to my anxious feelings as when, in June last, the local force in Missouri aided General Schofield to so promptly send a large general force to the relief of General Grant, then investing Vicksburg, and menaced from without by General Johnston. Was this all wrong? Should the Enrolled Militia then have been 832 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI broken up, and General Heron kept from Grant, to police Missouri? So far from finding cause to object, I confess to a sympathy for whatever relieves our general force in Mis souri, and allows it to serve elsewhere. I therefore, as at present advised, cannot attempt the destruction of the Enrolled Militia of Missouri. I may add, that the force being under the national military control, it is also within the proclamation with regard to the habeas corpus. I concur in the propriety of your request in regard to elections, and have as you set, directed General Schofield accordingly. I do not feel justified to enter upon the broad field you present in regard to the political differences between Radicals and Conservatives. From time to time I have done and said what appeared to me proper to do and say. The public knows it well. It obliges nobody to follow me, and I trust it obliges me to follow nobody. The Radicals and Conservatives each agree with me in some things and disagree in others. I could wish both to agree with me in all things ; for then they would agree with each other, and would be too strong for any foe from any quarter. They, however, choose to do otherwise, and I do not question their rights. I hold whoever commands in Mis souri or elsewhere responsible to me, and not to either Radicals or Conservatives. It is my duty to hear all ; but, at last, I must, within my sphere, judge what to do and what to forbear. , Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. A Prescription for Peace. Mr. Lincoln enclosed in this long letter to the committee a copy of the in structions to General Schofield as the result of the address of the Missourians. (Copy.) Executive Mansion^ Washington, D. C, Oct. I, 1863. General John M. Schofield : There is no organized military force in avowed opposition to the general government now in Missouri ; and if any such shall reappear, your duty in regard to it will be too plain to require any special instruction. Still, the condition of things, both there and elsewhere, is such as to render it indispensable to maintain, for a time, the United States military establishment in that state, as well as to rely upon it for a fair contribution of support to that establishment generally. Your immediate duty in regard to Missouri now is to advance the efficiency of that establishment, and to so use it, as far as practicable, to com pel the excited people there to leave on« another alone. Under your recent order, which I have approved, you will only arrest individuals, and suppress assemblies or newspapers, when they may be working palpable injury (Mr. Lincoln underscored the word palpable) to the military in your charge; and in no other case will you interfere with the expression of opinion in any form, or allow it to be inter fered with violently by others. In this you have a discretion to exercise with great cau tion, calmness and forbearance. With the matters of removing the inhabitants of certain counties «n masse, and of removing certain individuals from time to time, who are supposed to be mischievous, I am not now interfering, but am leaving to your discretion. Nor am I interfering with what may still seem to you to be necessary . restrictions upon trade and intercourse. I think proper, however, to enjoin upon you the following: Allow no part of the military under your command to be engaged either in returning fugitive slaves, or in forcing or enticing slaves from their homes ; and so far as practicable, enforce the same forbearance upon the people. .Report to me your opinion upon the availability for good of the Enrolled Militia of the state. Allow no one to enlist colored troops, except upon orders from you, or from here through you. Allow no one to assume the function of confiscating property, under the law of Congress, or otherwise, except upon orders from here. RECONSTRUCTION THROES 833 At elections, see that those, and only those, are allowed to vote, who are entitled to do so by the laws of Missouri, including as of those laws the restrictions laid by the Mis souri Convention upon those who may have participated in the rebellion. So far as practicable, you will, by means of your military force, expel guerrillas, marauders and murderers, and all who are known to harbor or abet them. But in like manner -you will repress assumptions of unauthorized individuals to perform the same service, because under pretence of doing this they become marauders and murderers them selves. To now restore peace, let the military obey orders ; and those not of the military leave each other alone, thus not breaking the peace themselves. In giving the above directions, it is not intended to restrain you in other expedient and necessary matters not falling within their range. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. Blair on the Permit System. President Lincoln spoke of the evils and abuses of the permit system which had been applied by successive commanders to Missouri. Blair, on the floor of Congress, illustrated the operation of the system. "Until within the last six months a man living in Missouri, twenty miles from St. Louis, could not get a barrel of salt or flour from the city without paying for a permit. I am told that a judge of our supreme court living in the adjoining county of St. Charles paid for a permit in St. Louis to take a picture of General Washington to his home as a Christmas present to his child. This thing has been continued to within the last twenty days ; and for the last six months no organized force of the enemy has penetrated north of the Arkansas river. The permit system has finally been abandoned in Missouri, but the agents and the officials who formerly spread this network over our desolated state and pinched its ruined inhabitants still remain." To leave St. Louis by train or boat or by other vehicle or afoot, during the continuance of martial law, a passport was necessary. Between August . 14 and November 20, 1861, there were issued 85,000 of these passes. On the back of the first issues was : "It is understood that the within named subscriber accepts this pass on his word of honor that he is and will ever be loyal to the United States ; and if hereafter found in arms against the Union, or in any way aiding the enemy, the penalty will be death." When Capt. George E. Leighton suc ceeded Gen. Justus McKinstry as provost marshal he changed this form to a pledge and omitted the death penalty. Charcoals Gain Control. The Radicals, as the Charcoals had come to be more commonly called, car ried Missouri in the general election of 1864. The vote was not large. Not only were thousands away fighting in the South, but many more who were living quietly and peaceably at their homes could not or would not take the oath of allegiance required of voters. The Radicals elected their state ticket, of which Thomas C. Fletcher was the head. They controlled the legislature by a large majority. They carried eight of the nine Congressional districts and eighty of the counties. Lincoln had about 40,000 majority and the state ticket nearly as much. Many Conservatives, or Claybanks remained away from the polls because, while they could truthfully have taken the strict oath of allegiance, 834 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI they resented the practice of the Charcoals in challenging and rigidly questioning any one with whom they disagreed. Thomas K. Skinker, in a very interesting address before the Missouri His torical Society on February 20, 1914, gave this origin of the names applied to the two factions : "To the dominant element in Missouri all democrats were rebels, and they were corhmonly called by that name, or something worse. The other party was at' first called the Union, or Unconditional. Union party; but that soon split into wings, or branches, the Conservatives and the Radicals. These were commonly called, respectively, the Claybanks and the Charcoals. The republicans had long been called by their political adversaries 'Black Repub licans.' This was easily converted into 'Charcoals'; and these latter gave their conservative fellow-unionists the name of 'Claybanks,' as denoting a colorless sort of politics, which did not much distinguish them from out-and-out rebels; or else Copperheads, after the deadly snake of that name, which strikes without warning. It was meant to be a synonym of hidden danger and secret hostility to the Union cause." The Ousting Ordinance. Delegates to the constitutional convention were chosen at this election of 1864. The Radicals had won over the legislature. The act providing for the convention conferred extraordinary powers upon the delegates. The convention passed an ordinance for immediate emancipation and framed a new constitution containing a test oath, or as it was called an "oath of loyalty." The constitution not only limited the franchise and the holding of public office of any kind to those who could take this oath, but it required preachers and lawyers as well as teachers to take the oath before they were allowed to practice their profes sions. There was provision for repentance and forgiveness of those who could not immediately subscribe to the oath. The twenty-'fifth section said that the general assembly might repeal the oath so far as it related to voters after 1871. But the test oath, must apply to lawyers, preachers and teachers until after 1876, when the legislature might extend amnesty to these classes if it saw proper. In order that the work of the convention might- not be undone by the courts the delegates proceeded to enact what was called the "ousting ordinance." The title declared that the purpose of the ordinance was "to vacate certain civil offices, to harmonize the workings of the government, and to protect citizens from injury and harassment from persecution for acts done by them in support of the government." A committee headed by Henry A. Clover of St. Louis reported this ousting ordinance and made a long report in support of it. "The committee is of opinion that, to harmonize the working of the state government in all its departments, it is necessary to vacate throughout, and in detail, all the judicial offices of the state. The convention has already enacted an ordinance emancipating slaves. Should the judicial department of the state government be held at liberty to impeach the entire lawfulness of this act? Property in man exists and has always heretofore been recognized in this state, and if rightfully existing at one time, it may always rightfully exist. The convention, or the majority of the people, have no right or lawful authority to deprive a citizen of property without compensation, not even pretended to be taken for public use. The right or authority so to do is denied in the very nature of the social con tract. Upon this plea the lawfulness of this act of the convention may be denied by the judges. Should it be permitted, if it can be prevented? RECONSTRUCTION THROES 835 "Again, the convention has considered a measure for preserving in purity the elective franchise, and, in so doing, to disfranchise the rebel and rebel sympathizer. Shall the effect of this measure be allowed to be frittered away by unfavorable and hostile construc tion and interpretation of term and phrase?" This ousting ordinance was suggested to the convention in a resolution offered by Mr. Green of Marion county, which declared that to carry out the progressive spirit of the people of Missouri it was necessary to reorganize the judicial system and to vacate all judicial offices from the supreme bench down. One Thousand Offices Vacated. The ordinance applied to about 1,000 office holders. It included the judges and clerks of all courts in the state, the county recorders, the circuit attorneys and their assistants and all sheriffs. These offices were to be vacated on May i, 1865. The governor was to appoint successors. In his address, Mr. Skinker said: "It is plain from the report Judge Clover and his committee fully realized that in declaring the abolition of slavery they were committing an act of revolution and con fiscation. Property in negro slaves had always been recognized by the law of the land; there was not a single state in the Union in which this was not. true at some time in its history. In Missouri it was distinctly recognized at that very time, and the very con stitution, which the convention was then submitting to the people for adoption, contained a provision, the same as in the earlier constitution, and in all the constitutions of all the states in this country, both before and since that time, declaring that no private property ought to be taken by the state without just compensation to the owners. In violation of this accepted principle, this convention was undertaking to take away from their owners this kind of property without making compensation. At the time this was denounced by a large element of the people as the extreme of lawlessness. Today it is, to socialists and communists, the supreme precedent in favor of their theory that the state may do as it will with all private property. "Fully realizing all of this, as their report candidly shows, Mr. Clover and his com mittee also knew that no lawyer could be trusted to depart from this fundamental prin ciple, who was not schooled or pledged in advance to overthrow it. Hence they were determined to reorganize the judiciary, as they called it, by putting into the courts men who could be depended upon to approve the action of the convention, at all cost, and in spite of all principle. That is what the committee meant when it spoke of 'harmonizing the government.' " The ousting ordinance had easy going in the convention. It was passed after some debate. Isidor Bush tried to put through an amendment by which the governor would be authorized to vacate any of the 1,000 offices when it was proven to him that the holder was disloyal. He obtained only four votes for his proposition. He tried another amendment which provided that no member of the convention should be eligible to any one of the offices to be vacated. That suggestion received only five votes. The ordinance was carried by a vote of forty-three to five. Supreme Court Judges Removed by Force. The application of the. ousting ordinance reached its revolutionary climax when the judges of the supreme court were removed from the bench by force 836 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI and taken before a police justice. This was done with the street full of soldiers to suppress any riotous demonstration. Governor Fletcher, acting under the ordinance, appointed David Wagner and Walter L. Lovelace to take the places of William V. N. Bay and John D. S. Dryden. Mr. Skinker's account of the proceedings and description of the scenes constitutes a very valuable contribution to the history of Missouri : "On the 13th of June, Messrs. Wagner and Lovelace met and made an order requiring Andrew W. Mead, then clerk of the supreme court, to surrender the records of the court to their clerk, Mr. Bowman. Mr. Mead declined to comply, and immediately applied to the circuit court for an injunction against Wagner, Lovelace andk their associates to pre vent 'them from meddling with the records of the court. Circuit Judge Moodey, an original republican, was of the opinion that the ousting ordinance was void, and accordingly issued the injunction. He had already decided the identical question in the case of Alfred C' Bernoudy, whose office of recorder of deeds fell within the same ordinance, and was claimed by Mr. Conrad, an appointee of Governor Fletcher. On the next day, June 14th, the gov ernor issued an order to Gen. David C. Coleman of the state militia, to be served by him upon Judges Bay and Dryden, warning them that they were usurpers and that he would deal with them summarily if they failed to vacate. The general went to the court house in St. Louis, found Judges Bay and Dryden holding court, and presented this order. They declined to yield to the governor's threat, declaring that he had no authority of law for interrupting them in the discharge of their duties. They claimed that, as they had been elected pursuant to the constitution and laws of the state, they had a right to remain in office until their terms expired. They denied that the convention had power to pass the ousting ordinance, because it was not one of the matters named as a subject of legislation in the act of the legislature calling the convention. They denied its validity because it had not been submitted to a vote of the people. . They insisted that it was in effect an abolish ment, as far as it went, of the old constitution, without the consent of the people; that it was the business of the courts to pass on the constitutionality of laws, and not of the governor, that it therefore belonged to the old court, and not to the appointees of the gov ernor, constituting the new court, to decide the question ; else the whole theory of liberty based on a constitutional judiciary was at an end. The argument of Messrs. Bay and Dryden was undoubtedly strong in point of law, but in practice it was weak because it had no bayonets to back it. The Show of Force. "After the refusal of the judges to submit to the governor's order, General Coleman withdrew, but shortly returned with another order from the governor, again declaring Bay and Dryden to be usurpers, directing Coleman to put the new appointees in possession of the supreme court room, with all the records, seals, furniture, books and papers of the court, and also directing him to use such force as he might deem necessary, and to arrest all persons who might oppose him.. The judges refused to recognize the authority of this order also, and again protested against any interruption of the business of the court. General Coleman then informed them that as an officer he must obeyy the orders of his superior, and asked them to consider themselves removed by force. They, declined this. He then proceeded to lay his hands upon them and asked that they should consider this an arrest. This' was also declined, and he was told that they would only yield to the presence and command of a force which they could not successfully resist. Coleman then called in a detachment of police who were held in readiness, and at his order the judges were taken from their seats by the -police and were escorted as prisoners to the office of Recorder Wolff, a police justice. A complaint was there lodged against them as having disturbed the peace by interfering with the supreme court. Fletcher, Wagner, Lovelace, Holmes and Bowman were named as witnesses. The case was set for trial next morning, but nobody appeared to prosecute, and so the complaint was dismissed. RECONSTRUCTION THROES 837 Bayonets in the Street. "After the judges were removed from the court room the police remained in and about the room for several hours. A military force also was stationed outside the court house, consisting of the 48th Regiment of Missouri Infantry, some 600 or 700 men. These were posted in Chestnut street, from Tenth street eastward, and were under the command ¦of our genial friend, Col. Wells H. Blodgett, then a young warrior, but now and for many years past known to us all as the bland, wise and efficient general counsel of the Wabash railroad company. "It also appears from the Republican of June 13th and 15th that a company of the Seventh Regiment of Enrolled Militia was called out and stationed at their armory on Walnut street on the 12th, and that Company A of the Third Ward Militia relieved the other company after two days' service. It would seem that the authorities either expected forcible opposition to their measures or were determined to forestall and prevent opposi tion. The Democrat of June 15th mentioned that a large military force was held in readiness "in case of an outbreak.' "Judge Dryden promptly sued Governor Fletcher for $50,000 damages. His attorneys were Thomas T. Gantt and Samuel T. Glover. These had been among the staunchest and promptest supporters of the Union from the beginning. But they had not kept pace with the growth of radical sentiment, and so they had been sent to the back seat, next to the out-and-out rebels. As might have been expected with such lawyers for his counsel, the petition in Judge Dryden's suit was a model of good pleading. But the cards were stacked ; the judges before whom the case was to come owed their positions to the very ordinance whose validity the petition attacked. The case lingered for a -while in court and was then dismissed. "The radicals had the military power under their control, and they had used it — with the skill of experts, as they thought ; with the brutality of bandits, as their adver saries thought." 1 Lincoln and Blair Still in Accord. As early as 1864 there was talk of the reconstruction measures when the was war over. Some. were advocating that the freedmen be given the ballot and be armed in large numbers that the franchise might be secured to them. In his address to the House on the 25th of February, 1864, Mr. Blair referred to these propositions. "Can any American citizen find in his heart to inaugurate such a contest?" Mr. Blair asked. And then he outlined the position of the President: "I prefer Mr. Lincoln's humane, wise, and benevolent policy to secure the peace and ' happiness of both races ; and until that can be accomplished, and while both races are be ing prepared for this great change, I shall repose in perfect confidence in the promise of the President given in his last message, in which he proposes to remit the control of the freedmen to the restored states, promising to support any provisions which may be adopted by such state government in relation to the freed people of such state which shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent as a temporary arrangement with their present condition as a labor ing, landless and homeless class." Restoration, not Reconstruction. What were Mr. Lincoln's views respecting the future of the freedmen? What was his plan of reconstruction ? Was Frank Blair as accurate in his state ment of Mr. Lincoln's policy in those directions as he was in his forecast of th6 purposes of the radicals to defeat the renomination ? In the collection of Lincoln papers, possessed by William K. Bixby of St. Louis, is the original letter of the President upon the restoration of state government in Arkansas. It was ad- 838 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI dressed to General Steele, at Little Rock. It was written in the winter of 1864, not far distant from the time Frank Blair outlined the President's policy toward the states which had seceded. Residents of Arkansas petitioned for authority to hold an election and to set up a state government which would be recognized at Washington. Mr. Lincoln, in his own hand, wrote to General Steele, in charge of the military division which included Arkansas. He gave explicit instructions. He stipulated that the new state government must come into existence with the full recognition of the principle embraced in what afterwards became the thir teenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States. That there might' be no misunderstanding Mr. Lincoln copied into his letter the language of the condition upon which the new state government was to be recognized. The let ter illustrated the earnest desire of Mr. Lincoln to rehabilitate state govern ments in the Confederacy. Thus, more than twelve months before the final surrender, the President laid the foundation for restoration of civil authority in Arkansas. Restoration was the word, not reconstruction. The letter con cluded : "You will please order an election immediately and perform the other parts assigned you with necessary incidentals, all according to the foregoing." Lincoln's Plan for the South 's Return. In his own words, written by himself, the President expressed his purpose 10 make the way for the Confederate states to get back into the Union simple and expeditious. The thirteenth amendment submission bill did not pass the Senate until the 8th of April, 1864. It did not obtain the necessary two.-thirds in the House until the next session of Congress. It was ratified by thirty-one states and proclaimed in force in December, 1865. And yet nearly two years before, Mr. Lincoln incorporated the language with his own hand as the principal condition of the creation of a new state government for Arkansas. The language made no stipu lation as to negro suffrage. It only required that Arkansas organize with a pro vision against slavery in these words : "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in the punishment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, but the - general assembly may make such provision for the freed-people as shall rec ognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent, as a temporary arrangement, with their present ¦' condition as a laboring, landless and homeless class." This was Mr. Lincoln's policy of state restoration. The other conditions im posed upon the southern states, of which negro suffrage was chief, came after the death of the President. Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, Jan. 20, 1864. Major General Steele: Sundry citizens of the State of Arkansas petition me that an election may be held in that state; that it be assumed at said election, and thenceforward, that the constitution and laws of the state, as before the rebellion, are in full force, excepting that the constitu tion is so modified as to declare that "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi tude, except in the punishment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; RECONSTRUCTION THROES 839 but the general assembly may make such provision for the freed-people as shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent, as a temporary arrangement, with their present condition as a laboring, land less, and homeless class ;" ever also except that all now existing laws in relation to slaves are inoperative and void ; that said election be held on the twenty-eighth day of March next at all the usual voting places of the state, or all such as voters may attend for that purpose ; that the voters attending at each place, at eight o'clock in the morning of said day, may choose judges and clerks of election for that place ; that all persons qualified by said constitution and laws, and taking the oath prescribed in the President's proclamation of December the 8th, 1863, either before or at the election, and none others, may be voters provided that persons having the qualifications aforesaid, and being in the volunteer mili tary service of the United States, may vote once wherever they may be at voting places; that each set of judges and clerks may make return directly to you, on or before the eleventh day of April next; that in all other respects said election may be conducted ac cording to said modified constitution, and laws ; that, on receipt of said returns, you count said votes, and that, if the number shall reach, or exceed, five thousand four hundred and six, you canvass said votes and ascertain who shall thereby appear to have been elected governor ; and that on the eighteenth day of April next, the person so appearing to have been elected, and appearing before you at Little Rock, to have, by you, administered to him an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and said modified constitution of the State of Arkansas, and actually taking said oath, be by you declared qualified, and be enjoined to immediately enter upon the duties of the office of governor of said state; and that you thereupon declare the constitution of the State of Arkansas to have been modified and assumed as aforesaid, by the action of the people as aforesaid. You will please order an election immediately, and perform the other parts assigned you, with necessary incidentals, all according to the foregoing. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. One of Lincoln's Longest Letters. The original of this letter is entirely in the handwriting of Mr. Lincoln. Painstaking is not the word that applies to Mr. Lincoln's writing. The pen or pencil moved over the page easily, naturally, readily. That is apparent from the style of writing. Even stronger evidence is found in the volume of written matter which Mr. Lincoln turned out. From the beginning of his career as a lawyer down through the busiest days in the White House, Mr. Lincoln wrote and wrote. There are in existence letters and papers of his penmanship in greater number, probably than any other President wrote. The letters number ' thousands. Many of them bear the evidence that they were not answers and need not have been written, and would not have been written by one to whom writing was irksome, or in any sense a task. Mr. Lincoln liked to write so well that he seldom dictated. In the extensive and varied collection of Lincoln letters and manuscripts owned by Mr. Bixby are many interesting revelations of this strong penmanship habit of Mr. Lincoln. Whether in letter, or law paper or state document, the composition was simple and condensed. But this did not mean that Mr. Lincoln wished to get through as quickly as possible. It indicated the concise habit of mind. There are few letters of Mr. Lincoln which exceed a page. The longest writing in the Bixby collection is the letter to General Steele setting forth the complete plan of restoration of civil government for Arkansas. It is of nearly four pages and written on one side of the paper. The date is significant, taken 840 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI in connection with Blair's speech in Congress. The President dated his letter the 24th of January. Blair spoke on the 24th of February. Lincoln's Farewell Message to Missourians. Not two months before his death, fifty-one days before the surrender of Lee, President Lincoln sent to Missouri what was to be his farewell message. The letter was dated the latter part of February, 1865. The Missouri constitutional convention had abolished slavery. The delegates were preparing that ill-advised proscriptive, short-lived organic act, with its test oaths which Were to create turmoil for a generation in the state, which passed into history as the Drake- constitution. Mr. Lincoln wrote, entreating Governor Fletcher to get together the contending factions and to harmonize the people irrespective of what they had "thought, said, or done about the war or about anything else." He even suggested a plan of detail by which he believed this might be accomplished. The Hon. Benjamin B. Cahoonj Sr., of Fredericktown, lifelong student of Lincoln who stopped and sympathized with him as he lay wounded after Gettys burg, said of this farewell message to Missouri : "In no document of Lincoln's is his kindness and humanity, better exhibited. It can be classed with his first and second inaugural addresses and his Gettys burg oration." The Plea to Get Together. A fitting conclusion to the close relationship of Lincoln and Missouri is this letter of the President to Governor Fletcher : Executive Mansion, Washington, February 20, 1865. His Excellency, Governor Fletcher : It seems that there is now no organized military force of the enemy in Missouri, and yet that destruction of property and life is rampant everywhere. Is not the cure for this within easy reach of the people themselves? It canndt be but that every man, not naturally a robber or cutthroat, would gladly put an end to this state of things. A large majority in every locality must feel alike upon this subject; and if so they only need to reach an understanding one with another. Each leaving all others alone solves the problem ; and surely each would do this but for his apprehension that others will not leave him alone. Cannot this mischievous distrust be removed? Let neighborhood meetings be everywhere called and held of all entertaining a sincere purpose for mutual security in the future, whatever they may heretofore have thought, said, or done about the war or about any thing else. Let all such meet, and, waiving all else, pledge each to cease harassing others, and to make common cause against whoever persists in making, aiding, or encouraging further disturbance. The practical means they will best know how %o adopt and apply. At such meetings old friendships will cross the memory, and honor and Christian charity will come in to help. Please consider whether it may not be well to suggest this to the now afflicted people of Missouri. Yours Truly, A. Lincoln. CHAPTER XXVI MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY Secrets of Stale— The Unpublished Memoirs of Thomas C. Reynolds— Missouri "A Sov ereign, Free and Independent Republic" — Democratic Differences at Jefferson City — The Lieutenant-Governor's Animus — Price's Hesitation to Take Command — The Secret Plan of Campaign — Reynolds Starts for Richmond — The Harney-Price Agreement — Major Cabell Commissioned by Governor Jackson — The First Interview with Jefferson Davis — Refusal to Send an Army to Missouri — Price's Call for 50,000 Men — McElroy's Analysis of Price's Leadership — A Great Name to Conjure With — Admission of Missouri into the Confederacy — The Meeting at Neosho — First Congressional Delegation — The Movement against Davis — A Proposed Northwest Confederacy — Price's Disclaimer — The Alleged Quarrel with Davis — Shelby's Promotion — Quantrell and Lawrence — Recollections of * Participant in the Attack — The Palmyra Affair — An Account Written at the Time — Jefferson Davis' Demand for the Surrender of McNeil — Execution of Ten Federal Offi cers Threatened — Gen. Curtis' Reply — Narrow Escape of General Cockrell — A Letter from John B. Clark — The Days of Rapid Reconciliation — Shelby and the United States Marshalship — Frost and Davis on the Confederate Policy. The acts of President Lincoln having been indorsed by Congress and the people of the northern states, the war thus commenced by him has been made the act of the government and nation over which he ruled; therefore, by the acts of the people and government of the United States, the political connec tion heretofore existing between said states and the people and government of Missouri is and ought to be totally dissolved; and the State of Missouri, as a sovereign, free and independent republic, has full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliance, establish commerce, and to do all other acts which independent states may of right do. — Proclamation of Claiborne F. Jackson, August, 1861. In midsummer of 1861 the addresses and proclamations to the people of Mis souri came in rapid succession. The convention which, on the 30th of July, set up a provisional state government issued an address. About the same time Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds issued at New Madrid a proclamation in which he said : "I return to the state to accompany in my official capacity one of the armies which the warrior, whose genius now presides over one-half of the Union, has prepared to advance against the common foe." He said that the authority of Missouri as a sovereign and independent state would be exercised with a view to "her speedy regular union with her southern sisters." He announced that a Confederate army under command of General Pillow had entered Missouri "to aid in expelling the enemies from the state." Immediately following the proclamation of Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds, Brigadier-General Jefferson Thompson issued a proclamation, also "to the peo ple of Missouri." The picturesque personality among the brigadiers of the Mis souri State Guard was Jeff Thompson. He was called the "Missouri swamp fox." His division of the state was the southeast corner. The fox was a writer 841 842 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI , of poetry and of proclamations. At the same time he had courage and did some good fighting. He is said to have been "a tall, lank, wiry 'man, at least six feet high, about thirty-five years old, with a long sharp face and a prominent nose, blue eyes and a mane of yellow hair which he combed back behind his ears. His uniform was a white, soft hat with a feather, a short coat or jacket, short trousers and high boots. On all occasions the swamp fox wore a white-handled bowie- knife stuck through his belt at the middle of his back." The proclamation of "the swamp fox" appeared on the ist of August. _ About the same time Provisional Governor Gamble sent out from Jefferson City a proclamation notifying citizens that the so-called "military law" passed by the legislature a few weeks previously had been abrogated, the troops disbanded and the commissions to officers annulled. The proclamation further warned Con federate troops to depart at once from the state. Two days later Governor Claiborne Jackson returned from Richmond to the southern part of the state and issued a proclamation declaring Missouri independent of the United States, "a sovereign, free and independent republic." The Memoir of Thomas C. Reynolds. In what he called a "Memoir," Thomas C. Reynolds wrote certain "secrets of state" in the relations of Missouri to the Confederacy. The manuscript of this Memoir was found among the papers of Governor Reynolds after his death. It passed into the possession of his nephew, George Savage, of Baltimore, and was sent to the Missouri Historical Society in 1898 "for preservation." John McElroy, the writer of "The Struggle for Missouri," said: "Next to Governor Jackson — surpassing him in intellectual acuteness and fertile energy — was Lieutenant-Governor Thomas C. Reynolds, then in his 40th year,' a short full-bodied man, with jet-black hair and eyes shaded with gold-rimmed glasses. He boasted of being born of Virginia parents in South Carolina. He was a man of more than ordinary ability, and had accomplishments quite unusual in that day. He spoke French, German and Spanish fluently, wrote profusely and with considerable force, and prided himself on being a diplomat. He had seen some service as secretary of legation and charge d'affaires at Madrid. He had been elected as a Douglas democrat, but was an outspoken secessionist, and as he was ex-officio president of the senate, he had much power in forming committees and shaping legislation." The Memoir is a revelation of the efforts to take Missouri into the Con federacy. At the same time it shows the wide divergence in sentiment on the subject of secession that prevailed among the democratic officials and leaders in the state, especially at Jefferson City that winter of 1861. Many of those who subsequently went into the Confederate army were still clinging to the hope that the Union would be preserved. Reynolds had no patience with them. He worked incessantly to have Missouri declare ¦ for the South. When Mr. Russell came from Mississippi as a commissioner to urge secession, the lieutenant-governor gave a dinner to him having General Sterling Price, Governor Claiborne F. Jack son and Speaker McAfee present to hear the commissioner's views. To the great disappointment of Mr. Reynolds and those who were with him in advocat ing secession before Lincoln's inauguration, the convention called by act of the MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY 843 legislature and presided over by General Sterling Price, voted in March, 1861, in favor of the Union. Price was bank commissioner, a state office at the time. Reynolds had counted on him as favorable to the secession movement. He is bit ter in his comments on Price. He says in his Memoir : "The high officer, who alone had it in his power to exercise any control over the vast power of the banks of the state, had on the very battlefield conspicuously gone over to the enemy. The "money power,' now perfectly secure, was exercised against the southern rights party." Not until the Camp Jackson affair did Reynolds find his opportunity. Up to that time, his Memoir shows, the secession following was too small to be ef fective in any radical step proposed. "After the Civil war began, the Missouri legislature met in special session May I, 1861. O'n Friday, May 10th, the Camp Jackson affair took place. The tone of the press of Missouri and all accounts of the feeling throughout the state, on account Df that high handed move, placed it beyond all doubt, that for the moment fully four-fifths of the popu lation were ready to take up arms against the United States. On the afternoon of Satur day, May nth, or Sunday, May 12th, I visited Governor Jackson at his office adjoining that of the secretary of state in the capitol, and, to my surprise and gratification, met General Price in conference with him. General Price had been in St. Louis on May 10th, and had just arrived from there in the train of that morning. An interchange of a few words between us indicated that he had determined to come back to the southern rights party. I at once advised Governor Jackson to give him supreme military command, especially as armed volunteers were pouring into Jefferson City, and a commander of experience and reputation was indispensable. Governor Jackson was evidently reluctant, and urged that the military bill giving him power to organize the militia and appoint general officers had not yet become a law. I answered that the 'rebellion act,' which I had drafted and which had been passed on May 10th immediately after receipt of news of the Camp Jackson affair, gave him discretionary powers ; that under it he could commission General Price merely to command troops, and, on the passage of the military bill, give him definite rank under it ; that I would agree to be 'military secretary' under General Price and aid him to the extent of my ability. After some further persuasion, I pointed out the advantage of having General Price publicly and irrevocably with us, the prestige of his position as president of the state convention, his reputation in the Mexican war. Governor Jackson authorized me to draw up a commission in accordance with my views and said that he would sign it. I accordingly at once drew up a commission under the 'rebellion act' ap- -pointing General Price to command in chief all the forces to be called out to suppress the rebellion begun by Lyon and Blair at St. Louis." After preparing the commission, Mr. Reynolds had considerable difficulty in getting it signed, Governor Jackson showing much hesitation about "so im portant a step." With the commission in hand Reynolds sought General Price. "I had arranged with General Price to meet me at the office of. the secretary of state and I immediately proceeded thither. Ascending the steps of the capitol, I encountered General Robert Wilson, state senator from Andrew county, a member of the state con vention, and a public man of deservedly great weight in Missouri. I told him about the commission and asked him to accompany me to present it to General Price. He promptly consented and remarked : 'I am glad Price is to take command. If these hot-headed boys who are now commanding are left to themselves, they will carry us all to the devil.' He alluded to Parsons, Peyton, Colton Green and others who were taking charge of the -volunteers arriving. We entered the office of the secretary of state and found General 844 CENTENNIALs HISTORY OF MISSOURI Price there. The great seal was attached to the commission and on behalf of Governor Jackson, I tendered it to General Price. "As he had previously promised me to accept, I was somewhat taken aback by his re maining silent and seeming to be in a deep study. I thereupon stated to him that as his personal and political friend, and as lieutenant-governor of Missouri, I urged his acceptance of the commission. Turning to General Robert Wilson, I requested him as a senator and member of the convention, and a leading public man to express his opinion. General Wil son in a few words said that he considered it General Price's duty to the state to accept the commission. After a pause of a few moments, General Price said, in a tone as if he had come to a sudden decision : 'Well, gentlemen, I accept and rely on your support to the best of my ability.' General Wilson and I each responded : 'You can count on our support.' " A Call to Arms. Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds' next step was to prepare an address, or proclamation, to the people of Missouri. Thi^ was to be signed by Governor Jackson, and, Mr. Reynolds says, was prepared at the governor's request. This address, according to the Memoir, raised no question of secession but called on the entire people of the state to form military organizations and arm themselves, and then await further orders of the state government. General Price was with Governor Jackson when the lieutenant-governor read the draft of the address to them : "I explained that its policy was to impress the universal indignation about the Camp Jackson outrage, and have every neighborhood commit itself to sustain by arms the state government ; that the universal ferment we could reasonably expect would probably confine Lyon, who could not count on over eight thousand men, to St. Louis, and counterbalance the unionist excitement in Central Illinois, as well as encourage the southern proclivities of Southern Illinois ; that if Lyon should venture to leave St. Louis to advance on Jefferson City, we could make the country swarm in insurrection around him, until, if he ventured too far, he would be lost; and that we could also make St. Louis rise in his rear; that if compelled to leave Jefferson City, we should retreat along the valley of the Osage, drawing him towards the southwest and setting the populous secession counties on the upper Mis souri to rise in his rear ; that on the extent of the response to the call in the proclamation, our future course should depend ; that if as general as everything indicated it would be, we could hold nearly the entire state and perhaps even St. Louis, call together the con vention and have the state secede. An additional reason was that if we should at once begin war, I did not believe Lyon had enough troops to do us harm, and that one certain result at least would be to produce a most powerful diversion to gain time for the defense of Virginia, and possibly determine Kentucky to abandon her 'neutrality.' " Mr. Reynolds left the draft of the address, under the impression that it was approved by the governor and by General Price, and that it would be issued at once. But several days passed without the appearance of the proclamation. Mr. Reynolds conferred with General Price : "I stated my apprehension that Governor Jackson was inclined to temporize and gain time, and even adopt the neutrality system of his native state, Ken tucky ; that I considered delay fatal and leading to transactions and compromises • which would end in giving the Federals possession of the states that for that reason I intended to proceed at once to the Confederate States and, treating the governor as morally under duress, ask as lieutenant-governor from Mr. Davis the entry of Confederate troops into Missouri to protect the government." MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY 845 The Appeal to Richmond. Mr. Reynolds says his proposition met with the approval of General Price and that he left Jefferson City on this errand to Richmond, not telling Governor Jackson of the application to be made. He went by way of Arkansas. En route he saw in the press dispatches that General Harney and General Pries. had entered into an agreement "which was so astonishing that I doubted th accuracy of the telegram." When he reached Memphis, Mr. Reynolds learned of the removal of Harney, the reinstatement of Lyon, and the practical abroga tion of the Harney-Price agreement. He wrote to President Davis asking that Confederate troops be sent to Missouri and later, receiving no answer, went to Richmond, where he joined Major E. C. Cabell, who had come from Missouri as Governor Jackson's commissioner to the Confederate states with a request that Confederate troops be sent : "In June, 1861, I saw Governor Jackson's proclamation announcing the breaking out of hostilities between the United States authorities and those of the State of Missouri. Soon after Major E. C. Cabell telegraphed me from Richmond to come there at once. I arrived there and from Major Cabell's reports and my own conversation with Mr. Toombs, secretary of state; Mr. Benjamin, attorney-general, and Mr. Memminger, secretary of the treasury of the Confederate states, discovered a marked indisposition to. grant the aid asked by the authorities of Missouri, although in addition to the application of General Price and my self,, one had been made for troops by the governor through Major Cabell, his commis sioner to the Confederate states, with full power under the great seal of the state and by authority of the 'rebellion act.' "Finally Mr. Davis gave an audience to Major Cabell and myself, Mr. Toombs and Mr. Walker, Confederate secretary of war, being the only other persons present. After hear ing the reasons urged by Major Cabell and myself in favor of intervention of the Con federacy in Missouri, and combating them by arguments drawn from the armory of straight-laced state sovereignty doctrines (as in the subsequent official answer to our appli cations), he finally, with the air of a man conscious of the weakness of those arguments, and suddenly resolving to give his ruling reasons at whatever risk of offending, drew himself up in his chair, and compressing his lips, said to us : 'I find, gentlemen, by your governor's proclamation of June , which I have in my hand, that in the conference between General Price and himself and General Lyon at St. Louis, he offered to use his state troops to drive out of Missouri any Confederate troops entering it. Now at the very moment when he made this offer you, Mr. Cabell, were here with a commission from him to me, and presenting his request for these Confederate troops to be sent into Mis souri. So that, had I assented to the request, those troops, even though with your lieuten ant-governor at the head of them, might have had to fight against, instead of with General Price's army. Now I think General Lyon acted very unwisely in not accepting Governor Jackson's proposals, and Mr. Lincoln may send him orders to accept them. Governor Jackson, in his proclamation, makes a merit of having proposed them. Now, if I agree to send Confederate troops into Missouri at your request, can you give me any guarantee that Mr. Lincoln may not propose and Governor Jackson assent to the agreement rejected by General Lyon and compel those troops to retire before their joint forces?' "Of course no answer could be made to this, especially as the President's whole tone and manner showed a fixed resolution and great disgust at what he evidently considered double dealing and an insult to his dignity in setting a trap for Confederate troops to be used or opposed, according as the Missouri authorities might succeed or fail in making terms with the United States. Major Cabell and I remained silent, or at best contented our selves with arguing feebly that whatever the previous vacillation, Governor Jackson and General Price had taken the final leap into the secession camp and could be trusted ac cordingly. But President Davis' mind was evidently made up and the audience soon ended. 846 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI A day or two afterwards, Major Cabell and I received the official answer to our respective applications rejecting them on the mere technicality (and an erroneous one) that only a convention representing the sovereignty of the state could be treated with by the Con federate states." , i Sterling Price, the Leader. About this time General Price issued a proclamation from Marshall, .appeal ing to those Missourians who sympathized with the South: "Leave your property at home. What if it be taken — all taken? We have $200,000,000 worth of northern means in Missouri which cannot be removed. When we are once free the state will indemnify every citizen who may have lost a dollar by adhesion to the cause of his country. We shall have our property, or its value, with interest. "But, in the name of God and the attributes of manhood, let me appeal to you by con siderations infinitely higher than money ! Are we a generation of driveling, sniveling1, degraded slaves? Or are we men who dare assert and maintain the rights which cannot be surrendered, and defend those principles of everlasting rectitude, pure and high and sacred, like God, their author? Be yours the office to choose between the glory of a free country and a just government, and the bondage of your children ! I will never see the chains fastened upon my country. I will ask for six and one-half feet of Missouri soil in which to repose, but will not live to see my people enslaved. "Do I hear your shouts? Is that your war-cry which echoes through the land? Are1 you coming? Fifty thousand men! Missouri shall move to victory with the tread of a giant ! Come on, my brave boys, 50,000 heroic, gallant, unconquerable southern men ! We await your coming. Steeling Price, "Major-General Commanding." John McElroy, in "The Struggle for Missouri," said of Sterling Price: "He was a man of the finest physique and" presence, six feet two inches high, with small hands and feet and unusually large body and limbs ; a superb horse man; with a broad, bland, kindly face framed in snow-white hair and beard. His name would indicate Welsh origin, but his face, figure and mental habits seemed rather Teutonic. He had a voice of much sweetness and strength, and a paternal way of addressing his men, who speedily gave him the sobriquet of 'Pap Price.' He appeared on the field in a straw hat and linen duster in sum mer, and with a blanket thrown over his shoulders and a tall hat in winter. These became standards which the Missourians followed into the thick of the fight, as the French did the white plume of Henry of Navarre. "General Price was a remarkable instance of the indefinable quality of leadership. This is something that does not seem to depend upon intellectual superiority, upon greater cour age or devotion, or even upon clearer insight. A man leads his fellows— many of whom are his superiors in most namable qualities — simply because, of something unnamable in him that makes him assume the leadership, and they accept it. There was hardly a prominent man in Missouri that was not Price's superior in some quality usually regarded as essential. For example, he was a pleasing and popular speaker, but Missouri abounded in men much more attractive to public assemblages. He was a fair politician, but rarely got more than the second prize. ' He had distinguished himself in the Mexican war, but Claiborne Jackson made more capital out of his few weeks of inconsequential service in the Black Hawk war than Price did out of the conquest of New Mexico and the capture of Chihuahua. "He served one term in Congress, but failed to secure a renomination. He had been elected governor of Missouri while his Mexican laurels were yet green, but when he tried to enter the Senate he was easily defeated by that able politician and orator, James S. Green. MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY 847 "Though he belonged to the dominant anti-Benton faction of the Missouri democracy and the Stephen A. Douglas wing, he never was admitted to the select inner council, or secured any of its higher rewards, except one term as governor. "At the outbreak of the war he was holding the comparatively unimportant place of bank commissioner. For all that he was to become and remain throughout the struggle the central figure of secession in the trans-Mississippi country. "Officers of high rank and brilliant reputation like Ben McCulloch, Earl Van Dorn, Richard Taylor and E. Kirby Smith were to be put over him, yet his fame and influence outshone them all. Unquestionably able soldiers, such as Marmaduke, Shelby, Bowen, Jeff Thompson, Parsons, M. L. Clark and Little, were to serve him with unfaltering loyalty as subordinates. "Yet from first to last his was a name to conjure with. No other than his in the South had the spell in it for Missourians and the people west of the Mississippi. They flocked to his standard wherever it was raised, and after three years of failures they followed him with as much eager hope in his last disastrous campaign as in the first, and when he died in St. Louis, two years after the war, his death was regarded as a calamity to the state, and he had the largest funeral of , any man in the history of Missouri." Missouri Admitted into the Confederacy. The first appeal for a Confederate army to be sent having failed, E. C. Cabell and Thomas L. Snead were made commissioners by Governor Jackson to go to Richmond and negotiate for the admission of Missouri into the Confederacy. They were acting for the "executive power of the state." On the 31st of October they signed an agreement with R. M. T. Hunter, the Confederate secre tary of state, by which Missouri was to be admitted into the Confederacy. A call was sent out to members of the legislature which had been abolished by the convention in July. On the 2d of November those who responded to the call met at Neosho. They ratified the agreement with Secretary Hunter. Thus Missouri secured her recognition as one of the Confederate states. The Neosho bodjr elected John B. Clark and R. S. T. Peyton, senators, and Thomas A. ¦Harris, Casper W. Ball, A. H. Conrad, George G. Vest, Dr. Hyer, Thomas * Freeman and William M. Cooke, representatives of Missouri in the Confed erate Congress. In his Memoir, Reynolds tells of the next negotiations at Richmond: "About the beginning of December, 1861, the newly elected Missouri delegation to the Confederate Provisional Congress arrived in Richmond, bringing a letter from Governor (Claib.) Jackson to President Davis, suggestipg the union of the troops in Arkansas and Missouri under one commander, expressing a preference for General Price for the position. The governor also wrote me a letter asking me to see the President and urge the appoint ment of General Price to the command. "Before I saw the delegates, or received Governor Jackson's letter, they had had an interview with Mr. Davis, in. which according to their own accounts to me, they had with importunity amounting almost to overbearingness demanded, as a mark of proper respect to the popular wish, the assignment of General Price to command all of the troops in Ar kansas and Missouri. The President finally ended the conference by drawing himself up haughtily and saying, 'Gentlemen, I am not to be dictated to.' They promptly declared they had no wish to dictate, but they soon left. "During the siege of Richmond by McClellan, General Price had come on there with his staff, Major Snead and others, and had not made a favorable impression. The object of his visit was to get himself assigned to command an expedition to Missouri, and on this being postponed rather than denied, his chief of staff, Major Snead, publicly in front of the Spottiswood Hotel, made a great fuss over it, tore from his uniform the insignia of 848 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI his Confederate rank, and declared that General Price would go to Missouri anyhow, and fight again — under the 'bear flag' (of Missouri). The accuracy of the statement was subsequently admitted to me by Major Snead, who regretted his excitement. But the notoriety of the occurrence and Major Snead remaining in his confidential position near General Price, as well as the frequent intimations, by way of threats, by his friends, that General Price would resign unless his demands should be complied with occasioned the general to be regarded as tacitly approving that turbulent escapade of his chief of staff. The Movement to Make Price President. "During the dark period of the siege of Richmond a scheme was formed, though I do not know that it ever ripened into a regular plot, to displace Mr. Davis by a popular move ment or pronunciamento and proclaim General Price President or generalissimo. I had heard some whisperings of it when in Richmond the previous winter; but according to the accounts I received in January, 1863, from Major Cabell and Mr. Vest, Congressman from Missouri, the movement had assumed formidable dimensions, and but for our success at the battle of Seven Pines would probably have broken out. They described Senator Clark of Missouri as one of the most forward in it, Major Cabell relating to me a conversation he had with that senator to combat, though without success, his intention to join so wild a project. Mr. Davis, in a conversation, also in January, 1863, spoke of Mr. William M. Cooke, Congressman from Missouri, as one of the most active in it, 'going around in the streets and talking for it while the enemy was in front of Richmond.' General Price, leav ing his command in the West and coming to Richmond at the time when this project was on foot, excited remark. Col. WiHiam Preston Johnston, an aid of President Davis, also mentioned to me some turbulent remarks of General Price in a speech to a crowd from a balcony of the Spottiswood Hotel, but I forget the precise tenor of them, except, like General Price's speeches usually, that they indicated a disposition to plan and act for him self, not very subordinate towards his official superiors, nor very respectful towards the President. It was also stated and generally believed that he had had a high quarrel with Mr. Davis at the latter's house after dining together. "Another matter also had great effect on Gen. Sterling Price's position. In the pre ceding year (1862) began the so-called 'Copperhead' movement in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Its precise object and extent was a mystery to the Confederate government and people. It appeared sometimes as a 'reconstruction' movement to restore the old Union, and at other times as one looking, to a 'North West Confederacy' to include Missouri, and to remain independent and allied with, or to be united to the Southern Confederacy. On one point, however, all reports agreed, viz., that General Price had some connection with it and was to be its militaryMeader. The tone, if not direct statements, of General Price's organ, the Jackson (Miss.) Argus and Crisis, edited by his confidential friend, Mr. J. W. Tucker (sometimes called Deacon Tucker) of St. Louis, ,and some articles in it on that subject by a Methodist clergyman, Dr. B. T. Kavanagh, also confidentially connected with General Price, tended to confirm these reports. But nothing was known from General Price himself by the Confederate government. "Soon after my reaching Richmond in January, 1863, General Price telegraphed to me a request to await his arrival there. I answered that I would do so. He soon came on, accompanied by Major Snead, and I had a very cordial meeting with both. I explained to General Price in the course of our various conversations, my desire that the Confederate states should as soon as practicable send an army into Missouri, and that he should com mand it, but that there were many obstacles in the way, including, as far as delicacy per mitted my mentioning them to him, the matters heretofore mentioned as having impaired his influence. "With regard to the movement in 1862 for a pronunciamento against Mr. Davis, he as sured me that he had not even heard of it, still less of any suggestion of himself as the leader in whose favor the movement was begun. He expressed surprise at it, and con demnation of it, but remarked that it explained an incident which had somewhat surprised him, and which he related. On Mr. Davis' visit to Mississippi in 1862, he (General Price) had had an agreeable interview with him, but in it the President, after remarking on the MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY 849 gigantic efforts of the United States, very pointedly inquired about as follows : 'Under such circumstances, General Price, would it not be folly for us to have divisions among ourselves?' General Price answered: 'Most assuredly, Mr. President.' And thereupon Mr. Davis, with an air of relief, said markedly : 'I am delighted to hear you say so.' Gen eral Price remarked to me that after learning from me the existence of the pronunciamento project, he understood what had puzzled him at the time in that conversation, and now thought it designed to sound him as to that project. Soon afterwards I took occasion to assure Mr. Davis of General Price's disclaimer, and related the above incident. Mr. Davis had forgotten it, but supposed he may have made, as he frequently did in his conversations on his visits to the country, some general remarks on the necessity of union and harmony. He smiled at General- Price's imagining that he designed sounding him on his intentions of 'pronouncing as a revolutionary president ;' indeed in all his remarks, which were not many, about that movement. Mr. Davis spoke of it more as an insult and a silly attempt to create internal divisions of feeling, than as a serious project to displace him from authority. Yet such it was. The North West Confederacy. "In regard to the 'North West' revolutionary scheme, I stated to General Price that the connection of his name, as a leader, with it had done him harm; that no executive, especially one leading a revolution, could look without jealousy on a military officer con necting himself while in its service with another revolution to occur within the enemy's lines ; that it was not only a species of military insubordination, but an interference with the foreign policy of the Confederate government ; and that opinion at the South was much divided as to the real nature of the North West movement (whether for joining us, for separate independence, or for reconstruction of the Union), as to the expediency of our encouraging it if disguised reunion, and even as to the extent to which we could trust its good faith, many considering it a mere political manoeuvre designed solely to affect north ern elections. At the very opening of my conversation and before my presenting the fore going considerations (in which he fully concurred), General Price disclaimed any direct connection with the North West movement and said : 'I really know no more of it than what I learn from the newspapers and from common talk in the Confederacy.' I alluded to the statement in the Richmond papers of those days that a lady had come through the Federal lines to his camp with communications for him from the North West revolution ists, and was at Richmond at the Spottiswood, his hotel. He stated as an illustration of his proper respect to the Confederate government in the matter that he had merely heard from the lady her statement on her coming to him in Mississippi in January, 1863, and had merely referred her to the President and facilitated her journey to Richmond. I decidedly ap plauded that course and advised his leaving that whole North West business to the Presi dent ; he agreed with me in the propriety of that course. "As Major Snead was inclined to promote harmony between the President and Mis sourians generally, I did not bring up his escapade at the Spottiswood in 1862, in my con versation with General Price. But I pointed out to him the disturbing influence of Mr. J. W. Tucker in his journal, the Argus and Crisis, published at Jackson, Mississippi, and universally regarded as the 'organ' of General Price; that its blind hostility to the Pres- ident and its interlarding that hostility with advocacy of so-called 'justice to General Price* placed him in the seeming attitude of factious opposition to the President. General Price warmly protested his disapproval of Mr. Tucker's tone, and said he had written him, urging him to drop or change it; Mr. Tucker had answered rather truculently that he would edit his journal according to his own notions. General Price disclaimed it being his organ. The Alleged Quarrel with Mr. Davis. "In regard to his alleged quarrel with Mr. Davis at the latter's house in Richmond, General Price explained to me as follows: After dinner he stated at some length to Mr. Davis his project of a campaign in Missouri and his grounds for asking the command Vol. 1—5 4 850 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI of the forces employed in it; mentioning, among others, that he had fought forty battles and lost none of them; that he could raise an army of 50,000 men, etc., etc The President listened very patiently and at the conclusion of his remarks, instead of entering into the question of a military campaign, abruptly asked General Price : 'Is it true, General, that in 1861, on some one's reporting to you that I intended to offer you a commission of Con federate brigadier, you said that you would trample it under your feet?' General Price denied having made such a remark; but, continued he in his relation of the matter to me: 'I had been gravely, earnestly giving him my reasons, which my experiences in Missouri entitled me to consider not unworthy of respectful consideration, for a campaign in that state. His contemptuously dismissing them in silence and questioning me about a stale slander thoroughly incensed me and I then skinned him.' I could not get "from General Price the precise particulars of what he himself called his 'skinning' Mr. Davis further than that he gave very free vent to his feelings and opinions. General Price added that during Mr. Davis' subsequent visit in 1862 to Mississippi cordial relations were entirely restored between them. • "But fearful that some ill feeling remained in Mr. Davis on account of this 'skinning' of the commander-in-chief in his own parlor by a military subordinate, I cautiously sounded him on the subject, without giving General Price's version, but only stating that he was said to have been rather discourteous on the occasion. The President, who did not enter into particulars and evidently attached no importance to the incident, said he remembered nothing discourteous in General Price's conversation or deportment ; but that they made on him the impression that he was the 'vainest man he ever met.' " Shelby and His Men. On the evening of the day tthat the Confederate Congress made him a brigadier general, Shelby was preparing to attack Steele's army. With 15,000 men Steele was marching south through Arkansas to join Banks who was coming up Red river in the movement against Shreveport. Shelby had 1,000 men. He decided to make the attack on Steele at midnight. To inspire his men he issued this address : "Soldiers of Shelby's Brigade : You march in four hours to attack the enemy. He is strong, well equipped and not deficient in courage, but I intend that you shall ride down his infantry and scatter his battalions by the splendor of your charge. You have just four hours in which to say your prayers, make your needful preparations and nerve your hearts for the onset. It will be desperate, because you are brave; bloody, because you are reck less, and tenacious because I am today a brigadier-general. I have told you often about our homes, our country and our glorious cause. Today I simply appeal to your ambition, your fame, your spotless reputation and your eternal renown." The plan was carried out. Shelby sent his thousand Missouri troopers against Steele's rear guard in charge after charge until daylight came. When Price made his 1864 expedition into Missouri, Marmaduke's cavalry was on the right, nearest the Mississippi ; Fagan, with five brigades, held the center; Shelby, with three brigades, was on the left. The army moved at the rate of fifteen miles a day, which was not half fast enough for Shelby. The campaign which Shelby urged was a forced march upon St. Louis. He thought the city could be taken. Thence he proposed that the army cross the Missis sippi and march through Southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and by way of Eastern Kentucky to the relief of Richmond. After getting into Southeastern Missouri, Price decided to turn westward and march through Missouri. MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY 851 The Raid on Lawrence. Between the sessions of a republican Congressional convention in Missouri Capt. William H. Gregg told the story of Quantrell's raid upon Lawrence. The presence in the republican convention of J. C. Horton, a wholesale merchant, of Kansas City, who in 1863 was one of the Lawrence business men marked for death and who escaped by being overlooked in the hurry of the raid, was the occasion of the revival of the memories. Captain Gregg and Mr. Horton were quietly sharing reminiscences when the former was led to tell how it all came about. When Quantrell formed his band to operate on the Kansas border, Gregg was the eighth man to join it. He became the first lieutenant, the officer closest to the leader. He was the first of Quantrell's men into Lawrence and the last out of it, named by Quantrell to lead the van and later to command the rear in the retreat back to Missouri. "There were just 294 in the force which Quantrell led to Lawrence," Capt. Gregg said. "We crossed the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas near Aubrey. It was well understood that the purpose of the raid was to attack Lawrence. But the first intention was to capture Gen. Jim Lane. We had sent a spy into Lawrence, a negro named John Lobb, to come back and report how- he found things. Lobb did not get back before we had started. He met us on the way and told us that Lane had left town. That was a fact, but Larre had re turned later in the evening. We, however, did not learn this until afterwards. We went to Lawrence with the understanding that we would not find Lane, and therefore, we did not look for him. Lane, we were told afterwards, was in Lawrence, but escaped by going out to a pond and getting under water, all but the tip of his nose." As an illustration of the discrepancies between the truth and the way the history of the Lawrence affair has been preserved, Capt. Gregg recalled what happened as the raiders crossed into Kansas near Aubrey. "If you look in the war records published by the government," he said, "you will find the^ official report of the Federal officer who was stationed, with 200 soldiers, at Aubrey. In that report the officer states that he heard a command had crossed the line, going from, Missouri into Kansas, somewhere near his post. Now, the fact is, that officer saw us enter Kansas on our way to Lawrence. He got out his 200 men and formed them on the prairie as if to give battle. We marched by them in full view not over half a mile away. Quantrell's order was : " 'Make no attack unless fired upon.' "The Federals did not fire, and we did not. We rode along, leaving them drawn up in line looking at us." The surprise of Lawrence was complete. . Capt. Gregg told how the entrance was made. \ "Five miles to the southeast of Lawrence is a little town called Franklin. When we went through there it was just light enough in the morning to tell the difference between a soldier and a citizen on the streets. We did not stop. There was no fighting. As we passed out of Franklin Quantrell said to me : '"Gregg, take five men and go ahead to see if there is anything in the way. "I did so, and as we moved in advance Quantrell put the command in column of fours and followed' on a gallop. At that gait we went all of the way to Lawrence. The main 852 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI body followed so closely that we five men were only 250 or 300 yards in advance most of the time. We rode into the town from the south by the main street, Massachusetts. Just before we came to the business portion there was a large open space 'with about forty large tents. I don't know how many soldiers were in them. The five inen with me halted there for the main body to come up. As we sat on our horses we saw soldiers sleeping on the porches of the nearest houses, and opened fire on them with our revolvers. As soon as Quantrell reached me — he was riding at the head of the column — I pointed to the forty tents arranged in the open space. Without a word of command being given, and without a halt being made, the command divided and charged through that camp. Men and horses were wrought up to a pitch of frenzy by the all-night riding and by the final gallop. The horses made no effort to go between the tents. They plunged right through them. In three minutes there wasn't a .man alive or a tent standing in the camp. We could see the tents flying as the command went through. I had fallen in on the right of Quantrell, who ' had remained in the road when the command charged the tents. We started on without waiting for the command, to reform, and rode down Massachusetts street into the busi ness part of the town. As we went along he fired to . the left and I to the right. We didn't stop until we came to the river bank. When we came to the end of the streeit , we were entirely alone.'' The lieutenant of the guerrillas checked his narration and mused a moment., ¦ As if recalling some statements that passed for history of the massacre, he said: "The raid was soon over. We waged no war on women and children. If any women or children were ever hurt by Quantrell's men it was accidental. I have always believed that most of the men killed at Lawrence were soldiers. As we rode away, Quantrell told me to take sixty men and hold the rear. The news had spread rapidly. Federal troops began to close in on us, and we had steady skirmishing all of the way back to the border. Once my rear guard was driven right in upon the main body. I told Quantrell that if he would overlook it that time it shouldn't happen again, and it didn't. We lost just one man in Lawrence —Milt Scaggs." Not a semblance of the feeling which made such things possible was in the tones or the manner of Capt. Gregg as he talked. He was moved to speak be cause of the presence of men who had participated in the events. One who heard him was Col. R. H. Hunt, who served with Blunt and with the other Union generals in the fierce campaigning in those times in the Southwest. CoL Hunt was the officer sent to Lawrence to batter down the walls of the Eldridge House, left standing in a dangerous condition after the burning by Quantrell's men. He was one of the foremost republicans of Kansas City, and was con spicuous in the convention which brought Capt. Gregg to Fairmount. "I can say this for Capt. Gregg," said Col. Hunt, "that in so far as his memory serves him his statements can be depended upon absolutely. He is a man who would not willfully misrepresent." Quantrell's Band. Quantrell who organized these lads of Western Missouri into rough riders of the Civil war, was not to the border born. Capt. Gregg knew him more in timately, perhaps, than any other of the young Missourians who flocked to him. "The first we knew of Quantrell was when he came into Missouri with five other Kansans to rob Morgan Walker's house. As we learned afterward, Quantrell came from Ohio. He was raised in Canal Dover. I have been told of recent years that when he MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY 853 left Canal Dover he was an abolitionist, his people being so known. He moved to Kansas, took up a claim and taught school. He came out with the 'Ohio people who were going to make Kansas a free soil state. Something of Quantrell's history in Kansas I have had from ex-Senator Johnson Clark, of Kansas, who afterward moved to Kansas City. Mr. Clark once told me that he assisted Quantrell to perfect his land claim. I think the claim was near Osawatomie, where John Brown lived. Quantrell, as we got the story after he came among us, had a difficulty with some of his associates in Kansas and was shot and wounded. He joined the five Kansans who came over to rob Morgan Walker, and when he got into Missouri he gave away his companions because of what he had suf fered in Kansas. After that he remained here. What drew attention to him first was a good piece of work he did in recovering several head of fine breeding stock. The animals had been run off from the owner in this county. Quantrell followed the parties who took them, located them in another Missouri county. The owner offered him a handsome reward, but he refused to accept more than $2 a head. He said that was all the work was worth. After that some trouble was made over the manner in which Quantrell had recovered and returned the property. There were threats that he was to be arrested and taken to the place where he had found the stock. -When he heard of them he said that he would try to make things interesting if it was proposed to punish him for returning stolen property. He went into the brush and began to organize a company. I was the eighth man to join him. I took three others into the camp, making eleven in all. Quantrell made me lieutenant. That was the beginning oi the organization." What was the secret of Quantrell's success as a leader? Captain Gregg re membered him as a man of about 5 feet 9 inches, having light blue eyes and very light hair. His mustache and small imperial, for that was the way he wore what hair he permitted on his face, were red. There was nothing striking about the appearance of this. man of 24 as his lieutenant remembered. His aspect had nothing of fierceness or magnetism about it. He was a man of few words. He usually restrained the ardor of his followers, and never sacrificed a man need lessly. He had no black flag with "Quantrell" in red silk in the center. "We never carried a black flag," said Captain Gregg. All through this Missouri border country was an intense desire for revenge upon Kansas. „ Quantrell with a grievance of his own, furnished the oppor tunity to feed it. Captain Gregg told how the organization grew upon this basis. A single incident will illustrate: "On one occasion," he said, "the Kansans came into Jackson1 county and visited the houses of Mr. Crawford and Mr. Sanders. They took the two men prisoners, robbed the houses and then burned them. When they did so they refused to let any of the women folks put on so much as a bonnet, although it was in the winter. After making the destruction as complete as they could they took Mr. Crawford and Mr. Sanders to Blue Springs and killed them. Not long after that Mrs. Crawford came to Quantrell's camp, bringing three boys. The youngest was not more than 14. " 'Here are all I have left,' she said to Quantrell. T want you to take them and make soldiers of them.' "That was the way Quantrell's men were recruited. Most of them were scarcely boys.* All of them had family wrongs to avenge." The Palmyra Affair. Shortly after the execution at Palmyra, President Davis sent the following. letter threatening retaliation: 854 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "Executive Office, Richmond, November 17, 1862. "Lieut. Gen. T. H. Holmes, "Commanding Trans-Mississippi Department. "General.: — Inclosed you will find a slip from the Memphis Daily Appeal of ' the' 3d instant containing an account, purporting to be derived from the Palmyra (Mo.) Courier, a Federal journal, of the murdef of ten Confederate citizens of Missouri, by order of General McNeil, of the United States army. "You will communicate, by flag of truce, with the Federal officer commanding that de partment, and ascertain if the facts are as stated. If they be so, you will demand the im mediate surrender of General McNeil to the Confederate authorities, and if this demand is not complied with, you will inform said commanding officer that you are ordered to execute the first ten United States officers who may be captured and fall into your hands. "Very respectfully yours, "Jefferson Davis." The Newspaper Account. ' The article from the Palmyra Courier, which Mr. Davis enclosed, read : "Saturday last, the 18th inst, witnessed the performance of a tragedy in this^once quiet and beautiful city of Palmyra which^ in ordinary and peaceful times, would have created a profound sensation throughout the entire country, but which now scarcely produces a distinct ripple upon the surface of our turbulent social tide. "It will be remembered by our readers that on the occasion of Porter's descent upon Palmyra, he captured, among other persons, an old and highly respected citizen of this city, named Andrew Allsman. This person formerly belonged to the 3d Missouri Cavalry, though too old to endure all the hardships of very active duty. He was, therefore, detailed as a kind of special or extra provost marshal's guard cicerone, making himself generally useful in a variety of ways to the military of the place. Being an old resident, and widely acquainted with the people of the place and vicinity, he was frequently called upon for information touching the loyalty of men, which he always gave to the extent of his ability, though acting, we believe, in- all such cases with great candor, and actuated solely by a con scientious desire to discharge his whole duty to his government. His knowledge of the surrounding country was the reason he was frequently called upon to act as a guide to scouting parties sent out to arrest disloyal persons. So efficiently and successfully did he act in these various capacities, that he won the bitter hatred of' all the rebels in this city and vicinity, and they only waited the coming of a favorable opportunity to gratify their desire for revenge. The opportunity came at last, when Porter took Palmyra. "That the villains, with Porter's assent, satiated their thirst for his blood by the delib erate and predetermined murder of their helpless victim no truly loyal man doubts. When ¦ they killed him, or how, or where, are items of the act not yet revealed to the public. Whether he was stabbed at midnight by the dagger of the assassin, or shot at midday by rifle of the guerrilla; whether he was hung and his body hidden beneath the scanty soil of some oak thicket, or left as food for hogs to fatten upon, or whether, like the ill-fated Wheat, his throat was severed from ear to ear, and his body sunk beneath the wave, we know not. But that he was causelessly murdered it is useless to attempt to deny. "When McNeil returned to Palmyra, after that event, and ascertained the circum stances under which Allsman had been abducted, he caused to1 be issued, after due delib eration, the following notice: " 'Palmyra, Mo., October J3, 1862.— John C. Porter : Sir— Andrew Allsman, an aged citizen of Palmyra, and a non-combatant, having been carried from his home by a band of persons unlawfully arrayed against the peace and good order of the State of Missouri, and which band was under your control, this is to notify you that unless said Andrew Allsman is returned, unharmed, to his family within ten days from date, ten men, who have belonged to your band, and unlawfully sworn by you to carry arms against the government of the United States, and who are now in custody, will be shot as a meet reward for their crimes, MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY 855 among which is the illegal restraining of said Allsman of his liberty and, if not returned, presumptively aiding in his murder. " 'Your prompt attention to this will save much suffering. Yours, etc., " 'W. R. Strachan, "' 'Provost Marshal General, District of Northeastern Missouri. " 'Per order of Brigadier General commanding McNeil's column.' "A written duplicate of this notice he caused to be placed in the hands of the wife of Joseph C. Porter, at her residence in Lewis county, who it was well known was in fre quent communication with her husband. The notice was published widely, and as Porter was in Northern Missouri during the whole of the ten days subsequent to the date of this notice, it is impossible that, with all his varied channels of information, he remained unapprised of General McNeil's determination in the premises. "Many rebels believed the whole thing was simply intended as a scare, declaring that McNeil did not dare (?) to carry out the threat. The ten days elapsed, and no tidings came of the murdered Allsman. It is not our intention to dwell at length upon the details of this transaction. The tenth day expired with last Friday. On that day ten rebel prison ers, already in custody, were selected to pay with their lives the penalty demanded. The names of the men so selected were as follows : Willis Baker, Lewis county ; Thomas Humston, Lewis county; Morgan Bixler, Lewis county; Herbert Hudson, Ralls county; Marion Lair, Ralls county; Capt. Thomas A. Sidner, Monroe county; Eleazer Lake, Scot land county, and Hiram Smith, Knox county. These parties were informed on Friday evening that unless Mr. Allsman was returned to his family by I o'clock on the following day they would be shot at that hour. "Most of them received the announcement with composure or indifference. The Rev. James S. Green, of this city, remained with them during that night, as their spiritual adviser, endeavoring to prepare them for their sudden entrance into the presence of their Maker. A little after II a. m. the next day three government wagons drove to the jail. One contained four and each of the others three rough board coffins. The condemned men were conducted from the prison and seated on the wagons, one upon each coffin. A sufficient guard of soldiers accompanied them, and the cavalcade started for the fatal grounds. Proceeding east to Main street, the cortege turned and moved slowly southward as far as Malone's livery stable ; thence turning east, it entered the Hannibal road, pursu ing it nearly to the residence of Col. James Culbertson; there, throwing down the fences, they turned northward, entering the fair grounds, on the west side, and driving within the circular afnphitheatrical ring, paused for the final consummation of the scene. "The ten coffins were removed from the wagons and placed in a row six or eight feet apart, forming a line north and south, about fifteen paces east of the central pagoda or music stand in the center of the ring. Each coffin was placed upon the ground, with its foot west and head east. Thirty soldiers of the 2d Missouri State Militia were drawn up in a single line, extending north and south, facing the row of coffins. This line of executioners ran immediately at the east base of the pagoda, leaving a space between them and the coffins of twelve or thirteen paces. Reserves were drawn up in line upon either flank of these executioners.' "The arrangements completed, the doomed men knelt upon the grass between their coffins and the soldiers, while the Rev. R. M. Rhodes offered up a prayer. At the con clusion of this, each prisoner took his seat upon the foot of his coffin, facing the muskets which in a few moments were to launch them into eternity. They were nearly all firm and undaunted, two or three only showing signs of trepidation. "The most noted of the ten was Capt. Thomas A. Sidner, of Monroe county, whose capture at Shelbyville, in the disguise of a woman, we related several weeks since. He was now elegantly attired in a suit of black broadcloth, with a white vest. A luxurious growth of beautiful hair rolled down upon his shoulders, which, with his fine personal appearance, could not but bring to mind the handsome but vicious Absalom. There was nothing especially worthy of note in the appearance of the others. One of them, Willis 856 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Baker, of Lewis county, was proven to be the man who last year shot and killed Mr. Ezekiel Pratt, his Union neighbor, near Williamstown, in that county. All of the others were rebels of lesser note, the particulars of whose crimes we are not familiar with. "A few minutes after I o'clock, Colonel Strachan, provost marshal general, and Rev erend Rhodes shook hands with the prisoners, two of them accepting bandages for their eyes. All the rest refused. A hundred spectators had gathered about the amphitheater to witness the impressive scene. The stillness of death pervaded the place. The officer in command now stepped forward, and gave the words of command : 'Ready — aim — fire.' The discharges, however, were not made simultaneously, probably through want of a pre vious understanding of the orders and of the time at which to fire. "Two of the rebels fell backward upon their coffins and died instantly. Captain Sid ner sprang forward, and fell with his head toward the soldiers, his face upward, his hands clasped upon his breast and the left leg drawn halfway up. He did not move again, but died immediately. He had requested the soldiers to aim at his heart, and they obeyed but too implicitly. The other' soldiers were not killed outright, so the reserves were called in, who dispatched them with their revolvers. "It seems hard that ten men should die for one. Under ordinary circumstances it would hardly be justified, but severe diseases demand severe remedies. The safety of the people is the supreme law. It overrides all other considerations. The madness of rebellion has become so deep-seated that ordinary methods of cure are inadequate. To take life for life would be little intimidation to men seeking the heart's blood of an obnoxious enemy. They could well afford to make even exchanges under many circumstances It is only by striking the deepest terror in them, causing them to thoroughly respect the lives of loyal men, that they can be taught to observe the obligation of humanity and of law." Gen. Curtis' Reply. General Curtis wrote two letters in reply to General Holmes' request for information. One was a letter of considerable length, and was dated December 24th. This was never sent. Three days later General Curtis wrote a second and a shorter letter, and sent it. General Holmes never replied. Indeed, it is difficult to see how he could have replied. General Curtis' short letter left no room for controversy. It was as follows : "Headquarters Department of the Missouri, St. Louis, December 27, 1862.— Maj. Gen. T. H. Holmes, Commanding Trans-Mississippi Department, C. S. Army: General— Yours of the 7th inst., containing a slip from the Memphis Daily Appeal, of the 3d of ¦November, concerning what you denominate 'an account of the murder of ten Confederate citizens of Missouri, by order of General McNeil, of the United States Army,' and asking full in formation in regard to the 'circumstances related,' is duly received. "The matters of correspondence between us must be. confined to the operations of belligerents and the exchange of prisoners. "The idea of 'Confederate citizens of Missouri' in Missouri, is inconsistent with a state of war between opposing sections, and utterly repugnant to the attitude heretofore allowed you as a belligerent, which I have cordially approved for the sake of preserving the im munities recognized by civilized warfare. You have no military power in Missouri, and have had none in Northern Missouri for a year past, much less a civil organization which would induce any man to call himself a 'Confederate citizen.' There is but one class of 'citizens of Missouri;' they are Federal citizens, not Confederate. They universally ac knowledge allegiance to Federal and state authority. The rights of such citizens cannot be adjudicated by appeal through the military authorities of the so-called Confedertae states. "I have no disposition to overlook the conduct of any officer in my command or shift any responsibility which may attach to me; but while the State of Missouri can guard her own citizens, through the regularly constituted authorities, I cannot, even by implication, MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY 857 justify any interference by you with what, by your own showing, relates to her 'citizens in Missouri.' "I have the honor to be, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, "Samuel R. Curtis, Major General." The Narrow Escape of General Cockrell. A very narrow escape of General Cockrell occurred when Fort Blakely was taken on almost the last day of the war. Capt. P. H. Pentzer, of the 97th Illinois Volunteers, told of the incident: "By the chance of battle, after a most bloody and obstinate contest at the rebel works, I came upon General Cockrell, who surrendered to me as a prisoner of war, hand ing me his headquarter colors himself. Here I may state that I saved his life by snatch ing a musket from Private Nathaniel Bull, of my own company, just as he was in the act of shooting the general. I had command of the skirmish line on forlorn hope on the extreme right of the line of white troops and joined the left of General Hawkins' line of colored troops. We met a terrific fire; ran over torpedoes, one of which took off a leg for Captain Wisner, 'of my regiment. We had a hand-to-hand fight on the rebel works where my color-bearer and a number of my line were killed, and when I came upon Gen eral Cockrell the men were very much exasperated and ready to kill on sight the com mander of these troops and the author of the torpedo business. "By direction of General Steele, I kept General Cockrell some two or three days, and when ordered away I sent him in charge of Corporal George Bull, of my company, to the headquarters of Gen. E. R. S. Canby." John B. Clark on Reynolds' Charges. In General Cockrell's possession was a letter from Gen. John B. Clark, then in the Confederate Congress. This letter is of extraordinary interest when read in' connection with the Reynolds Memoir: "House of Representatives, February 13, 1865. — Gen. F. Cockrell: My Dear Sir — I understand that you are at Columbus, Miss., and that you are fast recovering from your wounds received in Tennessee. I am, in common with your numerous friends, greatly rejoiced at the intelligence. Our first information was that you were killed, and the next we heard that you were mortally wounded. From the list of casualties published of the battle of Franklin, the Missouri brigade suffered most severely. It appears that in all the hard-fought battles during the campaign under Hood your command has suffered more than any other of the same size. While such a result speaks well for the boldness and daring of the Missourians, it nevertheless shows that the daring and hard work is placed upon them. I suppose it is because they are regarded most reliable. If so, it is a high compliment, but a very costly one. "I would like to know how Colonel Gates is doing. I understand that he fell into the hands of the enemy badly, if not mortally, wounded. "Who are the field officers now left in your brigade, and how many rank and file' are now in the brigade fit for duty in the field? I would like to know, and also where they are located. "It is thought that Congress will adjourn about the first of next month. I wish to visit the brigade soon after the adjournment, if my health will permit. "Since our peace commissioners failed to open negotiations with Mr. Lincoln for peace upon any honorable terms, our people everywhere seem more resolute and determined to resist to the bitter end, if need be, until our independence is acknowledged. All sections of the Confederacy seem to "think now, as I always thought, that the surest and quickest 858 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI way to obtain peace was to beat back the enemy, or at least show a resolute will and united effort to resent his advance. This we are certain to do ere long, if we remain united and true to ourselves. We have had heavy reverses, it is true, but we have also had some brilliant successes, and are destined to have more if we will but act with spirit and, in harmony of purpose. Just at this time we are in gloom here in consequence of Sher man's repeated successes in Georgia and South Carolina, but we still hope that his end is near. "There is no material change in the armies of Lee and Grant for the last several weeks. You have doubtless seen that Lee has been appointed general-in-chief , of all the Confed erate armies in the field and that General Breckenridge is now Secretary of War. "What is going on west of the river? I perceive that Reynolds has published a long and very abusive piece against General Price, charging the general with general incom petency, drunkenness and neglect of his army, etc. He even charges him with being timid and over-cautious, which I believe in military parlance means cowardice. I would like to know how this matter is, whether the general after a long life of sobriety has turned drunkard, and whether he has turned coward at this late day. "I would like for you to write me frequently and fully. No part of my constituency feels nearer to me than your command, and their martial deeds and heroic achievements place them, not only in my mind, but in that of all who know them, in the highest niche of fame. I love to honor them and feel proud to be honored by them. "Please give my regards to friends and accept yourself my highest regards. (Signed) "John B. Clark." A Speech by Cockrell in War Time. Another of the possessions of General Cockrell was the manuscript of an address by him in accepting the gift of a flag to the Missourians: "With no ordinary feelings in behalf of the Missouri brigade, of which I am the unwor thy commander, I accept from the hands of the fair donor, through you, Lieutenant Brevard, this most beautiful and tastefully wrought flag, the emblem of our young and loved Confed eracy's sovereignty, in peace, in glory, in war. And through you we return to her the grateful tribute of our hearts— the soldier's noblest offering— with the assurance vouched for by the conduct of this brigade in the past upon so many ensanguined fields and by the sacred remembrance of our many fallen comrades in arms — our precious slain — that in the face of the foe it shall be borne to victory or crimsoned with the gushing, richest treasures of our pierced hearts. Assure her that it affords us peculiar pleasure and satisfaction, sit uated as we have been for the past two years, and now are— battling on the soil of sister - Confederate states for one common cause and country, and far distant from the sacred scenes and endearing associations of our loved Missouri — our own home — and deprived of all communication with and reception of material aid and expressions of kindly sympathy and love from fathers, mothers, sisters, wives and loved ones, who have been and now are harassed and tortured in mind and body in a manner unprecedented in the armals of civilized warfare by the fanatical northmen, the real Goths and Vandals of America clad in the livery of the United States soldiery— to accept this color, made and presented by her, now in many respects similarly situated. As long as time itself shall breathe on earth and bear witness of the actors in this revolution to future generations, even so long will the sublime patriotism of the daughters of the South, their fidelity and constancy to and sacrifices for our common cause and country, their smiles and tears, their sympathy and love for the care and war-worn veterans of our armies, be impressed in gilded letters on the bosom of time, and known, admired, honored and sung by all who may live. "Was anything aside from a sense of duty and a, consciousness in our bosoms of the sacredness and justness of our cause and its approbation by our Father in Heaven neces sary to nerve our hearts and strengthen our arms and to lead us to endure with cheerful ness greater and more numerous sacrifices, hardships and deprivations, and to court the MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY 859 passage at arms, and then and there to move into activity within us that peculiar, indescrib able feeling — the battle-field's inspiration- — which lulls to sleep the sense of fear, surely the noble, praiseworthy actions and patriotic, heaven-inspired bearing of the ladies amid all the vicissitudes of this protracted war and amid our victories and our reverses, at all times ¦and places and under all circumstances, would- be more than sufficient." A Talk with John B. Clark. What1 the war meant to Gen. JohnB. Clark, he told in a conversation with the writer at Fayette twenty years after the close : "When the question of secession was up, I came back here from Washington and the court house yard wouldn't- hold the people who came to hear the issue discussed. We took a vote for or against the Union. I declared myself in, favor of standing by the Union. I opened the gates, the people took sides. There were ten thousand of them assembled and I carried the vote fdr the Union by several hundred majority. The very day I did that, up here in Howard. county, the massacre at St. Louis, — the Camp Jackson affair, — occurred. I went to my home in the country that night and found a commission as brigadier-general from Governor Jackson awaiting me. I sat down and wrote my affidavit on the commission accepting it. My wife had left home on a visit. I wrote her a note saying the war had come at last and I must go. While insisting that the best course was to stand by the Union, I had, nevertheless, always said that when war did come I would go with the South. After writing \hat letter to my wife, I got on my horse, and with only a negro boy I rode away that night for Boonville. It was five years from that time before I saw my wife again. That spring I had paid taxes on property in Howard county assessed at $365,000. I was worth a million. On my place there were 160 slaves, seventy of them men. My law practice was worth $10,000 to $15,000 a year. When I came back after the war was over, I hadn't a bed to sleep on. My wife had been forced to find a temporary home with friends." There' wasn't a tremor in the old general's voice. No appeal for sympathy was impressed by his manner. Not a word of regret was added. The simple summary of what the war had cost him was given in the most concise form and with unimpassioned tone. He ceased speaking a few moments and then took up the narrative again : "I went into the rebellion and was badly wounded at Springfield. They sent me to the Confederate Senate in Richmond, and there I remained until the surrender. When the war came to an end, the United States Government offered a reward of $10,000 for my capture. I never knew why they had picked me out unless it was because I had been thoroughly in earnest in my course. There were four of us on whom this price was put- Hunter of Virginia, Watson of Georgia, Oldham of Texas and myself. Hunter and Watson surrendered;. Oldham' and I determined to escape if it was possible. I had my whiskers cut off, dyed my hair red and took my mother's name, that for which the middle letter of my name stands— Bullock. With some papers prepared, letters and documents forged to show that I was known by that name, I started out and made my way success fully through the Federal lines about Richmond. My intention was to get to Cuba, but I failed in that, and went to Mexico, where I remained until the Federal authorities rescinded the offer of reward for me. Thinking there was no further danger, I came across into Texas Andrew Johnson was a personal friend of mine. 1 I was arrested by United States soldiers under the old order, and heard that the government actually paid the reward. The arrest was made at the instance of Stanton, who was bitterly hostile to me. They took me to GalvesAon and then to New Orleans. Sheridan was in command and telegraphed to Stanton to know what should be done. The answer came back to send me to Fort Jackson, 860 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI at the mouth of the river. Sheridan said it was an outrage, but he could do nothing but obey orders. At the fort I found myself guarded by negro soldiers, among them some who had been my slaves. After a good deal of trouble I persuaded a surgeon to smuggle out a letter for me addressed to Andrew Johnson. That gave the President the first knowledge he had of my imprisonment. He telegraphed Sheridan to have me placed on a vessel and sent north. When I got to Washington I wanted Johnson to remove Stanton, but he said he daren't do it ; they would assassinate him if he did. I .told him if I was President I'd do what I wanted to, and if they assassinated me I couldn't help it. He thought it was better to be prudent and save his life. He gave me a full pardon, and after . more than five years' absence I got back to Missouri." A Family Division. Pathetic was the division in the family of Maj. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke. For a considerable period of his army career General Cooke lived in Missouri. He was stationed at Jefferson Barracks and left an entertaining pen picture of life there in the early days. When the Civil war came General Cooke, although a Virginian by birth, was loyal and became one of the most conspicu ous cavalry generals. His son, John D. Cooke, bom in Missouri, joined the Confederate army and was made a general, Another son, T. Esten Cooke, went with his brother. A daughter of General Cooke, was the wife of General Jeb Stuart, the Confederate cavalry leader. In 1862, while McClellan was con ducting the Peninsula campaign, Gen. Philip St, George Cooke commanded the Federal cavalry. At the same time General Stuart was at the head of the Confederate cavalry. In one of the cavalry charges General Cooke narrowly escaped capture by his son-in-law, much to the amusement of the latter. From his two sons and a daughter on the Confederate side, Major General Cooke became estranged. Reconciliation did not take place until long after the war. The Confederate Policy Toward Missouri. Before the Southern Historical Society in 1886, Gen. D. M- Frost read a paper regarding the relations between the Confederacy and Missouri in 1861. He told of his call upon Confederate generals just at the time of Sterling Price's great success — the battle of Lexington. His purpose was to present the oppor tunity for the Confederates to send an army to Missouri. "These arguments seemed to produce a decided effect upon both General Johnston and General Polk; and after a little consideration the former remarked that the State of Missouri had not seceded, and therefore was not entitled to the aid of Confederate troops. To this it was replied that Missouri and the Confederate troops were fighting a common enemy, and that the success of one was necessarily equally beneficial to the other; that the longer the fighting could be kept -on the soil of Missouri the better for the Confederacy. This statement of the case seemed to be unanswerable, and then it was that General John ston said that although he had full powers to order as he chose, yet he felt himself bound to respect the policy of the government, and that it did not accord with that policy to so complicate itself with Missouri, as to make it a sine qua tion that she should insist upon an impossible boundary line when the time should come for her to make peace. This state ment was made with the understanding that for obvious reasons it should not be repeated and then I gave up all hope of seeing Confederate troops ordered into Missouri, at least until she had gone through some form of secession — and acknowledged the propriety of General Johnston's course, whilst regretting its necessity." MISSOURI AND THE CONFEDERACY 861 To Return I. Holcombe, then living in Chillicothe, Jefferson Davis wrote from Beauvoir, a letter respecting his relations with the Missourians in 1861. His attention had been called to the paper of General Frost. "Accustomed to much misrepresentation and misapprehension, I was not prepared for the existence of a report that I was opposed to receiving Missouri into the Confederacy. The story would be absurd; even if there was no evidence to disprove it; but my efforts to aid Missouri before she had entered the Confederacy and before her troops would agree to be mustered into the Confederate service were so well known that I could not suppose anyone would at this day assert that I had anything else than the most friendly feeling for the people of the state. "While I desired both Missouri and Kentucky, to whom we had every bond of affinity, to join us in the organization of a separate government, I deemed that a matter entirely for their own decision and took no measures to influence their action. I then believed, and still believe, that if the people of those states had been left to the free exercise of their sovereign will, they would, with great unanimity have placed Missouri and Kentucky by the side of their sisters of the South, and in that belief I did ardently desire the cooperation of both. 1 "When all my acts and utterances are on one side, it is hard to comprehend the cir culation of a story so utterly opposed to what I did, said and thought. "Very respectfully yours, "Jefferson Davis." Rapid Reconciliation. Major William Warner, afterwards representative in Congress and United States senator, performed his part in the policy of reconstruction and recon ciliation immediately following the war. This tribute was paid him by an ex- Confederate : "When we straggled home some time after the war closed and began to settle down there was a very bitter feeling in Western Missouri. Tutt was on the bench in that circuit. Warner was prosecuting attorney. The grand jury brought in a lot of indictments against ex-Confederates. They revived charges of horse stealing and other offenses based on what had taken place during the war. I think there were at least 150 of these indictments, and I am»not sure but one of them was against Jo Shelby himself. I was not indicted, but some of the boys in my command were. John Ryland, Henry Wallace and several of the old lawyers volunteered to defend the cases. It was agreed that all of them should be tried at once. When the day came Major Warner got up in court and said the war was over and these men had come home to settle down in good faith. He did not believe in raking up the old troubles. He considered the surrender as wiping out the offenses that had preceded it, and, therefore, he moved that the cases be dismissed. And that was the end of them. It was the only sensible thing to do." United States Marshal Shelby. Some of the Eastern newspapers had a good deal to say of the appoint ment of General Shelby for United States marshal in Missouri. They seemed to think that he belonged to those whose course in the war was unpardonable. One republican senator was quoted as saying : "Nearly thirty years have elapsed since the termination of the war. All that one can ask— even the most loyal Unionist— is that the government shall not be confided to men who, during that awful time, represented not fair battle, but rapine, cruelty and chaos. We, or most of us. believe that Jo Shelby be longed to the latter class. Still, we can do nothing to prevent the consummation 862 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI of the outrage involved in making such a man the representative of law and order. All we can do is to enter our solemn protest." This was only interesting as going to show how little the rest of the country even yet appreciated the fierceness and savagery of the warfare of the border, and particularly that which was waged within the limits of Missouri. Perhaps there never was' a country so divided against itself and so continuously drenched in blood as was the State of Missouri. Certainly no other state came out with such scars. Virginia was fought over, but the Virginians were on one side. To the other horrors the Old Dominion did not have to add fratricidal strife and neighborhood contention. As far as General Shelby was personally concerned sufficient answer to what was printed about him was found in the fact that ex-Commander-in-Chief William Warner, of the Grand Army, wrote a letter indorsing him for this appointment, and then tendered hearty congratulations on success, while ex- Gov. Thomas C. Fletcher, the war governor of Missouri, went in person to the attorney general to say that no mistake would be made in the selection of General Shelby. Union veterans vied with ex-Confederates in their mani festation of good will to Shelby. CHAPTER XXVII MIGHTY HUNTERS OF MISSOURI Strategy in Elk Stampedes— Turkey Slaughter in the Ozarks— "Shining Their Eves"— Game Tallies Along the Iowa Border— Wild Turkey Sausage— Bear Homes in the Grass— Abner Smith's Sled Load from One Shot— A Missouri Esau— Millions of Pigeons— A Suit of Panther Skins— Squirrels by the Bushel— Coonce and "Old Betsy"— Sam Cole's Recollections— The Bandana Ruse— When Fish Clogged the Mill— David Bowles' Win ter Record— Three Deer at One Fire— Dr. Graham's Nerve— Boys Chased by Angry Deer— Major Daniel Ashby— A Record of Official Integrity— Stories of Three Expedi tions—When Game Abounded along Grand River— Bee Trails at "The Forks" The Annual Harvests of Sweetness— Honey by Wagon Loads— Law of Bee Tree Titles- How Morrow Saved a Swarm — Madame Chouteau and the First Hive — "Yellow Boys" in Pioneer Commerce— Thc Tallow Fork of Beeswax— Barter at Glasgow, Richmond and Brunswick — Poor Tom's Creek— An Expert, on Honey Hunting— Amos Burdine, the Missouri Munchausen — Eccentric Customs and Amazing Stories — "limps" Dysart 's Temptation — Norman J. Colman and Charles G. Gonter. . I am now eighty-five years of age, but if I knew there was another country in the wide world like Missouri was when I came here, I would go there to spend the balance of my days, even if I1 knew 1 only would live six months. — From the Journal of Major Daniel Ashby, Mighty Hunter of Missouri. Upon the Missouri prairies large herds of elk pastured but in the hunting of them, the first settlers made use of strategy in which the forests on the streams were utilized. It was the custom to ride on one side of a herd and start it toward the timber. The hunters followed until the elk were among the trees and then closed up on them. The antlers of the bucks caught in the low branches and made progress slow. In this way the herd was overtaken within rifle range. For many years turkeys were so plentiful, especially in the Ozarks, that the hunting of them could hardly be called sporti They had roosts which they fre quented. It was no trouble to slip up on a roost at night and slaughter the birds ; but recovering them was another matter. Wolves followed the hunters, keeping in the dark and circling around to the vicinity of the roost. As a turkey was dropped by the shot, the wolves would rush in and seize the game before the hunter could get to it. The Staffords, of Cyclone, in McDonald county, were a pioneer family. When Claib. Stafford was a small boy his father sent him out into the field on some errand and allowed him to take the family gun. The boy heard a noise in the corn near a log and a sapling. There was a patch of black in sight, which the boy guessed was a coon. He rested the gun on the fence and fired. On his way back home, without investigating, the boy met his father. The two 863 864 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI went to the log and found a large bear dead. The patch of fur exposed had been the breast. The shot had gone through the heart. Daniel Boone bestowed the name on Bear creek in Montgomery county be cause of the number of bears he found there. North Bear creek in the same county was named by Presley Anderson, a newcomer of 1817. Anderson saw two cubs up a tree, laid down his gun and climbed up to take them alive. Hear ing a great commotion below, Anderson looked down and saw the mother bear coming up after him. He couldn't climb higher. Measuring with his eyes the nearest tree he made a desperate leap and landed- safely, and just in time for he could feel the breath of the she-bear on his ankles. Sliding down the second tree, he ran to the one from which he had jumped, got his gun and killed all of the hears. "Shining their eyes" was a phrase used by the early hunters of Missouri when they went out after dark to get deer. Two men went together. One carrying a torch and the other the gun. Making their way slowly and quietly in the Ozark country the pair would come within range of a deer, ur-ually at a salt lick or spring. The deer, instead of running, would turn and stare in wonder ment toward the light. Then the hunter would aim with his rifle between the eyes which glistened in the .distance, and which were all that could be distin guished in the surrounding darkness. Occasionally bear or panther would stand and be brought down by the "shining the eyes" device. Colonel John Shaw told of a hunt in the Ozarks, in which he collected "fifty beaver and otter skins, 300 bear skins and 800 gallons of bear oil." He col-, iected these products at the headwaters of White river, built boats and floated down to New Orleans expecting to' ship to Europe and get good prices. The "embargo," he said, was in force and the sale of all of the pelts and oil yielded only $36. Great Sport Along the Iowa Line. y Clark county pioneers near the Iowa line handed down some of the almost incredible tales of game and honey. Uncle Joe Bennings told a younger genera tion that his wife found fault with him for bringing to the cabin home so many wild turkeys. Deer were seen in herds of fifty. John Wade kept a tally until it showed he had killed 500 deer and then gave up counting. Robert P. Mitchell, John Montgomery and George K. Biggs started on a wolf hunt, one winter morning with the snow a foot deep. They found a pack which broke up and started in different directions. Each man picked a. wolf and went after it. Biggs' wolf ran towards the Mississippi river. Biggs over took it, pulled one of his stirrup straps loose and struck at the wolf. He missed, but the saddle turned, throwing him on top of the wolf. Biggs got the wolf down and held it with both hands to keep it from biting him. Then loosen ing one hand he got his knife and opened it with his teeth and cut the wolf's throat. As he made the thrust, the wolf jumped at his throat and caught his coat collar. An old black she-wolf became,the pest of the extreme northeast corner of the state. She carried off pigs weighing as much as eighty pounds. She stuck FOX HOUNDS FROM A MISSOURI KENNEL LIFE IN MISSOURI In the days of the mighty hunters, the log houses were built without nails. Oiled paper served for window panes Vol. 1—55 MIGHTY HUNTERS OF MISSOURI 867 her nose into the cabin door of a settler named Stillwell and would have made off with a baby but for the quick action of the father. Harvey Coombs, his brothers and two companions, William Price and Brad ford Hanan, in a single day's hunt along the Wyaconda got thirty-five coons and left five more treed- They were too tired to continue the hunt. William G. Mills and Andrew G. Darby of Scotland county kept their rifles with them while husking corn. In one day Mills killed sixty-five and Darby killed sixty wild turkeys. They saved only the white meat, mixed it with pork and made sausages. Bears were so numerous in Missouri that they hibernated in queer places. When Captain W. K. Ramey was a boy, in Pettis county, he came on a heap of grass one March day, before spring had fairly opened. He pushed his hand in and felt a bear. Drawing away to a safe distance, he fired and killed the old she-bear. Two others, one a year old and the other a cub, came out of their winter home. While Ramey was loading thej dog held the attention of the young bears. The yearling fell at the first shot and then the cub was brought down from the tree which it had succeeded in reaching. Audrain County's Modern Esau. What is, probably, the most marvelous story of turkey hunting in the early days was told by Abner Smith. This mighty hunter said he discovered a place where turkeys had been roosting. He cleared the brush and grass from a small piece of ground and scattered shelled corn there. This he did several times and noted that the turkeys came regularly to eat the com. His next move was to drive two sticks in the ground with a small space between them. Be yond the sticks he dropped some wheat. Smith had an old army musket. He loaded this with slugs, a heavy charge, and fastened it in the forks of the two sticks so that it would cover the spot where the wheat had been dropped. To the trigger he attached a string and concealed himself in the branches of a tree which had fallen not far away. Smith kept in hiding until daylight. Then the turkeys began to fly down from their roost. They found the little heap of wheat and began to crowd around and eat. When there were as many as could reach the bait, Smith fired. He said the old musket sounded as loud as a cannon. A glance showed there were more dead turkeys on the ground than a man could carry. Smith went home, hitched his horse to a sled and came back. He put fourteen turkeys on the sled, making as much of a load as the horse could well pull. Abner Smith gained further local fame by trapping a wolf which had had one experience with the steel trap, losing a fore leg, and which had defied all of the ordinary devices of the farmers of Audrain county. Smith jumped a deer and killed it near the haunts of. the wolf. He took the best part of the carcass home. The next day he visited the place, and, as he expected, found the tracks' of the three-legged wolf in the snow. He located his trap in the water of -the creek, hung the carcass over it, put some moss on the apron of the trap so arranged that it appeared above the surface of the water. He did this because a wolf never wets his feet if he can help it. The next morning the wary wolf was in the trap. 868 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Smith was a story teller as well as a hunter. One of his tales was at the ex pense of a neighbor, W. R. Cook, who had recently come to Missouri. Smith had taken Cook out to show him some hunting. They started three deer which jumped up within twenty feet of Cook. Smith fired and killed one. Cook was seized with buck ague and didn't shoot. "Why didn't you shoot?" Smith says he shouted. Cook, according to Smith, replied: "Oh, I'm hunting snipe, I am. A deer looks too innocent to be shot down in that way." Smith delighted to refer to himself as the modern Esau. When he first came_ to Audrain, he was offered a cabin, a fenced field and a land claim for $300. But he was so filled with the love of hunting that he had no idea of settling: in one place. He said he wouldn't give $300 for "all of the land within the sound of a bugle blown from his cabin door on a calm morning." He hunted for years, went down to Texas and came back with new ideas about the value of Missouri land and secured a claim. J Pigeon Roosts. In October, 1874, 2,500 pigeons were killed at the roost near Marionville in one night. J. S. Drake thought there were 25,000,000 at the time, for he remem bered seeing the flying flocks shut off the very sunlight like a vast cloud. When all of the country between Missouri and the Osage rivers was one county a settler named Fisher, living in what is now Johnson county, killed two deer before breakfast. After eating he went out to bring in his game. On the way he killed another deer within quarter of a mile of the house. In twenty- one consecutive shots he killed twenty deer. Nicholas Houx, another of the settlers in that part of Missouri, killed nine panthers in one week. From the skins he made a suit of clothes and a cap. He hung one tail from his cap and the other eight tails from the border of his coat. The suit made such an impression on the neighbors that Houx was offered $150 for it. Houx made another record. He could get out 250 rails in a day and then visit with the neighbors until ten o'clock. He built the first brick residence in Johnson county. Peter Cooper told the story of a hunting match in Callaway county. Two of the pioneers, David P. Calvine and Gabriel May, organized the match with three hunters on a side. This match followed a preliminary contest at killing squirrels with poles when the squirrels came to plunder the corn cribs. One side killed 176 squirrels and the other side got 286. It was then decided to hunt for twenty-five cents worth of whiskey, the hunting to be limited to a given number of hours. The game brought in was too much to be counted. It was decided to measure. May produced five pecks and Calvine nearly a bushel. Calvine paid the wager. Reconstruction of Betsy. As early as 1827 Jacob Coonce was a mighty hunter along the upper Osage and the Sac rivers. In 1831, according to the local tradition, he built the first cabin in what is now the county of St. Clair. There were so many attractive locations in this hunter's paradise that Coonce found it hard to make a choice. MIGHTY HUNTERS OF MISSOURI 869 He built first near the Sac river and later moved to a new location near Brush creek. Coonce hunted with the old flintlock until some one told him of the new fangled percussion. He started on horseback for St. Louis to have "Betsy," as he affectionately called his rifle, changed. He wore moccasins, buckskin leggings, a coonskin cap and carried a blanket. On the way he stopped at the place of Robert H. Sproull in Henry county ,and told of his purpose in going to St. Louis. Sproull was a locksmith and convinced Coonce that he could do the job. "Betsy" was left with Sproull but Coonce having started decided that he must go on to the metropolis. Coming back Coonce received his remodeled rifle, patted it fondly >and said to it, "Old Bet, you and I have never been parted so long and we won't be again." Putting a load in the rifle and a cap in the new lock, Coonce looked about him for a mark. He saw a squirrel on the top of a tree. Raising the rifle, he sprung the new lock and brought down the squirrel. Turning to Sproull and smiling, Coonce said, "She is all right," and rode away to his home in the hills of the Osage country. Other white men came, the Waldos, the Culbertsons, the Gardners, the Burches and scores more, but the hunting continued good. As late as 1840 it was possible to see herds of deer every twp or three days in traveling through that part of Missouri. The settler who was a good shot could go out any time and bring back a buck for dinner. Samuel Cole, Mighty Hunter. Samuel Cole, who came to Central Missouri a boy, told these hunting stories : "When I was about twelve years old, I started one morning to hunt for game. My brothers had an old flintlock rifle, which I carried with me. It was a large and heavy gun, and was so heavy that I could not shoot it without taking a rest. I came up the river, keeping near the bank, until I got to where the courthouse now stands in Boonville. Under the trees, which then covered the ground in the courthouse yard, I saw five deer standing together. I selected one of the finest looking ones and fired. At the crack of my gun he fell; but when I went up to where he was, he jumped to his feet, and would have followed the other deer towards the river, had I not rushed up and caught hold of him, putting my arms around his neck. He pawed me with his sharp hoofs and horned me — his hoofs making an ugly gash on my thigh and his horns striking me on the forehead. The marks of both hoofs and horns I carry with me today. I held the deer until my dog came up. I then loaded the gun and shot him again, this time killing him. This was the first deer 1 ever "killed, and although it was a dangerous undertaking, the experience only spurred me on to gather trophies of a similar character, "I killed five bears just below the town — where Boonville now stands— and killed twenty-two bears in three days. I killed four elks in less than one hour's time. There were a few buffaloes in the county when I came, but these were soon killed or driven further westward. I never killed a buffalo, but caught five calves of a small herd near the Pettis county line. I have seen as many as thirty deer at one sight at Prairie lick. One day I went out upon the prairie, in the spring of the year, and saw about twenty deer— all lying down except one; this one was a sentinel for the herd. I approached within about three hundred yards of them and took my handkerchief, which was a large red bandana, and fastened it to the end of a stick and shook it a little above my head, when they all sprang to their feet and came towards me. A deer has much curiosity, and they were determined to find out if they could, what the red handkerchief meant. When one of the largest of the number came within gunshot distance, I shot and killed it. I often repeated the handker chief ruse with great success. I have killed and carried to the house three deer before breakfast." 870 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI ¦ Marvelous Stories of Fish and Game. One of the most marvelous fish stories of pioneer times is about the Moreau in Cole county. It was told by the owner of a mill who was sent to the legis lature. The fish of the Moreau were so numerous at the time, about 1835, that the wheels of the mills were not infrequently choked with them and the machin ery was stopped until the gates were shut dowi. and were cleared of the wriggling masses. Some of the exploits of the mighty hunters have been told by Walter Williams : "Joseph Petley, a Kentuckian by birth, an early resident of Audrain county, was the greatest hunter and trapper of his day. He is said to have killed more bears, deer, panthers, wildcats, raccoons, and wild turkeys than any two men in Missouri. He was very stout and was often seen carrying t.wo deer, one strapped to each shoulder, and his gun at the same time. He would carry such a load as this for miles without appearing to become tired. He lived to a very old age and died in 1874. While he was lying on his deathbed he had his gun and powder horn, a set of buck's antlers and the skins of wildcats, raccoon and bear hung where he could gaze upon them as he died. "Of David Bowles, a Virginian, who was a pioneer in Montgomery county, it is related that during one winter he killed 120 deer, three elk and four raccoons, besides taking 350 gallons of honey from the various bee trees that he found. The same year he killed the famous buck which the hunters had named Gen. Burdine, and which had thirty-three prongs on his horns. When his favorite dog was hung by a grapevine in the woods he quit hunt ing. Bowles was twice married. The story is told that when the second marriage ceremony was performed he was so overjoyed that he danced about the room, waving his hat over his head in his excess of delight, struck a lamp on the mantel and dashed it to the floor. In a moment the house was on fire and was soon partly destroyed by the flames. "John Kiser, a Tennessean, who came to Montgomery county, is said to have killed forty-five deer in a single day. At another time he killed three deer at one shot. Dr. Robert Graham, whose grandchildren yet live in Montgomery county, settled there coming from Kentucky. He bought a Spanish grant of land situated on Loutre creek from Daniel M. Boone and built an elm bark tent upon it, in which he lived for four years. He was a very small man, but of a very determined will, and a nerve that could not be shaken. He was a voluminous reader and a great admirer of Benjamin Franklin. Dr. Graham -was, as were most pioneer Missourians, very fond of hunting, and devoted much of his time to it. One day a large wolf got caught in one of his steel traps, broke the chain and dragged the trap away with him. With two companions, he tracked the wolf and came upon it where it had gone into the creek and was struggling in the water. Dr. Graham waded into the creek with the purpose of killing the wolf with his knife, when it caught one of his hands and bit it nearly off, but he finally succeeded in killing the animal. On another occasion, the doctor and a party of hunters ran a large bear into a cave and tried to smoke it out, but did not succeed, and finally shot him. After the bear was dead, Dr. Graham was the only one of the party who had nerve enough to crawl into the cave and drag the dead animal out. Wolves were plentiful in the woods in those days, and one day Dr. Graham killed thirteen of them.'' Chased by Deer. An old settler of Montgomery county, H. E. Scanland of Mineola Springs, remembered when he and his brother were chased out of a field by deer because they ventured too near the fawns. In his boyhood he built traps to catch quails which he sold for fifteen cents a dozen. Rabbit skins brought fifty cents a dozen at the hatter's shop. MIGHTY HUNTERS OF MISSOURI 871 "I recall also in those days we killed our hogs in the woods, where they fattened on acorns, and we could have all the honey we wanted by going into the timber and chopping down a bee tree. And, just think of it! There was a rise in the price of wheat, and it got to be worth three bits (37J/2 cents) a bushel, struck measure. Good horses were worth $20 to $24 and oxen $15 to $20 a yoke. Milch cows from $7 to $13 each. The kind of rails Abe Lincoln made cost 37^ cents per 100 — that was the price paid for 'making them.' A negro would hire by the year for $40 for the 12 months and two suits of cotton or linen clothing and two blankets. The best class of work hands got $8 a month and the common ones $3 to $4 a month. All of our shoes and clothing were home-made, and yet those were our happiest days, even if we did have biscuit only once a week, aud that on Sunday morning. Venison and wild turkey with old-fashioned corn-bread johnny-cake and trimmings were good enough for us and made life worth the living." Major Daniel Ashby 's Journal For a period of more than eight years Major Daniel Ashby had charge of the United States land office at Lexington. He was not called upon to make settlement with the government until he went out of office. He had taken in $1,650,000 from the settlers to whom he had sold land. When his books were closed it was found that the government owed him $34.25. The settlers paid for %heir land in silver dollars as a rule. This money Major Daniel Ashby put in kegs loosely, like nails. Periodically the major loaded these kegs in a wagon and drove to St. Louis, having with him two negroes. The drive was made over many long stretches of road where there were no settlers. In his journal, kept with wonderful fidelity, Major Ashby said he was never disturbed on these journeys. For six years this notable pioneer was a member of the house of tepresentatives and for the same length of time he was a state senator, at one time president of' the senate. He closed his journal with this quaint summing up of his sixty-two years of Missouri citizenship: "I am now eighty-five years of age, but if I knew there was another country in the wide world like Missouri was when I came here, I would go there to spend the balance of my days even if I knew that I only would live six months." Major Daniel Ashby by his will left his journal to his wife who in turn be queathed it to her daughter, Mrs. Perry S. Rader. As a mighty hunter, Daniel Ashby was ranked one hundred years ago with Daniel Boone. Ashby, however, had the advantage of Boone in that he could tell with fascinating detail his adventures of the pioneer days. Coming with his party from the vicinity of Harrodsburg. Ky., Major Ashby pushed the picket line of settlement beyond the Boone's Lick country. He brought vividly to the attention of newcomers the attractive opportunities of the Chariton and Grand river sections. Of three of his many hunting expeditions, Major Ashby left these narratives : A Hunt Along the Chariton. "In September, 1821, Colonel John M. Bell, John Harris and myself went to explore the country north of us. None of us had ever been any great distance in that direction and it, so far as we knew, had never been traveled except by the Indians or an occasional trader. We started early in the morning and traveled all day long until about sunset; we then turned down a branch of the Muscle fork of the Chariton river to find a suitable camping ground Just as we entered the timber I saw in the head of the hollow, three deer feeding very unconcernedly. I motioned to Harris and Bell, who were a short d.stance to my left, 872 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI « for them to stop ; at the first motion they halted and I dismounted, and stepping a few steps forward fired at a large doe which stood in fair view. At the crack of the rifle she jumped and ran a few yards across the gully and fell. The other two, which were fawns, stood still, apparently at a loss what to do. As quickly as possible I reloaded my rifle and shot one of them, which also gave a few jumps and fell dead. The other one stood quiet, looking a little alarmed, and I again reloaded and killed it. Bell and Harris rode up and said : 'You surely must have some camp meat from the shooting you have been doing?' 'Yes,' I replied, 'I have a deer apiece if that will suffice.' "The next morning we started early and went on to the Chariton river. While riding through some timber in the forks of a branch I happened to see bees working in a small tree not over a foot in diameter. I called Bell and Harris and we stopped and cut the tree down with a large hatchet. After it was felled we found in it a large quantity of most excellent honey, upon which we dined. "After leaving this place about a mile or so, I heard Colonel Bell hallooing, and went to him as soon as possible. Upon arrival I found he had ridden into a yellow jacket's nest and they had gone for him and his horse, which had thrown him into the midst of the infuriated insects, and they were stinging at a lively rate, I can assure you ; his eyes were almost closed from the effect of the stings he had received on the face, head and neck, and plenty of yellow jackets were still buzzing around him ready and willing for some more. "BytheWara!" "The Colonel never swore worse than 'by the wars' and as I came up near him he said : 'By the wars, don't come here, for see how I am stung all over.' 'Why, Colonel,' said I, 'your horse has shown more sagacity than you ; why don't you run away from the devilish things?' 'By the wars,' blurted out the Colonel, 'I never thought of that, I was so busy killing and brushing them off of me that I did not think of running away from the place; but they have all been killed or have gone back fo their nests, so there is no need of running now.' The Colonel left his coat he had been riding on near the nest, which he dragged away with a long stick. We then took the track of his horse and found him down on a small creek, grazing as quietly as if he had never seen a yellow jacket. "We then took our course and after going about a mile up the creek we saw two large buck elk that had been lying down in some hazel brush. At our approach they ran off in a westerly direction. Harris and I pursued them at full speed. I was riding a very fleet horse, and after running about two miles I overtook the elk and ran between them, but Harris' horse being slower than mine he was so far behind that the elk turned back and ran into the timber, which put a stop to the race. After resting our horses a few minutes we turned back to hunt Colonel Bell whom we had not seen for over an hour. "At last we found the Colonel and saw that he had been riding round and round in a small compass, and on going to him asked him what was the matter. 'By the wars,' he said, 'I have lost all the bread I was carrying in the bag on my saddle.' We separated and after hunting around for a while found the bag of bread. We then pursued our journey and after going a mile or more discovered about two hundred elk, but they saw us and ran east. We followed the trail which was very plain, there being so many of them in a fresh country. Trailing a Herd of Two Hundred Elk. "We kept on the trail to the main Muscle fork where they crossed it. The trail was about two hundred yards wide at the crossing with the banks very steep and high, but the elk went plunging in wherever they could get across and happened to come. I expected to find some of them with their legs or necks broken, but they seemed to have got safely over and galloped away. We followed the trail for many miles, but could never come up with them again. Late in the evening we turned west for the Muscle fork and when we came to it we encamped for the night. Being away from our meat, we had nothing to eat but bread and water for supper. "All of us started out in the evening to hunt for squirrels. Colonel Bell killed two MIGHTY HUNTERS OF MISSOURI 873 shortly after starting, but I went down on the east side of the creek and when about a half mile below the camp I heard something run out of the high weeds in the bottom, which I supposed to be deer, but to my surprise I saw out on the high lands five elk. They stopped on a point of the ridge. One large buck, which seemed to be the leader, stood with the point of his shoulder towards me. I fired at him as I would have done at a deer standing in the same position. The ball struck him where I aimed, but the bone was so large that it stopped the ball from going into the cavity of the chest, yet it broke the bone, for I saw the point of his shoulder swing- out as he started to run off. I followed his trail with the full expectation of finding him dead within a hundred and fifty yards of where I shot him, which would have been the case if it had been a deer, but I soon found it would not do to shoot at a big buck elk as if he were a deer, for he travelled on away ahead of me. I followed his trail by the blood about a half mile, when night came on ; I turned back for our camp which I reached a little after dark. Next morning Harris went with me and we tracked the elk I shot the evening before, but tracking was all the good it did, as we never found him. We returned to camp and helped to eat the four squirrels that Colonel Bell had killed and cooked. After breakfast all of us went out hunting. Bell went up the creek, while Harris and I went east as far as the great Chariton river, along which we hunted with poor success until late in the evening. As we were drawing near camp a black cloud rose in the west, which looked like a heavy rain storm was close at hand, when I saw a large buck standing on a ridge to our left. I jumped from my horse and fired at him, a distance of over a hundred yards. At the crack of my rifle, Harris, who was stand ing close by me, said, 'You certainly hit him.' I replied that 'I knew I had if the distance was not too great.' We rode over to where the buck had been standing and found blood, which, after tracking some seventy or eighty yards, led us to where the buck lay dead. We 'butchered him as fast as we could, but the rain came upon us before we reached camp. On arriving at our camping place we were very much gratified to find Colonel Bell sitting by the fire with the side of a large, fat, barren doe roasted, and only awaited our arrival to enjoy a hearty meal of roasted venison. The Monster Buck. "The next morning we started up the ridge leading to the east, and did not go over a half mile until we came upon over thirty dry beds, where elk had lain during the rain. We hunted around and found the trail leading to the west, which we followed. It crossed the Muscle fork not over 300 yards above our camp. After crossing the creek I followed the trail on foot, with the others behind me on their horses and leading mine. I trailed them out to the high prairie and at last discovered them leisurely feeding across the steep hills. After taking a good look at the country I went back to meet the men, mounted my horse and told them to follow me. We rode north to a branch that headed close to where the elk were feeding. From there we rode about a quarter of a mile up the branch, then stopped and tied our horses and went on foot up a small ravine to its head, and on gaining the top of the main ridge we saw the elk about 200 yards from us. I had a very good rifle which carried a half-ounce ball on a level nearly 200 yards. We remained where we were and watched the elk nearly an hour. They were on a hillside in fair view of us, but we kept behind the bushes which were very plentiful, but low. Colonel Bell became quite restless and wanted me to shoot a very large buck whose horns. I yet believe were between six and seven feet long. He insisted that I could kill him, but I told him to wait until the elk passed over the top of the ridge of the next hill, and in this way we would be able to get quite near them. "So we sat still and watched them, until the last elk had passed over the hill ; we then broke and ran down the hill and up the other as fast as we could. It was agreed that I should make the first shot, at a doe, for at that season the bucks were not good to eat. Upon arriving at the top of the hill, we crouched down in a stooping position. I saw some of the elks not over twenty-five yards from me, with the large buck I spoke of not over thirty yards from me. I was tempted to break the arrangement entered into and shoot him, and I have regretted ever since that I did not, for it was the only chance I ever had of shooting such a monster of a buck. However, I kept the agreement, and looking around 874 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI I saw a large doe about sixty yards from me, so I determined to shoot her; I up with my rifle and fired, and at the report of my gun the elks collected in a body and made off, slowly at first. Bell and Harris ran up and fired at the group which was crowded into a little steep hollow so it was impossible to miss, for you could not see the ground for a space of twenty yards square where the crowd of elks were, and not over sixty yards from us. They began to realize what the difficulty was and away they went at a full run. We concluded to run over the next hollow and get on the other hill to see what they would do. In running over the hollow I discovered a doe elk lying down with her leg under her. I stopped long enough, to turn her over on her side and plunge my butcher knife into her breast. The blood flowed as it would from a stuck beef. I then ran on and overtook the other two men, and after watching the gang going about a mile and a half we returned to the two does we had killed. The one I had shot lay down in the branch about a hun dred yards from the other. It was very lucky that I stopped long enough to stick the other doe, for upon examination we found that Harris had shot her in the big bone of the neck and had only made a small hole in it, from which she had bled very little and the shot had only stunned her for a few moments ; and upon recovery, if I had not stabbed her, she would have jumped up and run off, but the stab had saved her to us. We skinned the two does and cut off as much of the best meat as we wanted and returned to camp where we salted the meat on the hides. The next morning we made a scaffold and laying the meat on small sticks built a fire under it and dried it. We also stretched the hides and dried them. A Supper on Marrow. "I remember one mess we had that first evening at the camp. I cut out six or eight of the large bones of the elk and threw them on the fire, letting them roast well; we then broke them and filled a tin cup with marrow, salted it, and ate very heartily. "The third day after killing the elks we broke up our camp and started homeward. In passing along near some timber we saw a small buck deer standing about a hundred and fifty steps from us. I said to the others that I could kill him from where I was ; they said it was. too far for a sure shot. I answered that I would show them. So jumping down off of my horse I fired off-hand. The buck ran about seventy or eighty yards and fell dead. We took his hide which was a fine one, leaving his carcass where he fell. After riding four or five miles we discovered two buck elks feeding very contentedly on the prairie about three-quarters of a mile distant. We passed on to the right until we came to the head of a branch that led down near the elk. We got down on the branch and knew by some trees which we had notched, that the elk were not far from us. We hobbled our horses,— a common thing when we left them for any time, — and proceeded cautiously to the top of a high prairie. We soon saw the two elks, one of which was very large, the other a size smaller. We agreed upon our course of action. We crawled abreast close together, and on getting in what we considered short range for, our rifles, we sat up and rested our guns on our knees; I was in the center and was to shoot the large elk; Bell was to shoot the small one. We were within two feet of each other and it was understood that when I gave the click or whistle all were to fire. Giving ample time for preparation I gave the signal and we all fired at once, or rather attempted to, for my gun snapped tir missed fire. The others fired together. I ran about fifteen yards to where the elks were passing over a short hollow. Soon as they reached the high ground they stopped in good range, but my gun again missed fire. On examination I fou^ that the flint had broken or melted nearly off. When I shot the last buck the flint snapped off about half way to the jaws of the hammer and I had failed to notice it. By this accident or blunder we lost the big elk and probably both, for the little one we thought was wounded, but it kept up with its mate which seemed a kind of a leader. Bees and Bears. "In the spring of 1820, in company with my oldest brother, Benjamin, I started on the first of March with the intention of finding some bees, which were very plentiful. We MIGHTY HUNTERS OF MISSOURI 875 took some corn for our horses, intending fo camp out for two or three nights. The day we started was very beautiful until the middle of the afternoon, at which time we had found seven bee trees in the forks of a creek called Turpin's branch, where there was plenty- of timber. We had become separated, depositing our camp equipment on the banks of the creek before starting to prospect. The wind in the middle of the afternoon began blowing very high from the northwest, and it turned so cold that the bees quit working. "I started north to gain some information of the country, never having been in that part before. I had eight or ten dogs with me, though I could not depend on but one to start a bear. The rest would run bear well enough when started, but they would also run wild cats, deer and turkeys well, of which there were plenty. However, the dogs were brought along in the hopes of starting a bear. After going about two miles I came to a thicket in the forks, which was about such an one as a bear would likely stay in. Finding a very dense part of the thicket I called my start dog, Ring, intending to set him out to hunt through and keep the rest of the dogs behind me. On calling the dog which was behind me, a large bear that had been lying within twenty yards of me, ran out over a small branch. The bear kept up the branch and I, keeping her in sight, ran up the side of the branch with the dogs all running after me, but yet they had not seen anything of the bear. At last we came to an open prairie and I was within fifty steps of the bear.' The dogs seeing her broke for heir with all speed,' and as the foremost dog came up the bear stopped in the open prairie, and in a few moments a fight was begun between all the dogs and the bear. The mare I was riding was untrained and would not go near. After trying to ride her up, I jumped off and tried to lead her near enough to shoot the bear, but she would not go. Hearing one of the dogs hallooing for help, I let the mare go and ran up and shot the bear in the breast, the powder burning her, the shot killing her instantly. Examining the dog which I heard yelping for help, I found the bear had caught him by the head with its teeth, one of the teeth piercing his eye-ball, bursting it. A Pack Load of Bear Meat. "After the fight was over I looked for my mare, but she was nowhere to be seen. I found her track and following it for about a mile and a half I found her hung by the bridle in some shrubs. I mounted and ran her at full speed back to the place where the bear was lying, hoping it would gentle her, but not so ; I could not lead her within twenty yards of the carcass. I then jumped down, pulled off my leather hunting shirt, -tied the sleeves around her neck so as to let the body of the coat hang in front of her eyes and while thus blinded I dashed her over gopher hills until she would stand still wherever I would leave her. I then skinned the bear down each side and broke its back, cut off its head and neck, so as to lighten the load as much as possible, for I think it weighed 500 pounds. "It was a solitary situation after all, as I was alone in the open, prairie, with a wild mare fifteen hands high and the sun almost down, with over two miles to the camp through a strange country. I led the mare up by the bear, unbuckled the stirrup leather on the left side and let it down on the ground. I then got down and put my shoulder under the bear where the back was broken, took hold of the stirrup leather and climbed up hand over hand until I stood straight with the bear on my shoulder, which was a considerable task, as I was six feet three inches high. I then shoved one-half of the animal over the saddle, slipped my arm out and adjusted it in the saddle as well as I could. After this I took my rifle and jumped on the mare and rode off with her still blindfolded. After riding this way about half a mile I got into the timber. It was now getting dark, and I began getting cold with nothing on my shoulders but a shirt, so I reached down and untied my hunting shirt and pulled it off the mare's eyes. She scared a little, but the weight on her being at least 700 pounds she concluded to get along as easily as she could. "At last I rode up to the camp where brother Ben had a good fire. I handed him my gun and jumped down, when he looked astonished and said, 'How did you get that huge animal on the mare?' I replied, 'I got it on like the fellow got the hen off the nest, by main strength and awkwardness, and did it on open prairie.' Well,' said he, 'I would never have 876 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI undertaken the job, but you were made for such feats as no common man could have done what you did.' - "We took the bear, got some scaly bark, and Ben held the light until I skinned it and cut it up. There were at least four inches of fat on the ribs. The next morning I told brother Ben that we would go back to the thicket where I found the -bear. So we went back and, while we were riding through the thicket, one of the unruly dogs (Tige) took off after a turkey which flew up near us. After the dog had been gone some little time I heard him barking. 'Ah !' said I, 'that turkey has lit in some of those saplings,' — for I could see there were no trees where he was barking. Soon I heard another dog barking at the same place, and then I heard the old start dog, who never lied, give tongue. They were in a detached thicket on the bank of a prong of the branch. "I jumped down, took Ben's rifle, gave him my horse to- hold, and with a rifle in each , hand started across a small prairie bottom between two thickets. When I got about half-way across I saw a bear aiming to cross the little prairie below me. I drew up my rifle, and as the bear ran past me I fired and broke one of her shoulders, when she turned into the branch. The dogs were all around her. I picked up Ben's rifle which I had lain down when I fired my own, and ran to the branch and fired, killing the bear. We then pulled her out of the branch, skinned her, cut her in quarters, and laid the skin on some bushes to dry. "I had observed another branch about half a mile north of us, and I said to Ben: 'Let us go up to that branch and see what sort of a place it is, while the bear skin is dry ing.' On arriving at the branch the same dog that had run after the turkey and found the bear that I had just killed, set off after another turkey that flew up at the edge of the brush. 'Now,' said I, 'it may be that Tige will find another bear.' He had been gone but a few moments when I heard him bark, and then another and yet another until all the dogs had joined in the barking. "We rode out to the edge of the brush and took up the prairie until we got ahead of the dogs, when I dismounted, handed Ben my bridle and took his gun. Then I ran into the thicket, which was narrow at that place, took my stand and awaited the slow coming of the dogs. On their approach, I saw a monstrous bear, the largest I had ever seen, . coming slowly towards me, throwing his head first to one side, and then to the other, trying to keep off the dogs which were all around him. When within twenty or thirty steps of me the bear sat down. I laid Ben's gun on the ground and shot at the bear with my own gun. He got up at the shot, walked down a small descent and sat down again, with his breast towards me. I then raised Ben's gun, which carried a smaller ball than mine, and took aim at his heart, but the dogs pressing so close on his sides made him keep his head in - constant motion to keep them off, and as I fired his head came in the way, and the ball struck him in the nose, which made him snort and charge around at a terrible rate. I then reloaded my gun, and as he stood broadside to me, shot him through the heart. He certainly was the largest animal of the bear kind I ever saw, and I yet think he would have .weighed 600 pounds. He had eight inches solid fat on the ribs. "We skinned and quartered him, carried him to our camp, then carried in the she bear we had killed on the branch, hung up all our meat, went home after a wagon, and hauled home about sixteen hundred pounds of the finest meat I ever saw in one heap. We for got the bees and made a bear hunt of it that time, although we afterwards camped at the same place and got a barrel of honey. A Hunt for Young Elks. "In May, 1822, James Leeper, Henry Ashby and myself started with four milch cows and calves, intending to catch young elks. The first day while driving along a high prairie ridge we saw a large red buck on a low bottom near a branch, feeding quietly about a half. mile distant. I told the boys to stay there and I would go and try to kill him. I left my horse for them to bring on as the deer was on the way we were going. I went down the side of the ridge out of sight of the deer, and went behind the ridge and- crept up in close shot of him, about sixty yards. The buck having lain down I stamped the ground until he arose, when I shot him, and he ran some seventy or eighty yards and fell dead. MIGHTY HUNTERS OF MISSOURI 877 "I was behind the ridge from my companions when I shot and when they came up they exclaimed that it was the 'best shot they had ever seen.' 'Nothing extra,' said I. Why,' said one, 'the deer was over one hundred yards away from you and running as fast as he could, and you brought him down at the crack of the gun. Do you not call that an extra shot?' I then understood it. The distance to them was so far that they did not hear the report of the gun until they saw the buck fall. This explained it. The buck was fat and we skinned him, taking the greater part of him with us. The next day as we were going through a large prairie, we saw a buck lying on a hillside, and I said I could kill him from where we were. The others thought it too far. I jumped off my horse and sat down in the grass and shot off of my knee. At the crack of my rifle, which carried a half-ounce ball, the deer kicked over. We went over to skin it and while there we discovered a bear coming toward us. The other two proposed that they would run it on their horses, as it was some distance to the timber. I told them that I would not run my horse after it, but as it was coming toward us and had a large hollow to cross, I would go and try to get a shot at it, and they might run it as much as they wanted to. When I saw the bear was coming toward us, I went to the top of the ridge and waited until it' came within about eighty yards of me, when I gave a sharp whistle, at which it stopped and I fired. At the shot he ran about ioo yards up the creek and fell. The boys had in the meantime stripped their horses of all their baggage and were mounted ready for the race; at the crack of the rifle, here they came at full speed. I pointed up the branch the way the bear had run and away they went until they came to the top of the ridge that overlooked all thc ground about them, stopped, looked every way but saw no bear. After muttering awhile they turned and rode slowly back to me, where I was reloading my rifle. 'You stopped the race, didn't you?' said one of them. 'Ah,' said I, 'I did not like to see you run your horses.' We then went down to the bear, which was a two-year-old in good order. A Hospital in the Woods. "The third day we got to a grove on a small branch which to this day is called Henry's grove. We remained here ten days finding plenty of old elks, but no fawns, as we were too early. We decided to remain there until we could get fawns, but my brother, Henry Ashby, was taken violently ill with bilious fever. I saw he was going to have a bad spell, his fever depriving him of his reason. I got Leeper to go home, some eighty mile's, and bring a wagon in which to haul brother Henry home, I happened to have a thumb lance in my pocket and when the fever would get very high I would bleed him freely in the arm, which had a tendency to allay the fever. I spent as lonesome nights as any poor fellow ever did. There lay my brother out of his head; I had no person to speak to and did not know what moment he might die. I shall never forget those lonely nights. In fact I would have been glad to have seen the wildest Indian come to my camp. The ground had got so hard that I made a cot for my brother out of a bear skin, by driving down four forks and placing poles in them, and with bark lashed in between these poles I stretched the bear skin and made' a very comfortable cot, which afforded brother Henry great relief. "There was a very small bluish opossum that lived in a hollow hickory tree about forty yards from my camp, that would come creeping up to the camp once or twice a day to get some bacon rinds I would throw him. He would look at me very cunningly and walk to the rind cautiously, pick it up and retrace his steps slowly to his hole, where he would eat the meat skins. "One day before Henry was taken sick I walked up a bushy ridge. It was slowly raining, and while I walked along I espied before me a huge bear, coming directly toward me. I jerked my rifle up to my face and just then the bear discovered me and, raising on his hind feet he stood as straight as a man. I drew my sight at his side and fired. He let himself down, ran some sixty yards and fell dead. When I came to him I found he was poor, with his skin a yellowish color, and for some reason smelt bad. The carcass was utterly worthless. "While Leeper was gone I concluded to milk one of our cows that we had with us, but having never done such a thing I feared I would make a failure Leeper and my brother were both good milkers and attended to that work, but though I could not milk, 878 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI yet I was very fond of the milk, and so one morning I decided to milk at least our gentlest cow. So I took the bridle which had steel bits and a small tin bucket and went out to the pen where we had them. I had one old cow that I knew was quite gentle, so I let her calf out. of the pen, and while it was sucking put the bridle about its neck and pulled it away, fastening it to a bush. I then began milking, but I suppose I squeezed the old cow's teat the wrong way, as she kicked the tin bucket, nearly filled with milk, out of my hand.. This vex>ed me so that I took the bridle from the calf and struck the cow a hard blow with it, doing no damage except to break the steel bits in two. I gave up the milking business in disgust. "On the third day Leeper returned with a wagon, in which he had a bed and bed clothing. I was very glad to see him, for I had not slept an hour during the three nights he was absent. "The next morning by sunrise we started home, traveling as fast as the team could stand, and on the second day got to my house, where we found Dr. Folger awaiting our arrival. He had with him jugs, mugs and bottles, but whether they did any good- or not, Henry soon recovered, with no serious results except to have spoiled our elk hunt." Land of the Bee Trails. "The Forks" of Grand river was a country abounding in wild honey. When the first frosts came, people living along the Missouri river put barrels and buckets into their wagons and started up the Grand river valley for the annual harvest of sweetness. So many of them came that they made roads which were known as "bee trails." Arriving at the Forks the hunters went into camp and remained until their barrels were full. One party told of finding six trees within 300 feet of their camp on West Grand river. In a single day they filled their barrels and had fifty gallons left over. They made a trougfi for the surplus, covered it with another trough and buried the honey in the ground, in tending to come after it in the spring, but did not return. The finder of a bee tree cut his initials on it, or made his mark with notches. That established ownership. To cut down a bee tree thus claimed was no better than theft. The trees yielded from one to twenty quarts of honey. The best bee story told in Macon county came from the experience of Wil liam Morrow, from whom Morrow township derived its name. Mr. Morrow was riding in the Chariton bottom when he came on an unusually fine swarm of bees hanging to the limb of an elm. He had plenty of bees at home but he could not resist the temptation and let this swarm escape him. Without any thing of ordinary character in which to carry the bees, Mr. Morrow hit upon an extraordinary expedient. He stripped himself- of his trousers, tied the bottoms of the legs together, held the seat open and gently lowered the branch to which the bees were attached into the trousers. Then he closed the waistband and carried the bee's home. Coming of the Bees. A story told of Madame Chouteau is that she received a present of a comb of honey from a friend in Kaskaskia. At that time bees were not known in St. Louis. Madame Chouteau, with her usual enterprise, made inquiries as to the manner in which the honey was produced. She was told that the bees were a kind of fly. Thereupon she sent a faithful negro man to Kaskaskia with a small box in which to bring a pair of the bees that she might raise others and MIGHTY HUNTERS OF MISSOURI 879 produce honey. John Bradbury, the scientist, heard this story in St. Louis in 1810. He says before 1797 bees were scarcely known west of the Mississippi but in 1811 the. wild swarms had spread as far west as si*hundred miles up the ^Missouri from St. Louis. The Indians had a theory that the bees preceded white settlements and that wherever the bees were found, white settlers might be expected shortly. Madame Chouteau was persistent. She did not rest satis fied until there were bees in her garden. She had the first colony in St. Louis. The "Yellow Boys" of Grand River. Honey was so plentiful in the Harrison county section of the Grand river country that it became a leading article of barter. The pioneers loaded a wagon with honey and beeswax and sent it eighty miles to Liberty to trade for coffee, tea, salt, calico and ammunition. Beeswax was made into cakes and given the name of "yellow boys." These cakes passed as currency among the settlers, usually on a basis of twenty-five cents a pound. It is tradition that occa sionally these beeswax cakes were adulterated. A settler came to trade one day and offered a beeswax cake, the corner of which broke off exposing a filling of tallow. His counterfeit was handed back to the settler who was boycotted by his neighbors, none of whom would handle his beeswax. Worse than that, the small creek on which the counterfeiter of beeswax lived was given the name of "The Tallow Fork of Beeswax." Of entirely different stripe were most of these Grand river settlers. When St. Joseph came into its own as a trading point, the settlers went there with their honey and beeswax and pelts. It was twenty-five miles nearer than Liberty. The Grand river currency soon established itself in the new trade center, and St. Joseph merchants came to have complete confidence in the settlers. In the days when Robert W. Donnell, afterwards a banker in New York, kept store in St. Joseph one of these Grand river settlers wanted more goods than the produce he had brought with him would cover. He said to "Bob" Donnell that if he would let him take the goods then he would agree to bring him at a cer tain time a barrel of honey. Donnell trusted the settler who told his wife of his good fortune and began to hunt for the honey. He had undertaken a contract that, as he went from hollow tree to hollow tree listening for the humming of bees, he found was going to be hard to fill. He kept up the search by moonlight. He got his barrel of honey but was so long about it that he could not get to St. Joseph until the time was up and that was on Sunday. As he entered the town and found the stores closed he made inquiry for Donnell and was told the merchant had gone to church. There the settler followed and entered just as the minister was beginning his sermon. He stood at the door and called out to the minister, "Halloo, stranger, will you just hold for a minute, I want to inquire if Bob Donnell is in the house." Donnell heard and walked to the door. The settler addressed him loudly, "Well Bob, I have brought you that barrel of honey." The authority for this Harrison county tradition adds: "At this every one in the house laughed, but the honest settler felt a proud consciousness of having made good his financial obligation that no mirth could remove. Since 880 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI that time the reputation of the Grand river settlers for promptness and the punctual performance of promises had been good." # The Export of Beeswax. In the Grundy county section of the Grand river country the export of beeswax became of such importance to the early settlers that whole neighbor hoods would join in bee tree hunts. For a considerable period, the beeswax was of more value than the honey. The method was to locate a hollow tree and listen to the buzzing. If this indicated a large colony of bees, the tree was cut down, the wax was squeezed out of the comb and the honey was allowed to run out on the ground. Large quantities of honey were left on the ground for the bees to gather and store in another tree. The wax was made into cakes of what became a standard size in the trade. These cakes were hauled tO various trading posts and used in barter for goods wanted by the settlers. Glasgow, Richmond and Brunswick were among the places to which the Grand river beeswax was taken for trade. Horses were scarce in the forties. These pioneers used oxen and the farmer of that generation prided himself on having yokes of oxen well matched. The departure of an ox team with a load of beeswax, pelts and vension for one of these Missouri river towns, perhaps one hundred miles away, was a great event for the neighborhood from which the start was made. The hogs intended for market were driven slowly behind the wagon and allowed to feed on acorns along the way. In good seasons they brought as much as two. cents a pound when they reached the market town. On the return trip the wagon brought a load of sugar, whiskey, turpentine, powder, tin cups and other household goods. From sixty to seventy-five cents a hundred was the rate for hauling these goods up the Grand river valley from Glasgow, Richmond and Brunswick. In Caldwell county there is a stream of water known as "Poor Tom's Creek." A party of honey hunters in the early days found an unusual number of bee trees. They had come a considerable distance from Ray county and were hungry for the sweet. One of them over-indulged and had an attack of what was then called "honey founder." He made so much disturbance through out the night that his father sat up with him, and as the young man groaned the father would say sympathetically, "Poor Tom." The other hunters were kept awake most of the night. They suggested a dose of turkey oil and" other remedies. But "Poor Tom's" suffering went on all night. In the morning he was better. When the party broke camp, somebody with a view to subse quent visits asked the name of the creek and was told it had never been named. "Well, let's call it 'Poor Tom's Creek,' and that was the christening. Secret of Honey Hunting. Sam Cole, the son of the historic Hannah Cole of Hannah's Fort had his own way of locating bee trees. He could find honey even in winter, when there was no buzzing to guide the hunter. On a Christmas day, Sam came to the camp of Joseph Stephens near what is now Bunceton and was invited to stay to dinner. He asked Mrs. Stephens if she had some honey and when she said she didn't Sam said he couldn't eat dinner without honey. Larry and MIGHTY HUNTERS OF MISSOURI 881 Joseph, two of the Stephens boys, with Basil, a negro, came in from cutting wood. Sam asked them to go with him and get some honey for dinner. They thought he was joking but finally agreed to go. Sam guided them out into the woods about six hundred feet and pointed to a tree to be cut down. There was nothing to indicate that it was a bee tree so far as the boys could tell, but they cut it down and found the hollow part filled with honey. While the boys were at work on the first tree Sam showed them another which turned out as well. The boys took back to the house six buckets of honey. And then Sam gave them the secret. He said the way was to examine carefully the ground at the bottom of a tree. If there were found small bits of bee bread, and, perhaps, a dead bee or two, that was a sure sign of a bee tree. The Stephens boys applied this rule and found thirteen bee trees in the immediate vicinity of their camp. It has been handed down as a family tradition that the Stephens family had as much as 400 pounds of honey at a time in their cabin. A Missouri Munchausen. Missouri hunting stories were marvelous enough without invasion of the realm of fiction, but General Amos Burdine of St. Charles county did not seem to think so. He lived on Dog Prairie. He said he shot a buck' one day and that the animal was killed so suddenly it did not fall down but remained standing until the general went up and pulled it over by the ear. He said he was on Cuivre river one day when he saw a fine deer across the river and a fine turkey sitting in a tree just over the deer. He had a single-barreled gun and wanted to get both the turkey and the deer; so he dropped another bullet into the gun, fired at the turkey and instantly dropped the barrel so that the other bullet brought dowri the deer. As he waded the creek to get his game, he caught a mess of fish in the seat of his trousers and went home with venison, turkey and fish. Another time, the general said he found himself out of bullets while hunting. He had in his pocket several shoemaker's awls. He dropped these into the gun and shot at three deer in a group. Two of the deer he killed and the third he pinned to a tree with one of the awls. This deer he took home alive. Burdine told of having killed one of the last of the buffaloes in Missouri. It was a cold day. He skinned the buffalo, rolled the fresh hide about him and took a nap. When he awoke the hide had frozen and the general was a prisoner until he rolled down hill and struck a warm spring which thawed him out. General Burdine once gave his theory as to the manner in which to survey the distance across Cuivre river. He said : "The surveyor first gets an obliga tion across the stream and sticks down his compass. Then he leanders up or down the river, as the case may be, and gits anuther obligation from that ; then he leanders back to the first obligation and works it out by figgers. It's simple enough, and I could do it myself, although I don't know a thing about figgers." Notwithstanding his inclination to romance, Burdine got the reputation of being a very successful hunter. His home was equipped with fur beds as well as fur clothing. He was so good a mimic of the screams of panthers and the howls of wolves that he used them to scare deer from the thickets and hiding places when he was hunting. He even deceived people with these imitations Vol. 1—56 882 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI and scared a party of hunters on one occasion so that they ran their horses from his vicinity. The story is told that the tremors from the New Madrid earthquake rattled' the boards on the roof of Burdine's' cabin in St. Charles so that the general thought the Indians were up there trying to get in. The gen eral aroused his sons and they fired through the roof until they riddled it. Burdine had a custom of branding his cattle in the forehead with a hot shoe hammer and when neighbors questioned him about the selection of this unusual place to apply ,the brand he told them that it kept the witches from killing the cattle.The Temptation of "Jimps." Uncle James Dysart of North Missouri was a famous hunter and at the same time a religious man. He would go out with the young fellows for a hunt but would insist on strict observance of the Sabbath. Uncle James had a son familiarly known as "Jimps," who inherited his father's love of the chase andi who became a widely known Presbyterian preacher. On one of the hunt ing trips Sunday came and Uncle James, as usual, conducted devotions. While his father's eyes were closed, Jimps heard the hounds give note of a trail. He believed he knew just where the deer would cross the branch and stole away leaving his father at prayer. There was the sound of a rifle. After awhile Jimps came back into camp and hung up on a limb a fresh saddle of venison. The father looked at him reproachfully and said: "Jimpsy! Jimpsy! Jimpsy!" "Father," said Jimps, "No deer is going to run over me in the path if it is Sunday morning." The story lived and followed the young preacher wherever he went. Setting sharpened stakes where the trails showed that deer jumped the fences was a way the boys had to secure fresh meat when age or scarcity of ammunition forbade the use of the rifle. It was effective, too. Many a supply of venison was laid in by this device which impaled the deer. Major William J. Morrow, an old settler of Macon, said that from the early frosts until springtime, his smokehouse was never without from two to six saddles of venison. Good Sport After a Century. Good hunting in Missouri has outstayed the century of statehood. At eighty- three years, Norman J. Colman was still taking his annual hunt. He had not missed the sport in forty years except for the four years he was secretary of agriculture at Washington. And he was still finding game in plenty. Along the Gasconade he had shot deer until about 1890. Then he had been in suc cessful drives on the Osage, and still later the sport was fine in Butler, Ripley, Oregon and adjacent counties. Mr. Colman said his party had never shot less than six deer on one of their hunts and from that the number had run up to fifteen in the two or three weeks given to the hunt. "Down on the borders of Arkansas," he said, "along the Black river, in the neighborhood of the Big Eddy, in the Irish Wilderness, everywhere there is game to be found, we have hunted. From what I hear about our old stamping grounds, the deer are MIGHTY HUNTERS OF MISSOURI 883 just as plentiful this fall as ever, and the game law is being observed in a way that will provide Missourians with lots of sport in the years to come." Sixty-five years of successful hunting nearly all of it in Missouri, Charles G. Gonter. veteran newspaper man, had to his credit. He had nature stories without number based on his experiences in the [Missouri woods. Once he was on a stand waiting for the hounds to bring a deer his way when a flock of wild turkeys came close by to feed on the grapes in a wild grape arbor. "I was just making up my mind that I would take a shot at the big gobbler, and also gather in some of the others so as to make sure of game even if the deer did not come my way. when that old gobbler did one of the most remark able things I ever saw.. The turkeys had eaten all the grapes on the ground and within reach on the vines, but apparently they were not satisfied. Mr. Gobbler looked about as if studying the matter over as to what he ought to do. He finally flew up into the grapevines, and almost immediately there was the greatest fluttering you ever heard. What do you suppose that gobbler was doing? He was in the thickest part of the grape bunches and beating them with his wings until he had knocked down more than enough for all of the birds he had with him. I was so amazed at it that I didn't think about shooting at them until they had had their fill and had flown away. I told you I didn't expect you to believe it but I saw it and I know it." MONUMENT ON THE PASEO AT KANSAS CITY 'In memory of August Eobert Meyer, first president of Park Commission of Kansas City' CHAPTER XXVIII THE MAKING OF A CITY Westport, Landing— Pioneer McCoy's Recollections— A Germination That Was Unique- Kansas City Just Sixty-five Years Ago— The First Business Review— Wonderful Stride of a Four-Year-Old— As a Woman Saw the Bluffs— The Year of the Boom— Specula tive Conditions Without Precedent— And Then the Days of Depression— After that Rational Philosophy — Two Pillars of Lasting Prosperity— Packing House and Park System— Amazing Sights in the Bottom— Fascinating Scenes on the Bluffs— A Remi niscence of "P. D."— Beginning of Boulevards— Topographical Eccentricities— "Little Hyde Park, a Primary Lesson"— Policy of Maximum Frontage— The Financial Plan —Years of Legislation and Litigation — Defeat of the First Project— The Taxpayer Converted— Penn Valley and Roanoke Park— The Problem of Cliff Drive— Gillham Road and the Kessler Idea — Natural Grades Disturbed as Little as Possible — Effect. on Population and Values — The Kansas City Principle of Assessments — Cost and Profit — Congestion Banished — Development of the Playgrounds — What Recreation Centers Have Done for Neighborhoods — Effect of the System, on Expansion — A Gridiron of Boulevards — Kansas City by Night — Standard of Residential Architecture Raised — The Local Nomenclature — Ambassador Bryce on Swope Park — Thomas H. Benton's Prophecy — Kessler on the Ideal City Plan — The Community United — Kansas City Still in the Making — Epics in Prose and Rhyme. You have developed a site of natural charm into a beautiful city. * * * If I conclude to write a book on American cities I will get my inspiration from this beautiful city of yours. — James Bryce, Ambas sador to the United States from Great Britain. The first -paper read before the Old Settlers Historical Society in 1871 was by John C. McCoy. It described the site and the beginning of Kansas City : "A clearing or old field of a few acres lying on the high ridge between Main and Wyandotte, and Second and Fifth streets, made and abandoned by a mountain trapper. A few old, girdled, dead trees standing in the field, surrounded by a dilapidated rail fence. Around on all sides a dense forest, the ground covered with impenetrable brush, vines, fallen timber and deep, impassable gorges. A narrow, crooked roadway winding from Twelfth and Walnut streets, along down on the west side of the deep ravine toward the river, across the public square to the river at the foot of Grand avenue. A narrow, difficult path, barely wide enough for a single horseman, running up and down the river under the bluff, winding its way around fallen timber and deep ravines. An old log house on the river bank at the foot of Main street, occupied by a lank, cadaverous, specimen of humanity, named Ellis, with one blind eye and the other on the lookout for stray horses, straggling Indians and squatters, with whom to swap a tinciip of whisky for a coonskin. Another old, dilapidated log cabin below the Pacific depot. Two or three small clearings and cabins in the Kaw bottom, now called West Kansas City, which were houses of French mountain trappers. The rest of the surroundings was the still solitude of the native forest, unbroken only by the snort of the darting deer, the barking of the squirrel, the howl of the wolf, the settler's cow-bell and mayhap the dist-ant baying of the hunter's dog, or the sharp report of his rifle. 887 888 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "The treaties between the United States government and the Osage and Kansas Indians, ratified in 1825, extinguished the Indian title to all the country lying in Western Missouri, and what is now the State of Kansas, except the reservation for these two tribes situated in the latter state. These treaties opened the border counties lying in Missouri territory for the settlements of the whites, and the people were not slow to avail themselves of the privilege. Consequently in 1825 the first settlers entered this county. "Fort Osage (Sibley), situated on the river near the northeast corner of the county of Jackson, was established in 1803 by Meriwether Lewis, the first governor of Louisiana after its purchase, and continued as a military and trading post until the country was settled. Before 1825, Francis Chouteau, father of P. M., and brother of Cyprien Chouteau, both now of Kansas City, had a trading post on the south bank of the river about three miles below the city. In 1826 every vestige of his improvements was swept away by the great flood which occurred in the Missouri river that year. This flood made a clear sweep of all the improvements situated in the bottoms, but was no higher, than that of 1844-r- and this reminds me that perhaps P. M. Chouteau, the present city collector, is the oldest resident, still living, in this county, although not an old man. The county seat was located, and the town of Independence begun in 1827. When I passed through the town four years afterward, the square was thickly studded with stumps of trees. Westport was laid off into lots in 1833, J. C. McCoy, proprietor. Westport Landing was situated about three miles north of the town, on the river, and has grown to be a place of considerable importance. A town was laid off there which was named Kansas City first in the year 1839, but the proprietors of the ground disagreed in some particulars and the town made but little progress until 1847, when it was laid out on a larger scale a second time (not with a grapevine), since which time it has been increasing with varying prospects." Archives of the Missouri Valley Historical Society establish quite clearly that Kansas City did not receive its title from either the territory Or the state of that name. The settlement was at first "The Town of Kanzas"; next, "The City of Kansas," and finally "Kansas City." What is now the state of Kansas was a part of Nebraska territory when "The Town of Kanzas" had"its begin ning. "Kawsmouth" was the name bestowed by the early and unofficial geog-' raphers on the group of cabins in what is now "West Bottoms." Kansas City's Unbounded Faith in 1857. Albert D. Richardson, in his "Beyond the Mississippi," pictured Kansas City as he saw it in 1857. He traveled to Jefferson City by rail and from there by boat, the journey requiring two days. "Kansas City perching on a high bluff, commanding a fine view of the river for miles below, was a very important point— in a neck-and-neck race with Leavenworth and St. Joe for the rich prize of the great commercial metropolis of the Far West. In front of the town the broad bowldered landing sloping down to the water's edge presented a con fused picture of immense piles of freight, horse, ox and mule teams receiving, merchandise from the steamers, scores of immigrant wagons, and a busy crowd of whites, Indians, half- breeds, negroes and Mexicans. "There were solid brick houses and low frame shanties along the levee, and scat tered unfinished buildings on the hill above, where 'the Grade' was being cut fifteen or twenty feet deep, through abrupt bluffs. Carts and horses wallowed in the mud of these deep excavations; and the houses stood trembling on the verge as if in fear of tumbling over. Drinking saloons abounded, and everything wore the accidental, transition look of new settlements. "But there was much stir and vitality, and the population, numbering two thousand, had unbounded, unquestioning faith that here was. the city of the Future. A mile and a half from the river building lots one hundred feet by fifty were selling at from $300 to THE MAKING OF A CITY 889 $700. Lots three blocks from the landing commanded $1,000, and a single warehouse on the levee rented for $4,000 per annum." Of the original thirteen Kansas City townsite owners in 1838, sons or daughters of three were still living in the city in 1920, They were the descend ants of John C. McCoy, John Campbell and Jacob Ragam This was the record as kept by Mrs. Nettie Thompson Grove, secretary of the Missouri Valley His torical Society. In the hall of the Missouri Valley Historical Society hang the portraits of "The Fighting Ragans." Jacob Ragan, one of the original thirteen townsite in corporators of Kansas City, was a soldier in the War of 1812. His father was a soldier in the Revolution. Stephen Carter Ragan was in the Confederate army. Stephen H. Ragan was in the Spanish-American war. Walter and Ste phen Ragan were in the World war. The Germination of Kansas City. Kansas City had its germination after a manner wholly its own. Its be ginning was a first movement of the get-together spirit which has been char acteristic of the community and to which it owes its greatness. "You see," said Dr. W. L. Campbell, born in Westport, son of the commo dore of a fleet of prairie schooners which navigated the Santa Fe Trail in 1855, "Kansas City didn't originate as a country crossroads town .with a store and a blacksmith shop and a couple of houses. It missed that sort of history which attaches to most frontier towns. Standing here at the junction, it was always a wholesale center, not just a growing retail town. Rents were high, too. What a rent Colonel Titus must have paid for his gambling house — a big three-story place furnished like a palace, down at Main street and the Alton tracks ! "There's another thing," Dr. Campbell went on, talking to the Star reporter, some years ago. "This never was known as Westport Landing. That's an erroneous impression that has gotten abroad. It was Kansas City. That's the way the founders named it. The founders, fourteen of them, met in the tavern of William D. Evans, Lot 1, Block 1, Old Town, — that's the germinal lot of Kansas City. That's where the town was born really. There the tavern stood on the southeast corner of Main street and the Levee. It ought to be marked. One-eyed Ellis was the chairman of the meeting. That was his only claim to celebrity, too, except that he sold remarkably bad whisky to the Indians." Kansas City, Just Sixty-five Years Ago. What Kansas City was in 1855 and how it had grown in four years, the Journal of Commerce told in May, 1859. The retrospect was presented with that spirited humor and community pride characteristic of Kansas City news papers from the beginning: "In October, 185S, when we first took charge of this paper, there was a population of 478, all told, within the city. The levee consisted of a 'chute' dug in the bank in front of the warehouses of W. H. Chick & Co. and McCarty & Buckley. The Eldridge house (now old Gillis House) ground entrance was in the present second story, .and the only rtreet in the 'city' was a common country road, which wound round the bluff into the 890 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI ravine below Market street (Grand avenue), and followed the windings until it struck the divide south of McNees' mill. The principal products of the- city were dog fennel and Jamestown weed. "The business consisted solely of the Santa Fe shipping trade and the like business for the annual trains of the mountain men and Indian traders. The local trade was carried- on principally with the Wyandotte Indians and the people living in the classic shades of 'Gooseneck.' "The city authorities consisted of mayor, our present active officer, assisted by a board of city fathers, who had the delectable task of disposing of the contents of an empty treasury at the rate of $0.00 per day. The august assemblage was waited upon in the real Kentucky style of doing the dignified, by ex-Marshal .Howe, who carried the financial budget of the city in his hat. "It was thus we entered the campaign of 1856. At this date, Michael Smith, street contractor, had straightened the river end of the road into Market street, and under one of the cornfield engineers, of whom we have had such bright examples, had commenced excavating at the bottom of the ravine on Main street — but still there was no street. "In 1856 a brief season of activity set in which was soon stopped by the frosts of the Kansas troubles, which paralyzed all business and enterprise and stagnated every branch of trade. This state of affairs continued until the close of the season, and when the spring of 1857 opened there had been but little if any real advances made in the city. "The bluffs still towered over the landing ; no streets were cut through ; no cross streets were contemplated. Under all these depressing circumstances, with no foreign capital to assist us, with active competition above, below and behind us, with an empty exchequer and no resources from which to replenish it to any extent, our citizens boldly entered upon a system of improvements of a magnitude never equaled by any city built in the world. It is now twenty-four months since the work begun, eight of which were closed to operations by frosts of winter and twelve of them under the financial pressure occasioned by the crisis of 1857, and what is the result? "A city of eight thousand inhabitants, a list of mercantile houses surpassing that of any Missouri river town, a trade larger than any city of her size in the world; with four streets cut through the bluffs, cross streets opened and opening for eight squares from the river; a whole town built up outside of her original limits (McGee's addition), containing the longest continuous block of buildings west of St. Louis; an entire new business locality excavated out of the bluff, and built up with solid and substantial buildings in the center of the city ; the crest of our 'seven hills' covered with private residences ; roads constructed into the interior, and the best levee on the Missouri river. All this has been done since the first day of May, 1857, without a dollar of outside capital to assist us; and with the money made by the business of the city itself. "We will have in operation in a short time a bank with a capital of $250,000, and before August a second with like capital; insurance offices that do a' larger business than any institution of the kind in the upper country; a city treasury able by the present assessment to pay every dollar held against it; private bankers that have their drafts honored in any city of the Union or Europe, and a solid and substantial mercantile credit from Boston to New Orleans.'' " , Such was Kansas City's first wonderful stride in municipal progress. A Woman's First Impression. Her first impression of Kansas City, as she saw it in 1857, Mrs. Percival Gaugh, widow of the pioneer architect, gave a newspaper man in 1897: "Well, when I landed from the boat and gazed at the frowning bluffs, I thought it was the most forlorn and uninviting spot I had ever seen. The levee was crowded with white covered wagons, to which were harnessed the most dimunitive mules,' while the hideous faces of the Mexican 'greasers' made me shudder. There was HOME OP JAMES M6GEE, FIEST BEICK HQUSE IN JACKSON COUNTY KANSAS CITY IN 1852 THE MAKING OF A CITY 893 only one road that led up to the top of the bluff. The first house that I lived in was on the bluff overlooking the river, and we climbed up there on long steps. My only neighbor was Mrs. Chouteau, who had lived on the frontier all __ her life and seemed quite contented. I wondered what Mr. Gaugh would ever accomplish in his profession here. It surely would be many years before a building of any size would be built. But it was not long before I was sur rounded with neighbors, avenues were opened, stores began to multiply, churches were erected and the dream of the Kansas City enthusiast seemed a fixed fact. Then the war came on and there was a gloomy outlook for a few years, but when it ended houses sprang up as if by magic, hills and hollows began to dis appear and the whole contour of the city soon changed." The Year of the Whereas. About 1 891 an expressive phrase was coined to meet a situation in Kansas City almost without a parallel. Somebody inquired after the financial standing of John Smith. "John Smith ?" somebody else replied. "Oh, he is a 'whereas.' " The phrase was in common use. A whereas was a man who had had a mortgage on a piece of real estate foreclosed. Sales as advertised under the mortgage began, "Whereas, John Smith, by his certain deed of trust," and so on and so on. The man who had become a whereas had no occasion to feel lonesome in Kansas City. There were many "whereases." For Kansas City was going through the process of settlement after one of the greatest real estate booms in the history of this country. In the winter and spring of 1887 the transactions were enormous. Kansas City had 1,500 real estate agents. Everybody dabbled in the business. Fifty dollars capital was enough to begin with. Options flew about thicker than snow- flakes. Who would sit on a stool and add up long columns of figures, sell goods behind a counter or drive a street car when there were hundred dollar snaps to be picked up every day? Speculation was in the air. The city had gone mad. "If you went around to a lawyer's office to see him about a case the chances were you found his head was full of some real estate deal," said ex-Senator Warner. Everybody caught it, and almost everybody "caught on" for more or less profit. But in May and June of 1887 the speculative, demand began to diminish. In July the real estate market of Kansas City was dead. People who held property encouraged each other by saying: "This is only the summer dullness." They forgot that the fever had run its course through the previous years without regard to seasons. In August there was general anticipation that the coming of President Cleveland would be the signal for the revival of the boom. But October brought a crowd without any interest in corner lots. The winter opened and still there was no real estate market. The sanguine said: "It will be all right in the spring." But it wasn't. The year of '88 wore away, and then another and another without any more boom. There is nothing in the history of speculation quite like this stand against adversity made by Kansas City real estate holders. Rents fell off. A building which was good for an income of $24,000 during the boom was doing well if it held up to $17,000. With each succeeding six months the meeting of the inter est on mortgages became more difficult. These were the best nien of Kansas City 894 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI who then clung to their holdings, and wore themselves out waiting for the. up ward rise. If ever hope sprang eternal in the human breast it was right Tiere in Kansas City from '87 to '91. Ex-Mayor R. H. Hunt said that to him the most deplorable feature of the four years of hard times in Kansas City real , estate had been the spectacle of men heroically hdlding back the onward march of the sheriff's red flag. "The most enterprising and the most public spirited of our citizens," he said, "suffered most during this period. They refused to let go of property, and met their interest charges even while it was a certain loss to do so. They grew old and broken in carrying their burdens. When the Kansas City boom was in its wildest stage Matt St. Clair went abroad, leaving behind him this prophecy: "We've got a good many men in this city who think they are rich. I predict that when the winds blow next March there will be more ragged millionaires at the mouth of the Kaw than anywhere else on the continent." Mr. St. Clair miscalculated the nerve of his fellow-citizens. The boom collapsed. But the holders of alleged business prop erty still wanted as much for it as they did in 1887. The government bought a block of ground for a new Federal Building. The site was about three hundred feet square. The government paid $450,000 for the block. The Philosophical Spirit. Kansas City doesn't want another boom. Dr. Munford, at the time of the collapse, put it tersely : "The boom," said he, "brought an immense amount of money to Kansas City. It left us with magnificent buildings, paved streets and transportation facilities. But it was not a good thing for us. The city's true growth is where you find the banker in his bank, the attorney at his office, the merchant with his store; hot where everybody is wild over real estate. Kansas City ought never to think of another boom." The editor was philosophical and in a measure hopeful. "I think," he said, "we are going through the same process that all cities have to go through. We are settling down." Born of the boom's collapse was the indomitable spirit which led to the physical transformation of Kansas City. In those days of discouragement the movement for parks and boulevards received its early impetus. The fever comes and *ages. It burns itself out. A deadening chill ensues. The rally follows and the patient's condition is again normal. After delirium is depression, and after that health returns. Kansas City had her feverish dreams, and they were wild ones, as aspiring as her hills. Her plunge into despondency was like a slide down the bluff into a pall of smoke which hangs over the great network of railroad tracks in "the bottom" when the wind does not blow. And then Kansas City became normal. She was more than conva lescent. She was able-bodied. Sometimes a boy grows so fast it makes him weak. He has a tired feeling long before night. He wobbles after a short run. The watchful mother soaks the legs of such a boy in salt water before he goes to bed. She resorts to various measures to restrain nature's excess of zeal in building bone and tissue ahead of . the supply of nourishing blood. Kansas City overgrew until she, too, was weak. There was more city than the developing arteries of trade could supply with THE MAKING OF A CITY 895 vitality. It was necessary to stop and rest. But that period was fulfilled. Kansas City began to grow again. It wasn't a boom. If there was a word in the English language for which Kansas City had no further use it was "boom." As the reformed man referred to the time when he sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind, so Kansas City spoke of boom days, not boastingly nor yet with too poignant regret, but as an experience which had been a warning and was not to be repeated. How Kansas City Came into Her Own. Whatever the Kansas City seal is, it ought to show a steer and a pig rampant in a feed lot on the obverse and a fine collection of packing house products on its reverse. It ought to be the business of every public spirited citizen of Kansas City to see that the stranger within the gates goes through a typical packing house before he leaves town. A man may think he knows something of this industry from observations in other cities, but he is mistaken until he has visited the largest building in the world devoted to the livestock business and tramped over ninety acres of floors and followed a long legged, fifteen-year-old guide through countless doors, up and down stairways and along chutes and inclines by the mile, for three hours in an attempt to see it all. These packing house people are immensely fond of their plants, of the variety of their products, of the ingenious labor-saving contrivances, but more than all of the scrupulous cleanliness from bottom to top. My lady can see everything save the bloodletting — she will not care for that — from the live calf to the twenty varieties of soup, and she will not soil the hem of her garment. One great mistake Kansas City made in the days of her boom was in reach ing out for things other cities had, while she neglected things other cities had not, and which were hers by virtue of natural advantages. Her citizens decided they must have a Manchester, a Sheffield, and a Birmingham. The fact that the coal fields were many miles away and the ore still more remote did not deter. Having agreed that destiny would not be achieved until there were furnaces and rolling mills and foundries in the suburbs, the boomers proceeded to lay off sites, to erect buildings and to offer bonuses. Money was thrown away on such schemes and much good gray matter was exhausted in abortive plans to make of Kansas City what her location and surroundings never intended her to be. Had the energy and capital thus expended been directed to the upbuilding of industries in which Kansas City is now almost without competition, she would have been bigger than she is today. Kansas City is to be considered the natural center of the meat industries of the United States. She is an easy second to Chicago and year by year creeps closer to the first place. Chicago from the beginning has fostered her live stock arid packing interest in every way. To Kansas City the discovery of her posses sion of this trump card in the game of western cities has been almost a surprise. The development has come largely by force of circumstances, not altogether as the result of judicious and persistent encouragement. The impetus is not forced. It is natural, and nothing can prevent Kansas City from becoming the live stock market of this country. It is the center from which a radius of 250 miles sweeps 896 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI a meat-producing territory which has no equal, and will have none in generations to come. Amazing Sights of the Packing Houses. What sense is there in telling one that a Kansas City packing house has a capacity of so many thousand hogs a day, unless he can stand by the chute and- see the carcasses come up through a hole in the floor dangling by their hind legs to an endless chain — big hogs, little hogs^ and medium-sized hogs, coming into view at the rate of one every fifteen seconds? As they reach a certain height down they flop in quick succession between two black giants. A blow of the cleaver and they are in halves. Another blow and they are in quarters, going' in four different direction to as many tables and under the keen-edged knives. Down a half dozen chutes disappears the hog, divided into hams, shoulders, sides, jowls, feet and sausage meat. How without a visit to the room of the "silver churn" can any one appre ciate what it is to make 100,000 pounds of butterine in a day? One may think this is a queer kind of dairy, but the maids who wrap the rolls and prints and pats in the whitest of cloths are as plump as any who ever sat on a three-legged milking stool and counted her chickens before they were hatched. What's the use of kicking after seeing 2,000 gallons of genuine milk worked into the product to give it the true flavor? After seeing and smelling, the average man will take his bread thankfully and never ask what side of it is butterined. It is another sight to see printing presses which use paint instead of ink and sheets of tin instead of sheets of paper, putting on the brands before the cans and buckets are made. The automatic machines which do all but finish the little air-tight receptacles for the deviled and potted meats are interesting. And the comedy of all is furnished by the sausage stuffer. From the spout of the great tub of ground meat the sausage leaps half a dozen feet like a thing of life. It squirms and coils and wriggles as it passes through the deft fingers which divide it into links. To those who have never been withjn, a packing house is a packing house and nothing more. To those who know, it is where roast quail and roast plover are prepared, where beef is braised as well as dried, where bouillon is put up in jugs and lamb tongues in jars. It means canned meats as well as butterine and twenty kinds of soups. Starting in to kill chickens for soups, the packers gradually drifted into the business of killing and dressing chickens at the rate of many thousands a day. On the pay rolls of the packing companies of Kansas City are thousands of people. A better civil service system than the government has yet devised op erates in this army of employes. The doors are open to boys. Every year hun dreds are taken in. They are given a trial. If in twelve months they show capacity and ambition they are advanced. If they appear to be mere human machines, drudges or drones, they are promptly turned adrift. This is the principle which runs through the employment of all. It is a rigid application of the rule of the survival of the fittest. There is room near the top for every one who enters the service. KANSAS CITY AT AN EARLY DAY MAIN STREET, KANSAS CITY, IN 186 THE MAKING OF A CITY 899 A Reminiscence of "P. D," The packing district has its traditions. Time was when there were several members of the Armour family active in the conduct of the plant. Each Armour was known familiarly to employes by his initials. "P. D." was the head of the house. One day, in a distant city, he went into an exposition building and saw an array of exhibits from his Kansas City plant. A young woman demonstrator was giving samples of soup to a crowd. The old packer watched the process. Seeing he was not recognized he said to the young' woman : "It can't be very good or you wouldn't be giving it away." "We do that for humanity." was the quick reply. "H'm," commented Mr. Armour. "What's that?" he asked, pointing' to an enlarged autograph of his own signature over the booth. "That's Mr. Armour's signature," replied the demonstrator. "¦Why, I thought old Armour couldn't write," urged "P. D.," in apparent surprise. "Well, he's got brains," retorted the young woman. "If I had P. D.'s brains I wouldn't care whether' I could write or not." "P. D." smiled and passed on. In a few minutes the Rev. Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, who helped Mr. Armour find good ways to spend his money, came back to the booth and handed the young lady an envelope with a $50 bill and "P. D.'s" compliments. The packing house seen from the outside is not a thing of beauty. It is usually a growth. The visitor who looks down from the bluff at Kansas City upon the bottom may feel repelled by the lack of architectural symmetry. He sees a white city, but is depressed by the want of esthetic surroundings. Once within, the bad impression is lost in admiration for the utility of everything. Out of the stock yards rise by easy inclines the covered driveways. These go to each of the packing houses. Some of them cross the Kaw river. Others are elevated above the tops of the houses. Looking up a street in "the bottom" the visitor will see through the sides of the driveways the bunches of cattle moving slowly along hour after hour from the yards to the packing houses. At one place a driveway passes over not only the street car line, but the elevated road as well. With each bunch of cattle goes a driver. A complete record is kept of all the stock bought, and the meat in the carcass can be traced back to the ranch or range whence it was shipped. The Remaking of Kansas City. ¦ When, in 1893, Kansas City in earnest inaugurated the movement to estab lish a park and boulevard system the first park board said in the report to the city government : "There is not within the city a single reservation for public use. "There has been in our city thus far no public concession to esthetic con sideration. "It would be difficult to find anywhere a locality that can rival the topo graphical eccentricities of our city." This indictment was sweeping but the counts were almost literally true. There 900 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI had been some agitation of city improvement. There had been sporadic effort toward what might be called landscape treatment. Nothing had been accom plished. Overlooking the old Union depot site is a very high bluff. The top of this was a bare limestone cliff. Toward the base a steep slope was covered with broken rock and soil. Over the edge of the bluff at least two generations of householders had dumped cinders and refuse. The cliff was covered in places with signs either painted upon the rock or upon boards suspended from the upper edge. The slope was dotted with disreputable looking shanties front ing on narrow trails. Such was the face which Kansas City presented to every comer into the Union depot. The community took note of this condition. Some public spirited citizens asked George E. Kessler to design an improvement of this West Bluff in order that the city might present a better first appearance to the traveler. From the top of the Union depot the place was studied and sug gestions were put on paper. But the effort to redeem the West Bluff went no farther- until the general plan of the park and boulevard system was designed for the first park board in 1893. Then those early sketches were utilized to make the West Bluff what is now West Terrace. Before the general plan of a park and boulevard system was designed, Kansas City was given two object lessons in landscaping. One illustrated what could be done. The other demonstrated what was not adapted to local conditions. The latter was a restricted residence place, with gates at both ends, with lots facing upon a boulevard controlled by the lot owners. This form of improvement had shown its popularity in St. Louis and some other places. It met with no encour agement in Kansas City. The exclusiveness did not appeal to enough people to fill the first of these places and realty owners projected no new ones. Very different was the impression which "Little Hyde Park" made on Kansas City. On the South Side was a tract of ground lying well for residence pur poses except that near the center of it was a badly broken strip of a few acres. From the depression arose steep hillsides, in places showing the bare, ledges of limestone. The danger was that this piece of bad ground would become the nucleus of cheap improvements which would exercise a damaging influence on the prices and the settlement of surrounding plateaus. Several holders of the good ground combined, got control of the broken place, and asked Mr. Kessler to design a plan of treatment which would protect the whole neighborhood. The- result was the transformation of the ravine and its slopes into a narrow park two or three blocks long. The natural features, — the rock cliffs and the trees were preserved. Walks were laid out. Shrubbery was planted. Seats were furnished. Roadways were built close to the edges of the narrow park so that no houses'pre- sented their rears to it. The result was that both frontages on "Little Hyde Park" were taken quickly as especially attractive sites for homes of good class and the whole surrounding territory was made desirable for the better grades of improvements. In a modest and experimental way this improvement of one of many broken parts of Kansas City was the pioneer to the present system. Hyde Park was designed as a private enterprise about 1888. It was taken into the system and is today one of the many "eccentricities" of Kansas City topography which have been chained together by boulevards. These rugged places have been made little THE MAKING OF A CITY 901 park centers from two hundred to five hundred feet wide, increasing instead of endangering the desirability and value of all eligible residence ground near them. The miles of Gillham Road and the Paseo illustrate the influence of the "Little Hyde Park" object lesson. The first board of commissioners described very well the manner of growth -of Kansas City during the period when beautification was given very little thought. The board said, "Our better residences are largely planted in groups or colonies, on certain sightly streets and in particularly charming localities ; but these colonies have not spread out and have not grown together. Between them and around them there exists much land utilized for small residences, small stores and mis cellaneous purposes." The Pioneer Policy. Deliberate judgment of those who planned the original system was for small pafks, for long narrow parks. The policy was to obtain at the minimum of cost , the greatest possible length of park and boulevard frontage. Thereby the bene fits were generally distributed. The first board and the landscape architect believed that such a policy would bestow the greatest good on the greatest num ber of people. The Paseo, Gillham Road, the several parkways are illustrations of this pioneer park and boulevard policy. The first president of the first park board of Kansas City was a practical man with a vision. He was August R. Meyer. He continued to head the board nine years, until he died. His associates were Simeon B. Armour, Adriance Van Brunt, Louis Hammerslough, and William C. Glass. Fortunately for Kansas City, this board was not disturbed until its work was laid out and well under way. Admitting all that could be said of its ruggedness, Mr. Meyer saw great possibil ities in Kansas City's bluffs and valleys. In his first report he said : "Possessing an irregular and diversified topography that would lend itself readily to improvement under the hand of the landscape architect, and abounding within her own limits in charming and not infrequently beautiful spots, our city has not only so far failed to make use of these advantages, but, on the contrary, the desire on the part of the owners of the land to bring their lands into market has resulted in destroying much of the natural beauty of our city. Localities and land that possess natural beauty of a high order, and there are many such within the city, points that command rare and distant views into and beyond the great and fertile valley of the Missouri, are in the hands- of private in dividuals. Handsome cliffs and bluffs, interesting and charming ravines, characteristic of the country around us, and which under the treatment of the skillful landscape architect would be susceptible of inexpensive conversion into most valuable public reservations, because, by preserving in them features of great natural beauty, they would, in a measure, blend the artificial structure of the city with the natural beauty of its site, and at the same time would supply recreation grounds, are now themselves disfigured by shanties and worthless structures, and in turn exercise a depressing effect upon the value of adjoining- lands, better suited than they for private uses." Today Kansas City realizes, in the words of the landscape architect, Mr. Kessler, "that these very topographical eccentricities afforded the basis upon which to form her diversified system of parks and boulevards. The principle which was adopted in the very beginning was to follow nature as closely as possible, to adapt the planning to the natural conditions." 902 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI In his first report Mr. Meyer appealed to the moral sense of his fellow citi zens: "To make the most of life is the highest duty of the individual, and to permit and advance its fullest development and enjoyment is clearly the first and greatest duty of every municipal corporation towards its citizens. Life in cities is an unnatural life. It has a tendency to stunt physical and moral growth. The monotony of brick and stone, of dust and dirt ; the absence of colors with which nature paints; the lack of a breath of fresh air, write despair on many a face and engrave it upon many a heart. How is a poor man's boy to grow into a cheerful, industrious and contented man, unless he can play where, play alone is possible, — that is on the green turf and under waving trees, can take with him into man hood the recollections of an innocent, joyous boyhood, instead of the impressions of dirty, white-faced and vicious gamins, and their and his acquaintance with immorality and vice." Others who served on the park board during the trying years until the system was fairly in operation and showing its splendid results were Charles Campbell, Robert Gillham, William Barton, James K. Burnham, J. V. C. Karnes. The park board has had as presidents : J. J. Swofford from 1901 to 1904; Franklin Hudson from 1905 to 1908; A. J. Dean, in 1909; D. J. Haff from 1910 to 1912; Henry D. Ashley in the year 1912-13 ; Cusil Lechtman, 1913-14. 0 Years of Legislation and Litigation. Eight years of legislation and twelve years of litigation carried the park and boulevard system over the paper stage. Kansas City people were talking about parks and other public improvements in 1888. They formed a board oi free holders and submitted the draft of a new charter. The old charter dating back to 1875 was very restrictive; it tied the hands of the people. The new charter was submitted and defeated. Next year, in 1889, another trial was made and a new charter was adopted. It had an article on "parks," but that was not effective. At the next session of the legislature Kansas City tried to get a park law. But because the law was included in the revised statutes without a title it was declared unconstitutional in 1890. The next step was the formation of the Municipal Improvement Association of Kansas City in 189 1. Fifty public spirited citizens banded themselves to- , gether with August R. Meyer as president. The definite purpose was the "im provement of Kansas City." This body proposed amendments to the city char ter which were adopted in 1892. The first park board was appointed and entered upon an exhaustive study of the field. A report was made. It looked well on paper and was highly commended by the press. But the power to go, ahead with practical work was wanting. Kansas City could not issue any more bonds. The debt-making power of the city under the constitution of the state was exhausted and more. A judgment against the city had been obtained by the National Waterworks company for payment of the waterworks system. By the old contract the city had bound itself to reimburse the company at the termination of the franchise of twenty years and the United States court had held the city liable and had given judgment. The only way to acquire boulevards and parks was through special assess ment or taxation against benefited property. The supporters of the park move- THE KANSAS CITY PASEO AT SEVENTEENTH STREET BEFORE THE RENAISSANCE THE MAKING OF A CITY 905 ment went to the legislature a second time and procured the passage of an elab orate act giving the city power to form districts and to assess benefits. The act went far beyond the new city charter framed by freeholders under section 16, article IX, of the state constitution. It was practically an amendment of a freeholders' charter." Would it stand in the courts? The park board didn't know. A friendly suit was brought under the first attempt to condemn land. This test was of far-reaching importance not alone to Kansas City. It involved construction of the state constitution as regarded all freeholders' charters. "Up to that time," said Delbert J. Haff, who had charge of the litigation for the park board, "our supreme court had held uniformly that notwithstanding the provisions of the constitution of the state which authorized St. Louis to frame a charter for its own government and which authorized other cities of the state having a- population of 100,000 or more to frame and adopt similar char ters and to amend such charters in the same manner, this constitutional pro vision did not prohibit the legislature from passing laws which would repeal or amend the charters of such cities, known as 'freeholders' charters.' In other words, the supreme court had established a doctrine that the constitutional pro visions did not intend to establish an imperium in imperio, that is, did not intend to establish a kingdom within a kingdom, or a separate government that would be independent of the legislature of the state. "There was always a difference of opinion among the members of the supreme court as to the meaning of this provision of the constitution, and Mr. James O Broadhead of St. Louis, who framed this provision, and under which St. Louis adopted its charter inde pendent of other cities of the state, always maintained that the purpose of said constitu tional provision was to make such cities self-governing— to give them local self-government —and that the legislature had no authority to tamper with the charter of St. Louis and for the same reason could not amend or repeal provisions of the charter of Kansas City, in matters of purely local and municipal concern. As soon as the act of 1893 was adopted, the park board of Kansas City brought a suit for the condemnation o'f park lands in order to test the validity of the act. This case reached the supreme court at the same time and at the same session as did the case of Murnane vs. City of St. Louis and was argued and submitted on the same day. Shortly afterward, the supreme court handed down an opinion definitely deciding, by a vote of four to three, that the legislature of the State of Missouri is prohibited by sections 16 and 20 of article IX of the Constitution of Missouri from enacting, amending or repealing any charter provisions of the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City relating to their local affairs and that special acts of the legislature of the state for the improvement of streets and to condemn or otherwise obtain land for park roads, boulevards, etc., are incompatible with the charters of said cities and, therefore, unconstitutional and void, and that such matters can only be regulated by the charters of said cities adopted by the people in the manner pointed out in article IX o'f the con stitution."Genesis of the Kansas City Park Law. This decision of the supreme court seemed on its face like a knockout for the park board. In reality it was the best thing that could have happened. It cleared the way for the next step and furnished the legal foundation on which Kansas City proceeded to create the system, meeting and overcoming the great est opposition ever put up in Missouri against public improvements. The coun sel for the park board immediately drafted an amendment to the charter of 906 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Kansas City. He made it broad and comprehensive, embodying the powers which the park board had learned by long study were necessary if their elabo rate plans on paper were to be spread all over Kansas City. This amendment went through at a special election in the spring of 1895. It has become known all over the country as "the Kansas City park law." It has been pronounced by jurists to ,be "the most complete practice act ever adopted in Missouri." It has stood the test of all the courts, for as soon as the park board began to con demn property suit after suit was brought against it and carried to the highest court. Sorffe of the ablest lawyers of the state were retained by property own ers before the opposition was overcome. They tried by every means known to the profession to invalidate the law and failed. It was well said of Mr. Haff by an expert, "He took as an ingredient a crystallized public sentiment in favor of a park system and made' an adamantine law which withstood all attacks." The property owners kept up the litigation five years until at last the fruits of the movement became apparent when all opposition died out and other parts of the city began to call insistently for extension of the system. Up to 1914 Kansas City had expended $13,813,929 in the acquisition, improvement and maintenance of these parks and parkways, every dollar of which had been raised by special assessment, with the single exception of one bond issue of $500,000, which was used in improvements, and an annual appropriation by the city treasury for the payment of the general expenses of the board. This latter appropriation has varied in amount from $25,000 to $75,000 per year. The litigation was even carried into the United States courts, in the effort to upset the charter amendment- or park law. The decision there sustained the Kansas City principle. The Federal judges held that parks were local improve ments for public use of a character recognized as conferring such benefits in the increased value of lands within the neighborhood or locality of the park as to justify special assessments against the private property to pay for the land condemned for such purpose. Such assessments were not taxes within the meaning of the constitution establishing a maximum rate of taxation. The. litigation was in the end beneficial to the park movement. It resulted in establishing the validity of every proceeding. When the assessments became collectible, every recourse against them had been exhausted. Naturally, there fore, the certificates which were offered in the market found ready purchasers at a high premium, yielding not only enough funds to pay the purchase price of the park lands, but a large surplus in each case which went into, the park fund of each district for the improvement of the parks as they were acquired. Mr. Haff was a Michigan University graduate. President Angell liked to keep his vision on the young men he, turned out of Ann Arbor. Mr. Haff had written him of the early efforts to make Kansas City a better place for residence. One day President Angell stopped off between trains. He didn't notify Mr. Haff, but he hired a cabman to give him. a two hours' view of the boulevards. The cabman had learned the city in the pre-park era. The only boulevard he knew was in the southwestern part of the city. This boulevard was so-called because it was a few feet wider than the average street. Away went the cab with the university president uphill and downhill until he reached this alleged boulevard bordered by feed stores, belt line switches, coal yards and a varied THE MAKING OF A CITY 907 assortment of small business enterprises. The limestone dust was a half-inch thick. The occasional struggling trees were gray with it. Some months later the good president and the energetic counsel for the park board met. The short stopover was mentioned. Had the president seen the boulevard system, Mr. Haff asked. Yes, the president had seen — a boulevard. Mr. Haff waited for comments. The president was reticent. It required effort to reach an understanding. Since that time things have changed. No visitor to the city could now repeat President Angell's experience. Sturdy continuous support by the press of the city helped in the attainment of present results. But when all factors are considered there is one which is accorded a very high place. It is the genius of George E. Kessler for this kind of work. Kessler made Kansas City beautiful. Kansas City made Kessler famous. Born in Frankenhausen, Germany, Kessler received his early educational training in public and private schools of the United States. He finished under private tutors in the polytechnic schools at Charlottenburg. The Art School at Weimar and the University of Jena gave him proficiency in engineering, for estry and botany. Returning .to this country, Kessler engaged in the general practice of his chosen profession, — landscape engineering. For ten years he developed private estates and residential districts in Baltimore, Cleveland and other cities. He took up the forestry experiments and kindred lines for Mr. Nettleton and his associates in the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad, now part of the Frisco system. Such was the foundation which Kessler laid for his great work in Kansas City. For ten years before his real work there was begun he was studying and talking the possibilities of making Kansas City something more than a commercial metropolis on hills and" hollows. Kessler was born to landscape art, just as James B. Eads was to the engineerjng pro fession. Kessler had much the temperament of Eads. He was suave under try ing circumstances, tireless, original in his ideas, a mixer with scientists, with cap italists and with officials of every degree, inspiring all with confidence in his judgment on landscape matters. He was in at the first of the park and boule vard movement. He was the landscape architect of the park board. At later dates twelve cities in the Mississippi Valley, from Cincinnati to Denver, re tained Kessler in an advisory capacity for their developing park and boulevard work.The Landscape Theory Which Wrought Wonders. Perhaps the most striking fact about Kessler's work was the ready use he made of conditions as he found them. Another landscape architect might have moved small mountains to make levels and gentle slopes in these Kansas City parks. Kessler took cliff and bluff as the master landscape architect made them. He even accepted the abandoned quarry and storm-worn gully. He encour aged grass and foliage to grow. He moved not a cubic yard of dirt if he could avoid it. Penn Valley was one of the most rugged patches on the topography of Kansas City. The real estate owner had added raggedness to ruggedness. Kessler came with his covering of sod for the bare places, his artistic screens of 908 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI shrubbery and his clumps of trees. He created .vistas and emphasized view points. He found room for nearly five miles of park drives, without crowding or paralleling, in a space one-tenth that of Forest Park in St. Louis. A depression, part ravine and part valley, divided, disfigured and depre ciated the southern residence section. It was somebody's "branch" when there was no Kansas City. The depression was taken out of private possession by condemnation. At a cost of half a million dollars the park board acquired this strip of irregular width, including the bottom and sides of the depression from summit to summit. Where 200 feet width would do this, no more, was con demned. Where 600 feet was necessary to include all of the depression, so much was condemned. The cheap houses and shacks were swept out. Keeping away the graders, preserving the natural lines, Kessler laid out winding drive ways the two and one-half miles' length of the strip. And this became Gillham Road. On the map it is the oddest-shaped combination of park and boulevard to be found. It extends from the edge of the business district in a zigzag, winding course southward through some of the best residence neighborhoods to a connection with the Swope Parkway. From the higher grounds on either side hundreds of fine residences overlook Gillham Road. Where the strip attains its maximum width of 600 feet a small park has been laid out, with paths and shelters. Where the strip narrows the driveway occupies the bottom and the slopes are lawns. Penn Valley and the Cliff Drive. Penn Valley was one of the most unattractive localities. It is south of the business center, on the west side of Main street, and out about Twenty-sixth street. Stone had been quarried in the hillside. Penn Valley was built over with a cheap class of dwellings in the boom period. The old Santa Fe Trail passed through the valley on the way from river landing to Westport. To trans form the 131 acres into a park the board wrecked and removed 310 houses. Through condemnation proceedings - the owners were paid $871,000. These proceedings were contested by between forty and fifty members of the Kansas City bar and the appeal to the supreme' court was argued and reargued in behalf of property owners by a large number of eminent counsel. The park movement won. And when the people realized what was possible in Penn Valley, a vol unteer neighborhood movement to the southwest was started to transform a locality unsettled but similar in its ruggedness to Penn Valley. As a result of this volunteer action most of the ground was given by nearby property owners to create the beautiful Roanoke Park. A broken region in the midst of one of the most prominent residence sections was in danger of occupation by cheap houses and small industries. It is now a park, preserving and enhancing the character of the residence section surrounding it. When it was proposed to create Cliff Drive, which passes through a highly romantic and thoroughly beautiful region full of surprising attractions, the prop osition was strongly opposed. Officials of the city were taken out to see the loca tion for the proposed drive. One of them declared the project impossible. He said that "a goat could not climb along where it was proposed to lay out the drive." Another official referred rather contemptuously to this location as "a THE MAKING OF A ' CITY 909 squirrel pasture." And yet this Cliff Drive in the opinion of many visitors to the city is the crowning feature of the system and is unsurpassed anywhere else in the United States. ' Several miles of perfect roadway have been built along the face of this bluff at the timber line. The limestone cliff rises sheer on one side, the waving tree- tops on the Other. The park board acquired this bold front of Kansas City, buying a narrow strip between the top and the bottom of the bluff, a distance of two miles and more, for $625,000. This now is North Terrace Park. The Method of Assessment. Within each park district the board by resolution selected the lands and the connecting boulevards. Recommendations were made to the council. Or dinances were prepared. Proceedings in the circuit court condemned the lands. Values were fixed by juries and the same juries assessed the benefits in specific amounts against the land in the park district. These assessments were against land only. To make the assessments as easily borne as possible it was provided that they might be paid in annual installments.' Usually the period was twenty years. This enabled the property owner to realize the benefits as he was paying for them. Those who desired to pay promptly and relieve their property of the park lien could do so within sixty days after the verdicts of juries were ren dered to court. As the lands condemned could not be taken until paid for, the balance necessary after sixty days had passed was obtained through the issue and sale of park fund certificates. These certificates represented the assess ments unpaid and due through a series of years. They had back of them these collective assessments. The city treasurer was trustee for the collection of the assessments and the redemption of the certificates. Courts, as already stated, decided in test cases that the park fund certificates were not obligations of the municipality and did not conflict with the city's debt-making power. By this novel method the park board was able to raise large sums and to build the park and boulevard system of Kansas City. Within each district an assessment for maintenance and improvement is made against the lands only of that district. The original cost of a boulevard, however, except the tree planting, is charged directly against the ground fronting on that boulevard. This is the exception to the statement that the assessment for improvement and maintenance is against the whole district. The Playground Policy. Wherever the system has penetrated well settled localities, the policy has been to provide playgrounds for children, tennis courts and baseball diamonds for older youth. Every part of the city has its playgrounds. The park board early adopted the recommendation to acquire the ground and to establish a recreation field in the East Bottoms, where many railroad shopmen and em ployes in other industries live. There are playgrounds in West Terrace Park. The Paseo has its play grounds. Where that chain of small parks widens into the twenty-one acres of the Parade is an athletic field, a sunken portion of which becomes an outdoor skating rink in winter. There, also, is the free bathhouse, the gift of the Mega- 910 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI phone Minstrels. This was the circus lot in the old days. It affords the ball ground and other means of recreation for a large neighborhood. No Kansas City boy finds it necessary to board a street car and ride miles in search of a baseball field. , Two of the small parks changed completely the character of the surrounding residence sections. The twenty-seven acres of Spring Valley, before becoming public property under control of the park board, bore the suggestive name of "Razor Park." One of the economies of the board transformed an abandoned quarry into an ideal playground for children with admirable location for gym nasium apparatus. A driveway winds through this park. The -wooded slopes rise on either side to an encircling fringe of fine homes. The spring which gave the name to the park feeds a pretty lake. Holmes Square is less than three acres in extent, but it has its free bath, its gymnastic apparatus, its sand court, its bubble fountain, its shelter. The devel opment of this playground in the midst of a tenement neighborhood has changed the children from little vandals into self-appointed guardians of the place. ' A recreation center, in the Kansas City definition, means more than an open space. It includes see-saws, swings, ladders and a variety of apparatus, baths and comfort stations, in addition to the baseball and tennis grounds. There are no signs, "Keep off the grass." Every lawn space on every park in the Kansas City system is in use without restriction. To the widest possible extent the parks and boulevards have been planned to afford proper recreation and entertainment. But the policy to exclude catch penny shows has been rigorously upheld, although through many a sharp contest and with the refusal of temporary revenue. One of the "eccentricities of topography" favored the creation of a. lake covering several acres by an inexpensive dam. The lake was stocked with fish and the proper season finds fishing added to park recreation in the midst of Kansas City. Some of the Practical Details. When the original plan was submitted the landscape architect advised that "all structures for operating purposes and for convenience and comfort of the public, which are artificial and more or less out of keeping with natural scenery, should never be permitted to become conspicuous in either design or color." This policy has been carefully observed. The barns, comfort stations and sim ilar structures are so located and so screened as not to offend the eye. The use of the limestone in rough state for many structures and the location of them near the limestone cliffs have been in the line of observance of such policy. A standard for boulevard construction was adopted in 1893. Results have demonstrated fully the wisdom of that original plan. The landscape architect recommended and the first board of park commissioners, or as it was called then, the board of park and boulevard commissioners, agreed to this standard: "The width of the boulevards will be 100 feet and at no time should any less width be considered, since with less width it would be impossible to secure the effect of a parkway and at the same time give sufficient width of roadway. This space should be divided as follows on all routes not occupied by street railways: WEST BLUFF; OVERLOOKING OLD UNION STATION, BEFORE THE RENAISSANCE OF KANSAS CITY THE SAME WEST BLUFF AS IT IS TO-DAY THE MAKING OF A CITY 915 A central roadway forty feet wide, and parking thirty feet on each side ; the park space will be arranged with a curb and gutter combined; next to this, turf sev enteen feet wide ; then eight of walk, and between this and the property line five feet of turf. On this space three lines of trees almost equally spaced will be planted." This standard width of roadway and definite spaces for parking and number of trees were planned with a view to provide for the expected growth of Kansas City. The roadway was made forty feet wide because that was sufficient for all traffic purposes when the standard was adopted. /The expectation of the board and of the landscape architect was that forty feet would accommodate all traffic on these boulevards for at least twenty years. Neither the board nor the land scape architect, in 1893, could foresee the drift of city expansion. There is a present condition which could not have been taken into consideration at the time the boulevard system was designed. That condition is the rapidly develop ing use of automobiles for pleasure riding. It is evident to all now that fifteen years instead of twenty is the limit for the forty feet of roadway on some parts of the boulevard system. The roadways will have to be widened. The seventeen feet of grass between the curb and the sidewalk was left in order that, as traffic necessitated, a strip could be taken from either side and added to the roadway. This can be done as the traffic increases to the point of congestion of the present forty feet. The three rows of trees were provided in order that the outer or the row next the curb could be removed without spoil ing the boulevard plan as the roadway might be increased in width. In the planning of the Kansas City system full consideration was given to the needs of business traffic. In parks upon the line of natural thoroughfares there have been built two roadways : one as direct as the easiest grades will per mit for the use of business vehicles, the other curving and winding to afford the maximum of landscape effect for pleasure riding. In places the park and the traffic roadway are side by side separated by a row of trees and strip of sod. The result of such planning is that traffic is facilitated by better roads and easier grades than existed before the park and boulevard system. At intervals on the traffic roadways in parks are placed watering troughs for teams. One of the most successful economies has been the double use made of trees. As the boulevards were constructed three rows were planted on either side with twice as many trees as would be necessary after growth. As new parks and boulevards were opened, intermediate trees from six to eight inches in diameter on the old boulevards were taken up and transplanted. This has been done with very little loss. In a single season portions of the old barren circus lot, now known as the Parade, were given the attractiveness of a well shaded park. New boulevards, through this transplanting of large trees, at once 'vie in beauty with the older drives. Thousands of fine trees have done double duty. Thou sands more are growing and will be utilized for extensions of the system. Permanent Influences. The earliest actual boulevard construction had far reaching influences upon the expansion of Kansas City. The first boulevard, as laid out on paper by the landscape architect, was intended to extend from west to east, in what was com- 916 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI monly called the North Side. The trend of city growth arid the extension of the residence district was in that direction at the time. The draft of an ordinance to carry out the plan of this west to east boulevard was introduced in the city council. It was defeated. Thereupon the landscape architect turned his atten tion to north and south lines of the proposed system. Ordinances providing for boulevards and park connections between the north and south sides received favorable consideration and were passed by the city council. The construction gave quick and strong impetus to the growth of the city on the- south side. That trend has not been checked. The greatest activity in boulevard extension and in park expansion is now to the southwestward, the southward and the southeastward. Centers of, congested population, growing more aggravated yearly, were abolished to make room for parks and boulevards. It is a notable fact that other centers of the same character did not take the places of those thus removed. The marked influence of the park and boulevard movement has been to scatter population until today Kansas City is built over a greater area than almost any other city of similar size. Next to residences on the boulevard or with park frontage, the Kansas City family endeavors to live as near as possible to some part of the system. The result is this wide distribution of all classes. To a large extent the problem of congestion has been eliminated for Kansas City. There is no present indication that the next generation will have to deal with that problem. The standard of residential architecture has been raised. Kansas City homes today average above those of any other city in the same class of population. There is no doubt the creation of these many miles of boulevards has prompted the owners of property to exercise more taste in planning and to spend more money in building that they would have done on ordinary residence streets. Both the architecture and the surroundings have felt the influence of the parks and boulevards. Kansas City today is a city with more taste and beauty in its homes and their surroundings than any other community of corresponding number of people in the world. It has no slums. The unit of real estate is 50 feet front, which means elbow room. Every street outside of the business section is tree bordered. Every dooryard is a well-kept lawn. The houses, as a rule, stand on terraces from three to half a dozen feet above the street. The spacious veranda is another rule. Creeping vines, rose bushes, pots of flowers are everywhere. The side street house that cost $1,000 is as smart in fresh paint as the boulevard mansion which cost $100,000. And this wonderful transformation in a city's homes, small and great, is the uplifting effect of the parks and boulevards. So well has the park district plan worked that Kansas City has extended it rapidly. The city was divided into three park districts when the original park and boulevard system was .designed. Later the city was divided into eight park districts. Each district bears its own park expenditures, or the larger part of them. Each district is anxious to develop and improve its own share of the system. Each has its own park and boulevard problems. The district divisions are natural ones, suggested by the topography and by the character of settlement. The municipal government has found it advisable to adopt these district divisions THE MAKING OF A CITY 917 of the city for other public utilities. Instead of following ward boundaries the city carries on several kinds of public work by park districts. Real estate men discovered years ago that frontage on boulevards easily doubles the market price of lots on streets two or more blocks distant. Kansas City today is acquiring many miles of boulevards which cost the park board nothing for original dedication and construction. Future extension of the boule vard system is assured by this profitable experience of the past. To obtain the first boulevards it was necessary to condemn strips of ground and to construct roadway, parking and walks, assessing the cost against property. Today, as additions are made to the city, owners plat the ground to include boulevards, dedicate and build such boulevards at their own expense and deliver them finished to the city. The platted locations of these new boulevards must receive the approval of the park board. The specifications for construction must be passed upon by the park board. The actual work must be done under the regular super vision of the park board inspectors. Upon such conditions miles of boulevards have been added to the system. Additional mileage without condemnation or special assessment will come into the system as the city expands. The problem is a simple one. Acre property eligible as to altitude and convenient in distance from the business district is bought for $1,000 an acre. The cost of boulevards and other improvements is $2,000 an acre. As long and as far away as such land will bring for residence sites from $4,000 to $5,000 an acre, the platting and boulevard making will go on. This is not the building of new additions at the expense of the old. The new boulevards and park districts are being occupied to a large extent by a new population. The Gridiron of Green. Kansas City now has three chains of parks and boulevards extending from north to south through the residence sections. Three boulevards from west to east connect parks and intersect the north and south chains. These already existing parks and connecting boulevards make every part of the system easily accessible. Admiral boulevard begins across the street from one of the principal office buildings and within a block of the post office. Gillham road comes down to the site of the new Union Station, which is in the great dividing valley of the city. Cliff Drive winds for miles along the face of the palisades overlooking the Missouri river and the East Bottoms, with the labyrinth of elevators, railroad tracks and factories. West Terrace has its Outlook Point of massive masonry and castle effect with far-sweeping views of the packing houses, the Kaw river and, beyond, Kansas City, Kan. Below the Outlook, part of the way down the steep bluff, is a park drive which follows the cliff around to the west and makes connection with Penn Valley Park. North and south through the heart of what a few years ago was the most thickly-settled residence section is the Paseo. It was created by con demning a narrow strip, a distance of several miles. Gladstone and Benton boulevards give the eastern part of the city its share of this improvement. Linwood and Armour boulevards are east and west bars in Kansas City's grand gridiron of green. Swope parkway, several miles long, 918 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI 125 feet wide, leads away to the southeast, to what will be the chief lung of the city when a million people must find breathing space within its limits. . Kansas City after Dark. No one has obtained full appreciation of the Kansas City system until he has given midsummer nights to views of it. The passing of hundreds of automo biles in, almost continuous columns between the long rows of trees is of itself a scene to fascinate. Everywhere red lamps divide the boulevards into going and coming routes. The rule of right-of-way is universally observed by all vehicles. On one side of the red lamps the dazzling headlights all move in one direction, on the other side they pass in the opposite direction. From where the boulevard passes a rise, or crest, it is possible to see at once hundreds of these headlights moving in seemingly endless procession; the foliage glistens; the rows of trees take on exaggerated forms. Residents along the boulevards sit on their porches and steps night after night enjoying the spectacle. Along the strips of parking between roadways and sidewalks the park board has placed seats for the con venience of those who choose to come from their homes on the side streets and see the nightly parade. Never before in its history has so small a percentage of the population of Kansas City gone away for the summer season. Cliff Drive by night takes on new character. On one side the great irregular masses of limestone tower until they are lost in the darkness. On the other hand the illumination serves to accentuate the shadows in the depths of the forest be low. On Cliff Drive as upon other boulevards and throughout the parks lamps are placed at unusually short intervals and add greatly to the night scenes. From Prospect Point or the Colonnade of North .Terrace, the East Bottoms far below present a different appearance after dark. All of the ugliness of the freight yards and industries by day is hidden by night. The headlights of the engines, the swinging lanterns of the brakemen, the illumination of the moving trains, the many colored lamps at the switches and crossings, the commingling of thousands of gas and electric lights, with the roar and the whistles and bells for accompaniment, make up a combination of light and sound which perhaps has no counterpart elsewhere. From West Terrace, another city's night lights are visible, those of Kansas City, Kansas. Extending from the foot of the terrace one and one-half miles straight across the West Bottoms, almost fringing the banks of the Missouri river, is a double row of brilliant burners marking the course of the viaduct: The summit of Observation Park is still another of these vantage points for night spectacles. There the vision sweeps an entire circle with the city spread out everywhere. To the northwestward are busy railroad yards and industries. To the north is the commercial center with hundreds of electric signs making a profuse glare of light. In every other direction are the long rows of gas lamps on the boulevards and streets of the residence sections with the reflectors of the automobiles moving hither and thither like so many shooting meteors. The Bearing on Municipal Problems. The system has done much toward the solution of several municipal problems. The city hospital, built at a cost of $500,000, has. park frontage. The advantage THE MAKING OF A CITY 919 of such a location for such an institution is evident. As the time comes for the erection of public buildings, sites on boulevards or parks are naturally the first choice., Educational and charitable institutions, schools, asylums and hospitals are being located with studied reference to the park and boulevard system. Nearly every building erected for such purposes in Kansas City during the past five years has been located with boulevard or park frontage. When the railroads determined to remove the passenger depot from the West Bottoms to the valley between the North and South Sides of Kansas City, thus creating entirely new routes of entrance and exit for travel, the plan accepted by the city provided not only for tracks and for station room on a magnificent scale, but for a spacious plaza in front. As the result of this reservation there can be established no business within several hundred feet of the new depot. Local nomenclature in Kansas City has undergone great' change with the coming of parks and boulevards. Twenty years ago the people spoke of various localities as West Bluff and East Bluff, as West Bottoms and East Bottoms, as 0. K. Creek and Goose Creek and Brush Creek. Those names were short. In that respect they were consistent with the temperamental quickness and directness of speech which are characteristic of the community. Kansas City talks and acts with rapid decision. Moreover these pioneer names of localities were apt in de scription. Bluffs were bluffs and bottoms were bottoms in the strongest defini tions of the words. Brush Creek was a marvelously crooked channel in the midst of a tangle of forest and vine growth. Goose Creek suggested its chief utility in the period of early settlement. It was quite in accordance with the Kansas City economy of vowels and consonants that the Kansas river became the Kaw; that Pennsylvania street was contracted to Penn street ; that many 'similar changes in original names occurred. With the evolution of the park and boulevard era, successive boards of commissioners did not part from the Kansas City habit of speech ; they indulged in no stilted, high sounding titles ; they gave to these improvements of the landscape names which were short, easily pronounced, and so applicable in description that they found immediate, acceptance by the public. Some of these names of parks and boulevards were given with little consideration in the planning; they were in a sense accidental. But they seemed to apply so well that the board used them as they were designated on the plats and the citizens adopted them. By way of illustration it may be recalled that Penn Valley Park was so desig- - nated in the first platting because it was a broken jumble of depressions through which Pennsylvania street found its way. It is Penn Valley Park today and probably will be Penn Valley Park for all time to come. The Paseo was applied in the beginning to describe a proposed combination of long, narrow parks, bordered by drives, which was to be a passage extending north and south through the eastern part of the city. There was nothing in the landscape naming that quite fitted this proposed improvement. The Paseo was taken from the Spanish. It means passage. It became at once of general use on the part of the newspapers and the public. The Pergola in the Paseo and the Colonnade at the edge of the Plaza overlooking the great wooded gorge in the North Bluff describe those architectural features. The Parade is a widening of the Paseo into a plain of several acres adapted 920 , CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI by its central location and level surface to purposes of drill, of public gatherings and of general recreation. It forrrts a natural outdoor skating rink in winter. The Grove is just that — a collection of magnificent forest trees in the midst of the residence section of the city. West Bluff became West Terrace because the terrace idea was applied to redeem that unsightly locality. Cliff Drive is so briefly expressive that not only has it taken with all of Kansas City but lives in the memory of visitors from all parts of the world who have seen its great nat ural beauty. Observation Park is the former Reservoir Hill, the lofty elevation in a city of hills which furnished a natural site for the waterworks reservoir. The ground surrounding the reservoir was turned over to the park board for treatment. The hill is crowned with a stone observatory overlooking great sections of the city. Gillham Road is a tribute in name to a former vigilant member of the park board. Spring Valley makes historic the site of a former source of pure, cold water, before the growth of the city surrounding it made necessary the suppression of the natural fountain for sanitary reasons. In several instances names of persons well chosen have been attached to the park and boulevard system. Entirely proper was it that Swope Park and Budd Park should honor the memory of two citizens who added by noble gifts to the breathing capacity of Kansas City. Swope Park. The first park board had in vidw when the original system was planned the matter of great outer parks, although that was not included in the earliest recom mendation. After a beginning had been made toward the park and boulevard system within the then existing city, topographical surveys were made of an extensive area of country southeast of Kansas City. The end in view was to select the location for at least one great outer park. The board realized that such a park would be needed ultimately and hoped that the acquisition might be made before values advanced. Thomas H. Swope heard of the desire and gave to the city 1,354 acres. Swope Park extends between two and three miles along the narrow, cliff-bound valley of the Blue. Entrance from the city is at Sixty-third street, nine miles from the business center. Much of the tract is dense forest. Swope Park was accepted by the board in the interest of another generation. Extension of the street car line, the building of a great shelter house with observatories, the erection of a monumental entrance, the laying out of the beau tiful garden, with the natural attractions, brought the park into immediate pop ular use. When Swope Park was farm and pasture the land all around it was worth $150 an acre. Suburban homes were built on the borders of Swope Park and the land acquired for them cost over $2,000 an acre. The possibilities of Swope Park have been demonstrated. The greater part of the tract of 1,354 acres is still virgin. But the refreshment pavilion, the sunken garden, the athletic field, the Zoo, the Lake of the Woods, the swimming beach, the camp ground, the target range, the lagoon, the golf links and tennis courts are existing evidences of the varied uses which may be found for this SWOPE PARK, THE GREAT RECREATION TRACT OF KANSAS CITY, ON JULY 4, 1912 THE MAKING OF A CITY 923 ideal strip of the valley of the Blue. The British ambassador, James Bryce, said of Swope : "I have never seen a city park in this country that equaled it, and it certainly is unrivaled among the cities of the Old World, so far as my travels have extended. Its strongest appeal to me is its magnificent reaches of wild grass and cool forest." The System up to Date. In 1914 Kansas City had a total area of parks and parkways within the city limits of approximately 2,560 acres. This included Swope Park. Kansas City had more than fifty-eight miles of parkways, boulevards and park roads com pleted. The land for fifty-six miles more had been acquired and construction was in progress. Projects not closed included twenty-four miles additional. Andrew Wright Crawford, the city planning expert of nation-wide repute, said : "Of all the actual accomplishments that American cities can boast, within the past twenty years, none surpasses the park and parkway system of Kansas City. That system, by and of itself, is making the city world-famous. It is in its completeness, its pervasiveness, in the way it reaches every quarter and section of the city, that it surpasses the park systems of other cities of the world." The park law of Kansas City was a unique experiment in the history of American cities. Every acre of land which has been purchased in Kansas City up to 19 14 for park and boulevard purposes has been established or taken by the power of eminent domain put into operation by resolution of the board of park commissioners, carried into effect by ordinances of the city, enforced by the decrees of the courts, and paid for solely and exclusively by the assessments of benefits upon the real estate, exclusive of improvements, within the various dis trict's in which each particular park or boulevard was established. Not a single acre of park land in Kansas City was ever paid for by general taxation or by the issue of bonds of the city at large. What Kansas City's System Teaches. By those who have had most to do with the creation of the Kansas City system two points are emphasized : First, that special assessment or special taxation is the most suitable method of acquiring and improving lands for park and boulevard purposes; that by that method the burden is more nearly imposed upon the property benefited than by any other method of taxation. Second, that this method and the plans and methods that were devised to carry it into effect have proved to be the best, if not the only, way of securing for any city a symmetrical, well-balanced and harmonious system of parks and boulevards. The reasons for these conclusions are that the division of the city into park districts as units of taxation prevents that jealousy and contest between different sections of the city which always develops from, tlie standpoint of money which has been raised by general taxation or by issue of bonds. The payment of the cost of acquiring and improving lands for park and boulevard purposes by the method of special taxation is based upon the theory that these costs are met, and more than met, by the increased values which they create in the lands which 924 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI are assessed for the cost of such improvement. In other words, it is the poten tial increase in value only that is taxed to pay for the improvement. The ex perience of Kansas City, in the judgment of those best qualified to speak, affords a remarkable demonstration of the proof of the correctness of this principle of taxation. The establishment of the parks and boulevards served not only to enhance real estate values in Kansas City, but actually created a real estate' market where none had existed. In 1910-11 the park board undertook an exhaustive investigation to ascer tain the influence of the parks and boulevards upon realty values. This was the result : "Taking the assessed and actual values of property fronting on the various boule vards, before and after the establishment of such boulevards, it was shown conclusively that the smallest increase in value which had resulted from the establishment of any boule vard was equal to 183 per centum. After deducting the cost to the property owner of every class of improvement for which his frontage had been assessed, and deducting also the average increase of land values throughout the entire district due to other causes and other improvement in the same district, a net gain to the property owner was shown of practically fifty per centum of the value of the property. On some boulevards the gain has averaged from 200 to 500 per centum, the greater portion of such gain being directly attributable to the establishment of the boulevards. In the same manner but in a lesser degree the parks have enhanced values, proving that the construction of Kansas City's park and boulevard system was a profitable industry for the taxpayer without reference to its artistic, moral and social benefits. This fact is now universally recognized by citizens who are unanimous in their approval of this great expenditure." It js an established fact that during the past ten years many thousands of people have been attracted, to Kansas City, as a place of residence, by her fine exhibition of civic spirit, the most conspicuous product of which is her mag nificent parks and pleasure grounds. Many men who have been successful in business in town and village within the territory tributary to Kansas City have felt the spell of her influence, and when retiring from active labor have built beautiful homes along the boulevards and settled here to rear and educate their children. Other thousands among the industrial classes have likewise come, attracted by the same advantages, to seek employment here and swell the popu lation. Kansas City's population increased 51.7 per cent in the decade 1900-1910. Of twenty-five cities this community ranked third in the percentage of increase. The other two were Detroit and Denver. These twenty-five cities constituted a class having over 100,000 population. The significant deduction warranted by the census returns was that the cities which had done most to improve conditions of living had gained most in numbers. Kansas City led all other cities in her park and boulevard development during the decade and was one of the first three of these twenty-five cities in respect to gain of population. Both Denver and Detroit have been, since 1900, notably active in city planning and accomplish ment. Cleveland and Chicago are other cities which have been made more at tractive as places of residence and Chicago and Cleveland are of the marked gainers in growth. On the other hand, the larger cities which fall below twenty per cent increases in population are with very few exceptions the laggards in the betterment of residential conditions. A canvass of Kansas City's newcomers THE MAKING OF A CITY 925 since 1900 would show that the park and boulevard system had been a strong factor in the growth of population. Park and Boulevard Economies. Economies have been practiced at every stage of the park and boulevard development. Cliff Drive was limited in construction to a serviceable roadway. When it was proposed to "improve" the drive with some Italian architecture at certain outlook points, the suggestions were vetoed. The park board accepted the theory of the landscape architect that the Cliff Drive and the paths alone should be man's handiwork; that all else along the drive should be as nature made it. For protection of vehicles a rail was stretched along the outer edge of the drive, intended to give place in time to a low, rustic stone wall in strict keep ing with the rock-strewn slope below. The practice of economies has led naturally to a great diversity of park conditions. When the visitor has traversed Gillham Road he had no conception of the surprises which await him in the miles of the Paseo. North Terrace is as dissimilar as possible from West Terrace. One high point of observation is -the climax of interest in many park systems. Kansas City has a dozen of these points of view and no two of them are to be compared with each other. Observation Park is only two and one-tenth acres, but it has been developed to present a perfect panoramic spectacle of the entire southwestern section. The path encircles the reservoir and to every step forward a new scene presents itself. Penn Valley Park possesses a bold promontory overlooking the new Union Station and the terminal system following the valley between the North and South Sides. From another point in Penn Valley Park there is a fascinating view across a little lake to the business part of Kansas City. The West Terrace presents half a dozen different views of the railroad yards, the packing houses, the stock yards, the great industries on both sides of the Kaw river, with the other Kansas City spread over the Kansas hills beyond. From North Terrace are to be seen some of the finest stretches of the Mis souri river where it comes down from the north, makes its mighty sweep at the feet of Kansas City and disappears in a valley eastward as fertile as the Nile. Thomas H. Benton, having in mind this great elbow of the Missouri, said: "There is the point that is destined to become the largest city west of St. Louis." The destiny is being fulfilled. The System's Influence on the Ideal City Plan. George E. Kessler, to whom the planning of the park and boulevard system of Kansas City has given national reputation, summed up the varied influences of the system upon the development of the city during the past twenty years : "The boulevard system has aided in preventing, through the expansion of ample, stable residence areas, the establishment of concentrated dwelling house barracks which usually follow a rapid accretion of population. Kansas City has, therefore, in an unusual degree, great areas of residence sections uniformly built upon and of uniform character wherein there is little likelihood of change, and so has accomplished one great purpose in any 926 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI rational city planning or replanning, namely, the establishing and holding of the character and value of home places. "Through the expansion of the city by means of boulevards and parkways, together with the street railway transportation system, over great areas away from the business district, it has been possible for the people to get their homes at reasonable prices and without fear of encroachment of antagonistic activities in those residence areas. "Together with the excellent street railway system, the boulevard system -has made Kansas City in effect a garden city. It has become almost .entirely a home owners' com munity, made up of individual homes surrounded by their gardens ; and in all sections, penetrated by the boulevards, the influence of the building and fine maintenance of these highways has resulted in a response in similar care on adjoining and intersecting streets and upon all homes in those districts. "Where it has been possible, the parkways have occupied the valley lands, which largely coincided with the directions of thoroughfare necessities in those localities; and through the absorption of these low-lying lands, the lands above have been safeguarded against intrusion of private improvements of lesser value. "In its principal result, the parkway and boulevard system has made Kansas City a 'good place to live in,' and this was the slogan of the civic bodies and of the commercial club in their constant support of this movement. "Incidentally, and in less pronounced form, it has affected many other elements of conscious city planning. In its development of means of egress and ingress to the com mercial area of the city, the boulevard system has greatly aided in classifying and facilitat ing the vehicular traffic on its streets and has aided in holding the commercial area with out serious shifting. The parks and playgrounds, in so far as they have been improved and made use of, are serving the normal recreational needs of the community as one important element in city planning. "As a result of the construction of the boulevards, Kansas City accomplished an • unusual thing in street tree planting. The city has practically been turned into one great park by the planting of avenue trees on comparatively wide parking spaces, and as these trees are of uniform character and kinds and are planted on practically all of the residence streets, the city as seen from above, in the summer months, seems embowered in foliage. "The relation of the Kansas City park system to the purpose for which a city plan is supposed to be developed is direct, and in its results pronouncedly evident. The park ways and boulevards pierce practically every section of the city, commercial, residential and to some extent industrial. They, therefore, make communication between the different sections of the city direct and distinctive. "The boulevards, however, which are in fact nothing more than wide, fine streets, give to the occupants of adjacent private lands reasonable assurance of stable conditions, and in uniting all the great residential districts, give opportunity in the areas which they serve for the development of individual home sites. "The occupancy of large areas solely for residential purposes, except where they are interspersed with local commercial areas, has directly, sometimes unconsciously, discour aged the intrusion of industrial developments within those sections. The effect of the whole has been to hold definitely the unbroken high lands for residential, and the principal valley lands for transportation and industrial uses. "The park lands have by no means been improved in their full possibilities, the founda tion work alone having so- far been accomplished; yet Kansas City's public responds promptly and generously to the essential development of this system and through this has established a paying investment in every sense of the word. "Throughout the city local recreation grounds quickly follow the population, and while they are not yet fully supplying present and future needs, the greater areas of properties needed for these purposes have been acquired. The large frontage along lines of assured value for all classes of residential use has made it possible for the homeseeker to obtain ground at reasonable cost, and has prevented the establishment of excessively high values in residential properties anywhere in Kansas- City. "Finally, in sharp contrast to the feeling of sectionalism and consequent antagonism of one section to another within a city, existing in some communities, the boulevards THE MAKING OF A CITY 927 and parkways of Kansas City have accomplished the real purpose outlined by Mr. Meyer in the first report of the park and boulevard board, namely, the tying together of all sec tions and the uniting of Kansas City as a whole into a community whose purposes and actions are for the benefit of the city as a whole at all times." Still in the Making. But the Missourians who have created a park and boulevard, system which has done directly and indirectly all that Mr. Kessler claims for it do not consider Kansas City made. With the commercial center stabilized for the present, Kan sas City looks forward to the inevitable expansion of business according to defi nite plan. William Bucholz, member of the Park Commission, told- the National City Planning Conference at its annual meeting in 1917: "Kansas City has not yet done its duty to its people. It has neglected to define and restrict the uses made of its lands. It has done nothing toward permanently establishing industrial or commercial zones, and/ within those zones, classifying the use of lands. It has done nothing to secure a residential neighborhood against unwarranted intrusion of business property, or to safeguard the section of individual homes against the intrusion of the apartment house, the gasoline and oil-filling station. The solution of this problem, in my opinion, can only be made by proper restrictions and proper zoning." In other words, what Kansas City has , secured through the physical appli cation of the park and boulevard system is to be made permanent through mu nicipal legislation to guard the future. And this is only one of the steps toward "the making of a city" which is being taken. The betterments already realized have brought population which by the new census is a more than a normal increase, moving Kansas City to higher relative position on the list of the larger Amer ican cities. It has brought demands for the genius of Kessler from a dozen other cities. It has been pictured on the screens for the inspiration of other commu nities. But Kansas City is not yet made, in the minds of its people. Kansas City's park and boulevard system has been twenty-five years in the making. It embraces more than 3,000 acres in parks and parkways and nearly 150 miles of boulevards and park drives, seventy miles of which has been per manently improved. The cost has been about $17,000,000. When Kansas City began to lay out boulevards a width of 100 feet was deemed sufficient. But with the influx of the well-to-do retired farmers and the men being made wealthy by the oil development in the Southwest to make homes in Kansas City, there has come such a volume of automobile traffic as to prompt serious consideration whether the coming boulevards should not be at least 150 feet in width. Kansas City is face to face with the spread of suburban districts and the necessity of providing easy and quick access between them and the busi ness center. When boulevards were begun they were lined with the homes of the wealthy. The crowding automobile traffic on the boulevards has prompted the selection of the suburbs for the detached residences, and the family hotel and apartment house have taken the places of the fine homes in many inside localities. City planners coming from the East to study Kansas City's development com mented with regret that the $5,000,000 Union Station, with its imposing archi tecture and its amazing flow and ebb of travel had not been given better environ ment. But they learned that this was one of the problems which was in the 928 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI process of solution with the prospect of a public reservation which would show the traveler who looked out of the front doors of the great building a first vision of the park and boulevard system. Coming down from the border between Missouri and Kansas, the Blue river is true to its name until it passes through Swope park. North of the park, on its way to the Missouri, the- Blue presents one of Kansas City's most pressing problems, and one which is not being ignored. On paper the improvement to make the Blue valley a part of the Greater Kansas City plan is forecasted. Steam railroads and industrial plants will be given the east side of the valley, with traffic ways to accommodate business. Along the west side will be a boulevard tying into Swope park and the system of boulevards. Sewers will intercept the present surface drainage which makes the Blue untrue to its name, and a series of dams may give a chain of lakes for pleasure boating. These are some of the problems to which Kansas City now turns attention inspired by what the quarter-century experiment with parks and boulevards has taught. The census of 1920 gave Kansas City 324,410 population, a growth of 30.6 per cent, or 76,029 in ten years, proof that it pays to "make the city better to live in," which was the slogan of the park and boulevard beginning twenty-five years ago. - ^""* Kansas City in Eleven Episodes. Charles Phelps Cushing, trained in the Kansas City Star's school of journal ism, epitomized for Leslie's in 1920 the century's evolution of Kansas City. He called it "Kansas City, an Epic in Eleven' Episodes." More of an American city's history could not be condensed in fewer words : KANSAS CITY. An Epig in Eleven Episodes. / — Birch Canoes. 1821-1827. In canoes and pirogues a band of thirty-one French fur traders paddled up the Missouri River from St. Louis and established a trading post (1821) near the' mouth of the Kansas (better known locally as the "Kaw") River. 77 — Prairie Schooners. 1827-1840. The fur trading settlement continues to remain insignificant upon the map because a near neighbor, named Independence (the northern terminus of the old Santa Fe trail), holds trade supremacy of the western plains. Ill — "Westport Landing." 1840-1855. Another neighbor, named Westport, snatches away the claim of Inde pendence to be called the West's "City of Destiny." The docks of the "City of Kansas" handle Westport's freight from Missouri River steamboats, so the little levee town is nicknamed "Westport Landing." Population in 1855, only 478. IV — Golden Days of River Trade. 1855-1860. In the golden era of steamboating on the Missouri River, the "City of Kansas" thrives. In 1857 as many as 729 boats put in at her docks. On the eve of the outbreak of the Civil War the city has a population of 7,180 and threatens Westport with commercial annihilation. V—The Blight of War. 1860-1865. The Civil War deals the hopeful community a staggering blow. Half of the population flees its war-stricken neighborhood. In consequence, Fort Leavenworth, m GENERAL STERLING PRICE % Reproduced from -a Civil war picture in the collection of the Lafayette County Historical Society THE MAKING OF A CITY 931 safely located forty miles upstream, gobbles up the trade of the territory, and by 1865 has 15,000 population as against only 3,500 in the "City of Kansas.'' VI — Reconstruction Struggles. 1865-1870, In reconstruction days and fighting against terrific odds in favor of Leaven worth, Kansas City Struggles to secure railway connections with the East and North, for the golden era of the steamboat is past and all hope now lies in securing lines of modern transportation. Kansas City wins in a desperate battle, and by 1870 has seven railways and a population of 32,260 — greater than Leavenworth will boast in the census of 1920. VII— Pulling Out of the Mud. 1870-1880. Kansas City begins to feel the urge of civic improvement and sets to pull ing herself out of the mud. In ten years she spends V/i million dollars upon street improvements. This despite the fact that her population at the end of the decade is only 55,785. VIII — When the "Boom" Collapsed. 1880-1890. A real estate "boom" falls through with a sickening crash, and Kansas City is knocked out for the count of nine, but struggles to her feet and begins fighting again. In 1889 officially names herself "Kansas City" in a new charter and absorbs. West- port within her enlarged city limits. Population, 1890, is 132,716. IX — A Call for the Beauty Doctor. 1890-1900. With nothing for a beginning, Kansas City hopefully plunges into the task of attempting to beautify herself with parks and boulevards. Before 1900 she has nearly twelve miles of completed boulevards and 1,691 acres of parks. Population in 1900 for Kansas City, Mo., 164,745.. X — A Ninety-Day Wonder. 1900-1910. Kansas City leaps into the limelight of national fame in 1900 after a fire destroys a huge convention hall prepared for the Democratic national convention. Though experts say it "can't be done,'- Kansas City rebuilds the hall in ninety days, and the con vention opens oh the minute of schedule time. Then Kansas City keeps on plunging deeper and deeper into heavy expenses for parks and boulevards, inspired by the slogan : "Make Kansas City a Good Place to Live In !" XI — Her Place in the Sun. 1910-1920. A period of swift development of trade which boosts Kansas City into fifth place in the entire United States in volume of bank clearings. This business activity is accompanied by an even more startling development of residence districts. The Country Club "development" in particular, is a home -community richly deserving a national repu tation. No let-up, meanwhile, in the work of extending the park and boulevard system. Even in so sketchy an outline as this, no one can fail to perceive that from first to last the unseen but powerful spirit of Kansas City has been ever active in stimulating the community to keep valiantly struggling after success. No one can contend that Kansas City was a winner because she "had all the luck." The luck was dead against her for fifty consecutive years, and turned and bit her at stated intervals thereafter. Kansas City won not because she had all the luck, but because she had all the pluck. In the end the town even made itself "a good place to live in," though that ambition had caused her rivals the most hilarious laughter of all. The hills and valleys were turned from liabilities into assets. Our prose epic is now drawing to a close, revealing a city celebrated the country over for her eighty miles of boulevards, her more than 3,000 acres of parks, her residence districts of nation-wide fame, her business section booming as never before in all history —for, in addition to the regular trade of a rich tributary territory, the city now feels an unusual stimulus from the Southwest's newly developed oil fields. The Epic of Kansas City. C. L. Edson, a native, returning to Kansas City in the summer of 1920, rhymed his "impressions." He explained that the "Great Race" of the last sacred city 932 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "is the strain that subdued wild America. More men of this stock live in Kan sas City than in any other town." Mr. Edson's other footnote related to the "Town Builders." It attributed Kansas City's wonderful stride to the early discovery that the railroad was to supersede the river transportation. Mr. Edson put it in this way: "There were a dozen towns around the Kaw mouth all aiming to be the metropolis of the Southwest. Why did Kansas City outstrip them all? Because she had what the other towns lacked — a man of genius. This man predicted that river traffic would die and that the railroads would rule the plains. So the mudbank village of Kansas City gave $20,000 toward a railroad bridge. The river was bridged and the railroads came." This is the epic as it appeared in the Kansas City Star: The California Hummer with its ears pinned back, Races thro' the- city on the Belt Line track To the union station. There the brakes buck down, And we tarry twenty minutes in a big beef town. A tall town of Traders- with its Big Biz hives, The last sacred city where the Great Race thrives, The free-felling, bear-slapping, road building race, Hold this their capital — and market place. The Founders of the City. The herders and the traders and the sod corn crew, They planted 'on a city when the world was new, They planted Kansas^ City, and the darn thing grew. The bearcat killers and the Dan Boone clan, The boys that taught the panther his respect for man — They planted Kansas City where the bull trails ran. Built on Bread and Beef. Ships made Carthage, gold made Nome, Grain built Babylon, the wars built Rome, Hogs made Chicago with their dying squeal, Up popped Pittsburgh at the birth of steel; Come, Kansas City, make your story brief : "Here stands a city built o' bread and beef." "Where the West Begins." Here the pioneer axman came out of the woods, And his trek through the forest was done, The curtain, on woodcraft, had fallen for good, And the Prologue of Grass had begun. Here the buffalo border undauntedly ran, And the Jin of the Desert stood mocking at man. , ' The steamboat was stopped by the shallows and sand, And the rivers were troubled no more, But the bull train set forth for the journey by land. And the Boone tribe went on as before, Tho' the Ozarks and ox carts and leaf littered lanes, Had blended and ended and balked at the plains. THE MAKING OF A CITY 933 Here ended an era. Old guidings were gone, And a tree tribe was out on the grass, And facing the sunset * * * they looked on the dawn Of a dream that would yet come to pass, And their trading post, built as a plainsmen's retreat, Is this capital town in a kingdom of wheat. Little Kansas City, when its bones were green as gristle, Swapped its catfish seaport for a locomotive whistle. "Oh, isn't it a beaut; just hear that whistle toot. "It cost our river birthright and some borrowed gold to boot.'7 Oh, think of Bennie Franklin, he bought a whistle, too; "Don't pay too much for whistles," is the moral that he drew. Did Kansas City weep when the harvest was to reap? Oh, no; she laughed in triumph; she had bought her whistle cheap. Where is Westport Landing, and its bull and harness trade? Where is Leesport Landing and the local fuss it made? The port of Independence and the port of Wyandotte? They are rusted, they are busted, they are buried and forgot. And the locomotive whistle goes a roaring o'er the spot. The River was the sponsor for those towns upon the shore, The River was their wet nurse but it suckles them no more; Their landings all have languished where the weeds and willows wave, Their dream of catfish commerce is a legend in the grave, And the river towns are dust upon the Kansas City pave. The Iron Mare is mother of the epoch here begun — And the city, Kansas City, is the railroads' son. The Union Station. Stroll thru this station where the tribe trails meet, The clans from the cotton, the hordes from the wheat, Watch the West in action — from a grandstand seat. Six sheep shearers out of far Cheyenne, Ten tie hackers from the Ozark hills, An oil king and cotton king from Texarkan', And a po' white piker with the ague chills. A "silly ass" tourist that has never earned a dollar, A tall, tanned Texan in a, wide brimmed hat, A rich Swede farmer in a ten-cent collar, A Wind-River booster with his pockets flat. Oil-rich Indians as sour as sin, Dining room darkies with a golden grin; Beef men, bread men, corn, wool and cotton men, Squaw men, Mexicans, half breeds and rotten men, Seethe through the city, the great gate city, Crowding Kansas City as the great trade town. Corn-fed farmer girls as pretty as an apple, Unconscious of their beauty as it gleams and glows, And a small town vamp— each cheek a scarlet dapple, She's larking to the city in her tell-tale clothes. 934 / CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Snuff-dipping razorbacks with black slouch lids, And Rackensack mothers with a hundred kids. All this is movie stuff in a mammoth scene, A masque of America moving to and fro, Types out of Hollywood, types from the screen, But this is not a movie, it's the Big World Show. Bud's top balloon goes a sailing to the ceiling; Now it settles downward while the slow tear wells, Bud bravely follows with his baby eyes appealing, Till an injun gets his bauble — and he yells hell's bells! A farm hand from Berryville is told to take his ticket To gate number seven to await the Clinton Plug He scans every gate, but he lacks the wit to pick it ; He "can't read readin' " any more'n a doodle bug. A Springfield drummer sees the numb-skull's plight, And points to the gate that will put the fellow right; There stands Bryan with his palm leaf fan; He's lapping up a soda with a livestock man. This is Kansas City, where the tribe trails meet, The rail head, the gateway, the West's main street, The old tribal stamping ground to stamp your feet. History of Kansas City. Price was a rebel, a raider lacking pity, Along came the war and he raided Kansas City. Peace brought a jubilee; Jesse James was there, James and his robber band robbed the county fair. Stockyards and packing houses ! How the city grew ; They had the Priests of Pallas and the Karnival Krew. The flood drowned the bottoms like an old wet hen ; Down burned Convention Hall — they built it up again. The Star boomed for boulevard and parkways green, And Kansas City houses are the finest ever seen. Recollections of Kansas City. In l8go the old settler said: "I shot a deer — put a bullet thro' his brain — And. gutted him and et him where now it's Sixth and Main ; I never have forgot how he tasted, sizzlin hot." (Today a cafeteria is standing on the spot.) "I whacked bulls — me and twenty wagon hands, Teaming up the holler where the Junction stands. In an old stone building, where they later had The Star, I shot a blanket Injun in a quarrel at a bar." THE MAKING OF A CITY 935 In 1020 the settler's son said: "Well do I remember the cable car days, The Aggie Meyers murder and the silver craze ; The Nebraska Clothing Company was raking in the scads, And kept the people laughing with their funny little ads. "I 'niember long before the ten-cent store, Or the first nickelodeon opened up its door. Me and Brother Joe had a tandem bike, and Bo, We used to scorch the paving where your jitney busses go. Envoy. The California Hummer with its ears pinned back, Rumbled from the station on its westward track, And the tourist in the diner had a beefsteak brown, As a high life reminder of a corn-fed town. CHAPTER XXIX A GRAND OLD MAN OF MISSOURI John Finis Philips— Eighty- five Years of the Century of Statehood — Vivid Recollections of the Legal Giants — The Big Four after the Civil War — At the Gettysburg of the West — The Frank James Case — Abiel Leonard's Early Fee — Legislative Pardon for a Duel — Leonard's Last and Vest's First Notable Case — Washington Adams' Misquotation — Gardenhire's Peroration Spoiled — John B. Clark's Fountain of Tears — Barton, the Fore most Citizen — -Edward Bates' Appeal for Sacred Personal Rights — "Old Sarcasm" Hay den — Four Supreme Court Judges at the Bar — Two Views of the Bench — Judge Ryland's Classic Lore — Vest's Missouri Vertsion of Latin — Judge Napton's Search for Law — A Good Turn and Lifelong Friendship — Farmer Hicks and Lawyer Hicks — The Railsplitter — Lynch Law Rebuked — A Practical Joke that Dissolved a Partnership — Primitive Practice Along the Osage — Judge Emmerson's Free-for-All Court — John S. Phelps on Nunc Pro Tunc — Waldo P. Johnson's Thick-Headed Client — Duke Draff en's Mastery of Law — The Defense of Justice Cross — What Became of a Fee — Missouris Best Story Teller — Speeches that Live Only in Tradition — Passing of the Old Breed — Modern Conditions — Ethics of the Shyster — A Tribute to the Pioneers of the Profession. As God is my witness, I have tried so hard to do right. — John F. Philips. The grand old man of Missouri, in the closing years of the state's century, was John Finis Philips. When he was born, in Boone county, on the last day of 1834, the state was thirteen years old. Boy and man he knew the pioneers, and he lived to have active part in the affairs of Missouri to the end of his eighty-five years. Only a few days before he went with Judge Walter Sanborn to the home of Samuel W. Fordyce near Hot Springs, where the end came in the spring of 1919, Judge Philips addressed a public meeting in Kansas City, giving his views as to the form a memorial to those who fought in the World war might take worthily. At the celebration of Missouri's first state centennial, the one-hundredth anniversary of the presentation of the memorial to Congress for statehood, Judge Philips talked charmingly of the pioneer period of state hood. He was in full possession of mental vigor down to the last. What amazing variety of service he had rendered! As Judge Philips he was most popularly know. To his credit there was a supreme court commis- sionership, judgeship on the Kansas City court of appeals bench and twenty- two years as judge of the United States district court of the western district of Missouri. He had handed down 437 opinions, characterized by their fullness of information, their completeness of treatment of the issues involved. True to the faith of his fathers and to the name of the Presbyterian preacher, Rev. John Finis, famous in the early religious life of Missouri, Judge Philips was active in the church, going as a delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian con- 937 938 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI v vention in Edinburgh, in 1877. That gave him opportunity for European travel and observation which rounded out his vision. Missouri's Big Four. • Four young Missourians, who had begun the practice of law in Central Missouri, and who were destined to become, by common consent, known two decades later as Missouri's "Big Four," came together in the winter of 1860-61, to talk about their futures. Cockrell had made up his mind to go with the states rights movement. With that same simple steadfastness of purpose which won for him thirty years in the United States Senate and the utmost confidence in his integrity, more telling in life than brilliance of mirid, there was no hesita tion or variableness in his decision. Vest had been an elector for Douglas, the winning ticket in Missouri in i860, and had made strong Union speeches. But he had a sentiment of devotion to his southern land which carried him with the secessionists when the issue came. The arguments of Philips and Crittenden, who had decided to remain with the Union, could not change this inclination. Speaking of the sequel to this conference, Judge Philips said: "Vest chose to emigrate to Arkansas with the seceding state officials, and down there Shelby's brigade elected him to the Confederate Congress. I don't blame them,— Vest had a persuasive tongue. I suppose he talked to them as he talked to a jury, and Vest's juries usually did what he told them to do. Few men could resist either his eloquence or his logic. He told me once he never had studied an English grammar, but no public speaker had a better command of the language or understood more perfectly the effective marshaling of sentences or the magic use of words. But that was not all. He had a voice that was a worthy vehicle of his finest periods and a dignity and presence that stilled and inspired all men. "Vest went to Richmond and I went to Jefferson City as a member of the provisional convention. Our ways lay apart for four years. There was no longer any doubt of Mis souri's stand after the convention met. The legislature had invested it with extraordinary powers, confident that it would do Jackson's bidding, and it used those powers to defeat his plans and cement the state to the Union. The convention declared the state offices vacant and declared Hamilton R. Gamble governor. I was commissioned to raise a regiment and took the field at the head of the 7th Missouri cavalry, but retained my seat in the con vention and attended its sitting whenever I could leave the saddle long enough to reach the capital." In that convention, John F. Philips was the youngest but one of the mem bers. He was twenty-six years old. But in and out of the convention he gained state-wide fame for his aggressive speeches for the Union. He fought as well as he talked. The battle of Westport, in what are now the suburbs of Kansas City, was called "the Gettysburg of the West." There the cause of Price and the states rights Missourians reached high tide and began its reces sion. Philips led the charge up what became known as "Bloody Hill." Crit tenden fell wounded on the slope. Philips led in the drive of the Confederates southward down the Wornall road and was made a brigadier-general for his gallantry. Philips chose early between politics and law. He had his choice. He had been on the Bell-Everett, Constitutional Union, electoral ticket in i860; he had had two terms in Congress ; he was a member of a committee which investigated JUDGE JOHN P. PHILIPS A grand old man of Missouri JUDGE THOMAS T. GANTT JUDGE SAMUEL TREAT A GRAND OLD MAN OF MISSOURI 941 the Til den-Hayes election in 1876 and made a report which has recognition in national political history. But after these successful experiences, he moved lo Kansas City and entered upon his greater and more satisfying career as a lawyer and jurist. The Frank James Case. After the Civil war, Philips and Vest at Sedalia and Cockrell and Crittenden at Warrensburg became the powers in law and politics. The action of the two Union officers, Philips and Crittenden, in forming early partnerships with the two Confederates, Cockrell and Vest, had no little influence in determining the future political success of the two senators. There came later another chapter in the curiously interwoven careers of the four men. Crittenden was elected governor of Missouri over the most popular man the republicans could nominate, David P. Dyer. He determined to put an end to the series of events which had prompted the epithet of "the robber state" as applied to Missouri by some eastern papers. - He offered large rewards for the capture of Frank and Jesse James. Two young Missourians, scarcely out of their teens, Bob and Charlie Ford, undertook to earn the rewards. In 1881, Jesse James was shot and killed at his home in St. Joseph by one of the Fords. Frank James appeared at the governor's office in Jefferson City, accompanied by Major John N. Edwards who had known of his career during the war, and sur rendered, laying his pistols on the governor's table. Frank James was indicted on the charge of complicity in the killing of Conductor Westfall of the Rock Island in connection with the holdup of a train. On the twenty-first of August, 1883, the most notable criminal trial in that generation of Missourians began at Gallatin. William H. Wallace, for the state headed the prosecution. John F. Philips and Charles P. Johnson were in the array for the defense. James was acquitted. Thereafter he led a law abiding life. At the funeral, held at the farm house in Clay county, there was no prayer, no hymn, no preacher, but Judge Philips, then past fourscore, journeyed out from Kansas City and spoke a few words as he had promised the man he had defended nearly thirty-five years before. Judge Philips' Reminiscences. Of all Missourians, John F. Philips knew longest and most intimately the bench and bar of the Center State, during the century closing. Boy and man, lawyer and jurist, his recollections went back to the pioneers. Close relation ship with his profession continued down to 1919. Repeatedly Judge Philips was called upon to tell of those he had known. And he responded with delightful detail and charming diction. Before the Missouri Bar Association, at the cen tennial celebration of Missouri's formal appeal to Congress for statehood, and on other occasions, Judge Philips gave the reminiscences which follow : "In 18SS, when I commenced reading law, I began to take notice of the leading lawyers of the bar of Missouri. Like the first large objects in nature the eye beholds, such as rivers lakes forests, and towering hills, the notable personages first observed are apt to impress the mind with exaggerated conceptions of their magnitude. Yet, there are those 942 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI who fix the attention in early life, who ever after stand out distinctly, as monumental as the mountains, as grand as the sea, because they are great. "The first lawyer I ever saw was Abiel Leonard, of Fayette, Missouri. My father had been sued, in an action of ejection, in the circuit court of the United States, at St. Louis, for the recovery of possession of the homestead located by him, in Boone county in 1817, on which I was born. The claim advanced against him was predicated of what was known as a New Madrid earthquake certificate. He employed Mr. Leonard to defend the action. En route to St. Louis he remained over the night at my father's home. He was a small man physically, so ugly as to attract attention, with a lion's voice that challenged contradiction. He filled my youthful mind with awe. As I listened to him he seemed a very oracle of wisdom. Abiel Leonard's Fee. "In midwinter he and my father rode horseback, over 150 miles to St. Louis to attend that trial. They were gone over two weeks, during which the family awaited with anx ious hearts tidings of them. Leonard won, and stopped again over night on his return, I suspect to collect his fee. When the neighbors, who in those days ever took the liveliest interest in the affairs of each other, learned of Leonard's charge for his services, they pronounced it exorbitant. It was the princely sum of $150.00! Verily, Tempora mutanlur, et nos mutamur in Wis. "From that time to the close of his career he never failed to measure up to the highest standards of lawyer, jurist and citizen. With rapt interest I listened at the family fireside to the recital of the incident of one Berry cowhiding him, publicly in the court house yard. The hotheaded westerner assumed that as Leonard was a New England Yankee he was cold-blooded, and would not fight. How badly he reckoned ! To wipe the ignominy from his honor thus meanly put upon him, Leonard challenged him to mortal combat, according to the then recognized Code Duello. They fought on Bloody Island in the Mississippi river. From the rifle held by steady nerves and directed by keen eyes, Berry fell. No- man afterward questioned the right of the New Englander to be treated and respected as a gentleman. Pardoned for a Duel. "The legislature of the state, in recognition of the approval of public opinion of this action of Mr. Leonard, passed the following act : " 'AN ACT FOR THE RELIEF OF ABIEL LEONARD. " 'Preamble : Whereas, it satisfactorily appears to this General Assembly, that Abiel Leonard, at the October term of the Circuit Court of Howard, First Judicial district, before the judge of said court, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, was con victed of challenging a person to fight a duel, contrary to the statute in such case made and provided, and the said Abiel Leonard was then and there, by the judgment of the court aforesaid, declared to be "incapable of holding or being elected to any post of profit, trust, or emolument, civil or military, under the government of this state, or of voting at an elec tion within the same. " 'Therefore, Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, that the said Abiel Leonard be and he is hereby restored to all the rights, privileges and liberties of a citizen of this state, in as full and perfect manner as he possessed and enjoyed them before the conviction and judgment aforesaid. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the passage thereof, and shall be taken and considered a public act.' " "'(Approved December 24th, 1824, Chapter 13, Private Acts of Missouri 1824.)'" "In 1835 the original roll of this private act was destroyed, together with all other laws then preserved in the archives in the office of the secretary of state, by the fire which consumed the state capitol building. A volume of the private acts of 1824, printed by public authority and containing this act, was found among the law books in the library of Judge Leonard after his death, preserved by him, doubtless, as a valued treasure. On his death this volume passed into the hands of his son-in-law, General Odon Guitar, of Columbia, Missouri, and is now in the possession of Mr. R. A. Brown, an attorney at law of St. Joseph, Missouri, who married a daughter of General Guitar. Mr. Thomas K. Skinker, the well-known lawyer of St. Louis, who has a commendable passion for collecting and preserving such ancient and rare books, obtained a reprinting of this volume of private A GRAND OLD MAN OF MISSOURI 943 acts and tendered a copy to the secretary of state with the request that it be certified by him as a true copy. This the secretary declined to do unless the original volume, then in the hands of General Guitar, were filed in the office of the secretary of state. General Guitar did not accede to this request doubtless for sentimental reasons. "Judge Leonard was a highly educated man, a rare classical scholar, with an eminently practical mind. He was not an orator, as the world estimates ; but he was so logical, so learned, and intellectually honest that men listened to and believed in him. His term on the supreme bench of the state, from which he voluntarily retired, though short, demon strated his premiership as a jurist, especially in that branch of the law which calls for the highest qualities of head and heart, — equity jurisprudence. Washington Adams' Quotation from Byron. "The last case in which he appeared on the circuit, within my observation, was at Boonville. Because of the high social standing of the litigants and the eminent counsel engaged in it, the case became 'casus celebre.' It was the first case of note in which George G. Vest appeared, and established by his brilliant speech a reputation for oratory that never waned. Wash. Adams, Sr., was of leading counsel for the defendant with Leonard. Mr. Adams afterwards became judge of the supreme court of the state. He was an all 'round good lawyer, strong, aggressive, full of assertion, and armed at every point with a thorough knowledge of the law. He had, in discussion, a way of saying, 'These are the facts' and 'This is the law,' that defied contradiction, and made the timorous hesitate to gainsay it. He furnished proof of the assertion that the expert pleaders and practitioners under the old Chitty system made the best pleaders and practitioners under the new code. There was no place in his rugged mind for fancy or poetry. In one of their consultations, during the trial of the crim. con. case, a phase of the evidence recalled to Vest's mind the lines of 'Don Juan' : " 'A little while she strove, and much repented, And whispering "I will ne'er consent" consented.' "They struck Mr. Adams with the idea of their possible utility in his coming address to the jury. So he asked Vest to repeat them slowly that he might fix them firmly in his memory. When he reached the point in his address to the jury where he thought the lines would fit in, he said: " 'Gentlemen of the jury, the conduct of the plaintiff recalls the lines of Lord Byron's poem about one Don Juan and Julia, which go on to say: "A little still she strove and much repented." ' "Right there his memory lapsed. After an ineffectual effort to catch on to the other line, in characteristic tone, he' said: 'Gentlemen, I'm no poetry lawyer, but the idea Byron tried to express was that the woman said she wouldn't when, by the eternal, she did.' "The leading counsel for the plaintiff was James B. Gardenhire, then attorney general of the state, an excellent lawyer, whose thoughts, always prolific, were conveyed on a vehicle of rhetoric beautiful and charming. The plaintiff was a very attractive woman, in the full glow of exuberant life ; and the defendant, who was her cousin, was in the lusti- hood of his manhood. Why Gardenhire Lost. "In his closing address to the jury, Gardenhire gave full play to his gifts as an advo cate. Judge Leonard, with his chair tilted back against one of the framed pillars enclos ing the bar, and near to the jury, was listening with rapt attention to the rhythm of Garden- hire's well-rounded sentences. In illustration of what the defendant's deportment should have been, under the circumstances that provoked the alleged assault upon the plaintiff, he described an incident in his own life. He was attending court at Independence, Missouri. Being out late one night, engaged at some lawyer's office, he returned to his hotel and to his room, as he thought. Lighting the candle, in use in those days, he at once disrobed for bed. ' The bed was of the ancient aristocratic type, with tall posts, surmounted with a canopy, with curtains extending almost to the floor. Parting the curtains to turn down the covers he was astounded to discover in the bed a female form, all unconscious in 944 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI deep, innocent sleep. Her raven locks Were curled over alabaster shoulders ; the roses were a-bloom on her cheeks ; the silken eyelashes hung low ; and two ripe cherries were seeming ly being kissed by her half-parted lips ; while her bosom rose and fell above a Hebe waist. Turning his sparkling eyes upon Leonard, in a dramatic manner, he exclaimed : "What did I do, but like a gentleman close the curtains, rerobe myself, extinguish the candle, and silently retire from the room, instead of imitating the conduct of your client by attempting to leap the ramparts of virtue, and feast upon chastity! What, sir, should any gentleman have done? Would you have imitated the example of your libidinous client?' Leonard, wrought to a high pitch of excitement by the portraiture, brought his tilted chair with a thud to the floor, and in a hoarse whisper that echoed like a voice in the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, said: 'I think now that I would have awakened her by kissing those cherries, and then apologized like a gentleman.' The jury heard, and Garden- hire's case was lost. The Foremost Missourian a Century Ago. "One biographical historian tells us that David Barton began his brilliant career at old Franklin and was the first judge of the Howard county circuit. Another tells us that he began at St. Louis, and became its first circuit judge. But let these 'boroughs' con tend for Homer dead, David Barton was great enough to cover all with the mantle of his fame. He was the speaker of the territorial legislature who signed the resolution accept ing the terms of the state's admission into the Union. He was one of the great factors in substituting for the civil code of laws the common law of Missouri. He was the first United States senator from Missouri, its foremost citizen and lawyer, although the en cyclopedia makers a quarter of a century ago did not find a place for a name so full of glorious achievements. I stood a short time ago at his grave in the beautiful Walnut Grove cemetery at Boonville. As I beheld the magnificent monuments erected there to men of provincial quality, and then looked at the humble, crumbling stone that marks the rest ing place of David Barton, the thought came that true greatness needs no imposing mauso leum to perpetuate its fame. "Henry S. Geyer for half a century stood in the forefront of lawyers in St. Louis, and represented the state in the United States Senate with distinguished honor. Bates on Sacred Personal Liberties. "As I must be brief, without making invidious distinctions, I feel warranted in desig nating as 'clarum et venerabile nomen,' Edward Bates, who left the imprint of his name written in letters of gold on the archives of the state. He helped it to put aside its terri torial garb, and stood at its birth as a state. He was a Virginian, the brother-in-law of Hamilton R. Gamble. He was the first attorney general of the state, and first attorney general of the United States under the administration of President Lincoln. His mind , was 'a perfect field of cloth and gold.' He possessed a vast wealth of learning. His mental tastes and ambition made him toil in the fundamental principles of the law and the science of government. Early in my professional career, I had an occasion to read a brief from his pen before the supreme court; the thought and philosophy of which ought to be burnt into the public mind, in these days when legislators and ministers at the seat of power, distempered with frenzy, disregard the sacred personal liberties oj the .citizen. It was the revivication and amplification of Thomas Jefferson's pronouncement in the preamble to the Declaration of American Independence, that 'all men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happi ness.' With burning words and impassioned earnestness, he maintained that there are per sonal privileges and rights that depend upon no human statutes or organic acts of govern ment, but they exist inherent in our manhood, and whenever or wherever government or society undertakes to invade this domain, they make for despotism, no matter what the pretext, whether under the guise of the supposed exigency of government or the frenzied ' fancy of the sociologist. A GRAND OLD MAN OF MISSOURI 945 John B. Clark, Sr. "Contemporaneous with the elders of the bar of Central Missouri, was General John B. Clark, Sr., of Fayette. He was my preceptor in the study of law. He was a most noted character, and left a deep and lasting impression upon the history of the state. Before the Civtf war- he was a member of Congress, and a brigadier general. He was a brigadier general in the Confederate army; and a member of the Confederate Senate— by brevet! And so thoroughly reconstructed did he become early that he tried to get back into Congress, and only consented to retire in favor of that knight chevalier, his son, General John B Clark, Jr. "While in his office I became much impressed with his great familiarity with the old text-books. It was his habit, at the end of my week's reading of law, to examine me like a schoolmaster on what I had gone over. No law professor possessed more accurate knowledge of the books than he displayed. He not only had stored in his memory the texts, but he understood the rationale of the rules and principles. "He was an imposing figure, tall, erect, strong, with massive head, and an oratorical pose and grace of gesture that designated him as a man of distinctive force. Many stories were told of his crudities and angularities, with, perhaps, sufficient foundation in truth, without so much of exaggeration. He was disposed in writing to follow phonetics rather than correct orthography. But he employed virile English, and on occasion rose to lofty heights of natural eloquence. His lachrymose ducts were always full and ready to over flow. Like a lie they were a great, help in time of need. I listened to him defend a suit, against a widow to impress her dower interest in land with the quality of a mortgage, with an element of fraud in it, whereby he persuaded the court to submit to a jury the hearing. In his appeal to the jury he said a verdict for the plaintiff would send his client, a delicate, refined woman, burdened with the care of helpless children, to the washtub, to scrub and wring. Suiting the action to the word, when he used the word 'wring,' the fountain of his tears was loosed, until he baptized, with immersion, his entire expansive shirt front. Although his client sat as if carved out of granite, he outwept Niobe oyer her nine dead children. The jury wept with him, and decided for him. A Never Failing Fountain of Tears. "The last case, of note, in which he appeared, was at Boonville, in defence of a man indicted for murder. He had the wife of the defendant, dressed in black, surrounded by a bevy of bright-looking young children, inside of the bar, sitting near the husband and father. When he reached the 'homestretch' in his speech, he called up the well-spring of his tears, at sight of which the wife and little ones broke into audible sobs. The pre siding judge, about whose heart the icicles hung in summer, called to the sheriff to remove the wife and children from the court room. This rebuff would have nonplused the aver age lawyer, but the veteran of over three-score years on the field of combat lost neither courage nor resource. With a swelling flow of tears streaming down his unwiped cheeks, he said: *Your Honor, if it pleases you, let the woman be taken out; but, in the name of the Savior of mankind, who, with infinite compassion, said, "suffer little children to come unto me," I beg that these little ones be spared. But the judge was immovable; and as the sheriff led the procession of mother and children from the room, all wailing as at a funeral, the old general turned to the jury and said: "'Gentlemen, you alone can give this husband and father to wife and children. You cannot call back the dead, but you can save the living. That mother and her little ones have been sent from this room weeping their hearts away, and so overcoming me with emotion that I am unable to continue my speech.' "A fresh gust of tears ran down his cheeks like rain drops from a weeping willow. The jury wept with him; and gave the 'husband and father' his freedom. "In grateful remembrance of the affectionate interest he ever manifested in me, I leave him with this sentiment: For every foible in his character there were many great virtues. For every weakness in his nature there was a rampart of strength. Vol. I— 60 946 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "Old Sarcasm." "Peyton R. Hayden, of Boonville, was one of the' most unique characters of the bar. He was closely related to Wash Adams, Sr. Preeminent lawyers, they were usually antago nists in*most important cases ; and the War of the Roses went on until they found surcease in the grave. Hayden was deeply versed in the science of law, and most skilled in the fine arts of the profession. In his tongue was the sting of the asp. He was known as 'Old Sarcasm.' In invective he was a terror. He wore his hair in a long queue like a China man. In speaking he had the habit of flipping with his forefinger his queue into the form of a periphery. Whenever he began to flip it violently it was an. unmistakable warning signal that opposing counsel, witness or litigant, was about to get 'a skinning.' And when he turned loose the artillery of his raillery or invective the court room became lurid, and woe to him who caught its fire ! "Illustrative of his resourcefulness was the. tact he took~m defending an action for slander. While the defendant was possessed of considerable property, his reputation was unsavory. When the plaintiff closed his evidence, Hayden had sworn a number of 'char acter witnesses.' Counsel for the plaintiff, not divining Hayden's design, interposed no objection to his introducing evidence in support of the defendant's character before it was assailed, knowing that it was bad. Each of those witnesses testified that the defendant's _ reputation for truth and veracity was bad; and under leading questions further said they would not believe anything he said. In his best vein of humor and abuse, Hayden argued to the jury that his client was such a notorious liar that nobody believed anything he said, no man's character could be affected by what he had directly or indirectly said of him ; that far from mulcting the defendant as a public example the plaintiff should be regarded a a bad citizen, eaten up with greed and selfishness ; that inspired by no higher motive than an itching desire to transfer to his pockets a few dollars earned by the defendant in hoeing corn, and marketing cabbage and potatoes, he had compelled the jury to leave their farms in seeding time, and attend court to listen to the rehearsal of some ordinary lie about him, which nobody believed. Giving his queue a final swish, he said : 'A character that is so sleazy, a tongue like the defendant's can make a rent in it can be patched up better than it was with a two-bit plaster.' The jury evidently took this view, as they awarded the plaintiff only nominal damages. When Hayden asked for his fee his client threatened to whip him because of the peculiar defence made for him ! Two Opinions from the Bar. "Mr. Hayden was a magnet around whom the younger members of the bar gathered to listen to his rare witticisms and raillery. Illustrative of how some lawyers' estimation of the judge is affected, Hayden had argued an important demurrer before Judge Russell Hicks, the presiding judge. In an oral opinion, delivered with characteristic clearness and force, Hayden was sustained. Turning to his satellites, he said: 'There sits a great judge, with a large head full of knowledge of the law. How lucid his mind and elegant his language.' In a day or two thereafter he argued some other question of law before the same judge, which was promptly ruled against him. Turning to the same circle of 'young hopefuls,' he flipped his queue and said: 'Just listen to that. I take back what I said of that ass on the bench the other day. He is disgustingly ignorant. Why, he don't even know grammar.' The Cold Blooded Lawyer. "When I was in the chrysalis period, I had foreclosed a mortgage on a valuable tract of land; and after sale and deed made to my client, I discovered to my amazement that the land throughout the proceedings had been misdescrib'ed. In my perplexity and distress I went to a venerable-looking, white-haired lawyer, in attendance upon the court, for advice as to how I might rectify the blunder. He coldly said to me: 'Have your client employ me, and I think I can straighten out the tangle.' With contempt burning in my breast, I told him that my client resided in Kentucky, so it would be impossible to communicate with him during the present term of court, and I had the notion that now was the time to THE STATUE OF ST. LOUIS Presented to the Citv of St. Louis by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition A GRAND OLD MAN OF MISSOURI 949 • act; besides, I did not wish my client to know of my misadventure, and the necessity of going to another lawyer for assistance. The only answer I received were the pompous words: 'My knowledge of the law is for sale, and not to give away.'- I did not let the iron enter my soul. But the bitter experience did two things for me of inestimable value. During all of my subsequent professional life no brother lawyer ever came to me, in trouble, for the helping hand, and went away empty-handed, if I could fill it. And, second, left to self-reliance, I burned the midnight oil in searching all the relevant books accessible to me, determined that I would verify the motto of the pickaxe on the dial: 'I'll find a way or make one.' With 'fear and trembling' I worked out the problem, saved my client's interest, and protected what little reputation I had as a young lawyer ! I would have let this incident sleep in forgetfulness, but for the useful lesson it teaches. "Four judges retired from the supreme bench during the periods of which I speak: Abiel Leonard, John F. Ryland, William B. Napton, and Wash. Adams, Sr., all of whom resumed the practice of law, and were encountered by me at the bar, except Judge Leonard. Judge John F. Ryland's Classics. "Judge John F. Ryland was a lawyer of varied attainments. He was profoundly learned in the law and a good classical scholar. From which, I take it, came his fancy for the civil law, which led him to the especial study of equity jurisprudence, in the application of which he became noted on the bench ; and when he resumed practice of the law he sought to turn cases technically at law to the equity side of the docket. I witnessed a trial,, in the early sixties, to a jury wherein Ryland was opposed by George G. Vest. The vendor of a farm sued on the contract for the purchase money. Among the defences in terposed by Judge Ryland was that between the date of sale and time for delivery the vendor had suffered his cattle to run upon the orchard of young fruit trees, which were promising and valuable. With those cattle was a young bull, in 'the horny season.' In his training for future encounters with his kind he had practiced on the tender apple trees, wrenching their limbs, stripping from them the bark, and pawing up the earth about the roots as if a cyclone had passed that way. Judge Ryland's mind, ever revelling in the classics, led him to liken the situation to that of a connoisseur of art who bargained for one of Raphael's paintings, and before delivery the vendor had suffered it to be marred and disfigured by some vandal hand. The purchaser, of course, would not be required to take or pay for it. From the vast storehouse of his reading the judge drew a vivid portraiture of Raphael's genius as an artist, which culminated in the production of the celebrated 'Madonna and Child'; that no limner could reproduce his immutable colors, or give birth to his conceptions. Vest's Translation of Latin. "In his reply Vest dissipated, with ridicule, the effect of the judge's display of learning. He assailed his illustration for lack of analogy; that like noble Festus the judge's learning had made him mad; he had, in fact, offended the memory of Raphael, by likening his work of art to an apple orchard, with a bull calf running rampant over it, twisting apple trees by whetting. his horns on them. While it might be true that no living artist could put to canvas the images born of ' the genius of Raphael, any horticulturist could furnish like apple sprouts by wagon-loads at two and a half dollars a dozen, and any clodhopper, with a spade, could plant them out in a day or two ; and the good Lord would send His rain and sunshine to make them perform the sacred mystery of reproductive growth. He then asserted that no farmer ought to be expected to provide an impound strong and high enough to restrain a young bull in the horning season. He reached his climax by saying: 'There is another Latin maxim my learned brother, Ryland, seems to have overlooked, quite applicable to this case. It is Damnum absque injuria, which being rendered into plain, western vernacular means— little injury.' The jury accepted the rendition of the maxim ' Judge Ryland himself wielded a dangerous lance in a wordy encounter. I heard him in court worst Judge Hicks in a tilt at ridicule and satire. 950 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI William B. Napton's Research. "In many important respects, in my humble judgment, William B. Napton was one of the ablest jurists that ever adorned the supreme bench of this state. The valedictorian of his class, in the University of Virginia, he maintained ever his high academic standards. He wrote pure English, and expressed his ideas in most concise terms, without superfluity or circumlocution. His contributions to the law pertaining to real property and equity jurisprudence established monumental marks. When he retired from the bench, at the outbreak of the Civil war, from necessity and love of his profession, he resumed the practice of law. He was not a great advocate, as his mind was logical and theoretical. He wielded power, however, before bench and jury, because of his recognized learning and intense honesty. "I listened to him once on the trial of an important case. His argument to -the court, touching some complex questions of law and fact, was superb, although he lost. When he began the preparation of the case for review in the supreme court he was a novice. He came to me, and requested assistance in the preparation of the bill of exceptions and proper motions. I discovered that he had overlooked the necessity of saving exceptions in the progress of the trial to certain matters of evidence he desired to have reviewed. But I had the bill of exceptions to show that tney were duly preserved, after obtaining consent of opposing counsel. "How much more to be desired are the offices of friendship than silver and gold! I accepted no compensation for my services to Judge Napton ; but received my reward in his unaffected friendship to the close of his great life. He was again returned to the su preme bench. One day I was busily engaged in the old library of the supreme court in the preparation of a brief. Late in the afternoon Judge Napton briskly stepped out of an alcove. I said to him : 'Why, judge, I did not know you were in this room.' With the characteristic jerk of his vest, he said: 'Yes, I have been reading opinions trying to find out what some judges meant, until I am almost distraught. I am now going to walk out over these capitol grounds and commune with nature to ascertain, at least to my own satisfaction, what the law of the given case ought to be.' I have often thought that the suggestion was full of meat. The Rail Splitter. "Russell Hicks was one of the most striking personalities of the bar of Central Mis souri. He was a native of New York. Of his antecedents or family connections very - little could be learned, even by his closest associates. He was called 'the rail splitter,' be cause of the story that the first money he earned after coming west was for making rails for a farmer. He began the practice of law in Jackson county, where he owned a splendid farm. He was passionately fond of fine horses, especially racers, and maintained on his farm a race track for their training, more for his own amusement than profit. I heard him say, with a deep sigh, that 'Farmer Hicks kept Lawyer Hicks a poor man.' At the outbreak of the Civil war his farm was raided by a band of marauders, known as 'Red- legs,' from Kansas, who carried off his horses and negroes. This so outraged him that to the day of his death he bore an implacable dislike to everything and almost everybody that had been connected with the cause of the Union. "He was a man of powerful frame, #large-headed, piercing black eyes, and a strong challenging voice. His manner was brusque, and he took pride in being aloof. But be neath the rough exterior I discovered a heart not void of sympathy or sentiment. He was endowed with great intellectual force. As early as 1855 he stood at the forefront of the bar of Jackson county, and his fame spread out beyond its borders. He attracted wide spread attention as one of the leading counsel for the defendant in the celebrated slander suit of James H. Birch against Thomas H. Benton, tried at Clinton, Henry county, on change of venue. It brought around the trial table the most distinguished array of lawyers in Western and Central Missouri. The refusal of the court to give certain instructions as drawn by Judge Hicks constituted reversible error, as held by the supreme court. The fierce invective of his speech in that case was as blistering to the pride of Judge Birch as the vitriol of Benton's tongue. A GRAND OLD MAN OF MISSOURI 951 Upholder of Court Dignity. "He appeared upon the circuit bench in 1856. His very presence was a command for order. He broke up the vulgar habits of habitues about the court room. The man with hat on and coat off was summoned before him, and the badinage and bantering of counsel around the trial table were objurgated. His rulings were prompt and final. He believed in the majesty of the law, and respect for its ministers. "When he went to Marshall, Saline county, to hold court, a negro, under indictment for murder, was forcibly taken from the custody of the sheriff, and hanged by a mob. , This so incensed the judge that he refused to hold court in a community where such law lessness he misconceived to be applauded, and adjourned court, without day, and sent his resignation to the governor, and never again sought office. "At the close of the Civil war I found him in St. Louis, moneyless, seeking to estab lish business in his profession. I invited him to come to Sedalia, and join me, as I was flush with clients. Of that offer he said to a mutual friend that he had felt he could never get his consent to be associated even in a partnership relation with a man who had fought in the Union army ; but as it was a case of bread with 'him, he 'would try Philips.' George Vest had lost his civil rights in the state by trying to find them in the territories ; and his steambcfat had sunk on the Red river, taking with it to the bottom his iron safe, which proved on resurrection to contain only bills payable for supplies of 'licker' for the craft. He had joined his family in Kentucky, from whom he had been separated for nearly four years. I wrote to him, inviting him to return to Missouri, and join me in the practice of law. He came, and the firm of 'Philips, Hicks & Vest' was formed. It lasted until the latter part of 1869, when two incidents, in quick succession, occurred that ended the firm, after the fashion of a staged histrionic play ending in a comical farce. A Partnership Suddenly Dissolved. "One mellow autumn day an oleaginous negro woman, black enough for an idol 'in darkest Africa,' stopped at our office and inquired where she could find the agent of the Freedmen's Bureau! Knowing Judge Hicks' extreme aversion to that institution, we could not resist the temptation for what promised to be rare fun. We informed her that the agent was in his office, out in the yard back of our offices ; and Vest manifested so much interest in her behalf as to go with her to the back door and point out the judge's office door, saying to her : 'Walk right in without knocking, and announce your business. The agent is an ugly, crabbed old fellow, and he will likely storm at you ; but stand your ground, and demand of him what you want ; the government is paying him to look after the inters ests of just such colored persons as you.' We were listening. She had no more than entered there until the uproar came. Like a porpoise, half waddling and rolling, she tumbled info our office, almost before we could resume seats at our desks, with the judge in hot pursuit, flourishing a big iron poker, and out-swearing all the soldiers in Flanders. He chased her out onto the sidewalk. Returning' through our office, he paused only long enough to catch his breath, and glowering at us viciously, said : 'You be d d. Thersites deriding Achilles.' From the debris and surrounding circumstances, discovered the follow ing morning, we drew the following inferences : He had swallowed something to soothe his outraged feelings, and taking off his ambrosial wig, and placing it, as usual, on the round top bed post, with his clothes on he dropped onto his bed and fell into a restless dream. Under normal conditions he was ever apprehensive of burglars. The moon streaming through the window fell full upon that wig-crowned bed post. From a maudlin dream the judge sufficiently awoke to discern in that bed post a veritable burglar right at the foot of his bed. Quietly slipping from the further side of the bed he laid hold of the ever-ready large iron poker, and with one fell swoop he split into splinters the top of the bed post, and scattered the hair of that well-groomed wig over the floor. Fully con vinced that he had brained a burglar, hatless, he hurried from the homicidal scene and took refuge in a hotel. He did not appear for about three days at his office. Evidently he had been busy in procuring from Kansas City, or St. Louis a new w,g, inferably by sho telegram as it was off-color, so noticeable that neither Vest nor myself could look at ,t 952 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI without a suggestion of the catastrophe that befell its predecessor. The situation for a while was tense and embarrassing, between the judge's stolid reserve and the suppressed mirth of Vest and myself. For business reasons the judge concluded to take a change of venue, to Warrensburg, where he entered the law office of one of'tha best law firms there; and there he died. Lover of the Poets. "Singularly enough this ascetic man was passionately fond of poetry. He knew Shakespeare, Byron, Burns, Scott and Longfellow as a schoolboy knows his primer. Blessed with a marvelous retentive memory, he would recite page upon page from the choicest parts. With his own pen he often invoked the muses. I found one day upon his table a poem, written in his legible hand, dedicated to 'My Mary.' It was so exquisite in sentiment and so touching in its pathos as to persuade me that this Mary had been of real flesh and blood, and that in the long ago she had taken possession of his heart, and con tinued to occupy it. He never married. I would if I could embalm 'his memory, " 'Storied of old in high, immortal verse.' Law Along the Osage. "While the Osage river was regarded as the boundary line on the south of Central Missouri, from the south side often came leading lawyers to the courts along the dividing border. Among the most conspicuous was John S. Phelps from Springfield. His wider fame was achieved as a politician. He served many terms in Congress, where he became a recognized leader as the head of the committee on ways and means. He was military governor of Arkansas at the close of the Civil war; and then governor of Missouri. Yet, he was one of the best equipped lawyers, for an all 'round battle in court, I ever met on the Osage. He was imposing in stature, suave in manner, fearless in demeanor, and pos sessed deep insight into the springs of human action. Untiring in energy, he kept abreast of the progress of the law. "In the flush times of litigation, just after the close of the Civil war, the Warsaw circuit court was a battleground. The presiding judge was Judge Burr Emmerson, whose like we shall never see again. At some time or other he had read the leading text-books of his day; and with a wonderful faculty for assimilation he readily appropriated them for use, and never bothered himself about technical rules. He was equally indifferent about rules of decorum. His court room, in those raucous days, was a 'free-for-all' gladitorial arena. The only time I ever knew him to interfere from the bench in an inside-bar fisticuff, was when one of the combatants made a motion as if to draw a knife; whereat the judge, as if an umpire, loudly called out : 'Fair fight, fair fight, I say ; if you, go to cuttin' I'll fine you sure.' At one time when reversed by the supreme court, he took an especial pride in showing the opinion to lawyers at the bar, wherein the language (usually quite perfunctory), occurred: 'The learned judge inadvertently fell into e'rror.' He said: 'This shows that the supreme court regards me as a learned judge. But, like all men, I am liable to an ac cident through mere inadvertence.' Then, to further square himself with the bystanders, he said: 'Those fellows down at Jefferson City are on to their job. If they should affirm all the rulings of the circuit courts the people would conclude that there is no cause for their existence and would abolish them ; and, therefore, they must reverse us occasionally to make a showing of necessity for their continuance.' The Legislature Circumvented. "The state legislature attempted to eliminate him as judge by cutting down his circuit to one county (Benton), in which he did not live. But he circumvented their design. On receiving news that the bill had passed both houses, he mounted his horse, and rode through at night from Bolivar, his home, to Warsaw, the county seat of Benton ; and sent a message to the governor, before the bill was approved, that he had changed his residence from Polk to Benton county. The first time I saw him after this coup d' etat, I said to him : 'Judge A GRAND OLD MAN OF MISSOURI 953 you have not so much work to do now.' He quickly replied: 'Yes, less work, but the same pay, and as to the honor, de minimis lex non curat!' The Case of Nunc Pro Tunc. "I brought an action in ejectment for the recovery of the homestead of a man who had gone off into the Confederate army. In his absence the defendant had attached his land, for debt, and had it sold. I attacked the sale on the ground that for lack of con formity to the statute the judgment was void. John S. Phelps appeared for the defendant. In the progress of the trial, (to the court, without jury,) Phelps offered in evidence a certain paper among the files of the attachment proceedings, to which I objected for non conformity to statutory requirements. To cure the obvious defect, Phelps presented a mo tion for an entry nunc pro tunc; supporting it by a lengthy argument, advancing the ordi nary rule that permits the court to amend its own records in aid of what the court had in fact ordered theretofore. This I met with the suggestion of the other rule, that while the court might at a subsequent term amend the record to conform to the fact, there must be some memorandum of -record in the case made at the time, from which the amend ment might be made ; and there was no such memorandum in the case. Phelps persisted, explaining to the judge the meaning of the words nunc pro tunc, when the judge inter jected: 'Yes, governor, I see your nunc, but where is your tunc'? This shot staggered the governor, and I felt sure I had won. But when court took a recess for dinner, the judge came up to me, and giving his usual familiar tap, by "stabbing my side with a very stiff thumb, said : 'Philips, your argument is mighty nigh ungitoverable ; but if you are right, I don't own the house I live in, as I bought it at just such a sale.' And so it was that I was compelled to take the case to the supreme court to obtain my client's land. (Duros- sett's, Admr., vs. Hale, 38 Mo. 346.) The refusal of the judge to allow the entry nunc pro tunc was not considered by the supreme court, as non constat, the judgment below was for the defendant. Waldo P. Johnson and His Clients. "Waldo P. Johnson was another conspicuous lawyer of the Osage district. He was an antebellum circuit judge; a United States senator when the Civil war began, from which he resigned, to identify himself with the Confederacy. He became a member of the Confederate senate, by the action of a peripatetic rump legislature, which sat, down in Arkansas, as the fortunes of war permitted. Johnson was an 'irreconcilable.' He refused to apply for the removal of his disabilities, so he could practice law. But he did business sub rosa. Frequently I tried for him in court cases in which he was 'the real party in interest,' as "counsel. In 1875 he was a member of the convention that framed the present state constitution, and presided over its deliberations with signal ability and impartiality. He was an astute lawyer, well posted, and had a keen analytical mind. He was a philosopher, and a very wise man. The late General B. G. Boone, of Clinton, Missouri, told of an interview he chanced to overhear between Johnson and his client. It was another slander suit indigenous to the local soil. As Johnson was one of the counsel in the famed slander suit of Birch vs. Benton, he had learned, from the decision of the supreme court, the great importance of the proof sustaining the actionable words as laid in the petition. So he had his client backed up against the outer wall of the court house, drilling him by reading to him the petition. When he came to the actionable words of the petition, he halted, and fixing his deep-set eyes, beneath shaggy brows, upon the client, said: 'Now, mark the language.' Slowly spelling out the words, he asked him if he understood them. The fellow with a vacant stare, asked: 'Who is that fellow called defendant, in that writin'?' Johnson fairly hissed through his teeth: 'He is the other fool to this lawsuit, the 'fellow you claim slandered you; now tell me what he said.' With a scared look, the client said : 'I almost fergit.' Johnson's voice, rising to a full falsetto, exclaimed: 'You are a veritable Midas' ass who lost his wit but kept his ears. I don't believe anybody ever did or could slander you.' 954 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "Duke" Draff en. "James W. Draffen, of Boonville, who went by the sobriquet of 'Duke,' because of his middle name — Wellington — and his iron will, was a conspicuous star in the constellation of lawyers named. The attributes that make up the lawyer and gentleman were com pressed into his character. In honor, courage and fidelity he had no superior. He was not what the world calls a brilliant man ; nor did he possess the graces of oratory. His mind worked rather along the lines of studied premise and assured conclusion. He would wear the night out searching the books to satisfy himself as to the law. He would resist being forced into trial, until, to his own satisfaction, he had mastered the facts and ap plicable law. The effect of which was that his opponent could not depend upon taking him by surprise, or finding any vulnerable part of his armor he had not tried to strengthen. His discrimination was fine, which enabled him to escape the pitfall into which so many lawyers stumble, by predicating their case on some apparently applicable statement found in a judicial opinion, without discovering that it was predicated on a state of acts that entirely differentiated the two cases. "Level-headed as he was, he would become obsessed with the notion that his case was undeniably just, and his client was always honest. He would have made an invincible general on the battlefield, as he never knew when he was whipped, and never admitted defeat. Staid in judgment, and stable in conviction, no blandishment could swerve him, no flattery cajole him, and no ignis fatuus could deceive him. No sudden discomfiture could disconcert or discourage him. He fought the harder when thought to be 'down and out.' "On one occasion the character of his client, the defendant, was impeached. Turning to his client, after a whispered conversation, he called out, with battle in his voice: 'Mr. John Robinson, come inside the bar and take the witness stand.' John Robinson being sworn, the following questions and answers ensued : "'Mr. Robinson, you are a farmer and an old citizen of this county?' " 'Yes sir.' "'How long have you known the defendant?' " 'Perhaps for twenty years.' " 'You and he are near neighbors ?' "'Yes sir.' " 'Are you well acquainted with his general reputation in the community where he lives for truth and honesty?' " T think I am.' " 'Is that reputation good or bad ?' "'It is bad.* "With face unblanched, and rebuke in his tone, Draffen said : 'Is that, sir, all you know about this case? If it is you can stand aside.' As the lion shakes his mane when angered, he flashed his eyes around the bar, a command not to 'titter.' The only effect upon him was to cause him to pull his visor down and more firmly set his lance for the onset. "He was a patron of the farm, and a lover of the forests. There was no music so sweet to his ears as the songs of the wild birds; and nothing so exhilarated his spirits as the sound of the hunter's horn, and the deep-toned outcry of the pack in hot pursuit of fox and deer. And, although he was handicapped with a disabled limb, no bold rider took the leap over fence, hedge and ditch more daringly than he, or beat him getting in at 'the death.' Vest's Defense of Squire Cross. "No group of the luminaries of the bar of Central Missouri would be complete with out a picture of George G. Vest. He was a man of small stature, with neck deeply set in stooping shoulders, head large and well formed, hair tinged with gold that relieved it from being regarded as red, with large searching blue eyes, and a tenor voice, in its prime musical and vibrant. He was many sided, full of sharp angles, without being jagged. A GRAND OLD MAN OF MISSOURI 955 He had the wizard's tongue and the artist's imagination. His resourcefulness, and keen appreciation of the ludicrous, were manifested at the outset of his appearance at the bar in Missouri^ He preceded me at Georgetown, the county seat of Pettis county. There lived in the village a human curio — a living cadaver, named Cross. So like a dead man was he that one day when teamsters were passing through the main street of the village with wagons laden with coffins of the dead, being removed to another burying ground, one of the teamsters in the rear of the gruesome procession cried out to the : one in front, that he had dropped one of his skeletons, which turned out to be old Squire Cross sitting on the curbing looking on ! "Cross was a continuous justice of the peace. He could not be beaten for the office, no matter what the changes in parties. He said that parties could not change faster or oftener than he could change his politics. One of his rare accomplishments was that of an adept in the game of poker. The grand jury, about the time ofs Vest's arrival in the village, indicted the 'squire for 'gaming.' He employed Vest to defend him, paying him a fee of $20, the amount of his winnings at the last 'sitting.' When the term of court was about to convene at which the case was to be tried, there was in progress in the village a religious revival. It occurred to the fertile mind of the 'squire that it might be a coup d' etat if he were 'to get religion.' Accordingly on Sunday, just before the convening ol court, he 'joined,' and was baptized publicly in Cedar creek. After muddying the waters, as much as possible, about the evidence identifying the 'squire with the particular game, Vest slipped, outside of the evidence, information to the jury of the 'squire's conversion, as remarkable almost as that of Saul of Tarsus while journeying between Jerusalem and Damascus, breathing out curses against the Christians; and pleaded with the jury as the 'squire's sins had been washed away in Cedar creek, and the good Lord had bade him go and sin no more, they ought to imitate the Master's example; with the result that the jury returned something like a Scotch verdict — guilty, but not proven. "That evening, in celebration of his acquittal, the 'squire invited a select few, among them Vest, to come around to the rear room of his judicial chambers. The result of the celebration was that the 'squire won back from Vest the $20 he had paid him for a fee. From which early experience Vest drew the moral that there is an utter incompatibility between the game of poker and the practice of law, as the earning of the day's 'session' is apt to be lost in the night's 'sitting.' Vest's Strong Qualities at the Bar. "Vest was not, in technical knowledge of the law, equal to some of his contemporaries at the bar of Missouri. But as an advocate before juries, and in the fence and foil of debate before the bench, he had no superior. If genius be the faculty of appreciation, and the power to seize the emergent opportunity, he had it in fullness. He possessed the singular quality, akin to fascination, of making attached friends of men, without apology or sycophancy, whom fie had mercilessly excoriated on the hustings and in the court room. He was a prince among gentlemen, and a hale fellow well met among parvenues. He had an inexhaustible repertory of apt anecdotes, garnered and coined, which were skillfully employed on occasion to fasten attention and rivet an argument. He had a way of presenting commonplace matters of fact and law positively attractive. The attention of jury and court never fagged while he held the floor. Rarely did he lose a case before a jury when he had a foot of solid ground on which to stand. Chief among his mental qualities was his brevity, and the command of the exact phraseology to express his thoughts. Whatever he wrote or spoke was terse and sententious. He was strikingly free from tautology and repetition. The syllogism was complete, the rhetoric finished. He seldom spoke over an hour to a jury; and I never heard him before the higher courts ask for an extension of time. He affected no mannerism in his delivery. He followed no pattern, and imitated no model. He was natural in manner, and original in matter. Energetic in action, and at times vehement, he never 'tore passion into tatters,' or played the part of the low comedian. His was the power of magnetism. His pleadings, instruc tions and briefs were models of conciseness and perspicuity. His diction was quite nigh faultless, and his style of composition and speaking was free from floridity or vapid 956 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI i declamation. His vitriolic sarcasm and flashing repartee made it dangerous for any com batant to engage him in fierce encounter. But he never made the unknightly thrust, or played the dastard's role. Vest's Humor. "A rich vein of humor ran through1 his mind like a fast-flowing, sparkling brook, that at times overflowed the adversaries' barricade of facts. In the celebrated trial of Colonel Warner, of Lexington, Missouri, for killing his son-in-law, Nutter, Colonel Tilton Davis, an astute lawyer, prosecuting as private counsel on behalf of the state, severely criticised Mrs. Nutter, the daughter of the defendant and widow of Nutter, who had testified for her father, that on an almost starless night, at a distance, perhaps, of seventy-five yards, she had seen Nutter skulking among the trees near Warner's house, as if lying in wait, and although she could not distinguish his features, she recognized him by his walk. In his reply Vest said that Mrs. Nutter was a Kentuckian, who can tell a man by his move ments as a horse by his gait; that his own wife, who is a Kentuckian, could not only tell his footfalls as he approached the home, after being out late at night, 'but she can some times tell from my walk where I have been.' "His speech to the jury in that case, in brilliancy, invective, and electrifying power, in my humble judgment, was not surpassed by that of Sargent S. Prentiss in defence of Dr. Wilkerson and others, at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, in 1839, which so thrilled his audience, and has delighted multitudes whose fortune it has been to read it. But as there was not present any shorthand reporter to catch its lightning flashes, nor any Carlton, as there was for Prentiss, to write out in longhand the burning words and breathing thoughts of Vest's speech, it lives only in tradition ; alas for posterity, the keepers of its memory will soon pass under the silent shadows. "I heard him, on a sudden in briefest speech, discuss before a trial judge the correct application and proper limitation of the rule respecting evidence as a part of the res gestae. In -conciseness, comprehension, and practical sense no writer or jurist has ever approached it. The essence of his postulate was that the admissibility of the statement made subsequent to the act sought to be explained or qualified depends upon the con tinuity of the act and the statement rather than upon their mere proximity in point of time. "I cannot let this opportunity to pass to correct a false impression, among some, that Vest was not a toiler in the deep mines of legal lore. He had for his guide and mentor, in the Transylvania Law School, that greatest of Kentucky jurists, Chief Justice Robinson, who regarded him as one of his star students, even though rivalled by John Marshall Harlan, who became such a distinguished justice of the United States Supreme Court. Because of the fact that Vest caught as by intuition what others reached, if at all, by the slower process of induction, it was surmised that he was rather superficial in technical learning. Like the skilled mineralogist, who can discern and approximately measure the rich ore in place without delving for it as the common miner, or the connoisseur of the fine arts, who can tell what a painting is almost by a glance of his practiced eye, Vest, by running his eyes rapidly over the pages of the text, or opinion, could catch their essence without stopping to con them over and again ; and then with his facility of language present it in most attractive form to the court. By the same force of specific intellectual ascension that lifted him to the front rank of debaters and practical statesmen in the United States Senate, he became a lawyer to be reckoned with by the best in the lists of the legal profession. The New Conditions. , "These lawyers of a former epoch have passed forever out of our view. The electric currents of their minds flash no more; and their voices are silent. This and the next gen eration will not see their like. Our commercialized civilization does not breed them; and if it did the pharisaism and artificialism of the times would not cultivate them. They were, however, monument builders ; and they gave Missouri a high place among the bright sister- A GRAND OLD MAN OF MISSOURI 957 hood of states. It has always been and ever will be true that the standards of our profes sion can best be gauged by the lawyers who stand out in the community preeminent for their learning, honor and moral courage. Like a flawless, high-grade mirror, they give back no distorted image. Their reflection makes others see their own lineaments by comparison ; so that they must strive to grow into the likeness of great men, or sink away into obscurity. When there is only mediocrity at any bar it is apt to degenerate into mental dwarfage, for lack of ambition stimulated by example. "The best specific any community can formulate for the extermination of the growing pest of shysters is to foster and support only the nobler breed of lawyers. Days of the Hand Picked Lawyer. "In those days the lawyer, as a rule, was 'hand picked,' not machine made. I have known some lawyers of whom it was said 'they could neither read, spell nor write,'' who were quite formidable, if they could get beyond the court to the jury, with the applause of the onlooking, hungry-eyed rabble. But their notoriety came from committing assaults and batteries on grammar and rhetoric in the very temple of justice! The conception the ancients had of the real lawyer was that he should be an educated man. I knew lawyers of the old school who were as familiar with Plato, Aristotle and Lovingus as they were with Littleton, Coke and Blackstone, who comprehended the arguments of Demosthenes, Tully and Cicero as they did the rationale of the opinions of the great jurists of England and America. They regarded the law as a science, and its practice as the noblest ^calling that ever appealed to the ambition of the intellectual man. They had few books, but they mastered them. Believing with Lord Coke that 'out of the old fields cometh^this new corn of modern jurisprudence,' they put to practice what Montesquieu said, 'when I discovered my first principles everything I sought for appeared.' Thus they solved the many intricate questions growing out of the passing from territorial to state existence, the tenure of land titles emanating from Spanish grants and national government, and the power of the legis- ' lature territorial and s^ate, to enact certain statutes. If the lawyer or the judge could not find a precedent, they adopted the motto of the pick axe on the dial, T will find a way or make one.' "Today we have multitudes of lawyers and judges who expend their time and energies -in hunting up some allied case through the reports, from the tomes of the Inns of Court in London to Biscay and Bombay, from New England to New Mexico, and from Amster dam to 'Ubedam.' And if they do not find one 'ipsissime verbis,' on all fours with the case in hand, they are all at sea. Such men are mere floaters, not swimmers. Like a man with palsy, they live half dead. "One hundred years ago, the shyster was almost an unknown 'cuss' in Missouri. There is something about our boasted civilization that breeds the shyster. I suppose this stands to the law of natural creation. There are more flies than eagles. A single maggot will generate myriads of flies. The fly has such a vile stomach, it finds in the offal, the ex crescence of overwrought civilization, so much to feed and batten on; while the eagle that nests in the lofty cedar top, or its aerie, spreads wing on the upper air, and the game on which it feeds is harder to catch, with more power of resistance. Hence it is that we have swarms of shysters today who 'rescue a gentleman's estate from his enemies and keep it themselves'; who enter into copartnership with the client with the concealed purpose of becoming the surviving partner. To rescue the profession from such ravishers is the knighthood pf the true lawyer's calling. Ethics of the Shyster. "There are lawyers who must have learned their ethics from pious old Peggy Lobb, who enjoined on her hopeful son, Paul, when he was leaving the parental roof to go out into the world: 'My child, stick to your sittivation in life; read your Bible, study you kitty- chism, and talk like a pious one, for people goes more by what you says than by what you does. ' If you wants anything that is not your own, try and do without it, but' if you can't do without it, take it by insinivation, and not bluster, for they as steals gets more and risks less than they as robs, for of sich is the Kingdom of Heaven.' 958 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "In reading anew the other evening the travels of the Israelites in Egypt, the thought occurred, that if the good Lord, in sending the afflictions of bloody water, bloody murrain, locusts, flies and lice upon the Egyptians to compel Pharaoh to let the Israelites depart from the land, had only sent upon them swarms of shysters to foment among^ them petty strifes, and despoil them of their jewels, flocks, cattle and corn, in the way of fees, old Pharaoh, at the first onslaught, would have exclaimed : T give up ; go Moses, and don't stand upon the order of your going.' Thus Pharaoh might have escaped the cataclysm of the Red Sea, being better occupied in throwing the shysters into the Nile ! "As tonight we lift the veil from the sepulchers of the sturdy pioneers, who trampled down the wild briars and bull nettles, and opened the primeval forests to let in the light of a higher civilization, who struggled so long and hard to break through the chrysalis of territorial existence, to breathe the inspiring sense of statehood, let not the fact be un recognized that one of the great factors in bringing about the long wished for consumma tion were the lawyers of one hundred years ago. I could crave no brighter halo for the sunset glow of life than to witness the crowning of the brow of my native state with the Centennial wreath. CHAPTER XXX THE RELIGIOUS LIFE Colonial Theology— The Coming of John Clark— Church Bells Barred— First Protestant Churches Built in Missouri — Presbyterianism's Foothold — Dr. Niccolls' Centennial Ser mon — First Protestant Church in St. Louis a Public Enterprise— Catholic Diocese of St. Louis — Coming o,f Bishop Dubourg — Culture One Hundred Years Ago — Rosati's Constructive Career— The First Cathedral— A Catholic Census— When Rev. Mr. Potts Was "the Rage" — Archbishop Kenrick — "The Rome of America" — Baptist Church Building and City Planning — The Pulpit and Literature — Religious Journalism — Ante bellum Church Architecture — St. Louis an Archdiocese — Thc Prayerbook Church — Dr. Montgomery Schuyler's Career — Some Notable Pastorates — A Hero of the Cholera — Dr. Hutchinson on David and Uriah — The Tallest Steeple — Far-reaching Influence of Dr. Eliot — Dr. Post and Congregationalism — Judge Philips on Presbyterianism in Cen tral Missouri — War Experiences — The Kenrick Lectures and The Newsletter — Mc- Cullagh's "Great Controversy" — Father Ryan, Orator and Wit — Religious Intolerance Exceptional — Dr. Niccolls on Progressive Catholicism — Bishop Tuttle — The New Cathe dral — Religion and Good Works — The Y. M. C. A. — The Provident Association — A Layman's Monument — Missouri's Moral Standards. All the churches named and unnamed have wrought together for the moral and spiritual uplifting of the city. It is not claimed that all have seen the truth with equal clearness and fullness, or from the same angle of vision. There have been vain rivalries among them, divisions that were disastrous and shameful, misconceptions and separating prejudices, but all, according to their light, have stood for liberty of conscience, for freedom from ecclesiastical tyranny and for the authority of the word of God. fhey have persistently upheld the claims of eternal righteousness, and have called upon men to live in view of their relations to God and an endless future. We have no arithmetic by which to compute the value of their ministries, or to sum up the riches they have secured for the city. They have taught men to see the invisible world, to lay hold of its wealth and to labor for the coming of the kingdom , of God. In the midst of the evil tendencies of a great and growing city, the greed for gain, the love of sensual pleasure, the demoralization of luxury, the oppressions of the strong and the despair and sorrow of the weak and poor, all of which degrade man, they have sought to remind him of a nobler and higher life, to tell of God's redeeming grace and of the glorious future to which that grace was calling him. They have endeavored to keep open the channel of communication between earth aud Iieaven, and to persuade men to live as the children of God. — From the sermon of Rev. Dr. Samuel J. Niccolls on "The Ministry of Religion," in St. Louis, Centennial Sunday, 1900. When Americans came to settle in Missouri before the purchase of Louisiana territory the Spanish governor informed them officially that the law required every resident to be ''un bon Catholique." Then he proceeded to put some very general questions as to spiritual opinions. Tradition has it that the questions as translated were to this effect: "Do you believe in the Almighty God ; in the Holy Trinity ; in the true Apostolic Church; in Jesus Christ, our Saviour?" The American applicants readily answered that they did so believe. The com mandant concluded by declaring the answers were satisfactory, and that the new comers-were evidently good Catholics and could remain. It is not of record that 959 960 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI otherwise desirable Americans were turned back from Missouri because of their religious convictions. Major Holcombe concluded from his researches that "the first Protestant minister who set foot in Missouri" was John Clark, a Scotchman. He described Clark as "born and bred a Presbyterian, became a Methodist, then a Baptist. With another Methodist preacher, they baptized each other." Clark, at the age of twenty enlisted in the British navy. He was taken prisoner and was con fined at Havana nineteen years. Going back to England he had several conversa tions with Wesley. This was his preparation for missionary work in the Mis sissippi Valley. Clark, for some years, lived on the Illinois side, crossed over by night and held his meetings. The Spanish governor waited until he thought the preacher had about completed his round of. visits among the American Protestant families and then sent him word he must leave within three days or he would be im prisoned as the teaching of the Protestant faith was in Violation of the Spanish laws. The Rev. John Clark would smile, hold a farewell service and -go back to the Illinois side, to repeat his missionary trip a little later. The liberality of Gov ernor Trudeau was put to a rather severe test when Abraham Musick called at government house and boldly asked for a permit to hold Baptist meetings in his house out in the country. The governor denied the petition and quoted the law. Then looking significantly at the sturdy Kentuckian, he added : "I mean you must not put a bell on your house and call it a church or suffer anybody to christen your children except the parish priest, but if your friends choose to meet in your house to sing, pray and talk about religion, you will not be molested, provided you continue, as of course you are, a good Catholic." First Protestant Churches Built in Missouri. Five miles west of Cape Girardeau stands one of the first, if not the first, of Protestant churches built in Missouri, and, for that matter, west of the Mis sissippi. It is McKendree chapel. The material is yellow poplar logs. The dimensions are forty by fifty feet. The .church was built by Jesse Walker, who established Methodism in Missouri, and years later in what was to be Chicago. The original structure fell into almost ruins but a Methodist with reverence for the historical sentiment, William R. McCormack, repaired and restored it. Methodist conferences were held in this historic McKendree chapel in 1819," 1821, 1826, and 1 83 1. John Clark, the eccentric Scotchman, preached in this chapel'. According to one biographer, Clark came to America in 1778, enlisted in the Colonial army, was captured by the British, escaped, rejoined the army arid fought to the end of the Revolutionary war. He then entered the ministry, traveled on foot through Tennessee and Kentucky, holding great revivals, crossed the Mississippi at Cape Girardeau and held what, probably, was the first revival in Missouri. John Oglesby and Robert R. Witten were two other pioneers who held services in this church. Bishop George, Bishop Roberts and Bishop Soule pre sided over' the early conferences held in McKendree chapel. The earliest Protestant meeting house is credited by some historians to the Baptists. In 1806, two years after the transfer at St. Louis, the Bethel Baptist church was built near Jackson in Cape Girardeau county. It was made of logs CENTENARY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, FIFTH AND PINE STREETS, IN 1859, AND DR. McAN ALLY'S CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE OFFICE ON PINE STEET f:A |.\„ ' iE£. !"t Sv '.IS?,? 'JSItellllt Rev. Dr. D. R. MeAnally, Methodist Rev. S. B. McPheeters, Presbyterian EMINENT MISSOURI PREACHERS OF THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD Vol. 1—61 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 963 and was standing a half century later. Rev. David Green, a Virginian, organized the society. He died three years later. When the Missouri Baptists, recruited to a mighty army, wanted to place a monument of this first pastor of the first non- Catholic church between the Mississippi and the Pacific they could not find the grave. Cumberland Presbyterians organized in Pike county. They formed their first presbytery with four ministers. The denomination spread locally with such strength that Cumberland Presbyterianism was called by a historian "The es tablished church of Pike county." Good natured controversy as to "the first Protestant organization having continuous life west of the Mississippi" arose near the end of the Missouri's century of statehood. H. M. Blossom thought the First Presbyterian church of St. Louis held that record, dating f,rom 1817. Rev. J. E. Dillard, however, called attention to the fact that Fee Fee Baptist church, in St. Louis county, had been in continuous existence since 1807, having been started in that year at what is now known as Pattonville, by Rev. Thomas R. Music, of Virginia. The Rise of Presbyterianism. The pioneer of Presbyterianism in Missouri was a Connecticut man, Rev. Salmon Giddings. Appointed a missionary, he rode horseback 1,200 miles, in winter, arriving in April, 1816. As his chief means of support Mr. Giddings conducted a school for girls on Market street opposite the court house. The missionary spirit prompted him to go among the newcomers in Missouri and to gather them into congregations. In this way he organized twelve Presby terian churches. He got together in his school room a number of Missourians and organized a society to distribute Bibles., It is told of one of the churches Salmon Giddings organized that the pastor who was installed over it, Charles- S. Robinson, a Massachusetts man, was at one time "entirely out of money and out of food for his family, but just when his need was greatest he found a silver dollar imbedded in the earth, which sufficed for all his wants until a more per manent supply came." "The Ministry of Religion in St. Louis" was the subject of a sermon, con taining much interesting history, which Rev. Dr. Samuel J. Niccolls preached in the Second Presbyterian church on Centennial Sunday in 1909. With the sole exception of Rev. Dr. M. Rhodes, of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran church, Dr. Niccolls had held his pastorate longer than any other Protestant minister in St. Louis. Of the start and rise of Presbyterianism in Missouri, Dr. Nic colls said : On April 6, 1816, Rev. Salmon Giddings crossed the river after a journey of over twelve months from New England, and on the next day preached to a small congregation, his first sermon. He found the city without a Protestant minister, and himself an unwelcome herald of the Gospel. Rumors had been circulated unfavorable to him. An article entitled "Caution" had appeared in the Missouri Gazette of that day, warning the people against him, and declaring that he was an emissary of the famous Hartford Convention ; but, unmoved by the report and with that quiet persistence which characterized his subsequent ministry, he began his work. He was a consecrated man of blameless life, sterling common sense, patient, persevering and of indomitable will. He was ceaseless in his activities, preaching 964 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI not only in the city, but in the outlying settlements. The first church organized by him was at Belleview settlement, in Washington county; the second at Bonhomme, October 16, 1816. In St. Louis he started a school, from which he supported himself in his ministry. On November 23, 1817, he organized the First Presbyterian Church, the first Protestant church in St. Louis. At its organization it consisted of nine members, and its two male members, Stephen Hempstead and Thomas Osborn, were chosen ruling elders. On December 18th, of the same year, the Presbytery of Missouri was organized in "St. Louis by the authority of, the Synod of Tennessee. Its territory was wide enough, for it included all that part of the United States west of the meridian line, drawn across the Cumberland river. There were but four members of the presbytery— Salmon Giddings, Timothy Flint, Thomas Donnell and John Matthews. At- that time there was^no resident minister in the State of Illinois, and the total mem bership of the presbytery did not exceed 200. Yet from this feeble beginning, there grew twenty-nine presbyteries and three great synods, including a membership of more than 180,000 persons. In 1832 St. Louis claimed to have a population of 7,000. Allowing for western. boasting, it had probably 6,000. In that year a second church, under the ministry of Rev. Dr. Hatfield, was organized, through a colony from the First church. This organization was subsequently dissolved and its members returned to the mother church. > In the same year, 1832, the synod of Missouri was organized in the First church of this city. It was the year of the great plague, the visitation of cholera, , which brought death and lamentation to so mai'.y homes. The death rate was over twenty each day. The min isters present at the organization of the synod remained in the city, preaching daily the offers yand consolation of the Gospel, and as a result there was a widespread revival of religion, which left a permanent effect upon the moral and spiritual life of the city. \ In, 1838 the present Second church was organized by a colony from the First church, and Rev. William S. Potts, D. D., was called to be its first pastor. From this time on the number of churches increased rapidly with the increasing growth of the city. My limited time forbids even a mention of their origin, location and names. It is enough now to say that the present number of all branches of the Presbyterian church, including missions in the city, is fifty-three, distributed as follows: Presbyterian church, United States pf America, thirty-eight ; Presbyterian church, United States, seven ; United Presbyterian church, four; Reformed Presbyterian church, three; Cumberland Presbyterian church, one. But, while the Presbyterian church represents numerically the largest of the divisions of Protestantism, it is very far from including the chief religious forces that have wrought for- the advancement of the city. The Baptist church began its labors in the territory while it was yet a Spanish province, but its first church in St. Louis was organized on February 18, 1818. The Methodist circuit riders were engaged in their self-denying labors in the new territory as early as 1810, and in 1820 the first Methodist church was organized in St. Louis. The first Episcopal church was organized in 1810. Out of this organization Christ church has grown. The first United Presbyterian church in St. Louis was organized in 1840, and there are now four churches of that order in the city. Church Building and Good Citizenship. When the nine pioneers organized the First Presbyterian church in Novem ber, 1817, they drew up and signed an agreement or covenant to watch over each other and to regulate their lives in a "spirit of Christian meekness," and to maintain the worship of God in their homes. Church building has always been linked with good citizenship in St. Louis. Business men have aided such enter prises on the broad principle that a city cannot have too many or too fine churches. The congregation worshipped in the room where Mr. Giddings carried on the school to support himself. When the time seemed favorable, financially, for the building of the First Presbyterian church in St. Louis, the little congrega tion had the substantial sympathy of the whole community. A public meeting THE RELIGIOUS LIFE '965 was held to start the subscription paper. Alexander McNair, who became the first governor of Missouri, was the chairman of that meeting. Thomas H. Benton, afterwards the thirty years senator, was the secretary. When the paper was passed around Catholic business men put down their subscriptions freely. The largest contribution was $200, given by Matthew Kerr. In the class of $50 subscribers were three of the most prominent members of the old Cathedral parish. John Quincy Adams, who became President, sent a subscrip tion of $25. The site for the church, the west side of Fourth street; near Washington avenue, was purchased for $327. When Salmon Giddings died 2,000 people/half of the population of St. Louis, attended the funeral. Impressions in 1837. One of the early Presbyterian ministers of Missouri was Rev. Dr. John Leighton. He came to St. Louis in 1836. Dr. Leighton left this recollection of the beginning of his pastorate": "My first impression was of surprise that the good people of the church should have located their place of worship away beyond the town and outside of tbe population. I glanced to the west and the south, and beyond the unpaved street on which I stood. I could see little but an unreclaimed flat, covered with stagnant water, with here and there a clump of brush. Here, thought I, is another proof that Presbyterians are the 'Lord's foolish people,' for the sake of a cheap lot, building' their church where few of their neigh bors would care to follow them. The house itself was a very unpretending one, inferior to many of the wooden churches we now have in the rural districts, and was surmounted by a belfry not unlike what we see upon factories. That house subsequently underwent changes within and without, which were thought to be elegant improvements befitting the condition of the little town. The pulpit was brought down from its perch midway between the ceiling and floor; and the roof was crowned with what in courtesy was called a steeple. But while the church was a very unpretending building when I first saw it, we must not infer that the worshipers within it were all plain, unpretending folk. "Just about one year from that time, in the spring of 1837, the following scene might have been witnessed: On a Sabbath morning a lady, dressed in heavy silk, advanced up the street, having behind her a train of extraordinary length. This appendage was sup ported and borne by two colored boys, one hand of each holding up the train, and the other hand of. each carrying this one a fan, and that one a hymn book. When the door of the church was reached the train was dropped, the fan and fhe book were passed to the hands of the lady, and the pages went their way." The Diocese of St. Louis. The .existence of the diocese of St. Louis dates from July, 1826. But St. Louis wasHhe residence of a bishop many years earlier. Louis William Valen tine Dubourg was consecrated bishop of New Orleans in 1815. The ceremony took place in Rome. Almost immediately Bishop Dubourg asked to have the diocese divided and a new see of St. Louis created. The church documents of that day refer to St. Louis as situated variously in Upper Louisiana, Louisiana Superior and Alta Louisiana. Before action was taken on Bishop Dubourg's petition, the proposition was withdrawn. From New Orleans came the informa tion, through church channels, that such a rebellious spirit prevailed among those in control of the cathedral of New Orleans, it would not be safe for Bishop Dubourg to take up his residence there. Investigation showed threats were being made "that the bishop would be shot in the streets of New Orleans if he 966 . CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI dared set foot on its soil." In the church correspondence of that day New Orleans was referred to as "Vera Nova Babilonia" — a new Babylon. In order that Bishop Dubourg might reside within his diocese, the proposition to make a see of St. Louis was withdrawn. At Bordeaux, late in the fall of 1815, assembled the little party to accom pany Bishop Dubourg to St. Louis. At the head of it was Rev. Joseph Rosati, who was chosen for the head of the seminary to be established. The authority to make Joseph Rosati vicar general was carried by Bishop Dubourg. Father Rosati was a native of Sora in Naples. He was educated in Rome, and when the time came for his ordination, the ceremony took place in secret, because Na poleon, who had invaded Italy, had forbidden ordinations by the Congregation of ' the Missions. In the party which set out frqm Bordeaux were four students preparing for the priesthood, ' three of whom became prominent in the Catholic life of St. Louis. They were Leo Deys; a Belgian; Francis Dahmen, a German; Castuc Gonzales, a Spaniard, and John Tichitoli, an Italian. Among other mem bers of the party were French, Italians and Poles. At that early day the polyglot character of the population of the new religious field -was' recognized and pro vided for. The party came by way of Baltimore. It was not deemed wise or .safe to enter the Mississippi Valley by way of New Orleans. Crossing the mountains and coming down the Ohio, the party stopped at Bardstown. Bishop Dubourg arrived in. the United States by way of Annapolis some months after the rest of the party had come west. As soon as it was known the bishop was in the country, Father Rosati came to St. Louis to prepare for the reception of the first Catholic bishop who was to take up his residence here. Bishop Flaget, of Bardstown, accompanied Father Rosati. Bishop Dubourg was no stranger to New Orleans. He had gone from that city to Rome to be made a bishop. He had brothers who were business men ifl New Orleans. But the extensive prop erty of the cathedral there had passed into the hands of a corporation, three priests in charge of the cathedral had been suspended, and the excitement was very great. Not knowing how far the feeling might have spread, Bishop Du bourg did not come to the United States until. inquiry had shown how he would be received in St. Louis. And when he did come, Rosati and Bishop Flaget came over in advance to be assured "of a friendly reception for Bishop Dubourg. They found some opposition to the reception of the bishop, but it melted away quickly. Rosati was a man of wonderful tact and diplomacy. Culture One Hundred Years Ago. Bishop Dubourg was a man of high culture. He brought to St. Louis, before the town organization had given place to the city, a library of 8,600 vol umes. This collection was described "as the most complete, scientific and fitefary repertory of the western country, if not of the western world." There is most excellent non-Catholic authority for the description of this first Catholic bishop to take residence in* St. Louis, as "a man endowed at once with the ejegance and politeness of the courtier ; the piety and zeal of the Apostle and the learning of a Father of the Church." In the first St. Louis directory, issued in 1821, was given this description of the Catholic church as the result of Bishop Dubourg's efforts: THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 967 The cathedral of St. Louis can boast of having no rival in the United States for the magnificence, the value and elegance of her sacred vases, ornaments and paintings, and indeed few churches in Europe possess anything superior to it. It is a truly delightful sight to an American of taste to find in- one of the remotest towns of the Union a church decorated with the original paintings of Rubens, Raphael, Guido, Paul Veronese, and a number of others by the first modern masters of the Italian, French and Flemish schools. The ancient and precious gold embroideries which the St. Louis cathedral possesses' would certainly decorate any museum in the world., All this is due to the liberality of the Catholics ¦ of Europe, who presented these rich articles to Bishop Dubourg on his last visit through France, Italy, Sicily and the Netherlands. Among the liberal benefactors could be named many princes and princesses, but we will only insert the names of Louis XVIII, the present king of France, and that of Baroness La Candale de Ghysegham, a Flemish lady, to whose munificence the cathedral is particularly indebted. The First Catholic bishop. A record of great activity in the Catholic church began with the coming of Bishop Rosati to St. Louis. Here was a diocese with one bishop, three secular priests, five Lazarist fathers, one Jesuit, fourteen ecclesiastical students, five Jesuit scholastics and from 11,000 to 12,000 laity. Before the first year was out Bishop Rosati at the Cathedral in St. Louis consecrated a bishop, Michael Por- tier, for Alabama and the Floridas. For assistants he had no neighboring bishops. He called in the chancellor of the little college of Jesuits, Father Quick- enborne, and the venerable and lovable Father Donatianus Olivier. About this time Bishop Rosati ordained the first priest born in Missouri, Rev. Joseph Paquin. In March, 1827, Rosati was formally constituted first bishop of St. Louis. The next year he ordained the first priest, who was a native St. Louisan, Francis Regis Loisel. There were no bishops in Mexico who could give, ordination. In 1829, Bishop Rosati began the ordination of priests for the dioceses of that country., Mexican candidates by the score for the priesthood visited Bishop Rosati. Ordination ceremonies in the cathedral were very frequent, beginning in 1829. In his first report to Rome, on conditions as he found them on taking charge of the new diocese, in 1825, Bishop Rosati described St. Louis as "an important city, the most considerable of the whole state." He added : French is spoken here by the old inhabitants ; and English by the Americans and Irish who have established themselves here of late years. There is only one priest and there ought to-be at least two more. There are some difficulties. During the time that Mgr. Dubourg resided here a subscription was made to build a church. The expenses were very great, and the funds were found wanting- as soon as they were counted together. This was occasioned by various circumstances, which debilitated commerce, and diminished the num ber 'of new inhabitants who had subscribed. Four of the principal citizens, who had been elected as administrators of the building, were obliged to pay a debt of from $5,000 to $6,000 for which they had passed their bonds to the workmen. In order to reimburse themselves they have obtained from the legislature the authorization to sell the ground next to the church together with tfce house which served for habitation of the bishop and priest The bondsmen threaten to proceed to the sale if the money they have laid out » not paid bark to them. Those were pioneer days of, things religious. In his report on fhe new dio cese, Bishop Rosati spoke of "Viede Poche Carondelet having about 100 French 968 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI families all very poor. When there were more priests than onfe in St. Louis one of them went to the village Saturdays and Sundays to hear confessions, to preach and to say mass. At the present it is vacant." The see of St. Louis extended across the river and took in a number of parishes. One of these was Prairie du Rocher, of which Bishop Rosati reported: "There is a church and a priest. This is Rev. Father -Olivier, a respectable old man of seventy-five years, almost blind, and unable to render any service to the parish. To him I have offered a room in the seminary. He is a saint, who has labored for many years in the service of all the Catholics in these regions." Five years after he had been elected bishop and three years after his con secration Bishop Rosati became by transfer the first bishop of the diocese of St. Louis. Not until 1827 did this occur. Even when the country west of the Mis-" sissippi was divided into two dioceses it was the plan of His Holiness Pope Leo XII that Rosati should be bishop of New Orleans and that he should admin- isfer both dioceses for the time being. "Bishop Rosati did all in his power to be excused from accepting the diocese of New Orleans* and succeeded in having the decree rescinded." So reads the church record in- manuscript. The church in St. Louis has reason to be grateful that Rosati stood so firmly by his attach ment to this city. Dubourg had become oppressed and discouraged with con ditions at New Orleans. He went to Europe in the summer of 1826, presented his resignation of the see of New Orleans, and it was accepted. Then Bishop Rosati was given the see of- St. Louis, but he was commanded to continue to serve the diocese of New Orleans as administrator until the Holy See could pro^ vide otherwise. "Bishop of Teagre and Administrator of St. Louis and New Orleans" was the title borne at first by Bishop. Rosati. The Cathedral. On the first of August, 183 1, occurred an event which told of the work Rosati was doing. The corner stone of the new cathedral was laid on Walnut street between Main and Second streets. This was the fourth Catholic church built on the lot, beginning with the "house of posts erected in 1776. In 1833 Bishop Rosati gave their first resident priests to Chicago and Kansas City. The twenty-sixth of October, 1834, brought the consecration of the new cathedral of St. Louis. Two bishops came to participate in the ceremonies — Flaget from Bardstown and Purcell from Cincinnati. The second day afterwards occurred the consecration of the bishop of Vincennes, Simon Brute. The laying of corner stones for new Catholic churches was becoming frequent. Bishop Rosati that year laid the corner stone for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Carondelet. That same year of 1834 was memorable for another church event in St. Louis. Bishop Rosati recorded: "Rev. Lutz said mass in St. Mary's chapel for the Germans and preached in German to them, which in future will be done every Sunday." The next year, 1835, Rosati began to keep the annual counts of the con gregations. He sent to all of the priests instructions to prepare and forward at the end of the year a census of. their congregations, The first census of the Catholic church in St. Louis showed 8,60 1 souls, 293 baptisms, 100 marriages. 97 funerals, 54 converts. Notable is the column of converts in these annual BISHOP P. J. RYAN ARCHBISHOP KENRICK BISHOP L. W. V. DUBOURG BISHOP JOSEPH ROSATI THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 971 census reports of Bishop Rosati. There went on among the residents of St. Lquis year after year the conversion of non-Catholics to Catholicism. Conditions in 1830. , James Stuart, a Scotchman, who visited St. Louis in 1830, and who wrote a book after his return to his own country, said of the religious conditions at that time: *- I attended divine worship in the Presbyterian church on the day I reached St. Louis. Having asked the landlord of the inn which was the best church to go to, he at once replied, "I go to no church but the Presbyterian minister is the rage." The Presbyterian minister, Mr. Potts, delivered a very good sermon upon this text, "The sting of sin is death,'' in a very neatly seated church in the upper part of the town. It was a funeral sermon, in consequence of the death of Mr. Woods, an English gentleman from London, one of the elders or dea cons of the church. In the afternoon I went into the meeting-house of people of color. They had one of themselves preaching sensibly, though it appeared he was not a man of much education. The sermon was, in great measure, composed of scriptural quotations, and was delivered impressively; but there was far less manifestation of excitement than in a chutfch of people of color, which I afterward attended in New York. The Coming of Kenrick. In 1840 Bishop Rosati went to Rome/ expecting to return shortly. He was asked by the Holy Father, Pope Gregory XVI., if he would not take the charge of Apostolic Delegate to Hayti to conclude a concordat between the Holy See and that country. Bishop Rosati replied that he would not like to leave his diocese without the services of a bishdp for so long a time, but that if His Holiness would give him a coadjutor to govern during the absence he would undertake the Haytian charge.. ' Thereupon the Pope" said: "Well! My dear Lord, if you know any good priest whom you would wish for your coadjutor, just name him, and I will appoint him right away." "Most Holy Father," said Bishop Rosati, "if I could get the Very Reverend Peter Richard Kenrick, the vicar general of the Right Reverend Francis Patrick Kenrick, coadjutor ofthe bishop of Philadelphia, I would be satisfied." "Very well," said His Holiness, "you shall have him." One less thorough going in his mental method than Bishop Rosati would perhaps have stopped with that. But the bishop of St. Louis was a man who left nothing uncertain. He said to the Pope: "Your Holiness! You had the kindness some time ago to appoint the Very Reverend John Timon, C. , M., as my coadjutor, but he refused. the office, and if Very Reverend Peter Richard Kenrick would do the same thing, I would be frustrated, therefore I beg of you to oblige him under obedience to take the office." That the Pope acted on the suggestion was evident from a letter which Right Reverend Francis Patrick Kenrick wrote from Philadelphia to Bishop Ro&sati. "The positive wishes of His Holiness have, I believe, .secured my brother's full acquiescence." Right Reverend Peter Richard Kenrick was consecrated bishop in Phila delphia in 1841 -by Bishop Rosati and came to St. Louis as coadjutor. Bishop 972 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Rosati went to Hayti, completed the diplomatic work, for which he was sent, with his usual painstaking care, went to Rome, was taken ill and died. Many years afterward, when he had become the head of the' church, Leo XIII. said to a high representative of the Catholic church in St. Louis : ii * I have known the first bishop of St.- Louis. I traveled with him from Rome to Paris. When he was on his way to Hayti to conclude the concordat, I was bi^my way to Brussels as nuncio. I must say that I have never in my life met with a bishop whom I considered such a holy man and whom I found so full of respect towards the Holy Father. 1 Three of the greatest of American sees have drawn archbishops from the clergy of St. Louis. At the Vatican they sometimes speak o£. St. Louis as "the Rome of America." Not less to priests than to bishops and archbishops does the city owe. .Priests like Henry, McCaffery, Walsh stood for education , and for morality in great sections' of the city as well as for religious teaching. The crusade of Coffey against the wine-room was an act of best citizenship? Zieg- ler's sturdy and unyielding battle to save his parish from invasion by the reti Light won the admiration of all good people. When the high prelates came from other cities and countries to attend the corner stone laying of the new cathedral in 1908, they marveled at the work of Father Dunne among newsboys and of Father Dempsey among homeless men. Baptist Church Building. -. The Second Baptist church became that number because the First Baptist church, after a struggle of fourteen years, disbanded. The first church, organ ized in 1818, but assumed a financial burden too heavy for the membership. When John Mason' Peck, from Connecticut, and James Eby Welch, from Ken tucky, the missionaries, came to St. Louis in 1817, they could find only seven Baptists. They organized a church with eleven members. That year 1818, this little Baptist flock began to build the first Protestant church in St. Louis, at Market and Third streets, about two blocks from the Catholic church, now the old Cathedral. The Baptists planned a building which should serve for worship, and bring in revenue. They called it a meeting house. The structure was of brick, was forty feet wide, sixty feet long and three stories high. It was never fully completed. About $6,000 was expended. Mr. Welch, the missionary, advanced $1,200 and John Jacoby, the ^treasurer, $600. St; Louis became a city, and widened Market street, cutting a slice of twelve feet off the side of the church. The Baptists claimed damages. The city replied that a church was ho*t known in law, and that church trustees could not recover damages. About that time a hail storm broke all of the windows on the north side. The mayor wouldn't permit repairs because that side of the church had been condemned as public property. The church was sold -for $1,200, and the money was divided between Rev. Mr. Welch and the widow of Trustee Jacoby. The first church disbanded, and the members went into a new organization, which they called "the Second Baptist church of St. Lpuis," frankly saying, that they wanted to make a fresh start without carrying the debts of the other organization. In the Second Baptist church of 1833 were represented the Cozzens, Stout, ' THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 973 Orme, Kerr and other prominent families of St.1 Louis. The new organization proceeded slowly in the matter of another church structure. Meetings were held in the school house of Elihu H. Shepard on Fourth street opposite the court house. - A lot on Morgan and 'Sixth was bought, but sold after a foundation had been laid. The' Episcopal church on Third and Chestnut was for sale at $12,000! and the Baptists bought it. As early as 1839 tne cn°ir of the Second Baptist church had become so well known that it ventured upon "a grand sacred con cert." The church had many pastors, Rev. John Mason Peck came over from his seminary at Rock Spring to preach during several periods. The congrega- , tion overflowed the edifice on Third street and built a $40,000 church at Sixth and Locust. An incident which was the talk of the whole city was the baptism of sixteen Hollanders by Dr. Peck, in 1849. These Hollanders had been Presby terians". Foreign immigration to St. Louis was at its: height when the Baptists received the Hollanders. J. B. Jeter, Galusha Anderson and A. H. Burlingham were among the divines of national reputation who held the pastorate of this church. In 1877 came to the Second Baptist church a pastor who was to re main and to enter into the life of the city — Rev. W. W. Boyd. A New Yorker by birth, he had gone into business life as superintendent of a cotton manufac turing plant in Maine. To do something for his operatives on Sunday, Superin tendent Boyd reopened a little abandoned Baptist church in the village, carried on a Sunday school -for the children and "read Spurgeon's sermons to the grown ups. The effect upon the superintendent was more startling than upon the mill people. 1 Mr. Boyd began to preach, went to Harvard to get more education, took special honors in philosophy, studied theology and was ordained to the ministry. Four years later he eame to St. Louis to enter upon a pastorate of nearly one-third of a century. .When Dr. Boyd came to St. Louis the Second Baptist church had moved westward to the site' on Beaumont and Locusjt streets,' .selected by William M. McPherson, E. G. Obear, D. B. Gale, Thomas Pratt and Nathan Cole. Only the chapel had been completed. Under the inspiration of Dr. Boyd's eloquence, the main structure was completed at a cost of more than $250,000. That-remained the home, of the congregation until the removal to the new church on Kings Highway and Washington avenue in 1908. Ministers Who Wrote Books. John Hogan of the County Cork was favored with so few educational op portunities that when, an immigrant boy, he went to work for a shoemaker in Baltimore as an apprentice, the journeymen in the office taught him his letters. Self educated, this boy became a Methodist minister of reputation through the western country. > He published a book called "Thoughts of St. Louis," which was so well appreciated by the business interests of the city that a service of silver was given to the author as a testimonial. Subsequently he was the author of a "History of Methodism in the West" and "The Resources of Missouri." There was a clearness of style and a freshness about his' writings which made him very popular with readers in 1850- 1860. The Dollar savings institution, on which was built the Exchange bank, was presided over for some time by John Hogan. In 1858 Mr. Hogan became, by appointment of President Buchanan, 974 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the. postmaster of St. Louis. The wife of- John Hogan was the daughter of Joseph B. Gamier of St. Louis. In the decades between 1840 and i860, one of the most popular authors with young folks was the Rev. Cicero Stephens Hawks, D. D., bishop of Missouri. He came of English and Irish ancestors and was born at Newbern, North Caro lina. He entered the ministry after a university education, and after the study of law in New York city. He carne to St. Louis in 1843 to become rector of Christ church, and the next year was elected unanimously as bishop. Possibly that which most endeared the bishop to the St. Louis people" of his generation . was his heroic conduct during -the Asiatic cholera epidemic. When others left the city for places of refuge Bishop Hawks remained and devoted himself to the care and consolation of the sick. His writings included several volumes of a series called "Uncie Phelps Conversations for the Young." He also wrote "Friday Christian." He was the editor of "The Boys' and Girls' Library*", and of the "Library for Our Young Country Women." Two brothers of the bishop became very prominent ministers in the Episcopal church, one of them in New York city, the other in Georgia. " *• Rev. Dr. D. R. McAnally came from Tennessee. He had preached in the South and had conducted a seminary a number of years before he came to St. Louis to be editor of the St. Louis Christian Advocate and to conduct the Metho dist publishing house. Organizing a Methodist church in Carondelet, Dr. Mc Anally preached there seventeen years. No appointment" was made by the conference, the church being left "to be supplied." In that way the rule of itineracy was avoided. There was a militant strain in Dr. McAnally. The editor sympathized with the South. He was arrested early in the Civil war and his paper was suppressed. In July, 1861, he was tried by court martial, but the Verdict was never returned from Washington. The good doctor was put on parole, forbidden to leave St. Louis county. As a vigorous writer he was known and greatly admired by two generations oi St. Louis Methodists. ' The office of the Christian Advocate was on Pine street next to the church. Dr. McAnally was the son of Charles McAnally, a Methodist minister. He began his life work in the pulpit when he was nineteen years old. The Methodist Book Concern of St. Louis was started with a capital of $1,800. Dr. McAnally built up the establishment until the books issued were in the hundreds of thousands. The business was equal to some of the larger establishments in the East. Religious journalism in the west owed a great deal to Rev. John W. Allen, of Ohio birth, who came to St. Louis in 1873. Mr Allen founded the St. Louis Evangelist, which became the Mid-Continent. He was in charge 6f the missionary work of the Presbyterians many years. John Calvin Learned, a scholarly man, a student all of his life, served the Church of the Unity a quarter of a century. He was born in Dublin, New Hampshire.. His influence was not confined to the pulpit. He taught ethics and political economy in Washington University and developed one of the strong literary organizations of St. Louis — the Unity Club. ' Rev. Dr. James. Wilderman Lee was born on a Georgia farm and educated in a Methodist college of his native state. His "Footprints of the Man of Galilee" and his "Romance of Palestine" gave him high standing in religious literature. THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 975 A native Missourian who. became famous for his success as an evangelist of the Christian church was Rev. Thomas Preston Haley, born in Lafayette county in 1832'. Some of the strongest churches of that denomination in Missouri date from the initial efforts of Father Haley. This is especially true of Northeastern Missouri where Mr. Haley was the missionary pastor in the fifties. Mr. Haley held pastorates in St. Louis and Kansas City, in Lexington, Mo., in Louisville. He traveled and preached in the cities of England. He wrote several books, chief of which was "The Dawn -of. the Reformation." He was a pioneer in the movement to get away from ritual forms and ceremonies. Robert B. Fife, who was not a preacher but a student of the Bible and a religious man with a short and simple creed, brought together in Shepard's school opposite the court house, in 1837, a few people and started services for Chris tians. The meetings did not become regular until five years later. These Chris tians or Disciples of Christ grew strong in St. Louis. They formed a dozen churches, established an orphans' home and built up a vigorous publishing concern. Church Architecture Before the War. St. Louis churches kept pace with the population, rapid as the growth was before the war. In 1830 the average number of residents, young and old, to the churches was 2,000.' In 1854. there were sixty-five churches. The population was estimated to average 1,900 to the church,, although the government census did not give that number of residents. The city was famed not only for the congregations but for the costly character of the church architecture. Business men responded with great liberality to all church calls. When Rev. Dr. William G. Eliot was fairly settled in his church he went among the members of his congregation and raised $60,000 for educational purposes. The church architecture of St. Louis, before the Civil war, was something of which the city could boast. The church of the Messiah, Dr. Eliot's, on Ninth arid Olive, where the Century building stands, cost ^100,000. It was of massive masonry. Seventy tons of iron were used in the metallic parts. The construction was not given out by contract, but was done under the direction of a committee. The spire, 167 feet high, was a model in proportions. The -church itself. was considered one of the most beautiful in the country. _ Union Presbyterian church on Locust , street was unlike any other church edifice in St. Louis. Architects of that period called it the "Lombardio style." There were two towers at the corners, one was 104 feet, the other 160 feet in height. This church was built by Henry D. Bacon, the banker. It cost him $70,000. The finest organ in the west was installed. When the building was ready for dedication, Mr. Bacon offered to deed the property to the trustees for $30,000, making his contribution $40,000. The offer was accepted. The $30,060 was subscribed in three days. The Union Presbyterian church was or ganized in 1850. The pastor was Rev. William Holmes, who became an edi torial writer on the Missouri Democrat. Missionary Activities of the Catholics.^ The missionary activities first of Bishop Rosati and second of Archbishop Kenrick, from 1830 to i860, are part of the history of St. Louis. See after see 976 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI , was created and the bishop to take charge was consecrated at St. Louis for the new field. Diocese after diocese was cut off from what had been the original diocese of St. Louis. From St: Louis priests went to the Indians ;far in ad vance of settlement. They were assigned^ to the posts of the fur traders. They camped with the lead miners. They traveled through the West finding and bind ing anew to the church the families of scattered Catholics. They went witji the armies of railroad builders. And all of the time -that the work went on in the field, parish after parish was organized, and church after church was blessed in the growing city of St. Louis. Rosati was a man of unlimited capacity for ~ detail. Kenrich was as methodical as a clock. He had time for everything. Year in and year out he walked westward from the archbishop's house, taking his. exercise so regularly that people on the route had a saying that it was safe to set the family clock by the archbishop's daily constitutional. Italy and France had been represented in the bishop resident at St. Louis. Right Reverend Peter Richard Kenrick, who arrived in the winter, of 1841-2, was of Dublin birth and. education. In Maynooth Seminary he went through his, higher studies. He was only thirty-six years old when he came to St. Louis as Bishop Kenrick. One year he had given td the priesthood in his native Dub lin, and nine years he had passed in Philadelphia as president of the serhinary, rector of the cathedral and vicar general to his brother, Bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick. The year after his arrival Bishop Kenrick established and opened three parish churches in St. Louis. These were St. Francis Xavier's, St. Mary's and St. Aloysius. That year Chicago was made a see with Illinois for the- diocese and at the- same time Little Rock became a see. In- 1845 Bishop Kenrick opened three more parish churches in St> Louis. ' These were St. Patrick's, St. Joseph's and St. Vincent's. In July, 1847, by papal bull the diocese of St. Louis became an archdiocese, and Bishop Kenrick was appointed Archbishop of St. Louis": The spread of the Catholic church, under the management of the head at St. Louis, justified the recognition. The census of _that year showed 50,000 souls, notwithstanding the dioceses of Illinois and Arkansas had been created out of the diocese of St. Louis. The missions and stations of that year were forty-two. In 1848 Pius IX. decreed that Archbishop Kenrick should he invested with the pallium. The " ceremony was performed at Philadelphia by the elder brother, the archbishop of , Philadelphia, who just fifteen years previously had sent to Dublin the money to pay the passage of the younger to this country. The Prayer Book Church. "The Prayer Book Church" was the historical theme of Rev. Dr. David Claiborne Garrett at St. Peter's Episcopal church on Centennial Sunday, in 1909. For that occasion the processional hymn, most appropriately chosen by' Charles Galloway, was "Ancient of Days." Dr. Garrett said : "The first public service in St. Louis by a priest of the prayer-book church, and as far as known west of the Mississippi river, ' was on October 14, 1819. The beginning of the work of the church west of the great river was in a little one-story frame building on the corner of Second and Walnut streets. Rev. John Ward, from Lexington, Ky., was the \BISHOP C. P. ROBERTSON Episcopal BISHOP CICERO STEPHEN" HAWKS Episcopal CHRIST CHURCH IN 1840 Located on Broadway and Chestnut Streets, now the site of a hotel. The Centennial of this, the first Episcopal or Prayer Book Church in Missouri, celebrated in 1919 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 979 missionary. Only two persons, and they men, were ready, with prayer books in hand, to respond. From that small start a parish was organized November ist, All Saints' Day, following. "The standing of this church in the city from the very beginning, its influence in the social, political and commercial world; is illustrated by the remarkable fact that among the signers of the articles of association for our first parish were the first United States senator, who represented Missouri for thirty years ; the first governor of this state,' 'the first mayor of the city, the surveyor-general, judges of the supreme court and a time-honored judge of the probate court. Thus, in the earliest days, the church and the city were closely associated. "Mr. Ward's rectorship was brief, through no fault of his own or of the parish; he was obliged to return to Kentucky. For a number of years services were held, but the coming of a Virginia clergyman, Rev. Mr. Horrell, in the. fall of 1825, gave a new impetus to the languishing work. We owe a debt to the Methodists and Baptists for the use of their places of worship for short periods, showing that Christian unity is not as some seem to think a thing of the present days. A lot was bought on the corner of Third and Chestnut streets, and the new church was finished in 1829. It cost $7,000, all of which but $1,100 was paid, Mr. Clemens contributing $1,300. "Another devoted missionary of those first days was Rev. William Chadderton, from Philadelphia; who came in 1832, and put new life into the work so well begun by Mr. Horrell. On May 25, 1834, the church, finished five years before, was consecrated by Bishop Smith, of Kentucky, who at the same time confirmed a class of twenty-six. This was the first church consecration and first confirmation west .of the big river and north of Louisiana. Mr. Chadderton resigned in 1835, through some false modesty in regard to his own inability to do the work needed. Bishop Smith praises him highly, and speaks of the 'marvelous refinement and delicacy of his nature.' "The great forward movement of the church in the city and throughout the whole Middle West, radiating from St. Louis as the center, began in the memorable year of 1836. That was the year that marked a wonderful change all over the new West. Prosperity set in with full swing. Pioneers and settlers poured in by the thousands, scattering all along the river northward. It was fortunate for the church that at last the East had awakened to a realization of its missionary duty and opportunity. And it was more fortunate that the first missionary bishop of the great Northwest should have been the saintly and schol arly and hard-working Jackson Kemper, another Philadelphian. Christ Church parish elected the newly" consecrated bishop its rector, promising an assistant. "A new lot was bought at Fifth and Chestnut ; the old church was sold to the Baptists, reversing the order at the beginning, when we were glad to borrow a building from our Baptist brethren. A new church was begun. Services were held in the basement. Bishop Kemper did a grand work. The church was consecrated February 17, 1839. A further evidence of the good-fellowship among Christians of all names, and an interesting incident which doubtless is gratefully*"remembered today by our Lutheran friends, is the story of how Bishop and Rector Kemper appealed to his vestry to permit the Lutherans to occupy the basement of the new church, reminding our own people of 'how highly esteemed the early Lutherans were by the English reformers, and with whom our glorious martyrs, Cranmer and Ridley, and others, had much early intercourse.' In the record of the second confirmation in the city we find the name of one whose memory should be honored today for his lting and faithful services to mother church, Rev. J. P. T. Ingraham. "In connection with the coming of Bishop Kemper, your rector feels a personal interest and may perhaps be permitted a personal expression of gratitude, for what he owes to the church in the city of St. Louis. In March, 1836, on the first trip of the steamboat Olive Branch up the opened river, Bishop Kemper started on his first missionary journey, and his first converts to the church were a young Virginia lawyer and his wife, going with their two children to what was then Flint Hills, Michigan Territory, now Burlington, Iowa. That Virginian was my grandfather, and the little three-year-old daughter my mother. The prayer book which the bishop gave to my grandmother was the efficient cause of the con firmation of both husband and wife and the baptism of the children at the first visit of the bishop. It may be said to be the final cause, under God's providence, of my being here today a clergyman of the old church, a rector of a parish which was a missionary offshoot 980 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI of Bishop Kemper's parish. I hold that prayer book in my hand, and I shall say our final prayer today from its pages. "Our own beloved parish of St. Peter's may not* claim an ancient history; it is com paratively young, but of all the parishes of the' city growing out of mission movements it stands today the strongest in service and influence. It began as a mission of Christ Church in February, 1868, the grand old priest and prophet, Dr. Schuyler, giving to it his help and blessing. On October 27, 1872, it was organized into a parish. If we call the roll of rectors we find only five, including the incumbent, a record which reflects credit on both parish and priest. We find Berkeley, the first rector, who left the parish free from all debt after- eleven years of service; Bishop Brooke,, whose short ministry was terminated by his eleva tion to the episcopate ; then William Short, D. D., whose rectorship was the longest of all and crowned the work of his predecessors by the erection of the noble buildings we use and enjoy today." Montgomery Schuyler's Versatile Career. Forty-two years Montgomery Schuyler was a well-doing citizen of St. Louis as well as a conspicuous, constructive clergyman. He was preeminently one of > the St. Louis clergymen whose activities were not limited to their churches. His influence was marked upon public morals and upon public spirit. The list of good works of these men is long and varied. No history of the city could omit some mention of the profession In its relation to the better development of St. Louis, apart f roin the growth of the church. When Montgomery Schuyler died the diocese recorded that he was "a typical priest of the church and a faithful . member of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Giving up the practice of law because he had acquitted a man he felt sure was guilty of murder, Montgomery Schuyler speculated in a Michigan real estate boom; he operated a saw mill; he interested himself in a stage line between Detroit and the village of Chicago ; he was a suc cessful merchant. None of these occupations brought satisfaction. Montgomery Schuyler turned to the Episcopal priesthood when he was well toward thirty years of age. The supreme test of this man's character came with the outbreak of the Civil war. Christ church, on Fifth and Chestnut, had been sold. The con gregation was worshiping in Mercantile Library hall. Included in the member7 ship were many, perhaps a majority, who sympathized with the South. Of the old Schuyler stock of New York, with Revolutionary traditions of ihe family binding him, the rector was a Union man. When 4he hostilities began Dr. Schuyler talked of resigning. He made no concealment of his political sentiments, although he preached no political sermons. His southern' members would not listen to any change of rectors. Montgomery Schuyler stayed on. His patriotism found expression in association with Yeatman, Eliot and the rest of that noble band which became glorious as the Western Sanitary commission. The rector of Christ church was made- chaplain to all of the army hospitals at St. Louis. To the inherited Dutch courage and determination which yielded nothing of principle, he joined a wealth of sympathy, ways that were winning and gentleness of manner. It was Montgomery Schuyler's ambition to establish a downtown church. Old Trinity of New York was his ideal. With this in view the location at Thirteenth and Locust was chosen. It was part of his life plan to found a mission which should remain in the business section. Montgomery Schuyler min istered to rich, and poor. His monument is Schuyler Memorial house. THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 981 Some Notable Pastorates. A pulpit career remarkable for length and steadfastness was the period of thirty-nine years through which James H. Brookes preached. This career began with the Second Presbyterian church when it was on Broadway and Locust in 1855, and ended in the Compton avenue church. Year after year Dr. Brookes ministered to the same congregation with unfailing vigor and freshness. He preached from the Bible, of which he was a devoted student. He edited for twenty-three years a monthly publication called "The Truth," and found time to write half a dozen books, the results of his Bible study. Notwithstanding the rule of the Methodist church requiring frequent pulpit changes, several ministers of that denomination became identified with St. Louis by long residence and exercised much influence upon the life and development of the city. A thorough St. Louisan was Rev. Dr. Joseph Boyle, born in Balti more. He came to this city in 1842 in charge of the First Methodist church. St. Louis was practically his home for thirty years, until his death. He was a delegate to the general conference at Louisville in 1844 when the Methodists divided into the Methodist Episcopal church and the Methodist Episcopal church, South. Dr. Boyle labored to bring about reconciliation of the wings. The immediate cause of the division was the proposition advanced that Bishop Andrew of Georgia be asked to suspend, the exercise of his duties so long as a certain impediment existed. The impediment was the fact that his wife owned slaves. Dr. Boyle was presiding elder of the St. Louis district in i860, 1868 and 1869. He preached in the First church three periods; in Centenary, two. The beginning of St. George's Episcopal church was a sermon preached by Rev. Dr. E. Carter Hutchinson in the Benton school on Sixth street, near Locust. Among the most entertaining and vigorous of St. Louis preachers was Dr. Hutchinson. He took for his text one Sunday morning: "David was a man after God's own heart.'" He described the career of David, his duej with Goliath and his other exploits wholly to his credit. It seemed as if the eloquent rector did not mean to refer to the discreditable event in his hero's career, but he did. Just before the close of the sermon the preacher said: "In the matter of Uriah, the Hittite, David must stand on the same platform with other sinners." The Rev. S. S. Gassaway, while rector of St. George's, was killed by the explosion of a boiler on the Alton packet, Kate Kearney, just as the boat was leaving the St. Louis levee. _ "I Died at My Post." "Tell my brethren of the Pittsburg conference that I' died at my post," was chiseled in the stone which marked a. grave in the Wesleyan cemetery on the Olive street road. Three times the stone had been put in place. It quoted the dying message of Rev. Thomas Drummond, an Englishman, who came to St. Louis to take charge of the Methodist church on Fourth street and Washington avenue. A year after his coming Mr. Drummond faced the cholera epidemic of 1835. He was advised to leave the city, but refused and was stricken. From his death bed he sent the message to the conference with which he had been first asso ciated in this country. His body has been buried in three cemeteries, being 982 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI moved as the city grew. From Twenty-third and Franklin avenue, it was taken to Grand, and Laclede, and later to the cemetery on Olive street road. Before the Civil war, a popular hymn book with Missouri^ Methodists was called "Select Melodies," and in that collection one of the favorite hymns was Rev. Dr. William Hunter's "He Died at His Post." The hymn was based upon Thomas Drummond's farewell message. The' hymn began: "Away from his home and the friends of his youth, He hastened, the herald of mercy and truth; For the love of the Lord, and to seek for the lost ; Soon alas! was his fall — but he died at his post/' Each of the five stanzas ended with Drummond's message. Rev. Dr. J. W. Cunningham, a Methodist pioneer in Missouri, said that was the first hymn and tune he learned to sing. Afterwards he heard it under such impressive circum stances that when he came to St. Louis, in 1870, he sought the burial place of Thomas Drummond and found it near the corner of Laclede and Grand avenue, in the old Centenary Wesleyan cemetery as it was then known. The body had been removed from its first resting place in cholera days, at Twenty-third street and Franklin avenue. When the Grand avenue cemetery was given up, the remains of Drummond were removed to the third grave in a cemetery on the Olive street road near the North and South road, in St. Louis county. One summer morning during the World's fair, Mr. Cunningham awoke at dawn with the thought of Drummond in his mind. He got up and without waiting for breakfast made his way out into the country on a pilgrimage to his hero's resting place. "A Chinese grave was as close to it as it could be dug. I counted many other Chinese graves as close as they could be placed on the south side. Handfulls of rice had been scattered over some of the elevations and in the spaces between. There were shells of exploded firecrackers and bits of red painted and partially burnt wood lying on the ground and some stuck in the graves. There were displayed the evidences of pagan living ones' remembrance of pagan kindred or friends. No flower or other evidence of affection or remembrance by preacher, man or woman of the first Methodist preacher that died west of the Mississippi river, and among his last remembered words said, 'I died at my post' There was the marble headstone with such an accumulation of dirt upon it, that it had no appearance of what it really was. It was leaning eastward at a sharp angle and so far sunken that some of the lettering upon it could not be seen. I returned home with the desire that all that was left of the heroic Thomas Drummond should be removed to Centenary church and deposited, there as might be determined. I thought of Centenary church because she had long been the custodian of all that remained of the three times buried martyr to duty. I called the attention of the Centenary pastor and of the preachers' meeting in that church building. The work has been done. The little that has been left of the buried mortality weighed but a few pounds and rests in a niche in one of the walls of Centenary churcb, and the marble slab has been renewed and beautified by the graver's tools, to be seen and read by all who visit the hall where it abides against the wall." Dr. Bullard's Church. When Rev. Artemas Bullard came to St. Louis to be pastor of the First Presbyterian church in 1838 he thought the place of worship was too far from the center of the city. The location was near Fourth street and Washington avenue, but most of the worshipers lived east or south of the church. When the new church was built, Dr. Bullard found conditions so changed that he FIRST PEESBYTEEIAN CHUECH, FOUR TEENTH AND LUCAS PLACE, BE FORE THE CIVIL WAK Courtesy Missouri Historical Society Rev. William Potts, Presbyterian Eev. Artemas Bullard, Presbyterian EMINENT MISSOUEI PEEACHEES BEFOEE THE CIVIL WAR THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 985 advised a location at Fourteenth street and Lucas place. There was much opposition to the new site,( many members claiming that this was a removal too far to the west. In its day the First Presbyterian church, on Fourteenth street and Lucas place, was regarded as having a very handsome exterior, and it was commented upon favorably by many travelers. At that time there were few buildings in the vicinity and the church edifice stood out bold and strong in all of its architectural impressiveness. The First Presbyterian church regarded as colonies or offshoots, the Second Presbyterian church, and the Third Pres byterian church and the Pine street church, with which became identified for many years Dr. Niccolls, Dr. Post, Dr. Brookes and Dr. Rutherford. The First Presbyterian church, the most costly up to that time, was com pleted about the middle of the decade, 1850-1860. It was commonly called "Dr. Bullard's church," long after the beloved pastor met his death in the Gasconade disaster. Competition in church architecture, in those days, ran somewhat to spires. The First church had "the tallest steeple in St. Louis" — 225 feet. When the western city limits were extended from Seventh to Eighteenth street, in 1841, there was strong opposition. The argument was that the population did not justify the enlargement; that streets were not opened. Thirteen years later, while people were still speaking of "the new limits," this, most costly of the churches, was built almost on the outer edge of the city. Centenary Methodist church had a basement story wholly above ground. It was on Fifth and Pine streets, the southwest corner. Beside it was a parsonage. The Unitarian/ Pioneer. The coming of William Greenleaf Eliot was of far-reaching influence in Mis souri. It meant much more than the founding of the First Unitarian church. From an old note book, Henry' Ware Eliot, Jr., obtained historical material. which he used in an interesting address before the men's club of that church in 1916: "In 1834, Christopher Rhodes, a merchant of St. Louis, happened to make a trip to Boston, and before he leff St. Louis he was asked by some of his friends to look around in Boston and see whether it was possible to get some Unitarian clergyman to come out to St. Louis. Mr. Rhodes inquired of the general secretary of the American Unitarian asso ciation in Boston, and was told that, purely as a coincidence, William Preenleaf Eliot, Jr., then just graduated from the Theological College of Harvard University, had already conT ceived the idea of going out west and was looking for the opportunity. The source of Mr. Eliot's inspiration was partly his own pioneer spirit and partly the fact that his intimate- friend at Cambridge, James Freeman Clarke, had taken a pulpit in Louisville. Mr. Rhodes forthwith made arrangements for Mr. Eliot to come out to St. Louis in the fall of that, year. "Mr. Eliot arrived on the 27th of November, 1834. There was then but one news paper, a semi-weekly, published in St. Louis, and as the next issue was not till the following Monday, the news that Mr. Eliot was to preach on Sunday was printed on handbills and circulated about the city. The first meeting was held in a schoolhouse on Fourth street, be tween Pine and Chestnut. There were several disadvantages about this schoolroom. In the first "place, the seats were arranged so that the audience sat, not facing the minister, but with their Asides toward him. In the second place the associations of the place were of quite the wrong sort, for it had been used previously largely for the infidel lectures which were conducted by a Dr. Prefontaine. A footnote in Dr. Eliot's own record of the church, in pencil states that this Dr. Prefontaine shortly after landed in jail for the robbery and murder of a trader from Santa Fe. That should have settled definitely the status of the infidel contingent in the community. 986 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI "A good many of the disciples of this Dr. Prefontaine attended Dr. Eliot's church in the schoolroom for awhile in the expectation that the. doctrine of unbelief was to be enunciated by Dr. Eliot with perhaps more fiery intensity than it had been by his prede cessor. The congregation, therefore, was at first large. Soon being disappointed, how ever, the infidels ceased to attend, and the congregation in the winter dwindled to twenty- five, and on some days to not more than, eight members. "In Dr. Eliot's record he states that the only music in those days was furnished by several German gentlemen, of the most kindly intentions, but slight musical knowledge. He says that this choir was quite unfamiliar with the tunes used in the Unitarian church, and that when they sang 'Brattle Street,' they did so 'in quick time.' "In January, 1835, the sixteen most faithful members of the congregation banded themselves into a society. They started out at once to collect funds for the erection of a church building. After three months of labor, they had collected only $1,000. Mr. Eliot then went east as the emissary of the society, and by preaching in Boston, Salem, Provi dence, Philadelphia and New York, he raised the sum of $3,080. With the money they now had, they bought two lots, one on Fifth and Elm streets, and one on Fourth and Pine. This was a lucky investment, for in less than a year they sold the lot on Fifth and Elm for $5,500, a neat profit of $3,500. "They now made arrangements to build on Fourth and Pine, which is the site now occupied by the Mississippi Valley Trust company. The entire block at that time was- vacant ground; in fact the open country began at Broadway. A spring flowed on the spot where it was necessary to erect one of the walls of the church, and to avoid the expense of driving piling, a heavy brick arch was built over the spring, and the church wall was erected on top of the arch. When the Mississippi Valley Trust company was built, the contractors found this arch in such good condition, that they built the walls of the trust company right on top of it, and doubtless the spring still flows under that building." In Sight of the Slave Market. Speaking of the locality, Mr. Eliot suggested that from the front of the church might be seen the slave auctions taking place at the east front of the court house, a block south. The church decided to start a Sunday school. "Six teachers volunteered but there were no children. Finally, however, they employed a sexton, a Mr. Owen, who happened to have ten children. They started a Sun day school with these ten children. As a nucleus, this family was a great success." Illustrating further the conditions of that period, he said that when, about 1840, Mr. Eliot built a frame house on Eighth street between Olive and Locust, "his parishioners reproached him for having moved so far west." "Beyond Eighth street there were thick woods and few farm houses. Chouteau's Pond covered all of that part of the city included between Clark on the north, Eighth on the east, Gratiot -on the south and Vandeventer on the west. Chouteau's Pond was sur rounded by the shanties of the very poor and by slaughter houses, which dumped their refuse into the pond, so that the pond was, though the people did not realize it, a serious menace to health. St. Louis had no sewer system, and no water system. Drinking and washing water were obtained chiefly from cisterns and wells. After the great cholera year, in 1849, Chouteau's Pond was drained and a sewer system started. Water for household use was pumped from the river in its natural state, and,* though of a rich chocolate color, it was fairly good after it had been allowed to stand over night." Congregationalism in Missouri. In a most notable address, delivered in December, 1877, Rev. Dr. Truman M. Post told of the beginning of Congregationalism in Missouri. At the time of his coming to St. Louis, Dr. Post was a member of the faculty of Illinois College at Jacksonville: THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 987 "I had been repeatedly solicited to come to this city, with the proffer of a salary ade quate to my financial relief, but I was attached to the college and was unwilling to live with slavery. At length a special delegate from the Third Presbyterian church, Dr. Reuben Knox, visited me, coming some ioo miles by stage to urge the application. To his inquiry if the difficulty was slavery, I told him it was. I was unwilling to lay my bones in a slave state or to .commit my family to its destinies. His reply was, 'Come down and help us remove it.' At length after repeated calls and pleadings, in reply to a letter urg ing their case anew, I replied that I would come for four years, but was unwilling to commit myself for a longer withdrawal from the college, and that I would come only on condition that my letter of acceptance should be publicly read, — not before the elders only, but publicly before the church, and that, after hearing my letter, the church should re-vote my call. In that letter I stated that I regarded holding human beings as property as a violation of the first principles of the Christian religion, and that while I did not require of the church that they should adopt my views in regard to it, or to modes of removal, I thought every Christian should be alive to the inquiry after some mode, and his duty thereunto; and that I must be guaranteed in my liberty of opinion and speech on this subject, at my own discretion. Otherwise I did not think that God called me to add my self to the number of slaves in Missouri. "I also wrote them that I was a Congregationalist from principle, and without dis turbing their ecclesiastical relations, should still retain my own. The answer of the church was that they had done as I requested with my letter and that they now wished me more than ever. So I came to St. Louis in the fall of 1847, came for a term of years only, to the Third Presbyterian church." After stating that the four years passed much more pleasantly than he had anticipated and that tolerance was extended to him in the expression of his views on slavery, Dr. Post told of a growing sentiment in the church in favor of becoming a Congregational, body : "Near the close of my term of engagement, different persons, and among them one of the elders, came to me with the statement that a large portion of our members were Con- gregatibnalists in principle and in origin ; that there was room and demand for a Con gregational church here, and that with a view of retaining me, whose term would soon expire, there was a wish among our members to form such a church. I replied that the church had undoubtedly the right to consult its own sense of interest and duty in the form and method of its church life. But situated as I was, as pastor for the time being of a Presbyterian church, I must decline, not only in appearance but in reality, all connection with the movement and was precluded from rendering the assistance they requested. "Finally, just on the eve of the expiration of my engagement, the church, without any knowledge on my part of the purpose, or fact of their meeting, of their own motion, and without consultation with me, met, and, with a majority amounting almost to unanimity, determined by vote on the change. I first learned of the fact from a chance meeting with a member of the church on the street after the meeting was over, who told me what they had done and that they were 'all for it.' Soon after a committee from the church called on me and informed what they had done, and asked me to remain with them as pastor and conduct the new enterprise. "The question seemed forced on me by the hand of God, and I could not put it by. Evidently a Congregational church was demanded in the city." The spread of Congregationalism in Missouri did not come until after the Civil war. A congregational church was established" in Hannibal in 1859, but that was about the only hold that the denomination had outside of St. Louis. In ten years following the war seventy Congregational churches were established in the state. 988 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Pioneer Presbyterianism in Central Missouri. At commemorative exercises in the First Presbyterian church . at Sedalia, in 1882, Judge John F. Philips told of the beginnings of. that denomination in Central Missouri. "In the year 1856, I was living in Georgetown, and was the only Presbyterian there. There were perhaps not a dozen in the county. Rev. James Lapsley was living near Knob- rioster and preaching in that neighborhood. I was instrumental in securing him to preach at Georgetown occasionally. We had no church, and the services were held in the base ment of a brick building, which is still standing. My duties were many. I was elder, deacon, and sexton. I opened the church, rang the bell, built the fires, swept out the house, lit the lamps', went round the village to drum up an audience and took up the collection. I. shall never -forget my longing for co-laborers in the work of planting Presbyterianism in this county and preaching of the gospel to the people. Nor shall I ever forget the joy which was mine when that Kentucky delegation, headed by that noble man, Dr. Mont gomery, and formed of kindred spirits came to us. It was as the coming of the relief of Lucknow. Dr. Montgomery at once set about his work, and organized a church at Priest's Chapel, twelve miles north of Georgetown, and I and my wife attended service there every Sunday, unless the severity of the weather prevented. He then came to us at Georgetown and there remained until the dark clouds of war rolled black against the sky. I shall always hold in fondest remembrance the life and work of this grand man among us." A Problem in Pioneer Morals. From "Catholic Beginnings in Kansas City," the writing of Rev. Gilbert J. Garraghan, of St. -Louis University, it appears that as early as 1820 Bishop Dubourg sent a priest to investigate religious opportunities at the mouth of the Kaw. The mission was undertaken by Father dp la Croix, of St. Ferdinand, and was prompted by the visit of some Osage chiefs to invite the bishop to visit their villages in Western Missouri. Father de la Croix in his report mentioned that he found a "handful of Creole settlers at the mouth of the Kansas river." Six years later Bishop Rosati sent Father Lutz to open a mission among the Kansas Indians. Father Lutz performed service in the Vasquez house which was located on the bank of the Missouri just belowthe mouth of the Kaw. Father Garraghan says : "Historical candor compels the statement that Father Lutz was not favorably im pressed with religious conditions in the Creole colony at Kawsmouth. Long standing lack of opportunity to share in the ministrations of the church, together with the careless, half savage manner of life among the voyageurs of the Missouri, had brought a deal of re ligious indifference and other disorders in their train." Later, in 1834, came Father Roux to succeed Father Lutz and to establish the pioneer church in what was to be Kansas City. This was a building of logs near what is now the corner of Pennsylvania avenue and Eleventh street, a block - from the present cathedral. For a time this first house of worship was called Chouteau church, the Chouteau families having been the principal contributors to Ihe cost. Two granddaughters of Daniel Boone were among the first chil dren baptized by Father Roux. Their father, Daniel Morgan Boone, according to tradition, taught the first school in the settlement, having the use of the presbytery for that purpose. Conditions improved under Father Roux, although not as rapidly as the good priest wished. Father Roux wrote to the bishop that THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 989 he was having a hard time to get the people to give up balls which took place, "sometimes after church services." He wrote : "I reprove, entreat, rebuke them in French and in English as well. I am instant in season and out of season, but their amendment is scarcely appreciable." Evidently, Father Roux had more influence than he realized for his successor at Kansas City, Father Nicholas Point, the companion of Father DeSmet, who took charge of the church in 1840, reported to the bishop : "Another -thing that occurred at this period gave me great joy. The year before balls had taken place among the people weekly ; this year there were only two or three, which I permitted, lest by too great show of severity I might lose the ground I gained with them. The means they took in securing my permission for the dance amused me- not a little. They sent as bearer of their first petition an old soldier of the empire, Jean Baptiste de Velder, a native of Belgium who had also accompanied Father DeSmet on his return from the Rocky Mountains and who bore the reputation of being a man to whom I would refuse nothing. The good old, fellow came to me, and, after telling me that he had a favor to ask, begged to kneel and say a prayer for the success of his mission. The prayer said, he confidently broached the subject of his mission." Father Bernard Donnelly succeeded Father Roux in 1846, and for thirty- four years was identified with the history of Kansas City. Father McMenamy's War Experiences. Rev. Bernard P. McMenamy was the resident priest in Edina during the Civil war. He was an intense Union man and preached against secession. Most of the young men in his congregation went into the Union army. These young men often sent money home by express for dependent relatives. Quincy was the nearest express point. Father McMenamy was accustomed to- make the journey to Quincy, get these remittances, carry them back to Edina and distribute the money in. accordance with the instructions of the boys. He became pay master for a number of families. When reports reached Edina that Confederates were approaching on a raid, the priest hid the money in a stump in his back yard. One day, as Father McMenamy long afterwards told the story, a woman, rather poorly dressed and evidently from the country, came to the parochial residence and asked, "Is this where Mr. Priest lives ?" Father McMenamy' said he was the man. The woman was smoking a corncob pipe. She looked the priest over care fully, and then handed him a letter, saying it was from the boys and they told her to "come here and get some money "from you." Father McMenamy examined his list of remittances, found that there was some money forwarded by the boys mentioned in the letter.- He paid it. Very deliberately, Patsy Mauck, for that she said was her name, looked at the money and the priest. "Wall," she said, "I think it derned strange that the boys should rather trust your honesty than to trust me ; but you've paid it over all right and I've a good mind to take dinner with you." The priest accepted. It came to the part of Father McMenamy to do many extraordinary things in the war period. A report reached Edina one afternoon that Price was march ing on the town. The priest went up town to investigate. Opposite the gate of John Biggerstaff, a Union man and a leading Methodist, the priest was stopped by Mr. Biggerstaff who had with him the bishop who had come to Edina to dedicate 990 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI the new Methodist church. Mr. Biggerstaff explained that they were just on the way to the parochial residence to ask that the bishop be sheltered there as prob ably the safest, asylum if the rebels came. The priest fell in with the suggestion readily and took the bishop, then quite an old man, to his house and kept him there until next day, putting him on the stage for Canton early in the morning. What a Vote for Lincoln Cost. One of the twenty votes cast in Livingston county for Lincoln in 1850 was by Rev. J. E. Gardner, a Methodist preacher at Utica. A short time after the election, Mr. Gardner received a notice signed by thirty-seven citizens of Living ston notifying him to leave the county within three days. He paid no attention to it. A little later a meeting was held and these charges were preferred : "1. You are a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church North sent among us with out our consent and supported by northern money, sent by a religious denomination, whose doctrine is to war upon the domestic institutions of the South. "2. You are the only man in our community who voted for Lincoln, and you have publicly declared that you would glory in making yourself a martyr to the cause of abolitionism. "3. You have had frequent interviews with slaves of this county, and you invited a number of them to the country and gave them a dinner, after preaching, as your equals." % / Mr. Gardner replied in writing to these charges when they were presented to him: "1. I am not a preacher of the M. E. .Church North, as there is no such church in existence. Neither am I supported by northern money, but by the people to whom I am sent to preach. Our doctrine is not to war upon the domestic institutions of the' state, for in our Book of Discipline we acknowledge ourselves obedient to the laws of the land. , "2. I did vote for Mr. Lincoln, but did not, either publicly or privately, declare that I would glory in making myself a martyr to the cause of abolitionism. "3. I never had an interview with slaves or gave them a dinner, making them my equals. I therefore challenge the proof, as the onus brobandi rests on you; and until you. bring that I stand with the law to defend me." Another meeting was held and notice was sent to the minister that he must leave in three days, the hour of the limit being fixed. Citizens of Utica then formed, a "law and order" organization which discountenanced the work of the previous organization and undertook to settle the matter by compromise. It was decided by the law and order society that the Gardner family should have ten days to move away. The day before the time expired a mob came to the house demand ing that in ten minutes Gardner give his word to leave the county the next day, the threat being that if he did not the house would be burned. An order was given to bring hay for the purpose of starting the fire. After some parleying the mob withdrew to wait until next day. Mr. Gardner went down to one of the stores. The mob reassembled, seized him and put him astride of a rail. As they marched around town, they shouted "North Preacher!" "Lincolnite !" "Nigger Thief!" The minister warned the mob to flee from the wrath to come and then began to sing: "Children of the Heavenly King, As we journey, let us sing." Church of the Messiah, Olive and Ninjth streets Union Methodist Chureh, Eleventh and Seeond Baptist Chureh Sixth and Locurt Locust Streets streets ST. LOUIS CHURCHES IN 1861 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 993 * One man said he would "make him shut his mouth" and threw a chunk of ice striking the minister on the shoulder. Mrs. Gardner went into the midst of the crowd and demanded the release of her husband. Citizens who had not partici pated in the rail riding advised the Gardners to give their promise to leave the next day, telling them it was dangerous to refuse. The next day the Gardners went to Chillicothe 'and suit was started against the mob. According to a state ment sent by Mrs. Gardner to the Central Christian Advocate at the time another mob "compellecj Squire Hughes before whom the case was to be tried to burn the papers." Deacon Tucker, the editor of the Evening Bulletin, worshipped at the Presby terian church on Eighth and Locust streets. His paper was the organ of the southern rights people. Rev. Galusha Anderson, an aggressive young anti-slavery man was the, minister of the Second Baptist church two blocks east. One evening the Bulletin came out with an editorial reading: "The devil preaches at the corner of Sixth and Locust streets and he is the same sort of a being that he was more than 1,800 years ago. He wants everybody to bow down and worship him." "Kucklebur Oath." "Kucklebur oath" was what some of the Missourians in the interior of the state called the Drake test. They applied it in the case of the Rev. W. R. Lit singer of Morgan county. This minister cast his lot with the South. When he returned, after the war, he found that the Methodists of the northern faction had taken possession of the church building in Versailles and had been holding regu lar services. On Sunday he went to church and sat quietly until the services were ended. Then he arose and said that the Methodist Church South would resume regular services in that church beginning the following Sunday. As soon as the announcement was made, examination showed that Mr. Litsinger had taken the key from the front door. ^The northern Methodists dernanded the key. Mr. Lit singer held on to it. Then the northern Methodists announced that they would prevent Litsinger from occupying the pulpit on the ground that he had not taken the "kucklebur oath" as required by the Drake constitution. Mr. Litsinger preached and was arrested. The court put him under $60o bonds to answer for the offense. That same court had a few days before put a horse thief under only $200 bonds, which prompted Mr. Litsinger to remark to the judge that "in this court it is three times worse to preach the Gospel than to steal." In Dunklin county a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation had a novel ex perience during the Civil war. While Rev. T. S. Love was preaching the church was surrounded by a company of guerrillas. The leader interrupted the service to say that there was no intention to disturb the services further than to require the men inside to come out and exchange clothes with them. The men went out side, closing the church doors and leaving the women and children within. The Sunday suits were stripped off, the guerrillas selecting the sizes that best fitted Hhem. For the boots of the churchgoers, the guerrillas gave some badly worn foot gear. One young man had the presence of mind to pull off his boots before he came out of the church and shove them into the stove. It was in warm weather. He went out of doors barefoot and the guerrillas asked no question. After the Vol. 1—63 994 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI ». company had departed with all the good clothes of the churchgoers the latter put on enough of the dilapidated clothing left behind, went back into the church, sang a hymn and went home. Archbishop Kenrick 's Lectures and Newsletter. From conversions of non-Catholics, the Catholic church gained strength in St. Louis before the war. As early as 1848 Archbishop Kenrick began a notable undertaking. He had public announcement made that during Le'nt he would deliver evening lectures. His subjects were such as Evidences of Christianity, Divine Revelation, Mysteries of Religion, Doctrines of the Church, Ritual Observ ances and so on through an elaborate course of information on the Catholic faith. About the same time that the archbishop announced his lectures, a Catholic news paper called the St. Louis Newsletter was started. Father O'Hanlon was made the editor. The Newsletter was published weekly and it made a feature of the archbishop's lectures. Not only was the public given to understand that the lec ture course would be open to anybody who chose to come but a special effort was made to show non-Catholics that they were welcome. Owners of pews threw them open to all comers. It soon became apparent that a considerable proportion of the attendants upon these- lectures were non-Catholics. The cathedral was thronged, the attendance including some of the most prominent people in the city. The editor of the Newsletter of 1848 has left a record of this religious awakening in St. Louis : ' It was scarcely possible to understand how the archbishop could find a moment's time to prepare and arrange the heads of these discourses, much less to deliver them in that orderly and logical manner in which they were molded ; but they were indeed most instructive to the priests, as to the laity present, for while each lecture evinced a pro found knowledge of the subject, it was enforced by reasoning and illustrations which carried conviction to the minds of all dispassionate hearers. I found that the archbishop was accustomed to jot down on a small sheet of paper the divisions of his sermon for each evening, while he trusted to a well stored memory for the abundant matter his theological erudition had gleaned, and a measured fluency and accuracy ot language came to his aid without any apparent effort. I was fortunate to procure these notes after they had been used, atid soon the archbishop undertook to revise my reports, before they were sent to the printer. I have reason to know these resumes served a very useful pur pose and they formed a feature of the Newsletter which was particularly interesting to all its readers. The result of this course of instruction was to bring an additional num ber of non-Catholic visitors to the cathedral. As their interest and spirit of inquiry grew, many of them desired interviews with the archbishop to receive further explanations and instruction. Several well-disposed and distinguished persons were thus prepared for ad mission to the chureh. Whether conditionally or unconditionally administered, baptism was received by many, and afterwards these became practical and fervent Catholics. Not alone the archbishop but several of his priests engaged in the duty of catechising and receiving converts of the greatest respectability and of a thoughtful intelligent class. As in the Apostolic time, the Lord daily added to His church those who were to be saved. So St. Louis began to acquire a distinction for Catholicity. • Archbishop Kenrick gave a great deal' of attention to the Newsletter. He not only contributed articles but advised as to editorial policy. He counseled that while in its main feature it should be distinctively a Catholic' newspaper, yet it should maintain a high literary character through essays, reviews and especially THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 995 in well selected reprint. He used to recommend the use of scissors and paste pot, saying to the editor, "Selected sense is much better than original nonsense." Father Ryan. Thirty years after Archbishop Kenrick had inaugurated and carried out a policy, if that word may be used, of interesting and impressing non-Catholics, another great preacher with remarkable power for awakening religious thought came forward in the Catholic church of St. Louis. It is told of Patrick John Ryan that when he was thirteen years old, in Naughton's school in the parish of Rathmines, he was chosen as the spokesman to deliver a special address to Daniel O'Connell, imprisoned in 1844 at Richmond, Bridewell. The boy was the born orator. He had a taste for literary effort. His schoolmates selected him to prepare the address and read it to the patriot.. Father Ryan was only a deacon when with a determination to become a missionary priest in America, he reached St. Louis toward the close of 1852 and was sent to Carondelet. With him came Patrick A. Feehan, who became bishop of Nashville and afterwards archbishop of Chicago. The two young deacons were sent to the seminary to remain until of age for ordination to the priesthood. Father Ryan became a bishop in 1872 but long before that he was famed for his eloquence. After his ordination in 1854, he was attached to the cathedral. He became best known as pastor of St. John's, where for twenty years he preached regularly, his sermons drawing non-Catholics in large num bers. It became the custom with strangers in the city over Sunday to attend St. John's on Sixteenth and Chestnut to hear a sermon by Father Ryan. Father Tom Burke, the Dominican of international fame as an orator, came to St: Louis between 1870 and 1880 and remained some time. He was on a lecture tour of the United States. While he was here Father Tom, for that everybody called him, heard Bishop Ryan then but recently consecrated. There was no jealousy of Father Ryan ; the humility of the man forbade it, but intense admiration for his power as a speaker. The St. Louis priests asked Father Tom what he thought of their pulpit orator. "Well, in good truth," replied Father Burke, "when I heard Lacordaire in Paris, I thought the whole church could not produce his equal, but now that I have heard your good and great assistant bishop, I do not hesitate to say that as a pulpit orator he immeasurably surpasses that celebrated preacher of our order." After the manifold duties of bishop made it impossible to preach weekly at St. John's, Father Ryan adopted the custom of occupying the pulpit on the first Sunday of the month, unless he was too far away to get home. "Bishop Ryan's Sunday" obtained a fixed place on the religious calendar of St. Louis. On those Sundays St. John's was uncomfortably crowded. "The Great Controversy." The outside calls upon Bishop Ryan grew numerous and pressing. By invi tation, the eloquent prelate preached twice before the Missouri legislature. He was very obliging. Twice he went to Columbia to address the students of the University of Missouri. The Sanctity of the Church and Modern Skepticism 996 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI , were two subjects upon which Bishop Ryan preached or lectured in the leading cities of the country. The last traced popular opinion through various phases with deductions in favor of Catholicism. In 1882, Bishop Ryari delivered one of the most notable of his many lectures before an audience which filled Mer cantile Library hall. It -was explanatory and conciliatory, calculated to win consideration of the principles of Catholicism. The audience included several pastors of Protestant churches. From the days of his student life, Father Ryan had a liking for the press. He wrote much for periodicals when other duties permitted. Out ¦ of Father Ryan's eloquent preaching and the interest it aroused in Catholicism developed one of the most notable features in the history of St. Louis journalism. Joseph B. McCullagh, editor of. the Globe-Democrat, printed in full one of the bishop's addresses. Bishop Ryan had two kinds of sermons, the dogmatic and the moral. Mr. McCullagh selected a dogmatic discourse, one that brought out the salient and distinctive qualities of- the Catholic faith. Then he opened the columns of the paper for all creeds. For months "The Great Controversy" was carried on in the Globe-Democrat, ^filling in the aggregate some hundreds of columns. Archbishop Kenrick 's Travels in Missouri. Archbishop Kenrick rarely spoke of the experiences he had in the missionary work which made Catholicism so strong in St. Louis and vicinity during the period of great immigration ten years before the Civil war. He had a free colored servant, "William." In a vehicle, accompanied by William, the arch bishop drove through the country without regard to seasons or weather. One day he insisted on fording a swollen creek in St. Charles county and went under, having a narrow escape. But of these incidents he was reticent. The archbishop's advice to young priests probably revealed the lesson of his own experience. He was accustomed to say that when a profession is embraced the first duty is to acquire all the knowledge necessary to tliseharge it fully and conscientiously. Until that is done extraneous duty should be avoided. "Therefore," he said, to young priests, "lose no day that you shall not apply some part of it to the learning of dogmatic and moral theology as also to the reading of commentaries on the Scriptures." The history of the church and the lives of the saints, he recommended also, and he deemed it highly important to have a favorite book of devotion to "nourish piety within the soul." Careful preparation for preaching was recommended. The extraordinary growth of Catholicism in St. Louis, the theological strength of the clergy, the thousands of conversions of residents, not so much from other churches as from the mass of the indifferent, are better understood when the example and precepts of Peter Richard Kenrick are known. The Humor of Father Ryan. One of the stories still told of Archbishop Ryan is his comment on the boy's answer to a catechism question. A parish priest was showing off the children's aptness. He asked a boy, "What is matrimony?" The pupil, embarrassed by the presence of the archbishop, replied : "Matrimony is a state of punishment to THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 997 which some souls are condemned to suffer for a while before they are considered good enough to go to heaven." "Oh !" said the priest, "that is the answer for purgatory." "Let the boy alone, father," commented the archbishop. "He may be right. What do you or I know about it anyway ?" Father Ryan once pleasantly suggested to a priest that it was time for him to get a new hat. The priest was a loyal Irishman. "I would not give up that old hat for twenty new ones," he said, with emphasis. "It belonged to my father who fell in the uprising of '48." "And evidently fell on that hat," said Father Ryan. One of the archbishop's famous lecture subjects was on Ireland. In that lec ture he told the story of the Irishman who came to him with the most amazing series of troubles. Father Ryan said he listened to the recital and then asked : "Pat, in all your troubles, did you at any time think of committing suicide?" "Not upon-myself, your reverence," was the instant reply. When a certain man had been elected from St. Louis to Congress and every body was marveling, a friend excitedly asked Father Ryan, "Bishop, ,did you know that Blank had been elected to Congress?" "Oh, wellv" said the bishop, "he is young and strong. Maybe he will out live it." The association of Kenrick and Ryan for thirty years in St. Louis was extra ordinary. Kenrick had marvelous capacity for organization and management. Ryan was philosophical and eloquent. One was the complement of the other. The relations were more than harmonious. Upon his bishop the archbishop leaned more and more. The Catholic church in the archdiocese of St. Louis pros pered beyond comparison. The fame of Ryan, as a preacher and a lecturer, became national. Both of these men maintained the friendliest relations with and commanded the highest respect of the non-Catholics of St. Louis. When Archbishop Ryan was called to Philadelphia, St. Louisans, without regard to religious affiliations, tendered him a most notable farewell reception. Dr. Niccolls' Tribute to the Roman Catholics. Religious intolerance has been the exception in the relations of the churches, since statehood. Slavery and the Civil war prompted some denominational divi sions. The attending bitterness was only temporary, the matter of a single gen eration. The. liberality of view was shown in a rather striking expression by Rev. Dr. Samuel J. Niccolls in his centennial sermon of 1909: "The Roman Catholic church, always conservative, has, in spite of its cherished tradi- . tions, been moved by the spirit of progress and has become a most important factor in the civilization of the West. In this city it has greatly multiplied its churches, schools, hos pitals and asylums. Its leaders have been godly men of broad, statesmenlike vision, who have administered the affairs of their branch of the church with marked discretion and success and its members are among our foremost citizens in seeking the highest welfare of our city. It occupies a most influential position in the religious and social affairs of the city, and the history of its progress furnishes a most instructive chapter in the -story of the development of the great Valley of the Mississippi. But I leave to those more familiar with it the full recital of its progress, although venturing the prediction that before another hundred years have gone by the relations between the different branches of the Christian church will be much more intimate than they now are." 998 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Bishop Tuttle. When Daniel Sylvester Tuttle was, in 1866, elected bishop of Montana, with jurisdiction over Idaho and Utah, he was compelled to confess to the committee sent to notify him that he was only twenty-nine years old. The church law required a candidate to be thirty years old. Bishops Potter and Whitehouse were the committee. They had picked out Mr. Tuttle, a man of stalwart, frame, as peculiarly well fitted for such missionary field as the three frontier territories offered at that day. They were not willing to relinquish their plan. So they said to Mr. Tuttle, "My brother, go home to Morris to your work, continue in it quietly' and steadily till after January 26, 1867, when you will be thirty years old. After that you will doubtless receive from the presiding bishop -information to guide you in your next step." Thus it came about that in 1867, with a little missionary band, Bishop Tuttle started for Montana, within the bounds of which no Epis copal clergyman had set foot up to that time. The bishop rode across the plains on a stage coach, every man carrying a rifle and a revolver for protection against Indians. The first thing he did on reaching Salt Lake was to call upon Brigham Young, telling him for what he had come. Teh days afterwards, the bishop con firmed eleven persons. He went on to Montana arid lived in a log cabin in the mining town of Virginia . City. That year a telegram came to the bishop in his cabin from Rev. Montgomery Schuyler of St. Louis., reading: "Elected bishop of Missouri at Kirkwood, May 29th, on first ballot." Bishop Tuttle sent' back his declination. His sole companion in' the cahin at Virginia City was his cat "Dick." Nineteen years later a second telegram from Dr. Schuyler found Bishop Tuttle in a mining camp of Utah and notified him that for the second time he had been elected bishop of Missouri. This time acceptance was sent. Bishop Tuttle came to St. Louis in 1886. The New Cathedral. The sun sent slanting rays through banks of clouds into the faces of an army with banners marching out Lindell avenue on Sunday, the 18th of October, 1908. Pageants of different kinds St. Louis had seen, but never before one like that. Of military and of civic demonstrations there had been many. But now moved with the precision and array of an army the men of the Catholic churches. This mighty host gave new meaning to the 79 parishes of the city. East and west of Newstead avenue spread a mass of humanity which crowded sidewalks and lawns and encroached upon the broad asphalt until only by stren uous effort of the police was a pathway kept open for the moving column. Above the heads of the marchers and spectators hung from the long arm of a great crane a massive block of granite with the words "Christo Victori." Over the foundations of the new cathedral, tier above tier, sat the hundreds of frocked priests and seminarians. In front were grouped about the Apostolic Delegate, Diomede Falconio, most reverend archbishops and the right reverend bishops, in their purple robes. A full head above the other dignitaries, erect of figure, his face alight with the spirit of the event, stood the young metropolitan of St. Louis, John J. Glennon. A striking feature in the celebration of the laying of the corner stone was the interest shown by the entire community. Lindell boulevard, the great residence, REV. DR. THOMAS M. FINNEY Methodist REV. DR. SAMUEL J. NICCOLLS His pastorate of the Second "Presbyterian Church of St. Louis exceeded fifty years BISHOP ENOCH MATHEE MAEVIN Methodist EEV. DE. TEUMAN MAECELLUS POST Congregational THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 1001 church and club avenue of the city of St. Louis, from Grand avenue to King's ~ Highway, a distance of nearly two miles, was filled with waving colors. In response to the invitation of the central committee having charge of the celebra tion the residents and the institutions on the avenue almost without exception hung out the American flag. The request of the committee was that the colors of the country be displayed. Directly opposite the scene of the ceremony, American flags festooned the windows of the Lindell Avenue Methodist church. Among the seated guests upon the stand overlooking the corner stone were men of all religious beliefs, responsive by their presence to the general sentiment that the whole city had a living sympathetic interest and pride in the ceremony. A great contribution to the church architecture of the city, that in which the whole community had an interest, was the cathedral, with its foundation walls above ground and waiting the corner stone of Missouri granite. It is no detrac tion from the reverence and religious fervor of the Catholic, that the St. Louisan forecasted with civic pride the completion of a cathedral which was to surpass any other in the country. And by the same sign it was none the less a fitting sub ject for civic pride that this monumental creation of the architect and the artist had as its inspiration the religious motive. Impressive Corner Stone Ceremonies. The parade of the parishes preceded the laying of the corner stone. When the head of the column led by the grand marshal, Amedee Valle Reyburn, a descendant of one of the oldest families of St. Louis, reached the site of the new cathedral, it was met by a procession of prelates and priests, the most notable ever seen in the Mississippi valley. The Apostolic Delegate, Most Reverend Diomede Falconio, was escorted by the seven archbishops, thirty bishops and seven hundred priests from the Sacred Heart convent, on Maryland avenue, to the site of the cathedral, arriving there just as the procession of the parishes came marching up from the other direction. The procession of the parishes was three hours in passing the reviewing stand upon which the distinguished prelates took their positions. When the procession of the parishes had filed by, the laying and blessing of the corner stone took place in accordance with the usual forms of the Catholic church. It was preceded by the blessing of a great cross which had been erected for the occasion. After the blessing* of the cross came the blessing of the foundation of the new structure, and then the procession of prelates and priests marched back to the stone which was first blessed and then placed by the Apostolic Delegate. The ceremony con cluded with the drawing of the cross by the trowel upon the side of the corner stone. The Latin, cut deep into the geological formation which is the foundation of all terrestrial, dedicates the building to the Saviour and in the same sentence honors the city. The sentiment is reverent and patriotic. It is happily framed. When the archbishop approached the matter of the inscription, he thought much about what sentiment should be embraced in it. To well known Latin scholars he sent out his request for counsel. He told them that the words should be few, that they should impress primarily the religious character of the edifice, the con secration to the Catholic faith. And then he added that recognition of the patron 1002 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI s and of the city should be included. And finally the archbishop desired that the participation of the entire diocese in the building of this cathedral should be given imperishable tribute. The Benedictines are famous for their learning and skill in the cryptogram. They were asked to suggest a form of inscription. The archbishop did n6t stop with the Latinists of the United States. He gave some of the scholars of Europe opportunity to compete. A St. Louis priest supplied the text which, with slight alteration, was decided to express best the sentiments. He used fewer than forty. words, most of them very short. In the Latin, St. Louis becomes "S. Ludovici." The translation, following closely the concise Latin, is: "To Christ the victor, and in honor of St. Louis, King of France, patron of the bounteous city and archdiocese, this stone, inaugural of the metropolitan church, erected by the bounty of the faithful of the whole diocese, was placed on October 18, by the Most Reverend Delegate of the Holy See." ' The inscription was the composition of Rev. -F. G. Holweck, rector of St. Francis de Sales church on the Gravois road in the southern part of the city. Father Holweck was one of the foremost classical scholars in the country. He was the censor librorum of this archdiocese. Catholic books intended for publication here were submitted in manuscript to him because of his ability to detect errors. Out of all of the forms suggested for this corner stone, Rector Hoiweck's ex pressed most perfectly the sentiments the archbishops desired. The Work of a Generation. The Catholics of St. Louis had been preparing for this work of building a grand cathedral a generation or more. Archbishop Kenrick, during his lifetime, conceived and made some preliminary plans looking to a cathedral. The late Archbishop Kain, who succeeded Archbishop Kenrick, also devoted attention to the project and started the fund for it. It remained, however, for the present archbishop of St. Louis, Most Rev. John J. Glennon, to take up preliminaries and to bring the project to the actual construction. Archbishop Glennon was made coadjutor bishop of St. Louis under Archbishop Kain's administration during 1903, and the same year, on the death of Archbishop Kain, Bishop Glennon be came archbishop of St. Louis, being the youngest prelate of that rank in the country. It was well that the movement progressed slowly. An earlier beginning might have been a mistake as to location. On the 28th of April, 1871, was taken the formal step for the cathedral, the corner stone of which was laid October 18, 1908. Archbishop Kenrick, Bishop Ryan and Vicar-General Muehlsiepen were at the head of the movement. The men of means of that day who participated in the incorporation of the .St. Louis Cathedral Building association were James H. Lucas, Henry S. Turner, Joseph O'Neil, John Withnell, Nicholas Schaeffer, H. J. Spaunhorst, J. B. Ghio, Berhhard Crickhard, Julius S. Walsh, John Byrne, Jr., Bernard Slevin, Charles P. Chouteau, Charles Slevin, James Maguire, Joseph Garneau. The site tentatively selected was the block bounded by Twenty-second and Twenty-third streets, Pine and Chestnut streets, now largely occupied by light manufacturing establishments. THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 1003 The Y. M. C. A. Three times the Young Men's Christian association was started before it secured a permanent and flourishing hold in St. Louis. In 1853, nine years after the original Young Men's Christian association was founded in London, a St. Louis association was started. Samuel Cupples and Henry Hitchcock were offi cers. The Civil war caused this association to disband. After several years another beginning was made by Rev. Shepard Wells and General Clinton B. Fisk. This movement failed. In 1875 twelve young men met at the Union Methodist church, then on Eleventh and Locust streets, and organized the Y. M. C. A., which has grown to the present impressive strength. The officers were H. C. Wright, Frank L. Johnson, Dr. L. H. Laidley, Charles C. Nichols, and E. Anson More. The association occupied one rented room after another down town, until in 1879 Mr. Moody conducted one of his revivals. The evangelist appealed to the business men of St. Louis to provide the Young Men's Christian association with a building. Stephen M. Edgell, Carlos S. Greeley and John R. Lionberger headed a subscription which reached $40,000. The Union Methodist church was bought for $37,500. In 1885 the association occupied the former residence of John D. Perry on Pine and Twenty-ninth streets and built a gymnasium. In 1892 the property on Eleventh and Locust was sold for $125,000. A lot on Grand and Franklin avenues was bought for $51,250 in 1894. On this a building which cost $200,000 was erected. The business management of the association has been excelled only by its Christian influence. In a third of a century the St. Louis Young Men's Christian association had two general secretaries — Walter C. Doug las and George T. Coxhead. The latter held the position twenty-five years. For many years the association had one presiding head — Thomas S. McPheeters. It added branch after branch to the central until the whole city was its field of operation. In the northern and southern parts of the city the branches occupy their own buildings and grounds. The railroad branch occupies a model Y. M. C. A. building erected at a cost of $80,000, to which Miss Helen Gould was the chief contributor. This branch was dedicated in October, 1907, with Miss Gould in attendance. Queen Victoria knighted the man who first thought of the Y. M. C. A. and put his thought into action. The honor roll of most useful citizens con- -tains the names of the men who have made the St. Louis Young Men's Christian association. The St. Louis Provident Association. In sixty years the St. Louis Provident Association has expended for the relief of the poor of St. Louis $1,750,000, has investigated 200,000 cases. About i860 the most charitable man in St. Louis, by common consent, was James E. Yeatman. He lived on Olive street in what was called Yeatman's row. The poor, Mr. Yeat man had always with him. One very bad night he was called to the doOr and was told a tale of distress by a woman who represented that her child was desper ately ill and that she had no means to buy food or medicine. Mr. Yeatman took the address, gave some temporary help and went back to his fire. He couldn't rest. He got his overcoat and started out. Around the corner at Tenth and Locust streets lived Dr. Pope, the eminent surgeon. He was just leaving the house to take his buggy for a visit to a patient. Mr. Yeatman insisted that Dr. Pope 1004 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI go with him to see the sick child. The doctor demurred and then yielded. The two good Samaritans made their way to an alley above Franklin avenue and found the house. But the supposed abode of distress was lighted and a sound of revelry came through the cracks of door and window. Mr. Yeatman knocked. The door was opened. There stood the woman holding a child. Behind her surrounding a table upon which stood the beer bought with Mr. Yeatman's charity were three or four husky fellows. "Where is that sick child?" asked Mr. Yeatman. "Here she is," said the woman, indicating the one in her arms.' Dr. Pope looked at the little sleeper closely and said with some emphasis, "I prescribe soap and water. Good night." The next day Mr. Yeatman invited a few business men to meet him. That was the genesis of the St. Louis Provident Association, which handles from $35,- 000 to $50,000 a year, helping the poor to help themselves and protecting charity from abuse. Once in its history the St. Louis Provident Association faced a crisis which threatened to close its doors. Philanthropy knows what a panic means. The winter of 1893-4 drained the resources of the charity organizations. One day Mr. Scruggs and Mr. Cupples found themselves facing an empty treasury and the demands for relief almost without precedent. They sent for Adolphus Busch and on a Sunday afternoon the three men sat in the parlor of Mr. Cupples' home and discussed ways and means to keep the institution open. The next day Mr. Busch came back. He brought $10,000. Half of it was his individual gift. The remainder was from Mr. Lemp and other brewers. The Provident Association did not suspend. . More than one hundred philanthropic organizations occupy the St. Louis field. With very few exceptions they are conducted upon the cardinal principle of help ing the unfortunate fo help themselves. The heart of St. Louis is charitable" but in the exercise of charity practical judgment goes with the humane sentiment. That, in large measure; explains why St. Louis has no slums, like the plague spots of the other large cities of the country. As he rode about St. Louis, Archbishop Farley of New York commented : "In St. Louis the workingmen and poorer classes are much better taken care of in their homes than similar classes in New York. This results in contentment and prevents social troubles. I have seen no districts in St. Louis that I could call squalid. In fact, there seems to be no real squalor in the city." A Layman's Lifework. The quality of religious heroism came out strong and not infrequently among the laymen of the city. Thomas F. Webb opened a little Sunday school with twenty scholars in a small frame house at Sixth and Carr streets in 1840. After half a dozen years the owner of the land wanted it. The frame building was lifted on trucks and hauled to Fourteenth and Carr streets, where Judge Carr offered' a temporary location. As the school grew the building was enlarged to accommodate 350. In 1848 Thomas Morrison became' the superintendent. For sixty years thereafter this man carried on a work peculiarly his own with a degree of devotion which made his personality of more than local interest. To get addi- THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 1005 tional room he moved the school to a hall in the Biddle market, and the Biddle market mission was cited a model for mission work in other cities. The number of scholars increased to over 1,000. A church, "the First Independent church of St. Louis," was started in 1864. Mr. Morrison sold his home and added to it all of the money he could spare to build on Sixteenth and Carr streets. After $37,000 had .been spent, the place was sold under a mortgage. Carlos S. Greeley took the property, completed the church and presented it to the trustees of the mission. At that time, in 1880, the Memorial Tabernacle, for that was the name Rev. Dr. Niccolls bestowed upon it, was pronounced the largest and finest build ing in the United States for Sunday school purposes. When, Thomas Morrison died, in 1908, the scenes and the testimonies at his bier, told eloquently what a place he had occupied in the life of the city. Bare footed boys and bankers, men with dinner buckets and men who manage great industries came. A laboring man said; "I went to school to him in 1863. It was in the old mission over the Biddle Market. I haven't made such a great success as the world goes, but I've lived a Christian life and reared my children Christians, all on account of him." James W. Bell, the banker, told of the esteem in which Thomas Morrison was held: "In 1898, upon the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of this mission, Mr. Mor rison gave away 3,000 bibles, each with his autograph and a small American flag of silk pasted inside. I have one of those bibles now at home upon my center table and prize it highly. There will never be another Thomas Morrison in St. Louis. He was unique. He was the means of saving thousands of men and women. I was a steady contributor to his mission for fifty years. We all loved to help him. When we saw him come in we threw up our hands and said : 'How much, Tom ?' " In the newspaper accounts of the funeral of Thomas Morrison were described these scenes: In the procession of mourners were three generations of one family, a grandmother, her daughter and little grandson. The grandmother was a pupil in the Biddle Mission Sunday School sixty years ago. Her daughter was a pupil there thirty years ago, and her little boy is a member of the same Sunday School now, all reared in the love of God through "the influence of this one man. The three generations went into the mission together and stopped at the coffin. The mother lifted her little boy up so he could see the face they all loved so much. As they went out the grandmother said: "I wanted the child to carry in his memory the face of the man who did so much for us. He was the means of our salvation." In the crowd was an old Irish woman, a devout member of the Catholic church. After she had looked at the face in the coffin, she said: "He was a great and good man. I knew of his good works for forty years in this district, and though he didn't die in the church I'd like to hare seen him die in, he must surely be in heaven." A woman in a magnificent motor car rode up to the mission door at one o'clock and alone climbed the dingy stairway to the mission room. Her tears fell upon the glass plate covering the face and without speaking to anyone she walked out, got into her car and went away. "Some woman he saved. There are many of them," said a mourner. Temperance Reform in the Forties. The Washingtonian movement, as the great temperance cause of the early forties was called, swept over Missouri. Among those who espoused the cause 1006 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI with enthusiasm was Thomas L. Anderson of Palmyra. Colonel Anderson ar ranged for a mass meeting in his town and secured as a drawing card, Edwin G. Pratt, a fellow citizen. Mr. Pratt was the best dresser in the legal profession of Northeast Missouri. He usually appeared at the beginning of the regular terms of court with a new plug hat and a new suit of clothes. The weakness in Pratt's professional practice was his keen sense of humor. He couldn't let an oppor tunity for f unmaking pass. Pratt- had not been known as a temperance man, but he accepted Colonel Anderson's invitation with a readiness that would have aroused the suspicion of the colonel if the latter had not been so much in earnest' for temperance reform. When Pratt got up to speak, he produced some old newspapers in which he said he had found obituary notices bearing upon the reform. One man had died at the age of eighty and the other had lived to be eighty-two. The newspapers said both were men of fine character, good hus bands and fathers, honest in their relations with their fellow men. The only thing which could be said against them was that they sometimes took a little whis key. Pratt, after reading the eulogies as he claimed they appeared in the papers which he held, laid down the papers and with a solemn face and tones of deep regret and warning said: "What a loss the world has sustained in the deaths of these men ! Cut off in the very prime and vigor of their manhood and sent to untimely graves. If they had not been drinking men, the probability is they would have lived to be ioo years old. All these years of usefulness and labor have been lost to the world simply by the habit of drinking ardent spirits." The crowd laughed loud and long, while Colonel Anderson commented: "Confound Pratt! He never had any common sense in his life." Liquor Selling on Sunday. Mayor O. D. Filley was elected by the free soil party shortly before the war. In August, 1859, the people of St. Louis voted, 7,544 to 5,543, against the sale of intoxicating liquors on Sunday. The Missouri Republican, commenting on the result, said : The triumphant vote by which the people of St. Louis declared their opposition to the sale of intoxicating liquors on Sunday is a matter of sincere congratulation to all our best citizens. It was not a party vote; it had nothing to do with party, but was the free declaration of mind of all parties and nationalities against the excesses which have been superinduced by a .special law of the legislature passed two years ago in effect giving unlimited license in the absence of a proper police to these houses being kept open or» Sunday. * * * * Not only the beer gardens in the suburbs, to which men retire as a place of pleasure and relaxation — on Sunday, but all the beer saloons and dancehouses and five or six theaters have been opened .on Sunday night on every prominent street in the city. This is the evil that is mainly complained of by our citizens. In defiance of the vote against the sale of intoxicating liquors on Sunday, the common council passed an ordinance legalizing the keeping open of saloons on Sunday until 9 o'clock in the morning and after 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This action was severely condemned by the newspapers. It was rebuked in a ringing message by Mayor Filley. THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 1007 Narrow Escape from a Religious Riot. The nearest approach to a religious riot in St. Louis occurred in 1844, at Ninth street and Washington avenue. The Native American movement had reached large proportions. It had in some parts of the country taken the form of mob violence against Catholic institutions. It gained considerable strength in St. Louis, but did not assume the phase of religious intolerance, being directed against for eign immigration on political grounds mainly. Philadelphia was disgraced by the sacking of churches and by bloodshed. Several other American cities passed through periods of serious disturbance. What occurred in this city is given upon high Catholic authority, the language being that of a member of the clergy who was in St. Louis at the time: It so happened that the Jesuits had already built a fine church of St. Xavier, and near it was their house of residence and a splendid college then chartered as a state university, to which a college of medicine had been annexed. To the latter was attached a dissecting house, and owing to some shameful neglect on the part of the professors or students of medicine, human remains were left exposed in the yard adjoining and seen through interstices of the wooden partition separating it from the public street. • Soon a crowd collected, and then imaginations or passions became strongly excited. Wild rumors spread abroad that all the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition were being renewed in St. Louis by the Jesuits, that men and women had been tortured and put to death. Cries were raised in the streets and the mob began to arm for an onslaught on the college. ' At this moment the brave Judge Bryan Mullanphy, and another brave Irishman named John Conran collected a posse of Catholics and friendly Protestant citizens armed with rifles. The American, Irish and German Catholics assembled in great force around the Jesuits' college, prepared to defend it if necessary, even to the last extremity. The oppos ing bands met and determined upon a desperate struggle. However, Judge Mullanphy went boldly forward and asked to be heard by the opposing mob, then sending forth wild yells and imprecations. Having obtained a hearing with great difficulty, and speaking with the coolness and deliberation his true courage and sense of duty inspired, the judge gave a correct and brief explanation of the case, and he declared that every- effort should be made to detect and punish the delinquents, who had offered such an outrage to public decency and to common humanity. The mob finally dispersed, and with them the party of defenders. Terrible rumors prevailed all that day in St. Louis, that our Catholic churches and houses would be burned or wrecked. Some faithful and brave Irishmen had armed for defense of our seminary, and contrived to let us know through the chinks of our planked enclosure that we were in some danger of attack. It was only on the day following, we learned all of the particulars of excitement that had taken place in the city. When the daily papers had published the details, popular indignation was quelled. Only the natural expression of wounded feeling found vent in the various journals. Moral Standards in Missouri. Nearing the close of half a century in his St. Louis pastorate, Rev. Dr. Samuel J. Niccolls said: "I can only speak of the morals of the days in which I have lived; and of those I can say that I never knew moral standards, in private or in public, to be as high as they are today. I know that such facts as the growth of divorce are cited to prove the con trary, but those unfavorable signs do not overcome my conviction as to the enlightenment and virtue of the present at its best. Evil does not become good. So far as it continues to exist, it becomes more evil. But as a whole I believe men's faith is stronger and their deeds are better than they have been. One of the most hopeful things about the present time, as compared with the days when my ministry began, is the harmony between the 1008 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI sects. One might well say as he compares the present with the past that we are all one great church now. In every great effort for the spread of religion and the good of the city, the churches of various denominations act together as one body." Sabbath breaking is abhorred in the heart of the Ozarks. Something more than suspension of work characterizes the Lord's day. - The wild turkey trots through the woods, uttering the "tweet," "tweet." Fox squirrels go upon long visits. The quails whir away. There is no answering shot. For one day of the week, the fowling pieces hang from the hooks in the wide galleries of the houses and are not taken down whatever the temptation. It is even an offense to do unnecessary traveling. And the man of haste, journeying through this Sabbath Ic'eeping country without regard to the day of the week, is likely to encounter looks of disapproval if nothing more serious. He will have the road to himself for miles at a time. The rumble and clatter of the wheels of his own vehicle will be the only sound disturbing a quietude profound. On the wall of the dining room of an Ozark hotel appeared in illuminated text above the window through which the waiter girls repeated the orders to the kitchen, the selection: "Christ is the head of this household." When the chiefs of police in the United States and Canada were organizing their international association at Washington about 1893 tney voted that their officers should include a chaplain and that the convention should be opened with prayer. One of them who was emphatic- in this was Lawrence Harrigan, the St. Louis chief. He declared: "A man who doesn't believe in God ought not to be on the police force." C. S. GEEELEY Of the Western Sanitary Commission. JAMES E. YEATMAN Head of the Western Sanitary Commission DR. JOHN T. HODGEN Surgeon of the Western Sanitary Commission GEOEGE PAETEIDGE Of the Western Sanitary Commission CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 787 Dr. J. B. Johnson, George Partridge and Rev. Dr. William G. Eliot. They were wise in counsel, efficient in assistance. But Mr. Yeatman was "Old Sani tary" to the soldiers in a thousand circling camps. This banker, in the prime of manhood, had a bed put in a room connected with his office so that he might be ready to respond to any call. He was on duty while he slept. A great organ ization was gradually built up under Mr. Yeatman's direction. Everywhere in the north were local branches of the Western Sanitary Commission. The great work of relief was systematized and made effective. The collection and for warding of supplies contributed were directed 'and controlled as a banker might deal with his country correspondents. There was no waste. One of the first acts of Mr. Yeatman and his associates was to fit up and open a hospital for five hundred soldiers on Fifth and Chestnut streets. Surgeon John T. Hodgen was given charge. In this building were received the sanitary stores contributed from hundreds of cities, towns and villages. As needed, these stores were distributed. Hospital after hospital was prepared and opened as the wounded increased in numbers. Hospital boats were put in service to bring the wounded from 'the battlefields. A soldiers' home was opened in St. Louis to care for the furloughed and discharged sick as they came from the front. The mili tary prisons in and around St. Louis were filled with Confederate soldiers and those who sympathized. The Western Sanitary Commission carried its work of relief into the prisons. Refugees flocked to the city and were temporarily cared for. Homes for soldiers' orphans were provided. Nowhere else in the country was there a like center of suffering and misery from the war. Nowhere else were relief measures of such magnitude under taken. The efficiency of Mr. Yeatman's organization came to be recognized the' country wide. An appropriation of $50,000 by the State of Missouri was made for the commission. Another of $25,000 came later. The government of St. Louis made appropriations and placed the money in Mr. Yeatman's hands. Gifts came from all parts of the country. Here was the suffering. Here came the contributions. In the midst of business depression, of war hard times, the Mis sissippi Valley Sanitary fair held in St. Louis produced more than $500,000 When the books of the Western Sanitary Commission closed, they showed that Mr. Yeatman had handled in money and stores for mitigation of the horrors of war $4,270,098.55. The magnificent liberality had been begotten of implicit confidence in the integrity of the Western Sanitary Commission. Year after year, almost from the very beginning of hostilities, Mr. Yeatman gave himself to this work. Repeatedly he left the headquarters of the commis sion in St. Louis and went to the front to see for himself the needs. He sought the suffering and applied the measures of relief. It was this personal visita tion and inspection that won for him the tender regard of the soldiers and the affectionate title of "Old Sanitary." Wonderful Details of Work. Major W. R. Hodges, of the Loyal Legion, has described in graphic detail the work of the Western Sanitary Commission: "In September came the siege and battle of Lexington, Mo., which threw 300 more wounded into the hospitals of St. Louis, and within two months five additional hospitals 788 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI were provided. The commission fitted up two hospital cars on the Pacific railroad with berths, nurses, cooking arrangements, etc., probably the first of the kind in the United States. The commission continued their voluntary labors without abatement; appeals for contributions were made through the newspapers and were generqusly responded to by New England, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and other western states. "In February came the battle of Fort Donelson, where 2,108 of our soldiers were wounded. An associate member of the commission, Doctor Pollak, accompanied by nurses, members of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, proceeded at once by rail to Cairo and thence by steamer to Paducah with sanitary stores. The wounded had been brought to this point. The steamer Ben Franklin was placed under their charge, and loaded with wounded. It was brought to St. Louis. It was then that the suggestion^ of hospital steamers was made by Medical Director Simmons and embodied in the report qf the commission with' the pledge that if the suggestion were approved the commission would take the whole care and labor of carrying it into execution: The plan was approved by Gen. Halleck, and the City of Louisiana was chartered and on the 20th of March she was thoroughly fitted with beds and commissary stores, the commission completing her outfit at an expense of $3,000. "Her first trip was to Island No. 10, under the charge of Mr. Yeatman, as a great battle was expected trTere. Soon after came the battle of Shiloh, and this boat conveyed 3,389 patients to northern hospitals. She was soon after purchased by the government and renamed the R. C. Wood in honor of the assistant surgeon general of the United States Army. "During the month of February, 1863, the Western Sanitary Commission distributed 13,25b articles of hospital clothing, food for the sick, bottles of cordials and stimulants, etc., and the members labored unceasingly night and day in making the distribution. After Pea Ridge. "On the 7th and 8th of March, 1862, the battle of ' Pea Ridge was fought, and 980 Union soldiers were wounded. This battle field was 250 miles distant from Rolla, the railroad terminus. , The roads were of the worst description, through a half civilized country, mountainous, without bridges, and without hotels, stripped of forage for teams and food for men, subject to raids and murders by guerrilla bands. It was impossible to bring the wounded to St. Louis. The army of Gen. Curtis was deficient in transporta tion, and the medical department was most miserably provided with means for caring for the wounded. Surgeons were without hospitals, clothing, stimulants', or bedding for the wounded, and the supply of medicines was exceedingly limited. The country was thinly settled, mostly log houses, with few of the necessities of life. The courthouse at Cassville and all the principal dwellings were filled with wounded, and the same was true of Keites- ville. A few of the officers were taken by ambulance to Springfield. The commission at once despatched its agent with hospital supplies to the front. In his report, he says, 'At Cassville I found two large tents, six buildings, including the courthouse and tavern, used as hospitals. The patients were lying ;on the floors, with a little straw under them, and with knapsacks or blankets under their heads as pillows. They had no comforts of any kind, no change ~of clothing, but were lying in the clothes they fought in, stiff and dirty with blood and soil.' "There were 400 Federal wounded here. The stores were, turned over to the different hospitals, and never was a provision train more joyously greeted by starving men than this ample supply, of hospital supplies by these sick and wounded soldiers. The Confederate wounded were treated with the same consideration as our own. There were two Con federate surgeons, and one^said to the agent of the Sanitary Commission, 'We are Texans. Our army has treated us shamefully ; they stampeded and left us here with our sick and wounded men, and I will tell you, sir, that for two days we had nothing to give our poor fellows but parched corn and water. Every Federal, officer and man has treated us like gentlemen, and Gen. Curtis told me that so long as he had a loaf of bread we should have half of it.' The agent said, T visited the hospitals at Pineville. No provision had been made by Price, and our scanty supplies had been shared with them. For twenty-five miles around every house was a rebel hospital. We had three there then. There was at this point a total absence of stimulants and men were dying for want of them.' CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 789 At Vicksburg. "During February and March, 1863, while the army of Gen. Grant was occupying the low region of country above Vicksburg, exaggerated reports of sickness among the troops were published by northern newspapers. "Mr. Yeatman went down and made a personal inspection and on his return published an account of his visit. While he found a large amount of sickness, his report tended to allay undue apprehension. He directed the agent of the commission to immediately establish his headquarters near Vicksburg for the distribution of supplies. After the assault by our forces on the 19th and 22d of May, Mr. Yeatman made a second visit, in charge of the steamer Champion, accompanied by surgeons and nurses and dressers of wounds to the number of fifty-five, taking with him 250 tons of sanitary supplies, besides cots, mattresses and everything necessary for the care of 1,000 men. At the time of his arrival all sanitary stores were exhausted and the new supplies were received with grati tude. In his report he said: 'Supplies were distributed most liberally wherever wanted. Blessings were invoked by both surgeons and men for this timely care in providing for them, in the great extremity which always succeeds a series of battles and which can only be fully provided for in this way. No parched and thirsty soil ever drank the dews of heaven with more avidity than did those wounded men receive the beneficent gifts and comforts sent to them through this commission.' One hundred and fourteen thousand, six hundred and ninety-seven articles were distributed to Gen. Grant's army prior to the fall of Vicksburg. Problem of the Freedmen. "In addition to its work of- ministering to the sick and wounded of the western armies and navy and of promoting the health of soldiers in the field, the Western Sani tary Commission felt itself called upon to devote a portion of its labors to the relief of the 40,000 freedmen along the banks of the Mississippi river from Columbus to Natchez. They were in a country stripped by the ravages of war, with no demand for labor except ing in a few localities and without means of providing for food, clothing and shelter. In December, 1863, Mr. Yeatman returned from a special trip down the river to ascertain and report the actual conditions. He stopped at Island No. 10, Memphis, Helena, Good rich's Landing, Milliken's Bend, Young's Point, the plantations--of Jeff and Joe Davis and at Natchez. As an illustration, he found at Helena between 3,000 and 4,000 men, women and children, part of them living in a place back of the town called 'Camp Ethiopia,' in cast- off tents, caves, shelters of brush. Others were in the poorer houses of the town, sixteen to twenty persons in a room, and in huts on the outskirts. The able-bodied men were com pelled to work on the fortifications, in unloading coal and freight from steamboats, teamsters and all manner of fatigue duty, for which they received no compensation, through neglect of officers to place them on the pay roll and general indifference of military commanders as to their condition. At one time an order was issued forbidding their payment on the ground that their former masters would have a claim against the government for their services. "The terrible destitution and sufferings of these helpless people and the injustice to which they were subjected so moved the sympathetic heart of Mr. Yeatman that he went to Washington and presented the subject to the government and made 'suggestions of a plan of organization for freed labor, and the leasing of plantations along the Mississippi river.' The high character'of Mr. Yeatman was so well known that his suggestions were re ceived with favor, and he was authorized to accompany an agent of the treasury depart ment to Vicksburg to mature and carry them into effect. This trust he accepted, declining an official position which was offered him. About 600 plantations were leased, wise and humane regulations for the compensation of labor were enforced, schools established, and incalculable benefits were derived by the colored people, who were encouraged in habits of self reliance and' saving. Large quantities of sanitary stores were distributed among those in dire extremity. From the efforts of Mr. Yeatman in this direction National Freedmen Relief associations were organized all over the northern states. 790 CENTENNIAL HISTORY "OF MISSOURI The White Refugees. "Assistance was also rendered to white refugees from the South, who came by thou sands, many of them women with small children, often barefooted and wholly destitute, brought by steamers and landed. Their husbands had been killed in the war by guerrillas, or conscripted into the rebel army. One poor blind woman with six children walked all the way from Arkansas to Rolla, her little children leading her by the hand all the way over those hundreds of weary miles. From Rolla she was brought here by rail as a charity. Her youngest children she had never seen as they had been born since she became blind. Her children were adopted by Dr. Eliot and placed in a mission school on Eighth street, and the mdther was sent to a hospital, where Dr. Pope performed an operation; the cataracts were removed from her eyes and her sight restored. Her children werethen returned to her. In consequence of the invasion of Missouri by Price in the fall of 1864 thousands of Union refugees, wholly destitute, came to St. Louis. "The military authorities authorized a charity ration and shelter, but all other ex penses, clothing, hospital treatment, teachers for the children, were borne by the Sanitary Commission. Its area of beneficence extended over the vast territory from St. Louis to the Gulf . of Mexico, and westward to the Rocky Mountains. Wherever troops were the commission forwarded supplies. Every call for help from friend or foe was instantly responded to.'' Mr. Yeatman and the Freedmen 's Bureau. Catholic in his conception of the commission's purposes, this southern born man, once a slave-holder, recognized the necessities of the freedmen; Great ' numbers of these ex-slaves had drifted away from the plantations and into communities. The commission sent physicians and nurses and then teachers. Mr. Yeatman suggested the plan of the Freedmen's Bureau. He recommended the leasing of abandoned plantations to negroes, to encourage, them to become self-supporting. These views were indorsed as offering an "absolute solution of the cotton and negro questions/' They appealed so to President Lincoln that he sent for Mr. Yeatman and offered him the commissionership of the Freed men's Bureau. Four years previously Mr. Yeatman, accompanying Hamilton R. Gamble, had called upon Mr. Lincoln. He was a Union man. His step father, John Bell, had headed the Union ticket as the Presidential nominee the year before. Mr. Yeatman and Mr. Gamble believed that a pacificatory policy, such as General Harney was pursuing in St. Louis, was wiser than the more radical course advocated by Francis P. Blair, who wanted Harney superseded. Mr. Lincoln rejected the advice of his visitors. Mr. Gamble and Mr. Yeatman came back to St. Louis, Mr. Gamble to become the provisional governor of Mis souri and to hold it in the Union at the cost of his life ; Mr. Yeatman to devote himself unsparingly to the mitigation of the horrors of war. The Great Sanitary Fair. The Western Sanitary Commission faced a depleted treasury at the beginning of 1864. The sources of revenue seemed exhausted. A great fair was planned. On the ist of February the organization was formed. On the 17th of May the fair opened. The magnitude and success of that fair are worthy of place in history. That a city so stricken as St. Louis had been could plan and earn through such a movement is the wonderful fact. The building constructed for the fair was 500 feet long. It extended along Twelfth street from St. Charles to CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 791 Olive, with wings ioo feet long on Locust street. In the center was a great rotunda seventy-five feet across and fifty feet high. In this central space were decorative features — flags and evergreens and flowers and battle trophies. Gifts of articles to be sold for the benefit of the commission came from as far east as Maine and as far west as Nevada. But Missourians gave in numberless ways and in marvelous generosity. Every element in the population was represented among the givers. The contributions were classified and put on sale in depart ments. There were agricultural implements and works of art. Such entertain ment features as the curiosity shop, the skating park and the gallery of fine arts were provided. The Holland kitchen and the New England kitchen catered to the crowds. A theater presented dramas. Military bands gave concerts. Guard duty was performed by colored soldiers. The fair put into the treasury of the Western Sanitary Commission $554,591. That was at the rate of $3.50 for every man, woman and child in St. Louis. The fair enabled the commission to go on with its work to the end of the war, and to give the Ladies Union Aid -Society $50,000 for hospital service and for the assistance of soldiers' families. The sum of $1,000 a month was devoted to making the freed slaves self-sustaining and $40,000 was expended in the maintenance of a home for soldiers' orphans at Webster Groves. One who was especially active in the planning and conduct of the fair has commented upon it : "But the fair was a blessing not only to refugees and freedmen, to the sick and wounded in hospitals, to- the widows and orphans of our slain heroes, but was also a measureless boon to St. Louis. It was one more mighty agency for curing us of our selfishness. For a time at least it broke upon our commercialism, and led us to think of others and to do, something for their welfare." The Assessment . of Southern Sympathizers. In the summer of" 1862 there issued from the general commanding at St. Louis an order "to assess and collect without unnecessary delay the sum of five hundred thousand dollars from the secessionists and southern sympathizers" of the city and county of St. Louis. The order stated that the money was to be "used in subsisting, clothing and arming the enrolled militia while in active -ervice, and in providing for the support of the families of such militiamen and United States volunteers as may be destitute." It was extended to other parts of the state. The unpleasant duty of making and collecting the assessment was imposed upon half a dozen of the best known citizens of St. Louis. The assessment was begun. Collections were enforced by the military. Suddenly the board having the matter in charge suspended the work. The order countermanding the assessment came from Washington. It was terse : "As there seems to be no present military necessity for the enforcement of this assessment, all pro ceedings under the order will be suspended." Two weeks before General Halleck directed discontinuance, a letter was sent to Washington saying "that the 'assessment' now in progress, to be levied upon southern sympathizers and secessionists, is working evil in this community and doing great harm to the Union cause. Among our citizens are all shades of opinion, from that kind of neutrality which is hatred in disguise, through all 792 CENTENNIAL HISTORY 'OF MISSOURI the grades of lukewarmness, 'sympathy' and hesitating zeal up to the full loyalty which your memorialists claim to possess. To assort and classify them, so as to indicate the dividing line of loyalty and disloyalty, and to establish the rates of payment by those falling below it is a task of great difficulty." Reviewing the work as far as it had progressed, the writer continued : "The natural consequence has been that many feel themselves deeply aggrieved, not having supposed themselves liable to the suspicion of disloyalty; many escape assessment who, if any, deserve it ; and a general feeling of inequality in the rule and ratio of assessments prevails. This was unavoidable, for no two tribunals could agree upon the details of such an assessment either as to the- persons or the amounts to be assessed without more complete knowledge of facts than are to be attained from ex parte testimony and current reports." The writer appealed for a stay of the assessment' proceedings. When the letter was written the intention was to have it signed 'by a number of loyal citi zens of St. Louis. But the leading Union men declined to sign. Their feeling against the southern sympathizers was bitter. The war sentiment gripped. Busi ness had been paralyzed. Sentiment rather sustained a policy which proposed to make sympathizers pay heavily toward the war expense. One man, with a deep sense of justice, stood out alone. He had been among the foremost the year previous in counseling the aggressive measures which made St. Louis a Union city. But now, when the Union elements were all powerful, his appeal for fairness toward the minority got no hearing. He signed his letter and sent it to Governor Gamble who forwarded it at once to Washington. Years after the war this letter was printed in a St. Louis newspaper but without the signature and without mention of the name of Rev. Dr. William G. Eliot. The character of the assessment proceedings will seem almost incredible to this generation. When the board had organized to make the assessment the president addressed a request to "the unconditional Union men of St. Louis" to send in "such information as they have in their possession which will aid in carrying out the requirements" of the orders. He concluded his request with, "the board wish it to be understood that all communications and evidence will be considered strictly private." Desperate Nature of the Conflict. Return I. Holcombe, during the years he passed going from one Missouri county to another, gathering material for local histories, was deeply impressed with the information given about the conditions of the sixties. Hef wrote for the Globe-Democrat in 1891 : "Perhaps the, desperate nature of the civil war in_ Missouri will never be correctly understood save by the actual participants. It was bad to begin with, and it grew worse all the way down to the close, two months after Lee surrendered. Family quarrels are al ways the bitterest, and next to them are neighbors' feuds. This was a war between fellow- citizens and neighbors, and sometimes it was between kinsmen — even brothers. It was not a war of races, nor of classes. Proletarians and patricians were equally divided as to sides. Some of the largest slaveholders were the stanchest Unionists, and fought for the old flag, while innumerable men, who, if a slave were to be sold by the ounce, could not- buy his little finger, lost limb and life while fighting for the Confederacy, whose corner stone was human slavery. Plenty of men of northern birth wore the gray, and the guerrilla CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 793, king, Quantrell, was an Ohio man, born and reared. Some of the best blood of the South was hottest for the Union, and South Carolinians, Virginians and Mississippians fought to save it against Pennsylvanians, Ohioans and Illinois men who tried to destroy it. "I do not know what made it so desperate. I do not know what instigated men who believed in the Bible to go about robbing, plundering, house-burning and murdering in cold blood, and this is what some men of both sides did. There were all sorts of trans formations. Sunday school boys, who could repeat the beatitudes without skipping a word, became as fierce and cruel as Comanches, and for years did not see the Deity in the clouds, nor hear him in the wind. I think it is only the truth to say that the pro-Con federates became the more demoralized of the two parties. Perhaps this was because after Wilson's creek and Lexington, their cause steadily lost, and the prospects for its ultimate ' success daily waned, and desperation comes oftener than resignation from defeat, and madness, hot as vitriol, frequently succeeds the coldest despair. When Women Took Sides. "Women became as bad as their brothers. From the sewing of bandages and the scraping of lint, came the molding of bullets, the smuggling of caps, the making of cart ridges, and then lying and spying and the luring of men to death. In the country it was hard to find a woman no matter how fair her face and refined her character, who was really a non-combatant, and was not guilty of numerous acts of hostility, covert and overt. "Riding along from Brunswick to Laclede, in the summer of 1863, Lieutenant William Reeves of Daviess county, a_ Union officer of militia, drew bridle at a little cabin east of Compton's ferry in Chariton county. A bright, cheery-faced little woman met him at the door, in one hand a butcher knife, in the other a whetstone, her face abeam, her eyes aglow. 'Hush 1' she said, 'there's a reb in the back room sound asleep. Go in, quick, and kill him. I told him I was a good secesh, too,' she went on, 'and he says he is a bush whacker and has been two nights without sleep, and so I fed him and coaxed him to go to bed, and he has been snoring for two hours. Hurry in ; don't mind the blood on the bed.' "'And what were you going to do with that knife?' asked the officer. " 'As soon as I got it sharp enough,' she replied, 'I was going to stick it through his heart.' "Think of that ! And three years before this little woman, into whom the spirit of Jael seemed to have entered, was a Sunday school teacher, earnestly impressing on chil dren the divine injunction, 'All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them.' "The officer secured the bushwhacker's arms, then the bushwhacker himself, and took him to Laclede a prisoner, instead of slaying him where he slept, to the manifest disappoint ment and sorrow of the little hostess, who petulantly said, 'I have seen rebs after they were dead, but I wanted to see one die.'" Gleams of Humor. Civil war in Missouri was not altogether without its humorous incidents. General Ben Prentiss, afterwards "the hero of Shiloh," marched into Paris, the county "seat of Monroe, just following a big demonstration of sympathy for the South. He rounded up several scores of the well-to-do citizens and proceeded to levy an assessment after a method all his own. As one after another of the Parisians was brought before him, the general would ask: "Well, Mr. Blank, how do you stand, North or South?" As the general had gathered information in advance, there wasn't much use in prevaricating. In one case the citizen replied : "General, to tell the truth, I lean just a leedle to the South." "Twenty- five dollars, Mr. Blank," the general decided promptly. 794 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI Missourians did not stay out of the Civil war, on one side or the other, for ordinary and in some instances for extraordinary physical defects. One Mis sourian with a wooden leg went into the war. His name was P. Wells. He was a constituent of Champ Clark who said proudly of him that he was "the only soldier, living or dead, so far as history tells, that ever had a wooden leg shot off in battle, for the reason, perhaps, that he is the only soldier that ever went into battle with a wooden leg. He survived his wound to become a wealthy and enthusiastic Populist." Secret lodges of the .Union League were one form of patriotism in Missouri after the war had been going on some time. Members took an oath "to support the -government of the United States against all enemies, sacrificing property and life, if necessary, to preserve the Federal Union of states, to put down this and all other rebellions." Members of different lodges, uncertain as to each other's identification with the order, went through this ritual of recognition: "Have you seen Sam?" "I have." "And will draw Washington's sword?" "And have drawn Washington's sword." "Advance and lock arms and one say 'Union,' the other, 'forever.' " "Crazy Sherman." From the chaotic conditions of the war in Missouri came the story that Gen eral William Tecumseh Sherman was insane. On the 23rd of November Sher man, having been relieved in Kentucky, arrived in St. Louis and reported to Halleck, who had succeeded Fremont. He was sent at once to Western Missouri on an inspection tour, with orders to take -command in case there was danger of attack. Within a week Sherman was telegraphing from Sedalia the most alarm ing reports. He said that Sterling Price's army was approaching in force and that an attack was imminent. He began to concentrate the troops for the expected battle. Pope, who received one of Sherman's orders, sent in a vigorous protest to Halleck. Other generals made reports which did not agree with the representations from Sedalia. Halleck called Sherman back to St. Louis and sent to Washington a letter which remained buried in the files of the War Department nearly thirty years — long after the death of Sherman. "(Confidential.) "St. Louis, Mo., December 2, 1861— Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, Commander-in- chief, Washington, D. C. : General — As -stated in a former communication, Brig. Gen. W. T. Sherman, on reporting here for duty, was ordered to inspect troops (three divisions) at Sedalia and vicinity, and if, in the absence of Gen. Pope, he deemed there was danger of an immediate attack, he was authorized to assume the command. He did so, and com menced the movements of the -troops in a manner which I did not approve, and counter manded. I also received information from officers there that Gen. Sherman was com pletely 'stampeded,' and was 'stampeding' the army. I therefore immediately ordered him to this place, and yesterday gave him a leave of absence for twenty days to visit his family in Ohio. "I am satisfied that Gen. Sherman's physical and mental system is so completely broken by labor and care as to render him for the present entirely unfit for duty. Perhaps a few weeks' rest may restore him. I am satisfied that in his present condition it would be dangerous to give him a command here. GENERAL A. J. SMITH GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN IRONTON AND THE ARCADIA VALLEY The Battle of Ironton is known in Civil war history as the Thermopylae of the West. Arcadia Valley, accounted one of the finest natural parks of the United States CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 797 "Can't you send me a Brigadier-General of high rank, capable of commanding a corps d'armee of three or four divisions? Say Heintzelman, F. J. Porter, Franklin or McCall. Those of lower grades, would be ranked by others here. Grant can not be taken from Cairo, nor Curtis from this place at present. Sigel is sick and Prentiss operating against insurg ents in Northern Missourr. I dare not intrust the 'mustangs' with high commands in the face of the enemy. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, "H. W. Halleck, Major General." Sherman Asks an Explanation. This letter was in Halleck's handwriting. It was not made public but the news that Sherman had broken down physically and mentally got into the news papers promptly. "Crazy Sherman" was the headline and common expression. Sherman must have suspected or had some intimation of the source, for he wrote only ten days later than the date of Halleck's confidential letter: "Lancaster, O., December 12, 1861— Maj. Gen. Halleck, St. Louis, Mo.: Dear Sir— I believe you will be frank enough to answer me if you deem the steps I took at Sedalia as an evidence of want of mind. "They may have been the result of an excess of caution on my part, but I do think the troops were too much srrung out, and should be concentrated, with more men left along to guard the track. Tiw animals, cattle especially, will be much exposed this winter. "I set a much higher measure of danger on the acts of unfriendly inhabitants than most officers do, because I ha» e lived in Missouri and the South, and know that in their individual characters they will do more acts of hostility than northern farmers or people could bring themselves to perpetrate. In my judgment Price's army in the aggregate is less to be feared than when in scattered bands. "I write to you because a Cincinnati paper, whose reporter I imprisoned in Louis ville for visiting our camps after I had forbidden him leave to go, has announced that I am insane, and alleges as a reason that at Sedalia my acts were so mad that sub ordinate officers refused to obey. I know of no order I gave that was not obeyed, except Gen. Pope's, to advance his division to Sedalia, which order was countermanded by you, and the fact communicated to me. "These newspapers have us in their power, and can destroy us as they please, and this one can destroy my usefulness by depriving me of the confidence of officers and men. "I will be in St. Louis next week, and will be guided by your commands and judgment. I am, etc., "W. T. Sherman, Brigadier General." An Inconsistent Reply. Halleck replied at once but in a manner that was not satisfactory to Sherman and not entirely consistent with his letter to Gen. McClellan: "St. Louis, December 18, 1861. — Brig. Gen. W. T. Sherman, Lancaster, O. : My dear General — Yours of the 12th was received a day or two ago, but was mislaid for the moment among private papers, or I should have answered sooner. The newspaper attacks are certainly shameless and scandalous, but I can not agree with you that they have us in their power 'to destroy us as they please.' I certainly get my share of abuse, but it will not disturb me. "Your movement of the troops was not countermanded by me because I thought it an unwise one in itself, but because I was not then ready for it. I had better information of Price's movements than you had, and I had no apprehension of an attack. I intended to concentrate the forces on that line, but I wished the movement delayed until I could determine on a better position. After receiving Lieut. Col. McPherson's report I made precisely the location you had ordered. I was desirous at the time not to prevent the 798 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI advance of Price by any movement on our part, hoping that he would move on Lexington, ¦ but finding that he had determined to remain at Osceola for some time at least, I made the movement you proposed. As you could not know my plans you and others may have misconstrued the reason of my countermanding your orders. "I deem it my duty, however, to say to you, General, in all frankness and kindness, that remarks made by you, both at Sedalia and in this city (if I am correctly informed), about our defenseless condition, and the probability that, the enemy would take this city, have led to unfair and harsh comments by those who did not know. I say this merely to put you on your guard in future. "I hope to see you well enough for duty soon. Our reorganization goes on slowly, but we will effect it in time. Yours, truly, "H. W. Halleck." Relatives Take Up the Controversy. Sherman came back to Missouri when his leave was up. Relatives of Sher man, notably his father-in-law, Thomas Ewing, Sr., took up the story of in sanity with a view of tracing the authorship. Halleck wrote a letter to Mc Clellan, guarded and diplomatic: "Headquarters Department of the Missouri, St. Louis, January 22, 1862. — Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, General-in-chief of the army, Washington : General— I wrote you in November respecting the health of Brig. Gen. W. T. Sherman and my reasons for giving him a leave of twenty days. He returned and reported for duty at the end of that time, greatly improved, but not, in my opinion, entirely in condition to take the field. I therefore placed him in command of the Camp of Instruction at Benton Barracks, where he has rendered most excellent service, while at the same time his health has gradually improved. I think in a very short time he will be fully prepared to "resume his duties in the field, either in this department or in any other to which he may be assigned. "I have made this explanation as I deemed it due to both Gen. Sherman and myself, inasmuch as some of his friends may not understand why younger officers have been placed in more active commands. I know that Gen. Sherman himself is perfectly satis fied with the arrangement, and will cheerfully dp duty either in this department or in any other to which he may be assigned. I should be very sorry to lose his services here, but will oppose no obstacle to the wishes of himself or friends if a transfer should be desired. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, "H. W. Halleck." On February 15, 1862, Halleck wrote a fourth letter on the subject of Sher man's mental condition. He addressed it to Ewing, partially admitting the im pression he had received from Sherrnan's actions at Sedalia and making many explanations. The relations between Halleck and Sherman continued to be agreeable on the face. Sherman not long afterwards got into the field. After Shiloh, the newspapers ceased to call him "crazy." The story of insanity was only one of the strange and startling episodes of. the war in Missouri. Missouri in the War Records. More than one hundred large books were filled with the war records. In all of these volumes there were no other that presented such revelations of the horrors of the conflict as those which pertained to Missouri. Four volumes, of 1,000 pages each, preserved the official history of what took place in this state during part of 1864.. "Our troops everywhere now consider it right to kill bushwhackers, even CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI 799 after they surrender," Maj. Gen. S. R. Curtis wrote, dated the middle of October. "Their recent barbarous butcheries in North Missouri, and the tortured bodies of their- victims, and the scalps and ears worn on the bushwhackers' bridles, will evince a disregard of all rules of war, and even savage barbarity. I think, there fore, the sympathy of your people better b# devoted to better objects of human sympathy." This was a private letter in reply to one deploring some specified atrocity. It began: "Your letter concerning the disposition of certain brigands calling themselves Confederate soldiers is received. I have not the least sympathy for such fiends; we are disposing of them very summarily everywhere. When men in our rear betray the parole implied by their shelter under the roofs of our people left at our homes they deserve hanging or any other sort of butchery, as you denominate the taking of their lives. War is butchery on a grand scale, and there is none of its horrors more justifiable than those which destroy the sneaks and cowards. that steadily seek to carry on war in rear of our armed forces, and disguised as citizens. Brigands have no rights, and Napoleon had them shot down by regiments, even when they were caught in garbs of some military show." That was the way war was waged in Missouri the last half of '64. The Policy of No Quarter. Two messages from Gen. Fisk on the progress of a bushwhacker hunt are interesting. More particularly because they drew from headquarters at St. Louis a plain expression pf the policy of no quarter. Gen. Fisk wired: "The bushwhacker hunt is progressing successfully. Our forces are cap turing and killing a large number of the guerrillas and securing their horses and arms. The brush on Platte and Fishing rivers, and in the country between, swarms with the Thornton "squads. Our dragnet will bring them out." "The Thornton conspiracy is fast flickering out. We are drag-netting every brush-patch and killing a good many of the rascals. Capt. Ford's Paw Paw Militia have today sent in a petition asking that they be permitted to turn again and live. What shall I do with them?" To the inquiry about the disposition of those who wanted to surrender Gen. O. D. Greene replied: "Your dispatch asking for instructions as to the manner of disposing of such of the Paw Paws as went over to Thornton and are now coming in and giving themselves up is received. My opinion of the matter is that as many of them as are captured in arms and resisting should not be brought in as prisoners. This not from a spirit of revenge or blood thirstiness, but as mercy to them, for under no conceivable circumstances can they escape the penalty of their unpardonable crimes. In the history of the world there is not an instance of a soldier's deserting to the enemy being pardoned if caught. Of course, if any lay down their arms and surrender without being so compelled by the force of arms it would be murder to slay them. They must be held for action in due course of law.'' The policy of extermination and banishment was not only countenanced in execution by subordinates, but openly advocated by the highest authorities. "Kill" was the order from headquarters, and the Union scouting parties return ing from the brush reported the dead as hunters might their strings of game. 800 CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI A personal letter in July to Gen. Rosecrans from E. M. Samuel;' president of the Farmers Bank of Missouri at Liberty, contained the following: "I am grieved to inform you that this morning, "while Capt. Kemper was on a scout jn this county (Clay), about ten miles from Liberty, the bushwhackers fired on his men from a safe position, wounding Capt. Kemper (who has just been brought in) and two others, and killing two more. The county is in a deplorable condition. Nearly every Union man in the county has come to town for safety, and nearly all talk of leaving the county. Last week B. A. Bailey, S. G. Bigelow and John Bigelow (Union men) were shot down and killed, two at their homes and one on his way home from town. Is there no remedy for those who have, through trials and sufferings, adhered to the flag of their fathers?" "Burn Him Clean." "My dispatches of today," Gen. Clinton B. Fisk wrote, "from the bushwhack hunters report forty-one guerrillas mustered out by our boys in the brush in the lower counties. I assure you, Major, we are doing all we can with-the means in our hands to exterminate the murdering fiends." To Col. J. T. K. Hayward, at Hannibal, Gen. Fisk telegraphed about the same time: j "Make your subdistrict a very hot place for rebels and a secure place for loyalists. Put down, drive out, kill and exterminate every guerrilla and thief you can find." The above was in reply to the following from Col. Hayward asking authority to use extreme measures : "I think all who are proved to be in a civil complicity with bushwhackers should be shot. When a known "disloyal man feeds and harbors bushwhackers and can't show that he did all he could to prevent it, and to give the most speedy notice of it, burn hjm clean. In this, way you soon make it for the interest of disloyal men to take sides actively. If they go to the bush shoot them; if they don't you will find them1 at work in earnest to put a stop to guerrilla depredations. This may not look well in a published order, but I think it would work well in practice. When our men leave home to do duty let the disloyal at home take care of their crops. Our Union men have always borne all the suffering; let it fall now on the other* side, and all good men will bless you. I hear today that nearly every loyal man in Ralls County is a refugee from home. The above will be my pro gramme unless you countermand it, and don't require positive orders." From Col. Switzler's View Point. So mild a mannered man as Wm. F. Switzler indorsed the plan of extermina tion. In August he wrote to Gen. Fisk: "I fear that your duties elsewhere in directing the movements of our troops ag&inst the rebel cut-throats and thieves with which the district is infested will prevent you from being present at our meeting. This I deeply regret, as well on account of the cause of your inability to attend as the fact itself. Having no convenient escort, and it being rather unhealthy to travel in Boone without one, I could not myself attend the, meeting, but the presence of Maj. Rollins, whom I saw here on his -return from Wash ington, supersedes the necessity. I hope it will turn out well, though the reign of terror is so great in Boone I fear the result. As soon as advised I will write you again. Meantime be assured of my cordial co-operation with you in your noble efforts to overthrow this wicked rebellion and drive from our state or exterminate the bushwhackers and murderers infesting it." 3 9002 00593 3313 ¦